Mobile Suit Gundam: Alicorn

by Alines Reinhard

Chapter 10

Much to his surprise, the dream seems like it will never stop.

It is also important to mention that Flash can not interact with any of them. A few times he tries to talk or ask “What’s going on?” but none of them react, as if he was completely invisible.

By following the group, he has come to a large dark cave. But when going deeper, he find out there are more than just rock:

“Gems, gems everywhere!” Butter Burger gasped in joy “Spring Garden, look!”

“Well… I think these could be a fine addition to my dre… I mean potion…” she said while carefully touching the gems, with her eyes sparkling with happiness “… they are so magical!”

“Guys… we don’t have time for them right… wait a minute?” Luster suddenly gasped as an idea came up “Is this… Is this the shortcut to Ponyville?”

“Short cut?” the rest of the team asked in confusion.

“Discord once said there is a shortcut to Ponyville somewhere outside the castle…” she said while looking around the cave “He said there is a river underneath that flows at a very high speed! If we can find a tree trunk that is big enough to carry us, we would be at Ponyville in no time!”

“But, why should we go back to Ponyville?”

“I have some magic book back in the Sunny Oak Library…” she explained “I remember there are spells that will free Princess Twilight from the throne room!”

“All right!”

“Yee hoo!”

The team cheered.

“Twilight is imprisoned?” Flash mumbled.

Then, the scene changed to the moment when the gang finished their own boat, carved into a tree trunk that is not far from the cave mouth. They hop on to the boat together before launching it.

“Grisela, you should come too!” Butter Burger said “You wouldn’t catch the speed of the current!”

However, feeling something is not right, Flash decides to just fly above them.

Just after the whole boat gets into the water, the high speed current takes the boat away like a hurricane. It just soaring through the air and with the current like a roller coaster, yet Flash still somehow catches it.

They screamed as the boat just kept flying with the water. Their hair and fur flowing violently through the wind.

After a couple of minutes, the scene changes to not the town of Ponyville, but to another cave, an icy one to be exact, leading out into a desert that has nothing but snow, ice and wind.

As he looked back to the boat, it had already faced down on the ice. The whole group lying, scattered all across the snow.

He once wanted to lay them up, but he remembered that he can not interact with them, so he took his hooves back.

After a few more minutes, they all woke up.

“What… what happened?” one of them asked “We should be at Ponyville now, right?”

He looked outside with them and realized something.

“An… Antarctica!”

When he looks back at the gang, the scene changes again, this time back to the nightmares he had seen months ago when he was still working at EFF’s Antarctica base. He could again saw the gang struggle through the snow and strong wind, how they find that one “cave” that was actually some kind of cockpit, and hear again when Luster Dawn herself make the curse:

“If a creature, full of greed, touches this, an endless curse will come. His mind will be full of darkness and his soul might be consumed. He must find a way to free us all at one. If he can't do it, the curse will last… forever.”

…

There were tons of questions that appeared in his mind the next day he woke up. He tried to ask some creature around, but again this could result in him being laugh at because of how silly it might sound. He tell himself to “leave it for another day.”

The breakfast in the morning is the first time he ever opened the diary’s cover, after a few days busy checking his suit and doing patrols to “strengthen discipline”, as Haystack said.

The first thing that he saw was a group photo of the creatures. They were all smiling in happiness at the camera. It gives him some unnerving feeling, especially when he knows who they really are.

“It’s like the moment before disaster…” Flash thought.

Flipping to another page, he encounters some words that are written as advice. The moment his eyes hit the words, he feels like he has seen it somewhere else.

“Dear Luster!
I hope this diary reaches you. As I write these words, you have already arrived in Ponyville, preparing for your first day at School of Friendship.

This diary is a gift from me to you. You can use it to write your thoughts on everything, from the life around, the creatures you will meet, and especially, friendship lessons. Beside the letters that you will send me, you should make a copy of those letters into this diary so you can look back to it, seeing how much you have grown.

I’m looking forward to seeing you have a beautiful time with your friends as well as this diary, and also witnessing how much you have achieved “as much as I am”, like you have said before.

Best regard.

Princess Twilight.”

As he moves his finger across the page, the pen marks are clear and visible.

“Twi… Twilight writes this herself?” Flash shocked.

One thing that should be mentioned is that some of the pages have already gone missing, while the majority of paper have wet. The cover itself also shows that it has already shown signs of rotting, meaning it has been soaked in water for a relatively long time.

But somehow, the words that he saw in the first few pages at the moment still have not faded, meaning they used high quality pens to write.

He turned to some other pages and saw some of the stories about how Luster Dawn, who he guessed was the writer, was making friends and having adventures with the gang.

A few minutes later, Haystack comes to the table, seeing Flash still chewing the food with the diary opened right on his hips. He came and tapped at the blue hair human-shaped slightly.

“Hey bud, what’cha reading?” he asked.

Flash swallowed the food then answered.

“Diary.”

“How do you get this?” the Lieutenant asked while getting his seat next to Flash.

“Well… I got this at… a market…” Flash answered while making up a reason so he didn't find out he was sneaking onto the wrecked airship “…back in we're still at Zebrat.”

“Really?”

“Yes… Yes… Sir!”

“I don’t think there is a stall that sells stolen objects in Zebrat, Brad…” he said. “I think this thing should be thrown by some creature, or, you steal it!”

“What?”

“Or, you sneak on to that airship earlier, don’t you?”

“Ho… How can you know?”

“I asked some creature and they said you hop on that thing 2 days ago!”

“Wait, who told you?”

“A kirin. He said he saw you through the security camera! And do you have any idea what that airship is?”

“No…”

“That’ s the Flash and Dash, the VIP airship that was built just for the Council!” he answered rapidly. “And Lady Rainbow Dash is on that thing before we rescue her…”

“Rainbow Dash?”

“Yeah…” he looked around “The pony that helped the Royal Guard find out you still Princess Twilight’s crown, right? Anyway her airship was attacked by a mobile suit. They still figure out what is that and why, but creatures tell that the MS chose the wrong target, I think: it was taken down by the Alicorn.”

“How… how do you know?”

“I’ve just said that creatures told!” the Lieutenant answered grumpily “If this is secret then you will never see me talking like this! Anyway, where are your comrades?”

“I don’t see them anywhere. I just picked this place so I can have my meal…”

“And about that diary?” Haystack jerks up his chin to the thing Flash was holding.

“Some pony named Luster Dawn wrote about her… what should I say… friendship lesson in this…” Flash replied while flipping some more pages “There are photos, status, stories… she even sticks some letters into this…”

“Luster… Dawn?” Haystack gasped “Don’t you say…”

…

“Does this really belong to Luster Dawn, Princess Twilight’s missing personal student?” Zecora gasped when she first saw the diary. “In case you didn’t know, the Princess has ordered her diary as a book. Her wish is that through publishing, she could find her…”

Inside her room somewhere in the ship, Zecora carefully studies the diary that Flash has found previously, along with Haystack and him right on the room floor. Although the air conditioner is running, both Flash and Haystack are sweating, due to the fact that they have quickly ran to her room: Zecora has told Flash if he has something that he thinks is related to his nightmares, he should come to her.

Both of the stallion's eyes went wide when they heard “Princess Twilight’s missing personal student”. What is even more shocking is that the diary is the original one, which means Luster and her friends really have used it to write their thoughts and tell stories.

“So… that explains the Dear Luster letter at the beginning!” Haystack said in surprise, “That really was written by Her Highness herself!”

“Where do you find this?” Zecora asked.

“The navigation room in that wrecked airship!” Haystack answered “…some creature dropped it there…”

“That’s strange…” said Zecora in suspicion “Can it belong to Rainbow Dash herself?”

“I doubt that!” Haystack said.

Three of them looked straight into the diary for a few seconds, thinking about how the diary ended up on the Flash and Dash.

“And… Do you know anything about Princess Twilight?” Flash questioned.

“I don’t know, at least till now…”

…

“Make sure to give me the diary when we meet at lunch.” Haystack said to Flash when they traveled along the hallway, not far from the sick bay “It’s too valuable for some nameless creature, especially if it was you. I don’t want you to steal it and sell it somewhere else and escape this ship. There are tons of consequences that could happen if you do that.”

“Yes… Haystack. But what are we gonna do now?”

“Go to the hangar and help maintain the Strike Zeta! You are the star of the ship now!”

From a corner, a pegasus pony with blue coat and rainbow mane walked towards the couple. She still has hospital clothes on, but she still looks completely healthy. Walking alongside her is Lyra and Bonbon, guiding the blue pegasus through the ship as they take a tour.

“It’s a pleasure to see you here, Lady Rainbow Dash!” Haystack bowed and ordered Flash to do the same.

“Good to see you here too. Hay… Haystack… if I’m not wrong…” she said. “And just call me Rainbow Dash. I’m not that special, soldier!”

“Yes, Rainbow Dash.” The Lieutenant replied.

“And who is this human?” Rainbow Dash then turned to Flash.

“He… He is Ensign Brandon Cultrich, the Strike Zeta pilot that I have told you about before!”

“Yeah, just… saw his photo…'' She looks at Flash slowly with a suspicious eye.

Flash bowed for a second time.

“Lady Rain…”

“Just Rainbow Dash, like I said with Haystack!” she ordered with a slightly grumpy tone.

“And you are the Strike Zeta pilot? Good for you!” she said when Flash standed up right again. “This guy is the star of our operation, like it or not.”

Then, her eyes changed to the diary that Haystack is holding. She gasped when realize what it was.

“Woah! How can you find Luster Dawn’s diary? I find it everywhere!”

“The diary… yes… yes… it was found by one of our soldiers…” Haystack answered by give the diary out “He simply sneaked onto the ship and took it!”

“Ah! I guess I dropped it somewhere in the air…”

She makes a few coughs when trying to say “airship”.

“Rainbow Dash, you’re still…” Lyra tries to calm her.

“Don’t worry, just some anesthetic gas…” Rainbow Dash said while recovering.

“Sorry Lady, but can I ask: why do you bring this along?”

Flash asked. His question makes Haystack angry and attempts to stop him.

“Brandon…”

“Ah… Twilight gives me this as a way to help cure my boredom, as well as if it helps finding Luster Dawn and her friends, this will also be useful too. Those publishers don’t include the photos which were in the original diary.”

“But… sadly” Rainbow said while signaling Haystack to keep the diary “I don’t think this would help, but you…”

She then stared at Flash. Her looks make him feel like she knows every secret he keeps.

“Ensign Brandon, you can keep the diary! Don’t question it!”

Her strange decision shocked every pony.

“M…m… me?” asked Flash as he pointed to himself.