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His Dark Creation has Been Revealed

The next morning arrived, and after breakfast we gathered to discuss plans and the next day's actions. We had a large map to look at, and this would help us with planning our route for the rest of the journey.

Hitch noticed I wasn't saying a huge amount. "Everything OK, Sunny?"

I looked up at him, partly so he could see the bags under my eyes. "I haven't been sleeping well."

"Oh, what a tragedy," Pipp said, her voice positively sarcarstic in its tone.

"Really, Pipp?" Izzy asked. "Go on, Sunny. Tell us what happened."

"Well," I replied, "they seem to be warnings of danger. Of something we need to prevent, or at the very least minimise. The scenes I've seen have been filled with destruction and apocalyptic imagery- I fear some sort of apocalypse is coming, one that only we can prevent."

There were a few moments of silence, and then Hitch spoke. "Anything more specific?"

"I'd prefer not to recall the specific visions," I replied, as I looked down into the fire below us. "But there were a lot of machines, and disasters, and other similar displays of destruction. I think somepony plans to wage war on ponykind to destroy it."

"The General?" Misty suggested. "But what would he get from destroying the world?"

"The guy lost his marbles a long time ago," Pipp said dispassionately.

Wait, Lost his Marbles? That sounds like a very un Pipp thing to say. Just who was she? Could she be another human after all?

Hitch glanced over, a caring smile on his face. "I know I may have been harsh on you before. But now we have a real chance to fix things and put the world back on track. I think I know which way we're going. We can cut across this field and make our way back to Bridlewood at speed, and then once the crystals are in place we can go home."

With that, the last of the food was eaten, and our campsite was slowly packed up and put into carrying objects that Izzy concealed in her strange invisible storage space she carried with her. I still had no clue how it worked. That mare sure was a mystery, a mystery I was still figuring out to myself. Along with other things.

We made our way along a rock ledge and began to descend into a rolling meadow. The scenery was pretty lovely, but my mind was currently focused on Pipp. She'd hardly said anything apart from snarky remarks the entire morning, and this concerned me greatly. We trudged along through the landscape, Hitch consulting a map every now and then as we made our way towards our destination a few hundred miles away.

The going was pretty easy for most of us. But Izzy seemingly kept wandering off on tangents. Seems she hasn't completely lost her cloudcookoolander nature completely. And why should she? It's part of what makes her who she is.

My attention was suddenly attracted to a scream of frustration from nearby. "AARGH! BESTIE! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO PACK IN ON ME NOW?!"

I looked over and saw Pipp, who seemed to be in the middle of a temper tantrum. Although normally quite friendly, I did get the impression at points she was pretty spoiled. "I HATE THIS STUPID PLACE!"

Hearing this, I dashed over to her. "Hey, are you OK?"

"What do you think?" Pipp snapped, looking at me. "Does my face look OK to you? Does anything look OK to you?"

"There's no need to be-"

"No, Sunny, you've done quite enough talking for today, so how about trying something you find hard- listening?" Pipp's sudden outburst had me stunned into silence, and I simply stared, wide eyed, as Pipp went on with her rant.

"Absolutely everything has gone wrong! My mane and coat have mud in them, my hooves are scuffed from all this damned walking, and we're living like primitives! I had to relieve myself in a bush earlier today! Do you have any idea how dirty that felt?"

I blinked. Truth be told I'd never had an issue answering the call of nature behind a bush.

"Not only that, the stunt you pulled? You left me hanging- literally! In that spotlight! I know what type of friend leaves somepony out to dry like that! A REALLY SHITTY ONE!"

I jumped back in surprise. The last thing I'd expected to ever hear was Pipp swearing.

"I had to watch them beating mom up as I escaped! Now mom and Zipp are probably dead or in a crummy jail cell with only cheddar and bread to eat... and it's all your fault. So I think at the very least you need to say sorry to me, instead of being all high and mighty and constantly throwing your problems our way."

My heart sank, and I dropped my head. "P- Pipp," I stammered, trying to hold my emotions back. "I know this'll sound hollow, but I truly am sorry for the mess I've caused. I've been a terrible friend, and I've only made things worse. But I promise that I'll make things up to you, no matter what happens. We'll fix this world, save your family, and get things back on track- just not neccesarily in that order."

The pain of the nightmare and the accusations came flooding back.

"You really think this is what I wanted? The destruction of the world? A thief of a filly?"

"You left me out to dry, Sunny! How could you? HOW COULD YOU?!"

"You couldn't leave the past alone, could you?"

"I HATE YOU, SUNNY! YOU CAN BURN IN TARTARUS FOR ALL I CARE!"

And what made it hardest of all was that they were right. It was all true. I'd been so focused on living the life of a character I liked I'd lost sight of what my actions were doing to others.

It was this realisation that caused the dam to break, so to speak, and I did something I haven't done in years.

Cry.

I don't remember a lot of what happened next, but what I do recall is Pipp pulling me into a hug and trying to comfort me. I don't recall exactly what she said, but I know it was enough to get me back on my hooves so to speak, and that way we could continue on our journey.

And that was before we got confirmation that Pipp also was a human, or former human. Talk about a very small world. But if she'd originally been from a not great background and had been, by force of fate, been propelled into luxury, that would explain her reluctance to leave it behind.

That night we sat around another campfire perched on a ledge. We sat and chatted with each other, mostly. Misty seemed to be having quite the lively chat with Pipp about manestyling, and Hitch was sitting over by himself. With some encouragement, he made his way back over to us and sat down. I suspect the s'mores convinced him to come and sit with us. Who can resist a good s'more, after all?

I took a look at the map. "Well, not far to go now," I said. "Next stop, Bridlewood. We'll put the three crystals together, bring magic back, and hopefully fix the world while we're at it."

Misty spoke up. "You do remember that in the movie that putting the crystals together at that point didn't work?"

"I have seen the film, remember?" I replied. "But they only had two of them. All three might do the trick." But it was then I noticed Izzy looking down into the fire. She looked quite upset, so I decided to check everything was OK, hoping it would go better than with Pipp. "What's wrong, Izzy?"

Izzy looked up at me. "Something Hitch said to me has got me thinking. He said the sooner we get this over we can go home. But I don't think I want to."

"You don't want to go back to Bridlewood?" I asked, confused. Why wouldn't she want to return to a place she knew so well? Sorry, roleplaying a bit too hard there.

"No," she said. "I mean I wouldn't want to go back to the human world, even if I could. My old life was so dull, and I was unhappy. Being here and going on this adventure has been the best thing that has ever happened to me. As Izzy, I've never felt more comfortable in my own skin. Even if things aren't going to plan."

I spotted Pipp nodding in encouragement, and possibly also in agreement to that sentiment. I certainly understood the feeling. "That's true," I said. "Being in Equestria is a dream come true for me too. But we can have our world's magic back, and things can go back to how they were!"

"How can we when so much has gone wrong?" Izzy asked. "How is there any hope left?"

I looked at Izzy from across the campfire, and remembered some words spoken in a book I had read a long time ago. "I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. Do you remember the old stories?"

"Which ones?"

"The old stories we used to be told as kids, or foals I guess. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened?" I paused. "But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why." I paused again. "But I think, Izzy, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something."

"What was that?" Izzy asked.

"That there’s some good in this world, Izzy… and it’s worth fighting for.”

Hitch looked at me. "Did you just quote Lord of the Rings?"

Author's Note:

That was quite an interesting chapter to write. One criticism of the film was Sunny's tendancy to steamroll through issues without considering the views or needs of others, something she admittedly got better at in Make your Mark. It felt only fitting to address it here, and for that I drew on some fan media for inspiration.

Pipp and Sunny's 'conversation' is modelled on a hypothetical scene drafted by FOB Equestria in his review of the film, which you can watch below:

(Skip to 38:02 for the scene.)

Now, I don't agree with a lot of what he says, but I think he makes a fair point about Sunny's characterisation.

The concluding campfire scene in modelled on a similar one in Lord of the Rings, and Sunny quotes the text with a few changes. I'd previously had a similar scene in one of the stories in the Legends of Equestria series.

Can Sunny patch things up despite the chaos she's caused? Only one way to find out.

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The Blue EM2

The Blue EM2 #1 · Dec 13th, 2023 · 1 · ·

More chapters for your perusal.

Comickook

Comickook #2 · Dec 13th, 2023 · 1 · ·

Another really well done chapter with great exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up. REALLY liked the chat "Sunny" had with "Pipp" as well as the reflections on the nightmares concerning "her" family and friends calling her out and acknowledging the truth, the discussion with "Hitch" concerning the possible future visions reminding her of the tight timetable they are on right now (meaning more justification for the rush job instead of taking more time on reunification [especially since some of that general's goons might be heading out to try to bomb Bridlewood]) as well as the chat with "Izzy" about how at least a few of them might not have had lives they WANTED to get back to/would be worth getting back to AND "Misty" pointing out that getting all three of the Crystals together is only going to be step one in getting magic back - it will also take reunifying the ponies themselves (which will be more difficult, but not impossible). "Hitch's" catch on the "Lord of the Rings"-inspired speech was a great place to end the chapter.

Anyway, REALLY looking forward to more of this.

The Blue EM2

The Blue EM2 #3 · Dec 13th, 2023 · 1 · ·

11773997
A common argument used by G5's critics is that there's no reason to be rushing about in the film-which can be easily disproven by just watching the movie. I felt adding some of the discussions would help build the characters a bit, seeing as in the movie they all get along quite fast, almost as if there's a scene missing. Of course, our heroes have the benefit of hindsight-they have a working knowledge of what's going on, but as you point out Gulfstream has thrown a spanner in the works.

ScisetShimmerEvan

ScisetShimmerEvan #4 · Dec 13th, 2023 · 2 · ·

Wait, Lost his Marbles? That sounds like a very un Pipp thing to say. Just who was she? Could she be another human after all?

She is.

With that, the last of the food was eaten, and our campsite was slowly packed up and put into carrying objects that Izzy concealed in her strange invisible storage space she carried with her. I still had no clue how it worked. That mare sure was a mystery, a mystery I was still figuring out to myself. Along with other things.

Best to just go with it. Kinda like it is for Pinkie too.

"Absolutely everything has gone wrong! My mane and coat have mud in them, my hooves are scuffed from all this damned walking, and we're living like primitives! I had to relieve myself in a bush earlier today! Do you have any idea how dirty that felt?"

If Zipp were here, she'd know whst to do.