Legends Never Die: Friendship is Magic

by bookhorse125

Beneath the Starlight

“Well. Here we are.”

Zipp snorted. “That’s… one way to put it.”

Sunny cast her a sideways look. “How else would you like me to say it? Is there any other way to say it?”

“Fair point.”

Pipp tore her eyes away from where she was watching Rarity across the deck. “I can’t believe you found them, Sunny,” she said quietly. “And that you brought them here. I mean, that’s just…” She trailed off, shaking her head.

Hitch put his hoof on Sunny’s. “Your dad would be so proud of you,” he told her in a low voice.

Sunny smiled bittersweetly. “Proud? Or insanely jealous?”

“Eh, probably both.”

The five ponies were sitting alone on the deck, the moon bright above them and the stars shining against the black velvet curtain of the sky. Hugo had gone down to join the other creatures belowdecks just a few moments ago; everyone was trying to get some much-needed rest after the chaos of the last few days. Sunny wanted desperately to join them, but she was glad to have this moment with her friends.

“Sunny,” Izzy said slowly, “will you tell us what happened? What really happened?”

“I already told you everything that happened-”

“I know,” the unicorn interrupted. “But… I think there’s more that… that you haven’t told us.”

Sunny took a deep breath and let it out. Izzy was right, as usual. She looked up to the heavens, her eyes wandering until she caught sight of a familiar constellation of five bright stars surrounding a fifth, all faintly pulsing unnatural colors.

“Well,” she said, “I want to start by saying I’m sorry. To you guys. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you when the wolves came. I know you all think that wasn’t my fault, but… still. I should have tried harder, I shouldn’t have left you alone-” She broke off, swallowing and blinking back tears. “My magic ran away from me in the air station, in a way that hasn’t happened for… a long time; in a way that I was afraid of. Ever since we came back from the swamp after we fought with Chrysalis, I’ve been trying to keep my most powerful magic deep inside. I guess I was afraid that using it would bring more of that kind of adventure, and I just… wasn’t ready to go back to that yet.”

“None of us were,” Hitch said, looking down at his hooves.

Sunny shook her head. “That’s still no excuse. But magic doesn’t like to be restrained. It kept on trying to get out. Zipp, remember before earth ponies got their magic, how my alicorn form would keep on appearing at random times? I think that’s why. And then in the air station… it just all came out. I’ve never felt that powerful before… or that scared. It kept me safe from the wolves, but it wasn’t enough to save you. And I got mad, and I was so scared, and so, so…” She paused for a moment, trying to find the right word.

“Heartbroken.”

“Oh, Sunny…” Izzy put her arms around Sunny and hugged her.

“Misty escaped through the together tree,” Sunny continued, “but I could barely think. I thought I had last you guys forever. I told Misty to go after the Elements of Harmony, so that at least the rest of Equestria would be protected, while I went to face Grogar alone.”

“What did you think you were going to do?” Hitch demanded, a protective note creeping into his voice.

Sunny shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t know. It didn’t matter to me. I had to do something, and that was all I could think of.” She took a deep breath. For some reason, she couldn’t bring herself to tell them the real reason she had gone willingly to Grogar: a part of her had wanted to give up. Completely. Forever. Permanently.

“Anyway… I found him at Opaline’s lair, but on my way there, I ran into Midge, and he was disguised as Sprout, but I didn’t realize the whole story. I went to what was left of Opaline’s castle, and I found this… massive, jagged rip in the sky. Then Grogar showed up, and while I was trying to escape, I fell into the portal and turned up in Ancient Equestria. Twilight found me, brought me to the School of Friendship, and there… there I had a… a talk.”

“With who?” Zipp wanted to know.

“The Spirit of the Tree of Harmony. Look, I know it sounds crazy, but sometimes the Tree of Harmony manifests itself in the form of a pony and talks to me. It hasn’t happened for a while - not since we defeated Chrysalis. But there's this chamber under the school that’s connected to the Tree, and I thought… well, I thought it could answer some of my questions. And it… it told me that the shadow wolves were coming, and that I would be the only one who would be able to defeat them.”

There was a brief moment of silence. “And?” Pipp prodded gently.

“And I thought it was crazy,” Sunny burst out. “My magic never worked like it was supposed to, and I was afraid of it, and afraid of me, and the wolves, and afraid that I would fail, and that I wouldn’t lose only my friends but my heroes and ruin everything forever-” She broke off abruptly, shivering even though the breeze was warm.

Izzy put her arm around Sunny’s shoulders. She was soon followed by Hitch, and then Zipp and Pipp, and Sunny felt her friends’ embrace around her and knew that they loved her anyway.

“But the wolves wanted me. They said that if they got me, they would let the rest of them go. And I agreed. I wasn’t going to let any more ponies suffer because of me. So the wolf grabbed me and dragged me in…” She shuddered, remembering. “It was awful in there.”

“You don’t know the worst of it,” Zipp said abruptly, her voice sharp. Sunny quickly turned to look at her, worried, and saw the pegasus staring at her hooves with an angry expression, her eyes rimmed with red. “You don’t know how they get to everyone else.”

“They show you things,” Hitch murmured, his voice almost inaudible. “Things that… that you wish were real. Impossible things. But it makes you think that… if you just give in and let it take you… then maybe they’ll come true.”

“Somehow they know,” Pipp added. “They know exactly what you want to see the most, and it is impossible to refuse. And then right when you submit and let go-”

“Darkness.” Izzy’s voice was so unlike her that for a moment the other ponies wondered who was talking. “Nothing but darkness as far as you can see. And cold. So cold and dark that the sun fades into a distant memory. And you’re alone, but you can sense it there, watching you, waiting… And the more scared you are, the happier it gets. And if you’re not scared, then you’re wracked with guilt that you chose this, that this was because of you.”

“And if you’re not,” Zipp added darkly, “then it makes you scared. It does - it does awful, awful things-” She broke off, her wings twitching. Pipp put her arms around her sister and hugged her tight.

“But then you came, Sunny,” Pipp said, her voice brightening. “There was this golden light, and then a magic rope wrapped around me and pulled me out of the darkness. It… it didn’t want to let go… but the light was stronger.” She smiled at Sunny. “You were stronger.”

“You said that you found Sprout in the lead shadow wolf,” Hitch said after a moment. “Tell us about that.”

“There’s nothing more to tell,” Sunny said, a bit frustratedly. She felt the need to defend Sprout from her friends, though she wasn’t quite sure why. More than anything, though, she wanted them to forgive him as she had, to believe that he had once been their friend and could be again. “Look, I know better than anypony what Sprout did before magic came back, but I also know that he’s changed.”

“What makes you so sure?” Hitch asked, harsher than he intended.

“Because the wolf did everything it could to stop him from believing me,” Sunny said quietly. “And you didn’t see him in Ancient Equestria. If it weren’t for him, we wouldn’t have been able to defeat all those wolves. And I… I trust him.”

“I’ve learned pretty quickly not to trust him,” Hitch said in a dangerous voice.

“He’s a coward,” Zipp added.

Sunny shut her eyes and lowered her head. “I used to think that, too,” she said quietly. “But I was always so unsure about it. Now, I know he’s changed, and I trust him. If you guys still don’t, then that’s fine, but know that I do.” She stood up and took one last breath of the cool night air. “I’m going to get some sleep. We’re going to need it.”

She walked over to one of two sets of stairs on opposite sides of the bridge that led down to the inside of the ship and soon disappeared. One by one, her friends followed suit, until only Hitch was left sitting on the deck. He kept his face carefully passive and looked like he was considering something not entirely pleasant. Finally, he gave a determined nod and joined the rest of the sleeping creatures belowdecks.

But not everyone was sleeping.

Flurry Heart had been flying in slow circles around the zeppelin that whole time, and a little while after Hitch had finally gone to bed, she swooped down and lighted on the deck, the wind tossing her curls about as she walked softly to the front of the ship and and sat there, resting her chin on the railing and closing her eyes as she allowed herself to simply breathe.

She heard quiet hoofsteps behind her but didn’t need to look up to see who it was; she already knew. There was only one pony it could be.

Twilight sat beside Flurry, and for a moment neither of them said anything.

“You should get some sleep,” Twilight finally said after a brief silence.

Flurry shrugged. “I’m not that tired.”

Twilight sighed. “You and I both know that’s not true. You’re exhausted, I’m exhausted, we’re all exhausted. And you’re going to need your rest tomorrow. So tell me what’s going on.”

The pale pink alicorn was silent for a moment before answering. She felt the gravity of her answer in her chest, and a strange, unspeakable fear of saying it outloud.

“I’m just… I’m scared that… if I go to sleep, I’ll wake up, and… it will all be a dream.”

Tears inexplicably welled up in her eyes as a lump lodged itself in her throat, and Flurry ducked her head, feeling a bit embarrassed. Twilight slid closer and put her wing around her niece, pulling her in and wrapping her in a hug. Flurry leaned her head on Twilight’s shoulder, and Twilight rested her head on top of Flurry’s. For a moment, the two alicorns just sat there in the calm of the night.

“You know that I will have to leave after this is all over,” Twilight said quietly.

“I know.” Flurry swallowed. “I’m happy to be here with you now, though.” She took a deep breath, feeling calmer now. “How much do you know?”

“Sunny told me… she told me everything she knows.”

“So you know.” Flurry pressed herself tighter into her aunt’s embrace. “You know how… how I’m here. You know how it ends.”

“It never ended,” Twilight said quietly. “Sunny is proof of that. And… I always knew that there would be some evil that I alone would not be strong enough to defeat. But I was never afraid of that. The light is always greater than the darkness, remember that.”

Flurry nodded, but she knew that there was part of the story that, even then, Twilight didn’t know.

Author's Note:

Okay, first things first, I'm sorry I didn't publish anything last week. I got my wisdom teeth pulled and had a bunch of other stuff going on, and I didn't get a chance to work on this story at all. So I'm sorry about that.

The second thing is, there will be another chapter coming, although whether that's going to be today or on Monday remains to be seen, because I was working on it last night, and I was ALMOST done with it, and then the whole thing deleted. So I'm going to do my best to reconstruct it, but I don't know if it'll be able to be published today, and if it's not, then I'm sorry about that, too.

But for now, here's one chapter to hold you off. Thanks for being patient with me...

Constructive criticism is appreciated. Thank you for reading!

Comments

[Yoshifan30]

Pipp tore her eyes away from where she was watching Rarity across the deck. “I can’t believe you found them, Sunny,” she said quietly. “And that you brought them here . I mean, that’s just…” She trailed off, shaking her head.

I mean there was no choice since Twilight and the others really want to help out no matter what

[Yoshifan30]

Sunny shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t know. It didn’t matter to me. I had to do something, and that was all I could think of.” She took a deep breath. For some reason, she couldn’t bring herself to tell them the real reason she had gone willingly to Grogar: a part of her had wanted to give up. Completely. Forever. Permanently.

Oh dang I know this sounds a little dark and I really hate thinking like but it sounds like she almost wanted to commit suicide 😰

[Yoshifan30]

“I’ve learned pretty quickly not to trust him,” Hitch said in a dangerous voice.

“He’s a coward,” Zipp added.

Seriously I really hope they get the memory stone or whatever so they can actually see and remember what Sprouts did for them

[Yoshifan30]

Boy this was a pretty heavy situation here so Sunny kind of explained about the whole situation to her friends what happened and the experience they went through when the wolf capture them and it was a pretty heavy one as I said but I wonder if they ever going to get their memories of sprout because they need to know the truth about him what he did for them after that it looks like flurry heart is thinking about everything but then Twilight came to her comforting her basically just talking and the young one is afraid to tell her what happened to Twilight I wonder how this will all work out I guess we'll find out next time

[Magic135]

I'm glad Flurry is spending time with Twilight and I hope the others trust Sprout in the future. But I wonder what happened to Sparky.