Re:Harmony

by starcross7

92 - Tune the Rainbow

Chapter 92 - Tune the Rainbow

Shield magic was proportionate to the stamina and the will of the caster, but will alone could only afford a few extra seconds. Twilight's Aegis Shield spell blocked the bombs before they could hit her friends and the Spitfire's crew. She concentrated so hard on that spell that the screams and explosions merged into a muddle. Her eyes were open, but she could not see anything but shapes and blurs. She did not know if everypony fled to safety or if the bombardment had ceased.

The dangers of spell casting persisted even in the most talented of unicorns, and Twilight was no exception. The strain on her mind and body caused one momentary lapse of concentration, and her Aegis Shield blinked off. A few seconds were enough for one more bomb to hurtle down her way. At moment's panic, she tried casting once more, but only sparks fizzled from her horn.

Just then, a bright yellow shield spell enveloped her. While the bomb detonated, no harm came to be. After breathing a sigh of relief, Twilight gathered her senses and wiped the sweat off her brow. She found that her savior, the alicorn Sunny, had cast a similar spell that protected the purple unicorn and the rest of the crew fleeing back into the Spitfire. Sunny trotted to Twilight with magnificent poise with her horn glowing bright yellow. Not once did her shield spell flicker at the slightest. Her ease of casting these spells would make any unicorn both enamored and envious, though for the Twilight it was more of the latter. As usual, Sunny comforted Twilight by nuzzling her with a slight lick on her cheek.

"I am here for you," said Sunny, "Come now. The Spitfire is this way."

Duke Blueblood's Silvercurse still affected one of Sunny's wings, which prevented her from flying, but she used her other wing as a comfort shield to drape over Twilight's body. Together the white alicorn and the purple unicorn ran side by side, but they lagged behind to make everypony retreated ahead of them.

The closer Twilight and Sunny approached the airship, the smaller the spell became, and soon it shrank to an infinitesimal point on the tip of Sunny’s horn once the two had finally boarded. It felt like a long time when the rear hatch closed shut, but they found no relief inside. Almost every frantic crewmember flew or galloped off to their battle stations as the airship rapidly ascended. Even with it rumbling violently, no pony lost their balance, and no amount of falling or sliding material broke their concentration or caused them to trip. It was chaos in the hangar, and yet everypony moved with automatic precision. Everypony knew what they were doing, and the only pony who was the exemption was Twilight.

"You are probably wondering if there is something you can do," Sunny said.

She read her mind. As insightful as that statement was, Twilight would sometimes find her alicorn friend's wisdom unsettling.

"There's so much going on," said Twilight. "Applejack's little sister has been kidnapped and it feels as if the airship is going to fall apart if I don't do something."

"Have faith in the crew, my dear Twilight. The ship will hold, but at times like these, it would behoove you to come to the aid of your friends. They will need your support more than ever."

I should go to my friends? That would be the logical conclusion since the enemy assaulted Rarity's sister and kidnapped Apple Bloom. However small it was, Twilight now knew her role, and yet she wondered what part Sunny would play now. Before she could even ask her, the airship suffered a hard roll to the side before settling itself. The tremors had knocked several cloudskiffs out from their cranes and lifts, and one of them hurtled towards Sunny's direction.

To Twilight's amazement, Sunny easily stopped an entire vehicle from falling out of its compartment with a single hoof.

"Go now," said Sunny. "I will assist the ponies here."

As suspicious as she was towards Sunny, Twilight felt she could trust her wholeheartedly. Slowly the unicorn turned around and started their path into the metal hallways of the creaking airship. She barely made twenty paces when the explosions rocked her off half of her hooves, and if not for the safety rails, Twilight would have lost balance and fall over. Frantic ponies and flocks of birds ran and flew down the hallways, with almost each of them brushing against the unicorn's fur every time they passed by her. She then arrived at a crossway where a gaggle of irritable geese honked aggressively at Twilight and snapping their beaks towards her. This was way was blocked. She was already halfway into the airship, and there would be no time for her turn around to find another path if she were to avoid her fur being plucked by the angry avians.

Suddenly, Fluttershy descended upon them like an angel. Upon her landing, she gently touched each goose with the tip of her hoof, and had miraculously sent them off down another hallway without any words. With the geese safely gone, another tremor of the airship induced panic into Fluttershy, causing her to yelp and fall into Twilight's hooves.

“I’m sorry!” cried Fluttershy. “I didn’t know you were there. I’m so glad that you’re not hurt, Twilight. I don't know how all of this could go wrong. I truly believe that Rainbow Dash never intended this to happen, and now we're fleeing for our lives. All the ponies are in a panic and all the little birds are scared. Maybe I shouldn't have left the forest with you girls, because I don't know how I can take much more of this."

"Fluttershy, you don't know how happy we are to have you in the group," said Twilight. "You're braver than you realize, and I'm brave because you’re here.”

“I’m brave?”

“It’s your concern for others that makes you one of the bravest ponies I have ever known. Fluttershy, we need to find others and come up with a plan to rescue Apple Bloom. Do you know where they went?"

"We kind of split off when we boarded the airship. I do know that Rarity took her sister to the infirmary."

"That's where we'll go next."

Fluttershy's renewed bravely allowed her to take flight once more, and she led Twilight further down the airship. To their horror, stretchers and wounded ponies started to fill up the hallway. Yet many of the wounded wanted to rise back up to continue fighting only to be shoved back down to bed by a Dr. Octavia and the reprogrammed robopony Deep Blue. They barely exchanged hellos though they could not hear each other over sound of deafening explosions and the groans of the wounded. A duo of gurneys blocked the way forward, and before Twilight and Fluttershy could find another path, Deep Blue singlehoofedly lifted the gurneys to allow the two mares to pass.

Injured ponies in gurneys filled the infirmary to the brim, giving Twilight and Fluttershy little to no room to walk or even fly around. Only one pony, or rather, one baby dragon was the perfect size to move back and forth to tend to the wounded. Like clockwork, Spike handed off oat bar snacks and water to the other patients in the beds right before dashing into a sectioned off area at the end of the room where the silhouette of a dignified mare with a curly mane and tail could be seen from behind the lace curtains. Twilight and Fluttershy squeezed in and found Rarity magicking various blankets, hot towels, and food on top of her little sister who was swatting them off one by one with her free hoof. Even now, the petite princess tightly grasped Applejack's Stetson hat that was lent to Apple Bloom with her other hoof, and she would not let it go despite her older sister’s insistence.

"I said I'm fine!" cried Sweetie Belle. "It's only a scraped knee!"

"Scraped knee!" Rarity repeated. "Sweetie Belle, you could have gotten an infection! I have heard that Gaea used something called 'biological agents' during their never-ending war against Pegasopolis. These agents are littered around the Ghastly Gorge and Appleloosa."

"I don't have an infection either. Ugh, why are we here in the first place? We have to rescue Apple Bloom!"

"Please don't yell at Rarity, Sweetie Belle," said Fluttershy. "Your sister is only worried about you."

"I know how angry you are," said Twilight, "but if you don't have control over your emotions, you'll do more harm to your friend if you try to rescue her yourself."

"Lady Twilight and Lady Fluttershy are right," said Rarity. "Even in this situation, a lady must remain noble, composed, and dignified as much as possible. Do not worry my little sister. I promise that I would do everything in my power to rescue your dear friend Apple Bloom."

"You promise?"

"I promise. Er, cross my heart hope to fly and stick a… What was that last part?"

"Stick a cupcake in your eye," said Spike.

"Thank you, Sir Spike. Oh, and please be a darling and look after my sister along with the rest of the wounded. I'm going to have a little girl talk with my friends. It won't be long."

Twilight felt the tug of Rarity's magic pulling her and Fluttershy out of the crowded infirmary and further away from it. Once they were one room away from the makeshift infirmaries, the Diamond Princess immediately collapsed into Fluttershy's hooves.

"Thank the stars you came!" she wept. "I didn't know how long I could keep up my composure for my darling little sister."

"What's wrong?" Twilight asked.

"As you can see, I am terribly disheartened of the news that Coco Pommel has been a spy for the Gaean Empire. Sweet little Coco! To think she would go deep into hostile territory garbed in the most gaudy of combat fatigues that a xenophobic country could ever come up with."

"But Rarity," said Fluttershy, "you've designed similar outfits that Pinkie Pie and I, um, ‘borrowed’ back in the Crystal Empire."

"I was going through a phase, darling. Besides, the materials I used are much finer than the cheap mass-produced fabric Gaea uses for their citizens. Coco must be suffering if she has to put up with it on a daily basis."

"Are you planning on rescue Apple Bloom by yourself?"

"A lady never backs out on a promise, especially to her own sister. Alas, I am not as prepared mentally and physically to take on the daunting task."

"You don't have to do it alone," said Twilight. "I was planning on launching a counterattack against that enemy airship, but we need to find our friends and get to the bridge. I'm sure we'll find Applejack there."

"And Pinkie Pie?" asked Fluttershy.

"I have a feeling that she'll find us."

In truth, Twilight's own mind did not believe her own words, but she felt certain in her heart that somehow and someway they would bump into their pink earth pony friend. She then started running down the halls as quickly as possible with her peripheral vision noting Rarity and Fluttershy's position behind her for about every ten paces. They managed to keep up all the way to the elevator access to the bridge. To their dismay, the elevator was out of order and billowing black smoke. Twilight then led her friends to the stairwell, but they barely climbed one flight before an explosion blocked off their access.

Twilight protected Fluttershy and Rarity from the debris with her magic, but she could only keep up her Aegis Shield for so long until fatigue and a blizzard set in. The enemy's weapons had opened up a large metal hole to the sky outside. Despite the snowstorm, Twilight and her two friends could still see black jets and missiles cutting through the cloud and winds and the outnumbered pegasi forces attempting to take them down. The wind was too strong for Twilight to levitate her friends up to safety, and she did not believe she would make it in time. She could not focus on returning to the lower levels, for she saw another missile hurtling towards her from afar.

The missile nearly breached the hole when a pink blur zipped past Twilight. She heard a loud "clunk" and the weapon spun away from the airship until a gray pegasi with a blonde mane and tail destroyed it with a rapid-fire Atmos bubble blast. Then they saw the pink wonder with her Pinkie Gear blazing like a beacon, and she balanced on her front hoof with a wide smile on her face.

"Ten already!" cried Pinkie Pie. "I've reached double digits! Oh, hi girls! I didn't know you were there. Do you wanna play Kick the Missile with Derpy and me?"

"It's quite all right, darling," said Rarity. "It's getting kind of cold, and we need to get to the bridge as soon as possible."

"The bridge? That's where Applejack is! I was planning going there to cheer her up with a cake replica of her. Get on my back and hang tight. Oh, and don't worry about me. I'm good for not needing an uplifting pep talk to remind me of my role as the bearer of the Element of Pleasure."

Pinkie Pie did not afford Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy an ounce of protest of her method of transport up towards the bridge. Pinkie's Pinkie Gear flashed and almost like magic they felt like they teleported to the top of the stairwell. The speed was much more instantaneous than Twilight's teleportation and carried a lot of vertigo along with it. Twilight barely held onto her lunch when and her friends attained firm footing, and with the airship rocking violently, it took longer for them to recover. They had to stumble their way out of the doorway and into the crowded bridge filled with ponies dashing back and forth from one computer terminal to another. In contrast to the stinging cold of the skies, the bridge felt like a sauna due to stress and sweat. Papers littered the floor, and empty beverage cans and bottles rolled back and forth every time the Spitfire suffered another hit from the enemy airship's missiles. Miraculously, the windows had not been shattered to pieces yet. It could be assumed that they were reinforced and bulletproof, but as tough as they were, those panes were cracking. Here, Twilight found Applejack standing in a corner, but her appearance appeared more haggard than ever. That would be understandable considering that her sister had just been kidnapped.

"Applejack, you're here," said Twilight.

"Twilight," said Pinkie Pie. "That's not AJ. She's over there."

Perhaps she still has not recovered from Pinkie's speed jump, because Twilight saw two Applejacks. The one in the corner looked like it was melting and smelt of sugar frosting. The other one--the real one--stood about a leg's length from where the Spa Twins Aloe and Lotus were trying to take control of the wheel from one another. The purple unicorn and her friends ditched the creepy cake replica of Applejack and gathered around the real one.

"Twi, thank goodness you're here," said Applejack. "I hope you know of a spell to get these twins to stop fightin' and get to rescuin' my sister."

"What's going on?" Twilight asked.

"Aloe--or was it Lotus? One of them wants to retreat to their base to get more weapons and ponies for support, and the other wants to turn around and fight the huge black airship that's whalin' at us from behind. Obviously Aloe or Lotus don't wanna go to their base 'cause it's supposed to be an important secret, but the other says that this airship can't take any more damage if it stays in the air. I hate to say this, but that blue pervert of a captain knows how to run a crew. Too bad she had to be all gung-ho and attempt fight off that Spitfire look-alike."

"Wait, that airship looks like this one?"

"I don't know my airships very well, but the one chasin' us looks like a bigger and badder version of this one."

Applejack was right. Even with the enemy in hot pursuit, the Spitfire managed to collect visual data of black airship on an overhead screen off to the right. The overall dagger-like shape was unmistakable, but if the enemy copied the strengths of the Spitfire, they must have also copied its weaknesses. A sharp grin drew across Twilight's face as the detailed schematics of the Spitfire flooded her visual memory. Having Rainbow Dash kiss her was an offense, but she felt that she transferred her courage straight into her soul.

Twilight motioned to Applejack and Pinkie Pie to get ready. In a blink, she separated the Spa Twins from the wheel, and Lotus and Aloe found themselves held against their will in the hooves the orange rebel and the former party prisoner. Ironic that they would be doing this in the most opportune time. Twilight and Applejack had planned to take over the Spitfire, but not in these circumstances.

"Helmsmare," Twilight said to Cherry Berry who had stood off to the side the whole time. "Drive the airship fifteen degrees port side. We're going to hide in that thunderstorm for as long as we can."

"What are you doing, Miss Twilight?" asked Lotus. "Don't tell me you are committing mutiny."

"We're not. We're going to rescue Apple Bloom and destroy that enemy airship in one fell swoop."

"Even if the Captain approves," said Aloe, "the airship cannot take any more damage even inside a thunderstorm. She will fall apart if you attempt to fire our main weapon."

"I assure you that won't happen."

"One blast might not be enough to put a dent on the enemy airship."

"One blast is all we need. We can fight back because I know that Rainbow Dash has gathered up the best crew anypony could ask for. This is something she would do, and with my detailed knowledge of the Spitfire and my organization skills, I know we can win!"

"She's tellin' the truth, y'all," said Applejack. "If not for her, we would have frozen our plots off before we met you gals."

"Why would you help us after our Captain has deceived you?" asked Lotus.

"Besides needin' this airship to rescue my little sis, you and Rainbow Dash ain't all that bad."

"Even if she did kiss me," said Twilight as she stuck her tongue out in disgust.

"Very well," said Lotus. "Aloe, relay to the crew news of the temporary leadership of Miss Twilight Sparkle and that they must follow her orders to the letter."

"Sister," protested Aloe. "The crew is very important to our Captain."

"Yes they are, but a little filly is in danger, a sister to one of our guests. You can imagine how I would react if you were taken away from me."

"Or you from me."

"I believe in Miss Twilight Sparkle. I can see it in her eyes that she has fought in many deadly battles before, and like our Captain, she has survived. Our crew will be safe."

Comments

[raw666]

Great work on the chapter, hope you keep up the good work.

[Backlash91]

that chapter came and went far too quickly, but I loved it nonetheless! MOAR! I pray for maor chapters!

[Crimson Dawn]

Lol Twilight does not want the kiss but Pinkie probably would.

[PiMan]

Needs editing. The chapter content was good but the spelling and/or grammar was poor.

[Satto Kez]

YAY UPDATE! To bad it seemed so short to me... or maybe I'm just reading faster now... because even 6k chapters seem short to me now... odd.