Moving forward isn't easy sometimes. Sometimes, you just need a little help from others. Others who will help you find your spark...
Moving forward isn't easy sometimes; Sometimes, you just need a little help from others. Others who will help you find your spark. The spark to start over, the spark to live, the spark to keep going...a spark that will never burn out within the darkness... And that's why RainbowSpark will help four poor souls who are suffering by the hands of a evil being, who goes by many names. Names like Reader, Destiny, Watcher, Writer, and now as Fayth. Spark, along with different versions of the mane six, Starlight and Sunset, will show Fayth that even if she can rewrite someone's story to become a sad and awful bad ending, it can still be rewritten into something happier—a happier ending—something that will make the poor souls she has tormented happy again. ...all it takes is just a spark. A different kind of spark. The spark that resides in the hearts of all. ...Friendship.
Cover Art by @P_Peregrine on Twitter Edit: featured on 5/13/2024! My second story making it to the front page! THANK YOU!
Birds chirped, the warm breeze blew all around, the trees rustled, and the sounds of animals in the woods echoed throughout the peaceful forest. The silence between Rainbow Spark and her sister's parents helped make the noise stand out, making it all the more apparent to the group.
Twilight coughed and asked Spark what she meant. "What do you mean, 'Who am I?'? Have you forgotten who you are?"
Spark shook her head, and a tear formed in the corner of her eye. "It's not that I forgot who I am; I don't even know if I'm my own person or just basing who I am from Nightfall and Rainbow Sky." She sat on the grassy ground. "Or maybe I was wrong, and my sister's traits and personality were their own, and it WAS me who just copied it!"
Twilight could see Spark was struggling with this dilemma, so she did the only thing she knew how: she comforted her somewhat daughter by hugging her.
"It's gonna be okay."
For once, Spark felt calm and like she finally had something—that something was family. She was going to hug Twilight back, but what she heard from Twilight made her sadder than ever.
"It's gonna be okay, Braver."
Twilight quickly caught what she said and broke the hug, trying to come up with a quick explanation. "Oh! Sorry, sweetie, I-I-I meant... um..."
"I'm not Braver, Twilight." she started to cry. "Or maybe I am? This is what I'm talking about; who am I!? Really!"
Twilight felt awful, and she made things worse for Spark. She wanted to help but felt Twilah's hand on her shoulder and saw Twilah sitting beside her.
"Spark, what you feel is Imposter syndrome," Twilah explained. "This condition results in people feeling like a fraud or a phony, and it's common for those who suffer from it to feel inadequate and undeserving. Even though they know it's not true, it doesn't stop the feeling from haunting them."
Twilah then looked at her, and she felt a slight pain in her heart. The pain of knowing her daughter, Blitz, was genuinely gone, and the only remains were Spark. Nightfall and Sky shared with her and the others here that Spark is the actual clone of those two, not Braver and Blitz. The twins were just the slime that copied Spark's DNA, taking Sky and Nightfall's DNA and making the twins look like them slightly. Spark kept the twins, or, in this case, the slime, alive as whatever Nightfall's father did to them, they would die if they were removed from Spark's element harmony-like orb. By keeping them alive, Spark was forced to live within her custom-made element core, watching through her sister's eyes of the outside world, never living it, only watching. To save all of the multiverses, the twins removed themselves from Spark, sacrificing themselves to make Spark stop Rainbow Sun Dawn and give Spark a chance at life, a new beginning.
"The way you're feeling right now is natural," Twilah continued. It's perfectly fine to feel the way you do, but the best thing you can do is not to dwell on it." She looked at her. "I can't imagine how you must feel, but I want you to know that we are always here for you and support you. We love you, Blitz." She covered her mouth, realizing what she had said. She could see Spark hurting even more as she put her head on her knees.
"I'm sorry, Sp—"
"No, it's okay," Spark cut in. I guess I am Blitz." She stood up, smiling, but she knew the smile was fake. "Thank you, Mom; you always know what to say since you became a therapist." She could feel her smile breaking into a frown. "For me! Blitz!"
Dashie couldn't handle this anymore and joined in, hoping to help.
"Stop, you aren't our daughter, Blitz. You are you, Rainbow Spark! What Twilah said is very true. We are here for you and will give you the support you need. You are our daughter's sister, which means you are family to us." She held Twiiah's hand, making her smile at Spark.
Dash joined in as well, sitting with Twilight and holding her hoof. "And to us! You have a home here and in the human universe," Dash smirks. "You have four moms! So four times the love! Right!?" She looks at Twilight and the others.
"Oh, sweetie," Twilight said, giving her a big hug, and the others joined in. "It's alright. I'm sorry for calling you by your sister's name. It's just..."
Spark could sense it; their sadness made her so sad, and she felt awful. They lost their daughters and could only see them within her. They said they didn't see her as are sisters, but she knew that wasn't true. You can't erase all those years, but she didn't say anything.
"No, it's ok, Twilight. I understand," Spark replied, returning the hug.
She didn't feel much better, and her guilt ate at her. If only she had stopped her sisters from removing her from themselves, they would still be here, and their mothers wouldn't be so sad. She wished for a way to bring back her sisters, but that wasn't possible, at least not that she knew of.
They all broke the hug, and Spark just listened to their questions, like where she went, how old is she since she looked a little older, and so on. She toned it out and could think of ways to make them happy, and one thought entered her mind.
"Moms!?" asked Spark, putting on a big fake smile.
They all asked what was wrong, making Spark close her eyes, and her horn started to glow.
"Let's have a family day out!"
In a rainbow flash, they disappeared from the forest and reappeared inside Braver's library in New Ponyville, confusing Twilight and Dash about why Spark brought them here.
"Uh, honey? Why did you bring us here?" asked Dash.
"I thought it would be a great start! Remember mom?" Spark turned to Dash and Twilight, who watched her take a few books off the shelves, make them fly over to the table, and place them on it.
"Remember how the town gave me the library after saving everyone from the flood after the dam broke?" Spark pulled Twilight and Dash towards the table while Twilah and Dashie looked confusedly. "Remember, after the grand opening, you two promised we would have a family reading day here."
"Oh, yes, we did, but... sweetheart, that was with-" Twilight couldn't finish as Spark teleported most of the library books above her and Dash, burying them in books.
"We have a lot of catching up to do! So let's get reading!"
She sat down and looked at the piles of books around her. She saw that Twilight and Dash were missing, making her wonder where they had gone until she saw the two pop their heads from the book pile.
"After this, we can play buckball, right, Mom!?"
Dash noticed she was looking at her and quickly prepared as Spark flew toward her like a missile, tackling her, her face deep in Spark's ample chest, feeling the warmth between the boobs.
"Yeah! Sure! Whatever! Just get off me, you are crushing me, Br-" Dash couldn't finish as Spark let her go and let her fall to the wood floor.
Spark turned her attention to Twilah. "Then after that, we can spend some time together, like you always wanted, Mom."
Twilah wasn't sure how to react, but she decided to go with it, smiling. "Oh yes, like I always wanted and promised you. I need to make up lost time with you, sweetie." Part of Twilah felt like she died inside because she made that promise to Blitz, not to Spark, but she didn't want to hurt Spark even more.
"HELL YEAH!" Spark screamed, flying into the air and doing a mid-air stunt, which Blitz does when excited about something. She landed and faced Dashie, who looked at her concerned.
"Then we can go for a run, r-"
"STOP IT!" shouted Dashie, stopping Spark from finishing.
"What's wrong, Mom?" Spark asked, tilting her head, pretending to be confused, even though she knew what was wrong.
Dashie clutched her fist; she wasn't angry but just hurt. "How can you expect us to act like everything is alright!? When you are trying to act like our daughters! They are dead!" She was crying and fell to her knees, breaking down. "Yet, you are remembering things that they only know. I know you saw their life through their eyes, but you aren't them! Stop acting like it, please! We will always love you, no matter what, and we will be there for you."
Twilah knelt beside her, holding her shoulder, and she faced Spark. "Dashie is right, Spark. I know you are trying to do your best to cheer us up, and we can see that, but... please try not to act like Braver and Blitz. Just be yourself. That is what Braver and Blitz would want."
Spark felt terrible and could feel her fake smile crumbling as the reality set in. "But they are dead! And it's my fault!" she held her head in her hands. "If only I could have done something, but..." everyone could see her shaking, and her tears formed and started falling. "Maybe Fayth was right about me? I'm just a monster who stole away two innocent girls' lives and replaced them with this monster."
"That's enough!"
Dash was tired of her talk, so she marched up to Spark, hovered, looked her in the eye, and grabbed her shoulder.
"You didn't steal away anyone's lives! You are your own person, and your sisters gave you a chance to live. So don't ever call yourself a monster!"
"BUT FAYTH WAS RIGHT!" screamed Spark, unleashing her overwhelming magical power thanks to the broken pieces of the elements of harmony and her DNA of Sky and Nightfall, which were magical bioweapons in their universe. "I AM A MONSTER!"
Everyone could feel her overwhelming power. Dash sees the floor cracking and the library tree starting to shake and fall apart. She was terrified and didn't know what to do, but Twilight did.
Twilight shut her eyes and blasted the book pile off her, hovering in the air with her magical aura. She quickly opened her eyes, revealing the glowing purple eyes.
"ENOUGH YOUNG LADY! WHAT WOULD YOUR SISTERS THINK ABOUT THIS BEHAVIOR!?" shouted Twilight in the royal Cantorlot voice.
Spark was shocked. She couldn't believe what Twilight had said, but she knew it was true. Her mind was racing with different emotions, but the one that kept coming to the surface was fear of disappointing her dear sisters and their mothers. Her breathing became quick, sweat ran down her face, and her heart raced.
"I-I-I-I need to go!"
Spark turned around and ran toward the library door, ignoring Dashie and Twilah, who told her not to blitz it like her sister always did when she faced something she couldn't handle. She almost reached the door but somehow tripped over nothing, falling to the side and knocking over the bookshelves, which fell to another shelf. Spark could only watch from the floor, seeing the rows of bookshelves falling over each other like dominoes. The final bookcase fell over, leaving a clear view of the mess she made and the damage she did to the library.
"Spark?"
She could hear Twilight and the others calling out to her. She curled up, hugging her knees. She didn't know what to do; she didn't want to hear how upset they were with her.
"Please, don't hate me!"
She felt her heartache and wished her sisters were here. They should be the ones here, not her.
"I'm sorry I took them away from you. It's all my fault!"
She could feel her tears streaming down her face. She waited for them to yell at and hate her, but the only thing that happened was feeling them all picking her up from the floor and feeling all their warm bodies as they hugged her.
"Spark, please, please listen to us. We will never hate you or anything!" whispered Twilah.
"Our daughters gave their lives for you; they chose to do so, and they would have done it a thousand times if it meant you would have a chance to live a normal life," Dashie said, smiling.
"Don't listen to that little brat; you are no monster! You helped save Rainbow Dawn by making her move forward without being controlled by that brat. You and your sisters saved the multiverse; how are you a monster?" Dash messed up Spark's hair.
Spark felt a hoof under her chin, making her look at Twilight.
"Spark, I can see what is within you, just being around you. If Fayth is the living embodiment of fate itself, then you are the living embodiment of." Twilight placed her hoof on Spark's heart, and the others joined in, touching her heart. "Of a spark! The spark that resides in the heart of us all is a beautiful flame that ignites not only the fire of friendship but also the means to move forward, and that is what you are, and you are our daughter, no matter what! You have a home here and in the universe from which Twilah and Dashie are from. You are loved and welcome."
Spark's tears streamed down her face. She wasn't sure what to say, and no words came out. She could only sob while her mothers held her.
As Dashie and Twilah cleaned the library, Dash and Twilight brought Spark to Braver's bedroom. They wanted her to calm down and answer a few things. They watched her look around the somewhat damaged room and then remove the bedsheet hanging over the hole in the wall, the same hole Braver made when the prism window blasted her away after she tried to scatter it to get into Blitz's universe. Spark lowered the blanket and looked at them.
"I saw her life; I remember all the clumsy things she has done in here." Spark walked over to the damaged bed and sat on it, only for it to collapse, causing her to fall to the floor.
Dash and Twilight had a feeling that would happen, and they could only watch her fall, making Dash chuckle a little.
"Poor Luster," whispered Spark, sitting up and remembering how Braver would cause problems for Luster Dawn, like making her ceiling crack and dropping the dust onto her snacks or cup of tea. It was a happy memory, but she quickly remembered something. "Hey, What happened to Luster Dawn? I know she caused many problems like destroying Cantorlot and damaging part of Equestria with that blackwater."
Dash nudged Twilight, making her say something.
Twilight coughed and answered, "The day after you returned us to Equestria, she was sent to jail and was going to be tried for her crimes, but..." she couldn't finish as Spark stood up, worried. "Let me finish! She would be tried, but Starlight explained what was wrong with her daughter. After Dawn spoke to me, I saw how she felt about everything, how she had never felt normal like other ponies, and how different she was. We explained this to the court, which they didn't know what to think, and released her on probation while getting the help she needed, and Twilah helped with that part." Twilight walked to the blanket, lifting it and looking at the town below. "For her probation agreement, she's doing community service."
"Really? Like what?" asked Spark, standing beside Twilight and looking at the town.
"Well, she's helping by cleaning up the valley where the ruins of Cantorlot and the castle crashed in. She's there right now."
Twilight lowered the blanket and sat on the ground, with Dash joining her. Spark could see that she was patting the ground in front of her, wanting her to join her, and she did.
"There is something I need to ask you, Spark." Twilight looked Spark in the eye.
"About what?" asked Spark, looking back at her.
"Sweetie, what happened to you? What did Fayth do to make you act like this, and where have you been? We already know about time dilation between the universe and within the 'world of between,' so seeing you slightly older makes sense, but what happened? Tell us!" Twilight looked at her with great concern, and Spark could see that.
Spark closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and released it. "It's a long story. I don't know where to start."
"Start at the beginning!" Dash patted Spark's back, smiling.
"I'll do my best," said Spark, smiling. "I'm just telling you before I start that I saved the multiverse again and helped..." She looked at them, remembering her adventure. "Other versions of you two. Versions of you two who had suffered so, so much." Spark could feel the tears coming as she remembered their stories, but she stood firm. "But I'm getting ahead of myself. It started after finding Fayth again in another universe, rewriting someone's fate..."
See, I found Fayth in the Freedom Planet universe, where she would change the fate of this water dragon girl named Sash Lilac. Short version: I teamed up with Lilac's friends and helped them break into an underwater base owned by this evil alien tyrant named Lord Brevon.
Spark darted down the hallway; alongside her was Carol the Wildcat, while Milla the dog and Torque, an alien and commander of Spectrum Chaser, were behind them as they hurried to save Lilac from her prison.
"So, you are from another universe, huh? Did you meet another version of me?" asked Carol.
"Yep, and I can say that I'm not surprised by how similar you and she are," replied Spark, looking at her with a smile. "But Lilac, on the other hand, wasn't a dragon but a hedgehog!"
Carol is amazed by that. "Wow!?"
"Yup, and honestly, I'm shocked you guys just believed me on the whole multiverse thing," Spark said, looking back ahead and seeing steel doors being closed shut. "Hold on!" Spark opened her wings and blasted forward with her fist glowing a bright rainbow color; with one great punch, she blasted through the steel door, and the force behind it continued through the other steel doors, blasting them all open.
Carol and the others had their mouths open, stunned by her power.
"And you guys call Lilac amazing!" laughed Torque.
Carol snapped out of it and smirked. "Hey girl, I've never seen someone do that! Plus, Torque here is from space! Anything is possible, like some powerful water dragon from the ocean, to appear!" she joked, but Spark laughed nervously, knowing their future.
They continued on their way to save Lilac, fighting off the many soldiers guarding the prison and reaching her. Only to find her chained to a torture device, her body and face charred from the non-stop torture, her once beautiful purple scales charred black.
"Lilac, NO!" screamed Carol.
Torque quickly rushed to the computer and inserted a keycard that he took off a destroyed soldier, freeing Lilac from holding the tube, dropping to the floor on her hands, clearly in pain.
Carol was already by her side, holding her in her arms. "Oh my gosh, Lilac, I'm so sorry I ran off! I'll never do it again!"
Milla is shocked and horrified as she sees Lilac this bad, but Torque isn't shocked by this, as he knows Lord Brevon too well. Lilac couldn't speak well; all she could do was cough up blood, and Carol was trying her best not to cry, but seeing Lilac like this broke her heart.
"We gotta leave, no—" Lilac couldn't finish as Spark stood before her, punching the air above her, causing a powerful blast.
Lilac and her friends had no idea what Spark did, but only Spark could see it: black seeds falling, about to land on Lilac, changing her, changing how her story will go, towards a sad, fated ending. But with that punch just now, she destroyed it and saved Lilac's fate.
"W-Who are you?" Lilac asked, looking up at Spark. She saw Spark's bright, glowing rainbow aura and the magic flowing through her horn.
Spark smiled and looked at her, kneeling and patting her head.
"Lilac, keep doing what you are doing; never stop running and being the water dragon you are! Never give up on your friends, okay?"
Lilac is surprised, but before she can answer, her friends help her to her feet and carry her.
"We have to leave!" said Torque, heading to the door, only to see it open and loud footsteps could be heard. "Oh no!"
Stepping out from the darkness were Lord Brevon and his armed soldiers, who aimed at the group. Spark's attention wasn't on Lord Brevon but instead what was floating above him. It was Fayth, reading in her book, smiled as she noticed Spark. The two just stared each other down. Before Spark could say anything, the underwater base alarm system went off, with orange lights and a siren blazing. Torque quickly activated the teleport pad in the room, teleporting himself and his friends from the room, making Brevon dash forward with his green knife; about to cut them down, but Spark blocked it with her hand, making him not surprised as he leaped back.
"A hero sacrifice, what noble. Letting them escape, but I already met and killed your types before, so don't bore me with your lect-" he couldn't finish as Spark suddenly appeared in front of him, punching him in the gut and making him drop to his knees, groaning. "You little wench!"
Lord Brevon looked up and saw Spark standing there, her eyes glowing rainbow.
"Listen up, YOU don't bore me with your evil bad guy speeches. I've heard them a thousand times from a thousand evil bastards like yourself. Unless you have something worthwhile to say, the only thing that matters to me is you shutting the hell up and escaping before the self-destruct blows you and this place to bits. Got it?"
Lord Brevon was annoyed by Spark's speech but had to agree. He didn't want to die.
"Fine, fine, but next time we meet, I'll make sure you die a pai-" he couldn't finish again, as Spark had him by his large, brownish-orange unibrow.
"Trust me, buddy, if this were my story, I would strike you down for the people you killed across this universe, but it's not. That falls on someone, and when that time comes, you fight that girl and lose because that is your fate, so suck it up and be a good little evil asshole." Spark then released his unibrow and walked past him, looking at Fayth, who smiled and shrugged.
Without warning, Spark and Fayth charged at each other, unleashing a powerful shockwave and blasting upward, leaving Brevon to lick his wounds as he quickly escaped with his men.
Within the underwater base, shockwaves could be heard, and a metal wall exploded, revealing a rainbow star and a black star charging at each other, leaving behind a rainbow trail and a black trail. The two stars landed in a giant pipe corridor, far from each other. Spark and Fayth looked at each other down, only to hear a warning siren going off, making them turn to their right. They saw a giant hatch open, revealing a tide of lava heading their way.
"Crap!" shouted Spark, dashing away from the lava as fast as she could.
Spark kept running down what seemed to be an endless corridor, feeling the blazing heat from behind her. As she kept going, Fayth hovered near her, leaning back like she was in a chair.
"You just love sticking those big-breasted of yours into my business, don't you? Well, it doesn't matter; I have a lot of work to do."
"Not today, Fayth, not today! You're not rewriting anyone's story ever again!" shouted Spark, glaring at her while still running for her life.
Fayth stood forward, stuck her tongue at her, and flew upward, blasting through the metal ceiling, leaving Spark alone.
"Damn it! Come back here!"
Spark opened her wings and went after her, blasting out of the pipe and heading towards Fayth, who opened a rift.
"FAYTH!"
Fayth looked around just in time to see Spark somehow tripping on a cloud, spinning out of control towards her and filling her face with Spark's chest. Launching them into the rift and exiting Freedom Planet universe and into the world of Between, a realm where the prime universes are located. Each prime universe is a giant tree, branches filled with different alt universes that break away from the central universe.
The rift closes, and Spark can finally see where she is, seeing the whiteness and the giant trees around her.
"Back here? Where did Fayth go?" she stood up and looked around, not noticing the small girl stuck between her chest.
Fayth started to scream and tried to escape from Spark's chest. But she couldn't.
"Huh? Oh my, hello there. Let me help you!"
Spark reached into her chest and pulled her out, with Fayth gasping for air and blushing hard.
"DAMN COW!"
Fayth smacks Spark's chest, causing Spark to scream in pain and let her go.
"Ah, ow, that hurts. Why do you always do that?" Spark said, holding her chest.
Fayth was in the white water-filled ground, trying to catch her breath.
"You just shoved me into your damn cow tits, that's why, and now I'm mad!"
Fayth stood up and opened her book, taking out her feather pen, while Spark got in a battle pose, ready for whatever Fayth would throw at her.
Static
A young female child with messy boyish purple hair sat inside a black and flightless wooden room. Her eyes had dark bags under them as she watched the only light source in the room, a small white orb. She's holding someone, and that someone is Twilight Sparkle, but having a very messy mane. The girl stroked Twilight's mane, revealing her loose bandage-covered arms and showing some self-made cuts.
"I know you hate me, but I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I made a mess of everything."
The child cried, tears rolling down her cheeks, but the crying soon stopped, and her eyes became dull and empty. She glared at the orb while Twilight spoke and had the same look in her eyes.
"Why? Why are we the only ones with such a sad and miserable story? We don't deserve this. If I have to do it, I will write our happy ending, even if it's fake. We deserve a happy ending, you and me, Alice. We deserve to be loved, we deserve to feel love, and we deserve a better life than this."
Twilight's words echoed in the darkness, and Alice smiled, feeling some hope.
"We deserve a happy ending," whispered Alice.
Alice closed her eyes and hugged Twilight close to her. Static
"Alice?" said Spark, hearing her mother's voice say that name. She looked around, confused enough that even Fayth noticed, but she had a twisted smile.
"Oh, it's starting!"
"What's starting, Fayth? What are you talking about?!"
Before Fayth could say anything, everything started to shake with great fury. Spark braced herself and looked at Fayth, seeing her looking at the rainbow tree, the FiM prime tree. Above the prime tree, a twisted black orb suddenly appeared, casting out a dark aura. It fell over the tree, turning it from Rainbow to slightly dark black. The earthquake ended, and Spark quickly shouted at Fayth.
"WHAT DID YOU DO!?"
Fayth slowly turned to her, still having her twisted smile. "Remember what I told you two years ago? I found something to help me reach my goal in writing in the book of Elyndra, and it's finally here!"
"Can't be! You don't have enough negative energy to open the way toward Elyndra Creation Tree! Rainbow Dawn had gathered a ton of negative energy in her mad search looking for her version of me, then absorbed both Luster Dawn and Lucy Dawn so that she could open the way! I stopped you enough time to know you haven't gathered the same amount as she did! So, how?!"
Fayth and Spark just stood there, saying nothing for a few seconds. Spark coughed.
"...well?"
Fayth tilts her head to the side.
"What?"
"Aren't you going to tell me? Like in a big evil speech as you tell me your evil plan?"
"Hell no, why would I tell you and allow you to ruin my plan? Fuck off, cow!"
Fayth body started to turn to black mist as black leaves fell all around her, causing Spark to dash toward her.
"Damn you, Fayth, don't think this is the end of it!"
Fayth just smiled and disappeared.
"Damn it!" shouted Spark, tripping on the ground and pounding the ground in frustration.
Spark turned to the prime tree and felt something within it—something she had never felt before. It was like negative energy, but not the same. It was something else, something more dark and powerful.
"That power, no way. This is bad."
Spark quickly stood up and opened her wings. She took off towards the tree, entering the black orb and disappearing into it.
A purple eye opened, blinking and looking around. They stood up and found themselves inside what looked like a giant tree. They placed their hoof on their ear, pressing something. She spoke in a raspy voice.
"Otacon? Do you read me? I don't remember anything. Why am I wearing my old sneaking suit again?" She looked around, seeing nothing but wood in the distance. "...or how I got here."
She just heard a faint buzzing sound from the device codec within her ear, making her sigh and remove her hoof. She looked around again and decided to head further within the tree, seeing a spiral wooden tower leading to what seemed to be the top of the giant tree.
"Hmmm, this is odd; something tells me I must reach the top."
Nothing but echoes of footsteps could be heard as the pony walked towards the giant spiral wooden tower.
"I feel like I'm missing something, but what?"
Her ears flicked as she tried to remember why she was here, but it was a hazy blur for some odd reason.
"What's wrong with me? Is the MAGICDIE also affecting my memories now? I don't remember anything other than being with Otacon and Sunny that night."
She shook her head and kept walking, never noticing the purple carvings on the walls. She stopped before a wooden door blocking her way to the spiral wooden tower. She stepped back, looked up at it, and saw odd wooden cravens and what looked like a golden unicorn.
She grunted with amazement. "Not bad wood craven, but the unicorn looks off."
The pony walked forward, feeling the wood and then knocking it, hearing it echo in the giant hallowed tree. She could see there were no handles. She tried pushing it, but it was locked.
"Hmmm, maybe I can..."
She reared back and kicked the door with all her strength, but it didn't break, not even a dent.
"Ow! Damn it, why is the wood so hard!?"
She rubbed her leg in pain, then looked back at the door, glaring at it. She quickly ran away from the door, stopping and looking back at it. She narrowed her eyes and took a running stance. With a quick dash, she ran toward the door quickly. She lunged forward as she got near it, slamming her back hooves into the door's wooden surface, leaving a solid impact and cracking the area she hit. She leaped back and landed, breathing heavily, and seeing her kick indeed did nothing to move the door.
She huffed and stomped her hoof, shaking her head. "Okay, new plan."
She turned around, sat her rear down, and searched her sneaking suit, looking for something to aid her.
"I don't remember wearing my old sneaking suit, but if I was the one who chose to wear it, then that means it's in here somewhere."
After a few minutes of searching, she found it.
"YES!"
She took out a small white box and smelled it, exhaling her breath with a smile.
"Ah, smells like my favorite brand."
She quickly opened the box, used her magic to pull out a white stick, and put it near her nose, smelling it...only for her ears to drip down in disappointment. She put the white box near her eye, seeing a white paper, and pulled it out, seeing it was a note. With an annoying grunt, she read it out loud.
"Dear Jane, I knew you'd try to pack your smelly cigarettes, but after you promised me that you'd quit, I swapped them for sugar sticks. Good luck with your mission! Love Sunny."
She growled, crushing the paper in her hoof, but sighed, uncrushed it, and smiled.
"Damn kid, always one step ahead of me." she put the sugar stick in her mouth and slowly chewed it as she wondered about something.
"Errr, if Sunny knew I was on a mission, then that means Otacon does as well, right? It also confirms that I had a mission to come here, but why do I feel I'm missing something important?"
She kept chewing the sugar stick as she thought, and she swallowed it when it was almost gone. Her ears went up with delight.
"That's damn good!"
She pulled out another one, put it in her mouth, and finally turned her attention to the giant wooden door. She looked up, seeing no ceiling over the high walls, but she knew better that she could not jump that high. She took the sugar stick from her mouth, put it back in the pack, put it in her pocket, and moved closer to the door.
She knocked on the door again, placed her hoof on it, and then placed her ear on it. Maybe she could hear something, but there was nothing, not even the sound of anyone on the other side. She looked at the crack she had created and saw nothing inside it. She sighed, stepped back, and turned her body, looking at the wall next to her.
"Looks like I do gonna try and climb it, huh? Maybe I packed something that could help me?"
She took her sugar stick out, looked at the door, and smiled. She threw it at the door's surface, causing it to land on the ground. She wasn't going to be bested by a door. She turned away and checked her belt, which held her items. She pulled out her hand pistol, a custom M1911A1.
"Hmmm, whatever mission I'm doing, I needed to be armed, huh? So, this is a combat mission. But against what?"
She shook her head, placed the gun back, and checked the next thing, but her ears picked up something as it twitched. She looked back, seeing that the wall she checked before was now a large open doorway. She walked toward it, standing in front of it and trying to look inside the dark tunnel. She saw nothing, so she just shrugged and entered.
She looked at the walls, noticing the odd carvings on the wooden surface of the tunnel. Had a blue-painted pegasus on it, with a rainbow trail behind it.
"Odd, why do I feel like I've seen that pegasus before? It almost looks like..." she stopped. She could hear something ahead of her, sounding like footsteps. She quickly checked her pockets and found what she needed.
The footsteps got louder as they got closer until brown boots stepped out of the darkness. Standing there was a tall, young, blue-skinned 20-something mare with spiky rainbow hair. She had a giant metal sword on her back, and she grabbed it and stabbed it into the ground, as she could see what was in front of her.
"A box?"
Right there, in the middle of the tunnel, was just a normal-looking cardboard box.
The woman scratched her head, then looked around and walked closer to it. She bent down and poked it, seeing it wasn't a mimic monster but felt like a regular box.
"I wonder what's inside. Could have element shards inside, and my mana is pretty low."
She placed both her hands on the handle of her giant metal sword and raised it. She cut the box in half with one swift swing, revealing it was empty.
"Ah, nothing inside?"
She heard a click above her, and her ears flicked. She raised her sword in time as she blocked a bullet. She lowered the sword a bit; seeing above her was a shadow of some creature. She could see it falling from above, landing far from her, and pointing its weapon at her.
"Looks like old Shinra's remaining experiments are still around, huh? Bad enough, I have little mana left and can't remember...!" she couldn't finish as she blocked a bullet but knew that it wasn't a kill shot but a warning shot like the other one. She saw the figure holding a handgun and pointing it at her once more.
"What are you? You look like a pony but so different. Standing on two legs...reminds me of Metal Gear." said the shadow figure, lowering her gun.
But the woman saw her chance; she quickly rushed toward the figure, swinging her sword down at it. The metal hit the wooden floor, scattering it and blasting wood pieces into the air.
The woman could see the figure somehow dodged her blow, making her yell at it. "I don't know what you are, and I don't care! But you aren't going to find me easy to kill!"
The figure landed and grunted in annoyance.
"Pretty strong kid, but wielding a giant paperweight won't help you!"
The figure pulled out its gun, firing off a bullet, but the woman swung her sword, knocking it away. She charged again, swinging her blade, only for the figure to dodge each attack.
"Kid, I met better sword users in my time on the field, and you are just too slow." she pulled out a grenade, pulled the pin with her mouth, and tossed it near the woman's feet.
"Crap!"
She couldn't put her sword up in time to block the grenade, which exploded and sent her flying backward. The woman was on the ground, breathing heavily and trying to stand up. She was injured and couldn't move, but the figure walked up to her. She looked up, seeing the figure with the gun pointed at her face.
"Like I said, kid, using that paperweight is useless. Give up and tell me who you are and why you are here."
The woman smirks, her hand glowing with a green light. The figure could see the weird light show as the light covered the woman and healed her of all her wounds.
"What!? Is that nanomachines!?"
The woman used another light, this one red. She pointed her hand at the figure and unleashed a small fireball, but the figure dodged it and jumped away, grunting in annoyance.
"So, you are a Genome Soldier. I thought all surviving genome soldiers were rounded up and imprisoned after the Shadow Moses Incident."
The woman stood up and glared at the figure. "I don't know what Genome means, but you did get the last part right; I'm a SOLDIER!" She darted at her once more, swinging her blade near the figure's neck. But like before, the figure dodged it and fired her gun, hitting the woman in the chest, but it hardly did any damage.
"yeah, nanomachines are at work here." said the figure, rolling away as the woman stabbed the ground where she was.
The woman pulled her sword out and raised her in a combat stance.
"Nanomachines? Are you talking about the Elements?"
The two slowly walked around in circles, glaring each other down.
"Elements? Shinra? SOLDIER?" repeated the figure, stopping and taking a sugar stick and chewing on it.
The woman raised her eyebrow, puzzled as to why the figure had left itself open, and asked her a question. "Who are you? How you've been acting tells me you aren't with the old Shinra but don't know anything..." She placed her sword on her back. "Something tells me you aren't from my world...in fact, maybe it's the other way around going by this weird place."
The figure finished her snack and placed her gun back into its holster. "Or we're both fish out of water here."
The figure got closer and took out a lighter, as it was too dark. She had trouble lighting the flame, so the woman used her magic and made the flame bigger in her palm.
"Thanks."
"No problem."
Both women stared at each other, seeing each other's faces for the first time. They were dead silent until they pointed at each other.
"OTACON!?" "ZARA!?"
The two lowered their arms and had confused looks on their faces.
"Zara? My name is Solid Matter Snake, and I am a soldier. What are you talking about?" said Snake, taking out another sugar stick.
The woman kneeled and stared at her, confused. "Otacon? My name is Haze Strife, and I am a former old Shinra inf—" she stopped. She could see the suit Snake was wearing and knew she had many years as a soldier. "1st Class SOLDIER..." she coughed.
Snake could tell there was some hint of embarrassment in Haze's voice, and she smirked.
"So, a soldier from another universe using a giant paperweight and magic, huh? I must be dead or something, then." She took out another stick but stopped and eyed her. "Hey, can I ask you something?"
Haze nodded. "Sure."
"Do you remember how you got here or why?"
Haze's eyes widened, and they became lost in thought. "Now that you mention it, I don't. The last thing I remember is recovering this sword after leaving Edge and heading back to the remains of Midgar."
"Edge? Midgar?" asked Snake, chewing the stick.
Haze stood up and turned to the way she was going. "A city. It was built near Midgar, where my friends and I helped the planet stop a meteor from destroying the world. With Holy and the Harmony stream. Midgar was mostly destroyed as the meteor would have crashed on top of it if it wasn't what I just said."
Snake blinked and stared at her. "That...sounds oddly familiar."
Haze looked at her. "What?"
"Dunno, kid, that sounds like a video game or anime plot. You and your friends saved the planet from a giant meteor and weird shit helped along with it? Yeah, sounds like a game plot." she swallowed the snack and stood up, looking at where she came from.
Haze felt somewhat pissed off.
"I'm not a kid! I'm 23, and what about you? Do you remember anything?"
"My memories are fuzzy, and the last thing I remember was being home with Otacon and Sunny."
They stayed silent, staring at the tunnel where Haze was heading.
"So, are we dead, or did someone bring us here? But why and what for?" asked Haze, walking toward the tunnel.
Snake followed her, looking down and thinking.
"I found a note from Sunny, and it seems I chose to be here. Something tells me we're here because we want to be here. Maybe the answers will be found beyond that door I found and that spiral tower above." Snake noticed Haze looking back at her, giving her a strange look. "What? I found this door, and a tower is above it."
"A tower?"
"Yeah, a tower made of wood. We're inside a giant tree, it seems."
Haze stopped and turned to her.
"....we're inside of a giant tree?"
"Yeah..." Snake stopped and crossed her arms. "Kid, where did you wake up?"
Haze also crossed her arms and tilted her head back to where she was walking from.
"I woke up further down this tunnel, but it was a dead end, so I started walking in another direction until I met you."
Snake took that information and started walking again while Haze followed her. The two didn't talk until they walked out of the tunnel and found the same door that Snake had found. Haze looked up and saw that her new friend was telling the truth. They were inside a giant tree, and beyond the door, there was a spiral wooden tower leading to the top of the tree. Snake walked over to the door once more and just looked at it.
"Hey, kid, can you cut your way through this door?"
Haze didn't respond to her nickname. She looked at the door and back at her sword.
"This old sword can cut through the hardest of metals, so cutting a wooden door shouldn't be a problem. But let me try something else first."
She readied herself and jumped high into the air, making Snake whistle at the jump. Haze landed on the wall and started to run upward since no ceiling was above the room. When she got closer, she slammed into a purple barrier, causing her to fall back down, but unknowingly, two evil red eyes glowed in the darkest part of the tree and had a smirk on their face.
Snake watched as Haze recovered mid-air and landed. "Looks like bypassing the door is not an option."
"Seems that way," replied Haze, putting her hand on the handle of her sword and taking it off her back. "Looks like it's time to chop a door down."
She dashed to the door and raised her sword; she sliced through the door like butter with a few powerful strikes. Haze spun her sword around and placed it back on her back. She smirk.
"Kid, showing off isn't gonna impress me, but still, nice work."
Haze's ears twitched, hearing Snake complimenting her. "Thanks, old timer."
"Old?" laughed Snake, walking up to her. "I might look old, but I'm 42."
Haze joined Snake as they walked through the door and found themselves in another tunnel with a stream of water coming from the end of it.
"42? With that partly white hair, you have? Looks like you're 60 or something."
Snake was annoyed and flicked her off with her tail, and the two headed down the tunnel. Snake turned her head, seeing the door Haze destroyed, slowly fixing itself.
"Hmm, that's a neat trick, fixing the door after the damage. Something tells me this place might be alive."
Haze looked back and saw the door fully fixed but quickly disappeared.
"Or someone is behind this."
The two continued to walk until they reached the tunnel's end. They saw the stream of water and decided to follow it. Snake and Haze could hear the sound of water getting louder and louder until they came to a massive underground lake with a waterfall feeding into it. The source of the water was coming from the spiral tower itself; as they were near it, they just needed to climb up the wooden walls.
Snake was amazed by the sight.
"Wow, this looks amazing, but who built it? And why?" she thought to herself, walking to the water and looking into it but freezing what she saw.
Haze took notice and joined her, and just like Snake, she froze at what she saw. The lake's surface wasn't showing their reflections but another version of themselves.
"...I look like your kind..." she blushed. "But naked?"
Snake got closer to the water and glared at her younger self, a version that had never seen the battlefields or had to go through hell.
"I look like a kid again."
Haze looked at her. "Magic water isn't common in my universe, but something tells me we shou-h-hey!" she watched as Snake poured her whole head into the water, and bubbles appeared.
Snake pulled her head out, swallowing the water. She felt her face like she was hoping for something, but she held her white mane and sighed.
"Thought for sure it was a youth spring."
Snake could hear Haze laughing at her, making her glare at her.
"Well, that's one thing out of the way. Now, what to do next?"
Haze took her boots and socks off and dipped her feet into the water, enjoying the warm feeling. Snake sat near her, and they looked up at the waterfall.
"Well, kid. Can you carry me as you jump on the wooden surface and ninja run to the tower?"
Haze raised her eyebrow.
"Ninja?"
"I'm just saying, your jumps and ability to run on the walls remind me of a ninja."
"Okay, I guess you are kind of right..."
Snake could tell she embarrassed Haze. She smiled and patted her on the back.
"Nothing wrong with ninjas. Hay, I know one myself. She calls herself Lightning Bolt."
"Lightning Bolt, huh? Sounds dumb; what does she do? Use lightning bolts?"
Snake laughed and walked away, prompting Haze to quickly put back on her socks and boots and call out to her to wait for her.
"Hey, hold on!"
Snake just ignored her and walked around the lake but stopped. She felt someone was watching her, but when she looked around, there was nothing. She shook her head and waited for Haze, who had caught up.
"Ready, kid?"
Haze didn't answer her question. Instead, I asked her a question of her own.
"Hey, can I ask you something?"
Snake didn't say anything, just waiting for the question.
"I take it that's a yes? Anyway, who's Otacon and Sunny? You said something about being home with them, so I'm guessing their family?"
Snake sighed and crossed her arms. "Sunny is the daughter of a soldier who helped Raiden and me, but the Harmony AIs had her until Raiden saved her and gave Sunny to Otacon and me to protect and watch over her. Over the years, she became like a daughter to me and Otacon. She is a sweet girl but annoying when she takes my cigars. I can't stay mad at her, though. As for Otacon, well..."
She sighed.
"She's a nerd, a very smart one, and my best friend. We've been through a lot together, and she's why I'm still alive today." She dug through her belt pockets and knew it was there. "Sunny, you truly know what I need, huh?" She took out a photo and handed it to Haze, who took it.
"...This is Sunny and..." Haze let out a small laugh. "Otacon, huh? Looks like a nerd indeed." she returned the photo, and they continued.
"So kid, who's this Zara person? I take it she looks just like me?"
Haze stopped and did not say anything, making Snake stop and look at her.
"Hey kid, everything alright?"
Haze didn't answer; instead, she walked to a big rock, climbed on it, and sat down. Snake knew something was wrong.
"Kid?"
Haze closed her eyes. "Zara was my best friend and someone I looked up to. She saved and broke us out of Shrina's lab, and before we could arrive at Midgar, Shrina found us. She hid me away and gave her life to save mine. That was 3 years ago."
Snake didn't say anything and walked to the rock. Haze looked down at her, and Snake took out another sugar stick. She offered it to her, and she took it, but Snake pulled it back.
"The pap-" she coughed. "The sword on your back is hers. Isn't it?"
Haze didn't move.
"Yes, it's hers. I was heading back to Midgar to give it a proper resting place and memorial."
Snake finally gave the sugar stick to her and sat down.
"I don't know how much it matters, kid, but she sounded like a great true soldier, and she must have meant a lot to you if she fought to the bitter end to keep you safe. You'll see her again one day, but right now, let's find out why we are here and why this tree has a tower inside it and a lake that can show our other selves." she put away her pack and looked back at her. "Hey, kid. Got a photo of her?"
Haze nodded and took out a worn-out and badly ripped photo. She handed it to Snake, who looked at it and saw a younger version of herself standing with others. One looked like Raiden, but she had never seen the tall woman with the multicolor mane holding a very long katana as she stood in the middle. She gave back the photo, and Haze placed it back in her pocket, going to ask Snake a question until she sensed something.
"You feel that? Someone's coming."
Snake stood up and got into a fighting stance, taking her handgun out.
"I felt it earlier, but I didn't see anyone or anything. So, kid, where is it coming from? Is it near the lake?"
Haze listened carefully and nodded.
"Yes, in fact, it's already here."
Snake followed Haze's glance toward the waterfall, and they saw two red eyes within it. They got ready and saw it walking out of the waterfall. Everything around them went dark as it stepped out, and a black mist appeared.
"What the hell is that?" yelled Snake, training her gun on the creature.
Haze couldn't believe her eyes.
"...it's you?..."
The evil-looking Twilight smiled at them, opened her mouth, released a black mist, and only asked one thing.
"FRIENDS? WHERE ARE MY FRIENDS!?"
Haze took out her sword and was ready for combat.
"Hey, old timer, can you give back up to me from afar? I don't know what she is, and I have no idea how to kill her, so that that support would be great."
Snake fired her gun a few times and saw the bullets did not affect the creature.
"Giving you encouragement of support counts?" asked Snake jokingly, making Haze smirk a little.
"Guess I'll have to find out, won't I?"
"Well, good luck, kid."
The two readied themselves, and Haze ran at the evil-looking Twilight and tried to cut her. The dark Twilight blocked the blade with her horn and parried it away, sending Haze straggling backward, but she didn't have time to recover, as the evil Twilight charged up a laser attack and launched it at her.
Snake could tell that this fight was gonna be brutal.
"Shit, can you dodge it, kid?"
Haze blocked it in time and jumped high into the air, dodging the laser, which blew a hole in the floor. Haze landed on her feet and ran forward again. She started to use magic again; this time, a yellow light filled her hand and unleashed a thunderbolt on dark Twilight, clearly feeling the electric shock.
"Good work, kid! Keep it up."
Haze heard the praise and charged once more, swinging her sword and making a massive cut across Twilight's chest, cutting it open. Haze thought she had her, but she quickly backed away as a ton of mist blasted out of the wound. Haze closely looked at the fog, seeing it killing the wood as it turned dead.
"Looks like cutting her open is a bad idea, kid. Try to cut her head off."
"Roger that."
Haze ran at the dark creature and tried to cut its head off, but it quickly escaped by teleporting away, making Haze ready herself for an attack. She darted her eyes around but did not see anything, but she quickly realized something and turned to Snake.
Snake rolled away in time as the dark creature soared at her, her horn pointed and mouth open, leaving behind the mist. Snake covered her mouth, quickly backed away, and met with Haze.
"It knows tactics; it tried to go after the one that couldn't harm it," grunted Snake, taking out her combat knife but coughing loudly, making Haze ask if she inhaled the mist.
"Don't worry, kid, it's not that. It's something...." she coughed again but more violently, falling to her knees.
Haze was shocked and confused by this. She checked Snake but quickly pushed her as the dark creature soared between them, almost getting them. Haze promptly jumped back as the mist nearly touched her, while Snake rolled away and laid on her back, safe away from the fog, but her coughed attack wasn't letting up.
"Shit, that fucking hurts," she grunted and stood up, watching the dark Twilight charge another laser but much bigger this time.
"You okay, old timer? What's wrong?"
Snake held her chest, and the pain was increasing. She quickly looked through her belt pockets, knowing if this was her true final mission. She knew she or Otacon would pack it in case she needed it.
"Come on, we must have packed it!"
She looked up and saw the laser was charging faster.
"Oh shit, kid! Kid, get out of here! I'm just deadweight right now. I'm useless; we won't know why we're here if you die too!"
Haze looked at the charging beam and back at Snake. Without any words, she ran toward her and stood before her, protecting her.
"Damn it, kid! Don't be like your Zara friend, and protect this old soldier! You still have more to live for than I do. Don't throw it all away."
Haze looked back and smirked.
"You think a few words will get me to run away?" she looked forward, seeing the giant black beam being unleashed at them. "I'm not letting you die for me, not again!"
Haze raised her sword and stood ready to deflect the beam, hoping it would save them. However, before the beam could reach them, a rainbow spark appeared between them and the laser. In a rainbow flash, someone held their hands out, catching the beam and slowly forcing it into one spot, making it into an energy orb.
"Close one!" sighed Spark, crushing the orb in her hands. She looked back at the two. "Haze! Jane! You okay? Huh?" Spark could see Snake coughing even more. She knelt beside her and put her hand on her.
"Jane, is this what you meant? Right!" She placed her hand behind Snake and searched through her back belt pockets, took out a pack of suppressors, and handed it to her. "Here, take it quick."
Snake nodded, opened the pack, took one of the long suppressors, and jammed it in her neck. She heard the sound of the device injecting its fluids into her neck, but after a few seconds, her coughing and breathing had eased up. She took a few deep breaths, and her mind and body relaxed.
"Thanks, whoever you are, I owe you one,"
Spark smiled and stood back up, looking at Haze.
"Keep her safe. I'll be right back."
Before Haze could answer, Spark teleported away and reappeared before the dark Twilight, repeating what she said before, making Spark look at her with sadness.
"I'm sorry..." she whispered, pounding her fist together and slamming a punch into the wooden floor. The punch scattered the darkness that covered it and revealed the pure grass that covered the wood.
The scattering made the dark creature hiss and slowly faded into its mist, but as it vanished, it spoke to Spark.
"You promised me..."
And it was gone, leaving Spark not wanting to open her eyes, as she clutched her fist harder.
"....sorry."
"Who are you!?" called out Haze, putting her sword back on her back. "And how do you know us? Are you the one who summoned us?"
Spark stood sad-faced and slowly approached them, stopping before Snake. She looked down at her and smiled as she knelt and held her hands together.
"Thank goodness you're okay. How do you feel, Jane?" she gave Snake her hand, which she took, and stood back up.
"Better, thanks. But I guess you have some answers for us, huh?"
"Yeah, that would be a start," answered Haze, crossing her arms.
Spark nodded but looked toward the tower and what was at the top.
"I have your answers, but I'll explain when we reach the entrance." She looked back at them, knowing they would want an explanation. "There are others who just entered the tower, and we need to find them before..." the two could see the sadness in her eyes. "Before that dark creature goes after them. They aren't prepared for it."
Snake took the lead and walked forward. "Well, no point standing around and talking. Let's move."
Spark watched as Haze joined Snake, seeing the two walking toward the wooden cliffside and Snake trying to get on her back but failing as she was too old and short to reach her.
Spark closed her eyes, smiling. "Don't worry, Spark. This time, it will work! You gathered the people that can understand them, so all is okay."
Haze had enough and carried Snake, not minding the weight. She jumped on the cliff face and started efficiently running up it.
"Hey, old-timer. I gotta ask you something."
"What's up, kid?"
"Do you trust this woman? I have a hunch about her, and I wanna see you agree."
"That's a tough question. I don't know her, but I would trust her." Snake looked down and saw Spark walking to the lake. "Something within me tells me she's a good woman and can be trusted."
Haze smiled and continued climbing but asked another question: "How did you know this sword belonged to my friend?"
Snake looked at the weapon in Haze's hand, smiling.
"On the battlefield, a weapon can carry many stories just by looking at it and how well taken care of it is. Just by looking at that sword, it hasn't been taken care of in years, to the point that there is rust forming." she could see Haze looking a little regretful about not taking care of the sword. "Kid, that blade has many stories to tell because of the battle it kept being a part of. A clean weapon has fewer stories, while dirty and damaged ones have a ton to tell. So, when I looked at the sword and how it was cared for, I just had a hunch about its story."
"Oh, that makes sense. Well, thanks..."
Snake patted Haze on the head and got her attention.
"You kept that sword well. Don't regret yourself. If Zara saw you now, I'm sure she would be proud. So, keep going, and don't let her down."
Haze felt something in her heart, almost wanting to cry, but she put her emotions aside and focused on climbing the cliff.
"You got it, old-timer!"
They finally reached the top, and Haze gently placed Snake on the ground. They looked back down, waiting for their savior to arrive, but she was still looking at the lake.
Spark wanted to cry, as within the lake's surface, her reflection wasn't her own but that of her two sisters looking back at her. She closed her eyes and breathed in and out until she opened them and looked down...seeing nothing, not even her reflection.
"...one of a kind, huh?" she opened her wings. "Or a bootleg copy."
She flapped her wings, taking off to the others, but the gust of wind made the water's surface ripple, showing an entirely different version of her.
Somewhere within the spiral tower, there was nothing but darkness. The only light source was a blue light on a woman's back, showing life sign readings. She wore a light armor suit, her helmet coming off and going into her suit collar back. She could hear a child laughing and the sounds of drums, drums playing a military marching song. She froze and slightly looked back, hearing only one thing.
Haze and Snake watched Spark land in front of them and smiled at the two.
"Before I explain everything, my name is Rainbow Spark. I'm part of a group that is stopping someone named Fayth."
Snake chewed on a sugar stick, walking with her as Haze followed. "Fayth?"
Spark kept walking towards the tower's entrance. "She's the living embodiment of fate itself, a being who was meant to watch every story, every residing person ever created, but something happened and caused her to turn against the authors, or better terms, your creators. Now, she wants to erase all life in the multiverse. No more stories."
"So, what does this have to do with us and why we're in some giant tree?" Haze asked, her tone cold.
Spark walked up to the front steps of the tower's entrance, seeing carving of the element of harmony on the archway that led into the building. She stopped before the first step, feeling something evil and sad.
"At the top of the tower, poor kids who grew up with tough lives await us there. Fayth took away their pen and wrote how their story would go, so I came to save them. The problem is..." She could still feel the evil and sad energy and shut her eyes, trying to brush the feeling off. "They won't listen to me; they would rather listen to the lies that Fayth told them as long they keep creating negative energy for her." she walked up the steps with the two still behind her. "Energy to feed her book, and if enough energy is gained, she can open the way to the Creation Tree of Elyndra, where Elyndra's book is kept."
Snake stopped. "Creation Tree? Elyndra? Book?"
Spark stopped and tuned to them. "From what my teacher told me, Elyndra is the living embodiment of all creation and the multiverse. For whatever reason, she became the Creation Tree and left behind her book, which is her powers. Whoever writes in it can create whatever they want, but that can also destroy anything, and with Fayth writing in it, the stories, your world, will become nothing. No more life, no more stories. All erased."
Snake grunted and tossed away her sugar stick. "Got it, all-powerful evil being is going to end it all if we don't stop her."
Haze walked further ahead, passing the two and speaking without looking back. "And how are we going to stop that? You said something about someone waiting for us atop the tower." she stopped and turned, waiting for an answer from Spark.
"Like I said, they grew up having a hard life because Fayth changed their story. I tried telling them that no matter how hard life can get, they can always overcome it and deserve happiness. That no one deserves a sad ending." She smiled. "Even they deserve a happy ending; they just need others to help them to see it."
"What if that can't happen? What if the two refuse to listen? Then what?" replied Haze, walking back towards Spark and getting close to her.
Spark got closer to her, making Haze step back a bit. "They will listen..." she put on a brave face, but Snake could tell it was a fake. "There is a reason I came to you all."
Snake offered the two a sugar stick. "And that is?"
Spark snagged both before Haze could take one and continued up the steps. "I told you all when I came to you for aid; you all agreed and allowed me to teleport you here."
They continued up the steps, finally reaching the entrance of the tower, a giant open room, and the only thing in the room were the stairways that led up.
"Sparkly, we don't remember anything, not even remembering you. Is there a reason for that?" asked Snake, looking up the stairway. The second floor was not too far above, as the ceiling could be seen.
"Sparkly?" Spark questioned but shook her head and answered her. "Well, that's because-!" Spark quickly stopped, grabbing Snake and tossing her to the stairs above as black branches rammed into her, dragging her into the wall.
Haze quickly drew her sword and faced the source of the branches. She saw a short teenage girl, her arm being the black branches that attacked Spark.
"Who are you!?" Haze asked, stepping forward, keeping her sword drawn.
"Fayth," answered Fayth, pointing her other arm at Haze, unleashing her black branches.
Haze leaped over the branches, landed on them, and dashed toward the girl. "No idea what you said, but no doubt about it, you must be Fayth."
Snake looked down from the top of the steps, watching Haze. She took cover and searched her pockets, looking for something, until she found it.
"Got you covered, kid!" shouted Snake, pulling out a PSG1 sniper rifle. She loaded it, peeked out of her cover, and took aim. "Take this!" she fired, shooting Fayth in the leg.
The bullet hit, but it didn't hurt Fayth. Instead, she laughed at the attack. Haze kept going, almost reaching her as she chopped and slashed sharp branches that burst out, cutting them all away, not allowing them to touch her. Fayth didn't seem worried, her face not changing; the only thing that changed was her legs, which became black tree stumps.
"Shouldn't have come close, you stupid little girl."
Haze watched as Fayth slammed one of her legs into the ground and raised her other leg, pointing it at her. Haze quickly realized she was in danger as the tree stump roots shot out, and the bottom of the stump quickly extended out, becoming a giant wooden mouth with razor teeth. Haze had no time to jump away, as the mouth was almost upon her.
"OH NO, YOU WON'T!"
Haze kept a force pulling Fayth away from her, allowing her to jump away. The stump mouth was pulled along with Fayth's towards Spark, who pulled Fayth's branches and slammed her into a nearby pillar, shattering the stone and falling onto Fayth's body.
"Haze! Hurry! Get to the second floor with Jane and find someone named Amelia Jarvis! Then head to—ugh!" Spark could feel the branches having grown sharp thorns, stabbing her hands and making her let go.
The branch quickly returned to the piles of stones and slowly lifted them, revealing an unharmed Fayth with a twisted smile.
"Yes, run away and find the others. Make it easier to find and kill them all." she stepped out and dropped the rubbles, and her arms became normal. "Or 'they' find them first. I knew one already attacked those two."
Spark healed her bloody hands and made them into a fist. "They can handle them! They won't fall to those two!"
Haze made her way to the stairs and jumped up, reaching Snake and landing on the railing. They looked down and saw the area filled with black roots and dead branches. The two looked at Spark, who eyed them.
"Find the others. They should be a few floors above, and hurry."
Snake placed her weapon on her back by its strap, taking a deep breath.
"Gotcha, Sparkly. Let's go, kid."
Snake took off running up the stairs while Haze looked back at Spark and finally dashed off. As the two ran up the stairs, roots quickly ran up the walls and darted at them, trying to impale them. Haze countered by swinging her sword, cutting the roots, using her fire magic, and burning them. Snake, on the other hand, was running. She knew she couldn't do much, but she had her ways of staying out of the way as she dodged the attacks. They kept running, trying to escape the roots, until the branches dug into the stairway walls, destroying and making it crumble.
"Kid, hurry!" yelled Snake, turning back and watching as the stairs below her fell.
The two could feel the stairway tower shake and sway, and they fell and rolled down as the stairway fell apart. Haze recovered first, slashing a root away and catching Snake in her arms. Haze held her tight and jumped up, landing and jumping off the falling stairway rubble.
The two landed on the second floor, the stairway crashing down. Snake jumped out of Haze's arms and quickly searched her pockets, pulling out a small remote and C4. She tossed it above the stairway entrance, landing on the ceiling and blowing it up with a press of the remote. The ceiling came crashing down, burying the roots and blocking the stairway, ensuring no one could reach the two, but they ready themselves, as the roots could still burst out, but after a few minutes, nothing happened, and they felt safe now.
"Well, that's one way of closing the door. You think Spark is okay?"
Snake nodded. "No doubt, you have seen what she could do." Snake pulled out a sugar stick and put it in her mouth. "We better find this Amelia Jarvis or 'AJ' lady. Let's go."
The two walked away from the buried stairway entrance toward an opened tunnel. There, orange carvings of an earth pony could be seen, but the two never noticed it.
Meanwhile, on the ground floor, Spark teleported, dodging all the roots and branches that Fayth had summoned. She could feel her speed increase, and her movements became sharper. No doubt this was her Rainbow Sky DNA at work, allowing her speed to be unmatched; not even Fayth could match in.
"You're quick, I'll give you that, but not fast enough to avoid this attack!" said Fayth, extending her arms, covering all the walls in the room in roots and branches. She lowered her arms, making them all dart at Spark, filling the whole room with nowhere to escape as it got closer to her.
Spark was surprised but still kept her calm, and her cocky side came out, smirking at Fayth and her attack.
"Please, you gotta do better than that, Fayth!"
Everything clashed at Spark, making a loud noise echoing throughout the room. Everything stopped moving, and Fayth's face changed, becoming worried and scared.
"No, that can't be..."
From the center of the room was a giant ball of magic energy, and within it was the silhouette of an alicorn, and the energy shot out, burning away all the roots and branches, making Fayth cover her eyes from the bright energy blast.
"Damn it, always showing off," Fayth thought, her worry disappearing and being replaced with anger and rage.
The light cleared, and Spark hovered there, her hair flowing in the wind. She had an aura around her, a rainbow aura. She slowly landed on the floor and smirked.
"Come on now! Is that all you have?!" she taunted, smirk becoming a smile.
"No," answered Fayth.
The ground shook, and the walls crumbled behind Fayth. From the cracks, hundreds of black dead wood bark hands with razor blades and branches as fingers emerged.
"No, not by a long shit!" shouted Fayth, blasted toward Spark with the arms behind her.
Spark took a runner stance and enjoyed this fight with Fayth.
"Bring it on, Fayth!"
She took off, leaving behind a rainbow comet trail as the two got closer, almost upon each other.
"Whoa!?"
Only for Spark to trip over nothing and into a roll.
"No, not ag-" screamed Fayth, trying to stop but couldn't do so in time. Spark rolled into her, making the bark hands fall apart, and Fayth had a face full of Spark's big, soft breast again. Spark finally stopped, lying on the ground on her stomach.
"Owie...wait, where's Fayth?"
She stood up, looking around, but quickly felt something between her chest, causing her to look down. She saw Fayth's face, her cheeks squished and blushing hard.
"F-Fayth?!"
"Mmm!"
"Oh, right, sorry!"
Spark grabbed the back of Fayth's head, trying her best to get her out, but she was having trouble, so she pushed her inward and deeper into her chest to get a better grip.
"I'm going to be stuck forever," thought Fayth, not fighting or struggling.
After several more attempts, Spark finally got Fayth out, holding her like a small animal. Fayth was gasping for air, blushing heavily, and her face was still red.
"You okay?" asked Spark, putting her back on her feet.
"Y-yeah, just..." Fayth smacked Spark's chest without warning, making them jiggle and bounce. "SCREW YOU COW! YOU DONE THAT ON PURPOSE!"
Spark held her chest, blushing. "I-it was an accident. It won't happen again. Promise."
"Like hell, it won't!"
Fayth's arms extended, slapping and smacking Spark's chest, causing them to jiggle and bounce in a way no woman could have.
"I SWEAR, YOU LIKE SEEING ME BETWEEN THEM, DON'T YOU?!"
"S-Stop, you're wrong!"
"Liar! You know it turns you on!"
"NO! STOP! I'M NOT LIKE THAT!"
Fayth ignored her, slapping her massive breasts and watching them bounce. Only to stop, stare at the bounce, and face away from her, making Spark rub her chest, blushing. Spark looked at Fayth, looking at her hands, then felt her flat chest.
"...Every rewrite, my chest never gets any bigger, but yours..." she sighed but suddenly felt a warm hug, making her turn and realizing Spark was hugging her. "What are you doing!?"
Spark quickly realized what she was doing and promptly let go, blushing.
"Sorry! I don't know why I needed to hug or give you head pats! It's like a natural response."
Spark shook her head, slowly looking at Fayth, who was looking away.
"Fayth, we have been fighting each other for two years now. Every time we end up like this, I feel like this has always been a part of me. To-"
Fayth quickly turned around, red in the face. "TO STUFF ME IN YOUR IN DAMN CHEST!?"
Spark became red in the face. "N-NO! LET ME FINISH!" she coughed and continued. "To be there for you, like we were fri-" but before she could finish, she quickly got snagged by roots that burst out of the ground and tied her up, wrapping around her wings, arms and legs.
"Shut up, you damn cow!" snapped Fayth, glaring at her.
"Cow? I'm an Alicorn, not a cow!"
"SHUT UP, YOU DAMN COW!"
Fayth dragged Spark slowly into the ground, the roots pulling her under. Spark tried to free herself, but the roots had become unbreakable. She saw Fayth walk up to her, glaring.
"Listen, I'm getting sick and tired of you. I'm going to tell you this once, so listen up." She grabbed Spark by the hair, forcing her to look at her. "We were never friends; in every rewrite, you were a thorn in my side as you stopped me from writing within that damn book. You are nothing but a nuisance that needs to be erased!"
Spark glared at her, and they stared into each other's eyes.
"I'll get the ending that we all deserve. You will not stop me this time; once I do, the multiverse will finally have its true happy ending."
"That's not true, and you know it," Spark replied, surprising Fayth.
"What?"
"I know you know that's not true! That's not a happy ending. Sure, everything has to end one day, but it doesn't have to be an end for everything. Just because you are done, it doesn't mean others are. You don't have to destroy everything to have your ending." Spark could see Fayth leaning in closer, almost touching each other's noses.
"Done?" Fayth was surprised by Spark's words.
Spark gave her a sad smile. "I can see it, and you don't want to keep going, don't you? Whatever made you like that, whatever happened, it has left you done with everything. So, you're ending everything so you can be done with it all, right?" Fayth didn't say a word.
"It doesn't have to be the end. It can be a new start." Spark gave her a big smile. "You can start a new one in this rewrite that you created! You can end this endless cycle you created and make a new story! A happy story with no sad endings."
Fayth didn't say a word and instead stepped away from her. She turned away and stared at the wall.
"Fayth?"
Spark felt worried, even more so, as Fayth started to laugh like a mad person.
"...Fayth..." whispered Spark, hearing the sadness in the laughter.
Fayth finally calmed down and slowly turned to her. Having her head tilted oddly, her smile was evil and twisted.
"Why would I be happy in this awful rewrite? The original was the better version, and no matter how many times I write it, it always ends the same way! Why would I stay in this shitty story?!"
Fayth walked closer to her. "This rewrite has been the worst I've ever written. I thought I had finally written you out for good, as I replaced you with those girls, but NO! You just had to come back and force yourself back in." she grabbed Spark by her cheeks. "Tell me, how does it feel like killing two innocent young girls? You're not any better than I am; you stole their lives so that you can be here, and no matter how much you try to tell me otherwise, deep down in your heart of hearts, you know I'm right."
Fayth could see Spark was crying.
"So, don't go spouting about happiness, as this rewrite will be the final one, where I finally reach my goal! Then we will finally have our happy ending, no more stories, pain, or suffering, just the end. We can finally rest."
She let go, and Spark was still crying.
"So stop trying to help or lecture me already; why would I listen to an awful rewrite of a horrible version of 'her,' a version that's not even her! She didn't have to kill someone to get to me, yet you did!"
"I didn't." sobbed Spark, looking away. "I didn't..."
"It's too late for that, as I'm done with this talk." She faced away, snapping her fingers, causing the roots to continue dragging Spark underground. "If I don't listen to you, what chance do you have of making those girls listen? Why should we listen to a fake?" she stopped, almost like what she would say next would be hard. "A fake rainbow?"
The roots pulled Spark, but she stopped for some odd reason that even Fayth noticed.
"Huh?" Fayth turned, seeing Spark still here, but something was stopping her from being taken; but what?
"Fayth..." whispered Spark, crying and sniffling.
"What's going on?"
Fayth quickly realized what it was, and she rushed over, slamming her bare feet over Spark's head, trying to push her through the hole. But what was stopping her was...
"YOU DAMN COW! YOUR DAMN UTTERS WILL ALSO BE MY THORN IN MY SIDE! THEY ARE ALWAYS GIVING ME TROUBLE!" she stopped kicking and slapped Spark's chest, making them bounce. "HOW CAN SOMETHING THIS BIG EVEN BOUNCE?! HOW ARE YOU SO WELL ENDOWED?!"
"Hey!" cried Spark.
"THESE UTTER RUINED MY MOMENT! DAMN THEM!" she return to kicking Spark over the head until, finally, the roots could pull Spark through the hole they made and drag her into an endless void.
Fayth breathed heavily as she heard Spark screaming while falling.
"Finally, I can deal with the characters she found." She dusted off her dress and disappeared into the black mist.
Spark was still falling through the darkness. She was crying, unable to stop. Fayth words indeed cut deep and hurt her, and she hated herself. She had taken her two sisters' lives to have hers and felt terrible. "I'm sorry...so sorry." She continued to cry as she fell, not knowing where she would land.
static
Spark heard every word from the girls in front of her, making her give a sad smile as she stepped forward. "I understand your pain, the tough lives you two had, but it doesn't mean it's over! You need to be strong, no matter what happens! You can't just give up and end it all. Even if the world seems hopeless, it's not over till it's over!"
static
Spark was still crying as she was still falling. Remembering what she told them.
static
"Please, remember, no matter how much life sucks, it doesn't mean it has to stay like that. You can change it and make it better. Just take a step, and the rest will follow, but first, you need to start with yourself."
static
"So don't give up. Remember, you're not alone. You have family who are there for you, who worry for you. Even if it feels hopeless, reach out."
static
Spark felt the tears dry.
static
"Trust me, you can move forward, but you just need to take those few steps."
"No..."
static
"No matter how bad it gets, it doesn't mean it will stay that way."
"it will!"
static
Spark closed her eyes, gathering all her magical energy, still remembering the girl's replies.
static
"No, how can I take those steps when I lost the means to even run..."
static
"It will! It has always been like this! I have always been alone! No one ever wanted to know me all because I act like a boy! My life has been hell, and I can't handle it anymore."
static
"How can I take those steps when the only thing that keeps me going, the one thing that made me, ME, are gone!?"
static "I'm a failure; I couldn't even get a cutie mark since I was a filly! I'm an outcast, an embarrassment to my family, and I can't make friends. How can I continue like this? All I do is bring misery to others and myself. Why can't I have a happy life?"
static
"I'm scared; I remember the burning pain as I fell! I became so scared to look at the sky that I became a shut-in! I can't sleep without having nightmares and wake up crying."
static
"It's not fair, it's not fair...I want a happy life and friends, but why can't I have one!? I wish it would stop, and everyone would be my friend and not hate me. But it never does."
static
"Why can't it stop!?"
static "I can't keep doing this!"
static "I'm done."
static
Spark's eyes glowed. "I won't give up."
static "It's better if I just ended my damn worthless life!"
static "I have no purpose, and I'm a failure. The world would be a better place without me."
static
Spark's eyes flashed bright as her magic surrounded her.
static "I lost everything that made me, ME! I want my old life back; I want the old me back!"
static "I lost myself that day, the person I was always meant to be. My dreams were broken, and my heart was shattered."
static "HOW CAN WE MOVE FORWARD!? WE SAW OTHER VERSIONS OF US WHO HAD IT BETTER THAN US! NEVER HAD TO SUFFER! THEY NEVER HAD TO FEEL PAIN! NEVER HAD TO FIGHT FOR EVERYTHING! NEVER HAD TO GO THROUGH TRAUMA! WHY WERE WE THE ONLY ONES TO GET IT LIKE THIS?! TELL US!" the four lowered their heads, crying, and a whisper could be heard. "...please, tell us..."
static
Spark screamed as a wave of energy burst forth, causing an explosion that echoed throughout the darkness. Filling the void with a tiny rainbow spark...
Within the tiny spark of rainbow light, Spark spoke as she shot toward the closing light.
"You four are not alone, nor will you ever be alone. Others share the same pain, and it doesn't matter if they are a version of you or not. Everyone suffers and goes through their hardships, but we all have the choice to let it hold us down or move forward and become stronger. Even though it's scary, we mustn't be afraid and should face them, no matter how difficult."
The hole closed, the white light disappeared, and Spark was the only light within the darkness.
"It's why I brought them here! Those who share your pain, the pain of losing part of yourself, and those you love or think they couldn't ever be loved or lost a dream. They are the reason you two can move forward. They can be your hope!"
The tiny rainbow light grew more extensive, the size of a planet.
"They can give you the courage to face the future and live better. The future isn't set in stone, and no one knows what it will bring. So, no matter what, you can..."
The minor planet was the size of a sun now. Lighting up all of the darkness, revealing the prism-glitching roots of the prime tree. The giant light blasted forward, decreasing in size and becoming a rainbow comet and smashing through the floor of the bottom level of the tower. Spark landed and collapsed to the floor, saying the last part of her speech before falling unconscious.
"Move forward..."
Spark stopped continuing her story as she needed a moment to compose herself. She felt the tears in her eyes and quickly wiped them. She saw the sad expressions on Twilight and Dash's faces.
"We can stop here if you want," suggested Twilight, seeing her state.
Spark shook her head, wiping the tears from her eyes.
"No, you need to hear it all, especially if you can't get the desired answer."
Spark smiled at them, but it didn't hide the sadness in her eyes. She was gonna continue until they all heard someone yelling a name and rushing up the stairs while Twilah and Dashie tried to stop them by calling out to them. The door swung open, and standing there, in a damaged pink leather jacket, was Luster Dawn, tears in her eyes.
"Braver! You are back! Only you can do...that kind of mess..." she trailed off as she saw Spark sitting here. "Uh...oh..." she dropped a bag of Braver's things.
Twilight and Dash stared at the mare before them and the tears in her eyes. Their emotions were complicated, but one emotion came forward, one that no one saw coming.
"You!" shouted Luster as she rushed over to Spark, who closed her eyes and waited for a slap or something.
But instead, she felt something else, not a slap but a kiss on her cheek and a hug. Spark opened her eyes and saw Luster on her, crying as she hugged her.
"Braver! You're alive! I was so worried about you."
She kept repeating herself as she cried, not caring about what she was saying, nor was she listening when Twilight corrected her.
Spark felt like dying when seeing her sister's mare friend like this, knowing how upset and broken Luster was about losing Braver. She slowly and gently wrapped her arms around Luster, hugging her.
"Sorry," whispered Spark, not wanting to hurt her.
Dashie and Twilah arrived, both having mixed emotions when they heard Spark say to Luster.
"I'm back, Luster. I'm the same Braver you always known..."
Meanwhile, outside of the library, Lucy broke away from her friends as they visited New Ponyville and wanted to visit Blitz's sister's library home.
Lucy walked around the library tree, amazed at how such a vast tree could be made into a library.
"Oh wow! I can't wait to see the inside!"
She walked up to the door and was about to grab the doorknob when she remembered how Blitz had told her about this place, her sister, and Equestria. It was after she had told her everything from her past, how she lived with her parents, and how happy she was.
"Blitz..." she whispered, remembering the other things that made Blitz and her sister feel guilty.
Lucy held Blitz's hand, seeing her holding back from crying again. She listened to her, never saying a word.
"I killed my mothers! I remember stabbing Nightfall in the chest and taking her core." Tears started to fall. "I killed Sky, remembering her charred body, the smell, and the whole world as I became a living bomb, burning the world and all the creatures and plants and the world, ending everything. I killed everyone, and I can't ever forget it. We even destroyed our whole universe. I must carry that pain forever, and I needed to suffer for what we did that night." Blitz slowly turned to Lucy, sadness on her face. "I'm a monster; no matter how much I try to do good in this universe, it doesn't make up for the horrible things I've done."
Lucy held Blitz's hand tighter, looked at her in the eyes, and saddest smile she ever had. "So, that's why you keep making others happy? Always giving away yourself but never taking anything for yourself? Is that what you're doing? Punishing yourself for what you did, no matter what everyone says to you?"
Blitz turned away, her tears flowing.
"Yes, it's all I can do. Part of me believes that we shouldn't have ever been saved, that Twilah, Dashie, and others who saved us that day should have just let us die because it's not fair. We, who killed trillions of lives and destroyed our home and everything else, deserved to die. But they saved us, gave us a second chance at life, allowing us to be loved again, but all I could feel was guilt. So, I can only try to make the ones I love happy and never take anything for myself. I don't even deserve to be happy after what we did. Heck, I'm too much of a coward to kill my-"
Lucy let go of her hand and slapped Blitz. She fell to the floor, holding her cheek. She looked at Lucy, who was angry.
"Don't say that! Don't ever say that!" her tears started falling while her mouth trembled with sadness. "Don't say you're a monster or about killing yourself. That you don't deserve happiness and to be loved." She sniffed. "How do you think your friends will feel when you say that? Tempesta, who has been fighting her PTSD for so long because of what happened to her in the war, but because of you saving her and revealing you were Rainbow Comet to her and that she had a family who loved her, she was able to take those few steps in moving forward. What would she do if you were gone?"
"That's not true. I never helped Tempesta."
"Yes, you did!" Shouted Lucy, standing up. "Your mom is giving her the help she needs because of you! You saved her that night in the alleyway. I'm such a giant Rainbow Comet fan that Tempesta told me how Comet saved her!"
Blitz couldn't look her in the eyes.
"The others won't mi-"
"HORSE SHIT!"
Blitz quickly turned to Lucy, shocked by the foul language, as Lucy had never sworn, since she known her.
"Yes, they would! You helped all of us; you saved King's family's pizza place!" she grabbed Blitz by her shirt, pulling her up from the floor. "You made Wallflower feel like someone finally noticed her when no one would; she was alone. But you were there; you made her happy." She started to shake Blitz hard. "You turned Sunset from a bully to the kindest, caring brute anyone has ever seen!"
"B-Brute?" shuttered Blitz as Lucy kept shaking her.
"Yes!" she finally stopped shaking her and fell into Blitz's chest, crying hard. "And you saved me, a girl who was all alone and just wanted friends but couldn't, as she was a weirdo in many eyes. But you were there, and you took the time to be there for me and became the best friend I ever had." She slowly looked up at Blitz, blushing. "Even more than a best friend, I love you so much! How would I feel if you were just gone!?"
Lucy cried harder.
Blitz was frozen.
"I don't care if you killed trillions of lives; the good you did and are still doing should be enough. Please stop; it's okay to take something for yourself and be happy. You don't have to keep hurting yourself. So, please, Blitz, don't ever say you're a monster or not worth loving or don't deserve happiness and a family. You deserve all of it and so much more!"
Blitz's heart raced as she listened to Lucy's words.
"I-I-I," Blitz couldn't speak. She didn't know what to say, nor did she know if her words were correct. But hearing her talk of her like that made her heart swell. "Okay," she said, hugging Lucy.
She could feel the warmth of Lucy's body and her fast-beating heart. She could also feel her tears, warm as they dropped onto her neck. They pulled away from each other, which made Blitz smile as she remembered what Layla told her all those years ago.
"Make your dawn, make a new light, and create a new hope. Make a better future, a new tomorrow, even if it's not perfect or isn't the best. It's yours and all those you want to share it with." Layla's voice echoed in Blitz's mind, making her smile even more. In front of her was her dawn, the dawn she was always looking for in the darkness of her life.
"Okay, Lucy, I'll try."
"You promise?"
"I promise, Lucy."
"Penny Promise?"
Blitz laughed. "Yes."
Lucy smiled and leaned in, slowly moving her lips to Blitz's lips, which she kissed. Blitz was surprised, but she returned the kiss. Both knew this wouldn't be their first kiss, and it would not be the last.
Lucy touched her lips while a tear fell down her cheek. She smiled, wiped it away, and finally opened the library door, only to find it in ruins. What surprised her was seeing Blitz and Braver's parents watching her pony counterpart as she was talking to Spark as they cleaned the place up, Blitz's second sister. She walked in, listened, and understood why the parents were upset and heartbroken.
"Braver, you sure make a mess! Silly klutz, you need to be more careful." Luster said before sighing and turning to her. "Never mind, no matter how often I tell you that, you never change."
Spark chuckled a little, saying that's true, and then she cleaned the mess.
Lucy felt a pain in her chest, the pain of not only seeing Luster treating Spark like Braver but Spark herself allowing it, when Luster should know that Spark is her own person, that she isn't Braver or...
"What's going on here?" asked Lucy, making everyone turn to her. Luster's happy face became worried as she noticed her, while Spark cringed with sadness when she heard her voice.
"Lucy, what are you doing here? I thought you and your friends would visit Ponyville, not New Ponyville," Twilah asked.
Lucy walked past Blitz's parents, ignoring the question, and straight to Spark, who looked away and tried to pull up a bookcase with her magic.
"Spark, what's going on?" she asked, hoping she would tell her, but Luster jumped in front of her, blocking her way to Spark. "Luster?" she asked.
"Her name is Braver!" shouted Luster, glaring at Lucy.
"What?"
"Her name is not Spark! Braver is still in there, somewhere! She's part with her sister, Blitz!" Luster turned to Spark, who stood there, looking at the floor. "They fused as one! Like how your Sunny and our Sunset fused into one. We need to." Luster felt Lucy's hand on her shoulder, making her face her.
"Stop it." Lucy gave Luster the most disappointed glare she could, shocking her. "Just stop. I know you miss Braver, but she is dead, and you have to accept that."
Luster looked at Lucy, her mouth wide open and eyes wide with surprise.
"She's not dead. If she was, why would she be standing right over there?"
"Because she isn't her! She is not Braver! She's Blitz and Braver's sister! We were all there and saw her and her sisters in the same place. They didn't fuse or anything. They're gone, and I thought you promised Braver you'd move-" Lucy felt a hoof slap her cheek, shocking everyone, even Spark, who turned her head.
Luster's eyes were waterly as her hoof was shaking after slapping Lucy. "Jealous," whispered Luster.
Lucy recovered from the slap and shouted at Luster. "WHAT!?"
Luster got right up to Lucy's face. "You heard me! You are just jealous that I found her first and made her remember she's Braver, not Bli-" Luster felt her cheek being hit as Lucy slapped her but much harder.
"Don't you dare finish that sentence! Do you even hear yourself? How could you be so stupid!"
Luster recovered from the slap and pushed Lucy. "Shut up! You are just mad that I am getting closer to her, and she's mine, so you can't do a thing about it. You won't get your Blitz back!"
"Luster!" shouted Twilight, rushing over to break up the fight, while Twilah held back Lucy, who dropped her drawing bag and was ready to throw hands.
Soon, everyone was fighting against Luster, making Spark cover her ears. She tried her best to ignore the loud screaming and yelling, but she could feel her ears and body shaking and the tears coming.
"Stop it! I'm sorry!" she softly said to them, but the loud screaming only to block it out.
"LET ME GO! THIS BITCH NEEDS A GOOD SMACK!"
"LUCY!?" shouted Twilah, shocked by her behavior and swearing.
Dashie also held Lucy but liked this new side of her, so she needed to comment: "I didn't know Lucy had this in her. She's like a beast."
Twilah gave Dashie a cold stare, making her quiet.
"I'M TELLING YOU, SHE'S MINE!" screamed Luster, trying to get past Twilight and Dash but couldn't, so she backed off and stared at Twilight. "Why are you against me on this, Princess? She's back, and she needs to remember who she is! It's your daughter!"
Spark clutched her ears even when she heard that, and the shouting got louder.
"Stop lying! I know Braver is still alive!" Luster tried to push past Dash and Twilight but got pushed back, and she almost fell to the ground.
"Dawn, stop this right now! You are making a scene, and I'm sure Braver would want you to stop," Twilight said.
Luster ignored her and turned to Spark. "You are Braver, you know it!" Her happiness became a worry as she saw a rainbow aura filling the room, making everyone stop and look at Spark. "Braver?"
Spark flinched, and her aura died down, and she let go of her ears and turned to them all, smiling. "I'm indeed Braver!"
Luster smiled, but Twilight and others were shocked and sad at what Spark said.
"I am Braver! I remember everything!" she said, tears falling from her eyes.
"See! She's Braver!" Luster walked to Spark, but Spark raised her hand, making her stop. "Huh?"
Spark walked past Luster and right up to Lucy, leaning down and taking her hands, smiling.
"I'm also Blitz! I'll make you two happy by giving myself to you!"
"Spark?" Twilah and Dashie said together, in utter shock at what she said to Lucy. They looked down at Lucy but could see her gripping Spark's hands. They looked at each other, fearing Lucy would act like Luster.
"Lucy, I remember you, the girl who wanted friends, who was socially awkward, who listened to me and loved me. I loved you, and I still do."
"Spark?"
"Yes, Lucy, I'm Blitz, so-OWIE!"
Everyone was quiet as they watched Lucy grab Spark by her ear and drag her to the exit. Luster quickly snapped out of it and teleported in front of her human counterpart.
"What are you doing to Brav-ouch, hey!?" Luster felt her ear being grabbed and dragged out of the library.
"Should we follow them?" questioned Dashie, facing the others.
Twilight and the others nodded and hurried outside, following Lucy as she took them somewhere, but they didn't know where.
Spark could feel her back aching as Lucy pulled her along. Being tall has its drawbacks, and this was one of them, as Lucy was pretty short; in fact, Spark realized that Lucy and Blitz were the same height. She smiled at the thought of the two being girlfriends and having each other, but that's when reality hit her, making her frown as she followed Lucy.
Finally, they arrived at New Ponyville Park, where she let Spark and Luster go. She turned to Twilight and Twilah, pointing at Spark and Luster. "Can you two make sure they don't teleport away? I need to make a call." She walked off, took out a phone, and made a call.
Twilah transformed into her anthro form and wondered something. "I see she's using the phone I gave her and the others after infusing it with magic. I wonder if she's calling her friends or someone else?"
Twilight and Twilah's horns glowed, preventing Luster from escaping, but both Dashie and Dash could see the surprised look on Twi and Twilah.
"What's up, Twi?" asked Dash, hovering near her.
Twilight tilted her head. "It's Spark."
"What about her?"
"...she's letting us contain her."
Dashie raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
Twilah fixed her glasses, explaining what Twilight meant. "You two won't understand it, but we can sense her magical power level; even with us giving it all, we're not on Spark's power level. She could easily teleport away without breaking a sweat."
"Then why isn't she?" Dashie asked.
Dash shrugged her shoulders, not sure either.
Twilah and Twilight could feel Spark's sadness as she stared at the ground, and both wondered if it was because of what Luster had been saying. The two nodded and walked up to her.
"Sweetie, can you continue where you left off? Before Luster dropped in." Twilight asked while sitting down with the others, while Luster wondered what she meant.
Spark remembered, put her emotions aside, and continued where she had left off.
Haze and Snake continued, walking down the tunnel until they finally exited. They found themselves in what seemed like a forest; all the trees were just wood. Even the leaves were just wood.
Snake touched one of the trees, checking if they were indeed wood."Okay, this is pretty weird."
Haze agreed with her as they continued to walk through the wooden forest. Haze looked up, seeing the third-floor ceiling very far off.
"Looks like if we find this woman, getting to the third floor will be a long walk."
Snake was about to agree but stopped when she heard a noise. Haze heard it, too, and they both drew their weapons, looking around and seeing nothing.
"Show yourself, or I'll cut you to pieces!" shouted Haze, readying her sword, only to lower it as a wooden apple rolled into their view. "An apple?"
"A wooden apple." Snake corrected her as she walked over to it, picking it up and checking it. "I've never seen an apple made out of wood."
"Neither have I," added Haze, looking up and seeing that the trees were all filled with apples. She looked back at Snake, noticing she was shaking. "Hey, old timer, you okay? Not having another attack, are you?" She was going to touch her, but Snake yelled at her to stay back.
Snake could see the apple dug its roots into her hoof, injecting something into her. "It's alive! It's injecting something into my body and causing my body to be paralyzed!"
Haze was going to use her magic to remove whatever was affecting Snake, but all the trees started to shake, dropping all the wooden apples to the ground. She could see them rolling near and surrounding them.
"Shit, they're monsters!" Haze raised her sword, ready for a battle, as the apples slowly rolled closer and closer. She swung her sword at the ground, making it back off, but others kept rolling. She quickly cast her fire spell, burning the area around her and Snake, keeping the tiny monster at bay. She turned back to Snake. "Hey, how are you feeling? In pain or anything?"
Snake tried to talk, but she could muster up only grunts. She could only look at the apple in her hoof, at which point a single eyelid appeared, and an orange eye looked at her.
Haze noticed and quickly stabbed it, but only for it to send out orange vines from its wound, covering Haze's sword and stabbing into her hands. She felt the same injunction of fluids that Snake felt.
"Crap!" Haze said in a panic as the monster continued to inject fluids into her, paralyzing her.
"Kid!" Snake shouted within her mind, worried, as the monster forced Haze onto her knees.
"Shit, this isn't good."
Haze could feel her body going numb, her arms falling to her sides, her sword falling to the ground. The monster continued to inject her, making her feel lightheaded.
"Sorry, old-timer. I can't help you anymore," she mumbled before her mouth became paralyzed.
The two could see the apples getting much closer, and they saw all of the tiny monsters opening their eyelids, which revealed their eyes also acted as mouths. Within the tiny mouths were razor-sharp teethes, ready to devour the two. Snake closed her eyes and could hear the apples getting much closer. Soon, all was quiet, with nothing making a sound until a drumming noise could be heard. She slowly opened her eyes and saw all the apples turning away from them, looking at someone who had just arrived. One apple roared at the new guest, only for it to be blasted to bits by a shotgun shell. Snake and Haze looked at the woman carrying a custom-made shotgun. She was wearing an H.U.L.L suit from Aaira Universe. She pointed her weapon at the other apples.
"Let them go, you freaky apples or you'll be applesauce!" she threatened, backing the apples off from Haze and Snake, backing up to the tree, and confusing the two.
Their savior hurried over and glared at the apple that paralyzed them. The monster didn't back down, even when she pointed her barrel at it.
"Listen here, you tiny bastard. I already killed a ton of your kind, and your small fries are nothing like Changers. I saw and fought corpse nightmares, so you little bastards are nothing! So, I won't repeat myself." she pumps her shotgun, waiting for the apple to move.
The tiny monster hissed at her and removed its vines from Snake and Haze. It rolled away, used its vines to grab a branch, and disappeared into the wooden tree leaves.
Snake and Haze felt their bodies returning to normal and felt relief. Haze grabbed her sword and stood up. She turned to her savior, who had her back to them and was loading her shotgun.
"Thanks for the save. I'm guessing you are, Amelia Jarvis?"
She stopped loading her weapon and faced the two. Her helmet became undone and entered the back of her neck collar, revealing her face. Haze and Snake saw that face before from their universes, making Haze blush while Snake smirked.
"Yup, you are right, Pecan Pie. So, who are you two? And please, call me AJ." Asked AJ, reaching out her hand and waiting for a handshake from Haze, but Haze just looked at it and crossed her arms.
"Names Haze, Former 1st Class SOLDIER. The old timer here is named Solid Matter Snake."
AJ could see she wasn't getting a handshake from Haze, so she turned her hand toward Snake, who happily shook it.
"I'm Snake, like the kid here said. Former soldier. Nice to meet you, AJ."
AJ let go of Snake's hoof and scanned the two. She could see from their get-ups that they were, indeed, soldiers.
"Alright, you two are from another universe, right?" AJ placed her shotgun on her belt and waited for their answers, which they explained they were. "Knew it, I wonder how I got here? Is it another multiverse crisis?"
Haze and Snake look at each other and back at her.
"Another multiverse crisis? I take it this isn't your first time, it seems," replied Haze as they started to walk toward the stairway tower in the distance.
"Yup, this isn't my first rodeo. I joined my friend, Aaira, and we teamed up with other versions of other universe folks and saved the multiverse by helping stop this poor girl named Rainbow Sun Dawn. The last thing I remembered was staying at Applejack's farmhouse." She placed her hand on her head. "For some reason, everything is like a fog. I don't remember why I'm here."
Snake took out a sugar stick and handed it to her. "Join the club,"
AJ saw the treat and took one. "What do you mean?"
The two explained everything they knew, so AJ touched her chin.
"I see, so Rainbow Spark gathered us, huh? We have something in common?" she looked at them seriously. "I wonder what that is? Is it related to us being soldiers?"
Haze stopped, crossing her arms. "Maybe?"
Snake stopped, sitting on the ground and eating her sugar stick. "Or maybe something else?" she faced AJ. "Going by your reaction, you seemed to know her, don't you?"
AJ nodded and explained everything that happened in her multiverse adventure. When she was done, the two now knew Spark's background.
"So Sparkly is a clone of her parents, and her sisters weren't the clones." Snake couldn't help but smirk, which the others took notice of and asked why she was smirking. "Well, like I said before, I might look old, but I'm not. See, I'm a clone of the most outstanding soldier in my universe, and her name was Naked Matter Snake or Big Boss. I had a sister called Liquid Antimatter Snake, who hated my guts because she thought I had all the best genes."
"Had? What happened to her, old timer?"
Snake chomps down on the stick, eyeing Haze. "MAGICDIE killed her, then Ocelot chopped off her arm, and Liquid took over her body as a ghost, then I fought Liquid Oclet to the death and won. Big Boss also died to MAGICDIE."
AJ scratched her head, not understanding one part of the explanation. "What the hell is a MAGICDIE?"
Snake pointed at herself. "MAGICDIE is an engineered retrovirus, made to kill specific targets until it mutated thanks to my clone body aging at an accelerated rate. I became a walking bioweapon, as the MAGICDIE will target anyone now." She could see them stepping back from her, making her laugh. "Don't worry, you guys can't catch it. I was injected with a new MAGICDIE version, which overwrote the old one. I'm still a walking bioweapon, but it takes years before this new MAGICDIE can mutate like the old one." she stood up and started to head in the direction the stairway tower was in while the others followed her.
"Damn, Snake. That's a lot to take in. So are you?"
"Dying? My body is aging so fast that I only have a few months to live." Snake could see their saddened expressions, so she laughed again. "Don't look so glum, guys. I don't want people crying for my sake."
"Sorry, it's just that's pretty shitty, you know?"
Haze got closer to Snake but did not look at her.
"So, who created this MAGICDIE? And those suppressors you have and used back there, is it to suppress your aging or something?"
Snake didn't turn to her, only looking ahead as she answered her.
"An old friend, Nami Diamond. She wanted revenge against me for killing her brother and my best friend, Grey Moon Fox. She realized I wasn't the cold killer that she thought I was and forgave me. Before Fox was killed by Liquid, who drove the Metal Gear Spike, she told me to tell Nami to forget about her and go on with her life. To let the past go. She did, but years later, she died..." Snake had a hurt expression on her face. "In the same spot as Fox died all those years ago."
They were all quiet as they kept walking through the woods. Snake eyed the two and continued with her story explaining.
"And yes, the suppressors are meant to stop my body from aging. Like I said, I don't have long to live." She stopped and turned to them, smiling. "I don't know what we have in common, but I'm glad my last mission is to save those kids at the top of the tree. I'm just an old soldier with little time left in this world. So, I'm grateful my final time is saving lives rather than taking them."
AJ understood her, walking up to Snake and giving her a soldier's salute.
Snake gave one back, smiling. Haze wanted to join them but didn't, so she heard something coming from AJ's suit. "...do I hear drums?"
The two turned to her, and AJ put back on her helmet and opened her radio feed, which gave off the drumming song.
"Yeah, my H.U.L.L suit radio keeps picking it up. Sounds like it's getting louder when I get closer to the tower over there."
Snake pressed her codec in her ear, but it didn't pick up anything.
"I'm not liking that. It sounds like a military marching song." Snake replied, looking at the tower.
AJ kept the radio on and listened to it. She was happy the two could hear it, but that's when she heard it.
"Mommy, where are you?"
When she heard the voice again, she didn't react to it. Instead, she eyed the others and waited to see if they listened to the little girl's voice. She watched as they spoke to each other and continued to walk to the stairway tower.
"How? I thought the Pillar radio wave was gone after Bolt destroyed the Mother Moon. So why am I hearing my daughter's voice?" thought AJ, as she turned off the radio feed, only to still hear it. She feared she might be going insane again and wasn't sure if she should tell the other about it.
The three kept walking in the wooden forest for an hour or so. They were almost near the spiral tower, from which they could practically see the entrance to the stairway from a hill.
"Finally, we can leave this weird forest," stated Haze, walking ahead with Snake.
Snake walked down the hill but turned to AJ, as she didn't hear her coming. She could see her on the hill, still wearing her helmet. She could tell she was staring off at something and walked up to her, waving her sugar stick in front of her face with her magic.
"Hey, AJ, you alright?" asked Snake, making AJ jump.
AJ didn't answer, looking around as if she didn't see her, and then her eyes met Snake's, making her feel embarrassed.
"Sorry, Snake. I just had a bit of a moment. So, what's the hold-up?"
Snake bit the stick and pointed at her.
'You. You are the hold. What's wrong?"
AJ rubbed her neck, not sure how to say it.
"Well, it's just..."
"Yes?"
"I'm..." she sighed. "Never mind; I shouldn't bother you with it." She walked off, but Snake stopped her as she spoke to her.
"As a soldier, you should know that if someone isn't feeling right, you should help them out."
AJ knew Snake was right, but she was even more embarrassed when she turned to Snake and saw her holding out her stick. "Take a bite and tell me, or I won't give you any more."
AJ couldn't say no, so she did.
"Well, you see, the truth is, from my universe, there was an alien pillar that brought back the dead to life as dead flesh monsters."
Snake put her hoof on her chin. "That's what you meant, huh? When you are threatening those apple monsters."
"Yeah, I saw untold horrors during my time in stopping those Pillars. See, the Pillars can also make everyone near it slowly go insane over time, until they are bat insane and killing others to make more of those monsters."
Snake started to understand.
"So, let me guess: Do you feel like you're going crazy again? Because you look fine right now." AJ nodded. "So, is there a Pillar nearby or something to make you feel like this?"
AJ shrugged, not knowing for sure. As the two talked, Haze was at the bottom of the hill, turning back to see the two still on top. She sighed and waited but sensed something, making her grab her sword handle. Ready for anything, she looked around.
"It's back..."
She quickly turned to the others, about to call out, when everything went dark again, and mist started filling the land. Snake and AJ could see what was happening around them, so Snake quickly explained this.
"An evil version of you is attacking us? Why?" she loaded her shotgun.
Snake held her handgun and knife at the ready, standing by AJ's side.
"Whatever it is, it's no doubt trying to stop us from reaching the top and saving those kids. It must be Fayth doing it, or maybe somehow the kids?"
AJ pointed her shotgun, aiming at nothing, only seeing the mist covering everything but them She picked up the drumming song again, and like before, she could hear her daughter calling out to her. She started to sweat and felt her breathing get faster as she tried to ignore the voice.
"No, it's not real, it's not real."
She didn't notice a black mist forming behind her, and it shot at her, knocking her to the ground and her gun out of her hands. Snake quickly turned around, firing a few shots into the mist, but like before, it did nothing as the red eyes looked at her and disappeared. She grunted in anger and turned to help AJ, but she pushed her away, screaming that it was unnatural.
"ITS NOT REAL! YOU ARE DEAD!"
"AJ, what the hell are you talking about?!"
AJ was breathing faster, her mind thinking she was being attacked by one of those Pillar monsters that brought back her family from the dead, making them into a Changer. She quickly grabbed her shotgun and just unloaded it into the darkness.
"SHE'S DEAD! I WON'T LET YOU MAKE ME GO INSANE AGAIN; YOU HEAR ME!"
Haze could see the flashes of the gunshots and ran toward them, but the mist filled the forest so that she couldn't find the others. She watched as the white flashes were gone but still heard AJ screaming. But another voice joined in, calling out to her.
"Haze."
Haze flinched when she heard that voice, which she knew so well that it almost made her drop her sword. She looked around but couldn't find the person until that person found her. Haze lowered her sword and was shocked at what she saw in front of her.
"Can't be...Aeris?"
Standing there was the flower girl and the one who summoned the Holy, the one she fell in love with before she was killed by 'her.'
"Haze, it's been a while."
Haze dropped her sword and slowly approached her, reaching out and feeling her cheek. She couldn't believe this. How was she here?
"Aeris, is that you? How?"
Aeris held Haze's hand, smiling at her.
"Haze, why?"
Haze felt Aeris's hand gripping her very tight, almost like she was crushing it. She tried to force her hand off, but Aeris just increased her grip and pulled Haze to her face, asking the same question.
"Why? Why did you let me die?"
Haze's heart started to beat fast as Aeris's eyes began to cry out blood; her chest had a stab wound, and sensing something, Haze dodged a long blade that almost impaled her as it exited out of the wound.
"Haze, you let me die! You let Zara die as well! YOU ARE A FAILURE! YOU KILLED US!"
Haze didn't speak, but she could see another figure in the mist; it was Zara, wholly covered in bullet wounds and slash marks.
"You killed us, Haze."
Haze felt her face covered in sweat as she desperately tried to get Aeris off of her hand, only for the two to pull her down and start to choke her.
"It was you. You did this to us, Haze. You did this. It's all your fault."
Haze could feel her vision blurry as she ran out of breath.
Meanwhile, Snake tried to calm AJ down but was prone on the ground as the shotgun blast went over her head. "AJ, snap out of it; whatever you see, it's not there! It's just a trick!"
But AJ wasn't listening. She could see shadows of Changers charging at her but disappearing as she shot them down. "FUCKERS! STAY AWAY!"
AJ blasted a Changer and quickly reloaded, only to see a small hand on her hand, making her drop the shell clip. She slowly looked up and saw her daughter, and behind her was her husband—the two people she killed.
"No..." she dropped to the ground, trying to back away, but they were always in front of her no matter how quick she was. "Mommy, why did you kill us? Did you hate me and Daddy?" asked the redhead girl.
AJ quickly stopped and held her daughter, who was crying.
"No! Never!"
The girl hugged her back, crying. "Then why, Mommy, why did you stop loving me and ignore calling or visiting us when you returned from your tour? I don't understand. You are my hero. Mommy, why did you stop caring for us? Don't you love us anymore?"
AJ hugged her harder, shaking her head.
"No, I didn't mean to. I just felt like a failure to you and your father! Having a family was too much for me, and I was scared I would fail you and him. I didn't want to become a failure in your eyes!"
"Mommy, is that why you hit me? You hated seeing me?" the girl broke the hug, slowly putting her hands on AJ's helmet face.
"No, no, sweetie! I just had issues because of what I was going through, and that's why I stopped visiting!" AJ felt like her heart was breaking.
"Sweetie, please believe me; I didn't want to hurt you or your father. It was because I was a fool and didn't know how to raise you and love him." she looked at her husband, who glared at her, not seeing a word. "Believe me, please!"
The girl smiled and stabbed her fingers into the helmet joints, trying to pull back the mask.
"Liar, you never loved us! You wanted us gone, didn't you? WE FELT HATED! THAT'S WHY YOU KILLED ME AND DADDY!"
"NO!"
She felt half of her helmet getting pulled back and saw the girl's face change to the same face as the nightmarish monster, with eyes filled with blood and a twisted face that was once her daughter.
"MOMMY! MAKE US WHOLE! LET US IN!" her daughter said in a twisted and evil tone. "MAKE US WHOLE AGAIN!"
AJ's helmet face covering broke off, and the twisted hands of her daughter grabbed her face, making her watch as her daughter's mouth opened and blasted her with a blast of mist, burning her face slowly.
"MAKE US WHOLE!" said her daughter and husband as he, too, grabbed her and blasted mist into her, but only for a grenade to fall in between and go off with a bright flash. AJ's family vanished, and grunting in pain was the same evil-looking Twilight as she rubbed her eyes.
"I knew that would work," said Snake, hurrying over and pulling a pin from the can-looking grenade and tossing it at the dark creature. It blinded her again and made her stagger back. "Good old flash bangs, never let me down," she quickly grabbed AJ and shook her.
"Hey, AJ! Listen up, we need to go! NOW!"
But AJ pushed her and couldn't stop crying.
"I killed my family, Snake. I couldn't be there for them when they turned into Changers; I had to put down my daughter! I'm a failure, a fuck up, why did I have to be a mother, I'm no good."
Snake punched her, making her shut up.
"Pull yourself together, soldier! What happened, happened! You can't let that hold you down. We all have regrets and things we aren't proud of, but if you don't do something about it, then you are the true failure!" she picked up AJ's shotgun and held it out. "It's like what Grey Moon Fox once told me before she died: she killed Nami's parents. She couldn't bring herself to kill her too, that she took her in but distance herself from her, because when she looked into Nami eyes, she only saw Nami's parents staring back at her, that's how guilty she was."
"Snake..."
Snake tossed her the gun and grabbed her arm, lifting and helping her walk.
"She told me to tell Nami the truth, that she killed Nami's family, but I couldn't; I couldn't bring myself to do it; I was too afraid of how Nami would react. Even when I spoke to her, I still couldn't say it; even when I knew Grey Moon Fox had forgiven me, I still didn't." Snake and she turned to the dark creature, slowly recovering from the flashbang. "It's one of many things I regretted, even more so when Nami died. I couldn't ever tell her the truth." she eyed AJ, giving her a look. "So do you want to be like me, or someone who has no regrets? If it were me, I would want to be able to move on from the past and have no regrets. You need to be that person, AJ. It would be best to forgive yourself and not be weighed down by something out of your control. So what will you do, soldier?"
AJ took her shotgun and looked at the dark creature, then back at her shotgun and the ammo clip she had dropped. She slowly grabbed it and held it in her hand. She remembered something Aaira had once told her, making her ask Snake something.
"Is that what a good woman does?"
Snake was confused and asked.
"What do you mean?"
AJ loaded the shell clip into the gun and looked at her.
"I asked Aaira that question after I told her the things I had done, from killing my family and letting others die because I was too scared. I asked her about it, and she said good women mean well. We don't always end up doing well. But we still try, and the important thing is that we keep trying."
Snake smiled at her, knowing that AJ would be fine now. AJ stood up, part of her helmet masked, covering her face. She narrowed her eyes at the dark creature. She aimed, blasting it and making it stagger backward with each shot.
Snake slowly followed AJ, talking to her as they walked around the creature.
"Just going by that answer, I can tell your friend has also been through a lot. If she can be a good woman, then so can you. As she said, we're only human, and sometimes, we don't do well, but as long as we keep trying, then I say we are good women, no matter what we did."
AJ laughed a bit. "Yeah, but aren't you a talking pony?" she could hear Snake grunting in annoyance.
The dark creature was now on the ground, with holes in its body, not moving. The two quickly took off and down the hill, only to find Haze being choked by a young woman while the other one just looked on.
"Kid!" shouted Snake, who leapt and tackle the woman off of her friend, seeing the bloody woman stagger back into the bullet wounds Zara and the two vanished into the mist. Snake turned to Haze and saw AJ pulling her up. She tried to pick up the sword to return it to her but couldn't, as it weighed a ton.
"Jesus Christ, how the hell were you lugging this around?"
Haze coughed, picked up the sword, and looked around for Aeris and Zara, but she felt AJ pulling her hand, making her face her as they ran.
"Come on, Haze. We need to get out of here!"
Haze blushed and forced her hand out of AJ's. "Don't need to tell me twice," she hurried along, confusing AJ. Snake noticed the blush and wondered. She remembered AJ looking like the girl in the photo Haze showed her, but she quickly put that thought aside and hurried behind them, almost reaching the stairway.
"WHERE ARE MY FRIENDS!?"
They all turned around, seeing the dark creature rushing towards them, blasting out more mist. The three made their stand and waited for it to come closer. Before it could reach them, the apple monsters shot out of the trees and attacked the dark creature, biting their tiny jaws into its dark flesh. It screamed out and tried to fight back, but more apples joined in, swarming it until it was on the ground, the mist being pushed back.
"Damn buggers saved us, it seems," AJ said, lowering the weapon. "We better hurry out of here."
The three left and quickly hurried up the stairway, hearing the creature's screams echoing in the forest, making them think that it was dead. They ran to the next floor, as the darkness that the beast made was being drowned out by the orange lights that the wooden trees were emitting.
Spark stopped with her story as she and others could hear Lucy returning.
"Spark, I have someone coming here to help, as she's the best person for this issue."
Luster stood up, eyeing her counterpart. "What issues? Other than making her remember she's Braver?"
Lucy rubbed her eyes and put her hand up at Luster. "No, not this starting this shit again." she looked at Spark and sat down next to her. "Spark, listen to me. I don't know what's going on, but you aren't Blitz or." she eyed Luster a bit and returned to Spark. "Or Braver, you are you! You are your own person; we all saw that." She faced Luster with great annoyance. "SOMEONE HERE NEEDS TO SEE THAT TOO!" she looked back at Spark, holding her hand. "So please, don't try to be something you are not; it doesn't suit you."
Spark gave her a sad smile, softly gripping Lucy's hand.
"But if I'm not my sisters, what am I then? Just a clone of other ponies. How can I be me when there is no me from the start."
Lucy sighed, not sure what to say.
"Braver, look." Luster was about to speak, but Lucy glared at her, not wanting to hear any of it.
"No, stop right there! She isn't Braver! You need to stop this already, she's gone and forcing Spark here to be her isn't right! She's a different person, with a different personality, so stop treating her like Braver."
Luster stomps her way over to Lucy, face to face with her. Twilight was going to stop this, but Dash and others stopped her. "She IS Braver! Why do you act like she isn't!?"
Lucy became more pissed off and shoved Luster, making her step back and was surprised at how strong Lucy was.
"Because she's not; she's her own person! Why are you so dead set on thinking like this? Braver is-"
"SHE'S NOT DEAD!" Luster screamed back, shaking with anger and tears in her eyes. "She's back...she can be Braver." She lowered her head. "Don't you miss Blitz? Don't you want her back?"
Lucy reacted with a hurt expression, feeling bad for her.
"Of course I miss her. I miss her dearly..." She placed her hand over her heart, tears falling. "I wish she were here, alive again, but I'm not going to make her sister suffer for it so that I can be happy. It's wrong and selfish."
Luster looked away, not sure what to do. Spark felt so awful right now. She was going to speak up, but Lucy stopped her.
"It's not your fault, Spark. Blitz and Braver gave up their lives so you could finally have a life outside of the prison you created for yourself." she faced her, smiling at her. "There was a saying that Blitz told Wallflower after they met. Make your dawn, make a new light, and create a new hope. Make a better future, a new tomorrow, even if it's not perfect or isn't the best. It's yours and all those you want to share it with. They didn't want you to become a copy of them or something you aren't. They wanted you to live for yourself and make the life you want, even if it's not perfect. It's yours and all those you let in. Don't let Luster, or anyone, make you think otherwise."
"Lucy..."
Luster was about to speak up, but someone stopped her.
"Braver is dead," said Twilight, getting everyone's attention. She faced Luster with a sad expression. "Braver is gone, Dawn. I know it's hard to come to terms with it, but you need to, as it's the only way to move on and stop living in the past." She walked over to Luster, placing her head on her shoulder. "Braver would have wanted this, for you and all of us, to move on."
Luster suddenly felt tears falling down her neck, and her former teacher cried.
"Please, don't soil the memory of my daughter like this, Dawn. She wouldn't have wanted you to act this way. It would be best to accept that Braver is gone and move on. We all need to, as it is the only way."
Luster closed her eyes and leaned into Twilight, wrapping her arms around her, and began crying.
"But she was my reason for living, princess. She made me rise like the morning sun! How can I not think about her or miss her!? She meant so much to me, and you know that! What do I do when she's gone!?"
Twilight closed her eyes, holding her and rubbing her back. The others just watched in sadness, but Spark broke down. Seeing how much pain she caused Luster and Twilight, she started to have panic attack.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry!"
Lucy hugged her and rubbed her back, comforting her.
"Shh, calm down, it's okay."
But Spark's rainbow aura pushed her away into Dashie and Twilah's arms. They and others watched Spark's magical aura increase in size, feeling the overwhelming pressure. Twilight got in front of everyone, unleashing her magical energy and trying to push it back, but she couldn't. Lucy got up and shouted at Spark, hoping she would listen.
"Remember what I said!? All those you want to share it with!? Open up to us, Spark! Let us help you!"
Spark slowly opened her eyes, revealing her rainbow-glowing eyes, and spoke with a higher-power tone. "I DON'T WANT TO BURDEN YOU ARE! NOT AFTER HURTING YOU ALL SO MUCH!"
"Spark, you are never a burden! Not to us!" shouted Dash, trying to push forward, with the others trying the same.
Spark looked at her fist, which started to glow. "I am! And the only way to make this right!" She raised her fist and scattered reality in front of them, seeing a rift being created. They watched as Spark dropped to her knees, crying her eyes out.
In a universe, a woman bought two ice cream and looked at the time at the park's clock. She grunted and tsk in disappointment as she licked the pink strawberry ice cream while looking at the melting ice cream with rainbow sprinkles.
"Ditching me AGAIN! I swear, when I see her again, I'm going to give her a piece of my mind!" she was about to leave when a rift opened up, making her smile. But she could hear someone crying. Her pony ears twitched when she knew that voice from anywhere. She quickly tossed the ice cream away, clutched her hands into fists while wearing pink battle gloves, and darted through the rift.
Everyone watched as someone jumped through the rift, slammed her fist into the ground, and faced them. Everyone but Lucy had seen this person before, the woman who appeared and stopped Rainbow Dawn while Twilight cast the spell that would make Braver into a real Alicorn.
"WHO THE FUCK MADE MY GIRLFIREND CRY!?" shouted the girl, eyeing them with pure rage. "I'm going to bea-ugh?" she suddenly felt Spark hugging her and crying in her chest, making the woman soft and less angry. "Aw, sweetheart, what happened?"
Spark looked up at her with tears rolling down her cheeks. "Dawn, I'm sorry!"
Dawn tips her head in confusion, trying to figure out what happened. "Huh? For what? You didn't do anything, babe."
"I hurt everyone because of what I did! I made my sister's girlfriends hurt so much; this is the only way to make it right!"
Dawn was confused, but before she could ask what she was talking about, Spark kissed her, making her all red. Spark broke the kiss and said.
"I'm breaking up with you! They lost their dawn, so it only makes it right if I lost it as well, the very thing that makes me happy in this multiverse. You!"
Everyone was quiet after Spark had said. The only one to say anything was this new Dawn, who looked most confused.
