They Walk Among Us

"They're here! They're back!"

The small group of now-heroes was greeted back to the Resistance Base by a thunderous applause and earth-shaking shouts of praise. Everyone was gathered up right outside the Main Door, squeezing against each other to fit inside the narrow lanes in front of the steps that led to the door. Twilight didn't know how they were going to go through everyone, but she couldn't worry too much about that at the moment.

"We're home." said Rarity.

Home. Rarity's already been living in the Base for three months already, so maybe she already adapted by then.

"I can't believe so many of them can squeeze up in such a small place." said Steven. "Back before the crash, people would've already been pushing each other over the railings."

"I guess the crash has taught some of your people the importance of love and tolerance." said Twilight, smirking.

As they descended the stairs, to the main lobby, some of the crowd was beginning to become visible already. Just how many people and ponies are there?

"Ya guys deserved it." said Big Macintosh, Berry Punch walking along her. "Ya should be proud."

"For a job that was supposed to be impossible." said Bush, looking awfully pleased.

"Eeyup." said Big Macintosh. It surprised Twilight how dramatically Big Macintosh's chattiness can change depending on the craziness of the situation. Was he naturally quiet, or naturally loud? Twilight then pushed aside this thought to join the other thoughts about the dilemmas of her other friends, like Is Fluttershy naturally shy or was it some childhood psychological trauma? and Was Pinkie naturally hyperactive, or was it all the sugar?

Thinking about Pinkie Pie seemed to squeeze her already dry heart. Better not do that again.

They were welcomed back by many handshakes, woots, pats on the back, and in Bush's case, a water bottle to the face.

"Ow!" exclaimed Steven. "That hurt."

The group laughed. After experiencing the pain of everything that happened so far (Shot, pierced, scratched, crushed, and even death), a water bottle to the face just seemed so trivial. It felt nice to laugh a bit after everything that had happened so far.

As they continued walking (although Fluttershy was flying very high in the sky, as she was scared of large crowds), however, they reached a small wooden stage, with the three members of the Triumvirate standing upon them.

Twilight saw Steven's eyes wide. This was the very first time Steven actually got to see the three Leader's faces, and she knew that he still bore a grudge against them for so strongly refuting his case for going to find Discord. To their credit, however, Twilight knew that they were right. Under no circumstances, even dire ones, should they set out to meet Discord. Not with what Discord could do to them...

"Welcome back, Team F of Sector T!" said Bill Gates, standing in front of a podium and spreading his arms widely to the side.

The crowd showed even larger signs of appreciation, breaking all of Twilights' expectations about how loud a crowd can be.

"You have done a wonderful job, saving a relatively very small army against one that is massive and positively huge." continued the Leader. "We have received news of your success from your friends in the Outpost, telling us of your impressive handling of the situation."

"In other words, ya all done a mighty fine job, ya little varmints!" said Granny Smith, jumping around the stage. "And I figured ya would be hungry, so ah went and made y'all some dinner!"

"Thanks, Granny Smith." said Twilight, ever so polite. The rest of the group responded the same way as well. Although Big Macintosh's short greeting may be just because of his nature. Donut Joe nodded in agreement.

"Anyway," said Bill Gates, "Because of your excellent performance, we will raise the rank of your team. You now raised your rank to team B of your whole Sector! That's pretty good for a team that was literally just made yesterday.

The crowd's applause just went louder. Again, Twilight's expectations were shattered.

"What does that mean?" asked Twilight in Rarity's ear.

"You see, dear, The Resistance is made up of 26 Sectors, each of which are made of six teams. And these six teams, depending on their value to the Resistance, can raise up or lower down in rank. Team A, of course, is the leader of the Sector, and their members representatives of their Sector in the Council. Team F, as you may have guessed, are the runts of the litter."

Twilight never knew that. She understood how they would've been placed in the lowest ranked team, but who would've known that a place inhabited by Rebels could have such a strong organizational system.

"And we're in the B Team now?" asked Bush.

"Yes." said Donut Joe. "Which means you guys are second in command!"

"Which means that you are going to need to meet your direct superiors right away." said Bill Gates.

"But ah won't let'cha go until y'all got some well-earned rest, y'hear?" said Granny Smith.

"Yes, Granny Smith." said the whole group in unison.

"And where are our other heroes, Vinyl Scratch and Octavia?" asked Bill Gates.

"Vinyl kindly refused to leave the Outpost." said Twilight. "And Octavia decided to stay with her."

"Very well." said Bill Gates, clapping his hands dismissively. "You may leave."

The crowd quickly spread out, some staying and some going elsewhere. But as they left, however, they still had a few congratulations from various members of the Resistance.

"Hey, everyone!" said Alan, who was part of the Research Team. "Great job!"

"That was AWESOME, guys!" said Derpy, still as cross-eyed as ever.

"Amaaaazing!" said Braeburn, standing on his two hind legs as he said it. "You guys really showed yer stuff!"

"Braeburn..." whispered Big Macintosh under his breath. Berry Punch, however, heard that and playfully nudged him in the shoulder.

"Come on..." said Berry Punch. "Be nice."

"It's so late already." said Steven. "I still can't believe that they stayed up so late just to watch us return."

"But there's something else that's got me confused." said Twilight. "If there already were six teams in each Sector from the beginning, then how could Big Macintosh be a 'new' leader?"

Rarity, Big Macintosh, and Berry Punch all stopped walking, all of them staring into the space in front of them.

"What?" asked Twilight. "What's going..."

Damn it! Twilight should've stopped to think before mindlessly asking a question like that. There was only one explanation as to how Big Macintosh could suddenly become a Leader. It must've meant that the rest of his team...

"Oh no..." said Twilight. "I...I'm so sorry..."

Berry Punch sighed, and then looked up at the rest.

"No, no, Twilight." she said. "We were already planning to tell you anyway."

"Well..." said Rarity.

"No, its alright." said Twilight. "It can wait."

"But we must tell you!" said Rarity. "I'm afraid we cannot go on without us telling you the truth!"

"They got captured." said Berry Punch. "We were doing good, Team A of Sector T and all, but one mission we went on became sour..."

"The whole team got captured." said Rarity. "Except for us three, that is..."

"They got AJ!" said Big Macintosh. "And its all mah damn fault!"

Berry Punch picked up his hooves and held onto them as she let Big Macintosh rest his head on her shoulders.

"Applejack was one of those captured." said Rarity, turning her head to look at Big Macintosh, regret as clear as day in her eyes. "She sacrificed herself to allow the three of us to safely cross the gorge that surrounded the Black Wesa facility. Granny Smith blamed Big Macintosh."

"Applejack..." said Fluttershy, transfixed.

"The loyalest and most dependable of ponies..." said Twilight. "Gone?"

"We don't know where she is now." said Rarity. "We don't even know if she is alive! Sure we had our differences, but this? My only wish now is that she would come back to us safe and sound..."

Twilight just realized how Rarity's drama queen personality disappears in hard times like then. She wasn't overreacting at all. She was strangely very silent and tense.

"But the Triumvirate told us that she never reached the Base in the first place!" said Rainbow Dash, confronting Rarity. "Are you telling us that they lied?"

"...Yes." whispered Rarity.

"Then why didn't you tell us earlier about the whole thing?" asked Rainbow Dash. "We might still be able to save her."

Rainbow Dash quickly ran towards the Main Doors again, but Berry Punch tackled her out of the way.

"What do you want?" asked Rainbow Dash. "I'm trying to save a friend!"

"And I am too!" said Berry Punch. "There is no way in both hells that I would allow you to go searching for Applejack by yourself!"

Fluttershy slowly flew over to Rainbow Dash and guided her back to where the group was standing. Steven also went up to her and planted a soft kiss on her cheek.

"We can't go now, Dash." said Steven. "But we can't give up hope either. I do not know who Applejack is, but we have to believe in her. We have to believe that she is still alive."

"He's right, everyone." said Twilight. "We have to put our trust in Applejack. We've already done it many times before, so why can't we do it again now?"

Everyone hesitantly nodded in agreement.

The truth, however, was that Twilight doubted that her friend would return by herself. Twilight had to go through a lot of the experiments that the filthy monsters in Black Wesa had done on her, and she herself barely managed to escape safely. And even then, somepony had to give her life to save her as well.

No. Pinkie Pie and Applejack aren't dead.

And yet there is no proof of their being alive as well.

After saying goodbye to the rest of the group, Twilight sadly walked up to her bedroom. Thankfully (and luckily), it was right next to the Library, and rumors have reached her about the librarian there being very dedicated to her work, leaving the Library open 24 hours a day, every day. She might have time to go there and squeeze in a little bit of reading before sleeping.

As Twilight opened the door to the Library, her eyes widened in shock.

The Resistance's Library was the biggest library she had ever been in! And that was saying a lot!

Very tall shelves filled the magnificently decorated Library, all of them packed with books to the brim. They were very neatly organized into genres, titles, name of authors, it made every single book easy to find. Who was this amazing librarian who had prepared all of this? Twilight herself could really use some tips in organizing her own Library.

"Who goes there?" asked a voice that seemingly came from nowhere. Twilight jumped in surprise.

"Um... I'm Twilight Sparkle!" said Twilight. "Are you the Librarian?"

"Yes, I am." said the voice, as it slowly walked out from behind the shelf right across of her. Twilight stayed in place, determined to meet this Librarian.

"Hello." said Twilight.

"Hello." said the Librarian.

The Librarian herself was a very strange sight to see. She was a human, maybe younger than her, with long, flaming red hair. She was wearing glasses, and she looked like she was just in the middle of reading a book. But the strangest thing about the Librarian was that she was confined to a wheelchair.

How could someone in a wheelchair be able to organize this Library so perfectly? If the Librarian was a unicorn, then she'd understand, but she was a human.

"Nice to meet you." said Twilight. "Er..."

"My name's Barbara." said the Librarian.

"Just... Barbara?"

"Just Barbara."

"O...kay?" said Twilight. "Please don't mind me, I'm just going for a look around."

"No, it's no problem!" said Barbara the Librarian. "I was just going to return this book anyway, so I thought I could maybe guide you around."

"Sure!" said Twilight. "Thanks!"

Happy that the awkward moments are finally over, Twilight walked alongside Barbara the Librarian as they looked for something that may intrigue Twilight.

"Your collection of books is... so complete!" said Twilight, looking around. She then tried to think of a way to make what she said next not so... offensive. "And you kept this Library immaculate! How did you... do that?"

To Twilight's surprise, Barbara the Librarian calmly smiled at her. She then pressed a button on her wheelchair, which made a robotic hand and a joystick appear. She then put her hand on the joystick and began controlling it, manipulating the movements of the robotic hand so that it picked up her book from her lap and put it onto one of the top shelves.

"Wow." said Twilight.

"Yes..." said Barbara the Librarian. "That, and lots of determination."

"You know," said Twilight, "I'm a Librarian too. Proud manager of the Ponyville Library!"

"That's great!" said Barbara. "You know, half of these books were imported from there. Rarity and Applejack's group all went to dangerous territory in Ponyville to pick them up for me!"

"You know Rarity and Applejack?" asked Twilight.

"Of course I do!" said Barbara. "They come here everyday... when they're not on a mission, of course. They always said something about this place bringing back good old memories. And not to mention that I make it a business to know everybody possible."

Twilight was struck with surprise at what she had just said. Something about good old memories. Was she why they came here everyday?

"What do they normally do here?" asked Twilight.

"Well..." said Barbara. "They usually just come here to take a look at one book. Just one book."

"And what book was that?" asked Twilight.

"The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide." said Barbara. "Although I don't understand anything in that book nor why they liked to read it, cover-to-cover, over-and-over again."

Suddenly, a wave of memories flooded Twilight Sparkle's mind.

Twilight was frustrated. She was bursting with frustration. If the Elements of Harmony were so important, then why, in the ten years of being Princess Celestia's apprentice, did the all-knowing Princess never tell her about them?

"I don't even know what they are, where to find them... I don't even know what they do!" she said

"The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide!" said a bright voice to her left.

Twilight immediately crashed into where the pink pony was standing, bumping her out of the way.

"Where did you find that?" she asked.

The pink pony quickly picked herself up and began to prance around the Library again.

"It was under 'E'!" sang the Pinkie Pie.

Twilight shut her eyes down even tighter.

Twilight read each letter sent by the Princess, word-by-word, until she finally felt like herself again. Her bright, trusting, happy nature was back again. And it was back with a VENGEANCE. She knew what she had to do. She knew how she had to defeat Discord.

"You're right, Spike. I've got to fight for my friendships. For them. For me. For Equestria!"

Twilight tried to open her eyes, but her memories still overwhelmed her. She could feel a single tear flowing down her cheek as she remembered all the times they were together. Both good times and bad times, but time still spent together.

"Hey." said Barbara. "Are you alright?"

Princess Cadence and Shining Armour were standing together, locked up in a deep embrace. Canterlot had been turned upside down by the Changeling invasion, and Cadence had barely managed to bring Twilight's brother back to his senses. Queen Chrysalis, on the other had, did not care about any of that. She made it clear that she was impossible to stop.

Will Shining Armour be able to use the spell? He was the only one who could, and if he didn't, then...

"No!" said Shining Armour, failing to perform the spell once again. "My power is useless now. I don't have the strength to repel them."

Princess Cadence quickly walked up to him and hugged him.

"My love will give you strength." she said, touching her horn to his.

Suddenly, Twilight fell down. The smashing of her nose to the marble floor quickly snapped Twilight back to consciousness.

What happened? How did she suddenly black out like that?

"Ms. Sparkle!" said Barbara, quickly going to her. "What happened? You just suddenly started sweating, and then... and then you fell down! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." said Twilight, quickly and discreetly wiping the single tear from her face. She was glad that Barbara the Librarian didn't notice the tear.

But the most important question was why those memories came back to her. There was almost no direct connection that brought all of them together. She needed time to think about this.

"I'm fine, Barbara." said Twilight. "But I need to go back to my room now..."

Barbara stared silently at her.

"It's um... getting late." said Twilight, nervously smiling. "I really need to go."

Barbara then took off her glasses, revealing a bright, sky blue set of eyes. They were filled with concern and knowing.

"Are you sure I can't help you with anything?" she asked. "Maybe a nice book can help."

"Maybe." said Twilight. "What do you have?"

Barbara the Librarian quickly turned around on her wheelchair and sped off into the maze of shelves and books. No more than a minute later, she came back with a slightly battered, but otherwise perfect book.

"The Grapes of Wrath." said Twilight, reading the cover of the book. "What's it about?"

"I can't tell you." said Barbara, smiling slyly. "Just read it."

Twilight picked up the book with her magic and put it inside the saddle back. She also mentally put it in her 'Read Later' list.

"Oh, you can use magic!" said Barbara, mouth cracking into a grin. "I was thinking how Pony Librarians worked. No offense."

"None taken." said Twilight. "I was also kind of wondering how human librarians worked. Especially those with... circumstances like yours."

Barbara's smile turned into an emotionless face. She looked down at the floor, face full of regret, sadness, and anger.

"I'm sorry, Barbara, I-"

"It's all right, Ms. Sparkle." said Barbara. "Just know that these... circumstances was not of my own control. I was shot."

"Shot?" asked Twilight. "But shouldn't that leave like... a mark?" Twilight had almost said a hole, but she quickly stopped herself.

"You mean the Black Wesa guns that they're using now?" said Barbara. "No. Not a chance. If they shot me in the same place where I was shot now, then I would've had no chance of survival. Or I'd at least be completely paralyzed."

"Shot in the spine?" asked Twilight.

Barbara winked at her.

"That's right." she said. "Shot in the spine by one of the most dastardly villains ever. Made me a bit proud to be alive."

Twilight chuckled.

"Don't you... You know... Feel any regret about what happened? That you could go back in time and change everything so that you don't end up like this?" asked Twilight, referring to herself as much as she was referring to Barbara.

"Of course!" said the Librarian. "Everyday, even until today. Why would I want to be a quadriplegic when I could just be a normal, happy woman? I mean, what were the chances that I could have been shot right there in the first place? But sometimes our only comfort comes from believing that there is no chance. That whatever happens in this world happens for a reason."

Twilight looked down and nodded. What she said was true.

"Well, I've got to turn in now." said Twilight. "So I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Sure, Twilight." said Barbara, giving her a soft smile. "See you tomorrow."

Twilight then saw Barbara turning back to face the labyrinth of shelves in the Library, before entering it and finally disappearing from sight.

Twilight had a lot of things to think about in the short journey to her room. Why did she suddenly remember everything like that? What was the connection?

But the biggest thing that she had to think about right then was about what the Librarian said.

Whatever happens in this world happens for a reason.

What would be the reason for what's happening now? Why did nature force itself to bring Earth and Equestria together, only to have the two dominant races at war with each other? it didn't make sense.

However, nothing much really made sense at the time. It's like those things didn't even try to make sense.

"Make sense? What fun is there in making sense?"