Black Sun

October 19th

"Maybe ah should have said this earlier but, are you sure that this is a good idea?"

Pinkie Pie's pace slowed slightly. Both to let Apple Bloom catch up to her and to think about her words. For a moment she was extra thankful for the younger mare by her side, always balancing out her enthusiasm and impulsiveness with some common sense. She had a point though. They'd only been back inside Canterlot Central Hospital for six minutes and her plan for the day was already looking far worse than it had when she arrived. She didn't want to back out though, not when they were the best two ponies for the task.

"Weeelll..." She replied, spinning her hoof slightly as she tried to come up with the right response. "Honestly, there's never really a good time for news that even I can't put a good spin on."

The two of them went quiet again as they moved on, headed not for the ward where Rainbow Dash was resting up but the hospital's psychiatric wing. While checking in for visiting hours they had been informed that a pony that had been receiving support there for the past several months had asked to see them before she was discharged today. While it hadn't been said what it was about, the fact they only knew of one pony whom it might be meant they were likely about to become the bearers of more bad news.

"Still, maybe some familiar faces will be able to help her through it," Pinkie continued. "I mean, if anything happened to one of us, I'd rather we learnt about it from our friends than anypony else."

"Ah'd rather think that it'd never come t'that at all, you know?" Apple Bloom replied, shuddering slightly at the thought of anything happening to either of them that left the other alone. "Also, I kinda meant more that we might not be the best ponies to tell her anyhow. I saw enough to get the idea that she didn't exactly seem to...Approve of us."

"Oh that was just because she'd been brainwashed. Besides, a pony would need to have some pretty coco loco priorities to worry about who's kissing who at the moment, right? Especially with everything she's been focused on."

Although it hadn't been the gentlest way of putting it, Bloom had to admit that Pinkie had a point. The only looks she'd seen on Peace Walker's face during their time together had been limited to tiredness, distress or brainwashing induced submission. Even if she did have a problem with same-sex relations though, this was hardly going to be the time to bring it up.

Pinkie realised that she'd unwittingly unsettled her marefriend with the line of talk and steered the discussion onto more casual topics for the rest of the walk. Before long the duo reached the entrance area to the psych ward, a lounge space filled with relaxing features like plants, art and windows that allowed for views beyond Cantlot and into the farmlands of central Equestria. Roughly half a dozen doctors and patients were spread throughout the lounge in conversations of their own. Off at the edge of the area was a lone earth mare, leaning against a windowsill and silently observing the city below.

Pinkie and Bloom recognised her features instantly: A sapphire blue coat with a black peace symbol on her flanks. Saffron yellow eyes that stared relentlessly, carrying a firm focus yet betraying a sense of turmoil. Her platinum gray mane had been shorn even shorter since the last time they had seen her, now reduced to a buzz cut that barely came more than an inch from her head. She must have spotted the duo out of the corner of her eye as she looked over their way and trotted over quickly.

"Apple Bloom, Pinkie Pie. Good to see you again." The mare said once she reached them. Despite her friendliness, her tone and stance remained on edge, still showing the hints of her military training after all this time.

"Peace Walker," Apple Bloom replied, managing to smile at the sight of her former temporary cellmate. "You been alright?"

"Frankly, better than I thought I'd be," Peace admitted, relaxing herself slightly and managing a small smile. "After everything that happened in Starlight's compound, I thought I'd be in therapy for a good few years. This place is amazing at what they do though. I've got all the paperwork sorted and ready to be cleared as soon as I decide to go."

"You could always have asked to see us sooner," Pinkie interjected with a grin. "We'd have gone all out on helping you feel better. Right, Bloomie?"

"Of course, Pinball." Bloom chuckled. Peace eyed them both for a moment, a wary look flashing in her eyes before she shrugged it off. The look wasn't lost on either of them, but they decided not to draw attention to it either.

"Right, thanks," She replied simply before straightening up again. "Actually, I...I've been hearing a lot of rumors filtering through over the past few days. I want to see if somepony I trust has heard anything about it."

"Oh...I, think we will have." Pinkie replied, instantly growing uneasy as it looked more and more like their fears were confirmed. Peace stared at her for a few moments before nodding and walking back toward the window, the other two following her over.

"So, it's true then. Rainbow Dash suffered something serious enough to be hospitalized here," Peace said slowly, staring back out at Canterlot. Her tone was more conflicted now, as if she were both eager to know yet scared to find out. "So the question now is, was it to do with something related to the Elements of Harmony, or was she there because of a military matter?"

She knew already, she had to.

Both Pinkie Pie and Apple Bloom remained silent for several long seconds as they internally debated who should be the ones to tell her the truth, or if they could even bring themselves to do so. Eventually Bloom discreetly indicated toward herself that she would be the one to do it. Not only had Peace trusted her enough to talk about her partner before, the idea that the Element of Laughter should have to tell anypony something so harrowing seemed outright twisted.

"Military," She said quietly, wincing at the way Peace tensed up on that word. "Rainbow was with her team at the time an'...Their mission went bad...Ah'm sorry but..."

"Oh my god. Bulwark..."

Peace's voice was even more hushed as she stared straight downward, body tensing up further. After a long, silent minute she closed her eyes and moved her hooves to rest atop each other. Neither of the others knew what to say to her. How were they supposed to comfort somepony who'd just come through so much only to be met with even worse? Their concerns were quickly compounded when they realised that she wasn't actually crying, or showing any kind of grief for that matter. She just stayed rooted in the same posture for a full thirty seconds before eventually moving her hooves back onto the windowsill.

"See you on the sacred isle..." She said, seemingly to herself before standing up again and turning to the other two ponies, a fresh focus in her eyes. Drive that masked a soul wracked with grief. "Thank you, for making sure I knew. Do they know who did it?"

"We do. But it's something that's waaaay out of even our depth." Pinkie told her simply, her expression even matching her tone for how serious this was. The last thing she wanted was for another pony to get hurt trying to engage a danger they didn't understand.

"I see," Peace exhaled slowly, seemingly decided on a course of action inside her head. "Well then...Thank you. I'll let you get on with your day while I get cleared to go home. If you happen to find-"

"Excuse me. Mrs Walker?"

Peace jumped slightly, so caught up in the discussion that she hadn't heard the pony approaching her. A blue-gray unicorn stallion with a trimmed white mane and a doctor's coat. Pinkie and Bloom stepped aside on seeing him, figuring from the look on his face that what he needed to discuss with her was highly important.

"Oh, Soul Searcher. What's wrong?" Peace said in greeting as she turned to face him, looking surprisingly optimistic.

"Well, I know you don't like me mincing my words so. Something's come up," He told her, rubbing his leg slightly. "And I'm still not sure exactly how to tell you..."

"Is this about Bulwark?" She replied, waiting for his surprised acknowledgement, meeting his gaze with a neutral look of her own. "I know. I think I knew the moment the rumors about Rainbow Dash started. I know I look like I'm putting on a brave front here but this doesn't-"

"And that brings me on to the second difficult point. After a loss like this, coupled with everything you've been through...We've decided it would be best for you to remain with us for the time being. Just until we can help you work through your feelings on the matter."

Peace stared at him as if he'd suggested they overthrow Princess Celestia. Then her expression shifted to one of desperation, strong enough to make Pinkie and Apple Bloom back off slightly.

"W-what? Bu...You...No, n-nonononono." She stammered, leaning in to talk in a hushed whisper, her hoof planted on his shoulder in a death grip. "You can't expect me to stay. Months of that same ward, all the working through my 'anger' was enough. That's before you even get to the important thing here. My husband. He. Was. Murdered. I don't expect you to understand, I mean we never had to talk about your family, but you can't just keep me here without letting me so much as find out the name of whoever did it!"

"Which is precisely why we think it's best you remain here," Soul countered, bringing his hoof up and using it to steadily relax her hold. "Letting you go without helping you work through your grief would run against everything the two of us have worked toward these past seven months and it would possibly see you just get hurt. Or worse."

"He's right," Pinkie interjected. "We'll find out everything you want us to, but it's not worth doing anything I would do."

"Not everypony's lucky enough to be basically indestructible," Apple Bloom added. "Even earth pony durability wouldn't count for much."

Peace stared at them for several seconds, clearly wanting to object to all of them for suggesting holding her back. For a brief moment there with a glint of anger in her eyes and everypony wondered if she was going to get aggressive. Then it was gone and she sighed in frustration, shaking her head as she brought her hoof down and scuffed it against the floor.

"Fine. Fine," She huffed, looking away. "I'll talk it out a bit, but the second Princess Twilight decides to make a move against whoever did this, I want to know. I want to see who took my Bulwark from me before they pay for it."

Before anypony could respond she turned and walked back into the psych ward, her tail constantly flicking out about at anything that she came too close to. Soul Searcher remained in place, glancing over to Pinkie and Bloom. He thought better of commenting though and offered the two of them a silent apology. With that he followed Peace through the ward doors, leaving the pair alone again.

"So," Apple Bloom said as she stared at the doors for a moment. "Ah'm thinking we oughta tell Twilight about this. If she can't talk Peace into waiting, she'll know who can."

"Good thinking Bloomie," Pinkie replied. "Speaking of, we better get moving if we wanna see Rainbow today."

With the matter settled the two of them made their onward to the recovery wards, doing their best to talk casually as they went. The prior discussion remained at the back of their minds the whole way though, a nagging reminder that this wasn't going to be like facing Discord or Starlight Glimmer, where everything would just go back to normal once they'd defeated the latest round of evil. Seeing Rainbow Dash's wings would be a permanent reminder among the group but already there were families irreparably changed by what they had lost. If they could find a way to do this without anypony else having to suffer, that would be a success.

Before long they reached the waiting room to be greeted by the sight of their group of friends there already. Rainbow Dash was sat the wrong way round on one of the chairs, still bandaged around her middle but up and active. She was showing off her wings to Fluttershy and Sweetie Belle while talking to Twilight. Applejack, Rarity and Scootaloo were watching off to the side, talking among themselves for now. The general atmosphere was a lot more relaxed than it had been yesterday, likely helped by the fact Rainbow was capable of moving about by herself. Rarity was the first to notice the new arrivals, perking up and drawing the attention of the others.

"Pinkie Pie, Apple Bloom. So glad you could both make it." She said as they came over, waving eagerly in greeting. Pinkie practically skipped at the sight.

"Sorry, we ran into an old friend on our way up," Pinkie told them, the sight of her back to normal enough to ease everypony's spirit's further. "How's our number one patient doing?"

"You have nooo idea," Rainbow replied happily, flexing her wings further and grinning at the faint whirring of the systems inside. "I mean I still wont be able to fly for another week at best, but going from where I was a few days ago to the idea having my flight back like this...I can't really put it into words, and you know how hard that is for me."

"As great as it is to see you back on your hooves, Rainbow, we shouldn't forget that you were the lucky one." Twilight commented solemnly, a few of the others faces falling at those words.

"I think she knows that better than anypony." Sweetie Belle piped up, running a hoof along one of the metal 'feathers'.

"Yes, that was poorly worded," Twilight looked down as she thought over what she meant to say for a few moments. "I didn't mean to remind you of the others, but what I meant was that everypony in Equestria will soon be feeling what happened. I spoke to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna earlier and things aren't getting any better. Celestia has had to take over all of her sister's duties, including her half of the royal court and command of the Equestria Defence Force, on top of having to regularly channel her magic just to keep Luna alive. As skilled as she is, even I could see she can't keep it going forever."

"So, what exactly are ya proposing we do?" Applejack asked.

"What we always do: Kick some tail and save Equestria!" Rainbow answered, getting up and flaring her wings out to their full width. The dramatic moment was negated somewhat as she winced from the motion and rubbed the bandages where her right wing connected to what was left of her organic wing.

"If only it were that easy," Twilight told her, starting to pace around the room slightly. "None of us are as young as we used to be and it'd be foolish to assume we can just spring into action as though nothing has changed in the past few decades. Between that and the scale of just what we're facing...I think it might be a good idea if we had some help, from ponies that we know and trust to have our backs when we need them most."

The others looked between themselves, thinking about what had been said. It was true that none of them would be capable of being the heroes Equestria needed forever. It was almost starting to become questionable if they were capable of it now. New ponies would soon have to take up the mantle of protection and while the bulk of it was handled by the defence force these days, there would always need to be ponies like the Elements of Harmony. The biggest question now was who would be willing to step up to such a significant role, full well knowing the risks.

"Ah'm in." Apple Bloom said without hesitation as she stepped forward, conviction in her voice and determination in her eyes.

"Sis, are ya sure?" Applejack asked warily, understandably concerned about such a proposition.

"This ain't the first time I've been in a situation like this. An' it just wouldn't feel right to sit by and do nothing if I can help y'all somehow."

Applejack thought about it for a moment and nodded, conceding the point. Pinkie looked over at Bloom and smiled softly at the thought of the two of them on another adventure. This time, able to watch each other's backs.

"Then I'm in too," Scootaloo chimed in, stepping up to join the others. "Even if it's just to fill the awesome flier role until Rainbow Dash is ready to go again."

"I like the attitude kid, but don't get carried away. I told you full well what you'd be up against," Rainbow told her, trying to fight back a grin. "Just keep being you and you'll be more help than you know."

"Well, if they're both stepping up, I'm going to have to as well," Sweetie Belle said, resigned but in a good natured way. "They're gonna need me to pull their tails out of trouble like always."

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both chuckled at their fellow crusader's comment and everypony else couldn't help but smile at the sight. Those three shared a bond every bit as strong as the elements, perfect for such a significant duty. Before long though, they would all have to think about who else they might share such a bond with. Those both capable and willing to stand up and fight when the time came.