Standing United

Chapter 3

“Looks like we’re in it again, huh Drago?” Dan asked his bakugan companion. The pair had been set up in one of the guest rooms of the royal palace. Dan was reclining on the bed while Drago was standing on the nightstand. It was a familiar setup, if in an unfamiliar place.

“From one mess to the next, there’s never a dull moment,” Drago replied good-naturedly.

“Do you think they’ll help us?” Dan wondered.

“Honestly, I’m not sure. They’ve got no stakes in our fight. No reason to pick a fight with the Vestals by helping us. They also each have their own people to take care of. Getting into a war for no reason…” Drago sighed.

“Yeah…” Dan nodded in understanding. Asking for military support would be asking for too much. At the very least such a request would be selfish. Dragging people into a war that wasn’t theirs…the thought soured Dan’s stomach.

“We should get some rest for tomorrow,” Drago counseled, seeing the stormy look on his partner’s face.

“Yeah…goodnight Drago,” Dan bid and slipped under the covers as Drago rolled up into his ball form.

______________________________________________________________________

Celestia was no stranger to long nights agonizing over important decisions. Should she seal Chrysalis without telling Luna? Should she send Twilight to the Crystal Empire alone? Should she make Twilight a princess?

Part of Celestia’s ‘rehabilitation’ was realizing just how often she got those important decisions wrong. Unfortunately, the important decision she was currently agonizing over had one very clear and obvious solution, one that she hated but could not avoid. It was the same important decision she had made when the Storm King had first risen to power. Equestria could not actively help Dan and his friends.

Her little ponies had no stomach for war to begin with and with things being as they were…her actions here would be the starting point for the precedent of all interdimensional policy going forward. As much as she wanted to go out there and fight every injustice and vanquish every evil, she couldn’t turn Equestria into a country of ‘do-good busybodies’ who stuck their hooves in everyone else’s business. It was untenable to do so on Equuis and even more so if she had any desire to do the same on a Multiversal scale.

“Celestia, if you don’t stop trying to pace a hole into the carpet, I will tie you up,” Luna declared from her spot curled up on a sofa, reading a book. She had been following Celestia’s restless march with her ears.

Celestia groaned as she forced herself to sit down and relax her wings.

“How do you do it Luna?” Celestia asked petulantly with a sour look on her face as she crossed her forelegs.

“How do I not obsess over a choice until I convince myself to take the most insane course of action? Gee, however do I do it?” Luna’s voice wasn’t so much laced with sarcasm as it was packaged with enough sarcasm to sink a battleship, “You already know the right course of action, so stop trying to talk yourself into another harebrained scheme and go to bed.”

“I’m not trying to talk myself into another harebrained scheme…” Celestia muttered as she looked studiously at the floor. Luna put down her book and gave her sister an even and unbelieving look.

“Uh huh…”

“I’ve not waged war on the Storm King and he’s been a pain in my flank for 700 years! I can show some restraint!” Celestia protested as she stood back up and flared her wings.

“I suppose that’s true. I’ve only barely interacted with him and I already want to hire a covert guild of assassins to put him out of our misery, never mind what a despot he is to his people,” Luna mused as she put a hoof under her chin.

“Exactly! So I’m really not plotting anything. I’m just frustrated at how little we can realistically do,” Celestia sighed as she sat back down.

“We could always hire assassins covertly,” Luna suggested as she returned to her book. Celestia glanced at the title. As she suspected, it was a crime thriller that dealt with assassins. Celestia rolled her eyes.

“No assassins Luna,” Celestia said as she shook her head. She almost missed Luna’s smirk. Little sisters…

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Twilight Sparkle’s thirst for knowledge was endless. This statement was uncontroversial to say the least. However, since graduating from simply reading book to talking to people, she had slowly come to learn that knowledge was more complicated than simply being able to rattle off the digits of pi.

She had also come to learn that knowledge could be used for good or evil. As much as Tom said that ‘knowledge was the light of God’, Twilight had seen what Starlight’s knowledge of spellcraft had done to Duskfall.

However, like any tool, knowledge was neither inherently good nor evil in Twilight’s mind. It was all predicated on how it was used. Which brought Twilight to the current question plaguing her mind: how should she use the knowledge of the Bakugan’s plight?

Twilight was wandering the moonlit courtyard, a habit she had picked up from Tom, trying to decide. Should she go with them with a group of her friends to fight? Should she stay here and send them goods as support? Should she ignore them completely? Should she raise an army? All possibilities had to be considered.

“Well someone’s burning the midnight oil,” A male voice caused Twilight’s ears to twitch in his direction.

“Good evening, David,” She greeted politely. Then a question popped into her head, “David? May I ask you a question?”

“You’ve already done so, but you may ask another,” David replied with a ghost of a smile as Twilight couldn’t resist rolling her eyes.

“Have you ever…ignored someone in need?” Twilight asked as she sat down.

“Of course. As much as it would be ideal if you could help everyone in need everywhere, it’s simply impossible. Even with time travel, it’s impossible to be everywhere at once. Even if you could be, sometimes someone’s number is up and it’s rarely a good idea to fight against Destined Death. And just beyond logistics, it’s impossible for most beings to care about everyone, everywhere at all times. Sometimes you’re just pushed to your limit and don’t give a damn anymore,” David shrugged.

“I see…” Twilight’s ears flopped down as at she looked at the ground. That answer wasn’t as helpful as she had hoped.

“To answer your real question, the Battle Brawlers will be fine with or without your help. What kind of help you choose to give them, if you give them any help at all, is up to you. You just have to decide how much you value helping them in relation to how much you value other things that are important to you, like your friends, your family, your duty as a Princess, and so on, then rendering them aid proportional to that value,” David told her. Twilight scrunched up her face as she considered his advice.

“That is…a very pragmatic way of looking at things,” She stated.

“When you’re not allowed to stop some of the most heinous events in history, you learn to rationalize,” David quipped blithely, “‘Do I value stopping World War II more than the continued existence of all creation?’”

“Given that we’re here talking about it, I guess the latter won?” Twilight indulged the dark humor.

“You guess correctly,” David nodded, “You feeling better?”

“A little. At least now I have a starting point for what I’m going to do,” Twilight said as she stood back up and fluffed her wings, “Thank you.”

“No problem, but I hope you remember this gratitude once this summit is over. You and the other Alicorns are going through the grinder,” David warned, which got a grimace out of Twilight.

_________________________________________________________________

The leaders of Equuis had reconvened and were ready to discuss their plans moving forward, both jointly and individually.

As far as the Battle Brawlers were concerned, all that could realistically be offered were supplies and well wishes. Even if they were otherwise inclined, waging an interdimensional war was simply impossible at this stage.

The Brawlers were happy enough with just the supplies. It was an unexpected windfall and would definitely help them.

As for any future interdimensional visitors, plans were already underway to create various government offices in charge of handling tourists and maybe settlers of the off-world variety. With David’s help, various buildings would be constructed that would help draw in teleports/portals/what have you to them in order to keep people from accidentally ending up in people’s kitchens. It would also help keep the off-world visitors organized.

There was also the minutia of making new treaties or revising old ones, figuring out passports and visas, and a whole mountain’s worth of paperwork involved with that minutia, but such things would be hammered out over the next few weeks via diplomats and other intermediaries.

With the summit accomplishing everything it needed to, the various world leaders needed to get back to their own domains to set things in motion.

The Brawlers were also sent home without issue, expressing their gratitude for the supplies to the last moment.

With everything said and done, Twilight felt the need to take a moment to herself. So it was that she found her favorite spot in the royal gardens with a book. It was surprising to her that for all that had happened, this simple thing helped soothe her weary nerves almost instantly. Something about how the more things change, the more they stay the same, she supposed. At heart, she was still the same old introverted bookworm. Twilight didn’t think that was a bad thing.

“I thought we might find you here,” Twilight’s ears twitched as she heard the approach of two very familiar ponies.

“Suggesting Twilight might be someplace quiet with a book is hardly a Sherlock worthy deduction,” Tom replied dryly.

“You’re just jealous I got all the brains,” Duskfall stuck out her tongue.

“Is this the point where we make a joke about Twi getting the beauty?” Tom asked sarcastically as the two came to a stop next to Twilight.

“I have a book and I know how to use it,” Twilight threatened.

“We’ll be good!” Tom and Duskfall said like scolded children threatened with no dessert as they took their places lying down on either side of Twilight.

“Things are going to get crazy, aren’t they?” Twilight asked as her ears wilted.

“Hi, I’m Duskfall, Alicorn of Darkness and Insanity. I don’t believe we’ve met,” Duskfall snarked.

“Oh shut up!” Twilight smacked Duskfall with her wing, “You know what I mean!”

Duskfall giggled, entirely unrepentant.

“I think this is the part where I say ‘so long as we have each other, we’ll be fine’,” Tom noted somewhat sardonically.

“I hate you both,” Twilight pouted.

“If lies make you happy,” Tom and Duskfall replied at the same time. The three Alicorns looked at each other and started cracking up.

Change was coming, of that there was no doubt. But these three were no stranger to change, ever since that day a twist of fate brought a human and an Alicorn together. If they were able to survive this long, then could there be any doubt they’d survive whatever the future held? Sure, things had gotten messy for awhile in the middle, but thanks to an unusual amount of stubbornness, they had made it to the other side.

What would the future hold? No one could say for certain, but as three Alicorns laughed themselves stupid, those concerns didn’t seem so pressing. Whatever the future brought, they would see it through. Whatever trials and tribulations, joys and sorrows, the three knew they could handle it. After all, they had each other. What couldn’t they face down together? What problems could they not overcome? As long as the three continued to Stand United.

Author's Note

Happy Halloween, ya filthy animals.