ACT EIGHTEEN

Applejack was sitting on a log in the fields by herself. She clutched herself, but not from the cold, from the intense feelings of guilt she had felt for keeping the secret.

The Apples had been so good to her, especially Pear Butter and Bright Mac, but only because they didn’t know the truth.

“I can’t do this no more.” she said to herself. “It’s time for this apple to polish up and let the truth shine forth.”

Just as she was about to get up, a letter magically appeared before her nearly making her fall backwards in fright.

“Dag-Nabit! I forgot about the strange mailing system here.”

She read the letter. It was from Mykan, and her eyes nearly lit up like the sun. “Yee-Haw!” she shouted with joy as she threw her hat up high. Then the winds blew it off and away.

“Ah, shucks! Come back here!”

She flew up after it, and caught it, and she landed… right before the family standing huddled together and giving her a strange look; the kind that could pierce through anyone’s soul.

Applebloom finally broke the silence, “You’re not Applejack, are you?”

Applejack didn’t know what to say, and that told the family enough.

“Ohh…” Pear groaned as she felt faint.

“Buttercup!” cried Bright Mac as he caught his wife and stopped her from passing out.

“Um… listen to me…” Applejack said, but she couldn’t bring herself to even take a step forward. “…I don’t know how to say this to y’all.”

“How about the truth.” said Buddy as he came along with DD and Tree Hugger who was holding little Seedling.

“You told them!” Applejack spat in disbelief, but Buddy assured her, “They saw through me, or rather Tree Hugger did; I had to tell.”

The Apples were shocked even more. “You’re not Buddy Rose?” asked Big Mac.

“No, he’s not.” DD answered. “He’s from the Human World,” and she looked over at Applejack, “…And so is she.”

“Hubba-Whaaaa?!” cried Applebloom.

“Eeyup, it’s true.” said Applejack

Through a long-story short, Buddy and Applejack came clean of everything, and Buddy held up a letter he had received just like Applejack.

“They found where the magic is, and it’s only a matter of time-- your Applejack and your Buddy Rose will come home very soon.”

“Daddy…” cooed Seedling. Thank goodness she was still too young to really understand.

While the Apples were relieved to hear this, they just couldn’t get over the shock they had just been through.

“Hey, come on,” said Tree Hugger “Everyone needs to take a chilling breather in and push out all the cold feelings.” She demonstrated this by taking a huge deep breath with her trademark noise "Ooouuuaaahh-eeeEEEeee!"

Little Seedling did the same thing, only hers sounded like giggles and coos.

“You mean you’re okay with all this?” asked Bright Mac.

Tree Hugger set her daughter down and waved her hands going “Ehh… so-so. My chakra’s still on the recovery-line, and I can’t take being lied to…”

Buddy hung his head in shame.

“…The point is,” DD said. “We get why they did it; they were acting like any Starfleet Fighter should. They were just trying to protect us all.”

Applejack and Buddy nodded.

“We wanted to tell you the truth, but we just couldn’t.” said Applejack.

“Believe us, we feel bad about lying to all.” added Buddy. “But like we said, it’ll all be okay soon. You’ll have your real friends back, and you’ll never have to see us again.”

The Apples were starting to feel a mix of emotions.

“You don’t really have to be so hard on yourselves.” said Applebloom.

Buddy and Applejack were confused.

“She’s right.” said Big Mac, “You may not our real friends and relatives, but well… I guess…”

Pear cut in for her son “…There’s no sense in beating round the bush. You still look like them, and in ways you are them, even if you ain’t.”

Bright Mac agreed, “We can’t just turn on you like a dog without its bone.”

If this wasn’t a way of showing forgiveness and understanding, nobody would know what was.

Applejack sniffled, “Now… that’s just doggone sweet.”

“Cut it out, or I may cry too.” said Buddy.

All the rest of the team received Mykan’s letters telling them to standby and be prepared to make it back to the gate chamber in the royal palace, and you can bet they were excited and happy with the chance to be going home…

But a lot of them kept quiet about it so as not to alert their so-called “pets”, “spouses”, or “children.”

Even Pinkie was quiet as a mouse about it, though she was shaking with joy in her and Apple Spice’s bedroom and doing her best not to burst out cheering.

“This is so cool!” she said softly. “I better see what affairs I can get in order.” and she rushed out of the room… foolishly leaving the letter behind on the floor.

Spice soon came along looking for his wife. “Pinke? Honey, are you here?”

There was no one in the bedroom, but he did find the letter on the floor, and upon reading it, the letter slipped out of his hand, and he just stood where he was completely frozen in total shock.

Pinkie then came back into the room, “There you are.” she chirped “There’s something I have to tell you.”

Spice didn’t move or even blink.

Pinkie waved her hand in front of him and snapped her fingers at him. “Helloooooo…?”

Still nothing, and then she noticed the letter on the floor. “Uh, oh…”

Artie had stayed in the gallery all by himself, having locked himself up in the private room with all the paintings of Sunset.

When Sunset herself had come to after fainting, she left with Sun Stream. Artie didn’t bother to head to their place, unable to face them and try to explain.

He had already received the letter, and it was about the only thing that brought even the slightest comfort. “At least I’ll be leaving soon. I won’t have to face her.” he said to himself.

He had never felt so ashamed himself in his life for the massive lie had been living, whether it was duty or not.

“How could I have put her through all that?” he kept asking himself. “And the baby…! Thank goodness she doesn’t understand!”

He sat curled up on the floor and buried his face in his knees, “And I miss my Sunset so much. At least she understands all this.”

There was a knock at the door, which surprised him because the gallery was closed and locked up.

Then came a small voice, “Artie? Are you in there?”

“Sunset?” he couldn’t believe it. “No, I’ve got to be crazy.”

He got up and opened the door, but Sunset was there, with Seeding in her stroller. He couldn’t believe it at all, especially when she held up a huge basket of food, “You didn’t come home and… I thought you might be hungry.”

Before long, they all had a small picnic on the gallery floors.

“I thought you were mad at me.”

Sunset couldn’t sugarcoat it. “I guess… I sort of am. I was completely shocked, but I’ve had time to think. I get why you did it…

…And I’m trying to see things from your view. You must miss your Sunset a lot, and you miss your home and your life.”

Artie nodded sadly, “It’s just… pretending to be someone else’s husband and father, I wasn’t all that up for it. It felt so wrong, but then again if I hadn’t done it…”

Sunset clenched her napkin holding back the feelings inside of her. “You know, you may not be my husband, but you sure are sweet like him.”

Artie blushed softly, and then he looked down at the letter again. “I just hope I’ll be home soon.”

Lightning and Starla read the letter with Krysta.

“This is awesome!” Krysta cried with joy, but Lightning hushed her and pointed over his shoulder at the children playing at the other side of the living room.

“So, when do we leave?” Krysta asked softly.

“The letter says to standby, and that’s all.” replied Lightning.

Starla looked through the window outside. “So, we’re going to leave here soon. I just hope nothing else happens before that.”

Lightning and Krysta agreed, and they watched as the children continued to play without a clue to anything.

Starla gazed at them too, and the thought of leaving them brought on a slight bit of sadness.

Though it had only been two days, it was amazing that these kids made her feel like this was all a real family.

She also noticed how Lightning was looking at the kids too, as if he felt the same way.

“We do have to leave the children.” Starla said in her mind. “They deserve to have their real parents back, and me and Lightning… what’s going to happen to us?”

As she gazed at him, she felt her love warming her again, and she began to hallucinate being back home in the Human world, and the children were with them, only they were now her kids with Lightning, and both human… like being a real family.

It made her sink into a loving daze and her cheeks were bright pink.

“Starla…?” Lightning called to her in what seemed like a cool, loving voice, only for reality to snap back. “Starla, are you alright?”

Starla snapped fully back to her senses. “Yeah, I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”

Krysta knew why Starla dazed off, but she didn’t say anything; just felt disappointed that Lightning and Starla wouldn’t stop this resistance thing.

Suddenly, the alarms sounded.

Twinkle cried at the loud noises outside, and Shining Light comforted her.

“What’s going on now?” asked Lightning.

Krysta looked outside and pointed up into the sky, “I think… That is!”

It was getting dark outside when it was still only late afternoon, because something way up above was blocking the sunlight…

It was a gargantuan flying motorbike, like the one those punks from the other day had.

“It’s a UFO!” cried Starla.

All over the land citizens and soldiers saw the massive ship, and of course the Royal Palace in New Canterlot was already alerted and the soldiers were scrambling to their battle stations.

Luna was awoken by the alarms and was helping to gather the guards, then she stayed behind to comfort the children.

“What is that?” Celestia asked as she could see the massive ship from far, far away.

Celesto glared at the vehicle. “Whatever it is, it can only be trouble.”

He proven correct when large holographic images of a huge alien creature appeared on all four sides of the ship.

This creature resembled all the Mach-Riders, only he was much larger, stronger looking, and his hair was black with red edges, and his armor was gold with silver spikes. Not to mention he was carrying massive weapons five times the size of the other Mach’s weapons.

“Now hear this, Starfleet!” he bellowed. “The name is Mach-Dad, and as the probably suggests… you got it-- those are my kids you got locked away.”

Rainbow was standing on a cloud, “Those were his kids? Some family.”

Mach-Dad continued, “Now, I’m not usually one for this, but it is the holiday time, and there’s nothing more precious than families being together.

Get what I’m saying…?

You give me back my kids, or I’m going have to just ruin the holidays for everyone!”

The civilians began to shudder in fear while all the soldiers and fighters didn’t look the least bit amused.

“You have one hour, and then… it’s toasted Hearths Warming for you all.” he laughed, the images faded, and the ship took off up, up into the sky and out of sight.

“Celesto!” cried Celestia. “What are we going to do?”

Her husband didn’t see how to answer as he thought, “If we try to go into battle, our secrets will be exposed across the entire Planet. The beings will see that we are frauds.”

He envisioned all the beings scorning, hating, and shunning him and his friends.

“Fakers!”

“Liars!”

“We had faith in you, and you turn out to be a bunch of phonies!”

Then came rocks, torches, pitchforks and not a chance for redemption or forgiveness.

Celesto didn’t want that, but he knew, “If we don’t do something, then there will be destruction and chaos all over, and not only will the holidays be ruined, but worse fates could befall the beings.”

Captain Shaina came along. “Orders, your majesties?”

Celestia and Celesto hesitated.

“Orders, your majesties!” cried Shaina.

The couple looked at each other and they both agreed.

Celesto declared, “Prepare for battle!”

Meanwhile, it was starting to get dark as the sun began to set.

After Sunset had gotten the message from me that everyone was given word to standby, it was time to confront Swift, and everyone decided the best place to look was his apartment.

The light was on in his window, and this was perfect.

Sunset went inside and up to the door. She found her courage and knocked.

Swift answered almost instantly, but he was not very happy to see her. “What do you want?” he asked rather gruffly.

Sunset remained calm, expecting him to show hostility. “I need to talk to you.”

“Not interested.” Swift said quickly, and he prepared to shut the door right in her face, but Sunset used her magic to hold it in place. “I know you have the magic!”

Swift’s eyes widened.

“I need to talk with you about it.”

Swift quivered a little, unsure of what to say, but he finally agreed, “Not here. Let’s go somewhere else.”

They both headed down and exited the building and walked down the street towards an open lot where there were no people, and the area was wide open enough.

Swift had a sneaky feeling that he and Sunset were not alone…

…They weren’t! All of Sunset’s friends were hiding nearby in the lot; behind the fences and dumpsters, and some were hiding in the tall trees.

“Okay… so what’s so important?” asked Swift.

Sunset got straight to the point. “You need to give me that magic.”

Swift looked furious, and before he could respond, Sunset explained the situation of her friends, revealing, who they really were.

Swift was very surprised.

“So, that’s how it is.” said Swift. “I must say, you all fooled me pretty good. I never would’ve known the difference.”

“So, will you give it back?”

Swift looked down at his hands. “…No! I don’t have to give it back to you.”

“Yes, you do!” snapped Sunset. “That magic doesn’t belong to you. It isn’t yours to keep! We need it back.”

“Forget it!” yelled Swift. “Why should I give it back when I don’t have to? This magic is the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me!

I tried to join up with you guys, but you snubbed me every time, all because I didn’t have magic like you.

And now, I finally have some, I’ve done good so far in helping people, saving lives, jobs, and other things, and now here you are wanting to take that away from me!

Just how miserable to you and your friends want me to be?”

Sunset didn’t like how he was chewing her out and making her sound like an enemy.

Her friends didn’t like it either.

“Why that dirty--” Rainbow growled softly.

“Shh!” said Artie.

Sunset decided to change tactics. “Look, Swift… just off topic here, but I know what you’re feeling, and I understand you.”

“Ha!” scoffed Swift. “You don’t know much about me at all.”

He turned his back to her, only to hear her say “…I know about your parents, and how they just left you.”

Swift felt struck as he slowly turned around, “…How do you know that?” but he remembered the clues in his apartment, and it all made sense “You and your friends were spying on me? Of course! That’s how you found out about the magic!”

Sunset remained calm, and then Swift calmed down. He began to look a little sad.

“I used to have it good…

I had good home, loving parents. They always told me they were proud of me, and loved me, but they would often tell unfunny jokes of what it would be like if they never had me, and how parents are always sacrificing and doing things for their kids.

They told me it was just a joke, and I laughed it off with them, but it still didn’t feel funny.

…They were just biding their time, waiting for the right minute.

Their chance came…

I was doing well in High School, I had good grades, I was doing well in P.E, and even was a member of the Chess Club, Science Club, and Art Club.

I was practically the big man on campus at 17, and I was looking into getting jobs.

That’s when my parents left me, claiming they were going to that so-called “Peace Conference” and that I couldn’t go with them because it was important I do not lose time at school.

They claimed they would miss me and write me every day. I would look out into the night wondering where they were and if they would come home soon.

I began to worry when their letters seem to come fewer, and fewer…

Then finally, on Christmas Eve of that year, I got that letter! I’ll never forget it, they wished me “Good Luck” and “Have a good life, we’re sure you can manage for yourself now. Don’t bother sending to us, it won’t find us.”

I couldn’t believe it! I tried to contact the Peace Corps, but they told me that my parents never joined them, which further cemented it in-- they just left me!

I never felt so hurt! So angry! So abandoned, I smashed up all the Christmas decorations.

How could they just up and abandon me like that?!

I couldn’t concentrate anymore. I could hardly think too straight, and it affected my schoolwork resulting in poor grades, and because of that I was kicked out of all my clubs.

All I did good in was Martial Arts, but that wasn’t good enough.

All I could get was a job in fast food and janitorial work. I couldn’t pay for my parents’ house on all that, so I was evicted, but at least I was able to get a low paid, single room, shabby apartment.

With my low grades and less than enlightening background, I couldn’t hope for much. Nobody would help me, nobody let me explain my troubles, and I grew madder, and madder every day, especially seeing how happier other people are and all the joys and comforts they have!

I wanted to get into Starfleet to help me forget my woes, a way to let my anger loose-- on criminals and bad guys. Most of all, I could help other people in a way that would benefit everyone, so they wouldn’t have to travel down the road I did.

So, I trained hard in all my spare time, I made weapons, and even a costume, but it was all for nothing!”

He remembered all the time Starfleet told him to stay out of their way, or not get involved in their business due to him not being trained enough in their eyes, having no magic, and refusing to let him have any kind of job at all.

Sunset felt a slight jerk of guilt getting her.

The fighters overheard the story, and Pinkie had tears in her eyes. She wanted to break out crying, but Applejack cautioned her not to.

“The poor dear…” sniffled Rarity.

Grand Ruler was still disgusted by Swift’s parents and their actions, but he knew, “His anger and hate are understandable, but his attitude and foolishness are far from justified.”

Swift glared at Sunset “You were right! I didn’t want to listen at first, and I was putting myself in danger, but now I finally have a chance to turn my life around, and you have the nerve to stand there and demand I give it all up just to help you and your friends?!”

“Swift, it’s not just about me and my friends!” protested Sunset. “We’re looking out for you too. You don’t realize how dangerous that magic is, and the longer you have it and use it, the worse it’s going to get.

Believe me, I know what I’m talking about!”

She reflected on her days of being spiteful, and how it led her to stealing magic and becoming a spiteful demon.

“I was alone, and I felt unappreciated, unwanted, and above all things… I was mad! I blamed everyone else for my problems and tried to punish them all for it…

…Until I was shown the better way, through Friendship and Forgiveness.

I turned my whole life around that day, and so can you-- It’s not too late.”

Swift only look angrier, and there was a nasty glow in his eyes, just as Sunset feared. The magic was getting more and more unstable and affecting his mind!

“Swift, I’m sorry if we were hard on you, and if my friends were here, they’d apologize too, but we were only trying to protect you and stop you from making big mistakes!

We can help you! We want to help you, but you need to help us too, by giving up the magic.”

Poor Swift felt his head aching again, with feelings of rage and a lust for battle. “I already told you I don’t have to give it back, but if you want it that bad… you’re going to have to take it from me!”

Sunset cringed deeply. “I hoped it wouldn’t come to that, Swift,” she paused “But if that’s what it takes to help my friends and you… fine.”

The two glared each other down furiously as their auras began to flare. This was going to be a rough one!

Author's Note

Taking a small Hiatus... I did not expect the fic to be this long

I really have to work on my Teen Titan Idol