LOP 29 How Legends Are Remembered

Spark Storm woke up to the sensation of being rocked. At least it felt like being rocked. He felt warm and safe, loved even, along with the sensation of something warm and wet pressing against his face and sliding along it. It almost felt like a tongue. With this realization, Spark Storm opened his eyes just in time to see Ampelus in the middle of preening his face, a dark forest green tongue sliding up between his eyes.

The two locked eyes for a moment before both pulled away from each other. Spark groaned with some annoyance as he rubbed at his face with the crook of an elbow. "What are you doing?" he said before glaring at the nymph. As she blushed with embarrassment at having been caught, she quickly unwrapped herself from the pegasus and slid to the ground to sit with her back to him.

"It's just my way of showing affection, no need to make a big deal out of it," she grumbled, in truth a little hurt at Spark's tone.

Spark said nothing for a moment. Honestly, he hadn't felt so safe and warm for a very long time. Being held by the nymph had been very comforting, enough to coax him to sleep in her embrace. If it wouldn't make things awkward, he wouldn't mind her holding him like that again if it was just to let him get some rest. After noticing Ampelus's indignation, he sighed and reached down to lightly brush her back with a hoof.

"Um...thank you, Ampelus. For that, and...for before. I completely freaked out and I...I let her get away."

Ampelus glanced backward at Spark Storm, a gently annoyed look on her face. She turned to Spark Storm on the stump that was her missing lower half and reached up, a vine curling under his chin to pull his gaze towards her. "Don't you remember what I told you, after you saved me in the caves? I told you that you're not a cold-blooded killer, and you proved that twice today. There's nothing wrong with that."

Spark smiled, feeling reassured once more. He was feeling closer and closer to the nymph as the day wore on, and he was thankful for a new friend. Ampelus decided to ruin the moment just then as she pulled him close and rubbed her cheek against his.

"Ooh, you're just a big softy, aren't you? You act all big and macho but you just want some love!" she cooed, reaching up to take his cheeks in her hooves and squished them together. "Ooh just look at that face!"

Spark recoiled, his face blazing with embarrassment. "Wh-what-why-you!"

The nymph chuckled and reached up, her eyes twinkling with amusement. Spark glared down at her, then turned away from her and backed up, his wings spreading slightly to indicate his invitation to climb on. She took it and wrapped her forelegs around his neck to fold around in front of his chest, her head resting down on top of his.

"I think I liked it better when you had to watch your back around me, Storm," she told him in a teasingly ambiguous tone. "It gets a little too weird when you let the enemy get too close."

Spark Storm let out a breath, feeling more relaxed now that things were more normal between them. She was right; it was much too strange between them to be openly affectionate. "I completely agree," he told her as he turned once more, heading back to the others.

"Just beware, Storm, because I'm watching your back," she hissed gently. In a subtle movement, she shifted and squeezed her forelegs around him.

This gave Spark pause, but just for a moment. He smiled and continued walking. "I'm watching your back, too."

The rest of the way back was held in a comfortable silence.

---

Orea frowned and clung tighter to Sohl as the two rose in the air. The young nymph cradled on the harpy's shoulders, she looked back at the quickly fading hills. "Sohl, I don't like this. I want to be there for Spark, he's been through so much..." she said, whimpering the last few words.

"Don't you start crying!" the harpy told her sharply. "Spark is in a delicate place right now, but he needs to toughen up!"

"For his own good, or for when you run away?"

Sohl growled in anger, but the sadness coming off of the nymph was too much to continue being angry with her. The two continued to sail through the air in an uncomfortable silence. Orea sniffled quietly and wrapped her body around Sohl's shoulders tightly, as if to prevent her from leaving.

"...I'm not leaving for at least a week. There are things I have to do to get ready, and there are things I need you to do, sweetheart," Sohl said with a little more warmth in her voice. Reacting to this, Orea lifted her head to pay attention. "You're probably aware that Equestria has a second harpy. You're going to find her and make sure she stays here."

Orea frowned, not sure how to feel about this. "I don't understand. What do you want me to do? You don't...want me to hurt her, do you?"

Sohl frowned as well. She reached up and pulled Orea into one of her massive talons to hold her out in front of her, pausing in her movement forward. "No, Orea. I'd never ask you to hurt someone. I need you to make her feel welcome. She's not a normal harpy, like me. She's...different."

Orea tilted her head innocently, a thoughtful expression on her face. "You mean she's...?"

"Nice, and terribly naive," Sohl finished, rolling her eyes in annoyance. "Look, she can't come with me when I go, my sisters will tear her apart for information on what I've been doing, and then they'd tear me apart for not telling them everything."

"What is 'everything'?" Orea asked. Sohl merely shook her head and held the nymph out away from her, and then dropped her. Orea let out a brief gasp as she fell, then spread her wings to catch herself. By the time she'd slowed her fall, Sohl had flown away, now off in the distance. Orea whimpered quietly, wondering if she'd at least see the harpy one more time before she left.

So she had to find another harpy, who was presumably here somewhere, hiding in the forests of Equestria? The nymph sighed as she rose higher into the air and scanned the forest. There was simply no way she'd find the harpy simply by looking. She turned around until she could see where she and the others had first gone into the caves forty minutes ago, then trace a line in the exact opposite direction and flew low along the treetops. It wasn't long before she found exactly what she was looking for.

---

Laser Reflex groaned and slowly pulled himself into a sitting position, the mid-afternoon sun less than gentle on his eyes. He looked around, noting Gunslinger near him, as well as Shadow Heart, who had gone to sleep, Emerald Skies, who just looked bored, and Kecnik, who kept a stoic watch to the west.

The pegasus sat there for a moment as he tried to rememeber what happened. They had just reached the surface, he wanted to go back in, and then...a pain in his butt. He shot right up and examined his rump, which still had the offending dart sticking out of it. He quickly snatched it up in his hoof and tossed it to the ground before jumping over to Gunslinger and grabbing him by the shoulders.

"You-you little jerk! Where is everypony? Are we too late?!"

"We ain't too late, calm down," Gunslinger told him, carefully taking the pegasi's hooves off of him. "Spark Storm, Fluttershy, and that older nymph thing came out earlier, plus the harpy lady and Orea. Uh..." he paused to clear his throat nervously. "Plus, Russet, Rarity and my boss're still down there. They used some powerful earth magic to give the others time to get out."

Laser Reflex stared down at the younger pony, his breath disturbingly calm. "So let me get this straight. We've rescued Russet Hearts, but we kept him down there, under the rapidly collapsing caves, so he could get us out?"

Gunslinger swallowed hard and was about to answer when the ground began to shake. Gunslinger pulled away from Laser Reflex, the tense moment forgotten. He laid down, ear to the ground. He shot right up and started running north. "It's comin' from this way! Come on, y'all!"

Shadow Heart, having awoken from his slumber once the earth began to tremble, followed, along with Emerald Skies and Kecnik. They all approached a rising mound in the earth, where they felt multiple concussions coming from under the ground. The mound rose and rose until finally the earth broke open to reveal a mess of broken tree roots with muliti-colored gems stuck inbetween the roots, thoroughly confusing the surface party.

Suddenly the roots and gems were thrust explosively into the air to reveal a thick mud pit, and three very, very muddy ponies. "Air! Air!" a distraught Rarity cried, inhaling huge mouthfuls of precious oxygen. She started climbing out of the pit, but her efforts were hampered by the mud. She was completely covered in it, even her mane was thick with twigs and sloppy mud. "Help me, oh please help me, get me out of this terrible mud!"

No sooner had Rarity cried for help, a thick tendril wrapped around her waist and pulled her up to the surface. Every last head turned to see Spark Storm carrying half an Ampelus, who set the distraught unicorn next to Spark. Rarity looked up at the pegasus for a brief moment, the tendril snaking away from her. "Rarity, you made it! You saved all of us, you kn-"

Spark Storm didn't finish as Rarity latched herself onto him silently. Her shoulders shook with shock, the fact that she had survived and everything that had happened weighing heavily on her. Spark frowned sadly and wrapped his hooves around her, getting nearly as dirty as she with all that mud caked on her.

An instant later, Laser Reflex flew down into the hole. It took him a moment to tell which unicorn was Russet. He and Turbid had nearly the same build, but Russet was taller, and the moment Laser dropped into the pit the stallion took an excited step forward. Only the memory of the pegasus ditching him to suffer at the hooves of the changelings stopped him.

"Russet, I..." Laser started, the terrible guilt of everything he'd put Russet through making him pause. "...Russet, I am so, so sorry. I never should've taken off like that. I should've-"

A hoof on Laser's shoulder silenced him as Russet smiled and shook his head. "It's all right. After everything we've all been through, honestly I'd just like to move on. Don't let today ruin tomorrow, you know? Besides, Rarity told me it was you that put this rescue mission together."

"Well, one half of it, anyway," Turbid said, approaching the two.

"Oh, of course," Laser said as he turned to face the mare. "I don't know how you guys did it, but that earth-magic is something else!"

Turbid smiled and shook her head. She turned to look up at Spark Storm. "I'm not talking about that. Apparently, somepony got over their 'stupid' problems and came to let us know that you all needed help. I suggest, Spark Storm, that you go thank her when we're through."

Spark sighed and hung his head with shame. That's right, he thought to himself. If I'd been been more careful and less callous, I could've spared Lemon Pop the hurtful words I threw at her. But then she'd be in this mess with us and no back-up plan...

Turbid smiled, an exhausted look on her face as she turned to face Laser and Russet. "Now, boys, I think it's about time to call it a day. Let's get you all home and cleaned up. And Spark," she said with a small sigh, "I know things aren't the best with you and the princess right now, but you need to come give her a report on what happened here."

Spark frowned, but he supposed she was right. He might not've been too warm with the Fighters, but they needed to know what had happened here today. He held Rarity out at arm's length and rubbed her back comfortingly. "Rarity, are you ok to walk? We're going home now."

The unicorn nodded quietly, then turned away from him and started the long walk back towards Ponyville. Spark sighed quietly and began following her, then paused and looked back at the others. "Has anypony seen Anorax and Madalah?"

Kecnik spoke up, who had been quiet this whole time, from the back of the group. "Anorax has taken Madalah back to his home already. Madalah will be in much pain as her wings have been torn from her. The changeling race have never been ones to heal quickly. She will want to be alone and you may not see her or Anorax for days."

Spark frowned sadly at this, then glanced back at Ampelus, usually one to have something snarky to say about changelings. She shrugged at him and glanced away from him. "I didn't say anything," she said quickly.

---

Orea approached the ball of feathers. High up in a tall pine tree she'd found the harpy Sohl told her to find, curled up and asleep. She was different from Sohl in every way; from what she could tell, this harpy had a great deal less mass than Sohl. From the crook of her knees and up her slender body, this harpy was probably no taller than half a foreleg's length than Spark Storm.

Her wings were also much shorter, she had large tail feathers, and she wore clothes, as opposed to Sohl's blatent nudity. Orea smiled at the sight. The harpy looked very peaceful, maybe this wouldn't be such a bad situation. She reached forward and poked at the harpy's shoulder. After a moment the harpy glanced up bleary-eyed and, noticing Orea, gasped and shot to her feet and made to run off.

Forgetting that she had found a perch some fifty feet into the air, she fell and managed to grasp at the branch, dangling precariously. "Aaah! Aah, I'm-I'm going to fall, heeelp!"

Orea stepped closer to the harpy, a baffled look in her eyes. "Um, you might fall, but you're a harpy, you can fly, or glide at least, can't you?

The harpy stared up at Orea as if she were brilliant. "You're right. Oh, that's embarrassing..." She grunted as she pulled herself up, reaching up with a foot to grasp the branch and pull herself back up to a stable position. She let out a little sigh then looked down at Orea, a warm smile spreading over her face as she knelt down to her knees. "You're a forest spirit, aren't you? You're certainly not a pony, at least I don't think you are..."

Orea smiled happily and nodded in acknowledgement. "Yes, you're right. I'm a forest nymph, and my name is Orea. What's yours?"

The harpy smiled happily and brought herself just a little closer. "Oh! My name is Amacia The Useless Coward!" Orea stared at Amacia, completely baffled. Amacia seemed to realize what she'd just said and blushed with embarrassment, a clawed hand rubbing the back of her head. "I keep forgetting everything I said after my name there is my title..."

The nymph tilted her head and frowned. "Do the other harpies call you that?"

Amacia sighed and shook her head, both feeling and looking crestfallen. "No...that's my name for myself. The other harpies use words that probably shouldn't be repeated anywhere outside of harpy earshot."

Upon seeing the nymph looking a little depressed after hearing that, Amacia was determined not to turn this into a downer situation. She pulled herself up straight and clasped her claws in front of her. "So, what brings you to me? Were you going to keep me company until I head home?"

Orea perked up as she remembered what Sohl had asked of her. "Well...that's actually why I came to find you. See...you can't go home." Upon seeing the increasingly terrified look in the harpy's eyes, Orea quickly smiled and said, "We're not keeping you prisoner, promise! See, Sohl told me that if you followed her home, then her sister would hurt you for information on where she's been and what she's done, and I don't want to see you hurt!"

For a moment, Amacia looked like she might cry. Suddenly she darted forward and picked up little Orea into her winged arms and sobbed loudly. The nymph stared over the harpy's shoulder, then grunted and shifted with effort until she could pulled her forelegs out to rest them on Amacia's shoulders. "I don't understand, was it something I said? Did I offend you?"

"Noooo," the harpy whined, calming down enough to speak. "It's just, that's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me. You have no idea what it's like trying to be a nice harpy in a tribe of angry, abusive...b..." she stuttered for a moment, feeling herself getting angry enough to express the word she wanted. "...Bitches!" Amacia gasped and held a claw over her mouth. "Oh! I'm sorry..."

Orea stared at Amacia in utter bewilderment. Amacia certainly was different from Sohl. The eagle harpy had a poisonous tongue and seemed to be proud of it.

Orea smiled and relaxed in the harpy's wings, pulling her closer with a happy sigh. "I'll be very happy if you stay with us a while, Amacia. I don't know how long Sohl meant for you to stay with us, but I'm sure my friends will find a place for you. I certainly think you'd be more comfortable here than with a tribe of abusive harpies, don't you think?"

Amacia stared down at the little nymph with tears in her eyes. This was so much more than expressing concern for her well-being, this was inviting her to stay in this valley with the nymph and the "they" she kept mentioning. "Well gosh, I don't really know what to say, except..."

---

The walk into town an hour later was a strange one. After Kecnik had assumed his pegasus form, nothing else seemed out of the ordinary. Ponies everywhere went about their daily lives, filling up the streets for their evening routines, although gossip of a royal visit and a small accident reached the ears of Spark and his group.

After what Spark had told his group of what had transpired between him, Shimmering Oasis and Shadow Heart (who by then looked like he wanted to disappear, but Gunslinger wouldn't let him) the group figured there'd be more talk, more panic, more running in the streets, maybe. But the town was calm and generally happy. It bewildered the group, but Spark remembered his conversation with Ditzy: when she'd woken up from the princess' spell, she didn't remember anything from just before she arrived.

It wasn't long before the group came upon the battle ground from Spark and Shadow Heart's fight. The place was still a mess, and there was still a pile of chairs and tables from when Shadow Heart had become a projectile and smashed Shimmering Oasis into the pile. It gave Spark some satisfaction to think about, until Shadow Heart came to stand at his side, apparently remembering the same thing. "That one really hurt, you know," he told Spark, an unamused look on his face.

Spark laughed uncomfortably and was about to respond when he felt a squeeze around his waist. "Spark! I hate to ruin such a tender moment, but laying myself out flat like this is really uncomfortable!" Spark looked back at the dark green wrap around his waist that was Ampelus. There was no way she'd go unnoticed being half a nymph, so she'd stretched herself out and wrapped herself around his chest and back to look like a decorative wrap. It was actually quite fetching, according to Rarity.

"Fine, fine. All right, everypony," he said, turning to his group. "I think we should split up from here. Go home, wash up and relax. It sounds like Princess Celestia might be here in town somewhere, I've gotta go catch her up."

Rarity let out a dramatic sigh of relief. "Finally, I can wash off this mud and return to my beautiful self. Oh, this day has been horrid..." she said, then turned and walked off towards the Carousel Boutique. Spark frowned as he watched her. Her departure had been too quick and much too casual. Something was wrong.

Noticing two in the back trying to slip away unnoticed, Spark leapt up into the air, sailed over the group, made a mid-air turn and landed in front of Chrome and Lyra. Both put on looks of innocence, which Spark wasn't buying. "No," he told them. "Neither of you are off the hook. You're both in big trouble, need I remind you! You can't just waltz into a situation like that! You both could've been seriously hurt, and it would've been my fault!"

Turbid watched with a smile of approval on her face. While Spark continued to lecture Lyra and his brother, she turned to Russet, Emerald Skies and Laser Reflex. "Gentlecolts, I suggest you git while the gitting is good. I daresay that Spark Storm may be occupied for a while after this. Like he said, go home and get some rest. Just...expect a call shortly. You all may be asked to give your accounts of what happened."

She needed not repeat herself. The three were much too tired to do anything else but go home and sleep. The trio lumbered off to their respective homes, until Laser Reflex remembered that his house burned down, then began to follow Russet Hearts, while Kecnik quietly followed Emerald Skies.

By the time Spark Storm was finished with Chrome and Lyra, they both looked like they wanted to cry. Their pitiful looks was too much for him, though. He sighed and pulled them closer to himself. "Look, I'm only telling you all this because I care about you so much." This of course was what they were waiting to hear. They latched onto him, and all three smiled happily while Ampelus sighed with annoyance.

Finally, Spark let the two go and looked between the two of them. "All right, now you two get on home. I think you've both a lot to think about on your own issues."

Chrome snorted and glanced sideways at Spark. "You think I'm the one with issues?" A warning glare from his older brother convinced Chrome to shut up and fly away. He circled the much smaller group and waved goodbye, then took off to get home. Lyra waved back, then hopped forward to hug Spark tightly.

"Thanks, Spark. Thanks for getting us home." She pulled away, then waved once more and trotted off towards home to maybe sleep for a week.

Spark sighed as he turned to face Turbid, who waited patiently. I guess it's about time to talk to Celestia...he thought as he approached Turbid, who reached up to rest a hoof on his shoulder. "Storm Spark, you've got a...a magnificent..." she trailed off. The wound on her temple, while no longer bleeding, didn't look good, and she appeared dizzy. She nearly fell over until Spark caught her.

"That's it, I'm taking you to the hospital, Turbid," he told her, a definite order. Turbid shook her head in defiance, but this only added to her dizziness.

"N-no. You need to be debriefed, sh-she's waiting at the library," she slurred, her vision blurring and her head pounding.

"Well she can wait a little longer while I get my teacher to the hospital!" Spark grabbed one of Turbid's forelegs and pulled her up onto his back. The already uncomfortable Ampelus let out an annoyed whine, then squeezed tight around Spark's chest. "Geez, easy Ampelus! Give me 15 friggin' minutes to get Turbid to safety!"

---

Rainbow Dash sat up in bed and coughed lightly. Her throat was better, although she still had to recover from her bruised ribs. She knew her cousin did some dangerous work now that he'd found a special job in Canterlot, something he refused to acknowledge as anything other than "animal control", which she'd just finished explaining to her friend Lightning Twist.

"Pfft. Nice," the garnet pegasus said with a sarcastic roll of her silver eyes. "Keep them in the kennel until they're put down. Sounds like a crack job to me." Lightning Twist was a thirteen year old with a penchant for thrills. Since she was young, the everyday flying bored her. She loved to fly into thunderstorms, braving the worst of them for the adrenaline.

Lightning Twist had the annoying habit of showing off. She knew this aggravated others, and took every chance she had to do it. She was also a terrible flirt. Not that she was terrible at, but ever since she'd realized she was attractive, she flirted constantly with the colts her age in Cloudsdale, but most found her way too intense to go steady with. Most never even got to kiss her. She might've flirted excessively, but she had standards.

Rainbow Dash shook her head with a roll of her eyes. "Dude, whatever. Why didn't Gilda come with you to see me?" she asked, pouting just a little. It was Lightning Twist's turn to roll her eyes, her wings flittering in a habit of impatience. She hated standing still for too long.

"You know her. She's almost as bad at sitting around as I am. Hurry up and get better so we can go flying!" Lightning said with a whine, starting to pace back and forth, then stopped at the window. She pressed her muzzle to the window, her wings stretched out over her head the way they did whenever she was interested in something.

"What is it?" asked Rainbow, noticing her friend's familiar habit.

"Dude, you have a cousin, right? Big blue dude with black markings?"

"Yeah..." Rainbow confirmed, eyeing her friend suspiciously. She didn't like where this was going.

Lightning Twist's greenish blue tail began to swish back and forth. "He's cute. Why didn't you tell me he was cute?"

"Because ew? I don't look at my cousin and think 'Oh, he's cute, I bet Lightning Twist would be all over him!' Geez! And no going ga-ga over my cousin!" Rainbow said testily, looking away from Lightning. After a moment she returned her gaze to her friend, a look of confusion on her face. "Wait, is he coming here?"

Lightning Twist, whose tail was still swishing, said, "Mhm. And it looks like there's been an accident or something, he's toting this older chick on his back."

---

Spark Storm stepped into the hospital, and was immediately met with two nurses, one an adult white mare with a red mane and a needle cutie mark, the other a white mare in her late teens with a pink mane with a thick red cross and four hearts in each cross-section. "What's happened here?" the older mare demanded.

"Uh, she...had an accident...?" Spark mumbled, unsure of how to explain Turbid's injury.

"I've got this, Spark," Turbid said as she made to climb down as carefully as she could. "All-allow me. Ladies, this is a delta class situation, code "golden nugget".""

"What?" Spark and the younger nurse said in unison. The older nurse just smiled and stepped forward to help Turbid stay on her hooves.

"Understood, ma'am, we'll take good care of you. Miss Redheart!" she barked suddenly at the younger nurse, who stood straight to attention. "Come over here and help me get this mare to a room. Sir," she said, turning to Spark Storm now, "thank you for your assistance. We'll take it from here."

"Uh..." Spark frowned with confusion, uncertain of what had just happened or if he should really let the mares take his teacher.

Turbid smiled at Spark. He certainly was loyal, she'd always admired that about him, even if it was getting him into trouble. "It's all right, Spark Storm. It's all taken care of now. You need to go, you know what to do." And with that, the two nurses helped Turbid down the hall. Spark sighed, then turned around to head back outside.

"Hey!" Spark looked up once he was outside. He heard a fluttering of wings, then spotted Rainbow Dash at the window, leaning out with some effort. "Ugh! Sorry, Spark!" she yelled, before ducking down to stare at something just behind him. Spark arched a brow before turning around to leave when he came muzzle to muzzle with a silver-eyed, dark red mare.

Spark frowned down down at the pretty pegasus, who had to blow her spiky bangs from her eyes to get a better look at him. "Well, hi there," she said casually, making sure to ruffle her feathers just enough to make that pleasant ruffling noise she was so good at making. "Name's Lightning Twist, and you?"

Spark shook his head and quickly stepped around the smaller mare. "No. Just no. I can't deal with more of this crap. Sorry, I've got things to do."

Lightning Twist scoffed at being rejected. It didn't happen often. To add insult to injury, she could hear Rainbow Dash laughing at her from above. Lightning turned around and flew up, a look of mock anger on her face. "It's a good thing you're already in a hospital, Rainbow Dash!"

---

Spark Storm sighed as he headed for the library. Lighting Twist has been unbearably cute, probably the cutest mare he'd ever seen, but he couldn't even think of getting to know new mares. Mares made him do dumb things without the slightest of provocation. Bad news.

Finally, he arrived at the library. As he stepped inside, the first thing he noticed was the fact that it was full of ponies. Emerald Skies, Laser Reflex, Kecnik, Anorax, Gunslinger, Shadow Heart, Lyra and his little brother Chrome all seemed to be waiting for him. Even Rarity, who looked like she'd been in the middle of a shower, was there. She certainly seemed unhappy to have to sit in the presence of the princess when she wasn't ready for it.

Princess Celestia stood at the back of the library, a concerned frown on her face as she laid eyes on Spark Storm. Spark looked back at her, then noticed his friends watching him. They'd been here already and had probably already made their proper greetings. Would he?

Before he could do or say anything. the thin green band around his torso suddenly snapped and fell to the floor. A tired groaning sound emerged from the formless puddle of green before it began to form a head, then two forelegs, and half a torso. Ampelus groaned once more and turned to glare up at the big pegasus. "You jack-ass! You just had to go and take every single detour on your way here, didn't you?!" she yelled loudly into the library.

Spark Storm glowered at the nymph, then gestured to the company in the room. Ampelus turned to face Celestia and the others. Still feeling cross and in pain, she whipped her head back around at Spark Storm with her own glare. "Congratulations, you've got company!" With that, she whipped a vine up onto the second floor and pulled herself up to disappear into seclusion.

Spark groaned quietly, a hoof over his face in resignation. A politely cleared throat brought Spark back to attention. He turned his attention back to the Princess, who stood waiting patiently for Spark. Finding this situation to mend in front of all his friends and comrades to be uncomfortable, he stammered quietly as he tried to put his words together.

"Please, be at ease, Spark Storm. Whatever issues there may be between us can be discussed at a later time, in private, if you wish. I have gathered your friends and comrades here, not all exactly willingly-" she paused, offering Rarity an apologetic look. "-because I also have something to tell you all, something that I think you all should hear as soon as possible. So Spark Storm, please..."

Spark sighed heavily and closed his eyes for a moment. He'd been dreading this, and he still didn't feel like he could forgive the Princess for what she'd done to Sapphire, but at least talking to her was a step up from avoiding her. So, he stood up straight and proud, and over the next two hours, recounted to the Princess what had happened, with his comrades adding in their pieces to fill in Spark's blanks.

When it came to Chrome's turn, however, he hesitated. While Lyra and he both kept Orea's cutie mark a secret, only Chrome had seen the things she'd done, how she'd repelled a psychic attack from the orange alicorn princess.

And so, with the Princess completely caught up on everything that had happened, Spark Storm had one last question that he wanted to ask. "Princess, before you begin, I've wanted to know: what do we tell the ponies of Ponyville about Shimmering Oasis and what happened in the market?"

"Mm...that actually covers what I wanted to speak to you all about..." Celestia said, speaking slowly and carefully to let them all know this would be important.

"Oh!" Rarity exclaimed. "I am willing to bet this will end up being a royal secret! We'll be sworn to secrecy, such a romantic notion..."

Spark and Anorax made faces at Rarity. Even Celestia chuckled, finding the fashionista's quirks to be amusing. "While I do agree, miss Rarity, I'm afraid it's much simpler than that. You see...my guards have asked around to see what had happened while you all were in the caves..." she paused, letting this information sink in. "I'm afraid there were no witnesses."

Gasps of horror and anger rose through the room at this new information. "What do you mean?! Did Shimmering Oasis kill the ones who were there in the market?!" Shadow Heart demanded, tears of guilt and fury filling his eyes. Just when he thought he'd suffered enough at the hands of the psychic alicorn, she reached out from the past to sting him once more.

"No, my little ponies," the princess said gently. After the angry talk had simmered down, she continued. "Amazingly, despite the apparently rough fight between Shadow Heart and Spark Storm, there was no loss of life in Ponyville today."

"But...'no witnesses'?" Spark asked, as bewildered as the others. Then, he thought of something. "But wait. I talked to Ditzy. She was there. Shimmering Oasis put her to sleep like the others. When she woke up, she didn't remember her, or Shadow Heart. Are you telling me that Shimmering Oasis erased that memory from everypony that saw her?"

"Well...yes. I'm afraid that seems to be what happened."

The group exchanged glances, each feeling something different. Even Ampelus had reappeared at some point, laying on the edge of the second floor to listen.

"Huh. Back to normal life, then," Anorax said, a relieved smile on his face. At this point he just wanted to go back home and tend to Madalah.

"Wh...well that's...that's just cheap!" Laser Reflex exclaimed. "My life was turned upside down and inside out! I was accosted by changelings, made to follow Spark Storm, she nearly rapes me-" he pointed up at Ampelus, "-I ditch my best friend to escape the changelings, then I go down into the devil's throat to get him out, and I can't even talk about it?! Nopony's gonna believe that story!"

Russet himself looked unhappy. He just wanted this whole thing to blow over, and it looked like he was going to get his wish. At least, if Laser would shut up about it.

"Well, that's it, then," Emerald said with a sigh. "It's all over, said and done." The pegasus sat down with a bitter chuckle. "Here I was thinking maybe I'd have my name carved in stone or my image in a stain-glass window or something, but...there won't be any stories to commemorate this event. No one will remember this adventure."

"I will remember," Princess Celestia said with a gentle smile. Emerald and the others turned their attention to the princess. "Many things have happened here today, many important events." She took a step forward, putting on that warm smile that her subjects looked up to. "I promise you, each and every one of you, that what happened here will never be forgotten, because I will remember. You will all be my legends of Ponyville."

---

Aaaargh I can't believe it! This has been such a wild ride, but it's not over yet. Stay tuned next week for the epilogue of Legends Of Ponyville, after which this arc will be complete and I can start writing the next one. I thank you all for staying with me this whole time. See you soon!