Twilight couldn't remember where she was, not at first. But slowly it all came back to her. The dark, the night, Lloyd. The last thing she could remember was seeing Darkside be pulled into the book, Lloyd fell over and then she fell over. Some pony had been yelling, calling out to her, but she was too gone to remember who.
"I think Twi's coming to girls." A familiar southern voice came through the white haze.
"AJ?" She asked but her lips were dry and cracked. Her throat bit back as she tried to speak and her body snapped when she tried to move. Everything tensed and she felt a hiss of air escape through her teeth.
"Take it easy Sugarcube." Her voice came again. "Just take it easy."
Twilight took a few more breaths before trying again. She swallowed getting her throat wet and opened her eyes to the glaring light. The white light stung a little but it was a fine change from the dark of the night they had run through before. She was in a hospital, a very large hospital room in fact. The lights were on bright and when she turned her head she could see a rainbow of different colored pony heads looking at her, each face familiar and warming.
"Twilight!" A different voice came from her other side and Twilight turned just in time to have a tiny purple dragon collided with her chest and squeeze her neck in a hug. Twilight smiled, ignoring the dull ache of her legs and wrapped them around her number one assistant.
"Spike," She cooed hugging him tighter. "I'm ok. It's all ok." She soothed patting his fins. The little dragon shook in her grip and she could hear the sobbing but she never stopped patting him. Her head turned back to her friends, each of them set in their own hospital beds nest to her. Applejack was next to her, Rainbow Dash beyond her, then Fluttershy. On her right was Rarity and then Pinkie beyond her.
"You're all ok!" She said as she saw each of her friends smiling faces next to her. Each of them smiled from behind another except AJ and Rarity who grinned from either side of her. They were all awake and all looking to her but it didn't seem right. "How?" She started but couldn't go any farther. "How did we get here? Did . . . Darkside is he?"
"I think I can explain." Twilight turned and saw the glowing form of the white Alicorn standing at the door. The princess had her crown again and dressed in her golden breastplate her magical mane flowing behind her. The princess radiated glory and next to her, shining in her own way was Luna. The darker princess had regained her crown and regal standing but unlike her sister she still bore some marks of her battle. Her wing was wrapped in white bandages held out slightly to her side but the princess herself still smiled warmly.
"Princess!" Twilight cried at the sight of her mentor standing in the door. The princess walked into the room but Luna remained at the door. Twilight stirred in her bed but didn't move in fear of moving Spike. She held the dragon tightly and sat up straighter but the princess held a hoof to stop her squirming.
"Please Twilight rest. You have been through a lot. You all have." She said sweeping her eyes over the large room filled with ponies. The others all bowed their heads in reverence and exhaustion. "As I said I can explain what happened." Twilight settled back to listen intently to the princess.
"You see, I awoke not long after Luna herself had left. I was confused but Zecora and Spike quickly told me all that had happened. I knew I had to act, against the wishes of Zecora, so I left with Spike along with me."
"Spike?" Twilight questioned looking down at the dragon and he looked up enough to grin at her like he was in trouble.
"He was very worried and wanted to help." Celestia explained. Twilight smiled and nuzzled the little dragon making him blush. "So, I came to where I saw a huge blast of magic and arrived just in time to see that monster be sucked into the book. Unfortunately I also saw the state you and your friends were in." She paused to turn behind her. "As well as Luna."
"I told you sister, I am recovered." Luna said stomping her hoof stubbornly. Celestia shrugged and turned back ignoring her younger sister's fuming eyes.
"I did my best to help you all and quickly brought all of you to the hospital and raised the staff." Celestia said, but Luna giggled behind her.
"Raised the staff? Oh tell them sister, she raised the sun itself over their homes and demanded they wake." Luna laughed a little more, amused at her sister's actions as well as Celesta's very mild blush. "She scared them so badly I don't think they will sleep for days."
"Well, it was an emergency." Celestia said raising her head high to seem more dignified but it only made the blush more prevalent. "It has been a whole day since then and you did not wake until now. We were becoming worried."
"So everyone is ok?" She asked looking around. Applejack had her leg wrapped up in a cast and bits of white across her other legs and neck but somehow had retained her hat. Twilight could almost imagine the nurses trying to take it from her.
"I'll live Sugarcube. Can't be bucking anytime soon but I'll live." Applejack said with a grin.
Rarity had extra white wrapped around her side and belly but otherwise she seemed okay though her eyes drooped like she was tired and she didn't raise herself more than a little off the bed. Pinkie was . . . Pinkie. Through the entire story and even now she was sitting fully up on her bed. She still had some white dressing over her neck, legs and body along with a few stiches above her eye but she didn't stop smiling and even started bouncing in her bed electing a creak each time.
She turned her head back to Rainbow and Fluttershy behind Applejack and felt her happiness deflate a bit. The two were smiling but it was forced, Fluttershy still had bandages around her hooves but her wings are what drew Twilight's eyes. The yellow wings were wrapped up entirely in gauze and some other material she didn't know, like mesh. Each had a splint over them holding them rigid behind her. And then there was Rainbow.
In addition to the small strips of bandages and gauze over her face, legs and sides the blue Pegasus had a thick layer of gauze over her back, the flat skin where a wing had once been. Her other was tucked safely to her side while the missing appendage stuck out without any way to look it over. Twilight felt quiet tears well in her eyes and couldn't tear her eyes from Rainbow, the act didn't go unnoticed by the Pegasus who turned and looked at her flat back, her smile failing. "Rainbow . . ."
"Yeah I know." Rainbow Dash interrupted and rubbed a hoof over the spot where her wing had once been. "They . . . they couldn't do anything for it. It was too late." Fluttershy's hoof added to her own on the layer of gauze and Rainbow trembled once before looking up, another forced smile on her face. "I-I'll be ok. It's good that your back Twi."
Twilight sniffled to hold back crying, she didn't want to cry right after waking up but it was so wrong. She turned to her mentor. "Princess, isn't there anything you can do?"
The princess, for once turned her head down in shame. "I'm sorry Twilight but even the strongest unicorn magic can't help Rainbow Dash." Her head raised and faced the blue Pegasus. "I'm so sorry Rainbow Dash."
"Hey don't sweat it." Rainbow said, her voice a little shaky no matter how much she tried to hide it. "You already apologized, it's cool." The blue mare held a smile before she looked away.
The room became deafeningly quiet. The sound of dripping medicine and quiet breathing the only noise. Maybe it was thinking about Rainbow or something else but something hit Twilight making her jump.
"What about Lloyd?" She asked looking to the princess. She stared back with a blank look. "Lloyd, he was there with us! He was alive but he-he passed out, is he ok?"
Celestia turned and looked to Luna and then to twilight. "Yes, the colt who was there. He should be in the dungeons." Twilight gasped and opened her mouth to speak but the princess cut her off with a hoof. "but, Luna told me how he was fighting Darkside, so he is being cared for as well, however I still insisted he be given a separate room from you girls."
Twilight let out a sigh. At least he was alive and being cared for, he deserved that much, they owed him so much. Still her mind was filled with confusion, and so much grief. She pulled Spike closer to her and stifled back another cry as the silence again grew in the room just before it was viciously shattered.
The loud crash and following yells put every pony on edge, Celestia , remembering the last time yells had come from another door stood next to Luna at the door. More voices rose from the other side of the door, hospital staff, the guards stationed outside, just before the door flew open with a bang. Both guards were tangled with the assailant, who made most of them laugh or grimace at his shape. The Grey colt had gauze over his eye, legs, sides and most of him really. A mesh similar to Fluttershy's was layered over his backside covered in more bandages. Straps were laid over the hole in his shoulder and one of his legs had a brace set around it that didn't seem to impede his movement. His brown mane and tail were still gone, now even the black strands had been shaved off making him completely bald on his head and rump.
He was panting heavily but not struggling against the two Pegasus guards who held him back. "Please," He huffed, his voice was barley a whisper as he tried to catch his breath to finish his urgent plead. "Save me . . . from . . . my nurse." No one spoke for a moment but Pinkie Pie was the first to giggle and then start laughing slowly leading every pony in the room, save for the royal guards, to laugh as well. "Yeah I'm sure it's funny but she, oh no."
Lloyd spun his head around and ducked as a pink blur flew over him. The terrified colt's head popped up from behind the royal guards and looked into the mare's room. "Help me." He whimpered.
"You are so stubborn!" A firm female voice came from outside. Though none could see her they could all see Lloyd cringe. "You need to rest!"
"It's alright." Celestia said, stepping forward parting the guards and taking place between Lloyd and the nurse. "I believe he will be perfectly safe in my care."
"Of course princess." The nurse passed in front of the door again nodding her head to the princess before glaring at Lloyd and walking on. The princess nodded to the guards who allowed Lloyd through. The colt shook at the nurse's cold stare and settled in the room before Celestia closed the door again.
"That nurse is freakin crazy." He groaned shaking his head. He looked up and was transfixed by the stunned, relived and shocked faces of all the young mares in the room. "Hiya girls, how you doing?"
"Better now, but not thanks to you." Lloyd looked around to the white princess who spoke. Celesta's eyes were narrowed down on the smaller pony.
"Ah, the other princess. Still pissed at me?" He asked cocking his head.
Celestia glared down on the colt. There was silence as she loomed over him before sighing heavily and stepping back from her looming position she didn't realize she had taken. "I understand now what you have done." She began. "Luna has helped me, and I no longer blame you for what happened. Not entirely." She added narrowing her eyes again.
Lloyd shrugged and winced a little. "Well, I guess that's the best I can get." He turned back to all the girls. "Good to see the last of you is awake." He nodded his head to Twilight.
"Yeah, it's good to see you . . . alive." Twilight said her weak smile collapsing after the last word. "I thought . . . I mean you were . . . you . . ."
"How the hay are you alive?" Rainbow Dash snapped out from her side of the room getting agreeing nods from the other ponies.
"And what about Darkside?" Luna said from behind them all. "Is he gone?"
Lloyd hung his head low. "I suppose I owe you all an explanation. A full explanation." He sighed.
"First, yes Darkside is gone, he won't be coming back. As far as I've seen he can't traverse the boundaries between worlds, not without me throwing him. He may not be dead or beaten for good but he can't come back, you're safe from him." Luna noticeably eased and Celestia put a supportive wing over her.
"Now about me," He bowed his head lower eyeing the cheap tile under his hooves. "That's complicated. You saw me die, and that was the second time it has happened." Twilight gaped, Rarity and Pinkie gasped, Fluttershy, Rainbow and Applejack all dropped their jaws. "The first time was in my world. After Alyssa died I was broken and Darkside killed me." He looked up to each of their faces but they were transfixed in his story. "I came back. I thought at the time I had just regenerated, that I hadn't really died but now I know I was wrong. I guess I knew back then but it was too crazy to admit. I can't die. I know he killed me this time but I came back, I . . . just came back. He did the same thing, I killed him in Gimel, I destroyed him but he came back, just like I did." He raised his head, his features taunt in focus. "As soon as I came to I tore myself free of the spear and grabbed the book he had dropped when you girls hit him. With that I could beat him." He moved his hoofs and only then did Twilight see the large red book set on the ground before him as he traced it carefully with his hoof.
"Dear," Rarity said, the first to speak.
"You . . . you've died before?" Pinkie asked quietly from her corner.
Lloyd nodded silently. "This makes twice."
"But . . . what does that even mean? Is it even possible?" Twilight spoke up.
Lloyd only shrugged. "I guess it is."
"Who's Alyssa?" Every pony stopped and turned when Fluttershy's quiet voice broke through theirs. "I mean it's just, you got mad when he mentioned her, and you said she died, and uh. . ." The Pegasus buried her head and mumbled some kind of apology.
"It's fine." Lloyd nodded smiling at how meek she was. "Like I said you all deserve to know everything." He took another sigh and twitch all his facial muscles like he was trying to think of what to say. "She . . . she was my friend, one of my best friends and she's also the one who helped me write this book." He tapped the red bound book in front of him.
"I thought you wrote it?" Twilight asked.
"I did. Most of it. I wrote Darkside and most of the plot but she . . . she helped me. Always was there for me to bounce ideas off of, give suggestions, inspire ideas. She helped me make the hero of the book, and helped me a lot."
"What happened to her?" Pinkie asked looking more sullen than the pink pony ever should.
"She died." He said looking down. "Darkside got to her and made her depressed. He used his power to convince her I hated her and that I was to blame for all that was happening and maybe I was but," he stopped for a second and took another deep breath trying to steady his voice. "She killed herself. Took her own life and he made sure I found her." His head fell again with his voice. "That was when he killed me the first time. He came to where she was and when he saw I had given up fighting he put a sword through my heart."
"That's horrible." Twilight whispered hugging spike to her as if she were afraid he would be torn away from her.
"Yeah." He said with an empty voice. "But after I came back that time, I had a new outlook, new ideas. I vowed then that no matter what I wouldn't let him go like that. I would stop him." He raised his head and they could all see the new strength in his eyes. "That's when I managed to beat his power. He couldn't control me after that."
It became quiet again but Lloyd didn't seem to mind as he looked over each pony with him same indifferent expression
"May I ask you something?" Rarity asked quietly but in the peace of the room earning every pony's full attention. "Well when you fought that brute you changed and I was wondering what . . . that, was exactly?" She hesitated over her words but did force the question out.
"That's part of me that got left behind." Lloyd stated blankly. All the mares in the room turned their heads in confusion. "It warrants another explanation about something I wasn't completely truthful about." He sat down this time still tracing the design on the cover of his book. "You see, when I said I created Darkside I was half lying to you. I did create him as character in a book but that's not how he came to be what he is now."
He bowed his head and continued to stare at his book, not looking up to anyone. "In my world I had powers. Magic. And in my world that's not normal so I hid it away. I liked my power, it made me feel good, special, let me do things I could never have done and it helped my writing, but it came at a price." He shifted on the floor but no one interrupted him. "My whole life I was plagued by evil nightmares, horrible thoughts and compulsions to do . . . terrible things. Murder, torture, other things I'd rather not even say." He shuddered on the ground.
"One day I almost killed someone because these thoughts were getting stronger. I thought I was losing my mind so I tried to fix it. I used my magic to take hold of all the evil in me, all the bad thoughts I could find, and tried to force them out. I forced them all out but they had to go somewhere. They went to the book. It worked and for the first time in years I was happy and safe." His face fell onto the book. "But I didn't realize what I had done. All that evil, it didn't just go away, it came together, fed off anything it could reach, and It grew until Darkside came to be." He finally looked up. "Darkside isn't just something I made, he's a part of me. All my evil given physical form and more power than anyone should ever have."
"My change during the fight, its what's left of my own evil, the part I've accepted. It's hard to control but it makes me stronger. So I only use it when I know I can keep from losing control of that power."
The room was silent in the wake of his story, breathing the only consistent sound in the room.
Celestia looked over them all before her head settled on the colt. "You seem to have seen much pain, even before our world."
"I have. It doesn't lessen what I did here though." He sulked.
"No, it doesn't." Celestia's voice quivered with barley contained anger. "You brought your fight to our world and cost many of my subjects their lives and my little ponies . . ." he voice wavered as she looked away from everyone else huffing into the wall. "You have cost us so much."
Lloyd held his tongue till Celestia was truly done. leave. "I know. I've done worse." He looked back, his eyes catching Twilight's. "Sorry doesn't even begin to cover it."
Celestia took one step, her hoof making a clear audible clop on the floor as she stepped over the small colt. His gaze never faltered until she gently pat his bald head. "I am sorry. For all you have been through, it must have been a hard life." Celestia gently released the younger one's head who righted when freed.
"There's no use crying over me, I'll go on, it's what I do." He turned his head to Rainbow and took the steps needed to put him next to her bed. "But first, I promised you, Rainbow, when this was over I would take any punishment you wanted. Sadly I have to go back on that promise. I'll still accept whatever you want to give me but make it quick, I have a demon to hunt."
Rainbow looked at Lloyd, her large eyes taking in every inch of the colt. Slowly and clearly in pain she sat up, Fluttershy helping her up even when Rainbow tried to pull away she kept helping her touch like that of a ghost. After a few squeaking seconds the rainbow mare was face to face with Lloyd. The colt continued to hold his trademark indifferent expression. Rainbow huffed once and raised her hoof making everyone in the room suck in an anxious breath but the hoof never fell. She held it back poised to strike for several seconds before letting it fall with a tiny tap on his head. The colt winced as his burned skin was scrapped but made no other sign of discomfort.
"You're a rotten monster." Rainbow mumbled. "But you're not so bad. I'll give you a pass this once." She said as Fluttershy helped ease her back.
"Thanks." He nodded.
"So you're going?" Twilight asked with a whimper in her voice she didn't intend.
"Indeed I am." He said hopping down from Rainbow's bed and walking back to his book. "But before I go I have one last thing to do." He picked the book up and walked in between Applejack's and Rainbow's bed. He set the heavy book down with a tiny thud on the table and turned back to Rainbow. "Rainbow," He began. "Would you like your wing back?"
The large red eyes were only slightly wider than the all the others in the room. "B-b-b-b-b-bhhh—what?" Dash stumbled out.
"That's impossible." Celestia said shaking her head and blinking her eyes to try and regain her senses. "Not even our greatest magic can restore a Pegasus's wing."
"Maybe not your magic but me," Lloyd tapped his book. "I have a different rulebook."
"Can ya'll really do that?" Applejack asked with an insistent hoof on his back.
Lloyd turned and Twilight caught that rare honest grin. "It won't be the first time I've had to regrow a wing. I know I can do it." He turned back to Rainbow. "But I didn't hear an answer."
"Yesyesyesyesyes!" Rainbow's mouth moved like blur as she tried to talk, her head bouncing like an out of control spring.
Lloyd grinned wider. "Good."
"What about Applejack and Fluttershy?" Rarity chimed in from behind them all trying to sit higher on her pillows. "Surly you can help them as well."
"Shoot sugar, I'll be alright, just got give me time and I'll be right as rain." Applejack said nodding her head and rubbing her cast covered leg.
"I-I don't want to bother anyone. I'll be fine." Fluttershy hid behind Rainbow a little as she spoke.
"In truth, anything that can heal over time I'd rather not worry about. I'm already taking a chance for this, but I feel like I owe you all something." He turned back to rainbow. "Ready?"
"I uh I guess." She said shifting in her bed.
"I have to tell you, it's going to hurt. It's going to hurt a lot." His voice had lowered like it had before, serious filed with warning. "I promise I can help but once I start I can't stop. We have to go through with it no matter how much it hurts, ok?"
Rainbow furrowed her brows and nodded firmly. "I can take it." She said but her hoof still wrapped around Fluttershy's tightly.
"Ok." He looked back to Celestia and Luna. "Uh, can one of you soundproof the room?" The two alicorns gave him quizzical looks. "She's going to scream and I don't want have to explain this to everyone in the hospital."
"Is it really going to hurt that bad?" Fluttershy asked. The others seemed to share her concern.
"It is. It's going to be worse than anything else you've ever felt, worse than when you lost the wing." He laid a hoof on Rainbow's side. "But I promise, I'm going to help you. Now roll over on your belly."
"I still don't like you, but I'll trust you." She said nodding her head and obeying. Fluttershy helped flip her over so the Pegasus's back was laid up, the good wing tucked tight.
Applejack slowly leaned her head close to the colt's ear. "If you hurt her more, I'll crush yer head." She whispered into her ear making the colt swallow some fear. He had seen her crack Darkside's jaw with a kick. It seemed a good idea to avoid this pony's backside.
"Ok, can someone else help hold her down this might get, bad." He said as he opened the book on the bed placing one hoof on it and the other on rainbow's side. Celestia waved her horn shrouding the room in a dull glow as Luna stepped to the foot of the bed her magic holding Rainbow's legs to the table. Fluttershy never left her. The others would only look from their beds as Lloyd readied himself.
"Ready?" Lloyd asked. Rainbow didn't say anything but nodded clamping her eyes shut. Lloyd took a breath, said a prayer to whatever god might listen and started.
His body glowed again, the dim golden glow from his core growing out over his hoof. The light spread the veil of gold covering Rainbow as she winced and held her eyes closed. It drifted over her body exploring it. The gold finally grew in focus strands of brighter light snaking towards her back, twirling around her wing till they settled on the patch of gauze. Each tendril of gold turned in place till they were all poised around the gauze. Lloyd took his last breath and the tendrils plunged down.
Rainbow's whole body jerked on the bed, lips curling back to bare her teeth. The light got brighter as the tendrils drilled deeper into her. Rainbow's breaths became tense and quick as her body writhed on the bed. Lloyd's eyes were closed as the light danced over the rainbow mare. Twilight couldn't decide who to look at, Rainbow's writhing face, Lloyd's calm impassive mask, or Fluttershy stroking her friend's leg shushing her sweetly.
Something changed as the light's hue darkened. Rainbow gave a restrained yelp and her whole back arched as she tried to pull away deeper into the bed. Fluttershy kept petting her head lying in front of her. "It's okay Dash. You're okay." She cooed.
Suddenly Rainbow screamed. Loud and screeching in the room making everyone but Lloyd jump. She immediately tried to reign it in, biting her teeth against the pain. Her legs shook and she threw herself against the magical binds trying to wrench herself free. The scream didn't stay contained long before another erupted from her, this time with the corners of her eyes watering. Another scream and another convulsion as the light dimmed getting darker.
Fluttershy tried to soothe the pained Pegasus but in seconds the need for soundproofing the room was apparent. Rainbow's screams became a constant torrent of howls and wails in the tiny room. Celestia turned her head away as Rainbow's voiced cracked under the constant strain, her broken yells echoing off the walls.
"Ye can do it Rainbow." Applejack cheered.
"C'mon Dashie, your almost through." Pinkie called from her bed.
Lloyd moved his hoof up placing the grey edge on the layer of gauze bulging with light. Rainbow's screams cracked and fell to weak whimpers as her eyes shot open for only a second before clumping shut again. Her breath came in rapid frantic pants her teeth bared, hissing between them. Fluttershy never stopped stroking rainbow's head, never stopped whispering into her marefriend's ear as Rainbow trembled in pain.
Twilight watched, only watched in awe and shock as the gauze on Rainbow's back peeled away reveling the torn ripped bloody hole that once held her wing. She watched the light change to white and the strands of light took form growing from her back. The phantom image of bone took form, spreading out from Rainbow's back and morphing into the skeleton of a wing. The next wave of light pulsed from Rainbow's body, slowly covering her wing leaving the translucent layer of muscle covering the skeleton, dotted with the bright trails of nerves. Another pulse of light and the muscle became solid and firm, real.
The light changed, a dull blue now as another wave slowly crawled over Rainbow. The wave flooded over Rainbow's wing leaving it's trail of pink flesh covering the maze of muscle. The next pulse was faster sweeping over wing, the pink flesh turning blue. The pulses began faster and faster each one gradually turning the flesh blue leaving a trail of small feathers along the wing till the final pulse washed over her and the last full feathers fanned into existence.
Rainbow no longer whinnied or screamed , her body was drenched in sweat laying weak against the bead, her head rolled to the side in Flutterhy's hooves taking long slow breaths as the last of the waves of light washed over her before all the light faded. Lloyd sighed and immediately fell over smacking his head on the table before hitting the ground.
Luna was there with him aiding the weak colt back to Rainbow's bedside. Fresh blood was leaving his head where stitches and bandages had been ripped loose leaving a bloody trails over his face he seemed oblivious to. "Rainbow," he said breathlessly. "Cmon, don't go to sleep listen, you have to move your wing." He said shaking the Pegasus's head. "C'mon Rainbow move your wing."
Rainbow's eyes never opened, she never spoke but everyone's eyes were glued as the wing that had grown in last few minutes, slowly raised, its feathers fanning out and giving one meager flap before falling to her side again.
"That'll do pig." Lloyd sighed with a smile. The grey colt fell back to the floor but waved off a concerned Luna. "Give me a minute, I'll be fine." He assured as his eyes closed.
Fluttershy cried into her sleeping friend's mane getting it and her bed wet while Pinkie bounced off the floor walls and ceiling. Rarity smiled politely from her bed and Applejack just gave her tomcolt friend a polite pat on the back, being careful of her new wing. Twilight wiped her own eyes and hugged Spike again. "Is she going to be okay?"
Lloyd managed to lean on the wall slowly opening his eyes but kept them on the floor. "She'll be fine. Growing back bone, muscle and flesh takes a lot out of you. Just let her rest." Lloyd let his head fall breathing hard again. He shook his head and righted himself on his legs with a groan. "As much as I'm sure she wants to hit me, I'm afraid I have to go."
"What?" Twilight asked as Celestia did the same.
Lloyd closed his book with a resounding thud. "I can't stay any longer, I've already stayed here too long. I have to go after him."
"Are you sure?" Twilight asked letting Spike settle in her lap. Why was she so bothered by this? She knew it was coming all along after all.
"I have to go after him. He's still alive, I know." He laid the book down before him and flipped it open to some seemingly random page. "I'm sorry, but at least you're safe from him now."
"Will you ever come back?" Twilight asked.
Lloyd looked up to the ceiling pondering before looking at Twilight smirking ever so slightly. "Maybe, once Darkside is dead I've made a lot of promise to return to the worlds where I've been. Equestria will just be another place I have to come back to, as long as I get some of those great apples again."
"Can do." Applejack saluted from her bed.
"Oh come here mud head!" Pinkie cried jumping and pounding Lloyd down in a hug so fierce his eyes bulged from his head. Pinkie was bawling streams of tears into the air. Lloyd struggled to, everyone's amusement to remove a crying Pinkie from his body before she finally resigned at the promise of throwing him a party when he came back.
Rarity dotted her eyes before she spoke. "It has been, an adventure Lloyd. Perhaps when you come back when can have a more quiet time?"
Lloyd turned did his best attempt at a bow. "It would be my pleasure, Rarity."
Fluttershy gently laid Rainbow's head down before slowly hoping down and walking to face Lloyd. The shy Pegasus shocked everyone by simply holding the colts waiting eyes before they were all shocked to gasps as she struck her hoof across his head sharply. "That's for all the bad you brought," She said sternly before wrapping him in her hooves gently and kissing the spot she had just struck. "And that's for helping Rainbow. Thank you, for all you did, for all of us." She smiling and stepping back hiding behind her pink mane.
Lloyd stepped back and rubbed his sore head hiding his blush behind his leg. He opened his mouth but was cut off as the blue pile of feathers and fur stirred turning her head to face them. Rainbow's eyes were half lidded and it seemed a miracle she was even awake. "When you get back," She said, her voice slurred and quiet. "I'm gonna beat your ass." Were rainbow's final words before she sank to the bed again and fell silent.
"I guess that's a good thing, in her own way, I hope." Lloyd gulped as he turned to the alicorns in the room. "To you, I am sorry and I can only wish you the best."
Luna was the first to act stepping forward and tapping her horn gently to Lloyd's head. There was a faint and tiny flash of light like a spark in the coals of a fire. "You, Lloyd the writer, you are a true citizen of Equestria. You will always be welcome in our lands." Luna said stepping back. Lloyd grinned and lowered himself to as much of a bow as his body would allow.
"Thank you Luna. Stay strong." Then Celestia stepped up.
"You are always welcome here Lloyd. I thank you for all you did." The princess lowered her hoof and brushed the colt's head. "Please, remember all you have learned here. I feel you could have learned much from Twilight and all she has learned of the magic of friendship."
"I know there is." Lloyd said as the princess stepped back. "One day I think I'll learn." He placed his hoof on the book, and like a gate was opened light poured up and spread over him blowing his fur in a force that blew from its pages. Tendrils of white snaked out to envelop him.
"One last thing," He called as the light took hold. His head turned to twilight. "When I'm gone, the book will remain here, can I trust a librarian to care for it till I come back?" He asked with a smile.
Twilight stumbled over her words as she saw the light take the colt in its grip. "O-of course. Of course I will!" She called over the roar of the wind blowing from the book.
She saw him smile once more a tiny wink of his eye before the light was blinding. When she could force herself to look again Lloyd was gone, his eyes like an imprinted image in her mind.