Chapter 1: Reversal

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Twilight screamed, flapped desperately with her wings, ran through each of a dozen different spells from her horn—nothing worked. The Confluence around her made her brain fuzz as she was thrown through it, frost condensing on her feathers and coat as distorted voices babbled and screamed.

Then she smacked onto the crystal floor of her castle, landing in a crumpled heap. She changed the past. It’s not possible! I already learned that time travel doesn’t work that way! When I tried to change something, I only ended up causing the thing I wanted to change.

Why was her castle so… drafty? Twilight opened one eye, and learned in a single crushing instant that her desperate beliefs about time travel were in error.

She was on the castle floor, alright. A round section of floor just wide enough to capture the broken thrones with her friends’ cutie marks on them, standing in an open field north of Ponyville.

This is where the castle would be, she realized. I haven’t moved through space, but time. “Spike? Spike, are you there?” She rose onto unsteady hooves, watching the frost from the spell rise around her as a chill mist. But there was no sign of her dragon assistant, any more than the castle itself. She really did it. She changed the past. No Sonic Rainboom… no Elements of Harmony…

Twilight stretched her wings, expecting to see them puff away into smoke an instant before her own memory turned to slime. But no—she remembered everything. She could still picture each of her friends’ faces. Rarity’s generosity, Fluttershy’s kindness, all the others. Starlight Glimmer couldn’t take that away from her, any more than she could transform her friends into different ponies.

I’m going to fix this.

It was apparently the middle of the night, but at least the moon was full and its light shone directly down on the map. The artifact was still glowing, projecting its image of Equestria directly through the transparent glass surface. This was her first tool, maybe there would be something here she could use to undo the spell.

The projection of Equestria before her was nothing like the one she remembered. The entire north section of the map was bright red, with cities surrounded by shards of dark crystal all linking back to the Empire. Meanwhile, Canterlot and everything east of it was bright green. The friendly blue magic she was used to didn’t start until Ponyville, or more precisely at the Everfree forest. Why is the Castle of the Two Sisters on the map now?

Starlight Glimmer had ended one friendship. Just how big were the consequences of that change?

“This is bad…” Twilight muttered, eyes scanning the space around her. Wedged into the corner of one of the thrones was Star Swirl’s scroll, crumpled and battered. She lifted it in her magic, spreading it on the table in front of her. “But that’s okay! No big deal. I can just… go back into the past and stop her!”

It was the second-most complex spell Twilight had ever cast, one with energy requirements so massive she hadn’t even imagined they would be feasible—except for the map. Thanks to this artifact, Starlight had been able to break the rules. Joke’s on you, Starlight Glimmer. I have the map and the scroll. This ends right now.

She took a deep breath, closing her eyes and letting her magical senses expand. There was the map and the table, two objects of such phenomenal power that she could see their shapes even with both eyes closed. Star Swirl’s spell was like a pent-up spring, its force struggling for release.

Light built around her, so bright that the deep red glow shone through her eyelids. Her hooves lifted off the ground, and a tiny opening appeared.

There was a crack of air in front of her, and Twilight tumbled to the ground, nearly tripping over her hooves as she did so. She righted herself quickly, looking around for whatever had interrupted the spell—but there was nothing. She had lost all strength, and could barely even stay standing. She’d used every drop of magical power she had on the spell, and it hadn’t been enough.

It was so easy before! I just used the spell right near the map, and… The answer was staring her in the face. She stumbled back into one of the cracked thrones, looking down at the map. The image along its surface flickered unevenly, going out for a few seconds before returning moments later. Like a bulb that needed to be replaced.

The castle doesn’t even exist. There’s not enough magic left to make the spell work.

A chill wind whipped through the field all around her, carrying with it the distant howl of a Timberwolf. She watched the moon track slowly overhead, exhaustion mingling with desperation. Without the map, she would need a new way to power the time travel spell. She knew of only one source of magic that powerful:

The Elements of Harmony.

Twilight was still magically exhausted, but that didn’t matter. She wouldn’t need to be casting incredible spells to find her friends. Her castle had been on the outskirts of Ponyville, so close that it was considered part of the town. All she had to do was visit and find out. She spent a few moments lifting her throne, safely securing Star Swirl’s spell underneath and replacing it with a hoof. The stone was heavy enough that it wasn’t likely to be moved accidentally. And anyway, with no castle out here there was nothing to see.

She didn’t have quite enough energy to fly, but that didn’t matter much. She would be traveling back in time soon—a few more minutes wouldn’t make much difference. The moon was bright enough that she didn’t trip, though she did start to long for sunrise. Maybe I can rest until morning when I get there. I wonder if the Golden Oaks is waiting for me.

Twilight walked, walked for so long she started getting nervous. There was no road to her castle anymore, but the town wasn’t that far. Where were all the streetlights?

Twilight slowed a little, lighting her horn with a faint magical struggle. She was recovering, but it would be hours yet before she could try and manifest master-level spells. But a little glow was enough to show her that she hadn’t been wrong—she had found her way to one of Ponyville’s main roads, and was surrounded by shadowy buildings. Twilight hurried over to one, passing a rusty, dark streetlight. The glass cover was shattered, and the burner looked like it had charred away a long time ago.

She was standing in front of Sugarcube Corner, its window barred with boards and interior deserted. “Pinkie Pie?” She pushed at the front door, and it swung open freely. Twilight lowered her voice, slowing as the boards creaked underneath her. The floor was dusty and covered with trash. There was almost nothing left on the shelves, and what sweets remained had long since hardened or gone moldy. All the fancy decorations and chandeliers were missing. “Pinkie Pie, are you here?”

She didn’t climb through the building to search. The interior was cold, there were no lights on, and her own hooves made dense tracks through the dust. Pinkie, where the hay did you go?

But it wasn’t just Pinkie Pie that had gone missing. Sugarcube Corner was near downtown, surrounded by more houses than anywhere else. There was city hall, just down the road. A few of its windows had been shattered, and the rest were boarded up like everything else.

Rarity’s in town. Her next. Twilight ran, crossing dimly-lit streets and walls plastered over with flyers in the darkness. The Carousel Boutique was a gigantic building in its own right, not difficult to find. Twilight hurried up to the front door, but this one was locked. “Rarity!” she called, pulling on the bell over and over. She watched the upstairs windows for signs of motion, but not even a single beam of light emerged. Not even the sound of someone quietly walking around inside the building. There was no reason to strain her magic even more by trying to teleport inside to search.

Something happened to Ponyville, she thought, mind racing. Something that left the town intact but made all the ponies leave. Had she and her friends done anything that could’ve explained that?

There’s one pony who wouldn’t change. Applejack’s family is married to this land. They’d be here farming even if the whole world ended. She started galloping.

The trip out of Ponyville wouldn’t have taken long, except that Twilight was exhausted and terrified and running in the dark. She tripped a few times, cut up her side and got damp mud into her feathers. But then she passed outside of town, and saw the glow of magical light on the horizon.

There was Sweet Apple Acres, the first living place she’d seen since returning. The fields of apples were as healthy as ever, though something was different about them. Metal towers now rose above the entire orchard, spread at regular intervals. Massive crystals were mounted to the top, each one glowing so bright that she couldn’t look at them without wincing in pain.

It doesn’t matter if they’re doing things a little different here. Maybe those are… anti-parasprite spells! To protect the field from them, since Pinkie Pie wasn’t here. That seemed like a sensible explanation.

Twilight cantered up the hill, listening to the strange sound of machinery as she got closer. The farmhouse was still where she remembered, but the barn was gone. In its place was a massive building, large enough that it swallowed the herb garden and the place cows and pigs had once lived. Smoke rose up from a large tower, and loud mechanical sounds rumbled out from inside.

It’s running this late at night? It was hard to imagine Granny Smith approving of that—but that wasn’t Twilight’s problem. She was almost there.

As she rounded the bend, Twilight could see a large transport wagon parked outside the farm, with enough hitches for two strong earth ponies to pull it together. It was packed largely full of huge barrels. Even as she watched, a pony emerged from the back of the factory, with a clipbloard in one hoof and a pair of glasses on her nose. She was missing her hat, but even so, there was no mistaking her.

“Applejack!” Twilight leapt the fence, dodging the muddy ruts in the gravel path up to the factory building, and wrapping her forelegs around her friend. “Applejack, I’m so glad to see you! The whole world is wrong, and Pinkie was gone, Rarity’s not here, Ponyville’s deserted… but you’re here. Thank Celestia, you’re okay!”

The pony didn’t return her affection as she’d expected. Instead Applejack stiffened, pushing Twilight away with a gentle hoof. Her usual loamy, dirt smell was replaced with one of applesauce and antiseptic. “Now hold on a minute, miss… whoever you are. I don’t know you, or what you’re doing on my farm. Ponies can’t just walk in here, saying such things… the Apples are loyal to Equestria. I know we aren’t out there on the front, but our apples are, keeping every belly full and ponies strong enough to keep fighting. So you can tell whoever sent you…” She doesn’t sound like herself. Where’s her accent?

Applejack’s eyes widened, as she took in Twilight for the first time.

Twilight could follow her eyes as they jerked between her wings and her horn and back again. Then she dropped into a bow. “F-forgive my ignorance. I didn’t know our princess had… relatives. Please don’t punish my family—we’re essential to the war effort. I can take you inside, give you the full tour! You’ll see just how important our work is!”

Twilight rolled her eyes, pulling Applejack into a standing position. “I’m not gonna…” She trailed off, deciding not to contradict her right away. “Actually, there is something. Come with me, Applejack. There’s something you need to see.”

Twilight could see the map clearing even through the gloomy darkness—it didn’t just glow, but energy seemed to crackle around it. The ground around the crystal had turned brown, and all the plants near where it had landed were in various stages of decay.

Applejack stopped as they got about fifty feet away, suddenly clutching at her stomach. “Ugh… new princess, I don’t mean… could we go somewhere else, maybe? I’m feeling rather unwell all of the sudden.”

Interesting. Time magic was so costly and dangerous that almost nothing was known about it. In a world where everything was still right, Twilight probably would’ve tried to learn more out of simple fascination. But here those questions would remain unstudied. Here she couldn’t dare turn away. If anypony is strong enough to endure strange magic, it’s an earth pony. Applejack’s sturdy enough to stop a train.

“I’m sorry, Applejack. We have to make it up there. There’s a table, can you see it? Surrounded by those thrones?”

“I, uh…” She looked up, squinting. “Yeah, I do. This wasn’t out here before. Something new from the princess? Guess you’d know, being in her court and all…”

“I’m not in her…” Twilight wrapped one leg around one of Applejacks, then dragged her closer. The pony went rigid and numb, though not actively resisting her. Twilight kept her magical senses open, ready to stop if the magic was doing more to Applejack. But all it seemed to do was make her confused. Eventually she clambered up onto the slice of floor from her castle, and stood Applejack in front of one of the thrones. “What do you see, Applejack?”

She stared, eyes still partially glazed over. Her mouth opened and closed a few times before she managed to get the words out. “M-my… cutie mark. On this fancy crystal throne.” That was it—enough that Applejack seemed to wake up a little. She turned, taking in the rest of it. “And that one over there, that’s yours! These others… I know this one.” She pointed at Rarity’s. “She used to make clothes or whatnot, before… before she went off to join the war effort.”

“War with who?” Twilight couldn’t restrain her curiosity. More than that, she probably needed to know. If she couldn’t just cast a simple spell to make everything back to normal, she would need to survive in this world long enough to gather everypony together. “Equestria has good relations with its neighbors! Even the dragons don’t invade us!”

Applejack stared back at her, disbelief on her face. “Good relations with…” Then she saw the table. “Look right here, Princess—”

“Just Twilight,” she corrected. “Just call me Twilight. Or Twilight Sparkle, if you have to. I’m not princess of anything here.”

Applejack ignored her. “This map here… I haven’t seen anything like it, but it looks about as accurate as what I’ve seen drawn. The Crystal Empire is always pushing south, further every year… and the changelings hold more of the east. Really, the only bad thing that hasn’t happened is King Sombra and Queen Chrysalis joining forces to attack us at the same time. They fight each other almost as much as they fight us. And of course, our ponies are the bravest, strongest fighters there are. I know we’d keep fighting even if they did join forces.”

Twilight slumped forward, eyes widening in horror at the thought. Her home was being cut into pieces, and ponies were dying to keep it safe. And what happened to the cities taken by the changelings, or King Sombra? They’d both been terrible rulers when she defeated them.

“Oh my gosh… Applejack… Applejack, none of this was supposed to happen! It’s all wrong!”

“Well of course it’s wrong, but I don’t see...”

Twilight yanked one of her hooves, pointing it right at the Crystal Empire. Applejack’s hoof fuzzed through the projected illusion above the table. “We beat Sombra. We saved the Crystal Empire, together! We banished Sombra forever! And Queen Chrysalis… we beat her too! Equestria should still be safe!”

There was a long silence. Twilight turned, and realized that Applejack’s eyes were glazed over and drool was trickling down her mouth. She was staring off into space in front of her, muttering quietly to herself. Twilight winced, pulling her hoof back, but she could sense the magic still swirling around her friend. What was it doing to her?

“I’m sorry, Applejack! I didn’t even think there was much magic left in this map. It shouldn’t be—”

“We were friends,” she said, her voice low. “The sun is shining. Granny’s still alive. Apple Bloom laughs… my brother is still at home. I’m taking the day’s harvest to market.” She stopped, eyes full of tears. She shoved Twilight backward with one hoof, holding her down so hard that the crystal seemed to crack underneath. “WHO ARE YOU? WHAT ARE YOU SHOWIN’ ME?”

“The truth,” Twilight choked, pushing up against Applejack’s hoof. In vain. “The way things should be! Magic ruined the world… the one you live in is all wrong.”

Applejack held her down for another long moment, staring into her eyes. Then she let go, and Twilight gasped, clutching at her throat. “You’re not lying. You were there, in that place… not just you. Others. Ponies I don’t know, but I did, err…” She clutched at her head with both hooves, whimpering. “It hurts to think about. Doesn’t wanna stick.”

“It’s real,” Twilight said, recovering enough to walk slowly around her friend. Far enough that she would be out of reach if the earth pony decided that a physical response was the right idea again. “Applejack, I’m from there. From when Equestria is the way it’s supposed to be. Not cut into pieces, not at war. I’m trying to put it back together. Trying to… undo the damage that caused this. And I need your help.”

“Anything,” the earth pony whispered. “See my family… under one roof again. Have another one of granny’s apple pies… nothing I wouldn’t sacrifice to make that happen. What do we do?”

“I have a spell we can use, that can send me back. A spell to put the world back to the way it should be. But to cast it, we need the other four Elements of Harmony.” She gestured at the thrones, all but Spike’s little one. “These other cutie marks here, they belong to the other Element bearers. Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash. They’re… out there somewhere. We’ll need to find them.”

Applejack nodded. “Well, like I said. I only know one of those. Rarity used to live here in town. It’s possible we could find where she went. But not like this. It’s almost Eventide. You can come back to the factory with me… we’ll have supper, you can rest… and we’ll set off tomorrow. Cousins should be able to keep the factory going without me for a few days.”

Applejack seemed more than eager to get away from the table, and Twilight couldn’t really blame her for that. This constant reminder of the ruin that had come to Equestria was painful to watch. So she followed the farmpony away, keeping her voice down.

“What’s Eventide?” she asked, once they’d made it far enough that Applejack relaxed. “I’m still trying to… make sense of all the details of this place.”

“It’s the night after night,” Applejack said. “Where the…” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “Where the sun used to be.”

Twilight stopped walking. “What do you mean used to be?” Applejack had already said something like that, when she touched the map. But Twilight hadn’t known what she meant. Now, though… “Does Celestia not raise the sun anymore? Her sister would help if she couldn’t, I know she would!”

Applejack hurried back. “That isn’t the way it is anymore, Twilight. Maybe in the pretty little garden you showed me, but not… not where ponies really live. We don’t have it like that.”

“You two, don’t move!” a voice called from overhead, loud and demanding. Twilight obeyed by reflex, eyes tracking the group of several ponies as they landed in front of her.

They looked like Lunar Guard, their armor purple and silver instead of gold. Every one of them was a Thestral, which in a group of five meant more bat ponies than she’d ever seen together in one place before.

They landed on the grass all around them, aiming spears at Applejack and crossbows at Twilight.

Twilight swallowed, keeping her magic in reserve if she needed it. She was so tired, but she would have to keep fighting a little longer.

Except instead of shooting her, one of the guards tossed a little jar at her hooves. “Pretend Alicorn, open that and rub it on your face. Do it now, or we shoot.”

“She isn’t a Changeling,” Applejack said, though she didn’t look like she was about to fight. “I’ve been with her all night. She’s loyal to Equestria.”

“We’ll see,” barked the thestral, pointing a wing at the jar. “Go on, ‘Alicorn.’ Do it.”

“What is this?” Twilight lifted it in her magic, unscrewing the lid and sniffing. It smelled herbal, though not dangerous. Her magic couldn’t detect anything poison about it.

“A way of telling the truth,” said another of the guards. “If you have nothing to hide, do it. Can’t believe one of you was dumb enough to think we didn’t have scouts so close to the castle. Like we wouldn’t notice somepony pretending to be an Alicorn.”

“I’m not pretending,” Twilight said, scooping a large ball of the stuff. “Just… put it on my coat? Anywhere in particular?”

The guards only growled in response, and so she smeared it on. Onto one leg, onto her face—it was disgusting, but not worse than anything that Twilight got done at the spa. Except there aren’t usually angry ponies aiming weapons at me.

She couldn’t think about this Equestria like it was her home. They’d been at war for years. Probably that changed a lot about ponies, even the ones that should’ve been good.

A little mud dripped off her face. Other than that, nothing happened.

“The whole jar.”

She obliged them, grinding her teeth together the whole time. Only when she was done did she step towards them, eyes narrowing. “There, now I’m disgusting. Is this enough proof for…” She shook her head. “The night princess is going to be cross with you all, I imagine. Subjecting her friend to treatment like this.”

“What do you think, Nocturn?”

Apparently their commander. Twilight turned on him, giving him the sternest, most disapproving glare she could. Not hard, considering she’d added wet and cold to her list of sensations.

The guard nodded reluctantly. “Not a changeling. I’m sorry, er… whoever you are. But our orders were to take you both to the castle if the test came out negative. Be grateful the magic didn’t go the other way.” He slung his crossbow over his shoulder, and the other soldiers did the same. “Can we be civil about this? We’re less than a mile away from the castle. I’d rather not have to order my men to hurt you.”

“We can be civil,” Twilight said, glaring. “But I’m going to expect a bath when we get there. And… an apology.”

Applejack stared at her in shock and horror, mouth hanging open. But she was so shocked she didn’t end up saying anything.

“We’ll see,” Nocturn finally said, noncommittally. “Princess Nightmare will decide.”

Chapter 2: Nightmare

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Twilight Sparkle could barely put one hoof in front of another. Her mind was so overcome with shock—shock she knew that if she expressed might put an end to her mission right there. These soldiers had weapons, and her own magic had been strained to the breaking point. She’d never have dreamed of an Equestrian soldier hurting her, no matter the reason. But these weren’t Equestrian soldiers.

They were the slaves of Nightmare Moon, first of Twilight’s real enemies.

Starlight Glimmer didn’t just undo one of our victories… she undid them all. Rainbow Dash had never achieved the Sonic Rainboom—just how much did that change? Apparently the entire country. It meant her friends hadn’t ever became friends. It meant there had been no Elements to stop Nightmare Moon when the stars aided in her escape.

It meant that Equestria had done nothing but get battered by disaster after disaster for the last several years or so. Now proud, brave ponies like Applejack were bowing down to evil soldiers in purple armor.

They might not be evil. Maybe they just want to protect their homes. Nightmare Moon might be bad, but she’s not as bad as Chrysalis. Ponies can’t appreciate her night if they’re enslaved in a crystal mine, or drained dry of their emotions.

Besides, Twilight didn’t have to beat any of these monsters. If she could get her friends back together, she could defeat them all at once.

The Everfree Forest was far from the lush wildland that Twilight remembered, with its unregulated weather and numberless animals unknown to pony science. At first she hadn’t even realized they were walking into it, as fields of dead grass gave way to more empty space. But then she recognized the bend of a forest path, and the strange lumps on either side.

Stumps.

Twilight’s eyes widened with horror as she saw them all. It wasn’t just that the forest had been cut—it had also been burned. The ground was still black, with a faint powder covering everything.

“What happened to the Everfree?” Twilight whispered to Applejack, keeping her voice low. Thestrals had excellent hearing—there was no chance the guards wouldn’t hear everything she said. But maybe they wouldn’t know that she knew that.

Applejack didn’t whisper in response. If anything, she spoke louder, each word clearly enunciated. “After the one true princess ascended the throne, the creatures of the Everfree rebelled. I don’t know the details… but they wouldn’t obey her. Started attacking Ponyville, and lots of other places too. Our princess protected us. Burned the forest down. Salted the earth so it would never return.”

Sweet Celestia, that’s what that powder is. There wasn’t so much as grass growing along the trail. Not even sparse weeds were hardy enough to survive here. I’m so sorry, Fluttershy. I hope you didn’t have to see it. And you, Zecora. I hope you got out.

“That sounds… very noble of her,” Twilight said, forcing every word. “I can’t wait to meet such a… kind and magnanimous ruler. Her wisdom in protecting Equestria is without parallel.” Was she laying it on too thick? Nocturn didn’t seem to think so, just nodded with satisfaction and even let them slow down a little. Maybe Twilight’s acting was convincing him of her loyalty.

But then the castle came into view. Twilight had expected the Castle of the Two Sisters, both from the Cutie Map and from the direction they were traveling. But she hadn’t expected it to be rebuilt.

The castle now rose nearly as tall as any of Canterlot’s towers, with buttressed fortifications and menacing spikes and hundreds of soldiers on the ramparts. Where Canterlot Castle was an inviting place, with huge windows to let in the lights and plenty of gardens, this castle had been built to an older style: it was a fortress.

“Princess Nightmare” had gone a step further than just burning the forest and salting the field—here she had pulled up every stump for hundreds of feet around, creating a killing field for bows and cannon alike. From the occasional crater in the ground and bit of charred rubble, it seemed as though this fortification was used.

There were two layers of gates on the outside. They passed first through a transparent, purple bubble, one that Twilight knew well. Shining! I hope Nightmare Moon treated you well here. What about his engagement to Cadance—had he survived it? Was Cadance still out there, somewhere? So many questions. But it doesn’t matter what Nightmare Moon did, I can erase all of it. Nothing could stop her now.

The guards watched her closely as they passed through the bubble, as though they expected it to do something to her when the mud hadn’t. Of course nothing happened, just a brief fuzz against her fur and her mane briefly standing on end. Then they were through it to the other side, to a much more conventional gate and set of walls on the opposite side of the bridge.

It wasn’t rickety and ancient anymore, but heavy stone, held up by pillars that could’ve supported a dozen earth stallions galloping abreast.

As they came close, guards all over the wall stopped to stare openly at Twilight. A few of them slackened their grip on tools or weapons, staring in shock at something they’d clearly never expected to see. Probably doesn’t bode well for Cadance.

“I have the princess’s guests,” said Nocturn, to a pony in armor that was solid silver instead of purple and silver. “The apple farmer, and an… oddity.”

“I see that,” answered the unicorn, walking over to Twilight. He stood taller than she was—an impressive feat now that Twilight was an Alicorn. Though he only had a few inches on her. “You, Alicorn. I heard you’d been spotted… thought you must be a changeling. Probably the same as everypony else thought. But guess we were wrong. Who are you?”

“Twilight Sparkle,” she said.

“Never heard of it,” he said. “Now answer me honestly—are either of you carrying or concealing any weapons or dangerous enchantments? You may check them here with no penalty, but if you lie to me and I find otherwise…” He tapped one hoof on the ground, and a dozen bows aimed at them from the walls. Ponies glared sternly down at Twilight, or did their best impression of it “There will be lethal consequences. I am authorized to execute assassins without the princess’s involvement. Don’t think I haven’t before.”

He gestured just past them, where a few tall shapes rose in the gloom. Twilight realized with horror they were a gallows, positioned less than a hundred meters into the castle.

“I don’t carry weapons,” Applejack said. “Never do. I’m a factory manager.”

But the guards were barely even looking at Applejack to begin with. It wasn’t her they were afraid of, and Twilight had no illusions about why. She spread her wings automatically, so they could look through her feathers for anything she might be hiding. Of course there was nothing there.

Good thing I didn’t bring the time travel spell with me. No guard unicorn would recognize magic that advanced, and they’d probably think it was a weapon. A brief twinge of horror passed through her at the idea of what Nightmare Moon could do with time travel. She’s already ruling the world. Probably she’d just want it destroyed to protect her reign.

They didn’t find anything on her, and in a few moments the unicorn waved her through. “Go on then. You should know, uh… whoever you are, that we aren’t frightened just because of who you are. We serve the most powerful Alicorn in the world. She’s defeated all her enemies. Banished Celestia to the sun as she herself was banished to the moon. She will do the same to you if you resist.”

“I’m not here to fight,” Twilight said. Didn’t say anything about Cadance. Maybe she’s okay.

“Best hope not.” They crossed the bridge, and into a busy castle courtyard. Blacksmiths hammered on anvils, ponies rushed about with supplies, and in general life continued as though it was just before sunset, and everypony was trying to wrap up their last few responsibilities.

The two of them were taken straight to the castle keep, its stones polished clean, broken windows repaired, and holes in the roof fixed. Twilight could feel new defensive spells wrap around her as she passed inside, searching for hostile intentions. They probed against her mind as no pony spellcaster would’ve dared to do in the world she knew. But this was a different world now, with different standards. Nightmare Moon didn’t care about the rights of ponies.

These spells too found nothing, since of course neither of them had come as assassins. They slowed a little as they passed inside the walls, with their escort thinning to just Nocturn. The others waited outside, and even he looked out of place. Like a large work dog realizing he’d just muddied the carpet. “I, uh… won’t be taking you much further than this,” he said. “The princess prefers to keep our presence inside to a minimum. Her steward will be with us.”

He straightened, standing right in front of Twilight. “But you should know, new Alicorn, that violence will not be tolerated. It isn’t me or my stallions you should fear, but our princess. There is nothing in the world that can harm her, and many ways for her to harm those who resist her.”

“I just want to talk,” Twilight muttered, not looking away from him. “There won’t be any violence while we’re here, honest.”

“Good.” He stepped back, eyes widening as a pony approached. “Ah, just the mare I was hoping to see!”

“Nocturn,” said a familiar voice, as a mare in elegant purple slipped down a staircase nearby, in a flowing purple gown that was at once smart and functional. She looked like she was barely even paying attention to them, focused on whatever she was doing.

“Rarity?” Applejack asked from beside her. “I thought you went to Manehattan. Recruited to…”

The mare looked up, settling her pen against the clipboard in its designated place. “Ah, Applejack. Glad to see you’re well. As for my own arrangements… you’re correct in suggesting they took a different turn than I anticipated. But judging by the company you keep, the same is true for you as well.” She stopped in front of Twilight, waving a dismissive hoof. “You can go, Nocturn. I’ll take it from here.”

“Be careful, Miss Rarity,” the guard said, saluting obediently anyway. “This isn’t one of the ordinary prisoners. An Alicorn would be too powerful to trust the charms of the castle to fully protect you. Her powers might be…”

“Unnecessary.” Rarity waved her hoof again. “Nocturn, you’re skilled and effective as ever. But if an Alicorn was a threat to ordinary ponies, you would be dead already. And we both know she’s no threat to the princess, for the Nightmare is Eternal. This leaves only the likely scenario that she has come for peaceful, diplomatic reasons. Isn’t that right, ummm…”

“Twilight Sparkle,” she said.

“Right,” Rarity said, barely listening and without any trace of recognition. “Miss Twilight Sparkle looks as though she needs some time in the castle baths before the princess returns from the front, anyway. That won’t require any assistance of yours, Nocturn. Give my regards to the patrol.”

“Of course.” He saluted again. “Evening, Miss Rarity.”

“Forever it endures,” she repeated, like a religious mantra. And also with a tad of exasperation.

“Now… come on, both of you, this way. Princess Nightmare is many things, but punctual is not one of them. You’ll find your time with her more productive if you appear as proper guests of the court.”

Rarity strode away with the same perfect, cultured dignity that Twilight remembered—without any of the softening she’d experienced over the last few years. It didn’t seem she’d ever learned to properly empathize. She’s still the Element of Generosity in there somewhere. I just have to get through to her.

She was also apparently the Steward of Nightmare Moon.

“So, uh… how’d you end up in the Castle?” Applejack asked, apparently wondering the same thing. “I always knew you had, uh… a gift for business, but… weren’t you going to make uniforms?”

Rarity shook her head. “As it turns out even generals are more than happy to wear exactly the same style that our ancestors have been bringing to war for generations. It was mostly just running sewing machines. Tear off the old sun patches, sew on the new unit numbers… it was dull work. But the factory wasn’t running terribly efficiently, and that was something I could do. Fix up a few things, re-order the production process, and suddenly we’d tripled our output. Regional supervisor thought I could do more coordinating the local supply chain, and…” She trailed off. “That’s boring to a pony like you, I have no doubt.”

“Well, uh… maybe not as boring as you suspect. I’m doing something similar with the cannery. Flim and Flam let me stay on to manage after they bought the property, and…”

Twilight was relieved to see that Rarity hadn’t just been saying what she thought the guard wanted to hear—they actually were going to the castle baths. Granted, she’d never seen them intact before—the last time Twilight had visited the baths, they were ancient tile covered with grime. Now even that had been removed, sun and moon cutie marks both ripped out and replaced with a night sky.

But Twilight didn’t stay to enjoy it. She rinsed and scrubbed so quickly that even Applejack was left stunned behind her as she emerged into a guest dressing room beyond. Rarity was at that moment rolling in a large cart of clothing from one room over, and that was where she stopped to stare. “You aren’t afraid of water dear, are you?”

“No.” Twilight’s horn flashed, and whatever water was left on her vanished in a drying spell. Probably a waste of precious energy, but that no longer mattered so much to her. The guards on the walls had been right about one thing—she didn’t stand a chance against Nightmare Moon. Saving energy for a fight with her was stupid. “I just wanted to have a word with you. I’m sure Applejack will catch up with us in a minute.”

“Sure, uh… me?” Her eyebrows went up. “I’m not certain what use I can be to you, I’m afraid. You’re an Alicorn, mighty and powerful. Not so mighty as our ruler, but…”

“Rarity,” Twilight interrupted. “Don’t you remember me even a little? We were friends! You made my birthday dress, my gala outfits for the last five years running, and oh, I dunno… we saved Equestria together? Like a dozen times?”

The unicorn withdrew a step from her, eyes narrowing. “Riiiight, of course we did. Saved Equestria, heh-heh. Whatever you say, darling. Now, it would probably save your part of Equestria if you appear before Princess Nightmare properly dressed for her regal majesty. She’s quite a bit more insistent about the old customs than… the sun tyrant ever was.” Even to Twilight’s ears, Rarity’s words were halfhearted.

Twilight selected one of the outfits at random, lifting it in her magic. “You don’t remember… but that’s not your fault. She changed the past, erased it all. But I remember. I know you have a little sister named Sweetie Belle, who only recently got her cutie mark. I know about your dream to open a boutique in Manehattan. I know about your talent for tracking down gemsto—” She trailed off. “Oh, right. You might not know about that. But it’s in there, I know it is.”

Twilight’s last attempt might as well have been treading water, but now… now the unicorn was listening. She stared intently at Twilight, and for a second Twilight could almost feel her cutie mark tingle. A brief, unseen connection passed between them.

“Now that you mention it, you are familiar to me…” Rarity said, adjusting the glasses on the ridge of her nose. But then the moment passed, and the sensation was gone. “Sorry, must be imagining things. Please dress as quickly as you can, Alicorn. Our night matron will be here soon.” And she left, snapping the door shut behind her.

Applejack entered through the door into the spa, with several towels wrapped around her. “You talk to Rarity?”

Twilight nodded, struggling into a dress. All these clothes were made for ordinary ponies, and there weren’t quite the right sizes for an Alicorn like her. They did all have Rarity’s distinct flare about them—little dustings of precious stones here, or an extra bit of lace there. Maybe this was what she did in her spare time.

My friends are all still in there! We can still power the spell and put all this right.

What had happened to Starlight Glimmer, she wondered, as she found a set of elegant hoof wraps that matched her dress, and a hat. Nothing as nice as Rarity would’ve picked for her, but Twilight didn’t have a talent for this.

Applejack had selected perhaps the most humble of all the outfits that rarity had brought, a simple yellow dress with a few red accents. Unlike what Twilight was wearing, Applejack’s clothes actually fit, thanks to her not being an Alicorn. I can’t believe you put that on without anypony forcing you. Just how different was your life here?

She couldn’t let herself get distracted by the differences. She was about to meet with Nightmare Moon, that was far more dangerous than any change to Applejack’s wardrobe. Twilight would have to figure something out. The Alicorn was Equestria’s ruler now, from enemies that were even worse than she was. “Please get Celestia back, she could probably fix everything,” probably wasn’t going to be a winning negotiation tactic.

Rarity returned a moment later, her posture suddenly tense and her glasses all the way up on her nose. “The princess has returned, and she’s waiting for you in her study.” Rarity’s eyes darted between them in an instant, lingering on Applejack a moment longer. “Oh, you chose that one… you have better taste for a factory worker than I would’ve imagined.”

“Factory manager,” Applejack corrected. “I grew up in Manehattan. I didn’t work in the industry until the war.”

“Yes, of course,” Rarity said, not sounding like she believed it even a little. “Nothing to be ashamed of. Follow me.”

They walked together through the no-longer-ruined hallways. They were filled now with fine art in an ancient style, like the tapestries and sculptures that had seemed faded and abandoned with time. But instead of depicting scenes from all over Equestria, all of these showed the night. There was the moon, and swirling galaxies, and constellations, but nothing green, nothing growing. And no portraits to speak of.

They stopped in front of a set of wooden doors lined with gold.

“I trust the both of you know how to handle yourselves around royalty,” Rarity said. “Yourself particularly, Princess Twilight Sparkle. Princess of what… I suppose Princess Nightmare will answer that for all of us.” She gestured, and servants on either side of the door pushed it open, leading Twilight into the study.

The room was so ordinary that at first Twilight couldn’t even tell it hadn’t just been made as an identical copy of something from Canterlot Castle. There were shelves along the walls packed with interesting books, and a few little burners that filled the room with a comforting haze of incense. There was a fireplace along one wall, but no wood in it or even a black mark suggesting it had ever been used.

The unmistakable centerpiece of the room was an organ of incredible size and complexity—one that Twilight knew did far more than play music. But it was playing music now, filling the cold stone space with so much noise that the floor shook beneath her hooves. And playing it…

Nightmare Moon looked very much as Twilight remembered her, if she’d gained herself a royal tailor of surpassing skill to make an entire ensemble from black fabric and strange purple metal. Just how much do I know about this pony, anyway? She knew Luna, probably better than almost anyone in Equestria. But Nightmare Moon…

Thanks to previous adventures with time travel, she had seen the moment of her duel with Celestia. There had been clues there about the conflict that had come before. Ponies had died, she was sure of that. And based on the gallows outside, ponies were dying again.

Not for much longer. I’m going to fix this. Keep a level head, Twilight. You’ve done harder than this before.

There were servants lingering on the edges of the room, though no guards. One low table had fresh hors d’oeuvres, another had a bottle of chilled wine. Neither had been touched, though they had an attendant ready to wait on the princess’s hoof when she arrived.

Nightmare Moon was a skilled musician, and the tune she played was one of mourning. Twilight had never heard it before, but it would’ve been well at home at any military funeral. Eventually it ended, and the princess rose from her music.

Rarity and Applejack dropped into a bow—and Twilight did as well, just a few seconds late, and probably not as deep either. The princess seemed to notice, and one of her eyebrows went up.

Twilight almost turned to run, with those eyes on her and this powerful pony standing only a few feet away. But there was no chance she’d be able to escape. She had defeated Celestia in this world. Only the Elements would be able to beat her now. And the two I’ve found so far are working for her.

“Well done, Rarity,” the princess said, flicking one wing for them to rise and striding down from the stone steps. The ground was covered with dark carpet, making it look almost like they were floating out in space. The night princess seemed to glide down over it all, her eyes never once looking away from Twilight. Where the guards had seemed afraid, Nightmare Moon was something else. “You must get me the name of whoever’s squad apprehended her. It can’t have been a simple task to track down an Alicorn. And so quickly, too.”

“Nocturn,” Rarity answered. “Of the third watch.”

“Nocturn,” she repeated. “Pen a message to General Echo,” she said. “A promotion is in order for him. And… this pony I do not recognize. Who are you, and why are you here?”

“My name is Applejack, Princess. I run the cannery outside of where Ponyville used to be. I was, uh… the first pony that Princess Twilight here found. Your guards, uh… helped us not to get lost.”

“Applejack,” the princess repeated. “Rarity, take this one and wait outside for my word. All of you, out! I will have privacy with my guest. Anyone who interrupts before we are finished can join the others in the Garden.”

The threat, whatever it meant, provoked an instant response from the assembled ponies. They scattered, calling out with surprise and fear as they darted for hidden doors along one wall. Except for Rarity, who took Applejack by the hoof and led her briskly out the way they’d come in. Dignified, but brisk.

Only when the last door had clicked closed did Nightmare Moon finally turn on her. “And you,” she said, striding slowly closer. “I’m told you’ve been cooperative since the moment you were first spotted. There was no violence, or we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

Twilight kept her mouth shut and eyes down—it was probably what the princess expected. She found herself grateful to Rarity that she’d taken the time to provide her with something to wear, even if it didn’t fit right and probably made her look a little silly. That would’ve been one more excuse for Nightmare Moon to be upset with her. I can’t fight her. I need her cooperation. One of the ponies I need is working right in her castle! How easily could she be persuaded to let Rarity come with her?

“I assume this means you’ve heard about me then, whoever you are. Heard about the ruler of all Equestria, and what she did to her sister. The… fate that would be waiting for you, if you raise your hoof against her.”

“I have,” Twilight said, voice flat. “I’m loyal to my princess.” It felt like spitting acid out of her mouth, but Twilight wasn’t Applejack. She wouldn’t catch fire if she lied, particularly when she had such a good reason for it.

“That’s what I thought about Mi Amore Cadenza,” said Nightmare Moon, circling around her from the other side and stopping inches away from her face. “That’s what I once thought about my sister. That Celestia could never do anything to harm me. That we would be ruling Equestria together forever. But you see where that got me? The kingdom is shattered, my subjects are slaves to another master, and my sister is banished forever. No good came of that. Or Cadenza? She was supposed to placate Sombra’s desire for conquest, keep him contained. But the only thing containing him are thousands of pony lives.”

Twilight shook her head. “I’m nothing like that, Princess. I only want what’s best for Equestria. That’s why I wanted to meet with you.”

“Is that so?” She hesitated for another second longer. “And why should I trust you, when the others have caused only heartache for me and Equestria at large? Perhaps I should give you a pedestal in the garden. Or… I could send you to join my sister.”

Twilight shook her head, whimpering involuntarily and lowering her eyes to the floor. It was all about submission with monsters like this. They wanted to be in control. But Twilight didn’t have to act to seem like she wasn’t in control. “Please don’t, Princess. If you do that, I won’t be able to help you retake Equestria. That’s what I want… to see you ruling over a united realm again.”

Nightmare Moon’s horn stopped glowing. Her gently waving mane even seemed to calm a little, the storm of meteors visible behind her replaced with gently twinkling stars.

That apparently wasn’t what she had been expecting.

“Who are you?” Nightmare Moon asked, after a few seconds. “My steward didn’t give me a name.”

“Twilight Sparkle,” she answered.

“Twilight… Sparkle.” She frowned for a second, staring at Twilight’s cutie mark. Twilight swallowed, but she forced herself not to look away. It’s okay, not even Rarity remembered me. Nightmare Moon won’t either.

The terrible moment passed, and she wasn’t sent to the moon. “And where have you come from, Twilight Sparkle? And before you speak, know that I understand my realm’s every facet, far better than you can imagine. Cadenza attempted to hide herself from me, and the consequences of her deception found her in time. Do not waste our time by doing the same.”

Twilight shivered. There was no way around it—maybe there were ponies who could come up with clever lies, enough that even an Alicorn would believe them. But Twilight wasn’t a pony like that. Her lies would be too obvious, and she’d probably be killed. If Nightmare Moon turns me to stone, there won’t be anypony to fix Equestria. I have to survive this.

“I’ve traveled here through time,” she answered. “From an Equestria that was still united. That is why you’ve never heard of me, Princess. Why no spy anywhere knew about me, why your soldiers thought I must be a changeling. Because in your world, I don’t exist. But in mine… the changelings were beaten, and Sombra was destroyed. The princesses ruled it all, from the Crystal Empire in the north all the way to the badlands in the south.”

Then she finished, and silence descended into the room between them. Twilight was conscious every second of Nightmare Moon’s eyes on her, and the slight glow in her horn. Whether that meant the Alicorn was preparing to attack her, or… something else, she couldn’t say.

“There is a curious magic about you, Twilight Sparkle—unlike anything I have sensed before. Perhaps this is the energy of travel through time. Or perhaps you are trying to deceive me. Not a changeling, yet… that does not mean this is legitimate. I have many enemies who would wish to destroy me. You tempt me with the one thing I desire most.”

She turned, stalking away. “I won’t be captured by your deception. Whatever this is, I’ll get to the bottom of it. And punish those responsible.”

“It’s the truth!” Twilight called, stumbling after the Alicorn. “That’s really why I’m here. I can prove it! I want to put Equestria back together!”

“Maybe.” Nightmare Moon lifted into the air, turning to glower down at her. “Maybe not. We will see. Guards!”

Where once the soldiers had been inconspicuous, shy creatures hiding out of sight—now a dozen hidden doors opened, and they all burst in. Crossbows and spears were all aimed at Twilight. “This pony and her accomplice are under arrest. Treat them as an Alicorn deserves… unless they resist. Then you may kill them.” She vanished in a teleport.

Chapter 3: Containment

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Nightmare Moon was apparently right not to be worried about them. Twilight spread her wings, lowering her head submissively to the guards. “I’m not going to resist.” Nightmare Moon’s plan seemed obvious to her now—she probably hadn’t teleported more than a few feet. She wanted to see if Twilight would reveal her true motives now that she was arrested.

But just being arrested was nothing she was afraid of. Maybe we can win over Rarity once we’re in jail. Or maybe we can escape when Nightmare Moon isn’t paying attention.

The soldiers escorted Twilight through the open doorway, where Applejack had acquired a few angry guards of her own. Only a few, though like Twilight she wasn’t resisting.

They were led through the castle, with servants and thestral dignitaries alike stopping to stare as they passed. At least the soldiers were following the Alicorn’s instructions—they kept their weapons pointed at Twilight every moment, but so long as they kept walking, there were no threats, no prodding. Like they were pretending to be her escort instead of her captors.

“This is your plan?” Applejack asked, as they reached a thick steel door leading down. There had been only a rusty stain here in Twilight’s world—apparently Nightmare Moon had reinforced the dungeons. “Get thrown into a dark room? Doesn’t seem like we’ll be able to fix much of anything from down here.”

They weren’t thrown anywhere. The very first cell in the dungeons was different from any Twilight had ever seen. The room was richly furnished, with plush carpets, a comfortable bed, a sitting area, and even a few musical instruments. But it still had only a slit of a window looking up, just barely wide enough for moonlight to stream in. It was lit only with the dull purple glow of the crystals that illuminated the rest of the castle.

It also had thick bars along the outside wall, and Twilight could feel the dull hum of magic through them as she got close. It was an anti-magic field, the sort that would stop a unicorn from targeting any spell through to the other side. So no teleporting out when they’re not looking.

One of the guards opened the door for them, saluting her. “Will your maidservant be sharing these quarters with you, ma’am, or should we prepare a separate cell for her?”

Probably a plain stone floor and a pile of straw, Twilight thought. “My friend will be staying with me.” She strode through the open gate, keeping her head up as best she could. She couldn’t let them see her weakness. Applejack followed, and she heard the gate smash shut behind them a few seconds later. A complex mechanical clicking sounded in the lock, and most of the guards left. Only two remained outside her door, including the one who had opened it for her.

“I’m instructed to provide you with anything you might need,” he said. “Don’t hesitate to ask, or anypony else who is on duty. You are the guest of the princess.”

Twilight resisted the urge to laugh. Some guest, kept in magical isolation. The comfortable conditions were part of the prison just the same as anything else. These were the wartime practices of an ancient Equestria, where nobles were often powerful mages. Even if they weren’t, they would one day return to their lands. It was better not to make an enemy while they were captive.

Twilight settled roughly down into one of the chairs, then concentrated. She still didn’t have the strength for any serious violence with magic. Certainly breaking out of this cell would be doomed. But she could still target things inside it. There was a brief pressure against her ears as a bubble of silence formed around her and Applejack.

“There.” She stomped one hoof loudly, but the soldiers didn’t turn around. “It’s working. We can talk.”

Applejack settled into the seat across from her. “So this is it, huh? Just… locked up? Not quite what I imagined after what you showed me.”

“I’m going to get us out of here,” Twilight said, a little annoyed. “I’m lucky Nightmare Moon didn’t just want to kill me. She seemed like… the sort of pony who would.” She glanced up then, through the tiny window up into the gloom. “It’s got to be nearly day soon, right? Can’t believe I’ve stayed up all night…”

“You weren’t listening?” Applejack rolled her eyes. “Twilight, there is no day anymore. Princess Nightmare promised an eternal night, and… that’s what she gives us. A night that lasts forever.”

Twilight rose from her chair, hurrying over to the window to stare up. While the strange angle made it awful for looking in at the castle, she could see the sky clearly enough. See as the moon set in the west, and the sun finally rose.

Except it didn’t. There was no wave of light and warmth from the east. There was a few seconds pause, and then the moon returned, as though night had just begun.

Twilight stumbled back, eyes wide. She’d been suspecting something like this for at least an hour now, based on what ponies had said. It wasn’t like she had forgotten Nightmare Moon’s promises. This was the Equestria she wanted.

“How does anything survive?” she asked, stupefied. “The climate… you still need warmth into the system, even with pegasus ponies regulating weather. All the plants need sunlight. Without that, they’d die, then we’d all starve.”

Applejack glanced nervously out the cell door, as though expecting the guards to turn and arrest them again. But Twilight’s silence spell was still working. “I don’t know the details, Twilight. There were ponies who thought that. And… things were hard the first year. But we found a way. Nightmare Moon… I’m no unicorn, but it’s something she did. Changed the plants… changed the light… something. I dunno. It’s not like it used to be, that’s for sure. Needs even more ponies tending to keep crops alive. Like those crystals at the farm, those help. But there are never enough to go around.”

Twilight stopped her mind from running wild with the possibilities for how Nightmare Moon had somehow maintained the climate—or at least enough of it that ponies hadn’t all died. Absent anything else, that was probably a fascinating bit of spellcraft, and a testament to Nightmare Moon’s power.

I’m not going to beat her by understanding those spells. I need to get my friends together. The more she saw of this world, the more irreconcilable it seemed to become. It was barely even fit to keep ponies alive anymore, and she didn’t want to think about what had happened to the creatures that didn’t have pony magic to help them.

She had to undo Starlight’s spell, no matter what it took.

“Ponies have been living like this for years?” Twilight asked. “Wait, let me guess. About… five years now.”

Applejack nodded. “Yeah, that about tracks. Granny, uh…” She coughed, looking away. “Didn’t make it through the two-year winter. Lots of ponies didn’t.”

“We haven’t lost, Applejack,” Twilight said, crossing the distance between them and settling a reassuring wing onto her shoulder. “I know this looks bleak, but don’t be afraid. This isn’t the way Equestria is meant to be. Time magic can be undone. In my Equestria, Granny Smith is alive and well. She was there for Apple Bloom’s cute-ceañera. She’ll be there for her graduation. And she’s a mean hand at cards.”

Applejack sniffed—it didn’t seem like Twilight’s reassurances were actually helping her. But after a few seconds she nodded, pulled away. “I know, Twi. I know that world is out there, somehow. Maybe… we can make it real again. But I’ve never had the mind for magic. You tell me it’s possible, and I trust you, but it doesn’t feel like it could be. Not when we’re locked up in a cell, no way out, Princess Nightmare furious with us… what’d you say to her, anyway?”

“Just the truth. I told her I wanted to unite Equestria again, defeat Sombra and Chrysalis. Told her there was time travel involved, but… that was about it. I don’t know what set her off…”

“Could’ve been anything. Princess Nightmare… She’s not like what we used to have. She’s strong, determined, ruthless…” She glanced at the guards again, but they still hadn’t reacted. Hadn’t turned around. Twilight’s horn was still glowing with the silence spell. “I guess those are all good things, what with Equestria getting invaded and all. But I’m old enough to remember what Celestia’s rule was like. When we had a night and a day. She could be harsh one minute, but she was compassionate too. Not like what we’ve got now…”

“She was,” Twilight agreed. “She is. Nightmare Moon isn’t… guess you don’t even know. Her real name is Luna—Celestia’s little sister. There’s a good pony underneath all that magic. In the real world, they’re supposed to be ruling together. Everypony loves them both. Princess Luna doesn’t want to be this way, not really. In my world we helped her see that, before she… did all of this.”

“Well we aren’t in your world,” Applejack said. “And unless you can—” But she trailed off, staring suddenly at the far wall. Twilight couldn’t tell what had attracted her attention—the sound isolation spell also kept sounds from outside their bubble getting in.

As it turned out, their cell had a side door, with its own set of locks and magical protections. It was open, with a single guard visible in the space behind. And hurrying in was… a pony who shouldn’t be here.

Twilight dismissed the spell with a flash from her horn, and abruptly the sound came back. “—knocked a few times, but you didn’t respond. I’m sorry to barge in on you like this, but the princess was insistent that I interrogate you both tonight. You know how princesses are. Well… perhaps you don’t know, but you don’t want to.”

Sunset Shimmer wasn’t a pony Twilight had seen very often—if anything, her memory of her far more often depicted a creature that walked on two legs and used not-magic machines and wore too many clothes.

This Sunset showed no more recognition as she walked in than Applejack or Rarity had done. Her eyes lingered on Twilight’s wings, darting back to her horn a few times, but she barely even seemed to see her cutie mark. “I hope you’re not suffering down here too much. The princess hasn’t used this cell for a long time—the nobility all fell in line a few years ago, so there’s been no more reason to take hostages.

Sunset shut the door with a faint glow from her horn. She had a set of saddlebags on, and Twilight half expected them to be full of torture devices. You’re another pony who was better after we had time together. Are you still planning to invade the world with an army of teenage zombies? Or did that already happen? Then again, Sunset’s own history was connected to Twilight’s. A change to the Rainboom would probably impact her somehow too.

“I’m—”

“Sunset Shimmer,” Twilight interrupted, taking the offered hoof. “I already know that. I know you used to be Celestia’s apprentice, too.”

“Because you’re a time traveler,” Sunset said, with obvious doubt in her voice. “We’ll see about that.” She pulled over a chair, removing a set of scrolls and a quill as she did so. “The princess would probably want me to string you up on a rack or something. But I’d prefer to just have a conversation if that’s okay.”

“We like that better,” Applejack said. “Nobody here’s done anything worth getting strung up.”

“Princess Nightmare will decide that,” Sunset said. As Twilight looked at her, she realized that the unicorn had changed more than some others—she’d bleached the stripe of yellow in her mane, so that it was white instead, and muted the colors of the rest of it. So you look more like your master, I bet. You already have a sun on your flank, you probably don’t want to be reminding ponies what you are. “But I’m sure you’re right. I recognize you, Applejack. You sell supplies to the castle kitchens. Or… I think it must be your sister who usually makes the deliveries.”

Sunset levitated a flint and steel from her pouch, and lit the lanterns on both tables. The room filled with a gentle orange glow, a sweet relief from all the purples and blues for Twilight’s beleaguered eyes. I probably should’ve noticed those sitting there.

“That’s right,” Applejack said, looking a little disconcerted at the mention of her sister. “We do, ah… sell our best crops to the castle.”

“And I’m sure the princess is grateful.” Sunset turned away from her, eyes settling on Twilight again. “But you… you’re the conundrum. An Alicorn who claims to be a time traveler. Princess Nightmare said you came here to… unite Equestria again, is that true?”

Twilight nodded. “That’s right. Ponies shouldn’t have to live like this. They shouldn’t be enslaved by changelings, or by a tyrant like Sombra.” Or by Nightmare Moon.

Sunset nodded, though her expression was barely even paying attention. “And tell me—how did you become an Alicorn?”

Twilight swallowed, looking away from her. “In my timeline—the way Equestria was meant to be?”

Sunset Shimmer nodded. “Obviously. Whether you even exist in this one, you certainly aren’t an Alicorn here. You must have done something different. What secret method did you find? Did you go through the mirror portal, perhaps? Assuming you know what that is. You do know what that is, don’t you?”

“I do.” Twilight rose from her chair, backing up a few steps. Her horn glowed, and she summoned the silence spell around them as she had done with Applejack. Unlike the earth pony, Sunset Shimmer had magical senses of her own, and she instantly sat upright, watching Twilight in surprise. “It’s alright, I’m not going to hurt you. I just don’t want anything we say being overheard.”

“Of course.” Sunset pulled her chair a little closer, all suspicion abandoned. Her expression was desperate, hungry. You aren’t going to be a very good interrogator for Nightmare Moon acting this way. “You wouldn’t want just anypony to know. They might abuse the knowledge. Equestria is in enough danger without mad Alicorns rampaging across the countryside.” She chuckled weakly, not looking away. “So what is it?”

“Why ask me? You work for Nightmare Moon now, and she’s an Alicorn. Why can’t she help you?”

“I’m sure she will,” Sunset said, not sounding like she believed it even a little bit. “But her timeline is… esoteric. The dangers facing Equestria are real, and they grow every day. We need every asset to protect ourselves. Another Alicorn is exactly that. You’re that, I mean. But I could—Nightmare Moon’s chosen servants could be that. For the benefit of her kingdom.”

“If you really care about her kingdom, then listen to me.” Twilight closed the distance between them in just a few seconds, meeting Sunset’s eyes and glaring at her. “Equestria isn’t supposed to be this way. An evil sorceress named Starlight Glimmer changed the past—everypony’s past, including yours, Sunset. We’re supposed to be living in an Equestria where Princes Luna rules alongside her sister Celestia. An Equestria where you did explore the world on the other side of the mirror portal, and… learned incredible magic there, for yourself. A world where Sombra was beaten, Chrysalis was driven away, where even the dragons recognize us.”

Sunset remained silent for a long time, thoughtful. And where some of the others had reacted with skepticism, Sunset eventually nodded. “That sounds like you’re trying to promise everypony… everything they’d ever want. Except our princess, who would probably hang you if you said it like that.” But Sunset Shimmer didn’t sound like she intended to hang them, or even to share what she’d just said.

“You’re honest, farmer,” Sunset went on. “You have a reputation for it, if I remember. Is this story why you’re here?”

Applejack nodded. “This pony, Twilight… she told me what she told you. Things about my life she couldn’t have known. Then she took me to this… thing. I looked through it, saw a glimpse of her world. I may not know much, but I know that was a better place to live than here. Maybe the way things ought to be.”

Twilight froze, waiting for Sunset’s judgement. This unicorn was the one interrogating them—what if she told Nightmare Moon that their magic would effectively dethrone her?

“That would be interesting,” Sunset said. “That world sounds like a better one than this. I would like an Equestria with fewer wars. More chance for research that way, without the world being constantly overturned. It might be there could be an arrangement between us, for the good of Equestria.”

“Yes,” Twilight said. “Whatever you want, yes. But you should probably know what I want first. How the time travel works.”

Sunset nodded to her to continue.

“I need to reunite six specific ponies at the site of the artifact Applejack mentioned. Applejack herself is one of them. The, uh… princess’s steward is one too. There are three more. Once all of us are together, we should be able to cast the time-travel spell, sending me back in time to fix all of this.”

Sunset Shimmer winced at the mention of Rarity. “That’s not going to be easy for me to get you, uh… Princess Twilight. Princess Nightmare is fond of her, and she would be difficult to replace. Even getting her to release you will be tricky. And difficult. For me.”

She leaned in close, lowering her voice to a whisper. “But I might be persuaded to put myself at risk. An expensive risk demands an expensive reward. I think you know what I want.” Her eyes settled on Twilight’s wings again.

Twilight considered that a long time. In some ways it didn’t matter—this world wasn’t real, and it would just be reset anyway. But more than that, the method Twilight had used to become an Alicorn couldn’t be repeated by just anypony. Even the most powerful spellcaster who ever lived had failed to complete the spell.

Twilight stuck out one hoof. “Alright, Sunset. If you can get Nightmare Moon to let us go, and to let us take Rarity with us… then I’ll tell you everything. But I have to be honest—the secret isn’t easy. You might not be able to figure it out. You might not even be able to find it. But I can tell you where it is.”

“Done.” Sunset Shimmer took her hoof, then shrugged her bags back on. “If you didn’t have a pony like Applejack to vouch for you, I’d never trust this deal. There’s just one more thing.” She stopped, removing a scroll and unrolling it for her. It was a map of the local area, centered on the castle. “I need you to draw the location of this artifact. My neck will be on the line as well as yours… letting you go, I mean. So I need to verify what you’ve told me. Just in case.”

Twilight marked the area the map was, and soon enough the unicorn was hurrying away, a look of triumph on her face.

Only when she was gone did Applejack finally look up. “You sure about that, Twi? You’re gonna give away the secret of being an Alicorn to her?”

Twilight nodded. “It’s not some necklace you can just put on. Honestly, I don’t think this Sunset stands a chance of figuring it out. And by the time she has a chance, we will have fixed Equestria.”

“Right,” Applejack said, sounding like she didn’t believe it for a second. “But… and I don’t mean this as an insult to you, but… are you sure that’s the way we ought to be doing things? I mean… trading away our future in the present for one day fixing everything? What if we fail along the way? Then every little decision like this might make things even worse. The world doesn’t need one Nightmare Moon… do we need a Nightmare Sunset too? Maybe the princess was doing the right thing by not sharing her magic. Even if I’m sure she had real selfish reasons for it.”

“You’re right. We can’t just… Since you’re the one who’s from here, how about this. From now on, I’ll let you decide if something like this ever happens again. I’ll honor your decision if you think it’s worth it. But we have to do this one—there might not be another way out. Honestly, I think she was going to try and get the information out of me one way or another. Might as well trade it, before she just takes it for free.”

Applejack grumbled, but she didn’t argue. Twilight dismissed the spell, and finally took the time to request a meal from their guards. True to their word, they rushed to obey, and within a few minutes they were eating something fresh from the castle kitchen.

It wasn’t half as good as anything Twilight had eaten in Canterlot, but at least it was food. They ended up sharing the gigantic bed, after Twilight carefully hung their borrowed clothes in the wardrobe to avoid wrinkling any of them. Whatever happened with the princess, she didn’t want to fight her exhausted and drained.

They woke without incident, other than a feeling of general grogginess from Twilight as a bell sounded throughout the castle. The window still looked like the middle of the night, and at first she rolled over to cover her eyes with a wing.

Then she remembered. She wasn’t in her castle—she wasn’t even in her reality.

They had a few hours to wait, hours that Twilight tried to spend productively. After another castle breakfast, she had her own little interrogation with Applejack, learning what she could about royal affairs and the timeline that had built the current Equestria.

Just as Nightmare Moon had risen to power at about the time she remembered, the same was true for Sombra and Chrysalis. Sombra had returned to take power in the Crystal Empire a few years after Nightmare Moon, somehow acquired a body of his own, and began conquering the nearby villages.

“That was when Cadance… well, you probably know who that is.”

“Yeah,” Twilight muttered, voice wistful. “My babysitter. And my sister in law.”

“Not unless you’re related to King Sombra,” Applejack said. “Because that’s who she married. Story is it was everything she ever wanted, but…” She took another glance at the edge of the shield spell. “Well, nopony really believes that. And anyway, she failed. Sombra wasn’t satisfied just marrying into the royal line. He wanted to have all of Equestria too. He might’ve won if the changelings hadn’t attacked.”

“But instead, nobody wins,” Twilight finished. “The three factions are in a stalemate, fighting over border territory and getting lots of regular ponies killed.”

“Yeah,” Applejack finished. “That’s about the whole thing. Until you got here, I thought it might be that way forever. But you’ve got a way to end that. One that even King Sombra’s magic can’t stop.”

“Not all the princesses’ magic together could prevent it,” Twilight said. “That’s how we got here in the first place. There’s nothing to dispel with time travel. It was just… always supposed to be so expensive that it couldn’t happen.”

There was motion at the far end of the room, and Twilight fell abruptly silent. She dismissed the bubble spell in time to hear the bars creaking as it swung open.

Sunset Shimmer stood there, along with a large escort of guards. The side door again, not the large front door. “The princess had decided to grant your request,” Sunset said. “Come with me.”

Chapter 4: Parlay

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It became immediately clear to Twilight that they weren’t visiting the private study this time, as they ascended only a single set of stairs before turning sharply into the castle proper. For all that Nightmare Moon’s ponies had repaired and overhauled the castle fortress, they had done nothing to the basic layout. So Twilight found herself walking up the stairs of the massive throne room, its sloped layout unchanged from when she’d once explored it with her friends.

“This shouldn’t take too long,” Sunset whispered, as they set off up the stairs. “I spoke with the princess about your plan, explained that I visited the artifact and can vouch for its existing. You should… probably focus on the Sombra and Chrysalis sides of it. That’s what she wants you to do.”

“Right.” Twilight might not be an expert at court life, but she wasn’t stupid! She could tell the princess what she wanted to hear.

At least I have Applejack. And Rarity soon, too. The unicorn in question was waiting at the top of the stairs, beside the massive throne of Equestria’s despot. The second throne had been ripped out, along with any of the art that honored or referenced Princess Celestia. It was all darkness and moonlight now, with glowing purple crystals providing a constant, low light. I guess that’s why she has mostly thestral guards. They’d be fine in the dark like this.

Poor Applejack barely seemed to be able to stumble ahead. If we’re going to be living here for a while, I should try and come up with a night vision spell. But maybe other ponies light their homes better than Nightmare Moon does.

They reached the top of the steps, and their escort dropped into tight bows. “The Alicorn Twilight Sparkle, as requested,” Sunset said, bowing least of any of them.

Nightmare Moon’s throne was carved from a single, solid slab of onyx, with a tall back and sharpened protrusions along the sides. Pearls and diamonds had both been set into the stone, so that they caught the light of the crystals above and twinkled like the sky.

“You may rise,” Nightmare Moon said, her voice booming through the hall. Their escort scurried away, retreating to the walls and standing at attention beside the other soldiers already present.

For once, Twilight was disappointed to see them go.

“I have carefully considered your case, Twilight, and determined that your account is accurate. Equestria can use your service—from henceforth, you will be appointed a Duchess of the Realm, with all the rights of that title. Your mission will be to complete the time travel spell you described, and return Equestria to its ruler. Can you do this?”

“Yes,” Twilight said. “It will be my, uh… my honor, to serve you, Princess.”

She could feel Applejack shifting uncomfortably on her hooves beside her—apparently she had a better sense for the lie. Nightmare Moon only nodded, gesturing away. “My steward is… loathe to leave my presence, I’m sure. The castle will be poorer without her influence.”

Rarity looked up, apparently confused. “P-Princess? What do you mean leave? You know I have nothing but loyalty for the crown—”

The Alicorn waved a dismissive hoof. “You can ask the new duchess. Her plan apparently requires you personally. I have granted her request, reluctantly.” She turned away, and behind her the magic of her mane seemed to froth and spread, filling the space. “I am granting great trust to you, Twilight. More than I would grant to an ordinary subject. Our goals align… now it falls on you to demonstrate your competence is genuine. If you fail me… if you allow any of my subjects to be harmed, or your magic is less than you promised… a wrath waits for you the likes of which only my sister experienced. Are we clear?”

Twilight nodded, retreating from the princess and lowering her eyes, so she didn’t have to look at the magic. “I won’t fail. Equestria is depending on me.”

“My steward will see to any arrangements you need to make. You have my permission to do whatever is required to find the other ponies you’re looking for, so long as it does not compromise the war effort. Now, be gone from my sight.”

They left, Rarity and Sunset glaring daggers at each other all the way back down the stairs and into the open hallway. There were no guards escorting them on the way down, though they did still watch Twilight’s every movement. As though they expected her to change her mind and start fighting at a moment’s notice.

Their group remained silent until they were out of the throne room, before Rarity turned her attention on Twilight. “You, Alicorn—Duchess.” Despite her outward respect, there was no hiding her fury. “I cannot imagine why in the world you would need me of all ponies, for Alicorn magic. I assure you my magical talents are quite limited. I am much more a manager than a spellcaster here, despite my appointment. The princess casts all the spells the castle needs.”

Sunset Shimmer, meanwhile, remained just as close, her expression meaningful, demanding. I expect to be paid.

I hope this version of you gets a chance to turn into a better pony one day, Twilight thought, but she wasn’t about to deny her. She just needed to find a way to share the information that wouldn’t also involve revealing it in front of Rarity. I hope we can win her over soon. I shouldn’t have to hide things from my friends. “It’s no spell you would cast, Rarity,” Twilight said. “It’s that… where I come from, there were six ponies who could do incredible things with the power of their friendship. You were one of them. Applejack was one, and so was I. There are three others. Once we find them… together, we can cast a spell that will free Equestria from Sombra and Chrysalis. The war will be over forever. Isn’t that worth doing?”

“Well…” Rarity glanced sidelong at Sunset. “If you convinced the princess’s vizier that your spell is plausible, I suppose it must be more realistic than it sounds. Few ponies would wish to see the war ended as much as I do. I see the casualty reports. I meet the widows… I know our princess would want that all to end too. I suppose that’s enough justification for a bit of a trip. To… find these other ponies, I assume?”

“Yes,” Applejack said. “And maybe since a fancy pony like you knows so much, you’ll know where we can go to find them.”

“Well, I…” Rarity stood a little straighter, puffing out her chest. “It’s unlikely that I know the name of three citizens from across Equestria. But I will know the strategies we can use to find them. Tell me what you know.”

“There’s an earth pony named Pinkie Pie,” Twilight began. “She lived in Ponyville before—” But then, maybe she hadn’t. She’d grown up on a rock farm somewhere, and with no Rainboom… “Okay, actually I don’t know if she ever lived in Ponyville. She has a pink coat with three balloons as her cutie mark. Then there’s Rainbow Dash, cyan pegasus with a rainbow and a cloud, and… Fluttershy. Yellow pegasus with three butterflies.” At least, she had to assume the details about cutie marks were accurate. There was no reason for them to be, with no Sonic Rainboom anymore. But maybe that didn’t matter—Rarity and Applejack still had the same marks, and there was no reason for that she could discern.

It’s got to be the Elements of Harmony. They’re magically connecting us, even now. They survived Starlight Glimmer’s curse.

“Well, that’s… not much to go on, but we should talk to the military registrar. Everypony in Equestria had to sign up, in case they were needed for our defense. Your friends may be working in essential positions, like Applejack was… or maybe they’ll be enlisted somewhere. Either way, that’s where we should start.”

“You two go ahead,” Sunset Shimmer said, extending one hoof to stop Twilight. “The duchess and I need to discuss something before she begins her mission. I’ll take her to the registrar once we’re finished.”

Rarity raised an eyebrow, but apparently her position as steward didn’t give her the authority to argue. “Oh, well. Of course, certainly. Come on then, Applejack. I suppose we’ll be traveling together soon anyway, might as well start now.”

Sunset Shimmer waited until they were out of earshot, gesturing down a side-corridor. It took them out into an enclosed courtyard, filled with blue flowers and herbs. She glanced around, then her horn glowed faintly. A little bubble of silence, just like the one Twilight had cast the day before. “I did what you asked, Twilight. Now you do your part. There’s no reason for us to be enemies.”

“There isn’t,” Twilight agreed. “In my Equestria, I was an apprentice to Celestia… like you. I don’t know how that relationship worked in your world.”

“I’ve never seen you before,” Sunset answered, looking her up and down. “I knew all of Celestia’s apprentices. She… recruited them from her magic school, I think. I don’t know you.”

“No…” Twilight agreed. “Because things are different here. I was just a unicorn, like Cadance was a pegasus. After several years of field study, Celestia gave me a spell… a spell that Star Swirl the Bearded had left unfinished. I think it was stored in the forbidden section of the Canterlot Archives, at least I’m guessing it was because that’s where Celestia stored it when I finished…”

“What does that have to do with the secret to Alicorn magic?” Sunset asked, impatient. “Unless… Star Swirl was working on it too, and you finished what he couldn’t?”

She nodded. “I don’t know if becoming an Alicorn was a direct consequence of the spell or finishing it was just the last thing I needed to master before it happened naturally. But either way, that’s when I got these.” She spread her wings, before folding them awkwardly back against her side again.

For several long moments, Sunset Shimmer just stared. Twilight winced, wondering if the unicorn was going to argue with her. Or worse—if she didn’t think that was enough, would she try to sabotage the mission?

“Canterlot Archives, you said? In the forbidden section?” She started pacing. “I hope the protection spells are still in place. Changelings probably aren’t interested in esoteric lore like that, or reading at all. Mostly underground… should’ve survived no matter what they did to the building. Would be dangerous to retrieve…”

Twilight tapped her once on the shoulder. “Now you know. My secret, as promised. Now I expect you not to interfere with my mission.”

“Sure, sure.” She waved one hoof, barely even seeming to be listening anymore. “You can do… whatever it is. Try to save Equestria. End the war in one spell, all that stuff. Maybe you’ll succeed. Hopefully you will… but if not, Equestria’s going to have one more Alicorn. If we can’t win with magic, we can still win on the battlefield.”

Sunset Shimmer didn’t even escort Twilight all the way—just gave her directions across the castle grounds to an auxiliary building surrounded by soldiers. They saluted as she approached, backing out of the way—apparently news of her judgement was traveling fast. Of course it is. It’s not like there are any other Alicorns around here.

“I have friends already in here,” she said, to the secretary just inside the door. “You should know one of them—Rarity, Princess’s Steward. And a farmer…”

“Records room,” the pony said, pointing down a stairwell. Far from looking bored, her eyes never looked away from Twilight—just like everypony else in the room. But whatever they were afraid she was going to do to them, they would be disappointed. Twilight left her behind, passing military banners and recruitment posters and mounted weapons taken from their enemies. Down a flight of stairs and into the stone of the Everfree, she wandered for a good few minutes, passing rooms filled with ponies on typewriters, writing hunched in the crystal glow overhead. Glad I don’t have to do that.

Eventually she heard Rarity’s voice from down the hall, annoyed. “I don’t care how confidential the information is, it’s for an important mission. The princess herself has given us permission to peruse it.”

“Then you should have told her to come here,” said the speaker, his voice flat. “I’ve been told to protect this information with my life. I’m going to follow my orders.”

Twilight pushed the door open with her magic, striding in another second later.

It was the records room, a massive vaulted space with filing cabinets and drawers that towered as high as the ceiling. Everything carefully organized, though only a pegasus could reach them. Or a bat, like this one. I haven’t seen a single pegasus during my entire time here. There must be something magical there. Except whatever it was didn’t work on her, or even Nightmare Moon herself.

“I’m not a princess,” Twilight said, striding right up to the desk with the scowling clerk behind it. “But I’m a duchess, and I’m going to need your help.”

Rarity and Applejack were already here, the farmer slumped in a corner snoring. Rarity was the only one helping here—and apparently the military didn’t care much about her castle position. Even with an evil princess ruling Equestria, we still have the same factions.

The dark-furred bat took several long seconds to collect his wits. He moved through routine on the desk in front of him, cleaning the edge of a quill, straightening his forms, readying his stapler. Twilight stood inches away, not angry, but still directly into his personal space. She wouldn’t move until he got her what they needed.

“Well, it’s… not a simple question. The location of a few recruits, taken from anywhere in Equestria. Almost everypony is registered, that’s why these records are so valuable. They allow the princess, or one of her generals, to select the most qualified troops for any position. They’re not to be misused.”

“I’m not misusing them,” she said. “We were sent by Princess Nightmare. We’re gathering soldiers for a dangerous mission, one that could turn the tide of the war. To do that, we need to find three ponies.”

“I’m sure a skilled, attractive record-keeper like yourself is prepared for an unusual request,” Rarity said, standing just beside the desk with Twilight. She was doing something with her eyebrows, though Twilight couldn’t have said what.

“Well, uh…” He sat up suddenly. “If the princess really sent you, then…” His eyes settled on Twilight’s wings, and he almost jumped. “I’ll see what I can find.” He took a sheet of paper off his desk, one that had three descriptions on it, and vanished into the shelves.

“I would’ve taken care of it,” Rarity said, as he moved away. “I’ve never been denied what I need before. That’s why I’ve been such a good steward.”

“I’m sure you were great at your job,” Twilight muttered, settling back onto her haunches to wait for the clerk to finish his search. “In my Equestria, you were one of the best fashion designers in the world. You could open a franchise shop wherever you wanted. Everypony wanted to wear your creations.”

“No need to flatter me,” Rarity muttered, waving a dismissive hoof. But Twilight knew her better than that—she was making an impact. “You think that… do you really think I could do it professionally again? Equestria’s become such a practical place. When the nobility in Canterlot all fell to Chrysalis, well… that was the end of anyone ever buying one of my dresses again. Nightmare Moon keeps all the power for herself, there isn’t noble class anymore. It’s all bureaucracy.” She gestured around the room, voice wistful and bitter.

Twilight was intrigued for other reasons—just what kind of world had Nightmare Moon created, now that her sister was gone? But now wasn’t the time to find out. “I’m wearing one of your outfits right now, Rarity. I think it’s necessary.”

The unicorn looked up. “Yes, well… ‘wearing’ is a bit generous of you. It was never designed to fit someone with your perfectly measured proportions. Those legs, that waist… I’ll need to adjust it. Take it out a few inches, flare it in the back perhaps… your next appearance in the castle will properly fit your station.”

Twilight chuckled. “Sure, Rarity. Go ahead. Just so long as you help us find our friends, I’d love a dress that fits. Once we do… Equestria won’t be at war anymore. Then I’m sure ponies will have the bits to spend on fancy dresses again.”

“I have something!” called the pony from across the room. He landed with a thump, far less gracefully than a pegasus might, bringing a thickly bound pad of paper with him. He flipped it open to a bookmark he’d placed there, right on the desk in front of them. Twilight leaned down over the edge, squinting in the gloom at the writing there.

“Rainbow Dash, recruited out of Cloudsdale three years ago, near the beginning of the war. Want her unit number?”

“I want everything,” Twilight answered. “Copy the whole thing for me, please.”

“Well, that was… more successful than I feared,” Rarity said. “We can take that upstairs, and—”

Twilight stuck out a hoof. “We need all three, Rarity. Unless we get everypony together, we can’t do it. It’s all or nothing.”

“All or nothing,” she repeated, slouching back onto her haunches. “Of course it is. Six perfect strangers, including one Alicorn who appears apparently out of time…”

“See if you can find the other two. There should’ve been another pegasus registered in Cloudsdale at about the same time. Fluttershy, is she in that record book? She’s the same age…”

The stallion flipped through the pages again, and eventually shook his head. “Nothing matching your description here, unfortunately. I’ll see what else I can find. But this ain’t a swift process, uh… Duchess. They’re sorted more by ability than by name and cutie mark.”

“I know,” she said. “Do what you can.” Even if he doesn’t find anypony else in there, we’ll be one pony closer than we were before. Of course Rainbow Dash would have joined the military. Protect Equestria from King Sombra… In their own ways, all three of her friends were serving Equestria. Though maintaining a castle for Nightmare Moon… how much had Rarity done? Did she stand by as Nightmare Moon executed ponies?

No. She wouldn’t do that. That was just a threat for assassins. It isn’t something they do to innocent ponies. Princess Luna was still in there somewhere, wasn’t she? She would never kill just because.

Applejack apparently had the right idea, because hours passed in that record room. Rarity went for tea, and a few hours later she called in for supper too. Twilight could tell how badly she wanted to leave and return to the castle—but she resisted. Loyalty to the princess’s commands was enough to keep her with them. I wonder if that was why Sunset was so willing to help me. I took a rival out of the castle for her.

“Here!” the bat pony exclaimed. “I almost thought I wouldn’t find it… here it is.”

Twilight jerked into an upright position, drifting through the air before landing in front of the desk. “Of course. Who’d you find? The other two?”

“No,” he interrupted. “And before you ask, that other pegasus isn’t in here. I went through every pegasus index we have. But I thought to check for the earth pony, and here she is. Looks like she volunteered… not an active duty unit, a guard battalion. I’ll write her information down for you.”

“Which battalion?” Rarity asked, her voice cautious. “Not all of those positions are safe. But I suppose the active-duty pony would be in even greater danger.”

“301,” the pony answered, passing Twilight the scroll. “That’s everything you’re getting out of here, Duchess. I promise you the last one isn’t here. Don’t, err… don’t let the princess hear me sayin’ so, but I know there are ponies who dodge the registry. It ain’t so hard, so long as you stay busy. Or maybe they’re out of town, maybe they’re with relatives, maybe they’re living somewhere small enough that no one from the Crown visited. Fluttershy isn’t in my books.”

“301…” Rarity repeated, eyes wide. “Brave pony. I hope she’s alright.”

Two names of three. Twilight unrolled the scroll, committing its contents to memory as best she could. Not that she expected anything to happen. “Thanks for your help, uh…”

“Open Skies,” he responded ungracefully. “Now I did what you asked, please get out of my records room. I have a lot to sort through.”

“Applejack.” She nudged her friend with one hoof.

The farmpony sat up with a start. “What? Oh. We’re done. Finally.”

They walked out into the hall. Rarity tugged on her hoof, and Twilight let her slow to a stop, meeting her eyes. “What is it?”

“It’s the 301st,” she said. “Your friend… they aren’t ordinary guards. The 301 are stationed in the most dangerous locations across Equestria. The best trained, the most reliable. I don’t mean to alarm you, but I believe if your plan has any chance of succeeding, that pony should be our first target. Uh… Pinkie Pie, you said her name was?”

“Okay.” Twilight didn’t even have a set of saddlebags to stash the scroll in. “You know this place better than we could, Rarity. How do we find her?”

Not easily. They spent several more hours wandering through the offices, talking to one orderly or another until eventually they found the officer overseeing that particular group of guards. In a cramped office on the fifth floor, Rarity finally found the pony with the enlistment records and the current assignments they were looking for.

Twilight could tell from the horrified expression on Rarity’s face that they hadn’t just discovered some reassuring bit of good news. But she waited patiently, until Rarity finally turned the book in her magic so Twilight could see.

There was an image of Pinkie Pie, taken with a faded camera and complete with a scar near one eye. Her mane had been trimmed most of the way, and what was left hung perfectly straight. “Tartarus division,” her listing said. “Assigned to guard duty in Elkatraz.”

“Is that what you wanted?” the officer said, snapping her book shut with annoyance and returning it to the shelf. “I’m always happy to serve her majesty, but I can’t serve her well if I’m being interrupted.”

“That was all.” Rarity rose to her hooves, gesturing for Twilight to follow. “Thank you for your assistance.”

“You look like you saw a ghost,” Applejack said. “Something bad happen to our pony?”

“Well… not yet,” Rarity said. “But she’s serving in one of the most dangerous posts in the army. Elkatraz is about the worst place for a pony to be. She’s only been there for two weeks. You think the ones she replaced got reassigned? Into a grave, perhaps.” She swallowed. “We need to catch a train. No time to prepare, nothing to wear… not important. I assume you don’t have a substitute in mind, Duchess?”

“Twilight. Just call me Twilight. And no, there aren’t any substitutes. We need everypony on the list, or my spell fails. All or nothing.”

“All or nothing,” the unicorn repeated. “Well, let’s try to make it ‘all’ then. Come on.”

They galloped together out of the building. Twilight hadn’t seen a train—and with Ponyville gone, she wasn’t sure exactly where they were going. But Rarity knew, and that was all that mattered.

Does this mean we got her onto our side?

Chapter 5: Prison

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They didn’t have very far to go to reach the railway station. Twilight should’ve known that a capital would need better transportation, and that was what the castle and its surrounding buildings had become. Yet as they reached the station, it wasn’t like anything she knew to recognize. There were weapons pointed at the platform, including a full-sized ballista, though none were armed or ready to fire. There was already a train waiting as well, a train unlike anything she’d ever imagined could be built.

It barely even resembled a transportation method anymore: this was a war machine.

The frame was made of metal sheets instead of wood, with thin slits for windows instead of the wide, safe glass openings. The front of the train had a huge, sloped grate pointing down at the tracks, and all its mechanical parts were covered by protective bars. “Stars and stones.” Twilight stumbled to a stop, a few steps behind the guard checkpoint. “What kind of train is this?”

“One that can defend itself,” Applejack answered from just beside her, before Rarity could say anything. “Even the safer parts of Equestria might be attacked at any moment.”

“Can’t have a hundred soldiers in every train,” Rarity said, watching her with concern. “That would… make it rather difficult to move things, if everything had to be a troop transport. It’s all about force multiplication. These Flim-Flam transports are… perfect for that. Even if they are always breaking down…”

“With a name like that I can’t imagine why,” Twilight muttered, exasperated. Looking at the engine, she could see familiar echoes from the machine she’d once seen make cider in the Apple farm. Similar, but distinctly less custom in its appearance. This machine looked like it had been made in a factory with hundreds of others, with lots of identical rivets and sheets of the same sized metal.

Twilight waited in the back as Rarity had a hurried conversation with the conductor, showed some papers, and eventually returned. “So, they’re running supplies west in two hours. They can’t postpone the supply mission, but we can ride along, and they can extend the last part of the route. It should take us close to where we want to go.”

“Sure,” Twilight said. “If you think that will get us there fast enough.” Twilight herself had been one of the few ponies in all Equestria who could handle a long-range teleport… but magic like that relied on familiarity between her and her destination. Just now she wasn’t sure if there was anywhere in this world that she was familiar enough with to make the magic work.

“No other options,” Rarity said. “Only Princess Nightmare travels by chariot, that’s the only faster way there is.”

“Fine then.” Twilight gestured with one wing. “I trust you, Rarity. You’re obviously just as good arranging things like this as my friend was.” This was also the kind of thing that Twilight herself would’ve done—but not so much the pony side. Twilight would have every schedule memorized, know every leg of the trip, and possibly what alternate methods had been considered and rejected.

Rarity spoke for a few more minutes, then returned with an enthusiastic grin on her face. “They’re leaving in an hour and a half,” she said. “That’s more than enough time for me to requisition some important supplies for the trip. Vapor Trail is going to lead the two of you to the officer’s quarters—Equestria doesn’t have much nobility left these days, so you won’t have any competition. Get some rest while you wait—you’ll need it.”

“And you aren’t running away,” Applejack said, ignoring the soldier who emerged behind Rarity. “This isn’t some clever excuse to put us on a train to nowhere while you go back to what you were doing? Twilight was clear about the need for all of us to be together. You can’t slip away.”

“This isn’t… a clever anything,” Rarity said. “I promise I’ll be on the train when it leaves, alright? Loathe as I am to be riding to… the most dangerous prison in Equestria, during wartime, when I’m needed here in the Obsidian Fortress. But the cause—if the princess says it’s worthwhile, then it must be. So I’ll be there.”

“She’s not lying,” Applejack muttered. “Or if she is, she’s the best at it I’ve ever met.”

Rarity stopped walking away, turning to glare. “You know I can hear you, right?”

Applejack shrugged. “Guess so.”

Rarity made a frustrated sound that wasn’t quite any specific word, then stomped off. The station wasn’t quite inside the castle’s walls, but part of the larger cluster of structures that surrounded it.

“I hear you’re… a duchess,” said a nervous-looking bat, running one hoof through her short mane. “I can, uh… see you to the officer’s quarters.”

“Yeah,” Twilight said. “Please do.”

It looked like somewhere Nightmare Moon herself might stay, a large section of the frontmost car with more rich upholstery and starry patterns on everything. Twilight didn’t spend long investigating it, not after an entire day of digging through books and waiting around in offices. There were rooms for ten ponies in the officer’s quarters, and she picked one at random. But no sooner had she lain down to sleep than the train started moving underneath her, and she jerked back into a sitting position.

Rarity hadn’t been lying about coming on the trip, any more than she’d been lying about gathering supplies. The gaming table in one corner and the dance floor both had been piled high with rough wooden crates. She looked up, watching Twilight come to with surprise. “Oh, Twilight. I’m sorry, did all this work wake you?”

“No.” Twilight picked a chair near the window, so she could watch through the thin crack as they began to move. “Nothing like that. I just… if we’re headed west, I know the route. I want to see what happened to the villages along the way.”

“Ah, well.” Rarity turned away. “Allow me to prepare tea, then. I take it the, uh… farmer, is already asleep?”

She nodded.

“Just as well. I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of listening to talk of apple horticulture for the duration.”

At least some things were the same—the enchanted teapot was the same as she remembered, and the smell of chamomile and lemon. Rarity’s favorite blend.

She returned a moment later with the tray, rolling up a screen from the window so they could get a better view outside. Not much better, given that security was obviously the first concern with the way it had been built, but… it helped.

Twilight took a sip, nodding in approval. “You make it the same way in my Equestria.”

“You keep saying things like that.” Rarity took another sip from her own. She looked worn out—obviously she wanted to get some sleep on the trip over too. But she didn’t wander off. “What was your Equestria like, anyway? Better enough that you could convince the princess to send me on this… creative little expedition.”

“Better,” Twilight agreed. “There’s no King Sombra—we beat him together.”

“We?” She raised an eyebrow. “I’m a warrior, am I?”

“Not… exactly,” Twilight admitted. “But you were there, helping the Crystal Empire. Princess Celestia…” At Rarity’s wince, she fell silent. “Right, sorry. I guess you don’t like talking about her.”

“Like,” Rarity repeated. She glanced around the room—but there were no guards, nothing but the clatter of the wheels on the tracks. “Princess Nightmare requires her subjects to look forward to the future, rather than back at the past. Celestia’s crimes were punished—we should not continue hating her now. She will return in a thousand years, once she’s learned her lesson. Our children will forgive her.”

You don’t sound like you believe a word of that. But Twilight wasn’t about to confront her. Rarity was so close to the center of power in Equestria that she might not have been exposed to too much contradictory information. Don’t be too easy on her, Twilight. They had gallows. “In my Equestria, Nightmare Moon… didn’t have to do that to her sister. They ruled together, and their power was greater than it ever could’ve been apart. That’s what friendship is about.”

“Right.” Rarity cleared her throat, pushing her teacup back. “I’m going to retire now, Duchess. Enjoy your window.” She left.

How do we get her loyalty? It isn’t Pinkie we need next, it’s Rainbow Dash.

But there hadn’t been a choice. Rainbow’s unit was on the front somewhere, and reaching it would take more work than a single, safe train ride to a prison. That everypony seems to think is incredibly dangerous. Twilight supposed she shouldn’t be underestimating a place that everypony in the world was terrified of.

She didn’t sleep exactly as she lounged by the window, though she did doze a little. She caught the occasional glimpse of a village through the glass, though far more of what she saw didn’t reassure her. The train passed through dead forests, fields of dead grass, and mountains covered only by snow and ice. Only around pony civilization were there any signs of life, nurtured in little islands barely wide enough to support themselves.

Our planet is dying. It’s amazing we made it this far. Whatever Nightmare Moon had done to try and keep everyone alive, it obviously wasn’t working. We aren’t a frozen ball of ice yet, so she must be doing something.

After a few hours they passed through a larger city, one she recognized as Salt Lick. This more than anything else made her long to step off the train and investigate—there were bright electric spotlights outside, and ponies walking in the streets. This was the sort of place that would show her what life under Nightmare Moon was like. Even if she planned on fixing all of this, there was still some part that needed to know what ponies had suffered.

But she couldn’t take the chance, not if Elkatraz was so dangerous that the ponies who worked there often died and Pinkie Pie’s life might be in danger. Maybe on the way back. I hope wherever Rainbow Dash is stationed is alive. I could do interviews.

Even an Alicorn needed sleep, and Twilight used the unloading interval as a chance to slip back into the room she’d claimed and get a few hours. She slept through as they drove again, and didn’t wake until someone’s hoof banged on the thin wooden door.

“Duchess!” Rarity called. “We’ve nearly arrived at Elkatraz. If you wish for time to prepare yourself, that time has arrived.”

“Thanks!” Twilight shouted back, but then she got up anyway and cleaned up. She was starting to adjust to dim purple lights instead of the bright white ones. I need to make my own flashlight spell. Maybe if she had some spare time on the return trip.

She didn’t bother getting into the fancy, ill-fitting dress rarity had brought her—just cleaned up as best she could with hot water and the sink and emerged into the sitting room just in time to get a good look out the windows.

Elkatraz was located at the very bottom of a valley, which had been stripped of all vegetation by fire just like the Castle of the Two Sisters. Half a dozen little buildings ringed the valley, each building not even half as large as the cannons they had aimed down.

The prison wasn’t what she’d expected—not a fortress of black granite with spies on the walls or guard towers filled with crossbowmen. It was just an opening on the ground, with bits of broken stone and rubble on the slope around it. There were little shapes all around the floor, which Twilight didn’t recognize. Until suddenly she did.

Bodies. Sweet Celestia, how many ponies died in there?

One of the buildings along the outside was much larger than the others, and that was apparently their destination. “Welcome to Elkatraz,” Rarity said, her voice low and solemn. “I’ve never been here… I don’t know that even the princess enjoys coming here.”

“Who,” Applejack asked, from where she was sitting by the wall. “Who does the princess put in here? Ordinary ponies?”

“No!” Rarity rose from her seat, clutching at her chest indignantly. “I can’t believe you’d even… the princess didn’t build this place to trap ponies. There are a few down there, but not ponies the way you’d know them. The things they’ve done… would horrify and disgust you.” She fell silent, ears flattening.

“What things, Rarity?” Twilight asked. The train passed inside the building, and that actually made things brighter as it slowed to a stop. Unlike the purple lights everywhere else, the prison used standard orange and white crystals. “Equestria shouldn’t need a prison like this. There’s Tartarus, but nopony’s been put in there in my lifeti—”

Then it hit her. Nightmare Moon is a monster herself. Cerberus wouldn’t let her open the door. If she went in, she’d never leave. But that still didn’t answer the question of who was being thrown inside.

“Most of them are prisoners of war,” Rarity answered. “The generals and leaders of… our enemies. They’ve done worse than kill, if that’s what you mean. Sombra trains all his crystal ponies with the right competences in… dark magic. It’s impossible to keep them perfectly trapped. Every few weeks there’s another breakout, and only the lives of the Guard can keep Equestria safe.”

“Why not just execute them?” Applejack asked. “I know the princess isn’t shy about killing when she needs to.”

“We do,” Rarity answered. “The ones we can. But I’m not sure how much you know about the crystal ponies. Killing them would just be sending them back to Sombra’s army.”

What? Now Twilight was interested. Crystal Ponies hadn’t been well understood in her world, except that they’d apparently lived a thousand years in stasis and lost their memories in the process. Many of the ones she’d met during her visits were nothing but polite and friendly. “How can… no.” She shook her head to clear it. It made sense that a world with Sombra still alive would be one where crystal magic was used to its fullest potential.

We’re erasing all of this, it doesn’t matter. But there was another part of Twilight, one buried a little deeper down. One she couldn’t quite ignore. This might be Equestria’s only chance to learn. When we put the timeline back to normal, everything Sombra taught will be gone. But if I learn something, I could bring it back with me.

It was a little voice, though. Her fear for Pinkie’s life was louder. Maybe I could ask around after we find her…

“Something wrong, Twilight?” Applejack asked.

“No.” She took a deep breath, then gestured for the door. “We’re already halfway to the ponies we need. Let’s find the next one.”

The fortress waiting for them at the edge of the valley was far from the artfully decorated Castle of the Two Sisters. The walls were made of several feet of solid stone, with a protective moat and pointed spikes and cannons on the roof. And all that was pointed down at the valley. On the back of the building there was only the shuttered metal door, big enough to fit their entire train.

There was an hour or so of ceremony as the fortress’s thestrals took them on a brief tour, shared an ill-tasting meal, and finally brought them to an officer’s sitting room. Rarity silenced any attempt to skip the ceremony with a glare. When it finally came time to ask questions, she did that herself.

“I’m afraid we need to requisition one of your soldiers. I know how inconvenient that is, and we’re deeply sorry. But one of your ponies is needed for an important mission. The safety of all Equestria could be at stake.”

The prison’s overseer wasn’t a pony, though Twilight recognized him anyway. Iron Will towered over her, even after becoming an Alicorn had improved her stature.

At least he wasn’t selling snake oil or useless training anymore. “Iron Will is not happy to surrender one of our soldiers. Protecting Equestria is a difficult task. Never enough hooves, never enough cannons, never enough powder… but I see this is a strange situation.” His eyes lingered on Twilight’s wings. “Maybe… a trade. Next time recruits are assigned, we get… ten more. Ten later for one now—seems fair to me.”

He kept looking to her, but Twilight only deferred to Rarity. “Can we do that?”

“Yes,” she answered, sounding tired, exasperated. “It’s going to cost me a few favors in headquarters. Those ponies already aren’t happy with me. But for you… yes, we’ll get you your ten.”

I knew the old Rarity was in there somewhere. Just keep being generous.

“Excellent!” He stomped one hoof on the stone, roaring so loud that the room seemed to shake around them. “Tell me the name of the pony you are looking for! I will point you to their post, and you can go get them!”

“Her name is Pinkie Pie,” Twilight answered. “She’s pink, with three balloons for her cutie mark.”

“Sergeant Pie! Pity… never had a pony who could organize a better wake.” Iron Will lifted a massive clipboard in his oversized claws, skimming through it with a pair of comically tiny glasses perched on the edge of his nose. “Here we go. She’s…” His expression darkened. “Oh.”

“What?” Twilight asked, annoyed. “Just tell us. We can get her ourselves, we already agreed.”

“She’s at the bottom,” Iron Will said. “That is, uh… why Iron Will is always in need of troops. So many don’t come back.”

“So we go down and get her? Doesn’t seem difficult to me.”

Iron Will laughed, and again the room shook around them. “Not difficult, the Alicorn says. Perhaps not for an Alicorn. Iron Will only knows one other. If it was not hard, ponies would not draw straws for the job. Walking down is not hard. Once you get inside… that is harder.”

“We don’t have a choice,” Twilight said. “We can’t wait for her shift to end, not if… it’s as dangerous as you say it is. We’ll have to go down.”

The minotaur shrugged. “Alicorn probably has nothing to worry. And if you don’t come back—that means you didn’t take my pony, so I guess you don’t owe me the recruits.”

Rarity looked like she might be about to faint. Applejack was better about keeping her expression even, but there was no way of knowing whether that meant she was unafraid or just more disciplined.

“It’s okay, Rarity,” Twilight said, before she could start arguing herself. “You can wait here if you don’t want to go. You too, Applejack. Iron Will is right—I’m an Alicorn. Whatever’s down there, I can deal with it.”

Applejack hesitated, before shaking her head once. “Sending you in alone makes us less likely to complete this. We need everypony for your plan to work, you most of all. I’m going.”

Rarity shifted uneasily on her hooves, before eventually nodding. “I… suppose that’s probably right. I would rather complete this mission than see anypony hurt along the way. So I’m coming too.”

Twilight was the first to clamber out of the guard-building, passing through the narrow opening in the sharpened pikes and past soldiers with their weapons ready. Many of the guards actually raised them to salute as she passed, respect on their faces. These ponies knew the danger that waited at the bottom. She could sense the military camaraderie between these bats. It was the same sort of friendship she’d seen from the Wonderbolts.

Nightmare Moon isn’t turning everypony evil. These ponies are still good. She waved back, and caught the terror on Rarity’s face. You probably don’t know any shield spells. As much as Twilight had told them they could stay behind if they wanted, she was relieved to have friends along. She’d been their friends long enough to know that being an Alicorn wasn’t everything. The more of them she found, the closer they would be to putting Equestria right again.

The valley down towards the entrance was a killing field, with no more cover than the wreckage of a few escape attempts. They had been left unburied right where they fell, and in a few places crows lifted in cawing protest as they approached. Plenty of the “bodies” were made mostly of crystal, and so there was no decay there. Just shattered rock to mark where a crystal pony had died trying to escape. Worst of all was the moisture in the air, which pooled into a visible mist that twisted shapes and obscured the outline of almost everything.

It was a good thing the path they needed was marked in gravel, because otherwise Twilight was sure she wouldn’t have been able to find her way down. Every now and then the building at the bottom would appear through the fog, a huge stone trapdoor leading down into the ground.

“This is… grim,” Applejack muttered. “I hope there aren’t other places like this.”

“Not in our part of Equestria,” Rarity answered, walking so close to Twilight that she almost touched. But they’d been told not to leave the trail straight down—there were traps elsewhere, spells that had no ability to distinguish friendly from foe. Two were all that fit. “There are rumors about how Chrysalis treats her prisoners, and they are…” She swallowed. “Worse. You don’t want to know.”

“I guess I don’t.”

They reached the entrance a few moments later. Without a word of coordination between them, they came to a stop right at the edge. The stone was thicker than a pony’s body, a sturdy frame that seemed to be carved right out of the bedrock. A metal door was set firmly into place in the center. It was covered in runes, for a spell so complicated that Twilight could only guess at its intention. It was similar to the workmanship of Tartarus, probably copied from there. Only this prison made no distinction between the innocent and the guilty.

She gripped onto the door with magic, yanking hard—nothing happened.

“Let me help,” Applejack said, reaching past her and taking the handle in her teeth. She groaned and strained, then yanked sideways, and half of the door banged open in front of them. A spiral staircase opened up below, leading down into the gloom. There was no purple glow of magical crystals from inside, but the crackling orange of torches instead, and a trail of black soot on the walls beside them.

“What a charming place,” Rarity said, sniffing delicately at the disgusting hole in the ground. The rock was stained in many places, with layers of substances Twilight could only guess at. Warm, rotting air drifted up in front of them.

Pinkie Pie, I hope you’re okay down there.

“Time to get our friend back,” Twilight said, hopping over the ledge and onto the steps.

As soon as Twilight passed the threshold of the open door, she felt the weight settle onto her shoulders. It was a passive anti-magic field. It wasn’t the kind of spell that had perfect penetration—it wouldn’t destroy artifacts, or remove enchantments. It was the kind that stopped active spells. I guess that’s why I couldn’t get the door open.

The stairs themselves were freshly cut, with a wide-open space running down the center that quickly grew until it was as big as the doors overhead on its own. Thick ropes ran straight down the opening, with a complex pulley-winch system they had to walk past near the top.

“Ugh,” Rarity whispered, as she joined Twilight on the grimy steps. “This place is like… being smothered by invisible blankets. Why is it so awful? Wait, don’t answer that. It’s because the ponies we put down here are that awful. It’s because we don’t have any other choice to keep them contained. It’s either these locks, or… they’re hurting ponies elsewhere.”

“I sure hope that’s what it is,” Applejack said. “I can see why their guards wouldn’t do well. Everything’s so heavy. I bet pegasus ponies can’t fly.”

“Probably not,” Twilight agreed. “Not well, anyway. I think inherent magic is more resistant. You were able to pull the door open with your earth pony strength, and I couldn’t levitate it.”

“Right,” Applejack said, sounding like she didn’t understand or care. “How many ponies are in here, anyway?”

“I probably shouldn’t… national security and all—”

Applejack growled at her. “We’re on a mission to save the nation. How’s that for security?”

“Maybe… a thousand,” Rarity answered. “That’s too many. The more we put here, the more effectively they can… resist. And that’s bad for all the reasons you’re thinking of right now. The more ponies we lock away, the more lives it takes to keep them here.”

The staircase into the ground seemed to go on forever, but in reality Twilight found the floor waiting for her after only a few minutes of walking. Nightmare Moon had spared no expense in constructing this place—its ceiling explained why they had crossed down so many steps.

The edge of the room was lined with massive metal bars, each one opening into a smaller room filled with shapes. Off on one side of the room she could see crystal ponies—hundreds of them, laying on cots or chatting with each other, or just sitting in front of the bars and staring out at her.

The other side of the room had more exotic creatures, the sort of monsters she’d occasionally caught rampaging across Equestria. Not all that different from what Celestia did, putting them in Tartarus. But Celestia hadn’t forced them to wear heavy iron chains, or branded them with a half-moon where their cutie marks would be.

The center of the space had been made into a makeshift living area, mostly with the help of many identical cargo boxes. They were like the ones Rarity had gathered for their trip over, only instead of two there were hundreds of them. A few were open, holding grain or other supplies that the guards could dispense to prisoners. There were also a few hallways leading away, each one with its own heavy metal door over the entrance and more runes.

The center of the room looked almost like a campsite to Twilight’s eyes, with six guard cots, a little living area, and a simple bucket system for their latrine. The ponies scattered in that opening looked every bit as hopeless and defeated as Twilight had imagined them, with their colors a little washed out and their eyes glazed over. They ran the spectrum of unhealthy, from just a little out of it to nearly unconscious and with visible ribs protruding from their sides.

I think I know what’s killing the ponies who serve in this post.

“Hello!” Twilight called, not so loud that her voice would carry into all the cells. But it didn’t matter—any activity was enough that all kinds of strange creatures were looking at her now. “Who’s in charge down here?”

The ponies in the center all stopped what they were doing to watch her. A few stood up and offered her weak salutes. After a moment of deliberation, one of them approached her. An earth pony this time, instead of a bat, though his uniform was just about the same. “I didn’t know there were any other Alicorns,” he said.

A military pony who isn’t trying to lick hooves. He doesn’t think he’ll ever get out of here. “There’s one.” She nodded slightly towards Rarity. “She has our documentation. We’ve come for a pony in your garrison.”

“Why?” He barely even looked at the sheet of paper Rarity offered him, just enough to see Nightmare Moon’s seal at the bottom. “No reason to execute any of us. Just wait.”

“Nothing like that,” Rarity said. “And… I don’t think the princess knows what conditions are like down here. It wouldn’t be so bad if you didn’t have such long shifts.”

“We didn’t used to,” said somepony else—a thestral. “But most ponies who did a week down here would try and desert instead of get another shift. Now we do our whole month at once.”

“Oh.” Rarity swallowed. “Right.”

“Her name is Pinkie Pie,” Twilight interrupted, before that conversation could go any further. The weight of hopelessness was heavy on these ponies, and they weren’t acting rationally. They might attack—or maybe just curl up in a corner and die. “I don’t know how long she’s been down here.”

“Pie,” the first pony repeated. “Bad luck.”

“Probably dead by now,” said another pony. “She volunteered for high-security duty. Hasn’t come back.” She pointed with a wing, towards the largest metal door.

“Give me the key,” Twilight ordered, sticking out one hoof.

Chapter 6: Transit

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Beyond the door Twilight found more powerful spells, along with traps at regular intervals.

“Remember,” Rarity called from behind her, voice faint. “Don’t step on the—”

“The round panels. I know.” They hopped and weaved their way around the dangerous traps, and Twilight found herself wondering how long it would take an escaping creature to figure that out. Guess they have to hope that the first one is lethal. But that didn’t make sense either, did it? The ones locked here had been given this prison because they were resistant to death in various ways. Keeping them here meant keeping them contained. So Nightmare Moon must not actually want the traps to be lethal. Maybe she had nothing to do with it. Maybe she just sketched the prison and let her engineers do the rest.

At least they didn’t have far to go. A few tightly wound downward hallways took them to the high-security level, where a massive cage sat at the end of a thin platform. It looked barely wide enough to cross, certainly not big enough for the creature located in the middle.

And there was Pinkie Pie, wearing the same purple armor as everypony else in the Guard, her pink mane shore close and her head slumped onto the ground in front of her. Oh, Celestia, we’re too late.

Then she heard a voice—a voice that explained all the suffering these ponies were enduring on its own. A voice that filled her with dread at its memory. It echoed strangely in the huge space, old and rickety. Except the words didn’t make sense. “Do you have any twos?”

“What the hay is that?” Applejack whispered. “There’s something in the cage…”

There was something in the cage, something Twilight hadn’t even noticed at first. But once she’d heard the voice, she expected it. Tirek was as old, wizened and shriveled as she’d seen him once power had been returned to the ponies of Equestria. Even so, his head nearly scraped on the top of the cage, and his eyes were dark pits. He’d noticed her, and now that she was inside he hadn’t looked away.

Except for what he was holding in his hands, which he kept glancing back to. Twilight had to squint to see them in the gloom, but now that she looked… were those cards?

“Go fish,” Pinkie Pie said. Then she glanced over her shoulder, and saw the group of ponies waiting there. She squeaked in surprise and rose to her hooves, settling her cards on the ground. “Hold on, be right back.”

“You should tell them to come here,” Tirek said, voice smooth and demanding. “I would love to meet them.”

Twilight closed the distance in a few nervous steps, stopping on the edge of the bridge. Standing close to the stone did not make her feel any better—it only made her stomach turn. Up close, Pinkie Pie had many of the same symptoms as the ponies outside. Her mane was washed out, her expression a little glazed, and her movements sluggish. But for Pinkie Pie, that just made her closer to ordinary ponies, instead of making her seem half-dead.

“Hello,” she said, sticking out one hoof to Twilight. “You must be new. Except… none of you are wearing uniforms. So maybe not the kind of new I’m used to.”

Twilight took the offered hoof, then yanked the earth pony into a tight hug. She squeezed, held her there. “I didn’t know if you would still be here when we got here. I’m sorry you had to go through this.”

“Go through… what?” Pinkie pushed her away after a few seconds. “You’re a friendly pony, but I don’t think I know you. Do I?” She tilted her head for a few seconds, frowning. “Wait. Feels like I do. But I know I don’t. So that’s weird. Your name is…” She stuck her tongue out, obviously deep in thought.

“Her name is unknown to you, because she bears the corruption of Chronos,” Tirek called, his voice reedy and thin from the other side of the room. “This pony is from another time. Yet here she stands, not torn apart by the forces of our world. It is curious.”

He knows. Twilight met those dark red eyes for a few seconds, trying to gauge whether he was lying. But she’d never had the same taste for the truth that Applejack did.

“Oh,” Pinkie said, nodding. “That makes sense. I guess I will be your friend? Good to meet you, future friend!”

“Twilight,” she said. “Twilight Sparkle. Not that we will be friends. Well, we will be, but we won’t have stopped…” She shook her head. “And you’re Pinkie Pie.”

“You do know who I am!” Pinkie repeated, in almost the exact tone Twilight would’ve expected from her. “I guess you are a time traveler.”

“We came all the way from Ponyville,” Applejack said. “She was determined to find you. And you… do match the description. More evidence, eh Rarity?”

The unicorn made a noncommittal sound. “You don’t need to convince me. The princess was enough.”

“Liar.”

Twilight ignored them both. “We need your help, Pinkie. We’ve got permission to take you with us. There’s a plan in motion, one that could save all Equestria. We need you for it.”

“Ooooooooh!” Pinkie didn’t bounce, but she did squeal a little. “That sounds fun. But… I couldn’t leave Mr. Tirek without finishing our game. Can you three wait by the door?”

“Yes,” Tirek said. “And the Alicorn has questions. I can see it in her face. She wonders… wonders what I know that she doesn’t. She wishes for knowledge—a trade, perhaps?”

Twilight advanced on the cage, walking behind Pinkie on the narrow path. She kept her wings spread all the while, ready to catch her if she slipped. But she didn’t slip, and soon enough she was on the wide platform in front of the cage. She stopped well out of reach, eyes settling on the anti-magic bars. So many spells were in place to contain this creature, yet even still he managed to sap the strength of ponies.

Pinkie Pie took up her cards and resumed the game. Tirek was playing too—yet his attention was only for Twilight now.

“You’re right about me,” she said. “In my time, we’ve met. I know you, your powers, your methods. You can’t trick me.”

In her time he hadn’t kept a set of black, crystalline armor piled up near the back of his cage. It clearly wouldn’t fit him at his present size—he’d need to be bigger and stronger to wear it. “That is an interesting statement on your part,” Tirek said. “And regrettable. I cannot imagine a future that would leave you with the power to travel through time. I must have failed, then.”

“Yes,” she said, voice flat. “You did. How did you know where I came from?”

Tirek passed a few cards to Pinkie through the bars. “I smell it. The stench of it fills this chamber. Yet I would not expect many ponies knew it, did they?” He didn’t wait for confirmation, apparently just watching her expression. “This is what comes of what ponies call magic. So much of it is too dangerous. So much restricted. How weak do you keep yourself by denying the tools you’ve been given? This is why I will triumph—in your world, or this one.”

“We deny those tools because they’re dangerous,” Twilight countered. “Equestria was a paradise. Its princesses were happy, its ponies were happy, and Sombra was dead. Time travel is what did this.”

“And I suppose you think time travel can undo it,” Tirek said, sneering at her. “You don’t understand magic as well as you think you do. You cannot undo what was done here. Maybe if you are very lucky, you could somehow return to the world you wandered from. But this one… this world is the way it is. The past is not a place you can visit—it is irrevocably destroyed. Your quest is doomed.”

“It isn’t,” Twilight argued. “Equestria was perfect the way it was, then time magic ruined it. That’s why Star Swirl’s magic was kept secret. But if the spell could ruin the world, it can fix it. You’ll see.”

“I won’t,” Tirek said, laughing. “And I think I win.”

“Yep!” Pinkie agreed, standing up. Her pile of cards was almost empty compared to his. Was Pinkie letting him win? “It was nice spending time with you, Mr. Tirek. I’ll leave you my cards. Maybe the next pony will want to play with you too.”

“I doubt it,” Tirek said, his eyes never leaving Twilight. “Go on, Alicorn. I know what you’re thinking. You want to know what I know. You want to learn the magic that really could make this world into the one you know. I could teach you. The price wouldn’t be too high.”

“Too high for me.” Twilight left, following Pinkie.

She ignored Tirek as he banged on the cage, shouting louder by the moment. “You’ll come crawling back to me, Alicorn! I can see the ignorance in your eyes! You’ll fail and then my price will be higher! I won’t forget this!”

She could ignore his voice, but it was hard to ignore the magical effect he was having. The weakness that reached through her coat, her skin. Magic draining away so imperceptibly that not even all these layers of protection were enough to stop it. She could see the effects on her friends much more visibly—they had far less to lose.

They made it out, even if Twilight had to urge them forward more than once. The more distance they put between themselves and Tirek, the better they felt. But how long until Pinkie’s magic recovers? She was in there more than a few minutes.

“How long have you been here?” Applejack asked, as they finally made it out the thick metal door of the high security area, slamming it shut.

“A week?” Pinkie tilted her head slightly. “Yeah, about a week. It’s not as bad as I was expecting, but… I wouldn’t say no to some fresh air.”

“Good,” Twilight said. “Because that’s where we’re going. Up to the surface, then a train is waiting for us.”

“Why?” It was the first pony she’d spoken with, the earth pony stallion she took for their leader. He had a different patch on his uniform, though no armor and no visible cutie mark. She hadn’t even gotten his name. “Why does she get to leave?”

“Because that’s what the princess ordered,” Rarity said. “You are loyal to your princess, aren’t you?”

“Yeah,” he said, and several of the others lined up behind him. “I think the princess would want to let her loyal ponies out. We’ve already given her more than any of her other subjects.”

In the time they had been with Tirek, every pony in this prison had assembled. Those with armor were wearing it, and all of them were armed. They formed a tight group, right between Twilight and the exit.

Twilight lowered her voice to a whisper. “We need her for a spell that’s going to save all Equestria,” Twilight said. “When we cast it, the war ends. You all go home.”

“If we’re alive that long,” somepony else said. The whole group shuffled angrily, advancing on them. None of the ponies had drawn their weapons—but she could see that might be seconds away. Just a little more provocation, and there would be blood. “Or maybe you’re just lying. Maybe her family bought her out of here. We want out too!”

I don’t have magic down here. Nopony does. Twilight might not know much about fighting, but she didn’t have to guess how a fight against armed ponies while they themselves were unarmed would go.

“It’s the truth,” Applejack said, her voice loud and clear enough that the whole prison fell silent. Even the monsters in their cages stopped to look at her. “Princess Twilight here showed me what Equestria will look like when this is over. No more King Sombra, no more Chrysalis… everypony living together in peace. Even Nightmare Moon will forgive her sister, let her bring the sun back. It’s the Equestria all of you want to live in.”

You probably shouldn’t have said that last part, Twilight thought. But the soldiers didn’t seem to think so. Only Rarity showed any signs of discomfort—for everypony else in the room, it was a story of hope. The anti-magic field might stop spells, but it couldn’t stop Applejack from being honest.

“You trust her?” asked the guard, not even looking at Twilight anymore. “You really believe all that?”

“I do,” she said. “I have a sense about ponies. I followed her here from my farm. She already stood up to Nightmare Moon once, for you. She can’t keep fighting if you don’t let her.”

Twilight heard a thunk of metal as the guard tossed his sword onto the ground in front of him. “I didn’t feel like fighting anyway.” He walked away.

As quickly as it had come, the crowd dispersed. Ponies slid away to their posts, or else went back to slumping in their cots. The way out was open—but it probably wouldn’t stay that way.

“You’re, uh… quite the orator, Applejack,” Rarity whispered. “I don’t know if I’d have embellished the story quite that way. That’s not the kind of… creativity I’d want spreading through the ranks. You never know who might be listening.”

“I didn’t embellish,” Applejack countered. “You should let Twilight show you her map.”

They hurried out. Pinkie Pie didn’t have much in the way of possessions to gather—after a few teary goodbyes, they were on their way up the steps. Even Pinkie Pie looked like she was one of the prisoners getting her first look at sunlight after years underground.

Of course, there was no sunlight waiting for them at the top of the steps, just the endless full moon. Which shouldn’t work either. The tides must be a nightmare. But Twilight didn’t obsess about the scientific inconsistencies right now. They’d done it! They had pony number four! Only two to go. How hard can they be?

“The train we rode here will require at least the evening before we can return,” Rarity said, as they climbed slowly up the killing field. Twilight couldn’t make out the faces of ponies in the guard posts, but she saw plenty of them emerge on the walls. They seemed surprised to see anypony had made it out. I hope Iron Will is this surprised. I want to see his face. The canons tracked their movement out even so, though none fired. Soon enough they had reached the spikes, and the thin trail leading into the building.

Twilight spent a few more moments looking back into the prison. She could still hear Tirek’s words, his promises that her mission was doomed. How could it be? I’m almost done already! He just wanted my magic so he could escape.

There was a little more politicking to be done before they could finally get on the train. Pinkie Pie suddenly seemed far more valuable to Iron Will now that they were about to leave with her, and he tried to pressure for more recruits before they would be allowed to take her. Twilight was helpless, but Rarity seemed to know exactly what she was doing.

Eventually they were back aboard the war-train, leaving Elkatraz behind them in a cloud of smoky exhaust.

Pinkie’s color was already coming back to her—though it would probably be a week or more before she’d fully recovered. Twilight would have to make sure she didn’t exert herself much in the next few days. For a pony like Pinkie, her estimate was probably generous if anything.

But she was still a changed pony. Instead of throwing an insane “leaving the prison” party, Pinkie Pie only used the kitchen to bake tea cakes and prepare a little sandwich platter. There weren’t even any balloons.

“I’m really curious about what kind of plan you have, Alicorn Princess Twilight Sparkle,” Pinkie said. She’d removed her uniform jacket, spreading it on the chair behind her. Her mane was still straight too, though she hadn’t spiraled down into nihilism or insanity. Yet. “You didn’t get a chance to explain very much about it while we were in the prison.”

“You know almost as much as we do,” Rarity said, sipping politely at her tea. “It’s something to do with time travel, and it’s going to somehow defeat both Sombra and Chrysalis in a single move. Sounds downright fictional to me, but better ponies than I have examined the plan and found it sufficient, so here we are.”

“There’s more to it than that,” Twilight said. She watched Rarity for a few more seconds, deliberating. It still felt wrong to keep secrets from her friends, but her loyalty was the least reliable of any of them. For whatever reason, Nightmare Moon had convinced her more thoroughly than any of the others.

She’ll see this is the right way. I just have to give her a chance. “Have any of you heard of the Elements of Harmony?”

Confused faces were all the answer she needed—except for Rarity. There was something like comprehension there, then quickly hidden. “You know about them, Rarity?”

“W-well…” She hesitated, taking a long sip from her tea. Maybe she thought they’d give up and let her keep politely silent.

Pinkie Pie was here, though. “Oooh, tell us! That sounds really interesting. Like a secret magical artifact buried beneath an ancient temple only for the bravest heroes in all Equestria to discover it at just the right moment to save everypony in their time of need! And there’d be cheering, and promotions, and maybe commendations from the princess…”

Rarity glowered at her. “I don’t know very much—I was still making dresses at the time. Applejack will remember. During the… Summer Sun Celebration.”

“I remember when Nightmare Moon took over,” Applejack muttered, voice dark. “Nothing about any elements.”

“Well, we didn’t see it,” Rarity said. “But apparently the Sun Tyran— Celestia had them stored away. Artifacts, like you said. She tried to use them on Nightmare Moon, but they shattered. I don’t know how they could be part of your plan now, Twilight.”

“Because the Elements aren’t really an object,” she said. “They’re attached to ponies—six ponies, who each represent something. Together their friendship can defeat anything that challenges Equestria. Without their friendship, the elements are powerless. Celestia… and her sister, Luna, used to hold them, three each. But their friendship is… not what it used to be, so of course they wouldn’t work.”

“So that’s why you need these specific ponies,” Applejack supplied. “Each of us has one of these… virtues, or whatever. Without all six—”

“The Elements don’t work,” Twilight agreed. “You’re Honesty, Applejack. Pinkie Pie, you’re Laughter, Rarity, you’re Generosity. We’re just missing Loyalty and Kindness, and we’ll have the complete set.”

“Whichever one of those this Rainbow Dash is, we should be able to find her quick enough,” Rarity said. “Quite simple really, if she’s deployed. The war has become stagnant in the last year or so. Not much territory changes hooves, and fortifications go up along the border. Few deaths on either side, just an occasional covert mission of sabotage. The princess thinks we may have a lasting peace with King Sombra within the decade.”

“You didn’t say which one you were, Twi,” Applejack said. “What do you represent?”

“Magic,” she said. “Not that I’ve done very much of it since getting here. You were amazing in Elkatraz, Applejack. And you too, Rarity. At this rate, we’ll save Equestria in no time!”

Applejack and Pinkie lifted their cups enthusiastically. Rarity joined in a little more awkwardly, and didn’t participate in their friendly cheer.

“There was one thing that troubled me,” she said, when they’d settled down. “Something you said, Applejack. I was hoping you could explain it to me.”

Twilight opened her mouth to answer—but Rarity cut her off. “I know you’ll have more to say, but I want to hear what Applejack meant. Before you have anything to add, I mean. I do apologize for my rudeness, but… I must insist.”

Applejack gulped. Just because she told the truth didn’t mean she had no idea what the consequences might be. And what was worse, she couldn’t casually lie about it, even for a good reason. If she tried, they’d know anyway.

So Twilight fell silent, looking as sympathetic as she could as Applejack started to sweat.

“Well, uh… I didn’t see much specifics. It was a vision kinda thing. There’s this map in Ponyville, see… or what used to be Ponyville, other side of town from the farm. Twilight took me out to see it, back when I thought she was still some royal pony out of the castle. I walked up, and… I saw. Another Equestria.”

“Did you see me?” Pinkie Pie asked, apparently oblivious to the cream that had collected above her lips. “Oooh, was I a dragon?”

“Yes! Er… wait, no. Not a dragon, but I did see you. And you too, Rarity. And Twilight. I could see that I trusted her. There were others… the ones we haven’t met yet, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. They were there too. I think we had thrones.”

Rarity laughed. “Come now, Applejack. Did you really see all this, or was it just… suggested to you?” She glanced sidelong at Twilight. “Our guide here has some strong ideas, maybe you heard them so many times you thought they were your own?”

“No.” Applejack smacked one hoof on the table. “I didn’t just see it, I felt it. The buzz of zap apple jam on my tongue again… the warmth of the sun while I worked on the farm. It was real, as real as my own memories.”

“Ah, there’s the, uh… sun thing again. I had thought it was what you said. You know the princess isn’t fond of discussing it.”

“I know,” Applejack said, adjusting her hat down over her head. “But just because the princess isn’t doesn’t mean I have to agree with her on everything. There’s no reason we couldn’t have both the night and the day, just like it used to be. I know you remember how it was, Rarity. Back before all you made were military uniforms and purple dresses.”

Rarity rose from the table, taking a step back. “Well, I… I think that’s what I wanted to know.”

“I know what you’re thinking, Rarity,” Twilight called, raising her voice a little. “That sense of loyalty you feel to Nightmare Moon. But before you do what you’re thinking, there’s a few more things you should know about my Equestria.”

Rarity spun back around. She looked pained, her eyes wide and fearful and her breathing rapid. But she was listening, and that was what mattered.

“I don’t know if you know the story behind Nightmare Moon—but deep inside, she’s a pony named Luna, Celestia’s sister. In my Equestria, Luna rules the night alongside Celestia. She’s grateful for what we did in helping her. There are plenty of ponies who love the night—but they do it because they want to, not because they were forced to. You don’t have to be a traitor to her—you can be working for the pony she really is, instead of the nightmare her grief turned her into.”

Rarity didn’t respond, just spun around and hurried into one of the bedrooms. She snapped the door shut behind her, and Twilight heard nothing more from inside.

“You think that’s enough?” Applejack asked. “You don’t think she’ll turn us in, do you?”

“She won’t,” Pinkie Pie said, before Twilight could answer. “I have a good feeling about her. She’s not afraid about us, she’s afraid for someone she loves. But she’ll decide that the world will be a better place for them if she follows your plan, just like I did. Most ponies don’t have my… sense for these things, she’ll just take longer.”

“Her sister,” Twilight whispered. “That’s got to be it. If she worked at the castle, I bet she would have wanted Sweetie Belle living there. Probably one of the safest places in Equestria with all those guards, and… a hostage for Nightmare Moon against her loyalty.”

“Oh.” Applejack nodded. “You’re right, she did have a little sister. I’m pretty sure her parents were in Canterlot when it fell, so that would mean…”

“We’ll have to do something about her,” Twilight whispered. “And yours too, while we’re at it Applejack. If Nightmare Moon goes looking for your family, they’ll be within reach. I wonder if there’s somewhere we can hide them…”

Pinkie Pie’s prediction proved correct, at least so far as the rest of the train back to the castle. They took on troops and supplies in Appleloosa, and Rarity never left their car. She remained polite, withdrawn… but she didn’t threaten them, and no guards arrived to arrest them.

There were no soldiers waiting for them as the train pulled into the castle station.

Twilight did hear a squealing from just ahead of them, followed by a mechanical rumbling. She teleported out through the wall, just in time to watch as the Flim-Flam Industries engine came apart into a pile of sprockets and enchanted crystals.

Chapter 7: Military Intelligence

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Twilight was in the back of the group as they made their way out of the train station and back to the Obsidion Fortress. She almost didn’t notice as a set of hooves wrapped around her neck and yanked her suddenly down a side-corridor. She didn’t so much as squeak before she was pulled into a bubble of silence, and any crying out she might’ve done was quashed.

She faced the unicorn who had pulled her in, eyes wide with shock and surprise. Sunset Shimmer hadn’t changed much since the last time Twilight saw her, except for a few telltale signs of mental decay. There was no mistaking the pony’s frizzy mane, or the smell of a pony who hadn’t used their soap in a little too long. Sunset held her firmly by one shoulder, bloodshot eyes reeling. “Twilight Sparkle,” she said, her voice harsh and rough. “I need an explanation.”

“I will, uh… try to help?” she said, raising one eyebrow. “What’s wrong, Sunset?”

Sunset had pulled her into a little storage closet. There was nothing in here but spare parts for the trains and some janitorial supplies. Sunset didn’t seem to notice as she sat down right onto a toolbox, knocking it sideways. “I looked, Twilight. I saw.”

“You saw…” she began, raising an eyebrow. “What?”

“The temporal anomaly near Ponyville,” she snapped. “The one you said you came through. It’s real.”

Twilight stared. “Uh… yeah? What did you think it was?”

“Your stupid cover story!” She rose, storming around Twilight, knocking over a few boxes of screws from the nearby shelf. “It seemed like something calculated for Nightmare Moon. Something broad and powerful and just plausible enough for her to pay attention. Everypony knows she’s an egomaniac! She bought it. It wasn’t supposed to be real!”

“It’s real,” Twilight said. “Everything I told you is true.” She tilted her head, glaring up at her. “Didn’t you tell the princess you’d already investigated it?”

“I know what I said!” Sunset yanked her firmly by the shoulder again, before she could reach the door. There was acid in her eyes—almost rage. “I saw things through there, Twilight! I saw a world without Nightmare Moon! A world that was still green.” Twilight opened her mouth to respond, but she didn’t get the chance. Sunset’s horn flashed, and she vanished from in front of her, appearing between her and the door. “I saw a world without me! Equestria was happy and perfect and the two perfect princesses sat on their stupid thrones! No… not two, four. Cadance was there, and you were there. But not me. It was like I didn’t even exist. I wasn’t in Canterlot, I wasn’t anywhere.”

Twilight’s heart sank. But it wasn’t like she hadn’t known this might happen. Sunset had even said she would investigate the opening. Now, apparently, she had. And if she reveals this to Nightmare Moon, she’ll stop supporting us. She’ll banish me like her sister. Twilight didn’t have to look very long at the sunless, empty world that Equestria had become to know that it wouldn’t survive a thousand years. There would be nothing for her to return to, unless she could somehow stop Sunset.

“That’s because you weren’t in our world,” Twilight answered, her voice defeated. “But you have to let me finish. I knew you, Sunset. I know what happened to you.”

Sunset took a few steps towards her, horn glowing dangerously. But there was no actual spell there, no preparations for violence. Just the power that came from unfiltered emotion. The dangers of an undisciplined unicorn. Maybe Twilight could still stop this. Somehow.

“In my Equestria, you were Celestia’s apprentice for years.”

“Everypony knows that,” Sunset snapped, eyes narrowing. “Don’t say it like you’re sharing some proof with me.”

“I…” Twilight sighed. “But Celestia takes every promising applicant she can find. She took on another pony, one that started to upstage you. You were upset, and eventually… demanded the secrets of magic Celestia had promised you. When you didn’t get them, you went to another source.”

“Through the mirror,” Sunset whispered. “Where Star Swirl sent away all the magic that Equestria couldn’t handle. All the power of our history in one place.”

Twilight stifled a laugh. Sunset seemed to think there was a locked room on the other side filled with artifacts, not an entire world in its own right. “Yes,” she said. “In my Equestria, you liked the world on that side better. You found your magic, and decided not to come back. Well… not to stay. I think you made a trip back once or twice. There’s a machine for making the mirror work whenever we want it to… that doesn’t really matter.”

Sunset stared for a long, silent moment. Twilight expected her to teleport off to Nightmare Moon at any second. But eventually she just nodded, settling onto her haunches again. “Nothing happens until you get all six of these ponies together. I’ll have to decide… how much of this to share, when that happens. Princess might not like what you’re doing.”

“I thought you were going to go get Alicorn magic for yourself,” Twilight said. “Why do you care?”

“Working on it,” Sunset said. “Getting into Canterlot isn’t easy. My name is… well known. It turns out impersonating a changeling is much harder for us than impersonating a pony is for them. But I’ll get in. And… come to think of it, you make a good point. I think I can use the quality of your answer to know whether I should share this with the princess. I think she’s waiting for you to fail… proof that you were a liar, that other Alicorns can’t be trusted. But I don’t think you will.”

“I won’t,” Twilight agreed. She couldn’t hear anything, but through the door into the hall she could see the outlines of a few ponies in motion. “Because I have friends fighting for the same thing. Friends are more powerful than any spell.”

Applejack emerged from the doorway a moment later, poking her head towards them. Sunset’s horn flashed, and the spell faded away, letting Twilight hear her again. “There you are, Twilight! I was worried we had gotten turned around somewhere.”

She met Sunset’s eyes as they left, still tense, but apparently cooperative.

Please don’t turn us in.

There were no military police waiting to arrest them as they made their way through the offices of military intelligence to the 109th, where they could find the officer who represented Rainbow Dash. Each unit had its own tiny room with a single bedraggled pony inside, each one with their own mountain of paperwork. For all that Nightmare Moon had done to change the natural world, almost nothing had changed about Equestrian bureaucracy. It was just moving from one type to another.

The officer they were looking for was an old stallion, obviously too old to be fighting anymore, though he kept his uniform pressed and the paperwork in his little office straight and sorted. He nodded respectfully to Rarity as they came in, then bowed to Twilight. “Duchess? I’m officer Sturdy Shield. I struggle to imagine what benefit I could offer a pony like you. Whatever you need… surely you come to the wrong place.”

“Oh, we’re quite sure,” Rarity said, sounding exasperated. She’d been that way ever since they arrived, but… she also apparently hadn’t shared her suspicions with Nightmare Moon.

I’m walking on a knife with her. If we don’t win her over soon, we’re all going to fall off.

“We’re looking for a pony in your unit. We need to find out anything you can tell us about where she is. Maybe her service history too, if it comes to that.”

“Uh… sure, certainly. Anything the princess requires will be done.”

“We’re looking for a blue pegasus named Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said. “Rainbow and cloud cutie mark, short and sleek, rainbow mane. We learned she’s assigned to the 109th.”

“Oh, sure.” Sturdy Shield sat down, then lifted his binder and ruffled through it with unicorn magic. After only a few seconds, his eyes went wide, and he let the binder fall flat in front of him. “O-oh. Duchess, I… I’m so sorry.”

Twilight felt the whole world grow suddenly cold. Rainbow Dash was dead. Without her, there could be no Elements of Harmony. She had learned during Discord’s escape that there was no substitute for true friendship. No one could hold her place. Without her, Equestria was doomed. Nightmare Moon would make sure that the night really did last forever, assuming Equestria’s enemies didn’t devour her first. It was inevitable.

“What does it say?” Rarity asked, her voice terse. “Please, we need to know exactly what’s in that record of yours. It’s critically important.

He hesitated for a few seconds, then lifted up the binder to read. “The lieutenant was behind enemy lines during a covert mission when her squad was captured. No ransom was asked, nor were there demands for her release. It is presumed she is a prisoner of war in one of Sombra’s Crystalariums, if he did not kill her outright. Her family has been notified, and awarded the customary sum in compensation by the Crown.”

“You just… let her rot in prison?” Twilight asked, outraged. Yet for all her anger, there was also hope. For thinking she had been dead, and everything was doomed moments before, this was incredible news.

Rainbow is a tough pony. No prison could kill her. “Does it say anything about what prison?” Twilight asked, talking right over Sturdy Shield’s mealy-mouthed response about how many prisoners of war there were and how none of them could be worth the many deaths it would take to recapture their POW camps.

Sturdy Shield blinked, taking another moment to register what she’d asked. Then he stiffened, clearing his throat. “I, uh… no, Duchess. I have no idea where she’s being held. It’s a tragedy to lose a mare or stallion under my command. It’s the worst feeling any officer can suffer. But we’re all fighting for the realm. Protecting our families. We understand the risks when we set out.”

That used to be true. But Nightmare Moon doesn’t take volunteers, she conscripts. She has a register of everypony in the country to take her recruits from.

Twilight stiffened. “Officer. I’m not asking you or your unit to make any additional sacrifices. I am only asking if you know where she might be held. You’ve done nothing wrong.”

“N-no,” he stammered. “There are only a few prison mines, everypony knows that. But I don’t know where they are, or which one. You could talk to Intelligence. Find the one closest to her last assignment. She was working, uhm…” He fished a few pages back, then turned the binder towards her. There was a map there, a map that showed a new crystal pony settlement fairly close to Vanhoover. “The village of Agate. We thought they were preparing for an offensive against Vanhoover. It’s possible they would have, were it not for Rainbow Dash’s heroics, and the heroics of other ponies in the 109th like her.”

“Yes, yes.” Twilight nodded. “Thank you for your time, officer.” They left without another word.

“I’m sorry your mission has to end like this,” Rarity said, as soon as they’d made it far enough down the hall that there weren’t any other ponies nearby to listen. The others in the group were all there—Pinkie Pie with her increasing pinkness, Applejack looking like she was out of place and wanted to find the nearest way out of the building. “I had hoped you might succeed.”

“Oh, I haven’t given up.” Twilight didn’t even hesitate. “She’s a prisoner of war, that’s not going to stop me. I’ve rescued prisoners before. Been a prisoner myself… and so has Rainbow Dash. She’s tough as horseshoes. We just need to find out where the prison is, and go there.”

“We,” Rarity repeated. “You expect us to go with you behind enemy lines. Traveling into Sombra’s territory. Do you know what he does to his prisoners? What would be waiting for us if we were caught?”

Pinkie Pie bounced a little closer. “Oh, I know this one!” She lowered her voice just a little. “They’re enslaved eternally to the rightful inheritors of Equus, to work at their whims for all eternity. Those that please him will have their hearts encircled in crystal, to become his citizens, while the rest will die in whatever way brings him pleasure.”

“That’s… very nearly word for word.” Rarity nodded in satisfaction. “Anyway, that’s what’s waiting in the Empire. It’s nowhere we can go. Princess Cadance gave herself to him, and it did not stem his lust for power. Imagine the gift it would be to give him all of us!”

Twilight shrugged. “Then we’ll just have to make sure we don’t get captured. Rarity… this ends the war. If we get everypony together, there is no more Sombra. That’s worth fighting for. Besides, I know none of you remember her, but Rainbow Dash is our friend. We can’t leave her a prisoner. We have to go in and save her while we still can. I’m probably the second most powerful pony in Equestria… after Princess Nightmare Moon, of course. And in my Equestria, each of you were powerful in your own ways. Nothing to be underestimated.”

“Is this convincing either of you?” Rarity asked, her voice just a tad condescending. “Neither of you are soldiers. Yes, Sergeant Pinkie, I’m sure you’re brave and your record at Elkatraz was exemplary, but this is different work. We’ll be sneaking directly into a prison. If Sombra’s ponies catch us, they won’t even have to take us anywhere—they can just throw us into the cells beside our ‘friend’ Rainbow Dash. Except for Twilight, who Sombra will probably take as another concubine. Don’t think he won’t just because you’re an Alicorn. His appetites are the stuff of crass legend!”

“I’m going,” Applejack said, before Pinkie could answer. “Twilight here might have strange things to say, but she hasn’t led us wrong yet. If she says she can get us there, then I’m sure she can get us there. It’s just the matter of figuring out the right plan. Finding the right way to sneak into his land, the right disguise. I’m sure there’s a way.”

“I’m really just along for the ride,” Pinkie said. “If we’re sneaking into a prison, then I only hope we’re there long enough for me to hold a secret breakout party on the way out. And… maybe help all the other ponies out? I’ve been guarding a prison for months and months now. It’ll be fun to try to go the other way. For the good side, too! How lucky is that?”

Rarity made a frustrated groaning sound, stomping one hoof on the ground. “You all are going to be the death of me! Traveling to Elkatraz was hard enough! Some of the representatives we send to Iron Will don’t return! But as if that wasn’t bad enough, we’ll be traveling all the way to the front, sneaking into Crystal Pony territory, and… who knows what else. Nightmare only knows if we’ll be able to find the location of the prison. And we might make it all the way up there only to discover we’ve broken into the wrong one and all our effort was for nothing! What would you think of that, Duchess? We might break in, subdue the guards, and find an empty cell waiting for us. Your friend might be dead!”

“Then my Equestria will die with her,” Twilight said. “Please, Rarity. We won’t be able to do this without your help. I know someone in this building knows where these prisons are. But getting any of them to talk to us is going to be another kind of battle. One you’ve already proved you can win. If you can help us win here, I can get us to the prison.”

“And out again, I hope,” Applejack added, her voice small. “Not that I don’t trust you or anything, I just wanted to make sure you didn’t forget.”

“And out again,” Twilight agreed. “In and out. Together.”

“Alright!” Rarity yelled, so loudly that ponies on either end of the hallway stopped to stare at them. Rarity winced, muttering an apology under her breath, then pointed. “That’s going to be top secret intelligence… top floor. I did a favor for the clerk a few weeks back, I’m sure I could slip into the records room for a few minutes.”

And that was exactly what she did. Twilight and the others waited while Rarity flirted with the clerk, slipped into the room, and returned a few minutes later with a file-folder under one leg. She gestured urgently for the door. “We, uh… better get going. I’m not sure they’ll be happy with me actually taking anything out. But if we’re in the castle, they know they can’t touch me.”

They made it to the castle. Twilight was tense every moment, expecting Nightmare Moon to swoop down and imprison her. But apparently she hadn’t spent the last few days studying her magic for betrayal, or doing anything else even remotely concerned with what Twilight’s plan really involved.

Eventually they reached somewhere safe—Rarity’s own quarters. Despite leaving on this mission, it seemed that Nightmare Moon either respected her enough to keep everything in place, or possibly just assigned her replacement to live somewhere else.

For the steward of the entire castle, the space was barely large enough to fit their group, particularly with the little pony already inside.

“You’re back!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed, as Rarity led the way into her bedroom. They met in a tight embrace—tight enough to tell Twilight everything she needed to know about Rarity’s skepticism for their plan. “They said you might not be back for a long time… did you save Equestria already?”

“Not quite, darling,” Rarity answered, returning the hug for a few more seconds before finally letting go. “These are, uh… my new friends. We’ve still got two more to find before Equestria is safe. We have a mission to plan.”

“Oh, can I help?” Sweetie Belle bounced up and down beside her, watching the rest of them enter with wide eyes and a grin across her face. “I’m smart! I’m even, uh… better with my magic than I used to be! I can do levitation spells all by myself now!”

“I’m afraid not, Sweetie,” Rarity answered, voice pained. “The princess, uh… doesn’t want you to leave the castle. For your own safety. You’ll have to stay here, unfortunately.”

She doesn’t have her cutie mark. Twilight stared openly at her, unsure of what she was seeing. But no, she wasn’t hallucinating. Why do my friends have theirs when other ponies don’t?

“Rarity, uh… maybe you should send your sister away for a bit. She’s probably safer if she doesn’t hear any of this.”

“Yes,” Rarity agreed. “Unfortunately she’s right, dear. We need to uh… ask you to run down to the kitchen for tea. I’m sorry there isn’t a more dignified task for you, but… think of it as a test of your magic! You could levitate the tray all the way back here.”

“I get it.” Sweetie’s ears flattened, and she slumped her way past them. “I’ll get the tea.” She shuffled out, leaving even Twilight feeling a little guilty as she watched her go.

Pinkie shut the door gently behind her, before bouncing back into the center of the room. “So where are we going next?”

Rarity opened the file, shuffling through it for a few seconds. “There are… three mines still open, according to our thestral spies. This one here is clearly the closest to Agate. Looks like the city has emerged around it, and they even have some trade with Equestria across the border. Some… highly illegal trade in Equestrian contraband and crystal inventions.” She sat back, fuming. “It’s oversights like this that keep the war going. Don’t ponies know that trading their safety for conveniences across the border won’t keep them from ending up in the mines too?”

“Rarity, focus. We’re not here to stop the black market, we’re looking for a pony. Rainbow Dash, right? Prisoner of war, fighting for your side. That should be enough for you to want to rescue her.”

“For our side,” Rarity corrected, raising an eyebrow just a little. “Equestria’s fates rise or fall together. Don’t think I’m going to sit here turning a blind eye to treasonous suggestions in my own—”

Twilight stomped one hoof, loudly and suddenly enough that all eyes snapped to her. “Rarity, please. We’re not suggesting otherwise. Applejack is right that we need to save Rainbow Dash first. There won’t be a black market when we finish. The Crystal Empire will be part of Equestria again, the way it should’ve been.”

“Besides…” Pinkie squeezed into the tiny couch beside Applejack. There was only really enough room for three ponies in the tiny sitting room, which meant Twilight sat on the floor. But she hardly noticed. Only the documents on Rarity’s little table mattered. “The market might work to our advantage! It’s a shame ponies are giving their bits to somepony as evil as Sombra… but that means they’re crossing back and forth. There’s got to be a way across the border for us too, right? We can… go across to shop, or… as merchants, or something. Then all we have to do is sneak down into the prison, save Rainbow, and we’re done!”

We still need to find Fluttershy, Twilight thought. “That’s a solid plan, Pinkie. Unless somepony here can think of a better idea, that’s probably a good place to start. We can go to…” She squinted down at the map for a second. “Vanhoover. We ask around, pretend we’re big clients making a trade across the border. Can’t be that hard.”

“I suppose that sounds as plausible as anything,” Rarity said. “A shame we don’t have the soldiers to organize an offensive and take the city across the border. Ponies couldn’t trade contraband if the enemy was destroyed. But since that’s impossible, a more covert approach is sensible enough. I’ll arrange passage for us tomorrow. And… lodging for the three of you in the meantime. Make any preparations you need to while we’re still safe in civilization. I’m sure I’ll find passage out before Eventide.”

They didn’t depart on another Flim-Flam industry armored trains. Twilight was grateful for that, considering what had happened to the one they rode in when they arrived.

Unfortunately there were no other means of transit quite as efficient. Instead they had to wait for a hot-air balloon to take them to Seaddle, then catch an ordinary train bound for Vanhoover on the border, a trip of several days marked by frequent stops and rerouting thanks to the ongoing conflict.

Twilight took advantage of the long trip to do a little spellcasting, taking a spare vest she’d borrowed from Rarity and enchanting it with a simple illusion. Once she slipped it on, her wings would vanish, leaving little magical signature behind that couldn’t be explained by her already being a unicorn.

Of course, that wouldn’t hide the other signs she was different—her horn was still longer than a unicorn’s, she was still taller, and her magic was much more powerful. But at least this way she could walk through the streets without seeming like an obvious anomaly to literally everyone who encountered her.

They did eventually reach Vanhoover, and Twilight emerged from the car to see just what life was like in an actual Equestrian city.

The first thing she noticed were the crystals—bright green spires similar to the ones she’d seen from Applejack’s farm, only far larger and spread between the buildings. There were also bright amber streetlights, instead of the dull purple glow that Nightmare Moon kept to her castle. Ponies here could actually see.

Yet just because the ponies in Vanhoover were still alive didn’t mean they were still living. For every two civilians, Twilight saw one soldier, patrolling the streets or manning the entrenched barricades along Vanhoover’s northern border. There were frequent security checkpoints, and constant requests to submit to a spell to prove they weren’t crystal ponies. Twilight’s illusion vest could survive that much scrutiny.

They purchased rooms at the most expensive hotel in town, which also happened to be the only hotel.

“Alright, everypony,” Twilight said, as soon as she’d enchanted the room with the protection spells necessary to keep their conversations private. “Pinkie, I think you said something about knowing where to look on the way over?”

She nodded. “Oh, sure! Every town has the same places. They need to be easy to find, or else it would be hard to get clients. You all just wait here, and I’ll take care of everything!”

“Should we be worried that you’re so good at this?” Rarity asked, raising an eyebrow. “I mean… Sergeant, you were working at one of our most important prisons until recently. I shudder to think what contraband you might’ve been arranging for the prisoners there.”

“Nothing dangerous!” Pinkie exclaimed, grinning. “It’s easier to keep prisoners who don’t want to escape very much. Iron Will agreed with me. Didn’t you say it was expensive to get me out? Now you know why!”

He didn’t agree enough to try and break the usual assignment system, Twilight thought. But maybe he didn’t have a choice. If the drawings of assignments were public, and they amounted to a death sentence for many of the ponies who got them, then he couldn’t have been seen violating them.

“Alright Pinkie,” Twilight said. “You can go ahead and look. See if anyone will take us across the border. Just don’t tell them who we are and don’t commit to anything.”

“Do you… want any of us to come?” Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow. “I mean… I don’t know anything about arranging business deals that skirt inconvenient regulation—but you still might want backup.”

Pinkie shook her head. “Better off alone. Then they think I’m desperate. Think they can take advantage.” She lowered her voice, eyes narrowing. “They’re wrong.” She bounced out the door without another word.

They waited. Twilight watched the moon go down, then rise again on the other side of the sky. Activity slowed as Eventide began, with most ponies asleep at home. But then a single figure bounced her way back up the street towards the hotel, with a cloaked figure following behind.

“Well what do you know,” Applejack muttered from over her shoulder. “She actually did it. I never should’ve doubted her.”

“Doubted isn’t quite the word I would’ve chosen,” Rarity muttered. “Perhaps—’worried that she might implicate us in treason.’”

Applejack waved one hoof. “The princess herself approved this mission. You can’t honestly think she’d be worried about crossing the border with the right forms.”

Rarity huffed, then marched into a corner and sat down, defiant. She went back to her sewing project—a dress of some kind, covered with semi-precious stones. It seemed to be doing for Rarity what other ponies might get from counting to ten, or pacing.

A minute or so later, Pinkie knocked on their door in the arranged pattern. Twilight prepared a defensive spell in the back of her mind, then opened the door a crack. There was Pinkie, with the robed figure a dark blob in the hallway behind her.

“I did it,” Pinkie muttered, the only answer they needed. Twilight swung the door open, watching the figure carefully. Beneath their dark robe, she could see the outline of a horn, the only clue at the pony’s identity.

She shut the door behind them, then locked up all the defensive spells.

“I found us a way across the border!” Pinkie exclaimed, gesturing at the pony beside her. “You won’t believe it, but there are ponies pretty excited about helping us!”

The pony flung back her hood, and Twilight’s eyes went wide. “The Great and Powerful Trixie is pleased to save Equestria today!”

Chapter 8: Performance

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Twilight resisted the temptation to send the pony right back where she came from. For a citizen of this strange, dystopian world that Equestria had become, Trixie seemed basically identical to the way she remembered her. The mane was a little shorter, and not smoothed with the magician’s usual cocktail of expensive conditioners. She looked a little leaner under the robe, probably a sign of just how much worse her act had done. But otherwise, she was the same pony. I guess I should just be glad she isn’t ruling over Ponyville with an iron hoof.

“Twilight, uh… you’re staring,” Applejack whispered from behind her. “Is something wrong?”

“Oh, no!” Twilight straightened, forcing a smile. She’s not the same pony you knew. I’m sure she’s changed by the harsh world she lives in. Probably learned her lessons thanks to the natural hardship of this planet.

“No no, it’s fine.” Trixie waved one hoof towards Applejack. “It’s quite alright. The Great and Powerful Trixie is used to evoking strong emotions from her admirers. I’m sure your friend here is a fan, that’s all. She’s awed by my presence. It is alright, young pony. Take it all in. It’s true that Trixie is as patriotic as she is amazing. She even amazes herself sometimes.”

Nope, she’s exactly the same. In a way, that was almost endearing. Equestria had fallen to several different monsters at once, that had carved it up into various nightmarish kingdoms. Yet here she was, as stubbornly narcissistic as ever.

“Thank you,” Twilight said, her voice flat. “Did Pinkie tell you the specifics of our mission? The dangers you’d be facing by helping us?”

Trixie nodded. “She didn’t share the exact details, but the general idea was clear. I need to get the four of you across the border into the Crystal Empire, yes? Into Agate. That won’t be terribly difficult for me. I’m ashamed to say this, but the crystal ponies don’t fear us nearly as much as we fear them. There are plenty of former Equestrians living there, and even the crystal ponies enjoy a good magic show. So that’s how we’ll get you all across. As my stage assistants!” Her eyes narrowed as she took in Twilight. For a second, the Alicorn wondered if maybe Trixie was remembering a little of the past.

“I’m not sure how many ponies would believe such an outlandish story… but that’s the benefit of having an incredible performer like myself leading the mission! Of course, I’ll have to teach all of you the basics of my routine for it to be plausible. The guards often ask for a free show while I cross, and they might turn you away if you can’t pull your weight. And of course there’s the small matter of my fee for the trip…”

“Don’t worry about it,” Rarity said, exasperated. “The Crown will reward you handsomely for your risk on this important mission, etcetera, etcetera…” She turned to Pinkie. “Are you sure there isn’t another way? We aren’t trying to be caught, are we?”

Trixie’s eyes widened, but Pinkie answered before she could protest. “We really lucked out finding a pony like Trixie. Performances are good for troop morale! They know we’re desperate over here, so letting her cross lets their ponies get her at a reduced rate. Besides, Trixie here is a veteran! She’s done trips like this before, hasn’t she?”

Trixie nodded hastily. “Every few weeks! I’ve been touring the border cities. Haven’t… had as much luck with changeling settlements. They… don’t appreciate the performing arts like crystal ponies do. But I’m sure I’ll crack that audience eventually.”

“It’s perfect,” Twilight said. “I’ve seen her shows. Trixie… has a way with a crowd. She’ll be perfect.”

“I will… I mean, of course I will! The Great and Powerful Trixie will be the pony single-hoofedly responsible for the salvation of all Equestria!” She posed for a few seconds, as though expecting applause. When none came, she lowered her voice back to conversational volume, speaking flat. “But that doesn’t mean I’m giving you a discount. It could take days of practice before we’re ready to make the trip.”

“I can’t wait,” Rarity said.

The process of learning Trixie’s show did take a couple days, a couple days of rehearsal not in the cramped hotel, but outside the performer’s wagon just north of the city. Twilight watched all the while with a surreal feeling of disconnect, as ponies that should’ve known each other interacted like strangers.

But eventually Trixie proclaimed they were ready, and they all crammed into the back of the trailer for the trip across the border.

“Trixie wishes for everypony to remember how important it is for us to act consistently,” she said, beside Applejack who had been foisted into pulling the wagon in alternating shifts with Pinkie. But for all her complaints, she was still far stronger than anypony else in the group, and hardly seemed to even notice the weight that Rarity never could’ve pulled. “That means following my instructions. And putting on a good show. Remember to smile!”

“I’ll do fine for the real thing,” Rarity muttered, glaring down at the floor. “I just didn’t see the point for the rehearsal. No one was there to see us anyway.”

Trixie rolled her eyes. “That’s why you aren’t in performance art.”

The Equestrian border checkpoint was behind them in Vanhoover—carefully avoided thanks to some map Trixie had that could route around the patrols so long as they were leaving from inside Equestrian territory. Apparently the security was only strong in one direction.

The Crystal Empire’s checkpoints, on the other hoof, were… harder to ignore.

Twilight could feel the hostile magic from a long way off, like a set of glaring eyes never looking away from her and her friends. She whimpered at the pressure at first, as she had done the last time she had sensed magic from this pony.

Sombra. Sombra was perhaps the most powerful dark wizard in the whole world. Nopony knew exactly where his forbidden knowledge came from, only that he was the most powerful unicorn alive in his day. Enough that he had frightened even Celestia—long enough to take the Crystal Empire for himself.

But Twilight wasn’t a unicorn anymore. Though her last confrontation with him had left her fearful and ignorant, she didn’t have to be either anymore. I see how this spell works. It was a scrying spell, meant to find intention based on repeated thoughts. Anyone with hostile intentions towards the Crystal Empire would make ripples as they moved, and eventually attract his notice.

But the magic was diffuse, spread so thin that it would take a long time before he could react. We shouldn’t have set it off yet. I can… “There.” Twilight’s horn started glowing faintly. “There’s a protection spell meant to see what we’re doing. I can block us from it, so long as we stay together.”

Rarity poked her head out of the wagon. “Really? Is that why all our covert missions are met with such failure. We always thought… he must’ve had an agent in the ranks. But no matter how many they purged, they always…”

“The Crystal Empire has an artifact in the center… something called the Crystal Heart. In my world, it’s used to send good feelings through all Equestria. It powers some old crystal devices in the city too, keeps it safe from the cold. It looks like your Sombra found another way to use it. Spying on everypony who gets close to his territory, instead of making them feel good.”

“Well, that’s lovely,” Rarity said. “If we make it back, we need to share that information with Intelligence. If you have any way to source it, they would be extremely grateful. We’ve lost too many good ponies like Rainbow across the border. The war might’ve ended sooner if some of their missions had been more successful.”

The border checkpoint itself came into view moments later, spanning the road and the land all around it with gnarled black growths. It was the same black crystal Sombra used for most everything, sharp and strong despite its delicate appearance.

There were half a dozen ponies visible along the top of the wall, with plenty more milling about in the small camp just behind it. Twilight could see several of them pointing despite the gloom. A few seconds later, a massive green spotlight swiveled towards them, tracking the cart as they approached the wall.

Trixie walked out in front of the cart, wearing her full costume and putting on as much of a performance as she always did. “Have no fear, ponies! The Great and Powerful Trixie has finally arrived to entertain!”

“Stop in front of the gate!” instructed a brusque voice, not even a hint of compassion there. “We have crossbows. If you attempt to retreat, or take any hostile action, you will be shot.”

Twilight and the others were wearing simple blue outfits Rarity had made—little vests and boots that did a convincing job making them look like her assistants. But will they really believe that a magician is traveling across a hostile border to do performances? It seemed absurd to Twilight, but apparently it was the truth. Trixie hadn’t hesitated to bring them—whatever else the pony was, she was brave.

If I get home, I’m never telling the real Trixie she helped save the world. She’d never let me live it down.

“I hope you’re right about trusting her…” Rarity muttered from inside the cart. But it was too late to reply, too late to retreat. Twilight could probably have teleported away without too much difficulty, but not bringing the whole cart along. That would probably make them look guilty, make them look like a target that was worth following. So that was right out.

Twilight remained behind Trixie as a few soldiers emerged from the gate, watching them with horror. These were crystal ponies—this was what Sombra was doing to the empire.

They wore metal armor not unlike other ponies, over a body that was entirely transparent. But they didn’t look like the pretty sections of a wind chime—instead, they seemed like they were made of broken, discarded bottles, all melted together. Their eyes were little red spots glowing on their faces, and spikes emerged along their backs.

Even knowing that Sombra’s world would be an unhappy one, Twilight was momentarily frozen with horror, staring openly at the soldiers as they surrounded Trixie.

“We’re just performers,” Trixie said. “You’re welcome to search the wagon. Or, if you want to see for yourselves, my troupe could put on a show for your camp. N-no charge.”

The crystal ponies seemed to meet each other’s eyes. Was there some chance that there were still real ponies buried in all of that? Maybe they were enslaved to Sombra’s will by their crystal, somehow.

No, I can’t get distracted. I’m saving them all directly. They’ll all wake up as themselves soon.

“Everypony stand there,” said one of the soldiers, his voice strangely deep. He gestured, and the cart emptied. They all grouped up, with everypony besides Trixie hiding behind Twilight. She couldn’t really blame them—even her friends back in Equestria would’ve been scared of these creatures.

More soldiers emerged from the gate to search them, interrogating Trixie about the length of their stay and their intentions for the trip. She repeated their story without deviating once, even insisting that each member of the crew was essential. And while they spoke, more soldiers ripped everything out of the wagon, searching it for contraband.

The pony interrogating Trixie wasn’t a crystal pony, despite the rank patches on the corner of his armor and the sharp expression always on his face. “Maybe you don’t need so many ponies for a show,” the unicorn said. His horn was slightly red, and his eyes were just as dark as the crystal ponies, even if he himself seemed to be made of flesh. “Maybe I let you keep… two.”

“Trixie needs every one of her assistants,” she argued stubbornly, glancing over her shoulder once at Twilight. “You’ll see. Once the Great and Powerful Trixie performs for your camp here, you’ll be jumping to let her travel the rest of the Crystal Empire. You have never seen anything like it.”

The pony grunted in response. “We’ll see. You can have your performance. Where you go after that… maybe to Agate, maybe the slave pits. We’ll see.”

Trixie laughed nervously. “Y-yeah, we’ll… you’ll see. You’d never want to be the ponies to stop this performance from continuing on, once you see it for yourselves.”

And so they were let through the gate—and all of five hundred feet to the camp of soldiers protecting the border. At least they were given a little space, to gather up everything that had been ransacked and pack it back into the wagon, and to prepare for the show. But half a dozen bored-looking soldiers surrounded the wagon, cutting off any chance of an escape.

“Are these crossings usually so… tense?” Applejack asked, as soon as they were all crammed into the wagon. “I feel like something would’ve gone wrong by now.”

“Most ponies are more… polite when they’re in the presence of power. They don’t usually look so closely. Trixie thinks they must have other reasons to be suspicious. But… it won’t matter. Do not worry yourselves, ponies. Trixie has never failed to move a crowd, even when so many of them are rocks. While they may seem stiff, crystal ponies aren’t so different from us. They still want to laugh… want to be impressed, amazed, astounded! Trixie will make them do all of those things.”

“I hope so,” Rarity said. “Do we have a backup plan? We can’t let them just throw us into a work camp if this doesn’t go well. It won’t be the same one as a true prisoner of war. We will have gone all this way, gotten ourselves enslaved, and won’t even find the pegasus.”

Twilight nodded. “There are a lot of ponies here, but… they think I’m a unicorn. I’ll come up with something.” I better. Twilight didn’t have a clue what they could do, and less so as a crowd began to gather for the performance.

There were hundreds of soldiers here, flocking not just from this camp but apparently several all around. Twilight Sparkle might be powerful, she might know more about magic than any one of these ponies. But there was so much magic here, and much of it she didn’t even understand. She still hadn’t seen the crystal ponies in action.

Their threats about slavery weren’t empty either. As soldiers arrived for the performance, they brought ponies in chains, with shovels and picks to dig out seating for the show. Twilight peeked out through the wagon’s window, but could see no sign of anypony she knew.

It doesn’t matter. They shouldn’t have to suffer like this. This was the future that King Sombra had promised for all Equestria. This was what she and her friends had stopped once.

I hope you’re happy about this, Starlight Glimmer. Wherever you are, I hope you see just what your magic made the world into.

“Looks like the crowd is getting restless,” Trixie said, making a few final adjustments to her makeup. “Come on then, assistants! Let’s make this a performance they won’t forget!”

It took only moments for Twilight to see that Trixie’s promises of just how impressed and amazed everypony would be might have some trouble coming true. Twilight’s pretend job was working stage lights, which she could do quite well thanks to a few basic unicorn spells.

But just because she could do a good job, just because Applejack’s music and Rarity’s costumes were all perfect didn’t mean that the crystal ponies would want anything to do with them. As Twilight watched the crowd from one side, she could see several of the soldiers on the outside passing around weapons, and occasionally gesturing between them.

This isn’t going to end well. If they were captured and imprisoned by the Crystal Empire, that might very well be the end of any chance to save Equestria. She couldn’t let that happen. But what could she do?

Just now, Rarity was serving as Trixie’s assistant, helping with an illusion of sawing a pony in half. With Applejack on the other side of the stage doing music, that left only Pinkie close enough to talk to. Twilight lowered her voice to the quietest whisper, leaning close to her friend. Maybe she would see something that Twilight had missed?

“This isn’t working,” she hissed. “They’re going to try and arrest us once the show ends.”

Pinkie followed her eyes, then nodded solemnly. “They don’t look like they’re having as much fun as Trixie hoped. I think these soldiers are just too stiff. Someone should really help them relax.”

Someone should. Twilight’s eyes widened as she stared at the pink pony beside her, and she very nearly missed a cue to switch gels on the lights. She swapped from blue to red, catching just a little of Trixie’s glare as she did so.

“Pinkie, what would you do? If this show ends and everypony is unhappy… do you have any ideas?”

The earth pony looked thoughtful for a few seconds, glancing briefly back inside the trailer and then nodding slowly. “I think I’d… make treats for everypony. Play some music, maybe change the lights. Make it a party! Everypony likes parties.”

“Go,” Twilight whispered. “I’ll cover for you.” That would mean pulling double duty with the props Pinkie was supposed to covertly pass at the right moment, but that was just fine. Twilight was an Alicorn, she could move lights and levitate things with her magic at the same time. No big deal.

And as the show wore on, she could watch the clear divide in the audience. A good portion of those watching seemed to be enjoying themselves, but just as many were unmoving, apparently more excited by the idea of whatever would be coming to the show as soon as it ended.

Then it did, to a modest smattering of applause. It wasn’t Trixie’s best performance—this version of her didn’t have as much practice, apparently. But at least the soldiers looked less bored.

Except for their captain, the same unicorn who had interrogated them on their way in. He strode up onto the stage before the audience had even finished applauding, a smug grin on his face. All around them, the soldiers were closing in.

He plans on giving them a different kind of show, Twilight realized, horrified. Trixie, how are you still alive?

“That was very interesting,” he said, sounding like he hadn’t even watched any of it. “But we’re not done with you yet. After watching all that, it’s pretty clear to me that—”

If he says what he plans, he’ll have to do it. He can’t let us question his command authority. I have to stop this.

Twilight nodded sharply to Applejack, who started beating the drums again, so loudly that the captain was silenced. Twilight rapidly shifted through the lights, moving them up and down dramatically before stepping out beside Trixie.

“That was the performance!” she said, magically amplifying her voice. “But it’s not the only reason we’re here! What show would be complete without… an afterparty?!” Please Pinkie please be listening. Sweet Celestia we need you.

An explosion of confetti rained down over the entire stage, splattering in the face of many of the nearby soldiers. By the time it landed, somepony had switched the record to something much more upbeat, and a huge tray of refreshments had appeared at the bottom of the stage. From the look of it, Pinkie was rushing around setting up games and entertainment that she’d hastily put together from bits of Trixie’s wagon, or else stolen from scraps around camp. “Who’s ready to party?”

A resounding cheer went up from the audience—most of which had their eyes fixed on the stage and its sugary confections. Whatever the captain was trying to say was swallowed by the rush of ponies all surging forward. Soon the stage was completely overwhelmed, as soldiers mixed in with them, playing the games and enjoying the snacks and generally relaxing.

Twilight watched the captain and his stallions sulk away, and many of them rejoin the festivities a few minutes later.

Except for the captain himself. Twilight didn’t see him again until the celebration was winding down, and most of the soldiers had returned to the camp. Twilight and the others were cleaning up, and he stalked back out towards Trixie.

Twilight made her way over, so that she’d be close enough to overhear. He sounded furious.

“This is… not what we were promised,” he said. “I should send all of you to the pits.”

She watched, expecting Trixie to withdraw in fear—but the mare only smiled at him. “The Great and Powerful Trixie does not think that would be a good idea, Captain Wicket. Word of this celebration has already spread back to Agate. I’ve promised a reprisal performance there in a few days. I don’t think they would be very happy to find out we had been sent somewhere else.”

“Don’t come back this way,” Wicket hissed, before turning and stomping his way back to camp. But it didn’t matter. We made it.

A few hours later and they were on the road, with a surly Trixie upset at all the sugar and flour they had “wasted” to get across. “I’m going to have to raise my rate,” she muttered. “Trixie appreciates your quick-thinking, but reminds you that these things aren’t free. She will have to buy supplies in Agate, and their markets are expensive.”

Twilight ignored her. They wouldn’t be traveling with Trixie much longer. They’d crossed the border—in some ways, that was the easy part. Now they had to find a way to break into where Sombra kept some of the most dangerous pony prisoners.

We’re coming, Rainbow Dash. Just hold on a little longer.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie suggests that you reconsider,” Trixie said, as the cart rumbled along the snowy road towards Agate. There were no more heat towers out here, so the snow didn’t melt in the sun. On either side of the path was a mountain of white, that Pinkie occasionally vanished into. Without temperature fluctuations or ponies to change the weather, it might just keep growing forever as ponies cleared the roads.

“The great and powerful Trixie just wants someone to pull her cart,” Applejack muttered from the harness. “I think once we get inside is where we separate.

But there was light up ahead, brilliantly white and blinding whenever Twilight looked directly at the town. Agate was apparently not shy about light pollution. Even from a distance Twilight could smell the city as well as see it, the ashy stench of a forge constantly coking steel, of other kinds of industrial processes that ponies usually kept far away from where they lived. But apparently Sombra didn’t much care about birth defects.

“No,” Trixie corrected. “Trixie does appreciate assistants, but she is worried for you. Being part of the act will mean that you’re left alone. Sombra’s territory… isn’t heavy on freedom. Anypony who looks like they don’t have a job, they get one. They work as much as they’re told, or they get a harder job.”

As they got closer, Twilight could make out the sounds too. Hammers on steel, grinding saws, pickaxes on stone. The town was growing rapidly—though it didn’t have walls, it probably would within a few more weeks. Work lamps surrounded the city, and ponies in chains worked to lay brick

“We won’t be staying for long,” Rarity said. “I’m sure we’ll be in and out before anypony notices. Besides—they must not look too closely. Somepony has to pay to go to your shows, right? We’ll just… pretend to be them. Upper class. A natural fit for any group I’m a part of.”

Trixie laughed. “They’re all crystal ponies. Good luck faking being transparent.”

Twilight extended a hoof placatingly. “We’re grateful for your help getting this far. But once we get into town, we have a mission. We can’t do it if we’re putting on shows with you.”

Trixie shrugged, though Twilight could see that she was bothered. “Of course. Trixie understands. She is grateful for this chance to serve her country.”

There were no huge walls and army to stop them from getting into Agate, but there were soldiers outside to check them again. Trixie gave the same explanation, and this time they accepted it without complaint. “Don’t go downtown,” one of them said, as soon as Trixie had demonstrated a few basic tricks to prove she was actually a magician. “Don’t go near the mines, or the factories, or the barracks. There should be some land in the public square for your… cart. Stay there until you’re called on to perform. You will accept the payment offered to you.”

“O-of course,” Trixie stammered. And they walked into town.

It looked just as bleak to Twilight inside as it had from afar. Most of the ponies here were the ordinary type, and all of them looked some degree of beaten down. Many had scars on their backs or legs, signs of the whips used to motivate them to work. A few wore hobbles around their hooves, though most only wore collars. Their eyes never left the ground as they walked, and whenever a crystal pony got close they would stop, cower, and wait for them to pass.

A beaten, subjugated class, Twilight thought. They had to do the same—whenever a crystal pony was walking down the same road, Trixie would gesture urgently for the cart to move out of the way, and they would bow in place, waiting for the pony to pass. Many of them were soldiers, but a few wore priestly robes with a mark like Sombra’s horn sewn on as a badge of office.

The town’s square wasn’t full of healthy grass for any hungry pony to eat, as was the case in Equestrian villages. The grass here was either skeletal brown, or long eaten by desperate ponies. There wasn’t even a pond, just a pile of snow for melting that wasn’t close to white.

“I saw a hotel,” Rarity whispered, as they started unpacking Trixie’s wagon for her. There were plenty of ponies watching them now—no way to sneak away. “We could probably buy rooms tomorrow.”

“What if they don’t let regular ponies stay there? Trixie’s right, we can’t pass for one of them.”

“I’ll ask around, see what I can find out.”

After a few hours the portable stage was unpacked, along with everything else Trixie would need to put on a performance. From the little crowd gathering outside the cart, it seemed like they would get a chance for one last reprise.

It ended without any attempted arrests this time, and plenty of donations from the soldiers and ponies that had watched. Mostly small amounts of food, with a few of the thin crystal wafers that passed as their currency. Each one had Sombra’s red horn grown into it, like a tiny fraction of dark magic they would have to keep near them at all times if they wanted to buy anything.

“I think it’s time,” Twilight whispered, once the crowd had dispersed and silence settled on the town from all sides. Applejack had to nudge Rarity, who had fallen asleep leaning against the cart.

“Trixie warns you against leaving,” she said, from where she was going over the contents of her donation box with a pair of glasses and a little ledger. She might not be the best at magic, but she did seem to know what she was doing with the accounting. “You’re safer staying here. Trixie has worked in Crystal Empire cities before. They don’t treat ponies very well. The only safe way is to show them how useful you are. Like I do.”

Rarity yawned, then shook her head. “We’re not helping anypony by performing these shows. We came all this way, took all this risk. I think we should… start.”

“Right,” Twilight said, removing the robe from her saddlebag of supplies and pulling it on. At least from a distance, she wouldn’t stand out as not a crystal pony. There’s probably an illusion we could figure out to look like them. Too bad Rainbow is in a work camp. We don’t have the time to invent new spells right now. “But we wouldn’t mind a… home base, at least for now. If you don’t mind us coming back here a few more times. Best to have somewhere to work from if we can’t find a good spot in town.”

Trixie smiled. “You’ll come to your senses. Just don’t get caught while you’re out there. Trixie promises to disavow anything you did, and leave you to the Crystal Magistrate.”

It took them a few minutes to prepare. Her friends wrapped up in the best costumes they had. “Ready?”

“Ready,” she agreed. “Thanks for your help, Trixie. You’ve… really done a service for Equestria.”

“I know.” Trixie puffed out her chest, posing as dramatically as Twilight had ever seen her. “This is okay. Trixie is happy to serve. She hopes you won’t be caught.”

Chapter 9: Agate

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Twilight hated to admit when Trixie was right, but there was no getting around the good sense of having a base of operations. By letting Twilight and her friends stay close, Trixie was taking on much of the risk herself, since she was likely to be implicated if any of them were seen breaking the rules. It’s okay, we won’t be. And even if we are, we’ll reverse all of this. It won’t matter.

She still felt guilty taking advantage of Trixie’s kindness, as well as feeling a little skepticism bubbling at the back of her mind that there might be a betrayal coming in moments. It doesn’t make sense, Trixie doesn’t know me. She has nothing to get revenge for. She has no reason to hate me here.

“We’re going to split up,” Twilight whispered to her friends, huddled as they were in the single tent they shared for sleeping. The caravan could sleep two with only a little squeezing, but Trixie hadn’t let any of them share it. Even Rarity and her obvious nobility had been stuck in a tent with the rest of them. “Two ponies can see what they can learn from the camp, see what kind of security we’re dealing with. The other two… can go to that hotel, and see how hard it would be to set ourselves up as nobility. They must still have some free ponies, right?”

“If they do, I’ll find out,” Rarity declared. “I think Sergeant Pinkie would make the best match for me. No… offence to the rest of you, but a single noble pony and her escort could probably pass easier than a larger group. Particularly since we might be able to… repurpose a few stage props to conceal our appearance. There might be plenty of traffic through Agate, but we did just put on a show for everypony. They’re not blind.”

“That means I’m going with you, I guess,” Applejack muttered. “I don’t know anything about covert missions, but I’m not afraid. I’ll… help however I can.”

Applejack would be going with her as a spy. But really, when Twilight thought about it either job involved things that her farmpony friend would be terrible at. She would be actively lying if she went with Rarity. At least with her there was a good chance they wouldn’t talk to anypony.

“Sounds good,” she said. “We’re a few hours into Eventide now. We have until night starts. Don’t take too many risks.”

“We should probably agree on some… fallback decision,” Rarity said, voice tentative. As though what she were saying were extremely awkward to her, but she forced herself to say it anyway. “Assuming half of our group is captured. It would be far better for the other two to remain free, so they might… find a way to get them released? We really should’ve arranged a Shadowbolts team for this mission. What if we lose two of us to recover Rainbow Dash? The exchange doesn’t seem terribly wise.”

“We won’t lose anypony,” Twilight muttered. “But if you want, all three of you could wait here while I scout the camp. I can teleport back here if there’s trouble. Might be safer.”

“Yeah, no,” Applejack said. “I know you think you’re clever and all, Twilight. And you are, don’t get me wrong. But magic alone isn’t the only important thing. There’s an element of practical thinking. You still act like a princess, no matter what illusion you use.”

Twilight’s ears flattened. Do I? She thought she’d been doing a pretty good imitation of a regular pony. Trixie hadn’t figured it out! But then, Trixie rarely saw past the edge of her own nose even on a good day. She probably wouldn’t have noticed she was an Alicorn even if she hadn’t been hiding the wings at all.

“And I don’t think this plan of Trixie’s is tenable in the long-term,” Rarity added. “Hiding at the bottom of society is a fool’s task. Hiding at the top, though… that we can do. I know there are traitors from Equestria among the crystal pony’s ruling class. I will play one of them. Ask for, uh… Lady Platinum. I’ll be playing her at the hotel. Assuming it worked. But ask quietly, in case it didn’t and we’re already arrested.”

Twilight rose, shaking herself out. But the stiffness couldn’t be dismissed so easily. Her wings were hidden, but they were still there. Pegasus wings weren’t meant to be folded and unused for days at a time. She could start losing feathers that way—and she was already starting to smell the need for a preening. I’ll find somewhere private to stretch. Maybe once we have that hotel room.

“And if something goes wrong, don’t come back here,” Twilight said. “You can hide… outside the city. That forest we went through, it looked like it had some great places to hide. Lots of snow on the ground would probably make it good at muffling sound, hard for the guards to search. Run there if you’re being followed.”

“Sounds good,” Rarity said. “Well, no. It sounds dreadful. A tent in a city is bad enough. But it sounds like a better option than leading them right back here. See you all tonight.”

They split up. Twilight watched them go, considering if she should bring anything. But for all Applejack had been worried about her ability to go on covert missions, Twilight wasn’t any better. The last time she’d tried to sneak in anywhere, it had been with Pinkie Pie, and she’d been seen by just about everypony in the place.

“I think I’m going to… try an invisibility spell,” Twilight said, as soon as Rarity and Pinkie had dressed themselves and were gone. “I can cover both of us. But…”

“But what? That sounds… amazing! What we get for having an Alicorn on our side. We can walk right into camp, save Rainbow Dash, and walk right out again!”

“Well…” Twilight winced. “It’s energy-intensive. Once I get it up, I can do… maybe an hour for both of us? Also, it won’t cover sound. That’s a Perfect Stillness spell, and for two ponies… we would get maybe ten minutes. Not long enough. We have to make it all the way across town, close enough to look into the camp and see what defenses they’re using, then back here.”

“So we can’t talk much,” Applejack said. “And we have to be careful where we go and what we do, so none of the ponies listening can find us.”

Twilight rummaged around in her saddlebags for a few seconds, lifting out a length of braided black rope. She tied one end around her foreleg, then offered the other to Applejack. “Not just that. We won’t be able to talk or see each other. You’re going to have to follow me. Obviously you will still be able to make any sound you want, and we’re still physical. Just… we’ll be noticed. Not to mention there’s a chance that my magic won’t work at all, because Sombra’s really old and powerful and we barely beat him last time, and he might know wards I’ve never studied.”

Applejack smiled weakly. “Don’t worry about it, Twilight. It’s a prison, right? We just visited one of those. All that magic was focused on keeping the prisoners in. I don’t think he’ll be too worried about keeping us out. And since we’re not mounting the rescue right now… we’re not mounting the rescue right now, are we?” Applejack finished tying off the length of rope, with enough slack that they could get a full pony’s length away before it would get pulled taut.

“Not today,” she agreed. “Unless… there’s such a good opportunity that we have to take advantage. But I prefer to do things in a more… systematic way. Careful planning, redundancy and backup plans, lots of research… That’s all we’re doing now, the research part.”

Agate was all quiet at Eventide, just like the Equestrian settlement around the Castle of the Two Sisters. This was a blessing and a curse for the two of them—it meant there were few ponies to avoid bumping into in the streets, but it also amplified any mistakes. Applejack kicked over a bucket a few streets away, and a guard-pegasus actually landed from above to look around. But after a few tense minutes, where they barely dared to breathe, he shrugged and returned to the sky, letting them continue across town.

Agate was built on an increasingly steep slope, with more frequent switchbacks and hastily carved steps to link city layers as they approached the camp. Instead of putting the nobility up high and the lowest caste down below, Agate had been forced to follow the minerals.

But whatever else Sombra understood, railroads apparently weren’t on the list. As they got closer, Twilight saw more heavy wooden carts of rock, each one drawn by an earth pony in chains and supervised by another creature with a whip.

She could feel the tether to Applejack twitch with each one they passed, and could practically hear the gears turning in her head as she considered how to free these prisoners. The carts were loud enough as they rumbled along that Twilight dared a whisper as one went by. “Don’t even think about it, Applejack. I want to save them too, but that’s selfish. We’re saving all of Equestria this way. We can’t help everypony today.”

“I know,” Applejack hissed back, her voice burning with guilt. “I hate it just the same. There’s got to be something we could do. Rolling carts like that… how far do you think they go?”

“Probably to the foundry and forges on the other side of town. This is… fuel for the war machine.”

“Unless we can shut it down.”

But there was no time for more conversation as they got closer. There was a thick stone wall up ahead. Though instead of being carefully mortared and meticulously constructed, this one was made of mountains of castoff stone, cemented together with a growth of sickly green crystal. It took the same shape as the ancient walls Twilight had seen, but was probably stronger. And uglier.

There was a gate, and plenty of guards to stand around it. Twilight stopped on the side of the road and watched it open and close a few times. There were papers to exchange, then a lift as a cart went in or out, then the weight of the mechanism would slowly lower it down. Her concentration was holding strong for now, though the longer she maintained invisibility the harder it became. And worse than simple difficulty, she would be left weakened if they were actually caught.

Twilight followed the tether back to Applejack, then waited for the gate to open again before whispering into her ear. “I’ve got another twenty minutes or so of magic in me. There’s an empty cart coming up the hill behind us. Once they go through, we rush right behind them before the gate closes, okay?”

Applejack nodded. “Okay, Twilight. I’m with you.”

The cart approached, pulled by an elderly-looking earth pony that seemed surprisingly strong for his years. He hadn’t been weighed down nearly as much as many of the other ponies coming and going up the hill. His rapid steps would be perfect to conceal them along the gravel path.

The pony’s overseer—a crystal pony this time, with an annoyed expression on her face, presented her slip of paper, and the gate opened. Wooden wheels on the gravel path were more than enough to conceal the out-of-place hoofsteps of a few more ponies as they passed under the gate and into the camp proper.

There was a thin road on the other side, running around the edge of a huge crater. For a few seconds Twilight was stunned completely, staring down into the reddish glow with horror on her face. She had thought Nightmare Moon’s prison was bad—she’d been wrong.

The crater was a strip mine, a little less wide the further down it went. Ponies at the bottom probably wouldn’t have been able to see the sun, if there had still been a sun to see. As it was, the thousands of little torches looked like distant fireflies, singing a song of pickaxes and wheels. There were thousands of ponies down there. And up here, not even a crude building to hold the slaves. They were left thin cots right on the bare ground, with only small fires to keep them warm. Twilight was shivering, and she had the warmth of an active spell in her chest to keep off the chill. The non-earth ponies must be freezing in the constant near-winter.

So far as defenses, she could make out guard towers along the rim of the crater at various points, and at least a hundred armored ponies she took to the be the camp’s guards.

There’s only room for a few prisoners up here, and there are hundreds down there. They must sleep somewhere else. Unfortunately, she couldn’t make out Rainbow Dash, not from up here. Maybe if we could get into that administration building. Looks like Sombra keeps things just as organized as a pony.

Unfortunately for Twilight, she also didn’t notice the guard walking along her routine patrol from behind them. She passed between the two of them, and tripped on the invisible rope, stumbling forward in the dirt and dropping her spear.

For a single, agonizing second, Twilight stared down at the guard. She backed away, towards the direction of the pull, urging Applejack follow her as best she could. But now there was a pony right beside them, no chance they could speak without being overheard. Oh no no no.

The pony jerked to her hooves, picking up her spear and swinging it wildly around. Twilight kept backing up, yanking Applejack along with her.

“There was something there!” she yelled, voice stubborn. “I swear!” She slashed the spear through open air again, closer to where they were standing than the last time. More soldiers approached from all directions, though only some of them were actually concerned about security. It looked like most of the crowd was just coming down to point and laugh.

Time to go. Twilight retreated all the way back, until she was in contact with Applejack. Teleporting away so soon would mean not learning the information they actually wanted about whether Rainbow Dash was in this particular camp. But with the camp on alert…

“Hold still,” Twilight whispered.

“I heard something!” the soldier squealed, moving towards her suddenly, spear aimed near where Twilight was actually standing.

All the guards would certainly hear the little implosion of air when she took the two of them away. Twilight got one last look at the spear coming for her head then she was standing outside Trixie’s camp.

She waited a few seconds, long enough to make sure they weren’t getting mobbed by soldiers. But no, things were as quiet as she remembered. Trixie was probably still asleep in her caravan, there was no one nearby, just the windows of the various buildings facing the empty town square.

Twilight let the invisibility falter a few seconds later, dropping to the ground with exhaustion. Her horn was practically steaming from the effort of so much magic so fast, and she barely even felt it as Applejack worked the rope down off her leg.

“As far as saving goes, I don’t know about our first attempt,” she said from beside her. “I think we’ll need to come up with something better than a rope next time.”

Twilight nodded weakly, though she didn’t have the strength to reply quite yet. It was a little like brain-freeze, except that the pain was focused on the base of her horn and spread through the rest of her head as a dull ache, throbbing in time with her heartbeat. If we get attacked in the next few minutes, I am bucked.

“I think… maybe just one pony gathering the information,” Twilight eventually said, her voice weak. “They wouldn’t be able to pull off a rescue alone, I agree they would need more help. But just sneaking into the office… maybe I should do that one alone tomorrow night.”

Applejack looked doubtful. “Unless they increased security. After what just happened…”

She was probably right. A pony tripping and blaming it on a ghost was one thing, but the teleport would’ve been loud and dramatic, even if there was nothing to actually see. Maybe they would think a captured unicorn was escaping. I really hope none of the ponies working there get punished because of us.

Just because Twilight knew on an intellectual level that she planned on reversing all of this, essentially erasing all their suffering, she couldn’t separate that from what was really going on. Applejack had been right about that. There was still a chance she would fail, and they would be stuck with the world they had.

Twilight eventually had the energy to get up again, if only to move back into the tent and flop down on her cot. Part of her was listening for the suspicious troops to arrive outside, maybe to try and arrest the magician. But they never came. She probably slept at some point, because when she opened her eyes again she was on her side and a blanket was over her shoulders.

Twilight sat up, levitating the blanket off, and massaging her horn. She looked around, but only Applejack’s bed was occupied. Uh oh.

Twilight rose to her hooves, creeping slowly out of the tent. Her friend didn’t stir, and she was able to make it out.

Eventide was just about over, judging on the activity of ponies making their way out of their bunkhouses around the city center. Even Trixie was up now, making oatcakes over a fire. Her mane was a mess, and her eyes were tired as Twilight approached. “Talk to me after coffee,” she grumbled.

“Did you see Rarity or Pinkie during Eventide?” Twilight asked. “Did they… go into the caravan with you?”

Trixie raised an eyebrow, and just a little of her regular attitude seemed to surface. “If you’re such good friends, why would you think they had come in with me?”

“So no.” Twilight turned away. She still remembered where to find the hotel. Now that night had fallen, plenty of ponies were moving up and down the streets. Twilight would not stand out, not with her vest. “I’ll be back.”

Take a deep breath, Twilight. It’s probably nothing. They just succeeded, is all. They’re staying at the hotel and they couldn’t come back without giving themselves away. Just give them time. Or maybe they’d been captured and they were being dragged away to work the mines.

Twilight picked a dark robe from her saddlebags, then joined the throng of ponies moving away from their bunkhouses towards the factory district. She tried not to overhear them—but there was no way to ignore it. These ponies were freezing in their homes, they weren’t eating enough, they weren’t receiving medical care. A few were talking to each other about failed escape attempts, or hoping that Nightmare Moon would be coming to rescue them “any day now.”

“She isn’t,” someone else argued, her voice bitter. “She doesn’t care about us, not like Celestia. She only wants to sit on the throne. Look what she did to daytime. It’s killing everything and she doesn’t even care.”

I’m helping you! Twilight wanted to say. Just hold on a little longer! But the crowd wasn’t just made of captives—there were guards here too, using clubs and whips to encourage anyone who slowed down a little too much.

Twilight dodged into an alley headed to the upper city. She wouldn’t be able to blend in as much up there, given all the ponies she could see out the other end wore chains and were already at work. Cleaning the streets, hauling garbage—all Agate’s menial labor.

But it wasn’t strictly a racial split between crystal ponies and the Equestrian sort. There were plenty of nobles there as well—mostly unicorns from the look of them. Noble refugees. Fleeing from Luna, probably.

Could Twilight be one of them? She could try.

Teleporting herself all the way back to camp would probably take so much energy that she would have to wait until the next day to try an infiltration. But grabbing an inanimate object from the cart, that was easier. Twilight’s horn glowed, and she summoned her dress from the caravan.

The real subtle part was summoning it onto her body, instead of the ground. That was delicate magic, particularly since she had a robe to switch it with. Rarity’s adjustments had done wonders for the dress—it might even be nicer than what the ponies here were wearing.

Best chance I’m going to get. Twilight straightened, then marched out onto the street. She did her best impression of a Canterlot pony, keeping her back straight and her nose so far up it hurt her neck. She stubbornly kept right on walking when anypony got close to her, expecting them to move—and they moved. She was easily the largest mare here, imposing even without her wings.

She didn’t stop for anypony, except for the occasional crystal pony. She wasn’t sure exactly how their social order worked, so she just slowed down a little if her steps would take them across their path, waiting for them to pass.

The Lustre Inn was located on the edge of a cliff, its construction the same fusion of stone and crystal as all the buildings in the upper city. Five stories, with crystal supports and wooden floors in-between. It was nothing near as nice as what she’d find in Canterlot, but the glass looked real and the building was clean. That made it better than anything in the lower city.

Her disguise apparently worked on the bellhop pony, who lowered his head politely and rushed to get the door for her.

Inside was a large fireplace, filling the lobby with natural orange light. The floor was soft carpet instead of crystal, a path all the way to the desk and then up to the floors, with a few dozen little boxes behind it.

A crystal pony waited behind the desk, their body slightly transparent. Even in her own world, Twilight had never understood the details of how these creatures worked, and did her best not to stare. It’s a good thing Spike never got an appetite for this kind of gemstone.

“Welcome to the Lustre Inn,” said the pony, their voice the same antiquated Crystal-Empire that she remembered.

But Twilight was used to understanding it, so it didn’t slow her down. “I sent a pony ahead to reserve space for me,” she said, as though even mentioning that were beneath her. “I’m sure she’s in your records there. Lady Platinum. You haven’t forgotten.”

“Oh, yes. Lady Platinum.” The pony glanced rapidly down at their book, then back up. “That’s, uh… top floor suite?” She laughed nervously. “O-of course that’s where she is. Where else would a pony like you want to stay? Lady…” Now she actually did look down at the book. “Lady Twinkleshine.” She took a key from somewhere under the desk. “J-just… come right up with me, yep! Right up the steps. I’ll take you there.”

She stepped out, then scurried across the carpet as though she thought Twilight was a predator, prone to attack her if she remained in place for too long. This isn’t good.

Some part of Twilight wanted to run, though this was far worse than “something invisible” getting caught in the prison. She was wearing her only fancy dress, and going right out into public with her real face and cutie mark. This is bad.

She wasn’t sure she had enough energy for a teleport back to camp. She got one ready anyway, holding it in the back of her mind in case she needed it. Whether or not she would have the strength when she got there.

It’s okay. This is where Rarity and Pinkie went. They’ve just been here. The pony confirmed it.

Twilight felt a little awkward following her up the steps in total silence. She wanted to make small talk, or interrogate this pony about life on the border. Maybe she could find out what crystal ponies thought about working for Sombra. But that just didn’t fit with the role she was playing. She wasn’t going to give herself away before she’d even begun.

They reached the top of the steps. There was the door to the “princess’s,” elegant wood instead of black crystal. The pony reached to open it, dropped her keys, swore under her breath. “Apologies, Twinkleshine. I’ll, uh… I’ll get that.”

Twilight glanced over her shoulder, expecting some ambush of soldiers up the stairs. But she hadn’t heard any—nopony else had so much as used the stairs since she’d started climbing, as far as she knew.

The pony pushed the door open a few seconds later, revealing a comfortable-looking parlor with its own fireplace and refreshments already out. There were real bookshelves covered with glass. A great deal of effort had obviously been spent to make the place seem as royal and comfortable as possible. “Your accommodations,” the pony said, nodding for Twilight to enter. “Thank you for staying at the Lustre Inn.”

Twilight walked past her, her horn glowing faintly with prepared magic. But it was dim enough that she hoped her host would just think it was a light spell. “About time,” she said, doing her best Rarity impression. She made it as far as the table of refreshments before the door snapped suddenly closed, and the locks clicked.

A pair of soldiers stood on either side of the door, very much unlike any that Twilight had seen so far.

Instead of wearing metal with black accents, these wore armor apparently made of crystal, black and shining and covering every inch of their coats.

Both pointed crossbows at her. “Whatever you’re doing, unicorn,” said one, “stop. You’ll be dead before you finish casting.”

Twilight spun around, reaching through space towards camp. Her horn glowed brighter for a few seconds, as she poured every ounce of energy she had into the teleport.

Then something smacked her in the back of the head, and she dropped like a rock.

Chapter 10: Heart of Onyx

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Twilight Sparkle woke with a throbbing ache in the back of her head, splitting her vision into different colors and making her wish she could just close her eyes and go back to sleep. But something jostled her again, and she sat up a little, moaning in pain. What was she doing here again?

Something attacked me. I came investigating where Rarity had gone, and… Twilight tried to cast a spell, maybe take herself home or something similar. But it hurt so badly that her magic flashed and spluttered, then went out again without effect. Who ever heard of bashing a unicorn in the head so they couldn’t cast spells?

Someone here apparently. Something shook her again, much more violently this time. “I said eyes up! If you try and do that again, we’ll have to get more violent.” The voice sounded rough, angry.

Twilight moaned and opened her eyes a crack. She was still sitting in the hotel, though she could feel rough fabric wrapped tightly around her mouth, and hobbling both sets of hooves. Dried blood was on her face, though not much of it. From the look of it, she’d been tied directly into one of the couches in the sitting room, securely enough that she could barely even wiggle. Somepony had removed her dress, but not her vest.

“The Lady will be here in a few minutes,” said the voice from beside her. “She wanted you to see that.” It was one of the guards from earlier, one of the ones that had been lurking just behind the door. Twilight followed his wing to the other couch—and solved the mystery of where Pinkie and Rarity had gone. Both of them were awake, bound and gagged just like she was. Rarity looked the worst—whatever they’d done to her to keep her from casting spells had left her a little bloody too. Pinkie seemed less concerned, bouncing slightly from one side to the other despite her bonds. Or maybe that was just the sound of her breaking down.

“Now you see,” said the soldier from over her shoulder. “You see what your plan got you. Trying to impersonate what you aren’t. As though the eyes of our king would not have seen through your ruse. Ponies are simplistic creatures, easy to predict. Perhaps he will give you freedom as he did us… but I doubt it.”

Another soldier laughed, and the one jostling Twilight finally let go. “Do not move,” she said. “If you try, you’ll get what the white one did. Sit still and wait for the Lady.”

Twilight wanted nothing of the kind. A few desperate escape-plans ran through her head, each one more desperate than the last. But no matter which one she considered, no matter how she thought about escaping, she couldn’t see a way she could get out now. Even a desperate teleport, somehow completed before she got a spear in the gut, would leave two of her friends behind. Rarity had already been mistreated—these guards might kill one of them if she ran.

I’ll have to wait until after this Lady. They didn’t send us straight to a work-camp, maybe they have something in mind. Twilight tried to relax her mind as much as she could, clearing her thoughts so she would be ready for a quick spell if an opportunity arose.

The master bedroom door banged open, and light spilled out. Twilight could see an outline there, a towering pony with huge wings. She wore no armor, just an elegant dress of something spun and completely transparent. “This is the best Equestria can send…” she said, her voice distant and cruel. “Two ponies who couldn’t fool a hotel maitre d’?”

“Three, my queen,” said one of the guards, their voice timid and careful. But if they expected reprisals for correcting her, none came.

“Three,” the pony said, settling into the armchair right in front of the fire. Twilight couldn’t even look at her anymore, not without her pain and injured head making the pony’s outline change into one solid pink blur.

“Three ponies that—” She stopped abruptly, her glittering eyes fixed on Twilight. A long silence descended between them, broken only by the spluttering of dead wood in the fireplace. “No.”

She scooted the chair back, rising suddenly to her hooves. “You can’t be here! I thought… aren’t you lost in the desert somewhere? Military infiltration… you’re not here.”

“What’s wrong, Queen?” asked the female soldier. “Is something wrong? We can kill her for you, if you wish. Or call the city watch to have them all taken away. It just seemed like you might have a punishment to distribute personally, after the audacity to—”

“Quiet!” the pony roared, so loudly that the building shook. Windows rattled in their frames, and the fire blew out in a rush of wind. Gloom descended around them all, broken only by the glow from the pony’s horn. “All of you, outside! See that we aren’t disturbed! I will handle this myself!”

The guards rushed to obey, saluting her before galloping past Twilight and out. Even the one that had been standing there every moment ready to distract her was gone. For all the good it did. She doubted she would be able to get a spell past this pony.

Horn. Wings. No. Twilight’s addled mind finally connected all the dots. She knew this voice, just as she knew this pony. Knew her as well as Twilight knew anyone. As she looked up at the pony, she felt something around her mouth--a faint glow of magic, peeling away the gag. “Cadance,” she muttered, voice strained and aching. “You’re… here. How are you here?”

“It is you.” The pony stepped closer, her face coming into view in the glow from her own horn. She was the same pony Twilight knew, though her mane had been dyed completely black. Her features were gaunt, worn low by the struggles of her life. But apparently not low enough that she gave up. “Twilight. You’re so big… bigger than the last time.” All the anger she’d had for the soldiers was gone, her fury burned away in a few seconds. “Why are you here?”

With her horn, Cadance started untying her bindings, starting with the rope coiled tightly around her forelegs.

Twilight coughed and stretched her aching legs. “I’d ask you the same thing. Why are you… in the Crystal Empire? Those ponies… they looked like they worked for… Sombra.”

“They’re the Diamond Guard,” she said. “Most powerful, dangerous ponies in the empire. King Sombra sends me with them all the time. Couldn’t take the chance I might try something. Sombra is protective of his wife.” All her bitterness returned, and she seemed to glare off at nothing for a few more moments, out the nearest window. “He’s probably right. If they left for too long, I might… but it isn’t like I have anywhere to go.”

Twilight reached out with one leg, resting it on Cadance’s shoulder. “You remember me! You’re the first pony…” She was crying. “First pony in the whole world who did.”

“Of course I do!” Cadance softened again, staring down at her. “Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs…” she sighed. “Just doesn’t have the same ring to it without the sun anymore.” Her horn flashed one last time, and Twilight’s back legs came loose. “There you go, try that. I’m sorry the Diamond Guard hurt you. They didn’t know. You shouldn’t be here…”

“Nothing should be this way,” Twilight responded, sitting up on the couch and twitching once at the vest. But she didn’t pull it off yet. Cadance would probably sense the spell, but if she hadn’t removed it—maybe it would be easier not to explain everything. “Sombra is your husband?” she asked. Her mind was clearing now. Alicorns were sturdy creatures. “Not Shining Armor?”

“Your brother?” Cadance raised an eyebrow. In that second, Twilight could see a little of the pony she knew. That was the attitude she remembered, not this bitter pony full of scorn and anger. “I mean, he was cute. But we never… I didn’t see him much after you failed your entrance exam. And it wasn’t much longer before Celestia was gone, and…” She sighed, slumping onto her haunches. The weight of everything seemed to come crashing down on her then, her eyes sagging and her ears flat. “Everything is wrong.”

“It is!” Twilight said, gesturing with one hoof towards Rarity and Pinkie. “These are my friends; can I release them too? We shouldn’t leave them like this!”

“Oh, uh… sure.” Cadance flicked her horn in their direction, and the gags ripped out of their mouths. The ropes around them started untying, with far less care than she’d given to Twilight.

The door banged loudly, and swung open. Twilight froze, completely still as the Diamond Guard marched right back in, carrying a huge squirming bundle between them. They tossed it lightly onto the ground in front of Cadance. She caught stares from them as they saw what Cadance had done, but none questioned her.

“Found this one sneaking around the building,” said the mare. “Should we kill it?”

“No!” Twilight said, at the same moment that Cadance looked up.

“You may leave them,” Cadance said, gesturing towards the door. “I will deal with them as well.”

“Like you dealt with the unicorn?” the stallion asked, eyebrow raising just a little. “You aren’t planning on releasing them, are you? These ponies could be intruders. They deserve to be interrogated!”

“They are not intruders,” Cadance said, rising to her full height. “I am familiar with this pony. She has come to our Empire to serve me.”

“What about her deception?” the mare asked. “They had the audacity to impersonate those given an office by our king.”

“A necessary step,” Cadance argued. “Until they reached my presence.” She stood up straighter, spreading her wings. “I have already given the two of you a command. You may wait outside. What I do to these is my decision.”

“As you command,” they said, retreating the way they’d come with far less urgency than they had last time. The door shut, and finally they were alone.

Twilight lurched forward off the couch to open the bundle, but she had no doubt in her mind what she would find inside.

Applejack had been beaten, hogtied, and gagged, badly enough that her coat was rising in welts in places. Twilight winced as she saw it, then moved as quickly as she could to get her out. Applejack took a huge, deep breath as the bag came off her head, wrapping one grateful hoof around Twilight. “Could… barely… breathe in there…” she said.

“This is going to be hard to explain if my husband finds out…” Cadance muttered, her voice distant. “Twilight, I need an explanation. What are you doing up here? Ponies like you… shouldn’t be putting their lives at risk. The world is dangerous enough. Living out in the desert wasn’t the worst decision you could’ve made. This, though… this is.”

“Ponies like her,” Rarity said. Apparently her own beating had addled her mind a little, because from her words she wasn’t thinking very clearly. “Twilight is going to save the whole world. She’s the reason any of us are here. Taking us away from warm hearths and cozy castles to… this nightmare.”

“Really?” Cadance’s eyebrows went up. “Saving the whole world, huh? I guess you… found a little ambition out there after all.”

Twilight nodded. “You could say that.” She glanced at the others, who had all gathered by the fireplace. Her friends looked much the worse for wear, but they were alive. We might not have much time. Those guards didn’t sound too obedient.

“We’re here looking for somepony,” Twilight explained. “I have a… a spell prepared, one that could save Equestria from every disaster at once.” She didn’t elaborate, though she could see from Cadance’s expression she didn’t need to. There was no anger there, only resolve. “She was captured during a mission near here, a prisoner of war. We need to find her and bring her back. Once we find her, and one more… Equestria is saved.”

“Why… ponies?” Cadance asked. “I was never much for the academic side of magic, I’ll admit it. Couldn’t even cast it while I was still a pegasus. But I’ve never heard of anything like that. A spell that could… ‘save a country.’”

Twilight could see that there was no other choice. I need to decide right now if I can trust her. Cadance is bitter and angry, and she’s married to King Sombra. If she shares any of this with him, it could ruin everything.

But what else could she do? Cadance had saved them, and their lives were still in her hooves. She was their only chance.

“It’s like this…” Twilight began, tugging the enchanted vest off her shoulders.

It didn’t take that long to explain everything, given the circumstances. Cadance seemed to expect Twilight to be somepony else—a pony who had failed her admission tests to Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, a pony who would never amount to anything aside from a historical footnote in some entrance textbook somewhere.

Cadance never went out and said as much, but her repeated expressions of amazement at Twilight’s real accomplishments were evidence enough. Twilight would have to do her best not to let it go to her head.

“So that’s why we need that specific pony,” she said, after about twenty minutes of explanation. “The Elements of Harmony won’t work without her, and we know she’s a prisoner here.”

“You’re obviously in a position of power…” Rarity said, speaking cautiously. She was still woozy from whatever they’d done to her, though she was recovering her dignity faster than some of the others. “Surely there’s something you could do. You want this all to end, don’t you?”

Cadance’s softness vanished instantly as she glared at Rarity. “Don’t think I forgot you, Rarity. Steward of Nightmare’s castle. A pony who did nothing to discourage her master from bartering me away. I won’t ever forgive Nightmare Moon for that. I was willing to give her all the respect I’d given Celestia, but… she wouldn’t accept it. She deserves this war.”

I think I know why Cadance didn’t stop Sombra from invading, Twilight thought. “Maybe Nightmare Moon does,” Twilight said, as disarmingly as she could. “But what about the rest of the ponies of Equestria? What about your citizens in the Crystal Empire? None of them should be going through this. They should have repelled this invasion. You should be ruling over the Crystal Empire with a husband you love. Not… not this.”

Cadance turned her head away, walking past them all to the window and looking away into the gloom. Maybe Twilight was imagining it, but she thought she could see a distant crystal spire glowing on the horizon. It would’ve been much too far away to see from out here, yet there was certainly something there. “You don’t understand the risk you’re asking. I’ve seen her. The pony you’re describing… she’s not here.”

“She’s not?” Applejack asked, her voice becoming distant and desperate. “We were sure she would be! Taken prisoner right here near the border. Why would the queen have been anywhere near prisoners of war, anyway?”

“Not just any prisoner,” she said. “My husband, Sombra… he is always looking for ambition. Ponies who can contribute something special to the Empire. He wants to make them into crystal ponies, so he can control them. But the process is… willing. The ones that refuse rot in the Crystalarium in the capital, until they die. I remember when they brought her in. Rainbow mane, metal wing… you don’t forget a pony like that. I used to go down into the prison, to urge the ponies there to join. Sometimes they did. It’s better than the alternative.” She spun back around.

“Twilight, I think it’s… amazing how much you’ve grown. You’ve really become something special, and that’s… that’s wonderful. But what you’re asking is impossible. My husband wants that pony for himself. The Diamond Guard are all over that place, and they won’t obey me like the two I have. I can probably find a way to get you and your friends back to Equestria, but… that’s the only thing I can give you. If we go into the city, my guards will be back under my husband’s control. He might just make them arrest you all and send you down with your friend. If he knew you were an Alicorn… I’m sure you’d have something worse waiting for you.”

“But we’re going to save everypony!” Twilight argued, her voice desperate. “We can’t use anypony else, only Rainbow Dash will work. We have to get her out! Isn’t saving the world worth any risk?”

Cadance sighed. “I used to think like you, Twilight. But the real world isn’t that way. The real world is cold, and desperate. Equestria abandoned me. Now Nightmare Moon abandoned you too, sending you into the Empire, probably knowing you would be captured here and end up like me. Maybe you shouldn’t go back… except there’s no choice. You should probably put that vest back on. I can’t trust my Diamonds not to report if they saw another Alicorn.”

Twilight obeyed, levitating the vest back on over her shoulders, and wincing at the feeling of being trapped all over again.

They had been so close. Twilight had found half of her friends without much effort, and even Rarity seemed to be coming over to their side. How could everything unravel now?

Do we really have a chance to sneak into the Crystal Empire again after Cadance sends us back? At least we know where Rainbow is now. In the Crystalarium. Rainbow Dash was in prison, apparently being forced to convert or die. If Sombra could control the crystal ponies, then that conversion probably meant losing her for good. It was just like with Pinkie, only worse. Their window was closing.

Pinkie Pie stepped up beside them, holding something out towards Cadance. “Cupcake?” Twilight looked up, staring in complete befuddlement. She recognized it from a few days before—it was one of the many she’d cooked for the Crystal Empire soldiers. But how had she held onto it all this time? How had she been tied up and restrained without squishing it? Even the frosting looked perfect.

Cadance took the desert in her levitation, apparently just as confused as she was. “What—where did you get that?”

Pinkie ignored the question, circling around her to the piano resting by the wall. “I think the queen of the Crystal Empire shouldn’t be so sad,” Pinkie said, sitting down to play. A thick layer of dust rose from the instrument, apparently not touched since it was installed here. But though not in tune, Pinkie began to play it anyway, and to sing.

“I know this isn’t the way you are,” Pinkie sang. “I know that you remember! The princess of love that used to—” And on and on she went. Twilight expected Cadance to shut her down, maybe to blast the piano apart with magic, or to call for the guards or something, but the pony only watched.

Then she helped. Twilight lit up the room with bright pink light, Rarity opened the windows and let the fresh air in. Applejack took over for Pinkie once she’d started dancing. Heartsong couldn’t be predicted, it couldn’t be forced. But Pinkie sure seemed to be feeling what she was doing.

Somepony banged on the suite’s front door. “Princess, is everything alright?” asked a voice from the other side, harsh and low.

The music stopped abruptly, and everypony froze in place. The spell was delicate, and now it was broken.

But Cadance was smiling. “Everything’s fine!” she called. “My old friends were just… playing some music. Nothing’s wrong.” She looked back down, eyes darting between them. “Your friends,” she said, a little quieter. “You sure have met some interesting ponies.”

“The best,” Twilight said, removing a paper party hat. She wasn’t sure where it had come from, but she was prepared just to accept it at this point.

“You really think they can do this? Save… everypony in Equestria? Fix the past?”

Twilight nodded. “They’ve saved Equestria before. We were the ones who stopped Sombra the first time, and Chrysalis, and lots of other creatures. I know we can do it.”

“Then…” She winced, ears flattening. “I know I’m going to regret this. And all of you… there’s a good chance you’ll end up with your friend. That’s if Sombra thinks you’re worth it. He might just throw you into a mine somewhere to work to death. But you, Twilight…” She reached out, settling one wing on her shoulder. “Twily, if he discovers you… it’s going to be much worse. He’ll want you for a trophy, like me. And there won’t be anything I can do to get you out. Are you sure this is worth taking the chance?”

Twilight considered that for all of a few seconds. There was no hesitation, no chance in her mind to give any other response. I came here to save Equestria. I’m going to get my world back. There’s no risk too extreme for that.

“Yes,” she said. “We’ll find a way to stay hidden. You’re… really smart, Cadance! And clever. I know you’ll be able to get us in. And once we have everypony… I’ll just teleport us all back to Equestria! You too, if you want to come.”

Cadance chuckled weakly. The doubt was all over her face, though she didn’t argue. “Even if we can do all that, I have to stay. If you took me back with you, then Sombra would invade all over again. Best to… wait until your spell works.”

Over the next few days, there were some changes to make. A change in wardrobe for one, as Cadance gave them all uniforms of her household and Rarity tailored them to be “wearable.” A change in habit, as they were all given servants quarters to live in, and plain servants oatcakes to eat. Rarity complained privately about it whenever Cadance wasn’t around, but Twilight did her best to keep her calm. Their ruse of being Cadance’s friends from Equestria come to join her household wouldn’t work if they walked around like royalty.

Twilight made a brief visit back to Trixie’s little camp, thanking her for her help and wishing her safety on her way. “Trixie is worried that you will fail your mission without her help. But she hopes you don’t.” Not exactly an affectionate farewell, but Twilight could hardly expect more from this pony.

You’re less evil than the Trixie I know. That should scare me.

She also couldn’t suspend her plans in the city. Cadance had inspections to make, tours and parties to attend—two whole days of royal functions that she couldn’t skip without looking suspicious. But when Twilight asked, she insisted, “Your friend was only moved a week ago, she was in a weather camp before that. Ponies can last months in that camp. Unless you think she wasn’t loyal.”

Twilight couldn’t argue with that. There wasn’t a pony in the world more loyal to Equestria than Rainbow Dash. Eventually, after several days doing menial work for Cadance and putting on a convincing show of being her servants, they were finally setting off from Agate, up the narrow roads of the Crystal Empire towards a distant capital city.

“You’ve got them, so we won’t need to pull the carriage back,” Rut, Cadance’s stallion guard said. “Two sturdy earth ponies—it’s about time you accepted pony slaves.”

“They’re not slaves,” Cadance corrected—out on the carriage, she wore a huge black dress, and boots made of crystal that made her seem even taller and more imposing. The wife of the Empire’s ruler couldn’t very well get her hooves in the mud like common ponies. “They’re friends and volunteers.”

“Whatever they are,” Mainstay said. “So long as they work, call them what you want. The king was right—you are coming around to the proper way of doing things. It was only a matter of time.”

Twilight winced as she saw Applejack’s expression. The one she knew from her own world probably wouldn’t have objected to a little physical labor. She even seemed to enjoy it sometimes. But this one—she managed a factory, she didn’t have half the muscle of her old self. She probably would’ve collapsed after a few hours on the road if it wasn’t for earth pony magic.

Crystal Empire roads did not get better as they traveled deeper. The snow on either side of the carriage was so thick in places that they had to break it apart to make forward progress, and more than once Twilight or Cadance had to blast away a collapsed section of tunnel. Many of the other travelers they saw abandoned the roads entirely and used snowshoes to hike atop the permafrost.

After a few more days of hard travel they reached the train tracks, with bright orange crystals suspended along the tracks and connected with a constant, beating glow. The soil all around the tracks was always damp, and bright green plants grew there—grass that Rut and Mainstay insisted they eat during the rest of the trip.

“These conditions are insufferable,” Rarity said, from inside their cramped tent. “I don’t know how much longer you can expect us to keep this up, Twilight. Even saving Equestria won’t be worth much more of this.”

“Not long,” she promised, hoping it was true. “We’re almost there. Soon we’ll be living in the palace with Cadance! Just long enough for her to get us to our pony.”

“Can you really teleport five ponies that far?” Applejack asked, her voice low. “Like you promised Cadance. I’ve not had any formal training with what magic can do, but that sounds a little extreme.”

“Not easily,” Twilight admitted. “That was only while I…” But going into the period she’d had the magic of all the Alicorns was probably a little much for right now. “If I prepare well enough, have the right ingredients and make the diagrams correctly, I can. We’ll need privacy and a few hours to work. I could probably take myself back to Canterlot alone…”

“But that wouldn’t be a good idea,” Rarity finished for her. “Because that’s where Chrysalis rules from, and I don’t think you want the hive to capture you.”

“No,” she agreed. “But we won’t be teleporting anywhere until we finish. Just… a little further. I’m sorry you have to do this, Rarity, but we’re almost there. We can last a few more days.”

They did.

After a few more days of pulling along the train-tracks, without once actually seeing a train pass them, the Crystal Empire finally came into view.

Even in this nightmare world, Twilight was awed by the scope of the city. A carefully planned metropolis, with buildings densely packed into ordered streets with all the city services hidden below and magic worked into every foundation. It was a construct from a better day, from a time when magic had been rigorously understood instead of mythologized.

And now it was being adulterated. Sharp spikes grew up out of the city walls, long enough to impale a dragon who fell there. Huge smokestacks of common brick rose up from the city at random, like earthy tumors on the otherwise pristine city. A curtain of enveloping smog surrounded the city constantly, making the buildings hazy and indistinct in the weak starlight. The city was brightly lit from every structure, but at this distance the pollution in the air made the light seem yellow instead of white.

“Welcome to my home,” Cadance muttered from atop the carriage, her voice weak. “The Crystal Empire.”

Chapter 11: Crystalarium

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As their expedition passed into the Crystal Empire, Twilight could still see faint traces of what a beautiful city it had once been. All the old buildings were still here, spires of transparent rock rising twice as high as ponies could build in Canterlot or Manehattan. Truly ancient, powerful magic had once been invoked here.

And its inheritor was trampling all over it. It was true that the crystal ponies in her own world had forgotten their magic, and so the new things they built used regular pony methods. They were having to build regular power plants to supplement the Paragon generator below the crystal heart. But while she had heard Cadance and Shining Armor ranting and complaining about what was lost, she couldn’t imagine either one would want to trade with this Cadance.

It seemed that Sombra understood crystal magic much better than Cadance ever had, because there were plenty of new buildings here. Everything he built was black, utterly ignoring the way districts had been color-coded and structured to form a harmonious whole. But still the new buildings went up.

Besides, the old city’s ancient monoliths were all covered with ash from coal fire anyway. In her own world, the Crystal Empire’s single coal plant had been located well outside the city limits, with insulated lightning-cables to supplement the city when it needed it.

She could see at least a dozen coal plants here, filling the sky with a constant ashy rain. It covered everything, right down to their brand-new uniforms.

“Good to be home,” Mainstay was saying, oblivious to the thin coating of ash on her face. Right, they’re crystal ponies. They don’t need to breathe. “Looks like our king has been busy since we left.”

“As always,” Jagged Rut answered. “Can’t wait for a little time in the barracks. The Queen won’t need us for any more unusual assignments, will she?”

“No,” Cadance answered, as they approached the palace from below. “You can escort my servants and I to my private quarters, then take the next three days for yourself. I believe my husband has another trip planned for me after that.”

Far from being a public square, the palace had been transformed much as the Castle of the Two Sisters: into a fortress. There were low walls all around it, and cannons mounted along them. Facing into the city. Even if you did get attacked, you’d be blowing up the Crystal Empire to defend it. Stupid.

There were no visitors around the castle grounds, either. No gardens of crystal berries and musicians visiting and politicians debating on the agora steps. Soldiers marched in formation or drilled at a training yard cut straight through where the paving stones had been. The only exception were the servants bringing supplies up and down the steps.

Twilight’s ears flattened as they passed through one checkpoint after another, swearing to herself that the next ward they passed through would be the one that uncovered her ruse. The deeper she got into the Crystal Empire the more she realized that King Sombra outclassed her.

Except… maybe he didn’t. She still hadn’t been arrested as they made their way up the palace steps, then around and around. Much higher than Cadance’s proper bedroom. They weren’t going to the master suite, but one of the guest wings.

The doors opened, and Mainstay gestured inside. “Here we are, Queen. You and your servants of questionable repute. You realize we’ll be filing a report about what happened with the Guard, right? You keeping them isn’t up to us.”

“It isn’t ‘up to’ anyone,” Cadance countered, puffing up her wings. “I am a queen. My husband may rule over the Empire’s important affairs, but I am master of my own household. You can tell anypony who tries to set hoof in here without my invitation that I’ll shatter them like the last. See if I don’t.”

Her horn glowed bright pink for a second, and Mainstay shivered. The first sign of fear from her Twilight had ever seen.

“We’re not trying to make trouble for you, Queen Cadenza,” Rut said. “Just trying to keep you safe.”

“They’re no threat to me,” Cadance said, her voice still flat. “And neither are you. Don’t forget that.” They left in a hurry.

Rarity collapsed onto the ground, positively melting under the weight of the saddlebags she had lugged all the way up. Since they were Cadance’s servants, they were carrying her luggage—even in the end of the world, she hadn’t traveled light.

“Well,” Cadance said, her voice a whisper. “That went about as well as I expected. Hopefully you were watching, Twilight. You see the danger here. This wing of the palace is mine, and you’re likely to be safe here… so long as you make yourselves scarce if my husband comes for me. But what you want… the Diamond Guard is as much a political organization as a military one. They will want to assert their authority. You must not leave this palace without being in my presence. You must go nowhere except on errands I send you, or else…” She shook her head. “You’ll find your friend sooner than you thought.”

“How soon can we find her?” Rarity asked, squeezing out of the oversized bag. “I don’t mean to sound ungrateful for your help, Princ—Queen Cadenza. But the more of this empire we see, the more urgent it seems that we finish Twilight’s spell and save the world.”

“I… I don’t know.” She took a step back. “Make yourselves seem like you’re servants. Unpack all this. I’ll ask around the palace, see if your friend is still… resisting. It’s been almost a week since I saw her last. Most don’t resist my husband that long. And if she did… she will not be in good shape.”

“Ask around,” Twilight agreed. “We’ll make it convincing for anypony who wanders in to check on us, won’t we Rarity?”

A faint groan was her only response.

They did work, though mostly it was mostly Pinkie and Applejack getting all the heavy lifting done. Twilight was alright with that—so long as she could station Rarity as a scout at the door to Cadance’s massive closet, it meant she could free her wings from the charm, and finally give them a proper preening. The itching had been driving her insane for two days.

By the time Cadance returned, the moon had set and risen again through the gigantic windows, and activity in the city below began in earnest. Mostly that meant more ash falling on the city, and more huge wagons of ore and metal bars passing through.

Everything in this place is about war. What do the regular ponies eat? In her own world, everypony who had been in the Empire when it returned was a crystal pony, except for Sombra himself. But many ponies had moved in since that moment, at least in her world. Was it the same way here?

“Alright.” Cadance stepped into the closet, wearing a semitransparent ballgown and looking exhausted. “I asked around. It wasn’t easy, but… I got the prisoner manifest.” Something appeared in the air in front of Twilight. She caught the scroll, unrolling it. Sure enough, halfway down the list…

“Rainbow Dash, Equestrian Infiltrator. Sentence: Death by Starvation or Integration via Crystalarium.”

“Well that’s cruel. He starves ponies to death? Doesn’t he care if ponies do the same thing to his troops? There’s a reason we have laws for war.”

Cadance shook her head. “His troops can’t be starved, remember? He hopes you’ll be cruel to his troops. They don’t feel pain, and every one of them you kill is another soldier returned to continue the fight.” She slumped into a sitting position, closing her eyes. “It’s why this war is already over. Equestria lost, it just doesn’t know it. Your soldiers die, ours don’t. It’s only a matter of time.”

“Not anymore,” Twilight said, before Rarity could object. She raised her voice a little, glaring at the unicorn. “We might not have that kind of magic, but we have other kinds.”

“So, what do we do…” Rarity asked from the doorway. “Queen Cadenza, didn’t you say something about visiting the prisoners, and trying to persuade them to change sides? Maybe we could… do something like that? Could you visit with us?”

“Not a chance,” she said. “The Diamond Guard at the Crystalarium have strict orders. I’m allowed inside because my husband always hopes I’ll submit to its magic too. He wants everyone to submit, even me. But you can’t force anypony, especially an Alicorn. If he tried to keep me locked inside, he knows I’d blast the entire thing apart. It’s a… delicate balance. Like all the Crystal Empire, I suppose. As beautiful as it is fragile.”

Not so beautiful anymore, at least not through the oversized window at the far end of the room. The moon turned the smog bright orange, blocking out the stars and making the haze look worse. Living here long-term would probably suffocate any real ponies who tried it.

“Where is it?” Twilight asked. “We have to get inside. Rainbow is still there—not given up yet. I’m guessing she hasn’t eaten for a week. She’s running out of time. Every minute we waste could be the moment she can’t hold on any longer.”

“He constructed it from his ancient laboratory,” Cadance answered, voice weak. “Where he was storing the Crystal Heart. It’s a maze—endless stairs, hallways, dead ends. Reflecting all your mistakes and failures back at you until you can’t keep going. I can get you a map—without one, you’ll be like any other prisoner.”

I’ve been there before, Twilight realized. She didn’t need a map to find it, or to get it to open and close. She waited for it anyway, still hiding in the closet to give her wings the most time possible to air out.

When Cadance returned with a worn map, she found herself nodding. It was exactly the way she remembered it.

“Every passage in the Crystalarium leads into the Lens. That’s what my husband uses to create new crystal ponies. You must walk into it willingly—if you don’t, you just burn to ash. He still sometimes throws ponies down there…”

“Buck this,” Applejack muttered. “Nopony should be treated like this. Twilight, we gotta do something about it. Break that damn thing, set everypony free.”

She nodded sadly. “I want to do that as much as you, Applejack. But there are four of us. Five, if you count Cadance. We can’t fight an empire. Nightmare Moon is more powerful than me and she’s been losing for years now. If Sombra finds me, it won’t even be a fight.”

“That’s the smartest thing you’ve said since getting here,” Cadance muttered. “I’m sorry about your friend. But once anypony goes down there, they’re basically gone forever. Either they don’t come out, or… you wish they hadn’t.”

“I wasn’t giving up,” Twilight said, standing straighter. “I know this place. I’ve been there, in my world. We’re getting Rainbow back. We just need a plan.”

But it wasn’t Twilight who came up with it. After a few seconds, Rarity spoke from the door. “Queen Cadenza, I, uh… I wonder if that prisoner manifest might include the date when the next group of condemned ponies get thrown inside? And… I know this might sound unrelated, but… how well do they search you when you make your visits?”

Twilight’s eyes lit up when she heard it. It was an insane plan—but no less insane than anything they’d done in the last few weeks. Could they make a disguise for Twilight so good that the guards on the outside wouldn’t try to remove it?

“Wait,” Twilight stuck out one wing. “All of us going in there would be… that’s too much.”

“It would be,” Cadance agreed. “Sombra never punishes more than one pony at once. He doesn’t want groups forming down there. Since going in together is the only reliable way not to be separated…”

“Alright,” Twilight said. “Here’s what we need to make this plan work—”

This was an incredibly stupid plan.

It was easy to act brave when Twilight planned this infiltration from the outside. She was an Alicorn, she had an entire lifetime of study to her name. There was nothing that could threaten her, really. She’d already penetrated Sombra’s sanctum in her world, thanks to Celestia’s teaching. She could use that same magic to escape it again.

They had spent a day and a half in the Crystal Empire, waiting out the clock on Cadance’s next diplomatic trip to the city of Quartzite. “That’s where you’ll join my entourage,” Cadance said. “The first inn along the way should be far enough for a long-range teleport out of the Empire without attracting my husband’s attention.”

Twilight sat in the back of a metal prison-wagon, wearing makeup almost as thick as her illusion spells. Enchanting a vest to hide her wings would work well enough for most things, but there was no way she’d be allowed to take anything into the prison. Twilight had been forced to take the magic to the next level.

Transformation was a much more dangerous art, even when only cast on the self. Twilight had mastered that school of magic as few ponies before or since could dream of—she could change ponies into breezies, change oranges into frogs, and even create griffons. Of course, she wouldn’t be doing anything so difficult today.

Twilight had changed herself into an earth pony. There was no visible horn for abusive guards to break that way, no vests for them to remove or wings to torture her with. Twilight had no illusions about her ability to resist treatment like that, however brave she could talk.

She didn’t ask what had happened to the intended prisoner, but thanks to a little magic, she looked exactly like her. Rarity’s excellent stage makeup made it look like she’d already been beaten badly, with coat shaved away to make her seem sickly. So pathetic she wasn’t worth abusing. So far, that part of the plan had worked.

Heavy locks on the door to the metal cart clicked and rattled, then fell away. Something creaked, and light emerged from the other side. Diamond Guard stood there—none she knew, though they wore the same thick armor and carried spears. “Rise, prisoner,” they commanded. “Now.”

She did, putting on the best show of weakness and shaking limbs she could. It wasn’t hard to act. Twilight was feeble compared to her usual self. She couldn’t cast spells. Her transformation was powerful enough that it was complete—were it not for the trigger word she’d given it, she would have to wait for it to run out of energy and give her horn back.

As Twilight emerged from the metal prisoner carriage, she caught sight of Cadance somewhere nearby, talking to the guards and pretending not to pay attention. I hope nopony else is down here. What if they decide you’re not worth imprisoning?

No time for her to worry about that now.

“Wonder what our king saw in her,” one of the ponies muttered, smacking her lightly with the back of the spear. Towards a doorway located directly below the city.

This was where the Crystal Heart should’ve been in the real Empire, not far from Spike’s statue. Neither were here, a black archway standing by itself. There was just smoggy sky on the other side as they got closer.

“Doesn’t matter,” said the other. “Here is your prison, uh…” He fumbled with a scroll, unrolling it a little. “Candy Wish. You have two ways to leave it. Either with honor, as one of us. Or as fertilizer for the crops. These are your only choices. Make the smart decision, for your own sake.”

She nodded weakly. “I-I… I will.”

“If she lives long enough to walk there,” the other guard whispered. “Buck, what did the border guards do to her? Barely left anything for the king.”

“Not our business.”

They reached the archway. One of the ponies stepped through it, and the air rippled behind them. A void appeared on the other side, stretching back, and causing a brief flare of nausea in her stomach. Dark magic. It was the same kind of space magic she’d trained with her whole life, but… wrong at the same time.

Before she could get second thoughts, Twilight stumbled through into the gloom. The crystal light faded from behind her as the portal closed, stranding her in the Crystalarium.

Sombra’s magic defied the ordinary construction of spells and spaces. Dark magic was like that—it allowed unbalanced equations, and unsatisfiable ethical clauses. It allowed Limbo and its nightmares to fill in the gaps.

The most powerful dark wizard who ever lived built this place, she thought, shaking off her pretended weakness and straightening. She could’ve banished the illusion right away, but she hesitated. Candy Wish hadn’t alerted any magical defenses, and there was at least a chance that it would respond to an Alicorn differently.

Twilight settled onto her haunches, studying the space in front of her. A hallway, ending in a crystal stairwell stretching down. She started to walk.

Walls appeared around her, like broken chunks of black crystal. She saw images there whenever she turned her head. There were cities frozen over with ice, forests dead, her mentor banished for a thousand years. Luna trapped as a monster, killing the ones she loved.

“It would be wrong to abandon the secrets this world contains,” Tirek’s voice whispered to her. “It’s all dust and smoke anyway. You’ll fix it eventually. But before you do, you can harvest what is valuable to you.”

“No mystery should go unstudied,” Princess Luna said. “No question unasked. Ignorance in Equestria is the product of these.”

Celestia’s face appeared in the stairs, watching her with disappointment. “I trusted you,” she said. “You were supposed to protect Equestria. Every death is your fault.”

Twilight faltered. Did Sombra know who she was? Had he… been watching her, this whole time? She felt like she was being watched right now. Every wall was a thousand eyes, seeing through her flesh into her soul.

“You don’t even know the spell will work,” Sunset Shimmer said. “But how is that different. Alicorns gambling with the lives of their inferiors. What else is new.”

“Sweetie Belle could die because of you,” Rarity added.

“And my sister too,” Applejack said. “That just ain’t right.”

Twilight ran. She couldn’t say where she was running, or why. She wouldn’t have said much of anything anymore. All she knew was that the voices were too loud, and she had to make them stop. She took the stairs several at a time, jumping with the aid of earth-pony strength and pelting down hallways and turns at random. But no matter how far she ran, there was no silence. Not until she found her way down to the bottom.

It took one glance for Twilight to discover the “Lens” that she’d been warned about—a massive crystal formation tapering down from a huge ceiling until it reached the size of a single pony, a brilliant spotlight across a perilous length of bridge. On either half there was a drop down to oblivion, and on the other side—another stairwell, leading out. She could see bits of bone on the ground around the lens—the ones Cadance had talked about, being forced to cross.

Twilight took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. She couldn’t have said how long she had run, or how far. But the voices had stopped. They were leading me here. That’s the whole point of this place.

She wasn’t alone, either. She could see a figure near the bridge, huddled up against a wall. They had found a ragged blanket, and only a glint of metal emerged from within. What? Someone brought something down here?

Curious, Twilight crept closer, gazing up towards the lens with horror. Magic radiated from it, not as dark as she expected. Sombra didn’t make this. It was already here. He didn’t create the crystal ponies. But he could control them, somehow. That was almost worse.

“Excuse me…” Twilight lowered her voice, wiping away at the makeup around her face. No reason to look like she’d been beaten half to death while gathering information. “I’m looking for somepony, maybe you can help.”

Something stirred in the blankets, with a little shifting motion. A pair of eyes gazed out at her from within. Familiar eyes glazed over with pain and madness. “Nothing helps,” she said, voice near to madness. “You can leave, but the voices come back. Can’t fly across the gap. Magic pushes you down. Spikes at the bottom. No escape, escape by crossing. No rescue coming.”

Rainbow Dash looked almost as bad as Twilight had imitated with illusion and makeup. Her coat was patchy, and her face was shriveled, almost skeletal.

“Your rescue is here,” Twilight said, her voice shaking as she said it. She’s still alive. Thank Celestia. I haven’t failed yet. “I’m going to get you out of here.”

“How?” Rainbow shook off the blanket, though she didn’t seem to have much energy to move. The rest of her body looked as bad as her face, and she smelled worse. Ponies could go a month without starving, but that didn’t mean it would be good for them. We won’t have a proper Equestrian hospital to treat her when this is over. We’ll have to be extra careful.

Even more frightening than how shriveled Rainbow looked, the most shocking thing about her was her wing. It was entirely missing, gone just a few inches past the connection to her back. But rather than a jagged wound from whatever butcher’s job had cut it off, she had a replacement. The entire thing was built from metal, probably aluminum from how light it looked.

Magic radiated from it, intact even in this terrible place. It moved when she did. Did we lose that? I’ve never seen that kind of magic before.

“Star Swirl the Bearded,” Twilight declared. While Rainbow’s expression became confused, she herself felt the spell unraveling. Transformation magic was never pleasant, but at least reversing it didn’t take concentration. A few seconds of discomfort, and she stood suddenly tall, confident, wings and horn both restored. She shook herself out, feeling relieved.

“There, now that’s done with. Let’s see…” She took a few steps away, finding bits of broken crystal wall and levitating them over. Each one was about the size of a hoof. Twilight concentrated for a few seconds, and they melted into squat loaves of dark bread.

Making food this way was incredibly taxing and tasted terrible. But rescuing a pony who could barely stand would be worse. “Here.” She set them both on the ground in front of Rainbow. “I hear dripping nearby—I’m guessing there’s water in here?”

“You can make food? What kind of unicorn…” Rainbow seemed to see her for the first time, and her eyes widened. “Buck me, a princess. I don’t… warrant a rescue like this.”

“You do,” Twilight argued. “Because I need your help to save Equestria. First, eat. Then we can talk.” No sign of recognition from the other pony—but as much as it hurt, it wasn’t surprising. Starlight Glimmer had taken away all that—her history with these ponies had never happened. It wasn’t their fault.

Rainbow ate quickly, scarfing down what little food she’d given her. This was dangerous—it was why she hadn’t made more. Twilight might not be a doctor, but she knew there was a procedure involved. She would just have to hope that feeding her a little at a time would work. And that my strength lasts. There’s a reason armies don’t use unicorns to stay fed.

Twilight crossed the huge space to the fountain on the far side, which even had some crystal cups. She drank the metallic-tasting water, where it dripped from the ceiling above into the reservoir. She brought a full cup over for Rainbow and held it out for her until she drank it.

“I heard you’ve been down here a week,” she said, sitting with her back to the wall and staring up at the Lens. Even gone from the cursed hallways, she still imagined she could hear Tirek’s voice, luring her to further study. This was magic lost to her Equestria. How did it work? Maybe there was a way to use it that wasn’t so evil…

“Yeah,” Rainbow muttered. She didn’t look so glazed anymore—instead, she just looked like a pony who had just eaten a ton. Like the food-coma she fell into after a day of cider season. “About. Lost track. Between this… and the way behind. No way out, just the voices. But here… it’s the Lens, and a cliff. Watched a few… go through. Leave, join his army. Betray Equestria. Can’t believe they’d do that.”

Yet her voice had a twinge of fear in it. What did she think she might’ve done, if she had been kept here a little longer?

“You won’t have to,” Twilight said. “I won’t explain the whole thing now, but… I need you to be part of something. The most important military action in the war.”

“Not… much use anymore. They’ve had me in prisons like this for weeks. I’m… completely out of practice. None of my information is good anymore… but I didn’t tell them anything.” Her eyes settled on Twilight’s wings, and this time she seemed to understand what they meant. “I’m guessing the war must’ve turned, if we have a second Alicorn fighting on our side. Have you already taken the Crystal Empire? Is that how you’re here?”

She shook her head sadly. “Afraid not. I infiltrated, like you. And now we have to exfiltrate, without getting caught by King Sombra. In… his most important prison, surrounded by his best-trained soldiers.”

“Great.” Rainbow slumped against a wall. “That sounds… great. I hope, Princess, uh… what’s your name again? I don’t think you told me.”

“Twilight,” she answered. “Twilight Sparkle. But you can just call me Twilight. This is war now, right? We don’t need special titles or anything in war.”

“I don’t think that’s how war works,” Rainbow muttered. “But… I guess an Alicorn wouldn’t be regular military. You’re some kinda… crazy special forces. It’s alright, that’s cool. Unless you’re a changeling. Crazy… conspiracy of a plan that would be. And it wouldn’t work. I know how to make the potion to find you.”

“I’m not a changeling,” she said. “That wouldn’t make sense. If I was, it would be better just to let my enemies kill each other. This would be going into danger for no reason.”

“Oh yeah.” Rainbow nodded, apparently satisfied with that explanation. “Guess most changelings probably don’t know… advanced magic like that. Do you have any more food?”

“Not for a few hours,” she answered. “You’re not ready for…” Then she shook her head. There was no way the pegasus was going to care for that explanation. Getting food again would reawaken all her numb pains of starvation. “The rest of my team has all the food you can eat. They’re waiting for us in the city, we just have to get to them.”

“Oh, cool.” For the first time, Rainbow stood. Her legs were thinner than Twilight remembered, and a little shaky. But the magic in her replacement wing seemed intact, because it opened and flexed when her real one did. “Ugh. Sorry Princess. I must smell awful.”

“Just Twilight.” And you do, but I won’t tell you that. She turned away, glancing back towards the way she’d come. There are a few entrances. We’re at the bottom, but… this sanctum also has doors back into the castle. That would be the best way out—if they could make it into the princess’s chambers, they could dress like her servants and slip back into the city.

Twilight’s horn glowed for a second, and a thin line of light appeared between their hooves. “I need you to stay with me as we go back up,” she explained, voice gentle. “It’s… not going to be easy. I can’t dispel the charms on this place without Sombra realizing they’ve been tampered with. If he finds us, we’re doomed.”

“Alright.” Rainbow lifted her foreleg, tugging gently on the rope. “You’re good at this magic stuff. Did Princess Nightmare train you herself?”

“Something like that. It’s hard to explain. Let’s focus on getting out first.”

Twilight plotted the path out in her mind, both from the map that Cadance had shown her, and her own memories of this place. She had wandered this sanctum for hours during her last encounter with Sombra, but she had eventually been able to find her way out. She could escape now too. It wasn’t impossible.

“Equestria is doomed,” the voices called to her, as she walked her way up endless spiral staircases. “The Elements are broken. Your friendship never happened here. You’ll be powerless to reverse the spell.”

“Starlight Glimmer will have the Equestria she always wanted. You lost.”

And on and on. She might’ve broken and run again under the strain of it, except for her companion.

Rainbow Dash could barely walk. Her body was drained, and she was running on fumes. Yet the pegasus kept going. She gritted her teeth, and from the haunted look in her eyes Twilight could tell that she was hearing similar things.

Once Rainbow stopped walking at the top of a flight of stairs, crying as she stared into a slab of black crystal. Twilight hadn’t noticed until she got far enough away that the rope caught, and she jerked to a stop. Twilight turned, walking back to where her objective had slowed.

“Something wrong, Rainbow?”

The pegasus wiped away moisture from her face. But Twilight couldn’t see what was in the crystal. The strange torture-chamber spoke directly to each prisoner.

“Nothing.” She swallowed, then turned. “Equestria is depending on us. Let’s go.”

Twilight walked until she ached, amazed that her companion could keep going. They stopped several times, though what physical rest they got felt outmatched by the grinding pain of emotional torture. Rainbow was on the edge of her strength every moment—no amount of loyalty would change the physical frailty of her body.

But then they found the doorway. It looked like an arch in the crystal, leading to a solid wall. But Twilight remembered what to do. Her horn sparked with green magic, as she conjured the only dark spell she knew. The one Celestia had taught her.

The doorway flickered, then opened. A wide space spread out beyond it, somewhere in the castle. She couldn’t see anyone in it, just a tapestry on the far wall and an open window.

“Not yet.” Twilight stuck her hoof out. She concentrated, casting her illusion again. Doing it directly to her own body would only last minutes, not days. But she would only need minutes. Besides—she didn’t have enough magical energy left for a spell as powerful as transformation.

Together, they stumbled from the Crystalarium at last.

The doorway closed behind them. They were standing in a workshop of some kind, with intricate spell-diagrams on the walls and heavy bookshelves packing the space. And in the air just above them, the Crystal Heart.

It looked… sick. Black and green, grown all over with shards of sharp crystal. Like it might crumble apart any second.

“Well, this is unexpected,” said a voice from across the room, totally unafraid.

Twilight turned, and her breath caught in her chest.

Standing in front of a desk—his red horn glowing with power—was King Sombra.

Chapter 12: Dragon

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Twilight’s whole body was rigid with fear. Her horn glowed, and a dozen spells passed through her mind. Force dissipators, shields—but she settled on a teleport. King Sombra was entirely unmoved by her presence, not even startled. It had taken the Crystal Heart and all the Empire working together to beat him last time. She couldn’t do it alone.

Her horn flashed, and the world blurred… then her and Rainbow Dash smacked against the crystal wall, so hard that she went sprawling. Rainbow moaned, rolling over and staying still.

But Twilight was stronger than that—she caught herself on her hooves, landing and glaring up at King Sombra. “You put a dimensional interdiction on your tower?” She hadn’t felt him cast a spell, which meant it was in the building. Where did you get the power for that?

Sombra shut the book he had open, settling the quill back in its reservoir. He took a few steps closer to her, emerging in the full light of the crystal lamp overhead.

He was taller than she was, as bulky as the largest and most intimidating stallions she knew. His horn was unnatural and wickedly curved. Worse by far were the active spells she felt on him. Spikes of dark crystal sunk through his shoulders, his chest, down his spine, in ways that should’ve killed him.

Necromancy. That explained how the disembodied force she had fought with her friends last time had somehow acquired a body. He’d reanimated it. Not clumsily, like the hobbyists the Solar Guard sometimes caught in her own Equestria. This was no half-rotten zombie. If anything, he seemed stronger than an ordinary pony, more muscular and confident.

A king to rule an empire.

“Obviously,” he said, smilingly ruefully. She had never heard him speak before—and he was surprisingly charming. Friendly even. “When Equestria is your enemy, only the fool ignores what a skilled unicorn can do. Terribly expensive magic, perhaps, but it pays for itself whenever an assassin comes calling.”

He stopped, ten paces or so away. Twilight braced herself again, though her strength was already weakened from her escape. There had been no natural magic in the Crystalarium, so no ability to recoup her strength. In the presence of such darkness, she could barely reach her power.

“I’m not here to assassinate you,” she said. “I just want to leave. Go back to your book, and I’ll take my friend, and you won’t see us again. I promise.”

For a second, Twilight almost imagined he would do it. His expression turned, becoming contemplative. Then he sighed. “Every time I encounter a pony like you, I’m astounded at your naivete. Your civilization has become so soft in the centuries of my slumber. You imagine that every conflict can be solved with words.”

“Why not?” She took another step back, putting herself between Sombra and Rainbow. The pegasus was struggling to her hooves, but the impact had shaken her more than Twilight. She didn’t have earth pony strength to help resist injuries like that. “I don’t want to hurt you, you don’t have to hurt me. It’s like it never happened.”

Sombra sighed again, a little deeper. “And yet you moved my wife to betray me. As though she could escape the consequences of her actions. Oh yes, I’m fully aware of everything that has taken place. Equestrian spies smuggled from the border. I don’t know where you crossed, though I will find out. You’ll have to forgive her… Cadance gets like this sometimes. She’s an Alicorn, and so she insists on her independence…”

He shook his head. “So, she brought you here, asked too many questions about the Crystalarium, and tried to help you obtain one of my captives. I don’t know why this pony would’ve mattered to her so much… but that’s not important. My wife must learn that my will is absolute, just like the Empire has. You all must die—for her to see. It’s the only way.”

Sombra’s horn glowed dark green, and Twilight could feel the terrible energy behind it. She straightened, gritting her teeth. She hadn’t intended to fight here—she hadn’t planned on even meeting this pony. But she didn’t have a choice.

Sombra released his spell—a familiar stunning charm, one often used by medical ponies for basic surgery—but a thousand times more potent. Twilight moved to the side, pointed her horn. There was a flash of magic in the air between them, as purple met green. Sombra’s spell unraveled, its energy converted into flames right where Sombra was standing. Books caught fire, a few nearby shelves toppled, glass instruments shattered.

Twilight paced to the side, away from where Rainbow was still on the ground, unmoving. The pegasus was unprepared to help in this fight—her only chance now was for Twilight to keep Sombra’s focus as far away from her as possible.

Twilight was already preparing her next spell. A second later, the smoke cleared in a flash, leaving behind a unicorn in the center. Sombra no longer looked jovial and friendly—his coat had been charred away in places, and on one shoulder his crystal jutted straight from the bone. As she watched, the skin knit back together, covered the injury. His eyes repaired, and he focused on her.

“I was going to be merciful,” he said. “You had done no crimes of yourselves. Only Cadance needed to be punished. Not anymore. I’ll make it hurt.”

While he was bragging, Twilight had finished her spell. A nearby bookshelf ripped up from the wall, zooming towards him with the force of a runaway train. It passed through where he was standing, smashing into the crystal wall hard enough that cracks spread from the place of impact. Books went everywhere, wood splintered and rained shards down all around her.

A faint smoke hovered in the air, where Sombra had been standing. His horn returned first, solidifying. Then the rest of him returned, more quickly than he’d healed last time.

Now he smiled, though there was nothing even remotely friendly about the expression. It was a leer. “You’re a bigger fool than she is,” Sombra said, his laugh shaking the library. “You don’t think Cadance hasn’t tried all this? You don’t think Nightmare Moon didn’t meet me in terrible combat the instant I revolted against her? I fought Alicorns and won! What do you think this is, an academy dueling class? You’re only still standing because she needs to watch you die.”

Sombra’s horn glowed, and this time the entire room seemed to darken. His eyes became red pits seeping dark smoke, which filled the air around him as a fog, hiding his movements.

Twilight tried to feel whatever spell was forming in there, biting her lip in concentration. She had about half a second before it emerged, blasting towards her so fast that she could do nothing more than one of Shining’s shields.

Her eyes widened with horror as the magic reached her, a swirling maelstrom of black and green energy, striking up against her shield and devouring it. She knew instantly why she hadn’t been able to feel what she was looking at—this was an anti-magic field, the most powerful version of it she’d ever seen. More necromancy, she realized.

She gritted her teeth, pouring more energy into the counterspell and backing away. But the magic seemed to be drawn to her, following her across the workshop.

“You are unprepared for this conflict, spy. You were wise to try and flee. Unfortunately for you, that isn’t possible.”

Cracks spread along the shield, and whole chunks of purple energy tumbled away. The storm lifted them up, like a tornado that devoured all magical energy. Past the borders of that spell, Twilight could feel nothing at all, her unicorn senses completely dulled.

“Equestria was a different place then. We were not so welcome in this world—the other creatures wanted to destroy us. Many of them tried. Those who survived grew strong. I was the greatest of all, so powerful that even Celestia could not permanently defeat me.”

Twilight’s eyes widened, and her horn flashed with a few more desperate counterspells. There had to be magic in that storm, some weakness she could exploit. There was certainly magic there, but none of it made any sense to her examination. Dark magic was so poorly understood in modern Equestria that she didn’t even know how to fight it.

Her shield faltered, and only a thin web of protection remained around her, closing in tighter and tighter. Beyond it, there was only oblivion. I’m an Alicorn! I can’t lose to him! Equestria is depending on me!

“The old blood is mighty, spy. It will rule the universe, in time. The changelings cannot feed on us. Once all ponies are like us, they will starve. We’ll bring back the sun, if we want to. We’ll eliminate all creatures who do not serve our purpose. Starting with you.”

Her shield shattered, and the storm consumed her.

Twilight woke some time later, her head pounding. Far worse than that, her magic was drained. Her limbs were heavy, and tight chains were around her back, holding her wings in place.

My wings? Sweet Celestia, the illusion spell! She sat up, though she lacked the energy to do anything quickly. As she rose, her head pounded again, threatening to knock her over with pain a second time. But she didn’t fall, and she could get a good look at her back. Her wings were there alright, wrapped tightly with a thin metal chain. From the look of it, the chain had been forged closed. It was loose enough that she could still breathe—barely. But any attempt to open her wings would be impossible.

She might be able to melt the chain off, except that her magic was still… gone. She could sense nothing—not the life of creatures around her, not the gentle reverberation in the thaumic field that penetrated all living things.

It’s like the Crystalarium. There’s no natural magic down here. He wouldn’t want unicorns using it to escape. Or apparently, Alicorns.

Her eyes still worked—she hadn’t been tortured while she was unconscious. The world around her resolved, and she was laying in the mud, with bits of jagged rock sticking up at irregular intervals. A massive stone door rose to one side, and a set of seats was almost directly in front of her. They were tall, like the performing stadiums used by the Wonderbolts. Totally empty, except for the royal box.

She couldn’t see the sky either, though in this sunless version of Equestria she wouldn’t have expected much. There was stone overhead, though what it was or how thick, she couldn’t have guessed. She hadn’t known of any structures so large in her own version of the Crystal Empire.

Far above, Twilight could just make out two figures in the gloom, one dark and one pink. The pink one was visibly shaking in her seat, occasionally turning to say something Twilight couldn’t hear. But whatever she was trying to beg, she was met with only stony silence.

At least Twilight wasn’t alone in the pit. There were four other figures down here, each one as bruised and dirty as herself. Rainbow Dash had metal chains around her wings just like Twilight did, though she looked even less likely to use them.

Rarity and Applejack had been given even less attention. Rarity had been tossed into the mud exactly as she had last seen her, gemstone encrusted dress and all. Applejack still wore the house-servant outfit of Princess Cadance. Poor Pinkie’s uniform had been ripped to shreds, and mud was smeared all over her legs.

“You’re awake,” said a voice from far above, magically amplified. “Excellent. We’ve been waiting long enough. Your companions have been anxious to die.”

Twilight could faintly make out Cadance’s voice up there now, however far away. “You don’t have to do this, Sombra. Put them in the Crystalarium. Wouldn’t it be better if you took Equestria’s tools for yourself?”

“You have taken that option from me, my dear,” he responded, back to the false-friendliness Twilight had first seen from him. “I would have. Reaching us here was obviously difficult. Whatever they did to corrupt you must be interesting. And the Alicorn… a terrible waste. But you must learn. If you ever do this again… you will watch them die too. Your allegiance is to me, and no others.”

“Even the alicorn?” Cadance said, desperate. “Please… she’s too useful. I’ll do anything. Don’t hurt her.”

“And that is why I must,” Sombra said. Then he leaned down, glowering at them all. “If I were you, I wouldn’t run. At least then your death would be quick.”

The doors on the far side—so large that together Ponyville City Hall could’ve passed through them—rumbled open. Twilight could see nothing on the other side, just black stone. Except… no, there was something out there. Faint flickers of green shone in the gloom, and a shape moved in the distance. A shape so large that the ground beneath her shook with every step.

“I have to say…” Rarity muttered, standing up straight and shaking the mud from the hem of her dress. “This really wasn’t the way I imagined a mission with an Alicorn going. Our secret plans overheard, even our leader overpowered by the enemy. I expected… more.”

“We’re not done yet,” Applejack said, glaring through the open doorway. “I’m sure Twilight had good reason for ending up here. Maybe this was part of the escape plan the whole time.” She lowered her voice. “I felt the sun on my face, Rarity. That wasn’t a lie.”

Maybe not, but just now their words cut deeper than any of Sombra’s insults. Cut deeper even than being so easily defeated. She’d known that he was a powerful dark wizard, but… this was worse.

“I don’t know you girls,” Rainbow Dash said. “But I think we’re lucky to die standing on our hooves. The other place is… worse. At least here we have some dignity. I just wish I had a sword in my hooves.”

“How barbaric,” Rarity muttered. “The warrior’s honor is well and good for stories, but not useful for the ones we leave behind.” She shook herself out, and her horn sparked faintly, casting nothing. Evidently, she was as drained as Twilight in that regard.

No magic, no way out… Celestia, what do we do? But her mentor was out of reach, trapped on the sun, and depending on her to get them out of this.

I lost to Sombra. I’m about to get my friends killed. If I die here, everything awful in this world will stay. Starlight Glimmer wins.

The distant shape began to resolve in the open doorway, as it got closer to the arena’s gem-lights. Even at a distance it was obviously reptilian in nature, with huge wings and spikes running down its back. It moved on four legs, but even still it towered over all of them. The huge doors overhead were barely large enough to let it inside.

The massive dragon stepped into the arena, and Twilight realized instantly why it had seemed so familiar to her. The purple scales, those spines… she’d seen this dragon once before. Once, when Spike had been entirely overcome with greed, he’d grown to this size and very nearly destroyed Ponyville.

“Spike?” Twilight whispered, looking up towards those huge eyes in desperation. Of all creatures, Spike had to remember her, right? She’d raised him—they had been together their whole lives. There wasn’t a creature in the entire world who was closer to her. “Spike, can you hear me?”

She stood up a little straighter, waving one hoof in his direction. “You remember me, don’t you?”

Somewhere far above, Sombra’s laugh filled the arena. Twilight barely heard his taunts, but still she heard him. She couldn’t get his anger from her mind. “You’ve lost your mind, Alicorn. Ferrum the dragon is a fearsome beast, one with a troubled history. But he escaped Equestrian captivity a few years ago, searching for a purpose. He didn’t know his own kind, didn’t know what he was meant to do in life. I gave it to him.”

The dragon seemed to recognize his voice, because Spike looked up towards where Sombra sat. Not friendly exactly, but not hungry the way he looked down at them. “Now, Ferrum. I have brought you an offering. Delicious ponies, fresh from Equestria. They’re all yours.”

Spike the dragon towered over them. As he approached, Rarity and Rainbow Dash had to scatter out of the way. Now she knew where all these jagged, broken rocks had come from. Spike’s steps shattered the stone floor wherever he went.

Then he roared, and Twilight very nearly went deaf right there. Her ears pressed flat, and she cowered low to the stone floor. This can’t be how it ends. I’m not going to get eaten by my own assistant. This can’t happen, it can’t…

But why couldn’t it? She’d failed to fight Sombra. She’d failed even to sneak out of his prisons. Why did she think she could fight the world and win?

Spike stomped over her, apparently distracted by one of the others. There was probably justice there too—Twilight wouldn’t have the mercy of dying first. She would have to watch the others go. And as soon as the first of her friends was gone, any chance of reversing Equestria’s destruction would be gone with them.

Spike’s attention focused on Rarity. She squealed, backing closer and closer to the edge of the arena, before tripping awkwardly on her dress. It tore on the ground, splitting right up the hem as she went down with a faint squeak. There was no way she’d be getting away now.

Twilight hid in Spike’s shadow, unable to look away as the nightmare took place before her eyes. She could give Rarity the respect of watching it, even if she could do nothing to stop him.

Rarity straightened, lifting one of her hooves. “Excuse me, Mr. Dragon. I’ve, uh… I’ve got a gift for you.”

To her astonishment, Spike froze, his jaws a head above Rarity. They didn’t close, though. Both eyes focused directly down on her, watching intently.

Rarity tore carefully at her dress, removing the largest gemstones near the breast. She held them all up in one hoof full, the gigantic amethysts largest of all. Spike’s favorites. In the case of her Spike, because they reminded him of Rarity.

The dragon leaned down, and a huge tongue emerged from between his jaws. He licked, and the gems vanished into his mouth. He chewed thoughtfully, then burped a few tongues of green flame out into the room.

“Yes, well. I thought you would enjoy them. I’ve heard around the castle that dragons are lithovores more than carnivores. Strange you wouldn’t be able to find something more to your tastes in this kingdom of rock-ponies.”

“Enough appetizers,” Sombra commanded from high above. “I brought you more ponies to devour. So, devour.”

Rainbow settled down beside Rarity. Applejack followed Twilight to join her, right in front of the dragon. If they were going to get eaten, it wouldn’t be terribly difficult for the dragon to hunt them down.

Even if there was no familiarity in those eyes, even if Spike barely seemed to see Twilight, it didn’t seem like he was very hungry anymore. At least, not for them.

“It seems rather inconsiderate to keep you down here, if you ask me,” Rarity went on, removing the other stones from her dress and offering those too. The fabric tore away from her back, finally giving up what little strength was holding it together. “But I’m quite good at hunting them down. Perhaps I could find you something more to your tastes? I have a spell I never perfected… but I bet if we could get out of here, I could figure it out. For… hunting the best gemstones.” She looked around, then seemed to notice something overhead.

Twilight followed her glance and realized what she was looking at. A skylight, a little bigger than a pony, covered with iron bars. That ceiling can’t be that thick. Twilight might’ve been able to break through it herself, if only she had her magic.

“I’m your master, creature of fire and flames! I gave you the hoard you guard. I gave you this lair, I fill your bowl with ponies when you hunger! It’s me you will obey! I command you to tear them apart!”

Instead of that, Spike lowered his huge head to the ground beside them, spreading his wings.

“If it wouldn’t be too much trouble…” Rarity went on. “I would try to make it worth your while, Mr. Dragon.”

Spike grunted—that was enough.

“Guards!” Sombra shouted, his voice suddenly small and far away. “Guards, bring the siege weapons! The dragon needs to be reminded of his place!”

There was one advantage to Spike’s incredible size—he could easily carry five ponies, with plenty of room to spare. No sooner were they all on his back then he straightened, bracing massive legs against the ground far below.

Then he took off, and the whole cavern shook. There wasn’t very much room to fly, and the ceiling got closer and closer. If we get crushed up there, this won’t be much better than—

They didn’t get crushed. Spike seemed to realize the danger they were in, because he caught the ceiling with his claws, tearing the stone supports apart in a single stroke and catapulting up into the air. Ash billowed around them like snow as they shot up beside the city, its crystal spires quickly fading below. Arctic air billowed all around them, and little flashes of spells followed them up into the darkness.

But it didn’t matter—the city was far below, well out of reach.

“That way, if you wouldn’t mind,” Rarity called, pointing back towards Equestria with a hoof. “I know just the place we can find some wonderful gemstones. By the time we arrive, I should have time to recover my strength. And perhaps the duchess will assist me.”

“Well buck me with a rusty horseshoe,” Rainbow said, over the rushing wind around them. “You tamed a dragon. You don’t see that every day.”

“Tamed,” Rarity repeated, voice indignant. “I just showed the fellow a little generosity. Now all of us will have to make a point of informing him of our gratitude once we land.”

“Won’t be a problem with that,” Applejack said, awed. “I’m starting to see why we might’ve been friends in that other world.”

“Huh?” Rainbow asked.

Twilight was the last to climb off. She couldn’t say exactly how late it was, or how long they’d been on his back. Without the sun to help her relate the passage of time and after who knew how long unconscious, there was no way to know if it was night or Eventide.

In some ways it didn’t matter—it was the same chill wind, the same distant dusting of snow covering the world. The same frost collecting on her mane.

At least her magic started returning to her after a few hours. Once she had the strength, she cut away the chains binding her and Rainbow Dash. They didn’t fly on their own—the trip was too long, and the two of them were far too worn from the events in the Crystal Empire.

I hope that he doesn’t hurt you too bad, Cadance, Twilight thought, as her hooves finally settled on the snowy ground. She had seen this place before, though it had been years. This massive field of burrows and mines had once belonged to the diamond dogs. It appeared their time here was gone, at least judging by the pale bones she could see emerging from the snow in places.

“I think I know the spell you have in mind,” Twilight said. “You were better at tracking down gemstones than anypony I ever met.”

“Better might be a tad generous for me,” Rarity admitted. “But it was a subject of interest of mine, many years ago. Perhaps you could be of assistance to me.” She looked up, forcing a smile. “The duchess and I are going to bring you a reward for helping us!” she called. “Please, don’t eat any of our friends while we’re gone. We’ll be very grateful.”

The massive dragon must’ve been visible flying in, even from as far away as the Castle of the Two Sisters. But so far, Twilight had seen no sign of “friendly” guards scouting their way. She could only hope that Rainbow and Applejack would be able to handle any that appeared.

Twilight followed her friend down into the gloom. “That was… some quick thinking,” she said. The exhaustion threatened to crush her every moment, but she knew she had to keep walking. This dragon wasn’t just some brute she had to pay off. Some part of him was still her assistant, deep down. I’m going to fix the world for you too, Spike. Don’t you worry. This gift was something she could do for him. Possibly the only thing.

“Hey!” Rainbow appeared in the tunnel behind them, skidding to a halt with her wing. The old diamond dog caverns were plenty big for a pony, even if they’d obviously fallen into disuse. The tracks that had once been used for gemstone carts had gone rusted, and there were bits of broken mining tools everywhere. A few more bones, rock melted by magic.

“Hey, so I’ve had enough of dragons for a while. Applejack and Pinkie are gonna keep him company. It’s high time you all tell me what the hay is going on.”

“You mean rescuing you wasn’t enough?” Rarity asked, one eyebrow raised. “That ought to communicate whose side we’re on.”

“Obviously!” Rainbow tensed, flaring her wings. Twilight couldn’t help but grin—as beaten and bruised as this pony had been in the Crystalarium, it seemed freedom was rapidly transforming her back into the one she knew. “Also, I’m starving. Probably literally? I dunno. But it sucks and I hate it.”

“I can explain,” Twilight said, sticking out her wing to stop Rarity. “And… we’ll be able to get supplies soon, don’t worry about that. Once we settle things with Spike up there.”

“I’m not sure why you insist on calling him that.” Rarity’s horn swiveled slightly, pointing at a patch of blank wall.

“Because we used to be… close. I hatched that dragon, in my Equestria. He’s smaller than a pony there. Small, and kind, and helpful. I don’t know what Sombra’s magic has done to him.”

Rarity muttered something under her breath, and the rock shattered. A shower of gemstones rained out from inside. Rarity beamed, practically bouncing with excitement. “It does work! I knew I almost had it!” Then she straightened, clearing her throat. “I, uh… I’m going to find a container for these.” She wandered off.

“Your Equestria?” Rainbow asked. “What does that mean?”

Twilight told her. She didn’t have the energy to go into the same detail she had with Rarity, and Rainbow wasn’t as instantly accepting as Pinkie. But she explained everything she could.

“And that’s why I need you five specifically,” she finished. “All we need to do is find another pegasus named Fluttershy, and we’ll be able to put everything right. No more eternal night, no more Sombra, no more Chrysalis. Unfortunately, she’s… been the hardest to find so far. Nopony has heard of her.”

“Fluttershy.” Rainbow had lowered her voice to a whisper. She was suddenly right beside her, meeting her eyes. “Promise not to tell this to anypony else? Especially the unicorn. I’ve seen her in the castle before, she talks to the princess. If Nightmare Moon ever heard about this…”

“I promise,” Twilight said, glancing down the cavern where Rarity had gone. She heard something rumbling down the tracks, but it was still a ways off. From the sound of it, Rarity had gone to use her gem finding spell elsewhere, not just on this specific patch. “Go on, before she gets back.”

“I know Fluttershy,” she whispered. “I haven’t seen her for a long time, but… we went to flight school together, way way back before Equestria got all… ruined.” She glanced up again, and made sure Rarity wasn’t close enough to overhear before going on. “When I joined up with the Nightmare Battalion, she… she said she was joining something else. She wanted me to come out with her to the… the resistance.”

Twilight’s eyebrows went up. But before she could say anything, she felt a hoof settle into her mouth, silencing her.

“Don’t even say it, I’ve heard everything you’re thinking. How she’s a traitor to the cause, how could she even dream about fighting Nightmare Moon when she’s the only creature in the world who cares about ponies? How could she be so stupid, so cowardly. I don’t let ponies talk about my friends that way, and I don’t snitch on them.”

Twilight finally got her hoof out of her mouth. “Rainbow, I’m not going to snitch on her. I know you… you don’t remember, but she was my friend too. I’m sure she’s been doing great work out there. Do you… know how to find these ponies?” Ponies that I probably should’ve looked for the instant I got here, instead of working for an evil queen. Fluttershy was braver than me all along.

“I, uh… I might,” Rainbow admitted. “I might know where to find them. But if we go, I want your word that we won’t tell the unicorn the truth about it. Not until we’re already there. If she hears even a hint that we’re going to see the resistance… she’d skin us alive. I don’t know how much she believes your story, but… but it isn’t that much. I know her type.”

“I promise,” Twilight said. It won’t matter what any of you think, once we get Fluttershy back. So long as you can work together enough to use the Elements of Harmony… Then she’d be back through the map, and everything would be perfect. Everything she’d seen could go back to being a distant nightmare.

It was enough to go on. We’re going to put this right, somehow. Harmony is on our side. Starlight Glimmer has no right to do this to the world.

They returned to the surface with a rusty wagon overflowing with gemstones. Rarity seemed physically pained as she offered them to the gigantic Spike, who relished them far more than he would’ve any meat.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen to you now…” Twilight muttered, once he’d finished. “I wish I knew what spell Sombra had used on you. I might be able to turn you back to normal.”

Now at least the dragon seemed to be able to hear her. He lifted his massive head, one eye focusing on her. In this world Twilight had failed her entrance exam, she’d never woken this dragon. But maybe that didn’t matter—maybe now that he wasn’t driven mad from eating the wrong food for months or years, maybe now he could think straight.

“The Dragonlands are that way, Spike,” Twilight called, pointing with one wing. “They’d be happy to have a dragon as brave as you. Go to them. Don’t go back to Sombra.”

Spike turned his attention on Rarity, where she worked beside the tiny fire they’d made from dry wood. They were boiling water to drink, using what scraps they could put together to make tea. It smelled watery and weak, but what choice did they have? They’d been out for so long…

“I’m afraid she’s right,” Rarity said. “I know you probably want to stay, but you can’t. If you remain here much longer, you’ll attract Nightmare Moon’s attention. My princess… always wants what’s best for Equestria. That would mean using you just like Sombra did. No. As much as that would help the war effort, that wouldn’t help you.” She pointed, imitating Twilight. “Duchess Twilight knows… something. You should listen to her. Go.”

Spike made another sad rumble, shaking them through the ground. But he seemed to understand—some of it, anyway. He took off, scattering snow and dirt, vanishing into the perpetual night.

Rarity watched him go, sighing slightly as he vanished into the darkness. A few moments later, Applejack lifted their makeshift mugs—stolen from the former diamond dog holes—full of tea. Twilight took hers in her magic, sipping. Pine needles, mostly. Old. But she drank it anyway, her stomach groaning in protest.

“Now, we’ve almost finished this… mad crusade,” Rarity said, once Spike was gone into the night. “How far away is our next destination?”

“Not very,” Rainbow answered, her eyes on Twilight. The message was clear: back me up if you have to. And she would. “We’ll need supplies to make it, but it’s only two days hike. And no, I can’t carry anypony. I can barely fly myself right now.”

“My factory isn’t that far,” Applejack said, settling her empty cup on the ground in front of her. “If we don’t want direct involvement from the crown… for entirely non-treasonous reasons, of course—we could skip the return trip to the castle and go straight there.”

Rarity’s eyebrows went up. “You know saying something that questions your loyalty and then adding that your loyalty is unquestioned doesn’t actually make your statements any better?”

Applejack grunted in response. “Come on then. It’s less than an hour’s trot from here. I’ll show you what Ponyville hospitality was like.”

Chapter 13: Rebel

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There was something surreal about returning to Ponyville’s corpse. It wasn’t that the village had changed much since their last visit—there wasn’t any new decay, none of the structures had fallen down, and the liberal layers of ice on various surfaces were still as thick as ever.

But now Twilight knew better. What she had taken for isolated destruction was in-fact a blight on the entire planet. The suffering these ponies had felt was only the beginning. But we’re close to ending it. Remember that, Twilight.

She could only imagine what Applejack must’ve felt returning here, to a town she would’ve watched fall apart.

But as much as a Twilight in better condition might’ve let thoughts like that weigh her down, this Twilight was far too exhausted and hungry to let it disturb her too badly.

They arrived at the factory, having to help a beleaguered Rainbow Dash to make the final climb. The farmhouse had changed little, despite the industrialization to everything else. Applejack removed some apple-leftovers from the fridge, and while they ate she worked on the floor above.

“We keep cots and bedding for seasonal workers whenever they get assigned. Never know when the crown is going to want us to make the harvest, for whatever’s left of the seasons. We can head off to rescue our last pony after a good rest.”

Many of the ponies left right away, Rainbow first among them. Twilight didn’t blame her—the poor mare had been through the worst, and also knew them the least. A rescue had earned her loyalty, but could they keep it?

As the ponies ate their fill and wandered upstairs, Twilight found she was the last to linger, about when Apple Bloom emerged from the kitchen door. She wore a hairnet over her mane, and sanitary wraps on her hooves, evidently heading in straight from the factory floor.

She froze in the doorway, dropping into a bow the instant her eyes caught sight of Twilight. “Forgive me!” she said, her head on the old wood. “I ain’t got no idea we had such fancy—”

Applejack jostled her sister in the shoulder. “Relax, Apple Bloom. She isn’t what you think. An Alicorn, but… not sent to punish or judge us. She’s the reason I’ve been gone the last few weeks.”

Apple Bloom rose, her eyes still narrowed. “If ya say so, big sis. I ain’t so sure about…” She was trying to whisper, but seemed no better about knowing the volume of her voice than Twilight’s experience with her. Like Sweetie Belle, she could make out no sign of a cutie mark. She was otherwise the same age as the Apple Bloom she knew, though her mane wasn’t as soft with shampoo, and she was already showing the lean muscles of hard work. Equestria didn’t have the resources to indulge in proper childhoods anymore. “Did ya really have to bring her here? You know how they are. Can’t resist stickin’ their nose in everything.”

She sounds more like Applejack than Applejack. Twilight almost burst out laughing, but she swallowed another bite of apple pudding, forcing it down. It made sense, based on what Twilight knew of Applejack’s cutie mark story. Didn’t make it feel any less strange.

“We won’t be here long,” Applejack said, embracing her sister. “Unfortunately. But if you’re a little more patient, I promise it will be worth it. Our mission is… important like you wouldn’t believe. I know you barely remember… but this pony is going to put Equestria right again. You’ll see.”

“I trust you,” Apple Bloom whispered. “Just be careful, sis. You can’t forget what they’re like.”

Twilight encountered no further issues with the earth filly, even if she did avoid her in the farmhouse and seemed absolutely terrified whenever she caught her alone. But Twilight wasn’t here to win her over—just to get a good night’s rest.

When night—or Eventide, she still didn’t know—came again, Twilight rose with the others. She got cleaned up, then ate another hot meal of apple-flavored oatmeal. It was a small thing, but enough to make the terrors ahead of them seem a little less frightening.

Applejack packed cans of Apple Farm food for the trip, loading up saddlebags for each of them. They wouldn’t be traveling with the finest military tents and sleeping rolls this time, just whatever they could find around the house. But the fewer questions we have to ask Nightmare Moon, the better.

They would still have to return to the castle when this was all over, to get the Elements of Harmony from storage. After that—well, she could figure out how to cast the spell without attracting Nightmare Moon’s attention a little later. Maybe they could somehow manipulate her into thinking they weren’t ready, then let Twilight slip away.

It was a plan to make another day. For all she knew, Fluttershy had already been eaten by a dragon.

“I’m sure she’s somewhere out here,” Rainbow said, gesturing off the edge of Applejack’s old Ponyville map. It was towards the Everfree, much further south than the Obsidian Fortress and its occupants. No telling whether that would be quite far enough to avoid its patrols. “That’s where she always said she was going.”

“That’s… very harsh country,” Rarity said. “The Everfree Forest still grows that way. I don’t know how—nopony knows how the trees survive without growth crystals or management from earth ponies. But they do, and some of the old predators probably made it there too. Are you sure this is… wise?”

“We made it back from the Crystal Empire,” Applejack answered. “Even when it looked like we were doomed. We got captured twice, and rode a dragon. I’m pretty sure we can survive a few Timberwolves.”

Rarity turned up her nose, but didn’t argue the point.

“It’s quite far,” Rainbow went on, once it was clear she wouldn’t get interrupted again. “Had to be further than the patrols go out, obviously. And finding somewhere safe in there isn’t easy. Trees are too thick to scout from the sky. There are lots of dangerous plants in the canopy, which means you basically can’t fly in and out whenever you want.”

Unless you can teleport past it, Twilight thought. But she would keep that potential to herself.

“I’ve packed four days,” Applejack said. “Two in, two out. Assuming this pegasus is in there—and I think after all we’ve done so far, our odds are pretty good—that should be enough to find her, then get back.”

“Then we save Equestria, right?” Pinkie asked, beaming. “I’ve been thinking about some ways we could celebrate. Do you want to hear the song I’ve been working on? It’s about the sun—”

“No!” Rarity exclaimed, stomping one hoof on the table. She cleared her throat, sitting up primly. “I mean, no. That wouldn’t be wise, Sargent Pie. Why don’t we just… focus on retrieving the pegasus. We’ve already accomplished some amazing things. Hopefully not so much that Sombra retaliates.” She looked sidelong at Twilight, wincing. “We’ve been, uh… fairly close to a negotiated cease-fire. But that stunt may’ve bloodied his nose sufficiently that he no longer wants to indulge us.”

But there was nothing they could do about it now. Besides—the act that they were actually working for Nightmare Moon was bound to break down. It only had to last long enough to send Twilight back in time.

The Everfree Forest began as she’d seen it before—with burned stumps, felled trees, and death. As they traveled further, Twilight caught her first glimpse of something growing—not green, as she was used to, but faint purple. Leaves spread out to cover the ground, with no trees at all yet.

It can’t be living on moonlight, can it? There’s so little energy in that, thousands of times less than sunlight. Maybe it was some other magic—but regardless, it was the first hint she’d seen so far of the natural world enduring what Nightmare Moon had done to it. Even with no particular love of a forest that had trapped and threatened her on more than one occasion, it was still heartening.

They saw a few signs of guards passing high overhead, flights of bats surveying the ground from above. They either didn’t see them traveling through the Everfree, or didn’t care. But Twilight realized there was something that did bother her.

“Rainbow, you’re… I know you don’t remember me that well, but I have to ask. You’re a bat now.”

“Yeah?” She raised an eyebrow. “Obviously. Better night vision, more adaptable diet, better fighter. It’s the sacrifice many of us made for Equestria.”

“Spoken like a patriot,” Rarity said. “We’ve all sacrificed something to survive this war. But together, we’re winning it. Nothing matters more.”

“Well…” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “You’re right that we’ve got to win. Our choices are going into slavery in a crystal mine, or get slowly eaten by changelings that feed on all your emotions until you’re a withered husk. So yeah, we’ve got to win. Doesn’t mean I like it.”

Her wings shifted uneasily—the one prosthetic with its cloth instead of skin, then the other that looked like so many others. “Did it… hurt?”

Rainbow looked away, all the answer she needed. “Less than the Crystalarium.”

But what’s bothering her so much?

Twilight struggled to find a way to ask, but it seemed she wouldn’t need to. Rainbow went on.

“I spent my whole childhood with two dreams—the one I knew I could have, and the one that I probably couldn’t. Turns out the impossible dream was almost within reach, but the simple one got taken away. Worst… worst thing about being a thestral is we just don’t have the same control over weather that pegasus ponies do. Breaking clouds is… harder. Getting together a storm is almost impossible. That’s why Nightmare Moon hasn’t changed the whole country. We need both. I took it for granted that I would work in weather, and… now I never will.”

“But you were going on secret missions!” Pinkie said, helpfully. “Adventures behind the lines, saving the world… isn’t that fun?”

Rainbow still wasn’t meeting their eyes. “Maybe one day I’ll make Shadowbolts. Guess that depends on how we do with this mission. Saving… everyone? Guess they won’t need the Shadowbolts once we win both of the wars.”

“Have both day and night again,” Applejack added, her voice a whisper. “Can’t wait for that part. I think everypony will be happier once we’re finished.” And so they walked.

The strange purple underbrush was broken up ahead with the stalks of trees. Or… maybe “tree” wasn’t quite the right word. They were built around trees, twisting and curling around dead wood with their soft lavender flesh. Leaves of blue emerged from dead branches, soaking up the—moonlight? Faint blue lines traced the flow down their leaves, making the whole forest up ahead glow almost as brightly as the moon.

“I’ve heard about this,” Rarity said, seizing on something that wasn’t princess-related. “An… adaptation. Harvesting magic during Eventide, and somehow growing during night. That’s the real reason why this forest was allowed to survive. The princess is hoping we’ll be able to transplant it. Revitalize the uninhabited parts of Equestria, and lower our dependence on growth crystals.”

That won’t save us, Twilight thought. This world is still doomed. How long until all the air runs out, without the ocean to renew it? There were biologists in her Equestria who could’ve answered those questions. She guessed they would all be fighting Sombra now, out on the front line somewhere. Or maybe they’d been eaten by changelings.

“Is it… safe?” Applejack asked. “Even before all this, my family warned me about the Everfree. Seems like Equestria going to war against it wouldn’t be making it like us anymore. We aren’t going to be… attacked, are we?”

Rainbow shrugged. “Fluttershy wouldn’t have. She’s got a way with animals you wouldn’t believe. Like… her own kind of magic. Without her, this won’t be easy. Nothing that should give us too much trouble, after fighting off a dragon on our own.”

“Not quite fighting, but…” Rarity nodded reluctantly. “I see your point. We’ll certainly have a better chance at this than we did when this adventure first began. Might as well put all our talents to good use.”

The strange trees didn’t leap out at them as they pressed deeper into the gloom, though once under the canopy they did obscure the stars, replacing them with another light. It might’ve given them trouble navigating, if Applejack didn’t have a compass they could use for reckoning. Rainbow knew how to navigate, and she had some idea of where they went. “I always planned on visiting, if I got off. Maybe… after getting some leave for a mission well done. Or… surviving a few months as a prisoner of war.”

There were more than just trees and bushes that had adapted to the new environment. The air was soon heavy with moisture, and bird calls too. Heat radiated up from the ground, in clouds of steam that seemed regularly timed. The forest had adapted, much better than the parts of Equestria that ponies actually managed.

They weren’t attacked, at least not during the first full “day” of travel. Occasionally Twilight caught sight of some huge-eyed lemur perching on a leaf, its eyes glowing and its coat purple to match the forest it lived in.

They traveled all through the night, until the moon turned over again. Even that was hard to see through the thick curtain of purple leaves. They didn’t have much to make camp, and it seemed a bad idea to burn any of the weird plants. At least they were able to find a slab of broken rock poking above the bushes.

Twilight cast a protective charm over the place, isolating it with a shield similar to the ones her brother might’ve cast. She could rest without fear of being eaten in her sleep, or unexpectedly turned to stone. But that didn’t mean she slept peacefully.

Their day of travel had perpetuated an illusion of a forest that had gone from violent to peaceful—that illusion disintegrated as soon as they stopped moving and listening. Twilight saw massive creatures in the darkness, stalking through the corpses of the old forest. Far away, animal battles for survival played out, with howls of pain and roars of victory.

Closer at hoof, Rarity huddled on her cot—they didn’t even have the protection of a tent, just the sleeping bags and the shield spell. “We’re safe in here. We have an alicorn. It’s okay…” she whispered to herself, over and over. “It’s for Sweetie Belle.”

As always, waking brought no fresh light of dawn to fill Twilight with energy. There was biology to that too, though she was more conscious of her desire for a steaming cup of coffee. She’d seen almost none of it in Nightmare Moon’s new world.

“Well that was fun,” Pinkie said, sipping at their tea. Real, apple tea this time, instead of the dead pine needles they’d drank last time. Twilight still would’ve preferred chamomile and ginger. “I think I heard a roc out there last night. Did you see the shadow?”

“I saw it,” Rarity said, sounding like she hadn’t slept much. “And plenty of other things. But the magic held, Twilight. Our duchess comes through for us again.”

“We’ve all come through during this trip,” Twilight said, waving a wing dismissively. “Getting here was a group effort. It’s… the most familiar thing about living here. Once we get Fluttershy back, you’ll see. The Elements of Harmony all united together. It’s the way we’re meant to be.”

“I dunno if you’re right about any of that ‘fate’ and ‘harmony’ stuff,” Rainbow said, settling her makeshift spear on her shoulder. It was just a stick she’d found during their hike, and sharpened to an impressive point. But it was sturdy enough that it would probably be able to kill all kinds of dangerous creatures. From the way she swung it, she clearly knew how to use it, balancing the pressure from her shoulder and her wing to keep it in place even without any other harness. “But I want the war to end. I don’t want to see my friends die anymore. That’s worth fighting for.”

Twilight lowered the shield, and they returned to the jungle.

This time, their approach was made with more resistance. They encountered massive flowers that stunk of rot, guarded by small armies of biting parasprites. There were massive spines on some plants, which still showed some green on their outlines. Survivors from the old world, maybe.

There were animals too. Once Twilight had to blast at a wildcat that tried to leap at them, with six limbs and little blue flowers down its back. A solid bolt of energy to the face convinced it to hunt something easier.

There were Timberwolves too, just as Applejack had feared. None could get quite close enough to do serious damage, not with two unicorns and a trained pegasus soldier to fight them back. They shoved a few down a crevasse, while the rest retreated into the trees.

The one thing they couldn’t fight was the lack of a map. Twilight was wondering if they would ever find a sign of the “resistance” when her nose finally detected something, mingling with the otherworldly cool scents of the Everfree Forest.

Roasting nuts and fruit. Not just the smell of flames, but fire put to use. She swerved immediately, and wasn’t the only one. Rainbow grinned from ear to ear, pointing. “And you doubted me. Now you’re about to see just how lucky you were to have a guide like me.”

“Lucky,” Applejack said, brushing bits of broken wood out of her mane. “We’ll see about that. Brag when we find her, skypony.”

They didn’t have long to wait.

Down in a deep valley Twilight had never seen before, were the canopies of massive trees, each one as wide across as a small house. They were dead like all the other traditional plants—but they’d been more thoroughly colonized by blue and purple plants than anything else she’d seen. What she’d taken initially for upper branch parasites were actually suspension bridges, connecting the largest trees. And glowing out from inside, orange firelight.

“Here it is,” Rainbow said, stopping at the edge of the cliff. “Oh, we might have to talk our way out when it’s over. Pretty sure nopony ever leaves, since they might share the secret of its location and threaten the whole community… but I’m sure they’ll make an exception for a mission to save all Equestria.”

A massive spear struck the ground in front of them, its stone tip feathered with yellow. They were so quiet that Twilight could barely hear, the faint sound of ponies dropping onto the ground around them. In less than ten seconds, they were completely surrounded.

At a glance, it was difficult to tell they were even ponies. They wore nothing for clothing but stripes of mud running down their bodies, in the same blue shade as many of the plants. Many of the patterns were more intricate, drawing out complex swirls and hearts and other things.

But while they didn’t wear much, they did carry weapons. Spears, like the one that had been thrown. A few homemade bows levitated by unicorns. They represented every tribe, though Twilight couldn’t make out a single set of bat wings.

“Ponies from outside, you have no need to fear. If you’re not changelings, you’re welcome here.” Twilight’s eyes widened, and she found herself smiling as a figure emerged from the crowd of soldiers. A zebra, carrying a wrapped bundle of leaves filled with mud.

“Zecora!” She waved one wing enthusiastically, but she didn’t get the chance to hurry over—the instant she stood up, spears jerked in her direction, with the ponies on her either side glaring harshly at her.

“This one knows me, what a surprise. I wonder, is that fear in your eyes?”

She stopped in front of Twilight first, settling the leaves on the ground and gathering a large hoof-full of mud. “Or does she think we’d be fooled? Alicorn disguises like hers are not common things. We know how many ponies have both horn and wings.”

Twilight recognized the muddy smell before it was close enough to see—this was the same stuff the bats had used during her first day in Equestria. She mentioned changelings, that must be what she’s searching for.

Twilight held still. “I’m real, Zecora. I’ve come from… well, you probably won’t believe me right now. Just use your poultice, then you’ll see. We can talk after that.”

The zebra did, wiping it down both sides of her face similar to several of the ponies behind her. Twilight felt nothing but a slight tingle as it passed over her skin. There were no changeling secrets to reveal. Zecora didn’t mistrust her magic the way the guards did, and she didn’t get violent. But there was still shock on her face.

“A bigger surprise is when you don’t lie. The story you share must be… worth hearing for the tribe.”

“Yes,” Twilight said. “But I’ll wait, you can test the others too. I recruited all of them myself, I know they’re really my friends.”

Rarity winced at the smell. “That’s, uh… mud,” she said. “Don’t you have access to the unicorn version of… no, of course you don’t. This is a… tribe in the woods.” She held still, whimpering as another pony rubbed mud on her face. Each of the others took their turn. They remained themselves.

“Fluttershy!” Rainbow called, her voice rising above the murmurs from the surprised guards. “You’re just going to hide in back? Not even a hello?” She spread her wings wide. “I know I didn’t get to see you as soon as I hoped, but… I couldn’t risk not being able to leave again.”

Twilight watched as the light yellow pegasus stepped forward. She had dried blue mud swirling all over her body just like the others. From the wet glisten to some of it, it seemed that Zecora tested her own tribe as well. That would be annoying. Were changeling attacks really common enough that they had to test that often?

“Good to see you,” Fluttershy said, voice feeble. “And, um… I don’t think I know your friends. Did I forget them?”

Yes, Twilight thought. But I’ll remind you.

“No.” Rainbow embraced her in a tight hug, so firm that she squeaked and squirmed in protest. But in vain. “You’ll meet them soon enough. I’m just glad you’re okay!”

“This reunion makes me smile,” Zecora said. “Come, let the tribe care for you a while. Stories of old friends are much better told beside a fire.”

“And a washbasin, I hope,” Rarity muttered, scraping weakly at her muddy face.

Together, they vanished into the valley.

Twilight was more impressed with Zecora’s secret tribe the more she saw of their way of life. There wasn’t a single growth crystal here, or any of the purple lights that lit pony buildings. Instead, they’d cultivated a rich farm of the alien plants, with sloped terraces filled with water and strange rice, along with trestles of glowing grapes. No, not grapes. Those are crystal berries.

Nothing here seemed completely new, but much of it seemed harvested from somewhere new. Enough to create a sustaining ecosystem in the valley, around which all the revitalized Everfree Forest was only an outgrowth. Some plants glowed so brightly that she almost didn’t miss the sun.

What she’d expected from the troops emerging from the trees and the spears in their hooves was a group of soldiers, preparing to declare their independence from Nightmare Moon and fight off her army when it arrived. But she could see very few soldiers—just the rotating guards. For every one pony wearing spears, there were five tending to the plants, or replacing a section of rotten bridge, or digging new irrigation for the terraces.

“You built all this in the forest, without any help from the rest of Equestria.” Twilight stood outside the tallest tree, which was clearly their capital from the constant flow of ponies in and out. “That’s… almost too incredible to believe.”

Zecora shrugged. “We have not been helped by Equestria in years. Whenever we see them, they only spread fears. The ponies of New Dawn come here for safety in their life. To make a home without war or strife. This goal is never easy, but we try every day. And why are you here, Alicorn from far away?”

Fluttershy had joined them, along with a few of the other border guards. This pegasus had changed more than any of her other friends—she might’ve come to New Dawn to flee from war, but she’d become a bit of a soldier here anyway. She was lean like Rainbow Dash, but without the bat wings or prosthetic.

There were still some seeds of the pony Twilight remembered. She had been too shy to ask about their mission all the way up, even when they singled her out specifically.

“We need her,” Twilight said. “But… I like the idea of explaining over food. Maybe we can do that?”

A grin was Zecora’s only response. An hour or so later, they were all gathered around a fire in the hearth of the tree. Despite how incredible it looked from the outside, the space was even smaller than her library. Platforms had been built across the hollow interior, connected by stairs near one wall.

The stew tasted like Zecora’s cooking, and it brought a warm glow to Twilight’s chest. Even the Zebra had changed in this place, but she had endured. Even Fluttershy had, though she lacked any of her animal friends, or the softness that Twilight remembered of her.

“So that’s the only thing left for us to do,” Rarity declared. They had all helped tell the story, though Rainbow Dash had the least to add. She seemed to trust Twilight at least, probably because she had been the one to save her. The others, not so much. “Nightmare Moon will return the Elements of Harmony, then we can cast her spell.”

“And they’re defeated, just like that. All Equestria will smile and clap.” Zecora hadn’t objected to the story, as so many others had. But despite being a Zebra, Twilight had long since been humbled about her magical understanding. She had been wise and confident enough to be her source of strength when Trixie attacked Ponyville.

“Princess Nightmare herself,” Fluttershy muttered. Food and fire had helped her open up—at least she was squeaking feebly and looking away whenever anypony asked her a question. “You’re going to meet her?”

“Meet her?” Rarity raised an eyebrow. “Yes, dear. She guards every object of military significance zealously. The Elements are too dangerous to leave to those she doesn’t trust.”

“That sounds…” Fluttershy turned her attention on Zecora. “Do you plan on letting them leave?”

Zecora nodded. “Be clever and wise, young Fluttershy. Alicorns are too powerful to slow. We can only hope her friends are moved by what we had to show. New Dawn must be left alone. Perhaps with your company, you can demonstrate how your kindness has grown.”

This was the moment where everything could come crashing down. Twilight tensed in her seat, shivering. Fluttershy had less reason to come with them than anypony so far. She might not be training to invade Equestria, but she was protecting a secret haven, and they would be walking directly into the hooves of her enemies.

Twilight shouldn’t have worried. “I’ll go,” she declared, pushing back from her spot. “Tornado Bolt is almost ready to take my place on the wall. She’ll make a good replacement while I’m gone. And while I’m out there, I can… see if Nightmare Moon even remembers we’re here. I won’t remind her. I’ll look and act just like them, you’ll see. I won’t let New Dawn down!”

“I know you won’t, Fluttershy dear. The ponies of New Dawn have nothing to fear.” Zecora sighed, then rose from her place. “No meal would be complete without dessert. If you’ll all wait here—”

She didn’t get to finish her rhyme. Somewhere far away, the rumble of a horn shook the valley, three quick blasts. Every guard in the room, as well as Zecora and Fluttershy, jerked alert.

“We’re under attack,” Fluttershy said. “The changelings found us again.”

Chapter 14: Chaos

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Twilight’s whole body went taut with energy as she heard the horns blare again. The reaction from the others in the room with her wasn’t blind panic—ponies took their spears off the wall, hurried to the door. Meanwhile, those who hadn’t been soldiers and didn’t wear weapons turned to the stairs leading deeper into the tree, fleeing together in an orderly row.

“We should help,” Rainbow declared, watching Fluttershy move for the door. “That’s… that’s what we should do, right? Twilight?”

Zecora didn’t even give her a chance to answer the question. “New Dawn is happy for whatever you can do. But I will not stay to force you.” She hurried away, followed by many guards.

“Yes,” Twilight said. “We will. Everypony else, stay here.”

“What about me?” Pinkie bounced past her, over to the doorway. “I know how to fight! Er… I guess technically know how to guard things, but that’s almost the same things! Keep ponies from getting out, keep them from getting hurt. Protect the fort, keep ponies in. Keep them out. Not too different.”

“You’re right…” Twilight scanned the rack, her eyes settling on the single spear that had been left behind. The New Dawn guards were already all gone, so they wouldn’t need it. She levitated it over to Pinkie. “Take the others down where those ponies are going, keep them safe. I need everypony for the spell to work. Keep them alive.”

“Right you are, Princess Twilight!” Pinkie saluted. “Alright you civilians, down the stairs!” She didn’t quite yell, but she did bounce, and that was good enough. Before another argument could start, Rainbow and Twilight had slipped out onto the balcony.

Rainbow spread her wings, and Twilight followed. She still had the makeshift spear she’d made along the way, though she wouldn’t be able to fly very fast while balancing it. “You ready?”

Twilight nodded, taking off. “You can fly with that wing?”

“Yeah!” Rainbow zipped past her, almost as fast as she remembered. She probably wouldn’t have any problem with traditional flying—she’d have to try something like a sonic rainboom for it to make a difference. “I’m still faster than you, alicorn or not. But where the heck are the changelings?”

Twilight didn’t know any of the strange magic this world used to find them—but maybe she didn’t need it. The horn blared again, and she could see ponies from all over New Dawn rushing to the ramp leading up. There were apparently ponies up there, looking like a random assortment of tribes all wearing armor.

Oh Celestia, those are the ponies who live here. They’re trying to confuse them by looking like their friends.

They even carried similar weapons, and had stripes of mud running down their bodies. Twilight wouldn’t have known they weren’t the exact same ponies, if she didn’t see Zecora standing among them, leading the charge. That’s Chrysalis, I bet. She’s the only one who would dare impersonate the leader like that. We won’t let her get away with it.

Rainbow had seen it too. Probably sooner than she had, with those bat-eyes. “Wish we had something to drop on them. Changelings squish like bugs. No good weather to make into a storm… where’s the Everfree’s crazy weather when you need it?”

An interesting question—Twilight hadn’t seen any unusual weather in the last two days, just an occasional damp mist. But it wouldn’t matter now.

“See the guards fighting there? They’re going to get overwhelmed! The others aren’t flying, they won’t get there fast enough!”

“Race you!” Rainbow answered, tucking in both wings for a dive. She wasn’t quite as fast as she might’ve been—her body was still weak, and her muscles had shriveled with harsh treatment.

Twilight didn’t push to try and beat her—just now what she needed from the pony was cooperation, not resistance. She followed just behind, running through a few spells in her mind.

She was caught completely off-guard when Rainbow dropped into a dive, released her spear, and sent it through a changeling with such force they were completely impaled, smashing into a dead tree. It looked for a single terrible second like she’d made a mistake—but then the magic puffed away, leaving an insect seeping greenish slime onto the wood, dying in agony.

Rainbow just killed a pony. It hadn’t even slowed her down. She wasn’t stopping, either. No sooner was the spear gone than she chose her next target, crashing into what looked like an earth pony with both forelegs extended. From the awful snapping sound and the limp bug that rolled away from her, Twilight guessed that she’d made another successful kill.

She’s a soldier, Twilight. Fighting for her whole country. What is she supposed to do, let Equestria get eaten?

Twilight wouldn’t be given the luxury of sitting comfortably by the sidelines—arrows shot up through the air towards her, dozens of them. Her shield stopped each of them in a shower of sparks.

Twilight hovered in the air above the battle, spreading her wings and flashing her horn in the most dramatic shower of light and sparks she could conjure. “Get away from this place!” she roared, in her best imitation of the Royal Canterlot Voice. Nothing near as frightening as Luna’s own version, but… scary enough that ponies and changelings alike scattered.

Not enough, though. What she’d hoped to accomplish by scattering the enemy lasted only long enough for her to see the weakest changelings retreating into the forest. The majority turned completely away from the guards, many abandoning their illusions. They lifted into the air, dozens of bugs, none looking away from her.

Oh buck.

The village might be interesting to them—but Alicorns were irreplaceable. I should’ve hid my wings or something.

It was too late to hide them now. And from the look of things, she wouldn’t be able manipulate her way out of anyone else getting killed.

This is a war. I knew I might have to fight sooner or later.

“You’re a fool to travel so far from your castle,” said one of the bugs. She wore wood armor like the villagers, though it didn’t look even remotely convincing when a changeling was wearing it instead of a pony. “You aren’t Nightmare Moon. Do you really think we’ll be afraid of tricks and flashing lights? We are the masters of illusion. We can’t be confused by the tools that we wield.”

Where had Rainbow gone? Where were the guards? Twilight was quickly overwhelmed in the battle. She’d fought with changelings like this before, and they were acting the exact same way—closing in around her, making it harder and harder to see a way out. Without sunlight, they looked more gray than black, shiny shells reflecting the sickly blue glow coming from the forest around them, as well as the moon.

“Maybe you would rather come without a fight,” said another bug from close by. “I know that look. You thought you were a warrior, but you aren’t. You belong in a court somewhere. Signing documents, casting impressive academic spells with no practical use.”

“If you try to fight us, you’ll die. Surrender is your only option.”

She almost did. But as Twilight opened her mouth, she remembered being beaten to a pulp in Sombra’s laboratory. She’d been in his sanctum then, dealing with an ancient necromancer who had sold his soul and who knew what else to find power.

There might be dozens of changelings, but they weren’t like that. I’m so close to ending this. I’m not giving up now.

Twilight’s horn surged to life again. She stopped flapping her wings, yet held perfectly still in the air. She might not have fully recovered from losing all her stored magic to Sombra, but she had enough. Enough to make these bugs regret attacking her.

Twilight felt the magic building, though she had only a few seconds to prepare the spell. They were closing in around her, using their superior coordination to overwhelm her. If they cut her off, they’d start draining her magic, just like Sombra had. There was so little left to lose.

Twilight roared, blasting outward all around her with simple, concentrated force. It was the same way that ordinary unicorns lifted objects, magnified hundreds of times. Shell snapped, bugs were swept out of the air, smashed into trees or crushed against icy rocks.

Twilight landed a second later, her horn steaming and the ice all around her hooves boiling away.

“Damn, Twi! Never seen a pony do that before!” Rainbow landed on the ground beside her, a new spear in her hoof. Taken from one of the dead, probably. “You’ve got to show me that sometime!”

She’d killed or injured a dozen of them in a single attack. If Twilight hoped that would scare them off—that too was mistaken. The bugs had forgotten about New Dawn completely. They didn’t seem likely to underestimate her this time, either. It was going to be a fight for survival.

At least she wasn’t alone. She couldn’t have said how long the battle went on—not long enough that Zecora or the troops from New Dawn ever arrived to help. Maybe she should’ve been thankful for that, since it meant ponies wouldn’t be losing their friends today. As it was, she fought until she lost all strength, fought until she couldn’t keep going.

Rainbow collapsed to the ground beside her, surrounded by broken bugs. The trees overhead pulsed to their familiar blue glow, overpowering the stars. But that was the only light.

“You just… fought… an entire army,” Rainbow said, panting. “There must’ve been… fifty, a hundred bugs. You’re really an Alicorn.”

“Yeah.” She settled down onto her haunches, a little more dignified. “Wasn’t always. You helped me get there—you and the others back in New Dawn. Guess you don’t remember that.”

She scanned the forest, but nothing moved around them now. Even the predators were too intimidated by her display to try anything. Anything big enough to challenge her probably wouldn’t be able to get here anyway.

“You’re really going to save the world, aren’t you? Put it all back to normal… fix the sky?”

Twilight nodded. “We are. I can’t do it alone.”

“You keep saying things like that.” Rainbow rose, shaking herself out. She was covered with mud, dirt, and changeling slime, but she was already recovering. She hadn’t been making magical attacks that would sap her strength. “But I’m not sure it’s true. It doesn’t seem like all these ponies you got are equally useful. Why do you need a factory manager to overthrow Nightmare Moon, anyway?”

Far away on the horizon, the moon set. For a single second, the entire world was in darkness, even the glowing plants refused to put out their light. Then the moon rose again, and faint sparkles spread from where its light first touched, expanding until the entire forest was glowing again.

“I’m not going to overthrow her. She beat Princess Celestia, remember? I couldn’t beat her. I couldn’t even beat Sombra.” She sank down, settling her head on her hooves. “That’s why we have friends, Rainbow. And that’s why we’re not going to fight anypony. I told you how it worked—”

“You told me something you thought I would believe,” Rainbow interrupted. “Time travel. Were you really serious about that?”

Twilight gestured all around them, at the broken and dying bugs just a dozen meters away. “I’m not recruiting an army. I’m recruiting the Elements of Harmony so we can reverse this spell. Equestria isn’t supposed to be in this nightmare in the first place, and we’re going to wake them up.”

“Buck me,” Rainbow said. “I hope you’re not as insane as our princess. If you can do this… I almost believe you.” She straightened suddenly, puffing out her chest as only a pegasus could. “But you should know. I’m not convinced. I’m only helping you because you saved my life. I owe you for that. Kinda hoping I could’ve paid you back during this whole… changeling thing. But I’m pretty sure you saved me more than I helped you.”

Twilight rose again, shaking away as much of the mud and slime as she could. She stuck out her hoof, smiling faintly. “It doesn’t have to be about debts. We could just be friends.”

“Friends,” Rainbow repeated. “I guess we should… probably go back for your friends, huh?” She took the offered hoof anyway. “Which is, uh…” She winced. “Horsefeathers. I have… no idea.”

“Guess we follow the blood,” Twilight muttered, grim. “It started at the village, right?”

“Yeah.” Rainbow shivered. Even with all their fighting, even helping Twilight kill all these bugs, she hadn’t been completely desensitized.

Unfortunately for Twilight, that was the moment the adrenaline finally wore off. She dropped to the ground, and heaved Zecora’s stew all over the forest floor.

The return trip to New Dawn was more than a little hike, broken with frequent stops to investigate and try to discover exactly how they’d gotten there in the first place.

Twilight recovered her constitution quickly enough, though the sense of disgust with what she’d done remained. Even if it was a war, even if she’d been fighting defensively and would’ve been killed otherwise—she had still killed. Maybe in another life, those bugs might’ve reformed, and found a better way to live. In this one, they’d rot in the forest.

After several hours of wandering around, eventually the hidden valley came into view, with the ponies outside recovering from the attack.

It seemed that the bugs they’d sent away weren’t the only ones involved. Maybe there’d been another wave.

There was a small fire burning near the edge of the village, now mostly extinguished, along with an open pavilion with cots full of the injured.

Twilight approached slowly, conscious of the angry eyes of the guards on her.

To her relief, Fluttershy was the one who met them, with a leaf filled with mud in front of her. “I have to test you,” she said, almost apologetically. “I know you probably aren’t… that the real you wouldn’t want to hurt New Dawn. But it—”

“It’s fine, Fluttershy,” Rainbow said. “Get it over with. Then you can tell us what happened.”

A few moments later they were muddy as well as tired, with no new changeling spies revealed.

“I guess we didn’t lead them all away,” Rainbow said, scraping the mud away from her face. “I thought Twilight was going to win the whole battle by herself, but…”

“No,” Fluttershy squeaked. “I mean, it was very noble of her to try, but… there’s always more than one wave. But the other ones are weaker. You might’ve helped save New Dawn today.”

“All in a day’s work,” Rainbow said. “ We can put a stop to this. End the war, defeat Chrysalis.”

“With… Nightmare Moon’s help,” Fluttershy repeated. “And… time magic, you said?”

“Yes,” Twilight answered. “More like undoing time magic, not using it offensively. But yes. In order to power the spell, I need you.”

“I’m coming,” she said. “But… maybe not until after Eventide. There are hurt ponies here, and… you look tired too. You should go back into the village. We’ll get you somewhere to stay. We can leave when night comes.”

Twilight relished every second of relief in New Dawn, feeling safer than she had since arriving in Starlight’s Equestria. There were no more attacks, and even if there had been, she was confident the scouts on the wall would be able to find and stop them.

Her sleep was far less restful—there was no Princess Luna to take away her nightmares. The changeling invaders might be evil, but she didn’t relish watching them die. She watched it anyway.

This is your fault, their corpses whispered to her. If you had stopped Starlight, we would’ve been banished in peace. You failed, and we died. They were her fault too, even if they were invaders.

Then she woke. She prepared for the return trip with the others, who had taken no injuries since they’d been sheltered with the other civilians the entire time.

Though as they were making their way back out into the forest, Twilight learned that not all of them appreciated the break.

“I could’a been there,” Applejack said, after they’d given their formal goodbyes to Zecora and were on the trail. Fluttershy seemed to know the route much better than they did, because they cut a different path back. From the look of it, Twilight guessed it would take less than a day to reach the Obsidian Fortress this way.

“You had no idea what was waiting out there. You could’ve been killed!”

“Could’ve,” Twilight agreed. “But so could you. I need all of your help; I’ve said that already. We can only make this spell work with the six of us. But we all have different talents. Rainbow is a trained soldier. If we had gone to manage a factory, I promise I would’ve asked her to stay somewhere safe while we did it.”

“If we did that, I’d drop myself in the canning machine,” Rainbow whispered.

Applejack didn’t react. Maybe she hadn’t heard. “I get that. I know you’re from another world, and you’ve got all kinds of power. But it still pays to have more eyes. Pays to be watching better, because you just don’t know what could be coming. I can’t fight an army, but… I could’ve warned you that you were about to be attacked. I could’ve… swung a stick! Bucked them out of the way!”

“It’s natural to want to be more helpful,” Rarity said. For the first time, she didn’t sound condescending. “I know the feeling, Applejack. Watching train after train leave the Obsidian Fortress to the front, knowing that most of the ponies on it won’t ever come home to their families. I want to get on with them, pick up a crossbow and help. I sometimes feel like a coward for not being there.”

“Well—” Rainbow opened her mouth, but Twilight silenced her with a hoof.

“But the instinct is wrong,” Rarity said. “Putting a pony who doesn’t know how to fight in battle will probably make things worse for your side, even if you badly want to help. Then instead of being focused on the war, your friends will have to also think about keeping you alive. Besides, if you did get hurt, that means you won’t be able to do the thing that makes you useful. Armies can’t march on empty bellies, and they can’t get to the war if the trains don’t arrive on time and they run out of bolts. We all have our part to play. It’s selfish to try and play them all ourselves.”

“She’s right,” Pinkie agreed. “It was the same way at Elkatraz. Most of us did nothing at all. We had to watch the ponies who got unlucky… wishing we could do something. But if we’d all gone down, it only would’ve been worse. Maybe we’d give them enough magic that they could break out and attack Equestria again. Even if it hurt, we were keeping our families safe.”

Applejack raised a hoof in surrender. “Alright, alright. I get it. You win. Doesn’t mean I like it, though.”

“You don’t have to,” Twilight agreed. “And you won’t have to worry about it for much longer. We’re here. Now all we have to do is… talk to Nightmare Moon, get the Elements, and… and we’re done.”

The trees were running out, and not much further ahead, she could make out the burned husks of the forest Nightmare Moon had destroyed. That meant the Obsidian Fortress wasn’t much further.

It was time.

“What do you mean you can’t get a meeting for us?” Fluttershy was surprisingly insistent—enough that even Rarity was given a moment’s pause. “You said you ran the whole castle.”

They stood together in one of the Obsidian Fortress’s great foyers, surrounded by the flow of dignitaries and military ponies. Their group stood under Nightmare Moon’s seal, where a massive window would cast the moon traveling across the sky.

“I did,” Rarity said, voice weak. “Past tense. But that never meant I could command her. She rules Equestria, all I can do is ask politely. That is as it should be—she’s the princess, after all.”

She nodded towards Twilight. “She, uh… she only wants to talk to you. She didn’t give me a reason. And I could tell from her tone that I shouldn’t ask for one. You, uh… probably shouldn’t keep her waiting.”

“It’s fine, Twilight,” Rainbow said. “All you need to do is get the Elements, right? You’re basically asking her to open a drawer. In and out, and we can be done with this whole thing.”

“We should be going with you,” Fluttershy insisted. They had all washed away the mud, and Fluttershy had left any artifacts of New Dawn behind. She clearly had no intention of attracting attention back to her old home. “You might need us! We can’t help from out here.”

“We’ll have to,” Applejack said, moving forward and embracing Twilight. “We know you can do it, Twi. Finish what we started.”

They all hugged her. It wasn’t quite the affection she was used to, but at the same time they were her friends. These were the ponies who could bring back the sun, if they worked together. She could finish the job.

She walked slowly up the stairs, following one of Luna’s personal guard all the way to her quarters. So there wouldn’t be another performance before her night court.

“Duchess Twilight Sparkle,” the guard announced, holding the door open for her. “As you requested, Princess.”

“Leave us,” she said. “If any arrive, kill them.” Twilight couldn’t even see her—the room seemed to be completely empty, though she could feel the magic radiating out from inside. Not the nauseating wrongness of Sombra’s necromancy, but just as unnatural in its own way.

The door shut behind her, plunging Twilight into sudden blackness. The windows were all drawn, not even allowing the faint gasps of moonlight into the room.

“I hear you’ve completed your mission. The time has come for your impossible time-spell. Is that right?”

Twilight’s ears perked, and she turned in the direction of the sound. A flight of crystal stairs, leading around the tower to a study of sorts. There was an empty fireplace, which hurt her eyes just to look at it. The sound came from one of the comfortable chairs beside it.

Twilight lit her horn, and found her usual light spell produced only a faint wisp of what it should. She didn’t fight it, though, just gritted her teeth, walking up the stairs towards Nightmare Moon. “That’s correct, Princess. We’re ready to end the war.”

She stopped beside the fireplace, with her horn illuminating the study. Nightmare Moon was surrounded by books—ancient tomes of magic, from the look of them. The paper on some looked so old that merely opening them would cause them to crumble away.

The fireplace wasn’t just dark. Twilight’s glow didn’t get anywhere close to it. Yet in the profound absence, she could see the shape of flames crackling there. Or… anti-flames. They absorbed light, radiating a chill that reached her hooves at that moment, and made her breath puff out in the air in front of her.

She couldn’t stop herself. “What is that?”

Nightmare Moon’s predatory eyes met hers, and she grinned at her, exposing her sharp canines. “You come from a different place, Twilight. I’ve learned much about your reality… or inferred it. You were trained by my sister, is that true?” She gestured, and Twilight took the seat across from her. She had no intention of tempting her anger by refusing.

“Yes.” She kept her tone as flat as possible, fearful. She had no illusions about what Nightmare Moon would think of that.

But she was wrong. The alicorn raised one of her wings in deference. “It’s alright, I don’t blame you. Celestia was always the more outgoing. She was better at winning ponies to her side. The illusions she created weren’t like our changeling foes—her lies were all smiles and politeness. She knew how to say whatever a pony most wanted to hear. After all, it costs nothing to be kind.”

Nightmare Moon laughed, her voice distant and bitter. The not-flames in her huge stone fireplace grew higher, and ice grew from around it in tiny black shards.

“It’s… some kind of dark magic…” Twilight muttered. Trying to examine it was about as fruitful as examining Sombra’s necromancy. Her spell made it only a little way, then snuffed itself out.

“Dark magic.” Nightmare Moon’s voice was scornful. “You see what my sister’s laws earned for Equestria? A culture of ignorance. ‘It’s too dangerous!’ she must’ve said. ‘Imagine what terrible things ponies could do with what they don’t understand!’”

Sounds like she knew what she was talking about.

“I can see it in your eyes, Twilight. You’re not a pony content to accept the boundaries of her world just because somepony says the map ends here. You want to know what’s on the other side. You need to know. Who was the clockmaker? Who wound the gears, and to what ratio? Most importantly—how can we use this knowledge, to strengthen Equestria and defeat her enemies?”

“I do want to know,” she admitted. There was no sense lying to an Alicorn. She probably had magical ways to know when she was being deceived. I really hope those don’t work when I’m only leaving things out, instead of inventing them. “But I want to save Equestria first. Ponies are dying. I’ve… been on the front. I had to go from one end to the other to get my friends back together. But we need something from you for the spell to work.”

In the gloom of her study, Twilight could just barely make out her eyebrows going up. “You want… something from me? I’ve made it clear to you, Twilight. I’m not going to waste any of my attention on this. I already gave you my favorite steward. What else could you possibly require?”

Then she rose, and Twilight didn’t see her cross the distance between them. Suddenly she was leering over her, settling a few spell books on the cushion beside her. “My court wizard has become a bit of a disappointment in recent weeks. Mounting insane expeditions, nearly getting herself caught. Postulating absurd spells… but you, I think, will be less so. For instance—you know the ten schools of magic. Did you know that each of them has an inverse? It isn’t just ‘dark magic.’ That’s a term my sister invented. Propaganda, to frighten away fools. It’s certainly more dangerous, but the rewards… they make the investment worthwhile.”

In a single sentence, Nightmare Moon had told her more about forbidden magic than Celestia had given her in a lifetime. That was almost enough for her to listen—almost. But then she shook her head.

“Equestria first, Princess. I barely need any of your time. I just need to borrow the Elements of Harmony. I have the ponies, now all I’m missing are the physical artifacts that go with them.”

Nightmare Moon withdrew from her. A second later, and the dark fire burning beside them went out. Light returned, and little slivers of ice melted away, dripping quietly on the stone floor.

All of Nightmare’s interest in her seemed abruptly severed, and she turned away. “You’re asking for something impossible. The Elements of Harmony…”

“I know your sister probably tried to use them against you when you returned,” Twilight interrupted. “We’re not using them as a weapon. I just need a power source. There isn’t enough magic left for me to cast the time spell otherwise.”

The Alicorn’s expression shifted. Not into anger exactly, though it was close. She seemed—embarrassed?

“It’s not that. If I thought you were a traitor to me, I would have already banished you to join my sister. It is something more practical… more realistic. The Elements of Harmony aren’t here. They aren’t in the vault, aren’t anywhere in my control.”

Of course. Right when she was close to victory, it was snatched away. Twilight wanted to swear, to stomp in frustration—but she resisted. She was still in the presence of the most dangerous Alicorn in the world. Besides, a setback didn’t mean her mission was impossible. There was no reason for her to give up yet. “Where are they?” Twilight asked. “Does Sombra have them? Queen Chrysalis? I know my ponies can get in and out, no matter where they are. Nothing will stop us.”

Nightmare laughed again. “We will see. They are nowhere you could imagine… well, I suppose I shouldn’t make such claims without knowing everything about your time. But I doubt you have a hope. Come with me, I’ll show you.”

They descended the steps of the tower, past numerous ponies who were all competing for Nightmare Moon’s time and attention. She ignored them all, waving them off with a wing. They reached the bottom floor of the tower, and still they were traveling downward. Into parts of the castle she had never known existed.

“There are creatures in Equestria older and more powerful than even the Alicorns,” she began. “Creatures as ancient as the mountains, and as endless as the stars.”

They reached a sealed door. The spells written across it were intricate, beyond anything Twilight could read at a glance. But she didn’t need to read the carving that someone had worked into the heavy stone.

It was a tall creature, with an arched back and mismatched limbs. Even as she watched, a faint greenish glow seemed to pulse out from under the doorway. The runes along its side glowed, then the heartbeat of magic from within retreated again.

“Discord,” she whispered. “He… got free in your world too?”

“Not… precisely,” Nightmare Moon said. “I was no fool like my sister, content to wait for disaster to strike. I could see the spells containing him were fragile things—so I acted early. We made a deal.”

She nodded towards the door. “Through there is a domain of chaos that will warp your mind and devour your sanity. Ponies who step through often do not return. The things that do…” She shook her head. “I often have them executed out of pity. But that was part of the bargain. Any who wish to enter his domain must be allowed. I think he has some… power, to reach beyond this spell and entice my subjects. I have tried to stop him… without success. If you want your Elements of Harmony, that is where you’ll find them.”

“He…”

“Insurance, he called it,” the Alicorn said. “He knows his own weaknesses. I had to promise that he would never be trapped in stone again. The only way to honor that promise is to give him stewardship over the weapon that could do it.”

Suddenly she loomed overhead again, her mane a writhing, twisted octopus of glowing strands. They reached out, wrapping around Twilight’s legs and wings and holding her in place.

“Whatever horrors you have seen out in Equestria, whatever you think about me—for the sake of all that you love, you must not tamper with this spell. You may visit—you may speak to the Draconequus and request anything you wish. But this spell—you must not break it. Or a darkness will come that will never end.”

You do care about Equestria, Twilight realized, her mouth hanging open. Somewhere in there. You’re almost her. Maybe she could help this pony return to herself, somehow. Maybe… could Nightmare Moon be persuaded to surrender?

But then she turned away. “I will indulge you a little time to study this question for yourself. It is of no consequence to me whether you or the ones you recruited live or die. But when you are finished… return to me. I will find a use for you in my kingdom.” She left, leaving Twilight alone at the base of the stairs.

With the alien door looming above her.

Twilight wasn’t left alone for very long. She was still staring up at the runes on the wall when she heard hooves behind her. She turned, and was only a little surprised by the ponies who emerged.

Not Nightmare Moon’s guard, they carried no weapons. It was her friends. Or two of them anyway—Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Both looked worried, like they expected to stumble into arrest at any moment. Then they saw her, and she could see their relief.

“Twilight, bucking finally,” Rainbow said, hurrying over. “We split into teams looking for you. Rarity wasn’t happy about it, but…”

“We knew she took you somewhere,” Applejack went on. “Thought it might be the dungeons. That’s where Fluttershy and Rarity went. What’s…” She stopped, staring up at the carving. “Well I can’t say that looks pleasant.”

“Did you get the Elements?” Rainbow asked, her voice urgent. “Wait, no. You’re not carrying anything. And if you had, you’d be looking for us. So something went wrong. What is it? Banished? Have to… pass a trial to get them free? Or maybe—”

Twilight raised a wing to silence her. “The princess didn’t have them, he does.” She gestured behind her at the door. “We can go in whenever we want, but we might not come out again. Apparently he’s been luring ponies down here since Nightmare Moon trapped him. That’s part of the deal they made.”

“And we’re… sure he isn’t luring us?” Applejack asked, voice tentative. “This doesn’t sound like it’s very related to getting the Elements back. More like… a way to get rid of you.”

“No.” Twilight turned back to the door, resting one hoof on the stone. It jiggled slightly against her touch, though it didn’t move far. Just enough for her to be positive that it could be opened. She could almost hear him calling to her. “She didn’t even seem to care if I went in. I think she… she wants to teach me her magic.”

“Like she teaches Sunset Shimmer, you mean,” Applejack said, eyebrows raised. “Smells fishy to me. I’m not sure what part of it is a lie. Guess we should get everypony together before we—”

“No.” Twilight focused on the door again. “The one through here is called Discord. He’s one of Equestria’s most powerful enemies. He’s beaten all of us before. But it seems like he might be… more reasonable in this world. Guess that makes sense. If the whole world is already in chaos, he doesn’t need to create as much of his own. Point is, I don’t want to put the others in danger. I’m going in.”

“Then I’m coming,” Applejack said. “If he’s really that powerful, a whole army wouldn’t make much difference anyway. So don’t say I’d need to fight to come.”

“Suit yourself.” Rainbow stepped up to her other side. “I’m not scared. He can’t be that bad.”

Twilight pushed on the huge stone door, and it rumbled inward. The other opened at the same time, though she hadn’t touched it.

There were no stone stairs waiting on the other side, or some massive chamber where Discord had made his own mockery of the court. Instead, there was a vortex of energy, powerful enough that it lifted the hair on her mane and yanked her forward towards it.

Looking through the doorway was a little like looking through the surface of a pond. And at the bottom, she could see…

An island assembled from random bits and pieces of land. There was the yellow sand of a desert, pressed together with arctic ice and huge chunks of rock. Objects she couldn’t identify seemed to orbit that island, living trees and strange machines and even weirder things she had no names for.

At the center of the island was a cottage, with light glowing from its windows. Discord, and the Elements.

At least we don’t have to trek across Equestria again to get them. We’ll be right here when we cast the spell.

“I’ll, uh… need you two to carry me,” Applejack said, staring over the edge at the sheer drop on the other side of the door. “You can do that, right?”

“Sure.” Rainbow gestured. “Get between us. You get one of her legs, Twilight. I got the other.”

They lifted, and together passed through the vortex into Discord’s realm beyond. The stone door slammed shut behind them with an air of finality.

Can’t think about that. We just need the Elements. I’m getting my Equestria back.

Nothing, not even Discord, could stop her now.

Chapter 15: Shy

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The door swung open in front of them, without coming off its hinges or spraying sparks or doing anything else it shouldn’t. But it wasn’t Discord on the other side.

Twilight’s mouth hung open, completely stunned by the one waiting for them. She was so overwhelmed that she wasn’t even the first one to speak.

“Fluttershy? How did you get here first?” Rainbow asked, raising an eyebrow. “Weren’t you searching the towers with Rarity?”

“I, um…” Her ears flattened, and she looked away from them. “You probably shouldn’t be here, Rainbow. Or…” She couldn’t even bring herself to look up at the rest of them. As soon as she’d even glanced at Twilight’s horn, she was looking away again. She lowered her voice to a whisper. “I shouldn’t say this, because he loves it when we have guests, but you should go. He isn’t nice to the ones who visit.”

“He.” Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Fluttershy, we left you ten minutes ago. Is time funny in here too?”

“Um…” She stepped to the side, whimpering. “I’m sorry, but I think you must be a little confused. I’ve never seen you before. Or…” She glanced towards Twilight again, but whatever she would’ve said vanished in a whimper of confusion. “Yeah.”

“Come on.” Rainbow strode in towards her, pushing Fluttershy out of the way so the rest of them could come inside. “Fluttershy, you’ve been with us for days. You didn’t forget their names already.”

Though Twilight had never seen where Discord lived, a single glance was all she needed to confirm she’d come to the right place. Holes in the tables, doors on the ceiling and stairs that led nowhere. Every rule of expectation and structure had been ignored, if not openly defied. In the air behind Fluttershy it looked like she’d been having tea, because the various parts were floating around inside.

Fluttershy wilted, retreating another few steps from Rainbow Dash and looking away. “I, uh… I don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s good to see you again Rainbow, but we’ve, uh… been here a long time. Ever since I left for the Everfree. It’s been years.”

“Well that doesn’t make sense,” Applejack muttered. “How can there be…” Her eyes narrowed. “Rainbow, I think you ought to back away. I think we’ve got a changeling problem.”

Laughter echoed from upstairs, a voice that was entirely familiar to Twilight.

“Guess it was too much to hope that he wouldn’t be home.”

“She’s not a changeling!” Rainbow insisted, ignoring the voice. “Applejack, she was wearing the counterspell every time we saw her.”

“I know,” Applejack hissed. “So what does it say about this one? All by herself, not where we expect, not wearing any magic.”

“Oh.” Rainbow retreated. “Right.”

Discord appeared from the ceiling above them, walking down the steps as though he’d just come through from an upper floor that didn’t seem to entirely exist. Her friends stared at him with as little recognition as they had for anything else, but Twilight’s eyes narrowed.

“Discord,” she said. “Please tell me you remember what’s going on here. If anyone would…”

There was something in his eyes, though Twilight hadn’t ever been able to be certain about what this creature was feeling. Was that recognition, or just annoyance? “Twilight Sparkle,” he said. “I was wondering when you might pay me a visit. I’ve been keeping a seat warm for just such an occasion.” As he said it, the couch melted into a pile of molten lava, boiling away through the floor and leaving an opening to the void that waited beyond.

Twilight’s eyes started to water. He knew my name. He remembers me. If any creature in all of Equestria would, it would be the god of chaos.

Discord didn’t seem to expect her to stumble forward and embrace him, tears streaming silently down her face. He froze, looking down at her uncomprehending. “Now now,” he said, amusement gone from his voice. Twilight didn’t recognize that voice, though she found she didn’t care. “Don’t do that where Rainbow can see you. You’re ruining my image.”

“Excuse me,” Fluttershy said quietly. “Discord, you know her?”

“I did. Will do. Will have done.” He pushed her away, sticking Twilight to a seat on the ceiling. “Someone’s in timeline time-out. You can come down when you go back where you belong.”

“This is sweet and all,” Applejack said, glancing fearfully between Discord and Fluttershy. “But we can’t forget about our changeling problem. And if it isn’t too much trouble, do you think somepony could explain what’s going on?”

Discord reached down, shoving a large red apple into her mouth. “Just enjoy that, fruit horse. The adults are talking.”

Finally Twilight wiped away the last of her tears. Her voice still cracked uncertainly, but she didn’t care. Discord might not have been her best friend—but he was the closest thing she’d found since returning here. “Discord, you recognize what’s happened here, don’t you?” Her head was already starting to swim from being on the ceiling, but she could ignore it for now. “Somepony did tamper with the timeline, but it wasn’t me.”

Discord snapped his claws, and suddenly they were in his sitting room, surrounding the tea-table they’d seen through the open doorway. Each of them was wearing overwrought dresses, the kind of thing she’d seen in ancient paintings with fluffy white wigs and fabric thicker than a tent.

“Time betrays,” Discord said, his voice low and distant. “He shows a vision of Equestria where I’m welcome—forgiven. Where I’ve made… friends.” He struggled with this last, eyes on Fluttershy as he said it. “How?”

Twilight nodded towards her. “Mostly her. The rest of us helped, but Fluttershy was the first one to realize you needed a friend. It took us a little longer to come around.”

“I mean—who swam so far against the flow of time? Who’s snapped it, who left it screaming in agony? Even I have standards. Causality can’t be violated if nothing has a cause and its effects dissolve. They’re going to hear from my attorney.”

Twilight explained everything. She’d been doing this so often lately that she got better at it each time. It only took a few minutes.

She caught Discord up on what they’d achieved so far, and what they were missing to complete the spell. “So we’re here for the Elements,” she finished. “With all six of us wielding them, we should be able to send me back to fix the timeline.”

Discord sipped at an empty cup, which filled gradually with each sip he took. “There’s an easy and a hard part to your request.” He snapped one claw, and six lumps of rock appeared in the air around them, circling slowly. Twilight recognized them instantly—the Elements, in their original forms. “I don’t really have much use for paperweights. And let’s be honest with each other—there was never a chance of Nightmare Moon using these against me.” They fell one after another onto the ground behind them, somehow landing softly despite the hardwood.

Rainbow Dash looked like she wanted to cut her way out of the dress she was wearing, which was larger and fluffier than Twilight’s and Applejack’s combined. She twitched and squirmed every second, but was so overwhelmed she couldn’t even get up from her seat. “I think we’re… forgetting something,” she said, watching Fluttershy across the table with suspicion on her face. “There’s too many Fluttershys.”

“No,” Discord said. “I remember perfectly. I knew the instant I woke that my friend would be in danger in this hollow shell of an acausal anomaly. I brought her here, kept her safe. If you think I could be fooled by a changeling’s transformation, you don’t know me.”

“They don’t,” Twilight muttered weakly. “None of them remember the way things should be. I showed Applejack using a little magic left in the map, but that was it.”

“But that doesn’t answer the question,” Applejack insisted, finally managing to remove the apple-gag. It had taken her several minutes of constant chewing. “We saw Fluttershy wearing the disruption potion. The mud was still wet most of the times I saw her.”

“Oh yes.” Discord floated out of his chair, drifting upside-down towards her. “However could she possibly have fooled you? Certainly not an overreliance you’ve all developed on a single method for detecting them, that couldn’t be it at all. Certainly no changeling would be clever enough to replace your potion with ordinary mud. Or to wear it themselves to avoid suspicion. There’s no way they’d be capable of such intellectual gigantism.”

Discord didn’t sugarcoat, but that didn’t mean he was wrong. Changeling magic wouldn’t trick him, that was certain. If he said this was the real Fluttershy… “Then we need her,” she finished. “To save Equestria.”

“Me?” Fluttershy rose from her seat, the only one who knew exactly how to move in the oversized dress. “I’m sorry, but you must have a different pony in mind. I don’t know magic. I don’t fight anypony. I just wanted to go to the resistance to be left alone. And now that I’m with Discord, we’re alone.”

“We need you,” Rainbow said. “The spell won’t work without you. Come on, Fluttershy. I know you care about everypony else out there in the rest of Equestria. You’ve got a brother fighting. A family who has to depend on the army to keep Sombra from getting us. You wouldn’t stay locked up in here while the rest of the world fought for you.”

Discord shoved gently on Rainbow’s shoulder, pushing her through the air. She squealed in surprise, trying to catch herself—but with her wings bound inside the dress, all she could do was kick her legs in vain as she swung head-over-heels.

“This is the hard part,” Discord said. “I’m furious with whatever pony ruined a perfectly good timeline. But if undoing the damage would put Fluttershy in danger, I’m just not sure I can allow it.” He folded his arms, glaring down at Twilight. “I know you’re going to have some silly argument to make, that’s the way you are. But I’m not sure there’s anything you can say that will convince me to let you take Fluttershy away.”

“You could come too,” Twilight said. “Maybe with your help, we’d be able to take Equestria back even faster.”

He shook his head, settling back into his seat. A chair that was now made of dozens of overlapping, half-melted swords. “A promise is a promise,” he said. “I can’t leave my realm. But look on the bright side—you don’t have to either. No dummies-guide-to-dark-magic like Sombra is going to get in here. If you want ponies to be safe, just send them here.”

“You don’t have to stay,” Rainbow said, her voice rising and falling as she looked up and down. “Fluttershy, don’t listen to him! If he’s really your friend, I bet he’d let you go if you wanted.”

“Quiet.” Discord gestured, and the corset Rainbow was wearing tightened. Her shouting died into a series of struggled wheezes, coughing and spluttering. “Nopony asked you.”

“Stop,” Fluttershy said, folding her hooves and glaring up at Discord. “Let her go.”

Discord rolled his eyes, then snapped one claw. The tea-party along with their absurd costumes vanished, leaving them sitting on the side of an apparently gigantic sink swimming with fish. At least Rainbow dropped to the ground, breathing freely again.

“I don’t know what’s going on outside,” Fluttershy began. “I’ve enjoyed living with you, Discord. Even if you… should’ve treated your visitors a little nicer.” She reached out, settling a sympathetic wing over Rainbow’s shoulder. “But wouldn’t you rather make lots of friends, instead of just living with me?”

“Well…” He deflated. “If you leave, I can’t protect you. Equestria has become just as dangerous as anywhere I ever built. I have powerful magic, but I couldn’t protect you out there.”

“What about all the other ponies?” she asked.

“Not my problem,” he said. “They made this mess; they can clean it up.”

“It sounds like Starlight Glimmer made this,” Fluttershy said. “I don’t know who that is, but I know I want Equestria to be safe again.” She turned, meeting Twilight’s eyes. “All we have to do is take the Elements and cast a spell? It’s that easy?”

She nodded. “The map is in Ponyville, or… where Ponyville used to be. Once we get everypony together, we could be done in an hour.”

“See,” Fluttershy continued. “Not even that dangerous. We aren’t going into battle. I don’t have to fight Nightmare Moon.”

“You will if she figures out what you’re planning,” Discord said. “Not to mention the changeling impersonating you.”

“Can you tell me she’s wrong?” Fluttershy asked. “Can you say you don’t know who this pony is, and her story is made-up?”

“Of course!” Neon signs appeared all around her, flashing bright red. The word “liar” appeared in each one, so bright that she could feel the warmth on her coat. “I’ll tell you anything you want to hear, Fluttershy! She’s wrong! She’s so wrong!”

Fluttershy looked unimpressed. Her stare was enough to dismiss any last reservations Twilight might’ve had about this being the genuine Fluttershy. No changeling could use the power of the stare. “Are you telling me the truth?”

“No.” It all vanished in another flash. “I know her. I didn’t travel here from her Equestria, but I remember it. Or… I know I should remember it, so even though I don’t I do anyway.” A large stack of paperwork appeared beside him, with several different quills all scratching away. “I’m really going to throw the book at that pony.”

“Or we can fix it.” Fluttershy reached out, embracing Discord just as Twilight had done. But she had a way with creatures, a gentle kindness that Twilight could never imitate. “I’m sorry. I’ll come right back as soon as we’re finished.”

“You won’t,” Discord said, voice distant. “She’ll break causality all over again. This won’t happen. None of this will happen. But I’ll remember.” He held her for a long moment, returning the embrace. When he finally let go, Twilight could see he wasn’t immune to the tears.

“We’ll take good care of her,” Twilight promised. “With all six of us together, there’s no problem we can’t solve. You’ll see.”

“I better.” Discord’s voice dropped low, dangerous. “Because no god or demon in this world or the world to come will quell the nightmare that descends on Equestria if my friend is hurt.”

They landed abruptly, appearing outside the same menacing stone doors they’d entered. Twilight levitated the Elements along beside them, since they had nothing to carry them with.

“So what do we do about the imposter?” Applejack asked, once her hooves were firmly on the stone again. “We can’t just keep pretending.”

“It’s amazing she made it this far,” Rainbow muttered. “Her mud trick even fooled the Lunar Guard. I would’ve expected better security here.”

Fluttershy shrugged. “When I told Discord that I didn’t know how to fight, I… I was being honest about that. I don’t know if I’ll be helpful.”

“You don’t have to be,” Twilight said. “Rainbow fought a whole army of changelings, and we did alright. This is just one, in a whole castle. We just have to be smart about it. I’ve got a plan…”

It took a little while to prepare—partially because it didn’t involve getting the help of the royal guard. Twilight still wasn’t sure she trusted them. With a real Fluttershy present and no confirmation yet, she couldn’t take the risk that they might do something stupid. If any of her friends died, the master plan that Twilight had nearly accomplished would come crashing down around her hooves.

“They should be here any second,” Applejack muttered. They were at the base of the castle steps, leading up to the rebuilt interior. Twilight could still appreciate the excellent work that Nightmare Moon’s engineers had done rebuilding everything, even if she wasn’t sold on the job she’d done as a ruler. This castle was every bit as incredible as its ruins had once suggested.

Ponies passed them moving up and down the stairs, a few glaring at them in annoyance. But none dared to question, not when Twilight was here.

Pinkie arrived first, emerging from the kitchens with a little frosting on her face and flour dusting her mane. “Oh, there you are!” She looked between the three of them. “Any luck?”

Rainbow shook her head. “No luck. But we got Twilight back!” Applejack looked to be in physical pain at the lie, though she didn’t say anything. But things would’ve looked even more suspicious if she hadn’t been there.

“I’ll wait until we get everypony else together,” Twilight said. “Then explain what happened.” She adjusted the saddlebags she was wearing—their contents weren’t exactly light. But considering she’d been wearing travel gear for a week on-and-off, she didn’t really stand out.

Fluttershy made her way down the stairs a few minutes later, her eyes shifting nervously with every step. Now that Twilight watched her, she could see the calculation in those gestures. I wonder how many other infiltrators are hiding in New Dawn. Maybe that’s why they get attacked so often.

“Fluttershy!” Rainbow flew up into the air in a wide arc, landing beside her before she even made it to the bottom. “Where’s Rarity?”

She shook her head. “I, umm… we got turned around up there, and I think she went looking another direction. There are so many hallways up there.”

Buck. Twilight had considered several different contingencies, but she hadn’t thought about the most obvious way for a changeling to complicate them all: a hostage.

“So we’ve gone from searching for one pony to trying to find another,” Applejack said, a little annoyed. “That isn’t great. Is it, Twilight?”

You’re really bad at this.

“Where did you see her last?” Twilight asked, crossing the distance between them in a few quick strides. “This is her castle. She wouldn’t just get lost.”

“I, umm…” Fluttershy avoided her eyes, in a way that probably would’ve prompted Twilight to give her a little space. But now that she knew what she was dealing with, Twilight wouldn’t budge. She just leaned in a little closer, forcing her to meet her eyes. “Take us back there,” she said, keeping her voice calm. “We’ll search together.”

Did Fluttershy glance past her at the dozen or so royal guards in the room with them before nodding? Or was that Twilight’s imagination?

She nodded. “Y-yeah. That’s a good idea. She must still be up there.”

Twilight followed right behind her, giving Applejack a meaningful glance as she went. She would have to hope the pony got the message without needing to be instructed.

They climbed together through the castle, with some members of the group lagging behind and Twilight directly behind Faux-tershy. There was little security so long as they stayed away from Nightmare’s own quarters and the secure areas around it—getting into the castle itself was the security.

Twilight didn’t recognize most of the areas they visited—the tower Fluttershy took them to hadn’t survived to modern day.

“You can see there’s a few different ways up here,” Fluttershy said, gesturing at the stairwells. “I think I should take Applejack, and maybe Pinkie and Rainbow, and—”

Twilight cleared her throat. “Next to Rarity, I know the castle best,” she said. “I’ll go with you, Fluttershy. Everypony else can split up. And check the other direction.”

“Oh.” Fluttershy shifted uncomfortably. “What do you ponies think? Rainbow?”

“Makes sense to me,” she said, glancing to Applejack, then back again. “We’ll probably leave one pony here to catch anypony who leaves the tower. That way we don’t wander back and forth past each other.”

“Okay.” Fluttershy set off up the tower, taking each step reluctantly at first. Twilight followed beside her, keeping her feelings as neutral as she could. Apparently her plan was working, because the imposter hadn’t reacted to her yet.

The tower was tight, so tight that the two of them couldn’t even climb abreast. Fluttershy took the lead, and soon all Twilight could see was an occasional flash of her tail as they climbed. They passed empty doorways on either side, locked passages, and an occasional walkway out onto the castle walls. But otherwise there were few exits.

“You thought Nightmare Moon would take me up here?” Twilight called up the stairs, hopefully not loud enough that everypony in the castle would hear. “I don’t know how much sense that makes.”

“Rarity seemed to know where she was going,” Fluttershy said from up ahead, hurrying so fast that Twilight didn’t quite catch up with her. She’d never seen the pegasus move so quickly. “Something about a special prison at the top she used for dangerous prisoners. This was the last place we searched together.”

Then Twilight reached the top of the tower, and a spacious landing. The stairs emerged onto a sizeable room at what had to be the top of the tower, though the windows were high overhead and only permitted a little moonlight. She nearly smacked into Fluttershy, who seemed to be waiting for her to go inside. “Why don’t you go in first?” Fluttershy asked. “She knows you better.”

“Into a prison for dangerous ponies?” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “You could’ve told me it was a storage room or something. Maybe she got lost in the boxes? That would’ve been more plausible.”

“I don’t—”

In answer, Twilight smacked Fluttershy with a thin glass container filled with mud, splattering it over her back and wings. The other thing she’d been carrying with them the whole time.

This time, the magic did something. Instead of just getting a little muddy, the pony beside her changed.

It looked like an uncomfortable process, with bits of green light flickering and burning in brief gouts of flame. But instead of getting smaller, the changeling that emerged grew taller than Twilight, rising over her by a full head. Her legs became thin and lengthy, even more stretched than Fluttershy usually looked.

Twilight backed away, eyes wide with horror—and recognition. This wasn’t just an ordinary changeling, which she could easily defeat. This was Queen Chrysalis herself, in Nightmare Moon’s own castle. At the top of the tallest tower, completely alone.

Twilight glanced desperately to the stairs, but so far there was no sign of her friends to come to her rescue. She had the Elements, but without all six of them together…

“What was it you did to your emotions?” the changeling queen asked, pacing slowly around her. Was that respect on her face? “I’ve never been fooled by a pony before. I should’ve realized I was discovered.”

“Something I learned in another life,” Twilight answered, eyes narrowing. “What did you do with Rarity?”

“I didn’t lie about that,” the changeling said, nodding towards the door. “Go in and join her. I’m sure she’s eager for the company.”

“So you can replace her,” Twilight guessed. “But why not do it already?”

She sighed, wings buzzing to dislodge as much of the mud as she could. “That pony never would’ve kept herself dirty. The tribal primitives undermine their security with their fear.” Her horn glowed green, aiming at Twilight. “You can’t stop me, Alicorn. I’ve been watching you. Measuring your power. Perhaps you would’ve been a danger to me once, but that time is over. The swarm is massive, and our lands are vast. The love we harvest gives me a strength you can’t imagine.”

“Maybe if she were alone,” said a voice from the stairs behind her. Rainbow was the first to emerge, followed by all of the others in turn. Even Fluttershy, who Applejack had correctly gone to retrieve. “Too bad she’s not.”

“You shouldn’t have hurt our friend,” Pinkie said. “I mean, we probably still would’ve fought you. You are leading an evil invasion of Equestria and feeding on everypony you capture until they wither away to empty husks. But still!”

Chrysalis laughed, eyes narrowing as her horn began to glow brighter. “Five of you against me,” she said. “Let’s see how well that goes.”

Chapter 16: Changeling

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Celestia already tried this, Twilight thought, desperate. She’d been there for that battle, and she had a fairly good idea how different it would be now that her enemy had significantly greater resources to fight her with. If it came down to a simple contest of power, she would lose just as Celestia had.

She had to do something else, and quickly. Twilight’s mind spun, before she settled on her answer. A desperate, maybe crazy escape—but she couldn’t think of anything better. She blasted with her magic, aiming nowhere near Chrysalis. The door to the tower cell ripped off, jerking a huge chunk of the wall with it.

Just through the door were the disempowerment runes, worked into the floor just as in any other unicorn jail. It was a magical dead-zone, within which no spells could be cast. Twilight would’ve been helpless if she so much as stepped through that door.

There on the far wall was Rarity, chained up. She looked up as the wall opened, desperate hope on her face.

“Break the circle!” she instructed Applejack and Pinkie, pointing. “Once the spell is severed, you can go in and break the chains.” They were thick metal, but old and rusted. An earth pony could probably shatter them.

“You won’t!” Queen Chrysalis barked, and her horn flashed, aiming at her friends. Twilight didn’t even think at this point, she just cast a counterspell by reflex, dismissing the force as a harmless flash of light.

There was barely enough in there to bash them against the wall. What the buck was going on?

They ran, ignoring the changeling and rushing to the floor. They had no tools, just their hooves. But earth pony hooves against tile was an extremely one-sided conflict.

Then Twilight saw it, the faintest flash of something in the changeling’s eyes. Desperation.

“Why aren’t you trying?” Twilight asked, thoroughly confused. “I know how powerful you are, you could’ve—”

“Because…” Rarity croaked from her cell, looking up. “This is Princess Nightmare Moon’s castle. She’s… surrounded by an army of ten thousand soldiers. She’s inside… the best defensive spells in the kingdom.”

“Quiet!” Chrysalis aimed another spell, at Rarity this time. Instead of attacking her directly, she lifted the heavy stone door into the air, then flung it forward. The spell went out as soon as it crossed the runes, but that didn’t stop the door’s momentum.

Applejack did. As Pinkie finally broke the runes, Applejack kicked forward with all the might she’d ever seen from her. The door smashed to splinters, showering the ground inside the cell and rattling the floor.

“She probably doesn’t like us making so much noise, either,” Rainbow said, advancing on her. “Sure, she’s the most powerful changeling alive. But what happens if Nightmare Moon notices her in her own castle? I bet she was trying to do this with stealth. Stay hidden, maybe she could get a knife in her back.”

“Equestria is losing ground to Sombra every year,” she said, gritting her teeth. “Think about this logically for a moment ponies, if you can. Your queen is failing to protect you. For all our differences, he is our true enemy.”

“What could we have in common?” Rainbow snapped. “You’re killing ponies as fast as he is! I’ve seen the casualty reports!”

“I’m protecting my conquest,” she said. “If you’ve been watching, I haven’t been fighting to expand my territory the way Sombra has. Do you know what he does to the land he takes?”

She didn’t wait for a response, advancing on Twilight. She might be holding her magic back, but she still showed no fear to Twilight’s other friends. She was the only one who frightened her. “Yes,” she whispered. “We just came from the Crystal Empire.”

“Then you know. You know he doesn’t have any respect for the value of living things. Sombra is a corpse, animated only by his hunger for conquest. He keeps the living creatures he wishes for his army, and the rest are worked to death. Separately, he is gaining on each of us. United, we could destroy the greater threat.”

“Your bugs feed on ponies until they die, just like he does,” Applejack said. She didn’t break the chain, but instead ripped it right out of the wall, along with a huge chunk of cement. “You’re no better than him!”

“Propaganda,” she said, with a tone of complete conviction. “It’s true we don’t keep the most troublesome prisoners alive. But the majority aren’t fed on until they’re drained. That creates an unsustainable population. I would not reward our most troublesome enemies with membership in my swarm, they would be a cancer on it from the inside. If you doubt me, visit Canterlot yourselves. You’ll see. In many ways, life continues there. I’ll even guarantee your safety if you visit.”

“Like a promise from you means anything,” Rarity said, limping out of the cell dragging the chains behind her. “Look what you did to me! It will be just the same if we left, only worse. We’d never be seen again, despite what you say.” She stopped beside Twilight, aiming her horn at the chains. She might not have developed the same proficiency for fashion, but she cut through steel quickly enough, pulling her hooves away before they could be burned. “We should sound the alarm as quickly as we can, Twilight! As soon as the princess discovers her here, this will be over.”

Twilight stuck out a wing. “No.” She fixed Rarity with an intense glare, silencing her. If she thinks we’re going to give her away, she might try to kill us so she can escape. We don’t even know if Nightmare Moon is here right now. If she’s not, we’re bucked.

Rarity glowered back in response, but didn’t argue.

“It seems we are at an impasse,” Queen Chrysalis said. “I could easily destroy all of you—”

“But you can’t,” Twilight interrupted. “Because you’d reveal yourself. Maybe the princess would kill you, or maybe you’d get away, but either way your plans are ruined.”

Her dark expression was the only confirmation that Twilight needed, even if she didn’t actually admit to weakness.

“She can’t fight us,” Rainbow said. “That means we can win!”

“No,” Twilight said again, extending a wing. Don’t force her to, please. Rainbow slumped back, grumbling too. But Twilight had saved her life, and there was no doubt in her mind that she would obey her instructions. At least for now.

“I think you’re right,” Twilight said. “About one thing. After seeing Sombra’s territory, I think changelings are preferable. But—” She raised a wing, before Rarity could protest. “That doesn’t mean we’re going to help you betray Equestria. You’ve heard my plan, Chrysalis. A united Equestria can rule the entire world in peace. It wouldn’t have to be eternal night.”

Chrysalis scoffed. “If you think I’m going to place my trust in the impossible esoterica of time travel, you’re deluded. You may’ve convinced a foolish zebra hiding in the woods, but not me. I have thousands of children to look after. I will continue to protect them as you invade our territory. I cannot return the ponies who once lived there. Not because they’re dead—but because our society is tightly interwoven. Without them, my bugs would starve. We cannot surrender any more than you can.”

“Then someone’s bucked,” Applejack said. “We can’t both get what we want.”

“Well, no, but… umm…” Fluttershy spoke for the first time, her voice timid. She emerged from behind Twilight, and barely seemed to be able to even look in the queen’s direction. “Maybe we could just… go our separate ways?”

“What?” Rarity and Chrysalis snapped at the same moment.

“You know too much. My infiltration would be impossible!”

“She could foalnap somepony else!” Rarity countered. “We can’t leave her in the castle grounds!”

“Well…” Fluttershy was almost too overwhelmed to speak. But maybe her time with Discord had given her a little more confidence than she would’ve had otherwise. “My mom used to say that you knew a compromise was fair because everypony hated it. So how about this. You pretend to be nopony special, and we’ll go with you out of the castle. Out past the defensive spells. Then you go your way, and we go ours.”

“Are you serious?” Rarity asked, horrified. “She’s responsible for thousands of deaths, Fluttershy. If we capture her here, the war could be half over. The swarm will be doomed without her. This is why Sombra and Nightmare Moon don’t fight behind enemy lines. If you’re caught…”

But if we don’t agree, one of my friends might be killed. If she really fights us, we’ll lose. The map is only a few miles away from here. This nightmare could be over tomorrow. She met Applejack’s eyes. It wasn’t Rarity she’d made the promise to.

Applejack nodded. “Sounds like your mother was a wise pony,” she said. “Because I hate it.”

“The agreement is… infuriating,” Chrysalis admitted. “But I agree with the necessity. I will swear to uphold it if you will.”

“You can’t, Twilight,” Rarity said. “We don’t matter. This plan has been impossible from the beginning. But if we stop Chrysalis here, we could make a real difference.”

“I know,” Twilight said. “But we can’t stop her. She isn’t less dangerous just because she isn’t trying to feed us to a dragon. She’s just…” The words felt bitter as she said them, but they were too true to deny. “Changelings need ponies to survive. That doesn’t make us friends, but it means we’re closer to the same side than Sombra. I heard him.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “He wants to make a world without anything alive. A world of constructs and necromancy. Is that where you want to live?”

“It’s not what either of us want,” Fluttershy said. “But it’s either this, or we fight. And I don’t want to fight very much.”

“Fine.” Rarity slumped forward. “It was naïve of me to believe this could possibly end this way. Twilight has been so committed to her time travel plan from the first day that we’ve been ignoring other options. I was only hoping that something better might—”

“It can’t.” Queen Chrysalis turned on her, leering. “You aren’t wrong to fear me, steward. But the pony before you is a princess, perhaps wiser than the one who rules. Her proposed ‘solutions’ for Equestria are absurd. But she is willing to recognize an inescapable situation, and propose a method to let you all leave here alive. Consider yourselves the victor and walk away while I’m still considering her offer.”

There was no further argument.

It was lucky for them all that their brief duel had happened at the top of the highest tower, or else the guards may’ve arrived and taken away any chance of a peaceful resolution. Even if Chrysalis didn’t seriously fear her plan to put Equestria back to normal with time travel, she would probably have killed Twilight if she could. Alicorns were irreplaceable. After Sombra, that was a fight Twilight didn’t think she could win.

But they had been at the top of the tallest tower, and they still had Rarity. Whatever might’ve happened since she left, most of the castle staff got out of their way without so much as a question. Those Rarity couldn’t discourage with her presence, Twilight herself could convince with her rank.

They walked out of the castle, out towards Ponyville. The queen went with them as far as it took to be out of sight of the train station and the fortress guards, before turning back to Twilight.

She didn’t change back, but remained the bland blue pegasus she’d created for their exit. “The time will come,” she said, in her innocent voice. “When you discover your plan was futile and you are forced to reconcile with the realities of this world. Show yourself more willing to compromise than the ruler of your country, and work with me. We may survive Sombra’s assault yet.”

“We won’t have to,” Twilight said. “In an hour, you won’t even remember we had this conversation. You’ll be back in the Badlands with your hive, Equestria will be back under the royal sisters, and Sombra will be dead.”

The pegasus laughed, an uncharacteristically cruel sound coming from such a friendly creature. “Keep believing that, Alicorn. Your steward was right about one thing—you probably should’ve killed me. It would have cost you dearly, but less than the war against my territory. Your acceptance was shortsighted.”

“It wasn’t,” Fluttershy said. “If she’s right.”

“If,” Chrysalis repeated, taking off into the air. She vanished into the darkness, gone after just a few seconds.

“You do realize we’ve just committed treason,” Rarity said, once she was gone. “If Nightmare Moon ever discovers what we let slip through her hooves…”

“She won’t,” Twilight said. “We’re the only ones who saw. If she knew, she would’ve been there, and we couldn’t do what you said. But we were on our own.”

“I notice she kept her word,” Applejack said, watching the dark northern sky in the direction she’d flown. “We’re away from the castle, away from the guards. Maybe she could’ve caught us. Or killed us, or worse. But she left just like she said.”

“Only because she has something worse planned for later,” Rarity countered. “That’s always how they are. Her and Sombra are the same. Just because she talks like she’s willing to compromise doesn’t mean that’s true.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Twilight said. “You don’t have to believe me about the map anymore. We’re going right now. Before Nightmare Moon comes back, before anyone discovers what we did. It’s time to end this.”

The Cutie Map was still there, exactly as she’d been expecting. Whatever fears that Nightmare Moon may’ve destroyed it in their absence, guaranteeing that her plan couldn’t be accomplished—those were obviously in vain.

There was little glow left in the alien crystal, but it brightened a little as she approached. Could it feel her return? There were no guards here, no sign of any intruders. If Sunset Shimmer had really traveled here, she’d done so without doing any harm to the map herself.

Twilight could see her friends begin to look uncomfortable before they got close. Pinkie was the first to stop, her face turning green and her mane wilting. “I don’t like it here. Feels all wrong.”

Twilight nudged her forward with her nose. “I know. But you get over it in a bit. Just ask Applejack.”

Applejack herself was one of two ponies who were handling the map the best. As they passed the thrones, she and Fluttershy were the only ones who made it to the map. The others all stopped near the chairs, looking more at the space all around them rather than the map itself.

“Shouldn’t be here,” Rarity said. “This is wrong. A scar.”

“A paradox,” Fluttershy corrected. “Our world didn’t do things like Twilight’s did, so it shouldn’t be here. But it’s here anyway.”

“How do you know that?” Rainbow asked, forcing herself one hoof in front of the other until she was beside Fluttershy. “You never cared about magic stuff.”

“I didn’t,” Fluttershy answered, beaming with slight pride. “Discord did though. He liked to talk about it. I think he might’ve liked this.”

“You talked to Discord?” Rarity asked, incredulous. “And you’ve still got all your holes in the right places? He didn’t trap you in an endless staircase of wailing screams, or…”

“No,” Fluttershy said, though her pride melted rapidly into shame. “He never hurt me. Only the ponies who weren’t nice to him got hurt.”

“Right.” Rarity looked down at the map, swaying on her hooves. “There are marks on this. It must be incredibly complex magic. This is… an accurate reflection of Equestria. What military intelligence wouldn’t give for information like this…”

Marks? Twilight glanced down, and sure enough there were cutie marks spread out across the map. Six of them, most concentrated right here around the map. It was right about all their positions, except for herself.

I’m sorry you’ve had to endure all this, map. We’ll put it all right in a minute. Twilight emptied the Elements of Harmony carefully from her bag, settling them on the rim of the table where her friends could see them.

“In Equestria as it should be, each of you represents one of the Elements of Harmony. They should respond to you, even here. Our friendship is all it takes.”

“I’m not really sure what good ‘friendship’ could do as a weapon,” Rainbow muttered. “Not that I don’t trust you over an evil bug. She was dumb not to be afraid of this. I feel like my guts are falling out just being near this thing it’s so magical.”

“Because it’s a paradox,” Fluttershy said. “Twilight must be immune because she’s from there. She’s a little bit like a paradox herself. I wonder if that’s why Discord listened to you.”

Fluttershy reached for her element—and it changed. The magic was instantaneous, a bright glow from the stone as it crumbled away. For a few seconds, the others seemed completely unconcerned with the painful presence of the table and its paradoxes, letting the spell wash over them. Bright white light surrounded Fluttershy, and she lifted into the air for a second. The Element of Kindness wrapped around her neck, taking its familiar butterfly shape. She touched down lightly a second later, grinning broadly. “That was…”

“Awesome!” Rainbow finished for her. “Me next!” She practically lunged for hers. Fortunately for her, it responded. She too was lifted into the air, the old rock crumbled away, and the Element changed. One by one Twilight watched as each of her friends in this world were transformed by the magic she’d brought. The power of the elements was more than any discomfort over the table being here, and that soon faded into the background. They looked like the same ponies as before, but also much more familiar to her.

This is what this was all building up towards, Twilight thought, making her way to the last bit of stone on the table. This is when we fix the whole world. The map was already coming back to life, even with just these five. The light went from deep red to the friendly colors of Equestria, reflected faithfully in the illusion magic. Only the occasional flicker towards the last Element of Harmony, the one that hadn’t been transformed yet.

“Are you ready to eat your words?” Rainbow asked. “Twilight told us to come here, and she was right. She’s gonna fix everything.”

“I hope so,” Rarity said. “I suppose I won’t have to worry about how I can sleep at night if our actions let us defeat Chrysalis anyway.”

“Touch the map,” Applejack urged, her voice a reverent whisper. “You’ll see it, like I did. See the sun again.”

Rarity did. For a few seconds her eyes glazed over, then she pulled back. One by one each of these ponies looked and saw what Applejack had seen. The world put back together, as it should be.

“That looks way more fun than here!” Pinkie called, bouncing away from the map. “I just went to parties every single day. Guess there’s more time to celebrate when we aren’t at war.”

“Go on, Twilight,” Fluttershy urged. “You’re the last one.”

Twilight extended a hoof, picking up her Element just as each of her friends had done. She could feel its familiar power, the same power she’d wielded against plenty of enemies before. Even if the time travel didn’t work, at least they could use it to banish Nightmare Moon. And why not use it on Equestria’s other adversaries while they were at it?

But then the moment of recognition passed. The magic that she had felt just within reach passed her by, unsatisfied. The stone didn’t crumble away, didn’t connect with her. It remained dark, as much of a rock as it had been when Twilight put it in the saddlebags in the first place.

Shocked eyes surrounded her on all sides. Her friends radiated with magic, and all of them seemed to recognize her more than they ever had before.

Twilight’s world shattered.

This should be working, this should be working, this should be working! She backed away from the others, eyes wide and confused. After weeks of searching, gathering everypony together, going behind enemy lines and confronting both of Equestria’s biggest enemies…

She had basically succeeded. They were so close to putting the world back together. Her first impression—that Discord had lied to them—was obviously untrue, given what had happened. The other five had been the elements, she was looking at the proof. She’d felt it herself when she picked up the Element of Magic, if only for a second.

It rejected me. How could her friends be the Elements of Harmony, but not her? “I don’t…” she stammered, looking between them with confused desperation. “It should’ve worked. It doesn’t make sense. It all…” Her heart raced; her breathing came in shallow gasps.

What had she gotten wrong? If it was one of the others, she might’ve guessed another changeling imposter was involved. But there clearly wasn’t one. She wasn’t a changeling, there were no active spells on her that might suppress it. Being an Alicorn didn’t matter, she’d used the Elements since that transformation, and before that Celestia had wielded them.

“Uh, Twi?” Applejack said. Her voice was gentle, coming from just beside her. “I don’t know if this has anything to do with it, but…” She pointed at the map. “Maybe it’s trying to tell us something?”

Twilight latched onto her words desperately, even though there was little reason to believe she could be correct. Twilight stumbled forward, tripping over the edge of the castle floor and correcting herself uneasily. She reached the map, taking it in again.

Six cutie marks, five all gathered here. Her friends circled around the map in Ponyville. Her own cutie mark was on the board, but far to the west. Deep in what would’ve been barren desert, there was a city that was only a tiny village in her own Equestria.

A city of identical squat houses, with bleak government buildings of Adobe. Even if it was hundreds of times the size, she recognized the construction instantly. Our Town.

“It’s ungraceful to say I told you so,” Rarity said. “But I do believe I made this prediction. Even powerful spells can’t save all Equestria at once.” Rarity leaned down, squinting at the map. “I’m not sure what the significance of that awful place would be.”

Rainbow looked, her face going pale. “Isn’t that where they send everypony who—”

“The difficult,” Rarity finished for her. “Those who harm the war effort. Those who fight against Nightmare Moon. And those who are unwilling to hold a weapon and fight beside their comrades. It’s where all of Equestria’s problems go to circle the drain.”

“What’s so bad about it?” Pinkie asked. “Just looks a little gray to me. But we could bring some paint, maybe plant some flowers. We could fix it up in no time!”

“It’s not…” It hurt to admit. Each word came slowly, painfully. But she should’ve known this already. “I’m not from here,” Twilight said, a little more confident. “I’m the Element of Magic in my Equestria, not in yours.” She tapped the map with one hoof. “I was wrong, we don’t have everypony we need. We’re still missing Twilight Sparkle.”

Chapter 17: Equal

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“I don’t like this,” Rarity said, for at least the hundredth time that day. “I don’t like this one bit.”

“I don’t get what the big deal is,” Rainbow countered. “They did what you wanted. Doesn’t that mean it’s okay?”

They hadn’t gone back to the castle, but straight to the little shipyard a short walk along the wall away. It was quite small—even her own peacetime Equestria had more ships than this, so she suspected it was just an emergency stockpile. Mostly tiny scout ships, like the one Rarity had requested on her behalf.

It was one of only two ships docked, an airship that looked nearly identical to those Twilight had seen in the fleet in her own world. A huge balloon connected by thick ropes to a tiny gondola below, which could be raised and lowered by releasing the heavy sandbags or by draining gas from the balloon.

I wonder why they never got any better. After all this fighting, you’d think they would’ve invented better airships than ours.

But it didn’t matter, they wouldn’t be doing any fighting today. Twilight watched from the dock as Nightmare’s soldiers loaded the airship with supplies in a few wooden crates, moving up and down into the storage chamber then back to the surface.

“Nightmare Moon said I could use her resources to do this,” Twilight said. “She made me a Duchess. Borrowing a scout ship that was just sitting here doing nothing isn’t going to hurt the war.”

“I suppose not…” Rarity muttered. “I’d still be happier if we took the train.”

“We might,” Twilight replied, voice just as low. “But I know this pony. I know what she’s like, and I know how dangerous she’ll be when we get there. Speaking of which, did you get those extra supplies I asked for?”

“Coat-dye in all colors,” Rarity repeated, rolling her eyes. “Only critical wartime supplies here. Can’t imagine what we would do without them.”

“You will,” she answered. She fell silent as the soldiers approached again, saluting with bat wings.

“She’s prepared for takeoff, Duchess. Do you require any crew?”

“No,” Twilight responded. “I’m an experienced pilot. Thank you very much for your help.”

Twilight led the way across the dock, striding purposefully onto the ship without the slightest hesitation. She couldn’t show any doubt, anything to make these soldiers question whether or not she belonged here.

“You can fly?” Rainbow asked. “Why would an Alicorn learn to pilot an airship? You can do the real thing!”

“My brother…” she muttered, walking up to the helm and studying the wheel there. This airship used a simple crystal design thruster—once charged with magic, it would generate a gust of wind to push itself forward until the magic was gone. These controls were little more than a rudder wheel along with space for instruments. Altimeter, barometer, compass.

“I kinda learned on a hot air balloon. But it’s the same principle.”

“I hope so,” Rarity said. “Because if we crash this ship in drydock, I know Nightmare Moon is going to be unhappy. Not the worst thing we’ve done in the last few days…”

Twilight raised her voice, shouting to the dock-workers. “Release the mooring lines!” Then she looked back. “Everypony, stay away from the rails. We’re not going to crash on takeoff.”

She heard the instant the lines were loosed because of the whiz of ropes against wood. The ground lurched suddenly upward, making it difficult to stand. Twilight gritted her teeth, keeping one hoof on the wheel as they rose up into the air. The drive wasn’t charged, so at the moment all they did was ascend into the night sky.

The castle spread out below them, falling away as the clouds drew closer. The higher they went, the more the gasbag expanded, and the slower their ascent became.

The cold hit her like a physical force—cold enough that their breath came out in little puffs of snow rather than moisture. So cold that her joints wanted to stop moving, and ice condensed on her lashes.

“Thermocline,” Rainbow said, the only one who hadn’t dropped to shiver uselessly. “You gonna charge our heat shield, Alicorn?”

“Our…”

Rainbow pointed at something Twilight hadn’t noticed—a metal apparatus in the center of the ship, hanging down from the balloon above the way the heating element might on a hot-air craft. A sliver of red crystal hung in the center on metal joints, dark and lifeless.

Twilight pointed her horn, activating the enchantment. Steam rose from around their ship as ice boiled away from the wood, the balloon, and their own bodies. The icy cold that had sent her friends to near-instant hypothermia was lifted.

“Let’s hope the…” Rarity shook herself out, turning for the stairs. “Dock crew didn’t notice us nearly killing ourselves.” She left, hurrying away.

“I don’t understand why it’s—” She stopped abruptly. The answer was so obvious she didn’t really have to ask. Whatever strange magic stopped the world from freezing solid without the sun obviously did not extend very high above the surface of Equus. Flying above that limit would put them in air that no changeling could enter, and might make crystal ponies think twice as well.

At least the crystal ponies Twilight remembered. She’d never seen any of Sombra’s military ships.

“I don’t think I’m a fan of flying,” Applejack muttered. “That was awful.”

“You get used to it,” Rainbow said. “I’ve known pegasi who could make it over the thermocline for an hour at a time. So long as you have enough food in your system, the moving keeps you warm.”

“No thanks,” Pinkie said. “I’m going inside. I don’t want to be out here if that happens again.”

The wood won’t protect you if the heating spell wears off, Twilight thought. But there was no reason to confront them about it. “Anypony left up here want to help me fly?”

They flew for several hours. Twilight had requisitioned the best map she could, but that still required navigation by compass and sextant and a constant charge for both the heating and drive spells.

Fortunately for them, Twilight was an Alicorn, so she had enough magical energy to keep the airship moving on her own. Unfortunately for her, flying meant she had to see Equestria from above.

What was left of Equestria, anyway. What she’d suspected from her trip on the train was doubly confirmed as she saw it from the sky. Tiny islands of life around cities and their farms, then vast wastelands. Even in areas too warm for snow, the ground was bare of anything but dead trees and an occasional scavenger.

How can Nightmare Moon look at this every evening and still think she’s doing a good job as ruler of Equestria? Even worse, what about Equestria’s allies? Did Griffinstone have the magic necessary to keep themselves alive in this? What about the yaks, or the dragons?

Most of the animals have probably gone extinct. Maybe that’s why they don’t have the wood to build new airships. All the forests are dead.

Applejack settled down beside her on the edge of the deck without warning, looking out at the blackness below. “It isn’t pretty, is it?”

She shook her head. “How did Nightmare Moon let this happen? The planet is dying. Some of the most important cycles don’t even happen on land, they’re in the ocean. We might already be past the point of no return.”

Applejack didn’t answer for a long time. “I think we might be able to make things right. If we could bring the sun back. We’ve got lots of magic to spare, lots of ponies who want to fix things. But there just aren’t enough crystals to go around.”

“We’re still going to fix this,” Twilight promised. “I know things didn’t go… quite the way I imagined. But I just had one variable wrong in my equation, that’s all.” Two. Don’t forget about Fluttershy. “Once we get your Twilight wearing her Element, we’ll be able to cast the spell again. I can still fix this.”

“I hope so,” Applejack said. “You don’t think that maybe the changeling queen was right? Maybe we should be working with them to take down Sombra? If this doesn’t go the way we hope…”

“It will,” Twilight promised. “I’ve seen it work before, Applejack. I can cast it. If Starlight Glimmer can change the past, then I can change it too. Back to the way it should be.”

Applejack left her there on the deck, returning to the helm. Twilight let her go without objection. Whatever solace she’d been hoping to find alone up here was elusive.

A few days of slow travel later, and they were narrowing in on their destination. Twilight waited for the drive crystal to run out of magic, then gathered everypony together belowdecks.

There was little privacy here, only two real rooms. A storage area, and a living space with bunks on the outside and a range off in one corner. But at least there were enough seats at the table for each of her friends.

“So that’s what we have to look out for,” Twilight said. “This isn’t a new political system, not really. It’s just new for ponies to try it. From the look outside, Starlight’s system has had some success.”

“At least we don’t have to worry about hindering the war effort,” Rarity muttered, sipping at her lukewarm tea. “She takes in huge shipments of food and other supplies in exchange for taking political prisoners.”

“So it’s a penal colony?” Rainbow asked. “That means we’ll… just get arrested as soon as we go down there, right? For not doing our work details or whatever.”

“Not exactly,” Rarity said. “It’s a city, even if its method of organization is… unorthodox. Its ponies are free to do many things, just not leave. Our biggest difficulty will be getting out.”

“I’ll teleport us past the border once we get her,” Twilight answered. “Here on the topographical map, you can see there are some large formations… right here. We’ll come in during the transition between night and Eventide, when the moon is about to set in the west. From there, we can sneak in and find Twilight.”

“Do we, uh…” Fluttershy whispered. “I mean, do we all have to go? It shouldn’t take six ponies to find just one, right?”

“We have to,” Twilight answered. “Because Starlight Glimmer is in there. She’s a powerful sorceress, more powerful than me in some areas. She’s had decades to study forbidden magic. The last time we beat her, it took all our friendship, and we only barely managed. Even if I’m not your Twilight for real, I… I still need you girls.”

“Don’t worry,” Pinkie said. “We’re with you, Twilight. After what I saw… I’m going to work in that bakery. I’m going to throw parties every day. There’s not a pony in the world who can stop me now.”

Even Rarity nodded her agreement. “We’ve come this far. Might as well finish what we started.”

“Then we’ll need this.” Twilight levitated the makeup out of the box and onto the table in front of them. “If she’s anything like she was in my Equestria, Starlight Glimmer runs a society without cutie marks. She takes them away, along with most of your magic, replacing them with these symbols. We’ll need new haircuts too. They’re awful. But hopefully with so many ponies living with her, we’ll be able to blend into the crowd. And… now that the past has changed, Starlight shouldn’t recognize me either. At least something good came of being forgotten.”

“Then let’s do it,” Rainbow said. “One more pony rescued, and we can save Equestria.”

Twilight crested the large rock formation at the lead, keeping her head low as she squinted down at the city below.

The origin of the architecture was familiar, even if the city she saw was distinct from the one she had briefly visited. Instead of tiny houses, the city was built in identical sections of brick building, repeated over and over. In each section there were many identical apartments, and a few utility and shop buildings.

And in the exact center was the palace, lording over the village around it. Not elegant as Celestia’s structures, or secure as Nightmare Moon had rebuilt her castle. Starlight Glimmer’s fortress had a simple walled courtyard, then a massive building that imitated the housing buildings all around.

Rainbow emerged from the hill beside her, hacking and coughing. None of them wore more than simple traveling clothes and a stray saddlebag or two. They’d hidden the Elements under a large rock beside where they’d parked, where they wouldn’t be discovered even in the worst-case scenario that Starlight somehow found their airship.

“This is almost as bad as the Empire,” she said, brushing bits of black dust away from her face. “The buck is that?”

“Coal,” Rarity answered a second later. “Equestria couldn’t afford the spellcraft to put another city here. No heat crystals.”

Twilight watched the thick black smoke from identical buildings rise up into the air, where it struck against an invisible barrier high in the sky and began to drift along the outside. That explained the ridge of white sand around the edge of the city. Ash, from thousands of coal fires.

“Starlight is one of cleverest spellcrafters I ever met,” Twilight said. “Looks like she has her whole city in some kind of… bubble. I’m guessing that keeps the heat in, and filters the ash out. That’s why it’s so bad out here.”

“I don’t like the look of the ponies down there,” Applejack said, from Twilight’s other side. “How are they all so happy?”

“Magic,” Rarity answered. “Not even the princess understood how she does it. But we know that the ponies we sent here don’t cause trouble for the Crown again. And nopony gets hurt, so… the princess left her to her own devices.”

“Brainwashing,” Twilight whispered. “Those ponies have no cutie marks. That means their inner magic is crippled too. Unicorns can barely cast spells, pegasi can barely fly, earth ponies can barely grow.”

“Then what do they eat?” Pinkie asked. “I thought earth pony magic was part of how to grow food without sunlight. Are crystals enough?”

“No,” Applejack answered. “They aren’t. All my assistants had to be earth ponies if they were tending to the trees.”

“Well…” Rarity hesitated. “The Crown pays this place to take difficult ponies mostly in grain, and they buy more food by sending war supplies out. See those train-tracks running into the center there? Last time I looked; the route runs twice a day. It can’t be enough to feed all of them though, so they must grow something. And just about everything else you see in there they made themselves. They don’t do bits… no I don’t understand it myself… something about collective ownership or whatever.” She waved a dismissive hoof. “They built all this on their own. They have their own factories, their own mines, their own water and power and everything else.”

“We don’t need to understand how it works,” Twilight said, glancing at the edge of the city one last time, then setting off at a trot down the mountain. There were no spotlights, no security measures of any kind. Almost as though Starlight Glimmer wanted ponies to break in. “We just need to find your Twilight. Come on.”

They hurried towards the city, slowing only when they reached the wall of ash outside it. The mountain spilled out away from the shield, twice the height of a pony and growing slowly. Twilight had concealed her wings with a simple illusion this time, rather than proper transformation. Even if Starlight Glimmer didn’t know who she was, an Alicorn walking through the streets of her city would stand out.

“What are you doing?” Rainbow asked from just behind her. “It’s freezing out here. Can’t we go in?”

“In a sec.” Her horn glowed, and she surveyed the complex barrier spell. “I need to… hah.” It was everything she’d thought, an insulation spell that would also filter out the ash. But there was an alarm in here too, traveling to a point of resonance deep in the spell’s interior. It was meant to catch teleportation spells, but Starlight hadn’t accounted for long range teleports, the space-bridging that only ponies like Star Swirl and Alicorns could cast.

“Everypony stand close together,” Twilight instructed. “I’m going to get us past the protection spells.”

They did. Twilight concentrated, and with a few seconds of effort, they appeared on the other side of the shield. The air went from icy cold to merely sweater weather, but the snow of ash was gone at least. More importantly, she could see no sign of the alarm being tripped. Starlight’s silent barrier was unbroken.

The ground out here was flat, with cobblestone roads already laid-out to form another dozen identical copies of the city section repeated inside. One near the edge of the buildings was under construction, with ponies mixing concrete and depositing bricks.

Stealth wouldn’t be possible for much longer. While these empty blocks were dark and empty, the city center had gigantic streetlights on every corner, shining down with a painfully bright white against the constant night. Also a voice, one she hadn’t been able to hear from the other side of the air shield.

Starlight Glimmer’s voice. Familiar, but like everything else in this shell of a world, also somehow worn down. “Everything for the front! Everything for the victory! Every day you fight as equals you break the chains of your inequality! Collective farmers will crush the enemies of Equestria with a flash flood of mighty tanks!”

She got bigger megaphones. Fantastic. Twilight hoped for her citizens’ sake that those things shut up long enough for everypony to sleep at some point. It was only now becoming Eventide, but she could see no sign of the rest they’d hoped to use to smuggle themselves in. Ponies were just now emerging from their identical buildings, wearing threadbare scarves or caps or nothing at all.

“Ditch those jackets,” Twilight whispered, pointing to a pile of rubble that had probably been recently leveled to make room for more buildings to come. “Nopony has them.”

“It’s a wonder nopony freezes,” Rarity muttered unhappily. “If that Starlight is such a good spellcaster, why couldn’t she just make her own heating spells?”

“There’s a way in,” Rainbow said, pointing along the length of a large apartment block. “Look, Twi. Hole in the fence.”

“Perfect.” Twilight gestured, and they all hurried over. There were no guards on the outside of the city, no soldiers at all so far as Twilight could see. Just workers, equally forlorn and equally unarmed.

They slipped through the gap in the fence, emerging into a city right out of Twilight’s nightmares. This was exactly what she had imagined Starlight would have created if she was unchecked. What she had been afraid would happen to all Equestria.

The crowds of ponies were so thick that they had no trouble blending in, letting the flow of traffic take them between buildings and drab marketplaces and factories. There were dozens of food stalls, but all seemed to sell the same things. Flatbread wraps, lopsided muffins, wheat gruel, and a foul-smelling barley beer that made her eyes water even from a distance.

Well, “selling” was generous. When Pinkie walked up to one, the mare behind the metal counter just gestured at her wares.

“This fight is ours together,” she said, grinning as uncomfortably wide as Twilight remembered. “What do you need to continue yours?”

“Uh…” Pinkie pointed at the muffin. She took it in her hoof, walking back to join them. She took a bite, then nearly convulsed. “This is food?”

Their identical hairstyles and cutie marks had been enough for them to blend in before. But now ponies stared, mostly at Pinkie. Shock, surprise, and a little anger. “The war begins on your plate, cousin,” said a stallion from just beside them. He was one of the few with clothing, though it was only an off-brown scarf. Felt, looking horrifyingly like it was made from pony fur. “You should win this battle before moving on to the next.”

Pinkie gulped, then took a huge bite. She chewed slowly, shuddering, then swallowed. “I… won.”

“Of course you did, cousin. We’ll win every fight together as equals.” He clasped her on the shoulder, then walked meaningfully away into the crowd.

“We should… probably be more careful,” Rarity whispered from behind them. “We’re already standing out. How are we going to find our pony in all this?”

Twilight hesitated, looking around the city. She could conceive of no spells to locate herself, but that didn’t mean she would need magic. She knew how Twilight would think. So I’m me, she thought, looking around at the identical buildings. I’ve just been banished here by Nightmare Moon for resisting her. I don’t have my friends, so I can’t resist her brainwashing forever. Once I give in, where do I work?

The answer appeared before them as they emerged from the inner-district street to the gigantic central road that ran between sections, wide enough for fifty ponies to walk across at a time. It was already full of carts, as ponies wheeled their industrial production back and forth through the city.

And at the center, not far from the palace, she saw it. The area around the palace looked distinct from the rest of the city—the buildings there were cleaner, and larger. Each had a gigantic stone figure on the front, illustrating what was inside. A hammer on one, a brush on the next, a sickle on the third. And on the fourth, a huge stone book.

“There,” Twilight said confidently, pointing. “I’m in there. Promise you.” She might not understand why an oppressive regime like this would even want to have libraries, but that didn’t matter. There was nowhere else a frightened and alone Twilight Sparkle would be hiding.

They merged into the flow of ponies moving up and down the city, occasionally having to step aside as a huge cargo-rail rolled back and forth. Its open sides were packed full of coal, more than Twilight had ever seen in one place in her life.

“How do you know?” Rainbow asked. “It’s a spell, isn’t it?”

If it was, it would’ve made her stand out like a broken feather on a Wonderbolt wing, because not a unicorn in sight was using magic. Not even basic levitation. She shook her head. “I know me. And I’m going to say in advance, I’m not mad at you for banishing me here, Rarity. I know you had to do whatever the princess told you. You didn’t even know my name. I was probably just a statistic. Do rebels even get a trial?”

“Uh…” Rarity seemed more confused than abashed. “There’s a hearing, and a court-martial if they hurt anypony…” Her eyebrows went up. “I can’t recall ever seeing your name on any of the prisoner manifests. But they were quite large, particularly in the early years. That was when Starlight took in so many prisoners that she didn’t have to make anything to buy food.”

“It’s okay,” Twilight said. “I’m just saying I’m not mad. We’re getting her out of here.”

The city’s profound regularity and flatness made distances a bit deceptive. The walk into the center of the city took nearly twenty minutes, with everypony moving so slowly that they barely lifted their hooves with each step.

Eventually they passed into an inner courtyard, with ponies moving purposefully between the large buildings, or past it to the palace structure beyond. Here Twilight saw her first soldiers. They didn’t have armor, but instead wore cloth uniforms with metal helmets, and strange mechanical weapons of wood and steel. Whatever those were, she didn’t want one pointed at her.

They weren’t—no soldiers stopped them from entering the courtyard, or striding purposefully up to the library. “Let me do the talking,” she whispered, as they walked up to the door. “I’ve got some idea how they think here. They should let us in.”

But talking to whom? There was no one to stop them from walking right in, not even a circulation desk. The building was as unpleasant as everything else in Starlight’s city, two stories tall and with the same brown covers on every book. They had different titles, but other than that, they’d been as equalized as everything else.

Twilight almost gave up hope, before she saw a pony pushing a metal cart on the floor above, reshelving books. A pony with a lavender coat and short purple mane.

“Alright, you ponies spread out. Signal me if something goes wrong.”

She left them behind, striding meaningfully towards the stairs. It was time to end this nightmare for good.

Chapter 18: Fateless

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Twilight didn’t march straight for the pony upstairs—if Twilight saw her coming, she was very likely to panic. On the other hoof, a sudden appearance would briefly startle her, but there was very little chance of her being able to escape once she got close. Twilight remembered perfectly well how awful it was to cast any meaningful spells while under Starlight’s curse. There was no chance of being overpowered here.

Twilight walked to one side of the bottom floor, where she would have a good view of top floor shelves. Then she teleported the distance, appearing inside them surrounded by more identical books.

At least from their titles, it looked like Starlight had a fairly decent library here. Many of these were classics of pony literature, or useful reference materials. Twilight lifted one in her magic out of curiosity, frowning down at its contents.

The book—a familiar title of poetry she’d had to study briefly in Celestia’s academy—had been reprinted in boring block letters. But at a glance everything she could see was accurate. Maybe you were more moderate about it when you didn’t have anypony to oppose you.

Or maybe trying to keep meaningful information from her population was less successful in a world that was actively trying to kill them in half a dozen different ways.

Twilight reshelved the book, then crept out of the aisle and towards the back wall. There were identical square windows here, though with nothing but moonlight outside she couldn’t imagine the point. No non-bat would be reading to this.

Her own dull copy was working just a little distance away, lifting books with her hooves and settling them on the shelves. With each she made careful notes on her clipboard, then pushed her cart along.

Twilight waited until she was walking away, then hurried towards her from behind. She got close enough that she could tap the pony on the shoulder. “Excuse me,” she said, before she could make it out of the row to the central aisle. “Do you have a moment?”

Twilight stopped. “Of course, I’m always happy to help anypony seeking knowledge,” she recited. “The war can’t be won in ignorance after all.” She turned, and for a few seconds, didn’t even seem to realize what she was looking at. Her coat was dull, her eyes slightly glazed, and her magic a faint spark Twilight could barely even sense. Clearly this world’s Starlight hadn’t brought her in on the scheme.

Twilight had a strange moment of vertigo as she looked down at her unicorn self—an actual unicorn too, not just the pretend she was playing while remaining at Alicorn size. Was this really the pony she’d been? The pony she’d be stuck as without her friends to help her reach her potential.

“I, uh…” Unicorn Twilight looked desperately to her cutie mark, expecting to find something there. But of course she wouldn’t, and with magic so weak she wouldn’t be able to search her resonance either. “Do I know you from—”

Twilight rested a hoof on her shoulder, pulling her deeper into the shelves. “Listen to me, Twilight. I know this is going to sound crazy, but I’m here to rescue you. I have an airship waiting outside the city, and a skilled team to get you out.”

Twilight pulled away from her, with surprising force for a unicorn with little magic. She focused on her, a gesture that seemed to take great effort. “I don’t understand what you mean,” she said, glancing once down the aisle. Maybe she was afraid they were being overheard.

Twilight’s horn glowed for a second, and a little bubble appeared around them. It was as invisible as the shield outside, and unlike that one it wouldn’t be illuminated by falling ash. “There, I’ve created a silence spell. Nopony can hear us, we can talk safely.”

Twilight glanced behind her again, and the artificial smile she’d been wearing shattered. Not into relief as she would’ve expected, but terror. “I don’t know what you mean by rescue,” she said, more clearly. “Nopony is in danger here. I think you must be in the wrong place. I know we have ponies captured by our enemies. You should go free them instead.” She looked back down to her clipboard, as though she was going to go back to filing books.

Twilight yanked it away with her magic, tossing it out of the bubble. “Listen to me,” she said, forcing the pony to meet her eyes. “I don’t know how much brainwashing you’ve endured here, but nopony is going to know that you’re disloyal. I can get you out, and you’ll never see this place again. My friends and… yours, I guess, are going to put Equestria back to the way it was.”

Even as she said it, Twilight realized with horror there was one part missing from their plan. She couldn’t just teleport this Twilight directly to their airship and be done with it. Her cutie mark, and with it her connection to magic itself, had been stolen. She would need it back to wield one of the Elements.

We have to break into her castle. “We can get your magic back,” she continued. “I have a representative from Nightmare Moon with me. We can get legal permission and everything.”

She wanted to explain everything, but every time she tried to touch this pony, she would back further away. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, her voice panicked. “I’m not going anywhere. This is my town. My home. I have thousands of friends here.”

Twilight stared, stupefied by her response. Had she been a prisoner here for so long that her brainwashing was too deep? Or worse, maybe Starlight had found other ways to reinforce the procedure. Maybe it was more than simple psychology. Twilight’s horn glowed, searching briefly for signs of tampering. The other Twilight fell limp as the mind-magic hit her, eyes glazing over again.

Twilight was no expert at this forbidden school, not the way Starlight was. But anything that she’d done ought to be visible to her here, as a painful reality.

Twilight was focused so intently that she didn’t notice the voice behind her, not until the pony had popped her bubble from the outside and was glaring up at her. “What are you doing to my friend?” asked a voice, angry and harsh.

There was nothing. No matter how much she scanned, she could sense no sign of tampering. She let go, turning to face the newcomer.

And she froze. The pony holding Twilight’s fallen clipboard was none other than Starlight Glimmer.

She shared much in common with what Twilight expected—same hairstyle, same cutie mark as everyone else. Apparently she’d gone the extra mile to look like her citizens, because her coat was pale, and she wasn’t using magic much.

Why didn’t the others warn me?

Because they don’t recognize her, stupid.

Twilight faced her, preparing herself with half a dozen counterspells. Starlight Glimmer had been a powerful enemy in her own world, trapping her long enough that she hadn’t been able to preserve the Rainboom. She wouldn’t be rendered helpless this time. This would not be another Sombra.

“I didn’t do anything to her,” Twilight said flatly. Remember, her mind is erased like everypony else. Don’t be emotional about this. Starlight was the reason for every drop of suffering ponies in her world were experiencing. Everypony dead on a battlefield, everypony starving in Sombra’s mines. It was all because of her.

“Nightmare sent me,” she said confidently. “I’m here incognito so I don’t disrupt your city. But I’m here to retrieve this prisoner. She’s been fully pardoned.”

Starlight’s eyes widened, glancing between them. “Why do you…”

“It’s complicated,” Twilight answered uselessly. “But I’m not here to cause trouble. Twilight Sparkle here is needed in the capital. Her sentence is served.”

“I’m not a prisoner!” Twilight snapped, louder than she’d been yet. “I didn’t get sent here to be reformed! I moved here!” She took a step towards Starlight, relaxing as soon as she was beside her. “My friends were there for me at the worst time in my life. Why would I want to leave them now?”

“Because…” she argued, more by reflex than logically. “Because you’ve got friends on the outside. Because they need your help to save Equestria. We have a way to end the war—both wars, all at once. A spell they need you for.”

“You sound exactly like her,” Starlight said, glancing between them again. “You’re… older too?” She backed away, eyes widening. “I’ve gotta go!” She ran.

Twilight didn’t stop her. Even if she was leaving to raise some kind of alarm, it didn’t matter. She had herself alone now. They were almost finished. She could get her out.

Twilight watched Starlight go, fear returning. But she didn’t try to run away. Maybe she understood that she wouldn’t be able to escape. “That isn’t me,” she said. “This is my town. Outside here, I’m nothing. I’ve always been nothing. Find somepony better.”

Twilight advanced on her, lowering her voice to a whisper. “Your friends need you, Twilight. You’re the last one. We’ve gone to Tartarus and back to get everypony together to undo the time-travel spell that created this nightmare-world in the first place. You’re the missing piece. With your help, it’s all undone. Everything goes back to the way it was. You get into Celestia’s school. You stop Nightmare Moon. You meet your friends. Equestria is saved over and over again and it isn’t in constant war while the planet dies around us.”

This gave her pause. Twilight couldn’t tell what had finally caught her attention, but her smaller self was listening now. “Who are you?”

“I’m you,” she explained, speeding up. “I’m from the Equestria where things are the way they’re supposed to be.” She concentrated, banishing her illusion in a flash of magic that sent a few nearby books scattering. She spread her wings. “This is what Celestia wanted you to be. This is the future waiting for you, if you help me make things right.”

“Can’t.” She retreated again, shaking her head vigorously. “I’m not… whatever you are. I can’t save Equestria. I can’t even pass a test. This is where I belong. Filing books. Helping ponies. Useful. Knowledge fights the war. Knowledge fights the war…” She looked down, and started picking up the books Twilight had scattered, replacing them on her cart one at a time.

Twilight recognized that look, because she’d felt it a dozen times in herself. She was having a nervous breakdown.

She felt the spell behind her only seconds later, powerful enough that she stopped dead in her tracks to stare. She felt a teleport, but not the short hops she used or the spatial mastery it took to warp across the country. This was runic magic, the kind that could make otherwise impossible spells within the reach of a skilled unicorn.

Not the kind of magic one of Starlight’s magic-deprived prisoners was likely to be able to cast.

She emerged from behind the shelves, with Starlight following close behind.

Except it was Starlight.

Now Twilight knew what that pony had felt, as she was briefly overwhelmed by what she saw. Beside Starlight Glimmer was a pony that looked exactly like her, except… she was older, with wrinkles on her face and a few streaks of white in her mane. But where the other Starlight had looked faded and weak like all the other ponies here, this one wasn’t. Twilight needed no spells to tell that she was the one who had cast the transportation spell.

More than that, this pony instantly recognized her. She didn’t pause when she saw Twilight’s wings, didn’t seem even momentarily confused. Stars and stones, it’s her. She never left.

“Twilight,” she said, her voice gentle. “You should go with Starlight. Go downstairs for a moment. This pony and I have to… talk.”

Twilight’s copy looked up, nodded obediently, and hurried away. Twilight watched as a pale Starlight Glimmer helped her down the stairs and out of sight. I hope the rest of you ponies stay out of the way. She doesn’t know you’re here yet.

Twilight herself remained where she was until they were gone. She kept her defensive magic ready, her horn glowing faintly. She knew all the spells this pony had used—but Starlight was also a few decades older. Maybe she’d planned for this moment. Had she known?

“I was wondering when I’d see you again,” Starlight said casually. She was exactly like the voice booming through the city outside. That was what she’d heard—she was older. “You never know with time travel. I hoped breaking the chain of causality would break you out of the spell.” She nodded slightly towards the stairs. “I took good care of you, as you can see. Everypony in my city is right where they belong.”

“We shouldn’t do this here,” Twilight said flatly. “Libraries are sacred. I don’t want to see this one get damaged.”

“Alright.” Starlight gestured over her shoulder. “It’s my library. I’d rather not waste the workers’ time rebuilding it.”

Twilight followed her along the upper railing, to the metal bands set into the floor that had brought her here. Twilight had no idea where they would lead, but she could read runes well enough to know they wouldn’t do anything but move her. There was no disarming spell, no stun, nothing like that.

She didn’t turn around, didn’t even glance over her shoulder and down the railing. She wouldn’t give Starlight even a hint that things weren’t over. She could only hope the girls were listening.

Twilight stepped up beside Starlight, and vanished.

Twilight Sparkle had not had much of a life.

From some of her first moments of early childhood, she had known only failure. What should’ve been the beginning of her magical career was the end, setting the stage for a lifetime of mistakes and little impact.

Until she found Our Town, the one place where all her mistakes were forgotten. Starlight Glimmer was a strange ruler, and she obviously wasn’t being honest with her subjects. But that didn’t really matter to Twilight. It didn’t matter if Starlight told the truth so long as she gave her somewhere she could belong.

The passing of years became a blur after that. Though the world outside got worse—much worse, once the terrible cold of the sunless world descended—their town lived on. Twilight kept her place, obeyed Starlight’s orders, and was only a little confused by the appearance of another Starlight to join her in the library. But she could always use more friends.

Until today.

Twilight retreated to the back corner of the library, trying not to hear the voice of the other her. She could imagine sounding like that—in another life. That pony was confident, demanding, and so confusing.

Young Starlight had called her older self, the proper thing to do whenever their city was in danger. But Twilight did wish she hadn’t been sent away. The same thing happened whenever danger struck: when crystal ponies besieged them, when any kind of threat arrived, the other starlight retreated to the bunker as a bulwark against the city’s failure.

Twilight knew that, and she didn’t resent seeing her go. If her older self fell in battle, the younger pony would take her place. But even so, she didn’t want to be alone in the library right now.

There were voices coming from somewhere in the books, strange voices she hadn’t heard before. Twilight dropped low, listening. She wasn’t sure she could deal with ponies after what she’d just seen.

“They’re gone,” said an elegant, confident voice. “Positive. I felt the transport close.”

“Seems crazy to me,” a different speaker, in the valley accent instead of old Canterlot. “Going up against her alone like that. Why not bring us along?”

“I think… maybe because she knows she doesn’t need to win,” whispered a pony so quiet she almost couldn’t catch the words. “She wasn’t part of the spell, remember? She isn’t the pony we need.”

“I didn’t hear her leave!” said another voice, louder and more energetic than the others. And anypony else she’d heard in the city in years. “We should go say hello! It didn’t seem like she got off on the right hoof with Twilight.”

Then there was motion in the shelves. Twilight scrambled to her hooves, backing desperately away. What she knew that few of their visitors did was that each of the large central buildings had direct tunnel access to the palace. She could flee that way, even if both Starlights were gone.

Those ponies don’t sound like they’re from around here either. They aren’t like us. They’ll just try to change me like Twilight did.

She reached the end of the row, and nearly smacked her face directly into a brilliantly pink pony.

“Hi there! You must be Twilight, right? Twilight Sparkle?”

She froze. There was another way to the secret exit, though she’d have to go all the way up to the top floor. She started retreating, this time towards the stairs.

The pony followed her. “I’m sorry you didn’t like our friend too much. Maybe we can do better?”

She whimpered, shaking her head. “I don’t want anything to do with you. I hope you’ll stay and learn our ways like everypony from Equestria should.”

“Yeah, I dunno about that,” the pony admitted. She extended a hoof. “I’m Pinkie! The ponies behind you are Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy!”

Twilight glanced over her shoulder, gasping and jumping several feet up into the air. She landed with her hooves scrambling on carpet. She had a little magic—but swinging books at them like weapons would be unthinkable. And anything more than that was beyond her.

“I’m not the pony you’re looking for!” she protested, stomping one hoof on the ground. “I’m not a prisoner, I don’t need to be rescued. This is my home. I like it here and I don’t want to leave.”

“Oh.” The yellow pegasus—Fluttershy, according to the brief introduction—glared pointedly at the others. She was the only one who got closer to Twilight. Her voice was gentler than the others, and her wings on her shoulder softer. “I’m sorry we came here and made you uncomfortable. I know how unpleasant an unexpected visitor can be.”

She sniffed, wiping her eyes—and didn’t push the pegasus away. “I’m sure…” She swallowed. “That Alicorn sounded so sure of herself. But I’m not the pony she’s looking for. I can’t change the world; I couldn’t even change my own future.”

“Yeah, I know,” Fluttershy said. “I thought the same exact thing when she came for me.”

“But Twilight really is something else,” said the earth pony, apparently Applejack. “She’s kept all her promises. Showed us what the world would look like with the sun returned. With our relatives returned, the war over.”

“Then let her save it,” Twilight said, stamping one hoof weakly on the floor. “She’s an Alicorn. She is so smart and perfect and good at everything. Why even bother with me?”

“She’s not from here,” the thestral, Rainbow Dash, said. “You are. She only remembers a perfect world. I dunno about you, but I think it might be a little easier to be perfect when the place you come from is perfect too? It’s probably not fair for you to compare yourself against her. Just be a little faster than you were yesterday, you don’t have to be faster than everypony else in the flight.”

“I… I’m not sure that’s terribly useful advice,” the white unicorn said. Rarity. “But the sentiment is certainly there.”

Then the windows shattered. Twilight screamed, covering her head as bricks and mortar and stone were ripped away. Shelves toppled with a crash, probably destroying dozens of precious books.

She didn’t see what was happening, not cowering in the corner. She could feel the ponies around her all hurry away, and hear the sound of heavy hooves marching in.

“They went in here,” said a voice, like bits of rock bouncing together in a polisher. Twilight crawled backwards along the floor, retreating towards the secret exit. There was nopony blocking her anymore. Maybe she could escape.

“Crystal ponies,” Rainbow said from the end of the aisle, her voice faint. “I knew we were north, but doesn’t she have… some kinda plan? Soldiers, maybe?”

“There they are!”

Twilight didn’t watch, but she knew the sound of a battle when she heard one. She kept backing away, keeping her head down and praying that nopony would notice her.

Not another raid. They shouldn’t have made it so far into the city. But as she thought about it, somehow she already knew how it had happened. The other Twilight had left to confront Starlight Glimmer. The instant the city’s protector was gone, their city was attacked. So in a way, this is my fault too. If I’d just done what the Alicorn wanted, Starlight could’ve stopped them.

She dared a glance towards the front of the building, and whimpered in horror at what she saw there. The face had been completely ripped off, with every nearby shelf topped in the bargain. There were at least a dozen crystal ponies there, each in black armor with slitted helmets. Most seemed to be guarding the exit. She caught glimpses of the other few as they fought with the ponies who had come for her.

Maybe this isn’t so bad. They were intruders too, right? They’d brought this attack; they were the ones who could deal with it.

With the wall missing, she could hear sirens blaring through the city, replacing the usual calming voice of Starlight’s confident promises. The militia should be here soon. They’ll help even if Starlight is busy fighting off the Alicorn.

Twilight rounded the corner to the conference rooms, where the secret entrance was hidden. She found a pair of crystal pegasi waiting there, wearing dark armor and pointing spears. She could see them grin behind their masks.

“You,” the one in front commanded. “Stop where you are. If you move, you die.”

She didn’t move, flopping uselessly to the ground. One of them stomped up to her, hefting her under the forelegs and dragging her towards the front of the library.

The ponies who had come for her fought better than she’d ever seen militia ponies fight—the blue bat zipped through the air with only one wing and a metal substitute, dodging and weaving between the shelves much faster than any of these crystal attackers could keep up.

The fight passed her by, and Twilight felt the soldier throw her callously forward onto the cold ground outside.

“Found this one hiding,” he said. “Thought we wouldn’t find her.”

She looked up, whimpering. There weren’t a dozen ponies out here anymore—the majority had rushed into the library to join the fight. Apparently this one was their commander, an officer with black spikes running out of his shoulders just like King Sombra was said to have them running through his body.

He was a unicorn, with pale green light emerging from the slits of his helmet.

“Our Lord’s target was captured by the Fateless, amusing. Assist the others. How many have we lost so far?”

“Four, sir!” the other soldier said. A pegasus mare, though she spoke with no more compassion. “They don’t fight like the other soulless ponies here.”

“We need six to pull my chariot,” he said. “If I have to shatter this body to get home, I’ll be annoyed. Tell them that.”

They saluted, darting back to join the battle.

Twilight dropped to the ground, covering her head with her forelegs. It’s okay. I’m safe. Starlight always promised she would keep me safe here. Our magic is powerful. Our soldiers will win. The palace guards were close, why hadn’t they come running?

She looked up and discovered the answer—there were at least fifty broken crystal ponies outside the palace—and just as many dead ponies. One of the spires was on fire.

“The act is unnecessary,” said a voice from just behind her—low, dangerous. “I recognize you, Twilight. You can’t honestly expect me to believe that an Alicorn was captured by the Fateless. If you think this will convince us to leave you here to die, you’re mistaken. Our king is… upset with the way you behaved.”

Something took hold of her from behind, yanking her onto her back. A second later and she felt a knife against her neck, its glass blade sharp enough that it drew blood at the lightest touch.

“Let me say it another way. Dismiss the disguise, or I’ll cut your throat. Whatever anger my king might express will be swallowed in the joy of conquest. None can say they’ve killed an Alicorn. Perhaps I will be the first.”

Chapter 19: Glimmer

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Twilight couldn’t have said where the transport circle brought them. Not to the palace as she had guessed it would, or anywhere else in the city. A runic circle like that might go a hundred meters or a hundred miles, and so long as something supplied it with power, it wouldn’t matter.

They stood near the edge of a plateau, where a thin layer of ice covered the ground, making every step treacherous. Twilight could see no sign of civilization in any direction.

One thing she didn’t do was step out of the circle, not while Starlight Glimmer stood there. Abandoning her in the wilderness thousands of miles from another pony was certainly a way that a unicorn could defeat an Alicorn. The best way to win that battle was not to be there.

Starlight watched her, smiling in recognition and striding out of the circle. “You can’t stop me now, Twilight. You wouldn’t be here if you could. We both know this is over.”

Twilight followed her to the edge of a cliff, keeping herself firmly between Starlight and the exit. If she tried to leave, Twilight would be in her way to ensure that she escaped as well.

“Are you happy with what your changes got you, Starlight? Is this the Equestria you wanted?”

The unicorn bared her teeth in response, horn glowing faintly. “You’re not going to take it from me now. I’ve had decades to prepare for this. I could kill you. Or maybe you’ve come to surrender. Equestria outside is chaos, but I can bring peace. Did you see what my city became? That was what it was destined to be, before you interfered.”

The longer her eyes adjusted, the more Twilight began to realize about where they had come. This wasn’t a random plateau on the edge of nowhere—this was a city. Or it had been, in another life.

Griffonstone was a desolate, windswept wasteland. Nothing grew on the mountain beyond, and every home she could see was empty. Strange shapes half-lifted from the snow in the horrible suggestions of creatures dead.

“This would be a great place to fight,” Twilight whispered. “Whoever loses can just go join all of them, right? Won’t be much to see.”

Starlight’s eyes narrowed. “If you’re trying to blame this on me, it won’t work. Nightmare Moon made this world, not me. Are you suggesting I could stop a pony that defeated Celestia?”

Twilight prepared her own magic, though without knowing what Starlight would try, it was hard to know which counterspell she should use. If she guessed wrong, the choice would be a fatal one.

“You must still remember,” Twilight spat, advancing on her. “You can’t play dumb, you’re not like all these ponies who grew up here. Only one thing changed about the past, and this is the result.” She gestured at the frozen city with her wing. “You made this, not Nightmare Moon.”

“No.” Starlight aimed her horn low, then blasted with a wave of blue magic. Twilight wasn’t sure what it was meant to do, but she didn’t hesitate long enough to be hit. She vanished from in front of it, appearing beside the circle home. Where the magic hit the snowy cliff behind them, steam began to rise, and a dead tree caught fire. “This is just… chaos theory in action. A minor change cascades into unrelated factors. Even totally reversing events would probably produce a different future.”

Twilight didn’t strike back. She could hear it in her voice—Starlight knew. “You changed one thing, Starlight. You took away the Elements of Harmony. Looks like nopony rose up to do what we’d done. Now everything we didn’t stop is all back, eating Equestria alive. How much needs to die?”

“You!” Starlight roared. She stomped with both forelegs, magic glowing from her horn a second time. Something rose up from between them, a stone golem larger than a building crusted over with snow and ice. “This is your fault, Twilight! All of it!”

Don’t you care about breaking the return spell? But Twilight didn’t get a chance to think—she had to dodge out of the way as a single gigantic fist came down on the place she’d been standing, circling around it in the air. “How?” she asked. “All we did was give your ponies back what you took! What was wrong about that?”

“You should’ve left me alone!” The golem surged forward, ripping one of its arms from its torso and flinging it straight at Twilight.

She concentrated, and vanished from the place she’d been floating. The walls of Griffonstone didn’t do so well, and exploded into broken bricks where the blow struck. But Twilight barely had a second to think before it was coming for her again.

That was the spell she was using. It didn’t matter what Starlight said about preparing to kill an Alicorn, her come-to-life spell wasn’t that different from plenty Twilight had used. Maybe she wasn’t trying as hard as she said.

Twilight struck with a spell of her own, far less energetic than the one trying to kill her. It was the dark magic Celestia had taught her, that could ground out most spells.

The gigantic rock figure began to wobble, then toppled sideways off the edge of the plateau with a crash. Stone broke along the side, spreading cracks through the ice atop the platform until the entire thing was like a shattered window.

She landed directly in front of her enemy. “Starlight.” Twilight tried to find the anger she knew this pony deserved, but just couldn’t muster it. “Look at what your magic did to Equestria.”

“It gave me back what you stole,” Starlight countered. “And more than I could’ve dreamed. I had a fifteen-year head start. It has survived changeling attacks, dragons, crystal ponies. Even Nightmare Moon herself. What did you build that’s still standing?”

“Nothing,” Twilight admitted, ears flat. “Starlight, look around you. The planet is dying. Nightmare Moon’s magic isn’t enough to fight the laws of nature. Everypony will die, including your city. Griffonstone didn’t have magic, so they went first. But it’s happening everywhere. Unless the future you want is the one where Sombra’s crystal ponies rule over an empty planet.”

Starlight looked for a moment like she might argue—and she hesitated. The plateau was a ruin of broken stone and death, and Starlight was momentarily exhausted. A spell like the one she’d summoned took energy, energy that even an experienced unicorn would miss.

“It’s too late for the rest of Equestria,” Starlight said. “Nightmare Moon can’t be convinced, I’ve tried. She doesn’t care about anything but punishing her sister, and the idea of raising the sun has made her kill the ponies who suggest it.”

“I know,” Twilight said. “We can’t save the world the way it’s become. But maybe, if you let me, I can make it back into the way it was.”

“Of course it would be you,” Starlight said, glaring furiously at her. “You’re the pony who always saves the day, isn’t that right? Equestria is only like this because you weren’t here to save it!”

“It’s not like that!” Twilight backed away from her, though now she couldn’t tell where the transport circle was hidden under the rock. Maybe it was destroyed, and they were trapped here to freeze together. “I don’t do any of it on my own. I have five of the kindest, bravest, cleverest ponies in Equestria to help me. Equestria isn’t like this because of me, it’s like this because you took all of them away.”

Starlight radiated hatred as powerfully as any of the enemies Twilight had ever beaten. But she was also looking at the space behind her, where there had once been a griffon city. Now there was just old stone and bird bones, covering slowly with snow.

“It’s too late,” she said again. “Even if I let you go… take the pony you came for… what difference does it make? I used the Cutie Map with Star Swirl’s time travel spell. The castle never grew. The tree is still inert out in the Everfree somewhere.”

“No,” she said. Not confrontational this time, just matter-of-fact. “It came back with me. I have the spell too, Starlight. I can do it. Help me fix this.”

“Even now.” Starlight turned away from her, voice cracking. She could practically hear the tears streaming down her face, even if she couldn’t see them. “Even now you’re trying to ‘reform’ me? Even after all of this? You must think the whole world is my fault. Wouldn’t that be the best punishment you could give me? Make me watch everything die in the world I created.”

Twilight shrugged. “I’ve never been big about punishments, Starlight. Just let me try and fix it. I promise if I fail that I’ll leave your city alone. You can keep trying to save as many ponies as you want… however you think you should. Just let me try. I know you want to go home too.”

“S-Sunburst…” she croaked, voice hoarse. Twilight didn’t even recognize the name, but Starlight wasn’t waiting to give explanations. “He was in the Empire when it fell. One of the first that Sombra took into his court. He’s… a monster now, just like all the others. My fault.”

She turned around slowly, lowering her head in defeat. “Okay, Twilight. Go back. Do what you can. I won’t stop you.”

Her horn glowed, and a faint circle of runes cut through the rock behind her. It glowed blue, waiting receptively for Twilight.

Is this the trap? After all this, is Starlight just going to try and kill me?

She could see the tears. Hear the agony in her voice. “You aren’t coming?”

She shook her head, looking off at the dead city. “I come here when I need to be alone, to reflect on what I’ve done. I think I still need a few minutes.”

Twilight scanned the circle, but as before there were no hostile magics hidden there. She stepped up, letting the teleport take her away.

Twilight cowered against the pavement; her voice so weak that she didn’t know if the crystal ponies standing over her would even hear it. “I’m not an Alicorn!” she squeaked again. There was no defiance in her voice, but there didn’t have to be.

“Then what are you?” The crystal pony captain shoved her back, making her slide along the rough cobblestone. “I know an Alicorn attacked the Empire. I know she matched your description. It’s true that Fateless can take away your souls, but she’s no Alicorn herself. She can’t rob you of your wings!”

Twilight trembled. The fight in her library went on, with more shelves toppling and crystals shattering. She couldn’t know what else was happening—couldn’t feel sad about the books when her own life seemed about to end. “There is an Alicorn Twilight here. I’m not her.”

“Oh.” He sat back, tossing the knife up and down in his magic, before scoring the side of his helmet with it once to show her just how sharp it really was. “I see. You’re her imposter. A changeling can easily pretend to wander around here without a soul—you never had one to begin with. Not much of a change.”

He leered. “Change back, now. Or I’ll start cutting.”

“I’m not a changeling!” she squealed, voice faint. “I’m a librarian! The Alicorn says she came from the past, or… another future, or… it didn’t make sense to me. But I’m not her! I’m just a pony, who lived here since I was a teenager. I’ve never been anything else!”

“We’ll see.” He advanced on her again, pressing hard on one of her legs so she couldn’t wiggle away. “The Empire doesn’t have your fancy pony detection spell. We only know one way to find out if someone’s a changeling. Can’t copy someone if you’re dead. Either way, it doesn’t sound like I need you.”

The knife shot towards her neck, and she knew she wouldn’t be strong enough to stop it. His magic was too powerful.

The obsidian blade smacked into something faintly purple, shattering on contact and dropping the metal handle limply to the ground. A pony appeared behind her, settling one hoof on her shoulder. “I’m not sure who the buck you are,” she said, through labored breathing. The pony was Rarity, one of those who had come for her. She was worn and bloody, but intact. “But how about you turn around and walk away.”

“Unless you’d like to end up like those idiots back there,” Rainbow added, dropping down on her other side. “Believe me, I love shattering crystal ponies. I could do one more.”

The captain’s amusement vanished in an instant. He took a single step back, watching something over Twilight’s shoulder that she couldn’t see. “You haven’t won today,” he spat. “When I’m dead, I’ll wake up in the Empire like my ponies already have. What about your soldiers?” He pointed behind him, at the desolation outside the palace. “How many died today? You will surrender in time, like the rest of Equestria.”

“Not likely,” Pinkie said. “We already kinda saw the Crystal Empire, and it was really awful. Maybe if you were a little nicer ponies would want to live there, but…”

The captain exploded, like a vase dropped on concrete. A pony appeared behind him, her horn glowing with the spell she’d just used. It was the Alicorn, without so much as a scratch on her. Had she beaten Starlight Glimmer after all? “Sorry. Were you done with him yet?”

Twilight led the way into the palace. She hadn’t been given any unique spells or metal passes when she left Starlight on that plateau, but she didn’t need one. Her copy might not be a master of spellcraft, but she knew a tunnel hidden in the library, one that could take them directly into the structure without getting past the desperate, confused guards outside.

Twilight felt a little guilty leaving them to their own devices after such a crisis. Many had died in today’s battle, not just at the palace. But they were so close now that she couldn’t possibly take the risk of failure.

“I can’t believe you fought for me,” her copy was saying, from the back of the group. Aside from directions, she remained there, well away from the tunnel junctions and any possible traps they might encounter. “You could’ve run. Even Starlight—”

“I’m sure your friend had good reason,” Rarity said. “But that’s not the way we do things.”

“Yeah!” Rainbow added. “I’ve only known them for a little bit, but these ponies are as tough as they come. Not Shadowbolts or anything, but they’ve got way more chill. It’s a worthwhile trade when you think about it.”

Her unicorn self didn’t seem to have a clue what that meant.

“Besides,” Fluttershy added, voice gentle. “Part of what you’re feeling probably comes from not having your cutie mark. The other Twilight said that was really hard on a pony. You should feel better once we give it back.”

“It’s been so long since I had one…” she whispered. “I passed the vault a thousand times, and never dreamed… never felt tempted. Are you sure anypony is better off? Starlight always says that inequality—”

“You should probably forget about that stuff,” Applejack said. “Starlight said what she did to keep this place going. We aren’t here to judge her, but we’re not just here to fit in. If a pony wants to make a difference, then she has to be what everypony around her isn’t.”

They reached a final vault door, with a combination and a massive steel tumbler. The other Twilight entered the combination on her first try, though she took their help to get it to open for her. Just inside it was a cave, reminding Twilight a little of the place Sombra had taken them to die. But while that cave had only been given enough to kill them, here there was a finished path, and little glowing emergency lights to direct them towards a set of tiny metal shelves.

The others all stopped in their tracks, completely overwhelmed by the amount of magic here. Only Twilight the Alicorn and Twilight the nearly-drained shadow of a unicorn could approach. They passed a gold pedestal, where a metal staff rested at the center of several chairs.

“I still remember when she took me here,” Twilight muttered. “Starlight promised that once I gave up my cutie mark, I’d be like everypony else. I wouldn’t have to deal with any of my own problems again. They’d be our problems, and we could face them together.”

“Is that what happened?” Twilight asked. Her eyes scanned the shelves—they were at least fifty feet up, and several times that lengthwise. Each square represented another pony life with all the color taken away. There were plenty of familiar marks here, but she hadn’t come to set them all free. She couldn’t keep her promise of leaving Starlight’s village alone if she destroyed it. Sombra’s attack was already bad enough.

“For awhile,” Twilight said. “The others were just as new at it as I was. And none of us were very good at anything. There were few enough ponies in town that I could always find something to do. Or re-do, five or ten times, until we got it right.”

“You can run as far away from your failures as you want,” Twilight whispered. “But you still won’t get away. Every mistake you ever make will follow you until you face it. You can’t run fast enough to get away from yourself.”

Her companion slumped forward against the glass. Then she pointed. It was so low to the ground that Twilight hadn’t noticed, but she knew it clearly now. It was her cutie mark, exactly as she’d known for her entire life. There was no way to miss it.

“Those ponies seem nice,” the unicorn said. “Do you really think they’ll be my friends?”

“I know they will,” Twilight said, slicing the glass away along the square boundaries. It fell forward, shattering against the stone. And Twilight’s cutie mark was set free.

She jerked briefly as it hit, shuddering. Her eyes widened as she took in the wall of magic, rising over her like a tsunami about to crash. Twilight teleported them both back to join the others, where they were out of the worst of its reflection.

Unicorn Twilight smiled weakly, looking at each of the others one at a time. “Thanks again for saving me. That crystal pony didn’t seem friendly.”

“No big deal,” Rainbow said, the first to embrace her. “Just wait until you see the Elements of Harmony for the first time! That’s gonna be the most awesome thing you’ve ever done!”

“Our airship is pretty cool,” Pinkie added.

“Okay fine, the airship is cool,” Rainbow admitted. “But the Elements are awesome. Come on!”

Twilight set to work with the teleportation spell. In a way it wasn’t different from the one that Starlight had used, a runic circle made to correspond to one waiting in their hidden airship.

“What did you do to Starlight?” the unicorn version of her asked from outside the circle. She didn’t try to interfere, hadn’t done anything with her horn yet. “Were you lying? Taking advantage of how little emotion I felt when—”

“She wasn’t lying,” Starlight Glimmer said. Her voice came from the stairs, the ones that must lead up into the palace proper. She didn’t sound angry, only incredibly tired.

“Starlight!” The unicorn looked away, retreating a step and lowering her head. “I know you said that I shouldn’t—”

Starlight raised a hoof to silence her. “I’m not here to chastise you, Twilight. Only to wish you good luck. Both of you.”

She ignored the others, stopping only when she reached Twilight. “I thought making my town again would make me happy. I thought taking away your friends would do it. But that didn’t work. Fix what you can.”

“I will,” Twilight promised. “And if it doesn’t go the way I thought, I’m not giving up on this planet yet. We’ve got the Elements back together. They’ll do incredible things, just wait.”

“Without you,” Starlight Glimmer said. “I look forward to it. But not yet. Sombra’s last attack cost many lives. My ponies need to grieve.”

Fortunately for their return trip, Twilight had hidden the airship on the south of the city. Had Sombra’s forces come upon the vessel, she had no doubt it would’ve been burned away, or just missing completely as they took it back.

But apparently Sombra’s forces had followed the most direct route, because the place they teleported back to when she finally finished her spell circle was precisely the one she remembered. A comfortable, if cramped, sitting room, a massive gasbag that had been slightly deflated to get them down here in the first place. Their boxes and cans of supplies.

But more important than all of that was the rock she sent Pinkie to retrieve from a little way outside the airship. She brought it back along with the sack of all the elements, and she didn’t even have to be told who to give it to. Twilight remained still, watching with everypony else as she offered it to her unicorn copy.

This was the moment that Equestria hinged on. Without all of the Elements united, Twilight wouldn’t be able to cast her spell and fix the planet.

The unicorn squealed in surprise as the magic lifted her. It didn’t matter that the others had been exposed to this beside the Cutie Map, and apparently it didn’t matter that she’d spent most of her life living without a cutie mark in a city of brainwashing and control.

After a few seconds the artifact set her down, transforming into a necklace just as all the others had. Twilight could feel a little of the power radiating from her, and a little envy that went along with it. These ponies might be different from the ones she’d left behind, but they were still her friends. The longer she stayed, the closer to their old selves they seemed.

Closer, but also changed. This version of Equestria would never be the one she left—there were too many dead, too much permanent damage. The only hope for it now was a reset.

“How does it feel?” Fluttershy asked.

“Good,” unicorn Twilight said. “I didn’t think I’d like all this magic at once—live in the city long enough and you start hearing things about how overrated magic was, how it could give you a rash, or… but I like it.”

“It does feel like we’ve just done something,” Rarity said. “But what? We’re all wearing these things now. Can they really fix the whole world in one spell?”

“Yes,” Twilight whispered. “This is everything. No more unexpected roadblocks. No more hidden changelings, no more missing pieces. We have everything.” She turned for the stairs. “Rainbow, help me cut the sandbags. Drop all of them, we’re going up. Ponyville is waiting.”

Chapter 20: Map

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Twilight stood atop the deck of the airship, watching as the wasteland of Equestria blurred by beneath her. She could always tell when civilization was below her, thanks to the little circles of green around the snowy wasteland.

So little is left. It was a good thing they were about to pull the reset switch and put the world right, because she didn’t think this planet had much longer. Nightmare Moon isn’t stupid, is she? She had to know this wasn’t sustainable. Is she really willing to watch the planet die?

Twilight lost track of time. Night, Eventide, there was very little difference, and almost no change to the light. The heat-crystals kept warm with an occasional burst of magic, and that would have to be enough.

She had no desire to disrupt whatever was going on aboard the ship. She could hear happy voices, and the occasional song or snippet of music. The closer those ponies became in a short time, the better their chance of finally saving the world.

Eventually she heard another set of hooves moving up the stairs. She didn’t turn around, just kept leaning over the railing. In this case, she didn’t have to look to know who had come. She knew that hesitant canter anywhere. It might’ve been Fluttershy, with her apparent reluctance to talk to anyone. But Twilight knew her own steps.

“You’re afraid about something,” Twilight said, sitting back from the rail and brushing a little snow from her mane. “You don’t have to keep pacing back there. I won’t bite.”

She didn’t turn around. But sure enough, it was the other Twilight’s voice she finally heard. “I’ve been… I’ve been hoping to ask you something since we met. I would’ve asked you sooner, but… we were always too busy.”

Twilight turned, gesturing towards the deck beside her. “Sit and ask. I’ll help you if I can. But just because I’m from somewhere far away, I don’t know everything. There’s a lot your world has that mine doesn’t.”

“It was about that…” Twilight said. She squeaked a moment more, looking away. Had her old self really been this nervous? Yes. Around Alicorns. This was the version of her who had failed, who hadn’t spent her life around royalty. She would have to be gentle.

“When I was in Our Town, Starlight Glimmer put me to work. That’s not unusual, we all come to work. It’s important that a pony have labor in order to fit with their community. Shared endeavor makes them mutual stakeholders in the success of—”

Twilight cleared her throat. Far below, they were flying over desert now. At least it didn’t look as bad as dead forests, it was still mostly sand. “You worked,” Twilight supplied, hoping to get her back on task.

“Right.” She whimpered, looking away from her. She rose onto her hooves, turning as though she were going to walk away. Was that fear in her face? What reason did she have to be afraid?

Twilight stuck out a wing, blocking her retreat. “It’s alright, you can tell me. I know you better than you do. If there’s one thing I’m sure about… well, just don’t worry. Alicorns aren’t that different from other ponies, really. Just more magic, and a longer history. That’s all.”

Twilight hesitated another moment, then her voice sped up. She didn’t speak so much as vomit out what she said next. “Starlight Glimmer still wanted me studying. Experimental magic would be what kept Our Town safe. I needed to know what might come for us, needed to know every possible avenue of attack.

“That ended up with reading lots of books that nopony would think had anything to do with it. The only way I could be sure about what was coming was to know as much as possible. I know a little bit about…” She shuddered. “Time travel. Or I think I do. Maybe more than anypony else alive.”

Twilight felt her eyebrows going up. Was it possible that this other version of her actually knew something useful? More than just being a pony to rescue, and a monument to the failures she’d almost made.

“I know a little about it,” Twilight said. “Star Swirl wrote a spell to travel back, though it was flawed in many ways. Before all this, the one time I tried to use it for anything I ended up creating the future I was trying to prevent.”

“Most ponies…” Twilight’s voice became even more timid, and she turned away. “There have only been a few experts to study the subject. But most of them agreed on… that. You can’t change the past. There’s only one past, one future. Anything you do has already been done.”

“Most ponies are wrong,” she said flatly. “I know you’ve never known any other world, but I have. A place where the sun shines, where Luna is a kind and loyal pony of Equestria. Where Sombra is dead and Chrysalis is banished. I can show you the way I showed the others. I think the place the spell was cast created a… conflux, between the true reality and this imitation. If you touch it, you’ll see.”

Twilight watched her unicorn self, searching for any sign of disagreement. She wasn’t very good at hiding her feelings—this Twilight didn’t believe her for a second. But she wasn’t quite brave enough to say so directly. “Obviously they’re wrong about something. But that doesn’t mean we should reject everything the experts ever learned.”

“What are you getting at?” Twilight asked, exasperated.

“When we use the Elements,” she said. “When we cast Starlight’s spell. What happens to Equestria?”

“We fix it,” Twilight said simply. “That’s what we’ve been trying to do since—”

Unicorn Twilight rose, glaring at her. “The sun comes back. The wars all end?”

Twilight nodded. “Of course.”

“What about your friends? My friends too, I guess. What about them?”

“They’ll… go back to the lives they had,” Twilight supplied lamely. “Better lives. No war, no death. Rarity can make dresses like she wanted, Pinkie can be a party planner.”

The unicorn silenced her with a hoof on her mouth, standing inches from her face. “What about me?”

“You…” Twilight thought about it, then trailed off. She didn’t actually have a clue.

“I’ve got some idea,” Twilight said. “There’s not going to be two of us when you fix this, just like with the other Starlight Glimmer. If I still had bits, I’d bet them all that one of us is gonna be gone forever. So which is it—the unicorn who failed at everything for her whole life, or the powerful Alicorn who’s actually going to be using the spell?”

She whimpered, wiping tears from her eyes. “That’s ignoring… other things. Logical things, the others didn’t consider. Like what happens when we ‘fix’ everything? Years of our lives erased from our memories, how is that different from killing us?”

Twilight didn’t have an answer to that either. “Are you saying… you don’t want to support me? You don’t want to help with my plan?”

The unicorn made a pained squeak. “I thought about it. Told the others what I thought. I came up here to tell you our decision. They’re waiting for… for me back inside.”

Twilight turned to face her, rising to her hooves. After everything she’d fought, everything she’d overcome… she’d taken it for granted that these ponies would support her. Now she was paying the price. She braced herself for the news, like a physical blow. Unlike everything else they’d fought so far, there was no spell to help here. If her friends decided not to help… that was it. She couldn’t force them.

“We decided helping you was still the right thing,” the unicorn said. “We don’t know for sure what’s going to happen. Maybe we won’t forget, somehow. Maybe both of us will keep existing, either merged together or averaged, or… somehow. We don’t know. But we know that the Equestria we live in is barely hanging on. Many of our friends are already dead. They deserve another chance, and so does Equestria.”

Relief flooded her. Twilight watched her unicorn companion for another moment, wiping tears away from her face with the back of one hoof. She was wrong to doubt these ponies. They were her friends—of course they would do what was right for Equestria.

“I don’t know what will happen when we cast that spell,” Twilight said, speaking slowly and cautiously. “But I know one thing. A friendship like ours is too powerful to get wiped away by a little magic. Starlight Glimmer already tried that once, and look at what happened. Friendship is magic. I don’t know how this ends—but I’m sure it works out.”

Ponyville wasn’t much of anything from above—far less so now. Twilight took the airship down slowly, half expecting powerful spells or maybe weapons to be waiting for them. But there was nothing to stop them from losing enough gas to land again—this time for good, until they could get more.

The strange clearing in Ponyville’s wilderness was hard to notice, even for a pony who knew to look for it. But where Twilight had a hard time looking in that direction, her companions seemed visibly ill as they disembarked the ship and made their way towards it. Twilight in particular more stumbled than walked.

“It won’t be a problem for much longer,” Twilight herself explained, letting her voice carry to the others. It was around noon, or would’ve been if there were still days. What did that make it, midnight? Fixing her sleep schedule when she returned to Equestria was going to be a nightmare.

“Keep those Elements close. You shouldn’t have to do much of anything when we get there. They created the map, and they should be enough to return its strength.”

They climbed the hill where her castle had been, now blackened for several hundred meters around the map. It wasn’t just her friends that didn’t like being here—even the feeble grass that surrounded Ponyville had died. If there were any animals still living, they hadn’t traveled this far.

“I can’t believe we actually made it,” Rarity said, voice weak. “After everything we’ve been through. I thought…”

“Didn’t think we’d make it this far?” Rainbow turned, grinning at her. “Come on. This is Twilight we’re talking about. Of course we were gonna win.”

Twilight almost found herself agreeing. They’d made it so far—survived encounters with both factions of evil conquerors in Equestria. Escaped from their lairs, and gathered together the elements. Using Starlight’s spell was really just perfunctory at this point.

“Win, yes. But against who?” Called a voice from behind the map. Twilight felt her blood run suddenly cold, and she froze in her tracks.

Nightmare Moon emerged from behind the map, rising suddenly to her full height in glittering black armor outlined in silver. She had no soldiers and no guards with her—but Twilight didn’t have to wonder about why. She was an Alicorn—there were no creatures alive who stood a chance against her in combat. What would be the point of guards?

“When you first arrived in my country, I didn’t believe you,” Nightmare Moon said. “I wondered what plan King Sombra or Queen Chrysalis had turned against me.” She took a few steps closer. The others backed away, retreating behind her a little. Even Rainbow Dash, who had seemed so brave before. All bowed before an Alicorn.

Except for her. Twilight had no idea what Nightmare Moon could be doing here, or what she’d discovered. But no matter what it was, she couldn’t retreat now. “We’ve completed everything I promised we would, Princess,” she said. “My friends and I are ready to cast the spell. Your enemies will all be defeated.”

“I have no doubt,” Nightmare Moon said. She ignored the others, walking up to Twilight, then past her. She circled around her slowly, like a predatory cat. “When you left, I began investigating you. Do you know what I found?” Her eyes lingered briefly on the other Twilight, the unicorn. “I suspect you know now. Records of a unicorn, buried in the old census. A failure—nopony of any significance. But she did exist.”

“She’s not a failure!” Rainbow shouted—she was the only one who dared to speak at all, and even she was far quieter than her usual. “Twilight was brave.”

The Alicorn ignored her completely. “But you weren’t a changeling—and no soulless slave of Sombra could’ve entered my house. What did that make you? It meant your story was true.”

“Of course,” Twilight said, meeting her eyes. She didn’t bow. She had to watch, had to be ready to act. But even with all her practice, even with the magic of a lifetime—she knew her chances of victory here were zero. If Nightmare Moon attacked her, she would suffer the same fate Celestia had. “I haven’t lied to you, Princess Nightmare.”

She tensed in response, twisting to one side so Twilight could see the sword sheathed at her shoulders. “And now you have,” she said. “Deception doesn’t suit you.” She didn’t give Twilight a chance to defend herself this time. “You promised to defeat my enemies, just as you did now. Is that all you’re doing here?”

Nightmare Moon lifted something in the air beside her, shaking it free of dirt and debris. Twilight’s eyes widened as she saw it—the scroll. Nightmare Moon hadn’t just gone to the map, but she’d searched the area as well. “The changes to this were very interesting. Not a week of travel, as in Star Swirl’s ancient spell. What good would a week give us, at such terrible cost? No… this can only travel to one specific moment. It can only send you a decade into the past. I don’t know what changes you wanted to make, but one thing I do know. That was before my reign began. Anything you did there could stop more than Chrysalis or Sombra. It could stop me as well.”

“Sombra and Chrysalis were only—”

But Applejack spoke from behind her, much louder. “You don’t have to be like this either, Princess Nightmare. Did you touch the map? You’re in her world too—and you seem much happier there.”

Nightmare Moon’s expression turned sour. She tossed the scroll away, back towards the map. It landed on the dark crystal surface, limp and powerless. “A princess does not rule by depending on the mercy of others. Nor does she remain in power by trusting to those who have already shown they cannot be trusted. I was tempted by the panacea of an easy victory—but it is not worth the risk. You have this one chance to surrender yourself to me, Duchess. You’ve proven yourself clever and resourceful—perhaps I will spare you. In time, you might serve the kingdom in other ways. I know you prefer my rule to those of my enemies.”

She strode past her, raising her voice. “As to the rest of you—I hold no blame at your hooves. You’ve been manipulated by this Alicorn, deceived by her. I remember it well. My sister did the same, though she was far better at it. I will allow each of you to return to your lives as though nothing happened, under one condition. You must renounce your loyalty to this pony here, and swear fealty to me. If you obey, your misdeeds will be forgotten. If you do not, you will die, along with any others you may’ve corrupted. This is the choice I offer.”

Not much of a choice. Twilight watched as Nightmare Moon stalked towards her friends, her horn glowing. Her voice was absolutely confident—this one mercy might not be repeated. Maybe she really should surrender. Maybe she should be content to survive.

“We’re not surrendering to you,” Fluttershy said. Fluttershy, of all ponies! “We just want to make Equestria better for everyone, don’t we? We’re almost done. All you have to do is let us cast the spell.”

But it wasn’t Fluttershy Twilight was watching closest. She’d lived in relative isolation during all this, and so far as she knew Nightmare Moon probably didn’t know about her family. Not like Rarity and Applejack.

But as they met her eyes, Twilight could see a little nod from each one. They weren’t giving up either, no matter what it took.

We have to beat her, somehow. Twilight couldn’t even begin to imagine how they could. But she had to try.

“Forget about them,” Twilight said, raising her voice a little. “I’m the one you want. You don’t care if six random ponies bow to you or not. But I’m from your future. I already defeated you in my world. The only reason I didn’t do it here is it was a waste of time. You can’t fight me.”

Easy to say. And she was right to think it would get Nightmare Moon’s attention. She turned almost instantly, her eyes getting wider and wider.

“There’s fight in you after all, Twilight? I half expected you to roll over and die like the version of you that lives in my world.” She turned away from the others, her horn glowing a little brighter. “Did I hear that correctly? You threatened the Princess of all Equestria?”

Twilight began preparing her spell. She might be lying through her teeth, but there were some elements of truth buried at the bottom. She had learned much more about magic, at least more than she had when she fought Nightmare Moon the first time. Maybe some of it would be enough.

Enough for what, Twilight? What’s your plan when she blasts you into the sun?

She tried to answer, but couldn’t, not even to herself. She didn’t have a bucking clue what she would do.

“Well, not all Equestria. You said to be honest, Princess Nightmare. You don’t even hold the capital. Say what you want about how soft Princess Celestia was, but she won that fight and you lost.”

That touched a nerve. Nightmare Moon blasted out with a wave of dark magic, a wave that tore up the ground and shattered stone and would probably have turned Twilight to powder.

But Nightmare Moon made the same mistake Starlight Glimmer did—she seemed to expect Twilight would try to stop her spells, instead of just dodging out of the way. She teleported up into the air, then rained down a spell of her own.

It was something Celestia had taught her—sunlight. A shaft of light cut through the dark, bright enough that Twilight would’ve gone momentarily blind if she wasn’t prepared for it. Her friends squealed from underneath, retreating down the hill and away from the fight. Good. Get out of here.

If by some miracle Twilight won this, she could gather them up and finish what they started. But all Nightmare Moon had to do was kill one of them, and it was all over.

Her sunlight spell, meanwhile, shone down on Nightmare Moon from above. The touch of warmth on her coat, real warmth, after weeks in darkness, nearly brought Twilight to tears. But the effort of the spell was immense, and the concentration it required precluded an emotional outburst.

This wasn’t Twilight’s element like it was Celestia’s. She couldn’t use it to make a casual display.

Nightmare Moon screamed, vanishing from the dark patch and reappearing beside her in the air a second later. Any amusement that had been on her face was gone, along with any trace of mercy. “That was a mistake, Twilight Sparkle. I would’ve just killed you. But now I will enjoy your death. You’ve earned yourself a special cell in my dungeons.”

You go ahead and try. If Nightmare Moon was trying to leave her alive for a torturer, then she wouldn’t be atomizing her. It meant the Alicorn would be holding back.

“How long until the ponies of Equestria throw you into those dungeons?” she asked. At this point Twilight had moved well beyond reckless into true insanity—but she’d also gone so far that she didn’t want to stop. Weeks of being trapped in this nightmare world she’d created had finally worn her too thin. “For taking the sun away. You’ve gone from wanting ponies to love and appreciate your night to strangling all life. Have you been to the oceans lately?”

Nightmare Moon attacked again. This time it wasn’t just one spell, but a dozen, bolts of dark energy that leapt from her horn in many directions before zooming towards Twilight. She retreated again, a thousand meters higher in the air—and the bolts of darkness curved upward to follow.

Twilight abandoned her sunlight spell completely, focusing on her flying. A few years ago, she’d be doomed to die here, in the heights of upper air where she hadn’t previously belonged.

But she had plenty of time to practice now—time to learn from the very ponies she had to protect. Unfortunately for her, Nightmare Moon’s attacks didn’t give up just because she’d moved. The Alicorn held in place, firing a dozen more bolts of energy and staying still to control each one. They buzzed about erratically, most not chasing her but spreading widely through the air.

Twilight teleported a few more times, and with each jump there were always a few bolts that were close, forcing her to keep flying. Then she mistimed a jump, and one of them smashed right up against her.

Her counterspells were fast, much faster than any unicorns could’ve been. Twilight summoned a shield-bubble, the same kind her brother had taught her, only much smaller and stronger.

The shield exploded with a single impact, sending coursing pain through her head. She stopped flying completely, arcing suddenly downward. Nightmare Moon’s attacks kept following her, a dark flock that gathered together.

Twilight moaned, clutching at her head with one hoof and trying to fight off the pain. It was hard to concentrate—even a simple teleport was beyond her now. Her horn fizzed and sparked, but she couldn’t even make a coherent glow.

What kind of dark magic was that? She might’ve been fascinated by the attack, if conditions were better.

Instead, Twilight fell rapidly towards the ground, trying and failing to spread her wings to catch her. So much for all those brave threats. Nightmare Moon only had to attack you twice.

Princess Celestia had fought her sister for far longer than this, and even then won the first time. Why had she lost now?

She wasn’t around to ask. Twilight wouldn’t be either unless she did something.

As the ground rushed up to meet her, Twilight spread her wings with a desperate roar. It took everything she had to keep them from bending up and sending her back into a tumble—but she had earth pony strength too, and that was harder to take away with simple dark magic.

She landed in the clearing beside the map, smacking into the dirt hard enough that dust rose from around her in a wide crater.

Twilight rose slowly, limbs shaking from the effort of her desperate escape. She’d survived, apparently slowing just enough that the impact hadn’t broken all her bones.

Then Nightmare Moon’s attacks started slamming into her. She felt the first impact like a physical blow, a charging minotaur that crushed her to the ground. The next one made her legs buckle out from under her, and blood start to dribble from her mouth. She tried to protect herself, struggled to cast any kind of barrier—but nothing happened.

Over a dozen dark bolts struck into her, until Twilight’s world finally went black.

Chapter 21: Magic

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Twilight Sparkle was a coward.

She had no delusions about her qualifications for battle, no part of her thought that she was secretly a brave pony who belonged with these other brilliant, brave, kind creatures. So when the Princess of Equestria stood between them and casting the spell, Twilight ran with the others.

Some part of her was glad that the spell wouldn’t work out. She already had been on the verge of denying the spell to begin with, looking for any excuse she could find to refuse. The others didn’t really understand—not every creature was suited to think about the abstract and unknowable.

Twilight ran as quickly as she could, watching with an occasional glance back over her shoulder as her otherworldly copy provoked Nightmare Moon. Buying time for the rest of them to escape. Her other self was always looking for ways to make her look and feel ashamed—of course she’d be willing to sacrifice herself. That was just the sort of thing an Alicorn would do.

A few seconds later and they were up in the air, spinning about in a terrible battle. Twilight might not know much about great creatures like this, but she knew inexperience when she saw it. Twilight came from a world better than hers, a world where creatures didn’t starve, where the sun still shone, and where Equestria wasn’t constantly invaded by monsters. It was only natural that she wouldn’t know how to fight.

She was trying anyway, but Twilight didn’t have to watch to see how this would work out. What happens when she loses?

Did running not count as surrender? Was Nightmare Moon going to kill them as soon as she was done?

“We have to do something!” The bat-soldier Rainbow Dash waited at the base of the hill, drawing and sheathing her little sword over and over. At least she was smart enough not to pull it out against the Alicorn. “We can’t just let her fight for us!”

“We won’t be watching it long,” Rarity answered, grim. “Princess Celestia knew she was coming back, she had a thousand years to prepare, and she still lost. What are we going to do?”

It wasn’t just the two of them. As she watched, the other ponies gathered at the base of the hill, beside what had once been a schoolhouse. It was all boarded up now, the desks overturned, and the supplies looted. It hurt Twilight to see books treated so badly, scattered on the ground and left to rot.

“Has anypony been listening to her all this time?” Applejack asked, just a little frustration in her voice. “Don’t you remember? She said we used these Elements to beat Nightmare Moon in her world. Twilight will lose, because she doesn’t have them. But maybe she shouldn’t be the one fighting.”

“We could try,” Pinkie said. Her voice lacked its usual energy. “But if we do… she might come for our families after. She said she would.”

“I know,” Applejack answered. “But my family was prepared to sacrifice for Equestria, they always have been. My granny… well, she’s already gone. Big brother’s in the army, sister’s keeping them fed in the factory. I know they’re not here to ask, but if they were… they’d die for Equestria. Me too.”

“We should decide soon.” Fluttershy pointed up the hill, and Twilight followed her gesture. The other Twilight was falling, trailing flames from her coat. Dark magic buzzed around her, and she fought it off inexpertly. A few seconds later, she smashed into the ground with a terrible impact, spraying dirt in a huge crater near the map. Dark magic followed her down, hitting her without resistance. The pony stopped moving.

“It’s not her world,” Rarity said, standing straighter. “It never was. It’s ours. What kind of future do we want for it?”

“A better one,” Pinkie said. “We always did. She helped us, but… it was ours to get, not hers.”

“What about you?” Rainbow asked, looking up at her. “Twilight, you get a say in this too. I’m pretty sure these elements won’t do anything if we aren’t all working together.”

Twilight considered for one more moment. She could still imagine going back to Our Town, giving up her cutie mark again. There was a kind of safety there, with a pony who had protected them for so long. But Starlight Glimmer couldn’t fight the whole world for her. Sooner or later, Twilight had to do something right.

“I’ll do it,” she said. “We can stop her together. We… a-already d-did, right?”

“In another life,” Fluttershy agreed. “Another time. That’s how we know we can do it.”

Twilight wasn’t sure that made her feel any better—but maybe it didn’t matter. She couldn’t hide behind better ponies forever.

Nightmare Moon turned away from the burned and beaten Alicorn, making her way down the hill. “Don’t think I forgot about the six of you,” she said, watching them. “You’re still important ponies in my kingdom. The Duchess’s time travel plan has some merit. When we use it to send me back, I’ll make sure the thought of rebellion never crosses the minds of ponies. I’ll guarantee that Queen Chrysalis is ashes before she even learns of our existence. It will be a sad thing to sacrifice the Empire, but… I’ve learned much of its magic since its arrival. With the right nudge, I could send it… to the moon, let’s say. Sombra can lead his rebellion in a city of the dead, forever out of reach. You will still save Equestria today.”

She wants to do what Starlight Glimmer did, but worse. Nightmare Moon doesn’t care how many ponies die so long as she wins.

“Yes.” Rarity stepped forward, braver than the others. Maybe it was because she knew this pony, so she wasn’t afraid to be close to her. Twilight sure was. “We’ve thought about saving Equestria, and we agree it’s a good idea. It’s just…” She looked away. “I’m terribly sorry Princess, but we’d rather not do it to secure your rule. We’re going to bring back the sun.”

Nightmare Moon looked like Rarity had smacked her in the face with a brick. She recovered slowly, more slowly than any attack Twilight’s double had used on her. “Even you? After all the trust I’ve shown to you, all the respect. What will your sister think? I know it will break her heart.”

Rarity tensed visibly, adjusting the necklace around her neck. The little gemstone on it didn’t look like much—certainly Twilight had seen more intimidating weapons before. Even Starlight Glimmer had better than this, and she didn’t fight Alicorns.

“Twilight told us we used these in her world to stop you,” Applejack said, standing up straighter. “Did you see? She brought the day back, just for a second. That’s what the world needs.”

Nightmare Moon laughed, her voice wicked and confident. There wasn’t a trace of fear in it—not of them, or what they’d said. “Before I burn you to ash, steward, tell your friends how well that worked for my sister. She tried to use the Elements you’re holding—but now she’s gone, and I rule Equestria.”

Rarity nodded grimly. “She was alone. We’re not.”

“Right.” Fluttershy joined her. All of them were standing strong now, except for Twilight herself. Five ordinary ponies, who Nightmare Moon could blast into oblivion the instant she wanted to. If I’m dead, at least I’ll die with my new friends. “Let us through. Uh… please?”

Her other self had already been hit with so many spells she probably wasn’t long for the world. Instead of too many of her, there would be none.

Nightmare Moon laughed again. “They’re going to tell stories about this, I’ll make sure of it. Let anypony else who thinks to defy me know the story of you six, and the agony you suffered before I finally allowed you to die.”

Her horn flashed, and darkness emerged. Twilight couldn’t read the spell so quickly, and wouldn’t have had a prayer of stopping it even if she could. But she didn’t retreat, or try to turn away from the spell. If she was going to die, at least she would die standing beside her friends. But I don’t have to die.

Twilight closed her eyes, thinking back to a hundred summer days with her older brother. Shining had been so proud of that little shield spell, a spell that he swore could block stones lobbed by trebuchet or even stop lightning. She knew the diagrams, even if they’d seemed to advanced for her. Maybe she could use them now.

Twilight aimed her horn upward, and tried to summon her shield.

There was a faint flash of purple, and Nightmare Moon’s attack went through it like it wasn’t even there.

She didn’t feel the strike of a terrible spell. Instead, something lifted her into the air, a magic that she couldn’t see. Light surrounded her, brighter than any nightmare spell. She felt it connecting them, lines of light that went from one of the necklaces to the others around it. Magic as powerful as any Alicorn—maybe more.

Nightmare Moon lifted into the air, her horn radiating so much magic it started to steam. “No! You can’t! Nopony can use the Elements with my sister gone!”

She aimed her horn at them, and a wave of darkness radiated from her. The ground between them turned chalky and white, dozens of feet of soil atomizing and blowing away in the wind. It was the kind of spell that could destroy an army.

But it didn’t reach them. Twilight didn’t know how to make shields like her Alicorn self had, but she didn’t need to. The Elements grounded out Nightmare Moon’s spell.

“The night is over,” Twilight said. She could feel the magic building, without any input from her. The Elements knew where to find darkness, they barely needed the ponies wielding them. “Time for the dawn.”

Light swallowed her, and everything else. Nightmare Moon turned and fled, spreading her wings and flapping as fast as she could—but she wasn’t fast enough. Sunlight washed over her.

Then the moment passed. Twilight landed beside her friends, deposited gently by the Elements. In front of them was a patch of ground scoured by the Elements. Instead of being blackened by the magic, bright green grass now grew, along with bright yellow and orange wildflowers.

Light appeared behind her, brighter than anything Twilight had seen in so long she almost couldn’t remember it. Bright orange cut across the sky in a line, staining the clouds on the horizon and spreading slowly upward. The stars, beautiful though they were, vanished as the sky turned blue, and the moon finally set.

She turned back to their victim, and found the pony not completely gone, as she’d first thought from such a powerful spell. There was a little Alicorn there, young and blue and confused. She rose to shaky hooves, looking around in complete bewilderment.

“Where… am I?” she asked. Her eyes widened as she saw them, lingering on the Elements around their necks. Then she turned, surveying the empty town, broken windows, and lifeless earth under her hooves.

She dropped to the ground and started to weep.

Twilight considered going to her—but there was something else they had to do first. “Come on!” she said, running up the hill to where her Alicorn self had landed.

As it turned out, she hadn’t been blasted to a bloody pulp. Unlike with them, Nightmare Moon seemed to be trying to keep her alive. And now that the dark magic was gone, the Alicorn was waking up.

“Sweet Celestia,” she said, rolling sideways in her crater. “I can’t remember the last time I had a headache this bad.”

“You’re alive,” Twilight said, watching her. The other ponies approached from behind, watching with concern. “It almost didn’t look like you’d make it.”

“I didn’t,” she said, leaning forward into a standing position with a groan. “Next time I try to fight an Alicorn on my own, just hit me with a rock. The fight won’t end any different either way.”

Twilight said nothing.

The others, not so much. “That was amazing!” Rainbow exclaimed. “Your fight, I mean. Though… mostly I mean us. Since we won, and all.”

“Won is subjective,” Rarity said. “We haven’t saved the world in a stroke. There are two other enemies out there. Which will be quick to capitalize on our weakness once they realize Nightmare Moon is gone.” She glanced into the clearing, and Twilight followed her gaze. The Alicorn cowering there was younger than Twilight, and probably weaker too.

“You think Celestia will come back?” Applejack asked. “Nothing to keep her banished without Nightmare Moon around. Maybe that’s why the sun came up.”

“I think it won’t matter,” Fluttershy said. “We’re changing the past, remember? This is all going away.”

“If you say so,” Pinkie said. “But if you’re wrong, do you think I could throw a party? I’ve never tried a ‘congratulations on winning the civil war’ party before.”

“Sure, Pinkie. If we’re still around, you can have a party.”

The Alicorn looked them over, eyes more confident than the tiny alicorn. “You did it. Just like we did… of course you did. I should’ve known you would. That’s what we did in my world, only… a few years earlier. Now that you’ve got those, you have a way of stopping the others. Queen Chrysalis, Sombra… they’ll fall to the Elements just the same.”

“No,” Twilight herself finally said. She couldn’t stand in back and let everypony else decide the future of Equestria. The sun might be rising, but it wouldn’t matter. This victory wouldn’t matter, just like all the defeats wouldn’t matter. “You’re still going to beat them, aren’t you? Your time travel spell.”

“We are.” Twilight turned to one side, levitating the scroll in her magic and brushing off the dust. “But yes.” She walked past them all, to the artifact map with its strange illusion of Equestria.

Twilight still felt sick standing anywhere near it. Whatever it was, this thing shouldn’t be here. It belonged to another world, another time. It isn’t the map that’s wrong, it’s us.

“We said we would,” Fluttershy said, her own voice timid. “I mean… if we still want to.”

Twilight didn’t, but she wasn’t going to argue. They’d already made their decision. She could accept it.

She looked around, eyeing the faces of each of her friends in turn. She could see the deliberation there, the resolve. But none of them was backing down.

“What do we do?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Honestly, I’m ready to get it over with. This thing is awful. The sooner we’re done here, the sooner we’re done.”

“We could have supper at my place,” Applejack suggested. “If you’d rather time travel on a full stomach.”

“No,” her copy said. Twilight already knew she would. Now that victory was in sight, she was barely capable of seeing anything else. If they walked away, there was no telling how long the map would still be here. Maybe the changelings would destroy it before they could use it, maybe King Sombra would somehow know that his greatest enemy was gone.

“It won’t take long. Besides… if it isn’t going to work, I want to know that too.”

“I want a hug first,” Pinkie said. She wasn’t the only one to close in around her—they all did, one by one. Applejack, Rarity—they all moved in to embrace her. Twilight joined them, even if she didn’t feel quite the same affection for her copy.

She hadn’t been on all the adventures with her. It was obvious just how close these ponies had become. Twilight could barely imagine the dangers they’d been through together.

You beat Nightmare Moon, not her. You’re not a total failure.

“We’ll remember you,” Rarity said. “For what you did for Equestria.” She spoke through tears, and she wasn’t the only one.

Applejack was the first to pull away, clearing her throat and wiping the moisture away with the back of her foreleg. “If… if Twilight’s right, and all this is about to go away, could you… give me a message?”

“Sure,” Twilight nodded respectfully. “Anything.”

“Remind me to give granny a hug,” she said. “And to appreciate living at home with my family a little more.”

“Nothing from me,” Rainbow said. “I’m awesome here, awesome there. Or…” She winced, glancing sidelong at her metal wing. “Actually, one thing. Tell her to dodge left. Always left. Most ponies are right-winged, and so archers expect… yeah.”

“Sure.” Twilight giggled. “Though I don’t think that will be a problem.”

“Better safe than sorry,” Rainbow said. “Just thought I’d… while we’re passing messages around.”

“Nothing from me,” Pinkie said. “I think I already knew this would happen. Just, err… make me a cupcake. And tell me never to be a prison guard.”

Fluttershy only shook her head, leaving Twilight for last. Of course, what was she supposed to ask? This was probably the moment where she would wink out of existence. If this pony took her memories with her, then… she couldn’t keep existing, could she? The wave was about to collapse.

It’s okay. It won’t hurt. And thousands of ponies will get to live again. “Read some books for me,” she said weakly. “I never did get to find out how Daring Do ended.”

“Oh, cuz she’s a real pony.” Twilight waved a wing dismissively. “You’ll meet her, it’s not as exciting as you thought it would be. Honestly you grow out of the books as you get older.”

Then she turned away, walking purposefully to the map that hurt to look at. “Everypony, come here. These chairs… they have your cutie marks, or part of them. Sit down, and… that should do it. The Elements will be enough.”

Twilight wasn’t wrong. As awful as it was to approach the ruin, their presence was clearly having an effect. The map stopped flickering red, and parts of it started changing to blue. The images got clearer, and the broken crystal mended. The elements around their neck started to glow again.

“What about Luna?” Rarity asked, glancing down the hill again. “She’s crying like a filly.”

“She knows the nightmares she caused,” older Twilight explained. “If this doesn’t work, we’ll need to help her. Equestria needs every Alicorn it can get.”

“But it will work,” Pinkie said. “Look, it’s already working. Your map doesn’t hurt to look at anymore.”

Her copy didn’t have a chair, just the slightly torn spell. She walked up to the map, unrolling it along its surface. “Thank you all,” she said, and she was crying too. “You were—are—the best friends a pony could have. We’ll do great things together when this is over, just like we did before it began.”

No we won’t. We’ll be gone. But Twilight didn’t argue. As much as it hurt, this was right. Saving the world was worth a few memories. Or a life, in her case.

Princess Twilight Sparkle started reading. She spoke the Old Ponish with perfect confidence, her pronunciation precise and classically educated. It was enough to make Twilight feel inadequate all over again, remembering the education she should’ve had, but didn’t.

Starlight Glimmer had given her the chance to learn, but some things hadn’t been important enough. The knowledge of the ancients was a tool of oppression, it wasn’t worth wasting their time.

Twilight looked around the thrones at each of these new friends in turn. If she had one regret, it was probably that she hadn’t had the time to really get to know them.

The sky above the map tore open with a grinding, terrible roar. Lightning sparked and flashed along the edge, and through the void was only darkness. It opened right above Twilight, practically precision targeted.

She had just enough time to gasp before her and her scroll were drawn up into the darkness, vanishing from sight.

Twilight didn’t watch much longer. As the opening closed, the ground suddenly jerked out from under her. She fell three feet onto charred soil, bumping and squealing with pain. She whimpered, rolling onto her back with confusion.

The crystal map and its six thrones were gone, with only the black marks they’d left in the soil to prove they’d been there. Twilight moaned, shaking herself out and rising to her hooves.

“So… when do we disappear?” Pinkie Pie asked, the first to recover and bounce into the circle. “I was practicing for what I would say. Oh no, I’m drifting away! I don’t feel so goooood—”

“You’re not disappearing, Pinkie,” Rainbow Dash said, shoving her slightly to one side. “It’s probably subtler than that. We won’t know what’s coming, then… poof. World is reset.”

“Probably,” Fluttershy said, looking up at the sky. “At least we get to go with the sun above us. Knowing that… maybe, ponies would find a way to fix the world. We’ve got the Elements, and we’ve got a working sun again. You know?”

They nodded. The six of them sat together, looking up at the sky. Twilight waited for the inevitable… and kept waiting. She couldn’t say how long she was sitting there.

“Well, that’s long enough.” Applejack turned away. “You ponies hungry? Offer for supper is still good. Or… guess it’s breakfast now. Doesn’t make a difference to me.”

“Sure,” Twilight said, turning down the hill. “Let me get the princess first.”

Maybe she’d been wrong about the inevitability of time travel. There were other theories, and this was certainly a thorough test. Had all that been to get her other self home?

And to fix the world. We still beat Nightmare Moon. There are other monsters we still have to defeat.

But even if the world didn’t end, she knew they could do it.

After all, friendship was magic, and she had five of the best friends a pony could ask for.