//------------------------------//
// III - Camp Wake Up Call 
// Story: Broken Mirror 
// by GMBlackjack 
//------------------------------//

>>Toothpaste. There are many kinds of toothpaste, but for the purposes of this illustration simply two will suffice. Suppose one is called 'blue' and another is 'white.' A hypothetical person used the 'blue' on all his life, liking the nice, calm, bubbly flavor. He was happy and didn't question it. Then one day the big company executives stopped making the 'blue' toothpaste for whatever dumb reason. Without even giving it much thought, our hypothetical person started using the 'white' toothpaste, expecting it to be exactly the same as the 'blue' toothpaste even though it looked, smelled, and felt completely different.

He stuck it in his mouth and screamed in agony as the intense chemical-minty flavor overpowered his senses. He probably would have been fine had he not expected it to be nice, calm, and bubbly. 

Make of this what you will.<<


~~~


"Soooo..." Pinkie said nervously. "I wonder how far it is to camp?"

Minuette stopped in her tracks and glared at Pinkie. "I told you not to talk to me."

"Oh I wasn't, I was just wondering aloud!"

Minuette slapped Pinkie across the face. "You talked to me there."

"Really!?" Rarity yelled. "You hit her just for talking to you?!" She let out an angry breath, rushing to Pinkie to steady her. 

Minuette's features contorted in disgust. "You sicken me."

"The feeling is mutual, I assure you," Rarity bristled. 

Minuette seemed mildly surprised at this but made no response. Instead, she just gestured for them to continue their trek across the dull, endless grass. 

"Thanks, Rarity," Pinkie said, "who knew someone with such a cute little hat could be so mean?"

"Don't pay her any attention," Rarity said, "but try not to antagonize her, okay Pinkie?"

"Okay..." Pinkie sniffed. "Haven't met a single friend here..."

Rarity gulped but said nothing. Holding each other up, they followed after Minuette. The blue unicorn kept glancing behind herself from time to time to see if they were still following. Each time she turned her head back around, her face became more and more disgusted. She seemed to take the fact she was supposed to look at them as an insult. 

Rarity wondered what was going on with Minuette... She didn't seem to recognize them at all, and she was acting exceptionally hateful. ...Had Twilight's spell messed up the destinies of ponies again? No... Minuette's cutie mark was the same... But Twilight's spell had to have done something, what else could explain this?

Pinkie wasn't thinking about any of this. She just felt partially empty, wrong. The very world around her felt bleak, and she just didn't have the energy she used to. Everything felt... solid. 

The three mares walked along the endless rolling hills of grass, not speaking a word to each other. After about an hour of walking, they crested a hill and were finally able to see into the small valley that held their destination. The camp was a literal camp - a collection of a few dozen tents. Dozens of ponies, all wearing hats similar to Minuette's, scrambled around like a bunch of ants. 

Minuette took a breath. "Minuette reporting in!" she called, beginning her descent into the valley. "Got two... 'refugees' here that need to be debriefed!"

"Bring them down!" A loud, booming male voice called up to her. "My tent!"

"Yessir!" Minuette said, saluting even though she couldn't see her Commander from her current vantage point. "Move it." She muttered, using her magic to shove the two of them forward.

Rarity lit her horn, pushing against Minuette's telekinesis. "There's no need for that, we're moving."

They marched into the camp. Given the swords, spears, and other weapons laying around, it was easily discernable that the camp was a base of military operations. Unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies were all present, though the earth ponies were in an evident minority, composing less than a tenth of the visible ponies. While Rarity and Pinkie hobbled into the camp, everypony stopped to stare at them. There were many initial looks of disgust - mostly from the unicorns, but they were far from the only race engaging in the intense disapproving glares. However, most of these looks of disgust gave way to confusion and surprise. Whispers began to circulate around camp, and despite Rarity's best efforts, she couldn't make out what they were saying.

"Enough of that," Minuette barked, "let the minglers have their time, they're needed by the Commander. So no prodding, that means you Pipps."

A short purple pegasus snorted. "You can't order-"

Minuette lit her horn and shot Pipps in the side, knocking him over. "You were saying, Pipps?"

"Ow..."

"That's what I thought." Minuette turned away, grabbing Pinkie by the neck. She dragged the pink pony - and by extension the currently stunned Rarity - into a large teal tent. Sitting at a rudimentary desk was a light blue pegasus wearing a green hat. His hat was slightly different from all the others, for it was adorned with a single red stripe in the middle. He looked closely at them - letting his eyes stop on all three of their faces. "Hrm... what have we here?"

Rarity put a hoof to her mouth when he spoke. "S-Soarin?"

Soarin blinked. "You know me?"

Minuette shook her head. "Sir, these two mares are crazy! They walked right into the Concretion! I saved them, blocked a drone's bullets, told it to peeve off, and dragged their sorry asses all the way back here. They both thought they knew me, and I can guarantee I've never met either of them before in my life!"

Soarin turned to Pinkie and Rarity, his expression unreadable. "Care to explain what the Tartarus you are doing out here and who the heck you are?"

"Well... I... I'm Rarity Bell and..." She took a deep breath, shaking. "We... We're horribly lost. We woke up in a cave and... And we had to dig our way out, and then... and then..." She started bawling. "We don't know what's going on! We're just lost and broken and lonely and just want to go home and get away from all the violent stallions, guns, and... and... We just need your hel-"

"Stop it," Soarin interjected, eyes narrow. "That was the wrong answer."

Rarity blinked. "...Wha?"

"I know when somepony's trying to manipulate me. You look like a mare who's used to getting what she wants from everypony around her. Not going to fly. Stop this dribbling waterworks nonsense and tell me what the deal is without any pointless add-ons that make me tempted just to have you cracked."

Rarity didn't want to find out what cracked meant. "Y-Yes sir," she said. 

"Now. Let's try this again. Who are you?"

"Rarity Belle. This is Pinkie Pie."

Soarin raised an eyebrow at this, glancing at Minuette. She shook her head. "It isn't her. That's a true-pigger standing before you."

Soarin nodded slowly. "Understood. Now... The difficult part. What in Tartarus were you thinking?"

"Uh..." Rarity said, unsure of what to say.

"We were lost. We saw civilization," Pinkie said, rolling her eyes. "What would you do if you crawled out of a cave into an empty field and the only thing you saw was a city?"

Minuette bristled. "How dare you talk to the Commander! I ought to-"

Soarin held up a hoof to silence her. Minuette was most unhappy with this, but she complied. Soarin turned his attention to Pinkie, leaning closer. "I'd get my ass out of there as fast as I could."

Pinkie blinked, then shrugged. "Well yeah, you know the place is bad mojo. I felt it in there, the evil. But before I got there I had no idea!"

Soarin narrowed his eyes. "You're claiming that you've never heard of the Concretion?"

"Not until today," Pinkie said. "Also, who names something the Concretion? It sounds boring and disgusting, even a little silly. Though I suppose I came from Ponyville, so maybe I'm the silly one here, I don't know. Names are funny."

Soarin blinked. "Either you are the most convincing actor I've ever seen or you're telling the truth and are crazy."

"The latter," Pinkie giggled.

Minuette's face transformed from one of general disgust to one of bewilderment. "B-But who in Equestria wouldn't know of the Concretion!?"

Rarity lit up. "Equestria? You know where it is? Where is it!?"

Soarin raised an eyebrow. "...You're standing on Equestrian soil."

"Oh don't be daft, I know Equestria like the back of my hoof, and there was never a giant city in the middle."

"It could be Equestria," Pinkie suggested. "Think. Rarity. That's Minuette, but it's not the fun loving Minuette we know. That's Soarin, but he isn't the pie loving Soarin we know."

Soarin's eyes widened in shock.

"...Okay, so maybe he still likes pie. But still, think - what if this Equestria, isn't our Equestria."

The tent fell silent. Rarity looked deep into Pinkie's eyes. "...How will we get home then?"

"I guess we just hope Twilight and the Doctor figure something out!"

"Okay!" Minuette yelled. "Calling it! Hogshit! I recognize those names! You two are a bunch of lying asses who need to be dumped into the pit of Tartarus!"

"Let's not be hasty," Soarin said. "Describe Twilight and the Doctor to us."

"Well..." Pinkie took a breath. "Twilight's one of our best friends, an amazing purple alicorn who just looooves books and has her own castle and has the best dragon assistant ever and is the Element of Magic and is the Princess of Friendship-"

"Of bucking course..." Minuette muttered. 

"The Doctor?" Soarin asked, wishing to move on.

Rarity decided she'd speak. "A bit of an extravagant stallion who's our town's resident scientist type. He-" Rarity stopped, noticing the faces of Soarin and Minuette flash with horror. "...What's wrong with scientists?"

Soarin let out a sharp breath as if he couldn't believe he was going to explain this. "Only the Concretes have scientists."

Rarity frowned. "...What are Concretes?"

Pinkie shivered. "Rarity, the pony we met in the city."

Rarity let out a long breath. "...He was terrifying."

Minuette looked back and forth between Soarin and the two mares. "This makes no sense."

"No, it doesn't," Soarin agreed. "Would you happen to have any evidence of your claims?"

"Well..." Rarity said, putting her hoof to her chin. "There's probably still some of the Doctor's equipment and notes in the cave..."

"Where's that?"

"Just a hop, skip, and a jump from the city!" Pinkie sung, falling over in the middle of her dance. "Ow."

Soarin sighed. "More specific please."

"A few minutes walk from the street Minuette found us on," Rarity said, "You could probably see it from the edge of the city if you were looking."

Soarin frowned. He turned behind him and stuck his head out of the tent. "Bravo! Clamp! Form up and prepare for a fly-spy run! Minuette will brief you on your mission! Report to her in two minutes!"

Minuette blinked. "But sir, I should go-"

"Minuette, tell the team where you found them. You will stay here and guard the prisoners."

"Prisoners!?" Rarity blurted.

"You're an unknown," Soarin said, "and I don't like you. You won't be harmed, you have my word." He paused to glare at Minuette. "That goes for the earth as well, understood?"

Minuette's face twisted. She wanted to explode at him - but didn't. She simply nodded slowly. 

"B-but..." Rarity shook her head. "You can't lock us up for no reason!"

"Trespassing on a private military installation and matters of interest to the Crown should be enough to keep me out of trouble. Now get out before I lose my patience."

They left quickly, Minuette watching them like a vulture. 

"So, uh, where's the prison tent?" Pinkie asked.

"Isn't one," Minuette said, letting a smirk crawl up her face. She led them to a metal pole in the center of camp. She rummaged through a crate next to the pole and produced two pairs of hoofcuffs. 

"You can't be serious," Rarity said.

"Beleive me, I am. I'm also totally serious when I say I will bust your face in the moment the Commander gives me any indication of permission." She growled as she chained them to the pole, tightening the cuffs just slightly more than was necessary. At that point, two pegasi, a mare and stallion who were presumably Bravo and Clamp, landed behind Minuette.

Minuette cleared her throat. "So, here's the deal. I found these bucking minglers on seventy-first street. Check the hills around there for a cave and bring back anything you can find - even Concrete devices. It might be important, blasphemous as it is."

"Yes Minuette!" they said, spreading their wings and taking flight. 

"Do back before nightfall and don't do anything preeny!"

The two of them bristled, flying away without another word. 

"Insubordinate assess..." Minuette said, turning back to Rarity and Pinkie. "So, guess what, I'm stuck here with you minglers. Guard duty practically makes me another prisoner. So needless to say, I'm about as peeved as an ursa major who's lost her cub. So if you want to keep your beautiful faces in working order, I suggest you sit down and shut up!"

Rarity and Pinkie nodded, hugging each other tightly. 

"And quit it with the hugging! It's nauseating!"

They quickly released each other and scurried to opposite sides of the pole. They looked around fearfully - many soldiers passed by, shooting them intense glares. Not a friendly face was seen in the crowd - the best expression they saw was ambivalence and curiosity. No pity. no sadness. Mostly disgust and anger. A few even spat in their direction when close enough.

The largest earth pony Rarity had ever seen walked up to her, snorting. "I bet you're a runter."

A unicorn soldier shouted at him from the sidelines. "Every unicorn's a runter to you, cloud rooter!"

The earth pony smirked. "You hear that?" he asked Rarity. "That's the sound of a pony who wants to experience living Tartarus. I'll get to him later. You on the other hoof..." He chuckled. "Well, I think you're already there."

Rarity glanced at Minuette. Minuette just shrugged in response and started whistling, an amused look in her eyes.

"Oh look at that, she doesn't like you. Absolute shocker," he laughed. "You look so dainty too... Like a little thing from Canterlot tossed out of that cancer and shown the bright bleak world... How's it treating you runter? How is it?"

Rarity started crying, keeping her mouth shut. She audibly winced when he caressed her face, pausing on the recent wound. "I bet it hurts, oh so much. Would you like a little something to help with that? No? Oh you might get it anyway..."

"...Minuette..." Rarity squeaked.

"Did I say you could talk bitch!?" Minuette shouted. 

Rarity stared at Minuette, horrified. The stallion just laughed, leaning in closer. "Oh, looks like this doesn't count as harm then? Good. We'll see how far she lets me go..." He kissed her - hard. She squirmed, her mind too distracted to prepare one of her spells.

GONG.

The giant earth pony stumbled backward, bewildered.

GONG.

Pinkie was standing over him with a frying pan, hoofcufffs dangling loose around her front leg.

GONG.

He lost consciousness.

GONG.

Rarity didn't tell Pinkie to stop.

GONG.

GONG.

Pinkie threw the frying pan away, her hair deflating to a mostly flat state. She fell to her knees and bawled her eyes out over the prone form of the earth pony. 

Minuette stared, slack-jawed. The camp began to murmur. "Did... Did she just take out TS?" One said.

"I think she did."

"Holy shit."

Soarin strode into the camp, his face betraying his mood - one of a stallion who really didn't have the time for this crap. He walked to the pole and took in the scene. Murmuring ponies. A startled, speechless Minuette. Rarity clinging to the pole like some scared animal. Pinkie crying over the unconscious form of TS. Soarin wondered how Pinkie had managed to take him out without drawing any blood. 

Soarin turned to Minuette first, annoyed. "I said no harm was to-"

"T-they were unharmed! TS hadn't even gone very far! I wasn't going to let him go there but... Then muddy here just takes a frying pan out of... I dunno where and starts beating him with it! Th.. how? Wha?"

"Earths do have magic," Soarin said, looking closely at the still bawling Pinkie. Literal rivers of tears were beginning to develop around her. "But I've never seen or heard of anything like this... Chain her back up. Watch them both closely. Don't let anypony near them. Celestia knows what'll happen if you let a vocal unicorn near her."

Minuette gulped and nodded. "Yessir."

"Now excuse me, I..." He looked up at the sky, frowning. Bravo and Clamp were flying back. "That was too fast!" he yelled.

"Sorry, sir! We found the cave, but the Concretes had it surrounded with a sizeable presence!"

Soarin frowned. "Well, the cave exists, these mares seem absolutely crazy, and the Concretes suddenly find that cave interesting enough to form a presence around..." He frowned, turning to Rarity and Pinkie. "I believe you."

"C-c-can we be released?" Rarity managed. Pinkie was in no shape to respond.

"No," Soarin said. "You're still prisoners and you will stay there until I get orders. Flit!" He pointed at a pegasus. "I will have a letter for you to deliver to General Spitfire momentarily. Be prepared."

"Yessir!" Flit saluted with his wing.

Soarin glanced at Minuette. "Don't let any more trouble break out. As much of an ass as TS was, he was an excellent warrior. I don't need to hospitalize another asset."

Minuette nodded wordlessly. 

"Good," Soarin said, walking back into his tent, at which point it began to rain.

"Buck!" Minuette yelled. Rarity was too shocked and Pinkie too busy crying to care all that much about being rained on. 


~~~


Thunder rolled and rain fell down in a deluge that carpeted the entire plains in a suffocating wetness. The camp, being in the center of a valley, was accumulating a rather copious amount of water. It had only been dark for about an hour and already the three mares' teeth had begun to chatter. The rest of the camp had wisely decided to stay inside their tents, only coming out when it was absolutely required.

"I-I'm going to catch h-hypothermia because of you t-two!"  Minuette sputtered. "H-Hope you're happy."

"Y-you can't stand silence c-can you?" Rarity asked. 

"What the f-frick does t-that have to do with me and h-hypothermia?"

"Well, you're t-talking to us."

"F-Fancy yourself smart-m-mouth do you?"

"N-no, not really, just... P-pinking up the slack for P-pinkie." Images of Pinkie swinging that frying pan over TS's body crossed her mind again. She shook her head and looked at Pinkie, worried. "Darling..."

"I would have killed him. I would have killed him." Pinkie stared at her hooves, face bleak.

"I... I... I can't say I would have objected," Rarity admitted. 

Pinkie turned and looked Rarity in the eye. "R-really? B-but it's so wrong..."

"Yes... I... I know Pinkie. I know. I h-hate myself for thinking that b-but-"

"FOR CELESTIA'S SAKE!" Minuette shouted. "Y-You two are so naive and sickly-sweet! It's stupid that's what it is! If you're threatened by anything in this world you beat it until it shrivels up and dies!"

Pinkie stared into Minuette's eyes and spoke with a soulless monotone. "It wasn't like that back home. Everypony looked out for everypony else. Friendship was magic. I liked each and every day, only wanting one thing: to make ponies smile. I was happy, almost everypony I knew was happy. We made friends with our enemies. We-"

Minuette punched her. "S-sorry, I forgot you weren't allowed to t-talk to me for a moment there, rooter. And as for that world of yours... I..." She furrowed her brow, trying to come up with a retort. Finding none, she turned away from them. 

Rarity sagged. Pinkie was depressed, Minuette was perpetually angry at them just for existing, Soarin' didn't really care about them as ponies, and who knew what TS would have done...

Rarity's entire body heaved, forcing painful tears out. They were in another place, far from home, but agonizingly similar enough to the Equestria they knew to be a constant cruel reminder of what they once had. She looked at Minuette and saw a bubbly happy mare who was one of Pinkie and Twilight's closer friends - only to have the illusion shattered every time the soldier spoke. 

And Pinkie...

Pinkie had changed since coming here. Even before the encounter with TS, Rarity could see her struggling to smile... A horrifying thought. 

"What's that blue light?" Pinkie asked, pointing up into the sky. 

Minuette twitched. "Oh help me, Luna, I don't know if I can restrain myself..."

"In the sky," Pinkie said, pointing into the night. "Blue light."

Minuette looked up at the clouds. "There's no way you can see any-" Her expression shifted from anger to fear instantly. "DRONE!" She yelled at the top of her lungs. "DROOOONE!"

The camp sprung to life quickly. The soldiers all ran out as fast as they could, picking up their weapons and readying their spells in a rush of activity. All had their eyes kept on the blue light flying overhead, a single pinprick of energy amongst the storm. 

"It's flying low," Rarity heard Bravo tell Minuette, "below the clouds."

"Then either it doesn't care about stealth or we are the target." Minuette said. 

Soarin descended from the sky, giving Bravo a tired look. "I'm willing to bet the latter." He glanced over at Rarity and Pinkie.

"Shit," Minuette spat, "they're getting us attacked now!?"

"Very likely," Soarin said, turning to Rarity. "You may have to start moving fast. Minuette, you are to-"

A lance of blue light shot from the sky, incinerating a nearby tent in a fireball. In the light of the explosion, Rarity could see limbs go flying in all directions, some of the blood splattering across her face. She screamed. 

Soarin spread his wings. "Get them out of here!" he yelled at Minuette. "Now! The Concretes can't have them!"

Minuette nodded, firing a magic laser to undo their hoofcuffs. "It's your lucky day minglers! Let's mooooove!"

Rarity rushed to Pinkie, helping her up. "Come on, Pinkie..."

"I'll drag her," Minuette muttered, grabbing Pinkie by the hoof and scrambling away with Rarity close behind. Minuette lit her horn, surrounding the three of them in a hazy glow. Rarity watched as Minuette vanished before her very eyes. "Okay, we're all invisible. This does not mean you are quiet. Here's a rope, don't loose your hold on it, it'll be a nightmare to find each other like this. So, go where the rope pulls, and shush!" Rarity felt a rope fall over her face, and she bit it hard. She stumbled in the direction she was pulled, barely able to process what was going on.  

All the tents were lanced from above, the entire camp turning into a sea of fire amongst the rain. Smoke rose above the water, blocking the visibility of all ponies on the ground. The soldiers fought back - pegasi flying directly at the drone, and unicorns retaliating with their own lasers. Few of the attacks hit the small glowing target above them, but those that did make contact caused sparks to fly from the metallic carapace. Eventually, one of the pegasi managed to fly right up to the machine and drive his enchanted spear into it, creating a tremendous explosion that engulfed both him and the drone. 

"They did it!" Rarity said. "They-"

"No," Minuette said, "they didn't."

She was right. Seven more blue lights appeared, dropping from above the clouds, firing a massive volley of missiles at the camp. 

"How... Devastating..." Rarity gasped. From their vantage point halfway up the valley, she could see the entire camp burning.

"They can do worse," Minuette said. "They're minimizing damage because they want you alive."

Rarity shook her head. "That doesn't make sense! What if we were in one of those tents!?"

"Shut it!" Minuette shouted, ramming her hoof in the invisible Rarity's mouth. "Just because they have some tactics doesn't mean they're all that smart! Those drones are designed to purge us!"

They made it to the crest of a hill and stopped. They watched as the battle continued. Two more drones exploded from attacks, and one was frozen in crystal by a unicorn. But the four remaining were more than enough to clean up the leftover resistance.

Soarin made himself known, holding dual enchanted swords that shone with the power of the sun. He shot into the air, dodging the bullets of one drone and driving his swords right into the front of another. He used the explosion to launch himself into another drone - one that lanced him right in the forehead before he could complete his maneuver. He fell from the sky, the light going out of his blades.

Minuette gasped. "C... C... Commander..."

The drones began to meticulously search the camp wreckage, killing anypony they found they didn't like, which was everyone. 

Rarity gulped. "We need to leave. Now." Minuette made no response. "...Minuette?"

Minuette shivered in the rain, eyes full of the fire of the valley. "We... We're all doomed..."

Rarity sighed, grabbing Minuette and Pinkie. She slowly dragged the two shellshocked mares across the grasslands in utter darkness, rain falling all around them. She hoped they would stay invisible for quite a while. And that the rain would cover up the drag marks.