//------------------------------// // Let's Impeach the President // Story: Coco's Bizarre Adventure: Nothing's Kingdom // by Ditherer the Fussbudget //------------------------------// The portal was shining with energy, given and received. There had been warnings impressed on Sunset Shimmer, in another life, that nothing should be passed through in unequal quantities. The whole exercise might break the balance, destroying the anchor or fracturing the universes. Thankfully, for these purposes any two people were completely interchangeable, so the now-useless piles of royal guardsponies made an excellent fuel. But her much more recent mentor, who had come in her dreams, had brought back that ancient ache for the power of magic. It was rekindled, even when she thought she’d finally become a hero, and the she-demon waiting within her, the consequences of so much power too eagerly cast, came pouring out again. She knew perfectly well that she’d been horrified at this evolution only a week before, and yet the whole idea was so preposterous to her now; it was who she was. Equestria had made her into an exiled hellcat, but Jupiter had forged her even stronger. But she wasn’t selected for her individual talents. She knew enough to know that Stands were the important things, and there was no guarantee of what kind an individual would have. But after Twilight Sparkle, she was the closest thing to an Element of Magic that the land had on offer. And she knew exactly who to invite along with her. Now that she was thinking of Twilight, and her yappy assistant, she had another idea entirely, although it wouldn’t have worked in a space like this. Through an unending metaphysical ribbon of greasy black, Sombra heard it, and acknowledged. As the portal sparked, Flash took a step back. He was probably worried it would explode, although it was plainly impossible to anyone who’d seen Starswirl’s diagrams. The structure would naturally buckle and fall into its own singularity, or else failsafe as a regular mirror and reintroduce the moon-cycle timer. Neither would have been acceptable, but they could still have moved on to the Amulet. Then, ultimately, hooves seeking steady ground. Something close to a faceplant, hardly worthy of royalty. Blue, armored, intelligent; their ace in the hole. The VP cast a glance at Flash, then Sunset, who nodded, and then at herself. She saw the moon adorning her flank, and then craned her new neck to examine the afternoon sunlight. With an experimental push she could already feel the fabric of the hours, and how easily it could be ruffled. With a twirling kind of shove, something that made the whole silk-mass turn upside down without really disturbing it, she asserted herself over the daytime. The moon swung overhead, almost drunkenly, like a ball thrown too high hanging in the air on its intertia alone, separate from every other cog or force of the universe. Vice-Principal Luna was on that level herself, Sunset noted with approval, as she now roved the room regarding the sparse and broken-up accomodations. Flash gave Sunset a look of worry, and she pretended to ignore it. At worst, what she’d have to do is fight. Twilight defeated a Luna with a thousand years of added brooding, so a substitute like Sunset could probably handle the diet version. Not to mention that Sombra still held all six Elements of Harmony, even if he couldn’t use them, and it was only a matter of logistics for him to zap any out-of-control infantry with them. “There’s no one here,” the VP said, in her typical voice. It was surreal all over again, hearing the same voices and seeing the mouth movements remain roughly constant in a completely different species. She spoke immediately. “We had to make room for your arrival. We do still have a few loose Stand users. You should probably manifest yours now, so we can figure it out.” “I think that controlling celestial bodies may be my last worthy ambition, Sunset. Do you reckon that I need convincing of my own strength?” Luna only made eye contact half of the time, when you went to her office or smiled at her in the hallways. She just seemed perpetually more inerested in the rest of the world where you weren’ standing, and no one at CHS had really known why. “No, I think you need full knowledge of your weaknesses before we make any plans.” Sunset said, bowing low with a sarcastic sweep of the hand. Hoof. Adjusting back was already becoming obnoxious. Luna considered this, staring off into space. There was something majestic even in that, Sunset noted. She had never looked upon the face of the true Princess Luna, and had found the VP a frightening aberration when they first met. It was a clue that Jupiter and Equestria were not truly tethered, not really equal halves of the same cosmic symmetry. Something on her face must have betrayed that thought, because Luna came down from her celestial reverie making eye contact. The eyes briefly combed over Sunset’s body, as if checking for weapons, and then were finished with her. She walked to the nearest window that wasn’t opaque with stained color. “I think I’ll take care of myself in that matter,” she said, to Sunset’s irritation, and then, “What’s left for us to do here?” She was waving a hoof through her reflection out at the city, where light was compartmentalized across the landscape and buildings became great rectangular shadows blotting each other out. Flash spoke, his wings ruffling twitchily at his sides from their sheer unfamiliarity. “There’s a rebellion. If we don’t put it down, it’ll be a lot of work for the Empire. And they have something valuable on their side now that we were trying to keep a hold of.” “The city in a bottle.” Luna said, glancing solemnly upon her newfound kingdom. “Turtle.” Sunset said. Her poetry ruined, the fledgling alicorn huffed and turned. “If they have it, it will bolden them. Send out whoever we have left to crush them, wherever they are. We still have the Princesses here, and they’d want to secure them next even if I hadn’t come.” “Yes, and one of the Elements.” Sunset said, and smiled internally as the VP’s ears perked. “Where?” “With the Princesses. It’s Rarity, so she wouldn’t be very dangerous even if she woke up.” Sunset had always privately taken Generosity to be one of the lesser Elements. Loyalty she understood, Laughter was even important in its proper place, and Magic justified itself, but surely a friend could be stingy or selfish? “There’s no reason to become drunk on victory if we’ve already faced a loss today.” Luna said. “I’ll check on her and gather whoever’s still around.” Flash announced, already trotting away, flicking his restless wings experimentally. When Luna said nothing, Sunset excused herself too. “I’ll call back the users active in the city and circle the perimeter.” Then she was gone, trotting to the main entrance with the broiling itch of ｢Pepper｣ running through her fetlocks. * * * Twinkleshine and Zesty stared out at the city, neither speaking or even allowing their expressions to change, although the former’s eyes darted to the latter from time to time for some signal to stop. Around them, nothing stirred. Speeches were yet to be given, forces unmarshalled, only the sound of shifting pages cutting through the black curtain. Moondancer had noticed that the stars were out now, and had taken an embarrassingly long time to realize that this wasn’t normal. She had to read it off of the reactions of her acquaintances, since she was no stranger to looking up and seeing that time had rocketed past her. She wasn’t overly concerned about it by now, though; she’d already adjusted to a world where Sombra had conquered the land and controlled the sun and moon. To see him actually using them for something wasn’t shocking as much as disheartening. He’s getting less busy with other things. She needed to speak to Coco Pommel urgently. It may have been a mistake to let her be sent on some mission out into the world without talking her through all of this first. The last few hours may have been the crucial ones, on some great magical timescale. If the night was eternal, the world was going to turn sicklier fast, and there wouldn’t be nearly as much time to reverse it. Her group could make it all the way to the Crystal Empire, overcome the dread King, and still see the world dry up and fall away. She contented herself with her last-minute cramming, the small stack of featureless books sitting beside her on the velvet cushion. The backs were getting greasy, and the dangling light over the table was glinting off of her glasses and hurting her eyes, but those were exhaustible resources now. She cast a spell absentmindedly to dull the headache, and continued the final stretch of her study. It was several minutes before Coco Pommel and her friends returned. They had, after all, needed to traverse an entire city. It was clear that they’d also been fighting, and that it had been a messy job. Zesty spoke her first words in an hour out of a sense of raw relief when she saw the tortoise cradled to the orange filly’s chest. “Where’s our operative?” This question had been weighing on her, since her communciations officer had reported to her that Velvet hadn’t spoken any longer. Scootaloo looked up at her, wry despite her tiredness, and tapped the side of ｢Mr. President｣ with an idle hoof. Her frog passed into the surface on the third tap, like testing the water in a pool. The fleshy parts of the animal had retreated inside of its shell over the course of the journey, and it remained dormant even as its power activated. Twinkleshine stayed at the window, listening. Her last report had been of the sudden silence of half of the enemy forces, and how they had shouted incoherently before they disappeared from her range. It shouldn’t have been possible for that to happen, except if they were thrown through the portal, which meant some sort of change or reorganization was happening. Now, she strained for some witness or recollection of the sudden appearance of the moon, some key. “Why is it night?” Diamond asked, stretching out her hooves. “Something’s changed,” Zesty said. “Or broken. We have to trust in our advantage. I wanted us to work systematically, but this is a victory we have to press.” Coco spoke up. “What are you going to do?” Zesty sniffed. “Gather my forces. They clearly need rallying, and they’re hardly a battalion, but we’ll have to march on the Castle while there’s still a chance to stop them.” “How many ponies do you have?” “Whoever would volunteer. Maybe one-hundred and seventy, with a dozen Stand users among the ranks. It’s not nearly as much as a general could hope for, but... we all must accept these disappointments. My officer’s informed me that they’ve lost many of their own ponies now, so we need only hope that the arithmetic works out in our favors.” Cheese interrupted. “Why not get some more volunteers?” Zesty glowered at him. Instead of looking sheepish, he motioned with a hoof towards Scootaloo. She followed the gesture, and then, suddenly, caught his meaning. So did Scootaloo, who had felt like she was being cross-examined until she noticed Zesty’s expression. The unicorn wasn’t casting her tired glance downwards in a look of dry superiority, or because of her gangly height, but because she wasn’t looking at the filly at all. Diamond glanced at Twinkleshine, who was worried. There were messages she didn’t want to give yet, too much information for the filly to read at a glance - how was she thinking about so many things at once? It was like she was processing an entire post office. Diamond wondered, idly, if this was how all secretaries and personal planners thought. Zesty spoke. “Yes… Yes, we’ll have to ply some diplomacy there and see if we can scare up some reinforcements. In the meantime, whoever among you is willing to make war on the seat of Canterlot’s power should prepare yourselves.” Moondancer coughed without looking up, the loose hairs in her mane jangling with the motion, and Zesty remembered her existence. “And - per our agreement - there’s a conversation you may wish to have.” * * * Luna’s regarding of the moon was interrupted by streaks of light arcing across her newly-discovered sky. With eyes better than she’d ever had in life, she could see Sunset Shimmer below in the courtyard, throwing rockets of ruby flame through the protective bubble. They curved along the sky and deep into the city like reverse shooting stars, moving purposefully but never in a clear pattern. She was sending messages. Calling back the subordinates. Luna knew something about those; she could’ve been a superintendent, if she’d really wished to be. Mostly she’d become a principal because she didn’t want to leave school, and because she hated the thought of actually teaching anyone. At least in Canterlot High she and Celestia had built a space where they could indulge their personal quirks without being inspected. The gall of inventing entirely new celebrations still impressed her, and yet Celestia did it with such ease out of the strength of her authority. Now she was in authority up to her neck, feeling it crowd her shoulders. She was not disheartened that she had to answer to a despotic King, because there were always people to answer to and managerial difficulties. Adding in more than one kind of magic was only asking for trouble. And, besides, she had more power over her subjects than she ever did as a vice-principal. In Canterlot High she’d been the right hand of the “real” leader, someone who had the luxury of wandering the halls to check for loiterers, or the odd couple in the stairwells, or the students who would take perfunctory naps behind the stage on the far end of the gym. She had always imagined, striding those hallways, that it was where power lay. Not in delegating, but in doing. Although it may have sounded preposterous to someone else, and she was perfectly aware of that fact, Luna felt she was more than capable of handling the coming onslaught. She was, after all, now a supposed immortal, and she could control the moon itself. Where before she had cowed the occasional troublemaker with threats of suspension and laboriously dramatic calls to family members, she could now hold the moon in the sky and let light dwindle from the world. As far as she could predict, she could not be refused! * * * The booth was, unfortunately, insufficient. The four ponies instead crowded the floor with the ragged-looking mare, sitting while she tried to organize her thoughts somehow. Then she pushed her glasses upwards on her snoot - a nervous gesture - and cleared her throat. “You... are on a journey. One of incredible importance. But it isn’t a straight road to the Crystal Empire. If you were to head there immediately… it wouldn’t be pretty. Sombra would be too powerful, and even if you defeated him, he would cause enough damage to the ponies of Equestria on the way down to make it a pyrrhic victory.” “How do you know that?” Diamond asked. “Because Sombra has too much control!” Moondancer exclaimed. “He rules the realm of dreams, the connections of magic around his Empire, the railways and trade routes, and the orbit of the celestial bodies. And soon he’ll become even more powerful, strong enough that nopony will have any chance of stopping him! If he can be thwarted, then there’s still some chance that the Elements can be restored, and Coco will be able to revive Generosity.” “I thought we might have to travel in a strange pattern.” Coco said, almost to herself. Then, rustling through her pack, she found the map that ｢Something for Nothing｣ had copied off of the table back in Ponyville. Unrolling it, with the practiced muscle movements of someone who has had to chase and re-roll many tubes of fabric, she revealed the two-dimensional scan of the land, and of the strange cutie marks littering its surface. The unicorn took special interest in this, pausing the lecture to lean over it hawkishly. Despite understanding the deep importance of the discussion at-hoof, Coco wondered idly how many cooling and anti-itching charms Moondancer was using in order to retain the sweater. Ever since the great names in fashion had first arrived, too many ponies made the simple mistake of finding what worked and sticking to it. They gave themselves uniforms, and turned dressmakers into tailors for them, nothing more than repairponies. It was, for any self-respecting dressmaker, a tragedy. Moondancer had taken to nodding, now. “Yes, this confirms a lot of my theories. I’m surprised at how similar it is to the Map Table, though.” “It’s from the Table,” Scootaloo said, huffily. The mare’s eyes took on new interest as they caressed the fabric again. “Then this is part of Harmony’s plan. And your next destination may already be where I’d have advised you to go.” Cheese, who had never seen this map and hadn’t known it existed, and altogether felt very out of the loop on this one, put on his best art-gallery posture and peered at it from a distance. The cutie marks were familiar, of course, especially the smattering of Pinkie’s. If he took it as a line from point A to point B, it would sidewind them up through Princess Twilight’s mark, then into two others (one of them being Rainbow Dash’s), and finally to the Empire itself. Coco looked over the map herself, trying to divine new sense in it with the unicorn’s words. “Why do you say it’s ‘Harmony’s plan’?” The adjusting of glasses. “Well, that’s what Stands are, essentially. With the Elements incapacitated and the Princesses down and out, Equestria’s last defenses have been activated. Ponies have become like batteries of powerful magic. I think that’s what Cadance activated in the vision, before she was overtaken.” Being reminded of that painfully personal sight, as if it was part of a stageplay they had all seen together some casual evening, stirred everypony at the table. Troubling thoughts clouded them. Diamond voiced one. “Then why do the ponies from Jupiter have them?” Moondancer blinked. “Jupiter...?” Then, with sudden realization and a hoof up to stop any further detail, “Oh, the Human World. Well, my guess is that it runs on the same basic rules. If a pony can have a Stand here, then their counterpart should be able to have one.” Scootaloo, who as a filly was too well-versed in the language of comics to let this slide, asked, “Why doesn’t Sombra just use his own Stand to take over the world?” And the question she didn’t ask, because she knew the unicorn wouldn’t be able to tell her. Diamond glanced at her, and then appended, “And what is Sombra’s Stand? Do you know?” “I don’t. We haven’t received any communication from around the Empire yet, and nopony’s sent out an expedition. But he’s barely a pony at this point, and certainly not a creature of harmony, so his power shouldn’t very terrible yet.” At this, she hesitated, imagining something and shuddering, and said, “But if his forces reach the Amulet, he may become powerful enough to destroy all of Equestria without help. I-if he hasn’t already.” “The Amulet?” Coco asked. Her interlocutor was already tapping a hoof on Twilight Sparkle’s cutie mark, her mind cleared by the need to explain something to a willing audience. “The Alicorn Amulet. I spent hours trying to figure out how to track it down, but I’d bet anything this is it. It was a large portion of Sombra’s power that got stripped away from him by the Princesses. Anypony who wears it gains incredible magic, even non-unicorns. With Stands in play, I’m not sure what it could do.” “What do the rest of the cutie marks mean?” Diamond asked, pointing specifically at the two Moondancer wanted least to talk about. The raggedy unicorn did everything in her power to ignore the gesture. “Well, as far as I can tell, each one represents a pony on this quest who’s standing in for one of the Elements. It was only because of displays of each of their aspects that they were able to defeat Tirek and create the Table in the first place, so it’s attuned to ponies who share them. Especially Coco and Mr. Sandwich, since their rubber chicken and rainbow thread were two of the keys.” Cheese didn’t make much of that, but Coco blanched. “H-how did you know I gave that to Rarity?” “She wrote about it.” Moondancer said simply. “The Elements kept a diary between themselves for a few months, and they recorded all of their experiences with Harmony in it. The Princesses made sure to have a copy made for the library archives, so I knew that if anypony was destined to battle for the Elements, it would probably be one of those six.” “Who were the others, then?” Scootaloo asked, trying to figure out who Rainbow Dash’s would’ve been. “The Wonderbolt Spitfire, the Breezies, Silver Shill, and technically Discord. None of them seem available, though. The Breezies aren’t even in Equestria, and I couldn’t even guess about the other three.” Moondancer almost giggled nervously, and then stopped herself. Everypony around the table was as serious as her most stonefaced professors. Worry had massaged its way into Coco’s psyche, now, and she tried not to let the fillies see her expression. She had set out on this journey alone, for the purpose of proving herself! Having some sort of force on her side was, in some ways, much more concerning. And the fact that ponies who read the right books were aware of her only made it worse; did Sombra know…? Finally Cheese cleared his throat - a sound like a ventriloquist might make. “Actually, I want to make sure the record’s straight. I’m supposed to be taking a magical journey with the rest of them?” Moondancer nodded, and waved at the Map’s scattering of balloons. “Yes, you’re represented by Pinkie Pie’s cutie mark, here.” Then she hmmmed and peered at it close enough for her breath to ruffle the fabric. “I think it’s in so many places because it wasn’t clear when you’d leave Canterlot and run into them. There must have been an indeterminate variable somewhere...” “Cheesy Sense.” Diamond guessed to herself, hoof on her chin. “He only came toward Ponyville after we’d rescued it, and the Map couldn’t predict when that was supposed to happen.” Then she looked up at Moondancer, and asked, “What about the rest of them? Are we supposed to go back to Ponyville?” “No, Applejack’s cutie mark is yours.” Coco said, with astoundingly smooth confidence. “You changed at the orchard when Sweetie fought with you.” “Look, who cares about destiny?” Scootaloo said, finally. “This is nice and all, but it’s not like ponies only fight against bad guys because harmony tells them to or something. We should get out there and save Rarity already!” “Did ponies fight against Tirek?” Diamond asked. The filly fell silent. No one spoke, even Moondancer, who was trying not to remember the feeling of losing her own abilities. Her power being stripped away into nothing, taken from her, like taking a metaphysical potato peeler to her being. The foalish helplessness, even for the Princesses. Even for Princess Twilight, in the end. Princess Twilight… She coughed. “It’s alright, I’m about done. We have enough problems to worry with now, without thinking too much about destiny. But it’s good that Harmony is on our side. And your path is set clear ahead of you, so it should be your best shot at reaching the Empire and weakening Sombra.” She made a practiced sweep with her eyes of the assembles faces, not really making eye contact any of them. “Any questions?” Diamond, who had finally pinpointed what they’d been avoiding, pointed to the Map. “What about here, where Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy’s cutie marks are? Where’s that?” Moondancer looked uncomfortable, and tried to think of something tactful to say. The whole truth… may have been a little much. Before she could choose her words, Diamond’s eyes widened, and she looked suddenly ill. “Tartarus...” she whispered. “We have to go into Tartarus.” * * * The inner landscape of ｢Mr. President｣ was, in the end, rather impressive. It was more complex than most of the constructed realities of unicorn culture, including those few which lingered on in museums, and the schlocky modern ones that came in comic books and cereal boxes. There was a breathing sense of nature to it, a texture of truly being-in-place, that marked its sophistication. Zesty pondered this, staring out of the window at the abrupt edge of that landscape. A statement on the impossibility of the thought of death, maybe… She was never much for art, if she was honest. Her medium at least favored the blind and the deaf, although it wasn’t particularly kind to the stupid. The room she was in was already there, as a sort of waiting area suspended from the “ceiling” of the sky. Her temporary lodgings hung in place like an obedient chandelier, while outside disparate clouds of pegasi wheeled this way and that, organizing themselves and spreading messages to the rest of the ponies they’d taken with them. There weren’t very many, she was certain. She had made the request to rally volunteers, especially those with military flight experience or Stand abilities. It had taken a moment to find someone who was even halfway in charge, but it hadn’t taken long to get word out. “Do you think you’ll be able to convince them?” Twilight Velvet asked, sitting in a chair and trying, ritually, to fan away her exhaustion. Yes, lots of motion among the pegasi, but very little coming towards them. The architecture was exquisite, although the interiors left far too much to the imagination. The last thing a room needed was potential, it was like not letting a child grow up and take on its own life. Sterility, awful sterility lurking just beyond the edges of this lively aura. Was that the nature of existing in the soul of an animal? She wondered... Twilight shrugged, and didn’t take it personally. She had been more than used to the silent treatment in her time, and she was sure that whatever her leader was thinking was important. She turned her own mind to Twilight, and hoped that she was being well cared for. There weren’t many doors in the buildings of New Cloudsdale, or easy partitions between bedrooms, kitchens, and the other motley assortments of living spaces. It was assuredly hospitable, but not in any way in particular. When Blossomforth entered, it was only after she spoke that the ponies really seemed to notice her. “How bad is it out there?” she asked, in her best gruff voice. Zesty turned from the windowpane, which was large enough for an adult pony to fall out of, and regarded her. White coat, watermelon-themed mane, and a certain gentleness not typically seen in pegasi. A deft hoof. “As bad as when Nightmare Moon returned, and possibly worse.” Twilight said, her voice taking on a sense of teacherly urgency. She hadn’t left the confines of the tortoise for long, but she’d been able to catch a glimpse of that blacked-out sky through the normal entrance. Zesty adjusted her coat around herself and said, “Frankly, we need every hoof we can get, or else Canterlot may well be doomed. Five fliers may make the whole difference.” They were not pleasant words, but they bore speaking. “Most of us don’t have special powers.” Blossomforth said, guarded. “...But we do have Rainbow Dash. As long as she’s sleeping here, there’s still hope for Equestria. Endangering the lives and families of the ponies who live here to aid you would be… irresponsible.” “Is that what Rainbow Dash would think?” Zesty asked, helpless to crook an eyebrow. Blossomforth didn’t rise to it. “There are already volunteers, though, aren’t there?” Twilight said softly, gaze intent. “Some ponies who regret coming in instead of fighting, and want to prove themselves.” “I’m not here to let fools charge into battle,” the pegasus said, stiff. Once, she had been so carefree, but she had been the first pony to come across ｢Mr. President｣ in those first minutes of terror, and the flock had respected her as its de facto owner since. Time crept on around her as her days became more and more interesting, and now she was being given a temptation to cast off that responsibility for some greater good. If she had held a Stand for herself, she would’ve felt it steaming at the edges of her consciousness, ready to appear. “Then what?” Zesty scoffed in genuine offense. “Are you going to let the Princesses rot until your ark gets snapped up by a vulture?” Blossomforth hardened. “When it’s time to help them, Rainbow Dash will come back. And if she doesn’t, then… I don’t know. We have to trust that something will happen.” “My daughter is the Element of Magic,” Twilight said, “and I know we can’t hold out hope for that.” That renewed the pegasus’ interest in her, and fear crept into the white face. “Then... what? Blind aggression at the heart of our enemy’s power? We can’t have been given sanctuary inside of Rainbow Dash’s legacy without a reason.” Or, at least, to believe anything else would be suicide. “Then I’ll take you in single combat,” Zesty said matter-of-factly. Bad move. “If either of you use your Stands in this room, or have used them already, you’ll be escorted out for good.” “Believe me, you would know.” Zesty said. Privately she was very disappointed at how badly these talks were going, but she couldn’t quite understand why. She was a creature of command, of critique and management, not of diplomacy. Twilight made another attempt. “I think there is a reason for that legacy to carry all of you. You’re meant to play a part in saving Rainbow Dash, and the rest of the Elements. That’s why Tank came here, to Canterlot. He knew, partly, what he was going to be needed for.” Blossomforth considered that, eyes narrowing and trying to read any form of dishonesty on the open face of the older mare. “Why should we believe that?” “For the same reason you believe that this place was an intentional sanctuary.” Twilight said. “...” A beat. “Nopony can know that for certain. It’s not enough to risk lives over. I’m sorry.” “And what about the lives of the rest of Equestria? Or the ones who are going to march on the Castle alone to try and stop this infernal night?!” Zesty demanded, drawing closer. Steely, uncowable. “Even if you convinced me, are you going to make the case to the rest of the ponies here one by one? You have only a dozen volunteers, and none of them are even quality fliers or weatherponies. If you need help so badly, you can get it a lot faster in Canterlot instead of philosophizing with us. Guards.” Two pegasi stallions, in no special garb but with above-average musculature, entered the room. Zesty trotted to the door, exasperated. Never in her life had she met somepony with such ridiculous standards. But behind her, there was no sound of hoofsteps. “No,” Twilight said, finally standing, her pleasant reasonability becoming cloudily unreadable. And then, after a deep breath, “｢Tales of Brave Ulysses｣!” A pearlescent strike, visible only to the two Stand users, hammered into the floor. The other three ponies in the room were still perfectly aware of it, and rushing to stop her from whatever it was she was doing, but she stood straight and kept still. Before she could make another, a guard had tackled her. Zesty, who in the heat of the moment had been about to summon up ｢Chop Suey｣, was pinned to the ground before the inclination could even instantiate itself in words. She could still do it, but it would be pointless against a pony who was already behind her. Fighting an urge to spit curses into the floor, she was already planning out how best to move her sparse troops, and who to blame for their casualties. As Velvet was being drawn back up to her hooves, her calm expression interrupted by the hoof gripping her mane for steering, she regarded the room. It started to rumble. Not just it, the entire landscape. There was something like an earthquake, or a falling-in of the heavens, a tectonic shift throughout the universe of ｢Mr. President｣. And then, from all angles, a single enrapturing voice. “I am ｢Mr. President｣. I am the physical soul of a youthful body, and I grow with time. In many decades I may be as large as the world beyond myself, although I may not exist for so long. I was born from a moment of dreaming terror, and I continue to exist as a means of ensuring the suffering of Rainbow Dash, my final owner, will end. In loyalty to her, and what she believes in, I have created enough space to hold everything she held dear, and to house her in her weakness. And I have traveled to the nearest seat of evil, knowing the role I play will be small, for the good of the ponies she would have defended. If by my actions I can hurt the forces which have harmed her, even in part, then my existence is justified.” Twilight Velvet nodded, though it was difficult, and her ability deactivated. Outside, ponies flew vigorous corkscrews past each other, moving with renewed activity. The guards stared at Blossomforth. She nodded, more solemnly than the unicorn had, and they released their captives. “You can’t have anypony who doesn’t want to go,” she said coldly, and walked back the way she came. * * * Neon Lights trudged back to the Castle, only dimly aware that it wasn’t supposed to be so dark out. He’d been asleep when he got the message, and his mane was singed to match the wide splatters of bruise along his face. He imagined he could see a little wisp of smoke if he forced his eyes into he right corner of his vision. Amethyst hadn’t shown. He’d have looked for her, but all the burning voicemail told him was to get back to the Castle and be ready to defend it. One of two wasn’t so bad, he hoped. Goodness the moon was bright, wasn’t it? He dwelt on thoughts of couples on benches. There were others, up ahead. Some he recognized, and others he hadn’t been given enough time to smooze with. Almost none of them would be interested in the same music as him, and half of them were men, so it wasn’t a terribly huge loss. Although he could see Miss Roseluck up there, the only of those three sisters to bridge the gap. He’d always taken her for a homebody. She didn’t look back at him as she passed into that barrier, but the dull blue glow of its magic crested across her body like a waterfall, her tail swishing lazily with the motion. He had the sudden urge to come up behind her and bury his muzzle in it, which passed through and over him like all of the other idle fantasies. When he passed through, they were already mostly assembled. At the front of the building was Sunset Shimmer, who had finally come through. She was a Roseluck and a half, though without that quintessential gentleness. A real hellcat, and a managerial type to boot. Not on the table, in other words. Sombra had not needed to offer Neon Lights anything in particular to convince him to make the switch between realities, and it hadn’t been a matter of pride or dreaming for the man; he’d simply been shown what he was missing. Sunset, who had a completely different demeanor than she’d had back in CHS, locked eyes with him and stepped forward, moving with a natural grace. He could feel the air heating up around the two of them, although he could tell it wasn’t a Stand power. She’d been a unicorn, after all. Maybe a powerful one, compared to someone like him. “Who took the tortoise from you, and where’s the rest of your group?” she asked. So he told her the story. When he’d finished, she threw out a burst of magic that looked, to his new equine instincts, like a painful load for the average unicorn. The burst of pyrotechnical light seared itself clean through his eyeballs, or at least it felt like it, and then another message went flying off into the night. After a moment, she said, “Colgate is a valuable ally here. Your talent is misdirection, not head-to-head combat. Don’t split up again, or I’ll spitroast you. ｢Pepper｣.“ Then, a few small, orange centaurs popped soundlessly into existence, mid-gallop. They were small enough for him to crush with a hoof, more like figurines than he was used to, and their faces were the only things that didn’t move. They stopped and turned to him, as if surveying some kind of giant horse-god, and then he felt his wounds getting better. He reached up to touch his face, and then flinched. “Ouch.” “Leave it alone. I need you alert tonight.” And then, with incredible force, something flew for the barrier in a dark blur, like a comet striking for the ground. Sunset craned her head away from Neon to see it, and then halted the motion in mid-air. Colgate stopped moving, suspended in a matrix of red-orange magic. The mare herself was very confused about the note, to use the power to make herself and the magic collide, and why it had worked so well. The first one, which hadn’t woken her up or managed to burn her for ignoring it, was likely still hovering near the School. As she found her feet, she gradually became more and more briefable. Between the two, bits of ｢Pepper｣ kept their own station, awarenesses piercing the protected bubble and imposing into the unnatural night over the vast and mostly darkened city. * * * Coco Pommel and her friends moved, a little reticent, out into the now-nighttime air. A chill set into them as they moved, and soon they split apart, moving twin routes across the gridwork of the city. The lights were unkind to them, though the moonlight itself had become almost too much to look at directly. This was their third circuit through the city, and it was exactly as unfamiliar, one path of hundreds. Still the Castle loomed, and it was hard to judge even how many floors it was. Moondancer led them onwards, taking a rather sharp detour and veering away from the front entrance long before it was even in line of sight. When they came upon it, it was from the Archives’ entrance. “You have ten minutes’ head start. Bring down the shields before the pegasi arrive so we can storm our way in.” Those had been Zesty’s last curt, nodded words to them. Diamond submersed her worry in the worry of others. “We’ll make it. If we can get Rarity out of there, we can keep her safe inside of ｢Mr. President｣ with no problem.” Nopony asked whose unspoken fear she’d been trying to allay. ｢To Be Continued｣ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78yioWJhUJA [Rush - Something for Nothing] Stand Name: ｢Total Eclipse of the Heart｣ User: Vice-Principal Luna Stats Power: A Speed: A Range: B Durability: D Precision: C Potential: D Abilities: ??? Stand Name: ｢Pepper｣ User: Sunset Shimmer Stats Power: C Speed: C Range: B Durability: A Precision: E Potential: D Abilities: ???