Twilight didn't bother running. She grabbed the book in her magic, flinging it under her wing, then teleported straight to her dresser, threw open the top shelf, grabbed a long blond hair and a small gold stopwatch and clicked it. I have to make every second count. The constant ticking would remind her. She slipped the small gold chain on it over her head and wore it.
Each thing she held took focus, so she opened the book and threw the hair in it and shut it over it like a bookmark. She froze and her eyes went wide. She shouted an expletive as she realized what she'd done – opening the book again. She sighed with relief when she saw the hair was still there. She simply held on to it, instead. Okay, the book didn't eat the hair, but let's not take any chances!
Okay, I've got the book and AJ's hair. First pony, Rainbow Dash! Fast, adventurous and brave is what I need, she's the pony for the job! She charged her horn, and in a moment her bedroom was replaced with Rainbow Dash's. She whipped around to the bed - “Dash wake–” only to find the bed empty “- up?"
Okay, where's Rainbow? Is she home? “Rainbow it's an emergency!” she yelled.
No response. Her mind paced through other places Rainbow could be, the stopwatch continually ticking five ticks a second, rushing her thoughts. Okay, maybe her parents' for new years'? Maybe she was needed as a Wonderbolt on short notice? Or she's just out flying or some other option I didn't foresee – wait, wasn't she spending the night at Pinkie's or am I confusing this with last week? Maybe Pinkie knows where she is?
The two threads snapped together in her mind. Yes! Even if she's not with Pinkie, Pinkie will know where she is because Pinkie always knows!
For a moment her mind raced over every other pony and immediate friend – who would be more eager to save Rarity than Spike? That's exactly why he can't know. I can't drag him into this, he's a baby – or at least a child! She looked down at her stopwatch, her heart matching its rapid ticking. A WHOLE TWENTY-SEVEN SECONDS!? There's no time to get Spike, even if I was okay with dragging him into this horror death-book!
In another flash of light, she was in Pinkie's bedroom, and in the flash, another thought struck across her mind – oh no, and now I'm getting Pinkie involved! Maybe I should just leave and – no, I came here to ask, I spent energy on that teleport and I'm not going to let it go to waste! No time to deliberate, anyways! Every second AND every bit of magic energy has got to count!
“Pinkie!” she shouted.
Pinkie shot up in bed, eyes wide in terror at the sudden outburst. “Wha-huh!?”
“Rarity read the book, where's Rainbow Dash!?”
Pinkie groaned and flopped back in bed. “Twilight, I know you like books and all, but –”
“NO, THE book! The Book of Knowledge, that one I warned you and everypony else about!”
Twilight held her breath, waiting for a response.
In two seconds, ten of the stopwatch's rapid ticks, Pinkie shot up on top of her blankets with a gasp. “Oh, THAT book!? But didn't you say it would like kill you and murder you and stuff with fatal doom to DEATH!?”
“Yes! That one! And I'm looking for Rainbow Dash – do you know where she is?” she urgently pressed, leaning forward over the foot of Pinkie's bed.
“Yes! She's –...” Pinkie trailed off, bringing a hoof to her chin and looking up.
“Where, where!?” the alicorn took to wing, hovering just in front of her ground-bound friend.
Pinkie's face lit up. “Sleeping, because it's the middle of the night!”
“Pinkie, there's no time for these antics! You don't know where she is, so okay.” She looked down at the floor, her volume dropping. “I'll grab Applejack last because she'll be the fastest since I have her hair. Rarity's gone, that's you and AJ, we don't have time to find Rainbow Dash, so that just leaves Fluttershy.” She paused, pursing her lips, looking back at Pinkie.
The pink pony immediately objected, “Hey! I do too know where she is! I told you, she's sleeping! And why did you take Applejack's hair! That's so rude to leave a pony bald like that.”
“I checked Rainbow's house, she's not there and we don't have time to look for her – ugh, I mean I don't have time to look for her! I don't want to drag everypony into this! Just –” Twilight caught herself, realizing she already intended to grab Rainbow Dash and Applejack. “It'd be one thing if I could get everypony and we had all the Elements off of the Tree of Harmony with us, but we don’t! So the fewer of my friends I drag into this terrible mess the better!” Especially since it's all my own fault, anyways...
“Well, okay, since it's a big bad killing-to-death place we're going to rescue Rarity from, I can understand not wanting to take Fluttershy even if we normally do stick together on adventures. Then again she did save us against that dragon that one time...”
“No!” Twilight sternly cut her off. “I'm upset enough – maybe I warned her but I'm still not convinced it isn't my fault all this is even happening! If I just hadn't told everypony about that darn book!” She stomped a hoof. “I don't want to endanger any more of my friends with this whole catastrophe than I have to! I should've faced this alone! It's my burden to bear as –”
She was cut off as Pinkie threw her hooves around her, forcing her to immediately land on the bed on her hindlegs – but the hug kept her balance. “You're never alone, Twilight! You may feel bad about bringing other ponies to face the hard thing you gotta do, but we're not leaving you!”
Twilight sighed. “You're not. Okay, If you're this determined to come with me, I won't stop you.” Maybe I should; not stopping ponies is how Rarity got through in the first place. The stopwatch was still ticking madly, more than loud enough to hear. No time to deliberate, me! She's going to object and I'm going to waste precious time arguing with myself, then waste even more time arguing with her!
But I'm not going to let this spiral out of control – I'm not getting Rainbow Dash, anyways, since I don't have time to look, so I'm not getting everypony since all of us won't be going, anyways!
“But as for Fluttershy – we don't have time to go and ask Fluttershy if she wants to come. I only have so much energy and I need to save it, too. So I'm not going to get her and we're not arguing about this. Okay?” Her tone was final and frantic, filled with panic.
Pinkie leaned out of the hug, but still held on to Twilight's shoulders. “Okay, but I know you can't teleport without me if I'm holding on to you, so I'm not letting go!”
Oh, Pinkie. She couldn't help but smile a little, and return the hug, at least for a moment. But maybe you're right. After all, Rarity's problem was that she wouldn't let ponies help her... No time to deliberate. Applejack, and we're going.
In a flash of light, Pinkie's bed was replaced with the floorboards of Applejack's bedroom.
The sky was a deep, unnatural inky black, void of any detail. The high stone walls of a prison courtyard blocked anything else in the distance from view.
Wide, concrete brick-walled towers stood on each side of the courtyard – great gallows structures with four trap doors each. One had two ponies next to it, with two more armed guards by a beam near the edge, and a noose made of thick rope, hanging and ready. At the base of the tower a metal cart sat, its hatch open, revealing a stained inside.
At one end of the courtyard, a metal door opened, and a uniformed pony led a green-eyed, orange earth pony with a blonde mane into the courtyard. She squinted under the harsh light of spotlights flooding the yard. She was clothed in a plain, loose white nightgown cleaner than she was, wore a metal collar, fettered with shackles, and was closely followed by six guards, two of which held chains connected to her collar.
She shivered at the cold air, looked around the courtyard, and steeled herself on seeing the crossbeam that had rope, and the cart ready for her lifeless body. Her ears fell flat against her head in mortal apprehension. Her fears were confirmed.
“Th-this – this just... How could you? It's true, isn't it!? That every pony who vanishes – is this where they all end up!? And now – and now –!” she stammeringly demanded, indignation mingling with mortal fear, her ears standing back up as she fought with her tongue.
But none of the guards with her as much as flinched. They kept walking her to the metal stairs at the base of the tower. “But – but this can't be – you can't be killing me, I don't have the notches on the insides of my ears! Look, I've not been condemned!”
They continued to ignore her.
Two ponies on top walked into view, to the edge of the tower, looking down at her. “The major's pet princess is finally here,” a guard commented to his companions, then faced her, raising his voice to be heard, “The red carpet's all rolled out for ya. The whole yard for yourself in the few minutes you have left to live.”
“S-sister! I'm the major's sister!” she shouted.
The same guard barked angrily, “Who let her speak!? We need to –”
“Zip it, Blackstar. Things are a bit off today but that's all the more reason not to go rattling the cages,” another guard with a cap and a more ornate uniform calmly reeled in the other. “We have our orders.”
“Yes sir,” he simply responded, all the anger wiped cleanly from his voice.
Her ears flopped down. “I – I don't have the death marks! I demand a trial! I'm a full citizen of Hatten Dome! I'm not from Delphi! I'm not even under the occupational government! I'm from Hatten! I – I even have an Orphan of Heroes Award! I have privileges and I demand a trial! You can't just – based on nothing! Why am I here!? At least tell me why I'm here!” she cried as they led her up the stairs at the base, breaking her line of sight on the ponies already at the top. When one started speaking, she fell silent, listening intently as her right ear swiveled to the source of the sound.
“Eh, sir, should we gag her? She is speaking up,” another guard asked with a humbler voice.
“No, just last week somepony suffocated to death under one because their snout was tied too tightly. Reminder of our orders,” the leader's voice replied.
Both her ears perked up. They don't gag me because it could cause me to suffocate? “S-so you're not going to hang me!?” she shouted up. Again, her escorts did nothing to her, except hurry her pace up the stairs. “And – and you know it'd be illegal, too!”
The silence her words caused at the top was visceral and sudden. After a moment of pause, she could hear hoofsteps before the leader again appeared near the edge over her. “No, miss. We're supposed to hang you by the neck, not suffocate you with a gag. If you die on your way here, we cannot complete our orders to kill you another way. But you absolutely will die in the next minute. I suggest you either renounce whatever you said so you can spend eternity somewhere warm instead of somewhere as cold as The Abyss outside our domes, or at least come to understand why we must hold our world together against those who would tear it apart.”
She was finally on an equal level as she was pulled to the top step. “B-but what about my trial!? I was never even sentenced! See – no death mark! No slavery marks, either! I'm a high-standing citizen! I don't – I'm not supposed to be here!” she objected, a wild terror creeping into his voice.
The officer sighed. “No ear marks nor trial is necessary to kill a clear and present danger – we're on standing orders from The Governor herself. You were caught. If you're here, they had all the proof they needed and knew it'd be a waste of a judge's time, rest assured. I suggest you accept that nothing you do now can stop this. You're already dead, you're just waiting for your send-off.”
They began leading her to the trap door, where she saw the noose was already tied, waiting for her. She pushed back against them, but they easily overpowered her and pushed her harder, forcing her to step forward or be knocked over. She fought with a trembling voice, “I – I'm not going to beg for my life. But I demand a trial! This is wrong! I'm not supposed to be here! G-Gold Will is my name! This has got to be a mistake!”
He shook his head. “I'm sorry, miss. You made yourself a threat to the continued survival of all of us. It's too late, now. It's better that -”
“B-but I didn't! I just – I just went to see a unicorn! And I was in prison! I was helpless – harmless in that cell!”
“Look, miss, I've granted you the ability to speak, don't make me take that back. One more word about this and I'll have you silenced immediately. And this is far kinder than letting you starve to death in a cell,” he explained, only a slight indication of impatience in his voice. “And there's no way our civilization can afford to support you in there while also fighting the Unicorns' Great Winter.”
As he spoke, they stopped her over the trap door, slipped the noose around her neck, and the executioner carefully adjusted the position of the knot under her ear.
Her breathing quickened. “What does it matter if you silence me if I'm about to die! What do you think I'm going to talk about!?”
As she kept talking, he sighed, held a hoof out to another guard who gave him a small cloth, and walked towards her.
“I – I'm not going to hurt you, or anypony! I just wanted to know the truth! To see a unicorn fwomph-!” she was cut off as he pressed the rag into her mouth and tied the gag on while another guard removed the yoke-like collar from below the noose.
“I'm sorry, miss, this will make this easier for all of us.”
She yelled into the gag, her muffled demands still audible but impossible to understand. The rest of the guards sprang to work, forcing her to sit down while they tied her forelegs to her chest. She desperately fought their hooves – wriggling madly as though she could somehow escape. But they proved her wrong, finally blindfolding her and tying her back hooves together while she sat on her haunches.
Her breathing became even more irregular and harsh now as she could only breathe through her nose. She huffed hard to get enough air through her nose alone for her racing heart and panicked but helpless resisting. Her muffled cries ended as she quickly realized she was being completely ignored. Crimson Fire, if you don't get over here right now I'm never going to forgive you! I know you know I'm here – It's the only way I could've gotten a clean gown! You had to have been the one to send it to me! You – you gotta come! You must be why they didn't pierce my ears!
But this idiot's going to hang me, anyways!
She heard their hoofsteps move away from her, leaving her alone and tied on the trap door.
The same officer began speaking, loud and clear from more than a few hooves away. “I'm sorry you couldn't hold your own tongue, miss. It was a rare privilege you had. Usually it's over a dozen prisoner ponies here, and we can't let them talk lest they try to incite something. Now I know they all just have the same'ol lies of the unicorns. You wanted to see one, huh? I guess it probably got into your head with its magic, then, messed with your memories. I never should've let you talk to begin with. For all we know they could've even put a curse on you that activates when you say certain words – this is the kind of thing we have to protect ourselves from.”
She started shaking intensely. She felt sick to her stomach, hoping somehow it was just some nightmare and she could wake up. But it's not all a nightmare! The book, I read it! I read Clover the Clever's journal, I've spoken with Ceruleans, I know the unicorns aren't evil! That this is all unnecessary and wrong! Will they please just listen to me! I can't die like this, I can't – I can't!
He continued, “In truth you really are innocent. I'm so sorry, miss.”
She heard steps again as he walked over. She felt a hoof gently warp around her back. He projected his voice loud enough for the dozen guards to hear, “You were innocent, when you were alive, but the unicorns have already killed you. Ponies are here because they've been turned into unwitting suicide bombers against our civilization and our glorious order. Bombers of ideas and hope. I'm so sorry you lost it all to them.” She felt his hoof move up and rest on her head. “They've already destroyed the part of you that matters. All that's left for us is to end your suffering while protecting what you held dear when you were alive. In doing that, we're doing you a kind favor. You may be gone now, but we're preserving what you cared about when you were alive. Rest in peace, miss.” He gave one more pat before walking away again, speaking just a few more lines.
She was too terrified to even think any more. Without the ability to move, see, or even speak, how could she fight back – or even show defiance? There was nothing left to do, not even to show she opposed them. She felt some spirit left, but there was no place for it to express its existence.
“It's better that nine innocents die than one of these gets back into society, undermines it, and causes us the horrid, ghastly fate of Westhaven Dome, or of The Great Nightfall again, and millions more die. Ponykind is counting on us to do its dirty work and cleanse ourselves of these soulless, already-dead zombies like the one tied in front of us now. Dead, because whatever pure mind was in it before has already been gouged out by their dark, immaterial magic. This zombie is nothing but a shell possessing the body of what used to be a respectable, good, high-standing citizen. Hangpony, I remind you to review our orders.” She heard him tapping on a piece of paper. “We're merely letting her body rest from this wicked magical possession. For Spring to come, gentleponies.”
“For Spring to come,” they all echoed back in a familiar chorus.
She could hear somepony set their hoof on the lever.
She felt a tear tickle her cheek, her neck muscles tighten, bracing for the sudden drop of the trap doors, the free fall, then the hard kick in her neck behind her chin where the rope sat.
And then... nothing.
Nothing came.
Nothing happened.
No thunk of the lever being pulled.
No clanking of the trap doors.
No wind or constricting of the noose already around her neck.
Just the terrified sniffing of her own breath, the throbbing of her own heart pounding in her ears, and the electric buzzing of the lights above the platform.
A small eternity seemed to pass, but it was clear nothing was happening.
She tentatively asked something undecipherable through her gag. Is... Are - are you?...
Then she made a harsher demand. What are you waiting for!?
She couldn't move, talk, see – there was nothing to distract herself from her imminent death, nothing to do but wait the agonizing minutes away. She screamed into her gag again. Just hang me already! I can't stand this! Just make it stop!
Nothing. Absolutely no sound of anything came to her except the lifeless buzzing of the lights. Are they -? Are they even here?
She tried to struggle against her bonds and stand on her hind legs, only to hear a hustle of hooves and feel her shoulders quickly grabbed and pushed back down.
She fought.
She was bound, gagged, blindfolded, and wore a noose while she stood on a trap door, but the moment made her believe, if only for a second, that there was hope. So she fought to stand on two legs. For a moment she was winning – she could feel her legs overcoming the strength that pushed her down – until the hooves fell away and the noose yanked back on her, forcing her away from the pony pushing her down, pulling up to where she could only stand bipedal on one spot with her cross-tied hooves if she wanted to breathe.
So she stood there, her breath strained now, as well as panicked.
She cried into her gag yet again. What do you want from me!? What are you doing to me!? Why are you doing this!?
No answer, again. If you're going to kill me just do it already, don't just leave me waiting! she yelled into her gag again - her voice still muffled to the point of being undecipherable.
Another small eternity passed, leaving her to wonder. To grow more anxious and shaky. Balancing on two hooves was difficult – they were each only strong enough to take a quarter of her weight. She couldn't do it for much longer. They grew even more shaky than she was, threatening to give out underneath her.
If – If you won't, then I will! I – is this it? You'll make me kill myself!? But torturing me like this has nothing to do with what you said! More lies! More lies! she cried. Her hooves collapsed underneath her.
She only hanged on her rope for a moment, then it suddenly felt loose again, allowing her to collapse onto the wood floor. She could feel the grooves on the wood of the trapdoor. The noose pulled tight again, urging her up like a leash. She refused.
Why would they torture me on-stage like a unicorn?
The noose kept urging her up until her strained breathing was cut off.
She could suddenly hear her heartbeat and breathing again as it stopped pulling her up.
And that's all she heard.
That, and the harsh electric buzzing of the lights she couldn't see.
She just laid on her side. It was a struggle to move, so why do it? Would it mean they've broken me if I stood up when they pulled me up? Or if I keep lying down and refuse to get up?
Does it even matter?
I'm just... going to lie here, whatever they decide to do to me.
Eventually, after another long silence, she finally heard noises again. The sounds of two sets of hoofsteps coming up the metal stairs. Her ears perked – one set sounded familiar, something about the length and pacing of the strides and the weight under them. Then they stopped, and she could hear the whole crowd of ponies leaving the platform she was on. On hearing their hoofsteps fade away, she wiggled around to roll onto her back, then tried sitting up.
Nothing pushed her back down this time.
She heard the large hoofsteps approach her. Did you... Is it you? Did you finally come?
She felt a strong, familiar pair of hooves gently hold her, untie all her legs, unlock and release her shackles, then pull her up onto all fours. She froze and her mind hesitated, afraid to believe. She held her breath for the blindfold to be removed, and when it was taken off, with it went any doubt.
It was her brother, in full uniform and cap.
It felt like any strength or thread of dignity she had left immediately snapped. The nightmare was over. Her lip curled and tears immediately poured down – she couldn't keep from wailing and sobbing through her gag as he put his hooves around her, rubbed her back and started gently rocking her.
She could scarcely summon the strength to return the hug.
“We've ordered everyone but the governor and I off the tower, Goldie...” He reached behind her head and removed her gag, as well.
“Crimson!” She couldn't help but cry his name and bury her face in his chest again – only she could still feel the noose, like a voice nagging at her from behind her joy.
“It-It's okay, Goldie... We can turn this around. But I need your help so we can save you.”
“What is it!? I'll do anything, Crimson! Anything!” she jumped on the offer, lifting a forehoof to pull the noose off.
She gasped when his forehoof reached out to block hers.
“Gold Will,” he started sternly, demanding her attention with a strong look straight into her eyes.
She met the look, lowering her hoof, leaving the noose on.
“You aren't out of this, yet. I need you to...” he took a breath, bracing himself to say it, “We need you to pretend that none of this happened. That... that you never met the unicorn,” he quickly averted his eyes as he said it, then they snapped back on her, “that you never read that book, and tell us who you got it from,” he firmly told her.
Her pupils shrank. She knew he was lying about the unicorn – even after years of politicking in the service she could still tell. But the rest of it was true. Or, mostly. There was something nefarious and secret going on, and she could tell, but couldn't tell exactly what it was.
“And if you ever do tell anypony what's happened to you, what they'll do to you... I won't –” he cut himself off, glancing at the governor, pointing to her with his expression, “- she won't be able to stop what they'll do to you, and it'll be much, much, much worse than this. This was only meant to weed out future agents. But if you do commit the national crime of harm speech, we won't be able to counter the standing orders on that. So please. Feel the noose – it's not off you, yet. And if you plan to go back to this, hanging will be a relief compared to what they'll do to you, so you can't plan to ever come back to the dreadful acts that led you here. You have to leave these gallows behind for good,” he urged her.
Her ears flopped. Until what felt like hours ago, she wouldn't have believed that anything could've ever made being hanged feel like a relief. It was one thing to just – forget about all of this, to leave it behind. But to betray Astilbe? To turn her in?
But what about Sunshine and Crystal Clear? Why does he want to know who gave me the book but not the ponies who took me to see the unicorn!?
She shook her head in slow, agonized jerks as she tried to unravel the plot that had snared her.
I don't want to live in a world of lies! I would sooner die than live like this!
And I'll never betray Astilbe! The one pony who showed me truth!
But she couldn't bring herself to say the words that would condemn her to her fate again, either. “I – I...” She simply bowed her head.
“It's not much. Just a few words. Please, Goldie, I want to go home with you. It doesn't have to end here. We can walk off this platform together, and I want to,” he begged her, setting a hoof on her shoulder and looking straight into her eyes.
Her eyes grew wide and darted around as she took a step back – she wanted to be anywhere, to think of anything but here and now. She had her brother here – she wanted nothing more but to be comforted by him, hope he could somehow find a way to take her home without... She wanted to talk to him one last time, but couldn't answer his offer. “Look at you, in that nice uniform, now, with so many ribbons and at such a rank... You were so excited when our aunt and uncle got you lined up to train in the officer school...” she reminisced.
“Goldie...” he begged.
“You were so excited to protect and serve back then. Don't you know, before the invasion – it wasn't that uncommon for ponies to know unicorns here in Delphi! It's all just – it's just a farce! A game of lies! And here I was! –”
“Goldie!” he snapped, then immediately softened. “You don't have to lie. I just want you to... Just consider the possibility that your memory isn't as good as you think – that maybe – what if you did see the unicorn, and it messed with your memories with magic? Made you believe their propaganda and lies, and they're the ones who've –”
“Then it did a darn good job!” she snapped back. “No – he did a darn good job! HE! Don't you know they're ponies!? And maybe we didn't know any but we know ponies who did!”
“It's just lies and propaganda. They abused them, enslaved them, and right as we liberated this dome they used their magic – !”
“No it wasn't! Those are the lies and propaganda! When did you lose your darn common sense!” She was talking faster and louder as she went. “And now we're killing them! Innocent ponies! And we don't even know how many – thousands? millions? Who knows!? I used to think they only executed actual spies and saboteurs! And I was surprised and disturbed by how many they hanged in public! And then there's this whole, huge set of gallows hidden back here in the prison-yard!? That are usually busy with ponies getting killed left and right, no less!?” her anger quickly subsided into pure shock and sorrow, before turning back towards anger. “How many innocent ponies ended up here, Crimson!? Do you know!? Because I was innocent and I ended up – !”
“Goldie!” he snapped again, cutting off her wild tirade with a hoof pushing her chin up. “You're not 'innocent'! You collaborated with anarchists to meet that unicorn! That was a capital offense to conspire with them, and then to not report that you saw a unicorn to the authorities! We have to work together or The Abyss outside will kill all of us and everything we cherish! We all work together or we all die together! Scarlet, me, you, everything! You put all of our lives at major risk! And you're not going to convince the governor to let you live unless you tell us who told you how to meet the unicorn, where you got The Journal of Clover the Clever, and leave all this behind. Most ponies don't get this merciful chance, most just get – most just don't,” he quickly cut himself off.
“Th-then... it's true!?” She bristled, stepping forward. “And you've known it this whole time!? About those 'most ponies'!? And you'll –” her voice caught and broke, “you'll let me die because of some stupid law!? Your – your own sister!? You won't even let me take this noose off because you want me to hang from it!? D-don't you love me at all? Do I not matter –”
He immediately pulled her into a tight hug again, his voice emphatic and firm, overwhelmed with emotion. “I never, ever wanted to see you here, Goldie. You should be at home right now, or working the farms. Not here! But the world's an ugly place. We do what we must to survive against the winter –”
“Do you have to do this, though – do you?” her cries bordered on begging.
“We – I can't stop this from happening. Only you can. Just by telling us – or even just me, where you got the book from,” the gentleness of his own pleas matched the pain of hers.
“B-but then what will happen to that pony? Someone else will be here – because of me?”
“No, because they broke the law. They're the real criminal here, not you – you got involved with this and now they'll kill you for it if you can't just take this one, rare, merciful opportunity to set things right! Help us fight this endless, terrible unicorn's winter that's already killed millions! If you can't do it for your own life, do it for me? For the world? For spring to come?”
She shivered at the repulsive mantra – for spring to come, and stepped out of the hug. “But haven't you ever considered – maybe you're causing the winter with all this killing? Maybe some unicorns are, but why can't we work with the good ones? Why can't we be with them against the villains causing the winter – if anypony is causing it at all!”
“The Great Unicorn’s Winter has already claimed countless millions of lives and lasted a thousand years – and we're running out of time! The Great Nightfall proves it! The Domes are dying! And then we’ll all suffocate in the smoke, freeze in the cold and millions more will die and life won’t be able to go on! Don’t you get it - all life in the world will end if we don’t do this! We must live by these measures to prevent Westhaven from happening here!”
“It’s - it’s all lies, though! The mountains are enough, magicquartz -”
“Only makes the winter worse!”
“But that’s not true!” she cried.
“Excuse me,” the cyan, pegasus governor piped in, confidently striding up to the two in her regal, navy blue dress trimmed with gold. Her eyes were magenta, her mane bleached white.
They held eachother close as they faced her, each holding one limb around the other’s shoulders.
“You're not here to argue us into submission, Gold Will. You're here to die. There is no renegotiating the terms we have offered you. Only a 'yes' or a 'no'. We're offering you your life. It's quite simple, really. We can draw out your death as well. You looked quite broken when we first came up here. Perhaps you'd be more willing to talk after a little more breaking? Is that what you want?”
The Major's eyes were wide and frantic as he looked at his little sister. His voice had a desperate, hissing urgency. “Goldie, please. Please, you have to tell us! You-you don't want to go through this! They can do things to you a million times worse than whatever made you lie on the ground when we arrived up here. Do you want that – whatever they did to you – do you want that for years? And they'll - we'll get what we want, anyways.”
In-between the cyan governor's cool confidence and her brother's panicked warning, she began to shake again. But she could see her pink friend, Astilbe, in her mind, with her sweet kindness and eternal optimism and hope. The source of truth for so many others, too. She could never let her take her place on these gallows. “I... I won't... I won't tell either of you... ever,” her quaking voice pierced the silence.
“Gold Will –” he began urging again.
“No! I promise I won't!” she stomped a hoof. “And you know I never break a promise!”
He fell silent, mouth open, looking for something to say.
The governor just sighed sadly. “Very well. No point in wasting any more of our time, then...” she paused, diving into thought for a long, painful moment of silence as the two siblings waited for her next command. She met both of their eyes, both brother and sister equally afraid. “I hope you understand, Major, she has to be tortured for this information. And once she finally breaks, she will be swiftly executed to relieve her of her mortal agony.”
“M'am...” he started, trying to force strength into his quaking voice.
“But for your sake, Major, I will forego the torture in favor of a quick, painless, neck-breaking hanging. Consider it a reward for your, and your parents' loyal services to The Order. There are times when mercy may show its face, and to someone like you, I feel you deserve this one. And miss,” she turned to her, “I will recognize your parents' sacrifice in service to The Order and honor you with this word of advice; I suggest you stop arguing and talk like you're already dead. You can do no more to save your life now than you could if you were already hanging. So this is a moment for you to say goodbye, and for your brother's sake, please do use it for this purpose – or to change your mind on the information.
“I am aware of your Orphan of Heroes award and Hatten Citizenship. I have honored those here by giving you this opportunity to save your own life, but since you won't take it, there's nothing I can do. Now I will speak no more, this time is for you and your brother. The hangponies will come, and nothing will stop them when the clock-tower begins to toll. Your neck will be broken on the sixth strike. Farewell,” she nodded, turned away, spread her wings, and strode straight off the side of the platform. She glided through the air, down to the edge of the courtyard below and gently landed on her hooves where the rest of the guards and executioners were waiting.
The siblings just looked at each other. “I-is that it, then?” he asked her. “You've made up your mind?”
“Y-yeah,” she stammered, yet her voice was calmer than it had been since she arrived in the courtyard. “Yeah I have.” She averted her gaze, unable to meet his.
He stepped forward, took the noose off of her, and hugged her again. She felt a kiss on her forehead.
“I-is it true?” she timidly asked. “Is... is that really it? Nothing more you can do? Can't you – I dunno, fight back or anything? Anything to save me? I-I don't want to die!” She returned the hug.
He squeezed. “I'm sorry...”
“I don't want to ever have that horrible rope on again! Even if you don't think The Order is awful, can't you order those guards to – let us out? Let us go? for me?”
He shook his head. “Go where? If I did that, a lot of innocent ponies, and you, would all die. And they'd probably kill Scarlet for something as treasonous as that, even, despite our parents' sacrifice,” he levelly cautioned.
“H-how are you so strong, Crimson? You've always been so strong...” She started sobbing uncontrollably. “I – I'm scared. I don't want to die. How can I be like you and be brave?”
“It – it's okay... It's okay to be scared, and to cry, Goldie.” His own voice was now beginning to quake. “It – it was my duty... I'm... I'm sorry, I can't... I just...” his quaking began to break into sobbing, “Despite everything I wasn't strong enough for you...” She felt his hooves flinch. Now she began patting his back. “I wasn't strong enough... and I'm going to miss you, Gold Will...”
Something began to move within her. She felt the shift. When she'd heard him begin crying, she froze in shock, but her freeze began to thaw, and her own quaking calmed.
“T-thank you,” she said, breaking through her crying to a more stable voice. “I – they didn't beat me, Crimson. They didn't abuse me before taking me here... That's because of you, isn't it?”
He shakily nodded. “M-mhm...”
She began rocking him, “And you sent me a clean nightgown and diapering cloth, and they even let me have water…”
“Y-yeah, you... I know that nightgown is your favorite… I won’t let them stare at – or handle your body. I’ll get you a nice coffin to rest next to mom and dad, and… would you… would you like... a last bedtime story before I leave you in the mausoleum? – When I lay you there?” he gently offered as she comforted him.
“That… would be nice,” she answered, her voice growing weak again. “I didn’t think they let executed ponies be put in…”
“N-not normally, but - the governor will let this be an exception, and I won’t let aunt Dawnfire tell me no on letting you rest by ma and pa… I’ll read you your favorite story, about the wise and foolish princes, and the dragon and the drake...” he tenderly told her, hugging her back with a squeeze.
“I’ll… I promise I’ll be listening... Thank you.” It came easily by now – the last thing she wanted to think of was her unavoidable death. Thinking about it from his perspective made her forget, even if only a little, that she was the one who would be dead. She could pretend she’d still be alive. So she thought over everything he’d done for her. “Thank you for the little extra dignity, and thank you for not letting them handle my body. Thank you for letting us meet again, and talk. You've done a lot. You did more than just save me, you – ” her own voice broke for a moment.
She continued, “ – You let me talk to you one last time, and that's more than enough, it's more than I could ever ask for. And I'll – I'll see you again. I really believe it. In a warm world much better than this one. I – I know you aren't sure about all those beliefs, but the things I've learned these last few weeks... Honestly, I think it's worth it. I'd rather see the world how it really is – see through all the lies and fog – and taste the truth, even if just for a few days, and then... I'd rather this than keep living lost in lies... Look at me, getting all poetic, what are you doing to me, Crimson?” she finished with a lighthearted tease through her teary eyes.
The music of a distant clocktower rang through the air, as a small herd of ponies hustled up the stairs to the tower. The bell would ring a small tune, like a grandfather clock, before striking the hours, and the guardsponies rushed to be ready to make the governor's statement true. The weight of her body would snap the rope taut on the sixth toll.
“You did it,” his wavering voice told her. “You found out how to be brave. Look at you, comforting me,” he pulled back from the hug just far enough to look her in the eyes.
“I'm still scared...” Yet her voice lacked the pitiful smallness from earlier. It had taken on some calm, yet powerful tone. “But – seeing you break down – it just – I guess it made me realize I don't care about my own death more than I care about seeing you like this. You've always been so strong for me, so seeing you start to cry –” now her voice began to weaken, but only a little, and it quickly found strength again, “ – I can't see you hurt this badly. But I can't send – I can't send another pony to their death, either. I know – they probably have a family, too...”
The bell's music ended. The others were already up on the tower with them.
“Please do me a favor?” she asked, her voice soft and caring, and devoid of fear as a guard stepped in and put the noose back on her. She obediently sat down on the trap door, not offering any resistance.
The bell tolled once.
“Of course! What is it?” his voice was almost as quiet, though filled with an eager obedience, wanting to hear what she had to say in the seconds she had left.
The bell struck a second time, and they began hurriedly tying her forelegs to her stomach while he still had his hooves on her shoulders.
“Please don't cry,” she asked, pausing for a moment, then correcting herself.
The bell struck a third time.
“Or – if you do, just be strong in the end and forgive yourself, okay?”
The bell rang a fourth time, and her forelegs were tied.
He sprang forward and squeezed her in another hug, the two guards stepping back, their work finished.
“Of course! -” he answered.
“I love you!” They both said in sync.
“Sir, please step off the trap door!” the officer urged.
The bell rang a fifth time.
They squeezed harder, one last time, and he planted a firm kiss on her cheek, making her smile one last time.
“SIR!” the capped guard commanded, his hoof on the lever.
In a single moment, Crimson stepped back off the trap door, away from his sister, and she fell.
She felt the air rush by, and never heard the sixth strike of the clock-tower, but felt the rope jerk like a strong buck to her neck.
She sprang up in bed with a yell.
Applejack's head spun as she made sense of what she saw – her bedroom at Sweet Apple Acres. Pinkie Pie and Twilight were upright and hugging just off the foot of her bed. “Applejack! Rarity read the book!” the princess frantically started.
She felt her cheeks soaked with tears and her body weak and shaky, but the memories faded away as quickly as confusion and anger set in – being ushered in at an accelerated rate by the frantic ticking of a stopwatch Twilight carried. The farmhorse's voice ramped up from tired, groggy and weak to angry to the tempo of the incessant ticking, “Y'all are usin' magic an' poppin' in on my room in the middle'a the night just 'cause Rarity read some book!? Wait! – ” the realization came over her at the same time that she saw the Book of Knowledge floating next to Twilight. “THE book!?”
Panic and memories of all the warnings and decisions around the book flooded into her mind, washing the otherworldly memories out.
“Yes!” Twilight emphasized, opening it towards AJ. “All we have to do is put our hooves on the mark here and we're off!”
She quickly trusted that if Twilight was flashing it in her face it was safe to look at. The page had a blue, glowing outline of a hoofprint – not a horseshoe print, but the hoof itself. Above it was some fancy curly language she couldn't begin to make anything discernible from, but oddly enough, she understood it. She blinked in confusion – she'd never seen the scribbles in her life before, yet she clearly understood them to mean, “put your hoof on the mark to follow into a horrible, cold world after Rarity. One that will seem familiar to you.”
“At least I think,” her bookish friend added, turning the book to look back at it, herself.
As soon as the text left her sight, AJ completely forgot what the scribbles even looked like – though the message was still clear in her mind.
“Aiight.” The workhorse immediately slipped out of bed, grabbed her lasso, wrapped it over a shoulder, and put her hat on. For some reason, the sight and feeling of the rope made her shudder, but she ignored the odd repulsion to her lifelong trusty tool. No time to bundle up my mane with hair bands, we gotta go. “So all three'a us gotta put our hooves on that print at once, or what?”
“I think as long as we're all touching, want to go, and even just one of us touches the page, then that'll do it. The text here – it's definitely some strong magic! Universal language! – but I think that's what it's saying,” she explained as AJ prepared, taking another glance at the text. “Nevermind that the magic can literally mind-read – I mean magically normally works by intent but to actively measure – eh, nevermind that, we need to hurry!”
Despite her reluctance to fuss with her mane, she still grabbed a few red hair bands, putting them in her hat and put her hat back on her head. This is a good way to carry'em. Maybe if we get a moment to pause I can put'em on – it does help to keep the hair outta my face if the wind's wrong, and keep it from gettin' caught in things. “So you used my hair to get here and all?” she asked.
Twilight's head perked up. “What – oh my gosh! I've been in such a rush I forgot! Or wait – I was arguing with Pinkie!”
“But you're not bald so what's going on!?” Pinkie cried.
“I just took one hair, Pinkie, and – I put AJ's hair in the book! I don't think the book did anything to it – I'm in a hurry and under a lot of pressure and it's like four in the morning, okay?! Let's just get going!”
Her bedroom door creaked as Applebloom walked in. “What in Equestria is goin' on in here? Did some'a your friends just pop on over? Is there a fire or somethin'!?”
“Uhm, we got some serious business to take care of is all – real important, we're in a real hurry. Friendship princess stuff,” AJ explained.
She felt an odd twinge on seeing her little sister – like she missed her. But I just saw her an' said goodnight a few hours ago...
But she couldn't shake the feeling she'd just gotten out of some terrible situation where she'd never see her again. It gnawed at her stomach.
The filly yawned. “How long you gonna be gone? Do you gotta go now?” She propped up an eyebrow as she looked around the corner and saw Twilight with her stopwatch, her ears swiveling to the source of the ticking.
“Yes, we're already running late! We've got to go - ” Twilight gasped. “Two minutes ago! Come on, everypony, hurry!”
Big Mac's head popped into the hallway.
On seeing him, Applejack felt the odd feeling again – but this time it was more than a mere twinge. “Big Mac!” she excitedly greeted. It was a sweet delight to see him – even beyond the familiar friendliness. She missed him, just like Applebloom. She tried to brush the feeling aside, but piling on top of the feeling already there from Applebloom, she couldn't hold back any longer. “Get o'er here!”
“Somethin' wrong?” he asked, slightly startled as he trotted in and she dashed up to greet him with a hug. He returned it, though not with the same enthusiasm.
“No, just – I dunno, bad dream is all,” she dismissed, though her voice rode the edge of breaking.
“I'm sorry we really don't have time for this!” Twilight urged.
Big Mac tried to pull away, but AJ went in for one more hard squeeze before letting him go. “Uh – sorry, just missed ya real bad. Or uh – I dunno how long we'll be gone. I really don't. That, too.”
She turned to Applebloom standing next to her, and gave her the same treatment she'd just given her brother. “Y'all take care, ya'hear? Just in case. But it shouldn't be more than a few minutes! If we're longer, uh...” she glanced back at Twilight. The alicorn was grimacing widely, shaking her head. She turned back to her brother. “Then tell Rainbow and Fluttershy we read the dangerous book. That's all! I'll see y'all later, g'bye, now!” She released her sister and stepped back towards her friends.
Twilight quickly glanced in-between the book and Applejack's siblings. “We'll read it somewhere else, I don't want it lying around for other ponies to stumble on – when Rarity read it, she left it behind, so presumably we'll leave it behind, too, when we do.” She charged her horn.
“What book – that book?” Applebloom asked, giving the strange tome a confused look.
“Be safe!” Big Mac called out.
And in a flash, they were gone, leaving the night as silent as they had found it.