Portals had a habit of opening up in relatively abandoned alleys. One would think portals would find themselves appearing in the middle of well-traveled town squares and populated streets, but more often than not the interdimensional gateways would appear in a convenient location that wouldn’t demand immediate government intervention and explanation.
Today was no exception. Burgerbelle jumped through the portal into a dumpster filled with garbage bags while Squiddy, Blink, and Cinder all landed on the ground next to the disgusting trash collector. When the portal zipped closed with a pop they found themselves alone except for a stray cat who was looking from them to its day-old rat meal in a bewildered manner.
“Should we tell it?” Cinder asked.
“None of us are Fluttershy,” Squiddy pointed out.
“Cats are smarter than we give them credit for. I’m sure it c-”
The cat stumbled off its perch and fell onto the ground. It yowled in rage and took off at a high speed until it found a broken window and jumped in - cutting itself on some of the glass.
Cinder pursed her lips. “...Sure. Prove me wrong, cat. You do that.”
“Cats do what they want,” Blink observed, pulling Burgerbelle out of her trash heap. “You should talk to Cattie - yes she’s one of us - I don’t know the last time she actually listened to any form of order whatsoever. Besides ‘eat and enjoy yourself’, and even then she tries to look disgruntled about it.”
“Nya,” Burgerbelle said.
Blink glared at her. “Burger, we left that world already…”
“Meow.”
“Better.”
Cinder took a moment to scrutinize the surroundings. “So. City. Abandoned alley. Uh… yeah I got nothing besides it being pony construction.”
Burgerbelle snapped her fingers. “And so it begins…” She led the Sweeties out of the alley and onto a street that didn’t look much better - there were still garbage dumpsters, loose bits of trash on the ground, and worn down apartment complexes. At least here there were signs of pony life in the form of a small group of colts sitting around a dumpster fire and a tall mare strolling down the street with a mean look. The colts saw them come out of the alley first - looking surprised for a moment, but quickly looking away and refusing to make further eye contact. The mare, on the other hand, held her gaze firmly on them.
Squiddy folded her arms. “What the hell are you lookin’ at?”
The mare made no vocal response, she simply held her gaze - unwavering, but inactive as well.
Cinder put on her smile and waved welcomingly. “Hello! Do you might telling us where we are?”
The mare raised an eyebrow.
“Uh… we’re a little lost and could use some help?” Cinder asked, cocking her head.
“I’m going to go out on a limb and say she’s not the helping type,” Blink commented. “We can try the colts - they look scared enough to tell us what we want to know.”
“But they’re scared!”
Squiddy cracked her knuckles - since she lacked bones, this made a rather disgusting ‘squerlch’ noise. “They should be.”
“Squiddy…”
Squiddy jumped toward the colts aggressively, prompting Cinder and Blink to scramble after her in a vain attempt to calm her down. “Hey kids,” Squiddy said with an ominous smirk. “Care to tell me where I am?”
One of them looked up at her with a disinterested expression. “In our territory.”
“Do I look like I care?”
“Squiddy, stop antagonizing the local gang!” Blink hissed.
“You were the one who suggested this a minute ago.”
“Clearly they’re not so much ‘scared’ as… give me a sec, I’ll think of the word…”
“I’ve never met a gang before,” Cinder said, eyes wide. “What’s it like?”
That was the first question to get a reaction out of the colt. “Does your kid have brain damage?”
“Pfft, yeah,” another laughed, “she must be from the south.”
Blink groaned, not wanting to get into the ‘family relation’ of all the Sweeties. “No, she’s fine…”
“She likes fire a bit much,” Burgerbelle said, suddenly behind the colts.
This scared them. They all stood up quickly and drew knives, aiming them at Burgerbelle. “Back off.”
Burgerbelle fell onto her back, becoming a papery design on the ground. “Done!”
“What is that?” one of the colts asked.
“I don’t know, but it’s not pony, so it’s gonna go or it’s gonna get shredded.”
“Oh, racists?” Squiddy narrowed her eyes. “This just keeps getting better and better.”
“You’re the one in our district,” one spat. “Don’t matter how stupid you are, you aren’t supposed to be here. So take your floppy ears a-”
“They aren’t ears!” Squiddy stomped her foot. “These? These are my ears!” She pointed at the sharp protrusions on the edge of her head. “These ‘floppy’ things are tentacles and I can strangle you with them.”
“Squiddy stop being so… you…” Blink muttered. “We can just go a-”
It was at this point the mare with the angry expression ran past them, knocking Cinder to the ground in her rush. She galloped down the alley, not even taking a moment to look back.
“...Cinder, check to see if you still have your communicator,” Squiddy said.
Cinder felt the back of her neck - finding nothing there. “What the- HEY! GIVE THAT BACK!” She took off in a run after the mare, Squiddy and Blink taking up positions at her sides.
Burgerbelle shot up. “Sorry kids, looks like my time as your carpet is up, I must run!” She started to ice skate across the concrete ground after the rest of her team, performing several tricks as she went.
Ahead of her, Cinder summoned a fireball to her horn and aimed at the mare. “Got you…”
The fireball sailed true - but the mare jumped right over it. “You really do have brain damage, don’t you!?” the mare called back.
“Just give it back!” Cinder shouted.
“You seem to be mistaken, this is mine and you’re trying to take it from me!”
“That’s not true and you know it!”
The mare’s stern exterior flipped to confusion for a moment - then an amused smile. “Oh, this is gonna be good…”
Cinder fired another fireball, missing once again. “Blink! Squiddy! Little help!?”
Squiddy was the one with the weapons for the situation - she pulled out an ink gun and started spraying the white toxin onto the mare.
“AUGH!” the mare shouted through the slight burning sensation. “The fuck is this shit!?”
Squiddy cackled. “I find I like reactions better when people don’t know. Lets their imagination… go places.”
“You’re disgusting,” Blink muttered.
Cinder didn’t get it and didn’t care - her sister called her in that thing! She needed it back! Who cared if they could probably get a replacement easily? Who cared that she’d only had it a little over a week? It was still important!
Squiddy took out an inky ‘sniper’ and hit the mare with enough force to toss her to the ground. She was annoyingly agile, however, and managed to turn the momentum into an advantage, rolling forward at a faster rate.
“Squiddy!” Cinder complained.
“Shut up,” Squiddy muttered, taking out her ink grenade. “This’ll get her…”
And then the mare ran out into a more populated area - and started screaming. “HELP ME! THEY’RE TRYING TO KILL ME!”
“You stole from us and that ink is non-lethal!” Cinder shouted, charging after her - tactfully dissipating her fireball. “Just give it back and we can all forget about this!”
“AND THEY’RE THIEVES! GET THEM!” She ran past several ponies - most of whom looked as though they didn’t care - to a tall brown stallion with a mustache and a badge. “Officer! Officer! Help!”
The officer sighed with an annoyed expression. “Fine. I’ll deal with this.” He cleared his throat. “Stop in the name of the law!”
Blink, Cinder, and Burgerbelle all stopped. Burgerbelle had to trip Squiddy to keep her from continuing.
The officer scratched his mustache. “So. You’re accusing them of trying to kill you and take what’s rightfully yours?”
“Yes!” the mare shouted.
“And you…” he looked to Cinder. “Are accusing my daughter of stealing from you!”
“Yes we a-” Cinder paled in the middle of her sentence. “Y-your daughter?”
“Yes.”
“We’re screwed,” Squiddy moaned.
The mare sneered. “You all should have known better! You don’t go after me. No one does.”
Burgerbelle looked at the officer. “Excuse me, do you mind telling me what the legal punishment for theft is in this area?”
The officer looked at her in disbelief - an expression that matched most of the other ponies that were looking at the Flat. “Uh…”
“Surely there is some legal code.” Burgerbelle smirked. “I have my objections ready…”
“...You really are from the south, aren’t you?” the mare rolled her eyes. “All crimes are punishable by death.”
Squiddy facepalmed. “Uuuugh…”
“You’ll have to come with me,” the officer said, taking out a pair of hoofcuffs. “You monkeys will have to be tied.”
“Ooh, ooh, can I tie them?” the mare asked.
Burgerbelle sighed. “The Great and Powerful Burgerbelle has had enough! SMOKE BOMBS!” A magician’s hat appeared on her head, and about ten smoke bombs appeared in her hands. She threw them to the ground, filling the entire area with purple clouds. Cinder lost control of herself in the coughing - but Squiddy was able to pick her up and run her out of the crowded square.
Soon, the shouts of ponies were behind them - but the smell of smoke wasn’t. They ended up in another alleyway without a living soul in it, taking a moment to clear the smoke out of their lungs.
Squiddy sprayed ink all over herself to rejuvenate her body. “I hate it when you do that.”
Burgerbelle shrugged. “It got us out of there, didn’t it?” She poked her head around the edge of the alley. “This is clearly a place where it’s better to blend in than stand out…”
“Switch?” Blink asked.
Burgerbelle nodded. “Switch.” She pulled out her phone and made a call. “Hey, Suzie, racism against non-ponies. Squiddy and I need to switch. Also, could you lock on to Cinder’s device and teleport it to her? We had a bad experience with a privileged thief.”
Within a few seconds, Cinder’s device was teleported to the tip of her horn. “Huh. Didn’t know we could do that.”
“We all have trackers so Swip can find us if needed,” Blink said. “Usually flawless unless we’re in space or something.”
“Neat.”
A portal opened up in the alley, depositing Nira and Celia into the world.
“They just can’t handle you, can they?” Celia asked, meeting Burgerbelle’s high-five.
“Ain’t nobody alive that can handle this baby,” Burgerbelle chuckled.
Squiddy trudged into the portal behind her.
“Have fun!” Burgerbelle waved, grinning - and vanishing the moment the portal popped out of existence.
Celia brushed her mane back. “All right, it appears we need to blend in.” She arranged her mane to cover the crystal in her forehead. “And now we all look normal. Anything I should be aware of?”
“All crimes are punishable by death,” Blink offered. “And I hear the south is full of idiots like us.”
“That gives us somewhere to go, at least,” Celia mused.
“So… question,” Cinder said. “We can just switch out team members?”
Celia nodded. “Occasionally it’s required - or it would simply make things easier to have or not have a particular Sweetie in any given world. It’s all part of balancing the expectations of the world with our own inherent weirdness.”
Nira raised an eyebrow. “Balance?”
“...Not an exact balance, you understand.” Celia turned to Blink. “Be a dear and hide us, will you?”
“Aye-aye!” Blink said, obfuscating their presence. “To the south!”
The re-arranged team of Sweeties headed in the aforementioned direction, walking out of the alley and into the city proper - this time without drawing too much attention. Just four ponies of similar coloration walking down a street, nothing to see here. Especially since they were partially Voided - even the ponies who were undoubtedly looking for them would not be able to pick them out of the crowd.
Now that there wasn’t a bunch of insanity going on around them, they were able to look at the city itself. Despite the run-down sections they had been traveling through, as they moved out they found the actually inhabited sections were in good shape - there were even a few carefully placed trees to give a little bit of green to the area. It did wonders to brighten the overall mood, especially considering the ominous factory-like behemoth structures that could be seen in the distance from time to time.
“...How big is this city?” Cinder asked, holding a hoof to her eyes, squinting at the distant structures. “Those have to be huge…”
Nira tapped her hoof into the ground, sending out a minor scanning spell. “Hmm… There are numerous ‘districts’ with defined boundaries, but the only edge I can find is to the south, giving way to wilderness. To the north there’s just more and more city.”
“Curious…” Celia said, examining the culture around them carefully. “Herd instinct.”
“Hmm?” Cinder asked.
“Some ponies have an instinct like human-world horses - the animals - to form giant herds. Extremely large cities are sometimes a result of that. Though I’m still not sure what to make about ‘crime equals death’ yet. I’m working on it though.”
“What have you noticed?”
Celia smiled at the opportunity to show off. “Ponies here have an attitude of complete distrust of each other, despite their close proximity. See them keeping their heads down? Notably, the ponies in authority hold their heads high, but everyone else doesn’t want to draw attention. I’ve noticed a few of them trying to hide injuries, suggesting not only that weakness is shunned, but that injury is common.” She shook her head. “This is not a city where the magic of friendship is prevalent - if it exists at all. The defining personality traits that usually set ponies apart from humans appear to be lacking for the most part. We will not receive a warm welcome here.”
“Then how are we going to get to the people in charge?”
Nira let out a grunt. “We analyze the world, determine who is in charge, and then if we think it’ll go well, grab their attention with some magic, or Swip, or whatever we think will be the most effective.”
“The challenge is finding out who’s in charge without making too much of a scene,” Blink added. “Clearly there’ll be some kind of ‘chain of command’-”
“There is,” Celia confirmed. “The ‘district’ we are in now has a head - I don’t know the title yet, I haven’t seen it in print - but I have seen what I believe is the title above them, the ‘superintendent’. In a city this big, the chain likely goes up four or five levels higher than that.”
“So we’re following the line of bureaucracy,” Cinder summarized. “Fun.”
“Especially if they try to kill us,” Nira added.
“...Sure…”
As they continued to walk, the demeanor of the ponies seemed only to get more extreme. The general distaste in their eyes increased. Near the edge of the dense district, Cinder caught sight of an outdoor play being performed across a street in a ‘fancier’ looking part of St. Orangeberg. The primary actor was a blue-gray unicorn who went through some rather extreme measures and a body projection spell to put on quite the impressive show - it looked like a battle between life and death, a spirit and a body. Cinder was awed.
The stallion was being booed off the stage with the crowd’s thrown tomatoes and sharp implements.
“Hey! It’s just a show, how about yo-” He had to duck under a thrown knife.
Cinder moved to help him, but Nira held her back.
“But…”
“He’s already getting away and we don’t understand their culture,” Nira said, gesturing at the shadowy shape of the stallion ducking into an alleyway. “I expect it was rather foolish of him to put the play on in the first place.”
“I don’t know…” Cinder said, frowning. “...What is it with the ponies in this place and their… cruelty?”
None of the Sweeties had an answer for her.
They eventually neared the end of the dense city-district’s borders, approaching an area that was significantly more pleasant to look at - with grass on the ground, trees in enough places to give the illusion of a forest, and Ponyville-esque construction houses.
Now leaving Ashton, now entering Partyville
-St. Orangeberg Geography Department
Cinder examined the large green sign. Under the word Partyville the word ‘fuckheads!’ was spray-painted in jarring orange letters. It looked old.
“The city’s called St. Orangeberg,” Blink observed.
“Obviously,” Nira deadpanned.
Cinder transitioned from the hard concrete to the soft grass with a smile. “Well, at least it looks nicer here.”
“I do wonder why the districts are so drastically different,” Celia mused, touching the leaf of a nearby tree. “Definitely real trees.”
“There are farms here,” Nira said. “Probably matches the ‘aesthetic’ or whatever.” She moved past the sign and into Partyville proper, indicating that she was getting impatient. The others trotted after her, allowing the gigantic buildings to fall into the distance. If they didn’t look behind them, they would almost be able to believe they were in a version of Ponyville.
They saw ponies they recognized walking around with smiles on their faces and cheerful expressions, for the most part. It was a dramatic contrast to the decidedly cutthroat attitude in the previous district.
Celia furrowed her brow, taking the ponies in. Her first instinct was ‘of course the local Ponyville has the magic of friendship’, but something nagging at the back of her mind told her that wasn’t what was going on here. There was something else…
“Looks like these ponies might be willing to help us,” Cinder said with a smile. “So how about we pick one an- OH! TWILIGHT!”
The purple unicorn with a small dragon on her back either didn’t hear the unicorn or was actively ignoring the shouting of her name.
Blink ‘blinked’ into existence next to Twilight. “Hiya!”
Twilight stared at the shaded filly standing in front of her. “...Not that I care, but why are you wearing sunglasses?”
“I’m awesome, that’s what.”
“Uh-huh…” Twilight muttered, looking away from Blink and continuing on her walk. Spike had an even stranger reaction - one of scanning the area, as if looking for potential prey.
“...You’re ignoring me,” Blink said.
Twilight made no response.
“So, what if I told you I’m not Sweetie Belle, I’m Blink, and I’m not from around here?”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t care bec-”
Cinder and Nira were standing in front of her, staring into her eyes intently.
“Why do you all loo- nevermind, nevermind,” Twilight shook her head.
“What, hey!” Cinder said, trotting to keep up with her. “We just want to know a few things about where we are, and you look like a pony who can help us!”
Twilight’s frown turned into a glorious scowl.
“...You’re a lot grumpier than usual.”
Twilight’s features twitched visibly at that comment.
“Come on, just tell us a bit about what goes on here in Po- Partyville! Who’s in charge? What fun things are there to do around here? Where’s Sweetie?”
“Look, you’re in my way, so kindly fuck off. Go bother the mayor, I’ve got better things to do than mess with a handful of kids who think pretending to be from another city is even remotely believable.”
“But Twil-”
“Right away,” Celia said, pushing the three Sweeties out of the way. “Sorry to bother you.”
“Ponies always apologizing…” Twilight muttered under her breath, continuing on her way. She didn’t look back.
“...She was rude,” Cinder said. “Maybe ponies aren’t so nice here…”
“She was the only one not smiling that I’ve seen,” Celia observed. “She’s likely from an outside district. We’ll probably have better luck if we talk to someone else.”
“Hey!” Blink said, jumping in front of a Bon Bon. “Which way to the Mayor’s?”
Bon Bon stared at Blink for a moment, processing the question. She pointed at the town hall. “I saw her in there.”
“...You sure?” Blink asked, sensing a lack of conviction from the mare.
Bon Bon looked confused by the question. “Yes,” she stated plainly. After a few moments of silence Blink motioned for her to continue. “...She looks tired today.”
“...We’ll just go look for her,” Nira muttered.
“Thanks!” Blink added.
“You’re welcome,” she said with a smile - seemingly not noticing that the Sweeties were all eerily similar in appearance to each other.
Nira grunted, walking toward the town hall.
“Oh, uh, bye - and thanks for helping us!” Cinder said with a grin, dashing after Nira. “Why do you have to end our conversations so quickly? We were making a friend!”
“She wasn’t going to be useful anymore.”
“There was something off about her,” Celia said, deep in thought. “Not the usual ‘oh, crazy stuff happens in Ponyville all the time’ off, either.”
“Let’s hope the mayor can spread some light on the situation!” Blink jumped to the door of town hall and knocked a happy little beat into the door.
There was no response.
Blink’s knocked again - her happy tapping tune from before automatically replaced with a harsher, more aggravated beating. “Hey! Mayor Mare! We need to talk to you!”
There was a crash from inside the town hall. This was followed by another crash and the yowling of a very annoyed cat. Following this, several thuds and confused hoofsteps emanated - ending only when the door opened to reveal Mayor Mare with a tentative smile. “Y-yes?” She asked, a small bruise on her forehead.
Cinder got a sinking feeling in her stomach.
“Yes, Mayor Mare, my name is Chalcedony, Celia,” Celia said with a short bow. “I come from a distant land and was wondering if you could tell us more about the city we find ourselves in.”
Mayor Mare clearly wasn’t in the proper mental state to process this question. “Eh… what?” Unlike Bon Bon, her voice wasn't completely calm, and in fact was clearly a ball of unresolved stress festering in the mind of an aging mare.
“...Do you know who runs St. Orangeberg?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“Uh… hold on, why do you want to know?”
“We’re a team of explorers from a distant land,” Celia said, keeping her tone calm and understanding. “It behooves us to find the pony in charge - for this district, that is clearly you, but there must be those higher up the chain, correct?”
“Distant land…” Mayor Mare blinked. “If you’re from another city y-you should already know the correct protocols! The council’s got everything sorted out and - I don’t even know the policy for this sort of thing!”
“Mayor Mare, calm yourself, we are not here to hurt you - or to antagonize you.”
“This is some kind of joke, isn’t it? Some… white ponies coming along and trying to tear an old mare’s heart out!”
Celia put a calm, understanding hoof on Mayor Mare. “This is no joke, madam. But there is also no reason to enter a panic. We are your friends, should you want us.”
Cinder smiled adorably. “Yeah! I’m Cinder, that’s Blink, and that’s Nira. She may seem creepy but deep down she’s got a big heart!”
“My cardiovascular organ is significantly larger than average,” Nira deadpanned.
Cinder facehooved. “You did that on purpose…”
Nira gave no response beyond the slightest hint of a smile.
“I…” Mayor Mare took a breath, trying to calm herself. “Okay, I don’t know the protocol, but I think I can at least answer some q-”
There was a large explosion that ended the conversation then and there. Mayor Mare yelped and slammed her door shut while the Sweeties whirled around to face whatever it was. They were too late to see the source of the actual mystical explosion - but what they could see was a very scared looking orange filly - a Scootaloo.
A Scootaloo who was looking right at them with a mixture of disbelief and shock.
“Hey!” Blink waved at her. “Care to e-”
Scootaloo took off in a run toward the ‘forested’ section of Partyville.
“Get back here!” Blink shouted, jumping after her - Nira following close behind. The two Sweeties waited until they were in the trees, outside most ponies’ sights, before they used their magic on Scootaloo. Blink appeared in front of her, only for Scootaloo to pass right through. “...Huh, most ponies don’t go for that…”
Nira cast a dark chain spell, missing Scootaloo by mere inches as she ducked sharply to the left, making the chain encircle a tree instead. She let out a cruel laugh before running further into the forest.
“She thinks she’s funny does she…?” Nira muttered, drawing a few magic runes in the ground. A dark, ominous claw shot out of the circle of runes, sailing right at Scootaloo - no grabbing trees this time.
Except Scootaloo ducked into a rock, phasing right through it - a place the shadowy hand couldn’t reach. Blink jumped onto the rock and used her own intangible nature to fish around inside the rock, pulling Scootaloo out.
Scootaloo looked at her in shock. “What the fuck are you doing!?”
“Trying to talk t-” Scootaloo bucked her in the face without warning, dazing the ghostly mare. She galloped off deeper into the forest.
Nira teleported to Blink and helped her up. “A filly just about knocked you out.”
“...Mistakes were made,” Blink muttered, rubbing her head.
Nira huffed - teleporting the two of them in front of Scootaloo.
“Wh- hey!” the pegasus shouted indignantly.
“Don’t try anything,” Nira warned.
Scootaloo tried something - that was, ducking under the ground. Nira stamped a hoof, prompting a large section of the ground behind her to erupt in a dark explosion. The form of Scootaloo flew into the air and fell back down into Blink’s hooves. “Gotcha.”
Scootaloo squirmed. “LET ME GO YOU FUCKING LUNATIC!”
“Ah, no. How about you explain what was going on back there?”
“Scootaloo!?”
The two Sweeties and Scootaloo looked up to see this world’s version of the Crusader Clubhouse - a structure that was grounded rather than up in a tree. The local Sweetie Belle currently stood in the doorway, staring at the events unfolding in what was effectively her front yard, a look of shock and disbelief on her face.
“You’re me! You’re both me!?”
“Yep!” Blink said with a wink. “Now, uh, can you tell your orange friend to stop squirming so we can have a ta-”
“Let her go!” Sweetie screeched, waving her hooves around.
“Maybe once w-”
“Do as she says.”
The voice was commanding, reverberating, and carried with it a power that told Blink disobeying would be very, very stupid. She dropped Scootaloo instantly and backed away sheepishly.
Nira, on the other hand, was not the pony to take being challenged well. “Do not think you can order us around, whoever you are.”
Apple Bloom walked out of the clubhouse, past the now-tentative and uncertain Sweetie. The yellow filly brimmed with power, the air around her shimmering as if it were under a hot flame. “I am the Whisperer. Who are you?”
“Nira, League of Sweetie Belles,” Nira said, dropping her voice’s darker components the moment she sensed a willingness for conversation.
“And I’m Blink!” Blink offered. “Also League of Sweetie Belles.”
The local Sweetie looked back and forth between the two of them. “...There’s more…”
“Yes,” the Whisperer said, narrowing her eyes. “No doubt we will have many questions about this later. But for now, why were you assaulting Scootaloo?”
“There was an explosion,” Blink explained. “She was the only thing around that seemed related to it, and she ran away from us like a thief who’d just seen the cops.”
“Hey!” Scootaloo shouted. “I’d face down the cops!”
“Then why’d you run?”
“You look like Sweetie! You didn’t seem affected by the other ghosts! That’s not normal! Not to mention that you are a ghost!”
The local Sweetie’s expression blanked once again. “Wait, what?”
Blink removed her sunglasses and smirked. “Blink’s the name, being a ghost is my game. Pleased to meet you.”
“...This is going to be problematic,” the Whisperer observed.
~~~
Cinder and Celia were standing in front of town hall’s doors.
Cinder blinked. “Um… Celia? Why are we standing here?”
Celia put a hoof to her head and tried to focus. “I… I’m not all that sure…”
“Where’d Nira and Blink go?”
Celia looked around - finding no sign of either pony.
“They were here with us,” Cinder muttered. “We were here… and… why were we even here?”
“This looks like an important building,” Celia observed. “Perhaps we were trying to make contact with the leaders?”
“Maybe? Did something go wrong?”
“I… am uncertain.” Celia furrowed her brow. She carefully focused her power through her crystal, casting a simple spell. “Blink and Nira are… in that forest-like area over there.”
“They could have been captured!”
“I doubt it. I would be sensing a lot more magic coming from Nira if that were the case…”
“...So why aren’t we with them?”
“I have absolutely no idea.”
“Another set of victims…” They heard a pony mutter under her breath - a Pinkie Pie that was passing them by.
“Victims?” Celia said, stepping down from the town hall’s steps. “Of what?”
Pinkie blinked. “Oh. It’s nothing.”
“Didn’t sound like it was nothing,” Cinder said. “C’mon, I…”
“You look just like her,” Pinkie said without thinking.
“Oh! You know the version of me in this world? What’s she like?”
“Version?”
Celia cleared her throat. “We represent the League of Sweetie Belles, a group of explorers from lands far beyond. We’re all Sweetie Belle in one way or another.”
Pinkie looked from Celia to Cinder. “...Either you’re very devoted to a joke or you’re telling the truth. Huh. Interdimensional incursion…” she scratched her chin. “So you’re aliens?”
“...I mean, not really?” Cinder said.
“We are,” Celia corrected.
“Want me to ‘take you to our leader’?”
“Actually, yes, we are having quite the bit of difficulty figuring out who’s in charge of St. Orangeberg.”
“Oh.” Pinkie awkwardly rubbed the back of her head. “I can’t really help you with that…”
“It’s no issue - but you could tell us what happened back there.”
Pinkie frowned. “I… You’re both really nice, and I wouldn’t want to make you think anything that bad…”
“Trust us, it won’t be that bad,” Cinder said with a smile. “No matter how crazy and absurd it is, we’ll be able to take it.”
“It’s not you I’m worried about…”
“It’ll be fine,” Celia insisted, putting a calming hoof on her shoulder.
“...Ghosts wiped your memory.”
Celia raised an eyebrow. “Ghosts.”
“I knew it, you w-”
“What sort of ghosts?”
Pinkie paused. “...Come again?”
“The standard undead kind, the sort that are just loose spirits, or the artificial kind?”
“There are that many kinds of ghosts?” Cinder asked.
Celia nodded. “Many worlds that allow them have them in different flavors.”
“You know about ghosts?” Pinkie asked - excited, but also trying real hard not to shout.
“Yeah!” Cinder beamed. “One of our friends is a ghost! She was the one in the sunglasses!”
“You’re friends with a ghost!?”
“Yep!”
“Probably not the sort of ghosts you have around here,” Celia admitted. “She’s not one to manipulate memory.”
“Well, not all ghosts can do that,” Pinkie explained. “Only the bigger ones and - you know what, we shouldn’t talk here. Let’s go to my bakery, where we don’t have to worry!” She broke out into a big grin. “I’ll tell you everything you want to know about ghosts!”
“There’s the Pinkie I know!” Cinder cheered.
“...Pinkie you know?”
“Yeah, Pinkies are usually happy grinning party ponies!”
Pinkie looked off into the distance. “...That’s almost terrifying.”
“You definitely aren’t like most,” Celia admitted.
“I plan to keep it that way.”
~~~
“Problematic?” Blink asked.
The Whisperer furrowed her brow. “There’s no way you could know… you didn’t even know there were other ghosts until you came here.”
“Yep. Care to explain?”
“Here’s one way to put it,” Scootaloo said with a smirk. “You’re fucked. Once the Council finds you they’re gonna grab you, enslave you, and then use whatever weird powers you have to conquer everything!”
Nira growled. “I’d like to see them try…”
Blink chuckled. “Yeah, we can take eldritch abominations, some ghosts aren’t going to be a huge problem.”
“You underestimate them,” the Whisperer said.
Blink smirked. “No offense, Whisperer, but we’ve been at this a-”
“I’m well aware of the multiverse, Blink, and I know the Aspects of reality you draw your essence from.”
This shut Blink up.
“They could bind you, force you to obey them, and they would conquer St. Orangeberg with it, if not the world. But even if you could free yourself, even if the Council knew about you, everything would destabilize. You would prove to them that the multiverse exists, and that they should seek it out for conquest.”
“Are you aware of Merodi Universalis?” Nira asked. “We would use our resources to quell any would-be multiversal conquerors.”
The Whisperer paused for a second, pondering this.
“Wouldn’t it also cause a lot of instability?” the local Sweetie asked. “Like… a ghost that is not only free from the council, but lives in harmony with the living as an equal. She exists. That’s… that brings up a lot of questions.”
“Shit,” Scootaloo blinked. “You’re right, that would be bad. We get a pass because of Nona… If word got out about Blink…”
Sweetie did some math in her head. “Some of the dead would try to interact with the living, the living would retaliate, the Hunters would intervene, the living would fight their own Hunters, and with any…” Sweetie put a hoof to her head. “Ugh, that’d be a mess.”
“Right, solution: we just don’t reveal our presence quite yet,” Blink said. “Not every world’s government has to know about us. We can hand this off to Relations and Aid, see what they think the best way to move forward is. We’re just contact.”
“I can speak for this world,” the Whisperer offered.
“I thought you were some kind of Guardian Spirit,” Nira said.
The Whisperer nodded. “In many ways, I am.”
Blink smiled. “In that case, I look forward to working with you. ...So, you wanna hear the whole ‘League of Sweetie Belles’ spiel, or…”
“Yes please,” the Sweetie said, ramming her face into Blink’s. “Tell me everything. About the multiverse, about how you travel, about the adventures... “
Scootaloo huffed. “Sweetie! They attacked me!”
“It was a misunderstanding, though.” Sweetie smiled at her friend. “They seem to be nice ponies.”
“And so are the ponies in Partyville, and they’re all idiots.”
“Just because they’re stupid doesn’t take away from their niceness.”
Scootaloo let out an annoyed groan. “Oh for the… whatever, give the spiel, I want to hear this. What on earth would cause a million white boneheads to band together?”
And Blink gave the spiel - the introductions, what the LSB was about, how they explored, and who she and Nira were. She explained about the general technology trades, transfer of information, and further alliances.
“...and Merodi Universalis has several dozen full members now, with over a hundred close allies!” Blink concluded, a big grin on her face.
“...Gimme a sec…” Sweetie said, ducking into the clubhouse. After rummaging around a bit she came back out with a small glowing piece of circuitry. “Here! Let’s start the technology trade!”
Nira cocked her head. “It usually doesn’t begin this early.”
“Well, I have technology, and this little guy should be able to let you detect curiosity! ...I was going to give you a more all-purpose scanner, but that seems to have gone missing.”
“Do my ears deceive me?” Scootaloo asked. “The organized wizard lost something?”
“Shush,” Sweetie muttered with a roll of her eyes. “Anyway, consider this the start of our relationship! ...You know, since you won’t be able to contact the ghosts or the living without bringing an end to society as we know it.”
Blink accepted the gift. “Thank you. In return…” She tossed Sweetie a communicator. “You can contact us through that. Become a member of the League and everything.”
“Oh this screen is amazing and I love it and of course I would love to go see everything where do I si-” Sweetie paused, glancing awkwardly back at the Whisperer and then to Scootaloo. “I uh… as completely amazing and awesome as the multiverse sounds, I don’t think I could leave my friends here. I’d rather stay with them than have all the amazing experiences in the world. ...Or beyond.”
“Most Sweeties in the League stay on their home worlds anyway,” Blink pointed out.
“Really?”
Nira nodded. “Most have family attachments and obligations, only leaving the universe occasionally, some only using the communicators.”
Blink smirked. “And those that do leave sometimes bring their friends with them.”
“Oh, so the League of Sweetie Belles isn’t just for Sweeties?” Scootaloo ribbed. “Your name’s a misnomer.”
Blink waved a hoof side to side. “Eh, it depends. There are non-Sweetie members - Mattie, a Rarity, comes to mind - but in most cases a Sweetie’s friends are just tag-alongs with her. Or him. I always forget to mention the Silvers…”
Sweetie’s eyes sparkled. “I could… explore the multiverse…”
“I’m not leaving,” the Whisperer said. “And Scootaloo…”
“This world’s a crapsack, if I can leave, I’m out of here.”
“You’ll need rings like mine to survive in most places,” Blink added. “I mean, if you are a ghost.”
“Yes I’m a ghost,” Scootaloo muttered with a roll of her eyes. “Why would I need those stupid rings?”
“That’s actually really fascinating, see, most universes don’t allow ghosts and s-”
Suddenly Blink’s legs froze in place, causing her to yelp out in surprise. The next thing she knew she was galloping as fast as she could away from St. Orangeberg. “WHAT’S HAPPENING!?”
“Scootaloo, Sweetie,” the Whisperer said calmly but authoritatively. “Stay with her.”
Scootaloo looked like she wanted to complain for a moment - then shook her head and took off after the two fleeing Sweeties.
“I am not going to be able to help,” the Whisperer said quickly, starting to lose her reverberation and special appearance - looking more like a regular Apple Bloom now. “There is a high-level ghost here that just bound your friend. It’s up to you to take care of ‘em.”
“Lethal force?”
“It would probably be a good idea if she didn’t tell anyone anything.”
Nira grinned. “Best news I’ve had all day…” With a quick burst of magic, she cut a gash in her left front leg, forcing blood to pour out onto the ground. She didn’t do anything complicated - just a simple soul latch spell that searched the area for anything that wished her ill.
The blood identified the target within a second - driving a bubbling rope with a spike at the end into a nearby tree, prompting a Tree Hugger to jump out, landing confidently on all four hooves.
“You look like you’ll be fun to kill - whatever you are - but you won’t stand a chance against a Knight!” she boasted with a haughty smile. “Try to at least put up a fight for a few seconds though.”
Nira raised an eyebrow. “I’m just a unicorn.” Deep red tendrils shot out of Nira’s back, formed of her own internal fluids. “I bet you think your world is pretty dreary and dark, don’t you? Ghosts at every turn, an endless distrust and fear among ponies… You think you’ve seen it all.”
The Tree Hugger charged, shifting in and out of vision through some unknown ghostly power.
“You haven’t seen anything.”
Tree Hugger appeared to Nira’s left, her limb vibrating fast enough to ignite the air around her.
And then Nira went all out.
The explosion didn’t go ‘boom’ - it screamed.
~~~
“Ghosts,” Pinkie said, putting a hoof to her chin and trying not to betray her inner giddiness. They were inside her bakery, which smelled nice enough, though there was some rude graffiti on the back wall she was choosing not to pay attention to. “Ghosts are ponies that died in a different time, displaced at the moment of death to the past or the future.”
Cinder paid rapt attention to every word that came out of Pinkie’s mouth while Celia divided her attention between Pinkie and the world around them.
“Most ghosts come from the past - not that I know why - and they’re basically immortal. Lots of ghosts have different abilities - phasing, blinding, hypnosis, and memory manipulation among other things. It’d be a pretty nice life, or unlife, if they weren’t basically puppets of the bigger ghosts.”
“Puppets?” Celia asked, eyebrow raised. “They have an organized government, then?”
Pinkie nodded. “I don’t know much about it… but it’s a Council of sorts, and it stretches across St. Orangeberg, living in the shadows. They tend to use different districts for different purposes, and here in Partyville it’s all about partying, messing with people, and indulgence. Which means a lot of memory wipes to keep their roles secret, which also means everyone’s not all there in the head.”
“Oh.” Cinder blinked. “Hey wait, that happened to us! We must have seen something!”
“Some ghost set off an ectoplasmic firework,” Pinkie explained.
“How come you are able to remember?” Celia asked.
Pinkie shrugged. “I’m just immune, for some reason. Not that it really helps, people usually think I’m crazy.”
“Pinkies often have unique brain composition. That could be part of the reason.”
Pinkie shrugged. “I wouldn’t know, I’m not a doctor.”
It was at this point none other than Twilight Sparkle and Spike the dragon walked in. “Pinkie, there appears to be a Sweetie Belle problem, I think it might have something to do with the cl-” She realized Cinder and Celia were in the bakery. “...What are you doing here?”
Spike narrowed his eyes at the Sweeties, scrutinizing them carefully.
“I’m surprised you remember us,” Celia commented.
“They believe me Twilight!” Pinkie said with a grin. “They’re also interdimensional travelers from another universe here to make first contact! Isn’t that exciting!”
Twilight took a few seconds to process this. “If they’re telling the truth, Pinkie, we still don’t know if they’re lying or not. And if they aren’t, there'll be… other problems.”
“Nobody would believe me anyway.”
Twilight seemed satisfied this, reluctantly turning to the Sweeties. She had clearly decided she wasn't going to be the one to speak first.
Cinder awkwardly smiled. “Uh… hey there. Look, I’m sorry if we were rude earlier.”
Twilight’s expression became one of curiosity. “You weren’t, but go on.”
Cinder continued. “I think I get it - or I’m trying to. You live in a world where… everypony’s got a problem. There’s distrust out there, and ‘crazies’ in here. So, really, we shouldn’t have been surprised by you. Or have just expected you to help.”
“Smart kid,” Twilight said, nodding to herself.
“So, uh, yeah, can we restart?” Cinder asked, smiling awkwardly. “I’m Cinder Belle, and this is Celia. We represent the League of Sweetie Belles. You said it would be a bad idea if ponies found out about this?”
“Yes. There’s a delicate balance between the two sides already, so thro-” She then changed her expression to one of annoyance and looked at Spike. “You can kill her later, just-”
She didn’t get to finish her thought, for Spike had suddenly decided he had to move. He jumped off her back and crashed through Pinkie’s window, angrily wielding a shiv in his hand.
Pinkie sighed. “Haven’t had to replace that in a while…”
“Seriously?” Twilight said as Spike took off at a run into the streets of Partyville.
“Where is he going?” Cinder asked.
“He’s targeting the local Fluttershy,” Celia said. Sure enough, there was a buttery pegasus walking on the opposite end of the street, blissfully unaware of Spike’s advances. She delicately used her telekinesis to remove the shiv from his claws - but this didn’t stop him from charging.
Celia weighed the options in her head. She could just let whatever was about to happen resolve itself - likely in the death of a yellow pegasus by the claws of a crazed dragon - or she could step in, and risk drawing too much attention. She’d need to play herself off as nothing more than a skilled unicorn spellcaster…
She was done thinking - she leaped into action, summoning a rod and a disc from her crystal. The two fused together into a brilliant magical top large enough to hold her entire form, and she slung herself along the pole in such a way to dart through the air, coming between Spike and Fluttershy. “There won’t be any of that today, Spike. I don’t know why you hate Fluttershy here so much, but surely we can talk things out.”
Two things happened at once.
First, Spike charged Celia without any regard for what she was saying.
Second, Fluttershy’s eyes twisted into a dark, malevolent hatred. “How do you know!?”
Well I’ve clearly made an error in judgment , Celia mused. She twirled around her top, prompting blunt edges to shoot out both sides, knocking both Fluttershy and Spike to the ground.
“...She fights by pole dancing?!” Twilight gaped.
Cinder facehooved.
Fluttershy stood up and flared her wings, Spike bared his predatory teeth, and Celia was trying to figure a way out of this that didn’t involve her beating the two of them senseless.
As it turned out, she didn’t have to deal with it, because Nira’s screaming explosion hit Partyville at that moment, prompting everypony to scream and panic. Celia lost control over her top - prompting it to vanish.
A dark cloud of mystic energy rose from the forest, twisting out into impossible shapes as it reached for the clouds.
Twilight stared at that in annoyance. “UUUUUGHHHHH…”
“CELIA!” Cinder shouted, running out to meet her. “What just happened?”
“Nira… Nira’s fighting hard,” Celia muttered, standing to her hooves. “She needs our help… If she’s fighting like that, there’s a problem.” She levitated Cinder onto her back and galloped into the forest at top speed. “We’ll be back soon!” she called to Twilight and Pinkie.
Twilight stood frozen, a strange form of rage having engulfed her face and decided to linger.
“Uh… Twilight?” Pinkie asked.
“It’s just a gas leak, one of the assholes in charge of some company ignored safety and one of the pipes out in the forest burst. It has nothing to do with anything I’m good at, especially not a ghost. Those Sweetie clones are plumbers and need to repair it.”
Pinkie raised an eyebrow. “It’s obviously a high-level ghost.”
“...If it’s who I think it is, you shouldn’t follow me,” Twilight said, reluctantly accepting her fate. As Pinkie nodded, Twilight ran off screaming, “I hate EVERYTHING!”
Pinkie blinked, realizing she was now completely alone. Even Spike and Fluttershy were gone.
...Huh. Where had the two of them gone?
~~~
“What the fuck are you!?” Tree Hugger shouted, clasping her hooves together, vibrating her ghostly body in just the right way to phase through Nira’s onslaught of blade-like bloody tendrils.
“Just a unicorn, like I said,” Nira breathed, enchanting the spikes with an intangibility-piercing coating, allowing it to cut into Tree Hugger’s ectoplasmic nature. “The fact that you’re not dead already is both disappointing and surprising.”
“I’m a Knight!” Tree Hugger announced phasing into existence behind Nira - going for Apple Bloom rather than the white unicorn.
Nira was having none of this, placing her body between the yellow filly and the ghostly Knight. She took the blow with her side, prompting an impressive gash to open up in her side.
As the Knight pushed her hoof deeper into Nira, she forgot for a moment that more blood from Nira wasn’t a sign of victory. It was an opportunity for Nira to use her weapons more effectively, in particular using the fresh blood to tear into Tree Hugger’s offending leg and rip it clean off.
Tree Hugger screamed while Nira absorbed the energy of the ectoplasmic leg into herself, a sneer crawling up her face. A bloody claw erupted from the immense gash in her side, angling its malevolent tips toward Tree Hugger’s face.
“Y’know, I know you’re on my side, but…” Apple Bloom said nervously.
“Darkness does not mean evil,” Nira recited. “And light is not always good.” The serrated edges of her claw charged Tree Hugger.
The Knight apparently wasn’t making empty boasts when she’d spoken of her power - down a leg, she still managed to punch right through the bloody claw and into Nira’s face, upsetting the unicorn’s balance. With a kick from her back leg, she launched into the air, landing behind Nira.
Right in front of Cinder and Celia.
“...Shit,” Tree Hugger muttered.
Cinder and Celia didn’t need to be told what was going on - the former launched fireballs while the latter ran over the Knight with her rapidly rotating top. Neither did much to the Knight, since she could just phase through the attacks.
And she noticed with glee that Nira had suddenly dropped most of her more damaging and relentless attacks - taking a more cautious approach now that her friends were around.
Perfect.
Tree Hugger phased into existence behind Cinder and put her remaining front leg around the unicorn’s neck. “One move and I pop her head off.”
Nira and Celia froze while Cinder tried to struggle - only for Tree Hugger to tap her with her snout, scrambling her short-term memory.
“...Perhaps we can talk this out,” Celia said, dismissing her top. “Resolve this in a dignified manner.”
“Hmph,” Tree Hugger muttered, narrowing her eyes. “Nira there wants me dead.”
“Nira, dear, why do you want her dead?”
Nira growled. “The information she has could destabilize this entire world, turning it over to chaos.”
“That’s ridiculous!” Tree Hugger countered.
“Considering I’ve already heard that sentiment elsewhere today, something tells me it rings with truth,” Celia commented. “Something about our existence upsetting the delicate balance between the two sides, hmm?” She pressed her hooves together. “I’m sure that’s the last thing any of us want.”
“One of the options for imbalance is the ghosts conquering everything,” Nira pointed out. “I think she wants that.”
“There are other methods of imbalance, Nira,” Celia said, giving her teammate the look that said ‘I’m working my magic, kindly shut up.’ “I see the multiverse allowing ghosts to free themselves from the service of the Council, resulting in a rebellion. I see the living receiving new technologies and knowledge from the multiverse, pushing the ghosts to nothing.” Her eyes sparkled unnaturally in Tree Hugger’s direction. “I see so many ways this can go wrong - and rushing into things blindly with violence and hatred will only serve to cause further, more drastic instability. What needs to happen is that we all need to put down our aggressive tendencies and talk about this, rationally, so we can find the best possible solution to maintain the balance.”
Tree Hugger looked at her with an uncertain expression.
“Please, you do not want your world to fall. We will not harm you if you stand down willingly - and we will listen to what you have to say about your Council. I am authorized to speak for Merodi Universalis if we need anything to officiate our understanding. So let Cinder go, and we can work from there.”
“No,” Tree Hugger growled. “I’m the one with the leverage here. You don’t get to negotiate - I’m going to go back to the Council with Cinder, and you’re going to let me go. If I even get a hint of any funny business, she dies. Understood?”
Cinder had gotten her mental faculties back a while ago - and she was now frozen in fear. This pony was going to kill her, and her friends couldn’t do anything. She had to do something, but she didn't know what! Fire didn’t do anything to the ghost.
“I understand,” Celia said, distaste evident on her face. “But if you go through with this any chance of a positive relationship with our people in the future will be all but impossible. If you do not give her back, there’s no small chance it could be considered an act of war.”
“Hah, we-”
“Nira is not even a trained soldier,” Celia interrupted. “She is far from the most dangerous among us. I have connections to those capable of erasing entire universes off the map. If you make yourselves enough of a problem, you can be wiped out like you are nothing.”
“Hah. You’re bluffing. If you had that kind of power, why would I be able to keep this unicorn at all?”
“I am not bluffing, ma’am,” Celia said. Which was correct - Merodi Universalis certainly could do that. They just never would, not in a universe with this many noncombatants. “But you can make that choice for yourself. I’m sure the Council would love to risk war.”
“Fine, compromise. You all can come with me!” Tree Hugger smirked. “I’ll take you right to the High Lord Above.”
“Trap!” Apple Bloom shouted from behind Nira. “Trap!”
“What would a filly know about a trap?”
“Everything,” Nira said, nodding in Celia’s direction.
Celia bristled. “I’m afraid I have to decline your offer. Perhaps we can reach another negoti-”
“I’m not letting you weasel your way around my head anymore,” Tree Hugger spat. “I’m leaving with her. Try to stop me, she dies. That’s final.”
Celia turned to Cinder - ignoring the Knight. “Cinder, listen to me, you need to be strong, okay? You’re going to be alone with a bunch of bad ghosts, but you can make it, we believe in you.”
“O...kay…” Cinder breathed.
Tree Hugger began to back up…
And a dark lavender spike shot out of the ground, impaling her through the chest. Her ectoplasmic nature splattered all over Cinder, prompting her to scream in terror and disgust.
Tree Hugger’s front leg went limp, dropping Cinder harmlessly to the ground. A few sparkles of purple magic swirled around the spike, coalescing into the symbol of Twilight Sparkles everywhere, the brilliant starburst of magic itself. Tree Hugger let out a ghostly howl as the starburst absorbed her into it like a vacuum for spiritual energy, channeling her body through the spike in a painful jerking motion.
Cinder watched in horror as Tree Hugger’s essence was burned to nothing in a wispy purple flame.
Unceremoniously, the magic spike dissipated, revealing a very exhausted, and very ticked Twilight Sparkle. “You couldn't have taken care of that yourselves!?”
Nira sighed. “We were in a-”
The entire conversation was interrupted when a blubbering, tearful Cinder latched herself onto Twilight and sobbed onto the lavender mare’s shoulder. “T-thank y-you…”
Twilight’s brain wasn’t ready to process the sudden show of affection, so she froze up, unable to respond in any major way besides a quickening of her already ragged breath.
However, she did regain her composure before Cinder. Twilight gave her head a soft, awkward pat before pulling the unicorn off of her with a grunt. “I’m a Hunter it- it’s just a job.”
Cinder gulped, backing away - unsure of how she should feel in this situation. In the end, she ran to Celia and hugged her close, receiving a much more loving and understanding hug. “There there… I can’t say it’s going to be alright, because it never will be… but you made it.”
Twilight purposefully looked away from the display. “You. The creepy one standing next to Apple Bloom. You need to leave.”
Nira nodded. “We managed to figure that out over the course of the last few minutes. We’ll be gone.”
“Nona can talk to them if you need them,” Apple Bloom offered Twilight.
“I doubt that’s a good idea.”
“You never know,” Apple Bloom said with a shrug.
Twilight sighed. “Just get out of here. The loss of a Knight is going to make the Council suspicious, and they’ll send their scouts to figure out what happened.”
Nira nodded, pulling out a communication device. “Suzie, we need back. Unstable government intrigue. You may or may not need to teleport Blink from a mile away or something.” She paused for a moment. “Good to know.” She hung up. “They’re talking to Sweetie and Scootaloo right now, apparently the two of them managed to catch Blink and use her communication device already.”
A portal opened up in the middle of the various ponies, depositing Blink, Scootaloo, and the local Sweetie.
“Hey, did you miss me?” Blink asked, flexing her legs. “Sorry I had to dash, but apparently you can ‘bind someone to run away’ in this world. Kinda dumb if you ask me.”
“I’m not even going to ask why or how you’re unbound,” Twilight muttered. “Just go away.”
“Okay, okay, we’re leaving!” Blink muttered, shaking her head. “We’ll talk later.”
The local Sweetie nodded. “Of course!”
And it was at this point Blink saw Cinder. “Oh… what happened?”
“Death,” was all Celia said, gently running a hoof over Cinder’s mane.
“...Cinder I’m so sorry I…”
Cinder had nothing to say, simply letting out a sniff.
Celia slowly led Cinder back through the portal to Swip - followed closely by Nira and Blink. Blink was the only one who waved back at them as the portal closed.
“...Finally,” Scootaloo muttered.
“This is still a huge mess,” Twilight groaned. “More ghosts are going to get suspicious, the executioner’s probably going to do something crazy, and I doubt we can even blame all the Sweetie Belles on the clones. Everything is stupid!”
“We’ll figure something out,” Apple Bloom said. “We should head back to town firs-”
It was at this point Spike stumbled into the clearing - missing an arm and bleeding profusely.
Twilight looked at him with an expression that shifted from worry to mild annoyance. “...And who’s fault is that?”
Spike made an angry gesture with his remaining arm at the bloody stump.
“She’s just some pegasus, Spike, you should really drop it.”
“...Aren’t you gonna help him?” Sweetie asked.
“He’ll be fine,” Twilight muttered. “He just doesn’t want to cauterize it.”
Spike shot Twilight a glare.
“You should have thought about that before you ran off.” With a grunt, she started trotting back to town.
However, despite her outward expression of grouchiness and annoyance, inside there was a small glimmer of happiness.
I can’t believe I actually did that!
~~~
Suzie put down the report Celia had given to the Expeditions Division and let out a sharp whistle. “That place is a powder keg,” she said to no one in particular. She took a moment to wonder what sorts of things the Relations and Aid Divisions were going to do to help the place. It would have to be slow, careful, and very deliberate to keep everything from falling apart.
It was hardly the first time they’d done something like that, but there was always a track record of complications…
She sent a quick transmission to ‘Equis Ectempora’, specifically the local Sweetie, who would likely hand off the message to the Whisperer. It contained Celia’s report, a general overview of Merodi Universalis’ policy in these sorts of situations, and a quick message from Suzie.
Upon completing this task, Suzie got up and walked out into the main living room. Cinder was out there - having apparently finished her emergency session with Sweetaloo already. The only other Sweetie in the room was Squiddy.
“I can still feel it,” Cinder told Squiddy, shuddering. “The… the goo.”
Squiddy let out a sharp sigh. “The worlds out there are absolute shit, Cinder. Absolute. Shit. It’s so shit that you can get used to it.”
Cinder swallowed hard, wrapping her front legs around herself. “I don’t want that to happen to me…”
“I didn’t either,” Squiddy muttered, looking down at her ink gun. “I thought I could keep myself. Vow to… to…” She gripped the weapon’s handle so hard her hands started to turn red. “But no matter how guilty you make yourself it doesn't change anything!”
“...Guilty?”
Squiddy’s face darkened considerably. “N-not you. You didn’t do anything…” Squiddy’s grip on the gun loosened. “You didn’t do anything…”
Cinder pulled Squiddy into a hug. “Squiddy… I…”
Squiddy started crying. She scrambled to try and hide it - but Cinder held her tighter anyway.
“D-don’t become like me,” Squiddy told Cinder, fire in her words. “Don’t. Don’t ever cause anyone the pain you’re feeling now.”
“I won’t.”
The smile that had been on Suzie’s face up to that moment vanished. She carefully walked out of the room - neither of the Sweeties had noticed her standing there.
She went back to her office and sat down, putting her head in her hands.
No one ever kept that promise out here…
...And yet, almost all of them had made it at one point or another.