//------------------------------//
// Chapter 22 
// Story: Lost Reflections 
// by Purple Patch 
//------------------------------//

Dinky’s head hurt.
She didn’t want to rub the side of it. She was afraid what might happen.
Her fetlock had some sort of tube attached to it by a plaster.
It worried her that it might be inside her. It worried her more that she couldn’t feel it.
Her throat was dry.
Her muzzle felt blocked.
Many concerns and uneases swirled round her mind but the first and foremost was the greatest worry.
Where was her mummy?
The door in the hospital room clicked open and Dinky half-expected the lovable wall-eyed pegasus she called ‘momma’ to walk in and give her a hug and maybe a muffin.
But it was almost as nice.
Sparkler had arrived.
“Hi Dinks.” her face had specks of worry under her warm smile and slightly reddened eyes.
“Sparkie!” Dinky squeaked happily before coughing.
“You okay? Here.” she hoofed over a flask of orange juice.
“Thanks so much, Sparkie.” the little filly took some grateful swigs of juice and tried to settle down “How long have I been in hospital?”
“Uh, no more than a day. They’ll probably let you out soon.”
“Is momma coming?”
Sparkler gave an awkward glance then leaned forward, looking Dinky in the eyes.
“Look...I’m not gonna’ lie, Dinks. When you got sick...mom didn’t take it well. She’s at home but don’t worry. I’ll let her know you’re okay right away.”
Dinky felt her hooves clutch the blankets slightly. Shuddering, she ignored Sparkler who shut a window to her right with some care.
“Don’t want you to get cold. Weather’s all over the place recently. First, it’s hot, then it’s cold. I think it’s ‘cause of Equestrian armies going to and fro. Pegasi and sky chariots and stuff.”
“Uh-huh...Thanks, Sparky...” Dinky was quiet, gloom setting into her shoulders and throat, looking small and sounding quiet.
Sparkler gave the window an adjust, as if she was worried it might crack.
Then the young lilac unicorn ruffled the straw-coloured mane of her adopted sister.
“Don’t worry, Dinky. I’ll tell mum you’re ready to see her. Might be a well but she’ll be really happy to know you’re okay.” She gave her a smile. She left her the juice cup on the bedside desk.
“Be back soon. Try to get some rest.”


The door closed lightly as Dinky found herself alone in the room.
The button beside her bed would summon a nurse. At the moment, she had her juice and her head felt a little better. She didn’t like to be a bother. She’d picked it up from her mother.
Her father on the other hoof...
She wondered how long it had been since she’d seen them...how long it felt like.
She tugged the covers over her shoulders. Strangely, she was starting to feel chilly even with the windows closed.
Her ears twitched.
It was the most peculiar feeling but she could swear she heard heavy breathing.
From the right side of her face.
“...You have your mother’s mane...”
Dinky gasped, gripping the covers. She’d heard a voice, she was certain of it.
An old mare’s.
One that sounded hoarse and croaky, full of bile and decay...
Yet strangely familiar.
She looked to her left, seeing only the bedside desk and all the nick-nacks upon it.
Then she looked to her right.
She nearly fainted dead away.
Staring at her through the window with sickly, boggling eyes was a face quite literally out of her nightmares.
No...not her nightmares.
Her memories.
She remembered.
She remembered the look, the voice, everything.
The angry words. The horrid scowls. The sharp crack of the riding crop, her mother crying out in agony as each one landed.
She whispered fearfully, her shivering body locked in place, terrified out of her wits.
“I...know you...”
With a slow, unsettling crease stretching across her face, Countess Magnifying Glass gave a menacing grey grin.
“My, my...how you have grown.”


Dinky edged away, her wide eyes full of horror.
“I...I know you! You’re...you’re that mare who made my mommy cry!”
The mare from her nightmares raised her eyebrow.
“Well...I had my reasons.” her voice was austere yet somewhat fractured, quivering, some foul derangement playing at the back of her throat “But really, what little foal wouldn’t recognise a family member?”
Dinky blinked.
It seemed alien to imagine a monster like this as her blood.
But then why would her mother have spent so much time around her in the first place?
“Why are you here?” Dinky murmured.
“I wanted to see how your mother had left you...” Those bulging yellow eyes were staring straight into her “Then again, it would make sense. Getting rid of the mistake.”
The little filly felt close to choking.
“What do you mean?”
The side of Magnifying Glass’s lips gave a feverish twitch.
“That’s what she called you, you know...Her mistake...” she snarled “When I spoke to her about what she’d done...what she’d made.”
Dinky felt her breath coming faster and harder. Something in the back of her head felt like it was burning.
“No...That’s not true.”
“I remember her exact words.” The old mare was staring straight through her, then put on a simpleton voice and mimicked the voice of Dinky’s mother.
“It wasn’t my fault...I got drunk...”
For a moment, there was silence.
Dinky felt like something had snapped in the back of her skull. A twisting vine, blooming and bright, pulled taut and broken cruelly.
Her thoughts slowed. Every moment from his life was flowing backwards. Every goodnight kiss, every warm hug. Every calming smile. Every time the words ‘I love you’ were spoken softly to her by one of parents.
And then she repeated the words in her head.
She got drunk.
It wasn’t her fault.
She wasn’t her fault.
Every word hit her head like a bolt one after the other.
Her...
Mother...
Didn’t...
Want...
Her...


Her throat felt like it had blocked. She twisted uncomfortably as her brow furrowed, scowling at the horrible mare in front of her.
“You...you’re lying!”
“Now, really...what sort of great-aunt would I be if I lied to my own kin?” her voice sounded like the purr of some cruel, mad cat.
“You’re lying! My mama loves me!”
“Ma-ma...” the old mare sneered mockingly “You don’t sound a day over two! You really have got her brains!”
“You...Shut up!” Dinky’s eyes blazed “Don’t talk about my mama!”
“Oh, why not? Is it not the right of any mare to talk about her family? The foals they might have? The mistakes they might make? Though in your mother’s case, they’re one and the same.”
“I’m not! I’m...I’m not her mistake! Mama loves me! And daddy loves me! They both love me!”
The creature in the window rolled her eyes.
“Tartarus’ sake, am I the only one who realises it?! That’s not love your mother shows you, it’s a guilt complex! She’s a simpleton! Simpletons aren’t capable of love! And your father?! You imagine he feels anything but shame when he sees you? The product of his drunken tryst? He said it himself. ‘We didn’t mean for it to happen’. That’s you. You weren’t meant to happen!”
“Shut up!” Dinky was screaming, hot tears streaming down her cheeks from eyes narrow and angry as as a pair of daggers “Shut up, you horrible witch! Shut up! Shut up! Shut u...”
As her forehoof flailed in her rage, she suddenly felt her fetlock grow cold.
One of the tubes had fallen out.
Her fetlock was bleeding.
Dinky Doo’s eyes widened with horror. Her limbs felt limp and shaky. Her head fell back and her free foreleg pawed limply at the emergency button.
Her vision was blurring, staring up at the sneering mare with skin like rotting parchment who was slowly shaking her head.
“Well now...that wasn’t very clever, was it...” she murmured “Then again, it runs in the family.”
Dinky’s head hit the pillow at an uncomfortable angle. Her forehoof felt the button shift under it.
The last thing she heard was the blare of the alarm, the doors opening and the canter of doctor’s hooves.


*


“So...you wanna’ explain this, or shall I?”
Rainbow Dash stood before their two prisoners with blazing eyes.
Agrius and Etric sat tied back to back with rolled bedsheets, snarling at their captors and struggling helplessly.
“You’re gonna’ get it, nags! You got no idea what you’re dealing with!”
“Yeah, we do, actually. In fact, we just got done takin’ ‘em to back-hoof town.” Applejack said, unimpressed “They ain’t comin’ to help ya’. You may as well start talkin’.”
“This day alone, I have been accosted by multiple neer-do-wells, dragged through filth, caged, lacerated, near-burnt and forced to spend prolonged time in the company of a deranged, cold-hearted and insufferably pretentious cannibal who butchers not only living ponies but classical dialogue!” Rarity said with a piercing glare “So if you imagine for a mere moment I shall withhold any pent-up fury on a pony who would dare to damage not only my things, not only my friends’ things but our little Spikey-Wikey, you will find yourself gravely mistaken!”
Etric spat.
“Kiss Boulean flank, ya’ Questie plots!” Etric spat, met with Rainbow Dash’s hoof across his lower jaw.
“I saw enough of that curd on the Restricted Zone Wall, you sick creeps! Talk like that one more time, I’m gonna’ show you how we do things in Ponyville!”
“You don’t scare us, nags!” Agrius retorted “Violence ain’t your way.”
“Uh-huh...but here’s what you need to understand.” Twilight Sparkle leaned forward, staring the red stallion in the eyes.
“We’re not feeling ourselves today...”
Etric gave an uneasy look, a dribble of scarlet spittle running off his lip.
“We needed you gone. You can work the rest out on your own.”
Twilight shook her head and sighed.
“Alright, you brought this on yourself.” she said begrudgingly, nodding to her little cream-coloured pegasus friend.
“Fluttershy, if you please?”
The Bearer of Kindness stepped forward, much to the derision of their captives.
“This freak?!” Etric spluttered “She’s probably off her face on atropine! Is this meant to scare us?!”
All Rainbow Dash could do was snigger as Fluttershy, calm and quiet as ever, paced over to Etric and focussed. Her eyes widened, her mouth tightened, her mind cleared.
Etric stared at the pegasus’s huge green eyes.
He felt his brow freeze and his collar sear.
His limbs began shaking.
“Wh-wh-what are you doing?!” he stammered at the normally timid pegasus who simply gave a small, quiet ‘shhh’. Struggling behind him, Agrius snarled.
“Etric, what are you whining about?! She’s a Questie! They’re all wet blankets! You’re a Boulette Soldier! Grow some balls!”
Etric couldn’t hear him.
He felt his mind being opened up.
The eyes were in his head.
The Eyes Were In His Head.
The Eyes Were In His Head!
“It wasn’t nice...what you did.” she murmured “Hurting Spike and Angel...creeping into our room...to kill us with fire just as we came back safe from all that happened...Not very nice at all...Not even very brave...” She took a deep breath “Now, I know a thing or two about being scared...but that’s no excuse for me to be a coward...and it’s no excuse for you either.”
The sound of Fluttershy’s voice was as quiet and calm as the rest of her
Yet the feel of it was as terrible and foreboding as the angriest parent, hooves pounding on the bad foal’s door, shouting for them to come down right now and explain themselves, counting down to ten before they were in even deeper trouble, whatever that would entail.
Somehow, Etric was feeling it. Right against the back of his spine.
For the first time in many years, Etric was truly gripped by fear.
“Wh-what do you want?!”
“Why did you want to kill us?”
“I...It was just an order.”
“Who gave you that order?”
“Shut up, you dumbass! He’ll kill u-”
Agrius’s protests were muffled by Applejack’s hoof landing squarely across his jaw a second time.
Fluttershy gave an uneasy look at the spectacle but continued.
“Who gave you that order?”
Rainbow Dash sucked her teeth as the stare worked its magic and made sure to check the wall-to-wall window curtains were fully pulled. None of them wanted passers-by or aerial observers to find the Bearers of Harmony interrogating Boulettan troopers. There was no telling what might happen.
As she checked, she caught something in the corner of her eye.
There was a red dot, shining against the curtain.
There was nothing within the room that would cause such a glare.
It was tilting slightly, lowering down to face them, right behind Fluttershy.
Almost like a...
Rainbow Dash’s heart struck the barrel of her ribs with a jolt as she flung herself forwards, screaming at her friends.
“GET DOWN!”

Ker-Ack!

A cylindrical beam of light made its way into the room with the speed and strength of a lightning bolt. Rainbow Dash flew into Fluttershy’s shoulders and hauled her to the floor. Applejack threw herself down, clutching a bleeding foreleg. Rarity grabbed Spike and both were covered by the outstretched wing of Twilight Sparkle. Pinkie Pie covered her eyes with her mane, her tail twitching as if to sense danger.
After a pause, Applejack raised her head.
“Is...is everypony okay?”
Slowly, they raised their heads. The silence, long and foreboding, was broken by Fluttershy’s whimper.
“Oh dear...Oh dear...Oh dear...Oh dear...Oh dear...”
“Oh my gosh!” Pinkie’s eyes boggled with horror.
The Bearers of Harmony looked grimly at their prisoners.
The shot that had punched a hole through their windows had carried on, driving a deep, bloody tunnel into Etric’s forehead and out of Agrius’s throat.
The two Boulettan would-be bombers were dead, their punctured heads lolled to one side, blood and brains leaking into the carpeted floor below.
Fluttershy’s face was as pale and pulled tight in horror as any corpse. Shivering, staring at the two bodies in the centre of the room, she gave a drawn-out whimper and buried her face in her own mane.
Pinkie was shaking, her breath coming on just as shaky.
“No...no...I...I didn’t do it...I didn’t mean to....I-I-I-I...”
“Everypony calm down!” Twilight Sparkle sounded “Rarity, I’ll take care of Spike. Can you get Carcassonne and Lafayette in here, quick?!”
“A-a-alright...” Rarity scrambled to her hooves and staggered out the door queasily “I’ll be back with them as quickly as I can.”
Applejack, despite limping on one bleeding forehoof, tended to Pinkie and Fluttershy locked in trauma at the sight of the grisly double-murder. The hardy farm-mare took them both to her shoulders and hugged them tightly.
“It’s alright now...It’s alright...” She turned, her eyes widening with dread “Dash, what’re you doin’? Are you crazy?”
The reckless pegasus had thrown open the curtain. With a gust from her wings, Twilight pushed her out the way of any potential shot but none came.
Daring to glance at just what had fired, Rainbow Dash peered out the window, noticing the small, sheer, rounded hole punched clean through the glass.
Atop a building opposite, dressed in a plain garb befitting desert climate, shrouded and obscured from head to hoof, a unicorn mare put away her sniper rifle and gave a mocking salute with her forehoof before disappearing in a teleport.
“I know her!” Fluttershy exclaimed “I saw her!”
“So did I.” Applejack murmured.
Twilight looked out at the spectacle grimly.
The sniper hadn’t been after them.
Agrius and Etric were their targets.
But why them?
And, a more predominant thought, what did the mercenaries have to gain by letting the Bearers of Harmony live?


*


Alma Rose’s face was blank and expressionless, her eyes closed in deep sleep on the hospital bed.
Lemon Hearts knelt beside her, holding her remaining forehoof gently, her eyes streaming.
Standing before the bed, staring down in shock at the sight, were Razzmatazz and Amaranth, Alma’s parents.
The stallion was a deep rich magenta in coat with a long dark-green mane and curling beard, swathed in white Saddle Arabian attire with intricate eastern patterns.
The mare was silver with a long, tumbling mane of rose-red and long eyelashes, draped in shimmering emerald-green cloth.
Both of them wore traditional Aswari bridles and forlorn expressions.
With a strained murmur, Amaranth broke the silence.
“Where did you find her?”
“In the corridors. But she’d been led in by the enemy after being taken prisoner.” Shining Armour answered, standing in the doorway, addressing the visitors urgently called to their daughter’s bed “Ctenophore and his scouts found where the enemy had camped. Her leg was there.”
“The limb wasn’t severed long. We can revitalise it.” Crimson Croix, a silver and red crystal pony with a close-shaved mane who served as the Master Healer of Quartzwald, spoke up gently “But according to Miss Chastity’s report, Miss Rose has endured gross trauma which may stunt the reattachment, leave it impaired and cause...a number of very nasty side-effects. We can go along with the reattachment procedure if you’ll accept it or play it safe.”
Razzmatazz’s brow furrowed in anxiety.
“How long before we would need to make a decision?” he asked.
“We would need an answer by tomorrow morning. We can’t keep the severed area safe and ready for reattachment longer than that.”
“Will she be awake by then?”
“Hopefully.”
“We’d like her to decide.” Amaranth answered.
“We can’t guarantee that but we’ll honour your wishes if possible.”
“Thank you, Master Healer.” Razzmatazz nodded as the doctor left to deliver the news to his colleagues.
Lemon Hearts gave a sniffle as she cradled her girlfriend’s forehoof in her own.
Amaranth gave her a look, then one to her husband, then back to the young mare.
“Young Lemon Hearts...you were the one who brought our daughter to the healers?”
“Yeah...” the young mare answered flatly.
The two had seen their daughter interacting with the young mare frequently, long enough to know it went beyond the boundaries of friends.
Lemon Hearts wasn’t unaware.
“Should I leave the room?” she asked quietly.
The parents looked to each other.
“Now is far from the right time to ask this but...would it be correct to say...that you are our daughter’s...lo-”
“Marefriend. Yes.”
There was an uneasy pause.
“Do you...not approve?” Lemon Hearts found herself asking.
Razzmatazz sighed.
“Not...as much as we should.” he said grimly, pacing over to the young mare and kneeling down beside his daughter’s hospital bed alongside her.
His voice was calm and sincere.
“However, in our eyes, what we would have approved of stopped being an important issue stopped when she grew up. She’s very happy with you, this we have seen. You love each other and that is enough for us.” He stood and gently patted the shoulder of her daughter’s marefriend.
“Stay beside her if you like.”
Lemon Hearts gave a nod and turned, staring as Alma’s chest rose a little and her mouth opened to take a breath of air.
She’d wake soon.
Lemon Hearts gave a weighty sigh and rested her head against the bed.
“It’s okay now, Alma.” she whispered “The worst is over.”


The ornate, crystal-adorned doors of the Imperial Crystalline Palace felt harder and heavier than Shining Armor had ever remembered.
But it would be worth it. So very worth it.
Coming home to his wife and foal.
“Shining!” Princess Mi Amore Cadenza flew into her husband’s forelegs and planted his sweat-sodden face with kisses. The stallion held her close, his hind-legs shaking, threatening to buckle.
"Cadey..." Shining spoke the pet-name of his wife in a contented sigh "I'm here, Cadey..."
Two tiny little forehooves pawed at the underside of his chin as little Princess Flurry Heart made to hug her father, her round, rosy-cheeked face full of joy for her father coming home, oblivious to all else.
“Deeh...Heh...Geh...” she burbled, reaching out to her daddy.
Shining Armour felt like he needed that smile.
“Hey, there’s my little gem.” he chuckled, kissing his daughter’s forehead as she giggled. Leaning over, Shining and Cadence’s lips locked lovingly.
“Shining, thank Celestia!” Cadence said breathlessly “I’m sorry I wasn’t there, I wanted to be, when I heard about the attack, but-”
“Cadey, it’s okay.” Shining said with a smile “I’m back now...I haven’t really got any clue how I’m back, considering what I’ve seen but hey, at least we’re both surprised.”
He noticed significant moisture in the corners of his wife’s eyes. Cadence was shaking her head, lips trembling. One of her forehooves thumped against Shining’s chestplate frustratedly.
“Don’t joke about this...please...” she whimpered “I was so worried. I thought...when I knew it was...them...”
“It’s okay, Cadey, honest.” Shining caressed her slender, cerise cheek “Tomorrow I’ll present my report to the Princess and then we’ll get a better view at this whole thing. We’re not letting the Crystal Empire fall nor the rest of Equestria, you can be sure of that.”
“Okay, Shiney...okay...” Cadence barely felt the hug as she thought back to that night that still troubled her all those years ago.
As she closed her eyes, sharing the warmth of her husband and baby daughter, she was certain she felt the blood-red goggles on that old gas mask staring into the back of her head, whispering those two deadly words in her ear.
No Interference.
She'd interfered. She knew it now.
She'd interfered a lot.
What would come next?
And from whom?
And upon whom?
And how soon?
Cadence's body shivered as she felt her hooves feel limp, as she and her baby were carried gingerly back to her chambers by her husband.


*


Twilight braced herself as Carcassonne gave her and her friends a nod outside the Senatorial Chamber.
The Bearers of Harmony walked in grimly, finding Acting-Senator Rochelle, Colonel Quimper and Captain Lafayette waiting to convene.
Carcassonne closed the door as Rochelle spoke, soft-spoken and austere.
“Please, you start. Asking questions comes first...then the other thing.”
Anxiously, Twilight Sparkle explained the events that had transpired in their room culminating in two dead ponies.
She could hear Quimper’s hoof grinding the floor while Rochelle’s eyebrow rose in an uncertain manner. Lafayette, meanwhile, gave a sheepish look and had a certain shakiness in his chest that suggested he would be willing to say something if his commanding officer didn’t look so ready to pull somepony’s head off.
Colonel Quimper was the first to speak after the Princess had her say.
“You expect to take the word of a prepubescent dragon...”
“And a rabbit.” Fluttershy quietly added. Quimper ignored her.
“...and believe that two dedicated soldiers of Boulette died attempting to mount a hotel bombing?! Do you truly expect the citizens of this city to believe foreign aristocracy over the defenders of their home and loved ones?!”
“We expect them to believe the truth, Colonel.” Applejack said, fixing the old stallion with a discerning eye “These were your troops. We saw them at their posts but when battle started, they weren’t nowhere to be seen. Did you know they were in our room?”
“Is that a baseless accusation towards my loyalty, Equestrian?!” Quimper seethed.
“Nope. It’s an honest question regardin’ the loyalty o’ those under yer command. Ah’ll say it again. These were your troops. Is this yer responsibility?”
“You would dare try to pin this on me?!” The Colonel seemed close to exploding.
Lafayette edged away and interjected.
“Sir, I’m sure they don’t suspect you had something to do with the intended bombing itself. They just want to know if you saw Agrius or Etric before the-”
“I know what they mean, soldier! And you will not insult the memory of your brothers-in-arms if you want to keep your helm or the head inside it! It is obvious what took place! Troopers Agrius and Etric were abducted in the midst of battle and murdered!”
“In our hotel room?” Rarity asked with a defiant toss of her mane “Just to be clear, who’s making the 'baseless accusations' here?”
“Now you listen good-”
“Enough, Colonel.” Rochelle interrupted, massaging a temple with her forehoof before turning to the Bearers “In any event, we will pursue this to the best of our abilities. Now...” she cleared her throat, seemingly already tired of however many days she’d spent as acting-senator “Onto the matter of the defence of the city.”
“Hey, it’s what we do.” Rainbow Dash gave a satisfied smile and ran a forehoof through her mane “No need to thank us.”
There was a pause. Quimper gave a small scoff while Rochelle fixed them with an unimpressed look.
“Thank you?” she repeated, unamused “You seem to gravely misunderstand the state of affairs, Miss Dash. Perhaps you may explain to me how, despite your Princess assuring us that it would not be so, an armed and dangerous mercenary force was allowed to infiltrate the city and launch a bloody, coordinated attack upon our very streets?”


Twilight blinked.
“Well...we were just as surprised as you-” She threw a forehoof to her lips, realising what she was saying.
Rochelle’s lip curled in disappointment.
“You don’t say...” she murmured with disapproval, stepping closer “Your Princess pleaded with us to send their troops here. She assured us no other army could us as safe as them...Now I have over a hundred ponies dead in the streets.”
“Senator. Our troops have done all they could.”
“With poor armaments, blunt weaponry, no advanced military technology-”
“Senator.” Carcassonne interjected “Those were factors insisted on by the city authorities. Too much Equestrian military influence would cause unrest.”
“Perhaps it’s time to cut to the root of the problem.” Quimper said surreptitiously “Namely, the prevention of Boulettan rearmament under Equestrian law.”
“Now hold on there!” Applejack butted in “You ponies had scattergun cannons! And one of them was trying to shoot me!”
There was an uneasy pause as all eyes locked on Quimper who puffed up like a bellows, his brow jagged with fury.
“My troops did nothing of the sort! They held the line and died for their city and their forefathers, unlike some! The shot must have come from the enemy!”
“No, the shot from the enemy killed the scattergun-user aiming at me.”
Quimper turned to Rochelle with gritted teeth.
“Are you gonna’ let this...foreigner throw mud on the memories of our-”
“Colonel, this is your second warning!” Rochelle interrupted again. She gave a wary glance to the Bearers “We are not aware of the full matter here, your grace, but the problem remains the same and more drastic than ever. We require our own weapons and the right to wield them. You will take this note to the Princesses. We understand why this is, and always has been an issue, but now is a time of civil peril. If those we trust provide us inefficient protection, while forbidding us to protect ourselves, our vassalhood under the Royal Equestria will become very fragile indeed.”
She motioned to an uneasy-looking Lafayette.
“Captain, please show them the door. The Bearers of Harmony and the Lady Representative will depart swiftly back to Canterlot to inform them of what has taken place and what must be done. That’ll be all.”


Without a word, the Bearers of Harmony left the office, sharing each other’s anxiety.
Lafayette looked at them apologetically as they were led to the train station. Their things had already been packed for the journey. Volvic was porting their bags and gave them a friendly nod.
As the train came into view, Lafayette tapped on Rarity’s shoulder. The seamstress turned to him and he spoke plainly.
“Shall we get your friends some refreshments?”
“I think that would be most appropriate.” Rarity said merrily “Extra sprinkles on everything, is that right, Pinkie?”
The pink party-maker of Ponyville gave Rarity an odd look. Her eyes were wide but somewhat blank and her face was emotionless.
“Huh? ...oh yeah, sure. Thanks, Rarity.”
Rarity was about to inquire just what was making her normally hyperactive and broad-grinning friend this way but Lafayette nudged her shoulder and the two headed to the refreshment kiosk.
Before taking any orders, Lafayette ducked behind a blank, rain-sodden billboard and brought Rarity round with him.
The seamstress gave him an uneasy look.
“Are you ill?”
“Not half as much as this city...” Lafayette checked left and right and spoke.
“Listen, you can’t let Quimper rearm the Boulettan Guard.” his voice was shaky and nervous “He’s the last pony Rochelle will have leading the city and he knows it. But he has the ear of many important stallions in Boulette. And he’s also stark-raving mad!”
“I’m aware...” Rarity checked in a similar fashion and conveyed what she’d heard from him.
Lafayette’s eyes widened at the news.
“You mean...he was communicating with another stallion?”
“One who said this city was his...Lafayette, I know this might sound horrid considering all that’s happened but...do you think this whole thing was a set-up?”
“A set-up?”
“I mean, with the attack and Royal Flush being abducted and now Quimper and all others like him pushing to have their weapons back...Perhaps this is what he wants. Is it possible that Quimper’s in league with these mercenaries in some way?”
The stallion paused and swallowed audibly.
“I’m not sure I want to think about that...I’ll have to leave that to you and your Princesses. But don’t let the ponies in this city know you suspect that. This city is on a knife’s edge. One false move from Celestia will send them into a revolt!”
“But surely it’s the mercenaries that are the threat here.”
“You don’t know Boulette. They’d welcome a fight if they had their steel but Celestia’s taken their weapons. It’s her they blame for all of this and if they get wind that a Boulettan is the one under suspicion, the vassalhood goes up in cinders.”
Rarity grimaced.
“I see...” she murmured “I’ll tell Twilight everything. Thank you for telling me.”
“I’m just glad to have more than a hoof-full of ponies one can trust nowadays.” Lafayette nodded flatly “Well...we should probably get your friends those refreshments.”
Turning back to the kiosk, they bought two teas, a cider, a coffee, a smoothie and a frosty milkshake with extra sprinkles.
Their friends accepted with thanks but without much joy.
Rarity couldn’t blame them.
Carcassonne turned away from Commissioner Lyon and spoke to them.
“Celestia’s already been informed of the events. She’s missing you a lot...” she gave a half-smile “Look, whatever you may think, we owe you a lot and me and Lafayette aren’t the only ones who’ll forget it.”
Twilight returned the smile.
“Thanks Carcassonne. You've been a great help here too." she said "I’ll give your love to my sister-in-law.”
They meant to step on the train but stopped for a portly, friendly-looking unicorn with a blue coat and a curly red mane. She gave them a smile and parted for them.
“After you.”
Fluttershy gave a small, instinctive flinch.
She felt certain she’d heard that voice before...
With her mind a maze, she joined her friends boarding the train without a word.


*


Deeper and deeper.
Hoof-steps cracked like muskets on the great slate steps.
A stallion carried a semi-conscious mare down into the secondary healing bay.
He sighed at the circumstance.
He would have much preferred a place of hearing to be somewhat better placed. But old habits died hard.
His old friend had always preferred the dark or at least was better used to it.
But whatever helped her work her magic.
With a weighty push of the heavy doors, wondering why she didn’t want something that could just be switched, he entered the secondary healing bay.
A sheer stone slab in the middle of the room stood surrounded by sceptres topped with pale, sickly-yellow orbs.
Gently, she placed the unconscious mare upon the slab and called out.
“We’re alone. You can show yourself.”
There came a scrambling, scuttling sound as a bundle of rags rose on four hooves and an unsightly, hairless caprine face emerged, missing an eye and a great number of teeth.
“Ah...Master Warmonger...” it chattered “It has been long...long and cold and damn and dark...the worms in my head got hungry...I hear them screaming every night.”
“What did I say that sounded like ‘Tell me about your personal problems’ Ratbag?” the stallion sighed with contempt “I’m here for my old protégé. I have need of her skills. Don’t waste my time.”
“Oh yes....yes...of course...” Ratbag answered with a nervous giggle as light, graceful hoof-steps sounded on the floor behind the newcomer. He sighed again, in a more relieved tone, as a tall, slender, scarlet mare approached and laid a hoof upon his shoulder.
“I have missed you, Cascadius, my dear, faithful guide.”
“Apologies, darling.” he said “I’ve been out of touch with many ponies lately, my mind has been stretched, I’ve neglected those who trust me and...you see the side-effects.” he laid out his hooves before the prone mare breathing haggardly on the stone slab.
The scarlet mare craned over her with wide eyes. Her long horn lit up with a bronze glow and the bandages wrapped around the patients’ head parted slightly, revealing her injuries.
She gave an austere shudder.
“The savagery of earth ponies, I would assume. The hooves breaking bone, ripping flesh...I remember the feeling.”
“Ooooooh the poor filly...so young...and once so beautiful...” the goat’s tongue trailed around his lips before he felt Cascadius’ hoof against his shoulder.
“Harm her in any way, gelding, and I shall forcibly ruin whatever precious parts of yours still remain.”
He turned to the mare.
“Bovril can’t heal her. I’m leaving her in your care...Grand Mistress Servilia.”
His old friend from over a century ago bowed.
“I will be ever at your service. But for a task this grave, the methods will be...painful.”
“Balisong is no stranger to pain. And besides...” Cascadius glanced at her, taking care to note if she seemed conscious enough to hear his words.
“It may benefit her sense of hindsight to know what happens when you take your mind off the task at hoof.”
Servilia nodded, gestured to Ratbag to fetch her a variety of instruments and paced over the stone slab, looming over the wounded Balisong like some immense crimson she-bat.
Shakily, Ratbag carried a cauldron of hissing, white-hot liquid and sharp metal implements.
With a sigh, she thanked her experiences.
Both she and Ratbag had long become used to the sound of screams.


Cascadius caught Miura brooding and Tybalt kicking the wall in frustration.
“Not wasting your time, am I?” he asked sardonically.
“They’re gonna’ get it! They’re all gonna’ bucking get it!” Tybalt raged “Look what they did to her! Bali never hurt anyp...”
He trailed off as he caught sight of Cascadius and Miura fixing him with an unconvinced look.
“Okay, she never hurt anypony that didn’t deserve i...”
He trailed off again, noticing the same look.
“Okay, she never hurt anypony she wasn’t paid to...”
He sighed, giving up.
“Ah, who am I kidding? Balisong’s a sick, psychotic nag and we all know it!” He tensed his neck and spun one of his pistols “The point is that she’s our sick, psychotic nag and we’re not letting whoever did this get away with it!”
“Tybalt, please prioritise.” Cascadius said frankly “Once Balisong’s recovered, whoever did this will be her responsibility.”
“I very much doubt she’d want it any other way.” Miura said “Meanwhile, the Bearers of Harmony return home, bringing news to their Princess.”
“Indeed.” Cascadius answered “Blue’s got in touch. It would appear the unfortunate passing of two captives in their care has affected at least two of them.”
“Kindness and Laughter.” Miura guessed “Neither too easy to keep close in the face of bloody murder.”
“We don’t yet know how deep the wound cuts.” Cascadius mused aloud before pulling out a file, opening it and showing the two.
A grinning, cotton-candy maned pink mare bouncing around with confetti in the breeze greeted them.
“Pinkamena Diane Pie.” Cascadius explained “Of all the Bearers, the most gregarious is ironically the greatest enigma. Seven years and I haven’t been able to pin-point anything crucial to getting me to her core. I’m close though. But I need to test the waters.”
He held up a photo.
A bright, decorative bakery in the sunshine, the little pink pony flanked by a dumpy blue mare with a bright pink bouffant and a lanky yellow stallion with freckles, ginger mane and a baker’s cap, all three smiling and waving.
“I need somepony, two would do, to pay a visit to Sugarcube Corner.”
Miura and Tybalt glanced at each other.
“We’re not taking Gringore?” the mare asked grimly.
“No, I don’t need too much collateral here.” Cascadius answered.
“And now? With Ponyville at its most terrified?”
“That is precisely the best time to strike. The guard will arrive tomorrow but using our...system, we can act before then.”
“Boss, it’s not that I doubt you...” Tybalt interjected “But if we can just attack the place whenever, why not just torch the place?”
Cascadius fixed him a stern glance that each mercenary had experienced under his tutelage but never gotten used to.
It still withered him.
“Because, Tybalt...it’s unprofessional.” Cascadius answered “To burn the place would leave far too many risks behind. The possibility of stragglers, avengers, underground resistors and, of course, retribution in ways we aren’t currently prepared for.”
He rose a hoof meaningfully.
“It’s not enough to simply destroy your enemies. To make sure they cannot recover, they require total disassembly; political, military, social, emotional; every podium of their stability cracked and crumbling, every strand that leads in and out of their core snapped and hanging loose. That is how we leave an enemy, Tybalt. Anything less...is insufficient.”
His eyes glinted.
“How else do you suppose I became the greatest killer in Equestria? I do more than kill...and so will you.”
He stamped his foot and spoke frankly and calmly.
“See Bovril about which route to take. I’m not sure the Gorging Ones will give you a straight answer. We must make use of all the time we have.” he ordered the two, turning and heading back to his study with some final words.
“And after all...there’s a fairly universal method to popping a balloon.”


*


Derpy couldn’t stop herself shaking.
Her daughter was sick.
And her aunt knew.
Her head hurt.
She couldn’t think straight.
She was meant to be a mother. She’d promised from the very beginning. She’d be more careful than ever and never let any harm come to her little filly. She wouldn’t be dumb. She wouldn’t be clumsy. She wouldn’t be...
Herself...
She wouldn’t be Derpy.
Where was the Doctor?
Her Doctor?
Or any doctor?
The stress was killing her. She wasn’t blaming anypony. They’d just got Berry Punch, Caramel and Cherry Berry back.
The hospital was packed and understaffed.
And the whole town was probably just as scared as her.
She’d have made herself a cup of tea or even a glass of water but her hooves were shaking so much she knew she’d drop something.
The click of the door made her jolt, her wings out and threatening to knock something loose from the walls.
She hoped to see the Doctor walk in, that bright, confident grin on his face as he carried in his daughter, happy and well again.
She felt she’d always hoped for silly things.
Nonetheless, Sparkler coming in was always very welcome.
“Hey Derpy.” she looked pale, slightly breathless.
She had just come out of the unusually cold, windy weather.
“Hi Sparkie.” Derpy said quietly as the young unicorn stood before her.
After a brief, somewhat awkward pause, they hugged.
“There’s a doctor here to talk to you...there’s been news about Dinky.”
Derpy looked up and practically flew to the door with baited breath.


An elderly, jowly, pale-blue stallion was at the door, his flat face and half-hooded eyes betraying nothing.
“Miss Doo? Good afternoon.” he said in a low, reedy voice “My name is Dr Gentle Nudge. I’ve come from Canterlot Royal Hospital. I was summoned by Ponyville’s Hospital staff to assist them at this time.”
“I-Is my little filly okay?”
Gentle Nudge took a breath.
“She has, I fear, suffered a severe and sudden bout of Dryditch Fever, as the doctors informed me. In its current state, very particular medical strategies are needed.” he said softly “But we believe we may assist. Would you care to come with us to the ambulance prepared? We had to park outside the town, what with the current unrest, but we have already placed your daughter safely in the vehicle.”
“C-Can I see her?”
“Of course. I came here to ask if you’d like to come to Canterlot Royal Hospital with her.”
Derpy swallowed.
“Will my hu...coltfri...” she struggled to find the right word for the Doctor “...I live with somepony I care a lot about. I need to let him know I’m gone.”
“Don’t worry, Derpy, I’ll let him know.” Sparkler said with a friendly nod, still sounding somewhat breathless “Now let’s go see Dinky. She misses you a lot.”
Scrambling on her unsteady hooves, Derpy made her way outside where it had begun to rain with some force.
The guard due to protect Ponyville hadn’t arrived yet so the civilian vigilantes were on patrol. Bulk Biceps, Pokey Pierce and Carrot Top, still bearing her earlier injuries, were patrolling the northern part of the town in wet-weather gear, nodding to Derpy as she passed yelling over the sound of thudding raindrops.
“Be back soon, okay Derpy? If you don’t come back in an hour, we’re obligated to send out an armed search party.”
“Don’t worry guys,” Sparkler gave a smile and a slightly awkward nod “We’ll both be back soon.”
They hurried, eyes out for any potential attackers. Derpy could hear Sparkler’s breath from where she was walking now, laboured, shaky gasps with wide eyes and a sweaty brow.
The ambulance was in a clearing right before the Everfree Forest. It was guarded but it was hard to make out just what they were wearing or carrying. Right now, that wasn’t on Derpy’s mind.
Doctor Gentle Nudge opened the doors to the ambulance and let both mares in.


Facing Derpy was a bed and a group of doctors and nurses whose faces were obscured by surgical masks and goggles, all with their heads craned over a bundle in the gurney-bed with only one speaking to the pegasus carriage-drivers out the front, quietly and calmly.
Derpy caught her breath, fearing to look at her daughter’s state, and asked the question that had been on her mind since his whole confusion began.
“Is it true? Can you help my daughter get better?”
The doctor in the back raised his head and spoke.
In a voice that was somehow, unnervingly familiar.
“Yes, Miss Irregular Glass...I believe we can.”
Slowly, with eyes wide, mouth open and hooves shaking with horror, Derpy realised she was staring at the calm, courteous face of Doctor Bittersweet.

Shunk!
Derpy jolted as she felt something pierce her neck. She didn’t bleed. In fact, something was going into her neck. Something cold and tingly. Her forelegs felt numb and floppy as she flailed.
“No...no...nuh...nnnn...” she mumbled as she tried to reach for the door.
She grabbed hold of a forehoof holding a syringe, slightly filled with her blood.
The forehoof before her was lilac.
Derpy’s sloping face contorted with dismay as she saw her adopted daughter sadly looking down on her, the syringe in her forehoof, fearing to have made a sound with her horn.
“I’m sorry, Derpy...” she whimpered “I’m so sorry...”
“Very well done, Miss Tyria.” Doctor Bittersweet said calmly “Now please return the syringe.”
“Spurh...wh...whyyyy...” Derpy moaned as she lay on the floor, forcing herself with all her steadily-depleting might to move. She saw the bedsheet fall from the gurney and two hairy brown hooves hit the ground.
Then four.
Then six.
On one body
A creature craned down at her. Eight beady eyes stared menacingly at her as two fur-covered fangs twitched before its muzzle, giving a demented-sounding slurping sound.
Gingerly, Dr Bittersweet passed the creature the syringe. Two small twitching forehooves atop its shoulders rose and grabbed hold of it. Opening it up, its fangs parted as it drank the blood inside.
It writhed and twisted, its body contorting, its limbs shrinking or swelling. Thick fur grew out the top of its head and out the small of its back, changing colour rapidly. Its fur went from a bristly brown to a smooth, soft grey. Its eight eyes became two, white and yellow.
“Nnn...nnnn...” Derpy mumbled as it dawned on her what this creature was and what they were doing.
With abject terror, she stared into her own eyes, only these ones were pointed directly at the same thing; her.
Another Derpy Doo stood over her, a sadistic smile one would never find on such a mare spread across her face.
“Do you find the appearance comfortable, Miss Recluse?”
The creature spoke with her voice, but not shaky or awkward or even kind.
“Oh yes, Doctor...I believe this will be suitable...” the thing that looked like Derpy purred “If I can just get the eyes right...then we will have the perfect podium of observation."
“Indeed.” Dr Bittersweet said "And of course...”
He gave the real Derpy, the one lying on the floor, a meaningful gaze.
"Miss Irregular's young filly will be very safely taken care of...Very safely indeed."
He turned back to his two cohorts, motioning to the door.
“Be about your work then, no delays.”
“Wait...” Sparkler said anxiously “I...I did what you asked. You need to promise me...”
“Yes, yes, you and your sister will be quite safe from now on...under our watchful gaze.”
Sparkler stared at him then the thing that looked like Derpy then Derpy herself.
Without a word, her face torn by dread, grief and overwhelming guilt, she turned away as Recluse closed the door behind her.
Derpy felt gloved hooves grab at her, hoisting her atop the gurney. Black straps coiled around her like pythons, pinning her down.
Her wall eyes were blurring and weeping as everything she saw steadily paled.
Dr Bittersweet’s face loomed in above her, upside-down.
“Now then, Miss Irregular.” Dr Bittersweet crooned “Let’s get you home...”