//------------------------------//
// Chapter 25: Uncrossing Wires 
// Story: Mechaniquus 
// by DougtheLoremaster 
//------------------------------//

Chrysi let out a plume of smoke, exhaling slowly before placing the paper cylinder of ash against her lips once more. She lay on the digital bed, enjoying a calming smoke, after what had appeared to have been a wild party. Turning her head, she stared over at the now empty and somewhat crumpled keg of hard cider; next to which lay Dash and Applejack, both displayed in all their glory in truly undignified, snoring and drooling poses. 
The sound of turning pages caused Chrysi to glance beside her at Rarity who was staring at a decidedly old magazine, with page after page of wedding dresses that were as the listings stated, sold in Canterlot. A soft presence about Chrysi’s midriff let her know Pinkemena was contentedly snuggling up to her, fast asleep and muttering obscenities under her breath. Chrysi smiled before closing her eyes. Being grounded isn’t so bad. Her mind slowly grew fuzzier and fuzzier as oblivion claimed her, and she fell into a deep slumber.

	



Chrysi opened her eyes and groggily sat up. Glancing around, she noticed the decorations were gone, the mess cleaned up and the girls were all gone. All except for Pinkemena, who lay on her right, and Pinkie Pie who was nuzzling her torso from the left.
She smiled sleepily down at the duo. Neither was asleep.
“Hey, girls.”
Pinkemena rolled onto her back, her knife materializing from nowhere as she threw it upward to embed in the ceiling only to vanish and reappear in her hooves once more. She gave a sideways glance at Chrysi, before averting her eyes and stating.
“Something on your mind, Princess?”
“Princess?”
Pinkie chimed in, in a whiny voice.
“No fair reading ahead, Mena, I’m not on that chapter yet.”
Chrysi blinked in confusion.
“W-what?”
Pinkie clasped her hoof over her mouth as Pinkamena uttered a swear.
“By Celestia’s sun, Pinkie! Chrysi, don’t mind her…she’s an idiot. You’ll go mad trying to understand half the things she says. Anyway, what’s on your mind?”
Chrysi spoke slowly as she stared at Pinkie.
“Ri-i-i-ight.”
Turning to Pinkamena, she continued talking.
“Actually, yeah there is something on my mind, now that you mention it. Can you tell me about this world’s Celestia?”
Pinkamena stiffened, her hoof missing the knife catch, causing it to embed itself point down, inches from her face, in the mattress. As it quivered, Pinkamena muttered softly, very uncharacteristic of her.
“We can’t discuss…”
Pinkemena’s voice faltered as she glanced sideways at Chrysi and saw the lucid green eyes water, as the Changeling’s fanged mouth turned down in a pouty frown; the same pout that tore apart the walls of Pinkamena’s heart. Quickly, Pinkamena sat up and frantically waved her hooves as she shouted.
“I mean we aren’t supposed to…”
Once more her voice died in her throat, was she crazy or did that pout get larger? Of course, she was crazy, but she could swear it was more pronounced. She stammered, hanging her head in utter defeat.
“D-damn it, why me? What do you want to know?”





In the digital palace, at the end of the long hallway, just behind two massive, gilded doors, Twilight lay next to Starlight on their Queen-sized banister bed. The two occasionally spoke to each other, their noses in books, as they frantically searched the pages; just as they did every recharge cycle. Twilight turned a page.
“It’s not in this chapter, moving on to the next. Those crafty Alicorns. They hid it rather well, I must say.”
Starlight didn’t look up, instead remarking offhandedly.
“They weren’t idiots, Twi. They were just easy to kill.”
“True…Oh? What’s this?”
Starlight glanced up, her left eye was glowing with a bright navy blue, while her right was her normal amethyst. She looked over to Twilight, whose own right eye was glowing magenta, while her left displayed her usual crimson. Both exchanged a glance as a screen appeared before them; depicting Pinkamena and Chrysi laying on the bed, chatting.
“She was truly the worst. An Alicorn gifted with restoration magic, she treated the souls of others like toys to be broken at her whim.” 
“Restoration? How is that evil?”
Starlight looked directly at Twilight.
“Looks like they are discussing her. Want to stop them?”
Twilight’s magenta eye glowed brightly, and Twilight watched as images suddenly flashed through her mind at a breakneck pace. She suddenly smiled and shook her head.
“No, she needs to hear this.”
Starlight watched as Twilight let out a menacing laugh. How long had it been since Starlight had heard her laugh with such sincerity?
“What did you see?”
Twilight’s eyes watered momentarily as she replied.
“A future worth dying for, Starlight. A future worth dying for.”





Pinkamena looked uncomfortable as she closed her eyes. Her voice was solemn, and her tone as cold as her heart.
“Picture this. An all-powerful ruler of the land summons you, you are not going for a social visit. No, you messed up. A lowly slave, you could not achieve your quota for the day, due to reasons beyond your control. And Luna has decided to punish you personally, as she did at random.
You now stand before the destroyer that is Princess Luna, in the back you can see the smiling face of her sister, and she appears to be waiting for something. And Luna decides you must die for your inadequacy after she berates you; removing any shred of dignity you may cling to. Off with your head, she says, and that is exactly what she does. Your last moments of fear and terror before your heart stops, your headless body bleeding out as you enter the gateway to the afterlife. You are finally free. And suddenly, like that, you are standing before Luna again, all the pain, all the terror flooding through you as you scream in agony, your mind processing the memory of your death; you stare into the merciless eyes of Luna, as once again, she removes your head.
 Once more, in a flash, you are back in one piece, only for the memory of two deaths permeating your mind. Again, and again, you experience the horror of your own demise, slowly going insane as again and again, the white Alicorn keeps restoring your body, your soul, and your memories. That is until she gets bored, and you are sent back home to your family; broken and destroyed, your mind desperately clawing itself apart, and you can’t tell your mom, or sisters, because what could you say? So you develop another personality to contain the pain, and….”
Pinkamena suddenly broke down in tears, throwing herself into Chrysi’s hooves, bawling.





Starlight was mortified. She had never actually been told how Pinkie Pie came to be; a perfectly happy party pony persona that Pinkamena could interchange with, at will. She always assumed it was just something that made Pinkie…well, Pinkie. All this time, though Pinkie Pie, the Element of Laughter, was just a shield. Pinkie was created to block that pain. I never knew.
She glanced up from the screen to see Twilight, her eyes hooded over, as she quaked with a silent, shaking rage, that Starlight hadn’t seen since the night The Sisters had died. Twilight raised a hoof to her magenta eye, now glowing fiercely. Starlight whispered to her.
“Did you know?”
“It was mother’s favorite disciplinary measure.”
Twilight’s voice was toneless, empty as she spoke.
“Every time I would fail to achieve top marks or came in second behind Luna’s prodigy, she would kill me. Not something as swift as Luna’s ways, either. No, she would make sure my demise was painful and felt in every fiber of my being; skinned alive, burned for hours, frozen, even dismembered. Every time a different way and every time she would bring me back, healing the physical wounds but making sure the memories and pain were alive in my mind as well.
This is your fault for being so weak and unworthy, she would then say. And when I was expelled for cheating, the pain was unimaginable, I was at my end until I resolved to kill her for what she had done. That was the only thing that kept me sane.
I ran away and joined Sombra hoping to grow strong enough, and even then I wasn’t. I risked everything to internalize and conquer The Alicorn Amulet’s power, absorbing it into my being, and still, it wasn’t enough. My mother was a monster beyond monsters.”
Twilight lowered her hoof as her crimson eye began to water. She continued.
“But I knew that, that’s why we killed them. For vengeance. But as for Pinkamena, I never knew. I can’t believe after all this time with her, I never knew.”
“Twilight-”
Starlight reached out to touch Twilight, only for her partner to jerk away. 
“I’m the Princess of Empathy! My job is to feel and resonate with others, to understand their trials, and tribulations. To get them through those times they can’t get through alone, to shoulder that weight. She’s one of my closest allies, somepony that I vowed to protect! And I couldn’t even share her pain when she needed it.”
“Twilight, you can’t blame yourself.”
“You’re right. I couldn’t help her then, but I can now.”
Twilight’s wings flared wide and began to glow as the pain and suffering of Pinkamena were magically funneled through the screen and directly into them. Starlight watched in awe as Twilight literally took Pinkamena’s pain as her own, her crimson eye starting to water. 
Twilight began to tremble, barely at first, before quaking as wave after wave of agonizing pain washed over her; the agony of many deaths, of decades of keeping it a secret, the pain of sleepless nights, of wanting to scream. All of it flowed into her, and she let loose a bloodcurdling scream as tears flooded her eyes and broke loose, streaming down from the crimson one like that of a river.
Her tears turned scarlet red as she screamed, again and again, collapsing into Starlight’s hooves, whimpering and sobbing. Meanwhile, Starlight stole a glance at the screen and watched as Pinkamena’s own tears faded, her breathing growing calmer in the hooves of Chrysi. 
Suddenly as cuts crisscrossed her body and a spray of crimson erupted from within her, Twilight’s horn glowed brightly with a golden hue, and she passed out, her magenta eye glowing and pulsing brightly. Her breathing remained calm and suddenly stopped, as magic emanated from her horn and flowed into each of her wounds. Starlight’s breath caught in her throat as she watched the lacerations slowly heal; fading away like they were never there.
Starlight grabbed the still form of Twilight in a warm embrace as Twilight’s barrel once more began to move up and down in a gentle rhythm. Starlight felt the warmth of Twilight’s breath and her stone-cold form began pulsing with a gentle heat. The light shone once more in Twilight’s crimson eye as she sat up, smiling.
“Like that.”
Starlight smacked her with her hoof.
“You idiot, that was close.”
Twilight nuzzled Starlight gently, before slipping out of the bed, and heading towards the chamber doors.
“You, of all Ponies, should know by now, it takes far more than that to kill me, Star.”
“Where are you going?”
“I need some air.”
Minutes later, Starlight watched as Twilight raced into Pinkamena’s chamber and without so much as a word, grabbed Pinkamena, and Chrysi in a hug; wrapping them tightly in her wings.