And when I came to Canterlot, there were a few in the Royal Court who saw my vision for McCarthia, even Celestia was swayed by my vision. But it is the burden of the Prophet to bring the wicked to Harmony. For what am I, if not a mirror to reflect the face of Faust?
The Autobiography of Prophet Dusk Glimmer
-Dusk Glimmer, Y1910CR
Applejack’s eyelids flickered as she finally came to. Of course, it wasn’t her choice to wake up, she’d have preferred to remain in her dreams, where the world still made sense. The smelling salts being waved under her snout had other plans. Or at least, the unicorn waving them did. “Mmmm… g’way...” she murmured, squeezing her eyes tightly shut.
“Now Applejack,” came a pompous and elegant voice, one that AJ had learned to hate extremely quickly. “You should know that it’s rude to ruin a social event like this. I know you’re just a mudpony, dahling, but you did get brought to some of my gatherings back in Ponyville, no?”
The earth pony’s eyes rocketed open and fixed the detestable mare with a glare that could have pierced solid concrete. “Ah don’t hafta listen to you, Rarity. Yer a darn traitor! That’s all ya are!” she all but snarled at the smug looking unicorn in fancy dress.
“Ooh, keep that indignant rage, dahling.” she continued blithely. “The audience just loves when their lessers are all good and steamed! Why, last year we had a stallion that was ever so angry, and such a foul mouth too! I swear, some of the audience didn’t even bother throwing balls, and moved on to their sidearms!” She giggled, as if they were discussing town gossip over tea.
“Ah guarantee, that stallion was thrice the pony you’ll ever be, thrice the pony any of ya’ll stupid unicorns’ll ever be!” She snarled, straining against the post she was tied to. “Yer a backstabbin’ snake, Rarity, and by Celestia I’ll scotch ya like one!”
“Sure you will, dahling.” Rarity replied with a bored tone, walking away and onto the main stage. It seemed that the time had come for the main event, and these madponies had left Applejack alone.
Perfect. She thought as she threw her head forward, again and again, until a small sliver of metal started working its way out of her mane. Pinkie had shown her how she hid so much stuff in her own mane before, and while AJ didn’t have quite the hair, or seeming defiance of logic, to hide as many crazy items as the Pink Pony, hiding a makeshift knife she’d made from debris in her cell had been foal’s play. The ugly piece of metal slowly slid from her hair and started to fall, whereupon the farmer caught it in her teeth and started work on the rope that bound her to the pole. The blade was just long enough to reach, and for that she was thankful. Applejack didn’t expect to escape, but if she was going to die here, she was taking Rarity with her.
She kept sawing as Rarity made her stupid speech to the crowd, and the big drawing from one of her inane hats. The unicorn had taken her stetson away when she was captured, probably as a trophy of some kind, and the farmer couldn’t help but feel it was an insult just for her, using a hat to determine who got the first shot. She was almost there, she could feel the ropes growing slack as Rarity called out the winning number.
Y’all had better have good aim, 77. she thought at the lucky winner. ‘Cause ah am not goin’ down without a fight!
When the curtain rose, she dropped her knife in surprise. “Twilight?!” She asked in disbelief.
As the months and years turned to memories, so did the ponies of the Royal Court turn to harmony. And through the technology of ponies, the bits of Canterlot, the Creator worked Her will on McCarthia, and raised it high above the mud and filth of those below. In the ancient times, the Princesses sought the same thing and ‘lo, the mighty cities of Canterlot and Cloudsdale were made, far above the access of the mud dwellers. But; as the parasites ever seek higher station, we too must rise...
-The Prophet Dusk, speaking at the First McCarthian Library, Y1895CR
Twilight Sparkle felt as if she was between a rock and a hard place. On the one hoof, she had a job to do. Throwing the ball at Applejack would be the easiest path. Rarity obviously didn’t recognize her after all this time, so throwing the ball then leaving would get her to the statue within a few minutes. She was so close now. But on the other hoof, this was Applejack, one of the only friends that had come back for her when her life had started falling apart. But then, all she’d won was the first throw, not the only throw. Would not throwing the ball really change anything? If the weight of my ball is any indication, this many ponies would kill one bound pony rather quickly. Her mind was ever so quick to rationalize it, but then she saw AJ’s face. The earth pony was staring at her, though whether it was a look of surprise or betrayal, she couldn’t determine from here.
Twilight immediately thought back to all the times Applejack had covered her back, all the times she’d all but carried her back home after a long night at the bar, and all the times they’d just talked. If it weren’t for Applejack, Twilight realized, she’d be in a much worse place right now. With that, Twilight’s face curled up in anger as she brought the ball back to throw. “Some Element of Generosity you turned out to be.” She snarled, throwing the ball at Rarity’s smiling face.
Or rather, that’s where the ball would have gone, had a magical field not wrapped around her hoof, keeping it in place. “Wha-?” She asked, struggling against the field. Two police officers, a Pegasus and a Unicorn walked up to the princess, and the winged officer grabbed her hoof from the field. “Well well, look what we got here.” He said to his partner before turning the hoof to Rarity. “Does that look familiar to you, Ma’am?”
“Oh my, look at that.” Rarity said with… Twilight couldn’t tell, was that mock surprise, or her real reaction? The unicorn was so dramatic that it was hard to tell. That much hadn’t changed. “Wherever did you get that tacky little mark, dahling? Don’t you know that makes you the ‘False Shepherd’?” She laughed evilly, a laugh that made the fur on the back of Twilight’s neck stand up. “Well we can’t let such a crime against good taste stand, can we, fillies and gentlecolts? Show them what we’ve got in store for this tacky miscreant, boys!”
“Rarity!” Twilight called out, “What are you playing at? Why would you do this to your frie-” A whirring noise next to her head stopped her mid-sentence as the unicorn slowly moved a hoof towards her face, a spinning device attached to his fetlock. Twilight found herself unable to move. The pegasi holding her was too strong, and the only spells she could think of required moving her head towards the spinning blades of death. Suddenly, she heard a loud snapping noise from the stage, followed by a piece of rope flying out and wrapping itself around the unicorn’s leg not long after that, pulling the blades into the pegasus’ eye. The unicorn quickly let go of the machine as his partner screamed, and Twilight used her newly freed hoof to sucker-punch him in the face, feeling his jaw buckle on impact and watching him fall to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Before he could get up, Twilight’s gun was already drawn, and two rounds had already entered his skull.
Screams suddenly exploded up from the crowd, and all of them ran for the exit, which just happened to be the way to the statue. Once the majority of them were ‘aboard’ so to speak, the road detached itself and began floating away. Brilliant. The Alicorn thought bitterly. So much for that plan. There has to be another way around, I didn’t see Rarity in that crowd, and she’s pulled a total disappearing act. She added as she looked around. The unicorn had completely disappeared in the confusion, and Twilight’s eyes were eventually drawn to the machine that had almost ended her journey prematurely.
Twilight was panting as she grabbed the small device from the Pegasus’ torn up face. The Stallion was barely recognizable anymore. She hadn’t seen brutality like that in a long time, or at least, she hadn’t been the cause of it. Whatever these things were, they were certainly useful. Twilight strapped it to her left fetlock, and the blades retracted into their housing. “Sweet Celestia, is that you Twi?” asked a voice from the stage.
AJ stood there, surrounded by two dead policemen of her own and slowly reeling in the rope she’d used to save Twilight’s life, and tying a lasso loop on the end of it. Leave it to her to find a lasso. Twilight thought lightheartedly. “Yeah AJ, it’s me. Seems Pinkie dropped us both in it, huh?”
The earth pony seemed to relax a little. “Ah suppose ya could say that. Leave it ta Pinkie to lead us to an entire city of Sky-Racists, and the one Unicorn ah’d hoped to never see again. Did ya get here by that lighthouse ah theirs?” she asked.
Twilight nodded. “Yeah, Pinkie and Berry dropped me off.” She poked around the Pegasus’ uniform, looking for anything they could use. Luckily, she came across another hook… thing… and another pistol. Both of which she tossed to AJ.
“Thank ya kindly sugarcube.” She said as she slipped the hook on her left fetlock, and attached the pistol to her right before returning to her line of questioning. “Did ya see any sign’a Cousin Crabapple there? He was with me when them crazy unicorns jumped us.” All she needed was the look Twilight gave her. “Oh…” her face fell, before coming right back up in righteous anger. “Darn blasted unicorns! He has a family back in Fillydelphia, what am ah gonna tell ‘em now? That he got taken down by a buncha crazy sky-unicorns?!”
“AJ, calm down!” Twilight said as she climbed onto the stage, placing a hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “We can figure that out when we get out of here. I’d bet anything that there’s an entire regiment of police officers heading our way.”
“Rarity’s not getting away with this.” The farmer said, deadly serious. “Ah won’t rest until she pays for this.”
“And she will, AJ.” Twilight pulled her friend closer, “But think for a minute. These ponies obviously aren’t in their right minds, and Rarity holds a lot of power. We’re just two mares, we need backup.”
With nowhere else to go, they made their way backstage, looking for a way out. “Uh huh.” Applejack replied. “So why’re you even up here? Ah got nabbed, but you seemed pretty free to move around. Not that Ah’m ungrateful or nothin’.”
“Pinkie sent me up here.” Twilight responded as she rifled through a desk. “Her brother wants me to get someone for him. A mare. Apparently she has something to do with that big Pegasus Statue.”
“Huh. Seems a lot’a folks’re interested in that creepy thing.” AJ said, poking around in some boxes. “Ah could hear ponies talkin’ ‘bout it from mah cage this morning. Somethin’ ‘bout a lamb? Darnit, where could she have put mah hat? Rarity was never one fer trophies.”
“Found it!” Twilight called from the other side of the prep area. Talking with AJ brought a wellspring of feelings to Twilight’s heart. Here they were on another adventure, the first in a long time. The stakes were much different than the usual, but still she was glad to have a friend with her again. The hat rose from the drawer and floated over to AJ, where it alighted on her head.
“Welcome back, darlin’.” She said to the hat, adjusting it. She looked much better now, at least in Twilight’s opinion. “Anythin’ else in there, sugarcube? Maybe the keys ta one of those blimps they got floatin’ about?”
“No such luck. But, I think this is Rarity’s.” Twilight replied, pulling out another Record Player. She’d heard a pony at the fair call them ‘Voxaphones’. “Let’s see if she’s got any dirt for us.”
Twilight turned the Voxaphone over and flipped the activation switch:
I told Dusk this morning about the main problem with her little project. Sell ponies Paradise, and the customers expect divine intervention for every little task. No labour in Faust’s Kingdom! Luckily, I know a pony in Stalliongrad who’ll ensure we have a steady stream of mudponies to keep this little experiment of hers going. She was reluctant at first, of course, but our little prophet is a smart mare. I knew it the first time I lay eyes on her back in ponyville.
“Why… that… no good snake in the grass!” Applejack yelled as she snatched the Voxaphone from Twilight’s hooves and smashed it on the ground. “And to think, we trusted her, and she’s been workin’ with this ‘Prophet’ since Ponyville!”
Twilight couldn’t believe it. Dusk Glimmer had been in Ponyville, and she’d been friends with Rarity. How had Twilight not seen or heard of her? Surely another Alicorn would have stood out.
How did? How did she…
Twilight felt unsteady on her hooves as her vision fuzzed and her blistering headache returned. She could hear Applejack’s voice calling out to her, as if from underwater. “Twi? Twilight!? Are you alright, sugarcube?” the Earth Pony kept calling as she placed a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “Twi, yer nose is bleedin’. Are ya’ll alright?”
Twilight put a hoof to her nose, and sure enough, it came away bloody. “AJ, I’m fine. Let’s just get out of here before the cops show up.”
“Alright. Just, roll yer sleeves down. I think folks’ll start looking for hoof-brands now that they know their ‘false shepherd’ is on the loose.” she replied, rolling down Twilight’s right sleeve before grabbing a black jacket off of a rack. It was plain, and the sleeves were just long enough to hide the weaponry on her fetlocks.
“Alright… Let’s go.” Twilight said weakly as she tried to move, only succeeding in falling over again.
“Oh Celestia.” Applejack grumbled as she helped her friend up, steadying her as they moved together. “Alright, looks like there’s a gate over yonder. Keep movin’”
It took far longer than it should have, but the two ponies eventually passed through the gate, and into a police checkpoint. AJ felt her eyes go wide. She should have expected this, but getting Twilight somewhere safe until she could walk again had taken precedence.
“Halt!” yelled the policemare at the head of the roadblock. At least ten guns were pointed at the duo, all of them ready to fire. “Identify yourself, and your mudpony!” She yelled at Twilight, who seemed to have fallen unconscious, mumbling words AJ couldn’t make out.
“Erm, ma’am,” Applejack began, trying to keep her voice sounding submissive. “Mah name’s Applejack, and this is my… sponsor,” the word tasted sour on her tongue, she knew the implications of such a word here. “Twilight Sparkle. We were at the Raffle when that Madpony just opened fire! We were terrified, and mah dear mistress just couldn’t handle all that savagery. We just hid until she left.”
The policemare’s eyes narrowed. “How did she leave? We have the area surrounded.”
Applejack’s voice caught in her throat for a moment. “er, she was a pegasus. erm… Blue coat? I don’t remember her mane colour, it was all too fast.”
“Prism.” The mare snarled. “I knew it was her. After that stupid Rarity keeps going on about some ‘False Shepherd’ malarkey. Makes a lot more sense if the Vox was behind it.” She turned and barked orders to the gathered policeponies before turning back to AJ. “Look, I have respect for what you did, so I’ll let you off the hook this time for walking around unchaperoned. So, try and get inside as quickly as possible, alright?”
“Yes’m!” Applejack replied with a salute as she all but carried Twilight past the barricade and the gathered policeponies. The group seemed to be preparing to spread out and search the area for this ‘Prism’ pony as the Policemare in charge started barking out orders.
Good. Applejack thought. Pay no attention to the mudpony and her master, ya varmints. She allowed a small smile to grow on her snout. As the element of honesty, lying was not her strong point, but honesty wasn’t always the best policy, at least not in a place like this. The Earth Pony passed by the back of the barricade, past all of the carts set up to stop the ‘False Shepherd’ escaping, when the rancid smell of burning fur and flesh assaulted her nose. It wasn’t long before she found the source. A pony sat on the back of a Police Cart, clad entirely in padded armour. It stared at her with such intensity, such hatred, that she could feel the stare even through the face-concealing helmet. AJ shuddered a little before adjusting her grip on Twilight and making a beeline for the nearest building. It looked to be a bakery, deserted in the chaos. Half-Eaten cupcakes and muffins could still be seen on the tables outside, abandoned when the police showed up.
Applejack shouldered open the door, and was greeted by the smell of baking cakes and, strangely enough, candy. “Pinkie?” AJ said aloud without thinking. She immediately regretted revealing herself, but was relieved when the pink pony’s voice called out from inside.
“Applejack? Is that you? Come on in! I’ve made cuuuupcaaaakes!~”
Applejack sighed in relief as she entered the bakery, and sure enough, Pinkie was standing in the doorway to the kitchen, a baking tray balanced on her head and a smile splitting her face. With nowhere else to put her, AJ placed Twilight on a nearby table. From the corner of her eye, she could see Berry nursing a mug of cider. For some reason, this seemed familiar to the farmer, almost as if she’d been here before, but she shrugged it off. Deja vu had no place in a situation like this. “Pinkie. Ya’ll gotta lot of explainin’ ta do.” She asked with an edge to her voice. “Because’a you, Cousin Crabapple’s dead, an’ now we’re stuck in a city’a sky-racists!”
Pinkie’s smile faltered a little. “I’m sorry Applejack. I never wanted you or anypony else to get hurt, but I suppose I can’t plan for everything.”
“Ya’ll told me that it was a simple delivery job, and now Ah’m down a cousin and scared that each hoofstep will be mah last. Ah don’t even want to know what ya’ll told Twilight to get her in on this madness!” AJ thought she saw something strange in Pinkie’s eyes, but dismissed it. Venting her anger came first at that moment.
“We weren’t lying, you know.” Berry said from the bar. “This is a delivery job. But it isn’t apples.” The Pink Stallion left the bar and walked over to the farmer, looking a lot less bubbly than she remembered. “The thing you’re delivering, is her.” he said, pointing towards Twilight. “Now, take a cupcake from my dear sister, and sit down.”
Scowling, Applejack took one of the treats from the tray on Pinkie’s head and sat down. She couldn’t remember the last time she ate anything decent. Just like Granny Smith says, ‘no reason ‘fer bein’ angry on an empty stomach.’ The earth pony wolfed down the cupcake, noting the lemony flavour and sputtering a little at the metallic aftertaste. “Gah, by Celestia, what’d ya put in that, sugarcube? Tastes like the bit on the plow back at the farm.”
“Darn!” Pinkie said, placing the tray on the bar before walking over and joining her brother and friend. “I thought I added enough lemon to mask the metal taste. Sorry AJ, but at least now you’ll be better protected!” She pulled the farmer into a tight hug.
“What’re ya’ll talkin’ about?” she asked.
“A Concession I had to make for Pinkie to accept my little ‘Experiment.’ You are now protected by a magical field that will stop most small-calibre bullets.” Berry explained. “To a point, of course. The shield will recharge over time, so watch yourself. Pinkie is rather fond of her friends.”
“An’ this experiment of yours entails…?”
“Nothing you need to worry yourself about, but I suppose there’s no sense hiding it from you. This building has been quantumly locked, so for the moment, you’re safe, but Twilight’s rescue of you, and getting outed as the False Shepherd, seems to be a constant. Once you leave this building, every policepony in Colum- sorry- McCarthia, will be after you. To save the multiverse, and undo some meddling by some of my colleagues, I need somepony like you. A wildcard. As Elements of Harmony, only you can fix what has been broken, and repair the Doors. But for that, constants must be broken, and one universe must burn. Pinkie and I are doing our parts, but only ponies that are part of this world can alter it from the inside. Pinkie and I no longer have that luxury.” Berry Bubble seemed amazingly calm, much at odds with his sister’s usual behaviour, as well as his own appearance. Applejack wondered what had happened to cause this, but not enough to entertain this madness.
“Alright. So, suppose ah believe this ‘Multiverse’ nonsense. You want me to ‘Deliver’ Twilight somewhere, but the police’ll be followin’ us the whole way. What do you have in mind?”
“It’s simple, silly!” Pinkie Pie bubbled. “You’re going to be a distraction so Twilight can get to the Pegasus statue! Then, you’re going to nab an airship, and sail it back to Manehattan! Then you deliver Twilight to us, who delivers the Mare, and everything’s smiles!”
“And of course, you will tell her none of this. You are a controlling factor here, AJ.” Berry added. “As I said, we need to burn this universe. There will be times where Twilight will need to make a decision. To let somepony live, or to let somepony die. You are to guide her to the right answer, break the cycle, but she is never to know. As far as she will realize, you are just plain old Applejack, there to help her finish her mission.”
“And what’s to stop me from telling Twi all about yer crazy nonsense plan, and we jus’ fly on home to Ponyville?” The Earth pony growled. “Ah won’t let ya use me ta manipulate mah friends, and Ah ain’t lyin’ for ya!”
“Silly AJ.” Pinkie giggled, “It’s not lying if you don’t remember! Once you go out that door, you’ll forget just about everything we just said, at least, everything regarding interdimensional physics!”
“What d’ya mean? Ah can’t just forget somethin’ that crazy!”
“But you will.” Berry finished. “Pony minds aren’t built to think in the fourth dimension, and everything I just told you will recede into your subconscious, like a posthypnotic suggestion. Now, I suggest you get going. A rather deranged pony has been trying to get inside for the last 15 minutes, and I think he’s a fan of yours. There’s a way out through the kitchen.”
Shooting a dirty look at Berry, AJ readied her pistol and stood, the barrel resting against her hoof. “This ain’t over.” She said before running out of the bakery via the kitchen.
The second she had gone, Pinkie let her smile die. Her hair drooped a little and she made her way over to Twilight with a cloth to wipe the blood from her snout. “Berry? Are we a bad pony?” She asked, her voice wavering.
“We’ll know before this is over, Pinkie. If your friends can succeed, and fix what was broken, maybe we can make up for our mistake.”
“I should never have tried to exploit The Wall.” was all she could say.