//------------------------------// // Interlude // Story: Ponyshock Infinite // by Mint Copy //------------------------------// When I broke away from the corruption of Equestria, Princess Celestia tried her hardest to appeal to my better nature, to the history we had together! When I looked down at myself, and then at her, I realized: She feared me, and rightly so! -The Prophet Dusk Glimmer, On the Weakness of Princess Celestia                   Several thousand kilometres away, Princess Celestia awoke, and her nose was bleeding. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something had changed. She clambered out of bed, but her legs were like that of a newborn foal. She slipped and fell several times, trying to make her way to the mirror. What she saw was a Princess on the edge. Despite oversleeping by an uncharacteristically long time, her eyes were weighed down with bags, her hair unkempt, flowing chaotically in all directions. What terrified the Goddess the most, however, was the jumble that currently passed for her mind.                   It was as if there were two Celestias currently residing in her mind, one a much angrier individual than the other, one that was an expert in swordplay, and another in gunplay, a kindhearted ruler, and a merciless tyrant. One that loved Twilight Sparkle, and another that hated the upstart Alicorn.                   One mind asserted that she was a loving and kind scholar that lived in Ponyville with her group of five friends, while another claimed that she was a bitter drunk that had driven everypony she loved away. Celestia had no idea who to believe, and was thankful when Luna entered the room. The Princess of the Night wasn’t exactly better off, but her nocturnal nature meant that she had been able to raise the sun while her sister was incapacitated.                   Luna rubbed her forehead with a hoof. “Sister, I fear that something has happened to our world. Last night I lorded over a world of chainmail and blades, but come the morrow…”                   “Guns and body armour.” Celestia finished. “And a knowledge of how to use such barbaric weaponry, yes?”                   Luna nodded, exhaling a breath she’d no doubt been holding for far too long. “I see, then it isn’t just me. My memories… They have been split. Through one eye, I see the battles of our past fought honourably, blade to blade, yet through another I see lines of riflemen lining up and dying like animals. ‘Tis a world I do not wish to live in.” She shuddered.                   “And I take it that our subjects only remember one course of events?” Celestia asked, true curiosity tinging her voice for the first time in centuries.                   “Indeed.” Luna confirmed. “After questioning every member of both the Night and Day Guards, it seems only the new memories remain within them. Could it be…?” Her voice trailed off, but Celestia knew what she was about to say.                   “No. Discord would never stoop to this. His brand of mischief is a much more whimsical.” Celestia shook her head.                   “Then who?”                   “There is a new player in these memories, one who did not exist in the old ones. Dusk Glimmer, the Prophet of McCarthia. For some reason, she only exists here. Whatever is happening here, I have a feeling that this ‘McCarthia’ is at the bottom of it.”                   “Then we should rally the troops! Whatever foul magic this Dusk Glimmer used to alter our memories must be within this ‘McCarthia’ place, we must take the fight to her if we are to return to our world!” Luna demanded, her more headstrong nature rising to the top.                   “Hold, my sister. If we go charging off now, we may cause more damage than we prevent. We are new to the world, yet familiar to it. We must study this place before we destroy it, and… I must see what has become of my most faithful student.” Celestia rubbed her temples, trying to ease the headache brought on by the doubling of memories.   Airships have always been a marvel of pony design, but so very few know of their true purpose. As with many things, these dirigibles were created to make war. War with the Pegasi, whose pride blinded them to the superiority of the unicorns. We built these great weapons of war to bring them low, before the coming of the Alicorns, but now they serve as simple transportation for our Elite. -Crooked Horn, Unicorn War Scholar (Now largely discredited.)                   Dusk Glimmer felt the closest to rage than she had been in almost a decade. Her mane, usually kept in a low-power state, now floated around her head in an ethereal manner, framing her white-furred head in a miasma of stars and inky purple night, looking as if the very sky was her crown. Her Airship floated high above McCarthia, and it gave her the perfect view of everything below. She could even see the square where this debacle had started, where the ‘False Shepherd’ had shown her hoof. The prophet had foreseen this day of course, and had hoped that the guards would have put a stop to it. Unfortunately, she had not foreseen the Mudpony.                   “Dahling, are you okay?” Came a voice from behind her. “The police are looking for them right now, I’m sure that-“                   With barely a thought, Dusk used her magic to clamp Rarity’s mouth shut. “You underestimate the False Shepherd.” She said simply, walking over to the fashionista turned mogul. “She’s an Alicorn, and they don’t just hand that out to weaklings. No, she will be a massive pain in my side.”                   The magic let up, and Rarity began speaking again. “Now that you mention it, what with Applejack being there with her, something does strike me as odd.”                   “Hm?”                   “Well, the False Shepherd looked just like Twiligh-“ Rarity never got to finish that sentence, as a wave of magical force knocked the wind out of her and sent her slamming into the bulkhead behind her.                   A second wave picked her up and pinned her to the wall as Dusk moved closer. “Never. Say that name around me. Ever again.” She growled. “Twilight Sparkle is dead. She died long ago.”                   “Whatever you say, my Prophet.” Rarity gasped.                   “Excellent.” Dusk let the magic drop the Unicorn unceremoniously to the ground. “Now, don’t you have a little dragon causing big problems down in Belleville?” Dusk smirked. “Or perhaps your little prismatic friend?”                   Rarity bowed extremely low at the mention of those rather large pains in her own side. “The Vox Terra can’t sustain these attacks, My Lady. And trust me; I’ll bring him back around. I promise you. The Vox have warped his mind, that is all.”                   “And what if that’s not the case?”                   “What do you mean?”                   “What if he’s not confused? What if he actually is a traitor? Would you have him killed, if need be?”                   “I- I would kill him myself, if that were the case, my Prophet. I promise.” Rarity held back the small amount of moisture that gathered in her eyes at the thought.                   “Good. You are dismissed, old friend.” She waved her hoof at the door.   Vox Terra… It means, ‘Voice of the Earth’, I think. I read it in one of Twilight’s books once, I wasn’t paying too much attention. When I came to McCarthia, I was invited by somepony I once considered a friend; only to discover that my friend had turned away from everything we believed in. When I saw what she had done to the Earth Ponies here, I couldn’t stand for it, and that was when I learned a secret rule of this place. ‘If you don’t have a horn, don’t push your luck’. Before long, me and a few other Pegasi were tossed in jail, just for speaking out, and it was in that cell block that the Vox was born. -Rainbow Dash, on the founding of the Vox Terra.                   Rainbow Dash entered the hideout in Belleville the same way she always did, far too quickly, and incredibly messily. As she came to a skidding halt, she was surprised to come snout to snout with Spike. Literally snout to snout. The young dragon had grown during his time with Rarity, her greed rubbing off on him and bringing him to the height of the average pony. He still wore the uniform the unicorn had given him, a simple blue affair with gold embellishments and buttons, and his face was set in a grim look.         “I take it you heard, Dash?” He grumbled. “About the False Shepherd?”         Rainbow took off her helmet, a modified version of the ‘terrible’ gala outfit Rarity had made oh so long ago, and with it, shedding the ‘Prism’ persona most of McCarthia knew her as. “I’ve heard enough. Some alicorn killed some policestallions at the raffle, and freed the prize. Nice work, if I say so myself.” She shook her head, freeing her mane from the dreaded ‘helmet hair’.         “It was sloppy, is what it was.” Spike turned to the charts hung up on the wall behind him. “Getting supplies into Belleville was difficult before, but now it’ll be nigh on impossible. The police have set up checkpoints everywhere, and our couriers are getting picked off one by one, even the unicorn ones!” He ran a claw down his face. “It’s a mess, Rainbow. We can’t keep going like this without help. We both know Dusk and Rarity, or at least, we thought we knew Dusk. Neither mare will give up without a fight, and we don’t have anything else to throw at them.”         Before Dash could give one of her usual morale-raising talks, a Vox agent rushed into the room, bowing deeply before her. “I’m sorry to bust in like this sir,” The Earth Pony wheezed as he tried to catch his breath. “But, at the raffle, one of the ponies you told the intelligence corps to be on the lookout for turned up.”         “Who is it, Private?” Rainbow demanded, slipping back into Prism.         “Applejack, sir. Applejack is in McCarthia, and currently raising hell with the False Shepherd!”         Dash felt joy spring up deep within her. Another Element of Harmony on her side, that would raise the dwindling Vox Morale more than any little speech would, especially seeing as it was the Element of Honesty, and another Earth Pony. “Well done Private. Get some rest, you’re dismissed.”         “Sir. There’s another thing, but the agent wanted to deliver the news personally. She should be arriving shortly.”         As if on cue, the door creaked open, and a Zebra walked in. “‘Tis rather rude to start the briefing without me, as I have something that you would like to see.”                   “Zecora!” Dash grinned at the new arrival, incredibly happy to see a familiar face. “Come on, tell us what you saw!”         The intelligence agent had a smile of her own as she started her report. “‘Tis good to see you too, my dear Dash, for soon McCarthia may be turned to ash. The False Shepherd has appeared indeed, to steal the Prophet’s seed. Her connection may be matriarchal, as the mare appears to be Twilight Sparkle.”         “Tw- Twilight?” Spike stammered, sounding a lot more like his old self before shaking it off. “Impossible! Twilight can’t be here, that’s impossible!”         “This is why I could not relay this through another. I’m sorry dragon, but it appears to be your surrogate mother.”         “It doesn’t matter.” Rainbow said with finality. “Whether this is actually Twilight or not, she looks the part, and is tearing apart the Prophet’s beloved city. That means she’s on our side, even if she doesn’t know that yet.”