Chapter 9
On the edge of Ponyville was a small cottage. It had never been in good shape even at the best of times, it had been almost completely overgrown even before the sun fell. Now with long reign of the moon, it was difficult to tell there even was a cottage there. Which was exactly how the occupants liked it. Hidden behind a massive dead vine was a single small door, which led to nowhere. The roof had long since collapsed, sealing the cottage closed. In the days of the sun the citizens of Ponyville were always threatening to have it demolished, but never quite got around to it. After the fateful moon rise they just couldn’t be bothered anymore. It was too far out of the way and far too close to the Everfree forest for ponies to risk trying to steal anything from it, most never even approached. That was another fact that the ponies who lived there appreciated.
While the outside seemed abandoned the cottage actually teemed with life, one just had to know where to look. Ignoring the front door and instead circling around the cottage would reveal an equally unimpressive back. However one bush would be out of place. This bush has many branches broken, as if it were roughly brushed past many a time. If a pony were to repeat that action and if they looked carefully they might find a small door leading down.
Down a short flight of stairs almost a dozen fillies and colts played rowdily around the room. Originally it had been a cellar for the cottage above it, but it had been haphazardly expanded so much that it was now larger then cottage itself. Around the walls were poorly constructed bunk beds for the children to sleep on.
Three young fillies played in one corner of the room. They were a white unicorn, an orange Pegasus and a yellow earth pony. While most of the other fillies and colts in the room had cutie marks, none of these three did, and that was one of the things that brought them together. Currently they were playing a spirited game of tag. The Pegasus jumped from bed to bed across the top bunks, her small wings struggling to keep her aloft in between, while the yellow filly jumped across the bottom bunks chasing her. Their unicorn friend followed behind, her magic sputtering as she tried to steady the bunks as her friends dashed across them.
“You’ll never catch me Applebloom!” The Pegasus yelled as she balanced precariously on one of the bunks. Her natural acrobatic abilities were more than a match for Applebloom’s speed.
“I will too Scootaloo! Just wait!” Applebloom yelled her southern accent showing. Then to her unicorn friend. “Come on Sweetie Belle! We’ve almost got her.”
“Applebloom wait! You’ll tip the…” Sweetie Belle wasn’t able to finish what she was going to say as the bed that Applebloom had landed on fell. As it fell it hit the bunk that Scootaloo was on and knocked it over as well. With a resounding crash the two bunk beds collapsed into a pile of sticks and mattresses. The noise brought all other activity in the room to a complete stand still. All the rest of the fillies and colts stood and stared as the three fillies pulled themselves out of the wreckage.
“Applebloom! I told you, you would tip it over!” Sweetie Belle whined, her voice squeaking.
“Well you should have told her sooner!” Scootaloo said, as she flittered her wings, throwing off the dust from the crash.
“It isn’t her fault!” Applebloom yelled at Scootaloo. Quickly all three were arguing and fighting. The other young ponies ignored the ruckus, returning to whatever they had been doing. Their wrestling ground to a halt as a door slammed at the top of the stairs. Immediately they, and the rest of the fillies and colts in the room stopped what they were doing and moved to the base of the stairs. Slowly the sound of heavy steps descended the stairs. Eventually a fully grown Pegasus appeared around the corner of the stair well. She had a pink mane and tail, with a yellow coat. One of her wings was horrifically mangled, almost beyond recognition as a wing. Across her shoulders was a loaded saddle bag. This she tossed to one of the oldest colts. He opened one of the pockets, it was stuffed with food. He carried it over to the corner of the room where there was a small stock of food.
“Fluttershy, there isn’t very much here.”
“I know,” the yellow Pegasus replied. “Mr. Cake raised the prices again. The costs of bread are rising. He has to ship it from Canterlot, and with the war raging there food production has been… inconsistent.”
She scowled as she spoke and the scowl stretched the scar that ran across the right side of her face. The scar ran from just to the right of her eye all the way to her chin. When it stretched it distorted the rest of her face giving her a fearsome visage.
“Even with our special deal with the Cakes for lower prices they are still barely able to afford to give us this much. We are going to have to gather even more product next time we are in the city.”
Fluttershy liked to imagine and pretend that she and her cohort of young ponies had some legitimate business that had product that needed to be gathered. However most of the “product” consisted of pocket watches and handkerchiefs, with a smattering of purses and wallets stolen from the rich business ponies of the big cities around Equestria. When she was a young filly, scared and alone, she had tried to find someone who would take care of her, but the brutal slash across her face and the damage to her left wing scared many ponies too much. Wounds such as that were extremely uncommon in the day lit Equestria.
So cold and starving, she turned to the one thing she could do to make money, stealing on the streets. Her wings could never be used for flying, but they could still be useful. With her good wing she could casually brush past a pony on the street and snag some expensive item from their pockets or saddle bags.
Eventually her caring nature led her to adopt some of the foundlings of Ponyville under her wing. That was start of her criminal gang. And soon it grew massive. She had fillies and colts in quite a few major cities, even Manehattan and Canterlot. And they all fed the wealth they relinquished to her. Before the sun fell it was hard to find fences that would buy the stolen goods so she mostly traded to make sure that young ponies she took care of had clothes and enough to eat. But once Nightmare Moon took over the Cakes suddenly became the perfect fences. They couldn’t afford to let most of Ponyville eat for free every single day, so they had to look for alternative forms of income wherever they could. One of those incomes was from selling Fluttershy’s stolen goods. It wasn’t at all uncommon for a pony to sell or mortgage almost everything they owned so they could eat and keep their family warm in the cold sunless cities. So when a local baker comes to sell dozens of watches, and other small items, nobody gives him a second glance. By partnering with Fluttershy and her pickpockets the Cakes could continue to feed the rest of Ponyville. That was all that mattered to them, and as long as the fillies and colts under her watch were fed Fluttershy was happy too.
She quickly strode into the room making for the roaring fire place. It was freezing outside and she had walked all the way from the center of Ponyville to here at the edge of the Everfree forest. However she hadn’t made it half way to the fire when she saw the wreckage of the two bunk beds. She looked at it for a moment.
“Who did this?” Her voice was whisper quiet. The room was so silent the spiders in the corners sounded loud. Slowly Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle crept forward their heads down.
“We did,” they chorused.
“Well you appear to have broken three beds. You will not sleep until they are fixed.”
The three fillies looked at each other in confusion. Then Applebloom spoke up, “But Fluttershy, we only broke two beds.”
“Oh really?” She whispered in reply. Then without another word she turned and kicked another of the bunk beds. It immediately collapsed into a pile next to the two others. “There, now you appear to have broken three beds. You will not sleep until they are fixed.”
“Yes Fluttershy.” The three girls mumbled together. There was no point in arguing with her, so they quickly set to work. They knew that if they didn’t get the beds made quickly then not only would they not get to sleep but also three other ponies wouldn’t either.
Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo didn’t have the skill with building that Applebloom did, but they knew when to listen to her instructions. It didn’t take long for the rough shape of a bed to start to take place. While they worked Fluttershy sat in an old chair by the fire. The older colts were doling out dinner to the rest of the ponies. Normally Fluttershy would be eating right along with them but tonight she was waiting for something. She kept her eyes narrowed as she stared into the fire.
The door above slamming shut for a second time heralded the pony she had been waiting for. She immediately jumped to her feet and walked to the base of the stair well. Down walked a unicorn. She was younger than Fluttershy but could hardly be called a filly anymore. She had been one of the first ponies that Fluttershy had rescued and because of that she was extremely loyal to her.
“Amethyst Star! What news from Canterlot?” she asked as she embraced the unicorn with her good wing.
“Ponies are talking. It’s just whispers in the shadows right now but it’s still there.”
“Whispers? About what?”
“A weapon. Something that could be used against the Nightmare Queen. Something that could bring back the sun. Not only that but they are looking for certain ponies. Ponies who can use this weapon.”
“Do those poor fools really want to try to face Nightmare Moon again? Our troops were more than decimated last time we fought against her.”
“Well maybe if they have this weapon and can find whoever these ponies are, that are being whispered about we could fight and win. Will you back them?”
Fluttershy sighed, “Of course I will back them. I have stood behind those who support the one true ruler Equestria for every other ill-fated attempt and I will stand behind them for this one.” She looked down at her hooves for a second, her face pensive. “But we need more information before we commit.”
“What information do you need? Perhaps I know something.” Then Amethyst shivered. The howling wind could be heard even as deep underground as the cavern was. The yellow Pegasus frowned, stretching her scar. “
“This can wait till you are warmed, come sit with me by the fire.” Despite her talk of waiting, she began to question Amethyst as soon as they had sat down by the roaring fire. “Who is leading this venture? Most of the old generals are dead or captured.”
“We don’t know. Even my informants don’t know who is taking charge. And before you ask they also don’t know what the weapon is exactly. Only a few seem to know even close to what exactly is going on, and they are keeping mum about it. I have some better descriptions of the ponies but I don’t know how much that will help us.”
“Hmmm, that is interesting, but you are sure it is being talked about?” she waited for her nod then continued. “If ponies are keeping the secret this close to their chests then something is definitely happening. Something big.”
She paused for a moment as she looked around the room. Most of the fillies and colts were starting to get settled for bed. They were too young to understand talk of revolution or what it might cost them should they be discovered. Fluttershy was in a unique position when it came to these things wherein she could act as supplier, “finding” everything from weapons and armor to food and medical supplies. All without risking the movement being discovered too early. However she also shouldered most of the early responsibility and danger.
Fluttershy could send her young ponies out into the streets of the big cities to steal supplies or things to sell for supplies. And she could send the older ponies, like Amethyst, on more dangerous tasks, like into the armories of the Midnight Guard. If any pony was caught they would be punished without any risk to the greater cause. And that was why Fluttershy hesitated. She felt it was her duty to protect the young ponies, not send them out like lambs to wolves.
“We need more information if we are to act with impunity. Send out your whisperers, find out what this weapon is they are searching for. Also I need to know who these special ponies are and their descriptions, every pony walks by one of the street urchins eventually. If any pony can find them it will be us. If we can help the resistance find these ponies we must try, but more importantly if the resistance is looking for a weapon then surely others are looking for it too, and we need to find out who these other players are. And we need to find who is stirring this nest, once we find who it is we can begin speeding things along and perhaps recruiting.”
“Yes of course. I will head to Manehattan tomorrow to get the ball rolling there. Then I will return to Canterlot to find out what I can.”
“Good. Tomorrow take some of the young ones with you, we need more ears in the capital, but don’t risk too much till we know more. But for now grab a bunk and get some sleep.”
She watched him find a free bunk then turned to face the fire. Behind her Applebloom and her friends were almost finished repairing the last bunk and the rest of the fillies and colts were settling down for sleep. Fluttershy smiled at the soft murmurs as one by one they dropped off to sleep. Her smile shifted to a scowl as her thoughts turned to the news she had heard.
She hated the endless night and wanted nothing more than for the sun to return. Not for herself but the young ponies under her protection. Fluttershy knew she would never be anything but a criminal. That was all she knew, stealing and fending for herself on the streets of a big city. But the fillies and colts didn’t deserve that fate. If the sun was back then they could go to school and learn to be better ponies. Already some of the older ones had thieving cutie marks. Some had small purses or pocket watches, which at least could blend in a little but her best cat burglar had a black mask as her cutie mark. Amethyst had two black masks underneath one gold lined one, to show her skill at leading other thieves. Cutie marks that would never blend into those of the rest pony society.
The ponies who ran the resistance never realized the cost of their attacks against the queen. In their last attack she had lost many young fillies and colts either on the streets or in the front lines. She was not about to lose any more. Fluttershy wasn’t afraid for herself, she had been afraid that she might die once and only once. She had survived that with the mangled remain of her right wing and the gruesome scar across her eye. After that she had never feared for life the same way. Now all she feared was for the lives of those who looked to her for protection. And she would protect them no matter what.
* * *
The night sky flew silently by. The Sparrow wasn’t moving anywhere near as fast as it had been the previous day. There was no need for speed, because there was no place the company had to be. With Rarity and her Element collected the company was headed back to Ponyville.
The decision to return to Ponyville had been almost unanimous. Applejack didn’t want to return because she didn’t want to run into Big Mac by accident. But Silver Hammer, Rarity and I convinced her. Silver wanted to check and see if any of his contacts had been able to turn anything up. Rarity wanted to see Ponyville again. She had been raised there, and in Equestria proper had spent her entire life there. She was still having problems adjusting from the Rarity of Nightmare Equestria, and wanted to be somewhere that was familiar. I didn’t want to tell her how much her home was different, though I did tell her that her Boutique was gone.
I wanted to return to Ponyville to make sure that my Element was safe and to secure Applejack’s and Rarity’s. Once they were in the chest Celestia sent me no one else could use them against my friends and I. Besides that, I will be much more comfortable when I am back in Ponyville. Manehattan was impressive and the farm was very homey, but nothing could compare to the town I loved. Now with two of my best friends back, plus Silver Hammer, I felt safer than I had since first waking up to this nightmare.
Silver sat near one of the small portholes of the Sparrow. He seemed disappointed that he couldn’t see the ground, but it was obvious he still loved flying. Applejack’s crew moved quietly around the ship or rested in their quarters. I sat near the front of the main cabin. From here if I craned my neck just right I could watch the stars as we flew. The clop of hooves behind me announced some pony approaching.
“I always forget how much you love the stars, Sugar cube.” Applejack’s southern drawl was showing through her Manehattan accent more and more as the days progressed. If her crew noticed they hadn’t mentioned it.
“I loved the stars because there was always something new to learn. No matter how many books on astronomy I had in the library there was always a new one with something I hadn’t read. Yet for all that they were always steady. Ponies have been using the stars for navigation for centuries, maybe even before Luna and Celestia wrestled control of Equestria from Discord. Now I am looking at the stars trying to find where they are pointing us. There is just so much riding on us right now.”
“We have been in sticky situations before.”
“Not like this. Ponies have died, Applejack. I don’t know if we will ever be able to fix everything that was broken. So many ponies have been hurt. Just look at Rarity.”
Rarity had been spending her time alone in AJ’s cabin. It had been hard for her to leave the farm. Sue Pie had been really upset at the idea of her leaving. But we were able to comfort her. Applejack left two of her guards to stay behind and protect the farm. Once we were in Ponyville AJ could talk to her contacts and arrange for more guards to be moved to the rock farm. Rarity said she would prefer if we moved the Pies away from the farm, to some place that was safer. Sue refused to leave the farm, but Rarity said that she would come back and convince her that it wasn’t safe, for her or for the girls.
Now she was spending some time becoming reacquainted with her memories. Just like Applejack had needed time alone to come to grips with everything she had done and everything she had lost. Rarity hadn’t lost as much Applejack or I had, nor had she done things that went against her nature like AJ had. But she had still lost things. Her parents and Sweetie Belle were two of the worst things. Immediately below the ponies she loved was the loss of her influence.
In Equestria Proper she was a famous fashionista. People came to small town Ponyville all the time to buy her dresses. Even from Canterlot and the fashion center of the Equestria, Manehattan. She had worked closely with the fashion elite of Equestria, Sapphire Shores, and Hoity Toity, being two of the most famous people she had worked with and impressed. If she changed a style on one of her dresses, it would be all the rage in Manehattan within a week.
Now she was no pony. She had spent her life working on the Pie’s farm. Her one large accomplishment, creating the cheaper, easier mage lights had been stolen by Applejack, while she had not only not gotten any credit but also hadn’t even been able to help any pony. That was tearing AJ up pretty badly too.
“We might not be able to fix everything that was broken in the past, but we will be able to fix everything that breaks in the future. As long as we have each other there is nothing that can stop us. Once we find Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy there is nothing that can stand against us. Even without our Elements our friendship will see us through.”
I smiled at her, tears welling up in my eyes. “Thanks Applejack. You are such a good friend. If you’ll excuse me, I need to try to plan out our next move.”
“Of course Hon, look to your stars. If you need anything just let us know.” As she walked away to check on her crew, I wiped the tears from my eyes. I let her think that the tears were just from her sweet words to me. Rarity and I did have one thing that we were both upset about. The white Unicorn had confessed to me how worried she was about Pinkie Pie. She had disappeared from the family farm years ago, and Rarity hadn’t even tried to find out what had happened to her. Now it was too late and she was long gone, or dead.
I was upset over almost the exact same thing. I had felt two others of my friends when we had healed Flitter. But I couldn’t feel anything from whoever was the last of my friends. To me that could only mean one thing, and that was a possibility that was almost too awful to ponder. But I had to. The others were depending on me. This entire world was depending on me. There were other ponies who could use the Elements, or my friends and I could defeat our enemies without them. But without one of my friends, I didn’t know what I would do. Not knowing tore at me even more. The worst was that eventually I would have to explain to Rarity and Applejack that one of our friends… wasn’t … anymore.
A flashing light on the console snapped me from my reverie.
“What’s wrong? Have the changelings caught up with us?”
Behind me Silver Hammer jumped up and walked to the back of the ship where the hatch was. Applejack ran to the console before her pilot could respond. After a second of looking at the instruments she sighed.
“No Twilight. That shows that we just entered Ponyville air space. Look there!”
I followed her hoof to where she was pointing, and I could see it. I couldn’t quite make out buildings yet but I could see the ruddy red glow of the fires that kept the town alive. I smiled at seeing my home again, and at least this time I would be prepared for the damage that has been done to the town.
“Twilight, where should we set down? I don’t remember Ponyville having a skyport, and the Sparrow is going to need to be refueled and resupplied.”
“We will land at the library.”
Silver Hammer, who had joined us at the bridge and Applejack both looked surprised. Silver was the one to voice his concerns, “Land at the library? That’s right in the middle of town! Don’t you think people would notice if an airship lands in the street, regardless of the size?”
“We won’t land in front of it. We will land on top of it. AJ do you remember the balcony where I kept my telescope? Do you think the Sparrow could land there?”
Applejack thought for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah I reckon it could.”
“Then here is the plan. We are pretty safe in Ponyville at least. So we shouldn’t need the Sparrow to be there constantly in case we need to escape. So we off load what supplies and crew members we need from the balcony, then the Sparrow can take off and fly for Canterlot. It’s close enough that you could make it there and back without too big of a difficulty, and the skyport in Canterlot is the largest in Equestria outside of Baltimare, so there shouldn’t be too many questions asked about the Sparrow. It can refuel and resupply and perhaps even pick up some more employees of Apple Industries, if we need them. Then return and stay practically invisible in the night sky while we work here.
While we are here there are certain things we need to do. One: Silver, you need to contact your friends here and see what they have turned up. We need to find the Elements and especially any news of their bearers as soon as possible.” My throat tightened at this, but I recovered before the others could pick up on it. “Two: Rarity and AJ need to see what their home has become, it will be hard because Ponyville has changed a lot since we were last here. Three, rest. I have only been able to sleep a few hours each night, since I have found my Element again. AJ your crew is tired, and they may be able to keep going, but since we have a moment of time while we are looking for information, we need to utilize that.”
“Sounds like a brilliant plan Darling.” I turned at the sound of Rarity’s refined voice. “I just want some trace of normality right now.”
I frowned. “Be careful Rarity, this isn’t the city you grew up in. If you are looking for normality you might not find it here.”
“I know dear, I wasn’t thinking about the city itself. But I will have to see how things stand before I say more.”
I nodded, then turned to the main window. We were only a couple hundred feet above Ponyville. Even if the Sparrow wasn’t already practically invisible at night, the smoke from the fires would have hidden us from any pony on the ground. Slowly I guided the pilots to the library. Some of the land marks had changed and I didn’t want to risk getting lost. If we were forced to loop around, it could be very dangerous. Eventually the tree loomed out of the shadows.
“There!” I pointed at the balcony where I wanted them to land.
“Where? I don’t see anything.” At first the pilot’s confusion perturbed me, if we were any closer to the tree we would be scraping the branches. Then I remembered the spells Silver Hammer and I put on the tree. Quickly I cast a revealing spell on the windshield. Rarity gasped as the tree faded into view, but the pilot calmly maneuvered so the rear hatch was balanced above the balcony.
“I don’t want to risk landing, don’t know how much weight that thing can take. But with the number of unicorns we have on board we shouldn’t have a problem offloading supplies.”
“Speaking of supplies, how much should we bring?” Applejack asked.
I thought back to the starving ponies in the food line. “A lot. We shouldn’t expect to get any supplies here.”
Applejack nodded then began giving orders to her ponies. As soon as the back hatch of the Sparrow opened Silver Hammer jumped out onto the balcony. I quickly followed him down. I wanted to make sure that the spells we had placed on the tree didn’t hurt any pony. By the time the tree was safe Rarity had started to use her magic to levitate some boxes of supplies out of the Sparrow. She passed them to Silver’s magic. I took the boxes from his magic and carried them downstairs. As quickly as I was able I sorted and organized the boxes so the various food and supplies would be able to be accessed quickly and easily.
Eventually the flow of boxes from above slowed, then ceased. Shortly I was joined on the bottom floor of the library by Silver, Rarity and Applejack.
“I sent the Sparrow to Canterlot. It will restock and resupply there then wait for us over head.”
“Alright, now let’s go about our tasks. I don’t want any of you to be captured so no fighting or causing problems.” Silver was clearly in his military mindset. Giving us orders like we were fresh recruits. If only he knew exactly how many times my friends and I had saved Equestria together. Before I could correct him Rarity spoke up.
“Fighting? Why do you think we would get into fights? We are ladies not ruffians.”
“Yeah ladies who just fought a changeling swarm to a standstill.”
“Well if we did that then I am sure we will be able to take care of ourselves in the event we do need to get into a fight. So don’t worry we won’t be needing you to protect us, darling.”
Silver stood there with his mouth hanging open for several seconds. Then he shook himself, “uh… right. Well, I’ll be going. I will be back, uh, later.”
Once he was gone Applejack and Rarity laughed. I smiled too. “Don’t give him too hard of a time, he is only trying to help us.”
“Oh I know dear. I just think he needs to relax a little. Yes things are bad out there, but with our friends back together there is nothing that will be able to stop us.”
“Yeah… well let’s see the town. Just you know it is really different from what you might remember.”
“We know sugar cube. We are ready to see it.”
So we bundled up in warm coats from AJ’s supplies, something I couldn’t help but notice that Silver forgot to do, then I lead my friends out into the cold. As we walked through the streets of the city we loved all of us were silent, caught up in our own thoughts. Rarity looked all around taking in every detail of the devastated town. Applejack mostly stared at her hooves. Occasionally she would look up when she thought she recognized something, then her head would drop again when saw the condition it was in. For me at least, I just looked straight ahead. I didn’t want to ignore the town like AJ did, but I had already seen the city once, I didn’t need to take it all in again.
One by one we walked by the well-known land marks of Ponyville. The long abandoned city hall, where the mayor had worked caught Rarity’s eye. She had us walk all the way around it and she even pressed her face against the windows to try and see inside. I didn’t want to risk attracting attention, so we didn’t linger. When we passed Sugar Cube Corner Applejack kept her head down and hurried past. I was glad about that because I saw Big Macintosh in the line for the soup kitchen. Rarity saw him too, and was about to mention it when I shook my head. She nodded and kept walking. Again I was glad. I wanted AJ and Big Mac to reconcile and be happy again, but there would be tears and anger before there were smiles and here in public was not the place for that discussion. Nor was seeing her brother in line for a handout the way that she needed to see him for the first time. That conversation could wait, at least a little longer.
Finally we came to the last stop on our tour; the empty lot where Carousal Boutique had been in Equestria Proper. Rarity starred at it open mouthed for several minutes before sitting down with a thump in the snow. Applejack had picked her head up when we had entered the lot and as soon as Rarity sat down AJ was right beside her.
“I know you said it wasn’t there. I knew you said this world would be different. But I still wasn’t prepared for this. I had spent my entire life there. So many dresses had come out of those doors. The hours I had spent working with Spike,” her throat tightened, “the time I spent working when I should have been being a better sister for Sweetie Belle. Now my store is gone, and so is Spike… and so is my sister.”
Applejack quickly sat down beside her and wrapped her hoof around Rarity’s shaking shoulders. I was about to move to comfort her as well, when I felt a sharp burning in my hoof. Glancing down I saw that the Omnicanicron was glowing brightly.
“On your hooves!” I yelled summoning a shield around the three us. Applejack jumped to her hooves, while Rarity looked at where her home had been before getting to her feet. “Someone was trying to track us magically! We are invisible in this shield.”
“But who was tracking us?” Applejack answered.
“Probably him.” Rarity said pointing behind us. She sounded tired. Like she had aged several years in the past several minutes. Applejack and I spun and there wandering across the open lot was Silver Hammer. I quickly dropped the shield. He jumped as we appeared out of thin air in front of him. He barely had a moment to recover before AJ was on him.
“Now what exactly do you think you were doing mister? You nearly scared us all to death. Next time you need to find us just search instead of using your special magic to find us.”
Silver looked completely confused, “What are you even talking about?”
“I’ll explain later.” I said, cutting off Applejack. “Now what were you looking for us for?”
He still looked confused but he quickly explained that a member of the resistance had information that we might be able to use, but they wanted to meet with Twilight. Or rather Silver wanted them to meet with Twilight, since he didn’t actually know if the information would be useful. Applejack followed him quickly, then slowed to let Rarity catch up. Then AJ walked beside Rarity, trying to comfort her with her presence. I trailed behind those three.
Why would the Omnicanicron warn me of Silver Hammer? And further more why would he pretend not to know what happened? None of the answers I could come up with made any sense. My thoughts were interrupted by Silver announcing that we had arrived at our destination. I smiled, maybe we will be able to find some information that would lead to us finding the others. A gasp from Rarity then Applejack’s whispered “oh Nellie.” Brought me back to the present. I jumped through the door my horn blazing. Only for that fire to immediately disappear. In the room was none other than…
“Fluttershy!” Applejack and Rarity said at once. Rarity ran forward to try and hug Fluttershy but was thrown back by one of Fluttershy’s wings. Then a unicorn who had been standing behind Fluttershy fired a magic bolt at Rarity knocking her against the wall. Applejack turned and bucked the table that was in between us pinning the unicorn. Reacting as quickly as I could I filled the room with one of my bubble shields. The shield pressed everyone back into the corners of the room. I walked into the center of the bubble.
“Now everyone be calm!” I ordered.
“Be calm? You invite us here because we have information for you! We have found one of the ponies you were looking for and you attack us!”
“Yes be calm!” The unicorn was struggling against my shield with everything she had. Whatever her special talent was, it certainly wasn’t a match for my powerful shield. “We made a mistake.” I glared at Applejack, then Rarity, then shot a different type of glare at Silver. I would be having words with him before the end of this. “Our situation is … complicated. We will try our best to explain it after we have heard your information. Now I am going to lower my shield and we are going to sit at this table and talk like civilized ponies. Can we all do that?”
I waited for each pony’s nod before I lowered my shield. Whoever the unicorn was, she clearly respected Fluttershy, and she wouldn’t give her nod till Fluttershy had given hers. Once everyone was in agreement I slowly lowered my shield, then I used my magic to reorder the room, making sure everything was neat and tidy. Once everything was the way it should be I checked with Rarity. She wasn’t hurt, I was right the unicorn clearly had no skill or experience with combat magic, still there were tears in her eyes. Would every encounter with my friends be like this? Full of tears and pain before we even get the elements on them?
For the first time I was able to get a good look at Fluttershy as we were all sitting down. My heart sank as I looked at her. There was a massive scar across her face and another that ran across one of her wings. In fact her wing was so badly scarred it couldn’t even open all the way. What could have happened to her? Life hadn’t treated any of us very well, but it looked like she had gotten the worst of it. Even without any special connection I could feel anger radiating off of her.
None of us who knew her in Equestria Proper could speak, so it was left to Silver Hammer to ask the questions. Fluttershy introduced herself, though we knew her better than she did, and her unicorn friend, who went by the name of Amethyst Star.
“You made contact and said you had information for us. What do you know?”
“We’ve heard through the rumor vine that the resistance was looking for certain things and certain ponies. From the description we were able dig up, we think we know where one of the ponies are.”
“Well… what was the description you found? And where is this pony?” Silver was floundering. He had no skills when it came to this sort of thing, but Applejack and Rarity were still dumbfounded, and even I couldn’t gather a coherent thought.
“It took a lot of work but my friends on the streets were able to find what you were looking for.” Fluttershy’s unicorn friend quickly told us about his network of street urchins. “From what they were able to gather we found one description we recognized immediately. Pink pony, pink mane, always laughing, grew up in Ponyville. We know where she is.”
This information shook me from my thoughts. But it was Rarity who spoke first. “Pinkie! You found Pinkie? Thank Celestia. Where is she? Can you take us to her right now?”
“Of course, I had assumed you’d want to see her immediately. I already arranged a way to get to her.”
“Then we need to go at once!” Rarity declared. We of course stood up and begun to file out of the room. I knew Rarity was divided right now. She and Fluttershy were very close in Equestria Proper, they went to the spa together every week. But here in Nightmare Equestria she felt personally responsible for Pinkie’s safety. I agreed mentally that we needed to find Pinkie. We needed to make sure it was actually her, before we moved on. Now that we knew where Fluttershy was we could always find her again once we found her element, then we could return her memories.
I grabbed Applejack as she went out the door. “On the way would you try and explain things to Fluttershy? She needs to know, even if she doesn’t have her memories back yet. I have to have a little talk with Silver Hammer.”
“What should I say to her?” I could tell by her strained expression the real meaning behind her question. Should she lie to her friend, create a story she would believe and put her on our side? Or should she tell the truth. A lie would be so much easier. I knew AJ would be able to come up with something that Fluttershy would buy, but every lie she told dragged her back to that office in Manehattan, where she casually fired ponies, simply to increase her profit margin. Really there was only one option.
“The truth. She deserves it. And so do you.” She nodded, her relief showing on her face. It took a moment to compose her face, then she was out the door, all business.
“Excuse me Ms. Fluttershy. There is something that I have to discuss with you.”
I followed her out the door a second later. I put a hoof on Silver’s shoulder, slowing him down as we trailed behind the others. Rarity and the other unicorn were in the lead, setting a fast pace, then came Fluttershy and Applejack, talking quietly and earnestly, finally Silver and I.
“What’s wrong?” He asked.
“What’s wrong? What’s wrong?!” I was struggling to keep my voice low. I didn’t want to disturb the others, but I was so angry I could hardly focus. “I gave you a description of every single one of my friends, and yet I find that one of them is one of your rebellion contacts? Do you see why I might be a little upset about that? She is the Element of Kindness! Even without her actual Element, she has been a key help on so many of our adventures in Equestria Proper! And you didn’t think to mention she was a member of the resistance? Or even give us a warning that we were about to come face to face with one of our friends, after they had been brutally attacked?”
Silver leaned close to me, his face angry and hurt. “One she is not in the resistance. She is a supplier, providing food, equipment, and information for those on the front lines. Two she is not my contact. I have never met her before in my life, I have only heard of her from other members of the resistance. Remember how I had never been to Ponyville before? Three: this is the exact description you gave of her, ‘yellow Pegasus, hates to fly but will to save her friends, extremely shy and allows others to steamroll over her. Hermit lifestyle, lives alone with only animals.’ Do any of those things look like the pony in front of us?”
I had to admit, my description really fell short. This Fluttershy was striding confidently down the street, and with her damaged wing and facial scar my physical description fell even further short. But I was still angry at Silver for not warning me that one of my closest friends was so badly scarred. I was about to continue my tirade against him, when his thoughtful expression stopped it.
“You said she was the Element of Kindness right?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“And Applejack is the Element of Honesty, and Rarity is Generosity right?”
“Yeah. What are you getting at?”
“Well Rarity was very generous when we were at the Pie’s farm earlier. And Applejack made her living by lying, yet when she got her memories back she suddenly can’t stand the taste of a lie. So would it be fair to say that the ponies would either exemplify their element, or live in direct opposition to it?”
“That’s a pretty small sample size for your data, but your logic makes sense. I still don’t see what you are getting at.”
“If you had told me to look for someone who was extremely kind, like kind of enough to represent the entire Element of Kindness that Pegasus would have been the first pony I thought of. Even though I hadn’t met her I have heard of how she brings in all these young ponies off the streets and cares for them. Perhaps when we get a moment we can talk about your friends in these terms and see what pans out?”
It was a really good idea. In fact it was such a good idea I was ashamed that I hadn’t thought about it. I should have realized that every pony in this world would have been changed. Even their physical appearance may have changed. But they were still the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Just like when Discord attacked the first time, they would either live their Elements or go in the opposite direction. We didn’t have time to discuss this more, because we were approaching a building that appeared to be our destination.
“What is this place?” I asked. The old building was clearly older than any pony here, so it would have been built before the time change, but I couldn’t remember the building from the correct Ponyville.
“It’s the mental hospital. Only a few inmates left. Most of the guards have long since abandoned this place. And the doctors left even earlier.”
Now I recognized it. The hospital hadn’t weathered the years well without more ponies to take care of it. We quickly made our way into the building. I couldn’t imagine what Pinkie was doing here. Then I decided I didn’t want to try and imagine. Every time I try and imagine my friends it just ends up hurting me.
Our party walked through the hallways as quickly and quietly as possible. If ghosts were real, this would be a place that would be haunted. I glanced into one of the rooms we passed. A brown stallion sat against the corner muttering to himself. He couldn’t move because of the straight jacket he was wearing, but I could hear him.
“They changed everything. They changed everything. They broke everything. They changed everything. They broke everything.” I walked on his sad voice following me down the hall. “They broke everything. All of time. They broke all of time.”
“Here we are.”
I hurried forward. Fluttershy and her unicorn friend were stopped in front of one of the cells. I mentally fortified my mind. This was going to be another heart breaker, I could already tell. As I approached I noticed that Fluttershy had her head down, clearly deep in thought. I guess Applejack was able to tell her the truth.
In the cell was a solitary pony. I couldn’t tell anything about it, because its whole body was covered in the strait jacket, it even had a hood of some kind over its head. I immediately moved to undo the lock. But found my path to door blocked by the unicorn.
“I wouldn’t go in there if I was you. This one is completely mad. Her rap sheet could go all the way down this hallway. You have no idea how many life sentences she has.”
“Rap sheet? What were her crimes?” Rarity asked.
“Well I am surprised you don’t know. The one that got her caught was in all the news for weeks. Apparently she broke into the castle in Canterlot and murdered the captain of the royal guard.”
“SHE WHAT?” I screamed, my voice cracking at the sudden strain.
“What’s wrong Sugar cube?”
“She killed the captain of the royal guard! Shining Armor, my brother!”
* * *
Elsewhere
The changeling nest was in complete havoc. Black Scale the changeling could only cower at the rage of his queen. Queen Chrysalis had been away with a portion of the horde, trying to find a new source of love, for the horde to feed on. The local small farms had either been drained dry or proved too tough a nut to crack for the hunger of the weakened swarm. She had left her crown and the Element she had stolen, because she had to transform to blend in with the ponies around her. Then when she had returned to find that strangers had infiltrated the hive and taken the element her rage was beyond comprehension. She had used her magic to tear massive holes in the hive complex and had sent many of her children scattering. Those who hadn’t seen what she had done moved towards the throne room, those who had ran from it. One of the Queen’s advisors had been in front of Black Scale. Now all that was left was a burnt outline on the far wall.
“My queen! This ssssoldier ssssayssss he hassss information you neeeed to know.” Black Scale flinched as the other Changeling spoke. One of the queen’s elites, they accompanied her whenever she left the nest, they were some of the best fighters in the changeling horde. However Black Scale was beginning to rethink addressing the Queen and was hoping to make it back to the tunnels and lose himself among the confusion, but it was too late for that now. His Queen turned her emerald eyes on him. They were blazing with power, and her horn crackled and buzzed. While the changelings fed on love, they could power their magic with their rage just like unicorns could.
“I swear by the holes in my mane if you don’t have useful information for me I will tear you apart where you stand! Now speak!” She shouted down at him. Currently she was hovering several feet above her throne, her agitation not allowing her to sit. Black Scale knew he had mere moments to speak his piece to save his life.
“I know who attacked our nessssst.” He said quickly. Then immediately bowed down before her. He couldn’t say how he knew but he knew. Changelings don’t have long life spans, but Black Scale knew from the first moment he could form his own coherent thoughts that there had been another world. He could remember draining the love from an old couple in Canterlot. Those two ponies had cared so much for each other that he could have even faced down a powerful unicorn mage. He remembered supplying this power to black unicorn, traveling back in time, and changing it. There had never been any reason to mention it before now. He was only one more changeling in a horde that at its height had contained thousands of his brothers and sisters. Most knew each other only by the scent of their pheromones and the other changelings wouldn’t even have bothered calling him crazy, he would have just been left behind, when the swarm moved on.
Now he could keep his silence no more. He had seen the bearer of the Element of Magic, and he knew exactly how much of a threat she could be to his beloved queen.
“Speak, worm.” His queen rasped out.
“You might think that thissss one isssss mad, but pleasssse lissssten to it.” Then as quickly as he could he explained the memories he had. Slowly the queen settled onto her throne as he talked, her eyes squinting, almost shut. When he had finished explaining everything he knew, he stood silent before her, praying that she believed him.
“My queen thisss creature is a liar! Let usss take it to the sssurfasssse, and feenish it”
“No. I can see the truth in his eyes.” Chrysalis starred down at him for a moment longer. “Commander, prepare the swarm. We are leaving this place.”
“To where do we fly my Queen?”
“To a place where we can destroy this threat once and for all. And a place where we will be able to feed on all the love we could ever want.” With her eyes shining green an emerald fire raced across her body. Her grey black coat changing to a midnight black. Her limp mane took on a life of its own as turn blue and became filled with stars. Soon standing before the terrified changelings was a form that even they had learned to fear. Nightmare Moon! The changeling queen laughed in Nightmare’s voice. The changelings cowered as the laugh echoed off the walls, magnifying and sounding like it was coming from every direction. Thunder crackled as Chrysalis’s eyes flared their brilliant green one last time.