The League of Sweetie Belles

by GMBlackjack

Distant Shores (Siren Song, Part 2)

Cinder forced her eyes to focus on the stallion standing over her. He wasn’t the ice-mark wearing brute who had taken her down. He was a thin, gray pegasus with no extra marks anywhere on his body. A massive pair of glasses with multiple adjustable lenses dominated his face, keeping Cinder from following his gaze.

His teeth were wrong. All of them were perfectly rounded, but all angled incorrectly. Never before had she seen a mouth that was both so organized and chaotic. It was as if somepony had meticulously arranged everything and then threw it into a whirlpool.

“I hear you have quite the fiery spirit…”

Cinder glared at him. Oh, you bet I do. She lit her horn, throwing a fireball right at him.

It vanished the moment it left the bed.

“Fascinating… mastery of fireball without the mantle. You must have worked hard to learn such an effective spell!”

“Natural talent,” Cinder grunted. “What do you have here, a magic barrier or something?”

“Precisely! My my, you have a brain in there somewhere and quite the countenance! Not even trembling or screaming for help!” He grinned, an action that his mouth was not prepared to deal with. Drool began to drip from his loose lips. “There’s nothing you can do, little one. None of your spells can reach me, and you will be asleep again before I perform my… heheh… operation. It’s easier when you don’t squirm.”

“I’m probably more useful to you alive,” Cinder said. “You know, mysterious filly that knows magic, had a strange device on the back of her neck; maybe she’d be able to tell you some cool things. Like how that device worked. Where to find others like it.”

“Oh, psh, you won’t die until we’ve gotten every last little thing out of you.” He began to circle her, taking a long knife off the tray with a wing. “That horn of yours first, I think. It tends to get annoying when we try to play with you.”

Cinder’s ears folded back. She realized that she was in a very unflattering and compromising position with all four of her legs pinned down and her stomach up.

“And after we’ve had our fun there’s still other things… that cutie mark of yours. Powerful. One of the most magically infused I’ve seen. Though, of course, it would have to be, seeing as it relates to finding destiny itself, does it not?”

“Why don’t you go ask your Sweetie Belle?” Cinder spat, having regained some of her fire.

“She’s unfortunately dead. Tragedy. But you… think of the mantle we could distill from you. Something truly unique, a tonic of destiny incarnate… you might even get to have some of it yourself!” He laughed. “Assuming you really are interesting enough to keep alive…”

“Something tells me I wouldn’t be too thrilled at that point,” Cinder deadpanned. “Let’s see, what else can you take… eyes? Hooves? Maybe an ear or two? Please, you’re falling right into the mad evil scientist niche. Basic.” Don’t let him know you’re afraid. Don’t stutter. Your heart may feel like it’s about to explode through your chest, but keep it together.

“...Maybe I can remove the horn with you awake…” he growled.

And give me a chance to jump you.

“Don’t you go anywhere, looks like we’ll need the extra long bone saw today!”

He trotted out of the room.

“Not the result I was expecting, but I’ll take it,” Cinder said. She examined the room. Beyond her bed and the tray of sharp implements, the space was rather bare. The walls were completely devoid of decoration and the only other piece of furniture was an office chair with rotting padding. A few boxes filled with medical supplies sat in a damp corner, and behind her there was a sink she could barely make out in her peripheral vision. It dripped, the rhythmic noise driving into her ears a sense of urgency her heart hadn’t managed to push into her mind yet.

There was a magic field around her, somehow, that prevented her from interacting with anything outside the bed. That was fine. She had all she needed right here. Lighting her horn, she reached into her mane with her telekinesis and pulled out a sheet of paper.

This sheet of paper hadn’t existed a moment ago, but it did now. A little bit of otherworldly reality warping was going to be her savior. I really am going to have to thank Woona again. It’s amazing how useful this is.

She folded the paper quickly in her magic, turning it into an origami sword. She swung it at her restraints, annoyed to find that they were metal and resistant to being cut by an improbable blade. However, they did have key holes in them…

This gave her an idea. A silly, ridiculous idea. But those were the best ideas when using this improbable papercraft. She unfolded the sword and re-folded it into a cartoonish key. With a smirk, she stuck it into a keyhole and turned.

Click.

With a chuckle, Cinder lifted her front hoof out of the restraint and drove the paper key into another hole, releasing a second leg. A third. A fourth. Soon she was standing free on the bed, tail tucked between her legs.

Folding the paper back into the shape of a sword, she waved it in front of her. Nothing happened to it as it crossed the barrier that had dissipated her fireball. Carefully, she stuck the sword over to the cart containing all the blades, sliding it closer to the bed. When she was sure it was within the invisible barrier, she picked up the largest of the sharp knives in her hoof.

Now, she was ready. Ready to try something a little stupid, but it was preferable to standing on this bed waiting for that “doctor” to come back. Carefully, she inched forward, poking the air in front of her with her horn.

There it was. A slight tingle. The magic barrier. Poking further, she felt her horn go numb… but nothing else seemed to happen. Pulling back, the feeling in her horn returned.

Here goes…

She jumped through the barrier. For a second, her horn was useless. This didn’t stop her from landing square on her hooves, knife poised to take on whoever was stupid enough to jump her.

Nopony did. The feeling returned to her horn. Her paper sword was still with her.

She could take on the world.

With a smirk, she trotted to the exit. The door led to a long, poorly-lit hallway with some standing water around the corners.

About three doors down was the psychotic doctor, running directly at her with a massive saw longer than he was tall. Upon seeing that she was free he let out an inequine screech that sent a frigid shiver through Cinder’s body. He would reach her in a few seconds.

“Take this!” Cinder shouted, unleashing a wave of fire from her horn.

This time there was no ice-cube stallion or magic barrier in the way. The tongues of raging heat engulfed the mad pegasus, burning into his mane easily. His screeching stopped and he fell to the ground, tripping head over hooves as the fire surrounded his body.

Cinder instinctually moved to dispel the fire—after all, at this point the enemy was usually subdued and there was no point in burning them further.

Not today. Something in the pegasus drove him to scream through the fire and swing the bone saw at Cinder, even though he was far too distant to actually do anything to her. Cinder took a few steps back as the burning stallion crawled toward her, pushing through the burning flesh for just a chance at cutting her in half.

Even as his hairs reduced to nothing and his skin began to blacken, he didn’t stop his approach. The madness didn’t leave him until his eyes had boiled, filling the noxious scent of burning flesh with an entirely new flavor of rot.

He stopped when he was dead. Not a moment sooner.

Cinder dispelled the fire, her heart beating faster than it had ever before. She felt light-headed, trying in vain to get more air into her lungs.

I didn’t have a choice. He didn’t…

She noticed her mouth was watering. That didn’t make sense. She hated meat, every time she saw it she… she…

“Oh… Celestia…” She stumbled in a random direction. I knew this was going to happen. It had to. I mean, fire, what are the chances, right? Fire…

I’m not even an adult yet and I’ve killed a pony.

I…

I’m sorry, Squiddy. I’ve failed.

She laughed bitterly, a heave that quickly turned into a sob. She dropped her paper sword and knife and fell to the ground, unable to stop the tears.

More than anything, she needed this moment to herself. To work it out.

She wouldn't get it.

“You killed my brother.”

Something in Cinder clicked, activating her survival instincts. Still crying a river, she picked up both her weapons and blasted a wave of fire behind her.

The large maroon unicorn covered in different marks—”mantles?”—lit his horn, dissipating the fireball with an anti-magic spell.

Cinder didn’t need her intuition to know he wanted to do terrible things to her. And then kill her.

Swinging the paper sword, she cut a gash across his shoulder, coating the paper blade in blood. Seeing the stain, her already strained spirit tied itself into another knot. This is not what this power is meant for.

The unicorn tore the paper sword in half with his magic. Cinder roared, rushing forward with the knife.

Her telekinesis was overpowered. The blade transferred to his control and shot back to her.

It plunged into her left flank, in the center of her cutie mark. For a moment, there was silence.

Then a scream. She didn’t realize it was her scream, at first. All she felt was her mind on fire, unable to process the extent of what had just happened. Her emotional breakdown had robbed her of most of her processing power, leaving only a shell to think enough to survive. This failed her. There was only red, pain, and the scream.

Her eyes cleared first. Everything was red. She saw her own blood. On her back, she looked up at the stallion towering over her.

No. Please, no.

Darling… now is not the time.

No…

Don’t worry. Your prayer is answered another way.

The wall exploded. Light.

Voices.

Blood on Cinder’s face. Not hers.

“...ere’s a filly here!”

Cinder had never closed her eyes. But she hadn’t been looking through them. She wasn’t really now, but her brain was recording images again. She wouldn’t react to them until much later.

Much later.

“It’s going to be okay, darling.”

That’s not right. That’s not her…

Cinder lost all awareness.

~~~

“She’s long dead,” the mustached Security Commander told Suzie.

“How can you know that!?” she shouted, ramming her fist into the desk, knocking over a decorative hourglass.

“Look, monkey, it’s a tale as old as time. Filly goes missing. Never shows up again. We all know what happens to them, some underground racket tears them apart and sell their organs on the market. Sometimes they develop a new mantle that everypony’s using a year from now. It’s illegal, we stop what we can, but there’s too many for us to deal with. She’s dead, gone, kaput. Unless you want to buy her horn off the black market and try some black magic there’s nothing for you, and I am not helping with that last part!”

“How do you expect to run a secu—”

“If you don’t get out of my office right now, you’ll hang.”

Suzie frowned. “...Nice justice system you have in this city.” She got up out of her chair quickly enough to snap its legs and stormed out of the precinct.

She was entertaining the idea of pulling her pulse cannon out and blowing the clearly corrupt commander’s head off, but all thoughts of doing this discreetly vanished when she realized there was a small crowd outside. Instead of keeping their heads low, they were… giddy? Excited?

There was a flash of soft green energy—Swip completing a teleport. None other than Allure Belle appeared, looking at her freshly-acquired Vision paperwork. “Well, that was a fun dimensional intercept!” Allure folded the papers and looked up to Suzie. “What’s going on here?”

“I have no idea,” Suzie admitted, looking at the crowd. “This is odd.”

“Looks like a celebration, or something.”

“When ponies are starving in the streets I doubt they would congregate to celebrate like… this. Something’s up.”

“Ah.” Allure rubbed her artificial horn. “So… Sweetie Belle?”

“What?”

“Chronicle?”

“...What?”

“...Celia called me and said she had found her trail?”

“Oh.” Suzie looked at the ground, frowning. “We split up. I’ve been shouting at cops for the last half-hour looking for Cinder. We think she’s been kidnapped.”

“A clever way to split the party…” Allure mused. “Don’t worry, I’m sure she’s fine, some random underwater city won’t be her downfall.”

“She’s alone and probably terrified, though. This is a dark place. She can’t deal with it alone!”

Allure sighed. “You remember the Collector?”

“We had each other. We always had each other. She doesn’t have anything. And this stupid city is trying to tell me to just give up without a fight.” With a growl, she pressed her hands together. “I’ll show them.”

“Okay, seems like you’re going off the deep end a little,” Allure said. “Why don’t we dial this back a little and meet up with Celia, see what she’s found. I’m sure we’ll find h—”

A mare dropped from the level above. The rope around her neck tightened with such alarming force that it tore into her flesh, all but fully decapitating her with a disgusting crack mixed with a squelch. The mud caked to her fur sent a waft of noxious fumes to Suzie and Allure.

And the crowd cheered.

A member of Security walked up, cut the mare’s body down, and decided to finish the job and completely remove her head with a quick slice of his blade.

“Public… spectacle… execution…” Suzie breathed.

“Okay, we need to get you out of here,” Allure declared, pulling out her communicator. “Swip, teleport us to Celia.”

Suzie let out a short prayer of thanks for Allure’s presence.

She didn’t want to know what she would have done had she been there alone.

~~~

The first thing Allure did when the teleport completed was check Suzie. Easily picking out the harsh frown lines, narrowed eyes, and balled fists, Allure decided that ‘mad’ didn’t even begin to describe how fed up Suzie was with this trash heap of a city. Allure herself hadn’t been here long enough to form a solid opinion on the place, but the public execution sure had her firmly in the “unsettled” category, though she wasn’t quite at “blow the place to smithereens” yet.

She’d need to have a long talk with Suzie at some point. But first…

There was a reason she was here. The Sweetie Belle.

Allure focused her attention on a table that seated three people; Celia, Seren, and the gorgeous mare who had to be Swiftwing. Her eyes were wide, fixated directly on Allure’s own. “You look just like my ex-wife…”

Allure tripped over her front hooves, falling unceremoniously onto the floor and kicking up some hay dust in the process. “Wait what?”

“Exactly the same. A little older… and she didn’t have the silver horn.” Swiftwing’s frown deepened. “...And your fur is real.”

“I…” Allure stood up, suddenly wishing she’d asked Celia for more details before walking into this conversation. Carefully, she sat down in the chair opposite Swiftwing. “I’m Allure, of the League of Sweetie Belles.”

“She mentioned you,” Swiftwing said, face level. “You took the name so she wouldn’t have to. She’s part of your little League and everything.” Glancing from Celia to Suzie to Seren, Swiftwing smiled softly. “Looks like you’ve expanded a bit.”

“There are thousands of us now,” Allure said, leaning in. “...Swiftwing, we’ve been looking for her for… a long, long time.”

“Made her a legend, apparently, since even these two who never met her know exactly who she is.” Swiftwing paused, looking down at the table. “I bet this feels like some kind of legend to you.”

“It… it kinda is,” Allure said, letting out a soft giggle. “We finally have a trail. Clearly… she’s not here now, but if we can find her…”

“She’s dead,” Swiftwing said matter-of-factly.

Allure stared at her in disbelief. “That’s… impossible.”

“No. It’s not.” Swiftwing breathed. “She died here.”

“We would be able to detect if that were the case. The shards of Twilight, if they were still here…”

“How?” Suzie asked, speaking for the first time. “How did she die?”

“She killed herself,” Swiftwing said.

“That-t’s not… her,” Allure stammered. “She wouldn’t…” Her thoughts started swimming, words failing her. The Sweetie Belle was strong, adventurous, and heroic. She was better than this. She wouldn’t kill herself over… anything. Her story was too great, too… big. Even the Collector had said so. Twilence had said so.

Twilence...

“Twilence…” Allure broke the silence. “Twilence! I talked to her last month, she assured me she was still alive. Hurting… but alive.”

“What would this Twilence know?” Swiftwing asked, her eyes narrowing with the rise of her restrained anger. “She wasn't here!”

“She knows of all things written. If she said she was alive a month ago, she was a month ago. You didn’t see her body, did you?”

Swiftwing paled. “No…”

“Then she must have just been forced to move to the next world, or something. Probably misses you dearly and wishes she c-”

“You cheated on me!” Swiftwing shouted, slamming her hooves on the table.

Allure dropped her comforting tone. “I’m not her, and she would never d—”

“She did,” Celia said. “Swiftwing hasn’t lied to us, Allure. Sweetie Belle did cheat on her. They were divorced. Swiftwing believes Sweetie Belle took her own life afterward.”

“She would never…”

“That’s what everyone says about the paragons.” Celia sighed. “Everypony messes up. She just messed up massively here. And possibly faked her own death.”

Allure turned her attention to Celia. “You don’t know her!”

“Neither do you!” Celia spat. “You only knew her for a day and that was a few decades ago by your time! Your perceptions are clouded, twisted by memory, and Diamonds know what else! You changed in that time. She got married and lived in this hellhole. What do you think that does to a person?”

Forcing herself to calm down, Allure sat back in the chair. “You… you’re…” You’re right.

“This city…” Suzie turned her back to them and looked out the windows of the Sweet Apple Cafe at the damp world outside filled with bright towers and starving ponies.

Allure put a hoof to her head and closed her eyes. She’s not who you thought she was. ...But surely there must be some explanation. Some reason.

Turning back to Swiftwing, Allure folded her ears back. “Can you… tell us what happened?”

~~~

Cinder woke up in an unfamiliar bed.

I feel like I’m reliving someone else’s nightmare.

Unlike the last time, this bed wasn’t a hard medical one. Today, she slept on an overly fluffy mattress surrounded by far too many pillows for any sane pony. Not that she was complaining—it was nice to have something proper to wake up in.

Opening her eyes, the first thing that came to her was a bright light. Squinting her eyes, she was able to make out the shape of a fluorescent light, like the ones found in a lot of hospitals. Moving her head slightly, she took in a small desk, a potted plant, and a white pony sitting nearby, reading a book.

It was a Rarity. Not Xenium—this Rarity’s countenance was far from Cinder’s sister—but unmistakably a Rarity nonetheless. She wore a calm smile as her eyes scanned the page. Serene in her simple white smock.

There was nothing unusual about the image.

But Cinder’s mind was screaming. This is wrong. Watch out. Danger. Everything in her intuition told her not to trust this Rarity, no matter what she said or did.

Upon realizing this, she also remembered how her intuition had been overridden when she’d first arrived in Vision. It had been screaming at her, but she’d been unable to listen. Like it was too far away…

She’d be listening now. She couldn’t take any chances.

The bed is soft. Too soft.

Rarity caught Cinder looking at her with a calm, understanding smile. Cinder couldn’t help but flinch from the chill that went down her spine.

“Oh, you poor dear…” Rarity gently folded up her book—The New Elegance—and stood up. “You took quite the beating.”

“Y-yeah,” Cinder said, shivering.

“I’m glad we got to you in time. Even with our magic…”

“Blood loss, I know,” Cinder said, taking a breath. “Is it bad?”

“Currently, your injured leg shouldn’t be moving around, but it will make a full recovery soon. The scarring…”

Scarring? Cinder, weak as she was, still had control over her telekinesis. She pulled the blanket off herself and looked down at her flank. All the blood had been washed away, and there wasn’t even a cast—all of it had been repaired through spells. However, right across her cutie mark, there was a massive gash that tore off most of the pattern, completely removing the star and music note.

The Merodi have spells for this, she told herself. They can fix this. They will give me my destiny back.

“Your talent still works. They didn’t take it,” Rarity said, levitating the blanket back over Cinder.

“They tried,” Cinder breathed. “They tried other things too…”

“They are the brutes of this city,” Rarity admitted. “We do what we can… but we’re just the Medical Pavilion, it’s hard to say what we can and can’t interfere in.”

I know the feeling.

“I’m Rarity. I have a feeling you already know that…”

Cinder decided trying to hide who she was from a Rarity was probably a stupid idea doomed to failure. “I’m Cinder ‘Sweetie’ Belle.”

Rarity nodded, not at all surprised by this. “We seem to have a habit of attracting Sweeties…”

“I’m not the first?”

“No, another passed through several years ago. But she’s gone now.”

“Ah…”

“What brings you to Vision, if you don’t mind my asking?”

I very much don’t want to tell you anything with all the alarm bells going off in my head. How can I put this… She’s too observant for a lie. “I came here with my friends—other Sweeties. We’re a little League of Sweeties who explore the multiverse and just… happened to drop in.” Don’t mention Merodi Universalis. We’re just a small group. Nothing fancy. No other operations you need to worry about. “It was next on the random list. We’ll probably move to another universe as soon a—”

Rarity interrupted her. “I quite understand, dear, that you don’t trust me.”

That didn't take long.

“Why would you? Your arrival in this city has been awful. And I understand you have your secrets. But if I’m being entirely candid, I don’t care. My sister died years ago, and while you aren’t her…” Rarity had to pause, breathing in a haggard breath. “It is good to see you. And…” She lowered her head. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Cinder stared at her, baffled.

Her intuition told her not to trust this mare.

It did not tell Cinder if Rarity was being genuine or not. For all Cinder knew, she was.

“Ex… excuse me,” Rarity said, suddenly. “The nurses will attend to your needs.” She quicky strode out of the room before Cinder could say anything.

If nothing else, she’s clearly upset.

With a sigh, Cinder rolled over in the bed. Despite her healed leg, pain shot through it the moment she tried to use it, making her wince as she completed the turn. She wasn't walking on that anytime soon.

To her surprise, the other side of the room contained a bed just like her own. One occupied by a bright yellow mare with soft, purple eyes.

“...How much of that did you hear?” Cinder asked.

“I tried not to listen, but…” the yellow mare tapped her hooves together nervously. “Probably more than either of you would have liked…”

Cinder sighed. “It’s fine. I’m Cinder.”

“I’m Sunshine! ...See, because the sun doesn't shine down here, and my special talent is daydreaming.”

“You’ve never seen the sun?”

“Nope! Nopony born in Vision has.”

“Nopony leaves?”

“We… wouldn’t exactly be welcome in Equestria.”

Cinder frowned. “I don’t know about your Equestria, but I’ve been to several that woul—”

“Multiple Equestrias!?”

“Well, yeah! I’m an interdimensional traveler! Or did you miss the part about me being Sweetie Belle and the other universes?”

“I didn’t know what any of that meant!”

“Well, I could explain it, since my ‘cover’ is ‘blown’.”

Sunshine giggled. “I’d love to hear about Equestria. Equestrias. Or whatever.”

“Oh boy, am I going to give you some daydreaming fuel… First off, here’s what the sun looks like.” Cinder created a controlled fireball in the air that looked remarkably like a miniature sun.

“Woah…”

“I got more where that came from. See, I’m part of the League of Sweetie Belles…”

And for a moment, Cinder was able to forget all about her kidnapping, recent trauma, and the mysterious Rarity.

~~~

“There’s really not much to tell,” Swiftwing said, her anger momentarially replaced with sorrowful nostalgia. “She arrived out of the blue one day. Didn’t get a nice welcome, but who does in Vision? Security eventually decided she wasn’t a threat and set her on her way while she looked for that shard of her Twilight. She found me long before she found the shard, and by the time she did find it... she didn’t want to leave. Or that’s what she told herself.”

Jane told her to find someone… Allure thought. Did she take that to heart?

“Even though she knew she couldn’t stay forever…” Swiftwing’s expression clouded again. “She knew it had to end that way but she did it anyway. She…” She looked over all the Sweeties. “Don’t get married.”

Allure could hear Suzie tense.

“I know you’re sweet, really you all are, but you’ll knock a mare up, cheat on her, and then go die on me. Or pretend to.”

“We didn’t do that to you!” Suzie shouted.

“You still could.”

“I’ve been happily married to my husband for over a decade and have a well-off daughter. Her name is Railgun. Our relationship is strong and I would neve—”

“Everypony says that, dear. Everypony.”

“How would you even know!?”

“We had a daughter,” Swiftwing deadpanned. “Her name is Distant Shores. She’s still here.”

“Sweetie left a daughter!?” Allure shouted.

“Yes. What did you expect?”

“I… I…” Allure’s face went through several expressions before settling on confused.

“You had a—”

Celia shut Suzie’s mouth. “Let’s put aside the implied ethically-dubious genetic engineering required to make such a child and focus on the fact that she exists for a moment. Distant Shores. Another connection to The Sweetie Belle.”

“You really do want to find her…” Swiftwing shook her head. “She’s got you just like she got me. Fanciful tales of other worlds and a strong spirit…”

“She didn’t get us,” Allure asserted. “She showed us who she was.”

“You would like yourself, wouldn’t you?”

“...Just tell us how it ended.”

Swiftwing nodded. “Distant Shores was growing up when it happened. She started getting all those mantles—so many that it started rotting her brain. That’s what they do, in case you haven’t figured it out.”

“I had my suspicions,” Celia admitted.

“She went crazy. I’m not sure exactly what went through her head, and I really don’t want to think about it, but she found this cocky lieutenant who was a bit more adventurous. Tore the entire family apart. Killed herself.” Swiftwing looked at the ground. “And if she didn’t…”

“She didn’t,” Allure said. “There’s no way the Tower would let her. Not like this.”

“You’re trying to convince yourself, now.”

“Yes. Yes I am.” Allure stood up. “Where’s Distant Shores?”

“Three levels down, probably working on a maintenance tube. She won’t be happy to see you.”

“She’s the only lead we have at this point, unless you know where…”

“No, I don’t know where it happened.”

“Then… I guess we’re done here.”

“Good. Get out of my cafe.”

Allure nodded, getting out of the chair. She stopped before she made it to the door. “...We can get you out of this city. Take you away from all… this.”

Swiftwing shook her head. “I’ve done enough listening to Sweetie Belle to last me a lifetime. I didn’t need this. I definitely don’t need more.”

“Right…”

The four Sweeties left the establishment, standing once more in the streets of Vision.

“To Distant Shores it is, then,” Allure said. “To fin—”

“You go,” Suzie interrupted, looking up at the starburst tower at the top of Vision. “I need to find out who’s in charge of this city, show them a piece of my mind… and then find Cinder.”

Allure frowned. “You can’t do that alone.”

“I’ll go,” Celia said. “You don’t need me to work with Distant Shores anyway. You do need Seren—she’ll perform the dimensional trace.”

“Oh, I get to do something?” Seren looked up with a soft smile. “I… was kinda worried we were just going to listen to a mare talk about how bad marriage and family are for a while.”

“She’s suffered, don’t listen to her.” Allure tapped her hoof. “Raising Minna has been the single greatest experience of my life, and I’m sure Suzie will back me up.”

“Relationships are amazing things, even when they don’t literally provide your power,” Celia added. “What we have here is just… some ponies getting it wrong.”

“But if The Sweetie can get it wrong… what about us?” Seren asked.

Allure smiled sadly. “...I don’t know. I’m sorry.”

I am Allure. I took her name. In slightly different circumstances, I might have been her… Could still be her.

Lifting Seren onto her back, Allure descended deeper into Vision, leaving Suzie and Celia behind.

~~~

Cinder liked being in a wheelchair. Cinder didn’t like being in a wheelchair. It reminded her that she was currently weak. But it also allowed her to roll down the halls of the Medical Pavilion at high speed with nothing but her magic.

“Race you to the other side!” Sunshine called from her wheelchair, hooves on the wheels.

“You’re on!”

Sunshine had already put her hooves to the wheels, speeding off down the Pavillion’s pristine-white tile floor. Cinder, not about to be outdone by a pony who looked like a banana, pushed her magic into the wheels and sped forward like a racer. They passed by dozens of doctors at high speed, spilling a few stacks of paperwork over on their track.

“Sorry!” Cinder called back after she made a young nurse trip and spill a bunch of towels onto the ground. Sure that the mare was little more than annoyed, she focused her energy back on the race.

The two of them skidded around a corner, laughing as they surprised another set of doctors. Now that they were in a larger hall, the bizarre nature of the Pavillion was on full display. Yes, the Pavillion was a hospital, but it was also run by a Rarity so it was naturally filled with drop-dead gorgeous art, most of which was made by Rarity herself in one way or another. Triumphant crystal ponies lined a few walls, telling stories of ponies who managed to, despite the odds, triumph in Vision. As they raced, they passed by one of Cinder’s favorites, the Eternal Beggar. A stallion with so much charisma that he could get piles of gold donated to him… that he gave away the instant he received them.

Why do I feel so sad whenever I look at him? Or any of the statues, for that matter?

Having been momentarily distracted by the statue, Cinder failed to take the turn correctly, allowing Sunshine to pull ahead of her and win the race. “Hah! Gotcha!”

“You’ve been in that thing a lot longer than I have!” Cinder huffed.

“Well you have the magic,” Sunshine said with an eye roll. “So, I say we’re even.”

“Yeah, yeah…” Cinder giggled. Her joy tapered off as she found herself looking out the window. The Pavillion courtyard was a beautiful sight to behold, with all its perfectly trimmed hedges and beautiful fountains. However, beyond it she could see the rest of Vision, glowing in a neon murk.

Her friends were out there.

“What is it?” Sunshine asked.

“I’m just sitting here, playing with you, when I really should be out there doing things…” Cinder glanced at the blemish across her cutie mark, frowning. “But I can’t do that right now. So I’m just… sitting. In this Pavillion.”

“You sure you can’t do anything?”

“I have no idea where they are and they have no idea where I am.” Cinder pressed her hoof to the window. “I’m just… waiting.”

“I don’t know… seems like you could ask Rarity to look for them, at least.”

“I… don’t exactly trust her.”

Sunshine smirked. “Well, she is a politician, so that’s reasonable. But she likes you! You could probably ask her for just about anything and she’d give it to you.”

“...She hasn’t spoken to me since I woke up. I think she’s avoiding me.” Is she doing it intentionally? Trying to get me to make the first move? Is that malicious?

“Just go talk to her. She’s not going to kick you out of the hospital because you’re asking for help.”

“Right…” I will have to talk with her at some point, anyway. Doesn’t matter if it’s what she wants or not. “Where would she be?”

“I think we just passed her, looking at the Beggar.”

Turning, Cinder poked her head back around the corner. Sure enough, Rarity was there, examining her handiwork in the statue. It was so lifelike. Too lifelike.

Carefully, Cinder rolled up to her. Stay on guard. Watch her words. Catch anything suspicious. “Rarity?”

Rarity turned slowly from her masterpiece, fixing Cinder with a gentle smile. “Feeling better, I take it?”

“Don’t need four legs to race wheelchairs. The nurses say I should be out after another treatment or two.”

“That’s good to hear. Where will you go?”

“I’ll try to find my friends, the other Sweeties. ...Which is kind of why I’m here. See, they’re going to be really worried. I was wondering if you could do something to find them? Let them know where I am?”

Rarity nodded, her smile widening at the proposition. “I’d be happy to help you look for them! Give a description and I’ll pass it on to City Central Security. Or… do they all just look like you?”

Cinder couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Perhaps that was a foolish question.”

“No, no, they’re not identical. Celia looks more like you than me, Suzie’s a creature known as a human, and Seren’s a human-pony combination. Suzie and Seren are easy to pick out in a crowd—two arms, two legs, hair like my mane.”

“Their journeys in this city might be some of the most unique I’ll ever see. I can’t wait to meet them!”

I have a really, really bad feeling about that.

“Do you think they’ll appreciate what I do here?”

“Doctoring or art?”

“Both!” Rarity tossed her mane back into the light at the perfect angle, sending glistening reflections into Cinder’s eyes. “Ponies are beautiful… and when they are broken, putting them back together makes them more beautiful than they had ever been before.” She gestured at the Beggar. “This stallion came here broke, beaten, and battered because he made many enemies with his habit of taking money with words. This Pavillion restored not only his health, but turned him into a better pony. He was developed from a miser… to a giver. The day he threw all his coins into the courtyard outside was a sight to behold.”

Cinder forced a smile. “At least there are some good souls in Vision. I bet the ponies are happy he exists.”

Rarity didn’t take her eyes off the statue. “I like to think they are.”

That’s not quite right. “Huh?”

“Of course, who am I to know the average pony? I’m far too obsessed with working things to their best possible state. So many don’t appreciate what I do here…” She let out a sigh. “You’ve been in the city. You’ve seen the suffering they subject themselves to.”

“There’s no way they choose that.”

“It’s hard to believe, isn’t it? But… it is what it is. Vision was founded on the ideals of letting ponykind choose the way they wanted to live without a Princess over them. This…” she let out a sigh of… regret? “Well let’s just say this isn’t exactly what we had in mind. Out there, you really have to look hard to find the beauty inherent in ponykind. At least here, I bring it out for all to see.”

Cinder looked up to the Beggar again, furrowing her brow. “Surely you could do something… more, about it?”

“I’m just a doctor, darling. I do what I can through my work.”

There’s something else to this. Something you’re leaving out. Something… I don’t know, but I know I don’t like it. Deciding she didn’t want to push the issue, Cinder decided to wrap up. “I guess you’d know better than me. Thanks for helping me find my friends.”

“Oh! I still need a full, proper description to give to Security!”

Cinder blinked. Oh yeah. I didn’t do that… That’s not right… “Celia has your body shape, but is significantly taller... “

~~~

“Wow, that’s a pretty good pipe seal Distant!”

Distant Shores slung her wrench over her shoulder and grinned. “It’s nothing, boss.” She was a small, white unicorn with bouncy sea-green curls that covered one of her eyes.

“Nothing?” Pinkie Pie gasped. “This isn’t nothing! This is a perfect fix with less materials than average! If every mechanic were like you we’d have Vision operating like new in a week!” She let out a laugh. “You can be the guest of honor at next week’s party!”

“Oh. Thanks!”

“You betcha!” Pinkie giggled, giving her a salute before bouncing off down the dark tunnels. The steam from the degrading machinery quickly hid her from Distant’s view.

The moment she was sure Pinkie wasn't watching, Distant replaced her expression with a deep-seated scowl. Why did that stupid mare have to be so insistent on everything being happy all the time? Distant did her job, she got paid, that was all that mattered. There wasn’t any need for parties, festivities, and definitely no need for a laugh that sounded faker than the illusion that Vision was a brilliant paragon of justice and freedom.

But Pinkie liked her mechanics to be happy. Or at least able to fake it enough that she didn’t have any “obligation” as the “Element of Laughter” to get personally invested in their situation. “Smile or ELSE.”

Distant just wanted to fix the pipes, go home, and live until she died. That’s all Distant wanted. That could be attained, anyway. Glancing at her flank, she growled. Three interlocking white circles. A cutie mark in dimensional theory. Useless in a city nopony ever left.

Except one.

And Distant refused to think about her.

Unfortunately for Distant Shores, reality had other plans for her thought process, seeing as a white unicorn with pastel purple-pink curls was walking down the shaft, eyes locked on her.

Distant took one look at the unicorn and snapped. “You don’t get to come back!” She threw her wrench as hard as she could. Something invisible shot out of the mare and deflected it.

“I’m no-”

“Get your addicted plot out of my sight, trai-”

“I’m not her!” The unicorn stamped her hooves. “I am Allure.”

The name made Distant Shores dredge up memories of her mother she wanted nothing to do with. They reared their ugly heads anyway, driving pain into her heart. “Oh, so you get to make the same mistakes she did!? High and mighty Interdimensional Sweeties, running through worlds, leaving a trail of ash in their wake! You ever stop to think about the damage your little jaunts do to the ponies you encounter?”

“All the time,” Allure breathed. “For instance, that’s why I’m here. I made a promise to your mother that I’d find her, and find her I will.”

“Like you’ll stick to that.”

“I’ve stuck to it for years. One of the primary missions of the entire League is to find her and get her out of her curse.”

Distant let out a bitter laugh. “Funny. She inspires so much loyalty in everypony… and she can’t return the favor.”

“She’s a hero!”

“She marked herself until her brain was pudding and there was nothing to do but start over!” She stamped her hoof. “That is not something a ‘hero’ would do!”

“Heroes make just as many mistakes as the rest of us!”

“I bet you’d know h-”

“STOP IT!” Seren shouted, slamming her scepter into the ground between them. “Shouting doesn’t solve anything!”

Distant looked Seren up and down, unsure what to make of the… child? The child she was looking at. Clearly a Sweetie… but clearly young. Much younger than her, if she was judging correctly.

“We’re going to find her,” Seren continued. “We’re going to fix this city. Because that’s what we do.”

Distant stared at her. “You can’t just waltz in and ‘fix’ this hellhole.”

“Watch us,” Seren said with a wink. “Suzie and Celia are going to your leaders right now. They likely won’t have any choice but to cooperate.”

“We aren’t cursed to leave and never come back,” Allure continued. “We found this world. It’s our job to tell our ponies how to help it.”

“You really think you can make a difference?” Distant shook her head. “Idiots.”

“Probably,” Allure admitted. “But at least we’re going to try. Keep our promises. Face the evil.”

Distant shook her head. “You’re still… her. You’re going to try. The city will bite you back and beat the shit out of you until you submit and let it drain everything else away. Then you die. Or, if you’re her, you reset everything and then run off with your tail between your legs, being cruel to everypony you ever knew. Leaving your family out of the loop and forcing your daughter to extort information from ponies to learn anything about you! And let’s not get started on what you do to the you that has to live through it.” She glared at Allure. You really look exactly like her. I saw that look in her eyes before she went off the deep end. “That’s what you do.”

“No,” Allure declared. “I don’t.”

Distant frowned. “But she did. Why does she deserve the same from you!?”

“M-maybe she doesn’t.” Allure swallowed hard. “But… I made a promise. I’m going to keep it.”

This gave Distant pause. “...Fine. What do you need me for?”

“We were hoping you would have a strong connection with her we could trace. Seren?”

“Nothing,” Seren said. “She’s not close enough to get a clear reading.”

“Then we need to find the place she left.” Allure turned expectantly to Distant.

Distant closed her eyes tight. I don’t want to involve myself with these mares. I want nothing to do with Sweetie Belle. I don’t need to help her. I want her gone, gone, gone.

“Either way, we’ll get you out of this city,” Allure said. “No matter what she’s done, I owe her at least that much.”

Distant’s eyes flew open wide. She forced herself to look at her cutie mark. They… would let me use this. I wouldn’t have to suffer down here…

She looked down at her wrench, laying on the ground. ...She left me here. She won’t KEEP me here.

“...Apple Bloom might know.”

~~~

Suzie and Celia stood in the middle of the street in Vision where they had first met the members of Security. It did not take long for them to find the same group of guards they had come across earlier.

“Not you again,” Lieutenant Drove muttered.

“Just have some questions,” Suzie said, folding her arms. “Namely, I want to know who’s really in charge of this sham of a city.”

“Look, filly, I don’t want to make an arrest today. I just want to go out, do my rounds, go home, have some time with my mare, and then sleep. I don’t want to answer the deluded questions of some stupid monkey who has no idea how society functions!”

“You can get back to that after you tell me who’s really in ch—”

Celia waved her hoof. “Boys, just answer our questions, there’s no need to be angry, hmm? After all, it’s a lot easier to do your job by talking to a concerned citizen than by walking around constantly, right?”

A glazed expression came over all the Security officers.

“Celia!”

“They were going to arrest you,” Celia said. “Then they were going to find a way to hang you because that’s what they do to citizens who annoy them.”

“I… Wh…”

“Just ask your questions, they’ll answer anything now.”

Suzie put her hand to the bridge of her nose and let out an aggravated hiss. “...Fine. Drove. Who’s in charge of Vision?”

Drove spoke—not robotically, but with a calm, thoughtful emotion that was even creepier. “Vision is run by the Elements of Harmony, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy.”

“No Twilight?”

“Princess Twilight is dead.”

Celia’s ears perked up. There’s a possible explanation for why this place is such a hellhole.

“Who has the most power of those five?”

“Rainbow Dash, head of Central Security.”

“He’s biased,” Celia reported. “That’s his boss.”

“Who’s next?” Suzie pressed.

Drove had to think for a moment. “...Applejack. Ponies hear her over the radio all the time.”

“I listened to her for a while in the cafe,” Celia added. “She’s a propaganda machine. Possibly not the best one to approach…”

“Pinkie Pie?” Suzie tried.

“Down somewhere in maintenance repairing everything,” Drove said.

“Rarity?”

“Busy killing ponies for art in that hospital of hers.”

Suzie pressed her hands together. “Great, we’ve got propaganda machine, loopy mechanic, and now psychotic murder-Rarity. I don’t know what I was expecting, nopony in this damned place is going to be approachable. Let me guess, Fluttershy lures ponies into her shed and kills them?”

“No…?” Drove looked legitimately confused. “Fluttershy tends to the animals in her sanctuary. Does more actual healing and help than Rarity by miles.”

“Kindness is usually the hardest to corrupt,” Celia admitted. “And even it its corrupt forms, it’s usually still understanding and empathetic.”

“Then she can tell us what we need to know,” Suzie determined. “...Give these poor ponies their minds back.”

Celia nodded, waving her hoof. “And you won’t remember a thing.”

Lieutenant Drove looked around, disoriented. “Wha…?”

Suzie and Celia were already walking away.

“You can’t just flash-brainwash like that,” Suzie hissed.

“It was necessary and you know it. It’s an effective way to get information quickly with minimal consequences!”

“It’s not right to lay people bare like that.”

“It’s not right to let corrupt cops patrol and execute people they don’t like, but here we are.”

“Celia, l—”

Celia held up a hoof. “We’re arguing again. Now is… not the time. We need to find Fluttershy’s Sanctuary, figure out what this city’s problem is, and find Cinder. We shouldn’t waste time on the ethics of harvesting information mentally.”

Begrudgingly, Suzie nodded.

~~~

Cinder and Sunshine sat on one of the observation benches within the Medical Pavillion. This particular one was made of marble and engraved with geometric shapes—as much a work of art as the display the bench was focused on. A window of crystal, marbled glass through which fish-like shadows could be seen, swimming just barely out of sight.

Pretty, yes.

Cinder also felt like it was screaming.

“You know, whenever we look at one of these things you get this very conflicted expression,” Sunshine pointed out.

“I told you about my intuition, right? My… ‘talent’?”

“Something, something, destiny, sorta-kinda-but-not seeing the future?” Sunshine smiled awkwardly. “I didn’t really understand.”

“It’s fine. But when I look at this thing—or most of the other art—I get a bad feeling. This place is too perfect, too clean, too… gaudy. There has to be something up.”

“I mean, this is Vision we’re talking about.”

Cinder nodded slowly. “It gets in everywhere.” Deciding she was done looking at the fishy thing, she jumped off the bench and stretched her legs. Her injured limb was no longer immobile, but it still had a metal support affixed to it to keep motion to a minimum. Magic did wondrous things, yes, but she found herself missing instant heals from Seren and the others. This process was annoyingly slow.

“At least it’s getting better!” Sunshine offered, using her front hooves to swing herself into her wheelchair. “Maybe mine will, too.”

“When I find a way out of this city I’m bringing you with me,” Cinder said, beaming. “Get you to some proper healing magic. It’s just snap-bam! Suddenly everything’s fixed.”

“Wow… all the time?”

Cinder frowned. Not always. “Usually. I know my condition wouldn’t be an issue. Yours… well at the very least something mechanical could probably at least make it so you didn’t need the wheelchair.”

“That would be nice…” Sunshine closed her eyes, a smile coming to her face.

“You can see it, can’t you?”

“Yep. Probably looks very wrong here in my head, but I can already feel the sensation in my hooves again. Almost like it was yesterday.”

“Soon, this will be yesterday. This whole nightmare.”

“I can still come back afterward, right?”

Cinder paused. “Well… yes, but why would you want to?”

“Crapsack or not, Vision is still my home.”

“Home…”

“Don’t you like to go back and visit your home?”

“Well…” Cinder frowned. She hadn’t actually gone back to visit, had she? Just spoken to her Apple Bloom and Xenium over the communication network. Never gone back to see what was going on. Left it behind. And it wasn’t even like Vision, her home was a nice place.

Sunshine put a hoof on her shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay to want to be somewhere else. I mean, I was born in the Leviathan Shades, but I spend all my time in the Ponydome now. Or, well, I did until…” She gestured at the wheelchair.

“No, I don’t think it’s like that,” Cinder said, dismissively. “I’m only out here for a summer, want to get as much out of it as I can, after all. I’ll go back then.”

“...Do you really want to?”

“Of course I do! I have friends, I have a sister, and…” Cinder frowned. “And I’d go back to school. Learn stuff I probably already know. Help with normal Ponyville destinies. Sing a song or two…”

Sunshine rolled up to her and put a hoof on her shoulder. “See?”

“It’s not fair to the others,” Cinder said, shaking her head. “It is my home. My family. But… the other Sweeties… No. No, I should go home. Xenium worries as much as it is. But I’m important out here and…”

“Seems to me like you have reasons to take both options. What do you actually want?”

“I don’t know!” Cinder said, starting to pace. “I’m just trying to have adventures and help ponies, not choose between two lives!” She put a hoof to her head. “Why is this causing me such a problem now?”

“...Probably because I asked,” Sunshine admitted, looking down.

“Oh, no, Sunshine, this isn’t your fault, I—”

“I might be able to fix it, though!” Sunshine said. “Come on, I think the Pavilion has something for your mind!”

“I don’t like the sound of this.”

“Come on, looking won’t hurt.”

Cinder glanced at the fishy art, wondering if that was really true. “...Sure.”

Sunshine twirled her wheelchair around and scooted through the Pavillion. A few of the doctors they passed fixed the two of them with wary glances, but they had nothing to worry about now that there was no need to race. The two patients arrived at a large pair of doors that said mantle storage.

“Oh, those things that give you extra cutie marks and talents?” Cinder asked. “I didn’t know you had one.”

“I used to, don’t anymore,” Sunshine said. “Mine was all about analyzing things, needed it for a cram study session for a bizarre test. Passed. Got fired right afterward for having my head in the clouds on the job, but hey, the mantle still helped.” They passed through the doors into a long, long hallway filled top to bottom with cylindrical bottles holding various colors of liquid.

“Aren’t some of these… dangerous? Why isn’t anypony guarding them?”

“These are just the simpler ones,” Sunshine pointed out. “You won’t find a fireball or mind control talent in here. But you will find…” She reached for a small, blue bottle off the shelf. “This!”

Cinder levitated the bottle in her telekinesis.

“Still Waters: For ponies who know what they want but can never quite seem to ask for it.” The main image on the bottle was of a cartoonish flame surrounded by water waves. She frowned. “They tried to turn my cutie mark into one of these.”

“That’s not usually how they’re made. I’m not sure of the exact process, but it involves a lot of weird plants and magic spells, not ponies.”

“So, what’s it do?” Cinder tipped the bottle over, checking the side effects. 8% addiction factor. Temporary nausea and disorientation. Small chance of rash or headache. That didn’t seem so bad. No doubt there would be unintended consequences of taking this, but… well, if she was reading how everything was going correctly, she was probably going to end up taking this one way or another. “Why exactly do I need this?”

“Gives you mental clarity,” Sunshine said. “And if you don’t like it, your Merodi friends can probably just remove it before it wears off, right?”

“Probably. Esuna is a powerful beast,” Cinder chuckled. “And I am pretty curious what having one of these feels like…” She popped the lid and downed its contents. Go big or go home, after all.

Tasted like blueberries. Huh. They probably flavored it. The slight tang in the back of her throat gave her a hint of what pure mantle tasted like, but she didn’t feel the need to focus on that.

It didn’t hit right away. Cinder felt the liquid go down her throat with a slight sizzle of magical energy, but otherwise it went into her stomach like any other drink. It wasn’t even as unusual as soda. It swirled with her lunch and simply dissipated.

“...I’m not feeling anything.”

“You didn’t take it on an empty stomach, it’s gonna take a minute to go through your system.”

“Should I have waited…?”

Sunshine chuckled. “Oh, no no no! The nausea gets a million times worse if you just down it, and you go a little crazy since it hits your head all at once. This is better, trust me. Puking everything up after the best half hour of your life isn’t a great experience.”

“So, how will I know when it happened?” Cinder started checking herself over. “Does the mark appear gradually, or…?”

“Just like earning one normally.”

“I didn’t earn mine normally. There was this whole big flash of three-way destiny magic a—” Cinder felt it, a wave of magic that pulsed through her body. Her muscles tightened, forcing a soft breath out of her mouth. The tingle rushed through her body, filling her with an unusual sense of rejuvenation. A smile slowly broke out over her face. “Oh. That feels… nice.”

Sunshine cocked her head. “That’s an interesting location.”

“Location?”

Sunshine took a hoofheld mirror off one of the shelves and handed it to Cinder. Tilting it up, Cinder looked and saw herself anew. The mark on the bottle had appeared in an odd place—right around her left eye. Only the tip of the flames were visible just below her eyebrow, with the edge of her eye rippled with calm water. It was a bit like an extended highlight.

Without deliberating, she decided she liked the new look.

Huh. That was fast. Must be working. She broke out into a grin. “Hey, Sunshine?”

“Yeah?”

“Where does a girl go to have some adventure in this Pavillion?”

~~~

“Poison Joke is POISON!” proclaimed a poster to the left of Apple Bloom’s door, angry red letters slashed across the paper. The image depicted a pony’s corpse in repose, clutching a blue flower to its chest.

“She was somepony’s filly!” shouted the poster to the right. It’s image was considerably more graphic—a filly in a blue dress, vomiting blood into a bucket.

“...Are you sure this is the right place?” Allure asked. She didn’t like the idea of having made the trip for nothing—the Vision tram system had gotten stuck on the way over, leaving them stranded for hours. Swip wasn’t able to teleport them anywhere they hadn’t been due to Vision’s magic interference, so they’d just sat there. They had time to sleep.

“Apple Bloom helps get ponies off addictions,” Distant explained. “This is her way of deterring those who need help but won’t bother to talk to her.”

“I’m surprised a mare can afford to help ponies with addictions in a place like this…” Allure commented.

“She has benefactors and the occasional desperate rich pony,” Distant shrugged. “From what I know, it isn’t easy living, but she does what she can.” She knocked on the door. “Hey, Apples?”

The metal slit slid open and a pair of soft orange eyes peered out. “...Distant?”

“Yeah. It’s me.”

“You really don’t have to keep dropping by, y’know.”

“Actually, this time I think I do. Behold...” Distant stepped to the side and gestured at Allure like she were some kind of royalty.

“...Don’t do that,” Allure muttered.

“As you wish, Founder.”

Allure sighed. She wasn't quite sure, but she might have prefered it when Distant was shouting at her.

“Third time…” Apple Bloom sighed from the other side of the door. “Fine. Come in. Haven’t turned any o’ you Sweeties away yet.” A lock on the other side of the door clicked, allowing Distant, Seren, and Allure into the “building”—little more than a repurposed storage container. It was clearly well-used with lots of chairs and signs of pony habitation around a podium, though currently only Apple Bloom was there.

Apple Bloom… looked terrible. Old, tired, moving with a shuffling step. It was a rare day when Allure saw a Crusader without the Crusader Shield on their flanks, and even rarer when the Apple Bloom in question didn’t have a mark relating to apples at all. Today, it was three tiny stars.

“...Where are they?” Allure asked.

“Dead,” Apple Bloom said, sitting down in one of the chairs. “Dunno what happened to Scootaloo, but her body was found drifting in the ocean. I watched Rarity tear Sweetie apart in front of me.”

Allure closed her eyes and let out a sharp breath of air. “I hate these tragedies…”

“At least you’re better than the last one. She seemed to think she could do somethin’ about it.”

“Oh, right!” Seren spoke with far too much of a chipper tone. “We’re looking for her!”

“She’s either dead or escaped,” Apple Bloom said. “Distant should have told you this already, she sure grilled me for everythin’ I knew when she was on the hunt. Told me more stuff after her little investigations, too.”

“Yeah, but I don’t remember the details.” Distant commented. “I don’t know where she went to escape. But you talked to her the second time. You’d know where she was headed.”

“She was headed to Berry Punch’s. That’s where I pointed her, anyway. As for the escape…” Apple Bloom glanced in Allure’s direction. “Why do you wanna find her?”

“I made a promise to her,” Allure said. “By… taking the name Allure. It was ‘hers’, but she didn’t like it. Gave her bad memories.”

“Unloading problems onto others…”

“I offered. It was my choice. I know what my name means. I take the burden of others onto myself.”

“You ain’t gonna last long here,” Apple Bloom snorted.

“I don’t have to. As soon as we establish a presence in the city the whole League will tackle this place together.”

Apple Bloom’s frown deepened at this. “You’re gonna try to force Vision to change?”

“It’s what we do,” Seren explained, grinning.

“Yes, they’re delusional,” Distant added. “But they can get us out of here.”

“Get out and take what you can,” Apple Bloom said. “That was the other Sweetie’s advice to herself. I think she wishes she’d taken it.”

“Her advice to… herself?” Seren cocked her head.

“She really did kill herself, in case you didn’t think that happened,” Distant interjected. “Wiped herself to a clean slate, tried to use a note to convince her reborn self to leave without a second thought. The oh-so-heroic new-Sweetie decided to figure out what had happened instead of listening to her advice. And you know what she did after she found out what went down?”

“...She left,” Allure breathed.

“Yep! She left! Found out Swiftwing was her wife, spent a whole huge quest to find her, but never paid her a visit. She left the two of us alone! Even that version of her that hadn’t been destroyed by this fucking city still abandoned us!”

Allure winced. “There has to be some explanation… That’s not her.”

“Somepony’s in denial,” Apple Bloom said.

“That’s. Not. Her!” Allure shouted. “I know who The Sweetie Belle is. I’ve read her story. She’s a hero. She’d never abandon a child.”

“She did!” Distant slammed her hoof on a nearby chair. “Get that into your thick skull already!”

“No!”

“Why not!?”

“Because then I could abandon Minna!”

Silence fell across the room.

“...You have a kid?” Apple Bloom asked.

Slowly, Allure settled down into one of the chairs, nodding slowly.

“Who’s the…?”

“Adopted,” Allure explained. “We… me and the other Founders, we found her bruised and battered in a random park at the end of a pretty terrible day.” A smile came to her lips. “We healed her, and I took her in. Never did find out where she came from. She’s a little odd, tends to know things she shouldn’t, but she’s quiet, adorable, and firm in who she is.” Allure took a moment to wipe a few tears from her eyes. “I… I can’t imagine abandoning her for anything…”

“Anything?” Distant asked.

“I…” Allure’s expression darkened. “I was stuck in a time loop, once… going mad… angry... She was so small…” Screams from the past rang through Allure’s ears. That one loop she tried never to remember, never to think of. She had ended that one early.

Of course, that wasn’t suicide. She knew she’d come back the next loop. That was how it worked.

That didn’t count.

It didn’t count.

“Allure…?” Seren asked, concerned.

Allure buried her face in her hooves, heaving as the emotional overload rocked her body. I’m just like her. I’m the hero. But I’m also the screw up.

Why are we even looking?

Why are we eve-

The sensation of Seren pulling her into a hug tore her out of her stupor. Startled, she looked at the anthropomorphic child. A girl who could look death in the face and laugh… but one who broke at seeing her friends like this.

Her family like this.

“...That’s why we’re not her…” Allure realized.

Apple Bloom and Distant cocked their heads.

“She was alone.” Allure sniffed, regaining control of her words. “She came alone… she left alone… she had no support besides what this city offered.” Allure looked up at the ceiling, shaking her head. “And you two know what this city offers.”

Distant looked like she wanted to argue but couldn’t think of anything biting enough to say.

“We didn’t come here alone,” Allure said, standing up. “She didn’t have what we do. She may have screwed up… but so could we, if we were where she was. ...I promised to find her.” Allure fixed Distant with a determined expression. “Learning she had flaws doesn’t change anything. She is The Sweetie Belle. And we are going to help her.”

Distant looked away, biting her lip.

“...Top of the Sparkle Enchantments building,” Apple Bloom said. “That’s where her note said the shard was. Can’t say for sure if that’s where she left or not, but it’s as good of a guess as I have.”

“Thank you,” Allure said, smiling.

“And if you do get around to that whole ‘fixing Vision’ thing… oh, what the hell, I’ll tell you what I can.”

“I’ll be sure to take you up on that.” Turning to Distant, her smile faltered. “...I can send you to the League now. If you w—”

“I’m seeing this through,” Distant interrupted. “I’m not leaving before it’s done. We’ll finish your mission, I’ll talk to mom, and take care of my business before going. I’m not jumping ship.”

Allure was surprised to find herself smiling at this. “Good. Come on then, to Sparkle Enchantments.” She paused. “...Which building is that?”

Distant opened the door and gestured aggressively at the shining purple image of Twilight Sparkle’s cutie mark that dominated Vision’s many neon lights.

“Ah, yes. I see.” Allure pursed her lips. “Not gonna be easy to get up there, is it?”

“Probably not,” Seren admitted.

Distant stretched and cracked some of her joints. “Come on, I thought you were the adventurers? Getting to the top of the tower should be a piece of cake for the two of you.”

“You’d be surprised how annoying the Tower can be…” Allure said.

~~~

When Celia and Suzie’s transit broke down, they didn’t sit and wait for repairs to complete. They jumped out onto the rickety rails and started walking to their destination. Upon realizing Suzie’s unending rage was taxing her physically, Celia put the human to sleep and levitated her the rest of the way.

They arrived in the proper Vision district two seconds before the repairs were completed and the tram rolled into the station.

Celia decided to wake Suzie up a full minute after this had transpired, just to be on the safe side. Her anger was already riding high, no need to make things worse.

“Ugh…” Suzie slowly opened her eyes. “...Couldn’t find a bed?”

“Darling, my telekinetic aura is more than cushion enough for your delicate body’s needs.”

Suzie grumbled as Celia set her on the ground, taking a few moments to gain her footing on the cobbled path. She stumbled into a shallow puddle on her third step and groaned.

“Look on the bright side, at least you got some sleep.”

Suzie pulled her frizzy mess of hair back, trying and failing to make it presentable. “And I woke up still in this hellhole.”

“At least it looks nicer here,” Celia pointed out, gesturing at the copious amounts of greenery, storefronts, and even a few furry critters running around. “Fluttershy’s touch, if I must say.”

As she examined the surroundings, Suzie’s expression shifted to one of hope. The green looked natural, the ponies looked happy, and nothing aside from the tram station itself looked even the slightest bit worn down. Unlike everywhere else they’d seen, this area looked like somewhere ponies could live comfortably.

“The Sanctuary proper is in the middle,” Celia explained, pointing at a convenient map. In the center was a large green circle simply labeled “Sanctuary” with the subtitle “Visitors always welcome!”

“Promising,” Suzie admitted. “Let’s move—I don’t want to waste any more time than I have to.”

Still angry… Celia sighed, trotting after her captain. How am I supposed to use this as a bonding experience if she’s about to go off the deep end? Any minute now…

As they approached the Sanctuary, things just kept getting greener and greener. The harsh stone and glass gave way to simple wood constructions surrounded by greenery. Eventually, it became difficult to tell that they were even underwater—everything was well lit and the foliage was dense enough that it was hard to see the ceiling.

The entrance to the Sanctuary proper was an ornate wall carved into the shapes of several animals and absolutely covered with moss. There was a set of large double-gates, but they were made out of bamboo and didn’t even have a lock. Just within the Sanctuary, a tiger and a wolf were playing happily with a brown sheep and a small family of mice, with no sign of any predatory instincts within the larger animals.

“Looks like this Fluttershy figured out the meat-substitute cookies,” Celia observed. “Always a fun little jaunt into the nature of predator, prey, and questions about eating meat in general.” She paused. “...I’d kill for a hotdog right now.”

Suzie snorted. “Keep that mysterious appetite of yours under control.”

Celia had to force herself not to snap back. Now is not the time to aggravate her. There are more important things than being up front at the moment.

When they walked through the gates, the animals walked up to greet them with excited yaps, meows, and howls. Smiling, Suzie kneeled down to pet the tiger for a moment. “Can you take us to Fluttershy?”

The tiger nodded, gesturing for them to follow with his head. They went deeper into the Sanctuary—not a pony construction in sight as far as Celia could tell, though she knew the entire Sanctuary had to be artificial. The point was clearly to look as natural as possible, and Fluttershy had apparently done that. Every tree was real, the grass was perfect and likely succulent, and there was even a babbling brook running through the middle.

This looked nice.

It was probably the only bastion of harmony in Vision, if Celia had to guess.

The tiger eventually led them to the very center of the Sanctuary, where there was a large tree with a door in it and a few windows here and there. It looked remarkably like a standard Fluttershy’s cottage, though not identical, seeing as the tree hadn’t grown in quite the same way. Outside the cottage were several ponies, all lounging on the grass—including Fluttershy.

She was a tall mare whose age was visibly showing through a streak of gray in her soft, pink mane. Her wings were thin and frail, though not completely useless like so many pegasi Celia had seen throughout Vision. When she moved, she didn’t fly, but glided—a graceful motion Celia decided was fitting for a Fluttershy.

Currently, she was tending to a pony covered in a dozen or so different mantles. Even though foam was coming out of his mouth and nodules of mutated skin rippled all over his body, Fluttershy and the rabbits were still sticking close to him, going to far as to sing a little song.

“Hush now, quiet now…
It’s time to lay your sleepy head…
Hush now, quiet now…
It’s time to go to bed…”

She was far from the only pony there. There were others—most of whom looked damaged in some way. Several had mantles, were missing limbs, or had the faces of ponies who had recently suffered great loss. They were humming along with her tune. A few were crying too hard to do even that.

Fluttershy stroked the stallion’s ugly, malformed face as she sang. His spasms slowed until they were no more, and he fell still. The last motion he made… was to smile with a happy sigh.

Fluttershy completed the verse she was on before stopping. She wiped her eyes and looked up at the Sweeties. Her eyes flew open in shock—recognizing their appearance.

“Tiller,” she said, addressing one of the stallions in the group behind her. “Take Rinse to the grave site. You deserve to lay him there.”

The stallion nodded slowly, swallowing hard. “I… I am honored.”

Fluttershy smiled sadly. “You make him proud.” She embraced him, taking a few moments to affirm her existence to him. Upon releasing him, she glided over to Suzie and Celia. “...Welcome to my Sanctuary. How can I help?”

Suzie wiped a tear out of her eye. “I… I’m so glad to see someone like you in a place like this.”

“Thank you. I try… but it is never enough.”

“This… might be a long conversation.”

“I figured as much…” Fluttershy gestured to her cottage with her wing. “Join me for some tea?”

Celia nodded. “We would be glad to.”

Comments

[guldringr]

Once again what should be a helpful and meaningful moments of character development for Allure into a tragic moment because of what we know happens in the future

[Frazzle2Dazzle]

Hmm... ‘The’ Sweetie Bell is cursed to leave and not come back... Cinder isn’t heading home anytime soon... And there most certainly are various memory and transformation spells in the multiverse... Anyone else see where I’m going with this?

[Efadd]

9964542
Hmm.......................... We'll see if GM follows that line of thought.

[SuperSaiyanDiclonius]

Having never read the source fic, I still caught the Medusa vibe those statues were giving off.

Can't wait to see what happens next.

[Beanbagburrito]

Epistein The sweetie belle didn't kill him herself

[Blaster M]

9964490
Allure does as her name suggests

[Fetch]

This Vision place sounds like it would fit in the Bioshock universe.

[wolfie1897]

10029975
Its based on rapture

[ComradePresident]

Carefully, che inched forward, poking the air in front of her with her horn.

Looks like comrade Guevara is lost a bit. (che -> she)

Cinder and Sunshine sat one one of the observation benches within the Medical Pavillion.

I think first one should be on.

[Icy Creation]

Without deliberating, she decided she liked the new look.

Oh that's /definitely/ going to interfere with her semi-Awareness.

[tsaukpaetra]

No.... This is definitely not good.