Golden Age of Apocalypse - Book III: Legacies

by BlueBastard

Chapter 14 - The 45th Day of Spring

GAOA Chapter 14—The 45th Day of Spring

45th Day of Spring—3:00AM

The silent tranquility of nature was shattered by the sound of a thing unheard of to Equus: an internal combustion engine of human design. The tan-colored steel beast hammered the rough terrain, following the bare outlines of what might have once been a path pony carts used long ago but had since become overgrown. The creatures around scattered if they could, fearful of the machine simply known as the Valanx. The occupants of the vehicle scarcely noticed the movement over the rough terrain, due to its state-of-the-art armored suspension, as they made over little-traveled ground, following the red line emanating from Blueblood’s fetlock like an ersatz GPS.

One human was exposed to the elements—Aria, manning the main roof turret—while Sable commanded the controls. In the shotgun seat sat Adagio, ready to jump out of the moving vehicle at a moment’s notice if need be, while in the back Prince Blueblood couldn’t help but feel a bit squished between Whiskey and Sonata. Heliodor, opting to stick with the group instead of trying to keep up on his own power, was nestled in Sonata’s lap.

“So, remind me why we have a Valanx instead of a regular old Humvee?” Adagio grumbled as Sable pushed the vehicle through a stream that cut the old path in half. The long rotting remains of a bridge endured but the vehicle obviously didn’t need it.

Those who weren’t driving or manning the guns all turned to Sonata, whose face was locked in what had commonly been called the “infodump stare” as her mind mentally downloaded the information that existed between the time that wasn’t and the time that now was.

She seemed to snap back to reality less than a second later, answer in mind: “Because the overall specs are much better for more localized operations and maintenance is easier, too,” she noted.

“But this thing didn’t win the competition it was in: the Light Tactical Vehicle something something or other competition,” observed Adagio. “It was the Oshkosh thing, wasn’t it?”

“The LATV? Yeah, but honestly I think there was some money handed under the table since this thing was far better designed. It certainly was a bear obtaining it, though given–”

It was at that point Blueblood tuned out the two-tone blue-haired girl recounting how she managed to get the SIRENs to be the proud owners of what was effectively a failed competition prototype light armored personnel carrier. His sight drifted over to Whiskey, who seemed equally unfocused from the ongoing conversation as she looked out the window. Then he noticed her necklace.

“Whiskey,” he said, tapping her shoulder.

“Hmm?” she responded, turning her head to look at the unicorn.

“Where did you get that necklace?”

“Oh, the Castellan gave it to me,” she replied with a smile.

“Really? I’ve not known the Hooves to do something like that before.”

Whiskey shrugged. “I can’t really say I would know about the practice or lack thereof, I’ve only technically been part of the Equestrian armed forces for a week now.”

“It sure feels like months, though,” admitted Blu. A smile then came to his muzzle as a fond memory surfaced. “Reminds me of when my sister Pavane finally made it into the Hooves and they presented her with the ruby necklace. We were all so proud of her. The only thing they found where they figure Tirek killed her was actually her necklace...the ruby was cracked but otherwise it was intact. Mom put it on the mantle—she says it's like Pavane is still with us.”

It got awkwardly quiet inside the Valanx for the following few minutes, until suddenly Sable started applying the brakes.

“Either we’re here, or some other magic fuckery is about,” he said, pointing to where the Strand seemed to be leading. Indeed, the Valanx had come to a complete stop at the entrance to some kind of mire, with the red line leading straight into the center of some kind of strange rock formation.

“Are those parentheses?” asked Aria from above.

“No...it’s a cutie mark,” said Blu, leaning forward to get a better look out of the windscreen. “And not just any pony’s mark: that’s King Sombra’s.”

“Guess this is our stop, folks,” said Aria, remaining in the turret in case she needed to provide cover while the rest of the team disembarked from the vehicle. However, no sooner had they done so than did the line start to weirdly fizzle out, and then disappear completely. All eyes instantly shot over to Blu, who in turn looked worriedly at his hoof.

The Strand had worn off.

“Well, that’s just great,” sighed Sonata, frowning distastefully at the huge slab of stone bearing the mark of an old mad king. “How the hell are we supposed to get past this?”

“You’re overthinking this, Soni,” said Aria, still in position on the turret of the Valanx...until she promptly reached down and pulled out a large black tube of some kind, balancing it on her shoulder. “Firing, danger close!”

“What?” asked Blu, confused, before he suddenly got yanked by the tail by Sable out of the way. Aria pushed some kind of button on the handle of the tube, and instantly a column of fire and fury roared out of the tube right at the rock. The parenthetical shapes vanished in a large plume of smoke and rubble, and when the ringing in Blu’s ears began to subside, he looked and saw that the entire rock face was simply gone, reduced to rubble, and in its place was a cave that led into pitch black nothingness.

“Well...that’s one way to make an entrance,” said Whiskey, who had conveniently found a rock to hide behind.

“It’s the SIREN way,” said Aria, lowering the weapon and storing it, preparing to disembark the vehicle herself.

The rest of the team carefully made their way over the bog to where the exposed entrance lay, only stopping when they all heard Blu take a sharp intake of breath.

“Something the matter?” asked Adagio.

“This tunnel...physically, it leads to a dead end, but it’s enchanted. It’s like a portal to a different location altogether.”

“What?”

“This is definitely the entrance to the Covenant’s stronghold...but the very same stronghold isn’t here. For all we know it could be miles away.”

“Makes sense to put the entrance far from the actual base—makes it harder to break in if you know the latter but not the former. Too bad we know the former.” Adagio hefted her gun, a FN SCAR, and took point walking into the unknown.

As Blueblood followed her, he couldn’t help but ruminate on one simple fact: Tavi was nowhere near here, yet here they were, at the threshold to her physical location, all thanks to the Strand of Love. Cadance had told him when he first brought the idea to her that her spell was never meant to be used as a means of tracking; it was merely a metaphysical representation of the powerful bond between two people in love. Blueblood figured that wouldn’t be a problem...if the Strand went as the pegasus flies, it would still serve the purpose of finding Tavi.

But the way the Strand had led them not to Tavi directly, but to the best means of physically reaching her made Blueblood wonder whether even Cadance understood its true nature. It almost seemed as if this powerful love-based magic wanted him to find Tavi, and he honestly wasn’t sure whether he found that terrifying or reassuring.

45th Day of Spring—8:04AM

“Look, I’ll try to make this quick,” Princess Twilight said. “It is important that everything goes smoothly right now, as the eyes of Equestria—and even the world—are on us and what we do next.”

At the moment, the combined group was sitting in one of the conference rooms in the palace, and were going over the plans for the hastily-prepared “charm tour”, as Princess Cadance had so charmingly put it. Between the small group of advisors present and all the documentation that had been laid out before each of the individuals at the table, the lavender alicorn wondered if she wasn’t so much attending the planning of a press junket and more like yet another war council—a sad irony for the Princess of Friendship.

“Twi, if that’s the case, you really don’t need me to go right now,” Sunset admitted in a dull tone, cradling her temples in her hands. It was clear that she was forcing herself to participate in all this, when her mind—and possibly her heart—was elsewhere. “Right now this is giving me a whole fuckton of grief that I could really give two fucks about at the moment.”

“Are you saying that you don’t care about––”

“No, I’m not saying that, I just….” The teen sighed. “Look, I just don't know how to put it into words right now, okay? I have one friend hospitalized, my cousin as well as another friend are missing and my mother is on the verge of being impeached. To say that shit is rolling downhill is like noting that rain comes from the sky.”

“Look, ladies, Ah hate to be the one to rain on the parade, but Ah’m in agreement with Sunny,” human Applejack stated. “Ah mean, given how bad we humans look right now and what happened with Pinkie, us running around your nation is probably the last thing that’ll help right now.”

“You’re wrong about that, AJ,” Princess Twilight said firmly. “This is precisely why this trip is so important. Unfortunately, ponykind tends to let bad first impressions linger far longer than they should.” She recalled an incident that had happened within the first few months of her arrival in Ponyville, where the entire town was scared stiff of the “evil enchantress” who lived in the Everfree Forest. Naturally, Zecora had proven to be anything but and once Twilight and her friends got the town to listen, she was welcome to town anytime. Twilight hoped the same would apply for humans as well, since all the goodwill work that had been put forward in the past week was in the trash thanks to the Covenant.

“Plus, given how the majority of those gathered here happen to just be our own counterparts, there should be some follow-on trust for them,” added pony Rarity.

“I doubt it,” Fluttershy said, crossing her arms. Everyone looked at her with worry; if the human equivalent of the Element of Kindness wasn’t buying it, was that an ill portent?

“Be that as it may, Fluttershy, dear, it still stands,” the unicorn told her gently. “As both the Bearers and the Friendship Court, the realm trusts us more than the average pony. We can use that favor to our advantage.”

“Your advantage,” the human Rainbow pointed out. “They might trust you, but not us.”

“I think after everything you’ve done, Ponyville trusts you,” pony Fluttershy ventured.

“Yeah, but look, the world isn’t Ponyville, any more than Canterlot is Cali back home, ¿sobres?” While several at the table didn’t catch the meaning of the Latina’s last word, the tone made it clear.

“They’ll listen to us,” Princess Twilight insisted.

Rainbow crossed her arms. “You can tell them to listen all you want, Princess, but you can’t make them!”

“Ladies, may I remind you that we’re trying to solve issues, not start them amongst ourselves?” human Rarity suggested. “Bickering isn’t going to make things better or solve the larger problem at hand...or hoof, to coin a phrase.”

“Point, Rares,” Rainbow shrugged. “Sorry, Twi.”

“Well, if we’re going to discuss conflict, then we may as well mention the elephant in the room: there are still riots and civil unrest out there in the major cities,” Twilight—the human one, this time—countered. “If we’re going to visit every major city in the country on this tour, it’s going to take weeks. We’re already staying here longer than scheduled because…” Twilight trailed off, her voice wobbling as she glanced at Sunset. “Because Tavi’s….”

Sunset gave her a reassuring look and could only hope she had masked her own worry well enough to hide it from her sister, but didn’t think it likely. Twilight in turn gave her sister a look that she hoped communicated what she was thinking: You’re used to fighting, sis. Fight this battle as well—don’t give up.

What made it so hard was the knowledge that by now, the SIREN raid on the Covenant headquarters should be finished and the team on their way back to Canterlot—hopefully with Octavia and the others safe and sound. Of course, lots could go wrong on an operation like this, as Sable had explained before they left, and there were a lot of unknowns involved. In fact, even if the mission went off without a hitch it was still a ten-hour journey from the suspected Covenant headquarters back to Canterlot, and the plan was for everyone to leave for the charm tour in five. With Equestria’s lines of communication centuries behind Earth’s, they likely wouldn’t even know how the SIREN operation went until days later.

The room settled into an uncomfortable silence. Princess Twilight used that time to have a few of the Agency members present give them an updated briefing on the civil unrest going on in the cities, particularly the full-scale pie fight that went on in Appaloosa—again—and the outright fighting between ponies that had occurred in Cloudsdale, Mareami, and Torontrot.

“It’s getting worse, isn’t it?” pony Fluttershy spoke, her voice quivering. Her human counterpart, sitting next to her, just reached over and gave the timorous pegasus a hug.

“There’s still a chance.”

The words, to everyone’s surprise, came from Sunset.

“We fight this the only way we can. We can’t do this as one group,” she told them. “We have to hit the cities individually.”

“Sunny, I’m not sure that’s the best way to go,” human Applejack told her.

“It is. They’re afraid of us because we’re in groups—for ponies, herd mentality is a double-edged sword. It means comfort and safety, but at the same time, timberwolves and bugbears hunt in packs.”

“Like swarms of parasprites?” Pinkie asked, a grin on her face. “We can just start another one-mare band!”

“Let’s not,” Sunset replied glibly. “But you have the gist there: the best way to deal with this is to go solo on this one. The nobility is playing their hooves and the Covenant is out there making a mess of things as well. Both groups are expecting an organized response in numbers, which is how the military is responding. But the Bearers here work as a small unit, and as for us, ladies,” Sunset said, a wry grin creeping to her face, “Well, we’re teenagers—we’re naturals for causing trouble. And maybe we can cause trouble to go the right way for us.”

“That sounds sooooo stupid, Sunny,” Rainbow snarked, leaning back in her chair and putting her arms back to cradle her head. “Wish I’d thought of it.”

The other princess nodded in agreement, looking at each of her five closest friends, her gaze in particular lingering on Applejack. “The six of us are Bearers of Harmony, and right now that’s something that Equestria is dangerously short on. It’s our duty to bring ponies together now that they’re so divided. I don’t need to point out that the whole world is watching what’s going on here—they’re worried that chaos will roil out of Equestria again.”

“Still not sold on this,” human Applejack admitted.

“Yeah, no shit,” human Fluttershy agreed, and her counterpart gasped in surprise.

Now, it was Sunset’s turn to look imploringly at her own closest friends. “I know you guys don’t feel like this is your fight. Equestria hasn’t exactly been kind to you during your time here, so I don’t blame you if you want to sit this one out. But this place is my home as much as Earth is! If you won’t do this for Equestria, won’t you do it for me?”

Nonchalantly running a hand through her rainbow hair, Rainbow Dash said, “Hey, we never said we weren’t gonna help out!”

Applejack replied, “Ah may not be sold on it, but...hell, when was the last time Ah ever paid attention to common sense? Besides, for the most part, the ponies have been welcoming, save for one or two here and there.”

She meant nothing by it, of course, and the conversation continued, her offhand remark already forgotten. But Sunset couldn’t help but notice the way pony Applejack’s ears wilted and remained so for the rest of their meeting.

“Well, I’m still not comfortable with this, but I’m not going to back out on my friends.” Fluttershy looked at Sunset. “So, how are we gonna split up? We’re following your lead, Sunny.”

“Well, despite Sunset’s suggestion that we all go individually, I think it’d be best that we break off in pairs instead,” suggested human Rarity. “In particular, we should each go with a pony, because as humans, we don’t know much about this world and our counterparts can help us so we don’t make repeated mistakes.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Princess Twilight stated. “Plus, the opposite is true, too: even though ponydom trusts us as the Bearers, we might go too far—we’ve done that before, unfortunately. Having an outsider opinion might just prevent that.”

“Cool! Okay, me and my counterpart are heading out!” Rainbow said and offered a hoof to bump, which her counterpart did so instantly.

“Uh, no,” human Applejack commented. “Don’t need to tell your parents why you ended up in jail in some pony city, Rainbow.”

“Fuck you, AJ.”

“Raini, she’s got a point,” human Fluttershy added. “We may be different from our counterparts, but we’re alike in too many ways. We need a balance.”

“I hate it when you do that, you know?” the athlete facepalmed. “Fine, fine, whatever.”

“Plus, there’s the fact that my counterpart isn’t here,” Pinkie began automatically, “and that means….” She suddenly realized exactly what that meant and the unintentional damage her words had caused. “Uh...sorry, everpony,” she blurted.

“We know,” pony Rarity said softly.

“I’ll go with you,” Sunset said with clear reluctance, “since obviously I don’t have my human counterpart with me.”

“It’s still so weird hearing you say that, sis,” Twilight commented matter-of-factly.

“Well, Shimmy is the human of the two of us, despite how I spend my time on Earth,” Sunset reminded her.

“Then it’s decided,” declared Princess Twilight. “Let’s figure out the rest.”

Several more minutes went by as the group figured out who would go with who and what would be the best places to go. The cities with outright riots were quickly excluded, as it was decided to be too risky for the humans; likewise, the cities that seemed to have the least cases of unrest were written off, as the mayors and provincial nobles had it well in hoof.

“That just means that we have six cities in contention,” Princess Twilight noted. “The Crystal Imperial City, Manehattan, Vanhoover, Dodge Junction, Las Pegasus, and Fillydelphia. I’m obligated to go to the Imperial City, if only so I can speak to the provincial governor who has things in hoof for Cady and Shiny.”

“I’ll go with you,” human Rarity suggested. “It sounds like a lovely place.”

“Well, count me in for Manehattan,” pony Rarity suggested. “I need to check in with the manager of my store there, anyway.”

“Ah’ll go with you,” human Applejack said. “Ah’ve always wanted to go to New York, and this Manehattan sounds a lot like Manhattan, if you ask me.” The teen didn’t see the sudden crestfallen look from her counterpart as a result.

“AJ, why don’t you take Dodge Junction?” Princess Twilight suggested. “You know the place the best out of us, and it’s one of the fastest growing cities in the country right now.”

“Yeah, Ah guess,” the farmmare replied. “B’sides, they have that music festival goin’ on this week, so it’d be a good time to go anyway.”

“Music festival?” the human Fluttershy asked. “Well, I think I’m best suited for that.”

“Guess I’ll take Vanhoover, then,” pony Rainbow noted. “One of the elite combat squadrons is stationed there and I’ve been itching to test myself up against Sunshine Daffodil’s Strike Bats.”

“You’d best go with her, sis,” Sunset told Twilight. “Rainbow’ll probably be too busy trying to outfly other ponies to actually be diplomatic.”

“Hey, I can be dipplematic!’ the blue mare insisted.

“And so my point stands—she can’t even say the word correctly,” Sunset snarked.

“Well, I can go to Las Pegasus,” Fluttershy said, ruffling her wings nervously. “Old Cage asked me a while ago to come see their new animal preserve, so that gives me a reason.”

“Hey,” human Rainbow said to her counterpart, “didn’t you say that Las Pegasus was that pleasure town?”

“Yeah, why?”

The teen grinned giddly. “Yes, count me in!”

“Better behave, Rainbow,” Sunset advised her friend.

“It’s me, okay?”

“Yeah, you have a point. Shy, will you make sure Rainbow behaves herself?”

“Hey!”

The pegasus giggled softly. “Sure, I can do that.”

“Well, I guess I’ll go to Fillydelphia,” Sunset finished. “My grandmother’s museum and personal library is there, if I recall, so I have ties to the town.”

“Plus that’s where Ponyacci retired to!” Pinkie chirped. “He’s one of the greatest clowns in pony history! I always try to visit whenever I’m there, so we’re set!”

“Well, then, it’s settled. We still have some security to consider, so I’ll ask Div if he can detail some ponies from the Friendship Guard to protect us. Can’t be too careful, you know.”

“Actually, Your Highness, that won’t be necessary.” Entering the chamber dressed in a beige naval uniform, Sunny Side approached Sunset and saluted. “Ma’am, given the current situation, the Admiral has tasked us with escort duties. As the CDO of the ATG, I’ve taken the liberty of assigning each pair a particular guard.”

“Oh, uh, okay,” said Sunset, taken aback. “I don’t recall Dagi ever mentioning this.”

“Capt. Dazzle stated she sent you an email before she departed,” Side told her.

Sunset facepalmed. “Fuck. Knew I should’ve checked my phone. Actually, Softwing should have told me about that as well.”

Twilight wisely avoided telling her sister that she’d all but ignored the seneschal after Softwing had repeatedly attempted to get Sunset to leave Pinkie’s side to rest. Given the stress Sunset was under at the moment…

Well, the damage is already done, the plum-haired scholar noted.

“Well, this actually works out,” said Princess Twilight, “since you all are in your human forms, that will help with our mission to try and at least get the word out that despite what the Covenant have said, humans are not our enemy. All the more so given that you’re all a part of the Navy, because that means that you’re their protectors, even.”

“Well, have you already decided which towns you’re going to visit?” asked Side. “I noted that Dodge Junction was one of the choices.”

Princess Twilight nodded. “It’s a growing city in the southern regions, and since it avoided the worst of the war with Tirek, it’s looking to become a new pillar for the economy.”

“I’ll be accompanying whichever group is going there.”

“Family?” asked pony Applejack.

Side nodded. “Yeah, especially my little sister. She looks up to me a lot, but she’s seen me even less ever since I joined the Guard, and now with this assignment to the SIRENs… it may be quite awhile before I see her again.”

Pony Rainbow looked as if she was going to protest, likely because Sunny Side’s decision went against military regs. As a Wonderbolt, she would know about such a thing; arguably, as the more senior lieutenant present, she had a duty to say something about it. But she was also Rainbow Dash, who wasn’t above bending the rules at times. She of all ponies knew the difference between true loyalty and blindly following protocol, so she stayed silent.

“That means extra logistics then,” Princess Twilight mused. “We’ll need stronger pegasi pulling the phaetons. It’s amazing the difference one extra individual can cause if the math is wrong.”

“Good point,” Sunset noted.

“I’ll have my….” She then facehoofed. “Right, still don’t have one of those.”

“One of what?” asked pony Rarity.

“A seneschal,” Twilight said with a sheepish grin. “Somepony else was lucky enough to get the mare I wanted.”

Sunset simply shrugged. “Just have Softwing take care of whatever you want. I suspect that my office is going to be busy handling communications for us anyway.”

44th Day of Spring—9:32PM

Taking care both so that the guard wouldn’t overhear them, as well as to not risk waking up Tavi from the sleep that was keeping her unconscious and hopefully free of the agony of physical metamorphosis, Raspberry Beryl and Lockbox whispered in worried tones about what they were going to do.

“I’m sure taking out that guard would be child’s play for you,” said Lockbox, eyes darting between the disinterested guardstallion and Razz. “And, well, I’m not called Lockbox for nothing. I’ve picked a few locks in my time.”

“But what about Tavi?” said Razz, gesturing to the still sleeping human, who twitched every so often in unconscious pain.

“Do you think we would be in the clear to wake her?”

Razz shook her head. “I remember the pain of when my father cut my original horn off. I don’t even remember how long the pain lasted, it seemed to be forever. And for Tavi, she’s had half her body forcefully reconstructed through dark magic by means even I don’t understand. We wake her up and she’ll either go right back into shock or she’ll be screaming her head off.”

“But we’re not abandoning her,” said Lock, determined in her eyes. “Maybe I could form a kind of cocoon...no, you form a cocoon with crystal and we’ll drag it along behind us with my chains.”

“Too noisy and the caves might be too narrow for that—after all, we didn’t come in here by the main entrance.” Part of Razz’s mind drifted back to something from that horrid book Sombra had kept regarding his days as a tyrant. The mare, whose name Razz had forgotten, had insisted that Musica Allerga had wanted to come back to save Rose as well, but had been forced to continue her escape to Equestria and potentially from there, fled across dimensions to the human world. But looking back at Tavi, who without a doubt was descended from both Musica and Sombra and was thus the fourth Scion, another part of Razz’s mind couldn’t help but wonder if Musica in spirit hadn’t simply been dragged back into the clutches of the evil that she’d fled across time and space to escape.

“Then how exactly are we gonna get outta here? I don’t think any of us are keen on finding out just what exactly they think this whole prophecy nonsense is supposed to entail, given you’re the expert on this shit and even you don’t know why bringing together the four Scions will do anything!”

“Oh, but how dare you question the great and wise oracle!” suddenly came Corner Shot’s voice, who had appeared out of nowhere. Curiously, Razz noted a bitter, sardonic edge to her words.

“Where the hell did you come from?!” exclaimed Razz, forgetting momentarily the whole ‘don’t wake Octavia’ thing.

“Uh, hello? Assassin since birth?” said Corner, rolling her eyes and flaring her undisguised wings, showing off the chitin-cast wing racks with a full complement of knives within.

“Scion Corner Shot,” the guard said, looking nervous, “Er, are you allowed to be here?”

In response, she flicked out a knife and held it in a wingtip mere inches from the stallion’s muzzle. “Scram, I need to discuss...private matters with my fellow Scions.”

“But one of them is passed out.”

“Do I need to castrate you to get the message across? Wait outside the door if you absolutely have to, but this doesn’t concern you. And I’m not going to ask nicely a third time.”

The guard, finally getting a clue, hurriedly left to stand outside the main dungeons. As Razz watched, even in the low light she could see that despite a hoofful of cells, she, Lock, and Tavi were in the only occupied block.

“What do you want, Corner?” she asked through gritted teeth, choosing to let her magic guise slip a little so her fangs were exposed.

“I…” Corner trailed off, and for a brief but satisfying moment, Razz thought she might have actually scared her into silence. But one look at Corner Shot told Razz everything: all of the hostility and aloofness was gone from her face, and there was certainly no fear there. Instead she just looked like a pony adrift at sea—one too exhausted to keep fighting the current that was still pulling her this way and that. Something about the whole thing seemed familiar.

“What do I want?” Corner echoed with a bitter frown. “That’s really the question of the hour, isn’t it?”

Razz then realized where she had seen that look before. It was the look hidden just behind the cocksure attitude of a popular billiards champion who’d come to Ponyville for a friendly tournament. That was so long ago, and so much had happened since then that that champion seemed like a stranger now, but Razz remembered the rare unguarded moment where she saw the same adrift pony in front of her now. Perhaps that pony had always been there, hiding beneath the cocky pool champion, and then under the angry, arrogant assassin.

Of course, Razz also realized that pony had been her once. Moving from town to town, hiding under a magical disguise just trying to survive to the next day...what else would you call that but “adrift”?

“Something happened, didn’t it?” Razz asked without asking. “Either recently or during the past months. Something happened and now you’re not sure of your place in all of this.”

At that, Lockbox only sneered. “Finally had an original thought, at the very least, you feathered knife-throwing drone?”

At that, Razz whapped Lockbox in the barrel, and Lock turned to her with an indignant “What?” to which Razz gave her a stony glare in return.

Having received Razz’s message, Lockbox’s response was silence, and she moved to check on Tavi’s unconscious half-from, keeping her ears perked as the conversation between Razz and Corner continued.

“Well?” Razz prompted, returning her attention to Corner.

“Well what?”

“What happened to make you so uncertain?”

Idly scuffing a hoof along the ground, Corner retorted, “What makes you so sure anything happened?”

“Because I’ve been where you are, Corner,” Razz answered without hesitation. “I know what it’s like.”

“I doubt that,” Corner said. “We may have the same blood, but our lives are nothing alike!” Then with a little of the old vitriol returning, Corner looked at her and said. “You wouldn’t know the first thing about it!”

“Maybe so,” Razz responded calmly. “But you came to me, not the other way around.”

That took whatever fight was still in Corner out of her. She truly was adrift now. But as Razz suspected, Corner wasn’t content to just let the current take her, so she grabbed onto the one life preserver she could reach.

“You just…seem to have everything figured out,” Corner said. “You’re so certain of your place, even if it is on the wrong side. I just want to know…when did you know?”

“When I found ponies who cared about me unconditionally in spite of what I am and what I’ve done, my place seemed obvious,” Razz answered with an easy shrug. “Now, a question for you: what makes you so certain I’m on the wrong side?”

Corner’s answer was as immediate as it was rehearsed. “Because the alicorns are evil and their Equestria is corrupt!”

“Is that what you believe? Or is it what you were told to believe?”

“I…” Corner stuttered, and the fact that she couldn’t think of a retort right away only further proved Razz’s point, and they both knew it, which in turn only infuriated Corner even more. “There’s plenty of evidence to support this! The long winter….”

“Is something Celestia has since come to regret,” Razz argued without missing a beat. Something else that was not unnoticed to both of them. “Even if Celestia had managed things perfectly, the fact is, Equestria was recovering from a devastating war with an uncompromising enemy. There were going to be problems regardless of what Celestia did.”

“And what about before the war?!” Corner exclaimed, sounding almost desperate in her haste to respond. “Things were far from perfect then, too!”

“You’re right, but you know what?” Razz asked with a small smile. “Such is life. Perfection is unattainable, especially for government.”

“I’m not looking for perfection!” Corner hissed. “All I want is something better!”

“And you think King Sombra can give that to us?” Razz asked with a calm, deadpan expression. “I know you’re not stupid, Corner. Surely you’re aware of the things he did?”

“History is written by the winner,” Corner said, but it was clearly another pre rehearsed counter argument, and sounded weak even to Corner herself.

“To an extent, perhaps, but you can’t fake the scale of the atrocities that Sombra committed,” Razz said, then with a smile, added, “Besides, I have a book written by King Sombra himself, and it doesn’t exactly paint him in a great light either.”

This seemed to genuinely intrigue Corner. “What book?”

“It’s called The Rose With the Broken Neck. I don’t think your Covenant buddies even know it exists, seeing that the only copy was discovered in the Crystal Empire earlier this year.” Razz’s countenance was far more grim now, as memories of reading it clawed their way to the forefront of her mind.

“You’re lying…” Corner stated.

Razz just continued unabated. “Even if the Covenant did know about it, I doubt very much they’d want it getting out. I guarantee you the Covenant would probably lose most of its members if they read it cover to cover. Only the truly depraved would keep worshipping Sombra after reading that.”

“I’ve heard enough!” Corner all but shouted, turning to leave the prison. “Coming here was a mistake. I don’t know why I thought I could confide in a damned sun-kisser!” With that, Corner stormed furiously out of the room.

From her spot over by Tavi, Lockbox commented, “Damn. For a moment there I thought you were going to convince her to help us.” .

“For a moment there so did I,” Razz admitted, internally chastising herself. She’d done a good enough job reaching out to Corner Shot in what was clearly a time of need, but then they got to talking about Sombra and she just kind of got carried away trying to change the core beliefs of someone who believed in him since birth. It would seem the topic of her ancestor would always be a blind spot for her no matter the situation, and reading that damn book only exacerbated the problem. It would seem that in a way, he’ll always have a hold over me.

“Well, now what?” Lockbox asked, pulling Razz from her thoughts. “Back to Plan A? Take out the guard and make our escape?”

After some reflection on her recent talk, Razz said, “No. I don’t think that conversation went as badly as you think.”

With a doubtful look, Lockbox asked, “How do you figure?”

“Because regardless of how it ended, the fact remains: something is causing Corner to have doubts about all of this. And I just planted seeds of even further doubt….”

45th Day of Spring—1:02PM

As the chariot lifted into the air, Rarity tried to make herself as comfortable as she could, though it wasn’t easy. Granted, she was a survivor of a plane crash but that had been when she was a baby, so she had no memories of it and as a result, flying didn’t normally faze her. That being said, this was flying in a way that she’d never been accustomed to before.

How on Earth is this thing even managing to remain airborne? she asked herself, even though she knew the answer: magic, like so many other things on this world. The arcane force was something new in her life, something she was adjusting to. This, like that, would have to be just one more thing she’d have to grow to deal with, for Sunset’s sake.

“Are you okay?” Twilight asked her. “I remember that this isn’t how you’re used to flying back home.”

“Definitely not,” Rarity agreed. “For starters, the onboard service is lacking. We’ve been in the air for ten minutes now and I have yet to see a single flight attendant to ask if I want something to drink.”

The alicorn laughed. “Well, at least you’re able to deal with this.”

Rarity grinned. “If I didn’t, I’d have some severe issues. But like all things when dealing with Sunset, you simply have to make the abnormal the norm, as it were.”

There was a short silence after that, which was broken by Tomahawk’s calm rasp, “Do you?”

Rarity looked over at the vaguely Native American looking woman with black and beige hair matching her uniform. She had a dreamy smile on her face and seemed to be not all present. Speaking of abnormal….

“Do I what?” Rarity asked.

“Want something to drink?”

Rarity wasn’t quite sure what to think of the apparent pegasus-turned-woman, other than she was clearly a little spacey. She reminded Rarity of a few students at Canterlot High that she knew of, but didn’t associate with due to their penchant for partaking in… recreational narcotics. Rarity didn’t know that their escort was cut from the same cloth, but….

“I’m fine, thank you,” Rarity said, smiling politely.

Still smiling a dreamy smile, Tomahawk asked, “You sure? I’m making tea, there’s enough for everyone.”

Seeing only a duffel bag at Tomahawk’s side, Rarity was confused, but the pony princess beside her beat her to asking, “Right now?”

Tomahawk nodded, and Twilight looked around the inside of the phaeton, as if expecting a stove complete with a pot and kettle to have suddenly materialized.

“But… how?”

Smiling a bit more earnestly now, Tomahawk said, “Oh, it’s so easy to make tea, Your Highness. Here, I’ll show you….”

Twilight’s eye twitched in a way that reminded Rarity of the one from her own world. “No, I know how to make tea, I just don’t know how you’re going to….”

But Tomahawk was already digging through her duffel bag, either ignoring or oblivious to Twilight’s confusion (Rarity was pretty sure it was the latter). The human and alicorn watched with fascination as Tomahawk pulled out what appeared to be a bunsen burner, a small tin pot, and a few small bags of various pink, red, and yellow flowers. The burner had an orange gem attached to the bottom, and with the press of a button, it started to glow, and Rarity could see the air above it start to distort from apparent heat. Tomahawk filled the pot with water from her canteen and set it over the burner before putting the multicolored flowers in a small wooden bowl and methodically grinding them up. As the water began to heat up, the ground petals within started to glow, tiny stars submerged in a small sea within a bottle.

“These are burnbright roses, and they make for great tea, with an extra kick of spice.”

Soon, Tomahawk was finished with the tea, and handed off two steaming cups to Rarity and Princess Twilight before pouring her own. Rarity took a gingerly sip from her cup, and was surprised to find that it tasted similar to her favorite camomille back home. Then the kick that Tomahawk described came in, giving the tea an additional spicy flavor… but not spicy enough for Rarity to need to wash it down with something cold.

“This is good,” Rarity said, to which Twilight emphatically nodded.

Smiling serenely, Tomahawk said, “It’s an old family blend.”

The three of them continued the flight in silence, all of them enjoying their burnbright tea. Rarity was glad to admit to herself that she had a better opinion of their eccentric protector than she did moments ago.

45th Day of Spring—1:11PM

The phaeton flight to Manehatten was only quiet on Applejack’s end, mostly because the blonde girl didn’t really know what to say. As it happened, Rarity’s pony counterpart was very much the same as the girl Applejack knew, and as much as Applejack cared about her, they didn’t have much to relate to, at least as far as their hobbies went. So after the well of usual small talk dried up in the first minutes of their flight, the ever outgoing Rarity (another similarity to the human that Applejack was more familiar with) next sought conversation with their SIREN escort, and Applejack was content to just listen from the sidelines.

“So, Ekene,” asked Rarity, “What are the fashion trends like back in your native homeland? I have spoken with Zecora before, but I’m afraid that fashion isn’t quite her strong suit, per se.”

From what Applejack understood, the young Arabic woman seated at the head of the chariot was from a nation called Zebrica. When she’d asked Sunset more about it, she simply said, “Like Africa, but run by zebras.” Applejack figured there was a lot more to it than that, but the comparison was enough to give her an idea of where her new travel companion was from.

“Grand zebra wear is very fine,” the humanized zebra replied, “but rarely do we have the time. The styles and colors are a gift for the eyes, and many garbs bring awed sighs.”

Applejack nodded politely, still not quite sure of what to say. Sunset had warned her about the zebras’ queer cultural quirk to speak in rhyme, but Applejack had assumed she was joking.

Perhaps taking note of her human charge’s continued overly polite nodding and prolonged silence, Ekene slapped herself in the forehead. “I just did it again, didn’t I?”

“Did what?” Rarity asked, apparently far more used to zebra speech conventions than Applejack was.

“Cmdr. Dusk told me that I’ll sound like a ‘rapper’ if I rhyme all the time,” Ekene exclaimed, before slapping both hands over her mouth. “I did it again….”

Rarity let out an amused (yet still delicate and polite) laugh, while Applejack wondered whether to have a talk with Sonata about casual racism.

Her thoughts were interrupted as the phaeton apparently hit a pocket of stronger winds and Applejack’s stomach inverted. Under normal circumstances, she didn’t mind flying—even when it was turbulent—but the phaeton was no 747, and something about the open sky all around her set Applejack on edge a little.

This time it was Ekene’s turn to chuckle. “I remember my first sky chariot ride. I nearly vomited over the side.” She then closed her eyes and muttered, “Dammit….”

As the flight continued, Applejack eventually adjusted to the flight—ignoring everything outside of the phaeton tended to help with that. She also chalked it up to the magic, something that she was still trying to adjust to, just like so many things in her life. Still, she was an Apple, and she was part of Sunset’s court (assuming Sunset had one—did that mean Applejack was now a noblewoman?) so she would abide.

Part of that, I guess, means getting used to this world, she reminded herself. So with that in mind, she chose to ask a question.

“If you ladies don’t mind, y’all have to explain how cutie marks work,” she asked as she glanced at the trio of diamonds that decorated Rarity’s flank—a brief pang of memory flashed in her head of the “Uniquecorn” ceramic figurine she once saw over at Rarity (the human)’s place back in Canterlot, and how astonishingly it compared to the unicorn before her. “Ah know they have to do with your ‘special talent’, but you have yours all over your bags.”

“Think of it as a kind of personal signature,” said Rarity, “Obviously there are recurring themes—some would even say many cutie marks look identical, almost copied—but each one represents an individual pony as well as their unique talent.”

“So kind of like a personal branding? Humans usually don’t have one unless they’re fashion icons with their own clothing lines.” She then pondered for a moment before adding, “Some musicians do as well, but that’s out of mah expertise. You’d have to ask Flutters or Rares for more on that.”

“I see,” Rarity replied breezily. “Well, if I may ask, what is your interest in Manehattan? You mentioned an, ah, ‘Manhattan’, was it? It sounds similar.”

“Ah suppose they might be. Manhattan is a district in New York City, which is the biggest city in my home country, and Manhattan is considered its ritziest part. Ah have some family there, though Ah’ve never visited the place before.” The teen shrugged. “Ah was just wondering how similar it might be from what Ah’ve seen in pictures. ”

“Manehattan’s quite the busy place,” said Ekene. “Though there isn’t much open space.”

Rarity and Applejack exchanged a look, an amused smile growing across their faces as they waited for the inevitable moment of realization to set in. They knew that it came when Ekene pounded a fist into the side of the chariot.

“Dammit!”

45th Day of Spring—1:23PM

As a guardsmare, Sunny Side had done plenty of escorts for VIPs before—it was just par for the course in the Solar Guard. But now, as a SIREN she was beginning to see how even something as simple as escort duty was more different than ever before. And right now, as she sat in the phaeton, seated next to Applejack on one seat while across from them Fluttershy strummed along on her acoustic guitar and singing softly, she realized she was being treated to something special.

“Carry me, caravan, take me away,
Take me to Portugal, take me to Spain
Andalucia, with fields full of grain—
I have to see you again and again
Take me, Spanish Caravan,
Yes I know you can….”

“Wow, Ah heard you could sing, but color me impressed,” the farmmare commented. “Ah haven’t heard a voice that beautiful in a passel o’ time.”

“Thanks,” Fluttershy commented, “but I can’t take all the credit. The song is about fifty years old and talks about even older times. But I do appreciate the compliment. I may need to work on playing some of my own songs, because I get the feeling the audience might not get where Spain or Portugal are. Those are nations on Earth, by the way.” The musician set down her guitar and looked out at the sky before turning back to the others. “So tell me: what’s Dodge Junction like?”

“It’s one of the outpost towns of Equestria,” said Side, eager to gush about home a little. “Well, it used to be—ever since the Cherry family expanded their orchard operations here, it’s been a growing city. As a result the town’s gotten bigger with all the refugees of the war moving in. I almost wouldn’t recognize it from the pics Dad has sent in his letters.”

“Sounds like ya really love yer home,” Applejack said. “If Ah c’n ask, why’d ya get into th’ Guard?”

Side sighed, smiling nostalgically. “You can blame my Dad for that; he used to be in the Solar Guard back before the other Guard divisions were established. He used to tell me and my sister stories about his service and, well, I really took to it.”

“Ah bet yer mom didn’t like ‘em much,” Applejack added, keeping her tone light.

Side’s demeanor darkened at the mention of her mother, but she kept up that nostalgic smile. Only, now she seemed to be wearing it like armor. “Oh, she used to love his stories. Probably why she married him.”

Applejack picked up on the way the humanized mare’s mood changed at the mention of her mother, and from what she just said, was able to piece together why. Fluttershy, however, did not share the farmpony’s experiences where her parents were concerned.

“Used to?” she ventured.

“Yeah, she uh… she passed away shortly after my little sister was born.”

That hit far closer to home than Applejack cared to admit in front of strangers. So all she settled for was a weak, “Ah’m sorry.”

Side just shrugged. “It happened a long time ago. I still miss her, but… I’ve managed to move on.”

Perhaps projecting some of her own experiences onto the guardsmare turned guardshuman (that didn’t sound right…), Applejack scuffed a hoof along the floor of the sky carriage and asked, “Was it hard for you to leave the farm and join the Guard after...after that?”

With another shrug, Side answered, “I think it would’ve been hard either way. It was worth it, though. Don’t get me wrong, I love the old homestead—would probably be escorting one of the other groups if I didn’t—but being a military pony is my dream.” She then glanced down at her very human body. “Well… ‘military pony’ is a relative term, I guess, but hey! I landed what is probably the coolest assignment any military mare could ask for, so I’m not complaining!”

And there it was: more fuel for the flame of Applejack’s guilt. Here she was, talking to a pony who had given up life on the farm to pursue what really mattered to her, and having an easy time of it. It would never have even occurred to her to resent Sunny Side—a braver and more honest pony than many she knew—for choosing to leave life on the farm. So why in Equestria had she given her own counterpart such a hard time over it?

She then thought about how she and Side had both lost parents at a young age, and wondered if perhaps that was the real reason behind her animosity; jealousy at what her counterpart had and she didn’t. No, that ain’t it. I’m happy that other Applejack still has her folks! Like Sunny Side said, it’s been a long time. I’ve moved on!

Contrary to popular belief, Applejack really was capable of lying. The problem was, the only one who believed her was herself.

45th Day of Spring—5:28PM

As the phaeton began to approach an airship in the distance, Rainbow Dash called out to the flight captain leading the trio of ponies pulling the craft through the skies. “Is that the relief ship?”

“Yes, ma’am,” the flight captain called back. “We should be there in about fifteen minutes.”

The cerulean pegasus flexed her wings. “Too slow—I’m going to go fly over and let them know we’re coming, so that they can make sure your reliefs are ready to go,” she told them.

It was at this point that Twilight looked up from her iPad; she’d been focused on it for the majority of the flight, trying to get herself up to speed on diplomacy in this unusual world she’d found herself in. “Something up?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Rainbow explained. “‘Cause Las Pegasus and Vanhoover are so far west, we’re not gonna make it in one day, so the flight crews are gonna get relieved. Guard flight procedures are to let the pull team rest and then replace it with a new one in the morning. For Las Pegasus, Rainbow—sounds so weird saying that—and Shy are gonna spend the night at Fort Nonsense.” The mare chuckled. “Yeah, silly name, but it’s named after Gen. Nonsense, who was a famous Army unicorn hundreds of years ago.”

“And what about us? We’re going to be aboard that ship?”

“Yup—VIPs aboard the Magne-Music, one of the best ships in the fleet. It’ll get us part of the way there, and then in the morning, the new team will take us the rest of the way. But that’s only if they’re up to snuff.”

“How so?” Twilight asked, curious.

“Well, as proud as I am of being a Wonderbolt and a Navy lieutenant, the truth is, Navy fliers aren’t known for their strength—that’s why the Guard handles most of the diplomatic and courier flights, because their ponies have the strength to pull towage like the phaeton. But we’re not getting Guard reliefs; we’ll be using ponies from the Magne-Music, so I need to make sure that they’re up to snuff.”

“Well, then!” Both Rainbow and Twilight turned to look at the third member of their group—the conspicuously short Moonblazer whose youth and relative impatience seemed to match the fact she was physically a fourteen-year-old quite well. “In that case, I guess it’s time for the best flyer we got to get over to the ship!”

“I know,” Rainbow said with a grin. “I’m already going.”

Moonblazer narrowed her eyes. “I meant me, obviously.”

The pegasus looked at the humanized batpony. “Oh? Forgetting something?”

“No, just give me a second and I’ll take off my amniomorphic bracelet and I’ll be ready to go in a sec–”

“No, you forgot your duty, Ensign.” Rainbow glanced at the other human aboard the phaeton. “Unless you want to explain to both your CO and Princess Sunset why you abandoned the person you’re supposed to guard while I’m out.”

“Oh, that’s bull and you know it!” Moonblazer argued. “I’m supposed to guard you too, and here you are getting ready to fly off! Can’t do that if you’re headed off to the ship!”

“Doesn’t matter,” Rainbow told her. “I’m a Wonderbolt and the Bearer of Loyalty. When push comes to shove, I can protect myself. Twilight over there is neither—she’s just a filly that can’t do anything if something bad comes her way!” She then realized what she said and added a quick, “Uh, no offense.”

Twilight gave a deadpan, “None taken.”

“Yeah, but–” Moonblazer began once more.

“No buts,” Rainbow told her. “You have orders. Granted, I’m not the most military pony there is, but look, even I know when orders are orders, okay?” She then grinned. “‘Sides, you’d probably have a hard time keeping up with my speed anyway.”

Moonblazer glared at Rainbow, then sat down, pouting. “Fine,” she huffed, crossing her arms.

Twilight shook her head. “¡Realmente espero no tener que lidiar con ella haciendo pucheros el resto del viaje!” she muttered.

Rainbow laughed. “Je, tú y yo los dos,” she replied.

“Espera, ¿hablas español?”

“¿Supongo? El otro yo dijo que así es como lo llaman en su mundo.”

“What the hell are you two saying?” Moonblazer groaned, and the other two ladies had a laugh before Rainbow took to the skies and rocketed off towards the airship in the distance.

45th Day of Spring—5:42PM

Dust kicked into the air as the pulling team came to a landing on the often-unused landing pad at Fort Nonsense. In the middle of the Oatlahoofa Dust Bowl, a small desert created by a magical accident centuries ago, Fort Nowhere stood as a safepoint for travelers coming westward, as well as to make sure that the tatzelwurms didn’t get out of control in this part of Equestria.

As the phaeton finally came to a stop, Rainbow wasted no time in hopping out of the vehicle and stretching her legs. “So glad that’s over!” she cried. “Thought I was going to lose my mind if I spent one more minute just sitting there!”

“Oh, it’s not so bad.” Fluttershy said as she fluttered off the phaeton, stretching her wings slightly as if in admittance that she, too, was glad to be off the ride. “The guardsponies were just trying to make our flight easier, after all. It wasn’t their fault we’d run into turbulence they couldn’t take care of.”

“Turbulence, shmerbulence!” Rainbow groaned. “People weren’t made to fly, you know? Unless, of course, they were in a kick ass fighter jet!”

“Well, I typically don’t like flying myself,” Fluttershy confessed. “Being that high up is kinda scary.”

Rainbow blinked. “Wait—aren’t you a pegasus?” When the pegasus in question nodded, that freaked the athlete out even further. “But...but...why? You have wings! If I were you, I’d be seriously airborne, rocking them things!”

“Some ponies just don’t like to fly.” Both of them turned to see Embiggen getting out of the phaeton; due to her general size, the guardsponies had to actually use one of Princess Celestia’s personal phaetons for the trip. “I know I don’t—it’s really frightening.”

Craning her neck, Rainbow looked up at the Amazonian figure towering over all else present. Initially, Rainbow found the massive SIREN initiate a little intimidating purely because of her size. Then an errant butterfly had caused Embiggen to nearly jump out of her skin before they took off, and Rainbow found herself wondering how someone like her had even made the cut as a SIREN, let alone in any military capacity.

Seeing how visibly Embiggen had flinched under her gaze, Rainbow averted it, opting instead to get her luggage out of the back of the phaeton.

“I can help you carry that if you want…” Embiggen’s timid voice said from somewhere above Rainbow,

“I got it,” was all Rainbow said as she brushed past the hulking woman. She might even be worse than Fluttershy used to be!

“Everything okay?” a different timid voice asked. Rainbow looked over to see Fluttershy—the pony, not her childhood friend—walking in step beside her.

She and the others all had lots to say about their pony counterparts after the week they’d spent in Ponyville. What surprised Rainbow the most was what Fluttershy had said about her counterpart: that she still had a long way to go when it came to overcoming her social anxiety. It had surprised Rainbow because up until that moment, she had thought the exact same thing about her Fluttershy. It put into perspective just how much her friend had changed; how much she’d grown.

Yet, even this world’s Fluttershy had managed to talk to her with what seemed to be little trouble. Maybe it helped that she was very close with this world’s Rainbow Dash too. Whatever the reason, it was still miles better than their so-called protector.

“I’m fine,” Rainbow answered. “I just….”

“Just what?” Fluttershy asked innocently.

“Don’t worry about it, Flutters,” Rainbow said completely by accident. Fortunately, this Fluttershy didn’t seem to notice her verbal gaffe. Perhaps her own counterpart had the same term of endearment for this Fluttershy?

“It’s about Embiggen, isn’t it?” Fluttershy asked. She then added, “You don’t like her.” It wasn’t a question, but a plain statement of fact.

“I just… don’t think she’s up to snuff, y’know?” Rainbow said. “I mean, sure, she’s big and intimidating at a glance, but she’s even more timid than you are. Uh, no offense.”

“I’m not offended,” the little butter pony said, but then she fixed her with a familiar annoyed glare. “But I think you’re being awfully unfair to her.”

Rainbow looked again at Embiggen, who was currently in the middle of a conversation with an armored pony—clearly a figure of some importance at Fort Nonsense if his appearance was anything to go by. Even from a relative distance, their escort’s nature was clear: the armored pony continually talked at (not to) Embiggen, who only stood there and took it, the giant woman all but flinching under the much smaller pony.

Nodding in Embiggen’s direction, Rainbow turned back to Fluttershy and said, “Do you really think that person has what it takes to protect us if shit gets loco?”

Fluttershy’s annoyed glare turned to a much angrier one that Rainbow had seen on her own Fluttershy’s face many times, and Rainbow knew that she’d said something wrong.

“I think that you shouldn’t underestimate timid looking ponies!” Fluttershy exclaimed before storming off, leaving Rainbow with a very familiar feeling of shame.

45th Day of Spring—4:51PM

“Hey, Sunny, how’s—" asked Pinkie.

“DON’T,” insisted Sunset, resting her forelegs on the edge of the chariot and cradling her head in her forehooves. At Princess Twilight’s suggestion, she changed to her alicorn form and would only change back to her human form as necessary once they got to Fillydelphia.

“You know, you haven’t looked at me directly this whole trip,” observed Pinkie looking a bit annoyed.

Do you really need to ask why? mused Sunset, who then turned to face Pinkie directly and knew she would regret it. The fact that Sunset could see the friends and family she knew as humans every time she looked at their pony counterparts was bad enough, but with Pinkie...well, somehow, the pony one seemed to be a more innocent version of the Pinkie with whom Sunset’s current relationship status was in question.

And she just hoped it wouldn’t end up being “terminated” in the sense that one of their lives was terminated.

“Is everything alright?” asked Ushanka, who had respectfully been keeping to herself. She’d sensed the tension between the two mares and decided that it would be best if she stayed out of the conversation.

“I’m fine, er, what’s your rank again?”

“Just ‘Petty Officer’ will do, Your Highness,” the woman explained.

Sunset mentally went over the quick briefing of military protocol that Aria had tried to give her just before they came on this whole damned trip to Equestria. She still didn’t understand half of it, and chances are, she probably never would. “I see. Anyway, I’m fine. Just peachy.”

“No you’re not!” Pinkie said, chirping. “You’ve got a frown that looks like it went to town and we need to turn it upside down!”

Sunset silently sighed; her Pinkie—that is, the Pinkie I’m more familiar with, she quickly amended—was a lot more grounded and while she liked to have fun, she wasn’t as childlike in nature as her counterpart was.

“I brought a cake!” Sure enough, a four-story cake seemed to appear from nowhere. “It’s my famous strawberry blueberry elderberry raspberry loganberry cloudberry boysenberry blackberry sloeberry yewberry cranberry mulberry serviceberry–”

“How many berries are in this thing?” Ushanka asked.

Pinkie rubbed a hoof against her chin in thought. “About thirty-five. Normally it’s forty, but since the Winter, it’s hard to find flashberries, aquaberries, crunchberries, splashberries and prismberries. And, well, I kinda forgot to put crystalberries in it, now that I recall, so make that thirty-four berries.” Her manic grin slid on her face as she added, “But it’s still good, even if it’s a little incomplete!”

Sunset groaned. If this was how the trip was going to be, maybe she should have just stayed in Canterlot.

But if I did, then Pinkie would….

The frown lines on her face just seemed to deepen as they moved on through the air towards their destination.

45th Day of Spring—3:10AM

Corner Shot awoke on cold hard rock with aching joints and a bad headache. She tried to roll over to go back to sleep and nearly fell out of the alcove she was perched in to the cavern floor several feet below, where numerous bottles of Distinguished Cutie Mark cider lay strewn about. All at once Corner started to remember the events of the night before (though this deep underground, night and day were indistinguishable).

After her infuriating conversation with Raspberry Beryl, Corner had gone and raided the supply cache for as much alcohol as she could carry, then brought it all up to her favorite alcove. There were a number of hidden nooks and crannies in the massive underground cave network that made up the Covenant’s headquarters, and there was one in particular that Corner liked to use. It was well hidden and fairly high up on the chamber it was attached to, but not so high that Corner couldn’t reach it with her limited flight capabilities. The chamber it overlooked was also well out of the way of all the high-traffic areas like the main atrium making it the ideal spot for Corner to loaf around.

And that was exactly what Corner had done as she downed bottle after bottle of her favorite hard cider. All the while, thoughts swirled in her head like adrift pieces of refuse, not unlike the pile of empty bottles in the cave below (and that word ‘adrift’ seemed continually prominent in her thoughts now, too). Everything that Raspberry had told her was wrong, it had to be… but still, Corner couldn’t stop thinking about it. It went against everything that Corner had been raised to believe, but the things Razz had said to her just made too much sense to ignore.

Far easier to get shitfaced instead, Corner thought, and desperately searched her alcove for one more bottle of cider, but found what few were there empty.

“CORNER SHOT!” a nasally female voice shouted out, jolting the pegasus out of her thoughts. She cautiously peered down and saw two cloaked covenant ponies—their hoods drawn so she couldn’t identify them. The two of them were standing amongst her discarded bottles in the chamber below. “Honestly, that mare is just such a slob!”

“Do you think this is her doing?” asked the other cloaked pony—a stallion.

“Of course it is—she’s addicted to this Distinguished Cutie Mark crap. Low-grade hard cider she drinks like it’s water or something.”

“How unbecoming of a Scion.”

“Truly—though really, I’ve had my doubts that we actually need all four of them. Sombra had many issue, this is known, so surely he must have had backup offspring.”

“They certainly are not equal, that is certain; Raspberry Beryl is the only one we can say for certain is a true Scion, maybe the other unicorn as well.”

“My thoughts exactly! The human we should have disposed of the moment she got brought here instead of Sunset Shimmer, the far more likely true fourth Scion. And Corner Shot? I think it’s time we told Father Lux to take care of her, Scion or no.”

“You really think he’ll go with it?”

“He’s been aching for a reason to get rid of her for ages, and he’s...easily convinced if you know how to push his buttons.”

“Then let’s go press some buttons. The sooner we rid ourselves of that stain on Sombra’s legacy, the better!”

As the two ponies hurried off, Corner couldn’t wipe the shock off her face. Lux would jump at the chance to call her a traitor—hell, he’d probably use the fact the human was brought instead of Sunset as proof she was trying to sabotage them all, in spite of the fact she really was the fourth Scion and Lux knew it.

She’d not been entirely sure about leaving the Covenant, even when she was fully adrift in a sea of doubt and paranoia. But now, it seems she wasn’t abandoning the Covenant—the Covenant was going to abandon her.

Author's Note:

And we're back!

Comments

[Darkstory]

A awesome chapter from the Golden Age of The Apocalypse is the best thing to end a day.

[dvdspires]

Nice to see this back and I hope you did well on your charity drive.

As for the story, well everything is being upped a notch all over and it’ll be interesting to see what happens where.

As for Sunny Side, I wonder if she’ll introduce her sister to wonders of fingers through the torture/unpleasantness of tickling. Should be fun regardless.

[Zekromic]

Realmente espero no tener que lidiar con ella haciendo pucheros el resto del viaje!” she muttered.

Rainbow laughed. “Je, tú y yo los dos,” she replied.

“Espera, ¿hablas español?”

“¿Supongo? El otro yo dijo que así es como lo llaman en su mundo.”

“I hope I don’t have to deal with her making fits the whole trip”

“He. You and me both”

“Wait. You speak Spanish?”

“I guess. The other me told me that’s how it’s called in your world”

No google translate used

[Teraunce]

10306966
thanks for the translation.