Equestria: The Afterlife

by Timzocker201

Ch45: Ghosts of the Past

A month had passed since the wedding. Twilight felt like she was at fault for such a disaster to take place. After all, if she hadn’t been so gullible, the fake Markus would’ve likely never come to cause such emotional damage, to Rainbow as well as to Twilight herself.

Seeing as she was the only one, who saw through the scheme, it was a logical decision to keep Mystic close, in case something similar happened again. Well, that and she had grown quite fond of the mare, as she was one of the few with whom she could have a serious, intellectual conversation. Needless to say, Twilight was quick to count her to her close friends and as such, it wasn’t a difficult decision to offer her a room in her castle.

Now, one would think that Mystic was overjoyed by the offer, given that not only would she live with her new friends, but she would also have it much easier to fulfil the captain’s last orders to her: to protect Twilight and Rainbow. And indeed, she was happy at first. However, soon after she had taken the offer, a feeling sprang up in the back of her mind. Subtle, at first, barely noticeable, until one day, she could make out, what it was.

Twilight trusted her to the fullest. Everything she said was undoubtedly true, in Twilight’s eyes. Everything she decided was definitely right and even if she herself felt that her actions seemed weird at first, Twilight didn’t question them.

This level of trust slowly let uncertainty grow inside her. Was she really worthy of such trust? Could she really fulfil every expectation that was placed upon her? Was she really who Twilight thought she was?

This uncertainty soon evolved further and morphed into another feeling. A feeling of guilt. But it wasn’t the usual, unfounded guilt that would sometimes spring up in situations like these. Guilt that would be resolved by simply saying ‘Don’t worry, I know what you can and I trust you because of it.’ or something like that. No, Mystic indeed had a reason to doubt her own trustworthiness and felt guilty because she was trusted nevertheless.

She tried to subdue the feeling. She tried to blot it out, but no matter how hard she tried, the feeling grew stronger, stronger and stronger yet. Many a night she sat in her room in Twilight’s castle, not able to find sleep over the ever growing thoughts that she might not be worth the trust placed in her.

After many weeks of suffering, she made a decision. She would tell Twilight the truth. She would show her, what a mare she actually was.

Twilight sat in the map room in her chair. The other elements were present as well, talking about some friendship-business that had apparently sprung up. Mystic didn’t listen all-too closely, as she was still contemplating, what exactly she wanted to say. However, time was seemingly working against her, as suddenly, all six of them got up and started to move to the door.

They all greeted Mystic as they passed, while she was stammering to herself, trying to form a coherent sentence. Finally, Twilight walked past and with it, seemingly her previous goal of confessing her guilt.

“Huh? Wha—Where are you all going?” She asked.

Twilight and the others stopped and looked over to her. “There’s a Friendship Problem that apparently needs all of us to solve it.” Twilight said and gestured over to the map.

Mystic followed the point and saw that, indeed, the map was showing all their cutie marks hovering and circling over a point somewhere in the northern mountains.

“That’s pretty far away.” Mystic noted, “Are you sure that you should take that trip? Especially given your pregnancy?”

By now, Rainbow’s and Twilight’s pregnancies had become very apparent. Not only by their clearly overgrown bellies, but also by the rare sight that Rainbow was staying on the ground for once.

Twilight was well aware of that. Yet, she was also aware of her duties as an element of Harmony. “Don’t worry. I doubt that the tree of harmony would send us somewhere, where we could lose our foals. However, I have to agree that it is far away, so I doubt that we can come back today. Would you please watch Scootaloo while we are away?”

“Sure.” Mystic agreed, “How long do you think will it take?”

Twilight thought for a moment, before answering. “I think, about half a day for the train ride, give it one day for the problem, then another half day, soooooo… about three, maybe four days if it takes a bit longer to find a solution.”

Four days? She couldn’t wait that long! She had to tell her now, or these four days would rip her apart. Twilight and the others had already given their farewell and were about to step through the door, but Mystic couldn’t let them.

“Wait!” she shouted, causing the other mares to stop and look at her again. She turned to Twilight and, after a little hesitation, asked her: “Before you go, can I please talk to you for a moment? In private?”

Twilight turned to the others, who just shrugged. They then turned around and went on ahead, while Twilight remained with Mystic.

“So, what did you want to talk about?” Twilight asked, after the door was shut.

Mystic shifted a little in place, but no matter how much she would like not to, she knew that she couldn’t turn back now.

“W-Well, you know… there’s something I need to tell you… a confession, if you so will…”

Twilight blushed suddenly and looked surprised. “I… euh… Mystic, I… I feel flattered, but I-I’m not… like that and I’ve already got Markus and...”

Mystic picked up on what Twilight thought this was about and quickly sported a blush herself. “Wha- Oh, No! No! Nonononononononono that was not what I meant!” She sighed and sat down before her, before taking a deep breath to steel her resolve and trying again.

“Actually… this is about Pillbox. His death, to be exact. You see… he didn’t actually die in battle…”She said, trailing off.

Twilight perked up a little in recognition, before softening her look down to a soothing smile.

“Oh… so that’s what bothered you? But Mystic, I know already.”

“What? You know?” Mystic asked, confused.

“Yes, I know that Markus killed him. It said so in his Journal. Don’t worry, I’m not mad at you for not telling me.” Twilight ensured, however, Mystic didn’t seem to relax.

“Yeaaaahh, that’s not quite what happened either… In fact, I had a bit more of an active role in it…”

---

6 months prior, the outskirts of Hoovesville.

Markus, Mystic and Squad 2 of Platoon Bravo stood in front of the small shack that Pillbox had converted into his command post. Prior, they had been fighting the Gryphons in the forest to the north-west. However, an unexpected turn of events, wherein suddenly the civilians of the town found themselves on the battlefield, has now brought them here.

They were listening in on the conversation inside. Apparently, it was about some plan they had thought of together. It was also said that they wanted to use the captain as a scapegoat, so they could further their own reputation, while he would slowly slip into disfavour with Princess Celestia.

Mystic had already heard enough. She wanted to run in there and smash their heads in, but Markus held her back. He wanted to hear more, know what their plan was and evaluate the situation.

He didn’t have to wait long, however, as suddenly one of the officers with Pillbox mentioned the sacrifice of civilians, to which Pillbox simply just stated that minor sacrifices were necessary to reach one’s goals.

That finally set off Markus as well. He positioned himself in front of the door and, just as trained, Nambs and Mystic took place to either side of him, ready to keep whoever stood behind it in check. The door burst open and Mystic and squad 2 trained their weapons on the officers in the room, while Markus went head-to-head with Pillbox himself.

The General showed himself surprised at first, but pushed that away, as he now had a more serious problem to solve: Markus and the rest obviously had heard everything and he now needed a way out. The easiest way he could think of, was to try and bring them to his side.

Markus pretended to be interested in his proposal. He went along, trying to procure as much information from him as possible. Then, when seemingly all information was gathered, the General suddenly found himself with a pistol pressed against his head. At the same time, Mystic and the others made ready to shoot. They didn’t think about what they were about to do. All that was inside their heads was that these ponies… these Traitors had risked the lives of innocent civilians to gain what can only be regarded as a mild boost in reputation.

Still, they didn’t seem to regret anything they’d done and Pillbox even had the audacity to try and reason with Markus about what he did. That he was in the right and that his offer would certainly help Markus’s social stance as well, if he chose to accept it. However, as it became apparent, that Markus was not going to accept it, his reasoning degraded into mere begging that his life be spared.

At this point, his fate was sealed. If he would’ve just admitted his own wrongdoing, he would likely have gotten away with a court martial and a subsequent jail sentence. However, during all his whimpering, all his begs that he be kept alive, not a single word he uttered indicated that he saw what he did wrong and after a few minutes of this pathetic display, Markus finally had enough.

A shot rang out, coming from Markus, who had just shot the ugliest insect ever to be seen in all of Equestria and Mystic and her squad quickly made the other officers follow their general’s example. They then smashed their heads in, as to avoid the bullet holes to be seen, before they then set fire to the place.

With a few of the more important strategic maps in hand/hoof, they then quickly left the burning shack, before it collapsed due to structural damage…

---

“… I didn’t feel anything when I did it. My mind was almost completely empty, with only the need to kill sitting in the forefront of every thought I tried to take. The next morning, however, my thinking was clear again and the guilt that I had been supressed before was now free to hit me.
I went to talk to the captain about it and told him that I was scared… about what would happen if we were found out. However, the captain said that we didn’t need to worry, as we did nothing wrong. He would send a false report to Celestia about the general’s death, but in case there would be an investigation, he wanted to plant false evidence that would paint him as the only assailant…”

Twilight listened to Mystic, as she told her everything about what happened on that day. Mystic had begun sobbing in the middle of her tale and Twilight had moved in to hold her, showing her that she was there to support her.

“… and that is why… why I don’t think I deserve your trust, Twilight. I have murdered somepony and I didn’t even have the guts to talk about it up until now…”

Twilight loosened the embrace to look Mystic into the eyes. “Mystic, you don’t need to blame yourself for this. You don’t need to feel guilty about this. Now, don’t get me wrong, killing somepony is not something I could normally tolerate, not even as a last resort…” Mystic winced slightly, but Twilight only gave a benevolent smile. “However, this case wasn’t normal. You all were stressed from the previous battle and even if you weren’t: Pillbox was a noble with ties throughout Equestria. If he had gotten a jail sentence, then there would definitely have been somepony to pull him out again. Even if that doesn’t warrant just killing him, I still don’t think any less of you because of it.”

Both mares stood up again and Twilight started slowly walking towards the door. “Now, I really have to go. Don’t worry, I won`t tell anypony else. And don’t forget: no matter what you’ve done in the past, I still trust the mare you are now. I know that I can count on you.”

With that, she slipped through the doors, leaving Mystic alone.

Mystic sat down on one of the sofas in the reading area. Her heart felt light. As if a whole army base had been sitting on top of it and was now suddenly removed. She felt happy. She felt relieved. She felt glad that, finally, the burden that lay upon her had been lifted. And so, with newfound vigour, she set about to face her next task: babysitting Scootaloo.

---

Four days… They have been gone for four days already. Normally, this likely wouldn’t be such an unnerving occurrence, given that these friendship problems tend to get out of hoof rather quickly. However, normally two of the mares involved wouldn’t be pregnant and normally, they wouldn’t have to go to the other side of Equestria for it.

Mystic was pacing up and down the map room. Twilight had said, they’d be gone for three days, yet it was already day five. She definitely had to help them, yet she also thought that she needed to trust them. But what if something bad happened and they needed help? Yet, like Twilight said, the Tree of Harmony would never send them somewhere that could be dangerous to the foals and therefore, by extension, their mothers. Yet, it was exactly because of these foals that she was worrying so much. After all, even the slightest bump in the wrong place could have drastic consequences.

Mystic made up her mind. She needed to help. Twilight trusted her and she wouldn’t let her down. Expecially not after she had simply just accepted that Mystic was a murderer without losing the trust in her.

She galloped to the barracks, where she quickly formed up Platoon Bravo and made them ready to head out. They then took the next train that went northward, with much protest by the conductors.

They arrived at the closest station twelve hours later and from there on made their way on hoof. About another hour later, they had cleared the mountains and were looking into a valley, in which sat a village with just a few houses that were arranged along a single dirt road, with one last building sitting at the end. Concluding that this had to be the location of the problem, they went in to search for the six missing mares.

The search became unnecessary as soon as they entered the village grounds, as they could immediately spot the mares in question, standing with their backs to the last house and surrounded by a… by a mob of angrily shouting ponies!!!

Mystic and her platoon immediately went into a gallop, storming in to save her friends. However, as they closed in, they noticed something about the situation… The six didn’t look like they were frightened or prepared to fight and listening more closely, the shouts began to sound more like cheers…

Mystic’s gallop slowed down to a trot, before she completely stopped behind the crowd.

“What’s going on here?” She asked out loud, which caused the cheers to stop and the crowd to turn around to her.

Suddenly, she found her vision blocked by the face of a Pink mare, who suddenly grew out of her shadow.

“Hey Mystic!” Pinkie greeted cheerfully.

“Oh… Hey, Pinkie… would you mind telling me, what’s the meaning of all this?”

“Simple! There was this big meanie meaniepants that stole all their cutie marks and made them look aaaaaaall happy, but they weren’t! So, we came to get them back, butthenwewerethrownintojailandthenwewerefreedagainandthenwefoundoutthatthemeaniestillhadhercutiemarkandtheneveryponygotangryandhelpedchaseherout.”

“Okaaaaay, I got about… half of that. So, that means that… you’re all okay?” Mystic asked. Meanwhile, the remaining four mares had emerged from the crowd and walked over.

“Yep, don’t worry, we are fine.” Twilight assured. Mystic breathed a sigh of relief at that.

“Yeah, todally fine.” Applejack remarked. “But ah’d also find it fine, if we’d hurry ‘n get home.” She said, walking past Twilight and Mystic.

“Agreed, Darling. This definitely has been one of the more… eventful problems to solve.” Rarity added, as she and the rest followed behind.

“I knew I could trust you.” Twilight suddenly said, causing Mystic to whip back around.

“What?”

“I knew that I could trust you. Normally, ponies tend to wait two, maybe three days after the deadline before they send help. Not you, however. Immediately when the deadline passed, you went to search for us, which means that if something would’ve happened, you would likely have come in time to save us. Luckily, we didn’t need your help this time, although… if it weren’t for some of the villagers, we likely would’ve actually needed your help…” Twilight said.

“What? Why?”

“Aaaah, I’d better keep that to myself. Lest I’d cause you to commit murder a second time.” Twilight giggled, before she and Mystic went after the remaining five mares and they all left for Ponyville.

Comments

[Nebulous Draco]

I've got a bad feeling about something with the Mane 6... Something seems off >->

[Genius4199]

Anyone else think twilight is a little unhinged?

[Timzocker201]

10280478
10280573
Just a bit of character development going on. They've literally been to a warzone 2 times. Has changed their view on the world a little bit and also gave them kind of a 'I've seen worse' - attitude

[Panzerpony]

Makes sense. I think war can and will change anyone/pony.

[MikiStenbeck]

Twilight trusted her to the fullest. Everything she said was undoubtedly true, in Twilight’s eyes. Everything she decided was definitely right and even if she herself felt that her actions seemed weird at first, Twilight didn’t question them.

there’s trust, and then there’s whatever this abomination is,

[ChakatRedstripe]

Babysitting Scoots sounds terrifying.. especially if the rest of the CMC is involved...