What Went Wrong?

by StormbadgerXIII

Well-earned Rest

What Went Wrong?
Chapter 5 - Well-earned Rest

Derpy woke up. She was lying on her own, soft bed. In her own room. She looked around. Everything was clear and colourful, just as it should be. She smiled. It was just a bad dream... that thing with Thunderlane and Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash.

She happily trotted out of her room, and was greeted by a cheerful glomp from Dinky. "Hi mummy! Look what I made!" She pulled a muffin out from somewhere, showing it to Derpy.

"Ooh, muffins!" Derpy chimed, and on request from Dinky took a hearty bite. It tasted like... dust? Eeeew!

Not wanting to dissolve her daughter's happiness, she feigned its deliciousness, vowing to put the contents of her mouth in the bin. Her daughter bounced off to her room.

Derpy looked at the muffin. It was green and looked more like broccoli than a muffin. "Dinky?"

"Yes mummy?" The little voice of the pony replied from the small room.

"What did you put into this muffin?"

"Muffin-y stuff!"

Derpy looked at the muffin again. It fell apart, crumbling to the ground. "Ok then."

"Why, you don't like it?"

"No no no, it's good. Just..." She pushed the broccomuffin to a corner. "...a little..."

Thankfully Dinky didn't press it. Derpy sighed, rinsed her mouth out with water, and then walked out into the sunshine. Ponies happily playing and laughing and talking and being ponies. Rainbow Dash must have made today the sunniest she could. She took a breath in... Odd, was it supposed to be this dusty? Why was everything so dusty at the moment?

Everything looked clean, not a piece of dust anywhere. Weird. She shrugged and trotted forward, heading to the post office.

She froze. A massive, swirling, nasty looking dust cloud, zapping with lightning tumbled its way to Ponyville. She shrieked.

Nopony noticed, laughing like nothing was wrong. She saw Fluttershy sucked up by the storm, and by the noise it made, she could only imagine what it was doing to her. More and more ponies were caught in it, not even a scream coming from their mouth. The storm grew stronger with each pony, the lightning more frequent. Or was just the closeness of it?

Derpy grabbed Thunderlane by the shoulders. "Thunderlane! Run! Fly!"

"Why? Nothing's wrong." He calmly said, smiling, oblivious of the storm ripping towards him.

"There's a massive lightning-y dust storm coming towards us!"

"No there isn't." He said.

"There is! See?" She pointed, then turned his head to it, then tried to drag him. He just blinked, not moving at all.

"I can only see the sun." He turned to face Derpy, a look on concern on his face. "Are you feeling alright?"

Derpy was about to reply, but she noticed the storm was no more than three ponies' lengths away. She squealed and galloped a distance, turning to see Thunderlane consumed by the storm, the lightning sparking furiously.

"Thunderlane!"

She stood still, deciding what to do. Run in and try to save him (and probably die), or run away and get consumed eventually (and probably die).

She breathed in. Brave pony time.

She galloped towards the storm, her fear fighting her determination in her gut. The storm got closer... and closer... and closer... and then she was being sucked up, and felt her body being assaulted from all sides, tearing into her and pulling her apart atom by atom.

---

She woke up. She shot up on bed, and then realised she had been screaming and shut her mouth. She felt a hoof on her leg, and saw a very, very tired looking Nurse Redheart smiling sadly at her.

"Shh... easy, easy... you're safe now..."

Derpy looked at herself. Her coat was matted from sweat, her tail a tangled mess. She felt for her glasses and saw they were missing. She felt her heart beating faster.

"Your glasses are on the table. They were broken, probably from your fall, but... they seemed to have been fixed." Redheart picked them up in her hoof, examining them. "Strange..."

"They're really-" Derpy croaked. She paused to clear her throat. "They're really cool. They have an auto-repair spell as well as an eye focusing spell."

Redheart nodded. "I see. Well, that makes things easier."

"So... what happened?" Derpy asked, rubbing her head.

"You came trudging into town from the Everfree Forest, then started walking up. Caramel called for you to stop but you didn't. He... he shot you. But he really regrets it."

Derpy sighed leaning back onto the bed. It felt cold, the sweat dampening the sheets... or, she hoped it was sweat, or at least water.

"We know Thunderlane sent you. He was... just firing as you said 'thunder'."

Derpy then noticed a bandage around her hoof, where she remembered feeling a sharp stabbing pain. It had a small red stain on one point.

"You'll need to rest for a day or two, unfortunately. Your leg needs time to heal. Anything you need?"

"Water, please." Derpy croaked. Redheart had presumably known about this, and poured her a glass of water from a jug. She gulped it down greedily, but swirled the last mouthful around, swallowing it. "Thank you."

"Not a problem."

There was a knock on the door (there was a door?). Redheart turned. "Yes?"

"It's me." A stallion said. "Can I come in?"

Redheart turned to the pegasus, who nodded. "You can."

The door creaked open, and a yellowy-orange stallion walked in, smiling. "Hey Derpy."

"Hey Caramel." Derpy said.

"Sor- uh... how are you?"

"I'm... well, I'm ok, I think." Derpy slid the glasses on, then smiled. "You?"

"As well as any pony can be in this sort of situation." He muttered. "Sorry I shot you."

"Sorry I didn't stop."

Caramel chuckled. "Can you walk around?"

"I don't think she can, not yet." Redheart said. "You did shoot her in the-"

"I know, I know."

Derpy frowned, and then slid out of bed, standing up. She didn't feel sore. She took a few steps, with only a slight twinge of pain from the wound. She smiled at the wide-eyed ponies in front of her.

---

"Welcome to our little band of lost ponies." Caramel solemnly welcomed, gesturing a hoof to the others.

"Lost ponies?"

"Ponies who have been lost, or have lost things they held or hold dear to them." He sighed. "I'm one of the lucky few who didn't lose anything worthy of note."

"What did you lose?"

"Applejack, but she's a strong-"

"Applejack?" Derpy interrupted, head tilting.

"The only mare I loved. But as long as she's doing fine, then I'm ok."

Derpy could have pointed out the manticore, the hate, the anger... but she kept herself quiet.

"In any case, I don't really spend much time around these ponies. I... I feel their pain, even if I don't know it. That's why I'm always on the balcony, watching out for ponies."

Derpy nodded. Caramel lead her down the wooden steps to the ground floor. She saw Cheerilee sitting in front of a small group of foals, teaching them some basic arithmetic.

"You know Cheerilee, right?"

Derpy nodded again.

"She teaches all the foals we manage to find. It's... sad how many are orphaned by the war."

Cheerilee looked up and smiled, then turned her attention to the foals again.

"It's depressing..."

"Yeah..." Derpy sighed. "What did she lose?"

"Her job, sort of. I think she also had her coltfriend or husband or something sign up with the Republic."

"Who?"

"Can't remember, but she was mortified when she heard."

"I can imagine..."

---

Caramel lead them downstairs to the basement, where the smell of oven gas and cooking vegetables hit her nose like a crossbow bolt... and she knew how that felt.

"Zecora's at work." Caramel sniffed. "And Pinkie."

They trotted down; Zecora was leaning over a cooking pot on top of a stove, swirling a wooden spoon. Pinkie Pie, her colours darker and her mane flat, looked over, occasionally throwing something in to it. Two unicorns, one mint-green and the other with a white coat and striking blue mane, were in one corner of the space, discussing things. Another, azure coated, was huddled in a corner with a blanket wrapped around her... or a cloak.

"Hello Zecora." Caramel called out. Everpony turned to see him, but then all turned away, save the zebra.

"Hello Caramel." Zecora muttered in her accented voice. Derpy blinked, expecting more to come out from her.

"Smells good. What's for dinner?"

"The usual. We are running low on our supplies of cabbage."

"Well then. Guess we'll have to find some."

Or we could ask the Republic if they have any. Derpy thought.

"Archer should be returning super soon." Pinkie drawled, all the cheer drained from her voice. "Hopefully she didn't die."

"She's too good at what she does to just die, Pinkie." Caramel said, patting Pinkie on the back. "Oh, and our guest's woken up."

Pinkie turned to see Derpy, and smiled. "Hiya, Derpy."

"H-hey." Derpy weakly replied. "It's been... um... a while."

Pinkie chuckled. "Yeah, I really missed you. Then again I miss anypony who's gone for a long time."

"S-sorry..." Derpy sighed. Pinkie waved a hoof dismissively.

"It was not your fault." Zecora muttered. "Twilight was playing with things she did not entirely understand."

Derpy nodded. Zecora was right, in a sense. But Derpy had gone along with it, so she was partially responsible herself.

Sighing, she trotted over to the azure mare, while Caramel talked with Pinkie and Zecora about lunch. The mare remained huddled, her eyes staring vacantly.

"Hi." Derpy said. The mare's violet eyes snapped to her, her head turning slowly. "Are you ok?"

"Trixie is fine. She does not need your help." Trixie monotoned.

"Wait, Trixie?" Derpy asked, head tilting. "As in the Great and Powerful Trixie?"

"No. Just Trixie." The azure mare mumbled, looking away. "Leave Trixie alone. She does not want to speak with you."

Derpy blinked. "Well... what about you?"

"Who?"

"You. Not Trixie."

"Trixie does not get it."

"Well, if you're speaking on behalf of Trixie, can't I just talk to you instead?"

"She still doesn't get it."

Caramel trotted over and lead Derpy away. "Sorry, Trixie. She's new here."

Trixie muttered something, and then resumed her vacancy. Derpy frowned at Caramel. He returned her glare with a measured warning of a look.

"Trixie is seriously traumatised, Derpy."

"Why?"

"She got hit the hardest out of us. She had her home destroyed in the Blitz. Her family were shot by the PLR. Her coltfriend died in her arms after a CSE strike on Ponyville."

"Blitz? CSE?" Derpy asked.

Caramel sighed. "It'll take a while to explain."

---

The Blitz was a strategic assault on Hoofington, Trixie's old home, by Luna's forces. Lightning strikes preceded, a now-common trademark of the PLR's attack, and then their forces flew in. Hoofington's guards were vastly outnumbered and underpowered, and were gone in minutes; captured or killed. The civilian population scattered. A lot of families evacuated. Some stayed and were also captured. Some fought back and died.

Trixie's family stayed, but didn't fight. All except her father. When the PLR came in, they killed him, then the rest of her family. She received a letter two months later, when she was performing in Trottingham.

Hoofington was captured but, like Ponyville, was destroyed in the number of further conflicts.

The CSE is the Celestian Solar Empire, although rumour is that Celestia hates the name. When the Republic broke away from the Kingdom of Equestria, the remnants were called, collectively, the Solar Empire. As more of it broke off to become neutral, like us, it became the Celestian Solar Empire.

"... and that's it. Any other questions?"

Derpy sat and thought hard. "I thought the Republic were the good ponies."

"It's hard to say who the good ponies are." Caramel looked out to the rest of Ponyville. The two of them had ended up at the balcony. Derpy noted the large crossbow attached to the railing and the racks of bolts near it. "I think we're the good ponies, but that's because we're not blasting everything to Tartarus. We're still guilty of a few things."

"But... the Empire is always attacking the Republic."

"Only because the Republic can't. They'd be stretching themselves too thin, and they'd collapse. The Empire has supply trains. The Republic only has the small farms and storehouses."

"What's going on with Thunderlane?"

Caramel looked at her and tilted his head.

"How come you guys are on such friendly terms?"

"Oh, that. Well, we maintain a contact ring between the Republic, Empire, and FPM. It's how we know what's going on."

Derpy frowned. "What if they use that info to make an attack?"

"We only pass down information that ponies need. Like if a family member or lover dies, then we can tell them."

"But... what about Thunderlane?"

"What about him?"

Derpy looked into Caramel's eyes. "What if he finds out that he's communicating with the Empire?"

Caramel smiled. "We have contingencies. If he's thought to be a spy, then he can prove it. We log all our conversations. If he's told to be a spy for us, he'll just fake it until he can't, then he'll claim that the information stopped coming."

Derpy nodded. "So, who's the contact at the Empire?"

"Sweetie Belle."

"As in the little filly?"

"The same. Though she's older than you at the moment."

Derpy blinked. Time travel really does your head in.

"Is that all? Because I think it's time for dinner."

---

Dinner wasn't all that magnificent. Mainly soup and apple juice, with some hard apple cider for the adults.

Pinkie's mane was poofed up, her colours returning. She was grinning, but softly. She and Cheerilee were playing with the foals, who seemed to enjoy the attention. A melody was being played by Lyra, with an accompaniment by Vinyl Scratch. Bon Bon, another survivor, was watching Lyra play. Zecora and Trixie were not around. Caramel and Derpy sat next to each other.

"So... you said you've all lost something."

"Yep."

"What has everypony else lost?"

Caramel sighed. "A lot. More than me."

He gestured over to Lyra and Bon Bon. "Those two lost their home in the war. Well, we all have, but some didn't care as much as they did. They wanted a peaceful lifestyle. A happy, calm, serene life. But the war took it away."

Derpy couldn't help but think they were in lo-

"They're not in love."

Derpy blushed. "H-how did you...?"

"Everypony thinks that. But no, they're not in love. Lyra has a coltfriend in the CSE."

"Bon Bon?"

"She's never thought about it."

"Wait, how do you know all of this?"

"I'm like the FPM's therapist." He pointed to Vinyl. "She took the war pretty hard. Her house was removed to make room for a shelter which never got built. Her friend Octavia left Equestria. The club she worked at was the first building to go."

Vinyl was smiling, her trademark glasses covering her eyes. Derpy frowned. "She seems so happy, though."

"She's not. You will not believe how many times she's cried into my chest."

"Then..."

Caramel sighed. "She wants everypony else to be happy, so she acts happy. It's real enough you can't help but feel a little warmer, but fake enough to know she isn't feeling it."

Derpy asked about Zecora. Caramel tapped his hoof on his chin, trying to remember.

"Zecora's home was destroyed by the Republic, and her Equestrian citizenship terminated by the Empire. So she came here, to a bunch of ponies who didn't care if she wasn't a pony."

"What about her rhyming?"

"Oh, that? She dropped it so she could speak clearer. Hard to justify your position in court when you speak in riddles and rhymes."

"What about Pinkie?"

"Job gone, room lost, Cakes packing up shop and leaving to Manehattan." He sighed, swirling his cider around. "She had a heart attack when she heard about the Cake's twins signing up for war." He looked at Derpy. "I'm not kidding."

Derpy once again blinked. Pinkie having a heart attack? She just couldn't see it.

"Luckily Redheart was here by then. Got her right back on her hooves. She changed, though." He took a sip of his drink. "She found a sort of chemical which makes ponies happy. She calls it 'Joy', and she's addicted to it."

Ok, this was getting weird. Pinkie? Addicted to drugs? She really couldn't see any of this.

"She's on it now. Takes it before talking to the foals. They don't know, they don't care, all they need is some joy." He sighed, deep and hard. "This war broke so many ponies..."

"How did it start?"

Caramel looked up. "You don't know?" Derpy shook her head. "Surprising, but understandable. It pretty much goes like this: Luna got angry at Celestia, Celestia got angry at Luna, Luna broke away from the Kingdom, loyal ponies following her. Then she started attacking other towns."

Derpy frowned. "Luna started it?"

"Looks like it, but a lot of us are missing the details."

"What happened to Ponyville?"

"Ponyville..." Caramel shut his eyes, looking like he was ready to sleep. "About the last place for ponies to be safe, the only town which nopony dared to attack... then the Empire did. Half the town died, most of them refugees from the rest of Equestria. Caught in the crossfire. A number of the residents fled, the rest of us hid. We've been here since before the war, and we're not going to leave."

Derpy sighed. Such a loss of life...

"Archer!" Pinkie squealed in her drug-fuelled happiness. "You're back!"

A blue and... blue... young earth pony trotted in, saddlebags laden with stuff. She looked tired, and a bit troubled. "I am."

"What'dya bring?" Pinkie asked, bouncing up.

"More food, and some news."

"Food first!"

The foals all agreed. Archer complied, dumping all the food down on the table, where Pinkie and the foals picked through, pulling out the good food and taking it down to the basement. Derpy spotted some old muffins in the pile of discarded foods. She picked the box up: it was a few weeks past its use-by date, and looked like it.

"Ew..."

"So, Archer." Caramel asked, finishing his drink. "What's new?"

"I got word from Mac. Dash's hurt bad, and Thunder is in a critical condition."

Derpy's ear twitched. "Thunder? As in Thunderlane?"

Archer nodded. "Poor guy. The way McIntosh said it, seems like he's not going to pull through. Dash just got knocked about, she’ll-"

"N-no!" Derpy squeaked, shaking her head. "H-he will pull through! He has to!"

Archer frowned and turned to Caramel. "'Mel?"

"Yes?"

"Who is she?"

---

Derpy had been given a bed near Caramel's sniping point. She thought it might be because they needed to keep an eye on her. Caramel was watching for ponies, his hoof resting on the trigger bit. He looked bored, but also thoughtful.

She couldn't sleep. Not only was she buzzing with energy from her earlier sleep, but the news about Thunderlane had shaken her.

Why am I so worried about it? Thunderlane is just a friend... right? I mean, yeah, I should be worried about friends anyway... but...

If she ever got back to her normal time, she had a lot to talk to Thunderlane about.

"Hey, you!" Caramel shouted. "Stop!"

"It's me you idiot!" Archer called back.

"Oh. Come on in."

Derpy sighed. She needed to sleep. She really really needed to sleep.

She heard hoofbeats trot up towards her. "Derpy?" It was Archer.

Derpy groaned.

"Are you awake?"

"Uh huh..."

"Good. I need to tell you something."

Derpy didn't like where this was heading. Not at all. She sat up and looked Archer in the eyes.

"What's wrong?"

"I got word from McIntosh... I'm sorry, but... Thunderlane didn't make it."

Derpy blinked, her eyes widening. No... he couldn't be dead. He just couldn't. He was tough, strong, brave, noble... he can't just die.

"Again, I'm sorry..." Archer said, walking slowly off. Caramel sighed, then turned away to keep watch.

"Thanks for telling me..." Derpy croaked, her throat clenching.

Archer looked at her sadly, and then trotted downstairs.

"I hate this war..." Caramel muttered.

---

Derpy didn't want to get up. She didn't want to eat. She didn't want to do anything except lie in bed and cry.

Caramel sighed. "I know it's bad, Derpy... but if you don't get moving, you will never see him again."

"I'll never see him again anyway."

Archer raised an eyebrow. "He won't be dead in the past."

"How did...?" Derpy asked, before giving up. News of her temporal displacement spread like parasprites.

"Look, you need to get to Canterlot." Caramel said. "Then you can hopefully fix all of this."

"How is she supposed to get into the most fortified city in all of Equestria? The trains are CSE only."

"I have an idea, but it's a bit risky." Caramel said. "It involves... less-than-pleasant situations."

"Such as?"

"Being a prisoner of the CSE, for one."

"Oh." Archer sighed. "Derpy?"

Derpy sighed. "You tell me my friend is dead, then I have to be a prisoner."

"Don't worry, you'll be perfectly fine." Caramel said.

Archer led Caramel away, the two of them talking softly. Derpy strained to listen in, but she heard 'Sweetie Belle', 'prisoner', 'Twilight' and something she barely heard as 'Dinky'. They trotted back.

"Do you want to see your daughter?"

Derpy's eyes widened. To see her daughter after... well, for her, a few days, but for Dinky, it would be fifteen years.

She nodded.

"Then here's the plan." Caramel smirked.

Comments

[SigmatheAwesome]

Ooh, plot twist.

Can't wait to see what the CSE is like. Hopefully as neutral-looking as the PLR.

[Inferno demon Dash]

HAUZZZZZZZ....heartache has hit Dwerpy in the chest....poor Derpy, but that's how it is in war, no life is spared......I'm glad Sweeite Belle is in this now...can you make her an enemy only pretending to be an ally? And give Derpy a weapon, like a curved knife or something. Damn, so what about Rarity, Spike and Twilight? Shit is getting seriously real.

Wow Pinkie on drugs,for some reason I'm not suprised but I like, won't lie....damn, por Vinyl, she's so heartbroken and you brought in Trixie! My favorite villian of all time, of course in this story she does not seem so much a villian as a bystander....damn. What about the other villians though? Such as Discord, Gilda, lim and Flam brothers and so on, so forth...or the pet's of the Mane Six, Celstria, and Spike?

[StormbadgerXIII]

1340444 Flim, Flam and the mane 6's pets will not be covered in this story. Gilda, maybe, Discord most likely.