Interrupt
She wanted the thought to die and when it refused to immediately drop into any kind of internal void, Twilight did her best to imprison the concept. Lock it away forever. And when that didn't work, she briefly wished for a spell which could force the mind to turn away from an idea. A personal, private, possibly-temporary cure for obsession, but all she really needed was to make the thing go away for a few minutes...
The little mare didn't know of any workings which would have the desired effect. There was only one way to truly make a thought die, and it required having her follow it into the shadowlands.
Every decision becomes mine, and mine alone...
She'd been through flank-brain, more than a few times. And she was deeply, darkly also aware of just how close she'd once come to becoming one of the fallen: a pony whose mark had fully taken over their life. Brought to a state where all she would care about were spells and the acquisition of more knowledge: little side details like 'ethical research standards' could presumably go hang.
Nopony's psyche could tumble into the bottomless depths of an icon if they didn't have one.
Was seeing the benefit in that truly so wrong? Even if she'd only thought about it for an instant, wanted it for what she needed to believe had been a mere second --
-- no. She hadn't wanted it.
When I was a filly...
She'd wanted it back --
"Twilight?"
She blinked. Looked up from the rough floor until her eyes met Pinkie's worried blue gaze.
"What are you thinking?" the baker asked, and the tones had been sugar-dusted with open concern. "Because you had a really funny look just how. And you need to tell us what's in your head..."
I don't want to.
To admit, even in front of her friends, that there had been a moment when she'd wanted --
-- to be that way again, young and pristine with no way to know what the future had planned for her, a future which could have been anything --
"It's nothing, Pinkie."
Maybe she wasn't a particularly good liar, because Pinkie's eyes had just narrowed a little -- and now Twilight was forcing herself not to glance towards Applejack, because that would be the final giveaway.
"It didn't look like a 'nothing'," Pinkie carefully decided. "It looked like you were thinking about something big. And then like you didn't want to."
And now they were all waiting on her. A descriptor which very much included Trixie, while Rainbow had reached maximum alertness and Spike, who had the most experience, was starting to look worried...
Try for an Applejack? 'Ah don't want t' talk 'bout it.' Because if I admit that I thought about what it would be like to try it, even for a second, even when they know how close I came to just falling --
-- what kind of pony would admit that they wanted --
-- no. Just -- talk around it.
"Destiny." A partial admission, and the reluctance which just barely buoyed the syllables into the well-used air was all too real. "And what it would be like to not have one. It's -- a weird thought to deal with, Pinkie." She sighed. "I'm mostly hoping not to find it in my nightscape. But... we do have to remember that they may be doing this deliberately --" and there was an odd sensation of relief twinned to the sensation of feeling the nausea surge: seeing the sudden illness on everypony's faces actually came across as comfort "-- and... I won't forget about the stallion in the Doctors Bear's offices, everypony. I won't. And I haven't forgotten about Scootaloo's parents either. But we don't know why he tried to reach Canterlot, or why they might be here. We need to be careful. About assumptions as much as anything else."
But there's still a corpse...
A two-tone blue tail slowly swished across the floor.
"How long do we have?" Trixie asked.
Rarity glared. Everypony else simply looked at the performer. Twilight tried to focus on what felt like a very unusual question.
"Missions don't exactly have deadlines, Trixie." It felt as if she'd managed to get a little humor into it. "It's not as if our pay is going to be docked if we don't get this done on schedule."
"And it's hardly as if you have any better places to be," Rarity sniffed. "Not in winter. Now, if it was spring back home and you were hoping to have fresh produce kicked towards your flimsy stage --"
Which was when Applejack's left hind hoof went backwards and in doing so, effectively smoothed out part of the wall through giving the former splinters a comfortable divot in which to live.
The designer stopped talking. Several mares engaged in tiny jumps, which was rendered all the more awkward when just about everypony was starting from sitting positions. Spike's handling claws clenched.
"-- Rarity," the farmer softly said, "this isn't the time."
Rarity's response was to filter her next breath through tightly-pressed teeth.
I need to say something to Rarity.
...I don't know what to say.
I can't make anypony forgive Trixie. That can't be forced. Trying that is just going to make things worse. And I know Trixie did horrible things --
-- the Amulet?
...Trixie?
I...
The doubt felt so much like a stab.
Applejack's gaze moved to the stranger in their midst.
"Point holds on the deadline, though," the earth pony stated. "I know when I'd like to have this fixed: yesterday for preference, last week if I can get it. But there isn't a clock ticking down until the moment when we'd have to stop."
The unicorn mare shook her head. "How long do we have," Trixie carefully clarified, "before it isn't just us down here any more? Until the palace decides they haven't heard from us in too many days, and they start moving ponies into this area. Trying to find us. It won't take them long to discover where the shield starts, especially since Spike told them which mountain we're near -- and I'm guessing he probably put a rough map of the border into the last Canterlot scroll."
The little dragon winced. "Yeah."
"So at some point," the performer continued, "if the Princesses think we've been out of contact for too long --"
"-- it's never happened before," Twilight quickly said. "We've been out of contact on other missions, and nopony's tried to step in --"
"-- half the time, Spike wasn't with you," Trixie countered. "Maybe more than half: I wouldn't know. But now they know he's here, and that we're all supposed to be inside the lockdown. That's one reason for not getting scrolls: the lockdown. And they'll probably give that a few days, hoping we figure everything out."
"...we..." Rarity whispered.
"But after that," Trixie went on, tail movement subtly accelerating with each word, "they might start to wonder if it's not just the lockdown. They'll ask themselves if something happened. If there's another reason for nothing coming in. And the ponies here know we're from the palace --"
"-- how?" Because Rainbow always had to be first to something, and there were times when a question sufficed. "How would they know?"
"We're claiming to be explorers, we've got good equipment, we're this far from Equestria --"
"-- it doesn't mean anything," Twilight broke in. "Private businesses send out explorers. Looking for platinum fragments, potion ingredients, new magic, new sapients... And sometimes ponies just go off on their own, especially when they've got the right marks. Trixie, I know it can help to feel like somepony might try to save us --" and she really, really wished she could feel that way "-- but the palace has never tried to intercept or intervene. And nopony here has any reason to believe Canterlot sent us into the area. I don't think --"
-- oh no.
She stopped, and purple eyes winced shut.
"Twilight," Pinkie promptly said, "I think we really-really need to hear this one --"
"-- privately-sponsored exploration is rare," the little mare slowly began, "but it happens. Part of why it's so scarce is because the mark is so uncommon." Not that such ever stopped some of the other species, but...
"I don't think I've ever met an explorer," Pinkie considered. "Probably because they wouldn't think Ponyville has a lot to explore." (Applejack softly snorted.) "Which is kind of insulting when you think about it, but I guess they're more interested in the really new stuff instead of finding all the best shortcuts -- I'm interrupting, right?" And winced. "I'm interrupting. Keep talking, Twilight."
"Explorers go missing sometimes," the librarian forced herself to continue. "That can happen because..." The wince seemed to be spreading. "...well, because they found something. Whole expeditions get lost. And there are times when even private companies send new teams into that area, because maybe that 'something' can be dealt with. But if you lose enough groups in the same place... then sometimes it gets written off. Or the map gets written on: Do Not Approach. But that's with sponsored attempts, and with the ones who are just following their marks, doing it all on their own -- they don't always tell anypony that they're going, much less where. There are ponies who just sort of... vanish from the record. Mysteries nopony's ever solved."
Her old Canterlot Archives postings had been in Ancient History, and so some of the earliest explorer tales had been in her custody --
-- all written by the ones who'd made it back.
Twilight took a slow, deep breath. Very little of the oxygen seemed to be interested in reaching her brain.
"A private sponsor might cut their losses," she said. "With marked explorers... some of them might chase each other, just to see what the last one found. What... kept them from coming back. But the palace... they would need to know. They would send followups."
"So you're suggesting that the Princesses might dispatch ponies simply to maintain our cover?" Rarity carefully asked. "Twilight, I realize that that nature of this mission has our leadership somewhat more concerned than the usual, and the existence of the signal devices suggests that they are trying to -- monitor the area..."
How?
Twilight had been wondering about that one since the strategy meeting. She still didn't have an answer.
"...but there was still nothing said about a deadline, the move would be highly unusual, and I am not certain whether anypony has spoken words which suggest Canterlot is involved." Paused. "I... did say that the exploration teams were sent in, which certainly states that we are not doing this fully of our own accord. But I never said who sent us, and nopony has asked --"
"-- there's a deadline," Twilight stated. "Or there should be one, if anything in Truedawn is -- normal. We just don't know how much time we have before it hits."
"I fail to see --" Rarity began.
"-- it's the same deadline we had in Trotter's Falls," Twilight finished. "Everypony, think..."
Spike was the first to slowly nod.
"It's whenever they wonder why you're all still here," her little brother told them. "Explorers might take a few days to look around. Rest, recover, maybe replace some supplies. And then they'd update their map, and -- move on."
"...or try to," Fluttershy quietly added. "But... the shield..."
Twilight softly sighed. "That's part of the problem. And --" she couldn't quite bring herself to smile "-- it's also how we might find out if they're just -- exploring a different way of life." ('Better' had been stopped well short of her tongue.)
"Or if they think we don't know anything," Rainbow's limited reading experienced chimed in. "That we're safe."
"Yeah," Twilight reluctantly agreed. "It could be the same result if they think they've got us fooled. But it's less likely, because there's the chance of that followup. Mark the map, tell somepony that there's a group down here, establish regular contact... the next group might not come across as being 'safe', and the more ponies who come through, the stronger the chance of having something go wrong..."
Rarity frowned. "I fail to take your meaning --"
"-- if they're innocent," Twilight said, "or at least believe they are... they would let us leave."
Silence settled over the packed room, stretched out and took over all remaining space.
Twilight reluctantly shoved some of it out of the way. "And it's potentially very easy to link us to the palace."
"...how?" Fluttershy reasonably asked. "If we aren't recognized, and nopony says anything..."
"Because," the librarian replied, "there are devices in the world which can translate a completely new language in both directions on the first encounter. There's five of them. And we're carrying one."
Spike's tightly-clenched hands sent clawtips skidding across the scales of his palm.
"Oh, no..." her sibling breathed. "And they've got at least one pony here who can make devices, right? Maybe that's Starlight." Thin lips briefly twisted into a frown. "I mean, she could have a device mark."
"I've never seen her mark before," Twilight admitted. "Anypony?"
Eventually, the negatives came to a close.
"She didn't say what her talent was," Rarity told them. "When I just about directly asked. She was simply somewhat interested in my having potentially interpreted her icon as possibly being associated with cleaning."
"Which means it could still be a device mark," Spike somewhat huffily insisted. "Just not one that we've seen before. And if she's good enough to create whatever's keeping the shield going, then she could know about the count on true translators. And who's got each."
"And that we have one of Equestria's," Twilight indicated. "That's what just about locks us in as being agents of the palace, everypony. Just about everything we have for supplies could be explained away --" with a faint smile "-- present company excluded, since he doesn't exactly count as 'mission equipment'."
"I can be a vital resource," Spike half-giggled, and the brief bout of mirth gave her a little relief. "Close enough?"
"We can try to hide the disc. We have to. But if the wrong pony sees the translator," the little mare had to finish, "it's going to bring up a lot of questions. Things we can't necessarily explain away. And when it comes to what Trixie said..."
She thought about it for roughly half a minute, as the others watched. Giving her time.
"The Princesses are worried about all of this," Twilight finally said. "As worried as I've ever seen them. They've never tried to check in on us before, not personally -- but never having done it before doesn't mean they would never think about doing it at all. And with this mission..." Hesitantly, "This could be the one. Especially since they were ready to come here if we did signal them."
But how would they know about the signal? They couldn't have set anything up in the area in advance, not when they didn't know where we were going. And we can't be carrying any kind of secret magical beacon, or we wouldn't need to put up a signal at all. Hours wouldn't be a factor there, and they were so specific about the times when we could try.
Centered on noon and midnight...
She didn't know. (Still.) It was another mystery, one which might be centered on some new kind of magic. She had to work it out --
-- we need to finish this meeting...
"Rainbow," Twilight hesitantly admitted, "you might get your wish. We can try to -- 'stay' for a couple of days. Telling them that we're resting and healing. Learn what we can, or see if anypony's willing to talk. But if this goes for too long, we may have to start asking some really direct questions."
Before the Princesses really think about intervening. Because even if this isn't a weapon... if somepony tries to use it as one, and they get both of them...
Sun -- stops. Moon freezes in place.
The world...
She shoved the incoming shudder down, felt it land in her subconscious to await her in the nightscape.
"Just say the word," Rainbow declared. "I can get somepony to own up."
"It won't be immediate," Twilight told her. "Tomorrow, I want everypony to go out and explore. Look around the area. Maybe somepony will spot what we need, or one of the locals will let something slip." Paused. "Can we explore?"
"I was attempting a portion of that when you came in," Rarity informed the group. "The difficult is in doing it alone. Shortly after leaving our assigned quarters, I found myself with company. Happy, chattering company: pleased to see that I was out and about, perfectly content to show me around. And none of them wished for me to go through the experience of exploration on my own. They were insistent on coming along. Politely, but... I could barely get a moment to myself."
"It was the same for me," Pinkie admitted. "I'm learning lots of names, though. And they're all weird. But I could draw you a partial map now."
"Nopony could keep up with me." And somehow, Rainbow's words hadn't come across as bragging. "But they caught up. And since I was looking for ponies to inspire, I kept going to where some were."
"Personal audience," Trixie said. "The whole time."
"Living the dream," Rarity snidely announced, and Applejack silently let that one pass.
I don't know how to fix this...
"What I really need to know is where the shield-generating devices are," Twilight told them. "The closer I can get to one, the better. But if you see one, don't remove it. There's probably a spell present to detect movement or tampering, and we don't want to disrupt their defenses against the wild zone. Just tell me where it is."
"Are you sure it's a device?" Rainbow asked. "Your brother could pull this off without one --"
"-- no," Twilight immediately asserted. "He couldn't."
"Twilight, he practically covered Canterlot! This place isn't anywhere near that big --"
"-- he could maintain a basic shield over this area for a good while," Twilight admitted. "But not indefinitely. Rainbow, the only reason Shining was able to keep going during the invasion is because shields are his talent and trick. And..." Much more slowly, "...he almost didn't make it through. The palace was doing everything they could to keep him going, and..."
Exhaustion. Burning every available thaum. A booster potion could tap into the body's reserves and Shining, who hadn't been able to risk dealing with the side effects, had been trying to force the same effect through willpower alone. Stumbling through the world, increasingly bleary, sometimes incoherent, missing all the signs of the false Cadance because he was no longer capable of recognizing them...
How close had her big brother come to death?
She didn't know.
She'd never asked him.
(She was afraid to ask him.)
She'd... been on the verge of begging him to stop.
But there had been an invasion, and he'd pushed on. Driven by duty and --
-- mark.
"And this shield is more advanced," she redirected. "Especially with the illusion effects." Something Shining absolutely could not do. Personality played a part in magic, and illusion spells were easiest for those with a creative bent. A big brother who was, when at his worst, Extremely Military... that was a stallion who occasionally needed to be reminded that he didn't have to authorize his own daydreams. "The maintenance is also constant: I haven't seen a single flicker. And so far, Starlight's the only unicorn we've seen with an active field. There could be another caster around here, somepony whose -- mark is specialized for this -- but..."
She forced the breath, wondered if there was any way to do the same for the effectiveness of the air. Her lungs seemed to feel that they had all been moved to the top of the tepui.
"...that would suggest they've still got their own mark. Or -- somepony else's."
"Only our marks shifted when that spell was cast," Rarity reminded her. "Not our talents. You told us that part of what unraveled the working was attempting to tap into that part of ourselves."
Trixie, who didn't exactly have possession of every last full story, was now tilting her head slightly to the left. It was possible to see a dozen questions passing behind her eyes, and none of them made it to the performer's lips.
"They might have gone further," Twilight made herself admit. "We can't discount the possibility."
Further than...
She didn't really say Star Swirl's name all that often any more. Not in front of her friends. Nopony had pretended to fall asleep on a lecture for moons...
"It could be a caster," the librarian repeated. "But they'd have to rest eventually, and passing off a spell to somepony else, so they can put their own energy in -- that's just about as hard as the Combiner. The substitute also has to know that working, on just about the same level as the first caster. And it still won't hold for long. Plus there's usually a lapse at the moment of transfer: a visible one. That's why nopony could take over for Shining." How close did he come to...? "From what we've seen, the shield is their primary defense against the wild zone. They need it to be constant. Using devices is the simplest solution. And since the lockdown effect is tied into the shield, it's probably the same devices generating all of the effects."
"And our purpose in bringing you to such a device?" Rarity inquired.
"Breaking the lockdown. We can leave the shield intact for now." She couldn't quite summon the smile. "I'm going to be trying to figure out how to get through that if we need to get out of here in a hurry -- on hoof and wing, everypony." With a soft sigh, "I don't have a lot of safe arrival points memorized around here, I know I can't reach Equestria on a single teleport, and... I'm not exactly ready to try escorting seven sapients on purpose any time soon."
"...if you don't have a lot of safe points memorized," Fluttershy observed, "then that means you have at least one. Where is it?"
"The tepui," Twilight admitted. "It's really clear near the rim. But reaching it would still mean dealing with the lockdown. And I need to find out if it's possible to beat that without breaking the shield at the same time." Carefully, "Because that's how we get back into contact with the palace. If we can tell them what's going on, and they can get scrolls to us -- then the Princesses won't be sending anypony after us unless we ask for it."
And the sisters won't come.
They wouldn't be exposed.
The risk...
"They can also update us on the investigation," she added. "And I can try to work on getting through the lockdown without having a device to examine -- I'm going to start on that as soon as I can -- but it would be easier to get the feel from the primary source."
Everypony nodded.
"Anypony else?" Twilight asked. "Anything you've seen, whatever you want to talk about -- Fluttershy?" Whose comb-bundled tail was lightly twitching. The librarian was somewhat grateful for the restyling: Fluttershy usually took up a considerably larger section of floor.
The "...yes?" was a little on the meek side. "...um... if you're asking what I've seen... it's more like what I've heard. Or --" very reluctantly "-- haven't."
It was an easy guess. "No animals."
"...almost," the caretaker softly said. "Nopony could keep birds under here, not unless they were in a cage. They'd -- try to leave. And with the shield..." She stopped, and dyed fur shivered. "There's some insects."
"For the crops," Applejack said. "I know you need insects for some of the pollination." Paused. "Some birds do it, but... maybe the locals are filling in for that. You can pollinate a few plants by hoof, if you put in the work."
Fluttershy carefully nodded. "...yes. But I've been listening ever since we were brought in, and... I heard a few lizards near the shield border. One of the homes had a mousehole at the base of the wood, but no one was home. And I saw some fish, but they're very hard to speak with. That's it." Visibly upset now, with the one visible eye blinking far too quickly. "That's all. There isn't even a single companion, not that I've seen or heard. And it's not enough. There should be so much more..."
They all gave her a moment, waited until the little sniffs of distress had stopped.
"You took some of the mane combs out," Rainbow openly noted, and Twilight recognized an attempt to distract. "Didn't like the look?"
"...nopony's watching us," Fluttershy eventually said. "I like my normal manefall." Which gave her something portable to hide behind at all times.
"And the tail?" Rarity curiously inquired. "You've never gone with the bundled look before."
"...those are harder to remove. And no, Rarity, don't ignite your horn: it's okay to leave them there. I'm... just trying it out."
"What is the material on those?" the designer asked. "I haven't seen that shade of white before. Not for mane accouterments. Although they do appear sturdy --"
"...bone -- no, everypony, please don't pull away -- oh, Pinkie, you nearly put yourself off the back of the couch, you need to be more careful..."
"Bone?" Rarity gasped. "You are wearing pieces of a corpse --"
"...it's -- unusual," Fluttershy understated. "You almost never find ponies who'll work with it. Buffalo do, because so many of the Ten Tribes live in places where they don't have a lot of wood or metal around. And bones are just... there. So they use whatever they can find. And it's what they find, Rarity. The animals... don't need it any more." The pause went on for somewhat longer than usual. "That's probably why they were free. Starlight's having trouble getting ponies to try them."
"Starlight," Rainbow carefully repeated. "She made --"
"...she was -- sort of insistent," the caretaker said. "That makes it easy to figure out who made them. And working with bone is... interesting. That's why it stood out so much. I hardly ever see it..."
"Bone." Rainbow seemed to be stuck on the point.
"...yes."
Darkly, "Whose?"
Fluttershy blinked. "...um... I talk to animals, Rainbow. Living ones. I've never heard of anypony who could get a skeleton to tell them who it belonged to..."
"It's animal bone," Twilight checked, because that was the sort of thing she really wanted to be certain about.
"...it's -- worked bone," Fluttershy carefully told them. "Heavily worked. I can't tell you what kind of animal produced it, because there's been too much done. I'd need to see at least some of the original skeleton. It could even be monster bone, because some of them are a little more normal inside. All I can tell you right now is that it's not from a prasinohaema."
"A..." was the most Spike could manage, especially because that was easier than trying to duplicate the pronunciation.
"...it's a type of skink. So they're too small for the combs, Spike. And they don't live in this part of the world anyway. But their bones are green."
Bone...
"Unenchanted rammer," Trixie thoughtfully said.
"Huh?" Rainbow contributed.
"It's a device," the performer said. "I've seen a couple around. The working ones generate small, dense field bubbles and project them at high speed. If you're the pony being targeted by one, it's like being caught in a hailstorm."
"Ah," Rarity immediately cut in. "So who was the pony of taste that was targeting you?"
I have to stop this --
-- how...?
Trixie ignored it. "And if you want a rammer to work, then you have to build it from ivory. That's one of the reasons they're so rare. All of the base material has to be scavenged."
Twilight nodded. "Ratchette saw one once." Under the worst possible circumstances. "So some ponies work with ivory as an enchantment medium. And Starlight was trying out bone for crafts."
Could bone be enchanted?
She tried to tell herself that it was a natural question. Something anypony might have thought of, as opposed to the sort of query which could only arise from a mark.
"I don't think we have to worry about the combs," Twilight told them. "Just don't wear any if you're not comfortable with the idea. Who wants to go next?"
The topics became considerably more scattershot after that.
"At least the air is drier here," Spike told them. "I feel better just for being on this side of the shield."
"It's the moisture condensers," Applejack stated. "They're pulling out the humidity and using it for the crops. Pretty much the only option for their setup."
"The only option?" Twilight asked. "They've got the waterfall."
Which made the farmer softly groan. "I never thought I'd need all of the agronomy stuff this fast... Twilight, the waterfall's on the other side of the shield. They've got some water on the inside, but it's not enough. And they'd have to run irrigation canals or aqueducts all the way from the source. The condensers are easier. And you're the one who told me shields are air-permeable. That's why Canterlot didn't, you know, suffocate. So if air comes through, then I guess they're getting just enough humidity to go with it. And there's sort of another option, but it means dropping the shield every time it rains. Which, around here, means you're just about never going to have the shield up at all."
"How do the condensers work?" was a natural question.
Applejack frowned, and green eyes sought out magenta. "That's a pegasus domain, right? Moving humidity around? So those things are wonders."
"They... should be," was the half-yawned reply.
"Should?"
"I didn't really really feel anything from them when I went by." Rainbow shrugged. "But I wasn't trying for it either. Maybe tomorrow."
"I ask purely from curiosity," Rarity opened. "Does anypony have an idea of how old Starlight is?"
Multiple uncertain proposals arose, with a range from 'She's out of school' to 'She's somewhere under Granny, I know that...'
The designer sighed. "I can't seem to pin it down either. But if I can find the local mud, I am going to do my best to bring Lotus and Aloe a sample. The restorative properties may be exquisite."
"We should try to find out her birthday," Pinkie firmly said.
"So you can put together a party?" Rainbow asked.
"Because if we can contact the palace," the baker told them, "we can give them her birthdate. That'll help narrow the search, because we don't know how many 'Starlights' are in the Herdbook Registry. Knowing when she was born would do a lot." The pink fur on her forehead briefly rippled with concentration. "But it isn't today, and it's not coming up really soon. That's all I know."
I could look at Trixie right now.
If I do, I'm going to see a very confused mare.
Who might ask me if I ever ran any tests.
Rainbow was teasing now. "So if we stay here long enough... then you won't host a party for her?"
The baker went silent.
"Pinkie?"
The tone of the words was unusually even, and it made the tinge of vehemence stand out all the more. "She doesn't smile right."
"...I don't know about her smiling," Fluttershy sighed. "But she could blink a little more."
"And her signature is going to be wrapped up in that shield," Spike kicked in. "We can't forget that."
Exploring a better way of life...
"We need to learn why they're all here," Twilight reminded them. "Look for research facilities tomorrow. Anything medical. Listen in on ponies if you can. See if they're talking about their health. Or --" it had to be said "-- if they've lost anypony recently. Maybe somepony went missing. Just be careful about raising the topic yourself."
"Steer carefully," Rarity summarized. "But not before seeing where the verbal current flows --" and this time, the designer yawned. "My apologies. We have been at this for some time."
"We can stop for the night," Twilight suggested. "I think we'll all be fresher after we get some sleep anyway."
"If you get any decent sleep," Rainbow grumbled. "This is going to be your first night in one of those beds, Twilight. If anypony wants to get a bet down, I'm putting in for three hours before she's back in the tent."
She tried to ignore that. "There's one more thing I want to settle before we all rest," Twilight told them. "Names. Let's all figure out who we are."
"Nopony has truly asked," Rarity considered. "I've introduced myself when I could, but..."
No destiny.
"We still need to keep it consistent," Twilight pointed out. "So let's do this. Names and professions. Rarity, fill us in on what you originally told them, and we'll work out the rest from there. After that... sleep. We all need it." A little more thought. "But I want everypony back here for breakfast. We can work out where we're exploring tomorrow. And Pinkie, when you get a chance, draw up that map."
It took a little time. (Applejack eventually agreed to go by her House, as it was technically part of her full name.) And then the group slowly dispersed, heading out into the night in pairs. Rainbow left with Trixie, and Rarity's glare pushed them to a forty body length head start before she departed at Pinkie's side.
The remaining occupants of the house gave them a few minutes to clear the area, and then Fluttershy stepped out into the warm southern night. Distant notes from the outdoor concert drifted onto their street, and multiple ears briefly flattened themselves against their owners' skulls.
The caretaker began to move down the walkway. Twilight, who was still in the living room --
-- he'll be okay.
I'll see him in the morning.
Trust Applejack...
"See you tomorrow," she told her little brother.
He smiled. "Tomorrow."
Every decision becomes mine, and mine alone...
Which was when she realized that she was, in a way, wondering what it was like to be a different species. Excepting zebras, of course, because they had marks -- but...
There was a time in my life when every thought was mine.
When I was young.
As young as he is.
Spike, who could never suffer from flank-brain, who could never fall...
...no. He had fallen. Once. And they had all pulled him back.
Did the greed serve as an inner voice? Something softer than a whisper...
...she couldn't ask him.
She nuzzled her brother, and he hugged her forelegs.
Twilight trotted towards the front door, with Applejack following her out. Stepped into the night, and her attention was briefly caught by another spray of lights from the cliff face. Five heartbeats of radiance, and then the display was gone again.
The farmer had noticed. "Something's going on up there."
"It's from the cave," Twilight said. "I'm sure of it -- and I was going to ask Pinkie about natural magics..." The urge to facehoof wasn't so much dismissed as rechanneled into the sigh. "In the morning. We have breakfast, get a plan of attack together, look for Scootaloo's parents --"
She paused. Looked around at the empty street. Fluttershy's bundled tail failed to sway as the caretaker moved towards that assigned temporary residence. The neighboring house was dark, and the streetlight's lamps shone down on void and milky quartz.
"I just thought of something," Twilight told the farmer. "I should have asked earlier, just in case it matters."
"And I've got the answer?" (Twilight nodded.) "Go ahead. What's the question about?"
"Scootaloo's parents," the librarian qualified. "What are their jobs?"
"Oh, yeah," Applejack winced. "My bad on that. I should have said it before this. It's the same profession for both of them, though." The blonde tail flicked. "Sort of an ironic one, given everything we've been claiming..."
"Why? What did --" Wrong tense, wrong tense! "-- do they do?"
"Once. It was an opportunity."
"They're explorers."
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Oh hey, plausible deniability and validation for why the six "SEVEN!" are exploring, given they also talked about groups going out after explorers who vanished
Two Glimmer updates? I'm blessed. Such a lovely treat, thank you.
IDKY "unforgivable" is a word in the dictionary. Everyone has to define it for themself.
Guessing the cave is where the marks are currently stored.
And if they meet them they will instantly be recognized as frauds. Ouch that was something Applejack should have brought up. Now how will things go in the morning I wonder?
Ooooh. I was worrying, earlier, if Trixie was going to be tempted by Starlight's cult of mark-removal-slash-soul-mutilation.
I should have been worrying about Twilight, instead.
Also - the more we (and the Bearers, and Trixie) see of Starlight, the weirder she seems and the more questions are raised. I've given up on trying to figure what's going on with her, and just accept it's Not Good.
Hmmm, this does sound like a reasonable explanation for Glimmer ....
I'm betting Scoot's parents stumbled upon Shimmer's experiment while they were out legitimately exploring, and then ... things happened.
Also - the more we (and the Bearers, and Trixie) see of Starlight, the weirder she seems and the more questions are raised.
11880708
I'm working off the assumption that she just wasn't pony-socialized and/or is autistic (which would explain the weird body-language) , and has a few comorbidities (having fallen, or maybe sociopathy).
Two chapters in a short amount of time? Impressive.
When was this? When her blood activated that device?
They explored the wrong damn thing.....which makes me wonder where the Hell Psycho-Trooper got that bone from....or, for that matter....who?!
11881082
If I had to guess either previous inhabitants of the town (even dead they can still contribute to science), old test subjects (like that charcoal burner at the start), or random dead explorers.
Can't wait to see Starlight talk about glue
Also I predict that Rarity's inability to shunt her objections to Trixie is ether gonna get them found out or contribute to Twilight giving the cult life a try (insert the scene of Steven Universe getting his gem removed by White Diamond)
Yknow, maybe with all the talk of explorers going missing, maybe Scootaloos parents legitimately could have just come here and met a gruesome end. What sucks is that would somehow be preferable to them willingly abandoning their child and joining a cult.
11881403
I'm about 99% sure that Scoots' parents are the ponies who brought Linchpin and Sugar Belle to Truedawn, unfortunately. I'll try to find the passage that describes Linchpin and his 'friend' meeting up with his 'friend's' wife and verify if the descriptions match.
But that would mean that they not only chose to join a cult, they also are choosing to actively recruit for that cult. AND that they were allowed to leave the colony to go back to Equestria, but instead of going to their daughter, they chose to continue to bring victims in. Arguably Starlight has a fair amount of control, but as seen with Gez/Linchpin, that control CAN be broken with enough determination. There's definitely an element of free choice with some of the townsponies, and I can only imagine that they'll be some of the more
... violently fanatical when the truth is finally discovered by the Mane 7 (8?).
Edit: Okay so I'm 100% sure Scootaloo's parents are active participants in this cult. All the evidence is I'm Linchpin's POV.
First, in Firewall, he describes his 'friend' as an unusually large earth pony stallion with purple eyes and a mark that tells him to always be on the go, specifically to places "without roads"- AKA exploring new places. Applejack in the chapter before this described Scoot's dad as an earth pony with eyes, mane, and tail just like Scootaloo but darker (Purple).
Then, in Cruft, Linchpin comments that he would take his 'friend' to Ponyville- to which the friend very quickly responds that he doesn't go to Ponyville, blaming there only being one bar with a mean bartender who doesn't like him. However, he likely doesn't want to go to Ponyville because he runs the risk of being recognized. And as we know from the chapter Parallel Processing, Starlight doesn't want foals who don't have their marks to come to the village yet (because she wants to "cure" cutie marks first and THEN try to prevent them)- so it's not like he would go pick Scootaloo up and bring her with him.
Later on in Server, the 'friend's' wife is described as a very tall pegasus mare with a peach coat and blonde mane and tail with light blonde/white highlights. This is exactly how Applejack describes Scoots' mother.
And the proof that they're doing this with some level of awareness is in Quarantine, where the process of removing the mark is described as reversible- something Linchpin knows to be fact because he's seen his 'friend' lose his mark and then regain it when he needed to go out to recruit more people.
We don't know HOW Snap Shutter and Mane Allgood found themselves in Truedawn. But they've proven that they're more than just the average cult member drinking the Kool-aid. They're helping pour the cups.
I dunno, Twilight, I heard that there's at least a hundred and one uses for a dead pony.
Pretty sure those gems Twi couldn't identify on the street lamps have some kind of passive mental effect.
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