> Sigma & Lambda's Tales: The Rainbow Factory Incident
>  by Echo Montana Juliet
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> A Man, A Mare, A Stallion, & A Doctor
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter One: A Series of Unfortunate Occurrences


Welcome to Ponyville, a quaint town, inhabited by ponies, ponies, and, well, more ponies. The outskirts of town, just before the Everfree sits a light blue house made of waddle & daub, on it hangs a sign with now words, and no pictures, just a plain brick red sign. The windows are always shut on this house, and the door is always locked, without any locking mechanism. This is the house of the First and the Last, as it's come to be known by the ponies of Equestria. On the door are inscribed three words and nothing more, "Knock three times" and none of those in the town can see this lest a strange event occur or grave trouble be arisen. Suddenly the door flies open, and out comes the House of Insanity. Echo Montana Juliet, Jules Hotel Lima, and the latest edition under the decent of Echo, Hotel Echo Lima, and his sister Hotel Echo Alpha Victor, who prefers her signal name "Lambda".

"What's on the agenda today Jules?"

"We have an agenda? The hell do you mean agenda?"

"I'm just kidding, I suppose we'll just hang around here for a while, see what the castle has to offer."

Echo looks behind him, to his children. He refers to them by their signals, Sigma & Lambda.

"So, I suppose you two will be off on an adventure?"

"Roger dodger."

Sigma smacks Lambda upside the head.

"Yes, we'll be heading off. We agreed to just spin the wheels and see where they take us."

"Okay try not to cause too much trouble Sigma. Come back in time for dinner."

"What time?"

"Whenever you get back."

Lambda rolls her eyes. Sigma plants his hoof in such a way as to create a smacking sound upon being applied to his face, while exhaling a deep breath. The two walked back into the building and left their father and uncle to their own devices. They walked over to the dimensional wheels, and proceeded to spin them wildly. When they stopped, the two didn't bother checking the dimensional identification set, before walking out. The sight that meets them leaves them speechless. Wasteland as far as the eye can see. The ground is scorched, the trees are shattered and burnt. The Everfree forest is the greenest thing around, and even then, the tree line isn't alive until 30 yards in. Then, they heard a strange sound in the silence, a whizzing sound. They looked over by some craters and discovered an unlikely thing, something of legend, something that they'd ever only heard of, the TARDIS. When it finally came to a stop, the doors opened, and out came a stallion, light brown fur, and a messy mane. He grimaced, and then saw the siblings and began to walk over.

"Hello, any idea what happened?"

"No we're just as clueless as you are Doc."

"How do you know who I am? Have we met before? Think I'd remember your face."

"Nope, just your a man of legend Doctor."

"Who's your lad- I mean, mare friend here?

"I'm his sister, my name is Lambda, pleasure to make your acquaintance Doctor."

They shook hooves.

"So, how are you out here? According to the TARDIS, there's a high level of nuclear radiation in this area."

"We could ask you the same question, but we won't because we respect your secrets."

"Got'cha. Hey, who's that over there?"

The group looked towards the Everfree forest and saw a red stallion walking towards them. He dropped to the ground five meters from them. They rushed over and saw it was Big Macintosh. The Doctor scanned him with his Sonic Screwdriver.

"He's suffering from radiation poisoning. i might have something in the TARDIS, but it'll be too late."

Sigma looked to Lambda, she nodded. She held her hooves over Big Mac and a light began to emit from them, then light particles began to interchange in the space between her hooves and Big Mac. The light particles stopped and she took her hooves away. Sigma changed forms into a human and picked up the stallion and walked towards the TARDIS and brought him inside. The Doctor was silent the entire time, until they set down the scarlet stallion. The Doctor grimaced again.

"How did you do that?"

"Ask no questions, tell no lies, Doctor."

"What did you do to him?"

"I healed him, removed the radiation from him and gave some extra energy, he must've made quite the pilgrimage. I wonder what for?"

"Who are you?"

"I told you ho I am, I am Lambda."

The Doctor grimaced and shook his head. Today clearly wasn't his day.

"What are you? Is the question, I should be asking, I suppose."

Sigma frowned, then shook his head.

"You can clearly see we are ponies, can't you?"

"I've been here long enough to know the limitations of the ponies here, and I'm pretty sure earth ponies can't use magic. Especially healing magic. I haven't seen any of the ponies here use healing powers, and they certainly can't turn into humans. None of the inhabitants here can do that."

"Well, you'll just have to take us on faith, just like those before us? Your companions that is."

The Doctor was shocked by this statement. He recovered quickly, but it was still evident in his glare.

"Who said you were my companions? Who said I ever had any companions? Who said there were any before you?"

"You ask so many unanswered questions, Doctor. It's a shame you'll never get an answer."

While they discussed, Big Mac woke up. The group was still, more or less, arguing as Big Mac stood. He took a look around the transportation device. He kept a calm face, almost as if he had been inside the contraption before, maybe even on numerous occasions. While Sigma and The Doctor conversed in a argumentative manner, Lambda noticed Big Mac and walked over to him.

"Hello, my name's Lambda, what's your's?"

"I am Big Macintosh. Most folks call me Big Mac for short."

"How are you? Feeling alright, Big Macintosh?"

"Eeyup."

The angry conversation in the background had stopped when Sigma noticed Big Macintosh was awake. Sigma was still in his human form as he walked over to the semi-rested stallion.

"Hello, I'm Sigma. I suppose my sister has already introduced herself to you?"

Big Mac's face dropped as Sigma uttered that question. He began to point his hoof between the two of them, mouth opening and shutting, looking for a response.

"But-? How the-?"

"What is it? What's the problem?"

"You two, that's the problem. You two shouldn't be able to stand in the same room. This doesn't make sense!"

Sigma and Lambda looked to each other, then back to the speechless stallion.

"What do you mean, "...You two shouldn't be able to stand in the same room..." clearly somethings wrong here?"

"What I mean is, you two caused all the destruction outside because of some stupid dispute. I reckon you two haven't the slightest about what I'm talkin' about either, seeing as how you didn't know what I meant."

"Well we saw the destruction, but we didn't know how it had happened. I suppose you'll want to know why we don't know?"

"Eeyup."

"Are you familiar with the blue house across the way?"

Lambda gestured towards the door, the house really was just across, what is left of, the road, in front of the TARDIS's doors.

"Eeyup. Everypony this side of Equestria knows who's house that is. I suppose that's part of the reason you haven't a clue, isn't it?"

"Well, yes, it's because we aren't from this dimension. We come from a dimension similar to this, and we wanted some adventure, so we came here, and it looks like you could use some help."

"Eeyup."

The Doctor has been silent the entire time, he proceeds to take out his Sonic Screwdriver and scan Big Macintosh.

"Hmm... interesting... it's almost as if you never had the radiation in the first place. Curious methods and even more curious... whatever you two are."

"I feel insulted. We are just a couple of simple-"

Sigma didn't finish that sentence because he was laughing too hard. Lambda smacked him in the back of the head. The Doctor looked at the ground and shook his head.

"Anyways, it's a pleasure to meet you Big Mac. I am The Doctor."

The Doctor held out his hand, and Big Mac shook it.

"Pleasure to meet you too, Doctor."

When Sigma was done laughing, Lambda looked to Big Macintosh.

"So why did you come out here? You knew it was dangerous."

"Well, it had been a while since you two clashed, I was hoping to fine one of you out here. Little, did I realize the consequences of my actions. I bet if it wasn't for you two, and Mr. Doctor here, I wouldn't make it home. Thank you, for your assistance in my hour of need."

Big Mac bowed his head at the trio.

"So, who all is left? Clearly since this happened not every pony could have made the journey in succession."

Big Mac looked to each of them, then to the door. Keeping a calm expression, he sighed.

"Not a lot of them made it. We have about 30, or so, ponies in our little encampment."

"We should go back then, try to help."

Lambda started for the door, but Sigma stopped her.

"We don't know how they'll react, Lambda. For all we know, they'll try to kill us if we step into that forest. It might as well be a double-edged trap. We can't go in, and they can't come out."

"But Big Mac can convince them other wise. He can tell them we're not hostile. Besides, they'll know something's up when they see the both of us walking in the forest."

Lambda looked to Big Macintosh, and gave him the largest set of puppy dog eyes her face could manage. She threw in a couple eye lash flutters for extra precaution.

"You will help us, won't you, Big Mac?"

Big Mac nodded.

"Eeyup."

Sigma glared at Lambda. She didn't notice.

"Let's be off then."

Lambda started off towards the door, Big Mac followed, then came Sigma, with much reluctance. Lambda was half way to the door, then stopped. She turned around and looked at The Doctor.

"Will you come along Doctor?"

"Nah, I got a meteor show I want to see. I need to be on the moon to see it."

"Alright Doctor, but you'll miss all the fun."

"Oh, if I can guess correctly, your meaning of fun isn't mine."

Lambda gestured for the other two to follow and they left the TARDIS. While they walked away the craft began to disappear. Big Mac lead the               group into the Everfree Forest, where they would meet up with the last of Ponyville.
> Evertrapped Forest
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter Two: Those Who Can


The group had trekked through the forest quite a ways. While they ventured, they were being watched by unwanted eyes. Sigma was aware of them, and subtly alerted his sister to them.

"Hey, you feel like something's watching you?"

He nudged Lambda and she began to look around. The creatures blended into the dark forest so well, if it wasn't for their natural ability to see things in the dark, she'd never have noticed them until it was too late.

"A little bit, let me set up a force field for us."

As she said it, she produced a unicorn horn, and from it, came a light beam that shrouded the travelers in a white light. The shield produced an internal light, as well as an external light. Big Mac gazed at the bubble in awe. It was the first time they'd seen him show any facial expressions besides neutrality.

"You like it? A little special thing I conjured up to keep the baddies away."

"Eeyup."

When Big Mac was done gazing they continued, the figures in the shadows now retreating, but not completely out of their line of sight, just enough to be out of the light.

"You know those creatures in the shadows, Big Mac?"

"Nope."

"You got a name for them?"

"Scatterlings, or Darklings."

"Are they afraid of the light?"

"Eeyup."

"Guess that makes you afraid of the dark then, huh?"

"Eeyup."

"Well, I guess you have every right to be, these guys don't seem nice."

"Eeyup."

At that comment, Big Mac's voice gained a note of sorrow, and his head dropped slightly.

"You lose someone close?"

"Nope, just not everypony that survived the town, made it through the forest."

"You're talking a lot more than usual, you know that?"

"I suppose when you have nopony to talk for you, you gotta learn to adapt."

Big Mac picked up the pace. Sigma looked away from the Darklings, and to Big Mac.

"Too right, mate."

The glow eventually faded, just being an after-effect of the spell, and once again, the creeps came out of their earlier shadows, to gain a better view of the shielded group. As they walked, one jumped out at them, it hit the shield and bounced off. Suddenly, every other Darkling jumped out at the shield, and still did not managed to break the barrier. Sigma laughed at their futile attempts.

"Silly Darklings think they can get at us. Let us continue on."

They continued through, having to move slower, because they Darklings flinging themselves at the front of the barrier caused the barrier to slow, as they continued.

"How close are we, Big Mac?"

"Close."

He pointed towards an opening in the forest. They managed to make it through, and they found a, small, make-shift camp. However, there wasn't a soul to be seen. Big Mac walked towards the center of it, and whistled. When he was done, ponies began to emerge from the foliage and surrounding brush. Carrying make-shift weapons, made of wood and stone, some made of metal. Some of the ponies wore camouflage, however lame the suits were.

"So, this is what's left of Ponyville. I suspect you are familiar with me?"

Sigma said it matter-of-fact-ly, and bowed. Lambda sighed. Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie stepped up to Big Mac, with worried and unhappy looks.

"Uh, brother, what were you thinking bring these... these-"

Applejack was furious. Then Sigma stepped up, and knelled before his prosecutors.

"Ladies, I mean no harm. I've come to help. If I wanted you dead, do you think you'd still be here?"

"Well- I-"

Applejack looked to her friends, they had no answers for her. Applejack lowered her head, and took off the hat.

"I suppose if you really wanted us all dead, we'd be laying in our graves by now."

Sigma lifted up Applejack's chin.

"Hey, you have nothing to be sorry about. You clearly are on the defensive about the trouble I have cause around here. Now I'm here to make amends."

Lambda walked next to Sigma and looked to him.

"And me too. I want to help make thing better once again."

She looked to Applejack and her friends.

"What can we do to help?"

Lambda then noticed how haggard and weak they looked. They hadn't been there for days, or weeks, but months. Even from a distance, it was evident in their eyes, and faces.

"We could use some more housing, as you can see, we have a lot of ponies, but not a lot of tents."

Lambda nodded. She transformed into a human, and began to walk-about the perimeter of the encampment. As she walk around the edge, she started to clear out trees, and in their place because houses. When she finished, there was two rows of houses, with an extra large house at the end, split into four sets of colors: Top) Cyan. Left) Simple brown and red. Right) White and purple. Back) Pink. Lambda walked back to the group.

"There you are, enough houses for everypony. I didn't want you to have to expand too quickly, so each pony will have to share a house. Your house is the one on the end, but I suspect you could figure that out."

They stared in awe at what they'd just witnessed. Not only had they just seen a pony turn into a human, but that same human just cleared acres of field, and in it place came houses. Sigma looked to the skies, where he could see the day fading into night.

"Lambda, it's getting dark, you show our friends to there homes, I'll deal with the lighting situation."

"Right, you should inform your towns folk of the situation, then I'll show you to your new home."

"Hold on, is there enough room for my little sister, and her friends?"

"Yes, I counted on them still being alive, I made enough room in your house, and all of the others, for little ones."

Applejack and her friends nodded. Applejack was apparently in charge, and thus called all the ponies around her. She announced the news, and told the ponies to group up and find a house. Lambda joined her, and explained some aspects to the houses, such as furnishings, and the like. The way she explained it left questions, but she assured they'd understand once they all found a house to live in, that they'd understand. They dispersed and went to various houses in groups of two or three. All that remained was Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie, looking at the sunset with grim faces.

"Don't worry, friends, I'll take care of it. Go with Lambda, she'll show you around your house."

"Alright-y, mister, see you tomorrow."

Lambda took them to see their house, and left Sigma to deal with the lighting situation. It was growing ever darker, so he had to work fast. He sped around the perimeter first, placing luminescent orbs in intervals as to produce the most light protection. When he finished that, he walked to the middle of the houses, he stood for a moment, contemplating how he should set up the lights in this area. With the lights around the perimeter, he walked along, and occasionally touched the ground, and produced a lamp-post with a similar orb of light as he'd place round the edge. When he'd walked away from one, it would become like a dull sphere, floating in it's container of glass. Then he'd produce another along the path, up to the house at the end. After that, he took the extra precaution of having some light in a field around the houses directly. He placed orbs at the ends of each row, and one behind every other house. At last he was done, thus he went to the house where his sister was showing their friends around. He walked inside, and saw that they'd just finished with Rainbow Dash's room in the attic, and were no headed over to Rarity's wing of the house.

"Oh my gosh, have you seen my room. It's so awesome."

"I bet it looks pretty nice. I bet you've already check out Applejack's side?"

"Yes, it's mighty fine, just like home. Even has it's own kitchen and upstairs. Don't know how you did it, but it's amazing, Lambda."

"Well, I bet my side is going to be more fabulous than any of yours'."

"Arrogant, aren't we, Ms. Rarity?"

Rarity looked indignant, and Applejack giggled, trying to hide her smile with her hat. They walked to Rarity's wing of the house, and low-and-behold, it was almost like her boutique back in Ponyville, except this one had more space for supplies, and the bedrooms were significantly bigger, along with a work table for making designs. Rarity lit up the moment she stepped into her new place. Applejack whistled at the shear increase in size.

"Oh this is just wonderful! Thank you, Lambda. Thank you so much! If you ever need anything, just ask."

"You're welcome, Rarity. Shall we leave you to your new space?"

"Oh, if you don't mind. I think I'll make some new designs before I go to bed."

Lambda nodded, and took the other three and lead them out. Sigma followed closely. Last, but not least, was Pinkie Pie's place. Pinkie Pie was chattering on about how great it must be, and suddenly went silent as they all entered the room. Sigma's jaw hit the floor. The room was pink, and not just regular light-red kind of pink, it was neon pink. The corners of the room had pink-neon lights, there were drawers in the walls, presumably for party supplies, and the room was large enough to fit a leviathan into it. In fact, one could most likely fit multiple leviathans of average size, into this room. There was also a large stage taking up about 3/8 of the room. Then Sigma and Pinkie Pie spoke simultaneously.

"It's pink!"

They both began to cry. One cried tears of horror, the other cried tears of joy. Pinkie began to bounce around the room, looking through drawers, popping in and out of them. She managed to find her way up to the stairs. Sigma had stopped crying, but fell to his knees with a horrified expression. The room was slowly removing his masculinity. He had to crawl to the door to escape the pink-menace that was Pinkie's wing of the house. When he'd finally made it to the hallway, outside the room, gasping for breath. Lambda paced right behind him, then snickered as he finally made it out.

"I am NEVER, going in that room, again!"

He got up, sweating bullets. Sigma dried off the sweat by generating a heat field around his body. When he was done with that he looked to the grinning girl standing next him.

"What's so funny? You'd have the same reaction if you walked into a super-masculine room."

"I know, but it's still funny to watch it happen, just because it seems so ridiculous to contemplate."

"Will you tell them we're going?"

"Why don't you do it? You have legs and a voice."

"Well, if I enter that room, I might as well not have either."

A deafening roar suddenly is produced from the room. Sigma slams the door shut before it makes the duo deaf. The area becomes quiet, almost as if there had never been sound at all.

"Don't even suggest that I talk to them through that noise, because you know that's not happening."

"Don't you think I realize that?"

"Just making sure, some things you think are just a little out there."

Lambda gave Sigma a scolding face of indignity. Then the door opened once more, deafening sound still blaring, and out stumbled Applejack and Rainbow Dash, both crashing to the ground, covering their ears. Sigma, closest to the door, has to slam into it to close it because of the force of the sound.

"Hey! You okay?"

"They don't even notice Sigma trying to communicate with them. He taps them on their forelegs.

"Hey! Can you hear me?"

Applejack doesn't open her eye, and Rainbow Dash gives him an odd look.

"What?! Are you messing with me! What are you saying?!"

Rainbow Dash was yelling, and Sigma doubted she could even hear herself. Sigma pried a hoof from Rainbow Dash's ear, and noticed it was bleeding.

"Lambda, need some help over here!"

"What is it? Oh my!"

She saw what the problem was, and gasped.

"I think I can heal that, but that definitely has to hurt."

"Yeah, I bet."

Sigma gave Rainbow Dash a reassuring look, and patted her on the back, then stepped back so Lambda could work her magic. She stepped over and hovered her hands above the damaged ear. A glow began to appear from her hooves, a different color to that of the one used for Big Macintosh. The glow this time was a white-red mixture, where as the one for Big Mac was a white-green glow. When the glow encased her entire hooves, it then appeared around the bleeding ear. The blood didn't disappear, but an odd sound came from it, like that of a stream, flowing along, gentle, yet only audible if you listened carefully. The glows interchanged particles, then slowly faded away. When it was done, Rainbow Dash looked at her with a confused, then gleeful face.

"Oh my gosh! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I thought I'd never be able to-"

Lambda put a hoof to Rainbow's mouth. Rainbow Dash stopped talking, and nodded with a smile. Lambda then proceed to do the same thing with Applejack, who was now more conscious of the pair, but still distant and holding her head. Lambda tapped Applejack's foreleg, Applejack looked up at Lambda, who made a gesture like taking her arms away from her head, Applejack understood, and did like Lambda. She was now able to place her hands over Applejack's ear, and repair the damaged ear.  The procedure was exactly like Rainbow Dash's, and was over just as quick. Applejack smiled, then stood up.

"Thank you kindly, ma'am. I don't know how you do it, but it's amazing, and I'm glad you're here."

"Yeah, same here, if you weren't here, we wouldn't have these awesome houses, and we still might be deaf if you hadn't still been here."

"Oh, it's nothing. I like helping my friends, or those I hope I can call friends."

Applejack and Rainbow Dash hugged Lambda, who hugged back. Lambda invited Sigma to hug. He turned from his human form, which he'd been almost since they'd gotten there, into a pony, and joined the hug. When they disbanded the hug, Sigma asked Applejack about Pinkie Pie, as they discussed, Rainbow Dash walked towards the door. Sigma looked over, just as Rainbow Dash was about to open the door. He lunged, but was too late. You could hear the sound, even before the door flew open. Pinkie Pie, the only pony who could possibly break the sound barrier, with sound. The door nearly flew off it's hinges. Rainbow Dash flew down the hallway, through a window at the end, and kept tumbling.
> Hard Rock, & Hitters
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter Three: Pain Insufferable


Pinkie Pie, the only pony that could possibly break the sound barrier, with sound. The small group could hear the music before the door ever even opened, a rhythmic, blasting sound, with no definable tone. In the split second before the door opened, Sigma rethought his life up to this point, then the door flew open, nearly off it's hinges. Rainbow Dash flew through the air, hit Sigma, and kept going, through a window at the end of the hall, and kept going still. Sigma tumbled down the hallway, and smacked his head, under the window Rainbow Dash flew through, and knocked himself unconscious. Applejack & Lambda tumbled through the hallway, Applejack crashed into some furniture in the hallway, stopping her. Lambda managed to just hold ground. She then attempted to move towards the door. her progress was minimal, and took a long time. When Lambda finally made it to the door to close it, her ears heard nothing, and she could barely move forward. The sound waves had become increasingly more forceful. With the last of her strength, Lambda closed the door, and fainted. Sigma awoke, vision blurred, and a massive headache, he stumbled down the hallway, using the wall for support. He tripped over the unconscious Applejack, and had to take time to realize what had happened, and get up. When he finally reached the door, his vision was still mightily impaired, but good enough to make-out the shape of the figure slouched at the base of the door. With all his will-power, he changed into a human, and carried Lambda away from the door. He walked back down the hall, and noticed a slightly more conscious Applejack, shifting around, he picked up her too, and continued down the hall. He didn't quite know where he was going, but he walked none the less. He walked to the main entrance, and realized that his feet knew where they were going. The entered Applejack's wing of the house, and continued upstairs. He knocked on a plain white door, with a big green apple on it, from inside could be heard the silent movement of foot steps. The door opened, and there stood a familiar, stoic, face. Big Mac gave him the once over, then moved out of the way. Sigma nodded and walked inside. He set the two on the bed, and collapsed onto the floor.

"Water, if you'd be so kind."

Big Mac nodded, and walked out. Sigma lost consciousness again, when he woke up, the glass of water was next to him, and Big Mac was cleaning up the blood from around their sisters' ears. Sigma took the glass, and emptied it in one gulp.

"Thank you, kind fellow. How are they?"

"Not too good, they'd be better if I had some medical supplies. Don't suppose you can just, magic me some up, can ya?"

"No, not in my current state. I'm injured enough as it is. I'll be getting some more water, call me if anything happens."

"Alrighty, there's food in the cupboards, crackers, and apple-type foods. It's a wonder how this little mare, made this big 'ole house, outta thin air."

Sigma nodded, then walked down stairs. His head was still bleeding, so he found a wash rag and cleaned up the blood as best he could. He made sure there was noponies around, and with what little strength he had, generated a hamburger and ate it in one bite, and made sure no remnants were seen. He got a new glass of water, drank that, and found some cider in an ice chest. He poured himself a glass and walked back upstairs.  Big Mac was still tending to the injured mares, but couldn't do much with his limited resources.

"Is nurse Red Heart around here?"

"Nope."

"Where is she?"

"Dead, buried in the Everfree forest somewhere."

"Did the Darklings get to her?"

"Yes, they didn't kill her directly, but they sure leave one bad scratch on you."

"No other doctor either, eh?"

"Nope. All at Canterlot, or what left of it."

"Let me guess, I destroyed it."

"Eeyup. Punched the mountain so hard it caused a gigantic landslide. Princess Celestia & Luna managed to stop the city from tumbling upside-down, but couldn't stop any extra destruction from the landslide."

"Lovely, do you know how many ponies are there?"

"Nope. Haven't checked yet, and I don't plan to either."

"Okay, your choice, I won't question it. Do you know much about medicine and doctoring?"

"Enough to sterilize wounds and close them. If I had a hot iron, I could sterilize the wounds, which would definitely hurt them, but it's better than bleeding to death."

"Might be one around here. Have you really checked around here?"

"Nope, just got some rest when I got here."

"Well, might be wise to start checking around for compartments in the wall, might find something useful."

Big Mac nodded, and Sigma began to walk along the wall, knocking on parts of it, feeling along it. Big Mac began to do the same, closer to the bed. Took Big Mac all of 5 seconds to find a hidden compartment. He opened a drawer in the wall, and in it held bandages, and a iron rod with  an interchangeable head piece, but no other pieces in the box.

"Looks like you were right, there is some useful things in these here walls. Who'd a thought."

"Well, Lambda made this, and every other house, to accommodate the needs of those who live in it. You need something you don't think you have, or can't find. The walls hear your plea, and are willing to give."

"Don't suppose these walls would be kind enough to provide a furnace, so that I can sterilize this rod."

"Couldn't tell you, just got to look for what you need."

Sigma continued to feel along the wall. He found a cabinet, checked the contents. He found a bottle of alcohol, not the rubbing kind, and a couple of attachments for the iron rod. He grabbed the attachments, and closed the door, then continued looking for a furnace. Big Mac was looking along the wall too. He began to check along the wall opposite the bed. Then the sound of flames could be heard as he approached the center of the wall. When Big Mac got to the center, door knobs grew from the empty wall. He grabbed them, and swung the doors open. Flames shot out a small distance, Big Mac had to leap back to avoid the fire. 

"I believe I have found ourselves a furnace. Would you kindly, pass me that iron rod?"

Sigma picked up the iron rod, and carried it over to Big Mac. The furnace had drawers that pulled out, presumably to set items down upon, for easy access. Sigma set the items on the drawers.

"So, you got everything you need?"

"Eeyup."

"Need any help?"

"Nope."

"Well, if you need help,I'll be downstairs. Anything you need is in the walls."

Big Mac began to switch out parts, and started to heat up the iron. Sigma walked downstairs. He got to the kitchen, and found the three fillies that had managed to escape his eyes for the entire night, only, they didn't quite look like fillies anymore, and they certainly didn't like Sigma. Scootaloo stepped forward.

"Hey! What are you doing here?"

"I got a better question, where have you been?"

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle joined Scootaloo.

"Hey! That's none of your business."

"Yeah, just who do you think you are!"

"Brother to the mare that built you this house, that's who. I also set up those lights outside, to protect you ungrateful mares against the Darklings."

The trio suddenly started to look anywhere, but Sigma, with guilty faces. Sigma began to stare at them more closely. He noticed they still never got their cutie marks, probably because that chance was thrown out the window by his dimensional dopple-ganger.

"You three seen Rainbow Dash? I fear for her, afraid she might have encountered a terrible fate."

"Is that what those blood trails were? What happened?"

"Pinkie Pie obtained some, loud speakers, and it sent Rainbow Dash through a window, I wouldn't know how far, because I got knocked unconscious. Did the blood trails lead anywhere?"

"No, they just stopped half-way between the houses & the forest."

"Huh, interesting. Sweetie Belle, you checked in with Rarity yet?"

Sweetie Belle & Apple Bloom had been checking the cabinets for, what could only be assumed as, food & drinks.

"No, we saw this place and wanted to check around. For the most part we've been checking around the town, outside. It's pretty nice."

"Yeah, I guess it does look pretty nice. You should go check in with her. Scootaloo, your staying with Rainbow Dash, the second floor, you should check that out too, the staircase is by the front entrance, you should have been able to see it passing into here."

Sweetie Belle & Scootaloo left to check the rest of the house. Apple Bloom was in tow, when Sigma stopped her.

"I think you'd best come upstairs with me, your brother might want to talk with you."

"What do ya mean?"

"Better check for yourself. Don't suppose you have any medical supplies on you?"

"Why? What's going on?! Is everypony okay?!"

"Calm down, I don't need you freaking out over this. Just come upstairs and see it for yourself."

Sigma began to walk, gesturing for Apple Bloom to follow. Apple Bloom followed, her face was tired, and very worried looking. They ascended the stairs, and walked into Big Mac's room. Big Mac was blocking the view of the bed, and paid no attention to the rooms new occupants. Apple Bloom began to look around the room. She walked around to the base of the bed, and saw the unconscious apple-picker, laying next to the white mare. Apple Bloom began to gasp, then to cry. Her brother finally noticed her, and set down the tools. He walked over to Apple Bloom, and gave her a hug. She sobbed, and for the first time, Sigma saw Big Mac shedding tears. Sigma stood at the door, then walked over to the hot iron rod & bandages. Big Mac looked over to him.

"You- You need to finish up Applejack. I- I didn't manage to fully- to fully cauterize the wounds she's received."

Sigma said nothing, he nodded, reached towards the wall, opened a compartment, pulled out a pair of gloves, put then one, and finished the job. The iron had sat too long, so he reheated it. Big Mac was so worried about Applejack, he had yet to start on Lambda. She'd be fine, the bleeding had stopped, but infection was going to be a problem if he didn't finish up fast. The furnace wasn't heating up the iron fast enough, so he heated it manually with his powers of heat conduction. He quickly managed to cauterize the wounds on Applejack, then moved onto Lambda. Her hooves were extremely scratched up, bruised, and bleeding. Next was her flanks, the sound had cut through them like a hot knife through liquid butter. Any normal pony most definitely would've been dead, long ago. Clearly, even if you could consider them slightly above normal before, now you would think they were some kind of deathless beasts. Her left eye was completely shot. He'd be lucky if she ever woke up. He did what he could, which wasn't much. If he had some kind of heavy pain relief agent, he could dull the pain enough for her to wake up. Her natural body senses shut her down to prevent the feeling of extended, intense pain. He checked around to see if Big Mac & Apple Bloom were still around, but they'd gone downstairs apparently, because they weren't in the room anymore. Sigma sighed, then patted Lambda on the foreleg, somehow one of the few places not visibly damaged.

"Try not to die, it's hard enough seeing you injured and having no way to help."
> Dawn of a New Day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter Four: Day Two: Seventy-Two Hours Remain 


"Sigma, Sigma, Sigma. What have you gotten yourself into?"

The room fell away, in it's place was a room similar to the "Trans-Dimensional House of Space Time Confusion", mostly just referred to as, "The House" Sigma swiveled around to face another figure, his father.

"Where are we?"

"The location should not concern you, what should concern you is my imminent death."

"When are you to die?"

"Soon, seventy-two hours remain. Go to what's left of Canterlot, retrieve what's left of the Mane Six, that being Twilight, as well as any other pony willing to come with."

Jules walked out from behind Echo, and stood next to his brother.

"We'll pick you & Lambda up on your trip back. I have some medicine, you'll need it to awaken Lambda and Applejack. Rainbow Dash is safe, however I cannot determine her location quite yet."

Jules tossed Sigma a couple syringes, and a bottle of pills. The syringes where labeled, "Wake-up Stuff" and the pills read, "Morphine Pills" Sigma didn't question it. The darkness faded into light again, as the room formed around him once more. He stood, still facing the bed, even though he'd turned away, he'd been sure of it, but it didn't matter, just made his job that much easier. The syringes were prepared already. He gave Lambda some of the pills before he began the injection process. First shot went to Applejack. Sigma injected Applejack, and she bolted upright.

"OUCH! What'd ya go and do that for?"

Sigma shook his head. He gave the second shot to Lambda. She encountered the same effect.

"OUCH! That kinda hurt."

Sigma snorted in derision.

"I just saved both of your sorry-"

"Applejack, how are you? Last time I saw you was in the hallway."

"Well, besides the burn marks and new pain in my neck, I'm just dandy."

Sigma clapped his hands.

"So, shall we say hi to your worried family, or leave them in suspense?"

"Quit being hyper-critical, what happened after I closed the door?"

"After sometime, I woke up. I could barely see. I waked down the hallway, tripping over Applejack, and got to the door. On nothing but will power, I picked you two up, and walked all the way to Big Mac's room and for the last couple of hours we've been trying to prevent you from dying of blood loss. Anymore questions?"

"No, I'm good. Thank you for saving us."

"Yes sir-ee, you've done so much for us. Is there anything we can do for you?"

"Well, come downstairs with me, and we can discuss a course of action to unite you with what's left of your friends."

"Sure, sounds simple enough."

Sigma chuckled, with a lingering grin, plastered on his face.

"What's so funny?"

"It's never simple, and leave it at that."

Applejack shrugged, and started out the door, and down the stairs. Sigma & Lambda were close behind, Sigma's grin fell off, into a frown, not deep, but of a natural, plain-faced expression. Sigma certainly was not accustomed to smiling. When they got downstairs, they saw the awaiting group. Scootaloo & Sweetie Belle had rejoined, and must have been crying too, because their faces' were tear stained, lightly. Apple Bloom noticed Applejack first, out of the group in the kitchen. She ran up to her newly revived sister, and hugged her tightly.

"Don't ever do that again, big sis', you worried me sick."

Big Mac and the rest walked over. Big Mac joined the hug.

"Eeyup."

Sigma bowed, with a slight smile.

"All in a day's work. Now to address a more urgent matter."

Once they'd stopped hugging, they looked to Sigma.

"Applejack, we must address the situation that occupies that of your current relations with Miss Twilight Sparkle. Do you know where she is?"

Applejack's face grew a disgusted look by the mention of Twilight's name.

"Why do you need to know that?"

"Because, with out your being united in friendship, and harmony, and all that jazz, this world will collapse evermore."

"It really is never that simple, is it?"

"Not much to do about it. Now tell me, where is she?"

Applejack sighed, her face wore a defeated look.

"She's in Canterlot with the other princesses. They think they can rebuild society with nothing but a load of ponies who probably never worked a day in their lives."

"Is Fluttershy with them? I haven't seen her around, and I can't sense her either."

"Listen, sugar cube-"

"Never! Call me that. Just don't."

Applejack was startled by the sudden outburst.

"Sorry."

"It's fine, just I don't like the nickname."

"Anyways, Fluttershy, we don't really know where she is. She's most likely dead."

"What happened?"

"Oh, that's right, I forgot, you two weren't actually here for the events. Well, it began in your little house on the outskirts of town."

Applejack explained the events in a more thorough manner, than how they'd been explained too earlier. She told them that a, truely, blinding light had emitted from the house, literally blinding anypony unfortunate enough to be caught staring for even the shortest of times, had caught the glance of dearest Fluttershy. She explained that when the town was evacuated, that Fluttershy was lost along the way into the Everfree Forest. How they'd tried to search for her before, but couldn't because the Darklings would attack them. 

"And she hasn't come back yet, so all we can do is hope for the best, yet the odds aren't stacked in her favor."

"Hmm... I see. Any of you planning on leaving, as in the whole of those who currently live here?"

"Well, Rarity's been complaining about the conditions around here, said she might join Twilight soon."

"Okay, that gives us the perfect guise to fall under then."

Sigma looked to Lambda with a smile on his face. The smile scared Lambda a little bit.

'Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Because I can't just go in as Rarity and have you still be normal. Would you rather be Rarity, or Sweetie Belle?"

The group in the kitchen stared at the deranged looking human with confused faces.

"Hey! What do you mean Would you rather be Rarity, or Sweetie Belle?"

"Elementary, my dear Sweetie Belle. I simply use that powers that allow me to change from human to pony, and change into you or Rarity."

"You sure 'bout that? Sounds complicated to me."

"Well it certainly isn't rocket science."

"What science?"

"Ah, never mind, you haven't the technology yet."

"Uh, okay then."

Now even more confused then before, the group stood silent, awaiting more commentary from the duo. Lambda had been considering who she would rather be, and appeared to have made up her mind about it.

"So, what's your answer? Rarity, or Sweetie Belle?"

"Well, you are more masculine than feminine, so I think I'd be a better Rarity than you."

"Sounds good, guess I'm Sweetie Belle then."

Sigma rubbed his hands together, as if preparing for something.

"Let's do it then. I'll go first."

And with a sudden flash of light, now stood a second Sweetie Belle, and exact replica of the first.

"How do I look?"

His voice remained deep, and hyper-masculine. Sweetie Belle began o walk around him, giving her dopple-ganger the once-over.

"You look exactly like me, besides the voice of course. You can fix that, right?"

The duplicate Sweetie Belle began to shake, as if getting loose for some kind of work out.

"How's this sound? Better?"

His voice was now exactly like Sweetie Belle's. They couldn't believe it, if they hadn't seen it with their own eyes. The exact replication, down to the little bumps & scratches received from going out into the forest to forage. They all looked a little impressed, especially Sweeite Belle.

"Perfect, you sound exactly like Sweetie Belle."

Sigma bowed, then changed back to his human form.

"All in a day's work. I do believe it your turn to transform, Lambda."

Lambda nodded, then flashed for a moment. In her place now stood a duplicate of Rarity.

"How do I look, darling?"

She looked like Rarity. She talked like Rarity. She even smelled like Rarity, as far as they knew from yesterday's encounter. Then came a fairly large problem. The marshmallow fluff white mare, walked into the room, and spotted her double. Rarity freaked out, and began to assault Lambda, throwing various objects with her magic. If it wasn't nailed down, it flew at Lambda.

"CHANGELING! EVIL, MANIACAL, CHANGELING!"

"Rarity! Stop that! That's no way to treat a guest!"

"Step back everypony, I got this."

They all stepped away from the frantic Rarity. Sigma took a step forward, reached his hand out, and swiftly forced it down. All objects that had been primed to throw, had now been sent to the ground. When Rarity tried to levitate any of them, she found that she was unable.

"What! What happened!? Why can't I pick anything up?"

"Calm down, Rarity. Everything's fine. That's not a changeling, it's Lambda, you remember? The white mare, with the golden mane. You remember her?"

Lambda changed back to her original pony form. Rarity looked at her, then back to Sigma. Rarity looked down, discouraged by her actions.

"Sorry, dear, I guess I didn't realize who you were. I suppose I should have, though. All the changelings were wiped out by you two, long ago."

Sigma looked to Lambda, concerned about what had occurred to lead to that event. They didn't want to ask.

"So, how did I look, Rarity?"

"Well, you looked exactly like me. It was scary, yet requisite."

"Would you like to see it again?"

"Yes, would you kindly. I didn't quite get a good look, all those objects being in the way, and all."

Lambda giggled a bit, then flashed, and in her place was the duplicate of Rarity once more.

"Marvelous, quite amazing how you do it. Speak for me, would you kindly?"

"Why of course darling, quite uncanny is it not?"

Rarity nodded, and walked around the clone, giving her the once-over.

"Why, you certainly are a perfect match, aren't you?"

Lambda changed back to her original form, and bowed.

"I try, thank you."

"You're welcome. I almost forgot to ask. Why were you changing into me?"

Sigma walked over.

"Well, you see, we need to unite you and your friends together once more. If we don't, then everything will get progressively worse, until every living being here is dead. So long as all of you are in close proximity with each other, and getting along, the world will be good and safe."

Rarity looked shocked at this information.

"So, what you're saying is, if we can't get along, we'll all die?"

"Basically, yes, I am saying that, what did you think we were doing? Just showing off?"

"Well, yes darling, I did think that."

"Ah well, we were raised not to flaunt what we got."

Sigma looks to Lambda, then to the others. He cleared his throat.

"Well, Lambda, I think we're ready, best head off."

Sigma heads towards the door, and opens it.

"After you."

Lambda nods, then heads out the door. She waves goodbye. Sigma follows after, and closes the door. The group inside starts to go about the business of the days work, then Applejack realizes something, and rushes towards the door, opens it, and finds only some of the other inhabitants. She sighs.

"Those two..."

Clear on the other side of the Everfree forest now stood the two siblings, preparing for their entrance. Hiding out of sight, as to ensure a clean disguise, the conversed on how they would play this out.

"Okay, Lambda, you ready for this?"

"Yeah, I'm ready, the guards can't see us. They really should bridge this gap, but it aids us in our goals."

"Yeah, let's do this."

They changed into their planned copies, adjusted their voices, and made it look like they'd trekked through the forest. They walked out, and were immediately greeted by a passing patrol. From their outfits, they were clearly Celestial Foot Soldiers, rather, hoof soldiers.

"Halt! What do you think you're doing?"

Lambda cleared her throat.

"Well, I was hoping for food and shelter. I am Rarity, and this is my sister Sweetie Belle. Would you be so kind as to take us in?"

"Ah, one of Twilight Sparkle's friends. She said not to let your kind in here, last I heard."

Both Lambda and Sigma looked shocked, looked to each other, then back to the smug looking guards.

"Please, mister, you can't just leave us here. We'll starve!"

"Too bad, little filly, you and your sister here should've thought of that before you left."

Lambda began to cry, and her pupils began to grow increasingly large, trying to guilt the guards.

"But- but we'll die..."

"Well, serves you right for betraying the princesses. Now begone with you. We have a job to do."

Suddenly, the sound of hooves, stamping the ground, could be heard, as well as load yells and battle cries. Then, a small army of bandits and raiders charged out of the forest.

"INCOMING!"

The guards fell back immediately, Sigma and Lambda followed quickly. They ran through a wide street, full of cover, made for trigger weapons more than anything else. The guards fell back to the furthest set of cover, only amounting to fifteen, or twenty. Popping out of cover, they carried small arms weapons. At the other end were the raiders and such with make-shift trigger weapons. Caught in the middle was Sigma and Lambda. The gunfire began, regardless of the 'civilians' in the middle of it. Sigma then pulled out a manually-operated, tripod-mounted, machine gun turret. Nobody could explain from where, not that they paid attention.

"Say hello to my LITTLE FRIEND!"

The battle lasted five minutes, give or take a minute, having to chase down the last survivor for information. Sigma tackled the bandit mare.

"Stop right there, criminal scum!"

"Don't hurt me! Please, I was just following orders."

"Orders? From who!"

"I don't know who, I never met the pony."

"Where is your base of operations!"

"It's the Rainbow Factory, I don't know where. Somewhere in the bad lands, I think."

"How'd you get here if you don't know where you came from?"

"They have a teleporting device set-up. It's one way, but we use magic to go back."

"What were your orders?"

"They wanted to us to capture some ponies for the factory."

"WHY? An apocalyptic waste land doesn't need rainbows!"

"They pay us to loot and kidnap, not ask questions. I don't know why."

Sigma yelled, picked the mare up, by the neck, and threw her clear across the sky towards the factory. The guards stood in awe at the sight before them. The all dropped their weapons as they just stared at them.

"What? You never seen a filly throw a full grown mare miles away?"

Sigma looked to Lambda, they both nodded. They changed into their original forms. In the back one of the guards could be heard walking away.

"I'm done, I've seen enough for one day."

Sigma saw the guard, and realized who it was. It was a stallion with a blue mane, and a white coat. His cutie mark was that of a shield with a purple star on it, along with three above it. The stallion was Twilight Sparkle's brother, Shining Armor, captain of the Royal Guard.

"Hey! You with the blue mane!"

Ten of the now forty-something guards had blue hair and looked at him, including Shining Armor.

"Okay, blue mane and white coat."

Three guards looked away.

"Not a lot of diversity. You with the shield cutie mark!"

Four of the seven guards looking at him looked away. Sigma groaned miserably.

"I wish I was better with face. Twilight Sparkle's brother! Come over here!"

Shining Armor walked through the crowd up to Sigma and Lambda with a begrudging face.

"What do you want?"

"Quite the harsh way to talk to the guy who just saved your comrades, isn't it?"

"Why are you here?"

"If you must know, we are here for the Miss Twilight Sparkle. Would you be so kind as to show us to her?"

"From the way you took out all those bandits, I don't think I have much of a choice. Follow me."

They walked through the desolated and crumbling streets to the base of operations. They came upon the castle of the princesses, or what was left of it. It was absolutely demolished. The towers had caved in, the windows were shattered, and entire wings of the castle were gone. Sigma whistled.

"Whoever attacked this place, had quite the grudge."

"It was you two, and your incessant fighting."

"Oh, well, I guess it was."

They came to the steps, where a checkpoint area had been set up. They were cleared, and headed into the castle. In the main hall were the two princesses, Celestia and Luna, but no Twilight Sparkle.

"Shining Armor! Why have you brought these fiends into our sacred castle! I demand you take them out!"

"Well excuse me, PRINCESS, but some of us are trying to save the world. Tell me, where is Twilight?"

Luna grinned slyly.

"She's with Cadence."

Shining Armor began to look around. His face began to darken, as if he'd lost something dear to him.

"Where is Cadence anyways? She told me she'd be waiting here for my return. She always keeps her promises to me, and I was just about to get off my shift too."

Luna frowned at this information.

"Sister, where did you take our friend Cadence?"

Celestia looked afraid. Quickly regaining her composure, she spoke to them all.

"I must go now, I have a place to be, and it's extremely important that I not be late. Many lives depend upon it."

And with that, she took off through the broken roof, and away.

"Something's not right here."

Sigma looked to Lambda with a sarcastic expression.

"You don't say."

"I do say."

Lambda stuck her tongue out at Sigma.

"Hey! Can we stop acting like foals here. It's clear something isn't right, but you clearly know something more than us. Now from what I heard you interrogating that raider, the 'Factory' is still in operation. Now I'm getting the feeling you know something about that wretched place, or imagine something about it, that we don't. What is it?"

"We'll tell you when we confirm it. For now, I think we'll see if any of those who still are here, want to join us."

"Well, just make's it easier to defend this place."

"Yes, it also mean less ponies to govern. We can gather everypony int the area in front of the castle."

About an hour later, all the ponies that were going to show up did. Standing  before them all were the Guard Captain, Princess Luna, and the two siblings.

"Citizens of Canterlot! We gather you here this day, for we have an offer for you!"

"We have two representatives from the Ponyville survivor's camp, here to offer you a new home."

The two created a small gap, and behind them came out Sigma and Lambda.

"Who is willing to join us, in the Everfree forest?"

"It's completely safe, and secluded. You'll have to share your space with another pony, however."

The crowd remained silent.

"No takers? Best offer you'll receive in your life times."

"It's your choices, not ours. So be it."

The two began to walk away, when a yell was heard.

"WAIT!"

The looked back, to find a blue-ish mare was rushing through the crowd. When she emerged, they could see who it was. They recognized her as Trixie. They sighed.

"The great and powerful Trixie would like to accompany you back to the Everfree forest. The ponies here do not appreciate Trixie's talents like she thought they would."

"Fine, follow us."

With no other citizens following besides the self-proclaimed "The Great and Powerful" Trixie in tow, the walked towards the Everfree Forest.

"Night encroaches. Sister, set up the barrier."

"Alright, give me a second."

Similar to how they walked through the forest the previous day, the group walked in a radiant field of light, surrounded by a light shield. Trixie stood for a second, partly in awe, partly in displeasure at their powers.

"How did you do that? No pony could do that except a unicorn, Trixie want to know!"

"I like to call it,"

Sigma paused for dramatic effect. Then made a rainbow and in it had the word "Magic" in black.

"Magic." 

Trixie sighed, and asked no more questions, understanding that she'd get no answers from these two. They continued through the forest, suddenly a low roar could be heard, mechanical in nature. They looked back from where they'd come from, and over head flew an C-130. They all were surprised and confused by the sudden appearance of it.

"What is that monstrosity? Is it dangerous?"

"How is that possible?! These ponies haven't the technology to build regular biplanes, let alone a fully fledged cargo plane!"

"Sigma, you don't think it could be-?"

"It must be, but how did they find us?"

"Who are you fools talking about?"

Before they could answer, they were teleported out of the forest. They appeared in the cargo bay of the aircraft, and on the seats were Echo and Jules.

"Sigma! Lambda! So glad to see you again."

"Echo! Jules! What are you doing here."

They all hugged, and sat down.

"We're good. Sigma, have you given your sister the news?"

"I forgot. Shall we tell her now?"

"Tell me what? What's going on?"

"Daughter dearest, it seems as though we are running out of time, and are to die soon."

"Okay, can we stop it?"

"No, my niece, for we have forgotten to die to many times, thus this will be our final death. Don't worry, we have the most glorious plan to die honorably."

"Yes, he know of the Rainbow Factory built here, and are heading to the camp you two set up to interrogate Ms. Dash."

Lambda slapped Sigma's arm.

"That kind of hurt. Why would you do such a thing?"

"Because you didn't tell me they were dying!"

"Sorry, but I was busy saving your life."

"You and I both know we're too over powered to die."

"Well, that's not entirely true, and you know it. We'll die eventually, and another set of us from another dimension will take our place in the event of our demise, though I suppose we are really hard to kill."

"Anyways, we'll drop over the camp. Any questions?"

"Yeah, what about Trixie?"

"She'll be fine, we placed a mobile light barrier around her, it'll protect her well enough. If it doesn't, it'll be one less arrogant unicorn in the world."

Echo and Sigma shard a laugh. Lambda and Jules weren't so amused on the other hand, but didn't say anything.
> New Ponyville
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter Five: Day Two: Fifty Hours Remaining


Still flying around in the olive green cargo plane, Echo and family continue flying through the immense forest towards, "New Ponyville" as best they could name it. Discussing various issues they felt were wrong with the world, playing games, so on and so forth. They began to approach the air space of the base-like camp.

"You know, another thing I find wrong with our old planet? You buy things you didn't need, with money you don't have, to impress people that you don't like. It's ridiculous."

"Yeah, it's a real shame Jules, but look, try not to bring our problems to the ponies down there, alright."

"I'll see if I can't try my best."

"Good, we're nearly over the drop zone, get to the cargo bay door."

They all huddled around the giant doors to the back of the C-130, it was dark, except for a red light next to a set of switches.

"Are we just going to drop?"

"That's the plan, yes."

"Seems fun, sure we won't land on any civilians?"

"We're ponies, Sigma, not tanks."

"What's the difference, we're built like them."

"A tank has a larger- You know what never mind."

The light turned green, Echo pressed a button, and the cargo bay door opened. Echo then proceeded to tackled Sigma out of the plane, and the rest of the family followed close behind. Jules yelled something inaudible, but it sounded like something related to famous last words related to jumping. They fell through the night sky, the sun just inches from the horizon, producing nearly invisible rays of dim, yellow light. None of the ponies were around and about, most likely because it was so early. When they'd all landed, they set off towards the large, multicolored house at the end of the path. Walking in, they heard a commotion coming from the "Honesty" wing of the house. They walked into the kitchen, and saw Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Applejack, Big Macintosh, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and a completely unharmed looking Rainbow Dash. Sigma flashed for a second, and in his place stood a human, but not his original human figure, but  man in a blue suit with black hedgehog style hair. Lambda, Jules, and Echo took a step back, and seemed to fade into the background.

"So, Rainbow Dash, you're back?"

A similar effect had taken place on the other group talking, and in the foreground stood the rainbow maned mare.

"Yeah, I've been here for a while. Where'd you go?"

"That should not concern you. What should concern you is my curiosity. You flew through a window at approximately fifty miles an hour, most likely broke your ear drums from the sound, and should be lying dead in a grave from blood loss. How are you standing here?"

"Well, none of that happened, you must've imagined it."

"I didn't imagine it, and here's my proof-"

He slammed his hands flat upon the kitchen island with great gusto, and exclaimed loudly two words.

"TAKE THAT! It happened, and I can confirm it because of the blood on Big Macintosh's bed, and in the hallway that the event occurred."

Rainbow Dash's face was shocked, but she quickly regained her composure.

"Okay, so what if it did happen, I-I'm a quick healer."

"That wouldn't matter, and the reason is-"

This time he pointed his index finger with excited power, before exclaiming the words again.

"TAKE THAT! No mortal being could survive such a thing, and it nearly killed me."

Rainbow Dash was beginning to become even more worried looking, and when she regained her composure, she was still frazzled looking.

"O-Okay, I got help from-from Nurse Red Heart! Yes, that's it, Nurse Red Heart helped me back to health."

"That's a lie, and I can prove that because-"

With no special gestures, just hands at his hips, he announced the reason.

"There were no tracks of blood towards any of the houses, however there were some headed out the forest."

Rainbow Dash appeared as though she'd been defeated, head hanging, and she let out a deep sigh.

"Alright, so I got hurt, I didn't get healed by anypony here. What do you think happened?"

"What I think happened is that you are a member, if not the leader, of the dreaded 'Rainbow Factory' and that you sent out a distress call to your allies to come pick you up and get you the special attention you needed to become fully healed once more."

Rainbow Dash looked up to Sigma, and then the others came into view once more. They'd all heard the argument.

"Yes, it's true. It's all true."

Then suddenly Rainbow Dash's face cracked a smile. It wasn't a happy one either, but one of madness. The quickly grabbed a knife off the counter, and lunged at Sigma. Sigma dodged, and she tripped. Echo and Jules tackled the fallen cyan pegasus.

"Freeze criminal scum! You've violated the law!"

Rainbow Dash struggled, to no avail. The duo pinned her down like a lion pins a gazelle.

"What law! This is the apocalypse, there is no law!"

"The intergalactic police say otherwise!"

"What are you talking about? And get off me!"

They got off of Rainbow Dash's back, and placed cuffs around her hooves and wings.

"Hey! What's the big idea, huh? Get these stupid cuffs off of me!"

"Not until you disclose the location of the 'Rainbow Factory', little miss-y."

"I have no idea where it is!"

"LIAR! YOU RUN THE PLACE! How do you not know where it is?"

"It was in Cloudsdale before, then when Lambda knocked it out of the sky, it changed positions!"

"And you didn't bother to check where you landed?"

"No, because it was a nuclear wasteland, and the hazmat suits were still in Cloudsdale being cleaned."

Sigma began to chuckle.

"Man, your awful, you know that?"

They all looked to Sigma.

"First you nearly die, then you comeback, thinking we wouldn't ask questions. Then you try to lie to my face about this entire thing, and assume you can simple just kill me. And now we've discovered that the place you run is in the middle of some glassed wasteland, and you can't even remember where it fell. Geez, can this day get any better?"

A knock is heard at the door, in an erratic pinging sound.

"You guys stay here, I got the door. You're in charge Sigma."

Echo walked over to the door, and opened it, then slowly closed it again.

"Sigma, you jinxed us."

"Come again? I did what now?"

"Just look out the door real quick."

Sigma looked to Lambda, she shrugged. Sigma jogged over to the door and opened it. Standing there was a bulky, blue steel colored robot. It had visor-like eye, that appeared to be scanning the entry way. Sigma slowly closed the door.

"So I did, so I did. What should we do about it?"

"I assume it's intelligent, or has programmed responses at least."

"Lambda, would you be so kind as to come over here for a second, bring Jules too."

And so they walked over, opened the door, saw the robot, and closed it.

"What are we going to do about it?"

"Why don't you try talking to it Lambda, you are the best with responsive beings."

"That's one way to put it, sure, but what am I asking it?"

"How about, 'To leave', sounds solid."

"Like his fists, now here's a better thing to ask, 'why are you here.' because that's less likely to aggravate it."

"It's a robot, Sigma, it's very hard to aggravate a robot."

"You'd be surprised, Lambda."

"Anyways, just ask it why it's here."

Lambda nodded, and opened the door. When she did, a commotion could be heard coming from the kitchen, where they'd left all they're allies. The robot also appeared to be gone.

"The stupid robots gone."

"Jules, go check around outside for the robot, me and Sigma will handle the kitchen."

"Yes sir!"

Jules and Lambda ran out the door to look for the elusive robot, as Echo and Sigma raced to the kitchen to see the commotion. When they got there, they saw a bloody floor with Big Macintosh laying upon it.

"Ah man, come on Echo, let's patch him up. Deal with the insane pegasus later."

"Alright, I'll see if I can't locate some bandages and pain killer. In the walls right?"

'Yeah, check around. Might still be some in Big Macintosh's room where you gave it to me."

Echo began to feel along the wall for hidden cabinets and drawers. Sigma lifted the, now more blood red, stallion onto the kitchen island and began to examine the wounds.

"He got it bad. I'd say Dash broke the chains and began to assault them. Mac here probably tried to be the hero and took the frontal. I suppose there's a reason I occasionally hear the name 'Red Rainbow' Dash, not very merciful."

"I can't seem to find any secret openings in here."

"Well hurry up, go check his room, it's the one with the giant green apple on it."

Echo ran out of the room and up the stairs. Sigma, who had been in his pony form since he'd gotten onto the plane, changed into his human form. He patted the dying horse.

"You'll live, trust me. If seen worse, and still managed."

Big Macintosh started to cough vigorously. It nearly caused him to fall off the table. Sigma caught him before he rolled off.

'Woah there, come on, easy now, you'll live for now."

"Sig-Sigma. You've got to go."

"Save your breath there friend, we can go together, soon as you're fixed up. Echo! What are you doing up there! Hurry up!"

"Not- Not enough time- Family- Factory-"

"Calm down. We got time, odds are the factory isn't in fully functioning condition, if they can't even figure out where they are."

Sigma gritted his teeth. Looked to the stairs, then to Big Macintosh.

"Alright. This is going to burn. A lot, but it'll get you back on your hooves, got it."

Big Mac managed a nod, however very shaky. Sigma place one hand on the ponies neck, and the other on a gash in the hind leg. The room went dark, except for a fiery orange glow coming from Sigma's hands and eyes. The glowing intensified, and flames began to protrude out from under Sigma's hands. Big Macintosh began to whimper, then the room returned to it's previously lighted state, and Sigma removed his hands from Big Macintosh. Any wounds that were there previously were now gone, but left behind a scar. Also, any blood on Big Macintosh's body not became a color similar to charcoal, which was to say, the majority of his body. Sigma fell back onto the bloody floor, sitting against the wall. He was coughing up ash and soot.

"Go- Find Echo, he's upstairs. I don't think I'll be walking out of here."

"Eeyup."

Big Macintosh rolled off the counter onto his hooves, and ran up the stairs. Sigma fell asleep. When he woke, he found himself still on the ground, except more ash had covered him. In the doorway to the stairs stood Echo.

"Come on, we got a job to do."
> Second Opinions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter Six: Day Three: Forty Four Hours Remain


Sitting in the ash and the soot, Sigma laughed. Echo, hearing his son's deep voiced chuckling, couldn't help but grin.

"What's so funny, boy?"

"You can't let the dead rest, can you?"

"Well, first off, you're not dead. Secondly, you clearly need some kind of clean off. You look like you're a living volcano, covered in all that ash."

"Can I get a second opinion?"

A voice came from the doorway out to the hall.

"You're ugly too."

"Love you too, Jules. How long was I out?"

Echo checked his imaginary watch.

"I'd say, about thirty minutes, or so. Big Mac wasn't using many words when he came up to me, so I had to guess what the problem was."

"Say, speaking of him, where is he?"

"He's outside with Lambda, talking to the robot."

"So you found him, what's he doing here?"

"Trying to prevent us from leaving."

"Really? Has he seen how over powered we can be? I mean seriously, Lambda made this entire village, with just her mind, and the surrounding woods. I can generate floating orbs of light from thin air. Echo's the living bass cannon, and you Jules, are the power cord to it."

"Insanity, isn't it?"

"Who, us or the world?"

"Doesn't matter, let's take care of the robot."

"Who sent it? Anyone I know?"

"No one special, just the silly thing that gave us these powers."

"I thought you two were born like that?"

"It's an awkward story, best saved for a day we won't tempt fate on, okay."

"Alright, best go to Lambda."

Sigma tried to stand, but found his legs were fully asleep. Echo walked over to him, and looked down. Sigma held out his hands like a little kid would if he wanted to ride on your shoulders. Echo grabbed his hands and threw him over his shoulder and casually strolled out of the room, to the door, and then out to the courtyard. Outside the robot looked even bigger, and ready for a fight. It's metal fists were clenched, and a strange whirring sound was being emitted too. It's scanner was fixed on Lambda, then it looked at Echo and Sigma and pointed a large steel finger at them.

"You!"

It's voice was crackling with electricity. There was such a limited amount of emotion in it, that it nearly sounded opposite of what it clearly did feel, which from the giant metal finger and increased whizzing sound, was most likely anger.

"Me!"

"The bane of my master's existence!"

"Finally got free of our entrapment I see."

"Yes, and now he sent me to make sure you cannot do it again."

"What are you going to do? Kill me?"

"No, just trap you in this dimension."

"Jules, take Sigma."

Jules took Sigma off of Echo's shoulder. Echo walked up to the gargantuan robot.

"Do you really think you can do that?"

"Yes. Our master-"

"He. Is. Not. My. Master. Anymore!"

"You own him a debt."

"I owe him nothing!"

"You don't deserve your powers."

"At least I use them as righteously as possible."

"That's not why he gave them to you."

"I know why he gave them to me, but he can find someone else to do his dirty work."

"He can't, you're the only one current;y possible of such a task, until every version of you is deleted."

"Which can never happen now, can't it."

"According to my database, this is the last time you will die."

"But others will live on, not here, but in other dimensions."

"All he needs is for enough of you to die, and you are enough."

"Well I am dying in a time previous to my actually having lived, so you're master is going to have to wait a very long time."

"But you are dying now. Time is irrelevant, so long as you die, he will get what is rightfully his."

"So why do you have to be here to prevent me from leaving?"

"Because he doesn't want intervention from others."

"Like who?"

"Unknown."

"Unknown? What do you mean unknown? How can you prevent something from happening if you don't even know what to look for?"

"Orders dictate to prevent others from coming in and/or out of the door. No further instructions."

"Well you are a sheep, and you're very close to the edge of a cliff."

"What are you going to do about it, punk?"

"Is that some kind of challenge?"

"I'm indestructible, what do you think you can do to me?"

"Destroy you."

The robot began to laugh. The laugh sounded like grinding gears, and was loud. Suddenly, the robot vanished, and Echo stood there, looking proud.

"I take it you destroyed him."

"Quite easily, if you ask me."

"I thought he said he was indestructible?"

"I guess I missed that part. Let's get moving, we got to find the 'Rainbow Factory' and deal with the mess."

"I guess we're going on foot?"

"Yeah, and it's probably way out there."

"Can't we just teleport out there?"

"Not unless you know where we're going."

"It's going to be boring."

"I've got time to kill. Rather, 'til I'll be killed."

"I don't want to walk that far."

"It could be just over the hill."

"That'll put me over the hill."

"Shut up and get moving, I'm done arguing."

"Alright, alright. Which direction?"

"Westward!"

Echo, Sigma, and Jules headed to the west of the forest. Lambda stayed back for a second to talk with Big Macintosh.

"Will you be accompanying us Big Mac?"

"Nope."

"Alright, good luck. We'll be back with everyone."

"Thank you."

Big Macintosh nodded, and Lambda performed a quick bow and chased after her family. Big Macintosh walked back to the house, and into the kitchen. He noticed that his sister's favorite hat was on the island, soot and blood free. He smiled. When Lambda finally caught up with the others, she set up the light barrier.

"Reassured a hopeless guy?"

"That's a way to put it, yes."

"Maybe you are the good child."

"You're not half bad yourself."

Sigma looked to the withered canopy and sighed.

"This is going to be the longest trip of my life."

"Only if you die in the factory too. You may encounter longer trips in the future."

"Okay, this is the longest trip of my life, at the moment."

"Longest distance or time wise?"

"Either."

"Well firstly, we've barely left the town, and secondly, time is irrelevant when used for counting."

"You are a horrible person."

"I may be, but you are leaving yourself to be taunted will this negative attitude."

Sigma groaned and pushed on in silence. The forest to the west was significantly thicker then other part of the forest. By noon, they'd cleared the forest, and were in a kind of desert plain. Lambda walked out and looked around.

"It's like we just stepped out of an oasis, the sheer lack of trees."

"Anyone else going to mention the clouds in the distance?"

Jules had pointed to the sky, and in it were clouds that appeared to be rain clouds. Rain clouds in a wasteland however, were not a welcoming sight. Green-ish lightning flashed in the clouds, and the wind became furious. The desert wasteland was not completely plains however, and a mountain was close by. The group rushed towards the mountain for cover against the acid rain. In the mountain was carved out a passage, and there they took shelter.

"Blasted wasteland. How did ponies figure out nuclear power?"

"Well it wasn't them that were fighting, you know that right?"

"It wasn't? Who was it then?"

"It was our current universe counter-parts."

"Oh that right, of course we're in a universe that already has you two in it. That doesn't explain why you glassed this place."

"We got angry at each other, and it turned into something like Superman would do. Destroy entire towns to defeat a boss."

"Well I just hope they don't start fighting anytime soon."

"Why? Are you afraid we couldn't defeat them?"

"No, just that we have a job here, and their fighting would interfere with it."

"Anyone know when this rain is going to stop?"

"I don't know, why do you step outside and check where the clouds are?"

"Because I would prefer not to get my face burnt off, thank you very much."

The clouds were almost never ending in their downpour of rain. The group would have had a problem with it, if it didn't cause a large hole to be melted in the area in front of the cave.

"This rain! It's really getting on my nerves!"

"Calm down Sigma, it'll end. Nothing lasts forever, and you know it."

"Can I get a second opinion on that, for the sake of me living forever?"

"You've already used your daily second opinion."

"Curse my wastefulness! Lambda, can you do something about those clouds?"

"No, I can manipulate light, not clouds."

"Can't you blast the clouds away Echo?"

"I could, but I don't want to."

"And I don't want to sit here while my friends are dying and being killed!"

"They aren't, trust me. That factory couldn't be working under nuclear apocalypse conditions."

"What makes you so certain?"

"Because this place isn't actually glass. If these ponies developed nuclear technology, then the 'Rainbow Factory' would be the first to utilize it, and defend against it. Only some kind of nuclear event could have caused this, really. Nothing else would explain the acid rain either. There's also a lack of rainbows in the sky as you can clearly see, and those clouds aren't rainbow colored."

Sigma considered this information as the stormed raged on. Thunder and lightning occurred outside while he thought.

"I suppose you have a point. Fine, but I still hate being in one place for too long when I have friends in need."

"I can understand that, which is why I am proud to call you my son. Now rest, time always passes faster when you sleep, trust me. I've had entire days pass, because I napped."

"Alright, just wake me up before you decide to leave, I don't want to walk across a desert alone."

"You can trust me, you'll be fine. Now rest."

With that, Sigma snapped his fingers and a bed appeared. He got into it and slept. When Echo woke him, it was night time and the acid rain had turned the majority of the sand to acid slush. Sigma rubbed his eyes and got out of the bed.

"That storm took it's time."

"We were going to leave a couple of time because the rain had stopped, but then it would start back up again second later."

"That's why you always got to check the clouds. It can't rain if there's no rain clouds."

"You'd be amazed at what mother nature can pull off. I mean think about it, the weather is traditionally controlled by the pegasus, but acid clouds are untouchable by them, and only true pegasus can effect the clouds."

"You got a point there, those clouds were not being controlled by traditional means."

"It's like the whole world has become the Everfree forest, in the sense that you don't have to control the weather."

"Enough philosophy, time to get this show on the road."

"The show must go on."

So they left the cave. The sand had created a maze around the cave and further. They continued west, weaving along the twisted sand path, laid out for them by the acid. They saw a large dune in the sand after awhile of playing a balancing act. the dune was made of sandstone, and hadn't been effected by the rain, as far as they could tell. They climb over the top, and saw a ruined, burnt out, old factory. It was a plain looking square steel building. It had three smoke stacks, one of which was broken. A large cargo bay door, slightly unhinged. Also a smaller square section, most likely as a kinder front to what truely went on behind the scenes.

"Sigma, Lambda, I give you-"

Pause for dramatic effect.

"The 'Rainbow Factory' and all in apocalyptic glory."

"How much longer do we have until you're actually supposed to die?"

Echo twirled his finger in the air. The night suddenly turned to day, then back to night.

"A few hours."

"Couldn't have done that before?"

"I wanted to find the factory before I got ahead of myself. Now, let's go say hello."

The family began to walk towards the factory. They discussed a plan of action.

"We'll blow up the cargo bay door. If they assault us we'll take cover. Sigma and Lambda, go through the front entrance and flank around catch them in the cross fire."

They made it to the factory cargo bay door. Echo and Jules began to place explosives  around the door in various places. Sigma and Lambda did as Echo said and went around to the front. They waited until Echo and Jules announced their arrival, and walked in. The main lobby looked innocent with white walls, and vats of unfinished rainbow liquid. The entire lobby was abandoned. Sigma jumped behind a counter and found a button labeled 'Emergency' and pressed it. The wall behind him was fairly generic besides the words 'Weather Control Factory' which quickly turned into a large rack of weapons. From spears and axes, to pistols and machine guns.

"Pick your poison, sister."

"I like that aqua-camouflage marksman rifle."

So Sigma jumped onto the rack and threw to her the rifle and a bag of ammunition for it. He grabbed two small sub-machine guns, some ammo, and a Claymore sword.

"I think I hear it whispering to me. I think it wants heads."

"You going to grab a tower shield to, think I see one hidden in a slot there."

Lambda joined Sigma on the racks and grabbed a vertical rack, pulling it out revealed a large assortment of shield types. There was classic bucklers, kite shields, shields that you wore like a gauntlet, and Sigma's favorite, the tower shield. He grabbed a gray one with intricate golden patterns on it.

"We should get moving, I don't hear guns or other fighting, but they might be in trouble."

Sigma took point. They jogged through a pair of double doors next to the receptionist's area where they got the weapons. Through a hall they went, and into another set of doors into the processing area where the rainbows were brought together in their liquid forms, before being finalized into a vapor to be released into the air. Along the right side wall was a staircase into the upper floors of the main factory floor.

"Come on, that's where we'll find Echo and Jules."

"Following, lead the way."

Up the stairs they ran. When they came through the doors they were on the top most scaffolding. The place smelled of the rotting dead and motor oil. It was choking Lambda, but Sigma appeared unaffected by the putrid stench. Sigma handed his sister a gas mask. She put it on and stopped gagging. They walked over to the ledge and looked out onto the factory floor. Down there was their father and uncle in front of a gaping hole they'd made. Immediately below them on some lower scaffolding was a shocking sight. The fair princess of the sun herself, Princess Celestia. She hadn't noticed them, none of the robotic workers had either. Only Echo and Jules had expected them, and saw them up there. Celestia was talking in monologue, mostly about how she had trapped these pests, and that they would meet with a terrible fate, along with their friends, etcetera. Suddenly, Echo commanded attention with his enhanced voice.

"Celestia! Would you kindly shut up! I came here to liberate the damned, not to listen to you talk endlessly. I just have to do something really quick, then I will end your miserable life."

"What would that be?"

From the shadows came a figure who struck Echo in the back with a blade. Their father dropped, only to reveal that the assassin was Echo. He dragged the body to that wall. With his last breaths, the body against the wall yelled to the heavens above.

"All I needed was to die! Does that satisfy your needs?"

And with that, the body slumped to the side, lifeless. Jules looked to his brother, and said in a barely audible tone.

"Godspeed you inglorious son of a gun."

The living Echo collected the weapons off of his dead body, and walked next to his brother. Then another figure dropped down from the rafters onto the other side of Echo. It was another Jules. They were all talking inaudibly, but while they did so, Lambda was restraining Sigma from leaping over the edge to mourn their father's death. Having wrestled him onto the ground, waiting for the fighting to begin, Lambda waited for the fire fight to begin. They heard banging on the balcony below.

"Quiet insolent colts! Your treason against your princess will be punished to the highest degree! Servants, kill them!"

"Bang, bang, bang, bang!"

Sigma and Lambda rushed to the ledge and aimed down.

"Vamanos, vamanos!"

Celestia head whipped around to spot the duo on the rafters above jumping down. She quickly began to hurry through a set of doors behind her. Sigma and Lambda would have followed her, but they were preoccupied by deadly robots with lasers and saw hands. There was about twenty robots on the factory floor, and they piled in through doorways and skylights. There didn't seem to be a living soul around, just the robots and the family fighting them. Two hours and approximately two thousand robots later, the fight was over. The original Jules called from the factory floor to the siblings on the second story scaffolding.

"Bang, bang bang!"

"Vamanos, vamanos!"

"Where did Celestia go?"

"Somewhere up here, let's go."

A fire escape type ladder was dropped to the group on the ground level. They climbed up and everyone went through the doors into a darkened area. Sigma produced one of his light orbs, and they continued to walk through the hallway. It was a narrow concrete corridor, so narrow in fact, that they had to walk single file.

"I don't like this. It's quiet, too quiet, the kind of quiet that kills."

"I don't like this darkness, it's the kind of darkness that death lurks around in."

"I don't like this hallway, it's too narrow. It's smaller than the hallway in a shotgun shack."

"Would everyone just be quiet, you're all going to jinx us."

They continued down the hall in silence. At the end was a white door. When they walked through the door, they discovered the place where they keep those who must wait for their fates. In large bird cages sat the rotting dead and dying. They all became effected by the scent in the air, except for Sigma. Sigma handed out gas masks for them so they'd be able to pay attention to the task at hand.

"Check the cages, we've got friends in need."

Sigma generated orbs for everyone and passed them out. They spread out amongst the cages. The room was enormous, however the cages only lined the bottom of the room. Abruptly, Celestia's voice shattered the silence with a deranged laughter.

"You'll never find them in time. I finally have the factory working again, and you can't stop me this time!"

"You won't get away with this you fiend!"

"But I already have, check the factory floor yourself and say goodbye to your friend!"

"Jules-es, check for any survivors and evacuate them! Lambda, Sigma, factory floor now!"

Sigma generated ten more light orbs and threw them into the air for the Jules clones. Running back through the narrow hallway, they came out into the factory floor. Two large pits had opened up in their absence. A conveyor belt ran to each one, and at the bottom of each vat was acid. Platforms appeared to prevent one from immediately falling into the acid, but they didn't look like they were meant to be your true saviors. A multitude of needles surrounded each platform and were connected to a larger vat in the corner of the room closest to the smaller section of the factory. On the conveyor belts were strapped their friends, including the lost Twilight Sparkle. They were all crying for help. Echo shouted a single word that reverberated through the entire facility.

"Stop!"

And everything did. Time had stopped for the world around Echo. Everyone and everything was immobile. He looked around at what he had done. On of his lesser used abilities, the ability to absolutely halt time. He jumped down to the conveyor belts and broke the mechanism that caused them to move. He continued to unbind his friends from their restraints. Further back along one of the conveyor belts was strapped the poor, misguided Rainbow Dash. Like his other friends, he showed his  mercy and released her. He dragged her off the belt and hoof cuffed her himself and threw her next to his dead body. When he finished with the releasing of his friends, he put them on the balcony next to him and his children.

"Start!"

The world returned to it's regular time. Twilight and friends continued to scream, until they realized they were no longer in danger, and began to look around. Twilight was the first to recover from her astonishment.

"How the- How'd I get here? I was just about to be killed, and-"

"Your safe now. Was there any other survivors before you were brought to the conveyor belts?"

"One, maybe two. They were in poor condition. Did you save us?"

"Yes, I did. You'll be fine for now, my son and daughter will take you to 'New Ponyville' back in the 'Everfree Forest' with your friends here."

Dazed and confused, Twilight nodded. Sigma and Lambda stepped forward and bowed. While Sigma and Lambda prepared their friends for the journey ahead, the Jules came out of the narrow hallway with ponies in tow.

"Lambda! We need you over here now!"

"What is it?"

"We got a couple of survivors, but they're not doing so hot. You'll need to restore them quickly, or else they'll never make it out of here alive."

"Got it, put them down and clear the area. I need room to work."

The Jules set them down on a large table they'd produced from the surrounding air. They all stepped back as Lambda began to work her powers. She put a hand on each pony, and produced a greenish glow from them. She was having to strain because normally she would need both hands or hooves on the target in order from the regeneration process to work properly. When she finished, she staggered backwards and fell against the railing. The two ponies were rustling on the table, still unconscious but stable. Twilight stepped forward.

"I feel as if I know these ponies."

"You could. I tend to find that if you are friends with someone in a close dimension, but not in one like this, then you recognize them. It's inexplicable, but it's always fun to see people get confused when I appear randomly and think they know me."

"Do you recognize them?"

Echo looked at the two stallions. One was like a winter camouflage coat, white and grey. His eye were closed, tightly. His hair was a mess, and his tail was cut short, but unevenly. He was strange because even being about as old as Twilight or her friends, he still hadn't obtained a cutie mark, but it was a disturbed area. Like he had one, but he had willed it away. The second one was like a brick. His hair was like some kind of Egyptian crown, how it was prepared. His eyes were shut, but only lightly. He was clearly a unicorn, and appeared to be a master of explosives or some kind of thing according to his cutie mark.

"I know them, yes. Old friends of mine. They'd always get into trouble. Never could go anywhere with them, but nowhere was fun without them."

"Do they have names?"

"Sure, of course they do."

"Will you tell me?"

"There's a time and place for everything, but not now."

"Can I get a second opinion."

"You're also insane."

"Ha ha ha, very funny. Why won't you tell me their names?"

"Because they don't belong here, and to know what doesn't belong, is to not belong."

"That doesn't make any sense, what so ever."

"Well it's not my job to make sense, just to make use of my abilities. For better or for worse."

Lambda had recovered and stood.

"For those who suffer."

Sigma joined the circle that was being formed around Twilight and the two ponies.

"And those who damage."

And in unison, the Jules spoke.

"From the darkness we rise."

The family spoke in total unison, as if they were one person.

"And to the light we will guide."

Then one of the Jules stabbed the other and shoved him over the railing to his death. No one said anything about it. Echo and Jules rigged the place with explosives, and sent Sigma and Lambda back to the village with their friends, and their dead father and uncle. Shortly after the factory left their sight, Echo and Jules teleported to them.

"The parties about to start, Rainbow Dash, you want to light the fireworks. The start of a new leaf."

Echo held out a explosives trigger to Rainbow Dash. Her face was of sad surprise, as if she hadn't expected to be shown such actions. The group had stopped. Rainbow Dash took the trigger. They all looked back as Rainbow Dash hit the trigger mechanism. It took a few seconds, then an explosion engulfed the skies where the 'Rainbow Factory' used to be. Echo hadn't lied either, there were fireworks going off. It was a display to be seen from nearly anywhere. It was most visible in 'New Ponyville'. Big Macintosh had been looking out the window, hoping his family was alright. Suddenly, a large mushroom cloud appeared over the horizon, accompanied by colorful explosions. He rushed outside to get a better view of it. He'd seen the strange family walk off in that direction. Back in the desert wastelands, everyone was cheering. They would no longer have to deal with the death and murder that was the dreaded 'Rainbow Factory'.

"So did you just produce the fireworks, or did you actually make them?"

"We used up the liquid rainbows and coated the gun power in it."

"How did you make them explode into non-circular patterns?"

"That's a secret to everyone."

"You and your secrets. They annoy me because they seem so minor."

"Even the smallest ant, can hurt the most."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means, that if I told you something you thought was minor, or insignificant, then it would hurt you in ways you wouldn't like."

"Oh, I didn't realize."

"No one ever does. Everyone always overlooks the important stuff and sees it as minor."

For a few seconds, they were all quiet. Then Echo began heading back east, and everyone followed. For the next hour everyone was silent, not a peep. Not even from Pinkie Pie, the only one who would have tried to break the silence and awkwardness. When they emerged from the forest, it was noon with heavy overcast. From the looks of it, everyone was in their houses. The group headed for the large house, and went inside. Big Macintosh was sitting in the kitchen, and there was ten plates on the island with apple based foods of varying types.

"So I take it you saw the explosion?"

"Eeyup."

"Big Mac! I thought I'd never see you again!"

Applejack, and Apple Bloom hugged Big Macintosh. Rainbow Dash stood there confused. She looked from Big Macintosh, to all the others in the room. She looked down, and began to walk away.