Twilight Sparkle: Princess, Alicorn, Friend. But Ms. Sparkle has made a terrible choice, one she's had to live with, but now she has to save the multiverse. Even if it kills her. (Based on Bioshock Infinite)
Twilight has always had the best intentions, and her life has been fairly decent. A few hiccups here and there, a falling out with Celestia, but she still has her friends. All four of them. There's a strange marking on her hoof, but with her cider habit, who knows where it came from? Her main problem was her debts, a problem that may well be on it's way to being solved, thanks to Pinkie Pie and her Twin Brother. They just have one condition, Twilight has to bring them a certain mare, from a certain city, high above the clouds...
“Constants and Variables. There will always be a Mare. There will always be a Lighthouse. And there will always be a City.”
-Unknown Scholar, Date Unknown
Twilight Sparkle’s life was not a peaceful one. Not a week went by without something going wrong, or somepony getting themselves in mortal danger. Becoming a Princess hadn’t made her workload any lighter, not that she’d expected that to happen, but at least Paperwork hadn’t tried to kill her… yet.
The Alicorn was truly at home surrounded by quills and papers, and as she filled out the millionth legal form, signing it with her usual flowing script, she inhaled deeply, absorbing the smell of fresh ink and parchment. There was just one thing out of place. Alongside the smell of paper and ink, there was a sweeter smell. A familiar smell, one of cotton candy and fresh baked cakes, and it’s appearance usually preceded one thing: A visit from Pinkie Pie. Twilight wondered if she’d found something as she gave a brief look to the marking carved into her hoof.
Wanting to meet her excitable friend at the door, Twilight rose from behind her desk and crossed the Library’s main room to the front door, pulling it open and coming snout to snout with Applejack, who bore a semiconscious Pinkie Pie upon her back as a worried-looking Rainbow Dash hovered just overhead.
“Applejack?” Started Twilight, peering around her friend to look at Pinkie. “What’s going on? Why are you carrying Pinkie around like that? Was there an accident?”
“That’s just it, Twi.” Applejack began, crossing the threshold and laying Pinkie on a nearby table. “We have no idea what’s goin’ on with Pinkie.”
Hasn’t stopped any of us before. Twilight snarked internally.
“Yeah,” Piped up Rainbow Dash, worry tinging her usually confident voice. “Applejack and Pinkie were helping me look for… you know who, and she just collapsed!” her voice caught. “...Um… she also started mumbling some things, weird things, weirder than usual.”
“What was she saying?” Twilight asked, her horn igniting and summoning a few books from a shelf she’d mentally labeled ‘The Pinkie Shelf’.
“Ah dunno Twi.” Applejack continued, “somethin’ about doors, and somethin’ breakin’?”
Almost as if on cue, Pinkie sat up ramrod straight and stared directly at, no, through Twilight. It was the first good look she’d had at the pony since AJ had laid her on the table. Her mane was flat and lifeless, her eyes darted around occasionally, as if looking at or for something the others couldn’t see. “The Doors, Twilight. I can see all the Doors. All of the constants, all of the variables. It’s all falling apart. Bleeding into everythingness. The Doors, Twilight, you need to fix the doors!”
“Pinkie…” Twilight began, shocked. She’d never heard the pink pony talk like this, and to be honest, it was scaring her. “What’s going on with you? Is your Pinkie Sense acting up?” The Alicorn flicked through the books she’d gathered, historical reports on ponies that had acted similar to Pinkie, and Twilight’s own notes on her friends mysterious powers, but nothing seemed to match up.
“I’m dying Twilight. Eight of me will already be dead, three more merged into one. Eleven on the brink of madness or sanity! It’s all collapsing, the Doors are falling apart, collapsing into one another, bringing me down with it! Only you can fix it Twilight! You need to find the Twins!”
“The Twins?” Twilight was flabbergasted. This was entirely over her head. “Who are the twins?”
“They’re the source! Somepony’s changing the entirety of existence, and they know how to stop them! You gotta go beyond the wall, Twilight! You might have trouble remembering things, but they’ll help you.” Pinkie grabbed Twilight’s face in her hooves and looked her dead in the eye. “Trust me. All of you.”
“Now, Pinkie, what’re ya’ll-” Applejack began.
“I’m sorry Applejack.”
With that, static exploded in Twilight’s vision, and she blacked out, with only the sounds of the ocean echoing in her ears.
“The mind of the subject will struggle to fill in the gaps where no memories exist.” The Dangers of Dimensional Magic
-Starswirl the Bearded, Y599 CR
Coast of the Horseshoe Bay. Year 1913 of Celestia’s Reign
“Are you going to just sit there?” called a stallion’s voice that roused Twilight from her fugue state. The voice was familiar, somehow, but the Alicorn couldn’t place it. In fact, there was a lot of stuff she couldn’t remember at that moment. Why was she in a boat? Oh, Pinkie had asked her to help her with something off the Horseshoe Bay, of course. The pounding rain was helping her mind to clear, at least, even though it had plastered her mane to her head.
“What else would I do silly?” Came another voice, punctuated with a giggle-snort that Twilight recognized immediately.
“Why not do some rowing yourself?” the stallion responded. “my hoofsies are getting tired!”
“Excuse me.” Twilight said, finally opening her eyes, her head still pounded, but it was nice to actually see. Her eyes first fell on Pinkie Pie, who sat directly in front of her on the rowboat. The mare turned her head to look at Twilight, and she couldn’t help but feel something was… off… about her friend. Pinkie seemed older, almost, her eyes betraying knowledge that she couldn’t possibly have, her constant smile was the only thing that seemed correct, but Twilight quickly shook off the notion. Pinkie was an intelligent mare, and she always checked out tonnes of books from the library. She was a Scholar when she wasn’t partying… wasn’t she?
Twilight realized that both ponies had been staring at her as she figured it out. Blushing, she continued. “Uh, how much longer until we get there, mister…” Twilight stopped. She stopped. She felt that she should know this stallion’s name, but she couldn’t remember. She racked her brain until it hurt, a deep throbbing pain coming from behind her horn.
“My name’s Berry Bubble, silly!” the Stallion said with a Giggle-Snort of his own. “Remember? Pinkie’s twin brother? We met in Manehattan before we set off!”
“Yeah Twilight, you silly!” Pinkie echoed. “Man, you really shouldn’t have drank so much Cider before we left Manehattan, even if Applejack got it for you!”
Twilight remembered now. Pinkie had taken her and Applejack to Manehattan to meet Berry. As Princess, Twilight had had to make some incredibly tough decisions, quickly falling in over her head, and owed a lot of important ponies a lot of money, and she couldn’t ask Celestia or Luna for help from the royal coffers. Not after what she had done. That was when Berry had approached her via Pinkie, and offered to cover her debts, clear her slate, and all she had to do was one thing.
“Sorry Pinkie, but how much longer?” Twilight repeated.
“We’re almost there, sillyhead! The Lighthouse is just ahead.” Pinkie handed Twilight a box with her name and title on it, which she tucked under a wing. “Everything you need is in this box!”
The boat pulled up to a lighthouse, and Twilight climbed up. “Remember Twilight! Bring us the mare, and wipe away the debt!” Berry called as he began rowing away, cheer still in his voice.
Twilight waved as the boat pulled away, then covered her head with a wing and made her way up to the Lighthouse. She was already soaked, but she could only get wetter, right? She climbed the steps until she reached the big oaken door that led into the lighthouse, stopping only to take note of the message attached to it.
Bring us the Mare, Twilight. This is your last chance. Written in Pinkie Pie’s bubbling script, the threat was all the more chilling. Pinkie had been trying to help Twilight solve her money problems for the longest time, and it would make sense that even the party pony would start to grow impatient with her.
Remembering the box Pinkie had given her, Twilight removed it from under her wing and opened it. Inside was something she’d hoped never to see again. A pistol and several clips. Twilight knew how to use a gun, it was a lot easier for a unicorn after all, but still she felt wrong when she had to use them; almost as if they didn’t belong. There was a little strap around the weapon, so it could be quickly attached to an Earth Pony or Pegasus’ hooves, but as a magic user, Twilight’s telekinesis made it redundant. She tucked the weapon and ammo into the front of her shirt and looked through the rest of the box. There were some drawings with numbers beside them, a sun, a moon, and a diamond, Twilight disregarded that for the time being and looked at the pictures in the box. A picture of a massive statue that seemed to loom over an unfamiliar city surrounded by… Clouds? No… It couldn’t be, the ponies Twilight could make out in the streets below the statue were unicorns, it must have been exceptionally thick mist. The other picture was of a Pegasus with yellow fur and pink hair, singing to some birds. Twilight could have sworn she knew this mare, but rifling through her brain for the answer came up with nothing, and brought on another wave of pain behind her horn.
Either way, this would have to be the mare that Berry wanted her to fetch. You know Berry, if you know what city she’s in, then maybe you should have dropped me off there. What am I looking for in a Lighthouse?
Twilight sighed and her thoughts drifted to Applejack for a moment. Berry had sent her off about a day ago and hadn’t told her where her friend was going. Twilight had assumed that Applejack was doing one of them a favour, but still, she would have appreciated having at least one friend here with her. They were the elements of Harmony after all. Magic, Honesty, Loyalty, Generosity, and Laughter, the five of them had made a bond deeper than anything else in all of Equestria, and Twilight had to admit, she’d grown a little dependent on the support of her friends. Almost as if something was missing from her when they were apart. “Oh well.” Twilight said aloud as she began climbing the lighthouse’s stairs. “I suppose I’ll just meet you for cider when I get back, AJ.” she said to the empty building as her thoughts drifted to the foamy apple-drink. “All five of us, just like old times.”
Twilight’s reverie was stopped when the smell from the second floor struck her.
Coppery, it has a taste on the air. She couldn’t help but think as the analytical part of her mind kicked into full gear. Blood! she practically screamed in her mind as she galloped up the last set of steps. What greeted her was an absolute mess. Not a single piece of furniture was left intact, and it truly looked like a warzone, broken chairs, tables, all of them smashed into a million pieces. Twilight’s horn ignited and her pistol rocketed from her shirt pocket as she scanned the room. Anypony that was up here would have heard her enter, but this place definitely looked deserted, except for one pony slumped against the wall. Twilight slowly approached the Earth Pony, only to recoil when the smell of decay hit her nostrils. The pony had been dead for a while, at least a day, and his green coat was stained with blood.
Somepony had definitely wanted this pony dead, Twilight noted. His face was smashed to an absolute pulp, and Twilight only recognized him by his Cutie Mark, a cart filled to the brim with apples. “Crabapple? What in Tartarus were you doing here?” Twilight said aloud. “You were with Applejack...”
Confused, and trying not to look at the ruined mess that was this Stallion’s face, Twilight holstered her weapon and took one last look around the room. Her eyes lingered for a moment on the door to the Lighthouse’s exteriour. Written in what appeared to be blood was the words:
Filthy Mudpony.
Twilight recognized the term. She’d first heard it when she went with Applejack and Big Mac to help them sell apples in Vanhoover, and she remembered how mad AJ had gotten when somepony had called her it when negotiating prices. A smile almost touched her lips when she remembered how far that pony had flown when AJ’s hoof met his face, then she remembered what both this message, and Crabapple’s corpse, implied. Twilight took in a deep breath, like Cadence had taught her long ago, before pushing open the door, taking note of a clump of orange fur that was caught in the latch. “What in Equestria is going on here?” She asked herself.
Stepping out into the rain once more, Twilight was almost bowled over by the whipping wind atop the Lighthouse, and headed for the actual light, hoping to find more clues and, hopefully, not her friend’s corpse. She circled the balcony several times, but couldn’t seem to find the way in, and the glass was too foggy to see inside. The only thing of note was a strange set of bells she found on the far end of the balcony, mounted on the window frame. Each bell had a symbol embossed on it, a moon, a sun, and a crystal.
“Hmm.” Thought Twilight aloud. “This must be what the numbers on the box meant. Let’s see…” she thought as she fished the box out from under her wing and removed the piece of paper. “Three moons, one sun, and two crystals.” she finished as she tapped the bells with her free hoof. The sequence made a nice little melody that brought a sense of peace over Twilight, it reminded her of her days as Celestia’s student, a feeling she hadn’t felt in… well… a long time.
A feeling that was completely shattered by the unfaustly noise that blared down from the sky, lighting the clouds with an intensity that put any lightning storm to shame. The noise played back the same melody that she’d played, only much deeper, and much more ominous. When the noise ceased, a heavy looking piece of glass slid aside with a loud moan, allowing Twilight to enter the light. As her hooves crossed the threshold, the massive lightbulb slowly flipped, and a strange looking chair rose to take it’s place. With nowhere else to go, Twilight took her place on the chair, wondering just what would happen. Pinkie would never send her into a trap, would she?
When manacles sprouted from the chair and clamped themselves around Twilight’s hooves, she began to doubt that notion.
When a strange hull began to construct itself around her, she knew Pinkie was hiding things from her.
When the hull began rocketing into the sky, she began to hate Pinkie, just a little bit. Or rather, she would, if she had time to think about hating the pink pony between screams.
“To the Prophet will be born a Winged Daughter, and she will lay waste to the mountains of Ponykind.” Prophecies of the Setting Sun -The Prophet Dusk, Y1895 CR
Twilight couldn’t help but start hyperventilating as the rocket began shooting upwards at incredible speeds. She’d read about these things, of course, but she’d never intended to ever ride in one.
“It’s okay, Twilight.” She kept telling herself, still struggling against the manacles that held her hooves. “It’s just Isaac Hoofton’s Third Law of Motion. Two extremely volatile substances are being mixed together to produce enough thrust to overcome Equestria’s gravity and force me up into the air, all the while stressing against it’s housing in every effort to Explode- OH CELESTIA THIS ISN’T HELPING!” She cried out as she saw her own terrified face reflected back in the tiny window that was right in front of her. She almost started screaming again when another voice began speaking from somewhere inside the rocket. A mare’s voice, calm, collected, and with a distinct fuzziness that marked it out as a pre-recorded message.
“5,000 feet.” it said calmly. Then, after a short while: “10,000 feet… 15,000 feet” It wasn’t long after that when the rocket breached the cloud layer, revealing a massive city above the clouds. Normally that wouldn’t be surprising, Twilight had been to Cloudsdale before, but this city seemed built to rival the largest unicorn cities, made from stone and wood and resting on massive balloons and propellers. “Cloud Layer Breached, Halleluja. Welcome to McCarthia.”
Twilight couldn’t help but whistle as the rocket seemed to hover over the city. “Didn’t expect this, that’s for sure.” She murmured to herself. Looking around, she spotted the statue from the picture she’d received. Of course, it wasn’t like it was hard to miss. The giant statue was large enough to be seen from just about anywhere in the city. “Who would want a giant Pegasus staring down at them anyway?” she asked herself, curious at the culture these sky-ponies must have. She didn’t recognize the pegasus from any ancient mythologies or religions she’d read about, but then again, nor had she ever heard of a place like this existing.
These thoughts were, of course, forgotten when Gravity remembered the small projectile that had been fighting ever so hard against it until very recently. Twilight barely had time to take in another breath for screaming before the plummet really got going.
Thankfully, instead of plummeting over 15,000 feet to a cold death in the horseshoe bay, the rocket was caught by… something, Twilight couldn’t tell what, and was slowly lowered into a strange building where it unceremoniously dumped the Princess into a room filled with fetlock-deep water and one strange looking unicorn in a long robe. “Greetings sister. And welcome to McCarthia.” he said placidly. “All Pegasi and Unicorns are welcome here, and it looks like you meet both criteria.” He added with a strange inflection, as if he were unused to making jokes.
“Uh huh. Brilliant.” Twilight grumbled, shaking out her wings and tossing her head as she stood. “Wait, I’m sorry, did I hear you right? McCarthia?”
The pony seemed to take her confusion as a given. “Don’t worry my sister, most pilgrims are confused when they first take the rocket into the heavens. This is indeed McCarthia, the promised land of the Prophet Dusk, as foretold by the Angel McCarthy. You are among your brothers and sisters now.”
“Oookay then...” Twilight said, moving past the pony. “I’m ever so… glad… that I got to make this… Pilgrimage.”
Better keep my head down. Twilight thought, Don’t want to draw too much attention to myself.
As her hooves splashed through the water, the Princess kept her head on a swivel, looking around the extremely labyrinthian building. It seemed to be a place of worship of some kind, with strange statues dotting prayer halls, statues of Alicorns that looked familiar, but Twilight couldn’t identify them in the low light. Before long, she came across a massive oil painting of a Pegasus stallion, dressed in an elegant blue outfit. The Plaque on the frame read ‘Lord Sunset, late husband of the Prophet, shortly before his murder by the vile Vox Tera’. Beneath it was a strange device, it reminded Twilight of a Record Player, only much smaller. Curious, she began fiddling with it, and it wasn’t long before she found the activation switch.
“Love the Prophet, because she loves the sinner. Love the sinner, because he is you. Without the sinner, what need is there for a redeemer? Without sin, what grace has forgiveness? -Lord Sunset, Y1893 CR”
As Twilight listened to the recording, she began to think for the first time just how far in over her head she might have gotten. This sort of recursive logic wouldn’t get anypony anywhere, and if it was the dominant train of thought here... “And I thought Ponyville was crazy.” She finished the thought aloud, replacing the machine.
After wandering around for a while and exploring, Twilight was fairly certain that she wanted to get out of this city as soon as she was able. She was going to see if Applejack was up here too, grab her, grab the mare Berry wanted, then find the fastest way down. The Mare was a pegasus after all, and Twilight was a decently strong flyer. If worst came to worst, then perhaps they could fly their way down. She’d never actually flown this high, in fact, she doubted even Rainbow Dash had breached the clouds this high up, and the air was definitely thinner. The thoughts continued running through Twilight’s mind as she pondered the scenario.
Okay. Fifteen thousand feet, that’s an issue in of itself, but since our flight would be almost entirely downwards, perhaps gliding would save energy and not exhaust either of us due to the low air pressure. That is, of course, assuming that the Mare is a strong enough flyer, but that doesn’t account for Applejack’s weight. Rainbow Dash could barely lift me before I had wings, and AJ is larger than I was. Perhaps if I were to distribute the weight using-
Her thoughts were interrupted when she almost bumped into a large group of robed ponies gathered around what seemed to be the exit. “Ah, excuse me, pardon me. Coming through!” Twilight said politely enough as she shouldered her way through the crowd, only to be stopped by an exceptionally old Unicorn in a black robe.
“Ah, is it someone new? Someone from the mud below? Here to be cleansed in the waters of McCarthia? To be redeemed in the eyes of The Prophet, The Angel, and The Creator?” he asked.
“Look, I’m Twilight Sparkle. I just need to get into the city.” She replied, hoping that they’d at least heard of her up here.
“Passage into the city? Ha-ha!” The priest mocked her. Well. So much for royal treatment. Twilight thought sourly.
“Sister, the only way into the city is through baptism in the holy waters. Will you accept our blessings into your heart?” He asked, extending a hoof.
Well. It’s this or I just turn around and go home.She thought bitterly. “Alright father. Let’s go.” Twilight said as she stepped forward and stood beside the priest, waiting for his spiel and the little splash of water over her horn.
“Brothers and Sisters, many years ago, our Prophet heard the words of the Angel McCarthy, who gave him a grim vision of our future. We had deviated from The Creators plans, and we were to be punished for it. The beloved Princesses had turned their backs on what they stood for, betrayed the people. But we do not blame them, we still admire their original acts in the founding of Equestria. But still, they are a cautionary tale. No matter the purity of your heart, you may still fall under the influence of evil. And that is why we are here, above the influence, and it is why we must shed our corruption in the waters of Baptism. The pony that enters the waters is not the one that leaves, and that my brothers and sisters, is true rebirth. A new life under the eyes of Faust, and the Prophet’s protection!”
Twilight half wanted to engage the holypony in a debate of his wackjob beliefs, but she didn’t want to spend all day fighting an uphill battle. In concession, she added a sarcastic “Amen” to the end of the pony’s rant, then awaited the splash.
Only for a magical field to envelop Twilight’s head and force her under the water! The priest held her there as she struggled, unable to even think up a counterspell as she panicked.
Oh Celestia, this madpony’s trying to kill me! “See how she struggles, my brethren!” she heard the priest yell. “This one’s sins are far deeper than any we have seen yet! Does she seem clean to anypony?” The ponies kept ranting for a good few minutes as Twilight struggled for air, before black spots started to cloud her vision, and she lost consciousness.
“And ‘lo, the Angel McCarthy did appear to the Prophet, and she revealed to her the future of Equestria. The Prophet was to build an ark, a floating city to house the chosen, and to defend the ideals of Equestria until her dying breath.” The Founding of McCarthia -Pastor Angel Feather, Y1905CR
“Twilight, what’s going on?! Where are we?!” The voice called out in a panic, struggling against Twilight’s magic. “Please, stop! No! I don’t want to go!”
“Look, this needs to happen! Go through the portal, right now!” Twilight yelled, anger in her voice as she shoved the pegasus.
“Quick Twilight-!” Another voice started calling for her to do something, but a scream of pain drowned it out. It was there that the dream ended, and Twilight Sparkle awoke with a gasp.
Twilight found herself lying on her back, still in fetlock deep water, but at least now she was outside.
...and surrounded by creepy statues staring down at her. Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Cadence. As if the fact that three of her greatest teachers and friends were staring down at her wasn’t creepy enough, each one of them bore an expression that seemed totally foreign to them, one of judgement, one of hate. Not even when Twilight had made her mistake had they bore such an evil look. Whoever lived in this city certainly didn’t see the same facets of the Princesses that the rest of Equestria did.
Shuddering, the Alicorn moved on, trying to shake the water out of her fur as she moved. After the rainstorm and a drowning attempt by a madpony, Twilight was surprised she hadn’t caught pneumonia. “That’s the absolute last time I listen to a pony in a robe.” She muttered angrily to herself. “If I never see another robe, it’ll be too soon.” she continued muttering as she climbed the steps towards the exit. Only for a garden filled with more ponies in white robes to grace her eyes as she crested the steps.
Pinkie, I hate you so much. She thought bitterly. Teeth grinding, eye twitching, Twilight felt her old tics return as she moved towards the exit, trying to avoid and ignore the robed ponies. It reminded her of the time she almost missed sending Celestia a report, actually. Her friends had been so dismissive of her problems back then, more focused on their picnic. But then again, she had been overreacting. A small smile came to her snout as she remembered those days, when life was simple. Just her, her friends, letters to Celestia, and friendship. Where did everything go wrong? She wondered. She hadn’t spoken to Rarity in the longest time, not since the her and Applejack’s massive fight, and Rainbow Dash left for parts unknown not long after that. Even Spike had left her, going with Rarity to… wherever she’d gone to. That had left Twilight with only Applejack, but even she had little time for the Alicorn, due to the rapid growth of her apple business.
At first, Spike had occasionally sent her letters, and he frequently mentioned something about Rarity starting up a massive manufacturing company somewhere far away, but those letters became less and less frequent as time went on, until the eventually stopped coming. There had also been rumours of a Rainbow Pegasus gathering up young fliers for some sort of organization or school, but Twilight had never managed to find proof of that one. It made sense though; Rarity was always an entrepreneur at heart, and even though Rainbow Dash was hotheaded, she could make for a good teacher when she wanted to be.
Then there had been her argument with Celestia. Creator above, I don’t even remember what we were arguing about. Twilight thought bitterly. At some point, Twilight had made a terrible mistake that had brought down Celestia’s wrath upon her. However, as a Princess, Twilight couldn’t really be punished without causing unrest in the populace, so the Sun Princess cut her off completely. She was no longer permitted in Canterlot Castle, nor allowed to access royal funds. Eventually, even Luna and Cadence turned against her, until she was alone. Yet Twilight still didn’t know what she did!
Was it a financial error? Diplomatic? Did she file something incorrectly?
Did I hurt somepony? The final thought stung her, even now, and she winced. It was the not knowing that hurt the most. Twilight had been so great with details; a veritable genius, at least all of her teachers had told her so, but as of late, details had started falling through the cracks. She had little doubt that her cider habit was adding to it, but as pathetic as it was, Twilight needed something to fill the void. Applejack had at one point tried to wean her off it, but Twilight had twisted her hooves, and now the Earth Pony was her main supplier of the stuff. And she felt rotten for it. Which led her to drink even more.
I suppose that’s what you call a vicious cycle. her mind snarked at her, to which she added: Great, now even I’m judging me for my life decisions.
She shook her head as she finally left that stupid garden of robed ponies behind her and came across some normally dressed ponies. almost all of them unicorns, strangely enough, though a few Pegasi made up their number. There wasn’t an Earth Pony to be seen, which Twilight supposed was understandable, given the altitude, but still the scene in the lighthouse sprang to mind.
The Alicorn kept walking, keeping the massive statue in the distance always in sight. That was her landmark, and she would bet however many bits she had left that the Statue had something to do with the Mare’s location, if that wasn’t where she was to start with. Twilight had lived in stranger places, after all. Twilight turned a corner and suddenly, a new statue assaulted her eyes. While not as big as the pegasus statue, this one still dominated the square. It depicted an alicorn holding a book and gesticulating to the heavens. She looked quite old, with a long and flowing mane, not unlike Celestia’s.
Well. Seems humility isn’t one of the tenets these ponies follow. She thought as she approached the statue, giving the plaque on it’s base a quick once over, if only to find out who this pony was.
The Prophet Dusk Glimmer, communing with the Angel McCarthy.
Twilight was less than impressed. Is this seriously the pony they love so much? Not exactly the most impressive figure. She suppressed a chuckle as she moved on. Looks like my Grandmother after a few too many salt licks.
Twilight kept walking, keeping the Pegasus statue clear in her vision as she made her way towards it. It was hard to lose sight of, in reality, since it’s wings seemed to fill the sky, much wider than a normal Pegasus’ proportions would allow. She assumed it was symbolic, and started pondering these ponies and their belief system again. Her mind didn’t deal with idleness well, and the murmurs of the citizens and the clopping of hooves on cobblestone wasn’t exactly the most riveting soundtrack to her journey. Twilight had heard the creation myth, of course, just about everyone had, but this was the first time she’d heard of an ‘Archangel McCarthy’, or of this ‘Prophet Dusk’. How much did I miss while I was running damage control on my life? She wondered. All these ponies didn’t just magically appear here, how could I have missed a religious movement large enough to found what is essentially Cloudsdale 2.0?
The thought was so invasive that it started to give her another headache, one so painful that she was glad when the next gate she pushed open revealed a young colt holding a telegram in his mouth. The colt seemed happy too, so much that he spit out the letter before Twilight could even grab it properly as he hooved it to her. “Telegram for Twilight Sparkle!” He beamed, looking up to her for approval.
“Thanks.” Twilight said, levitating the paper with her magic. “How much do I owe you for postage?”
“Nothing! It was pre-paid by a Ms. Pie!” He said excitably. The alicorn felt an eyebrow raise. With how jittery the kid was, she wouldn’t be surprised if Pinkie had paid him entirely in sweets. At least that was consistent with Pinkie. Her mind added for some reason, Twilight hadn’t a clue why.
“Well, alright. At least take ten bits as a tip then.” She said with a small smile. After all she’d been through today, she really did envy his innocence, and he deserved to enjoy it.
“Wow! Thanks miss!” The colt said as the coins floated from Twilight’s pocket into his saddlebags. Once they were safely deposited, he took off like a timberwolf from a brushfire, either to deliver more packages, or buy more sweets.
The smile still on her face, Twilight flipped the telegram over and began reading.
Twilight STOP
Hi! Hope you’re not having too much trouble in McCarthia STOP
These Telegram thingies are super fun, don’t you think? I mean, STOP! STOP
Anyways, make sure you don’t let that meanie Dusk Glimmer know you’re in McCarthia. STOP
OH! And remember! Whatever you do, don’t pick #77, it’s super bad juju! STOP
Hugs and Kisses STOP
Pinkie Pie and Berry Bubble
PS. Oh this is so much fun! You don’t know where my sentences end unless I say STOP! STOP STOP STOP STOP Gotcha! STOP.
Twilight couldn’t help but shake her head as she tucked the telegram into her shirt pocket. Pinkie Pie was the only mare she knew that could have fun with a Telegram. Avoiding getting this ‘Prophet’ on her tail was a given, if her priests were any indication, but the other warning about ‘#77’... It didn’t make a lot of sense. Twilight decided to ignore it for the time being, and worry about it later. The sooner she got the Mare and got out, the better.
Not too far ahead was an extremely strange poster. It depicted a pony clad in a long black cloak that completely hid their identity reaching out with a withered looking hoof towards a sheep of all things. The background wasn’t too much to look at either, it looked like the Badlands during a drought, all dry and cracked earth. The text at the top read:
The False Shepherd seeks to lead the Lamb astray.
“How odd…” Twilight murmered, walking past the poster. She passed several more with more or less the same message, until another caught her eye. It was a close up of the withered hoof, and on the back of it the letters FS were carved. Twilight shuddered before looking to the text:
You will know the False Shepherd by her mark!
at that moment, Twilight looked down to her own right hoof. Sure enough, the letters FS were right there, as clear as the day she’d taken a burning hot shoe-nail to it and carved them there. The thing was, Twilight couldn’t even remember why she’d done such a thing, probably a stupid dare during a bad Cider binge, after all, what could FS even stand for?
Whatever it was, here it could mean trouble. She thought. I’ve gotta make sure nopony sees my hoof. So long as I keep it near the ground, I should be fine.
She continued walking until she reached what appeared to be a small fair of some kind, filled with all sorts of stalls and games. Twilight was ever so tempted to play a few, but she had a mission. A few stalls were demonstrating things called ‘Vigors’. Best she could tell, they were magical potions that amplified, or straight up granted, certain magical abilities. The strangest part was that it didn’t seem limited to Unicorns either, since there was a Pegasus in a strange demon costume firing lightning from her hooves. The placard at his feet read:
Gemstone Industries Shock Jockey Vigor, pick up your bottle today!
A part of Twilight really wanted to snag a bottle and take it home for study, but she resisted. The more time she spent in lines was another moment she could say or do something to bring the hammer down on her head. She had the feeling that these ponies could be offended by one word in the wrong place. Or more precisely, one hoof.
There was only one way out of the plaza, so she made her way for the gate at the end, only to be stopped by a strange animatronic pony torso built into a pedestal. It reminded her of the Flim Flam brothers, just a little. “Sorry Madame,” it said, clunkily gesturing with it’s hooves. “No more allowed into the Monument Isle Raffle. You’ll have to try again later.”
The condescending tone that it spoke in frustrated Twilight more than the fact that she was being stopped by a cheap animatronic. She stomped a hoof in frustration and started yelling at the machine. “I don’t care about your stupid raffle! You can’t close off an entire section of the city for one event!” of course, the machine didn’t answer, but putting voice against the sheer stupidity of the event planning made her feel a little better.
“Hey, miss. Want to get into the raffle?” Called a voice to Twilight’s left. The alicorn blushed a little before turning to the source of the voice. “I’ve got just the thing to get you in.” The pony continued with a smile from her tiny stall.
“Really?” Asked Twilight. “And what could that be? I was just going to magic my way through.”
The pony tutted, not in a malicious way either, strangely enough. “That won’t work. The Police monitor all magic use in McCarthia, they’d find you in an instant and lock you up for trespassing. Especially today, since the Prophet predicted that something majorly important would happen.”
“Well isn’t that spectacular.” Twilight replied sarcastically, pinching her snout with a hoof. “So if I can’t use magic, what am I going to do?”
“Why, use a vigor of course!” The salespony said with a smile before levitating a green bottle over to them.
“Uh huh.” Twilight said skeptically. “And how is that any different?”
She seemed to be enjoying herself. “Vigor magic can’t be tracked! They’re brand new, you see. They pull from a secondary pool of magic in your body called ‘Salts’, so you can use your Vigors without exhausting your magic!” she finished the sales pitch.
“Okay, consider me interested.” The Princess simply said. Outwardly, she was cool, but inwardly she was almost exploding with curiosity. Scientific method be damned, she wanted to test this stuff out! “So, do I just drink this then start shooting lightning and stuff out of my hooves?”
The pony tittered. “No, don’t be silly. You’d need Shock Jockey for that. This is Possession. It allows you to control machinery, but it’s pretty inefficient without the supplementary tonics.” She blushed “It’s sort of why nopony’s at my stand. In fact, you’re the first pony to show any interest, so I’ll give you this one on the house!”
“That’s so nice of you!” Twilight gushed, unable to control herself anymore. She took the bottle in her own magic, popped the top, and eagerly gulped down the sweet-tasting liquid.
“Well, anything?” the mare asked, seeming almost as excited as Twilight.
“Hmm.” Started Twilight, “I don’t feel any differ-” She stopped immediately as a bright green ghost rose from the floor. “Oh Celestia. What is that!? Get away! nononononononono!” she yelled at the spirit, waving her hooves at it until it disappeared.
“Wait, what happened!?” The mare asked, using a hoof to steady the Princess.
“It was… a ghost! An honest to Celestia ghost!” she panted.
“Hmm. The bottle did warm about mild hallucinations on the back.” She shrugged. “Don’t worry though, they only happen once, and shouldn’t be too dangerous.” Twilight glared at her. “heh. Anyway! Try casting it at that animatronic! I want to see what it does! It says here to ‘picture the beckoning spirit in your mind, aim, then fire’!”
Still a little miffed, Twilight nevertheless cast the Vigor at the machine. It wasn’t too different from casting a normal spell actually, she thought of the ghost pony, aimed her horn, and off it went with a ghastly green glow, merging with the machine.
“Well that was… Tingly.” Twilight remarked, rubbing her horn.
“Amazing!” the salespony was giddy. “I’ve never actually seen anypony use this Vigor before! That was so… awesome!”
“Alright, well, does it say anything else on that bottle?” the Alicorn inquired.
“Hmm.” her new friend replied, turning the bottle over. “Oh! Here’s something! You can use your forehooves for the Vigor as well: just imagine the spirit coming out of them instead of your horn. Says here that it’s for multi-tasking.”
“Alright then, that’s pretty convenient!” Twilight replied, still excited over this new power. “I suppose I’ll see you around then!” she added as she walked over to the animatronic.
When it whirred to life for the second time, the machine sounded a lot more chipper. “Ah, dreadfully sorry miss. I mistook you for somepony lesser than your station. Allow me to open this gate up for you. Once again, with my apologies.”
“Much better.” Twilight remarked as she stepped through the gates.
“Hiiiiiiiiiiiii Twilight!” called a voice from the other side of the gate. Pinkie and Berry stood on the other side of the gate, as if they were waiting for her. Berry was wearing a chalkboard with a chart marked ‘heads’ and ‘tails’ and a large number of tally marks under heads. Pinkie had a plate in her hoof with a bit on it.
“Gah! Pinkie!” Twilight yelled, caught completely by surprise. “How did you get here?!”
“Same way you did silly!” Berry replied with a smile and a giggle. “Mind picking a side? Heads? or Tails?”
“Look you two, I don’t have time for this. I need to find this Mare you want, and Apple-” Twilight began, only to be caught off guard as a bit began flying towards her face.
“Come on Twilight! Heads or Tails!?” Pinkie insisted with a grin.
Twilight sighed as she caught the bit with her magic. “Tails.” She said, flipping the coin with her magic and sending it spinning onto Pinkie’s plate.
“Heads!” Berry said excitedly. “See Pinkie! I told you~!”
Pinkie pulled a piece of chalk from her mane and marked yet another tally in the heads column. “Not fair! Best 432 out of 456!”
“We both know how this ended.” Berry said smugly, sticking his tongue out as the two walked away.
“Hey!” Twilight called out. “Where are you going?” She watched in confusion as they walked around the corner of the building, but when Twilight followed, all she could see was a dead end alley, and no evidence of the party ponies. “What in Tartarus is up with those two?” She wondered.
Then again, this was Pinkie Pie, and her twin. Twilight supposed that trying to follow their logic would just be twice as confusing than when it was just Pinkie. She just kept following the shadow of the statue, and soon wound up in front of a stage, packed with people. There was no way she was getting through the veritable wall of people at the other side, so she decided to just sit and watch until the crowd dispersed.
“Miss! Excuse me, Miss? Purple Alicorn?” A voice called out from near the stage. Twilights ears pricked up, and not wanting to stand out, she made her way over to the pony. “Miss, you forgot to pick your raffle ball!” She said, offering a basket to Twilight.
“Oh, er.” Twilight started, “I don’t have money to pay into a raffle…”
The mare giggled. “Don’t be silly, the raffle’s always free. Here, take a ball.”
“Alright then.” The Princess’ horn ignited, and she pulled a random ball from the basket. It bore a number in red paint. “Huh. 77.” she noted.
“Oooh! That’s a lucky number!” The raffle girl giggled. “I’ll be rooting for you!” she added as she walked off.
It was then that a white unicorn mare walked onstage. Twilight couldn’t believe it.
“Fillies and Gentlecolts!” She began with a distinguished tone. “Welcome to the 10th Annual McCarthia raffle, brought to you by Gemstone Industries!”
This was impossible.
“From this giant hat I shall pull the number of our lucky winner, then we shall get to the main event!” Her horn ignited, and from the hat flew a sheet of paper.
How could she have-
“Number 77!” She called out with a dramatic flip of her purple mane. “Number 77!?”
“She’s right here!” The raffle-mare from before yelled, holding up Twilight’s right hoof, the hoof she was using to hold her ball.
There was no way…
“Aha! Well, lucky miss, you get the most coveted prize in all of McCarthia: The first throw!” Rarity waved her hoof at a pony offstage. “Bring out the mudpony!”
With those words, the curtain began to rise, and behind it, bound to a pole by a length of rope, and looking as if she’d seen the business end of her own apple bucking, was Applejack.
“Well, dahling? Are you going to throw? Or have you been playing in the fields lately?” Rarity said with a faux-mocking tone.
And when I came to Canterlot, there were a few in the Royal Court who saw my vision for McCarthia, even Celestia was swayed by my vision. But it is the burden of the Prophet to bring the wicked to Harmony. For what am I, if not a mirror to reflect the face of Faust? The Autobiography of Prophet Dusk Glimmer -Dusk Glimmer, Y1910CR
Applejack’s eyelids flickered as she finally came to. Of course, it wasn’t her choice to wake up, she’d have preferred to remain in her dreams, where the world still made sense. The smelling salts being waved under her snout had other plans. Or at least, the unicorn waving them did. “Mmmm… g’way...” she murmured, squeezing her eyes tightly shut.
“Now Applejack,” came a pompous and elegant voice, one that AJ had learned to hate extremely quickly. “You should know that it’s rude to ruin a social event like this. I know you’re just a mudpony, dahling, but you did get brought to some of my gatherings back in Ponyville, no?”
The earth pony’s eyes rocketed open and fixed the detestable mare with a glare that could have pierced solid concrete. “Ah don’t hafta listen to you, Rarity. Yer a darn traitor! That’s all ya are!” she all but snarled at the smug looking unicorn in fancy dress.
“Ooh, keep that indignant rage, dahling.” she continued blithely. “The audience just loves when their lessers are all good and steamed! Why, last year we had a stallion that was ever so angry, and such a foul mouth too! I swear, some of the audience didn’t even bother throwing balls, and moved on to their sidearms!” She giggled, as if they were discussing town gossip over tea.
“Ah guarantee, that stallion was thrice the pony you’ll ever be, thrice the pony any of ya’ll stupid unicorns’ll ever be!” She snarled, straining against the post she was tied to. “Yer a backstabbin’ snake, Rarity, and by Celestia I’ll scotch ya like one!”
“Sure you will, dahling.” Rarity replied with a bored tone, walking away and onto the main stage. It seemed that the time had come for the main event, and these madponies had left Applejack alone.
Perfect. She thought as she threw her head forward, again and again, until a small sliver of metal started working its way out of her mane. Pinkie had shown her how she hid so much stuff in her own mane before, and while AJ didn’t have quite the hair, or seeming defiance of logic, to hide as many crazy items as the Pink Pony, hiding a makeshift knife she’d made from debris in her cell had been foal’s play. The ugly piece of metal slowly slid from her hair and started to fall, whereupon the farmer caught it in her teeth and started work on the rope that bound her to the pole. The blade was just long enough to reach, and for that she was thankful. Applejack didn’t expect to escape, but if she was going to die here, she was taking Rarity with her.
She kept sawing as Rarity made her stupid speech to the crowd, and the big drawing from one of her inane hats. The unicorn had taken her stetson away when she was captured, probably as a trophy of some kind, and the farmer couldn’t help but feel it was an insult just for her, using a hat to determine who got the first shot. She was almost there, she could feel the ropes growing slack as Rarity called out the winning number.
Y’all had better have good aim, 77. she thought at the lucky winner. ‘Cause ah am not goin’ down without a fight!
When the curtain rose, she dropped her knife in surprise. “Twilight?!” She asked in disbelief.
As the months and years turned to memories, so did the ponies of the Royal Court turn to harmony. And through the technology of ponies, the bits of Canterlot, the Creator worked Her will on McCarthia, and raised it high above the mud and filth of those below. In the ancient times, the Princesses sought the same thing and ‘lo, the mighty cities of Canterlot and Cloudsdale were made, far above the access of the mud dwellers. But; as the parasites ever seek higher station, we too must rise...
-The Prophet Dusk, speaking at the First McCarthian Library, Y1895CR
Twilight Sparkle felt as if she was between a rock and a hard place. On the one hoof, she had a job to do. Throwing the ball at Applejack would be the easiest path. Rarity obviously didn’t recognize her after all this time, so throwing the ball then leaving would get her to the statue within a few minutes. She was so close now. But on the other hoof, this was Applejack, one of the only friends that had come back for her when her life had started falling apart. But then, all she’d won was the first throw, not the only throw. Would not throwing the ball really change anything? If the weight of my ball is any indication, this many ponies would kill one bound pony rather quickly. Her mind was ever so quick to rationalize it, but then she saw AJ’s face. The earth pony was staring at her, though whether it was a look of surprise or betrayal, she couldn’t determine from here.
Twilight immediately thought back to all the times Applejack had covered her back, all the times she’d all but carried her back home after a long night at the bar, and all the times they’d just talked. If it weren’t for Applejack, Twilight realized, she’d be in a much worse place right now. With that, Twilight’s face curled up in anger as she brought the ball back to throw. “Some Element of Generosity you turned out to be.” She snarled, throwing the ball at Rarity’s smiling face.
Or rather, that’s where the ball would have gone, had a magical field not wrapped around her hoof, keeping it in place. “Wha-?” She asked, struggling against the field. Two police officers, a Pegasus and a Unicorn walked up to the princess, and the winged officer grabbed her hoof from the field. “Well well, look what we got here.” He said to his partner before turning the hoof to Rarity. “Does that look familiar to you, Ma’am?”
“Oh my, look at that.” Rarity said with… Twilight couldn’t tell, was that mock surprise, or her real reaction? The unicorn was so dramatic that it was hard to tell. That much hadn’t changed. “Wherever did you get that tacky little mark, dahling? Don’t you know that makes you the ‘False Shepherd’?” She laughed evilly, a laugh that made the fur on the back of Twilight’s neck stand up. “Well we can’t let such a crime against good taste stand, can we, fillies and gentlecolts? Show them what we’ve got in store for this tacky miscreant, boys!”
“Rarity!” Twilight called out, “What are you playing at? Why would you do this to your frie-” A whirring noise next to her head stopped her mid-sentence as the unicorn slowly moved a hoof towards her face, a spinning device attached to his fetlock. Twilight found herself unable to move. The pegasi holding her was too strong, and the only spells she could think of required moving her head towards the spinning blades of death. Suddenly, she heard a loud snapping noise from the stage, followed by a piece of rope flying out and wrapping itself around the unicorn’s leg not long after that, pulling the blades into the pegasus’ eye. The unicorn quickly let go of the machine as his partner screamed, and Twilight used her newly freed hoof to sucker-punch him in the face, feeling his jaw buckle on impact and watching him fall to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Before he could get up, Twilight’s gun was already drawn, and two rounds had already entered his skull.
Screams suddenly exploded up from the crowd, and all of them ran for the exit, which just happened to be the way to the statue. Once the majority of them were ‘aboard’ so to speak, the road detached itself and began floating away. Brilliant. The Alicorn thought bitterly. So much for that plan. There has to be another way around, I didn’t see Rarity in that crowd, and she’s pulled a total disappearing act. She added as she looked around. The unicorn had completely disappeared in the confusion, and Twilight’s eyes were eventually drawn to the machine that had almost ended her journey prematurely.
Twilight was panting as she grabbed the small device from the Pegasus’ torn up face. The Stallion was barely recognizable anymore. She hadn’t seen brutality like that in a long time, or at least, she hadn’t been the cause of it. Whatever these things were, they were certainly useful. Twilight strapped it to her left fetlock, and the blades retracted into their housing. “Sweet Celestia, is that you Twi?” asked a voice from the stage.
AJ stood there, surrounded by two dead policemen of her own and slowly reeling in the rope she’d used to save Twilight’s life, and tying a lasso loop on the end of it. Leave it to her to find a lasso. Twilight thought lightheartedly. “Yeah AJ, it’s me. Seems Pinkie dropped us both in it, huh?”
The earth pony seemed to relax a little. “Ah suppose ya could say that. Leave it ta Pinkie to lead us to an entire city of Sky-Racists, and the one Unicorn ah’d hoped to never see again. Did ya get here by that lighthouse ah theirs?” she asked.
Twilight nodded. “Yeah, Pinkie and Berry dropped me off.” She poked around the Pegasus’ uniform, looking for anything they could use. Luckily, she came across another hook… thing… and another pistol. Both of which she tossed to AJ.
“Thank ya kindly sugarcube.” She said as she slipped the hook on her left fetlock, and attached the pistol to her right before returning to her line of questioning. “Did ya see any sign’a Cousin Crabapple there? He was with me when them crazy unicorns jumped us.” All she needed was the look Twilight gave her. “Oh…” her face fell, before coming right back up in righteous anger. “Darn blasted unicorns! He has a family back in Fillydelphia, what am ah gonna tell ‘em now? That he got taken down by a buncha crazy sky-unicorns?!”
“AJ, calm down!” Twilight said as she climbed onto the stage, placing a hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “We can figure that out when we get out of here. I’d bet anything that there’s an entire regiment of police officers heading our way.”
“Rarity’s not getting away with this.” The farmer said, deadly serious. “Ah won’t rest until she pays for this.”
“And she will, AJ.” Twilight pulled her friend closer, “But think for a minute. These ponies obviously aren’t in their right minds, and Rarity holds a lot of power. We’re just two mares, we need backup.”
With nowhere else to go, they made their way backstage, looking for a way out. “Uh huh.” Applejack replied. “So why’re you even up here? Ah got nabbed, but you seemed pretty free to move around. Not that Ah’m ungrateful or nothin’.”
“Pinkie sent me up here.” Twilight responded as she rifled through a desk. “Her brother wants me to get someone for him. A mare. Apparently she has something to do with that big Pegasus Statue.”
“Huh. Seems a lot’a folks’re interested in that creepy thing.” AJ said, poking around in some boxes. “Ah could hear ponies talkin’ ‘bout it from mah cage this morning. Somethin’ ‘bout a lamb? Darnit, where could she have put mah hat? Rarity was never one fer trophies.”
“Found it!” Twilight called from the other side of the prep area. Talking with AJ brought a wellspring of feelings to Twilight’s heart. Here they were on another adventure, the first in a long time. The stakes were much different than the usual, but still she was glad to have a friend with her again. The hat rose from the drawer and floated over to AJ, where it alighted on her head.
“Welcome back, darlin’.” She said to the hat, adjusting it. She looked much better now, at least in Twilight’s opinion. “Anythin’ else in there, sugarcube? Maybe the keys ta one of those blimps they got floatin’ about?”
“No such luck. But, I think this is Rarity’s.” Twilight replied, pulling out another Record Player. She’d heard a pony at the fair call them ‘Voxaphones’. “Let’s see if she’s got any dirt for us.”
Twilight turned the Voxaphone over and flipped the activation switch:
I told Dusk this morning about the main problem with her little project. Sell ponies Paradise, and the customers expect divine intervention for every little task. No labour in Faust’s Kingdom! Luckily, I know a pony in Stalliongrad who’ll ensure we have a steady stream of mudponies to keep this little experiment of hers going. She was reluctant at first, of course, but our little prophet is a smart mare. I knew it the first time I lay eyes on her back in ponyville.
“Why… that… no good snake in the grass!” Applejack yelled as she snatched the Voxaphone from Twilight’s hooves and smashed it on the ground. “And to think, we trusted her, and she’s been workin’ with this ‘Prophet’ since Ponyville!”
Twilight couldn’t believe it. Dusk Glimmer had been in Ponyville, and she’d been friends with Rarity. How had Twilight not seen or heard of her? Surely another Alicorn would have stood out.
How did? How did she…
Twilight felt unsteady on her hooves as her vision fuzzed and her blistering headache returned. She could hear Applejack’s voice calling out to her, as if from underwater. “Twi? Twilight!? Are you alright, sugarcube?” the Earth Pony kept calling as she placed a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “Twi, yer nose is bleedin’. Are ya’ll alright?”
Twilight put a hoof to her nose, and sure enough, it came away bloody. “AJ, I’m fine. Let’s just get out of here before the cops show up.”
“Alright. Just, roll yer sleeves down. I think folks’ll start looking for hoof-brands now that they know their ‘false shepherd’ is on the loose.” she replied, rolling down Twilight’s right sleeve before grabbing a black jacket off of a rack. It was plain, and the sleeves were just long enough to hide the weaponry on her fetlocks.
“Alright… Let’s go.” Twilight said weakly as she tried to move, only succeeding in falling over again.
“Oh Celestia.” Applejack grumbled as she helped her friend up, steadying her as they moved together. “Alright, looks like there’s a gate over yonder. Keep movin’”
It took far longer than it should have, but the two ponies eventually passed through the gate, and into a police checkpoint. AJ felt her eyes go wide. She should have expected this, but getting Twilight somewhere safe until she could walk again had taken precedence.
“Halt!” yelled the policemare at the head of the roadblock. At least ten guns were pointed at the duo, all of them ready to fire. “Identify yourself, and your mudpony!” She yelled at Twilight, who seemed to have fallen unconscious, mumbling words AJ couldn’t make out.
“Erm, ma’am,” Applejack began, trying to keep her voice sounding submissive. “Mah name’s Applejack, and this is my… sponsor,” the word tasted sour on her tongue, she knew the implications of such a word here. “Twilight Sparkle. We were at the Raffle when that Madpony just opened fire! We were terrified, and mah dear mistress just couldn’t handle all that savagery. We just hid until she left.”
The policemare’s eyes narrowed. “How did she leave? We have the area surrounded.”
Applejack’s voice caught in her throat for a moment. “er, she was a pegasus. erm… Blue coat? I don’t remember her mane colour, it was all too fast.”
“Prism.” The mare snarled. “I knew it was her. After that stupid Rarity keeps going on about some ‘False Shepherd’ malarkey. Makes a lot more sense if the Vox was behind it.” She turned and barked orders to the gathered policeponies before turning back to AJ. “Look, I have respect for what you did, so I’ll let you off the hook this time for walking around unchaperoned. So, try and get inside as quickly as possible, alright?”
“Yes’m!” Applejack replied with a salute as she all but carried Twilight past the barricade and the gathered policeponies. The group seemed to be preparing to spread out and search the area for this ‘Prism’ pony as the Policemare in charge started barking out orders.
Good. Applejack thought. Pay no attention to the mudpony and her master, ya varmints. She allowed a small smile to grow on her snout. As the element of honesty, lying was not her strong point, but honesty wasn’t always the best policy, at least not in a place like this. The Earth Pony passed by the back of the barricade, past all of the carts set up to stop the ‘False Shepherd’ escaping, when the rancid smell of burning fur and flesh assaulted her nose. It wasn’t long before she found the source. A pony sat on the back of a Police Cart, clad entirely in padded armour. It stared at her with such intensity, such hatred, that she could feel the stare even through the face-concealing helmet. AJ shuddered a little before adjusting her grip on Twilight and making a beeline for the nearest building. It looked to be a bakery, deserted in the chaos. Half-Eaten cupcakes and muffins could still be seen on the tables outside, abandoned when the police showed up.
Applejack shouldered open the door, and was greeted by the smell of baking cakes and, strangely enough, candy. “Pinkie?” AJ said aloud without thinking. She immediately regretted revealing herself, but was relieved when the pink pony’s voice called out from inside.
“Applejack? Is that you? Come on in! I’ve made cuuuupcaaaakes!~”
Applejack sighed in relief as she entered the bakery, and sure enough, Pinkie was standing in the doorway to the kitchen, a baking tray balanced on her head and a smile splitting her face. With nowhere else to put her, AJ placed Twilight on a nearby table. From the corner of her eye, she could see Berry nursing a mug of cider. For some reason, this seemed familiar to the farmer, almost as if she’d been here before, but she shrugged it off. Deja vu had no place in a situation like this. “Pinkie. Ya’ll gotta lot of explainin’ ta do.” She asked with an edge to her voice. “Because’a you, Cousin Crabapple’s dead, an’ now we’re stuck in a city’a sky-racists!”
Pinkie’s smile faltered a little. “I’m sorry Applejack. I never wanted you or anypony else to get hurt, but I suppose I can’t plan for everything.”
“Ya’ll told me that it was a simple delivery job, and now Ah’m down a cousin and scared that each hoofstep will be mah last. Ah don’t even want to know what ya’ll told Twilight to get her in on this madness!” AJ thought she saw something strange in Pinkie’s eyes, but dismissed it. Venting her anger came first at that moment.
“We weren’t lying, you know.” Berry said from the bar. “This is a delivery job. But it isn’t apples.” The Pink Stallion left the bar and walked over to the farmer, looking a lot less bubbly than she remembered. “The thing you’re delivering, is her.” he said, pointing towards Twilight. “Now, take a cupcake from my dear sister, and sit down.”
Scowling, Applejack took one of the treats from the tray on Pinkie’s head and sat down. She couldn’t remember the last time she ate anything decent. Just like Granny Smith says, ‘no reason ‘fer bein’ angry on an empty stomach.’ The earth pony wolfed down the cupcake, noting the lemony flavour and sputtering a little at the metallic aftertaste. “Gah, by Celestia, what’d ya put in that, sugarcube? Tastes like the bit on the plow back at the farm.”
“Darn!” Pinkie said, placing the tray on the bar before walking over and joining her brother and friend. “I thought I added enough lemon to mask the metal taste. Sorry AJ, but at least now you’ll be better protected!” She pulled the farmer into a tight hug.
“What’re ya’ll talkin’ about?” she asked.
“A Concession I had to make for Pinkie to accept my little ‘Experiment.’ You are now protected by a magical field that will stop most small-calibre bullets.” Berry explained. “To a point, of course. The shield will recharge over time, so watch yourself. Pinkie is rather fond of her friends.”
“An’ this experiment of yours entails…?”
“Nothing you need to worry yourself about, but I suppose there’s no sense hiding it from you. This building has been quantumly locked, so for the moment, you’re safe, but Twilight’s rescue of you, and getting outed as the False Shepherd, seems to be a constant. Once you leave this building, every policepony in Colum- sorry- McCarthia, will be after you. To save the multiverse, and undo some meddling by some of my colleagues, I need somepony like you. A wildcard. As Elements of Harmony, only you can fix what has been broken, and repair the Doors. But for that, constants must be broken, and one universe must burn. Pinkie and I are doing our parts, but only ponies that are part of this world can alter it from the inside. Pinkie and I no longer have that luxury.” Berry Bubble seemed amazingly calm, much at odds with his sister’s usual behaviour, as well as his own appearance. Applejack wondered what had happened to cause this, but not enough to entertain this madness.
“Alright. So, suppose ah believe this ‘Multiverse’ nonsense. You want me to ‘Deliver’ Twilight somewhere, but the police’ll be followin’ us the whole way. What do you have in mind?”
“It’s simple, silly!” Pinkie Pie bubbled. “You’re going to be a distraction so Twilight can get to the Pegasus statue! Then, you’re going to nab an airship, and sail it back to Manehattan! Then you deliver Twilight to us, who delivers the Mare, and everything’s smiles!”
“And of course, you will tell her none of this. You are a controlling factor here, AJ.” Berry added. “As I said, we need to burn this universe. There will be times where Twilight will need to make a decision. To let somepony live, or to let somepony die. You are to guide her to the right answer, break the cycle, but she is never to know. As far as she will realize, you are just plain old Applejack, there to help her finish her mission.”
“And what’s to stop me from telling Twi all about yer crazy nonsense plan, and we jus’ fly on home to Ponyville?” The Earth pony growled. “Ah won’t let ya use me ta manipulate mah friends, and Ah ain’t lyin’ for ya!”
“Silly AJ.” Pinkie giggled, “It’s not lying if you don’t remember! Once you go out that door, you’ll forget just about everything we just said, at least, everything regarding interdimensional physics!”
“What d’ya mean? Ah can’t just forget somethin’ that crazy!”
“But you will.” Berry finished. “Pony minds aren’t built to think in the fourth dimension, and everything I just told you will recede into your subconscious, like a posthypnotic suggestion. Now, I suggest you get going. A rather deranged pony has been trying to get inside for the last 15 minutes, and I think he’s a fan of yours. There’s a way out through the kitchen.”
Shooting a dirty look at Berry, AJ readied her pistol and stood, the barrel resting against her hoof. “This ain’t over.” She said before running out of the bakery via the kitchen.
The second she had gone, Pinkie let her smile die. Her hair drooped a little and she made her way over to Twilight with a cloth to wipe the blood from her snout. “Berry? Are we a bad pony?” She asked, her voice wavering.
“We’ll know before this is over, Pinkie. If your friends can succeed, and fix what was broken, maybe we can make up for our mistake.”
“I should never have tried to exploit The Wall.” was all she could say.
When I broke away from the corruption of Equestria, Princess Celestia tried her hardest to appeal to my better nature, to the history we had together! When I looked down at myself, and then at her, I realized: She feared me, and rightly so!
-The Prophet Dusk Glimmer, On the Weakness of Princess Celestia
Several thousand kilometres away, Princess Celestia awoke, and her nose was bleeding. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something had changed. She clambered out of bed, but her legs were like that of a newborn foal. She slipped and fell several times, trying to make her way to the mirror. What she saw was a Princess on the edge. Despite oversleeping by an uncharacteristically long time, her eyes were weighed down with bags, her hair unkempt, flowing chaotically in all directions. What terrified the Goddess the most, however, was the jumble that currently passed for her mind.
It was as if there were two Celestias currently residing in her mind, one a much angrier individual than the other, one that was an expert in swordplay, and another in gunplay, a kindhearted ruler, and a merciless tyrant. One that loved Twilight Sparkle, and another that hated the upstart Alicorn.
One mind asserted that she was a loving and kind scholar that lived in Ponyville with her group of five friends, while another claimed that she was a bitter drunk that had driven everypony she loved away. Celestia had no idea who to believe, and was thankful when Luna entered the room. The Princess of the Night wasn’t exactly better off, but her nocturnal nature meant that she had been able to raise the sun while her sister was incapacitated.
Luna rubbed her forehead with a hoof. “Sister, I fear that something has happened to our world. Last night I lorded over a world of chainmail and blades, but come the morrow…”
“Guns and body armour.” Celestia finished. “And a knowledge of how to use such barbaric weaponry, yes?”
Luna nodded, exhaling a breath she’d no doubt been holding for far too long. “I see, then it isn’t just me. My memories… They have been split. Through one eye, I see the battles of our past fought honourably, blade to blade, yet through another I see lines of riflemen lining up and dying like animals. ‘Tis a world I do not wish to live in.” She shuddered.
“And I take it that our subjects only remember one course of events?” Celestia asked, true curiosity tinging her voice for the first time in centuries.
“Indeed.” Luna confirmed. “After questioning every member of both the Night and Day Guards, it seems only the new memories remain within them. Could it be…?” Her voice trailed off, but Celestia knew what she was about to say.
“No. Discord would never stoop to this. His brand of mischief is a much more whimsical.” Celestia shook her head.
“Then who?”
“There is a new player in these memories, one who did not exist in the old ones. Dusk Glimmer, the Prophet of McCarthia. For some reason, she only exists here. Whatever is happening here, I have a feeling that this ‘McCarthia’ is at the bottom of it.”
“Then we should rally the troops! Whatever foul magic this Dusk Glimmer used to alter our memories must be within this ‘McCarthia’ place, we must take the fight to her if we are to return to our world!” Luna demanded, her more headstrong nature rising to the top.
“Hold, my sister. If we go charging off now, we may cause more damage than we prevent. We are new to the world, yet familiar to it. We must study this place before we destroy it, and… I must see what has become of my most faithful student.” Celestia rubbed her temples, trying to ease the headache brought on by the doubling of memories.
Airships have always been a marvel of pony design, but so very few know of their true purpose. As with many things, these dirigibles were created to make war. War with the Pegasi, whose pride blinded them to the superiority of the unicorns. We built these great weapons of war to bring them low, before the coming of the Alicorns, but now they serve as simple transportation for our Elite.
-Crooked Horn, Unicorn War Scholar (Now largely discredited.)
Dusk Glimmer felt the closest to rage than she had been in almost a decade. Her mane, usually kept in a low-power state, now floated around her head in an ethereal manner, framing her white-furred head in a miasma of stars and inky purple night, looking as if the very sky was her crown. Her Airship floated high above McCarthia, and it gave her the perfect view of everything below. She could even see the square where this debacle had started, where the ‘False Shepherd’ had shown her hoof. The prophet had foreseen this day of course, and had hoped that the guards would have put a stop to it. Unfortunately, she had not foreseen the Mudpony.
“Dahling, are you okay?” Came a voice from behind her. “The police are looking for them right now, I’m sure that-“
With barely a thought, Dusk used her magic to clamp Rarity’s mouth shut. “You underestimate the False Shepherd.” She said simply, walking over to the fashionista turned mogul. “She’s an Alicorn, and they don’t just hand that out to weaklings. No, she will be a massive pain in my side.”
The magic let up, and Rarity began speaking again. “Now that you mention it, what with Applejack being there with her, something does strike me as odd.”
“Hm?”
“Well, the False Shepherd looked just like Twiligh-“ Rarity never got to finish that sentence, as a wave of magical force knocked the wind out of her and sent her slamming into the bulkhead behind her.
A second wave picked her up and pinned her to the wall as Dusk moved closer. “Never. Say that name around me. Ever again.” She growled. “Twilight Sparkle is dead. She died long ago.”
“Whatever you say, my Prophet.” Rarity gasped.
“Excellent.” Dusk let the magic drop the Unicorn unceremoniously to the ground. “Now, don’t you have a little dragon causing big problems down in Belleville?” Dusk smirked. “Or perhaps your little prismatic friend?”
Rarity bowed extremely low at the mention of those rather large pains in her own side. “The Vox Terra can’t sustain these attacks, My Lady. And trust me; I’ll bring him back around. I promise you. The Vox have warped his mind, that is all.”
“And what if that’s not the case?”
“What do you mean?”
“What if he’s not confused? What if he actually is a traitor? Would you have him killed, if need be?”
“I- I would kill him myself, if that were the case, my Prophet. I promise.” Rarity held back the small amount of moisture that gathered in her eyes at the thought.
“Good. You are dismissed, old friend.” She waved her hoof at the door.
Vox Terra… It means, ‘Voice of the Earth’, I think. I read it in one of Twilight’s books once, I wasn’t paying too much attention. When I came to McCarthia, I was invited by somepony I once considered a friend; only to discover that my friend had turned away from everything we believed in. When I saw what she had done to the Earth Ponies here, I couldn’t stand for it, and that was when I learned a secret rule of this place. ‘If you don’t have a horn, don’t push your luck’. Before long, me and a few other Pegasi were tossed in jail, just for speaking out, and it was in that cell block that the Vox was born.
-Rainbow Dash, on the founding of the Vox Terra.
Rainbow Dash entered the hideout in Belleville the same way she always did, far too quickly, and incredibly messily. As she came to a skidding halt, she was surprised to come snout to snout with Spike. Literally snout to snout. The young dragon had grown during his time with Rarity, her greed rubbing off on him and bringing him to the height of the average pony. He still wore the uniform the unicorn had given him, a simple blue affair with gold embellishments and buttons, and his face was set in a grim look.
“I take it you heard, Dash?” He grumbled. “About the False Shepherd?”
Rainbow took off her helmet, a modified version of the ‘terrible’ gala outfit Rarity had made oh so long ago, and with it, shedding the ‘Prism’ persona most of McCarthia knew her as. “I’ve heard enough. Some alicorn killed some policestallions at the raffle, and freed the prize. Nice work, if I say so myself.” She shook her head, freeing her mane from the dreaded ‘helmet hair’.
“It was sloppy, is what it was.” Spike turned to the charts hung up on the wall behind him. “Getting supplies into Belleville was difficult before, but now it’ll be nigh on impossible. The police have set up checkpoints everywhere, and our couriers are getting picked off one by one, even the unicorn ones!” He ran a claw down his face. “It’s a mess, Rainbow. We can’t keep going like this without help. We both know Dusk and Rarity, or at least, we thought we knew Dusk. Neither mare will give up without a fight, and we don’t have anything else to throw at them.”
Before Dash could give one of her usual morale-raising talks, a Vox agent rushed into the room, bowing deeply before her. “I’m sorry to bust in like this sir,” The Earth Pony wheezed as he tried to catch his breath. “But, at the raffle, one of the ponies you told the intelligence corps to be on the lookout for turned up.”
“Who is it, Private?” Rainbow demanded, slipping back into Prism.
“Applejack, sir. Applejack is in McCarthia, and currently raising hell with the False Shepherd!”
Dash felt joy spring up deep within her. Another Element of Harmony on her side, that would raise the dwindling Vox Morale more than any little speech would, especially seeing as it was the Element of Honesty, and another Earth Pony. “Well done Private. Get some rest, you’re dismissed.”
“Sir. There’s another thing, but the agent wanted to deliver the news personally. She should be arriving shortly.”
As if on cue, the door creaked open, and a Zebra walked in. “‘Tis rather rude to start the briefing without me, as I have something that you would like to see.”
“Zecora!” Dash grinned at the new arrival, incredibly happy to see a familiar face. “Come on, tell us what you saw!”
The intelligence agent had a smile of her own as she started her report. “‘Tis good to see you too, my dear Dash, for soon McCarthia may be turned to ash. The False Shepherd has appeared indeed, to steal the Prophet’s seed. Her connection may be matriarchal, as the mare appears to be Twilight Sparkle.”
“Tw- Twilight?” Spike stammered, sounding a lot more like his old self before shaking it off. “Impossible! Twilight can’t be here, that’s impossible!”
“This is why I could not relay this through another. I’m sorry dragon, but it appears to be your surrogate mother.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Rainbow said with finality. “Whether this is actually Twilight or not, she looks the part, and is tearing apart the Prophet’s beloved city. That means she’s on our side, even if she doesn’t know that yet.”
