> The Vault Initiative
>  by rockyrobben
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

On the first day of judgement, the sky became fire.
On the second day of judgement, we won the war.
On the third day of judgement, the world ended.







It was never meant to be like this. We were meant to be equals, not slaves! 
A vicious breeze tore past, ruffling my fur. It brought with it scents beyond my wildest imaginations, tantalising my imagination about the surface. Why? Why did it have to end up like this?
I had just caught the last of sunset through the gap between the rocks of this sunken chamber. "Lunarium" said the sign buried within the wreckage of broken glass, rocks and dirt. A column carved into a rearing Earth Pony stood defiant against the wreckage.
I took every chance I possibly could to visit this statue. No matter how much of the landslide pressed against the statue's head and raised forehooves, it continued to resist. I gave it the name Dusk Light --my name-- as I had to remember, no matter the pressure, I could not crumble and break. For, if I did, the ceiling of my life would crumble upon me, and I would be no more.   
I leant my head against the statues rear hooves and stared up between its raised forelegs, where the silvery sheen of moonlight bleached my aqua coat in its light. 
"Luna," I said. "The lesser sister."
There was no heat to the light that fell onto my exposed belly. Most ponies blessed this illusion as Luna's ultimate sacrifice. They said she tried to fix the sun, but faded before she could return it to its place. They said that without her, even these tunnels would have burnt. But they were all fools: Luna was not strong enough to move the sun, only veil it with her night. 
And so, twelve hours a day, Celestia's sun mercilessly burnt this world and purged it in fire. Just as she intended. "Oh, Glorious Leader, please return to us and save us with your fury!"
I imagined our most illustrious leader, who ruled Equestria for a thousand years without aid, blast the rocks with the strength of her presence alone. I imagined her crumbling the ceilings of this vast underground metropolis, vaporising Equestria's enemies with her magnificent anger.
Oh, how the Diamond dogs, our captors, tormentors and slave drivers, would beg and grovel for mercy! I imagined their barks and howls as they burnt for all their crimes. I imagined the Alpha, the biggest, meanest, most disgustingly savage one of them all, crumble before my hooves and beg for my mercy. And I, being Celestia, would not give it to him. I would make him howl. 
And then, when this underground world became ours once more, my ire would turn to our old enemies, the ones who started this cursed war and forced us to live in a hole for the rest of eternity: The Changelings.
My hooves curled from merely thinking of their vile, insectoid shapes. Changelings were horrible. Changelings were evil. They started a war so despicable and vile that the blackest pit of Tartarus looked like a fairytale. 
I slammed a fist into the hard stone and winced as a shard of glass nipped my flesh. It was those creatures' stupid loyalty. Every single bloody changeling would fight and die at a command from their queen. They did not hesitate. They did not falter. And they never surrendered.
How could we fight that? 
It was their fault. If it was not for them, then my Gracious and Benevolent leader would never have had to move the sun. 
I picked up a huge purple gem that was mine and mine alone. The cut stone gleamed in the silvery spotlight and its edges sparkled. As I looked into the mythical depths of what once was my Leader's necklace, a small, niggling doubt crept into my mind. Oh, Celestia, Why did you leave us when you did?
It made no sense. On the thirteenth day of the fourth year of the war, My Humble Leader brought the sun closer to our world, and boiled those bastards within their own shells. But, in doing so, she just vanished, leaving only a small tear in reality that marked teleportation. And an ever-consuming sun.
It irked me that most ponies blamed her for the fall of Equestria and our subsequent capture by the Diamond Dogs, as if that had anything to do with her.  I tried telling them that it was just some form of trial, but they ignored my pleas. I touched the hoof of the statue with my own. I will be as resilient as the armour you wear, my friend. For I am Dusk Light, and I await her return. 	
I took a deep breath, hoping some air would calm the explosion inside my head. I shook as a familiar fire inside sparked into life, fuelling my muscles on a diet of adrenaline and fury. I would prove to them that she existed. I had this gem, and with it, I could follow her through the infinite nothingness and emerge wherever she had teleported.
All I had to do was escape, find this "Canterlot" place, and cast my spell on her gem. 
I clutched the stone tighter and let its coolness flow through me. It was all so achievable! But, that revelation could wait for later. I was still a slave. And, if I did not return to work soon, the Dogs would search for me...and hurt me. 
I got to my hooves, stretching off the soreness of resting on small bits of debris. I placed my gem back into its hidey-hole, ready for my next visit. 







I slipped between two fallen boulders within the mess of a small yet deliberate landslide; The Dogs did not want to let their slaves to wander in places they should not be. The bright aura from my horn as gems, driven into the cave sides, filled the cavern with a cold and steady light. 
I passed a Dog: a big, gruff and hairy creature whose forepaws dragged along the parallel grooves dug into the floor. Its stupid, beady eyes glared at me as its floppy ears swivelled in my direction. It growled, exposing a row of savage yellow teeth. 
It followed a line of mine carts tethered together with frayed rope. In front, a yellow-maned Earth Pony strained against its tethers. Blood dripped down her pink coat where the rope cut into the sides of her maw. More tethers, dampened with sweat and crusted red, wrapped around her neck and belly. I tried to un-notice that she had a mine cart for a cutie mark. Oh Celestia, Mother of Mercy, what an awful, miserable mark. Had our tunnels finally reached Tartarus? Because no mortal could possibly allow the soul of an innocent creature to tie itself so irrevocably to an object of slavery, right?
It made me doubt my own mark. Could three golden stars represent oppression? If only I remembered what I did when they appeared, maybe I would understand how to stop this. 
I passed row upon row of stone supports, each carved --by ponies most likely-- into Dogs, all holding the beam with their lanky paws. Each stared down at me with lifeless glassy eyes, showing me angry snarls or tongue-lolling grins. Some looked silly, some looked sinister, but each one reminded me which species were in control. 
The clopping sound changed as my hooves left the rough brown rock of the earth and connected with square slabs of glass-like stone of the Central System. I entered a round cavern that marked the beginning to a number of tunnels. Here, the traffic picked up as Ponies dodged the Dogs to do whatever they were told to do. A train of mine carts, filled with shiny gems, rumbled its way around the complicated sets of grooves that circled around a carved Dog in the centre of the room. This one clearly depicted what would happen if Ponies challenged their authority. The masterwork in the Pony's agonised expression as it was torn in half made me wonder if this were actually the work of a cockatrice.  
I almost slipped on the surface as I sidestepped an oncoming Dog that, thankfully, barely looked at me. There was a general rule in these pits: if a Dog looked at you for more than three seconds without command, it signalled that your next destination would be slipping down its throat in tiny little pieces. 
Eventually, after an endless walk of following a particular set of tracks, I heard the gurgling of fresh sea-water rumble through the earth above. The sound was hauntingly reassuring in its familiarity as it came from my workplace; the room where I spent every evening desalinating water. 
My hooves crossed the boundary of black stone slabs and onto the beautiful marble that marked my chamber of eternal damnation. This room, unlike most others, had corners. It was such a silly thing to notice, but it reminded me of the houses in the old picture books.
Once upon a time, somepony had decorated this little rectangle with a colourful mural. Unfortunately, scratches meticulously removed all the detail leaving stone-grey marks all over the peeling paint. Gem-light reflected off a pool of water, making the rich, deep-blue liquid sparkle. The bases of two small columns marked the sides of a small stone overhang that intruded into the centre of the pool. 
I rounded a parked group of abnormally rusty carts. Only a single carriage had been filled with buckets of clean water. I stepped up to the edge of my platform and stared at the same face I had witnessed every day for over eighteen years. My face seemed gaunt and thin, as if I had seen a ghost, or that I faced hunger every day. Each hair on my lavender and white striped mane looked brittle and covered in grime. I tied it all back into a ponytail, but many strands escaped captivity and obscured my magenta eyes. When had I last bathed?
"Hey Dusk," said the crimson pony to my left. "Now that you are finally here, could you pass me a few more buckets?" 	
Water Lily, or just Lily to her friends, swished her white-as-crystal mane, spraying water all over the place. She gave me the "Oh, I'm sorry, did I disturb you?" stare. I did not mind. In all honesty, she could probably murder a pony in front of me and I still would not notice. 
Oh Celestia, Light-of-my-Life, why could I not pry my eyes away from those flanks?
No! I was not staring at her arse; I was admiring her cutie mark! Yes, that magnificent white flower blooming on the lily-pad perfectly accentuated the roundness of her rear...
She noticed me staring. I gulped and found myself looking straight into the water, and cringed at my own stupid expression. I wished my mane would hide the redness burnt onto my cheeks, but alas, my unruly hair must remain bound. At least my coat blended with the blue of the water so well that, if I squinted, my reflection would largely disappear.  
With a wave, a little bit of magic, and the blush that out-crimsoned her coat, I pushed a couple of empty buckets next to the mare. 
She nodded thanks with a muted giggle. Thankfully, her attention left me as she channelled her spell. A small pillar of water, covered in a cyan aura, rose out of the pool like a charmed snake in a story I once read about. It was as if she sucked up the water inside a colourful straw. As the water rose, small white crystals formed and fell back into the pool. In a moment, her two buckets were full.
"Ooh, is that jealousy I see?" she said. She squinted in my direction and then recoiled with a hoof over her open mouth. "Oh, I think it is!" 
The pony to my right, Flood Gate, barked a laugh. "Most ponies would be jealous of you, l'il missy!"
I had no idea why, but a unicorn with an Earth Pony's build just looked odd. Scars lined his chest, parting his grey fuzz with lines of pink. He probably did not use magic to clean the water; he just threatened it into cleaning itself.
It was a shame that he did not bother to maintain his appearance. No-pony should grow that tangled mess of hair on his chin. Scruffy I could handle; being a slave meant that foul body odour and tangled manes were common place. But, was it that hard, especially for a unicorn in one of the few prized positions where the Dogs left Ponies alone, to take a sharp stone and cut that abomination off his chin?
But, by the puppy-dog expression on Water Lily, her view differed greatly from mine. Oh well, she annoyed me anyway...
A few hours passed in relative silence, with all of us focusing on our jobs. We just managed to fill the train before a Pegasi (known by the stumps that once used to be his wings) came to take the train away. 
Just when the rusty wheels on the mine carts squealed into motion, I heard the padding of a great weight on stone and an ominous heavy breathing. My heart sank.
"Stop." A deep, rumbling --almost growled-- voice weaved a murderous tale to any disrespectful pony. Water splashed as everypony's attention turned towards that terrifying voice.    
We turned to spy the Alpha leaning into the train to remove a few buckets from the back. He gave us no notice as he piled the buckets around his feet. 
Where most Dogs had floppy rounded ears, his were upright, spiky and pointed in our direction. He lacked the bulk of regular Dogs, but he towered over everything and moved with an agile grace that could put a maternal Earth Pony to shame. 
I could not resist my lips curling into a snarl when he took more than his fair share. But, the theft of water was just icing on the cake. He was the oath breaker, slave master, and murderer. Celestia, Oh Glorious Leader, do not spare him one spark of your flames!
I felt my muscles bunch as I turned. He may have towered over me like a foal to a cuddly toy, but I had magic!
Lilly's ears lowered and eyes widened. Her mouth mimed words, but without the sound, I found it easy to ignore. I was not going to stand there and watch my enemy starve us of precious water!
I prepared my magic. All I had to do was grab the dog and hold it under the pool. It would be so easy. Why had I not done this sooner?	
"Dusk!"
Lily's sweet voice knocked me out of my madness just in time for the Alpha to notice me staring at him, horn ablaze. In three bounds that seemed to defy time itself, he leapt.
A weight, greater than anything I experienced, pinned me to the ground. I struggled underneath him as a vice stronger than steel wrapped around my neck. 
My lungs screamed for air and my hooves scraped at the paw around my neck, but it did not budge. My hind legs dangled as the Alpha lifted himself to his full height, his black eyes alight with predatory excitement.
I lit up my magic, and a pink haze surrounded the Alpha.
Stars blocked my vision as something blunt slammed against my head. The pink haze faded into nothingness. 
The alpha laughed, lavishing me with the smell of rot. "Does Pony think to kill me? Maybe free Ponies from Dogs?" The harshness in each syllable felt like a punch to the ears. 
I wailed as its claws sank into my flesh. "Pony is small. Pony is weak. Pony is prey."
It pressed its muzzle against mine, and I watched its teeth curve upwards into a spine-chilling smile. Behind the bulging eyelid of its left eye, I saw the milky whiteness where its iris would be. From here, I could see why. Behind the layer of wiry brown hair, the whole left side of its body rippled with uneven flesh. It was as if, at one point, its skin had melted like wax on a candle. 
It had been outside on the Days of Judgement. It had tasted Celestia's rays. But how is it not dead? Wetness clouded my vision and dampened the fuzz down my cheeks. It should be dead! Nothing could survive Celestia's fury!
"Water-pony oversteps its boundary. Should it die?" It scratched its chin with one of those long hook-like claws. 
I dangled in his grip unable to care about the searing pain in my neck or the burning of my lungs. In fact, I welcomed it. For so long, I believed in Celestia as an omnipotent, divine being. But why would she spare the dog that forced pony-kind into eternal servitude? 
And if she failed us then, did she fail us by disappearing on the Days of Judgement? Did she die? 
The Dog let go and I crumpled to the floor. Lily's hooves brought me into her embrace while Flood Gate put himself between the monster and myself. I heard him plea on my behalf, but I could not bring myself to listen. Even Lily's hypnotic scent was not enough to bring me out of my depression. 
If Celestia was gone...then there was no future, no happiness; only blood, sweat and death. 
The rumble of the Alpha pierced my melancholy. "Pony lost its fight, yes?" It grinned, satisfied, as it licked my blood off its claws. It leaned over, pushing Flood Gate away as if the stocky pony was nothing more than debris. "Twilight Sparkle broke just like pony." 
I stared up at him, unable to comprehend. Mum?
"She reminded me of scared cub as Dogs killed Pony guards. I killed her then. Her blood tasty, as is yours, cub of Twilight Sparkle."
"No, please no." I covered my ears with my hooves and howled like a damned dog. How does he know? 
His laugh shook the cavern. "I watched her break inside, before death. She stupid and weak. She came to my den and demanded that my home became hers, as did Bug-pony.
"I did what was asked, but under Dog's conditions. So, Pony, be slave or die. I do not care."
The Alpha left on two paws, not bothering to look back; he knew there would be no retaliation.

> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        
Sensing the crushing defeat of her beloved nation, The Goddess of Sunlight opened her wings and bid her celestial child closer. 

And so it came to be that a storm of fire descended upon the world. The seas boiled; the mountains glowed; and the deserts turned to glass under her burning eye.





        Lily's hug did nothing against the coldness that chilled my insides to numbness. Her words came out as a drone which faded against the thump of my own heart beating. My gaze fell and all I saw was the hazy blueness of my own hooves on the dull stone.
        How can he know that? Mother was brave, strong and a leader of ponies. She was Celestia's chosen! And yet, she failed. 
        I lifted myself up, slipping out of Lily's grasp. Her mouth moved, and I heard sounds, but they meant nothing to me. Only the words of the Alpha filled my mind. 
        I flared my magic, and a bubble of water lifted from the pool. A moment later, the salt and other assorted pollutants dribbled out the bottom. The purified blob floated to the shore and splashed into a bucket. 
         Another blob flew wildly across the room, spraying the floor. I took a step into the pool. The warm sea water lapped against my hooves, welcoming me in. I wanted to lie with it, drink it, and forget this dark world. 
        My tears created small ripples in the pool.
        Something tugged on my hind legs and tail. I shook it free.
Wetness lapped at my knees. All I had to do was lie down and everything would be ok.
Another part of me screamed, cried, and howled for my attention.
        The water lapped at my belly as the salty water tried to carry my weight.
        Almost over...
        The inner fire flared like a phoenix rising from its ashes. With that, my clarity returned.
I roared in defiance. I was not going to die while that arse-sniffing, savage, fur ball still breathed! I had to make him face the flames and hear his screams! Oh, Celestia, Mother-of-All, I will make him pay!
        Something bit on my tail and pulled me back. Flood Gate placed a comforting hoof on my shoulder, which I brushed off as I moved to the exit. He could not stop me. Not now.
        "What do you think you're doing? The Dogs will kill you if you go," he said as if that would make a slightest bit of difference.
        My gaze never left the end of the passageway. "I don't care," I said.
        "Please Dusk," said Lily, "Please reconsider. Don't fight him." She jumped at me, but I broke free. I was Dusk Light, forever resilient!
        "I'm not going to fight him," I said, "Celestia will."
        The two looked at me as if magic pixies had just floated out of my ears.
        Suddenly, the concern and fear on their ignorant faces grated on me like an annoying colt that cried when I tried to sleep. I bit back a snarl and hurried down the passageway towards the boulders protecting the Old Section. How could they understand? They believed she was dead. I will prove everypony wrong! I will bring the sun to this darkness!
        "And do what?!" said Lily. "Resurrect her? That's insane and you know it!"
        "She's not dead!" My muscles tensed and I focused on my hoof steps.
        I heard Lily mumble, "Not this again," within the heavy panting of Flood as his mutant body struggled to keep up. 
        "But...she is!" Flood said, "And she burned...everything! Why can't you...get it into your head... that she cursed us all?"
        I turned so quickly that Flood almost ploughed straight into me. I pushed him back with such force that he slid along the smooth stone. "She is not! They never found her body! And I am going up there because I know where to find her. And I will bring. Her. Back." 
        "You'll never find her," he said. "That witch left us to die."
        My magic surged so quickly that the two ponies had no time to react. I picked up Flood and threw him into the maw of a Dog-shaped support. He crumpled to the floor, only to be picked up and thrown again.
        "What do you know?" I said. "How can you denounce the one pony that gives us light and strength for many thousands of years, and who never raises her hoof against her kin? We are all her children and she loves every one of us!"
         I watched Flood struggle to his hooves, his grey coat matted with his own blood. I expected anger or rage, but his expression conveyed only sorrow. He put a hoof over Lily as she sobbed into his coat. 
        As I panted in the hallway, resisting the urge to throw him once again, I watched him lean over and nuzzle his bereaved co-worker. "Let him go," he said. "Let him follow his madness."
        He looked up to me, those sorrow-filled eyes making my own leak. "I wish you luck, Dusk Light."
         I spat in his direction. "How very dare you," I muttered as I turned to run. I took the first left, knowing that I had to leave quickly. This tunnel descended into the depths of the Earth, and formed a link between the surface levels and the squalid mining levels. The Gem-lights dimmed with age as I galloped deeper down. However, to my right was an abandoned tunnel. I squeezed myself through the blocked entrance just before the Dogs crashed past.    







        I spent most of the day in the Lunarium, clutching my gem, and hiding from the sheer power of the sun that trickled through. Touching the thin beams was like putting your hoof over an oily torch used in the Under-Warrens (where the last remaining gems still hid in this depleted subterranean world). Ignoring the pain, I let my heart soar. There was no place closer to Celestia than next to her light. And, soon, I would meet her face-to-face. 
        I read that she was twice the size of a pony with a horn that touched the sun. I also heard that her mane ebbed and flowed in the air, even without a breeze. Oh, Master of Equestria, I cannot wait for your glorious return!
         I heard the soft pitter-patter of paws. A mangy, flee ridden husk of Dog, small enough to fit through the gap, found me next to my beloved statue. I guessed he was smart enough to check the abandoned sections. However, the miserable mutt came alone, which suited me perfectly.
        With a smile and a welcoming gesture, I said, "Bless Celestia, for I would not be able to do this without you!" And, with one stone, a lot of magical force, and a small distraction, I ended its pathetic existence. 
        I blanched as I stepped in a rapidly spreading pool of blood. For my plan to work, I needed to be invisible to those damn sniffers. With a roll --and a serious amount of retching in the corner-- my disguise was complete.  
        Just before the bright light turned to the silvery softness of moonrise, I began my journey.         Escaping this place was difficult. But, fortunately for me, Dogs were dumb. For some reason that Celestia only knew, they could not differentiate between ponies. Even with explicit instructions such as 'the blue unicorn with three stars on his arse,' it still meant that every blue Pegasi, Unicorn, and Earth Pony became the subject to their scrutiny. And avoiding them was not too difficult either. When things became tight, I threw a rock to distract them long enough for me to slink past.
        I made my way towards a cavern that the miners called The Palace, where the Alpha's mate lived. No-pony knew anything about the Matriarch other than that she guarded the way out of this cursed place. 
        Stories between mining ponies told that she was as tall as the palace itself, with eyes that spewed flame and claws that could cut through the thickest rocks with ease.
        Hopefully, all that was exaggeration, right?
        I took a deep breath and took the fourth exit from the-rounded-cavern-with-black-slabs-for-floor, keeping my head low and my pace brisk. Many parallel grooves ran from the junction down this way, but they bore few marks.
        As the tunnel gave way to cavern, I just stopped and gaped like a fool. Light-headedness struck me faster than a Pony heading for food, and suddenly, I lost my balance. This cave was just so damn high!
        In front of me stretched a huge clearing. Torches hung from the bases of great pillars to illuminate a lot of empty space. From here, I saw great scratches (other than mine cart tracks) embedded into the stone I stood on as if a great beast had dwelled here. I gulped as I thought back to the miner's tales. 
        At the back though, I saw the great face of the Palace itself. Square patches of light illuminated the vertical cliff face, and some of the courtyard far below, with powerful gem-lights within. In the centre, I saw a great rectangle of light, far greater than any of the other view-holes. Old beams jutted out above it, with ropes strung between that and the courtyard floor. If I was not mistaken, it was a crane system. And, by the debris littering the courtyard, it had failed a long time ago. 
        I shook off the feeling that I may just float away in this place and focused on my hooves. I walked from one incomprehensibly large pillar to another. 
        The palace door squealed open. I slammed my back against the pillars and held my breath. I waited heart-in-mouth for the inevitable cries of alarm. 
        Time slowed as I listened in to the dogs' idle chatter, but they did not mentionanything about escaping ponies. I heard their sniffers sniff. 
        I breathed a sigh of relief as the Dogs walked by. So far, so good.
        I bolted for the door to the palace. I sped up a small staircase and slid to a halt as I approached the sturdy looking door. Well, when I said door, I meant planks of fine wood riveted onto iron beams. To the side, a metal ring made a handle. So that was what the door to the Lunarium used to look like. I tugged on the handle and slipped inside.
        The hall --and it was a hall, not a cave-- continued into the distance. On either side, murals of Ponies, Changelings and Dogs, painted with incompetent hooves, danced in front of a dark grey and brown background while a angry looking sun (as in a sun with an angry face drawn on it), covered the ceiling with a bright yellow. At my head height, squiggly lines radiated off the barren surface. Each crudely drawn character had a happy, smiley face plastered eternally onto their faces. Underneath, words scrawled unevenly spelt out words like 'friendship', 'family', and 'unity'. It was enough to turn my stomach. In what world could we have ever been friends with those monsters? 
        The corridor ended with a picture of scarily well presented wolf-like Diamond Dog. The creature had many of the features of the Alpha: the staggering height, the angled ears, pointy snout, and those terrifying beady eyes. But, where the Alpha was all muscle and ferocity, there was a certain calmness and grace to this one. The creature also sported a fantastic frilly dress of silver and diamond studded earrings. It looked regal for a Dog.
        This, I assumed, was the Matriarch.
        I bolted left, passing fragile looking vases and small pictures happy looking creatures of all races. I knew the exit was here, somewhere. And since I was still underground, the answer was probably to go up.
        I found a staircase and ran up it without much thought. My ears twitched as I heard muffled steps behind me. I dived into a small alcove especially designed to complement the vase sitting proudly on its elegant stand. 
        My heart crept into my mouth as the steps grew louder. I almost jumped out of my skin when I saw dusty brown hooves clop past me. I poked my head around the stand. It was a pony! The mare swished her elegantly plaited mint green mane. She looked so...clean. I bet she had never had problems dealing with parasites. However, I could not help but look at my own coat, so full of dust and painted red with blood, and feel shame.
        She reminded me of the mare in those pictures. She was beautiful. 
        I clutched the vase stand tighter as a grating sound reminded me to loosen my jaw. What has made her so special that she can live in luxury? 
        However, the gem studded collar around her neck banished my thought. There was a wild look in her eyes, as if she were cornered critter. Her coat looked damp and she panted heavily.        
        She's fleeing too?
         I resisted running up to her and tell her that everything was ok. She may still betray me.
        She stopped mid-pace. As she lowered her hoof, she raised her chin and...sniffed?
        Unsure as to her motivation, I retreated back into my hidey-hole.
        Our gazes crossed. The wideness of her eyes probably reflected my own as we stared at each other. I contemplated running over and tackling her to the ground. But I was no soldier; there was no guarantee I could silence her. I could use my magic, but levitation could only restrain and lift things, not strangle them. And throwing the vase would be like garnishing myself while shouting, "Dinner's ready!"
        I hung in the shadows, knowing my fate was now in her hooves. And, by the way her eyes darted to the floor and her ears drooped, she knew this too. 
        She tugged on her collar and her tail swished. A moment later, her gaze glazed over as she turned to face away from me. "I saw nothing, Brother," she said just loudly enough for my pert ears to catch it.  
         Brother?
        Warning signals fired in my brain, but I could not put a hoof to it.
        At least I was able to rule out that she was an enemy. She may even be my best bet of finding the way out of here, assuming that I could find a place where we could chat.
        Maybe, just maybe, this plan was not so suicidal after all!
        I crept along the passageway, tempering my rage as I walked by yet another mural of dogs, bugs and ponies holding hooves, while dancing and singing in their cave-city. I refused the temptation to deface the picture with a hoof, and instead focused on the faces. I needed to bring those smiles back to ponykind. I needed to succeed. Oh Wise yet Absent Goddess! Mark my words, I will bring you back! 
        I rounded the corner and noticed a mint green tail disappearing within the third door to my right. Not knowing where I was, I decided the best bet was to follow her.
        I expected another damned passageway, but this room was high enough to give me vertigo again. To my left, I saw the large rectangular hole in the wall that overlooked the courtyard. Ropes and pulleys lined haphazardly on the walls. Structural beams, rigged as cranes, sagged and splintered as if something had tried to pull it down. But, in the centre of it all, there rested a metal clad behemoth with a chimney and a body that dwarfed even the Alpha. 
        It was a full blown train!
        The machine looked in a horrific state of disrepair, most likely being the sole source of all the metal heading into the mines as pickaxes and such. Panels were missing from its outer shell, exposing the complicated network of tanks, pipes and pistons. However, I was still able to read the words 'Friendship Express,' in peeling pink paint on the cylindrical tank at the front. Underneath and in the gap between where the cylinder curved inwards and the wheels, the paint still held. There, somepony had written the words, 'The Vault Initiative: Finding Salvation Underground' as if it rode the ripples on a waterline.
        And there it was: the exit, as marked by the wide metal tracks that lead under a massive stone arch. Thick stone blast doors, as tall as the ceiling and as big as the entire room, blocked my route to salvation.
        Suddenly, I found the startled brown coated mare digging through an overturned passenger cart. 
        "Hey, wait!" I said as I gathered my muscles and leapt in after her. I landed on a floor stripped completely bare, and by that, I meant no floor at all. Any safe flat panel had disappeared, meaning that I landed on exposed pipes and parts of train dented, buckled or torn. I was lucky I did not break my legs between some pipes. I picked my steps through the larger-than-expected carriage, avoiding dusty seats and broken tables.        
        I approached the mare, who threw bits of wreckage around her as if searching for something.
        "Please, leave!" she said as tears fell from her cheeks. "They will show you no mercy if they find you here!" 
        She launched herself off the other side of the carriage. 
        I went to follow her but my breath caught as I saw just how vast this room was. There must have been at least five more railway lines, each with a multitude of passenger or supply cars abandoned on them. There was no order to their positioning, and many had fallen over for unknown reasons.
        I slowed to a stop when I saw the mare's tail disappear into another carriage. I doubted I would get anything out of her. What was the point anyway? My quest belonged to the other end of this room, where those doors were. I felt the gem jiggle in the sack on my back and it made my spine tingle. I was getting close... 
        I ran past carriage after carriage in the room that never seemed to end. I dodged dangling ropes from damaged cranes and the debris of supplies left to rot. My lungs worked for every breath, sweat marred my fuzz and my jaw hung low so I could breathe easier. All the while, I felt like I made little progress. 
        My muzzle wrinkled and I suppressed a gag as I ran past a carriage that looked more like a skip on wheels. A crane had fallen into it, and something foul had spilled over the top. Blobs of a green and brown...something... crusted down the sides and into pooled into solid puddles. There was no way my nose would let me past that, so I climbed through another broken passenger cart (painted in bright colours and bearing the words 'Rebuild a New, Improved Equestria!') and ran away from the stench. 
        I could not help but laugh; and here I thought body odour and caked-on Dog's blood smelt bad!
        The doors became larger and higher as I approached. It by itself was an awesome creation. Those doors must have been at least three pony lengths thick to support that amount of mass. There was no way that even Celestia's magical might --and an awesome might that was too-- could move that. But every door had to open; otherwise, it was not a door. 
        If there was a mechanism, it did not make itself known to me.
        I heard something clear its throat behind me.
        My stomach lurched as I jumped so high I almost hit the ceiling!
        "The doors have long been sealed," said the voice that belonged to the dusty brown mare, "Baked shut by the sun." 
        My brain still reeled. "You...what...where?" I could only stare dumbly at the same dusty brown mare whose sad eyes sparkled with the same hue as her emerald mane.  
        She turned her gaze from the sealed barrier to me, her mint green eyes analysing my every feature. "I have learnt many times to give up on hope, but still, here I am, gazing into the face of some-pony I may know. Say, do you know a Twilight Sparkle?" 
        Again. I had that feeling again. But, this time it made my stomach burn and my ears droop. It felt similar to the time Lily did not show up for work until well into the evening. 
        "She's my mother!" I said, confused.
        "I thought as much." She hugged me, which whipped those butterflies in my belly into a frenzy. "Oh, Brother, it brings me much joy to see you live and well!"
        I tried to pry her away, but she gripped me too fiercely. Plus, it felt wrong to push away a beautiful mare crying on your shoulder.
        I had a sister all this time? No, that was not true. I was an only child!
        "But I've never seen you before!" I said. "Who are you?"
        She let me go, patting down my mane as she did so. "My name was Amanita, but the Dogs deem the name 'Pet' more fitting for me. I was a close friend of your blood-mother and I was your occasional foal sitter."
        What? How? My mind screamed to run and hide; anywhere was better than next to this mare. I swallowed, my throat suddenly becoming dry.
"You looked after me?"  
        She revealed a thin smile as she stared into the distance. Her expression softened along with her voice, "Your mother imparted on you the same voracious appetite for books that afflicted her. There was not a day where I found you without your head buried in some old text. You especially loved Twilight's old photo albums. It is not surprising then, that you do not remember me." 
        "But you look so young," And hot...
A small and tired looking smile curved her lips as if those words hurt her. "Thank you."
        Suddenly, my brain caught up with me, and all the pieces fell into place. I looked again at her immaculate exterior, with not a hint of dust on it, even though she had been piling through rubbish moments earlier. She called me Brother, and then expressed no direct relation to me. She also seemed to be sniffing a lot around me...
        Oh, Celestia, Lord and Protector, save me.        
        I pushed Amanita with my magic and sent her sliding along the floor. I tried to flee, but the fire that roared in my chest crashed against the icy chillness running down my spine, leaving me stranded in limbo. 
        It was so obvious. How did I not see it sooner?
        She was a Changeling: a vile, murderous, snivelling, backstabbing insect.


> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


But all was not well in the castle-upon-high where the Goddesses stood watching the world. For, as the Goddess of Night turned to converse with her sister, she saw nothing but a flash of light. She thought nothing of it, as the Goddess of the Sun tended to favour isolation during times of stress.

Three days. Three days was the limit, the point where the world could not recover. And still the Goddess of the Sun had not returned. Fearing the worst, the Goddess of Night spread forth her senses, but could not find her sister. The Goddess had left this world, but her charge remained. 








Oh, Celestia, it had touched me!
"You monster!" I picked up a discarded brick with my magic and threw it at her with all my strength. 
        Her magic, a haunting green aura, slapped the brick midflight and it smashed into the window of an old passenger carriage.
        She was the cause for the war. She made us cower in this hole. She made us all slaves!
        I snarled and scraped my hoof along the floor. "It's all your fault!" 
        I threw a rotted chunk of wooden cross-section like a spear. It sailed over her head and exploded in a shower of splinters against a storage container. Her stupid bloody ears drooped and her eyes glistened with fresh tears.
        A disgusting green bubble materialised around me and cut off my magic to everything outside it. Three separate chunks of rock fell back to the ground with a crash.
        I beat my hooves against the shield, but it held firm. I howled as I fired a small bolt of energy, only for it to reflect and sear my side. 
        "Coward," I screamed, "Let me go and face me like a true pony!" The bubble rippled from my attacks.
        She walked so close that I could have strangled her if it were not for the translucent barrier. She tried and failed several times to look into my eyes, her gaze falling back to my hooves. 
        "I'm sorry," she mumbled. "I promised to protect him, but they caught me first." She looked to the roof. Fresh tears rolled down her cheeks. "I should have been there. I should have fought with you...died with you. But I could not. I had to live."
        She sobbed. "I failed in my duty. All my Brothers died in front of my eyes, and I did nothing. But now, I have a chance to fulfil my duty to you, and he returns to me poisoned by hate."
        "You think I care?" I roared. "I hope you die a slow and painful death! Celestia knows your race deserves it!"
        She put a hoof on the barrier. "I can't believe that you could say that. I...I won't believe it. No son of Twilight Sparkle could go against everything she stood for."
        "Stop talking about her!" I bucked at the shield and slammed my head into the other side. "You don't care about her! You made a deal with the Dogs to enslave us while you live in luxury."
        The shield wrapped around my body like a second skin, paralysing me. I floated over to Amanita, who dropped her disguise. Those freaky, blue, glowing eyes had no irises or retinas. How could it actually see? I kicked, writhed and struggled just so I could get out of that piercing gaze. 
        "The Diamond Dogs betrayed Changeling and Pony alike!" it said in a scratchy voice, as if it were talking through the flu. I noticed the small pointy fangs hang down either side of its jaw as if the black carapace armour was not enough of an intimidation factor...
        ...Or it would have been, but this Changeling had decided to give its back, from its jewelled collar down to where a tail should have been, a coat of mint green paint. On its rear, it had painted on its fake cutie mark. It was simply three rings, done in silver paint, all interlinked to form a propeller-like shape in the middle.
        "My duty to my hive forced me to surrender to those dogs! I wanted to fight and die with your mother, but I cannot get myself killed. I am the Daughter. I am the only one that can become Elder and restart the hive. The fate of the Changelings rests in my hooves. And I had to watch each of my Brothers die one by one, while chained to the Matriarchs chair like a pet!"
        It stomped and snorted. "There is no such thing as suicide for me, Dusk. A Changeling's life is about duty, and mine is to live."
        It turned back to me; its blue gaze made want to curl up into a ball and disappear. "I wish I was a pony. I wish I could make that ultimate choice. I want to be free!"
        It stood there, chest rising and falling, its plate armour scraping over each other. After a moment, its head dropped to my hooves and it released a drawn out sigh. "I'm not going to kill you." 
        It released its magic and I crumpled on the ground.
        "I respect Twilight far too much to do that. In a way, I saw her as Mother, or, in your dialect, as my queen."
        "She was the bravest, strongest, wisest pony I knew. She had a brilliant plan for this shelter and she shared it with me because she believed in the power of unity."
        I lifted myself off the floor, my legs struggling to support my weight. It was all too much. How could this creature        admire my mother? What was its game?
        "But, it no longer matters," she said. "We were betrayed and our plans lay in ruins." 
        She gave another weak smile, "At least you are here. Maybe I can finally honour my promise to her." 
        "Yeah, well," I said, firing up my horn once more and lifting a chunk of rock. "What stops me from just killing you now?"
        "Because I know the way out," she said as she pointed to the gem like bulge in my sack, "And where to resurrect Celestia."







        Following a Changeling, especially one that spoke about Mum with unsuppressed awe, was a betrayal of everything I stood for. But, I could not deny that she --and I use the term 'she' in the loosest way possible-- knew where she was going.
        I poked my head around every corner, expecting an ambush, but finding another empty corridor. The Changeling-in-a-pony-body had no such hesitancy. 
        The Changeling said that pony architecture was 'higgledy-piggledy' at best, and the resulting maze was the reason why the Dogs did not live here. 
        "If you want proof, visit Canterlot Castle," she had said.
        Her tail kept twitching while I became the recipient to her many, deliberately blank, gazes. My gut rumbled that something was off. I bit on the Changeling's tail and quickly shoved her against the wall with my foreleg pressed against her neck, ready to choke her.
        My entire body felt like a coiled spring, ready to explode. "I may not know where I am," I said through gritted teeth, "But I know when I'm being led into a trap! Where are you taking me?"
        The hairs on the back of my neck rose as she just stared at me with those sorrow-filled eyes. She pressed a hoof on my leg as if she actually expected me to release her. Her eyes suddenly widened. 
        "We are on the same side," she said. "I only want what is best for our peoples."  
        I pressed a little tighter. "Liar!"
        She gasped and struggled underneath me. Her horn blazed to life, but a slap with my free hoof left her reeling. "Your quest...will only end...in failure. Celestia...is dead."
        "You know nothing!" I said, slamming her head against the wall. "She did not die, she teleported away. I have her gem! I can use it to find her, and bring her back."
        "It won't...work." Amanita gasped as her eyes started to roll backwards.
        I growled and ignored the growing pain as my muscles screamed for me to relent. Another part of me told me to stop. I was about to kill a pony.
        She's not a pony. She's a filthy Changeling!
But, no matter how many times I told myself of the insidious black insect hiding underneath that skin, all I saw was a desperate mare struggling for her life.
        She knew more about my Mother than I did. She was at the betrayal and knew why it happened...and she wore a collar. She was no enemy.
        Amanita relaxed and her head drooped. She no longer struggled in my embrace. 
        Celestia...damn it! I screamed at the wall and released her. 
        A moment passed as she drank the air with a tortured gasp. Weak, trembling, and with tears in her eyes, she waited for me to finish the job.
        "Why won't it work?" I said in a barely restrained voice.
        She flinched at the venom in my words. "Your mother...she has already cast your spell. She found her." 
         "And where is she?" I shouted. "Where is Princess Celestia?"
        Amanita recoiled as if expecting a blow. "I'm taking you to what is left of her."
        The world stopped. No, that isn't true! My hooves fell from underneath me as dizziness set in, distorting my vision. 
        It was not true! It was a filthy Changeling lie! If it was not, then there was no hope.
        All strength left my voice "Lies," I said. Tears welled in my eyes.
        Amanita rose and offered me a hoof, "Let me show you."
        I batted away the token of friendship and pushed myself up, "Fine. Show me."







        We walked down the remaining corridors in silence. Amanita's posture looked as tense as I felt and every so often, she glanced back at me as if she expected a dog flexing its claws behind her. The fact that she kept looking at me sent shivers down my spine. It took all my will to not apologise to her and give her a hug. She was a Changeling: my enemy, not a Pony. 
         Amanita pushed open both the double doors and strode in, eager to get where she wanted to go. "This is what I wanted to show you," she said. "This is Twilight's library. This is your home." 
        I knew already. As soon as I stepped on the dusty carpet and inhaled the scent of ink and pages, I remembered. I had been here before.
        I lived here.
        I explored the room, ignoring the tickle of dust in the back of my throat. Books filled the many shelves that covered every centimetre of wall in this place. Boxes, each labelled with one of many of Equestria's libraries, spilled singed literature onto the dust-clogged rugs.  On a desk, a magnifying glass rested on a heavily singed manuscript while a quill lay on the blank pages of a fresh book. The entire space sparkled with what my brain told me were gem crumbs.
        It was Spike's mess! I remembered the little grumpy dragon as he pored through old books ciphering as much as he could from the wreckage. I smiled. He let me try a sapphire once. I almost broke my teeth.
        "Over here," said Amanita. 
        I trotted into a small bedroom. I staggered as I remembered the bed I used to sleep in. The stars on my duvet still shone as bright as those on my rear.
        I placed a hoof on my bed and tucked in the corners in a habit I thought I had long since forgotten. This used to be a room for a foal free of any burden. That foal had been what the pictures in the hall represented: happy.
        But those days ended many years ago. And that foal died when Mum did.        
        Amanita snuffled and rubbed a hoof over her muzzle. I looked at her red and puffy eyes just as she returned it back to the open ledger on my bed next to her. 
        The folder was entitled 'The Vault Initiative'.
        Heavily inked pages spilled out and onto the floor, but she had eyes only on one sheet of paper. I spied what looked like to be a contract. I could not make the bulk of the text, but I saw the signatures: The paw print (which covered the entire page), Amanita, and Twilight Sparkle.
        Amanita sniffed and rubbed the tears of her shoulder. "This was the beginning of a better future," she said. "This was the start of true unity."                
        I noticed the chest to her other side. Amanita shifted from hoof to hoof and edged away as I approached. 
        The chest was already open. My heart thundered as I looked over the side, dreading whatever was inside.
        My heart stopped beating.
        I picked up four golden horseshoes made for unnaturally large hooves, a three pointed crown, and a necklace without its gem. I rotated them mid air and played with the buckles, unable to comprehend.
        No. It cannot be...
        I hesitated, but slowly lifted Celestia's gem from the sack on my back. With a click, the gem returned home.
        It was true. Celestia was dead. There was no hope.
        "It can't end like this!" I threw the pointless objects, with the traitorous gem that had once consumed my life, back into the chest with such force the lid slammed shut. "Where are you Celestia?"
        I could not hold back the tears. All I had fought for, everything I believed, was a lie. Everypony had been right. I was deluded. Oh, Celestia. The Abandoner. The Deceiver. The Monster-Under-the-Bed. Where are you?
"Come out!" I shouted. "Reveal yourself! Accept your bloody responsibility and help us!" I threw the crate across the room and out of the door. It crashed into a bookshelf, toppling hundreds of books in a flutter of pages.
        "Do you not care? Is that it? Did you actually leave us all to die?"
        We were dead. There was no Celestia. There was no salvation. 
        I flipped the bed with my magic. I could feel wetness rolling down my cheeks. 
        "Then fine! Oh, Celestia. Murderer-of-Millions. Enslaver-of-Nations. Butcher-of-my-Mother. You caused this!"
        I found myself in the library, tipping shelves and throwing books at walls. "I HATE YOU!"
        "I hate you!"
        "I hate you."
        Something warm wrapped around me. Amanita's touch was hesitant, and her body tensed as I twitched. 
        "I...hate you," Another flurry of tears misted my eyes as wracking sobs disabled my body. I clutched at the warmth and buried my muzzle into Amanita's mane. 
        She stiffened, but I soon felt the gentle touch of her hoof as she comforted me. I clung to her for dear life, still whispering, "I hate you."
        Amanita hushed me softly, as if consoling a foal. "Do not blame your Celestia; it was never her intention to let the world burn. In fact, Twilight mentioned that Celestia flat out refused to move the sun for many years, saying the consequences would be far too great."
         A moment of silence, broken only by the sound of my blasted sniffling, wrapped around us like a comforting blanket. I felt Amanita relax into me. "If you truly wish for something to hate, then hate Mother...Chrysalis," she practically hissed the name, "For she truly is the monster that you depict all Changelings to be."  
         "She is the monster that ignored her duty. She failed to guide me in the ways of leading the hive; she failed to kill and replace the Elder --Egg Layer-- when it was time for her to die; and she started a war so that the scents that made her heavy-with-eggs ceased to be."
        "She thought nothing about her duty to her hive. And then she assassinated your leader, just after the spell that doomed us all, so that she could rule the Ponies as Mother forever and grow fat and lazy on their emotions."
        The fire within smouldered. How could she say this? Every story, recorded on page or by word, cursed the Changelings loyalty. At no point was any dissonance or reluctance to fight ever recorded. They all fought with a singular aim: to destroy Ponykind. 
        "Then why did you not stop her. Why did the Changelings fight?" I asked.  
        "We did not want this!" Her voice echoed around the library as if four more Amanitas suddenly appeared. "But our duty was to obey her!"
        Sure it was. "Lies," I said.
        "No! You do not understand! A Changeling's duty is like a Pony's cutie mark: it is part of their very being. To go against it is the worst kind of wrong, which is why Chrysalis is evil."
        "And...and," she sniffled and stared at the ground. It was like watching a flood gate open and drown me in guilt and shame. "I was an untrained Daughter. I could have stopped her, but I was too ignorant to challenge her."
        "But, I am ignorant no more. Seeing this place has reminded me of my duty to my kind and yours. It is time that we rise up and create a better world."
        She stood up, leaving me huddled on the floor blubbering like a foal. "Dusk Light, it is time for you to follow that which Twilight started. It is time that you stood upon your own hooves and did the duty that your Celestia would want you to do."
        I imagined the Alpha burning underneath my hooves. A smile crept upon my face and I rubbed the tears from my eyes. "It is time, I think, that the Dogs were shown the meaning of your 'unity'," I said. Strength returned to my hooves, and I took Amanita's waiting insectoid hoof. A warm smile crept upon her fanged face, which was still creepy with those piercing blue eyes. For now, she would be my friend and ally. 
        The Dogs were going to wish they had never been born. I'm sorry Celestia, Betrayer-of-my-Soul, this revenge is mine and mine alone to take. 


> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Goddess of Night tried her best. She stood in direct sunlight, defying its rage with her stare alone. Inch by inch, she pulled on her sister's charge, willing it back to place. It resisted.

She tried and tried, standing in the sun for three whole days. Her flesh peeled like parchment, but it would not acquiesce to her will. She spent the last of her energy bolstering the natural flow, and restarted the natural cycle of the sun and the moon.

      

  



I wanted to hurt the Alpha, and I knew just how to do it. Amanita told me that the stories about the Matriarch were a lie. In reality, she had grown fat and lazy. Perfect for a little...disembowelling, I think. She was also the foundation to the Pack's hierarchy, so she had to be dealt with anyway. Although, I was sure that Amanita and I had significantly different ideas on how to do that.
        I agreed that diplomacy was the most ethical option, but killing the Matriarch would hurt the Alpha no end. It brought a sneer to my face as I imagined his lone howling echoing through the caverns. He was finally going to know our pain. I could practically taste his tears.
        I followed Amanita through the warren of brightly painted corridors and stairs, and realised that we were travelling on corridors I recognised. We were back on the ground floor, where the ceilings were high and the decor ornate. The sounds of growling, mewling and whining bounced its way into our ears, reminding us that we were back in their territory.
        Amanita pressed me against a wall and pointed to the door to our right.  "Follow me." 
        I nodded and followed her to the door. Unlike all others, these doors bore large scratches around the handle where oversized claws cut into the wood with ease. I pushed it gently with my magic.
        Wow! This room was huge. Great chandeliers shone with beautiful gem light onto a large, imposing table covered in a huge sheet that used to be white. Many plates held grime and rotten foodstuffs. Long burnt out candles leaned in their stands with dry wax puddled on the cloth. My nose wrinkled from the smell of Dog and rotting flesh.
        Amanita strode into the feasting hall, leaving me hidden by the doorframe.
        The low rumbling tones of a dog broke the silence. "Ah, Pet. Broke free again? You need a stronger chain." 
        My heartbeat quickened as I poked my head around the corner. The Matriarch sat on a pile of cushions at the end of the table, holding a squirming pup in her giant paws. She wore a frilly white gown, which fit her form perfectly. But, by the amount of brown fur poking through the torn fabric, it had seen better days. Her long angular snout lifted at the backs to expose her yellow fangs. She poked some meat with a tiny fork that looked so dainty compared to her massive paws and brought the morsel for her tail wagging cub to chew on.
        But the painting failed to capture her eyes. No ink or oil could capture the venom inside. They were all knowing, all seeing, and I found that all I could do was watch. Suddenly, the weight of everything crashed down upon me and I had to stifle an oncoming sob. How could I get past that? 
        There was no hope. Maybe I should just give up and plead for my life. I may even live through it; the dog whose blood I wore was basically feral.
        No! I cannot give up. I will kill her!          
        "So," said the Matriarch, "Where Pet been? Playing in rubble? Finding more of your pack?"
        "No, Mother," said Amanita in a flat tone. "You killed them all."
        The Matriarch leaned back, allowing the pup to stand on her belly. The small creature lapped at her chin. "Did Train Station hide more Eggs?"
        "No," said Amanita, dejected. "It looks like you succeeded. I'm the only one left."
        The Matriarch shook the room with her mighty chuckle. "And you came back. Pet is a good pet."
        "No," said Amanita. The Matriarch raised an eyebrow; she obviously did not expect any resistance. "I want to re-open negotiations for the Vault Initiative."
        The Matriarch huffed and rolled her eyes.
        Three tapestries hung from a tarnished gold rails with the pointy knobs on each side. They looked so grand hanging at the end of the room like that and filling what would have been a bland wall with pictures. The fabric looked worn and the colours faded, but I easily recognised that each one represented the different races. 
        The first had Amanita, with the green paint flowing down her chitinous back like a royal cloak. Her single-hoof-raised posture radiated strength while her endless blue gaze stared off into the distance. Underneath, I noticed the word, "Duty," stitched with dulled gold thread.
        The second had the Alpha and Matriarch standing side-by-side, their horrible black eyes boring into me. Underneath, they had, "Family." 
        Like they even understood that concept.
         But the last astounded me. The violet pony with dark blue mane and a pink stripe, whose horn glowed in the same pink hue as mine, was unmistakeable. Mum, surrounded by her closest friends, radiated light as if she were the beacon that drew every-pony closer. Underneath the small circle of ponies, I saw the word, "Friendship." Of course it would be. 
        To see Mother, so pure and innocent, fading away in a room that assaulted my nose with odours of rotting flesh, left me speechless. It was an insult, plain and simple. Ponies created this place to unite the races. And here was the Matriarch, living among the bones of her enemies, disregarding everything that my mother held dear. 
        It was time to change the plan. Diplomacy was not an option; this dog did not deserve another chance. 
        I rounded the corner and faced the monster whose life I deemed to be over. Our gazes locked on the Matriarch as she scanned and dismissed me with a wave of a paw. 
        "You brought friend?" it asked with a smirk, "You think this changes things?"
        Do not just dismiss me you wretched mess of hair. 
        I took a couple of paces forward, horn ablaze. She noticed me then.
        The Matriarch opened her maw and revealed her fangs. "Does pony wish to fight?" She gently placed the pup by her side and then picked at something in her teeth with a claw. "I not hunted in a while." 
        "What do you have to say for yourself?" I asked, not expecting or caring for an answer. "What are your final words going to be?"
        The dog's predatory smile was all the answer I needed. "Ah, you're the water-pony who think it can hide from Diamond Dogs? You killed one of us..." She sniffed. "...And you wear his blood to fool our noses. Clever pony."
        "Do you even feel remorse?" I kicked a water bucket as I approached. it crashed against the wall and spilled its precious contents. "Or guilt? Or any emotion for enslaving an entire nation during its time of need? Do you feel big? Or brave? Or are you just a monster, preying on those less fortunate than you?"
        The creature chuckled so deep that it reverberated in my bones. She slowly rose from sitting onto her haunches, as if ready to leap. Her focus was solely on me. "Ponies wanted peace from bad sun. We grante..."
        A loud twang filled the room as my magic finally pried the tapestry off the wall. 
        "You are a monster!" I screamed, "You deserve this!"
        The dog looked up to see the point of the rail slam into her face. A gurgled cry filled the room as her skull cracked open. I pushed the rail deeper, its weight and gravity making it easy.
        Amanita gagged as the stench of blood washed past me.
        The pup whimpered as the Matriarch's body spasmed underneath it.
        "You betrayed us!" I said. I screamed as I forced the pole further into the corpse, only stopping when I heard the metallic clunk of the pole on the marble floor underneath. 
        "I will end you all!" I said, grabbing the pup with my magic. The beast mewled as it stared at me with wide uncomprehending eyes. The creature had small pointed ears, a lithe, agile frame covered in soft grey fuzz and small paws that would grow to become large and ferocious. 
        How long would it be until it tortured and killed for sport?
        It had to die. 
        I threw the creature with as much force as I could. 
        The pup collided with such force that it cracked the wooden panelling. It dropped slowly as a green haze gently lowered it, leaving a sphere shaped impression in the wall. The pup's chest rose and fell raggedly, but it did not rise.
        "Don't stop me!" I said, turning to Amanita who had returned to her changeling form. 
        Her expression hardened. "Do not lay the blame of the parents on their children!"  The pup floated in her sickly aura, until it lay underneath her. She lowered her horn at me.
        "If we don't kill it now," I said, "then it will kill hundreds of ponies."
        "You do not know that!" she said.
        "They're monsters. Of course it will happen. Give it to me!"
        Amanita stomped her hoof, "I will do no such thing. I will not allow you to murder an innocent pup! Think of what we're trying to achieve here."
        I was achieving everything I wanted. And everything I wanted was eradicating any threat to ponykind. But she just stood there, resolute in her stupid morals.   
        "I'm achieving revenge!" I said. "I will kill those that have wronged us!"
        "And when the Dogs find out that you murdered their young, how will they react then?"
        "How will they react when they find out I have torn the heart from the Alpha? Answer is: they will go berserk. You cannot reason with those bastards, why can't you see that?" I approached Amanita, who cast a shield about herself.
        "Do you not care about the plan your mother gave her life for?" she said.
        "Of course I care," I said, "But alterations must be made. Those who cannot abide by the terms must go."
        I pressed my muzzle onto her shield and felt her magic tickle the tip of my horn. "The Dogs cannot be trusted. They must die."
        "Remember what we're trying to achieve," she said. "We can't unite the races if you kill off their children!"
        "Don't patronise me!" I said. "You seek to rule us all!"
        "Yes, and by ruling, I can unite everyone as a Brother in my hive."
        "It won't work!" I said. "Ponies cannot be ruled by a Changeling."
        "It is my duty to bring peace to my hive. I will make them if I have to."
        "And then you will be no better than the Dogs that rule us!"
        Amanita paused with eyes wide open. Her mouth moved and formed words, but no sounds escaped. Her focus fell from me and back to the floor. "If I must. Then I will."
        I picked up the corpse of the Matriarch with my magic and trotted out of the room with it floating above me. The remains of the tapestry, not lodged deep inside the corpse, dangled over its face, dripping blood. "Fine. I go to end this."







        The trip back to the train depot felt so much shorter than the trip to the den. As usual, the hallways were clear of dogs and I trotted by unimpeded. Amanita did not follow, but that did not bother me. She would only get in the way. She did not understand that these dogs had to die! They were monsters, every single one of them. There was no way they would accept an alliance, they would only betray us again, and all of this would be for nothing!
        I towered over the great rectangular hole that made the window between the depot and the courtyard. Below, I saw a couple of dogs milling about in the vast, empty space.    
        I floated the Matriarch's corpse out of the hole and I tied her to a piece of hanging rope supported by an old crane. She swung there, barely recognisable as a dog. Blood dripped into the darkness below, pooling into one of the many tracks. With any luck, her blood would flow straight to the Alpha. Oh Celestia, Absent-as-Always, that would get his attention!
        I stood as tall as I could and used my magic to amplify my voice. 
        "Ponies!" I said, "The Matriarch is dead. Celestia has risen! Rise up against your oppressors! Ponies, fight for your freedom! Fight for your Princess! Fight for a better life!"
        "Alpha! You killed my mother, Princess Twilight Sparkle! By your customs, I challenge you! Find me at the Palace. I will have my revenge."
        I picked up debris with my magic. A slightly bent steel bar whose end had sheared into a nasty point, and a large chunk of rock. These would do perfectly!
        Howling echoed through the passageways and up to my elevated platform like a banshee's wail. The sound ebbed and throbbed as I watched Dogs run through the courtyard and into the Palace. The great stage was set. It was time for me to take my place.  
        I made my way to the back of the depot, where the massive doors stood like stoic guardians against the world outside.
        The doors on the left side of the room exploded in a barrage of splinters as Dogs burst through. They swarmed the courtyard side of the train station. They paused around the rectangular window as they watched their mostly headless leader swing. A haunting whimper, like the reverberating hum of rushing sea-water, echoed up to me. 
        "Dog! Get out of way!" said the Alpha. I was just close enough to see his fur stand on end as if he were one of those creatures I once saw in a book...a hedgehog.
        It was time. "Hey, over here you bastards! Meet your doom!" I said, throwing a brick with my magic. 
        The brick shattered a window on a wagon, spraying a Dog with glass. 
        He pointed at me. "Kill it!" 
        The others turned and they dropped to all fours. Their barks surrounded me and confused my twitching ears. 
        I span my weapons in the air. "I challenge the Alpha!" I shouted.
        My heart thundered in my chest and my legs refused to move as I watched the Dogs jump over the carriages. It was like watching a wave of brown and grey consume the train yard. 
        I stamped my hoof in frustration. How dare they ignore me! I snorted and charged at the growing swarm of dogs.
        Dogs had no honour. Yeah, because slaying the brood-mother to get at the Alpha was such a noble act. I pushed that thought into the back of my mind and focused on plan B. 
        I dropped my weapons as my magic tugged on the remains of a crane hanging from the ceiling. I pulled, but the bolts did not surrender. My horn sparked and burst into an intense pink light and I screamed as the strain pulled at my body. 
        The Dogs bore down on me with frightening speed; their bulks growing larger by the second. I refused to hear their claws scraping the ground and their vicious barks. The Alpha leapt from cart to cart, his gaze never leaving me.
        I continued to pull with my magic, biting my lip as I poured more and more energy into my magic. I tasted copper which made my internals gag. It was not budging! No! Please! Break!
        The fractured support beam cracked and split. Huge chunks of wood and rock tumbled onto the foul-smelling bucket cart. Small pieces of crumbling ceiling broke through the green-brown crust and released a plume that accosted my nostrils with a cloying, acrid smell and turned my stomach. My mind swam and I struggled to keep balance. Breathing through my mouth did not help as I heaved.        
        A huge chunk of ceiling collapsed onto the wooden crane sticking out of the skip. The cart tipped and crashed with a metallic clunk that resonated around the room. The foul substance glooped out like thick tar, carrying bits of crust with it. 
        My eyes watered and my jaw hung loosely as I desperately tried to find air. Oh Celestia, the air is green! The stench gripped the insides of my stomach with its fetid claws and turned it upside down.  I staggered and spilled what little was left inside me onto the growing puddle of the crusty substance. It's on my hooves! Get it off!
        I finally raised my gaze and I, amazingly, breathed a sigh of relief. My plan had worked. A few dogs turned tail and fled the smell, swaying this way and that as they struggled to balance. But the rest collapsed to the floor, whimpering and holding their paws against their muzzles. The Alpha fell from the roof of a passenger train and landed on his back. 
        It worked! 
        I approached the first dog, picking up my makeshift spear with my magic. He rolled and emptied his stomach on my hooves. His gaze crawled up my forelegs and ended in my face. Snot rolled out of his nose as quickly as tears from his eyes. He could not even wipe the sick from the corners of his mouth.
        I fought my stomach as I brought my spear over his head. "For Mother."
        The spear penetrated his skull and ended the whimpering.
        I repeated the same mantra as I ended the lives of four more Dogs.
        The Alpha clawed at me as I came near, and I danced out of the way. His paw returned to his muzzle as his feet pushed him into a sitting position. I floated the rock over his head, letting the spear clang on the floor.
        "Do it," he said. "Dog accepts pony challenge. Dog accepts death. Pack is yours." He laughed then choked on the reek. "Pack will die. Herd will die. Hive will die."
        I wanted to drop the rock so much, but a small part of me resisted. "Why did you betray us?" I asked through gritted teeth.
        His stare hardened. "Your Ponies promised...prosperity. But, Pony brought death. Pony brought war into den. Dogs died...to keep peace." He pointed to everything around him. "Dogs protect...Dogs. Family..." 
        The fire roared inside me. I brought the rock down on his head. 
        He howled as the sickening crunch reached my ears. 
        I lifted the bloody rock and dropped it again. The dog fell onto his back as I cracked his skull. Blood poured from his wounds. He gave me one last glare and kept his lip curled up and his teeth revealed. 
        It was the same expression he had always given me. I remembered my life falling apart as Mum told me to stay in the library. I remembered the sounds of battle: the sounds of death. And I remembered the endless screams; Mum's pierced through everything, including my soul. I remembered the vow I made that day: to hurt those who had hurt me. It all burnt in the pyre inside me. A monster to the end. I lifted the rock one more time. 
        I crushed his skull in a splatter of blood. I kicked his twitching body as I stepped over. My ears swivelled as I trotted towards the rectangular bay. The sounds of fighting raged far below in the courtyard. But, standing in the rectangular hole, was a Changeling painted in green.  
        "The reign of the dogs is over! Celestia watches over you! Salvation is here! Their leaders are dead! Fight! Fight! Fight!"
        She turned to me, "Is it done?"
        I nodded. 
        Sharp, blazing pain erupted in my chest. I looked down to see a jagged shard of metal poking out of my side. Why can't I breathe?
        It took me a moment to realise that the blood bubbling out of me and onto my waiting hoof was mine. It took me longer to realise the owner of the green glow surrounding the shard.
        "Why?" I asked. "I'm on your side."
        Amanita hugged me, sobbing. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."
        I felt light. I was scared that if I jumped, I would float away. I sank into her embrace as my foolish legs just would not hold me up anymore.
        She burst into tears. "Twilight...please forgive me. I have to do it. He would kill every Dog and Changeling if I did not."
        I unleashed a fit of bloody coughs that stained her paintwork. 
        "I have to unite the hive." she said, sobbing. "I have to bring all the races together. Even if it means...breaking your promise."
        She lowered me to the floor. Her tears dampened my mane. "You got your revenge. You brought the fury of Celestia to those that deserve it."
        I closed my eyes and listened to her sweet, if a bit scratchy, voice. "You have done what you needed to do. Go to sleep, find your Mother, and be happy."
        The haze in my mind thickened. "You..." I heard in my own voice, but I could not find the words in me to continue. I knew I should be furious, but I could not find my magic anymore. In fact, her face was merely a black and blue haze. What was happening? More wetness hit my face, cooling my burning body. 
        I coughed up blood, the pain barely recognisable to me anymore. My rage, anger, and hate lost itself in the mists of confusion. My body barely felt like mine anymore. 
        I realised something. I was scared...and I had always been scared. And now I watched the blackness take what little vision I had left. That feeling compounded upon itself until it was like lead, dragging me into the abyss. 
        I was helpless to the terrifying thought of finality. 
        "Rest..."
        I flailed in the endless black as the nothingness swallowed me.


> Chapter 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


When darkness finally took hold of the land, suffocating the firestorm, the Goddess of the Night existed no more. 





        


My mind locked onto an image. It was me, as a small foal, standing in front of a pile of books, smiling like only a little colt could. To my left, Amanita in her mint maned pony form, stood with her shoulders up and her head down, so that shadows marred some of her face. Her tip of her hoof swivelled on the ground. Mum stood behind me, hoof over my shoulder and an easy smile on her face. Her wings, things that I only seen in pictures, rested on her back. Spike's claw covered the top part of the picture in a hazy blackness. As my mind faded, I focused on our smiles, even Amanita's awkward one. 
        We were happy.
        I had my revenge. I had rid the earth of evil. Should I not feel happy again? I had fulfilled everything I desired! Why did I feel so empty, as if I left a job unfinished?
        I examined Twilight's face. She bore no concern or ill will to the Changeling standing mere inches next to her. In fact, she had her only foal right next to her. Twilight, leader of Ponies, trusted her!
        We should all look past our petty squabbles and celebrate that which makes us different. 
        Mother's words. Oh, I could still remember the softness of her voice and the love in her eyes as she helped me board the train from Ponyville. We go to a land of tunnels, gems and big, cuddly, furry doggies. No more hiding from the Sun. And don't worry, Auntie Amanita is coming with us!
        I wonder what she would think of me now. Blinded by hate, I killed in her name. Did I even look at her plans to build a better world?
        That feeling intensified. It nagged at me, distracting my train of thought. Why would it not let me die in peace?
        I saw the giant poster behind them. "The Vault Initiative," written in bright letters at the top, detailed their entire plan, all of which I remembered--or, at least, I got the gist of. I saw the scrawl of paint in the bottom section. "Pretty pictures for all," it said in dripping yellow paint. I wrote that. The murals, they were my idea!
        I had always been part of the better future...and all I did was lust for destruction. I used Mother, and Celestia as an excuse to make this world worse. And I incited a rebellion! How much blood was really on my hooves?
        No. I was not happy...I had lived my life for a false cause! And now it was too late. I was dying. Oh, Celestia, you cruel mistress.
        The feeling of incompleteness turned to pain. Why would it not let me die?
        "He's still here," said an almost incomprehensible voice.
        What's happening? 
        "Get away. I'm bringing him back."
        The pain was like a continuous cramp in my chest. Bringing who back from where? 
It got worse. It felt like Amanita had stabbed me again. Oh please Celestia, Priestess-of-Pain, stop it. Have I not been tortured enough?
My head swam in its skull and I could have sworn that my hooves were made of rock. I howled at the sudden spark of pain. My chest was on fire! Many hooves held me to the hard, unyielding surface. "Please," I said. My voice sounded so weak and dry. Oh no, I was a Changeling! Kill me!
        "And he's back," said the mysterious, yet familiar voice. "Now, please would you kindly stop harassing me; I have less maniacal ponies to attend to."
        "Thanks, Doc," That was Lily's voice! Oh sweet mercy! 
        I cracked an eye open, and saw two ponies staring over me. Flood Gate and Lily, my workmates. My comrades. My friends. I was alive!
        Suddenly, my abused stomach turned, but I had nothing left to empty. Where's the ceiling? There's only darkness! Help me!
        It took me far too long to realise that the ceiling was just really high. I was in the courtyard to the Palace. I must have fallen...
        I tried to sit up, but they held me down firmly.
        "Whoa kiddo," said Flood Gate, his stupid hairy chin-mess dangling over my belly, "Calm down. You've been through hell..."
        "...and you smell like you have too!" piped in Lily.
        "I...I'm sorry," I said, my mouth feeling loose and my tongue lax.
        "For what," smiled Flood Gate, "Your little hissy fit?"
        "...Or for sparking a revolution and getting many Ponies and Dogs killed?" said Lily, beaming. "We're fine by the way." 
        Flood Gate pushed her back, his smile never leaving his maw. "Don't worry; I think we can live, Dog Slayer."
         I stared back wide eyed and a little confused. I tried to sit up again, but was forced back to the ground. Oh Celestia, it felt like something had ripped out my entire chest. I wish I could see. My hooves also itched, but any attempt to scratch it was thwarted by my so called friends. 
        Something nagged at me. "The Dogs?" I asked.
        "Fled into the Under-Warrens."
        And the big question. "Amanita? Is she here?"
        "Who?" asked Flood Gate.
        I coughed. Blood splattered my own face. "Changeling..."
        "That thing? It's all tied up. We told it that if you died, we'd do the same to it as it did to you. Seemed to upset it somewhat. "  
        "Bring her to me," I said. "Please," I quickly added.
        "Right-o boss." 
        Boss?
        Lily prodded my side. My scream filled the cavern. "That's for slamming Floody into a wall, you jerk," she whispered.
        "Damn you to Tartarus, Lily!" I shouted. 
        She giggled. "Hey, Mr-Revolutionary-Leader-Pony, I don't think one in your position should be talking like that!" she said. She shook her head with an exasperated tut, "Twilight Sparkle's son. You kept that one quiet."
        I heard the snuffling sounds of ponies straining. "Let me go!" My ears swivelled as I heard the scratchy voice of Amanita-as-Changeling.
        "Shut it, bug," said Flood with a tone that actually sounded menacing. 
        I expected one or two ponies to appear, but soon, through careful movements that did not provoke the restraining hooves, I realised a crowd had gathered around me. Ponies of all three races mobbed me in a sea of pastel colours. I heard mutterings of, "He's alive!" and, "That's the Dog-Slayer!" bounce off the extraordinarily high pillars. 
        But, in front of me, I realised a small group, led by Amanita, were prodded in front of me. Amanita's gaze was strong, defiant even, as she stood defensively in front of a group of scared-looking ponies and...Changelings. She had found her Brothers then.
        "Amanita," I gasped. "You stabbed me."
        "I did what I had to do," she said. I detected more than a hint of guilt in her voice.
        "But you stabbed me..."
        She tensed up. "Y-Yes I did."
        The fire returned to me along with the thump of my heart. I found my blood swirl around my tired limbs and my gaze harden. 
        I stamped out that flame.
        "I would have probably done that to me as well," I said, putting on the biggest grin I could, although it probably came out as more of a twitch. That silenced my audience! I took a deep breath, and another. My body just felt so heavy.
        "I want to start again," I said. "I want to make the Vault Initiative work properly this time."
        That stunned my prisoner. Her mouth opened and closed uselessly. 
        "Therefore, I want you set free. You only acted in defence of something worth defending." 
        I saw the first genuine smile line Amanita's face.
        I continued, forcing my eyes to remain open. "I want a new Alpha to be chosen for the Dogs. And I want us to wash away the blood, abandon all our hate, and work together.
        "It is time, I think that the Magic of Friendship returned to this broken world. That's what Mum would want. That's what Celestia and Luna would want.
        "From now on. We work as one...as friends, not as a herd, not as a hive, or as a pack, but as all three. It is our similarities that bind us together and our differences that makes us strong. Without each other, we will fade away. 
        "And one day, we will find our way back to the surface. One day, we will return the Sun to its rightful place. On that, you have my word."  
        With my piece said, I fell into a welcome slumber. Tomorrow would be another night, and that night would be the first step to something glorious.