Close Enough to Lose
Co-Authors
Doctor Fluffy
Sledge115
Redskin122004
VoxAdam
Equestria, Second Year Anno Harmonia
It was a beautiful day in the quaint little suburb of Oak Heights in Baltimare. One would expect to see colts and fillies happily playing outside while their parents watched on closely. Ponies, the odd griffon, sometimes a zebra here and there, for the larger cities could house a more diverse range of inhabitants.
This wasn’t one of those days.
It had been little more than a month since the human called Marcus Renee appeared in Ponyville and ended up changing Equestria’s future forever, and everypony was still trying to wrap their heads around the whole thing.
Like the fact that, for the first time in decades, perhaps even centuries, war was coming and everyone from Equestria was required to do their bit.
Or the fact that said war started because an alternate Equestria out there went evil due to some artifact of doom managing to make a comeback, corrupting the land itself along with their Celestia, turning her into a vicious and cruel tyrant, and launching a campaign of complete extermination against an entire species, which culminated into a long and very brutal war. And said extermination was essentially a perfect genocide, erasing humanity both backward and forward in time.
Or the fact that there’d also been a war with the Crystal Empire in that timeline - which, the average pony might bring up, was pretty weird too. Ponies from a thousand years ago being reintroduced into modern times and turning up near the houses of possible descendants, wearing clothing like you’d see in a Hearthswarming pageant, and gearing up to modernity, with steam locomotives among historic crystal buildings, electric and algae lamps alongside torches, or stallions that had once been serfs learning to use modern farming equipment.
Or the fact that in this alternate world, a lot of their friends and family members were dead or separated by the war. Marriages and friendships could have broken, very publically so in the case of that couple from a few houses to the right, who’d become almost disturbingly clingy and seemed uncomfortable being more than a foot from each other.
Or… well, there was too much to go over. The world had changed, suddenly and irrevocably, almost unrecognizably, within a month. No matter what any ponies such as traditionalists or insecure nobles might say, it wasn’t going to go back to the way it used to be.
One such pony who managed to process this, though no less rattled to the core about it, was a unicorn mare named Aquamarine Glimmer.
She was generally a nice and normal pony. She had a nice home, a loving husband in the Royal Guards, a beautiful daughter, a decent job as a jeweler as symbolized by her cutie mark of three teardrop shaped aquamarine gems (though now, she had to temporarily change occupations for the war effort, helping to enchant crystals for the PHL’s guns), and an all around nice life.
When she had read the news reports, she’d been horrified, appalled and shocked all at once. Even more so when she heard how she and her daughter, Comet (or rather, their counterparts) became frontline soldiers, two members of one of the greatest resistance factions in the war.
She wasn’t sure whether to be impressed by that or just disgusted. It was a lot to comprehend in general.
Then again, maybe she could think a bit more clearly if Comet wasn’t blasting that stuff she called music so loudly!
How could it even be considered music? For her, it was like a bunch of loud, random abrasive noises thrown together mixed with someone screaming right in your face for an hour straight. And some of those words in those songs… she’d heard that some of the PHL ponies preferred using human curse words because they “had more weight to them”, and Aquamarine could agree with that.
- - - - -
Four days ago…
“What are we going to anyway, Mommy?” Comet asked her. The train to Canterlot was going on at full speed ahead, but for fillies like Comet, it couldn’t be any slower.
“I told you already Comet, we’re going to Canterlot,” Aquamarine answered.
Her face brightened and she asked, “So Daddy should be there then, right?”
Aquamarine wasn’t too sure. She knew Gale was one of a number of guards hoof-picked by Princess Luna herself to keep tabs on any sabotage attempts or double agents that could ruin things for the war effort. That was all he could tell her. For all she knew, he could be in Canterlot, or even on the human world!
And that thought scared her.
But he said today was a day off, and hopefully, he was alright.
Aquamarine said, “Yes, he should be.”
The ride had been uneventful, and when they finally made it to Canterlot, she saw something that made her very happy.
“Daddy! You’re here!” Comet squealed, tackling him in a hug. Gale similarly beamed, returning the embrace.
“Of course I am, sweetie,” he replied. “I can’t forget about spending the day with you.” But something about the look on his face seemed forced. Like something was on his mind and it wouldn't leave him alone.
“Is… is everything alright, Gale? You seem… tired,” Aquamarine noted.
“Yes, don’t worry about me,” Gale replied, waving his hoof. “Work has been stressful, but today’s a day to relax. And I’ve had some ideas. How about we check out that human culture exhibit? I haven’t been to it yet, but Serene and Steady Hoof have been raving about it. I think it would be fun.”
“Steady Hoof? Really?”
“Oh, yeah, he just can’t stop talking about it. Said it’d be fun for the whole family!”
His response was a bit too fast, and Aquamarine could tell that he was holding something back. And she could see it in his eyes. He wanted to tell her, but probably not with Comet around.
Comet didn’t notice this however. She just jumped up and exclaimed, “That sounds awesome! I heard humans make really cool music!”
Aquamarine smiled and admitted, “Well, I would love to see what kinds of art and jewelry they’ve made.”
“Alright, so it’s settled then. Let’s get our tickets and get started! That exhibition is only getting bigger and we’ve got a lot to see!”
- - - - -
The first question that came to mind when Aquamarine saw the Exhibition was ‘How do you find anything here?’ She could see various ponies and humans carrying around signs, with one pegasus mare with a blue mohawk-styled mane hammering a large board against the nearest pole. The attendees were a varied crowd too; she saw griffons, zebras, minotaurs, some Diamond Dogs and even a few Saddle Arabians in the crowd, looking every bit as overwhelmed by the sheer amount of things to do and see here. She was also certain there were changelings in the crowd too, but they were probably disguising themselves so as to not cause panic.
“Fashion, music, furniture, artwork… movies, library-” Comet fluttered up to the sign, drawing her hoof along the words.
Out of the corner of her eye, Aquamarine saw a purple unicorn (was that Twilight Sparkle?) carting away (as in, actually, with a cart) a load of books behind her.
“-magazines, maps, cities, countries, history… ‘Broken Mirror’? ‘Dispatches From a Dying World’?” she asked, confused. “What’re those?”
“Well, ‘Dispatches’ is about the human’s world as it was taken by the Barrier,” the pegasus said. “And ‘Broken Mirror’ is about what happened to the other Equestria. Not a pretty sight, I can tell you that much. Still, if you need to know just what we’re fighting, visit both of those.”
That made Aquamarine uncomfortable and she could see Gale tensing up, his jaw clenching at that. She really wasn’t sure Comet (or any little colts and fillies) could completely handle or process what was going on in with that war.
“Do you know anything that’s foal-friendly?” Aquamarine asked, wanting desperately to change the subject.
The mare smiled as she took a worryingly long pause, and answered, “Well… I know for a fact that all the colts and fillies really love Disney movies. I’d recommend Tangled personally-”
“What about Spirited Away?” interrupted one human walking by, carrying an enormous box over his shoulder.
“Then again, everyone loves Miyazaki,” the mare said, “But yeah, you can check out as many as you want, and it’s free of charge.”
“Free? Really?” Aquamarine asked.
“Sure!” the mare said. “The humans and the earthpony that organized this said they wanted to get human culture out to everyone they could, so they made a lot of copies of it for everyone.”
“She can’t kill it off,” called out a teenaged brown earth pony colt with a gently spinning beanie, “if everyone knows about it!”
“We’ll definitely check out as much as we can,” Gale said to the mare. “Thank you very much, ma’am.”
They really didn’t even know where to start though. There was so much stuff all around them, a lot of it being moved around by various humans and ponies undergoing the herculean task of organization. From what Aqua could tell, the exhibition had grown organically, starting in a warehouse full of paintings, then growing to show every aspect of human culture. It was messier than Comet’s room.
“Huh,” said the biggest earth pony stallion anyone in Comet’s family had ever seen, his saddlebags stuffed full of DVDs. “Apparently my counterpart loves this thing?” He held one DVD in his mouth. ‘Wolf Children Ame and Yuki’.
“It looks too sappy,” said one filly that looked to be his daughter.
“Really, Amber?” said a colt, probably her brother. “I mean, really?”
“Wha… Oh.” The filly sighed, and facehoofed.
“I think Mom will love it,” the colt said.
“Yeah…” the huge stallion said. “Woven Sugar…” he looked troubled there. Something really terrible had probably happened to that stallion. “Yeah. Yeah.” He looked down to the ground. “I think we need it.”
“Not many people use DVDs anymore,” one human said offhandedly as he pointed to one warehouse packed almost entirely with small boxes. “But it was easier to get these in here than set up Internet, streaming services, servers…” his voice trailed off, realizing that nobody had any idea what he was talking about. “Anyway, this was just easier.”
There were even booths selling pieces of technology made by human and pony scientists to anyone interested, and at pretty cheap prices too. Aquamarine had seen similar devices here at home, like cameras, projectors, speakers and calculators, but it was clear their models were obsolete junk in comparison.
It was all the more glaring given that the humans had developed it faster than them, and consigned it to obsolescence even faster.
As they continued on their way, a pegasus stallion with a dirty white coat came up to the family, specifically Gale, and greeted them.
“Ah, hello, Lieutenant Gale!” the younger stallion said cordially. “I’m guessing you’ve been itching to come here too as well?”
“Guilty as charged,” Gale replied with a laugh. Upon seeing his wife and daughter’s confusion, he added, “Oh, Aquamarine, Comet, this is Winter Truce, a junior officer helping out in Vanhoover. He’ll be serving in the Guard within the week as a, er, lieutenant, isn’t that right?”
Winter nodded, giving a small salute to Gale and Aquamarine. Next to him was a little colt around Comet’s age, with a light blue coat. He seemed a little unnerved and quiet.
Aquamarine smiled and said, “Ah, so you’re Winter Truce. I’ve heard quite a bit about you. And who is that next to you?”
“My brother. His name’s Frost Wind. He’s been bugging me to see this exhibition all week, and now look at him,” Winter replied in resignation, motioning for Frost to say hello in an exasperated manner. The young colt just shyly hid behind his brother, but Comet looked rather determined to approach Frost.
“Hi! I’m Comet Tail! Do you wanna see that “Wreck-It Ralph” movie with me? It looked really cool, and it’s from Disney!”
The colt’s face lit up with curiosity at the mention of Disney. With a shy little smile, he tentatively approached Comet, earning himself a blush when the filly giggled. Winter noticeably let out a relieved sigh.
“So, what brings you and your family here, Lieutenant?” Winter asked.
“It’s just Gale, Winter. We’re off duty, relax a bit would you?” Gale replied with a chuckle. “We’re just checking out what humanity has to offer.”
“Ah, alright then. I personally found their history to be very fascinating indeed,” Winter replied, giving an approving nod.
Two more ponies then approached them. One was a mare that looked a bit older than Gale and Aquamarine, her coat a very pale, icy blue, her mane white as snow with blue streaks. The other was a stallion about Winter’s age, his coat a light blue, a white mane and a sextant cutie mark, who seemed a bit… overly-excited by everything.
Gale recognized them, greeting them. “Snowdrop, Stellar, good to see you two! Have you both been enjoying yourselves?”
“It’s all so cool! Oh, there’s just so many stars, I can’t wait to see them all!” Stellar shouted. He seemed to be experiencing sensory overload and enjoying every second of it.
Snowdrop laughed softly and replied, “Oh yes, everything is so wonderful! The human artwork is quite gorgeous. You should definitely take a look at those.”
“Will do,” Gale said. He noticed then that Comet and Frost were starting to interact more, although Comet was definitely the more talkative one. Not that Frost minded, he noted.
Aquamarine also noticed this, and she and Snowdrop silently agreed - this was the start of something great. With a wink to Aquamarine, Snowdrop came up to the two foals and said, “How about you two go to see those… movies, and we can all meet up later for lunch? Doesn’t that sound fun?”
“Yeah!” the two replied in unison, before they realized what they did and giggled. Gale and Aquamarine shared a knowing glance as they observed Winter’s rather confused reaction to this - he’d always been quite the introvert.
“Really, I don’t know how you always manage to do that, Mom,” Winter said. “He never seems to - Stellar! Where are you going?” he suddenly shouted exasperatedly out to his cousin, who seemed to have wandered off without anypony noticing. Gale, Aquamarine, and Snowdrop gave each other a knowing look of a parent who has had this sort of thing happened before, before stifling a giggle.
“I saw a cute mare pass us, cuz! I’ll be right back!” he yelled back in the distance.
“Stell - oh for Celestia’s sake,” he turned to Gale and his family, “I’m sorry, I have to go. He’s always been very energetic and impulsive; that’s how he donated a hundred and ten bits to a beggar a while back.”
“Oh it’s no trouble Winter, it’s been a pleasure meeting you here,” Gale replied, sporting an amused smirk. But Aquamarine could see that it didn’t reach his eyes.
And so, with Comet watching movies at the theater with Frost Wind and Winter having left with Snowdrop to go after Stellar, Aquamarine and Gale were now alone to discuss. Aquamarine got to business, giving her husband a look of worry.
“Okay, Gale, you can talk now. Can you please tell me what’s wrong?”
“What do you mean?” he asked, clearly dodging the question.
“Gale, cut the horseapples. I can tell something is bothering you. Please, be honest with me. I am not a filly, I can handle whatever it is.”
Gale sighed defeatedly. “Alright, I’ll tell you everything, okay, Aquamarine? It’s just… I know you’re really not going to like what you’re about to hear. Just promise me you won’t...”
“What? Freak out?” Aquamarine asked back. “What could be so bad that-”
“You and Comet are soldiers!” Gale finally burst out. “In the other Equestria… when the war broke out… your counterparts have been fighting the Empire to help humanity for over three years… and I’m… my counterpart…”
He began to shake with a mixture of heartache and utter rage, and his eyes became wet with tears as he continued. “My counterpart was put under a geas to make him an unquestioning soldier… so basically, they’re at war with each other. All of the Royal Guards in the Solar Empire are being controlled by it.”
Aquamarine gasped, putting her hoof to her mouth. She had heard of those kinds of spells in her magical history classes, and they had been outlawed centuries ago, declared the kind of thing only tinpot tyrants and paranoid dictators would use. And the thought of her fighting in a war… and sweet little Comet becoming a soldier, forced to kill...
Horror gripped her tight, and she almost vomited in her mouth.
“Please Aqua, can we, for just a little while, forget about the war and enjoy ourselves? We can look at the jewelry exhibition, maybe see that… what was it… airplane model section?” Gale asked her awkwardly, trying to defuse the growing tension.
Aquamarine was still stunned silent by these revelations. And worst of all, she knew that there were probably other things in this picture as well. After a moment of silence, she found her voice.
“How… how am I supposed to be calm,” she choked out, “when I just learned all that?”
“I don’t know,” Gale said, voice uninflected.
“For that matter,” she asked, “How are you so calm?”
“I’m not,” Gale said. “I’ve never been so scared in my life. But… I don’t think it’s a good idea to let Comet know about this. Not yet anyway.”
She nodded to that. “Yes… but, I’ll admit, I’m scared too. When she finds out… I’m pretty sure she could get the wrong ideas about this.”
Gale sighed again and said, “You and me both.”
For now, they didn’t want to dwell on that. Today was supposed to be a day of relaxation and happy family memories, at least if they didn’t think too hard about where they were. So they went off on their way, ready to take in the sights and see what this whole other world created.
- - - - -
The last couple of hours flew by fast. While Gale had been looking at humanity’s aviation achievements (as well as being completely blown away by the mere thought of interstellar travel), Aquamarine herself had quite enjoyed looking at not just humanity’s jewelry creations and fashions, but she even enjoyed (of all things) jazz music. Gale’s musical tastes however seemed to veer towards the stuff from the human decade of the 1980’s. If she had to be honest, most of that music sounded rather cheesy to her.
Meanwhile, Comet and Frost had watched Wreck-It Ralph and were absolutely over-the-moon as they talked about their favorite parts. Comet especially seemed focused on a particular song from a specific scene, much to Aquamarine’s confusion. Then again, she loved music a lot.
Not too far away from them, there was a rather lanky stallion with an eyepatch and a long gray mane and a beard, sitting next to a small black unicorn filly (possibly a preteen at most) with a red and dark blue mane, so dark it was almost black. The two of them were leaning against each other with a familiar sort of closeness that had become all too common in Equestria nowadays. They’d almost certainly learned something extraordinarily unpleasant about their counterparts’ fates like she and her family did.
“I want to see more!” Comet squealed. “But there’s so many, I wouldn’t be able to see them all here! You should see these too! I bet you’ll really love them!”
Gale smiled and said, “I’m sure we will.”
“Trust me, you will,” the red and black filly said. It was the first thing she’d said through the whole movie.
One human that happened to be eavesdropping then said, “Well, if you want to see more of these, you can always see them at home.”
“Really?” Comet asked him, eyes brightening up even more. “How do we do that?”
He pointed to the vendors and booths and answered, “You see those over there? They’re selling stuff you can use to watch movies and shows, or listen to music, any time you want.”
“Really?” the lanky stallion asked. “Hmmm…. Hrmmm. Well. Suppose we’re getting the block together, Embers. I think they’ll love this stuff back home!”
“I know they will, Daddy!” the filly giggled. “Ah, wish Mama could be here…”
They looked downcast for a second.
“Ah well, she can come by on her leave!” the lanky stallion said.
“And big sis?”
“Absofrigginlutely!”
Comet looked at Gale with a curious expression and he smiled. “We can get definitely something. Got plenty saved up, and I’m sure we’ll all enjoy using those… TVs to watch more Disney movies.”
“Yay!! Thank you Daddy! I promise I’ll take really really good care of it! And I won’t hog it either!”
Frost was rather excited by this news. “That sounds like fun! I’d like to have one of those movie box things too...” He then turned to Snowdrop, the look in his eye a very familiar one to any mother anywhere.
“Please, Mom? I’ll be responsible with it, I promise, please?” he pleaded with those innocent eyes of his. To his dismay, Snowdrop shook her head.
“I don’t think we can afford it yet dear, your uncle said...” but then Snowdrop trailed off as a quick glance at Comet gave her an idea, and she gave her son a kind smile.
“Why don’t you watch the movies with Comet? Winter can travel with you.”
Winter seemed unsure. “Really? They live way off in Baltimare, Mom. As in, on the opposite coast?” He had the air of somepony far too used to thinking the decisions of others to be moronic.
Snowdrop waved her hoof and said, “Oh, it’s not that bad! How about Frost can stay over on the weekends? That way works… as long as it’s not too much trouble.”
She turned to Aquamarine and Gale, who both smiled, the former saying “It’s really no trouble. A friend of Comet’s is a friend of ours.”
The two foals squealed excitedly at the idea, jumping up and down. It was too cute to watch. Evidently, even the calm and collected Winter couldn’t resist it, judging from him suppressing a smirk.
“Oh, alright, Mom, I’ll drop him off in Baltimare; training’s not starting till next week anyway.”
“Yay!” Frost squealed, hugging his brother as he did so. “Thanks, big brother!”
“Er, yeah, it’s no problem, Frost,” Winter replied, awkwardly stroking Frost’s mane.
Comet went absolutely crazy with excitement and she zipped over to the vendors, examining every piece of hardware, firing off questions to the clerks so quickly they could barely respond.
Gale bought a simple music speaker and a basic family TV set, and thankfully, DVDs were cheap enough for Snowdrop to get several that interested her as well (“Oh, I’m sure there’s neighbors who’ve bought something! Or even go to the renting cafes!”).
Comet was over the moon as she looked in awe at her music speaker. The technological specifics were hard to follow exactly, but as the vendor had put it in simple terms, this piece of machinery was actually able to power itself through latent magic in its immediate vicinity.
“Now that I have a music player, I need music to play on it! Mommy, Daddy, could we go to the music section? I really want to find out what that really cool song in ‘Wreck-It Ralph’ was too!” Comet pleaded.
Aquamarine sighed, knowing how exuberant and passionate her daughter could get about things she enjoyed, especially over anything music related. “Well… I can let you go, but you would need an adult to go with you there.”
“Why can’t you come?” she asked.
Gale admitted, “Well, we already went through there… and your mother and I would like to see some other things around here too.”
“Oh,” Comet realized, looking slightly disappointed. Fortunately, a friendly voice chipped in.
“Well, hey kiddo, chin up! I’ll come with you to the music section! I’ve just heard the most amazing song about how all we need is love and I want to see more of that stuff! Oh and, and that cool song about taking back the night, and, I mean, wow!” Stellar interjected, seemingly out of nowhere. Not that anypony except Winter noticed.
“Definitely!” Comet said. “I gotta hear as much of this as I can!”
Stellar’s face lit up considerably, before he knelt down and ruffled both Frost and Comet’s manes, a very warm grin upon his face; to Comet, he seemed very much like a cool uncle.
“How about you, Cousin Frost? Wanna hear more music?” he asked Frost excitably, glancing at Comet and winking at the little colt.
Frost, in spite of his blush, grinned and replied, “Sure!”
- - - - -
Comet was almost overwhelmed when she entered the music section. It was even more extensive than the film section of the exhibition. It had been divided into categories for each genre. There were buildings marked for each one - rock and metal, rap and hip-hop, classical, blues, jazz, pop, country, electronic music, traditional world music (whatever that meant), and several more - along with smaller ones dedicated to what the humans and Uptimers called the “subgenres”. There were even booths selling songs and recordings on tapes and CDs.
“They must have lots and lots of songs…” Comet breathed in amazement.
“How did they manage to make so much?” Stellar asked, the usually energetic stallion completely stunned still by the massive catalogue of music to listen to.
“Where do we even start to look for that song you liked?” Frost asked Comet.
Comet thought for a moment and then turned to one human woman and decided to ask. “Excuse me, Miss? Could you help us, if you don’t mind?”
The woman, for a moment, looked at Comet with somewhat widened eyes, but then she stopped, smiled warmly and said, “Well of course. What do you need help with?”
“Well, there’s this one song I heard in ‘Wreck-It Ralph’ and I really, really, really liked it a lot and I want to find out who made it.”
“Which song was it?” she asked.
“The Hero’s Duty part.”
“Oh, that would be the song Skrillex made. If you want to hear more from him and others like him, go to the Electronic building. He’s under the dubstep section.”
“Alright! Thank you, Miss! Come on Frost, let’s check it out!”
Stellar grinned and said, “Well then, how about we meet up here after we’re done? It should take us about an hour or so, I’m sure. Have fun you two!” With that, he went off to the pop music building, singing along to something.
Meanwhile, that black filly with the blue and red mane was trotting over to a warehouse full of punk rock CDs, with an orange sign reading ‘Sunset City’ above.
The inside of the warehouse that had been taken over for electronic music was the weirdest thing Comet had ever seen, but in a good way. The humans there were dressed in very colorful (and in the case of the women, revealing) outfits, others wore odd masks, jewelry and headgear made out of colorful beads, and some others were wearing gloves with lights at the ends of their fingers and waving their hands and arms around in front of curious and awestruck ponies (who were now likely wishing to having fingers themselves).
There was a short educational section on the history of electronic, along with explanations of the subgenres and suggestions to start off. She did indeed see Skrillex’s name on the list of suggestions for the dubstep section, along with some other weirder names. Knife Party? Excision? Kill the Noise?
Human music bands and artists had weird names. Why would you even do that? There’d been one human music group, Biting Elbows… and she sort of understood the name for that. It was impossible to bite your elbows. Everything else, though, she was lost.
She had heard of Vinyl Scratch though, and it seemed like her music was pretty similar to the dubstep sounds. Some of the songs were just as heavy as the Hero’s Duty song, some even heavier. One human described the music as something that you could feel in your bones… and she could agree with that.
Frost meanwhile seemed more taken with the music from the ‘happy hardcore’ section. It definitely sounded like very happy music to jump and dance along to. It was almost like candy in musical form.
Even crazier were the stages. Comet had seen a few performances on stage, including singers and bands, but they were never on that kind of scale. Human stages used things like huge bright lights, giant sparking things, fireball shooters, and screens like the theaters in addition to the music. And they were sometimes absolutely massive. Then again, considering just how many people would come to those events, it made sense.
As she looked on with wonder, she overheard a trio of human men talk.
“So, what do you think? Think we could all set up a stage, play a live set for any new Equestrian fans, have a little tour through the major cities in Equestria? At least for old time’s sake?” one of the men, a lanky blonde, asked his companions. He had an odd accent to his voice, making Comet wonder which human country he came from.
Another, who had black spiky hair (he almost looked like a human version of Neon Lights), laughed and said, “That could be fun. Might be a bit of work though, setting up a stage and all that… plus, well, it’s kinda been a long while since any of us have played anything live.”
The third man, a slightly bulkier blonde with a similar accent to the first man, laughed as well and replied, “Hey, it’s like riding a bike I’m sure! Maybe we might all be a bit rusty, but I’m sure the audience wouldn’t mind.”
Comet then said, “Actually, I think that would be really cool if you did! I’d love to check it out! What kind of music do you make?”
The three looked at her with the same sort of look the woman from outside gave her, but that passed quickly when they smiled and the dark haired man said, “Well little filly, we make trance music. You can find all three of us on the suggestions list.”
“Okay!” Comet said as she grabbed Frost and took him along to the trance section.
The trance section was especially extensive. There were so many different types! Goa, psychedelic, uplifting, progressive, dark, hardstyle, and several combinations of the above with other genres too. In general, this kind of music was almost spacey and much more emotional than the other stuff she listened to. And while most of the artists went by their actual names, there were plenty of weird names in that genre too. Infected Mushroom, 1200 Micrograms, Cosmic Gate, Soundreamer, Man With No Name, and so many others.
She also saw pictures of the three men and their names; apparently, they were really famous on Earth and were called in apparently to help out in the exhibition. The lanky blonde was named Armin Van Buuren, the stockier one was named Ferry Corsten and the man with the black hair was called Markus Schulz.
A unicorn stallion then cut in and said, “Getting into trance, eh? I’d personally recommend giving BT a shot too. That man’s a real genius with sounds.”
“Okay,” Comet nodded along as she trotted to the table to get some CDs.
By the end of the tour, she had come up with a pretty good (and rather extensive) catalogue of artists she wanted to check out. Dubstep, trance, and some electro house mainly, along with a couple trap DJs, a happy hardcore collection from the Monstercat label, and a drum’n’bass collection from UKF. A satisfying collection to start off with.
‘Ooohhhh, I can’t wait to start listening!’ Comet squealed internally. And maybe, just maybe, she could even see them in concert too...
- - - - -
“So, what do you want to close this trip out on?” Aquamarine asked the two foals. Their saddlebags were stuffed with CDs and DVDs, and they were very satisfied with their trip.
“Apparently there’s really interesting stuff in the ‘Dispatches’ section, right?” Frost said.
“Uh, I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Frost,” Stellar said. “I mean, I keep hearing about some really scary stuff there…”
“Well...” Snowdrop said with a lump in her throat, “I looked through it. You can’t be the same pony after you go through. See, I know ponies that want humans to go back to their world, or keep the war away from us, just hide themselves away. They don’t know what they’re talking about. I almost believed them, but then I saw the exhibit. We can’t just ignore this. If we did that, we’ve might as well as killed them.”
Nopony there had heard Snowdrop speak in such a way. It was jarring to say the least.
Gale was very apprehensive, and Winter even looked rather green around the gills thinking about this.
“What did you see?” Gale asked.
“...Horrible things,” Snowdrop said. “Enough to…” she sighed. “We’re both from military families. Gale, you’re a Guard, and me, my eldest son is a Guard too. But the stuff you see there, it’s hard to be proud to be a pony.”
Gale looked at Winter in askance.
“And, what about you Winter? Any news about your other self?”
The younger officer sighed, a frown etched into his face as he processed his mind.
“It’s, it’s rather odd really, but well, he’s been dead for years. I don’t know for sure, but the last anyone’s ever saw of him was some place called Volgograd. He was a Guard too you see, still loyal to the Empire probably. Celestia knows what happened in that Tartarus hole of a city.”
He shook his head in resignation.
“Look, Aqua, Gale, whoever we are right now, it doesn’t really mean they - I mean, our counterparts - are the same ponies as us. Gale knows,” Winter said, before glancing at his brother. The little colt seemed unnerved, fearful even.
Aquamarine could barely even talk, her throat tight with emotion. “I… I think it could help to know what we’re up against… I’ve had to take a new job, enchanting gems for their weapons. What our counterparts are facing…”
Snowdrop and Winter nodded at the same time.
“Aqua, dear, it’s really nothing you’d want to live through. Please, keep in mind that we’re very lucky they didn’t come after us first, considering what happened in Ponyville,” Snowdrop said, motherly concern evident in her voice.
“But… they have good intentions, right?” Winter asked.
“They do,” Snowdrop said. “I’m not one of those ponies that’re afraid they’re evil deep down. Still, we came uncomfortably close to dead Elements and an international incident…”
“And this isn’t one,” Winter said, voice whipcrack dry.
“Not the same kind,” Snowdrop explained.
Comet was quiet for a moment and then said, “The lady from before… she said that to really need to know what we’re fighting for, we have to see it.”
She then looked at Gale in particular, a knowing look in her eyes. He sighed.
“Are you sure, honey?”
“Yeah. I think we should.”
- - - - -
The street under the sign for ‘Dispatches from a Dying World’ looked like the gates to Tartarus. Any ponies walking out looked almost dead, trotting out lazily, their eyes haunted. Many of them had probably seen themselves doing terrifying things. There’d been more paranoid sorts that claimed mnemosurgery to be at work, but even Comet could see that wasn’t true. They were just in shock, unable to process what had just happened.
Comet knew, on some deep, fundamental level that if she went in there, literally nothing would ever be the same in her life. But… childish curiosity was a powerful thing.
Besides, everypony else was going through there.
She’d later learn in a newspaper that Isaac dan der Grimnebulin (whose real name was apparently Muhammet) had designed it like a one-two punch, whatever that was. First, he had arranged pictures of Earth’s cities and landmarks before the war. There was a beautiful place reminiscent of Stalliongrad, with a massive building with onion-shaped domes in the center, cathedrals, areas full of smiling people…
And then they would be ruined. There were photos of the streets destroyed, as an avalanche of refugees cascaded through, with these beautiful places collapsing under the weight of their swelling populations. Then they would show the Barrier eating them up, the cities atomized. It would lead into mosaics of photos of people evacuating, piling themselves onto vehicles as everything they’d ever known was destroyed.
It was hard to say what was the worst.
There were people throwing themselves into the barrier, just because there was no escape. There were photos of Newfoals, what the humans called people who’d gotten ponified… and they looked, for lack of a better word, wrong. They looked like mockeries of ponies, like poorly drawn cartoons with eyes open too wide, and smiles that looked big enough to split their faces in half. Aquamarine saw one video of a human transforming, their fingers fusing together as their faces melted into something vaguely equine, eyes too big for the sockets, a muzzle pushing its way through the face. She almost lost her lunch at the sight of his bones cracking and fur growing over his skin.
There were skyliners bombarding cities. Humans sneaking into hospitals about to ponify children. A town, ‘Truro,’ wherever that was, wrecked by infighting between factions, flooded, blown up, and full of Newfoals.
A PHL pony had also captured a video of Newfoals migrating to the Barrier, no regards for their own safety, literally freezing, walking over those that had been unable to continue. There were various pegasi causing a giant airplane to crash by throwing themselves into its turbines, forcing it to the ground…
The horror never stopped.
Comet was just horrified, shaking like a leaf as she looked at this. “How… how could they do this? Why?” she choked out, tears forming in her eyes.
Gale was just as shaken, all color drained from his face. He could only say, “I don’t know, honey. I… I really don’t know… I just can’t imagine-”
He drew his daughter in for a hug. He’d heard things in the Royal Guard briefing that had been delivered by Shining Armor, Marcus Renee, and Princess Luna, horrible things about what the Royal Guards had done, and some of the notable soldiers that they’d be meeting.
Not only had his daughter, or at least an iteration of his sweet, adorable filly, seen the worst of this - but she was a soldier now. Actively fighting against it.
He looked at Comet, trying to reconcile the bouncing, energetic daughter he knew with the armored, hardened filly old before her time that he’d seen in one of the pictures, wearing an assault yoke as she gunned down Newfoals with ruthless determination. He failed. He almost felt sick.
That Comet, his daughter, had been… he struggled for a word that could adequately describe what she must have seen and experienced. The death and destruction. He failed, and was glad for it. He didn’t want to imagine.
But then again, considering some of the photos up ahead, apparently he didn’t have to imagine. Yay.
“Mommy… I think that’s you in that picture,” Comet pointed out.
Aquamarine felt her stomach sink. It was indeed her, but different. This other Aquamarine Glimmer looked more toned, more hardened, her face looked like she aged prematurely even. Her horn glowed and there appeared to be a soft blue circle above her and several of the soldiers behind her. A shield spell, Aquamarine realized.
What they saw next in those pictures made Gale and Aquamarine want to vomit.
It was a picture of Comet, or rather, the other Comet, flying up in the sky. She had her cutie mark already, a blue and silver heart-shaped shield, and she wore one of those assault yokes with little trouble. The look on her face was one of ruthless determination as she gunned down several Newfoals while protecting the human civilians that were running away from the hordes.
“So that’s why they all looked at me funny…” Comet whispered, the realization dawning on her. “That’s who I am.”
“No, it’s not you,” Aquamarine said, almost pleading Comet or whoever might have been listening. “It should never be…”
But Comet was transfixed by the series. “She’s so brave… she’s fighting to protect them.”
“Yeah,” Gale said. “She’s fighting… and killing, too.”
“But I’m doing so much good!”
“Sweetie, she is not you,” Aquamarine said firmly, almost growling. A mixture of sadness and rage began boiling in her gut. How could they let a filly fight on the frontlines? Sure, she understood how brutal this fight was… but to use children as soldiers?
Did that really make them any better than the Empire sending the Newfoals out like meat shields to absorb bullets so the “real” fighters could go in and finish the job? No, the PHL and the humans in general were clearly in the right, doing nothing more than trying to defend themselves and protect what was left of their home, but that didn’t make the things they resorted to any less disturbing.
As a mother, she wanted nothing more than to grab this other Comet and give her a hug. No doubt at all this filly was probably deeply emotionally hurt.
And if she ever met her Uptime self… a chewing out would be the least of her problems.
... Her problems.
‘Does that mean I’d do this, I wonder…’ she thought. ‘Of course I would. I had. But… I’ll have to be the better mare. No matter what, I can’t do anything remotely like…’
'Broken Mirror' wasn’t any better. While it wasn’t quite as extensive as ‘Dispatches’ was, it more than made up for its short length by its quality.
This truly was Equestria no more.
There was a photo, a Ponyroid, featuring a tall crystal obelisk. This is a Totem-Prole, the text beneath it read. The Empire would have you believe its primary purposes are for communication, creating something similar to human internet, though it is actually designed for surveillance. Saying anything close to the wrong thing within earshot or in view of one risks death or imprisonment.
Immediately across from it, however, was a short film of an earth pony stallion with a red coat, walking down the street. Comet noticed, however, that he was the only thing colored in there… the streets, choked to the boiling point, were full of Newfoals, smiling madly… no, smiling obliviously. As he walked, followed by the unseen camerapony, his expression seemed to darken ever so slightly as he passed so many Newfoals, their eyes and coats an expressionless gray. There were so many that it seemed like he was wading through an ocean of ponies. And as he kept trotting, the street seemed to go to horseapples, with Newfoals lying on benches and in trash, starving and brutalized, being literally carried off by ponies with almost predatory expressions. Finally, he walked past another gaggle of Newfoals and simply vanished.
“Lost at sea,” Gale read. “Huh.”
The entirety of the Crystal Empire, a beautiful place they’d only seen pictures of, was converted into a massive prison camp, full of broken ponies and the other races of Equus, forced to mine for raw materials day in and day out. The warden (who looked oddly familiar to both Aquamarine and even more so to Gale) looked on with a sadistic sneer on her features, flanked by some Newfoals in royal guard armor who gleefully took pleasure in punishing their queen’s dissidents.
Aquamarine almost couldn’t look at the pictures of Baltimare. The bustling metropolis she and her family called home was nothing more than a parody of itself. The streets were littered with garbage, overcrowded with Newfoals upon Newfoals, just sleeping in the streets, still with those maddening smiles on their faces. Large factories were built quickly to provide jobs to the massive number of immigrants, spewing clouds of ugly black smoke into the sky and toxic waste into the sea, turning the harbor and beaches into a wasteland. To say nothing of Hoofington. Hoofington had always been dirty, but it had always seemed like there was an effort to make it clean, a sense that it valued the worker.
What she’d seen in the pictures went beyond just being ‘dirty’. The whole city had become a machine, grinding up Equestria and spitting it out. There was a report on it, made by somepony named Inkwell. ‘Sounds like an interesting pony,’ she’d thought, but no - turns out he’d been thrown into the prison camp in the Crystal Empire when he came across the darker underbelly of the Newfoals and didn’t like what he saw.
Farms in Equestria, such as Sweet Apple Acres, the Cherry Fields of Dodge Junction, and many more, were little more than slave plantations. Rows and rows of crops were planted like a machine did it, Newfoals working day in and day out tending to the food. But it wasn’t enough to feed everypony. The thin frames of the Newfoals was testament to that, and like the golems they were, they had no problem with going hungry.
The sheer volume of propaganda at a Solar Empire pony’s hooves were also impossible to ignore. Images, posters, newspapers and radio broadcasts regurgitating the same “righteous” horseapples again and again.
“Citizens of Equestria, we understand that the recent shortages of food, magic, and resources is trying. Do not fret. Prosperity is around the corner, and when the human world is purified, when they have been consigned to our nightmares, eradicated to the last molecule of DNA and grain of dust, there shall be a Second Magical Renaissance. Our magic shall be as never before, and we shall enter a new glorious era. These are trying times but we will have a great bounty of magic and new friends to show for our efforts.”
Excerpt taken from a propaganda radio broadcast by Uptime Rarity
It would be impossible for anyone’s blood not to run cold at that. But immediately under that, there was a paper written by Twilight Sparkle herself. The one from their own universe.
“Ponies of the Empire often speak of a Second Magical Renaissance that will occur once they finish subjugating Earth. This is highly unlikely. Of note however, is that a team of humans, ponies and zebras claim to have turned part of Earth’s own natural magic to the continent of Africa against any Newfoal. Again, this is unlikely and has yet to be proven. But with the Barrier being powered by the magic of Equestria, draining it to a trickle, firstly, there is a chance that the Barrier may very well collapse. Secondly, even if it does succeed, Equestria’s thaumic field will be so overstretched that ‘eggshell-thin’ won’t even begin to describe it. Earth’s magic may replenish it, but not for a while. Chaos will follow. Make no mistake, the Empire is digging its own grave. If it wins, everyone loses.”
Major Bauer’s words echoed in Gale’s mind as he thought back to Discord’s show of New York City getting attacked by the Newfoals.
“Our spies in the Empire report food shortages, overpopulation, pollution, poverty… only brainwashing and terror hold them together. We are all of us, on all sides of this conflict, caught between hells… Please… help us. Help us stop this evil before it spreads. Stop this evil before it can gather enough strength to simply steamroll over any opposition.”
“How could anypony even stay there anymore?” Frost asked, shaking Gale out of his thoughts.
“Because it’s all they know, Frost,” Winter answered. “They could just be more scared of an unknown world at war than the one that they were born in. I’d be willing to bet some of them don’t even know what their Equestria’s really doing to the human world. Information is power, after all."
Comet shook with rage as she said, “They shouldn’t get away with this.” She then turned to Gale and Winter with tears in her eyes and repeated, “They shouldn’t get away with this! They can’t!”
“They’ve gotten away with a lot of it so far, Comet, I’m sorry.” Winter sighed.
“Well… they, they can’t keep getting away with hurting the humans! And they’re probably hurting others too! I just know it!”
“They did. Somepony killed Sint. I don’t get it. Why - how could they?” Frost whispered out. Comet looked at him, with a devastated expression. Even Winter, who wasn’t overly fond of Frost’s little hero-worship of Sint, looked utterly appalled.
Indeed, the land of Adlaborn was nothing more than a scorched wasteland, the reindeer exterminated and the great Sint Erklass assassinated. The dragons, minotaurs and the changelings suffered the same fate. The griffons’ kingdom had all but collapsed, its denizens starving and scared, but trying to stay strong. Nothing had happened to the zebras, diamond dogs and buffalo tribes… yet. But it was clear they and anyone else still alive and not a pony were counting down the days when the Empire would start turning the potion against them. The only thing that had saved them, Comet realized, was their insignificance. And if they tried to change anything, there was no telling what could happen.
Their fear was probably doing Celestia’s work of oppression for them. Curfews, curtailing press for fear of something that might vaguely irritate her…
“We’ve gotta do something!” Comet pleaded, her voice cracking in tearful anger. “The Empire’s killing themselves to win the war, humanity’s almost doomed…”
But before Gale, Aquamarine, or even Frost, could comfort her, Winter Truce knelt down in front of her, a comforting touch of his wing.
“Comet, while my counterpart may have remained within the Empire, I can assure you that the Guard - no, the real Equestria, would stand for nothing less than true Harmony. And I will make sure it does.”
The pegasus glanced at Gale, Snowdrop, and his brother, before looking back at Comet with those icy blue eyes of his, oddly soothing in spite of his hardened, focused gaze.
“That much, I can promise you. We will find a way.”
Comet nodded, wiping away a single tear, and replied, "Yeah, they definitely deserve everything we dish out."
Clap. Clap. Clap.
Her ears twitched up, startled by the unexpected sound. Behind her, somepony had just given a slow clapping of their hooves. And judging by the sudden stiffening of Gale’s back, along with the frown that fell across Winter’s face and the nervous shift of his mother and brother’s hooves, the unseen stranger’s posture left no doubt their applause was meant in irony.
She turned to spot who it was. An earth pony, a mare who couldn’t be much older than Winter Truce, waiting at the corner in a most unusual position - standing on her two hindlegs, very much like a human would, with her back and one lower hoof pressed against the wall. Her little accolade now done, the stranger proceeded to cross her forelegs upon her upright chest.
“Such a sweet thing,” commented the stranger. Her voice was low and devoid of inflection. “The heart of a child is pure. Or so they say.”
As the stranger paused to blow away a bang of the straight, olive green mane which fell across her face, Comet, staring at her, abruptly got the strangest feeling that no matter what angle you faced her from, this mare would always look back at you with one eye hidden under her mane.
Still leaning at the wall, she considered the family gathered in front of her.
“So. You liked our exhibition. I can tell.”
After a second, Comet decided that although this odd stranger must be addressing all of them, as she was the one who’d been rudely interrupted, she should be the one to talk back first. The mare hadn’t actually asked anything, but she needed an answer, and she would get an answer.
“Yes. Yes, I liked it a whole lot, me and Frost had plenty of fun, except for maybe at the very end, but still, there were so many awesome things to see!”
Her father, looking anxious, began to reach out for her, but surprisingly, her mother was the one to place a hoof in his way, giving a meaningful look first to him, then to the mare, whom Aquamarine quickly sized up before addressing.
“You’re PHL?” demanded Comet’s mother.
And this was when the filly realized that, indeed, the mare wore a black jacket, the now-familiar logo of the lyre-within-a-laurel stamped across it. Spotting that detail, she also abruptly noticed, with a lurch, that one of the mare’s folded forehooves didn’t look real at all. Though she was sure her eyes were playing tricks on her, Comet couldn’t help but think the stranger’s left forehoof appeared to be made out of porcelain. Porcelain that bent and looked like fur?
“I am with them. Fought for them,” the mare replied neutrally. Her coat was a sort of goldenrod, Comet noted, yet it was a drab sort of goldenrod, far grimmer than most yellow colors. It suited the tone of her voice quite well, not to mention the way she spoke in brief, cutting phrases.
In any case, the mare appeared unfazed by the warning glint in Aquamarine’s eye. “So. Awesome.” She paused for thought. “What is awesome?”
Feeling this was aimed at her, Comet spoke up again. “Awesome? Awesome is when people make lots of cool stuff, and then they go share it with everypony. Like, Wreck-It-Ralph, all these amazing-looking video games, that’s awesome. Nopony should be allowed to destroy that.”
“Awesome,” repeated the mare, pronouncing the word as though she were rolling it over her teeth. For a quick instant, her tongue darted out from between her lips. “Awe implies admiration. I can tell that you admire, yes. But awe also implies fear. Tell me. Do you fear?”
As soon as the words had left her mouth, little Comet Tail backed away a step. It was true, something about this mare made her uneasy. Yet she was PHL. They were the good guys, right? You shouldn’t be afraid of the good guys.
“Disney movies,” continued the mare. “Wolf Children Ame and Yuki. Very pretty. Very nice. You see what they want you to see. There is much they do not want you to see. They want you to feel sorry for them. They will lie.”
Stretching out with a yawn, she allowed herself to fall back on four hooves to the floor.
“Have you stopped to think? Think of the Solar Empire. Perhaps right now they are showing ponies their own exhibition. An exhibition like this one. About humans, yes. Humans and what they can do. Humans and awesome things. But reflected in a dark mirror. Yes, they have a lot to work with. You will see.”
And on that ominous note, the stranger walked away from them, and out of their lives.
- - - - -
The trip ended late in the evening, with Comet not being too worse for the wear considering everything she’d seen. She had more or less gone back to the cheerful filly she normally was, albeit, somewhat less sensitive. Possibly even a bit less innocent now.
Frost promised her once that he would come over during the weekend, with Winter tagging along. It did cheer Comet up a bit, but even a hug from her new friend couldn’t wipe the brief look of sorrow flashing by in Comet’s eyes.
Aquamarine sighed, putting the last of the clean dishes away. So much had happened in such a short amount of time, and life would never really go back to what it used to be.
And knowing what could’ve happened…
Nah. That was the past. It wasn’t even their past at this point. Best not to think too hard about it. About whatever had made them change there...
What was important right now was making sure that humanity won its fight and they themselves would not suffer this same fate.