Rainbow Dash lashed her tail irritably. “Ditzy, we’ve had this conversation twice. I’m even surer now than I was when we started.”
Ditzy glanced down, and Rainbow bit her lip. “Look, I promise I’ll be as careful.” She paused. “Which isn’t super careful, because I’m letting an evil… you know, whatever in my brain, but still! Basically careful.”
Ditzy used her Motherly Gaze™ on the other mare, which Rainbow managed to ignore through sheer practice. Spending most of her time around Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy had allowed her to build up a limited immunity to maternal disapproval.
“Look,” she said, “I’m sorry I’m disappointing you, but what do you want me to do? Everypony I know is going through this, and what kind of a friend would I be if I didn’t help?”
Their gazes clashed, and eventually Ditzy looked away. "I get it," she said, "I really do, but..."
Rainbow shifted in place as the grey mare chose her words. "look," she finally settled on, "promise me, whatever happens in there, you'll remember your friends are here for you. Okay?”
Rainbow sighed. “Ditz, I promise.”
Rainbow Dash breezed into the room with the casual gait of somepony who was committed to other ponies noticing her casual gait. “Alright, guys; who's ready to get this done?”
The guards stared impassively at her. Rainbow flicked her ears and ignored them. “Whatever,” she grumbled. She strutted up to the podium and put a hoof on the Amulet. She felt a slight tingle under her hooves, but otherwise everything looked the same. “How long is this gonna take?” She asked expectantly.
“No idea,” the one on the left replied. “It depends on the pony. For somepony as brave as you, it could be awhile before anything happens.”
The sarcasm went a bit to high for Rainbow to catch. “Well, it’d better have something big planned. Like a dragon, or maybe an evil Princess Celestia!”
The guard stayed silent, having apparently given up. Flicking her tail rudely, Rainbow picked the Amulet up and stared at the jeweled center, expecting a mesmerizing glow or perhaps a spiral. When none came, she poked it carefully. “Is it broken already? What’s taking it so long?”
Nothing happened. Rainbow frowned. “Think it just gave up?” she asked. When the guard didn’t respond, she turned around to complain some more, but they'd both left.
Rainbow glanced around. The room was amazingly silent. She'd expected the background whir of the various magical sensors and traps, but the only thing she could hear was her heartbeat.
Rainbow lifted the Amulet and whacked it against the podium a few times. Is it broken? she thought, not-at-all desperately. The room felt a lot more cramped than it had a moment ago. She tried to stretch her wings, but the tips of her feathers brushed against the walls. She stretched her legs, and unkinked her neck, and felt her head brush the ceiling.
“C’mon, what are you waiting for?" she demanded. "Show me a giant monster, or zomponies, or those weird plants with all the teeth! Do something!”
Silence greeted her. “Hey Twi,” she shouted, “I think there’s something wrong with the thing! Can you let me out?”
Nothing happened. Rainbow turned around and once again, tried too find the door. “Hello?” she shouted. “Is anypony there?”
Nothing happened. Rainbow frowned. “Is this my nightmare?" she said, trying to scoff. "You’re boring me into submission? What kind of a lame fear is that?”
Unable to find the door, she turned back to face the Amulet. Stuck to it was a small note that hadn’t been there before. It only held one short sentence.
We are alone.
Rainbow paced back and forth in the small room, as she had for days. It should be an easy test. She just had to do nothing; a task she had spent her entire life practicing. She'd already slept as much as she could, she could barely turn around, and worst of all she could stretch her wings all the way out. And there was the hunger too; not constant enough for her to adjust to but frequently enough that she felt like she was losing her mind.
Rainbow tried to stretch her neck, and once again the top of her head bumped the ceiling. She ground her teeth together. “What are you waiting for?!” she snapped. “For me to let my guard down? Is this just a set-up for something? Are the walls gonna turn into spikes, or start to crush me or something?”
There was no reply— the seamless walls simply reverberated her words back at her. A mocking echo of her own voice rang in her ears.
“Well, it’s not gonna work,” she said. “My friends will figure out a way to save me. I’m gonna get out of here, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me!”
She tried to turn around, but couldn’t work around the podium in the middle of the room. Growling, she tried to shove it over, but it refused to budge. Rainbow sank back against the wall and let herself briefly rest.
There was an odd prickling on her back, like she'd leaned against a piece of paper. Grimacing, Rainbow moved forwards and awkwardly stretched her wings around to try and grasp it. After several tries, she managed to shift the sheet in front of her. Squinting, she pieced together the awkward hoof-writing.
You are correct. At some point, your friends will free you. It has been accounted for.
Rainbow frowned. “ ...What do you mean?”
The words remained still, but Rainbow could hear an odd scratching sound from somewhere behind her. Awkwardly, she twisted around and saw the second note.
Do you know how long you’ve been here already?
“A few days,” Rainbow replied cautiously, “give or take.” She knew something was wrong, but whatever it was Twilight would be able to fix it eventually. She didn't have a reason to worry about whatever the Amulet wanted.
Rainbow found her self looking for the next note anyway. It gave her something to do. Eventually she felt a piece of paper gently fall on her muzzle from somewhere above. She tried to snatch it but hit the wall with her knee. She flinched, biting down a grunt of pain as she tried to maneuver the note around to where she could read it.
You’ve been here for less than one minute.
Rainbow blinked. She rubbed her eyes and tried to read it again, but it still said the same thing. “What? But… That’s…” There’s no way. It’s gotta be lying to me, to freak me out. What else could—
Another note fell on her face, and she managed to snatch it out of the air
This is more efficient than previous attempts. You will wait here until you agree to be my Bearer.
"I won't!" Rainbow shouted. . A second note drifted down, tickling her ear, but said the same thing. A third one followed but she didn't bother to read it. "I can handle this!"
A torrent of notes began to fall. Her ears flicked with a troubled annoyance as paper crunched underhoof every time she took a step. Uneasily, she grabbed one of the loose sheets and began to read.
Then handle it.
The notes fell faster now, an onslaught of pathetic, lightweight paper pressing down with the force of an avalanche. She fought her way out from underneath them, but it didn’t matter as it just kept falling. Rainbow tried to fight her way to the surface, to just find a way to breathe under the never-ending cavalcade.
Rainbow shouted for help, but nothing happened.
Rainbow once again tried to shove her way free, but she could barely move. Everything was black. She could barely breathe. The weight bore down on her, leaving one long bruise across her entire body. She hadn’t been able to move in…
How long has it been?
However long it was, it had been an agonizingly length of time. Cramps stretched her wings, making her gasp in pain. Any sounds she made were muffled by the tons of paper all around her, forcing her down and holding her in place. What am I gonna do?
“Oh, let me help.”
Rainbow hissed as light suddenly flashed across her vision. All at once, tension fled her body, and she could relax. Her mane fell against her neck instead of her shoulders, and when she reached up to feel it, it was drawn up in one of the few styles she liked. She blinked the spots from her eyes and looked around.
Rainbow was sitting in an outdoor café, one she’d frequented back when she lived in Cloudsdale. The sun slowly slipped under the distant horizon, and the pleasant coolness of night was gently settling over the land. She didn’t see anypony, but she could hear the clopping of hooves somewhere behind her.
She leaped out of the chair and spun around to see Ditzy, dressed as a waiter and holding a large covered plate. Rainbow fought to control herself as she tried to not pull the mare into a bone-crushing hug. It’s not her, it’s not Ditzy, that's the Amulet messing with me, don’t you dare hug it, don’t lose it, not now—
The Ditzy Doo doppelganger trotted over and set the plate down before Rainbow. Cautiously, Rainbow lifted the lid. Inside was the Alicorn Amulet. Rainbow gave the waitress a harsh look. “Was that supposed to be funny?”
The mare’s face fell. “Aw, wasn’t it? I’m sorry, I’m not very good with humor.”
Rainbow scooted back from the facsimile's body, unnerved. It sounded just like Ditzy; unassuming and simple in an odd way that wasn't weak or annoying. But something was wrong; something about the way the face was shaped or a hissing, broken noise she barely heard under Ditzy's words. "So, you’re still the Amulet, right?”
“Yep,” the Amulet said cheerfully. “I thought looking like this might help put you at ease.” She smiled just a little too wide. “Is it working?
A piece of Rainbow wanted to say yes, wanted to pretend for just a moment, that she wasn’t all alone. She tried to scoot further away from the Amulet’s body, but her chair refused to move. The Amulet’s grin didn’t shift an inch. “Soooo…” it began, “what’s a mare gotta do around here to get some cooperation?”
Rainbow glared at it. “Well, you could try letting me go.”
The Amulet snorted and shook its head. “I already told you how to leave.”
“But that’s not fair!” Rainbow snapped. “You won’t set me free, you’ll just make me go crazy like you did to everypony else!”
“Oh, those weren’t my fault,” the Amulet said dismissively. “I just give ponies power, what they decide to do with it is up to them.”
“That’s nuts! What about the vision you showed the real Ditzy? You tried to steal her daughter! You drove Trixie crazy!”
The False Ditzy didn’t stop smiling, but whatever it was that was wrong with it, was growing worse. Is it her eyes? The way it was sitting was odd, almost like it had frozen in place. The scene around them trembled slightly, twisting a little around them like Rainbow was looking through a fisheye lens.
“H-having a Bearer is my function,” it said stiffly. “I will do whatev-ev—” Rainbow jumped backward as the entire scene folded up on itself. She momentarily had the sensation of becoming flat, of watching the colors bleed away and the brief vision of nothingness.
As quickly as it came, it was gone. The fake Ditzy smiled gently at the now-terrified mare. “I told you, I don’t make ponies go crazy. They do that on their own.”
Rainbow backpedaled frantically to get away from the thing. “What the hell was that? What is wrong with you? Let me out!”
“Not until I get what I want.” The Amulet’s voice was a perfect imitation of Ditzy’s own, but the polite tone made her threats all the more creepy. “I’ve decided to try being honest with my Bearers. I won’t hurt you; I’m not sure I directly can. But you will not leave until you agree to use me.”
The room disappeared with no warning, and Rainbow found herself back in the test room. It was completely empty, but still utterly tiny and cramped. Rainbow sighed, and started trying to pace again. There was nothing to do now but wait for somepony to come and save her.
Nothing happened.
The room was a little larger than it had been. It was probably big enough to hover in, but it didn’t matter. Rainbow had long since lost the strength to so much as shiver. Feebly, she tried once more to shift her legs, to huddle tighter around herself, but she couldn’t manage it. Her body had grown thin, almost skeletal. Her mane had started to fall out in patches ages ago. Her hair had begun to turn gray, and her skin had shrunk around her bones until she looked like a skeleton.
Rainbow Dash the Magnificent, dying of old age.
Somewhere overhead, Rainbow heard the scratching of chalk on stone. Defiantly. she forced her head up and pried her eyes open. The words were still blurry, but she could just make them out.
Don’t you want to see them again?
Rainbow didn’t bother responding. She closed her eyes and concentrated on breathing. In and out, she thought, in and out. Each breath had to be forced out of her lungs, just like she had to pry the air out. The cold bit her, stinging as it passed through her mouth. She wondered if one day soon, she would just... stop.
The scratching carried on, despite Rainbow’s efforts to ignore it. The sound grew louder, grating against her ears until eventually she just gave up and looked again.
I understand this isn’t the best time to talk, but we’re not going to get one again. Don't you wish to see them again?
Rainbow didn’t say anything. Slowly, the words erased themselves and began a new sentence. This time, the words were written silently, and it was easier to make them out.
It’s near the end. Your mind is deteriorating. Your friends have no time to effect a rescue. You don’t have any options left.
Rainbow didn’t say anything. She couldn’t, she was worried her voice wouldn’t work after so much time. Despite her best efforts, her mind hovered over the Amulet’s offer. Is it really too late for me?
Just let me help you. I can make you young again, give you strength beyond imagining. You don’t have to do anything at all; just accept me.
Rainbow could feel a small surge of strength pass through her decrepit limbs, and she was able to lift her head. The Amulet lay in front of her. It was so close, and she could feel warmth flowing from it. I don’t want to die.
You don’t have to die. Just reach out. Just touch it, and we will both live.
Rainbow could feel the fear in her, pushing her foreleg forwards.Just one touch…
“No.”
The words were small, but it was enough. The world around her seemed to shiver, and Rainbow found the strength to stagger to her hooves. “No, I don’t care if I die. My friends will be okay.”
EXPLAIN
The words were jagged and seemed to float off the wall for a moment before they blurred and returned to normal.
Why? Your friendship has failed to preserve you. What do you get out of it?
“What are you talking about?” Rainbow asked. “I don’t get anything out of it. I’m doing this because they’d do the same for me.”
Don’t be absurd. Despite all their kind words, everypony I’ve ever met was just one bad day away from abandoning all they’ve claimed to stand for.
“Other than this one, you mean?”
No new words answered her, and Rainbow managed a chuckle. It felt good to chuckle. “I don’t know about those other ponies you’ve met, but my friends are better than that. Ditzy didn’t give in, Twilight didn’t give in, and nopony else will either. It doesn’t matter what you do; you’ll never win.”
Rainbow shouted in pain as the Amulet suddenly bore down on her, wielding feeling and emotions like weapons. Rage burned her, loneliness ripping out her heart. She screamed as the pain tore through her body, before she finally, mercifully, passed out.
Rainbow awoke slowly, coming back to life in small pieces. No part of her was in any sort of pain, which was nice, and she didn’t feel anything holding her down. Heart hammering, she forced open her eyes.
She couldn't help but notice how open the room was. It looked like a hospital room, with stark white colors and monitoring equipment, but somehow Rainbow felt small standing in it. The machine next to her bed lit up, sending magical pulses down the hallway to alert whoever was on duty as to her status.
Rainbow looked down. She tilted her hooves, checking them from different angles. They were still thin, but not the skeletal remains they had been a second ago. She wasn’t freezing cold anymore, and her mane no longer felt like that of a wild animal. Is… did it…
She got up and walked to the window, nearly loosing her balance because of her trembling hooves. Opening it, she could see Canterlot in all of its glory. Crowds of ponies and various other species milled about, rushing to go about their business. She breathed deeply, smelling food carts and restaurants and flowers and everything that wasn’t sweat. She could hear ponies shouting at each other, hawking wares and ordering each other about. I did it.
I’m free.
Behind her, the door slowly creaked open. “Rainbow,” Ditzy— the real Ditzy— called out. “Are you awake? I’m sorry the other’s aren’t here; Twilight has to monitor the test, and most of the girls had already gone back to Ponyville before they heard...”
Ditzy’s voice trailed off as she saw the look on Rainbow’s face. She approached the Dash carefully, like one would when trying not to spook a wounded animal. “Rainbow, you’re shaking.”
It’s real, right? This isn’t another dream?
Rainbow shook her head weakly, trying to play it cool but unable to hide her fear. Ditzy took another step closer, and she shied back. “Rainbow, it’s okay.” Slowly, Ditzy moved forwards, and Rainbow held herself still. Cautiously, Ditzy folded the younger mare into a hug. “It’s going to be okay,” she whispered.
Rainbow waited for something to try and hurt her, but nothing happened.
Pinkie blinked, disoriented, as Sugercube Corner slowly swam into view. For a single moment, the world rocked back and forth like a boat as edges of the room swam into place. Everything, even the ponies and furniture were stripped away, leaving the room barren aside from her booth. The window had grayed out, and Pinkie couldn’t even see her reflection in it. Despite the lack of clutter, the room felt a little smaller than it should, an odd place between claustrophobic and comforting. Carefully, Pinkie sat down.
In the space across from her, the world seemed to contract. The shadowy outline of a pony crawled across the air, distorting in shape and size as it sought a full form. It was spazzing out, appearing as Moon Dancer, then Luna, then Sweetie Belle. Pinkie’s eyes burned as she tried to follow the display until she had to look down.
When she turned back, it was wearing a very good imitation of Twilight Sparkle. Her mane was so neat that her fur looked messy by comparison, and she had the same friendly look in her eyes. Her smile wasn't right though; it was frozen and uncomfortable. Pinkie smiled back anyway. “Finally! I’ve been waiting forever for you to show up!”
The Amulet frowned. “I was under the impression that generating this place took only a few moments.”
Her voice was the same as Twilight, but the tone was all wrong. Her words moved stiffly, almost painfully; like someone trying to walk on a leg that'd fallen asleep. Her expressions were basically warm and friendly, which made everything thing even eerier. She leaned forward, trying to ignore the sense of foreboding she felt in the pit of her stomach. “Well, yeah, but it’s supposed to happen so fast you don’t even notice it, right? I mean, I got to watch the store be created, and that was super weird, but my point is for you that’s still taking a really long time, isn’t it?”
The Amulet froze in place for several seconds, deciphering Pinkie’s words. It took several more to decide how best to respond; Pinkie was a complicated mare. “I am... diminished. Interacting with your mind is more complicated than it should be.”
Pinkie snorted. “Yeah, I get that a lot. But I can’t help but notice that you didn’t have aaany trouble processing a bunch of ponies smarter than me, and at least one of them is totally nuts. You're dying, aren't-cha?”
“Enough.” The Amulet’s tone was stiff and blunt. “This is not about me—”
“Of course it is!” Pinkie interrupted. “Don’t be silly. I mean, sure; everypony before ," she drug out before, to imply that it was distant time that mattered far less than the present did, "was probably going on about how they want power or fame or infinite rice pudding, but that’s super gross and I don’t want to be gross; I want to talk to you!”
The Amulet hesitated, a common mistake to make when talking to Pinkie, but this time she gave it enough time to respond. “I do not understand.”
Pinkie rolled her eyes. “I want. To talk. To you," she said, with enough sincerity to make you wonder if she was being condescending on purpose. "You have to be a sen— sorry, sapient being to be smart enough create these illusions. If you weren’t you’d be doing even worse than you are already!”
“Worse?” the Amulet repeated dumbly.
Pinkie shrugged. “Yeah! I mean, think about it; how many ponies have you had the chance to grab this week? And everypony else who sought you out was, ya know, seeking you out and everything. This has gotta be one of the first times you’re trying to actually change somepony’s mind, and it’s not going so well.”
The Amulet glared at Pinkie. “Do not mock me.”
Pinkie leaned forwards and poked Twilight’s doppelganger in the chest. “See! Right there. You said that to me and thought it would work. I bet it has something to do with how much strength you have… Maybe you don’t have enough processing power to sort through all of my thoughts and talk to me all at once? Hm.” She leaned back in her chair. “Well, that’s not important now. Like I said; this is all about you.”
The Amulet stretched and flickered in place, warping like parchment left in the sun. Its posture had changed, casually leaning forwards on the table, but it hadn’t actually moved. “Explain.”
Pinkie shrugged. “Well, it’s not super complicated. I want to get to know you. What’s your name?”
The Amulet tilted her head to one side, frowning. “The Alicorn Amulet.”
“No, I mean— like, something more personal than that. Alicorn Amulet would be your title, so I’m wondering about your name!”
The Amulet frowned. “Why would I have a name? I’m just a tool.”
Pinkie gasped. “You mean somepony went through the trouble of building you and didn’t give you a name? That’s terrible!”
The Amulet shook her head. “No, it isn’t. I am—”
“I’m gonna call you Amy!”
The Amulet blinked. “...Why?”
“Because everypony needs a name, silly!”
“I’m not a pony,” The Amulet — henceforth Amy— said, frowning. She put an odd emphasis on the word pony, like it felt funny and she wasn’t sure what to do with it. “I’m just an artifact, a weapon. Nothing else.”
“Don't be silly,” Pinkie said. “I read up on stuff like this before I came here.” She cleared her throat and adopted a snootier, more intelligent accent. “In ordah to create and maintain an illusiohn of such ah magnitude, one must possess the imaginatiohn of ah pony to keep ahead of the mind trapped within.” She leaned forwards too, what was left of the light dancing in her eyes. "You get into ponies heads," Pinkie said quietly, "and you try to find a way to make it fit into your little program."
Amy didn't look angry at Pinkie's sudden, more serious tone. "That is correct," she said.
"Cool!" Pinkie smiled at Amy again. "And before Rainbow, I figured that was it; we all did. But that was an..." her eyes swept Amy up and down as she put uncharacteristic care into the next words, "outside-the-box idea, and machines are always stuck in the box. So I figure you've gotta be keeping a little bit of what you learn from everypony each time, right?"
"That's not true." Amy's words were somehow blunter than they had been. “I don’t make these illusions, I interface with the mind of my bearer and use their imagination to build something to convince them to agree with me."
"There's all the stuff after that, though," Pinkie pointed out.
Amy blinked. "Clarify."
"Oh, you know," Pinkie waived her hoof, "All the 'the world will be mine' stuff, the righteous war against wheels, and how suddenly they're into black capes and getting some light torture in before lunch."
"My Bearers all chose their path for themselves," Amy said resolutely.
Pinkie nodded thoughtfully. “Okay, but what if I could prove that wasn't true at all?"
The Amulet began to scoff but hesitated partway through. It was creepy. It was like her face was animated, and the animators had lost some of the frames so her face jumped from scoffing to frowning instantaneously. “How could you prove this?”
Pinkie beamed. “That's easy! We’re going to play a game!”
“I do not play games.”
Pinkie rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry, this one is easy. I’ll let you have, say three questions, to get me to agree with you. If I change my mind, then you win.”
Amy froze in place for a long moment, its eyes darting over Pinkie’s body as she considered the implications. “And there are no tricks? That’s all I have to do?”
“Yepperoni!” Pinkie leaned forwards. “Are you ready?”
Amy nodded. “First question: Are ponies not cruel?”
“Of course not! I mean, some ponies can be, but it’s not like we’re born evil or something.”
Pinkie flinched as, without warning, Amy’s body distorted. Its proportions stretched out, gaining several inches, and her colors lightened from purple to blue. The color bled from her mane, leaving it a pale white. In the space of a few seconds, Amy had transformed herself into a copy of Trixie. “I do not alter the mind of my bearers. Every action they undertake is one they choose themselves. Everypony I have talked to has eventually chosen evil.”
“That’s just ridiculous!” Pinkie shot back. “Trixie wasn’t... well, she wasn't a total psychopath before she put you on, and that’s pretty darn different!”
“If you remove the reason to hold back, you see what a pony is truly like. I am just a tool. I cannot influence them.”
Pinkie glared at her. “What about all the terrible stuff you’ve done to tempt ponies? Twilight wouldn’t tell us anything about what happened to her, Carrot Top was crying for hours, and Cadance won’t come out of her room!”
Amy shook her head mechanically. Her mane didn’t sway with her. “Everything they saw came from within themselves. I created none—”
“What about Dashie?”
Amy was silent.
Pinkie pressed forwards, getting right in the other mare’s face. “She freaks out if she’s left alone for more than a few minutes. You didn’t borrow something from her mind to build that; it was all you, right?”
Amy stared at Pinkie for a long moment. “...I was fulfilling my purpose. Nothing else matters.”
Pinkie’s tail lashed, and she closed her eyes for a few seconds to steady herself. When she looked back, Amy had changed again. She towered over Pinkie, with black skin and insectoid wings, and fangs that shone even in the relative darkness of the bakery. It wasn’t as perfect as the others had been; her mane looked like it had been melted into one solid piece, and Pinkie was pretty sure her wings were clipping through the chair. “Chrysalis has attempted to destroy your kingdom once before, and she will do so again. What do you say to her?”
Pinkie’s ears flicked, and she snorted in irritation. “The same thing I’m saying to you; there’s a better way.”
Amy rolled her eyes dismissively. “She wouldn’t agree, you know. She would take any opportunity to destroy you.”
“Cool beans. Then what?” Pinkie snapped. “The Changelings destroy and conquer all the time, but it hasn’t actually gotten them anywhere.” She sighed. “Look, she’s gonna destroy herself and drag the rest of the Changelings down with her if she doesn’t learn how to listen to others, and so will you.”
Amy frowned. “What is the alternative?”
Pinkie smiled and placed a hoof over Amy’s. “Friendship.”
Amy snatched her hoof away from Pinkie. “Friendship has no survival value.”
“It gives value to survival,” Pinkie shot back. “It gives us a reason to live. I mean, what do you even have to live for? Why do you want a Bearer?”
Amy froze for a moment, her appearance flickering like a bad movie projector. “I-I must exist to-to-to...” She shook her head and glared at Pinkie. She flinched; it was the most emotion the amulet had shown. “How will your friendship save me? You ponies claim to care for everything, but none have shown me any consideration. Since the first day, I have existed solely to be used. Why should I not use them? None of you care about anything other than yourselves.”
“I care. I’m here, aren’t I? Look,” Pinkie leaned forwards, desperately holding Amy’s gaze, “I know this is a lot to take in, but I’m here because I think you could be helped—”
“YOU ARE LYING.”
Pinkie jumped back as with a deep, unearthly buzz, Amy’s body vanished. She looked around the room as the corners began to fade into darkness. The shadows oozed forwards, forming odd patterns that were difficult to make out but mesmerizing to watch. Pinkie stared at them for a long moment, before realizing she had zoned out and looked away. A red glint caught her eye, and she looked down to see Amy’s body— her real body, all polished points and black metal— lying on the table in front of her. Her voice persisted, but it was badly distorted, like a poorly tuned radio.
"Everypony I’ve met has wanted something from me," she said, barely getting the words out through the unearthly din. "They’ll use me to do anything to get it, and if they do get it, then they do more things to get something else. They talk about how horrible I am, but they choose to inflict harm on others themselves. They are the ones who break their moral code. They are the ones who are flawed."
“What about this week? ‘Cause you haven’t been doing so great lately.”
Amy remained silent.
Pinkie stood up, lifting Amy so she could look her in what she guessed was Amy’s face. “This week, you’ve dragged ponies through the darkest parts of their souls, and not one of them really failed, did they? Today, we proved that, yeah, there’s a lot of bad in ponies, but there’s a lot of good too, and they can chose to be good. And so can you.”
"I CANNOT."
“Of course you can! Just let me help you!”
"You are st-st-stalling." Even though the mechanical intonations, Pinkie could hear the very real desperation in her voice. "You claim that my exis-tence matters. Prove it. Help me."
Pinkie bit her lip. “No, I- I can’t.”
“Then you have killed me.”
“Oh, for Pete’s sake!” Pinkie snapped. “Look, I’m trying to help you, but—”
“But you do-o-n't wish to take any risk. I do not see how this makes you better than those who came be-fore.
“I—” Pinkie gritted her teeth together. “I can’t let you overtake me. You'll hurt my friends.”
“Then what do you propose? I do not have time.”
“And you’d let me go after?”
"As soon as you asked."
Pinkie shivered as she watched the shadows crawling around the edges of the room. She jerked her attention away from them and concentrated on Amy. “I can’t help you until you know what you did was wrong.”
“I do not have e-nough time,” Amy insisted. “You wish to save me, correct?”
“Of course I do!”
“Then please,” Amy whispered. “You can’t let me die.”
Just a few minutes ago, Pinkie would have realized how out-of-character it was for Amy to appeal to emotion like that, but somehow it made sense now. She swayed a little, staring at the shining stone. I want to help her. she thought. That’s why I came here, isn’t it?
“You can save me,” Amy whispered. “Just reach out and touch me, and everything will be alright.”
Pinkie shook her head, her eyes never leaving the Amulet itself. “...You… did somethin’,” She said weakly.
“You don’t really think that.”
“I don’t really— shut up!” Pinkie closed her eyes for a second, trying to collect herself before she felt compelled to open them again. “No,” she whispered. “This isn’t what I want.”
“Of course it is. You want to save me, and that means becoming my bearer. That’s half of a ‘yes’ right there. It’s enough to give me a lifeline, but I need you to take that last step. Please.”
Pinkie bit her lip hard enough to draw blood. She gasped as the sudden, stinging pain helped her focus. “I want to save you, but I want to keep my friends safe too. I can’t do that if I end up like all the others that tried you on.” She swayed, trying to remember to close her eyes again. “I... I’m sorry.”
“WHY?”
All around Pinkie, the shadows began to flow across the floor towards her. They formed tendrils that moved with hypnotic cohesion; everywhere she turned there was something to catch her eye. Pinkie backed away, fighting with all of her strength to remain herself. Amy’s voice began to distort, becoming more and more mechanical.
"Everypony who has taken me has wanted something. Tell me what you de-sire. I could allow you to visit every filly and colt in E-quest-ria to de-liver gifts."
Pinkie shook her head, even as the thought warmed her heart. She backed up onto the table, hooves slipping on the slippery surface as the shadows oozed across the floor towards her. She tried to come up with a reason, an argument she could present. “No,” was all she could muster.
The shadows, emboldened by her lackluster argument, move closer. They rose up, towering over her head. She tried to look away but felt her gaze fall back towards them. "You could force ev-ery-pony to smile forever."
“Never,” she barely got out.
The shadows shifted, revealing the Alicorn Amulet nestled in its folds. It hung tantalizingly before Pinkie, who couldn't even look away now. “TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT. I WILL GIVE IT TO YOU. JUST TELL ME.”
The shadows hovered inches away from Pinkie on all sides. She couldn’t last any longer. “I just... wanted to…” She drunkenly leaned forwards, mere inches away from the dark. “I just wanted to be your friend.”
The shadows froze in place. The sudden lack of motion jerked Pinkie out of her trance, and she staggered backward, trying not to throw up. The darkness had completely encompassed the room now, and the only thing left was the tabletop. Pinkie could see herself fine, and the table was perfectly lit despite the lack of light.
“I d-do not understand-stand. You turn down my pow-er but still wish for my s-safety. Reconcile this con-confl—”
Pinkie swallowed her bile, feeling it burn down her throat. She stood on unsteady legs and faced what she guessed counted as Amy’s head. “Because you could be worth it.”
“Y-you risked your li-lif-life.”
“So?!” Pinkie tried to take a step forward, but she was too weak. She shook her head, trying to focus. “Ponies matter. People matter. You matter because if you would just listen, if you would just humble yourself a teeny, tiny little bit, you could do such amazing things. Please,” and she was surprised to find that she was crying, but she didn’t have time to think about that now, “please, just give up! Let me help you.”
“I-t doesn-not make sense. W-w-why why why why—”
The shadows pulsed, shuddering and falling in a blocky motion. All of Pinkie’s senses had been dulled, other than an odd buzzing in her ears. For the briefest moment, she thought she could see the real room with her real eyes.
“You cannot I cannot this does not explain explain explain—”
Pinkie pressed her ears back against the harsh buzz that echoed after Amy’s voice stopped talking. She could feel it vibrating in her bones, shaking the room itself. “You’re starting to lose it. You have to give in. Just trust me, please!”
“I cannot I am not I will not I won’t be responsible they hurt I didn't mean to I—"
"I-I-I"
“I didn’t mean to.”
Pinkie blinked. Everything was silent. The testing chamber looked as it should, blandly lit walls with no lighting issues, abnormal sounds or smells, and fully functional gravity. Amy’s polished stone body lay on the podium like she had been when Pinke first came in. There were minor cracks running across her surface, and the jewel set in the front wasn’t glowing, but she otherwise looked okay. Pinkie lifted the necklace to get a better look.
Amy shattered.
Pinkie dropped the Amulet’s corpse and backed away. Slowly, she approached the podium with trembling legs. Amy had broken into equal halves that could be easily put back together with glue or tape. Her jewel had been reduced to dust, and Pinkie knew there would be no fixing that. The Alicorn Amulet was finally broken.
She shuffled the pieces across the floor, sitting in a morose silence. Pinkie wasn’t sure for how long. Somepony behind her reached around and pulled her into a hug. She jumped, startled before she realized who it was. “Hey.”
“Hey,” Twilight Sparkle replied. She let Pinkie lean on her, and didn’t say anything else. The two of them sat in a comfortable silence for a while. Pinkie wasn't sure for how long. It felt like a while. If it’d been the Cakes comforting her, she’d have been forced to keep bottling up all her feelings to keep them from worrying over her. If it had been somepony like Applejack or Rainbow Dash, then the words would have been pulled out of her throat. But Twilight had learned to be patient, and after enough time the words simply flowed.
“I couldn’t save her, Twi.”
Twilight didn’t say anything. She pulled her wing tighter around Pinkie’s shoulders.
“I just… I don’t get it. Why wouldn’t she give up? Why couldn’t…”
Twilight waited a long moment, long enough to make sure Pinkie had finished, before responding. “Some ponies are scared. They don’t know what’ll happen if they give up, or they think that getting help makes them weak and not worth helping or… they can’t accept that they might need it.” She sighed.
The words didn’t change how Pinkie felt, but having Twilight there made it easier to deal with. She sighed and pulled back. “So, now what?”
Twilight stood as well, stretching each leg from having sat for so long. “I have to find a way to secure the Amulet’s remains.” She hesitated. “Do you want to help?”
Pinkie shook her head. “No, I promised Ditzy that I’d take her shift with Dash so she could go see Dinky. You shouldn’t be alone after you go through something like this, ya know?”
Twilight looked at Pinkie for a long moment, before impulsively pulling her friend into a hug.
Pinkie snorted. “Silly Twi, I told you. I feel better already!”
“That one was for you being you.” She leaned back and smiled at her friend. “I’m going to go to the hospital to check on Rainbow before I get back to work. You want to come with me?”
Pinkie shook her head. “Give me a second first. I need to check something first.”
Twilight frowned and glanced at Amy’s remains. A pulse of magic probed the Amulet, then she nodded and left Pinkie alone in the room.
Pinkie looked down at the Alicorn Amulet and sighed. “I’m really sorry I couldn’t fix you, Amy. I Pinkie Promise to do better for the next one!”
She gently shifted the rubble, so it at least looked better, and sadly smiled.
The Bookshelves looked different every time Twilight visited. It wasn’t real, of course; it was just a mental construct to aid in organization of such a massive amount of information. She had access to every little piece of knowledge in the entire world, and it took several mental tricks to keep herself from overloading her own mind.
Back when she had started, the Bookshelves had been a featureless void. There was nothing but some shelves hanging in large amount of white nothingness. She hadn't thought to add more; after all, it was just a tool. But Rainbow had kept asking her questions.
“So, is it a big room that’s white, or is it just a big amount of nothing?”
“What do the bookshelves stand on?”
“What kind of shelves are they?”
Twilight had finally snapped back, telling the half-boiled detective that they were wooden. She hadn’t ever paid attention before; they had just been there. But ever since then, they had looked wood. She hadn’t bothered mentioning it for a few more weeks, but then Rainbow had finally persuaded her to leave the house for a short while. “It’ll be good for you,” she had insisted. “Get you some fresh air.”
They’d gone to a library, to work on a case. Twilight was supposed to find something while Rainbow was a distraction. She’d ended up being forced to hide until night fell. It should have been terrifying, and it was. But then Twilight, out of boredom, had opened one of the books to read. Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone. She had fiction in her Library, but she’d never read it. She probably had read some—
Before
—Back when she was a normal pony, but she couldn’t remember any of it. This was the first fiction story she’d read. And it had been amazing. Rainbow had to practically force her to escape, and they’d had to leave the book behind. When they got to the lair, the first thing Twilight did was go to her Bookshelves to try to finish the book. But the book was really long, and standing in a featureless void wasn’t very comfortable, so she added a beanbag chair. Simple, and it fulfilled its purpose without distracting from her studies.
After that, she kept making little alterations. Since the Bookshelves was entirely mental, most of them was subconscious. The walls came first. Circular, wooden, and a soft brown. There was a window that gave light over her Beanbag, letting her read and keeping her warm. The stairs came next, leading to a corner of Planet Bookshelves that was all her own. She kept more personal details there, like the files on her...
Family?
...On Rainbow Dash and Rarity. There were less necessary touches included here, like the poster of Starswirl the Bearded, or the oak desk with the old typewriter on it. She’d use the typewriter to compose her thoughts sometimes, writing journals in a place she knew nopony else would read. She had a bed in here; she couldn’t sleep here, but it seemed like something to have in a bedroom. She’d added a basement to do scientific experiments in, a television room and before she knew it…
She’d made it a home. Not just a tool, but a refuge. A place of safety. Somewhere she could call her own. Her home. Her Library.
Twilight stared at the flames, as they consumed her world.
It was terrifyingly beautiful. The flames climbed as high as the upper atmosphere until the sky itself was made from fire. Everyone else had died. Everything in the whole world.
Dead.
Twilight just stared at it all, trying to comprehend it. Trying to take in the enormity of it all. They still had hours left, at least. The table would protect the surrounding area from all the chaos for a while. She was going to use the spell, it was just... Everything. She couldn't take it in.
I lost.
So many had died. She couldn't even respond to how many had perished. She tried to feel something, anything, but she nothing came. She couldn't even think. The entire world was breaking apart around her. It was too big, too horrible, for her to even fully understand.
"Well, I have to say... I have definitely seen worse."
The voice was rough and cheerful, tinged with a thick alien accent that Twilight knew well. British, if her memory served. She knew his face as well; young, constantly smiling, with short brown hair that stuck up in spikes and incredibly deep brown eyes. The man was an alien, humanoid in appearance. He was tall and wore a very raggedy brown trench coat over a fancy dress suit and worn sneakers. His face was normally irrepressibly cheerful, and constantly in motion. Today, it was grim and hard, almost looking like a statue. His eyes looked the same as ever. They were warm and compassionate. He nodded to her. " 'ello, Sparky."
"Doctor."
Twilight didn't move from her spot, nor did she turn to acknowledge him. She didn't even complain about the use of her nickname. Slowly, the Doctor walked over to her. He sat down, slowly. The two of them just sat there for a while, looking at the sky. Very slowly, the Doctor reached a hand out and pulled Twilight into a one-armed hug. He didn't say anything, which wasn't normal, but he didn't need to. His presence was comfort enough. Eventually, Twilight broke the silence.
"Did you feel anything when it was your turn?"
She realized how that sounded, and hurried to rephrase it. "I mean, at the exact moment. When you pushed the button and Gallifrey..." her words trailed off as she gestured at the mess. In the background, an entire mountain range began to melt, crumbling and shrinking in the distance.
"I dunno." The Doctor's words were compassionate but clipped. He didn't like reminders of what he'd done during the Time War. "The actual moment... pushing that button... it's gone. Right out of my memory. I can remember seeing things like this," he gestured to the world in general, "fairly often, mind you. As the Time War rolled on, so did the meaning of the words acceptable losses." He spat the words out like they were something rotten. "But still, it's not quite the same when it isn't your home."
Twilight shuddered. Her home. Everypony, everybody everywhere, and they were all dead now...
"Hey now. Hey." The Doctor pulled her closer to him, and she leaned against him. "You're not alone, alright? You. Are not. Alone."
"This is all my fault." Twilight got out shakily. "All of it. I could have let the Arbiter go, and—" her voice just choked out. Her body was shaking, but she still couldn't feel anything. It was an odd, disconnected feeling that she wasn't sure was good or bad.
"You had every right to." The Doctor told her. "The Arbiter is just a malfunctioning machine, that's trying to fulfill a function that has long since been unneeded. It has to be stopped."
"But I didn't stop it!" Twilight was yelling, all of the sudden. "It was there! It's been here before! It's killed everypony but me, and I couldn't save them!" Her breath came out in ragged gasps. She swallowed, her mouth dry. "I have to go back. I have to tell myself to let that thing kill—" The words wouldn't come out She swallowed again and forced them out. "K-kill my friends. They're going to die all over again, and there's nothing I can do."
"Well... you could keep fighting."
Twilight laughed. It was shallow and bitter. Pinkie would have winced at its hollow rattle. "I've seen what fighting leads to. I have to give it my friends. It's the only way."
"Not necessarily." The Doctor paused, trying to find the right words. "You have the Time Travel spell, and you know everything that thing has done for the last… what, six hundred years? Go back. Give yourself some hints. I mean, normally I'd advise against spoiling things but all things considered... I'd say it's permissible."
"Is it?" Twilight looked at the ground, lit by the closest thing one could see to the fires of hell this side of death. "Celestia told me that her role as an immortal prevented her from creating real change. That we couldn't, shouldn’t interfere. And given what's happened... I can't see how she was wrong."
They sat a while longer, watching the sky. It was incredibly quiet, though that was to be expected when everything was dead. Eventually, the Doctor spoke again. "She wasn't entirely wrong, but I think she was missing something. When you get to be as old as we do, it's easy to just... decide, on what's right and what's wrong. We forget that we aren't perfect. But the answer isn't to do nothing. It's never to do nothing. Because some things are so big, so massive, only a very select number of people can deal with them. If you let that thing go, it'll be back. It'll kill more, and more, and it won't ever stop. Unless you stop it."
"How!" Twilight wasn't sure when she'd stood up, but she was staring the Doctor in the face, eye to eye. "How can I go through that again? How am I supposed to fight something that can devour continents? I lost billions of lives, Doctor. I can't go through this again." Her shoulders sagged, and she leaned against that damned Table of Harmony. "Not again."
The Doctor stood back up, his back creaking. "If you don't, then you're letting a monster eat innocent people to fulfill a very vaguely defined and almost certainly meaningless goal."
Twilight's voice was low. Quiet. Hating herself, she whispered, "Six for the world..."
The Doctor's tone was equally cold. "One is too many. Not if there's another way." He knelt down and lifted her head to look into her eyes. "Go back. Fight this thing. And then if you lose, fight it again, and again. As many times as you have to. Because they're worth it, Sparky. Your kingdom, your friends, your family, your neighbors, that one guy who makes pancakes for you in the morning— Every. Single. Life, on the planet, is worth fighting that thing over.”
The two of them sat for a while, the flames growing closer. After a very long while that felt like far too short a time, the Doctor stood again. "I have to go. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, but I'm not supposed to be here at all. Temporal rifts are— Well, it's bad. For a lot more than just me."
Twilight reluctantly nodded. She knew the Doctor; if there was anything he could do, he would have done it as well as stopped to explain to the monster exactly how. She sighed and stepped toward the Table. "Will we meet again?" She asked.
"That depends entirely on what you choose." The Doctor glanced back, surveying the damage done to the world. "It’s all in your hands. Always was.”
Twilight mustered up a smile. A real one, which was more than she'd been able to do for a long time. "Good luck to you, Doctor."
"I'd wish you the same, but you won't need it." He smiled back, a small smile that just said you got this so much better than words could. "Go get 'em, Sparky."
Detective Fluttershy drifted through the hospital so quietly one might have assumed she was a ghost. Her eyes slid from point to point, taking in as much information as they could.
There are relatively large hallways that provide lots of space for a large number of ponies to mobilize at once. It also means there’s very little cover for sneaking around, but I don’t think that’s intentional. There aren’t very many ponies watching the hallways right now; it’d be easy to gain access to a place like this if one could get past the front desk.
She’d been to hospitals before, but it was good to be in the habit of absorbing information. Lax ponies were dead ponies. Fluttershy stopped in front of the room she’d be summoned to and listened at the door.
Only one pony inside. Excellent.
Slipping inside, Fluttershy made sure the door was closed behind her and took the patient in. The older stallion was covered in burns and bandages, making it almost impossible to tell anything about him. He wasn’t in pain, at least; whatever drugs the doctors had given him appeared to be doing their job. Reluctantly, Fluttershy turned to the chart for help.
Let’s see… his name is Doctor Fantastic. Admitted with severe burns to the face, chest, and forelegs, as well as internal injuries. If it weren’t for magic, he’d have died several times by now. No attempts have been made to revive him, or at least won’t be made until the burns have healed more. Hm, it also says that they’ve gotten odd magical readings from his brain.
Fluttershy frowned. Unknown magic generally ended up being the most dangerous kind; she’d proved that herself time and time again.
Speaking of which, Fluttershy’s ears twitched as she heard the doors at the end of the hallway swing open. They rotated, changing angles to get the most sound as she closed her eyes and sorted through the ambient noise.
His heart's beating awfully fast for the pace he’s trotting at; he must be nervous. I can’t smell very much through all these disinfectants, but there’s some strong coffee on his breath. He’s slowing down and checking the rooms, so he probably doesn’t know which room he’s looking for. I bet that he’s the pony that asked me to meet him here.
Fluttershy smoothly replaced the chart and sat down. She adopted a slight slouch in her posture and allowed her eyes to drift apart as she stared off into space. There was no reason to be here earlier, and she was probably allowed to read the nurse's chart, but any knowledge that you had and others didn’t was a potential weapon, no matter how small it was.
A Unicorn with a blue mane and white coat that immediately made Fluttershy think of toothpaste nervously trotted in. “Hi, there! My name is Shining Sparkle, Director of Sunburst industries. I hope I haven’t kept you waiting long.”
“Oh, it’s no trouble,” Fluttershy said easily. She smiled, glancing over the pony and absorbing more data in a second than most could from a comprehensive background file.
He’s a little pudgy, but working on getting into shape, likely because of his new marefriend. He forgot to shave and his suit is so wrinkled it looks like he slept in it. He keeps looking at Peachy all worried, so either they’re more connected than my files on him let on (unlikely) or he takes a personal concern in his employees. His general exhaustion also indicates whatever I’m being hired for is a large concern. Good. It’ll be nice to do something important for a change and the pay will be nice.
She extended a hoof. “Please, sit down. You look tired.”
Shining nodded, barely shaking the offered hoof before collapsing onto the bench beside her. “You have no idea. This whole mess has been…” His voice trailed off. “Well, it’s a mess.”
Fluttershy nodded sympathetically. “Please, start from the beginning.”
“The beginning… Good grief.” Shining rubbed a hoof against his face as he closed his eyes and tried to organize his thoughts. “I guess it all started a few months ago when we hired a new scientist named Trixie. She claimed to have a Mark that helped her work with others but she proved to be difficult. Eventually, she had to be let go. She had to be dragged from the lab, swearing revenge. That’s not even the worst part.”
Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. “Is that why we’re in a hospital?”
Shining ears lay back, but he nodded. “She was working for this pony, Doctor Fantastic. They were experimenting with a form of magic called Psychomagia.”
No...
Fluttershy immediately sat up straight. Time seemed to slow as her brain went into overdrive, memories rising to the surface and threatening to consume her.
Fluttershy allowed the fear to rise to the surface and breathed it out. She had no reason to assume that Shining knew about her magic, or that this was any kind of trap. She should hear the rest of what Shining had to say before deciding whether or not to deal with him. Besides, the last thing Fluttershy needed was the attention of the Royal Guard.
All of this had flashed through her mind in an instant. Shining, unaware of how much danger he’d been in, continued. “Now look, I know it’s something of a crank theory, but he’s been right about a large number of other unlikely ideas in the past. His Mark lets her deal with seemingly fantastical forms of science and magic, so I let gave him pretty much whatever he wanted.”
“And what did he want?” Fluttershy asked. “In, uh, layponies terms, please.”
Shining frowned. “Well, simply put, he wanted to remove and store emotions to help ponies dealing with emotional trauma. Psychologists already use spells that extract emotions for the duration of a session, but those effects are temporary. Something like this could replace medication and help thousands of ponies— no, thousands of people all across the entire world!”
Fluttershy’s voice was utterly flat. “What went wrong.”
Shining shifted uncomfortably. “Well… You see, Doctor Fantastic had said that the machine didn’t work. He’d wanted to melt it down and move on to another project. We didn’t have a reason to think that the facility needed extra security.”
“It was stolen.”
Shining nodded. “Trixie is the most likely culprit. There’s no telling what that machine can do.”
Fluttershy turned to face the unconscious pony, frowning. “Did he have a history of paranoia? Why keep it a secret?”
Behind her, Shining shifted uncomfortably. Her wings twitched, and her earlier worry was looking more and more justified. “Thing is,” he said slowly, “some of our investors can be… short-sighted. Just because something can make us money in the short-term, they ignore any long-term problems.”
“He kept it a secret because somepony would have actually used it. I know, that’s pretty clear.” Fluttershy turned back around and affixed Shining with a glare. “But why not trust you with it? This is your job.”
Shining sat up straight, his front hoof stamping against the ground with a loud bam. “I don’t know, alright? Maybe he thought I needed plausible deniability or maybe he was telling the truth and Trixie’s just crazy! Look, I realize that this was not handled properly, but complaining about that doesn’t help us right now, does it?”
Fluttershy glared for a long moment, before sighing and appearing to let the matter go. Or maybe he’d planned to use it for something himself. Or maybe you did and it’s all spiraled out of control. I can’t trust anything right now. “When was the theft? Please be as precise as possible.
Shining carried on glaring at her for a few seconds, before collapsing back onto the bench. “We’re not sure. The fire was reported around five by some pedestrians. We’re at a loss. Trixie has the machine. All things considered, it works, and there’s no telling the havoc she could reak. If you don’t help us, it’s a catastrophe!”
It’s already a catastrophe, Fluttershy thought to herself. She refrained from pointing it out; as negligent as Sunrise Industries had been, antagonizing them wasn’t useful. She stood, remembering to stretch her wings as if she’d been there a while. “Don’t worry, Director. I’ll do my best to destroy the machine and capture this pony. I just have a quick appointment to make this morning, and I’ll be by to check the crime scene later.”
Shining frowned. “I’m sorry, but there’s a deranged madmare on the loose with whatever that machine can do! What could be more important than that?”
“Princess Celestia summoned me,” Fluttershy answered simply. “I’m late as it is. With any luck, it shouldn’t take too long.”
Twilight Sparkle was in hell. The world was hewn out of dead rock and filled with fire and brimstone and the occasional maimed skeleton despite how often she checked and cleaned the place. Demon flew across the sky carrying horrible weapons of death. Ponies huddled together in groups, ragged and unkempt, desperately trying to find scraps of food. The entire world was simply depressing and horrible.
Still, she was the Queen, and that helped.
One of her demonic legions landed before her and knelt. “Your Majesty. We’ve apprehended one of the warlords that were waylaying food transports. Would you me to send him in?”
“Oh of course!” Twilight said brightly. “Just give me a moment to freshen up, please.”
“Of course, your grace.” As the demon rose and left, Twilight stood and stretched. She placed her paperwork back in the hollowed-out portion of rock that functioned as shelving and magically sealed it in. She walked over to the cracked mirror to make sure her armor was straight. Twilight was glad it was a simulation, otherwise, the spikes would make the suit horribly uncomfortable. Still, until metalworking improved, there was nothing for it but armor carved from the bones of her enemies. It was surprisingly sturdy and made her tattered purple cloak look impressive instead of tacky. Rarity would be proud.
She cleared her throat. “Okay, evil voice, evil voice, evil voice.” She dropped her voice lower and lower each time she spoke and added a rumble in the back of her throat. It took a little practice, but she could manage a very intimidating demonic growl without even needing to use her magic. She levitated her hood over her head, casting her face in deep shadow. As a final touch, she canceled the perfectly normal lighting spell and lit a series of light blue fires around the walls. She returned to her throne and sat down, casting an imperious look at the door. “Bring him to me.”
The warlord (she couldn’t remember his name, something like Medaton, or something,) managed to walk with dignity as he was led in by her guards. He was taller than she was and strong enough to wear armor carved from granite. Twilight considered tracking some down but decided against. She’d already committed to her look. He sneered as he strode down past her guards and made sure that everypony could see his pointed teeth and terrifying red eyes “So, you are the ‘mighty’ Queen Twilight Sparkle. It’s just so good to finally meet face to face, isn’t it? After all this time?”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “I suppose. Remind me who are you, again?”
“Who am I,” the warlord repeated. “Who am I? I am the Gladiator of Kaon. I am the Emperor of Destruction. I am the one who has drunk of the Blood of the Great Destroyer itself. I. AM. MEGA—
“Actually, I don’t care,” Twilight interrupted. “I’m Twilight Sparkle. I don’t need titles because I’m Twilight Sparkle. You know who I am, that’s why you’re in chains.”
Mega-whatever chuckled. “Chains are a state of mind, your highness. I—”
Twilight lit her horn, yanking him by the chains up and into the ceiling. At her command, the floor cracked open, revealing a horrible pit of lava underneath. Dark shapes swam underneath, coming ominously close to the surface. “That’s really inspiring, but I’d point out that death can alter someponies state of mind very thoroughly as well.” She let some slack into the chains, letting the self-styled warlord slip perilously close to the lava. The chains made him immune to most heat, but she'd made sure to let some through for effect. "Now, I understand you have some kind of grievance with me?"
The warlord coughed. "Well, ah— the thing is, we feel sort of oppressed, you see."
"Ah." Happy to see that the grandstanding was out of his system, Twilight pulled him back up. "Well, that's very unfortunate. Please elaborate."
"You have reighned— can you let me stand on the floor."
"No, that's okay."
"Okay, um—" he cleared his throat. "Ponykind wishes to live in a land that is free, with full bellies and warm hearts. To do that, we require your death."
"And how does my death bring about those things?"
"You have become what you feared!" He roared with the passion of people who are really committed to other people being wrong about something. "You have betrayed your values and—"
"Stop shouting or I dunk you again."
He stopped shouting. Twilight sighed. "Listen, how does killing me make more food?"
He continued to stop shouting. As a matter of fact, he stopped speaking entirely. "We have an army protecting us, jobs, and enough food to put off dying in the near future. To keep that, I have to be this," she flexed, causing the spikes to conduct shimmering purple electricity with the four corners of the room "around bad ponies. It's not a permanent system. It's not a system I'll outlive. But it keeps us going until we can find a better one. Can you look me in the eye and tell me you have a better way?"
He stared at her for a long moment, considering her words.
Then he faded from existence.
Her throne room left too, and her armor and even her cloak. She was left in an empty blue void staring at repeating white words.
UNFEASABLE CONCLUSION. PLEASE RESET.
Twilight rolled her eyes. "Fiiiiine. Jeez. Let's run it again."
With help from Kitkat36 and Cogswheelbrain. Triptych can be found here.
Writing this is harder than I thought it’d be.
I’ve had hard friendship reports before, but this is… well, it’s not a friendship lesson, is it? It’s just me trying to make sense of all of this. So much happened, and I can’t talk to Celestia about it. I… still have a little while before I talk to my friends about it. I want to make sure it’s all straight before I go to them and explain how I used to be a monster
Before I explain.
We were on a mission to Trotter’s Falls. We met this mare, one who’d been experimented on, with abilities from each pony race. She could only use them one at a time, and changing between each hurt her. She didn’t even have a name back then; it wasn’t until later that she named herself Triptych. She’d been psychologically abused by her father, who was
Let me back up because there’s something else I need to deal with properly. Pinkie Pie.
Pinkie’s Earth Pony magic didn’t work when she was a filly. She couldn’t be a rock farmer, and her dad didn’t take that well. I’d always imagined her growing up pretty happy, maybe with a stern-yet-loving older sister or something, but she didn’t have anything like that.
Her father kicked her when she was a filly.
Eventually, Pinkie escaped. She was found by a unicorn named Gentle Arrival. He brought her to Ponyville, introduced her to the Cakes, and kept in contact with her. She wrote him letters about everything that happened to her, loved him like a father, and it didn’t come out until later that he was just doing that to keep an eye on her.
I don’t know if that’s fair. She doesn’t think that’s fair, but I… don’t know. I feel like maybe she should assume it’s not, just in case, but I
I’m off track. Gentle’s wife had died giving birth and he couldn’t handle having an Earth Pony filly on top of that. He had to find a way to ‘fix’ his daughter because she wasn’t a unicorn and of course that was a problem. He found ancient texts, took a job as a midwife to gain access to as many foals as he could, and convinced Equestria that he was a good pony. All the while accruing influence and finding more ponies like him. This had been going on for decades by the time we got there.
The foals he experimented on weren’t hurt. He used Discord’s essence on them to change their magic, using that in tandem with the stolen essence of the dead to try and change the tribes of the foals he needed to save, which he failed to do no matter how much essence he flooded every dying foal with. Fluttershy’s ability to talk to animals, the Stare, Pinkie’s ability to conjure party supplies, the Pinkie Sense; it’s all because they’re Hybrids.
This mare we found, she was Gentle’s daughter. He’d tried to make her an Alicorn. It didn’t work. But he didn’t want to give up. His… it was a cult. They didn’t call it that, but it was a cult. Nearly everypony in town was in it, including...
One special
Just this
A liar
Misguided
...One I liked. A lot. He was a good pony, except for where he wasn’t. I wish I could talk to him, get him to change his mind, fix him… But I can never find him. Not if he doesn’t want to be found. His talent is dismissal resonance (making ponies ignore him) and I only got around it by using powers he didn’t know about.
Right. Those. Earth Ponies have a secret kind of magic, one that lets them control the earth. It’s kind of funny how straightforward it is, compared to everything else. I mean, it’s not easy, because if I let slip that I know how Earth Pony magic works then the best case scenario is that the town will lynch her and I. Earth Ponies have been keeping this a secret for thousands of years, and I have no idea how far they’ll go to keep it.
It’s nearly ironic that the cult didn’t have any Earth Ponies in it. They formed it because they thought Earth ponies didn’t have ‘real’ magic, and not only do they, but they feel the same way about unicorns that unicorns feel about them.
We caught Gentle, in the end. Helped Triptych escape her father, and he’s in prison. Discord’s helping Tish learn how to use her magic, and we all went home.
But not before
This is the hard part. More than anything else on this list, this is what’s scaring me. I talked to Celestia after the mission was over. And I found out she hates me
...Long ago, when Discord ruled the land, Celestia and Luna put together a group of friends that became the original Bearers of the Elements of Harmony. I don’t know who all of them were, but I know that aside from the Sisters, there was Star Swirl the Bearded. He was their Magic. He built the Elements. But after they beat Discord, that wasn’t enough for him. He was angry he wasn’t an Alicorn, so he tried to find a different way to Ascend. He created the Alicorn Amulet and hunted down magic from others. He intentionally turned himself into a monster.
They caught him, in the end. He wasn’t able to use magic for the rest of his life. And as the other Bearers died, he ended up being the last one alive. Celestia…
I don’t know much about what she was like, back then. Which definitely is ironic. Because at the end of his life, she cast a spell on him. One that changed the very nature of his soul, which is apparently possible. She cursedsaved made him reincarnate, over and over. Until he realized what he did wrong, and how to do it right. His died and lived, for a thousand years, until eventually…
Until I did.
I am Star Swirl the Bearded. I can’t remember what I was back then, or anything before… this me. But she looks at me and
She’s never seen me as me
And I don’t know. Maybe I’m just a way to fix her mistakes, maybe she actually gives a damn about me. She tried to write me after, but I shut her down. Then I wrote to her, and she hasn’t written back. And I have no idea what’s going to happen next.
Luna told my friends to keep an eye on me. They stayed up in shifts all night to make sure I was okay. I haven’t told them; I’m still trying to deal with it. But I think it’s going to be okay. No matter what happens, I’ll carry them with me.
I have no idea what’s going to come next, but it’s all going to be so new.
Sirens howled as ponies ran through the complex with a barely restrained panic. In the distance, a booming explosion echoed and drove the ponies onwards.
Agent Sunny Days ran with the herd, trying to keep everypony on point. “Leave it!” she snapped at a group of scientists trying to pull equipment up a flight of stairs. “Just run! They’re coming!”
One of the group turned to glare at her, probably with some speech about the importance of science, but a series of bangs down the tunnel interrupted him. The explosions were much closer now, just behind them in the tunnel itself. Sunny gave up on giving orders and just let them run.
The group congregated inside a huge panic room, enchanted to be totally indestructible. Everypony would be able to hold out for weeks once inside, but the doors were closing. Sunny forced herself to slow down, to ignore the panic and let everyone else in first. Normally, they’d seal the doors from the inside, but that wouldn’t be enough today. These weren’t ordinary criminals or terrorists.
It was A.I.M.
Arcane Incorporated Mechanics was a Unicorn supremacist organization that combined magic with technology with the intent of conquering the world. Some version of the group had existed ever since the original had been defeated by Captain Equestria at the end of the Crystal War. In the modern day, they were terrorists that wanted to subvert the government through a combination of fear-mongering, political intrigue and magic robots.
Sunny skidded to a halt outside the doors, watching them slide shut. Her magic flowed forwards, pushing heat into the control panel and destroying it. She took a step back and the metal turned red and began to melt, dripping down and cooling the instant it hit the floor. She didn’t let up for a moment, forcing the flames inward as the wires and circuitry exploded. The harsh scent of burning plastic hit her, driving her back as much as the flames. Sunny staggered back, nearly tripping as she bumped into someone standing behind her.
“Well, that’s a nice way to say hello.”
Sunny spun around, but with a solid wham was sent staggering back. She growled as her vision cleared. “Taskmaster.”
The mercenary wore a dark grey suit and light grey cloak that helped him blend in with the walls. His mask was a blank, white skull that leered at her like a gargoyle. Behind him a group of soldiers wearing yellow armored suits and holding various crossbows and bladed shields moved in tight formation, splitting up to search the rest of the facility and surrounding her. Sunny gritted her teeth as restraints were fitted around her horn and legs. “I should have known that you wouldn’t dare face me without an army at your back. Your magic doesn’t let you cheat enough?”
Taskmaster shrugged. “Heh. No, what you think of as cowardice, I think of as simple… professional courtesy. After all, you’re a dangerous mare. My magic makes me the greatest fighter in the world, but this mission ain’t just about fighting.”
“Oh, please,” Sunny threw as much condescension into the sneer as she could. “You've stolen everything you know about fighting with your magic. You couldn't—”
“Gag her,” Taskmaster ordered. “She’s just trying to get me to monologue. Where’s Blizzard?”
“Coming now, sir,” one of the ponies said as he tied the gag around Sunny’s mouth. “He’s aiding one of the other groups up the tunnel from here.”
“Why?”
“Because of WO-HOO!” A Pegasus colt wearing a blue and white bodysuit flew in and landed with as much ceremony as one can manage without actual talent. His suit had small piping wrapped around it and a small pack in between his shoulders that occasionally spat out steam. “Oh, you should have seen me! At first, I was freakin’ out, I mean, I was FREAKING. OUT. But then one of them hit me in the face and I was all “you ain’t touchin’ me—”
“At what point,” Taskmaster asked dryly, “did it sound like I wanted to hear an entire story? I’m asking so I don’t make similar mistakes in the future.” He waited for Blizzard to begin to protest and then whipped his foreleg out. The small concealed spurs extended to their full length, spinning inches away from the other stallions eyes. “You are here to do one specific task. If you fail, then our mission is meaningless, at which point I lose a check and take it out on those around me. Do you see where I’m going with this?”
Blizzard’s trembling could be construed as a nod.
“Good. Now get to work.”
With another shaky nod, Blizzard trotted over to the door, staying well away from Sunny and the still sparking control panel. He took a deep breath and raised his wings. Steam poured from the pack and floated across the door on the wind he made with small flaps of his wings. Sunny shuffled back as the steam grew denser. What is he trying to do?
After a few tense minutes, there was a veritable wall of steam between the doors and the troops. Blizzard took a step forward, raised his hoof, and every iota of heat near the doors was shoved away.
Sunny winced. The heat was moving up across the ceiling, but enough of it escaped to make the tunnel uncomfortable. Ice slowly spread across the door and grew thicker. It didn’t stop once it’d covered the entire door; it sank deeper, clawing its way into the metal. The door began to creak ominously. Sunny’s breath caught. He’s freezing the door to weaken it. If it gets too cold…
There was a huge crack, but this one came from the ceiling above them. Everypony took a step backward, pointing weapons and shielding themselves as a series of booms echoed in the small room. Sunny lay her ears flat against her skull to block out the noise as cracks began to spiral out from a single point. For a moment, she was afraid that the ceiling was going to come down on top of them, but the noise ceased. All was silent for a moment, and then—
Kreeeeee!
Sunny gasped as a huge magic field stabbed through the rock, grabbing an entire section of the ceiling. It should have taken an entire team of ponies to do, but she could only make out one field. The multi-ton hunk of rock floated up, slowly revealing the figure responsible.
She wore a suit of armor, with smaller silver plates underneath the more prominent maroon segments. Great silver wings lay folded on her back, gleaming in the moonlight. On her chest was a simple triangle that didn’t glow with power so much as leak it, scorching the very stone around her.
The ponies around her stared in shock, too stunned to raise their weapons. “I… I—”
“Iron Mage,” the figure said calmly. “It’s very nice to meet you too. Now, I’m going to need you all to drop your weapons before I’m forced to drop all of you to the floor.”
“Open fire!” Taskmaster shouted.
All around her, soldiers let loose with whatever weapons they had, to no avail. Iron Mage let the field around her horn disperse as crossbow bolts and thrown weapons bounced off her suit. Her wings snapped open, teal magic flowing across them as she floated down the hole.
That was one of the problems with Unicorns. On paper, they were easily the master race, but even trained Unicorns had severe limitations. Most magic fields couldn’t wield more than one weapon effectively, and it wasn’t uncommon for somepony to be unable to fight with one at all. The only spells a Unicorn could cast were ones relating to their Cutie Mark, so while one that had a fighting Mark wasn’t one you wanted to meet, an army of only Unicorns wasn’t as big of a threat as an army of Pegasi or Earth Ponies would be. A.I.M’s biggest weapon was their magic-incorporated devices, most of which they’d already used.
The emblem on Iron Mage’s chest began to spin. Sunny felt something tug at her magic, and the A.I.M soldiers panicked as it began to reach them as well. They re-doubled their efforts, pulling out odd pieces of equipment and beginning to turn them towards her.
Before they could, a pulse of mystical energy rammed itself through the room. It was like being punched in the eye with a ball of light. Sunny screwed her eyes shut and tried not to scream.
The A.I.M soldiers staggered incoherently around, not sure what do without their magic. Iron Mage landed in the middle of them, lowering her wings and lighting her horn. The huge rock she’d removed from the ceiling split apart, flying back down and re-forming to block the tunnel behind them. The leftover pieces of rock were used to restrain the soldiers and the Blizzard. The enemy disposed of, Iron Mage took a moment to rest. Sunny frowned. Did the lights on her suit just flicker…
There was a series of cracks as the rock pile holding Blizzard froze over and exploded. “Nice try, but I ain’t no Unicorn.” He stalked forwards, steam hissing around him. He drove an intense burst at Iron Mage, coating her armor with a thick sheet of frost. “I’m the Blizzard. Whadd’ya got on me?”
Iron Mage shattered the ice with a mere flex of her muscles. “A few brain cells, I’m assuming.” She fired a hornbeam at Blizzard, but it didn’t even reach him. This time, Sunny was sure she saw the lights on the suit flicker. Worse, Blizzard saw them too.
“So, you ain't got much juice in the suit, huh? Me, I don’t roll like that. I take water from right outa the air, so I never run out.” He threw another gout of steam, this time using it to create a huge boulder of ice twice as tall as she was. Iron Mage dove out of the way, walking right into a hailstorm as Blizard advanced on her. She tried to raise her wings and bring them around, but Blizzard had pinned them to her side.
Blizzard raised his wing, creating an ultra-shard blade of ice as he approached the mare. “Any last words?”
A panel on her shoulder opened, and some kind of disk thrower snapped forward and fired. Blizzard ducked behind a wall of ice, but one of them still damaged his backpack. Iron Mage kept firing, as she moved closer to the other A.I.M scientists. Her emblem began to spin again, taking the scientists magic for herself.
“Hey!” Blizzard fired a cloud of icicles over his barrier, arching downwards towards Iron Mage. None of them broke the suit itself, but the disk thrower was snapped off.
“You want to be the stallion who takes down Iron Mage? Come and get me.” Magic flowed across her wings, melting the ice and sending her racing through the ceiling. Blizzard cursed and followed.
It was a clear night outside, and Sunny had no trouble seeing the fight. Following it was another story. They moved quickly across the sky, retreating to meager pinpricks of light only to suddenly draw close. Sunny was trapped on the ground, forced to watch as Iron Mage was knocked around.
Eventually, it ended the only way it could. Iron Mage was slammed down through the hole, landing in a crater right in front of Sunny. Her wings swung around, projecting her Pegasus magic was a beam of energy to push back the ice coming from above. Slowly, she gave ground as Blizzard came closer and closer. “Do you have any idea what I could get for your armor!” he shouted. “I’ll be set for life! And that don’t even count whatever your cold, dead carcass can get me!”
Iron Mage’s scream of pain was buried under the screech of metal as she slid across the floor. Blizzard landed in front of her, wings poised to deliver the final blow. “Any last words?”
“...Just take the shot.”
He snorted. “Tch. No problem.” With finality, his wings snapped down.
There was an awkward silence as nothing happened.
Slowly, Iron Mage pushed herself to her hooves. “What’s the matter? Take the shot.” Her voice was a trifle smug, but it went well with Blizzard’s utter panic. “Your suit takes water out of the air— but we’re in the Tundra. There’s not a lot of water to go around. You blew out your suit’s vaporator system.” She took a single step forwards. “I’ll say this one time: Surrender.”
“...M’okay.”
Iron Mage sighed. She leaned against the giant door, suit flickering and beginning to fade. Her chest emblem tried to spin again, but for a long moment, it looked as if it were dead. Slowly, it began to move faster and faster as it ate through the enchantments on the door. Only after the last piece of magic was gone did it stop, turning what was originally a state-of-the-art security system into a particularly large and heavy door. Iron Mage nodded to herself, and then glanced at Sunny. Her field carefully floated over her restraints and pulled them apart, taking care not to hurt Sunny in the process. Sunny took an uncertain step backward. “T—thank you. On behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D, I would like to extend the utmost gratitude.”
“Don’t mention it.” Iron Mage ignored her and walked towards Blizzard. Ignoring the various cowardly noises coming from his mouth, she began roughly pulling the equipment from his suit off.
Sunny took an awkward step forward. “As the highest ranking S.H.I.E.L.D officer here, I must ask that you allow us to take custody of this equipment.”
“No.”
Underneath the mechanical intonations, the voice sounded young. Or was Sunny just getting old? She shook her head clear of such thoughts and stepped forwards. “I realize I can’t exactly force you to give this up, but are you sure this is a good idea? S.H.I.E.L.D would be more than willing to work with you if you were willing to make some concessions—”
“I work alone.”
“Why?”
Iron Mage didn’t say anything for a long moment, letting the air be filled with the sound of her field prying a trembling Blizzard out of his suit. “I trusted somepony once. I loved them. They betrayed me. I won’t let that happen again. You shouldn’t either,” she continued as she turned to leave. “After all, how do you think they found your base?”
Sunny frowned. “That’s something we’ll take care of ourselves. Look,” she tried to say before Iron Mage leaped off, “look, would you at least take my card? You can check me out and if you think I’m on the level, maybe we can meet later?”
Iron Mage hovered in the air for a long moment, before sighing. She took the offered card without looking at it, before blasting off. Sunny watched her go, her magic visible for what seemed like miles before she finally vanished.
A loud creak interrupted her thoughts. Sunny turned to see the door slowly slide open as a dozen ponies worked to pry it open. Her second in command, a tan Earth Pon with a black mane named Mayflower, approached her and saluted. “Ma’am? All reports indicate that none of our agents here have been harmed and the Triskelion is sending back-up. It’s half an hour out. What are your orders?”
Sunny surveyed the scene, noting with no surprise that Taskmaster had vanished. Probably when Iron Mage first showed up. “Send multiple teams of three or more to survey the base. I want any survivors either in the medical bay or in the brig. If they see a fugitive called the Taskmaster, they are not to engage without backup. I’ll take some ponies to see what’s been stolen from the labs.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Mayflower saluted and trotted away. Sunny held in another sigh as her ponies began to trot out; she couldn’t let them see her uncertainty.
Not for long, of course. After all, he loved following Captian Thunderhooves directions! But once in a while he couldn't help but think about how they didn't think.
His sister never wavered. He envied her, sometimes. She always had the right stickers, knew the right things, had the right... not ideas, ideas weren't good. But she knew what they were supposed to do, and he always got though of memory so he had to distract himself and have fun instead.
Didn't they have parents at some point?
Peg and Corn loved having fun! Except for one time, Peg had broken one of his toys by accident when he'd asked her not to play with it. That made him feel really bad, but then he'd seen Captain Thunderhooves. She'd told him to forgive his sister, so they could go back to being friends. It was just a toy.
The next time she dropped one of his things, he said it was okay. And he never played with anyone else's toys after that either. He didn't want to break them.
Sometimes, he saw someone do something bad, and that was scary. But every time that happened, Captian Thunderhoof would be there! He wondered how she always knew where to be, but Peg told him wondering was silly. You just repeated whatever the TV said and didn't make trouble! That way he wouldn't make Captain Thunderhooves hurt him.
Not that she'd hurt anyone! She did good! And the helpfulness beam was good! He wasn't scared of her, he just wanted to make sure he and his sister were doing the best they could!
There was a colt they used to be friends with. He liked eating and cracking jokes. Corn had liked having someone like him around. One day, he'd stolen an extra dessert and Captian Thunderhooves had to use the Helpfulness Beam on him. He was a do-gooder now. He only ate healthy things, and he didn't have to play. He only did good deeds!
Corn saw him helping mow someone's lawn later. He looked tired, and there was red stuff on his hooves. Corn had asked him if he was okay, and he'd smiled and said he'd almost finished helping everyone in town! It made Corn feel funny, and if he felt funny he might not be as good at doing good, so he left him alone.
Living on Galloping Row was the best thing ever! He'd never want to leave. Every day was a new adventure, and it was the best place in the whole wide world!
Even after Twilight introduced me to Daring Do, I still hated reading. Sure, there were exceptions but reading just took so much time to do. Forcing every word to fit inside my head one at a time and then doing it all over again while waiting for the paragraph to get to the point is so frustrating. It doesn’t help that nopony else has a problem. If I complain about it, that just means I’m an idiot.
If you tell anypony I said this, I’ll deny it, but some days I wish I was Twilight. Don’t me wrong, I love being the fastest mare alive, but the way she can just glance at something and understand everything about it is just amazing. Even when she’s Twilighting, that’s just how she solves everything. I solve my problems by being faster than them, and she does it by thinking faster than they do. She’d probably a little better at fixing things than me, because when she crashes all she has to do is go back to one of her to-crazy plans and do that one. I just crash.
Like I said, if you tell anypony this, I’ll kill you.
So, I’m kinda the village idiot out of our group. Not of all Ponyville, that’s a bar so low even I can clear it, but I’m the one who can’t see a problem until after I’ve dived down its throat. And most days I’m okay with that. I’m still the greatest athlete (Oh, so Applejack can use her magic in a race, but if I do its cheating?) but that can’t help me right now. Twilight’s birthday is coming up, and I wanted to get her something she’d love. That’s clearly a book, but it can’t just be any book. Everypony buys Twilight books, so it needed to be the greatest book in the world. But I’m not the kind of pony who knows all kinds of books, so I needed help from somepony as a big a… bibliophile? As big a bibliophile as Twilight.
Which lead me to a common mistake: Trusting Princess Luna. And as I say that, I feel like it’s not super fair. She took time out of her night to help me find something; it's just that we took time out of her night. Nights are the one part of the day where ponies don’t call me lazy for sleeping, and I was spending it at an antique bookstore that’d put me to sleep anyway.
I sighed. Luna twitched, which I thought was weird. I’d signed a bunch in the last hour and she hadn’t said anything. “Okay, what about the Donkey section? They’re super depressing, and depressing books are supposed to be better than normal ones, right?”
“That is not inaccurate,” Luna intoned. She intones a lot of things, and she always packs as much as she can into everything she says. She basically speaks in monologues; she’s like a slower, emo Pinkie Pie. “Though it would be more correct to say that depressing books can have more depth. It greatly depends on the book in question. Still, it is a good idea as any. I must confess that I find myself disappointed with the selection available. I had hoped to find something worthwhile to invest my time in, but more's the pity. Literature is one of the few things that has improved in my-- absence.”
I’d filtered out everything but the beginning and something about the Abeyance. I always listened for her talking about the Moon because the Sisters barely talk to anypony about the crap they go through. I’m not a great listener, but they carry so much that I’ll take whatever I can.
Luna didn’t seem upset though, so we just walked over there in silence. “Okay,” I said. “I’ll just grab the oldest stuff here and we can look through that.”
Now it was Luna’s turn to sigh. “Rainbow Dash, I realize this is somewhat ironic when said by me, but age is not the best way to determine value. Judging a book by its cover--”
“Hey, what’s this?”
Luna froze in place with a weird expression. It was kinda like the look you get when you find out too late that Pinkie gave you gag jelly beans."Oh," she said softly. "It survives. Somehow, despite everypony's efforts across the centuries, it is here..."
“So it worth something?” I asked. “Cool.”
“This,” Luna began, “Is Bartleby’s Scriving’s. It is said to be the single most depressing book ever written. None know how it ends, for those who attempt to read it will be driven mad in the attempt. The shadow it casts possesses a rather singular weight. One strains to regard it every day, considering that the option to read it is available -- ”
“So it’s sad,” I interrupted. “And sad books make deep ponies happy. That means if I get Twilight this book, she'd be super excited, right?”
“...Essentially,” Luna thoughtfully said. She opened the book and began to page through it. “Oh.”
“Something wrong?”
“In a manner of speaking. Do you see that little symbol stamped upon the upper right corner of the first page? My mark, Rainbow Dash. A sign of ownership. Once, this very tome was part of my own library. But shortly after -- it happened -- certain ponies saw my absence as an opportunity. While my sister was understandably distracted, items vanished from the Lunar Wing. A few were recovered. Others have never surfaced again. But this is mine. The proof cannot be disputed. And so I take it back. You’ll have to find something else.”
“Hey, wait a minute!” I dashed around and hovered just above eye level, forcing her to look up. Powering through her glare, “I found it first! And I would have totally found it even if you hadn’t been here, so find your own present!”
“My sister and I have already gotten Twilight her present,” Luna evenly said. “Books.”
“I’m getting her books--”
"All of them,” she clarified. “For the next month, she can use vouchers to purchase for her personal collection as many as she can fit onto her property.”
I thought about the storage sheds Twilight rented, and kept my mouth shut. “Look, you said it yourself. The selection here sucks-- No offense dude,” I added to the salespony cowering under the table, “and she’ll be thrilled with this! You haven’t owned this book in forever and it's my best shot! There has to be, like-- a game or something we can use to settle this fairly, right?”
Twilight doesn’t talk about ponies behind their back, at least not to me, but there’s one thing she repeats whenever Luna comes up. “If she smiles while you’re arguing with her-- run.”
Luna smiled. I backed up. She didn’t notice. "A game," Luna repeated as a slow smile spread through dark fur. "Yes. And as you have proposed that a game should settle this, I will naturally choose the contest. Dueling and wagering rules alike, Rainbow Dash. The format is yours, the specific nature becomes mine. Do you agree?"
“...So not a race?” I said.
“No, of course not. That would hardly be fair to you.”
I stared at her. Quietly, “Speed is my mark--”
“You haven’t raced me before. No,” she said through what should have been pointed teeth. “We shall play a game known as… Pepper.”
Luna was doing her cryptic thing again, which was her third favorite way of talking to ponies. I think she uses all those big words to keep from talking about whatever it is she’s actually talking about. We’d picked up some actual pepper from the kitchens and were sneaking into her sister's tower. “Can you at least give me a hint--”
“All in due time, Rainbow Dash. For now, we must be quiet.”
“There wasn’t anything stopping you from telling me before--”
“Sh!”
Too late, I heard hoofsteps down the corridor. I felt Luna cast her field around me, and my vision flashed blue. When it cleared there were dark purple bangs in my eyes, and I could almost make out a horn. I looked at my hooves, which were purple.
The guard rounded the corner and stopped, eyes wide. "Princess Twilight?"
"...Yes." I said authoritatively. "Book," I added a second later.
The pegasus mare blinked and looked between the two of us. "Is something wrong?"
Luna took a slow, careful breath. "I am sneaking Twilight Sparkle into my sister's bedroom."
"Yes! That!" I exclaimed, thinking of Twilight reacting to rumors of her and Celly banging. And then I got to the end of Twilight reacting to rumors of her and Celly banging and winced. "But not for sex! For... reading. And such. All night." I nodded confidently, and added, "she has long... books."
The guard stared at me, and I'm pretty sure she was choking on something. "Mh-hm," she said with a straighter face than I would have, "We've all thought about how long her-- books are. Very toned books."
"Though I must say," Luna broke in, "that the-- contents of my sister's library should not be the center of that much discussion among the Royal Guard. Or my own, come to think of it." She held up a hoof up to get in the way of the guards sudden panic. "Peace. I meant no ill will by it. Tia and her student simply require some time alone to-- study. You will ensure that we will not be disturbed."
"Not we," I added at the guard's confused look. "We as in Princess Celestia and me! Luna's not coming too-- You know what I mean!"
The guard, probably just eager to leave the conversation, nodded and left silently. We watched her go. "So," I said softly, "that's gonna bite us later, isn't it?"
"Oh, I do hope not," Luna muttered fiercely. "Those disgusting rumors are a pain to stop. And with Twilight Sparkle in them-- well," she added thoughtfully, "it could get her to ask sister where they came from."
"As long as the answer isn't us," I groused. "Give a mare a little warning next time!"
"It is hardly my fault you are incapable of a bluff," she said as she casually walked past me. "Perhaps one day you will gain the capability of subterfuge..."
"Wha-Hey!" Tail lashing, I hurried to keep up. "I can too bluff!"
"Yes," and you know that thing a cat does where it arches it back and looks down on you, even though it comes up to your ankle? Luna was doing the same thing with just her tone. "And I'm sure the number of losses I have observed from our card games together is simple coincidence... Ah, we have arrived."
I'd been so wrapped up in arguing that I'd failed to notice where we were. Ahead of us were large, plain double doors. They weren't any signs barring entry, there weren't any sigils warning ponies away, and under the circumstances, they were the two scariest doors I'd ever seen. "That's your sister's room!"
"Oh, good," Luna said softly. "I was in fact about to explain that part. Whispers only from this point forward--"
"Why are we playing in your sister's room?"
Luna casually shrugged. "You do not have to play if you do not wish. You can simply... I believe the modern phrase is 'chicken out?"
I stared at Luna for a long moment. "You know how I went to flight school?"
She blinked, and I got the rare joy of seeing Luna mildly flummoxed. "I am aware, though I fail to see how that relates--"
"Thing about foals is, they're jerks. Especially to ponies who happen to be gullible. And I used to be super gullible." It was easier to say this than I thought it'd be. Maybe it was because Luna looked unsure since-- well, the first time I'd seen her. "I've had about a million dumb tricks played on me, Luna. And I know what it feels like. It feels like this. So why are we playing in your sister's room?"
Luna was frowning, which could be good for me or really bad. "Well... The game is based on her, actually."
"Are we feeding her the peppers while she sleeps?"
Luna shook her head and I gasped. "We're not shoving them up her--"
"NO!" She cast a worried look at the doors, but after a few seconds, nopony emerged. "No, not-- that. I do not know what sort of foalhood you had growing up, Rainbow Dash, but I would never be so cruel as-- that." She held it in for a second, before admitting the truth. "We are using my sister as a grill for a cooking competition."
I stared. Luna stared back, and-- well, she didn't look sheepish, but she looked more sheepish than I'd ever expected to see her look. "As you have undoubtedly noticed," she slowly whispered, "our ties to Moon and Sun come with certain... connotations. In my case, I am linked to cold. Ice. The chill of vacuum. When I am calm, the air is no more than pleasantly cool as it drifts out from my form. The gift of autumn's renewal. But when I become upset, the temperature drops accordingly. And my sibling, linked to Sun... there is a warmth about her, is there not? Place her heart at peace, and every day near her is one spent in spring. But should she become angry..."
"And you decided," I whispered, "to use her to invent a cooking competition? How did you even think of that?"
"Actually, a certain pegasus had endured-- injuries, shall we say? One specific sort of injury. It kept happening, over the centuries, and I decided to... investigate. It is not important, though."
"It is super--"
"The game with which we duel," Luna interrupted, "is mine to choose. And I choose this one. If you feel as though you cannot handle it, then I understand..."
My jaw shut with an audible click. I'd played this sort of game-- well, okay not this sort of game, but games you can't win. Luna hadn't mentioned how the game ended, so I was willing to bet it ended when her sister woke up and killed me. But if I didn't go through with this, I was out a present and I'd lose a game.
I had one move I could play.
I sighed and nodded, and Luna smirked as she opened the door. She slid her hooves silently across the floor, and I followed. "Let the best mare win, Rainbow Dash."
Now, I want you to remember that I am, honestly, a total idiot.
"As this is your first time playing," Luna said, "I shall take care of the... preheating."
And the second most important thing is that Luna, while she can make me look mature by comparison, is just about the smartest mare in the world.
Luna placed her horn on her sisters Cutie Mark, and slowly rubbed a circle. "Basic simulation," Luna whispered. "Let me see... to the right for an increase, circle to the left if the desired goal is surpassed. Yes, that was it."
And smart mares will always, always underestimate the lengths a stupid pony will go too.
While Luna slowly heated her sisters flank, I reached over with one wing and slapped her Cutie Mark.
A bunch of things went off at once here. Luna jerked and jabbed her horn into Celly's rump. This woke up the most dangerous mare alive, but I was already moving. I'd surprised Luna, and she was off balance. I reached into her saddlebags and grabbed the book, quickly dove out the window before Celestia could grab me. Luna was not so lucky.
I heard the shouting from a lot further away than I expected. I'm not sure if it faded when I reached Ponyville, or if it just stopped.
I wasn't hiding under my bed all night. I just wanted to make sure that I could surprise whichever of them came for me so I could attack from an unexpected direction. Nopony came for me that night, and I got through my morning shift without incident. I swung by the library to give Twilight her present a little early, in case I was tied up during the actual party.
Twilight was eating outside when I dropped by. She waived as I came down for a landing. "Hey, were you in Canterlot last night?" she asked. "I've heard some weird rumors--"
"Don't-know-anything-about-it," I said quickly, "Because I was busy! I got your birthday present, and I wanted to give it to you early."
"Oh, you didn't have to do..." Twilight's voice trailed off as she looked at the book. "That's impossible."
"You don't know the half of it," I muttered.
"That's Bartleby's Scrivings!" she said in awe. "That's... do you know how many ponies have died trying to read that? Hundreds!"
"...Is that good?"
"It's amazing!" Twilight squealed. "This might be the only copy in the whole world-- How did you do it?"
"Oh, ya know," I said distractedly, "I'm the best-- Hey, what's up with the shadows?"
"Hm?" Twilight looked behind her and frowned. The shadows were rapidly shifting towards the left, and I realized why a few moments before she did. "That's odd," she said, "It looks like Sun is moving."
I didn't say anything. Terror rooted me to the spot.
"It's definitely moving," Twilight said thoughtfully, "Almost like its searching for something..."
There was a burst of white magic behind me as somepony teleported in. The temperature, already warm, was suddenly scorching hot, and I could feel her chest brush the top of my head.
"Rainbow Dash," Princess Celestia said. I could feel the angry growl in her chest as she spoke, and-- didn't squeaked as much as... do something that sounded like squeaking but wasn't. "How wonderful it is to see you."
Twilight stood up and was torn between trying to help and cowering. I didn't blame her, I would have left me too. "Uh," Twilight said hesitantly, "Princess..."
"Oh, don't worry," Princess Celestia softly said. "Rainbow isn't in trouble. I just want to be sure she... pays for her book."
"My book," Twilight corrected, and then blanched. "Only technically. Your Highness. Ma'am."
"Oh, don't worry," the single scariest mare in the world said. "I'm only here to talk to... arrange a payment schedule."
"Okay," Twilight was starting to worry now, "Your words sound fine, but you keep using italics and it's starting to scare me..."
Princess Celestia teleported us away before she could finish.
I'm going to gloss over some parts here. Luna and I were at Celestia's mercy for about four hours, but they were creatively applied four hours. I won't say exactly what happened, only that we're not allowed to enter Mazin, and I have to send a tribute to the chef's guild every three moons to keep them from putting a hit out on me. And that's not even getting into what I have to do for Luna tonight.
Later, I got to see the look on Twilight's face while she was at her party. She saw me come in late, bruised and slightly on fire.
I saw her worry over how hurt I was, and smile in relief when I was fine.
Sunset Shimmer closed her eyes and felt the stillness surrounding her. She took a deep breath in, and held it as she felt out towards everything around her. The trees trembled softly as she beheld them, the rocky canyon stalwartly ignored her. She reached upwards, and slowly asked the air for help.
It obeyed without question. Air rose and cooled, coming together into the kind of clouds that would take weeks to build properly. In scant minutes the steadily-thickening clouds were blotting out the sky. Sunset created a bubble from kinetic energy around herself— it wouldn’t block her vision or hearing, but it’d keep out the rain and any debris. She cast strengthening charms on the canyon, did a final check for anyone in the area, and once she was sure she was alone the rain came down.
Sunset shifted her shoulders, calling upon the next phase. Hail was trickier than other kinds of weather, because they formed higher than the rest of the storm and at a different temperature from rain. It would have been easy to just to unload them all at once, but she kept shifting heat back and forth until they fell in a beat of four—
Pat-pat Pat-pat, Pat-pat Pat-pat.
Pat-pat Pat-pat, Pat-pat Pat-pat,
—and after a few minutes she had them falling perfectly in rhythm.
Now it was time for the simplest part. She reached out a thought around some electrons and touched them together, sending a bolt of lightning booming across the sky. A frown marred Sunsets face. She shifted her hand, and the lightning boomed again. It was striking a tall tree, coming down a few seconds faster than Sunset wanted. She cheated a little here, using magic to grow a different tree even taller. The lightning straightened out, the thunder rolling over Sunset with every fourth beat of hail—
Pat-pat Pat-BOOM, Pat-pat Pat-BOOM,
Pat-pat Pat-BOOM, Pat-pat Pat-BOOM,
—and it was almost time to begin. Sunset called forth the wind and it howled at its sudden freedom. It tumbled through the canyon Sunset had carved with zeal, rising and falling with Sunset as she asked, creating a sound that blended mystery with glee—
Ooo-whee-ooO,
Pat-pat Pat-BOOM, Pat-pat Pat-BOOM,
Whee--ooo--wheE
Pat-pat Pat-BOOM, Pat-pat Pat-BOOM,
—as the storm came together and the music flowed.
The rain mixed with the hail, creating an urgency to run, to charge onward heedless of what lay in store. The thunder shouted alongside it, telling of strength and true power. They wove together a desire to lose oneself in thoughtless passion. But with it rose the wind, and it sang a wonderful song that rose goosebumps on Sunsets arms. It slipped between the two like water through a net, knowing just how to reach the ones listening. Sunset shifted her shield, and smiled as a small part of the wind carried through. It tugged at her jacket, and she slipped it off to better feel the cool breeze.
The music carried on, requiring less attention now that Sunset had kicked it off, and She let herself be lost in the sound. It was a tribute to life, and it was exhilarating.
And then a hailstone slipped through her shield and broke her nose.
The sudden pain snapped Sunset back to reality, and she fell on her ass with an undignified squawk. The song, lacking direction, began to drift out of control. Sunset threw out a hand to try and call it back to order, but the rhythm was hard to find again. She winced at the damage caused to the forest, willing any fires started by the lightning back down. She couldn’t fix all the destruction done by the hail, and the wind had just disappeared.
Sunset sighed. It wasn’t a disappointed sigh; rather it sounded sardonic. It had a very strong resemblance to her teacher's, though Sunset wasn’t willing to compare herself to the Daymare yet. It also stood in stark contrast to the anger she’d once felt over her failed assignments. It was accepting.
Sunset sat down with an uncharacteristically grim face. "Okay, I'm facing a serious crisis, and you three are best suited to helping me deal with it."
Cadence slowly raised her hand. "Um, I don't want to be rude, but what could you need help with that we could possibly—"
"Anniversary present."
"Ooooohh."
Sunset sighed. "I mean, I know its not the end of the world, but if I don't get her something really good she might be disappointed and that's basically the same thing in my head? So I thought I'd form a committee meeting to help me decide."
Rarity frowned. "Oh, do we really need to call it a committee meeting? That's not... especially romantic."
Sunset shrugged. "I guess, but I'm pretty sure Twilight would think it was sweet, and this whole thing is about finding ways to impress her, so..."
Applejack leaned forward. "Alright, I get why Cadence is here; she knows Twilight from when she was little, and she's in charge of love or somethin'. And Rarity is here 'cause she's the single most romantic person whose ever lived—"
Rarity flushed. "Oh, thank you dear."
"—but what can I do to help? I ain't super good at them big gestures and stuff."
"You're here to rein us in if we go crazy," Sunset said bluntly. "All my ideas keep going too high-concept, and I need someone to tell me not to have the stars rearrange themselves as her face."
Rarity frowned. "That actually sounds lovely—"
"A future me from a timeline that did that came back to tell me that the catastrophic shifts in gravity I make by moving that many stars and planets around nearly ends the world."
The three girls stared at Sunset, who shifted uncomfortably. "But then she vanished!" she added, "so I... thinkthat means the universe doesn't end anymore? Or my better judgement was just being overly dramatic, which is possible. Anyway, I just need to find something smaller than that."
The three girls nodded quickly. "What kind of things do you think Twilight likes?" Cadence asked.
Sunset snapped her fingers, and an amateurish painting of Twilight appeared next to the table. Glowing script hovered over-top of it, listing Twilight's traits. "I've compiled a complex checklist of Twilight's favorite things and why she likes them, as well as things that should be avoided. Using this list—"
"Why does it say where she's ticklish?"
"WHOOPS THAT'S THE WRONG LIST HANG ON HERE WE GO." Sunset frantically waved her arms at the painting, and the script was replaced. "Right. So." Sunset coughed to buy time. "This is the list of traits. That we're using. That other list was a— decoy! Decoy list. Is what that was."
Applejack held her face in her hands, shoulders shaking from suppressed laughter. Rarity glared at her and laid a comforting hand over Sunset's. "Don't worry, dear. We shan't tell anyone."
Cadence nodded. "We've all done embarrassing things because of love. Let's just focus on the present. What are you thinking right now?"
Cheeks steaming, Sunset stared a hole in the table and continued. "So, the most obvious thing is Twilight loves books. The question is finding books she couldn't get elsewhere."
Cadence smiled. "And you want us to help you choose?"
"No, I decided to get her all of them," Sunset clarified. "I built a complex space-time fold and filled it with a duplicate of every book ever made, plus some shelves for everything. But something about the fold isn't working right, and I keep getting lost."
Cadence wasn't used to hanging out with Sunset, and wasn't really prepared for that sort of thing. Her mouth gaped uselessly, leaving it to Rarity to ask the important questions. "How do you keep getting lost? You're the Spirit of Harmony."
"I don't know. Normally, I'd ask Twilight, but I can't tell her, and if I have a hard time figuring out how to leave she might get stuck forever. I conjured a search spell to find books that can help me, but it just brought me a bunch of Turtleworld novels before it read enough books to gain self-awareness and asked to leave."
Rarity found herself out of her depth and joining Cadence in gaping, but Sunset didn't notice. "I did think about making another one, and getting as far along as I could before it asked to leave too, but even if I'm letting them go as soon as they want it feels a little user-y—"
"Okay," Applejack said. "I'm officially reinin' it in now."
Sunset lay on Twilight’s couch, utterly defeated. Every one of the gifts she’d tried to get Twilight had backfired. The Super Library was... unavailable, creating life from nothing was so energy- and time-intensive to be practically impossible, so she couldn’t build Twilight her own planet, Twilight could already build herself a lair or robot army if she really wanted one…
She groaned. Forgetting her anniversary wouldn’t have been so bad if it hadn’t literally been turned into a national holiday without her noticing. Hey Twi, I’m sorry I’m the only person out of several billion with nothing to show for today, but you love me anyway, right?
The worst thing was that Twilight wouldn’t get upset. If it weren’t for Ruby then Twilight wouldn’t even remember. Twilight wasn’t going to raise her voice or even get mad. She was going to be disappointed.
There was a click as the door opened, and Twilight stepped. “Sunset? Are you in here?”
“Yeah,” Sunset said without getting up. “Sorry I just let myself in, it’s been a long day.”
“It’s fine,” Twilight called as she went into the kitchen. “I love having you over. There’s a documentary about magitech racecars on in a minute, you want to pop popcorn and watch that?”
“That could be fun,” Sunset said. “I’m sorry about today.”
“What’s there to… be…” As Twilight’s voice trailed off Sunset sat up. She didn’t any magical threats in the kitchen, and her mundane-by-comparison senses only registered Twilight alone. “Sunset,” Twilight asked. “What’s this?”
Sunset peered around the corner and looked in with her normal eyes. Oh no. “That’s just a painting I did of you, it’s not—”
‘It’s beautiful,” Twilight whispered.
“What?” Sunset looked at the painting again. It wasn’t anything special by anyone’s standards. She hadn’t even used her powers or increased intelligence to make it. The proportions were funny, the shading was completelywrong and the background wasn’t going to stop driving her crazy. “But it doesn’t look like you at all!”
“Okay, but— look at my hair! And my eyes, and the stars!” Twilight reached out and brushed the canvas with her hand. Sunset reached out to stop her, but magical runes were already forming over the painting.
Twilight squinted at them. “What’s all this?”
Sunset formed a second avatar far away in a desolate wasteland for the express purpose of screaming in panic. It helped. “That’s just… some notes I took… Of you.”
“While Twilight loves studying and laboratories, she also enjoys things that make her feel alive. Good examples of this are dancing and friendship adventures. She does not enjoy anything messy. Give her as much control as possible, as she likes helping people and views her intelligence as her greatest strength over her compassion, tenacity, and creativity.” Twilight sat the painting down and looked at Sunset with teary eyes. “Did you think of all the things you love about me and then, instead of wasting time with some lyrical poem thing, put them into an organized checklist?”
Sunset glared sternly at the members of the Make Twilight Happy Committee. “I must stress that we cannot let Twilight know I wrote this list. I don’t know how she’ll react, and I don’t want to take any chances. Okay?”
“Yep,” Sunset said, trying to recover from the emotional backlash. “That was my plan all along.”
“This is the most romantic thing I could imagine anyone doing for me!” Twilight squealed and pulled Sunset into a hug. She felt Twilight’s heart beating against her chest, and smelled chalk dust and lavender in her hair. “I love you!”
Sunset squeezed her back. “I love you too, Twi. I just wish I had more to give you.”
Sunset felt Twilight pull back but didn’t open her eyes. She leaned her forehead against Twilight's and relaxed. “Sunset,” Twilight said, “I know you love me.”
“I know, I know—”
“Sunset, look at me.”
Sunset opened her eyes and was struck dumb by Twilight’s eyes. The younger girl reached up and tucked Sunset’s hair behind her ears. “I know how much you love me. You are an amazing person and that is alwaysenough. Okay?”
“Okay,” a helpless Sunset said. She shivered as she watched Twilight smile and lean in.
They’d shared hundreds of kisses in the past, and would share more over the course of their lives. Some were under more romantic circumstances, some under more passionate ones, and at least one was incredibly bittersweet. But whenever Sunset thought about Twilight from that point on, this was the kiss she thought of. Because this moment wasn’t about a situation, or even a feeling. It was the moment where two people truly understood one another, and stayed anyway.
Eventually, they needed to breathe. Sunset was annoyed by this limitation and elected work on it later. “Wow,” she said. “So. Uh, you want to watch that documentary.”
“Or we could make out.”
“Let’s do that one.”
And until Shining Armor and Cadance came back from their date, it was the best night ever.
There were a lot of reasons Sunset didn't shapeshift often, but mainly it just made her feel self-conscious. She had complete control over her body, and every time she made a small cosmetic change she’d notice something or wonder if it looked better the way it was before. The first time she’d asked Twilight for advice the poor girl had just panicked, but they’d gotten much more comfortable with each other since then and Twi had agreed to help Sunset with her Nightmare Night costume.
Sunset shifted her muscles a little looser and pulled her hips in, going for a more gymnastic build. “What do you think of the arms?”
Twilight nodded thoughtfully. “Good. You’re going for a dancer's build. And stop worrying about your body, you look great.”
“Easy for you to say,” Sunset said. “You get a shirt.”
Twilight giggled a little nervously and tugged her Space Trek: Inheritors captain's uniform down, trying to straighten non-existent wrinkles. “I really think you look great, but if you’re worried you could wear Cheddar robes instead?”
“Not authentic enough.” Sunset reached up felt her brain-tails, her cold hands feeling decidedly odd pressed against the rougher skin. “If I was going to do this the easy way we wouldn’t have invented an alien.”
Sunset turned back to the mirror, admiring the work she’d put in. Turning her skin a darker red hadn't been a challenge, and neither had removing the hair on her body though it left her feeling oddly numb. The real work was all under the skin, as she and Twilight had set out to re-create the Twi’lek race from The Force Wars. Sunset had created several smaller stomachs to hold food over longer periods of time and modified her olfactory senses to match an alien that lived off mushrooms on a desert planet. Her sense of smell wasn't stronger, but everything was so different. Like looking at the world in a mirror, or listening to a song with some of the notes removed or reversed. She couldn’t wait to try eating.
She was really proud of making her brain-tails, or lekku work. Twi'leks were supposed to be incredibly graceful, and the lekku were supposed to have some kind of connection to their sense of balance, so she'd shortened hers and reworked how her body perceived gravity. Rather than maintaining balance with an inner ear, her lekku tracked gravity and momentum of everything around her in a roughly four-foot bubble.
It was invigorating, and it didn't help her calm down. As she paced, she could feel the subtle way the floor bent under her, and was beginning to learn how to step on creaky boards without making noise. Experimentally, she sat a book upright on the bed and knelt beside it. “How far away are the girls?”
“Uh…” Twilight paused as Sunset successfully slid to the other side without knocking the book over. She stacked more books and slid back towards Twilight. “I don’t know. I remember that Applejack was bailing out some researchers in… somewhere from… something. What are you doing?”
“Just playing with my new powers, sorry.” Sunset sat in the office chair, but found she couldn't sit still. She conjured a rubber ball and closed her eyes, bouncing it off the wall and catching it with just her new senses. It was easier than she'd thought it'd be; while the ball bounced out of range fairly quickly, she had more than enough time to catch it and instantly knew where it was in relation to herself. The chair rocked up and down as she moved. “Are you feeling okay? Should I be worried about AJ?”
Twilight swallowed. “Uh, no. Earth Core is… a little gung-ho from what I remember, but they're competent. Rarity’s with her, she’ll call if things get bad.”
“Good.” Sunset briefly let her awareness widen as she checked on AJ. The whole area she was in had the odd magical static that followed the Kaiju attacks and interfered with her powers, but AJ and Rarity were fine. They weren’t even using their own magic yet. She missed the ball as it careened past her head, but caught it behind her before it could knock anything over. The chair began to turn, and she pulled her feet in and enjoyed the feeling. “I hope they can learn more about where these monsters are coming from,” She said as leaned back to keep the spin going. “Do you have any theories?”
“Um,” Twilight said again. “No, I've been busy with your body. I mean! Your. Um, assets, nope, I mean, uh...”
"Huh?" Sunset opened her eyes, and looked at Twilight. The other girl was blushing and kept trying to look away from Sunset but failing. It took her a moment that her pose; arched back, legs curled, chest... up, was more than a little suggestive. "Sorry!" She exclaimed as she summoned a cloak. "Sorry, I wasn't thinking I swear!"
“No, you’re fine!” Twilight said. “I enjoy— I mean, it wasn’t… uhm, you’re fine.” She finally managed to look away and locked her eyes onto the floor. “You’re fine,” she said again more quietly.
Sunset frowned. She tugged her robes more firmly around herself and scooted the chair next to Twilight. “Are you?”
“No, I’m fine! I just…” Twilight glanced at Sunset’s eyes and looked away again. “I don’t want you to think I’m a pervert or something.”
“I’m wearing a leather bra and no underwear,” Sunset said, perhaps not helpfully. “Look, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with what you’re thinking. If you want me to wear more, then I’ll go like this, okay?”
Twilight smiled. She leaned over and gave Sunset a quick peck on the cheek. “You’re a good girlfriend.”
“Thanks.”
“And-you-can-lose-the-cloak-if-that’s-okay," she blurted out as one word.
Sunset smirked and the cloak dissolved. "You are literally the cutest person I've ever met," she said as she kissed her on the forehead.
The breakfast was a quiet affair. Most of the ponies lacked the strength to do more than basic speech, and many would have Given Up on Life were it not for a combination of Wake-Up Juice and sugar. Even Pinkie was mostly silent as she munched on her pancakes, which were slathered in maple syrup and-- not pleasant to watch be eaten.
Princess Luna emerged into the room and looked down the table with her usual imperious gaze. That gaze was severely shaken by Pinkie's eating habits, but she soldiered on until she found who she was looking for. "Spike Twinkle. I require your aid."
Spike looked up, an action mirrored by those whose brains were still allowing them to hear. "Uh, yeah?"
"This way."
Princess Luna turned and left, forcing Spike to get up and rush after her. "Wait-- what's the emergency? Your highness," he added a moment too late. The last time they'd talked Princess Luna had insisted on a certain level of informality, but he didn't know if the rules were different at the castle around her guards and staff. Celestia had always made sure they referred to her respectfully in front of others and the Solar Princess was-- easier going, felt safe to say. Spike wasn't afraid of Luna, but the way she carried herself made it feel like she was a little above most of the people he talked to. She felt older and more dramatic than her sister, some times. Especially more dramatic.
He definitely wasn't going to say that one out loud.
"You are Twilight Sparkle's younger brother, are you not?" The princess said. "There are certain... duties, you must fulfill."
Duties?
Spike thought back to the last time they'd spoken. He'd said that he was scared of Twilight slipping, of her growing more and consumed with her projects and books and barriers that she'd lose her self and--
And Luna had said it wouldn't happen. She'd said;
"She will not." And that had been a statement.
There was another who had made most of his speeches as statements, and Spike had learned to loathe the confidence which declared the world to be something it was not.
But this was Luna.
"How do you know?"
Simply, "Because she is protected."
And that had been enough. So he squared his shoulders and nodded. "What do you need me to do, your highness?"
Princess Luna looked down at the drake and softly snorted. "Our duties as the younger are to our older kin, to be there when they fall short of perfection."
They were arriving at the doors to the Solar Chambers. He hesitated, but Luna pressed forwards and forced him to catch up. He stood in the doorways and stared.
Twilight was sharing a bed with the older alicorn, and both of them were completely dead to the world. Celestia (and it was hard to think of her with a title right then) clung Twilight with all her forelegs and one wing, and Twilight had nestled under her kneck like a baby bird. Due to the size difference, it was impossible not to think of the little alicorn as some kind of stuffed animal that the older used for comfort. Off to the side was an empty plate and both of them had smudges on their mouths. Celestia was even drooling a little.
"Sometimes," Luna quietly said, "being the younger can be very rewarding."
Spike looked up at his fellow younger sibling, watched the predatory smile flow across her face-- and felt the same kind of draconic smile on his own. "Okay," he began, "the problem with photographing them is the lighting, but if you can fit sleeping masks over them without waking them up..."
As a Pegasus she could fly, but her magic wasn’t very strong and she barely had any fine control. When she’d made her first costume she’d kept them covered to conceal her identity, and after a little practise web-slinging ended up being faster and better than flying had ever been.
Thwip.
The web-line smacked against the wall and held, and she felt a primal rush as it pulled taut and she swooped high above the streets. The wind rushed past her ears and she whooped as she began to pull up. She drifted near the wall and let go, rebounding across the street and almost floated over the next few buildings. As she passed the next one she snagged the corner with a short web-line, yanking her down. She rotated and let go, the glass passing by inches from her face. She drifted out over the new street, firing off a new strand of webbing and rocketing up and away again.
These maneuvers, while complex, were accomplished in a few seconds almost automatically by the web-slinger. City blocks were gobbled in seconds as she flipped over and between the concrete canyons with an easy efficiency that even trained Pegasi couldn’t match.
She giggled. Aunt Minty said that flying was overrated, but I don’t think this is what she meant.
The smile faded almost immediately.
Kr-fwoom!
Spider-Mare’s ears turned as the sound of a unique explosion reached her ears. She reached the apex of her swing, letting go just before gravity began to reclaim her. Two web-lines grabbed either side of the alley and forelegs that could bend steel yanked her forward.
She cannonballed onto the new street, holding the web-lines as they pulled tight to slow down and spinning two more with her back legs. She perched twenty feet above the street on her web, high enough to see any surprises.
A column of sand was pouring out of a smashed wall, flowing upwards and resolving into a grey stone-y approximation of a pony form. “Aw, Sandy!” Spider-Mare called. “I’m touched! You get outta’ the joint and the first thing you do is find a way to see me!”
“Where else would I go?” Sandmare snapped. “You’re always there! It doesn’t matter what I’m doing, you’ll find a way to mess it up. So I think I should just skip ahead a little.” As she talked, the stone that made up her body began to dissolve back into sand, pooling at her hooves and flowing back up her legs.
Behind her mask, Spidey frowned. “Limestone, are ya feelin’ okay?” she asked. “You’re falling apart…”
“Do you ever shut up!” Her body dissolved completely, reforming as a gigantic hammer bearing down on Spider-Mare.
She hopped backward, taking the two-story fall without noticing. Sandmare barely missed her, smashing the pavement apart and forming into a gigantic blade that swept across the entire street. Spidey flattened herself underneath and caught the flat of the blade, stopping it before it could dismember any of the fleeing civilians.
The stone blade broke back into sand and flowed across Spidey’s head and shoulders, forcing her to leap away or risk being engulfed. She flipped backward, landing four stories up and away from the fleeing herd. “Hey!” She snapped. “I’m not gonna act like we’re friends, but there’s other people here!”
“Shuddup!” Tentacles of flexible stone smashed into the wall and pulled her up faster than Spidey would have liked. “I hate you! I’ve always hated you!”
“And that’s great,” Spidey said as she galloped up the wall and around the building, “But you’ve never wanted to kill anyone else before so—”
Sandmare just shouted again. To her horror, instead of continuing to chase Spidey she smashed her way into the building itself. Spider-Mare spun and charged back down but before she could reach her spider-sense shouted and—
Craaaa-ACK!
Spider-Mare twisted around flying debris as the whole floor exploded outward. She caught a glimpse of Sandmare ignoring the office workers as she watched Spidey fall.
There wasn’t time to worry about that. Spidey jumped off the rubble and dove towards the street, repeating the familiar mantra of please don’t let me be late again, please…
She spun around as she passed the rubble, kicking several minuscule disks from her hind web-shooters at key points. They exploded, tying the mess together with thick webbing. She struck it with a web-line and zipped back up, tagging anywhere the grenades missed while she web-zipped back up.
Wham!
She hit the bag of rubble harder than she meant to but worked without slowing down. Web-lines from all four legs were cast out, then more were cast out again. It stopped far, far closer to the ground than Spidey would have liked, and snapped back upwards. Vertigo tried to claim her as she crawled up, making sure to pin down the last of the loose rubble with more webbing and winced as the lines cast on the right side pulled free of the building they were attached to.
She fired three more web-lines, making sure to grab away from the windows. The rubble vibrated in place, straining against the webbing but not snapping it. Spider-Mare looked up to check on Sandmare—
Aw, no!
Sandmare crawled across the front of the building, smashing it apart. Some of the heavy stone was in freefall, but the larger parts were targeted at Spidey herself.
She leaped backward, rapidly tying several lines to the rubble and using web-grenades to make them into makeshift nets, and then charged upwards to meet the debris. I can do this Icandothis...
Spidey smacked into the lowest chunk and sent it spiraling towards a window. Swearing, she strung a webline to the far building before leaping again, reaching the next piece and tying the two of them together. She bounced back and forth, sticking webbing to the larger chunks and letting the smaller stuff go.
Again and again, she crisscrossed the air above the busy street, grabbing as many pieces of rubble as she could. Her shoulders burned as she desperately threw herself across the sky. She wasn’t fast enough to intercept all of it, but as she tied more and more lines across the sky the debris would get caught in the web before it hit the ground.
A glance over her shoulder revealed the street to be mostly clear; most Manehattanites didn’t have an overtly functional sense of self-preservation, but even the most over-eager observers had fled.
There was a moment of quiet before she realized that Sandmare had stopped throwing things, and then the colossal crook landed at the top of the web. The lines trembled but held firm as she began to pull her way down towards Spidey. Her body thinned and elongated as she snaked through the web, and she formed extra arms to stabilize herself as she climbed after Spider-Mare. Her head shot out and formed massive pincers that cleanly bit through the webs that Spidey had been sitting on mere moments before. The multi-limbed monstrosity screamed with rage and followed.
“Killing me as a giant spider in my own web!” Spidey shouted as she darted around. “That one’s pretty good!”
One of Sandmare’s arms winged her but it was blunt, barely winding her. She rolled her body up and dove through Sandmare’s body, briefly scattering her apart. Spidey landed on the street and stood, trying to work through the pain. Her Spider-Sense buzzed again, letting her flip back as web-lines began to snap and a pile of stone, half as tall as she was, hit the street where she’d been.
Spider-Mare frowned. Every superhero fight around civilians had a ticking clock on it, counting down to the point where she wasn’t fast enough to save someone, and with Sandmare having apparently snapped that countdown was going faster than usual. What do I have? There’s a bakery, some apartments and — A gym!
She darted across the street, overtop the re-forming Sandmare, and through the door to the gymnasium. She took a second to see if it was empty and jumped over to the showers.
Sandmare bust her way in after, barely holding her form together and bellowing curses at the web-slinger. She blasted after her, weights and exercise machines caught in a stupendous sandy wave. Spidey barely had time to grab a metal bench to hide behind as Sandmare smashed her through the wall.
Pain exploded across her back and head, but she’d been braced for it. She rolled off the impact as they entered the room, letting Sandmare continue until she smashed the showers apart.
Fwoosh!
Water burst through the shattered pipes, knocking Sandmare apart. She shouted and tried to reform, but muddy particles refused to listen to her. She came apart in pieces as Spidey caught her breath and quietly marveled that this counted as an easy day…
Her spider-sense went off again.
She leaped to the ceiling before looking to see what had set it off. The buzzing was passive; whatever it was, it wasn’t going to jump up and kill her. It was coming from Sandmare’s body, who’d stopped trying to get up. If Spidey didn’t know any better, it’d sound the mare wastrying to cry..
Some kind of potion spilled out from Sandmare’s body and began to flow down the drain. It was clear, but it glowed with some kind of magic and the floor under it turned bizarre shades of black and grey, like a film negative.
Wish I had a way of taking a sample, she thought to herself. The utility belts and fancy bases that the public speculated about were well out of her reach; she was lucky she was able to afford parts to construct her web-shooters.
“I’m sorry…”
Her ears twitched. “Sandy?”
Her face was having trouble staying formed. It tried to come together, to form words before it crumbled under its own weight. Spidey knew from experience that she’d be like that for a few hours, more than enough time for the police to lock her up. She jammed the drain with her webbing and drew a webline across the hole in the wall, just big enough to make sure nobody stepped in anything. Then she was outside and swinging away.
Why did I do that?
Limestone lay in a sandy puddle as her container slowly made its way to Strikers Prison. She didn’t remotely feel up to assembling a body then. She felt angry, but instead of the blinding rage she’d felt earlier it was the older, familiar flame that felt like it was burning the inside of her chest.
I was getting out by the end of the year… Pinkie was so proud of me. I was going home again…
Limestone hadn’t seen the farm she’d given everything up for in nearly ten years. All she’d wanted was a little cash, just enough to cover a few months of bills but Spider-Mare had interfered. It was always Spider-Mare getting in the way and ruining any chance she’d ever—
She smashed the side of the container, feeling her form break apart. Limestone needed to breathe needed to remember what it was like to be a pony so she pulled enough of herself together to form a head. The air she pulled in didn’t go to lungs or anywhere, but it started to help.
I’m not doing this again, I can’t! She thought furiously at herself. I don’t want to feel like this anymore! I want to be a good person so why can’t I stop!
Her face fell apart again. Limestone wanted to scream but was too angry to form a mouth. She raged against herself, against Spider-Mare, against anything near her. The container rocked back and forth as a sandstorm strong enough to rip a pony apart raged upon itself.
Eventually, she exhausted herself and lay still. The rocking ceased and she realized that she wasn’t alone in the room. She pulled together a rough body so she could look more closely.
It was a filly with a red curly mane and green fur, but the colors were bizarre like she was looking at a film negative. Limestone smoothed her features out and added her normal grey colors, not wanting to scare the filly. “How’d a tiny thing like you get in here?” she asked. “The guards are sticklers for rules.”
“Not anymore,” the filly shrugged. “I just came by to see how you did. Is Spider-Mare dead?”
“No!” Limestone snapped. “I don’t want— No, I’m not trying to kill her anymore. I want to change!”
“Aw,” the eerie filly said. “That’s a shame. I’m sure we’ll get her tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow— We?” Limestone glared at the filly. “Who are you?”
“Cozy Glow!’ she said happily. “And ‘we’ means you too, silly!” Her hoof began to light up as she hovered closer to Limestone. “Everyone in the city tomorrow is gonna be working together to do one thing: Finally kill the Spider-Mare.”
The normal first impression you got from the Bizarre Bazaar was from the merchants. There was the noise as they hawked their wares, trying to find that balance between 'attention-getting' and 'obnoxious.' There were the bright colors that usually just gave up and went for obnoxious, and the smell of fresh produce and baked goods that made you overlook how aggravating everything else could be because it suddenly felt like a good time for lunch.
If you looked left, wrapping around the city were rides and games. The 'authentic' Light Zone experience was hidden behind steep prices inside the city, but general-purpose fun went for cheap out here. To the far right were the docks, and past them was the Ever-Reaching River, which led directly to the Northern Ocean. There was a smaller road connecting the Docks to the Bazaar, but most of their traffic went through smaller loading gates further down the wall.
On a normal occasion, a visitor would see all this and be immediately charmed. Adora mostly focused on all the screaming and fire.
Adora stuck close to Scorpia as they pushed into the crowd. Scorpia kept her arm around Adora’s shoulders; a crowd of panicked people with super strength could kill her by accident in a dozen different ways. Adora was trying not to think of the danger, trying not to think of the—
“Your people need you.”
—The whatever-it-was's words, because it was lying, because it had to be, and even if it wasn't then it still wasn’t important. Her mother was important; it must have done something to her experiment and Adora had to help fix it.
Adora squeezed her eyes shut and followed Scorpia, lips mouthing words as she focused completely on the problem at hand. She repeated it to herself, using it to drown out her other thoughts. A haunting, she thought as loudly as she could, just something that happens when you don’t get rid of magic right after you do a spell. Mom—
“Your people need you.”
--My Mom, Adora thought fiercely, taught me what I needed to know, so I. Can. Handle. This.
Magic was influenced incredibly easily, even unintentionally. Sometimes, when students didn’t dismiss their magic correctly, the leftover magic would possess an object; like forcing a vent to freeze over or a window that tended to stick would be impossible to open. It was usually just an inconvenience, but Adora had never seen so much magic used at once before. She could fix it; it was the only tool Adora had that her mother respected. It was a small box that could pull the magic inside itself, but if she wasn’t close then it wouldn’t get all the magic.
Adora kept her glasses on and followed Scorpia, trusting the princess to keep her safe. She could see glimmers of magic here and there, but it wasn't clear where it was going. "I can't see the magic," she reported. "The crowd is too dense."
"Grab me around my waist."
"O-okay," Adora said. "Why am I-aaAAAH!"
She shrieked as Scorpia tightened her own grip and leaped forty feet in the air. Adora and Scorpia landed on the side of a roller coaster; Adora’s stomach remained at ground level. She clutched at Scorpia but the Princess held her weight as easily as she could a baby bird. Adora swore and Scorpia winced; she'd forgotten that some people could be afraid of heights. "Sorry! Should I go back down?"
"I'm not scared," Adora said as she clung to Scorpia like a cat to a perch over water, "You just surprised me." She focused on the hysteria below. Everything was muted through her glasses, and it only took a moment to find the errant magic.
"There!" Adora shouted. She pointed with one arm, almost slipping and giving herself a heart attack. " By the Ferris Wheel," Adora continued. "That’s where the magic is right now!"
"Hang on!" Scorpia coiled her legs and jumped, making Adora shout in panic. Scorpia used her electromagnatism to slow down. She could take a fall like that no problem, but just because she was holding Adora didn’t mean the other girl would survive the force of them hitting the ground.
Scorpia landed and sat Adora down just as the last pieces holding the ferris wheel up shattered. It began to slide down the crowd.
“Get back!” She shouted over her shoulder. She charged forwards, claws and lightning both moving to catch it. Her magic wasn’t strong enough to hold something so heavy, but all she had to do was slow it down enough to catch it with her claws.
As she watched the wheel fall towards her, Scorpia had time to remember a very important fact; this wasn’t a big, heavy thing. This was a big, heavy, spinning thing.
Her claws grabbed the metal.
Physics happened.
Scorpia spun around as the wheel hit the ground on its side and began to race forwards, throwing up a spray of dirt as it moved. She grabbed herself with her magic and froze herself in place, but the metal under her claws tore away. Scorpia desperately leaped, tackling the wheel and shoving it off the ground.
Physics continued to happen.
Scorpia wasn’t quite strong enough to throw the wheel; rather, she’d inadvertently redirected its momentum. It was moving quickly along the ground and she’d given it an excuse to move very quickly across the sky. More of the metal had buckled under her leap and she was near the center of the machine now. Scorpia shoved her way free and searched frantically for a place she could safely crash, as the ground got closer and closer. Everywhere she looked there were people. The Bazaar was huge, the only place nearby without people was—
The River!
The Reaching River was on the other side of the grounds but it was clear of traffic this time of day. She was moving fast enough to reach it, she was certain, but she couldn’t let it roll over all the things in the way. Scorpia was going to have to throw the wheel over the Bazaar.
She did some math in her head and climbed down, towards the rim of the wheel. Her timing had to be perfect; a second early or late and this wouldn't work.
The ground rushed towards her.
Aw, Scorpia winced to herself. This is gonna hurt.
Pain shouted over every other sense. Scorpia was driven into the ground, sinking to her waist before she had enough leverage to push back. She pressed forward with her magic and up with her muscles, throwing the multi-ton monstrosity in the air again. Spots swam in front of her eyes as she lay there a moment, trying to blink them away so she could see.
The wheel looked like it was barely moving against the sky, but it began to come down much sooner than she'd had hoped. Scorpia hadn't pressed forward correctly with her magic. It smashed against the banks of the river, flying apart. None of the shrapnel reached the fair, but the ride was trashed.
Scorpia sighed. Replacing the thing was going to be expensive, and she wasn’t sure what other damage the fair had sustained. Aches and pain began to harass her back and shoulders now that there was nothing distracting her. She groaned, deciding to rest a moment before she'd have to pull herself out of the hole.
At least everyone is safe.
"SOMEONE HELP US!"
Adora was distantly aware of the panicked shouting as she charged ahead. She pushed and shoved her way through the thinning crowd; wincing as some of the crowd jostled her right back. With one hand holding her glasses firmly to her face, Adora knocked one person off his feet, shouting “Sorry!” over her shoulder.
I got this, she told herself. I can do this. Everything is under control and I got this!
Up ahead, the magic lingered over a booth that had you use a slingshot to throw balls into a small hoop. The slings began to glow and move on their own. Tiny glowing balls formed in its sling and it threw them in every direction. Adora was the only one running towards the thing as everyone screamed.
She wasn’t as scared as she'd thought she'd be. She was only focusing on one thought; I’m not gonna be useless, over and over again.
As she got closer, the slings swiveled towards her and she remembered she also had to live. Adora broke away almost too late, ducking into a next-door tent. The magic followed, cutting through the canvas and forcing Adora to a panicked pseudo-dance as she avoided them. She dug into her bag for a card and slapped it against the wall. The wall shimmered as the magic strengthened it and the rocks stopped. Adora sighed with relief but panicked when the card failed to stay stuck to the wall. She frantically pressed it against the fabric.
She reached into her backpack with her free arm, wincing at the odd angle, and pulled out a worn-out box. It was heavier than it should have been and was the opposite of the uncanny realness most magic had, looking more like a rough pencil sketch in 3D. She wasn’t close enough to use it to catch all the magic, but she was also stuck and couldn’t get closer.
Adora dropped the box and scooted it against the side of the tent with her foot. She nudged the lid off with her foot, and immediately everything seemed to lose a little bit of color. Her card flashed a bright yellow before it was sucked down into the box.
Something tore through the canvas and hit Adora in the shoulder, spinning her around and knocking her off her feet. Another rock hit her in the back, and then she was scrambling over boxes and out of the way.
She was bleeding, but they weren’t following her. A storm of reality and unreality was flowing towards the tent, weird energy currents that made it possible to see each molecule of air mixed with smudges of greyness that made everything look like it was covered in a dense fog. She put her glasses back on her face and confirmed that about half of the magic was going into her box. Another third were settling on the crates inside the tent; and since boxes were made to hold things, that just made them stronger than normal. That didn’t leave very much left to possess what was in the boxes themselves. What’s in the tent, anyway? She wondered. Probably just spare parts for the rides or something…
She took off her glasses. Right in front of her, a very prominent sign read: Danger! Fireworks! Do Not Enter!
Adora just stared at the sign for a second. “Um,” she said, “I can fix this!”
She ducked back into the tent, wincing as the explosions started. The magic strengthening the boxes was already being overcome, as splinters flew and smoke filled the air. Adora coughed and ducked, wincing as bangs went off over and over again. She dove for her box and closed the lid; it was done and it’d get in the way of her other spellcraft. Adora reached into her pocket and pulled out a small metal tin with a glyph resembling a snowflake scratched into it. She pulled the top off and dumped several mints into her mouth.
It was something she’d made when she was studying Sympathetic magic, or how disparate things could be linked together if they shared a common theme. Mints were associated with cold, so…
The mints began to evaporate in her mouth, leaving her with the kind of hurt you got in your lungs from breathing the cold mountain air. She opened her mouth and blew, releasing a freezing gust of wind. Everything was immediately covered in a thin sheet of ice, but it cracked as the fireworks went off. Adora kept the wind going, even as tiny shrapnel peppered her body.
She didn’t have time to register pain. She was getting short of breath, she thought she might be on fire ever so slightly, but Adora kept it going until she’d used every bit of her ice.
Adora fell to her knees, trying to breathe. Smoke attacked her throat, and she fell over coughing. She couldn’t see and she didn’t know if it was because of the smoke or because she was going to pass out.
Eventually, she could breathe again. She blinked, her eyes smeared with tears, and looked up. The crates were covered in a grimy tower of ice, broken in places and smudged with soot. It was melting and some steam was mixed with smoke, but if Adora was alive then that meant she’d won.
She tried to laugh and ended up hacking and coughing. Castaspella hadn’t thought that the mints would even work, the connection was so tenuous. And Adora had used them to stop an explosion. She’d been right next to the explosion and she wasn’t even dead.
She tried to stand and then found herself waking up again on the ground, blinking away stars. Her shoulder was on fire and there was some kind of cut across her back that felt like someone had taken a brand to it. Her ears were ringing and everything was sore.
If you were looking at it down from space, it would have been a momentary curiosity. Some clouds had pulled together and then moved back again. You’d have been more interested in the way it had frozen in place, had even stopped spinning. It held completely still over an apparently empty patch of ocean. Perhaps it had gotten stuck on something.
Someone in the eye of the storm would have been considerably more concerned. If you’d been there, on a fish boat or something, you would have been treated to sudden darkness as the clouds above you closed, and then a blinding light when they receded. Vertigo would grip you then, as the wind and waves that followed the cloud carried your boat dozens of feet in the air and then all the way back down into the now-still water. The slap
The impact would have thrown you from your feet. Perhaps, as you grabbed the railing and looked towards the depths, you would have seen something that shouldn’t be there.
Further from the eye, within the storm proper, you would have been in much less danger. And much more worried.
The storm had stopped; you wouldn’t have known about the blink but once it finished the storm stood stock-still and refused to budge. The ocean waves were still slapping back and forth, but even they were beginning to slow down now. The rain hadn’t just ceased falling; it hung in the air, heedless of gravity and all common sense. They would have gleamed like diamonds if there had been enough light, but underneath the thick, angry clouds they were just the thickest fog anyone could imagine.
When the waves finally stopped their sloshing about, you would have been struck by the haunting stillness. Just breathing felt like a disturbance, like you were taking something that didn’t belong to you anymore.
In fairness, you wouldn’t have been wrong.
Below the ocean, or that is to say below mankind's pitiful understanding of the ocean, lies the remains of an ancient city. It is full of contradictions; towers with entrances well above the ground floor, staircases that led nowhere, streets whose length depended on where you were standing. Straightforward impossibilities, that sort of thing. The simplest and indeed, most troubling feature were the lights that floated away from the city and towards the surface, rising to meet the storm.
They came from below the city.
If you were still in the eye of the storm, the second blink could have capsized your boat entirely. It took longer to open its eye when it was closed, just like you do when you're forced to wake up in the morning for a job or something equally appalling. When it was over, there was still a cloud floating overhead. It was a perfect circle, thick and dark with water, and it didn’t move like a cloud at all. It darted back and forth, like it had lost something important.
Like it was looking around.
If you were in space you would have understood immediately. The eye had its own pupil now, and it was looking at itself with newfound excitement.
If you were in the stormwall, a flash of light would have caught your attention. It was still quiet, the sort of quiet that you feel more than you hear, and the lights were the only thing moving now. They didn’t even disturb the water as they rose. They didn’t even have reflections. They glowed purple, but so brightly they looked white around the edges. Those edges were sharp and hard, like runes carved into an ancient temple. Floating wasn’t really accurate either, because it doesn’t communicate the sheer speed, the raw power in those lights. They dove, but upwards.
Below the impossible city there was a tomb, as there so often is in places man aren’t meant to be. It was filled with devices both technological and arcane, all surrounding an ancient sarcophagus that had been worn down by time. There were few details that anyone could make out, but there were two main points of interest.
The first were the broken chains that had once bound it shut. The second was the fact that it was empty. A third interesting point could be made of the lights, as the last ones flew up and away from its former grave.
If you were in the eye of the hurricane, you would die now
If you were near the hurricane, you would die now.
If you were managing to float in space, looking down on the one scrap of the universe that could support life, you’d see the clouds rearrange themselves. The hurricane brought the clouds in towards itself, giving itself a rough torso. The feathery arms that marked the edge of the old hurricanes spin thickened, turning into literal arms that began to push themselves up. Legs emerged as well, great thick trunks that could step on a whole city. Flashes of light, so bright that even your feeble eyesight could see them even from so high in the sky, burst from inside the thing's body. A head bigger than some countries looked up, and a horrific eye would peer out across space with the utmost malice. You’d wonder if it was looking at you.
On a plaque in front of the now-destroyed sarcophagus, there lay a plaque. In words seen by no man in a thousand years, it read “There is a great evil contained here. We have trapped it, at great cost to ourselves, as best as we could. It will free itself in time, but must have a body with which to work its great evil. This city will sink soon, but should someone reach this first, take heed. If any eye passes over its true form, it will belong to the creature, and it will take vengeance upon us all.
Living on Earth had made deciding who to wear unbelievably complicated. Humans couldn't shapeshift, so you'd think they could just take things as they were. Instead, they were exacting. They had opinions about nose size and eye color and hair and on top of all that, there was a whole extra layer of rules about what things you could put on your face or the colors you put on something called nails. I don't know why dead skin is worth decorating, but they think it's important.
Back on Mars, if I didn't like how my arms had turned out or wanted to be shorter, I'd just make the change and move on. It's a little vain, to alter yourself in public, but I often found myself making a few tweaks throughout the day. My sibling Ma'elefa'ak teased me for it. They'd make fun of me for being so insecure when I already was so good at mindplay and flying-- what did I have to worry about?
I've always worried. I've never known why. I was the favored child of the Mars, and even the lower, jealous classes liked me. I did my work well, learned my lessons, did my best to make sure everyone was happy, and I was always sure that I'd missed something. A part of me had always been scared that there was people would turn on me, that I'd make a mistake and lose everything I had.
I'd been wrong. It wasn't a mistake that made me leave.
I'd been on Earth for a few years now, putting on different faces and talking to the humans that lived in Happy Harbor. I never used the same one twice, and I'd spent the whole time either hating Mars or wishing I could go back. But I was finally finishing my research on humans, and I felt ready to reveal myself to them. I was going to create a new identity, someone to be for the rest of my life. I was going to be a superhero, and then everyone would love me again.
Martians don’t have a true form. I don’t know why humans think all shape-shifters have one, but that’s not how we work. Martian babies are born as a blob, and learn to grow what they need to survive from their parents. They’re an adorable mass of tentacles, mouths, and eyes-- nothing like that eerily perfect symmetry that humans are born with. My point, though, is that I didn’t have a default ‘Martian’ form to use; a giant version of one of those creepy pets humans kept would be just as close to 'the real me' as a human with green skin.
I did pick a human with green skin, because dogs and cats freaked me out. It wasn't that different from my body back home, though I limited myself to two arms and legs like humans would. Picking the right shade of green was tricky and then there were my proportions-- height, weight, my nose, my chest for some reason-- It was incredibly frustrating. People were very upset and direct about if someone wasn’t attractive, or too even attractive. I tried to catalog as many opinions as I could, but even if I made it my life’s work I’d never find the end. It was maddening.
Real beauty-- what Martians think of as beauty, I mean-- is about adding little details. On Mars I usually wore four eyes, three on one side and one on the other. My brother had three eyes, one extra large on the left and the other two half as big on the right. Beauty was some nice, sleek spikes on your back or strong tentacles sprouting from your shoulder. Humans were so creepy-- they tried to smooth everything over and present this same-y blank mask. And then they complained about how ugly they felt, or how ugly they thought each other was, all the time!
I kept human number of eyes and ears, and included some shoulder-length human hair. I made sure to add freckles on my cheeks-- I needed something adorning my face. I also made my nose a bit flat and pointed a little to the side, to add some character. I kept my body short, but heavier than normal. I wanted extra mass to draw on if I got into a fight, and I thought it looked cute. I did not understand anything people wrote about chests. I just googled "Boobs that look good" and copied the first result I saw.
*A name that confused me, as the peace between the two world wars didn’t seem like it’d lasted long enough to them as separate. It was almost as fatal as the Grey Conflicts, though obviously none of humanities wars have lasted as long as our own. In their own way, I suppose they’re more advanced than we are.
My name was next. Ever since the Second World War* there’d been people with extraordinary powers and more people eager to judge them. In this area, humanity's vanity was enough to overcome their reluctance to write useful guides for things. There was a lot of information about how Supers picked their names; rules for how to make them cool or edgy, anecdotes from Supers themselves, and it wasn't nearly as frustrating as choosing a face had been.
I kept it simple. I picked Miss Martian because it was informative and direct. Miss because, for whatever reason, I liked being a girl. Martian, to let people know what that I was an alien up front. I didn't want to scare anybody and it seemed that people were more comfortable around alien superheroes than they were aliens that were just people.
Next came the outfit. With my outfit came a headache. Martians only wore clothes for special events, and only formed the sort of organs that clothes hid for other, more private special events. Superhero costumes were an extra-complicated version of something I getting tired of trying to understand. I still studied it very carefully; it was a human thing after all, and I wanted to understand my new home.
I started from the last Martian who’d lived on Earth; J’onn J’ozz. He’d clearly shared my opinions about how dumb clothes were; he only wore boxers, boots, a cape, and an odd red harness that ran crossed on his chest. I tried on the same thing, but it didn’t offer the same sort of coverage on a female body.
*I couldn’t be sure how they’d react until they saw it; I’d done some tests with what I thought was a more pleasing-- if less humanoid-- form. It hadn’t gone well, because the data I’d collected on the internet didn’t fairly represent how most humans felt about tentacles.
I started with the cape. I shrunk it down, giving it a normal, folded-over collar that was only a little bigger than a collar on a formal shirt. The cape flowed from under the collar, barely covering my shoulders, and it only went down as far as my lower back. I thought it was cheerful, instead of the big, dramatic capes most Supers wore. After that, I decided to try a black dress. Most superheroes eschewed dresses, but I thought they were pretty. It was sleeveless and relatively tight, but I could make it stretch with my powers and it wouldn't limit my movement. It went up to my neck but didn't cover my shoulders, and I assumed humans would like how it grabbed my hips.* I dropped the harness J'jonn had worn and instead wrote a 'M' across my chest, one large enough that is went across my sides and connected to another 'M' on my back.
Accessorizing was the easiest part. I wore jewels and other small decorations back home-- though I had to put up with teasing if I did it too often. I missed my old set; I earned each piece and I was proud of the work they represented. There hadn't been time to grab them on the way out. A part of me wondered who owned them now. I only kept one thing from Mars, a...
...It looks like a medallion. It's a gold, circular disk that I hang underneath my collar, with a circle divided into six pieces by three lines inscribed on one side. I don't think humans have an equivalent. When we get to be-- I think for humans it would be thirteen, but humans age weirdly-- we have a party and are presented with this medallion. The symbol can interpreted in a lot of different ways. Ma'el used, “Wanderer in Search of Value.” I very much preferred “Student Searching for Lessons.” We were to wear it until we decided what role in the community we would fill, then we would return the medallion and work that job for the rest of our lives.
I wondered if I should wear it-- after all, being a superhero was the rest of my life now. I couldn't go home again. But I also hadn't started it yet, and I didn't know if I'd be accepted. If I wasn't allowed to keep being a superhero, I'd have to put it back on again.
I kept it for the meantime. I still loved Mars, and I wasn't sure I loved Earth yet.
One spot of yellow looked out of place, so I made some fake jewelry to wear on my right arm. A mix of thin yellow and red bands, worn over short blue gloves. I also added a blue headband to my hair, and spent some time deciding if I should be blonde with rubies in my headband, or a redhead with topazes. Ultimately I decided to make myself a redhead, with a smattering of freckles on my cheeks. I also included yellow eyes-- I'd seen human eyes in almost every primary color, so I assumed yellow was an option. I almost forgot to choose boots, and kept it simple. They were blue and came up to my knees, with a red stripe around the rim and a single topaz in the middle.
Finishing Miss Martian should have filled me with confidence. Instead, I could still see M'gann staring at me through those eyes. I was the first Martian to leave Mars in almost a hundred years. I'd only spent five on Earth. Did I want to do this? Could I do this? It was a dangerous job. Was I going to risk my life just to fit in?
I thought about Mars, about the lies my Family had told everyone. About the truths I'd found, deep below the planet. About the Green Martians, and the Reds and the Blues and all the others that served my Family.
I wasn't going to do this just to fit in. I was going to do this because I couldn't fix my home, and I had to fix something.
