> The mare who laughed
>  by sykko
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue-The death of laughter (edit)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a bright sunny spring morning in Canterlot, stands were lined up along the streets selling freshly flowers or fruits, smells wafted across from the streets, the bakeries, the fashion stores had rolled out their new spring fashions. The buzz amongst the various shop owners was about the criminal gang that operated out of South Canterlot.

They had been around for several years and were little more than a menace to the poorer districts and slums that existed on the south and west sides of the city. Their typical M-O had been intimidating the owners of the run down shops for protection, extorting the dingy pawn shops that ran as fronts for fencing operations, muscling in on gangs of petty thieves. They would mug tourists or uptowners who strayed too far from the beaten path, but deaths were rare and unless an influential member of the Canterlotian was attacked, the Royal Guards rarely got involved, leaving the local police precincts to deal with the bands of thugs.

That had changed summer of last year, the gang had grown bolder, launching attacks against rival gangs in open street warfare, soaking the gutters in blood. Rumors abounded that a pair of fast talking unicorns had involved themselves with the gang and had taken control, bribing, blackmailing or outright killing any pony that had tried to oppose them. The gang had changed their name from the South Streets Runners to the Foundry Family, they had changed their attire from red bandannas and blue jackets to black suits with grey pinstripes and black bowlers. Any rival gangs that didn't capitulate, surrendering their territory immediately, were dealt with in a swift and bloody manner, leaving the local police precincts to gather corpses from dumpsters or dredge up from the river.

After four months of bloody gang warfare taking control of the majority of the slums in South and Western Canterlot, the gang changed tactics intimidating a hooffull of merchants on the edges of Midtown and Uptown Canterlot, staying well far away from the Royal Palace. The merchants that had resisted found their businesses vandalized, merchandise smashed or stolen, their employees bullied into quitting or running off. The ongoing investigations ran into a wall of silence as terrified ponies living in the Midtown, Uptown and slums neighborhoods had refused to talk, the few that had talked had recanted a few days later or simply disappeared. All searches of all outgoing trains, wagons, carriages, packages of every size, crates, boxes and every city, town, village or hamlet across Equestria had proven fruitless in finding the few witnesses that had talked of any pony that had matched their description.

A terrified ragamuffin street urchin approached a Palace Guard at the gate carrying a small box wrapped in simple brown paper with a tag that read "for Shining Armor". Taking the package, the guard chuckled as the little ragamuffin ran off. The guard chuckled as he knew his commanding officer was a bit of a celebrity, even amongst the poorer citizens of Equestria, hoofing the package off to a passing servant.

Captain Shining Armor was sitting at his desk filing out personnel paperwork and going over the actions of the Foundry Family. The stress had given him terrible heartburn and it didn't help matters that his sister was coming to town in a week. He chewed on several antacids from a nearby roll from his fiance, Cadence had given him. She rested her hooves on his shoulders, massaging his tense muscles.


"I know you're stressed trying to take this gang down and Twilight coming next week has added to your stress, but Shiny you're going to give yourself an ulcer if you keep up like this.", Cadence said with a concerted tone in her voice, "I know you have several weeks of leave saved up. How about after she visits her old potions instructor's new alchemy lab and shop, all three of us go somewhere on vacation. Somewhere tropical, with lots of sun, sand and ocean. Maybe I can get a new bathing suit?"

Shining smiled at the thought of his fiance in some skimpy little two-piece. "I could use some time off.", he said resting his head on a hoof, "It would do Twily to get out of that stuffy old library and do something other than reading all day or sending friendship reports. I could ask Celestia to order her to go dancing at a club or get a couple of drinks at a bar or even find a stallion or mare to kiss." They both shared a laugh at the last statement.

There was a gentle knocking at the door and a servant walked in with a package in hoof. "Captain Shining Armor, a parcel for you.", the servant said with a stiff upper lip.
"Thank you.", Shining Armor said, levitating the package to his desk.

The servant bowed and left, quietly closing the door behind him.

"A package from a secret admirer. Should I be jealous?", Cadence teased.

Shining smiled as he unwrapped the paper and opened the box. His smile was replaced by an expression of anger and shock. It contained several photos of Twilight around Ponyville, the last photo showed her reading the invitation, in the bottom of the box there was a hastily scrawled note that said, "BACK OFF!" Shining Armor gritted his teeth so hard they began to creak, his rage boiling over.

Cadence inhaled sharply in anger seeing the contents of the box.

As the door to his office opened, Shining Armor picked up the box and its contents with his hooves and hurled them with all his strength. "FUUUUUUUUUUCK!", he bellowed in rage.

As Celestia entered into Shining Armor's office, she hastily threw up a shield as the box and its contents came flying in her direction. "CAPTAIN SHINING ARMOR! What is the cause of this out-" She froze in momentary shock seeing the photographs of Twilight and the two word threatening note. Closing the door behind her, she locked it and levitated the contents of the box in front of her. "Fuck me!", she exclaimed softly as her eyes became hard.

Shining Armor paced back and forth beside himself in rage. "Those no good motherfucking sons of cunt whores!", he ranted through gritted teeth. Grabbing his desk with his hooves, he flipped it and screamed, "AHHHHHHHHHHH! FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKK!" He began repeatedly punching the wall with his hoof, "FUCK! FUCK! FUCK FUCK! FUCK!" He laid his head against the wall and began to sob, tears of anger and fear began running down his cheeks like twin rivers. "They've threatened my baby sister!", he whimpered between sobs, "If they harm a hair on her mane, I'll kill every last one of them myself!" He flopped down on his haunches, his body trembling with anger and fear, tears forcing their way down his cheeks.

Celestia ground her teeth. "I promise you Shining Armor that it won't come to this.", she said barely able to keep her anger in control, "If they do so, there won't be a hole deep enough for them to slither into that I won't burn them out of."

Outside the door a guard began pounding loudly. "Princess! Captain! Is everything alright?", he shouted through the door

Celestia gripped the lock in her magic, unlatching it, she snatched the door open causing the guard to take a step in surprise. "I assure you sergeant that things are not alright.", Celestia said sternly, showing the contents of the box to the guard.

His face was a mask of professional military discipline, only his eyes betrayed his feelings of anger.

"The Foundry Family have made a grim mistake on this day by threatening the sister of Captain Shining Armor, my faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.", Celestia said in a military tone, "Find out who delivered this package here. Put the guard on alert and order the reservists on standby. If they are foolish enough to make war against us, they shall taste our steel!" At this second she was not Princess Celestia, she was Supreme Commander Celestia, one of two.

"Princess,", Shining said rising to his feet, "I think we should alert Twilight and warn her to stay away for now."

"I think it to be unwise, commander."Celestia said calmly, "If their agents are able to get close enough to photograph her during her most private moments and get close up images to see what she's reading, that means their agents can surely reach out hooves to harm her. If they cannot harm her, then they can get to her through her friends or their families. I won't risk them intercepting any of our warnings and don't worry, I still have my ways of getting a message to her. You need to prepare a guard contingent for when she and her friends arrive in a week. This is now a time when the right hoof needs not know what the left hoof is doing. Get yourself cleaned up and your office in order, your underlings do not need to see you out of sorts at this time. Now if you will excuse me, I must go talk to Luna."

Shining Armor bowed and began cleaning up his office

Celestia reached Luna's door, knocked loudly and opened it.

Luna sat up from a dead sleep snorting. "Huh?! Whazzat?! Oh! It's you Tia. Is it time to raise the moon already?", Luna asked groggily, wiping the sleep from her eyes. Seeing the stern look on her sister's face Luna asked, "Is something the matter sister?"

Using her magic, Celestia tossed the photos and threatening note on Luna's bed. "I'll say there's something wrong Luna." Celestia said with a hard sting in her voice, "That gang that's been plaguing our city for months, the Foundry Family, has just sent Shining Armor these threatening Twilight."

"I can imagine that Shining Armor is probably ready to lead two full divisions of Royal Guards out and storm the city right now.", Luna said scowling at the photographs, "How are you fairing right now sister?"

"Right now, it's taking everything I have to keep from setting half this city on fire to flush them out.", Celestia sighed as she sat on Luna's bed, "I think we should activate some of the Shadow Guard. I believe that five will do for now, one to watch over Twilight and her friends and four to gather intel on the Foundry family."

Luna rose from her bed, twisting and stretching her body making her joints pop. She flapped her wings a couple of times to get the blood flowing in them. "Very well sister.", Luna said, "We should also contact him."

"No Luna,", Celestia responded flatly, "I won't go that far yet, not until I have no other options."

"But sister, are things not dire?", Luna retorted, "And I've been tracking his whereabouts as I know you have been too, we can confront him and make him swear a sacred oath. How many of our little ponies have already died at those cur’s hooves? We are not dealing with a typical band of brigands or outlaws."

"Luna, I won't call on him at this time.", Celestia said in a dour tone, "His methods are too unorthodox and violent for use at this time."

"But sister-"

"LUNA!", Celestia snapped, cutting her sister off, "I will not call upon a wanted vigilante. Especially considering that he put three police officers in the hospital last year."

"Fine sister, I'll drop it...for now.", Luna said bitterly, "But I wish to go on record saying that those constables were found out to be taking bribes from a local...what's the word ponies use today...pimp."

"Duly noted.", Celestia said rising from the bed.

The two sisters walked into the war room. In the center sat a large round table, covered in green felt. Walking over to a large gilded map of Equestria, they lit the magic in their horns and a small panel silently swung open. Hidden behind the panel was a wall safe. Keeping their magic lit they manipulated four locks, causing their tumblers to disengage. When the last lock had been unlatched, the safe swung open, revealing a medallion made of a grey metal. Levitating the medallion in their magic, it shimmered black for a few seconds before it lowered back into the safe.

After several minutes, a figure of a pony appeared in the door silhouetted. "We need you and four of your brothers.", Celestia said softly, "One of you is to go to Ponyville to keep an eye on Twilight sparkle and her four friends. The gang known as the Foundry Family have made a threat against her, if any of them make a move against her or her friends, you are to stop them at any cost. My sister or I will contact you with a message for Twilight at a later date." 

"Four of your brothers are to go out into Canterlot to gather information on the Foundry Family gang.", Luna said softly, "Do whatever it takes to get that information, but do not reveal yourself. Once you have enough information on their operations and their leaders are, your to bring that information to Us and our Sister." The two sisters closed the safe.

The silhouetted figure silently bowed, exited the room and closed the door.

Luna yawned. "I am going to lie back down, sister. Come get me when it's time to raise the moon."

*Monochrome's Canterlot Log, day 243

I don't remember what day of the week it is currently. The days just seem to blend into each other. I haven't had a decent night's sleep since the war against the diamond dogs eight years ago. Every night it's the same images and sounds. The faces of my squadmates twisted up in terror as they're ripped apart by rusty picks and crude blades when a pack of diamond dogs leaps out of the dark at us. I can still hear the crunch of the diamond dog bones under my hooves. I woke up this morning or was it afternoon, in a cold sweat. The squealing of foals playing outside snapped me right back into the diamond dog warrens. It reminded the part of my mind that is still back in the war when we threw vials of alchemic fire into a diamond dog warren that was full of their expecting females and young. Their shrieks and screams still haunt me to this day. We did the same thing to the next fifteen warrens we came across. What justification did we give ourselves? We were soldiers following orders and it was war. It wasn't a war, it was one long massacre after another. The diamond dogs don't have a nation or even armies, just a loose alliance of tribes all fighting and scrabbling with each other over a few shiny baubles. And we marched to slaughter them by the droves. Why? Because a few ponies got kidnapped in the Everfree mountains. What we did was unforgivable. Outside of a few isolated pockets, the diamond dogs never really put up much of a fight. They only started putting up a fight once we started eradicating their most vulnerable and defenseless. Don't get me wrong journal, I ain't a filthy diamond dogs lover, in fact I still loathe them, but no pony can justify wholesale slaughter of the defenseless, not even Celestia(may she forever be cursed). Everything that used to be the pony known as Calligraphy Well died back in that Equestria-forsaken war, buried in those diamond dog warrens with his squad mates, all that's left is the pony who is called Monochrome and that pony swore that he would never kill again, no matter what.

Anyways I'm getting off track here, journal. When I woke up this morning. Afternoon? Today.(whatever day of the week it is) My contact in the palace had slid under the door to this crappy room I'm renting that the gang that likes to call itself the Foundry Family had a package sent to Captain Shining Armor containing a threat against his sister. Predictably he completely lost his shit. Apparently Celestia(may she be for cursed) and Luna(may her heart find true happiness) are upset about the threat made against the bearer of magic.(my contacts in Ponyville confirmed that for me some time ago) When I set out this evening(I was certain it was evening as I saw the sun heading towards the horizon), I found a member of the Foundry Family trying to stow away on the baggage car of the Manehattan train. I nabbed him before he could slip inside and hide. Don't worry journal, I made sure I had my old grey bandanna across my face and my cutie mark covered, I also cast a memory charm on him for a little extra assurance, we don't need another VanHoover incident. After I nabbed him, I teleported onto the second story fire escape of an old tenement building.
When I questioned him about his involvement in the threats against Twilight Sparkle, that's when he decided to go all tough pony on me, claiming he knew nothing and then took a swipe at me, so I dropped off the second fire escape onto his rear legs. Every creature regardless of what they are, their bones makes the hollow, wet crunching sound when dropped from a second story fire escape. I teleported down to him to see if having compound fractures of both hind legs had loosened his tongue any. Oh journal, I so wish you could have seen that scumbag try to stand and run with two completely useless hind legs. He wound up just flipping around like a fish suddenly finding themselves twenty leagues from water. He continued to flop around like a smothering fish until I dug a hoof into one of his ruined legs. Don't worry journal, I didn't do any further damage, just added a little pressure to make sure his lips were ample loose.
As I twisted my hoof, he screamed and cried and whimpered until I got answers out of him. He gave me the names of three ponies higher up the pecking order from him. I took my old service hoof crossbow out from the inside of my coat, placed it to his head and said if I found out I was lying, I'd embedded the bolt in his brain. His eyes went as wide as saucers. He begged me to not kill him, I know I swore I'd never kill again, but dear journal, he doesn't know that. I think I'll visit one of those scum suckers tonight and see how much information I can wring out of him.
Yours truly, Monochrome

P.S. Because I'll be working tonight I won't be able to enjoy her night, I hope Luna(may her heart find happiness) can forgive me for that.
**********************************************************************************
*A WEEK LATER*

Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Applejack arrived in Canterlot. Shining Armor met them at the train station with a contingent of twelve guards. Spike had stayed behind as he had the flu, Twilight had promised that she'd buy him a new power ponies comic.

He and Twilight hugged for several minutes. "I have a surprise to share with you when we meet the princesses at the restaurant.", Shining Armor said.

"Oooo! Can't you tell me now or at least give me a clue?", Twilight asked excitedly.

Shining grinned, held up his chin and shook his head no.

"Please BBBFF?", Twilight said in her best sad voice, staring at him with big round eyes.

Shining Armor had to look away from those big round eyes of fake sadness that was beginning to make him melt. "I'm sorry Twily, I can't.", he said avoiding eye contact, "I'm under orders to keep it a secret until we meet the princesses at the restaurant."

Twilight stuck her bottom lip. "Well poo!", she teased Shining.

The six friends gathered in the carriage that had been brought for them chatting excitedly. Shining armor sighed remembering the reports he had read that morning. A few dozen members of the Foundry Family had been arrested by the Royal Guard before sunrise in surprise raids. The raids were possible because of some rather peculiar anonymous tips. Anonymous tips that had some military code words sprinkled throughout. If Shining had been a betting pony, he'd have put hard earned bits on that Celestia or Luna had called up some members of the Equestrian army or Royal Guards to work deep cover.

As the carriage pulled up to the restaurant, two coach stallions opened the door and helped each of the element bearers out of the carriage, they then helped Shining out of the carriage. The carriage stallions climbed on a running board on the back as the driver pulled off to the parking lot.

As they entered the restaurant, Shining gave a slight nod. Two columns formed on each side of the eagerly chatting friends and escorted them into the restaurant.

"Ah, you must be the guests of Princess Celestia!", the concierge said in a bright tone, "She's waiting for you out on the veranda. Follow me!" He gestured with his hoof walking towards two beautiful glass Prench doors. Two guards standing by the doors opened them letting Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie, Rainbow, Rarity and Fluttershy onto the veranda. Princesses Celestia, Luna and Cadance were waiting on them.

One of the lead guards announced in a clear voice, "Announcing the element bearers Twilight Sparkle, Apple-"
Celestia held up a hoof interrupting, then gave an elegant gesture. The guards bowed and quickly moved out of sight. 

Cadance and Twilight did their rhyme and dance before hugging joyously. "Oh Twilight, it's so good see you!"Cadence said, feeling she was going to burst, "Shiny and I have some news we want to tell you."

Twilight happily hugged Cadance back, "It's so good to see you too Cadance!" Breaking from the hug, she turned to Shining, "So BBBFF, what's the big secret you've got to tell me?"

Shining stood tall. "Cadence and I are going to Mareuba and we'd enjoy it if you'd join us.", he said before continuing nonchalantly, "And me and Cadence are getting married."

Twilight danced in place for a few minutes. "I've always wanted to visit Mare...wait you guys just..." Twilight's eye twitched as her brain tried to process the information laid before her. All she could do was stutter and mumble nonsense.

Inside Twilight's head Captain Kirk-light leaned forward in her chair as alarms blared and red lights flashed. "What, happened! Why, did, we, lose, power?" First Officer Spock-light turned from her scope, "It appears we have encountered an emotional and information overload." "Damage, report, Chekhov-light!" "Ve still haf life support and auxiliary komputor function, but he haf lost all forward propulsion and main komputor functions.", Chekhov-light replied. Kirk-light flipped on the intercom to hail engineering, it gave a whistle. "Scotty-light, we, need, to, restore, higher, functions, now!", Kirk-light said into the intercom. Scotty-light responded, "Ach cap'n, we are tryin' to restore it right now. We cannae restart higher brain functions like flipping a light switch. I need three minutes." "You've, got, thirty, seconds!" "Aye-aye cap'n!" Kirk-light flipped off the intercom.

Applejack gently poked Twilight on the shoulder. "Twi? Are you okay?", she asked.

Shining waved his hoof in front of Twilight's face, "Twily?"

Back in Twilight's head Uhura-light spun around in her chair pressing an earpiece with her hoof, "Captain, we are being hailed." "Does, the, view, screen, work?", Kirk-light asked. "Aye Kiptin!", Chekhov-light responded. "On, screen!", Kirk-light ordered. The view screen came on showing Applejack and Shining Armor talking to the U.S.S. Twilight-prise. "Oh myyyy!", Takei-light said in a deep, sexy voice looking at Shining Armor. Kirk-light turned on the intercom, "Scotty-light, I, need, the, main, functions, back, online, now!" "This is very delicate work cap'n. If I'm not careful, the whole thing could blow!", Scotty-light replied. "I need those, main, functions, back, online, now, Scotty-light!", Kirk-light ordered. "Captain, a thought.", Spock-light said, "What if we added a little bit of vulgarity into the fuel mixture for the main function generator, would that provide an ample volatility to get the main higher functions back online?" Kirk-light tapped her chin, "It, could, just, work! Like, using, starter, fluid, on, a, carburetor! Mr., Scott-light?" "Aye it could work, but if we get the mix wrong, she'll be spitting fucks like a sailor on leave in Gloucester.", Scotty-light replied. "Make, it, so, Scotty-light!", Kirk-light said, switching the intercom off.

"Fuck me running!", Twilight exclaimed, "You're getting married!" She shook her head, feeling like she had tiny sci-fi versions of herself walking around inside it.

Pinkie ran over and hugged her, "Twilight, I'm glad you're okay and your thought process didn't become an old fifty year old TV program!"

Her friends, the princesses, Shining Armor, the concierge and several guards look at Pinkie oddly for a moment.

After the group had finished eating a late lunch at the restaurant, Celestia and Luna had to return to the castle. Cadance managed to convince Shining Armor to stay at the restaurant with her for a little bit longer. Twilight and her friends loaded up in the carriage, with a group of guards following in another carriage.

"So this Professor Bubbling Beaker was one of yer instructors when yuh attended Princess Celestia's academy?", Applejack asked.

"Yeah, Professor Beaker was my potions instructor back at the academy, he's a very brilliant pony.", Twilight replied.

"I hope you aren't going to talk about egghead stuff the whole time.", Rainbow said, propping her head on a hoof bored.

"Rainbow Dash! Don't be rude.", Rarity scolded, "Professor Beaker helped design new dyes that have already changed the world of fashion."

Rainbow huffed in boredom.

"Don't be like that Dashie!", Pinkie said pulling a copy of pranks and gags monthly from her mane, "It says in this article that Professor Beaker developed a new synthetic rubber that makes rubber chickens stretchier and whoopee cushions go pppbbbbbth longer. He is working on a new filler for stink bombs that is supposed to be at three times smellier than current stink bombs."

"Really?!"Rainbow said, leaning up reading the article with Pinkie, "I guess he's not such a big egghead after all."

Twilight chuckled. "Yeah, he was quite the trickster. His patents have allowed him to not only expand the field of pranks, but all aspects of life here in Equestria. His alchemical advancements have helped create new fertilizers, new liners for flight suits and ways to make it easier for ponies to work metal."

After several minutes they pulled up to Boiling Beakers new alchemy lab and shop. After the six friends had gotten out of the carriage and the guards had taken up their positions, Twilight knocked on the front door of the shop.

The door quickly opens, a tall light green unicorn with light grey mane and tail stood inside. "Tvilight Shparkle! You vere alvays such an astute shtudent, but you're three years late on your last assignment und zat vill reflect on your final grade!", Bubbling Beaker said trying to act serious. He wrapped a forelimb around Twilight, hugging her, "How haf you been Tvilight? Und are zese your friends und fellow element hearers?" He looked around for a moment. "Vere ish Mashter Shpike?"

"Spike's back home in Ponyville sick with the flu.", Twilight said, "Yes these are my good friends." She gestured to each of them, "This is Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie."

After introductions, they were brought back to the massive alchemy laboratory. "Zis ish the heart of ze whole operation.", Professor Beaker said gesturing widely with his hoof, "Ven zis laboratory ish fully operational, ve vill supply a full third of all ze alchemical products for all of Equestria."

An assistant with a concerned look on her face came up and whispered in Professor Beaker's ear.

"Excush me for jusht a shecond.", Professor Beaker said turning to his assistant. They began arguing in hushed tones. After a moment he turned back to Twilight and her friends. "Many apologiesh. Jusht a few problemsh vith new employeesh. Anvays, back to ze tour."

After several minutes of touring the floor of the alchemy laboratory, Pinkie stopped and looked up. "Professor? What's that?"

Bubbling Beaker stopped looking up. "Ah good eye Ms. Pie. Zat's ze collector ve vill use ven ve buy the excess weather from Cloudshdale."

"No professor, not that, that." Pinkie said pointing her hoof.

Professor Beaker walked over and looked to where Pinkie was pointing. It was a small red blinking light on a ceiling beam where a gantry support crossed it. "You know I don't know Ms. Pie, I vill shend shomepony to shee vat it ish." A second later there was a bright flash and a deafening boom. Chunks of ceiling support rained down on the laboratory floor. Bubbling Beaker shoved Pinkie out of the way as a section of the gantry swung downwards, part of the suspension arm impaled him through the ribs and pinned him to the side of a tank. Bright red blood began to pour out of his mouth as his legs kicked in panic trying to get away.

Pinkie rose to her feet trying to run to her friends when there was another bright flash and loud boom followed by a wave of heat as a fireball erupted on the floor. Pinkie was thrown tumbling across the floor and a section of gantry fell on top of her, pinning in place. Soon fire erupted across the lab.


Rainbow and AJ tried to rush over to Pinkie when the guards grabbed the five of them, rushing them out the door. Two guards rushed to help Pinkie. Another explosion rocked the building and a ceiling beam collapsed on the two of them. Fire was now raging on the laboratory floor. Vats and tanks of alchemical materials began to rupture from the heat or debris collapsing onto them. A toxic and flammable mix of alchemical substances began lapping closer. The smoke and fumes began stinging her eyes while burning her lungs. Pinkie looked over at the two guards under the beam, seeing they were dead, she struggled to free herself one last time. Unable to escape, she closed her eyes preparing for death. That's when she heard somepony laughing. Pinkie snapped her eyes open. "Is somepony there?! If you are, help me get out!", she called out, choking in the toxic fumes. A nearby vat ruptured dousing her in a hot alchemical substance. She shrieked in pain. 

Staring at her forelimbs, she saw where patches of fur had been scalded off, the remaining fur and underlying skin had been blanched white. For some reason she thought it was funny that in two week it would be All Foal's Day, she began to chuckle to herself soon rising into manic laughter.

Princesses Celestia and Luna teleported in with a company of guards. Twilight ran up to them shouting, "Princesses, Pinkie's still trapped in there!"

Celestia began taking off her regalia. "GET BACK EVERYPONY! THE BUILDING COULD EXPLODE AT ANY MOMENT!", Celestia shouted in the royal Canterlot voice. She turned to Luna, "Luna, sister, get the element bearers back to the castle, I'm going in for Pinkie." The shriek of pain from inside made her hurry faster as Luna herded and in Rainbow's case, dragged them back to the castle. Celestia kicked the door off the frame and began to crane her head around looking for signs of any survivors. "Pinkie!", she called out over the roar of the flames, "Anypony! Call out to me my little ponies so I can save you!" For a quick moment Celestia thought she heard somepony laughing. Before she could call out again, a series of fiery explosions began rocking the building, Celestia hastily threw up a shield around herself as a massive fireball tore through the building. Flaming debris sailed through the air, much of it landed on the nearby river as a massive multi-colored fireball climbed higher and higher into the sky.

"SISTER!", Luna shrieked as she took flight back towards the alchemy lab.

Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy Rainbow and Applejack stared in shock as tears poured down their faces.

Luna landed at the remains of the alchemy lab. She stared in shock as tears swelled in her eyes. Nearby a section of wall collapsed revealing Celestia laying on her stomach, the shield still around her had kept her safe. Luna ran to her tears pouring down her face. "Oh sister, I thought I had lost you!"

Celestia rose to her feet, tears streaming down her face, lowered the shield and fell into Luna's hooves. "Luna! I couldn't save anypony.", she said between sobs, "I wasn't fast enough." The two sisters held each other crying, tears staining their coats.

That evening after the sun had been lowered and the moon risen, Celestia, Luna, Cadance and Shining Armor were pacing the throne room awaiting any news and the number of dead from the resulting fire and explosion. A group of five royal guards came in, one was carrying a scroll in his mouth. They bowed and hoofed over the scroll. "Princesses and sir, we found remains of at least eight ponies. The number will only go up as more extensive searches of the rubble and surrounding areas goes up.", the lead guard said, "We also found two devices and the remains of at least five more."

"What sort of devices?", Luna asked.

As the guards rose, the lead guard gestured and two of the guards left, returning a moment later pushing a wooden cart with a box-shaped device on it. "Don't worry majesties, it's been deactivated."

"What is it?"Cadence asked, extending a hoof to it, "Ow!"

Shining smacked Cadences hoof with his. "It's a bomb and from the looks of it, it was made by somepony with explosive skill."

A Canterlot police boat patrolling the river found the body of an unconscious pony. "We got a live one here!", the police pony shouted as he started dragging the body from the water. Two other police ponies helped him drag the body from the river. Laying the body on the deck of the boat, the police ponies began checking the pony over. It was a mare, she was unconscious, able to breathe unassisted, had a several burns all across her her body, her fur and underlying skin was bright white, mane and tail a bright green, face showed signs of severe trauma, the strangest of all was she had no cutie mark to speak of. "Get an ambulance, we got a mare, unknown age, with several burns."
As the boat made its way to shore, the mare snapped her eyes open, sat straight up, gave a manic shrieking laugh, then passed out again. "Great, we got a loony case on our hooves. The sooner we get her to an ambulance, the sooner she's not our problem.", one of the police ponies said. The police ponies helped load the mare into the ambulance.

After a week, Pinkie was still among the seven ponies still unaccounted for and was presumed dead. Cadance and Shining Armor had cancelled their vacation. Twilight and her four remaining friends went back to Ponyville to wait for any new news. The royal guard had spread out through the city fervently rooting out any and all members of the Foundry Family they can find. Other than a couple dozen members, they found several escape tunnels leading out the city dug into basements and cellars.

In the hospital a Jane Doe mare wakes up from a seven day long coma. The nurse walks in finding her running her forehooves across the bandages on her body, forelimbs and face. "Don't mess up your bandages, you came in a week ago unconscious, covered in what looked like alchemical burns and the bones of your face were broken, you had to undergo reconstructive surgery.", the nurse says, "Do you know where you are?"

The mare looks around, then shakes her head no.

"I'll go get your doctor and be right back, don't mess with your bandages.", the nurse said. She hurried down the hall.

A few minutes later the doctor came into the room, pulled up a nearby chair, and sat down holding a chart. "Good afternoon miss. Do you know where you are?", the doctor asked.

The mare shapes her head no.

The doctor writes on the chart. "Can you tell me your name?"

The mare shakes her head no.

"Can you write your name?", the doctor asks.

The mare shakes her head no again.

"Are you able to talk?"

"Yes.", the mare says in a gravely tone nodding her head yes.

"Do you know your name?", the doctor asks.

"No.", the mare answers.

The doctor writes on the chart again. "Okay miss, You're in the Midtown Canterlot hospital. You were brought in a week ago with alchemical burns and serious trauma to the face that required surgery to fix.", he said. He checked her bandages, lifting a few to look under them. "It appears you're healing well and your bandages will be coming off in a few days. One last thing I want to ask you, given that your burns were alchemic in nature, do you remember if you were in any kind of fire recently?"

The mare remembered a fire, she remembered a scalding liquid pouring across her, she remembered laughing. "I don't remember." After the doctor left and closed the door, the mare noticed her green mane drooped over her face, it was silky and smooth. 

She began hoarsely chuckling in her throat which became a soft jagged laugh, "Heeheehee-hahahah-hoohoohoo!"

Three days later Pinkie was officially declared dead. It was assumed that any part of her body was completely burned up in the fire, so a memorial service was held at Sugarcube Corner. Out of her friends Rainbow took it the hardest. "I never even got a chance to tell her I loved her. I thought I had all the time in the world.", Rainbow said, curled up on Pinkie’s favorite hill as her friends helped her grieve.

In the Midtown Canterlot hospital, a nurse was helping the Jane Doe mare come out of her bandages. She helps with her face last. After unwrapping her face, the nurse passes her a hoof mirror.

The mare looks at the mirror seeing her stark white fur, her bright green mane, her small pointed chin, her gaunt and hollow cheeks. She gives a small wince and then grunts in pain slightly as the muscles of her face begin to contract uncontrollably.

The nurse hears the Jane Doe grunt in pain and looks up to ask her if she's okay. The nurse freezes in horror as she sees the unnaturally wide smile spreading across the mare's face. "I'll go get the doctor!" The nurse runs out of the room.

The mare watches in gleeful amazement as the unnatural and massive grin begins spreading across her face. Her green mane become poofy and wicked glee enters her eyes. She begins manically laughing.

The doctor rushes into the room and sees the mare laughing uncontrollably at the hand mirror. He catches her reflection and feels sick to his stomach. "I'm so sorry miss, I didn't know there would be a complication this severe."

The mare turned to face the doctor. "HahahahahHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAhahahhahahahaHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA!" she laughed maniacally. She stood from the bed and began doing a little dancing trot around the room. "I don't know why you're sorry doctor, now I have a smile big enough for all the laughter I want to share. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahahahhahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Her mane became straight as her smile became smaller, but still unnaturally wide, her eyes were no longer manic, but hateful. Her voice became hoarse, "Heeheehee-hahaha-hoohoohoo! I agree this is definitely funny."

The doctor slowly backed out of the room and ordered an orderly to watch it. Fetching the mare's chart he opens it and below where he wrote "amnesia", he also wrote "severe psychological trauma, possible delusions of grandeur and possible multiple personality disorder."

That night the mare sneaks out of her room. Slipping a pair of scrubs on her body, a mask over her face and a nurses cap on her head she wanders around the hospital until she finds the surgery wing. Finding several surgical tools laid out on a tray, she picks up a scalpel and hides it under her mane. All Foal's Day was in four days and she had an idea for a funny joke. "Heeheehee-hahaha-hoohoohoo!", she laughs in a hoarse tone. Discarding her nurse disguise in a nearby trash can, she massages her cheeks so she can grimace, she even convincingly fake cries and walks around acting like she's confused, scared and lost. A night nurse finds her and guides her back to her room.

On All Foal's Day a nurse enters the mare's room and sees her sleeping on the bed. The doctor had ordered her to a group home to get her some help and maybe help her recover her memories. The nurse hears her stirring. "Are you awake, dearie?", the nurse asks turning back to the mare, " Good news, the doctor is-urk!", the nurse is cut off by a sharp pain blossoming in her throat, the mare is staring her in the face with her unnaturally wide smile, a hateful gleam in her eyes, holding a bloody object in her hoof. The nurse tries to scream but only gurgles, soon darkness overtakes her.

The mare laid in bed faking being asleep. It was All Foal's Day and she was going to share a wonderful joke with the first pony she could. She watched through the tiny slits in her eyes as a nurse walked in and began tidying up the room. Her mane went straight as she slowly reached under her pillow and grabbed the scalpel, hatred was burning in her eyes as a wide smile began spreading across her face. She crept across the room quietly until she was on top of the nurse before making her presence known. When the nurse turned around, the mare slashed her throat. The mare locked the door as she didn't need any disturbances while she put up her All Foal's Day decorations. "Heeheehee-hahaha-hoohoohoo!", he mare hoarsely cackled as she began carving the body of the nurse up. Looking at her handy work, the mare was pleased, picking up the nearby chair she threw it through the window. Leaping through the window, she began laughing maniacally as she ran down the street, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahahahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

The sound of shattering glass drew the attention of a passing nurse. When she went to open the door, she found it was locked. Calling for an orderly, they unlocked the door and opened it. Seeing the grisly scene, the nurse screamed and fainted. The nurse that had been sent to help the Jane Doe mare get ready was laying on the floor dead, her throat had been cut, her cheeks had been split open forming a twisted smile, she had been disemboweled, her intestines had been pulled out and formed into a speech bubble, inside the speech bubble had been written "Happy All Fools Day!" in blood, on the walls of the room the word "Ha!" had been written over and over again in blood.

*Monochrome's Journal, All Foal's Day
Dear journal,

I am sorry I haven't written to you in the past two weeks. After the element bearer of laughter was killed in the bombing at an alchemy lab in uptown Canterlot, I haven't felt like writing. After the bombing most of the Foundry Family disappeared from town. The reason I'm writing today is because of a grisly murder I'm investigating that happened at the Midtown Canterlot hospital. Some deranged maniac carved up some poor nurse and smashed out a window to escape. When I talked to an orderly about the murderer, he told me that it was an earth pony mare with white fur and bright green mane, the only thing he told me that was out of the ordinary was that despite being an adult, this mare had no cutie mark, most unusual. The orderly also told me that the mare first showed signs of being completely unhinged four days ago when an unforeseen complication to facial surgery caused her face to twist into an unnaturally wide smile, that's when she went completely coo-coo bananas and started laughing like a crazy pony. I ask you dear journal journal, was it the complication from the surgery that drove this mare crazy or was the mare already on the train to nutters town and this was the last push. 

I tracked the coo-coo mare to South Canterlot where I caught sight of her in the crowd, staring in an old party supplies shop. She must have felt me watching because I caught her staring back at me in the reflection of the shop window. The look in her eye made my blood turn cold. Journal is it possible for insanity to have a child with hatred? Because if it is, then that mare is definitely the offspring of such an unholy union. When I followed her, she turned the corner and completely disappeared. I could occasionally feel her watching me, but I couldn't spot her again. How the fuck does an earth pony just completely vanish without a trace in broad daylight. The next time I see her, I'll have to ask Celestia(may she be eternally cursed) if there are any earth ponies who can vanish from sight.
Yours truly,
Monochrome

P.S. I thought about my father today, Journal. For the first time in five years he crossed my mind. I wonder if he's still upset about me going into the military. I wonder about the element bearers freeing Luna(may her heart find peace) from Nightmare Moon?*
**********************************************************************************
*Two week later*

In Ponyville, the headstone for Pinkie's grave had been erected a couple of days ago. Her friends had gathered several of her favorite things in a small box and had it buried in her plot. They held a small memorial to commemorate the event. In town, Pinkie's sisters had made a statue of her and placed it outside of Sugarcube Corner.

A white pony with green mane and an unnaturally wide smile stood on a hill overlooking the town. She laughed maniacally, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! We're going to have some fun!" She took a moment to look around and saw a stallion pulling a wagon wearing a brown shirt and cap. Her hair went straight as she began to laugh hoarsely, "Heeheehee-hahaha-hoohoohoo! But first." She laid an ambush for the pony, dragging his body off into the nearby Everfree forest, coming back out to the road wearing his brown shirt and cap. The mare went through several of the packages finding a sheet of stickers. She peeled off two smiley face stickers and stuck them to her rump where ponies usually have their cutie mark. She massaged her cheeks to make her smile into something closer to what most ponies have and began making her way into town.
> Manehattan massacre (edit)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the mare made her way up the road Ponyville, wearing the brown shirt and cap she had taken off the corpse of the stallion she had strangled, the two smiley face stickers on her rump. She cackled hoarsely as her limp green mane swung back and forth. As the mare walked into the town square, she stopped to massage her cheeks and wipe sweat from her forehead. The mare walked around Ponyville looking at the buildings and ponies, they seemed somehow... familiar. 
Stopping in the market square at a cart where a massive red earth pony stallion was selling apples and apple-based baked goods. As she walked past the cart, the stallion started talking to her.

"Care for an apple ma'am?", Big Mac asked the passing mare.

The mare turned to face Big Mac cackling hoarsely. She massaged her cheeks before answering, "I don't have any bits, sorry."

Big Mac felt a little at unease looking at the mare. He didn't know if it was her gaunt cheeks, her usually wide smile, the way she occasionally massaged her cheeks or the way she cackled to herself. He hoofed her a shiny red apple. "S'ok ma'am, this one's on th' house.", he said.

Grunting her thanks, the mare took the apple, cackling to herself as she walked away. A gentle breeze blew taking one of the stickers off her rump.

As Big Mac saw the sticker blow away, he noticed her flank was blank. He had heard the odd story about adult ponies being blank. Shrugging, he figured that was why she had acted so strange.

The mare walked down the street and turned into an alleyway. She stopped to take a bite of the apple when she heard a voice from behind taunting her.

"I've never seen a grown up with a blank flank.", Diamond Tiara taunted the mare, "Were you too stupid to get a cutie mark or is it that there's nothing special about you?"

The mare turned to face the dusty pink mare with light purple and white striped mane, an expensive tiara propped on her head. A grey filly with silvery-white mane stood behind her. Hate began to burn in the mare's eyes as an unnaturally wide smile stretched across her face as she began to laugh hoarsely. "Heeheehee-hahaha-hoohoohoo! It's not a very funny joke."

Silver Spoon flattened her ears in fear and began slowly backing away. "C-come DT, I d-don't think you should make f-fun of her.", Silvy said. Looking into the mare's face with her gaunt, hollow cheeks and unnatural smile reminded her of that horror movie that Diamond had made her watch about a stallion who had a smile carved in his face.

"Silvy, stop being such a pussy. I don't need a second one.", Diamond huffed.

Silvy trembled not taking her eyes off the cackling mare, her prey senses screaming in her head. "I-I think w-we should get out of here.", Silvy stammered, her teeth chattering.

"Fine!"Diamond said, sticking her nose in the air, "This mare's got a rotten brain anyways. She probably doesn't recognize when a joke is funny." She turned with a harrumph and kicked dirt at the mare before trotting off.

The mare's mane went poofy as she threw her apple at Diamond Tiara, hitting her squarely in the back of the head, knocking her to the ground.

Standing from the ground, Diamond Tiara adjusting the now bent tiara on her head. "Hey!", she shouted, stomping towards the mare.

"HAHAHAHAHAhahahahahaHAHAHAHAHA!", the mare laughed maniacally, "Now that's a funny joke!"

Diamond Tiara took a couple of steps backwards before running off. "I'm telling my dad and you'll be sorry!", she shouted.

The mare still laughing massaged her cheeks. Taking the sticker sheet from under her shirt, ripped off the sticker on her flank and replaced the two missing stickers with snowflake ones. The mare then skipped off towards the center of town. Reaching Carousel Boutique she stopped, a striking purple suit with black pinstripes caught her eye. Her mane changed to a slicked-back pompadour and her laugh became a lilting giggle, "Ah-heeheehee-oo-heeheehee-oh-heeheehee." The mare knew she would teach the world to smile, this would be the suit she would wear when she did and that rotten little filly would be the first.

That night the mare snuck around Ponyville after its residents had gone to sleep. She jimmied the lock on the hardware store, stealing the cans of spray paint; red, purple and green. She kicked in the door to Barnyard Bargains, stealing several knives. She piled up some oily rags, lit a candle and set it up near them. Slipping the window open at the cosmetics store stealing several tubes of bright red lipstick. Carousel Boutique held the last piece she needed before beginning her mission to bring smiles to the faces of each and every pony. Picking up a large rock, she hurled it through the window shattering it and snatching the purple suit off the ponyquinn.

Rarity shot up at the sound of the shattering window. Making her way into the hallway, she gestured for a bleary-eyed Sweetie Belle to go back to her room. Stopping at the top of the stairs, she saw the broken glass on the floor, the ponyquin fall over and heard maniacal laughter fade into the night. She rushed to the hallway phone and called the police.

The mare ducked into an alleyway and put the purple suit on. Admiring herself in the reflection of a nearby window, she applied the lipstick. Her smile spread wide across her face fully revealing her discolored and crooked teeth. Creeping to Sugarcube Corner, she saw blinking red and blue lights down at the boutique. She began spray painting the statue of Pinkie Pie. When she finished her work the mare admired her work, the body of the statue was painted purple, the mouth had a big red smile painted on it, the mane and tail painted green. Taking in her work, she approved the likeness. Laughing she darted off into the night.

At the Rich manor the mare shimmied up a pipe and made her way over to Diamond Tiara's window. Looking in she saw the pink filly asleep. Taking a knife from inside her suit, the mare pried the window open and slipped inside silently. Returning the knife inside her suit, the mare propped the chair at the desk against the door. Reaching down with her hoof, the mare snatched up the sleeping filly by her mane and threw her across the room into the wall. Giggling, she trotted over to the filly.

Groaning, Diamond Tiara sat up and gasped seeing what looked like a giggling demonic skull-faced clown. She went to scream, but a hoof pressed against her mouth silenced her.

The mare shushed the filly, as she pulled her hoof away, indicating that any sound loud enough to otherwise heard would end in pain.

"Wh-who are you? What do you want?", Diamond Tiara whispered terrified.

"Aww! Wasa matter? Don't you recognize me? You're old blank flank pal? As for what I want?", the mare said, beginning to giggle, "I want to teach you how to smile!" She pulls a knife out of her suit and begins running the tip gently across the filly's cheek. "Now can you show me a real pretty smile?"

Diamond Tiara trembled like a leaf seeing the knife glint in the night, she did her best to give a school picture smile. A yellow stream trickled down her leg and pooled at her hoof.
"Now now, that's not a very good smile.", the mare giggled placing the blade at the corner of the fillies mouth, "Here let me show you how it's done!" The mare quickly flicked the blade in an upward curve.

Diamond Tiara shrieked as blood poured from the up curving half-smile on her.

Hoofbeats came up the hallway, the door handle jiggled as a pony tried to open the barricaded door. "Diamond Tiara?!", a stallion shouted pounding on the door.

"DADDY!", Diamond screamed.

The mare jammed the blade into the other side of Diamond's mouth and flicked the blade upwards again in a curve. 

Diamond screamed as she was thrown to the floor. The bedroom door was kicked to splinters and Filthy Rich charged through. The mare hurled the knife at his head causing him to duck. She dove through the window and bounded down to the street, laughing maniacally as she ran into night.

Filthy ran to his daughter and cradled her head. He nearly vomited when he saw her face. "Diamond, who did this?", he asked terrified.

"It was her daddy!", Diamond said between shrieking sobs, "The mare who laughed at..." Her words were cut off when she fainted.

The mare made her way to the train station and stole a hoof pumped cart, slipping down the rails into the night. As the dawn began to break, the mare ditched the hoof cart and walked on hoof to the outskirts of Manehattan. She began to laugh hoarsely as her mane went limp, "Heeheehee-hahaha-hoohoohoo! Ah Manehattan, if I can make this city smile, I can make all of Equestria smile."
********************************************************************************************************
*Monochrome's journal, Ponyville day 1*
Dear Journal,

It's been three days since I've written to you. I arrived in Ponyville late this morning. An old war buddy who had taken up the family business of smelting silver contacted me late last night, the daughter of a business associate of his was attacked last night after ten o'clock. On the train ride down I nodded off for an hour and had the same nightmare again. The sights, the sounds, the smells of ponies and diamond dogs hacked up or burning alive, all still just as vivid as if I was still fighting in those warrens. When I made it to Ponyville, the fireponies were sifting through the burnt down remains of a local store. It belonged to the business partner of my old war buddy, a too well fed wealthy pony named Filthy Rich. He shared with me how some crazed psychopath pony had carved up his daughter's face in her own bedroom. He said he didn't get a good look at who did it, just that the attacker wore a purple suit and had a green mane. I managed to convince him to let me talk with his daughter to confirm my suspicions. When I met with her in her hospital room it unsettled me on what I saw, though her face was not as cut up as I initially thought, it was her eyes that truly disturbed me. She was completely terrified and mentally broken. It's a wonder she was even able to talk at all. She described to me in detail, well in writing as the doctor had advised her against much talking for a few days so she wouldn't accidentally rip her stitches, the mare to a T. The stark white fur, the lack of a cutie mark, the bright green mane and tail. She went on to describe her encounter with mare that afternoon and the attack that night. She described her as having a "rotten brain" because she had an unusually wide smile and disturbing laugh. The mare had told her that she wanted to teach her how to smile. When I made my way around town I found that the statue made the element bearer of laughter, a mare named Pinkie Pie, had been vandalized. The body had been painted purple, the mouth had a big red smile painted on it, the mane and tail were painted green. This was not a random attack, this was a well thought-out series of crimes and this was a calling card. The local librarian, bearer of the element of magic and personal student of Celestia(may her name be cursed), a young, bookish and surprisingly insightful unicorn named Twilight Sparkle. I wonder if Twilight knows of her teacher's previous brilliant student that went missing? Probably not. That's what our divine princess of the sun does, takes on ponies she can manipulate, use and twist to her purposes, then discards us when we are no longer useful to her or are too broken. Twilight is very intuitive and managed to piece together on her own that the attack last night and the attack at the Canterlot hospital was carried out by the same pony. She also figured out something that I wasn't able to figure out; both attacks are themed around smiling. Oh dear auntie, you know how to pick the bright ones for your purposes don't you? Maybe that's why father didn't want me to join her military. The local newspaper already published a sensationalized headline calling the mare the Mare Who Laughed. It even included a poorly drawn composite sketch of the mare.
Sincerely yours, Monochrome

P.S. The local fashion pony and owner of the local boutique, a lovely unicorn named Rarity offered to make a new coat for me. If I were a few years younger, I might pursue her romantically.
********************************************************************************************************
*Four months later Manehattan*
Flim and Flam were sitting in their office on the Manehattan docks. Since their takeover of the Foundry Family last year with the help of their mysterious patron who couldn't afford to get his hooves dirty, profits had been up and up. That was until their bombing of the industrial alchemical lab that had resulted in the death of the element bearer of laughter. The backlash had been almost instant and if it wasn't for the fall back plan of their patron, most of the gang would have been arrested.

Flam lit a cigar as the two brothers began looking over the list of the take from their new protection rackets. Shaking down the Manehattan docks for protection money was more lucrative than anything they could have hoped to make in Canterlot. They didn't have the constant threat of the Royal Guard hanging over them, and it was easier to bribe or intimidate the police here.

The door to the office flew open, the guard staggered in. His eyes were bulging as a wide smile stretched unnaturally across his face, he was laughing hysterically. After several moments he collapsed to the floor gurgling as his heart stopped.

The mare walked in dragging a steamer trunk behind her. She was wearing a purple suit, orange shirt, green bow tie, purple top hat, and black spats on all four hooves.

"Who the Tartarus are you?!", Flam snapped.

With a theatrical flip of her hat, she began laughing hoarsely, "Heeheehee-hahaha-hoohoohoo! My calling card, gentlestallions!" She opened the steamer trunk, pulling out pictures of several ponies who had smiles carved into or had rictus grins just like their bodyguard and an old headline that read "Filly in Ponyville attacked by Mare Who Laughs". She walked over and tossed them on their desks.

The brothers levitated the photos and headline between them.

"Impressive work.", Flim said, "So wanting to join up?"

"No, not exactly.", the mare said as her mane became a slick pompadour, "Ah-heeheehee-oo-heeheehee-oh-heeheehee! I have two questions to ask you both. First, I know you two couldn't take over an automated factory without somepony to hold your hoof. So who's the pony holding your hoof?"

The two brothers rose to their hooves. "That's none of your business.", growled Flam, "I think it's time you get the fuck outta here before you suffer a sudden accident."

"Fair enough, fair enough!", the mare giggled, "Just let me ask my second question and I'll be on my way." She grabbed a nearby crowbar and hit Flim across the head with it, snapping his horn off and laying him out cold.

Flam gripped her in his magic and pinned her against the wall, slowly choking her. He walked up to her and said, "Do you realize how fucked you are?" Her mane became poofy as she began to laugh hysterically. Flam was slightly taken aback, his magic loosening slightly. This was all the opening the mare needed. She hit her left front hoof against the wall, causing a blade to spring out of the spat. She slashed it across his throat.

Flam staggered away, bright red blood poured from his neck and mouth. He gurgled and sputtered as he collapsed to the floor.

She stood up and dusted her suit off. She clicked her hoof against the floor, cause the blade to spring back into her spat. Walking over to Flim who was now waking up, the mare sat on him pinning to the floor. Pulling out a cylinder with snoutpiece from her suit she said, "Seeing as how your brother is indisposed and currently unavailable for comment, I guess you'll have to answer. Can you show me a pretty smile?" She placed the snoutpiece over his muzzle and sprayed some green gas from it.

Flim thrashed about on the floor, an unnatural smile spread across his face as he hysterically laughed until his heart gave out.

The mare walked out to the warehouse floor that served as the gang's hideout. A few dozen of the gang laid dead, either their throats slashed or their faces twisted into rictus grins. "Alright boys, we've got a parade and some fireworks to prepare.", the mare said, "Manehattan will learn to smile, courtesy of the Mare Who Laughs! HAHAHAHAhahahahAHAHAHAHahaha!"

Three weeks later, in Manehattan, a big parade went down Bridleway. Brightly colored floats rolled down the street, massive balloons were guided by teams of ponies, marching bands played lively tunes, clowns tumbled and danced, passing balloons out to the foals or tossing candy from the floats. The parade stopped at a big square, the bands stopped playing, balloon teams strained to keep the massive balloons under control, the clowns stood perfectly still.

All over the city television feeds cut to the Mare Who Laughs standing on a soundstage. Her purple sequined suit glittered on the camera as her bright red lips spread in an unnaturally wide smile. "Greetings Manehattan! I bet you're wondering what this parade is commemorating? Don't you worry, as I'm about to tell you. This parade is to commemorate the day I brought smiles to aaaaallll your faces!" She lifted up a remote with several switches. "Laugh with me!", she shouted as she flipped the switches, "HAHAHAHAhahahahaHAHAHAHAhahahaha!"

Green gas began to spray from the instruments of the marching bands and from under the floats. First the large balloons, then the small balloons popped releasing waves of green gas that flowed through the streets for several blocks. Ponies galloped through the streets trying to escape the gas. After several minutes the gas dissipated leaving thousands of dead or dying mares, stallions and foals in the streets, all with rictus grins on their faces.

"And now for the grand finale!", the Mare Who Laughs said on the TV sets. She pressed a red button.
Dozens of explosions rocked the tallest skyscrapers across the city as bombs and fireworks detonated creating burning smiley faces in the buildings. All the televisions switched to test patterns and emergency broadcasts.

The next morning, Luna sat weeping bitterly on her throne, as she held her head in her hooves. The nightmares she had to fight combined with the death toll, especially the foals, were too much for her.

Celestia walked in from her room. Her eyes were swollen from crying all night, as she was not faring much better than Luna. She went to hug her sister, but Luna pushed her away.

Luna rose from her throne and spoke with air of authority, "Sister, we need to call upon his services now! I have it on good authority he's in Ponyville right now as we speak, but he won't stay there for long. With or without you I'm going to talk to him."

"You're right Luna. We should have called him up sooner.", Celestia said, "I've ordered all trains in or out of Manehattan halted unless they're carrying relief workers. Let's go to him now." Both sisters disappeared in a flash of golden and deep blue light.

Monochrome was sitting at a table outside Sugarcube Corner picking at an apple turnover when a flash of golden and deep blue light caught his attention off to his side. Looking up he watched Celestia and Luna walk up. "Hello, dearest aunts. I figured you two would have come looking for me sooner.", he said coldly. His light grey coat bristled, his black mane blew in the slight breeze, his dark grey eyes narrowed.

"And good morning to you too Calligraphy!", Celestia said in her best attempt to sound cheery.

Monochrome spat at Celestia's hooves. "If I've told you once, I've told you a hundred times, Calligraphy is dead. He died in your damned war aunt. My name is Monochrome."

"Calligraphy, Monochrome, it matters not what your name is.", Luna said, "My sister and I are in need of the talents the son of our older brother possesses."

"More like you've been hounding your sister for weeks to call on me and only now that hundreds lay dead has she budged.", Monochrome said, smirking bitterly.

"Calli...Monochrome, come with us to Golden Oaks library so we can talk in private.", Celestia said.

As they entered the library, Twilight ran up to see her teacher.

"I'm sorry Twilight, I don't have time for pleasantries right now.", Celestia said, "I need you and Spike to go elsewhere for the time being. My sister and I have official business with...err...Monochrome."

Monochrome watched Twilight bow and leave. After she left the library Monochrome asked, "Have you told her who her great grandfather is yet?"

"No I have not. You know as well as I that he is highly skilled at concealing himself.", Celestia said slightly agitated, "But we're getting off topic. Luna and I came here to offer you this." Both sisters ignited their magic and an elaborate scroll appeared in a flash of golden and deep blue light.

Monochrome ignited the magic in his horn with a sepia aura. He levitated the scroll over to his face, opened it and began reading it. "If I'm reading this right, this is a Royal writ of hunting.", Monochrome said, running his eyes over the document, "This essentially gives me full immunity and jurisprudence to bring in the enemies of the crown. But I see one error, there is no expiration date."

"Nay nephew, our sister and we made erred not.", Luna chimed in, "Thou shalt be our brigand hunter general and thou shalt be able to acquire any services or of any pony, just don't abuse that privilege or we shall personally hunt thee. We know thou have personal issues with our sister, so thou shalt report to we. Go and assemble the ponies thou shalt need to assist thee. And I personally implore you to please write to your father. He misses you so."
> Multiple choice (edit)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Mare Who Laughs sat in a chair sleeping in one of her gang's hideouts after nearly a week of manic celebration and planning the next step. She twitched and grunted in her sleep as she dreamed.
In the dream, a pink mare wandered lost through a maze, the various statues that lined the pathways of the twisting maze smiled maliciously. Soon, the maze shifted to twisting and winding corridors.
The pink mare stopped, sitting on her haunches and looking around. "Where am I? How did I get here?", the pink mare asked herself. "Come on think.", the pink said to herself before coming to the shocking realization that she couldn't remember her name. "Come on think. Glbgdhtq would say..." She froze in shock when she heard herself speak gibberish and couldn't remember the name of the pony she was thinking of or their face. She knew the pony was her friend. Maybe?
Suddenly a group of pictures appeared on the wall in a frame depicting a nurse being carved up with a scalpel. Gasping in horror, the pink mare backed away from the picture frame depicting the horrible crime.

Another picture frame appeared on the wall behind her depicting several pictures of a dusty pink filly screaming in horror as the corners of her mouth were cruelly carved into a smile. Tears of fear began welling in the pink mare's eyes as she scrambled to the center of the hallway.

Another picture frame appeared with several pictures of a unicorn stallion with a broken horn having a strange breathing apparatus forced over his snout, being made to breathe in some strange green gas and him dying laughing.
More and more pictures appeared on the walls. They all depicted hundreds of mares, stallions, fillies, and colts lying dead in the streets of a city, all had their faces twisted in frightening smiles.
The pink mare began to cry and tremble as she whimpered, "What's going on? Where am I? How did I get here? And why can't I remember who I am?"

Suddenly, malicious laughter began echoing throughout the twisted corridors as the walls closed off forming a single spiraling hallway. "Come on down and we'll show you!", three voices said in unison. A light outlining a door shown at the far end of the hall.

Her legs trembling uncontrollably, the pink mare made her way slowly to the door. Looking up at the symbol on the door, it had three paintings of theatrical masks, all depicting laughing faces. As the pink mare reached her hoof to the door handle, it snapped open revealing a dark room with a cone of light shining in the center. As the pink mare apprehensively walked into the room, the door slammed shut, disappearing into the darkness.

Out of the darkness three full length mirrors slid into the column of light. Inside the mirrors appeared three stark white mares with green manes and unnaturally wide smiles, all laughing. The first mare's mane hung limply, the second mare's mane was poofy, the third mare's was a pompadour. The pink mare gasped in horror as the glass of the mirrors cracked and shattered as the three mares stepped through.

"Why have you done such terrible things?", the pink mare asked.

"Heeheehee-hahaha-hoohoohoo!", the first mare laughed hoarsely, "Because it's funny!"

"Funny?!", the pink mare said indignantly, "It's not funny to hurt others ponies! You need to stop now!"

"HAHAHAHAhahahahAHAHAHAHAhahahaha!", the second mare laughed maniacally, "Stop?! We're not going to stop until we bring laughter to every last pony in Equestria!"

"No no no no no!", the mare shook her head as tears ran down her cheeks, "That's not how you make ponies laugh."

"Ah-heeheehee-oh-heeheehee-oo-heeheehee!", the third mare giggled maliciously, "Yes yes yes yes yes! And we won't stop until everpony gets the joke!"

The three laughing mares began walking towards the pink mare as she backed away, terrified. A fourth mirror appeared in the dark. The pink mare froze in horror as she bumped into the mirror. Turning her head, she saw no reflection in the mirror. Turning back to the three laughing mares, the pink mare shrieked in terror as the three mares shoved her into the mirror. The pink mare pounded on the inside of the mirror frantically as she screamed and begged wordlessly to be released. The three laughing mares shoved the mirror into the darkness.

The Mare Who Laughs snapped away with a snort. Her mane went poofy as she began to laugh maniacally. Walking over to her steamer trunk, she put on her garish purple suit. Sitting at the vanity, she applied bright red lipstick. There was a knock at the door behind her. "Come in!", she cackled.

"Uh...hi boss.", a rotund earth pony said walking in, "We nabbed those three reports like you wanted."

"Very good!", the mare cackled, "Make sure the boys have three cameras with a tape in each. I'll be along shortly. My adoring public deserves to see what I have to say!"

Writing a short letter, she placed it in an envelope then plucked a hair from her tail and placed it in the envelope. Sealing the envelope and placing a stamp on it she addressed it, To: The Statue of Discord in Canterlot C/O Their Royal Hiney-nesses, From: Ha-ha-ha! Fetching a fresh cylinder from the wall, she fitted it with a fresh snoutpiece. Walking out the door, she passed the envelope to a henchpony, "Place this on one of the bodies being sent to a morgue in Canterlot with directions to have it mailed to the Royal Palace."

As the Mare Who Laughs walks up to a locked door, she gestured to two henchponies wearing clown masks. Unlocking the door, the trio walks inside the room that was little bigger than a supply closet. Turning on the light reveals a sea green pegasus mare duct taped to a chair with a heavy black cloth bag over her head. From under the bag came muffled crying.

At the sound of movement in the room the pegasus mare began thrashing her head about trying to shake the bag off. "Please, just let me go!", the pegasus begged in a muffled tone under the bag.

The Mare Who Laughs gestured to the two henchponies. They set down a chair, left the room, and locked the door behind them. The Mare Who Laughs checked her mane in the reflection in the lens before turning the camera on. Walking over to the duct taped pony, The Mare Who Laughs took the bag off her soon-to-be victim's head.

The pegasus mare blinked, her eyes adjusting the light. She gasped, seeing a stark white mare with poofy green mane and an unnaturally wide smile with bright red lips taking a seat across from her laughing maniacally. "Please let me go. I promise I won't tell anypony.", the pegasus mare begged terrified as tears rolled down her cheeks.

The Mare Who Laughs shushed her. "Now now!", the mare chided her victim gently, "Calm down. You didn't even ask me why I brought you here today!" She cackled maliciously as her unnatural smile spread wider.

"Wh-why did you bring me here?", the pegasus mare asked, trembling.

The Mare Who Laughs gestured to the camera theatrically, "Why to give you an exclusive interview for my adoring public! I promise after it is over you'll never see my face again! Let's begin the interview shall we?"

"H-how should I in-interview y-you?", the pegasus mare stammered.

"Oh you know! Typical reporter banter, tell your name, who you work for, and who you're interviewing!", the Mare Who Laughs cackled before clearing her throat, "Then ask things like my family life or what I did before this or whatever comes to your mind. I promise after the interview you'll have a smile on your face. Think you can do that?"

The pegasus mare nodded her head nervously.

"Excellent! Let's get started! Whenever you're ready!", the Mare Who Laughs cackled.

The pegasus mare cleared her throat and did her best to sound less afraid, "M-my name is Hot Take. I work for WLSTA out of Manehattan. I am interviewing the wanted terrorist known as the Mare Who Laughs.", she said as a fearful tear rolled down her cheek.

The Mare who Laughs smiled unnaturally wide while cackling maniacally as she spoke, "Thank you for having me, Hot Take!"

Hot Take trembled as she continued, "W-w-what did you do before becoming a terrorist?"

"I was a comedian called Jane Napier working out of Maretropolis. My career was going nowhere and I had become chronically depressed.", the Mare Who Laughs said between cackles, "I had recently married a pegasus author named Windy Prairie. Times were tough as she was still waiting to get her first book published. To make some fast cash, I had taken up boxing. One day, I was approached by some mobsters to take a fall. The money was right, but I couldn't risk my integrity as a boxer. The day after I refused to take the fall, the mobsters tried to run me down with a wagon loaded with barrels of alchemical compounds. My wife shoved me out of the way and got crushed under the wheels. I didn't fare so well, as one of the barrels fell off the wagon and ruptured, dousing me in the alchemic compounds."
The Mare Who Laughs took a moment to clear her throat, "When I woke up in the hospital, I found I looked like this. Three days later I tried to hang myself, only for the rope to break. As I laid on the floor crying, I suddenly found I couldn't stop laughing. For some reason everything just seemed funny. A realization came to me." The Mare Who Laughs started laughing uncontrollably.

A tear ran down Hot Take's cheek. "I'm sorry for your loss.", she said sadly, "What was your epiphany?"

The Mare Who Laughs took a cylinder with a snoutpiece on it from inside her purple coat. "I found out that everything was a joke! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAhahahahaha!"
She stalked over to Hot Take as slipped the snoutpiece over her muzzle as Hot Take tried to twist her head away. Green gas sprayed into the snoutpiece and a few seconds later Hot Take started laughing uncontrollably as the Mare Who Laughs laughed with her. After several minutes Hot Take began to cough up blood as she died with a gurgling laugh. The Mare Who Laughs gave the camera one last smile before turning it off and taking out the tape.

As the Mare Who Laughs reached the door her mane became a pompadour and she started giggling maliciously. Reaching up a hoof, she knocked on the door. When the henchponies opened the door, she walked past them and went to her office. Entering her office, she placed the tape and cylinder on the desk, opened a box. She took out a syringe filled with a green glowing substance.

As the Mare Who Laughs left her office, she pointed to two henchponies who had their faces painted up like mimes and wore black body suits. Placing the syringe under her mane, the trio walked to another locked door. Unlocking the door, she nodded to the two henchponies who locked the door behind her after she had walked through. Flipping on the light switch revealed a large empty room with several dusty pallets laying around. In the center was a grey earth pony stallion tied to a chair with a full head clown mask over his head that had the eyes duct taped over. She stacked up several pallets into a makeshift seat. She then turned on the camera and removed the clown mask off her next victim.

The stallion stared indignantly at his kidnapper. "Who are you?! What do you want with me?!", he snapped.
Giggling maliciously the Mare Who Laughs sat on the pallets. "Aww, what's the matter? Don't you recognize my face?", she chuckled. She gestured at the camera. "As for what I want, I want to give you an exclusive interview for my adoring public."

"Why would I give an interview to some filthy foal murdering terrorist?", the stallion growled through gritted teeth.

"You don't want to know where I come from and why I do what I do?" The Mare chuckled as she grinned unnaturally wide, "I promise when you're done here you'll never see me again and you'll leave with a smile on your face."

"Fine.", the stallion growled in the back of his throat, "Why do you do these horrible things?"

"Nah ah ah!", the Mare giggled, "First you have to give your name, who you work for, and who you're interviewing. Then you ask your questions."

The stallion sighed angrily. "My name is Spinning Headline. I work for KLTV Manehattan. I am interviewing...if that's what you can call this...the wanted terrorist who is painted up like a hateful harlequin known as the Mare Who Laughs." Spinning Headline grumbled softly before continuing, "So what drove you to this?"

"Why thank you for having Mr. Headline.", the Mare Who Laughs giggled maliciously, "I worked in an alchemical factory in downtown Bronieston, Maresechuttets. My name was Dianne White and I was working the night shift when some thugs broke in. One of them was wearing a shiny red dome on his head. That's when a rare thestral had descended from the rafters to stop the thugs, but they took me as a pony shield. The thestral threw a boomerang at the thug, knocking him out cold. In the chaos I got knocked over the railing and fell into an open vat of alchemical acid. For his valiant effort, the thestral tried to save me but took a crossbow bolt to the knee. The emergency flush system was activated, but I got sucked into the river. I woke up three days late face down one the muddy bank. Looking in a puddle, my face looked like this. That's when I heard a voice talk to me."

"What did the voice say to you?", Spinning Headline asked enthralled.

"It said I have given you a big smile and the knowledge how to give every pony one to match it. Go forth my daughter and share smiles with all Equestria.", the Mare Who Laughs said between malicious giggles. She took the syringe from under her mane and walked over to the stallion. "Ah-heeheehee-oh-heeheehee-oo-heeheehee!", she giggled as she pressed the needle into Spinning Headline's neck, injecting the toxin into him before tossing the empty syringe across the room.

Spinning Headline thrashed about violently in a seizure before his heart gave out. As he died, his face twisted into a smile. The Mare turns off the camera and takes the tape out. As she reached the door, her mane drooped becoming silky smooth. Reaching up a hoof, she knocked on the door. The two henchponies opened the door and she walked past them to her office.

As she reached her office, she placed the tape on the desk, opened a drawer. She pulled out a knife and a short length of rope. Leaving the office, she placed the knife and rope inside her purple jacket. Gesturing to two henchponies wearing rainbow wigs, their faces painted up in colorful paint and wearing brightly colored clothes. The trio walked to a third locked door. As they reached the door, she gestured to the henchponies, and they locked the door after she walked through they locked the door. Turning on the light switch, the room was large and filled with crates. Tied to the central column was a red unicorn mare who had her horn sawed off. She had shaken off the bag over her head and glared at the Mare Who Laughs.
"Oh good!", the Mare laughed evilly, "You're ready to give my adoring public an exclusive interview!" She trotted over to the camera and turned it on.

The unicorn mare spit in the Mare Who Laughs's face. "Interview?! I wouldn't ask you what you favorite color if my life depends on it!", the unicorn mare snarled, "You're just going to murder me anyways. I may have received a medical discharge from the Royal Guard after I shattered my leg stopping a riot, but when Captain Shining Armor catches up with you, you're going to be royally fucked!"

Wiping the spit from her cheek the Mare laughed hoarsely, "Heeheehee-haahaaahaa-hoohoohoo! Very well! Have it your way! But before I do, I'll tell you my backstory! I was born in West Mareginia on a rock farm to a very happy but conservative family. My name was Hailey Quinn. My was always smiling, where I was always frowning and depressed. One morning there was an explosion in one of the mines that killed my mother, brother and two sisters. Soon my father became very sad. He turned to the bottle to keep from crying. When he became drunk, he would get angry and abusive, a complete and total bastard. Sometimes I would run away only for him to find me, drag me back home and beat me savagely. As the years went on, I never got my cutie mark, which made him even more depressed and turn to the bottle more, which just made him even angrier. One morning, he snatched me out of bed by my mane and started punching me in the face brutally. He broke the bones of my face before dragging me to the kitchen and grabbing a knife." The Mare Who Laughs pulled the knife out from under her mane and placed it in the unicorn's mouth. "The bastard carved this smile onto my face while screaming that everything was a joke! I must have been screaming pretty loud before I blacked out. One of the neighbors busted in and had to beat him down with their hooves. I woke up two days later in the hospital where a police pony had told me my dad was in jail for foal abuse and attempted murder. I never saw him again because three inmates strangled him in his cell. Once I was well enough to leave the hospital, I was placed in an orphanage, but nopony would adopt me because of my carved up face. I never forgot the last thing my father told me."
She then split the unicorn mare's cheek open with the knife. As the unicorn mare screamed in pain as the Mare shoved the knife into the other side of the unicorn's mouth and split the other cheek open. She then pinned the unicorn's head to the column and carved triangles on her cheeks. After her work was done the Mare Who Laughs let her victim's head hang inspecting her work.

The unicorn mare weeped in pain and horror. "Why? Why? All because an abusive father fucked your face up? So you take it out on the world?"

"Shh! Shh! Don't you get it? It's all a joke! Heeheehee-hahaha-hoohoohoo!", the Mare laughed hoarsely. Tossing the bloody knife aside, she removed the length of rope from her jacket and garroted the unicorn mare. After she killed her third victim, she turned off the camera and took out the tape. Walking to the door, she knocked on it and the henchponies opened it.

As the Mare was walking to her office several of her henchponies approached her. "Uh, boss? Me and the other boys have a question for you."

The Mare Who Laughs mane went poofy. "Oh but of course, my good gentlecolts!", she cackled.

"Was any of that you told those three reporters true?", the henchpony asked.

"It is both true and false!", the Mare cackled, "Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes I remember it another. If I'm going to have a history, I prefer it to be multiple choice!" She threw back her head and laughed maniacally. "Now if you'll excuse me, gentlecolts, I have some tapes to mail."
> Bad days and unfunny jokes (edit)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

That night, the Mare Who Laughs orders her thugs to smuggle the bodies of the three reporters into their apartments and have the locks jammed shut while she edits all three videos. In the morning, she places the three video cassettes into simple parcel envelopes and addresses each to a different TV station. Sitting at a vanity, she massages her cheeks until her smile turns into a neutral expression. She smears tan makeup on her coat and slips a plain blonde wig over her mane. Pinning up her tail, she attaches blonde extensions to it. For the final touch she scrapes some of the makeup off her flanks in a simple hopscotch pattern. "Not very flamboyant, but it will do", she chuckles.

Picking up the envelopes, she walked out of her office and turns to several henchponies, "Secure passage to Whinnyapolis and get me several magical restraining rings, I've got some wonderful plans for the future!" She heads out for a few hours dropping off the envelopes at three different post offices and walking around town listening to the gossip. Making her way back to the warehouse where several of her henchponies met her carrying a body bag.

"We found a way to get you to Whinnyapolis, though you may not like it.", a henchpony said, "You'll have to pretend to be a dead body headed for the morgue there. A couple of the boys will meet us at the train yard with the magic restrainers."
Taking off the wig, her mane went poofy as the unnaturally wide smile spread across her face. Unzipping the body bag, she took out the corpse of a stallion and propped it up next to her. "Don't worry old chum, stiff upper lip! I bet you seeing me like this makes you get stiff! I've heard of scared stiff, but this takes the cake!", she joked while laughing. When the henchponies just coughed nervously, she yelled, "You colts wouldn't know funny if it kicked you in the fucking nuts!" She crawled in the body bag as several of the henchponies donned jumpsuits and caps disguising themselves as railroad workers. Zipping the body bag up, they loaded it on a wagon and set off towards the freight train bound for Whinnyapolis.

That night as the train stopped at a checkpoint, one of the henchponies unzipped the body bag hiding the Mare Who Laughs and helped her out of it. As the door opened another henchpony said, "Come on boss! The army is doing a check on all the body bags. Don't worry, we secured a carriage for you." The group quietly scrambled away from the train and down to the road. They helped her into a waiting carriage. "We'll be nearly to Whinnyapolis by tomorrow evening."

"Good good!", the Mare Who Laughs cackled hoarsely as her mane hung limply, "I have some ideas to die for! Heeheehee-hahaha-hoohoohoo!"
********************************************************************************************************

Back in Ponyville, Monochrome had taken over Twilight's basement laboratory, much to her chagrin. Coolers were stacked up all around the laboratory filled with hundreds of blood and tissue and blood samples from the victims of the Manehattan attack. Monochrome sat at the desk, his head laid on his notes as he slept. He would twitch or mumble incoherently as his dreams were filled with the horrifying sights, sounds and smells of the war eight years ago.

Upstairs Twilight was talking quietly with Celestia who had come to visit. "Something's not right with Monochrome, Princess.", Twilight said, "He barely sleeps and when he does, he thrashes about mumbling before waking up covered in sweat."

"Twilight, Monochrome fought in the Diamond Dog War eight years ago.", Celestia explained, "Though he only served for a year, he saw and did some pretty terrifying things. When a pony goes through something like that, it changes them and leaves a permanent wound on their mind. I wouldn't want to meet a pony who's okay after that. You should visit a veteran's hospital, there are entire wings filled with ponies who cry hours at a time, others tremble constantly and others retreat completely into their own minds becoming catatonic. On one of Monochrome's first tours, nearly his whole squad was killed in an ambush."

"Survivor's guilt combined with PTSD!", Twilight gasped, "I read something about those two disorders a few months back." She ran to a shelf and pulled down a copy of psychological disorders and mental illnesses volume three. Plopping the book down on a table, she opened it to the section on survivor's guilt as Celestia walked over a read over her shoulder. 

"Survivor's guilt.", Twilight read out loud, "Individuals dealing with survivor's guilt are often wracked with feelings of intense guilt or regret after witnessing the death of family members, friends or innocents to sickness, violence or accidents. Individuals most commonly affected are caretakers, rescue workers and soldiers. Common symptoms are self-blame, depression and thoughts of self harm or suicide. In extreme cases individuals may become violent or swear oaths of vengeance."

Twilight quickly flipped to the section on PTSD and read out loud, "Post-traumatic stress disorder(PTSD), sometimes called war shock or battle fatigue is caused when an individual is a victim of or witnessed or made to participate in violent actions. Common individuals suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder are soldiers who have seen combat, law of enforcement officers who are forced to engage in violent altercations with criminals or witnessing particularly gruesome come scenes especially involving foals, survivors of domestic or foal abuse, survivors of rape especially victims of sex slavery, rescue workers witnessing the death of innocents especially if the dead are foals or the elderly/infirm and survivors of serious accidents, cave-ins or fires. Common symptoms of PTSD are insomnia, reliving the traumatic events in the mind, depression, migraines, anxiety or other nervous conditions, thrill-seeking or participating in dangerous actions, thoughts of self harm or suicide. In extreme cases individuals may display violent actions(common for soldiers that have experienced combat who are startled or placed under extreme mental stress), schizophrenia, dissociative personality disorder, complete personality change." Twilight raised her head and her eyes widened in an epiphany moment. Snatching up the book, she ran down to the basement with Celestia on her heels.

Reaching the sleeping Monochrome, Twilight raised a hoof and tapped him on the shoulder, "Monochrome, I-URK!"

Monochrome snapped awake his mind still in the war, lunged at Twilight and screamed, "DIE DIAMOND DOG!" Pinning her to the floor, he pressed a hoof into Twilight's throat choking her.

Celestia immediately recognized what was happening and shouted, "AT EASE SOLDIER!"

Monochrome snapped back to reality, seeing Twilight coughing and gasping. He stared at his hooves seeing them covered in blood, a tear ran down his cheek. When Celestia walked forward slowly, he screamed scrambling away in fright and huddled in the corner trembling.

Twilight rose from the floor with a help from Celestia. She walk over to Monochrome, extending a hoof and said, "Monochrome, are you-"

"STAY AWAY!", Monochrome screamed in panic and horror, "I'M A MONSTER!" He hid his face in his hooves, his sides heaving as he wept bitterly.
********************************************************************************************************

As the carriage carrying the Mare Who Laughs and her henchponies began reaching the outskirts of Whinnyapolis a henchpony said, "So boss, what's the plan?"

The Mare Who Laughs mane became a pompadour as she giggled maliciously. "I have something in mind so beautiful and delicious that it will put a smile on everyponies faces!", she cackled as her eyes burned with malicious light, "Just tell the boys to keep to the industrial district."

After they reached Whinnyapolis proper, the carriage was ditched in an abandoned building. The Mare Who Laughs hastily cobbled together a disguise from soot from a nearby fire barrel and some clothes taken from a homeless ponies that the henchponies beat to death before dumping their bodies down a ponyhole.

The Mare Who Laughs set up a new headquarters in an abandoned sugar refinery. The next day her steamer trunk was brought to her. She sent out henchponies to get city plans and copies of building permits. When they were delivered to her, she laid them out in her new office combing them over. Her mane went poofy as she drew smiley faces over a candy factory, a makeup manufacturer and an asylum. She double checked the building permits for the candy factory and the makeup manufacturer.

Passing the building permits to some henchponies, she said, "Find out who owns them and inform the owners that a business mare wants to buy into their companies!", she laughed maliciously. Tapping a hoof on the city grid, she turned to another group of Henchponie, "Go inside and disguise yourselves as dis-orderlies. See who is significantly pliable." When the henchponies didn't laugh her mane became limp and hatred burned in her eyes. "Laugh! It's a funny joke!", she said hoarsely with a chuckle. The henchponies laughed nervously. She threw her head back in hoarse malicious laughter, "The next time I tell a joke that you don't laugh at, I'll carve you a smile so wide your head falls off!"

A muscle twitched in her cheek as her mane became poofy. She shooed the henchponies off. After the henchponies left she began to laugh uncontrollably, "HAHAHHAHAHAHAhahahahahahahhaaHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA! It looks like I'll be expecting a visit from a princess tonight!" She set up the old rickety office chair in the corner and waited for night. Once it got dark, she leaned back in the chair and let herself drift to sleep.

Luna was drifting through the dream aether, calming the nightmares of terrified and traumatized ponies so she could help them sleep well, when she came across a strange dream. She dove into the dream and found herself in a constantly shifting maze. As she trod through the maze, statues and shrubbery sculptures leered down at her with unnatural smiles as laughter echoed from everywhere. "It seems somepony was expecting me and thinks to lay a trap.", she rumbled in her throat. "If thou thinkest that thou can wrestle with us, then thou art most mistaken! This is our realm and we reign supreme here!", she called out in the royal voice.

Luna was answered by intense malicious laughter and the sickly sweet stench of decay. "Very well, knave. If thou seekest to test thy mettle against us, then let us show thee a taste of our power!", Luna shouted in the royal voice. With a flap of her wings, she dispelled the maze into a black plain.

Soon the plain was replaced by the streets of Manehattan, filled with dead bodies of ponies whose faces were twisted into rictus smiles. One by one the bodies began to rise surrounding Luna. "Why couldn't protect us princess?", the first freshly risen body said with an unnatural smile. "Why didn't you save me princess?", an unnaturally smiling filly asked. Soon the bodies began asking, "Why didn't you save us?"

"ENOUGH!", Luna shouted, spreading her wings dispelling the bodies, "Show thyself, knave!"

The cityscape fell away into a small dark room that had a studio door with three laughing faces on it, a sign hung off it reading, "Enter your royal hiney-ness".

Luna slowly opened the door revealing a lone room with a spotlight in the center turned away from her. "We know a trap when we see one, knave.", Luna hissed, "Thy attempts are petty and foalish." A wall appeared behind Luna and rushed up shoving her into the room. "Very well! We shall play the game for now, jackanape.", Luna growled, the anger slowly growing in her.

Luna slowly stalked around the mirror, she saw a pink mare inside crying. When the pink mare saw Luna she began to shout and beg with silent words as she pounded on the mirror. Luna reached a hoof to the mirror to break it when the pink mare recoiled in horror pointing a hoof. Luna snapped around to three solid white mares with green manes walking up to her laughing. The first one’s mane hung loosely, the second one’s mane was poofy, the third one’s mane was a pompadour. 

Luna raised her eyebrow in contempt. "Three of you.", she snarled. Luna reached out with her power to look for signs of a shared dream. "Nay, 'tis not a shared dream.", Luna said softly, "Three shares the mind with a fourth that they keep hostage."

The first mare clapped her hoof together sarcastically. "Heeheehee-hahaha-hoohoohoo!", she laughed hoarsely, "Took you this long to figure it out? And here I thought you were supposed to be the smart one!"

"Silence, knave! Thou hast no right to address us in such a manner in our realm!", Luna growled dangerously.

The second mare laid a hoof melodramatically on her forehead. "HAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahahaha!", she laughed maniacally, "You wound me princess! Has all that time on the moon robbed you of your manners? This may be your realm, but it is my house!"

"Thou mockest us! The Princess of the Night and the Mistress of Dreams?", Luna snapped.

"Ah-heeheehee-oh-heeheehee-oo-heeheehee!", the third mare giggled maliciously, "I do mock you. But I also come to show you that you're powerless to stop my plans!"

The three mares walked past Luna and shoved the mirror into the darkness.

"Show thy plans, jackanape, so that we can see the looks on thy faces when we dismantle them and throw thee into a dungeon!", Luna snarled.

The first mare leaned to the side revealing the lands of Equestria flooded with blood as the buildings burned and the ponies laid dead with smiles on their faces.

The second mare leaned to the side showing Celestia screaming as a crooked smile is carved on her face.

The third mare leaned to the side showing Celestia with a clown pattern carved on her face crying before a dead gnarled tree. Luna was hanging dead from one the branches with her cheeks split open in a twisted smile.

The three mares looked past Luna laughing causing her to turn her head. She gasped in shock seeing Twilight using the element of magic. "How do you plan to stop us...", the first mare cackled. "...when you can't even guard your thoughts...", the second mare continued laughing. "...oh what a tragically delicious turn of fate!", the third mare finished giggling.

"NAY! THOU SHALT NOT HARM OUR FIRST AND DEAREST FRIEND! IF THOU COMEST NEAR HER, WE SHALL CAST THEE HEADLONG INTO THE DEEPEST PITS OF TARTARUS!", Luna screamed in rage. She scattered the dream with a mighty flap of her wings.

"Tell your 'friend' to not interfere in our plans and she may just yet survive!", the three voices laughed out of the darkness.

Luna snapped her eyes open as she came out of the dream aether. Dread filled her as she ran through the palace hallways. She dodged around or teleported past the night guards. Bursting through Celestia's door, she shouted, "SISTER!"

Celestia sat up taking the mask off her eyes. Looking out the window she saw it was still dark. "It's the middle of the night, Luna! What's the-", her words caught in her throat seeing the fear and panic on Luna's face. "Luna? What's the matter?", Celestia said gently rising slowly from her bed and caressing her sister's cheek with a hoof.

"I just encountered the terrorist in the dream realm!", Luna said trying to slow her heart, "Take me to the elements, I need to confirm something." Tears began to flow down her cheeks
> No reason (edit)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Celestia opened the vault where the Elements of Harmony were stored. Luna levitated the jeweled box holding them over and opened it. She levitated the Element of Laughter out and studied it. Luna lit her magic and the Element of Laughter briefly glinted. Celestia gasped that the Element of Laughter wasn't inert stone.

"Does this mean Pinkie isn't dead?", Celestia asked.

"Verily sister.", Luna replied, "Though I feel she is locked away somewhere we cannot find her."

Tears began to bead in Celestia's eyes. "Does this have something to do with the terrorist?"

"Indeed, though I have no real proof yet, only suspicions.", Luna replied. Tears began to swell in her eyes and drip down her cheeks. "I fear that we may never see her again." She began to give choked sobs. "Tia, I think I may have inadvertently put Twilight in danger."

"Nonsense , Lulu. Twilight and her friends are constantly in danger because they bear the Elements.", Celestia affirmed.

Luna turned her head to Celestia. "No, you don't understand, sister. When I confronted the terrorist, she was able to momentarily pierce my mental defenses and see that Twilight is a very dear friend. Her power over her mind and dreams were like no other pony I've encountered before. The terrorist has insights into the dreamscape that no mortal should."

"No Luna, the terrorist doesn't. She was playing mind games. The criminal worships death and thrives on chaos.", Celestia said reassuringly.

"Did somepony say chaos?" a familiar voice chimed in the back of Celestia's mind.

Celestia directed her thought inward, "Discord, why are here. You've lost all power after the element bearers imprisoned you."

"You should know as well your sister or I that I've never lost my powers. Though my ability to influence the world has been sealed away, my mind is free to wander where it may.", Discord said in Celestia's mind, "And before you ask, yes, I have felt the chaos this mare has caused. It was enough that I could have shattered my prison."

"So why didn't you break your prison and inflict yourself upon this world?", Celestia thought.

"Because you need me and I have decided to stay where I am until you ask me for my help. Besides you know as well as I do that my pranks never hurt anypony. Her pranks are just mean and like you said, she worships death.", Discord projected in Celestia's mind, "But before I go, I will let you know one thing. I feel one day soon she will force your hoof and you will have to choose to take matters into your own hooves or ask me to handle it for you. I think I know which you will ultimately choose. After all, we can't get those pristine white hooves dirty." With that, Discord left Celestia's mind with a laugh.
********************************************************************************************************

As the weeks rolled on in Whinnyapolis, The Mare Who Laughs began spreading her influence though the city like the tendrils of some great beast. First, she spread her metaphorical tendrils into the slums, drawing the homeless, the addicts and the desperate to her. Then, she spread to the asylum, drawing in the violently mentally ill and the few criminals that had managed to dodge prison time with successful insanity pleas. She then spread to the labs, drawing the unethical alchemists and pharmacists to her. Then, she spread to the business district, entangling crooked businessponies, ensuring a flow of bits. Finally, she spread to the factories, snaking her metaphorical tendrils into their operation. Once she had gathered what she needed, she began replacing the workers of the two factories with members of her gang, preparing their owners for her hostile takeover.

The Mare Who Laughs laughed when she learned the TV stations had received her care packages and the bodies of the reporters had been found, though it did disappoint her that they refused to play her little art projects. When she learned that the TV station had mailed the tapes out, she had their destination traced. It amused her that they were first sent to Canterlot then to Ponyville. It filled her with wicked glee that her little home movies had probably traumatized the princesses, though it intrigued her that they had been sent to Ponyville. Maybe the princesses had sent them to the element bearers, though it was more likely that they had some agent or detective under their employment. She sent a couple members of her gang to gather information on exactly where the tapes had been sent.

On the day that The Mare Who Laughs decided to take control of the two factories, she had a purple zoot suit with a wide brimmed hat brought up to her makeshift office. As she made her way to the make-up factory, one of the alchemists had given her a syringe of purple substance and a modified squirt flower filled with acid. The alchemist said the syringe was filled with a modified version of her laughing toxin that would drive any pony injected with it insane and they would spend the rest of their days laughing. As she arrived at the make-up factory, her mane became a pompadour. Adjusting the squirt flower on her lapel, she approached the door. Two of her thugs ,disguised as guards, opened the door for her, after she walked in the guards walked inside and locked the door. Giving a quick nod to her thugs as she walked up the stairwell to the office, they went around locking the doors. She opened the door to the office, behind the desk sat a fat, haggard mare with a light purple coat and a grey mane pulled into a bun, frown lines etched on her face. Behind her were two massive stallion bodyguards.

"Let's get down to business. I'm a very busy mare and I have no time to waste.", the fat mare said, glowering.

The Mare Who Laughs giggled maliciously. "Ah, a mare after my own heart! Here's the deal, you're out of business, this place is now mine, gather your depressing and tacky things and leave!"

The fat mare scoffed, "You think you can just come in here and order me around? I know you’re that terrorist and I'm not impressed." She picked up a chocolate with her hoof, pinched it slightly and put it back. "Here's my counter offer. You turn around and go the fuck back to whatever rock you crawled out from under or my boys here will break your legs and feed you to the fishes."

The Mare Who laughs stepped forward cackling as murder burned in her eyes. "No, no I don't think I shall, as you so eloquently put it, 'go the fuck back to the rock I crawled from under'. You know you should smile more. It would make you so much prettier!" She walked to the massive stallion on her right. "But we are all civilized ponies here, before I leave I would ask you to please smell the flower on my lapel. I picked it out specifically for today!" She slapped the bulb to the squirt flower under the jacket of her zoot suit causing a stream of acid spray into the stallion's face.
As the stallion fell over screaming, the acid burned away the flesh of his face. Two thugs barged in and grabbed the other stallion. The Mare who Laughs stomped on the neck of the stallion who had acid squirted in his face, crushing his windpipe. She gave a flick of the hoof in a silent order and the two thugs broke the stallion's neck.

The fat mare tried to run out of the office but The Mare Who Laughs quickly caught her by her mane. She dragged the fat mare over to the first dead stallion and held her face close to the stallion's face as the acid finally etched the flesh away from his skull. "You see how much better he looks with a big smile? Can you give me a big pretty smile too?" She roughly threw the fat mare into the office chair and took the syringe of purple toxin out of her jacket.

The fat mare tried to lean away. "W-who are you?", she said with tears of fear running down her face.

"Ah-heeheehee-oh-heeheehee-oo-heeheehee! Haven't you heard? I'm the happiest pony in the world! But soon you'll be the happiest mare in the world too!" The Mare Who Laughs licked the needle before jabbing it into the fat mare's neck. She injected the toxin and the fat mare thrashed around for a moment before she began laughing uncontrollably. She fell out of the office chair in the fetal position pulling at her mane as she screamed with laughter. Tossing the syringe on the desk, The Mare Who Laughs walked over to the second dead stallion. Pulling a lipstick tube out of her pocket and smeared on his lips in a big clownish smile. "Get rid of the trash.", she said gesturing to the dead stallions, "And put her in the basement!"
As The Mare Who Laughs walked out of the make-up factory, her mane became limp as she laughed hoarsely. She gestured and one of her thugs gave her a knife which she placed under her mane. The thugs brought up a carriage and she climbed in, setting out for the candy factory.

Pulling up to the candy factory, The Mare Who Laughs stepped out of the carriage. As with the make-up factory, the disguised thugs let her in and locked all the doors. She walked into the office and an old stallion with a brown coat was sitting behind the desk. Whatever little vestiges of the mane he had had long fallen out. He was looking at a gem with a jeweler's glass.

The old stallion looked up and gasped at The Mare Who Laughs, the jeweler's glass falling from his face. "Look, whatever you want, you've got it. My money, my factory, my house, just don't hurt me!"

"Why such a polite pony, so unlike my last business meeting!", The Mare Who Laughs chuckled hoarsely, "I'm not going to hurt you, just gather your things and leave! Oh and smile!"

The old stallion nodded stunned and began to leave. "Thank you! Thank you! If you ever need anything, just ask."

The Mare Who Laughs placed a forelimb around his shoulder. "Heeheehee-hahaha-hoohoohoo! Thank you for your manners! Oh and before I forget, you forgot to smile!" She grabbed her knife and sliced his throat. As he fell to the floor, blood pouring out his mouth and throat, she leaned down to him. "See, was that so hard? Such a pretty smile!" Some thugs came in and dragged the body off. Her mane went poofy and she threw her head back laughing maniacally.
********************************************************************************************************
*Monochrome's Journal: Ponyville Day 30? 45? 40?*

Dear journal,

I haven't had a decent sleep in I don't remember how long. Ever since that day when I attacked Twilight Sparkle, I haven't let myself sleep when she's around out of fear that when I wake up my mind will be back in the war and there might not be anypony to around to stop me. Now when I sleep, my nightmares are filled not only with visions of the war, but also of me strangling that young mare. In my nightmares, I feel her pulse weaken and stop as her eyes go blank. Every time I wake up I start crying. Recently I received a package from Canterlot. It contained three video tapes. On the tapes it had the terrorist and murderer giving mock interviews with three journalists before killing them, the last one was especially gruesome as she carved up the poor mare's face before killing her. When Twilight saw what was on the last tape, she fainted. When I managed to revive her, she immediately went into a three hour panic attack. Did something happen to her when she was young or is she naturally this high-strung? After I managed to get her calmed down, I sent her off to get something to eat while I hastily made transcripts of the tapes. When Twilight had returned she had with her two of her friends, a ravishing but painfully shy pegasus mare named Fluttershy and a strong but brutally honest earth pony mare named Applejack. Applejack insisted on me showing what was on the tapes. When I tried to talk her out of it, she simply stamped her hoof and demanded more earnestly to show the tapes. Twilight said she couldn't simply take it and went upstairs to her room and we all heard her having another panic attack. When I showed them the three tapes, Applejack ran to the bathroom and retched loudly, poor Fluttershy just sat trembling. Once all three mares finally calmed down and gathered together, I made them swear an oath of secrecy upon pain of imprisonment. Each mare gave their insights. Applejack's was probably the most obvious as she stated the criminal was lying. Fluttershy gave some pretty good insights; the criminal probably believes her own lies and also gets some thrill out of hurting ponies. Twilight's insights were purely analytical: she said whoever the criminal was in her former life, she suffered some kind of trauma that caused a massive change in her personality, making her lash out violently and that she probably has multiple personalities. She also pointed out that the criminal also had some kind of facial surgery. As the day wore on, the three mares seemed to recover, though the pain of what they watched still played behind their eyes. Say what you will about them, but they seem to be very resilient.

Signed, Monochrome
********************************************************************************************************

Months passed as the make-up factory began making a tainted vanishing cream and the candy factory began producing poisoned taffies. The vanishing cream was labeled Smiling Pony vanishing cream and the taffy was labeled Big Smile taffy. Once enough candy and make-up were made, pallets of them were shipped across Equestria. The Mare Who Laughs laughed with a sadistic grin from her office as she watched the first of the loaded carts pull off.

Several days later in Ponyville, Twilight was walking to the beauty care shop to pick up some more mud mask she liked to use when she slept at night. Walking in the shop she saw the display for Smiling Pony vanishing cream. She read the claim on one of the little tubs "guaranteed to make your problems vanish and leave you smiling". "So what's with the new vanishing cream?", she asked walking up to the counter.

"It's a new product, apparently this batch is from Whinnyapolis", Bulk Biceps said, "So what can I get you today?"

"Just my usual night time mud mask please.". Twilight replied.

As Bulk Biceps went to get her mud mask Twilight turned to look at the counter where the free samples were. Her curiosity was piqued about the vanishing cream and she decided to try some when the mare at the counter trying some was done. Suddenly Twilight's stomach dropped when she saw the mare's face twist into an unnatural smile and start laughing uncontrollably. The mare fell to the floor clawing at her face with her hooves as she writhed on the floor in pain the whole time laughing.

Twilight sprinted over to the counter, using her magic she levitated the lid back on the tub and moved it out of the reach of any customers. She shouted, "Don't let anypony use or buy the vanishing cream! It's tainted!" She began levitating the tubs of vanishing cream off the shelves. "Get all this stuff into boxes and send it to the library! Find out everypony who has bought this stuff and get it back from them by any means necessary!" She ran out of the beauty care store and to the library. She burst through the door and shouted, "Monochrome! Monochrome! Are you in?!"

Monochrome snapped awake from his brief nap in a panic before comprehending Twilight was shouting from downstairs for him. He rushed to the top of the stairs seeing Twilight levitating several tubs of vanishing cream. "What's the matter?"

"The criminal is in Whinnyapolis! She's sent out tainted vanishing cream!", she shouted. She began hurriedly writing down a note. "Spike! Spike!"

Spike walked in from the kitchen. "Whatcha need Twi? And what's with all the vanishing cream?"

Twilight levitated the letter over to Spike. "Send this to Celestia now! There's a tainted batch of vanishing cream out of Whinnyapolis!"

Spike took the note, opened a window, and with a puff of green flame, sent it off.

Rainbow Dash came crashing through the window with her forelimbs full of taffies. She dropped the taffies on the table. When Spike reached for the taffy, she slapped his claw with a hoof. "Don't eat that! It's poisoned!", she shouted fear on her face, "Twilight, it's bad out there. A lot of ponies are being taken to the hospital. There's a bad batch of taffy that Bon Bon was selling, when ponies ate it their faces twisted up into this weird smile and fell over laughing before passing out!" She slumped against the wall crying.

Twilight hastily wrote another note and levitated it to Spike who sent it off with a puff of flame. She walked over to Rainbow to calm her down, "Breathe Rainbow! I need you to go back out there and confiscate every piece of taffy you can. I'll help Monochrome with making an antidote."

"No Twilight!", Monochrome said sharply, "You go out there and help gather all the taffy and vanishing cream you can. I'll begin the work on an antidote." He levitated the taffy and vanishing cream before hurrying down to the basement.

Rainbow flew out the window as Twilight teleported to the street.

*Monochrome's Journal: Ponyville day 150*

Dear Journal,

The criminal the press had dubbed The Mare Who Laughs has launched another attack. She sent out tainted vanishing cream and taffy. It took me a few days to make an antidote for both as she created different alchemical substances for each, but both had similar results. For the vanishing cream it wasn't lethal, it just drove them insane as they went into laughing fits, for the taffy it was much more deadly as they fell into a coma shortly collapsing from uncontrollable laughing fits. The death tolls are still coming in from all across Equestria and they look pretty grim. The stores almost immediately stopped selling the products when their customers went insane or died. Though the antidotes will save untold numbers, for too many it is too late. Many of the victims of the poisoned taffy died from complications of the comas, those were the lucky ones as the victims of the vanishing cream will have long term neurological and psychological damage. If it weren't for the quick actions of Twilight Sparkle and her friends, many more may have been lost. Out of all this terrible tragedy comes a small silver lining. I know where the criminal is operating out of now, though I wonder how she managed to escape the Royal Guard checkpoints around Manehattan. I have sent a request to Captain Shining Armor for formal inquiries into every guard to ensure his ranks have not been infiltrated. Aunts Celestia and Luna sent out official press statements to discard or turn over all the tainted products. In the morning I'm taking the express train to Whinnyapolis, though I feel that any leads will be cold. Better than nothing now. In a communique, Aunt Celestia has secretly awarded me the Medal of Valor. She also announced that in a couple of weeks, she's giving a public medal awarding ceremony for the five surviving element bearers. She will paint a massive bullseye on their backs because of that. Maybe that's her plan, dangle a bit of bait in the hopes to lure the criminal out and ensnare her. It makes me feel sick that she would use those five like that.

Sincerely, Monochrome
********************************************************************************************************

Twilight, Rainbow, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rarity stood on a small stage that had been constructed a week ago out front of city hall. A large crowd had gathered along with several reporters and TV camera crews. Twilight and Fluttershy looked visibly uncomfortable, the latter hid behind her mane. The loud boisterous crowd went quiet as Princess Celestia took the stage.

"Mare and gentlestallions, we have gathered here today to award the five element bearers the Medal of Valor and induct them into the legion of merit.", Celestia said standing behind the podium. "These five ponies showed quick thinking and courage in stopping further loss of life by the wanted terrorist. It was because of the forward thinking of Twilight Sparkle that an antidote was found for the toxin found." She approached each of the element bearers, draping a medal around their neck and presented them with a plaque.

Cries came up from the crowd. "Speech! Speech!"

"Your adoring public awaits, my faithful student.", Celestia said, gesturing to the podium.

Twilight walked nervously up to the podium, the crowd was silent as all eyes and cameras focused on her. She cleared her throat in an attempt to dispel some butterflies. She shuffled some index cards before speaking, "First off, I want to thank Princess Celestia for awarding my friends and I with our medals. I personally think that any decent minded pony in our place would have done the same thing. I can only hope that across Equestria, the real heroes who are risking their lives to catch this criminal or are helping with the ponies hurt by the criminal's actions will be able to make it safely to their families." A small yelping sob escaped her lips as tears rolled down her cheeks. "We...we have all lost friends and loved ones. I know you are scared and hurt by this criminal's actions. I ask that you please...please don't act rashly or...or lash ou-out...I can't do this." She slumped to her haunches and began crying as she held her face in her hooves.

Celestia helped Twilight back to her hooves, shushing her gently as she led her to the back to her friends. They quickly gathered around her giving her a group hug. Twilight began weeping loudly.

Luna stepped up to the podium as the crowd murmured uncomfortably at Twilight's breakdown. With a slight raise of her chin she silenced the crowd. "I personally admire Twilight Sparkle for holding together as she did, she recently learned that one of the ponies hurt by the terrorist was an old teacher of hers. As for the end of her speech, she was calling for calmer heads to prevail as we have all lost friends and loved ones. For her sake, I ask that nopony should act rashly or lash out in anger. We are all angry and scared.", Luna said calmly. When the crowd began to murmur again, she gently raised a hoof to silence them. "I wish to address the terrorist personally. Surrender yourself now to the nearest authorities."

The Mare Who Laughs watched a TV in her office as Luna finished her speech, "Surrender yourself now to the nearest authorities." Her smile spread so wide it hurt, she narrowed her eyes as contempt burned in them. Walking forward, she kicked the TV over. Her mane became a pompadour as she giggled maliciously. "Ah-heeheehee-oh-heeheehee-oo-heeheehee! Oh princess! I warned you to not let your friend get involved in my plans! I guess you don't care about her at all! Boys, we got a party to plan at a library!"

*Three weeks later, Ponyville*

It was the middle of the day. Diamond Tiara was sitting at a table outside Sugarcube Corner feeling depressed. She occasionally ran a hoof across her cheeks, feeling the scars where she had been viciously attacked. She poked at the flaky pastry on the plate in front of her. It looked good when she bought it, but she didn't feel like eating. As Twilight walked by followed by three guards, Diamond Tiara looked up. One of the guards looked familiar, a black coated mare. Something about the guard looked familiar, but she couldn't quite put her hoof on it. She squinted to get a better look at the mare guard when she turned her head, looked straight at Diamond and smiled wickedly. Diamond's eyes rolled up in her head as she fainted.

That night, as Twilight was walking up to her room, a guard walked behind her. It made her feel uncomfortable but Celestia had insisted on having guards around to protect her and her friends. She had sent Spike to spend the night at Rarity's place which he was all too happy to oblige. When she reached the second story landing and was a few paces from her bedroom door she heard the guard behind her snicker. As she turned her head to see what the guard was snickering at, she saw the shaft of a spear coming at her face. The shaft of the spear connected hard with her cheek, causing her to rear up and stagger backwards. Twilight fell over the railing and pain blossomed across her back as she impacted a shelf with a sickening crunch. The last thing she saw before blacking out from pain and shock was the floor rushing up at her.
Twilight opened her eyes slowly. Her head hurt, the middle of her back hurt. She gasped in shock seeing a stark white face with an unnaturally wide smile and hateful eyes leering at her inches from her face.

"Wakey! Wakey!", The Mare Who Laughs cackled.

Twilight tried to stand, but her hind legs wouldn't respond. She tried to drag herself away with her forehooves, but The Mare Who Laughs pinned her in place. The front door opened and two thugs, their faces painted like clowns walked in. 

"Why?", Twilight whispered, frightened as a tear rolled down her cheek.

The Mare Who Laughs cackled as she ran her tongue across Twilights face and smacked her lips like she just tasted something delicious. "Your fear and agony is delectable!", she laughed, "Oh! And to answer your question. Why is the sun yellow? No reason! Why is the sky at night dark? No reason! Why is rain wet? No reason! Why do I do this? No reason!"
Twilight tried to fire off a warning spell, but she felt her magic sputter out as The Mare Who Laughs slipped a magic restraining ring over her horn. "Ah ah ah! We can't have any uninvited guests at our little party!", The Mare Who Laughs scolded.

The Mare Who Laughs took a few steps and a thug passed her a camera. Twilight raised her head and saw her hind legs were twisted in unnatural angles. Twilight tried to drag herself away again by her forehooves, but the thugs rushed over and pinned her in place.

The Mare Who Laughs drew a smiley face on a piece of paper, walked over and taped it to Twilight's face. "There you go, a happy smile for you.", she cackled, "Okay boys, you can have your fun."
The Mare Who Laughs began snapping picture of the two thugs raping the crippled form of Twilight. Twilight cried as she feebly tried to push the two thrusting thugs off her. When the thugs had finished, The Mare Who Laughs walked over and peeled the paper off Twilight's face. She took photos of Twilight's tear stained face, her broken back, her crippled splayed hind legs, her ruined holes. The whole time the Mare Who Laughs laughed maliciously as Twilight cried.

The Mare Who Laughs skipped around the library snatching up books, ripping pages out of them and tossing the loose page like confetti. After she had finished destroying all the books she cared to, she pulled a vial of lamp oil and a match from under her mane. Pouring the oil on a nearby table, she struck the match and dropped it on the table.

Twilight's eyes became pinpricks as fire began licking across the table. She tried to drag herself across the floor, but a thug tipped a bookshelf on top of her. Quickly donning guard armor, the three stole off into the night.

On a distant mountain range a dark purple alicorn stallion was walking towards an old ruined monastery when a single sparkling speck of magenta magic floated up to him. Taking the speck in a hoof he studied it, his eyes went wide and he took to the air.

Twenty minutes later Spike and Rarity were walking down the street towards the library.

"Thanks for walking with me, Rarity.", Spike said, his eyes sparkling, "I just want to make sure Twi isn't asleep at a table again reading a book."

The two froze in horror seeing smoke pouring out the library.

"Twilight!", Spike shouted as he ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He shoulder blocked through the door, breaking it open causing more smoke to pour out.

Rarity ran to the door, the heat from the flames making her recoil. "Spike! Spike!", she shouted at the door.

Rainbow Dash quickly flew up. "Did everypony make it out?!"

"Spike's in there!", Rarity screamed.

A moment later Spike came running out, soot staining his scales. "Twilight's in there! She's trapped under a bookshelf!", he shouted

Rainbow and Rarity dashed into the burning library. Keeping low, they found the barely conscious form of Twilight. Rarity used her magic to lift the bookshelf as Rainbow pulled Twilight from under it. They barely made it out the door when a beam holding up the second floor came crashing down. They gently laid Twilight on the ground.


Rainbow quickly and gently ran her hooves over Twilight, pausing when she felt a kink in her spine. "This is bad! It looks like she has a broken back", she said grimly, "Help me get her on my back and brace her with your magic, we don't want to cause her any more damage."

They ran off to the hospital with Spike in tow as the weather team began dragging up rain clouds and stomping on them to put the fire out. As they entered the hospital, Rainbow shouted for help.

The nurse ran out from behind the desk. "What happened?"

"She was trapped in a fire at the library, we think she has a broken back!", Rainbow cried, afraid.

"Hold her still.", the nurse said. She gently prodded along Twilight's spine. The nurse ran to her desk and picked up the phone calling a trauma team.

Several seconds later a dozen nurses and orderlies ran out pushing a gurney with a back brace and a neck brace on it. They slid the back brace between Rainbow and Twilight, then secured the neck brace, then strapped her to the back brace. 

A nurse counted, "One...two...three!" The orderlies gently lifted Twilight off Rainbow and placed her on the gurney. They quickly rushed her back to the emergency room.

Rarity levitated a paper and quill to Spike who quickly scribbled a note. Stepping outside he sent the note with a puff of green flame.

Several minutes later there was a bright flash of golden and dark blue light as Celestia and Luna appeared.

"Where is she?", Celestia asked her eyes wide with fear.

"They took her back nearly five minutes ago.", Rarity replied.

Hours felt like days as the four ponies paced the waiting room. Celestia's ethereal mane became bedraggled. Spike slumped in a chair sleeping fitfully. The doctor walked out putting his glasses in a white coat pocket as he stared at a chart.

Celestia ran to the doctor, "How is she?"

"She's conscious and coherent.", he looked over the chart, "She suffered minor burns and some smoke inhalation. It appears that she fell from a height when she broke her back and she was sexually assaulted."

Celestia nearly fainted from shock. "C-can I see her?"

"She asked for you. They're performing so final tests on her. You can come back if you stay out of the way.", the doctor said.

As they walked back to the emergency room, Celestia saw a doctor prodding the soft part of Twilight's hoof with a needle. "Okay Ms. Sparkle, tell me when you feel this." When Twilight didn't respond, he picked up a device that had a spiked wheel on it. "Okay Ms. Sparkle, tell me when you fell this." He rolled the spiky wheel across Twilight's leg. When Twilight didn't respond again, he shook his head, pulled out a pin and wrote on a chart. As the doctor walked away, he paused seeing Celestia walk up.

"How is she?", Celestia asked.

"The prognosis isn't promising, Princess.", the doctor said softly, "She appears to have no sensation below her midsection. She may be wheelchair bound for the rest of her life. If you want to talk to her, keep it brief as she needs her rest."

Twilight looked up at Celestia as she walked up. Tears trickled out of her eyes and pooled on the bed. "I can't feel my hind legs, Princess.", Twilight said weakly, "They won't say it, but I know I'm not going to be able to walk again." She began to sob softly.

Celestia leaned down and kissed Twilight gently on her forehead. "Let's not worry about this now.", she said gently, "Do you know who did this to you?"

Twilight's eyes became pinpricks. "Yes." she whispered afraid, "It was the terrorist. She had two stallions with her." She gave a gasping sob and her voice trembled. "She's here in Ponyville and is disguised as a guard." Twilight clenched here eyes shut as the tears began flowing freely.

A nurse laid a hoof on Celestia's shoulder. "We need to let her rest now, Princess."

Celestia nodded as tears trickled down her cheek. She laid a hoof on Twilight's chest, "You focus on getting better, I'll be back to visit you as soon as I can, Luna, Rarity, Rainbow and Spike are in the waiting room." She leaned down and kissed Twilight gently on the forehead again before leaving. As she walked down the hallway, tears streamed down her face as her eyes became hard with rage. She ground her teeth in anger.

Luna saw Celestia walk into the waiting. She went to walk up to her and froze seeing the rage on her sister's face. "Tia?"

"There terrorist is here in Ponyville.", she said through gritted teeth, "She's disguised as a guard."

Luna gasped in shock.

"Until we can confirm they aren't compromised, no guard is to be trusted. Stay here in Ponyville and gather the remaining element bearers, I'll be back as soon as I can."

Luna nodded and Celestia teleported away.

Celestia arrived in the throne room. "Inform Shining Armor, Night Light and Twilight Velvet that Twilight Sparkle has been attacked and is currently in the Ponyville hospital.", she said to a castle attendant, "I'll be in my room sending out orders if I'm needed." The attendant nodded as Celestia walked off. She walked into her room closing the door behind her, tears of grief and rage flowed down her cheeks. Stepping to the desk, she looked at the quills laid out. She roared in rage causing the walls of the castle to shake. Grasping the desk in her magic, she flung it across the room causing it to shatter. Stomping over to the bed as cracks formed under her hooves, rearing up she stamped on it until it was a destroyed wreck.

Two guards opened the door to Celestia's and froze for a second witnessing the rampage. "Nope!", one guard said before quickly closing the door.

Lifting the nightstand with her hooves, Celestia threw it across the room screaming. When her rampage had finally subsided, the room was utterly wrecked. Every piece of furniture was shattered, the curtains utterly shredded, every window was smashed out and smoldering chunks were blasted out of the walls. She sat in the center of the destruction, her chest heaving with wavering sobs as blood dripped off her hooves.

The door to her room snapped open and a dark purple alicorn stallion with a flowing black mane walked in. "I see your anger is still as destructive as ever, big sister.", he said, "Now tell me what happened to my great-granddaughter."
> A reason to fight (edit)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Now tell me what happened to my great-granddaughter.", the dark purple alicorn asked. The statement hung in the air like a thick fog.

Celestia looked up, crying. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out, just a strained squeak.

"I see.", replied the dark purple alicorn, “That bad." He walked forward slowly and sat next to Celestia. "Will she live?"

Celestia tried to speak again but instead of words, bitter sobs came out so she nodded her head.

"One last question.", the dark purple alicorn said, "Why did you destroy your room instead of blowing the top off a mountain where nopony lives or go into the void above the world and shatter a few asteroids?"

Celestia wrapped her forelimbs around the shoulders of the dark purple alicorn and wept. "Help me, Midnight!", she whispered, "I'm so scared! Twilight will never have the use of her hind legs again. The world seems so dark and it feels like this terrorist is stealing the light." Tears and snot ran down her face onto Midnight's shoulder.

"Celestia, why do you weep so?", Discord whispered into Celestia's mind, "Is this not now the time for vengeance? Just call on me and I'll help you. No more tears. I promise."

Midnight felt the presence of Discord's mind. Closing his eyes, he focused his mind. "Discord, why do you plague my sister in her moment of weakness? Be gone!"

Discord recoiled slightly at the presence of Midnight. "Ah, Prince Midnight! Such a warming family reunion.", Discord's mind projected. If he could have steepled his fingers, he would, instead he resigned himself to sounding condescending. "The only member of your little family that can truly hide themselves from my power and sight. The near fatal injury of Twilight Sparkle must have ignited your anger to bring you out from whatever dusty ruin you were exploring. So tell me, are you still trying to find a way to save your first son Sombra from his own madness?"

"You will not mention his name!", Celestia projected, "When we learned of Sombra's fall into madness and corruption we all tried to save him."

"And look where that got poor Luna. He was able to twist her mind and corrupt her bringing forth the small kernel of jealousy she harbored driving her into madness.", Discord projected.

Midnight's anger burned. "And look what happened to you Discord. You used to be a spirit of change that strove all creatures to be their best. After her death, you were so driven by your own anguish that it twisted you into the mad lord we all now know."

Discord scoffed in anger. "Don't you dare mention her name! She was the only truly bright part in this world. Maybe you forgot how Celestia and Luna used to compete for the affections of Starswirl and how it utterly crushed them when he passed?"

"Is that what Somnambula would have wanted? Attacking a pony at their weakest and laying bare old scars?", Midnight projected smirking.

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO MENTION HER NAME!", Discord's mind screamed before regaining his composure, "You wound me so. I come not as an enemy, but as a friend delivering a message."

Celestia projected, "Then say your message and leave."

Discord's mind cleared his throat, it was unnecessary but who was he to pass up a little bit of theatrics. "One pony possesses three heads who hides a fourth inside. Laughter turns to madness as it threatens to drown the world in darkness. But even in this late hour hope gleams as new life buds. I bid you adieu and Celestia, do think about my offer." With that Discord's mind was gone.

Midnight helped Celestia to her hooves. He levitated her dented crown and repaired it with his magic before placing it on her head. "Be angry, but temper your wrath and resolve big sister. Remember that you're not just a ruler of our fair land, but you're also a teacher and role model. Be the leader in this dark time our little ponies need. You don't carry the sun, you also govern fire, light and hope. Right now we all need that shining beacon of hope to dispel the shadows." He hugged her before walking to one of the shattered windows.

"Where are you going?", asked Celestia, "I need my baby brother who is the master of secrets."

"Fear not dear sweet Celestia, I go to find the secrets on this criminal. This is now a matter of family.", Midnight replied, "When you see Twilight Velvet, apologize to her for me for not visiting sooner and not being around to see her children grow up into such strong ponies." He vanished in a puff of smoke.

Celestia walked to the window and pondered Discord's riddle. Her eyes went wide with realization, "New life! Twilight’s in estrus!" She teleported to Ponyville.

Luna quickly ushered Rarity, Rainbow and Spike into an empty room in the hospital. "Lock the door and don't open it for anypony but myself or Celestia." she said.

"Where ever are you going, princess?", Rarity asked.

"To get your friends. Remember, do not open this door for anypony but myself or Celestia.", Luna stated with urgency, "If anypony tries to get past the door, don't try and fight, just get out any you can and run." She closed the door and felt a sense of satisfaction when she heard the deadbolt latch. "Room three-oh-four, room three-oh-four, room three-oh-four!". she repeated to herself several times to commit to her memory. Igniting her magic, she summoned every key to the room and bound them in a key chain constructed from her magic. As Luna walked through the waiting room Celestia appeared in a flash of light. "Tia?"

"Twilight's in estrus!", Celestia said in urgency.

"Pardon?", Luna asked.

"The criminal didn't just cripple her, the criminal's thugs also raped her!", said Celestia trying to keep herself from shouting, "She probably started in the last day or two so her hormones wouldn't have had time to build up to drive her to mate, but her egg cell has probably descended."

Luna gasped in shock. "Go and confirm it sister." She levitated the keys over Celestia, "Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Spike are in room three-oh-four."

Taking the keys in her magic Celestia said, "Don't you think this a little bit excessive?"

"Not as excessive as your little 'remodeling' project."

"Point taken.", Celestia clucked as Luna ran out the hospital and teleported off.

Luna appeared at the front door of the farmhouse on Sweet Apple Acres. She lifted a hoof and knocked loudly on the door.

Lights came on as Big Mac opened the door. "C'n Ah help ya, princess?", he asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

Luna pushed her way inside. "Where's Applejack?"

Applejack came walking down the stairs clumsily wearing a nightgown. "Who is it...oh hi Princess! What c'n Ah do ya fer?"

"I need you to come with me now! I'll explain at the hospital."

"Th' hospital? Is somepony hurt?", she asked. Seeing the urgency on Luna's face she said, "Okay, lemme jus' get my-whoa whoa!", she exclaimed as Luna Lifted her with her magic.

"No time!", Luna said sharply, "Whatever you need will be provided for you soon." turning to Big Mac she said, "Get your family out of Ponyville as soon as you can, it's not safe here and don't worry about your crops, my sister and I will compensate you." She teleported off to Fluttershy's with Applejack. Reaching the front door of the cottage, she knocked loudly.

A light came on as soft hoofsteps were heard inside. "Who-who is i-it?", Fluttershy said barely above a whisper on the other side of the door.

"Open up Fluttershy, it is I princess Luna!"

Fluttershy nervously opened the door. "H-how can I-I help you, princess?", she asked demurely.

"Scatter your animals and come with me. It's not safe for you here."
When Fluttershy waffled, Luna grabbed her with her magic. Giving a shout in the Royal Canterlot Voice, she sent the animal running. "Good, now we go!" Lighting her magic as she prepared to teleport, Luna paused as she felt something watching her from the edge of the Everfree forest. Not giving it another thought, she teleported herself, Fluttershy and Applejack to the hospital.

The Mare Who Laughs was hiding on the edge of the Everfree forest watching Fluttershy's cottage. She was surprised to see Luna teleport in with Applejack. She ducked behind a tree keeping her eyes on the situation as she smiled wickedly. When Luna teleported off with Applejack and Fluttershy she began laughing hoarsely, "Heeheehee-hahaha-hoohoohoo! What have you got planned, princess? No matter! I'll just have to change my party plans!" Looking down, she saw a grey bunny hop up to her. Raising a hoof, she crushed its head, laughing. Angel Bunny was hiding in a nearby bush. He narrowed his eyes in anger at seeing the unjust killing of one of his kinsbunnies. He secretly swore revenge.

Celestia walked to where Twilight was being held for observation.

A nurse walked in front of Celestia to block her. "Visiting hours are over, Your Highness. Ms. Sparkle needs her rest."

"Move!", Celestia ordered, "This supersedes your hospital's rules." When the nurse planted her hooves, Celestia levitated the nurse and gently placed her aside. As she walked into Twilight's room, the nurse ran to a nearby desk and picked up the phone. She walked up next to Twilight's bedside seeing her sleeping fitfully. Lighting her magic Celestia gently probed Twilight's womb. She felt the fertilized egg as it descended into her womb. "So it's true.", she whispered.

Twilight groaned as she woke up. "P-princess? What's the matter?"

"Twilight, you're in estrus.", Celestia whispered wishing it wasn't true, "You're pregnant."

"What?!", Twilight exclaimed as she was now fully awake, "I-I mean I knew I was going into estrus soon but I thought I had another couple of days." She tapped her forehead with a hoof. "Crap! Today's the thirteenth which means...", she began mumbling some numbers, "...I should have had another couple of days before the hormones kicked in full force to trigger my rutting instinct. I had even made sure to stock up on potions and contraceptives in my room."

"It's not too late.", Celestia said gently, "If you want, I can terminate it so you won't have to go through the pregnancy. Your body will still produce the hormones to trigger your mating instinct, but you won't have an unwanted pregnancy."

"No!”, Twilight exclaimed as she moved a hoof to her stomach defensively, "I didn't want to get pregnant and I thank you for giving me the option, princess. A vile act may be responsible for me getting pregnant, but too much death has already happened and the world needs some life. This little one will give me a reason to fight." Her eyes became fierce as her face became hard. "Once the criminal finds out I'm still alive she'll come after me again." Her voice took on a harsh tone, "I want her to know I'm alive so that she knows that she failed."

Celestia clicked her tongue thoughtfully. All that her faithful student had endured and she was still willing to fight. It wasn't so long ago that she was a sheepish bookworm that avoided making friends. Now she was a hero and the criminal had just awakened a fierce warrior. She caressed Twilight's cheek with a hoof. "Such strength, such determination. I'm proud of you Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student.", Celestia said beaming down at her, "Luna is out gathering your friends. When she gets back we're taking you all to Canterlot where we can keep you all safe."

The doctor burst into the room. She said in a firm voice, "Princess! I must protest, Miss Sparkle needs-"

Celestia cut the doctor off with a glare. "How soon can you have Twilight Sparkle ready to move?", she asked firmly, "The terrorist who attacked her is still in Ponyville and she's not safe here."

The doctor's eyes went wide for a moment. She sputtered for a moment before replying, "We can have her ready to move in the hour."

Celestia levitated the notepad and pen out of the doctor's lab coat pocket. She hastily scrawled a note and teleported it to the castle medical wing. "You have twenty minutes.", she ordered, "Luna will be here soon. Make sure we have all necessary charts. For all intents and purposes you are to make it look like she is still here, even if it means you have to lay in the bed pretending to be her. If anypony comes asking about her, find a way to keep them from finding she isn't here. Do whatever you need to, lie, attack them, whatever the staff here feels is necessary. You have your orders, go!"

The doctor nodded and hurried out the room calling for the nurses. They brought in a backboard and strapped Twilight to it. They gently lifted her onto a gurney. They passed Celestia Twilight's charts, she teleported them to the castle medical wing. They then disconnected the monitors from Twilight.

"Move! Move!", Luna exclaimed as she hurried up with Applejack, Rainbow, Rarity, Fluttershy and Spike in tow.

Fluttershy gasped seeing, Twilight strapped to a backboard. She rushed over to her. "Twilight! Are you okay?", she said softly, deep worry in her voice.

"Yes Fluttershy, I'm okay.", Twilight replied.

"Ah know when yer lying, sugarcube.", Applejack said walking up still in her nightgown, "Nopony who is okay is strapped to a backboard inna hospital. B'sides, we c'n all see yer practically scared outta yer hide."

Twilight looked away scared. "I don't want to talk about it."

"You've never kept a secret from us.", Rainbow snipped, "What's got you so scared? You owe us that much."

"Rainbow Dash!", Rarity snapped, "Can't you see the poor dear is scared out of her wits? Give her a little time to deal with what happened to her before making demands to tell us."

"No, Rainbow's right. I should tell you now, it won't be easier later, so I should get it over like snatching off a bandage quickly.", Twilight replied. She sighed to brace herself as tears began to glisten in her eyes. "The terrorist got into the library and attacked me. She threw me off the second floor landing and I hit a bookshelf on the way down, breaking my back. While I laid on the floor helpless, she had two of her thugs rape me." She closed her eyes tight as a tear trickled out.

With the last part her four friends instinctively tucked their tails between their legs.

Rainbow flopped down hard on her plot. "Fuck me. I regret pushing for the info now." She turned her head away so her friends couldn't see her tears.

Applejack tried to talk but could only babble incoherently. She laid her head on Twilight's legs as she cried softly.

Twilight looked down at Applejack, "I can't feel your head on my legs." Applejack's eyes widened in horror.

Rarity held a hoof over her mouth to stifle her sobs. "I know I say it a lot, but this is the worst thing ever."

Fluttershy held Twilight's hoof in her's, gently. She took a sniff and her eyes went wide. "You're in estrus aren't you?"

Twilight nodded. "Yes...", she said, her voice quavering, "..and I just found out I'm pregnant."

All her friends' eyes went so wide that they looked like they would fall out their head.

"Okay princess, we've got Ms. Sparkle ready to move.", the doctor said.

Luna quickly gathered all four of Twilight's friends around her, the two princesses lit the magic in their horn and teleported the group. When they arrived in the medical wing a medical team was waiting. The medical team quickly scattered the four mares and began hurrying Twilight to a spinal trauma room.

"Why don't you all go to the cafeteria? She's in good hooves now.", Celestia said as she yawned, "I'm going to lay down. Come wake me when it is time to raise the sun."

Luna nodded as she walked with the four mares and Spike to the cafeteria. As they entered the cafeteria, Shining Armor was sitting at a table crying, looking much the worse for wear as Cadance rubbed her cheek against his, trying to calm him down. She also looked bedraggled.

Looking up, Shining Armor saw Luna walking up. "I-is Twily going to be okay?", he asked as tears streamed down his face.

Luna sat down next to Shining and placed a hoof on his back. "Yes, Twilight will be okay. We have her here in the medical wing. Once they are done assessing her they'll move her to a private room and then you can see her."

"What happened?", Shining asked.

"She was attacked by the terrorist. I'll let her tell you the details when you go see her.", Luna said, "There's no way to lessen the blow. She may never have the use of her hind legs and may be in a wheelchair for the rest of her life. I know you're angry and scared, you need to be strong for your sister. Think about how scared she is right now."

Shining wiped the tears from his eyes and set his jaw. He let his face become a hard mask, though the fear still showed in his eyes. "If I find this scum, I'll tear her apart!"

"Not if I find her first.", Luna said in a harsh tone, her eyes hard.

Fluttershy, Spike, Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow got some coffee and sat a round table together.

"This sucks.", Rainbow grumble

"Big fat floppy ones.", Rarity interjected, all pretense of proper etiquette gone.

"Did Twi know something was gonna tuh happen an' that's why she sent Spike over to Rares?", Applejack sighed.

"I don't wanna think about it. Some part of me wants this to be a bad dream and when I wake up, everything will be just like it always is." Spike said, pinching himself.

"First Pinkie, then Twilight." Rainbow sniffled. She laid her head on the table and began to cry. "I'm so scared!" Her chest heaved with sobs as her tears pooled on the table.

Fluttershy thumped her hoof angrily on the table as she ground her teeth. Her voice was not her normal sweet and demure tone, but a deadly snarl, "Nopony hurts my friends! Nopony! If I find her, I'll rip out her heart and eat it in front of her as she dies." She began to vibrate with anger as her eyes burned with lethal rage.

The other three mares and Spike glanced at the former Fluttershy now the Flutterbeast of rage and vengeance.

Cadence walked over and sat down. "I know you are all scared, hurt and angry. I'm just as scared, hurt, and angry as you are, but we need to hold ourselves together for Twilight's sake. She's going to need our strength now more than ever." She looked over at the angrily vibrating Fluttershy. "Why don't you step outside and vent before you explode."

Fluttershy shoved away from the table and stomped outside, A moment later a roar erupted to rival the Royal Voice, "AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" After the roar had died down, loud thumping could be heard as a stream of unintelligible curses poured in from outside. Several minutes later Fluttershy walked in, she was drooling and her right forehoof was bleeding, leaving bloody hoofprints behind her. She still looked angry but was no longer vibrating.

"Feel better?", Cadence asked.

Fluttershy shook her head no as she sat down at the table.

Rarity Walked over and levitated a few napkins. "Let me help you with that dear." She pressed the napkins into Fluttershy's hoof to help stem the bleeding. She lit her magic and helped numb the pain.


Two guards came in through the backdoor of the cafeteria. "Princess, there have been reports of a monster outside the medical wing!", the first guard said.

Luna stood up and walked over to the guards. "Nay, private. Twas no monster or beast but Fluttershy venting her anger", she said in a regal tone. When the guards went to walk over to Fluttershy, Luna halted them with a flick of her wing then gestured for them to leave.

Rarity escorted Fluttershy to get her hoof bandaged.

After a couple of hours, a nurse walked in the Cafeteria. "Captain Shining Armor, Princess Cadance? We have Twilight Sparkle resting comfortably in a private room. She has asked to talk to you two.", he said. The nurse led Shining and Cadence to Twilight's private room. "She's right inside.", he said softly.

Shining and Cadence walked in the room, seeing Twilight laying on the bed. She looked up at them, her expression neutral but her eyes showed the fear she was truly feeling.

"Twily!", Shining called out as he ran to her side. The dam burst as he grabbed her hoof with both his forehooves and laid his face against her cheek crying.

Twilight sniffled as she wrapped her other forelimb around Shining's neck.

Cadence walked up and laid a forehoof one of Twilight's hind legs. "How ya holding up Twilight?"

Twilight looked to Cadance and frowned slightly seeing her hoof on her hind leg. "Cadence, I can't feel your hoof on my leg even though I know it's there.", she whispered.

Cadence lifted her hoof at the revelation. Tears began to trickle down her cheeks as she placed her hoof over her mouth to stifle a whimper. Her memories went to the skinny little filly she used to foalsit. She remembered her dancing like a spastic to her favorite music. She remembered wanting to see Twilight dance at her and Shining's wedding. Now she wouldn't even be able to walk. She began to sob softly as fat tears rolled down her cheeks.

Twilight gestured Cadence to her with a forelimb. The three hugged crying softly.

Once they had finally quit crying, Shining parted from the hug and wiped the last of the tears from his eyes. "Tell me what happened, Twily.", he said.

Twilight looked away for a second as she gently nudged Cadence back. Taking a breath to steel herself, she said, "I'm pretty sure you've been told about the terrorist attacking me, I'm sure mom and dad know too. When she attacked me, I was thrown off the second story landing in the library and I came down on a bookshelf on the way down and well...", she tapped one of her hind legs for effect, "...while I was laying on the floor helpless the terrorist had two thugs with her who raped me. After her thugs were finished with me, they set the library on fire. I must have blacked out not long after that because the next thing I remember I was in the emergency room. I want you to thank whoever found me and got me out of there."

Cadance and Shining gasped at the news.

Shining plopped hard on his haunches. "Will you be able to walk?"

"No.", Twilight said softly, "I know the doctors here and in Ponyville are trying to be optimistic, but I can't feel or move my hind legs."

Cadence sniffled before pausing as she caught the faint smell of estrus hormones. She sniffed a few more times to make sure. Lighting her magic, she scanned Twilight. She sensed the fertilized egg beginning to nestle into Twilight's womb. 

"Twilight, you're pregnant!"

Shining snapped his head up in shock. "What?!"

"I know.", Twilight replied, "Celestia found out I had just started estrus."

"Are you keeping it?", Cadence asked.

"Yes."

"Why?", Shining asked, "What they did to you was wrong and you shouldn't have to bear this burden."

Twilight reached out a hoof to gently brush Shining's cheek. "There has been enough death in this world and I feel it needs some life. Besides, the little one gives me something to fight for."

Shining shook his head, finding it all hard to comprehend.

"Shiny...", Cadence said gently, "...you know as well as anypony that Twilight has always been a proponent of the right for ponies to choose. We don't have to like it, but we do have to respect her choice."

"Look at it like this Shiny, you don't just get to be my BBBFF, but you also get to be a BUFF...best uncle friend forever."

Shining chuckled at the moniker. "You're damn right, I'll be the best uncle ever!"

"That's right, you'll be the best uncle ever!", Twilight agreed softly as she pulled Shining and Cadence over for a hug.

There was a soft knock at the door.

"Come in!", Twilight said.

The door creaked open, slowly revealing Night light and Twilight Velvet. Both looked bedraggled and had bloodshot eyes from crying. Twilight gestured for them to come in for a hug.

In Ponyville, Midnight was standing on the train platform watching Granny Smith, Big Mac, Applebloom, Hondo Flanks, Cookie Crumbles and Sweetie Belle get on the late train. He had obfuscated himself from the minds of the ponies. As he watched the six ponies board the train he saw an oddly smiling white mare following them several body lengths behind. Narrowing his eyes in suspicion he quietly slipped on the train.

It was an hour before the sun was supposed to be raised, Celestia was sleeping on a cot in the medical wing giving the occasional loud snort, her vestments and crown were neatly stacked at the head of the cot. A heavily muscled alicorn stallion with a bronze coat and slate-grey flowing mane walked up to Celestia nudging her slightly. Celestia snorted and mumbled, "Yes, I'll have the double cherry Manehattan cheesecake."

The alicorn stallion nudged her again.

Celestia rolled over snorting loudly, she waved a hoof and mumbled, "Five more minutes."

The stallion placed a hoof on Celestia's shoulder and shook her vigorously.

Celestia shot up. "All right! All right! I'm-Bulwark!" She threw her forelimbs around the alicorn stallion's neck hugging him.

Bulwark chuckled. "Good to see you too little sister and I see you're still as difficult to wake up as ever. If I remember correctly, Starswirl had to practically flip the bed to get you to wake up.", he said in a deep rumbling voice as he embraced Celestia.

Luna walked in to where Celestia was sleeping. "Alright sister, time to-BIG BROTHER!" She ran over hugging Bulwark.

"Good to see you too baby sister!", Bulwark laughed.

"Why are you here? Last I heard you were living in a hut outside Trottingham.", Celestia yawned. She blinked blearily, "I need some coffee."

As they walked to the cafeteria Bulwark said, "Midnight sent me to keep an eye on his great-granddaughter while he was investigating who it was that attacked her."

Celestia pours herself a cup of coffee, takes a sip, and winces at the taste. "Ack! I really should get better coffee for the medical staff.", she says wrinkling her nose. She opens several packets of sugar and pours them in until it is basically brown sugar water. She takes another sip, wrinkles her nose that it now tastes like bitter sugar. She looks over the small assortment of sweets laid out in trays, she levitates a doughnut and sits at a table. She takes a bite of the doughnut, scrunches up her face and tosses it in a trashcan. "Yuck! Stale! So back to the topic at hoof. I'm scared for Twilight. She's more than just my great-grandniece, she's my loyal student and my friend. I watched her grow up, I taught her, I made Cadance her foalsitter. She has saved Equestria alongside her friends, she saved Luna from her madness and brought her back to us. Through her own brilliance, courage and friendship she has saved so many. Now she lays in a bed with her back broken knowing she'll never walk again and yet, despite all the fear, she shows true strength."

"And how are you holding up little sister?", Bulwark asked.

"I feel like I'm dangling by a fraying thread that is about to snap at any moment.", Celestia replied, "When I saw her laying in the hospital back in Ponyville I completely lost it and utterly destroyed my room in a fit of rage and fear. I feel like the whole world is coming apart around me and it's taking everything I have to not just completely fall apart myself." She closed her eyes fighting back tears.
The three sat at the table in silence for an hour before Luna lowered the moon and Celestia raised the sun.

Luna yawned. "I think I'll get some sleep." She teleported to her room.

"I think I'll check on Twilight before I have to tend to my daily duties.", Celestia said standing.

Midnight sat in a seat watching the oddly smiling mare. He watched as she reached under mane, pulling out a pen and pad. When the train stopped at Appleloosa he watched as she wrote down as the Apple family got off. He used his magic to subtly implant in their minds to hop the nearest carriage to go somewhere else. He then implanted in the minds of the Belle family to get off at the next stop and get a carriage to anywhere else. He then turned his attention back to the smiling mare. A subtle twitch played across her neck and she slowly turned her head towards him. He found he was staring into the face of madness and evil. She rubbed her cheeks as she leaned side to side. "She can't see me but she can feel my presence. There's only one family that is that perceptive.", he thought.

Celestia quietly walked into Twilight's room. In one corner Cadance and Shining were sitting in chairs leaning up against each other holding hooves in their sleep. In another corner Night Light was stretched across two chairs sleeping as he snored. Twilight Velvet was asleep in a chair by her daughter's side, her head resting on her shoulder and a forelimb stretched across her chest in a protective, motherly manner. "It's been too long since I was a mother again.", Celestia thought.

Twilight began to twitch and mumble in her sleep. Suddenly she sat up wide awake screaming. Every pony in the room woke up with a start. Twilight began looking around the room in a panic as she hyperventilated. Celestia hurried over as Twilight Velvet began shushing her daughter. When Twilight realized where she was, she began to cry. Whenever she tried to talk, only sobs would come out. Twilight Velvet gently shushed in her daughter's ear as she stroked her mane.

"It's okay, my faithful student, you're safe here in the castle.", Celestia said gently stroking Twilight's forelimb.

A nurse hurriedly enters the room. "Is everypony okay?"

"Yes,", Twilight Velvet says as she calmed her daughter, "She had a night terror."

The nurse walked over to the bed, pulled out Twilight's chart and wrote in it. "The doctor figured she'd have them and we'll schedule her some counseling in a few days." The nurse quickly flipped through the chart, clucking her tongue in thought. "If everything goes well, we can begin Ms. Sparkle's physical therapy and fore body strength training." She returned the chart before saying, "Breakfast will be starting in a few minutes. I figured you all might want to get something to eat. Oh, before I go Ms. Sparkle, do you have any dietary restrictions based of food allergies, pre-existing medical conditions or religion?"

Twilight shook her head feebly.

"Alright dearie, the orderlies will have breakfast brought up to you. Try and relax if you can until then, Ta-ta!", the nurse said before giving a curtsy to Celestia, "Princess." The nurse left closing the door gently behind her.

"Twilight, are you okay?", Celestia said with concern.

Twilight nodded her head before replying in a shaky voice, "Yes, I just had a nightmare that I was still trapped in the library with her."

"If you need me or Luna for anything, don't hesitate to ask.", Celestia said. She teleported off to Twilight's friends’ rooms. Celestia arrived in the wing of the castle reserved for when the element bearers arrived in town. Gently opening Applejack's door, she peered seeing her snoring loudly and mumbling about bucking apples. She made a mental note to put AJ in charge of the royal orchards, Opening Rainbow's door, she saw her hanging partially off a cloud bed which made Celestia chuckle. She made a mental note to put Rainbow on the Canterlot weather team. Opening Rarity's door, she saw her sleeping with a mask on her face and the green mud mask she liked. Spike was curled up in a basket on Rarity's bed. Twilight would need her number one assistant now more than ever, but until she was released from the medical wing, she was content to let him sleep here. She made a mental note to offer Rarity a place being the palace's interior coordinator. She opened the door to Fluttershy's room and was surprised to see her pacing around the room angrily, looking exhausted.

"Couldn't sleep?", Celestia asked.

Fluttershy shook her head as she continued pacing.

Celestia walked into the room and sat on Fluttershy's bed. She patted a hoof for her to sit down. When Fluttershy sat next to her, Celestia sighed, "I know you're angry and scared. I'm angry and scared too."

"I'm not scared, I'm fucking pissed. I want to strangle this criminal until she dies. I want to feel her pulse stop under my hooves and look in her eyes as the light fades from them. I want the last thing she sees is what happens when somepony hurts my friends!", Fluttershy snarled as a shiver of anger ran up her body.

Celestia tapped her chin with a hoof as she clicked her tongue. "All good points. But don't go so deep into your anger that you lose sight of yourself. Being angry is fine, but don't lose the kind part of yourself. Right now we must all put on a brave face for Twilight. She's going to need all of us now more than ever.", Celestia said, "And try to get some rest, even if you can't sleep."

Fluttershy gave a nod as Celestia rose from the bed.

Closing the door behind her, Celestia said to herself, "May the stars have mercy on the souls of those who try to harm any of Fluttershy's friends."

Opening the door to Twilight's room in the wing, Celestia made mental notes on the renovations not only to this room, but to the castle as a whole to help Twilight to get around, even if it meant she had to give up cake forever. Pausing at Pinkie's old room that had been turned into a shrine to her memory. "Where have you been taken to, Pinkie?", she asked nopony in general. She made a mental note to always raise a glass in toast to Pinkie whether she had ever returned to her friends or was truly dead. Celestia blinked back a few tears as she went about her daily duties.

Midnight sat across from the wickedly smiling mare constantly watching her. After an hour, the Belle family got off at a small junction in the middle of nowhere. He watched as the mare wrote on her pad and paper. After the train had taken off, the mare had gotten up and began walking back towards the dining car. Midnight followed several body lengths behind her. As the mare walked into the dining car, Midnight used his powers to phase through the door so as to not give away his only advantage. Still obfuscating himself from the minds around him he watched as the smiling mare sat at the bar staring in the mirror.


On the whole train ride, The Mare Who Laughs couldn't shake the feeling something was watching her intently. She couldn't put a hoof on it. just an occasional twitch in her neck or back, she never saw anything, but she could still feel the eyes on her. She made her way into the dining car and sat at the bar. When asked what she wanted, she just waved the server off as she looked in the mirror. Pursing her lips thoughtfully as she looked in the mirror for some sign of what was watching her. She saw it! It was ever so subtle, but as ponies would walk by, they would walk around some invisible obstacle like they saw it, just didn't perceive it. She stood up and walked slowly to the caboose.

Midnight followed the smiling mare as she walked to the caboose. As he phased through the door he saw her standing in front of the open door to the outside facing him. He crept closer watching her. He froze as she popped a salute in his direction before leaping backwards off the train. Moving to the door he saw her standing in the middle of the tracks waving at him before running off. Midnight glowered for a moment before closing the door and teleporting off to Canterlot.

Celestia sighed as she sat in the throne room. She held a pair of reading spectacles up to her eyes. She didn't need them, she just felt it gave her a more wizened look that helped put her subjects a little more at ease. She had a few minutes before Prince Blueblood and his band of sycophants would come in to bombard her with another request for another increased royal stipend so he could fund his new manor in the countryside, claiming it was for official functions. She knew what it was for. He enjoyed participating in the orgies of that old fertility cult and wanted to build a pleasure palace. She had told him no multiple times, and had even threatened to bring him before the council of nobles to bring up charges of corruption if he kept trying to find a way to use government money for personal expenditures. She had once even considered granting it to him only to have Luna send her night guard to seize his holding once it was finished.

Celestia picked up the expense report for the repairs to her room for the umpteenth time this morning. As Prince Blueblood walked into the throne room with his foppish manner, she smirked at the thought of summoning Bulwark in here as he had a way of intimidating others without saying a word or doing anything. Midnight appeared in a puff of purple smoke startling Blueblood and his sycophants. Celestia looked over the top of her glasses and allowed herself the slightest of smiles.

As Midnight walked towards the throne, Blueblood spoke up, "Your majesty! This is against all protocol! I was first on the docket!"

Celestia put aside her spectacles, leaned forward and rose to her full height. "Blueblood! You will stop this incessant whining and show proper respect to Prince Midnight or I shall have you brought before the royal council to have you disinherited and your lands and titles rescinded.", she chided, "And before you ask, no I shall not increase your stipend. If you want to build your pleasure temple to that fertility cult, sell some of your excess finery."

Blueblood looked absolutely flustered before he finally bowed before Midnight. As he rose, he gave a soft scoff.

Celestia allowed her ear to twitch in irritation. "In case you haven't noticed, there is a wanted terrorist loose in Equestria. What would you have me do, divert essential resources from finding this criminal so you can build some frivolous vanity project?"

"Of course not your majesty. But fifty thousand bits a month is hardly enough for one to live on.", Blueblood retorted.

Celestia had made Blueblood flustered, now she would make him squirm. She put on a hard expression. "Did you know that there are ponies who live on less than thirty bits a month? Maybe if you would pull your face from between the thighs of whatever mare or stallion that suits your fancy for longer than to come to me for more money like some beggar and actually look around, you might be able to actually solve a problem or two. Get out." As Blueblood turned to leave, Celestia spoke up again, "And Blueblood, come before asking to have your stipend increased again and I shall decrease it to zero." 

She allowed herself a smile of satisfaction as Blueblod winced as he walked out. After she ordered the guards out, she and Midnight broke out in snorting laughter.

"That's the one thing I missed about the royal court, dear sister.", Midnight chuckled, "Watching you make some sniveling royal flinch with a few measured words or watching Bulwark make them cower with but a glance. Can Luna still make them piss themselves just by taking a step forward?"

"She has gotten even more devious. She just casts an illusion spell to make herself look like she still has fangs and then just sneers.", she said with clucking laughter.

After the two had finished sharing a laugh, Midnight cleared his throat, regaining his composure.

As his face went stern, he said with a deadly seriousness, "I bring grim news, Celestia. The terrorist can sense me when I am concealing myself. I've only ever came across one family whose perceptions were that strong."
> Plans and schemes (edit)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Celestia rubbed her chin in worry and thought. "That is disturbing. I'll have to put Calligraphy back onto the criminal's scent."

Midnight scowled. "Bulwark isn't going to be happy with that. I thought he was going to bash your skull in when Calligraphy came back from the war sick."

"Who's to say he doesn't already know?", Celestia retorted, "Now let's go to the medical wing. You should meet your great-grandfoals properly. I'm sure Twilight Velvet will get you a proper scolding for being gone so long." Celestia quickly summoned an aide. "I'm going to visit Twilight for a few hours. Please reschedule or cancel all non-essential meetings. And if Blueblood tries to slither back to beg for more bits, have him tossed in the dungeon for the night." After the aide bowed, they began walking to the medical wing.

Walking through the halls of the medical wing Midnight stopped at the door to the cafeteria. Celestia stopped seeing her baby brother had done so.

Midnight took a breath, held it for a second then let it out. He saw Twilight Velvet sitting at a table halfheartedly eating some breakfast. He walked in bracing himself for what was to come.

Twilight Velvet looked up from her tray seeing Midnight walking towards her and dropped her fork in surprise. Rising from her seat she said, "Granddad?" She ran over and hugged him.

Midnight was surprised that his granddaughter hugged him instead of giving him a dressing down for being gone so long, he wrapped a foreleg around her pulling her in close. "I am truly sorry for being gone for so long."

As Twilight Velvet nuzzled into Midnight's neck she said, "I'm still mad at you for up and disappearing without even saying goodbye. You know you missed the birth of Twily, her becoming Aunt Celestia's prized student, all the times she saved Equestria, Shiny becoming captain of the Royal Guard and his engagement to Princess Cadance. But I'm still glad to see you."

"I regret all of that and much more.", Midnight said softly.

"I still owe you twenty-three years worth of scolding.", Twilight Velvet said parting the hug, smiling, "You know Shiny is probably going to dress you down too. But that can wait until later, for now you need to meet your great-granddaughter."

Twilight velvet and Midnight entered into Twilight Sparkle's room where she and Cadence were arguing.

"No! I want the terrorist to know I'm alive and well, so she knows that she failed!", Twilight insisted.

"I know, Twilight, but there is a greater advantage if this criminal thinks you are in a in a coma for right now.", Cadence argued back calmly, "If she finds out you're alive and well she may come after you again or your friends or Spike or your brother or your parents or the families of your friends in an attempt to lure you out into a trap. We must for now play like this is a game of poker, we may have been dealt a bad hand, but we know we have an ace hidden under our mane. Right now that's you."

Twilight scoffed in disgust. "I prefer chess. You set your trap and you move your pieces to lure your opponent's princess in to conceal your true intentions."

"I've always been partial to liar's dice myself.", Midnight chimed in as he entered the room, "But I see no reason why we couldn't play a combination of chess, hold 'em and liar's dice with this criminal."

Twilight and Cadance were startled by the entry of Midnight, the latter immediately taking a defensive stance.

"Easy, dear cousin.", Midnight said calmly, "I mean no harm."

"Wh-who are you?", Twilight asked with a surprised expression.

Twilight Velvet walked in the room. "Twilight, I want to introduce you to your great-grandfather, Prince Midnight."

"Great-grandfather?", Twilight said with surprise. She stared, her mouth a gape before finding her senses and closing her mouth. "Does that mean that me and Shiny are royalty?"

"Technically.", Midnight replied, "But my brother, sisters and I have always kept our children secret from public knowledge to protect them from any political repercussions or attacks."

"Brother? Sisters?", Twilight asked herself inquisitively, "You're the first male alicorn I've ever seen. Though I've heard some of the staff talking about another male alicorn walking around the medical wing. I always thought that Celestia, Luna and Cadance were the only alicorns."

"My brothers chose to leave the court life behind centuries ago and we kept their locations secret from the general public at their wishes.", Celestia said walking into the room. She gestures her hoof for Bulwark to join her in the room.

Twilight's eyes went wide as her breath caught in her throat at the massive alicorn stallion that entered the room. If it weren't his slate-grey flowing mane and gentle blue eyes, she would have sworn he was a bronze sculpture come to life. As his calm but stern gaze looked her over she let out her breath. Twilight noted that compared to Midnight and Celestia, Bulwark was absolutely massive.

Celestia nudged Bulwark's shoulder with a hoof. "Go on. Introduce yourself to your Great-grandniece, don't be shy."

"Greetings, young Twilight Sparkle. I am Prince Bulwark.", Bulwark said in a smooth deep rumbling tone.

Twilight went to speak but found she could only squeak. She let out and took in a few deep breaths trying to regain her composure. When she went to speak again, her voice came out in a breathy whisper, "How do you do Prince Bulwark? My name is Twilight Sparkle."

Bulwark gave a small smile to Twilight before turning to Cadence, "Greetings young Princess Cadence. If I may ask, whom of my three siblings is your parent?"

Cadence found herself almost hypnotized by Bulwark’s gaze. She quickly took a breath to gather herself before answering, "I never knew my parents as I grew up in an orphanage. To the best of knowledge I have no alicorn heritage. I found myself one day in a solid white place as an alicorn when Aunt Celestia found me."

"Hah!", Midnight laughed as he clicked a hoof on the floor, "I'd love to see the look on old Starswirl's face when he found out that Clover was right and that mortals could become alicorns."

Bulwark glanced his eyes momentarily over to Midnight before looking back to Cadance. "What do you rule over, little cousin?"

"Love in all its forms, but mostly the romantic and passionate versions.", Cadence replied.

Bulwark pursed his lips thoughtfully for a second before giving a knowing look to Celestia and Midnight. The three nodded in silent agreement. Bulwark walked to Twilight and gently laid a hoof on his forelimb. "I wished we could have met under happier circumstances, great-grandniece." He nuzzled her cheek then wrapped a gentle hug around her neck. Twilight could have sworn she heard him sniffle, but when he pulled back his face was still as gentle and stoic as ever with no trace of even a tear.

"Guard her well.", Bulwark said to Cadence softly as he left the room. The other two alicons left the room following their older brother.

The three alicorns walked through the twists and turns of the castle. "I do not approve of you using my son as your thief-taker general, Celestia.", Bulwark said in his soft, deep rumbling voice.

"Luna was complicit with me. It was even her initial idea to request him. But you are right, as the eldest sister I should have chosen another.", Celestia said hanging her head, "If you ask it of me, I shall recall him immediately."

"No.", Bulwark whispered, "I do not approve, but I won't divide us by trying to force my will over yours."

As they walked past a room the royal guards used for exercise, they hear a soft stream of vulgarities accentuated by muffled thumps.

Celestia genty opened the door seeing Fluttershy repeatedly slamming her forehooves into a heavy bag.

"I'll handle it.", Bulwark rumbled softly. He walked up next to Fluttershy studying her punches. "You're doing it wrong. If you keep going at it like that, you'll injure yourself."

Fluttershy jumped slightly at the bronze alicorn interrupting her.

"Keep your hoof straight and connect with the edge. When you punch, give a sharp snap as you go to connect and follow through your target.", Bulwark said as he gave a punch in demonstration matching Fluttershy's strength. He walked around the heavy bag and braced a hoof against it giving her a nod. As Fluttershy threw a punch, Bulwark ordered, "Again!" When she threw another punch, he began giving staccato orders, "Again! Harder! Put your weight into it! Use your other hoof! Buck your hind legs! Rear up and use both forehooves! Fly up and use all four hooves! Release all the air in your body as you strike!"

When Fluttershy threw a final punch, she gave a guttural shout as she split a seam on the heavy bag, Bulwark praised her as he repaired the seam with his magic, "Good! Good!"

Fluttershy feeling like her old self hunkered down as she hid behind her mane. "Th-th-thank you.", she whimpered demurely.

Using a hoof, Bulwark gently lifted Fluttershy upright and moved the mane of her face. "Stand up straight. Hold your head up and keep your chin level. You should tie your mane back. If you're going to defend your friends, you need to exude an air of confidence and courage, even if you are utterly terrified." He gave her a soft smile before levitating a nearby towel around her neck. "Go wash up and get something to eat. I'm sure there are some animals that need your help."

As he watched Fluttershy trot off he rumbled to himself while smiling, "This criminal has awoken a dormant warrior in her."

As Celestia and Midnight walked past Rarity's room, soft crying came from inside.

Midnight gave Celestia a silent nod which she returned before walking off. He raised his hoof and gently knocked on the door.

A few moments later, a small purple dragon with green frills opened the door.

"May I come in?", Midnight asked.

Spike stood to the side and gestured for Midnight to enter.

"How long has she been crying?"

"Since at least an hour before the sun came up."

"That's a long time for somepony to be crying.", Midnight said, "Could you give us the room?"

Spike nodded then left the room.

Midnight sat on the bed next to Rarity. Her eyes were read and swollen from crying. The tears had washed thin channels in the mud mask on her face. Her mane was bedraggled and in need of brushing.

Midnight levitated the brush from the nightstand and began gently running it through Rarity's mane. "Care to talk about it?"

Rarity tried to speak but all that came out was blubbering.

As Midnight continued to brush her hair, he said, "How about we try this, I ask a few yes or no questions and you simply nod or shake your head. Okay?"

Rarity nodded her head.

"Are you scared for your friend?"

Rarity nodded.

"Were you able to hold it together only for it to all come crashing down this morning?"

"M-mhm.", Rarity whimpered between sobs.

"Do you know who it was that found Twilight Sparkle?", Midnight asked.

When Rarity tried to speak, she broke down into more sobs.

"Take it slow.", Midnight said gently, "If you're too shaken up to speak just nod or shake your head."

Rarity nodded her head.

"Can you tell me who found her?"

Rarity pointed her hoof at the door.

"The baby dragon found her?"

Again Rarity nodded.

"Do you know who got her to safety?"

Once more Rarity nodded.

"Can you tell me who did?", Midnight asked, "It's okay if you're too shaken up to talk."

"M-m-me a-and Rainb-b-bow...", Rarity's words were cut off by more sobs.

"I want you to know that I'm proud of you and Rainbow for rescuing my great-granddaughter.", Midnight reassured Rarity.

"Wha...?", Rarity said looking up in shock, "G-great-grand-d-daughter?!"

"Yes, my little pony. I am her great-grandfather."

Rarity studied Midnight for a moment. "Is Twilight a princess?"

"Technically, yes and no.", Midnight replied, "If you go by lineage, then nearly a third of Equestria are princes and princesses, maybe more. Most of the nobility of this country has no direct lineage to Bulwark, Celestia, Luna or I. Most of those who are directly descended from us are common ponies as they generally display true noble traits."

Rarity gaped at the new knowledge.

Luna woke up with her stomach rumbling. Looking outside, she saw it was still mid-morning. She decided to go to the kitchen to get a snack, hopefully Celestia hadn't eaten the last of the cake.

Applejack stood in front of the stove in the royal kitchen cooking some fritters. As she stood in silence, she felt tears trying to come on, she forced them back, made a chewing action like she was eating them and swallowed hard. It made her stomach feel queasy, but she simply ignored it as she continued cooking. As she finished the batch of fritters, Luna walked in the kitchen.

Looking over Luna saw AJ putting several fritters on a platter, she looked absolutely miserable. "Good morning Applejack.", she said groggily.

"Mornin' princess.", Applejack replied flatly.

Luna cocked an eyebrow. She knew Applejack was generally a morning pony and usually in a chipper mood. "Is something the matter?"

"Nope!"

Luna pursed her lips at Applejack's reaction. "You know you can talk to me about anything?", Luna says, concerned.

"Ah'm fine, really Princess.", AJ lied through her teeth.

"I know you're not fine, but I'll let you talk to me when you're ready.", Luna says. Opening the refrigerator she scowls seeing the cake is gone. "Would it kill Tia to leave some cake?", she sighs, "Applejack, may I have some of your fritters?"

Applejack scraped some fritters onto a plate and passed it to Luna. "Here ya go, Princess!"

Celestia sat down at a table in the rose garden with her lunch. She began eating, enjoying the afternoon sun, when she heard a sniffle come from behind her and to the right. Turning her head, she saw a rainbow-colored tail hanging over a branch of the tree behind her. "Rainbow Dash? Are you okay?"

"Yes, well, no, I mean, I don't know.", Rainbow replies.

Celestia pushes a chair back slightly with her magic. "Why don't you come down and talk?"

Rainbow flaps down and sits in the chair, wiping the tears from her eyes.

Celestia gestures to a servant for more tea. "Why don't you tell me how you're feeling.", she says smiling.

Rainbow takes a deep breath. "I...I don't know how I feel."

"Let's start simple, just tell me what you're feeling right now."

"I'm angry, I'm scared.", Rainbow says wiping her eyes, "I'm relieved that I'm not going to lose another friend, but I'm worried because Twi isn't going to walk again."

"I know exactly how you feel Rainbow...", Celestia says, taking a breath and letting it out with a sigh, "...when I first saw Twilight laying in the hospital bed paralyzed, I completely lost it and destroyed my room."

Rainbow blinked in surprise at the thought of the normally stoic and reserved divine princess of the sun going losing her resolve and totally destroying her room. She gave a short, flat chuckle, "If you went totally crazy and destroyed your room, I wonder how Luna took it."

"My sister isn't as hot tempered as I am...", Celestia replied, "...her anger is more of a slow burn. She may not look like it, but she is completely besides herself in anger right now. We must be the pillars that Twilight can lean on, she is right now the weakest she's ever been. It's perfectly okay to not know how to feel, just be honest with yourself."

Rainbow nodded as she wiped away tears.

A week later Twilight was sitting on a bench in physical therapy lifting some free weights with her hoof as the therapist, a tan earth pony mare with a red mane in a wheelchair was counting off the reps, "Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen and twenty! Alright switch hooves and do the same."

As Twilight switched hooves and started on the next set of reps, she halfheartedly listened to the instructor as her mind began running over the events of the past several days and the few discussions she had with Celestia, Luna, Midnight and Cadence. "For right now it's best that the criminal thinks you're in a coma.", Cadence's words ran through her mind. She disliked the idea of running with that but she did have to admit begrudgingly that Cadence was right. "The last thing we want to do is expose your friends or their family to unnecessary danger. If the terrorist knows she has failed, she will try to draw you out into a trap.", Celestia's words rang in her mind.

"And twenty,", the therapist called out, "You're doing good! Let's switch to the butterfly machine."

A couple of orderlies helped Twilight into her wheelchair and pushed her over to the butterfly machine. As the orderlies strapped her into the seat, the therapist attached some large rubber bands to the forelimb handles, "Okay we'll start out with ten pounds of resistance, let me know if it's too much or not enough."

Twilight slipped her forelimbs into the padded loops as she nodded. As the therapist began counting out the reps, Twilight let her thoughts drift again. "Misdirection is the first and last rule when facing an enemy, especially when we don't know their plans or strengths.", Midnight's words played in her mind, "We must have our plans and schemes when facing an enemy who has an unknown strength. Sometimes one dirty trick is all that's needed to completely throw the best laid plans into complete disarray." A brilliant idea came into her head, once she was through with her physical therapy for today she would begin writing it down.

"Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen,", the therapist counted off, "Alright let's take a break and cool down for a few minutes before we switch to working on how to properly get in and out of your chair."

Twilight took in a deep breath and blew it out as she wiped the sweat off her face with a nearby towel. The orderlies helped her back into the wheelchair as she draped the towel across withers.

Twilight sipped cool water from a small conical paper cup alongside her therapist. "You're doing well.", her physical therapist praised, "In about two or three months, we'll have to taper back your physical training so you don't over tax your body when you just start showing."

"Mhm.", Twilight mumbled in thought, "I've read about water therapy. It's supposed a way of building and maintaining muscle strength while still being low impact enough to not over stress the body. Maybe as my pregnancy progresses we can step up on that?"

"I'll talk to your doctor and see what he says.", the therapist.

After they finished drinking their water, the physical therapist directed Twilight to a large padded mat in the middle of the room and then switched herself to a similar wheelchair to Twilight's. Wheeling out to the padded floor as the orderlies gently lowered Twilight onto the floor, the therapist gently lowered herself out of her chair in front of Twilight.

"Okay Ms. Sparkle. The purpose of these exercises is to build the muscle memory so you can properly get in and out of your wheelchair without harming yourself.", the therapist explained, "We'll start off using your hooves so you can can get used to it, then after you've mastered using your hooves you can switch to your magic. Just pay attention as I go through the steps. Ready?"

Twilight nodded.

The physical therapist slid the wheelchair close, locked the wheels, made sure the hoofrests were up, she gently pushed her hind legs together with her forehooves, she reached behind her and raised her body up onto the seat, strapped herself in, raising each leg up individually she flipped each hoofrest down placing her hind hooves on each. "Okay Ms. Sparkle, now you give it a try."

Twilight began doing the same, as she raised herself up, her hoof slipped and she plopped down on the floor. She huffed in frustration.

"It's okay Ms, Sparkle...", the therapist said, "...nopony gets it on the first try. It took me a week before I fully got it myself. Try again."

Twilight took a breath and sighed. "Here goes nothing.", she mumbled. She pushed her hind legs back together and began lifting herself back onto the wheelchair. Her forelegs trembled as she pulled herself up fully, she nearly slipped once or twice before she lowered herself into the seat. Wiping the sweat from her forehead with the towel, she tightened the straps across her waist before adjusting her legs onto the hoofrests. She let out a deep sigh before smiling at her progress.

The physical therapist clapped her hooves. "Very good! Very good!", she praised, "As you continue to practice this, you'll get much better so that you'll be able to do it in your sleep. Now let's do it in reverse." After the physical therapist lowered herself onto the floor, she looked up to Twilight, "Don't worry, Ms. Sparkle. Once we get you a wheelchair like mine, things will be much easier. I've found in my eight years as being a handicapable physical therapist, it's better to start with the harder wheelchair first."

After a few hours, Twilight Velvet walks in the physical therapy room as she sees her daughter ease herself into the wheelchair the last time. "So how's everything going?"

"It's going good, Ms. Velvet.", the physical therapist praises, "If your daughter keeps going like she is, it won't be long before she joins the Equestrian para-hoofball league."

"I wouldn't go that far.", Twilight Sparkle chuckles as she rubs her sore withers.

"Well we're done here for today.", the physical therapist says, "See you tomorrow, Ms. Sparkle."
Twilight Velvet walked up behind her daughter and started to push the chair. "How in the name of the wide world of Equestria does anypony get these things to move?", she grumbled as the wheelchair refused to budge.

Twilight began to chuckle. "You have to unlock the wheels first mom.", she said as she reached down and unlocked the brakes with her hooves.

"Oh.", Twilight Velvet replied blushing, "So where to now?

Twilight rubbed her sore withers, "I'd like to get a rub down before getting something to eat."

"Sounds good.", Twilight Velvet said, "We'll go and see if Princess Celestia will let you use her personal masseuse. Maybe I'll get a massage too."

After Twilight was gently helped up onto the massage table, the masseuse came in and asked with a thick Germane accent, "Vhat vould you like today Ms. Shparkle?"

"Just a good deep tissue massage...", Twilight said looking at the masseuse's name tag, "...Mr. Hans."

"Ja fraulein und call yust call me Hans.", Hans replied, "Ist zere anyvere zat you vant me to focus on?"

"Just my shoulders, withers, neck and upper forelimbs, I'm pretty much numb below my midsection."

"Very vell Ms. Shparkle.", Hans said, "Yust let me know if anysing feels too rough." He began applying oil to his hooves before rubbing down Twilight.

Twilight grunted a few times before she started to relax. "Aaaahhh.", she sighed as her tongue began hanging out, "Hans, if my hind legs worked they'd be twitching right now."

Hans grinned as he began working his fetlock into a particularly tight knot.

"Mmmmmmm.", Twilight moaned wishing she could kick her hind legs.

After the massage had finished, Twilight felt relaxed and that she was made out of rubber. Over the hour her mind had been working out a plan. She eased herself into the wheelchair. As she and her mother came into the kitchen, several servants laid out some bowls and ladled some soup into them. As they ate in silence, Twilight began hastily scribbling out some things on a few pieces of parchment.

"What are you writing?", Twilight Velvet asked.

"Just a few ideas."

Luna walked in the kitchen yawning and giving her wings a stretch. "Good evening Twilight and Twilight."

"Good evening Princess Luna.", Twilight Velvet said, bowing her head.

"Good evening Luna.", Twilight said, still writing.

"Twily, don't be rude!", Twilight Velvet scolded.

"Nonsense Twilight Velvet.", Luna chided, "Twilight Sparkle is more than just my subject, she's also my first friend and our relationship is much more casual in private."

Twilight scratched her chin as she scratched out a few things and wrote a few things in their places. Looking up she said, "Mom, could you give us the room?"

"Of course sweetie.", Twilight Velvet said rising. She curtsied, "Good evening Princess Luna."

Luna tipped her head slightly as Twilight Velvet left the room before sitting across from Twilight Sparkle. "So what are you writing?"

With a final stroke of the quill, Twilight finished writing before looking, "Just a plan. Before I discuss it, could you bring Celestia, Midnight, Bulwark and my friends in here?"

Luna nodded and gestured for a servant. "Please send for my sister, brothers, the element bearers and spike."

"Yes your majesty.", the servant said bowing before leaving the kitchen.

Several minutes later Celestia, Bulark, Midnight, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow and Spike walked into the kitchen.

Twilight looked up, levitated a piece of paper to a guard. She began pushing her hooves together as she spoke, "I've had a week to think about this. What we're going to do is plan a fake funeral for a month from today." She wished she could pace as she continued, "We each are going to have a role to play, well each of you as I can't be seen in public anyways. I've asked a guard in writing to fetch me two ponyquins. That's where you come in Rarity. You have three days to make one look like I've been laying in a coma for two weeks, you've got three day to finish that one, the second one you have three weeks to make it look coffin ready. Remember, the first one doesn't need to look pretty, just that I've been unconscious for two weeks. Make the second one look as pretty as you can, even make a dress for it." Twilight levitated a few pieces of paper, a quill and some ink over to Rarity.

As Rarity began mumbling to herself while drawing out a few things, Twilight continued, "Applejack, I want you to make two identical coffins, one that will hold the ponyquin and the other that will hold some weights so it feels like my body is in it. I leave the design up to you, just make sure they're identical on the outside."

Twilight turned to Rainbow, "Rainbow, I need you to be part of the pegasi that will emergency medevac the ponyquin out of the Ponyville hospital." Turning to Fluttershy, "Fluttershy, I want you to join Rainbow as part of the pegasi team that will medivac the ponyquin out of Ponyville." She then turned to Spike, "Spike, I want you to write and read the eulogy at the phony funeral." Turning to Celestia she said, "I need you to write a couple of fake news reports and do a few phony press meetings." Turning to Luna she said, "I need you at the phony press meetings, especially the one announcing my 'death' to go into hysterics and even convincingly faint. If you think you might have trouble, have Rarity teach you how to successfully pull off a convincing grief-stricken freak out."

Rarity quirked an eyebrow. "For the sake of this, I'll pretend that I didn't hear you say anything."

Twilight chuckled before continuing, "Bulwark, Midnight, I want the two of you to pull security at the 'funeral'" She looked around for a moment, "Does anypony have any questions or statements?"

"Ah don't think I can lie, 'specially on something this big.", Applejack spoke up.

"I'm not asking you to lie, just not tell anypony what is really going on.", Twilight replied.

"Still sounds like lying to me." Applejack said before making a chewing action and swallowing hard.

"If you don't think you can do this, I can ask Celestia and Luna to keep you in your room until after the criminal is caught.", Twilight replied, "Also what are you eating?"

"Nuthin'.", Applejack said, her stomach feeling sour from eating her emotions again, "An' Ah never said Ah couldn't do it, jus' that it feels like lying tuh me. If ya want two coffins fer a fake funeral, ya got it." She chewed up more of her feelings and swallowed again, she placed a hoof over her stomach as it began to hurt.

Luna and Midnight each raised an eyebrow at Applejack's actions.

Twilight looked around one last time, "Are there any more question or statements?" She paused for a few moments to see if any of the others had anything to add before continuing, "Okay, in an hour I'll talk with Cadence and Shining Armor. Now let's plan a fake funeral."

A week later, Twilight sat in her bed chewing some crackers to settle her stomach as she listened to the news broadcast on the radio.

“This is Hot Edition with WTIA out of Canterlot. Unfortunately we have some bad news for you all this morning. Twilight Sparkle, the bearer of the Element of Magic, prize student of Princess Celestia, Daughter of Twilight Velvet and Night Light, Brother of Captain Shining Armor, had to be emergency medivaced by pegasus paramedics to Our Divine Princess of the Sun hospital in Upper Canterlot at four o'clock this morning after she took a turn for the worse while in a coma after her brutal attack two weeks ago by the wanted terrorist that has been dubbed The Mare Who Laughs. When we reached out to the hospital for a statement, the chief trauma doctor, Doctor Steady Hooves had this to say, "Right now all we can say is that Miss Twilight Sparkle is in stable but severe condition, were giving her the best care we can, all we do now is hope and pray she improves." Princess Celestia gave a brief press conference, "I-I Hope that my prized student *hsnf* and the bearer of the Element of Magic will be okay. *hsnf* I hope...hope*Hsnf*...I'm sorry I can't do this anymore." It was reported that after the Princess walked off stage she was heard crying. When Princess Luna gave a private interview with an interview she broke down in hysterics and had to be escorted out of the room. We will not be playing a recording of the interview or offering a transcript of the interview, though Princess Luna did later send out a written statement that I will now read. "*ahem* We princess Luna are severely grieved that our good friend Twilight Sparkle is in such dire straits. We hope and pray to the stars that she will have a hasty recovery." Captain Shining Armor gave a press statement about an hour ago. "Listen here you sick [bleep]! You had better hope my [bleep] sister lives or you are [bleep] dead! You [bleep] hear me?! If my sister dies there won't be a [bleep] hole you won't [bleep] be [bleep] able to find a hole deep enough to [bleep] crawl the [bleep] into that I won't [bleep] find you and [bleep] be able to drag you the [bleep] out of and [bleep] kill you! You worthless [bleep]!" Unfortunately shortly after the bit we are able to air, he went into an extremely vulgarly laden rambling tirade that we won't play because of standards and practices and also for the sake of our listeners ears... Immediately after Princess Cadence gave a statement, but because of her use of the Royal Canterlot voice, all recording equipment burned out. Twilight Velvet and Night Light, the parents of Twilight Sparkle, offered a statement calling for everypony’s thoughts and players. We will be offering the transcripts of those interviews to anypony who writes in asking for them. Huh? This just in! The Equestrian Bureau of Investigation has just offered a reward of one hundred thousand bits for any information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the wanted Terrorist known as The Mare Who Laughs. In a written statement given by Head Director Magnifying Glass, he urges that if anypony sees the criminal or any of her known associates to not approach them and to contact your local police, sheriff or constabulary. Thank you for listening. Stay tuned for the next thirty minutes of music.

Twilight turns off the radio as a small smile crosses her lips, she steeples her hooves in thought, "Now the trap is baited, all we need to do is set it and wait to see if the criminal comes to take a sniff."

Three weeks later, Fluttershy comes into Twilight's room to check up on her and hears loud retching in the bathroom. When she goes to check on her, she finds Twilight doubled over in her chair throwing up in the toilet. "Twilight? Are you okay? Should I get a doctor?"

Twilight spits out bile and strings of saliva into the toilet bowl. "No Fluttershy, it's just morning sickness."

"Uuummm, but Twilight, it's noon."

"It's just called morning sickness", Twilight says pushing herself upright and wiping her mouth, "Pregnant mares can have it all their whole pregnancy, it just usually most common in the morning." Twilight hears her stomach churn as she tastes bile in her throat again. "Oh no!" She bends over and begins retching again. Once she stops vomiting, she lays her head on the side of the bowl. "Fucking morning sickness. Ugh!" When she is sure she isn't going to throw up again, she pushes herself upright, wheels herself over to the sink and washes out her mouth. Turning herself around she takes a long look at Fluttershy. "Wow Fluttershy! You're looking good, all toned and you've even got your mane pulled back in a horsytail. Have you been working out?"

"Thank you Twilight.", Fluttershy replies, "I figured that I should get into shape since I'll be helping take care of you until we can get our lives back in order."

"Well I'm ready for my one month check up.", Twilight said as she wheeled herself into the room, "When we get done, I wanna go somewhere and get something to eat, I've got a craving for hayburgers dipped in ice cream and chocolate sauce with pickles on the side. Oooh, and asparagus tips with spicy peppers and some watermelon with butter smeared on top."

Fluttershy chuckled as she pushed Twilight to the doctor, she heard about pregnant mares having odd cravings.

Twilight laid on the examination table with a thermometer in her mouth and her hind legs in stirrups. She covered her face in embarrassment as even though she couldn't feel it, she knew the doctor was prodding in her mare bits. She looked over at the nurse standing in the corner as she felt her cheeks burn. "Are you almost done doctor?"

"Yes Ms. Sparkle, I'm almost done.", the doctor said from between Twilight's hind legs, "No need to be embarrassed or upset, my interest in this part of you is purely professional." Leaning up, he pulled a pair of latex examination gloves off his hooves and tossed them into a nearby trash can. He washed his hooves and took the thermometer out of her mouth reading the numbers on it, wrote in her chart and shook it. Lowering her legs out of the stirrups, he began asking her a few questions, "Okay Ms. Sparkle, I want you to answer these questions to the best of your ability. Have you been experiencing much nausea or vomiting for the past few weeks?"

"Some...", Twilight answered, "For the past three weeks I've usually had some nausea and I've thrown up several times."

The doctor wrote in the chart. "Have you been feeling some discomfort? Odd cravings? Mood swings."

"You mean discomfort other than being unable to walk?", Twilight asked feeling annoyed, "As for odd cravings, I wouldn't call them odd, I'm just hungry for some hayburgers dipped in ice cream and chocolate sauce with pickles on the side, watermelon smeared with butter and asparagus with hot peppers."

"Did you crave those things more than four weeks ago?", the doctor asked.

"Well, no. I'm just hungry for them right now."

The doctor wrote in the chart. "What about mood swings? Any unusual anger, or crying or anxiety out of the normal?"

"Not that I've noticed other than a doctor asking me some dumb questions that's making me feel annoyed."

The doctor pursed his lips as he wrote in the chart. Placing the chart on the counter he pulled out a device of the closet with a wide wand-like instrument that was flat on one end attached to the device with a curling wire. "Do you know what an ultrasound is Ms. Sparkle?"

Twilight nodded her head.

The doctor squirted some clear gel on the end of the flat wand and turned on the ultrasound. "Let me know if this feels cold or if you feel any discomfort." He began running the wand across her stomach as he stared at the screen humming thoughtfully. "So far everything looks good. Do you want to see your foal?"

Twilight's eyes went wide with surprise and joy. "Yes!"

The doctor turned the screen and pointed his hoof at a fuzzy blob. Tapping a few buttons, he froze the image and brought up a yellow circle around it.

Twilight looked at the fuzzy blob, squinted her eyes and tilted her head slightly. "I can't tell if it's a filly or a colt."

The doctor chuckled lightly, "It's still too early to tell, but so far it appears normal. Do you want me to print off this for you?"

Twilight ran her hoof along the fuzzy blob. "Hello little one. Oh! Yes! I'd like that very much!"

The doctor pressed a button on the ultrasound and it printed out the fuzzy picture with a little yellow circle around the fuzzy blob. Helping her sit up, the doctor ripped the piece of paper off and hoofed it to Twilight, he then wrote in the chart again.

Twilight smiled at the picture of the fuzzy blob, held it to her chest, then eased herself into the wheelchair.

"Okay, Ms. Sparkle, I'd like to see you again in two weeks for a standard checkup and again two weeks after that for another prenatal exam.", the doctor said. The doctor opened the door to an anxious Fluttershy sitting on a chair in the hallway, "Okay Ms. Shy, she's all yours."

As Fluttershy pushed Twilight through the hallway, Twilight held up the picture of the ultrasound excitedly, "Look at my foal Fluttershy!"

Fluttershy looked at the picture of the fuzzy blob as she squinted her eyes, "Is it a filly or a colt?"

"The doctor said it was too early to tell, but he said so far everything looks normal. Ooo, I'm so excited!", Twilight exclaimed, "Now let's go get something to eat, I want that hayburger dipped in ice cream and chocolate sauce with pickles on the side."
As they sat in the kitchen, the cooks gave Twilight an odd look before they started making her request. After they put the plate with her odd request on the table. They began watching "As Equus Turns" on the TV when a news broadcast interrupted the program.

“We at EBS preempt the preceding for an important announcement.” The image switched to a unicorn with a graying flattop, dark horn-rim glasses and an earpiece with a spiraling white wire descending from it. “Good afternoon, Equestria, I am Walter Gliding Kite. We here with EBS news have received news that Twilight Sparkle has died due to complications from her coma about thirty minutes ago.” A tear rolled down his cheek but his professional stoic demeanor never cracked. “Ms.Twilight Sparkle is survived by her parents Night Light and Twilight Velvet, her brother Captain Shining Armor of the Royal Guard, her adopted brother Spike the dragon, her teacher Princess Celestia and her fellow surviving element bearers, Fluttershy Breeze, Rainbow Cloud Faust Marian Blue Skies Dash, Rarity Belle and Applejack Apple. We at EBS wish to offer our condolences to her surviving family and friends.” A hoof slides a piece of paper from off camera which the newscaster picks up and reads. “We will now cut to a live statement given by Princesses Celestia, Luna and Cadence and Captain Shining Armor.” The camera feed cuts to an empty podium with several microphones on it.
Celestia steps up behind the podium. “First I want to say I'm grieved at the loss of Twilight Sparkle. I didn't just lose a faithful student, but a good friend and somepony that was like a daughter to me. *hsnf* All of Equestria has lost a great champion, scholar and friend. *hsnf* I want everypony to remember her for the friend and true patriot she was.” Celestia held her head low as she walked off the stage.

"That was almost believable.", Twilight said between sloppy bites.

Luna took the stage, opened her mouth to begin speaking. Tears began rolling her cheeks as her eyes rolled up in her head and fainted. Several guards drug her off the stage as they fanned her face.

Twilight wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. "Damn, now that was it truly... it makes me want to cry." She sniffled then took another sloppy bite.

Cadence took to the podium, tears and snot pouring down her face. “Twilight was the best filly I ever foalsat and one of the best friends I've ever had. I-I-I…” She plopped down hard on her plot, holding her face in her hooves and giving screaming sobs. As the guards began gently nudging the microphones picked up her shouting. “TAKE ME IN HER PLACE STARS!”

Twilight put her hayburger down and began crying, she picked up a napkin and blew her nose.

Shining Armor made it halfway to the podium and fell over in the fetal position crying. Several guards drug him off stage.

"At least he tried.", Fluttershy said, trying to sound positive.

The feed cut back to Walter Gliding Kite holding his glasses in his magic and wiping his eyes with a hoofkerchief. Putting his glasses back on, he started speaking again, his voice cracking. “I’m sorry for my loss in professionalism viewers. We here at EBS offer our sincerest condolences not only to the family and friends of Twilight Sparkle, but also all of Equestria.” A hoof slid another piece of paper across the desk, the newscaster read it and looked up at the camera. “We now cut to Ponyville where Mayor Mare has prepared a statement.”

The feed cut to Ponyville, where Mayor Mare was standing behind a podium with a microphone on it, her eyes were red and swollen from crying. “Twilight Sparkle was more than a citizen of Ponyville, she was also a friend to all, an active member of the community and an educator that held learning classes for both foals and adults. I have started a fund for any and all ponies who want to donate to the Twilight Sparkle memorial library. Our teacher, Ms. Cheerilee Bookington has also started a book collection for the new library when it is completed. Mr. Filthy Rich has also donated one of his warehouses for use as a temporary library until the new one can be built. Mr. Silver Bar has commissioned for a new statue dedicated to the memory of Twilight Sparkle to be erected in the town square.”

The camera feed cuts back to Walter Gliding Kite holding a hoof up to his earpiece. “We at EBS have just received word that the House of Nobles have called for a day of national grieving and the EBI have raised the reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the wanted terrorist to five hundred thousand bits. Rest in peace Twilight Sparkle, may the stars guide you home.”

The screen cuts to a blue. “We now cut to Equestria's Funniest Home Videos, already in progress.”

Fluttershy switches off the TV as Twilight finishes drying her eyes and goes back to eating her burger.
********************************************************************************************************
*Monochrome's Journal Whinnyapolis day 3*
Dear Journal,

I arrived in Whinnyapolis two day ago. It was difficult to find anypony willing to give up any information on the terrorist. This morning I found two members of her gang but they were so coo coo bananas that I'd have a better chance of getting blood from a rock before I got any coherent information out of either of them. Instead I teleported them back to the asylum they escaped from. Does the terrorist only recruit maniacs and madponies?

Yours truly, Monochrome

*Monochrome's Journal day 8*
Dear Journal,

I saw a news report that Twilight Sparkle was brutally attacked in the library in Ponyville. When I was setting out to catch the first train I could back to Ponyville, I received a letter from Aunt Luna saying to stay in Whinnyapolis and investigate the criminal as she had things well in hand. What are you playing at, dear Aunt? Don't let yourself become like your sister. I'll set out tonight and track down any members of the gang I can in hopes that I can find any of them that aren't permanent residents of Crazyburg.

Yours truly, Monochrome

*Monochrome's Journal day 10*
Dear Journal,

I had mixed results this afternoon. I found a member of the terrorist group that wasn't completely loopy. I put a bolt through his hoof with my trusty old service hoof crossbow. When I snatched him up by his lapels, he bit down on a false tooth containing a bit of toxin, he died laughing like a madpony and a twisted smile permanently on his face. Is it fear or fanaticism that drives the terrorist's followers? I'll know better next time and check their mouth for suicide capsules.

Yours truly, Monochrome

*Monochrome's Journal day 15*
Dear Journal,

I just saw a news broadcast that Twilight Sparkle was in a coma and had complications. Several pegasus had rushed her to Our Divine Princess of the Sun in Canterlot. For the first time since the war, I prayed. I prayed that young Twilight will be alright. Hopefully, she will recover quickly.

Yours truly, Monochrome

*Monochrome's Journal day 20*
Dear Journal,

I managed to luck out and found the factory where the vanishing cream was manufactured. When I investigated, I found only traces of the toxin used. The factory workers seemed all kind smiles and helpful, but I knew something was up. When I noticed a strange smell, the factory guards became hostile, not outright, but made their intent known and how many they'd use if I tried to push the line of questioning any further. I decided to leave and come back later that night. That night I managed to slip in an unlocked skylight when the factory was unlocked. Slipping unseen down into the basement unseen I found something truly horrifying. The owner of the factory was alive, though she was now bone thin and her mind completely broken, she was laughing to herself with an unnatural smile on her face. The basement was littered with rotten food, piss, and shit. The smell almost made me puke. I managed to teleport her to a nearby hospital, the trauma doctor said he wasn't hopeful given her current state, but they'd do all they can to help her out.

Yours truly, Monochrome

*Monochrome's Journal Whinnyapolis day 32*
Dear Journal,

I'm writing this on the train to Canterlot. My father sent me a message that he was in Canterlot and that I had been recalled. I spent all night and most of the morning crying when I heard on the news that Twilight Sparkle had died. I slept for an hour before writing to you. I had a new nightmare. This time it wasn't about the war, it was about Twilight screaming for help as she lay dying in a hospital bed hooked up to machines. I apologize for the tear stains, she was too young to die so tragically. Even on the express train, it's still a two day ride

Yours truly, Monochrome

*Monochrome's Journal Canterlot day 1*
Dear Journal,

As I'm writing this, I am filled with a bittersweet happiness. My father met me at the train station. Even after all these years he's still the same, the bronze coat, the massive stature and build, the same slate-grey flowing mane, the same gentle blue eyes, the same stoic expression, the same soft-spoken rumbling voice. When we reached the castle, we were quickly ushered into a private back room where I was surprised to find Twilight Sparkle alive, though she was now in a wheelchair and shoveling green beans in her face swimming in butter and daisy juice. She told me how the terrorist had infiltrated the guards assigned to protect her back in Ponyville, attacked her leaving her crippled, and that two of the terrorist goons had raped her, leaving her pregnant. That would explain the weird food she was eating. The biggest change was her, though. It was the same expression I had seen in the mirror before too many times to count, eyes that are filled with terror and a hardness. She told me how she had orchestrated the whole faking her death and her "funeral" was in four days, clever filly. Her friend Fluttershy had changed a lot, too. Though she was still the absolutely gorgeous pegasus mare with a graceful build, she had put on a lot of lean muscle mass, somepony has clearly been hitting the gym. She also has recently cut her mane and tail into a shorter style and had her mane tied back from her face. Her eyes also had a fierceness about them. A dormant warrior has been awakened in this normally demure pony. A brash cyan pegasus named Rainbow Dash with a multicolored mane, one of Twilight's friends I had yet to meet, was there. Her slim athletic build definitely belied her physical strength, though her eyes told the true story, they were fierce, but there was an undercurrent of uncertainty to them. Rarity looked like she had taken it hard. She no longer wore her eye make-up and looked like she was going to break down and cry at any moment. Applejack looked the worst of them all, she showed signs of not sleeping well at all. When she would look away, I would catch her eating her emotion, literally. When she thought nopony was looking, she would hold her stomach in pain, she had definitely given herself an ulcer. When I brought it up, she became outwardly hostile and verbally combative. Aunt Celestia looked terrible too, she had bags under her eyes where she had not slept well. She told me that when she first saw Twilight laid up in the hospital, she completely lost her shit and destroyed her room. Dear Auntie, your stoic demeanor has always been a paper-thin mask for that temper that burns hotter than the surface of the sun. As always, Father and Aunt Luna were the hardest to read, they always kept their real thoughts locked in their head. The biggest surprise was seeing Uncle Midnight there.

Yours truly, Monochrome

*Twilight's log, entry one*

I'm not sure how to start this. I must say it's unusual to attend your own funeral in secret. Also it's equally weird to see your own grave. Fluttershy has gotten crazy built. She's not all bulky and lumpy like Bulk Biceps, but more like lean muscle. The first word that Shiny said when he first saw Cadence makes much more sense now. Dayum! I mean I prefer stallions, but if Fluttershy were to ask, I'd definitely jump teams. The day after my "funeral", Celestia began construction on a new wing of her school for gifted unicorns dedicated to me. Super weird still. I heard that in Ponyville that they've nearly gotten the funds for the library dedicated in my name. To steal a line from Pinkie's old book, Super Duper Looper Uber Weird to the Max Weirdness. Applejack is still eating her emotions, even after she wound up in the ER when she vomited a few clots of blood two days ago. She's still in denial. I mean, come on, she's a bearer of harmony and she's lying to herself. I hope she wakes up soon and realizes what she's doing isn't healthy and gets some help before she winds up eating a hole in her stomach or giving herself a stroke.

*Addendum*

I forgot to put the bedpan under me last night and had woken up this morning to the joyful surprise that I had pissed and shat the bed. I won't make that mistake again. Well they're going to have to burn those sheets and flip the bed.
********************************************************************************************************

The Mare Who Laughs was watching the funeral of Twilight Sparkle on TV in her office at the candy factory. Her mane became poofy as the pallbearers carried her coffin to her family's mausoleum in Canterlot. She leapt up and began skipping around as she hummed a song. Her henchponies stared on in confused fear, not sure if they were to laugh. She stopped skipping as a mad gleam filled her eyes and she began laughing, "HAHAHAHAHAhahahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahahaha! I just got a wonderful plan for a party boys."
> Two ponies, a cracked mirror and into the heart of darkness
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Celestia was awoken in the predawn darkness by a loud banging on her bedroom door. Opening the door, a nervous guard was waiting. "Yes? What can I do for you, private?", Celestia asked with a slightly annoyed tone in her voice.

The guard, bowing, replied, "Your majesty, nearly twenty minutes ago the magi detected the portal to the other world activating even though it's not supposed to open for another two years at least. When several of the Night Guard went to investigate, they found the portal had been damaged, but no sign of any creature had come through. Princess Luna and Prince Bulwark are currently investigating."

Celestia pushed past the guard and hurried down to the basement where the mirror portal was being held. Luna and Bulwark were already investigating the damaged portal. A strange hole had penetrated the mirror. leaving the remainder of it in a spiderweb crack and laying on the ground was an odd steel blue device with a long thin hollow tube sticking out one end and a large short cylinder in the middle of it, the smell of a strange smoke hung in the air. Celestia quickly gestured for the guards to leave the room, then began manipulating the odd device. The large cylinder swung open and six smaller brass cylinders fell out. Five of the cylinders had lead cones embedded in the end, one was completely empty.  Levitating the empty brass cylinder up to her nose, she took a sniff.  It had the same smell as the odd smoke in the air. Dropping the six brass cylinders on the floor, she began looking around the room.

"Something definitely came through.", Luna said, probing the room with her magic, "Whatever it was, it definitely has unicorn magic."

Celestia found just outside the door on the floor between the wall and the frame a small rectangular patch. It had a couple of dark green threads hanging off the edge of it. Turning the patch over with her magic, she found it resembled a flag, it had thirteen red and white stripes, in one corner it had a deep blue square field with fifty silver stars. Celestia gestured for a guard. "Double all guards around the element bearers, especially Twilight and around the vault holding the elements." She turned back to Bulwark, "Tell Calligraphy that she's back."

Bulwark set his jaw and narrowed his eyes before nodding. He disappeared in a flash of bronze light.

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Twilight opened her eyes, the morning light began pouring in through the crack in the curtains. She yawned as her stomach growled. Looking over at the plate that held cookies from the night before, she frowned seeing only crumbs left. Looking down at her belly, she was just beginning to show. Climbing into her wheelchair, she began her morning routine, excited for her three month checkup. Sitting in the shower chair as the warm water cascaded over her, she ran her hooves gently over her bump feeling the occasional twitch as the foal squirmed within, a small smile spread on her lips. Drying off with a fluffy towel, she opened the medicine cabinet, pulled out a small bottle of vitamins, shook two into her hoof and made herself a glass of water. After swallowing the two vitamin pills, she wheeled herself to the door, opening it. A group of a dozen guards snapped to attention in the hallway, catching her by surprise. "Uh, what's going on?"

When none of the guards answered her, Twilight became cross. "Somepony better start answering me or I'll go straight to Celestia and find out what's going on.", she said, her words taking a harsh tone. When she got no answer, Twilight began wheeling herself down the hallway towards the throne. The guards formed in a box formation around her. "Get away from me!", she shouted, flailing her hooves.

"Twilight!", Cadence called out as she hurried through the hallway, "Stand down! Give her some room!" She hurried over and gently laid a hoof on Twilight's forelimb.

Looking up at Cadence, Twilight asked, "Just what in the name of Tartarus is going on?!"

"The whole castle is in an uproar."Cadence replied, "This morning, before dawn, a creature entered into the castle and then escaped before any of the guards could stop it. Apparently it caused some minor damage before it escaped." She turned to the guards, "It's okay, she's with me. Go inform Shining Armor of the change in orders." The guards saluted before marching off. As she began pushing Twilight through the hallway, she asked softly, "So where is our first stop this morning?"

"First I've got to go to the OB/GYN, he said at my last appointment that if I'm lucky today, they'll be able to tell if I'm having a filly or a colt in eight months."

"Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh!", Cadence began to babble as her hooves came to a stop. In her head two dozen versions of herself began a choreographed dance fight. Half were wearing black leather jackets with a picture of a shark on them, the other half were wearing white tee-shirts. She shook her head feeling like there were little Bridleway versions reenacting West Saddle Story in her head.

"Uh, Cadence? You still with us?", Twilight said turning her head.

"Yeah, yeah!", Cadence responded, feeling a bit bewildered, "It's just a minor shock to the system that they'll be able to determine the gender of the foal so soon."

"The doctor said that he might not be one hundred percent certain depending on which way the foal is facing. But he did say he could definitely determine if I'm having an earth pony, a pegasus or a unicorn.", Twilight said with a small smile as she laid a hoof on her bump. She giggled as she felt it squirm through her hoof.

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Celestia and Bulwark were going through some paperwork when a guard burst in in full gallop. "Your majesties!", he called out between gasps, "Somepony’s reported that they heard what sounded like several snaps of thunder down by the entrance to the Crystal Maze. When some guards went to investigate, they found Chrysalis laying on the ground dying with several strange holes in her and six brass cylinders nearby!"

"Where is she now?!", Celestia barked out the question.

"Down at the western guard hub!", the guard snapped a reply

"Go Celestia!", Bulwark rumbled, "I've got everything handled here."

Celestia teleported off in a flash of golden light.

Through the alleyways, a light-orange unicorn mare wearing a dark olive-green jacket, matching cap, and wearing saddle bags with a grey square pattern camouflage design galloped, dodging guard patrols. She stopped at the edge of an outcrop. Looking behind her, she heard several guard patrols galloping, searching for her.  Taking a look down, she saw a freight train passing by on the tracks. In a flash of orange light, she vanished and reappeared on top of one of the cars. Sliding the heavy door open on the freight car with her magic, she swung down inside the car. Levitating a semiautomatic pistol out of her saddle bag, she waved it around in her magic. Confident she was alone, she returned the pistol back in her saddlebag and slid the door on the freight car shut until it was open only a crack. 

Taking off her cap revealed a red and yellow streaked mane, several long thin scars ran lengthwise along the left side of her face, a chunk of her left ear was missing with scar tissue where the rest of it should be. She reached in her saddlebag and pulled out a picture of herself in human form with four humans.  All five were wearing body armor and fatigues. She sniffled quietly as she remembered the last time she had seen her four best friends alive.  They were on patrol on the streets of a sun baked desert town when a man jumped out of a nearby doorway with a grenade in his hand screaming something she didn't understand before charging them. She and her friends cut the man down with several bursts from their rifles, a split second later the grenade exploded killing Braddock in a hail of shrapnel and gore. A second later, bullets start flying out the windows like angry hornets.  As they scrambled for cover, "Stinky" Carpazio was nearly cut in half by a line of bullets. The next second a grenade landed a few feet from them. That's when Sergeant "Double Doobie" Davidson threw himself on it, he vanished in a cloud of pink mist and fire. As the three of them tried to fall back into an alleyway that's when "Grunty'' Gunderson took a stray bullet under his helmet spraying her with his brains and blood. As a Humvee pulled up to extract them, an RPG round slammed into it, the last she saw of her old boot camp buddy, "Twisty" Yang, he was screaming as he burned alive. 

She ran her hoof along the picture, she whispered, "It's okay boys, 'Bacon-head' is home now." She slipped the photo back into her saddlebag, reached up to her collar and undid the pins. Looking at the two bronze pins in her hoof, they depicted an eagle sitting atop a globe with an anchor under it. Putting the the bronze pins in her saddle bags, fishing around, she pulled a pen and a piece of paper, then started writing a letter.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I'm sorry that I wasn't the best student I should have been. I'm also sorry for forcing the portal back open early and then damaging it with a pistol. I couldn't go back to the humans and that war. By the time they realize I've gone AWOL, it will be too late. I'm sorry for the stir I caused in the castle and at the mines. When I caught that changeling trying to sneak in, I didn't hesitate and cut her down. I also want to apologize for the loss of your prized student.  From my own personal experiences, too many good lives have been cut too short by violence or madness. If you send some ponies to arrest me, I won't fight them.

Your former student, Pvt. 1st class Sunset 'Bacon-head' Shimmer

She pulled an envelope out, slid the letter in, and sealed it with a lick. She quickly ran a mental check of her gear: one Beretta nine millimetre pistol, two full spare magazines, one magazine with nine rounds rounds left, one K-bar knife, one vest of bullet-proof armor, one can of black spray paint, one can of white spray paint, one compact of camouflage paint, two dozen cans of food, and two canteens of water. She pulled out the rolled up bullet-proof vest and two cans of spray paint. She peeled off her name tag from the Velcro on the vest, spray painted the vest black and painted a stylized pony skull on the front of the vest.

Back in the castle, Twilight was proudly showing off the printed ultrasound picture of her unicorn colt growing in her to her friends.

"Have you decided on a name darling?", Rarity asked.

"I'm thinking of naming him Dusk Shine.", Twilight responded.

Rainbow gently ran her hoof on Twilight's bump, "Hey there little buddy, I can't wait to meet you. Your Auntie Rainbow is going to teach you how to be awesome."

Midnight walked up, levitating the revolver in his magic. He cleared his throat as he levitated it to Twilight. "Do you think you can transcribe the markings on this device that was used to damage the mirror portal? Don't worry, we have determined it has been properly deactivated."

Twilight took the revolver in her magic and began looking over the markings. "I can tell you right now that these numbers are ponish that say point four five." She pointed a hoof to a picture of a pony, "It looks like this picture of an earth pony, maybe the picture combined with the numbers something like earth pony point four five. Hmm. Maybe Mare point four five or stallion point four five or just pony point four five. Without some point of reference for these runes, it's going to be hard to make out." She rolled the revolver over in her magic seeing a series of numbers and letters along the side of the barrel. "Here on this tube is a combination of ponish numbers and strange runes, maybe a maker's mark or a batch number.” She rolled it, seeing at the bottom of the grip four numbers and some letters. "Hmm. Two zero one five, three runes divided by three dots. Another maker's mark or batch number with some kind of abbreviation?" She passed the revolver back to Midnight. "If I didn't have my health and the health of this little colt to worry about, I'd think nothing about sitting up several nights in the archives seeing if there were any books on any of the old languages living or dead that I could cross reference it too. Maybe ask Spike, or if he's still alive, Owlowicious to help you out.  They know all my research methods and they maybe could help you out."

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*Twilight's log entry 30*

It's been three days since Shiny and Cadence had their wedding in secret. We took an airship to Mareuba along with a complement of three dozen guards, three nurses and an OB/GYN. Poor Shiny was airsick the whole ride down. Mareuba is beautiful.  Golden beaches as far as the eyes can see, steel drum bands playing every evening and the stallions in their tight little swim trunk or their surf shorts. Lemme tell you now, momma likes! I thought Shiny was going to have his eyes pop out of his head when Cadance showed off her new bathing suit. I'm four months along now and between the cravings and the hormones, it can be difficult to relax or sleep. I kept getting weird looks from the wait staff whenever we eat out because of my odd requests, but they immediately write it off when they see my bump. I thought Shiny was going to shave my mane off the first night we were there because I woke up with some serious craving and raided the minibar of all the cookies, crackers, jelly beans and fruit. We decided right after that to always keep my room stocked with plenty of whatever snacks I might wake up craving in the middle of the night. I thought Shiny and Cadence's hearts were going to burst out of their chests when they felt the little colt wiggling and dancing in my belly. The club scene isn't too bad here and I even managed to get some cute local stallion to keep bringing me non-alcoholic maretais and plates of fruit all night.

Addendum: Our vacation had to be cut short because of a hurricane that was blowing in and we had to fly back to the mainland with Shiny feeding the fishes the whole time.*

*War journal entry 1*

I've been in Manehattan three days. Immediately after I arrived, I panhandled for a few bits so I could mail off the letter off to Celestia.  Either she doesn't care or she hasn't received my letter yet as to explain why she hasn't sent anyone after me. I found some old newspapers recounting a new terrorist, some deranged mare that likes laughing and committing mass murder. I'm in a new war, only now I'm not taking orders from some bean counter in D.C. telling me I have to fire this many rounds or from some oil tycoon wanting to protect his investment.  I'm fighting this war on my own terms. I did a little recon and found a small cell of the terrorist organization holed up in an abandoned house. There were eight inside when I kicked in the door, I fired five shots from my trusty Beretta and five clean kills.  My old drill sergeant would be proud. One tried to ambush me, in his last few seconds he knew what a K-bar felt like when it went through his neck. The last two I tied down to some chairs. Before I even began asking questions, I skinned the first one alive while his buddy watched. After I strung his bleeding corpse from the rafters, I then turned the knife on his buddy. Whether it is, a pony or a human, when you make them watch their buddy be tortured alive has a real way of loosening the tongue. After I got what I wanted from him, I began driving nails through his hooves. He caterwauled on about justice, I informed him this wasn't justice, this was war and in war you don't have the luxury of being nice or singing songs about friendship. I let him go and told him to tell his friends about me and how I was here to seek vengeance for all the fillies and colts his kind murdered. When he asked my name, I just told him Bacon-head before carving the words "foal murderer" in his chest and sending him out into the crowded streets. Fuck 'em, if he survives mob justice, then his buddies know I'm coming for them. I ran a sweep of the old house, finding a couple of crossbows, several packs of bolts, some homemade explosives, and some fireworks. Now at least I've got some supplies for my war. I stashed what I could carry in my saddle bags, then set fire to the house to deny his buddies any further access to what remained.

*War journal entry 2*

I've been fighting my own personal war for six days now. I spent most of the fourth and fifth days either breaking apart the fireworks to make crude firebombs or gathering intel on the local terrorist cells. On the fifth night while I was gathering intel, I discovered that Celestia had sent one of her agents after me. Whoever he is, he's well trained. If I were back in Iraq I'd say he was a SEAL, recon, CIA or SAS, but this ain't Earth. He's definitely got some kind of military training though, maybe one of Celestia's former soldiers. Well soldier boy, let's see how you deal with a jarhead. I managed to give him the slip and posted up a roof to watch him. When he couldn't find me, he began tracking down some of the terrorists. He didn't hesitate to hurt them, but he won't kill. More for me. On the sixth night I tracked down one of the larger cells to an abandoned warehouse on the waterfront. I nabbed one of them that was shaking down a boat captain for protection money and slit his throat. Thanks for the bits. When I tossed a chunk of the bits back to the captain, he thanked me and said I was a good pony for bringing that crook to justice. I informed him that what I do isn't justice, it's vengeance and I'm not a good pony, I'm a bad pony that makes other bad ponies fear going out as I'm waging a one mare war. I decided to leave this agent a little calling card and tossed a few firebombs into the abandoned warehouse that the terrorists were using as a base. As soon as the first one bolted, I put a crossbow bolt through his head. They had the choice, burn to death in that warehouse or come outside to their death in the streets. Two of them decided to rush me while I was reloading the crossbow, two quick shots of my trusty Beretta later and they decided that it was better to just scatter. I saw Celestia's agent watching me from on top of a nearby building. There was something familiar about him. Though the color of his mane and coat were wrong, he looked like a colt I knew before I enrolled in Celestia's school all those years ago. I guess if I get my hooves on him, I'll ask.

*Monochrome's Journal Manehattan day 1*

Dear journal,

Father sent me to Manehattan to track down my old friend from when I was a foal, a mare named Sunset Shimmer after seeing what she did to the changeling queen back in Canterlot (she embedded six small lead cones in her in less than a second with some box that makes thunder). She definitely is trained in that weapon. I immediately found her handiwork. Seven bodies were found in an old abandoned house that had been burned down, an eighth was in the hospital. He had nails driven into his hooves and the words "foal murderer" carved into his chest. It was a miracle that the crowds didn't tear him apart. When I questioned him about who had done it and why, he said some mare calling herself "Bacon-head" and that she was waging war. So Sunset, you're veteran too and you've gotten the taste for killing in the other world and now you're fighting your own personal war. I'd chastise you about this, but I'm fighting my war too. As long as you're just going after those scum suckers, I'll let you keep doing what you're doing, for now.

Yours truly, Monochrome

*Monochrome's Journal Manehattan day 4*

Dear Journal,

I picked up Sunset's trail on the lower east side, but she gave me the slip. I could feel her watching me. I managed to find one of the terrorists' henchponies. I broke his right forelimb and knocked out two of his teeth. Apparently they have received word of Sunset as he was trying to find a way out of town when I caught up to him. On the fourth night I caught wind of Sunset when I was pressing a henchpony for information. After splitting his hoof and teleporting him to the nearest police precinct, I began tracking her. She knows I'm tracking her and let me find her. When I finally caught sight of her at the waterfront, she had just cut the throat of a scum sucker who was shaking down a local boat captain for money. She slipped some of the bits into her saddlebags and then threw the rest back to the captain. I stayed on the rooftops following her as she went to an abandoned warehouse. She threw some firebombs through the windows, when the first henchpony ran out, she pinned his head to the door with a crossbow bolt. Two others tried to rush her, that's when she put them down with two blasts of her thunder box. The rest that weren't burning alive decided to grow some brain cells and decided to scatter. She turned and looked straight at me. In the gleaming light of the fire our eyes locked. I could see it all, she had gone into the very heart of darkness and had returned hard and cold. What did they do to you in that other world? I decided to slip back into the shadows and watch her. She's got to lay her head down somewhere. When I find out where, I'll introduce myself and we'll have a heart to heart.

Yours truly, Monochrome

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Monochrome spent three days tracking Sunset Shimmer across Manehattan. She seemed to not sleep in the same place for more than a couple of hours before setting out. He finally got some luck when she settled down in an abandoned house for the night. He decided to drop in on her for a talk.

Approaching the house he paused looking for booby traps or magical wards. Finding none, he decided to look in the window and saw a sleeping form wrapped in a dark green blanket. He decided to slip around the corner of the house and teleport in.

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Sunset Shimmer had caught sight of Monochrome tracking her across the city over the past few days. She quickly formulated a plan for when he decided to show up for the inevitable confrontation. She found an abandoned house somewhere out of the way. Slipping inside, she laid out her blanket. She cast a force field in a rough shape of a pony and an illusion spell to make a close approximation of her likeness over the force field, then laid her blanket over the top of it and posted up an ambush, it was a waiting game now. After a couple of hours she saw him look through the window from her place in the shadows, a small smile crossed her lips. As she watched him leave from the window and head for the corner of the house, she changed position and checked the ammo in the pistol, one in the chamber and two in the magazine, more than enough if she needed to shoot him.

Monochrome teleported into the room. As he went to kick the blanket off the sleeping form, he caught movement out of the corner of his eye as a small box-shaped object was pressed to his temple.

Sunset waited for her quarry to teleport in. She didn't have to wait long. When Monochrome appeared in a sepia flash of light, she quickly pressed the muzzle of the Beretta against his temple. "Any sudden moves and I dump your brains against the wall.", she said coldly as she pressed the pistol against his temple harder for effect.

"Easy, Sunset. I've come here to talk, not to fight.", Monochrome said in an easy and calm tone. If she had wanted to kill him, she would have used that thunder box on him as soon as he appeared.

"You know who I am, now tell me something. Why do you look like my old friend Calligraphy Well?"

Monochrome darted his eye in her direction. She recognized him, she just didn't know the truth, though this was Calligraphy's body, the pony was left behind in that war eight years ago.

Sunset saw the look of recognition in his eyes and pulled the pistol back from his head. "You're him aren't you?"

"Calligraphy was left behind in the Diamond Dog War eight years ago, buried somewhere in an old warren. All you see now is Monochrome."

"Don't give me that shit!", Sunset snarled, "I've seen war too. I spent six years in the Corps. Everything I was, was shattered and left strewn on the streets of Al Fallujah. I watched friends I made in boot camp and on the battlefield turned into bullet riddled corpses or red paste all because some bean counter said we needed to shoot this many rounds to justify some ledger or some oil tycoon wanted to protect their investment. So don't give me this 'I'm not Calligraphy' horse crap."

"What happened to you in this 'Corps'?", Monochrome asked, "Did they torture you? Did they break you? Did they murder everything you were?"

"No, until they sent me off to fight in that damned war.  The Marines were the best years of my life. Hell, I even signed up right out of high school because I was sold on the idea of patriotism.", Sunset stated, "They turned me into a perfect fighting machine and sold all of us on this crap that were bringing democracy to some third world hellhole that was full of religious zealots bent on waging their holy war on anything and everything."

"Corps? Marines?"

“You know, the United States Marine Corps? Jarheads? Leather neck? Devil dogs?", Sunset asked, "That's right, I forget sometimes that this is Equestria where everybody is always licking the bottom of Celestia's hooves and telling her they taste just like strawberries." She lowered the pistol. "Well, where I wound up when I went to the other side of the mirror portal was a world filled with shaved apes. I thought I would be able to turn them into my loyal followers and take over the place. Only I found out that people like that were a dime a dozen and I just another Johnny-come-lately to that game. There were millions who were able to turn people to their cause without the use of magic. Politicians, celebrities, religious fanatics, cult leaders, billionaires. And here I was, a nobody from nowhere with no background in that world, so I learned to keep my head down, plus even though I may have been Celestia's prize pupil here, I was just another kid there. Then, one day, everything went to shit. Some religious fanatics convinced by their glorious cult leader that they'd receive some great reward, crashed some flying machines into some buildings killing thousands. I wasn't even high school yet and people a little more than ten years older than me destroyed thousands of lives in a few seconds for nothing more than the promise of a reward in the afterlife that might not even be waiting for them." She took a few panicked breaths as tears began flowing down her streaks.

"Sounds like a real Tartarus.", Monochrome said flatly.

"And you the worst part? I let myself get caught up in all the patriotic fervor!", she practically shouted, "I mean fuck, I wasn't even old enough physically by their own laws to even legally be able to have a drink, and I let myself get caught up in all that."

"So these religious fanatics met their gods before?"

"No, there's no evidence that any gods exist or that they even listen except what an individual personally believes.", Sunset ranted, "Unlike here, anyone can go and see a god literally move the heavens. As soon as I got old enough, I signed up for the Marines because I believed the country I lived in was the best. Hell, they even convinced me that I was 'doing my patriotic duty by helping stop a religious fanatic' or some shit. By the time I learned that the intelligence community of the government knew about the one big religious attack and a few smaller ones and let them happen anyways so some politician running for reelection or some oil tycoon could make more money off the blood of not only the fighting men and women of our country, they could also make money stealing the wealth of another country. And the worst part, I let myself fall for it hook, line and sinker. Don't get me wrong, there were good times and good people."

"So it wasn't all bad?"

"Not all of it." Sunset pulled out the photograph from her saddlebag and showed it to Monochrome.

They looked like apes to Monochrome, but he could tell which one was Sunset and he also recognized the camaraderie of soldiers in the picture. "So these were your fellow soldiers?"

"Yeah.", Sunset replied, "We all were part of the same company and even assigned to the same fire team. We all loved each other and all were willing to kill or die for each other. In my second year I watched them all die within minutes of each other. Watching them all die hurt worse than everything I had ever known, but I marshaled on for years. Made more friends, but never as close as them. What hurt the worst of all was when I watched a man from another company wade through the bullets and bombs to drag injured soldiers and marines he didn't even know to safety. He was injured at least five times, but he just didn't quit until reinforcements finally showed up. He was a mountain of a man, six foot five, easily three hundred pounds, just a walking slab of muscle and gristle. When I went on leave a year after that happened, I found him living under an overpass starving and begging for money, food, a place to sleep, anything. He was bone thin, sick in both body and mind. Our country had abandoned him and left him to rot on the streets. I decided on that day as soon as the portal opened, I'd get out and leave it all behind. I spent every available moment looking for some kind of magical relic or spell, when I discovered that there was a book with a spell in the local library that could force the portal open early. So a few nights ago, I snuck off base, broke into a pawn shop to steal a half broken forty-five and some bullets for it and then I forced the portal open. I jumped through and it slammed shut almost immediately behind me. I put one shot through the portal before the gun jammed, so I discarded it and bolted."

"So why sabotage the portal? Why not leave it so others can use it?"

"Celestia might be a total cunt, but at least she pretends to care.", Sunset said, "I may have burned that bridge a long time ago with her, but I wasn't going to let another pony expose themselves to that world. I had already had enough of it. When I had heard that some crazed psycho terrorist had killed Celestia's prized student, I swore I'd stop him...her...it. It wasn't long after that I found that big bug and my marine training took over and I put six rounds in her."

"That's when you got out of Canterlot and came here.", Monochrome said, "So why wage a one mare war against this crazed terrorist."

"When I heard that this terrorist had killed pretty indiscriminately, I decided to wage my own war. No orders, no bean counters, no corrupt politicians or greedy billionaires. So I decided to use my marine training. They want to be a bunch of bad ponies killing and hurting at random, so I'm a worse pony showing these thugs what a true killer is."

Monochrome rubbed his chin in thought.

"I guess Celestia sent you here to bring me in?"

"Not exactly. My father, her older brother, sent me here to stop you.", Monochrome said.

Sunset flipped the Beretta around in her magic and pressed the muzzle to her head. "All you have to do to stop me is squeeze this little trigger with your magic and boom, one bullet to the brain you've stopped me."

Monochrome gently pushed the pistol away. "I won't use your thunder box to kill you, it's not my way. Just tell me one last thing; what's your goal"

"I may have left this world an angry child bent on returning to conquer, but instead I return an efficient killing machine. My goal? To wage a war of vengeance on the ones who actually seek to slaughter indiscriminately." Sunsets eyes become hard and cold. "To you I leave the lesser scum of this world, the thieves, the petty thugs, the wife beaters, the foal kickers. The higher forms of scum, the murderers, the rapists, the terrorists have strayed into my territory. Whether this higher form of evil was always here or if somehow it seeped its way into this world from the other one, I intend by blood and fire to purge them. So who is this terrorist leader?"

"It's some psychopath the press calls The Mare Who Laughs.", Monochrome said, "You intend on finding her and killing her?"

"I intend on doing more than just killing this 'laughing mare.", Sunset said coldly, "I intend on tearing her little band apart piece by piece. I want her to know I'm coming. She thinks she’s a demon, I may be no angel, but hell calls her and the devil has sent me to claim his pound of flesh. Just as you claim you are no longer my old friend Calligraphy, then I am no longer your old friend Sunset Shimmer, but instead I am Bacon-head and I ride the flaming whirlwind of vengeance." She gathers up her things. "Stay the fuck out of my way or next time I will not hesitate to put two in you." She vanishes in a flash of orange light.

Monochrome pulls out a quill and a piece of paper out of his coat pocket and writes a letter.

Dear Aunt Celestia,

I managed to meet with Sunset Shimmer. Whatever this United States Marine Corps is, they've turned her into a stone cold killer. She claims to have seen terrible war and has lost many friends or seen those who fought alongside her tossed away like a foal would a broken toy. She may have left your angry former student looking to seek vengeance upon you, now she returns a cold, efficient killing machine that nothing short of death will stop. She has taken it upon herself to wage a one mare war on the terrorist and her gang. Whatever these "Marines" turned her into and whatever she's seen in the war, she's now here to wage her own war of vengeance. Please apologize to father for me, as I couldn't take her down. Whoever she was is no more, she now has returned broken and unable to turn off whatever training she has received in the other world. She is no longer your former student, but now a lethal vigilante calling herself Bacon-head.

Your nephew and your sister's Brigand-hunter, Monochrome




Three days later Celestia receives the letter, tears swell in her eyes as she reads it and places a hoof on her face. "Oh Sunset, what did they do to you? What horrors did you see? What terrible things did you have to do to survive?"
> Laughter and bloodshed
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight and Celestia sat partially hunched over a small alchemy lab in the castle. Twilight adjusted the straps on her breath mask and goggles before turning her attention to one of the small brass cylinders with a lead cone embedded in the end. Lifting it in her magic, she held it over a specimen tray as she gently pried the lead cone away. When the lead popped loose, a fine white-grey power poured out of the brass cylinder. Moving a large magnifying lens over the tray, she began gently probing the powder with an instrument. She scooped a small amount of the powder onto a slide and put it under a microscope.

"Hmm.", Twilight hummed thoughtfully, "It looks like cotton partially dissolved in an acid and then had another alchemical substance added to it. Take a look." She gently slid the microscope over to Celestia.

Celestia looked through the lens of the microscope as she clicked her tongue in thought. "It almost looks like a powdered version of flash paper used by stage magicians." She levitated the slide from under the microscope and help it close to her eyes. "This reminds me of a more advanced alchemical prototype an earth pony was working on two hundred years ago before he accidentally blew himself up and burnt most of his notes in the process."

"You said it looks like the alchemical substance that stage magicians use in flash paper?", Twilight mused, "They usually add a mixture of nitrocellulose to a thin sheet of paper and to give it a little more theatrical smoke, they add a small impurity of a powdered mixture of coal, saltpeter and sulfur. It usually burns rapidly in open air, but if contained in a tube or ball it explodes." She gave a small gasp as her eyes went wide in inspiration. She levitated the empty tube and began gently pulling the small copper disc loose.

"What are you doing Twilight?", Celestia asked.

"If I'm right, this copper disc contains a small amount of an ignition substance." She pulled the disc out revealing it was a small copper cup. She took a small instrument and scrapped the inside of the cup gently. She places the instrument into a test tube containing a clear liquid, swirled it around a few times and placed the test tube in a small ring over a burner. After a few minutes the clear liquid turned a cloudy red. "Hmm, it appears the ignition substance contains some impure form of mercury."

"Almost like a fulmination compound?"

A small spark of inspiration went off in Twilight's eyes. "Before his death and the destruction of his lab, Professor Beaker was working on a fulmination compound to help miners and rock farmers better split rocks." She quickly wrote out an equation and drew a diagram. "Depending on how volatile the ignition powder is, when the little copper cup containing the fulmination compound is struck, the powder ignited in a controlled explosion projecting the cone forward. The cone has to be of a sufficient density to compensate for gravity and friction with the air so it can deliver its energy to the intended target."

"And lead is dense enough to transfer its energy to the target, but soft enough so as not to grind down the spiral grooves in the tube.", Celestia mused.

"Well I leave it to you then, I'm gonna find some asparagus and orange juice, then take a nap.", Twilight said as she wheeled over to the wash station as she took her goggles and breath mask off.
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Sunset Shimmer sat in an abandoned loft in Whinnyapolis. She counted her remaining bullets as she looked over a few schematics she had drawn. She had been back in Equestria a little over a month and was down to her last ten rounds. She knew that she could make more, but that risked her staying around longer than she was comfortable with after she took out several of this laughing mares goons to collect the spent casings. She looked over the schematics for some new weapons as she opened a can of sliced peaches. As she hastily shoveled the golden slices into her mouth, she let her attention drift to a schematic of a shotgun, she rubbed some of the ink away from the trigger guard and modified it to better accommodate her hoof. True she could use her magic to manipulate the the shotgun, but she might find herself in a situation where her horn might be damaged or a restraining device place on it. After eating the last slice, she drank down the syrup and tossed the empty can in a nearby sack, then walked over to a  workbench. She looked over the partially constructed shotgun. She lifted a small file in her magic and began working on the trigger assembly. She blew the last of the metal dust off the small gears and levers. She put the trigger assembly together, placed it inside the shotgun, attached the butt stock, attached the barrel, slid the bolt in place, attached the slide assembly, attached the modified trigger guard, tightened the few screws holding everything together until they were flush, added a few drops of oil to the moving parts and polished the exposed metal. Igniting the magic in her horn, she etched the words "sic vis pacem para bellum" above the trigger. She racked the slide on the empty shotgun a few times and gave an almost orgasmic shudder at the sound. She then turned her attention to the ammo station. Because the Equestrians had yet to invent plastic, she made do with copper for the shells. She added firing a firing cap to the base of each shell, poured a pre-measured amount of gunpowder in each shell, placed small cups made of wax reinforced paper inside each one, dropped eight lead buckshot inside them and crimped each shell shut tightly.

She came to the do or die moment as she chambered one of the shells. Leveling the shotgun at a bucket placed in front of several hastily constructed sandbags. Squeezing the trigger with her hoof, the gave a loud blast as side of the bucket disintegrated into splinters. She gave a loud whoop of celebration as she shucked the spent shell. She quickly inspected the shotgun and gave a grunt of approval as she saw no signs of damage or warping. She loaded eight shells into the shotgun and placed it in a cabinet. She then turned her attention to the other schematics, the sniper rifle would be simple enough to make, though the pistol and the assault rifle would be harder to construct.
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"That's what I'm tellin' ya boss, the boys in Manehattan said some crazy unicorn just showed up out of the blue one night and killed the lot of 'em with some kid of box that makes thunder and leaves weird holes.", the henchpony painted to look like a clown said to The Mare Who Laughs, "She calls herself 'Bacon-head' and the few she let escape said she was seekin' vengeance or punishment or wagin' a war. She ain't like the other unicorn who just beats of some of the boys or breaks their bones."

The Mare Who Laughs sat listening to her henchpony tell his tale as she steepled her hooves in thought, her mane was a slick pompadour. "Ah-heeheehee-oh-heeheehee-oo-heeheehee!", she giggled as malicious thoughts danced in her eyes, "So this unicorn mare calling herself Bacon-head shows up out of the blue and starts waging war." Her mane becomes limp as she begins laughing hoarsely, "Hahaha-heeheehee-hoohoohoo! Nopony kills my boys but me." Her mane becomes poofy, "If she wants to wage a war, then we should throw a war party. HAHAHAHAHAhahahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAhahahahaha!"
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Twilight lay in bed six months pregnant. She was under doctor's orders to stay in bed for the remainder of her pregnancy. She looked down at her belly as she scooped a bite of salad into her mouth. There was a soft knock at the door. "Come in!", she said around a mouthful of salad.

Applejack gently swung the door open, a bowl of apples balanced on her back. "Twi? How ya doin' sugarcube?"

Putting her for down, Twilight exclaimed, "Ugh! Look at me! I'm all fat and ugly! I look like a beached whale!" She sniffled softly. "I look like a watermelon that swallowed a beach ball."

"Don't be like that Twi. You look beautiful. Ah mean look atcha, yer practically glowin'."

"Maybe Celestia should raise me in the sky instead of the sun.", she chuckled, "I mean look at me, I'm practically big enough."

The two of the shared a soft chuckle before AJ spoke up, "Ah figured ya'd like some apple." She took the edge of the bowl in her teeth. "Fhey ain'f ash kood ash the onesh back home, buf fhey're shtill dusht ash guishy."

"OMC! Yes! Yes! Yes! How did you know I was craving apples?!", Twilight exclaimed as she levitated a few over and took a bite of one.

Placing the bowl one the nightstand, AJ chuckled, "Heh heh! Granny always said that when a mare is expetin' a colt, she wants apples. She said that momma always wanted apples when she was expectin' Big Mac." She rubbed the back of her head awkwardly, "'Course she also craved apples when she was expectin' Applebloom, so make o' that what ya will."

Twilight didn't respond, she just hummed happily as she munched on the apples.

"Alright then, Ah guess Ah'll get outa yer mane now."

"Afflejacksh, wait!", Twilight said with a mouthful of apple. She swallowed and gestured to an empty chair, "Why don't you sit down and tell me how you're doing? I could use the company."

Applejack sat in the chair. "Well Ah'm...er...well Ah mean Ah'm....no..." She took in a deep breath and let it out with a sigh. "To be honest...Ah'm feelin' more shook up than a batch o' apple gelatin in an earthquake. Ah mean you went an' got hurt real bad by that bad pony an'...an'..." Tears began to trickle down her cheeks, "An' Ah'm angry an' scared an' hurt an Ah feel like punchin' somepony in the snout or runnin's out in the streets screamin' my head off like some darn fool. Ah mean look atcha, yer the one who should be screamin' yer head off like a fool, but look atcha, yer holdin' yerself together an' keepin' as cool as th' center seed o' a cucumber. An' look at me, Ah went like some damned fool an' ate my feelin's an' gave myself an ulcer. For th' past six months Ah've felt like th' whole world has been fallin' apart like a rotten barn ina windstorm."

Twilight gestured for Applejack to come over for a hug. As they hugged, Twilight said, "I've been barely holding together myself. More often than not I wake up screaming because I have nightmares that I'm still trapped in the burning library or those thugs forcing themselves on me while the terrorist just stood by laughing and taking pictures." The two cried on each other's shoulders. "We'll get through this, but I need all my friends to help not only me but also each other.", she whispered between sobs.
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As the sun was going down, Sunset Shimmer was touching up the paint on the pony skull on her black body armor. Using her magic, she dried the paint. After the paint was dry, she slid two steel plates into slits in the sides that she had modified to give her better protection. After she slid the armor on, she strapped the assault rifle on her back she had spent the past month building. She looked over the shotgun noting the loops and rings she had attached as lastminute modifications holding spare shells, then strapped it to her back.  Attached four pistols in their holsters to her legs, it had taken her nearly a month to build them. She attached several web belts holding spare magazines for the pistols and assault rifles to her vest. She held up a mirror as she blacked out her eyes and nose, then painted a stylized skull on her face. She took a pair of scissors, trimmed her mane and tail, then tied a black bandanna over the top of her head in a skull cap. She strapped the K-bar to her body and covered her flank with a panic strip she had constructed from small chain links, small overlapping steel circles and covered with black cloth, then strapped it the base of her vest. She strapped a belt holding several pipe bombs around her waist. She looked over the notes she had written down as she had gathered intel. Several members of the terrorist cell would be gathering at a rundown house in the slums for a meeting. She intended to make sure this laughing mare knew she was after her.

After slipping out of the loft, Sunset paused taking one look at her reflection in a window under the light of the rising moon. "Oorah motherfucker!", she whispered before continuing to her target.

Sunset posted up in the shadow of an abandoned house as she watched several henchponies pull up in wagons, carriages or on foot. "At least two have shown up and safe to assume that there is at least another dozen already were inside.", she whispered to herself. She waited until the last of the henchponies had gone inside and one sat in a chair on the porch. She snuck up to the house drawing the knife from its sheath. As she crept up to the snoozing henchpony sleeping  on the chair, tapped him on his shoulder to wake him and sunk the blade into the base of his skull. Dragging the body off, she wiped the blood from the knife and returned it to its sheath. She drew the shotgun off her back and slunk up to the window. She looked in counting the targets as she listened. She heard from the back room to the right of the window a mare begging and screaming. "Hostages!", she snarled. She gave her gear one last check before walking to the door. Leveling the muzzle of the shotgun at the door, she whispered a mantra, "Check your corners. Watch for blind spots. Check your lines of fire. shoot first, shoot often. Secure the hostages." She reached up a hoof and knocked on the door.

"Just a minute!", a henchpony shouted from behind the door. As the door opened, the henchpony said, "Yeah, wada ya...oh fu-" His words were cut off by a blast from the shotgun as his head exploded in a shower of bone, blood and brain matter.

The house exploded in a flurry panicked of activity as Sunset shucked the spent shell and sent another spray of buckshot into a henchpony trying to dive over a couch. Shucking the spent shell, she quickly turned to her left and unzipped the chest of a henchpony that had come running out of the corner. Spinning around she caught a henchpony peeking from behind a chair. A flurry of buckshot sent stuffing flying out of it as the body of the henchpony slamming into the wall. She shucked the spent shell and put another cluster of buckshot into his head just to be sure. as she took cover, she levitated several shells into the shotgun to top it off. Slinking along the wall, she peaked around the corner into the kitchen at the end of the narrow hallway, she saw several targets peaking around the corner or from behind an overturned table. As she ducked her head back around the corner, a crossbow bolt pierced through the corner of the drywall. She pulled a pipe bomb off her belt, lit it with her magic and tossed it into the kitchen. Fire and screams of pain erupted from the kitchen as the pipe bomb sent shrapnel flying around the room like angry hornets. Through the window she saw a henchpony trying to sneak around the side of the house, she leveled the muzzle at the window and turned his head to paste.

As she made her way down the hallway, Sunset heard stirring in the room to her left. Throwing up a shield around her, she readied the assault rifle and jiggled the door knob. Two crossbow bolts ripped through the door and glanced off her shield. She flipped the selector switch to full auto, stitched a line across the wall and door as she emptied the magazine. Taking a pipe bomb off her belt, she lit the fuse, kicked open the door and tossed it in. She ducked for cover as the pipe bomb exploded. She reloaded the assault rifle and put it on her back. Readying a pistol, she walked to the door where she heard the hostage. Kicking the door in, she saw a henchpony wearing a clown mask was holding a young mare in front of him, he held a knife in his hoof pressing it against her throat.

"Stay back or I'll-" A bullet through his head cut him off as he fell to the floor. The young mare screamed and scrambled into a corner trying to hide.

Sunset quickly checked the corners and behind the door before slowly approaching the young mare. "Shh, shh! Im not going to hurt you.", she said softly, "Are there any more hostages?"

"I-in the b-b-basem-ment."

"Okay, stay low and get out. I'll get the hostages."

The young mare complied as she crawled as fast as she could along the floor staying away as far away from the dead or dying bodies and pools of blood as she could.

Sunset holstered her pistol and readied the assault rifle, she flipped the selector switch to semi-auto. She walked over to the basement door and kicked it in seeing a henchpony dressed as a mime running up the staircase. She leveled the muzzle of the rifle at him.

"Shit!", he exclaimed before a bullet tore through his neck sending his body tumbling back down into the gloom below.

Sunset slowly walked down the stairs. Five figures charged out of the darkness and she quickly snapped a round into each of them. reaching the bottom of the stairs she quickly swung around checking the corners. A crossbow bolt whized out of the gloom at her and she quickly snapped off three rounds in the direction of it.

The sounds of clattering weapons hit the floor as a voice called out, "We give up!"

Sunset created a ball of light with her horn and took assessment. Ten henchponies, one mare and three fillies. "Let the hostages go!", she barked an order.

The mare ran up to her, "Thank you thank you thank you!"

"Shut up and get out!", Sunset snapped.

The mare nodded, and quickly herded the fillies out the stairs.

When Sunset was confident the hostages were out of the house, she began one by one executing the henchponies until one remained. Reaching out a hoof, she snatched up the last henchpony by his mane and drug him up the stair behind her. Shoving him into a chair, she put away the assault rifle and tied him. Dragging the chair through the house, she threw roughly against the wall and pulled out her knife. "Listen very closely. I want you to deliver a message for me."

The henchpony nodded his head, "Yeah yeah! Sure sure! Anything you say!"

"I want you to..."

The front door flew open as The Mare Who Laughs stood in the door frame. "Why don't you tell me yourself?"

"Shit shit shit!", Sunset exclaimed as she drew her pistol and fell back to the kitchen firing.

The Mare Who Laughs ducked, pirouetted and cartwheeled away from the bullets. "I must say, those thunder sticks of yours are a real blast! HAHAHAHAHAhahahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAhahahahaha!", she shouted from behind the corner of the wall.

Sunset reloaded the pistol, put it back in the holster and drew the shotgun. "Why don't you show me your pretty face and I'll introduce you proper?", she called out.

"So I take it you're the one called Bacon-head?", The Mare Who Laughs called out.

"The one and only!", Sunset replied out loud, "I'm guessing by you jovial attitude that you're the leader of this terrorist group called the laughing mare?"

The Mare Who Laughs taps her chin. "I wouldn't call myself a terrorist, just an enthusiastic party pony." She steps to the entrance of the hallway and bows. "But you can call me The Mare Who Laughs." She dives back behind the wall as a cluster of buckshot tears through the air and turns a section of the front door into splinters.

Sunset shucks the spent round, pulls a pipe bomb from her belt, lights the fuse and tosses it into the front room.

The Mare Who Laughs bats the pipe bomb out of the air with a hoof and sends it flying back into the kitchen.

"Fuck!", Sunset shouts as she throws up a shield around herself and covers her eyes with a fore limb. A split second later the bomb explodes filling the kitchen with fire and shrapnel. Her ears ring and nearly deafened from the blast, she sees the back door swing open and and a massive stallion steps through sneering. Leveling the shotgun at him, she sends the sneering stallion tumbling back outside with a flurry of buckshot. The throws a lit pipe bomb through the door behind him and a split second later sounds of pained screams accompany the explosion. She switches cover to the other wall as a crossbow bolt zips by and grazes her right cheek. putting away the shotgun, draws the assault rifle and slaps a fresh magazine in it. "So that's how you want to play?", she snarls. She flips the selector switch to full auto and sends a hail of bullets through the wall at the end of the hallway.

The Mare Who Laughs ducks and weaves as bullets tear through the wall, a single bullet grazes her left eyebrow.

Sunset rolls an unlit pipe bomb down the hallway and into the front room. She fires a blast of magic detonating it.

The Mare Who Laughs feels a twitch in her mane and dives out the window. A second later shrapnel tears through the wall.

In the distance sirens can be heard as blinking red and blue lights lights can be seen. Sunset put the assault rifle away and draws a pistol. She charges through the backdoor and snaps a round through a shadowy figure standing at the corner of the house. She scrambles into the shadows of a shack as the police arrive at the street in front of the house. "Be seein' you next time.", she whispers as she skulks off into the night.

Back in the loft Sunset pulls out a medkit and levitates a mirror over. She inspect where the crossbow bolt grazed her cheek. pulling out some disinfectant wipes, she pipes them across the wound. "Fuck! That stings!", she exclaims as she slams a hoof on the floor. She pulls some ointment and gauze out of the medkit and patches up the wound.

"Thirty wanted criminals dead, five hostages rescued and a face to face meeting with the terrorist and all you received is a cut on your cheek. Not a bad haul.", Midnight says as he phases through the door.

Sunset snatches up a pristol from the bench and snaps four quick shots.

Midnight lets the first three bullets glance harmlessly off his shield as he catches the fourth out of the air in his magic. As he observes the bullet in his magic, he says, "Impressive reflexes. It's almost like you acted without thinking."

Sunset levitates the shotgun off the bench and racks a round into the chamber. "And who exactly are you?" She narrows her eyes.

Midnight drops the bullet from his magic. "I am prince midnight, younger brother to Prince Bulwark, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. You must be Sunset Shimmer, former student of Celestia."

She lays the shotgun back on the bench. "Are you here to take me in?"

Midnight replies, "In a manner of sorts. Now come along." Midnight, Sunset and the contents of the loft disappears in a flash of purple light.

Sunset blinks her eyes and finds herself in a throne room before a midnight blue alicorn with a flowing mane that looks like the night sky. "I guess I'm boned."

"Not as bad as thou thinkest thy are Sunset Shimmer.", Luna says, "Now sleep." Luna lights her horn as Sunset slumps to the ground.

Sunset finds herself back in Iraq as bullets whiz fractions on an inch from her head. She feels several stings on the left side on her face and ducks behind a pile of ruble. She puts her hand up to her face, feeling where a bullet has cut the top of her ear off and two more grazed her cheek. Looking down at her hand, she sees blood on it. "Wait...hands? How did I..." Several bullets striking the top of the rubble pile cuts her off. Peeking over the top of the ruble she sees three figure advancing on her position, she raises the m sixteen to her shoulder and returns fire, the three figures slump to the ground. Off to her left she sees five figures pushing a burned out hulk of a car onto the street. Opening the breach on the m two-oh-three grenade launcher, she slides a grenade into it, flips up the sight and fire the grenade at the five figures. they disappear in a cloud of dust and pink mist. Off to her side she sees movement and swings her rifle around to face it. She freezes when she sees a midnight-blue alicorn walk behind the edge of a building. The sound of whistling fills the air. "Incoming!", a fellow marine shouts. A second later the street and the tops of the buildings vanish in clods of dust and rubble as mortar shell explode. She screams as shrapnel whizzes through the air. The dream swirls into blackness.

Sunset sits up awake in a bed in a cold sweat. She runs her hooves across her face. "It was just a war dream.", she gasps. She looks around the luxurious room. "Where am I?" She walks over to the window where a small beam of sunlight coming through and snatches it open. She takes a step back as she sees the cityscape of Canterlot. "no no no no no! This is bad!", she exclaims. The door opening catches her attention and she starts to bolt for it, but freezes when she sees Celestia walk through.

"I hope you are well rested Sunset Shimmer. I have some questions for you."

Sunset can only say one word, "Fuck."
> Questions, answers and the move to Vanhoover (edit)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Celestia pulled up a chair from the nearby desk and gestured for Sunset to take a seat.

Sunset sighed and sat on the corner of the bed, intentionally turning her face to the wall.

"You were gone for nearly twelve years. What exactly happened to you in the other world?", Celestia asked with concern in her voice.

"I don't think you really want to know, Princess,", Sunset said, looking down at the floor.

"I know what Luna told me when she looked in your dreams.", Celestia replied, "But I want to hear it from your mouth."

"If you really want to know, then I'll tell you, but I don't think you'll like what I have to tell you.", Sunset stated, "It'll give you nightmares."

"I've lived for three thousand years, I've seen more than my share of things to give me nightmares.", Celestia stated flatly. "Try me."

"Don't say I didn't warn you,", Sunset sighed, "As you know when I went through the portal twelve years ago I was a young and angry filly on the cusp of marehood. When I arrived in the other world, Earth they call it, I was a young girl in what they called middle school in the year nineteen ninety-nine. The country I was in was called the United States of America and an upcoming election loomed on the horizon. I'll save you that whole cluster fuck of a story. I was in what was called seventh grade and had aspirations of taking over that world, then marching back here to take over this world. Well it turns out I was just a nobody from nowhere and a Johnny-come-lately as the whole world was filled with hundreds if not thousands of others who had real aspirations of global domination.  Politicians, religious leaders, racial supremacists, celebrities and telemarketers. So after a couple of years and more than a few run-ins with the law, I gave up my aspirations of global dominance and decided to keep my head down for while."

"I don't see how this changed you into the violent and traumatized vigilante taking the law into her own hooves.", Celestia said.

"I'm getting to that, I'm just laying down the backstory that eventually led to me coming back here.", Sunset replied, "In the year of two thousand one, a group of religious leaders who had taken control of a country had convinced several of their followers that it was God's will to crash some flying machines into some buildings killing thousands. This prompted the elected leader of the United States to send the military to two countries to prosecute a war to bring 'freedom' to those countries and free them from the 'oppression of tyranny’. At the time, my body was the age of a fourteen year old girl and I had gotten whipped up in a whole patriotic fervor, of course it was aided by the leaders of the group home I was placed in."

"Why were you in a group home?"

"You remember me saying I had more than a few run-ins with the law?" Sunset said, "Well it turns out that when you get arrested one too many times, they put you into a prison for kids called juvie and they ran my background, finding I had no known family, no social security number, or even a birth certificate. When they questioned me about where I came from, I finally cracked and told them I was actually a pony from a parallel dimension who was the estranged student of the goddess of the sun. They ruled that I had a mental illness and tossed me in a hospital for months where they made me take strong medications until I basically became more pill than person. After they finally released me, they figured I was the daughter of some homeless couple that had abandoned me.  I was declared a ward of the state and placed me in a religious based group home. It was basically a legalized form of slavery as they would make us do work to keep the place up, take our state checks and basically fed us the grossest food imaginable."

"Sounds like it was awful. Like Tartarus on Equus.", Celestia said with a sad look in her eyes.

"It was horrible, I was basically made to eat the flesh of animals, some of it was weird colored and tasted like chemicals, even the fruits and vegetables tasted bland and full of artificial chemicals.", Sunset said flatly, "When the attack happened, I was in the first year of what was called high school. Between the group home and the four years of high school, I practically jumped at the first chance to get out of there. A branch of the United States' military called the marines was the first to send a recruiter to the school I attended with the promise of traveling the world, seeing distant locations, and that they'd pay for college. So I signed my name on the dotted line and a few months after I graduated, the bus came to pick me up. I really didn't have much choice as once the kids in the group home are out of school, they're usually kicked out and seeing as I didn't have any family I could call on, it was either sleep on the streets or commit to my promise to join the marines."

"Why would they throw a young mare out in the streets once they were out of school and not help them find a place to live and get a job?"

"All because a few decades before I came to that world an elected president had some laws passed that cut funding to programs that helped released convicts, the mentally ill and the homeless find jobs, get an education and find places to live, I believe he called it 'deinstitutionalization'.", Sunset said with a half smirk, "But back on topic Princess, I went through marine boot camp for about sixteen weeks.  It was hard, but I stuck through it because the choice was simple, stay in and work hard to become a trained killer for the government or wash-out and live on the streets. Then, after I completed boot camp, I took several months of MOS. I made a few friends between boot and MOS, most of us were split up and sent to other divisions. I was lucky to have a friend I made in boot deployed with me. Over the years I made three more friends. The five of us were nearly inseparable.  I guess that's what happens when you fight in the mud and sleep in foxholes together."

"So you abandoned your friends?", Celestia asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No I didn't, during my third year of deployment we were on patrol in this sun baked desert town called Fallujah when we were ambushed.  Right out the gate everything went to shit and out of the five of us, I was the only one to survive.", Sunset replied as she curled the corner of her lip in a partial smirk, "It was two years later when I was on leave and found what the government did to the soldiers, airmen, and seamen who got injured in combat that I decided to get out of that world as soon as I could."

"What did they do to them?", celestia asked as she leaned forward, "Did they kill them or torture them?"

"That would be more humane than what actually happened to them.", Sunset replied, "Though most were able to adjust to life after the military, even with all the nightmares and the jitters and jumpiness, too many were just discarded." A tear ran down her cheek as she recounted the tale, "When I was on leave I had found a former marine who I had personally seen two years prior wade through the bullets and shrapnel to drag wounded marines and soldiers to safety.  He had ignored his injuries and just kept dragging them one by one to safety. When I found him he was living under an overpass, bone thin starving, he was sick both physically and mentally, he barely knew who he was or where he was." She gave a small sniffle before clearing her throat and continuing, "It was then and there I personally swore I'd find a way to get out of that world at any cost as I refused to become like that. I had found in the local library a book on Equestrian magic someone had written down decades or centuries ago.  I stole the book and began looking through the spells until I found the one that would force the mirror portal open early. On the night before I was supposed to report back from leave, I stocked up on food, broke into a pawn shop, stole a half-busted colt forty-five and some bullets. I then cast the spell forcing the portal open, as soon as I stepped through, the portal slammed shut.  I aimed the forty-five at the portal with the intention to put all six bullets through it so no one from either side could come through but after the first shot the cylinder jammed, so I discarded it and bolted."

"When you encountered Chrysalis, you didn't use a forty-five on her, you used a different thunder weapon.", Celestia stated.

"So that's what the bug thing was called.", Sunset said with a half chuckle, "No, I used the Beretta I had smuggled off base on it. She was talking to another bug thing about sneaking in through the crystal maze to replace someone called Cadenza. After the smaller bug thing flew off, I stepped out to confront it. It was all smirking and pontification after it stuck my feet to the ground with some green goo. The look on its face was priceless when I pulled out my pistol and pumped a half dozen shots into it. The nine millimetre may not have the knockdown power of a forty-five, but it makes up for it by having a higher muzzle velocity and greater penetration. The bug thing tried to fly away but it didn't get very far because of blood loss and shock. That's when I got out of there."

"So then after you got to Manehattan you decided to take the law into your own hooves and kill the members of the terrorists gang.", Celestia said flatly.

"I had actually read about the terrorist's attack on your pupil from some old newspapers here in Canterlot.  It was only when I got to Manehattan that I heard about what the terrorist and her group had done with a gas attack that I decided to go to war in the name of all the children she had killed."

Celestia tapped a hoof to her chin. "So is that your end goal? Wage this war of justice on the terrorist and her gang one death at a time?"

"I wage a war of vengeance for the innocents she has killed.  I prefer to think it is punishment, though if you want to call it justice, then justice is justice, whether it is at them smack of a judge's gavel or at the end of a muzzle.", Sunset said with clear certainty.  "I wanted her to know I was coming, I wanted her to know that every one of her fellow terrorists I kill is one step closer to killing her. I never expected to get a face to face meeting with her so soon, but now that I've got her face, I know who I have to put the bullet into. I just never expected her to be so fast, almost like she could anticipate my movements as I made them."

"You're not the first to say something so similar.", Celestia said calmly, "One last question. Why the skull motif?"

"Criminals and terrorists are a cowardly and superstitious lot.", Sunset replied, "Make them think that you're death himself coming to drag their souls into hell and they'll actually cower before you. Now one question for you. Did this laughing mare actually kill your student or just injure her and you've managed to squirrel her away in the castle?"

Celestia balked at the question.

Sunset chuckled. "Same old Celestia, the right hoof doesn't know what the left hoof is doing as you play poker with the universe. Take me to her."

"I won't. She's currently in a delicate position physically and mentally."

Sunset quirked an eyebrow at Celestia's response. “Fine, keep your secrets then. Just give me my stuff and I'll be on my merry way. Unless you plan on tossing me in prison."

"Actually I have a better plan.", Celestia said calmly, "You have a way of getting things done that not even my sister's brigand-hunter or my thief-taker generals can do. You won't be working in any official capacity, but my brothers, sister, and I would be willing to turn a blind eye to your little war. Give us a few months to familiarize ourselves with your weapons, I'll even put you in contact with a brilliant unicorn named Sunburst, he didn't go far in my school. If you work with him, I'm sure he can help keep you supplied and even possibly help make improvements on your weapons. Now remember that because you're not working in any official capacity, so if you wind up dead or arrested, we will disavow any prior knowledge of your existence."

"So either I jump through a few hoops for you and still have no guarantee of anything or I go to prison?", Sunset asked.

Celestia nodded.

Sunset sighed. "One condition. I do this my way, no orders, no reports, no letters. The only thing between me and the terrorists is the muzzle of my guns."

Celestia thought for a minute. "Deal."

*Monochrome's Journal, Whinnyapolis day 1*

Dear Journal.

I arrived in town two days after Sunset's rampage. When I went to the house she attacked, it was still marred with holes, scorch marks and dried blood. Asking around to the neighbors they said that the battle raged for fifteen minutes. She waded into this house outnumbered and made it out alive. In fifteen minutes, she killed thirty criminals, rescued five hostages and walked out alive. As I went through the house trying to get in her head, I could imagine that it must have been Tartarus on Equus. When I got my hooves on the statements the two young mares gave to the police, they described her as the very specter of death coming to enact divine justice. It turns out the criminals had foalnapped the two young mares and three fillies from their homes so they could abuse and force themselves on them, sick fucks. When I tried to talk to the hostages at the hospital, the doctors refused to allow me to talk with them, saying that they've been through too much for the time being. When they are released from the hospital, I'll try and track them down to talk to them. I must applaud Sunset, though I don't approve of her methods, she got the hostages out with any further harm.

Yours truly, Monochrome.

P.S. The next time I see Sunset I must find out where she got her thunder boxes from.

********************************************************************************************************

Four months had passed since The Mare Who Laughs had her showdown with Sunset. She was on the move to Vanhoover as there was a new prospect for an alchemy lab on the outskirts. She looked at a hoof mirror, observing at the small scar above her eyebrow. "Any news on where Bacon-head disappeared to?", she asked, turning to a henchpony.

"None boss.", the henchpony replied, "It doesn't make any sense on how somepony can show up, unleash Tartarus, and then vanish like a puff of smoke in the wind. It's almost like she's the specter of death itself."

The Mare Who Laughs mane became a pompadour. "Ah-heeheehee-oh-heeheehee-oo-heeheehee! Well lucky for you I don't believe in ghosts and specters. She’s very much flesh and blood. Even though she may have gotten away, it won't be long before she comes snooping around again." She pulled out a small binder from under the seat. Opening it she read over a ledger as she looked over a picture of Blueblood. "I'll go and visit those two former idiots' patrons when he arrives in Vanhoover. Maybe he'll be amicable to a proposition or I'll put a permanent smile on his face. Either way, I get what I want."

********************************************************************************************************

Twilight lay in her bed, her bump was massive. Fluttershy was in the bathroom emptying out her bedpan.

As Twilight leaned up in bed and saw a wet spot spreading on the bed between her hind legs. "Great! I pissed the bed." She threw back the covers ready to call for Fluttershy to bring her some fresh bedding. She gasped and shouted, "Fluttershy! Get in here!"

Fluttershy walked in from the bathroom. "What is Twilight?"

"Get a doctor! I think my water just broke!"

Fluttershy gasped and ran out of the room dropping the bedpan.

Outside the delivery room Twilight Velvet, Night Light, Cadence, and Shining Armor paced back and forth nervous. They had been waiting for hours for any news. A nurse came out of the delivery room.

"What's the news?", Twilight Velvet asked.

"We've induced labor and have been helping with contractions, but it's difficult to tell as she has no conscious movements of her muscles below her midsection. It's only a matter of time now before we have any actual news.", the nurse replied.  "Don't worry, Doctor Stable has experience with delivering foals from handicapped mothers." She went back into the delivery room.

Another agonizing two hours passed before the sound of a crying foal came out of the delivery room. It sounded like music to the ears of Twilight Velvet, Night Light, Shining Armor and Cadance.

After twenty minutes, Doctor Stable came out. "She's resting comfortably, though there was a complication.", she said, "She experienced some hemorrhaging and we'll have to hold her for a couple of weeks for observation. If you want, you all can go back to see the foal."

Cadence, Twilight Velvet, Night Light and Shining Armor made their way into the delivery room. They let out a collective gasp when they saw Twilight nursing the bundled up colt.

Twilight Velvet made her way over to her daughter's side and kissed her on the cheek. "Congratulations, mommy. What's his name?"

Twilight smiled down at her nursing colt. "Dusk Shine.", she said softly.

The four let out a collective squee.

********************************************************************************************************

Sunset stood in the impromptu firing range in one for the basements under the castle. Several pumpkins and buckets were set up on wooden pedestals She inspected the firearms that Sunburst had made for her and noted the improvements he had made. She lifted one of the pistols, he had added a selector switch to the original design allowing her to switch between semi-auto or full auto, slightly improved the balancing and made the slide move almost silky smooth. She inserted a magazine into the pistol, cocked it and squeezed off a few shots. She then flipped the selector switch to full auto and squeezed the trigger. She gave a slight whoop in celebration.

Turning her attention to the shotgun, Sunset looked it over, other than vastly improving the sights, there wasn't much change from her original design. Loading a shell into the chamber, she aimed the shotgun down range and squeezed the trigger. Levitating the bucket over, she inspected the spread pattern. Sunburst had mixed in a smaller shot with the buckshot. She gave herself a mental note to tell him that buckshot was enough, it didn't need birdshot as well.

Sunset then inspected the assault rifle. The barrel had been set lower in the fore stock, the cocking lever also doubled as the forward assist and pouches to hold spare magazines had been added to the butt stock. She loaded the magazine into the rifle and she chambered a round. Squeezing off a few shots, she noted the better balance the lower set barrel had added. Flipping the selector switch to full auto, she emptied the magazine.

Sunset then turned her attention to the sniper rifle. Cycling the bolt, she noted that it was almost silent. She flipped up the covers on the scope, it had been the most difficult part to make. Looking through the scope, she turned the sighting aperture a few clicks until the furthest target came into view. Loading a bullet into the chamber and squeezed the trigger. Frowning that the shot was low and to the left, she took a screwdriver and adjusted the windage and elevation. Loading another round into the rifle, she squeezed the trigger and smiled that the rough was less than an inch off true center.

Sunburst and Celestia came in talking softly. Sunset held in his magic a light machine gun based off the designs for a SAW Sunset had drawn out.

"I take it that the new weapon designs meet your approval?", Sunburst asked.

"Yes.", Sunset replied, "Though the shotgun doesn't need both buckshot and birdshot in a shell, buckshot will more than suffice."

"Noted.", Sunburst replied, "I've got your squad automatic weapon. Though I'm still having a problem with it overheating." He passed it to Sunset.

"Machineguns always overheat.", Sunset replied, "That's why you have interchange barrels for when you do any prolonged shooting." She loaded a belt of ammunition into the SAW and chambered a round. "You might want to brace yourself princess, it's about to get awesome." Flipping down the bipod, she sighted it down range, squeezed the trigger and sent a fifteen round burst shredding a pumpkin. Quickly switching targets, she shredded them one by one. Hoisting the now empty machine gun as wisps of smoke curled out of the muzzle, she turned to Celestia and muttered, "Oorah!"
> Preparations for a party
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Mare Who Laughs was walking around Vanhoover in disguise, her coat had been dies black, she had blue extensions hiding her green mane and tail, a grey, dingy cloak was draped over her with the hood pulled down low to conceal her face. She would have preferred to be wearing her more audacious outfit, but for now it did better to keep a low profile while she scoped out the town. From her left in the alleyway she heard a stallion clearing his throat.

A slate grey earth pony stallion stepped from the shade holding an envelope in his hoof. Tossing the envelope at  The Mare Who Laughs hooves, he said, "A message from my master for you." He then slipped into the alleyway and exited the far side, disappearing into the crowd.

The Mare Who Laughs smiled as she narrowed her eyes where the strange earth pony had disappeared. Cackling to herself, she picked up the envelope, opened it and read the letter inside.

I have been watching you since you first caught my attention in Canterlot. Though your execution has been sloppy, it has none the less been...entertaining. I have a mutually beneficial proposition for you. If you're interested, come by my office. I'm sure you know where it is by now, everypony knows where it is.
-Blueblood

The Mare Who Laughs crumpled the note as her mane went limp under the extensions. Blueblood had intrigued her and she'd visit him even if it was to put a smile on his face. She began to laugh hoarsely as she turned back to go to her current safe-house on the edge of town.

Two hours later a carriage pulls up to a skyscraper with a gilded spire. The Mare Who Laughs steps out of the carriage still in disguise flanked by eight of her henchponies. As they reach the front door, two doorponies open the door for them and let them in. As they reach the elevator, a young mare steps out of it wearing a red suit with gold braids, letting The Mare who laughs and her henchponies in. "He's waiting for you in the penthouse.", the young mare says. The Mare Who Laughs smiles as she presses the button for the penthouse. The bell rings as the doors slide open silently. Two guards dressed in flowing red robes point her to the large frosted glass double doors at the end of the hallway. The Mare Who Laughs reaches up a hoof to open the doors when they swing open on their own with a soft click.

"Come in my dear.", Blueblood says from his office chair, the back turned to the door. Once he hears the group enter the office, he presses a small button on the chair causing the doors to close with a soft click. Swiveling the chair around, he looks up on the group and says, "Thank you for coming." He pulls out a brandy sniffer and a bottle of cognac, "May I offer you some refreshments. I have a particularly nice two hundred year old Neighpolian." He pours the cognac into the sniffer, swirls it around, inhales the aroma and takes a sip.

The Mare Who Laughs cocks her head to the side as a wide smile spreads across her face and cackles.

"Maybe cognac ins't your preference.", Blueblood says calmly, "Hors de oveurs?" He jingle a small bell and a small door in the side of the office opens. A butler walks through carrying a tray in his teeth, on it were several small crackers with cheese and vegetables on them. Placing the tray on the desk, the butler bows and calmly back out of the room back through the small door, closing tightly behind him. "Please feel free to partake of any refreshments you so care to.", he says gesturing to the tray.

The Mare Who Laughs pulls out a knife from under he mane and began walking around the desk cackling maliciously.

"Pity.", Blueblood said in a disappointed tone, "I was hoping you'd enjoy some refreshments before we talked business." He laid his forelimbs open as he raised his chin. "Very well, do your worst."

The Mare Who Laughs slashed the knife across Blueblood's throat laughing hoarsely as the blood poured forth from the wound. She pulled his limp body from the chair and flung it to the floor. Sitting in the chair, she took a sip of the cognac and prepared to speak. Her eyes went wide when she saw Blueblood rising from the floor.

Blueblood held his hoof over the gash in his throat and said in a raspy voice, "Get...out...of...my...chair."

The Mare Who Laughs snatched off her extensions revealing her green poofy mane and threw her head back in manic laughter. "Bluey Bluey Bluey! Aren't we full of surprises?" She spun herself around in the office chair. "Whee!"

Blueblood reached up with his blood covered hoof and yanked her out of the chair, then sat down, green wisps of smoky energy flowed out of the corners of his eyes as the wound on his throat closed. Clearing his throat, he spoke, "It's not very amicable to be rude to your host." Sitting in the office chair, he allowed the wisps of energy dissipate. "Seeing as you'd rather dispense with pleasantries and get right down to business, then allow me to offer you my proposal." He opened the drawer on the desk and pulled out a folder. Slapping it on the desk, he said, "In here are the photographs of the five surviving element bearers."

"You mean four.", The Mare Who Laughs cackled as she rose from the floor.

"If you're implying that I'm mistaken, then you're wrong. I never make mistakes."

The Mare Who Laughs opened seeing the photographs. As she spread them out, her eyes burned with hate and her mane became limp when she saw a few photographs of Twilight sitting on a beach in a wheelchair. The corners of her mouth twitched as she tried to sneer.

"Ah good, I see I now have your attention.", Blueblood said rising from the office chair. He walked over to the fireplace, lit it then opened a small box on the mantle and took out a cigar. Lighting the cigar, he asked, "Cubray?"

The Mare Who Laughs took a cigar and lit it, blowing out the blue-grey smoke as she asked, "So what is your proposition and what is in it for me?"

"Ah, so you are amicable after all.", Blueblood said smiling, "I have a dream to burn this country and raise a new one in my own image from the ashes. If you agree to my proposal, you'll have a place in my new world and I can ensure anything you want, gold, gems, stallions, mares." He ran a hoof across her cheek, "If you refuse, well it would be a shame to discard such a useful tool."

The Mare Who Laughs flicked the cigar into the fireplace. "All I hear is talk. Is your proposal to bore me into tears?"

"So crude.", Blueblood scoffed, "Very well. My proposition is simple, I'll arrange for a foalnapping of the five remaining element bearers. After I deliver them to you, you can do to them whatever you want. Just ensure they stay out of my mane." He reached a hoof back to the mantle, pulling down a sack of bits and a sealed envelope. "As I token of good faith, I offer you an advance payment for services and the knowledge of whom you were before your 'accident.'"

The mare Who Laughs took the sack of bits and tossed it to a henchpony. She then took the envelope, looked it over for a moment then tossed it into the fireplace. "I'll arrange a little get together for them after you bring them to me. I just have one more request."

"Name it."

"I want to make sure Luna is invited to the party too.", The Mare Who Laughs cackled as her mane became a pompadour.

"I will do what I can.", Blueblood replied.

The Mare Who Laughs nodded chuckling. As she turned to leave, she flicked the brandy sniffer onto the floor where it shattered spilling the cognac. "Oops! AH-heeheehee-oh-heeheehee-oo-heeheehee!"

After The Mare Who Laughs and her henchponies had left the office, Blueblood pushed a button the intercom, "Send in the independent contractor please."

A female griffon with purple highlights on the crown of feathers on her head and an eye patch over her right eye walked in the door.

Blueblood tossed her two small pouches of bits. "I have two jobs for you. First, when this Bacon-head finally comes up for air, I want you to deal with him or her. Second, keep an eye on the nutjob, when she takes care of the element bearers, make sure she disappears, she ultimately cannot be controlled and I can't have any tools I can't control."

"Yes sir.", said the griffon as she hefted the pouches of bits before backing out of the office.

It was dark and the moon was barely a sliver above the horizon when the griffon walked into a dive on the rough side of town. The place reeked of stale beer and cheap cigarettes, guttering candles on the walls and tables dimly lit the place causing ghostly shadows to dance on the walls and floor. Giving the place a once over, she walked to a booth in a shadowy corner where a silhouetted pony sat in a dirty booth. Sitting down, she said, "You got my money?"

The silhouetted pony laid a satchel of bits on the table.

Hefting the satchel, the griffon said, "Blueblood has hired the terrorist to foalnap the elements."

The silhouetted pony nodded its head then tipped its head to the side.

"I forgot how much of a pain in the flanks you shadow guard are.", the griffon said, "If you want my reasons, then it'll cost ya."

The silhouetted pony tossed two bits across the table.

Picking up the bits, the griffon dropped them into the satchel. "I owe Rainbow Dash a fighting chance. She may be a total twat, but I at least owe an old flight school buddy that much. Can I buy you a drink."

The silhouetted pony shook its head then pointed a hoof across the room.

The griffon looked to where it was pointing the looked back seeing she was alone. She sighed, "Fucking pain in the flank shadow guard." She walked up to the bar and ordered a drink then slammed down. Tossing a bit on the bar, she said as she headed to the door, "You shouldn't water your drinks down."

Luna stood on the balcony watching the stars through the telescope when the door behind her opened revealing a silhouetted pony. Without turning from her telescope, she said, "Didst thou make contact with the mercenary?"

The silhouetted pony nodded.

"Very well. Leave the report at my throne, then notify my brothers and sister.", Luna said adjusting the focus on her telescope.

The silhouetted pony bowed and closed the door.

Celestia was awoken by a soft tapping on her bedroom door. Pulling the blindfold off her eyes, she sat up and said, "Come in."

The door opened revealing a silhouetted pony.

"Did your brothers come across some information?"

The silhouetted pony nodded and tossed an envelope across the floor.

Taking the envelope in her magic, Celestia opened it and read the message inside. "Thank you and dismissed."

Bulwark stood still as a statue sleeping when the click of hooves drew attention. Opening one eye he saw a silhouetted pony standing in front of him. "What do you need shadow guard?", his deep voice rumbled.

The silhouetted pony raised its hoof holding an envelope.

Bulwark levitated the enveloped, opened it and read the letter. "Dismissed.", he rumbled.

The silhouetted pony bowed and slipped away into the shadows.

Midnight was walking through the halls of the palace in though when the click of hooves on the stone caught his attention. Looking to the polished floor he saw the reflection of a silhouetted pony. Summoning his magic, he made himself vanish from the pony's mind.

The silhouetted figure cocked its head slightly in confusion. Suddenly the candles lit reveling the pony.

Standing next to the pony, Midnight dropped his magic. He took a moment to inspect the pony. It was a unicorn mare with an azure coat, greyish-violet eyes, her mane was a light cornflower blue with pale cerulean stripes, her face held an almost unreadable neutral expression. "I take it you're one of the shadow guard?"

The mare nodded.

"So do you have a message for me or are you simply trying to follow me?"

The mare held up an envelope.

Taking the envelope, Midnight opened it and read the letter. "I have new orders for you. Take a dozen of your brothers and guard the element bearers."

The mare bowed, turned and walked off.
********************************************************************************************************

It had been a a month since Sunset had gotten her new weapons, she sat in a mostly empty box car eating a can of applesauce and looking through some pictures of several buildings in Vanhoover that had been provided to her by a shadowy pony, the dim light of a lantern flickered giving illumination. She paused on two photos, one of a warehouse and the other of an abandoned theme park. She scowled grimly at the two photos as she tossed the now empty can across the box car. "It seems too easy.", she grumbled too herself. She knew better than to get optimistic as no intel about any of the buildings were provided, not even a basic blueprint or a floor layout. She sneered thinking that maybe Celestia had sent her in blind in hopes that the terrorists would kill her. She had a week until the freight train reached Vanhoover and she'd spend that time gathering intel. She pulled on her marine corps training and combat experience in formulating her first steps in gathering intel. Somewhere in the city would be a records building holding city maps, building permits and blueprints of all the buildings, all she'd have to do is ask a passerby or two where to find the hall of records. Then all she'd have to do is get her hooves on some supplies to begin interrogating the few terrorists she could snatch off the streets, rope, rags, towels, buckets and water would be easy enough to procure, a funnel and a length of hose would also be easy to find, however quarts of oil would be harder to find, may be she could use lantern oil as Equestrians have yet to invent cars and motor oil. She decided to let it sit for now as she leaned back to take a short nap and let her mind refresh itself.

*Monochrome's Journal Vanhoover day 15*

Dear Journal,

I've been searching for two weeks here in Vanhoover trying to find some information about how Blueblood plans to foalnap the element bearers. So far I haven't found any information on what his plans are or even him. To quote an old Jamanecan friend, "He's harder to find than a green snake in a sugar can field." I responded to a break in at the hall of records last night. There were no deaths or serious injuries, just a few night watchponies knocked out and stuffed in a broom closet. Other than the back door kicked in, there was no damage done to the building and the only things reported stolen were a few maps of the city, several building permits and some blueprints, nothing that they didn't have spare copies of in the basement of city hall. It doesn't match the MO of the terrorist, it almost smacks of somepony gathering intelligence. As I was leaving the building. I bumped into an odd griffon, literally, it was wearing dull red chain armor with black accents and a half red half black metal mask with only one eye hole on the left, strapped to its flank was a broad bladed sword. Outside of its odd manner of dress and sword, it seemed to radiate an aura of danger, outside of what griffons normally do. When I asked what it was doing there, it just turned its masked face to me then walked off without saying anything to me, most unusual, I must keep an eye out for this new dangerous player.

Yours truly, Monochrome

P.S. The next time I see that griffon, maybe I can get it to talk by tossing it a few bits.*

*War journal entry 17*

Spent the first three day in Vanhoover finding out where the hall of records was and then another three staking the place out to get the staff rotation. After getting the intel from the hall of records, spent the next two weeks staking out the old warehouse counting the number of terrorists entering and leaving. Four guards posted at each entrance on four hour rotations, every two days a small convoy of wagons bring in barrels and boxes. Managed to snatch two terrorists that had snuck off to get drunk. Interrogated them and found that there were at least fifty terrorist inside at all time. Spent the next two days formulating the attack plan and another two days making enough explosive to rig up to a cart to blow the doors off.

Celestia sat in the kitchen eating breakfast, she switched on the radio and twisted the dial until a station came in.

This is Hot Print with KCDN out of Vanhoover. Top story this morning, a brutal attack on a warehouse that was thought to be abandoned. When police arrived on the scene over fifty bodies of ponies suspected to work for the wanted terrorist known as The Mare Who Laughs were found riddled with strange holes matching the attacks carried out by the wanted vigilante known as Bacon-head that carried out similar attacks in Manehattan and Whinnyapolis. When asked about the attacks matching the wanted vigilante, the police refused to give a statement at that time. We now go live to Bartlett on the streets with-

Celestia switched off the radio and looked down at her pancakes. She poked at the with her fork, suddenly finding that she had lost her appetite.

A guard burst into the kitchen. "Your highness! There has been an attack in the castle!"

Clestia rose quickly from the table knocking her chair over. "What?!"

"Twilight Sparkle and Dask Shine appear to be okay, though when the guards came to help her, she lashed out with her magic and injured several of them, she's not letting anypony get near.", the guard continued, "We're still searching the castle grounds for the other four element bearers."

"Where is she?!"

"She's in the hallway in the east wing."

"Go get Luna!", Celestia shouted as she pushed past the guard.

Twilight held a very upset Dusk in her forelimbs gently rocking him, an expression of anger and fear on her face. Around her were the unconscious forms to five nurses and the broken forms of eight ponies wearing red body suits, smoldering gashes lined the walls. "Shh! Shh! It's okay. Mommy's here and she won't let any bad ponies hurt you." When she heard hoofsteps come up behind her, she turned the wheelchair with her magic, fired off a blast of magic and shouted, "GET THE FUCK BACK! I WON'T LET YOU HURT MY SON!"

Two nurses scrambled for cover behind a column. "It's alright Ms. Sparkle. We're just trying to make sure you and your colt are okay.", one of the nurses called out, "Please, just let us help you."

Twilight fired a blast of her magic blowing a chunk out of the column.

"Twilight Sparkle!", Celestia shouted walking down the hallway, "I need you to calm down. You and you're foal are safe. Nopony's going to hurt you or him." Celestia took a slow gentle step forward giving a gentle smile. "It's alright, you're colt is safe.", she said in a soft, calm tone.

"GET BACK!", Twilight shouted firing a blast of magic.

Celestia raised a wing blocking the blast of magic, her shoes making sparks as she was pushed back. She went to step forward again when Bulwark stepped next to her. "Allow me sister", his said in a soft rumbling voice.

As Bulwark walked forward slowly, he said in a calm and clear voice, "Be calm young Twilight." When fired a blast of magic at him, he harmlessly deflected it away without breaking his stride. Twilight unleashed a continuous stream of magic of magic at Bulwark who simply raised a wing dispersing it across his body harmlessly as he continued his slow walk froward. Once he reached Twilight, he placed a wingtip on her horn causing her magic to stop. He threw his forelimbs around her withers and pulled her in for a gentle hug. "Shh!", he said softly, "You're safe now. No bad ponies are coming for your colt."

Twilight tried to pull back from the hug but found she was not strong enough. Soon the warmth of his body and the tightness of his hug made her calm down. She leaned her head against his chest and began to cry softly. "I was so scared.", she said her voice cracking as the tears flowed, "When those ponies leapt out at me from the side room, all I could think about was keeping Dusk safe."

Bulwark said nothing, he just gently stoked his hoof along Twilight's mane comforting her.

A guard walked up to Celestia and whispered in her ear, "Good news, bad news. We found Rainbow Dash, she's in the medical wing being checked out right now. She appears to be fine other some bruises and scrapes. The other three element bearers and Luna appear to be missing."

Celestia took off down the hallway to Luna's room. Reaching her sister's room, she slowly opened the door and looked around. The room showed clear signs of a struggle with broken furniture laying around, the broken bodies of ten ponies in red body suits laying around, the window had been broken out. Walking over to the window, she notice some blood stains and a dark blue feather laying on the sill. Looking out the window, she saw the bodies of three more ponies laying on the ground far below wearing the same outfits. A soft groan caught her attention, turning her head she saw one of the ponies in a red body suit slumped against the wall waking up. Walking over, she snatched the mask of the pony revealing a dark blue mare with black mane. "Who are you?!", she shouted in anger, "Who do you work for?!"

The mare laughed as she reached her hooves to her head and chin. "Long live the hoof." She then cranked her head around breaking her neck.

Luna stood on a cloud high over Canterlot as she scanned the city for any signs of the ponies that had attacked her. She then settled onto the cloud and entered into the dream aether knowing that the element bearers were also the target of this attack. Soon she found the unconscious minds of Fluttershy, Applejack and Rarity. Tethering the three element bearers minds to hers, she pulled out of the dream aether, leapt off the cloud and flew back to the castle. She knew Celestia would quite literally tear the place apart until she found her.

Gilda stared at her reflection in the mirror in the bathroom of her hotel room in Whinnyapolis as she stitched up the gash in the side of her neck after her fight with Sunset on top of a nearby building twenty minute earlier. She hissed in pain and slammed a talon down on the counter as the needle and thread bit through her flesh one last time. Tying a knot in the thread, she clipped the excess off, smeared some ointment on the stitched up wound and wrapped a bandage around it. She then inspected her body and wings, other than some gashes in her feathers and a few scratches where a few bullets had grazed her, she was unharmed. Preening her wings and plucking the damaged feathers out, she said to herself, "Damn she's good. Whoever Bacon-head is, she's well trained and knows how to use those thunder sticks well." She tried to remember if she'd ever seen a pony before using similar weapons before. Gilda the walked into the other part of the hotel inspecting her gear. She ran her mind over the events of the fight and how her opponent kept coming, even after she had her weapons knocked to the ground, how she pulled the knife and slashed Gilda across her neck. She ran her talons across where the bullets had pitted her metal mask and had put gashes in her chain armor, she made a mental note to change out her chain armor for solid metal breastplate when she got the first chance.

Sunset sat in the dingy loft counting her ammunition as she looked at the dried blood on her K-bar where she had fought against Gilda earlier. "Who was that griffon?", she said to herself. She inspected her gear, long parallel gashes ran along the sides of her armor where the griffon had raked its talons along her armor trying to get at her flesh below, a long narrow gash in the butt stock of her shotgun where she had used to to block the sword from splitting her skull. cleaning the blood off the knife and wrapping tape around the butt stock of the shotgun, she walked over to hastily constructed loading station.
> The party
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rarity blinked slowly awake seeing the inside of a dark bag. All she could hear besides the sound of disturbing laughter was her own pulse in her ears. She ran the last events she could remember through her head, she remembered sewing new drapes for Celestia's room with some strange, silent ponies assisting her, the ponies never talked and only seemed to communicate with each other non-verbally. She remembered taking the drapes out of the sewing room with the help of the oddly silent ponies when several ponies wearing red body suits sprung out from behind the corner at her and the oddly quiet ponies leapt onto the red suited ponies fighting them. She remembered running before seeing a red blur, then feeling a sharp pain at the base of her skull, then blackness. Summoning the magic in her horn, she attempted to remove the sack from over her head but felt her magic fizzle as the spell was blocked. She tried to raise a hoof to remove the sack from her head but felt something cold and metallic holding it in place. To her right she heard a familiar voice groan. "Applejack? I-is that you?", she whispered.

Applejack awoke with a groan seeing the inside of the of a dark sack, there was a stinging pain above he left and she felt something wet and stick on her face. Hearing Rarity's scared voice whisper to her, she responded softly, "Yeah it's me Rares." She tried to move her hooves, but heard the soft rattle of chains and felt the metal links pinch her forelimbs.

Fluttershy sat slouched in a chair, the coppery taste of fresh blood in her mouth and the iron smell of fresh blood in her nostrils. All she could see was the inside of a blindfold. She felt the pinch of ropes being tightened as they were tightened around her barrel and wings. Whoever had taken her had hit her hard across the face when she tried to loosen the ropes with her teeth. She heard her friends whispering to each other and knew they had been taken too, she just didn't know how many of them had been taken. When she tried to wiggle her forelimbs to get them free of the restraining ropes, somepony struck her hard in the stomach. The acidic taste of bile filled her throat as she vomited. She groaned in pain as she tried to suck in air.

"Look whoever you are. I am a successful businessmare and you can have every last bit I have, just let my friends go. I'll remain your hostage, I promise I won't try to escape. Just don't hurt my friends and let them go.", Rarity pleaded out loud.

"Rares, don't give 'em th' pleasure.", Applejack replied, "They's prob'bly gon' kill us e'en after they get their money."

The response was malicious laughter.

"I can get you anything you want.", Rarity pleaded, "Money, jewels, designer clothes...,", she paused shuddering, "...you can even use my body to any desires you want, I won't resist. Just please let my friends go." Tears of fear welled in her eyes.

Rarity heard the clatter of hooves on a table as they approached. The sack was snatched off her head and she gasped in horror at the demonic smiling, skull-like face just inches in front of her face, malice and hatred burning in in those eyes.

"Ah ah ah!", The Mare Who Laughs scolded with a chuckle, "You don't want to ruin the party by being a pooper." She hopped off the table, laid a large battery on it, hooked up a dial with knife switch to it and then hooked electrodes to Rarity's face. "Too bad your other friends couldn't join the party.", she said with mock sadness, "Even after I went through all the trouble of sending out invitations and making extra party favors." She placed a party hat on Rarity's head and placed her hind hooves in a bucket of water. "No matter. I'll just have to throw a personal party for them."

As The Mare Who Laughs walked over to Applejack, Rarity took the opportunity to look around. The three of them were in a dingy basement. Her heart sunk seeing Applejack being hooked up to battery, an old gash above her eye had left drying blood on the side of her face. As her eyes drifted over to Fluttershy, her heart felt like it sank to her hips seeing fresh drops of vomit and blood dripping from her mouth. "Why are you doing this?"

The Mare Who Laughs responded as she finished hooking AJ up to the battery, "Why is the sky blue? No reason! Why is water wet? No reason!" She began cackling maliciously.

"So ya mean tuh tell us that th' only reason ya do this is b'cause you have no reason?!", Applejack indignantly shouted, "What a fuckin' retarded reason tuh do anythin'!"

Fluttershy said as she felt electrodes hooked to her face, "You disgust GUH!" Another sharp blow to her stomach cut her words off and she doubled over as bile filled her mouth again.

"Please! No more!", Rarity cried out, "Please please please! Don't hurt poor sweet Fluttershy again! SHe's never done anything to hurt anypony!"

The Mare Who Laughs pushed Fluttershy back upright in the chair and ran her tongue across her cheek eliciting a shudder of disgust from the butter colored pegasus. "Nothing like the taste of the suffering of innocence.", she cackled, Let's start by seeing how big she can smile." She turned the dial on the battery part of the way around and began laughing maniacally as she flipped the knife switch closing the circuit.

"Ngh! AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!", Fluttershy screamed as her body convulsed with the current flowing through her body, the corners of her mouth turned up in an involuntary smile.

The Mare Who Laughs danced in sadistic glee as she clapped her forehooves. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahahahaha! Smile! Smile! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahahahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahahahahaha!" She flipped the current off and Fluttershy slumped forward gasping for breath as she whimpered in pain, tears rolled down her cheeks from under the blindfold. Applejack felt her stomach heave and she doubled as bile filled her mouth. Rarity glared in anger and rage as she wriggled her forelimbs to get free. She felt a sharp edge of the metal loop holding her left hoof down, looking down at the small scratch, an idea came to her mind and she began slowly twisting her hoof in the restraint causing it to begin cutting into her.

The Mare Who Laughs walked over to Rarity and said sadistically, "Now let's see if you can smile as pretty as your friend." She twisted the knob and flipped the switch.

Rarity thrashed and screamed as the current forced an involuntary smile on her face. After several minutes that felt like an eternity, the current was shut off and she slumped forward gasping for air as she cried softly. Rarity began slowly twisting her hoof again as The Mare Who Laughs walked off.

Applejack bit at the hoof of her torturer as it reached for the knife switch, which prompted  a sharp blow to her stomach. As she tried to swallow back the bile in her throat, the switch was flipped and she thrashed about as the vomit poured up from her throat and out her mouth. AJ unsuccessfully tried to keep from screaming.

Seeing Applejack thrashing about out of the corner of her eye, Rarity managed to get enough blood flowing from her hoof that she was able to slip it out of the restraint. Using her hoof, she snatch the electrodes off her face and removed the magic restraining ring off her horn. Using a combination of her magic and hoof, she quickly and quietly undid the other restraint on her other hoof, then started working on the restraints on her other hooves and body.

The Mare Who Laughs flipped the switch and Applejack slumped forward crying, "No more! No more!"

Rarity quietly slipped out of the chair, lined up her horn with the wicked mare and charged forward.

"Eh?", The Mare Who Laughs said as she felt a twitch in her tail and side stepped the charge. She grabbed a lit lantern off the wall and slammed it into the left side of Rarity's face, causing it to shatter and sending burning oil onto her face.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!", Rarity screamed as she fell to the floor rolling around trying to desperately put out the burning oil.

Applejack stared on in horror as she watched her friend's face burning. She strained hard against the chains.

Fluttershy felt something soft and fluffy climb up her lag and onto her back, it began gnawing at the ropes on her back. "Angel?", she whispered. In response she received two soft taps on her back as he continued.

As the flames on Rarity's face finally went out, The Mare Who Laughs mane went limp and she began laughing hoarsely. She picked Rarity up off the floor and plopped her hard on her right side on the table. She snatched the electrodes off Applejack's and Fluttershy's face, then attached them to the left side of Rarity's body, she then picked up the electrodes that used to be on Rarity's face and attached  them to the left side of her body as well.

"No. No.", Rarity moaned weakly.

"Yes! Yes!", The Mare Who Laughs cackled hoarsely as she began one by one turning the knobs all the way full. She then flipped each switch into the on position and laughed as Rarity began thrashing about violently on the table.

"Please stop! Yer killin' her!", Applejack screamed in horror.


"Haahaahaa-heeheehee-hoohoohoo! That's the point."

Applejack stared in horror as tears blurred her vision as Rarity continued to thrash about violently, he mouth began to foam as gurgled sounds came out from it. Wisps of smoke began to curl up from her left side as her coat as the coat on that side began turning black.

Angel sucessfully gnawed through one of the ropes and Fluttershy successfully burst free. Pulling the blindfold from her face, she lunged at The Mare Who Laughs and threw a desperate bunch.

The Mare Who Laughs grabbed Fluttershy's hoof. Pulling a knife from under her mane, she shoved the blade into Fluttershy's mouth. Hatred and sadism gleaming in her eyes, she said, "Let's put a smile on your face!"

Angle ran up Fluttershy's backas fast as his fluffy little legs could, onto her head and launched himself through the air. He landed on The Mare Who Laughs head and chomped on down as hard as he could on her ear.

Yelping in pain, The Mare Who Laughs dropped the knife and snatched Angel off her ear. "Silly bunny. I'm not a cake.", she said before throwing him across the room.

Fluttershy threw her hoof forward in a hard punch and connected with the side of The Mare Who Laughs face sending her tumbling off the table and slumping onto the floor. She snatched the wires from the batteries and rolled Rarity onto her back. Placing her ear on Rarity's chest, she exclaimed, "No no no no! Don't doe yet!" She gave several chest compressions the blew hard into Rarity's mouth.

"Uh, Flutters? If'n ya get me loose, Ah c'n help ya save Rare's life.", Applejack said straining against the chains.

Fluttershy nodded and began using strength alongside AJ's to begin wiggling the back of the chair. The wood of the chair broke with a loud crack and Applejack shook off the chains. The began working on saving Rarity's life.

Doing chest compressions, Fluttershy called out, "One! Two! Three! And GLURK!"

Applejack looked up seeing Mare Who Laughs holding Fluttershy in a chokehold. She charged forward to free her friend and received a hard blow to her face, falling to the table top, the world went black.

The Mare Who Laughs threw Fluttershy hard to the floor and placed her hooves on her windpipe, strangling the life out of her. "Any last words?"

"Kch! Kch!" was all Fluttershy could squeeze out as she desperately pawed at her attacker's face. Her vision began going blurry as she felt her strength waning.

A hole exploded in the ceiling as Luna exploded through. Swinging her hoof hard, she knocked The Mare Who Laughs off of Fluttershy, sending her tumbling into the wall.

Fluttershy took in several desperate gasps of precious air as she rubbed her neck with her hoof. Rising weakly to her hooves with the help of Luna, she staggered over to the table, climbed onto it and continued giving Rarity CPR. After several minutes that felt like hours, Rarity took in a deep gasp and then began breathing shallowly on her own accord.

Luna revived Applejack with a zap of her horn.

Rising slowly to her hooves, she said, "Thank...", he eyes went with shock seeing The Mare Who Laughs rising to her feet, "No fuckin' way!"

"Ah-heeheehee-oh-heeheehee-oo-heeheehee!", The Mare Who Laughs began giggling maliciously as he mane became a pompadour, "Yes way!" She picked up a piece of broken chair and began stalking forward.

"Villain! Release your hold on Pinkie Pie's mind!", Luna commanded.

The mare who laughs scowled. For the first time since she could remember she could scowl! Her head cocked to the side as the unnaturally wide smile stretched across it. "Didn't you hear princess? Pinkie died all alone in that fire. And I was the one who saved her life." She Began cackling again.

"Nay she verily didst not!", Luna barked. Lighting the magic in her horn, she sent a dark blue beam at The Mare Who Laughs head. "Awaken Pinkie Pie, bearer of the element of harmony!"

The mare slumped to the ground onto her haunches and began crying softly. "I'm so sorry Luna!", Pinkies voice came out, "I tried so hard to escape or stop her or anything."

"Pinkie?", Applejack said, "What the Tartarus?"

"I'm so sorry everypony!", Pinkie sobbed. Her voice became a terrified gasp. "Oh no! They're coming back! Kill me before they can take me away again! Please please plea..." "Heh-heh-heh-hoo-hoo-hoo-hee-hee-hee!", nasty laughter came out of the mare's mouth, "Naughty naught Pinkie Pie! This is our body and now it is our time in the sun." The mare lifted the broken piece in her hoof and pointed the broken at her chest. "Then I'll kill us all before you all can hurt anymore ponies.", Pinkies voice came out. As the mare plunged the broken piece of wood towards her chest, her other hoof shot out and knocked the piece of wood away. "No!", The Mare Who Laughs shouted, "We won't let you or anypony stop us!" "Help me!", Pinkie screamed, "They're taking me away!" In the crowded mind the three versions of The Mare Who Laughs dragged a screaming Pinkie to the edge of a cliff and hurled her over into the darkness.

"Ah-hahahahahaha-oh-heeheeheehee-oo-hoohoohoo!", The Mare Who Laughs cackled madly, "That was a funny joke Luna! Thinking that that pink bitch could beat us." She picked up the broken piece of wood. "Time to die!", she screamed with malicious and hysterical, as murderous intent burned in her eyes.

"Sleep.", Luna said as the magic burned in her horn again. A dark blue aura played across The Mare Who Laughs forehead as she slumped to the ground unconscious, laughing in her sleep.

"How did you find us?", Fluttershy asked as she attended to Rarity.

"When you all were unconscious I was able to find your dreaming minds and tether them to my own.", Luna replied, "It is much harder to track a sleeping mind than an awake one. Thank the stars I was able to find you before anypony was killed."

"Where the hay are we?", Applejack asked.

"We're in the basement of the ruins of Golden Oaks Library.", Luna replied.

"Fuck me.", Fluttershy said demurely.


The stairs creaked as Celestia walked down them. "Applejack? Fluttershy? Rarity? Luna?", she called out, "Is everypony okay?"

"Get a physician sister!", Luna called out, "Rarity is badly hurt! Also call a constable, we have a prisoner!"

Celestia hollered back up the stairs, "They're down here! Get the paramedics and the sheriff!"

After several minutes Rarity was strapped to a gurney as he unconscious form groaned in pain and rushed to the hospital.

The Mare Who Laughs woke up as she was being carried to the paddy wagon by four beefy ponies in blue uniforms and tossed in. "Oh-hahahahaha-ah-hahahahaha! Now that's a funny joke!", she said pressing her unnaturally smiling face up to the barred window in the doors after they were closed.

The sheriff pony tapped his hoof on the side of the wagon signalling for the deputies to haul it off.

"Is it true Luna?", Celestia asked, "Is that really Pinkie?"

"Tis only Pinkie in body, sister.", Luna replied, "All that is left of the element of laughter died in her mind. It would do best to honor her memory if all of Equestria remembered Pinkie not as this monster, but as the pony that brought laughter and joy to everypony around her." Luna gave a small sniff as she wiped a tear from her eye. "Let's hope sister, that she can receive the help she needs and the real Pinkie will one day emerge."
********************************************************************************************************

Luna and Celestia paced in the waiting room of the hospital in Ponyville as the shadows of the evening began growing long.

The doctor walked out with a dour look on his face.

"How are they?", Celestia asked.

"Fluttershy and Applejack are doing well. Other than some bruises and minor burns, they will make a full recovery, I still want to hold them over night for observation and I want them to attend counseling as torture can cause long term psychological trauma to a pony's mind.", he said. He then flipped through Rarity's chart as his expression soured. "Miss Rarity is in pretty bad condition. She suffered second and third degree burns to nearly half of her body and was on death's door when she was brought in. Right now she's in a medically induced coma to help her healing. Once her burns heal, we'll try some skin grafts. As for psychologically, one can only hope that after she recovers and gets serious psychological therapy, she can lead a normal life. Honestly I've never seen a case of purposeful torture and disfigurement of a pony this bad."

"Can we see them?", Luna asked.

The doctor nodded and lead them to the rooms.

Celestia gently pushed the door to Fluttershy's room open.

Fluttershy was snuggling Angel who had a cast around two of his legs. "You were very brave Angel Bunny.", she praised Angel as she gave him a nuzzle, "I'm just sorry that you got hurt." Angel twitched his ears and thumped one of his uninjured legs as he squeaked. "I know, I was scared too.", Fluttershy replied.

Celestia cleared her throat. "Fluttershy? May Luna and I come in?"

"Of course princesses!", Fluttershy said in a happy tone.

After Luna and Celestia had quietly walked in the room, Celestia asked, "How are you doing Fluttershy?"

"I'm doing well.", Fluttershy replied.

"How are you doing mentally?", Luna asked.

"Oh...um...er...well...", Fluttershy balked, "I'm doing okay."

"Are you sure?", Luna asked, "It's okay to say you're not doing okay. You're safe here and nopony is going to judge you or hurt you."

Fluttershy's eyes grew hard for a moment. "I'm just really mad right now. Nopony and I mean nopony hurts my friends and gets away with it. Even if they used to be Pinkie.", she said her voice harsh and stern, "Now I'd like to take a nap."

Celestia and Luna nodded before walking out the room and closing the door behind them softly.

As they walked towards Applejack's room, Celestia said, "She's not doing well."

"If it's that obvious to you sister, then everypony can see it.", Luna replied.

Celestia glanced at Luna sideways as they reached Applejack's room and gently opened the door.

"Were ya scared sis?", Applebloom asked.

"Eeyup.", Applejack replied.

"Fluttershy huh?", Big Mac asked.

"Yup.", Applejack replied, "She actually punched that bad pony in th' nose."

"Huh!", Big Mac said rubbing his chin.

"Ah know! It surprised th' tarnation outa me when she did.", Applejack said.

"May we come in?", Luna asked.

Applejack's head shot up and she replied in a loud voice, "Sure! Get y'allses flanks on in here!"

"Le's give 'em some privacy.", Granny smith said, "'sides Ah could sump'tin from one o' th' vendin' machines."

"How are you doing?", Celestia asked.

"Physically? Ah'm doin' fine, jus' a lil sore.", Applejack replied, "Ment'lly?" She turned her head as a tear ran down her cheek. "Ah'm all kinda tore up in here.", she tapped a hoof to her head, "Ah mean after all this time Pinkie was trapped in her own head an' hurt all those ponies. Then she nearly killed Rarity an' Fluttershy. Ah mean if'n you was in my horseshoes, you'd pro'lly feel a certain way about this. An' Ah c'n rightly say Ah'm scared outa my head. Ah put on a brave face fer Applebloom, but Mac an' Granny c'n see right through me. They knows Ah'm practically jumpin' at ev'ry shadow. I know when Ah go tuh sleep tuhnight, Ah'm gonna see that evil grinnin' face a strarin's at me laughin' at my fear an' sufferin'." She held her hooves over her face and began to weep. "If...this...is...th'...new...norm'l...Ah...hate...it.", she said between sobs.

Celestia and Luna gently wrapped their hooves around Applejack shushing her gently as she sobbed until her family came back to comfort her.

After Celestia and Luna left the room, the paused looking at each other before heading to Rarity's room. As they opened the door to Rarity's room, their breath caught in their throats at the same time. Rarity laid unconscious on the bed, bandages covered her face and body, a feeding tube down her nose, her snout was covered with a breath mask that was hooked up to an oxygen concentrator, wires lead from beeping machines attached to her body, several IV bags hung from nearby stands, dripping fluid and drugs slowly into her veins. A nurse sat by her bed monitoring the machines.

"Any change?", Celestia asked.

As the nurse shook her head, the steadily spiking and dipping line on one of the screens began leaping up and down in a jagged line as an alarm sounded. Rarity began groaning in pain as she thrashed about in her coma. The nurse quickly adjusted the levels of pain killer in dripping into Rarity and she settled down. "She in a lot of pain right now.", the nurse said after checking the machines, "Even though she's in a coma, she still feels everything. I can't even begin to speculate on what going on her head." The nurse quickly ushered them out the door.

Luna plopped hard on her haunches in the hallway. "I can feel her pain, Tia. Though she's asleep, she knows she's in pain and part of her is trying to run away from it.", she said morosely, "I'm afraid that one Rarity wakes up, she's going to be broken mentally."

"Then let's hope that she can get the help she needs.", Celestia sighed.

The two sisters lit their horns and teleported back to Canterlot.
> Epilogue 1-Dealing with Blueblood
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset laid on the hill overlooking Blueblood's manor in the countryside outside of Trottingham zeroing in the scope on the sniper rifle. She had been tracking him for the better part of a month after she had learned that he had be responsible for the kidnapping of Fluttershy, Applejack and Rarity which had allowed all three of them to be tortured by that laughing mare. Rarity had been left disfigured and in a coma. The only thing that made her breathe a sigh of relief is that the laughing terrorist had been captured. She pressed the butt of the rifle against her shoulder and looked through the scope, sighting in on the balcony where Blueblood liked to come out to every morning to eat his breakfast.

Like clockwork Blueblood stepped out onto the balcony holding a cup of coffee in his magic sipping it. Sunset placed the crosshairs over Blueblood's head. "Come on come on! Just turn your head just slightly.", she whispered as she placed her hoof on the trigger. She shifted her aim slightly and Blueblood snapped his head slightly looking in her direction. "Smile you son of a...", she said squeezing the trigger.

Blueblood stood on the balcony of his manor sipping his coffee and waiting for his breakfast. As the maid opened the elaborately decorated doors to his room, he saw a glint on the hill. "What is...", he asked turning his head towards the glint. The last thing he saw was a red flash of light.

The maid walked into Blueblood's room carrying a silver tray in her mouth holding his breakfast. As she turned to deliver the tray onto the balcony, the next thing she heard was a wet smack as blood and brains sprayed in a cone from the balcony. The tray fell from her mouth scattering the breakfast onto the floor and she screamed as she saw Blueblood fall backwards into the room, a bloody hole where his left eye was. Running out of the room, she shouted for help.

Sunset watched as the bullet entered into Blueblood's eye, then spray brains and blood into the room behind him as he fell backwards. Giving a grunt of satisfaction, she cycled the bolt, ejecting the spent round. Strapping the sniper rifle to her back, she rose and sprinted down the far side of the hill away from the manor. After a mile, she stopped pulling a quill and a piece of parchment from her saddlebag and wrote three words, "Blueblood is dead". Placing the parchment in an envelope, sealed it and made her way to a roadside mailbox. She addressed the letter to Celestia, stuck a priority stamp on it and dropped it in. She took a moment to wrap her gear in a blanket, then walked down the road hoping to hitch from a passing wagon or cart.

An earth pony stallion with an orange coat and blue mane walked into Blueblood's room, seeing his body laying on the floor with a pool of blood around his head. Blueblood stirred on the floor as his coat and mane turned black. He rose to his feet as the wound in his eye closed over.

The pony in the red robes bowed. "Lord Stygian."

Stygian craned his neck and spit out a gob of blood onto the floor. "That really hurt.", he said in a burbling voice as the hole in the back of his head began slowly closed, "It was about time to discard the disguise." As he began taking off the bloodstained clothes he asked the robed stallion, "Do you have a new disguise for me?"

"Yes sire.", said the robed stallion rising from the floor reaching into his robes and producing a folder.

Stygian took the folder and opened it. "Ah, Fluer Dis Lis. I've always wanted to try my hand at modeling." Transforming into Fluer, she turned to the robed stallion and said in a Prench accent, "I take it that you have dealt with the original Fluer. Oui oui?"

"She is at the bottom of Manehattan harbor as we speak, sire.", the robed stallion replied.

"C'est bon. Long ze Hoof.", Stygian now disguised as Fluer said.

"May the Hoof's reign be eternal.", the robed stallion replied.
> Epilogue 2-The rise of Morning Star
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight nursed her now two month old son, Dusk Shine. Once she had finished feeding him, she placed him in the playpen and wheeled over to the crime reports on her desk.

Dusk Shine levitated two teddy bears over and whined for his mother to play with him.

Twilight chuckled, "You take after your mommy don't you?" She took the teddy bear in her magic, making it dance, cartwheel and pirouette over the piles of toys. Dusk Shine made his teddy bear tumble and crash through the the toys. She wheeled over to the playpen and lifted her son in her hooves. "if you keep up at this rate, you're going to be just like mommy and join Celestia's academy at the age of five." She then tossed Dusk Shine into the air a few times making him squeal and giggle with glee, catching out of the air for the last time, she blew a raspberry on his belly making him squeal with laughter as he kicked his limbs around.

After a few hours of playing with Dusk Shine, Twilight nursed him as Shining Armor and Cadance came into the room. Dusk Shine stretched out his forelimbs to Shining.

Shining took Dusk in his magic and levitated him onto his back as Dusk hugged his neck. "Aw! You wanted to see your BUE didn't ya Dusky?"

The hoof mirror began to buzz and chime.

"Come on Shiny and Shiny, let's let Twilight work.", Cadance said.

As they left the room, Twilight shouted after them, "Don't feed him chocolate again! It took me forever to get him cleaned up!"

"No promises!", Cadance shouted back to the room chuckling.

twilight chuckled as she closed the curtains, dimmed the lights and put on a pair of red-framed glasses. For the last touch the cast a spell changing the color of her coat into a dusty blue and her mane into a fiery orange. Picking up the mirror in her hoof, she said, "Morning Star here."

The image of a dark grey unicorn stallion with a dark trench coat and black hat appeared in the mirror. "Greeting Morning Star, Monochrome here. I'm just letting you know I've just brought in three more of the remaining member of the the laughing mare terrorist cell in Maretropolis,"

Twilight began flipping through the crime reports in Maretropolis. "Okay I've got reports of a new drug den on the Westside, a body in the harbor and the third suspicious missing pony report from Midtown." She lit her magic and sent the reports to Monochrome. "Oh and one last thing Monochrome, if you happen to see Bacon-head, find out why I can't get through to her mirror."

"Will do. Monochrome out." The image on the mirror disappeared leaving Twilight looking at her own reflection.

Twilight dropped her disguise, raised the lights and put her red-framed glasses away as there was a knock at the door. "Come in!", she called out.

A servant walked in carrying a wrapped box and a few envelopes on his back. "Mail for you this morning madam."

"Thank you and when you see Midnight, ask him if he'd like to join me and for lunch.", Twilight said taking the mail.

The servant bowed and left the room, closing the door behind him.

Twilight flipped through the letters seeing the three fromher friends who had gone back to Ponyville had addressed them to her alter ego, "Morning Star", the rest were from across Equestria addressed to the Equestrian Bureau of Investigation, Royal Palace branch. She laid the letter aside for a moment and turned her attention to the package. It was addressed, To: Fuckface From: a crude drawing of what looked like an ape's paw balled up in a fist with the middle digit extended. She opened the package and drew out the shattered mirror she had sent to Sunset, a letter was attached to it. The letter read, "I'm not your dog who you can put on a leash. Signed, Fuck You". Twilight gave a disgusted sigh as she tossed the broken mirror back in the package with a disgusted scoff. "Celestia's going to be pissed. That's the second mirror she's smashed in two months.", Twilight said to herself as she began opening the letters.
> Epilogue 3-Dark Mare
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy say in cottage working on a sheer, shimmering dress on an old hoof pedaled sewing machine as she had decided to take up some work for Rarity's boutique so she could help her friend make some money to pay rent while she languished on in the hospital. Rarity had spent the last six week in a medically induced coma and even though Filthy Rich had agreed to not charge rent on the boutique until Rarity was able to recover and get back to work, she still chose to pull double duty taking of the sick animals and and take up some of the slack for her friend. She knew Rarity would be happy to have the extra money once she got out of the hospital.

Fluttershy stopped sewing to look at her body and legs. Her muscles were getting toned and her strength was increasing, after another a couple more months of working out, she would be nearly as strong as a stallion of comparable size. As she went back to sewing, a knock at the door caught her attention. Walking over to the door, she opened it and saw Applejack standing outside. "Oh...um...good morning Applejack. How can I help you?"

"Mornin' Fluttershy.", Applejack said, "Can Ah come in?"

Fluttershy held the door open for her friend to let her in. "Sure, come on in."

As Applejack walked in, she said, "Ah know you've been busy an' all, but you've missed yer last two councellin' sessions an' Ah figured Ah'd come over an' see how ya been doin'."

"Oh...um...er...", Fluttershy stammered, "I'm sorry I've missed them, I just plain forgot them as I've been busy taking care of the sick animals and helping take some of the slack since Rarity has been in the hospital."

Applejack looked Fluttershy over looking for any sighns she was lying. "Wow Flutters, you've been working out. Lookin' good filly."

"Thank you Applejack.", Fluttershy said demurely, "When the therapist at our first session said to do something that made us feel strong, I guess I kinda took him a bit...literal."

Applejack sat on the couch looking over the dress Fluttershy was sewing. "Ah think he said tuh do something to regain our personal power.", she replied, "But if'n workin' out helps ya feel stronger an' helps ya feel like ya c'n regain some personal strength an' control in yer life, who am Ah tuh tell ya what tuh do an' not tuh do? Jus' please try an' come back to councelin'. If'n ya want, Ah c'n come by tuhmarrah and pick ya up on th' way to th' therapist."

"I'd like that very much.", Fluttershy replied before turning back to the sewing machine, "Now if you excuse me, I've got to finish this dress so I can mail it off in the morning for a show in Manehattan to help with the survivors of the attack."

"Alright 'Shy, Ah'll get outa yer mane.", Applejack said as she rose from the couch. "Oh, before'n Ah go an' ferget...", she said as she reached into her saddlebags and pulled out some reading materials, then laid them on Fluttershy's coffee table, "Sump'thin' the therapist gave us, it's about how to reaffirm our personal worth. We're s'posed tuh stand in front o' a mirror ev'ry mornin' an' tell ourselves we're strong an' what happened isn't our faults, that was from last week an' this was from this week, we're s'posed tuh start goin' out an' doin's things that scare us, not a whole lot, jus' sump'thin' outa our comfort zone. Ah was thinkin' o' goin' to that new club Vinyl's openin' in Canterlot an' see if'n Ah c'n talk tuh a few cute colts. Ah was wonderin' if'n ya could be my wingpony as Rainbow usually jus' likes to barrel headlong intuh flirtin'. Ah was thinkin' that since Ah'm pretty much scared outa my skull most o' th' time, ya'd could help me out an' if'n I get overwhelmed, ya could pull me aside an' help me calm down."

"Mhm.", Fluttershy hummed with a smile on her face, "I'd like that very much, but my weekend is booked. Maybe ask and see if Cadance can help you out, since you're going to in Canterlot this weekend. If she can't help you, ask Vinyl to have some security help you out, I'm sure she'd understand."

"Shoot 'Shy, Ah really wished you we free this weekend.", Applejack said, "'Member, tumarrah Ah'm comin' by tuh pick ya up fer councellin' at one o'clock in th' afternoon. We're gonna be writin' our testimonials on what's been goin' through our heads and how we been copin'. In two weeks we're 'sposed tuh read it before a crowd o' psychology at th' Manehattan college."

"See you then.", Fluttershy said as Applejack walked out the door, "And remember Applejack, no matter what your mind tells you, you are a strong and deserving mare that deserves the best out of life."

"Wow Fluttershy, how'd you know what to say?", Applejack asked.

"I took a year of victim's advocacy in Cloudsdale before I moved here.", Fluttershy replied, "See you tomorrow afternoon." She gently closed the door behind Applejack.

After Applejack had left, Angel limped into the room, his legs still bothering him until his casts were off. He gave several squeak as he gestured with his forelimbs.

Fluttershy sighed. "I know Angel, but I can't tell her what I'm planning. Nopony can know what I'm planning or their lives would be in danger. I managed to make more than enough money to help keep Rarity's business afloat when I sold those dresses to Photo Finish last month. Any extra I make now goes to help my project." She walked up to her room, opened the trunk at the end of her bed and pulled out a nearly complete back outfit. She pulled out a needle and thread, then stitched up the last seams before putting the final finishes on it. She slid an oval-shaped disc of steel into the pocket in the chest, then slipped into the outfit. Pulling the cowl over her head she admired the black bat costume in the mirror.

Angel tapped his hind paw and shook his head as he pointed.

"You're right, the cape is too much." Fluttershy slid the cape off and attached a utility belt around her waist. Finally she attached steel reinforced spines to her forelimbs.

Angel nodded his head and gave the thumbs up.

"Criminals are a cowardly and superstitious lot.", Fluttershy said the mantra, "Make them think you are the Lord of Tartarus and they'll flee before you. Fear me scum, for I am...uh...um..."

Angel hopped up and down as best as his still hurting legs would let him as he squeaked.

"You're right, Ponybat is a terrible name.", Fluttershy said thinking, "Fear me scum, for I am the Dark Mare." She twisted her voice into as deep and gravelly tone as she could, "I'm the Dark Mare."
> Epilogue 4-Rarity's descent into madness
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had been three months since Rarity had been revived from the coma and two months since she had her skin grafts. Big Mac and Applejack had helped her move back into Carousel Boutique yesterday morning, Big Mac had even moved her bed downstairs into one of the small rooms in the back so it would be easier on her so she wouldn't have to walk up and down the stair until she regained enough strength. Rainbow dash had come by that morning to bring her some groceries, she gave a Rarity a rare double headed bit that had made it past the inspectors, saying it was "for luck".

Rarity stood in front of the bathroom mirror looking at herself. The left side of her face was still heavily scarred and the left corner of her mouth drooped down in a half-scowl even though the doctor had declared the skin grafts a success. The doctor did tell her there was nothing he could for the partial paralysis in her face. As she looked at her face in disgust, she turned the double-headed bit over and over in her hoof. Picking up the cup off the sink in her magic, she threw it into the mirror shattering it.

Rarity walked over to a sewing machine still twirling the bit in her magic and sat down. She tried to think of something to draw out so she could start sewing, but her depression , but her depression clouded her mind. Dropping the coin on the table next to the sewing machine, she wracked her brain trying to think of something. When she drew a blank, she lifted the sewing in her hooves in a fit of rage and smashed it on the floor. Staring down at the destroyed sewing machine, a mad bout of inspiration struck her. She ran around the shop smashing tables, ripping up partially finished dresses and breaking sewing machines. When she had finished, half the shop was an utter disaster, the other half was untouched. She stood gasping for air admiring her work as she picked up the coin in her magic.

Rarity walked into in kitchen still levitating the coin to get a glass of water, when she saw a knife hanging on the rack. Another bout of mad inspiration struck her and she placed the coin on the counter then pulled the knife from the rack. Using the tip of the knife, she scratched up one side of the coin.

"Yes! Yes!", Rarity heard a voice that sounded almost familiar. Looking into her reflection in the knife, she saw it speak to her, "Good heads, I help you make your new masterpiece, bad heads, you cut you left cutie mark off."

Rarity took the coin in her hoof and flipped it through the air. She watched it with amazement as it sailed up, then down. Catching it in her hoof, it landed on bad heads. Levitating the knife to the left side of her flank, she gritted her teeth and braced herself as she sliced through the skin, cutting the cutie mark clean off. Her head swam with pain and amazement as she watched the bloody patch of skin fall to the floor as blood trickled her leg.

Rarity ran to one of the unsmashed full length mirrors in the shop to better "talk" with her new "friend". "Good heads, we make an immaculate masterpiece, bad heads, we make a masterpiece better suited for us.", she said to the mirror. Her reflection nodded. Flipping the coin through the air, she caught it on her hoof, it landed on bad heads. Several hours later she finished sewing the pantsuit together. She slipped it on and admired it in the mirror, one side was an immaculate ivory pantsuit with gold trim and small green vines with pink flowers, the other side was a dingy, dirty unadorned grey that hung ill-fittingly off her body, the sleeves and legs in tatters.

"Good heads, we work on a new fashion line, bad heads, we burn down the shop.", the reflection said to Rarity. Rarity nodded and flipped the coin in the air. It landed on bad heads in her hoof. As it was getting dark, Rarity had finished pouring out lantern oil on the floor. Looking in the mirror, she said, "Good heads, we walk out of here as the shop burns, bad heads, we stay and burn with the shop," The reflection nodded. She flipped the coin through the air and caught it in her hoof, it landed on good heads. Striking the match, she tossed it onto the floor and walked out the boutique as the fire began spreading across the floor.
> Epilogue 5-The mare escapes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had been six months since The Mare Who Laughs was arrested and sent to the Central Equestrian Hospital for the Criminally Insane outside Maresourri City. She sat on a metal chair bolted to the floor in a straight jacked that was tied to the back of the chair, her hind hooves were shackled to the chair. Two hulking stallion orderlies with extra restraining devices and syringes of tranquilizers stood by the door.

The door opened and Starlight Glimmer walked through wearing a white coat with a pair of wire-framed glasses on her snout. The picked up a folding chair, set it up across from The Mare Who Laughs and sat down. Looking to the orderlies, she said, "You can leave for now. The patient has been properly restrained."

"We'll be right outside if you need us.", The first orderly said, "Don't take no chances with this one. The last doctor that got to close to her wound up getting her jugular nearly ripped out when this one bit into her neck."

After the orderlies walked out and pushed the door to, Starlight Glimmer said, "Good morning, I am Doctor Starlight Glimmer. I'd like to start by asking you a few question, is that okay?"

"Hoo-hoo!", The Mare Who Laughs cackled, "Ask away doctor." A wide smile spread across her face.

"What it the first memory you can recall?", Starlight asked.

"I was an earth pony born to a family of pegasi in Cloudsdale. When I was young, they shipped me off to an orphanage in Canterlot ran by a real bastard called Jack White.", The Mare Who Laughs said wit her best attempt at a neutral smile, "He used to like to touch me in my filly place and kiss my neck. One day when I was about eight, I ran away and told the police. They took me in and went to ask him about it. Of course he lied and then they released me back into his custody." She managed to squeeze out some crocodile tears. "Then he got really mean. First he took and heated up a butter knife on the stove and burnt my face until it looked like this. After he was done, he beat and stomped me saying that nopony would want to adopt an ugly lying mare who told lies, then he chained me to the the radiator and didn't feed me for almost a week. If I cried because I was hungry, he'd come out and hit me in the face with a belt saying that if I didn't stop crying, he'd give me a reason to cry. After the third time he beat me I started making myself laugh when I felt sad, scared or hungry. After a week he  unchained me and said he'd feed me if I...if I..." She squeezed out more crocodile tears and gave some convincing sobs. She began rocking back and forth in her restraints gently and saying, "Good fillies don't cry, good fillies don't cry, good fillies don't cry!"

"It's okay, nopony is going to hurt you here.", Starlight said softly, "If you feel like crying, you can."

The Mare Who Laughs began shaking her head back and forth as she gave convincing whimpers, "I'll be good Mr. White! I'll be good Mr. White! Please don't put you colt part there! I'll be good! I Promise. See I'm always smiling and I'm laughing! See?! Hahahahahahaha! Nononono! Please take it out! It hurts! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" She begins thrashing around in her restraints.

Starlight rushes to the door and throws it open. "Orderlies! She's having a full anxiety fueled panic attack with a psychotic break!"

The orderlies rush in and one injects The Mare Who Laughs with a syringe filled with a tranquilizer, after a few minutes she goes limp as drool begins dripping out her mouth. A few minutes later a gurnet si wheeled in, and she is strapped to it and rushed back to her cell.

Starlight sits down to collect herself.

"Are you alright Doctor Glimmer?", an orderly asks.

"I'm fine, just a little rattled,", Starlight replies, "I know I recently graduated from Whinnyapolis University with a double major in abnormal psychology and mental trauma, but this is my first case I've dealt with of such a case of sever trauma caused from foal abuse and sexual assault from a young age. No wonder she lashes out like she does, all she knew growing up was hurt and suffering, she never learned proper coping mechanisms." She rested her head on her hoof. Looking up, she saw a pack of cigarettes in the pockets of the orderly, "Can I get one of those?"

"Uh sure, here ya go.", the orderly said pulling out a cigarette and passed it to her.

"Got a match? And don't say your rump and my face or kick you in the balls."

The orderly pulled out a lighter and lit the cigarette for her. "If my boss catches you with that..."

"Don't worry.", Starlight says taking a drag and blowing out the smoke, "I'll tell him I brought it in with me." Flicking the ash in a nearby cup, she pulls out a felt pen and begins writing on a notepad as she takes another drag.

The next day The Mare Who Laughs was wheeled into Starlight's office on a gurney and it was stood on end. The orderlies check her straps before stepping out of the office.

"Good morning!", Starlight says in a chipper tone, "I hope you are feeling today."

The Mare Who Laughs gave a toothy grin. "Yes Doctor Glimmer."

Starlight sat on a padded office chair. "Yesterday I didn't ask you your name.", she says, "Do you think you can tell me your name?"

The Mare Who Laughs squeezes out some crocodile tears as she makes her voice crack, "All I ever remember being called is ugly and stupid."

"Well I don't think you're either of those.", Starlight says kindly, "In fact I think you're pretty and sweet."

The Mare Who Laughs made herself stammer, "Y-you really th-think so?"

"Mhm.", Starlight replies with a gentle smile, "I think you're as pretty as the stars on a clear night and as sweet as pudding."

The Mare Who Laughs smiled as she fought back a malicious cackle. She then did a convincing sniffle, "But how can I be sweet if I'm broken?"

Starlight gave a soft smile. "Isn't peanut brittle sweet?"

The Mare who Laughs gave her best sad nod.

"Is there any other name you've ever heard anypony call you?", Starlight asks.

The Mare Who Laughs gave her head a sad shake as she gave a convincing sniffle.

"Well I'm going to do my best to help you.", Starlight says, "I know you've been hurt a lot and some ponies called you bad names, but I want you to know you can trust me." She walks over to her desk and pulls out a can of soda. "Would you like some?"

"Yes please.", The Mare Who Laughs gave her best sad smile.

Starlight pulls out a plastic cup, open the can of soda and pours it into the cup. She walks over holding the cup in her magic, she levitates up to The Mare Who Laughs lips. "Sip it slowly."

As The Mare Who Laughs sipped the soda, she squeezed out another crocodile tear.

Taking the cup away from The Mare Who Laughs lips, Starlight places the cup on her desk and sits in the office chair. "Okay until you can remember your birth name, I'm going to call you Pudding. Is that okay?"

The Mare Who Laughs squeezes out even more crocodile tears as she replies, "Yes Doctor Glimmer."

"Okay Pudding, I noticed you don't have a cutie mark.", Starlight says, "Would you mind telling me how that came to be?"

The Mare Who Laughs gave her best soft smile. "I never got mine. When other fillies and colts got their, I never got mine. The foals used to tease me calling me blank flank, one kind teacher named Mr. Hopping Jay used to say I was a late bloomer and it would come when I found my purpose. But as I grew older, it never came. As the fillies my age would find dates, none of the other colts would even give me a second look. One particularly nasty filly named...you know I cant remember her name, would say that unspecial ponies like me would never get their cutie marks and Mr. White would say that ugly fillies like myself would never get theirs."

"Really? You never got your cutie mark?", Starlight asked, "I lost my best friend after he got his cutie mark when his parents sent him off to Celestia's school in Canterlot."

The Mare Who Laughed smiled as she knew she had just gotten her hooks into Starlight, just time to reel her in slowly. "Over time I realized what's so special about cutie marks anyways? I mean stuck doing one thing for the rest of your life. Boring!"

"Fascinating.", Starlight whispered to herself.

The Mare Who Laughs gave a convincing yawn. "I'm sorry doctor, I don't mean to be rude. I'm just a little sleepy."

"No, it's fine.", Starlight said, "would you like to go back to your room and take a nap?"

"Mhm."

Starlight walked over to the door and opened it. "We've made some progress today and would like to go back to her room.", she said to the orderly.

The orderlies came in and wheeled The Mare Who Laughs out of the office and back to her cell.

Starlight sat at her desk and began musing to herself, "A pony who has never received her cutie mark and the world is wide open to her." She tapped a hoof on her chin, "A whole community of ponies without cutie marks. Where everypony in equal because they have nothing to make them stand out. No friends lost because they're taken off to a school because their cutie marks tell them they're good at magic. Everypony always has smiles on their faces and are friendly. That would be a place where Pudding could grow and prosper and other ponies like her could grow and heal into better functioning adults."

The Mare Who Laughs cackled softly to herself, she had put her hooks into Starlight and had given her enough line, it was only a matter of time before she leapt in the boat.

Over the next three days Starlight continued to talk with The Mare Who Laughs, her nickname for her had been shortened to Puddin' and she had allowed her to call her Glimmy. On the third day Starlight had kissed her on the lips passionately when she had lied telling her that nopony had ever kissed her. Now she had Starlight in her boat and it was only a matter of time before she began paddling the boat as well. Just a waiting game

It was well after dark when Starlight unlocked the door to The Mare Who Laughs cell. "Okay, I've got a way to get you out of here, we need to go now." The Mare Who Laughs wriggled out of her restraints and kissed Starlight hard on the mouth. Starlight bit her lip as the kiss was parted. "We go now.", The Mare Who Laughs cackled. Starlight nodded and they bolted for the backdoor that had a small box propping it open.

A week later Starlight and The Mare Who Laughs stood at the entrance to a valley on the edge of the wasteland.

Starlight kissed The Mare Who Laughs on the mouth and said after parting the kiss, "This is where we will build a community where nopony will have cutie marks and will always have big happy smiles on their faces."

The Mare Who Laughs stomped on a rock, breaking the edge off into a sharp blade, then lifted it up in her hoof and passed it to Starlight. "Prove it.", she cackled as a sadistic gleam filled her eyes, "Cut off your cutie marks. If you don't, then you aren't committed to you vision."

Starlight took the crude stone knife in her magic and hesitated for a moment. She stared at the sadistically smiling mare and she felt her own eyes sparkle. She began cutting into her flank with the crude stone blade, hissing in pain. Once she had cut her cutie marks off, she showed off her bleeding flanks.

The Mare Who Laughs mane became poofy as a malicious cackle pored from her lips. "Now give yourself a pretty smile like mine."

Starlight took the stone knife in her hooves and began splitting her cheeks.

"AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaa!", The Mare Who Laughs lifted her head in sadistic laughter. Once Starlight had finished splitting her cheeks, she showed off her crooked smile showing her teeth as blood dripped from her face. "Now you belong to me, now and forever.", The Mare Who Laughs cackled cruelly.