The moon had risen over New Maneaan. Ditzy Doo worked in the late night hours scrubbing the thick grease off of the church’s cooking pans. Despite the Nephite’s advanced technology, there were some things that still needed to be done by hoof. This was one of them.
Ditzy Doo did not particularly enjoy the work that she was doing, but then again, this wasn’t exactly meant to be enjoyed. She was doing penance for her actions at Old Appleoosa by picking up some of the odd jobs that needed done around the church.
Bishop Hoof had given her a list of tasks that needed to be done by moonrise, and this was the last thing that needed doing. Scrubbing pots and pans was the most intensive of all of them, and logically, the one that it would be all right to run a little behind upon. Ditzy Doo had taken it upon herself to make sure that a good job had been done to get the pots nice and clean, and they wouldn’t be needed until six in the morning when the church started making breakfast.
Ditzy Doo set down her scrub brush, the pot that she had been working on had been the last one. She gathered them all up and brought them back into the church’s kitchen and trotted on home. Ditzy Doo pushed open her front door, and to her delight, saw that Dinky Doo was sitting quietly on the sofa reading the Book of Nephi.
Ditzy Doo had been worried that Dinky wasn’t going to be very receptive to the way of the New Maneaanites. She hadn’t wanted to force the Maneaanite’s faith upon her daughter if she didn’t want to believe in it... though she also knew it would make life in New Maneaan easier if she did. Much to Ditzy Doo’s pleasure, Dinky had been rather receptive to the New Maneaanite’s faith, and seemed to enjoy reading from the Book of Nephi whenever she got the chance.
To Ditzy Doo’s even greater delight, Dinky was eligible for baptism, and had agreed to undergo the process. Dinky insisted that she wanted to be baptised Graham Cracker and Bishop Hoof couldn’t have helped but chuckle after her declaration.
‘She knows what she wants, that’s for sure’, Graham Cracker had said.
Bishop Hoof had remarked to Ditzy Doo that most children were nervous about becoming baptised, at that statement; Ditzy Doo wondered if maybe Dinky Doo’s enthusiasm about nephitism had just been to make her happy.
‘Hi mummy!’ Dinky said with a smile as she looked up from the Book of Nephi.
Ditzy Doo smiled brightly at her adoptive daughter and went over to the unicorn filly and gave her a tight hug. ‘Hello animula’, Ditzy said.
Dinky smiled up at her, she really seemed to like her mother’s nickname for her. ‘Animula’ was a word that meant ‘little soul’ in Modern Equestrian.
‘How was school today?’ Ditzy asked as she sat down on the sofa next to her daughter.
‘It was really fun! We talked about Nephi today in history class!’ Dinky said with a bright smile on her face.
‘Oh? Tell me what you learned!’ Ditzy said, returning the smile.
‘Well, three hundred years ago, Nephi was an earth pony called Silversmith! One day, one of God’s angels appeared to him and told him about this thing called the silver plates! He asked Silversmith to find them and bring them to him... it was probably because he worked as a silversmith, because that was his name!’ Dinky proclaimed proudly with her line of thought.
‘And...? Go on! Don’t keep me in suspense’, Ditzy said.
‘Well, Silversmith found the plates where the angel told him they would be... Teacher said something about that the angel wasn’t able to get them himself, but I don’t remember exactly what... something about... OH! Princess Celestia stolen them from God a long time ago had locked them up in her castle and Silversmith had to steal them back’, Dinky said. ‘So he did, and he showed the plates to the other ponies in his town before bringing them back to the angel. The angel thanked him and told him what was written on them’.
Dinky had, casually forgotten about the writing on the plates, she was young and had skipped over mention of it before, but Ditzy said nothing and let her continue.
‘He copied everything the angel said down, and that writing is the book of Nephi!’ Dinky said. ‘... then Princess Celestia got mad and destroyed his town, so Silversmith changed his name to Nephi and lead his town south, to the Divide, where they founded Ashville, and lived there till it blew up!’
Sounded about right to Ditzy Doo, pretty much that was exactly what Graham Cracker and Bishop Hoof had told her, though a little more drawn out and detailed.
‘Well sounds like you had fun today animula, come on now, It’s time for bed!’ Ditzy said. ‘You and I both have a long day ahead of us tomorrow’.
‘Aww’, Dinky said with a frown, but nevertheless, closed the Book of Nephi and enveloped it in magic to carry it over to her room. She didn’t get very far before the magic broke and the book dropped to the floor.
‘You’ve been practicing?’ Ditzy asked.
‘Oh yeah! And Mister Marening has been teaching me in his spare time!’ Dinky said.
‘That was nice of him! I do hope you’re letting him know how much you appreciate it’, Ditzy said.
‘I am! He was glad to help... since he’s kind of the only one who really can; I think he felt like he had too’, Dinky said.
‘Well we’ll be sure to do something nice for him’, Ditzy said. ‘Now come on, off to bed!’
Dinky nodded and picked the book back up with her magic, only to drop it a few more times before finally getting to bed.
Ditzy was about to turn in as well, when she noticed something strange out of the corner of her eye. She turned and looked out her window; there was this strange light from just outside, a golden, glowing light. She was curious; she went over to her front door and pushed it open to take a look.
Sure enough, the light was there... however, the source of the light was seemingly absent. The light was just there, there was nothing that indicated where it was coming from. She quickly dashed back inside and donned her old CPS CO19 riot barding and grabbed her gun, she didn’t know what was going on, but she wasn’t about to be caught unprepared.
Just then, the light darted around the corner and was out of sight. Ditzy followed it around the corner and discovered that it was there. It darted again, once again, Ditzy followed and it was there. The light clearly wanted her to follow it... if light had will and was able to indicate it as such anyway. Ditzy followed. The light picked up the pace and as such, Ditzy had to move faster to keep up with it. She rounded another corner and ran headlong into Graham Cracker.
‘Oh! Graham! I’m so sorry!’ Ditzy said. She looked up and saw that the light was now darting about in the air behind him. She needed to follow. ‘Graham? I need a favour!’
Graham Cracker said nothing, but smiled with his deep blue eyes from behind the bandages that covered the earth pony’s face. ‘Yes?’ he asked eventually.
‘Could you keep an eye on Dinky? She should be at home asleep, and there’s something I need to do... call it taking a leap of faith’, Ditzy said.
‘In that case, I certainly will’, Graham Cracker said. ‘Just be careful, Ditzy Doo, may God grant you strength and wisdom’.
‘Thank you Graham!’ Ditzy cried out, and leapt into the air. The light began to dart around through the sky, heading north by northeast. Just as well, there wasn’t much to the south of New Maneaan except the Divide, the sprawls of the Mohoofie Desert.
Ditzy Doo flew north by northeast for several hours not exactly keeping track of whereabouts she was she figured that she’d figure it out when she got to wherever she was going when she got there. That was, after all, what faith was about.
...
Bon Bon felt her eyes burning, it forced the crème coloured earth pony awake, and she opened her eyes and looked around... odd, there was nothing around.
‘Lyra? Are you messing with me while I’m asleep?’ Bon Bon asked.
Lyra responded with a loud snore. She was fast asleep.
That was when Bon Bon noticed something out of the corner of her eye dart past the window. She looked to it, and discovered that there was nothing there. She got up from bed, accidentally waking up Lyra in the process and looked out the window.
‘Bon Bon?’ Lyra asked sleepily. ‘What are you doing? It’s past two! Come back to bed!’
Bon Bon said nothing, and continued to look out the window, there was this odd light that was outside. ‘Lyra! Get up!’
‘What? Bon Bon... no let me sleep!’ Lyra said as she pulled the covers over her head.
Bon Bon’s nostrils flared, she went over to Lyra and prodded her hard with her hoof. ‘Get up!’ she cried out.
‘Ow!’ Lyra called out, she pulled the covers off her head and got out of bed. ‘Fine! This had better be good, I was sleeping!’
Lyra and Bon Bon trotted down the stairs and out their front door. There was a glowing golden light that seemed to be the source of itself. It darted around the corner as if begging for it to be followed.
Bon Bon took off after it; she had to know what was going on. Lyra, seeing no choice in the matter took off after her. They would be getting to the bottom of this.
...
Trixie too, was fast asleep; however, a muffled voice from next door shook her awake. Trixie sat up in bed. Lyra and Bon Bon seemed to be having a late night argument or something, and Trixie had half a mind to yell back to tell them to keep it down. Though she eventually decided against it, she would just be contributing to the problem, and then she would be the one waking up the rest of the neighbours.
The other reason that she had decided to keep quiet, is because her gaze was preoccupied by something else. There was a golden, glowing light that was hovering before her.
‘What?’ Trixie asked.
The light darted out of the room, Trixie leapt from her bed, drawn to it; she needed to find out what was going on.
The light darted out her front door, and Trixie went after it.
...
Big McIntosh and Braeburn were already awake. It was early, but it was also the planting season, and they had a lot of work that they needed to get done. Now was just as good a time as any. Braeburn was pulling a cart full of seeds out from the barn when he stopped dead in his tracks. Before him was a strange light that seemed to be generating itself. Braeburn wasn’t exactly the smartest pony on the planet, but he was pretty sure that couldn’t happen.
‘Hey Big Mac! Come here and take a look at this!’ Braeburn called out.
Big McIntosh round the corner and took a look at the light with a raised eyebrow.
‘Ya ever seen anythin’ like this befer?’ Braeburn asked.
‘Eenope’.
‘Huh’, Braeburn said as he took a closer look at it. The light began to dart away. ‘Hey!’ he cried out and quickly unhitched himself from the cart and went after it. Big McIntosh watched it as it darted away; it was heading west towards the Everfree forest.
Big McIntosh knew that Braeburn didn’t know what to expect from the forest, and it didn’t take a rocket scientist... whatever that was, to realise that this couldn’t end well. He charged off after his cousin before he got himself hurt.
...
Ditzy Doo watched as the light began to descend. She’d been flying for a few hours at this point and she was getting tired. She looked down and noticed that she was over a forest; she hadn’t been paying attention to anything but the light since her flight began. She hadn’t the faintest idea where she was.
As the light descended, she descended after it. She had to know what was going on, she touched down and continued to follow the light. She heard a twig snap behind her, and was immediately thankful that she had taken the time to go back for her riot barding and gun. She spun around and the Schäferhund Storm Harness quickly popped her 12.7mm pistol into the ‘drawn’ position.
Ditzy Doo looked up in surprise, she knew who it was and lowered her gun.
‘Derpy?’
It was Lyra and Bon Bon.
‘It’s... Ditzy Doo now... but yes’, Ditzy said. This had to be the Everfree forest, but what were Lyra and Bon Bon doing here?
There was a rustling in the bushes and they turned to look, through the thick foliage came an azure unicorn, Ditzy recognised her as ‘The Great and Powerful’ Trixie, the show mare that she had last seen in Ashville, and at least this time, she at least looked sober.
‘You?’ Trixie asked, looking directly at Ditzy.
They were interrupted again by others; Ditzy Doo recognised one as Big McIntosh, Applejack’s brother, and Braeburn, who she had last encountered in Appleoosa.
‘You?’ Braeburn asked looking at Ditzy, clearly, he recognised her as the mare that had burned her town.
‘Listen... about Appleoosa!’ Ditzy said quickly, fearing anger from the earth pony. ‘I just wanted you to know I’m sorry it came to that!’
Braeburn had not the chance to respond, for they were interrupted by another visitor, this one, however, was not one they recognised. A bright light began to shine and the group looked towards its source, now properly illuminated, they could see where they were. They were definitely in the Everfree forest, on the banks of a lake, a small sign that was labelled ‘Lake of Origin’ sat planted in the ground not far from where they stood.
The light was coming from a figure coming up out of the water. It was an earth pony, though not one they had seen before. This earth pony was golden in colour and light identical to the one each of them had seen radiated from him. But what stuck out most about this pony were his or her eyes. (They couldn’t tell because of the light radiating from the creature).
This creature’s eyes were a deep red.
‘What?’ Ditzy Doo asked.
The light began to shine even brighter, and they each found themselves unable to move. Energy began to course throughout all of them, lifting them into the air.
And that was when they remembered. Old World Memories began to flood back to them. They all remembered the friendship that they had shared, they remembered going to Manehattan with Vinyl Scratch and Trooper Willoughby.
Ditzy Doo and Trixie remembered travelling through time with the Doctor in his mad, impossible blue box.
Lyra and Bon Bon remembered finding dismembered bodies in Fluttershy’s cellar after her brutal killing spree.
Big McIntosh and Braeburn remembered the eerie feelings that pulling the mailcart with the big package gave them just by being near it.
Most important of all, they remembered Overdrive, the Siblings Nightmare, and they remembered how they had destroyed them alongside of Princess Celestia.
Suddenly, they all fell, the light released them, and the golden glowing pony retreated into the Lake of Origin out of sight.
They all slowly got up and looked around at each other. What had just happened? And more importantly, what was all this?
Surprise didn’t sleep; she had not slept in a very, very long time. Instead, she had chosen to pass the time hopping across rooftops in Ponyville, something that she often did during the night. Surprise was bored; everypony that she would ordinarily spend time with was asleep.
She had just hopped onto the roof of Vinyl Scratch’s new house. Vinyl did like to sleep and wouldn’t appreciate it if Surprise woke her up. She glanced over towards the Library; Rainbow Dash had always been pleasant with her... but she also lived with Twilight Sparkle. Twilight Sparkle hated Surprise, and really, Surprise could hardly blame her for it.
Vinyl Scratch had hated Surprise too, but after Surprise had saved her life in the Divide, the two ponies had actually become... friends. It had been a long time since Surprise had had any friends.
Surprise glanced over to Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie Pie was her friend too. Surprise really like the giggly pink party pony, and now that Pinkie Pie was happy with her life, Surprise liked being around her because she made her feel just as bubbly and giggly, and it felt good to be like that. Surprise wondered why she couldn’t be like that all the time.
Then there was Fluttershy, her other friend, who had taken it upon herself to keep supervision over her. Of course, since Surprise didn’t sleep, Fluttershy wasn’t really doing that great of a job at supervising her. But that was okay, Fluttershy was doing her best, and if the rest of the town didn’t know that Surprise walked around late at night with no supervision, well, then what they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them, right?
Surprise’s ears began to twitch; she was hearing something from the distance... west, she turned to face it and continued her hopping across the rooftops until she ran out of space to jump, she opened her wings and flapped hard to gain altitude. She was flying over the Everfree forest, she looked down and saw a bright light below her, she wanted that light, it looked so shiny and warm, she couldn’t help herself and she turned, diving downwards, and going far faster than she probably should for how thick the trees were. Surprise entered the treeline and was caught by surprise on how thick the trees really were, she hit every branch on the way down, the force of which caused the bones in her legs to snap. She hit the ground hard, and she could help but let out a cry in pain.
...
Ditzy Doo picked herself back up and began rubbing her head, she felt as if she’d been swatted upside the head with a sack of bricks. She looked around to the ponies around her.
‘Lyra? Bon Bon?’ she asked, then looked to her, ‘Trixie? Big McIntosh? Braeburn?’
Lyra and Bon Bon were already up, and looking around and panicking. ‘What happened!? That bright light... then nothing?!’ Lyra said
‘Where’s Princess Luna? Where’s Twilight and all the rest of them?!’ Bon Bon asked.
‘Wha?’ Braeburn asked. ‘Wha happen? Did we win?’
‘Trixie’s head hurts...’ Trixie said.
They were interrupted by the sound of a white Pegasus pony crashing through the trees, she was crying out in pain.
They all powered through their own pain and disorientation and got up to examine their visitor, they all gathered around the broken and mangled Pegasus that was lying on the ground, her legs were broken and she was covered in cuts and bruises.
‘This is the one that tried to kill us all with that missile!’ Lyra exclaimed.
Ditzy Doo drew her 12.7mm pistol and placed it under Surprise’s chin, but was surprised when she let out a whimper in fear instead of the maliciousness that they had come to expect from this creature. Then the all began to remember seeing this pony around town. She had hung out around Twilight and her friends. Ditzy Doo lowered her gun, as was the general consensus of the group.
Much to their own shock, they watched as the broken pony’s legs began to heal; her legs seemed to force themselves into a straight position. Surprise let out a scream in pain has the bones mended. The cuts began to close up and the bruises vanished before their eyes. They all knew instantly that there was more to this pony that what met the eye.
But what surprised them the most was how this Pegasus began to behave even after being healed. She still continued to cower before them, she was clearly afraid of what they were going to do to her. She knew who they were, or at least, she recognised the significance of them all being together, she had to.
Ditzy Doo returned her weapon to its ‘holstered’ position, and approached the shivering Pegasus. ‘Hey now, it’s okay, we’re not going to hurt you! Come on, it’s okay!’
Surprise stopped shivering, and Ditzy Doo extended a hoof to her, Surprise took it and Ditzy helped her up. ‘It’s okay’, Ditzy repeated.
Unfortunately, the moment Surprise was up on her hooves, she bolted, went off running towards the East and leapt into the air, it was if she was fleeing for her life.
‘Well, so much for that’, Ditzy Doo said with a frown. ‘Now what?’
‘Trixie has an idea’, Trixie said. ‘Trixie has been paying attention, and Trixie has noticed that Twilight Sparkle seems to know things... things that happened, but at the same time did not... Trixie thinks that she knows what is going on’.
‘Eeyup’, Big McIntosh said in agreement.
Ditzy Doo frowned, she was still trying to make sense of her two sets of memories, but she remembered both, going to visit Twilight Sparkle was probably going to put her near Vinyl Scratch, the mare that still hurt Ditzy Doo to even think about... but she agreed, she needed answers, and if it required some discomfort, well then she could live with it.
The six ponies all eventually agreed and made their way towards the Ponyville Public Library.
...
Fluttershy was fast asleep in her bed, dreaming a sweet dream of being outside with her animal friends, she did not hear her bedroom window open, and she most certainly did not expect who had bolted through it.
Someone or something had leapt onto her bed and had grabbed onto her. Fluttershy awoke with a fright and let out a scream of terror, which, as could be expected was actually a rather quiet, and adorable one.
It was then that Fluttershy noticed what was holding her, four white pony limbs were wrapped around her, Fluttershy turned her head to discover that Surprise had latched onto her and was shaking with fear.
‘S... Surprise?’ Fluttershy asked.
Surprise did not respond, she merely continued to shake and had a look of terror in her blood red eyes. Fluttershy rolled over and embraced the terrified Pegasus pony.
‘Shh...’ Fluttershy cooed softly. ‘It’s okay... it’s okay, you’re safe here... you’re safe here’, Fluttershy began to stroke the Pegasus mare’s flank in the way her own mother had done so many years ago when she was afraid of something, it had always made Fluttershy feel safe, and it seemed to be having the desired effect of Surprise.
‘They... they’re here’, Surprise said, continuing to tremble. ‘And they remember’.
‘Who’s here? What do they remember?’ Fluttershy asked.
Surprise wouldn’t answer; she merely buried her head into Fluttershy’s chest and hugged her fellow Pegasus close. Surprise had only been this scared one time previously in her life, and it had been when master came to her. He had said that he remembered her and severely beat her. Surprise was scared that the pony bearers of the Bonds of Eternity had come to exterminate her as they had her former master’s enemies.
...
There came a knock at the door, Twilight Sparkle’s eyes popped open and she looked at the clock, it was half past two in the morning, who would come calling at this hour?
Twilight swore to herself, if it was Vinyl Scratch, she was going to hit her.
She looked at Rainbow Dash, who was still asleep; there came another knock at the door. Rainbow Dash began to stir. ’Gahh... Pinkie Pie... you are so random’, Rainbow Dash mumbled in her sleep.
Twilight rose from her bed and trotted down the stairs. She rubbed her eyes sleepily and opened the door. Much to her own surprise, it was not Vinyl Scratch who had come to the door, rather it was six ponies. Lyra, Bon Bon, Big McIntosh, Braeburn, Trixie, and Derpy Hooves... er, Ditzy Doo, as she liked to be called now.
Twilight’s eyes widened, she recognised the significance. There was only going to be on reason for all six of these ponies to be at her door, together, late at night.
They remembered who they were.
‘You... you all remember the old world? Don’t you?’
They all nodded in affirmation.
‘Please, come inside’, Twilight said. ‘I’m sure we have a lot that we need to talk about’.
Rainbow Dash rolled over in bed with the intention of cuddling with Twilight, Only to wake herself up upon discovering that Twilight was no longer there. Rainbow Dash sat up and looked around. She realised that she heard voices from down stairs. Rainbow Dash rose from the bed and trotted down the stairs.
‘What’s going on down here?’ Rainbow Dash asked sleepily. She looked out to discover Lyra, Bon Bon, Trixie, Braeburn, Big McIntosh, and Derpy Hooves... or Ditzy Doo, whatever she was calling herself now, though Rainbow Dash had barely recognised her thanks to the fact that her eyes were straight, and the fact that she was clad in Canterlot Police Service CO19 riot barding and a schäferhund storm harness.
‘Rainbow Dash’, Twilight said. ‘Come, sit down with us’.
Rainbow Dash complied and trotted down the stairs, joining the seven ponies that were already there. ‘What’s going on?’ she asked again.
‘You remember me telling you about the final battle in the Old World?’ Twilight asked.
‘You gave me the gist of it... I think it was enough’, Rainbow Dash said.
Twilight frowned and just shook her head. ‘I think it’s time we all heard the whole thing’.
...
Pinkie Pie was fast asleep in her bed, dreaming, as she usually did, of Twilight Sparkle and her spending time together. In her dream, the two ponies were in Pinkie Pie’s workshop in the basement of Sugarcube Corner doing science.
In her dream, Pinkie Pie was in the process of mixing some kind of nameless miracle solution that would turn water into wine, and lead into gold, while Twilight Sparkle watched her looking impressed.
‘Wow, Pinkie Pie, I never realised just how smart you actually are!’ the dream Twilight said.
Pinkie Pie grinned as she turned around to look at Twilight. ‘I’m full of surprises!’
Speaking of surprises, for some odd reason, Surprise was sitting in the corner attempting to eat a stick of dynamite, but of course, being a dream, Pinkie Pie didn’t question the fact that it was out of the ordinary or even the least bit dangerous for somepony to be doing that.
Twilight trotted up to Pinkie Pie and placed her foreleg around her. ‘You know, I really do love a mare with a good head on her shoulders’, she said with a wink.
‘Oh Twilight, come on, I’m not as smart as you!’ Pinkie Pie said.
‘Well, we can’t all be perfect’, Twilight said with a grin, she leaned in close to give Pinkie Pie a kiss, but just before their lips met, Pinkie Pie awoke.
She sat up in bed and glanced around at her surroundings and frowned in disappointment. Then the guilt started to set in. This was starting to become an issue, Pinkie Pie loved Twilight Sparkle... but Twilight Sparkle was with Rainbow Dash, and she couldn’t help but feel like it was disrespectful to both of them for Pinkie Pie to keep lusting over her. The problem was she didn’t know how to get it to stop.
Pinkie Pie looked around her room, Gummy was sound asleep in the far corner, but more interesting was the fact that Monty Ulan was standing at her window looking out it through a pair of binoculars.
‘Monty? What are you doing? Don’t you ever sleep?’ Pinkie Pie asked.
‘Of course I do, Pinkie Pie’, Monty said. ‘I just can’t afford to right now, DI Auditore has been at Vinyl Scratch’s home all night and won’t leave town! I can’t run the risk of her coming in here and finding me!’
‘Because I’m sure she’s going to burst into my bedroom in the middle of the night and drag you away’, Pinkie Pie said in an uncharacteristically sarcastic tone for the pink party pony.
‘You can’t be too careful... oh look, it’s another robot! Or, actually... that might be the same one that went by an hour ago, I’m not sure’, Monty said.
‘You’re weird’, Pinkie Pie said.
‘You are one to talk’, Monty snapped back. ‘Okay, it’s definitely the same robot that went by an hour ago; it’s got that dent in it from when I threw rocks at it’.
Pinkie Pie shrugged. According to what Twilight had told her, Monty Ulan had never been the most stable of ponies in the world, something that Pinkie Pie had figured out late yesterday evening when he crawled through Sugarcube Corner’s kitchen window and begged her to hide him from Detective Inspector Auditore. Though, Pinkie Pie wasn’t exactly sure who that was, only that she wanted to take him to Manehattan against his will. Something about him apparently stealing things and disconnecting train cars.
Pinkie Pie had let him stay, of course, how could she not? She thought back to the time when she had carried part of him around in her head. She still didn’t particularly understand how it happened, and apparently, neither did he, or at least, he claimed not to. Pinkie Pie wasn’t going to push him for answers. The Old World had been hard for the earth pony.
Pinkie Pie rolled back over in her bed and made her way back to sleep, she’d leave her house guest to his... whatever he was doing.
...
The Pegasus pony trotted down the tunnel towards his destination. At the end of the tunnel was the steel door to the Everfree Plains Ballistic Research and Development Facility. The pony through the switch on the control console and took a step back as two hazard lights began to flash. A small buzzing alarm went off, and the air filled with the hiss of steam. Something from the inside pulled the metal gear back, creating a deafening screech as metal grinded against metal.
The doorway was open, free for Legion to trot inside. He took his first steps inside the missile base, not even phased in the slightest as the door began to side shut behind him.
Three robots identical to the ones that visited him late in the night, not a few days ago appeared from nowhere and swarmed around him. They all began to look over him for a few seconds, saying nothing.
‘We came, as requested’, Legion said simply.
‘Excellent!’ harked the same voice that had spoken to him a few days prior. ‘Please, come down to the control room. I have something that I think you will be very interested in seeing’.
Legion nodded, he followed the spritebots to the control room, where he got his first glimpse at his host.
The glowing green screen of the EPMB mainframe terminal, displaying the picture of Emerald Sparkle, she was giving off a sort of half smile as she beckoned him into the room, or at least, the picture was, it did not change with her mood.
‘Welcome to EPMB, Whirlwind’, Emerald Sparkle said.
‘We are not Whirlwind’, Legion said. ‘Though we remember him, we are Legion, for we are many’.
‘Whatever’, Emerald Sparkle said nonchalantly. ‘In any case, I am glad you were able to come, taking time out of your obviously... busy schedule. I’ve been watching you for some time. You haven’t exactly been keeping a low profile, so it was rather easy’.
‘We have no need to sneak about Equestria’, Legion said. ‘We go where the ones we remember are, and we unify them under us, we reduce redundancy’.
‘Yes I know... you’re not exactly very good at it, though, are you? Graham Cracker? Surprise? Ulixes? Pips Domino?’
‘We do not remember Pips Domino. He is irrelevant’, Legion said simply. ‘The others are... minor setbacks’.
‘”Minor setbacks” indeed, face it, you’re not very good at making your enemies dead and stay dead’, Emerald Sparkle said in a mocking tone.
‘We are not the ones who require help with our goals; we can turn around and leave’, Legion said simply and began to turn towards the door.
‘Very well. Please, stay, I know that you will want to see this’, Emerald Sparkle said.
Legion turned back around towards the mainframe terminal, and discovered the picture had changed to a different setting all together; he walked back over towards it and looked up. Emerald Sparkle was right, the information being displayed before him... this was going to be useful.
...
Rainbow Dash blinked a few times after Twilight finished her story. The only reason that they had been able to win in the old world had been thanks to the ghosts of her and Fluttershy. That was a little hard to swallow. Rainbow Dash didn’t remember any of it.
‘You’re taking it quite well’, Twilight said with nervous smile.
‘I...’ Rainbow Dash began. ‘I don’t know what to think about this’.
‘Neither do we’, Ditzy Doo said. ‘One moment we’re running for our lives away from Ponyville... because Vinyl Scratch is about to do something stupid, then a bright flash of light and we all wake up in new lives in a Ponyville never touched by the conflict?’
Rainbow Dash shrugged. ‘Well, on the plus side, at least that sounds like Vinyl Scratch’.
Derpy let out a small sigh. ‘Yes unfortunately it does’.
Vinyl Scratch lay awake on the sofa of her new Ponyville flat. She listened to the silence from the other room where Octavia Auditore was sleeping soundly in her bed. The sun was about to come up, and Vinyl Scratch hadn’t slept a wink. A lot had happened recently, and Vinyl Scratch could tell that something was coming. Though she didn’t know quite what, it wasn’t every day that Princess Celestia decided to come to town for seemingly no reason.
Something was going on, Vinyl Scratch could feel it. She sat up on the sofa and looked over at the wireless sitting on the floor; she thought about turning it on, a little music would be nice, nice, of course, if she wanted Octavia to wake up and kick her in the face.
Vinyl Scratch smiled, she though back to a time that seemed like forever ago, she and Octavia had gone to a bar in Manehattan. Some dumb stallion started hitting on her. Octavia clearly wasn’t interested, but the colt wasn’t smart enough to figure that out. So he kept at it, and eventually Octavia had sent him flying over the bar and smashing into the bartender’s expensive liquors. Vinyl remembered that night well. The first reason being it had been the only time Octavia had gotten them kicked out of a bar. Every other bar they’d been kicked out of had been Vinyl’s fault. The second reason that they had only been there for three minutes, and Vinyl had gotten caught up in chatting with the bartender and had yet to even have her first drink.
Pity that they had gotten not only kicked out, but a lifetime ban as well. Pity because the mare that had been tending bar had been cute, a unicorn called... oh what had been her name? Stardancer? Or something the likes of that?
Vinyl Scratch didn’t remember exactly, that had been nearly five years ago.
The door to the bedroom opened, and Octavia sleepily stumbled out of the room and let out a loud yawn. She looked over to Vinyl Scratch, who gave her her trademarked stupid grin.
‘Since when do you wake up at this hour?’ Octavia asked.
‘Oh I’ve been awake pretty much all night... I’ve been clopping to mental images of you’, Vinyl said with a grin.
Octavia returned her grin with a death stare; she stood quietly, staring intensely at Vinyl Scratch, who just kept grinning.
‘You know, if you’re trying to set fire to me with your mind, that doesn’t work, ponies have tried’, Vinyl said.
‘Oh I know, I’m debating wither it is worth kicking you in the face right now or not’, Octavia said. She eventually broke the gaze and trotted into the kitchen.
‘I just moved in you know, I don’t have any food’, Vinyl said.
‘Oh I know, I’ve determined that stabbing you would be a better course of action than kicking you’, Octavia said nonchalantly.
‘Awake for five minutes and already threatening me with domestic violence’, Vinyl Scratch said with a grin. ‘Some copper you are’.
‘It just so happens I know where to hide your body where they can never find it, and you do have a habit of disappearing for months at a time without warning or notice. I’d get away with it, scot free’, Octavia said as she returned to the room, fortunately without anything on her person.
‘You’re a real psychopath sometimes Tavi, I mean that as a complement, really’, Vinyl said.
‘And you’re not?’ Octavia said, cracking a small grin.
‘Well, that goes without saying’, Vinyl said, flashing a bright grin at her.
Oh it was good to have her back.
...
Cloud Kicker spread her wings in order to get to work; she had gotten the ‘lucky’ early shift on the job rotation for this week. She swore that Blueberry Muffin and Gumdrop had rigged the system because neither of them ever pulled the early shift. Rainbow Dash, was of course, her boss, and pretty much never worked the early shift, and Cloud Kicker figured that she didn’t really have a problem with that. So it basically came down to her, Cappuccino, and Brolly pulling the early shift. This week, Cloud Kicker came up short.
Cloud Kicker was facing towards the east; she had her foreleg up above her head shielding her eyes from the bright sunlight as it came up over the eastern horizon. There were only a few ponies out and about; however one pony caught her eye, a Pegasus stallion that was walking into town from along the east road... wait a moment. She recognised him! It was Whirlwind!
Cloud Kicker’s rage soared, that lazy featherhead hadn’t shown up for work in five months! Rainbow Dash had refused to fire him, and refused to give a reason for it when pressed. ‘Just trust me’, Rainbow Dash had said. Well now Whirlwind was going to answer for it.
Cloud Kicker dived down upon him and landed a metre in front of him. ‘Whirlwind! You featherhead! Where the heck have you been!?’
Whirlwind stared blankly at her, saying nothing.
‘Whirlwind?’ Cloud Kicker asked. Something wasn’t right here.
‘We are not Whirlwind’, he said, he trained his eyes directly onto Cloud Kicker. ‘We are Legion’.
‘Huh?’ Cloud Kicker asked. She didn’t get an answer, she felt something take her over, she lifted into the air, her body went stiff, but she wasn’t doing it. Legion continued to stare directly at her, Cloud Kicker looked in horror, was he... was he using magic? He couldn’t be! He wasn’t a unicorn! He was a Pegasus!
Suddenly, and without warning, Cloud Kicker was tossed backwards; she crashed head long into an earth pony’s cabbage stand, smashing it to pieces.
‘My cabbages!’ the earth pony street vendor called out.
Legion was unconcerned, and he trotted along on his way. Everypony that had seen what had happened quickly and smartly moved out of his way. Some of them began screaming and ran for cover.
Legion glanced over at some of the other stands; he noticed a carrot stand and looked at it. Carrot Top and Caramel stood behind it, huddling together in fear. Legion focused on the stand and it immediately caught fire. In what was likely the best choice of their lives, Carrot Top and Caramel ran for their lives.
Legion’s visit to Ponyville had already caused quite a stir, it wasn’t long before the ponies that he wanted to see opened their doors and came out to see what the commotion was.
Vinyl Scratch and Octavia Auditore stepped out of Vinyl Scratch’s home. Octavia looked at Legion in confusion, she did not recognise him. Vinyl Scratch did instantly, in under a second, she whipped out her revolver and fired a shot at the Pegasus pony. Oddly enough, the bullet seemed to slow, coming to a complete stop just before it was about to hit Legion in the eye. It hung in midair for a few seconds, and then dropped harmlessly onto the ground.
‘Well fuck’, Vinyl Scratch said.
Legion was unfazed by Vinyl Scratch’s attack; instead he began to walk towards her.
‘You stay away from her!’ Vinyl Scratch said, moving in front of Octavia and putting her revolver between her and Legion.
‘We do not remember Octavia Auditore, she is irrelevant’, Legion said. He focused his eyes on Vinyl’s gun and the magical hold she had on it broke, the weapon went flying and smashed through the window of the Ponyville Public Library.
‘Then what do you want? You certainly don’t want me or you’d have tried already!’ Vinyl barked at him.
‘We do not remember Vinyl Scratch. You are irrelevant’, Legion said. ‘Where is Surprise?’
...
‘What is going on out there!?’ Rainbow Dash cried out in the early morning of day. They had heard several carts being smashed up, some yelling, and then was sounded suspiciously like a gunshot.
‘I don’t know’, Twilight said, she got up to look out the window, however, just as quickly as she did, she immediately ducked down, an object came crashing through her window and skittered onto the floor. Vinyl Scratch’s revolver came to a rest on the floor. Twilight enveloped the revolver in her magic and brought it over to her, she snapped open the break and took a look inside. There were only five rounds in the cylinder. Twilight got down low to the ground and peered up and over the broken window.
‘Oh no’.
...
Surprise and Fluttershy were already up and walking towards Ponyville when they heard the gunshot ring out.
Fluttershy instinctively jumped in fear and hit the ground, covering her eyes and ears. Surprise glanced around, she recognised that sound, and there was only one pony in town that had a gun, and it was Vinyl Scratch.
Surprise leapt into the air, Vinyl Scratch was in trouble, she knew it, and she sped into the air and took a look around. She spotted Vinyl Scratch immediately and dived down upon her. Then she saw the ponies with her.
‘M... Master?’ Surprise asked herself, she outstretched her wings and turned herself upward to hit the aerobrakes on her movement and quickly slowed down.
Legion turned and discovered Surprise in the air. He watched as she lowered to the ground.
‘M... Master?’ Surprise asked again.
‘Kneel’, Legion commanded.
Surprise did as she was told, and she got down before him.
‘Surprise! No!’ Vinyl cried out.
Surprise did not listen. Legion’s facial expression did not change, he pulled open his saddlebags and a photograph levitated out of it. He set it down on the ground in front of Surprise’s eyes. Surprise looked at it in confusion and then back up at Legion.
Legion said nothing; he spread his wings and leapt into the air, and flew away without saying another word.
Vinyl Scratch trotted over to Surprise and took a look at the photograph. The photograph was of a worn out old tombstone, the writing on it, however, was as clear as the day that it had been cut into it.
It said:
Surprise 3987-4002 By her own hoof May she find peace in death that was not found in life.
Surprise stared at the photograph for what seemed like hours. Tears began to form in her eyes; she curled into a ball and began to rock back and forth.
‘Surprise...’ Vinyl said.
‘That’s me Vinyl’, Surprise said. ‘The me that belongs to this world... but if she’s dead, then what am I supposed to be?’
Vinyl Scratch pushed open the door to the Ponyville Public Library, carrying Surprise, who was huddled up and shaking on her back. Everypony in the room turned to look at her as she walked in, Octavia following not soon afterwards.
‘Legion’s just stepped up his game, he’s planning something, something big’, Vinyl said. ‘And we need to be ready for him’.
Twilight Sparkle nodded in agreement, and handed Vinyl’s gun back to her. Vinyl thanked her and slipped it back into her saddlebag.
‘Vinyl...’ Octavia said. ‘I do hope you know that firearms are illegal in Equestria?’
‘Oh I’m not surprised, you’re not going to confiscate it are you?’ Vinyl asked as she looked back at her.
‘After that?’ Octavia asked. ‘No, I never saw it’.
Vinyl Scratch looked around the room at everypony else. Ditzy Doo and Co. was still here, and had taken cover after Vinyl’s gun had come crashing through the window, she hadn’t blamed them. She quickly recognised the significance of all of them together and smiled. ‘Take it easy everypony, we’ve fought gods and won before, we’ll do it again’.
Vinyl turned to Twilight. ‘Gather everypony here, I’ve got an idea’.
Twilight nodded, and she and Rainbow Dash went outside, splitting up to get the rest of their friends. Vinyl Scratch climbed the stairs, still carrying Surprise on her back and set her down on Twilight’s bed, pulling the covers over her and patting her on the head.
‘Hey, don’t you worry; everything’s going to be okay. I promise’, Vinyl said, trying as much to convince herself as Surprise.
‘Vinyl?’ Surprise asked. ‘You’re my best friend’.
Vinyl couldn’t help but smile. ‘Yeah, you’re my best friend too. What a fucked up world we live in, right?’
Surprise returned a smile, though weak, it was better than nothing.
‘I have to go now, I’ll check up on you again in a little bit, okay?’ Vinyl asked.
Surprise nodded in understanding, and Vinyl turned and trotted back down the stairs. She looked around at the ponies that were already in the room. Ditzy Doo, Big McIntosh, Braeburn, Lyra, Bon Bon, Trixie. Each of them looked entirely nervous about where they were about to head.
‘Don’t worry everypony. I’ve got a plan!’ Vinyl Scratch said with a grin.
‘Does your plan involve running straight at danger yelling at the top of our lungs and hoping it works?’ Ditzy Doo asked.
‘Damn! How did you find out about Operation SUPERBALL, Part 3?!’ Vinyl Scratch said with a grin, causing Ditzy Doo to roll her eyes.
‘Same old Vinyl Scratch’, Ditzy Doo said. ‘You clearly haven’t changed since our break up’.
Octavia raised an eyebrow at that statement. ‘Vinyl Scratch was in a relationship? When was this!?’
‘It... Uh... ended not long after I came to see you in Manehattan...’ Vinyl said nervously.
Octavia looked at her for a second and then put the pieces together. ‘Vinyl Scratch! You cheated on her!? I cannot believe you!’ Octavia cried out, and promptly followed up with a smack across her face.
‘Why does everypony always hit me?!’ Vinyl Scratch cried out.
...
Lyra and Bon Bon had taken the opportunity caused by Vinyl Scratch to step out. Bon Bon was a nervous wreck; she had begun to shake with fear of what was coming. Lyra placed a foreleg around her and held her close. ‘Hey now, shh! It’s going to be fine! I promise’.
Bon Bon started to cry. ‘L...Lyra... I don’t know if I can do this! All this... it’s too much! I don’t know if I have what it takes to be a hero’.
Lyra hugged her friend tightly. ‘Hey now! Come on, it’s not like we haven’t run into worse! We’ve faced down mad wild gryphons, a deranged serial killer, five gods, and a bomb. This? This is going to be a breeze’, she said, running a hoof through her friend’s mane to comfort her.
Bon Bon glanced up at her friend and gave her a smile. ‘You... you’re too good Lyra, way too good for me, I’m so lucky to have you’.
‘Hey! I’m the lucky one here; do you know where I’d be without you? I’d probably still be in Canterlot standing in the rain, alone, with only my lyre for company’, Lyra said.
‘This is sweet and all, I hate to break it up, sadly, and there is something that Miss Bon Bon has been keeping from you, Lyra’.
Lyra and Bon Bon both jumped as the big metal parasprite appeared from nowhere literally centimetres from her face.
‘Who... what are you?’ Lyra asked.
‘That’s not important right now, what is important is what Bon Bon is keeping from you... Ask her about what happen to Syra’.
Bon Bon’s eyes widened with fear at the mention of the name. Lyra turned to Bon Bon and looked into her eyes. She knew immediately something had happened.
‘Bon Bon? What is it talking about?’ Lyra asked.
Bon Bon looked at her, her shaking began to intensify. ‘Lyra... you have to understand, I did what I had to! She was going to run away! She was going to let you die! I... I couldn’t let her do that. I did what was necessary’.
Lyra looked at her friend in horror, and though back to that day when the accident had split Lyra in two, leaving a magic-less unicorn, and the first hippocampus, a sea pony, to exist in hundreds of years. Lyra had known that Syra had died; that she had been reintegrated back into Lyra’s body... but Lyra had thought that Syra had made the choice willingly... now here Bon Bon was telling her that it wasn’t the case.
Lyra released Bon Bon and unconsciously moved back a few centimetres. ‘Bon Bon... you killed her’.
‘I did what was necessary!’ Bon Bon said. She had broken down into tears at this point. ‘She was going to let you die! I couldn’t let her do it! I love you Lyra! I can’t live without you!’
A nervous look appeared on Lyra’s face, and she began to back away. ‘Bon Bon... you killed her... I... I don’t know how I feel about that, I’m sorry, but... I don’t think I can be around you right now’.
‘NO!’ Bon Bon cried out. ‘Don’t you see what it’s doing!?’ Bon Bon said as she pointed to the machine. ‘It’s trying to drive us apart when we need to be together the most!’
‘I’m sorry Bon Bon... I really really am, but I can’t be around you right now’, Lyra said. ‘I need to be alone for a little bit. Don’t follow me, please’.
‘Lyra...!’ Bon Bon said. The crème coloured earth pony dropped to her knees, tears streaming from her eyes, she sobbed loudly as Lyra walked out of sight. Bon Bon turned her attention towards the spritebot, which was still hovering over her. ‘You! I remember your voice! You told me I made the right choice!’
‘Indeed I did. You did make the right choice... there’s a reason why there are no more hippocampi in the world. They don’t belong, and you did the world a service by getting rid of that one’.
Bon Bon looked up at the spritebot, watching as it began to float away, fluttering its wings rapidly to gain altitude. Bon Bon discovered a rock lying on the ground next to her; she picked it up with her teeth and placed it on her hoof. In her frustration, she tossed the rock at the spritebot, striking the robot’s wing.
The robot’s movement became erratic, as it struggled to stay afloat; eventually the robot crashed hard into the ground, Bon Bon heard the glass thermionic valves shatter on the inside. In her continued frustration Bon Bon gave the robot a kick, and despite its weight actually sent it flying for quite a distance. The spritebot crashed into an abandoned vegetable cart, sending the contents spilling over onto the street.
Bon Bon hung her head low, and began to walk home. She needed to be alone now too.
...
Princess Luna looked out into her balcony over Canterlot, everything looked so peaceful. Appearances were deceiving. There was a storm brewing on the horizon, and Luna wasn’t just talking about tomorrow’s scheduled rainstorm.
There came a knock at the door, Luna looked towards it and smiled. ‘Enter’, she said.
‘G’day to ya Princess Luna’, said a voice from the door as it pushed open.
‘Hello Benjamin, it is very good to see you again’, Luna said with a smile.
Benjamin Willoughby nodded in agreement as he hopped over to the balcony where the princess was standing.
‘What do you think when you look out and see everything my country has to offer?’ Luna asked him.
‘S’allright I suppose’, Willoughby said. ‘Ain’t home, but not a bad place, real peaceful like, if you can put up with snow in the summer, that is’.
Luna raised an eyebrow at the Fusilier. ‘It does not snow in the summer in Equestria’.
Willoughby smirked slightly at her. ‘It’s a southern hemisphere thing; our summer is your winter’.
‘Right... of course’, Luna said.
‘I know you didn’t call me up here just for a friendly chat princess. What’s going on?’ Willoughby asked.
‘Dark times are about to fall upon Equestria... I am not your princess, Benjamin. I cannot expect anything from you... you have every right to say no to my request’, Luna said.
‘Ain’t going to happen!’ Willoughby said with a smile. ‘I still owe you and Vinyl for what happened at Karlu Karlu. You say what you need doing and I’ll get it done!’
Princess Luna looked at Benjamin Willoughby and gave him a bright smile. ‘Thank you, Benjamin. I knew that I would be able to count on you’.
Princess Celestia had risen late this morning, she was tired, and she was not looking forward to another day of bickering between world leaders. If she could have, she would have picked them all up, and stuffed them back in their ships and sent them on home, but no, Luna wasn’t going to let her do that.
Celestia crawled out of bed and went into her washroom, turning on the water at the sink and splashing some of it onto her face.
‘Not sleeping well, are we Celestia?’ a tinny, metal voice called out from behind her, causing the princess to jump in surprise. She opened her mouth and was about ready to call for her guards when the voice continued. 'Don’t even bother, call for the guards and I’ll be gone before the words even escape your lips'.
Celestia turned around slowly and looked at her ‘guest’ and was surprised to discover that it wasn’t even a pony at all. ‘A robot?’ Celestia asked. ‘There have been no robots in Equestria in nearly a thousand years!’
‘I can understand why you would think that. Unfortunately, you are stupid for thinking it. Your little pogrom against technology hasn’t worked nearly as well as you hoped. I, and the Cultus Mechanicus should have made that perfectly clear to you’.
‘I will not stand here and be insulted in my own bedroom!’ Celestia said hotly. ‘Who are you!? You have a lot to answer for!’
‘Stupid indeed. Is it not obvious to you? That I should disappear one day without even the slightest trace? I really wouldn’t have been that hard to find if you had really wanted to’.
Celestia looked over the robot intensely for a moment. ‘Emerald?’ she asked.
‘Nice to see you too, bitch, hope you enjoy today, because today is the last day that you are ever going to be in power’.
Celestia was taken aback by the words of her friend who she had thought to be long dead. ‘Emerald... What happened to you?’
‘Oh you know, the usual story, filly gets raped in a dark alleyway in the middle of the night, gets pregnant, has foal, is forced to abandon said foal on some stranger’s doorstep because princess of the universe decides that she is going to destroy everything that Equestrian society needs to prosper and puts herself in stasis so that she can save the world, not that you would care about any of that, all you care about is what you want, always has been, always will be’.
‘Emerald... I... I don’t know what to say...’ Celestia said, while the voice through the spritebot’s loudspeakers was artificial, monotone, and without emotion, she could tell that Emerald Sparkle was angry. ‘I just tried to do what was right...’
‘Oh, you did what was right, right for you. Damn you Celestia, do you know how close we were? We were THIS close to civil nuclear power. Clean, cheap energy for everypony! And it wouldn’t have stopped there. A thousand years went by, and we went back in time, only to get back to the place that we were at. A thousand years wasted because of you. Well, enjoy this day, because it will be the last one you see. Because when we meet again, I will kill you’.
‘Emerald...’ Princess Celestia said, however, the spritebot disappeared into thin air, and was nowhere to be found. Celestia glanced around, making sure that she wasn’t hallucinating or anything. Emerald Sparkle, her childhood friend, was not only still alive, but had played a part all throughout Equestrian history.
Celestia knew that if Emerald Sparkle was indeed still alive, then she was sitting on a stockpile of some of the most incredibly dangerous technology from the Gaian Era. Celestia knew instantly what needed to happen. For the good of pony kind, for the good of Equestria, maybe even for the good of the entire world, she needed to kill Emerald Sparkle.
...
Twilight and Rainbow Dash had returned to the Library with Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie. Along with Monty Ulan, who had reluctantly come along with them, Twilight pushed open the door to the Library and they all stepped inside.
Octavia immediately noticed the earth pony stallion. ‘You!’ she cried out at him.
‘Crap!’ he cried back. ‘You didn’t tell me she was here!’
Twilight let out a sigh and stepped between the two of them. ‘Listen, I don’t know what this is all about, but we really don’t have time to worry about it right now’.
Monty nodded. ‘She’s right, and we’re going to need everypony we can get. Detective Inspector Auditore, tell you what, after this is all over? I’ll come back to Manehattan with you, and I won’t even put up a fight, and I promise I won’t try to escape’.
Octavia glanced over the earth pony stallion; she looked him up and down to make sure that he was on the level. ‘Very well’, she said finally. ‘I suppose I can live with that’.
‘Aww, everypony is finally getting along!’ Vinyl Scratch said with a grin.
‘Speaking of everypony’, Trixie said. ‘Lyra and Bon Bon went outside a while ago and have yet to come back, did any of you see them on your way back inside?’
Everypony glanced around; most of them hadn’t noticed that the pair had gone. Twilight Sparkle frowned; this was exactly not what they needed now. They needed to be together, not apart. They were rapidly approaching the end of this stretch on the Long Road. Of that, they were sure. Now? Now it was just waiting for someone to make the first move.
...
Bon Bon sat on the stairs outside her and Lyra’s flat, tears streamed from her eyes and dripped onto the ground. No matter how many times Bon Bon wiped her eyes, more and more would just come. Bon Bon couldn’t believe it had come to this, though, the more she thought about it, the more, she figured, that this would have happened eventually. She couldn’t have kept this a secret forever. She knew that, but, Bon Bon knew that this had to have been the worst time for this to happen.
Bon Bon knew what she was, who she was. She and Lyra together were the Bond of Fraternity. The fact that the metal voice had taken steps to deliberately separate them meant one thing and one thing only. They would need to use them.
Bon Bon thought back to the day that she and Lyra had first met, that day in the rain. Bon Bon was a candy maker by trade, she had become well known even as far as Canterlot, and while she was a one mare operation, a sweetshop in Canterlot had put in an order that was paying extremely well, when the letter of the offer showed up at her doorstep, offering her a hundred pounds for her effort.
Bon Bon had spent the entire night filling the order and had trotted off to Canterlot, despite the fact that it was scheduled to rain. She took an umbrella with her and dragged the entire order up the mountain, on her own hooves. (The railroad tracks connecting the Central Canterlot Province station and Canterlot had not been completed yet. In fact, they had only recently become operational.) Bon Bon had spent the entire day walking in the rain, but eventually despite every obstacle in her way made it to the sweet shop in Canterlot and walked out a hundred pounds richer. That was enough to keep her from working for several months... of course, Bon Bon loved making candy, and Sugarcube Corner back home in Ponyville always had a regular order ever couple of weeks. Pinkie Pie had not even come to town at this point yet, so Sugarcube Corner was limited in the number of things that they made themselves.
That was when Bon Bon had seen her. Sitting on a park bench looking all sad and pathetic across from the sweetshop was a seafoam green unicorn pony, sitting and letting the rain fall on her head. Such a sight broke Bon Bon’s heart; she trotted over to her and held her umbrella over her head.
The pony who Bon Bon would eventually know as Lyra looked up at her and smiled. Bon Bon discovered that Lyra had had left her parents home with practically no possessions of her own, and hardly sixpence to her name, and Bon Bon had pretty much dragged her back to Ponyville with her. She could hardly leave the poor thing there in the rain. Of course, Bon Bon hardly knew what she was getting into. Lyra was a lovely pony to be sure, though she was a little silly, but Lyra was a fun loving pony with a bright personality, even though she had a few eccentric qualities to her. Bon Bon remembered the time that she had taken to sitting on the park benches with her back leaning against the rest. Bon Bon remembered the memory fondly, and couldn’t help but smile. Bon Bon’s crying began to intensify. She needed Lyra; she didn’t know what would do without her.
Bon Bon looked up, something felt... odd, then it hit, the ground began to shake. Bon Bon fell from the steps and collapsed onto the ground. Something was happening.
...
Emerald Sparkle was ready, years of preparing for this moment, and all her hard work was about to pay off. It was time for the EPMB to return to the outside world. In secret, she had been assembling combat model spritebots, and more importantly a special kind of robot that nopony had ever seen before. A highly mobile robot tracked wheels armed with EPMB’s special 6mm submachine and a grenade launcher for weapons. Most distinctively, these robots had television screens on the front of them. Each one displaying an image identical to that displayed on the EPMB Mainframe terminal.
It was time, EPMB was returning to the world.
...
Twilight and Co. had exited the Library when they felt the ground begin to shake.
‘Earthquake!’ Rainbow Dash cried out.
‘Impossible!’ Twilight called out. ‘There aren’t any fault lines for hundreds of kilometres!’
They all looked down the street towards Sugarcube Corner. Mister and Missus Cake were running for their lives from the building as it came crashing down. The ground around the demolished building began to crack as massive steel doors raised open from the ground below.
What seemed like endless amounts of Spritebots flew out of the EPMB missile silo.
‘I thought Emerald Sparkle said she was running out of spritebots’, Fluttershy said.
Vinyl Scratch gave the canary yellow Pegasus an uncharacteristically stoic look ‘Clearly, she lied’.
Everypony could only watch in horror as EPMB’s army of combat model Spritebots filled the air, hundreds of them continued to pour out of the missile silo where Sugarcube Corner had once stood. Pinkie Pie looked uncharacteristically distraught as she had watched her home fall to pieces.
Eventually, the swarm of Spritebots ended, the massive metal cloud hung in front of the sun, blotting out the sky like some twisted version of a solar eclipse. However, the spritebots were not interested in Ponyville; rather, they ignored the town all together, and turned eastward, towards Canterlot.
‘Believe it or not? We’re Lucky’, Monty Ulan said. ‘If she’d been able to get access to the Fillydelphia Ironworks like she’d wanted, her army would have been twice... maybe three times the size of what it is now’.
The ground began to rumble again, and they all turned to face the north, to their horror, EPMB’s combat robots rolled along on their single tracked wheel. Legion marched in front of them as they rolled along towards the town.
The few town ponies that were still out that had the sense that this was not the place to be ran and hid, soon enough, the town was deserted. With only Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Big McIntosh, Trixie, Ditzy Doo, Braeburn, Vinyl Scratch, Montana Ulan and Octavia Auditore remaining.
‘Would you like to say anything more about our chances, Ulan?’ Octavia asked sarcastically. Monty said nothing.
The EPMB combots all halted their advance, and Legion stepped forward, trotting over to them menacingly. He stopped some six metres from where they stood. ‘We demand your surrender’, he said plainly.
Twilight glanced to all her friends as they looked to her and gave her a smile and a nod. ‘We all have come to an agreement on your demands... Vinyl Scratch? Would you like to deliver our rebuttal?’
‘I most certainly would’, Vinyl said with a bright grin. She looked directly at Legion and stuck her tongue out at him a raspberry; accompanied by a number of other rude gestures, suffice it to say, Legion got the picture.
He said nothing, he leapt back into the air and the EPMB Combots rolled forward with the intention of steamrolling over the town. Obviously, they weren’t about to let that happen.
Twilight and her friends all rushed forward. They had not started this fight, but damn well they would finish it.
...
Bon Bon ran in panic at the combot’s approach, she couldn’t fight them, she didn’t have the strength, or the courage. She rounded the corner; only find herself directly in the path of an advancing combot. The combot raised its 6mm submachine gun and pointed it at her.
‘I surrender!’ Bon Bon cried out.
‘Look out! Here comes Tom!’ cried a voice behind her. The combot shifted its focus towards the voice, Bon Bon instinctively ducked her head down as a huge boulder in the rough shape of a diamond came flying through the air, smashing into the combot and crushing it under its weight. Bon Bon turned and looked at the Pony that had saved her. It was Lyra.
‘Lyra!’ Bon Bon cried out to her.
‘Hey Bon Bon’, Lyra said with a smile. ‘Come on, you didn’t think I’d really abandon you, did you?’
Bon Bon leapt up and gave Lyra a tight hug. ‘Lyra... I was so scared! I’m so sorry, I know I did wrong... I know you can’t forgive me for it...’
‘Shh...’ Lyra said, gently running a hoof through Bon Bon’s mane. ‘That doesn’t matter anymore; you did what you had to, not just for your sake, but for the sake of the world. The world needs us Bon Bon, and we’re going to be there for it’.
Bon Bon smiled brightly at Lyra and gave her a quick kiss. ‘Let’s kick some metal butt!’ She cried out in a voice of newfound determination.
‘Right behind you!’ Lyra said as the two of them released, she enveloped her magic around the boulder and began to push it down the street, clearing the way out and steamrolling over any combots that were unlucky enough to get in the way.
‘By the way... “Tom?”’ Bon Bon asked.
‘It was etched into the underside of the rock, so I ran with it!’ Lyra explained.
...
Twilight and Co. met the combot advance head on. The unicorns had taken to pelting the robots with rocks and all manner of debris. Big McIntosh, Applejack, and Braeburn, were putting their applebucking skills to good use. Applejack reared up and gave a powerful kick right to a combot’s centre of mass, sending the robot flying and smashing into another one.
‘Eyep, jus’ like ah tree! Kick ‘em hard ‘nuff and they’ll spill their contents fer ya!’ Applejack remarked.
Vinyl Scratch and Ditzy Doo, being the only two of them actually armed with weapons were doing their best to make their shots count. Vinyl Scratch walked through the battlefield rather nonchalantly, firing her revolver into the robot’s telescreens, as she went around, unfortunately for Doctor Emerald Sparkle, her combots were notoriously bad shots, perhaps they had not been expecting a fight, after all, and most ponies had turn tail and run.
Ditzy Doo had taken to providing covering fire for Applejack and her family as they engaged the robots head on. The important thing was to keep most of the combots focused on targets other than them, though unlike Vinyl Scratch, who nicked plenty of ammunition from HMSIS Dash on their trip to Trotterdam, Ditzy Doo had left New Maneaan with only five clips for her 12.7mm pistol. She was going to run out soon.
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had taken to the air, flying circles around the Combots, despite the fact that they couldn’t hit the ponies that were confined to the ground, most of the Combots had taken to shooting at them.
Octavia too had joined the hoof to manipulator arm mêlée, she planted her hooves and with a quick turn, smashed a combot in the side, sending it crashing to the ground in a pile of scrap.
‘Damn Tavi! You’re really kicking arse!’ Vinyl Scratch called out to her with a grin.
‘I’m just pretending that all of them are you and it comes naturally!’ Octavia quipped as she jumped up and smashed another combot in its telescreen.
Monty Ulan was oddly absent from the fight, he had positioned himself behind a pile of smashed up combots, and had opened one up and was digging around on the inside, pulling at wires and screwing in thermionic valves here and there.
‘Aannndddd... Got it!’ Monty cried up.
The combot that he’d been working on got back up. The face on the telescreen had changed from its default one of Emerald Sparkle, and changed to that of an earth pony wearing a brodie helmet. The combot brought it’s submachine gun and Grenade Launcher to bear, ‘ALL HAIL THE MACHINE!’ it cried out as it rolled along, unloading it’s ammo into the other combots.
Pinkie Pie had returned with a crate of dynamite and a book of matches, she lit a stick and tossed it out into the combots, watching it explode several of them. ‘YEAH!’ she cried out in excitement.
Out of the town, Lyra and Bon Bon came charging through the streets rolling Tom through and crushing a number of Combots that weren’t able to wheel out of the way.
Suffice it to say, they were doing well, but more and more Combots just kept rolling on them, it was like Emerald Sparkle had an endless horde of them. What was worse, the more they fought the Combots the more they seemed to adapt to their opponents skills. A few close calls with grenades and they had pushed Applejack, Big McIntosh, Braeburn and Octavia back behind the makeshift fortifications that the group had pulled together. Vinyl Scratch had fallen back behind the barriers and continued to shoot at them from cover. Ditzy Doo had run out of 12.7mm ammunition long ago and had taken to running interference over.
Worse still, the unicorns were running out of large enough rubble from the shakes to throw. They wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer and they knew it.
‘Well, w’all put upa good fight’, Applejack said. ‘If this is it, than at leas’ we did that’.
That was something they could all agree upon.
‘Trixie has never known a finer set of ponies, Trixie is glad to have stood beside you’, Trixie added.
It was not, the end, however, as the combots continue to move close, a loud gunshot rang out and a large calibre bullet whizzed through the air, impacting a combot thought it’s telescreen and continuing on its way. It hit another one, ripping it to pieces and sending it flying. The same bullet passed through two other combots before it finally stopped. The shot had come from the east, everypony turned to look. M3 Light Tank 105 the Lord Stuart, came crashing through the trees, machine guns blaring as it stormed towards the combots. Beside it was none other than Fusilier Willoughby peering through the scope of a 13.5mm Jacks anti-armour rifle, along with the rest of his infantry section, they all came hopping towards the ponies, breaking through the combot lines.
The combots turned their attention towards the kangaroo light tank, though their 6mm submachine guns weren’t strong enough to do anything against the tank’s armour. The light tank loaded up a canister shot and unloaded a round of high velocity shrapnel against the combots. The shot ripped through the lot of them and sent them into a tactical withdraw, followed by a quick regroup.
The kangaroo fusiliers hopped over to where the ponies had taken cover and joined in the defence of their town.
‘Twilight! Rainbow Dash! Catch!’ Willoughby called out as he tossed an 11mm magnum revolver and a 10mm auto pistol into the air, with Twilight caught with her magic, she kept the revolver for herself and handed the 10mm auto to Rainbow Dash, who took it in her teeth and began firing at the combots as they had begun their advance again.
Off in the distance, they heard a faint noise, Pof!... Pof!... Pof!...
Explosions erupted on the ground in the middle of the mass of combots.
‘That’s 26 pounder fire!’ Willoughby cried out. ‘That bloody gryphon decanus in Canterlot is shooting at us!’
‘No it’s not!’ Rainbow Dash cried out. ‘Look at where the shells are falling! They’re not coming anywhere close to us, they’re shooting the robots!’
...
In Canterlot, while the royal guard and the assembled nations’ troops fought off the horde of Spritebots. Gilda had taken to the skies; she was holding a pair of binoculars and spotting targets for their decanus self propelled gun battery. She was calling out targets in the big horde of robots down at the end.
‘Don’t say I never did anything for you Rainbow Dash’, Gilda said quietly, as the barrage ended and she called out a new target.
...
In spite of the artillery fire, the combots did not let up; they continued their advance on the town. Even with the gryphons shooting at them, they were all still outnumbered and outgunned, they were making progress, but they weren’t done. Not by a long shot.
It was Fluttershy that noticed what happened next. ‘Look!’ she cried out.
...
Princess Luna rounded with a kick as she smashed a spritebot. She had taken to the streets with her fellow ponies fighting off the endless robot horde. She looked up over the mountains to the west, and her jaw dropped.
Off in the distance she saw a zeppelin rising over the mountains. While it was far away, the night princess’ keen eyes could see that it bore the ancient insignia of the Kingdom of Equestria.
‘The Nimbus?’ Luna asked. It was, the airship that had carried the royal family to the Hoofson Bay Area for the testing of the sunburst project, which Princess Celestia had abandoned at the Divide when Hopeville was destroyed.
It was that ship. Somepony had gotten it running.
Luna watched as surface to air missiles launched from EPMB and streamed towards the airship, but to her pleasure watched as flares began to fall from the Nimbus and the missiles chased after the flares instead.
Luna couldn’t help but chuckle. ‘Looks like the fun has been doubled’.
...
Graham Cracker sat at the helm of the Airship Nimbus as they piloted over the battlefield. The Nephites had discovered the airship at the Divide and Moses Marening has spent years putting it back into working order. After Ashville had been destroyed, the Nephites had moved it to New Maneaan in secret.
‘Graham! We have incoming missiles heading right for us!’ Moses Marening called out.
‘Deploy countermeasures and get us under the missile base’s radar grid, if you can’, the burned pony said as he looked over the flight instruments. ‘We can’t afford to take even a single hit or this whole thing will go up in flames’.
The greying unicorn went to work, flares dropped from the side of the airship and both the missiles chased after them instead.
The airship descended over the mountains as the nephites inside loaded up their weapons, ready for the airship to dump them onto the battlefield.
They quickly touched down Graham Cracker lead the nephites clad in Marening’s automatic rifle on a charge towards the combots, the arrival of the nephites had turned the tide in the battle, and quickly sent the combots into retreat.
Legion watched the battle unfold. Thing were not going well for them, it was time for him to get involved in the fight personally. He landed on the ground and began to walk towards the hunkered down ponies and kangaroos.
Rainbow Dash saw him and pointed her 10mm auto pistol at him and pulled the trigger. The bullets flew towards him, but slowed just before hitting their target.
‘Aw crap’, Rainbow Dash said.
Legion took the bullets in his telekinetic grasp and turned them around, flinging them back at the Pegasus.
One of them impacted Rainbow Dash in her stomach; she fell back and landed hard on the ground.
‘Rainbow Dash!’ Twilight called out to her, she rushed to her side.
The bullet had gone clean though, and Rainbow Dash was bleeding bad. One of the kangaroos, a medic rushed over to her and started doing everything you could.
‘I’ll be fine egghead... just you... watch’, Rainbow Dash said as she closed her eyes, she quickly lost consciousness.
‘RAINBOW!’ Twilight screamed at her in terror, the thought of loosing Rainbow Dash again tore at Twilight’s heart, she couldn’t lose her again.
Twilight did not notice that Legion had gotten close, she turned around and discovered the Pegasus over her. She let out a gasp in shock. This was the end. Legion remembered Rainbow Dash. He was going to kill her.
Twilight closed her eyes and held onto Rainbow Dash, if this was the end, then they’d go together.
‘SURPRISE!’ cried a new voice.
Twilight’s eyes shot open, she watched as Surprise had appeared from nowhere and had tackled Legion. He was now bucking around trying to get her off him, while she hung on tightly, her chain knife revving in her teeth as she tried to drive the weapon into the back of Legion’s neck. She lost her grip for a second, and Legion was able to bat away the chain knife from her. He kicked her hard in the face and sent her realing.
Surprise recovered and lashed back out at the overmind, grabbing onto him and restraining him and leaving him struggling to get free.
Surprise looked at the group that bore the Bonds of Eternity. ‘Hit him! Hit him now!’
Lyra, Bon Bon, Trixie, Big McIntosh, Braeburn, and Ditzy Doo joined together, hoof in hoof and focused hard.
Lyra and Bon Bon, Fraternity.
Trixie, Compassion.
Big McIntosh, Labour.
Braeburn, Love.
Ditzy Doo, Responsiblity.
The six ponies joined together, focusing their power. Light began to form around them, and shot out of the six of them. The light coarsed through the air, impacting on Legion and Surprise and sending them flying.
They collapsed not far from where he stood.
The grey coated Pegasus pony lay on the ground clutching his head, his ruby red eyes blinked repeatedly. ‘Ow... my head, I feel like somepony just hit me with a sack of bricks’, he said as he rose to his hooves. ‘What? This isn’t the Hoofson bay... there isn’t even any snow? What the hell happened to me?’
Vinyl Scratch poked her head up, she could tell just his body language, that wasn’t Legion. Not anymore. It was Whirlwind, but then, to her horror, she saw where Surprise lay on the ground, she wasn’t moving. ‘Surprise!’ Vinyl Scratch leapt out from behind cover and ran to her friend’s side.
Surprise was conscious, but barely. Vinyl Scratch looked at her in shock, she even pulled her goggles off her eyes to confirm it. ‘Surprise...’ she said. The alabaster Pegasus, her eyes... they weren’t red. They were purple.
‘Vinyl?’ Surprise said weakly. ‘I’m cold’.
Vinyl Scratch took her friend in her forelegs and pulled her close to her. ‘Hey! Surprise... shh, it’s okay. It’s okay. You did good out there, I’m proud to call you my friend today’.
Surprise smiled. ‘You’re my best friend, Vinyl Scratch... I’m scared...’
Vinyl hugged the Pegasus even tighter. ‘Surprise... shh... it’ll be okay, I’ve got you’.
‘Vinyl?’ Surprise said. ‘I don’t want to die’.
Vinyl Scratch did her best to comfort her friend, she hugged her tightly. ‘You’re not going to die’, she said.
‘Vinyl... I...’ Surprise began, but her voice trailed off, she let out her last breath, and then her eyes looked past her. She was gone.
‘Surprise?’ Vinyl asked as she shook her friend. ‘Surprise? Wake up! Surprise! SURPRISE!’
Vinyl Scratch continued to scream as she held Surprise’s lifeless body in her forelegs, she was sobbing heavily, never knowing until this moment just how much the Pegasus pony meant to her. Vinyl Scratch took her hoof and closed Surprise’s eyes. She could finally get the rest that she deserved...
No.
No. It wasn’t that simple. Vinyl Scratch got to her hooves and threw Surprise’s body over her back. She wasn’t going to give up, Surprise meant too much to her, and with access to the master archive not far from here... there had to be some way to bring Surprise back.
Surprise had been freed from the thrall that had held her her entire life. She deserved a chance at a normal life; Vinyl Scratch wasn’t giving up on her. Vinyl turned and galloped to the west, towards the Everfree forest, and to the Lake of Origin.
‘Vinyl!’ Octavia called out to her, but Twilight put a hoof on her shoulder.
‘Let her go, she’s doing what she has to do’, Twilight said. Octavia nodded, and Twilight Sparkle turned her attention back to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash was unconscious, alive, but unconscious. The kangaroo field medic was doing his best and had managed to stop the bleeding.
‘Wounds aren’t bad, missed everything important, your friend here’s got to be the luckiest pony on the face of the planet. She’s going to live’, the medic said.
‘We both are’, Twilight said as she smiled at Rainbow Dash. Willoughby and the kangaroo medic picked Rainbow Dash up and placed her on the back of the Lord Stuart, readying her for transport to hospital.
Twilight turned back to the rest of her friends. ‘Hey... Everypony? I’m sorry; I have to go do something, alone. I hope that’s all right with you’.
‘Twilight, darling’, Rarity said as she trotted over to her friend. ‘Please, tell me you’re not planning on doing something... rash’.
‘Not rash, no’, Twilight said. ‘But something that needs to be done nonetheless’; Twilight held her revolver out and turned towards the east, trotting along the path into Whitetail Wood. She followed the pathway until she discovered the entrance cave to EPMB, deserted, save for the lone combot that Monty Ulan had reprogrammed, for some reason, it had made its way here.
‘ALL HAIL THE MACHINE!’ the combot cried out as Twilight passed it.
‘Shut up’, Twilight said as she walked by, lighting her horn and making her descent into the dark tunnels of the hollowed out cave. She eventually reached the door to EPMB and pulled the lever on the opening console. Hazard lights began to flash, steam began to hiss, and Twilight instinctively covered her ears to protect against the cacophony of metal grinding against metal.
The door rolled to the left and Twilight Sparkle walked inside, she had gotten used to the door, and didn’t even jump when it closed behind her. She made her way into the control room, and looked directly at the mainframe terminal, the glowing image of Emerald Sparkle looking back at her. She entered the room and trotted up to the terminal.
‘I figured you would come. Are you happy? You won’, Emerald Sparkle said.
‘Yes, yes we did’, Twilight said. ‘It was a bold move you made. I can only wonder how many ponies died today because of you’.
‘Sacrifices, necessary sacrifices for the sake of progress’, Emerald Sparkle said. ‘I was close, so close... had my combots made their way up the mountain...’
‘They still wouldn’t have been able to kill the princesses’, Twilight said. ‘They’re a little bit tougher than that’.
‘Oh, I know’, Emerald Sparkle admitted. ‘I know them better than you think. I know them better than you do. When I was a child, my parents died, and I became the student of Queen Gaia. Celestia and Luna were my friends, my playmates, I loved them dearly’.
‘And then you tried to kill them’, Twilight said plainly.
‘Times are different now’, Emerald Sparkle said. ‘The princesses are dangerous. Twilight, you have to realise; you have to have at least had the idea enter your mind! The princesses, both of them, do not have pony societies best interests at heart! They only care about their own agendas!’
‘And you don’t?’ Twilight asked.
‘I admit, I have an agenda, with me in charge of the Republic of Equestria, we would have entered a golden age of science and technology! Give me twenty years; I will put ponies on the moon! Give me fifty, and we’ll be exploring the other planets in our star system, a hundred years?! We’ll be out among the stars, Princess Celestia stays in charge? We’ll be lucky if she hasn’t outlawed the thermionic valve in a hundred years’, Emerald Sparkle said. ‘You cannot trust Princess Celestia to do what is best for ponykind!’
‘I know’, Twilight said, closing her eyes and breathing out a sigh. ‘But I can’t very well trust you either’, Twilight pulled her revolver out and looked back up at Emerald Sparkle’s terminal, a look of determination forming on her face.
‘So you’re going to kill me then? I wouldn’t do that if I were you’, Emerald said. ‘I have a failsafe system; you kill me, these base nuclear warheads will all go off!’
Twilight smirked at her ancestor and set the revolver on the floor, kicking it gently and letting it slide backwards towards the door. ‘I’m not going to kill you, Emerald. No, that would be me stooping to your level. No, instead, I’m going to disconnect you from the mainframe’.
‘... Twilight! No!’ Emerald Sparkle said. Even though her voice was artificial, Twilight could detect the fear in her ancestor’s speech. ‘I lied! I lied, there is no failsafe! Please, don’t disconnect me from the mainframe! I’d rather you just killed me!’
Twilight ignored her ancestor’s pleas; she trotted over to the mainframe console and pushed a few buttons. A wall panel opened up, revealing the elevator to where Emerald Sparkle’s body was located at. Twilight trotted over to it and rode down to the bottom. She exited the elevator and looked over the vast amount of life support equipment, maintaining her ancestor’s life.
A terminal similar to the one upstairs, albeit somewhat smaller flickered to life. ‘Twilight! I beg of you. Do not disconnect me from the mainframe!’
Twilight ignored her and trotted over the console at the front of the life support tube, with the click of a few keys, she pulled up the correct menu. ‘Goodbye Emerald Sparkle. The world doesn’t need you anymore’.
‘NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!’ Emerald cried out as Twilight hit the execute key.
The image on the terminal flickered out, and was replaced with a single message.
Connection Lost...
...
Vinyl Scratch arrived on the shores of the Lake of Origin, she set Surprise down on the ground, gently, making sure not to harm the Pegasus mare.
‘Shh’, Vinyl whispered. ‘Don’t worry; you’re going to be all better soon, before you know it? You’ll be up and about, bouncing around, pulling pranks on Octavia, eating exploding cupcakes with Pinkie Pie... going on late afternoon walks in the wilderness with Fluttershy, maybe even reading books in the Library with Twilight... and then, we’re going to be best friends... just like you deserve’.
Surprise said nothing, she continued to lie still. Vinyl was about to drag her into the water when a bright light began to immerge from the lake.
A glowing golden earth pony with ruby red eyes immerged from the water, shining brightly, and even with her goggles on, Vinyl had to shield her eyes.
Then the light began to fade, and Vinyl Scratch looked on to her newcomer.
Actually, there were two new comers; both of them appeared in a blink of an eye, replacing the golden glowing pony.
‘Oh you have got to be kidding me’, Vinyl Scratch said as he saw who they were.
The first one was Montana Ulan, the second one was... Surprise?
What?
Vinyl Scratch looked down to where she had set Surprise’s body; it was gone, vanished just as quickly as the new comers had appeared.
‘Oh... oh, wait, don’t tell me!’ Vinyl said, pointing at Monty. ‘You’re God! And Surprise is one of your angels!’
‘Don’t be ridiculous, Vinyl Scratch’, Monty Ulan said plainly. ‘God isn’t real... Although... I suppose I am the being that the nephites pray too... okay, yeah sure, if it’s easier for you to fathom, I’m god... as for Surprise here... well, it would be a pretty fucked up universe if she was an angel, no offence Surprise’.
‘None taken!’ Surprise said brightly. ‘It’s totally true!’
‘Let me explain something to you, Vinyl Scratch’, Monty Ulan said turning back to her. ‘There are things in this universe that can never hope to be understood by really anybody on your level. This is one of those things, Surprise and I have had a good long talk, and I’ve determined that she’s not ready to move on yet’.
‘Huh?’ Vinyl Scratch asked.
‘Surprise has so much potential; her entire life up to this point was taken from her by Overdrive. When the old world was turned into the new, Surprise’s unique position in life, not unlike my own, forced her exactly how she was, taking her directly out of the old world and plopping her down into the new one. The Surprise that belonged to this world never knew a normal life. She was plagued by mental illness for her entire life, until one day she couldn’t take it anymore; she took a coil of rope and bound her wings together, and then hung herself from the rafters in her home in Dream Valley. What kind of life is that?’ Monty asked, he looked to Surprise and smiled brightly at her. ‘Then, what did you and your friends do? You freed her and I’ve decided that Surprise deserves a normal life, so I’m giving it to her’.
Vinyl Scratch blinked a few times in confusion. ‘Doesn’t that like... go against the laws of nature or something?’
‘Ohhh yeah! It pretty much breaks all of them’, Monty said nonchalantly. ‘Some of the others weren’t happy about it, but then I threatened to make this dinky little yellow star some 12 or so light-years from here go supernova, they backed down after that. My opposition has a thing for one of the species that’s there... Australopithecus or something the likes of that...’
‘So... that’s it then, no strings attached? Surprise gets a normal life? Why? Why her?’ Vinyl asked.
‘Because, Overdrive ruined her life, and because you deserve her as a friend’, Monty said.
‘What makes me so special?’ Vinyl asked.
‘Everybody is special, Vinyl Scratch’, Monty said. ‘But if you need a reason? I’ve got several, you and your friends stopped Overdrive, defeated the Siblings Nightmare, you held the tide against Legion, and you kept Emerald Sparkle from establishing dominion over ponykind, and frankly? You all deserve a happy ending, so I’m giving it to you’, Vinyl Scratch looked at Monty suspiciously, but he only chuckled at her. ‘I’m not an Alicorn, Vinyl. I don’t have an ulterior motive, I don’t have an agenda. I’m doing it because it’s the nice thing to do, because it’s what you all deserve after doing so much’.
‘Come on Vinyl! I talked to him in heaven for a good long while, he means it, and he really does!’ Surprise said.
‘It’s not really heaven... but I guess if that’s easier for you...’ Monty said under his breath.
Vinyl smiled at Surprise and trotted over and gave her a hug. Surprise took her place at Vinyl’s side and the two of them looked at Monty Ulan. ‘So what happens to you?’ Vinyl asked.
‘Me? You don’t have to worry about me. You don’t need me anymore, to be honest? I don’t think any of you ever did’, Monty said with a smile. ‘Just remember something, Vinyl Scratch, all good things must end, everything dies, but there is nothing that says that anypony has to die today. Take care of yourself, and Surprise? Keep her out of trouble’.
Surprise and Vinyl Scratch smiled at Monty Ulan, and turned to head back to Ponyville. Monty Ulan waded into the water of the Lake of Origin, disappearing from the world, forever.
On her way out, Twilight made her way back over to the mainframe and closed the silo doors for hopefully the last time they would ever be open. A casual thought about the world that was above her entered her mind, the Cake’s insurance had to be through the roof at this point. Twilight couldn’t help but smirk, even though she really shouldn’t. The Cake’s livelihood and home had been destroyed, as did Pinkie Pie’s.
As Twilight made her way out of the missile base and watched as the EPMB door closed behind her. This time however, she fiddled around the door’s control functions and discovered a password lock feature that had not been set. Twilight played around with it for a moment before deciding on a good password. She set the door lock to open at ‘aurora borealis’ and went about her way. She would have to talk to Pinkie Pie about getting some dynamite to collapse the passageway.
Twilight walked back up the passageway, walking past the rogue combot and ignoring it. ‘ALL HAIL THE MACHINE!’ it cried out and began to follow her.
‘Oh shut up’, Twilight said.
‘ALL HAIL THE MACHINE’, the combot said in response.
Twilight walked back out to where her friends had gathered. She saw that all of them had started picking up the pieces of the battle. She noticed that Vinyl Scratch had returned and was grinning brightly.
Wait. That had to mean that...
‘SURPRISE!’
Twilight looked up and in under a second was tackled to the ground by a giant marshmallow creature. Twilight looked up to discover that Surprise was on top of her, hugging her profusely, and she noticed that her eyes were not red, but purple.
‘Hi Twilight Sparkle!’ Surprise said brightly.
‘Did... didn’t you die?’ Twilight asked in disbelief.
‘I got better!’ Surprise said cheerfully.
Vinyl Scratch trotted over to her and tapped on Surprise. ‘Come on, let her up!’
‘Oh, I’m sorry Twilight! I’m just so excited!’ Surprise said. ‘Things are so great right now... I could... I could start singing!’
Pinkie Pie’s head shot up at the mention of singing and galloped over towards them looking brightly.
Surprise smiled and began to sing. ‘I'm so happy! AHA! Happy go lucky me! I just go my way, living everyday!’
Pinkie Pie joined in and she and Surprise began to skip about as they sang. ‘I don't worry! Worrying don't agree, Things that bother you, never bother me!’
Vinyl Scratch and Twilight watched as the two mares skipped about singing their song, everypony and kangaroo couldn’t help but stop and watch. Vinyl Scratch turned to Twilight and flashed a grin at her. ‘You know, I’m having a really hard time trying to tell if this is adorable... or really creepy’.
‘Things that bother you, never bother me! I feel happy and fine! AHA! Living in the sunlight, loving in the moonlight! Having a wonderful time!’ Pinkie Pie and Surprise continued.
‘Yeah, I’ve decided, that’s adorable’, Vinyl Scratch said with a grin.
Twilight too couldn’t help but crack a smile. ‘She’s changed’.
‘Yeah’, Vinyl said. ‘So? What’s next for you Twilight?’
Twilight turned to Vinyl Scratch and raised an eyebrow. ‘What do you mean?’
‘What I mean is, we won!’ Vinyl said. ‘Surely, there’s been something you’ve wanted to do for a while, but the circumstances wouldn’t let you?’
Twilight shook her head. ‘All I care about right now is getting Rainbow Dash well’.
‘Yeah. I can imagine’, Vinyl Scratch said. ‘I’m going to go to South Island; I wasn’t able to see it the last time I was there. I’m going to take Surprise with me, we’re really the only ones who can drop everything and go’.
They heard a quiet coughing sound from behind them; Twilight and Vinyl Scratch looked behind them to see that Whirlwind was standing not far behind them. Vinyl Scratch looked at him and flashed him a bright grin. ‘Hey there Whirlwind! How you doing mate?’
‘Well... uh, my head still hurts, but I think I’m going to be fine...’ Whirlwind said. ‘Um... you said something about going to South Island?’
‘Yeah! Why? You want to come?’ Vinyl asked.
‘I think it would probably be best if I wasn’t around here for a while...’ Whirlwind said.
Viny Scratch trotted up to him and patted him on the shoulder. ‘Aww Whirly, don’t be too hard on yourself, it’s not your fault, and anypony who insinuates otherwise... well, we’ll set them straight’.
Whirlwind smiled at Vinyl brightly. ‘Thanks Vinyl Scratch, you’re a good friend’.
Vinyl returned his smile, and the two of them went to chase after Surprise and Pinkie Pie. Twilight trotted away, she wanted to be alone with Rainbow Dash.
...
‘Ditzy Doo... please, you can’t go! We just all got back together’, Trixie cried out as her friend readied herself to leave.
‘I have to’, Ditzy said simply. ‘I’ve made a life for myself in New Maneaan, my daughter’s back there, waiting for me to come home... I’ll be back to visit. I promise!’
Ditzy Doo waved goodbye to her friends as she trotted away, towards where Graham Cracker was standing not too far from them.
‘Hi Graham’, Ditzy said with a smile. ‘How did you know I was in trouble?’
‘Hello Ditzy’, Graham Cracker said. ‘I asked a friend of mine to keep an eye on you’.
‘A friend?’ Ditzy Doo asked in confusion.
‘You haven’t met him, he’s not one of us, but we see... eye to eye on things, Archimedes and I go way back...’ Graham Cracker said as the two of them walked away.
Lyra and Bon Bon hugged each other tightly, and the two of them bid the others farewell. As did Big McIntosh and Braeburn, they were needed back home. Trixie hung her head low, and returned back to her house as well.
Octavia glanced around for Monty Ulan, figured, the stallion was nowhere to be found, he’d broken his promise to her to come back. Vinyl caught up to her and informed her that she didn’t need to worry about any more trouble from Monty, ever again. Octavia remained unconvinced and bid Vinyl a farewell; she had a train to catch for Manehattan.
Twilight Sparkle popped into the Ponyville clinic where Rainbow Dash had been taken, while small and not very well equipped, it did have what was needed to take care of Rainbow Dash in her condition. Doctor Nightly was in tending to her when Twilight walked in, and promptly excused himself from the room.
‘Rainbow Dash?’ Twilight asked.
‘Hey... Twilight... what’s up?’ Rainbow Dash asked. She was groggy from the medication that she’d been given, but still able to pay the least bit attention.
‘I was scared that I was going to lose you’, Twilight said solemnly. ‘I couldn’t stand to lose you again; I love you, Rainbow Dash’.
‘I... love you too... egghead’, Rainbow Dash said with a chuckle. ‘Ow... laughing... hurts’.
‘Try not to exert yourself too much’, Twilight said she leaned over and planted a kiss on Rainbow Dash’s lips. ‘You rest up, I’m going to have something special for you when Doctor Nightly lets you come home’, Twilight leaned in close and whispered something softly into Rainbow Dash’s ears. Within seconds, Rainbow Dash’s wings were fully erect. ‘I thought you’d like that’, Twilight said with a wink. ‘Get some sleep Rainbow Dash’.
Rainbow Dash nodded in affirmation, smiling at her marefriend as she turned and left the room, wiggling her hips suggestively.
‘Twilight... stop that! Now you’re... just teasing me!’ Rainbow Dash called back to her.
Twilight winked at Rainbow Dash and left the mare alone to rest.
...
Whirlwind watched as Vinyl Scratch had joined in with Pinkie Pie and Surprise as they hopped about, continuing to sing that same song over and over. ‘Things that bother you, never bother me! I feel happy and fine! AHA! Living in the sunlight, loving in the moonlight! Having a wonderful time!’ the three mares sang as they bounced around.
Whirlwind turned and watched as a single EPMB combot rolled through the open field. ‘ALL HAIL THE MACHINE!’ it cried out, Whirlwind couldn’t help but noticed how peculiar it was.
Whirlwind had lied when he said that he didn’t remember what had happened. He knew what he’d done as Legion. He remembered setting Graham Cracker on fire and casting him into the Divide, he remembered snapping Métis Retslaf’s neck, and remembering that Retslaf had deserved it. He remembered the hunt for the mysterious courier that he had never been able to find. He remembered it all. Worse still, he could never even hope to forget.
So close... so close... so close... he heard quietly in the back of his mind. Whirlwind snorted in disgust at the voice.
‘Shut up Legion’, Whirlwind said, just barely loud enough that it was audible, though only he was around to hear it. ‘You had your chance, and you failed, let’s get something straight. I’m in charge now, and from now on, you listen to what I say’.
We understand. We will obey... for now. he heard the voices say.
Yes they would, but as far as Whirlwind was concerned? His final battle was far from over, his war, had only just started.
