The Long Road Home

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11

Chapter 1

Chronology notes:
Stop! You are reading the Eleventh and story in the series started by The Kindness of Strangers!

Please read The Kindness of Strangers first!
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/389/

The second part of the story is Putting the Pieces Back Together found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/407/

The third part of the story is Midnight in the Heart of Equestria found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/419/

The fourth part of the story is Tomorrow is Always a New Day found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/433/

The fifth part of the story is To Each Their Own found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/526/

The sixith part of the story is Imperfect found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/600/

The seventh part of the story to Paradiso found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/687/

the eighth part of the story is Broken Record found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/732/

The ninth part of the story is Home Sweet Home found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/826/

This story is the direct sequel to Rite of Passage found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/895/

The Long Road Home
Chapter 1

Home.

Such a simple thing, and yet for Vinyl Scratch, it was something that she had never truly had. She had spent her fillyhood on the streets of Manehattan, dealing drugs for a greedy Diamond Dog named Trigger. What did Vinyl Scratch know of home?

It was because of this that Vinyl Scratch had decided to wander. In those days, she had no home, no friends to keep her in one place. So why stay? That was the reason that she had made for herself when she decided to go to the Hoofson Bay. As fate would have it, it had been the most important choice in Vinyl Scratch’s life. That trip, walking along that long road, had taken Vinyl Scratch into the path of two other ponies with whom she bonded instantly. The long road had introduced her to two of the three real friends that Vinyl had made during her life time, Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash.

Things were different now. Vinyl Scratch had followed the long road back and discovered something important at the end of it, home; the town of Ponyville, where her friends lived, where Vinyl Scratch now lived, where she and her friends kept the world from falling apart around them.

Things were different now. Rainbow Dash was dead.

Vinyl Scratch had been hit hard by the loss of Rainbow Dash, but what hurt her most was the fact that she couldn’t show it. She needed to be strong for everypony else who was grieving. Vinyl looked up from where she was lying on her sofa towards the corner of the room where an orange Pegasus filly sat, staring blankly towards the ground. Scootaloo and Vinyl Scratch had both grown up without homes. It was this fact that the two of them had bonded, they’d become sisters de facto. Now Rainbow Dash was dead, both of them were grieving.

“Scootaloo?” Vinyl asked quietly. The Pegasus filly did not look up; Vinyl Scratch frowned and repeated herself.

This time the filly looked up. “Yeah?” she asked, her voice filled with sadness.

“Are you hungry? I can make my onion soup if you like!” Vinyl said.

“No... thanks,” Scootaloo said, her head drooped back down, and she continued to stare blankly at the floor. Scootaloo had idolised Rainbow Dash for much of her life in Ponyville, she had looked up to Rainbow, making her her personal hero. Now her hero was dead, her spirit had been crushed under the weight of it.

Vinyl rose from her spot on the sofa and sat down next to Scootaloo; she put her foreleg around her and did her best to console her.

“I just want to be left alone right now,” Scootaloo said as squirmed her way out of it. “Sorry.”

Vinyl Scratch felt tears forming in her eyes. She was glad that she was wearing her goggles; the last thing she wanted was for Scootaloo to see her crying. While Scootaloo had done a lot of growing up since meeting her de facto sister, she was still a kid. Vinyl needed to be strong for her.

“Okay,” Vinyl said, forcing the best smile she could muster. It was not convincing. “Let me know if you get hungry, okay?”

“Okay,” Scootaloo said, Vinyl wasn’t convinced.

Vinyl went back over to the sofa and curled up on it; she closed her eyes and tried to go to sleep.

Twilight Sparkle was staying with them; the Ponyville public library was off limits thanks to the deaths of two pegasi which had taken place early this morning. Even now, some fifteen hours later, the library was still full of uniformed police ponies and detectives. Vinyl had spent most of the day being interviewed by the mare in charge, Detective Chief Inspector Clockwork.

Ponyville fell under the jurisdiction of the Canterlot Police Service’s Greater Canterlot, South department. DCI Clockwork had nearly the entirety of GCS’ Criminal Investigation Department relocated to Ponyville after a string of murders, two of the victims being detectives themselves. Ponyville had never needed a police presence before, but now it was a sign that times were changing.

Worse still, Equestria was teetering on the edge of war with the Twin Gryphon Kingdoms of Nord & Syd. While formal hostilities had not been declared, the gryphons had chased elements of the South Island XX Corps across the border from the Hoofson bay and into Equestria, ending with a small battle in Ponyville itself.

South Island was now an Equestrian ally; it was only a matter of time before the gryphons upped the ante and openly declared hostility, and to make matters worse, the kangaroo soldiers who had made their temporary home in Ponyville did not get along with the police and vice versa. The kangaroos had made it their duty to protect Ponyville, which lead them into conflict with the Police, as they were the ones legally charged with protecting Ponyville.

So far, these confrontations had not lead to violence. Vinyl Scratch knew that eventually, things were going to break down. Ponyville was becoming a powder keg, and frankly, it scared the hell out of her.

Vinyl spent an hour or so lying awake; she turned her head and looked towards Scootaloo. Scootaloo’s head had drooped; she was asleep sitting in the corner, snoring quietly.

Poor kid.

Vinyl closed her eyes again, and found herself drift off to sleep.

...

“Vinyl? Vinyl wake up.”

Vinyl’s eyes popped open. Twilight Sparkle was standing over her, looking incredibly worried.

“Twilight?” Vinyl asked sleepily, yawning loudly and stretching her legs. “Everything okay?”

“No,” Twilight said, shaking her head. “No they’re not. I just had a visitor.”

“What? Not... them?” Vinyl asked.

Twilight shook her head. “Applejack,” she explained. “I need you to take me to the caves in Whitetail Wood.”

“The caves? What do you want to go there for?” Vinyl asked.

“I don’t. I really don’t,” Twilight admitted. “But I don’t exactly have a choice.”

“All right, let’s go then,” Vinyl said, rising from the couch. She looked over to Scootaloo, sitting asleep in the corner. Vinyl gently wrapped her magic around the filly and carried her into the other room, where she tucked her into bed.

“Hush now, quiet now, it’s time to lay your sleepy head, Hush now, quiet now, it’s time to go to bed,” Vinyl sang quietly. A small smile formed on the sleeping filly’s face, and Vinyl quietly left the room, closing the door behind her.

...

The two of them made their way to the opening of the caves in Whitetail Wood. Vinyl Scratch had been here more times than she would have liked. The first was when she led an expedition to Manehattan during the winter months. The second was when the remaining gryphons from Lieutenant Razorwing’s Platoon who had fled into Equestria ambushed her and Trooper Benjamin Willoughby and drove them here. The third time was when Scootaloo had hidden here on Vinyl’s instruction.

Now here she was, here for the fourth time.

“Come on,” she said to Twilight. “Let’s go.”

The two mares walked into the caves, Twilight found herself looking around at the walls.

“This cave isn’t natural! The walls...” Twilight began.

“The walls are too smooth, someone dug this cave,” Vinyl finished. “Had this conversation with others before, got Déjà vu now.”

The duo rounded the corner where the tunnel split, one path lead down to the lower level, which contained the other exit. The other path had been blocked by a boulder the last time Vinyl was here. This was no longer the case. The boulder had been shattered, exposing the pathway that Vinyl Scratch and Co. had never had the desire or opportunity to explore.

Naturally, the new path was the way they needed to go. Both unicorn’s light their horns, for extra light and climbed over the rubble of the shattered boulder and made their way along the path.

They were heading down, twisting and turning for nearly a kilometre until they came to an abrupt end.

The wall in front of them however was not made of rock. Instead it was made of metal. It was a, large gear shaped metal door with the letters “EPMB” printed on them.

Next to the door was a small, heavily rusted console, Twilight went up to it, the console displayed the word “unlocked” on it, she pulled the console’s lever down.

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. Twilight and Vinyl covered their ears, and watched as the large metal door rolled to the left.

The doorway was open, and what was inside astounded them.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Vinyl Scratch and Twilight Sparkle stood in the opening of the large metal door, just staring. The way was open, but they were afraid to step through. It wasn’t the first time in their lives that they were on the edge of the unknown, but it sure felt like it.

Vinyl took a deep breath, and turned to her friend, giving her a small smile.

“Can’t go back now,” Vinyl said, she opened her saddlebags and levitated two Revolvers out, gliding Twilight’s over to her. “Can I trust you not to misuse this?”

“No, probably not,” Twilight said, swallowing hard. “But what we’re doing is important enough for me to put my feelings aside. I can’t be selfish right now.”

Twilight enveloped her magic around the revolver. Vinyl released it, allowing the lavender unicorn to take it, and without another word, the two mares took their first step inside.

Once inside, the alarms went off again, the metal door rolled back into place, sliding back shut with the deafening grinding of metal on metal. Both mares watched as it closed. There was another control panel identical to the one that they found outside, except this one was much cleaner looking, and better maintained. They could open the door back up and leave at any time, but for some odd reason, that didn’t comfort them at all.

Twilight and Vinyl continued out of the entrance room and into a hallway, a very long, well lit hallway. The floors were metal, the walls were metal. Light fixtures hung overhead.

They kept their eyes forward and kept their ears open for any signs of trouble. They jumped when one of the lights above them burned out with a small snap.

“We’re too jumpy,” Twilight said. “We’re going to hurt somepony if we keep these out... most likely ourselves.”

Twilight slid her revolver into her saddlebag, Vinyl did the same. They stopped here for a moment to process what was around them.

Vinyl Scratch sat under the burned out light, thinking. She looked up at Twilight and spoke her mind. “Something isn’t right here. Somepony built this place, but nopony knows it’s here except us. Which means that it needed to have been built a really long time ago, I wouldn’t surprised if this place predates the reign of Celestia. It would have to! There’s next to no information about what Equestria was like before then... which leads us to a problem. Look at this place! It’s spotless! Not even a speck of dust in the air.”

“Where are you going with this Vinyl?” Twilight asked, looking at her friend in confusion.

“This place is clean, which means that somepony has been cleaning it... which means...”

“...That there is somepony still here,” Twilight finished.

Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank!

Twilight and Vinyl both pulled out their revolvers upon hearing this new sound. This was completely foreign to them, metal against metal, slow, deliberate, and coming right towards them.

“Vinyl? I don’t think I like it when you’re brilliant,” Twilight said.

“Me neither, it does me nothing but trouble,” Vinyl said, flashing the first real grin she’d been able to muster in what felt like years.

Around the corner, walked what was making the noise, but what it was surprised them. It was a metal pony with two manipulator arms jaunting out of the flanks, carrying a light fixture. It continued to walk up to them in a slow, deliberate, yet unthreatening manner.

The metal pony walked up to them, where it stopped right in front of them.

“Hello.”

Twilight and Vinyl nearly jumped when it spoke. The metal pony had no mouth to speak of, and its voice sounded tinny and artificial. One of its long manipulator arms reached up to the burned out light fixture that was above Vinyl and pulled it out, the other one reached up and put the new one in, causing light to be restored.

The metal pony, its task complete, turned around and began to walk away.

“Um, excuse me?” Twilight said, hoping to get the metal pony’s attention.

The metal pony stopped. However it did not turn around, instead, its head slowly rotated 180 degrees to face back towards them, which was frankly very creepy.

“State query,” the metal pony said.

“Could you tell us where we are?” Twilight asked.

“You are currently located at: Sublevel 3, secondary entrance. You are standing on: floor panel 896308-AB,” the metal pony said. That wasn’t exactly helpful.

“No, I mean, this hole place! What is this place?” Twilight asked.

The metal pony made several clicking and whirring noises before answering. “This is the Everfree Plains Ballistic Research and Development Facility. EPMB.”

“What does EPMB stand for?” Twilight asked.

“Everfree Plains Ballistic Research and Development Facility,” the metal pony answered.

“The acronym doesn’t match...” Twilight said with a confused look on her face.

“I’m sorry. I did not understand your query. Please consult helpdesk with further queries,” the metal pony said. Its head turned back around the right way, and trotted off to its next task.

Twilight and Vinyl looked at each other in confusion, but decided to press on. The only way they were going to get answers was if they kept looking.

They continued down the hallway, taking it through several twists and turns until they found themselves rounding a corner, and nearly running headlong into another metal pony. This one was holding a bucket of red paint in one manipulator, and a paint brush in the other, it was painting a door that it was standing in front of. No, not painting, not exactly. More like writing. The metal pony was writing a message on the door.

The metal pony finished his task, and moved on without a word to either of them. Twilight and Vinyl looked at the door. Painted on in large red letters was a message: “Visitors! Please come in here!”

Twilight and Vinyl looked at it for a minute, and then at each other, with a small shrug, they made their way inside.

Inside the room was a large rectangle shaped machine, behind glass panes, spools of magnetic tape were rolling through the complex machine. There was a control console in front of it, a small display screen sitting on top of it, flashing slightly with an eerie green light.

One the console itself, however, there was a small flashing red light. Twilight and Vinyl Scratch approached it; next to the flashing light was a button. What was interesting about the button was that it had the words “Press Me” etched into them.

With a shrug, Twilight pushed it.

“Head Researcher’s Log, This is Doctor Emerald Sparkle reporting... if you’re listening to this... well then that means that this was all for something. By Gaia, I can only imagine how long it’s been for you... This probably doesn’t help you at all, but the date I’m recording this message is February 14th, year 4005 of Gaia’s reign. So... uh, welcome to EPMB, I guess...”

There was a sigh and a long pause on the recording, Twilight and Vinyl Scratch waited patiently for it to continue.

“Sorry... there’s just so much I want to say, but I don’t know where to start... Yes Doppler, you’re right I should have made an outline... Well here’s a good spot, there’s going to be more than one roll of data tape that you’ll have to listen to. I’ve got a lot to say. When I’m done, I’ll be sure to put this one back into the mainframe so that you’ll get the message in the right order. I’d hate for you to start out hearing instructions of what to do with the missile before you even know what that is. Well I’m getting ahead of myself, so I guess I should give you a little about me. I’m Emerald Sparkle. I’m the head researcher here at EPMB; I oversee... or well, oversaw, got to remember: past tense, every project that goes on here... I personally designed the Crusader IX Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, and worked on the development team for the Sunburst project... Gaia, that was almost 10 years ago... What? What do you mean Doppler? Oh right, you don’t know what either of those are! Okay, well... I’m really hoping you have some idea what an atom is, because my explanation hinges on it. Have you ever wondered what would happen if an atom were to split? Well I’ll tell you, it releases a lot of energy. The Sunburst project was to develop this concept into a weapon. It worked beyond our wildest dreams! We tested several prototype warheads in the Hoofson bay, and the resulting explosion was both beautiful and terrifying at the same time. The mushroom cloud lasted for days... and I’m running out of tape. Listen. I’ve got to hide the tapes, because if I don’t those stupid robots will pick them up and recycle them. I’m going to hide the next tape underneath the bottom drawer of the desk at the opposite end of the room. Listen to it, and you’ll get the next part of the message. I’m also going to reprogram one of the maintenance robots to paint a message on the door to this room... You’ll have already found your way in here by then, but in case you were wondering why it was doing that, well now you know the reason why it was doing it... one final request. Please don’t break anything, be gentle with the equipment! Who knows how old it will be by the time somepony actually listens to it.”

The message ended after that. Twilight and Vinyl looked at each other in confusion. They’d been hoping for answers. Now all they had were more questions.

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

“Data tape reel two, this is Doctor Emerald Sparkle again. If you’ve discovered this reel, then you’ll have listened to the instructions on the previous reel. So, now where was I? Thank you Doppler, nuclear weapons, if I’m to guess what the world is like now, you’ve never heard of nuclear weapons before now, and by my description of them, they sound terrible. I’m not going to lie, they are. Nuclear weapons release energy as ionising radiation. That radiation does nasty things to a pony. When we tested the first bomb, we had no idea what it was going to be like afterwards, nopony did. Some of the project members went out to the blast crater to inspect their handy work. They’re all dead now... I mean from my point of view. From your point of view, I’ve been long dead. Dear Gaia, that’s a scary thought.... Thank you Doppler, I’ll try to keep on track. Oh! I haven’t introduced you to Doppler! Doppler is a handy little program that sits inside the Mainframe. I’m sure you’ve met some of the complexes’ robots. Doppler is kind of like them... except, oh what’s a word to use? Not as stupid. We’ll go with that. Don’t get me wrong, the robots aren’t exactly stupid, their programming is just simple, they’re meant for menial tasks like cleaning the floors, changing a light bulb, we don’t need rocket scientists to do that! I should know, I am one! A rocket scientist I mean. Yes Doppler, I know data tape is expensive, but it’s not going to matter considering that EPMB won’t be buying anymore...”

Vinyl Scratch stopped the recording for a moment, and looked over at Twilight, grinning like a madmare. “You know? This egghead we’re listening to reminds me a lot of you... I bet she had the sexy nerd thing going for her as well.”

Twilight Sparkle looked at her friend with disdain, rather than responding to it, she just rolled her eyes and giving her a look that told her to play the tape.

“... won’t be buying anymore. So... that’s nuclear weapons. Don’t get me wrong! Yes, I worked on the weapon, but weapons were only the first step! No. My real goal was nuclear power. Generate electricity for ordinary regular ponies. After all, it releases energy when you split an atom, that energy can be used to better the lives of everypony in Equestria! Or at least, that’s what I was hoping for. Not going to happen now since that bitch decided that everything needed to go. This Princess Celestia... she’s going to be the death of ponykind. I’ve probably just lost you. Uh... well, there’s kind of a lot of history, and it would take fifteen data tape reels for me to tell you the story. Listen: I’m running out of tape on this reel. Tell you what, I’m going to give you access to my system account; you’ll be able to access it from any terminal in the complex. Please, please please PLEASE! Do not lock it out! If you do, all of Equestria’s history will be lost to you forever. The user name is ESpark.0012, the password is lemonlime123. Don’t ask; I’m not alive to tell you. Look through the history files, fill yourself in on what happened, and when you’re ready, the next data tape reel is hidden in the air vent on the far side of the room. Fair bit of warning: you may not like what you read.”

Vinyl Scratch looked at her friend and gave her a small shrug. “I think we’re going to have to save that for later, Sun’s about to come up. Last thing I want is for Scootaloo to wake up and freak out when nopony is home.”

“How do you know what time it is? You’re freaky spatial senses tell you that too?” Twilight asked.

“Of course not! That would be silly,” Vinyl said with a grin, holding back on her explanation for thirty seconds for comedic effect. She opened her saddlebags and levitated out a small pocket watch on a chain. “One of the few things my father ever did for me was telling me this: ‘never leave home without a timepiece.’”

“Do you have to be the oddball right now Vinyl?” Twilight asked with a sigh.

“Yes. If I don’t I’ll go insane,” Vinyl said, her voice filled with seriousness.

“What do you mean by ‘go’?” Twilight asked, a small smirk forming on her face.

Vinyl grinned back at her. “I will have you know! I have lived the last fortnight with perfect sanity... though it might be time to change that.”

Twilight giggled slightly as they walked out. Vinyl smiled back. Laughter, along with time, heals all wounds.

...

It was eight o’clock by the time they made their way back into Ponyville. Trooper Willoughby and Corporal McNair were washing the Lord Stuart, parked just across the northern bridge.

“Hey! Benny-boy and Driver Steve! How’s it going?” Vinyl asked, causing both kangaroos to groan at Vinyl’s nicknames for them. “Aw come on!”

“Early morning stroll in the woods, ladies?” Willoughby asked, shrugging off Vinyl’s use of his given name, which he disliked for reasons unknown to the mares.

“Oh you know, just trying to keep the mind off the obvious,” Twilight said.

Both Willoughby and McNair frowned. Rainbow Dash had been their friend too.

“Hard to believe she’s gone,” Willoughby said. “Don’t suppose you’ve gotten funeral arrangement’s set up? Lef-tenant Tebbs wants her buried with full military honours.”

“No... not yet,” Twilight said. “Tell him that I’ll let him know when I do, and we appreciate it.”

Twilight and Vinyl bid their goodbyes to the kangaroos, and walked back off towards Vinyl’s house. Twilight looked as if she was about to cry.

“Vinyl I hadn’t even thought about it,” Twilight said, trying to hold back the tears.

“I think Rainbow Dash would understand, she wouldn’t want to think about it either,” Vinyl said, trying to console the grieving pony.

Vinyl unlocked the door to her home and they stepped inside.

“Scootaloo? You awake?” Vinyl called out.

“Scootaloo ain’t here,” said a familiar voice from the main room.

Twilight and Vinyl froze in terror. It was Applejack.

“What have you done with Scootaloo?” Vinyl cried out.

“Scootaloo’s fine, Ah didn’ lay a hoof on her.” Applejack said, her unnatural blood red eyes glowing at them in the darkness of the unlit room.

“Applejack... you told me the last time you were here that if you had to come back here that I’d regret it, but I did what you asked!” Twilight said. “We went to EPMB! We went inside!”

“Relax Twi’ Ah ain’t ‘ere ta hurt nopony. Ah know what Ah said, but things change. Overdrive’s felt that yer gonna need somepony ta watch over ya while ya work,” Applejack said.

“So what? You’re going to be looming over us as the ever present eye of totalitarianism?” Vinyl asked.

“Me? Nah, Overdrive don’t want to have to watch over the one doin’ the watchin’ it ain’t a good use of time. Time is somethin’ we’re all runnin’ short of,” Applejack said. “Here is what ya’ll need ta know: There are three kinds o’ ponies that serve Overdrive, ones he controls directly, ones that think they’re in control, and ones that serve him willingly. Ah’m an example of the first, Pinkie Pie’s an example o’ the second... The one that’s gonna be watchin’ ya’ll is an example o’ the third... She’s around here somewheres...”

Vinyl looked around the room and noticed something that had not been there before. It was a large cardboard box. The box snapped open, and out of it burst a white coated Pegasus pony with a bright yellow mane and a cutie mark of three purple balloons.

“SURPRISE!” the Pegasus called as she leapt from the box and tackled Vinyl and Twilight to the ground.

The Pegasus was not one that they were familiar with, but as they looked into her eyes, they discovered that they too, were Blood Red.

“Hi! I’m Surprise!” the Pegasus said. “And we’re gonna be the bestest friends EVER! Whether you like it nor not!”

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Surprise was friendly enough on the exterior, however, as Twilight and Vinyl Scratch walked through Whitetail Wood, this didn’t feel like a walk though, this felt like a forced march. Twilight and Vinyl were reminded of the Hoofson Bay, when Gilda had marched them some fifty odd kilometres; Vinyl had carried an unconscious Rainbow Dash on her back without complaint.

This felt like that.

Twilight looked back at Surprise; the Pegasus was humming to herself as she flapped along behind them, her blood red eyes darting every which way.

“Surprise?” Twilight asked of her. The Pegasus turned and looked at Twilight with a bright, yet disconcerting, smile.

“Yessss?” she asked.

“Well, I was just wondering... if we’re going to be... friends, now and all, if we could know a little more about you?” Twilight asked, hesitantly.

“Of course! Wow, it’s been a super long time since anypony wanted to know about me! Hmm... Now where to start? We’ve got a good walk ahead of us to EPMB, and their so much to go over...” Surprise began, her voice trailing off slightly.

“You know about EPMB?” Twilight asked in surprise, though she felt silly for asking that afterwards, Surprise worked for Overdrive.

“Uh duh!” Surprise cried out. “When I was a filly, all anypony ever talked about on the wireless was EPMB! EPMB did this, and EPMB did that... BORING!”

“When you were a filly?” Vinyl Scratch asked, she and Twilight looked at each other, EPMB had to have been abandoned for hundreds of years.

“Surprise... how old are you?” Twilight asked.

“Hmm...” Surprise said, tapping her muzzle in thought. “I am one thousand, one hundred and eighty seven years old! By the Gaian calendar, not the stupid one you use today!”

Twilight and Vinyl’s mouths dropped open.

“Why are you surprised?” Surprise asked. “Such rewards are possible when you serve the Paragon! I’ve dedicated my life to him! And as a reward, he gave me the ability to serve him forever!”

Surprise smiled brightly at the two mares, causing them to recoil slightly in uneasiness, Surprise was too busy thinking about Overdrive to notice.

“He could have given you gifts too if you hadn’t screwed up so bad!” Surprise said. “OH! And just so you know, we might be friends now, but if you even so much as think of betraying the paragon, I’ll cut open your stomachs and hang you from EPMB’s ceiling by your intestines! Then I’ll take your heads and stick them on pikes as a warning to everypony in Equestria!”

Surprise leaned in close to them. “Don’t worry though, if it comes to that, I’ll make sure you’re making silly faces!” she whispered.

Now Twilight and Vinyl were deeply afraid. Surprise was insane, and she was devoted. One wrong move and she’d kill them both in a heartbeat.

“I was so happy when the Paragon contacted me after all these years! Those stupid cultists sealed him away from me! I was so sad when they did! I spent most of my life stalking the Ulhan family making sure nothing happened to my master... then Montana gave me the slip! He put in his notes that he was going to Fillydelphia, I figured out he was going there and I beat him there. I was so disappointed when he never showed up! Imagine my surprise when I learned that he’d met his end in Ponyville! Releasing my master on the world! Nopony has surprised Surprise in a very long time!” Surprise said.

Twilight didn’t want to listen to Surprise anymore, the Pegasus frightened her more than Overdrive or the Siblings Nightmare ever had, likewise, she didn’t want to miss anything, in case Surprise gave away something important, some little bit of knowledge that they would need in the future.

Surprise continued to ramble, continuing to praise Overdrive until they reached the caves. They went down and arrived at the door. Twilight pushed the button to open it up and covered her ears instinctively.

Surprise ushered them into the mainframe room and sat them down in front of the terminal. Twilight, after taking a few moments to get familiar with the keyboard, used her magic to log into Doctor Emerald Sparkle’s account.

They were instantly routed to the history files, Twilight assumed that this was the work of Doppler, the program that had been described to them in the last data reel.

A history of the Kingdom of Equestria: condensed.

Prepared by Doctor Emerald Sparkle for any who would read it.

Nearly 4000 years ago, Equestria was founded by the beloved Queen Gaia, and her mate King Aether. Equestria was governed by Gaia’s divine wisdom... for a time. Faith in their Queen could only give equestrians so much, and as such, society transitioned away from theology and towards the pursuit of science and knowledge, not only with the fair Queen’s allowance, but her encouragement. Research in to all sorts of subjects, chemistry, geology, medicine. Anything that you could think of, someone was working on it, and if somepony wasn’t, then you’d do it yourself.

Equestrians were peaceful by nature, but that did not stop us from creating weapons, sword, shield, gunpowder, nitro-glycerine, the atomic bomb. Nothing would stop equestrians in their thirst for knowledge.

Except them, the Children of Gaia were not thrilled with the way that their mother let things happen. Her four children, Sun, Moon, Order, Chaos, could not sit idly by and allow things to happen as their mother did. Each of them looked out into Equestria and saw something different.

Order’s vision for Equestria was not one of science and progress, rather one of slavery to the royal family; he would rule Equestria with an iron hoof, exerting his will upon the entire populace.

Chaos looked out into the world beyond Equestria, and he wanted it for himself, he would wish to send Equestria’s armies to conquer the gryphons of the north and the Cossacks in the east. Destroying the weak and insuring that the strong would survive.

Moon, perhaps, had the ponies of Equestria’s best interests at heart, she wished for progress to continue, albeit in a more peaceful line. She wished for Equestria to be a republic, where anypony had a voice, and not just the unicorn aristocracy.

It would be Sun, however who made the move. She wished for Equestria to forget it’s hard won, and dangerous, knowledge and return to a simpler time, where the ponies of Equestria would focus on magic instead of science. Late one evening, Sun struck her mother down, destroying her with ancient magicks too terrible to speak of. Sun’s actions enraged her father King Aether, turning him into a terrible creature, the Draconequus, Discord.

Discord; however proved to be more than a match for Sun, she should not defeat him alone. She turned to her siblings, and asked for their aid.

They refused, appalled at her for what they did to their mother, and refused to speak to her ever again. Even her younger sister, Moon, whom she was the closest.

Moon’s refusal hit Sun hard, and she resorted again to the terrible magicks, using them to modify her sister’s memory, forcing her to take her side.

That day, Sun and Moon ceased to exist. They took up new names. Celestia, and Luna, and united against Discord, using their combined power to seal Discord inside a stone prison.

Celestia and Luna then turned their attention to their brothers. Order and Chaos needed to be removed in order to install Celestia’s vision of a new Equestria. Ironically, they did not need to lift a hoof against them. Order and Chaos had long been enemies; cults had sprung around both of them. The Cult of Chaos would strike first, luring Order into a trap and sealing him away inside one of their leaders, and soon afterwards, Chaos himself disappeared without a trace.

Without the leadership of the god-like ponies in which they followed, the cults eventually fizzled out, where history is sure to forget of them entirely.

Twilight and Vinyl came to the end, it felt like there should have been more, but no, that was it.

“Surprise? Do you remember when this all happened?” Twilight asked.

“Uh yeah! I was there! Hello!” Surprise said. “It was around the time when the paragon made me his immortal servant! I was so happy when he did! It was amazing! Dumb old Celestia ordered everypony to destroy all their technology. Obviously, Doctor Sparkle didn’t listen! That naughty mare! How dare she disobey an order? Even if it was made by dumb old Celestia! She was in charge!”

“Are you saying that if Princess Celestia ordered you to do something... you’d do it?” Twilight asked hopefully, an idea popping into her head.

“Uh NO! My master is free from his prison! He’s the highest authority in Equestria, not her! Even if nopony knows it!” Surprise said.

Twilight frowned, that wasn’t quite the answer that she had been hoping for.

“Hey! Turn that frown upside down!” Surprise said grinning widely, which made the mare’s skin crawl. “We got data tape reels to listen to!”

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The nightly pony walked his rounds though the poorer districts of Canterlot, as he did each night. The pitch black unicorn with amber eyes had been unlucky in today’s venture; nopony needed his help today, disappointing the unicorn stallion greatly.

Nightly’s eyes darted around the street, looking for any bit of litter he could pick up and turn in for scrap, already picked clean, as usual. He didn’t complain; there were other ponies that deserved it more than he. Nightly was essentially the poorer districts mascot, he was their helper, their confidant, and while the ponies weren’t well off, they made sure he was well looked after.

These weren’t handouts of course, Nightly wouldn’t take handouts. Ever. He insisted that he worked for whatever he could get; of course, there was plenty of work to be done.

There was something different about tonight, though. Some new figure that did not belong here. It was a doctor. Nightly knew he was a doctor by the white medical coat that he wore. He was walking down the street in the direction of the Royal Hospital... made sense, he was a doctor after all.

Though there was something odd about this doctor, for one thing, if not for the white coat, Nightly might not have even seen him at all, his coat and mane matched his own... and there was something familiar about him, but Nightly couldn’t place it. After a small debate, he decided to investigate, he followed the doctor pony, keeping back far enough, making it seem like he wasn’t following him. This was a rougher area of town, Nightly didn’t want to scare the doctor pony.

Sure enough, the doctor pony made his way to the Royal Hospital, and what was even odder was that there was another doctor pony standing just outside, almost identical to the first one, except this one had wings.

The Pegasus doctor wandered out of the Royal Hospital, looking extremely confused, as if he was being drawn to something. Nightly felt like he was being drawn to this spot as well, and if he had to guess, so had the earth pony doctor who he’d followed.

Against his better judgement, Nightly walked up to the other two. They all approached each other, looking the others gathering around. They were familiar, but they each had trouble placing it.

And then it hit them.

“I remember you,” they all said simultaneously.

Their memories flooded back to them. He was not Nightly, he was Nightshadow.

“My brothers!” Nightcaller cried out in relief. “We’ve been apart far too long, my brothers.”

“Indeed we have,” Nightshadow said. “We’ve got much to catch up on... and much to do.”

“I have excellent news for you my brothers. You would not believe who is lying in a hospital bed under my care?” Nightsinger said with a grin. “None other than our dear sister!”

“That is most fortunate!” Nightcaller said. “Come brothers, let’s pay her a visit!”

That night became the record for coldest for the season, and for good reason, The Siblings Nightmare had returned.

...

Twilight had located the third data reel, and inserted it for playback; the three mares sat down on the metal floor and readied themselves to listen to it.

“I should have made Popcorn!” Surprise called out.

Twilight and Vinyl did their best to ignore her, as she had decided to sit uncomfortably close to the two of them.

“Data tape reel three, this is Doctor Emerald Sparkle... oh you know who I am. Let’s get down to important business then. You know, or at least, should know, that the restructure of government into the Principality of Equestria mandated changes. Princess Celestia ordered that all electronic technologies be destroyed. Factories to be disassembled, things like that. Simple mechanical devices, like a clock, are fine. Anything with a thermionic valve has got to go... stupid bitch. Yes! Let’s completely undo every major technological advancement we’ve made in the last hundred years! That’s a wonderful Idea. Do I sound bitter? Good. I am bitter. Fortunately... I cheated! Rather than complying, I programmed a virus to delete every reference to EPMB on external networks. I cut the hard lines that connect us to the other installations, everypony doesn’t trust their own computers anymore, and we stopped keeping paper records nearly a thousand years ago, so they’re not going to bother coming out here to check. EPMB is safe... and even if somepony does. I’ve collapsed the tunnel to the front entrance to the base. Very few know about the back way in, so we’re fine. I’ll just finish up these tapes, and then pop out the back door and nopony will ever be wiser. ‘Oh Emerald Sparkle! You’re so brilliant!’ Thank you, thank you, I know! No, I’m only joking. Anyway, the missile! I’m sure you’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the missile. Don’t worry. It’s not going anywhere, I personally disassembled the thrust control modules for the missile’s boosters, it can’t take off without them... wasn’t able to disable the warhead though. It’s up too high and I could never reach it. Anypony who knows how would be able to turn it on... but I don’t think that’s something you, dear listeners, will ever have to worry about. After all, who knows how far ahead in the future you are? Everypony that knows how to arm a nuclear bomb will have been dead for hundreds, or maybe even thousands of years! Anyway, the missile is fine. Don’t worry about it. It’s no more dangerous than an immovable hunk of metal at this point... actually, that’s exactly what it is. Moving on! Now, here’s what you need to do. All our scientific data is on the mainframe. Use it. Make Equestria the place it was supposed to be... for me, for you. Please. I... hey? What’s that sound?”

On the recording, there was a loud banging noise, followed by a loud crash, a revving of a chainsaw, and a new voice on the recording.

“SURPRISE!”

“No! Wait... what are you doing? Stay back! Please! No! I’M PREGNANT!”

The last they heard of Emerald Sparkle was the chainsaw revving, along with the scientists screams of terror and pain. Twilight and Vinyl shuddered with horror as they listened.

And then silence.

“Let this be a lesson to you,” said the voice of Surprise on the recording. “Never disobey.”

Twilight and Vinyl looked back at Surprise in horror, she on the other hoof was grinning, quite pleased with herself.

“I totally remember that now! That was so much fun!” Surprise said. “Red is a very good colour for this room! It’s too bad the robots painted it back this ugly grey colour.”

Twilight and Vinyl swallowed hard. They were in a full on panic. They were locked in the mainframe room with a murderer, and what was worse, she saw it as if it was all a game.

“So...” Twilight asked nervously. “What do we do now?”

“Isn’t it obvious?!” Surprise asked, with a huge, sadistic looking smile on her face. “We’re going to set off the bomb!”

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Twilight and Vinyl Scratch blinked, as if they were trying to process what Surprise meant. They hoped, they hoped harder than they ever hoped before that “set off the bomb” was going to be a metaphor, and when they realised that it wasn’t, made them fear the insane pegasi more than they already had.

“What?” Twilight asked, in disbelief, causing Surprise to frown. Neither mare thought it was possible, but Surprise’s frown was twice as disconcerting as her smile.

“You heard me,” Surprise said dangerously, her voice was filled with annoyance and contempt for her new “friends.” Her face turned to a smile. “Not today though, noooo... I think we’ve done enough for today! You two can go on home and get a goodnight sleep! Just remember, I’ll be watching you...”

Surprise leaned in close and uttered a single word in a hoarse whisper. “...forever!”

Twilight and Vinyl needed no encouragement to leave, they turned tail and walked as quickly as they could out of EPMB without breaking into a full on run. They opened the steel door and the moment they were outside, burst into a full out sprint, not stopping until they were safely inside Vinyl’s home, door dead bolted behind them.

Both mares collapsed onto the floor, breathing heavily. Twilight looked at her friend and wrapped her forelegs around her in an embrace.

“Vinyl! I am so scared right now!” Twilight said hysterically, she looked as if she was going to burst out into tears.

Vinyl hugged her back, trying to console her friend, but soon she found herself breaking down too. They had no way of preparing themselves against somepony like Surprise.

“Vinyl? What’s going on?”

Vinyl looked up to see the orange Pegasus filly in which she lived with looking terribly confused as she watched them.

“Scootaloo!” Vinyl said as she released Twilight and threw herself around Scootaloo, giving the filly a hug of relief.

To Vinyl’s disappointment, Scootaloo wormed her way out of the embrace. “Don’t touch me,” she said, backing away from the off-white unicorn mare, who sat on the floor, about to burst into tears. She understood why Scootaloo couldn’t be affectionate with her right now, but it hurt nonetheless.

Scootaloo went back into her room, closing the door behind her, leaving Twilight and Vinyl alone.

“I think we should try and go to sleep,” Twilight said. “Maybe... maybe things will be better in the morning.”

The mares looked at each other, and knew that it was a flat out lie.

...

Somepony was kissing her. Vinyl Scratch opened her eyes; she was lying on her back on her sofa. Surprise was lying on top of her, gently kissing her lips every few seconds, sensually running her hooves down Vinyl’s flanks.

Vinyl Scratch wanted to leap out of her skin.

“Hi,” Surprise said seductively. “Has anypony ever told you that you taste yummy?”

As a matter of fact, they had, and now it was creeping Vinyl out far more.

“Surprise... what are you doing?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Surprise asked coyly, she kissed Vinyl’s lips again, and then her neck, and continuing to move down, all the way down.

“Surprise!” Vinyl breathed heavily.

“Don’t you think I’m pretty, Vinyl?” Surprise asked. “I think you are!”

Surprise began to stroke the inside of Vinyl’s legs, causing the mare to gasp in pleasure.

“Don’t you want me?” Surprise asked.

“I... I...” Vinyl stammered she was torn; it was Surprise, after all. The Pegasus pony that they’d learned that a thousand years ago, she murdered a pregnant mare with a chainsaw, on the other hoof; Vinyl was so turned on right now.

“Too late!” Surprise called out. “Had your chance! You blew it!”

Surprise got up from on top of Vinyl and trotted out of her house. Giggling sadistically as she went. Vinyl was all worked up now; there would be no sleeping for the mare tonight.

That had probably been Surprise’s plan. Exhausting them to minimalise resistance, but Vinyl wasn’t concerned with that, she was extremely horny, and all her mind could focus on was a release. Her eyes darted around the room, happening to fall upon the door to Scootaloo’s room, filling the mare’s mind with ideas.

NO! Vinyl did her best to shake the ideas from her mind, which were wrong on so many different levels. The idea popped into her head that she might need to tie herself up to keep her from going and acting on them. Poor line of thought, it turned her on even more.

Vinyl’s mind was ripping itself to pieces. Conflicting ideas swirled though her head to how best deal with the situation. She rose to her hooves and quickly exited her house before she convinced herself that molesting either Scootaloo or Twilight was a good idea.

Vinyl heard giggling behind her as she went outside. Surprise was lying on the roof, laughing at her.

“Oh this is so much fun!” Surprise said. “I should have tried this earlier!”

Vinyl wanted to murder the Pegasus for that. She had just slipped her magic around the handle of her revolver when Surprise leapt from the rooftop and darted towards her, tackling her to the ground.

“Hellllo? Who do you think you’re dealing with here?” Surprise asked. “Not that it matters, shoot me, stab me, do whatever you want. I’ll just get right back up!”

Surprise grinned widely at the unicorn beneath her. “You can’t kill me!” she sung. Surprise rose to her hooves and leapt into the air flying off to who knows where.

Vinyl got up and walked off to find a place to be by herself. She had things to take care of.

...

Scootaloo awoke to the sound of hooves trotting around on the roof. She got up from bed and went to look out the window. There was nothing at first, Scootaloo opened the window and looked out it.

“SURPRISE!” cried a white Pegasus who stuck her head in through the window from her perch on the roof.

Scootaloo cried out in surprise and tumbled backwards.

Surprise giggled at the filly. “Ha ha! Gotcha!”

Scootaloo was not amused by the Pegasus. “Who are you?” she asked.

“I’m Surprise!” the Pegasus replied in a chipper voice.

“Go away,” Scootaloo said. “Leave me alone!”

Surprise frowned at the filly. “Somepony is being a party pooper! I don’t like party poopers!”

“I don’t care,” Scootaloo said crawling back into her bed and pulling the covers over her head.

Surprise ripped them back off Scootaloo, who looked at the Pegasus in annoyance. “Get out of my room before I tell an adult!”

“Like who? Vinyl Scratch? She’s not here! Go look!” Surprise said.

Scootaloo grumbled, intending to show the Pegasus up, she rose from the bed and opened the door, looking out into the main room; Vinyl wasn’t lying on the sofa like she was supposed to be.

“What?” Scootaloo asked in surprise. “Where... where did she go?”

“I saw her walking towards the edge of town!” Surprise said. “She left you.”

“What?” Scootaloo asked, looking at Surprise in disbelief. Tears were forming in the filly’s eyes. “Why... why would she do that?”

“‘Cause she doesn’t love you, duh!” Surprise said. “She said: ‘Scootaloo is such a loser! I’m way too cool for her and her party pooper butt.’”

“I... I...” Scootaloo said, she started to cry. Vinyl had abandoned her just like her parents had. She was alone again.

Scootaloo was sobbing now, she ran back into her room, packed her saddlebags with the few positions that she had and climbed out the window. Bound for the CMC clubhouse where she could be with the only pony she could depend on, herself.

Surprise had to cover her mouth to keep herself from bursting into full out laughter. “Oh such a fun little game!” she said to herself, smiling brightly with accomplishment. Surprise eyed the other bedroom where Twilight was sleeping; she quietly snuck in and crawled into the bed, moving under the sheets to the foot of the bed, and began stroking Twilight intimately. She began to stir.

“Oh... Rainbow...” Twilight murmured in her sleep. Surprise picked up the pace. Twilight’s leg began to twitch. Getting bored, Surprise poked her hard in the stomach, causing her to awaken.

“Huh? What?” Twilight said sleepily.

“SURPRISE!” Surprise yelled bursting through the covers and throwing them on the floor.

Twilight screamed loudly, lights from the other houses nearby began to click on one by one. Twilight abandoned her bed and scampered out of the house, continuing to scream as she ran. Waking up the entire town and sending the full contingent of kangaroo soldiers into the streets.

Surprise, however, just sat back laughing. Her sides were beginning to ache.

“Best! Pranks! Ever!” Surprise managed between wheezes.

Oh how much fun she was going to have with this little town.

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Twilight stopped running; she was at the outskirts of town, near the cottage that was formerly occupied by Fluttershy. She was breathing heavily, and she slumped to the ground in exhaustion. Not only physical, but mentally as well, there may not have been any penetration involved, but what Surprise had done was still rape. She felt horribly violated; tears were streaming from the unicorn’s eyes.

“Who’s there?” called out a voice from the other side of the large tree that Twilight had stopped in front of.

“Vinyl? Is that you?” Twilight asked.

“Twilight?” Vinyl asked back. “Twilight! Listen to me! Whatever you do... don’t come around to the other side of this tree. Please.”

“Did... did Surprise do something to you too?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah... yeah she did,” Vinyl said. “I... I don’t want to talk about it.”

Vinyl Scratch was lying back against the tree, she too, was breathing heavily, but for reasons far different than Twilight’s. Pleasuring herself wasn’t out of the ordinary for her by any means, she was however, ashamed by the thoughts that she’d had at home. Had she not left to take care of this, she might have acted on them, she’d have been no better than Surprise.

“What are we going to do Vinyl?” Twilight asked, she was sobbing heavily.

“I... I don’t know,” Vinyl said.

Surprise had accomplished her goal. She had broken the two mares will.

Vinyl had finished her deed, feeling dirty and ashamed when the line of thought entered her mind.

She was here. Twilight was here. Scootaloo was home alone. There was nopony in Surprise’s way to do whatever she wanted to Scootaloo. Vinyl began to panic; she needed to get home, fast.

...

Scootaloo was lying in her bedroll in the Cutie Mark Crusader clubhouse, crying her eyes out. She had never felt so alone in her entire life, it stung the filly horribly, just as much, and if not more than the death of Rainbow Dash had.

Scootaloo heard hooves on the ramp outside. She looked up to discover the Pegasus who had told her about her abandonment peering in through the window.

“Hi!” Surprise said with a smile. She climbed inside the window, completely ignoring the fact that the door was mere centimetres from it. “You look like you could use some cheering up!”

“I don’t want to... just go away, leave me alone,” Scootaloo said, rolling over and closing her eyes.

“Aww! Come on! I promise you’ll feel better! We don’t need mean old Vinyl Scratch!” Surprise said.

Scootaloo flinched at the mention of Vinyl’s name; Surprise took notice and placed a hoof on Scootaloo’s shoulder.

“Come on! You don’t want to be sad! I can make you feel so much better!” Surprise said with a smile.

Scootaloo turned her head and looked at Surprise. “Why do you want to help me?”

“Because I like Smiles! Smiles make the world go ‘round!” Surprise said smiling brightly, not adding that she believed that the Paragon of Order that she held so dear caused the world to rotate, which only made it look like that the sun actually rose in the sky, when in actuality it stayed exactly in the same place all the time.

Scootaloo offered the mare a faint smile. “Okay...”

Surprise’s smile got wider, which Scootaloo didn’t think was even possible until she was looking upon it.

“You’re going to love this... I promise!”

...

The three pitch black ponies marched their way through the deserted hospital corridor. They had business to attend to. They opened the door to their sister’s room and stepped inside.

Tia looked up from her bed, where she was lying awake. “Doctor Nightsinger?”

Nightsinger smirked at his sister as she lay in bed. The irony of the situation was lovely. Their sister was nothing more than a small defenceless filly. With the exception of her natural form she was not a threat in the slightest.

Even then it was something they could prepare for.

“Good evening, dear sister.”

“Sister?” Tia asked in confusion. “But... we’re not related!”

“Oh... you wish we weren’t, you’ve wished for that every day since you banished us and Luna to the moon,” Nightcaller said.

“Huh?” Tia asked. “I never did anything like that! I don’t know how!”

“Time to remember!” Nightshadow said.

The three ponies formed into the Black Smoke, and leapt on top of the filly. She tried to scream, but only silence came out.

Tia struggled to breath, inhaling only brought smoke into her lungs, she was slowly suffocating, and when the pain became too much to handle, she broke. Her eyes began to shine. Much of the pink in her mane began to fade, being replaced by green and blue as it had in her adult form. She wanted to scream, but opening her mouth just pulled more smoke into her lungs.

A bright light began to form around Tia, enveloping the filly completely. The Black Smoke had done its job; it pulled back and allowed what they had created to continue.

The Light shone brightly for nearly a minute, and then it began to fade.

Tia was no longer sitting in the hospital bed. She’d been replaced.

“Ohh... my head hurts...”

Princess Celestia clutched her head with a hoof. The sight of her hoof startled her greatly. She was no longer a filly. Her memories came flooding back, and she looked to the cloud of Black Smoke hovering before her.

“You!” she spat angrily at it.

The cloud reformed into the trio, who stood smiling proudly at their work.

“Welcome back, Your Highness,” Nightcaller said, he and the other Siblings Nightmare bowed before their sister, not out of respect, but rather mocking her.

“I would strike you all down right here and right now if I could!” Celestia said, gritting her teeth in anger.

“Yes, sister, I am sure you would, this is why there are rules,” Nightcaller said, completely indifferent to his sister’s scorn. “I think... however you have more important things to worry about. A certain lunar pony, maybe?”

“You three and your brother lost the right to call me sister after what you did,” Celestia said. “I will deal with Luna in due time.”

“What we did? What we did was inconsequential. You planted the seeds for Nightmare Moon when you stole Luna’s memories from her, and you are the one who has to live with that for the rest of eternity,” Nightsinger said.

“As for our dearest brother, he no longer matters,” Nightshadow said simply. “He lost his only way of winning.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow . “What do you mean?”

“Go to Ponyville. Look for yourself,” Nightcaller said. The Siblings Nightmare gave their sister another mocking bow, and reformed into the Black Smoke, sliding through the cracks of the ventilation system. They had other things that needed doing, and not a lot of time to do them.

Celestia pondered the Siblings statement for a time; she decided that she would do just that. She rose from the bed and closed her eyes. Her body began to change, this time, instead of a cloud of white smoke as she ordinarily would have done; she changed into a white coated Pegasus with a pink mane. She opened the window and took flight; she’d be in Ponyville in no time at all.

...

Twilight and Vinyl burst into house at full speed.

“Scootaloo?” Vinyl called out, dashing into the filly’s room and discovering that she wasn’t there. The window was open, and all of Scootaloo’s bed sheets had been tied together and were hanging out the window.

“Oh no,” Vinyl said, she was beginning to panic; Scootaloo could be anywhere at this point.

“She’s not here!” Twilight said as she trotted into the room.

“I know...” Vinyl said. “She went out the window... where would she go?”

Vinyl looked out the window; it was facing west, towards the Everfree forest... and Sweet Apple Acres.

That was it. The Cutie Mark Crusader club house! That was where she would go!

“Come on! I know where to go now!” Vinyl said. She ran out of the house with Twilight close behind her. She only hoped that she wasn’t too late.

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The commotion had sent nearly everypony into the streets. Derpy Hooves rubbed her eyes sleepily, it was still the middle of the night and she had to be up for work in three hours. The town had become quite loud, and several Police Ponies and Kangaroo Soldiers were arguing with each other several metres down the road.

“Detective Chief Inspector Clockwork. My jacks and I aren’t trying to get in your way, but you’re making it near impossible when one of my soldiers can’t go to the dunnies without getting stopped by one of your constables trying to cite him for something!” Captain Blackthorn said.

DCI Clockwork was furious with the accusation. “And for good reason! Your “jacks” have done nothing but try and usurp the role of emergency services! Driving tanks recklessly through town, through Canterlot! Discharging firearms within town limits, you all are nothing but trouble."

"Yes. Nothing but trouble," Blackthorn snarled back. "We've certainly done nothing positive for you and this town... Like fight a gryphon mechanised infantry battalion that invaded the town? Were it up to you to defend, you and your constables would have turned tail and ran."

"How dare you!" DCI Clockwork cried back.

Derpy lost interest at this point. Public arguments between Blackthorn and Clockwork were commonplace, and they were lucky that it never evolved passed the screaming match.

"Excuse me? Could you tell me what's going on?"

Derpy turned and discovered a White Pegasus mare with a pink mane had trotted up to her.

"I don't really know. There was some kind of commotion. I heard screaming, but I didn't actually see anything," Derpy said apologetically.

"That's all right," the other Pegasus said.

"I don't think I've seen you in town before, I'm Derpy Hooves!" Derpy said cheerfully.

"I'm..." the mare began to say, but her voice trailed off as if she didn't know what to say.”Sunshine, I'm Sunshine."

Derpy noted that the mare's behaviour was a little... off, but regardless she smiled at her and offered her hoof for a shake. "It’s very nice to meet you Sunshine."

Sunshine took the hoof and shook back. "Nice to meet you, Derpy, I just got to town, like a moment ago. So I've got a lot to take care of..."

"I understand," Derpy said with a smile, and with that, Sunshine walked off.

Derpy was far cleverer than she let on. She knew that this "Sunshine" pony wasn't who she claimed to be, and she intended to figure out the truth.

...

"Sunshine" trotted around the corner and out of Derpy's direct view. So far, Princess Celestia was unsure if she'd been convincing enough. According to things she'd heard from town on prior visits, Derpy Hooves was the town's dim-witted postal delivery mare. She would probably be fine, but regardless, she glanced over her shoulders every so often to make sure that she wasn't being followed. Celestia arrived in front of the Library, she slipped under the police caution tape and opened the door, making her way inside, quietly shutting the door behind her. The princess shed her disguise, appearing in her normal Alicorn form.

Celestia scanned the room, noting the dried blood that covered the floor. She hadn't been gone from Ponyville for more than a few days. What had happened while she was gone?

She trotted over to Twilight's desk, and began looking through the papers on the desk. Many of them were just blank pages. There was one that caught her eye, she lifted it up and gave it a look. The page was mostly bare, with only a single, messy looking, word on it.

"Surprise?" Celestia read aloud.

"SURPRISE!" cried a voice from behind her. Celestia jumped and turned around to face it. Standing behind her was two pegasi, who had popped out from a cardboard box that Celestia had not taken notice of before now.

She recognised one of them as Scootaloo. But the other one she did not know.

"Aw, you're not Twilight and Vinyl!" the red eyed Pegasus cried out in disappointment.

Celestia looked on in confusion.

"Hi! I'm Surprise!" the Pegasus said with a smile.

Celestia frowned, she knew that name. This was Overdrive's pet minion, now she understood what the Siblings Nightmare had meant back at the hospital.

"It's not nice to stare," Surprise said condescendingly.

Celestia scowled at the Pegasus, she did not appreciate anypony talking down to her like she was a child. She turned to leave, she'd seen enough.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going? I'm not done talking to you... Sun."

Celestia froze, and slowly turned to face the Pegasus. "How do you know that name?"

"I was there when you cast it off," Surprise said simply. "I watched as you tore away the foundations of everything Queen Gaia did."

"How dare you speak that name!" Celestia cried out.

At this point, Scootaloo retreated from the box and into the corner; the last thing she wanted was to be involved in this.

"Gaia Gaia Gaia Gaia Gaia!" Surprise repeated, angering Celestia to no end.

The day princess reached out with her mind and clasped on to the Pegasus, launching a telepathic assault on the mare before her. Surprise however did not seem to be phased by it. Her eyes grew big, and her smile became wider than it had ever been. She met the princess stare, and returned it own.

Celestia felt herself beginning to falter; the Pegasus was actually blocking her!

That was when the images came. The mare before her was not only blocking her telepathic attack. She was countering with her own.

Images of horribly mutilated ponies filled the day princess' mind. She saw rivers of blood flowing freely in Canterlot's streets, buildings burned; ponies unlucky enough to escape them screamed in terror as they burned alive.

And standing on the tower of the castle was none other than Surprise herself, ginning madly, and coated in blood.

"Boo!" the Surprise in her vision cried out.

Celestia screamed in terror, changing back into her disguise and fleeing the library at top speed. She had met her match.

Surprise collapsed in the floor, rolling around laughing hysterically.

Scootaloo watched from the corner. She had not seen what Celestia had, but she knew to be scared anyway. Surprise turned around and looked at the filly with a smile.

"I know how else we can have fun!"

...

Sunshine had given her the slip. Derpy had taken her eyes off her for only a second, and just like that, her eyes had betrayed her again. Derpy sat on the kerb looking up at the sky. No point in going back to sleep now. Where she able, she would have gotten her mailbag and started delivering the post now.

Derpy hated her eyes. They had been nothing but unkind to her for her entire life. They caused her humiliation, misery from being the receiving end of cruel jokes, but most importantly, they'd caused her heart to ache.

For a time, Derpy had been a foster parent to a small unicorn filly named Dinky. The constant "harmless pranks" had caused Child Services to determine that Dinky was not in a safe place. Derpy had loved Dinky as if she had been her own flesh and blood.

Derpy was crying, as she often did when thinking of Dinky, she missed that filly terribly, and the worst part of it was that she wasn't allowed to have any contact at all. The system was not kind to her. Derpy had been a loving parent, and now she had no idea if Dinky was even okay, for all she knew, Dinky was living in a home where her foster mother could be beating her right now.

There was nothing she could do about it.

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

“Scootaloo! Are you here!?” Vinyl Scratch called as she and Twilight threw open the door into the Cutie Mark Crusader Clubhouse. Vinyl’s ears drooped when they discovered that it was empty.

“She’s not here,” Vinyl said and sighed defeatedly.

Twilight took a closer look at the details of the clubhouse, there were three bedrolls lying on the floor, two of them were zipped up neatly, one of them however was messy and left open.

“Look!” Twilight said, she dropped down and felt the open one. “Still warm, they can’t have been gone five... ten minutes at the most.”

“But where would they go?” Vinyl asked.

That was when they heard screaming. Twilight and Vinyl looked out the window and saw that a white Pegasus with a bright pink mane was flying east at top speed, screaming her head off as she went.

“Who is that pony?” Twilight asked.

“No clue, never seen anypony that looked like that before,” Vinyl said. She used her magic to slip her goggles off her head, her soft red eyes contrasting the dark night; she pulled a pair of binoculars out of her saddlebags and brought them to her eyes.

“Okay... Loudmouth MacScreamywings is flying east on a bearing of 117 degrees... let’s see if I can’t approximate a point of origin...”

“Loudmouth... MacScreamyings?” Twilight asked at the ridiculousness of it.

“Hey! Don’t criticise me while I’m working!” Vinyl harked back at her. “And... bingo! Gotcha! Oh... I hate it when I’m good.”

“Why? What do you see?” Twilight asked. Vinyl passed her the binoculars and gave her the references that she needed. Surprise and Scootaloo were trotting out of the Library together and were walking to the northeast, along the path that would take them towards Whitetail Wood... and EPMB.

“Oh no,” Twilight said.

“Come on! If we hurry we can catch up before she does any damage!” Vinyl called out.

...

Scootaloo was amazed by the interior of EPMB, she had been in the caves that hid its entrance several times, but had never realised that it held something like this!

Surprise was humming a tune that Scootaloo wasn’t familiar with as she skipped merrily down the hall. Surprise reminded Scootaloo somewhat of Pinkie Pie, only far creepier.

“Um... Surprise? Where are we going?” Scootaloo asked.

“You’ll see!” Surprise sang in response.

The two pegasi walked into a large open room, filled with computer terminals, and large consoles with many buttons, causing Surprise to grin widely, but what she was most interested in wasn’t actually in the room at all, but was rather visible through the windows at the far end.

The missile sat in pristine condition as if it were brand new. Small round robots, each with four fluttering wings danced in the missile silo, scrubbing away any sign of the missile’s age.

“What are those?” Scootaloo asked, pointing to one of the robots.

“You mean the Sprite-bots?” Surprise asked. “BORING! We’re here for the big prize! Not the party favours!”

Surprise leapt into action, she went over to the biggest console and began to push buttons and pull levers that appeared completely random to Scootaloo, but actually seemed to be having the effect that Surprise desired. Alarms began to sound, and with that, the room began to shake.

...

The citizens of Ponyville too felt the shakes.

“It’s an earthquake!” somepony shouted, and with that, it sent the entirety of town into panic and disarray.

The ground near Sugarcube Corner began to crack, with a shudder, it ripped open and sent the building clattering down to its foundations.

Mister and Missus Cake watch in horror as their sweet shop was destroyed for the second time.

“Oh not again!” they called out in disappointment.

Their disappointment was short lived, it quickly turned to terror, as the ground began to heave and pull up, the rock and dirt of the street slid off, revealing large metal doors that opened into an abyss below.

The EPMB Missile rose, sticking its tip out of the newfound whole where Sugarcube Corner once stood.

The Police and Kangaroo soldiers had once again gotten into a fight about who was to take control of the situation, they both stopped and watched in horror as the missile appeared from its hiding place.

Captain Blackthorn looked it over, and instantly realised it for what it was.

“Detective Chief Inspector Clockwork... we need to evacuate this town, and we need to do it right now,” Blackthorn said.

DCI Clockwork looked at the kangaroo, worry forming on her face. “I never thought I would be saying this... but I completely agree.”

...

Twilight and Vinyl had made it to the large metal door of EPMB when the ground began to shake, dust shook from the ceiling and both ponies were afraid that the tunnel would collapse upon them. The metal door to EPMB was open, and with that the duo took off running, leaping through the open door and skittering onto the cold metal floor. The shaking stopped, and to the duo’s surprise, did not collapse the tunnel, of which they were extremely thankful for.

Had it collapsed, they would have been sealed inside the complex with Surprise for the rest of their lives, which would likely have been very short, all things considering.

Hazard lights were flashing all along the hallway, Twilight and Vinyl took off running, they had to find Scootaloo and get her away from Surprise as quickly as possible.

Fortunately, they didn’t have a long way to go, and they had something to follow. They heard Surprise talking very loudly, and while they could not actually make out the words, they could follow the insane mare’s voice right to her.

...

“Well, ah guess it’s happenin’ then,” Applejack said as she watched Ponyville evacuate from her far off perch.

“I don’t care.”

Applejack looked at her companion, the straight maned Pinkie Pie with disdain. “How can ya say that!? Our friends are down there! ”

“What friends?” Pinkie Pie asked. “They’re all dead.”

“Not all o’ them! Twilight and Rarity...”

“Might as well already be dead,” Pinkie Pie interrupted pessimistically. “Not like we could do anything about it even if we wanted to.”

Applejack frowned; she tried to lift her leg, but discovered that it did not budge. She let out a sigh; she couldn’t do anything unless it was exactly what Overdrive wanted her to do. Right now, he wanted them to watch, so they would be watching.

Pinkie Pie sighed again, lying down on her stomach and closing her eyes. Unlike Applejack, Pinkie Pie still had control of her body, her mind had been broken, and she was in no position to offer any kind of resistance to it. It bothered Applejack more than ever that her friend didn’t care in the slightest, but she understood that it wasn’t really her fault. It was his. Overdrive had taken the form of Monty Ulhan and used Pinkie Pie’s trust of him to force her into tearing her family apart, her parents were in prison, and her childhood home now a strip mine for harvesting limestone. Applejack felt for Pinkie Pie, but she could do nothing for her.

And even if she could, Pinkie Pie wouldn’t care.

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Surprise grinned widely. “All righty then Equestria! It’s time for a SURPRISE!”

Surprise raised a hoof into the air and brought it down zealously on the control panel’s large red button labelled “launch.” Nothing happened.

“What?!” Surprise cried out in frustration, mashing the button again, and again.

With a small click and an electronic whirring noise, the room was filled with noise from the loudspeakers.

“This is Doctor Emerald Sparkle to whoever just tried to launch the missile! Sorry to say that the joke’s on you! I took the liberty of personally ripping out and smashing the missile’s thrust control modules, while I ordinarily disapprove of the destruction of technology... I see that my fears were well warranted after all. Don’t get any funny ideas. Let me fill you in on a little secret. I destroyed the targeting computer as well; you can’t arm the missile remotely! You want to use the bomb? You’ll have to arm it yourself... something I’m going to guess you don’t know how to do! Ha ha ha. Joke is on you!”

“Ha. Ha. Ha,” Surprise mocked back at the recording. “I guess the joke is on YOU! Because I do know how to arm it manually!”

Surprise was mildly disappointed when the recording didn’t respond, instead she smashed the glass window panes in front of the launch console, and she climbed out and flew up to the tip of the missile, completely forgetting about Scootaloo all together.

...

Twilight and Vinyl made it into the control room.

“Scootaloo!” Vinyl said running over to the filly’s side and throwing her forelegs around her. “Oh Scootaloo! You’re okay! I was so worried!”

“You... you were!?” Scootaloo asked as tears began to form in her eyes. “I... I ran away because I thought you didn’t love me anymore!”

“Oh Scootaloo... I’ll always love you!” Vinyl said, smiling at the filly. Scootaloo smiled back, giving her first smile since Rainbow Dash died.

“Scootaloo,” Twilight said. “Where is Surprise?”

“She... she broke the window and she flew up there!” Scootaloo said, pointing to the top of the missile.

Twilight and Vinyl looked up and their minds filled with panic. “We need to get back to town right now!” they both said in unison.

...

With a quick pop, Surprise had exposed the inner workings of the nuclear missile’s warhead, she began tracing wires back to where they ended and began, the design was rather simple, and Surprise had it working in a few moments. All she had to do was tug the right wire and everypony around would be in for the biggest surprise they had ever seen!

That was when it came out of nowhere.

Ticka-ticka-ticka-ticka-ticka!

The cloud of black smoke collided with Surprise, sending her flying backwards into a ruined building, the force of impact snapped the pegasus’s neck with a loud crack, and her body collapsed onto the ground.

The Siblings Nightmare materialised from the cloud of smoke, and began to examine the missile.

“Did not expect to ever see one of these again,” Nightcaller said.

All three of the Siblings ears twitched slightly as they heard something approaching them.

Docka-docka-docka-docka-docka!

“Ah it seems our dearest brother had decided to show himself,” Nightsinger said.

The cloud of grey smoke poured into view, and as the sun rose, the spectral form of Overdrive made itself visible, glistening in the early morning light.

“Hello dear brother,” Nightshadow said simply.

Overdrive did not reply, rather he merely cocked his head to the side, staring at the Siblings Nightmare, and then at the missile. Applejack and Pinkie Pie were quick to join him.

Pinkie Pie looked around with complete disinterest. Applejack however was looking at the sun as it rose.

“Hold on a moment!” She cried out. “It’s way too early fer th’ sun ta be risin’!”

Neither beings of order or chaos seemed to be interested in this fact at all; they merely turned their heads towards the town hall. Princess Celestia was standing on the roof, looking out over them.

“I do believe, we’re just one card short of a full house,” Nightcaller said simply.

Celestia leaped down from the roof and approached them. “Indeed we are,” she said plainly.

The three sides stared each other down, waiting for another to make the first move. Each of them wanted the missile, to each their own reasons. Ironically, the one to make the first move would be none of them. Almost fitting as it had gone this way the last time that they were all together.

Twilight Sparkle and Vinyl Scratch galloped through town and towards the assembled group, their horns lowered; an old unicorn tactic to spear the opponent.

“They cannot possibly be serious,” Overdrive said.

“I think they are,” Nightsinger said.

Order and Chaos both lashed out with their minds, striking the two unicorns down with a telekinetic attack. Applejack watched as they went down with a look of panic on her face. Pinkie Pie didn’t seem to care.

Twilight and Vinyl both groaned in pain, and rose back to their hooves, only to be struck down again by another blow.

“Submit,” Overdrive said simply. “Do not make it any harder on yourselves.”

“Or don’t! Stand up to the big bad tyrant!” Nightshadow cried with a small laugh.

Celestia remained silent, just standing and watching. Twilight looked at her desperately. “Please... princess! Help us!” she cried out.

“No,” she said simply, lowering her head and frowning at her once prized student.

Twilight felt tears flowing from her eyes. Princess Celestia, her mentor, was going to let her brothers do whatever they wished. In truth, it made her far more dangerous than either of them alone, because she was just going to sit back and let it happen.

Twilight lay on the ground, her eyes half closed, staring out into the deserted streets. A streak of blue light darted into her vision, and was just as quickly gone again. “What?” she asked herself quietly.

Overdrive and the Siblings Nightmare approached the fallen unicorns, but stopped when a loud crack filled the air.

“Hold!”

The group turned to look; standing behind them was Princess Luna, along with a gathered assortment of ponies, Lyra, Bon Bon, Braeburn, Big Macintosh, Derpy, Trixie, and Rarity.

“It will come from the west,” Overdrive said. “Face east. When it comes, we must have our backs to it.”

“Nice to see that you can still quote ancient text brother,” Luna said with a smile.

“Ppff, I don’t see what this has to do with anything.” Nightcaller said. “You came from the west, so what? What exactly are you expecting to do? Fight us? Without the Elements of Harmony, you’re not exactly going to get very far.”

“There are other elements, Nightcaller,” Luna said. “Or in this case, shall I say, bonds?”

Overdrive snorted loudly. “What do you expect us to believe that you have discovered the bearers of the Bonds of Eternity? They have been lost to time.”

“Well then, I suppose it’s a good thing that she’s got a time traveller on her side!” cried a new voice from the town hall. “Hello! I’m the Doctor! Time traveller extraordinaire, pay me no mind though, this is her show, not mine, I only came by to help.”

“Indeed, the Doctor was instrumental in gathering the bonds together. I thank you for this Doctor,” Luna said.

“Don’t mention it! Well, seems you’ve got everything in hand... er, hoof, I best be off!” the Doctor said, opening the door to his blue box that nopony had taken notice of until just now and departing for places unknown.

“Yes, the bonds of eternity... bit of ancient magic thought to be lost, until they were found!” Luna said with a smile. “Derpy Hooves! Whose need to take care for others at little regard for herself, is the bearer of the Bond of Responsibility!”

Luna’s horn shone brightly enveloping Derpy in light and empowering the dormant energy of the bond within her.

“Lyra and Bon Bon! Whose love for each other and for their friends has never wavered, are the bearers of the Bond of Fraternity!” Luna said as light enveloped the two, empowering them with the light of their friendship.

“Big Macintosh! Quiet and reserved, yet willing to lend a helping hoof to anypony with a problem, bares the Bond of Labour!” Luna said, her light enveloping him

“Braeburn! The stranger from the west! Thrown from his home without a second though, and devoted himself to his family, bears the Bond of Love!” Luna said as light enveloped him.

“Trixie! The outcast returned against her will, but rather than turning tail and running again, stayed and helped those who once shunned her, bears the Bond of Compassion!” Luna finished.

“Wonderful,” Nightcaller said plainly. “And you think it will be enough for the three of us and the other ingrates?”

“Oh, I’m not concerned with you right now,” Luna said with a smile. “I’m concerned with them. NOW!”

The light from each of the bonds shone brightly and pierced through Applejack and Pinkie Pie, sending them flying towards where Vinyl Scratch and Twilight Sparkle were lying. They landed on the ground hard. Applejack began to rub her head and realised that she was the one doing it. She looked at Pinkie Pie and discovered that her eyes were no longer red. They were their normal blue.

They were free!

“Minor setback,” Overdrive said, showing no concern. “Still no consequence, the elements of harmony are useless.”

Rarity had joined her friends by this point.

“I wouldn’t be sure of that,” Luna said. “Look up.”

Overdrive, Celestia, and the Siblings Nightmare looked up, two bolts of energy dived at them, striking them to the ground and darting over towards Twilight.

Twilight watched as the ghostly outlines of Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy took their places alongside their friends.

“Rainbow?” Twilight asked in disbelief.

Rainbow Dash placed a hoof on her shoulder, and smiled reassuringly at her.

“What is this!?” Nightcaller cried out in surprise.

“This?” Twilight said. “This is the end for you!”

The bearers of both the elements of harmony and the bonds of eternity focused their power on their enemies; light began to pulse between them.

“Do something!” Nightcaller cried out!

“I am doing something,” Overdrive said smugly. “I’m watching you as you’re about to die, that’s plenty enough a reward for me.”

“You really hate us that much, don’t you brother?”

“Yes.”

The bearers unleashed their power, sending all the energy that they could muster. It impacted the five ancients, and they all screamed in pain as their life forces were all snuffed out.

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

The dust cleared, Twilight looked out into where Celestia, Overdrive, and the Siblings Nightmare had been previously. Nothing remained save two piles of ash, one white, one black. The remains of Princess Celestia and the Siblings Nightmare, Overdrive had left no trace behind, as his body was already long gone.

“It’s over!” Twilight said with a sigh. “We won!”

She looked to her side; the ghostly outlines of Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were sitting next to her, smiling softly at her. Fluttershy looked at Rainbow Dash and gestured with her head, it was time for them to go.

Rainbow Dash nodded and gestured to Twilight, asking for a moment. Fluttershy nodded in approval.

Rainbow Dash trotted over to where Twilight was lying on the ground, helping her to her hooves.

“Rainbow...” Twilight began, Rainbow Dash however interrupted her by raising a hoof to shush her, she leaned in close and kissed Twilight gently, after a few moments, she broke the kiss and gave Twilight a wink.

She and Fluttershy faded from view, never to return again.

Twilight frowned, but then gave a smile where Rainbow had previously been. “Goodbye Rainbow Dash.”

“I hate to rain on everyponies parade,” Vinyl Scratch said trotting over to the bomb. “But this isn’t over yet, the bomb is still active.”

Everypony snapped back to reality, there was a lot of murmuring about what they should do.

“Everypony listen!” Vinyl Scratch called out. “All of you! Each and every one of you needs to get as far away from here as you possibly can! I’m going to try and disarm the bomb... and in case I fail... well then I’ll be the only one to suffer from it.”

“What! Vinyl!” Twilight called out. “You can’t!”

“I can, and I will. Don’t you get it Twilight? I’m not like you, I wasn’t one of the ponies that Princess Luna needed... because I did a lot of bad things in my life, now this is my chance to make up for them,” Vinyl said. “I have to do this Twilight, and you need to leave.”

“But... Vinyl...” Twilight began, and was once again interrupted.

“No buts, besides! I’ll be fine! Obviously! I’m too cool to get killed!” Vinyl said with a grin. “And even if I do, I’m going to have the greatest light show ever created to send me out!”

“All right,” Twilight said with a sigh. “Clearly, nothing I say is going to dissuade you from doing this.”

“Nope!” Vinyl said with a grin. “Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine!”

Vinyl gave Twilight a hug goodbye. “It’s been fun.”

“Yeah... yeah it has,” Twilight said, returning her embrace. She gave Vinyl a smile and with that, everypony galloped away at high speed, leaving Vinyl Scratch alone with the nuclear missile.

Vinyl spent several hours looking through the electronics; she had mild experience with electronics from working turntables, the basics of a circuit were pretty much the same, she was able to navigate through the internals of the missile, but the more she looked it over, the more she began to realise that she had about a fifty-fifty chance of disarming it, or blowing it up.

“I’d wait a moment, if I were you,” said a voice from behind her. This one was different; this was a voice she’d never heard before.

She turned around and looked, sitting before her was a spectral earth pony, with a grey coat, an orange mane, and blood red eyes.

“Who are you?” Vinyl asked.

“The name is Montana Ulhan, you can just call me Monty though,” Monty said with a smile. “We haven’t met, but I’ve wanted to meet you for a very long time, Vinyl Scratch, I couldn’t show myself until they were all gone.”

Monty pointed to the ash piles that had once been Celestia and the Siblings Nightmare.

“See thing is, every smoke monster and their grandmother have impersonated me at some point, usually so that they could get somepony to do something for them,” Monty explained. “Twilight Sparkle and her friends would do anything that anypony who chose to appear as the ghost of Monty Ulhan said, because they put me in a position of trust while I was still alive... Got to say though, I have no idea why. Every word that ever came out of my mouth was a lie.”

“What is it that you want me to do?” Vinyl Scratch asked.

“I want you to set off the bomb,” Monty said.

“You just told me that you’re a liar, and the first thing you want me to do is set off the bomb!?” Vinyl cried out in surprise. “Why should I listen to you?!”

“Because, unlike everypony else who wanted to use the bomb. I want to use it for good. This world is a horrific place, there has been so much suffering here. That bomb? It’s a second chance.”

“I don’t understand,” Vinyl said.

“I know,” Monty said with a small smile. “But you will.”

Vinyl thought about it for a few moments, the promise of a second chance was appealing, sure, but as horrid as this life had been, Vinyl believed that this life was still worth living. She had Scootaloo; she had family to go home to. She wasn’t about to throw it all away, not for anything.

“I’m not going to set off the bomb! I won’t do it!” Vinyl said.

“Fair enough,” Monty said with a smile. “If that’s the choice you’ve made, well then that’s your choice.”

Vinyl eyed the spectral earth pony with suspicion. “That’s it then?”

“I’m not an Alicorn, Vinyl Scratch; I can’t force you to do anything. I’m not like them,” Monty said, gesturing the ash piles. “Nor would I want to if I could. The bomb is a second chance, but if you believe that the first chance is salvageable, well then more power to you! Well, I’ve got to go now. You don’t need me anymore anyway... nopony does.”

Montana Ulhan smiled at Vinyl, and then disappeared from the world, never to be seen again.

Vinyl Scratch looked back at the bomb and swallowed hard. What was she going to do? She had already decided that she was going to disarm the bomb, she want to live this life, now all she had to worry about was turning that line of thought into practice.

“Vinyl?”

Vinyl looked around to see Scootaloo standing behind her.

“Scootaloo?!” Vinyl said with a mild panic. “What are you doing here?! Don’t you know how dangerous that is!?”

Scootaloo nodded. “I listened to the recordings from Emerald Sparkle. I didn’t want you to have to do this alone!”

Vinyl smiled at Scootaloo brightly. “You’re a good kid Scootaloo. You’re old enough to make your own decisions now, so I’m not going to make you leave.”

“Good, ‘cause I wouldn’t have even if you did!” Scootaloo said returning the smile.

“I’ve got it narrowed down to two wires. One will disarm them, the other will make it explode,” Vinyl said. “I don’t know which one does which though.”

“Doesn’t matter which one you pick,” Scootaloo said. “All that matters is that we’re together!”

Vinyl smiled at Scootaloo, she’d grown up a lot since they’d met. Vinyl was proud that she had done a good job with her.

“Oh how sweet,” said a familiar, eerily cheerful voice from behind her. Vinyl Scratch froze, and slowly turned her head to face it.

Surprise had risen to her hooves, the immortal pegasus’ neck injury had healed, and she was holding a chainsaw knife in her mouth. The chain revved loudly and menacingly as she trotted over with the intention to murder them.

Vinyl turned back to the bomb. “No time for thinking! All time for action!”

She picked a wire and pulled it out.

The bomb exploded.

(authors notes: this is not, as I previously stated, going to be the last story in the series. I always do an Epilogue, but I've discovered that the way the epilogue was going to go, it'll be too long and too different to actually be a part of this story. This it will be rolled into its own, and THAT will be the finale.)