Project: Underground

by The2Deuce

Rating: mature
Tags: Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Nightmare Moon, Princess Luna, Original Character, Adventure, Princess Celestia, Tragedy
Length: 23310

After a killer disaster occurs in Canterlot, one pony must find the source of it.

A severe earthquake happens in Canterlot, ripping it apart from the ground up. When conspiracies of what exactly happened start showing up in one ponies life, he must find the truth before others are endangered.
This is my first Grimdark/Mature fanfic.

Published 2012-02-20 04:24:02 UTC
Last updated 2012-05-30 18:03:50 UTC

Part 1: Lies and Truths

My evening commute home that particular day started normal: down one of the more desolated roads of Canterlot, in one of the more 'ghetto' areas of the large city I lived in. I lived an average life, with a wife and a single child, and all of us lived in a small, one story house on the corner of Chain street and 56th avenue.

Allow me to formally introduce myself. Starnote's the name, and playing's my game. Bass, that is. I'd like to say right away that that's my cutie mark, and I'm damn proud of it; playing the bass was my primary career at the time. And I kicked flank with it.

Green base fur. Shaggy, spiky blue and red mane and tail. Basically your average Earth pony. Nothing out of the ordinary. Yet.

Like I said, the commute home that day was average. I had my usual yearning to get the hell out of my studio and get home, where I could count on my wife and filly waiting on me.

It was always a winding path to get home from my studio, but over the several months that I had been working there, I had developed a few simple shortcuts to get home. One of them led me directly into the middle of a major street, with several high rise buildings. That's where I was when it happened.

The asphalt directly beneath my green hooves shifted about an inch. I though nothing of it other than just being weird, so I continued on my way.

It happened again. This time, a small crack appeared in the street to my right. I looked up and ahead of me to find that a small cloud of dust and ash was rising from the horizon, getting larger and closer by the second.

I heard one word coming from the screaming mouth of a pony further towards the cloud of ash, which set everypony into panic.

"EARTHQUAKE!!!"

I felt it. The harsh rumbling of the ground beneath me, followed by the explosion of cracks in the ground right at my hooves, followed by a pounding spike of adrenalin, followed by me turning away from the cloud and running like hell.

I could vaguely see the faces of other terrified ponies as their sad images rushed by me, but that didn't stop me. I was hell-bent on survival, and I wasn't sure what was going to happen to me or them.

I kept running... And running... And I was sure as hell not looking back now. My heart rate went through the roof, as only one thought screamed throughout my head: Run. So I did.

I was blurry eyed from the ash that was catching up to me, and near deaf from the harshly loud cracking and jolting sounds coming from the street below me, the crashes of crumbling buildings behind me, and the deep and harsh screams of ponies meeting their fate face on.. It was only then that I realized what I was actually running to: Canterlot Palace. I knew that I would be safe once I got there, but the real problem was making it there alive.

The image of the gleaming white castle and the large mountain it was on gave me a spark of hope. I picked up more speed, but by now I was nearly deaf. I could tell  that there were several ponies running alongside me and in front of me, but if they were trying to tell me something, I couldn't tell.

The castle drew nearer still. I could feel the ash biting at my flank, and it stung. I couldn't stop though. I had to press on. Although I wasn't headed for the castle itself, the slope to the right of it provided some safety.

It was only about another twenty meters until the mountain started its slope, so by now I was exhausted from bearing the pain and the running.

The mountain's slope had started, and the stampede of ponies that had galloped their way up here came into clear view of how large it was. About fifty ponies... But as I looked closer, I could tell that something was wrong. All of them were Earth ponies.

However serious that may have been, I had no time to think of it. The slope of the road was becoming steeper and steeper by the second, and that meant that my legs were becoming less and less capable.

I had risen about fifteen meters above the level part of the road before the road turned to dirt and grass, and became even steeper. Just as I thought I would pass out from exhaustion, the ground slowly leveled out, and about twenty vertical meters later, I found myself on the top of the mountain with several other ponies.

I collapsed in pure shock, confusion, and trauma. I don't think I had ever been more satisfied to crash down into the soil and grass below me.

I poked my head back up to see a plume of smoke and ash billow up from the slope below me, resulting in all of the ponies on the mountaintop (including me) to cough up our own storm, which honestly hurt like a bitch that I obviously hadn't met before.

By the time we were done scraping our throats from the inside out, the plume had dissipated, allowing the rest of us to see the wreckage and debris below us. What was usually a tall, well run, clean, white, and friendly city was now a wasteland, torn apart from the ground up, leaving most of the buildings either destroyed or damaged beyond repair. To make matters even worse, the ash had lingered in the air for a good five meters above the streets, creating a thick layer of death that coated the once busy streets.

The visual and physical pains that came from this were quickly erased from my mind when an emotional pain made its way into there.

My wife and kid could be dead...

I was in shock. My stomach wretched itself in place. It couldn't be...

There was an oddly dramatic silence coming from the crowd as we looked onward, until somepony behind me broke it, sending everyone into despair instantly. "Holy shit. What the fuck do we do now?"

"Well, we sure as hell can't get off this mountain. Look at us! We might as well be surrounded by lava! This stuff has got to be pretty damn deadly!" Another voice spoke up.

I snapped out of my state of complete paranoia and looked back to find several arguing ponies on the grassy mountaintop. Trying to find  a good thing to say to them and failing, I just decided to say the first thing that came to mind.

"The castle."

Several ponies stopped and stared at me with a look of confusion on their faces.

"Canterlot palace! Can't we just go there?"

A few murmurs emitted from the crowd before somepony responded a few seconds later.

"Yeah, why not... We could look for help there. Celestia and Luna aughtah be here, right?"

"Yeah, sure. Let's head down there." Somepony else said.

In one odd motion as one fairly ordered crowd, most of the group turned around and went back down the mountain slightly. The rest of them just stayed behind, clearly in too much shock to do pretty much anything.

As we neared the castle gates, which were just above the blanket of ash, we discovered something: The gate was locked, and on it was a note written on a small scroll attached to the lock keeping the gate shut.

Somepony read it aloud. "Dear loyal subjects, The Princesses Celestia and Luna are currently in Manehattan dealing with the several problems that seem to come with Parasprite invasions. If you have questions or problems with this, please reach... It ended there! What the hell is this? Both of them gone? Coincidence my ass. I'd like to speak them..."

The group erupted into Discord-grade chaos. I personally left within a minute of it, knowing that we would get nowhere with everypony acting like idiots. I trotted around the perimeter of the fence lining the entry courtyard, looking for a possible way to get around or over the fence, finding nothing for the first twenty or so meters.

Twenty one. That's my guess of how many meters it took for me to realize what I was looking at. A fence. Not just any fence, but a fence that had been standing for only a few days... Coincidence? The 'innocent' thought of Celestia and Luna predicting this event and not bothering to care soon turned into the thought of them planning it. I tried not to think much of it, because I knew it would just end up in me making false accusations and assumptions.

I walked further around the fence until I spotted something a little more interesting: A hole dug out. Right under the fence, too... like we weren't the first ones to suspect something.

I decided I wanted a closer look and crawled through the hole as a result. It was fairly small and took some time to work my way through, but it was worth it once I found myself on the other end of a normally locked-in fence. I looked over at the group of ponies, who were still pointlessly rambling out conspiracies.

Looking back to what was in front of me, I had a sudden urge to get into the castle to find more details on what exactly was going on here. I trotted forward, having no time to admire the always-colorful gardens out front. It wasn't a very long walk to it, but the tension and doubt that I had in me stretched that time out before I got to the massive double-doors leading into the main hall.

With a shaky push, the doors creaked open just enough for me to slip through and find what was inside: Nothing. The entire place was vacant, and not a single pony was in sight. The main hall, even though I had only been in here twice, looked oddly... well, oddly frightening.

Seeing nopony there gave me a green light to look further into the massive building, so I began to look. I wasn't exactly sure what for, but I had a feeling that I'd know it when I saw it.

I vaguely recalled that Celestia's and Luna's rooms were on either side of the massive staircase that stretched across the front of the hall, so I decided that it was best to search there first. The wooden stairs sounded lonely as their creaking echoed throughout the empty room, and it only pounded the thought of death further into my head.

Sure enough, after only a minute or two of walking, I found myself in front of the door leading into Celestia's chambers. The door was wide and wooden, and also appeared to be unlocked. I nudged the door open with my hoof to find a shockingly messy room in front of me, with something in the middle that made my heart rate spike again.

An earth pony, who appeared to be a guard, was sitting on the ground weeping. I stepped up to him and asked him what was going on.

"What's going on here? Why are Celestia and Luna gone?"

"I-it's... n-not... p-parasprites..." His voice was dark and shaky.

"What?"

He turned towards me to reveal his face, which was mangled and bloody. "CELESTIA WANTED TO KILL US ALL!!! DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?!?"

I cringed and tried to regain thought to reply to him. "She knew about this? How?"

He waited a few seconds before responding. "I know too much... I've seen too much..."

Before I could comprehend what he was trying to tell me, he pulled a pistol out of nowhere, making me jump back. He slowly pointed it towards his own head, his hand shaking the entire way as he looked towards me.

I tried to say something to stop him. "Hey! Wait! What are you doing?!?"

It was too late. The trigger had already been pulled, echoing the sound of an explosion throughout the entire building. An explosion of crimson shot out from his head, staining an entire wall with his blood. His now lifeless body slumped to the ground, letting go of the gun as it fell to the ground and skidded towards me.

I was in shock. Questions began spraying mindlessly through my head as I shakily picked up the gun and stored it, knowing that I would probably need it later. What had he seen? What had he felt to make him end his own life?

I had to look for more clues. I tried to ignore the lifeless body in front of me as I trudged through the messy room, eventually ending up at a nightstand next to a large bed. On it, was a journal. I picked it up, noticing that the title read "TOP SECRET" on the front. I sheepishly opened the cover and began to read it. It read:

Property of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Do NOT read.

I flipped the page.

The process has started. Project Underground is underway. First few tests have been completely unsuccessful, more tests will be underway soon.

Confused but interested, I flipped the page again.

The next few tests hinted success, although the result only lasted a few minutes before the test had to be terminated.

The results of the last few seemed to only work on half of what we wanted, with examples being that some only received wings, while some only received horns.

I was shocked. Experimenting? With what? I read on.

Our first test subject that received both came forward today. However, the mutations spread and the subject was soon dead.

I feared the worst... Was she trying to create other alicorns?

The test subjects appear to come out healthier and healthier every time. However, successful the tests may be so far, the subjects never seem to survive longer than a few hours afterwards.

I kept asking myself more and more questions. Who were these 'subjects'?

We reached a milestone today. One of our more recent tests has lasted an entire day. Two days doesn't  seem to be far off.

I could only think of this as twisted... I didn't know what to say...

One week has been hit. The survival times are increasing exponentially: More good news is on the way.

I couldn't speak. My throat was cringing in my neck at just the thought of what was happening.

We've done it. Magic, flying, and everything... Another one of us.

It ended there. I dropped the journal in pure shock.

Part 2: Suspicion

The book flopped down onto the expensive bedspread, bouncing back up slightly and flipping over just enough to reveal an entry on the back... Stricken with even more fear, I picked it up and read it.

All the unicorns are gone. All of the pegasi are gone. But it was worth it... It was been completed. It has also escaped... And as a result, I must too. Guards who may be reading this: if there are any survivors of the earthquake that are questioning what happened, tell them that it was natural and I am dead.

I was in more shock than I ever thought I could be. The pegasi and unicorns... Dead. I couldn't understand why I didn't notice it before... I hadn't seen any in days.

I pondered on that for a while... What escaped? Was that why Celesia and Luna left? Was she actually the causer of the earthquake?

I flipped through the empty pages of the book in hope of finding more answers. The pages seemed to be blank, but then something fell out of it... It was silvery on one side and colorful on the other. A photograph. It started fluttering down, but I caught it with a hoof before it could reach the ground. I brought the photograph up to my face, realizing that it was two photos stuck to each other. The top photo was a picture of a purple alicorn. Not Luna, though... I looked closer. It had a mangled and bloody face and body, like it had been badly injured before and just returned the favor. I wouldn't doubt it if that was the case. I looked even closer to find that the background was a pure metal room smeared with blood with no windows or furnishings. Well, there was one... A small operating table in the background.

I tried to get the other photograph off of it, only to find to my surprise that they were glued together with blood. After several seconds of prying them apart, I found that the other picture revealed the mysterious alicorn's face up close and personal with the camera, as if attacking the cameraman.

I turned the photo around and cringed at what it said: Test Subject 451: Successful! Status: Alive. Mood: Enraged/depressed (bi-polar). Former name: Violet Rose.

Violet Rose... I knew that name... My friend. An earth pony. He wasn't even bi-polar, but he told me a few days that he was going on vacation. He didn't say where though... That was unlike him. What did Celestia do to him?

I didn't know what to think. I didn't know what to do. This was personal now. Those two bitches were going to pay.

I had no time to dwell on the thought, because the door to the room suddenly reopened, revealing two other earth ponies behind it, both unknown to me.

Both of them were male and enraged. One of them spoke to me.

"Where the hell did that gunfire come from?" I had no time to respond to his question before he looked down on the ground to find the dead guard, who was now in a pool of his own blood.

"It's not what it looks like! He killed himself! I swear!" I hastily responded.

"Yeah right. Tell us... What were you after?"

"Truth! That was it! Here, look at this!" I threw him the photographs, expecting him to look at them and understand. I was shocked and frightened when he swatted them down with a hoof out of midair and started slowly walking towards me with a fiery look of determination on his face.

"You. Little. Bastard. What have you done? You just killed the last pony here that could have told us the truth! And here you are telling me that you were after the truth?"

"I ALREADY FOUND THE TRUTH!!!" I screamed at him.

He continued forward. I had several thoughts racing through my head, but one of them took over me completely. I can't exactly describe to you what that thought was, but I can describe to you what it did. It made me panic. I turned around and bolted away, barely noticing where to. The opposite end of the room held a large window, which I could only trust would lead to my survival.

I heard a faint "AFTER HIM!!!" behind me as I continued accelerating towards the window. Even though I was tripping over cluttered books and clothes, I could still hear that the other pony was following me closely.

I jumped. It felt clumsy as my hooves left the ground, but it had to do. And do it did: It was just enough height to send me smashing through the glass, sending countless pieces of crystal shrapnel to embed inside my skin as I soared outside. The pain struck my body immediately, sending me tumbling and screaming into the ground.

As you could see, I was terribly unprepared for a landing at the time. I smacked back-down into the grassy hillside, sending me sliding down the slope several meters and driving several shards of glass through my back. I howled out in pain as I skidded to a stop.

Landing and getting impaled by thousands of glass shards seemed like a piece of cake once I realized what was coming next. I looked back up at the side of the castle just in time to see the other earth pony leap through the window, landing a split second later next to me.

I quickly got back up on my hooves and tried to prepare myself for a fight. The other pony regained his balance and charged at me, teeth gnashing and everything. I reflexively charged back at him, not sure what would happen. Before either one of us knew it, we collided in a fury of flying hooves and teeth. Literally. I think I knocked out one of his teeth on impact.

I couldn't tell what was actually happening at the time, so I really could only perceive what happened afterwards. I took a massive strike to the shoulder, sending me flying backwards and into the grass, further cutting me up. I guess he must have had more speed coming down... That gave me an idea.

I clamored back up again, breathing heavy, but this time with a plan. I charged again at him, but this time, when he started charging at me and we were about to collide for a second time, I quickly sidestepped, catching him off guard and tumbling down before he received several rug burns and skidded to a stop. I continued running up the hill and stopped just before where I originally landed, waiting for him to return.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, he stood up again and continued to run towards me. I crouched down, waiting for a strike.

Although I can say that I tried my best, that still won't hide the fact that I wasn't expecting what came next at all. Instead of directly attacking me, he lunged and dove over me, grabbing me by my back legs on the way down and swinging me over him, letting me land in the glass once again.

I had done all I could. I wanted to give up, not because of the impossible-to-attack opponent I was facing or the excruciating pain I was going through, but both. I crashed down on the grassy hillside in pure defeat. He approached me with an intimidating gaze, but that gave me one last ray of hope. Just when he was above me and ready to deliver me one final, crushing blow, I outstretched a hoof to the ground, dug up the first glass piece that I could find, swung it up, and rammed it through his throat at the last second.

His blood flowed down the glass shard and down my arm, tickling my fur as the thought of murder swept through my head like wildfire. I had never killed anypony before...

A wall-eyed stare was given to me as he fought for his last few moments of life. I let go of the piece of glass as his eyes glazed over and he fell over on the ground, now dead.

I tried to stand up, but the shock that had overcome me was already physically affecting me. My legs completely stiffened, giving me no balance whatsoever and causing me to stumble under my own weight and collapse to the ground.

I slid down the mountainside several meters before receiving several rug burns and coming to a stop on my back, just then coming to a realization of what I had actually done. I had murdered another. Not just seen a life come to a close, but to end one myself...

I was a murderer. Fuck. I didn't even know the guy!

I continued to lie there for the next few minutes, trying to plan out what to do next, but only able to think about killing him and nothing else.

I suddenly felt the surge of adrenalin wear away, revealing the intense pain that it was masking. Screaming with pain, I rolled onto my belly and flailed my hooves across my back in a desperate attempt to remove the glass that was piercing my flesh, managing to remove most of it but only increasing the pain. This time, it had cut up my front legs too.

I tried to suppress the pain and stand up, taking in an account of where I actually was. I was faced downhill while the castle was still to my left, which had a low balcony a little ways down the slope from where I was. I figured that I could get back into the castle from there and continue looking for clues to what happened to Violet Rose. I slid down the grassy slope a while until I reached the two concrete posts holding the platform up, the shortest of which was around two meters tall. I could climb this...

I scaled the post rather easily and heaved myself onto the railing to see what I could do to get in. There was a large set of double doors that appeared to be unlocked, so I figured that it was definitely the best way to go. It was only then that I realized what I didn't use in the fight I just had: my gun. I pulled it out again and admired the cold, black steel, noticing that it had a name written on the bottom of the clip.

White Forest. Didn't sound familiar, but I figured that name would come in handy later. I loaded the gun to find that it had fifteen bullets left, all of which could presumably kill a pony. I had to use them wisely.

I got up on my back legs and aimed. It wasn't too hard to do because I was an earth pony, but sustaining the pose might take some focus. Holding the gun in front of me, I shakily pushed open the door in front of me to find that I was in a rather interesting place: a dining room. But wait... 'Dining room? Food might be near...' I thought to myself.

I was at the far end of the vast, fancy, vacant rectangular room. In the middle was a long wooden table with nothing on it, but several poofy chairs around it. I had no interest in the dining room itself, so I just went straight to looking for the kitchen itself. I needed food badly now.

Gun still aimed hastily in front of me, I searched the three archways on the other walls of the room, still looking for food, starting with the arch on the wall to my left. Just a hallway. I slowly walked towards the arch on the far side of the room. Just the ballroom. My heart pounded even more with tension as I reached the final archway.

Anxious to see what was inside, I peeked my head in to find a long, silvery hallway lined with ovens, pantries, pots, pans, and toasters. I had found it. I put down my gun and walked up to the nearest cabinet in search of something edible.

My hoof pulled open the metal cabinet slowly, allowing an unwanted screech of metal grinding to echo throughout the building.

I heard another voice in the distance. "You guys hear that? I'll bet that creep found his way back in here!"

That was followed by the quick stepping of several hooves stampeding through the hall. Hastily, I pulled out my gun again and aimed it towards the end of the silvery hallway in hopes of a target appearing. Rather than one, I was soon greeted by several.

"Well, well, well. It's you again. What happened to my friend? Wanna say anything on that?" The one that I saw before spoke up to me again.

"He's dead." I replied.

"Oh really?"

"Yah really. Go see for yourself." I nudged my head in the direction of the double doors at the back of the dining room. He ordered a couple of his minions to the door as he said 'he wanted a word with me'. That didn't stop me from putting down my gun, though.

"So. Found a gun, huh?"

"You'd better believe it.”

Part 3: Discovery

"Let's not be too hasty with this. I was only searching for answers myself."

"So you're ready to listen to what I have to say?"

"Sure. Whatever the hell you want to call it."

I slowly put my gun back. "I can wrap it up in a nutshell, but it will come as a surprise to you. Celestia has been trying to create other alicorns. However, she has been killing several other ponies to do this. Supposedly, one of the successful test subjects escaped, and apparently Celestia used the parasprite invasion as a self distraction to let her try and kill it because it went crazy on her. Now although I'm not entirely sure, I can guess that the earthquake was a result of an attempt to kill it."

He stared at me suspiciously. "What proof do you have?"

"All the proof that you needed was on the photograph that you rejected from me."

"Fine. I'll go back and get them."

Before he had any chance to leave the hallway, his other two friends came back, this time freaking out.

"Holy shit! Grey Flame really is dead!"

The leader of the group turned around and turned towards me again. "You've got to be fucking kidding me."

I backed down. "It was out of self defense! I literally had no other choice!"

Choked up, he looked towards the ground, lightly sobbed, and looked back up while sighing. "I can give you that one, but we're still enemies. Well, at least enemies with a common interest: Finding the truth."

"True that. You gonnah head to the bedroom, or what now?"

"We go to the room. All of us."

The short walk to Celestia's bedroom revealed a lot of the group. The leader's name was Boldkey, and his two friend's names were Pierce and Pick. For some reason though, the other two wouldn't give me their full names... I don't really blame them, though. Pick was dark blue and Pierce was orange, by the way.

We reached the room to find that the dead guard and clutter were still there. Thankfully, the journal and photos weren't that hard to find, so within seconds, all three of them were reading the sickening notes of Celestia.

"Holy shit. How long has this been going on?"

"Not sure. There were no dates in the journal." There was a couple seconds of awkward silence after that statement of mine, but it gave me an interesting idea for some reason.

"Wait! Remember the name of this project? Project Underground?" I asked.

"Yeah, why?" Pick said.

"Well... What if this entire operation was performed underground? Like, underneath this very castle?"

They thought about it for a second before responding. "Yeah, that would work... We should probably start searching the area. A combing." Boldkey said.

That fateful search started in the dark corner of Celestia's library in hopes of more journals or documents similar to the one found in her bedroom. The large, marble, multi-story room was fairly easy to find with it's location being pretty close, so we were there in no time. The massive room was dimly lit by only one small chandelier, and it featured two curved staircases on each wall of the place, all of it surrounded by literature. And sure enough, the four of us found ourselves in the doorway confronting thousands of books.

"Holy shit, that's a lot of books..." Pick barely muttered.

"Yeah, too much for us to handle. Yo Peirce, check the area for offices and let us know if you find any," Boldkey suggested.

Peirce followed Boldkey's order diligently as the rest of us stood in a circle.

"Anypony know how these libraries are categorized?" I asked.

"Yeah, I think I can give it a shot. I remember being in here once, and from that I could tell that the fiction was on the East side, non-fiction was on the West side, and the documents were slightly past that section. I can't recall any more, though," Pick said.

"That's all the info I'll need, thank you." I walked further into the room and admired the massive room, taking in the scent of fresh paper as I trotted up the staircase heading to the right.

I stopped dead on the stairs then and there. "Wait a minute... Fresh paper..." I muttered to myself before coming to a sudden realization. There might be printing going on here. And with printing could come life...

I finished the short climb to the top of the staircase and took in my surroundings. The document stations were clear on their location: Brightly lit and directly behind the non-fiction. I continued forward, noticing that the sound of hooves clacking on a keyboard was getting louder as I was getting closer to the light from behind the bookcases.

The sight of a frizzy mane behind a chair at a desk clearly came into view as I stepped past the final isle of bookcases. The desk he was at had a computer and several stacks of newspaper, all of which stated the same headline. I couldn't tell what it was though. He appeared to be male and a pegasus...

"Um, hello?" I sheepishly greeted him.

"Gotta type. Gotta type. Everpony must know. They betrayed us." His voice sounded dry and jumpy, kind of like me after too many energy drinks.

"What? You mean Celestia and Luna?"

"Yeah. Them. No. Wait. Just Celestia. Luna's good. Luna good. Good Luna."

I stepped closer to him to find that the headline read "Celestia deemed responsible for disaster, Luna innocent!"

"Do you mind if I read one of these?" I asked.

"No. Yes. Sure. Read it. Here." He reached out towards a large printer on the desk and handed me a warm copy. I took it and sat down, holding it in front of me as I began to read.

CELESTIA DEEMED RESPONSIBLE FOR DISASTER: LUNA INNOCENT!

The disaster that happened yesterday. You remember, right? Well, some of you searching for answers might have been looking in the wrong places. That note on the gates to Canterlot Palace... That rumor you heard from your sister. All of these stories are false, and we can prove it. Serious investigations took place yesterday in and around Canterlot Palace to find one vital piece in the puzzle: Celestia's journal.

Knowing what came next, I skipped forward.

That's right! All of it was a plot! Luna was framed! The parasprite invasion was planned!

I was confused. The earthquake had only happened about two hours ago... Where did this guy get this kind of information?

"There was no investigation, was there?"

"No. I just had to make them believe."

"Make who believe?"

"Everypony."

I folded up the newspaper and bolted down the stairs to find that Boldkey and Pick were still talking with each other.

"Guys! I have another clue!" I intruded.

Before either one could respond, another voice spoke up from behind us. "And I have about forty thousand more. Come here. Now." It was Pierce, who apparently had made another discovery. Or forty thousand.

We all made our way into the room where he was, only to find that it looked like a normal marble office. Well, at first glace, at least.

"Alright, what is it?" Pick said, obviously annoyed.

"Look," Peirce said, pointing to a semicircular line carved into the ground below us.

"What is this?" I asked.

"Well, if action movies had taught me anything, it's a secret door. However, we need to find some sort of switch or button somewhere that opens this sucker. Look for some sort of clue that relates to the phrase "Everypony Must Believe"." He replied.

"Holy shit. Where did you find that phrase from?" I found myself mutter.

"Underneath the wooden desk, it was carved there. Why?"

"Nothing. Nevermind."

Everypony else just stared at me stupidly until we went our separate ways about five seconds later.

I looked around the room to observe the room and found some interesting things. An old file cabinet in which Pick was digging through, a large bookcase that Peirce and Boldkey were tearing through, and a desk. A desk with a typewriter on it... Curious, I stepped closer. There was nothing else on the desk... That gave me an idea.

Shakily, I typed in the phrase 'Everypony Must Believe'. The second that the final 'e' was typed, the entire wall that had the bookcase on it shifted in a circular motion. And before I could tell what was going on, the section of wall surrounded by the circular crack was completely sideways, revealing a dark and cold stone corridor behind it.

I looked around the room to find the other three in a state of shock. It seemingly took forever for somepony to talk afterwards, and it was me, actually.

"Well. Ladies first."

We slowly and warily filed into the stone hallway to find that it was mossy and poorly lit with scattered torches. I grabbed the nearest one with my mouth and held it out in front of us as we walked into oblivion with me leading the way.

The slow walk through the hallway was tense. We had no idea what to expect at all, although we did kind of expect the massive descending flight of stairs that quickly followed that. After several minutes of hoof-killing descending when the hallway leveled out again, we found ourselves face to face with something that made us (and our heart rates) jump. Well, somepony.

Standing inches away from us, dimly lit from the fire of an old torch, was Celestia. And she was pissed.

"You shouldn't be here."

Stunned, I got a spike of adrenalin. Luckily, that gave me a burst of courage. "Give us one reason why we shouldn't be here."

"Leave. That's an order."

"I'm not going to until I find out the truth about the earthquake."

"It was natural. Go back. This is your last warning."

"Natural? Bullshit. I still refuse to go back." I looked back to see if my group mates were still behind me. They were still there, but in a shaky, sweaty state. One by one, they nodded at me.

I turned back towards Celestia. "We refuse to go back. And about what we found in the castle: What's with Project Underground?"

"Very well. I didn't want to do this, but..." Before anypony could stop her, she let some of her own magic swipe Peirce from us and dangle him in the air by his back legs directly in front of us.

It took all of us by surprise, but Peirce in particular, who panicked at the feeling of being dragged in mid-air. "ShitshitSHIT!!! PUT ME DOWN!!"

Celestia gave us a wicked smirk and turned Pierce sideways, showing us his side. "Now you tell me all you know about this or I start removing his spine bone-by-bone. Starting with this one."

We saw Peirce shriek in pain as Celestia made a small glow appear in his back, followed by the gut-wrenching sound of bone splintering. The clatter of bone on the ground happened below us. When we looked down, we found a bloody spinal column piece sitting on the ground in front of us. That bitch just teleported a bone out of his body...

"Now tell me what you know. Or I do it again."

"Oh no you fucking won't!" I remembered I had my gun and made a quick move on her. Reaching back with my right hoof, I pulled out the gun and swiped it back, loading it while simultaneously aiming at her and echoing the sound of gunfire throughout the hallway as I crammed down on the trigger as fast as possible.

An explosion of red splattered out from her front leg as it buckled down in pain, sending her into a kneeling position as her blood flowed down it and she cried out in pain. She lost concentration completely, sending Peirce down on his head with a sickening 'GRUNTCH'.

"Shit!! Peirce?!?" Boldkey rushed over to him in aid as Celestia raised her head and looked at me.

"You shouldn't have done that, you know." She tried to stand back up, only to find that her head had been smashed into the ground by an enraged Boldkey.

"YOU BITCH!!! YOU KILLER!!!"

"SILENCE, FOOL!!!" She had one last say in it as she used her last bit of magic on me. The gun that I was holding seconds before had been torn out of my hooves, just as she reloaded it and aimed it towards Boldkey. She slowly stood up as Boldkey stepped down, giving her the height advantage over him.

The gun stopped moving. Just as I thought Boldkey was going to get murdered, the gun was taken over by a darker glow. The gun started shaking. Violently. And ever so slightly, as Celestia tried to reverse the affects, it slowly was aimed towards Celestia's head.

A surprise voice came from further down the hallway. "PULL THE TRIGGER!!" I dropped the torch in shock and looked behind Celestia, doing a double-take. It was Luna.

"What?"

"JUST DO IT!!"

Following an impromptu order, I ran towards Celestia and jumped at the gun, only to find myself being swatted down by Celestia's good front leg. The wind was knocked out of me as I fell towards the ground and skidded several decimeters on the stone floor, eventually stopping with more pain in my back than I ever thought imaginable.

Luckily, I wasn't the only one that heard Luna: Boldkey had caught Celestia off guard and seized the moment in one last, desperate attempt to save somepony's life.

I could nearly see it in slow motion as I propped my head up with my sore neck: The powerful but clumsy leap on Boldkey's part set the stage for him putting on one hell of a rage face. The gun was seized with a f, and in one desperate attempt to strike, flung his hoof towards the trigger hole, resulting in a deafening explosion right in the middle of the intensity.

It was a bizarre sight to see the leader of Equestria meet such an ironic fate as she collapsed to the ground, dead even before her landing with a slow 'thud'. I couldn't tell if it was horrifying or satisfying... Or both.

Shocked at what I just saw, I shakily stood up and stared at Luna with a dumbfounded look on my face.

"What the hell just happened?" I exclaimed.

Part 4: Reveal

Luna gave us a half-determined stare, obviously choking down her sorrow for her sister as the gun was dropped to the ground with a clatter.

"There may be some time for explanation. But we have to run."

"Run where?" Pick responded.

"The underground. The alicorn testing facility. In case you didn't know, this tunnel leads to it."

I gave a hollow laugh as I picked the gun up and stored it again. "Yeah, we could tell. Why else would Celestia do that?"

Luna scoffed at my remark and turned around, facing the unexplored area of the long tunnel. "Let's go."

I don't know if you've ever had to do this serious of running after a crazy amount of mental and physical torment before, but if you have, you know my position. I had just witnessed four deaths face-to-face (one of which I was directly responsible for), already ran several kilometers, had about three woozy adrenalin spikes, not to mention having hundreds of glass shards being driven into your skin, several of which are still there... Put the pieces together, and you have a vague understanding of the situation.

At least the past of the situation. This is the present. I'm running like hell trying to catch up to Luna, all four of my legs are numb from the running, I'm trying to comprehend what the hell happened, and, I might add, fearing the future. I caught a glimpse of where we were headed by looking at the two photos earlier, but I was sure that those barely scratched the surface of our problem. There was blood on those fucking metal walls...

I shuddered at the thought of all the death that happened (or could be happening) ahead of us. Pushing over the scar of thought, I trudged forward, barely ignoring the pain coursing throughout my entire body just to push on.

Luckily, my run was nearly over. Unfortunately, my pain was not. The end of the perfectly straight tunnel was near, approaching us with an intimidating glow. As we neared it, some of its details became clearer: It was entirely made out of a shiny metal (which I guessed was steel) and was shaped like a circle, giving it an eerie appearance as it loomed over us, dimly lit by a single torch placed next to it. The door had a large, metal-pronged wheel on it, definitely for opening.

We cautiously neared it, half-expecting a jump scare by the time we were directly in front of the large door.

"Anypony know how to open this thing?" Pick asked.

"I'm not even going to bother with that..." Before any of us could tell what she was doing, Luna had already torn open the steel door with a powerful display of magic. The grinding sound of metal on metal echoed throughout the corridor and the room in front of us as the the entire slab of pure steel was coated in a radiant blue haze, was bent off of its hinges, and thrown to the ground in an explosion of shrapnel with a bang.

"Was that really necessary?" Boldkey asked.

"For the time we had, yes," Luna flatly stated as the four of us stepped in and observed the room just beyond the ruined doorframe. The room turned out to be a normal, white-walled lobby with a few scattered couches and a desk in the back. I was oddly alarmed at this, but I wasn't the only one thinking that.

"What the hell is this? A decoy?" Pick shouted.

"Hold it. We haven't even looked around yet..." Right as I said that, as though I jinxed the entire thing, we heard another grinding metal sound behind us. Ears cringing, we turned around to find that the door that Luna had ripped to shreds was being taken over by a bright orange glow as the door bent itself back into shape and replacing the previously empty doorframe, it sounding metal screeches the entire way. We were locked in again.

"Oh shit... Luna! Can you open it again? We gotta get the hell out of here!" I screamed at her.

A spark of blue emitted pathetically from Luna's horn. "Oh fuck. This is not good." Luna said as I tore out my gun once again and aimed it blindly around the room, looking for another exit. There was a hallway towards the back that we could use...

She should have taken that back, because things were about to get worse than just Luna not being able to use magic. Before I could let the others know about the hall, the lights went out. It wasn't even the way you just turn them off, either... The lights were instantly destroyed with a small shockwave that had an unknown location of origin.

Pick starting to panic as all of us got yet another heart rate spike. "Ooooh shit. Ooh shit. Oh shit."

"Pick! Silence!" Luna hissed back.

There were a couple of tense seconds of silence as we tried to listen in on what was going. We knew that it was probably Rose... We couldn't prove it yet, though... We needed to see her face to face.

That gave me an idea. I fumbled my hoof blindly around the gun until I felt a switch, instinctively flipping it on. A temporarily blinding beam of light shot out in front of me and onto the furthest wall from the door, lighting it just enough to see about a quarter of the wall in front of us. As steadily as I could with my now shaking hoof, I slowly pointed the gun around the room to look for her. And inch by inch, the wall was slowly scanned. My heart pounded anxiously in my chest as I neared the right side of the room, grabbing the gun with sweaty death grip. Death could be inches away from me, or worse...

I was too late; I didn't find her in time. The very second I realized it was happening was the very second that I realized I couldn't do anything about what had already happened. I heard a bloodcurdling scream next to me as a small whoosh of wind by my left ear. I looked to my side... Pick was gone.

I flung the gun behind me to find the vault door and nothing else. "P-pick?!? Oooh shit." I backed away from the door and looked up. There was an open air duct... Was Rose in there...?

Luna, Boldkey and I listened in with horror as we heard Pick's last words. "Oh no. Don't do that. Please. PLEASE!!!" Following that was a sickening, gut wrenching crunch. I couldn't believe my own ears as I instantly perceived the one feeling that I had never before truly: Terror.

Blood started slowly dripping from the ceiling as Boldkey threw up on the spot. I don't blame him, though... I was on the verge of doing so myself.

"What the hell do we do now?!?" I screamed at the now smaller group.

"Run." And with that simple statement on Luna's part, we did just that. We bolted as fast as we could into the hallway, nearly collapsing from the insane amount of surprise energy that we had to use to get this far. I wasn't prepared for it, and sure enough, I collapsed under the weight of my own tired body. My body came crashing down as I saw my gun skidding across the ground, completely oblivious to pain as light was crudely cast onto the walls of the corridor. I didn't care any more. I was defeated. I didn't want to live anymore, especially if it meant more of this hell. "Just... go on without me..."

I heard the sound of magic. Everything went black.

I awoke with a jolting start. I was still in the hallway... What had happened? My eyes adjusted to the hallway as I noticed that it was bright again... Bright, but with no lights. I thought no more of it as I stammered to my hooves in a klutzy manner. I felt different this time... Like I was oddly relaxed for the circumstances. I couldn't wrap my head around it... Questions flooded my mind. What had happened? How long was I out? Why was I in the same place when I blacked out? Why was I relaxed? Why was I alive? That last one grew on me like a weed. I was very much alive, but I should have been dead, after what happened to Pick...

Finally on my hooves again, I looked down at the ground to find the gun still on the ground. Odd... I picked it up again with a hoof to find that it had the exact same number of bullets in it before I shot it, meaning that it had been refilled with ammo. Even weirder. I looked down the hallway to find an endless corridor, with several light fixtures and doors all along the way. I could only hope that Boldkey and Luna escaped safely...

I turned around again in hopes of finding life. I had barely moved down the hallway before I passed out, so I was only about five meters away from the room that I was running from in the last few moments that I remembered. I started walking down the hallway to find, to my surprise, that I wasn't sore or in pain at all... How long had I been out?

I couldn't tell if I was happy or angered at what happened, but that gave me an interesting idea: Had Pick actually died? I tried not to think of it as I continued to slowly walk down the hallway. The room was bright again, but something else was different about the lobby... Something I couldn't yet put a hoof on.

That is, until I stepped fully into the lobby. I noticed right off the bat that the lights had been replaced, but that wasn't the strangest of it: The door had been completely replaced. Even worse, there were other ponies in the lobby...

"Whaaat?" I stammered. I was in shock... What had happened? Had I even been out? Out of pure confusion, I stumbled around the room, gathering several hilarious looks from other ponies as I crashed on the couch in the middle of the lobby, revealing something that put the first puzzle piece into play to actually figure out what the hell was going on.

I noticed it in the very second I landed: My coat color was no longer green. Looking closer and not believing my eyes, I found out that it was now golden-colored. Holy shit... I was no longer myself. Looking further down my now sweating body, I found something that honestly scared the single fuck left in me out. I had wings.

I wanted to pass out again, but I couldn't yet; my short period of pure insanity wasn't over yet. As I continued staring at my new body, my eyes slowly moved upwards to find a pony now standing in front of me, who completely took me by surprise.

"P-princess Celestia?!?" There she was, standing elegantly above me, completely alive and well. She even appeared to be somewhat happy...

She gave a light-hearted giggle. "That's my name, don't wear it out! Well, Ingot, you should start making your way to the operating room. They should be starting soon." I was in pure shock. She was alive...?

Eventually, my brain sorted itself out and spat out one answer that made everything suddenly make sense: I was in the past. I don't know why I didn't think of that in the first place...

Quick thinking on my part kept my cool with the now-still-alive Celestia. "Sorry, I forgot. Which room is that in again?"

"Third door on the left side of the main hallway. Weren't you just over there?"

"Uh, yeah. I just wanted a more comfortable place to sit until it started, so I came over here." Smooooth.

Celestia stared at me awkwardly. "Uh, okay. You... go ahead and... sit." She walked away without looking back.

I sighed in relief and decided to check out the room that Celestia was talking about, so I stood up and made my way back down the hallway, this time trying to not look like an idiot doing so.

Ingot... So that was my name, and now I was a pegasus? Okay. I could at least try to cope with this...

I had several second thoughts as I neared the third door on the left. I didn't even know what was behind that door...

Hastily, I pushed open the door to find an observation room for an operating table with about four other ponies inside. One of them, who was a purple unicorn, turned around and greeted me. "Ingot! It's about time... We were just about to start without you."

I walked up to the window and was shocked at what I saw: In a metal room, surrounded by doctors and on a metal operating table, was a purple earth pony.

Violet Rose.

Part 5: Shock

It took me several seconds to regain my breath as another revealing thought made its way into my already scarred mind: Was she the one that brought me back? Or was this just an illusion? I slapped my own foreleg and felt pain, blasting that out of the equation. One question was still left unanswered: Why was I somepony else?

I had no answers. I didn't even know what to do at this point... Defeated, I continued watching Violet as a morbid procedure was performed on her. It was slow, long, and silent as she had wings and a horn surgically implanted. I admittedly gagged a couple times, but I didn't have it the worst. A couple of my fellow groupmates threw up, and one of them passed out entirely at the first sight of blood And there was a lot of it, so I guess he was probably had it best.

I couldn't directly recall most of the details of the actual procedure because my eyes were closed half the time, but I could directly recalled the aftermath. The operating table lifted and tilted towards us to reveal a perfectly crafted Alicorn strapped to the table, wings and horn seamlessly added to her body. Looked nothing like the Violet in the picture I saw...

Yet.

What happened next were some of the most horrifying moments of my life, not only because my life was in danger, but because I couldn't do anything about it.

Her eyes opened. It wasn't just a slow crawl into consciousness; it was right off the bat. She was awake. Right after, before I could tell what had already happened, her horn flashed on. It started glowing brighter and brighter with an eye-piercing brightness, and before we knew it, she had completely burned off the leather straps binding her to the table. She was free.

Quickly realizing where she was and the gravity of the situation, she jumped off of the table with a powerful leap, landing square on the chest of a nearby surgeon. He toppled to the ground in shock as Violet levitated a surgical tool over to her hoof, which then seized it hastily. She started mindlessly slashing at him, letting his own blood get all over the room... And Violet. In complete shock, one of the other surgeons raced over to a nearby alarm, only to find himself thrown backwards and into a wall by a powerful display of magic on Violet's part, smashing his ribs into the cold metal as he was killed instantly.

In one quick move on another's part, a flailing hoof grasped the alarm's handle and crammed it down, instantly turning the lights red and sounding a loud alarm throughout the metal room.

I had no time to see what else Rose did or where else she went; seconds later, the door behind me burst open, revealing a black pony behind it.

"I'm sorry we had to do this, but we have to perform the procedure on you know. Don't worry, it's not this one. Gentlecolts? Take them away."

With these simple, short words, several others poured into the room as we were patted down and dragged out, leaving me with no gun.

"Wait! What procedure?" I tried calling out at the last second. There was no response.

Rather, I was dragged out into the hallway and a few doors down, where I was thrown into a small room, this one with a dentist-style chair.

I was brutally thrown down into the chair as another pony peered over me. Before I had a chance to retaliate, he had already strapped me into the chair with metal brackets. Struggling to dislodge myself, I found an evil grin slowly appear on his blue face.

"You know you won't be able to break free."

That was all he said before a screen dropped down from the ceiling, quickly generating random numbers and letters. Eventually, the screen slowed down as he spoke again.

"I'll try to answer some questions before I send you off. This random information generator is determining your new life after I erase your memory."

"What? NO!!!" I screamed back at him.

"Haha! Yes. Look at the screen now. This will be your new set of personal information."

I looked at the screen in awe as the motion on it slowed to a crawl, then stopped entirely.

It read:

Name: Starnote

Body color: Dark green

Mane color (1): Blue

Mane color (2): Red

Eye color: Light purple

Cutie mark: Bass guitar

Occupation: Guitarist

Wife: Yes

Children: 1

I couldn't speak. I didn't know what to say. I was Ingot... "Holy shit."

With those final words of mine, everything went white.

My vision slowly regenerated as I found myself staring at a white wall, dimly lit by a single source: a gun. I reached a hoof out and grabbed it, still on the ground as I observed my surroundings. In a dark hallway... The exact place where I collapsed. Shakily aiming the gun around as I stood up slowly, I noticed a note on the wall in front of me...

I walked up to it with countless questions spraying mindlessly around my head. To my surprise, it was just placed there...

Shakily, I reached up and pulled it off the wall, reading it as it was in my hand.

"Please understand why I did that, and why I did this.

-Violet Rose"

Sub-mindedly knowing exactly what she was talking about, I stroked my back with a hoof. The glass wasn't there. Instead, in the exact place that excruciating pain should have been, were a pair of soft, feathery wings.

Two thoughts instantly came to mind:

My life was a lie.

Pick wasn't dead.

Part 7: Darkness

"Alright, now I have a question for you."

Her statement took me a little by surprise. "Huh?"

"What was with the earthquake? How destructive was it?"

"Well, I guess you must have not felt a thing of it down here, because it completely tore up the surface. The damage wasn't very widespread, like the damage didn't make it to the palace, but what it did hit, it destroyed. Okay, maybe destroyed is a bit of an understatement. How about obliterated."

"What the hell? Are you serious?"

"I couldn't not be. Ash completely flooded the streets and killed everypony in its path. Only about two hundred or so were able to escape from harm's way and end up here, so there were probably only about two thousand or so survivors in Canterlot."

"Good hell... All of this destruction over an ill-considered attempt at murdering? Celestia must have been way more insane than I originally thought. This means trouble..."

"No shit. Just one more question, though: The photos we saw of you said you were bi-polar. Is that true? I mean, you haven't acted that weird around us..."

"Well, you haven't seen me at night yet."

Her last statement left me hanging on a nail. "What do you mean?" Pick and I asked in near perfect unison.

"Well, how about I put it this way: You don't want to be near me when it's night. So, if it is night up there, I haven't acted weird around you because I don't know for sure if it's night. But when I know, I go crazy."

I cringed at the thought of her going crazy again. "So, kind of like a were-pony, but not nearly as badass?"

She laughed a little under her breath. "You could put it that way, I suppose, but it's a bit deeper than meets the eye. There will be time to explain later, but we have to make our way towards the surface fast. I suspect that it's already night..."

She left me with a few more questions to ask, but I could forgive her. She probably hadn't spoken in two weeks anyway.

As we slowly neared the section of the tunnel that curved upwards and started the massive staircase, we noticed something odd... The entire entrance to the staircase was empty. The dead Celestia and Pierce were gone.

"Holy shit... Where did Celestia and Peirce go?" Pick asked us, although he should have already known that he wasn't going to get a real answer from either one of us.

Clearly shocked at what Pick just asked, Violet spoke up. "Wait a second... You're saying that this is where Celestia and Peirce were killed?"

"Yeah. And now they're gone. Why, though?"

Still in an odd state of shock with a horrified expression plastered on her face, Violet did something completely unexpected, but still oddly welcomed. Reaching out both of her forehooves towards us at the same time, grabbing us and finding our bodies suddenly squished together. Before we had any say in what appeared to be a couple bruised ribs and an incredibly awkward moment, she quickly unfurled her wings. And with a quickly placed jump on her part, she was powering her wings up and down in the small stairwell as we soared upwards.

The intense sensation of acceleration would have been incredibly welcome if she had actually told us what we were doing, and just as importantly, where we were going. Seeing the mildewed steps of the dark staircase racing centimeters from my nose sparked an interesting feeling that I had never felt before: The perfect balance of intimidation and security. Well, for the time being at least. The staircase suddenly ended, causing us to be pressed down on our backs with intense forces as Violet pulled down into a level flight path.

The last few meters of the dark hallway were going by fast. Literally: Violet was probably somewhere around 80 kmh and still going strong, blowing out the torches behind her with powerfully launched gusts of wind.

As the wooden end of the tunnel neared us, I realized something at the last second that would nearly make me use all of the strength that I had left to get out of the bone-crunching grip of Violet: She wasn't planning on stopping anytime soon. I tried opening up my lungs to deliver the message to her, but her grip on me was too strong. I couldn't say anything. There was nothing I could do.

I managed to barely tuck my head into her arm as her head ducked down with her body, allowing her back to strike the back of the bookcase with full force as she tumbled forward. An explosion of shattering wood shot out away from us as we barreled through the old wooden structure, sending several splinters into the air and into our skin as Violet lost control of her flight entirely. All three of us skidded several meters along the cold marble tile, further implanting the rotted shards of wood into our backs, sending searing pain throughout our bodies instantly.

Damnit, not again.

Careening along the smooth tiled floor of the office gave me a short glimpse of the time of day outside through the library window and the office doorway: night. We had to contain Violet. Fast.

Quickly stammering to my feet before anypony else could, I used some quick, on the spot thinking to reach out a hoof and slam the door to our left before either one could see what was behind it. Waiting for by back legs to catch up to my forehooves as I watched Violet get back up and continue running was nothing short of terrifying. It took a great deal of courage to stop her, and through that, I still barely managed to squeak out a few words.

"No."

She suddenly drove her hooves into the ground as they brought her to a grinding halt inches away from me. A dumbfounded but angered look found its way onto her face as she muttered a response.

"What did you say?"

I swallowed the fear that lingered in my throat. "I'm not letting you pass until you tell us where you're going."

Her look changed from confused to determined. "Oh really... Is that so?" I knew that she already suspected it being night time, so I saw anger spark in her.

Knowing what she meant but not entirely sure what she was going to do next, I braced for impact. "Yes."

Nearly shattering the tiles behind her in a furious lunge towards me, I found myself inches away from her wing as she turned to her side. Her wing grabbed me from the underside of my ribcage and hurled my powerless body upwards, smashing my back against the ceiling as I caught a glimpse of Violet trampling down the door below me.

I could do nothing. She had already seen the stars outside of the library window as gravity took over me once again, crunching me down on the tile floor face first in a fury of pain.

Barely overcoming the burning feeling that swept through my body, I lifted my head slightly to see that Violet had crumpled to her knees and was screaming out in pain. I looked back at Pick, who had a look of pure horror on his face. Neither one had a clue to what was about to happen. Violet fell to the ground with a sickening 'thud' as she went completely silent.

I turned back around violently, screaming at Pick the last warning I could. "RUN, DAMN IT!"

Pick got on all fours as I did the same. And in one klutzy motion, we both screamed along the tile floor as fast as we could and ran.

I could barely see what was going on as my hooves skittered painfully on the marble tile. I ran forward as I watched Violet lay motionless on the ground in front of us, wondering what would happen next. Making a quick decision, I veered to my right, while at the same time realizing that I had something that Pick didn't: Wings. Thinking fast, I heaved myself into the air. The second I felt the weight completely come off of my hooves, I swooped down towards Pick. Before he could stop me, I yelled "HOLD ON!" and bear hugged his back as hard as I could as I took off once again.

Clearly surprised, he struggled a little bit before realizing that it was just me. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?"

I cut him off in the intensity of the moment. "Going outside."

I didn't listen to the rest of what he was saying: I had already picked up speed and was now headed for the main entrance to the library.

Part 8: Flight

We didn't make it. With an unseen force coming from the dark, our tails were caught by the now unrelenting force of Violet's magic and heaved backwards. I barely caught on to what was happening at the last second: I was still holding onto Pick.

Since he had magic and I had wings, I felt as though I had no other choice at the time. Using illogical but quick thinking, I used my wings to pivot myself around in the air. Just as I heard the confused screams of Pick, I gave him enough momentum to soar towards the entrance of the library, just out of the magic coming from Violet's horn.

I watched Pick as he was taken by surprise of sudden motion. His legs spread out, slowing him down just enough to watch me be pulled towards by Violet as he hit the ground with a sickening 'THUD' and skidded towards the door painfully. Quickly getting on his hooves and ignoring the pain that was possessing his body, he just managed to open the door, slip through, and escape.

I, on the other hand, was still in front of the deranged Alicorn facing her full wrath. I could feel the odd grip on magic on my tail as I was thrown backwards, nearly powerless and defenseless.

I stopped and thought inside my mind for a fraction of a second. Wait... The incident with Grey Flame... I could use that tactic here.

Not thinking but somehow doing, I used my wings to propel my body upside-down, now facing Violet in an odd but useful position. I could see the cold, marble tile soar inches past my head and wings as it raced past me, giving me a slow, pounding spike of adrenaline on the way. Well, maybe spike wasn't the correct term to use here: How about it gave me a slow, pounding explosion of adrenaline? There. That works.

Now in position, I heaved myself upwards with my forelegs. Watching Violet come closer to me by the millisecond, I got a closer look at her face just before my attack. Her face was still mangled and bloody, but that wasn't what caught my eye... What did, was her eye. It now looked red and lizard-like... Just like Nightmare Moon.

I had no time to think of it as I neared Violet. My forehooves threw themselves under my head and under her shoulders, giving me the leverage to heave the poor bitch right into the air behind me as I landed shakily on two hooves. She lost concentration entirely and forgot about her hold on me, letting her fly backwards. I quickly looked back, half-expecting a massive crash behind me. However, it never happened.

When I looked back, I saw that Violet was using her wings to prevent herself from crashing into the cold floor. She was flying.

"Oh, what the fuck," I said in disgust. This wasn't going to be easy.

Clearly pissed off and in an unrecognizable state of rage, she charged. Now, this wasn't just your average run/fly-up-to-somepony-and-hope-for-the-best kind of attack; this was full on and full of uncalled-for, pure, unfiltered, powerful hate. Rearing up her massive wings and looking me straight in the eyes with an almost unreal stare, I froze and stared at hers, thinking of how this could have happened. Nightmare moon? In her?

As if I wasn't frozen in thought enough, all of what was happening was explained. All the puzzle pieces locked together. All of them.

Celestia's mission, as I knew, was to create another alicorn. They only had access to two alicorns, so they had to mix what they knew about Celestia and Luna. Pink and navy blue mixed... Created purple. That's where Violet came in. Violet Rose.

The insanity part of both Celestia and Luna had come from the alledgedly 'dead' Nightmare. Apparently, Luna was more possessed by it than Celestia, which is the reason why Luna killed her sister in an attempt to be ever closer to her goal of being the only alicorn live. So, the Nightmare spread to the 'Luna' side of Violet, hinting at the night insanity. That means that Luna would have gone for Violet next if it weren't for the fact that Violet made it look like she brutally murdered Pick... Genius.

Genius...

I came to two sudden and shocking conclusions. One: I couldn't kill Violet. She was the only pony alive that had a chance of restoring Equestria to what it was before Project Underground. Two: Luna was currently pursuing her insane goal of becoming the single ruler of Equestria, being half controlled by the Nightmare, which Luna probably wasn't aware still existed.

Holy shit.

Snapping back to the brutal reality that I was facing, I stared straight out to see an enraged Nightmare Violet careening towards me like a tank. Letting my instincts get the better of me, I sub-mindedly threw myself out of harm's way using my wings. I watched Violet get taken completely by surprise as she skidded her hooves noisily along the tile as she slowed to a stop, completely unharmed.

In the air, realizing that I was facing another seemingly unattackable opponent, I did the first logical thing that came to mind.

Fly.

'Alright, let's see what these suckers can do...' I thought to myself as I reared my own wings up, readying myself for one hell of a chase.

I was off with a bang. And as if the already insane rush of peril wasn't enough for my poor system, my heart skipped several beats when I started accelerating and saw Violet turn towards me with a look of complete insanity on her face. Racing ever faster towards the exit to the library, Violet did something that I forgot she could: Shut the door. I had already passed Violet and was headed for the door, when the entire block of wood and metal was engulfed in a display of powerful magic as it was closed in my face with a 'BOOM'.

Shocked but somehow half-prepared for it, I quickly swiveled around and bucked the wooden door, sending me in the opposite direction quickly. Before she could realize what was going on and have a chance to stop it, I located the only other way out of this place: The window.

Gaining speed to freedom and what also looked like another round of crystal splinters embedded in my spine, I suddenly met up with my new worst fear right in the middle of the intensity: Glass. In what felt like a slow motion epic in front of my very eyes, my entire body did what felt like half a backflip over the tops of the second story bookcases. Ignoring the nearly unbearable strain that my shoulderblades were going through, I momentarily opened just long enough to see the upside-down bookcases whooshing past my head as a confused Nightmare Violet was searching for me below.

For what felt like the hundredth (but was probably only the fourth) time today, I felt the searing pain of shattering glass behind my back as I slowly watched the jagged ends of the window frame fall away from me as I did likewise. Snapping out of my slow-motion state of mind, I followed through with my painful flip, unfurled my wings, and took flight once again, this time outside in full light of the bright full moon. The quick movement of my wings threw several shards of glass through the night air, sparkling in the moonlight as they alerted Violet of my location.

Hearing the grinding pound of harshly treated hooves shooting off of the tile behind me, I knew that Violet was after me and moving fast. Unfortunately for her, my mind was faster.

Making a mid-air move that I had only seen on a roller coaster before, I pulled up into a tight loop. Halfway through, I swiveled myself into an upright position with a half of a barrel roll, pointed downwards and towards the roof of the castle, which was oddly flat for a good majority of it. I just performed an Immelmann and was pretty damn proud of it.

Part 9: Torture

Now soaring quickly over the roof of the oddly shaped castle, I could barely hear the mad flapping of Violet's wings behind me. She was catching up, and fast. Struggling to keep my speed as fast as possible, I watched the old shingles on the castle roof slope up steeply into a spire. 'I could maybe lose her up here...' I thought to myself as I steered up sharply to conform to the slope of the roof. I ignored the sounds of Violet's flapping and the strain in my shoulderblades as I found myself pointed straight up, my flight path now parallel to the skinny tower. Noticing that it had a balcony around the top of it, I quickly hatched a plan.

Hooves outstretched in front of me and pulling back as my flight took me over the circular balcony, I felt some absolutely wicked forces acting on my body as I pulled down over the pointed tower. I could literally feel my insides being pressed against my spine, which was both exhilarating and painful at the same time. Making sure that Violet saw where I went before, I stretched my wings as far out as they would go, slowing me to a near-stop as I felt a horrendous amount of pain in my shoulderblades. Taking full advantage of my slow speed and the fact that Violet couldn't see me, I grabbed hold of the railing on the other side of the balcony with my forehooves. In one smooth move, I swung underneath the balcony, grabbed hold of a loose shingle with my back hooves, and stayed as still as possible.

Hearing the 'whooshes' of wind above me coming from Violet's wings, I made a prayer to the dead Celestia that I wouldn't be found. Heart pounding and my lungs wheezing, I tried to keep as quiet as possible as my grip became sweaty and shaky. Looking down at the ruins of Canterlot below, I realized two things:

One. We were really fucking high up.

Two. The lower part of Canterlot had developed a massive, jagged, darkened fault in the middle of the suburbs that tore the entire city in two from the ground up. It looked like a lot of the dust had cleared, giving me a better look at what appeared to be hundreds of dead bodies lying in the streets below. There was death everywhere.

Chocking back a feeling that drew the line between vomiting and sobbing, I could feel my grip becoming shakier and shakier by the second. Knowing that Violet was actively searching for me, I knew that I would have to change location soon. With that thought on my part, I started inching my way clockwise around the underside of the balcony. Vertigo struck me more and more for every inch I moved.

I made about a meter in distance before my hooves caught hold of a loose shingle and ripped it off, making a scratched tearing sound like cardboard being ripped in half. The sound echoed over the balcony, and I knew at that second that I was in huge trouble. In a sudden state of panic, I let go of the balcony entirely. Suddenly in an intense free-fall, I could see the roof of the castle get closer as the sensation of insane speed took over me once again. The shingles of the tower walls flew past me as I though about what I could do next that wouldn't get me killed.

I had no time to think. I had no time left. The roof had pulled up to a point where I had to pull up or I would die. Suddenly feeling an unreal amount of pressure on my ribcage and my wings, the landscape in front of my eyes quickly changed from the roof to the night sky above. Now having to face the challenge of avoiding the oddly-shaped rooftops, I found myself heaving my own body over mounds of marble and glass, headed for the mountain.

I heard a searing scream behind me, easily comparable to a mad banshee. I instantly knew it was Violet. Trying ever harder to get to the edge of the castle with a plan, my mind almost froze in midair. Almost as if time itself had bent it's way around my thoughts, I was suddenly able to think clearly as Violet was hunting me down.

Still in what felt like a state of near-pause, I realized that I had something that Violet didn't: My gun. Reaching the end of the castle and soon finding myself looking at the ground from several meters up, I rammed a hoof into my own side, whipped out the gun, and loaded it as fast as I could. I looked back to see how far back she was from me, nearly having another heart attack at the sight of Violet only being a couple meters behind me, war face and everything.

Thinking quickly but feeling slowly, I decided to surprise her. Pulling down as hard as I possibly could, I felt my entire body cramming down on my spine and wings while I watched the grassy mountainside tumble over me as I nearly grazed my back on it. Trying to hold my gun as steadily as possible, I realized something else: I couldn't kill Violet, but I could beat the fuck out of her as much as I wanted.

Trying to keep the element of surprise on my side as I came full circle with my loop, I spotted Violet once again. I aimed the gun at her back, I found myself with the perfect shot: Her wing. Doing without thinking as I struggled to keep the gun up with the insane forces on it, I crammed my hoof down on the trigger hole as a small explosion was summoned at my hooftips and an explosion of crimson was summoned at Violet's right wing. She went tumbling and spiraling straight out of the night air, spitting out screams and blood the entire way down until she hit the grassy mountainside with a wicked 'THUD'.

My mind instantly snapped out of it's slow motion state as I flung out my wings, bringing me to a sudden hover over Violet's point of painful impact.

"Oh shit... What have I done..." I painfully asked myself as I thought about where to go next. Cringing at the writhing body, I pushed over the sight with the thought that I did what I needed to do.

A thought suddenly came to me. Where were Pick, Boldkey and Luna? They had to be on this mountain still, right? Tossing aside both the question and the immense amount of tiredness that flushed through me in midair, I made a sudden decision to head inside the window that I had come out of just a minute before.

Back at the window a few minutes later, I desperately tried to recover from my shaky flight. Flying through the broken window and down onto the second floor of the library, I stretched my hooves out in a klutzy enough manner to make me tumble down to the ground in both defeat and victory. Once I realized that I was inside the building safely, I looked back up and noticed that the  jagged edges of the shattered window frame had blood dripping down the entire lower side.

Knowing instantly what that could have meant, I got on all fours and swiped a shaking hoof across my back, causing a tearing pain to rip through both my back and my leg, letting some of my blood soak into the fur on my leg. Disgust, pain and hate swept through me.

"Sweet. Fucking. Celestia."

Those were the last words that I remember saying before I collapsed into an epic faceplant right there in the library.

I awoke to two things: An insanely bright light and the sound of Pick's voice.

"Starnote? Boldkey? Luna?! Anypony?!? Help me!!" His voice hinted panic.

I snapped out of my sleep deprived state and opened my eyes all the way to find nothing but a bright light completely impairing my sight.

"Pick? Where are you? Were are we?" I tried to respond as I tried to follow the sound of his voice, revealing to me my own position. I was cuffed to a metal bed, standing up with my limbs spread apart. Even my wings, which had a bizarre sensation of throbbing soreness that I can safely say that I had never felt before and never want to feel again.

The sudden change in my position scared the hell out of me, and I started to panic. Heart racing, I tried to piece together the pieces of the newly presented puzzle: Where was I and why was I here. Before I could think any further, Pick responded, clearly just as scared as I was. "Starnote? I hope that's really you. I'm not sure, but it can't be good. Where were you when you were knocked out? I mean, you just woke up, so..."

Through uneven gasps, I responded. "Yeah, I know what you mean. I guess I was in the library... And I had just shot Violet about a minute before."

"You did WHAT?! Good fuck, you're sounding just as bad as Celestia!!"

"Calm the fuck down. It was in her wing, and it was just to get her out of the air. Anyway, you're a unicorn. Can you get us out of here?" There was a silence.

"No... I have no idea why... But about Violet. Where is she now?"

"Just outside the castle against the mountain. Trust me, it was just as painful for me as it was for her."

"Bullshit." His voice grew with anger.

"Can you even see me? My back has no fucking flesh attached to it by now, for Celestia's sake!!"

Just to make sure I knew what I was talking about, I looked down at my own body to check that my description matched my physical state. What my eyes saw were even worse. My entire chest was completely torn up, letting now dried blood flow out of several open gash marks and down the entire way to my back legs. It had dried long ago, forming a sickening pool of my own blood beneath me on the blue tiled floor. I threw up a little out of disgust and sudden confusion.

"What the fuck happened? What do I look like from over there?" I asked hastily.

Pick responded. "I can't see anything! Just a blindingly bright light. That's it."

"Look down. Are you hurt?"

"I don't think so, but I can take a lo..." He stopped talking for a moment, gagged, then continued. "Holy shit. Oh no. Oh shit. This can't be happening."

"What? What's wrong?" I regretted asking that, knowing that the answer couldn't be good.

"M-my legs... Oh shit..."

"What the hell is it?!"

"Oh no. This can't be."

"TELL ME WHAT IT IS!!"

There was no response.

Without warning, the light in front of me shut off. My eyes tried adjusting to the sudden darkness, hurting my skull as it did so. After an entire minute of furious blinking, I opened my eyes a final time, revealing once and for all where we were. We were back in Celestia's bedroom, messier and darker than ever. At least the guard was gone. Directly in front of me, in the exact same position as I was and facing me, was a now unconscious Pick, attached to a tilted metal bed. I panicked.

"Pick? Pick?! PICK?!?" There was no response. "SHIT!!!" My heart raced. I observed his body further. His legs were ripped to shreds, with bloody strips of flesh barely holding on to the muscle. Blood was running down his entire lower body. His head hung low, and the second I looked there, I realized why his magic wouldn't work: His horn had been sawn off at the base, revealing the sickening white ivory beneath it.

It was too much for me already. I threw up then and there.

After several moments of trying to regain my sanity and feeling in my throat, I looked up again in agony. What now?

Almost as if my mind was read like a predictable book, I heard a female voice behind me. It sounded insane. It was Luna.

"Hello again, Starnote. Having fun?" Her menacing voice made my gut cringe as I tried to respond.

"You bet your royal flank I'm not. What the hell was this all about?"

"Oh, I think you already know. I drugged you two, but I only had time for one of you before you both woke up."

"Time for what? Brutally lashing somepony's legs and then sawing off their horn?! You fucking creep. Where's Boldkey?!"

"Wouldn't you like to know? Dead."

I could feel my eyes suddenly widen. It couldn't be. "Bullshit."

She laughed menacingly at me before responding. "Truth."

"Now what are you going to do with me?" I regretted asking already.

"You'll see." With those simple words, I heard the sound of magic. I felt a sharp jolt in my neck. Everything went black once again.

When I awoke once more, the first thing that I noticed that it was still night. Fuck. That meant that Violet might still be the Nightmare version of herself...

The second thing that I noticed was that I was out of  the restraints of the cold metal slab that I was imprisoned with earlier.

The third thing that I noticed was that I was now on the floor of the library, laying down on the bloody floor. 'It wasn't bloody before, was it...?' I though to myself.

The fourth thing that I noticed was that the blood was coming from me. The second I comprehended that bit of information, a searing pain exploded throughout my back. I could still be bleeding from the glass incident... Or worse. Fearing just that, I turned around to look at my back.

My heart nearly self-destructed as a result of what I saw. Rather than my wings still being on my back, I was left with two short, bloody stumps protruding from where they used to be. Blood was slowly flowing from both of them, dripping onto the ground the entire time that I was staring at them. I panicked.

"NO nononono PLEASE NO. AaaaAAH SHIT!!" I said with a dry and shaky voice as another wave of miserable pain overcame me. The pain only increased exponentially from there once I remembered that Luna was responsible. How could she? Why would she? More importantly... Where was she? My mind suddenly became restless, trying to wash out the intense pain while it was at it. She was gone.

Making sure that Pick wasn't gone as well, I tried calling out for him.

"PICK!!! DAMNIT, YOU'D BETTER FUCKING BE HERE!! PICK!!!"

I waited. There was no response. I was alone.

Or so I thought.

Part 10: Deception

Just as I thought I was alone, the crackling sound of poorly-maintained circuitry echoed above me as a voice spat out from an unseen speaker.

"Hello again, Starnote."

My heart raced. It was Violet's voice.

"Sorry to say it, but you missed daytime, which as you may have guessed, was when I was sane. I recorded this message then. I know you have several questions about what happened while you were out, so I'll do my best to make sure that I answer as many as I can."

I sat down with an anxious feeling in my gut. This could take a while.

"Firstly, about your wings. Sorry I couldn't save them. By the time it was light, it was too late, and Luna was gone. And yes, to avoid suspicion on her part that Celestia was dead, she raised the sun herself. That's when I came out of my writhing state of blind rage and went to go look for her. I did not find her. Secondly, about my wing. I know that you did it because when I become possessed at night, I don't control my actions. I observe everything and do nothing. Don't worry; I don't blame you. I would have done the same in your place. Keep up those kinds of tactics, they will get you through this hellish situation. And although I can temporarily not fly, that does not give you an advantage now. Never let your guard down with the Nightmare. Now, about Boldkey. I have no reason to doubt myself that you already heard this, but he is dead. As you may have guessed, brutally murdered by the very hooves of Luna."

She paused for a second and wept lightly, then continued.

"I am terribly sorry. Next, about Pick. I can guarantee that he is alive. Find him as soon as this message is over. He has either woke up and heard a message like this one, or he is still unconscious in Luna's quarters. He can no longer use magic and he needs your help. I am serious. Find him. Another related note is about why I couldn't save your wings and his horn. To add those kinds of body parts, the area of attachment must be completely healed, and I didn't have the mental energy required for a healing spell."

"DAMNIT!!" I said aloud. This would be VERY difficult now without my wings.

"Lastly, about Luna's escape: I have been looking for her. However, since it will be night by the time you hear this, I will be insane again and Luna will be hidden again in a different place. Let me warn you, she does move positions frequently. Your mission is to find Pick, find Luna, and then kill her."

I was shocked. Violet wanted me to kill Luna?!

"Sorry if that last statement scared you, but it needs to be done. Killing her will remove my nighttime insanity and prevent her becoming the iron-hooved leader of Equestria. Just to give you an example of how I know this, I used to have a bit of daytime insanity as well. Once you killed Celestia, that went away."

I knew it. Luna was trying to be the sole leader of Equestria...

"That is all. This message will not repeat. Remember your missions. This tape will self-destruct in five seconds."

I sat on the ground for a moment in pure disbelief. Kill Luna...? That sounded beyond nuts to me, and I'm sure that Pick felt the same way about it too.

I heard a pop above me, followed by a puff of light grey smoke coming out of an air vent on the ceiling.

For the moment, I was in too much shock to care about finding Pick or Luna. Violet, my friend, was telling me to kill. A good friend.

I couldn't do it. The information she was telling me made too much sense. I almost didn't want it to be true. I collapsed.

Several minutes had passed before I even had an urge to get up. Sunken and now drowsy from the insane thoughts bombarding my head, I tried to remember the other important thing that Violet told me: Find Pick.

'Find Pick.'

The thought of it sounded easy in my head, but the fact that there was now two ridiculously overpowered Alicorns after me made it sound like playing life on the hardest possible difficulty.

'Find Pick.'

I could hear Violet's voice say those two little, four-letter words. My mind almost seemed to shove all thoughts about Boldkey out of my head at this point just to focus on the single thing that may just kill me. As if it felt like the entire country of Equestria wasn't against me already.

'Find Pick.'

I screamed out loud to try and free my mind. "GET OUT OF MY FUCKING HEAD!!!"

It wasn't even close to getting the thought out. My mindless screaming only managed to pound the thought further into my mind.

'Find Pick.'

On four legs before I could even tell where the hell I was going, I found myself suddenly stammering along the cold, bloody tile towards the door to the rest of the castle. The feeling of my hooves slipping on the puddles of crimson below me haunted me with the thought of Luna's intentions for both Pick and Violet.

'Find Pick.'

The thought continued to intrude my train of thought, almost coming to me as a different voice all of a sudden, rather than Violet's. It was deep, troubled, angry... And scary.

I continued to numbly walk out of the dark library, only to find that the hallway just outside of it was torn up and trashed from what looked like Violet going mad inside the castle. The floor was covered with depressing trash, debris, and several forms of unsalvageable resources. But looking closer at the wall, I found something that would tell me that I might have been too late to make an appearance. The walls were smeared with several gashes of dark red blood. Fearfully, my gaze slowly drifted towards the ground. I swear to the dead fucking Celestia that in that very moment, my heart stopped for at least an entire second as a result of what I saw.

Covering the floor was not just trash and debris. The real content of the dark hallway... Was Luna. Mangled. Bloody. Dead. Rage peaked inside of me as I nearly had a mental breakdown. This changed everything.

"WHAT THE FUCK!!! AAAGH!!!" I screamed as I fell to the ground, hitting the floor in a painful kneeling position. I sat there for several seconds, in pure shock, rage, and confusion. And just as I thought the mental pain couldn't get any worse, it did. My confusion started blinding me. Literally. My entire field of vision was suddenly engulfed in a piercingly bright white, completely blinding me until it died down several seconds later.

My eyes revealed to me a mostly black and white dream, like what I imagined a vision to be like. Only this was the real thing. And as I floated by and watched, I was now completely aware of what happened in the last day. And my real mind had no say in it at all. I remembered what Violet said on this. 'You observe everything and do nothing.'

I guess she was right.

Still with mostly grayed-out vision, I found myself back in Celestia's quarters, strapped to the metal slab once again. Little splotches of color every so often appeared and informed me that I was in a room filled with blood. My head was slumped down, giving me an odd point of perspective of her room. An unconscious Pick was in front of me once again, horn still severed.

Luna started to speak up.

"There we are. Me... Going inside you! How about that? Just like Violet. But this time I'll be rid of you." Although I knew I was unconscious, it seemed as though she was directly talking to me. Her? Inside me?

A chill poured down my spine.

"There we are. Your wings are gone, but you're far from weak. I'll have to knock you out until tomorrow night, though."

I had no idea what she was talking about until a sound unwillingly came out of my own mouth. It was deep and raspy, but it didn't say anything. It just growled. I panicked.

"Good. It looks as though you understand... Good... Well, enough jibber-jabber, here we go... Good night."

With those words, I felt a needle being driven into my neck with hideous force. I cringed inside. Everything went white again.

When I awoke, I noticed two things:

One: My vision was still nearly blind from color.

Two: It was night, and I was still in Celestia's room. At least I wasn't strapped to that metal bed again... However, I was slumped over on the ground instead.

I struggled to get up and walk, but frustratingly enough, I still couldn't control my body. Instead, I felt my own form be taken over by an unrelentingly scary force, forcing me to watch what my own body was doing.

My body got up on all fours and started walking out of Celestia's room and into the hallway, stumbling like a klutz the entire way. I suppose that whatever was possessing me was still trying to get used to me. As I rounded the corner and into the hallway to the right, I saw another heart-stopper. Luna was standing there, waiting at the other side of the hall. Her face showed immeasurable fear as she stared at me, and she was sweating all over. On top of it all, she could barely stand from how shaky her legs were. Turned out her voice was just as shaky.

"Th-there's b-been a change in p-plans, Nightmare. Day hasn't p-passed yet."

I was shocked. Did she just call me 'Nightmare'?

Unwillingly, I responded. "What is it?" My new voice was incredibly deep and dark, and sounded way older than me.

"Well, it was ab-bout t-taking you out of me. The shock was too much for me. I think I may be in danger of dying."

"Why would that interfere with our plan?"

"Which p-plan d-do you speak of?"

"The one where you become leader of Equestria, of course."

"Well, it means that the b-best option would be for you to k-kill me instead of... well, whatever exactly is killing me." She made a gesture towards her own body.

There was a long pause. "Are you suggesting I murder you?"

"B-brutally. Make it look like Violet d-did it. And afterwards, kill her and t-take rule over Canterlot. At this p-point, it's the only option."

There was another pause. "Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Very well."

Without warning, my back legs heaved me forward, completely taking Luna by surprise as I pounced towards her. Flying forward, I barely had time to see the look of pure terror before I barreled into her and started mauling her. Endless strikes came from my own hooves, slashing and goring her face beyond recognition in seconds. The entire hallway was quickly filled with carnage and blood. Eventually, Luna's hopeless struggling stopped, and I climbed off of her, shaking and bloody. I could feel the intense strain in my leg muscles and the blood seeping down my coat.

I came to a nearly unbelievable conclusion that very minute.

I was the one that killed her.

I was the Nightmare.

Wait... No. Even worse. I was the Nightmare's host.

Not to mention that Violet was the only one who could save Equestria, and I was the only one who could free her of the Nightmare.

And I could only do that by killing myself, or by extracting the Nightmare like Luna did.

Holy shit.

Bloody hooves and everything, I once again started walking, this time back towards Celestia's room. My body was incredibly shaky, which meant that I could barely keep myself up as I slowly stumbled into her room. Before I could perceive what was going on, I spotted a shiny metal cabinet and flung open the door with a limp hoof. In the bit of time that the door lined up with my face, I happened to get a bit of color there too, letting me barely catch sight of my own face.

My head wasn't just a deep green, but now a sickening blend of dark red and green. Nearly my entire face was covered in blood. I also managed to snag a glimpse of my eyes. Instead of being mostly black with a bright purple cornea, my entire eye socket was filled with a reptile-like pattern. The vertically elliptical pupil sparkled in the dim moonlight, striking an insanely high amount of fear in me, knowing that whatever the hell I was looking at...

Was me.

With the other hoof, I unwillingly grabbed a seemingly random bottle and a syringe. I jammed the two together and pulled up on the handle, letting the device's small cylindrical tube fill up with a clear liquid. I couldn't help but think that at this point any intentions the Nightmare had were not good ones. Syringe still in hoof, my nearly mindless body started stumbling back down the hallway, past Luna's disturbing body, and finally back into the library. My body rammed the sharp needle into my leg, instantly making me drowsy. My hoof flung outwards, sending the syringe on top of a far away bookcase with a light clatter.

Perfect. Absolutely perfect. Both Luna's and the Nightmare's plans came together in sync, confusing the crap out of me at first, but eventually revealing itself in the most insane way possible. If the Nightmare or Luna was listening, I'd like to give them a round of applause. Whatever their plan was, it certainly worked.

I passed out again, feeling my body smack down on the tile below with a sickening 'CRUNCH'. Everything went white once again.

That got me thinking, though...

Luna's already dead. Getting the information needed to perform the Nightmare transplant would be nearly impossible now.

And I don't know somepony who can use magic who isn't insane.

Damnit.

I'm possessed by the Nightmare, Luna is dead, Violet is still insane, and the only way I can save Equestria is by killing myself.

What the fuck.

The voice in my head bugged me for a final time.

'Find Pick.'

Part 11: Death (+Epilogue)

The world slowly returned to a visually acceptable landscape as I found my eyes opening once again. I was still in the castle, and still in front of Luna's dead body. Although it still creeped me out, this time it wasn't as worse, knowing that I was technically the one who killed her.

Following an impromptu order made by a semi-insane voice in my head, I set out to find Luna's quarters and eventually Pick. Quickly making the first movement I had in what felt like days, I found myself still in a standing position. Losing my sub-conscious concentration by realizing this, I soon felt the oddly slow sensation of falling. Before I knew it, I had hit the ground with a 'clunk'.

I stayed laying down for several seconds, trying to wrap my head around the concept of having to kill myself. Several small questions started jetting around my head.

What would it feel like?

What would Violet do afterwards?

What would happen to me afterwards?

Trying to ignore the questions for now, I forced myself up off of the cold floor to see if I could find Pick... Or Violet... Or answers.

I quickly found myself bumbling towards the left end of the hallway so that I would end back up in the main hallway of the castle. Tripping over scraped rugs, ripped drywall and pulverized wood, I managed to barely make it to the end of the hallway. As I stood at the end of the hallway, I slowly peered over the edge of the dimly lit ballroom balcony. It looked completely untouched, but that didn't stop it from striking me as creepy, dark and depressing. The scattered splotches of moonlight gave the room an eerie blue tint that made the entire room look like it was underwater.

I heard a voice. My heart raced. It was unmistakable. It was Pick's. "HEY!! Starnote! You're fuckin' alive!! Hahahaaa!"

I tried to respond with my real voice. "Pick?! Where the hell are you?"

"Down here!!" I walked closer to the balcony and looked down to see an oddly happy face for the circumstances. Quickly locating the main staircase to my right, I ran down as fast as possible to greet him.

"Oh man. You have no idea of how fuckin' happy I am to see you right now. Problem is, I need answers. Badly. What did Violet tell you?"

He seemed shocked at the way that I got straight to the point. "Um, well, most importantly, she said to find you and then kill Luna."

I paused for a moment with a dumb look plastered on my face before speaking again. "I hate to say this, but Luna is already dead."

He laughed. "Oh, come on. You make it sound like that's bad news."

"It is."

"How in Equestria could it be bad?"

I unwillingly let out another string of silence. Just when his look went from victorious to fearful, I spoke. "I'm guessing Violet told you why Luna needed to die, right?"

"Yes... Why?"

"Well, as it turns out, Luna was the host of the Nightmare. So it kind of acts like a parasite. That is, until we both got knocked out. You lost your horn and I could guess some of your sanity-"

"Hey!"

"Seriously. I lost my wings, but then gained something afterwards. I'm the host of the Nightmare now."

"What?"

"Luna somehow completely took it out of her and put it into me. Apparently it wasn't part of her plan until recently. Also, the shock of the removal was too much for her, and she started dying. So, being the crazy bitch that she was, ordered the Nightmare, AKA me, to kill her and make it look like Violet did it. I was possessed at the time, so I had absolutely no say in it whatsoever."

"Holy shit. So you killed Luna? Wow. What's it like being possessed?"

"Like you're floating by someone else's eyes, but you know it's your body. Really weird, and it's almost like a dream in the sense that you remember everything after waking up. So, like a whole new level of sleepwalking, I guess."

"Wow. So what now?"

I almost didn't want to tell him. "Since I'm the carrier of the Nightmare, there's two options. One being I magically extract the Nightmare as Luna did to herself, and two being I flat-out kill myself."

He nearly jumped back in shock. "W-what? Seriously?"

"Sadly, yes. And option one is out of the question because I don't know an alicorn or a unicorn who isn't incapacitated, insane, possessed, or dead."

"So you're killing yourself."

"I have to, but I can't bring myself to it."

I paused. Not in sadness like it should have been, but in fear. More unseen peices of this twisted puzzle appeared, then locked in perfect place. The voice in my head telling me to 'Find Pick' was trying to get Pick killed...

"PICK!!! GET OUT OF HERE!!!" I started franticly running away, desperately trying to get out of the room.

Just as he was about to say "Huh?", a splintering crash was heard from behind us. We looked up to see somepony bucking their way through the main set of doors, creaming a neat, splintery hole through the old hardwood. The deafeningly loud sound of pure destruction rang throughout the large room. After the shower of splinters following the destruction died down, we could clearly see who it was.

It was Violet.

I panicked.

She charged.

I ran.

I saw Pick skittering along the ground in shock and pain. Without warning, she made her first move on us. I looked backwards just in time to see her heave herself into the air using her single good wing, sending her into an intense barrel roll to the right and next to Pick. Thinking fast, Pick drove his hooves into the ground at a sharp angle, gumming up his speed, turning him around, and sending Violet smashing into the opposite wall with a crunch.

I knew Pick couldn't keep this up for very long, so I tried to think of something fast that would buy us both time. I still couldn't bring myself to killing myself, though...

Still on my hooves and running fast, I leaned left, sending me into a controlled drift turn along the smooth tile until I ended up in front of the main staircase. From there, I continued moving, this time in an upward direction. Legs sore and aching from the running already, my body soon found a hard time keeping up with my mind as I saw steps fly beneath me by the dozen. Before I knew it, I was on top of the nearby balcony and ready for anything. Problem was, I didn't have a plan.

Following Pick after recovering from a small crash, Violet started quickly nearing him once again. As I watched them for a split-second thinking of what to do next, I came to another sudden thought. They were both directly in the middle of the room when I realized that I still couldn't bring myself to suicide. Instead, I knew that I wanted Pick to live, so I would have to incapacitate Violet similar to the way I did last night near the mountainside.

Once again doing without thinking, I suddenly found myself heaving my entire body forward, soaring over the railing of the staircase with ease. The weird thing about this time, was that I didn't really feel possessed anymore. Like it was instinctive...

More of the situation made sense all of a sudden. They were all pegasus instincts. All of those bizarre 'slow-motion' and 'bounding' moments of my life all happened after I got my wings back.

Sudden realization out of the way, I tried to focus on the present: Jumping straight over the staircase railing without any thought. All of a sudden, I could see the slightly curved stairs slowly come to a crawl in time in midair. Now with the ground slowly moving below my flying body, I barely had enough time to think of what to do next. Seeing Violet running away from me gave me an idea: Ambush her, and buy all of us time.

Well, that was the plan.

The staircase was long behind me, and the ground was nearing me faster and faster. Almost without thinking, I curled and threw down my shoulders, sending me into a painful roll along the unforgiving tile. I could almost hear the pain in my arms, regardless of my yelling.

The follow-through of my impromptu acrobatic stunt sent me locked in a sprinting chase against time and towards Violet. She was only about ten feet away from me, and I was still gaining on her. The slow motion effect wore off at that very moment.

I almost had her. I was sure I did... Until I realized what was ahead. The door. Well, more importantly, outside. I heavily feared what was behind those wooden behemoths.

With Pick in the lead and Violet trailing, something unexpected happened in our last seconds of being inside. Without warning, Violet made a move that made me cringe and made Pick panic. She heaved herself into the air using her back legs and started soaring over Pick. Throwing out her hooves with a vengeance, they instantly wrapped themselves around Pick's body and started to crush as Violet flipped forward, viciously bucking a hole straight through the door. Splinters soared through the room as several made their way into me, burning a hole of pain right through my body.

I continued to push forward with speed and determination as Violet, still clutching Pick, followed through with her flip and tumbled in the nearby grass.

As I suddenly found myself following them outside, time bent its way around me once again and slowed the intense action to a crawl. I slowly pounded my back hooves into the tile one more time, throwing me in the air, through the door, and towards Violet. As the doorframe drifted past me with grace, I looked up slightly to see the outside world once again. I was shocked at what I saw. The grassy area around the front of the castle was still fenced in, but it was the thing just outside the fence that scared me.

Just outside of the front gate, in a heaping pile of red, were several dead bodies. All of them had ripped flesh, torn limbs, or severed bones. It made me want to throw up.

As I thought about it more, I realized: It made me want to do more than that. Equestria has suffered enough. I've suffered enough, and so have Violet and Pick. I was going to kill myself.

Still in midair going at a snail's pace, I realized that I still had my gun. In one slow, epic motion, I shot my hoof back, brought back a gun, loaded it, and with great determination, aimed it towards my own head. I paused for a split second to let the ring of the metal die down in my ears. In that very moment, I watched Violet rear her own leg up to deliver one final blow to Pick, and to end his life. I had made my decision. Pick wasn't going to die today.

I was going to.

With one final thought on my part, I crammed my hoof down on the trigger as hard as possible. For one hideous split-second, I could hear the raging explosion of a gunshot in my ear. I closed my eyes. Then everything was silent. Perfectly silent.

Mindless questions went ravaging throughout me.

'Where am I?'

'Am I alive?'

'What happened?'

'Is everything okay?'

'How am I still thinking?'

I had no answers, but I felt like I knew them. I felt defeated and victorious at the same time.

I tried to look around, but I could see nothing. Not even black. Not even white. Just... Nothing. Nothing at all.

I tried to feel. I couldn't even tell if whatever around me was hot or cold.

I tried to smell. Not even the crisp air of Canterlot made its way into my nose.

I tried to move. I soon felt as though I had no body.

I tried to hear. There was nothing to listen to.

I couldn't do hardly anything. I could only think. Taking advantage of the one thing I could do, I tried recalling what had happened. I could remember everything: Right from the moment of the earthquake to the moment I killed myself.

Then what had happened? Why was I in this state? I tried searching for an explanation, pulling up nothing.

It felt as though hours had passed. Then again, I had no way of telling that... It could have been seconds, or maybe even years. I had been in what felt like hell. Nothing happened, nothing changed, I was alone, and I was in pain. Not the physical kind, but the mental kind.

Hell suddenly changed for me in the moment that I realized that. It wasn't that something had changed, but it was as if something was going to change. Something was going to change. I could feel it.

Without any warning, my entire sensory array came rushing back to me at once. In one violent moment, the entire scene of my death came back to my eyes with a burstof color, nearly blinding me. Only this time, nothing was moving. As if time was completely frozen.

I could see it all in front of me. Violet was about to kill Pick with a slashing attack of her hoof to his face. Pick had a look of pure terror frozen on his face. Violet had a look of pure hatred gleaming from her lizard-like eyes. The heaping pile of mangled bodies was placed just outside of the fence that lined the entrance to the castle. I was in a diving position, headed for Violet. More importantly, I had a gun pointed at my head. Everything was exactly the same from the moment I died. Except everything was perfectly still.

On the grass below, I saw a small figure materialize. It was small, shapeless, and purple. It looked as though somepony was using magic on air... And it moved.

Even worse. It spoke. It had no mouth, no lungs, absolutely nothing to be able to do so. Yet for some odd reason, it spoke. To me. I realized then what it truly was. It was the Nightmare.

"I'm very surprised at what you just did. I'm sure that nopony you or I know would do what you just did. You laid down your life for your friends." Its deep, dark voice sounded not female or male, and the voice echoed throughout my head. It was the first sound I had heard in a long time.

I tried to respond, only to find that my vocal chords were locked in time.

"I could give you credit for being both brave and foolish, but that's not what I was going to tell you."

I thought back to myself. Just what the hell did he mean?

"Well, you managed to bring yourself to suicide, even against my wills and actions. You are one strong stallion. As you could have guessed, this meant that I was left with one last choice. Be killed along with you, or save you and myself. You can probably guess which one I chose."

I flashed a look to my right, revealing to me a gun with no ammo in my hoof. I did a victory fist in my head. I was fucking alive.

"And because it seems as though you now know how to rid the world of me, I am giving you this final message to tell you that I am leaving, and taking all of me with me."

As it said that, a smooth, flowing stream of indigo magic started seeping out of Violet's head. When it cleared shortly after, Violet's eyes were back to their normal, purple state.

"One last thing before I go. That period of time you spent in pure darkness a while ago was the result of me leaving you. It usually makes ponies insane, but you seemed to handle it without resorting to insanity."

So that's what happened to Luna... It makes sense now...

"That is all. Goodbye, Starnote."

With those final words on his part, the Nightmare completely disappeared and time started to take shape once again. I started moving forward again slowly, filled with an immeasurably high amount of joy. Out of pure happiness, I completely dropped the gun and midair and went straight in for a hug instead of an ambush. The look on Violet's face when she regained control over her body was priceless, as was Pick's when he saw that Violet's eyes were back to normal.

They collapsed. I hugged. And for once in three hellish days, we were reminded that everything was going to be alright.

Epilogue

An entire month has passed since that helltrip that completely changed Equestria forever. Neither Pick or Violet completely believed my story until today, and I can safely say that now that they do, I can finally relax a bit.

There were very few survivors from the earthquake and Violet's rampage, making the following couple of weeks after the incident seem desolated and depressing. And after contacting the rest of the cities in Equestria and telling them the entire story, we put it to a hasty vote, and apparently Violet Rose is the new leader of Equestria. Canterlot is currently undergoing major repairs, especially on the massive crack in the middle of the city. As for the survivors, we've moved to nearby towns such as Ponyville and Fillydelphia.

But as far as Pick and I go, we've still been trying to uncover the bizarre secrets of our past lives, slowly uncovering bits of it as we rebuild Canterlot. I got my wings and Pick got his horn back, so I guess everything is fine with us as of now.

But now that I think of it, we never quite figured out what was in that giant fault crack...

Part 6: Reunion

I wanted to pass out again and let the horrible truth pass over me. I dropped the note to the floor, letting it flutter down slowly as I tried to think of what to do next. I didn't even know exactly what was going on... How long had I been out? Who was the bad guy now? There was no plan at this point...

As far as I was concerned, Luna and Boldkey were probably far from where I was now, so chasing them down was probably useless by now. And about Pick... He couldn't be dead. Not now.

I quickly got back up on my hooves, quickly arming the gun as I grabbed the note again and hastily stored it. Placing the gun in my mouth so I could have all four of my limbs free, I shined the light down the hallway towards the lobby in hopes of finding Pick again. Slowly walking down the hallway, I had some interesting thoughts that sparked my curiosity: What exactly was Pick? Where did that blood even come from?

I had no more time to think of it, because before I knew it, I was back in the dark lobby. The door was back to being in a state of destruction, and the floor was back to being riddled with the shattered glass that came from the ruined fluorescent lightbulbs. I reclaimed my gun with a hoof and aimed it upwards and above the destroyed door, finding the familiar air vent to still be dripping blood from the metallic casing. I wanted to see inside, but I didn't know how to...

Wait... My wings. I looked back to find a feathery pair of dark green wings on my back as I got an adrenalin rush just from the sight. Looking at them on my back was crazy enough... However, the sight of my wings was kind of painful. I couldn't actually feel pain from the wings, but a small drizzle of blood coming from the joints connecting my spine to them hinted that I should. Luckily it wasn't bleeding anymore, but the dried blood still made me cringe.

Pushing past that, I went into a state of deep concentration in an attempt to fly. Trying to think of what it would be like to flap wings, I moved felt my wings gracefully floating up and down, quickly but powerfully. When I opened my eyes to see what was going on, to my own surprise, I had already climbed a couple meters off the ground and was now in the air. I suddenly got a giddy sense in my stomach as I saw my own hooves dangling there, far from the ground. My gut fluttered; all of a sudden, I realized how much I wanted to see what I could do with these things.

With little physical and even less mental effort, I was soon looping around the room, powered entirely by the powerful, feathery engines. Eventually, after I was sure I had exhausted the uses for them in such a small area, I finally remembered what I was going to do before I started flying: Find Pick.

I gracefully floated up to the bloody air duct and pulled out the gun again, shining the light down the metallic box as I peeked my head into it to get a better look at it. Lying down in front of me, with blood leaking from his dark blue head that was turned away from me, was Pick. I rattled my hoof around the vent in an attempt to wake him up.

"Yo! Pick! Wake up!"

His head suddenly jolted up and hit the top of the duct, making a loud noise and completely waking him up.

"Wha-a? Who are you? Where are you? Where am I?" He mumbled.

"Behind you. It's Starnote. You're sill in the air duct."

His head turned around as I jumped in shock. Brightly lit by my gun's flashlight, and clearly attached to Pick's forehead, was a dark blue horn. Dried blood was in a ring around the base and had already flowed down his face.

"Holy shit..." I said out of surprise.

"What? What's wrong?"

"Well, nothing's really wrong, it's just that... well..."

He noticed that I couldn't stop looking at his forehead and looked up himself. Slowly peering up, he found his eyes fixed upon an ivory horn above him as he nearly jumped through the roof.

"Hooooly shit. What the hell. Does this thing work?"

"Well, I would guess, saying that I got wings and they work..." To emphasize my point, I floated up further and climbed completely into the air duct, showing him my new pair of wings.

"Wow." He gave a hollow but excited laugh. "Wow. I gotta try this..."

"First, can you help me up into here?" I asked.

"Yeah." With those words of his, he closed his eyes as I felt my entire body become weightless as a light blue haze appeared around me, lining my entire body as well as his horn. I was slowly dragged further upwards until I finally hit the top of the air duct with a comical "thud".

"Yo. Too far."

"Sorry..." I was lowered a couple of centimeters, then brought towards him a few decimeters before being set down on the shelf of the duct in a lying position, directly facing him.

"Alrighty then. Talk to me. What did you see while you were out?"

He dazed out for a second. "Yeah... Yeah, I remember what happened. I think I... Wait. Ooh no. This makes too much sense now... The time I was out was really weird... I woke up in the lobby we were in before I got pulled up here. Except it was new again... All of the lights were still there. So I'm kinda weirded out by now, so I look around the room for answers, only to find unfamiliar ponies wandering around. But the craziest part was that Celestia came up to me and said that I had somewhere to be. She called me by a different name though... Tank. She called me tank. So by this time I'm all thinking that I'm back in time, you know? Anyway, she said that I had to go to the third door on the left. So I went over there, and all of a sudden, I was in a viewing area for an operating room. There were also a few other ponies in there, too. There were four others."

I cut him off there. "Wait... Was one of them a gold pegasus?"

"Yeah. There was one like that there."

"Hahaa! That was me! Whatever. Continue."

"So you went back in time too?"

"Yeah."

"Woah. Well, anyway, in the operating room was this purple Earth Pony. She looked familiar, like I knew her already. I knew it was the one from the photos and her name was Violet Rose, but I felt like I knew her as a friend. Anyway, they did this weird procedure on her where they put wings and a horn on her... I admit, I threw up. It was horrible to watch. After that, she woke up and went on a rampage, killing everyone who worked on her. One guy set off an alarm, and then some weird ponies hauled us out of the room. Before I know it, I'm in this weird chair, and this creepy pony is telling me that he's planning my new life. So he holds this screen in front of me, and it had details of my entire life before the earthquake happened. Then I woke back up here."

I was nearly speechless. "Holy shit. That exact thing happened to me..."

He gave me a jumpy, hollow laugh. "No shit, eh? Crazy..."

"So now, my question is, what the hell do we do next?"

"How the hell should I even know. I mean? Who's the enemy in this situation? Somepony is going to pay for this shit. I just don't know who to blame."

"Me too... For now though, where do we even look for answers?"

His answer slightly shocked me. "Outside."

Getting Pick down from the ceiling was kind of comical. It was pretty far up for somepony to drop down from, about five or six meters, so I had to lower him manually. And although I could guess that my wings were only made for one pony, the addition of a second didn't obstruct my flight nearly as much as I thought it would. As I set him down, he asked me a question.

"Why do you think Violet Rose gave us our abilities back?"

"Maybe she felt bad for the memories of us being erased. I dunno. My theory of what happened afterwards is that my wings and your horn were sent off to some other tests... Honestly, if we could, I'd like to learn a little bit more about Ingot. I could guess that you would like to learn more about Tank, too... I mean, the lives that we remember were just made up. From scratch... Can you remember anything more about Tank now that you think of it?"

"Sadly, not really."

"Ah, well. Want to give me a hand with the door?"

Our hearts skipped several beats as we heard another voice behind us, this one female.

"I got this."

Before we had a chance to look back to see who it was, our attention was directed in front of us once again as the poor vault door was ripped from the cold metal grip of the twisted doorway and thrown down again with a deafening crash.

We looked behind us, fearing the body the voice belonged too. It was Rose.

Both of us had dumb looks plastered on our faces for the next good ten seconds until Rose broke the odd silence that came with it. Even though her face was mangled and bloody, she managed to show happiness with a dry smile as she reached out and hugged us with a powerful grab, completely taking Pick and I by surprise.

Squished next to both her and Pick, it was kind of hard to squeak out anything, let alone the important question I was trying to ask her. "Um, could you politely explain what the fuck just happened?"

She put us down. "Gladly. But we need to start walking. Like now. That way." She pointed towards the open vault door hastily as she started scootching towards it in a comical fashion. I remember her being like this... I'm just glad she stayed like that. I just hope she was prepared for the load of questions we were about to ask her...

Finally walking down the hallway, Pick tried to get a conversation going. "So, why exactly did you give us our wings and horn back?"

"Isn't it obvious? I just wanted to try to restore Canterlot to what it used to be."

We weren't really surprised, but I tried to pipe in anyway. "But why did I remember you after my memory was erased?"

"Magic can make exceptions, I found out..."

Although I was still confused, I didn't have time to ask for an explanation; Pick had already asked her another question. "So how long ago did you become an Alicorn?"

"About two weeks ago."

He asked another. "Then what have you been doing for those two weeks?"

"Rampaging, destroying this place, scaring the shit out of everyone in Canterlot (Celestia in particular), sitting in here, pouting, practicing magic and flying, and then finally realizing that I was the only one that could restore the stuff I destroyed. That's when I found out about the memory erasing thing, so then I searched through some databases to find the changes in memory. Hacking it meant Celestia found out, and that's why she set off the earthquake. It was an attempt to kill me. She came down shortly after to see if I was dead, but simple mind-altering tricks sent her back the way she came. Then you guys showed up. Where are the other three of you, though? There were five of you, right?"

I figured I might as well answer this one... "Yeah... Peirce and Grey flame are dead because of this, and you scared the shit out of Bolkey and Luna, who then ran off. I was going to escape with them, but then that crazy time travel ordeal happened. Oh yeah! Funny story. I killed Grey Flame, Celestia killed Pick, and Boldkey killed Celestia. Almost forgot to tell you."

She suddenly looked shocked. "You killed Grey Flame?"

I immediately regretted telling her that right off the bat. I had to think of a legitimate response fast... "Out of self-defense, yes."

"What the hell. I thought you guys were friends..."

"Maybe two weeks ago, but not any more. I didn't even know any of them at the start of this little episode of ours."

"That reminds me: What happened with Celestia?"

"Well, Pick, Peirce, Boldkey and I bumped into her on the way down here. We were scared when she told us that we shouldn't be there, but we still refused to move. So, she stared interrogating Peirce, which eventually ended up killing him. Eventually, I pulled out my gun and shot her, which angered her, but gave us enough delay to let Luna make an appearance, who helped Boldkey kill Celestia. Make sense?"

"Yeah, probably a little too much."

"Why 'too much'?"

"As you could probably tell, Celestia went insane with this obsession of making Alicorns, while at the same time, Luna went insane with an obsession of stopping her."

"Ooohkay. That makes more sense." I was glad that the pieces of this puzzle were falling into place fast.