Twisted Paths

by Pegasynth Wyldcard

Chapters

Revelation
Dark Connections
The labyrinth of the Mind
Flawed Destiny

Revelation

Secret Private Diary entry number 15

Designation: Dusk

Real name: Twilight Sparkle

Role: Right hand mare and apprentice of Queen Celestia, along with “Blaze", her partner

Partner’s real name: Sunset Shimmer

It’s been two weeks since my letter was sent out with no response from my mother. I am quite worried about her. Ever since my father was accused of treason, her name was never really cleared. It is mere chance that I have not been suspected on the same charge; only because I was never in contact with my father. My mother, being a former war magician, managed to serve her queen well; but not without certain obstacles.

Personally I have never considered why my father turned against the Queen, but it has never been important. And quite frankly he deserved it. Attacking the queen with a troop of armed personnel is nothing but treason. Of course I have never seen him commit this act, but that is what she tells me anyway. I have begun to question the Queen’s reasons for ordering the destruction of the travelers that came to the castle. I completely trust her judgment; however, I believe she might have made a mistake. Perhaps they really did want to trade. It doesn’t matter in the long run anyways.

Perhaps my letter's failure to arrive is due to unforeseen complications with the mail. It is not uncommon for the mail carriers to be attacked whenever they operate outside the castle; though I am not certain why. The lower equines, or earth ponies as they used to be called, don’t normally attack without reason. It would appear that they are not as under-evolved as we think. But still how could one resistance comprised almost entirely of magic-less creatures cause enough fear to put the castle defense on high alert, and cause so many casualties?

Common propaganda claims that they are nothing more than unorganized scum. And the horror sprouts that have buried their way deep into the fears of young unicorns everywhere are unimportant, rare, and without power. Somehow I begin to wonder if these are the tip of the iceberg of placebos and over-exaggerations that make up the “news”.

Yesterday a hole was punched into the force field that protects our castle . I was hard at work with Blaze to mend it. What surprised me most was not the cause. This is unusual because only highly developed magic-based creatures with a threat level of 3 or above can damage the field. But what really surprised me was the Queen’s reaction. She was not infuriated at whoever had, “dared to attack her rightful rule” as she normally was. Instead her expression was of complete and unmistakable fear. I know this look well. I often see it when torture is involved in one of her “lessons”.

This was fear of something else. I will need to investigate carefully. The last time Blaze tried to snoop around the castle, she returned with severe lacerations on her back and third degree burns on her right side. The queen will often use irony with her discipline tactics. Whether or not she knows my or Blaze’s real name is still a mystery to me. It is considered unlawful to share one's real name unless in marriage or with family.

I know two things for certain: the queen is not telling us something, and that ‘something’ is about to happen.

-End of final entry- June 17

Twisted Paths

Chapter One: Revelation

At first the situation was a lot to take in. The recent events swirled in Dusk’s head round and round until she felt nauseous. How did she not see this coming? It was so obvious. How could she have been so blind? Her trek was taking her upward to the swamp moors. She had heard about a safe haven for renegade unicorns there. Whether or not this was indeed true was of little importance. It was getting later in the afternoon and she had nowhere else to go. Besides, she needed something to do.

Soon she began to tire of her journey. It seemed as if the very sun itself was working with the expressed purpose of burning her alive, and her legs were beginning to feel like lead. Finally taking a break, Dusk paused to gaze blankly at a stream that was peacefully gliding by her.

Her thoughts overwhelmed her with a tinge of remorse and regret. Why was I not fast enough? How did I fail so badly and how could I be abandoned this way? Am I worth nothing? Was I always worth nothing? The questions seemed endless. And so did the emotions behind those questions. Emotions that she had refused to feel for anyone else outside of her little circle of trust; not even her own father. Now that “little circle” was broken, forever.

Soon she began to imagine the stream was gliding. Flying past the rocks and flying past the trees and the sand. And flying past her. Just like the one thing she has suspected for so long but refused to think about it. Dusk cursed herself silently for being such a fool. In that moment one question she had alluded for so long came back to her. What if what I’m doing… NO! She refused to feel it! One last rush of pride and anger took hold of her.

“I am a Unicorn! And I will not be brought to question my actions like a petty Equine!” The affirmation left her mouth without so much as a thought as to what she was going to say. She screamed at… nothing in particular. Except maybe the stream. She decided to take her anger out on the water itself. She began to cast an incineration spell. Just like she had so many other times on those who had stood in the Queen’s way. She let the spell take hold of her mind in the way she was taught. With complete hatred for what she was about to destroy.

She estimated the blast radius of 3 feet wide in a circular shape and the micro explosion that would follow in seconds; something less advanced unicorns could only dream of doing. She then released the energy in her mind and within less than a second the spell was complete.

Dusk closed her eyes and waited for the coming destruction with a wide smirk on her lips. But that explosion never came. The confident smile now gone, Dusk opened her eyes. To her horror there was no destruction, no purple shade indicating her spell at work, and the stream was still there. Still peaceful as ever.

Panicking, Dusk tried the spell again, to no avail. Again and again she tried to destroy the symbol of her torment, her head waving wildly at each failed attempt as if that alone would help her achieve her goal. Driving her to obsession, she began to slam her front hooves down on the stream in wild pounces. She threw rocks in and dug up the elusive sand at the bottom of the stream in a futile attempt to stop the happiness of the stream that denied her the satisfaction she so desperately wanted.

A frog hopped onto a rock a few meters away and croaked at her with annoyance at her disturbing of his afternoon nap. Fixing her now furious gaze at him she tried to kill it with another spell, a simpler one but one that would work against this frog. Again, no effect. Screaming at the top of her lungs she lunged towards the little frog with all her might; horn first with the intention of impaling the little snob. With the smallest effort necessary the frog jumped from its perch to another nearby rock, and croaked again in the same manner as last time.

Now breaking into a full rage Dusk began chasing the little prick all over the still graceful pond, slamming her horn into whatever surface he had previously been on. If only one could have spotted this event from above, what a sight it would be! Finally exhausted from her anger, Dusk plopped into the middle of the stream not caring that her bright purple coat and her mane and tail were now drenched, not to mention her crimson royal cloak.

The cheerful frog stared into her eyes for a moment as if it was trying very hard to understand this strange Unicorn that had acted so erratically. After a few minutes of this he got bored and proceeded to hop contentedly on Dusk’s face, much to her annoyance.

“Get off me your cur!” She screamed at him. But she forgot that half of her face was under water so what she ended up saying was “GERB OFB OB MELB YOUGH CURB”. Croaking one last time the little creature jumped off of her face, not onto another rock but into the underbrush. Making several more croaks as it did as if it were laughing at her; and didn’t think much of her. Dusk decided reluctantly to let him go.

Questions and water still washing over her in a never ending maelstrom of hate. That same question rose up again, stronger this time. It grew in her mind louder and louder until she said it. Not in her mind but out loud.

“What if what I am doing… and everything I stand for is, wrong?” This time raising her head so her speech was not hindered. This one thought circled around her head now solitary where there once was many others. Becoming even louder than before it screamed at her until it became painful.

“What…? What is…happening?” the words now quiet and strained in her throat. The pain intensified and Dusk groaned under the pressure. Something was arising that had not been there before. Perhaps… a conscience? Suddenly the pain peaked and more hurt was thrust into her mind that she thought possible.

She tried to get up but her muzzle only fell back into the stream making it impossible to breath. She couldn’t move, and any attempt to do so only caused more and more pain. Never before had Dusk felt so much pain as she did at that moment. Suddenly her eyes flew open and a bright light protruded not from her horn, but from her eyes themselves. It was too bright to look at, but she had no choice. Total control of her body was now given over to this… thing, whatever it was. Suddenly she felt a huge release of energy, and something happened that she had never seen happen before. She saw her past. Splayed out in front of her as if on a large table.

Images and memories she thought long gone rose up from her subconscious as if they were kept at bay all this time. Until now being brought forth with such a brilliant display of colors that it caused her to blink in amazement. She saw her father, kind and gentle, not the monster she was trained to hate. And even more disturbing was the emotions she felt towards him. She loved him. More deeply than anything else that she had felt before, not even the pain that assaulted her or the inability to breath seemed to amount to this love. Slowly, all this washed away as another memory came forth.

One which she never wanted to remember. It was the Queens face. Not powerful and graceful as she had so often seen her, but cruel. Cruel and deadly. Much was the hate that she saw on that face. She remembered that face now. It was just after she had questioned the destruction of the travelers that came to the castle gates. Suddenly she remembered not only the face and the hate, but the hot irons on her side, and the steel plated whip that was assailing her back harder than she ever thought possible. She was feeling it all over again. Scratch by scratch, burn by burn, and blood for blood.

Suddenly, almost too quickly to realize what happened the memory faded away. But she did realize what happened. Now she was reliving what had just brought her to this pathetic existence. It was a normal day at the castle, and she was reading along with her partner Blaze. They were both dressed in their traditional crimson robes signifying their allegiance to their queen. They were discussing something but she couldn’t tell what. That in itself was not important.

But in an instant everything changed. Multiple explosions echoed around the halls and next thing she knew, she was running as had as she could to the one place she felt secure, to the Queen. Upon reaching her Dusk and Blaze both greeted her in unison with the traditional royal bow. But The Queen was not focused on them.

“Something has breached the perimeter, we must move to defend…” but before Celestia could finish her sentence a large explosion bloomed just overhead and a large hole appeared in the protective barrier that was constantly protecting the castle. Remembering an experiment, Dusk rand towards a secret chamber to retrieve a weapon she had just retrofitted form a design of the lower “equines”. She was going to show the Queen when the timing was more ideal but now she just needed to keep it away from the “Earth Ponies”. But The Queen was shouting at her for her to draw near. She was trying to initiate a teleport spell to move the entire castle but she needed both Blaze and Dusk to do it.

Blaze was already there but she remained in her position trying to retrieve the weapon, oblivious to the Queen. Thinking quickly, the queen drained all of Dusk’s magical power and put it in Blaze so she could initiate the teleport. Knocked unconscious from the spell, Dusk was barely successful in securing the weapon before she fell powerless to the ground. As her eyes closed she caught a glimpse of the castle disappearing just before an explosion hit next to where she lay causing her to fly back into some bushes. The sound of Hooves coming, and then nothing.

Dusk was still disoriented but at least what happened made sense now. It restored some of her clarity and allowed her to focus. The memory was changing again. She was now standing in her kitchen at home doing something. She couldn’t tell what yet. She could see the drawers and the stove and the fruit laid decoratively on the table just as clearly as ever. As if she was in the room at that moment. But then she was in that room. Along with her mother, and… herself. This memory was clearer than the last and she could move around as she pleased as if she was really there. Then she realized what the other Dusk was doing. She was yelling, arguing, screaming at her mother.

”You selfish, arrogant, fiend!” The other Dusk was screaming “You have jeopardized my entire LIFE!” Now Dusk was very confused. She did not remember this, nor did she want to. She had never had an argument with her own mother before. Not to mention one of this severity. Perhaps this was the reason her mother was not responding to her? Was she too angry at her for something she couldn’t even remember?

“You have betrayed me, your kingdom and your Queen! You don’t deserve to live any more than that RAT of my father did!” Now that was too much, her words were too harsh for even herself to hear. She began to brace herself for the barrage that was sure to come from her mother. But instead she was sitting down, with a horrified expression on her face, and… that look! That look of complete and utter selflessness that she just saw on her father’s face. Suddenly Dusk began to get angry again. Almost as angry as her past self. She was angry for never feeling this love that she only now remembered.

“What has that witch Celestia done to you?” her mother sobbed through her tears. “You used to be such a kind unicorn! Everyone said so! What has changed you so much that you would become blind to the Queen's betrayal?” When her mother said this Dusk realized she must have turned from the queen. She was suddenly filled with hate for her mother. How could she have done such a thing?

“The only betrayal here, mother, is your own!” Future and past Dusk screamed together almost in unison. But then she realized something. Something was departing from her. And with it her desire to be useful and loyal to the Queen. And as it left her affection for this older unicorn grew, and she no longer wished for her to share her father’s fate. She could no longer move. She was now inside her own body. Witnessing these her hateful words form the very eyes of her past self.

“I will see you killed!” She was now saying.

“Twilight… Please…. No. This is not how you were supposed to be. You were supposed to restore peace to the kingdom! To this household! To Equestria…”

“SILENCE!! You no longer will call me by that name! You will no longer hold any value to me you…” The language that followed was intense and heartbreaking. And with each word, it seemed that an invisible sword pierced Dusk’s already torn and mangled heart. Then she began to walk forward. Towards the weeping mother whom she had only just come to know.

“NO!” She screamed. But no one heard her. “Please! NO!!” She yelled at herself from within.

“I was going to report you and see you hanged, but I think I like this better.”

Suddenly the light drained from the room. And the realization of what she was about to do hit her like a falling boulder.

“NOOOOO!!!” Tears welled in her eyes, and emotions she never thought possible assailed her from every direction. She recognized the glow. It was a torture/devastation spell often used for extreme cases where pure fear was needed. It was designed to be stopped mid-way because the completion of the spell would result in utter annihilation of anything that got in the way. Nopony had ever been faced with getting hit by this spell fully completed, and no unicorn had ever completed it before. But Dusk felt within her that she could. In fact, she had been working at it for the last few months in an effort to please the Queen.

“The process of this spell is extremely painful.” She said menacingly with an evil smile. “Designed to mimic the process of one’s soul being torn from one’s body. Just like what happens when somepony touches a death note. Not only does it drain the soul, it keeps the subject alive for several minutes without their soul.

But you know this, you came up with the idea didn’t you?” Her mother’s expression turned from sorrow to absolute terror. Past Dusk relished this terrified expression. It was true her mother’s job was to come up with spells to fight the common threat and, if necessary, to extract information. This particular spell was one of her recent failures.

“After tearing it from the subject’s body, the spell then fires the soul back into them. Resulting in a devastating explosion from within. Very effective, wouldn’t you say, mother?” She asked with an even bigger smile than before. She then broke into a great laughter. One that shook the building and made the floor rumble.

Dusk was now too overwhelmed to breathe. Being forced to witness this through her own eyes along with the knowledge that she had done this with great satisfaction was causing her to lose it. All she could do was watch and pray that she did not do it. But even as the spell became complete in her mind her mother's expression changed. Not of terror or sadness, but of peace. And that look arose again, a look of love. The same love she saw in her Father's eyes so many years ago.

This caused Dusk to lose it again; screaming and screaming, trapped in her own body. All the while being forced to witness the one punishment that no living creature deserved. This look also affected past Dusk, it made her more furious than ever. She began to work extra hard to complete the spell and her expression turned to intense hatred.

Just as the energy reached its climax, a sudden silence fell. And then light, so much light there was no single distinguishable color. This wasn't only painful for the victim, it also was excruciatingly painful for the user. She tried not to look at her mother’s face but she had no choice. Past Twilight was looking her mom right in the face relishing the screams of torment that emerged from her lips. And the light became unbearable once more, only this time, everything became blindingly white.

Suddenly Dusk was ripped form the dream and thrust back into reality. She wasn’t lying down in the stream as she was before but instead she was suspended in midair. Encased in a large purple bubble of light that seemed to be growing in both size and intensity. Then something entered her. Her whole view of life suddenly changed.

As if her personality was a lie this last few months. She then remembered the hatred she felt towards the Queen for enslaving herself, Blaze, her mother and countless others. Hatred she had never admitted or felt. Suddenly the bubble of purple exploded in a shock wave of more purple and white. The whole sky was lit up. Looking back at her body Dusk realized that she was glowing. Brighter than ever before. A strange mark appeared on her flank that she never saw before. And then she realized something more incredible than all this put together. She had wings. And she was flying.

Dark Connections

Historical Record # 557 (The Lunar Uprising)

Time period: Circa 560 years Prior to Equestria's establishment.

“It is my hope that this truly tragic event will not instill fear, but instead that it might be a glimmer of hope for the times to come. This great nation will live on in time, enduring any and every obstacle that may surface. This day is a symbol of our power as a species. Let it be known that the unicorns bow to no one! No matter what we will prevail. No matter how drastic the measures, or how high the sacrifices.”

Queen Celestia’s Address to the unicorn kingdom directly after “Princess Luna’s” public execution.

The lunar Uprising was started by Princess Luna when she tried to denounce her sister’s rightful hold on the throne. Over the previous years Luna became increasingly concerned that Celestia was experimenting heavily with mind-control spells. Her suspicions grew until she finally decided her sister had crossed the line. Joining forces with a parasitic creature called [Data Expunged] who shared her cause, Luna was able to increase her power exponentially. Accusing Celestia publicly as a traitor, Luna led a fully-fledged army against her sister in attempt to overthrow her.

Her effort was eventually crushed and her folly ended with her execution. The creature known as [Data Expunged] was sealed in a magical container for good. Therefore bringing an end to the Lunar Uprising. This was a dark time for all three pony races. The war of the Lunar uprising brought much devastation to both sides. Many historical landmarks in the unicorn kingdom as well as major factories and weapon facilities had been destroyed. The rebuilding period was so arborous and expensive a process that it eventually bloomed into what is known today as the first Industrial revolution in Equestrian history. This would eventually lead to the most critical technological advancements of the era. Many new inventions came about because of it including projectile weapons and “Magic tools”. The latter being a hybrid between modern Technology and magically charged objects. In the past, simple inventions could be made to work using a magic binding spell on a certain object. For example a propeller that was powered and controlled completely by a magically charged component of the device. With this new concept, considerably more advanced pieces of technology could be powered by this process, such as cannons or energy tools. Several computers even operate with this basic principle in the Castle’s archives. This would be the only good to come of this historical event, however.

Soon after Luna’s death new, dark, and mysterious creatures began to attack unicorn caravans in the forests that outlined the border of Celestia’s territory. At first they were classified as a new kind of Death Note. The creature’s dark, liquid appearance gave it a strong resemblance to the Death Note’s non-corporeal form. However, after close examining of the creature’s behavioral tendencies and abilities, the entity was de-classified as a Death Note and re-classified as a completely new being. They were named Horror Sprouts. Differences included a corporeal and near-solid form, ability to disguise itself as any given plant living or dead, inability to drain souls, ability to physically attack a living creature, willingness to attack only unicorns, or those in service to unicorns, and finally a tendency to only exist at night (strictly after sundown and before sunrise).

How these creatures know who is in league with the unicorn kingdom is still largely a mystery, but no speculations have been made, or allowed, on the subject. As far as has been tested, the creatures can still be destroyed by conventional means. I.E. fire, weapons of any kind, or environmental hazards. They are, however, still extremely dangerous, and can easily overpower a single individual, or group, if not properly equipped.

The final significant event in this era was the Queen’s orders mandating the extinction of all Earth Ponies. This command was never successfully carried out, as the leader of the Equines got wind of the warrant and managed to evacuate the whole of the Earth Pony collective before the sentence could be carried out. It is rumored, but not historically noted, that one of the unicorns aided in their escape. All those suspected of this crime were publicly executed, but no evidence was found that suggests the culprit (if he ever existed) was caught. -End of Log

Twisted paths

Chapter 2 “Dark Connections”

Dusk’s first reaction was that of fear. Any unicorn that evolves to the point of becoming an Alicorn is sentenced to death. Or, in some cases their wings are sawed off in an excruciatingly painful and drawn out process. Dusk had almost made up her mind to complete this process herself to avoid the coming punishment. But then she had a stunning realization; she was no longer loyal to the Queen. She no longer had to dwell under the tyrannical rule and oppressive laws that Celestia had put in place. This revelation brought a new feeling of joy to the new-found Alicorn's heart. One that she had not felt in a long time.

She cared not for where she would go anymore. She was free. She decided she would fly on as far as these new wings would carry her. Maybe even to the ends of Equestria. But suddenly everything changed. She felt sleepy, and began to get the impression that something was not quite right; sort of like when you’re in a dream that is ending. As if the whole earth had suddenly decided to stop spinning. But then everything started to spin. And not just the earth; the sky and hills and ground all started to spin together. Faster and faster until the world welled up into one big blur.

Such a swirl of colors it made! Every color that she could think of was all in front of her swimming and swirling. But then even the colors themselves changed. Suddenly they bundled up into 6 distinct colors that she knew only so well. They were the colors of the rainbow strung in long ribbons of light. Somehow Dusk felt as if this was wrong. As if she needed to stop the “rainbows” somehow. Of course this would make no sense to anyone who was not there with her, but it did make sense to her. Whenever Dusk looked back on the memory, she admitted to herself that the idea seemed insane.

Out of nowhere, something even stranger happened, she began to feel as if she was wet; drenched in fact. As if water was flowing round and over her with an ice cold sensation. Then all the colors stopped, all at once. And Dusk was back in the pond face deep in a calm, gentle stream of water. However, it was not late in the afternoon as she had remembered it, instead it was in the middle of the night. And she could hardly see. Her first instinct of course was to get up.

Her mussel was fully submerged in water just as it had been before the memories started flowing. But even more irregular was the fact that as she got up from the pond, she realized she was not out of breath. Not even slightly winded as one might have been if the dunked their head under water for a few seconds. Dusk glanced back at her flank and backside to see if the strange mark and the wings were still there. But at this her heart sank; the wings were gone. However the mark somehow remained, giving her some hope that what just happened wasn’t a sign of her going insane. She took a moment to look at it. It was very curious in itself, not a gash or a burn mark; for there was no evidence of scarred tissue. Also, even more curious, it was on both sides!

With a second glance, Dusk confirmed that both marks were identical. It appeared to be a six-spiked star of bright purple, only slightly brighter than her coat. In between each spike there was one white one, giving it a sort of shimmering effect. Surrounding this larger star there were five white stars, also with six spikes; but without the inner spikes their larger counterpart had. And all in an instant, Dusk realized what had just happened. She remembered everything now. Not just the buried memories but memories of historical events. And she knew what this mark was.

She then came to realize that the whole time she was in service to the Queen, she must have been in the influence of some powerful memory spell. One not only capable of suppressing key memories, but also able to alter her personality and actions. Although this realization startled her, her first feeling was that of relief.

“For the first time I can remember, I am finally myself.” The thought was both exhilarating and terrifying.

“So this is what a destiny mark looks like.” Indeed that was what it was called. As she could recall, the queen ordered the magical suppression of destiny marks for all of her subjects several years ago. This decision had a twofold purpose. The first was to stop any uprisings, due to somepony realizing it was their destiny to stop the Queen. This began two years ago when two individuals tried to sabotage the castle form the inside. All because their destiny marks implied it was their purpose. The second reason was slightly more interesting.

Even thought it was diabolical that the Queen should take the destiny of her subjects away; Dusk realized this last reason was actually quite brilliant. At the time of the marks arrival, a large magical surge occurs around the individual’s body. By harnessing this energy, not only would the princess be able to increase her own power significantly, she would also be able to create a somewhat solid defense against death notes. Death notes are Magical, non-corporeal creatures that, on contact, will drain any victim’s soul instantaneously from its body. The process is extremely painful, and one hundred percent lethal. But if the Queen could harness that energy in this form, theoretically she could destroy death notes.

Not only that but she could also completely control the mind of any creature who she did this to. Having this kind of power could very well make her the most feared ruler in Equestria. Also, many years ago the Queen gave an order for the Pegasus ruler to find any means of destroying the death notes. This was the most practical course of action, because to date, no death note has been reported able to fly. Having the Pegasi construct this weapon would enable them to do so with no danger to themselves. The result was project Dreadnaught. This memory made Dusk shiver. She decided to stop thinking about it. She had no wish to conjure up any more painful memories; at least, not at the moment.

Her attention retuned to more practical matters. It did not matter how it got late so suddenly, she now needed to get to shelter, and fast. Thinking quickly, Dusk realized the safest thing to do would be to continue on to the unicorn renegade camp. At least in that direction there was a chance of some safety. She decided in that moment that she would no longer call herself “Dusk”. Such a name was given to her by the Queen, and represented all that she stood for while in her service. Instead she decided to go be her Birth name, Twilight Sparkle. But all in an instant, before she could embark on her journey everything changed. Twilight began to get the horrible feeling that she was being watched.

She spun around only to find that there was nothing there but an old oak tree. And some bushes. Her eyes were now adapting to the dim light and she could see more clearly now. But even with nothing behind her she still felt a weird sensation as if she was haunted by some dark presence that refused to show himself to her. After much consideration, Twilight decided to risk continuing on to the camp. So, she set out. At first the journey was not so bad; there were few trees and not much underbrush to get in her way. The warm breeze felt good against her still damp coat. But then that sickening feeling returned. Twilight decided to ignore it, and to continue onward. Besides, after what she just went through, the feeling could be anything. But then the underbrush began to get thicker, and the bushes themselves began to produce thorns.

It was a long and arborous process to get through this. The prickly plants seemed to give no sign of ending. Whatever her bright red cloak might have looked like after thoroughly soaking it, it was now all torn and mangled. There were large pieces of fabric missing from the framework. The seemingly infinite spikes were tearing at it. It got so bad the Twilight suddenly found herself without the cloak at all. The thorns had completely consumed it. But then the merciless underbrush ended, quite suddenly in fact, and not only the brush, but the trees too. Looking in Twilight saw a slow and gentle steepness of a hill, and there was nothing but grass for miles. It felt as if it was the end of the world.

Continuing onward, newly refreshed Twilight realized she had just left the thorn forest and was now entering the grassy plains which separated the Unicorn territory from the wilderness. Twilight then estimated if she continued at her current pace that she would reach the camp at sunrise. If the legends were true. But even if they were, there was no way to tell for sure where it was exactly. As soon as she reached the top of the small hill Twilight was hit with another wave of anxiety. She once again felt as if someone, or something, was watching her. She could bear it no longer. Quickly glancing over her right shoulder she gazed back to the start of the thorn forest. At that moment the worried expression on her face changed completely, and was replaced by a single expression of terror. For at the bottom of the hill, just after the trees stopped and the grass started, stood a lone figure. It was completely black. Its figure was not ether equine or biped. Nor did it look like any creature Twilight had ever seen before. She recognized it immediately. It was a death Note.

“No… That’s… impossible!” The desperate statement didn’t make her feel any better. A sudden thought made Twilight realize that very few ponies of any race had been reportedly hunted by one of these entities. But this comfort was immediately shot down when Twilight realized that the thing wasn’t nearly as close to the trees as it was a few seconds ago. In fact it was now at the bottom of the hill that she had just now reached the top of. It was following her! Panicking, Twilight made a dash for it. Running from hilltop to valley to hilltop. Faster and faster she ran, until she ran so hard that she thought her legs would fall off. And each time she looked back the black creature was just a little closer to her. It was a horrible race. In all her experience Twilight had never been taught what to do in a situation like this.

She had no idea what to do. All she could do was run, and even that was turning out to be exhausting. The race continued on, and on until twilight’s sides began to ache terribly, and her breath came out in short rasps. When she finally could run no longer, not even to save her own life, Twilight collapsed onto the turf. Her momentum carried her down one of the hills in a wet slide until she reached the bottom. Glancing back, she saw the Death Note had slowed too. Just about to a walking speed. The creature was descending on her from the top of the hill like a large animal that was about to kill its wounded prey. But just as she gave up her life for lost, Twilight had an idea. There was another way to dispel death notes, but only the highest level unicorns and Alicorns could do it. It was a long shot, but Twilight decided to try it.

Putting her whole mind into a state of pure willpower, she began to cast the spell. She could no longer do this as easily as before. Without hatred or pride, much of the potential energy was gone from her mind. But she decided to continue. For the sake of her newfound destiny, and for the sake of her parents. Twilight put every ounce of willpower into completing this spell. But even as she began to cast it she could feel it was working. She opened one of her eyes only to see the death note was right on top of her. Just inches away. Closing her eyes even tighter she mustered all her remaining strength, and forced herself to get up. The spell was almost complete now, but the death note was also right in front of her face. Casting the spell in her mind she opened her eyes to face the demonic like stature that stood in front of her. Even from up close she could not tell exactly what it looked like, only that it was completely black, and several feet taller than her. A huge wave of energy shot out from Twilight’s horn Right at the creature. The size of the beam surprised her but she had no time to think about that. With everything she had Twilight raced right at the creature with a loud cry. There was a bluish flash of light.

Blaze hated checking on the cloud city. Even though the spell she cast allowed her to walk on the clouds, she still felt like an outsider with all the pegasi flying around her busy with their chores. Not only that, but she found that the pegasi in general were disgusting to her. Unable to cast magical spells on their own, they were no better than parasites. That’s how she always saw them. But she had an assignment from the queen and she knew it must be done. This visit felt even worse that her previous ones however. She felt even more alienated and lonely than usual. After a while she realized it was because Dusk had always accompanied her before. Somehow that made her feel more secure, even if she never let Dusk see it that way.

Up ahead the columns of cloud became thicker and more grandiose. This was a sign that she was approaching her destination. That, and she could feel the large magical tool at the heart of the city getting closer with every step. It was a sickening feeling. Blaze resolved to get in and out as fast as possible with, or without the report. It mattered not if the pegasi were cooperative to her. From her perspective they could all use a lesson or two in the Queen’s Torture chambers. The thought of that comforted her. She even smiled at the thought of the leader of the facility, the one known as “Sound Wave” going through the same physical torment she had only a few weeks ago endured. She had never met this pony on her previous visits to the facility, because she was usually given a report and turned away. But this time the queen wanted her to enter the building to see how the production was doing. She also thought it would be educational for Blaze to see how the machine worked.

Personally, Blaze didn’t care how it worked, only that it did. Nor did she want to find out how it worked. But that hardly mattered, her say meant nothing in the matter. After a long hike thought heavily populated cloud buildings and shops, she finally approached the gate to the facility. The walls were made of a strange black metal surrounded by black clouds. And the colossal door in the center was covered in large scrapes and cuts, although they did not seem to make it any weaker. The door itself was made of the same metal as the walls and had large bolts lining the sides and top and bottom. There was no handle, and the material itself prevented Blaze from using a spell on the door to make it open. This angered her even more. Anything she didn’t understand or couldn’t control made her uneasy. Upon knocking she realized that the pegasi that had been so prevalent in the rest of the city were all gone from this area. Maybe they feared the building? “Cowards” thought Blaze “Incompetent little cowards!”

At first there was no response. It seemed as if the very walls denied her existence with their refusal to open. Just as Blaze turned to leave however, the doors began to open, slowly at first, not with magic, but with machinery. The creaking of the hinges and the clicking of gears deafened Blaze’s ears as the doors started opening faster. Until finally with a huge slam the doors stopped. The journey inside was not much better than the view outside. The whole facility was lined with this strange metal that denied her using magic on them. There was no indication as to what made the doors open save one large steel beam that protruded from each door and extended into the wall. She did not like it at all.

She never actually had to enter the facility before. Even worse, the doors closed behind her. And even though she was a great deal farther away from them, the sound was still incredibly painful, because it meant there was no way out. The hall she now found herself in was long and narrow. The lights on the walls were few and far between. It made for a dark, unholy look. At the end of the hall was a room with several doors leading into different directions, all of them closed and bolted from the other side. A loud scream resounded from the halls and echoed across the building. It was a horrible sound. It sounded as if the victim’s very heart was being ripped out of his chest. There was no way to tell where the sound was coming from. The echoes did not help in the slightest. Already knowing what to do, Blaze took the door on the far right. It was locked, but she knocked twice. This door was made of wood, not the steel that made up the rest of the building. More screams emitted from nowhere and everywhere, making Blaze’s skin crawl. She now saw that she would have no choice but to continue with her assignment right up until the end, at least until the pegasi said she could go; and opened the gate for her.

“What do you want?” Came the harsh reply. Whoever spoke, it sounded more like a command that a question.

“You owe the Queen of Equestria a status report. I am Blaze, her right hand unicorn. Open the door immediately.” Blaze shouted into the door. At least she could pretend like she was not afraid.

“Owe her a report huh? I see… well come in you’ll get what I owe ya.” The harsh voice chuckled. The door shifted as if the deadlock was mechanically released. Blaze pushed open the door and walked in. The office was very handsomely decorated with plants and several bookshelves. Two steams of rainbow-colored liquid flowed on the wall enclosing an oak desk with several switches, dials and other things that Blaze could not identify. But at the center of it all was the Pegasus sitting behind the desk. She had a light blue coat of hair that was a mix of cyan and some other blue. She had rose red eyes that seemed as if they would kill you if you looked too long into them, and a grin that would kill you faster. But most interesting was her flowing slightly un-kempt mane and tail. It was all the colors of the rainbow.

“Well?” The rainbow pony asked “Sup?”

“I require a status report of your progress with the beam weapons we paid you to build.” She demanded.

“Right, right. I have those sent up to you on your way out.” Way out. For Blaze this was good news that they were at least somewhat loyal to the Queen. Not to mention that she might actually leave alive. She could not help but feel intimidated by this pony’s presence.

“Sound Wave I presume.”

“The one and only.”

“I can see why a Mare like you got a position like this. It suits you.”

“Hmph! What was your first clue? Rainbow haired pony running the “Rainbow Factory?”

“That’s not what the facility is called and you know it. At least be correct when you address your line of work.”

“HA!” Sound wave flew up out of her chair and landed next to Blaze, provoking her to step back in disgust. “As if that wasn’t what I make for you and your namby-pamby Queen.” She said with a smirk.

“Silence! Do not refer to her in that way again or I will…”

“Relax, relax. I was only going to say that the weapons effect when fired at a target makes a beam that closely resembles a rainbow. Of course, you make the weapon itself. All I do it supply you with the fuel for which to fire it.”

“I wasn’t asking for an explanation on how the weapon works, peon. I only want to know if you have made your quota.” It didn’t matter who this Pegasus was. Blaze wasn’t going to hesitate to incinerate her the next time she spoke about the queen like that.

“How bout I show ya?” The Rainbow pony asked with a wide smirk, ignoring the insult.

“JUST, give me the report.”

“But surely you want a demonstration of the machine. After all, we are working especially hard on this project. And it would be a shame if you went back not knowing whether or not it was up to par.”

“You enjoy your work too much.”

“It’s a living.” Sound Wave replied nonchalantly. “Whataya say?”

“Fine. You have ten minutes to show me your little ‘machine’. Make it fast.” Blaze said with a sigh. She had to admit, she was curious on how the Pegasi made weapons grade anti-soul. Such things are not commonly explained, even if you do work for the Queen. On the other hand, who knows what this pony would do if she refused to see it? She didn’t want to find out.

“Lucky you! We got a new shipment of equines and one biped today. You can see the process first hand!” She said as she pushed a button on the wall next to her. Suddenly the floor under Blaze moved. It began to move downward like a wall-less and roof-less elevator. Immediately below the floor of the office the room opened up to a huge room spanning acres of room. In the center there was a large machine with “Rainbow Machine” sprawled in red on the side. Blaze decided not to speculate on what the red stuff was. The machine itself took up the whole floor of the room, and was a mass of steel tubes, conduits, and moving platforms with ponies on them. In the very center, there was a large funnel-like structure with whirring blades and saws inside. The walls of the room were streaked with observation windows with ponies moving around on the other side. They appeared to be observers and mechanics.

“So this is project Dreadnaught.” Said Blaze in amazement.

“I knew you’d like it” The Rainbow haired Pegasus was now hovering beside the moving platform Blaze was standing on. With an evil smile she gestured at one of the moving platforms headed towards the funnel. “Observe.” Blaze noticed that there were three earth ponies and two pegasi aboard the platform. As it neared the funnel several mechanical arms arose from somewhere behind one of the steel tubes and approached the platform. The “Equines” were in chains and could do nothing to save themselves. As one of the arms approached, one of the pegasi grabbed one of the Earth ponies and held him to the ground. The arm approached until it was right on top of him.

“What will happen to him?” Blaze inquired, still in awe of the colossus that stood before her.

“Just watch.” Came the reply. So she did. The large arm produced a series of needle like things that started pulsating with some dark energy she couldn’t identify. Suddenly a beam shot out from the needles and hit the pony at point blank range. A bluish flash cut unto the normal light spectrum, making the whole room look dark. Then came the screams. From this distance Blaze could not tell whether or not it was male or female, but the screams did not help her confirm it. So this was the source of the screams she had heard earlier. After it had all past, the light returned to normal.

“Fun fact, those screams you’re hearing aren’t actually from the victims, it’s a decohesion-continuum response to the cryogenic generators we use to store the soul wavelength.”

“Er…”

“Do I gotta explain everything?!” The cyan pony, now landing on the platform next to her seemed genuinely annoyed. With a sigh she added: “It means that it’s a fracture in time and space. Every time the process occurs the whole fabric of time and space seems to (well, at the risk of sounding over-dramatic) scream in agony.”

“Er…” in all honesty, Blaze didn’t care.

“Some eggheads…” Sound Wave sighed.

Some rainbow-like energy was pulsating in the arm. After a few seconds the same process was forced on the remaining two Ponies. The energy in the arms was then pumped into the many valves and pipes that made up the “Rainbow Machine”. Blaze noticed that the three ponies were already dead. Completely colorless and lifeless. Also the two pegasi now flew off towards another platform This one had a creature that looked a lot like a human, but it was lying down ad appeared to be unconscious.

“What happens to the bodies after you drain them?” Asked Blaze.

“After the soul extraction is complete there is no reason to keep the bodies around. So…”

The platform then began moving towards the funnel.

“Plus, the decomposition of the bodies provides additional energy.” Sound wave said cheerfully. But Blaze wasn’t about to stick around so see what happened next.

“I’ve seen enough.” She said hastily.

“Fine, fine, I’ll take ya to the entrance. Some papers will be given to you there, your dorky ‘reports’”.

“Thank you for your cooperation. You can expect a response from the Queen within the week, Along with additional funding.”

“Sounds great!” The rainbow haired Pegasus pushed some buttons on the platform and it began moving again. This time away from the Machine.

The labyrinth of the Mind

Personnel File: Star Swirl

Subject: Concerning the new beam cannons

To: Queen Celestia

Sent: During the Lunar uprising (Approximately 670 years ago)

To whom the stars obey, and the moon trembles, and who’s grace guides us all.

No doubt you have received my letter with the designs for the new anti-soul gun battery. This letter is merely sent you to describe the functionality of the cannon, usage recommendations, and design comebacks. Indeed no great thing is perfect.

Firstly, this weapon runs off of soul energy. This is an extremely difficult thing to acquire, though it is all around us. Secondly, it is impossible to use a small part of one’s soul to power this machine, it must be powered by the raw force of a completely extracted soul in order to work. This is where the first comeback lies; in order to fire the weapon, we must kill a sentient creature. However, it is not as simple as all that; the victim must be expired in the central chamber of the weapon no more than ten minutes before the firing process, or it will fail. It took me great pains to conjure up a solid metal that can contain such a force for so long. And so the death of one, serves another. Thirdly, this weapon is not complete, and was made to be upgraded. In the future we may yet be able to complete the soul extraction process months beforehand, and contain the power indefinitely, but that technology, at the moment, is out of our reach. In order to do that, we would need to be able to master plasma containment, and have this new anti-magic metal in great multitudes. Those are just the first steps. I am no doubt constrained by this era’s technology, and I am afraid I can do no better than this at this time.

I have included designs for hand-held versions of the cannon as well as explosives, batteries charged by soul energy, and protective barrier generators. Because of your immortal status and ever-abounding wisdom, you may yet be able to compete these designs in the future.

The cannon fires a steady beam in an exactly straight line and can be aimed or positioned using magic or artificial intelligence. The effects of the beam are as follows:

*Instant death to sentient or non-sentient life forms.

*Super combustion and explosive after-effects.

*Instant destruction to Death Notes.

*Concussive force of a controlled explosion approximately 100 megatons strong in a 20 foot diameter.

This said, the best way to use it is in dire situations with no other alternatives. Placement is recommended lining the inner wall of the castle with one every five miles. This would make four. I have also sent the molecular specifications and structural tendency of the new metal I was able to forge. The substance itself drains excess magic. This means no unicorn can levitate or manipulate it. It also means that it can, in theory, contain a single Death Note entity.

May your discernment lead us until the stars rain down from the heavens,

You humble servant,

Star Swirl

Written by Pegasynth Wyldcard

7/3/2014

Twisted Paths

Chapter Three:

The labyrinth of the Mind

If anyone has ever taken a ride in a roller-coaster, fallen into a whirlpool, been stuck in a turn-dryer, then slugged with a steel baseball bat all at once, they might understand how Twilight was feeling when she finally began to come to. The whole world seemed to have an addictive habit for turning and dancing - at this point she’d lost count how many times now that had happened. Dementia and confusion reeled in Twilight’s mind like a trapped canary on some form of drug. It was difficult to get a grip on any carnal data. Where she was, who she was, and what she was doing, were about as easy to answer as if she was a filly trying to master Algebra II problems.

Nothing made sense, and she kept drifting in and out of conciseness. Dreams and memories flew at her, mixing with reality to make a perplexing dance of images and emotions. Incoherent sentences were being emitted from her half-open mouth. Looking back on it later, Twilight even remembered making a vague comment on the heterogeneous chemical balance of salad. Slowly, very slowly, reality came back to her; things began to make sense and memories began to align themselves in their proper order.

She began to realize she wasn’t alone. One time, she’d thought someone was coming towards her, because she’d heard footsteps (and she was quite sure she was not the source). Then she’d noticed the steps never got any farther away from her, or any closer. This paradox was too much to take - how could someone make noises like they were moving, but not be moving in proportion to her, if she herself wasn’t moving? A wave of blackness overtook her, and she passed out again.

When she awoke again the footsteps had stopped, and she heard the gentle sound of water as though from a stream. Barely managing to half-open her eyes, she saw in the midst of fluid colors, and indistinguishable shades what looked like a bowl full of water. Not even giving a thought as to why it was there, or how, the half-incapacitated unicorn inched towards it. Never before had she tried so hard to do something so trivial. Using every muscle in her body that would cooperate, Twilight struggled and strained in the invisible shackles of confusion that held her captive. Almost reaching the bowl, she tried to raise her head to just touch the tip of it with her lips. But before she had even begun to do so, her body decided it was time to give up, and she once again fell into a deep slumber.

When for the third time Twilight woke up, things made more sense, and she could even open her eyes with relative ease. Of course opening her eyes was one thing, discerning what it was she was seeing was something else entirely. Everything was blurry and miss-matched. Almost as if one had taken a picture of a strange piece of art with a camera that did not focus well. The footfalls were back now, same as before. Only this time she realized she was moving. Slowly, as if floating in a stream that had almost no current. Her senses began to come back to her gradually, and she started to feel pain. The pain in her head was what hurt the most. She began to focus on the events that brought her here. Even though she felt considerably more awake than before, conjuring up the right memories, in the right time, for the right purpose, was still a difficult thing to do. She remembered the Queen in all her hatred; and how she had been left behind. She remembered walking away, feeling dejected, and she remembered the stream and the frog. Above all else, she remembered doubting herself, and her own words.

“I am a Unicorn! And I will not be brought to question my actions like a petty Equine!” She realized she had used the word ‘Equine’ with intense disgust and hatred. And then she remembered she had never actually met one before. Not only that, but she had hardly seen one, apart from catching a glimpse or two when one was unfortunate enough to earn his or her way into the torture chambers.

She remembered the memories, and her old self returning to her, then the dream about the rainbows, and the wings, and the destiny mark. She remembered running for her life, how tired and weak she’d felt, and how much she wished she could spread her wings and fly off once again into the infinite sky beyond, away from all this pain and confusion. Finally, she recounted facing the Death Note as a last ditch effort for survival. Nothing after that made sense. It was all a blur, and it hurt to think about it.

She decided to try and figure out what in Tartarus was going on. Staring as hard as she could until her eyes hurt, she began to understand what she was seeing. She was lying on her side, trapped in what seemed to be a crude net with two-inch-wide mesh that dug into her skin. She was in the middle of a grassy field with oak trees every few hundred meters or so apart. It may have been her stupefied, state, but Twilight believed that she had never before seen a landscape as beautiful as this one. And, even in a moment as awkward as this one, it gave her a small glimmer of hope and serenity.

Fighting back another wave of darkness, Twilight tried to identify what parts of her body would listen to her. Her front and back left legs seemed the easiest to move. There were painful indentation marks on her fur where the mesh rested and it felt good to move herself so the painful patches were no longer growing. Also her neck (or some of it) seemed to be ‘online’ again. Turning her face towards whatever was dragging her, she became aware that her face was wet. Then she remembered the bowl of water.

It was almost like self-wrought torture, but eventually Twilight managed to position herself so she could get a look at whatever it was that felt compelled to move her in such an unusual fashion. What she saw then was the most interesting and unexpected sight of her life.

Already, the mare had taken into account that, in most likelihood, she had been, well, ‘taken into account’. It was also likely that whoever had acquired her was planning on doing something with her. She had expected a unicorn guard, or a renegade who wanted her for some unknown purpose, or perhaps an equine who was going to bring her back to their camp. Of course, none of these were favorable, but what she saw was more bizarre than anything she ever could have imagined.

Walking just a few feet in front of her, carrying the net in which she lay, was a creature about 6 feet tall. It walked with two legs and seemed to have two appendages on its side for motivational usage. He appeared to take no notice of her movement, or at least it drudged on as if it didn’t care. Never before had she ever encountered a human before. Nor had she wanted to.

Stories about them were told with extreme prejudice and fear among the unicorn kingdom. Slender, wild creatures that will do anything for a price and would gladly rip you in half as quickly as they could glance in your direction. She had even heard rumors that they were originally non-sentient beings from another world that were conjured up by the Queen to expand her army.

Even though they can’t fly or use magic, it is said that they were among the most imaginative and intelligent species around. And that many of the modern weapons, tools, and structures the unicorns use to this day were based off of designs given by humans.

But wait, those two descriptions didn’t make sense together. How could they be wild and evil, if they were so intelligent and adaptable? Twilight decided to disregard any former knowledge she had about the beings, lest they lead her to misjudge them- something she would have never done in the past.

Twilight decided to try to communicate with it. Straining her throat she managed to utter a faint:

“Hello?” There was no response. So she tried again, and this time it came out louder.

“HELLO!” Much louder - the human froze. She didn’t realize it but she had put everything she had into saying ‘hello’, and when she finally did get the word out, she’d ended up shouting it at the top of her lungs. “Oops,” was all she could think. The captive unicorn noticed that the human had reached down and grabbed a contraption on his belt. In a split second, he whirled around and pointed something that looked a lot like a gun at her. He had turned around so fast that she might have missed it if she had blinked. It was a small, hand-held, black… thing. But she could see a barrel and a trigger clearly. She came to the conclusion that she should probably not interrupt him again. At her best guess, he looked like a young male. But the hair was long and black, and it came down like an unkempt mop over his forehead. It could have easily been a female; she didn’t know enough about them yet to tell. She would have had better luck identifying a dog’s gender.

A few seconds passed in what Twilight thought must have been the most awkward moment in her life. The human was perfectly still, she detected not even the slightest waver of his stature or muscle movement. He was dressed in black clothes, clad with some kind of iron. He had what looked like small yellow glasses on one side of his face with a hexagonal pattern in them, except it covered a small portion of his cheeks. There were streaks of red on the armor of his legs and arms, and on the fingers of his claws. The effect was actually quite impressive, not to mention intimidating. It was strange - his fingers didn’t seem like claws or talons or anything else she had seen before. The only comparison she could think of was the claws of a bear, but these had opposable thumbs; and she was pretty sure that bears didn’t wear armored gloves.

“Um… Hi?” Nothing changed. “My name is…” She paused. She never gave a thought as to what she would actually say her name was. Even though she was free of the Queen, she still felt weird about giving her birth name. Especially to a person, like this.

“Midnight Shimmer.” She tried to make it sound as convincing as possible. It was the name she’d agreed to use in a hostile situation with Blaze. It worked well because it was similar to a combination of their real and fake names. Still the creature did nothing.

“A-are you… okay?” At this he raised his eyebrow. “Can you understand me?”

“Yes.” The answer came out suddenly and abruptly. It was a deeper voice; at least Twilight had guessed his gender right.

“Are you… are you alive?” Twilight cursed herself for asking such a stupid question. She did however, want to know if what she was dealing with could be reasoned with.

“Last I checked.” He was clearly surprised at the question. Twilight thought she could make out a tiny curvature on his lips that might be a smirk.

“Um… why are you, er, dragging me somewhere?”

“I have my reasons.”

“Can you let me out?”

“No.” His voice was solid and unchanging. Not monotone, but something more significant than that. It was clear that he didn’t take foolishness from anyone.

“I can walk.” She said, trying desperately to get out of the constricting net that was wrapped so uncomfortably around her.

“No, you can’t.” He said in his never-changing voice. She noticed the yellow thing on his face had moved over his eye and had little red lights flashing in it.

He put his gun away and turned expressionlessly to continue on his march.

“Wait! I…I...” Suddenly, Twilight was overcome by another wave of darkness, and she fell back into a sea of blackness.

For a fourth time, Twilight awoke. Now it was dark, late in the evening. She could use her whole body now, but her mind felt like scrambled eggs. The first thing she noticed was that she wasn’t in her net anymore; instead, she was lying on a bed of cloths and linens. The grassy plains that seemed so prevalent before were now gone. In their stead was a swamp. I wonder where he took me. She thought. Slowly getting up, painstakingly so, lest another blackout should fall on her, Twilight managed to get on her hooves with some difficulty.

There was a wood fire burning five feet in front of her, and on the opposite side the human sat staring at her. He seemed to be sharpening a knife that was made of a bright, silver metal. It was a cruel blade. It had a gap in the middle with one large edge and one short one on the opposite side; it was at least a foot long. This, combined with the dancing firelight, made him much look more threatening than before.

Twilight decided this would be as good a time as ever to at least get some information as to where he was taking her. Treading carefully, she walked over to the fire and sat down. The heat felt wonderful, particularly after being stuck in a net for who-knows-how-long.

“Thanks… for letting me out.”

Her weak icebreaker was met with a glacier glare. Obviously, he didn’t think much of her. After what seemed like an eternity, she tried again:

“Um, so who are you?”

“Hunter.” He said, still sharpening his knife.

“That’s um, an interesting name.” She said, trying to make it sound like she sincerely meant it in a nice way. However she soon got the impression that he wouldn’t care either way.

“It’s not a name. It’s what I do.” Now, that was interesting.

“You… hunt?”

“Yes.”

“What do you hunt?”

“You, at the moment.”

Getting him to talk was about as difficult as getting a mountain to move out of her way. Twilight began to wonder if ‘Hunter’ was trying to be difficult to keep information from her.

“Who do you work for?”

“Anyone but the Queen.”

This was a massive relief. At least he wasn’t trying to turn her in to Celestia. She let out a large sigh.

“That’s good to hear.”

“You don’t like the Queen?” The knife stopped in mid-air for the first time he started to show some emotion. He cocked his head sideways and looked at her as if he was trying very hard to understand her.

“Uh… no. Not after what she’s done.” OOPS! Whatever chance she had if he was really one of her spies was now gone. She winced and half expected him to pull out his gun and shoot her in that moment. But he never did.

“Interesting.” He said. Whatever curiosity he had was now gone; he went back to his knife.

“Why did you come after me?”

“Because the Earth Ponies want you.”

She fidgeted - she didn’t want to meet them. Who knows what they might do to her? After all, she was the right-hand mare to the Queen!

“Why are you telling me this? I can just run away.” She said, half frightened and half curious.

“I’ll incapacitate you if you do.” His knife never missed a beat. It kept hitting his sharpening stone at exactly every half-second.

“What if I use my magic?”

“You can’t, I’ve disabled your horn... temporarily.”

“How temporarily?”

“Until I say so.”

Twilight was now thoroughly annoyed at him for being so vague - even more annoyed than scared. Who was he to barge in with her unconscious to disable her magic and hold her prisoner? This whole situation just seemed to be getting better and better all the time.

“Get some rest.”

“Why?!” She said, almost yelling. Her unicorn pride was revealing itself more than she would have liked.

“Because I’m not dragging you anymore. We leave at sunrise.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll keep watch.”

Even though she was glad to get some sleep, she still had one more bone to pick.

“Is it because I’m a unicorn you think a Horror Sprout will just come out of nowhere and attack? Or that I’ll try and kill you in the night? Just because I’m a unicorn??” she demanded, infuriated.

“Yes.”

This was as far as he would go conversation-wise. He put away his knife after thoroughly inspecting it and gestured to her ‘bed’. Any attempt at getting anything else out of him simply ended in him pointing at her pile of rags. Finally conceding the conversation, she walked - you could say limped - back to her pile and lay down. Closing her eyes, Twilight began to think about what she should do if he decided he was tired of her, or decided she wasn’t worth anything. Yet, before she could come up with any plans, she drifted off to sleep.

The Queen was not accustomed to being left to wait. She stood at her throne waiting impatiently for the news. Finally, the large gold and white doors at the front of the room glowed blue and opened. Her orange and red apprentice walked gravely in with two unicorn guards clad in gold.

“Leave us,” she commanded them; the guards promptly left the room. “Well? Am I supposed to wait a whole fortnight for you to complete a simple task I could get a mere page to complete?” Her voice resounded through the room as if it carried the sorrow and hatred of a thousand years in its wake.

“A thousand pardons, my Queen.” Blaze responded without so much as flinching. “Processing continues on schedule, and we will receive the new shipment of energy module within the week.”

“I did not command the construction of Dreadnaught to be given factors and estimates. Tell me of the operations.”

“The facility houses a large mechanical mass known affectionately by the workers as the “Rainbow Machine”. This device uses a trapped Death Note to drain the souls of potential victims. Once extraction is complete, the energy is concealed and contained in small capsules made of an alloy specifically designed to contain magic.”

“Enough.” The Queen looked like she was about to rip Blaze’s face off. Her expression was intense and her voice was escalating.

“Tell me of the workers.”

“The workers are brash, over simplistic, and disrespectful, but they do their work with brutal efficiency.”

“Fine, what of Sound Wave?” Her voice began to soften, and her face relaxed.

“She… is interesting. Sound Wave is determined to get the job done, but she can be overconfident and - quite honestly - annoying.”

“I don’t care about your personal feelings; do you think she can be trusted?” Celestia asked the question like she already knew the answer.

Blaze paused, and for a second considered the power in her hooves. With just one word, she could end Sound Wave forever. Then she would never have to put up with her again. The temptation was too great to resist.

“Well? I asked a question.”

“No, she can’t be trusted, I am sure of that.”

“You just said she was determined to get the job done.” Suddenly Blaze’s heart stopped beating. Celestia was smiling. Not kindly but with an evil, glaring grimace. “What changed your mind?”

“Your highness? I said she was efficient, I never said I trusted her.”

“Indeed.” Celestia began to circle Blaze in long, wide circles.

“My Queen?”

“You came here with the expressed purpose of causing the downfall of that Pegasus.”

“This is not so… AHHG!” Suddenly, her mind was attacked by a lightning bolt of energy. All her private thoughts and convictions sprang to the surface of her mind.

“I can’t have my own apprentice betraying my like this just because she feels like it.” She said with a wide smile.

“Please, no!” Her thoughts were being ripped out of her head and exposed for the Queen to see. Her hatred, desires, and even her warm affections for Dusk.

“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” The alicorn said it as if she had caught Blaze with her muzzle in a cookie jar. “What say you we remove this little glitch?”

Suddenly the pain intensified, and everything started to fall away. The Queen, the throne, and the massive doors all seemed to be floating into the distance, until they were gone. And then, there was nothing.

Flawed Destiny

Historical Record # 589 (The Age of Ascension)

Time period: Circa 960 years Prior to Equestria’s establishment.

“No living thing should be allowed to achieve this state of being. I have sustained this form solely because of my power and control over nature. One commoner such as this must not be allowed to retain a form that would conflict with the powers at hand. Indeed, such a thing would be devastating to our culture. Think of the society we have built, think of the power we wield, and finally, think of the ones we care about. Would you let the country you serve tear itself apart just because one such as this should live?”

Queen Celestia’s address to her advisers just prior to the execution of “Subject Cadence”.

Several hundred years after the lunar uprising came the “Age of Ascension”. It was during this time that it was discovered that Alicorns did not need to be born, they could be made. Some unicorns and pegasi have a specific gene marker in their DNA which allows them (under the right circumstances) to evolve into an Alicorn. This began when “Cadence”, a young Pegasus at the age of 12, was discovered with a unicorn’s horn. She was taken into custody at once, and held until it was legally expected for her to speak for herself, approximately 8 years later. This was a troubling time for the kingdom for over nine millennia it had been ruled by only one Alicorn. For another one to come in would be to wreck the balance of power and ensure the death of the empire. When 8 years of debate and speculation among the people had passed, “A.A.M. Subject One” was finally allowed to speak in her own defense. Recounting the story of how it came to pass in front of the queen and all her advisers.

Evidentially, she had discovered she had a talent for spreading love, and that talent made her an Alicorn. Such testimonies are false however, and the council and the queen never discovered how it really happened. Several hours after the trial, “A.A.M.1” was sentenced to immediate public execution. The sentence would be carried out by sawing off her wings and horn, and letting them bleed out. Here forth a new law was decreed, that no pony, or any creature, would become an Alicorn without suffering the same fate. This quickly brought peace and stability to the divided kingdom, however the peace was not to last. Several days after the execution there was a political movement in the earth pony region. Some began to question the ethics of destroying a life to maintain the stability and comfort for the queen. After the movement had been going on for two weeks, they discovered that the queen was going to annihilate them for treason. Every equine escaped, and the sentence of extinction was never carried out. How the earth ponies discovered this is unknown, however the soul suspect, Star Swirl the sorcerer, disappeared shortly after the incident. Several more suspects were tortured and killed, but Nopony was able to prove whether or not anyone assisted the equines in their survival.

During this time the weapon known as the “Soul Cannon” that had defended the kingdom for so long was perfected. It could now be made into smaller, hoof-held versions, and was significantly more powerful. This development was mostly caused by the invention of the “soul battery.” A devise that could contain the raw force of an extracted soul for an indefinite period of time. This new power source was almost unquenchable, and could be made to power any devise. Because of this, the energy field generators, as well as other military advancements, were made possible.

About thirty years later, Queen Celestia took two apprentices from two of the royal families in the Unicorn kingdom. Shortly after doing so, she began to train them in the ways of advanced magic and sorcery. They soon began to become the most powerful unicorns in the kingdom, second only to the queen. Why she took them in was never explained, however she was often seen with them during critical negotiations with the Pegasi leaders. Whatever she truly intended for them, she obviously held them in high regard. –End of log

**********************************************************************************************************************

Just as the hunter promised, the journey to the equine camp began at sunrise. Long stretches of swampland that seemed to never end rose all around the two unusual travelers. On, and on they treaded, never stopping, or even slacking their pace. They walked past every bush, crevice, pond, and moss pit they came across without realizing their presence. Twilight was too deep in thought to notice all of that. She was too busy worrying about what this human would do with her, what the equines would do with her, and last of all, what she would do with herself. She felt lost in her own afflictions, somewhere deep within her something was gnawing at her.

Many miles into the bog they came to a large tree, one with withered branches and cruel curved roots that jutted out from the ground in several directions. There the unlikely pair rested for a short time, which gave the unicorn more opportunity to think without the distraction of walking. She decided that she had better keep her mind off of any of her recent circumstances in order to stay focused. After all, Equestria had no shortage of dangerous creatures. Having a distracted mind could only result in oblivion.

Yet for a while she toyed with the idea, what difference would it make if she suddenly ceased to exist, if her life suddenly was taken away? If her life ended, who would truly care? Would anyone even notice? It occurred to Twilight that death might not be such a bad fate, she could escape from all of this anguish and hatred that had only recently entered her mind. She could be all alone, not bothered by painful memories or strange creatures. A deep apathy came over her. Still, somewhere inside of her, somewhere beyond any conscious thought or frame of mind, there arose a feeling. Maybe there was something she could do? Some miniscule way she could help mend the damage done to her shattered world that had never known peace. Twilight might not have noticed it, but for the first time in what seemed like a life time, her teeth were no longer clenched.

There were more than a few times when the travelers rested under some overbearing and dilapidated covering. Each stop came with more time for the fallen unicorn to think, and each time she became less and less willing to think. Despite her aching joints and sore hooves telling her otherwise she could not accept a rest for fear that it would awaken within her any thought she could not bear to endure. At each stop, she became increasingly more bitter and restless.

Many more miles were trodden upon by the human and his unwitting quarry. Deep beyond muddy river after muddy river, past all chance of individual recollection or remembrance. Their trail was steadily becoming more hazardous with more aggressive underbrush and deeper mud pits. It became a challenge to navigate through it all, and not without several cuts and bruises from when a hostile branch or loose stone had found its target.

Conversation was scarce, only when absolutely necessary were words spoken. Even then they were only concerning an unforeseen root or pitfall which plagued the traveler’s path. Another abnormality was the sound; normally one would expect to hear noises in a bog, an occasional bird, or frog. Maybe even a fish splashing somewhere in a faraway pond; there were no such noises to be heard. An unforeseen terror permeated the swamp and ruled its inhabitants. Twilight had begun to feel its effects from the moment her long journey had begun. Every step was a battle with the everlasting and unrelenting evil she felt around her.

During one evening when the air was particularly fouler than usual, and the water seemed black as though with ink, the unicorn and the human once again began to look for some kind of shelter. The sun had already begun to fall in the sky and the moon shone brightly in the now starlit sky. Under a particularly large tree where the ground was not so muddy, a small camp was set up. As usual this consisted of two piles of rags and a weak campfire, barley penetrating the black night around it.

Something was different this time however, something in the color of the water seemed to rebuke all life that gazed into it. It almost seemed like the fog masked some dark intelligence lurking beneath the gentle ripples of the wind-swept water. Twilight didn’t like it, it seemed all too familiar somehow, and yet so very alien. But it wasn’t the surroundings that made the area seem so horrific, it was the human. He never looked at her, he never spoke to her, and he never even seemed to notice she was there. As the campfire began to rise in the night Twilight began to feel a chill down her spine. She felt like something bad was about to happen.

Her legs and stomach still hurt from her ordeal with the death note but she felt well enough to try to at least talk to her unlikely companion. Summoning all the courage she could manage she raised her voice,

“Look… where are we going?” Twilight knew she wasn’t exactly choosing the best topic but she had to start somewhere. She had meant it to sound like a perfectly logical question, but as often happens to those who are under stress, she sounded more impatient than anything else. Despite this she continued,

“I don’t understand why you are taking me to the equine camp. Do they want something from me?” More stupid questions, but Twilight had to break the silence somehow. Much to her surprise the human did not notice her manner of speech but simply answered he in a direct fashion,

“The equines simply asked me to keep an eye on the fortress, I am taking you back of my own accord.” And after glancing at her added, “I cannot predict their reaction. I apologize for not having a more accurate prediction.”

“Did you just”- Twilight’s astonished question was abruptly halted as the human jumped up and motioned for her to lie still. At least she thought it meant to lie still, it was hard to tell what the human wanted when Twilight didn’t even know what his strange appendages were called. The human had taken a blanket and tossed it to Twilight, and signaled again in a downward motion with his… something. It wasn’t until the human reached for his weapon that Twilight realized the rapid ripples in the water. Before Twilight had covered herself completely in the earth colored blanket the water erupted into a torrent of water, and some creature who had apparently found his next meal.

Unfortunately the lavender mare did the only thing that came natural to her at the time, she froze. But before she had time to comprehend what the creature looked like she had to cover her ears as a deafening noise resounded through the murky swamp. The sound was greater even the shrill cries of the hungry intruder and strong enough to echo off of the waters for miles beyond. For a moment all was still, all sounds of the monster had all ceased, and what little wild life that had been brave enough to croak in the night before had also stopped. It was in this moment that the unicorn was able to catch a glimpse of her would-be devourer. It was a huge, hideous, brown scaled monster with four heads that ended in razor sharp triangle edges. Each head had green, unblinking eyes and sharp, pointed teeth that were at least several feet long and only a few inches thick. Each mouth was agape, their teeth netted together like some forbidden tapestry. The effect was a looming, powerful sense of dread, and despair.

But then Twilight realized one of the heads had a massive scar from which both smoke and fire radiated. The silence, which only lasted a few moments but felt like a few hours, was suddenly broken by a wailing cry. Apparently, whatever the human had done to the creature had injured it severely, as one of the heads, the one from which the smoke billowed, fell limp against the still waters where it stood; the impact causing another torrent of violent splashes and waves. By the time Twilight had recovered her thoughts she was staring at the human with his smoking weapon in hand, the monster gone, and a large area of red and black water creeping on the shoreline. There were no more attacks from that monster on their travels. The unicorn, still shaken and frightened from the encounter, lay shivering under her blanket. Her teeth chattered and the blanket made ripples as her body expressed its dislike for the encounter. The human spun around and immediately fixed his eyes on her.

His gaze was intense and deliberate, as if he wanted to smite her where she lay. That look of intimidation was suddenly and surprisingly changed into a mixture of shock, disbelief, and even a hint disappointment. Twilight’s expression changed almost as much as the human’s did, for each saw the last thing either of them expected to see. But neither knew what the other was thinking.

The awkward silence lasted until the unicorn broke the gloom,

“WH-What are y-you staring… at?” her voice broken and cracked as it barley escaped from her mouth in a weak, pathetic cry. It sounded frail, even adorable in its own way. If the human understood the concept of “adorable” or “weak” he certainly didn’t show it; and for a moment his face turned from surprise to absolute rage.

“What are you,” he demanded “this is not the queen’s apprentice. Not the one who has faithfully destroyed the…” His voice trailed off and died into the darkness, his sentence fell in mid-air as if hit with some invisible arrow. He looked as if a sudden realization had abruptly dawned on him out of the recesses of his mind. As is some child hood memory had resurfaced and ceased his anger. No more word were spoken that night, the human wordlessly and soundlessly walked to his mat, and lied down. Eventually the frightened Unicorns’ body began to calm down, and the reality of fatigue sunk in. It was now late in the evening and the only source of light was the campfire, the moon, and the many sorrowful stars around it; endlessly fixed in their dance in the heavens. But in the middle of the blackness, sometime later Twilight thought she could hear a faint sound coming from her right. Before she could identify it however, the mare was already fast asleep, and her dreams had overtaken her. Could it be... a soft crying?

**********************************************************************************************************************

“Whahoooo!!!” Rainbow Dash screamed as she blazed across the endless sea of clouds, splitting them in half as she went. She never felt more alive than when she was pushing her body to its limit, exceeding even the fastest of the other pegasi. The cloud line broke suddenly, and she had a perfect view of the land below her. Looking down she saw the great river that supplied the sea and Cloudsdale with the water they needed so badly to function. She could also see the friendly hills and valleys of Equestria. Beyond them lay the snowy mountains and beyond the mountains, endless sky. She also saw the hill where her house resided just a few meters off of the ground. She like it that close because that way she could spend more time with… her friends.

Thoughts suddenly began jumbled and mixed as she looked on. Soon she realized that her house resided above several ponies she knew, but strangely didn’t know. She recognized them, their names, even their eye color but now who they were. She was there with them, but she was also watching; helpless, powerless from where she flew. She realized that when she looked hard enough she could see herself in her bedroom window, sleeping peacefully, and defying reality in her slumber; with the sheets only half covering her sprawled body. She could hear her friends calling out to her.

And yet it was strange, though she was flying a long way off, she could hear and feel what the other Rainbow Dash heard and felt. Every gust of wind from the open window, the soft, plushness of the pillow, the warm, scratchy sheets. Even the very words her friends called out to her. The first was a cheerful voice,

“Rainboooooow! Wake up lazy bones!”

“It’s yer big day! Ya wouldn’t wanna miss out on yer’ chance to meet the Wonderbolts would ya?”

“How can she even be sleeping? She must be so nervous. I know I would be!”

“Perhaps it would be wise to leave her to her slumber? What would she do if she did not get ample rest?”

“Um… but she’s kind of been sleeping in science… um… yesterday…”

“Touché darling…”

Rainbow lazily but excitedly got up to greet her friends; not even stopping to brush her mane or tail but blundering down her stairs as fast as she could. She could hear their voices getting louder. She wanted to meet her friends, to see their faces. They were calling to her loudly now, to hurry. They seemed inpatient, even upset now. Rainbow heard one say:

“How could she do this to us? T’is a disgrace to wait around in this… ickyness.”

“Well, it is a little rude…”

Then a very strange thing happened, for although rainbow was climbing down the stairs as fast as she could, she didn’t seem to be anywhere near the bottom than she was when she started. In fact, there seemed to be more stairs now than there were before. But the voices continued,

“What’s going on? Is everything ok?” Echoed a concerned voice.

“I’m… coming, wait for… me.” Rainbow said. She just couldn’t seem to get the words out loud enough for them to hear though, her friends kept talking as if she had never said anything.

“Let’s just leave, she probably doesn’t care anyways.”

“It’s too bad, guess she’ll have to be alone forever now.”

Rainbow tried again,

“Hey! What the… big idea…”

“Oh my goodness… am I… how can this be? Rainbow dash how could you?”

“What in the name of… just what is this??”

“T’is a joke darling, just a rotten joke. Say it’s true! Say it or we shan’t be friends!”

“But she wouldn’t… ever say that…” Rainbow pleaded.

“Enough! End this now!”

“You have truly gone too far!”

“What are you doing?? I hate you! I’ll hate you forever for this!!”

While this was going on, the staircase, and the walls around

Rainbow Dash began to change. They began to get darker, the poufy clouds became scarred and ugly, and the staircase became hard, rough, and painful to walk on. The pictures which she had begun to pass on her way down, now displayed strange, and unknown memories of hatred, violence, and despair. They were completely unknown, and yet she knew them, enough to become terribly afraid at the sight of them.

The voices began to come from the pictures, angry, painful voices each with something equally angry or painful to say. But they also began to call out in a different way. First a few, then many started yelling not with hatred, but with fear. They were screaming at her, pleading with her, imploring for Rainbow to stop. The voices got louder, yelling with the utmost urgency. Pleading with her in the most terrified of voices as their faces began to display one collective expression of terror. Rainbow was so scared by this that she tore her attention from them, trying to ignore them as she ran to the door. All reason had left her mind, perhaps there would be some safety outdoors? Something better than this nightmare. But she couldn’t turn away, the pictures began to come real. They left the walls, and began to swirl around in her vision, they were the only thing she could see.

Rainbow was frightened, she did not know what it was they wanted her to stop. She couldn’t reason with them, she couldn’t say their names, she couldn’t even speak. She was just going to make a bolt for it. Gathering all her strength she made a bee-line down the stairs and out the door, everything was black. Suddenly she was no longer running but sitting. Sitting above thousands of ponies in a chair of black iron. She was in a completely unknown place with black walls that rose up all around her. Down below her she could hear cries and screams, too many to count or guess their number.

The chair which Rainbow Dash found herself in was covered in chains and iron claws. Many of which were fastened securely to her. Her legs and hooves seemed to be engraved in the chair, as it enveloped them allowing no movement whatsoever. Her chest, wings, neck, and forehead were clasped in strange, and painful chains that tore at her coat and dug in her flesh.

Now thoroughly terrified, Rainbow tried to break free, and call out to those below her. But the bonds were too strong and only tightened around her, forcing her to sit upright with her head up high in the air. She couldn’t see anyone anymore, the pony’s screams were the only thing that indicated their existence.

“Help! Let me out! What’s going on, I don’t understand!” But the cries only got louder, and the chains only got tighter despite her best efforts to free herself. Suddenly the sounds of the crowd could no longer be heard, not that they ceased, but they were drowned out by a much greater noise. One of clanging steel and whirring metal. It was a tremendous sound, and it filled and vibrated the whole area. Rainbow no longer had the sense to do anything but scream, scream and hope everything would be ok. But as many people will say, hoping everything will be ok, has nothing to do with how it will turn out.

Just as it seemed as if nothing worse could happen, something worse did happen. A voice, quite different than the others spoke. For a short time, everything was still. The strangest thing about the voice was how similar to Rainbow Dash’s voice it was. In fact it sounded exactly the same. The difference lay in the tone, and the attitude of the speaker. It was one of deep, and intense wrath. It said,

“Nothing can stop this. It is their destiny, and now it is yours too. You will become like nothing, you will amount to nothing, and in the end, you will be nothing.”

Along with the voice came a horrible, sinking feeling deep within Rainbow’s mind. The sound was clawing it her, each word, every syllable causing an agonizing torrent of pain. All she could do was grit her teeth, and brace for whatever lay ahead. It continued this time shouting,

“YOU…WILL… SUFFER!!!”

Then the myriad of sounds from before returned, the shouting, the clanging the spinning, the whirring; but with one more noise, the sound of chopping and slicing. The ponies below were frantic now, their voices rising and falling in a chorus of impregnable chaos. There was pain… so much pain.

“NO!! LET ME OUT!” Screamed Rainbow Dash; and in a quieter voice added, “This can’t be real!!” The carnage below only increased, as the screams became louder, and the blades spun faster.

“I’LL RIP MY OWN TOW WINGS OFF TO GET OUT OF THIS YOU…”

“Now… now… be careful what you say… hmm?” The unknown speaker returned in a sing-song voice “After all…” A soft chuckle before the walls, which had apparently begun to close in on each other, slammed together; releasing a shower of red liquid in every direction, covering and engulfing all it hit in a deep, red crimson. It began at the base of the chair where Rainbow sat, and creeped upwards toward her. It slowly reached to her cyan coat, and rainbow tail staining it beyond recognition. The stench was unbearable, and the screams which had been so prevalent before, had ceased as though someone had cut the power to a radio or a television.

Pure shock filled Rainbows body as her eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open. All she could do was stare at the oncoming ocean of blood now engulfing her. Her breathing was erratic and her heart felt like it was going to burst out of her chest. Just before the sea had reached her chin, the speaker finally showed herself. From nowhere, a mare just like herself suddenly appeared hovering in front of her. She was also drenched in blood, and the only hint Rainbow could see that she looked remotely like herself was a lock of rainbow hair that fell just short of the eyes; though it was still stained with blood and raged as if combed with a knife. Her eyes were crimson red. More red than even the ocean of blood below her. She continued,

“After all my little parasite, I am you!” She broke into a horrible cackling laughter that sent rippled in the sea, and shivers down Rainbow’s spine. But before she could respond, she had to close her mouth because the river of blood had overtaken her muzzle. Her sight slowly faded as she watched the other Rainbow ascended into the darkness above her. Soon there was only red, and after that, black. Ultimately, there was nothing.

Sound Wave awoke to one of the many sounds in the world she hated. It was the sound of her pesky assistant slash secretary slash whatever she was. It didn’t mater, all that matter was that she was waking her up from her nap, and that was enough.

“Ma’am… I…”

“WHAT?!?!” lashed Sound Wave. “The HELL was so DANG important that it couldn’t wait FIVE DARN MINUTES ROSEMARY?!”

“Ma’am!” the other Pegasus snapped to attention. “Sorry to disturb you but the requested shipment of err… ‘Materials’ have arrived… ma’am.”

Sound Wave’s anger subsided for a moment as she realized what that meant. The moment was a short one.

“Get… out… you worthless… cur.”

“Y-yes ma’am.” Stammered the mare; within the next second Sound Wave was alone. She grinned.

“Finally, some progress.”