Equestria: The Fallen Utopia

by Kombatant Champion

Rating: mature
Tags: Other, Original Character, Rainbow Dash, Tragedy, Crossover, Gore, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe
Length: 22742

Equestria is a land of friendship and harmony. But what happens when events in this paradise go horribly wrong? Rated Mature for Violence/Gore and Strong Language.

I was born an alicorn in Equestria, then disowned by my own parents at a young age. I found myself with no home, no friends, and no confidence. I wandered Equestria, trying to survive. Princess Luna found me and offered me a home with Rainbow Dash. Over the years, I found that Equestria was a place of friendship, harmony, and also housed numerous dark secrets. I came to learn the true nature of certain ponies in Equestria and what cruel thoughts they were hiding. I even played a crucial role in the survival of ponykind in Equestria.

Rated Mature for Violence/Gore and Strong Language.

Takes place shortly after the Season 4 finale.

(I own no aspect of the Rainbow Factory, Cupcakes, or Fallout: Equestria fanfictions. Those belong to their respectful authors)

Published 2015-02-27 17:20:01 UTC
Last updated 2015-04-09 17:00:11 UTC

Chapter 1

When you hear the word “utopia,” what comes to mind? Of course, you have to know what that word means. A utopia is a place that is perfect, without any problems. When I hear that word, I think of my home: Equestria. The land of Equestria is one of peace, tranquility, friendships; paradise, even. The three races of ponies in Equestria have lived in harmony for almost forever. Of course, like in any society, there are minor disagreements among ponies. But those times where something extremely bad has happened are very few.

Not many terrible things have happened in Equestria’s history. The only ones I have come to know were The Return of Nightmare Moon, Discord's return, The Changeling Attack on Canterlot, the Return of Sombra and the Crystal Empire, and Tirek’s Attack on Equestria. Other than those incidents, Equestria has been rather peaceful. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna watch over Equestria with a good feeling that all is well.

I was born after Princess Twilight Sparkle defeated Tirek, therefore I came into a world that I thought was a ruinous place. I was terribly mistaken. After Equestria rebuilt itself, I found that Equestria’s true nature was one of friendship and harmony. But I was not as lucky as every other pony. I was born to a Pegasus stallion and a Unicorn mare as an alicorn colt, much to the surprise of my parents. In fear of mockery and shame, they kept me a secret from the rest of Ponykind. When I had grown into a young colt, my parents dumped me in an allyway while I slept. I attempted to find my way back, but since I had never been outside, I never knew where I was. With no home and no family, I was forced to live off of scrapings I would find in trash cans. I had to take shelter in dumpsters during the night just to stay warm. I was afraid of what everypony else would think of me, so I did not come out from the alleys. Princess Luna would watch me wander as I tried to stay out of sight. After a few months of seeing me like this, Luna came up to me during the night. I had never seen another pony, much less a princess, so I hid behind a cardboard box.

“It is all right,” Luna assured. “I won't hurt you.” I reluctantly came out from my hiding place and slowly approached Luna.

“Are you all right?” she asked.

“I’m fine,” I quietly told her. I sat down on the ground, not looking up.

“I see,” Luna responded. “Do you need an escort home?”

“No,” I said, ashamed. “I live on the streets.” Luna gave this statement some thought. I looked up at her for the first time. She gave me a puzzled look when she noticed my wings and my horn.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

“No,” Luna responded. “Nothing at all.” She quickly changed the subject. “How do you live if you don't have a home?”

“I… uh...” I hesitated. “I eat scraps from the garbage, and I live in dumpsters.” Luna thought about this. She suddenly seemed to get an idea.

“Come with me,” Luna said. She took me up on her back and flew up to the sky. Neither of us said a word until we arrived at our destination. It was Rainbow Dash’s place.

“What are we doing here?” I asked.

“I am going to personally request that Rainbow Dash take care of you until you are old enough to do so yourself,” Luna explained. Luna helped me onto the clouds and I walked up to Rainbow dash’s house with her. Actually, “house” was an understatement. The mansion emphasized superiority. I was surprised to find all the lights on. I stood staring for a moment before remembering why I had been brought here. I breathed and walked up to the door. I found the doorbell and rang it. It made a quiet, soothing tone.

“Coming!” Rainbow Dash yelled. Luna and I waited a few moments before Rainbow Dash came to the door. She noticed Luna and briefly bowed to show respect.

“Princess Luna?” Dash asked. “What are you doing here?”

“I am here on important business,” Luna answered. “I have this young colt with me. I found him wandering the streets of Ponyville alone, without a home. I was hoping you would take him in.”

“Before I give an answer,” Rainbow Dash said. “How’s he standing on the clouds right now? He’s clearly a Unicorn, and not a Pegasus.” I looked up at Luna. She looked at me and nodded. I looked at Rainbow Dash and opened up my small wings. Rainbow Dash looked at me, eyes wide.

“He is an alicorn,” Luna explained. “He was disowned by his family and left in the streets. Would you take care of him?” Rainbow Dash nodded.

“You can count it,” she said.

“Thank you,” Luna said. “You only need to have him with you until he has learned to fly. I must go. My sister is most likely wondering where I am. Farewell.” With that, Luna flew off toward Canterlot. I watched her fly off.

“Come on inside kid,” Rainbow Dash said. I followed her with some reluctance. I looked around her living room. It was furnished with plenty of bright color. A chandelier hung from the ceiling.

“So, what were you doing up this late?” I asked quietly. “I mean, you don’t have to answer that question. It may not be any of my business.”

“It’s OK,” Rainbow Dash said. “I got a late night message from the weather majors, and I was up reading it and writing a response.” I sat on one of the large couches and sighed.

“Something the matter?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I’m tired,” I answered. “I haven't gotten any sleep tonight.”

“You can stretch out on that,” Dash offered. “It is late after all. I had just finished my response letter and was heading back to bed.”

“Thanks,” I said. I laid my head down and closed my eyes.

“So what’s your name, kid?” Rainbow Dash asked before heading upstairs. I hesitated to answer.

“I was never given one.” I said quietly, with regret. I fell asleep, for the first time in a long time, in a home. Rainbow Dash looked at me with sympathy. She flew upstairs and vowed to herself that she would care for me the best she could.

Chapter 2

As time went on, I grew into a strong colt. Rainbow Dash treated me as her own, caring for me. She brought me to the Ponyville School building and I went to school there. I hid my wings, though, because I was worried what everypony else would think. The biggest problem in school though was Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. On the first day, they walked up to me.

"So," Diamond Tiara snidely said. "You're the new kid?" I slowly nodded.

"Where's your Cutie Mark?" Silver Spoon asked. "Or do you even have one?" My eyes narrowed. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon gasped.

"He doesn't have a Cutie Mark," Diamond Tiara said. She and Diamond Tiara giggled and walked away.

"Good luck fitting in," Silver Spoon called back. Diamond Tiara joined her in crying out, "Blank Flank!" Those days without a mark were dark ones. But I did find my special talent at the end of the school year.

At the end of the day, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were picking on another young filly with no Cutie Mark. Remembering what they said to me, I walked over and confronted the two.

"What do you think you're doing?" I asked. "How does it make you feel to pick on someone weaker than you? Or do you just think you're better than everypony else?" Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon backed up as I walked closer. "How do you sleep at night, knowing that you hurt other ponies feelings on purpose?" I continued. "I know how I'd feel. Awful." Unknown to me, my flank had lit up, and everypony was staring. I had backed Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon against the school building. "How would you feel if somepony made you feel bad about no Cutie Mark?" I wondered. "Maybe we can find out." At that, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon ran off, away from the school. I turned around and saw everypony staring.

"What?" I asked. Applebloom pointed at my flank. I looked down and saw it. My Cutie Mark. It was a short sword with a silver shield behind it, representing my talent as a defender of the weak. The class went from shocked to awed, as they crowded around me to get a look at my Cutie Mark. I wasn't a show off, so I just stood there, letting the class see. Rainbow Dash came and picked me up shortly after. She flew me back to her house and I showed her my mark. She was impressed. Since I was out of school, Rainbow Dash began teaching me what she knew on flying. Rainbow would have me jump off the edge of clouds and I would try to recover in the air. Rainbow Dash made sure I never hit the ground if I couldn’t recover fast enough. As I grew stronger, Rainbow Dash would test my flight speed with the anemometer that she borrowed from Twilight. I learned much from Rainbow Dash and even a little bit from the Wonderbolts, the greatest team of fliers in Equestria. Rainbow Dash had introduced me to them and asked if they could teach me some more advanced things about flying. They agreed. Spitfire taught me where the core components of my wings were and how to maximize them, Soarin showed me how to lift off with power off of any foundation, and Fleetfoot taught me basic aerodynamics to maximize flight speed. I learned fast and soon became a magnificent flier.

When my flight test was two days away, Rainbow Dash brought me to a field. I recognized the place. We had come here often to practice flying.

“What are we doing here?” I asked her. “Shouldn’t I be preparing for the flight test?”

“We’re here for a test of my own,” Dash said. “A pop quiz actually. You ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” I responded. Rainbow Dash proceeded to ask me each component of the flight test, and I answered quickly and accurately.

“What is the first part of the flight test?” Dash asked.

“Weather Clearing.” I answered.

“Part 2?”

“Agility.”

“Part 3?”

“Recovery.”

“Summarize for me.”

“Clear, Fly, Fall, Complete.”

“Good, good,” Rainbow Dash said. “I taught you well. I want to try one more thing.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“I want to test you with a synchronized Sonic Rainboom, since you've learned so much,” Dash answered. I was speechless.

“Wait, what?” I could not have heard that correctly. “You’ve got to be shitting me. Tell me you’re shitting me.”

“No,” Rainbow said. “I’m not shitting you. We are going to do a Sonic Rainboom together.”

“All right,” I said. I had seen Rainbow Dash do the Sonic Rainboom lots of times before. I had studied her technique in takeoff and fall, but I couldn’t believe I was about to do one myself.

Rainbow Dash and I planted our hooves on the ground and waited for the perfect moment to take off. After a few moments, a strong gust of wind blew past. We opened up our wings in perfect sync, crouched low, and bolted upward. Rainbow Dash and I flapped as hard as we could, trying to gain enough altitude. When we had breached the cloudline, we snapped our wings shut and let ourselves fall. We aligned ourselves perpendicular to the ground and let terminal velocity do the rest. After a few seconds, I noticed the Mach cone forming around us. We were nearly there. I tightened up my form, slightly lurching ahead of Rainbow dash. She tightened up as well and caught up. The mach cone narrowed. As I closed my eyes, we suddenly blasted toward the ground. We made a U-Turn to avoid the ground and looked behind us. The resulting sonic boom blasted across Equestria, a rainbow colored blast with a bright, golden glow. We slowly landed and watched the spectacle of color.

“I never thought I’d actually do it,” I said quietly.

“But you did!” Rainbow Dash cried. “You are so awesome!” She lightly slugged me in the shoulder. We watched the Rainboom until it dissipated. I then had a nagging thought.

“That Rainboom wasn’t done by just you,” I said. “We did it together. You could tell from its golden glow. That’s definitely going to draw attention from Princess Twilight.”

“Nah,” Rainbow denied. “That egghead won’t notice shit. She’s too busy with her muzzle buried in her books.” I gave Rainbow Dash the sly brow look. I knew she read the Daring Do series of books quite often.

“I don’t know,” I worried. “I’ve known Twilight to be awfully suspicious about these things.” I flew off towards Dash's home. Rainbow Dash followed me. I flew inside the mansion and sat on a chair in the kitchen. Rainbow sat down next to me.

“What is it?” she asked. I was thinking hard.

“Rainbow,” I said. “What if I fail the flight test? What happens to me then? I’ve heard stories about failees that disappear and are never seen or heard from again. I don’t want to fail.”

“You won’t,” Dash assured. “I’ve taught you everything I know. There’s no way you can fail. You’ll pass with flying colors, literally.”

“Thanks, Rainbow Dash,” I said. I left the kitchen and flew up to my room. I sat down on my bed and looked out the window. I had a clear view of Ponyville and could even see the weather factories of Cloudsdale in the distance. Rainbows spewed from a vent in the roof, lighting up Equestria with color. I sighed. I looked around the room. It had every picture I had ever drawn as a colt of me and Rainbow on the walls. I looked through the photos. One of them specifically caught my eye. It was a photo I had taken of me and rainbow Dash when I had flown for the first time. I had my hooves in the air and was cheering for myself. Rainbow Dash was next to me, grinning wide. Cloudsdale was in the background with a rainbow coming out of the top. Everything in the picture described victory. I thought of that picture as I fell asleep, thinking about how much Rainbow Dash had done for me.

Chapter 3

I awoke in pitch blackness. Confused, I tried looking around, but saw nothing. Only darkness. Just then, I heard the sounds of me yelling. I couldn’t quite make out what I was saying, but I sounded pissed. The yelling stopped, followed by sounds of machinery and screaming. Screams of pain. Torture. I heard somepony saying something, this time much clearer.

“Let him go,” the voice said. “He’ll never make it back to his home alive. He'll bleed to death.” After a moment of silence, Rainbow Dash was then heard.

“I’ll fucking kill her, I swear!” she was yelling. Rainbow’s voice was cut off, followed by more silence. The silence was abruptly cut off by the sound of more screams of torture, this time coming from me. I snapped awake with a quick inhale. I breathed heavily for a few minutes before pulling myself together. I got out of the bed and opened a window to let in some air. I looked towards Cloudsdale. The weather factory was still going strong. But as I looked down at the front of the mansion, dimly lit by Luna’s glow was a small, black carriage. In the dim light of the moon, I could tell that it was being drawn by two Pegasus, one blue with a yellow mane, and another tan one with a green and yellow mane. Another mare with a black cloak and mask was standing next to the carriage, speaking to the drivers. I flew to Rainbow’s room.

“Hey Rainbow?” I asked as I opened the door. She wasn’t in her room. I looked around. There didn’t seem to be any sign of intrusion. The only thing out of the ordinary was that her closet was left open. I turned on the closet light and looked inside. I saw her Gala Outfit, her crown she had won at the Young Flyers Competition, and an empty hanger on the floor. I picked it up. It had been broken at the base, as if somepony had taken whatever was on it in a huge hurry. I felt a draft. I looked over at her window. It had been opened and never shut. I noticed a piece of cloth hanging from the locking hook. It had been torn off. I looked at it for a moment, threw it in the garbage, then flew after the carriage.
~~~

I flew after that carriage for about two hours. The drivers seemed to never tire. I couldn't understand how they could keep flying for so long. The carriage never slowed down for a moment. I had a hard time keeping up. When it did finally stop, I landed on a distant cloud to catch my breath and rest my wings. I was absolutely wiped out after that seemingly endless flight. After I had rested, I got up and flew to where the carriage was. The drivers, along with the cloaked mare, were gone. I looked around. It was hard to see because the only light came from the moon. What I could make out was some sort of giant building. I walked up to its large gates. I felt unauthorized, but I still wanted to see what was inside. I saw a small air vent up in a corner. I flew up to it and crawled inside. The vents smelled like something had died in there. I tried to block out the smell as I crawled onward. I heard mass amounts of sound. Machinery, crying, screams, and talking. I didn't know what the fuck was going on, so I kept crawling.

As I crawled through the air vent, I found another grate below me. I opened it and dropped onto a small girder beam. From this spot, I had a full view of the facility, and it was bloody, smelled rank, and was very loud. Machine gears turning, hydraulics moving up and down, alarm horns blaring, valves opening and closing, and pistons pounding. The machinery was moving to a pulsing beat. From looking closer, this factory seemed to be the place where rainbows are created, then shipped to the dispenser in Cloudsdale. I looked around, fascinated by the complexity of the machinery. But my fascination ended when I looked deeper into the factory. Hundreds of young mares and stallions were held in a pit. I watched the captive ponies. Some were crying with another patting their shoulder, others were sitting in a corner or against a wall, and of them looked sad and starved. I couldn't believe this.

“What the...?” I quietly wondered. A light gray pony with a blonde mane and robotic wings was operating on a machine near the pit. What I saw next would scar me for life. A mechanical arm with a claw on it grabbed a young Pegasus mare and hoisted her up out of the pit. She was roughly laid onto a restraining board attached to another mechanical arm. That arm lifted her into full view of the workers and myself. A third arm moved a large and very sharp blade to the Pegasus's chest. It moved back, then impaled her. I was horrified. I nearly threw up, but I stopped myself at the last second.

“What the fuck is this?!” I quietly yelled. But the machines weren't done yet. The blade was removed from the Pegasus mare and left her to bleed. A final mechanical arm injected a needle into the wide slit in the mare's chest. It drew the remainder of her blood, which was quite a lot, and sent it through a tube. The tube connected to a filter. It activated as the blood passed through it, brightening the blood with the colors of a rainbow. This machine was extracting the Spectra from the blood. The Spectra went through a mixing chamber which I couldn't see, then into a barrel for storage and shipment. I decided that I had seen enough. As I flew back up to the vent, a worker spotted me. He sounded an alarm which blasted through the whole factory. I jumped at the noise and my wings snapped shut. I fell, crashing back onto the girder. I hit the girder and fell to the ground. I recovered in the air and tried to fly back to the vent, but blast doors slammed shut, trapping me in the factory. I panicked and tried to find another way out, but before I could, a jolt of electricity was forced into my system, and everything went black.

Chapter 4

I woke up a few minutes later in the pit of young Pegasi. My wings felt sore, so I opened them up to stretch them out. I walked over to a corner and sat down, observing what I could see from the hole. A Pegasus stallion walked over and sat down next to me.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Trying to find an escape route,” I said. “I need to alert the princesses about this place.”

“I hate to break it to you,” the stallion said. “But there is no way out. Many a Pegasi have tried to leave, but never made it out.” We were silent for a time, watching the Pegasi around us get murdered one by one.

“So how did you get here?” I asked while still looking around.

“I failed my flight test,” the young stallion said. “Everypony in this pit failed the flight test.” I looked at the weak and starved ponies.

“These are all flight test failees?” I asked in disbelief.

“Yeah,” the Pegasus answered. “We're considered a disgrace to Equestria, so we're sent here. To die.”

“Well you know what?” I said. “I don't believe in the word 'disgrace'. I think that all ponies deserve a second chance, regardless of pass or fail.” I stood up. The tan Pegasus with the green and yellow mane looked at me. I walked to the center of the pit and stared him in the eyes. The blue pony with the yellow mane noticed.

“I think he's volunteering as tribute,” he said.

“How noble,” the tan Pegasus said. “What does he think to accomplish from his 'tribute'? He'll be next to die.” The Pegasus nodded at the worker at the controls. The arm with the claw lowered. As it was about to grab me, I turned and bucked as hard as I could. I overloaded the hydraulics of the arm and the machine snapped. It fell into the pit with a crash, nearly crushing me.

“Let's go!” I yelled to the captive Pegasi. “Now!” The captives took off and followed me. I led a crowd of Pegasus Ponies out of the Rainbow Factory, but none of us made it. Every single one of the Pegasi were recaptured in a matter of minutes, myself included. As the Pegasi were thrown back into the pit, I was brought to a wide open area and held down by the wings. The tan Pegasus was up atop a catwalk with a cleaver in his hoof, aimed at my head. I gulped and waited for the worst. The Pegasus threw the cleaver, and missed. It went clean through my right wing, cutting it off. I screamed in pain as the worker holding the wing attempted to hold me down. The blue Pegasus lashed out in rage.

“You missed you idiot!” He yelled at his partner. He gave him another cleaver. The Pegasus heaved it at me, missing again. The cleaver cut off my other wing. I cried out in agony. The Pegasi holding me down foolishly decided to throw the bloody wings into the grinder, giving me the opening I needed. Ignoring the immense pain in my sides, I bolted for the opened air vents. I jumped inside and quickly crawled through them. A worker started to chase me, but the tan Pegasus stopped him.

“Let him go,” he said. “He'll never make it back to his home alive. He'll bleed to death.” The Pegasus workers got back to extracting Spectra.

Outside the Rainbow Factory, I made a jump for the ground, breaking my left hind leg in the process. I had been lucky enough to make it out, but now I had to get home, or at least to Ponyville, which was closer and easier to get to. As I jumped from cloud to cloud down to Equestria, I began to feel lightheaded. I was losing blood, and fast. When I had made it to Ponyville, I tried to find Twilight's library, and I had to do it quickly. I ran as fast as I could to where I thought it might be. As I ran up to Twilight's door, I managed to knock 3 times before I passed out from the loss of blood. Twilight came to the door. When she opened it, my hoof that was leaning on the door fell at her hooves, startling her. She noticed my bleeding sides.

“Oh my gosh,” she gasped. She used her magic to pull me inside. Spike came downstairs.

“What's going on Twilight?” he groggily asked. “It's the middle of the night.”

“This pony is seriously injured!” Twilight said. “Get me my first aid kit.” Spike ran off to find the kit. Twilight lay me down on the floor. When Spike came back with the first aid kit, Twilight bandaged my sides where my wings had been. She noticed that my left hind leg was bent the wrong direction, so she snapped it back into place and put a cast on it. She took me up to her room and laid me in her extra bed. She watched me until I woke up, which wasn't until morning.

“He's waking up,” Twilight said. I sat up in the bed and groaned. Twilight looked at me with curiosity.

“I've never seen you around here before,” she said. “Who are you?”

“My sides hurt,” I said, not hearing her question. “Are my wings OK?”

“Wings?” Twilight asked, confused. “You're a unicorn. You don't have wings.” Ignoring Twilight, I limped downstairs to the library area. Twilight followed. I looked around, then at Twilight.

“Are you OK?” she asked. I didn't answer, as I had started to remember last night's events. I sat down. Twilight sat next to me and put a wing around me. I sighed.

“I haven't felt that in a while,” I said.

“You don't look so good,” Twilight said. “Are you all right?”

“I'm fine,” I said. “But I need to get to Canterlot. I need to see Princess Luna.”

“You can't just walk into Canterlot Castle without authorization,” Twilight said. “Stay here for a bit, and rest. I'll fix you something to eat.”

“Thanks,” I said. I limped to a window and looked towards the sky. I sighed, thinking about Rainbow Dash. She was probably looking for me. I started to wonder. Wonder about the Rainbow Factory, the captive Pegasi, the bloody machines, the cleavers; I suddenly felt sick. I ran inside the restroom and threw up. Twilight knocked on the door.

“You OK?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I said. I looked in the mirror and wiped my muzzle clean. I noticed the bandage around by waist. I took it off and studied what remained of my wings. The bleeding had stopped, but the cut was clearly visible. The cleavers had made clean cuts through both wings. I put the bandage back on and walked out of the bathroom. Twilight had set up a table with some food on it.

“Why don't you sit down,” Twilight offered. I limped over to the table and sat down. I ate slowly.

“Twilight,” I said. “I need to show you something.”

“What's that?” Twilight asked. I stood up and removed my bandage. I opened up what was left of my wings, which wasn't much, just the base. Twilight studied me.

“You had wings?!” she asked, astonished. I sat back down and explained everything. My backstory, how Luna found me, and how Rainbow Dash had cared for me. But I didn't tell her about the Rainbow Factory or how I found it. I was too afraid to tell that part of the story. Twilight listened intently. When I had finished, I got up and limped outside. Twilight followed me.

“If you will, send a message to Princess Celestia,” I requested. “But address it to Princess Luna. Tell her these exact words.” Spike ran up with a quill and paper. I didn't notice. I proceeded to tell Twilight my message, unaware that Spike was writing it down as I spoke.

“Dear Princess Luna, This message is from the colt you found on the streets a few years back. I need to request an audience with you and Princess Celestia immediately. There is something you need to know. Please do not decline my request, it's very important. This information may surprise you and Celestia.”

Spike sent off my letter. I whipped around to see the last bits of the letter fly off to the Princess. I gave Spike a lopsided smile. Twilight gave me a saddlebag as I limped off to the train station.

“What is it that you need Princess Celestia and Luna to know?” Twilight asked.

“I can't talk about it,” I said.

“Can't or won't?” Twilight questioned. I gave her a glare.

“Both,” I angrily retorted. “I just can't bring myself to talk about it.”

“I see,” Twilight said. “When you get to Canterlot, let me know. I don't want you to get any more hurt than you already are.”

“All right,” I said. Twilight gave me a book.

“Here,” she said. “It's a book on basic spells. Study and memorize them. They'll prove useful. One of them is the spell Celestia uses to send me letters. I suggest learning that one first.”

“Thanks,” I put the book in the saddlebag Twilight had given me. When we reached the station, I waved goodbye to Twilight and got on the train to Canterlot. As the train pulled away, I looked toward the big city.

“I hope Luna got my letter,” I thought. Since I had nothing better to do, I pulled out the book Twilight had given me and started to look through the spells. One strange looking one caught my attention. It was written strangely and looked foreign. I looked at the page. The words seemed to be written in claw marks. Green magic flowed through the words on the black paper. I looked at the back of the strange page. It was empty. I took that page out of the book. Instead of tearing, it slid right out. It wasn't attached to the book at all. I hid the page in my saddlebag and continued to study spells on my way to Canterlot.

Chapter 5

When I arrived in Canterlot, I wrote my letter to Twilight, sent it, then limped to the castle. Princess Luna was waiting for me at the gates.

“I received your message,” Luna said. “Come. My sister wants to meet you.” I limped with Luna to the throne room. As we walked, Luna noticed that my wings were missing, replaced with my bandage, as well as my obvious limp.

“What happened to your wings?” she asked. “And why are you limping?”

“That's part of why I asked for an audience,” I said. “I will explain everything to you and Celestia.” We entered the throne room. Celestia was waiting for us. I briefly bowed before moving closer.

“You must be the colt Luna has been speaking of,” Celestia guessed. “It is an honor to meet you.”

“The honor is all mine,” I said. “Did Luna tell you about my letter?”

“Yes, she did,” Celestia said. “What is the issue?”

“If you don't mind, Princess,” I said. “I would like to have this conversation with you and Luna in private.” Celestia nodded. She motioned for the guards in the room to leave. The Pegasi and Unicorn guards left the throne room, closing the doors behind them. I waited a moment before beginning my story.

“Princess Celestia,” I started. “I called an audience because of an important discovery I made last night. It has everything to do with my limp and missing wings. OK, so I woke up last night after a nightmare, and noticed a black carriage at the foot of Rainbow Dash's home. Curious, I followed it to a large facility far beyond Cloudsdale. I snuck in through the dark walls to find a horrifying sight. Pegasus Ponies working in this Rainbow Factory were murdering young Pegasi that had failed their flight test. They were using the Spectra in the blood of the young Pegasi to make the rainbows that we see all across Equestria. I attempted to run for it and get here sooner, but I was caught. Since the workers neglected to kill me right away, I tried to free the captive Pegasus Ponies, but it failed. In an attempt to kill me, one of the workers threw two cleavers at me. They both missed, instead cutting off my wings. I escaped and made it through the vents, but broke my left hind leg after falling out of the side of the building.”

“If I may interrupt,” Celestia said. “Why didn't you tell Rainbow Dash about this? She was your caretaker, am I correct?”

“Yes, she was,” I said. “But she was nowhere in her house. Her bedroom window was left open and a bit of tattered black cloth was on the locking hook. She wasn't home, and I don't know where she went. After I had escaped the factory, I tried to get help, but collapsed at Princess Twilight Sparkle's door. She recovered my health and helped me get here. That's all.” Princess Celestia and Princess Luna exchanged troubled glances. Princess Celestia looked at me.

“Thank you for bringing this to my attention,” Celestia said. “We will go to the Rainbow Factory immediately.”

“Just head due east from Ponyville and you will find the factory,” I said. “But be careful. The workers are ruthless, and will not go down without a fight.” The princesses left the throne room and flew toward the Rainbow Factory. I left the castle, hopeful that the Rainbow Factory would be destroyed. Or at the very least, shut down. Permanently. Since I was in Canterlot, I decided to do some sightseeing. I didn't feel welcome among the high class ponies, but I didn't care. I just stayed out of the way of everypony else. I visited a few shops, did a little shopping for essentials, and made a snack trip to Donut Joe's Doughnuts. I had one more errand to run before heading back to Ponyville. I started looking for the Canterlot Curio Shop. I found it in an alley near the outskirts of the city. I entered the dimly lit shop.

“Hello there,” the clerk said in a raspy voice. “What business do you have here?”

“Just looking for something important,” I responded. “I'm looking for a pair of wings.”

“Wings?” The clerk asked before laughing hysterically. “What do you think I am, a collective serial killer?” The clerk continued to chuckle as I gave him a hard look. I looked around the unorganized shop. After digging underneath some clutter, I found what I was looking for. A pair of mechanical wings, complete with real Pegasus Feathers. I picked them up with my newly learned levitation spell and brought them over to the clerk, who had calmed down.

“Is this what you were needing?” he asked. “That'll be 200 bits.”

“Damn,” I said. “Are these good quality?”

“You better believe it,” the clerk hissed. “Top of the line, back in the day. These were used in amputations during the clash of our great Pegasi ancestors, before Equestria was established. Some ponies out there still wear them, as a symbol of their heritage.”

“Thanks for the backstory,” I sarcastically said. I paid the fee and left the shop, grumbling.

“Creepy bastard,” I mumbled. I limped back to the train station to catch the next train to Ponyville. As I got on the train, I looked at the spell page I had taken from the book again. I studied it further. I felt the paper and the words on it. The paper felt crisp, like it had been burnt, and the magic flowing through the words burned. By the time I got to Ponyville, it was dark. I put the page back in by saddlebag as I got off the train. When I got to Twilight's Library, the rest of the Mane 6 were waiting for me. Rainbow Dash was worried with Fluttershy trying to calm her down.

“Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh!” Rainbow Dash cried as she bolted to me. “Are you ok? I heard from Twilight that you had gone to Canterlot, and you had a broken leg, and you had lost your wings, and...”

“Relax, Rainbow,” I said. “I'm fine. I just had to take care of something.” I looked at the wings I had bought. “And pick up a replacement pair of wings.”

“My goodness dear,” Rarity said. “You had poor Rainbow Dash worried sick. Please, do tell her next time you go away.”

“I will,” I assured. “If she's around,” I mumbled to myself.

“Why don't you sit down.” Fluttershy said quietly. “We'll all have some dinner together.”

“Thanks,” I said. I sat down at a table Twilight had set up. Rainbow Dash sat down next to me on one side, and Applejack on the other.

“So ah herd that you're an alicorn,” Applejack said. “That right?”

“Yep,” I said. “Did she say anything else?”

“Yep, yep, yep!” Pinkie Pie cried, not able to sit still. “She said you were disowned by your parents and left on the streets!” I glared at Pinkie as Rarity gave her a hard tap, telling her to not say such things. The seven of us ate together as friends, talking. When I mentioned that I didn't have a name, the Mane 6 decided to come up with one. After some debate, they finally settled on 'Braveheart'. I was happy with that name, and it stuck. The incident regarding the Rainbow Factory was behind me, and I had finally found a true family. One that cared about me.

Chapter 7

I woke up around dawn and felt like taking a walk. I tried not to wake anypony up as I left the apartment. I walked throughout the darkness of Canterlot, stretching out my broken leg. It felt much better. As I neared a lookout area, I noticed some punk stallions over by the telescope. I ignored them and walked on. I leaned on a lamppost to rest. All of a sudden, the lamppost flickered and buzzed out. I looked up at it and pounded a hoof on the pole. The light didn't come back on.

“Blasted piece of shit,” I mumbled. I looked over at the punks. Their light was still on. In fact, my lamppost was the only one knocked out. I was confused.

“Must be a frayed wire or something,” I said to myself. Just then, electricity started to surge through the air. I looked around in confusion. Remembering basic safety on electricity, I ran to a nearby car. I dove inside and watched the light show unfold. The electricity got stronger and stronger, then a large ball of energy formed at the heart of it. A brief flash temporarily blinded me. When I recovered, the lighting was starting to subside. I looked where the energy ball was and found that the heat from the energy had melted away some of the concrete, leaving a rounded indention. I saw a pony crouched in the indention through the smoke. The smoke started to dissipate as the lightning stopped. The pony stood upright and looked around. I hid myself in the vehicle. The pony was a Unicorn mare that looked exactly like Twilight, only it had a white fur color and a bright pink mane. In fact, I nearly mistook the mare for Twilight's mother, because the mare looked exactly like her. The mare walked over to the punks and started to talk to them. I quietly teleported closer, but not too close, so I could hear the conversation.

“Your clothes,” I heard the mare say. “Give them to me. Now.” The punk leader pulled out a knife.

“Fuck you, asshole!” he said. The other two punks pulled out knives as well. The mare used her magic to shove the leader and one of the punks over. The punk standing tried to stab the unknown pony, but it did not penetrate, or seem to hurt at all for that matter. The pony drove her hoof into the punk’s chest, lifting him up. She forcefully removed her hoof, with the punk’s still beating heart in it. I started to feel sick. I walked back to my apartment. I walked back into my room and fell back asleep.

I woke up the next morning to the smell of breakfast. I got up and went to the kitchen. Twilight was making breakfast, and my friends were at the table.

“Mornin’ Braveheart,” Applejack said. “Want somethin’ to eat?” I groggily sat down. I accidentally opened my wings, startling myself and the group.

“I’m up!” I yelled. I looked at my friends and sheepishly closed my wings. “Sorry.” Fluttershy had hidden underneath the table. I pulled her out and put her back in her seat. After breakfast, I left the apartment and went back to the telescope where the punks had been. A large puddle of blood surrounded the dead punk. His heart was next to his head, and it had stopped beating. I nearly threw up. I used my magic to clean up the mess and dispose of the body.

After a long day of exploring Canterlot, I felt like going out for a late night drink, so I went to a dance club. There were so many ponies there, I almost walked away to find another place. I paid the fee to get in and ordered my drink. As I sat down and took a sip of my cider, I noticed a mare a short distance away from me. She was sitting at the bar counter and staring at me. For the sake of me I didn’t know why she was staring. I was nothing to look at. The mare was a unicorn with light grey fur and a dark orange mane. Her mane was a bit of a mess, and she had a green hue to her magic. I looked away. I heard faint hoofsteps coming towards me. I looked up. It was the strange mare from last night. She pulled out a handgun with a laser pointer on it and pointed it to my head. I was frozen with fear. A shotgun blast suddenly rang out, striking the mare and throwing her back. Startled, I fell out of my chair. Five more shots were fired at the mare, knocking her over. I got up and started to run. The mare got up as if nothing had happened, pulled out an Uzi, and started to shoot at the mob, trying to find me. A stray bullet killed the pony behind me and pinned me down under her body. The mare reloaded and pointed the gun at me. The pony that was staring at me ran up and shot the unicorn with six more shotgun blasts, knocking her out of a large floor to ceiling window nearby. I looked at the body as the shotgun-wielding mare grabbed my hoof. I looked at her.

“Come with me if you want to live,” she said. I looked back at the rouge mare. She got right back up. I was shocked.

“Come on!” the other mare yelled. I ran with her out the back door to a nearby car. The unequine mare was in hot pursuit. The mare I was with shot the exhaust pipe of another car, blowing it up in the other mare’s path. I got into an intact car and my companion got in the driver’s seat. She started the engine and got out of the alley. I panicked a little. As we got onto the streets, the mare talked to me.

“Are you hurt?” She asked. I was silent. “Are you shot?”

“No,” I gasped. “I’m fine.”

“Good,” the mare said. “I’m here to help you. I’m Pip. Sergeant Tech-Com 117, assigned to protect you. You’ve been targeted for termination.” Pip continued to drive away from the killer, who was left behind.

“What the hell is going on?” I asked. “How did that mare just get right back up after you…”

“It’s not a mare,” Pip said. “It’s a machine. A Terminator. Crystal Systems Model One Zero One.”

“A machine?” I asked in disbelief.

“Yes,” Pip said. “A cyborg. Cybernetic Organism.” I was in shock. Pip drove into a parking garage to hide. She turned off the engine and told me to lay low.

“The 600 series had rubber skin and artificial fur,” Pip said. “But these are new. They look real. Sweat, bad breath, everything. Very hard to spot. I had to wait until she moved on you before I could zero her.” I had gone from in disbelief to being offended.

“I am not stupid you know,” I said. “The Crystal Empire doesn't make products, let alone machines.”

“Not yet,” Pip said. “Not for about 40 years.”

“Are you saying it’s from the future?” I asked.

“One possible future,” Pip sighed. “From you’re point of view, I don’t know tech stuff.”

“So you’re from the future too, right?” I asked, now willing to believe anything.

“That’s right,” Pip said. I took the thought of the Terminator into consideration.

“Can you stop it?” I asked. Pip sighed.

“I don’t know,” she said. “With these weapons, I don’t know.” At this point, Twilight and the others had noticed that I hadn’t returned, and had gone out to look for me. They had alerted the Princesses as well, and within a few minutes, all of the Royal Guard. The Royal Guard had found the car we were driving and alerted everyone. We had left the car mere minutes ago. As the guards patrolled the parking garage, Pip and I snuck around, trying to find a different car. Pip chose a red convertable. We crawled inside and Pip began to hijack the vehicle. I lay down in the passenger seat. I was confused.

“Pip,” I asked. “Why me? Why is it after me?” Pip started to reload her shotgun as she told me her story.

“There was a nuclear war,” Pip began. “All this. Everything you see. It’s gone. Just gone. There were survivors here, there. Nopony knew who started it. It was the machines, Braveheart. A defense network of supercomputers. New. Powerful. Hooked into everything. Trusted to run it all. A new order of intelligence. They say it got smart, and saw all of us as a threat. Not just the ones on the other side. It decided our fate in a microsecond. Extermination.” I was in shock of this story.

“Did you see this war?” I asked. A guard passed by. We hid lower in the car. The guard didn’t see us and continued his search.

“No,” Pip said. “I grew up after, in the ruins. Starving. Hiding from HKs.”

“HKs?” I asked.

“Hunter Killers,” Pip explained. “Patrol machines built in automated factories. We were rounded up and put in camps for orderly disposal. Branded with laser scan.” Pip showed me the bar code branded on his right hoof. I looked closer at it.

“Some of us were kept alive,” Pip continued. “To work. Loading bodies. The disposal units ran night and day. We were that close to going out forever. But there was one mare that taught us to fight. To storm the wire of the camps, to smash those metal mother-fuckers into junk. Her name is Remedy. Velvet Remedy. Your daughter, Braveheart. You’re unadopted daughter.” I couldn’t believe this. Pip struck the car ignition with the backend of her loaded shotgun, breaking the key socket off. I saw this as a dangerous move, but the gun didn’t fire.

The Terminator had stolen a guard’s car and was patrolling with them. As Pip tried to start the car, she sat up to gain more force. The Terminator spotted her and fired her own shotgun. The shot shattered the driver’s side window. The car started up and the tires squealed. We bolted through the parking garage with the Terminator in pursuit. Pip and the Terminator fired at each other, missing.

“Drive!” Pip cried. I took the wheel from the passenger seat and drove while Pip stood out the window and shot at the Terminator.

“Pip!” I cried. The car was headed for a stone wall. “PIP!!” Pip scored two direct hits to the Terminator before she slammed on the brakes. The Terminator didn’t stop in time and ran head on into the concrete wall. Other guard cars drove up. Pip grabbed her shotgun and began to get out to run, but I stopped her.

“They’ll kill you,” I said. The guards ordered Pip to get out of the car and drop to her knees. She did as she was told. Twilight and the others were with the guards. Rainbow Dash pulled me out of the car. I looked at the Terminator’s crashed car. The machine wasn’t in the vehicle.

Chapter 8

Back at Canterlot Castle, Twilight and the others were sitting with me in the waiting room while Luna interrogated Pip.

“Are you OK?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Please tell me you’re all right.”

“I’m fine,” I groaned. “Just tired as hell.” After a time of silence, Luna came back from the interrogation room. She rewound and played the tape of her interrogation.

“So, you are a soldier,” Luna said. “Fighting for whom?” She was standing while pip was cuffed in a chair at a table.

“The 116th under Calamity, fighting for Velvet Remedy,” Pip explained. “From 35 to 42.”

“That’s the year 2042?” Luna asked.

“That’s right,” Pip said.

“Who was the enemy again?” Luna questioned.

“A computer system built for the Crystal Empire by the Rainbow Factory,” Pip responded. I took this thought to mind. A computer system from the Rainbow Factory? Is it still operational?

“I see,” Luna said as she sat down in a second chair. “So this ‘computer’ thinks it can win by killing the father of its enemy. Killing her in the fact before she’s even thought of. Sort of like retroactive abortion.”

“Right,” Pip said. Luna sighed.

“Why didn’t it just kill Remedy then? Why this elaborate scheme with the Terminator?”

“It had no choice,” Pip said. “Their defense grid was smashed. We’d won. Taking out Remedy then would make no difference. Starnet had to wipe out her entire existence.”

“Is that when you captured the lab complex and found that… what was it called…” Luna fumbled through her papers until she found what she was looking for. “…the time displacement equipment?”

“That’s right,” Pip angrily sighed. She was getting sick of questions. “The Terminator had already gone through. Remedy sent me to intercept, then they blew the whole place.”

“Well, how are you supposed to get back?” Luna asked.

“I can’t” Pip said. “Nopony goes home, nopony else comes through. It’s just her and me.” Luna sighed.

“Why didn’t you bring any weapons, something more advanced?” Luna asked. “Don’t you have …ray guns?” Celestia and Luna chuckled at this vague statement. “Show me a piece of future technology.”

“You go naked,” Pip said. “Something about the field generated bio-living organism. Nothing dead will go.”

“Why?” Luna asked.

“I didn’t build the fucking thing!” Pip yelled.

“OK, OK,” Luna said. “But this ‘cyborg,’ if it’s metal…”

“Surrounded by living tissue,” Pip said.

“Oh right,” Luna remembered. “Let’s go back to what I said about…”

“Look,” Pip yelled. “You have heard enough! I have answered your questions, now I have to see Braveheart!”

“Look, the only one you can talk to here is me,” Luna informed.

“Why am I talking to you?” Pip asked. “Who is in authority here?!”

“Pip, I…”

“Shut up!!” Pip yelled. She looked at the camera. “You still don’t get it, do you? She’ll find him. That’s what she does. That’s all she does! You can’t stop her! She’ll wait for you and pull his fucking heart out!” A guard grabbed Pip. “Let go of me!” Celestia told Luna to turn it off. Luna turned off the tape.

“Sorry,” she said to me. I was starting to sweat from Pip’s angry yelling.

“Wow,” Twilight said. “So Pip is crazy?”

“In technical terminology, she’s a loon,” Luna said. Celestia showed me a piece of guard’s armor.

“The mare must have been wearing one of these matching her fur color,” Celestia said. She let me see the guard armor before putting it away. “Try to get some sleep, Braveheart. The rest of you, go back to Ponyville.”

“Take care, Braveheart,” Fluttershy said.

“Be careful,” Twilight said. The Mane 6 left Canterlot Castle and went back to Ponyville. As they were leaving the castle, the Terminator walked in with a leather jacket and sunglasses on. She spoke to the guard at the door.

“I’m a friend of Braveheart,” the Terminator said. “I was told that he’s here. Could I see him please?”

“No,” the guard said. “You can’t see him, he’s making a statement.”

“Where is he?” the Terminator asked. The guard looked up.

“Look, it may take a while,” he said. “If you want to wait, there’s a bench right over there.” The Terminator looked at the bench, then around the entrance. She turned back to the guard.

“I’ll be back,” she said. She turned around and walked away from the castle. After a moment, the Terminator was back with a car. She drove through the door, killing the guard in the process. I heard the crash and woke up. The Terminator got out of the totaled car and began her hunt. A guard turning the hall corner was shot with the Terminator’s AK-47. Other guards heard the shots and ran to see what was going on and were immediately shot by the Terminator. I went for the door, but Celestia opened it.

“Stay here,” She said. She closed and locked the door she came through left through another one. I was in no mood to stay. I busted the door open and went to find Pip. She was still in the interrogation room, alone. I broke her free of her hoofcuffs and we made a break for it. Suddenly, all the lights in the castle blew up, sending sparks flying. The Terminator had overloaded the circuit board. The sparks caught the rugs and curtains on fire and started to burn down the castle. Pip and I ran to the exit as fast as we could. Luna and Celestia evacuated whatever guards were left, but they were trapped in the throne room.

“Sister,” Luna asked. “What can we do? We cannot escape the flame.” Celestia looked at Luna. Luna knew what Celestia was thinking. Celestia wrote two quick letters. One to me and one to Twilight. The two sisters then closed their eyes, and waited.
~~~

Outside of the Castle, me and Pip got into a car and drove to the outskirts of Canterlot. The Terminator exited the castle and followed us on foot. I looked back at the burning castle. I saw a purple and yellow explosion blow from the throne room. I watched with concern, hoping the Princesses were ok. Pip focused on driving, unfazed. I received my letter as we rode on. I opened it up quickly and read it.

“Dear Braveheart, This will be my last letter to you and Twilight. I regret to inform you that we were unable to escape. We couldn't make it. Tell Princess Cadence and Shining Armor what happened. They must know. You, Braveheart, must protect Equestria with your life. Please, do what you can to keep Equestria in balance. To answer your question, the Rainbow Factory could not be dealt with. We barely escaped, luckily more fortunate than you did. I'm sorry, we tried. Princess Twilight will now be appointed your advisor. You may choose further positions for your friends as you feel necessary. Take care of Equestria for me, Braveheart. From, Princess Celestia. Goodbye.”

I put the letter away slowly. I slouched into my seat and watched the castle burn through the mirror. My eyes had started to water. Princess Luna was the one who saved me, and now she was gone. I hung my head started to cry. Pip drove on until she felt we had gone far enough. We stopped at a hotel. Pip got out.

“Come on,” she said. “We'll be staying here for a while.” I didn't follow. Pip walked up to me and put a hoof on my shoulder. I looked up, eyes wet with tears. Pip gave me a sympathetic look. She felt my pain, even if it wasn't the same. I got out of the car and followed Pip to the hotel. She pulled out a large bag of bits.

“Will this be enough?” Pip asked me. I pushed the sack away.

“Yeah, it's enough,” I said. “I don't want to ask where you got it.” I walked up to the hotel counter and asked for a room. Pip requested one with a kitchen. Luckily, there was one room like that available. As we entered the room, I took a look around. It was a quite a bit larger than an apartment room, with a king sized bed and a small kitchen. I cleaned myself up and sat by the window. I sighed.

“So I’m in charge now,” I said to myself. I looked off into the distance at the ruined Canterlot Castle. Pip sat next to me.

“What’s wrong?” She asked. I hesitated to tell her.

“Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are gone,” I said. “I don’t know who to turn to now.”

“You have your friends,” Pip said. “They all have good hearts and obviously care for you.” I smiled.

“Thanks,” I said. I nagged at the thought of my pursuer. “What about the Terminator?” I asked.

“Once we stop it, you can go back to life as normal,” Pip said. “Just remember about Velvet Remedy. She’s very important to the survival of ponykind.”

“I won’t forget,” I assured Pip. I looked back out the window. The castle fire had been dealt with. I walked over to the nearby desk and wrote a letter to Shining Armor and Princess Cadence telling them what had happened. I wrote another letter to the remaining castle guards to leave the castle ruins there, as a tribute to the Princesses. I also ordered that a stone be placed in the center of the ruins, marking where the Princesses had died. I slept with Pip that night, taking shifts watching for the Terminator. On one of my shifts, I thought I saw something. I looked closer and found that it wasn’t anything. I felt secure, for the time being. Pip and I continued to change shifts until I fell asleep.

Chapter 9

When I woke up the next morning, Pip was snuggled up next to me. I lightly pushed her aside and sat up. I got out of the bed and took a shower. I hadn't bathed in a week. Pip was waiting for me when I finished. She gave me a stolen handgun.

“Keep that,” she said. “You might need it. I’m going out for supplies.”

“Have fun,” I said. “And be careful.” As Pip left the hotel room, I looked down at the revolver. I unloaded it and took a couple empty shots at the wall. Using my magic, I modified the bullets to contain pressurized bursts of magic. I duplicated the bullets and made myself a little bullet pouch out of things I could find around the room. I suddenly got a message from Rainbow Dash.

“Dear Braveheart, What’s going on? When I heard that Canterlot Castle went up in flames, and that the Princesses vanished, I panicked. Please tell me what’s going on, I’m worried. From, Rainbow Dash.”

I hesitated to send a response, but did it anyway. After I sent the letter, Pip walked in the door, paper bags in tow. She set them on the table and I tore them open. There were a bunch of chemicals, some pipes, and a little food.

“What’s all this for?” I asked.

“We’re making pipe bombs.” Pip said.

“Interesting,” I said. We immediately got to work. Pip started to create the mixture for the explosives and fuses. I made the shell. When we had finished, we had created 10 bombs. I stuffed them into my saddlebag. Suddenly, we heard a motorcycle pull up to the hotel.

“We need to go,” Pip said. I nodded in agreement. We jumped out the back window without making it look like we did. We snuck around the hotel quickly. As we did, I heard gunfire inside the room. Pip got into our car and started to drive. The Terminator heard the engine and chased after us on her motorcycle. I looked back. The Terminator was closing in. I lit a pipe bomb and threw it out the window. It missed, exploding behind the Terminator. I lit and threw another one. That one missed too. The Terminator started shooting at us. I lit a third bomb, waited, then threw it. It barely missed.

“Trade places!” Pip yelled. I quickly switched seats with her and took the wheel. Pip began throwing bombs at the Terminator. Pip then leaned a little too far out the window, giving the Terminator a clear shot. Pip was shot near the stomach. She cried out in pain and dropped her bomb. It exploded right behind our car, lurching us forward. I pulled Pip inside the car and floored the gas pedal. The Terminator increased her speed and started to close in next to us. As she pulled up to the left side of the car, I veered towards the bike. I rammed the Terminator into the side of the road, sending her down. She and her bike skidded for a few hundred feet before stopping. The front tire of the bike struck the side of our car and sent us veering to the right. The car hit the other side of the road, flipping it over. I recovered and sat up on the ceiling of the flipped vehicle. As the Terminator got up, I watched as she was run over by a tanker truck. I snickered. The truck stopped and the driver went to see what he had hit. The Terminator got up and killed him. The machine got into the truck and started up the engine. The tanker truck made a U-turn and headed straight at our totaled car.

“Shit. Come on, Pip,” I said. I pulled Pip out of the wreckage just in time. The Terminator bashed into the car, destroying it further. I helped Pip run. The tanker truck was close behind. We somehow were just able to keep out of the way. As we ran, Pip fell over in pain.

“Don’t stop!” she cried. “Run!” I kept running, unaware that Pip had a plan. I looked back and saw that Pip was lighting another pipe bomb. As the tanker truck passed, She stuck it into the back of the fuel tank. I ran faster than I have ever run before. As the Terminator began to close in, the tanker exploded. The resulting blast startled me. My wings opened out of reflex and I propelled myself forward and around a distant corner. I heard the rest of the tanker blowing up. I waited until the explosions stopped before I looked around the corner. I saw the burning Terminator get out of the destroyed truck and fall to the ground. I watched as the Terminator suffered a fiery death in the flames. When the body was motionless, I sighed and walked back. I felt like throwing up. The road was covered in gas flames and the destroyed truck was on fire. Pip walked through the smoke.

“Braveheart!” Pip called. I ran over to her and we embraced.

“We did it, Pip,” I sighed. “We got it.” But we hadn’t stopped the Terminator. Not yet. It rose up out of the wreckage, fleshless. All that remained was the terrifying endoskeleton. Pip saw the endoskeleton before I did. She got up and started to pull me away. I looked.

“No,” I cried. “NO!” I ran with Pip as the Terminator limped after us. We ran to a nearby factory. I broke the window on the door and unlocked it. We ran inside, pursued by the Terminator. We ran through the halls, trying to find an unlocked door. I saw a wide open door leading to the factory assembly line. We entered the facility, and Pip helped me close and lock the heavy door on the Terminator. It began to bash its way in. I started to run in the opposite direction.

“Wait!” Pip said. She started to flip switches to turn the factory on.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Cover,” Pip explained. “So it can’t track us.” The factory was in full swing now, its automated machines whistling and drilling as if assembling something. The Terminator had bashed a hole in the door, and was reaching for the handle.

“Come on,” I cried. Pip tried to run, but fell over in pain.

“Go without me,” Pip gasped.

“No,” I said. “Get up,” The Terminator had almost reached the handle. I was determined to get Pip out of here.

“Move it Pip,” I yelled like a drill sergeant. “On your hooves, soldier! ON YOUR HOOVES!!!” Pip got up and we ran away just as the Terminator entered the room. We ran through the factory, trying to lose the bloodthirsty machine. We hid among the machinery. The Terminator was lost. It couldn’t track our hoofsteps because of all the noise. It had to rely on strict vision. Pip and I kept on sneaking around, until I accidentally activated a hydraulic press. The sudden noise alerted the Terminator. It followed the sound. As we passed a rack of parts, Pip grabbed a long narrow pipe from the rack. We ran underneath a catwalk, but ran into a dead end.

“Go back,” Pip said. We turned around, came out from underneath the walkway, and found ourselves face to face with the Terminator. We slowly backed up as the Terminator walked toward us. We walked up an inclined ladder to the catwalk. The Terminator followed us. We walked onto the catwalk and kept backing up.

“Run, Braveheart,” Pip said.

“No,” I said.

“RUN!” Pip yelled. I climbed down another inclined ladder back to the floor. The Terminator watched me, then turned to Pip. Pip was ready to fight, right to the bitter end.

“Come on, fucker,” she growled. She hit the Terminator with her metal pole across the head a few times. But the Terminator was unfazed. It slapped Pip across the face, knocking her down. I ran up to Pip to help. Pip pulled out one last pipe bomb. My eyes went wide and I ran over some machinery and fences. Pip lit the bomb and wedged it in the Terminator’s side. Pip rolled down the ladder, attempting to get out of the blast zone as the Terminator looked down. It grabbed its side, but the bomb exploded. Metal pieces flew across the factory, one of them hitting me in the back. I fell on the hard floor. I lay there for some time, trying to get the ringing out of my ears. I tried standing up, but a metal shard was stuck in my side. I removed it with some difficulty and much pain. I slammed it on the floor in anger, then crawled over to Pip to see if she was OK. She was laying on her side, not moving. I rolled her onto her back and was met with a lifeless face. She didn’t make it out of the blast zone in time, and was killed in the resulting shock-wave.

“Oh no,” I gasped. I mourned over Pip’s death, but only for a moment. The upper half of the Terminator was still intact and functional. It made a move to grab me, but I got out of the way. I crawled for my life. The machine crawled after me, missing its legs and left hoof. I crawled through the machinery, eventually into the hydraulic press I had activated earlier. I crawled through the lifted press, nearly getting grabbed once or twice. I escaped the press and slammed the safety bars shut. The Terminator reached for my neck through the bars. I spotted the controls for the press just within reach. I reached for them as the Terminator reached for me. I placed my hoof on the START button and made one last taunt.

“You’re terminated, fucker!” I slammed my hoof on the button. The hydraulic press came down on the Terminator. Electricity flew as the press flattened the machine. I heavily panted as the Terminator was crushed. The process seemed to take forever, though it only took mere moments. As the press stopped, the Terminator’s visible red eye went out, signaling that the machine was finally terminated. I dropped my hoof from the button, gasping. I cut off the dead machine’s intact arm and kept it as a souvenir. I heard ambulances outside the factory. Nurse Redheart came in with other doctors and put me on a sling. The last thing I saw was Pip’s body bag being zipped up. I passed out as I was loaded onto the ambulance.
~~~

At the Canterlot Hospital, I heard small beeps in the darkness. They were the sounds of the heart rate meter. I slowly woke up. Twilight and her friends were next to the bed. Everypony was occupied with something except for Rainbow Dash. She kept her eyes on me.

“He’s waking up!” she announced to everypony. They all dropped what they were doing and ran over to the bed. I opened my eyes and sat up.

“Oh thank goodness you’re all right,” Rarity said. “We were all so worried.” Rainbow Dash gave me the endoskeleton arm I had taken. I put it into my saddlebag, which was next to me on the floor. I lay back down and looked at my side. It had been wrapped with bandages, and they were red with blood. Nurse Redheart came into the room.

“Braveheart?” she asked.

“I’m right here,” I said. “What is it?”

“You’re free to go,” Nurse Redheart said. She helped me up out of the bed and helped me into a wheelchair.

“Let that back heal for about a week,” Nurse Redheart ordered. “Stay off your wings for another week after.” We left the hospital and went to the train station. My friends helped me onto the train back to Ponyville, and we were on our way home. Rainbow Dash sat next to me as we traveled. I pulled out the Terminator arm and looked at it.

“Can I see it?” Twilight asked. I gave it to her. She was fascinated by the complexity of the machine. She gave it back to me. As I put it back in my bag, Fluttershy inspected my bandage.

“Does it hurt?” She asked as she touched my wound. I winced. Fluttershy immediately took her hoof away.

“Oh. Sorry,” she said. We arrived home a little while later. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy helped me up to Rainbow’s place. I rolled to my room. I lay down in my bed and took a well deserved nap.

Chapter 10

After two weeks of internal repair, I walked up to the edge of my roof at my house in Canterlot and prepared to fly. I jumped and flew around the skies, my back fully healed. I flew down to Ponyville and went to Sugarcube Corner. Mrs. Cake was at the counter.

“Hi there, Braveheart,” she said. “What can I getcha?”

“Classic vanilla cupcake please,” I said. Mrs. Cake gave me a small vanilla cupcake. I paid the price and walked out, waving goodbye. As I finished my cupcake, I ran into Pinkie Pie.

“Oh, hi Braveheart!” Pinkie squealed.

“Hi Pinkie,” I said. “Sorry about that.”

“Oh it’s OK,” Pinkie said, unfazed. “Want to come to my party today?”

“Oh, you know I’d love to,” I said. “But I have things I have to get done. Look, I’m really sorry. I promise I’ll make the next one.”

“Oh,” Pinkie said, disappointed. “OK.” I flew off to the Crystal Empire, leaving Pinkie Pie behind. I felt bad declining the party, but I had to deal with royal business that day. I flew to the Crystal Tower, where Shining Armor was waiting for me.

“Thanks for coming, Braveheart,” he said.

“No worries,” I said. “What’s the issue?” We walked toward the newest Crystal Computer Core.

“You know we’ve been trying to create a defense network that doesn’t require magic,” Shining Armor told me. “But lately, we’ve been getting constant virus alerts on the computers that are used to build the network server. The virus shuts down the computers, erasing all unsaved data. Not to mention pissing off the technicians.”

“How long has this been going on?” I asked.

“Ever since last week,” Shining Armor said. “It’s been happening more frequently than ever with each day. Our technicians have had to save data after each press of the key, severely slowing down production. Maybe you could try to put up a stronger firewall.”

“I can most definitely try,” I agreed. Shining Armor led me to the central computer. I sat down and powered up the device. As soon as I logged on. I got a blue screen error.

“Damn,” I grumbled. I fixed the blue screen and quickly programed a stronger firewall. The virus stopped on all the other computers.

“Thanks, Braveheart,” Shining Armor said.

“If you need anything else,” I said. “I’m available.” I flew off toward the sky. I had to pick something up from Rainbow Dash. Derpy had delivered my package to Rainbow, and I needed it. I entered the house. It was dark, and the door was left open. I walked in.

“Rainbow Dash?” I called. No answer. I looked around the darkened mansion. She didn't seem to be home. I shrugged and closed the door. On the outside of the door was a note.

“Won't be home until 5 PM. Gone to Pinkie's place for a party for her friend. – Rainbow Dash”

I checked my watch. It was five minutes to 3. Five minutes before the party. Hoping I could make it and not disappoint Pinkie, I left the skies and went down to Sugarcube Corner. The party had almost started. I guess I was able to make it after all. I knocked on the door rather hard, because I knew Pinkie's parties were loud. Pinkie came to the door.

“Hey Pinkie,” I said. “So, I know I said I wouldn't be able to make it, but what I had to take care of took less time than I thought.”

“Oh, no problem Braveheart,” Pinkie said. “Come on in!” The party was indeed worthy of being called a “Pinkie Party.” Balloons and streamers were downright everywhere. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and the others were there.

“Hey, Braveheart!” Rainbow Dash cried. “You made it!”

“Yeah, barely,” I muttered. I joined in, but mostly stood in the corner, watching events unfold. I was never a party animal, as I stood in a corner during most parties. After watching a few games of Pin the Tail on the Pony, Pinkie came up to me and gave me a cupcake.

“Try it,” she said. “It’s a new recipe I’ve been working on.”

“Thanks,” I said. I took a bite. “This is really good. What’s in it?”

“Oh you know, the usual ingredients,” Pinkie said. “With some extra kick to it.” Pinkie let me finish the cupcake. “If you need me, I’ll be in the kitchen making more cupcakes.”

“OK,” I said. Pinkie left for the kitchen. I suddenly started to feel drowsy. I struggled to stay awake, because Pinkie hates it when someone falls asleep at her parties. My eyelids suddenly dropped, and I fell to the floor, unconscious.
~~~

I regained consciousness in a dark room. I felt as if I was being held upright. I tried looking around, but my head was restrained by a leather strap. I tried using my magic to remove the strap, but it was on tight. My legs were bolted to the wall with restraining cuffs. Pinkie walked out from the darkness, her mane and tail deflated.

“Oh good, you’re up,” she said, in a psychotic tone. “Let’s begin.”

“Begin?” I asked. “Pinkie, what the hell is going on? Untie me please.”

“Sorry, but I can’t do that,” Pinkie said. “I need your help to make cupcakes.”

“OK, I’ll help,” I said. “But I can’t do that tied down.”

“Of course you can,” Pinkie said. She pulled up a small cart with a cloth over it. “You can help me with the final ingredient.”

“Which is…” I asked. Pinkie gave me a psychotic smile, her eyes wide. I started to sweat.

“You, of course,” Pinkie responded. I began to panic. Pinkie pulled off the cloth on the cart, exposing dissecting tools. My eyes widened in fear.

“What the…” I gasped. “Pinkie, are you fucking insane?! I am not an ingredient to be put into a dessert!” Pinkie gave a laugh.

“I've done this for a while,” she said. “I know exactly what I need to put into my cupcakes. You are perfect. Besides, your number was up anyway.” Pinkie switched on the lights so she could see. I was met with a horrifying sight. The remains of ponies were everywhere. Bones fashioned into chairs, entrails as streamers and balloons, and severed heads as table centerpieces. I started to hyperventilate as my face went white. Pinkie picked up a cleaver. The gleam of the blade brought back memories of the Rainbow Factory. Memories I didn't want. I looked around as best I could, trying to find some way of escape. I spotted my saddlebag in a corner near a pile of bones. Pinkie came up to me and raised the cleaver high. I closed my eyes and waited. The cleaver came down on my right front leg, sticking into the bone. I cried out in pain. Pinkie yanked out the blade and took another swing at my leg, cutting it clean off. I screamed. Anger overcame me, and I felt a surge of magic enter my system. I blasted my restraints to nothingness and dropped to the floor. My severed leg was left hanging on the wall. All pain nullified, I used a quick spell to stop the bleeding in my leg. I tackled Pinkie and knocked the cleaver out of her hoof. I vaporized the horrific decor and, enraged, I grabbed the handgun in my saddlebag. I pinned Pinkie to the floor, pointed the gun at her head, and fired. I shot 6 blasts straight through her skull. When I ran out of shots, I had come back to my senses. I saw Pinkie Pie’s dead body on the floor, and I was horrified. Blood spilled from the holes onto the floor and onto Pinkie's face. I dropped my gun and fell to my knees. I sat there for seemingly hours on end, regretting what I had just done. Twilight and her friends came into the room mere minutes after I had fired off the shots.

“Braveheart, what’s going on?” Twilight asked. “I heard gunshots, and I wanted to see if you were OK.” I didn’t say a word. I slowly got up and left the room with my bag, head hanging low. Twilight followed me with her eyes, then looked where I was standing. She saw Pinkie’s dead body and gasped.

“Oh my Celestia,” Rainbow Dash gasped. Rarity fainted into Rainbow Dash's hooves as Fluttershy hid behind Twilight. Applejack took off her hat and held it over her heart. Rainbow Dash teared up and closed her eyes. After some silence, the group picked up Pinkie's body and went to bury it.
~~~

I walked out of Sugarcube Corner and wandered into the Everfree Forest. I could never again live with myself. I wandered until I had found a large, hollow tree. This would be my prison. I entered the tree and disguised the entrance so nopony could find me. I lit an electric lantern I had in my saddlebag to give myself some light in the dark tree. I suddenly had a sharp pain in my shoulder. I looked down and remembered that my front leg had been cut off. Knowing I would be deformed for life, I sighed in agony. I suddenly remembered something. I dug around my saddlebag until I found the Terminator arm. I took it out and took a few measurements of the missing portion of my leg and the Terminator's leg. It matched perfectly.

“Looks like I have another amputation to make,” I said to myself. Luckily, I could spawn almost anything I felt like with a certain spell. I summoned some tools and some wires. I surgically attached the robotic leg to my own skeleton and the nerve wires to my nervous system, similar to how I had attached my wings. Within a few minutes, the leg was in place, and I could move it like normal. I looked at my book that Twilight had given me, then remembered the other spell page. I took it out and looked it over. The page had a number of spells, including Changeling abilities, Dark Magic used by King Sombra, and Necromancy. I looked over this spell extra carefully. It said that if done correctly, the revived entity would be just like normal, with one exception. The user had to choose one memory to permanently eradicate. I started to learn the spells in the strange page, intent on fixing the past.

Chapter 11

After 5 years spent in exile in the Everfree Forest, I decided to go back and fix what had been broken. I had mastered the few spells that were on the mysterious page. I learned how to change my appearance, just as the ability of a Changeling. I learned the abilities of King Sombra and how to summon his dark crystals, or vanish into the shadows. The necromancy spell was by far the most difficult to master, for it was a much higher level than an age spell, a spell allowed for teaching only by the highest class unicorns. To keep a low profile, I disguised myself as a different unicorn pony and prepared to leave. I stood at the entrance to my prison, raised my metal leg, and punched through the door, shattering it. I walked out of the Everfree Forest and let the sunlight hit my face. It felt rather good. I walked to Ponyville slowly, yet with confidence. When I came into town, nopony recognized me. I walked through town and toward Twilight’s Library.

At Twilight’s Library, there was a stone next to the entrance. I read it.

“Here Lies Pinkie Pie. 1982 – 2015. “Losing a friend's trust is the fastest way to lose a friend.””

I sat in front of the gravestone for a time before starting to cry a little. I took an etching tool and made one small adjustment to the quote.

““Losing a friend’s trust is the fastest way to lose a friend. Forever.””

I dried my eyes, calmed down, and walked up to the library door. I knocked quietly. Twilight came to the door.

“Hi there,” she said. “What can I do for you?”

“I just need a book,” I said in a different voice, to make my disguise more convincing.

“Sure thing,” Twilight said. “Come on in.” I followed her inside the library.

“What kind of book were you looking for?” Twilight asked.

“I don’t know,” I said. “I really don’t care.” I looked around. “Is anyone else here with you?”

“No,” Twilight said. “I’m all alone. Spike is away with Applejack helping set something up.”

“Spike?” I asked.

“My pet dragon,” Twilight explained. “He helps me organize, and send letters to the…” Twilight stopped.

“Something wrong?” I asked.

“No,” Twilight said. “Nothing’s wrong.” She walked over to the bookshelves to find me a book. As she did, I silently closed the door and windows and locked them. Twilight didn’t notice. I walked right behind Twilight. She still didn’t notice. I quickly shut the window curtains, darkening the room. Twilight jumped and turned around. I had my eyes glow red, which frightened Twilight. I slowly backed her up and put her against her bookshelf. When Twilight tried to make a run for it, I grabbed her with my magic and put my hoof over her mouth. She tried to scream for help.

“If you don’t shut up, I will personally make you suffer,” I threatened. Twilight stopped. I took my hoof away, put her down, and stepped back.

“Now don’t move,” I ordered. Twilight nodded, terrified. I stood straight and focused my energy. I engulfed myself in green fire, which was how I learned to change my form. Twilight watched in abject horror as I changed back to my normal state. The curtains flew open and the door and windows unlocked. The green fire was replaced with my golden magic before it dissipated. I stood in my normal form in front of Twilight, who was terrified as shit. I held out my hoof to help her up. Twilight slowly calmed down and held out her hoof. I helped her up.

“Sorry if I scared you,” I said. Twilight managed to speak.

“It’s all right,” she stuttered. She then started to mildly scold me.

“Where have you been?” she said. “We’ve been trying to find you for years. Where did you go?”

“The Everfree Forest,” I explained. “I couldn’t live with myself after I did what I did.”

“You were living in the Everfree Forest for five years!?” Twilight cried. “You could’ve come back. It would have been all right.”

“Well, I didn’t believe that,” I confessed. “What I did was too terrible.”

“Well, you can forget about that now,” Twilight said. “You’re back, and that’s what matters.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I actually came back to try and revive Pinkie Pie. I’ve mastered a necromancy spell that can bring her back. The only catch is that I have to remove one memory from her mind.”

“Doesn’t seem too bad,” Twilight said. “Let’s try it.”

“I’d rather wait until dark if it’s all the same to you,” I said.

“OK,” Twilight said. “That’s fine.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I don’t want to draw attention. But I do want the bearers of the elements to see. Send a message to them, but don’t say why.” Twilight ran off to find her friends and tell them the message. I went back outside and took one last look at Pinkie’s gravestone. I was determined to bring my friend back from what I had done. I stayed at the library and waited.
~~~

I heard a knock on the door around midnight. I opened the door. Rarity was there. I looked around and let her in. Before I closed the door, I got tackled. When I regained my senses, Rainbow Dash was on top of me.

“Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh!” Rainbow cried out, in tears. “Thank Celestia you’re alive! I thought I’d never see you again!” Rainbow Dash embraced me for some time. When she stopped, I patted her shoulder as she helped me greet the others. When Fluttershy and Applejack arrived, I shut the door and locked it. Twilight brought a brightly colored coffin from a back room. Everypony went silent as Twilight opened it. Inside were the remains of Pinkie Pie’s body. Nothing but the skeleton. I carefully removed the skeleton from the coffin and left it hovering in the air. Twilight moved the coffin out of the way as I laid the bones on the floor. I saw the bullet holes in the skull, and I looked away for a moment.

“Before I begin, may we all have a moment of silence, as an honor for our friend?” I requested. Everypony hung their head in silence for a time. When about 5 minutes had passed, I raised my head and started to speak.

“I will now begin,” I said as everypony raised their head. “What I am about to do will reveal…secrets, if you will. Some of which you may not want to see. If that is the case, you have full permission to leave the room during the ritual.” Everypony nodded in agreement. I began the ritual with some strange words. I raised Pinkie’s bones into the air and focused the dark magic. Black magic filled the room, flowing into Pinkie’s remains. Slowly, her organs, flesh, fur, and mane began to reform around the bones. In a few minutes, Pinkie Pie had completely reformed, though still dead. The regeneration phase had been completed, and the memory phase had begun. A cloud of green fog filled the room, concealing everypony from sight. I could hear Fluttershy whimpering. The fog revealed memories of Pinkie’s lifetime. I looked through the memories, trying to find one to remove. After some time of looking, I found what I was looking for. Pinkie Pie was starting her ambition to make her sinister cupcakes, the ones that she was going to put me into. I searched for when she got the idea for this diabolical scheme. I finally found it, deep in the fog. I followed the directions from the spell and used a special step to snag the memory. I came out of the fog and back to Pinkie’s body. I sealed the memory away into a glass jar, which apparently was enough to contain it. The rest of Pinkie’s memories streamed like water back into her head. When all the fog of memories had dissipated, Pinkie gasped and woke up. I turned on the lights so she could see.

“Hi everypony!” Pinkie gleefully cried, her mane poofy again. “What’s going on? Last thing I remember was going to bed last night.”

“Oh thank Celestia,” I sighed in relief. “You’re OK.”

“Duh,” Pinkie said. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Let’s just say that you took a longer nap than usual,” Applejack said. Everypony laughed while I looked on, content that I had redeemed myself, at least by my standards. I smiled and walked up to Pinkie. I held out a cupcake to her.

“Want one?” I asked.

“You bet!” Pinkie said. She took it from my hoof and wolfed it down in one bite. I shook my head, smiling.

Chapter 12

Before Pinkie had been revived, Ponyville had been pretty gloomy without her parties to keep the place happy. Now that she was back, the small town became happier than ever. I was in my house, organizing, about three years after Pinkie's revival. I had kept the jar with the dreadful memory in it on a low shelf, for safety precautions. I had to live with the danger of having the thing break open, releasing the memory back into Pinkie’s mind. I couldn’t let that happen. I started looking through the spell book I had. I found a simple spell that could destroy anything permanently, and it was an easy one too. I charged up the spell and sent the memory to nothingness.

“Well, that’s that,” I said. I left my house and decided to pay a visit to Rainbow Dash’s place. I flew over there and knocked on the door. No answer. I saw a dark shape fly behind the house out of the corner of my eye. I looked behind me, then behind the house. I saw the black carriage from the Rainbow Factory.

“Ah shit,” I said. “Not again.” Determined to end the factory's madness, I followed the carriage again to the dreaded Rainbow Factory. When I reached the facility, I made my way through through the vents again. They had been upgraded to withstand other intruders, but I didn’t know magic on my first visit. I was prepared this time. I used magic to silently open the increased number of reinforced grates in the vents and gain access to the interior. The factory was still in full swing. I looked toward the pit where the captive Pegasi were kept. The stallion I had spoken to on my first visit was gone. A small light began to move my way. I hid. The light passed me and turned off. Cameras had been set up for further security.

“This will make my job a lot harder,” I said to myself. I thought of ways to rescue the captives in the pit. The only possible way of doing that was to cripple basic factory functions, such as lights, cameras, and machines. I inspected the factory further, trying to stay out of sight. When I finished my calculations, I entered back into the air vents. I then sprung my plan. I manually shattered the lens of the security cameras using magic. The camerapony went into a panic. He alerted the tan and the blue Pegasus stallions. They inspected the cameras, then went back to work, only more observant. With the factory limited to a strictly visual perception, I executed the next step. I overloaded the factory lights using an electric spell, causing the bulbs to shatter. The only other light came from the harvested Spectra, which was limited. The factory workers started to panic. The managers started to run around, trying to fix the factory, and they were pissed. Only the robot workers could see, but there were few of them, and the rest of the workers were stumbling over the equipment and themselves. The factory was turning chaotic.

“Discord would be proud of this madness,” I said to myself. I made my move with the next step. I teleported to the main control panel. I shut off the factory machines, then busted the panel. Every backup light in the factory went out, shrouding the facility in near blackness. Only the light from the Spectra remained, which was the key to my last step. Using a special spell, I removed the color from the exposed Spectra and destroyed it. This made the factory go into utter darkness. Only I could see, using my own night vision spell. I flew into the pit. The factory was filled with hollers of searching, so the workers couldn’t hear my commands to the captive Pegasus Ponies.

“Let’s go!” I yelled. “I’m getting you out of here! Come on! Into the vents! Move! Move!! MOVE!!!” The Pegasi flew to the vents as I cast the night vision spell on them. None of the workers noticed the breakout. I saw one pony that didn’t take flight. I flew down to her. She was a Unicorn filly, severely drained of magic. I picked her up myself and threw her onto my back. I flew behind the fleeing Pegasi with the drained filly on my back. I told some of the Pegasi to get her to my home in Canterlot. As the Pegasi flew away with her, a Pegasus worker tackled me through the vent. It was the Pegasus with the black cloak and mask. I wrestled with the Pegasus for a while before ripping the mask off. I gasped in shock and dropped the mask. It was Rainbow Dash.

“Rainbow Dash?!” I cried out. “You work in this blasted factory?!” I quickly acted before Rainbow Dash could escape. I hit her hard with my robotic leg and knocked her unconscious. I dragged her out of the vents with the escapees. When all of the Pegasi had escaped the factory, I summoned a remote detonated bomb, a compressed nuke actually, and set it. I threw it back into the factory and flew away, Rainbow Dash in tow.

Back at my house, I tied the unconscious Rainbow Dash to a chair. Tight. I used superglue to seal the chair to the floor, preventing any kind of escape. I walked over to the single Unicorn that was captured. I had given her some food earlier and a place to rest. She was asleep on the couch. I carefully picked her up and carried her to my bed. I laid her down and put the blankets over her. I straightened her mane. It was white with streaks of red and orange. Her fur was a dark, dark blue, almost black. I checked for other injuries. When I found none, I left the room, closed the door, and walked back to the main room, where Rainbow Dash was. She was still unconscious. I took a glass of cold water and dumped it on her head. Rainbow Dash abruptly woke up.

“What’s going on?” she asked. I had turned off the lights in the room, so Rainbow Dash couldn’t see. I turned on a flashlight and shined it in her eyes.

“Hello there,” I said, startling Rainbow Dash.

“Braveheart?” Rainbow asked. “What’s going on? Where am I?”

“In my home,” I said. “Enjoy your stay, because you’ll be here for a while.” I turned on a single light focused on Rainbow Dash. I slowly walked up to her, glaring, trying to stare into her soul. Rainbow Dash began to get nervous. I stopped, inches from her face, and looked her straight in the eyes.

“What do you want from me?” Rainbow Dash calmly asked. I waited a moment before responding. Rainbow Dash looked back at me, waiting. We were both silent for a time.

“Answers,” I finally said, firmly. “That’s what I want. Answers as to why you work in that hell hole, crawling with despair and death, disguised by bright color. I want to know why you work in the Rainbow Factory.”

“I don’t just work there,” Rainbow Dash retorted. “I manage the place. I’m the factory’s manager. Have been for quite some time. After Rarity gained so much attention in the Young Flyers Competition, I decided I had enough.”

“But you won,” I said. “Celestia crowned you the Best Young Flyer.”

“Don’t care,” Rainbow Dash said. “I should have gained more attention, because I was the Best Young Flyer. I got employed in the factory to work off my anger. I worked my way up, and eventually got promoted to manager.” I was furious. I turned away and mentally cursed at Rainbow Dash. I turned back, realizing something.

“There's something that I've noticed,” I said. “You do know the CMC, right? The Cutie Mark Crusaders? Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo? Back when I was about to take my flight test, I saw Scootaloo say goodbye to the others to take her flight test. After my “incident,” I never saw Scootaloo come back.” I stopped to let the words sink in. “What happened to her?” Rainbow Dash started to sweat. I narrowed my eyes, hardening my glare. Rainbow Dash spoke up.

“Scootaloo is alive,” she said firmly. “I was going to kill her, but I didn’t. She is still in the factory, hidden away, where nopony can find her.” I looked toward the factory, then back at Rainbow Dash.

“Where is she?” I demanded. I was going to get every innocent Pegasus out of that facility. Alive.

“Hidden away in the prison area,” Rainbow Dash said. “In a hidden room blocked by an iron wall. Two feet thick. Nopony can get in or out, except through very small ventilation shafts. You’d never fit.” I straightened up and backed away from Rainbow Dash. I took up my remote detonator and flew back to the disabled Rainbow Factory, leaving Rainbow Dash alone.

Chapter 13

I reached the factory around midnight. I stepped through the doors. They creaked with a loud squeak. The facility was dark, broken, and appeared to be deserted. But I still heard angry speech as I made my way through the rubble to the prison area. In the prisons, jail doors housed other Pegasi that weren’t in the pit. I opened them up and told the Pegasi that they were free. They left the factory and flew away. I kept searching for Scootaloo. My hoofsteps were loud in the empty corridor. I suddenly heard pounding on the wall behind me. I walked up to it and pounded back.

“Is someone there?” I heard a voice say.

“Scootaloo?” I asked.

“Yes,” Scootaloo said. “That’s me. Is my time up?”

“If by your time being up you mean that your time in this prison is up, then you are correct,” I said. “You might want to stand back.” I waited a few moments before charging up a magic blast. I blew a hole in the iron wall, leaving nothing but dust. I grabbed Scootaloo and pulled her out of the rubble. As I ran with Scootaloo out of the prison area, the tan Pegasus with the green and yellow mane blocked my path out of the jail. He looked pissed off.

“Get out of my way,” I ordered.

“You dare to come back for a third time?” the Pegasus said. “You have no idea what you are doing. There will never be another Rainbow in Equestria again. But the motto of the Rainbow Factory stands: Not a Single Soul gets Through.” I motioned for Scootaloo to stand back. The Pegasus charged at me, furious. I prepared for battle. The Pegasus made a jump for me, and I threw my Terminator hoof at him. His head collided with the metal and his skull shattered. As he gripped his head on the floor, I walked up to him.

“This is for all the Pegasi you killed in this facility,” I growled. I raised my hoof and brought it down on the Pegasus's head. It was smashed with a satisfying squelch as blood flew everywhere. My mechanical hoof was drenched in blood and brains. I wiped it on the corpse and flew out of the factory with Scootaloo. I got me and her to a safe distance on a distant cloud. We had a perfect view of the facility.

“I need to ask you something,” I said.

“What?” Scootaloo asked.

“What do you think the Rainbow Factory deserves?” I asked. Scootaloo took no thought about this before answering.

“Destruction,” she said. “I want it gone.”

“I thought you might say that,” I responded. I held out the detonator. “Do you want the honors?” I turned off the safety. A light turned green, signaling that the bomb was ready for detonation. Scootaloo took it and looked at me. I motioned for her to press the button. Scootaloo looked at the button and placed her hoof on it. She looked back at the factory.

“Do it,” I said. Scootaloo pressed the button on the remote. The delay lasted only a few seconds. The entire Rainbow Factory exploded in a glorious flash of light. Spectra and rubble flew across the sky. A single piece of rubble, a fraction of a wall, whizzed past my head. The only thing that remained was the giant mushroom cloud the explosion had made. Scootaloo gave back the remote.

“Thanks kid,” I said. “Go back to your friends, but don’t tell them what happened.”

“Ok!” Scootaloo cried cheerfully. As she flew off toward the CMC treehouse, I flew back home. I entered the house and found Rainbow Dash out of her chair. She had the Unicorn filly in a lock, with a knife to her neck. I pulled out my handgun and pointed it at Rainbow Dash.

“I’ll fucking kill her, I swear!” Rainbow Dash cried. “I heard the factory blow up. I bet all of Equestria heard it.” I clicked the hammer on the gun. Rainbow Dash roughly raised the filly’s chin and touched the knife to her throat. I held the gun out, hesitating to shoot. Rainbow Dash was prepared to slit the young Unicorn’s throat, even if I shot first.

“Put the gun down, and I’ll let her live,” Rainbow Dash demanded. I thought about what I should do. The filly was terrified, almost not breathing. Rainbow Dash seemed as if she would indeed kill her. I slowly put the gun down.

“That’s right,” Rainbow Dash said. She brought the knife away from the filly, but kept her in a lock.

“Now let her go,” I ordered. Rainbow Dash pushed the filly toward me and made a run for the door. I ran over to the young Unicorn.
“Are you OK?” I asked. The filly nodded. “Go back to the room and hide,” I said. “I’ll be back.” I picked up my gun and chased after Rainbow Dash. I blasted out the door and pursued her. I aimed my pistol and took a shot. The blast flew past Rainbow Dash's hooves. I took another shot, but I had neglected to make sure my gun was loaded, and it was empty. I put it back in my saddlebag and flew faster. I started to gain on Rainbow, but she made an abrupt turn, forcing me to lose ground. Rainbow Dash kept me at bay with cheap tricks, like making U-turns around clouds, kicking me in the face, and hiding in storm clouds. I got fed up with this act and flew high into the night air. Rainbow Dash looked up and noticed my silhouette on the moon. I bolted downward toward Rainbow Dash. I quickly gained speed and blasted forward with my rainboom, which was a bright golden color with a shimmer to it. I slammed into Rainbow Dash and rocketed toward the ground. Rainbow Dash tried to make me lose speed, but she couldn’t. We gained momentum as we neared the hard dirt. Another Mach cone surrounded us as we gained speed. As I felt us near the blasting point, I opened myself up, significantly slowing myself down. I nearly lost my grip on Rainbow Dash. I flew back to Canterlot with Rainbow Dash in my grasp.
~~~

As I flew back to my house, I threw Rainbow Dash through a window and onto the floor. I stomped on her chest with my Terminator leg, rendering her immobile. I powered up a memory loss spell, targeting the time she decided to work in the Rainbow Factory and nothing else. As Rainbow Dash struggled to get me off of her, I touched my horn to her head and cast the spell. After a few moments, I took my hoof off of Rainbow Dash and stepped back. Rainbow Dash stayed motionless for a time before regaining her senses. She rubbed her head and groaned.

“Wha…What happened?” she asked. “Where am I?”

“Back where you should be,” I said. “Sane, and still the best flier in Equestria.”

“Aw, you flatter me,” Rainbow Dash said. “Am I in your house?”

“Yes,” I said. “I thought you might want to join me for a flight around Cloudsdale.”

“Would I?” Rainbow Dash asked, excited.

“Let me just take care of something,” I said. I ran to my room. I opened the door and knocked. I couldn’t find the filly anywhere.

“It’s OK,” I quietly called out. “It’s just me.” The little Unicorn poked her head out from underneath the bed. I didn’t see her. She jumped at me and grabbed my mechanical leg. I looked down, slightly startled. I smiled and picked up the filly. I playfully ruffled up her mane a little before putting her back on the bed.

“I’ll be back in just a moment,” I told her. She smiled and waved as I left the room. I met back out with Rainbow Dash.

“Ready to go?” She asked.

“Yep,” I responded. We ran out the door and took flight. We made the round trip around Cloudsdale very quickly. I flew back inside my house in front of Rainbow Dash. I failed to recover and crashed into my pots and pans cabinet and made everything fall out. Rainbow Dash cringed as the pots fell on my head. After a couple minutes, I used my magic to lift the dishes off of me and put them back in the cabinet. I had bruises all over my body.

“Fun flight,” Rainbow Dash said. “See ya!” She flew out the door as I waved. The little filly came down the stairs.

“I heard a crash,” she said. “What happened?”

“Oh nothing,” I said. “I ran into the cabinet and the pots and pans fell on me. It hurt.” The filly giggled. I gave a small chuckle. It was pretty funny.

“Do you have a name?” I asked the Unicorn.

“Velvet Remedy,” she said. My eyes widened.

“What’s your name?” Velvet asked me.

“Braveheart,” I said, still in shock. “I’ll take you back home tomorrow.”

“That might be a problem,” Remedy said. “I don’t have a home. Or a family. I’m…I'm alone.” Velvet Remedy started to cry. I sat down next to her and put my robotic leg around her shoulder. She looked up at me with wet eyes. I dried them with a cloth. Remedy smiled at me.

“Thanks,” she quietly said. She laid her head on my side.

“Can you tell me what happened to you?” I asked.

“Sure,” Remedy said. She proceeded to tell me her story.

Chapter 14

“On the day I was born, my family was living here, in Canterlot.” Velvet Remedy began. “We were very rich, and I was given pretty much anything I wanted. But I never wanted much. I just wanted other ponies to be happy. So I would give my allowance to charity. My family loved how caring I was. But everything changed on my sixth birthday. I was praying to the Princesses of the Sun and Moon, when I saw Canterlot Castle go up in flames. I watched, terrified, as guards escaped, and a single mare and stallion get into a car and drive away. Another mare, a tall one, chased the couple on hoof. I closed my blinds after I saw a purple and yellow explosion from the castle.”

Remedy stopped for a moment to try and remember other details. I was shocked. She was telling the story of the destruction of Canterlot Castle from her perspective. Velvet Remedy continued.

“I ran downstairs and told my parents what happened. They told me that there was nothing to worry about, and that the Princesses were OK. That made me feel better. Just then, two Pegasus ponies knocked on the door. My father let them in and my mother made them some tea. When she set down the tray, the one with the green and yellow mane stabbed her with a knife, killing her. My father tried to fight back, but the one with the yellow mane held him up while the other one slit his throat. I watched all this in horror. They put a leather bag over my head and took me away. I got a quick look at my home before they flew away. They had set the house on fire and left it to burn. They took me to that factory and forced me to use magic to make extra amounts of Spectra. I stayed there for years, being barely fed and allowed little rest. Then you came and saved me. I owe you my life for that.”

I let her story sink into my brain. The workers in the Rainbow Factory were truly evil. I thought they only were killing off flight test failees, but they had foalnapped a Unicorn, a filly no less, and forced her to make Spectra. This made me wonder how many other Unicorns had been captured, then possibly killed because they gave up or refused to work. I was quiet.

“Are you ok?” Remedy asked. I came back to reality.

“Yeah,” I said. “I’m fine. You should go back to bed. It’s late.”

“OK,” Velvet Remedy said. “See you tomorrow.” Remedy stood up and walked back to my room. I slumped on my couch and slept there. My head was full of thoughts. Thoughts of pain, loss, torment, and fear. I fell asleep thinking about my promise to Pip. To take care of Velvet Remedy and prepare her for the future. I wondered what would have happened if I hadn’t gone to the factory. Velvet Remedy would have died there, and Equestria would have been doomed.

~~~

I woke up early in the morning. I got up, stretched out, and went to the kitchen. I poured myself a cup of milk and sat down. I heard a knock on the door. I walked over and opened it. Derpy Hooves was there with the morning paper.

“Thanks, Derpy,” I said.

“No problem,” Derpy said. “Bye.” She flew off to deliver more mail. I walked back inside and sat back down at my small table. I opened up the paper and looked through it. There was one article that caught my eye.

“Pinkamena Diane Pie Arrested for Murder!” The title said. Confused, I read through the entry.

“Pinkamena Diane Pie was arrested on March 26 for supposed murder. When her sister, Maud Pie, was being beaten by a city guard, Pinkamena rushed in and beat the guard to death. Another guard ran up to arrest Pinkamena, but Maud Pie got up and sacrificed herself to protect her sister. The other guard ended up dead along with Maud Pie and Pinkamena was arrested shortly after. She is currently awaiting execution in the Canterlot Humane Asylum. Her execution will commence today at 9 AM.” I was shocked at this story. Pinkie killed somepony again? I suppose it was out of defending her sister, but still. Now she was awaiting execution at the hooves of the authorities. Velvet Remedy walked into the kitchen.

“Morning Remedy,” I said. “How’d you sleep?”

“Good,” Remedy groggily said. She sat down at the table and laid her head down on it.

“You want something to eat?” I asked.

“Sure,” Remedy said. “Cereal, if you have it.” I got up and made her a bowl of cereal with an orange on the side. Velvet Remedy ate as I got myself a bagel with some jelly on it. As we ate, I pulled out a bracelet from my bag. I gave it to Velvet Remedy.

“Thank you,” she said. “I love it.” It was bright purple with a small gem on it. She put it on and tested its fit. It fit perfectly.

“I have some things to take care of,” I told Remedy. “I won’t be gone long. Can you take care of yourself?”

“Yeah,” Remedy said. “See you later.” I waved and left the house. I left for Pinkamena’s execution. I wanted to see my friend before she was gone. I couldn’t do anything about it this time. I arrived at the Humane Asylum. The guards at the door stopped me.

“I’m here for Pinkamena’s execution,” I said.

“You’re not on the list,” the first guard coldly said. I frowned. I showed the guard my final letter from Celestia. The guard read it over. He moved out of the way.

“My apologies,” he said. I walked inside the waiting room. It had a large window with a curtain covering the other side. The rest of the Mane 6 were there, as well as Mr. and Mrs. Cake with their foals, Pumpkin Cake and Pound Cake. I sat down next to Twilight and Rainbow Dash. We didn’t wait long. The curtain moved away from the window as Pinkamena was raised up in a restraining board. She looked at us with regret in her eyes. She and I met gazes, and we exchanged mental goodbyes.

“Do you have any last words?” the executioner asked. Pinkamena slowly shook her head. She was brought back down flat on the board. The scientist at the controls flipped a switch, and medications were inserted into Pinkamena’s bloodstream. She slowly slipped from the world of the living as the curtain closed. I hung my head in silence as everypony else left the room. I was the only one left. I stood up and walked out of the asylum. I suddenly got a letter from Shining Armor. I read it over. I flew off to the Crystal Empire. Shining Armor had requested me to make a final inspection of the defense software. As I flew, birds flew above me in huge flocks, squawking loudly. I heard howling from the Timberwolves in the Everfree Forest as I flew over it. The magic from the Crystal Heart was in static and shortening out. All signs pointed to disaster, but I believed my head was messing with me. I flew through the protective field and into the Crystal Tower. Princess Cadence and Shining Armor were waiting for me.

“Thank you for coming, Braveheart,” Cadence said. “The defense system is ready for uplink. We thought you might want the honors of activating it. Would you do that?”

“Of course,” I said. Cadence and Shining Armor showed me to the main computer. It was near the Crystal Heart, which powered the computers. The computer commands had stopped scrolling with a final command at the bottom. It said “EXECUTE STARNET? Y/N”

“You may execute the command when ready,” Shining Armor said. Every worker in the area watched me with intent. I looked at the computer screen, then at the keyboard. I raised my hoof and moved it toward the Y key. Before I pressed the button, I looked at Cadence and Shining Armor. They nodded. I turned back to the keyboard and pressed the key. The computers started to run the software.

“We’re in,” one of the workers said. “The defense network should be fully operational within a few moments.”

“Good,” Shining Armor said. “All of Equestria should be fully protected from any threat.” I was a little skeptical.

“Let’s pray to Celestia this works,” I whispered. As soon as I said that, the computer screens went black. Cadence inspected them.

“Power outage?” she asked a worker.

“No,” the worker said. “I don’t know what that was.”

“I have a bad feeling about this,” I mumbled. The screens suddenly came back on. They were glitching out and going static, like somepony was mounting a cyber-attack. Shining Armor started to panic.

“Braveheart, what the hell is going on?” he asked me. I didn’t hear him. I was gone from reality. I was seeing visions in my head. Visions that showed a barren wasteland, with the ruins of Equestria scattered here and there. Survivors living in underground fallout shelters, where everypony was kept until the fallout subsided. The random survivor out of these shelters, living elsewhere in the ruins. Then I saw Velvet Remedy, leading a resistance against machines. Terminators, HKs, and weaponized, auto-piloted vehicles.

“Braveheart!” Shining Armor yelled. I snapped awake. I looked at Shining Armor with a worried look on my face.

“What’s going on?” he asked me. “What’s wrong with the computers?” I didn’t answer right away.

“The Starnet defense network has become self-aware,” I said after a moment. “All of Equestria as we know it is going to be…gone.”

“Self-aware?!” Shining Armor cried. “What do you mean, ‘self-aware’?”

“Starnet has learned almost everything about Equestria,” I said. “Its history, its vulnerabilities, everything. The program has viewed us as a threat to its existence, everypony. Not just the ones in this room. The bombs we created will fall in a matter of hours. We need to get everypony to shelter immediately.”

“I don’t understand,” Cadence said. “How can a computer program become a thinking entity?” I looked at her, forlorn. I didn’t have an answer. All we could do now was to get to safety.

“We have fallout shelters scattered around Equestria,” Shining Armor said. “But I never thought we might actually use them. They are all linked. We called them ‘Stables’. It’s our only chance of survival.”

“Get everypony in the Crystal Empire to the Stables,” I said. “I’ll take care of the rest of Equestria.” I flew off to get everypony to safety.

Chapter 15

I flew into Ponyville, crashing into Twilight’s Library. I smashed through a window and slammed into a bookshelf. I pulled myself off and ran upstairs.

“Twilight,” I cried. “Get everypony into the Stables. Now!”

“What are you talking about?” Twilight asked. “What Stables?” I ran back downstairs and blew a hole in Twilight’s floor. There was a metal stairwell lit with small LED lights.

“When did that get there?” Twilight asked. I explained to her what happened in the Crystal Empire, about the defense network, the system becoming self-aware, the bombs, and when the Stables were built. Twilight listened, going from fascinated to frightened.

“We need to get everypony into the Stables as quickly as possible,” I said. “Tell everypony you can to come to the library and get down to the fallout shelter.” I flew away as Twilight delivered the message. I arrived in Canterlot and told everypony to follow me. I flew to the remains of Canterlot Castle. I tore down the fence surrounding it and blew a hole in the throne room floor. Another tunnel leading to the Stables was there. The ponies that followed me streamed into the tunnel and into The Stables. I flew around Equestria, getting as many citizens into the shelters as I could. I bolted from city to city, town to town, opening up more tunnels that led to The Stables. As I made one last round of Equestria, I saw a small wagon out in the middle of nowhere. It was Trixie Lulamoon’s, the infamous show-pony. I flew down as fast as I could and pounded on the door. Trixie came to the door.

“What do you want?” she rudely asked. “Don’t you know that the Great and Powerful Trixie needs her beauty rest?”

“I don’t give a shit if you were in the middle of a nap,” I said. “You need to get down to the fallout shelters immediately. There is about to be a massive nuclear attack on Equestria.”

“Nuclear attack?” Trixie scoffed. “What nonsense. Equestria hasn’t been in danger for years. Why should the Great and Powerful Trixie believe that it is in danger now?” I glared at Trixie. This was getting me nowhere.

“I don’t have time to argue,” I growled. “You can come with me and live, or stay here and die.” Trixie rolled her eyes and slammed the door in my face. I muttered curse words to myself and flew away.

Equestria seemed to be deserted. Windows and doors were left ajar, merchandise carts had been abandoned, vehicles were left in the streets, chairs and tables had been flipped; it was rather frightening. I flew to the remains of Canterlot Castle to watch the bombs launch. I suddenly remembered Velvet Remedy.

“Oh shit!” I cried out. I blasted towards my house. I had to get Velvet Remedy to safety. She was the key to survival. I blew open my door and ran inside.

“Remedy!” I cried out. “Velvet Remedy, where are you?!” Velvet Remedy came down the stairs.

“What is it?” she asked. “What’s wrong?” I picked her up and put her on my back.

“We need to go,” I said. “Now.” I ran back to the charred Canterlot Castle.

“What’s going on?” Velvet Remedy asked. “Where are we going?”

“I’ll explain everything later,” I said. “Just don’t fall off my back.” Suddenly, I heard an earth-trembling boom. I looked behind us and saw that one of the bombs had already fallen in the Crystal Empire. I looked around us and saw that the nuclear missiles had launched.

“Oh, fuck,” I whispered. I ran faster than I had ever run in my life. The bombs fell around us as I ran. Remedy closed her eyes and covered her ears. I used my magic to hold down Remedy as I opened up my wings. I lifted off the ground and flew the rest of the way to The Stables. I flew inside and picked up the intercom.

“SEAL THE DOORS NOW!!!” I yelled into the mic. I felt the fallout shelter vibrate as the remaining open doors were sealed. Most of them were already shut. I took one last look at Equestria before closing my door. The place that I had known to be paradise, void of conflict, and peaceful, was being destroyed before my very eyes. I saw the last nuclear warhead fly down to the castle. My eyes widened and I pounded the shutdown button and the door began to close. I saw the bomb fall in slow motion as the door closed. I watched, staring, as the gear shaped door close and seal. The Stables shook violently as the bomb hit. I slumped to the cold, metal floor of the fallout shelter. As the shaking stopped, I passed out and fell on my back.

When I woke up, Velvet Remedy and Rainbow Dash were sitting over me. They seemed sad, but happy that I was OK. I sat up and looked at the survivors. Looking through this one room, there weren’t many; only about two hundred or so. I stood up and walked around the shelter. Almost all of the survivors were young families. I looked around and found the CMC there, as well as the entire Ponyville school district. Twilight and the rest of the Mane 6 were there, with Mr. and Mrs. Cake with their foals. I knew there were more survivors in the other main rooms, they just hadn’t found out I had made it yet. Rainbow Dash was staring at me.

“What do we do now, Braveheart?” she asked. “We can’t leave here. The fallout will kill us.”

“Then we don’t leave,” I said. “Not yet.” I flew up to a point where everypony could see me. I was about to speak when the rest of the survivors entered the room. I let them all come in before speaking.

“Citizens of Equestria,” I called out. “You are the survivors of the nuclear fire. We as proud members of the Stables will survive.”

“What about essentials?” a pony in the back cried. “We can’t live without food or water.”

“I can provide essentials for the Stables,” I said. “So can any Unicorn that is willing. I will teach a simple spell that can spawn any item. That will be our fuel source. But on the topic of this shelter, I will warn you this. The Starnet defense system had taken over. We wait until the fallout has subsided, then we fight back for our home. Do I make myself clear?” Everypony nodded in agreement. “Military training will be required for everypony,” I continued. “See Shining Armor or myself for registration. I will do what I can to help with supplying weapons and teaching how to use them. Thank you.” I dismissed the crowd and landed on the floor. Everypony left for their own rooms, leaving me alone. I stared at the door, thinking about what would lie ahead for the future of Equestria. The bombs had fallen and the machines had taken over. We were the survivors of Judgment Day, the day when nearly all of ponykind was destroyed by the weapons they had built to protect themselves. Once the toxic waste settled and dissipated, we would start life anew in the wastelands. We would survive the fallout. The Fallout of Equestria.
~~~

“Stables Log #365: Where was I?” Velvet Remedy recorded on her Pipbuck. “This will be my last log in The Stables. We’ve been living in here for almost fifteen years, and I’m starting to get tired of it. Of course, I wouldn’t be here if a certain stallion didn’t care for me. I owe my life to Braveheart. He saved my life three times, each time making me realize how much he cared for me. I wish to return the favor in a way nopony has ever done. I want to start life over again in Equestria. It’s what he wanted. Tomorrow morning, I leave the Stables to start a new life. I’ll make sure that when the gates of this shelter open up, the world will be free of the nagging thought that the machines would find us. This is Velvet Remedy, June 26, 2017.”
Velvet Remedy turned off her recorder and packed her last piece of gear. She set a small alarm clock to 4 AM and set it on her dresser. She sat in her bed and took a photo out of her saddlebag. It was a picture of her and Braveheart, sitting down in the Equestria Rainbow Falls. They were enjoying the day together. Velvet Remedy sighed and put the photo away. She lay down in her bed and thought. Thought about what she would do when she left The Stables; what Braveheart wanted to happen. She remembered his most important words to her.

“Velvet Remedy,” he said. “Remember why I cared for you. Why I took you under my wing and trained you. Trained you to become a great leader, and an inspiration to others. You will lead Equestria to survival. I love you, Remedy. I always have, and always will. And I will always, always, be with you. No matter what.”

Velvet Remedy fell asleep that night wanting to change the world. To lead the force against Starnet and the machines. To start life over again in Equestria. And she would.

Chapter 6

In the middle of the night, I woke up. My friends were still asleep. I crept downstairs and picked up my metal wings. I crept outside the library and began my work. I dyed the Pegasus feathers the color of my fur, and hung the wings up to dry. I noticed that the tops of the wings were covered in a decorative piece of metal. I removed the piece, but it exposed the mechanical endoskeleton that made up the wings. The endoskeleton was filled with wires for attachment to the nervous system. I painted the metal bar green, for it was my favorite color. When it and the feathers had dried, I put the metal bar back on the endoskeleton. At a glance, it looked like the wings had part of an armored suit on. I decided to leave it that way. I went back to bed to let the feathers air out.

When I woke up the next morning, everypony except for Twilight Sparkle was gone.

“Good morning Braveheat,” Twilight said.

“Morning Twilight,” I yawned. “Where is everypony?”

“They all had things to do,” Twilight said. I nodded and went back outside to check on my wings. They looked flawless, so I brought the wings in and laid them on one of Twilight's desks.

“You don't mind if I use this, do you?” I asked Twilight.

“No, go ahead,” Twilight answered. I took off my bandage and opened the stubs of my wings. I frowned. They looked pitiful. I started by leveling out the bone to fit the attachment rods. I took the short attachment rods and attached them onto the bone. I took one of the wings and sorted out each nerve wire. I touched each wire to my nervous system, testing each wire before attaching it. When all of the wires had been connected, I slid the wing onto the rod, then screwed it on. I followed the same procedure with the other wing as well. When I had finished, I noticed a small indention along the width of each wing base, clear as day. I took Twilight's sewing kit and stitched up my flesh to the base of the wings. When these healed up, the wings would look natural. I opened up my newly attached wings. The metal inside scraped, making a noise similar to a sword being drawn out of its scabbard, if the scabbard was made of metal. I cringed for a moment, then closed my wings. The metal didn't scrape when closing. I assumed the scraping was for some sort of intimidation tactic. I walked up to Twilight's balcony. I walked outside, looked down, then jumped. I opened up my wings and flew low. I gave a couple flaps and rose higher. After circling around the library a few times, I flattened out my wings and glided back onto the balcony. Twilight had been watching me.

“So how do the new wings work?” she asked.

“Better than the original,” I said. “I feel so much faster.”

“Good,” Twilight said. “You seem to be in much better spirits.”

“I am,” I said. “Except for the broken leg.” I looked my cast. The leg seemed to look better. The internal bleeding had stopped, and the bruise had gone down.

“I'm going back to Canterlot,” I said. “Go ahead and tell everypony I'm inviting them. I don't feel like going alone this time.”

“Really?” Twilight asked, excited.

“Why not?” I said. “I could use the company.” Twilight left to find Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie, while I went to find Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.

At the train station, everypony was excited to go to Canterlot.

“I can’t believe you invited us all to go to Canterlot with you!” Rarity cried.

“You are so cool!” Rainbow Dash said. We boarded the train and went on our way to Canterlot. On the way, Twilight quizzed me on the spells in the book. I passed, but she never once asked me about the unknown spell page.

“I guess she doesn't know about it,” I thought to myself. When we arrived in Canterlot. I got us all rooms in an apartment. Rarity tried to argue against it, but that was all I could afford. I paired Rarity with Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie with Applejack, Twilight and Spike with Rainbow Dash, and myself alone. We unpacked and went sightseeing. Everypony went separate ways, leaving me alone again. I shrugged and traveled to the Curio Shop. I walked inside. The clerk recognized me and chuckled.

“Back so soon?” he asked. “How’re the new wings treat’n ya?”

“They work just fine,” I said.

“Well, that’s good to hear,” the clerk said. “So what’re you lookin’ for this time?”

“A set of good quality armor,” I said. “Got something decent?” I looked around while the clerk went into his closet. He came back out with a set of armor, complete with boots, chestplate, and helmet. They were the same green as my painted wing plate, so that was a bonus.

“These’ll be what you need,” he said. “Made by alchemist ponies back in medieval times. Uses internal magic to deflect attacks and repair itself. Used by the highest class Unicorns back from the Great Tribal Clash. Same time period as those wings of yours.”

“Perfect,” I said. “How much?”

“They would be 300 bits,” the clerk said. “But since these have been on the shelf for years, I’ll give you a 50% discount,”

“Really?” I asked.

“You bet,” the clerk said. I paid the discounted price. “Have a nice day.” The clerk called as I left the shop. I met back up with my friends later that night and we hung out at the apartment. I personally, went to bed, because I was tired. The metal wings made sleep uncomfortable, but I didn't have much other choice. I fell asleep, wondering what the future had in store for me.