They Walk Among Us

"How could you, your Majesty?" asked Twilight, trying to fight back her own tears. "Why?"

Queen Celestia said nothing, and stared at Twilight the whole time she was talking. She just stood there, facing the whole group, who was staring back at her apprehensively. The Queen, however, showed no emotions.

Twilight felt heartbroken. Betrayed. She couldn't believe that her mentor of all ponies could have done such a thing. It was so cruel, so evil. She was torn up inside, not knowing how to react to the person she looked up to the most doing such a horrible thing.

The memory of seeing it was etched in her mind. Every single detail.

Everything since Steven had asked her to come with him...

"Twilight?" asked Steven, who had just come through the library door. "Got a minute?"

Twilight was just reading a human book about Earth's geography, called an 'Atlas' or something, when Steven came through the door. She figured that learning about these things would be important, since Earth and Equestria had merged and all.

"That depends." said Twilight. "What's up?"

"Actually, I want to take you somewhere." said Steven. "To show you something."

Twilight was skeptical. What was so important that made Steven barge into the library at this time of night? But her curiosity far outweighed her skepticism. She wanted to see whatever Steven wanted to show her.

"Lead the way." said Twilight.

Steven and Twilight silently walked down the Library to the Palace Courtyards, which led to...

"The Stellar Corridor?" asked Twilight. "How on Earth and Equestria did you find this place?"

Steven hesitated to answer, but he soon realized that he needed to answer it.

"Umm..." said Steven, grinning for a short while. "Lucky guess? Now come on!"

Steven picked up the pace, and he was now positively galloping forward. Twilight knew that what Steven said was a lie, because not only was he as terrible a liar as Applejack, but there was only one way to get into the Stellar Corridor. Nopony, or no human can stumble there by accident.

"Come on, Steven." said Twilight, growing suspicious. "How did you find the Stellar Corridor?"

Steven stopped running, and looked back at her. His expression was blank but tense, as if not knowing how to answer that question.

"I told you." said Steven. "I was walking around after training, and I wound up here!"

"Impossible." said Twilight. "You can't find the Stellar Corridor just by walking around. You have to be told where to find it. It's enchanted so that only trusted people can enter it. Now, I'll ask once more. How did you find the corridor?"

Steven sighed and looked at Twilight.

"You can't tell anyone about this, alright?"

Twilight smiled and nodded.

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." said Twilight, doing all of the necessary movements and actions to go along with the Pinkie Promise. A pang of regret came as she did it, but it quickly disappeared again.

Steven, on the other hand, tilted his head and stared at Twilight, apparently confused by what she just said and did.

"Never mind." said Twilight. "I promise."

"Fine." said Steven, who started to walk again. "It was Princess Luna, the Queen's sister. Also the one who trained me in the Royal Gardens."

"Princess Luna?" asked Twilight, surprised by the sudden development but still cool all the same. "What did she say?"

"She said something about how the world had changed since the crash." said Steven. "And then she told me to bring you to a door in the Stellar Corridor."

Twilight was still suspicious. But then again, all Alicorns have a habit of their advice being vague and annoying, so she quickly rubbed that thought off.

"You do know what this means, don't you?" said Twilight.

"What?" asked Steven, genuinely confused.

"It means that your mentor is an Alicorn as well!" said Twilight. "That makes two of us!"

"Er..." said Steven. "Alicorn means ponies with unicorn horns and pegasus wings, right?"

"Yes." said Twilight.

"Well, according to what Luna said..." whispered Steven. "Then it would be most likely that we would never see them again."

"What?" asked Twilight.

"I don't understand either." said Steven. "But the most important thing to do right now is to get to that door as soon as possible."

Twilight silently followed Steven as they entered the Stellar Corridor. What did he mean by 'never see them again'. Or, more specifically, what did Princess Luna mean by 'never see them again'? Twilight shrugged, knowing that she would get all the answers when they reached the door.

"So, which one is it?" asked Twilight.

"The second door to the left, on the right side..." said Steven, more of a reminder than an answer. "The door bearing the Sword and the Shield..."

"You know," said Twilight, "even if I had believed that lie back there, then you not knowing the exact location of this door would be proof enough that you were lying."

"There it is." said Steven, changing the subject. "That's the door."

It was a very peculiar door. Unlike the other doors, which were made of steel or plastic, this one was made of a very sturdy-looking wood. There were nails and bolts all around its sides and its front. There was also the symbol of the Equestrian Coat of Arms- A large shield divided into four parts (A tree, a golden chain, a star, and a green flame), covered by a cross of two swords in front of it. And finally, on top of the shield, is the Sun resting on the Moon.

Twilight caught Steven looking at something on the Coat of Arms. He was staring at it intently, as if it reminded him of something very important.

"Steven?" asked Twilight.

Steven immediately snapped out of whatever trance he was in.

"Oh." said Steven, nervously chuckling. "After you."

Twilight gave him a mock bow, and entered the room.

Other than what little light came from the Stellar Corridor, this room was pitch black. She didn't know how large the room was, nor how many things were in the room. Steven then closed the door as he came in, leaving everything pitch black. Twilight quickly did an Illumination Spell to light up the room.

"What?" whispered Steven, panicking. "Turn that off!"

"Why?" asked Twilight, panicking as well in surprise.

"We don't know what happens here." said Steven. "What if we get caught?"

"Didn't you get permission from Luna?" asked Twilight.

"Yes," said Steven, "but to refresh your memory, Princess Luna is not theQUEEN."

"Fine." said Twilight, turning off her Illumination Spell. "What do you propose we do? We can't see anything!"

Steven thought about that for a while. All of a sudden, he jumped into the air.

"Got an idea." said Steven. His horn then began to slightly glow blue. Twilight expected something to happen, like a loud sound, or the moving of something heavy, but nothing happened. It just glowed and then it stopped glowing.

"What was that?" asked Twilight.

"Yes!" exclaimed Steven. "It works!"

"What works?" asked Twilight.

"This." said Steven, as he pointed his horn towards both of her eyes. Startled, Twilight backed away, but it was too late. The horn's magic had enveloped her eyes.

"Ah!"

"Don't worry." said Steven. "Try to open your eyes."

Twilight hesitantly opened her eyes, only to reveal a very bright room around her. She could see every single detail, no problem at all.

"This is amazing!" said Twilight. "How did you do it?"

"I enhanced the seeing power of our eyes." said Steven. "Look, there's a stairwell over there! I think we should follow it."

Twilight and Steven then began walking down the steep steps that led them downstairs. Every step they took, the air around them seemed even warmer, yet the atmosphere got colder. Twilight then began to get scared. Despite being able to see in the dark clearly, she wasn't able to see the end of that staircase.

All of a sudden, Twilight tripped on one of the stairs. She fell down, and rolled to the bottom. Almost immediately, she heard a gruff voice.

"Hey, did you hear that?" asked one voice.

"Yeah. Let's go check it out." said the other.

Damn. There are two guards.

Suddenly, a very bright light appeared right in front of her eyes, blinding her.

"Miss Twilight?" asked one guard.

"She can't be here." said the other one. "We have to wipe her."

Wipe? What did that mean?

"Twilight, don't look into their lights!" shouted Steven from behind.

Twilight quickly looked away and covered her eyes with her hooves.

"Another one!" said one guard.

Twilight suddenly heard a loud punch, followed by the sound of a body flying away very quickly and crashing in the wall.

"What... What are you?" said the other one, his voice shaking.

She heard another loud sound, similar to an explosion, and another crash into the wall. She took this as a clue to be allowed to open her eyes. Still dazed from the earlier bright light, she blinked rapidly to be able to see again. As her view cleared up, she saw the two guards lying on the floor near the wall, where a dent from where they crashed was found. She quickly turned to look at Steven, who was wearing some strange gauntlets and boots that were made of magic power.

She watched as Steven walked up to the guards and lowered his head, quickly healing any bruises they had and clearing up and blood lost.

"They should be fine now." said Steven.

"Wha..." she said, mouth agape. An amateur magic-user had just beaten two well-trained, seasoned guards in a matter of seconds? That training must really be worth it. She should really talk to Luna some time.

Steven pushed the door, which loudly creaked as it opened.

"Let's go." said Twilight.

But Steven wasn't budging.

"Come on!" said Twilight. "Let's hurry in before any more guards find us here!"

Steven didn't respond. He was busy looking at whatever was behind that door.

"Steven?"

Twilight walked up to Steven, whom Twilight noticed was shivering. This guy just beat up two seasoned guards in seconds, and yet whatever he was looking at seemed to creep him to no end.

It was only then did Twilight notice the smell. A horrible, putrid smell that was like a mixture of rotten fish, eggs, excrement, and vomit. It was like a bomb to her nose.

Now very curious as to what she was smelling, Twilight tried to squeeze through Steven to take a look at what he was looking at.

"What's all this-"

Twilight didn't finish her sentence.

She couldn't finish her sentence.

As she stood there, she saw piled up rows of steel cages, some of them with humans and some with ponies, but the whole place was chaos. The floor was dirty, and there was a strange, red liquid in puddles around that room. It was very hot inside that room, and Twilight began to sweat just from the heat and the smell. Twilight could see shadows of starved humans and ponies lying around in their cages, groaning and moaning for help. It was absolute chaos, and Twilight could smell the despair and the agony of the people in that room.

But the worst part of all...

Was that right in front of them, at the edge of the room...

Was a pile of dead bodies.

Twilight wanted to throw up. She desperately wanted to run out of that room and never come back, ever. She wanted to run away and forget that all this ever happened. But it was impossible. It was funny, really, how the things she didn't want to remember the most were the things she could never forget.

"Should we..." whispered Steven, too shocked to speak clearly.

It was then that Twilight heard it.

Soft, beautiful music was playing through the room. Just listening to it filled Twilight's heart with sadness and despair. She felt a single tear threatening to come out of her eye.

It was a violin.

Only one pony she knew could play the violin that well.

"Octavia?" shouted Twilight.

The music stopped.

"Octavia?" said Twilight. "Are you there?"

Silence.

Twilight was beginning to doubt whether Octavia was there or not. For all she knew, it might just be an equally talented human. Because there was definitely nopony who can play the violin better than Octavia. The violin or the cello.

"Twilight?"

Steven looked at Twilight.

"Who's that?"

Twilight didn't answer. She quickly ran into the room, not caring about where she stepped, looking for Octavia.

"I'm here, Twilight."

Twilight looked up. On the second floor of cells, she could barely make out a gray-furred, black-maned, lavender eyed pony looking out of her cage.

"Octavia! You're okay!"

"Yes I am, Twilight." said the musical pony, smiling.

"Where's Vinyl?" asked Twilight.

"We..." hesitated Octavia. "Got separated. The guards caught me but Vinyl managed to escape. I don't know where she is now."

"Twilight?" asked another voice. "Twilight Sparkle?"

Almost immediately, a human sharing a cage with Octavia also looked out. For a second, Twilight was creeped out by the possibility of a total stranger knowing her name, but then she looked closer.

THOSE EYES...

"Derpy?" asked Twilight. "You're here too?"

"Derpy!" shouted Octavia. "Don't lean too close to the cage! We'll-"

All of a sudden, the cage that they were inside toppled out of place and fell to the floor, making a very loud 'crash'.

"Damn it, Derpy!" shouted Octavia. "Now the guards will-"

"Who goes there?" asked a loud voice.

"It's Twilight Sparkle." said another voice. "She's the Queen's apprentice. But what is she doing here?"

The guard's horn began to shine brightly.

"She can't know what happens here." said the guard.

Suddenly, a loud battle cry was heard.

Steven charged into the surprised guards, wearing his strange magical equipment. He punched the one whose horn was glowing into the wall, and he pinned the other one to the ground.

"What is the meaning of this?" asked Steven angrily. "ANSWER ME!"

Twilight had never seen Steven this angry before. Even in the most stressful of moments, like when they healed Fluttershy, or when Twilight herself had threatened to commit suicide, Steven was never angry. He was always calm, and he liked to crack jokes and chat casually in those stressful times.

But now, he was really angry. In fact, Twilight had never seen anypony as angry as that before. It scared Twilight to think about what Steven was going to do to that guard if what she feared was happening really was true. But Twilight couldn't bring herself to try and comfort him. She was afraid of Steven.

"Please..." said the other guard. "I wasn't involved in any of this! I just keep guard for-"

Steven bent down and bit the guard's leg, and then he swung his head, banging him to the floor.

"Alright! Alright!" the guard screamed. "It's the Queen!"

"Explain." said Steven.

"Everything..." said the guard. "Everyone who defies her... Gets put in here. And they never come back out."

Steven stared down at the guard in silence.

"Please..." said the guard. "That's all I know..."

Steven punched the guard in the stomach.

Suddenly, there was a large amount of clapping from among the prisoners, relieved that somepony had finally come to save them.

Steven looked back at Twilight, his eyes gleaming violently. However, that violence quickly disappeared, only to be replaced by his usual kind face.

But Twilight didn't feel even remotely close to relieved. What she had just heard about her mentor... The Queen...

How could she be so evil?

Twilight began to break down into tears. She felt betrayed. The loss of Pinkie Pie, and then her mentor's evil side... it left a gaping hole right in the middle of her heart.

"Come on." said Steven, straightening her up. "We have to get these people out of here."

Twilight looked around. Everyone in the room was looking at her, but all of them were too worn out to say anything. Her mentor might be cruel, but now Twilight had the chance to make things right.

"What should we do?" she asked.

Steven suddenly smiled.

"Don't worry." he said. "I've got a plan."

Now, Twilight was finally confronting her mentor, face to face. She wanted to hear it from her.

"Why did you do it?" asked Twilight. "How could you do such a thing?"

The Queen began to walk down the steps. Twilight took a few steps back.

"Twilight, my most faithful student." said the Queen. "Surely you-"

"NO!" said Twilight. "Don't come close to me!"

The Queen sighed and looked down.

"You have seen too much, Twilight Sparkle" said the Queen. "Far too much."

All of a sudden, the whole room of guards surrounded the small group. Everyone in the group then got held up by two guards each, and none of them (except maybe Steven) was strong enough to fight them off. Luna, on the other hand, sat there looking amused. It was apparent that she knew about Steven's being able to fight them off if he wished, but chose not to.

"This is your last chance." said the Queen. "Join me, Twilight Sparkle. Come rule the world by my side."

"Don't do it, Twilight!" shouted Rainbow Dash.

"Silence, insolent human!" said the Queen. "Guards, take her to the Dungeons."

Twilight looked back and watched as she saw Rainbow Dash trying to fight the guards away as she was brought into the Stellar Corridor. But Twilight wasn't worried. Everything was going according to plan.

"No, Celestia." said Twilight. "Never."

"So be it." said the Queen, looking disappointed. "Execute her."

Twilight stared at the Queen in shock. Her lifelong mentor, a pony who was like a mother to her... Just simply ordered her to be killed. Twilight couldn't believe it. The Queen was too far gone.

One of the guards quickly held her down on the floor. The rest of the group shared uneasy glances. This wasn't part of the plan.

Another guard took an axe from near the throne with his magic and held it in place.

All of a sudden, she heard a voice in her head.

"Don't worry, mate." said the voice. "There's no way I'm letting ya die."

The guard who held the axe then quickly threw it into the glass on the wall of the hall, revealing another pony, dressed completely in black. The pony then shot a rope into the inside of the hall with its hoof, and then swung through the room with it.

"It's the Roper-Mare!" said one of the guards.

Just then, the doors to the Stellar Corridor slammed open, revealing a huge crowd of starving and extremely violent ponies and people, led by Octavia, Derpy, Alan, and Rainbow Dash.

"CHAAARGGEEE!" they shouted, running into the room. The earth shook where Twlight knelt.

All the guards in the room, including the one who had held her down, ran in terror. Everything was in chaos.

The Queen looked around the room, as panicked as the rest of them. Her mouth was open, and she seemed to be confused with what was going on.

Suddenly, the guard who had held the axe crashed into her.

"Name's Bush Ranger." said the guard. "Friend of Steven's. Now, let's go!"

Twilight and Bush then quickly ran to where Steven and the others were, regrouping with the whole force.

"That one on the window a part of the plan?" asked Twilight.

"Strangely, no." said Steven. "Happy accident, isn't it?"

Suddenly, Twilight felt ropes entangle around her body. She then felt herself being pulled back by an enormously strong force.

"Twilight!" shouted Steven, as he ran after her.

The Roper-Mare quickly pulled Twilight to her. As the pony grabbed on to Twilight, she prepared to jump out of the room. Who was this Roper-Mare? What did she want with her?

The Roper-Mare then jumped. However, Twilight felt a large push, and they fell back down again. It was Steven.

Steven quickly summoned his magic, and then he punched the Roper-Mare out of the building.

"C'mon, Twilight!" said Steven, who was wincing in pain.

"What's wrong?" asked Twilight.

"It's that pony's body." said Steven. "It was as harder than steel, and much more heavier and stronger. We can't risk her coming back."

They then ran, together with the rest of the stampede, out of the castle doors. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Luna smiling. Was Luna not corrupted by the crash as well?

"Come on!" said Fluttershy as the group waited for them. "We're almost there, guys!"

Steven and Twilight ran outside the hall. The main group were far in front of them, and Fluttershy, Steven, and Twilight were left behind.

They quickly navigated the Palace Hallways, turning left, and then right, left and right... Until finally they were at the main gates.

"Come on..." said Steven. "Just a little more..."

All of a sudden, a blur of black came crashing down on Steven, pinning him to the ground.

It was Octavius.

"How dare you defy the Queen?'" asked Octavius, somewhat rhetorically. "You! The sister of the leader of the Royal Guards!"

"I dare to defy her because I believe in doing what is right!" shouted Twilight.

"Insolent foal!" said Octavius, as he approached her. Twilight stepped back. Fluttershy tried to get in the way, but Octavius easily sent her flying backwards.

"Fluttershy!"

"I won't be so forgiving to you, traitor." he said.

He rose up a hoof as he was about the attack her, but then Twilight heard a very loud 'knock', and Octavius fainted. Behind him was...

"Princess Luna!" said Twilight.

"Poor Octavius..." said Luna, looking at his unconscious body. "Blinded by hatred, just like my sister."

She then grabbed hold of Twilight.

"You must set things right, Twilight Sparkle. Gather the Elements, and make peace in this world." she said. She then let go of Twilight. "I'll set up for you and your group... No, not group... Army, to teleport to a place where I can guarantee your safety."

"But Princess, the-"

"No, Twilight." said the Princess, smiling at her. "Laughter is not dead. If she was, we would've known."

Twilight stared at her, her lip quivering.

"Now go, Twilight Sparkle!" said Luna.

Steven and Fluttershy then quickly stood up and brought Twilight out of the Palace into the dark night. They quickly ran to where the rest of the group were.

"Guys!" said Rainbow Dash. "You're here!"

"Yeah, we're fine." said Twilight.

"No we're not!" said Alan. "How are we going to get out of here?"

As soon as he said that, a sparkling purple dome surrounded them. Twilight immediately knew that this was Princess Luna's magic. The question was, where was she going to teleport them?

It was too late to think about that.

In a flash, the desert environment quickly disappeared, only to be replaced by a huge room. It looked alike to where she had just been. Where she had just been five days ago...

Black Wesa? Why did Luna send them here?

But it wan't Black Wesa. In that room, both humans and ponies were wearing lab coats and working together. All of them, however, stopped working and stared at them in horror. Then again, it was only natural to freeze in terror if a huge stack of living creatures suddenly appeared in the middle of your living room.

"Move aside, gentlemen, move aside." said a voice as it slowly approached them. "Now what do we have here?"

She knew that voice...

Twilight quickly looked up to see the source of the voice, but the ponies on top of her were too heavy for her to even glance up.

"Twilight!" said the voice. "Is that you?"

"Rarity!" shouted Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and the kids at the same time.

"All of you are here?" asked Rarity, her voice filled with laughter.

"Not all of us..." said Fluttershy. "But a good share..."

"Where are we anyway, Rarity?" asked Twilight. "I thought we were at Black Wesa, then I suddenly saw humans and ponies in the same room, and..."

"Where you are, Twilight?" asked Rarity. "Well, it's simple, Twilight."

"Welcome to the Resistance."