Twilight hummed happily to herself as she sharpened her combat knife in her little corner of the rebel base. After leaving the trial the mare had wandered the cave system that the rebels called home chuckling at the fact she was a rebel hiding underground once more. It had been a lot of years since that time and yet it felt like just yesterday she was slipping through manholes to escape enemy patrols and return to base. She looked back on that time fondly and being here now brought up many nostalgic feelings in the alicorn as she had wandered the base.

Though this was a bit different in that the people she met were made up of all the races on Equus and they wore mismatched sets of armor from every military on the planet and some that appeared to have been made by the rebels from random scrap metal and other supplies. And the fact most everyone panicked when they saw her as word hadn’t yet spread she wasn’t the empress come to kill them all.
It took about an hour for word to spread on who she was and the panicked cries of alarm when someone ran into her were replaced by looks of total fear the mare just loved to see, she was sure a few people had actually wet themselves.

As she had wandered the robed pony had tracked her down to show her somewhere she could stay. What Twilight asked why she didn’t send a soldier the mare had explained no one wanted to escort her and nothing the Leader said would get them to do it so that left the Leader doing it herself. Twilight had to chuckle at the fact a bunch of hardened rebels were scared of just one mare and she mentioned this to the Leader.
The leader had simply explained they weren’t used to dealing with someone like Twilight and some of the things she had done were beyond monstrous. Twilight had just shrugged and said that that was why she had a spot reserved in hell for when she died. She then had to explain what hell was which was simply done by saying it was a place worse than Tartarus where bad people like her go when they die.
The mare had been quiet for a while as she led her through the base and only spoke once they reached an area cordoned off by some seats for privacy. She had then asked how Twilight could be ok with what she had done and why she joked about it. Twilight just told her she had come to terms with what she was a long time ago and there was no point in giving it anymore thought.

After that the leader had bid her good night because apparently it was night outside and left the mare to do with her room as she pleased.

Twilight had wasted no time setting up her room as a sort of Equestrian Defense Force miniature Forward Operating Base. Which mostly meant she pulled a few storage creates from her pocket dimension that contained ammo, equipment, medical supplies and everything else one would need to coordinate forces in the field. She had even set up a radio in the corner though there were no forces besides Chrysalis to communicate with and if she was still disguised then she wouldn’t have her radio with her so reaching her for now would be out of the question. She’d try around noon tomorrow as that was a designated check in time they had set up after the first time they had ended up in another dimension together.

She had set up a small medical area with a cot and everything she’d need to work to save lives when needed as well as set up a small armory which consisted of her digging a bit of the cave out to make a room and then using a few martials she had with her to set up a cell door so no one could go in and mess with her guns. Just to be on the safe side she set up an alarm enchantment that will alert her if someone unlocks the door and opens it without an encrypted EDF Key Card, she doubted anyone here would know anything about how to break a computerized lock but still better safe than sorry.

The only other additions to the room was a table with maps of Equestria and surrounding nations on it and she had replaced the candles with eclectic lamps, she even had a generator set if she needed it but right now she was just using battery operated lanterns. In short she made her room feel like home, it was just missing a one important thing or person in this case.

Once the room had been set up Twilight had gone to bed, though sleep had been more difficult than it used to be but she eventually managed to fall asleep. She was glad she was used to such short hours as well as operating with little sleep.

After waking up she had done an equipment check of her weapons and found her combat knife a bit dull, and thus she was sharpening it for the last few minutes. Looking at the blade she reached dup and plucked a hair from her mane. Holding the blade carefully she ran the hare along the blade and smiled as the half she wasn’t holding fell away. Perfect. Sheathing the blade she stood up and stretched as she stashed the blade in her pocket dimension.
Pulling out her uniform she dressed and cracked her neck before withdrawing her mirrored sunglasses from her breast pocket and placed them on the bridge of her muzzle. Looking at herself in the mirror the room had already had she smiled at the image that stared back. “Time to go make some friends.” She said and chuckled as she turned and headed for the break in the sheets that acted as her door, hands automatically going behind her back as she had yet to change back to being a quadruped since the trial.

Walking the halls she searched her memory for where she had seen the rebels kept their kitchen area, it was mostly just a read with some cook fires as these people were not doing well in the equipment department.
As the alicorn walked down the tunnels she quietly sung to herself swapping voices as needed for the song as ponies, griffins, zebras and minotaurs quickly made way for her and seemed to try to be merging with the walls just to keep from being near her, such fun.

“Drowning deep in my sea of loathing
Broken your servant I kneel
Will you give into me?
It seems what’s left of my equine side
Is slowly changing in me
Will you give into me?
Looking at my own reflection
When suddenly it changes!
Violently it changes!
There is no turning back now
You’ve woken up the deamons….in me!”

“What the buck are you singing?” A voice said behind her and Twilight stopped singing and glanced back at Dash who was staring at her with her head tilted to the side. Twilight noted that while there was fear in her eyes she kept it under control better than the others and was more curious then afraid, seems the mare was indeed a veteran to know how to control her fear so quickly when face to face with what she knew was a monster.

“Oh just a song I enjoy immensely.” Twilight said with a smile and the mare took a cautions step closer.

“That song….ok that song was really weird.” The mare said. “And the way you were singing it was….unsettling.”

Twilight snorted and then smirked at the other mare. “Well madness is the gift that had been given to me so I think I’m allow to sing songs anyway I choose.” Twilight said and laughed at the confused look on the pegasus’ face.

“Wha….wait you know you are insane?” She asked confused.

Twilight laughed more as the words had only one meaning to the mare and the laughing caused the mare’s wings to shift slightly in an involuntary fight or flight response. Getting her laugh under control Twilight turned and face the mare fully and spread her arms wide. “I figured out what I was a long time ago and have since come to terms with it and in fact embraced it.” She said with a large smile that made the cyan pony shutter.

“How can you be….ok with what you are?” She asked.

“Cause it’s fun.” Twilight said with a snort as her arms dropped to her side and she held up a finger as she leaned close to the Pegasus causing her to recoil slightly. “Think about it, I have such a wider range of things to do to entertain myself then the average person, I can read a book or go find some real sick fuck of a person and use them for some entertainment while doing the world a favor.” Twilight said matter of factly.

Dash’s ears splayed back against her head. “You are a monster…”She said.

Twilight nodded. “yup, which reminds me.” Twilight said and then decked the other mare causing her to stumbled back and fall to the ground clutching her face.

“What the buck was that for!?” She shouted in anger, wings flared as she held her cheek where Twilight had hit her.

“For beating me up while I was in custody.” Twilight said simply.

“What? But you’ve done way worse!” Dash said as she glared at the alicorn still rubbing her cheek.

“Yes but I am a psychotic monster so I have an excuse.” Twilight said simply with a shrug. “Besides that doesn’t mean I like being on the receiving end, its only fun when I do it to other people.”

It was at this point Dash seemed to remember who it was she was yelling at as her eyes became as big as dinner plates. “ah…uh….”She stuttered out.

Twilight rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses as she clasped her hands behind back once more. “Relax, if I was going to kill you I would have already.” Twilight said and smirked. “We are “friends” after all and I don’t kill my friends.”

Dash blinked up at Twilight. “Wait you have forgiven me already?”

“Oh fuck no!” Twilight said causing the mare to recoil again. “It will be a very long time before I forgive you for making me relive my time in The Labs, while I can easily forgive you for reliving the rest of it as a lot of that was good except for my friends dying The Labs……….The Labs are a different matter……”Twilight said a bit quietly, her usually smirk gone, her face neutral. Dashed tilted her head looking at the alicorn and opened her mouth to say something but the alicorn seemed to snap out of whatever it was she found herself in and shook her head before speaking. “Anyways I was on my way to grab some breakfast, care to join me and fill me in on the situation you guys are in?”

Slowly Dash nodded her head and got to her hooves. “Excellent!” Twilight said before turning and heading for the kitchens, the Pegasus mare following behind keeping a close eye on the alicorn, a look of distrust and concern on her face but also a hint of sympathy that she herself most likely was unaware she felt.

After a bit of walking Twilight looked over the small cavern that acted as these rebels kitchens/mess hall. There were some cook fires on one side with dinged and bent pots and pans over them as they were tended to by the cooks, runes drawn in the ceiling above the fire absorbed the spoke and sent it to who knows where though it didn’t get it all and there was a slight smoky smell to the air. On the other side of the room were a few chairs but for the most part the rebels who were eating were just sitting on the ground or against the wall. In short these rebels were in a sorry state compared to the rebels Twilight had joined so long ago.

Walking into the room the quiet mummer of conversation died instantly as she made her way towards the cook fires and she could feel all eyes on her as she walked. “Why don’t you take a picture it will last longer…” she muttered as she walked, it was one thing to glare at her with hate or look at her with fear, but just staring? No that was another thing entirely and it made her skin crawl and she felt her wings shift slightly as it brought up some dark memories the rebels had gotten a glimpse of the previous day. She knew they hadn’t seen even half of what happened as the memories came to fast and the spell had only been able to latch onto a few of them while
Twilight relived her entire month of true hell.

She did her best to ignore the stares and suppress the memories as she reached one of the cooks, this one a green unicorn mare who started up with nervousness, ah good something to get her off her memories.
Smiling as friendly as she could Twilight spoke as if to a good friend. “Hello there, I was wondering if I might be able to get some food?” She asked the mare just stared at Twilight which resulted in the alicorn sighing. She let her hands go and brought one of her hands in front of the mare’s face and snapped her fingers, she had been amazed when she learned her new fingers could snap as it made very little since but after a while she figured it had something to do with whatever had changed them from the original version. Either way the snap had the desired effect as the mare blinked and snapped her jaw closed with an audioable click.

“Huh?....What?” She asked blinking several times and then looking up at Twilight, staring at her own reflection in the alicorns sunglasses.

“Food, can I have some?” Twilight said slowly as if talking to a foal, one nice thing about being with rebels who knew what she was is she didn’t have to be completely polite, least not all the time, and could actually say what she wanted to. She would still control herself somewhat as she did need them as fighting an army is a lot easier with another army then just one soldier.

“OH….um….yes….”The mare said and started to stir the stew she had been cooking, Twilight hoped it wasn’t burnt since the mare had been distracted. Levitating a chipped bowls from a pile the mare scooped some of the soup into it and held it out to Twilight.

Twilight smiled as friendly as she could once more as she took the bowl from the mare. “Thank you kindly.” She said with a slight nod.

Dash stepped up beside her and spoke. “Maple can I get some as well?” She asked. The unicorn seemed to relax when she looked at Dash and smiled sweetly before nodding and grabbing another bowl and scooping soup into it as well.

Once Dash had her soup she turned to see where the alicorn she had been with went and blinked as she saw her walking towards one of the griffin cooks. Carefully balancing the bowl of soup on her normal wing she made her way after the alicorn, a bit confused. “Where the hay are you going?” She asked once she caught up.

“Getting food, this is a mess hall after all yes?” Twilight said without looking back.

“But that’s a griffin cook, he only does meat.” Dash said, her muzzle scrunching up.

“Exactly” Was all Twilight said as she approached the griffin cook.
The griffin looked at her and Twilight noticed his feathers were somewhat unkempt and he had a rather large scar running down the left side of his face and neck, the eye on that side was also milky white and clearly useless.

“Well if it isn’t the Empress look alike, what do I owe this visit to?” HE asked in a voice that was scratchier then even Dash’s.

Twilight smiled at this, this was an interesting turn of events actually running into someone who didn’t seem to care who she was. Twilight decided she liked him. “oh nothing just wondering what you have.” She asked, she looked out the corner of her eyes and saw Dash staring at the griffin in horror.

The griffin stared at Twilight with his one good eye. “Rabbit, caught just this morning, why you want some?” He asked in a tone that clearly said he knew the answer.
Twilight hated to disappoint the griffin as she nodded her head. “Absolutely.” She said.

The Griffin blinked a single time at her, the only indication to have heard her while Dash blanched at what Twilight said. “What? Why do you want meat?” The cyan mare asked staring at the alicorn. At the sound of her voice everyone in the room, include the other cooks, all instantly looked at Twilight.

Twilight sighed and looked at the battle scared Pegasus. “Because it’s good is why.” She said as if it was the most obvious thing on the planet. When she looked back at the griffin she found a small plate of rabbit being held out, the griffin eyeing her as she smiled and took it from his talon. “Thank you my good griffin.” She said before turning on her heels with her meal held in each hand and humming to herself as the shocked rebels tracked her across the room.

She heard the hooves of Dash as she scrambled to catch up to the alicorn who reached a corner of the cavern and sat against the wall smiling up at the Pegasus who just stared at her. “You eat meat?” She asked.
Twilight nodded. “Yup, have for years, it’s rather good once you get used to it.” She chuckled as she set her food to the side and scratched her chin. “Though flat teeth are not the best for eating it but eh, you get used to it.” Twilight said with a shrug before picking up her soup, she’d save the best for last.
Dash stared at her before slowly setting her bowl down and sitting on her haunches. “Anyways I’m glad you came with me Dash as I need a sitrep.”

Dash blinked at her. “what?” the mare asked tilting her head to the side.

Twilight sighed; oh she was going to have a fun time working with these rebels she could just tell. “Sitrep is short for situation report.” Twilight explained as she scooped a spoon full of vegetable soup into her mouth. “Tell me what is going on? I already guessed who the Empress is based on the whole trial but all I know is what is going on in Ponyville and that her army is made up of all the races on the planet.” Twilight said. “So tell me what all is going on, how did this all start?”

Dash sighed and picked up her own soup and started to eat. “It started with Tirek….well….no I guess it started a long time ago but nothing happened till Tirek.” Dash said as she stirred her soup and Twilight could tell she was seeing something else.

“Anyways Tirek was lose Discord helped him and in order to protect their magic the princesses gave it to Twilight as she was still new so Tirek wouldn’t know about her.” She said as she scooped some soup into her magic and Twilight nodded.

“Tirek eventually found out about her and came for Twilight, captured all of us and such to draw her out.” She said. “They fought, did a lot of damage as Tirek had the power of all of Equestria while Twilight had the power of four alicorns so they were about even.” Dash sighed. “it was really intense.”
“Tirek tried to use us as leverage but Twilight didn’t give up her attack or slow….I….I think she was letting out a lot of repressed anger or something.” Dash sighed and looked up at Twilight. “in the end she killed Tirek and all the magic was released and returned to its rightful owners….”Dash said. “We were all happy to have our magic back and some mages got the princesses out of Tartarus back in Canterlot.”

“It took us a while to notice Twilight was just staring down at the crater where Tirek’s body layed….at first we thought she was in shock she had taken a life…but….but then she started to laugh…..it….it chilled me to the bone as I never heard a laugh like that……”Dash looked at the alicorn. “your laugh at times reminds me of it….”She said
Twilight nodded and gestured for the mare to continue.

“We asked her what was going on and she grabbed us in her magic…she dragged us before her and glared at us all before she spoke. “ Dash said and took a deep breath and closed her eyes. ”well well, looks like you five were useless and it was up to me to figure out how to fix everything again!”
Dash sighed and looked down at the ground. “It….seems she hadn’t forgiven us for…well…a lot I guess, The wedding being one of the biggest I think.” Dash said her ears splayed backwards. “Discord was the first to realize what she was going to do and he tried to stop her….but….she was ready. She hadn’t forgiven him for everything he had done and before he could snap his fingers she sealed him in stone as he was the only one who had a real chance of fighting her. I don’t know what she did with him after that.”

Dash sighed. And scratched the back of her head. “After that she threw us aside and took to the air with a look of determination on her face as she flew east….it was a while later we heard she attacked the Griffin Kingdoms and killed their kings and the entire royal family….the army tried to fight her but….from what I’ve heard from some of the other griffins it was one of the bloodiest battles in their history and not one of them even came close to laying a talon on her…I think the Commandos came close….and after the rest of the army surrendered the Commandos refused to stop….last anyone heard of the Griffin Commandos was Twilight walking into their command bunker……apparently some high ranking officer took a drastic measure to try and take her down and detonated all the explosives they had….the entire command center was destroyed and Twilight just walked out without a scratch….we haven’t heard of any Commando’s since then…” She trailed off.

“After that it was Zebrica, The Minatare Homelands, Saddle Arabia everyone…..she single hoofedly attacked and conquered everyone in just a week before returning to Equestria and doing the same and declaring herself The Empress of Harmony” The cyan mare said with a snort. “Under her the world is in true harmony as all people are united under one banner, hers.” Dash said and spat on the ground.

“It didn’t take long before surviving military forces from all over banded together and…well the rest is history. “She said and gestured to the mixture of races all sitting around the room silently as they listened to the history of what had happened be told to Twilight by one who was there. “After she took Canterlot I joined the rebels...”She said.
Twilight nodded. “What….what happened to the others?” She asked carefully.
“Me and Applejack joined the rebels, me as an active member Applejack coordinating information we received and such from her farm till recently when it was found out, she barely made it out with her family and from what I hear the farm was burned to the ground. Fluttershy is with us sort of…but…..she doesn’t leave her room or really talk to anyone but me and then that’s just barely and usually through a locked door.” Dashed sighed. “rarity tried to stay out of it all and just keep her head down, she had Sweetie to think about after all but about a month ago that all changed and we barely got her to safety.”

“As for Pinkie….after….after we heard about what happened in the Kingdoms….she just disappeared….no one has seen her since….” Dash said and took a bite of her cold soup.

Twilight nodded. “What about the Changelings?”

Dash glared at the mention of them but quickly got control of her anger. “From what we know after twilight had secured her power and formed her armies she sent them out looking for the Hive.” Dash said. “she found them and as far as we know there are no more changelings.”

Twilight was quiet for a while before nodding. “Well then I can understand why you treated me as you did when you thought I was her.” She said and Dash looked at her but twilight spoke quickly. “Still haven’t forgiven you for that but I understand it.” She said and sat back placing her empty bowl to the side she picked up her rabbit. “From what you tell me you guys don’t stand a chance.”

Dash blinked and then glared at the alicorn. “What the hay! I tell you all that and you basically say we should quit?”

“No, I never said that, I said you don’t really stand a chance.” Twilight said. “you have your backs against the wall with little to no chance of success, how could I refuse helping you?” She said with a smile.

Dash stared at her for a while before speaking. “You are mad you know that right? She is way more powerful then you and you are still going to help us even though it’s not your fight?”

Twilight smirked. “Come now Dash I may be a proper military leader back home but deep down I am still and always will be a rebel soldier fighting to topple a corrupt regime who has a vastly superior force then me.” She said and chuckled. “If I ran from a little thing like being outnumbered, outgunned and outmatched then I wouldn’t be where I am today.” She said and took a bite of her rabbit.

Dash recoiled at that. “You actually do eat meat?” She asked looking like she was going to be sick.

“I told you I’m an omnivore.” Twilight said with a chuckle. “I think after this I’ll need a proper tour of the base as well as some information of exactly what we have to work with.” She said and smiled at the mare before her.
“Going to be fun going back to my roots and kicking ass in the name of truth, justice and fun!” She said and giggled as she took another bite of food.

Dash just shook her head. “Twi you are insane you know that?”

<<>>

Deep in the Everfree Forest which remained dark even as the sun shone down do to either the thick trees or the strange magics that permeated the forest, or a combination of both sat a set of chairs, broken plates, silverware glasses and what looked to be a well-crafted tables resting against a tree.
After a few moments a soft moan was heard from the table. “Sweet Celestia what hit me?” A slightly pained voice said. After a few more moment the table shifted away from the tree and fell back, its legs now resting pointed towards the forest canopy above.

Then a single hoof reached up and gripped one of the table legs before pulling itself up. What slowly got to its hooves was a mare wrapped in a skin tight suit meant to make it hard to be seen in the shadows, on her sides sat saddle bags and shifted with the sound of equipment in it, on her forehead rested a pair of night vision goggles. The mare groaned and rubbed the side of her head as she looked around her with her dark purple eyes, the only part of the mare that could be seen besides purple, pink and white tail, the pink wings she had at her side and the pink horn that sat just above her goggles.

Princess Mia Mora Cadenza, or Cadence, looked around at the twisted trees of the Everfree Forest with some confusion. “Ok….so this isn’t the Castle of Friendship dining room…”She observed out loud. She searched her memory to see if her second favorite filly or her lover/mate/sort-of wife or one of the two fillies had discovered her hiding under the table which would have resulted in Taillight either teleporting it away or flinging it to parts unknown.

All she remembered was listing and recording the conversation of the four when there was a boom, the sound of rushing winds. A sense of flying through the air and then her vision being filled with that of a tree as the underside of the table, and in extension herself collided with a tree knocking her out cold.
Well that explained the headache.

Rubbing the side of her head Cadence looked around once more. “ok Twilight where have you and Chrysalis gotten off to…”She said and activated the tracking spell she had managed to place on the other alicorn while she had dinner, the other mare kept finding and removing them when she realized Cadence had placed another on her.

Cadence hadn’t been able to place one on the Queen do to whatever happened but no matter, those two were almost always together doing something interesting. Her spell soon gave her a pulse in a direction deeper into the forest and Cadence smiled before galloping off in that direction. “You two can’t escape The Princess of Love!!!” She declared loudly as she galloped through the forest towards the other alicorn.

Author's Note

Upload brought to you by my phone.

Well we now now at what point the timeline diverged from cannon and why.

As well as finding out someone else has ended up here as well.