Fallout: Equestria - Child of the Stars

Chapter 29:

Common Enemy

"Something tells me everything is not going to be fine."

Alicorns, I’d heard tales of divine goddesses from Las Pegasus to Manehatten, but never actually seen one myself. They were supposed to be a myth, legends to explain disappearances, or the glimpses of angelic equines in the corner of one’s eye. I’d always suspected that the myth was true, I knew it was folly not to take the rumors of the green, blue, and purple monsters at least a little seriously. Telepathic, teleporters that were hell to fight one on one. This alicorn was nothing like that.

Dressed horn to tail in majestic black barding, there wasn’t a hint of her coat left on show as her shrouded wings and hooded cape billowed behind her like the radiant mane of the goddess Luna. Like a mask of silver, gleaming metal marked the areas around her visor, in addition to the metallic plates reinforcing her hooves while a red gem studded her forehead just below her towering horn.

Mild horn envy aside, the get-up alone may have almost made me jealous, it looked rather high-tech and masterfully crafted. Yet when she was telekinetically pushing my face into the dirt with no more than a casual flick of her magic, claiming she was a long-dead ministry mare, no less. Well, I really didn’t care about what she was wearing.

“Wretched things, hardly worth the trouble you’ve caused,” rumbled the accented voice of the false goddess as she shoved Vertigo’s snout into the dust, robbing him of any opportunity for a witty retort as she ceased me up towards her. “No more than common wasteland rabble, to think they bested you.”

Like a hundred claws digging into every inch of my body, I felt her magic squeeze tight. As if I were trapped in the crushing vice of the deep ocean, I struggled to move, gasping on what little air she allowed into my throat as she glanced by me to the rest of her minions.

To think a mare exists who’s able to make a minion out of Carnage. It was just another thing that may have impressed me, were she not actively attempting to telekinetically pop my head off. Locust too, she must be Vertigo’s friend from stable fifty-four.

Her gimmick was obvious the more I studied her, most of all as her body buzzed in simmering frustration, while sprites crawled over her withered skin in odd, zigzagging patterns.

She’s fused with them, they live inside her. I had a feeling they did more than simply live inside her, if the metallic growths on her desiccated coat were anything to go off. Not to mention they appear to give her a fair bit of… Pleasure.

I had to admit, I’d seen my fair share of ponies that got off on weird shit, yet this was quickly reaching the top of my list as the two freaks grumbled in irritation.

“Hardly had the chance, little bitch was gone before I even knew she was there!” Carnage hissed, the fire of his armor simmering like hot coals as his bloodshot eyes flared. “You let me at her now, and I’ll show you just how I deal with pests!”

“Oh, you really know how to impress a mare, Carni’,” muttered the smitten earth pony at his side, sitting back and tapping her power hooves together with a sparking click. “Make sure to make it extra painful for what she did to me!”

“Yes, smash them to a bloody paste, how… Wasteful,” mused Locust, licking her cracked lips. “Allow me, I hunger for revenge as much as I do this little nuisance’s flesh!”

“Yes, yes, because all that eating you do does wonders for your figure, sister!” Carnage smirked as I was left wondering just how the two were siblings. “A million mouths to feed, all skin and bones for it!”

“Less than can be said for the sheer weight of your fat ego, brother!” snapped Locust, while both Carnage and his smaller marefriend bristled.

“Great way to get indigestion, is cannibalism,“ Vertigo choked out, coughing on dust as he squirmed under the telekinetic grip.

“You don’t fool me, changeling!” Hissed the hole-filled mare. “Not that it matters, but I hear your kind were a delicacy once!”

Okay, whoever thought it’s okay to eat bugs that can think and talk, is kinda fucked up. I noted, even if they were sly shapeshifters. Either way, these guys squabble any longer and I’ll die of boredom before they kill me!

“Cease the pointless bickering, you foals!” Boomed the voice of the alicorn as she levitated me before her, as if inspecting a prize toy. “Barron was quite clear, they are to be alive and unspoiled. You would not rob him of his prize, would you?”

That comment appeared to shut the two of them right up as they stiffened, while leaving me to wonder who this Barron was. If he makes them think twice, I can only guess he’s going to be ‘sooo pleasant’.

“Look at you, barely worth more than a speck of dust,” mused the alicorn, her voice subdued as if only for me to hear. “And what’s this, I see you’ve been busy.”

I hated how exposed I was, all four legs pinned at my side, body arched towards her as she inspected my distended belly.

“Mis…. Black… I assume, another of…” I struggled to say, guessing she was another of Mr Green and Red’s band.

“Miss Pink, if you must know,” she responded, not a speck of the color in question on her as she levitated me back face to face with her. “And your elusive escapades have come to an end. For let it be known, it was I, Twilight Sparkle, to enact the Sigal’s will.”

She shoved me back into the dust, her shadow looming as she finally set down, sand and dirt fidgeting around her hooves as if disturbed by her mere magical radiance. Pinned as I was, all I could see was her armor-clad forehooves as she towered over me, cape billowing like storm clouds behind her.

There’s no way she’s an actual Ministry Mare? It was impossible, those ponies had died almost two hundred years ago, there was no way one could be here. Oh, the things I’ll say to her if she’s the real deal… At least after I find a way to beat her stupid magic.

“Bring forth the others, we have wasted enough time here,” declared the so-called Twilight Sparkle, looking at the rest of her goons, only for the two freaks among them to hesitate for a second. “Now!”

The armored band began to move, Carnage and Locust most reluctant among them. I could sense the tension, like a gang of petulant foals all clamoring to claim they were the ones to bring me in. Yet between flaming rage, ravenous swarms, and goddess-like magical prowess, I was pretty sure not one of them had anything over the others. Regardless, Twilight appeared to be the one in charge, levitating me like I were little more than a puppet on her telekinetic strings, standing me up straight, before she did the same with vertigo. I found myself posed like a foal’s action figure as she flicked her horn, and as if my body had been wrapped in concrete every one of my limbs froze, leaving only my stiff neck able to move.

I can’t move, why can’t I move!? I grunted, struggling to tug my aching limbs as they weighed me down like mill stones.

It was oddly how I’d felt in my dreams, recalling a Zebra mare, her blood like solid metal in her veins. The only quiver I felt from my petrified body was the squirming of my foals, a feature of my body Twilight appeared to be rather intrigued by as she regarded the two of us.

“What did you do!?” I snapped, jaw clenched as I tried to heave my legs out of the sand, only to teeter as if I were a statue about to topple over.

“Careful now, you don’t want to fall flat on your face,” mused the alicorn, augmented voice snide despite the helmet. “You’ll suffocate long before that petrification spell wears off.”

“Funny, I thought you said alive and unspoiled?” Vertigo quipped as Twilight casually nudged me upright with a dark wing. “I wouldn’t think the great Twilight Sparkle would risk her quarry suffocating.”

There wasn’t a word from the dark-armored mare, she flicked her horn no more than an inch, the gesture appearing to tax her less than simply breathing. Like he’d been ruthlessly struck by an invisible whip of telekinesis, Vertigo folded, still paralyzed as he grunted in pain. I did my best to break free, little care for her threat of drowning on sand as she paralyzed his head, robbing him of his ability to scream. For a moment, I thought she’d stopped his breathing, only for a whistling exertion to seep from his petrified nostrils as she struck him again.

“Do not doubt my intent, Changeling,” she hissed, lowering her head eye to eye with his crumpled form as her horn flashed. Emerald-green fire laced across the spire, and in the same instant, her magic ripped Vertigo’s disguise away. “My only charge is to keep one of you alive, and that’s not you.”

She glanced at me, while I fought to ward off the worry for my foal and just stare back at her. I knew there were a pair of eyes behind that black visor, probably a pair of very smug eyes while Vertigo could barely even blink.

“Where are the rest of my friends?” I hissed, and for a moment I feared it was going to be my voice she stole away next, until somepony else called.

“You’re not Twilight Sparkle.” Both the alicorn in question and I looked to the open elevator, where I saw Binary; her mechanical arms removed to reveal her gray coat.

Naked, I could see a few scars on her back and shoulders, far too neat to be actual injuries, I guessed they were where her suit connected. I could also see her cutie mark too, an open terminal file, from which poked a sheet of paper covered in ones and zeroes. The only thing they hadn’t taken from her was her Pipbuck, yet as worn as the earth pony looked, it was not her that my attention was instantly drawn to.

“Dragonfire!” Cherry’s voice was the most wonderful thing in the world, all I wanted to do as I saw her shove free of the crowd and run to me, was embrace her.

So much for the awkward kiss. I noted, pretty sure my current inability to hug her back was infinitely more awkward as she wrapped her forehooves around my petrified neck before any of them could stop her. Why would they, they probably think she’s as pathetic as I am for leaving her.

“Aww, the little things are so precious,” mused Locust as an arm of mecha-sprites swirled from a smooth cavity in her shoulder. It moved oddly like one of Binary’s arms as it hefted aloft my mother’s pipbuck. “Here, this what Barron’s after?”

So much for a miracle pipbuck. I wondered if Overseer was still hiding on it, or if he’d just left us and dispersed into the digital ether. If he wants to keep me alive, this isn’t how to go about it.

“Good work,” Twilight said as she took the thing in her magic, Locust shooting a smug grin at her fiery brother as Carnage huffed smoke like some kind of dragon.

I hardly cared for their senseless bickering, even if the terrified way Binary regarded Vertigo was lost on me. It looked as if she was losing her stable all over again, at the hooves of the very same ponies, no less. All of my attention was on Cherry as she finally appeared to realize I was stuck.

“Hey… Sorry, I had to get out… Stretch my legs,” I told her weakly, unable to move the limbs in question. “Are you okay, they didn’t hurt you, did they?”

“Disable the sentries and jumped the tower about an hour after I realized you were gone. Binary said you’d gone with Vertigo but…” She tentatively grasped my shoulders between her forehooves, looking me up and down. “What have…”

The last thing I was expecting from the timid, pink mare I’d come to know, was for her to round on the gang of monsters. I supposed this was the mare who’d gone to save her friends from the slavers, the same mare who’d leaped to Sky’s aid back in Crimson. Now she looked pissed as she glared and demanded.

“What is this, what have you done to her?” The two freaky siblings appeared as if they were about to burst out laughing, while Chief snickered along with a few of the other faceless onlookers.

I caught Cherry falter, her spur-of-the-moment aggression wilting as Twilight loomed over her.

“Nothing I won’t do to you. Now get back in line or paralysis will be the least of your concerns,” she commanded, yet for all her benevolence, I wondered why she didn’t just turn each of us into statues to save her the trouble.

She’s powerful, but not limitless. I noted, pretty sure her torture of Vertigo, not to mention how much she’d been tossing us around, had its cost. She’s not letting it show, she’s well aware of her own limits.

“N–No, let her move again or I’ll…” My heart broke as Cherry glanced about, desperately searching for something, anything she could use to get us out of this situation. It was then, that the freaks erupted into a fit of laughter, mocking her like schoolyard bullies.

“Aww, what are you gonna do, whinny us to death?” Carnage joked, earning a snicker from his small marefriend. “No guns, no armor!”

“Poor little thing’s gonna go and piss herself before she can squeak out another word,” mused his sister, jabbing a coiling limb of mecha-sprites at Cherry. “Totally pathetic.”

“Shut up!” Cherry roared, and in a flash she kicked out, her forehooves scattering sand into the monsters’ faces.

Most was deflected by the weaving wall of sprites Locust conjured around herself, while Chief took cover behind Carnage, and the few fleeting specks that entered his eyes melted with small puffs of smoke.

“You little, bitch. I’ll…!” The black wing thrust in Carnage’s path was all that stopped him from charging like an angry bull as Twilight casually levitated the sand and tossed it aside.

“There’s fight in you, but not enough.” Cherry squawked like a dog toy as the alicorn’s magic wrapped around her, squeezing tight as she squirmed.

“No, wait!” Between seeing Vertigo beaten into submission to now watching Cherry being crushed alive, there was little I could do but fold. “Leave them alone and… I’ll… I’ll tell you everything you want to know… About Destiny, right, that’s what you’re after!?”

“No, don’t… They…” Binary was the only one to call in protest, only for one of the faceless goons to kick her in the side.

The strike hardly looked severe, I’d weathered far worse, but it had her crumpled over, gasping as if all of her ribs had been shattered. Beside me, I heard the anger in Vertigo’s next exhalation, yet my focus was still totally fixated on Cherry as she gasped for all the air Twilight would allow her.

“What you know?” asked the alicorn as she marched right up to me, Cherry casually levitating above her as she leaned her head down to mine. “It’s hardly what you know that I want, it’s who you are.”

“What’s that supposed to mean, I’m no pony special,” I responded, but she drew back, and mask or not, I could detect a devious smile on her slender muzzle.

“No? We’ll see about that,” she mused as she let Cherry fall to the dust, coughing and gasping like a fish out of water. “But I’ll oblige, they can live only…” She turned away slightly. “Once Barron gets his claws on them, you’ll wish I was the one to kill them.”

“Dragon… I… I’m…” Cherry flopped with a dusty thud, the last of my four companions to do so as I glared at Twilight.

“We’ll see about that!” She appeared to care for my threat as much as she did for the dust on her hoof armor as she nodded for one of her goons to take hold of me.

“No, I don’t think we will,” she stated simply as the faceless pony shackled the four of us in a row like slaves.

What had started as the foundation of a good plan, the day I finally took back what was mine, was ruined as the last I heard was the monstrous’ siblings snickering. With a kick of his armored forehoof, the faceless goon sent me reeling into unconsciousness.

*

As far as cursed forests went, the Everfree came close to those of my homeland. It was a testament to the place’s ferocity, considering it was Equestrian. The life here was strange, alien even, and something far more sinister if the ancient tales were to be believed. My kind dwelled in the lands like these long before ponies first arrived, before the founding of Equestria, in an age of chaos and great winters. Yet after almost a hundred years wandering far from my home, I’d seen no great temples, no monuments to the ancient spirits. Zebras here were different, subdued, and quiet. At first, it hardly bothered me, all the easier for me with them out of the way.

Only ponies weren’t like my kind, they knew not the dangers of old. It was hard not to see them as naive foals, blessed with bodies capable of flight and magic, or the ability to revitalize the earth under their hooves. For millennia my kind had done such things through bone-braking work and alchemistic prowess. I knew it was the last shreds of my parents’ vision that had me believing such things, seeing others in such a small light. Yet such things hadn’t been gifted to my kind through evolution, we had earned our place, and respected our power. While ponies toyed with the heavens themselves like they were gods.

“You have us trek into the most wonderful places,” muttered my companion, and glancing back I saw the hooded stallion, the only company I’d had for years.

“You would prefer a sunny beach? Some wine perhaps?” I’d never been one for jokes, not until coming to Equestria, but at the smile my comment garnered, I couldn’t help but smile back.

Ponies had an odd way of dealing with the world. For all their power and the ambition to use it. Together they were something more. Divided in looks as much as the great tribes of my home, they functioned more as one. A great tribe of pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies, united under the only pair to embody traits of all of them. My skepticism regarding the rapid ascension of the alicorn princesses aside, part of me couldn’t help but admire them. In all my centuries wandering Equus, no zebra had ever treated me with such comradery.

“Goddesses, wouldn’t that be lovely,” Prancer nickered as the two of us made our way along the forest path. “Hard to think I grew up out here.”

“You do not recognize it?” I asked, his past one of the things to have brought me to him in the first place. Even if he was as tight-lipped about it as I was regarding my own history.

“No, things have changed, ever since they built that castle, tried to restrain the forest…” He trailed off, pressing a forehoof into the wet dirt. “Let’s just say there’s things that can’t be contained.”

I knew the feeling, it perforated the whole land. From the darkness of the eastern valley, to the wickedness here, I’d no doubt my parents’ old tales that this land saw my tribe’s origin were true.

“I fear it is the same grasp that takes hold of your dreams,” I told him, glancing at the night sky. “The tablet speaks of something sinister at the heart of this place, where the end begins.

“You’re hardly any more clear about it than my dreams, you know?” he said as the two of us made our way across a fallen log, the only manner to traverse the river below for miles according to my ally. “Either way, the castles just up ahead, so long as there’s no Timber Wolves between here and there, we’ll be fine.”

“I fear no wolf,” I assured sternly. He rolled his eyes, making it pretty clear that my attempts at humor were as far from perfect as they’d ever been.

“Believe me, after fighting cheese soldiers in that forest full of cotton candy, the Everfree is a breeze,” he quipped back.

“Yet I fear the age of chaos was only the start.” I glanced up at the night again as a shiver ran down my spine, mane prickling as if filled with more than the biting insects that flitted about the close air. “There’s something here… Something sinister.”

“Now you’re just starting to sound like my mother,” he huffed, tugging his cloak tighter around his neck as a cold gust of wind shook the trees. “To her, everything was cursed.”

“Smart mare, you should speak of her more often,” I said casually as the trees broke out onto a vast cliff bathed in pale moonlight.

The valley below was shrouded in mist, while across the vast breach loomed the subdued white towers of Equestria’s royal castle. Far from the great world temples of my home, the pony structure was still rather impressive. It was at least far cleaner than many of their cities, while the isolation saw most of the rabble didn’t linger in its streets. My sharp eyes scanned over the shimmering walls, taking in every gargoyle and stained glass window. From the lowest balcony, to the tallest spire.

There were fewer guards than I was expecting, leather-winged thestrals adorned in midnight-blue armor in place of the gold and white solar guard common during the daytime. They nullified any advantage of a nightly infiltration, the dark was to their benefit.

“My mother was a mad mare, cursed her unborn foal with the blight of immortality,” Prancer hissed as he appeared at my side, before taking a deep breath. “Goddesses, I hate my mother.”

“I understand the sentiment,” I offered with a half-smile, before adding. “But such things are only a curse if one allows them to be.”

“I don’t know, a few hundred years of wandering really gets old fast,” he responded, only for me to tell him to try a few thousand. “Either way, not a competition I want to win.”

“It matters not, this is where your old companion is to meet us, correct?” I shifted topic as I knelt in the grass, while he glanced about.

“South ridge, opposite the main bridge, yes,” the earth pony assured, retrieving a set of rugged papers from within one of the many pockets of his cloak.

“The two of you mutter so loud I could have ended you blindfolded,” came a new voice, and in a flash the two of us spun, dirt flying as I hopped onto my hind hooves, drawing my silver glave, while my companion drew a blade in his mouth.

“Steal yourself, you need not threat,” mused the stranger, materializing from the trees as if born of the shadows lingering amidst the canopy. “Night Prancer, you don’t look a day older than when we last met.”

“Need you remind me, Umbra?” said the stallion as he sheathed his weapon and relaxed. “What’s it been, ten years?”

“Try twenty-five, right after the last chocolate rains, remember?” the thestral mare mused casually, bat wings on full display as she set down before us. “And who are you, never seen one of your kind this deep into the heartlands before?”

“Then clearly you have not lived as long as he,” I responded, still trying to work out the whole casual thing, as with a nod from Prancer, I relaxed. “You are one of the night guard?”

“Eighth flight, third wing, yes,” she confirmed, offering a mock salute as her midnight-blue armor glinted in the moonlight. “Then tell me, if you know why we’re here, why betray your loyalty?”

Prancer gave me a look that suggested being so blunt may not be the best move. True, ponies didn’t seem to have as strict social mannerisms as my kind, but Umbra hardly appeared put off.

“Straight to the point, I see,” she observed, fangs flashing as she grinned. “No wonder you get on so well with him.” She nodded to Prancer and for the first time, the stallion stammered.

“Leave such things out of this, do you have what I asked for, or not?” he questioned, and with a roll of her eyes, Umbra reached a wing back into a hidden pocket under her armor.

I felt the chill in the air grow just a little as I saw it, the wind echoing through the trees as I laid eyes upon what she held out to him. As if calling to the forest around it, the small shard of silver metal hummed softly, a reverberating aura that appeared reciprocated by the silver blade at the end of my glave.

“Cursed steel, so it is true?” The words left my muzzle before the thought could fully materialize, while a part of me wanted nothing more than to run at the idea something so powerful could fall into the hooves of such a naive race. “How did you come by this?”

“I don’t know for sure, there are rumors among the guard about some kind of cult in the castle… The Children of the Night…” Umbra glanced around as if for prying eyes as she went on. “I dare not speak out against my goddess Luna, but there is talk that she found something at the heart of Everfree, a fallen star.”

Fallen star. The two words hit me harder than any blow ever could, I did my best not to falter, glaring at the infernal metal she so casually held on a wing tip as if it were my age-old adversary.

“What, like a shooting star?” Prancer asked, looking from her to me. “Is this like the time you had us looking all over the desert for another of these things?”

“So those reports about a zebra out there were true then?” asked Umbra, regarding the pair of us curiously. “You know there’s Changelings all over there, right?”

“Here I thought your goddess wiped them all out on her last visit,” Prancer quipped, and Umbra huffed, stomping a forehoof.

“Princess Luna was there for other reasons… I… I just don’t really know what,” she insisted, glowering at him as if he’d just insulted her mother.

“Looking for more of that, I presume,” I offered, nodding to the metal, only to back away as if the fragment would bite me as Umbra turned toward me. “Bring it no closer!”

“It’s that bad, really?” she asked, looking down at the thing as if it were just a rock. “Now that you mention it though, there was all that archaeological work. I remember being posted outside Her Majesty's tent when those Night Children folk went in.”

“Did you hear what they were saying?” Prancer pressed, but Umbra shrugged, letting him know that it wasn’t a guard’s place to eavesdrop on their princess.

“Besides, I’m pretty sure they used a silence spell,” she said with a sigh. “Dark are the days the princess does not trust her own guard anymore.”

“And yet here you are?” I countered, that feeling of being blunt once again only coming after I’d opened my mouth, either way before Umbra’s sour expression could become harsh words, I added. “Regardless, I see it in your eyes, the doubt. Tell me, why are you really here?”

She dared not meet my eyes as they shone under the brim of my hood. Even if I assumed she was a good pony, there was no looking directly into my gaze. No pony had in centuries, and the bat pony mare finally sighed.

“Because there are those among the night guard that fear for our princess. Ever since she came back from the heart of Everfree, ever since she’s been around this stuff… She has not been the same.” Suddenly she was looking at the silver rock as if my efforts to stay away from it were not so foalish after all. “And there’s talk… Talk she’s not happy ruling beside her sister, that she may try to usurp the throne.”

“That’s absurd, half of the kingdom would be against her,” Prancer exclaimed, but Umbra shook her head.

“There is a large number of pegasi that revere the dusk more than the dawn, same goes for the unicorns. Less said about the whole thestral race that will rise up to her summons should she try.” As much as a battle appeared to be the last thing she wanted, there was no doubt that Umbra would fight for her princess if she had to.

“War,” I said simply, taking a step up to the cliff’s edge to peer at the moonlit castle across the misty breach. “Or wer as some call it. An ancient word, born not of this world, for it has never known such hardships. It is the language of the stars.”

“What are you saying? That there’s going to be another dark age?” Prancer huffed, pressing a forehoof to his face. “Here I thought Wendigos and Discord were enough.”

“Need I remind you that Goddess Luna was one of those who saved us from those dark times?” Umbra added, looking to the rock, then back at me. “To think she would just set all of that aside for a throne?”

“The transgressions of the past are not lost on me, thestral. But I fear the events I foresaw have been set into motion, your goddess does not think as she once did. There is another puppet master tugging the strings now.” I felt the dreadful hole in my chest swell at the notion, the idea that after millennia of fighting, the world’s fate was still sealed.

“Even now, followers gather in her shadow, not of Luna, but of the stars. Those are your Children of the Night,” I added, turning back to face them, thankful for my silver cloak as the glare of the moon’s light on my back felt just a little more harsh.

“Then we take them, the Nocturnal Council will not simply stand by and allow them to corrupt our goddess,” Umbra insisted, finally tossing the star metal to the mossy earth as if it were poison.

“And yet is the path she is now set on not her will, not your duty to uphold?” I countered, feeling the conflict that I had the day my parents had told me to step up to my destiny, as every sister of mine prior had. “Where does the line between your loyalty and what you think is best lay?”

“I… I…” Umbra glanced from me, to Prancer, and finally to the moon as if seeking a divine answer from her goddess. “What does it matter, we can’t have a war…? Or whatever it is you call it!”

“And yet you would still fight one,” I stated, and at her lack of denial, I knew that the machinations of ponykind had their race on a knife edge. Fall one way, and it was oblivion for all, and yet the other way, I feared led to something far more sinister.

“In the Nightmares, the mare I see surrounded by fire… That is Luna, isn’t it?” Prancer asked, only to pause. “But you said there’s a puppet master, who?”

Peering out over the cliff at the distant horizon of endless trees bathed in the radiant pale majesty of the looming moon, I sighed.

“I was once told of a feud between the stars, those that wished to preserve life, and those that sought to consume it. In their hunger, they sent a great reaper to harvest what they had sown. While other stars sought to hinder this grim arrival, there are those among us now that wish to see it come to pass.” Looking back at them, I tossed back my hood, revealing the orange scars that mottled my striped hide.

Despite seeing them several times before, prancer averted his gaze. While Umbra bore a momentary look of awe that soon melted into dread, just as all others who saw me for what I was.

“My presents, my tribe, were among those who wish to do so. Now I wonder if your princess is another, or if it is the stars that seek only to toy with our existence that have laid claim to her soul.” Umbra’s fascination appeared to warp into fury, as if I’d just told her every one of her family members were little more than two-bit whores.

To take her goddesse’s name in such vain, must hurt, that level of social conversation was hardly lost on me. Yet it was Prancer’s look, one of cold bitterness that I had failed to tell him about such things after so long that gave me pause.

“That’s ridiculous, stars are just stars, they sit in the sky and twinkle… By the night, Luna’s mane is full of stars!” Umbra spat, tripping over her own revelations as she stomped a forehoof.

“And here lays their scheme, the efforts to turn soul against soul. Not an hour ago you were willing to betray her to save her. Now I offer you the truth and you reject it,” I responded, and for all her flustered fury, there was no smart retort from the bat pony.

“So, how do we stop it?” Prancer was the one to ask, peering up at the night as if the stars were about to fall on his head. “Saying I believe you, that is.”

“I fear that we may not be able to. The flow of fate is a complex thing, often in an effort to prevent that which one dreads, they become its causation. We must tread carefully, observe the tides.” Had I said such a logical thing to my kind, they may have understood, ponies, however, did not.

“Allowing the kingdom to fall into ruin while you do? No wonder your kind’s cities burned.” Even the centuries-old Prancer appeared put off by the notion, even if he was not the one to outright say it as Umbra pressed. “Rumors or not, I refuse to believe my goddess is possessed by some star monster!”

The bat pony’s forehoof stomped again, only this time landing right atop the discarded star metal. She hardly appeared to notice, glancing down at the stuff with as much scorn as she did me. All the while, that humm from the cursed metal grew just a little.

“Umbra, wait…” The mare shook off Prancer’s efforts to calm her down, flaring her leathery wings, and taking to the sky. “You two are lucky I don’t arrest you just… Get out of my sight!”

Like a phantom, she disappeared into the night before I could even blink, while I tugged my hood back up, peering out into the starry night as the bitter wind tugged at my cloak.

“Congratulations, you put her squarely on the evil side,” Prancer huffed as he marched up to stand next to me.

“Her kind will follow the star maiden into any plight, I made no difference, merely reaffirmed,” I muttered coldly, spying many more bat ponies upon the ramparts of the castle.

“Your past, why didn’t you tell me?” he asked, gaze fixed on the stars as he did so.

“I would ask the same, but talk of your mother’s cruelty matters not to me,” I responded, bowing my head a little. “Therefore, I sought not to burden you with the knowledge of my own. I know not how she cursed you, only that you share my plight of immortality.”

“Well, my limbs don’t exactly grow back like yours,” he quipped with a small laugh. “So when was the last time some pony called you by your real name, not that Specter horse-apples?”

“Not in an age, and you?” I asked, earning a shrug from the stallion as if it felt like just a long. “Majeph, if you must know. That is my name.”

“Bramble Thicket, only thing my mother gave me that didn’t come with a curse,” he responded, finally looking at me. “And all that talk of a fight… A war, you believe that?”

“I believe I have to. Fate works in mysterious ways, and if the stars that influence your princess wish to prolong our torment, they may at least spare us the wrath of those that would see us consumed,” I told him, feeling as if I was stuck between two cliffs, doomed to slam into them both over and over.

“What has the world come to?” he asked, taking a deep breath, before glancing back at the metal Umbra had discarded. “And what of that?”

“Leave it, such things have caused this world enough pain already,” I told him, reluctantly scooping up the shard in a forehoof.

The prismatic shimmer shunned my warped reflection, the glow of my orbital scars blazing in the sleek surface as I felt dark whispers fill my head. Calls to keep it all for myself, to keep those closest to me away from it. I’d seen it all before, born into a world molded by the stuff. Resisting the humming call, I finally tossed it into the misty depths below.

*

I awoke in a cold room, the dreariness of my dreams replaced by the dull hum of ventilation and the monotony of gray walls as my eyes flickered open. At least until the weary haze of sleep was shattered by the most amazing pink face, followed by the most wonderful voice in the world.

“Dragonfire? Dragonfire, you’re awake!” Cherry was wrapping me in a tight embrace before I could even assure her I’d indeed left Luna’s realm.

“Cherry?” I asked in a daze, blinking tiredness from my eyes as I sat up, finding a smooth wall against my back as my rump rested on a grated metal floor. “Y–you’re alright?”

I’d never been so happy to have feeling in my limbs as I reached out and hugged her back. Weak as my forelegs were, feeling her warmth, her smooth coat and mane so close to me was a true blessing.

I never should have left her. What was one kiss? I neglected to mention any of that as she drew back, looking me over like I was some rebellious foal who’d returned home to her mother covered in dirt. I just wonder how much she’s thinking about it too.

“I’m fine, but what about you, what happened?” She studied me rigorously, eyes lingering on my rounded stomach, a bump notably not covered in armor.

Both of us lacked any gear save for magical retainers around our horns, and as I glanced around at the stable security cell, I was pretty sure I knew why. Reflexively, I rested a forehoof on my belly, rubbing it without thought as I blushed hard. There was no way I could hide it, without my armor it was pretty obvious I was further along than the last time we’d met.

“Did you… Get bigger!?” she asked in alarm, pressing a forehoof to the peak of my distended midsection. “You… You went near radiation, didn’t you!?”

Brow furrowed, she glowered at me like she was the angry mother. While I did my best to ignore the agitated squirming in my gut that suggested my unborn twins were just as unhappy with my lack of self-preservation. Even if the manner in which they wriggled at least suggested they were just as happy to see her as I was.

It's like the three of them are in league or something! I thought with a sigh, feeling the closest thing to a kick since discovering they were growing in there. But she’s not wrong.

“I had to, Vertigo was in danger, and it was the only way to get him out,” I assured her, only a half-truth. But I didn’t think that the details of Project Nightstalker would bother her that much as she looked at my tummy.

“It’s just… Wow, Sky really was right,” she muttered in slight disbelief. Only to wince and glance up at me sharply. “Not that it makes you look any less… Good.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice, last time I go near…” As her latter words hit me, my own thoughts died.

Like the mysterious zebra haunting my wacky dreams, I found it impossible to meet her eyes as she blushed. She was so unbearably cute, how could I not appreciate that kiss and adore every moment with her?

Use her like a sex toy, just like every other pony you’ve supposedly loved. My mind sniped, guilt swelling in me just as it did every other time I had considered pursuing her. I can’t use her but… That was all just to get a foal, a hopeless goal. Now I have one… Maybe two, can’t I have her too?

My thoughts also lingered on Vertigo, he was a good stallion… Bug, thing… Whatever he was. I was hardly even sure I loved him as a he, his pure form definitely appeared to lack the features of a mare or a buck, as he’d told me. However, while I could hardly say that the foals inside me were Cherry’s, calling them his still filled me with a little more faith that they weren’t monsters.

Maybe a permanent three-way isn’t the worst option? I wondered, considering what I could say if anypony asked how two mares had produced foals. I’ve seen crazier shit in my time.

“Dragonfire, are you alright?” Cherry nudging my shoulder as she dropped the question softly shook me from my romantic stooper. “Are you sure you didn’t hit your head or something?”

“N–not I’m fine just…” I winced, averting my eyes away from her worried gaze. “Just hung up on a few things… I’ll get over it.”

“Oh, right… It’s me, isn’t it?” I both loved and hated the fact she was so straightforward, while I was sure I’d spend weeks dodging the issue until it ate me up inside, when she put it so openly exposed like that, it made things so much easier. “I… I’m sorry, I didn’t know what I was doing, just…”

That’s right, she’s made it easy. Take the easy way out, blame it on her. Part of me insisted, running from responsibilities as I had for years. What’s another mare’s heartbroken in your desire to get bucked?

“No, you didn’t do anything wrong and I…” I felt the words catch in my throat, a feeling I hadn’t possessed in years swelling in my chest, desperate to let the sentence out. While apprehension snagged it like hooks in my muzzle.

Just tell her you liked it, tell her you like her. I shook my head with a sigh, one forehoof resting beside hers on my belly as I swore I felt something move under my taut coat. How can I? I like her enough to spare her that.

“Goddesses, did it just move!?” Any delusion I had that the foals within me hadn’t started to move for the first time dissipated as Cherry’s eyes popped wide, her focus instantly on my tummy. “I know I felt it. Oh, he’s kicking!”

“So that’s what that is, thought it was just indigestion.” Leaping on the sudden shift in topic with a sheepish laugh, I rubbed one forehoof on the back of my neck. “Does feel a little more funky down there though.”

“Just a day ago you could barely tell you were expecting… This…” As adorable as her giddy excitement was, she soon trailed off, wincing as she added. “Sorry.”

“So, you found something in Fort Sandstone, then?” croaked another voice, and it was only then that my attention shifted away from the blissful mare that was Cherry Pin.

Binary looked far worse for wear. Our captors had at least gone to the effort of wrapping a bandage around her midsection, even as she slumped against the far wall, struggling to breathe. Robbed of her harness, I noticed how small she was for an earth pony, not to mention the weary look in her eyes.

What did they do to her, surely one kick to the ribs didn’t fuck her up this much? I thought, wondering if the harness was some kind of life support.

“Picked up whatever you sent Vertigo for, I think… Suppose they’re in here somewhere now.” Glancing around her, I finally made out the cell the three of us were sealed in, monotone gray walls encasing us on all sides.

Each was devoid of features save reinforced pipes and wires, with the exception of that opposite me. There a faded window allowed a glimpse into the stable security block beyond, while beside it, was a sealed door. It took me no more than a moment to guess that this was stable fifty, if the faded digits printed on the far wall didn’t give it away any sooner.

When I imagined infiltrating this place, this wasn’t what I had in mind. I thought, straining to peer through the window at the other cells surrounding the security block, only to find them empty. Damn it, where’s Star, or Vertigo for that matter?

The fact neither of them were here was starting to make my mane prickle as I finally rolled onto my hooves. Once more the free sway of the blooming weight between my legs threw me off a little, only for Cherry to steady me.

“Whoa, steady,” she exclaimed, resting against my flank, only to dart away as I regained my balance, adding in an awkward stammer. “Foals are heavy, that’s what my sister always used to say.”

“Tell me about it, it’s worse when they rapidly double in size on you,” I assured, burying the idea they were monsters soon to outgrow me as I moved over to Binary. “What happened to you, what did they do?”

She appeared sad at the question, her eyes downcast as she grumbled about stupid things under her breath, before finally sighing.

“BADD, it’s the reason I need the harness for more than just maintenance. Same reason I hardly come out here.” At my I'm not a smart pony who understands acronyms look, she shifted, wincing as she stretched out one of her forelegs. “Bio-Arcano-Deficiency disease. Rare genetic disorder, I won’t bore you with the details but makes me more brittle than a thin sheet of ice.”

“I tried to tell them she needed medical attention, but they won’t listen to me,” Cherry insisted, stomping a forehoof. “She hardly does herself any favors.”

“What, you want me to magic up a solution?” she huffed, pressing a forehoof to her face. “I’m finished, they found me, right when I had the keys to the kingdom in my fucking back pocket!”

Was that because of me, is that why they were able to find her? I wondered, considering it could have even been Overseer who’d sold her out. No, he hates the Transcendent… They must have finally tracked me down.

“My old pipbuck, what did they do with it?” I asked, glancing out of the window as if expecting every one of the freaky monsters to be there peering in at us. “And where’s Vertigo?”

“Your little robot buddy completely shut himself off the moment it realized there was a breach in the tower, didn’t lift a finger to help even when they shut down all the defenses,” she said bitterly, and with that, Overseer gained a few more hatred points in my log. “Vertigo, I don’t know. They took him away to another cell, he was still stiff as a board when they did.”

“She’s right, all your pipbuck did was ask for you the moment it knew you were gone, kept freaking out about it,” Cherry added, stepping up beside me.

“Yeah, only I’m pretty sure it encrypted itself, if it’s not still in the tower’s mainframe, it’s all still on that pipbuck, and they have it.” Binary nodded out of the window, and finally peering out, I took in the room.

Indifferent to many other stable security sectors I’d seen before, the neat block of stable fifty was at least cleaner than most others. As I’d made out before, there were at least two other empty cells, as well as a table in the center of the room, on which was a terminal and what appeared to be my gear. I saw Cherry’s too, and while the pile lacked Binary’s strange harness, I did see my old pipbuck, right next to the new one the earth pony had gifted me days ago.

There were four ponies in the room, two of the faceless Transcendent guards by the door, while another pair of mares in stable fifty barding worked on the terminals. There was a distinct lack of monster ponies among them, and while the guards appeared as they usually did, still as statues, the pair of stable ponies looked like they’d rather be anywhere else.

“I see my stuff, pipbuck an all,” I told the others. “Only three hostiles too. We need to get it, and get you some medical supplies.”

“You mean escape?” Cherry asked, perking up at the notion, while Binary just shook her head with a huff.

“I tried the door, it’s locked tight. Besides, those stable ponies are just as much prisoners.” She grit her teeth as she shifted, half out of pain, and the other out of fury, I suspected. “I thought they’d killed everypony I knew when they took this place, turns out they just took half of us as slaves.”

“We’ll deal with that when we get to it, I have a plan. All I have to do is reach that pipbuck you gave me, get the word out…” My words died as the opposite door opened, and from the hall outside strode an elegant, dark figure.

Like a cloud of shadow trailing behind her dark tail, Twilight Sparkle loomed across the room as if carried upon a cloud of pure shade. Her masked eyes came to rest on me as she peered down her sleek muzzle at the window.

“Ah, you’re finally awake, good,” she spoke with irritation, as if her spell hadn’t worn off fast enough for her liking. “For some time I was worried what the spell may do to a mare in your condition, you’re weaker than most.”

“Let me out of here, give me my guns, and I’ll show you just how wrong you are about that,” I hissed, stiffening as I glared back at her. “Who are you, what do you want with me?”

“You know who I am, or are you so primitive that even history books are beyond you?” she asked, pressing a forehoof to her chest as she flared her wings. “I am the great Twilight Sparkle, and you…” She jabbed the same forehoof at the glass. “You are more trouble than you’re worth, if you ask me.”

“Good, I aim to be that way for ponies like you,” I countered, and even through the glass, I heard an irritated breath seep from her grated mask.

“To think one such as you was able to enter the reliquary, fate does find a way to make things difficult,” she muttered, seemingly more to herself as she added. “If it were my call, I’d have you strung up, your mind dissected until every answer was mine, but Barron wants you alive.”

“Lucky me,” I countered, feeling that of all the fates that could befall me, from being mashed into a pulp, to eaten by a swarm of mecha-sprites, if this mare could really cut my mind apart like it was on an operating table, why not just do it?

“You may not say so when he returns,” she warned, bowing her head to come eye-to-eye with me. “So, I offer you this, before you are tossed to the Sigal’s dog, tell me what it is that makes you so special.”

“You think I know, don’t you?” I asked, and she fell silent for a second, seeming to think, before her horn flared.

I winced, even Cherry shied away from the glow. Yet no magical torture came, she simply levitated over my mother’s old pipbuck from the table.

“For almost two hundred years we have been trying to access every Destiny facility. Reliquaries to the faithful, answers for those more intellectual,” she elaborated, leveling the small device between us. “Mr Hayland was always obsessed with bettering ponykind, any opportunity he had to improve life for the masses, he took, no matter the cost.”

“Yeah, I saw. Like butchering a mare and stuffing her in a tank for centuries!” I growled, feeling that if anyone deserved some retribution for all of this, it was Lucky Star.

“Among many things, yet he could never see the big picture, never see that to change fate, you must embrace it. It cost him everything, his wife, family, even his mind.” she went on, regarding the pipbuck as if it were the key to everything.

“If the attack on the southwestern center that day had been successful, we’d not be here now. But the bombs had to drop, cost everything,” she hissed, once again more to herself as pieces of what she’d said fell into place within my head.

“Orical… Ebon Star… She was his wife, wasn’t she?” I asked, and like a school teacher shocked the often disobedient filly had answered a question correctly for once, Twilight perked. “And you knew her?”

If she was telling the truth, and she was somehow Twilight Sparkle herself, then surely she had heard of the mare that had once tried to have her killed.

“Yes, I did, and yes she was,” she said, looking back at me slowly. “Happily married with four foals, until she found the truth that he was blind to.”

“Then spit it out, if you’re as great and powerful as you say you are, you can skip the shit and tell me what this is,” I snapped, earning an awkward smile of support from Cherry.

“So eager for answers, did you ever stop to think you may not like what you find?” she asked cooly, setting the pipbuck down.

“I’ll take my chances,” I insisted, feeling a small jab to my gut as I wondered if the truth about all this, maybe the truth about my foals, was it worth knowing?

“The program on your pipbuck, I know it desires to keep you alive. You should know it only does so because you have become the catalyst for its experiment.” She nodded back at the device on the table. “Once we have it unlocked, we will know all of Destiny’s secrets, but for now, I know this. Whatever they were trying to create, whatever kind of new pony, it was only half like you… The rest is something else.”

The next squirm I felt in my gut was notable no matter how much I tried to ignore it, all the while I was left wondering why this had happened to me of all ponies. Why had they set me up to become the host to this thing, why was I the only mare able to get into that place? It had been clear from the many other dead mares down there that I wasn’t the first Overseer attempted to impregnate, only I was the first not to die.

Not yet anyway. If it’s only half pony, what else is it? I shut my mind off there, really trying not to think that there could be something developing claws within me, ready to rip its way out. No, they’re not monsters. Like Flare suggested, we can cut them out!

“All that I have inside me is my foals,” I told her sternly, catching the small gasp that escaped Cherry’s muzzle at the plural addition. “You want them, you’ll have to go through me.”

Mother’s scorn met magical might as our eyes locked, her visor doing little to spare her from my hash glare as I caught my stern stare reflected in the obsidian shield. Even so, she did not back down, she merely scoffed at the threat, lifting her head back to tower over me.

“Barron may intend to do just that, he need only deliver your spawn to the Sigle intact, not you,” she warned.

“Then he’ll have to wait, foals take time!” Cherry chimed in, stepping close to my side. “A–and you’ll have to go through me too!”

Under threat of brutal cesarean or not, feeling her so close to me, so boldly coming to my aid, I felt my heart flutter far more than my alien foals’ kicking.

“Oh, but we have ways of hurrying that along, don’t we?” the alicorn threatened, her horn flaring, causing the pipbucks around her to crackle, as the ponies in the room shot her worried looks.

Their apprehension was nothing next to the slight stabbing that wracked my gut at the conjured radiation. I doubled over, Cherry gripping my shoulders as I heard her call my name, voice muffled by the pain.

“Stop it, you’re gonna kill her!” begged the pink mare as Twilight’s radiation spike flickered out.

What’s that, another month… No, maybe a week? I thought gasping for air as I saw my belly quiver. Goddesses, if this is happening enough for me to get a feel for the time frame, that can’t be good!

“I’m fine, Cherry, I’m fine,” I coughed, a forehoof pressed to my aching gut as the pink mare knelt before me. “It only hurts when they grow.”

“They… More than one!?” she asked, her voice filled with a mix of fear and excitement as tears shimmered in the corner of her eyes. “Twins!?”

“Interesting,” mused Twilight, peering down at the two of us like we were little more than the microbes in her petri dish.

“You bitch, how could you attack a pregnant mare!?” I had to admit, hearing such vulgar rage come from such a sweet mare was a shock as Cherry glared at her.

“We all do what we have to,” responded the dark alicorn, before there was a call from over the crackling speakers of the stable’s PA system.

“Inquisitor, Lord Barron has arrived and requests your presence immediately.” The monotone summons cut off with a sharp pop as Twilight sighed, spun, and made for the door.

“They are to remain alive and unspoiled, the mother and her foals most of all,” she ordered the two guards, who nodded as she disappeared into the halls.

“You sure you’re alright?” Cherry asked as I finally sat up, one forehoof on my rounded bump as I breathed, savoring every deep breath.

“That’s one heck of a pregnancy you got there. Doesn’t line up with any project I’ve heard about,” Binary commented, still looking as weak as I felt, while I nodded to Cherry.

“I’m fine, just… Need a breather.” The pink mare appeared far from convinced but as she gripped my shoulders between her forehooves, she smiled.

“Twins, huh… When did you find out?” she asked sheepishly, while I informed her that I’d been back to see Flare, and that the medical mare suspected it was the case.

“All the more reason to get out of here… While I was there I made a plan, we just need to get to the pipbuck, send a message out,” I elaborated, doing my best to think on that, rather than the idea my foals were some kind of pony-monster hybrids as Cherry glanced about.

“They’re going to keep us in here until that monster comes back, with her around there’s no way we can get out,” she suggested, wincing. “And I have no idea where we are.”

“I know my way around, they can’t have changed the layout too much,” Binary assured, sitting up with a cough. “I need to hit the med bay… Try to find another servo-harness too… There’s a way out under the Overmare’s office we can use.”

“What about a broadcaster, is there a way I can transmit a message back to Crossroads?” I asked, hoping that the attack could be ready a day early, while neglecting to spill the full details lest the Transcendent hear.

“If the interference from Crimson isn’t too bad, the stable’s got a communications lab. Transcendent has to have one too, chatter has been in and out of here for years.” She glanced at the door, seeming to think. “All of the labs are on the upper floors, above the atrium… But there’s also Vertigo, I’m not leaving him here.”

I don’t plan to either. I added mentally, as she added details regarding a solitary confinement space on the far side of residential. Figures they’d lock him in there, maybe Star too, it would take more than a cell like this to house him.

“Hardly makes any difference if we can’t get out of here though,” she added, as I wobbled to my hooves, peering out of the window.

Two guards, two ponies that don’t look like they’ll put up a fight. I have no magic, no guns, and I’m four months pregnant… Wait. My thoughts paused as I glanced at the bump in my belly. That’s it!

“Cherry, you were there when your sister foaled, right?” I asked, and she blinked at me before nodding.

“I… Yeah… It was when I was younger, but sure…” she told me sheepishly.

“Good, then just do what you did when she was in foal, we gotta make this look convincing,” I instructed, before doubling over and clutching my gut. “Gah! Oh, by Celestia!”

“Dragonfire, Dragonfire, what’s wrong!?” she called urgently as I yelled at the top of my lungs, bracing against the wall in mock pain. “Is it the foal!?”

“Oh, Luna… Fuck, yeah, I think the baby is coming!” I declared, scrunching up my face as I pressed my forehead to the wall. “All the excitement must have gotten to me… Fuck, it hurts!”

I dove back to what it had felt like to feel my belly expanding back under the prison, pouring the memory into my act as I caught Binary’s knowing look.

“Sudden labor shock, she’s delivering early. Must have been whatever that alicorn did to her!” exclaimed the gray mare, as I saw the two stable mares outside sit up straight, the guards by the door exchanging glances.

“What, how long have you been having contractions, not even braxton hicks!?” Cherry demanded, pressing a forehoof to my arched spine. “Just breathe, Dragonfire, breathe!”

Damn, and here I thought I was a good actor. I thought, detecting the genuine panic in her flustered voice as she glanced out of the window. It’s like she really believes it.

“What are you doing, somepony needs to help her!?” she called to the ponies outside, while the unborn foals inside me wriggled giddily at the display.

“Should we do something?” asked one of the mares by the terminals, while the one opposite looked more apprehensive.

“I don’t know… After the breeding queue, I delivered my last foal alone at home, I made it through,” she stammered, pressing a forehoof to her gut.

“Oh goddesses, something feels wrong… I gotta push!” I called as loud as I could, recalling the few dramatized depictions of foaling I’d seen in old recordings. “Okay, one… Two… Ahh, goddesses!”

“No, no, don’t push yet, Dragon! I… Oh, we need a doctor!” Cherry glanced about as if a midwife would suddenly materialize from the walls, before once again fixing her eyes on the guards. “Do something, didn’t she tell you this foal’s important!?”

Wow, good one, Cherry, really make them think about this! Her quick thinking was just as adorable as her cute looks as the guards finally took a step forward. That’s right, can’t afford to lose your prize foal now, can we?

“You two know anything about this shit?” asked one of the masked ponies, a mare, as the other took a step back.

“Fuck, I’ll go to medical. Let you mares deal with this foaling shit!” He was gone in a flash, leaving the last to stomp over to the stable mares, drawing a rifle in her magic.

“I… have a filly, but… Well, I didn’t exactly deliver my own foal…” Said the mare who’d said I would be fine. “She just kinda… Popped out!”

“You said you did it on your own. Good enough, now get in there,” ordered the guard, jabbing the timid mare toward the cell at gunpoint.

“It’s okay, Dragon, help is coming, just breathe. Try not to push until a doctor tells you, alright?” Cherry reassured softly, rubbing my back as I pressed my head to the wall, closed my eyes, and screamed like my insides really were ripping open.

“Okay, get back, both of you!” The guard hissed, jabbing her gun at Cherry and Binary, the former reluctant to leave my side, while the crippled latter just huffed the word ‘seriously’.

“You bastards, let me hold her hoof!” Once again Cherry’s vulgar outbursts were met by deaf ears as the guard forced her right back to the wall.

“Okay, I had to use a mirror myself, but let’s have a look at you,” stammered the stable mare as she lifted my tail with her magic. “Pretty sure I’ll be able to see how dilated… Wait.”

As good as it often was to have a mare toy with my tail, the rump bump I shoved against her side was anything but playful. She fell with a yelp, right into the guard. In the commotion, the faceless mare’s magic imploded, robbing her of her weapon as my eyes fixed on the rifle. Pregnant or not, I darted for the thing as fast as I could, belly dragging only a little as my instinct to use telekinesis resulted in nothing.

Goddesses damn horn restraints! I inwardly cursed, moving to shove the guard mare down as her magic swiftly found the weapon. Oh no you don’t!

I liked to think my added weight was good for something as I pinned her down, feeling like there was an equally rambunctious tussle within me, part of me worried I’d eat my own words and this fight would shock me into early labor. The mare under me wasn’t so eager to be outdone, however, and the moment she kicked the clumsy stable pony away, her hind hooves shot up, right into my very sensitive nethers. I had a strange sympathy for milk brahmans as I crumpled, and she rolled me off with a grunt.

“Nice try,” she huffed, levitating up her rifle as she blocked the door. “No pony ever teach you not to cry wolf!?”

“You won’t kill me, you can’t!” I countered, staggering up to stand before her. “Not if you don’t want Miss Goddess to come in here and turn you into a statue.”

“No, but I can just shut this door and…” There was a clunk as something heavy smashed over the guard’s head.

She fell in a heap, weapon utterly forgotten as in her place stood the second stable mare, loose terminal levitating beside her.

“Thanks,” I offered, taking the guard’s weapon as the stable mare looked down at the unconscious guard as if this were the first pony she’d ever struck.

“I… Is she dead?” she stammered, dropping the terminal.

“Beats me, good hit, Net Runner,” coughed Binary, and as the adrenaline faded from them, the two stable mares both darted to their crippled companion.

“Oh, Binary, you’re alive!” Net declared as they both crouched on either side of her. “I thought they killed you for sure, after your sister and the Overmare…”

“No, I used the escape under her desk… How did you get by?” coughed the crippled mare as the two helped her up.

“They spared half the foals. We had to grow up here working for them… Or they toss us into the city as slaves,” said the other mare, adding. “I think you were the only one that got out.”

“Damn it, just wait until I get my hooves on…” Binary’s threats were broken by a fit of coughing as I stepped out the door, wary that more guards could return at any moment only to find us not dealing with ‘mare shit’.

“We need to get her to medical, Pixels will still see to her, I’m sure,” said Net Runner, her companion nodding, before adding.

“If we can get by the guards, they’ll be back here soon.” Making my way over to the middle desk, I was barely able to use the security keys to remove the damper on my horn, magic stinging a little as I levitated the thing over to Cherry next.

“Wait, so you’re not having the foals now?” she asked, blinking at me in confusion as I nodded.

“Yeah, but it was a good act though, right?” I asked, patting her on the shoulder. “You were great, the whole don’t push thing was just like the old shows.”

“Dragonfire, you idiot! You grew weeks in a day, I thought it was real!” she exclaimed, magic flaring to bat at my shoulder with her loose barding the second the restraint was off. “Don’t do that to me!”

She did, was I that convincing? I winced, feeling guilt I didn’t know I had at making her worry about me. And here I want to avoid toying with her heart.

“It doesn’t matter, we’re out, aren’t we?” Binary stated, interrupted by more wheezing. “You’re right, I need to get to medical. Net, Flash, can you get me there… Say the guards sent me up?”

“Yeah, I think so, but what if they don’t take the bait?” the mare I assumed was Flash, asked nervously.

“Then you use this,” I told them, levitating over the guard’s rifle, as I took Zap-Zap back for myself.

Oh, I could kiss you, little guy. I thought the second the arcane energy pistol was back in my magical grip. I’m not letting anything happen to you, no way!

“Point and pull the trigger, right?” Net Runner asked, as she sighted down the levitating weapon, only for me to nudge the barrel away from me as I nodded.

“Goddesses, I need to go get Rollo, if they find out I helped you, they’ll kill her!” Flash said urgently.

“They’re not killing anyone else,” I assured, as Cherry retrieved Responsibility, and slipped into her barding, leaving me with the arduous task of squeezing into mine.

“I think we’re going to need to up you a size,” huffed the pink mare, as her magic added to mine, finally pulling the draconic-scale gear over my bump. “You’re really starting to show.”

“Feels like I’m just getting fat,” I huffed, earning a sour look from her, as if I didn’t dare refer to myself in such a way. “What, it’s true!?”

“You’re going after Vertigo, aren’t you?” Binary asked, as I levitated on her sister’s pipbuck, then clipped my mother’s to my side.

“And somepony else, they have to have him in here too,” I reaffirmed, levitating Zap-Zap by my side. “But I still need to get a message out to Cross.”

“You’re not going alone,” Cherry insisted with a hoof stomp, and while I had the urge to tell her to stay with the others, after losing her for almost two days, I couldn’t find the words. “You promised not to leave my sight.”

“I get a new harness and I’ll meet you in my mother’s office,” Binary told me, glancing at her two stable companions. “How many others can we get on side?”

“I’m pretty sure every pony would take you over Barron. They’re all just too afraid to face him,” said Net, while Flash nodded in agreement.

“Yeah well, I have a few questions for this Barron guy too,” I declared, pretty sure that I’d need a plan if he was as infamous as everypony was making him out to be.

That’s after I’ll need a plan for Carnage, Locust, and Twilight too. I noted, yet rearmed and with backup, I was sure I’d made it out of worse odds. Only then I wasn’t four months pregnant.

Footnote – Level up:

New Perk added: Center of Mass – Like it or not, it’s time to start thinking differently when it comes to fighting with a changing weight class. In S.A.T.S., you do an additional 15% damage when stationary, however, 15% less otherwise.