Archimedes Constantby WhellerChaptersChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 6Chapter 7EpilogueChapter 1Chronology notes: Stop! You are reading the eleventh story in the Bonds of Eternity Series. The first story in the series is Family found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/1307/ The second story in the series is Nihil Novi Sub Sole found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/1444/ The third story in the series is Friends in High Places found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/1716/ The fourth story in the series is Trust found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/1973/ The fifth story in the series is Domino Effect found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/2151/ The sixth story in the series is To Whom It May Concern found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/2465/ The seventh story in the series is Bridge Over River Rijn found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/2726/ The eighth story in the series is The Way of the Maneaanite found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/2931/ The ninth story in the series is Diamond in the Rough found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/3062/ The tenth story in the series is Old World Blues found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/3265/ Archimedes Constant Chapter 1 This had become normal in the life of Pinkamena Diane Pie. She tossed and turned in her bed, her mind racing with thoughts that kept her awake. She sat up and looked around her bedroom hoping to see something that would occupy her mind, but alas, found nothing. She looked over into the corner to see that Gummy, her pet toothless alligator was sleeping in the corner. Pinkie Pie frowned; she envied Gummy for not having a care in the world. He wasn’t kept up all night by his thoughts. Pinkie Pie slipped out of bed and pushed open her door. She wasn’t going to be sleeping tonight; she might as well go for a walk. Pinkie Pie had two secrets, the first one was that she was not the bright and bubbly pink party pony that everypony thought she was, not really anyway. When Pinkie Pie was alone, she was calm, collected, honestly, she was a rather sombre pony, a sombre pony wearing a mask all day. Pinkie Pie let out a small sigh as she continued to walk down the western road, out of Ponyville towards the general direction of the Everfree forest. She passed Fluttershy’s cottage, and the idea to go over and knock on the door popped into her head, and then it left just as quickly. It was the middle of the night, and Pinkie Pie didn’t need to be waking her. Not at this hour for no reason. Besides, it’s not like she could talk to Fluttershy about what was bothering her. No, if Pinkie Pie was going to interact with any of her friends, she would need to put a big old smile on her face and a joyful bounce in her step. She’d gotten really good at faking happiness. It was ironic that some viewed her as the Element of Laughter; they saw it as a gift, they didn’t know that it was really a curse. Pinkie Pie’s second secret was that she was in love with Twilight Sparkle. Pinkie Pie had been the first pony that Twilight had met in town. She had barely said hello to her when Pinkie Pie started freaking out and ran off. She felt bad about it, knowing that she had blown the chance then and there. Then the idea popped into her head that Pinkie Pie would throw Twilight a party! It would get her close and Twilight would have a good time, then she could get close to her! It didn’t work exactly as planned. The rest they say, is history, Pinkie Pie never gave up though, but then Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash got together, and it had pushed Pinkie Pie by the wayside. Pinkie Pie felt a tear streaming from her eye, and she stopped and wiped it away, noticing that she had gone somewhat further than she had intended to. She was inside the Everfree forest. Pinkie Pie spent the next few minutes glancing around. There were few that knew her secrets. Lounge singer Pips Domino had figured it out, the pure white Pegasus pony Surprise had figured it out. Pinkie Pie suspected that Vinyl Scratch knew too. That pony knew things. Knew things that she shouldn’t have, Vinyl had shared a few of them with Pinkie Pie and the rest of their friends. Pinkie Pie knew that Vinyl Scratch was hiding something though. There was information she was keeping from them. Pinkie Pie had discovered that she had wandered into boundary of the Lake of Origin. She stood nought two metres from the Lake’s bank. She trotted up to it and looked in, she saw a straight maned muted pink pony looking back at her. The reflection let out a yawn and then looked at her with disdain. ‘Oh... fuck!’ the reflection barked at her. ‘I was really hoping that you had died’. This had not been the first time that Pinkie Pie had looked into the Lake of Origin. The incredibly profane... lake... thing, had a nasty habit of insulting her and finding a way to include more colourful expletives in its sentences than were necessary. Even though it was a lake, and there for should not be able to speak at all, it did. ‘Lake of Origin to Pinkie Pie!’ the reflection called out to her. ‘Hellloooooooooooooo? What the fuck do you want!?’ Pinkie Pie thought about it for a moment, she could tell that the lake was getting impatient with her, though as far as she could tell, the lake had to interact with her while she was looking into it. It was the only way that it could. ‘I want to know’, Pinkie Pie said. ‘All the things from before’. Pinkie Pie had been curious of the old world that Vinyl Scratch had described. She had left out most of the specifics, and she figured why not? For all she knew, Pinkie Pie in the old world was actually the happy go lucky pony that she had been pretending to be. Why not? ‘You sure about that?’ the reflection asked. ‘Think long and hard; because you can’t go back, and you might not like what you remember’. Pinkie Pie did think about it for a moment. She figured that the Old World memories that were locked away couldn’t be any worse than anything else she’d gone though. She nodded in affirmation towards the lake. ‘Fine’, the reflection said with a sigh. ‘I don’t really give a fuck anyway’. Pinkie Pie ignored the profanity and continued. ‘What do I have to do?’ she asked. ‘What? Do you want a fucking instruction manual?’ the reflection asked. ‘Swim to the bottom and touch the big fucking golden glowy thingy’. Pinkie Pie ignored the reflection’s outburst and waded into the lake, taking step after gentle step until her hooves could no longer touch the bottom. She took a deep breath and submerged herself under the water. Pinkie Pie opened her eyes and immediately noticed the ‘golden glowy thingy’ that was at the bottom of the lake. Pinkie Pie began to swim a dog paddle towards it. Pinkie Pie had gotten within several metres of it when she started to get scared. Her instincts were kicking in and they told her to get as far away from this golden glowy thing as physically possible. Pinkie Pie turned to swim away, albeit, too late. She found herself paralysed. The golden glowy thingy had her in it’s grasp. Pinkie Pie let out her breath in surprise and found her mouth filling with water, she began to gasp instinctively for air, but each gasp only brought more water in to her lungs. She was drowning. Pinkie’s vision began to blur, she was experiencing flashes of memory. Princess Luna hopping of a chariot into town and shyly greeting her and her friends, the next memory was of an orange maned earth pony stallion lying in a hospital bed, another of Pinkie Pie running through town screaming, the next a dragon attacking Ponyville, and the next a brilliant flash of light. The images began to get more vivid, Pinkie walking through town with a straight mane, talking to a Pony that wasn’t there, she saw herself leap from a tree with a noose around her neck, Pinkie Pie saw herself wiring her childhood home with dynamite and blowing it to smithereens. She saw a red eyed Applejack and her standing next to a ghostly grey Alicorn. She saw Vinyl Scratch trying to defuse a bomb. She saw a brilliant flash of light enveloping the landscape, and then she saw nothing. Pinkie Pie washed up on the banks of the Lake of Origin and gasped out for air. She coughed, spitting water from her mouth. She dragged herself up onto shore and continued to cough. The images that she had seen didn’t all make sense at first. Clarity did not come instantly to her... but slowly, and surely, it was all coming back. It was all making sense. Pinkie Pie remembered. She remembered what she had forgotten. It was at that moment that Pinkie Pie knew that Vinyl Scratch had been telling the truth. Pinkie Pie curled herself up into a ball, she shivered on banks of the Lake of Origin. Vinyl Scratch had been right; some things were better left forgotten. Chapter 2Chapter 2 Twilight Sparkle had gotten up early and was already nose deep in a book. She’d received a letter late last night from Princess Celestia. Equestria was holding a conference for world leaders, as it did every year in Manehattan. However there had been an accident at Manehattan’s central train station, apparently a train car had come lose during the trip, taking the breaks with it. Nopony had died, but there were some injuries, and about three thousand pounds worth damage to Central Station. The conference had been moved at the last minute and the foreign dignitaries would be marching through Ponyville tomorrow at midday. Twilight sighed slightly; it was too bad that Vinyl Scratch had run off, she probably would have enjoyed the visitors. Twilight closed her book and looked around, she could hear Rainbow Dash upstairs, sleeping soundly in bed and had half a mind to go and join her. Twilight had gotten all the work that she needed done and was about to when she heard a knock at the door... ... Pinkie Pie was in a full out panic as she ran through the streets of Ponyville. Memories of the old world coursing through her mind, Pinkie Pie had never been more scared in her entire life. She ran through Ponyville’s streets at high speed, looking for some place safe that she could go, but every building she looked at either had memories of being blood stained, or destroyed. Then she laid eyes upon the Library, Twilight! Of course, she remembered the old world too, she would help her! Pinkie Pie rushed up to the door and began to bang on it repeatedly hoping and praying to Celestia that Twilight would answer. It didn’t take long, but the door opened and Twilight was standing in the doorway. ‘Pinkie Pie? What are you doing?’ she asked. Pinkie Pie couldn’t contain herself; she leapt at Twilight, throwing her legs around her in a hug. ‘Twilight!’ Pinkie Pie sobbed. ‘You have to help me!’ Twilight returned Pinkie Pie’s hug. ‘Pinkie Pie? What’s wrong?’ she asked. Pinkie Pie looked at Twilight, tears were forming in her eyes. ‘I remember Twilight... I remember the old world’. Twilight looked at Pinkie Pie in surprise, but nodded her head in understanding. She released Pinkie Pie and shut the Library door and ushered Pinkie Pie over to the sofa. Twilight sat down on it and Pinkie did too, she couldn’t contain herself and buried her head into Twilight’s shoulder and began to cry. Twilight took embraced her and ran her hooves through the pink pony’s mane, doing her best to comfort her. Twilight didn’t know what to think of Pinkie Pie like this. It was so unlike her, Pinkie Pie always had a bright smile on her face. Seeing the bubbly, giggly pink party pony that she knew as such like this was hard to swallow. Pinkie Pie was in need, and Twilight needed to help her. Pinkie Pie felt warm in Twilight’s embrace. She felt safe with Twilight, and the lavender unicorn stroking her mane felt good. Pinkie Pie had yet to notice that her mane had lost its shape. The thick curly mess that it usually was had deflated and gone completely straight, Pinkie Pie had been crying rather loudly, and had not taken notice of just how loud she was being for this early in the morning, Twilight hadn’t said anything about it, and she just let the pony cry into her shoulder, holding her close while she did, Pinkie Pie had found her port of call in the storm, she felt safe. ‘What is going on down here?’ Rainbow Dash said with a yawn as she trotted down the stairs, and discovered Twilight sitting with Pinkie Pie on the sofa. ‘Pinkie Pie?’ Rainbow Dash asked in confusion. ‘What’s wrong?’ Pinkie Pie looked up at Rainbow Dash and began to cry harder. Rainbow Dash was taken aback by this; she had only seen Pinkie Pie cry once before. Just after they defeated Nightmare Moon and her mood had turned around pretty much just after she had started crying. Rainbow Dash trotted over to the sofa and got up on it with Twilight and Pinkie Pie, and she too took Pinkie Pie in her forelegs. ‘Pinkie Pie? What’s wrong?’ Rainbow Dash asked again. ‘Dashie...’ Pinkie Pie managed through a sob. ‘You died... and I didn’t care’. Rainbow Dash knew exactly what she meant. ‘Hey... Pinkie Pie... It’s okay, I’m alive now’. ‘Pinkie Pie, that wasn’t your fault!’ Twilight said reassuringly. ‘You were in Overdrive’s thrall, he manipulated you so that you wouldn’t care, and it’s not your fault!’ Pinkie Pie continued to sob, she looked up at Rainbow Dash and Twilight, and she had stopped sobbing long enough to speak. ‘I remember the bomb... it went off’, Pinkie Pie said with a sniffle. ‘I remember, looking back and seeing the bright flash of light... then nothing else... Twilight? What happened? Did we die?’ Twilight and Rainbow Dash looked at each other. They had asked themselves that question several times. They didn’t have an answer to that. ‘If we did die...’ Pinkie Pie said with a sniffle. ‘Then what’s all this?’ That was another thing that they didn’t have an answer too. ... Vinyl Scratch stood on the hill overlooking Fillydelphia peering through a set of binoculars. She was looking towards the harbour and discovered that there were higher concentrations of foreign ships than usual, and these were military vessels there were a number of ships that were flying the Red Ensign of South Island, there were a few from Welara. One from Zhosa-Browa and a few others that Vinyl did not recognise. Vinyl was not concerned by them, however, and she turned her attention towards the city centre, spotting a fountain in the central plaza and grinned widely. She turned her head towards her companion and smiled. ‘Hey Surprise? You ready?’ The red eyed Pegasus nodded in affirmation. ‘Excellent!’ Vinyl said taking a look through her binoculars again. ‘Then Operation: SUPERBALL is a go!’ ‘SUPERBALL?’ Surprise asked. ‘SUPERBALL’, Vinyl repeated with a grin. ‘Part two. Problem?’ ‘Nope!’ Surprise said cheerfully. Vinyl grinned. Of course, SUPERBALL part two had ended up being pretty much the same as the original. Run straight at the objective and hope for the best. It was the epitome of Vinyl Scratch plans, and they surprisingly worked ever so well. Of course, it helped that the City Centre was deserted so that nopony was around to seeing what Vinyl and Surprise was doing. Everypony was away going to be watching the eventual parade. Vinyl Scratch had taken this into account. She knew what the ships in the harbour were all about. Everypony was going to be busy watching King George and Prime Minister Leonard Spencer of Welara, Governor-General Alfred Isaac and Prime Minister Ronald Pace from South Island, et cetra. Vinyl Scratch found it mildly entertaining that such people that were above her were serving her purpose as a distraction. She and Surprise raced into the City Centre and skidded to a stop just a few metres short of the fountain. A giant iron statue of an earth pony mare spitting water from its mouth made up the centre of the fountain. ‘Hey Surprise? Guess what time it is?’ Vinyl said flashing a grin at her. ‘Time... to cause... property damage?!’ Surprise guessed grinning brightly at the thought. ‘You get far too excited when we do this’, Vinyl said returning the grin. ‘I can’t take you anywhere!’ Surprise stuck her tongue out at Vinyl in response. Vinyl chuckled and opened up her saddlebag, bringing out a comically large rock that she’d chipped out of this mysterious boulder that showed up in Ponyville one after noon, though nopony was able, or willing, to divulge how it had gotten there, she levitated it in the air with her magic and tossed it at the earth pony statue’s head. Where there any around to watch it, they would have been surprised to have watched the statue’s head roll back, and then snap back forward, as if it were held on by a hinge. The fountain stopped spitting, and all the water began to drain out of the fountain entirely. Surprise and Vinyl Scratch looked into the fountain and watched as two concrete slabs began to open up, revealing a hidden staircase hidden. Vinyl vaulted over the into the fountain and trotted down the staircase, Surprise quickly followed, and not long afterwards the slabs slid shut behind them and they heard water filling the fountain up above them. ‘How did you know this was all down here?’ Surprise asked. ‘Emerald Sparkle’s book has notes written in the margins’, Vinyl said simply, she lit her horn for the light and the two of them continued to trot down the staircase, they reached the bottom and discovered an elevator door with the letters FDIW printed in white on them, somewhat similar to the letters printed on the gear shaped door to EPMB. Vinyl Scratch mashed the elevator buttons with her hoof, causing them to slide open and revealing the elevator car. Vinyl Scratch and Surprise entered the car and pressed the button for the bottom level. ‘Once more unto the breach!’ Vinyl Scratch called enthusiastically as the doors shut and the two mares began their descent. Chapter 3Chapter 3 Pinkie Pie had fallen asleep by this point as she laid her head against Twilight’s flank, snoring loudly. Twilight’s hind leg was on pins and needles from where Pinkie Pie was resting her head, but she didn’t have the heart to wake the pink party pony from her slumber. She looked to Rainbow Dash, who was looking at her sadly; they both felt the same feelings about this situation with one of their friends. Twilight could only imagine how Rainbow Dash felt; she and Pinkie Pie were close, far closer than Pinkie and Twilight. ‘This... this was heart breaking’, Twilight said eventually, quiet enough so that she wouldn’t wake up. ‘I’ve never seen Pinkie Pie like this before’. Rainbow Dash did not reply, but nodded her head in agreement. Both of them continued to watch Pinkie Pie as she slept, she was twitching somewhat in her sleep, she was having a nightmare. Twilight wanted to cry. ‘Could have been worse’, Rainbow Dash said. ‘Could have been Fluttershy, could have been Applejack’. Twilight was taken aback slightly, the statement was a rather harsh one, Pinkie Pie was in pain and she needed love from her friends... but then Twilight began to think that Rainbow Dash was right. Fluttershy had violently murdered six people in the old world; one of them was sitting before her. Rainbow Dash had died at Fluttershy’s hooves during her psychotic episode, if Fluttershy was ever to remember... Twilight didn’t want to think about it. Then there was Applejack. Her manipulation by the Siblings Nightmare had sent her over the edge, and she had brutally maimed Apple Bloom, if she were to remember that... Twilight didn’t want to think about what Applejack would do to herself. On the plus side, Pinkie Pie was here, where she was safe, warm, and in the company of those who cared about her. ‘I don’t think that we should leave her alone, we’re going to need to make sure that at least one of us has an eye on her at all times... lest she do something drastic’, Twilight said eventually. Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement. There was space here for Pinkie Pie, now that the Library was empty of most of its inhabitants. Trixie had moved out and gotten her own place, she was now living in the flat that had once been occupied by Derpy Hooves. Vinyl Scratch was off gallivanting around who knows where with Surprise, which was odd in itself. The Library now felt empty because Twilight had gotten used to so many others living here. There was always Spike, though he usually made himself scarce during the day, Twilight wondered what he did when he was out, though when she questioned him about it, he causally avoided the question and went on about his business. Twilight smirked slightly at thinking about Spike; she’d seen the dragon as something like a baby brother. Where Vinyl Scratch here to make it, she would have likely made some smartarse crack about him growing up so fast. Twilight concentrated hard on Pinkie Pie, enveloping the sleeping pink party pony in her magic and gently lifting her into the air, Twilight got up to take her up to bed, forgetting completely about her numb leg and nearly losing her concentration almost dropping Pinkie Pie in the process. Rainbow Dash leapt up and got a hold on Twilight, allowing the unicorn to stabilise and regain her concentration. Pinkie Pie had listed somewhat, and Twilight gently brought her back to a stable position, she did not wake through the entire ordeal. ‘She must be really tired’, Twilight said. ‘Yeah... definitely’, Rainbow Dash said quietly. Twilight leaned up against Rainbow Dash for support, and together, the two mares carried their sleeping friend up the stairs to put her to bed. Pinkie Pie’s twitching began to subside, and the party pony’s dreams turned from her nightmares, to more pleasant ones of happier times with her friends. ... Pinkie Pie awoke the next morning to discover herself lying in a bed in the spare room of the Ponyville Library, she sat up and looked around, and for a moment was confused about where she was. Then she remembered practically beating down the Library door and Twilight taking her in, she must have fallen asleep, though she didn’t know when. She looked around the room and discovered that Rainbow Dash had fallen asleep standing in the corner, the Pegasus mare was leaning against the fall of the room, her head drooping low. Pinkie Pie smiled, she realised what her friends had done for her. Now it was time to return the favour. She hopped out of bed and went over to Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie leaned down and gently picked Rainbow Dash up with her back and carried her into the next room, taking care to put the sleeping Pegasus to bed. ‘Thanks Dashie’, Pinkie Pie said with a faint smile as she pulled the covers over Rainbow Dash’s body. Pinkie Pie exited the room and went down the stairs to discover that Twilight was awake, nose deep in a book and scribbling onto a scroll next to her. ‘Twilight?’ Pinkie Pie asked. Twilight jumped a little in surprise and turned around to look at the new comer in the room. ‘Pinkie Pie! You’re awake... did Rainbow Dash fall asleep while she was supposed to be watching you?’ Pinkie Pie smirked a little and nodded in the affirmation. Twilight let out a long sigh and trotted over to her friend. ‘We’ve been watching you all night, in shifts, three hours each... I... didn’t want you to be alone’. Pinkie Pie felt tears forming in her eyes, though these were not tears of sadness, as they had been yesterday. No, these tears were happy ones. Pinkie Pie was happy that she had such wonderful friends. ‘Thank you Twilight’, Pinkie Pie said as she approached her, she had a small smile on her face, while not the big, goofy looking grin that Pinkie Pie usually wore. It made Twilight’s heart soar. ‘You’re welcome Pinkie Pie I was glad to have helped’, Twilight said, returning the smile. Pinkie Pie continued to smile and wrapped her forelegs around Twilight for a hug. Twilight returned it, and was happy that they were on the road to getting Pinkie Pie back to them. Pinkie Pie smiled at Twilight. ‘Thank you, thank you so much’, Pinkie Pie said, she leaned close and planted a kiss on Twilight Sparkle’s lips. ... Vinyl Scratch and Surprise reached the bottom of the elevator shaft and looked down the hallway towards the... well, to be perfectly honest, Vinyl didn’t know what exactly to expect at the end of the hallway. The hallway was long, and it was dark, she figured that the pony made tunnel like hallways stretched all around Fillydelphia. Fortunate that Fillydelphia lacked an underground metro system like that of Manehattan, otherwise somepony might have accidentally stumbled onto them. Though, the more Vinyl Scratch had thought about it, it may have been by design. She remembered that there had been numerous occasions in Fillydelphia’s history where there had been talks about installing a metro system, but any time it ever came up, the motion was always being narrowly defeated. Vinyl Scratch looked over to Surprise, who was glancing around at everything with a childlike wonder. Vinyl Scratch could hardly believe that this was the same Surprise that had tried to kill her on the very same day that she had lost her eyesight, before Whirlwind had stepped in and stopped her from harming her. Vinyl Scratch couldn’t help but think that this Surprise couldn’t even hurt a fly, even though this was far from the truth. When it came down to it, Surprise still was a ruthless, psychopathic killer with little regard to life of any who got in the way. Vinyl’s thoughts drifted back over to Whirlwind. She found herself frowning slightly, that poor pony had been dealt a terrible fate, and while Vinyl Scratch and the rest of her friends hoped that they could eventually free him from the monster that he’d become. Vinyl and her friends recognised that Whirlwind and Legion were different, and they had all taken a vow to keep it quiet and make sure that, if they could restore Whirlwind to his old self, that there would still be a place in society for him to return to. Though with each passing day, that idea seemed to become more and more unlikely. Vinyl Scratch’s ear began to twitch. Something was up, something that was not supposed to be, though she couldn’t quite place her hoof on it. Vinyl Scratch and Surprise reached the end of the hallway and the door opened before them. A dozen or so unicorn ponies dressed in royal blue robes, identical to the ones worn by Montana Ulan upon her encounter with him at Ponyville raced out of it and surrounded them. Each unicorn was levitating firearms of various kinds. Pistols, shotguns, submachine guns, one of them even had a rather nasty looking rifle; each of these weapons was of various origins that Vinyl Scratch didn’t recognise. ‘Well’, Vinyl Scratch said flashing a grin. ‘You machine cultists sure know how to make a filly feel welcome’. She glanced over to Surprise, whose expression had turned from childlike wonder to one of distress. She was uneasy, but continued to not say anything. The machine cultists did not respond, however, out of the door another pony appeared, he was an older unicorn stallion, a coat of beige and a mane that had once been jet black, but now had turned to a light grey wearing the a set of deep purple robes, he looked at her and smiled. ‘’Well hello there’, the unicorn stallion said simply. ‘I’m Chapter Master Archimedes. I’m head of this chapter of the Machine Cult. Welcome to Fillydelphia, Vinyl Scratch, we’ve been expecting you’. Chapter 4Chapter 4 Twilight Sparkle’s eyes grew wide as she was taken by surprise at Pinkie Pie’s behaviour, Pinkie Pie was kissing her, and she was too shocked to do anything, she couldn’t even pull away. Twilight mustered every bit of will that she could, given the circumstances, and pulled herself away from her friend. ‘Pinkie Pie! What are you doing!?’ Twilight cried out. Pinkie Pie’s eyes became small, the realisation of what she had just done had set in and now, she knew what she had done. Pinkie Pie panicked and pushed Twilight out of the way, bolting out the Library door and running as fast and as far away as she possibly could down towards the south eastern road. Unfortunately for her, she did not realise who was coming up the south eastern road. It was almost midday, Pinkie Pie had slept through the morning, and as she ran along the road she rounded the corner and ran into a group that were not happy to see her. Pinkie Pie skidded to a halt in front of a rifle section of Welaran ponies, dressed in crème uniforms and brodie helmets who were marching up the road towards Ponyville. Behind them was a menacing armoured car that had trained its main gun upon her. ‘Assassin!’ one of the ponies cried out as they all turned towards Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie swallowed hard. ‘Hold!’ boomed a voice from behind them. Pinkie Pie looked up to find the biggest pony that she had ever seen trotting towards her. This pony made Big McIntosh look like a Little McIntosh, his coat was a dark crème colour, somewhat like the uniforms of the soldier ponies. He wore his mane in a short cut, and was the colour of chestnut. He had a beard, which Pinkie Pie thought was something of a rare occurrence with pony kind. The only beared ponies that Pinkie Pie knew about were those ones who hung out at the bowling alley. But what was probably most notable was what this pony was wearing, he was wearing a fancy blue suit and a flowing red cape, around his neck was a rather ornate looking medal. Where Rarity to see this pony, she would have probably freaked out at how fancy he was. The gigantic pony looked over the trembling Pinkie Pie and then looked back to the soldiers. ‘Fools! This is no assassin! Unless she intended to murder me with her own hooves!’ ‘I... what?’ Pinkie Pie asked in confusion. The giant pony looked at Pinkie Pie, and then he realised that she did not know who he was. ‘Guards, go on without us, I wish...’ ‘Your majesty! I must protest...’ one of the other ponies that were dressed differently in than the soldiers began to say but was again interrupted. ‘I am talking!’ the giant pony said. ‘And I say, go on without me’. ‘Yes, your majesty’, the other pony said. He, along with the soldier ponies continued on their way until they were out of earshot. The giant pony turned to Pinkie Pie and gave her a quizzical look. ‘Do you know who I am?’ he asked. Pinkie Pie shook her head no, causing the giant pony to chuckle slightly. ‘That, is actually quite a relief, I am King George of Welara, you may call me George, or I suppose, if it makes you feel more comfortable, you may call me “Your Majesty”, I know it can be difficult for some to be informal around one of my status, though just because I am socially above you, does not mean I am better than you, so really, whatever makes you feel more comfortable’. ‘Uh...’ Pinkie Pie said with a nervous chuckle. ‘Hi... George, I’m Pinkie Pie...’ King George smiled at her and stuck out a hoof. ‘Charmed’, he said with a smile. Pinkie Pie wasn’t sure how to respond to the gesture. While Pinkie Pie had had no problems acting as she normally acted around Princess Celestia... this was different, King George was a king, and he was the King of Welara. ‘Come now!’ King George said with a friendly smile. ‘I won’t bite, shake! Please! I insist’. Pinkie Pie reluctantly took the king’s hoof and shook it. King George chuckled and gave Pinkie Pie a pleasant smile. ‘Very good! Come, walk with me, we should probably make our way up the road before the South Islanders come up the road and start panicking that I’m without my guard, and consorting with a strange pink pony’. Pinkie Pie nodded and walked beside King George up the road into Ponyville. The king took notice of his soldiers up along the high street bickering with each other and the pony who had protested the King’s orders. Which Pinkie Pie had eventually figured was Leonard Spencer, the Welaran Prime Minister. Or so Twilight had said, Pinkie Pie didn’t know exactly what a Prime Minister was; only that Equestria did not have one. King George diverted down another street to avoid the view from his guard. ‘They don’t want to leave me alone, they fear I am going to be assassinated, I am not going to be assassinated in the lands of Celestia... and even if someone were to try, it is not as if I cannot handle myself’. Pinkie Pie didn’t say anything; rather, she just continued to follow the king. He turned his head towards her and gave her an odd look. ‘You do not strike me as the quiet type, please; there is no need to be shy. I assure you, I am just as normal as you are’, King George said, flashing a grin at her. Pinkie Pie couldn’t help but smile at the king’s comment, if he only knew. ‘That’s what I like to see!’ King George said. ‘I like you, Pinkie Pie; I think you and I are going to get along just fine’. ... Vinyl Scratch glanced around again at the Machine Cultists as they surrounded her, despite this Archimedes comment that they had been expecting her, they looked as if they had been expecting trouble. Surprise glanced around nervously at each of them, her foreleg kept twitching, as if it instinctively wanted to reach up and pull something from a convent hiding spot, though she was forcing it to stay down. ‘If you’ve been expecting me, How about you get your friends to back off a little then, huh?’ Vinyl asked. ‘All in good time’, Archimedes said simply. ‘Do it’. The machine cultist with the rifle pointed his weapon at Surprise and pulled the trigger. The shot rang out and the bullet whizzed through the air in seemingly slow motion. ‘No!’ Vinyl cried out instinctively. The bullet did not hit Surprise, however, actually it didn’t even come close, and the bullet instead went right over her head and impacted an unseen object with a metal KLANG! A spritebot appeared from nowhere and began fluttering its wings rapidly, trying to keep itself aloft, it eventually failed and crashed hard on the concrete floor of the hallway and powered itself down. ‘Sister Scribe Rhythm! Take the robot and strip it for parts’, Archimedes ordered. One of the other robed unicorns nodded and stepped forward, enveloping it in her magic and pulling it up off the floor, though you could hardly tell that she was robed at all, the fact that her coat matched her robes. Vinyl Scratch watched as the unicorn took the spritebot away, she figured that she really shouldn’t be surprised that Emerald Sparkle had sent one of her robots to follow her. She wanted access to the Fillydelphia Ironworks and it quickly became clear that Emerald had intended to use her as a pawn. The cultists lowered their weapons and quickly funnelled back inside the door, leaving Vinyl Scratch, Surprise, and Archimedes alone in the hallway. ‘How did you know who I am?’ Vinyl asked. ‘The same way the false machine knows you, we’ve been watching you for quite some time. Brother Scribe Ulan was quick to report his encounter with you not long after his escape from captivity’, Archimedes said. ‘He is quite resourceful... for an earth pony, escaping from hoofcuffs and from the police mare holding him without the use of magic... it is quite impressive, but then you already know the Brother Scribe, don’t you?’ Vinyl Scratch nodded in affirmation. ‘Let’s just say he and I have a score to settle’. ‘Yes, I would imagine so, though he had yet to join the Chapter at that time. I am aware of your altercation in South Island. Disconnecting rail cars has seemed to become the Brother Scribe’s calling card, he’s used the technique to escape pursuers several times... unfortunately it almost always causes some kind of minor accident, the Cossacks got lucky, they noticed their train had no breaks three days before they needed to stop’, Archimedes said. ‘I imagine you will want to speak to him when he gets back here?’ ‘Oh yes, very much so’, Vinyl said, stressing her frustration that Monty Ulan had pulled the same trick to multiple people. Archimedes nodded. ‘I thought so, very well then, come, follow, I imagine you could use a rest’. Chapter 5Chapter 5 Twilight Sparkle dashed out of the Library just after Pinkie Pie, while the confectioner loved sweets and ate them at a rate that was certainly not healthy for a pony of any age; she was deceptively fast, by the time Twilight had gotten out the Library door, Pinkie Pie was nowhere to be found. Twilight frowned and galloped down the high street towards Sugarcube Corner, figuring that it would be the best place to start looking. She burst through the front door of Sugarcube, blazing past at such a high speed that the Cakes assumed that she WAS Pinkie Pie, Twilight raced up the stairs and burst into Pinkie Pie’s room. The pink party pony was nowhere to be found. Twilight calmed herself a little and started to think things through. It was probably just as good that she had yet to find Pinkie Pie, because Twilight had not even the faintest idea of what she was going to say to her. Twilight sat down on the floor in Pinkie Pie’s room and began to look around. She noticed a few photographs of her and her friends. The largest one, however, was one of Pinkie Pie and Twilight. Twilight was looking into the camera and giving a pleasant smile, while Pinkie Pie had her foreleg around Twilight and was giving a ridiculously goofy looking grin. Twilight couldn’t help but smile at this photograph. Pinkie Pie was Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie had always seemed to want to be around Twilight. The pink party pony had been finding a number of reasons to visit the library, and taking out several books on chemistry at a time, and then bringing them back the next day and getting more. Twilight had been somewhat impressed with Pinkie Pie’s interest in chemistry, and figured that the highly random pony was using the knowledge gained from these books to make party favours and fireworks. Then Vinyl Scratch insisted that they all take a trip north, towards the Hoofson Bay, Vinyl Scratch was cured of her radiation poisoning, Twilight and Rainbow Dash regained their old world memoires, and Whirlwind was turned into a monster, Legion. Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash had gotten together, and Pinkie Pie stopped coming around to the Library regularly. Twilight had never figured it was because Pinkie Pie had feelings for her. Now she felt guilty for not recognising it sooner. Twilight found it hard to believe that Pinkie Pie could be so good at hiding feelings, and attributed her lack of noticing to her rather poor social skills. Twilight had always found it extremely difficult to pick up on the more subtle emotions of others, and it had caused her a number of problems in the past. When she still lived in Canterlot and her classmates at Princess Celestia’s school for Gifted Unicorns had all wanted to spend time with her, get to know her, be her friend. Since coming to Ponyville; that had been a topic of much regret for the lavender unicorn, and it hurt her to know that she hadn’t taken noticed upon Pinkie Pie’s feelings, they should have been obvious. Twilight replaced the photograph and trotted down the stairs into Sugarcube Corner proper. Mrs. Cake looked up in surprise. ‘Oh! Twilight! Dear, we thought you were Pinkie Pie the way you went by so fast! Where is Pinkie Pie?’ ‘I wish I could tell you, Mrs. Cake, I’m still looking for her’, Twilight said. ‘Is everything all right?’ Mrs. Cake asked. Twilight could only shrug. I’ll let you know when I find her’. ... Pinkie Pie and King George had taken up roost on the balcony of the town hall and where looking out onto the country side towards the southern road. King George had pulled a pair of binoculars from his person and was looking through them. ‘There are the South Islanders!’ King George called out. ‘An Infantry section from... Royal Kingsland Fusilier’s regiment, very nice... they have a good record... and what is this? Oh... how interesting! A tank from My Own South Island Dragoons! M3 Light Tank 105... Very interesting! Well we did always take the parade seriously, it’s going to be a good one this year! I can already tell!’ Pinkie Pie sat quietly and politely listened to the ramblings of the King. Pinkie Pie respected him, he was not unlike the way she acted in public and with someone of his status, she could only smile at the antics that he could have been involved in. He was a king! Pinkie Pie could only imagine that he could do pretty much anything and get away with it. King George looked over to her and smiled. ‘Now, that is what I like to see! You have such a wonderful smile Pinkie Pie; tell me, what’s caused you to want to hide it?’ ‘Well... it’s kind of a long story...’ Pinkie Pie said, rubbing the back of her neck with a hoof nervously. ‘I have time’, King George said with a grin. ‘I’m a King, they’ll wait for me’. ... Twilight continued to run through the streets and skidded to a halt when she heard a very familiar sound from around the corner. That sound belonged to tank tracks. Twilight watched as a South Island M3 Light Tank rounded the corner, and rubbed her eyes when she saw the number printed on it. It had to be a trick her eyes were playing on her. She looked again, it definitely was. It was number 105. What was most odd about the tank were the fact that there were 8 kangaroos crammed onto the top of it, riding on the tank and doing their best to keep from falling. One of the kangaroos looked up at her with an odd look, and then hopped off. ‘Go ahead! I’ll catch up!’ he called as the tank continued to roll onwards. Twilight looked at him, and then recognised who he was immediately. ‘Benjamin Willoughby?’ Willoughby could only grin at her. ‘Looks like the universe can’t stand to see us apart, huh Twilight?’ Twilight nodded and looked down the street towards the tank. ‘And was that...?’ ‘The Lord Stuart?’ Willoughby asked. ‘Sure was, believe me, I was just as flabbergasted as you were, got a different crew now, but it’s still it’. ... Archimedes had been kind enough to give Vinyl Scratch and Surprise a place to rest for the night. He bid them good night and departed from the room. Vinyl figured that she shouldn’t be surprised that after trying the door, she discovered that it was locked, from the outside. She had thought it strange that Archimedes had been a little too friendly. Well, so much for friendliness. ‘Locked’, Vinyl said with a frown. ‘Figures, looks like we aren’t going...’ Vinyl stopped in mid sentence as she was turning around to face her friend, only to discover that Surprise was holding her chain knife in her teeth. Vinyl understood what she was getting at, her friends choice of weapon had been developed as an industrial tool for use in cutting steel. The doors were steel, theoretically speaking; the chain knife should be able to cut through them. Theoretically, anyway, that idea was based on the assumption that the doors weren’t too thick to cut through, and Vinyl would rather not try and fail and run the risk of having angry machine cultists storm the door and kill her, and then do whatever they would do to Surprise since she was immortal. ‘No, put it away’, Vinyl said. ‘We’ll play their game for now’. Surprise looked mildly disappointed, but nevertheless returned her chain knife to its hiding place inside her thick, unruly mane. Vinyl chuckled as the idea that Surprise probably had to use the chain knife if she ever wanted to get a haircut. ‘Come on silly; let’s get some rest, eh?’ Vinyl suggested as she went over to lie down on the cot, patting the space next to her for Surprise to join. ‘I don’t sleep’, Surprise said, staring blankly at the cot. ‘Ever’. ‘Oh don’t be silly, I’ve seen you sleep plenty of times’, Vinyl said, stretching her legs out and causally pointing her horn towards the corner. Surprise glanced to it out of the corner of her eye and noticed the security camera. ‘You just don’t know when you fall asleep, that’s all’. Surprise nodded in understanding and joined Vinyl Scratch in the cot. Vinyl pulled the covers over their heads and the two looked each other directly in the eyes. Can you hear me? Vinyl Scratch raised an eyebrow, she heard Surprise’s voice, but her mouth had not moved at all. That was when she realised she heard it inside your head. Can... can you hear what I think? Vinyl thought. Surprise nodded in affirmation. Not all the time, I have to work really, really hard to hear things, most the time I can only hear myself and the others in my head. You’re a real messed up pony, Surprise. Vinyl Scratch thought with a grin. She gave her friend a hug and another smile to go with it. Keep a good eye out for me, okay? Surprise nodded in affirmation, Vinyl Scratch rolled over and did her best to go to sleep. Chapter 6Chapter 6 A hoof busted through foliage on the northern end of Ponyville as Octavia Auditore stumbled out. She’d been walking for the last three days after promptly abandoning the rail car after Montana Ulan disconnected it from the Manehattan Express. To say that Octavia was in a bad mood was an understatement. The ordinarily refined mare’s mane was out of place, horribly knotted and tangled. Her bow tie was ripped and dangling freely around her neck, and every so often, her eyes and ears would twitch uncontrollably. Worse still, Octavia’s anger over the situation had done nothing but fester the entire walk back to Ponyville. Celestia pity the fool who tried to converse with her, because she was not going to have it. Not today. ‘Well lookie here! Howdy do thar Octavia!’ called a voice from down the road. Octavia turned to her left and discovered that Applejack was trotting down the road towards her. Oh wonderful, oh happy day! This couldn’t get any better! Applejack got closer to her and noticed that something was up. ‘What happened ta ya? Ya look like ya done gone through a cyclone!’ Applejack cried out in shock. ‘Oh something the likes of that...’ Octavia said, her eye twitching in anger. Applejack should be considering herself lucky that Octavia had not hit her yet. ‘Well c’mon then!’ Applejack said with a warm smile. ‘C’mon home with me, we’ll git ya cleaned up and a nice, home cooked meal!’ Octavia could only wonder how this mare did not pick up on the contempt she had for her. ‘That will be quite all right... thank you’, Octavia said, followed by both an eye and ear twitch. ‘Naww, Ah insist! C’mon now!’ Applejack said, and practically began to drag Octavia back to Sweet Apple Acres. Octavia swore loudly in her own mind. Applejack was lucky that she had yet to be strangled. ... As happy as Twilight was to see Benjamin Willoughby at this point, she was more concerned with finding Pinkie Pie. This was something that needed to be set straight. ‘Trooper...’ Twilight began, but was quickly interrupted. ‘Fusilier now, actually, but you’re my friend, and I’ve gotten comfortable with you calling me Ben’, Willoughby corrected. ‘Ben...’ Twilight began again. ‘I don’t mean to sound rude, but I’m kind of in the middle of something, I need to find Pinkie Pie’. ‘Pinkie Pie being the pink one?’ Willoughby asked with a smirk, chuckling at his own joke, he knew who Pinkie Pie was after all, after meeting her in Trotterdam, glancing around and eventually turning his eyes upwards towards the town hall. ‘Found her!’ Twilight’s eyes widened. ‘What?! Where?!’ she asked as she glanced around the street for her. Willoughby could only chuckle. Twilight just wasn’t looking in the right place. ‘That’s the beauty of being trained to fight gryphons, they teach you to look up!’ Willoughby said with a grin, and pointed up to the town hall. Twilight Sparkle’s eyes widened in shock, there was Pinkie Pie, standing with a gigantic pony that Twilight didn’t recognise. ‘Who is that with her?’ Twilight asked. Willoughby took a closer look and his jaw dropped. ‘That’s King George of Welara!’ he cried out in shock. Twilight didn’t respond, she broke into a full on gallop towards the town hall, she drew in her breath and as loud as she could muster cried out to her friend. ‘PINNNNNNNNNKKKKKKKKKKKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!’ ... Rainbow Dash’s eyes popped open at the loud noise from outside and sat up quickly in surprise from the loud noise, causing her to tumble out of bed and onto the wooden floor. ‘What the hay was that?!’ she cried out, mostly to herself. ... Pinkie Pie looked down to see Twilight running towards her, her heart began to sink and she wanted to run. ‘Pinkie Pie!’ Twilight called again. ‘Please don’t run! Please! Just come down here! We need to talk!’ Pinkie Pie looked over to King George, who gave her a polite smile and nodded to her. Indicating that he thought it was for the best. Pinkie Pie returned his smile with a faint one of her own and trotted down to the lower level. Twilight ran up to her and threw her hooves around the mare in a tight hug. ‘Oh Pinkie Pie! You had me so worried when you ran off! I’ve been so afraid that you were going to go and hurt yourself!’ Twilight said. ‘You... you’re not mad?’ Pinkie Pie asked unbelievingly. ‘Oh, Pinkie Pie... no, I’m not mad!’ Twilight said giving her friend an uncomfortable look. ‘It’s just that... well, we need to talk about this’. Pinkie Pie nodded in understanding. The two mares trotted off to find a quiet place that they could sit and talk about what had happened this morning between the two. Willoughby caught up, but found himself trailing back. This was something he didn’t need to stick his nose into, and he knew it. King George trotted out of the town hall not long after and gave Benjamin Willoughby a smile, causing the Fusilier to snap to attention as he was trained to. ‘Oh relax Fusilier, no need to be so formal’, King George said with a smile. Willoughby didn’t budge, causing King George to sigh. ‘Some things never change’, he mumbled to himself as trotted off back to where his guard was located at. ... Twilight and Pinkie Pie had taken a seat along the western road out of Ponyville. As peaceful a place as any where they could sit and talk. They sat quietly for a while, looking out to the west towards Sweet Apple Acres and beyond it, the Everfree forest. After what felt like hours, Twilight turned to Pinkie Pie and gave her a glum look. ‘I’m sorry Pinkie Pie’, she said with a frown. Pinkie Pie raised an eyebrow in confusion. ‘What? Twilight! I’m the one who should be apologising to you! After that...’ Twilight raised a hoof to shush her. ‘Let me finish, I’m sorry I didn’t pick up on how you felt about me, it should have been obvious... I just... I just...’ Twilight began to tear up and found it difficult to continue. ‘I’ve never been good at paying attention to other ponies’ feelings. I can’t imagine how many ponies’ feelings I’ve hurt in the past... I’m just so stupid!’ Now Pinkie Pie was frowning. ‘Oh, Twilight... you’re not stupid! You’re the smartest pony I know!’ Twilight wiped a tear from her eye and gave a slight sniffle. ‘I just... I don’t want you to take this the wrong way Pinkie Pie... You’re one of my best friends, and I care about you a lot, I just... I don’t have feelings for you... not like that’. Pinkie Pie had to admit, that part stung. It was as if a bee had just landed on the back of her neck and drove its’ dagger into her. Pinkie Pie gave her a smile, not a big, goofy one that she was known for, but a real, genuine smile. ‘I know... that’s okay Twilight... just knowing that you don’t hate me... that’s enough for me, you’re one of my best friends! Maybe you don’t feel the same way about me, that’s okay; I can live with that, but you hating me because I... kissed you? I don’t think I could go without your friendship’. Twilight smiled back at her. ‘Oh, Pinkie Pie! I couldn’t go without your friendship either, even if you drive me mad sometimes’, Twilight said with a chuckle. ‘We’ll always be friends!’ Pinkie Pie felt tears of happiness rolling down her face, Twilight may not have loved her the way Pinkie did, but their friendship would endure, maybe even become stronger because of it. Pinkie Pie and Twilight embraced each other, and Pinkie Pie’s mane puffed back up to its normal, thick, unruly shape. Causing a goofy grin to appear on Pinkie Pie’s face, the giggly, bubbly, pink party pony was back, and this time, she didn’t even have to fake it. They heard the sound of tank tracks rolling through the tree line from the west. Twilight and Pinkie Pie turned to the left, and their eyes widened as they saw an armoured vehicle rolling down the road towards them. It wasn’t a tank, per say, it was open topped and had a rather big gun sticking out the top of it, but was most worrisome about it was the fact that it was full of Gryphons. Twilight recognised the gun as a Gryphon Rapid Fire 26 Pounder. The armoured vehicle rolled by them and one of the occupants, a female gryphon scowled at them as she passed. ‘Lance Bombardier! Stop staring at the wildlife!’ called another gryphon. The gryphon who had scowled at them turned away. ‘Yes ma’am, Lef-tenant Razorwing’, she said, simply. Twilight and Pinkie Pie’s mouths fell open as the armoured vehicle rolled by them, stunned by who they had just seen. ‘That was Gilda!’ Pinkie Pie cried out in surprise. Twilight Sparkle nodded, trouble had once again walked, or more accurately, rode, its way into Ponyville once again. Chapter 7Chapter 7 Rainbow Dash stumbled out of the Ponyville Library, continuing to rub the sleep from her eyes, and unfortunately, nearly being run over at the same time. ‘Out of the road!’ cried a, from Dash’s perspective, disembodied voice from in front of her. Rainbow Dash opened her eyes to discover the gryphon self propelled artillery gun was about ready to run her over; she leapt backwards and smacked her head hard on the library door, causing a roar of laughs from the gryphons mounted on the gun carriage. Rainbow Dash started rubbing the back of her head, considering herself lucky she hadn’t gotten a concussion from the force. She opened her eyes to discover a gryphon looming over her. ‘Rainbow Dash’, Gilda said coldly. ‘Gilda’, Rainbow Dash returned in just as cold a manner. Rainbow Dash remembered the last time she had seen Gilda, and for her trouble she’d gotten a bashing in the head, not this time. Though this time, Gilda’s rifle was slung over her back rather than in her talons. If this was going to get violent, Rainbow Dash was on her guard. ‘Let’s set some ground rules, I don’t want anything to do with you, and I know you don’t want anything to do with me, so you stay away from me? I’ll stay away from you’, Gilda snarled. ‘And keep the pink one away from me, or I will hurt her. Got it?’ ‘Loud and clear’, Rainbow Dash said sarcastically. Gilda said nothing; she turned and ‘accidentally’ swatted Rainbow Dash in the face with her tail. Rainbow Dash’s anger soared, if she weren’t still recovering from the bullet she had taken to her wing caused by Métis Retslaf in the divide, she’d have likely leapt at the gryphon and beaten her senseless for it. I used to be the pony that nobody wanted to mess with; then I took a bullet to the wing. Rainbow Dash thought to herself with a sigh. She watched as Gilda spread her wings and hopped back into the gun carriage, and it quickly sped off, only to park several hundred metres down the road, behind the Lord Stuart, and the Welaran armoured car, where they’d take the Whitetail road into Whitetail Wood and up the mountainside towards Canterlot in only a few hours time. Rainbow Dash glanced along the road where the gryphon self propelled gun had rolled in from and saw Twilight and Pinkie Pie walking towards her, joined in company by Fusilier Benjamin Willoughby. Rainbow Dash got up and trotted over towards them wearing a bright smile on her face. She noticed that Pinkie Pie’s mane had puffed back into its normal shape; she knew what that meant instantly. Pinkie Pie was doing better. Rainbow Dash threw her forelegs around Pinkie Pie in a tight hug. ‘Good to have you back Pinkie!’ she said, nuzzling her friend affectionately. ‘It’s good to be back Dashie!’ Pinkie Pie said, returning her friends affection. ‘Now all we got to do is think about what we’re gonna do about mean old Gilda!’ ... A few hours passed, several more groups had arrived in Ponyville, Afrikneigher ponies from Zhosa-Borwa arrived in a scout car, not unlike the one that Vinyl Scratch had ‘borrowed’ from South Island. Which Willoughby discovered parked behind the Library and asked how it had gotten there, to which Twilight and Rainbow Dash promptly denied knowledge of. Likewise a Schäferhund medium tank showed up not long after that, and then a maori gryphon group from New Seeland in a South Island M3 Light tank, but was most impressive was the delegation from Bharat. The leaders where ponies, a Welaran Viceroy and technically, King George being the Emperor of Bharat, the soldiers however, were of a species called Tigers, which Benjamin Willoughby had described as felines, big cats. What he did not elaborate on was just how big was big. One of them was about twice the size of a pony, and looked like they could swallow one whole without difficulty. They stuck out thanks to their orange fur and black stripes, and very large teeth. Despite, however, the fact that they were physically very intimidating, they were all quiet friendly. At sun down, Benjamin Willoughby was forced to big his friend’s farewell. He returned to the Lord Stuart, and climbed up on the back of it. Soon enough, the entire parade of armoured vehicles was off towards Canterlot. Everypony quickly lost interest as the final vehicle disappeared from sight and went into Whitetail Wood. Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, and Pinkie Pie looked at each other with a smile. They had each other, and that was what matters. ‘You know what this calls for!?’ Pinkie Pie asked cheerfully. ‘A party?’ Twilight and Rainbow Dash asked in a deadpan tone in unison with each other. ‘Well duh! Who do you think you’re talking to? Silly fillies!’ Pinkie Pie called out, and she dashed off to Sugarcube corner to throw something together. ‘Oh Pinkie Pie’, Rainbow Dash said. ‘So random’. Twilight nodded in agreement. This really couldn’t be any better. Pinkie Pie was genuinely happy. She no longer had to pretend. ... Early the next morning, Vinyl Scratch awoke to discover Surprise staring at her, she jumped in surprise sitting up and hitting her head against the concrete wall of the room. She clutched her head and began to rub it, hoping to alleviate the pain. ‘Okay, new rule, don’t do that, it’s creepy’, Vinyl said as she looked down at the Pegasus sharing the cot with her. ‘Sorry!’ Surprise called out cheerfully. ‘You look so happy when you’re sleeping, I didn’t want to wake you!’ Vinyl Scratch couldn’t help but smirk, she took her hoof and ruffled Surprise’s mane playfully, finding it only mildly strange that she couldn’t even feel the chain knife that was hidden in it. Surprise’s mane must be bigger on the inside than the outside, a line of thought that Vinyl Scratch could only grin at. The door to the room that they were sharing slid open as Archimedes walked in. ‘Rise and shine Vinyl Scratch, or you’ll waste the day away in bed!’ Surprise and Vinyl Scratch hopped off the cot and walked up to him. ‘You know, I don’t appreciate you holding us here against our will’. ‘Holding you against your will? Hah! Hardly!’ Archimedes said with a slight chuckle. ‘Is there somewhere else you’d rather be right now?’ Vinyl Scratch opened her mouth to say something, but then promptly closed it again. He had a point, as much as Vinyl hated to admit it. ‘It’s not holding you against your will if this is exactly where you want to be, if anything, I’m holding you here in compliance with your will!’ Archimedes said. Vinyl found herself to be unable to argue with that, though the fact of the matter was she found it to be extremely annoying. ‘Are you ever going to let us go?’ she asked. ‘Of course, I’m going to be using you just as the false machine intended to use you. You’re going to carry a message to her’, Archimedes said simply. Vinyl’s ear twitched at the mention of the false machine. She had heard Archimedes use this term before. ‘Who is the false machine?’ she asked. ‘The false machine, the voice over the radio, the savant, these are the names we refer to the one who controls the spritebots, we have spoken to her several times though the spritebots, though she refuses to tell us her name’, Archimedes said simply. ‘So we refer to her as such, for lack of a better term’. ‘Uh huh’, Vinyl Scratch said, losing interest rather quickly. ‘This message then, what is it?’ ‘It’s not ready yet, you will be given it when you are ready to go’, Archimedes said. ‘And that won’t be after Brother Scribe Ulan’s return’. ‘You’re rather sure about that, aren’t you?’ Vinyl asked. ‘It’s simply the way it is’, Archimedes said. The door behind them opened again, Archimedes turned around to see the blue robed earth pony trot into the room. ‘Well fortunately for all of us, we don’t have to wait long’, Montana Ulan said simply as he trotted into the room. ‘Ah, Brother Scribe Ulan! I was worried you had run into trouble, taking so long to return’, Archimedes said. ‘Had to take the long way back’, Montana said with a shrug. ‘Lest I be seen by those going to the World Leaders Conference in Canterlot’. ‘The World Leaders Conference?’ Vinyl asked. ‘But that’s always in Manehattan!’ ‘Safety concerns were brought up after there was a somewhat minor accident with a train not being able to stop... the conference was moved to Canterlot at the last minute’, Montana explained. ‘I may have had something to do with that’. ‘I will leave you three alone then, you do have much to talk about’, Archimedes said simply. ‘That we do’, Montana said simply. ‘That we do’. Archimedes left the room and shut the door behind him. Montana Ulan smiled slightly at her. ‘Well, now that he’s gone, I suppose I can get a little more comfortable’, Montana Ulan brought his hooves up to his face and rubbed at his eyes, Vinyl noticed that he was pulling something out of them. He closed his eyes and shook his head slightly. ‘Much better, those are incredibly annoying’, he said, and opened his eyes again. Vinyl Scratch and Surprise’s mouths dropped open. Vinyl Scratch pulled her goggles off her eyes to make sure she was seeing things properly. As it turned out, she was. Montana Ulan’s eyes were blood red. He gave them a small smile and asked: ‘Let’s get down to business, shall we?’ EpilogueEpilogue ‘Oh would you lot relax’, Monty Ulan said rolling his eyes. ‘It’s not like I’m the only person in this room with red eyes’. Vinyl took up a defensive stance, looking nervously over the robed pony before her. ‘Yeah... well, my eyes are ruby! Your eyes are blood red’. ‘I’m a dangerous psychopath with a long history of violence! What’s your excuse?!’ Surprise called out cheerfully. ‘Not now Surprise’, Vinyl said shushing her, causing the Pegasus pony to frown slightly. Monty sighed again. ‘I had red eyes in the old world too, after I stole Overdrive’s body back from him and took it as my own, seemed only fitting, since he took my body from me, when I took it back, he left me something to remember him by, his eyes’. ‘You remember the old world?’ Vinyl Scratch asked in shock, easing up on the tension in her body and relaxing a bit. Surprise did the same. ‘I never forgot, let’s just say, I’m unique’, Monty said with a shrug. ‘So that day, in Whitetail Wood when you found me lying in the woods, and then again on the train in South Island? You knew who I was’, Vinyl Scratch asked as she eyed him suspiciously. ‘That I did’, Monty said, nodding in agreement. ‘Of course, I had no way of knowing if you remembered me, you weren’t exactly giving any indication that you did, so I played along like I didn’t know you either, you’ll forgive me for the train in South Island, I was doing something important, and I couldn’t afford you or Princess Luna messing it up... speaking of, somepony really needs to teach her how to disguise herself better’. Vinyl Scratch gave him a shrug. ‘I couldn’t see the results of my labour, I was no Rarity, and I won’t ever be even with my eyesight back’, she paused for a moment and then had another question pop into her mind. ‘What were you doing in South Island?’ ‘Not important anymore’, Monty said with a shrug. ‘Tried to prevent something from happening, but it happened away, you made sure of that’. Vinyl thought about it for a moment, and then took a guess at what he was getting at. ‘Legion?’ she asked. Monty nodded. ‘I was hoping that stranding you in the middle of nowhere would keep you from breaking the artefact and irradiating yourself, well, you ended up doing that anyway’. Vinyl glanced down at the floor guiltily. He was right, the creation of Legion was her fault, had the artefact not broken, had she not needed to go to the Bridge over the St. Germain to heal herself, had she not tempted Whirlwind with information from his old life... ‘Doesn’t matter now, because I know how to defeat him’, Monty said simply. Causing Vinyl’s head to perk up. ‘Defeat Legion, and save Whirlwind in the process?’ Vinyl asked. Monty nodded in affirmation. ‘Well let’s do it then!’ Vinyl cried out, causing Monty to smile. ‘Let’s, follow me, we make for Ponyville!’ Monty said excitedly. He reached up to his eyes and put the orange lenses back against his eyes and blinked a few times, it was hardly noticeable that they weren’t their real colour. He unlocked the door and trotted out, leading the way down the deserted hallway of the Fillydelphia Ironworks and pushing through several doors until they arrived in a big open room. They were in the ironwork’s foundry, plenty of unicorns scurried about the room, smelting metal into shapes and building things of which that Vinyl could only guess at. At the far left of the room was a long metal box sitting on railroad tracks. ‘What is that?’ Vinyl asked. ‘It’s a locomotive engine’, Monty said simply. Vinyl eyed him suspiciously; it didn’t look like any train she had ever seen. ‘It’s a diesel’, Monty said with a shrug. ‘It's the only one of its kind anymore, come on! These tracks will lead us straight to Ponyville!’ With that, Monty Ulan led the way down towards the diesel engine and opened the rail car doors to the outside. He climbed into the engine and started it up. ‘ALLLLLL ABOARD!’ He cried out. Vinyl Scratch and Surprise wasted no time and hopped on. The engine’s wheels began to turn and the engine slowly pushed its way forward, it linked up with the commercial lines between Fillydelphia and Central Canterlot Province station. And with that, they were off.
Chapter 1Chronology notes: Stop! You are reading the eleventh story in the Bonds of Eternity Series. The first story in the series is Family found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/1307/ The second story in the series is Nihil Novi Sub Sole found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/1444/ The third story in the series is Friends in High Places found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/1716/ The fourth story in the series is Trust found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/1973/ The fifth story in the series is Domino Effect found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/2151/ The sixth story in the series is To Whom It May Concern found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/2465/ The seventh story in the series is Bridge Over River Rijn found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/2726/ The eighth story in the series is The Way of the Maneaanite found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/2931/ The ninth story in the series is Diamond in the Rough found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/3062/ The tenth story in the series is Old World Blues found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/3265/ Archimedes Constant Chapter 1 This had become normal in the life of Pinkamena Diane Pie. She tossed and turned in her bed, her mind racing with thoughts that kept her awake. She sat up and looked around her bedroom hoping to see something that would occupy her mind, but alas, found nothing. She looked over into the corner to see that Gummy, her pet toothless alligator was sleeping in the corner. Pinkie Pie frowned; she envied Gummy for not having a care in the world. He wasn’t kept up all night by his thoughts. Pinkie Pie slipped out of bed and pushed open her door. She wasn’t going to be sleeping tonight; she might as well go for a walk. Pinkie Pie had two secrets, the first one was that she was not the bright and bubbly pink party pony that everypony thought she was, not really anyway. When Pinkie Pie was alone, she was calm, collected, honestly, she was a rather sombre pony, a sombre pony wearing a mask all day. Pinkie Pie let out a small sigh as she continued to walk down the western road, out of Ponyville towards the general direction of the Everfree forest. She passed Fluttershy’s cottage, and the idea to go over and knock on the door popped into her head, and then it left just as quickly. It was the middle of the night, and Pinkie Pie didn’t need to be waking her. Not at this hour for no reason. Besides, it’s not like she could talk to Fluttershy about what was bothering her. No, if Pinkie Pie was going to interact with any of her friends, she would need to put a big old smile on her face and a joyful bounce in her step. She’d gotten really good at faking happiness. It was ironic that some viewed her as the Element of Laughter; they saw it as a gift, they didn’t know that it was really a curse. Pinkie Pie’s second secret was that she was in love with Twilight Sparkle. Pinkie Pie had been the first pony that Twilight had met in town. She had barely said hello to her when Pinkie Pie started freaking out and ran off. She felt bad about it, knowing that she had blown the chance then and there. Then the idea popped into her head that Pinkie Pie would throw Twilight a party! It would get her close and Twilight would have a good time, then she could get close to her! It didn’t work exactly as planned. The rest they say, is history, Pinkie Pie never gave up though, but then Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash got together, and it had pushed Pinkie Pie by the wayside. Pinkie Pie felt a tear streaming from her eye, and she stopped and wiped it away, noticing that she had gone somewhat further than she had intended to. She was inside the Everfree forest. Pinkie Pie spent the next few minutes glancing around. There were few that knew her secrets. Lounge singer Pips Domino had figured it out, the pure white Pegasus pony Surprise had figured it out. Pinkie Pie suspected that Vinyl Scratch knew too. That pony knew things. Knew things that she shouldn’t have, Vinyl had shared a few of them with Pinkie Pie and the rest of their friends. Pinkie Pie knew that Vinyl Scratch was hiding something though. There was information she was keeping from them. Pinkie Pie had discovered that she had wandered into boundary of the Lake of Origin. She stood nought two metres from the Lake’s bank. She trotted up to it and looked in, she saw a straight maned muted pink pony looking back at her. The reflection let out a yawn and then looked at her with disdain. ‘Oh... fuck!’ the reflection barked at her. ‘I was really hoping that you had died’. This had not been the first time that Pinkie Pie had looked into the Lake of Origin. The incredibly profane... lake... thing, had a nasty habit of insulting her and finding a way to include more colourful expletives in its sentences than were necessary. Even though it was a lake, and there for should not be able to speak at all, it did. ‘Lake of Origin to Pinkie Pie!’ the reflection called out to her. ‘Hellloooooooooooooo? What the fuck do you want!?’ Pinkie Pie thought about it for a moment, she could tell that the lake was getting impatient with her, though as far as she could tell, the lake had to interact with her while she was looking into it. It was the only way that it could. ‘I want to know’, Pinkie Pie said. ‘All the things from before’. Pinkie Pie had been curious of the old world that Vinyl Scratch had described. She had left out most of the specifics, and she figured why not? For all she knew, Pinkie Pie in the old world was actually the happy go lucky pony that she had been pretending to be. Why not? ‘You sure about that?’ the reflection asked. ‘Think long and hard; because you can’t go back, and you might not like what you remember’. Pinkie Pie did think about it for a moment. She figured that the Old World memories that were locked away couldn’t be any worse than anything else she’d gone though. She nodded in affirmation towards the lake. ‘Fine’, the reflection said with a sigh. ‘I don’t really give a fuck anyway’. Pinkie Pie ignored the profanity and continued. ‘What do I have to do?’ she asked. ‘What? Do you want a fucking instruction manual?’ the reflection asked. ‘Swim to the bottom and touch the big fucking golden glowy thingy’. Pinkie Pie ignored the reflection’s outburst and waded into the lake, taking step after gentle step until her hooves could no longer touch the bottom. She took a deep breath and submerged herself under the water. Pinkie Pie opened her eyes and immediately noticed the ‘golden glowy thingy’ that was at the bottom of the lake. Pinkie Pie began to swim a dog paddle towards it. Pinkie Pie had gotten within several metres of it when she started to get scared. Her instincts were kicking in and they told her to get as far away from this golden glowy thing as physically possible. Pinkie Pie turned to swim away, albeit, too late. She found herself paralysed. The golden glowy thingy had her in it’s grasp. Pinkie Pie let out her breath in surprise and found her mouth filling with water, she began to gasp instinctively for air, but each gasp only brought more water in to her lungs. She was drowning. Pinkie’s vision began to blur, she was experiencing flashes of memory. Princess Luna hopping of a chariot into town and shyly greeting her and her friends, the next memory was of an orange maned earth pony stallion lying in a hospital bed, another of Pinkie Pie running through town screaming, the next a dragon attacking Ponyville, and the next a brilliant flash of light. The images began to get more vivid, Pinkie walking through town with a straight mane, talking to a Pony that wasn’t there, she saw herself leap from a tree with a noose around her neck, Pinkie Pie saw herself wiring her childhood home with dynamite and blowing it to smithereens. She saw a red eyed Applejack and her standing next to a ghostly grey Alicorn. She saw Vinyl Scratch trying to defuse a bomb. She saw a brilliant flash of light enveloping the landscape, and then she saw nothing. Pinkie Pie washed up on the banks of the Lake of Origin and gasped out for air. She coughed, spitting water from her mouth. She dragged herself up onto shore and continued to cough. The images that she had seen didn’t all make sense at first. Clarity did not come instantly to her... but slowly, and surely, it was all coming back. It was all making sense. Pinkie Pie remembered. She remembered what she had forgotten. It was at that moment that Pinkie Pie knew that Vinyl Scratch had been telling the truth. Pinkie Pie curled herself up into a ball, she shivered on banks of the Lake of Origin. Vinyl Scratch had been right; some things were better left forgotten.
Chapter 2Chapter 2 Twilight Sparkle had gotten up early and was already nose deep in a book. She’d received a letter late last night from Princess Celestia. Equestria was holding a conference for world leaders, as it did every year in Manehattan. However there had been an accident at Manehattan’s central train station, apparently a train car had come lose during the trip, taking the breaks with it. Nopony had died, but there were some injuries, and about three thousand pounds worth damage to Central Station. The conference had been moved at the last minute and the foreign dignitaries would be marching through Ponyville tomorrow at midday. Twilight sighed slightly; it was too bad that Vinyl Scratch had run off, she probably would have enjoyed the visitors. Twilight closed her book and looked around, she could hear Rainbow Dash upstairs, sleeping soundly in bed and had half a mind to go and join her. Twilight had gotten all the work that she needed done and was about to when she heard a knock at the door... ... Pinkie Pie was in a full out panic as she ran through the streets of Ponyville. Memories of the old world coursing through her mind, Pinkie Pie had never been more scared in her entire life. She ran through Ponyville’s streets at high speed, looking for some place safe that she could go, but every building she looked at either had memories of being blood stained, or destroyed. Then she laid eyes upon the Library, Twilight! Of course, she remembered the old world too, she would help her! Pinkie Pie rushed up to the door and began to bang on it repeatedly hoping and praying to Celestia that Twilight would answer. It didn’t take long, but the door opened and Twilight was standing in the doorway. ‘Pinkie Pie? What are you doing?’ she asked. Pinkie Pie couldn’t contain herself; she leapt at Twilight, throwing her legs around her in a hug. ‘Twilight!’ Pinkie Pie sobbed. ‘You have to help me!’ Twilight returned Pinkie Pie’s hug. ‘Pinkie Pie? What’s wrong?’ she asked. Pinkie Pie looked at Twilight, tears were forming in her eyes. ‘I remember Twilight... I remember the old world’. Twilight looked at Pinkie Pie in surprise, but nodded her head in understanding. She released Pinkie Pie and shut the Library door and ushered Pinkie Pie over to the sofa. Twilight sat down on it and Pinkie did too, she couldn’t contain herself and buried her head into Twilight’s shoulder and began to cry. Twilight took embraced her and ran her hooves through the pink pony’s mane, doing her best to comfort her. Twilight didn’t know what to think of Pinkie Pie like this. It was so unlike her, Pinkie Pie always had a bright smile on her face. Seeing the bubbly, giggly pink party pony that she knew as such like this was hard to swallow. Pinkie Pie was in need, and Twilight needed to help her. Pinkie Pie felt warm in Twilight’s embrace. She felt safe with Twilight, and the lavender unicorn stroking her mane felt good. Pinkie Pie had yet to notice that her mane had lost its shape. The thick curly mess that it usually was had deflated and gone completely straight, Pinkie Pie had been crying rather loudly, and had not taken notice of just how loud she was being for this early in the morning, Twilight hadn’t said anything about it, and she just let the pony cry into her shoulder, holding her close while she did, Pinkie Pie had found her port of call in the storm, she felt safe. ‘What is going on down here?’ Rainbow Dash said with a yawn as she trotted down the stairs, and discovered Twilight sitting with Pinkie Pie on the sofa. ‘Pinkie Pie?’ Rainbow Dash asked in confusion. ‘What’s wrong?’ Pinkie Pie looked up at Rainbow Dash and began to cry harder. Rainbow Dash was taken aback by this; she had only seen Pinkie Pie cry once before. Just after they defeated Nightmare Moon and her mood had turned around pretty much just after she had started crying. Rainbow Dash trotted over to the sofa and got up on it with Twilight and Pinkie Pie, and she too took Pinkie Pie in her forelegs. ‘Pinkie Pie? What’s wrong?’ Rainbow Dash asked again. ‘Dashie...’ Pinkie Pie managed through a sob. ‘You died... and I didn’t care’. Rainbow Dash knew exactly what she meant. ‘Hey... Pinkie Pie... It’s okay, I’m alive now’. ‘Pinkie Pie, that wasn’t your fault!’ Twilight said reassuringly. ‘You were in Overdrive’s thrall, he manipulated you so that you wouldn’t care, and it’s not your fault!’ Pinkie Pie continued to sob, she looked up at Rainbow Dash and Twilight, and she had stopped sobbing long enough to speak. ‘I remember the bomb... it went off’, Pinkie Pie said with a sniffle. ‘I remember, looking back and seeing the bright flash of light... then nothing else... Twilight? What happened? Did we die?’ Twilight and Rainbow Dash looked at each other. They had asked themselves that question several times. They didn’t have an answer to that. ‘If we did die...’ Pinkie Pie said with a sniffle. ‘Then what’s all this?’ That was another thing that they didn’t have an answer too. ... Vinyl Scratch stood on the hill overlooking Fillydelphia peering through a set of binoculars. She was looking towards the harbour and discovered that there were higher concentrations of foreign ships than usual, and these were military vessels there were a number of ships that were flying the Red Ensign of South Island, there were a few from Welara. One from Zhosa-Browa and a few others that Vinyl did not recognise. Vinyl was not concerned by them, however, and she turned her attention towards the city centre, spotting a fountain in the central plaza and grinned widely. She turned her head towards her companion and smiled. ‘Hey Surprise? You ready?’ The red eyed Pegasus nodded in affirmation. ‘Excellent!’ Vinyl said taking a look through her binoculars again. ‘Then Operation: SUPERBALL is a go!’ ‘SUPERBALL?’ Surprise asked. ‘SUPERBALL’, Vinyl repeated with a grin. ‘Part two. Problem?’ ‘Nope!’ Surprise said cheerfully. Vinyl grinned. Of course, SUPERBALL part two had ended up being pretty much the same as the original. Run straight at the objective and hope for the best. It was the epitome of Vinyl Scratch plans, and they surprisingly worked ever so well. Of course, it helped that the City Centre was deserted so that nopony was around to seeing what Vinyl and Surprise was doing. Everypony was away going to be watching the eventual parade. Vinyl Scratch had taken this into account. She knew what the ships in the harbour were all about. Everypony was going to be busy watching King George and Prime Minister Leonard Spencer of Welara, Governor-General Alfred Isaac and Prime Minister Ronald Pace from South Island, et cetra. Vinyl Scratch found it mildly entertaining that such people that were above her were serving her purpose as a distraction. She and Surprise raced into the City Centre and skidded to a stop just a few metres short of the fountain. A giant iron statue of an earth pony mare spitting water from its mouth made up the centre of the fountain. ‘Hey Surprise? Guess what time it is?’ Vinyl said flashing a grin at her. ‘Time... to cause... property damage?!’ Surprise guessed grinning brightly at the thought. ‘You get far too excited when we do this’, Vinyl said returning the grin. ‘I can’t take you anywhere!’ Surprise stuck her tongue out at Vinyl in response. Vinyl chuckled and opened up her saddlebag, bringing out a comically large rock that she’d chipped out of this mysterious boulder that showed up in Ponyville one after noon, though nopony was able, or willing, to divulge how it had gotten there, she levitated it in the air with her magic and tossed it at the earth pony statue’s head. Where there any around to watch it, they would have been surprised to have watched the statue’s head roll back, and then snap back forward, as if it were held on by a hinge. The fountain stopped spitting, and all the water began to drain out of the fountain entirely. Surprise and Vinyl Scratch looked into the fountain and watched as two concrete slabs began to open up, revealing a hidden staircase hidden. Vinyl vaulted over the into the fountain and trotted down the staircase, Surprise quickly followed, and not long afterwards the slabs slid shut behind them and they heard water filling the fountain up above them. ‘How did you know this was all down here?’ Surprise asked. ‘Emerald Sparkle’s book has notes written in the margins’, Vinyl said simply, she lit her horn for the light and the two of them continued to trot down the staircase, they reached the bottom and discovered an elevator door with the letters FDIW printed in white on them, somewhat similar to the letters printed on the gear shaped door to EPMB. Vinyl Scratch mashed the elevator buttons with her hoof, causing them to slide open and revealing the elevator car. Vinyl Scratch and Surprise entered the car and pressed the button for the bottom level. ‘Once more unto the breach!’ Vinyl Scratch called enthusiastically as the doors shut and the two mares began their descent.
Chapter 3Chapter 3 Pinkie Pie had fallen asleep by this point as she laid her head against Twilight’s flank, snoring loudly. Twilight’s hind leg was on pins and needles from where Pinkie Pie was resting her head, but she didn’t have the heart to wake the pink party pony from her slumber. She looked to Rainbow Dash, who was looking at her sadly; they both felt the same feelings about this situation with one of their friends. Twilight could only imagine how Rainbow Dash felt; she and Pinkie Pie were close, far closer than Pinkie and Twilight. ‘This... this was heart breaking’, Twilight said eventually, quiet enough so that she wouldn’t wake up. ‘I’ve never seen Pinkie Pie like this before’. Rainbow Dash did not reply, but nodded her head in agreement. Both of them continued to watch Pinkie Pie as she slept, she was twitching somewhat in her sleep, she was having a nightmare. Twilight wanted to cry. ‘Could have been worse’, Rainbow Dash said. ‘Could have been Fluttershy, could have been Applejack’. Twilight was taken aback slightly, the statement was a rather harsh one, Pinkie Pie was in pain and she needed love from her friends... but then Twilight began to think that Rainbow Dash was right. Fluttershy had violently murdered six people in the old world; one of them was sitting before her. Rainbow Dash had died at Fluttershy’s hooves during her psychotic episode, if Fluttershy was ever to remember... Twilight didn’t want to think about it. Then there was Applejack. Her manipulation by the Siblings Nightmare had sent her over the edge, and she had brutally maimed Apple Bloom, if she were to remember that... Twilight didn’t want to think about what Applejack would do to herself. On the plus side, Pinkie Pie was here, where she was safe, warm, and in the company of those who cared about her. ‘I don’t think that we should leave her alone, we’re going to need to make sure that at least one of us has an eye on her at all times... lest she do something drastic’, Twilight said eventually. Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement. There was space here for Pinkie Pie, now that the Library was empty of most of its inhabitants. Trixie had moved out and gotten her own place, she was now living in the flat that had once been occupied by Derpy Hooves. Vinyl Scratch was off gallivanting around who knows where with Surprise, which was odd in itself. The Library now felt empty because Twilight had gotten used to so many others living here. There was always Spike, though he usually made himself scarce during the day, Twilight wondered what he did when he was out, though when she questioned him about it, he causally avoided the question and went on about his business. Twilight smirked slightly at thinking about Spike; she’d seen the dragon as something like a baby brother. Where Vinyl Scratch here to make it, she would have likely made some smartarse crack about him growing up so fast. Twilight concentrated hard on Pinkie Pie, enveloping the sleeping pink party pony in her magic and gently lifting her into the air, Twilight got up to take her up to bed, forgetting completely about her numb leg and nearly losing her concentration almost dropping Pinkie Pie in the process. Rainbow Dash leapt up and got a hold on Twilight, allowing the unicorn to stabilise and regain her concentration. Pinkie Pie had listed somewhat, and Twilight gently brought her back to a stable position, she did not wake through the entire ordeal. ‘She must be really tired’, Twilight said. ‘Yeah... definitely’, Rainbow Dash said quietly. Twilight leaned up against Rainbow Dash for support, and together, the two mares carried their sleeping friend up the stairs to put her to bed. Pinkie Pie’s twitching began to subside, and the party pony’s dreams turned from her nightmares, to more pleasant ones of happier times with her friends. ... Pinkie Pie awoke the next morning to discover herself lying in a bed in the spare room of the Ponyville Library, she sat up and looked around, and for a moment was confused about where she was. Then she remembered practically beating down the Library door and Twilight taking her in, she must have fallen asleep, though she didn’t know when. She looked around the room and discovered that Rainbow Dash had fallen asleep standing in the corner, the Pegasus mare was leaning against the fall of the room, her head drooping low. Pinkie Pie smiled, she realised what her friends had done for her. Now it was time to return the favour. She hopped out of bed and went over to Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie leaned down and gently picked Rainbow Dash up with her back and carried her into the next room, taking care to put the sleeping Pegasus to bed. ‘Thanks Dashie’, Pinkie Pie said with a faint smile as she pulled the covers over Rainbow Dash’s body. Pinkie Pie exited the room and went down the stairs to discover that Twilight was awake, nose deep in a book and scribbling onto a scroll next to her. ‘Twilight?’ Pinkie Pie asked. Twilight jumped a little in surprise and turned around to look at the new comer in the room. ‘Pinkie Pie! You’re awake... did Rainbow Dash fall asleep while she was supposed to be watching you?’ Pinkie Pie smirked a little and nodded in the affirmation. Twilight let out a long sigh and trotted over to her friend. ‘We’ve been watching you all night, in shifts, three hours each... I... didn’t want you to be alone’. Pinkie Pie felt tears forming in her eyes, though these were not tears of sadness, as they had been yesterday. No, these tears were happy ones. Pinkie Pie was happy that she had such wonderful friends. ‘Thank you Twilight’, Pinkie Pie said as she approached her, she had a small smile on her face, while not the big, goofy looking grin that Pinkie Pie usually wore. It made Twilight’s heart soar. ‘You’re welcome Pinkie Pie I was glad to have helped’, Twilight said, returning the smile. Pinkie Pie continued to smile and wrapped her forelegs around Twilight for a hug. Twilight returned it, and was happy that they were on the road to getting Pinkie Pie back to them. Pinkie Pie smiled at Twilight. ‘Thank you, thank you so much’, Pinkie Pie said, she leaned close and planted a kiss on Twilight Sparkle’s lips. ... Vinyl Scratch and Surprise reached the bottom of the elevator shaft and looked down the hallway towards the... well, to be perfectly honest, Vinyl didn’t know what exactly to expect at the end of the hallway. The hallway was long, and it was dark, she figured that the pony made tunnel like hallways stretched all around Fillydelphia. Fortunate that Fillydelphia lacked an underground metro system like that of Manehattan, otherwise somepony might have accidentally stumbled onto them. Though, the more Vinyl Scratch had thought about it, it may have been by design. She remembered that there had been numerous occasions in Fillydelphia’s history where there had been talks about installing a metro system, but any time it ever came up, the motion was always being narrowly defeated. Vinyl Scratch looked over to Surprise, who was glancing around at everything with a childlike wonder. Vinyl Scratch could hardly believe that this was the same Surprise that had tried to kill her on the very same day that she had lost her eyesight, before Whirlwind had stepped in and stopped her from harming her. Vinyl Scratch couldn’t help but think that this Surprise couldn’t even hurt a fly, even though this was far from the truth. When it came down to it, Surprise still was a ruthless, psychopathic killer with little regard to life of any who got in the way. Vinyl’s thoughts drifted back over to Whirlwind. She found herself frowning slightly, that poor pony had been dealt a terrible fate, and while Vinyl Scratch and the rest of her friends hoped that they could eventually free him from the monster that he’d become. Vinyl and her friends recognised that Whirlwind and Legion were different, and they had all taken a vow to keep it quiet and make sure that, if they could restore Whirlwind to his old self, that there would still be a place in society for him to return to. Though with each passing day, that idea seemed to become more and more unlikely. Vinyl Scratch’s ear began to twitch. Something was up, something that was not supposed to be, though she couldn’t quite place her hoof on it. Vinyl Scratch and Surprise reached the end of the hallway and the door opened before them. A dozen or so unicorn ponies dressed in royal blue robes, identical to the ones worn by Montana Ulan upon her encounter with him at Ponyville raced out of it and surrounded them. Each unicorn was levitating firearms of various kinds. Pistols, shotguns, submachine guns, one of them even had a rather nasty looking rifle; each of these weapons was of various origins that Vinyl Scratch didn’t recognise. ‘Well’, Vinyl Scratch said flashing a grin. ‘You machine cultists sure know how to make a filly feel welcome’. She glanced over to Surprise, whose expression had turned from childlike wonder to one of distress. She was uneasy, but continued to not say anything. The machine cultists did not respond, however, out of the door another pony appeared, he was an older unicorn stallion, a coat of beige and a mane that had once been jet black, but now had turned to a light grey wearing the a set of deep purple robes, he looked at her and smiled. ‘’Well hello there’, the unicorn stallion said simply. ‘I’m Chapter Master Archimedes. I’m head of this chapter of the Machine Cult. Welcome to Fillydelphia, Vinyl Scratch, we’ve been expecting you’.
Chapter 4Chapter 4 Twilight Sparkle’s eyes grew wide as she was taken by surprise at Pinkie Pie’s behaviour, Pinkie Pie was kissing her, and she was too shocked to do anything, she couldn’t even pull away. Twilight mustered every bit of will that she could, given the circumstances, and pulled herself away from her friend. ‘Pinkie Pie! What are you doing!?’ Twilight cried out. Pinkie Pie’s eyes became small, the realisation of what she had just done had set in and now, she knew what she had done. Pinkie Pie panicked and pushed Twilight out of the way, bolting out the Library door and running as fast and as far away as she possibly could down towards the south eastern road. Unfortunately for her, she did not realise who was coming up the south eastern road. It was almost midday, Pinkie Pie had slept through the morning, and as she ran along the road she rounded the corner and ran into a group that were not happy to see her. Pinkie Pie skidded to a halt in front of a rifle section of Welaran ponies, dressed in crème uniforms and brodie helmets who were marching up the road towards Ponyville. Behind them was a menacing armoured car that had trained its main gun upon her. ‘Assassin!’ one of the ponies cried out as they all turned towards Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie swallowed hard. ‘Hold!’ boomed a voice from behind them. Pinkie Pie looked up to find the biggest pony that she had ever seen trotting towards her. This pony made Big McIntosh look like a Little McIntosh, his coat was a dark crème colour, somewhat like the uniforms of the soldier ponies. He wore his mane in a short cut, and was the colour of chestnut. He had a beard, which Pinkie Pie thought was something of a rare occurrence with pony kind. The only beared ponies that Pinkie Pie knew about were those ones who hung out at the bowling alley. But what was probably most notable was what this pony was wearing, he was wearing a fancy blue suit and a flowing red cape, around his neck was a rather ornate looking medal. Where Rarity to see this pony, she would have probably freaked out at how fancy he was. The gigantic pony looked over the trembling Pinkie Pie and then looked back to the soldiers. ‘Fools! This is no assassin! Unless she intended to murder me with her own hooves!’ ‘I... what?’ Pinkie Pie asked in confusion. The giant pony looked at Pinkie Pie, and then he realised that she did not know who he was. ‘Guards, go on without us, I wish...’ ‘Your majesty! I must protest...’ one of the other ponies that were dressed differently in than the soldiers began to say but was again interrupted. ‘I am talking!’ the giant pony said. ‘And I say, go on without me’. ‘Yes, your majesty’, the other pony said. He, along with the soldier ponies continued on their way until they were out of earshot. The giant pony turned to Pinkie Pie and gave her a quizzical look. ‘Do you know who I am?’ he asked. Pinkie Pie shook her head no, causing the giant pony to chuckle slightly. ‘That, is actually quite a relief, I am King George of Welara, you may call me George, or I suppose, if it makes you feel more comfortable, you may call me “Your Majesty”, I know it can be difficult for some to be informal around one of my status, though just because I am socially above you, does not mean I am better than you, so really, whatever makes you feel more comfortable’. ‘Uh...’ Pinkie Pie said with a nervous chuckle. ‘Hi... George, I’m Pinkie Pie...’ King George smiled at her and stuck out a hoof. ‘Charmed’, he said with a smile. Pinkie Pie wasn’t sure how to respond to the gesture. While Pinkie Pie had had no problems acting as she normally acted around Princess Celestia... this was different, King George was a king, and he was the King of Welara. ‘Come now!’ King George said with a friendly smile. ‘I won’t bite, shake! Please! I insist’. Pinkie Pie reluctantly took the king’s hoof and shook it. King George chuckled and gave Pinkie Pie a pleasant smile. ‘Very good! Come, walk with me, we should probably make our way up the road before the South Islanders come up the road and start panicking that I’m without my guard, and consorting with a strange pink pony’. Pinkie Pie nodded and walked beside King George up the road into Ponyville. The king took notice of his soldiers up along the high street bickering with each other and the pony who had protested the King’s orders. Which Pinkie Pie had eventually figured was Leonard Spencer, the Welaran Prime Minister. Or so Twilight had said, Pinkie Pie didn’t know exactly what a Prime Minister was; only that Equestria did not have one. King George diverted down another street to avoid the view from his guard. ‘They don’t want to leave me alone, they fear I am going to be assassinated, I am not going to be assassinated in the lands of Celestia... and even if someone were to try, it is not as if I cannot handle myself’. Pinkie Pie didn’t say anything; rather, she just continued to follow the king. He turned his head towards her and gave her an odd look. ‘You do not strike me as the quiet type, please; there is no need to be shy. I assure you, I am just as normal as you are’, King George said, flashing a grin at her. Pinkie Pie couldn’t help but smile at the king’s comment, if he only knew. ‘That’s what I like to see!’ King George said. ‘I like you, Pinkie Pie; I think you and I are going to get along just fine’. ... Vinyl Scratch glanced around again at the Machine Cultists as they surrounded her, despite this Archimedes comment that they had been expecting her, they looked as if they had been expecting trouble. Surprise glanced around nervously at each of them, her foreleg kept twitching, as if it instinctively wanted to reach up and pull something from a convent hiding spot, though she was forcing it to stay down. ‘If you’ve been expecting me, How about you get your friends to back off a little then, huh?’ Vinyl asked. ‘All in good time’, Archimedes said simply. ‘Do it’. The machine cultist with the rifle pointed his weapon at Surprise and pulled the trigger. The shot rang out and the bullet whizzed through the air in seemingly slow motion. ‘No!’ Vinyl cried out instinctively. The bullet did not hit Surprise, however, actually it didn’t even come close, and the bullet instead went right over her head and impacted an unseen object with a metal KLANG! A spritebot appeared from nowhere and began fluttering its wings rapidly, trying to keep itself aloft, it eventually failed and crashed hard on the concrete floor of the hallway and powered itself down. ‘Sister Scribe Rhythm! Take the robot and strip it for parts’, Archimedes ordered. One of the other robed unicorns nodded and stepped forward, enveloping it in her magic and pulling it up off the floor, though you could hardly tell that she was robed at all, the fact that her coat matched her robes. Vinyl Scratch watched as the unicorn took the spritebot away, she figured that she really shouldn’t be surprised that Emerald Sparkle had sent one of her robots to follow her. She wanted access to the Fillydelphia Ironworks and it quickly became clear that Emerald had intended to use her as a pawn. The cultists lowered their weapons and quickly funnelled back inside the door, leaving Vinyl Scratch, Surprise, and Archimedes alone in the hallway. ‘How did you know who I am?’ Vinyl asked. ‘The same way the false machine knows you, we’ve been watching you for quite some time. Brother Scribe Ulan was quick to report his encounter with you not long after his escape from captivity’, Archimedes said. ‘He is quite resourceful... for an earth pony, escaping from hoofcuffs and from the police mare holding him without the use of magic... it is quite impressive, but then you already know the Brother Scribe, don’t you?’ Vinyl Scratch nodded in affirmation. ‘Let’s just say he and I have a score to settle’. ‘Yes, I would imagine so, though he had yet to join the Chapter at that time. I am aware of your altercation in South Island. Disconnecting rail cars has seemed to become the Brother Scribe’s calling card, he’s used the technique to escape pursuers several times... unfortunately it almost always causes some kind of minor accident, the Cossacks got lucky, they noticed their train had no breaks three days before they needed to stop’, Archimedes said. ‘I imagine you will want to speak to him when he gets back here?’ ‘Oh yes, very much so’, Vinyl said, stressing her frustration that Monty Ulan had pulled the same trick to multiple people. Archimedes nodded. ‘I thought so, very well then, come, follow, I imagine you could use a rest’.
Chapter 5Chapter 5 Twilight Sparkle dashed out of the Library just after Pinkie Pie, while the confectioner loved sweets and ate them at a rate that was certainly not healthy for a pony of any age; she was deceptively fast, by the time Twilight had gotten out the Library door, Pinkie Pie was nowhere to be found. Twilight frowned and galloped down the high street towards Sugarcube Corner, figuring that it would be the best place to start looking. She burst through the front door of Sugarcube, blazing past at such a high speed that the Cakes assumed that she WAS Pinkie Pie, Twilight raced up the stairs and burst into Pinkie Pie’s room. The pink party pony was nowhere to be found. Twilight calmed herself a little and started to think things through. It was probably just as good that she had yet to find Pinkie Pie, because Twilight had not even the faintest idea of what she was going to say to her. Twilight sat down on the floor in Pinkie Pie’s room and began to look around. She noticed a few photographs of her and her friends. The largest one, however, was one of Pinkie Pie and Twilight. Twilight was looking into the camera and giving a pleasant smile, while Pinkie Pie had her foreleg around Twilight and was giving a ridiculously goofy looking grin. Twilight couldn’t help but smile at this photograph. Pinkie Pie was Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie had always seemed to want to be around Twilight. The pink party pony had been finding a number of reasons to visit the library, and taking out several books on chemistry at a time, and then bringing them back the next day and getting more. Twilight had been somewhat impressed with Pinkie Pie’s interest in chemistry, and figured that the highly random pony was using the knowledge gained from these books to make party favours and fireworks. Then Vinyl Scratch insisted that they all take a trip north, towards the Hoofson Bay, Vinyl Scratch was cured of her radiation poisoning, Twilight and Rainbow Dash regained their old world memoires, and Whirlwind was turned into a monster, Legion. Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash had gotten together, and Pinkie Pie stopped coming around to the Library regularly. Twilight had never figured it was because Pinkie Pie had feelings for her. Now she felt guilty for not recognising it sooner. Twilight found it hard to believe that Pinkie Pie could be so good at hiding feelings, and attributed her lack of noticing to her rather poor social skills. Twilight had always found it extremely difficult to pick up on the more subtle emotions of others, and it had caused her a number of problems in the past. When she still lived in Canterlot and her classmates at Princess Celestia’s school for Gifted Unicorns had all wanted to spend time with her, get to know her, be her friend. Since coming to Ponyville; that had been a topic of much regret for the lavender unicorn, and it hurt her to know that she hadn’t taken noticed upon Pinkie Pie’s feelings, they should have been obvious. Twilight replaced the photograph and trotted down the stairs into Sugarcube Corner proper. Mrs. Cake looked up in surprise. ‘Oh! Twilight! Dear, we thought you were Pinkie Pie the way you went by so fast! Where is Pinkie Pie?’ ‘I wish I could tell you, Mrs. Cake, I’m still looking for her’, Twilight said. ‘Is everything all right?’ Mrs. Cake asked. Twilight could only shrug. I’ll let you know when I find her’. ... Pinkie Pie and King George had taken up roost on the balcony of the town hall and where looking out onto the country side towards the southern road. King George had pulled a pair of binoculars from his person and was looking through them. ‘There are the South Islanders!’ King George called out. ‘An Infantry section from... Royal Kingsland Fusilier’s regiment, very nice... they have a good record... and what is this? Oh... how interesting! A tank from My Own South Island Dragoons! M3 Light Tank 105... Very interesting! Well we did always take the parade seriously, it’s going to be a good one this year! I can already tell!’ Pinkie Pie sat quietly and politely listened to the ramblings of the King. Pinkie Pie respected him, he was not unlike the way she acted in public and with someone of his status, she could only smile at the antics that he could have been involved in. He was a king! Pinkie Pie could only imagine that he could do pretty much anything and get away with it. King George looked over to her and smiled. ‘Now, that is what I like to see! You have such a wonderful smile Pinkie Pie; tell me, what’s caused you to want to hide it?’ ‘Well... it’s kind of a long story...’ Pinkie Pie said, rubbing the back of her neck with a hoof nervously. ‘I have time’, King George said with a grin. ‘I’m a King, they’ll wait for me’. ... Twilight continued to run through the streets and skidded to a halt when she heard a very familiar sound from around the corner. That sound belonged to tank tracks. Twilight watched as a South Island M3 Light Tank rounded the corner, and rubbed her eyes when she saw the number printed on it. It had to be a trick her eyes were playing on her. She looked again, it definitely was. It was number 105. What was most odd about the tank were the fact that there were 8 kangaroos crammed onto the top of it, riding on the tank and doing their best to keep from falling. One of the kangaroos looked up at her with an odd look, and then hopped off. ‘Go ahead! I’ll catch up!’ he called as the tank continued to roll onwards. Twilight looked at him, and then recognised who he was immediately. ‘Benjamin Willoughby?’ Willoughby could only grin at her. ‘Looks like the universe can’t stand to see us apart, huh Twilight?’ Twilight nodded and looked down the street towards the tank. ‘And was that...?’ ‘The Lord Stuart?’ Willoughby asked. ‘Sure was, believe me, I was just as flabbergasted as you were, got a different crew now, but it’s still it’. ... Archimedes had been kind enough to give Vinyl Scratch and Surprise a place to rest for the night. He bid them good night and departed from the room. Vinyl figured that she shouldn’t be surprised that after trying the door, she discovered that it was locked, from the outside. She had thought it strange that Archimedes had been a little too friendly. Well, so much for friendliness. ‘Locked’, Vinyl said with a frown. ‘Figures, looks like we aren’t going...’ Vinyl stopped in mid sentence as she was turning around to face her friend, only to discover that Surprise was holding her chain knife in her teeth. Vinyl understood what she was getting at, her friends choice of weapon had been developed as an industrial tool for use in cutting steel. The doors were steel, theoretically speaking; the chain knife should be able to cut through them. Theoretically, anyway, that idea was based on the assumption that the doors weren’t too thick to cut through, and Vinyl would rather not try and fail and run the risk of having angry machine cultists storm the door and kill her, and then do whatever they would do to Surprise since she was immortal. ‘No, put it away’, Vinyl said. ‘We’ll play their game for now’. Surprise looked mildly disappointed, but nevertheless returned her chain knife to its hiding place inside her thick, unruly mane. Vinyl chuckled as the idea that Surprise probably had to use the chain knife if she ever wanted to get a haircut. ‘Come on silly; let’s get some rest, eh?’ Vinyl suggested as she went over to lie down on the cot, patting the space next to her for Surprise to join. ‘I don’t sleep’, Surprise said, staring blankly at the cot. ‘Ever’. ‘Oh don’t be silly, I’ve seen you sleep plenty of times’, Vinyl said, stretching her legs out and causally pointing her horn towards the corner. Surprise glanced to it out of the corner of her eye and noticed the security camera. ‘You just don’t know when you fall asleep, that’s all’. Surprise nodded in understanding and joined Vinyl Scratch in the cot. Vinyl pulled the covers over their heads and the two looked each other directly in the eyes. Can you hear me? Vinyl Scratch raised an eyebrow, she heard Surprise’s voice, but her mouth had not moved at all. That was when she realised she heard it inside your head. Can... can you hear what I think? Vinyl thought. Surprise nodded in affirmation. Not all the time, I have to work really, really hard to hear things, most the time I can only hear myself and the others in my head. You’re a real messed up pony, Surprise. Vinyl Scratch thought with a grin. She gave her friend a hug and another smile to go with it. Keep a good eye out for me, okay? Surprise nodded in affirmation, Vinyl Scratch rolled over and did her best to go to sleep.
Chapter 6Chapter 6 A hoof busted through foliage on the northern end of Ponyville as Octavia Auditore stumbled out. She’d been walking for the last three days after promptly abandoning the rail car after Montana Ulan disconnected it from the Manehattan Express. To say that Octavia was in a bad mood was an understatement. The ordinarily refined mare’s mane was out of place, horribly knotted and tangled. Her bow tie was ripped and dangling freely around her neck, and every so often, her eyes and ears would twitch uncontrollably. Worse still, Octavia’s anger over the situation had done nothing but fester the entire walk back to Ponyville. Celestia pity the fool who tried to converse with her, because she was not going to have it. Not today. ‘Well lookie here! Howdy do thar Octavia!’ called a voice from down the road. Octavia turned to her left and discovered that Applejack was trotting down the road towards her. Oh wonderful, oh happy day! This couldn’t get any better! Applejack got closer to her and noticed that something was up. ‘What happened ta ya? Ya look like ya done gone through a cyclone!’ Applejack cried out in shock. ‘Oh something the likes of that...’ Octavia said, her eye twitching in anger. Applejack should be considering herself lucky that Octavia had not hit her yet. ‘Well c’mon then!’ Applejack said with a warm smile. ‘C’mon home with me, we’ll git ya cleaned up and a nice, home cooked meal!’ Octavia could only wonder how this mare did not pick up on the contempt she had for her. ‘That will be quite all right... thank you’, Octavia said, followed by both an eye and ear twitch. ‘Naww, Ah insist! C’mon now!’ Applejack said, and practically began to drag Octavia back to Sweet Apple Acres. Octavia swore loudly in her own mind. Applejack was lucky that she had yet to be strangled. ... As happy as Twilight was to see Benjamin Willoughby at this point, she was more concerned with finding Pinkie Pie. This was something that needed to be set straight. ‘Trooper...’ Twilight began, but was quickly interrupted. ‘Fusilier now, actually, but you’re my friend, and I’ve gotten comfortable with you calling me Ben’, Willoughby corrected. ‘Ben...’ Twilight began again. ‘I don’t mean to sound rude, but I’m kind of in the middle of something, I need to find Pinkie Pie’. ‘Pinkie Pie being the pink one?’ Willoughby asked with a smirk, chuckling at his own joke, he knew who Pinkie Pie was after all, after meeting her in Trotterdam, glancing around and eventually turning his eyes upwards towards the town hall. ‘Found her!’ Twilight’s eyes widened. ‘What?! Where?!’ she asked as she glanced around the street for her. Willoughby could only chuckle. Twilight just wasn’t looking in the right place. ‘That’s the beauty of being trained to fight gryphons, they teach you to look up!’ Willoughby said with a grin, and pointed up to the town hall. Twilight Sparkle’s eyes widened in shock, there was Pinkie Pie, standing with a gigantic pony that Twilight didn’t recognise. ‘Who is that with her?’ Twilight asked. Willoughby took a closer look and his jaw dropped. ‘That’s King George of Welara!’ he cried out in shock. Twilight didn’t respond, she broke into a full on gallop towards the town hall, she drew in her breath and as loud as she could muster cried out to her friend. ‘PINNNNNNNNNKKKKKKKKKKKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!’ ... Rainbow Dash’s eyes popped open at the loud noise from outside and sat up quickly in surprise from the loud noise, causing her to tumble out of bed and onto the wooden floor. ‘What the hay was that?!’ she cried out, mostly to herself. ... Pinkie Pie looked down to see Twilight running towards her, her heart began to sink and she wanted to run. ‘Pinkie Pie!’ Twilight called again. ‘Please don’t run! Please! Just come down here! We need to talk!’ Pinkie Pie looked over to King George, who gave her a polite smile and nodded to her. Indicating that he thought it was for the best. Pinkie Pie returned his smile with a faint one of her own and trotted down to the lower level. Twilight ran up to her and threw her hooves around the mare in a tight hug. ‘Oh Pinkie Pie! You had me so worried when you ran off! I’ve been so afraid that you were going to go and hurt yourself!’ Twilight said. ‘You... you’re not mad?’ Pinkie Pie asked unbelievingly. ‘Oh, Pinkie Pie... no, I’m not mad!’ Twilight said giving her friend an uncomfortable look. ‘It’s just that... well, we need to talk about this’. Pinkie Pie nodded in understanding. The two mares trotted off to find a quiet place that they could sit and talk about what had happened this morning between the two. Willoughby caught up, but found himself trailing back. This was something he didn’t need to stick his nose into, and he knew it. King George trotted out of the town hall not long after and gave Benjamin Willoughby a smile, causing the Fusilier to snap to attention as he was trained to. ‘Oh relax Fusilier, no need to be so formal’, King George said with a smile. Willoughby didn’t budge, causing King George to sigh. ‘Some things never change’, he mumbled to himself as trotted off back to where his guard was located at. ... Twilight and Pinkie Pie had taken a seat along the western road out of Ponyville. As peaceful a place as any where they could sit and talk. They sat quietly for a while, looking out to the west towards Sweet Apple Acres and beyond it, the Everfree forest. After what felt like hours, Twilight turned to Pinkie Pie and gave her a glum look. ‘I’m sorry Pinkie Pie’, she said with a frown. Pinkie Pie raised an eyebrow in confusion. ‘What? Twilight! I’m the one who should be apologising to you! After that...’ Twilight raised a hoof to shush her. ‘Let me finish, I’m sorry I didn’t pick up on how you felt about me, it should have been obvious... I just... I just...’ Twilight began to tear up and found it difficult to continue. ‘I’ve never been good at paying attention to other ponies’ feelings. I can’t imagine how many ponies’ feelings I’ve hurt in the past... I’m just so stupid!’ Now Pinkie Pie was frowning. ‘Oh, Twilight... you’re not stupid! You’re the smartest pony I know!’ Twilight wiped a tear from her eye and gave a slight sniffle. ‘I just... I don’t want you to take this the wrong way Pinkie Pie... You’re one of my best friends, and I care about you a lot, I just... I don’t have feelings for you... not like that’. Pinkie Pie had to admit, that part stung. It was as if a bee had just landed on the back of her neck and drove its’ dagger into her. Pinkie Pie gave her a smile, not a big, goofy one that she was known for, but a real, genuine smile. ‘I know... that’s okay Twilight... just knowing that you don’t hate me... that’s enough for me, you’re one of my best friends! Maybe you don’t feel the same way about me, that’s okay; I can live with that, but you hating me because I... kissed you? I don’t think I could go without your friendship’. Twilight smiled back at her. ‘Oh, Pinkie Pie! I couldn’t go without your friendship either, even if you drive me mad sometimes’, Twilight said with a chuckle. ‘We’ll always be friends!’ Pinkie Pie felt tears of happiness rolling down her face, Twilight may not have loved her the way Pinkie did, but their friendship would endure, maybe even become stronger because of it. Pinkie Pie and Twilight embraced each other, and Pinkie Pie’s mane puffed back up to its normal, thick, unruly shape. Causing a goofy grin to appear on Pinkie Pie’s face, the giggly, bubbly, pink party pony was back, and this time, she didn’t even have to fake it. They heard the sound of tank tracks rolling through the tree line from the west. Twilight and Pinkie Pie turned to the left, and their eyes widened as they saw an armoured vehicle rolling down the road towards them. It wasn’t a tank, per say, it was open topped and had a rather big gun sticking out the top of it, but was most worrisome about it was the fact that it was full of Gryphons. Twilight recognised the gun as a Gryphon Rapid Fire 26 Pounder. The armoured vehicle rolled by them and one of the occupants, a female gryphon scowled at them as she passed. ‘Lance Bombardier! Stop staring at the wildlife!’ called another gryphon. The gryphon who had scowled at them turned away. ‘Yes ma’am, Lef-tenant Razorwing’, she said, simply. Twilight and Pinkie Pie’s mouths fell open as the armoured vehicle rolled by them, stunned by who they had just seen. ‘That was Gilda!’ Pinkie Pie cried out in surprise. Twilight Sparkle nodded, trouble had once again walked, or more accurately, rode, its way into Ponyville once again.
Chapter 7Chapter 7 Rainbow Dash stumbled out of the Ponyville Library, continuing to rub the sleep from her eyes, and unfortunately, nearly being run over at the same time. ‘Out of the road!’ cried a, from Dash’s perspective, disembodied voice from in front of her. Rainbow Dash opened her eyes to discover the gryphon self propelled artillery gun was about ready to run her over; she leapt backwards and smacked her head hard on the library door, causing a roar of laughs from the gryphons mounted on the gun carriage. Rainbow Dash started rubbing the back of her head, considering herself lucky she hadn’t gotten a concussion from the force. She opened her eyes to discover a gryphon looming over her. ‘Rainbow Dash’, Gilda said coldly. ‘Gilda’, Rainbow Dash returned in just as cold a manner. Rainbow Dash remembered the last time she had seen Gilda, and for her trouble she’d gotten a bashing in the head, not this time. Though this time, Gilda’s rifle was slung over her back rather than in her talons. If this was going to get violent, Rainbow Dash was on her guard. ‘Let’s set some ground rules, I don’t want anything to do with you, and I know you don’t want anything to do with me, so you stay away from me? I’ll stay away from you’, Gilda snarled. ‘And keep the pink one away from me, or I will hurt her. Got it?’ ‘Loud and clear’, Rainbow Dash said sarcastically. Gilda said nothing; she turned and ‘accidentally’ swatted Rainbow Dash in the face with her tail. Rainbow Dash’s anger soared, if she weren’t still recovering from the bullet she had taken to her wing caused by Métis Retslaf in the divide, she’d have likely leapt at the gryphon and beaten her senseless for it. I used to be the pony that nobody wanted to mess with; then I took a bullet to the wing. Rainbow Dash thought to herself with a sigh. She watched as Gilda spread her wings and hopped back into the gun carriage, and it quickly sped off, only to park several hundred metres down the road, behind the Lord Stuart, and the Welaran armoured car, where they’d take the Whitetail road into Whitetail Wood and up the mountainside towards Canterlot in only a few hours time. Rainbow Dash glanced along the road where the gryphon self propelled gun had rolled in from and saw Twilight and Pinkie Pie walking towards her, joined in company by Fusilier Benjamin Willoughby. Rainbow Dash got up and trotted over towards them wearing a bright smile on her face. She noticed that Pinkie Pie’s mane had puffed back into its normal shape; she knew what that meant instantly. Pinkie Pie was doing better. Rainbow Dash threw her forelegs around Pinkie Pie in a tight hug. ‘Good to have you back Pinkie!’ she said, nuzzling her friend affectionately. ‘It’s good to be back Dashie!’ Pinkie Pie said, returning her friends affection. ‘Now all we got to do is think about what we’re gonna do about mean old Gilda!’ ... A few hours passed, several more groups had arrived in Ponyville, Afrikneigher ponies from Zhosa-Borwa arrived in a scout car, not unlike the one that Vinyl Scratch had ‘borrowed’ from South Island. Which Willoughby discovered parked behind the Library and asked how it had gotten there, to which Twilight and Rainbow Dash promptly denied knowledge of. Likewise a Schäferhund medium tank showed up not long after that, and then a maori gryphon group from New Seeland in a South Island M3 Light tank, but was most impressive was the delegation from Bharat. The leaders where ponies, a Welaran Viceroy and technically, King George being the Emperor of Bharat, the soldiers however, were of a species called Tigers, which Benjamin Willoughby had described as felines, big cats. What he did not elaborate on was just how big was big. One of them was about twice the size of a pony, and looked like they could swallow one whole without difficulty. They stuck out thanks to their orange fur and black stripes, and very large teeth. Despite, however, the fact that they were physically very intimidating, they were all quiet friendly. At sun down, Benjamin Willoughby was forced to big his friend’s farewell. He returned to the Lord Stuart, and climbed up on the back of it. Soon enough, the entire parade of armoured vehicles was off towards Canterlot. Everypony quickly lost interest as the final vehicle disappeared from sight and went into Whitetail Wood. Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, and Pinkie Pie looked at each other with a smile. They had each other, and that was what matters. ‘You know what this calls for!?’ Pinkie Pie asked cheerfully. ‘A party?’ Twilight and Rainbow Dash asked in a deadpan tone in unison with each other. ‘Well duh! Who do you think you’re talking to? Silly fillies!’ Pinkie Pie called out, and she dashed off to Sugarcube corner to throw something together. ‘Oh Pinkie Pie’, Rainbow Dash said. ‘So random’. Twilight nodded in agreement. This really couldn’t be any better. Pinkie Pie was genuinely happy. She no longer had to pretend. ... Early the next morning, Vinyl Scratch awoke to discover Surprise staring at her, she jumped in surprise sitting up and hitting her head against the concrete wall of the room. She clutched her head and began to rub it, hoping to alleviate the pain. ‘Okay, new rule, don’t do that, it’s creepy’, Vinyl said as she looked down at the Pegasus sharing the cot with her. ‘Sorry!’ Surprise called out cheerfully. ‘You look so happy when you’re sleeping, I didn’t want to wake you!’ Vinyl Scratch couldn’t help but smirk, she took her hoof and ruffled Surprise’s mane playfully, finding it only mildly strange that she couldn’t even feel the chain knife that was hidden in it. Surprise’s mane must be bigger on the inside than the outside, a line of thought that Vinyl Scratch could only grin at. The door to the room that they were sharing slid open as Archimedes walked in. ‘Rise and shine Vinyl Scratch, or you’ll waste the day away in bed!’ Surprise and Vinyl Scratch hopped off the cot and walked up to him. ‘You know, I don’t appreciate you holding us here against our will’. ‘Holding you against your will? Hah! Hardly!’ Archimedes said with a slight chuckle. ‘Is there somewhere else you’d rather be right now?’ Vinyl Scratch opened her mouth to say something, but then promptly closed it again. He had a point, as much as Vinyl hated to admit it. ‘It’s not holding you against your will if this is exactly where you want to be, if anything, I’m holding you here in compliance with your will!’ Archimedes said. Vinyl found herself to be unable to argue with that, though the fact of the matter was she found it to be extremely annoying. ‘Are you ever going to let us go?’ she asked. ‘Of course, I’m going to be using you just as the false machine intended to use you. You’re going to carry a message to her’, Archimedes said simply. Vinyl’s ear twitched at the mention of the false machine. She had heard Archimedes use this term before. ‘Who is the false machine?’ she asked. ‘The false machine, the voice over the radio, the savant, these are the names we refer to the one who controls the spritebots, we have spoken to her several times though the spritebots, though she refuses to tell us her name’, Archimedes said simply. ‘So we refer to her as such, for lack of a better term’. ‘Uh huh’, Vinyl Scratch said, losing interest rather quickly. ‘This message then, what is it?’ ‘It’s not ready yet, you will be given it when you are ready to go’, Archimedes said. ‘And that won’t be after Brother Scribe Ulan’s return’. ‘You’re rather sure about that, aren’t you?’ Vinyl asked. ‘It’s simply the way it is’, Archimedes said. The door behind them opened again, Archimedes turned around to see the blue robed earth pony trot into the room. ‘Well fortunately for all of us, we don’t have to wait long’, Montana Ulan said simply as he trotted into the room. ‘Ah, Brother Scribe Ulan! I was worried you had run into trouble, taking so long to return’, Archimedes said. ‘Had to take the long way back’, Montana said with a shrug. ‘Lest I be seen by those going to the World Leaders Conference in Canterlot’. ‘The World Leaders Conference?’ Vinyl asked. ‘But that’s always in Manehattan!’ ‘Safety concerns were brought up after there was a somewhat minor accident with a train not being able to stop... the conference was moved to Canterlot at the last minute’, Montana explained. ‘I may have had something to do with that’. ‘I will leave you three alone then, you do have much to talk about’, Archimedes said simply. ‘That we do’, Montana said simply. ‘That we do’. Archimedes left the room and shut the door behind him. Montana Ulan smiled slightly at her. ‘Well, now that he’s gone, I suppose I can get a little more comfortable’, Montana Ulan brought his hooves up to his face and rubbed at his eyes, Vinyl noticed that he was pulling something out of them. He closed his eyes and shook his head slightly. ‘Much better, those are incredibly annoying’, he said, and opened his eyes again. Vinyl Scratch and Surprise’s mouths dropped open. Vinyl Scratch pulled her goggles off her eyes to make sure she was seeing things properly. As it turned out, she was. Montana Ulan’s eyes were blood red. He gave them a small smile and asked: ‘Let’s get down to business, shall we?’
EpilogueEpilogue ‘Oh would you lot relax’, Monty Ulan said rolling his eyes. ‘It’s not like I’m the only person in this room with red eyes’. Vinyl took up a defensive stance, looking nervously over the robed pony before her. ‘Yeah... well, my eyes are ruby! Your eyes are blood red’. ‘I’m a dangerous psychopath with a long history of violence! What’s your excuse?!’ Surprise called out cheerfully. ‘Not now Surprise’, Vinyl said shushing her, causing the Pegasus pony to frown slightly. Monty sighed again. ‘I had red eyes in the old world too, after I stole Overdrive’s body back from him and took it as my own, seemed only fitting, since he took my body from me, when I took it back, he left me something to remember him by, his eyes’. ‘You remember the old world?’ Vinyl Scratch asked in shock, easing up on the tension in her body and relaxing a bit. Surprise did the same. ‘I never forgot, let’s just say, I’m unique’, Monty said with a shrug. ‘So that day, in Whitetail Wood when you found me lying in the woods, and then again on the train in South Island? You knew who I was’, Vinyl Scratch asked as she eyed him suspiciously. ‘That I did’, Monty said, nodding in agreement. ‘Of course, I had no way of knowing if you remembered me, you weren’t exactly giving any indication that you did, so I played along like I didn’t know you either, you’ll forgive me for the train in South Island, I was doing something important, and I couldn’t afford you or Princess Luna messing it up... speaking of, somepony really needs to teach her how to disguise herself better’. Vinyl Scratch gave him a shrug. ‘I couldn’t see the results of my labour, I was no Rarity, and I won’t ever be even with my eyesight back’, she paused for a moment and then had another question pop into her mind. ‘What were you doing in South Island?’ ‘Not important anymore’, Monty said with a shrug. ‘Tried to prevent something from happening, but it happened away, you made sure of that’. Vinyl thought about it for a moment, and then took a guess at what he was getting at. ‘Legion?’ she asked. Monty nodded. ‘I was hoping that stranding you in the middle of nowhere would keep you from breaking the artefact and irradiating yourself, well, you ended up doing that anyway’. Vinyl glanced down at the floor guiltily. He was right, the creation of Legion was her fault, had the artefact not broken, had she not needed to go to the Bridge over the St. Germain to heal herself, had she not tempted Whirlwind with information from his old life... ‘Doesn’t matter now, because I know how to defeat him’, Monty said simply. Causing Vinyl’s head to perk up. ‘Defeat Legion, and save Whirlwind in the process?’ Vinyl asked. Monty nodded in affirmation. ‘Well let’s do it then!’ Vinyl cried out, causing Monty to smile. ‘Let’s, follow me, we make for Ponyville!’ Monty said excitedly. He reached up to his eyes and put the orange lenses back against his eyes and blinked a few times, it was hardly noticeable that they weren’t their real colour. He unlocked the door and trotted out, leading the way down the deserted hallway of the Fillydelphia Ironworks and pushing through several doors until they arrived in a big open room. They were in the ironwork’s foundry, plenty of unicorns scurried about the room, smelting metal into shapes and building things of which that Vinyl could only guess at. At the far left of the room was a long metal box sitting on railroad tracks. ‘What is that?’ Vinyl asked. ‘It’s a locomotive engine’, Monty said simply. Vinyl eyed him suspiciously; it didn’t look like any train she had ever seen. ‘It’s a diesel’, Monty said with a shrug. ‘It's the only one of its kind anymore, come on! These tracks will lead us straight to Ponyville!’ With that, Monty Ulan led the way down towards the diesel engine and opened the rail car doors to the outside. He climbed into the engine and started it up. ‘ALLLLLL ABOARD!’ He cried out. Vinyl Scratch and Surprise wasted no time and hopped on. The engine’s wheels began to turn and the engine slowly pushed its way forward, it linked up with the commercial lines between Fillydelphia and Central Canterlot Province station. And with that, they were off.
