The Cost of a Sunrise

by No one is home

Rating: teen
Tags: Dungeons and Dragons, Dark, Death, Alternate Universe, Suicide / Self Harm, Adventure, Violence, Crossover, Sex, Thorax, Twilight Sparkle, Profanity, Discord, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 15314

When questions are asked about the last field trip Discord took his class on, there's only one thing to do... Twilight and Thorax climb aboard Discord's Magic School Bus to see post apocalyptic Everglow for themselves.

Join Twilight and Thorax as they set hoof on Discord's Magic School Bus for a trip into the post apocalyptic future of Everglow.

They say the road to ruin is paved in the best of intentions, and no where is this more true than in the Ashen Waste of Everglow. Slapstick LeFaux, a unicorn colt blessed by the goddess of the doppelgangers is the sole survivor when his circus caravan is ambushed by raiders. Sunrise Flare is a young mare who's life was upended when a doomsday cult of crazed pony fanatics remade her in their twisted image of an "ideal" monarch. In a world that hasn't seen the sun in over two hundred years, a careless wish can invite disaster. And nothing costs as much as a sun rise.

This story is based in the world of David Silver's Ponyfinder RPG books. Specifically the upcoming campaign setting From the Ashes, available now for pre-order!

Also this is a sequel/prequel to my previous story Bits of Ash. Although, being a prequel, although reading that is in no way necessary to enjoy this story. Has many funs! :pinkiecrazy:

Published 2018-06-08 17:30:07 UTC
Last updated 2018-11-01 11:31:23 UTC

The Mercy of the Ash

“Dammit,” a deep blue leatherwing scowled and cursed as he examined the wreckage, “Looks like what’s left of Barnham’s caravan.”

“They were good folk,” the gigantic, antean pale horse beside him said solemnly, “Good, honest carnies, just like us, they deserved better than this. Baylie, I know we’re behind schedule, but it feels wrong to just leave them like this.”

“No need to ask, Atlas,” The leatherwing bowed his head. “We’ll make camp. Shouldn’t take more than a full day to dig the graves. I won’t leave fellow carnie-folk to be eaten by the scavengers.”

“Mr. Deadlift!” A clown faced human ran up to the giant, panting and out of breath. “We found a survivor!”

“Mercy of the Ash!” The giant flashed a thin smile. “Baphomet! Margarine! We have a survivor! Where?”

Atlas Deadlift galloped in the direction indicated to find a young, clown-face, insectile, unicorn colt curled and shivering in fear, surrounded by three clowns, two gem gnoll males, and a pony satyr with the shapely upper torso of a female gem gnoll, and the lower body of an equally shapely pony. “It’s okay, little guy,” the female spoke in soothing tones, “You’re safe now.”

“Give the poor colt some space!” A bearded cow pushed past the trio, throwing around her not-inconsiderable bulk. “Can’t you see he’s in shock!”

“Mirage kissed,” a matronly she-goat spoke in thoughtful and reverent tones, “Rare for one so young…”

“Wowsa,” the taller of the gem-gnoll clowns quipped, “should someone put Mirage on some kinda watch list? Cause he really is kinda young to be sucking face with a goddess…”

“Don’t you talk no bad about the Veiled Mother!” The colt sprang to his feet, fear suddenly forgotten.

“Whoa, soorrryyyy,” the gem gnoll laughed easily, “Just a joke, one clown to another. I’ve never been one to blaspheme the gods…”

“Since when?” The female satyr raised a critical eyebrow.

“Cease your prattling tongues!” The goat snapped. “What is your name, child?”

“S-slapstick ma’am,” the colt shuffled nervously, “Slapstick LeFaux.”

“LeFaux, yes, that explains it,” The Goat said thoughtfully, “Then your great-grandame would have been Madame Alias Le Faux. The name is not unknown among the circus folk. The Veiled Goddess has a long memory, and she has blessed the families of ponies who helped her children in the days of the war… adopted them, some would say…”

“Oh, enough of that, you old nanny goat!” The bearded cow pushed forward. “This colt needs our compassion, not some mouldy history lesson!”

“I’m sorry about my brothers,” the satyr smiled warmly, “I’m Dotty.”

“And I’m Wakko!” The shorter gem gnoll grinned enthusiastically.

“Yakko Wormer, at your service!” The taller flashed a friendly smile. “We’re the Wormer Brothers…”

“An the Wormer sister!” Dotty interjected. “You’re safe now, just go with Margarine, she’ll make everything better, I promise! No secrets or lies between clowns, right?”

The matronly Krava smiled and led the youth away, as the giant scowled, “You three, establish a parameter. We don’t know for sure if whoever did this has moved on yet or not. Get Ziggy to help, and tell Franklin to set up a sniper nest. If he gives you any lip, just laugh it off and let me know… I’ll bring him in line myself.”

Slapstick walked behind the krava mare in a dim, trancelike state. All around him his eyes took in the destruction and death of what had, just yesterday been the only family and home he had ever known. Master Barnham’s circus had never questioned his family’s “condition”, why would they? The LeFaux’s had been a part of the troupe for generations. Generations of LeFauxs working for generations of Barnhams for decades long lost to the ash… and that was all gone now. There was no more Barnham’s Circus of Wonders. The was no more Master Barnham, he was dead now. Goldy Barnham, the young mare, not much older than himself, who’s pretty eyes watched carefully over the three ring empire her father was grooming her to rule one day was dead now. His father and mother who had served the Barnham family as faithfully as they had served Mirage herself, as had their parents, and their parent’s parents, all the way back to the old times when the sky was blue… it was all gone. They were all gone. He wanted to bawl like a newborn foal, wanted it more than anything in the whole of the waste, but something inside kept his eyes hard and dry, even as his hooves threatened to give way beneath him. He was all that was left. All that was left of Barnham’s Circus of Wonders, and all that was left of the great LeFaux legacy. Just one, half grown clown was all that survived. And he knew he had to be strong, he had to be… because he was the only vessel left to carry their memories into the future, even as Soft Whisper carried their souls into the beyond.

An Audience With The Queen

“Why would you take them to a place like this?” Twilight seethed, “I trusted you with my most promising students! Why would you show them a future like this?”

“I think you’ve answered your own question.” Discord beamed with glee from the aisle of the bus. “Because 100% of your former graduating students have destroyed the world at least once.”

“Hey! Starlight wasn’t even my student yet when that happened!” Twilight argued.

“My point still stands.” Discord crossed his mismatched arms and grinned.

“Uh, Discord,” Thorax asked uncertainly, “I have a question about that changeling?”

“Technically not a changeling,” the draconequus supplied helpfully, “They’re called doppelgangers, and he’s not even one of those. There was some confusion with that last time… the Magic School Bus translates on the fly, and there was an issue with the translation. The ones that look like changelings are actually just blessed by the goddess of the ones who basically are this worlds changelings, but look nothing like changelings. It’s convenient, why would a changeling want to look like a changeling after all, the whole point to being a changeling is looking like something else, am I right?”

“That’s… kinda racist?” Thorax sounded vaguely uncomfortable.

“This way, dear,” Margarine led the young, insectile unicorn towards a large covered wagon, “We’ll have proper tents pitched by tomorrow, I think, but for now you can stay with Magpie and Daisy in the Queen’s wagon.”

“The Queen?” Slapstick asked.

“Sunrise Flare,” the bearded cow explained, "she’s the troupe's magician, and the head of the sideshow. She seems like she’s putting on air’s sometimes, but it’s best to just play along. She’s really a wonderful pony when you get to know her. Just remember to call her ‘your majesty’, and tell her she’s pretty and she’ll warm up to you quickly enough.”

The cow clopped loudly against the wagon door, “Your Majesty? It’s Margarine, there’s someone here you should meet!”

“By all means, bring them in!” A dulcet voice answered. “There’s always room for one more friend.”

The wagon’s interior was lavishly furnished, by waste standards. With the majority of the space being taken by an elaborate padded couch. On the wagon's floor two young earth fillies apparently huddled together beneath a blanket, only their blue heads peeking out to examine the new-comer with four pretty, green eyes. But it was the figure reclining on the couch itself that captivated Slapstick. A regal alabaster mare, replete with the wings of a pegasus and the horn of a unicorn tossed back her rainbowed mane and smiled coyly.

“And who is this charming young colt?” The dazzling creatures eyes locked onto Slapstick LeFaux and his heart at once froze and melted in his chest.

“His name is Slapstick, your majesty,” Margarine said with a sad smile, “He seems to be the only survivor from the raider attack.”

“How terrible!” Proclaimed the filly on the left.

“Is he going to join our circus now?” The Filly on the right asked. “He can perform with us in the sideshow! I’ve never seen a pony like him before.”

Slapstick was trapped like an animal before a bright light, not even hearing two fillies kind words, his eyes unable to pull away from the regal mare before him, without reaon his mouth released the first full thought to cross his addled mind, “She's the most beautiful pony I’ve ever seen!”

“Oh, I like him!” Sunrise giggled. “Daisy, will you and Magpie kindly fetch our young guest a bite to eat?”

“Of course, your majesty!” The two replied in tandem. Finally breaking the spell as they rose from beneath their blanket, revealing that both heads were, in fact attached to one body.

“It’s not polite to stare, young colt.” Sunset spoke with kind firmness. “Magpie and Daisy aren’t on stage and you didn’t buy a ticket.”

“Oh… I’m sorry…” The youth stammered, drawing a cheerful giggle from the two headed filly.

“It’s alright your majesty,” Daisy smiled, the thought being finished by her other head, Magpie, “We don’t mind the attention, especially from a handsome colt like Mr. Slapstick.”

Slapstick’s blush was visible even past his clown makeup, “A lot of ponies stare at me too… I haven’t learned to disguise myself yet, and it’s awkward… looking like a bug all the time…”

“Why would you want to disguise yourself, dear?” Sunrise leaned forward. “You’re a perfectly handsome pony just as you are.”

“I know, right?” Magpie chirped. “We were just saying that.”

“Margarine!” The lanky human clown came running to the wagon. “Mr. Deadlift wants every adult but Sunrise to meet by the head wagon! We’re going to try to sort through the wreckage before it gets too dark. He said he wants Sunrise to watch after the young ones.”

“Of course, Ziggy,” Margarine smiled, before turning to Slapstick. “You try to get some rest. In the morning we’re going to speak some words over the departed, you can say your goodbyes then. For now it’s best that you wait here until we’re sure those raiders won’t be coming back.”

“How terrible!” Magpie exclaimed, as Daisy interjected, “I don’t know how we’ll ever sleep tonight, knowing those fiends could still be out there!”

“Don’t worry,” the human flashed a goofy grin, “Me and the Wormers are keeping watch tonight… I’d never let anything happen to you.”

“Don’t you let Mr. Deadlift catch you flirting with those little fillies like that, now.” Margarine raised a skeptical eyebrow.

“Oh...n-no! I didn’t mean it like that…” Ziggy stammered, “I meant… you guys… I’d never let anything happen to you guys!”

Daisy giggled as the human beat a hasty retreat, and Magpie rolled her eyes, “Uncle Deadlift is too overprotective! We’re not foals anymore!”

“Your uncle just wants to keep you safe,” Sunrise said serenely, “He cares about you very much.”

“I know,” Magpie groaned as Daisy smiled serenely, “But Ziggy is really nice, and he’s sweet is own way… not like that pervert Rollo.”

“Who’s Rollo?” Slapstick asked in confusion.

“He’s just a stupid fat pony who’s idea of putting on a side show is lying about and being disgusting pig,” Magpie grumbled.

“Now, girls,” Sunrise chastised the pair, “As unpleasant as he may be at times, Rollo is one of my loyal subjects, and a part of this circus. Be nice. Just don’t go anywhere alone with him…”

“We’ll introduce you to everyone in the morning,” Daisy said with a smile, as Magpie sat a basket full of dried rations before the colt, “Most everyone is super nice… except Rollo and Franklin. Tomorrow we’ll have the mess wagon running too, and we can fix you a good, hot meal. Until then, we’ll all just have to make do with dried fruit and bread. But it’s better than nothing. There’s plenty of space on the floor, but we only have the one blanket, but we’d be happy to share it with you!”

“Nonsense,” Sunrise rose from her recline, offering the space to the younger ponies, “I won’t have my newest subject sleeping on the floor after all he’s been through. I should sleep in front of the door anyway, just to be safe.”

“Thank you your majesty!” The twins exclaimed, eagerly pulling the young colt into place beside them.

“T-thank you… all of you! I don’t think I would have made it alone, without… I mean...” Slipstick stammered as his mind tried to process the events of the day.

“It’s okay to cry.” Magpie nuzzled against the colt as his emotions finally burst free of their dam and Daisy placed a gentle kiss on his forehead, “Just let it all out… you’re not alone anymore.”

The young colt softly sobbed long into the night, but with time sleep did come.

Ascension - The Meek

“Wait, is that an alicorn? None of the students mentioned an alicorn in there reports,” Twilight noted quizzically.

“I had to take some pretty sharp turns to keep it ‘PG-13’ for young minds,” Discord tsked, Turning his head like an owl-like fashion as he drove, “And honestly that meant I had to take several detours through less unsavory incidents of murder-hobo to try to avoid as many references to her as possible.”

“But, why? Honestly she seems like the very model of friendship. Wait,” Twilight's eyebrow twitched in curiosity, “So we can skip around to different parts in history?”

“See,” Discord grinned, “I knew you’d like the Magic Schoolbus. Just last chapter you were ready to pillory me after just one little circus massacre. As if I’d just take a gaggle of young school creatures and show them something as heartbreaking as a slaughtered circus! You wound me, Twilight Sparkle.”

“So this isn’t what the students saw?” Twilight asked, as Thorax watched thoughtfully as the events played out in the Queen’s wagon, somehow just outside the window.

“Of course not!” Discord scowled with hurt and genuine offense. “The Magic School bus operates under a series of pre-programed conditions, you didn’t think I’d trust myself to drive with students in the bus did you? I’m drunk right now, and this isn’t even the field trip, it’s the audit for the field trip. The Bus travels on a procedurally generated path, modified to the curiosity of the passengers. For the field trip there were very strict parameters on where the bus would and would not go. I’ll have you know I faded a little just placing such strict ‘rules’.”

“So you can show me where that alicorn princess came from?” Twilight asked sharply.

“Actually, she called herself a queen,” Thorax ears pinned against his head as he spoke, “And I haven’t heard that many ‘your majesties’ thrown together in one conversation since Chitin asked Queen Chrysalis to use the little bugs room in formation.”

“Remember later, Princess, you asked to see this…” Discord spun the wheel, throwing the bus into temporal tunnel.

“It is time,” a small filly with fur the color of yellow dirt, and a mane the color of red mud stepped boldly forward, “for new day in Everglow!”

The small globe of light was almost depressingly dim, but it reflected the hope in the little earth pony’s eyes brilliantly. “I-I did it! Daddy, I did it!”

“You made light, Sunrise,” The elder, greying stallion smiled. “And I’m proud of you. Really I am… you’ve taken to magic remarkably well. I just… worry about you dear… You do realize that nopony can raise the sun and moon, don’t you? That was just a silly little children's book.”

“B-but, my name is Sunrise… my brand is the rising sun.” The little filly shuffled her hooves. “Somepony HAS to make to sun come back one day! Why can’t it be me?”

“My little sunbeam,” The old stallion laughed sadly, “the sun and the Sun Queen never really went away. They’re both still in the sky, bringing light and watching us through the veil of ash. And one day, we’re going to make the sky blue again, and our grand-foals will see that the sunrise isn’t just an old mare’s tail. We… us… all creatures working together are going to clean up this mess we made of our world. I only want you to do your part in that… in making this world a better place just one little step at a time. That’s how real miracles happen, little one.”

“He was teaching her humility… or trying to.” Thorax observed sadly.

“What makes you so sure he failed?” Discord corkscrewed himself around to face his friend, ignoring the very idea of steering the bus. “After all, she’s an alicorn princess in the future, right?”

“A queen,” Thorax corrected the Lord of Chaos, “she called herself a queen. And it didn’t look like it was a title she minded having thrown around!”

“Discord, we’re headed into a black hole!” Twilight suddenly screamed.

“Oh relax,” Discord rolled his eyes and chuckled, “That’s only a really dark grey hole…”

And the Magic School bus kareened wildly into the future.

The now adolescent filly stood proudly, dressed in a bright orange and gold wizard’s robe. In front of her, a banner “The Miraculous Sunrise Daffodilly”.

“And now, ladies and gentlecolts! I, the truly Miraculous Sunrise Daffodilly, will perform my greatest miracle, perhaps the greatest miracle you shall ever witness! It is time,” The filly strode forward, grinning with confidence. “For a new day in Everglow!”

Behind the stage a bright glow rose up, and a fiery sphere rose into the sky, smiling brightly, before winking and bursting into a pyrotechnic display. As the glare dimmed, the human circus owner watched, expression unreadable, as his assistant, a cheerful gnome dressed a red and black ringleaders suit clapped politely.

“It was a talented display, Miss Daffodilly” The owner smiled thinly, but not unkindly. “You are a talented wielder of the arcane arts, especially for your age. No one is going to deny that… then again your age is part of the problem.”

“The Council of Elders said I’m old enough to leave the settlement if I want to!” Sunrise pleaded, but the circus owner shook his head sadly.

“I said it’s part of the problem,” He continued, “Having a filly as young as you, as a solo act? People would talk. Young ones always talk about ‘running away to join the circus’... and we strongly discourage it. Now like I said, you’ve got skills, and if we had a pony couple we might could play off that you were their kid. No one worries about carnie kids performing if they see the rest of their family right there in the same circus. But the only pony we’ve got in the troup is Don Roseblood, and with his reputation… lets just say telling folks you were with him would make it worse, not better.”

“Then there’s the issue of the act itself,” the owner sighed, “It’s too gimmicky. Maybe if we were running some kind of side-show outfit, like Baylie’s… but raising the sun? Keep studying girl, you have a real talent, but your act just lacks a certain... flare.”

“You did a wonderful job on the sun, miss” The gnome grinned wildly. “It looked just like in the silly picture books!”

“I’m sorry to have wasted your time, sirs,” Sunset galloped away before she could burst into tears.

“Are you sure we did the right thing sir?” The gnome bowed his head sadly. “I know her father asked us to talk her out of it, but she has real talent. It seems… wrong to crush her dreams like that.”

“If she’s worth her weight in ash, Moggly,” the owner chuckled, “she’ll study twice as hard, and when we roll back through next year, if she’s got the gumption to try again, I’ll sign her on no matter what her dad says. But if this is like the old stallion thinks, and she’s just a filly rebelling against her dad, then we just saved her a world of heartache.”

Ascension - The Deserving

“That poor filly!” Twilight protested sadly. “She only wants to follow her dreams!”

“All they wanted her to do was just wait one more year,” Thorax watched suspiciously.

“Oh come now,” Discord smiled happily, “What’s the worst that can come from a little filly following her dreams?”

The Magic School Bus turned sharply to answer that very question.

“Mr. Sunshine always said, if I just kept going, if I just paid enough, you’d come back one day,” The Miraculous Queen Sunrise Flare sneered from the mouldy and bloodstained couch she reclined languidly upon, “and he was right. You were always my brightside, big guy. All of this, all that I left of every town, village, and settlement you tracked me through… all of it was for you. And still, after all this time… all the love, all the anger, all depression, the sacrifice, the blood, the murder… after everything I did for you… I. Still. Don’t. Know. Your. Name.”

The growled words were an accusation. The hulking mass of scar tissue and blue fur opened his bisected mouth wide and a single serpent emerged out of a mass of writhing snakes. “I’m sorry,Sunrise… your majesty. I’m sorry for everything. I’m sorry I didn’t speak to you first. I’m sorry I never told you how beautiful you were. And I’m sorry we left you this abyss of a planet,” the serpent whispered in her ear, “But mostly I’m sorry I couldn’t be the pony you wanted me to be. You wanted to save me from the nameless monster I had become… and now, we’re here.”

“We can’t go back from this,” Sunrise leered like the Sun itself, “you know I’ll never stop. I changed my mind about the doll though… I want to make her...Just... Like...M--ehk!”

“I’m sorry Sunrise, I wish you could could have saved me from this, I really needed one of your miracles.” The beast collapsed into wordless sobs as he dropped the lifeless mare to the floor.

“He killed her…” A tiny light went out in Twilight’s eye. “That monster just killed her…”

“She practically begged him to…” Thorax swallowed hard. “What happened to her, how did she end there, from waiting one more year to join the circus?”

“Questions, questions,” Discord laughed, “And that’s why we have a Magic School Bus, because I promise there are answers… somewhere… out there… I’m not going to just do the whole song by myself…”

“You like my act?!?!” Sunrise smiled brightly.

“What you see as an ‘act’, we see as a manifestation of your destiny,” the sickly grey priest wheezed, “if you but join our cause we will give you the power to make that destiny manifest. With our help, you can be the Queen who brings back the sun.”

“I don’t like these ponies.” Dawn Labor, a massive earth pony farm hand glared at the assembled newcomers. “They come in here, making these big promises. Saying how they’ll give all this help to your dad’s farm? How do we know they ain’t gonna just just drag you across the waste to the markets in Murrage.”

“I apologize for our farm hand,” Sunrise blushed fiercely, “He’s kinda got a crush and he doesn’t want me to leave.”

“I’ve got a…” Dawn sputtered, “Of all the… I’m trying to look out for you, here!”

“It’s a traveling magic act, I told you I was signing on with the first troupe that would take me. Okay… they’re a little weird and culty, but it’s a way away from here.” Sunrise glared at the young stallion. “Look, I like you a lot, but I’m not going to settle down and spend my life trying to tend a couple of acres of ashes. You're a good stallion, and we’ve had good times, but I’m just not going to be the mare my father wants me to be… not for him, and not for you. Tell my dad I said I’m sorry… and goodbye. Those are the only two things left to say right now. Good bye Dawn Labor. I’m sorry..”

“Your a fool, Sunrise Daffodilly,” Dawn shook his head slowly, “I hope whatever you find out there is good to ya.”

“What are you gonna do?” Sunrise paused a moment.

“I’m gonna go tell your dad that you left.” The stallion heaved his heavy, auburn shoulders. “And then I’m going to get drunk. Good Luck, Miss Daffodilly.”

“It’s Flare from now on,” the mare said with a sad smile, “I’m going to call myself The Miraculous Sunrise Flare.”

“Goodbye miss,” Dawn just walked away sullenly.

Thorax quickly covered his mouth with his whooves as the bus lurched through space time.

“I’m sorry, we’re moving through some temporal turbulence, please keep your safety belts fastened,” a pleasant recorded mare’s voice droned.

“We don’t have any safety belts!” Twilight screamed.

“I’m sorry,” the voice replied sadly.

The Miraculous Queen, Sunrise Flare arose from the slag and ash of what once seemed a small dragon’s hoard of riches and flared her wings. Even as still burning cables hung from the crown perched atop her head, she stood forth regally, horn thrust skyward. It was as if the magic had washed her coat of it’s lifetime of ash and dirt, leaving it a pristine white like the bleached bones of the ash. Her mane and tail had been set ablaze with all the beautiful colors when the light hits a oil slick just the right way. Her sweet smile was truly awe inspiring and terrible to behold. And on her flank, the filly’s-book-smiling sun was now wreathed in flames, leering with confidence.

“Am I pretty?” Sunrise batted her eyes innocently. “Please… tell me I’m pretty…”

“Damn it to the nine pits! It’s one of those again,” a fat priest huffed with rolled eyes.

“Well, at least she came out with the right number of heads, this time,” a gangly young unicorn replied, lowering his pipe gun, “I don’t think I can take putting too many more down.”

“Put her with the other… disappointments,” the sickly grey priest wheezed, “See to it that she’s taken care of. Let her entertain the foals with her tricks.”

“B-but I’m the Queen! I am your Queen!” Sunrise screached. “Tell me I’m pretty!”

“There, there, your majesty,” I kindly old mare in priest’s robes whisper in her ear. “Of course your the most beautiful pony in the world. You truly are.”

“It is time,” Sunrise sobbed suddenly as she strode forward, “for a new day in Everglow!”

“This way dear.” The kindly seeming mare lead the sobbing young newborn queen into the night.

Ascension - The Captive and the Captivating

“The other disappointments? I thought I was the queen?” Sunrise pleaded to the old mare, trying to bargain against every conclusion that became truer by the moment.

“You ARE the the queen dear,” the elder said in soothing tones, “You are the queen of… Sunlight and… Positive Thinking! Yes The Queen of Sunlight and Positive Thinking, and you are the prettiest queen…”

“I’m not… pretty!” What remained of Sunrise Daffodilly denied, suspiciously, even as the word sent pleasant shivers down her spine. “Even Dawn Labor never said I was ‘pretty’, because he cared to much about if I respected him to tell a lie that big… I really have changed… haven't I? I need a mirror...”

“Of course you do dear,” The mare crooned saddy. “A queen like you, such a pretty queen, will obviously need a mirror. And don’t worry, your faithful followers will always tell you how how pretty you are.”

“Who… am I the Queen of...exactly?” Sunrise stammered helplessly.

“We have a group of misfit foals, not much younger than you really. They need a pretty queen to teach them our ways.” The mare smiled brightly.

“I’m the queen of the school-yard… forever?” The note of loss in the newborn alicorn’s voice was lost on the elder mare.

“That’s a wonderful way to look at.it,” The oblivious mare beamed. “You will always be the tallest prettiest filly in school, you will be their queen.”

“The Council of Elders proclaimed me legally an adult,” The young queen growled angrily.

“Of course, your majesty, and that is why they will look up to you,” the older mare smiled, “You get six subjects of your very own, just like all the queens.”

“Wait… six subjects?” Sunrise’s eye twitched. “You want me to perform for an audience of six school foals?”

“Of course not dear,” The mare chuckled. “Six of them will be your personal subjects, entrusted into our care alone. But after the elders have made some adjustment to your little magic show, you’ll be performing for all the foals. Teaching them our glorious history and noble purpose.”

“Alter my act… how, exactly?” Sunrise asked suspiciously.

“Well for starters, we need to make it clear we mean a metaphorical ‘new day’, not an actual pony queen raising the sun. It’s a lovely routine, but don’t worry, the elders will make it even better,” the mare crooned, “And you will look so pretty up on the stage, I’ll bet some of the older colts will even have crushes on you.”

A strange wave of nausea and eager anticipation raced the the young queens very soul. Each praise sending burst through-out her being, and an almost sickly realization that she was already addicted. A quiet rage began to build as the older mare just kept on talking as if Sunrise Flare wouldn’t see what the stupid nag was doing just because the words felt good, “It such a lovely, very pretty magic act, but the High Priest himself said you would be even more magnificent if you just change one little thing?”

“One. Little. Thing…” The new alicorn growled sensually under the conflicted stimuli.

“Yes, your majesty,” The old mare practically beamed, pleased with her progres with the new queen, she had heard so many sad things about the queens that displayed these features. “Just imagine how much more beautiful you will be with a clean, pure sun rising behind you, without that creepy smile. The real sun above the ash doesn’t have a face dear.”

“You petty little tyrannical bitch!” Sunrise advanced on her suddenly cowering prey. “You DARE to try to make a mockery of ME?!?!?! You can call me your ‘queen’ because I allow it, but never forget… I! Am! A! Miracle!”

The newborn alicorn stalked her prey like a cat. “Do you know what I saw when you put that crown on me? Do you even have the first itty, bitty, little clue?”

The queen chuckled as the mare huddled back, staring wordlessly at a spot just over the queen’s shoulder, at horrors unseen by the Miraculous Queen. “I have seen the face of the true sun, not that sick little ball of light that moves beyond ashen sky. I have seen the smiling face of the sun, and he’s closer than you think.”

“Your majesty… I think you’re confused,” the mare stammered, “the transformation is painful, and confusing I know… I can’t imagine what you saw…”

“The Sun once lived beneath the clouds, in a blue sky. He has a thousand eyes that form constellations unseen that hide in the daylit sky. Eleven of them watch over me.” The young mare sneered. “Eleven stars in the daylit sky. And you offer me a class of foals? I’m leaving.”

“We won’t go out to look for you.” The Old Grey Priest spoke plainly from the shadows.. “ I AM sorry… I had high hopes for you.. Far better than this... but if you go and leave us as you are you will only come crawling back or you will die. We don’t WANT to ignore you, and we know how much that hurts you, but you leave us no choice…”

Sunrise shook off the praise induced euphoria, “I’m leaving… You should have tried to stop me. I… wanted you to try to stop me…”

The queen suddenly glanced around desperately while a voice not quite her own chuckled, “You can’t though, can you? You thought for a moment I was your dog, but you can’t even hold my leash.”

A flaming ball of light rose out of the earth itself, and the elder mare lost all sense of composure and sobbed as it leered down at her.

“It’s only one of her phantasms, Greater Purpose,” The priest smirked at the cowering old mare, completely ignoring the retreating queen. “Honestly, I expected better of you than that.”

“It’s been so long…” The phantasmal sun lingered behind as it’s mistress departed. “And I only want to have a little fun… but it’s early in the game yet. And I really do like the work you're doing here, always remember to look on the bright side, every failure is another step to your final destiny.” The sun faded from existence.

“You see, just simple parlor tricks,” priest laughed, “I had such high hopes for that one, too. I should have known a would-be show-mare would lead to a vanity flaw…”

“My… eyes…” The old mare blinked in horror, her pupils unresponsive. “I can’t see! I’m blind!”

The Tainted and the Innocent

“She’s not blind, her pupils are responding normally, despite her protestations to the contrary she is responding to ocular stimuli completely normally, and all of her activity appears unimpaired, your grace,” A sickly unicorn the color of rotted corn in dirty hospital coveralls sighed heavily, “She’s not suffering from any illness or magically induced ailment that we can discern. Sister Greater Purpose simply seems to have suffered a mental breakdown, it happens to the best of us… The disappointment gets to you after a while, we’ve been trying so hard, for so long, one day we will bring a new dawn to the Empire… the flawed ones are always the most heartbreaking though. If I had to guess, I’d say she’s simply pretending that she can’t see as a coping mechanism.”

“I see, then there’s really no point in not just letting the little ingrate walk away,” The sickly grey priest smiled cruelly. “I’ll recall the guards we have following her and let the waste have her.”

“Wouldn’t it be kinder to just end her outright, your grace?” The medical pony looked at his superior in shock. “A flawed queen, particularly of her sort, newborn and alone in the ash won’t last the night!”

“Kinder to who?” The priest snapped. “The ungrateful wretch whose first words reborn were blasphemy and rebellion? Or perhaps kinder to our own loyal young guards who have to wash her blood from their hooves. She is worse than useless. Her failure borders on heresy. But I won’t put her burden of any more of our little ponies. As you said, these things can get to a pony after a while.”

“Y-yes your grace…” The medic stammered thoughtfully.

“Do see that Sister Greater Purpose is comfortably taken care of.” The priest sighed. “Give her to Queen Royal Velvet, tell her majesty that the Sister needs the leadership of a caring and *nurturing* queen such as herself. She’ll like that.”

“You’re both quiet back there,” Discord grumbled, “don’t tell me this little trip is boring you already…”

“Twilight, is that…” Thorax swallowed hard, and stammered on, “Is that how alicorns happen? Because that doesn’t look like how alicorns should happen…”

“No, Thorax… I don’t know what that was,” Twilight admitted weakly, “Even assuming different laws of how magic works, I can tell you that some of that was functioning spell work, just like some of that scientific equipment was clearly functioning and doing something. The again, some of those supposed glyphs were just fancy calligraphy of spooky nursery rhymes, and I’m pretty sure all the black lights did was make the spooky letters glow in the dark. The piles of treasure might have had some actual spell components in the somewhere, it’s hard to say. But I don’t think the ponies who did that even knew what was really part of the process, and what was just random… mumbo-jumbo.”

“I don’t think I like these ponies very much.” Thorax admitted saddly.

“I despise them.” Discord scowled. “They are the worst kind of little pony. But it’s not my prime material plane to play around in. You’ll notice this sort of thing never happens in OUR universe. You’re welcome by the way. Now I think if I turn left here that should take us back to…”

“I-it ain’t fair!” The frustrated human clown kicked the dirt, a deep scowl etched behind his cheerful face paint.

“Oh come on, your jealous of an orphaned colt, Ziggs.” Yakko bit back a laugh at his friend's expense. “Dude, I mean, seriously... dude… I know you got a crush on the twins, and I mean… you’re not wrong to point out that your not that much older than her… them... but…”

“What my brother is trying to say,” Dotty rolled her eyes, “is stop making it weird. Having crush on a younger filly is one thing, a thing that I assume is perfectly normal for an adolescent human clown, on the other hand and or hoof, getting all jealous when she meets a colt her own age…”

“You’re making it weird Ziggy!” Wakko burst in. “Just stop making it weird.”

“You know,” Dotty wiggled her eyelashes and swayed her hips suggestively, “if it’s just that you got a thing for ponies, I’ve got all the pony flank you need, and all the fun bi-ped pieces up top.”

Wakko began to create a beat with raspberry noises as his sister began a ridiculously obscene dance while Yakko sang, “Milk, milk, lemonade, around the corner fudge is made…”

“Straighten up, clowns!” A thunderously deep voice boomed. “Franklin is in position. I want three watch shifts with two of you to a shift.”

“Y-yes sir, Mr. Atlas sir!” Ziggy stammered, broken from the the unspeakable trance of Dotty’s very questionable “dance of seduction”, a sight he would never unsee.

“Ziggy, you’ve got first and last shift with Dotty and Wakko respectively, you work out amongst yourselves who’s on second,” the no nonsense giant proclaimed with a huff, before focussing the gaze on the lone human, “I’m trusting you to keep watch and keep my little filly safe, Ziggy, you better not let me down.”

“Y-es sir!” Ziggy grinned and flashed his best attempt at a real salute.

“And Ziggy,” The pale horse chuckled as he left, “You’re a good kid, and I like ya. So back offa my daughters. I’d actually feel bad if I had to break your arms.”

-=-=-=-=-

“Marg, what in the nine hells are we supposed to do?” Atlas Deadlift shook his massive head.

“I’m thinking a respectful mass pyre made from what’s left in the caravan. Let them return to the ash beneath their own tent.” The matronly bearded cow-pony nodded sagely.

“Well, yeah, that, I mean about the colt,” the giant sighed, “I mean, he’s carnie folk, that’s all the family he probably had.”

“We will let him take what he can carry of what the raiders left, and we will take him in, and we will accept him as one of our own,” the bearded mare gestured as if it wasn’t even a question, “Just like we took in Magpie and Daisy. It will work. One more mouth to feed is one more set of hooves to perform. We will make it work.”

The Dawn of a New Day

“Dottie!” Magpie called out as her sister waved.

“Magpie, Daisy! And Mr. LeFaux.” The gem gnoll satyr curtsied. “We met last night. How’s our newest clown holding up?”

“I’m coping, ma’am,” the insectile foal shuffled his hooves as he spoke.

“Hey! I’m not THAT old,” Dottie grumped. “Save the ‘ma’am’ stuff for Margarine!”

“Her majesty has treated me very kindly.” The colt colt flashed a shy smile.

“Oooo, he learns the rules quick, too!” Dottie clapped. “Now you have to always remember that I am ‘the cute one’, it is a serious circus rule.”

“Uh… okay…” Slapstick stammered uncertainty.

“Dottie!” A crisp but lighthearted rebuke emerged. “What have I told you about subverting my faithful subjects?”

“Not to? Uh... your majesty?” Dottie grinned impishly as she turned toward the white, rainbow maned alicorn that had somehow stuck up behind her. “I’m sorry, but I mean look at him! He’s so adorable with his clown paint and his little bee’s knees!”

“Come away with me, little beezy and I will show you the dance of my people.” The gem gnoll satyr batted her lashes suggestively.

“You do that and I prophesize Atlas will put you on the same list as Rollo.” And elderly cloven female with fur the color of dirty cream, and eyes the color of dead salmon walked into the group. “I am Madame Baphomet, young LeFaux. We made a brief acquaintance last night. We all mourn your loss.”

“Yes, it’s sad the little ponys family’s gone,” a handsomely arrogant, pale skinned human, carrying a lovingly cared for, impossibly long rifle from the ancient great war. “Can we get on with it, tragedy or not we have a schedule to keep, and the longer we delay this the greater the chance the dead will draw scavengers.”

“Show some respect for the dead, Franklin!” Margarine stomped up scowling. “If it was up to me and Atlas you’d already be out on your ass!”

“But, it’s not up to you, is it you fat he-mare?!” Franklin sneered cruelly. “Like it or not, it’s MY managary that brings in the ticket trades that keeps all the strays you keep picking up fed! Without me all you’ve got is… “

“Shut up, you arrogant son of a whorse!” Ringmaster Baylie flapped his leather wings throwing ash into the air. “We are here to honor the passing of two great families, Franklin Nathaniel Stein. You couldn’t make Barnham’s troup because Ringmaster Barnham had higher standards than I did when I took you in, that colt’s family are what kept his standards so high. He is a LeFaux, from Barnum's Circus Of Wonder, I don’t care if he can’t cast his first catrip, yet, with hithe colt studying under our Miraculous Queen, maybe we won’t need you much longer. So show some respect and remember your place before you try to put anyone else in theirs. Being kept around because you’re useful is no way to live Franklin. Ask yourself why would we ever keep you around one day when we DON’T need you anymore. Think about it and then try to give some body in the troup a reason to do that.”

“Just keep her majesty’s little prince away from my animals.” The human scowled. “I doubt they’ll much care about his big fancy name.”

“That’s Franklin,” Magpie sighed in exasperation, Daisy quickly nodded and continued, “I don’t know why Master Baylie puts up with him, but he does. And that’s pretty much everyone except the roustabouts, that acrobat family, and Rollo. The acrobats are nice enough, but their just signed on till we get to Stone Cross, and they mostly keep to themselves. And Rollo… if he gets within hoofs-length of you just call my dad, Mr. Atlas. He’s a serious perv, but he kisses up to Queen Sunrise enough that we can’t just get rid of him.”

-=-=-=-=-

“Slapstick LeFaux,” Madame Baphomet spoke with the deepest tones of respect, “All of the families of the Ashen Circus share your grief. Today we lay to rest one the greatest friendships between any two families in our people’s history, the Barnhams and the LeFauxs. This loss diminishes us all, but even in this darkest hour, a ray of sunlight shine through. And I am so sorry, my little pony, for the weight of that light shines down upon you. And while we can share that grief we can not share that weight. You are the last of your name… and also the first. As the paths of your destiny unwinds what fate shall you inflict on the world? Will you help? Or will you hurt? You shall do both young LeFaux. The question shall always be, who will you help, and who will you hurt? It shall be by the answers to that question that you shall be judged. Your’s is the greatest grief, and the greatest weight, and the greatest fear… and the greatest hope. It is your destiny to build the future of your name, as it’s past is returned to the ash.”

Deadlift solemnly handed a long oil soaked torch to the insectile colt, who grimmly grasped it in his clenched teeth. “As the circus rose from the ashes, so must we return the lives it has given to us. Ashes unto the ashes.”

Ringmaster Baylie lit the pyre torch with a flick of a kerosene lighter held in a dextrous leathery wing. “As you release their spirits into the ash, so you free yours, young colt, to continue your journey across the ash.”

“Even as their act has ended,” Magpie said sadly, and Daisy continued, “The show must still go on.”

As he passed the line of circus folk they each in turn bowed their head or spoke words of encouragement. As he approached the pyre itself he faltered.

“It’s alright, my subject.” Slapstick started as a soft feathery wing rest across his withers. “They must continue their journey without you, and you without them. But they have not left you alone. You are one of my subjects, and I promise you, you don’t ever have to face any of it alone.”

The young clown sighed and lowered the torch. The flames climbed high into the morning sky, and a nearby farm swore that they had seen the sunrise on the horizon. A few days later in a settlement some miles away, there was a strange outbreak of graffiti and suicide.

A huge “X” of circus tent poles baring a bright cheerful sign, “Barnum's Circus of Wonders”, and a smaller sign informing travelers that this was the site of massacre of the circus troupe by raiders was eventually found by trade caravan.. Guard patrols some time later found the remains of a raider encampment that had turned on and slaughtered itself.

And so it began.

Laying Down the Law

“I think it’s following us, you’re majesty.” Baylie stood atop the lead wagon, pulled by dumb, silent oxen, looking across the ash through a spyglass like the captain of some nautical vessel. “I’m not sure what it is, though.”

“Whatever it is it will make a damn fine trophy.” Franklin sneered, drawing a reproachful glare from Queen Sunrise.

“I wonder how it is you manage to obtain live animals for you show at all,” the queen quipped. “At any rate, you’re hunt will have to wait. I’m taking Slapstick out there to talk to him. Uness I miss my guess that’s actually a pony.”

“You’re crazier than I gave you credit for your majesty,” Franklin laughed, “Look at that thing! I’d put more money on ‘diseased chimera’ than ‘pony’.”

“No way you’re bringin the colt unless you’re takin’ me,” Atlas Deadlift looked up from his position in the driver seat of the lead wagon. “We can have Marge drive lead, and I'll put Dottie and the Twin’s driving yours. I can trust her majesty’s instincts, for now at least. Strike camp as planned, if we don’t catch up by mornin’, go looking for that thing.”

-=-=-=-=-

“This is as close as he’s gonna let us get,” Deadlift huffed, as the beast glared back at him across 20 yards of ash. “I guess I owe ya a bottle of beer, you’re majesty, that is a pony.”

“It’s the ugliest damned pony I ever seen crawl out of the ash…” Slapstick muttered.

“Be kind, Slapstick,” the insectile colt’s queen rebuked, “like yourself, he was blessed by a god, remember all the ponies who trade tickets to see you and I as ‘pony-oddities’ when you speak. He is a pony, and he clearly belongs beneath the tent of our kingdom.”

The subject of discussion listened intently, his bulbous equine head pretending to be distracted while the snakes that hung from his mouth focused on the group intently. Finally Sunrise Flare strode dramatically forward, almost prompting the beast to flee. “Welcome friend! I am the Miraculous Queen Sunrise Flare. Like yourself and my apprentice , I too have been touched and changed by the great powers beyond the the ashen veil. And I have made a place for ponies like us. Can you tell me your name?”

The giant freak shook its head sadly, gesturing to its throat with one hoof.

“Mute, that makes sense,” Atlas Deadlift mused, “I’d be more surprised if he could talk with his mouth filled with.snakes.”

“Come with us, we’ve seen you following us for three days now. Just follow us a little further.” The white alicorn smiled warmly as the began to walk away, glancing back every now and again to make sure they were still being followed.

-=-=-=-=-

“You’re keepin’ a respectful distance, big guy,” Deadlift note as the four trekked across the ashen night towards camp, “That’s good. It shows you don’t want trouble. You’re not tryin’ to throw your size around, and that’s also good. Because you wouldn’t be even be the second fellow giant I had to remind I could take them in a fight when they throwed their weight around. Hell, you’ll be the second to join the troup if you stay on.”

The twisted pony chuckled with 5 voices, causing the giant pale horse to startle, only to laugh it off himself, “And ya got a sense of humor. That speaks good for ya. Because you really don’t wanna take this personal.”

“We’re a family, big guy,” Deadlift explained, “And your not part of that family, at least not yet. Right now your just a hitchhiker. You’re another stray that our ‘glorious queen’ took pity on in the ash. And don’t look like that, that colt up there was in the same spot you are less than two years ago, at worst, ya keep yer nose clean and you got a free ride and a full belly till our next stop, so things are lookin’ good for you.”

The creature nodded thoughtfully, as the giant pale horse continued. “If you got any funny ideas, now’s your time to just turn right around and keep walking. Because if you try any funny business with our family, we’re gonna leave you staked to a circus pole as a warning to others. We keep a couple of spare poles just for that specifically. Ain’t had use em’ but twice, and I actually got a good feeling about you. But you’ve been warned.”

“What is he, your majesty?” Slapstick asked curiously, as the pair followed behind the two giants.

“He’s a pony, just like you and I,” the queen explained with a soft smile, “in fact, he’s very much like you, in particular. He’s been touched by the gods. The Unspoken Jester, specifically. Each is unique, or so I’ve heard, the Jester doesn’t like repeating himself.”

“Wait, does that mean Margarine and the twins…” The insectile colt scrunched his face in thought.

“No,” Sunrise laughed, “Margarine has a hormonal imbalance, and Daisy and Magpie are what are known as conjoined twins. If they were chaos spawn, the twins wouldn’t be so delicate, I promise. The Jester may twist his chosen ponies, but he doesn’t leave them defenseless against the ash.”

Meanwhile behind of them, Deadlift’s stern lecture continued. “Now, Sunrise clearly wants you in her show, but we ain’t just gonna bring you in and keep you fed for your pretty face. You wanna be a part of the family, that means you gotta pull your fair share of the load. Most of us are seasoned performers. As part of the freakshow, you’re biggest draw is just being you. But even Margarine and my girls do a little song and dance. I’m guessing you ain’t got much stage experience, so you’ll be working with the roustabouts while the rest of us rehearse. You look like like a strong stallion, so the work shouldn’t be too much for ya.”

Atlas deadlift thought he might have seen a hint of a smile, though it was hard to tell with this one. “I think you’ll get along just fine. Just one word of warning… the two headed filly… she’s my daughter, she ain’t my blood, but she’s mine. If you do anything to hurt her and a I will rip every snake out of your mouth and stuff it in the other end.”

The two shared a knowing look and the mute abomination simply nodded. “Yeah, I think you and me are gonna get along just fine.”

Quiet Nights - First Impressions.

“Uhhh, Slappy… buddy,” Yakko rolled a clawed hand, “I think you’re forgetting something…”

“Where’s your clown face?” Wakko asked slack jawed, and worried, “You haven’t decided to stop being a clown have you?”

“My little beezie would never give up on being a clown!” Dottie exclaimed. “He knows it would break my little heart if he did.”

“I-I've got a new trick I’ve been practicing,” the insectile pony stammered. “I’ve been practicing it all week with Magpie and Daisy, and I wanted to show it to you guys…”

“Yeah, new tricks are good,” the oldest wormer mused, “but without your clown face, it’s not a clown-trick, really… if you know what I mean… I mean, your magic is great and all... but that’s Queenie’s thing to teach you… we’re supposed to be working on… you know… clown stuff?”

Slapstick ran a chitinous hoof across his face, drawing gasps from his fellow clowns as his clown makeup magically appeared.

“Oooo!” Wakko beamed. “Do it again!”

“Can you do any other faces?” Yakko asked with a wide grin.

“Can you do a bee face? Just once? For me?” Dottie gushed.

“I’ve just got the one face down so far,” Slapstick grinned awkwardly, “But if I keep practicing I’ll get better. Dad could turn into all sorts of things!”

-=-=-=-=-

“You’re doing wonderfully dearest,” Sunrise, clad in a slit-skirted stage magicians ensemble, lounged languidly across the back of the giant mutated pony-thing, running a hoof through his scraggly mane, “The perfect beast to my beauty! The Miraculous Queen raises her subjects even as she raises forth the sun to shine upon her divine countenance!”

“You’re doing great, Mister!” Magpie clopped her hooves, as Daisy chimed in, “And you look like a for real goddess, Your Majesty!”

“Her majesty is breathtaking as always.” An obscenely obese giant of an earth pony mumbled, in between stuffing what could only be described as “slop” in it’s porcine mouth hoof over hoof. “Although I fail to see the appeal of that ugly thing…”

“He is a noble beast Rollo,” Sunrise purred as she laid her head over the malformed giants, “it is a tale as old as time… the noble Beast and the maidenly Beauty.”

“At least Mister has some couth!” The twins spoke in stereo unison, before Daisy broke off, “Why are you even here? It’s not like you need to rehearse stuffing your fat face and making inappropriate jokes in front of foals!” Magpie smirked, “He’s just here to leer at me, you, and Queen Sunrise.”

“I am here to show my appreciation for her majesty, as if anyone is interested in YOUR scrawny flank,” the fat pervert argued, “Last I checked, you two can’t even keep Slapstick’s eyes from wandering to her beautiful form.”

“I-I…” Daisy stammered, as Magpie glared and snapped in reply, “I hope you choke to death and burn in the nine hells!”

As the tandem fillies fled, the giant beast growled dangerously turning towards the fat pony, snakes fully extended. The obese giant flinched even as his Queen’s voice rang with sharp rebuke. “Stand down, my noble beast, I will handle this myself. Get out of my tent, Rollo, now. You are unwelcome here until you can learn to respect my other subjects.”

“I’m sorry, your majesty… I spoke only in jest, and…” Rollo withered beneath the queen’s gaze.

“I gave you a royal decree.” The vain queen’s voice grew cold. “Get out! And as a caring and magnanimus ruler, I would advise finding a place to hide before the twins find their father. He’s already established how many broken hooves you can perform with.”

-=-=-=-=-

“Well,” Atlas curled the stein to his lips with his equine tongue as he spoke, “It’s been damn near ten weeks now, and we’re pulling into Turves in a couple of days for a full show… I like the big guy.”

“Heh, like me or you have a say in it,” The deep blue circus master snorted and ruffled his leathery wings. ‘Her majesty’ would throw me outta my own circus if I didn’t let her keep her new pet. Hell he’s better behaved than any of Franklin’s.”

“That’s the one thing that bothers me…” Deadlift paused collecting his thoughts. “She treats him like a pet, and he let’s her.”

“He’s a simpleton,” Baylie scoffed, “He can’t speak and doesn’t even know his own name.”

“Yeah, you’d think that… but I swear I’ve caught him reading more than once.” The giant pale horse chose his words very carefully. “If he can read he can write, and if he can write, he can write his own name. He just let’s us call him whatever.”

“You say you saw him readin’? Nine hells! I say how many books and signs we got that ain’t got pictures?” The blue leatherwing guffawed. “The other option is… what? Either he’s powerful stupid, or he’s keepin’ careful track of how we speak at him. Honestly, I’m just counting on it’s the former, because between you and me… he’s been on his own out there for a long time. Whatever scarred him like that, he lived through it… all on his on. Nine hells! He’s damn near as big as you are. Either he’s a simpleton who’s flattered by her majesty’s attention, or he’s judging us. And I’m pretty sure you can’t take him in a fight, Atlas, and I know damn well I can’t, so he better be stupid…”

“Look, if you think he’s gonna be a problem…” Deadlift let his words trail off t an unspoken understanding.

“No… no… Like I said, he’s better behaved than any of the outright monsters we let Franklin keep around.” The Ringmaster waved off his own concerns. “You’re right, hell, it’s a creepy assed thought… that he’s just letting us treat him however. Just sitting back and playing dumb to figure us out.”

“I like him okay, boss, don’t get me wrong.” Deadlift cocked an eyebrow. “I think he’s a good fit and he ain’t been shy on pitchin’ in where there’s work to be done. All I’m sayin’ is keep in mind that he’s around. Just cause he can’t speak, that don’t mean he can’t hear.”

Quiet Nights - Uncomfortable Details

“I can’t believe you’ve been with us a year, big guy.” Ziggy laughed easily as he drove the stake while the nameless giant held the tent rope tight. “I admit, I was kinda nervous with you being around Maggy and Daisy at first…”

The pony thing snorted and shot the human clown an incredulous look. “Oh come on don’t look at me like that, I’m not jealous like bug-boy over you and the Queen. It’s just you were a straight up wastelander, and I care about the twins… like… a lot…”

One of the beast’s snakes coiled around the rope to look Ziggy in the eye’s and giggle like a schoolgirl. “Yeah, yeah, real funny, laugh it up, but I’m serious. Tonight I’m gonna ask Mr. Atlas for permission to court her propper.”

Following another incredulous look, the human burst out in frustration, “Look, I’m not even that much older than her. I’m not some perv like Rollo! And she’s not a little filly anymore. Nine hells, they get married younger in half the settlements we perform in.”

The beast just laughed and shrugged as Ziggy continued. “Yeah, I know, you’re not the one I need to convince…”

-=-=-=-=-

“I’m not jealous of him, Magpie!” Slapstick fumed at his costar.

“Oh, yeah, nobody whose jealous ever angrily proclaims the they’re not jealous,” Magpie smirked.

Daisy replied, “Look, Slapstick, we know you’ve got a crush on her majesty, trust me, everyone knows....”

Magpie sharply interrupted, “Which, mom says Queen Sunrise should have shut down a long time ag.”

Daisy rolled her eyes and continued, “All I’m saying is just think about it. What’s your real problem with Mister? He’s nice as he can be to everyone...”

Magpie interrupted again, “Nine hells, you two were buddies up until last week when you found out he was having cuddle times with her majesty...”

Daisy stamped her hoof and huffed, “Magpie! We talked about this!”

Magpie testly replied, “What? We’ve been competing with a Queen for two years and now all of a sudden HE gets to feel all jealous over HER?!?!”

“Wait!” The young, chitinous colt yelped, “What are you talking about?”

“We like you stupid!” Magppie snapped, “Is it THAT hard to notice??? I know we’re not statuesque royalty, but we work together on the same stage every single day!”

“Woah! What?” Slapstick too half a step back. “You like me? Both of you? I mean I like you too, I mean both of you... I don’t know what to say? I mean… I thought… I mean Ziggy said you two and him were kinda a thing, but you were putting off making it official because of your dad or something…”

“Ziggy told you what, again?” Daisy’s normally warm and kind voice chilled the air.

-=-=-=-=-

You thought I was illiterate?

Deadlift passed the notepad to Baylie and laughed at the leatherwing’s expense, “HE thought you were illiterate. We’ve had a running bet for the whole year! You owe me five beers, you old bat! Good ones, from a real town, not some local beet-beer!”

“Yes, yes, you’re right, he’s a regular intelectual, which makes this much easier.” The blue leatherwing waved a dismissive hoof. “You’ve been with a us for a while now, you’ve done a wonderful job supporting her majesty, but we do have a few questions. I think we can start with why you hid the fact that you can read and write.”

I didn’t. You just assumed I was illiterate. Why IS that?

“Don’t turn this around on me!” The ringmaster fumed.

“He’s got a point Baylie,” Atlas Deadlift admonished his boss, “I didn’t assumed he was illiterate, and neither did Margarine. You can bet your best shoe that Babs didn’t, that old goat ain't never assumed nothin’ in her whole life, I’d wager.” He turned to the beast. “Does her majesty know?”

Of course she does.

“Alright, that just leaves the big question then,” giant pale horse sighed heavily, “What’s your damned name already.”

I don’t have one. I haven’t since I became… this.

The beast gestured with one hoof at it snake infested face. Drawing an incredulous glance from the antean. “Okay, so you weren’t born like that… but you did have a name before, right?”

I don’t remember, I had to have one. I SHOULD remember it. It’s been a long time but there’s so much more that I DO remember. It has been a long time. Mostly ponies in the ash called me “freak” or “monster” if they didn’t just shoot first. It’s been years at least.

“Okay,” Deadlift nodded slowly, “Fair enough. What should we call you then?”

”Big Guy” and “Mister” hasn’t been a problem so far. Is it now?

“I suppose it isn’t.” Deadlift nodded. “I’ll be honest, we’ve just heard how you and Queen Sunrise have been getting mighty close lately. We’re just looking out for her, she can be flighty sometimes, and we don’t want some stallion twice her age taking advantage of her… condition.”

Twice her age? At least twice THAT. I know the scars make it hard to see the lines, but I am OLD.

Deadlift looked closer at the beast, suddenly noticing deep set wrinkles around incredibly cold and calculating eyes, “Nine hells… you are old, big guy.”

I was 78 when the army forced me to retire. That pissed me off. We were in the middle of the war, and they sidelined me just because the young bucks were uncomfortable that a stallion who looked old enough to be their granddaddy could out march, and out fight any two of them. I wasn’t always this big, but I wasn’t exactly a little pony neither.

“78?!?!” Baylie sputtered haplessly.

“Wait, a minute… war? Army?” Atlas narrowed his eyes. “Just how old are you?”

I don’t know. I sort of lost track of time, I know it has to have been years… how many? 20? 30? I think I gotta be at least a hundred? How long has it been since the sky caught fire?

Quiet Nights - Things You Say, You Can't Take Back

Quiet Nights -

Why are you looking at me like that? You’ve got past the snakes, I don’t think the fact that I’m OLD would bother you this much?

“There’s no way… you gotta be lyin! You can’t be that old!” Ringmaster Baylie shook his head in disbielf as the beast scribbled rapidly.

50 years? Am I getting closer? Seriously, how long?

“I’ve heard of it,” Atlas said, shaking his massive, pale head, “You were an earth pony? Before I mean.”

Yeah, what’s that have to do with it? How long has it been? Just tell me.

“Yeah, I figured, it’s always the earth-bound.” The giant stallion sighed heavily. “You hear about it every now and again, clan matrons and great uncles who’ve been old since the oldest grandamme in a village was a little filly, and still fit as any mare or stallion you’d ever meet.”

“But that means he survived the Blaze,” Baylie reasoned out loud, “And he’s been wandering the Ash for the last 200 years…”

It can’t have been that long! GODS OF THE NINE HELLS! IT CAN’T!

The beast threw the notebook to the ground and rearer to his hind legs, the snakes in his mouth screamed a mindless, wordless curse into the night. The two bewildered circus ponies both moved to speak only to be cut off by a glare from the beast as he snatched the notebook and charcoal from the ground and wrote furiously.

Everyone I knew… I know some of them survived. There were public bunkers in Twiggs Depot. We weren’t on the front lines, but we were still in the war zone. They threw rocks as I left. They’re dead. Their foals are dead. And their grand foals are all dead. And it doesn’t even matter that there was a war, or that the sky caught fire. They just got old and died while I was wandering around sulking in the ashes.

The beast broke into fits of uncontrollable laughing and sobbing, articulated by a chorus of wailing serpents.

-=-=-=-=-

“We have given you everything you ever asked for, our pretty little Queen.” A painted children’s book sun smiled brightly on the tent wall before her. “You wanted to be the pretty white pony in the story book who raised the Sun. And you were willing to give up your whole entire self to raise the sun, and here I am. You wanted a foal you could raise like a son, but not too young, because who has time for babies, am I right?”

The bone-white mare looked away in shame, her prismatic mane falling over her dark eyes as the sun spoke again. “And I led you to an orphan and you led him to set his heritage to ash. And another star rose in the daylit sky.”

“And then you asked for a prince, because of course you would. Not a king to rule beside you but a prince to admire your brilliance.” The sun’s unchanging visage sneered. “But a ‘flawed prince’, you were very specific.”

“And I led that poor broken monster of a pony to fall down at your hooves.” The sun continued mercilessly. “There wasn’t even a price for that little favor… I just let you have just what you wanted. And he’s a big one too, I could count him as two ponies maybe three. And now you want a daughter too? I can tell you already that will not end well for you. A daughter? Another mare to divide your prince’s attention? But I can see the draw… somepony who you can shape, to be a little you… but the problem is that sooner or later she will outgrow you… she will outshine you.”

“She can never outgrow me.” The Queen spoke in hushed shameful tones. “She can never be the younger more beautiful queen… She should be… cute… yes… cute is nice…”

“I know just the filly your majesty.” The sun leered luridly. “You only need to convince your little circus of little creatures to take the littlest detour…”

-=-=-=-=-

“Mister!” An adorable two-headed filly in flowery yellow dress came running up to the circle of adults wearing two sharp scowls. “Have you seen Ziggy? The Wormers said he was working with you pitching the tents.”

Last I saw he was having a few drinks with the Calypsos.

The Beast shrugged as he turned the notebook to the filly, drawing a startled guffaw from Baylie. “The twins knew? Am I the only one in the circus know didn’t think the big guy could read and write?”

“You thought Mister was illiterate?” Both twins blinked as Daisy spoke. “Whyever would you think that?”

“What’ this about Ziggy’s gots my fillies all upset like this?” Deadlift scowled. “An I gonna have to talk to that boy again?”

“No, Daddy, we can handle this ourselves.” The stamped in unison as Magpie spoke. “We are going to discuss this with him with him with grace and tact like the young mares we are, and explain that whatever he thought there was between us, we were just friends. And we’re not sure if we can even be that anymore.”

The boy’s gonna have a bad time, I’d wager.

The beast shook is head as three odd snakes chuckled mirthfully.

“Well he better be glad I’m letting my little fillies handle this themselves, this time…” The pale horse scowled.

Oh, I’m pretty sure Ziggy would just rather you break his arm or something after this is over.

-=-=-=-=-

“Ziggy.” Daisy’s voice was toneless as she approached the clown-faced, ginger human, and Magpie continued the thought flawlessly. “We thought you were a really nice guy, and we’re sorry we were wrong.”

“Me and the C-calypso sisters w-were just w-working on… a n-new act…” Ziggy stuttered.

“Nine hells!” The twins screamed in unison. “What in Lashtada’s name did you THINK I was talking about?!?!”

The End?

"Of course not. I'm not sure why you would even think that," Discord proclaims as he looks you right between the crossed red eyes.

Quiet Nights - Last Stop till Stone Cross

You need to talk to the colt, Sunrise. His crush on you ain’t healthy

The snakes in the beasts mouth turned the page to the alabaster queen lounging across his back as if he were a piece of furniture.

“You’re not jealous are you, darling?” The monarch giggled playfully.

The serpents heaved a long suffering sigh as they wrote.

This ain’t about me, Sunrise, and I know you hate to be told this, but it ain’t about you neither. It’s about Slapstick and the only two fillies his age who feel like they have to compete with demigoddess to get his attention.

“I know,” she rolled her eyes and replied, heaving a tired sigh of her own, “I just… I need the attention. I need it. This isn’t something I have control over, it’s what those priests did to me. Do you think I like this? I hate it!”

I know it’s not easy for you.

“Do you?” The queens voice took a dangerous edge. “Everypony treats me like I’m some silly, shallow little airhead! The call me ‘your majesty’ to placate me, to make me shut up while the ‘grown ups’ are talking, and it makes me want to scream in rage! Only I can’t because it just feels so good to be called their queen, even if I know they don’t mean it.”

The queen’s anger broke down into quiet sobs. “Every time that fat, disgusting pervert leers at me, catcalling without any shame or decency, it makes me feel like my coat is covered in filth and bugs, but I can’t get rid of him because the attention just feels so good and I need it.”

It’s okay girl just let it out.

Sunrise read the words as she cried into her lovers greying, mohawked mane. Finally when she spoke, it was with quiet resolve. “You’re right of course. It’s wrong for me to lead that poor colt along, just to get my next fix of this damned addiction… but I can’t tell him to stop. I want to, but I can’t. It wont let me.”

The nameless beast pulled her off his back by the scruff of her neck in his mouth with the gentleness of mother cat. A giant hoof brushed the tears from her cheeks and a single shy snake nipped adoringly at her lips. He smiled and began to write once more.

I’ll ‘talk’ to him. He’ll resent it at first, but he already resents me. Once he understands that it hurts you, deep down, I don’t think there’ll be a problem. He’s a good colt, and he looks up to you. I know you see him like a son, and he needs to understand that he has to see you like a mother, or at least a big sister. Not some hopeless crush he can never attain.

“You’re such a wise old thing, my beastly prince,” Sunrise smiled past her tears, “I only wish you had a voice… I wish I could feel that glow from your words…”

Then how would you know it was real?

“Of course,” the queen laughed softly, “I hate the glow as much as I want it. This, what we have between us, it’s more than my hateful addiction. It’s like true love… only real.”

The pair embraced, clever snakes dancing with an equally agile pony tongue beneath the ashen sky while above, unseen, the Sun smiled knowingly.

-=-=-=-=-

“I’m not in the mood to read your flashcards right now,” the clown faced, insectile pony huffed a he tried to trot around the giant mutant.

The nameless thing stomped the ground with a heavy hoof and shoved it’s note book in the colt’s face with a mouthful of hissing snakes.

We gotta talk.

“Fine, you write I’ll talk.” The teenage colt sulked.

You need to stop clinging to Sunset, it’s not healthy. Not for you. And not for her.

“What do you know about it?” The colt puffed himself up fearlessly in the face of the monster. “She never had any problem with it before you came along. She likes attention, but I guess you never noticed. You don’t even address her proper, she’s Queen Sunrise. I don’t know why she lets you get away with…”

The beast interrupted him with a relatively gentle shoulder check that knocked the colt back a step and scowled as his snakes scribbled angrilly.

No! She doesn’t like the attention. And she doesn’t LIKE being called “Queen”, and “Your Majesty”. She’s addicted to it. I know you don’t mean to do it, but you’re exploiting her addiction, and if you really care about her then you need to stop.

“So what about Rollo?” Slapstick snapped. “Why aren’t you giving him this little ‘talk’?”

If that pervert steps out of line, Deadlift will break his legs. But she NEEDS the attention, do you understand that, boy? She needs that verbal praise, and I can’t give her that. At the end of the day, he’s got a limited number of times to cross that line before Ziggy gotta dig a really big hole to plant him in, ‘cause I don’t break legs. But Sunset cares about you. And that means I do too. We both believe you’re better than that, so be better than that.

“If it bothers her majesty so much why doesn’t she talk to me about it” The petulent teenager argued.

The beast glared and scribbled in his notebook.

You’re a good colt. So I’m being really nice bout this, but if you just wanna insist on being deliberately thick, I’ll put it in terms you can understand. Stop. Hanging. On. My. Mare. She’s old enough to be your mom. This ain’t a debate.

The giant reared up and brought both hooves down, shaking the earth as he shoved the message in the colt’s face in a mass of hissing snakes. Slapstick blanched visibly before fleeing from the angry monster, who for his part fell to his haunches with a sad expression of shame on his face as a single serpent whispered quietly, “I could have handled that better.”

-=-=-=-=-

“Welcome to the grown up’s table, Freak.” Franklin flashed a cocky sneer.

Watch it biped.

The beast growled a he flashed his notebook at the sneering human.

“Easy, Big Guy,” Deadlift spoke evenly, “We’re all friends here. And if you don’t wanna pick a name, then you can’t say much when people just call you whatever.”

I guess you got a point.

The beast nodded as he wrote, somewhat mollified.

“That said, you gotta make some kinda peace with the colt.” The giant pale horse looked the giant monster in the eyes.

I didn’t mean to scare him like that. He was just being so insufferable!

“Yeah teenagers,” Dealift laughed, “I got one. Between you an’ me, Marg been pushin’ me to have that same talk with him for a while now. But you two gotta talk this out.”

“Oh, the talk with Slappy gonna be easy.” Margarine tossed her bovine head in a hearty laugh. “Just wait till Dotty hears that you made her ‘little beezie’ cry.”

“The issue at hoof isn’t my apprentice,” Sunrise Flare replied in even, but regal, tones, “What are we going to do about the human clown?”

“A dark future looms over that boy.” Madame Baphomet casually examined her cards.

“So far he’s done nothing more than upset the twins… and they seem to have put him in his place,” Bailey huffed, “He’s less of an issue than Rollo. And the Wormers like him….”

“Our little fillies can handle the likes of Ziggy well enough.” Margarine snorted, rolling her eyes. “I see no reason to worry.”

The beast wrote his next words carefully.

He’s making moon eye’s with a pair of fillies, while he’s fooling around with a short leg acrobat. That’s a pattern, and not a good one. Last thing we need is him starting this kind of trouble in a town with some locals daughter. Rollo we can control. Ziggy… he’s young enough to be stupid...

“And he’s a dirty human,” Franklin rolled his eyes and the monstrous pony, “so it’s a small wonder the last pony soldier from the Great War wants him out.”

It wasn’t humans who drove my pregnant wife out of the bunker to die in the gas attacks when they found out she was doppel. They dropped the bombs, but I’m was a soldier, that wasn’t personal. What PONIES did was. I don’t dislike you because your human, Frank, I just think your a real bastard

The monster snorted as he turned the page towards the human beast master.

“Look, I agree with the Big Guy, and not just for the obvious reasons,” Deadlift sighed heavily, “but Marg and Master Baylie both make legitimate points, Daisy and Magpie are growing up and can handle themselves, and we can’t just run someone off just because they broke our little fillies hearts. Nine hells, if things had gone different, I would have welcomed the boy as a son in law.”

“As loath as I am to admit it,” Franklin said, stroking his chin in though, “the freak makes a good point. Ziggy’s shown a disturbing pattern. We’re arriving in Stone Cross in two days. After that it’s Turves, and the Calypsos have already said that’s as far as they’re going. Perhaps we’d do best to encourage the lad to go with them.”

Murmurs of general agreement were passed around the table and business moved on to plans for the upcoming show.

A Few More Bits

Cognitive Cog
Log 178.97.3
Subject: “Crusader Mk SB-978”

Mk SB-978 keeps displaying abnormal behavior. Today it asked me, at the end of the test session, “Am I a machine?”

It was a ridiculous question. So ridiculous that I… had no idea how to answer. Can a god create something that can ask a question it’s god cannot answer. Today, I have established that a pony can.

-=-=-=-=-

“The abomination will only give us her name, rank, and serial number, and demands to be reunited with her, ‘commanding officer’, by whom I believe she means the giant mutant.” The metallic pony functionary reported to his superior. “For his part, the mutant insists that he doesn’t have a name, and his companions seem to confirm it. The Mirage kissed youth says they mostly just called him ‘big guy’ or ‘just whatever’ at the circus. The small war crime identifies her ‘commanding officer’, as ‘Error! No Name’. The young colt also swears he’s the heir apparent to a family of famous clown/wizards.”

“I see, I also see in your report that the large mutant denies being the small constructs ‘commanding officer’, as he was stripped of his command for punching General Scorched Earth, am I reading that right, that’s not a common name in what’s left of history… but his claim is that he was not an officer at the time of her creation, and was never in her imperial chain of command. That used to be a very common war crime defense… a long time ago...” The superior responded nearly tonelessly.

“Yes, under normal circumstances we would release the two adults as well meaning fools, and place the foal up for adoption. With the state of our current factory, there are many eligible families.” The functionary droned on. “Unfortunately, their story seems to check out.”

-=-=-=-=-

Cognitive Cog
Log 137.83.4
Subject: “Crusader Mk SC-639”

SC-639 is perhaps my most bitter failure to date, and at the same time my greatest success. She shows neither the crippling morality of the SB model, nor the dangerous tendency to modify her structure and programing I’ve observed in AB-456. However in addition to her chasis no longer responding to its self-upgrading, resulting in the same growth deficiency as the other two prototypes, she simply cannot fly. Starless based her design on the body structure of a clockwork pegasus, and the same chassis with a standard remote drone’s processor can fly with no problems at all, however the organic processor cloned from steelheart samples simply cannot interact properly with the flight systems, and at this point I have to admit it is not a programing error but a deficiency in the processor itself. We ran into similar problems with SB-978, but worked around it by simply installing a laser weapon shaped like a unicorn’s horn. We can’t simply fake something as basic to a pegasus as “flight”. My wife believes she can surmount this difficulty if she can disassemble a functioning steel heart in an early enough stage in development, but I fear the effect this research is having on her. Starless Night has become increasingly… cold… as this project moves forward.

-=-=-=-=-

A massive heap of scarred pony flesh loomed over a small, inert metal filly, the snakes in it’s mouth speaking soothing words.

“It’s going to be okay, we’re going to wake you up,and we’re going to get you the… help. you.. need…” The serpent trailed off as the giant’s eye wandered to the entrance to the tent.

“So it’s true… you can talk…” The queen interjected.

“Sunrise… I…” The beast stammered.

“You can say my name,” The ivory queen’s tone slowly turned into pure poison, “That one thing I always said I wished you could say…”

“I’m sorry… I…” The nameless behemoth struggled with the sudden flow of words.

“You could have said my name… The! Whole! Time!” The queen’s words were lost in a mindless scream.

-=-=-=-=-

“What are you doin’, followin’ me, colt?” The nameless beast scowled at the clown-faced insectile unicorn.

“I… you were right, about the Sun… about all of it…” The young clown admitted shamefully. “They’re… I found out… Mr. Deadlift… They’re gonna taxidermy Daisy and Magpie, and Mrs. Margarine too! Use them as fucking displays! Mr. Deadlift… it’s like he’s dead inside.”

“Stallion’s daughters were murdered.” The giant crashed to his haunches and heaved a heavy sigh. “Hi wife committed suicide. He’s sick with grief, trying to hold onto what he still can. He’s looked the sun in the eyes… don’t judge him to harsh, boy.”

“I saw it’s gaze too!” The insectile unicorn grumbled bitterly. “And it didn’t make me all crazy in the head!”

“It’s gaze is different for every person that meets it. It’s very personal,” the nameless beast explained, “It drags your most shameful sin across your eyes… Leering Suns… Faith Eaters… we had a lot of names for those damn things before the war. The signs were all there, but I couldn’t bring myself to believe it, I had to hope that maybe the one good thing the Blaze had done was wipe those abominations from Everglow. The night of the show, the night Ziggy killed the twins, it was undeniable, I just didn’t want to believe it was anything but another one of Sunset’s illusions… something she had seen in an old book. It got to Ziggy that night… My guess is it’s been slowly picking us off one by one. In our little ‘family’, it’s had plenty of sin to work with...”

-=-=-=-=-

“Where does it end?” Twilight Sparkle watched the scenes flash by at random as the magic school bus exellerated wildly.

“Well,” Discord shrugged merrily, “if you must know…”

-=-=-=-=-

“This is where it ended… where he ended,” A sad autotuned voice intoned to an avid audience of two, one clock-work, insectile pegasi, and a tiny mechanical foal lazing happily on it’s mother’s back. “Stone Cross, this city had shunned us for most of our lives… and he died to save it, I think it was the only time I ever heard him laugh in all our time together.”

“He was your… we’ll just go with Grandfather, Kiddo,” the clockwork bug-pony smiled as he explained carefully to his young daughter.

“He said, ‘My name is Blueberry Pastel.’ And then he just laughed,” Bullette Bell crooned sadly in musical autotune, “And it was the happiest, most joyful sound I had ever heard in my whole life. And then the gods finally repaid their debt, as they knew his had been paid long ago. The Jester gave him back his name, and Soft Whisper came to take him home.”

Bullette pressed her hoof against the name, singular and in a vast litany carved in black marble wall. “He… I am happy for him. He stood a long watch. He deserved his rest.”

“Why do we come here, mommy? It always makes you cry.” The little mechanical filly spoke up from her perch on her mother's withers.

“Because, Z-978, we always have to remember where we came from. The good and the bad. He taught me that… and I forgot that lesson… for a very time…” The mechanical mare’s autotuned voice rang out sadly, before wildly juxtapositioning into a more cheerful tone. “He taught me this, and now I’m teaching you. It’s how we cleared the ash. We each learned small lessons. We passed them along to our friends. We rose above it.”

-=-=-=-=-

“That… actually raised more questions than it answered.” Thorax stated plainly as the bus pulled into it’s final stop at the School of Friendship.

“Thank you,” The lord of chaos replied with a sincere smile, “I do try my best.”

“Oh, just one thing,” Twilight smiled sweetly as she stepped off the bus, “Discord, your chaperone provilleges are definitely, most permanently revoked.”

Prologue

“Discord,” Twilight’s tone was stern, as was the face of the normally cheerful, if not downright meek changeling king who followed behind her, “We need to talk.”

“Certainly, Princess, or is it headmistress?” The lord of chaos, and part-time teacher of alternate history smiled warmly. “And Thorax! Good to see you! I know you have a kingdom to run, but you really should pay a social visit now and again. It’s what friends do! And friendship is magic, or haven’t you heard?”

“Ocellus has been having nightmares ever since that field trip you took them on.” There was no warmth in the changeling voice, only grave concern. “Pharynx is furious, but I convinced him that he should let me handle this, because I know as mischievous as you can be, you’d never deliberately do anything to harm any of your students.”

“Ocellus?” Discord looked momentarily distracted, until his twisted mind made the connection. “Oh, yes… Bug Pony! Simply a delightful young creature! Nightmares you say?”

“Ever since the fieldtrip,” Twilight replied with a confirming nod.

“Oh dear…” Discord wrung his tail in his mismatched talons. “I knew she was sensitive, and I promise I steered well clear of the very worst of that universe… she hasn’t been seeing a smiling sun in these dreams, has she.”

“That’s... oddly specific,” Thorax cocked his head to one side as he replied, “But no, not as far as I know.”

“Well, that’s a relief.” The draconequus wiped the forming sweat from his brow.

“Look, Discord,” Twilight sighed heavily, “We know you meant well, and the students did seem to learn some very valuable friendship lessons… but we think maybe your choice of locations may have been… less than appropriate. The point is, we don’t want you taking your class on anymore field trips until after you show me exactly where… and when… exactly you plan to take them, starting now.”

“Are you two asking what I think your asking?” A devious twinkle gleemed in Discord’s eye.

“We want you to show us this post apocalyptic world called ‘Everglow’.” Thorax nodded, unsmiling.

“Well, if all you wanted was a ride on old Mr. Discord’s Magic School Bus, then all you had to do was ask!” Discord beamed happily. “We are all friends, after all.”

And so another educational foray into the world of Everglow began.