Fallout: Equestria - A Pair of Striped Wings

The deep blue double pyramid seemed to be a lunite crystal, and it bobbed gently up and down as it hovered within a glass tube. The light it gave out was enough to illuminate the circular chamber, and the cylindrical maneframe had a silver hue and pulsated with various small lights. I knew maneframes, by virtue of growing up in a stable I knew more than most. This was definitely not a standard model, and like the weapons in the room outside it unnerved me.

Whether this was just a strange prototype they had built, or if it was somehow reverse engineered from some piece of technology the old principality had discovered somehow. That question was besides the point at the moment. Either the maneframe had been designed with pipbucks in mind, or my pickbuck had been modified. The point is that I could connect them and got through nearly every security system it had. There was a unique program however that the pipbuck failed to break, and I was about to worry over the issue when a phrase appeared in my vision.

Insert Password

Blinking in surprise for a moment, I then smiled and entered a few tries.

"Luna"

Password Rejected

"Princess Luna"

Password Rejected

"Her Royal Highness Luna"

Password Accepted

It took a few minutes, but I figured out how to navigate the strange operating system and although I certainly found what we were after, there was more, several categories detailing everything Icetear had been up to. Or at least everything that involved the Ministry of Arcane Sciences (which also meant everything that my home had been involved in).

Project: Amethyst

Project: Aurora

Project: Lightbringer

Project: Resurgence

Project: Stardust

About to open the project files I noticed something, an untitled file, the only one in the entire maneframe and it was the latest edited file among thousands others. It could of course just be a pointless or corrupted file, but... an audio file?

"Ah... heh... this is Concord Pear, administrator of Vanhoover. I'll be dead within the hour... this recording is probably all that remains of the provisional government. I have activated the emergency lockdown, if you hear this then you are from the Starlight Institute... or whatever remains of it. Whoever you are, you deserve to hear the truth of what happened... We had spent over decade sending out scouts and ambassadors across Equestria. We weren't the only survivors, far from it... One by one they disappeared... It took years but we found somepony that could tell us what was happening.

COUGH

Every town, every fort... the skyguard destroyed them all.

COUGH

When Icetear was informed she noticed something the rest of us had missed, every single one of the settlements had been destroyed after we talked to their leaders about rebuilding... Everytime we mentioned the possibility of Equestria's revival, the damned pegasi killed them all... Nopony except me, Icetear, Quil and Goldstar know Neighvarro survived... We thought they were just staying away like a bunch of cowards... We were wrong, they're not just deserters... they're full blown traitors!!

... Oh buck, that's blood...

... Icetear ordered the Big Mac converted into a Lightbringer, it was only a question of time before they attacked us as well. The featherbrains were paying attention, the bastard attacked me as I was gathering the components... Listen, get to the M.W.T. hub! The Big Mac is just a big gun, Phase Three can convert it into a weapon capable of breaking through any shield... Finish it, load a starbomb and blast that those cursed traitors to Tartaros!

... By Luna's grace, avenge us! It is the only way Equestria can live again.

... By Luna's grace..."

***

Stepping outside of the maneframe chamber I looked at my trio of companions, all looking expectant and slightly worried at my expression. None of them spoke as they waited for me to mention what had irritated me.

"Neighvarro, anyone know what or where it is?"

Only Tart recognized it.

"Sounds familiar... No idea where."

Letting that point drop, I moved to the next one.

"The Enclave wiped out way more than Vanhoover, they destroyed anypony trying to do more than survive on scraps. Every town, every settlement that tried to form anything even resembling a country. Meaning..."

The ranger knew where I was going.

"That we are at war, and have been for over a century."

"Yes... You rangers have the M.W.T. hub right?"

"Uhm, yes? It is arguably our most fortified base, why?"

"Because I think I know what your superiors are trying to do, and we'll need something called the Big Mac."

I looked around the rectangular room, at the walls showcasing the prototypes that had been completed. Ignoring the lance for a moment, I saw the strange rectangular weapon being Phase 2, and the guns with weird attachments were Phase 3. Trying to figure out what I was looking at, I got an answer from our griffin.

"Electro-magnets."

"What? How would magnets help a firearm?"

It sounded foalish, like something I would have come up with as a filly.

"See that one? It is powered entirely through magnetism."

He pointed to the rectangular object with the title Phase 2: Railgun.

Tart was still suspicious about his presence and decided to interject.

"How do you know about these things?"

"Because some technician who worked on these things later built this beauty."

He held the strange rifle of his, petting it like it was an animal. Needless to say, he was very proud of the weapon. And I was beginning to see why his superior officer had reacted like she had, Gilheim might be a bit too proud of the rifle.

"Found it in Fillydelphia, in Red Eye's private armoury to be more precise. Before that I managed to sneak a look at the terminals in the local ministry hub, finding references to this project. What I would have paid to see his face when he realized the plasma lance was gone!"

"And that is why you are here." I stated flatly.

"This one here, yes. If it works properly, then it would be great for the talons."

I decided to ask the question, just to not leave any loose ends.

"And if you get one of these..." I glanced at the sign. "... gauss rifles, what will you do with it?"

"I'll hand it over to the captain. If she likes it, we'll hire your people to make more of them. If not, we'll stash it in some locker somewhere. Not like I actually need a new rifle, mine is already overpowered as it is. That said... I'm very interested in that lance over there."

For the first time, he actually sounded serious. It was a strange reminder that he was a die-hard mercenary like the rest of the griffins, despite his typical behaviour. And these griffins liked me enough to recruit me?

"DON'T TOUCH IT. There is something weird about it, and no one touches it until I know if it is safe or not."

"You're the boss."

His tone was back to the carefree attitude, but none of them dared touch the secured weapons. Time to read through these files and figure out exactly what we were dealing with. First up, the most important one. Project: Lightbringer, and I began with Phase 3 to understand what Icetear had planned to unleash against the Enclave.

***

Project: Lightbringer - Phase 3

Summary:

The decision to abandon further research into Phase 2 has nothing to do with viability, the initial prototype functions according to estimates and within a few years the model could be refined to a satisfactory level of reliability and power efficiency. Current estimate is that within 4 or 5 years the technology would be ready for mass production. Unfortunately, this is no longer a viable line of research as current prognosis on the war suggest that there might not be enough time to finalize a defense grid of intercontinental railgun platforms.

Per request of her royal highness, we have taken up a previously ignored line of research into a less revolutionary option. Phase 2 could have replaced conventional artillery and rockets as the standard weapon for long range bombardment, and if we win this war it might yet happen.

Phase 2 relies entirely on electromagnets to propel a metal javelin or warhead with an extreme level of acceleration that would be dangerous in a conventional firearm. Phase 3, however, is a hybrid technology that use a controlled explosion as the initial catalyst while the electro-magnets aid in further acceleration and spin on the bullet. Initial attempts utilized existing firearm models as a baseline (the Concord Arms assault Carbine as well as the IF-100 rifle), the results were dissatisfactory but did direct the next step in the research.

As the 5 mm round performed better than the 12.7 mm round the decision was made to attempt an entirely new form of cartridge for the purposes of a new rifle custom built for maximizing the effects of the Gauss Rings (named after the esteemed mathemagician Abacus Gauss). There were plans for an electro-spiral, which was dropped in favour of said rings. The prototype gauss rifle has proven both reliable and effective despite the fine caliber of the 2 mm MFC round, the penetration values rival the latest models of beam guns. In terms of accuracy it rivals the very same model of beam gun in perfect conditions, and outperforms it in harsher conditions.

The latest Phase 3 prototype has reached a level of refinement equal to the planned end result of Phase 2 in a fraction of the time, and the research has returned towards the concept of retrofitting firearms with Gauss Rings. This time with far greater success, and initial tests offsite with the IF-100 howitzer (not to be confused with previously mentioned rifle) have been promising. After further refinement the next step will be to attempt to convert the 210 mm railway gun.

With every new prototype further refinement in the Gauss Ring technology follows, and if this success rate remains stable we should have a Lightbringer ready that is satisfactory to both Coordinator Icetear and her royal highness Luna herself.

First Engineer

Vivid Sunshine

***

"Well that was interesting..."

"What is?"

Tart wanted in on whatever I had discovered, so I set up a link to her pipbuck and began transferring the project data for the Phase 3 Lightbringer, giving her something that could distract her. Gilheim was staring at some grenades he had discovered and Xera kept a close eye to make sure he didn't trigger some alarm or double cross us.

Me, I had a few minutes to think things through. I began to understand that the weird gun that the griffin and the steel rangers wanted was a weird hybrid of a firearm and a magical energy weapon. Or an attempt to improve a firearm with whatever those rings of arcano-technology were. I guessed the Big Mac was the gun mentioned in the text, and wondered just how close they had been to completing it when the Enclave struck.

There was another thing that troubled me about it however. It felt like when I first discovered the secret of the self declared princess, and there was something she had said. Sunshine, it was what she called Stormcloud and I had vague memories about asking him about his name long ago.

One of my old teachers had been working for Icetear back during the Great War, making weapons. More specifically, he had been designing weapons that Luna herself wanted in order to bring an end to the war. By the sounds of it he was almost finished when the zebrecians dropped the bombs.

It was worse than that, he keeps travelling Equestria. Wouldn't surprise me if he was one of those ponies sent out by the Provisional Government, and if he saw with his own eyes how the Enclave destroyed everything he cared about a second time... How in Tartaros is that ghoul still sane??

Scratch that, how were any of the ghouls sane?

In that moment I realized that I needed to readjust my understanding of the ancient ponies around me. The strange ghoul in Flood Town had probably lived through entire lifetimes without realizing it, too stuck in the past and the failures of the Provisional Government to do anything unless somepony forced her hoof. Meaning that it was the Steel Rangers being the driving force behind that faction, and that I should probably try to have a talk with their elder at some point.

Then we have the other major group, the caravans and Goldstar. The Pears were very well informed, and I had to assume that the other families at least knew enough to not stir things up needlessly. Speaking of stirring things up, that was exactly what Goldstar was doing... Hold on, was my mother working with them because of the threat of the Enclave?

There was the definite possiblity that she had given the Van Hoof star bombs, and my family was involved in the development of the Lightbringer project. For all I knew there was dozens of guns in Vanhoover aimed skywards, ready to be loaded with megaspells at a moment's notice. Even if the Enclave suspected that the ancient arsenal of Icetear was being brought to bear against them, could they do anything to stop it at this point?

I could feel the time running out, at this point it was only a matter of time before Vanhoover would be embroiled in a war. And it would be war on a scale that hasn't been seen since the Last Day. Too many ponies have had enough, too many factions were plotting against each other.

Ètoile Van Hoof was insane, no question about it. She was unstable, switched from one persona to another, and was as ruthless as the worst raider at times. And yet, here I found a method to the madness. A goal that she seems to have been working towards since before I was born, how many decades of preparation had it taken? Maybe that was the trick? She planned long term and carefully changed things, too slowly for anypony to notice.

The question is what happens when the first shot is fired. Will it be enough? Even if it is, what happens next? If she truly is a Van Hoof then it makes sense that ponies listen to her and support her, she has a claim of legitimacy, even against the proper remnants of the Equestrian government. Even if the Enclave falls, Vanhoover could end up tearing itself apart.

Was there any possibility of her abdicating her position in favour of the Steel Rangers and the administrator? Honestly, I didn't dare hope for it. For her to do so, would require a level of integrity and self reflection that I couldn't associate with the unicorn. If however she was removed from the equation...

"No, not finishing that line of thought."

Killing somepony for the sake of political convenience? No, I couldn't do that. If I did that something inside me would break and be lost forever, my virtue. If I crossed that line I would be the same as the various wastelanders that both frightened and disgusted me. And did Equestria need one more heartless killer wandering its wastes?

The answer was that of course it didn't.

A shiver down my spine broke my focus. Glancing up at the lance glimmering in a soft blue light, I wondered why Icetear had created the thing? Why was it different? The other two weapons were obviously meant to end the Great War once and for all, but Phase 1 looked like an energy weapon of some sort. And for some reason, whenever I focused my attention on it my blood seemed to freeze.

Slowly it dawned on me, it was right there in the name. It wasn't a weapon to simply kill its target, it was meant to utterly annihilate it. Whatever Icetear had done, it was an unholy symbiosis of state of the art technology and the occultism of the Van Hoofs. This thing tore apart souls as easily as it burned through flesh.

Lifting my pipbuck I entered the Project: Lightbringer cluster and picked a file titled "Star Lance" on a hunch, and indeed, it was written by that azure mare. I had procrastinated long enough, it was time to learn the dark truth of her reign.

***

Research Note - 134: Star Lance

It is no wonder the engineers of M.A.S. struggled with this piece of technology. The rapidly evolving technological landscape in Equestria has barely reached the level where the average arcano-technical specialist can recognize the artifacts as something resembling our own technology. An unfortunate side effect of our revolutionary scientific progress is that ponies as a culture struggle keeping up with it and tend to develop very narrow viewpoints (especially with the suppression of free thought at the hoofs of the M.O.I.).

No, in order to properly comprehend these alien artifacts one must have a more flexible worldview, and preferably a multidisciplinary education. As such, I have decided to bring in my former teacher into this project and utilize her Institute to the fullest. There is of course, the issue of the zebras in her employ. While they do have the right blend of spiritual and logical thinking, they have a horrible tendency towards religious phobia when it comes to anything related to the stars.

Of course, it is religion that limits my fellow ponies from properly understanding the subject matter. The veneration of alicorns, and the strange obsession of souls as something inviolable stifles their minds. A soul, when all is said and done, is nothing more than a cluster of magical energy with a pseudo-consciousness. They can be torn apart, merged, carefully created and be utterly annihilated. The Van Hoofs understood this well enough. As I now find myself wanting their expertise, I begin to wonder if I was mistaken in the decision to eradicate my relatives.

There is no changing the past, as we live in far too fragile times to even contemplate time travel, and Glimmer's organization should serve as a suitable substitute. At least after some proper screening to avoid individuals with superstitious viewpoints from being involved.

Regarding the artifact the M.O.A. operatives have dubbed "The Star Blaster", it appears to disrupt the soul cluster of its target, leading to an electro-magical discharge. If this merely resulted in the creation of electrons, the consequences would merely be ionization, and in the more extreme cases result in the generation of plasma. The actual results are, however, far more unique. On a sub-atomic level, neutrons develop a negative charge and the newly formed antiproton proceeds to annihilate the closest proton, and in accordance to current theories, the dismantling of an atom inevitably results in a chain reaction. With the expected radioactive emissions that are potentially lethal to all known forms of life.

This much I can extrapolate from discoveries within Project: Amethyst and Project: Stardust, as it matches previously confirmed observations of the unusual properties of Lunium. As I do not believe in mere coincidences, I begin to suspect that Lunium may have an extra-Equestrian origin.

The full understanding of the artifact is still beyond me, and reverse engineering it could prove invaluable for our other projects in the region. Not to mention, with the recent rumours that the Zebrecians have begun weaponizing necromantic alchemy in their desperation, we might very well require a weapon capable of slaying those truly immortal.

And here, I hesitate, and will have to bring the subject before her highness personally before pursuing further research. If this technology got into the wrong hooves, regicide would be the least of our problems.

Royal Coordinator of Vanhoover

Aurora Van Hoof

***

"Jackpot."

And the last piece of the puzzle fell into place. Aurora Van Hoof, the name fit with the others, it explained her motivations, and why she built this weapon. And as a Van Hoof, she wasn't beyond practicing unholy magic to reach her ends. Now... about the seriously overpowered ghoul in Tall Tale. The personality didn't fit with what little I knew about Sable Quill at all, suggesting that it wasn't the same pony I had talked to.

It was Icetear herself.

She had survived, the end of the world, as well as the betrayal at the hoofs of the Enclave. On that matter, I had stumbled on to its origins. The Ministry of Awesome was Rainbow Dash's personal ministry, and obviously there was more to it than what I had learned in history class. Neighvarro was obviously some sort of M.O.A. location, maybe a military base or cloud city.

So everything lead back to three specific mares. Aurora, Ètoile and Rainbow Dash. Pondering for a few moments what had happened with Dash, if the death of the princesses drove her over the edge? Or maybe she had always been harboring seditious ideas?

Unfortunately, as I grew up in a stable I had no personal link to the pegasi above the clouds... Except for my father, who was ex Enclave. Not that it mattered at the moment, but it was one more thing I wanted to talk with my mom about whenever I next met her. And there was technically somepony else that I could ask about Aurora and the ministries...

"Wait a moment... If the lance is reverse engineered from something, there should still be an original."

As I lifted my eyes I realized that my companions were looking at me expectantly again. Gilheim in particular looked like he wanted to say something, and as if he was getting freaked out by the place as well. At this point, only Tart seemed unfazed by the objects surrounding us.

"You wanted something?"

"Yeah... my part of the contract was completed when we stepped through the front door. So I was wondering if I could just grab a gauss rifle, some ammo and return to base? Not that I don't enjoy the company but..."

His feathers stood on end, and his eyes were thoroughly unnerved. A talon mercenary, scared.

"On one condition."

"Yeah?"

"Keep quiet about the lance."

He actively averted his eyes from it.

"Talon's honour, I won't say a word."

Judging by his unsteady voice, I suspected that as soon as he was back in the Black Hoof he would get the strongest stuff on the Saloon menu. Reliable, honest and knew when to keep their beaks shut, I was growing properly fond of the Snow Talons at this point. Oh, and let's not forget the best part, they're independent from the larger factions of Vanhoover.

***

"Tell me again what we are looking for?"

Tart was getting suspicious at the way I was acting, and yet I wanted to spare her from the worst.

"Some high security storage area."

"Higher security than the weapon prototypes and the maneframe, you got to be joking."

She was getting irritated, was it a side effect of the place?

"No, seriously. The lance back there and possibly the maneframe itself were reverse engineered from something, and I need to see exactly from what."

Tart glanced at the zebra besides us.

"Zebrecian technology?"

I paused for a moment before answering.

"No."

"Then what?"

I didn't answer.

"Windstriker, what did you find?!"

I ignored her as I felt my way around the subterranean labyrinth we were in. And got promptly shoved into the wall for my silence. The steel ranger's eyes weren't angry, they were filled with worry and something else. Pain, pain at being kept in the dark.

"Somethin's up with you. You have been actin' strange ever since we crossed the city limits, and it has gotten worse and worse! You act like you're possessed by somethin'. So please tell me, what is goin' on?"

Not sure how I should explain if she couldn't sense it.

"You're not feeling it?"

"Feeling what? This city is weird, but so is every other place in the wasteland."

"Look, if I'm right, then there is something here. And it is freaking the Enclave ponies out, and I'm not sure its the weapons. Or any weapons at all."

"Then what? Something the Van Hoofs left lying around?"

How do one explain this to a pony?

I gave up, sighed and tried anyway.

"Look, Tart. Do you know how the war looked from the zebra's point of view?"

"The zebras were crazy, drugged up on chems and filled with tribal superstitions. Nopony sane would ever build a balefire bomb. Please tell me that you don't believe in their idiotic nonsense. Please..."

Her eyes looked pleading. I had forgotten, ponies always viewed us zonies either as ponies or as zebras. And in the eyes of a steel ranger, zebra meant the enemy who destroyed Equestria.

"Its not a matter of belief, its whether there is something concrete behind it."

"And what would that be?"

"Xera, tell her about the lance."

Tart eased up on her grip and let me drop to the floor, and glanced towards the zebra once more. My shoulder ached but I didn't really care, too distracted by the subject matter and what I was dreading to find whenever the ranger actually listened. If she would listen that is. Earth ponies are notoriously stubborn.

"It is cursed, unholy. It is a weapon gifted by evil stars."

"Horse apples! You striped bastards called our princess Luna a monster."

"Not a monster, a champion of their cause."

She released me, backing up, away from both of us.

"Windstriker, you grew up in a stable. You should know better than this."

Her tone was getting paranoid and downright hostile, she didn't want to hurt me, but was split between her duties and her compassion. I needed to defuse this, fast.

"Yeah, I do. There was a file however in that maneframe, where Icetear wrote about alien technology and how she was in charge of reverse engineering it. And get this, she got the artifacts in question from the Ministry of Awesome. Does that ring any bells?"

Her expression changed, and it pained me to see. In that moment, her eyes had changed to that of a killer. She hid it well, with her army discipline and higher social standards, but she was just as worn down by the corruption of the wasteland as everyone else.

"Explain."

The tone was final, she wasn't asking, it was an order.

Xera flinched at the tone, I merely sighed.

"Look, I don't know what sort of stuff the Ministry of Awesome was up to during the war. All I know is that they had some link to what the royal coordinator was doing here in Vanhoover, that Rainbow Dash was personally involved and that Icetear dragged my family into it."

"And what does this have to do with zebra mythology?"

"As far as I know for certain? Nothing. If my suspicions are correct however... Everything. If I'm correct, then there should be a sealed storage area filled with strange artifacts somewhere in here, and probably within Neighvarro as well. I got a hunch the M.O.A. was in charge of the stuff, and when the bombs fell they really didn't want Icetear to have it. Only problem was, she was developing super weapons and they couldn't attack Vanhoover outright."

She was quiet for a long moment.

"And this is why you have been acting weird lately?"

"Kind of? Vanhoover is a bit weird, the whole place seem to be supercharged with astral energies. Its probably why the Van Hoofs were... strange. And why there is all this weird shit going on around the city. You know... I think it has something to do with the illusive alicorn."

The ranger looked skeptical, until I mentioned the final word.

"Hold it, what alicorn? The one you encountered the night you ran into an enclave patrol?"

"Yep, that's the one. Remember the statue in the square outside of Northtrade? That was her. And according to the Pear she is the mother of Celestia and Luna. Meaning... that this is probably their hometown now that I think of it..."

"Wait, WHAT?! Do you've any idea what you're saying?"

"Yeah, I do. Now, can we please try to see if we can find that storage room?"

"Sure, but we will discuss this later. That is final!"

Again, I sighed. It was easier before she began seeing me for my stripes.

***

"So, is this it?"

Tart was still acting suspicious but she let me look around, and we did find a door simply labelled "Vault". It wasn't looking any different from the other locations beneath the old M.A.S. hub, but it felt like a place best left undisturbed. Xera looked like they were going to run away at any point, suggesting that this was indeed the place. Now, if this place was as easy to break into as the rest of the place...

It wasn't.

When I tried connecting my pipbuck to the terminal at the side of the door I got an unexpected message.

Sealed by Executive level authority

"Huh... Which ponies have executive level clearance for this place?"

I was thinking out loud, but Tart was quick to answer.

"During the war you mean? The Coordinator, her administrators, some M.A.S. representative and..."

"The directors of the Starlight Institute, starting with Glimmer and ending with my grandfather."

"Any way to know who locked it up? And why they ignored weapons storage of all things?"

My veins froze as I realized something I should have noticed before.

"Actually... They didn't. Everything in here was fully sealed, executive level encryption on all of it."

"Then what's the problem? Can't you hack it like you did the rest?"

"Tart, I didn't hack a single terminal."

Her eyes widened as she, for the first time since we entered the city, began to sense that something was wrong. This little trip into the heart of Vanhoover had gone smoothly, far too smoothly in fact. The rangers had tried getting into this place for years with no success, and we did it on our first try. At the time she had been distracted by the threats around us and, well, by me.

"Windstriker, please explain."

I pointed at my pipbuck.

"The terminals in here recognize my pipbuck as that of an executive's level, and they identify me by name. At first I just thought it was standard for the pipbucks of our stable to be programmed that way, in case we need to get into old places like this."

"That makes sense but..."

"Yeah, that is probably not it. I don't think we're the first people to get in here, and whoever was here before didn't touch anything here except this door and maybe the maneframe. She was fine with us poking around in here, just not this room."

The ranger was paying attention and noticed my wording.

"She? You know who it was then?"

"The only person with access to this level of encryption as well as my personal pipbuck? Not all that hard to figure out. Ever heard of an unicorn zony named Blackhorn?"

"Should I?"

"Where to start... She is one of the best engineers back home, one of Starlight's old lovers, scares the everloving shit out of the toughest mares I have met... Oh and she is my mom."

She had the good manners to look shocked.

"Your... what??"

Stunned, for but a moment.

"Your MOM is working for the pretender? And she has access to megaspells?!"

The tone was hostile, and the ranger in front of me was beginning to see me as an enemy again.

"Are you going to shoot me or can I please finish?"

"..."

"Thank you. There are things you don't know, little things I noticed."

"Such as?"

"That my mom tried killing her? With a weapon that can turn steel ranger armour into a molten pile of slag?"

"Then why is she working for her?"

"Revenge against the Enclave is my guess, if my father really was one of them. Although that isn't my point. I know the administrator in Flo- in Tall Tale, she is practically unkillable. The same thing goes for Starlight as well, and do you have any idea what my mom found in here?"

She shook her head, slowly.

"An unholy weapon designed to kill... Well, let's not mince words. A goddess. Icetear suggested in her notes that it could kill the princesses, and probably anything else it was aimed at. If I know my mom, she'll go after Starlight after the Enclave is destroyed. And if she fails, she wants me to finish the job."

***

The weird thing with Memory Orbs is how I kept stumbling over the most convenient ones, were they limited to important ponies and the most important events that shouldn't be forgotten? Was I just lucky? Or was there someone messing with my life?

The crimson orb I found by a random glance belonged to my old teacher, the ghoul. And the occasion was what looked to me like a date, with no other than the madmare whose dreams I kept visiting for some reason. As far as I could tell we were in Canterlot, some small back alley café. It smelled of coffee, tea and freshly baked pastries and the waitress kept throwing jealous glances at me and my host.

"You are going to record this memory, are not you Sunshine?"

The grey mare in front me sounded irritated, although her eyes mostly looked curious.

"And leave evidence for anypony to find? Don't be ridiculous."

It was weird to hear his voice and it not being all gravely.

"Still, I have a hunch you will change your mind."

"You and your hunches, will it be a problem?"

By the tone it sounded like this wasn't the first time they had this discussion.

"Not really, mostly an annoyance."

As she said the words she looked into our eyes, and I got an eerie feeling that she was trying to find me. As it was, she either failed or didn't care enough as she looked away moments later.

"Speaking of which, should I be worried about the young mare giving me looks?"

Starlight chuckled slightly.

"Morning Light?"

It wasn't a question, neither was it aimed towards us. The ears of the waitress twitched at the name, and the cute yellow mare had a crimson mane and an even cuter outfit. She turned her head, realized that she was being called over and had the angriest smile I had ever seen as she came closer.

"Yes, Goldie?"

"This is Vivid Sunshine, a childhood friend of mine. He prefers stallions."

She blinked in confusion for a moment.

"Oh." She blushed profusely. "Sorry, I misunderstood!"

"He is not a replacement for you, you do not need to worry."

Morning Light hid her face behind a tray to hide her embarrassment.

"So... We still up for next week?"

"Yes, Light, as promised. Just the two of us, no disturbances."

The way her face beamed, it was easy to figure out where she had gotten her name from. Moments later she returned to her work, and Sunshine cocked an eyebrow at the mare on the other side of the table, who was quietly enjoying her tea. She glanced at us, levitated out a mirror and said.

"Its your colours, they are the reverse of hers and she is the nervous type, not really used to dating mares. And for your information, we'll be having a midnight picnic at the top of Mount Celestia, away from all the politics and the drama."

"I didn't ask."

"It wasn't for your sake, she is still listening."

Sunshine gave out a loud dramatic sigh.

"How many are you up to now, and how aren't you dead yet?"

The conniving smile Ètoile showed in that moment, she was enjoying it.

"Do you mean recently or in total?"

"Irregardless, there was something I wanted to discuss with you. Sparkle has taken a personal interest in Coronation and will probably take over the whole project, I'm sure I don't have to explain why this is a problem."

His tone had changed slightly, but it was subtle, despite the sudden change in subject.

"And I assume you want me to clean up any traces of previous experiments?"

"I can remove everything from the M.A.S. maneframes and get rid of any physical copies."

"So just the M.O.I documents then, or do you need me to distract your ministry mare as well?"

"It would be helpful, and please be discreet."

"No worries, my own minister could use a distraction as well, and I have something in mind."

Both my host and I shivered at the tone she used when she emphasized the word. Sunshine was evidently distressed by the subject matter and looked out the window just as it started to rain, then pour, followed by a dramatic thunderclap. There was an expectant pause filled with tension at the table, until she broke it with a short question.

"Well?"

We didn't answer.

"The surviving specimen, you have two options. And leaving her in the stasis pod in the Manehattan hospital is not one of them. Either you dispose of her-"

"Enough! I know! I know..."

"Having second thoughts, are we?"

"Don't patronize me, Ètoile."

"You knew full well what you were doing when you came to me for this little arrangement. My knowledge of the esoteric and my access to the Ministry of Image's whole operation, for your reports on Aurora and-"

"You don't need to remind me! And for your information, Resurgence was a complete dead end."

He levitated out a file of papers out of a suitcase and laid it down at her side. As she opened it and began reading through the document, I could feel Sunshine's face contort into a suspicious scowl. He asked a question that he probably should have asked ages ago.

"Are you certain these specific ponies deserved it, and that you didn't just want to retaliate against your relatives?"

She ignored the question, browsed through the document with the same eyes she had back when I confronted her. And as the thunder struck once more I felt a shudder as I realized the contrast between the calm and happy café and her mood in that moment.

"Answer me, you owe me at least that much."

"Does it matter?"

The voice was cold, not threatening but utterly heartless.

"Of course it matters!"

She closed the document she was reading, closed her eyes for a moment and stared right into ours.

"Really... You didn't care if any of the Van Hoofs were innocent when the vendetta started, nor any of the ponies the M.O.M. imprison, nor the Equestrian zebras that get lynched the moment they step into a pony town. Nor did you care when Fluttershy decided to lobotomize ponies whose only crime was a natural reaction to the things occurring around them. Face it, Sunshine, all of Equestria is corrupt and malignant. All the way from the princesses down to the common pony."

"Don't talk about the princesses like that..."

"Or what? You are going to report me to the M.O.M? Maybe tell one of Aurora's hitmares, and send a black ops unit after me? What do you think is going to happen, if they got hold of my memories? You think you would last a day before you mysteriously died in an accident?"

"Is there a point to this?"

"There is. Specifically, I am the only pony you can talk to openly about all these little experiments, and I am the only support you have in moments like this. The current issue you are facing is that your basic equine empathy has finally caught up to you and you realize how many innocents you have hurt while telling yourself it was for the greater good. And here is the hard truth you do not wish to face: It is not enough. In both meanings of the phrase, you have not gone far enough to stop this war from destroying us all, and no excuse is enough for the atrocities you have done."

"WE, we have done. Not just me."

"Actually, you are the one who suddenly developed a conscience. I have been perfectly aware of it all from the beginning, these are insane times we live in and you just got caught up with the public hysteria."

"And you didn't?"

"Of course not."

The expression as we locked eyes, needless to say, Sunshine's blood went cold.

"You're just like Icetear..."

"Aurora? No, I am not. Her vendetta is driven by a personal grudge, her various projects is partly an academic matter and partly a desperate hope to impress Luna. She is just as infatuated with the princess of the night as Amethyst is. Despite her nickname, she is very much driven by her emotions and passions. Regarding me, if anything, I am more akin to Fluttershy. All too aware of how monstrous our society is, albeit when she desperately tried finding a cure for it all, I embraced it."

"..."

"You wonder why, and I suppose you wouldn't understand without any explanation. For some of us, we are given a choice. A simple choice of either letting supposedly decent ponies grind us down and die a slow, painful and lonely death. Or, we can learn to retaliate, persevere throughout it all and be treated like the monsters we honestly are. And here is the one cold fact that keeps me alive, when you judge me and wish I was anything else than what I am. In practice, what you wish for, is my that I had died crying and screaming while still a little filly."

"Just... what happened?"

"Pfft, please. I rather not bore you with a long-winded tale of my life's tragedies."

"Ètoile, don't take this the wrong way, but you should probably consider a therapist."

"Oh, I already have. Six of them neither cared or understood, two of them recommended that I be locked up and be lobotomized, one reported me to the M.O.M. on the grounds I was a zebra sympathizer. This was years before we started this little arrangement, I hadn't hurt a fly and yet ponies wish me broken or dead."

My host took a deep breath, and his tone was one of worry and care.

"You said that you were the only one I could rely on for support. That goes both ways, there is no way that you're open on these matters with your various paramours, so please, talk to me."

The grey unicorn put her hooves together and stared at my host in silence, her eyes a mixed of suspicion and curiousity. To me, she looked more like a cornered animal than anything else, ready to lash out at the first hint of danger.

"Very well, I'll amuse you. Remember all the revenants in the Vanhoover catacombs?"

I didn't like where this was going.

"The nightmares?"

"Right, that is the Canterlot term for them. Anyhow, back when I was a filly my supposed friends thought it was a fun little joke to lead me into that place and lock the door. Of course, my mother was away, and the foals never bothered to tell any adults about it. That, or the adults didn't care. The end result however, was that the nightmares really appreciated the taste of my magic, or if you prefer, soul."

"Celestia's mercy..."

"Ignoring your frankly offensive choice of words, this was just a one time occurrence. However, there was the matter of other Van Hoof nightmares, those buried outside of the Catacombs, without the proper seals. They roam the city freely at night, and like the others, they too had a preference. My mother knew of ways to ward off them, not that she bothered to show or tell me. I had to learn that by reading through her books on my own."

"Not sure what to say..."

"Preferably nothing, I care little for pity. And now you know the story about how I became a necromancer at the age of six. Naturally, I knew to hide it, and managed to keep a secret for a few years until Amethyst blathered to his mother about all the cool stuff I could do. And do not even try, please. Fluttershy is wrong, you can not cure a broken pony, only put them out of their misery. And you of all ponies know how far I am willing to go in order to live."

***

My two companions were soundly asleep when I exited the memory orb, unfortunately I really wasn't in the mood to join them. Even if I tried to ignore the creepier parts of that conversation, I felt paranoid, so those ghost ponies wandered Vanhoover even back before everything went to Tartaros? Feasting on sleeping pony souls? No way I could sleep knowing that, not a chance.

Trying to find a distraction I checked the radio, no reception. This basement was a perfect bunker, actively designed to withstand the worst both the zebras and the Enclave could through at it. True, it meant that we were probably perfectly safe and that I shouldn't worry, but I still felt vulnerable. And I decided to try to get through the things in that memory so I could put it out of my mind, as such I clicked open the data cluster labelled "Project: Resurgence" and braced myself emotionally.

"Test Number 11, this time we need to find the lower limit of the energy output required in order to trigger the reflexive temporal inversion. Previously, we confirmed that several smaller beams of laser fire gave equally satisfying results as one major beam. We will now start at seven beams from the Starlady Model 16 projector and then work our way downwards."

The voice was definitely that of Sunshine, or Stormcloud as I had known him growing up. I was however distracted by the noise in the background, through the sound of hooves and humming technology there was something else. The whimpering cries of a pony, a stallion I think.

"Please, no! I'm telling you, its a mistake! I don't-"

"Proceed with the test."

BWOOOHM

As the sound of the magical energy weapons died down there was just the ambient hum of whatever technology they had in the room, and it lasted for the better part of a minute before Sunshine gave the order.

"Interesting, no verbal responses. Please confirm whether the subject is still alive."

There was the sound of hooves on concrete, not the quick steps of someone rushing. They were being very causal and possibly bored by the situation, at least that was what I got out of their tone when they replied.

"He's alive, sir. Should we continue?"

"Hm... No. Let the subject rest, we need to confirm whether there has been any mental degradation. Two hours, that should be enough. Next we'll try limiting ourselves to six beams."

"Very well, you two. Handle the test subject. What now, sir? Lunch?"

"Let's, no sense in doing science on an empty stomach after all."

The recording cut out. My previous fears all forgotten and replaced by a feeling of disgust, what in the name of cursed stars were they doing? Live testing on a pony? Not even a volunteer by the sounds of it. This was test number eleven, which meant that they had already done it ten times at that point.

I checked the numbering of the audio files, 63 in total. In that moment I wasn't afraid, I was furious and decided to confront the old ghoul about this at some point. The question however, was if this was a uniquely horrifying project or if he could get away with it because they did things like this everywhere in Equestria during the Great War. Ètoile clearly suggested that it was the latter.

"Test Number 37, the test subject is currently deceased as a result of the previous test. It has now been three minutes since the time of death. Due to the nature of the magic involved, we could theoretically create a miracle and bring a dead pony back to life. You can proceed with the test at your convenience."

The humming sound felt particularly ominous.

BWWOOOHM

There was the sound of gasping and coughing from one pony, as well as the surprised murmurs of others.

"Test successful, there seem however to be side effects. We need to clarify exactly what that entails before proceeding further. Medic, please tend to the subject's wounds, and report the subject's mental state after 24 hours of rest."

My mane stood on end, they managed to do WHAT?

When I managed to calm myself down enough I skipped through most of them and clicked the final one, needing to know what the end result was and just how far they had gone.

"Test Number 63, the test subject has been unresponsive to verbal questioning for some time. Unfortunately we have to conclude exactly how long it takes until the mental degradation reaches a hundred percent. As of this moment, I suspect that the subject operate solely on instinct. Please proceed."

BWOOHM

There was nothing but the sound of electronic humming and tired sighs from the researchers.

"Medic, please confirm."

The recording was mostly silent for several minutes.

"Technically alive, sir. There is a heartbeat and breathing, the eyes don't react to any stimuli however and I doubt we will find much of a brain activity. Test subject can properly be described as a vegetable."

There was a loud sigh from Sunshine.

"So that is the end of it. I'm putting the project on hold until we can figure out what causes the mental breakdown, we can't present it to the princesses in its current state."

There was a new voice, presumably from one of the researchers.

"But sir, we performed a miracle here. Think of what we can do if we manage to sort out the issues!"

"No, we are running out of test subjects and have barely made any progress on the last twenty tries. We need to do the theory work before we continue, anything else would be a fool's errand."

"Can't the M.O.A. provide new test subjects? Not like there is a shortage of deserters and traitors out there."

"No, and that is final. We are practically flailing around in darkness here, I need to consult with an expert before deciding if this project can be salvaged."

How many ponies had they killed? And the Ministry of Awesome just supplied them with more whenever they asked? Just how far could the Equestrian government sink... And I guessed I knew how the so called princess, and possibly the administrator survived the impossible.

Then I noticed a text file labelled Test Number 64.

"Test Number 64, this isn't part of the formal sequence of experiment but an interesting proposition has been made. Whether the lance that can kill anything can outmatch the perfect, albeit flawed, defense. The end result was definitely worth the effort, as the test subject went out in a thin haze of blue despite the inversion. Turns out, there are blind spots within the spell we designed."

So it CAN kill her? That is good to know.

Level Up:
Skill Note: Science - 75%

Perk Added: Meltdown

You have learned how to reach that critical point where magical energy weapons perform at their peak. Your critical hit chance with such weapons is increased by 15%, and enemies killed by a critical hit explode in a brightly coloured radioactive burst, dealing damage to everyone nearby.