The ponies, and griffon, emerged from the adamantine portal into a green field with trees and flowers around them. To the former humans who have lived in congested cities all their lives, the concept of being in a natural landscape seemed almost foreign to them.

Not far from their location was a small town with houses rising up to no higher than two stories, possibly three. Pinkie, who had been away from her home for years, began to well up in tears and a huge smile appeared on her face. She turned to Pinkamena with a hopeful look in her eyes.

Pinkamena gave a small smile back, “Yes Pinkie, we’re home.”

“YIPPEEEEEEE!” Pinkie’s cheer was heard as far as Ponyville.

Pinkie ran ahead at speeds that made some of the group wonder whether she was using the Super Sprint ability or if she was normally that fast. The rest of the group followed after her at a leisurely pace since they were in no rush.

Strangely, they caught up with Pinkie who stood just outside the town. They noticed that she was staring at something. When everyone looked into the town, their eyes widened.

The town was in a panic as everyone was running around screaming while parasprites swarmed around, eating everything edible.

“What happened here?” Pinkamena asked.

“I don’t know,” Pinkie responded. “I was going to head into town to see my friends again and I saw these parasprites flying all over town. We have to stop them. I need to get a bunch of instruments. Does Octavia have a harmonica?”

“Or you can use your whistle to get their attention.”

“Oh yeah!” Pinkie, who just remembered that she had a whistle that controlled parasprites, brought her Swarm Caller to her lips, took a deep breath and blew into it. The loud tweeting sound caught the attention of the entire swarm in the town and flew over to the pink pony. The parasprites moved into a formation of rows as they stood at attention.

“Alright, back in the forest with all of you! You’ve had your fill now get back home and don’t let me see you again unless I blow this whistle,” Pinkie ordered. The insects nodded in compliance and flew into the Everfree Forest where their numbers were controlled by the predators of the forest.

It took a few minutes for the citizens to realize that the swarm was gone. They cautiously stuck their heads out from their homes and looked around. Not seeing a parasprite in their fields of vision, they cautiously walked outside. When nothing happened, their cautious optimism soon turned into celebration as the ponies roared in cheer. The cheering intensified when they spotted Pinkie walking into Ponyville. The citizens called out to each other about Pinkie’s return. The ponies gathered around the pink party mare and threw her into the air in celebration. Pinkie giggled as they did so.

The others looked on as the ponies celebrated Pinkie while ignoring the others. “Why don’t I get that kind of admiration when I walk into a town?” Pierce complained.

“Because you’re Pierce,” Kinzie remarked.

The celebration soon drew the attention of Pinkie’s old friends. When Rarity asked what was going on, the answer drove the mare into a rush to tell the others, in a ‘Rarity’ kind of way which meant a brisk pace while trying to maintain decorum.

Thankfully, Rainbow Dash saw what was happening so she told the others at a faster pace than Rarity would have.

Once they heard the news, Twilight, Applejack and Fluttershy, who was in town getting groceries, dropped what they were doing (Fluttershy carried her groceries with her) and ran toward the commotion. Seeing their friend returned caused their eyes to well up with tears of joy.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash pulled Pinkie out of the group and pulled her into a big group hug.

The other ponies eventually began to notice the other ponies who accompanied Pinkie. While they recognized Vinyl and Octavia, the rest were not recognized. Though some did comment that one of them looked a little like Pinkie. One finally noticed that the pony who looked like Pinkie had a horn and wings.

Twilight soon took notice and told Spike to write a letter to Princess Celestia to inform her about what happened. The other Element Bearers soon saw the group watching everything unfold. Twilight’s eyes widened when she saw Moondancer among them. Rainbow’s eyes narrowed when she saw Gilda who stared back at her.

“What are you doing here?” Rainbow demanded.

Gilda scoffed and rolled her eyes, “Helping your friend get back home, obviously.”

“After how you treated her? You’re lucky I don’t punch your beak into your skull.”

Another scoff, followed by a grin, “Don’t push your luck, after what I went through, I could easily put you in the hospital.”

“You trying to pick a fight?”

“No, you are.”

Rainbow Dash pulled a hoof back and prepared to punch Gilda but her hoof was blocked by a pink hoof. The speedster’s vision was blocked by a pair of light blue eyes giving her a deadpan stare.

“As much as I would love to see things get bloody, this is Pinkie’s happy reunion so I’m restraining myself from getting violent. You should too. You two can settle your differences another time.”

“Who are you?” Rainbow asked.

“The name’s Pinkamena Diane Pie, the mare who’s left a large body count in her wake over the past few years, a few killed in creative ways. I’d suggest not pissing me off if you don’t want to experience a gruesome death.”

Rainbow’s eyes shrank to pinpricks and her coat became a few shades paler. She recognized that name as the one Discord told her about; the bloodthirsty, vicious psychopath. Remembering that, she quickly retreated behind Fluttershy, telling everyone about the pink madmare.

Hearing the news made Twilight yell to her former classmate. “Moondancer, what are you doing here? Don’t you know who that mare is? She’s dangerous!”

Meanwhile, Pinkamena couldn’t help but wonder why those who knew about her didn’t question how she and Pinkie were separated.

Moondancer rolled her eyes, “You think I don’t know that? The thing is, I don’t care. I know how many humans and aliens she’s butchered. I know about the people she set up to be killed theatrically. I sentenced five people recently to experience their worst nightmares for all eternity. I made a lot of demons fight each other to the death using my Lust magic. I even killed a few people on Earth. Do I have my regrets? Sure.” She smirked, “But I don’t care what my marefriend did. She found out my darkest secret and supported me. I supported her despite the fact that she has slaughtered many people. So I have no intention of leaving her side.”

Twilight couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She never considered Moondancer the type to kill someone, let alone subject them to eternal torment. Looking at the others in Pinkamena’s group, she noticed that none of them seemed fazed by what she said. It was as if they had all killed someone at some point during the time they were away. Marble looked away in shame, but Twilight could tell what she had also killed at some point.

She was looking at a band of murderers.

Twilight looked back at Pinkie who smiled sheepishly. That told her that her friend had also killed someone. She began hyperventilating.

“Would you give it a rest, Sparkle-butt?” Pinkamena rolled her eyes. “Yes, me, my friends and my family have all killed someone at some point in our adventures. Don’t think you would do otherwise if you were in our situation. We were in cities where crime and gang violence were rampant and ambitious assholes were running them. Gambling, prostitution, protection, weapons smuggling, drug dealing, defrauding insurance companies, destruction of public property, every crime you can imagine and we have done them for the sake of surviving in a world where we were aliens and if we weren’t careful we would have ended up as lab experiments because over there, ponies were not pastel colored nor did they have cutie marks and neither did they talk. What we did is called survival.”

“B-b-but couldn’t you have tried to make friends with the humans instead?”

“I did, they’re called the Saints. Being friends with them meant going to war against rival gangs. Surviving meant choosing a side and wiping out the competition. Unlike here, we didn’t have the luxury of trying to solve our problems peacefully. You either die or you become a little psychotic by trying to survive.”

It was then that the popping sound of a teleportation spell was heard nearby. Pinkamena turned and saw two frowning alicorns and a frowning draconequus staring at her.

Pinkamena put on a fake, cheerful smile, “Hey there princesses and creature who used Earth as a dumping ground for ponies, what brings you here.

Celestia looked at the madmare’s alicorn form and sighed. “After you have finished bending Detrot to your will, we need to have a talk.”

“Oh goodie, I don’t have to schedule an appointment with you if you’re willing to chat with me.”

Luna’s frown slowly turned upward, “We simply wish to inform you of your new duties as the Alicorn of Tartarus. My sister will wish to discuss the political aspects between our government and your syndicate.”

“So I take it that Discord has been giving you two the play-by-play on what’s happened while I was on Earth?”

“As well as your fight against the Zin Empire and Satan’s forces.”

Pinkamena looked at Discord. “So what has you so upset?”

Discord pouted, “While I truly enjoyed the chaos you unleashed upon those humans, aliens and demons, you have shown me the fun of violent chaos. I still wouldn’t do anything you did because it’s not my style. However, I wouldn’t mind causing some innocent chaos with you now and then. But that’s not why I’m upset.

“I’m upset because you didn’t get me Professor Genki’s autograph. I would try to get it myself if I could but he’s even more elusive than me. He only appears to those he wants to appear to. I am a huge fan of his. The bloodshed, the carnage, the widespread destruction. I may not do the things he does but he is still a fellow purveyor of chaos.”

“Umm...Mister Discord? There is some writing on this weapon,” Marble offered, showing him the Arc of the Covenant weapon. Discord looked at the weapon and smiled broadly as he saw the writing. “You can have it if you want. I won’t need it anymore.”

Discord took the autographed weapon and sent it to his house before he grabbed Marble and hugged her. “Oh thank you so much Marble, you are the second best pony on my list, just under Fluttershy.”

Marble gasped for air as she struggled to say, “You’re...wel...come.”

While Luna was enjoying the scene with Discord, she overheard the strangest-looking pony in Pinkamena’s group rehearsing a scene in Old Ponish. This intrigued her so she moved closer to hear more of his play.

Luna had always been an aficionado in the arts, unlike her sister, so his wordplay had tugged on her heartstrings.

The Princess of the Night asked Pinkamena about the stallion who the madmare introduced as Shakespeare and informed the princess that he was a playwright from nearly five hundred years ago who sold his soul to Hell in exchange for fame.

Luna wanted to learn more about Shakespeare so once he finished his scene, she extended the playwright an invitation to the castle in Canterlot so that she could hear more of his plays and himself. Celestia rolled her eyes at that.

Luna also asked about the red thestral with horns on both sides of her head and Pinkamena introduced her as Jezebel, Satan’s daughter while also mentioning that she has a bit of a fairy tale princess complex. She would have called it a Disney complex but knew that the night princess wouldn’t have gotten the reference.

Now that she was back home, it was time for Pinkamena to deal with some unfinished business. She and her sisters said their goodbyes to Pinkie and agreed to find some time to chat again once she was established in Detrot.

Discord also mentioned that a surprise awaited some of the former humans once they made it to Detrot.

Pinkamena’s next destination was the rock farm in Western Equestria. It was time for a confrontation that was a long time coming.

Since this was a family matter, she had Kinzie, Dane, the twins, Pierce, Asha and Matt head to Detrot ahead of her and she would catch up. Her Equestrian friends stayed with her for support.

Maud, Limestone and Marble stood in front of the door to their house before Limestone knocked.

Cloudy Quartz answered the door fifteen seconds later. When she saw three of her daughters she rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn’t seeing things and smiled when she started to believe that the mares in front of her were real. She wrapped the three in a big hug, tears flowing from her eyes.

“I never thought I would see you again after I heard that you had disappeared,” Cloudy said before calling into the house. “Honey, our daughters have returned.”

Igneous quickly went to the door and smiled. “Limestone! Maudileena! Marble! We’ve missed you so much. Where have you been?”

“Would you believe that we were abducted by aliens?” Maud asked.

“Aliens? From beyond our world?”

Maud nodded.

“How did you get back?”

“We were rescued by our sisters.”

“Pinkie? Is she with you? Wait, sisters? But we never had a fifth foal.”

Limestone rolled her eyes. “C’mon dad, we both know that Pinkie makes five. But she wouldn’t have saved us if it wasn’t for our oldest sister.”

Igneous’ eyes widened at the mention of his firstborn daughter, Pinkamena. He gulped as he thought about the implications. “Does that mean she?”

“Pinkie and Pinkamena separated somehow and are now individual mares,” Maud explained.

“Did she come with you?”

Marble nodded.

Cloudy looked past her daughters and searched for her daughter. “Pinkamena? Are you there sweetie?”

“Right here,” Pinkamena declared as she turned a corner to the front of the house. “I see you two still refuse to make improvements to the place. Maybe add some color to make this place not look like we’re standing in some sort of anti-magic zone.”

What Pinkamena didn’t expect was for both of her parents to rush over to hug her. She was taken aback from the sudden behavior of her parents. Of all the things she had expected from her parents such as a stern lecture, yelling about how worried they were for her, bringing up that annoying topic about inheritance, she never expected a simple, sudden warm hug.

“Oh Mena, you must hate us for all we put you through over some stupid fortune,” Cloudy cried. “We promise to never put anything before the wellbeing of our foals ever again. We hope you can forgive us.”

“She’s right,” Igneous added. “We were stubborn as mules and you wouldn’t have been put into the situation you were in if it weren’t for us.”

Pinkamena couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Her parents apologizing for how they pushed a responsibility that she never wanted on her? She never thought that she would see the day.

For the first time in many years, the dam broke and Pinkamena’s tears flowed. She hugged her parents tightly. She knew that it would be quite some time before she fully forgave them, but an apology was a good first step.

Pinkamena and her parents spent ten minutes in that group hug.

Meanwhile, Treehugger, Gilda, Octavia, Vinyl and Moondancer watched the scene before them. Four of them smiled at the scene while Gilda started thinking about her own parents.

As if waiting for the perfect time, Pinkie appeared just as the hug ended. “This calls for a full Pie Family Reunion with friends party!” Only Pinkamena’s friends were surprised by the party mare’s sudden appearance despite knowing that they left her behind in Ponyville.

The next few hours were spent celebrating everyone’s return.

While the party was going, Igneous and Cloudy asked about Pinkamena’s horn and wings. After she told them what happened, they breathed a sigh of relief, glad that the prophetic fortune had come to pass and that there was no need to bind anypony’s fate to the farm anymore. They didn’t care that her powers were based on Tartarus, they were simply glad that the curse of the fortune was finally over.

Their daughters were now free to pursue their dreams without guilt. Limestone would soon begin studying for her bartending license while Marble had other ideas on where she would like her life to take her. Maud would continue her studies for her rocktorate.

It was after the party that Pinkamena had decided to set her plan into motion. Pinkamena, Moondancer, Vinyl, Octavia, Treehugger and Gilda boarded the next train to Detrot. While they could have used her door, Pinkamena didn’t want to abuse the power in case something happened. It wouldn’t be a good idea to get spoiled by such convenience.

The train ride was uneventful, though a few ponies on the train stared at her wondering if Pinkamena was a princess.

Once the train pulled into the station, the ponies and griffon disembarked to find the former humans in front of the station to greet them. Kinzie seemed particularly cheerful for some reason.

When the ex-FBI agent was approached by Pinkamena, her excitement seemed to intensify. “You guys, you’ll never believe who I found while we were waiting for you.”

“Hey there bitches, long time no see,” said a familiar voice that belonged to someone Pinkamena thought died when the Earth was destroyed. The voice came from an indigo colored pegasus mare with a black mane and tail tipped with purple. Her cutie mark was a spinning wheel.

“That voice...Lin?” Pinkamena asked.

“Glad you remember me, though I don’t remember you having those appendages before.”

“Things happened, long story.”

Pinkamena turned her attention to the other two figures. One was a lanky pegasus stallion with a midnight blue coat and a short mane of white. His cutie mark was two parallel lines on fire. The other was a gray earth pony stallion and he was bulky. His physique resembled Bulk Biceps except his hooves were also large. His mane and tail were purple and his cutie mark resembled a red star with a yellow hammer crossed with a yellow sickle.

If Pinkamena had to guess, the smaller stallion was likely Donnie and the larger one, if her knowledge of Earth history was correct, could be Oleg since he had the build and the mark resembled something she saw when she looked up the former Soviet Union.

If that was Oleg, then Pinkamena could understand Kinzie’s excitement since she had a thing for the ex-KGB agent. She found that out as she looked through the audio files while the Saints were hacking Zinyak’s simulation.

Pinkamena could only guess that Discord had something to do with this.

After an exchange of information about what happened to each other, and some shocked expressions about what happened to Earth and expressions of relief that they had dodged a bullet when it was destroyed, Pinkamena convinced the former Saints to assist her with taking over the dominant gang in the city who called themselves The Eclipse.

The plan was another simple city takeover since the gang ponies were only armed with swords and spears as well as some pilfered armor.

Pinkamena pulled out a small arsenal of pistols and SMGs from her mane and distributed them to the others who needed them.

Now properly armed, it was time to take over the city.

The takeover was easier than taking over Hell. Between having a technological advantage since the ponies had no idea what guns were, lack of guard training, experience with actual gang wars, and some of Pinkamena’s group being ex-agents, Eclipse fell easily. Whoever was in charge didn’t even have much influence over the city’s vice markets.

Because of how easy her opponents were, Pinkamena had an easy time keeping casualties to a minimum. After all, if she was going to take them over she would need as many of them alive as possible.

Whoever was in charge of the gang wasn’t taking their leadership role seriously. It was time to get some answers.

The Saints searched through some of the hangouts that they learned about from interrogating the gang members who were quite loose lipped.

“If Celestia’s guards had trouble with these fools, then the state of the national military is worse than I thought,” Pinkamena thought.

Pinkamena found a gang member who looked important since she was desperately trying to order the lesser members to attack them. They were knocked out because they weren’t worth killing.

Pinkamena grabbed the mare trying to escape when the attack failed. Putting her into a hold that Angel de Lamuerte showed her one time, she began the interrogation. “We can do this the boring way or the fun way. Who is leading you idiots?”

“Argh! Buck it, they don’t pay me enough. I overheard our leader, Hard Road, talk to someone. A name was dropped on accident. I heard Snake Eye. With how Snake Eye was manipulating him, I can’t even tell if we’re a gang or puppets to that government agency.”

Pinkamena pouted, “You’re no fun.”

“Well excuse me for liking my spine intact.”

“Fine, take me to Hard Road. I’m taking over this gang so meeting him will make it official.”

“You aren’t planning to kill him are you?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Because he’s my brother.”

“Well, as long as he doesn’t choose leading the gang over his own life, then I’ll simply leave him as a lieutenant. You think that will be acceptable for him?”

“Probably, especially since Snake Eye doesn’t seem to provide enough resources for us to hold off ponies like you.”

“Trust me, even if he was generous it wouldn’t have been enough to stop me.”

Pinkamena let go of the mare who popped her bones to get rid of any kinks that might have come as a result of the hold she was in.

“By the way, what should I call you?” Pinkamena asked.

“Side Street.”

“Well, Side Street, if you stick with me, you’ll learn what it means to be a good lieutenant.”

“What are you talking about? I will not have anything to do with the guard.”

Pinkamena facehoofs, “I have my work cut out for me it seems.”

On the way to the Eclipse hideout, Pinkamena taught Side Street the basics of gang life based on her experience on Earth. Running the info in her head, Side realized that the madmare was making sense. Taking full control over the vice markets of Detrot by offering them protection in exchange for a fair cut of the profits seemed like something they should have done a long time ago.

Pinkamena took a few pages from Benjamin King on how to run a gang. She had to admit that among all of the gangs that the Saints defeated over the years, King had some of the best ideas. His downfall was allowing a manipulative prostitute to worm her way into King’s inner circle and not doing anything about it.

That was a mistake that Pinkamena will make sure not to make.

Pinkamena’s group was soon led into a run down office building that served as the gang’s headquarters. The gang members who saw them were wary at first but curious when they saw Side Street with them. The gang knew they were staring at the group of ponies who convinced many of their members into siding with them. The rumors stated how dangerous they were as enemies. Some hoped to not be killed by them because they still had families to feed.

Side soon led the group to their leader Hard Road who narrowed his eyes at the group following his sister.

Hard stared for a moment longer before he spoke in outrage, “Who the buck are you and why are you bucking things up for my peeps?”

Pinkamena stepped forward. “Hi there Hard Road. My name is Pinkamena Diane Pie and I’m here to take over your gang.”

Hard stuttered as he heard the audacious words coming from the alicorn in front of him. “What makes you think that I’ll just let you take my gang from me?”

Pinkamena sighed as she was going to have to point out the many problems his gang was having. “I want to make sure everyone in this building is listening when I explain so...if you wouldn’t mind...”

Hard took a moment to understand what the mare was asking of him before he realized what she wanted. He yelled at the top of his lungs for everyone to come to his office. Once everyone was in attendance, he motioned for her to proceed.

Pinkamena cleared her throat, “I’ve been looking at the state of your gang ever since I’ve started taking the city from you. I’ve met a number of individuals who are irritated with you because you are being a nuisance to their businesses. A lot of these businesses could be a source of income for you if you offer them protection from competitors and allow them to conduct their businesses in peace in exchange for a fair cut of their profits. This can be obtained from the many business types throughout the city. Prostitution, drug running, gambling, weapons smuggling, protection, causing a little mayhem here and there whenever one of our clients is being harassed, getting people with huge insurance policies to exploit the companies by getting themselves injured on purpose while the legal firms get paid with us getting our cut. There’s a lot of bits to be made which can improve the quality of life for everyone here, you just have to know how to get your hooves on it without pissing ponies off too much.”

The ponies in attendance murmured to each other as the mare made a good point. Hard Road was also surprised by the mare’s advice. “How do you know all this?”

“I’ve spent years among a street gang and learned how they worked. I watched one gang go from a bunch of thugs trying to protect their little square inch of the city to becoming celebrities when they had the backing of a major corporation. All it took was some connections and the will to reach for what you want without fear.”

More chattering among the gang members. “And you think you have the connections to do that for us?” Hard Road asked.

“In case you haven’t noticed, I’m an alicorn. I already have the princesses’ attention. All I need to do is conduct some negotiations and make a few compromises on both sides to ensure the government and this potential organization can both be happy.”

“You’re suggesting that we become Celestia’s bitches?”

“I’m saying that we keep things cordial so we don’t wind up going into a war that would cost both parties too much to make the war worth the effort. I’m sure you have families to feed. We keep our activities to where Celestia doesn’t need to get involved and we profit from the vices of this city. We also make a deal with the police where they get their kickbacks in bits and they only send out enough cops to keep the citizens believing that they are doing their jobs. Some of you will get arrested only for them to let you go later to keep up appearances. If any police pony decides to rock the boat then they might find one of their broom closets with a nice fresh coat of red paint and gruesome decor.” Pinkamena pulled out her Vorpal Blade to show her point before putting it back in her mane.

Hard Road put a hoof to his chin. “And you say you know how to make life better for us?”

“Not sure about luxurious, but definitely better.”

“Alright, we’ll give you a shot. You better not let us down.”

Pinkamena smiled cheerfully, “Oh goodie, now let’s talk about your dealings with Snake Eye. A friend of mine really wants to see him go down.”

Author's Note

I'll do my best to wrap up the story in the next chapter. I do apologize if I leave some loose ends. Having so many characters increases that likelihood.