Clack Clack Clack, those were the only sounds that filled a room which though illuminated by sickly purple light, was so dark one could barely see the size or shape of it. If anyone else was in the room the only thing visible besides the computer would be the hunched over figure of a woman, hands moving across the keyboard like lightning streaking in the sky. Though her eyes held a clear intelligence under the continually foggy glasses there was an even stronger mania that seemed to cause her whole body to shake as she opened file after file. Her eyes were baggy, a testament to the many time she forgot to sleep doing exactly what she was doing at that moment.

Said theoretical anyone else could also notice a considerably large pile of books, though they'd need quite good eyesight to see just how... eclectic the collection was. The likes of Penrose, Ramachandran, Hawking and Rovelli were mixed randomly with much more obscure books. With titles such as The Goblin Universe, The Book of the Damned,The Eighth Tower,The Serpent Gives life the Serpent Kills, and an absolutely archaic volume simply titled A Compendium of Gnostic Mythology. All of which, even more than the more traditional science books seemed to have more yellow notes than pages.

Most people would say that these books and files were a rabbit hole, one that Twilight was throwing herself down in an attempt to block out the pain. Twilight, on the other hand would tell you that this path of research was anything but comforting. It was an intellectual Dante's Inferno. One she had thrown herself into the moment she decided to follow Celestia in the war, and like the great Tuscan Poet she had a feeling she wouldn't like what she found at the bottom. Sometimes she wondered if she could get away with editing her findings to her 'un superiors' for their sakes if not her own.

After all they graciously let her continue to use her brain as long as they controlled how. She even heard one loud American agent call her a one-woman operation paperclip. The implication of course being that other Equestrian researchers and inner circle members weren't as privilege. She had her suspicions of course based on ideas of poetic justice, but she didn't dare question exactly where all the new neuro-anatomical data on Unicorns was coming from which were such a great help to her research. Or what was being done to who to find it out. She knew that the humans had been surprisingly gracious with many low level members of the regime, but besides the elements and a few public executions it seemed that most of Celestia's cabinet had.. disappeared with very little comment. But that data did do wonders, it helped restore quite a few new-foals mentally if not physically. Right now they needed therapists, and Twilight needed therapy just as much as them.

It was actually the mental reconstruction studies that started off this darker path of inquiry from two rather innocuous seeming facts. One, Cutie Marks were mental and could change with drastic mental shifts, and two Ponies seemed to be much more influenced by the Psychic background field than they influenced it. The latter bit got even more interesting when the subject of ghost stories came up, when Twilight was asked she admitted that she didn't know many and that for a land of magic Equestria was oddly ghost free. That sparked a conversation about Stone Tape, the government had known about it for a while about it, but it seemed to be almost devoid of practical applications, something that seemed to be the case with a lot of Earth's magic. The other researchers of course, dropped the subject and shifted to other things but the question still hung in Twilight's head about why this was the case. And so she did what she always did and dug in.
As she fell farther and farther in, things got stranger and stranger. Since she was a foal, Twilight knew about ley lines, paths of occult telluric energy which coursed through the ground supercharging anything they touched with magical energy. Apparently both Earth and Equestria had them, even though most human governments were much less forth coming. This didn't shock her, once again the fact that a magic based lifeform could come onto Earth and not explode into its fundamental particles made her assume that there was magic that was at least vaguely similar to Equestria. No, the odd thing was just how different the distribution of the ley lines were on. On Earth, they were straight horizontal lines, circumnavigating the globe, occasionally crossing to make various nexuses which often held sacred sites. No doubt placed there by clever humans sensing the natural power of the location

In Equestria on the other hoof, it seemed that the ley lines actually radiated out of the sites like spider webs. Each line being relatively short and seemingly optimized to connect with the next settled area. Most of which seemed to store up energy and release it in quick pulses as opposed to a continual flow. With the main hubs on the continent being The Crystal Empire, Canterlot, and the Everfree. Now that Twilight was open to such concepts, she had to admit that compared to Earth's, they looked almost... artificial. Yet that wasn't all, the way ponies and humans interacted with the psychic background field were almost the exact opposite. Ponies it seemed were quite influenced by external magical forces in both their way of thinking and their behavior, allowing things like involuntary magical corruption or purification by outside forces. According to Dr. Grey Matter, this was because ponies apparently outsourced quite a bit of processing power to their auras so as to leave space for eyes big and sensitive enough to detect thaumic fluctuations. It's why ponies also rarely got brain damage. Humans, it seemed influenced their environment with little influence on themselves being subtle feelings, save for cases of outright possession. This was showcased by just how erratic earth's magic was, as it only had a chance to unify after the thoughts were sent out. In simple terms , Equestria's magic was a slow feedback loop, Earth's was a chaotic clusterfuck held together by physics, the collective subconscious and social consensus.

As Twilight began to look further and further, now already accepting the idea that Equestria if not pony-made was heavily terraformed came to some darker conclusions. If ley lines were the main source of free atmospheric magic, and the hub was in Canterlot then the ponies there could potentially influence the energy patterns flowing through the ley-lines branching out. from them. Perhaps not in large ways but for an effect with a net that wide it didn't have to be, just planting an emotion or vague sentiment could do wonders. Of course, it would take an entire city acting with complete coordination to achieve the power necessary to do such a thing, but it could also take an Alicorn with a few powerful back up mages. When she came to this realization Twilight felt her heart stop. It was no longer a matter of whether Celestia was controlling them but rather how much? How much of Equestria's blind devotion was a milder form of the same brainwashing used on the New Foals? Was the restraint a matter of ability, or a matter of principles on the part of Celestia? More importantly was Celestia being controlled herself?

After Discord's escape and Chrysalis's invasion, Celestia had started to seem a little off. Not like she was being mind controlled but as if her focus was drifting somehow whenever she was in Canterlot. It was almost like she was in silent conversation with a partner that no-pony else could see or hear, staring off into space before quickly trying to save face with forced frivolity. This was not to say Celestia wasn't complicit in her actions, far from it, but it began to look more and more like she wasn't the sole planner, or perhaps not the main planner at all. Twilight had no idea who this planner was, and almost she wished she didn't know there was one, she knew it was too late to stop. She knew, she was complicit and if this thing... whatever it was still existed it was her job to destroy it before it found a new collaborator. That was it, her life's goal now, her only path to redemption.

At first it was hard getting the other researchers let alone the top brass to listen to her, after all she was the enemy only a couple years ago. But wars, especially strange ones make ponies jumpy and it seemed that humans were the same. All it took was some compelling data and some calculated fear mongering and she had started a multi nation crusade against an enemy that may not even be conscious let alone sapient. Most of what was left of Equestrian Military intelligence had been running various, 'Geologic surveys' on the Canterhorn. The official reasoning being to make sure the volcano wasn't reactivated by the dimension shift. Though any geologist worth their salt would be at least a little suspicious just how many bits they were throwing into a 'geological survey'. Not much had come of it yet, but there were a few reports of Crystalline fossils resembling Alicorns and Draconequii.
The military was also still present in Equestria, even though they planned to pull out several months earlier, this time the reason being the 'EFF'. The EFF was of course a problem but she somehow doubted they'd be useful enough to whatever this unholy presence was to catch its attention. No the mare, if she even was a mare now, she truly wanted was Celestia. Yes, revenge was a factor, but the fact was, she was the only one who had any clue what they were dealing with. And Twilight had devised plenty of ways to make her talk.

While the efforts to find her in Equestria were heavy handed and overt, the ones on earth were a lot more subtle. There she may hide with sympathizers but if she was in human territory, she'd have to be sneaky. And any large armed forces presence would just alert her to, just how close they were. Instead, she relied on lone agents, at most groups of three. Humans and Ponies who though lacking in number made up for it in skill and sheer murderous intent. Many of whom though competent were barely psychologically stable themselves. Not that anyone whose job consisted of hit jobs and rooting through garbage around the world would be.
A loud bang filled the room followed by another, the sound of rough hooves on hard metal. As the noises continued Twilight's clacking slowly began to subside until it was comparable of a slow cricket chirp. Her fingers still made spasming even as she took them off the keyboard. "You can come in!" Shouted Twilight, eyes still glued to the computer. She didn't have to look, after all only one pony would request entry like that. Wordlessly the door opened and steady hoofsteps began to fill the room. A long-horned shadow obscuring stretched even longer by the light filtering in from the corridor.

Though Twilight did not turn she knew that right now, a very tall, very blue Unicorn was right behind her. Her face in a cocky sardonic smirk barely concealing a burning rage, and a pair of aviators worn even in the darkest nights. Of these spies and mercenaries, she was perhaps the the most dedicated, if not the best. Twilight had no idea what her grievance with Celestia was, and she doubted she'd talk, all she knew is her hate for the solar princess ran deeper than the Marianas trench.
The mare was now right behind her practically breathing down her neck, yet still Twilight did not move. "So Doc.", Said Cold Case with an almost predatory smugness, "Any new hints on where the bitch is?"

Author's Note

If you've been paying attention to last chapters then you'll see what's happening.