The worst solution

by Aydan Zamora

Rating: teen
Tags: Tragedy, Twilight Sparkle, Violence, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Equestria at War, Dark, Other, Drama
Length: 14362

What is the price of your soul? The reward for selling it, or the cost of keeping it?

It has been two years since the Great War began. The relentless advance of the Changeling army, while not stopped, has slowed considerably. With the balance of the forces in a delicate equilibrium, Princess Twilight Sparkle is looking for an answer. A technology hitherto quite unimaginable. A technology that could potentially save millions of Pony lives, along with countless other creatures. And the price?

A single friendship.

This is an Equestria at War story, a mod for the grand strategy game Hearts of Iron 4.

This is my very unofficial entry for the 2022 EaW write-off. Though I could only start it in the dying days of the contest and as such it was never feasible to make it in time, I still wanted to finish it. Taking things slowly seems to be a hallmark of the contest anyway :D

I must thank my Great friend Scribbly for editing my story. He is a great guy and deserves every bit of success he achieves.

Published 2022-10-02 16:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2022-10-02 16:40:01 UTC

Bar none

As Twilight walked towards her destination, she looked up at the gloomy grey sky. It was a rainy day. If she could trust her increasingly accurate pegasus instincts, the pitter-patter of the raindrops splashing on her wings, promised a long and monotonous downpour. Days like this became ever so frequent in the past two years, since most of the weather control pegasi enlisted to the military.

In hindsight it was quite inevitable. As she thought about it she could almost hear Rainbow’s words: "For the daughters and sons of Hurricane war is but a dance, they can never truly forget." Combine that with the fact that Weather Control had long been the refuge for the "mavericks" who enjoyed physical exercise but despised formal education. Furthermore, not only pegasi were some of the most fervent enlisters, weather control was the one trump card ponies always had against the changelings. And when the war broke out, the Equestrian army had needed any and all of the few advantages it could muster. Had it not been for the hurricane the Acornage weather patrol managed to whip up, the changeling army could have easily surrounded the retreating Equestrian 8th Army, where the Field Marshal Blueblood, and Field Marshal Armour were discussing the last details of their defensive stratagem along the Changeling border.

Of course Field Marshal Trimmel was not stupid enough to not capitalise on an opportunity when the two highest ranking military officers of his two enemies were at his doorstep, and started the Changeling offensive two weeks earlier than previously intended. It was one of the early lessons of the war, to keep any information close to the barrel otherwise you might as well relay it to the Changeling high command. War however, teaches lessons to both sides.

Changelings for one were quick to realise that while it's quite stupid to shoot at natural hurricanes, it was however remarkably effective to spray high calibre machine gun fire at a hurricane which is made up by a dense flock of pegasi. Hurricane’s daughters may never forget war, but who will remember them when the ancient murals about their legendary deeds are hosed down by gunpowder laced blood?

That all was, or rather should have been, rather predictable. What wasn't predictable, since there wasn't a shred of logic behind it, was how massacres like the one at Acornage had had so little impact on the willingness of weather Pegasi to jump into battle. They did it again and again, knowing full well many were not going to come back, and knowing that at best they can buy a few hours for their brethren.

When she was a filly in Canterlot, Twilight often heard from various Unicorns sentences along the line: "You have to be a Pegasus to be this stupid". What was a playful little nothing as a foal, and a despicable remnant of a time she wished they had left behind as an adult, seemed completely different in the dim lights of the recent past. Unicorns had fought many bloody wars with the Pegasus tribe, irrevocably etching into their collective memory the foolhardy bravado which propelled their winged enemies to chance impossible odds to save their compatriots' lives. Doing feats that seemed completely irrational for the self-proclaimed arbiters of reason. Twilight suspected the reason this expression was not buried under the sands of history even after a millennium of peace was that Unicorns could always feel that little something that made the Pegasi tick a little differently from themselves. In that sense, that insult was not about the magnitude of stupidity, but the very particular ways it could show itself.

Today Equestria calls it heroism, but the dead can't hear that.

Twilight knew that today she will have to face that famous stupidity, and best it, despite the fact that it belonged to the single most intelligent pony to have ever trotted on the soil of Equestria.

In a strange way, that thought excited her. She was used to being the smartest person in a room, she had been heir apparent to Celestia for half a decade now, it had been her organisational skills that kept the country afloat over the past two years. And now as a crowning achievement, she had the chance to push the first domino of the chain that would topple the high spires of Vesalipolis. She loved Equestria, she loved to help ponies, but she had to admit, of all the joys she ever felt the vain elation of success felt the sweetest.

And that thought disgusted her.

She closed her eyes took a deep breath and banished the thought into the back of her mind. She nodded to the two bodyguards carrying the large box behind her. They didn't have to come into the building she was now eyeing.

Bar None. When she had lived in the village, she had heard the bar is named that because two earth pony families feuded whose ancestors founded the first tavern in the town. At one point one of them decided to rename their establishment, to "Bar Number One." As an answer one of the noted Berry ancestors - undoubtedly trying her best to honour the legend of her family's renowned alcohol tolerance through sheer practice alone - decided to one up them by naming her place after the only smaller number than one she remembered. It was a moderate success.

History, as she often shows, does in fact have a sense of humour, twisted as it may be. These days, barely anypony even remembered the other pub, or for that matter any other thirst quenching establishment that came to be in the town before or since.

Realising she was hesitating, she lifted her hoof and pushed the door in. She looked around routinely disregarding the surprised looks of the average ponies who realised who she was. She was there for exactly one pony, and if anyone else tried to waste her time, she was going to deal with them in very short order. The one she was looking for wouldn't turn around to see her, she'd imagine. At the corner of the counter, she saw whom she was coming for. Though, only her ears and wings showed from under the wet grey cloak she couldn’t miss that set of colours anywhere.

Every time Twilight met her in the last… decade now, her mere presence soothed her heart like gentle breeze on a hot summer night. And yet, now with every step she took towards her she could hear her own hear beating faster and faster, as this final confrontation after weeks of frantic search was finally coming to its conclusion.

"If you are here complaining about the weather, I'm sorry, I'm doing my best, but my wings didn't come with a manual on cloudchasing." A raspy, almost unrecognisable sound came from the cloak.

Twilight stopped hesitantly. This was her mare, that was unmistakeable, but what could have happened to her? She hasn’t seen her, in a few months… almost a year now, but this voice, it sounded forty years older not just one.

She quickly glanced around to check how many of the bar’s other guest had wings, but she already knew the answer from her reports. Yet the lone middle aged pegasus mare on the other side of the room, draped in full black was a grimmer representation than a thousand bar charts.

Once again it’s proven how she can’t be there for everyone not matter what she tries. It’s a lesson life likes to shove into her face every few hours these days. But maybe, just maybe, she has a chance to stop it once and for all.

“Well… good thing I just want to meet my friend.”

“I… I don’t think it’s a very good time Twilight.” She answered softly, almost whispering the words. Though the raspiness of her voice didn’t disappear, this sound was much more reminiscent of the Fluttershy Twilight remembered. Though Twilight couldn’t help but think, that in this situation, she was not the only one trying to recall how Fluttershy used to sound.

“We live in a war Fluttershy,” Twilight started as she levitated a stool next to her friend and sat down on it. “opportunities don’t present themselves twice. It’s best to seize them while we still can.”

“If, you think that would be the best.”

Twilight knew she was supposed to start talking, but she had exactly zero ideas how to start. She looked down on the counter in front of her friend and she saw a single shot glass with delicate metal instrument on it. The instrument was adorned with an ornate set of holes punched into it. Twilight saw there was a bowl full of sugarcubes, but she had a suspicion her friend drank her drinks neat. Also the single glass in front of her was probably more of a testament to Berry Punch’s perfectionism than her level of consumption.

“It’s nice to see you, Twilight.” Fluttershy’s words were laced with her usual timidity, but there was something amiss with her. Beyond the three or more lies she managed to inadvertently cram into that sentence. First on a technical level Twilight rather sure Fluttershy field of view meticulously avoided her since she sat down. Second on an emotional level, there might have been a million feeling whirling inside Fluttershy right now and none of them could be described as “nice”. And last on an ontological level, her entire being was one hastily crafted lie, a mirage of a friend they both know was no longer.

At least she talked first which means she is more nervous. Which is understandable, she was not the one who came here to ask her friend to make a weapon the likes of which has never been seen before.

“You too Fluttershy.” Twilight sighed, her heart weighed heavy with trepidation. “Very nice indeed…” She shook her head wishing she had drink like Fluttershy. “Do you know why I’m here?”

“Maybe.” She answered.

Hearing the most “probably” sounding “maybe” in the history of understatements, Twilight decided the time for dillydallying was over.

“Have you ever heard about one L. Solid?”

Her ears flared up instantly, then after a momentary freeze, they went down in a shame and anger.

"No, Twilight. Just no. I’m sorry."

Fluttershy stood up and headed out of the building. Twilight let out another heavy sigh and lit up her horn. Almost immediately she heard a faint bonk sound as her friend hit the invisible barrier she just erected. As Twilight looked over her shoulder to check on Fluttershy, she saw her friend made a rather futile attempt trying find a way to go around the barrier. Realising that it was hopeless, she looked around trying to find a solution. There weren’t many options, the bubble was deliberately not particularly spacious, and she didn’t have the musculature or the technical knowledge to come up with any escape plan with the stuff inside.

Concluding that she was stuck Fluttershy went back to her seat tapped the counter thrice and received three shots of a strange blue liquid. Twilight was a bit flabbergasted how Berry could pass the shot glasses through her barrier, but she knew the only more inexplicable thing about her than her ability to pass drinks to customers was her discretion, so she let that slide this once. By the time she thought that through Fluttershy already decimated her shots and tapped the counter again.

Realising what her end-goal was, Twilight quickly turned over to her. "Are you sure you want to give your Alicorn friend an opportunity to transfer you to any medical establishment of her choosing? Because I can guarantee you I will be at your bedside when you wake up. I might have to retrofit my office into a medical ward, but this talk is worth it." Seeing the new Fluttershy showing her teeth so suddenly, was unexpected to say the least, but Twilight ability to improvise on the spot was honed sharp by the last two years.

Hearing Twilight's words Fluttershy didn't just decimate her next trio of shots, instead just took one, threw it back and sat in silence. Twilight didn't mind that much, because it gave her time to modify the spell so that from the outside, they would appear like two friends chatting over a few drinks no matter what happened in the bubble.

However it didn't take long for Twilight to acquiesce to the fact that Fluttershy was completely content to sit there in silence for the foreseeable future. It didn't take a genius to realise that a princess was generally more busy than a... what was Fluttershy doing again? There was no way her animal shelter was still open. First she wouldn't be here if it was, second there was just no way. She's seen the hinterland. The needs of the war machine sapped out the proverbial magic of the land, like it was one giant, all-consuming Changeling. Was it even worthwhile to save Equestria, if they lost everything in the process?

'No, that's a fool's, dilemma.' Twilight thought to herself. 'Snap out of it, you have a boxful of evidence outside that there isn't anything you could come up with that's worse than Chrysalys' plan.'

She took a couple of deep breaths. Despite her having all the supposed power in this situation she felt so far everything happened way too haphazardly. She held no control at all. If she were to convince her, she had to reign the conversation in a bit. As to how to do that she was unsure. Despite having all the pieces of the puzzle she didn't know how to piece them together. But that lead to a fairly straightforward conclusion, she had to learn more.

It was obvious Fluttershy didn't want to talk about any of this. She kept it secret for a reason. However, now she had no reason to assume Twilight didn't know most everything. Fluttershy knew Twilight knew who L. Solid was, and what "he" had done. She also had to know what Twilight came here to ask ultimately, in fact she already declined. But Twilight knew keeping secrets like this takes a toll. Her sense of duty or disgust were strong, and understandably so, but given this chance to talk about all this with someone who already knew, might just be tempting enough for her to tell her story.

Or rather it had to be enough because otherwise Twilight’s only other route was to open Pawndora’s box. And that would have resulted in a disaster. Then again disaster was what she came for.

"So Fluttershy, how you've been?" Twilight knew this was a stupid question, but she also knew she had to start with something a bit unpredictable if she wanted to get behind Fluttershy's guard.

"I don't know. How do I look?' she answered without looking at her.

"Well, you can certainly hold your liquor better than the last time we met. Have you been practising?"

"Here and there."

"Have you been doing anything else?"

"I'm doing voluntary weather patrol to pass the time sometimes, but as you can see I don't exactly do a good enough job to earn money with it."

"How's the sanctuary?"

"How would it be? It's gone. The whole foundation was based on a state grant and that's gone. Honestly I should feel lucky it kept up as long as it did. I reckon if my name wasn't attached to it, they would have stopped payments about year earlier. First I thought I could get the money in some other ways, I tried to reach some rich industrialists and such, but I'm not a good public speaker. Or private speaker.”

“And failing to raise the funds you needed you of all ponies thought you answer your lifelong call of being a weatherpony?”

“I figured the supply crunch would net some money even to someone as hopeless at it as me, but there is hopeless, and there is me at weather control." She held up one of her empty shot glasses and looked through voile of blue liquid at the bottom and muttered. "How in Equestria could she make it look all so easy?"

"What a shame you don't have a single other marketable skill at all."

"Shame indeed."

Twilight rolled her eyes. Luckily Fluttershy did confirm her suspicion about her weak-spot, so she could go on the next phase. "Where did this L. Solid persona came from?"

"More like Solid L, seeing how you managed to bust it."

"Witty. Now tell me how does my animal loving friend turns out to be the greatest physicist since Neighton."

“I’d rather not.”

“You know that I can re-authorise the grant for your sanctuary? Having this answer is easily worth that much to me. Granted having a few less guns will kill ponies, and I’m not sure how you will live with that while you’re petting your bunnies, but I can absolutely give your sanctuary back.”

“And, the way you plan to cope with your guilt is that, you very much not intend to reauthorise the grant because in your mind by the end of this meeting you have me convinced to work on that… thing.

“But in your mind, that’s not going to happen no matter what I say. So you could tell me your story, and leave the table with your sanctuary in your back pocket. Or if you are that unsure about your resolve, you may as well just come with me to Los Llamalos right now, that would certainly save me time.”

“Can we drop the formalities, Twilight? You don’t want to convince me, your blasted bubble proved that. We are going to run a few laps of this pointless charade, inevitably you’ll run out of patience and then two burly Ponies will come through that door and drag me away.”

“First of all, if I wanted to take you, I would teleport. Much more discreet. Second, forcing geniuses to work on a project against their will is a recipe for disaster. They have a million ways to grind a project to halt, and apart from threatening them with harm to their loved ones, I have very few options to deal with that. And even if I did that - and I sincerely hope you don’t suppose I would - that’s just more motivation for you to sabotage the project in ways I could never anticipate."

Twilight furrowed her brow as she summoned enough water from one of the bottles in the fridge to fill one of Fluttershy's empty glasses, hoping it would look similar enough to some spirit. She theatrically threw it back and continued.

“So, despite all my supposed power over you, this will not work unless I can convince you to come on your own volition.”

“So what will you do if I say no?”

“Go home and cry, most likely.”

This level of honesty definitely took Fluttershy aback.

“Let me make this clear. If I tell you the story of L. Solid, I get back the grant?

“Yes.” Twilight said with a confident smile. She saw in Fluttershy’s eyes she won this round.

“Even if I were to somehow end up in Los Llamalos eventually?” Fluttershy didn’t make her distrust a secret, but that was to be expected. There was no point trying to prove she was wrong about that.

“I mean if you have someone who can run the thing in your absence, I don’t see any reason why it should be closed.”

“And should the front reach Ponyville, you’ll make sure the sanctuary is moved to somewhere safe.”

Twilight took a moment to consider that request. “That, I cannot promise.”

“You really should.” Fluttershy said trying to push her luck, but Twilight knew she was already bought, so it was too late trying to jack up her price.

“And I really won’t.” Twilight shook her head. “Come on Fluttershy, you are my friend, but I’m the princess of Equestria, I have other factors to consider. This is my final offer for the story. You should really take it.”

"Alright, fine.” She looked around the pub to see if anyone was paying attention to them.“I don’t suppose anyone would hear our talk outside of this bubble?”

“Obviously.” Twilight nodded.

“How about my refills? If I am to tell this story we’re going to need more drinks than these” as if she was just trying to prove her point she took another shot.

“I’ll take care of that.” Twilight said, rolling her eyes. Though it stung her horn a little bit, she magically refilled all the shot glasses on the table with something that smelt a lot less like aniseed. She needed Fluttershy to still talk in complete sentences.

“So you want to know how I became a physicist?" Fluttershy as she held a glass with her new liquor up to the light. If Twilight's hunch was correct, the gin tonic might be one of the few drinks she would accept as a replacement.

"Let me guess, you heard the story how the Butterflies caught me, and sort of just assumed my path was set to care for animals right?"

"I had no reason not to, given how I had never seen you being interested in anything other than woodland creatures."

"Yes, I reckon lying by omission does have that effect” she said, adding a big sigh at the end. “It's not like I didn't like my little furry friends, I love them, but this was not how it started. Not at all. When I first got to school I was a maths nerd. I won every competition there was about maths. Then my maths teacher Mrs Clouds gave me a book about physics. And that was when I thought I had my call. Physics was just so cool. Everything about it just made sense. It was magical.”

Fluttershy stopped and looked into the distance. Though she didn’t smile, the quaint nostalgia in her eyes were the closest thing to happiness Twilight had seen in Fluttershy lately.

“Then there was the accident and I learnt how to talk to animals, which was cool, but it didn't change that much. I mean, I was ten. I had to live somewhere, so as soon as they found me, my parents brought me back to Cloudsdale, and in Cloudsdale I was the Physics prodigy. I set up a little bird hospital in our backyard, but other than that most of my time went into physics. It was just what everypony expected of me, and I didn't want to disappoint. Also I still loved physics, nothing changed that.”

Fluttershy’s ears drooped down and despite her knowledge about the soundproof nature of her confinement, she nervously glanced around to see any of the patrons have been looking at them. Twilight wondered if she really had doubts about her proven magic skills, or was she just looking for an excuse to stop talking. Finding basis for neither however, she had no choice but to continue.

“Then I went to university and specialised in subatomic particles. I loved the idea of nuclear fission, and it was just a really hot topic at the time. I was doing my thesis so I wanted to take a crack at it to see what's what. But what I learnt was beyond my wildest imagination.

Fluttershy stopped and shuffled around on her bar chair uncomfortably, trying to adjust her wings in a more comfortable position. Twilight knew from experience that wings can get awfully itchy, in any uncomfortable situation. It was probably the remnants of some ancient flight or fight instinct.

"More ways than one” she continued. “First the good side. Nuclear reactions could create one atom from another. I know you can do that too with magic, but that's unstable. Even Princess Celestia could only turn Dis… something into stone for a millennium.”

Twilight knew the disappearance of her Draconequus friend weighed heavily on Fluttershy. She never said anything to that effect, but Twilight suspected she knew more about that than she let on. Or what’s worse, maybe she didn’t.

“Obviously that is a long time,” Fluttershy continued after a lengthy pause. “but for me, it was like cheating. But this? This could create anything. Like gold from lead like the alchemists of old wanted. Or something crazy. Once we conquered this field, we could do literally everything.”

Fluttershy’s words slowly got quieter, as if she was afraid to say the next part out loud. But this was not the Futtershy of old, after a moment or two of silence, she carried on.

“And not to sound ungrateful, but we would be less dependent on Unicorns. Magic is great, but not everyone has equal access to it. But with this technology... after all everything is made up of atoms, and we could theoretically make any atom we wished. And what's more we could use the very process of nuclear fission to power all our endeavours. It was almost too good to be true."

Fluttershy took the second shot glass and gulped it down.

"And when things look too good to be true, they most often are. You know I started to wonder what would happen to the neutron we create in the process. Initially it looked harmless, neutrons, and subatomic particles in general have a tendency to go through matter as it wasn't even there. Since all the reactions we did back then were such that one nuetron collided with one nucleus which created one or more nuclei and a single neutron, we always created one neutron at the cost of one neutron. Since some number of neutrons would be lost through radation, because they would just pass through matter as they like to do, we would have a reaction that quickly quenches itself."

With a subtle turn of her head, Fluttershy covered the better part of her eyes with her mane, making them practically invisible for Twilight.

"But then a question occurred to me. What happened if we had an atom that could release more than one neutron? If we had a system where we would lose less than half of that, which certainly seemed possible with a large enough sample of this theoretical element, or the right container, then the reaction would accelerate itself to infinity, basically. It doesn't take genius to realise where such a reaction would lead."

"To an explosion" nodded Twilight.

"Yes, and when I came home and did the calculations for the energy of such an explosion, I think I passed out. It was beyond any number I have ever seen in a thermodynamics equation. It was unreal. I checked the calculations a thousand times to see if I made a mistake. Changed a few variables here and there, to make it make sense at least. But there was no denying. What I'd done was create the theoretical basis of a weapon of a magnitude beyond any comparison anypony could ever make.

Fluttershy looked down on the floor like a guilty foal facing her mother.

"Of course I still had one hope. Maybe there was no such element which would create two neutrons when we bombard it with one. But it was a fool's hope. It didn't take much money or time to figure out which elements would work.

Though Twilght couldn’t see her face, the cracks in her voice and her snivelling left little to the imagination about her emotions.

"I was so ashamed, I submitted my thesis under a false name I made up, and I didn't even try to defend it. If it was wrong it was indefensible, if it was right, even more so.

Fluttershy finally looked back at Twilight, but instead being of afraid or ashamed, the biggest thing Twilight could see in her was dejection.

"The last thing I ever did in the field of physics was a visit to my old friend Dr. Onestone. You probably know him too, he's the single most well-known and respected physicst in Equestria after all. Also I reckon he's the Pony who told you who I was. Not that I blame him, he already risked his reputation for me once. Together we wrote a letter to Princess Celestia about the possibility of the bomb, a letter I was only willing to sign as L. Solid, and with that I vowed never to touch this topic again. Luckily, I won quite a few prizes with my work over the years, and the combined earnings from those managed to buy me a little cottage in a quiet little town, where my best friend lived at the time.

She looked at the window on the nearest wall, silently pondering about something while watching the slice of the town she could see from her current position. Twilight couldn’t help but think it was like a prisoner looking out the lonely window in her cell.

"And the rest, as they say, is history.” She continued without looking back at Twilight. “What happened to the letter? I don't know. I assume ten moons before we found the Elements, Celesta swept it off her table with hardly a glance. We lived in peace for a thousand years, thus she didn't need any world destroying weapons. What she did need was to somehow put her personal protege in a position to save her sister, and the country with it. A plot that could only work because without hearing back from her, I ran from my creation to the very town she would send you to."

"It's funny how things work out sometimes, isn't it?" And like to a toast well said, Fluttershy drank another shot.

"You were wrong about Onestone. I met him after his letter was brought to my attention, but it wasn't hard to see that sans torture, he would never-ever give L. Solid up. At least he convinced me that the possibility was real. He wouldn't have defended you in the face of my threat of revoking all of his positions if he wasn't more afraid of the consequences of me finding you. And anything that could scare Dr. Onestone that much, deserved my attention.”

"And thus the prophecy fulfils itself. Oediponyus would be proud."

"Technically, Oediponyus was the victim in that play not the mastermind, but yes the analogy fits quite well"

"But if it wasn't Onestone, then how did you find me?"

"It wasn't easy, there weren't many who knew who this L Solid was, and after Onestone I suspected that none of them would tell me if they did know. What's more, apart from Onestone, I didn't even have lead to track them down."

"But of course you couldn't stop, you had to know." Fluttershy shook her head with a sour smile on her face. "Had it ever occurred to you that Solid might not want to be found?"

"Is there a reason to use a fake name to vanish from Equestria, other than not wanting to be found?"

"Hmpf" Fluttershy rolled her eyes. "So how did you find me?"

"Well I used the one lead I had. L. Solid's awards. Of course I didn't know what you would need the money for, back than, but I figured, there are very few ponies who are neither greedy or prideful enough to not have their awards sent to an address they could reliably reach. And sure enough I found that there is an address on some documents you submitted with your thesis. I immediately rushed there, hoping I would catch something. You might call it stupid, but honestly hunting you while having to deal with the Changlings in a war... sometimes it's hard to remember you're not in a spy novel, and I was afraid Solid would be spooked if I went to the Cloudsdale archives trying get the lost papers. Anyway, I couldn't find much at the address. It was an empty parcel with a wooden shed on it. Given how a Princess legally cannot commit trespassing on Equestrian soil - or rather cloud in this case - I went in and found..."

"Father's spare cloud samples." Fluttershy said almost bursting from laughter.

"No, technically I didn't. Your family has a strange aversion to inflict their vanity upon anything they touch. Well except Zephyr. But he is just overcompensating. Probably in more ways than one. So what I found was actually was a bunch of neatly catalogued cloud samples WITHOUT A SINGLE INDICATION WHOM THEY BELONG TO! I admit I was fuming. As if Solid was toying with me on purpose. And yes before you ask, I did only know one pony who collected cloud samples, but as far as I knew this could be a really common hobby among pegasi. Trust me they are weird."

"Watching you lose your mind trying to find me, almost makes up for the fact that you eventually managed to do it."

"He-he. Well anyhow, I went back to the archives, as I should have in the first place and I managed to find that that lot was owned by one Mr. F. Shy. Which helped me less than you would think. Your father after all worked for the biggest factory in Cloudsdale for forty something years meeting who knows how many Ponies and like a proper Shy he was the textbook definition of agreeableness. If there was a single stallion who would let somepony else use his postal address, it was him. On the other hoof I've seen you tell off a Dragon the size of a castle. If you took the slightest bit after him, and you did, I had no reason to believe I wouldn't walk right back into the Onestone problem if I tried to question him. That is if he knew Solid. Which he might not have. There about a billion ways to receive parcel on a near empty lot without the owners knowing about it."

"So back to Square One. Since I didn't want any of my friends to know about this project, I decided I wouldn't talk to your father, unless I absolutely had to. So, I thought I'd do what I do best and continue my research in the school archive. If he was good at physics, that has to show up somewhere there after all. But no, there was nothing. F. Shy was as unremarkable a student as it gets. Luckily enough going down to the archives I saw a giant mural about the two most famous students of that particular school."

"Rainbow and I.” she nodded. “I couldn't talk her out of that idea. I mean standing between her and a giant picture about herself... It's like trying to pick up a sleeping cat… impossible. And if she's there than I had to be there, because we both went to that school and she wouldn't have it any other way." Fluttershy hung her head low and looked at the dirty floor. "Why Rainbow, why couldn't I ever say no to you?" She whispered quietly enough to rightfully assume Twilight wouldn't hear it, but one of the of the unexpected and undisclosed advantages of having the Thestrals integrated into Equestria, that Alicorns now possessed the combined power of four different Pony races.

“Truth be told, I just wanted to have a little fun and look up Rainbow’s foalhood transgressions. Sure enough, she had a file as thick as my leg. Lengthwise. But most of it was the kind of stuff you’d expect. Pranks, disobedience, nothing major. Although she did pick a fight with four colts and ended up in the hospital once. I’d assume she was protecting you?”

“Of course. Think of her what you will, but she would never get into fight she didn’t have to. And since she was faster than anypony she’d realistically meet since at least age… I would say ten, she never really had a reason to fight unless she had somepony to defend.”

“Well anyhow, I quickly got bored the myriads of misdemeanours she had. But I figured techinically since there were at least two F. Shys in this school I might as well check out the other one. One who’s file was almost half as thick as Rainbow’s but instead of transgressions, her file was full of notes about all the competitions she won. Quite a few national ones too. You know I wonder how we never met, I seem to recall a few awards shows where there were physics students as well as magic students.

“I don’t like crowds. It’s one thing to write a test in room full of silent foals all concentrating on their tests, and it’s another to go on stage to accept the first-place awards. Mum used to pick up all my trophies.”

“Oh, that makes so much more sense now.”

“Well, now that’s been cleared up, I think we can agree that everything you were interested in the life of L. Solid has been told. Having entertained your curiosity, may you release me now?

“I’m afraid I may not. Yet.”

“Surprise surprise.”

“It shouldn’t be, all I promised that I wouldn’t force you to come to Los Llamalos, can you blame me for at least trying to convince you to do it regardless?”

“No, I can only detest you for ignoring my very clear wishes of not wanting to be involved in this insanity, or not respecting my intelligence enough to trust that I made an educated decision. Your choice really.”

“I understand you’re sitting on a very high vantage point, being the only Pony who understands what it actually is I’m asking you, but I don’t think I can be blamed for thinking I have an interesting perspective to offer as to why I’m asking you.”

“I’m not quite sure how can your reasons trump the destruction of all life on the planet, but seeing how I have nothing better to do within my ten foot enclosure, you may as well tell.”

This reveal wasn't a complete surprise to Twilight, Onestone did allude to something similar, but for the time being she decided to play ball with Fluttershy. Her chips were all in anyway, but there was no reason to tell that to her friend yet.

“The destruction of all life?”

“Bingo.”

“How?”

“Ionising radiation.”

“Like the neutrons?”

“Similar. It causes cancer. Fissile materials all produce some, but the amount we would need in a bomb? I don’t even know, it could make the point of impact uninhabitable, for thousands of years. If it gets into the water base, and it will, so it’s just question of concentrations, it could kill entire regions. I mean not just kill, but turn uninhabitable. Basically forever. Multiply that with a few thousand for each nation as they learn to do it themselves, and some accumulation, and we’re basically there.”

“That’s not the only thing that could turn the world uninhabitable.”

“Hmm?”

“Windigos.”

“Aren’t they just an old folk’s tale?”

“They are, and they aren’t. The ghost horses careening through the frigid nights are probably not a thing. However, the wars before the great southward migration and the temperature drop on the northern side of the continent are historical facts.”

“You do realise that the wars and the drop of temperature could be independent, or the causal direction could even be reverse.”

“Speaking like someone who studied a lot more physics than magic.”

“I literally did.”

“Which is why you don’t know that Ponies’ magic is tied to their emotional state. When they are all feeling rage and desperation unspeakable things can happen. Like an entire climate change. Now without proper thaumaturgical records I cannot prove it directly, but believe me, it’s entirely possible the two are connected. Old tales have a strange tendency to be true regardless if they are real or not.”

“Then it stands to reason the temperature would decrease now that we are once again at war.”

“It has. Not a lot, but this last year has been a two degrees colder than the last, and based on this year's data and forecasts, we are on track to have three to four degree decrease compared to the averages before 1010."

“On a year to year basis that’s not necessarily outside the ordinary.”

“On a scale that we have here in Equestria, it is actually quite meaningful though not on its own dispositive with all the different factors in place, but Ponies’ magic is getting stronger. You can hear it from the academies, they report record levels of magical activities around the country from foals. But I can also feel it in myself. This shield that also works as a soundproof bubble, but is still breathable, and is an illusion for everyone outside? Two or three years ago I couldn’t have opened my eyes trying to maintain something like this. Now, I don’t even have to pay attention to it. And my power is ultimately tied to that of Ponies.”

“That actually sounds quite reassuring.”

“It does. And it doesn’t. Equestria doesn’t tend to fare particularly well when stressed Alicorns get access to unimaginable powers.”

“You think Princess Luna could just snap again?”

“No I’m not actually worried about her. There are a number of contingencies in place for such an event. Mostly devised by her. The rest, she asked me to do those so she wouldn’t have a knowledge about them. She’s acutely aware of such an eventuality. I’m far more worried about…

“Celestia”

Twilight nodded. She took one of the shot glasses and threw it back. “Due to my scientific background I can rationalise most of the emotional factors out of my decisions. To me this war is numbers on papers, to Cadance it's the letters from Shining, to Luna it's guns and tanks. But to her? It's her little ponies. Every. Single. One. How long can she bare to watch this butchery going on before she tries something more… drastic? I’m trying to watch her, I’m trying to console her and she really seems to be holding up well so far…”

“But you are worried you would be the last one to notice if anything was wrong.”

“Sometimes I forget who I’m talking to.”

“Maybe it’s better that way" Fluttershy mumbled quickly looking away. "Anyhow, I’m confused are you implying that the we are going to freeze to death or that we are going to burn into a honey crisp. Because I’m getting mixed signals here.”

“Well I think they are both possible scenarios which could happen and as such only increase the possibility that we are fairly screwed.”

“The way I see Princess Celestia is the strongest pony I have ever seen, and acting perplexed when the weather is acting uncharacteristically after removing millennia of tightly gripped control, is asinine.”

“If it was only our waning control over the weather that causes this, then I wouldn’t hear reports from as far as the Arcturian Order that the weather is poised to ‘turn into the longest winter in the thousand years’. Which in this context means the climate is going to significantly cool down.”

“Wait the Arcturian Order? Aren’t they the ones who think a tide of zombies going to flood the world and murder everything? What do they think the zombies’ endgame is? Are they just going to quietly die of starvation once they killed everything?”

“Well yes, that part is clearly nonsense, but they do live up where polar vortexes form, and due to their remote location their weather should be free of any large-scale artificial influence.”

“If you think you can scare me with a few rudimentary measurements by a bunch of Game of Lyres cosplaying Griffons you have no idea what you are messing with.” Fluttershy said turning back to the bar disappointed.

“Well I wouldn't exactly call whatever they do measurements, but the fact that their complaints even reached my ears means the Griffons are giving them some credence this time.” It was clear Fluttershy had no intention of turning back anytime soon, but as long as she was willing to entertain her ideas Twilight was content.

“Have you seen a Griffon during a meteor shower? They are not exactly free of superstitions.”

“Neither are Ponies, but that doesn’t mean everything we’ve ever said is wrong.”

Twilight could almost hear Fluttershy's eye rolling. “My point is, that even with everything you said, ten kilotonnes of annihilation still sounds scarier.”

“TEN KILOTONNES?!” Twilight shrieked. That was several bombing sortie all encapsulated in a single device.

"At the very least." She replied before throwing back the next shot.

Twilight was starting to feel cornered. It felt weird, to be on the attack constantly, yet losing nonetheless, but it she knew it was not going to be an easy chess match and she was not out of options yet. She just needed a new approach, because sans that she only had the box, and she really didn’t want to open that. She took a deep breath. “Fluttershy. I have to ask you, what do you think is the worst possible outcome of this war. Within reason.”

“I’ve already answered that question, so let’s suppose that you meant this outside the one where I’m forced to create the bomb. Obviously it’s us losing in some fashion, but I think the answer you seek is the Changelings creating this bomb first.”

“Yet you seem remarkably sure that wouldn’t happen.”

“Had you not had some reliable intel that the Changlings absolutely couldn’t develop a bomb like that, it would have been your first, best pitch to convince me.”

“I admit I have a certain level of confidence, that that is not an eventuality we have to bother ourselves about. I’m wondering however that prior to meeting me today, what was your assurance that such thing is so unlikely to happen. Because you must have had something, otherwise, your current behaviour would make no sense.”

She shrugged. “I've read Changling books about science; they are absolutely hopeless at theory. Once they get it by stealing or something though, they can apply it with remarkable efficiency. That’s why their technology is good, and all the more reason why I should keep this novelty out of their hooves, because once they grasp it, there is no telling how far they are capable of taking it.”

Twilight had to stop for a moment. She was outmanoeuvred again. Her plan was as good as useless now. She had to find another angle. Fortunately Fluttershy could still not leave, and as such she had all the time she needed to think about her next move. And having to force Fluttershy to sit in silence, in a place where she very much doesn’t want to be might frustrate her enough to make a mistake so rushing anything would serve no purpose here.

“Twilight I’ve been wondering about something. Why did you ask that question? You obviously couldn’t expect to not receive an answer that was either completely obvious or mundane. Which makes this a fairly pointless question to ponder upon. Unless, and I have to admit I’m reaching here, you have an answer so bizarre that would make you think about this question a lot.”

“You are not wrong. But the reason why I have this answer is classified. Classfication level 7.B which would mean that even I cannot share this without the signed and sealed permission of either Celestia or Luna." She took a long drawn out breath, as she made her choice. "Though I think I will, because it’s stupid enough that without details no one would believe you if you claimed you had this knowledge.”

“Hmm?”

“We are going to win this war”

“How is that a secret? Every poster, every pamphlet, every radio show incessantly repeats that exact line since day one.”

“Well yes, they do. Under the very clear assumption that both we and the average pony know that this is bullshit. We have to repeat it because we don’t know, but we have to believe it anyway. Which is where the lie starts. We know we are going to win, and we cannot tell that to anyone.”

“But you are doing it anyway.”

“We are trying very hard to look like as if we were trying very hard to convey that very message, yes.”

“I can’t say I’m following you.”

“And I can’t say I blame you, politics always had a very backwards logic to it. If we were to tell that we will win we would have to tell them why we are so sure we are going to win.”

“And why are you so sure we are going to win?”

“It’s the economy, stupid.” Twilight shook her head. “Apart from the first few months of the war their airforce hadn’t been able to cause much structural damage to our production capabilities. Over the last two years we've been slowly but steadily creeping up to their production levels and we see no indication why that trend would ever flip. Meaning we are around the turning point where we actually starting to outproduce them in a number of fields. Their trade routes are blockaded by the royal navy meaning they have very little chance to trade with the outside world and that shows. For example, they have been struggling to keep up with the expansion of our air production because they can’t get their trypophobic hooves on any aluminium, while Jet Set sits on the largest deposit in the known world. And as somepony once said “If we lose the war in the air, we lose the war and we lose it quickly.”

“Was it Rainbow?” she asked as she lazily gazed at the characteristic spectral sparkle of her drink.

“Yes. I did take the liberty to take out… one, two, three… twenty-seven expletives from the original, but I’m pretty sure, this is what she meant.”

“I still don’t see why we wouldn’t tell that to our ponies. Or why you think building a nuclear bomb would be necessary to win a war we’re going to win anyway.

“Because you didn’t see the numbers. I said we were going to win the war, I didn’t say when.”

And when are we going to win the war?”

“In around five years. For the prize of around twelve million Pony lives. And around the same number of Changelings and Deer. Or slightly less than every fifth creature in the five countries currently engaged in this war.”

Flutters took another shot. “Unfortunate”

“I hope you would be similarly enthusiastic about explaining to the grieving foals and parents why their loved ones would never return.”

“Luckily, that’s your job.”

“I could make it yours tomorrow. This afternoon, if I rush it. What else am I supposed to do with a jobless Element of Kindness? Or one that is tending for wounded animals in a cottage. You staying here doing nothing for the war effort while everypony is out there breaking their back or just dying will be questioned eventually, and that would be detrimental to the morale of the population.”

“Bold of you to assume, you’re supposed to do something with someone else.”

“First, I am a Princess of Equestria, I must look out for everypony. Second you’re my friend, your wellbeing is my concern.”

“Strange, how I feel the Twilight I knew from before the war, would have had those two in different order.”

“And you are the one to tell me the needs of the individual, overwrites the needs of the many?”

“No, I’m telling you the needs of all is above the needs of Ponies. My needs, your needs, the needs of our families, your subjects. Everypony's.”

“I envy you Fluttershy, looking down at the world from your ivory tower, judging us all for not seeing the big picture. I was there once, you know. But it is the luxury of a scientist to value the voice of their own conscience more than the death rattle of their brothers bleeding out of their own hooves.”

“Have you heard that?”

“Not directly, no. But Luna did take me on a tour of the dreamscape when she saw me contemplating the righteousness of our cause. It is in the nature of the good scientist to always second guess themselves. But not now. Not against this evil.”

Fluttershy finished the last of the blue drinks.

“I reckon even she couldn’t show you the dreams of one who never sleeps.”

Twilight eyebrows jumped up a couple of inches. “What kept you up so much? You knew about the bomb long before the war, before even I met you, and I had never known you having problems sleeping.”

“I knew this was coming. Ever since that blasted radio stopped playing Morning Mood to broadcast Princess Celestia’s words. I didn’t know when, I didn’t know who, but this meeting was inevitable.”

“So you are saying you haven’t been sleeping for two years?”

““You think my newfound fondness for legal sedatives serves no practical purpose? And lately some illegal ones too. Our chemists have become pretty good at keeping me away from Princess Luna’s realm. After all You can’t have a nightmare, if you never dream.”

'Dreams... of course...' Twilight thought. 'The ultimate motivator for everything.' She pondered if it was possible to test her resolve that way. To ask a simple question: Was it the nightmares she was so afraid of, or the dreams she finally knew can never be?

“You know I wonder... Just how many of your dreams are you willing to give up to stall this nightmare? You were willing to give up your sanctuary…"

“You told me you’re giving it back.”

“…your parents…”

“They had a full life.”

“…your best friends…”

“They live for what they believe in.”

“…all the most sacred treasures of your life.”

“Kindness is not easy.” From defensive to tentative, then slightly apprehensive, Fluttershy finally went downright peeved.

Twilight face twisted into a prideful smile. She had her.

“But tell me Fluttershy: what makes those treasures shine? A prismatic source of light, so mesmerising you couldn’t take your eyes off it ever since that fateful day it shone across the skies.”

“Don’t you dare!” Flutteshy seethed.

“Dare what? Tell the truth?” she taunted her friend mercilessly. “A scientist through and through. Grow up Fluttershy. Flak guns can’t be stopped by wishes and dreams. We both know, if we let this war play out, she won’t come back.”

“No, she has to… she always comes back.” Fluttershy said visibly holding back tears.

“You know that isn't true. The one way to potentially save her is to come with me and do your job.”

“My job of levelling cities?!”

“Your job of winning this war!”

“If murdering stopped murdering it wouldn’t be murdering in the first place!” Fluttershy slammed the table with an adorably quiet thump. “When I vaporise a city, how many will die? And how many are loved the same way I love her? And you think I would sacrifice them all? Just for the false hope that maybe I can be with her one day? How selfish you think I am to even consider that? Even trying to blackmail with my feelings like that… How soulless can you be Princess? And before you threw that “we’re saving more lives this way” lie at me, we don’t. There is one guaranteed way we can have peace and we can have it in the next second. Surrender.”

Twilight was properly shut up. She knew she didn’t hear her friend’s words correctly.

“Are you suggesting submission?” She asked carefully.

“No I’m not. I’m not, because I can’t. If I were to utter a single word about this outside of your blasted bubble I would be lynched on the street. Lynched! For supporting peace! All because of your bloody propaganda. You’re talking about a useless element of kindness, but you were the one who created a world that needs none.”

“Fluttershy you’re being absurd.” And she knew that’s probably the only reason she had not to detain her right there and then.

"Am I? Says the one who sells truth as lies so that she can send twenty-five million souls into her meatgrinder so that she can say she won. Yes, being under the hooves of Chrysalis would be bad. But the world would survive. Empires come and go, and it'd be a matter of time until hers fall. Who knows? Maybe something better would grow out of it. A place where Ponies and Changlings don’t actively try to murder each other. A little cohabitation could do wonders for both species. But if we create this bomb, if somepony lets this genie out of the bottle and countries start to amass bombs, way bigger ones that I can even imagine today, it will only take one itchy hoof or claw to end all life. Not some, not most. All life. I love Equestria, I love the magic of friendship, but as a scientist my duty is to protect life, not the status quo.”

“That’s not how technology works and you know it. If it’s possible, and you are more sure about it than I am, someone will make it. Maybe not now, maybe not in a decade, but the bomb itself is inevitable. The technology will come, and it is our job to make sure that when it arrives, there is something left of the magic of friendship.”

Fluttershy didn’t answer. Twilight saw that this was it. The battle lines have been drawn and neither of them were willing to cross their own. On some level it would have been comforting to leave Fluttershy be, and bysodoing admitting defeat. But if she lost, Equestria would lose.

And that could not be allowed.

Logic and arguments had failed. Just as she knew they would. They were worth a try, but had she ever believed they had a chance of working, she would have come alone.

Or what’s worse she did believe they could work, she just had to make sure to have contingency plan if they didn’t. To avoid losing. For Equestria’s sake.

“I’m so sorry Fluttershy, I really hoped it wouldn’t come to this.” Twilight said quietly.

Fluttershy laughed, laughed like Twilight never heard her before. It was cynicism distilled into sounds, a dark reflection of one’s own heart laid out bare.

“I knew that you couldn’t be trusted. How could you be? You can never be wrong. Honest leaders never can. Anything you’d do, you can justify with the lives of however many million Ponies you think you’d save. Lives that, if I may add, you don’t have to prove you actually saved, because there aren't parallel experiments to prove you wrong”

Though her friend's words cut deep into her own uncertainties, Twilight put on a convincing fake smile. She was the star pupil of Princess Celestia after all.

“Oh no, I’m not going to go back on anything I promised you. Although that depends how generously you define loved ones. On the other hoof I’m not going to threaten you with anything. Also that was technically not a promise. But you will understand my trepidations in a few minutes.”

“What are you planning?” Fluttershy said, her eyes narrowing into mere slits in an instant.

“I’m going to convince you” Twilight took out a pen and a piece of paper and quickly scribbled down the word “Now.” on it.

“You’ve been failing at that the last half an hour.” Fluttershy said as Twilight quietly adjusted the nature of her bubble once again to adapt to the new sitation.

“Yes, because I was trying to convince you. Now I’m going to to convince you.” She said as she teleported the paper out of the tavern.

The two guards barged into the tavern and went up to them. They put the box they had been carrying in between them, silently saluted to their princess, left the area of the bubble and turned around to watch for any of the tavern’s customers trying to do something ill-advised.

Twilight waited a moment, watching her friend trying to comprehend what was happening. She was not being abducted, not for the moment, but of all things to bring here, a box? Twilight felt the most vile of her temptations creeping into her heart. Pride. Here sat arguably the most intellectually gifted pony to have ever existed, but she knew more than her. If Luna’s weakness was envy, and Celestia’s was wrath, hers was the intoxication she felt when she bested someone.

Then she remembered the cost of this victory, and with a heavy sigh she opened the box. The sour smell of urine told her she wasted too much time with her earlier arguments, but she knew futile though they might have been, they were necessary.

“Come on out little one”

With a completely neutral gait a little grey filly walked out of the box.

“Stop” Twilight said and the little filly froze in her place mid step, but her momentum carried her forward. Normally such forces would be absorbed in her joints, but the moment the filly was told to stop she got so tense, she just fell forward like a plastic toy. Twilight caught her with her magic put her down and sighed.

Twilight glanced at the mirrors covering the wall on the far side of the bar, cheking if the ponies outside the bubble saw what they were supposed to. The unopened box in between the two of them.

The filly was still stuck in her awkward mid step position. Twilight had to think for a bit, she had some experience with controlling this filly, but she was not the lead researcher on her case for obvious reasons. She knew that if she told her to stand up straight, she would try to balance herself on her hind legs just like she did whenever she came home from the other side of the mirror.

“Put your hooves together.” She said and the filly dutifully put all her hooves together on a single place under the middle of her stomach. Though she looked she was going to topple over instantly she managed to hold herself up.

“Okay now put your fronthooves together under your barrel and your back hooves under your bum.” Now the filly did her best to turn into a loaf like cats do, but that position doesn’t work really well with hooves, and Twilight immediately realised she must be in great pain.

“Stand up.” Twilight said quickly, hoping this simple command might reset the filly to her normal standing position. Luckily the filly did just that but despite this there was some eerie aura of stillness around her. It quickly clicked in Twilight’s brain what it was.

“Breathe.” Twilight commanded with the slightest tinge of panic in her voice. “Sorry about this Flutters, usually the next order overwrites the previous one, but for some reason she doesn’t automatically start to breathe again after you give the next order after ‘Stop.’”

“Why?” It was painfully obvious Fluttershy wasn’t even paying attention to her own question much less to any answer Twilight would give, but Twilight knew it would be helpful to answer it regardless just to give a feeling of ease to Fluttershy’s visibly troubled mind.

“Actually we don’t know. Several scientists have tried to explain her behaviour, but so far nothing particularly conclusive came up. Our currently most popular theory is that she is trying to use this sort of loophole to suffocate herself.”

“Your most popular theory is that she actively tries to kill herself?

“Well it may sound harsh but it has about the same amount of basis in reality as the others – that is to say, none – and there is something rather comforting about her retaining a smidge of consciousness which is implied in her attempts at trying to kill herself.

“Could she do that?”

“No, she’d just pass out.”

“You checked?!”

“Not intentionally, but it’s not like you are constantly checking if a pony you are talking to, is breathing or not.” Twilight said holding her hooves up defensively. “So, the first time we ordered her to stop, we found out the hard way just how literally she was taking stuff. But I don’t want to sound overly sanctimonious, we absolutely would have checked this, if we didn’t accidently stumble over the answer.”

“Twilight, what… who is she?”

“She is a Pony. We’ve made very sure of that. She should be around ten years old. The navy saved her from a ship they sank in the Luna Bay, so she is probably from the Vanhoover region. As you probably suspect by now, she is completely mute, so that’s about all we've been able to learn about her so far. We could try to dig something up in the archives, were the archives in question not unavailable to us. Then we could try to connect her to relatives through our programs, but her entire existence is a national secret. 7. A this time, so at least I can show her off to you without committing treason. Which is convenient because I honestly have headaches just thinking about the legal trainwreck it would cause if a prosecutor even tried to charge a Princess with treason. But for the purposes of this conversation, I think we should simply call her Life."

“What happened to her?”

“That is again something we don’t know.

“And what is it you do know?”

“Thaumaturgical reads have shown that her magic has somehow been suppressed.”

“Like Tirek did?”

“Not quite, think of Starlight’s Equalists instead.”

“But she doesn’t have any cutie mark.”

“Well, yes that is one difference. Also Starlight can’t just reverse it, like she could if it was her doing. But because of her age we are actually not quite sure if her cutie mark was removed, or she hadn’t had one in the first place.”

“But why would they do that to her?”

“We have very little intel on that question. We have a decent amount of informants, from harmonist Changelings to conniving ex-queens, but none of them are willing or able to share anything about this.”

“That’s quite something given how well informed you seem to be about their nuclear program”

“Well yes.” Twilight said as she fidgeted with the shade on the standing lamp next to her. “Different fields, different informants are needed. But that doesn’t mean we know nothing. We do know that feeding love to the Heer has been an ongoing struggle, especially since the rate of conquest slowed and the influx of new Ponies to drain diminished. I think, and it’s corroborated some of our other findings, like your opinion about their ability to create novel technologies, that Life is one of the test subjects of a project seeking to mechanise, or rather industrialise love extraction.”

“That doesn’t explain her behaviour.”

“Obviously not. Which is why we think there is something wrong with the process for the time being. Not that it makes this any less dangerous from our perspective.”

“Keeping them in this state is probably quite wasteful from the Changelings’ perspective. I can’t imagine there's much love in “Life” for them to extract any more.”

“Indubitably. We literally had her tested. But can you imagine any alternative uses for bodies, mindlessly following every order, charging into frontlines where soldiers are unwilling to shoot them?”

“That makes no sense. You can control her, so we should be able to do something if they did that.”

“Yes, that is true, for the time being. Even you can control her if you want, do you want to give her a spin?”

“No I’d rather not.”

“Pity, in the office we’ve found she is quite useful in her limited capabilities.” She said in a very nonchalant voice as she sat back on her barstool. “For example, she makes an excellent pouffe.” She lifted her hind legs up and rested them on the filly’s back.

Just as Twilight planned, her little move instantly took Fluttershy's breath away. “Is this supposed to be a joke?”

“No, a metaphor, a rather thinly veiled one at that.” She hated to admit it, but Life’s back was awkwardly comfortable. The height, the slight downward bend, the plush coat, everything just made it ideal for her to rest her hooves on.

“You’re bluffing, there is no way that is an actual foal.”

“No, what you're actually trying to take solace in, is that I have no way to prove that this is a foal. However, that also implies that you have no way to disprove that she is a real foal. Hence, the question arises if you think I’m hmm… “motivated” enough to do this, if she was a real foal?”

“So that is your grand plan? To cause mild discomfort to a foal?”

“Your interpretation of my actions is equally valid, to that of anyone else I reckon, but regardless, right now, I’m behoved not to tell you anything that you may, quite falsely though equally uncondemnably, given the source’s position in our situation, regard as the so to say canonical one.” She said with her polite little smile always lingering on her face.

“I guess then I just have to go back to drinking myself senseless.”

“Knock yourself out, but I’m going to wait at your bedside, being unjustifiably comfy while doing so. Might even get a pair of slippers to keep my hoovsies warm.” She said as she did a cheerful little jiggle with her rear hooves.

Fluttershy turned back from the bar and Twilight knew she dodged a bullet. If she actually decided to drink herself senseless, she would lose. Because despite all her false confidence, that last promise was not one she was going to keep.

“Twilight please take your hooves off Life.”

“No, I don’t think I will.” Twilight saw Fluttershy's glare, but had no problem returning the famous stare. She knew there was no way her friend would add the capital. No, not yet. But it was invigorating to see the biggest intellect in the known world trying to wiggle out of her grasp. They both know it was a futile effort. Knowledge might have been power, but power was power. And she had plenty of that.

With Fluttershy's gaze securely locked somewhere else Twilight silently started to put more and more pressure on Life’s back. She wanted to check if she could do it without it being noticeable, but that would have been the most suspicious thing she could have done right now.

“What do you want Twilight?”

“You know what I want, I know what you want. We don’t agree, and we tried our darnedest to convince the other. On my part I’m content to sit back and see how this unfolds.”

Fluttershy finally looked away to Life, giving Twilight the opportunity to do the same. Life might have been young, but Ponies were made for carrying heavy luggage on their back, they could do it practically indefinitely, and Twilight really struggled to make this one buckle without making it obvious what she wanted.

“Twilight, stop, can’t you see she is struggling?!”

Twilight didn’t answer, but she could definitely see the tremors running through Life’s legs. She was counting on that. Her plan was starting to manifest in its gruesome entirety.

“Twilight?! TWILIGHT!” Fluttershy shouted, kicking her stool under herself as she snapped up onto all fours.

Life fell.

“Shame.” Twilight concluded concisely.

“All right, Twilight, I don’t know in what twisted world you think you can be ever justified in torturing a filly, but you made your point. Now leave her be.”

Interestingly enough, Fluttershy didn’t jump over to Life to give her a little attention. Probably because Twilight’s hooves were still on her back. She wouldn’t blame Fluttershy if she was a bit intimidated by her right now.

“Twilight, take your dirty hooves off her back!”

Twilight stayed silent, slowly turning over to the bar and levitating one of the shotglasses to her mouth. She took a solid sip of the content and let the alcohol gently burn her mouth before she swallowed. Then she turned back to Life.

“Stand.”

“What are you doing!?” Fluttershy shrieked

The small filly was struggling hard to muster the power to push her body up under the weight of Twilight's hooves, but quaking more than a washing machine she started to rise.

“Lie down!” Fluttershy shouted and Life promptly collapsed into a heaving mess

“Stand.”

“Lie down!”

“I’m not gym-rat but I’m rather sure, these mini squats you force on Life are harder than her just simply standing.” Twilight said to Fluttershy calmly. “Stand.”

“Lie down” Fluttershy seethed. “You took every option from me and you are wondering that I’m desperate.”

“Hardly, but I’m surprised you would relinquish your abstinence of using your power over Life so fast. I’d have thought it was rather important for you.” Twilight shrugged. “Stand.”

“Lie down.” Fluttershy's face turned into a vengeful snarl. “I’m doing it for her.”

“Huh, justifying the use of power with the interest of somepony else.” Twilight put her head on her right hoof and gazed off into the distance. “Where have I seen this? I feel like it should ring a bell, but it just… doesn’t. Can’t think of any examples, not at all.”

Fluttershy didn’t say anything just glared in her friend's face with the hatred can only be born on the soil of deep friendship.

“Stand.” Twilight said smiling, without even looking at the filly.

Though it looked like it took almost all the power she had left, slowly, and wobblily she felt her hooves being lifted up.

“I’m still not going to make your bomb.”

“You’ve made that abundantly clear.”

“Then why are you doing this?”

“Yours is not to question why, yours is but to watch and writhe.”

Fluttershy with utter disgust on her face, turned around and sat down on the floor.

Though there wasn’t a single thing Twilight didn’t loathe about their situation, she knew they were going according to plan. Whether that plan would work that was anyone’s guess, but clearly there was no way back. She counted to forty-five and gently pressed her hind hooves down. She got her intended result.

Life fell.

The blunt thump visibly made Fluttershy cringe, but she didn’t turn around.

“Stand” Twilight said, almost immediately.

With silent pleas for help, her muscles and joints tried to lift Twilight’s hooves, but to no avail. They could barely lift her hooves up a centimetre or two before she collapsed back onto the floor.

“Stand” Twilight said with neural tone, feeling the bile coming up in her throat.

Life gave it another try, silently suffering, but it was doomed from the getgo.

Twilight was getting frustrated. She wasn’t making this charade for Fluttershy’s nape. But she also couldn’t start to just taunt Fluttershy, talking too much doesn’t project power. She had one other idea, but that was so preposterous, she could barely even form it in her mind without returning her daily oatmeal ration.

She looked at Life. The filly was sweating, panting mess. Truly a miserable sight by any metric.

A thought, or rather a memory started to coalesce in her mind. First it was a cow, laying in a field, a lot later than she had any right to. Then it turned into a farmpony, angry that her livestock was wasting her evening. Twilight heard a strong cracking sound and the cow ran fast into her barn.

As she looked on her right she saw a whip in her levitation field. She almost remembered summoning it, but she was too deep in her memories to realise it. She sighed, realising there was no way back now.

AJ did teach her how to crack these, that must have been ages ago, but it shouldn’t be that hard. All she had to do was to hit an empty place next to Life, while she accelerated the end to supersonic speeds. That would grab Fluttershy’s attention.

If AJ was right, cracking a whip was like bucking an apple tree, one couldn't forget how. Too bad she could never get into the hang of that one. She brought the whip up, back behind her back to gain some inertia, then she brought the handle forward in a swift motion.

It made a solid sharp crack sound as it hit the floorboards. Twilight was so surprised she almost forgot to say:

“Stand.”

Fluttershy whipped her head back and looked at them terrified.

“Twilight, have you gone mad?”

Twilight waited patiently until Life failed yet another attempt at standing up, then answered.

“Do you think there is something you could do to save Lifes?”

Fluttershy didn’t answer verbally, just jumped over the cowering Life to shield her from Twilight’s whip. Twilight caught her with her magic, forcefully spread her forelegs apart and suspended her in mid air.

“Do you think there is something you could do to save Lifes?”

“FUCK YOU!” The quiet mare bellowed.

“Wrong answer.”

She rolled the whip up to crack it again on the floor next to Life. She smote down at the floor and… she missed.

She hit Life.

No, no noooo! This can’t be happening. She didn’t do this… she couldn’t have… This was not the plan… this was not the plan at all. How could the plan have been this? It wouldn’t make any sense. She wouldn’t make a plan for torturing a foal like this. Making a plan to save lives was one thing, but this… The plan was… this…

“Stand.” She heard a voice, lacking any emotion come out of her mouth.

And she knew this had to be done. Whatever the plan was, it was not working, and this might. This was not a
multi-tailed whip and it didn’t have any extra objects sticking out of it. Sure, a hit still hurt, but it was not dangerous in the long term even if it was definitely going to leave a mark. However if she were to break now, if she released Fluttershy, this would all have been for nothing, right? That would have been a worse sin, not continuing.

She saw Life trying to stand up squirming desperately for a few seconds, but it was way too little to do anything.

“Do you think there is something you could do to save Lifes?”

“No I will not build the bomb you maniac!”

“Wrong answer.”

She knew the from now on she couldn’t miss on purpose, otherwise Fluttershy wouldn’t have any incentive to yield. She took a deep breath, fixed her eyes on Life, and struck down with her whip once more. The gash on Life’s back doubled instantly, Fluttershy cried out again, and Twilight couldn’t help but close her eyes for a moment.

Twilight put her hindhooves back on Life's back and immediately felt the warm wetness of her blood, seeping into her coat. It was strange she thought, when was the last time she had blood trickle down on her hooves? Was she older or younger than life?

“Twilight please for the love of anything, don’t do this.”

“Do you think there is something you could do to save Lifes?”

“Twilight… don’t go down that road, I beg you… Just please don’t… You don’t understand… the devestation… it wouldn’t save anyone…

“Do you think there is something you could do to save Lifes?”

“Twilight… please…”

“Do you think there is something you could do to save Lifes?”

“Yes. I’ll do it. I’ll do anything just make this stop.”

For the first time in long while, Twilight looked straight into her friends eyes. Her face held no anger, or pity, just the sombre joyless pleasure of being right.

“Wrong. Answer.” She whispered.

“What?” Fluttershy gasped powerlessly.

“Stand.”

She took all the weight of her hooves off Life’s back so that they made only the slightest of contact. She felt that finally Life pulled the last of her strength together and against all odds, she started to rise. Twilight looked at her face and saw the pain in her eerily wide open eyes.

Mesmerised by the eyes of Life, a sight so far apart from anything she had seen before, she started talking, asking questions that must have been lurking just below the surface both of their minds.

“Did you think saying a few words would atone you? Of all the lives you wasted by sitting idly watching this war go by? Or what about the lives that will have been lost by the time you finish? You surely can't think you saying yes would make Queen Chrysalis stop. Or maybe you think Queen Chrysalis doesn’t have a bunch of ponies like Life in her court? That maybe this is the only side effect of whatever they are planning in Vesalipolis? And if it isn't, you think that anything I did to Life here, could even compare to her machinations? Is it not kindness that understands hate the most? But what about if you got your wish, if we put our weapons down in the name of your precious peace? How would our life unfold in the hooves of one that was capable of coming up with something like this? If it's the defence of lives you swore an oath to, is Life’s what you’d call life?"

Though she knew she probably didn’t have to do this much, her moment would not be tainted by the load bearing abilities of a filly. She pushed down hard with her hind legs and the foal immediately gave.

Life fell.

Twilight jumped off the chair and slowly walked over to Fluttershy. She was no longer angry, she wasn’t even scared. She was broken. But she wasn’t ready. Twilight leaned into her face and in a low, melodius tone that rose as she spoke, she asked;

“Tell me oh mind behind the weapon that can end all! SHOULD THERE BE NO LIFE, OR SHOULD THERE BE INFINITE MANY MORE?!”

She noticed that by the end of her question she sprayed had a generous amount of saliva into her face but neither of them seemed to care.

She straightened up and watched her cry unconsolably. She couldn’t help but feel a tinge of pride at the sight. No small part of her wished she could have avoided this situation, but whatever existed of the Fluttershy she knew once, died that day. She had murdered it.

But she built her anew. Using the very kinship she felt for every living being. The brain capable of running circles around any electronic computer machine, now had the heart of steel she needed to became the ultimate apotheosis of the might, and power of Equestria. The key to its timely and merciful victory. Kindness dissolved and distilled to its purest form.

The Magic of Friendship weaponised and the world shall tremble to behold.

She let herself revel in her success for ten seconds and not a moment longer. Her schedule hardly allowed any more time for celebration. She looked out at the guards standing just outside of the bubble. Removing the sound blocking part of her spell, she told them. “Take her away.”

They marched into the now penetrable bubble, the white Earth Pony crouched down while his sergeant put the foal back into the box and strapped it back onto his back. With a single silent salute the private walked out of the bar leaving the sergeant with the princess and the physicist. Twilight knew this was not in the original plan, but she appreciated the sergeant’s gesture of trying to stay at her side.

She looked at Fluttershy and without a word, she teleported her back into her bed in her cottage. She would need a long, healthy sleep. Her first in two years, perhaps. Twilight made a mental note to ask Luna to guide her through the coming weeks, Harmony knows, she was going to need it. Besides, it’s unhealthy for the princess of dreams to avoid her spectral realm for so long. Whether she was going to find the time in her schedule, that was difficult to tell.

As she looked at the place she teleported her friend from, she felt a heavy glance on her nape. She turned back to the head of her guards and asked. “Yes Sergeant Sentry?”

“Permission to speak freely, ma'am?” Asked the orange Pegasus on whom Twillight have started to lean on more and more ever since the start of the war.

“Granted, Sergeant Sentry.” She hated how she had to abide the rules of this ridiculous naming charade, but Press Hat, her royal communications adviser had told her that it would be a bad look if a Princess were ever seen doing anything other than working for her Ponies. Twilight wondered what would he say if her Ponies could see her working for them now.

“This was the worst solution.” The ever-comforting bass of her partner sounded harsh and judgemental, but it only reprised words her own conscience has told her a billion times already.

“Bar None.” Twilight nodded as she left a heavy bags of bits on the counter. “In every conceivable way. But as cousin Blueblood often says, the worst solution has one distinct quality going for it.”

“What?”

“It is one.”

Author's Note

I'm sorry dear reader, I couldn't give you a happier ending, in a story where using an A-bomb is a reasonable solution, there is little place for such. There is place for hope, twisted as it may be. I do hope I've managed to convey some of that, at the very least.

And yes, I know, I know, Fluttershy is quite OOC. I know. No doubts about that. It is however very hard make a nuclear scientist Fluttershy believable. I think I made her quite believeable, but by the time I managed to do that, the result was no longer Fluttershy.

That is the burden of being a subpar writer. You muck things up.

I hope that despite all this, the story remains enjoyable.