Fallout Equestria: The Ashlands Timeline

Long Ago, Tuesday, 10/26/2077
POV: Limestone Pie
Canterlot

Undefeated. Limestone Pie maintained that status since the war began. The Pie Rock Farm fended off multiple factions when the rest of Southern Equestria fell. It was a good thing given that Equestria’s remaining stockpile of balefire was there with no way to safely move it.

But now her biggest challenge yet stood before her. As the highest ranking pony left alive in the city, it was Limestone versus the world. That was fine with her, because Limestone enjoyed such odds, and had no intention of losing her title.

When Daybreaker was assassinated, Limestone expected things to be more difficult. However, the Crystal Empire was wasted and the New Lunar Republic had mostly collapsed. Even Discordia was either leveled or uninterested in mortal shenanigans. All that remained was Cloudsdale, under the command of Rainbow Dash.

It was hard to believe a loyal general like Rainbow would turn on Equestria. It was easier to believe Cloudsdale went with her since she was one of the greatest heroes of the age. Any resistance would have disappeared when they were told that Daybreaker attacked innocent cities. Limestone didn’t believe Daybreaker did so, but proving it had to wait.

All Limestone needed to do was to hold off until the bookworms in the palace got the Coronal Mass Ejector to fire one last time. Limestone didn’t like mega-spells, but liked the possibility of Cloudsdale heading to the Pie Rock Farm next less, and that's exactly where they'd go since they knew of the balefire stored there. She had to protect her home, even if it meant never returning there.

Fortunately, Limestone always knew what her enemies were planning. Others called it ‘Limestone Sense’, and Starlight had spent a lot of research attempting to enhance or copy it with their psionic magitech, but to Limestone it was still only sensible deductions. Rainbow was the head of the Ministry of Awesome when the current Canterlot shield was developed, and Limestone bet she had the means to bypass it. Why else would she bother with such an attack? However, with it at full strength, she’d only be able to penetrate with individual pegasi in specially-enchanted bypass armor.

Knowing ‘Kamikaze’, they’d be sending suicide squads of pegasi attempting to set off a sonic radboom within Canterlot’s shield. If successful, Canterlot’s own shield would hold the blast long enough to prevent it from also destroying Cloudsdale too. It was an admirably-insane plan from a worthy opponent.

A rainboom-triggered radboom required precise flying from a team, so they only had to down one in a squad to keep them from succeeding. The perfect pony for this, Marble Pie, set up her sniper rifle nearby. There wasn’t a pegasus alive skilled enough to avoid Marble’s sights. Limestone’s quiet sister wasn’t called ‘Dead Shot’ for nothing; the second most feared shy mare there was.

“Limestone!” a familiar voice called.

Limestone figured that Starlight would arrive after they hit Fillydelphia, since the Ministry was deep beneath it and would survive the attack. Sure enough, Starlight was now galloping toward her.

“Daybreaker died less than a week ago, right?” Starlight asked as she skidded to a halt.

“Just a few days ago, but I suspect Midnight took the body,” Limestone answered, then turned to her other sisters. “Pink, Maud. Guard Princess Starlight.”

Starlight chuckled awkwardly at the reminder she was next-in-line for the throne. She tried to give Limestone a brief hug in thanks, which Limestone pushed away. She was one of the few brave enough to shove royalty, but even Daybreaker had let her get away with it so long as she gave good strategy.

“She’ll make an adequate figurehead one day,” Limestone commented to Marble after Starlight ran towards the archives. “But I’m glad she knew better than to take over the defenses.”

Marble fired a single shot instead of replying, downing half of the dozen pegasi that were conveniently lined up in squad formation.

Though there was an issue with using a powerful gun over a crowded city. Marble cried out, and Limestone turned to see her little sister in tears. Limestone assumed her shot had gone right through its target and hit a civilian atop one of the buildings.

“Marble, stay with me,” Limestone spoke firmly.

“A foal! I think I hit a foal behind them!” Marble whispered as loud as she could, looking like she’d drop Ashmaker.

“Marble!” Limestone scolded her, taking hold of Marble’s hoof and pushing it back to the gun. “If you freak out on me now, every pony and foal in this city dies.”

“Y-yes, sis,” Marble stammered. "I'm okay."

Marble clearly wasn’t okay, but lined up her next shot and fired. Limestone felt terrible for being hard on her, more than with anypony else, but she had to push. They couldn’t afford to falter when fighting their final battle.

But as Limestone looked over the chaos, something felt wrong. It was a feeling she’d never felt before, like things she already predicted were changing. She saw a shimmer of light near the edge of the city, pulling up binoculars to see.

Limestone assumed Midnight would be in a secret lab poking Daybreaker’s corpse still in her ascension attempt, but there she was, already having managed to become an artificial alicorn. More confusing was Rainbow Dash with her. Why would they be in Canterlot while Cloudsdale’s forces tried to destroy it?

“Marble!” Limestone barked, pointing at the two.

Marble was on it, turning to fire three shots at them. The air around the duo shimmered as if the shots went through them, and Limestone thought she saw Midnight carrying a third, but that didn’t make any sense. They flew behind a building, and Marble kept shooting through it, but she looked frustrated as her targets didn’t fall.

“Damn it!” Limestone was getting more frazzled than usual. “Concentrate on the squads. I’ll take care of it.”

Limestone grabbed a rifle from a corpse nearby, but paused, getting a sick sense in the pit of her stomach. She turned back to Marble, rushing up to her and giving her a brief, if deep, kiss before leaving. Marble blushed and nodded.

Limestone raced in the direction they were going, toward the palace archives. Starlight was there, and Limestone realized she should have asked her more about what she needed there.

Several bullets buzzed past her head as she rushed. Limestone dove for cover behind a nearby column and peered out. She spotted two pegasi heading into a utility passage, one that would eventually lead them to the Coronal Mass Ejector.

Midnight’s arrival threw off Limestone calculations. If Marble hadn’t been distracted, she’d have taken down these two pegasi too. Limestone had to choose between pursuing them and Midnight.

Limestone trusted her sisters to take care of Starlight at the archive, dashing into the passage instead. It took all she had to catch up with the pegasi flying ahead of her, heart pounding in her chest as she ran.

As she prepared to round a corner, a beeping glowing ball was tossed out at her. Limestone grabbed it before it hit the floor, flipping to send it down the corridor behind her as far as she could. It sounded as if it collapsed the corridor behind her, but she couldn’t risk damaging the equipment ahead.

Limestone didn’t stop, springing off the wall and jumping around the corner. The pegasi were waiting to fire, but expected an earth pony to come low. Instead, Limestone sprang off the ceiling and landed a flying kick into the head of the first. The grotesque snap of his neck told her she'd hit him as she intended, and his body flailed to the floor.

She landed, grabbed hold of the first pegasus as he gagged on his own blood, then charged the other while using him as a shield. The pegasus absorbed several bullets before Limestone threw him at the other. As she fell against the wall, Limestone unleashed a flurry of kicks, not stopping until her enemy vomited blood. The mare’s eyes rolled back as she slumped against the wall.

Limestone prevented them from getting through, but couldn't get out through the collapsed passage behind her. Instead, she ran forward toward the megaspell systems, intending to circle around another way.

She reached the door at the end of the hallway, and was about to open it, but stopped. As her senses twisted further, her confidence waned. The next thing she predicted was something she knew would come, but hoped it’d be later: her own death.

The sense of failure was overwhelming. Her family, her country, they all counted on her victory and she'd failed them.

The first shock wave rumbled the walls around her as Canterlot fired their megaspell. Moments later, a more powerful shock wave hit, the walls and floor around her cracking, solid stone tearing apart as the structure convulsed.

The door in front of her radiated an impossible heat, and Limestone knew what was coming. She wanted to run, but it would do no good. Her death was etched into the stone of history and there was no way she could change it.

The second shock wave had ruptured the CME systems. The super-conductive pink cloud it used to channel energy through conduits had flooded the control room, and now burst through the door, filling the hallway where Limestone stood.

She felt her body encompassed in searing heat, torment inside and out as she took a deep breath of the cloud. She felt her flesh melting under the heat and waited for the sweet embrace of death.

But it didn’t come. Why wasn’t it coming?

Limestone was swimming in a sea of torture now, gagging as she breathed radioactive cloud, her vision turning to pure glowing pink as she felt it burn out her eyes. She felt her skin melting off… again… repeatedly regenerating and melting. Her eyes reformed and burned out again.

She struggled, trying to move above the flow, desperate to drag herself out of the pain pit, but the thick necrotic mist reached the ceiling. Limestone punched the roofing in frustration, trying to get it to collapse on her to finish her, but she could barely move.

She went limp, energy drained, and let herself simmer. The pain died to a dull throbbing, and it didn’t take long for her to lose track of time. She floated, helpless, within the mist for what seemed like forever.

When she felt her body touch a wall again, she lashed out without thinking, punching it as hard as she could. To her surprise, the metal gave way with a low creaking sound, bursting open, already weakened by what it contained. She felt the cloud washing past her as it flowed out, so grabbed the wall around the opening, pulling it open further. Despite her condition, the wall came apart easier than she’d expect even if she’d been at full strength.

A few minutes later, she hit the floor on the other side of the half-melted wall, sticky pink cloud bubbling over her where she lay. She forced herself to her feet and staggered, desperate to get away from the fluid.

She made it into what she thought was sunlight only to find it wasn’t. Iit was the radiant glow of the crater in the center of Canterlot, swirling shades of green and pink with a rainbow sheen. It outshined the Sun by far.

Limestone looked at her pipbuck, only to realize that it wasn’t functional. She ripped it off her leg, bits of numb flesh coming with it, and tossed it aside. She stumbled over to a nearby body, pulling another off the dead soldier’s leg and clasping it onto her own.

It didn’t boot, so at first she thought it was broken as well, but then realized that it wasn’t detecting a wearer. She flicked the override switch and it booted.

Tuesday, 11/23/2077

It had been almost a month? How had she been boiling alive for an entire month? If nothing else, she should have died of asphyxiation or hunger.

A realization hit Limestone like a freight train into a bus full of orphans. The pipbuck wasn’t faulty when it didn’t detect a living user.

Limestone felt her chest but couldn’t find a heartbeat. Frantic, she collapsed on the ground, grabbing a loose piece of rubble in her muzzle and slicing her leg with the sharp end. The flesh separated, coagulated blood dripping onto the pavement like stale pudding. The blood glowed pink as it lay in a chunky puddle, a shade close to that of the pink cloud. In fact her whole body glowed.

She was dead. How could she be dead? How could she not be dead? She scratched her head with a hoof only to see clumps of mane on it when she pulled it back. She looked back at the leg she’d cut, and despite how decrepit she looked, it slowly healed. Even if her mechanite healing factor somehow still functioned, it shouldn’t have been that fast.

Limestone jumped as she heard the clopping of hooves nearby and looked into the glowing mist. A covered wagon approached, coming into view through the radioactive cloud. It bounced about on the wreckage-strewn path, but the military-grade steel construction kept it together.

It was Muffins, one of the few pegasi that fought for Canterlot. Limestone remembered how chipper she was even amid the battle, and how it annoyed her. She'd dealt with it since annoying happiness beat cowardice.

She didn’t seem chipper now, and to say she didn’t look healthy would be an understatement. Her gray coat was largely missing, as was much of her skin, flaking away like paint chipping from an aged wall. Most of her teeth were gone, and she only had a few strands left of her mane and tail. One wing was torn off, and the other had only a few feathers left on it, just gnarled meat hanging from her side now.

“Muffins?” Limestone asked.

No answer. Limestone waved a hoof in front of her face when she didn’t respond. Still no talking, but she seemed conscious. One of her eyes followed Limestone’s hoof, the other independently looking further down the path she’d been taking.

Well, at least she still had the supply wagon. It’d been her job to do rounds with the supply wagon during the last battle, and it appeared she didn’t stop her duty even when she stopped living. Limestone took what she could carry, a pistol with ammo and packets of food, even if she doubted she'd need food.

After a few minutes, Muffins turned and walked further along the wall where Limestone had climbed out. She was following the same path she had been during the battle, altered only to avoid collapsed structures and pits that weren’t there before. Limestone wondered why she hadn’t gone to Stable 27.

Stable 27! Limestone sensed her sisters went there. Or would go there? Her sense was wonky, but regardless, she needed to check. Everything blurred as she galloped there.

Bodies filled the cathedral outside the stable door, many huddled together. A few were animated like her and watched her in passing, still huddled against their dead loved ones, but otherwise looking to be in the same condition as Muffins.

Surely they’d let Limestone in now, though. They had to know who she was.

She stumbled up to the door, banging on it hard. There was a flash of light as the stable’s computer scanned her, but it didn’t speak. Limestone would need either a horn or a key for the computer to speak to her out here.

But it shouldn’t matter; she was sure ponies inside would see the scan. The Pies registered at Stable 11, but they should still let them in regardless given the situation.

“Let me in!” she screamed. “I’m Limestone Pie! I’m a national hero and in command of Canterlot! I deserve to be inside!”

No answer, but they had to be in there. They had to be monitoring the outside from within.

“At least tell me to buck off!” Limestone screeched. “Did my sisters make it inside? Marble, Maud, and Pinkie Pie? At least tell me that!”

She was determined to knock and scream until her body gave out, but it never did, so she lost track of time again. When she looked at her pipbuck again, twelve hours had passed. The glowing crater outside made it hard to tell if it was day or night.

But it barely mattered. If they hadn’t let her in by now, they’d made their decision. Maybe she’d try again later; she at least wanted to know if her sisters made it inside.

Then something else occurred to her. Clicking. She hadn’t noticed it before beneath the hum of the energy boiling in the crater, but her pipbuck was going nuts. She pulled up the radiation screen and read it: 10 rads per second. Lethal within minutes, to the living at least.

"Okay, that's a fairly good reason not to open it," Limestone sighed, but screamed again. "You could at least tell me the reason!"

Limestone turned the clicking off, but then had an even more disturbing thought. She took the pipbuck off, laying it on the ground and backing away. She squinted to see the readings as she moved further back. It went down the further away she was until it stopped again around 8 rads.

"So I'm radioactive," Limestone sighed. "Perfect." She cried at the door again. "Do you really expect me to wait for this to wear off? There has to be something you can do!"

She growled, walking back up to the contraption and snapping it back onto her leg. At least this meant she could try the door later once her own radioactivity decreased, but how long would that even take?

The only thing to do for now was to search elsewhere, even if she preferred to imagine them safe inside the stable. Marble’s watch point was far enough from where they'd been trying to set off the radboom that it would remain intact.

On her way there, she realized there were many trotting dead in the city, though none had their wits. Most were indistinguishable from a normal corpse other than their shambling.

The soldiers all followed their last given orders, which probably explained the lack of pink glowing ones. Those were probably all sitting, or floating, in the CME chamber. She did find a rainbow glowing zebra clamoring near the radboom crater, but like everypony else, he wouldn’t accept orders.

There were also civilians among the trotting dead. Limestone saw a store clerk she knew standing behind the counter as if waiting for a customer, but like the others, she only stared blankly when Limestone attempted to communicate. She also found a ghoulish filly guide standing vigil, but she wouldn’t communicate either, sadly staring at a dead friend on the ground nearby. Was Limestone the only undead that survived with her mind intact?

When she made it to Marble’s post, Marble wasn't there, which gave some hope. It meant Marble hadn’t died on the spot before or during the blast, and that she wasn’t mindlessly carrying out her last given orders. It wasn’t much hope though, given the amount of radiation she would have received before leaving the post.

If Marble survived and couldn’t find Limestone in the immediate vicinity, she would have gone first to Stable 27, then to see if Pinkie and Maud were still at the archives, then to the barracks where they had bunks. Limestone had already checked the stable as best she could, so went to the archives next.

Her sisters weren't there. Instead, she found the strange anomaly located where a portion of the room had been. It wasn’t destroyed, just gone. Limestone sensed her sisters there in the area, or they were on their way to the area? She couldn’t tell, but after calling for them for an hour, she gave up and moved on.

Limestone was afraid to check the bunker, but there was nothing else. Sure enough, that was where her hope for Marble died.

Marble was laying in the bed, her gauss rifle Ashmaker beside her. She lay on her back, her brains splattered on the bed and floor behind her. Limestone raised Marble’s head, hoping to find her soul crystal intact, but Marble had been thorough in her suicide. She'd put Ashmaker’s tip in her muzzle and shattered the soul crystal in the back of her neck with the shot. An impact like that from the inside was probably one of the few things that would easily destroy one.

Unsure what else to do now, Limestone gathered the gem shards, wrapping them in a cloth and tucking them into the front of Marble’s uniform. As she did this, she noticed Marble’s pipbuck had a blinking light on the back, which meant that a message was left for the one who found it. Limestone couldn’t bring herself to boot the device and listen to it though. Instead, she switched it off to avoid thinking about it.

Limestone wasn’t sure how long she stared at Marble after that, but she missed having the ability to weep as she did. Marble died thinking she failed her sisters, but Limestone was the one that failed them all.

The last thing Limestone said to Marble was a scolding for being soft. Even with the parting kiss, Marble died not knowing how much Limestone envied that softness. Limestone searched her mind, deciding what to do next, to find some way to solve this, but her thoughts all melted together much like her face had.

‘How could you let her die?’ a voice from nowhere asked.

Ashmaker? Limestone had heard her sisters converse with their guns and various inanimate pets, and sometimes Limestone pretended to hear it to humor them. But she had never really heard them herself until now.

‘You promised that you’d protect your sisters,’ said the half-eaten rations on the bunk behind Limestone.

‘All she ever did was bitch at them,’ Limestone’s own gun said.

Limestone threw her gun across the room, screaming in frustration at the voices surrounding her, ridiculing her failure. Her sisters died because she lost the most important battle she fought. Who cared about her victories before if she failed when it mattered most? Her successes were meaningless with no world left to know them.

“I have not failed!” Limestone shrieked, and the voices died. “This is not over!”

Limestone grabbed Marble, hefting the body up onto her back. She took Ashmaker, slinging him over her back with Marble and running as fast as she could with the extra weight.

She staggered back to Marble’s watch point, finally dumping Marble into a sitting position against the castle wall behind her. Limestone scanned the Canterlot sky, barely able to make out the form of pegasi flying over it. Many were still flying in formation, but without the ability to recharge their suits in Cloudsdale, all they were doing was dive-bombing the pool of radioactive liquid at the bottom of the crater, staggering back out, and flying up for another attempt.

The battle wasn’t over yet. There were soldiers moving, if not alive, on both sides. She wouldn’t lose. Limestone would make them pay for the lives of her sisters, even if she had to kill them a hundred times.

Limestone raised Ashmaker, looking through the scope, waiting for one of the pegasi to pause mid-flight before firing.

Tuesday, 1/11/2078

Shooting a wobbly ghoul in flight wasn’t easy. A few of the dive-bombing pegasi were ‘glowing ones’ like Limestone, rainbow or red instead of pink. Limestone assumed that the method of creation determined the glow color: rainbow for those that died from the radboom and red for the CME. It peeved Limestone that she got stuck with bright pink.

The glowing ones took a ridiculous amount of damage. Only a headshot would stop them permanently, and then only a very direct one that destroyed it down to the brain stem.

Limestone wasn’t a trained sniper. Her pipbuck’s SATS gave her a tiny chance for a headshot, when they were close enough for it to lock on at all. She definitely got a new appreciation for Marble’s skill, because she went through a lot of ammo just getting her bearings. Once she got low on the enchanted ammo, she used less powerful ammo and saved the good stuff for if living enemies showed up.

Limestone kept Marble with her, leaned against the rampart. Marble hadn’t moved or spoken yet, but plenty of other things talked, so Limestone hadn’t given up hope, ignoring the part of herself that knew it to be irrational.

‘There haven’t been flying targets within range for days,’ Ashmaker mentioned one day. ‘You should rest. Marble wouldn’t want you overworking yourself.’

"As if I can overwork myself," Limestone sighed. "It's not like I have anywhere else to go."

‘There’s always the barracks,’ suggested Mister Glowbrick, the lightly glowing rock a few feet away.

‘She doesn’t want to go there,’ explained Ashmaker. ‘It reminds her of what an utter failure she is for letting Marble die.’

Ashmaker never missed a chance to bring that up; he was Marble’s gun after all. Limestone never complained because she knew he was right.

‘There was that tower we passed between here and Stable 27,’ suggested Madam le Sour, the partially eaten rations in Limestone’s saddle bag. ‘I saw a lovely little tea set in there I wouldn’t mind having a chat with, if ya know what I mean.’ Though Limestone gave up eating as it made her sick, she kept Sour since she was amusing at times.

“Eh,” shrugged Limestone. “May as well look.”

Limestone scanned the horizon one more time. There were still pegasi buzzing around the far edges of the city and around the area where Cloudsdale crumbled. At least one glowed red, but they were far outside of her SATS range, just dots in the distance. She sighed, draping Marble and Ashmaker on her back and heading towards the tower that Madam le Sour mentioned.

The upper floors of the tower were ripped off by the blast. The bottom floor and about half of the second floor remained however. It amazed her that even the bottom floor remained, given it was only about a hundred hoofsteps from the edge of the crater, but some of the older enchanted towers were ridiculously well-built.

There was a large table in the center as if meetings had been held here, with a computer terminal in one corner of the room, not that it had power. There was a tea set as Sour indicated, and he seemed nice enough, so Limestone set him up on the table in the center of the room.

“Not that I have any bucking tea,” Limestone sighed.

‘There’s plenty of water in the crater outside, foal!’ suggested Mr. Tea helpfully.

“Not sure that that’s safe,” observed Limestone.

‘What’s it going to do, darling? Kill you?’ chuckled Madam le Sour.

“Buck off,” Limestone growled, then tossed Madam le Sour onto the table with Mister Tea so they could do just that while she checked out the crater.

Limestone took Marble to the crater, leaving the other objects at her new house to chat it up. She squinted her eyes as she trotted up to the crumbling edge, trying to see through the brightness radiating from within.

What would have killed her before was now pleasant warmth. In fact, it made her feel stronger being here. She slid down one side, radioactive glass crumbling beneath her hooves, leaving a groove in the scalding soft rubble where she walked.

Water gathered at the bottom, glowing swirls of green and rainbow. It now also had pink swirls in it as the pink cloud leaked out of the flooded sections of the castle, mostly from the hole Limestone made getting out. Limestone wondered if the pink cloud generator was still online. If so, it wouldn’t stop until the whole crater was full and overflowing. There was no reason to go turn it off though; if these other animate ponies were like her, the toxic sludge would help them feel better.

Limestone decided she may as well take a dip, sliding into the water and laying Marble next to her, pulling her close in a hug. This was the stuff that brought Limestone back to life, right? Maybe it’d do the same for Marble.

“Please move,” sighed Limestone, holding Marble and caressing her mane. “Just a few minutes, that’s all I ask, just long enough to tell you I’m sorry for being a bitch. That I’ve always loved my sisters.”

Nothing.

“I won’t give up,” Limestone said, determined to do the only thing she could. “We’ll soak here every day after our watch, even if it takes 100 years.”

Tuesday, 10/18/2287

She wasn’t done in 100 years. Even 200 wasn’t enough, but Limestone refused to give in.

Every day for over 200 years, she watched for enemies for 18 hours a day, then went home to have a tea party with Marble and friends. As she couldn’t sleep, she spent the rest of the hours until her next ‘shift’ soaking in the crater with Marble. Every few weeks she’d go to check at the archives or to scratch at Stable 27’s door again.

Limestone remained at her duty longer than many other ghouls. Many ceased their tasks, instead congregating in some darker areas of the city. Some lay on the ground, indistinguishable from corpses until something disturbed them. As Canterlot and Cloudsdale soldiers killed one another on sight, there were few of either left after so long. Most of the ‘surviving’ ghouls had been civilians, since most soldiers were instinctively unwilling to target them.

Muffins was among the few remaining, and continued performing her rounds. As she lacked a uniform and the contents of her wagon were hidden by the cover, she had never been targeted by enemy soldiers. Her supply wagon remained intact despite being taken down the bumpy path every day, thanks to being steel instead of wood.

Limestone considered her a friend. Although she never replied, speaking to her provided Limestone with a slight sense of normalcy and occasionally amusement. Muffins even had a tendency to change outfits occasionally. One day she even showed up with a combat helmet on, the radio turned up full blast, which she wore for about a week and then took off.

Muffins didn’t work the same long hours Limestone did, and Limestone wasn’t sure where she went when she wasn’t doing rounds, nor if it was her or somepony else putting the outfits on her. She or somepony hung a clock on the front of the wagon that hadn’t been there during the battle as well, and once it was there, Muffins appeared to follow a more precise schedule.

Still, Limestone never followed her to see where she stayed. It seemed to be on the other side of the city, and Limestone enjoyed staying close to Stable 27, even if they still wouldn’t let her in.

More importantly, Limestone wanted to remain close to the anomaly in the archives. It still felt like her sisters were on their way whenever she went there, and the feeling only got more powerful as time passed. Recently she felt like she almost saw them, and the missing room, like it was in the corner of her eye but disappeared when she looked straight on. In recent years, even her pipbuck registered life signs within the anomaly, one vaguely resembling Starlight's cutie mark, but the others too faded to make out.

They were so close now; Limestone could practically hear their heartbeats. She just had to wait a little longer. She’d been telling herself that for centuries, but now more than ever, it felt real.

Though Limestone would have been happy with any living pony at all visiting her, it was the only thing that might pull her away from her schedule.

Initially, Limestone had expected living ponies to emerge from Stable 27 or return from elsewhere to rebuild, but it never happened. The closest was around 60 years ago when a group of unicorns in Canterlot-like armor arrived. Limestone had been hopeful, but rather than rebuild, they only scanned the Coronal Mass Ejector, possibly took some components, and then left.

They must have turned off the pink cloud generator too, because the stream of pink from beneath the castle ceased while they were there, not that the crater wasn't already full. Limestone tried to speak to them, but they avoided Limestone and any other residents by activating stealth fields when she approached.

They didn’t seem nice, anyway. Limestone heard one mention that they weren’t killing ghouls in hopes that they’d kill any others that came here without stealth tech, though Limestone wasn’t sure why they thought the civilian ghouls would attack anyone. Then after about a week, they stopped coming.

Some time after that, the Sun stopped moving, but all her memories blurred together so much she wasn’t sure how long after. It worried her for a while, but eventually just became part of her reality that she didn’t think much about.

There was the occasional explorer other than that, but no significant group returned to rebuild or reclaim the city. It probably didn’t help that explorers rarely left the city once they got here. Even if they weren’t wearing enemy uniforms, most attacked the residents, which Limestone didn’t tolerate, and few escaped once she ceased tolerating them.

Limestone missed home, but couldn’t bear to go back a failure, to face her family and admit that to such incompetence. If she waited until Pinkie and Maud got back, she could do better. She’d make it up to them somehow, then surprise her family by bringing them home. Now and then, it occurred to her that her family was long dead, but it was never there longer than an instant before she shoved it into the darkest corner of her mind.

For a long time she questioned her own sanity at waiting, but now she wasn’t the only one. A few weeks ago, sprite-bots returned to the city in force, and were hovering around the anomaly. Were they waiting for her sisters too? Why?

Limestone let the bots be since they were property of the Ministry of News. The one giving speeches on them claimed to be a crystal pony, but there was nothing inherently wrong with that. Sombra was assumed to have died during the Breaking, and this one didn’t sound possessed. Besides, this ‘crystal princess’ sounded pro-Equestria and promised to rebuild soon, even if not brave enough to show up in Canterlot herself.

Then just yesterday, others showed interest in the anomaly, and that was a problem. After so long, a squad with Midnight Sparkle’s symbol branded on their uniforms entered the city. Limestone thought the New Lunar Republic was the most likely faction to survive, even if in shambles, but hoped they hadn’t. This was something that Limestone needed to rectify.

Limestone loaded the good ammo into Ashmaker and watched their movements carefully. She felt like they would go to the archives too but wanted to make sure. It felt good when they did, like confirmation that her sense still functioned. As they took positions just outside of the room however, Limestone’s sense burned in her mind again. These ponies were here to harm her sisters and Starlight when they returned. It was the only reason she could think of for NLR soldiers to be there.

The first squad was easy pickings. She got two where they guarded, another on the ground as they fled, and the final one when she took to the air to escape.

When the second squad arrived today, Limestone didn’t wait for them to get near the anomaly. They were better prepared however, some activating stealth bucks before she could take them out.

It was nothing though. Limestone’s mind flooded with calculations and probabilities, and she had to admit that being in a proper fight felt good. Once again, she faced living enemies, and lucky for her, they hadn’t become harder to predict.

When it was all over, it left Limestone with more corpses in the city, though some escaped alive. She left the bodies where they lay, just more rubble as far as she was concerned.

Unfortunately, she also took a good deal of damage during the fight. She forgot how much getting shot hurt and was left with a severed leg and a monster headache.

The last soldier she faced shot Limestone square in the head, which Limestone was sure should have killed her. Luckily, the bullet struck her head as she leaned backwards at such an angle that it deflected upwards, cracking her skull but not penetrating into her brain. Maybe it was a good thing they got away after that; the pony would inform her friends that a headshot wouldn't stop Limestone, and the intimidation factor might not hurt.

Or it might just mean they'd bring bigger guns next time.

Limestone dragged her leg back to the crater, tied it into place on her shoulder, and soaked in the pink cloud there until it healed enough to stick. She had to rebreak it a few times before it healed at a good angle, and she found herself able to walk and use Ashmaker again. It was too bad that her ghoulish healing factor only healed her up to a rotten-looking state.

Limestone knew that the soldiers wouldn’t stop coming to the city, though. As soon as she could, she took Marble and Ashmaker and returned to their post.

Sure enough, a new squad arrived, but it wasn’t the NLR this time. They were wearing Canterlot guard armor and flying up at the cloud cover. It took a moment to decide what to do, her sense telling her they were a threat, but she couldn’t make herself shoot Canterlot guards. Maybe she had more of the ‘follow your last order’ programming than she’d like to think.

Curious as to why they’d changed their armor, she watched them, even covering them when a pyrebat from the nearby mountains tried to come up behind them. They settled near the anomaly, same as the others, and she kept an eye on them.

Their shift was uneventful, and another squad came to take their place after twelve hours. The leaving squad gathered the bodies of the NLR troops that Limestone had downed, which wasn’t particularly odd; perhaps they wanted to search them for intelligence.

The problem lay in the one that came to Limestone’s position to gather the bodies there. Once they were close, she got the distinct feeling that they were one that escaped her before. When Limestone realized that they were carrying a large, heavy package in their saddlebags, she knew what they were coming for, but still couldn’t bring herself to shoot.

Not only because of her programming though, because there might be a more effective way to protect her sisters. If she kept fighting them, they’d eventually send a force big enough to take her, but if she was ‘fooled’ by their armor trick, they’d leave her alone and she could be ready to protect her sisters when they arrived.

Instead, Limestone placed Ashmaker on the ground, and leaned down to cradle Marble’s head. She rocked back and forth as she petted her sister, and this was how the approaching soldier found Limestone when they arrived. Limestone felt bad using Marble as a prop, but it wasn’t like she was being dishonest. This was exactly what she did for at least an hour of her shift every day.

When they arrived, Limestone feigned surprise and stood. A brief conversation later, she’d convinced them to take the bomb back and probably not attack again. It seemed her strategy worked.

So as they guarded the anomaly, Limestone guarded them, changing her position on the ramparts for the first time in 200 years to make sure she had a good view.

She didn’t go have tea. She didn’t soak. She just waited for days on end, determined not to stop until her sisters finally arrived. Waiting was what she did best after all.