Fallout Equestria: The Ashlands Timeline

Tuesday, 10/25/2287
POV: Solar Flash
Canterlot

Solar had been outside less than an hour, but so far it seemed like the world fared as bad as Crimson claimed. There was neither interesting technology nor creatures in need of a buck. She got a fair amount of both at the stable, so hoped she didn’t get withdrawal.

Still, she didn’t have second thoughts. After all, bucking was secondary to making sure her crush was okay. Of greater concern was how they’d get supplies; with the sweltering heat, she had already drank half of her first canteen. and was right now munching an energy bar she’d grabbed on the way out. She almost never needed one if she wasn’t going for an all-nighter.

They’d offered to let Solar carry Zapper now that Mercury had her syringer, but Solar declined. She’d love to look at the thing in her lab, but as far as using it, Solar didn’t trust herself with a gun. Besides, anything that could get through the Pie brigade couldn’t be stopped by an engineer.

Though that raised the question of what Solar expected to do if Mercury was actually in danger. She wanted to protect her, but could she do anything other than being a bullet sponge?

At least the group was interesting, Limestone most of all. Solar pitied the ghoul, yet was curious at such a freak of magitech. The blinking of Limestone’s soul gem didn’t escape her attention. She wondered if the gem was what kept Limestone docile, a sort of anchor to keep her soul close by. Still, though, she had no way to analyze the problem.

Mercury’s friendliness also overpowered what they’d been taught about the dangers of ghouls and she walked next to Limestone. Solar moved close behind her, ready to shove her out of the way on the off-chance that Limestone got a craving for brains.

“Um, Miss Limestone?” asked Mercury. “Would a potion help?”

“The dead are well past potions,” Limestone grumbled. “They’re excruciating, and I’m ‘General’, not ‘Miss’.”

“Oh sorry, General,” Mercury said.

“Ugh,” Limestone shook her head. “No, I’m sorry; I’m a bitch on instinct, but am really glad you’re here. Call me what you want I guess.”

“It’s fine,” Mercury smiled again. “You probably have more reason than anyone in this city to gripe.”

They approached the remains of a small tower where Limestone stayed. It was cleaner than the rest of the city, despite being rubble. It’d be a decent place to live if not for the corpses of Enclave-armored pegasi on pikes around the vicinity, probably a warning to non-existent enemies, not to mention the same musty smell as the rest of the city.

At first, Solar hoped they wouldn’t find Crimson here. But as they approached the door, she heard Crimson’s voice inside, singing of all things. She hoped that meant she wasn’t up to anything terrible.

Limestone pushed the door open and went ahead inside. Crimson was singing all right, and dancing around the room, doing the tango with somepony. At first Solar thought it was another ghoul, but Crimson’s dance partner was limp; she was dancing with a corpse.

When Crimson turned to see the door open, she wasn’t bothered by the intrusion. She spun, sitting the dead mare on a chair at the tea table in the center of the room, and danced around the table toward them.

“You’re back!” Crimson smiled. “Please tell me you brought Tranquil. Or at least somepony that tastes good. I like your sis, Deady, but she tastes terrible; even worse than the tea.”

Solar was more than a little freaked, and expected Limestone to explode at Crimson treating her dead sister like that. Instead, Limestone just moved out of the way for others to come in, not seeming bothered.

“Huh,” Limestone commented. “She’s not usually that social. That’s my sister Marble that Crimson was dancing with. Everyone else introduce yourself.”

The last statement was directed at the objects in the room; Limestone’s psychological condition was worse than Solar feared. In spite of having acknowledged earlier that the fourth sister was fully dead, her mind seemed to have wobbled back into psychosis. They really needed to get the poor mare out of this city.

“Hello,” said Maud as if someone had greeted her.

“Pinkie greets you as well,” Pinkie added. “Yes.”

Solar figured they were being nice for their sister’s sake. Even if they were all ill, it didn’t seem likely that they’d all have the same hallucinations at once.

“Okay,” Starlight chuckled awkwardly. “Hello… you guys.” She humored Limestone as well, but couldn’t hide a disturbed look.

“Okay, what the buck is going on,” Kamikaze commented as Maud and Pinkie walked over to Marble.

The other Pie sisters gave Marble a shake to check for consciousness, just in case. They hugged her when she didn’t move, then glanced at Limestone. Maud’s face was more blank than usual and Pinkie looked concerned for once.

“Starlight Glimmer!” Crimson laughed when Starlight walked into the tower. “By Sombra’s big black shadow dick, that is one face I hoped I’d never… I mean never thought I’d see again!” She turned to Twilight. “And Midnight! Great to see you again! Were you the one laying waste to my stable? Classy!”

It sounded like Crimson was congratulating Twilight on a great prank. Crimson’s happiness to see Midnight was not a good sign, especially when she’d told everypony in the stable such unhappy things about her.

Even though Solar had seen some of the videos in the archive and knew Crimson hadn’t been what she pretended to be, it was still difficult to see her like this. She could see why Mercury strained so hard not to believe it. It was like Crimson had been wearing a mask the whole time and only now took it off in front of them.

“Crimson Prose… I remember you now,” Starlight said. “Did any other ministers survive? And no, she didn’t wreck your stable. That was Midnight Sparkle, who is now dead… maybe.”

“I’m not Midnight Sparkle,” Twilight explained. “I’m Twilight, her alternate timeline self.” She paused, then leaned forward to get a better look at Crimson. “You do look familiar though…”

Crimson stared at Twilight for a moment as if deciding if she was kidding, then shrugged and seemed to take her statement at face value. Perhaps it just didn’t matter to her if it were true.

“I doubt it was Midnight if you killed it,” said Crimson to Starlight. “Haven’t heard from any other ministry mares in around six decades, but a lot of them had contingency plans, so some might be around. Are we putting the band back together?”

“Something like that,” Starlight said. “Though I was a little concerned about the reports from Stable 27. About your alleged deeds there.”

“Neat,” Crimson ignored the allegation and turned to Mercury and Solar. “You guys made it! Awesome! If we don’t find Tranquil, I can just force Mercury to marry me. Then I can still murder my wife!”

“Over my dead body,” grumbled Solar.

“I didn’t know you were that kinky,” Crimson gave Solar her best bedroom eyes, despite being the one pony here Solar wanted none of that from. “I’m up for a three-way marriage! Won't be the most wives I've had at once. Or killed at once! My second wives after entering the stable, these hot twins that worked at one of the spa-brothels, they once...”

“Crimson,” Starlight repeated. “I asked you for information.”

“Want to see something cool?” Crimson asked Starlight, continuing the dismissal. She skipped back over to Marble, reaching her magic to pull Marble’s leg so that her pipbuck was on the table. She avoided getting too close to the other Pies when they peered at her, turning back to Starlight instead.. “I can use my magic to take us into her log files instead of just getting bored reading them. It’s my specialty.”

“Reading isn’t boring,” Twilight sounded offended. “Why can’t we read them?”

“Adorkable,” chuckled Crimson. “Reading’s fine if you want to see what’s written, but I can have you experience the subject like a memory sphere, even if they weren’t honest with what they wrote.”

“That’s a more advanced use of Hayscartes’ Method than he himself was capable of,” Twilight said, but then shook her head. “But maybe I should just stop questioning all this crazy stuff.”

“Says the pony who is friends with a half-bird-half-toaster,” Crimson shrugged.

“I heard that!” Kamikaze called over.

“Who’s Hayscartes?” asked Solar.

“He may have been a bit of a mentor,” chuckled Crimson. “But it’s my method; he only provided a little inspiration.”

“You had a stallion for a mentor?” Mercury sounded like the very idea shattered her mind.

Solar was less surprised. By this point, she was ready for everything Crimson had told them to be a lie. She walked to Mercury and patted her shoulder to comfort the poor, naïve mare.

“Until he tripped and fell on a sharp quill and died,” smirked Crimson. “Or got stabbed with a sharp quill. Possibly more than a few quills. Same thing effectively.”

“I remember Professor Hayscartes’,” Starlight mentioned. “That was the one you… killed in self-defense.” She shifted uncomfortably, but moved on quickly, adding in a deadly tone. “Why aren’t you answering me, Crimson?”

“Because first,” Crimson motioned to Marble’s pipbuck again. “I’m giving you a reason to keep me alive. There are a lot of things I can ‘read’ for you out there. Plenty of ruins with half-legible log files that I can make all-legible. See how this works?”

“General Limestone,” Starlight turned to the ghoul. “Do you mind telling us what the logs say?”

“I don’t know,” Limestone whispered. She’d backed herself into a corner while they talked about Marble’s logs. “I never had the nerve to look.”

Pinkie and Maud moved to Limestone as if to comfort her, but Limestone looked away. She clenched her jaw as if ashamed they had to be so concerned for her.

“Understandable,” Starlight kept a gentle tone. “General, you’ve spent time with Crimson, can we trust her with the spell she described?”

“She’s one of us,” Limestone nodded. “She was nicer to my friends than her wife was, and she was okay.”

“Mercury? Solar?” Starlight looked back at them.

“We can trust her,” Mercury answered without hesitation.

“We can’t trust her,” Solar said. “But all the same… she’s taken ponies into books before without issues. It’s like controlled dreaming, once we did an Ogres and Oubliettes game with a tentacle beast where…”

“That’s enough, Solar,” Starlight said. Party pooper.

“Right,” chuckled Solar. “Basically, I trust her to act in her own best interests. She’s not nuts enough to choose lone travel out here over having an armed escort. Probably.”

Crimson smirked, and Solar hoped she wouldn’t take that statement as a challenge.

“What she’s offering is more than just entering a story,” Twilight pointed out. “She’d have to scry the device and use temporal magic to look at the history of the owner. Considering the misuse of temporal magic is what got us into this situation to begin with, I’m not sure this is a good idea.”

“It’s not exactly time travel,” pointed out Solar. “More bringing time forward to us. Pretty impressive magic though from an otherwise below-average magic user.”

“Solar,” Mercury scolded her slightly for the comment.

“No, she’s pretty much spot on,” Crimson chuckled. “Most of my deaths in the stable were mana sickness from using this spell when it pretty massively oversteps my capacity. Speaking of below-average magic, does anyone have radaway? My magic shield is horse apples and I may have eaten a few questionable things.”

“Mana sickness?” pondered Twilight. “That used to happen to unicorns who moved the Sun, prior to Celestia being around to move it.”

“Well,” Mercury nodded and sighed, tugging a radaway out of her saddle bags and floating it to Crimson to take. “I think we should try, Solar. Once she proves herself to our new friends, she’ll clear up what happened in the stable.”

Solar smiled back at Mercury and nodded to spare her feelings. She really was adorably innocent.

"Is that a yes?" Crimson asked. "There's nothing to lose. I see that Pipbuck Model 4000 on your head, and I assume it networked all these sods to you. If I was powerful enough to possess you through that psionic security, I wouldn't need to trick you."

“Fair enough,” Starlight said. “Go ahead, but you will show respect for both us and the deceased.”

“If you do not show respect, I will respectfully break you,” Maud added, and Solar didn’t doubt it.

“The traitor must remember who is in charge now!” Pinkie added.

“You and I will be the best of pals, I can tell,” Crimson said, not fazed by threats despite seeming to recognize the Pies. “But yes, respect or the Sandmare breaks me. Noted!”

Crimson cast, horn glowing so bright that Solar squinted to look. Marble’s pipbuck glowed, and the rose-colored aura of Crimson’s magic encompassed the room and the ponies. The world around her faded, and when she came to, Solar was somewhere else, in somepony else.

This seemed different from taking part in a fictional story. Instead of being characters inside a story that Crimson told, it was a static world that Solar only observed. She had no control over the mare she was seeing through, and she felt thoughts and feelings that weren’t her own.

Memory POV: Marble Pie

“Much of the south remains radioactive from the Draconian Empire’s attack,” Limestone stood in front of the room, facing family and soldiers in attendance. “Despite their gravity bombs being clean, secondary reactor explosions irradiated most of Dodge Junction and Appleloosa. Ponyville is worse off as both gravity bombs and Princess Daybreaker’s counter-attack struck there.”

“What if they send another wave?” Pinkie asked. “It is doubtful the flame-brains sent their entire army, yes?”

“Daybreaker’s counter-attack didn’t just hit the invading army,” Limestone explained. “She took out the entirety of the Dragon Lands.”

“Good,” Maud said darkly. She had plenty of reasons to hate dragons after her mate died in a dragon attack.

“Now that the new Coronal Mass Ejector, CME, is fully operational,” continued Limestone. “Daybreaker can strike anywhere in the world in five minutes or less, firing multiple ejections at once. The Sun powers the teleportation of solar plasma to the location through any known shield. She could bake any nation that tries to shoot first before their missiles leave their airspace. In summary… this makes all our other megaspells, and theirs, obsolete.”

“Is it true that King Sombra’s forces have gone on the defensive?” asked a mare near the back.

“Every faction we’re at war with has withdrawn to defensive positions,” smiled Limestone, a rarity for her. “It’s only a matter of time before they offer peace or outright surrender.”

Despite the overwhelming victory, the crowd Limestone spoke to was as quiet as Marble. Though ridiculously incompetent and short-sighted overall, the sudden invasion by Garble’s Draconian Empire left thousands dead in Equestria and the New Lunar Republic, attacking pony settlements indiscriminately. Marble was only one of many who lost loved ones, and was relieved they wouldn’t be able to make another run at the farm.

More disturbing, nopony knew how they got megaspells. A dragon spy couldn’t infiltrate ponies, and no pony would help dragons, a species ponies barely interacted with. There were plenty of other factions to defect to if one wanted to be contrary. Neither Garble nor any of his generals were intelligent enough to come up with it on their own. The dragons didn’t even have proper cities by their standards, much less technology.

“Why are we calling Princess Celestia Daybreaker now?” asked one soldier.

“Because that’s what she ordered shortly before our counter-attack,” Limestone rarely questioned orders. “She looks different now, too. She's on fire or something, but what the buck do I care? Marble, you evacuated everypony outside into Stable 11, right?”

“Mm-hm,” Marble nodded.

“Why does our sister superior order evacuation?” Pinkie asked. “Does she predict other megaspell attacks despite our victory?”

Everypony at the Pie Rock Farm, family or soldier, trusted Limestone Sense. Despite being hit by three factions, the rock farm held on because of Limestone’s commanding presence and the Pie family’s ability to work together. They’d even defied an attempted gravity bomb attack because Limestone predicted where they would set up for launch.

“I feel weird,” Limestone lost her commanding voice for a moment, waxing thoughtful. “This is how I felt before Garble’s invasion began. I couldn’t predict it because I didn’t know their army existed, yet I knew something was coming.”

“Another enemy will join the war?” asked a soldier from behind Marble.

“No,” Limestone said, voice hollow. “They’ve already joined. They joined a long time ago.”

If anypony else said that, Marble would think them paranoid, but when Limestone said it, everypony took it dead serious. Limestone switched the screen to default monitoring mode where it showed a map of Equestria. It displayed the current positions where factions were active and dark areas for places too irradiated for anyone to take up there.

Equestria was dead in the center, surrounded. The Crystal Empire to the north, and the New Lunar Republic to the south. Discordia was to the east, though since Discord left it under Eris’ control, they hadn’t been interested in participating.

“I do not see how additional combatants would change this,” Maud said. “As we can hit anywhere in the world.”

“If she knows where they are,” Limestone shrugged. “And unless they want to destroy the world.” She sounded unsure, but sighed. “You’re right. No one would want that. Dismissed.”

Marble stayed seated as most others left. She wasn’t social, so she’d wait until the halls weren’t crowded. Limestone meanwhile sat down at her desk, staring at the map projection at the front of the room. Marble wanted to give her a hug, but Limestone hated public cuddles.

At least Marble felt better after the meeting. It was quiet on all fronts, so maybe everypony was right and the war was over. Marble looked forward to a quiet family farm without soldiers and not having to work overtime to fulfill the gem requests from the Ministry of Magitech.

Marble stood and headed toward the exit. Perhaps her other sisters sensed her needs because Pinkie and Maud met her near the exit and provided her with a pair of warm hugs.

“Are you coping well?” Maud asked as they hugged.

“Mm-hmm,” Marble lied.

“Pinkie’s little twin is pent up,” Pinkie suggested. “Our sister superior has been too busy for affections, yes.”

“Did you wish to join us for a shower?” asked Maud.

Marble hated it when they talked about special sister showers in public, but all the same, Pinkie was right. Limestone had been too busy. “Mm-hm.”

“Oh, buck no!” Limestone’s voice shouted from inside the meeting room.

A second later, an alarm sounded. Marble recognized it, the same one that sounded when the dragons set off their first megaspell on Dodge Junction. Most called it the “everypony is bucked” alarm.

Marble headed back into the room where Limestone was behind her sisters. On the screen where the map was, there were about half a dozen bright red circles around several cities.

But this was wrong. It wasn’t someone else hitting Equestria; Equestria was hitting everyone else. More red circles appeared, signifying that the CME was in the targeting phase on dozens of cities.

None of the targets made sense. There were blasts targeting nations that weren’t even involved in the war: Saddle Arabia, Maretonia, Mount Aries, and more. Worse, the ones that targeted enemies targeted the wrong locations. It was hitting civilian centers, but not military bases that could return fire. It was as if the entire attack strategy was to allow retaliation and ensure mutual destruction.

“There is no way Daybreaker is doing this,” Limestone growled. “I was just in Canterlot and she showed no sign of breaking... more than she has. She was just... really peeved is all!”

“I trust you sister,” Maud said. “But only Daybreaker can start attacks at that speed.”

“A pegacorn impostor has done this!” Pinkie suggested.

“An impostor couldn’t,” Limestone said. “Unless the duplicate was so perfect they could channel solar magic.” She narrowed her eyes. “Or if they somehow got measurements during the first retaliation attack.”

“How would they know it was coming to take measurements?” Maud asked. She wasn’t wrong, few knew of the CME’s existence before it was used.

Limestone shook her head. “We’re leaving for Canterlot. Now.”

“We cannot go outside!” Pinkie said. “The counterattacks will include here.”

“I will not allow them to drag our Princess’s name through the mud of history,” Limestone snapped at them. “We have to find who did this and stop them. If we don't, our family can’t be safe!” She paused and sighed. “Maud I know you have a little one, so I understand if you don’t come with us.”

“I go where my sisters go,” Maud made clear.

Though Maud wasn’t one for details, Marble understood. Maud would rather little Silt grow up hearing stories of how heroic she was than to explain to her why she didn’t go when Equestria needed her.

Limestone rushed out, Marble and their sisters close behind her. They went toward the stable exit, past all the other ponies that were streaming in as the alarms sounded.

Marble had a sick feeling that neither her nor her sisters would return. They didn’t even have time to stop and tell their closest family goodbye, unsure of how long they had before a counter-attack hit.

Things moved faster than even Limestone expected though. Perhaps their enemies had developed early warning systems because no sooner had the sisters stepped outside than Marble looked up in the sky and saw the unmistakable greenish sheen of a launched balefire missile bearing down on them, seconds from impact.

The stable door had closed behind them and opening it risked irradiating their family inside. There was nothing to do, so Marble sighed and closed her eyes, hoping she got an instant death rather than a cursed existence.

The impact came, rumbling the ground and sending her sprawling, but there was no blast wave or blinding light. Marble opened her eyes again and stared at where the bomb had landed. It formed a small crater but hadn’t activated.

“Hurry!” Limestone called back to Marble.

Marble galloped behind her sisters, unable to believe their luck, and they wouldn’t miss the chance it gave them. Maybe it was fate; maybe they were meant to be Canterlot’s saviors.

“General Limestone! The Undefeated!” Crimson greeted them as they entered Canterlot. “Here to put that nickname to the test? And the Sandmare! I heard you got that name by sneaking in and murdering an entire NLR platoon in their sleep. Classy!”

“We’re here to see Daybreaker,” Limestone cut to the chase, stepping out of the way of the other refugees entering the city. It wasn’t the safest place to take refuge, but sadly safer than the surrounding area.

“Funny story, that!” Crimson shifted a hoof. “She’s kinda sorta in no shape to have conversations.”

“What?” Limestone growled. “I need to speak to whoever is in charge!”

“You are speaking to whoever is in charge,” Crimson nodded. “Or you were. Now you’re here, so you can take over and talk to yourself!”

“But you’re the Minister of News,” Limestone growled. “There are dozens of ranking ponies between you and Daybreaker.”

“All of which are dead, fled, missing, or otherwise out of contact,” Crimson shrugged. “Again, until you got here. You do the ruling thing because I still need to get these morons into the stable before Cloudsdale is on our doorstep.” What she probably meant was that she needed to get herself into the stable.

“You need to take this more seriously.” Maud said.

“I do,” Crimson admitted, adopting a mock serious expression. “And I’m failing. And I’m sorry for that.”

Marble wondered if Crimson had gone bananas from events or if this was normal for her. She sounded level-headed over the propaganda broadcasts, but one could never tell.

“Just tell me why we blasted everypony and what happened after that,” Limestone growled.

“Daybreaker launched the shots,” Crimson said. “No idea why she chose such naughty targets, but there it is. Then she claimed she didn’t launch the shots. Then she got a message that Nightmare Moon wanted to speak to her through a proxy, so went to the junction of Canter Lane and 42nd Street, where they supposedly waited. When she got there, everypony rioted and decided assassination was a great idea. And that’s where we are now.”

“Wait, this is happening right now?!” Limestone asked.

“Oops?” Crimson shrugged. “See? I’m a terrible leader and you should take over. That's kinda the point I've been trying to make.”

“Why is nopony helping her?” Maud asked. “Why is she not helping herself?”

“The reason they’re rioting is a gas attack,” Crimson said. “You know that kinky stuff Gora Soul invented, Aphrodite’s Touch?”

It was something Gora had created during her tenure at the Ministry of Alchemy, a chemical weapon that drove targets wild with hormones. Enemy soldiers would experience uncontrollable arousal, bucking one another on the spot and making them easy to capture or kill, and disabled most magical abilities until it wore off atop that. It wasn’t something Marble was comfortable with, but it had been a good way to capture Sombra’s slaves without killing them so they could experiment on ways to break the control.

“What of it?” Limestone grunted.

“It seems to be a strain of the drug that isn’t so nice, causing soldiers to actually kill each other in their arousal,” explained Crimson. “According to intelligence, Gora calls it Hera’s Scorn, and used it to get back in good with the NLR. Daybreaker seems more able to resist, but it still disabled her abilities and she’s trapped in the middle of the riot. Anypony that gets too close gets gassed and joins in the fun, and she’s an attractive target. Gas masks barely did anything. We even tried power armor and that just earned us a few power-armored ponies taking part in the riot.”

“Did you try snipers?” Pinkie asked. “We must save the royal pegacorn at all costs!”

“I ordered that,” Crimson said. “But we have few good snipers left and most soldiers either believe she went mad and doesn’t deserve their effort or have qualms about shooting roofied ponies. Such ignorant self-righteousness, not wanting to murder civilians, right?”

“That is not ‘self-righteousness’,” Maud said. “But this is also a special case.”

“Right, I don’t like it, but it can’t be allowed,” Limestone nodded. “Pinkie, Maud, follow me to the barracks so we can get rifles.”

“Pinkie sees no sport in this,” Pinkie grumbled, but didn’t say no to the exception either.

“Limestone?” whispered Marble, looking at Limestone's eyes and shaking her head. She knew what Limestone’s order for her would be, but she didn’t want to shoot civilians either.

“I’m sorry, Marble,” Limestone shook her head. “But we must prioritize the Princess’s safety at all costs. Go there, but stay as far away as possible. Shoot anypony that is harming the Princess. ANYONE. Don’t disappoint us. We’ll be with you soon, we just need to get rifles.”

“Limestone,” Marble teared up, shaking her head. She was being asked to kill innocents that were sick through no fault of their own.

“I’m ordering you,” Limestone’s voice was firm. “I’m your commanding officer, so your actions are my fault and responsibility.”

That didn’t help, but Marble nodded. Dizzy with emotion, she galloped toward the intersection Crimson mentioned, pulling her gas mask over her face, hoping it would be enough at distance, and carrying Ashmaker on her back. None of her sisters would hesitate now, but Marble wasn’t strong-willed like them. She just wanted to go home.

Marble saw the crimson gas spreading through the street ahead of her, so she ran for the nearest tower. Not bothering with the front door, she ran up the side, springing from window to window and balcony to balcony. She hopped her way to the fourth floor, above where the heavy gas reached, and pulled Ashmaker from her back.

Tears streamed down her face as she took a position on the balcony, propping Ashmaker on the railing. She peered through the scope.

‘Don’t look so glum,’ said Ashmaker. ‘With any luck, this will be the last time you have to use me for this.’

“Mm-hmm,” mumbled Marble. She hoped so.

Through the thick bluish gas, Marble saw silhouettes and dim figures. Marble hadn’t seen Daybreaker’s new form, but knew when she saw it, shimmering coat and flaming mane and tail. It was just as Crimson said; she was either affected by the gas or too despondent to defend herself from what had happened. Probably both.

They had forced her down upon the pavement, a stallion in Canterlot guard armor violating her from behind as an earth mare facesitting her raised a hacksaw. They would behead her with a hacksaw? From the looks of it, and the mare’s pleasured expression, they probably wouldn’t stop using her after they did.

Anger swelled and Marble’s reluctance dissipated. She lined up the sight with the mare holding the saw, hoping the others would scatter when she took down one. Marble took the shot, the head of the mare exploding in a shower of gore, blasting another behind her in the chest. The second fell to the ground and thrashed in a fountain of blood before going still.

Nopony stopped even when a pony hoofsteps away died, all beyond the point of rational thought. Even after Marble followed up with a head-shot to the stallion mounting Daybreaker, a colt no more than ten-years-old kicked the dead mare out of the way and picked up the hack saw. It was doubtful that he could get her head off, but he could surely slice her throat with it. Marble shook more than she ever had when lining up a shot, tears rolling down her face as she aimed for the foal's head.

Before she pulled the trigger, a jolt of energy slammed into her from one side. It was a weak shot as far as sniper fire went, but enough to knock her onto the floor. She let go of Ashmaker as she hit the balcony floor, her gun tipping forward and falling to the gassed streets below.

‘Tell Zapper I love her!’ Ashmaker called as he fell into the smoke beneath the balcony.

Reaching, she found an odd canister having stuck to her side. Dizziness overtook her as she yanked it off of her and looked it over, and suddenly knew why gas masks and power armor weren’t helping.

This was a teleport canister, made to ‘inject’ chemicals right through armor. They used them to inject stun potions into armored opponents, or potions into allies at a distance, but this was using the gas instead. Within seconds, Marble was suffocating in a wave of heat, pushing her hind legs together, the inside of her armored bottom becoming sticky.

She looked in the direction where the canister came from in time to see a laughing Midnight Sparkle, the unicorn hovering telekinetically. Midnight’s own gas mask muffled her laugh as she launched several more canisters to explode in the street beneath them.

“Have a blast, muddy!” Midnight called as she continued her rounds about the vicinity.

Marble tried to concentrate on what she had been doing. She still had to save Daybreaker, had to resist this burning fire in her loins. She grabbed for Ashmaker, but remembered he had fallen, so instead tumbled over the railing.

She tumbled to the ground with none of the acrobatics that got her up there. Still, Marble hit the pavement on all fours, focusing through the thick gas to find her rifle.

She found him after a few minutes, but she was barely holding on to her sanity. This wasn’t like being in heat; this was physical agony, her whole body screaming at her to quench the lewd thirst. And it was more than just lust.

Rage built up inside her as if they had tainted this batch of poison with dark magic to add a murderous rage atop everything else. Marble felt her anger aimed itself at Daybreaker, the magic twisting her will. This was beyond Sombra-level horse apples.

Marble’s psionic training was helping her mind hold on by a thread, but she gave up trying to save anypony. Instead, she put Ashmaker on her back and fled toward the barracks. She hoped her sisters would save the day because she had to flee the scene before giving in to the urge herself. She also had to warn them about the weapon Midnight used.

Marble wasn’t sure how long she staggered through the street before she made it to the barracks. She tried to focus on the door but slammed into another pony as they exited.

Physical contact with another pony was too much. Marble didn’t even check the gender of the pony before pinning them onto their back on the ground. She tossed her gas mask off so she could breathe as she kicked her bottom off to give her baking thighs air.

The situation blurred as her mind drifted. She found that whoever she had pinned was a stallion, and that he didn’t seem fond of getting it on with a stranger in the street, but she was in no shape to care. Marble needed this.

The blur ended with another pony yanking her off the poor stallion and slamming her against the nearby wall. A voice echoed in her head as the figure scolded her, but she couldn’t hear what they said.

Instead, she tried to kiss whoever it was, only to have her head slammed back into the wall again. Whoever it was, they were stronger than Marble, because they easily pinned her onto the pavement with her legs pinned behind her. Another pony helped pin her as the first tied her legs together, and they dragged her into the barracks.

Marble cried out in frustration before passing out.

When she awoke, she was lying on a bed, legs still tied together. Maud was sitting by her side, staring as she waited for her to awake.

“Mm?” Marble groaned as she opened her eyes and stared.

“I am sorry that I hurt you,” Maud said, as if having waited beside her to apologize as soon as possible. “I realize that the behavior was not your fault.”

“The Princess?” asked Marble.

“We could not save her,” Maud said, starting to untie Marble when it was clear she was back to normal. “We believe Midnight took her body. Limestone believes it is to study her, hoping to become an alicorn artificially.”

“Home?” Marble asked, afraid of the answer.

“We do not think the bomb detonated,” Maud said. “There have been no new balefire clouds in that direction, but communications that far are down because of interference from radiation. Canterlot, Cloudsdale, and Las Pegasus are the only large cities that survive.”

“Strike Las Pegasus from the list,” Limestone said as she entered. “We hit it with balefire an hour ago.”

Pinkie followed behind her, and both came close to hug Marble. Marble stiffened at the mention of balefire. She knew things were dire, but she never imagined she’d be assisting willingly in a plot to destroy cities.

“Where’d we get balefire?” whispered Marble as Maud came closer to unbind her. The only Equestria-aligned settlement left that stored balefire missiles was the rock farm, and they had already said they couldn’t contact them.

“Tempest Shadow cast the spell,” said Limestone. “The prototype artificial horn worked, but she gave her life casting such a spell manually.” She took a deep breath. “I’m sorry to pull you out of bed right after you recovered, sis, but we need you. Cloudsdale is close, and we have no other unicorns capable or willing to cast a manual megaspell. We have to hold them off long enough for the eggheads to get a CME blast off without Daybreaker to power it.”

So Marble’s mission was to hold them off long enough for somepony to press a button to murder them all. More tears rolled down her face as she sat up, but reached for Ashmaker all the same.

“Marble,” Limestone put a hoof onto her own, sensing her dread. “You are going to rock this, okay? I really think you’ll be the one to save us, so let me see some more confidence, right?”

“Mm-hm,” Marble nodded, blushing lightly, only for it to deepen more as Limestone licked her face and pushed her gently back into the bed. Marble dropped Ashmaker, assuming this meant they had some time, and she really did miss this with Limestone. There were other soldiers in the barracks, but she’d push down her shyness for now.

“This is highly inappropriate!” Pinkie blurted out. “The bed is too small to fit all of us! Yes.”

“We can make it work,” commented Maud, shoving Pinkie onto the bed as well.

“General Limestone!” a low-ranking stallion confronted the sisters as they headed to their posts.

“This better be important,” Limestone growled as she stopped.

“I am not your soldier,” the guard said. “This one fell asleep, he is still asleep.”

“Nightmare Moon,” Limestone grunted. “To what do we owe the effort?”

Marble was surprised Nightmare would expend so much effort to speak to them as well. Taking full possession of a dreamer as they slept took immense energy. Even for a dream-walking alicorn, the process was exhausting and almost never worth it.

Regardless, Nightmare had possessed one of their soldiers in his dreams to find and speak to the pony in charge. They’d seen it before, though thankfully the technique didn’t allow her to give violent orders to the possessed.

“Are the rumors of my sister’s death true?” Nightmare’s avatar asked. “That it was Midnight Sparkle?”

“Yes,” Limestone answered, giving no further explanation.

“The dream-walker realizes how foalish her alliances have been,” said Pinkie. “Soon she will be forced to apologize for making Pinkie dream of cake monsters! Yes.”

For a long moment, the avatar soldier was silent as tears streamed down his face. He looked so miserable that Marble almost hugged him before catching herself.

“No one believes you approved her assassination,” Limestone said. “If you help defend this city and lighten up on the ‘eternal night’ thing, I’d vouch for you to return to the throne in Canterlot.”

“We cannot trust the Nightmare Princess,” muttered Pinkie.

“The zebras will defect if we put Nightmare in charge,” pointed out Maud.

“Mm-hm,” Marble added, even if unsure who she was agreeing with. It was always awkward when her sisters argued amongst themselves.

“But all of Midnight’s forces would join us,” Limestone said. “The bats would give us a new flying force, and that more than makes up for it when we’re fighting Cloudsdale. If we can’t win this, there won’t be an Equestria left to defect from.”

“It matters not!” screamed Nightmare. “None of this was our doing! The changelings made foals of us by keeping us at one another’s throats! Their only hope is to destroy us so they can rule this world alone!”

“The what-lings?” Limestone quirked an eyebrow. She looked as surprised as Marble was at Nightmare’s answer, a rarity for Limestone.

“I caught one as they withdrew to their home to prepare for the final strike,” Nightmare’s avatar explained. “I invaded its mind. Its kind have been replacing ponies, encouraging us to fight, and causing peace negotiations to fail for years. They infiltrated dragons, replacing their leader, and giving them megaspell technology. Now they have launched your weapons at the world.”

“How'd they fire the CME without Daybreaker?” Limestone asked, but didn't sound like she doubted.

“Do you not see? That is why they encouraged the dragons to attack!” Nightmare shouted. “They took readings during the counter-attack they knew would come so they could duplicate the energy needed to power your megaspell system!”

The soldier was shaking now. In her despair, Nightmare had trouble holding the connection.

“All the more reason to help us,” Limestone said.

“I have only one mission now,” Nightmare growled. “I will not stand by while their invisible empire evades justice!”

The soldier shivered, then passed out on the ground, sound asleep. Marble felt a chill down her spine, and looked up at her sisters. They all glanced at each other as if having the same thought and then dismissing it quickly, but Marble couldn’t push back the horrible thought that anyone, including her sisters, could be one of these ‘changelings’.

“Damn it, we need to know more!” Limestone shouted, but it was too late; Nightmare had gone. “So, there is another faction; sometimes I hate being right...often hate it actually.”

“Can you take them into account now?” Maud asked.

"I don’t know enough about them," Limestone growled. "We’ll have to go with the plan we have and hope Nightmare can strike at our new enemy. If they're replacing ponies, keep an eye out for ponies acting suspicious, but it’s unlikely there are any in this city since they’re looking to have it destroyed soon. We'll try to contact her again once we survive this."

So all Nightmare’s contact had really done was make them paranoid. Marble shoved the thought away and followed behind them again.

Everyone in the city was dying or dead, save for the ones that were worse than dead. Marble had heard of the trotting dead created by the early blasts but never fully believed it until now.

Marble sat on her bunk in the barracks, looking at the clump of bloody mane that fell out when she scratched her head. Her whole body was falling apart and there was nothing to do but watch. She wondered if she would die from this or turn into one of those monsters.

She’d lost her sisters and was certain none of them made it into Stable 27. They would have defended the city to the last mare rather than flee to safety. Marble loved them for that, but now wished they were less honorable.

In Marble’s mind, this was all her fault. Limestone believed Marble would be a hero, but instead she utterly failed them. She murdered her sisters, her lover, and everypony in the city, with her incompetence. Marble didn’t want to live like this, and she definitely didn’t want to live like the undead beating hooves against the window nearby.

'It's not your fault,' Ashmaker tried to comfort her.

But it was no use because she knew that it was. And even if it wasn’t… she looked at Ashmaker and pointed towards the window where the undead scraped around outside.

‘No, I don't want you to become that either,' Ashmaker said. 'But at least leave your soul gem intact. Maybe someone will find it when rebuilding.’

Marble shook her head. She didn't want to be brought back; she wanted to destroy any chance of that.

Marble typed in one last thing into her pipbuck, a message of apology to her sisters she believed would never read it. It was a simple ‘I’m so sorry’, but Marble was never one to drone on. Marble then lifted Ashmaker and lodged it in her muzzle, aiming for the gem in the back of her skull so it would shatter when she pulled the trigger.

'Please don't make me do this...' Ashmaker begged.

But she wasn't stopping. She pulled the trigger and an instant later, her agony and guilt ceased.