Fallout Equestria: The Ashlands Timeline

Tuesday, 11/1/2287
POV: Starlight Glimmer
The Everfree Forest

When they realized that Crimson fled, they headed to the cave where Tranquil had camped. Pinkie carried Solar again, and not only because of her injuries. They had to restrain the pegasus to keep her from staggering towards Midnight Castle in a desperate rescue attempt. By the time they got to the cave, the poor pegasus was sobbing outright. Starlight had to place a bubble of silence around them to keep her from drawing attention.

Starlight felt bad for leaving Mercury too, and knew Solar would never forgive her, but what else could she do?

But as they entered the caves, things started to look different. Starlight pulled up her pipbuck display, setting it to search for Spitfire’s pipbuck signal, which should now show Crimson’s location. The result didn’t seem right.

“That’s weird,” Starlight said. “I expected her to enter the front door of the castle, but she didn't. According to this, she’s underground beneath the castle.”

Twilight looked at the projection and her eyes lit up with recognition.

“That’s a secret passage into the castle,” said Twilight. “I found a lot while exploring the ruins in my timeline, though that’s one I only found after my Celestia gave me a full map. Midnight may not know about it.”

“Hold,” Limestone, who had been leading them, stopped. “That’s not right. If she means to betray us, why go in through a secret passage? If she wants them to believe she’s betraying us, she has to request entry properly.”

“Does it matter?” Starlight asked. “We can’t do anything about it.”

“Hm,” said Twilight. “When you surmised that Crimson took Mercury in her book, we assumed it was a ponynapping. But what if it wasn’t? What if they left together for another reason?”

“I don’t understand,” said Starlight. “What other reason could Crimson have other than betraying us?”

Starlight tried to sound diplomatic as usual, but the pause during their escape annoyed her. Had the cave been wider, she would have walked past Limestone and continued so they’d follow her.

“Other reasons Crimson might enter the castle,” Limestone said. “I’d say to find a soul recycler, but we already know Midnight doesn’t have one.”

Great, Starlight thought. Now Twilight had given Limestone a puzzle and she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from solving it.

“What if she had second thoughts?” Twilight asked. “Like she wasn’t sure about betraying us, so she used the secret passage. If we headed there now, and she hesitates long enough, we could catch her and bring her back.”

"You have an odd way of thinking," Limestone peered at Twilight. "But it makes you think of things that would be my last assumption. You might be right."

“We have to!” Solar said, though Starlight was sure she’d agree with any reason. “If there’s any way to bring back Mercury, we have to try!”

“No,” said Starlight. “This is too much of a chance. We can’t walk right into Midnight’s stronghold. You don’t understand how merciless she is with intruders. She sent some of our spies back in pieces, one piece at a time over several months.”

“Midnight isn’t there,” Twilight said. “According to Songsmith’s broadcast, Midnight and Cozy Glow personally led their forces into a territory dispute.”

“That would explain why the guard is spread so thin in the forest,” nodded Limestone thoughtfully.

“Then she’ll do it when she gets back,” said Starlight. “What difference does it make?”

“With due respect, Empress,” Limestone said. “I think her point has merit. Even if not an ally, Crimson is an information source we don’t want to lose unless we have to. She has detailed knowledge about the present world and enemies we’ll face. Stable locations and their last known status may be lost to most others, including Midnight. She also has information about us, where we're going, and the path we plan to take. We would get to Holder only to find Midnight waiting for us at the gates.”

“I have to believe she can come back,” said Twilight. “I realize it makes little sense to you, but we need all the friendships we can if we are to bring Equestria back to peace.”

“Discord’s beard...” Starlight swore and glared at Twilight, causing the alicorn to take a step back. Given her reaction, Twilight might not have meant it as defiance, but still… “Makes little sense? Like I can’t understand? You can’t know what I know, the horse apples I’ve been through! How dare you…”

Starlight trailed off when she realized everypony was staring at her. She took a deep breath to calm herself.

‘Empress,’ Limestone spoke to Starlight alone through the PCB. ‘I don’t want to question you in front of others, but this idea has merit.’

‘What this is,’ Starlight replied to Limestone. ‘Is her attempt to wrestle influence from me.’

‘Empress,’ Limestone said. ‘200 years ago I might agree and would probably be threatening her into submission, but I’ve had a long time to think about these things. We can’t continue to follow the philosophy that led us down that road. We must try something different if things are to change.’

“Fine,” Starlight said aloud. “I'll allow it… I guess the stress just got to me.”

“It’s okay, I understand,” Twilight sounded insincere to Starlight.

“I think the Empress has a point however,” Limestone said. “We can’t undergo a full assault. We’ll have a small team go into the tunnel and try to catch her. If she gets into the castle, wait to see if she returns. If she gets close to the exit, we can snatch her with little risk, but otherwise we consider her a loss.”

Starlight appreciated Limestone’s attempt to word a disagreement like an agreement. Any way she looked at it though, Starlight came to the same conclusion: She was losing control of this team.

“I assume that Twilight will volunteer?” asked Starlight.

“Yes,” Twilight nodded without hesitation.

The agreement caught Starlight off-guard. She expected the damaged alicorn to not risk herself. This one was full of surprises.

“I will go,” Maud added.

“Pinkie as well,” said Pinkie. “Yes.”

Their agreements were less surprising. They were probably trying to impress Limestone. They might even be hoping beyond all sanity to face another twilicorn.

“The security there won’t see me as an intruder,” Twilight pointed out. “I could look around.”

“No,” said Limestone. “Even if you don’t set off an alarm outright, we don't know how well the system distinguishes between her and her clones, which means it might draw special attention to you, and they know the real one shouldn't be there right now.”

“Fine then,” Twilight sighed, but deferred to Limestone’s judgment. Twilight was probably just wanting to grab books.

‘Maud, Pinkie,’ Starlight spoke through the PCB again, this time targeting her message only at Maud and Pinkie. ‘Tell nopony else of this order, but if you see an opportunity to sacrifice Twilight, do not hesitate.’

Pinkie arched an eyebrow and Maud turned her gaze towards Starlight. They glanced at Limestone, probably wanting to confirm such an order with her, but if they communicated with her through the PCB then Starlight, as the hub, would hear.

After a few long moments, Maud and Pinkie nodded to the order. Whether that meant they would follow it was another thing. It wasn’t like she’d know if they had a chance and didn’t take it.

When Starlight turned back, Limestone arched an eyebrow at her too. Damn it, she was perceptive, but Starlight didn’t explain. The Empress shouldn’t have to explain.

POV: Twilight Sparkle
Midnight Castle

Over the course of her many lessons, Twilight learned that friendship often trumped the more violent choice. Once she ended up in this world, however, it became less clear. That mentality worked in her timeline, but would it work in a world where violence had been the norm for centuries?

Twilight had to believe it would, yet even Twilight herself had fallen into a murderous rage when exposed to the horrors of this world. Even when the target of her rage turned out to be a clone, her actions still shamed her. Losing herself to despair was not what Spike would want her to do.

Later, sparing Ember and Cinder gave her a glimmer of hope for herself, but the battle still resulted in the docile’s death and she participated knowing the other dragons could die too. Yes, there wasn’t anything else she could think of for them to do, but she had to hold herself to impossible standards if she wanted these ponies to do better. To that end, she volunteered for the rescue of somepony that would have left her to die in a heartbeat, or just killed her outright.

The passage Crimson took led to the library, though they stopped before entering the room itself. As soon as they stepped into the areas that Midnight monitored, the security would see them.

They were out-of-range from Starlight’s hub and had been since soon after their entrance to the secret passage. Maud’s pipbuck had tracking information for their targets and would see them so long as they were close, so once they were just outside the library, she pulled up their positions. Both Mercury and Crimson’s cutie marks showed bright green on the map.

“I see Crimson and Mercury,” Maud said. “A few halls over. Several other signals just ceased in the same hallway.”

“They are engaged in battle!” Pinkie said.

“We have to help them!” Twilight said.

“I would not advise that,” Maud said.

Maud pointed at two other signals that her pipbuck showed. In the library just outside of the passage, there were two bright red signals standing just inside the library from their location. The mark the pipbuck chose for them was Midnight’s cutie mark.

“Two of them, perfect,” sighed Twilight.

“The story ramps the difficulty up gradually,” advised Pinkie. “Eventually we will face an army!”

“They must have tracked Crimson’s signal to an origin point here,” said Maud, not responding to Pinkie's nonsense statements. “They are waiting for her, then will look for the exit.”

“We must strike before they are upon us!” Pinkie said.

“Calm down Pink,” Maud said, pointing back at Crimson and Mercury’s signals.

As the two green signals approached the library, the red ones moved out the library door to intercept them. Crimson and Mercury’s signals stopped as they stepped out, but considering the lack of movement, they probably asked questions before attacking.

“We take them from behind when they are distracted,” Maud said.

“Pinkie enjoys taking ponies from behind with her favorite sister,” Pinkie said. “Yes.”

Twilight pulled the lever to open the entrance, the wall and shelf shifting and the Pies running ahead of her. Twilight left the door open for a quick retreat; it didn’t seem like there was anypony else in the library to see it.

Maud and Pinkie moved quickly and were in the hall before Twilight saw what was happening. There was a crash and a grotesque crushing sound, like a ton of bricks smashing a juicy melon. Twilight barely resisted the urge to stop and browse books as she ran towards the sounds outside.

As Twilight rounded the corner into the hall, she saw the first twilicorn thrashing to a stop after its head was crushed by Pies. The second one was ready to stop them, having raised her shield before they did the same to her. Unworried about further attack now that she had her shield up, the second twilicorn opted to speak to them again.

But what Twilight noticed wasn’t the conversation. When the Twilight rounded the corner, she stepped right into the radius of the twilicorn’s shield as if it wasn’t even there. She was standing half inside it.

That was it! Their shields must use a specific frequency to let them walk through the shield of another clone to coordinate maneuvers. The magic saw Twilight as one of them, which let her walk right through their shields.

Twilight hesitated. She wasn’t hesitant to harm them, knowing mirror clones weren’t properly alive, using trapped souls that deserved to be set free. But focusing raw energy through a broken horn was excruciating. Even after all her practice learning to charge it, it never felt less painful.

She clenched her teeth in anticipation of the agony and took the plunge. As the horn charged, Twilight ignored the torrent of torment that washed over her. She reared up, head-butting the twilicorn from behind and releasing the raw energy in one giant burst.

The pain was so intense that for a moment, Twilight thought her skull had cracked open. When she regained feeling, she felt warmth on her face and feared it was blood. It wasn’t, but Twilight couldn’t decide if getting urinated on by a dying clone was better.

“Oh Celestia, I’m covered in urine,” sputtered Twilight.

“I’m gonna be sick,” Mercury said, though Twilight wasn’t initially sure why..

“You two need to work on your one-liners,” advised Maud.

When Twilight’s vision came back, both twilicorns were dead. The Pies were uninjured, and Mercury wasn’t any worse than limping. Crimson on the other hoof had a brutal fracture to her right front knee, bent backward with bone jutting from her flesh. Twilight tried not to think she deserved it and failed.

“I don’t know, I liked those one-liners,” Crimson said between clenched teeth.

Twilight rushed to her, but Maud was there first. Maud stepped on the broken knee with one front hoof with the other on Crimson’s throat to silence her.

“The only reason I am not killing you is because I do not have sufficient time to make you suffer,” said Maud.

“Maud! The orders are to save her!” Twilight reminded.

“The Empress did not specify that flirting is forbidden,” Maud said, but stepped back.

“Let me see,” Mercury moved closer as Maud moved back. She pulled bandages from her saddlebag, forcing the bone back into place and wrapping the bloody wound and soothing the best she could with her magic. “We can do better at camp, but I fear it will always be a bit wonky.”

They had mere moments before the rest of the palace guards were upon them. They were lucky this was an interior part of the palace and most guards were nearer the exterior exits. Maud hefted Crimson onto her back, and Pinkie did the same for Mercury when she saw how the alchemist limped, heading towards the hidden exit at a gallop.

It was only a matter of time before the guards found the exit now if they didn’t already know. Maud and Pinkie made sure it’d be difficult to follow them when it was found, stopping to kick the sides of the tunnel until it collapsed behind them. Whoever pursued would have to dig to find the other end.

“Why did you come for me?” Crimson asked. “Oh wait. You came for Mercury.”

“We saw you entering via a secret path and thought you might have had second thoughts,” said Twilight. “It doesn’t matter now. I just want to find a non-irradiated source of water to clean the stench off my face.”

“Well if it helps, I’m covered in blood,” said Crimson. “Some mine and some others. And I’m okay with that!”

These ponies seemed okay with a lot of things.

“The propaganda mare is not off the hook yet,” Pinkie reminded. “She should be careful, yes.”

“S-she didn’t betray you,” said Mercury. “Um, I wandered out and got caught, and she came to…”

“Oh no you don’t!” Crimson interrupted. “I am sick and tired of ponies helping me for no reason! I came here to trade Starlight and Kamikaze’s location for a residence at the castle and possibly some action with Midnight. Mercury caught me leaving, so I tricked her into my book intending to break her. How did you and Paper Cut get along, anyway?”

“Let’s not talk about that,” said Mercury in a hollow voice.

“Thank you for being honest, Crimson. It means a lot,” Twilight said.

In the end, the friendship method worked. Twilight still wouldn’t call Crimson ‘reformed’, far from it. But she had proven that Crimson felt guilt, which meant that she wasn’t a sociopath; she was just a damaged mare. With time, she’d fix Crimson.

“I can’t believe I had to cut my murders short to escape,” sighed Crimson. “I didn't even get off.”

A lot of time…

But Twilight let it go for now. As soon as they were within range of the network, Starlight’s voice faded into their heads.

‘Everypony okay?’ Starlight asked. ‘Hard to believe that worked.’

‘Mercury has sprained joints,’ Maud said. ‘Crimson has a severe break at her front right knee.’

‘Glad Crimson got enjoyment from it then,’ Limestone added. ‘Crimson. Mercury. Did you find out anything useful?’

‘We found where the entrance to the Mirror Pool is inside the castle,’ Crimson said. ‘Not too far from the library.’

‘Where?’ Twilight asked.

Maud held up her pipbuck for Crimson to point to with her good front hoof. Crimson pointed to an area closer to the center of the castle, no doubt to keep the entrance far away from intruders. Maud sent the location to the pipbuck network.

‘Did you see how well defended it was?’ asked Starlight.

‘No guards at the entrance,’ said Crimson. ‘But considering the warning signs, there’s some within. Maybe some without too once they realize they have guests.’

‘It doesn’t matter,’ said Limestone. ‘Get back to camp so we can move out.’

‘Hold,’ said Starlight. ‘If we attempt to destroy it, General, how would you advise we do so.’

‘I wouldn’t advise we do so even if our chances were excellent,’ Limestone’s thoughts seemed annoyed. ‘But if you overrode me, I’d say put everypony but Twilight inside Crimson’s book and have her walk in with the book in tow. In the current chaos they may not notice that one of the Midnight signals in the castle isn’t a clone, unless you left anyone alive that realized that. Once there, Maud or Pinkie can use the stealth buck you have left and do what’s needed.’

‘We left none that saw Twilight alive,’ informed Maud. ‘Though they may have noticed her signal.’

‘Why should we not use the stealth buck from the start?’ asked Pinkie.

‘There are certainly systems in place to drain them,’ said Limestone. ‘It will last a much shorter time than usual.’

‘There are,’ Crimson said. ‘Wish I’d thought of that myself before finding out. But you’re trusting me now? That’s rich.’

It made sense though. They fought their way out of Midnight castle and killed two twilicorns doing it. It would enrage Midnight when she found out; Crimson could no longer safely betray them to Midnight’s side.

‘Do it,’ said Starlight.

‘I will only order this under protest, Empress,’ Limestone must have felt strongly to speak up against Starlight with the entire team hearing. ‘There’s over a 50% chance we can do it, especially since the guards will expect us to have left the castle. However, I’m not sure we should. The balance of power could tilt too far in Trinity’s favor, which might cause an even bigger issue.’

‘It is not for YOU to order because I am in command!’ the frustration clear in Starlight’s thoughts surprised Twilight. Was there a power struggle between Starlight and Limestone that Twilight hadn’t noticed?

‘General?’ Maud didn’t spell it out, but her intent was clearly that she and Pinkie would follow Limestone over Starlight.

‘Maud, I’m warning you…’ Starlight thought.

Starlight seemed completely irrational now. Threatening Maud was suicidal if Limestone didn’t go along with this.

‘I don’t want to lose you again.’ Even Limestone’s thoughts stammered at the thought of sending her sisters into this situation. But either through loyalty or just because her ghoulish programming wasn’t entirely broken, she gave in to the order. ‘We can’t fracture now though. Do as the Empress orders, but swear you’ll come back.’

‘I swear, sister,’ Maud said. ‘We will not fail you.’

‘We swear to our sister superior!’ Pinkie said.

‘Thank you,’ Starlight sounded calm again, though her calmness felt more like a mask than ever.

“Let’s start!” Crimson loved the idea. “I’ll be sure it’s okay.”

Crimson pulled her book from her saddlebag and put it up to her ear.

“Crimson?” asked Twilight.

“Be quiet, Not-Midnight,” Crimson whispered. “I need to hear their voices.” Whether she really needed to or was just being annoying was unclear.

“Are the voices telling you that my name is Twilight?” asked Twilight.

“They say it’s okay to put you in there, but no promises on the severity of psychological damage sustained,” said Crimson.

POV: Paper Cut

‘Don’t hurt them,’ Crimson made that clear. ‘And don’t hurt Inky in front of them.’

Paper Cut usually enjoyed visitors to the book’s interior, but these didn’t sound fun. What was she supposed to do with ponies she wasn’t allowed to harm? And she couldn't torture Ink Blot while they were here? Paper’s host was getting softer all the time.

But Paper didn’t dare disobey, or she knew it’d be the comfy chair for her. She sighed as she pulled off the last strap that held Ink Blot to the rack. The little one staggered to hide under a table in one corner of the dungeon.

The quiet one, Maud Pie, arrived first. Maud took an instinctive defensive stance when she saw Paper.

Crimson wanted to buck that one; Paper knew because Crimson had written lewd things about her already. Maud must be special though as the lewd things involved Maud as the dominant party. That was unusual and made Paper a little jealous.

Next was Maud’s incest-waifu, Pinkie. This one was far more paranoid, almost charging Paper on sight, but looking perplexed when Paper didn’t flinch.

“That is Paper Cut,” Maud said. “She is the protagonist from Crimson’s adventure books.”

“A minion of the Minister of Treason then!” Pinkie blurted out, but added calmly. “Pinkie remembers now though. She enjoyed the books. Yes.”

“Oh, I should have known you’d appreciate my adventures,” grinned Paper.

“I found you adequate,” Maud replied. “For the first three books.”

“Ah, you’re one of those fans,” Paper rolled her eyes. “And yet my idiot host wants to buck you something fierce.”

“I noticed,” said Maud.

Next was Mercury, the toy that Crimson had so suddenly taken away from her. Her eyes met Paper’s briefly before she shied away, keeping the Pies between herself and Paper. Paper was already well acquainted with her.

Crimson entered last, and Paper was annoyed at her. She'd gotten Paper’s hopes up about how interesting the Ashlands would be and not came through for her in either the literal or figurative sense.

The Not-Midnight stayed outside Paper’s home. That was the one Paper Cut really wanted. That bitch tainted Crimson, eating away at Crimson’s resolve ever since she appeared. Crimson’s mind was Paper Cut’s, and she wouldn’t share it with some peace-loving offworlder that masturbated to friendship.

Though it was more than that. If Crimson merely changed, Paper wouldn’t care too much, since becoming less evil wouldn’t affect the fictional worlds where Paper Cut now lived. She could still write fictional characters for Paper to torment at least. But what if it made Crimson stop writing about Paper at all? With Twilight’s influence, Crimson might close the Crimoire forever.

Paper Cut noticed that the longer the Crimoire stayed shut, the harder it was to exist. If closed long enough, Paper might just stop. That limbo was a fate worse than death, and it terrified her.

Maybe she shouldn’t have pushed it when she was an AI. Yeah, the third killing game she engineered in Stable 27 was probably a bad idea. Then maybe Crimson wouldn’t have trapped her here permanently. On the other hoof, the fact that Crimson took the time to develop her method in a way that could put Paper here instead of purging her from their systems meant she had at least meant something to Crimson at one time.

She had to do something, but what?

“Stop moping,” Crimson grumbled at Paper, always knowing what her creation was feeling. She used to tell Paper she would never leave her when Paper felt like this inside the book. Even if often sarcastic, it used to make her feel so much better, but Crimson hadn’t said such things since they left Stable 27, and certainly wouldn’t now in front of others.

“Um, Inky?” Mercury whispered, having spotted little Ink Blot hiding in the corner. “Come on out, sweetie. They won’t hurt you.”

“They look like they'll hurt me,” Ink Blot squeaked from beneath the table. She wasn’t wrong. Crimson usually pulled ponies into this room to either have Paper Cut hurt them or to let them help hurt Ink Blot. Since Paper Cut wasn’t hurting these ponies, Ink probably saw them as the other kind.

The others turned to Ink, the Pies eyeing her with suspicion, but accepting her existence when Mercury limped over to sit next to her. Ink Blot snuggled up to Mercury, eyeing the other strangers with fear.

“Who is the tiny one?” asked Pinkie. “She is not old enough to exist in this setting!”

“Hear that, host?” laughed Paper Cut. “Even these psychos have higher standards than us.”

“Ignore her,” Crimson didn’t specify who she was telling to ignore who.

“I think it’s Crimson as a filly,” Mercury said. “From before she was… damaged. She comforted me when I was here before.”

Crimson clenched her teeth but remained silent. Paper Cut once wondered why Crimson didn’t get rid of Ink Blot and make Paper a new victim that wasn’t as awkward. Since then, she realized it was just another way for Crimson to torment herself.

“Should I be the stand-in and say something random?” Paper asked her. “I’m better than you at it, anyway.”

“Of course you are,” smirked Crimson. “Except that I write all your lines.”

“What did she need to comfort you for?” asked Maud, ignoring them and speaking to Mercury.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Mercury sighed.

“You know you’ve done well when they refuse to talk about it,” grinned Paper Cut.

“I wrote that line, for instance,” said Crimson.

Paper Cut sighed in annoyance. She picked up a controller sitting on the table where Inky had been restrained and pointed it towards one wall of the dungeon. The wall flickered like a video monitor before showing an image. It was yet another trick Crimson had enchanted into the book; the point of view from whoever carried the book could project on the wall.

Twilight was in flight, moving to an alternate entrance into the castle. She knew a lot of them.

“There you go,” Paper said. “The one holding the book will hear what we say, and we’ll hear thoughts directed at us. Nifty right?”

“That is useful,” Maud looked at the screen. “Twilight. It has provided us with a projection of what you can see.”

It? How rude.

“I wish I was in there,” Twilight’s curiosity must have been painful for her at that point. Good.

“Buck up, everypony,” encouraged Crimson. “It’s Tuesday! All the best worst stuff happens on Tuesdays.”

“Um, do you guys think there’s time for me to stop and get the books,” Twilight asked. “You said you dropped them, right?”

“Now is no time for books, foalish pegacorn!” Pinkie blurted out. “Sister Superior gave us orders to follow! Yes.”

“Fine, I’ll leave them,” sighed Twilight before continuing. She opened the new secret passage and walked in, then proceeded toward the point Crimson had told her. She galloped as fast as possible.

“Limestone did not give us orders,” Maud said. “The Empress did.”

The edge to her voice interested Paper. She wondered if there was trouble with the command in their group.

“I would say,” Mercury piped up from her corner, stroking a curled-up Ink Blot like a kitten. “Starlight seemed…”

“Angry,” Twilight’s thought-voice boomed into the room's intercom as she continued. “Maud. Pinkie… is there strife between Limestone and Starlight? A break between them would be bad for the team.”

“There is more of a break between you and Starlight,” said Maud.

“Me?” asked Twilight. “Maybe, but it sounds like something specific makes you say that.”

“Before we left with you to rescue…” Maud started.

“Our orders are to keep our orders a secret!” Pinkie blurted out. “Pinkie cannot believe she has to remind her favorite sister of this! Yes.”

“We were told to keep it a secret, yes,” said Maud. “Even from Limestone. I do not find that acceptable, Pink.”

Much trouble at home then. This could get good!

“But she is the Empress!” Pinkie said.

“No, that’s wrong,” Crimson shot into the conversation. “She’s the acceptable substitute you’ve chosen as the Empress. Just because the real Starlight went nuts doesn’t give this Starlight a right to the throne.”

It looked like Crimson decided to create random strife. How delightful! Paper Cut sat back and watched.

“That is what I mean,” said Maud. “With the real Starlight unfit for command, and this Starlight an imposter, Limestone is next in line for the throne. She is Empress.”

“The soul gems are poorly tested, but we know some things,” said Crimson. “The soul transfer doesn’t happen until death. If the soul transfer didn’t complete, is this Starlight any different than a mirror clone?”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Twilight said. “Mirror clones are entities with barely any mind and permanently bound to the pool. A majority of them would return to it on their own if left out too long.”

“Her current body is less than a month old,” said Crimson. “Not counting time travel shenanigans at least. So how do you know she’s any more than that?”

“No, we will not judge the legitimacy of living ponies,” said Twilight. “You mentioned life crystals were a precursor, so it’d be like a life crystal transfer, right? Less accurate and stable, sure, but you didn’t cease to consider those people intelligent beings, right?”

“Seems to me the two would basically be the same,” Paper Cut chuckled.

“A lot of study went into deciding how to deal with the clones in the book I read,” Twilight said. “The spell meant to dispel them frees the entity to return to the pool rather than destroying it. But this thing Starlight ordered; I think we can all agree that none of us will tell Starlight on you.”

“If her sister trusts the pegacorn of sparkles, Pinkie accepts this,” said Pinkie. “But we cannot trust the traitorous minister and her sex demon!”

Paper Cut didn’t dispute the demon idea; she acted like one. Now that she was trapped in this book, her primary role was to tempt Crimson.

“Promise you’ll tell me later?” Twilight asked.

“Affirmative,” said Maud. “Concentrate on the mission for now.”

“Pinkie crushes her heart, hopes to die, and sticks a bullet in her eye!” Pinkie blurted.

Pinkie pulled a bullet out of her saddlebag and jabbed it in her own eye. Such dedication, though loading it into a gun first would have been more amusing.

“I found the tunnel,” Twilight said. “There are guards.”

On the screen, they saw Twilight peeking around a corner to see four bat guards at the tunnel’s entrance. They weren’t there before, but perhaps it was their duty to guard this spot during an emergency.

They didn’t seem to take their duties seriously though. One was turning up a drink and two others were laughing at a joke. They didn’t think anypony would get this far inside again after the others fled.

“Just walk past them,” said Maud. “They should not stop you if you appear calm.”

“No, no, no,” Crimson said. “Calmness alone won’t cut it. Act like you own the place.”

“Own the place?” Twilight asked.

“Are you sure that you’re royalty?” Paper scoffed.

“Look, they’re all relaxed because they think Midnight isn’t here to get onto them,” Crimson said. “Walk up to them like you’re in charge, accuse them of slacking off, and threaten to rape them.”

“Rape?” Twilight asked. “I can’t threaten a pony with that! There’s no way!”

“Yeah, yeah, you would never do that,” Crimson rolled her eyes in time with Paper’s own eye roll. “But if you want to look like Midnight, then threaten it. Trust me. They’ll assume Midnight got back early and be too scared to question it. Otherwise they’ll suspect why you didn’t get onto them enough.”

“Right,” Twilight sighed.

“There’s no way,” laughed Paper Cut. “She’ll buck this up big time.”

“You!” Twilight raised her voice enough to echo through the hall as she rounded the corner. “What in bucking Tartarus do you think you’re doing, you lazy semen receptacles?!”

“Huh, maybe she’s got this after all,” Paper Cut admitted.