Fallout Equestria: The Ashlands Timeline

Tuesday, 11/1/2287
POV: Maud Pie
Midnight Castle

Crimson's advice for Twilight paid off. The soldiers were at attention in an instant, and Maud got no small amount of amusement from the sight.

“Y-your Divine Shadow!” one stammered. “We were just… just…”

“Just about to lie?” Twilight growled.

“We were slacking off,” the second guard admitted, face quivering as if ready to cry. “May Your Merciful Shadow fall upon us!”

“You will guard this passage for the next 12 hours,” said Twilight. “You will stand at attention, not moving or eating. If I so much as suspect you disobeyed this order, I’ll violate your behinds so deeply that you will taste my penis. Understand?”

Maud would have given them an order for 24 hours to be on the safe side. 12 hours was clearly Twilight’s soft side wanting to prevent any problems from exhaustion or dehydration, but at the least Maud nearly smirked as she realized the guards would certainly wet themselves and thus look extra stupid explaining it to Midnight.

“Yes, Your Divine Shadow!” all four guards were at attention in perfect formation now, looking afraid to breathe. One of them whimpered quietly as he strained not to sob.

“Well done,” smirked Crimson. “And ironic that you learned a lesson from me. Now they’ll be afraid to rush in and help if they hear a ruckus.”

“The pegacorn’s display shows cunning strategy,” Pinkie said.

‘I did not ‘learn a lesson’ from you Crimson,’ Twilight thought with a huff, then continued through the passage. The guards were so panicked that they did not even notice her broken horn, though they might not dare question it if they did.

“I can’t believe you were about to lie to her!” they heard one mutter to the other behind Twilight. “You would have gotten us vacationed!”

“As amusing as this was,” said Maud, “Do you realize what this means? Once they discover that you were not Midnight, they will know an imposter Midnight is on the loose.”

‘By Celestia’s eldritch mane,’ Twilight sounded more traumatized than the guards, the pounding heartbeat in her head translating through the intercom into their area. ‘I hope I kept them from running in and getting hurt at least. Crimson? You don’t think the real Midnight will punish them for being tricked, do you?’

“Why would you care?” asked Maud. “Fruits are the enemy.”

‘Can the racism, Maud!’ Twilight boomed through the intercom. ‘I’m serious. Not another word of it!’

“What?” Maud quirked an eyebrow. That was unexpected, receiving such an order in that demanding tone. Maud was not used to ponies being brave enough for that, especially one with no real rank in this world.

“The pegacorn has much backbone to demand nonsense from Pinkie’s deadliest sister in a combat situation!” Pinkie snarled.

“Relax,” Crimson laughed. “They won’t be punished if they didn’t know it wasn’t her. In fact, I bet she’ll punish them if they don’t follow your order if they legitimately believe it was her. She’s weirdly specific about things like that, though they won’t get such a benefit once it’s known an imposter is on the loose.”

“Thank Celestia,” Twilight calmed. “I hope I didn’t give them too difficult a task. I know it’s strange to worry about them, but are all these guards obeying her of their own free will? I'm sure some are, but many have no other place to go. That is why we can’t have this kind of racism, Maud. The ponies out here have forced the bat ponies into a corner where they have no choice but to abide by the stereotype created for them. I doubt there’s anypony else willing to take them in other than Midnight.”

“Very well. I accept this,” Maud said. Her ire faded when Twilight gave a tactical reasoning for the command, and she pushed to another subject. “Midnight’s peculiar sense of honor with honesty is worth noting though. It is an exploitable weakness.”

‘I guess,’ Twilight pondered. ‘I’m not entirely on board with tricking someone from honesty, but that conversation can wait. I’m here.’

On the screen, they saw that Twilight had stopped before entering the main cave. They saw the pool at the center of a large chamber ahead of them, guarded on all sides by a dozen twilicorns. It would be impossible to head-shot that many with what they had. And Twilight could not just walk up to them; there was too high a probability of at least one of them catching on.

Attached to the pool were two strange machines, both cobbled together from old magitech. One was a row of booths containing restraints and a helmet. It could fit a twilicorn in the seat and had components that looked similar to a soul recycler.

A larger machine on the other side from the pods was at least five times the height of an average pony and at least ten hoof steps in diameter. It had a glowing core, green with a rainbow glow. Maud recognized it as a miniature balefire reactor, large enough to augment the pool’s magic, but not large enough to destroy more than this part of the cave should it overload.

“You have explosives on you, Pink?” asked Maud.

“Pinkie would normally think this a silly question!” said Pinkie. “But Pinkie is low. She is out of gigglers and has only three remaining conventional explosives.”

“Are they the ones that detonate remotely?” asked Maud.

“Pinkie can set them, yes,” nodded Pinkie.

“Very well,” said Maud, then spoke aloud to Twilight. “The path appears obvious. I will activate the stealth buck, switch places with Twilight, and place the explosives before the security grid drains the stealth buck. We set off the explosives on our way back. However, I am not a strategist, so I will defer to the best strategist we have in General Limestone’s absence.”

“I’d be happy to help!” grinned Crimson.

“Shut your muzzle, Crimson,” said Maud. “Before Mite nails it shut.” As much as Crimson amused her, she would not deal with her antics in this situation.

‘Good one!’ Mite approved. ‘And it sounds fun too. Can we do that?’

"Perhaps later, Mite," Maud answered.

"Oh and she talks to things that aren't there," Paper Cut sounded tickled, looking to Crimson. "You do have a lot in common."

Maud really wanted to kill that demon thing, but she tried to focus.

‘That tech is barely functional,’ Twilight said through the thought-com. ‘I assume that if they could do better for something so important, they would, which implies that these are the best components available. They may not have spares for many parts, so destroying it could cripple their efforts. I’d like a confirmation of what it does, though.’

“If I had to guess,” said Crimson. “I’d say the one is what they used to give them Midnight’s memories when they come out. You said the mirror clones shouldn’t share her memories, but her clones share hers to a certain point at least. They knew me and Kamikaze.”

“The other is a small balefire reactor,” said Maud. “It is an odd power source for a magic pond.”

‘Makes sense,’ said Twilight. ‘It takes energy to make new bodies. After years of constant use, the Mirror Pool would run out of energy faster than it can naturally recharge. The reactor is the only thing keeping it functional.’

“Three bombs are perfect!” said Pinkie. “One for the pegacorn memory machines, one for the power source, and one to collapse the cave into the pool!”

‘Wouldn’t one on the reactor be enough?’ Twilight asked.

“The reactor may take time to go critical,” explained Maud. “We do not want to provide time to save vital equipment.”

‘Okay, that’s part one,’ Twilight said. ‘I feel like if this was a Limestone plan it’d have a part two through ten… I don’t want to miss anything.’

Maud appreciated Twilight's acknowledgement that she was inferior to the Pie sister strategist. That put her a step above Starlight at least.

“Take your time!” Crimson smirked. “It’s not like your friends might be getting caught and executed as we speak.” It was hard to tell if that was concern masked as sarcasm.

‘These caves,’ Twilight continued. ‘They look similar to the caves that Rarity searches for gems in near Ponyville. Could they be connected? I wish there was a way to know.’

“I will look for alternate passages before we set them off,” said Maud. “If there are, I may find another path to the surface. It would surprise you at how good I am finding my way through caves by listening to how water drops echo.” She sighed. “Boulder was better than me at getting out of caves, but I left him at home to keep him safe.”

“Was that emotion in your voice?” asked Crimson, sounding sincerely confused.

“How sweet,” said Paper Cut. “We hope you find out about your friend’s fate, Maud, and that he died in some horrible way you could have prevented if only you’d been there.”

Maud's eye twitched as her ire rose within her like a whirlwind. The flat affect on her face kept most from realizing how close she came to ramming Mite through Crimson's tulpa thing. The only one there that would notice her mood shift was Pink, whose mood was more visible as she growled and took a step to Paper.

“Minister Prose,” said Maud. “I will ask you to put me back into your book later so I can murder your demon. You will comply.”

“Sure, why not?” Crimson shrugged. “But only if I get to watch.”

“That is interesting,” Maud said. Crimson’s ability to catch her off guard had a strange calming tendency. “I thought I would have to threaten to not torture you to gain cooperation. Disappointing.”

“She comes back,” smirked Crimson. “It’s like flipping back to an earlier chapter. Which means, so long as she doesn’t exit the book, you can kill her all you want! It makes me wonder why she wants to leave so much.”

“I may test that theory some day,” Maud promised..

‘Focus, ponies,’ Twilight said. ‘And no, Maud, I won’t be surprised how good you are with caves. I know you in my timeline. Anyway, that sounds good enough. Crimson, can you switch us out?’

Her timeline? That whole thing still freaked Maud out. She avoided commenting on it as usual.

“Sure,” said Crimson. “Just open the Crimoire, put it on your head like a hat, cross your eyes, and touch your tongue to the tip of your muzzle.”

‘I’m not falling for that Crimson,’ said Twilight.

“Tch, no fun,” Crimson sighed. “Fine, give me time to concentrate.”

Maud confirmed her stealth buck was active and slipped the book that contained her comrades into her saddle bag, securing it well in case she had to run.

Even with the stealth buck, she did not rush to the contraptions. The twilicorns were perceptive compared to the average fang-face, so she had to be careful. She crept around the edge of the cave, sneaking the same as she would if she had no stealth device at all.

“I swear, that bitch gets on my nerves sometimes… guarding!” one twilicorn was conversing with another as she passed. “Making us guard the instrument of our own torment.”

“If I had a soul recycler and we weren’t forced to obey her,” said another. “I swear I’d gut her on repeat.”

Interesting. It seemed that some, maybe most, of the twilicorns weren’t on board with Midnight’s treatment of them. Considering how easily they could be replaced, it was doubtful they were ever treated well by Midnight. With Midnight’s magic and their programmed mind-control however, that fact was not likely to ever help them.

She clasped the first explosive to the outer shell of the middle memory machine, unsure if sticking a hoof inside would set off alarms. The bombs alone would not set off anything since their power only registered when activated.

Maud looked inside the contraption though. Both from curiosity, and in case anything stood out. She observed every detail to describe it to Limestone later.

‘It has a feeding tube and toilet,’ Maud observed in her mind, assuming that her thoughts transferred into the book. ‘That indicates that it takes a significant time to upload memories. I wonder if all the clones are given all her memories or only certain ones. There are likely times when she has to make more clones than she has time to implant memories.’

‘That’s interesting, Maud,’ Twilight’s voice echoed in her head. ‘It is, really, but let’s hurry. We don’t know how long that stealth unit will last and I want to make sure the others are safe.’

Twilight was right, though she too sounded sad to leave the device without discovering its secrets. Maud crept around the outside of the cave again, moving to the back side of the pool. It was the direction they would least expect an intruder to be.

The alicorn was not a bad leader. Aside from being the goddess race, she was well-studied. It was not hard to believe she had a position of command in her own timeline. Even then, Maud wondered if her own decision to tell Twilight about Starlight’s order was a good one. Would it protect a deserving pony, or would it cause more problems?

But Twilight may have saved their lives by helping take down the second twilicorn. Maud could not leave somepony she owed her life to defenseless against planned aggression.

Twilight’s comment about knowing Maud in her timeline had made her curious too; she could not help but wonder how she would have turned out in a world not torn apart by war. She wondered if all her sisters were alive and together, though she was too afraid to ask, more than she could admit. Besides, hearing about that happiness would just make her more depressed than usual.

‘Why did everypony get quiet?’ Crimson’s voice echoed in Maud’s head. ‘You’d think we were hiding while Midnight was having an evil tea party a few hoofsteps away.’

‘The Minister of Treason will silence herself!’ Pinkie blurted out, voice echoing in Maud’s head. ‘The story is concentrating on the focus character. Yes.’

Maud ignored her sister’s ranting and hooked the second bomb to the reactor. This machine was one she was more familiar with, so she placed the bomb for maximum damage. Not that it would matter once the reactor blew. She would need to get away before activating it.

The last one was the most difficult, but also the one where she was least likely to be seen. As long as she did not fall into the pool at least. After re-checking that her things were secure, Maud climbed up the side of the wall. Her rock affinity plus her intense training allowed her to grip the stone with her sticky-hooves and work her way towards the ceiling, something they definitely wouldn’t expect an earth pony to do.

Maud wondered how her sister and the rest were doing outside the cave. Midnight’s forces would search the forest, which meant they also might search the cave the group would use to exit the forest. Still, Maud trusted Limestone’s ability to keep them hidden. If she could not, she would have voiced such a concern when she spoke to Starlight.

Starlight. Maud was less certain of her all the time. If she was the heir, Maud would hesitate less to follow her orders. Maud was a soldier and soldiers were tools for royalty to use, but Starlight was not the rightful heir. She might not even be a real pony; she was an unintended side effect of poorly-tested magitech. Her increasing loss of self-control might indicate that her mental capacity was already degrading.

Then again, Limestone was a freak of magitech too. Maud and Pinkie were as well after being blasted through a time corridor by a sonic radboom.

It was surreal. And frightening. Maud would never admit fear, but abject terror now coursed through her. During the war, it never even occurred to Maud that her sisters might fall. She had been lying to herself, but it did not seem possible.

But now Marble was dead. Now Limestone was on borrowed time and might stop moving or go feral without warning. Maud could no longer put blind faith in their safety, and did not want to lose more sisters.

Maud placed the final explosive in a crevice of rock on the cavern’s ceiling above the pool. It was most likely to collapse as Maud wanted, filling the magic pond and possibly crushing a few guards. Maud would never pass up a chance to crunch enemy heads. Once finished, she headed down the wall the way she came.

When she was about five pony heights above the floor, Maud released the roof and turned over to let herself fall hooves down on the cavern floor. She reversed her sticky hooves to repulsion, which softened her fall to hit the ground with a silent pat instead of a thump. The years she had spent training her hooves for climbing and stealth paid off.

Looking around the caves as she worked, she spotted a passage she thought most likely to lead to freedom. Too bad Boulder was not here to help with it.

‘When do we get to kill somepony?’ Paper Cut asked, her voice echoing in Maud’s head again.

‘We a-aren’t supposed to be killing anypony, are we?’ Ink Blot peeped.

‘We’re blowing something up,’ Paper Cut said. ‘There’s hope at least somepony real will die.’

With those things in Crimson’s head, Maud understood more why she acted as she did. It was baffling why she made them to begin with, though.

Maud retrieved the trigger for the explosives from her saddlebag. It had a good range, so she could get far away from the explosives before triggering them. It would set every security system in the forest off once she pressed the button, but not in time to stop it.

She took one more look back, then headed deeper into the cave. She found an opening she could barely squeeze through, and felt certain it would lead them out. The very soft sound of the wind from the Ashlands was echoing through the deeper cave. Not knowing how much time she had left on the stealth buck, she had no time to move carefully though. She took a deep breath and galloped as quietly as she could, straining to soften her steps.

POV: Twilight Sparkle

When Maud set off the explosives, the world inside the book didn’t tremble like the world outside, though they heard the boom through Maud’s ears. It seemed the cave they took had gone without notice enough to not be guarded, which was a good thing.

‘The stealth buck is fried,’ Maud’s voice boomed into the dungeon. ‘But I think we are home free. We should be within range of the PCB again soon.’

“Can I kill her yet?” Paper Cut asked.

The book-pony was referring to Twilight. Paper had asked many times, saying she’d never murdered a goddess before, and Twilight gave up on explaining that being a naturally-created alicorn did not equate to goddesshood.

“No,” Crimson said in habit as she sprawled in a corner, her broken leg still looking nasty. While Mercury fixed it enough that it wouldn’t need amputation, it didn’t look like she’d walk easily for some time.

“Why?” asked Paper Cut, then swore. “Sombra stab my ass with jagged crystals… you want to buck her, don’t you!?”

“No, I want to buck Maud,” said Crimson. “And the next time you ask about killing Not-Midnight, I’m bringing out the comfy chair.”

Whatever the strange threat meant, it quietened Paper Cut instantly.

Regardless, Crimson’s little world here impressed Twilight. Sure, the scenery of a dark torture dungeon didn’t resonate with her, but the detail was incredible. It was better than any of Twilight’s own attempts at Hayscartes’ method.

Though that wasn’t surprising given Crimson had centuries to perfect it. After that amount of time to hone her skill, it was more amazing how bad Crimson remained with most every other magic.

“How many ponies can you fit in here?’ asked Twilight, curious.

“I don’t know if there’s a limit,” shrugged Crimson. “But the more you put in, the more likely they are to get scrambled coming out.”

“Excuse me?” Twilight blinked. “And you didn’t let us know this before putting us in here?”

“Eh, the chance with this many is pretty slim,” Crimson shrugged. “If it helps, the only time it has happened was hilarious.”

Mercury and Pinkie stayed mostly quiet after Maud left the book. Mercury stayed with the little Ink Blot, who took a liking to her. Twilight tried to talk to the little one, but she cried if anypony else got near her, and she didn’t seem to understand that Twilight wasn’t Midnight. She only liked Mercury because Paper Cut had tormented the poor mare. They had something in common.

As for Pinkie, she’d gone from manic to depressive without any sister by her side, probably not used to being without. Twilight felt bad for Pinkie, especially with that dynamite cutie mark. While Twilight didn’t judge ponies for their marks, she knew Pinkie would be happier with another. She wondered how many other ponies had lost a happier destiny due to Twilight’s failure to stop her Starlight.

“It was your fault, Not-Midnight,” Crimson said out of nowhere.

“Pardon?” asked Twilight, at first wondering if Crimson had mind-reading in here.

“You tainted me,” Crimson growled. “You just had to wake up and comfort me as I was plotting escape. If it weren’t for you getting in my head, I’d have done what’s best for me instead of what’s best for… friends.” She spit the word out like a stale baked bad.

Paper Cut growled a little too at the statement and peered at Twilight. There was pure burning hatred in her eyes. Not the psychotic killing-for-fun kind, but the vengeance kind. Was that the real reason Paper wanted to hurt Twilight? For violating her territory by getting into Crimson’s head?

Crimson would already be hard to get to, but Paper Cut being a literal being complicated things. Even if she convinced Crimson to be good, Crimson would still have to deal with Paper Cut constantly tempting her. Of course there was little Ink Blot, but could that timid filly really become the stronger of the two influences?

Unlike with the clones, Twilight couldn’t just suggest that they off Paper. After so long being nurtured by Crimson’s imagination, Paper Cut was likely a fully sentient being. As horrible as she was, a self-aware creature deserved a chance at life and redemption too, but it set up an 'all or nothing' scenario in that she could not help Crimson without also helping Paper.

‘We have problems,’ Maud’s voice said over the intercom.

Twilight looked up at the screen and realized that Maud had reached the surface. She had her pipbuck up and was following the map towards their camp site, but something was wrong.

“Why hasn’t Starlight or Limestone contacted us?” asked Twilight. “Are we not in range yet?”

‘We are well within range,’ Maud said. ‘Their network should have detected us.’

“Crimson,” said Twilight. “We need to leave the book now.”

“The alchemist and traitor do not have proper armoring,” said Pinkie. “And are injured. We should leave them here for now. Yes.”

“Alone with Paper Cut?” asked Twilight. Twilight wanted to trust Crimson, but she wasn’t stupid. “I should stay too.”

“Go ahead,” said Mercury, still stroking Ink Blot. “She won’t hurt me.”

“I won’t?” Crimson sounded confused.

“No, you won’t,” Mercury sounded confident.

“You are a foal!” Pinkie blurted out. “The traitorous one will serial kill the alchemist!”

“Why I never,” grunted Crimson. “I would never harm cereal. It’s part of a balanced breakfast.”

“We don’t have cereal,” Paper Cut said. “But if we eviscerated Mercury we could make a lovely organ soup.”

“Organs are not for breakfast!” exclaimed Pinkie, taking the conversation more seriously than she should. Maybe.

“My little ponies!” Twilight tried to get their attention.

“The pegacorn will cease the dropping of titles!” Pinkie demanded, whatever that meant.

“Please… just… Mercury. I’m staying with you,” Twilight sighed.

“Go on,” Crimson said. “I won’t harm her. Or let Paper Cut harm her. I swear.”

“I feel so unloved,” sighed Paper Cut.

Twilight peered at Crimson. It was hard to tell if she was joking.

“You want me to be your friend, right?” asked Crimson. “And that means trusting me.”

“Well…” Twilight knew Crimson might be toying with her yet didn’t want to risk alienating her if she was trying.

“Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a dick in my eye,” Crimson promised. “A mare’s dick, because I’m not a freak.”

“Didn’t I have to pull you off a stallion earlier?” asked Mercury quietly.

“Tsk,” said Crimson. “As long as I kill him after, that makes it okay.”

“The traitor has made the sacred vow of doom!” Pinkie said. “It is now impossible for her to lie!” If only it worked that way.

“Crimson,” Twilight looked at her. “You have a big chance here to show us that we can trust you. Please…”

Maud was already galloping before they fell out. Pinkie was first to leave and galloped next to her sister. Twilight pulled on her helmet again and gave Mercury another glance before going herself. Mercury nodded at her, confident.

“Hey Ink Blot,” Paper Cut said just as Twilight’s awareness of the surroundings was fading. “I’m turning the sound to the outside off. Want to play a game with our new friend?”

Twilight suddenly recognized the flaw in Crimson’s promise, but couldn’t think about that now. She had to trust Crimson and move forward.

When she flopped out into the real world, Pinkie and Maud didn’t pause. Had Maud not already spent so much energy climbing on rocks and running at breakneck speed, she wouldn’t have been slow enough for Twilight to keep up with.

Now that she was out, Twilight saw the look on Maud’s face, and it was more panicked than Twilight had ever seen. Pinkie’s didn’t look much better. They feared for their sister’s safety.

If Twilight’s actions to save Mercury and Crimson resulted in the demise of five other team members, Twilight would never forgive herself. Not that she would have forgiven herself for not going to get Mercury and Crimson. Ponies like her were unfit for this situation.

Maud skidded to a halt before they got to the cave. It took Twilight a moment to realize why.

There lay the prone form of a pegasus face down in the dust. The wings splayed out at odd angles, twitching, though it was hard to say if from the wind or nerves. Wait, was that?

“Solar?!” Twilight rushed to her side.

As Twilight lifted her, Solar gagged blood onto the ground in front of her, wailing in pain. Pinkie leaned down next to her. She looked over Solar, assessing her injuries and grabbing hold of her left hind leg, putting pressure around what appeared to be a bullet wound.

“The pegaslut commando has been injured!” Pinkie said. “Retrieve the medic from the book of doom!”

Maud pulled the book from her saddlebag, opening it, then stared at the page for a moment before recovering.

“Crimson,” Maud said. “Stop trying to force your little one to torment Mercury. We have injured and need her. Exit with her to cover her with a shield.”

Crimson and Mercury flew out of the book an instant later. One good thing about them being the only outside objects in there was that Crimson could cancel the spell instantly, but it ejected them a bit violently. With how shaken up Mercury looked, Twilight wanted to scream at Crimson, but now wasn’t the time.

Crimson cast a shield around the group, which at her strength would only block a small portion of the radiation. Mercury shrieked as she saw Solar’s condition, moving next to Pinkie to see Solar’s leg.

“I’ve got you, Solar,” Mercury promised, horn lighting up to examine the wound.

“Solar,” Twilight patted Solar awake when she seemed to doze. “Come on, stay with us… again.”

“Where are the others?” Maud asked. “Did Midnight’s forces find you?”

“No,” Solar shook her head. “Raiders. Limestone told me to bring you Ashmaker…”

“Take deep breaths,” Twilight held Solar’s head. “Stay calm to reduce bleeding.”

“That is a terrible way of calming a patient,” Maud commented.

“Pinkie has found the Ashmaker!” Pinkie said, retrieving the gun which had fallen nearby. “He is traumatized, but ready for action. Yes.”

“We must get to the camp,” said Maud.

“They’re already gone,” Solar shook her head, followed by another cry of pain.

“Sorry!” Mercury tossed the bloody bullet aside, which she’d pried out of Solar’s bone with her telekinesis. She began wrapping the wound. “It’s not as bad as it looks. Don’t worry, Solar.”

“You’d say that no matter what,” Solar cried. “And they attacked them because of me, for being pegasus lovers.”

“Pegasus lovers?” Twilight blinked.

“They must have seen Solar from a distance,” Crimson chuckled. “Ponies out here despise pegasi, though with how few of them are left, they could forget how to tell one from a bat in a few generations. Not that they like those either.”

“Damn it,” Solar said. “That means I won’t get many dickings even if I survive.”

“Priorities, Solar!” Twilight sighed.

“No worries,” said Crimson. “I can teach you plenty of methods for pinning down stallions.”

Solar peered at Crimson as if considering the lesson offer even in her condition, but shook her head.

“Urgh, not the time!” Twilight shouted. “Crimson, what do you know about raiders out here?”

“I’m surprised they have the guts to be this close to Midnight Castle,” said Crimson. “But they’re the meanest thing out here. Midnight and Trinity have agendas and rules, but most raiders are just tactless sadists. They’ll sell our friends into slavery. Except Kami: she won’t be useful enough as a slave, so no telling what they’ll do to her, especially if they realize she’s a pegasus.”

“You kept Tranquil like a slave,” muttered Solar.

“I convinced a single pony to obey me,” Crimson said. “They sell ponies by the dozen like filly guide cookies so they can get high on chems. On the plus side, they’re unlikely to be well-organized.”

Crimson’s hypocrisy aside, her voice held sincere spite. If even Crimson looked down upon these ponies, and these ponies had their friends, this was very not good.

As soon as Solar was safe to carry, the group moved back to the campsite. As Solar said, the others were gone.

Solar remained in the cave with Mercury while the others searched. There wasn’t a lot left behind though; everything they had at the cave was gone. The only evidence was a symbol painted on the rock floor at the entrance of the cave. It was an arrow pointing southward, along with the words ‘We went that way, featherbrain.’

“This is a trap,” Maud said. “But the foals have no idea who they are dealing with.”

Maud breathed heavily. Twilight wanted to give her a hug but was afraid to touch Maud with the rage steaming from her.

Twilight clicked her pipbuck on and opened the map. While they couldn’t pinpoint their locations at that distance without Starlight’s upgraded model, she saw all their signals were south, and Starlight’s and Kamikaze’s registered as alive.

“Pinkie completes her search!” Pinkie came back from the other side of the cave. “The wagon is still there, yes. The evil-doers did not locate it. Pinkie retrieved the remaining ammo for Ashmaker, but there is no sign of our compatriots.”

Pinkie was doing her best to keep her composure as well but shivered with anger herself. Twilight hoped the sisters didn’t rush headlong into anything dangerous.

“Too bad we can’t take the wagon,” sighed Twilight. “Now that we don’t have anyone that can shield it through the killing joke.”

“What weapons are left?” asked Maud. “We’ll have to carry what we can.”

“Pinkie’s explosives are used up! She used to have explosives stashed all over Equestria, for explosion emergencies, but they have likely all been scavenged by now. Yes,” said Pinkie. “There is no ammunition for Pinkie Die other than what is loaded, or any for Gummy. Only small pistols are left in the wagon.”

“We have Ashmaker,” said Maud. “Limestone sent Solar with this, so she believed we'd need it to save her.” She turned to Crimson. “Can you summon your demon from the book? Or write about a big gun?”

“It takes a stupid amount of power to pull fictional objects into reality,” said Crimson. “I could make a knife or a simple chemical mixture, but something with precision moving parts like a firearm could take a full day, and even then probably fail. Trying to remove Paper Cut herself could be done since she’s been in there a while, and didn’t entirely start in there, but we don’t want to do that.”

As Crimson spoke, Maud leaned down to pick up a blanket nearby. It was the one they had wrapped Marble in.

“Why would they take her?” Maud growled.

“Wait, they took her body?” asked Twilight. “But why would they do that? Is Spike gone?”

“The dragon lies within the cave where we left him,” said Pinkie.

If they weren’t angry enough, the realization that Marble’s body was taken had the Pies near to cracking. Twilight could see it in their eyes.

“Maud, we need to think of a plan before we rush in,” Twilight said as carefully as possible.

“Gather the supplies we can and we will head south,” said Maud. “Crimson, put extra food, water, and medicine into your book while we gather. Tell your demon not to touch them or I will make her wish she could die.” She turned to Mercury. “Is Solar going to be okay?”

“She’ll be fine,” said Mercury. “She’s safe to move, not as bad as her first incident.”

“We could put her in the book,” suggested Crimson.

“I will carry her,” said Maud. “Everypony else, keep up. Especially you Crimson. I may need a bullet shield.”

“Oh Maud,” Crimson said. “You always know what to say.”

Now that they had no choice but to use the book to store their supplies, Crimson probably felt she could get away with more. Still, it wasn’t wise for her to taunt the Pies now when they were more irrational than usual.

Maud’s clear desperation concerned Twilight. Twilight hoped she didn’t act rashly, but all the same, she was right. If these raiders were as bad as Crimson indicated, they had to save their friends before they were injured or defiled.

“Solar,” Twilight asked as the others got ready. “Can you tell us exactly what happened again? In detail please, we need all the information we can get.”