Fallout Equestria: The Ashlands Timeline

Thursday, 11/3/2287
POV: Crimson Prose
Holder

When Mercury said she’d stay at Midnight Castle to be sure Kamikaze and Solar were cared for, Crimson knew she wasn’t up for it. Maybe Mercury thought she’d get used to the fear aura, but as Crimson suspected, she didn’t. Every time Midnight so much as glanced at Mercury, she squeaked at least and shrieked at most. Once Midnight realized this, she did it as often as she could, randomly giving her menacing glares, delighting in the innocent cutie’s terror.

It was rather amusing, so after getting cleaned up, Crimson followed Mercury around just to see it. Even some of the Twilicorns caught on and got in on the fun. Aside from that, being alone in the castle wasn’t the best idea, since Crimson didn’t know which guards liked the ones she’d murdered.

It wasn’t hard for Solar to convince Mercury she should go with the others when they left for Holder. They knew Midnight wouldn’t harm Solar, the closest thing she had to a cybernetic expert, unless she really screwed up, but Mercury was another matter. Crimson also reminded Mercury that Tranquil might be in Holder, because she knew Mercury wanted to see her friend as soon as possible. Crimson hoped Tranquil made it that far, because she looked forward to freaking Mercury out more by talking about their previously secret activities with Tranquil in front of her.

Midnight teleported them to Holder that morning, and even included the objects that Crimson had left all over the hallway. Crimson hadn’t put all of them back into the Crimoire yet, but Midnight had them packaged into crates and sent with them, strangely helpful tyrant that she was at times. Twilight had seemed to think that Midnight was possessed, and the idea of her doing helpful things from time to time to try and atone for things she had no control over was pretty amusing.

Apparently the MAC cannon acted as more than just a cannon, allowing Midnight to teleport and cutting through all the radiation and other arcane interference. It was good they had a way around that, because if the others weren’t delayed, they should have already arrived.

Midnight took the whole group in one go: Starlight, Dyo, Crimson, and Mercury. Crimson wasn’t sure why Midnight went with them instead of just teleporting them by themselves, at least not until they got there.

As soon as Midnight flashed into existence in the town square, the whole city was in a panic, ponies fleeing, hiding, or just freezing in terror. Midnight enjoyed this and laughed maniacally, losing herself in the moment and probably working off the stress of recent events.

‘Find the nearest male and kill it!’ Paper Cut suggested helpfully inside Crimson’s head.

“Not in front of Starlight,” Crimson said aloud. “Maybe this, though.”

Crimson grasped a shrieking griffon colt as he tried to flee, or whatever they called young male griffons, and held him up to Midnight’s laughing face. As Crimson held the little one facing Midnight, she opened her jaw around his head and began lightly making a chewing motion and licking at the griffon in between chuckles. He squealed so high-pitched that most of the party covered their ears.

“Aaaand… scarred for life!” Crimson said triumphantly.

“Crimson!” Starlight growled. “Let him go! Without harming him further!”

She was wise to Crimson’s tactics. Scarring someone for life didn’t mean Crimson intended it to be a very long life. Once Midnight took her muzzle off him to laugh louder, Starlight yanked the little griffon from Crimson’s grasp and released him. He ran into several carts and signs as he fled in a panic, still shrieking.

Midnight continued cackling, so Crimson got a look around. A statue, the bomb she heard about, brick structures, a stable door, the old barracks, and fields full of rocks, all surrounded by sheer cliffs or tall walls. It was about what she expected.

It was more diverse than she expected though, excluding pegasi and bats. Crimson suspected Solar might cream herself to dehydration once she saw all the species options available.

“Um, your Divinity?” Starlight asked Midnight, following it with an awkward chuckle. “Eh heh…”

Midnight kept laughing herself hoarse.

“Your Divine Shadow?” Starlight asked louder to be heard over the laughter.

“Hm?” Midnight stopped abruptly. “Oh my Me, I was enjoying myself… fear makes me wet. Literally. Check if you’d like.”

“Fear makes you…” Mercury trailed off. “N-no thanks. I believe you.”

“Now, Mercury,” smirked Crimson. “Let’s not kink-shame Her Divine Shadow.” Inwardly, she thought it was a shame that Kamikaze didn’t know how to appreciate such an enthusiastic partner, but didn’t dare say something aloud that Midnight might think insulting to her waifu.

“Citizens of Holder!” Midnight’s voice boomed as she magnified it. “I have made peace with Minister of Magitech Starlight Glimmer, Minister of Whatever-It-Is-She-Did Crimson Prose, and the Pie Sisters. Thus, I allow them to live here so long as they remain loyal. You will treat them as my representatives and obey their orders so long as they do not contradict my desires. Should they prove disloyal to me, great reward awaits the one who informs on them. Greater despair awaits the one that knows but fails to inform.”

Midnight looked to be having fun, but her speech showed intelligence. Now fewer citizens would trust the group, and the group couldn't trust the citizens in any plan against Midnight. Many might be loyal to the Pies, but it only took one that wasn’t.

With that, Midnight’s horn sparked and she vanished in a blast of magic, creating enough shockwave to almost knock them over. Citizens filtered out of their hiding places, wide-eyed as they looked at Starlight, but none came close yet. Mercury wondered how many of them knew Trinity was Starlight; it’d be confusing if they did.

“Well that was… neat,” sighed Dyo. “Thank Pie she was too busy to stay and kill anypony this time. I’ll go find Kyo.” He paused, glancing at Crimson’s ‘luggage’. “We’ll get someone to put that stuff… somewhere.”

“Minister,” Xander approached them as Dyo headed off, meaning the other group had arrived as Crimson suspected. “I’m pleased your plan goes well. The others will wake soon in the commander’s quarters of the barracks. They needed their rest, but planned to speak with Rock Sovereign Kyo today and discuss strategies for General Limestone’s retrieval.”

“Ah, good,” Starlight nodded. “The barracks there? I’ll be glad to get inside… it’s awkward out here.”

“First, I’d like to speak to you,” Xander said, lowering his voice. “I’ll be brief lest others grow suspicious of a long conversation.”

“Yes?” Starlight asked before other citizens had the nerve to get closer to them.

Xander produced a clear bottle of what looked like green face paint, which could be assumed to be what he’d been working on before his group left for Holder. He slipped it stealthily into Starlight’s saddle bag, but Starlight diverted it and placed it in Crimson’s saddle bag instead, probably in case it was dangerous.

“I suspect Trinity’s changelings are present in the city,” said Xander. “But they have proven more elusive than I feared. If you suspect someone, smudge this on their flesh and it should reveal their true form. It will have to do until I have Scorn altered to safely fulfill that purpose.”

Crimson shrugged and Starlight nodded. If he was giving it to Starlight though for that reason, it meant Xander didn’t realize that Trinity and Starlight were 'the same', which implied many others didn’t either.

“Crimson, if it comes to us needing to check, you can do it,” said Starlight. Crimson assumed this was punishment for trying to burn slaves to death; talk about unfair.

‘Look,’ said Crimson over the PCB to Starlight only. ‘I know you’re a little peeved at me, but if you don’t want me getting all sexy and maybe burning someone to death, you need to throw me the occasional acceptable target.’

It was a serious request, because Crimson knew Starlight was the type that might.

‘I’ll consider it,’ Starlight responded, as Crimson expected.

‘You should let us kill Twilight!’ Paper Cut suggested.

‘Keep your sex demon off the PCB, Crimson,’ Starlight huffed. ‘But I’ll consider that as well, should she make it necessary.’

Crimson could feel Paper Cut’s joy after that promise, but for some reason Crimson felt less enthusiastic about the idea. Somehow, Twilight still got into her head.

“You are more likely to be able to get close to imposters than myself,” said Xander. “Though…”

“Though what?” Starlight asked.

“I admit I’m not sure how effective it is,” Xander said. “It has acted...inconsistently on individuals that I am certain are. The substitutions I had to make may have made it less sensitive to an individual’s energy; I suspect that it only works if the subject is emotionally agitated, but the guards that Kyo insisted accompany me for the tests would not allow me to go that far. As you are respected by the populace, you may be able to do so more freely.”

“Agitation is Crimson’s specialty,” commented Mercury. It seemed even she had gotten into the fun of poking at her. “Did they find Tranquil, Xander?”

Crimson should have been the one to ask that question, but she had to admit she was a little afraid of the answer. Just more evidence that she’d been damaged by sentimental horse apples.

“Kyo said Tranquil and her twin Peaceful arrived the other day and was looking for them last night,” said Xander before turning to walk away. “I do not know if she found them. Regardless, I will contact you later.”

Twins? Obviously a changeling, though Xander’s tone indicated he wasn’t suspicious of that, so Twilight must have not told him. Well, as long as it wasn’t a male changeling, Crimson wouldn’t mind, but how did one tell for certain? Starlight, meanwhile, arched an eyebrow and glanced at Crimson.

“Anything you’d like to tell us, Crimson?” Starlight asked.

“Beats me,” shrugged Crimson. “But it’s no big deal. If we find two, I’ll try both and have the best lay help me kill the worst lay.”

Perfect logic.

“No,” said Starlight. “It shows that the changeling is friendly to her, so we’ll just ask which one the changeling is and question her in a civil manner. If it's not Trinity's, it may be a potential ally.”

Less fun logic.

POV: Pinkie Pie
Holder Barracks

The commander’s quarters had once been Sister Superior Limestone’s quarters. It had the same bed, furniture, and adjacent bath as before, and it was a feat to have them in a usable state after so long. Pinkie suspected the room hadn’t been slept in since the Pies left, preserved like some sacred place.

Thanks to the water filtration system in Stable 11, they had clean water to clean their filthy bodies. They also received a meal of food paste. Stable 11 lacked the underground farms and orchards that Stable 27 had, and Pinkie remembered eating similar slop the last time she was here. It tasted a bit different than Pinkie remembered, so she wondered if they’d substituted ingredients, probably with processed meat, though it didn’t particularly bother her.

Pinkie thought they should have investigated the ponies Xander suspected of being changelings immediately, but Twilight insisted they should play coy and not be in an obvious hurry to check for that. How preposterous to Pinkie! Yet using a big word hadn’t even convinced them; the others seemed convinced that they would only try to replace one of them if they became separated.

There was one large bed, so they snuggled close that night, which Pinkie didn’t mind. Unfortunately though, Pinkie ended up between Maud and Gloomy when she’d rather have been between Maud and Twilight.

Gloomy wasn’t bad, he was just… a bat. She knew Twilight and Starlight told her not to be racist, but she’d spent years as mortal enemies of fruits and shinies… then lizzers, then featherbrains.

In fact, the next morning, Gloomy proved her right with a grave insult! Rather than watching Pinkie’s morning make-out session with Maud, he stared wishfully at the still-sleeping Twilight. This one had it bad for somepony Pinkie had it bad for. This was unacceptable!

A knock on the door later, Pinkie went from making out to kill-mode as she leapt from the bed, taking a battle stance at the door.

“Come in and meet your timely demise!” Pinkie warned who she assumed were assassins. “Yes.”

“What?” Twilight blinked awake from the commotion. “Is something going on?” She paused a moment and peered at Gloomy behind her on the bed. “Gloomy?”

“S-sorry!” Gloomy scooted away from Twilight, as if he’d gotten a little too happy staring at her and she’d felt it against her.

“It’s okay,” sighed Twilight, then looked at the Pies. “They knocked, so they’re probably not here to kill us.”

“That’s just what they want us to think!” Pinkie explained. Why did nopony listen to Pinkie’s flawless reasoning?

“Um, your friends are here,” a female voice spoke from outside. She slowly cracked the door and peered in with one eye, perhaps checking to see if her timely demise was in fact waiting for her.

“Calm down Pink,” Maud said as she slipped out of bed herself.

Fine. But only because her favorite sister asked. Pinkie relaxed her stance and opened the door further.

At the door stood a diamond dog, tall enough that she had to duck when walking into the door. Black fur covered her body save for her head, which she’d dyed red to match her eyes, almost like she wanted a mane.

She wore a backpack and belt with a red, arcane-looking book attached to it. A spell book seemed out-of-place on a diamond dog, and it was fancier-looking than Crimson's, so who knew what perverse beasts might live there. She was also one of those important enough to possess a pipbuck from Stable 11.

Behind her were their other friends with Dyo, or most of their friends. Kamikaze and Solar were not present. Pinkie assumed Kamikaze was with Midnight and Solar had finally found something heroic to do that she didn’t survive.

“Stand back, the Doggie of Darkness possesses a Book of Doom!” Pinkie warned. “How many kink demons of destruction are held within?”

“Um, none?” the canine looked confused. “This is only my grimoire, because I study magic. I'm Olivia of Ramble, honorary second-in-command in Holder, I guess. I’m an ally.”

“You study magic?” Twilight quirked an ear. “Like alchemy?” She didn’t get to initiate a conversation before Pinkie continued.

“Then Pinkie will flirt with the non-pony in honor of the pegaslut’s violent demise!” Pinkie decided. “She has no idea how to flirt with a dog however. If only she had peanut butter. Yes.”

“Solar isn’t dead, Pinkie,” sighed Starlight. “She stayed at Midnight Castle to help repair Kamikaze.”

“Pegawhat?” blinked Olivia, as if she thought Pinkie referred to some new mutation. “Can we come inside? The guards should not see Clover uncovered, lest over-reactions occur.” She shucked off her backpack and opened it for them to see a stock of green potion bottles inside. “I brought shifting potions for Clover.”

If she knew about Twilight’s nature and didn’t mind, she might be okay. Pinkie stepped back but kept an eye on Olivia’s book. Soon the whole group was inside with the door closed behind them.

“Thank you, Olivia,” said Twilight. “It’s good to know everyone is okay. Is there something wrong that held up Kyo?”

“She’s getting a hold of some contacts,” said Dyo. “Or trying; it isn’t always easy. I had something I sort of wanted to run by you too.”

“There is no room to run,” said Maud. “It is very cramped here.”

Dyo stared at Maud as if trying to determine if that was a joke or not. It was, though ponies other than Pinkie sometimes had trouble telling.

“Here,” said Olivia. She pulled a case of about a dozen potions from her backpack. “Shift potions will allow transformation into whatever form you wish. The PUB workers use them to cater to every need; just quaff one and imagine what you wish to become. Do be careful not to let your mind stray during the process.”

“Thank you,” Twilight nodded.

Twilight slipped most of the bottles into her own saddlebag, removing one and nervously swallowing it. A curtain of green magic rippled upwards as her form changed. An instant later, Twilight was a pale yellow pony with blue eyes and a mane and tail streaked in white and gray. Her manestyle was large and poofy, almost hiding her horn. The horn was still broken, but her wings had vanished.

“Oh, I get who you are now,” smirked Crimson. “Clever.”

“The potion will last 4-6 hours, depending on the individual,” said Olivia. “You'll know about fifteen minutes before the potion wears off. Please try not to overuse them as the potions are expensive to produce.”

Pinkie didn't know much about alchemy, but it seemed odd that the problem with over-consumption was only expense and not potential for health issues.

“I’ll keep myself under wraps most of the time,” nodded Twilight, or Clover. Even her voice was different. “But that flash of green magic. It looked like what flashes around changelings when they shift, is it based on similar magic?”

“Indeed,” nodded Olivia. “I created them myself.”

“You know, actual changelings would make pretty good whores, if you think about it,” smirked Crimson. “And Clover the Clever over there told us they feed on love.”

“Indeed,” Olivia chuckled. “It’s honestly a pity that Trinity’s changelings are prevented from aspiring to professions they might enjoy.”

“That is amazing,” Mercury examined the empty potion bottle. “It wasn’t painful at all? I've tried my hoof at shifting potions, but even shifting to another pony type is difficult. Yet this lets you shift into any species?”

“Not just other species,” said Olivia. “You can even shift into inanimate objects, just like a real changeling, so I’ve heard. Though, unlike with a real changeling, if you shift into anything without adequate neural facilities, you’d be stuck as the object until the potion wears off with no way to negate it.”

“I know what inanimate object I’d turn Mercury into,” grinned Crimson.

“Stop it, Crimson,” Starlight growled.

“That request is not unheard of at the PUB,” Olivia nodded to Crimson.

“Well it works either way, thank you,” said Twilight. “Did you find Tranquil?”

“Yes,” said Olivia. “Well, sort of. I didn’t see them, but I found that she and her sister are working for Cola and Bottle Cap in exchange for boarding at their quarters in Stable 11. You can stop by his market stall, or any of the guards can direct you to his home, but he hadn’t seen her when we last asked him.”

“Cola?” asked Twilight. “I see…”

Then there was another problem. Pinkie remembered that Cola was the merchant freaking out about changelings when they arrived. It would be a problem if he recognized what Tranquil’s ‘sister’ was and killed them before they could be questioned, and Cola had appeared to be Xander’s friend. If Xander figured it out or even suspected, he’d tell Cola for certain.

“And you’re sure she didn’t leave the city?” asked Twilight. “Just being sure since you haven’t seen her.”

“Unlikely,” said Olivia. “The guards log anyone who enters or leaves. Even if they flew out, they’d be seen by a guard tower and logged, and we have systems to detect invisibility, which few can fool. As of half an hour ago when I checked, they had not left.”

“Dyo, you said you had something?” Starlight turned the conversation when it seemed the other was a dead end for now.

“Well I was thinking,” said Dyo. “There’s part of Stable 11 and the adjoining military base that we can’t access due to old security restrictions.”

“Pinkie can access the base of destruction!” Pinkie said. “As can her sister and the Empress!”

“That’s what I was thinking,” Dyo nodded. “The records say there’s a set of pulse barding in the armory. It's a prototype stealth suit with shield bypass capabilities. With that, you could walk through Tenwhinney’s shield with no one seeing you and snatch the General back.”

“I remember the pulse barding,” said Maud. “It stands for Personal Utility for Logical Stealth-based Evasion. I was very interested, but did not recall us finishing the prototype before we left and I assume it was closed off shortly after.”

“Well Kamikaze has her bypass armor,” said Twilight. “Though it's not stealth. They may have never got a better version working, since putting those two enchantments on a single barding would be very difficult.”

“Pinkie does not know how these things work,” said Pinkie. “Other ponies make things. Pinkie only uses the things to destroy other things.”

“Uh, sure,” Dyo’s voice quivered. “Well the list says it’s in there so it’s worth a look, right? If anyone could finish it, it'd be one of you. Maybe your scientist friend when she finishes her work at Midnight Castle.”

“Are you sure you should go get it before Kyo returns?” asked Olivia.

“If Limestone is in as much danger as it seems,” said Dyo. “We shouldn’t wait, right?”

Pinkie narrowed her eyes at his suspicious behavior. Not his words, but his mannerisms. He had sudden trouble making eye contact and was sweating. On a hunch, she pulled the map up on her pipbuck and looked at it.

‘This one’s signal has become yellow,’ Pinkie said over the PCB to the others with pipbucks.

Starlight pulled up her advanced map to look, though she flicked it back off before Dyo noticed.

‘Kind of yellowish green on mine,’ replied Starlight. ‘He wasn’t before. We should keep an eye on him.’

“Anyway, I need time to access the security controls again to even let you put in authorization,” said Dyo. “Could take a few minutes to an hour. Maybe you could have a look at the Pie Museum in this building while you wait, I can come get you there when we’re ready.”

“I’d like to bury Spike in private today, if that’s okay,” said Twilight. “I’d rather not have it be a large spectacle.”

Perhaps the pegacorn of sparkles finally accepted the impossibility of her returning home to bury him there. Pinkie felt for her, but wasn’t good at expressing feelings that didn’t involve screaming.

“I’ll help you, if that’s okay,” Gloomy patted Twilight’s shoulder.

“You don’t have to,” said Twilight. “But I’ll appreciate it.”

This bat was strange. It felt less like he was comforting her and more like he was accompanying her as a guard. Pinkie trusted Twilight more than she trusted Starlight, so it didn’t concern her as much as it could have. It still annoyed her, though, that they were getting closer.

“May I have your pipbuck frequency?” asked Olivia. “That way we can contact you when Kyo is ready.”

“The Doggie of Doom conspires against us!” Pinkie took a few steps towards her, noticing her obvious ploy.

“What?” Olivia took a step back, tripping over the rug and flopping against the wall. “I didn’t mean it like that!”

“I’m sure you didn’t,” said Starlight, holding a hoof out to stop Pinkie from maiming the canine. “But all the same, she’s right. We can’t risk becoming too easy to find by those outside of our team. Just find one of us, and they will find the others.”

“Of course,” Olivia nodded, not looking like she wanted to remain much longer. “The others can look around town. If Kyo hasn’t arrived by then, come to the spa. The offer of a free massage or service is still open to you.”

“Me and the Pies will explore the bunker when we can,” said Starlight. “The rest of you can head where you wish, but stay in groups.”

“Would I even be welcome at the spa?” asked Gloomy.

“Of course, yes,” Olivia nodded, but took a deep breath as if attempting to keep her voice steady. “But please keep your promise not to bring down Her Divine Shadow’s wrath on us without reason.”

“I don’t anticipate her showing up to the spa,” Gloomy said. “But if she does, I’ll do everything battily possible to target her wrath at myself instead of you.”

“I’ll look for the twins,” said Crimson.

“I’ll go with you,” Mercury nodded. That was a good idea, so Crimson didn’t get excited and burn them to death. “Though later, I’d like to find Xander, I’d like to try to talk alchemy with him a bit more.”

‘Crimson,’ said Starlight over the network, but let all on the PCB hear it. ‘Harm no one in anything but self-defense without my okay. If we don’t hear from Mercury every half hour at least, we’ll assume you are causing grief and come for you.’

‘I’m sure it will be okay,’ said Mercury.

Starlight opened Crimson’s saddle bags, tugging Crimson’s favorite book out of the bags and moving to put it in her own.

“Now that’s just mean,” Crimson looked sincerely upset.

“You’ll get your book back when I feel you need it,” said Starlight, then added on the PCB. ‘I won’t have you kidnapping half the settlement into your book when we’re not looking.’

“My Crimoire,” corrected Crimson, but admitted. “Ya got me, though.”

‘Um, isn’t taking Paper Cut and Ink Blot like kidnapping?’ Mercury asked over the PCB. It was weird how she still defended Crimson.

‘It does seem questionable,’ Twilight agreed, seemingly still wanting to give Crimson the benefit of the doubt after all this. ‘And we have Mercury with her to keep watch.’

“I’m not debating this,” Starlight said over the PCB, then added aloud. “One more thing, Crimson: Is Stable 11 a control stable, or was there an experiment here?”

“It was a faith experiment,” smirked Crimson. “They indoctrinated the residents to worship the leaders of Equestria like deities to see if their work efficiency increased. It’s probably one of the sanest experiments, all things considered.”

“That explains a lot,” said Twilight.

“So that is not how all Equestrians acted?” Olivia tilted her head. She must have assumed it was the norm.

“Whatever the reason, that mentality gives us an advantage,” Starlight pondered.

“Starlight,” Twilight warned with the same tone one might scold a disobedient pet. “We should not use religious beliefs to control our subjects. That could end rather badly in the long run, don’t you think?”

“My subjects,” Starlight reminded her. “But don’t worry; I’d only use it to convince them of the truth.”

Pinkie looked back and forth between them. Starlight’s truth and Twilight’s truth were likely very different. Neither were fun truths, but if forced to choose, Pinkie would go with Twilight. From the nervous way Starlight glanced at the Pies, she likely suspected this.

POV: Twilight Sparkle
Holder Barracks

Twilight hadn’t given up hope of returning home, but the only lead she had was a potential copy of the scroll in the Ministry of Magitech. It would be nearly impossible to get inside, and maybe literally impossible to get out if not even Trinity could escape.

She didn’t want Spike to remain unburied while she looked for a way back. On top of that, Stable 27 had already treated him too roughly, and she suspected they took a sample for study because a rather large piece of the lower back of his skull had been removed while they kept him.

Best to put him to rest before anyone else disrespected him; if she kept him at the mortuary here they might well grind him up into their cannibal slop with the other bodies. Still, she put it off for a good while, now sitting in the barracks room with no one else but Gloomy.

Twilight looked at Gloomy, waiting patiently on the bed with her, seeming too awkward to talk and glancing away when she looked over at him. He seemed determined to remain at her side and do her bidding at this point. Somehow as timid as he looked, she couldn’t resist a little lighthearted teasing.

“So, this morning,” Twilight blushed slightly. “Was that more than just your body’s natural morning response? I have to say… that’s the first time I’ve ever awoken to that uh... pressed on me.”

“Huh?!” Gloomy seemed to almost jump out of his skin at that question. “S-sorry again for that, I didn’t mean to offend… total accident.“

“Are you sure it was an accident?” Twilight teased, narrowing her eyes a bit more. “It was a bit close to its target.”

“Go easy on me,” Gloomy blushed brightly even through his dark fur. “I mean I was pinned between you on one side and sisters making out on the other side. I don’t know what else you’d expect…”

“Ah, so it was the Pies,” Twilight chuckled awkwardly. “I guess I didn’t notice. In my timeline they were more capable of shame and I never saw things like that, though I suspected at times.”

“I didn’t say it was only them,” muttered Gloomy. “Just that they were there…”

He blushed even harder when Twilight scooted closer to him. He adjusted his body as if to hide his lower portions, so he was likely having another issue. She didn’t talk for a moment, realizing how unlike her it was to push a conversation like this. It wasn’t just being pent up, but also the complete lack of significant research projects or study. She wondered if she wasn’t more Solar-like in her affection for research than she had realized.

“Look,” Gloomy said. “You’re everything I like about Midnight and none of what terrifies me about her, and well, I can’t help it. Still, I mainly just want to help out, and if you’re never interested I’ll still want to help.”

For a moment, Twilight wondered if this guy would exist in her timeline. Not in her time, at least, so she quickly put it out of her mind.

“You remind me of Spike in a way,” Twilight sighed. “Aside from the crush, I mean. Always following me and eager for tasks, but you know you don’t have to do so much for me, right? You won’t lose your chance because you don’t wait on me fore and hind.”

“I do have to in a way,” Gloomy looked at the floor nearby rather than at her. “A-and besides, it’s not just you who’s order I’m following.”

“Of course,” Twilight smiled. “I guess sitting with you just reminded me of him. We used to just sit together talking for hours, or sometimes we’d play nerdy games like word chain or the like.”

“Word chain?” Gloomy asked.

“It’s where I say a word,” Twilight explained. “Then you say a word that begins with the last letter or syllable of my word. Back and forth as fast as we can, without repeating words.”

“Sounds like something foals would play,” Gloomy chuckled. “I don’t have a lot of time for games.”

“Yeah, I guess it is,” Twilight nodded. She supposed by the standards of a world like this, she would be more like a lost filly than an adult. “I guess I should still be a little thankful. At least we have amenities like clean bathrooms and fresh food here. That’s more than we had on the road.”

“It’s okay, if noisy,” Gloomy nodded. “I honestly prefer living inside or better underground. The bat residentials beneath Midnight Castle have a nice cavernous feel to them, dimly lit since we make more use of sonar.”

“It gives me a little hope to find several spots of civilization, even if one of them is Midnight Castle,” said Twilight. “Maybe Equestria can be rebuilt after all, though I admit I didn’t imagine that it might be rebuilt in the image of the Pie family.”

“Well, if it’s either that or Trinity’s garbage…” Gloomy shrugged.

“Do you know how to get into Trinity’s lair?” asked Twilight, though she realized the question might be odd to Gloomy.

“Huh?” Gloomy asked. “Well, there are ways to get inside. Starlight could take us in the same way she left. Some ministries also had teleports to others, maybe Crimson knows of one from the Ministry of News. Either way, it’d be a suicide mission because you can’t get back out.”

“Do you think your new friends will help Starlight?” asked Twilight, playing idly with the blanket beneath them.

“I don’t know,” Gloomy said, looking at Twilight again, but avoiding her eyes. “They’ll help you on Watcher’s word. But Starlight… I don’t know if Watcher will support her. I mean she is Daybreaker’s student, or was at least. And honestly she seems unhinged.”

“But didn’t Celestia and Luna make up?” asked Twilight, looking back at him. “Celestia’s murder enraged Luna.”

“Agreeing with someone and not wanting them murdered are far removed,” said Gloomy. Twilight supposed he had a point.

“One of the other timelines I went through was one where Nightmare Moon was victorious,” sighed Twilight. “Where she’d never turned away from her goal of eternal night.”

“Really?” Gloomy asked, suddenly excited. “What was it like? It must have been amazing!”

“What?” Twilight froze, looking at him with wide eyes. “Wait. You want eternal night? But what about your new friends?”

“They want it too, of course, that’s one reason I joined so easily,” Gloomy seemed confused. “Don’t you? You're a good version of Midnight, right? I assumed that meant you never betrayed your Nightmare’s goals.”

“But you can’t just do that!” Twilight tried to stay calm, but the information hit her too suddenly. In hindsight, she should have confirmed this beforehoof.

“Why not?” asked Gloomy. “What’s wrong with it?”

“Well how will plants grow?” asked Twilight. “Crops! Warmth!”

“What?” Gloomy shook his head. “Was that a problem in the timeline you went to? Nightmare said she could move the Sun to take advantage of the warmth while still blocking out the visible light with a magical filter.”

“Well, no, it wasn’t a problem,” Twilight took a deep breath and calmed down. “It was warm, come to think of it. And the plants in the Everfree still grew...”

“Were ponies miserable?” Gloomy tilted his head.

“Well, I didn’t see enough ponies to judge that,” said Twilight. “The ones I saw were a little cross, though I guess also loyal to her.”

Twilight had never thought of it that way. Other than wanting eternal night, was there a significant difference between how Celestia and Nightmare Moon would rule? There had to be; the Nightmare Force that possessed Luna couldn’t have anything good in mind, yet Twilight had no proof to offer.

“She banished Celestia to the Moon though,” pointed out Twilight.

“Do I even have to point out why that would be justified?” asked Gloomy, his tone taking an annoyed edge, slowly working its way towards shouting. “We’re not talking about good versus evil; this was just politics. Besides, look around! Even if Daybreaker didn’t fire those CMEs, she created and used them in war. Nightmare kept mega-spells on hoof as a deterrent, but when the time came, she refused to order a mega-spell strike, even in retaliation. The NLR missiles would have never fired without Midnight.”

Gloomy looked very upset now, and Twilight leaned back to avoid spittle as he spoke. Twilight knew Nightmare had been wrong, but didn’t have evidence that Gloomy would accept. At the very least, it was clear that this Nightmare wasn’t Midnight-level evil, or even Daybreaker-level evil if what Gloomy said was true.

Twilight didn’t know what to say. She also wasn’t sure why him being angry at her was so upsetting. She felt close to tears.

“Fine,” Twilight shook her head. “It’s not my intent to antagonize you, and I never said Nightmare Moon was vile enough to use mega-spells. I’m just saying life is a balance, dark requires light as much as light requires darkness. I’m sure they were both wrong in their own way, here at least.”

“Right, sorry,” Gloomy sighed, glancing over to where Spike lay wrapped in his burial cloth nearby. “I shouldn’t be arguing with you at a time like this. I just got angry because I hoped we… and to find out you… never mind.”

“I don’t blame you,” Twilight said. “And I understand if you have to report this to Watcher. Let’s just… we’ll let it go for now.”

Twilight looked to where Gloomy did, and for a moment she stared at Spike’s still, wrapped form. Gloomy reached a hoof out but looked afraid to put it on her shoulder, so Twilight leaned instead, touching her shoulder to his hoof.

Gloomy wasn’t a bad pony, but it never occurred to Twilight that good ponies might believe in what Twilight thought to be evil. Recent events showed Twilight the horrible things that could be done by ponies that believed they were the ‘good guys’. Even Midnight might believe herself to be right in her own twisted way.

Twilight hadn’t been able to successfully deal with her Starlight, a single pony that thought she was right. So how could Twilight untangle a mess like this where many destructive factionslal believed they were in the right?

“Let’s go put him to rest,” Twilight sighed. “Then whatever the right thing to do is, I’ll find it and make sure it’s done in his name.”

POV: Mercury Shine
Holder

For Mercury, keeping Crimson under control was quite a task. It seemed like every five minutes she had to stop her from doing something horrible. Don’t push elderly stallions down stairs Crimson… don’t threaten to eat colts Crimson… don’t lick glowing rocks Crimson… it was always something.

Perhaps the loss of her book was why Crimson acted like a foal that hated her foal-sitter. Being apart from it affected Crimson. She shivered, sweated profusely, and walked with a slight stagger. If Mercury didn’t know what caused it, she’d have thought Crimson was withdrawing from heavy chems.

Mercury was patient with Crimson because of this; she honestly felt sorry for her. And she could at least trust Crimson to help find Tranquil, even if for the wrong reasons. Though after waiting at Cola’s stall for an hour, it seemed like he might not come that day. They found his brother Bottle Cap instead at another nearby stall.

“He’s normally here at this time,” Bottle Cap said. “I think he might be taking the day off though. He does it sometimes; it’s not a big deal.”

“Was him trying to kill you a big deal?” asked Crimson. “I regretted missing out on that when I heard.”

“We’ve… come to an understanding,” smiled Bottle Cap. “We’ve made a password, something we came up with as colts that a changeling wouldn’t know. It’s a little annoying whispering it at him every time we meet, but it works.”

“Time to go to his house, I guess,” said Crimson. “I swear if he killed her…”

“Killed who?” Bottle Cap head-tilted. “You mean the Melody sisters? Yeah Olivia was asking Cola about them as I was leaving for my stall. He went to find them and I haven’t seen him since.”

“They’re our friends,” said Mercury. “From the same Stable as us.”

“Oh?” Bottle Cap asked but smiled. “Haven’t seen them since last night. I wouldn’t worry about Cola though. I don’t think he’d harm them with no reason to believe they were changelings.”

Though if he pulled a gun on Bottle Cap earlier, his standards of suspicion probably weren’t that high. They definitely needed to find them soon.

“Think he might be avoiding us?” asked Mercury. “He might think we’re changelings, and that might be why he hasn’t come to his stall. Maybe you could give the Melodies a message that Mercury, Solar, and Crimson would like to find them?”

“Sure,” said Bottle Cap. “Already promised to do that for Olivia. If he’s not here by lunch break, I’ll head over to our quarters in Stable 11 again to check.”

“They were really staying there with you?” asked Mercury.

“Not many places that pegasi can stay without being harassed, sadly,” nodded Bottle Cap. “We shared his bedroom and let them share mine until they could make enough money to rent a room, so maybe that’s what they did. They’re good ponies and hard workers.”

“That’s very decent of you,” smiled Mercury.

“Did either of you buck Tranquil?” asked Crimson out of nowhere. “I need to know if I should kill you.”

“What?” asked Bottle Cap in confusion, then shook his head. “Oh no, she said she didn’t like stallions like that. Though Peaceful was very affectionate so we both um… anyway, odd how twins can be so different.”

Based on what Twilight had told her about changelings feeding on love, Mercury supposed it made sense that they’d be easy.

“Tranquil doesn’t just not like stallions ‘like that’,” Crimson growled. “She doesn’t like them at all.”

“Crimson, let’s not make trouble, please,” Mercury patted her shoulder, then pulled it away when Crimson peered at her.

“Speaking of affection, can we get whores while we wait?” sighed Crimson at Mercury. “I’m getting jittery.”

Crimson probably didn’t like that they were talking to a stallion at all. Crimson wouldn’t normally accept help from a male and it peeved her that Tranquil had done just that. Mercury hoped she got used to the idea; contrary to what Crimson told the stable, it appeared half the world was composed of them.

“You two go relax,” nodded Bottle Cap. “Believe me, you got nothing to worry about.”

“I’m sure we don’t,” Mercury smiled.

“You two sound like each other,” Crimson commented. “Surprising somepony that grew up out here would be as naïve as somepony that never went outside.”

Crimson wasn’t wrong. Mercury had trusted Crimson too much in the past, but this was different. It wasn’t like these guys were serial killers pretending to be merchants or something. It seemed Crimson gave up trying to convince Mercury, though, as she turned and walked away without more discussion.

“Crimson, please,” Mercury turned and followed her. “I think we’re panicking about nothing.”

“I can’t help it!” Crimson said as she kept walking. “This all feels weird.”

“Weird?” asked Mercury. “Because Starlight took your book?”

“It’s a Crimoire, but no, nothing to do with that,” Crimson shook her head. “It’s been happening more and more since Totally-Clover-And-Not-Not-Midnight started traveling with us. The bitch got in my head and now I feel weird about Tranquil running off without me. What if she’s hiding now because she’s scared of me?”

“You feel… guilty?” Mercury asked. She started to tell Crimson it wasn’t her fault, but stopped short since she knew it was. It was good that Crimson recognized that at least.

“Shut up,” snapped Crimson. “Let’s go get a whore. I haven’t had one since before everything exploded.”

“But we had spa mares at Stable 27,” said Mercury.

“But those didn’t cost money,” Crimson said. “That’s the one problem of having a happy moneyless society where everypony gets what they need including free relaxation. No real prostitutes!”

“Well I guess I could use some relaxation too,” nodded Mercury. “But didn’t Starlight tell us to wait?”

“I’m not waiting,” Crimson glared at her. “You can go watch for Kyo to get back if you want to be useful, you’ll probably do something perverted like ordering a stallion if you go to the brothel.”

“Fine,” nodded Mercury. “I’ll wait at the gate for Kyo and check on the market from time to time.”