Fallout Equestria: The Ashlands Timeline

Date: Monday 11/7/2287
POV: Chrysalis
The Ashlands

Chrysalis was more helpful than Twilight expected. Thanks to her helping to locate a larger military-grade wagon for them, they were able to get more than just Dinky’s research. They also looked at the shield nodes around Canterlot that had been used during the final battle, and managed to load one of them into the wagon to take back too. It was large, barely able to fit its diameter in the wagon and three hoofsteps tall, but they’d be able to get it back if they all pulled the wagon together.

Otherwise traveling was… interesting. It had been a while since Chrysalis traveled by conventional means through the Ashlands. Seeing the world she helped burn down filled her with a strange mixture of pride and regret.

It surprised Chrysalis they trusted her enough to let her take a turn as the watch as they slept. Though they probably knew if she wanted to kill them in their sleep, she wouldn’t have bothered doing all that other stuff.

Or maybe they didn’t, as the two looked to have trouble sleeping. Gloomy stared wide-eyed at her from his sleeping bag like she was the boogeymare and Twilight didn’t seem much more relaxed.

“Should I sing you a lullaby?” Chrysalis offered helpfully.

“You should shut up,” Gloomy said. That may have meant he didn’t accept her offer.

“Aw,” Chrysalis mocked. “Am I… bugging you?”

“Oh my Celestia,” sighed Twilight. “Chrysalis. Part of keeping watch is letting the ponies you are watching over sleep. And please don’t add ‘bad puns’ to your list of war crimes.”

“Is that what I was supposed to do?” asked Chrysalis. “I can seal you in cocoons if that would help. They’re very comfortable. Just ask Nightmare.”

“Who are you?” Gloomy asked out of nowhere.

“A very bad bug with atrocious fashion sense, apparently,” Chrysalis giggled.

“No, I mean who are you pretending to be?” asked Gloomy. “Not here, in Statera. You’ve befriended one of our members and they don’t even know it. You might even be one of our members. How else could you know the things you knew?”

“Is that true, Chrysalis?” Twilight asked. She used the same tone as a scolding mother.

“Oh you have no idea, batty boy,” Chrysalis shook her head. “Maybe I’m a friend to all of them. I do have a wide range of acting skills.”

“Let it go for now, Gloomy,” Twilight sighed. “She’ll only enjoy further conversation. Let’s rest.”

“Yes, rest,” agreed Chrysalis. “Inside her. When are you two going to buck already? Just because I’m malnourished doesn't mean I don't want to snack on some love.”

“Shut up, Chrysalis,” Twilight growled, zipping her sleeping bag over her head so she wouldn’t see the intense blush. Chrysalis didn't need to see it; she felt it.

“I-I… that’s right, shriek off,” Gloomy stammered as he zipped up his own. His blush was even more intense; he had it bad for Twilight.

Chrysalis smirked. She gave them a few minutes to doze, but she wasn’t ready to give up yet.

Ten minutes later, she walked over to their zipped sleeping bags. Her greenish magic reflected over the camp site as she cast a simple sleeping spell on Gloomy to make sure he didn’t wake. She unzipped his bag and floated him out of the way behind a nearby rocky outcropping. With a burst of green magic, she took his form.

“Twilight?” Gloomy-Chryssie’s voice pulled Twilight from her sleep, not that she’d had much time to get into a very deep one.

“Huh?” Twilight unzipped her sleeping bag and peeked out to see ‘him’ crouched next to her bag.

“Uh, hey,” Gloomy blushed up a storm. “I was wondering… if it’d be okay… if I slept in your bag with you?... Only if you want!”

“Oh um, I guess so,” Twilight said. “Are you cold?”

“Uh, no,” Gloomy blushed more.

“D-did you want to cuddle or something?” Twilight blushed too.

“More than just cuddle, maybe?” he said, then held his breath as he waited for the answer.

“A-are you asking me to… um…” Twilight stammered.

“Is it bad if I am?” Gloomy looked away.

“Well no,” Twilight looked away too. “It’s not even like I mind the idea but… I don’t want Chrysalis hovering over us.”

She must have been tired, because only then did it seem to occur to Twilight. It surprised Chrysalis it took so long.

“So um,” Twilight peered at him. “I don’t suppose you remember what my free order was at the PUB, do you?”

“Y-you mean Daybreaker?” asked Gloomy-Chryssie. It was a good thing she’d pushed for Gloomy to give such detailed reports to Statera, and what she didn’t know was easy to assume. “Well, the first try, they accidentally gave you Daybreaker when you wanted the old Celestia. Then the second time we went in, they got it right, a male version…while I finally indulged in a Nightmare clone… but kind of regretted not doing you um… directly.”

“Ah, she definitely wouldn’t know all that,” Twilight blushed even more than him. “Well, still Chrysalis is hovering over us, I don’t want her to taunt us the rest of the way to be honest.”

A predictable answer. And Chrysalis had a predictable solution.

“Well, um,” Gloomy nodded in understanding. “How about this? We’ll wait until her watch is over. When she wakes me up for my turn to guard, I’ll wake you up and we can… you know… while she sleeps?”

“Well um,” Twilight took a deep breath and paused as her mind chewed on the options. “S-sure, just… no guarantee on how far I’ll go, okay?”

“O-of course, no problem,” Gloomy smiled.

“Well okay, goodnight,” Twilight blushed more and closed her sleeping bag.

As soon as she zipped herself back in her bag, Chrysalis cast the same sleep spell on Twilight, an outline of her horn glowing above her. It took a good deal more energy to force an alicorn to sleep, but once she was, Chrysalis transformed into Twilight’s form, the broken horn and all. She unzipped Twilight’s bag, then floated her sleeping form over to where she’d hidden Gloomy. She floated Gloomy back into his bag before zipping him up and nullifying the sleep spell.

Twilight-Chryssie tried not to smirk as she prodded Gloomy’s sleeping bag with a hoof. Gloomy groaned as he woke, unzipping his bag and peeking out.

“Twilight?” Gloomy asked. “Is something wrong?”

“Oh no, nothing is ‘wrong’ per se,” Twilight said with a nervous chuckle and blush, scratching her mane with a hoof. “I was just wondering… I mean… if I could join you in your bag?”

Gloomy stared at her as if his mind just broke, then his expression changed to suspicion. He’d caught on much faster, but then he had the mind of a soldier.

“No offense, but I’m going to ask you a question now,” Gloomy said. “Where were we when Watcher first revealed who she was to you?”

“Ah,” Twilight nodded. “No problem, I understand. We were on the wagon to Holder. Watcher mentioned not trusting someone, and at first you feared she meant you, but it turned out she meant Dyo.”

“Ah yeah,” chuckled Gloomy. “The only ones that should know that are me and base.” He paused, probably realizing the obvious flaw in that logic when dealing with the potential of changeling spies in Statera. “How about this? Where were we when you first pointed out my cutie mark? I told you I was embarrassed by it being Midnight’s mark with a shield, but you pointed out it could mean something different.”

Hm, she didn’t know this one. She had to logic it out a bit, but couldn’t take too long or it’d invite suspicion. As a fairly high ranking soldier of Midnight’s, he’d have been trained to detect mind invasion, so she’d take a guess.

“It was about the same time,” Twilight sounded confident.

“And?” Gloomy asked.

The mark… what else could it mean. It was Midnight’s star and… what was she missing? Aha! The little stars!

“Well it’s actually my mark with a shield over it,” Twilight said. “Because of the five smaller stars around it.”

“Holy crap, it is,” Gloomy’s eyes grew wide as if just putting that together. Uh-oh. That meant she had given him another explanation.

“Oh wait, that’s what I thought about it being,” Twilight back-tracked. “But I said it could symbolize…” Processing. “… you protecting others from Midnight.” That was the only other possibility she came up with.

“Yeah, that’s what you said,” Gloomy nodded. “Why didn’t you tell me the other thing before?”

“Well um,” Twilight blushed. “I didn’t want to make you suspect I was trying to… you know… pull one over on you.”

“I g-guess that makes sense,” Gloomy said. “So uh, you really want to… screw?”

“Yeah, I do,” Twilight blushed and wilted her ears. “Is that bad? I’m sorta self-conscious about asking...”

“No, of course not!” Gloomy said. “It’s just that… I’d rather not do it with Chrysalis on watch.”

So predictable.

“That makes sense I guess,” sighed Twilight. “How about this? When she wakes you up for your turn at guarding, wake me up, then while she sleeps, we can… you know… play?”

“S-sure,” Gloomy nodded more enthusiastically than he probably intended. “I-I’ll look forward to it.”

Gloomy zipped up his bag again and she could hear him breathing heavily beneath it. Chrysalis waited a few minutes before re-casting the sleep spell on him, keeping him under while she moved Twilight back into her own sleeping bag. She would let the sleep spells wear off over the next few hours, then wake up Gloomy for his shift before pretending to sleep herself.

This would be so delicious. She hadn’t even had to break her promise to Watcher to not fuck with their minds.

Date: Monday 11/9/2287
POV: Maud Pie
Holder

Maud intended to leave Dyo's head to rot, but all she could think about on the way back was that she’d murdered little Custard’s two closest family members. Her guilt got the best of her, and she stopped to retrieve it before returning to Holder. It wasn’t a pleasant sight, but didn’t smell too bad after a few spells from Starlight.

Now she sat in the Holder graveyard, staring down at Kyo and Dyo’s graves. It had been a touching ceremony, well-attended despite its suddenness, even if very few there cared about Dyo after what he did. The town was in a state of shock from losing their fairly new rock sovereign after so much else.

But none were more devastated than the filly that now sat next to the Maud, staring down at the graves with her.

“T-they wouldn’t even let me see her before her...p-processing,” Custard whimpered.

“You did not want to see her like that, little one,” Maud tried her best to sound kind, but she was horse apples at this.

Especially when it was her fault. She disgusted herself, comforting the filly that did not even know her comforter was the one who murdered her mother. It made it worse that Custard never once blamed Maud for not protecting Kyo. She forgave Maud for her failing without question, but would she have if she knew what really happened?

But Maud could not let her know. She could not destroy what little faith Custard had left in the world around her. That would be beyond cruel.

“I-I don’t want to replace her,” Custard shook her head. “I don’t want to lead anything, I just wanted everyone to be safe.”

“By leading, you will keep everyone safe,” Maud said. “I have no doubt you are more capable at this than I. I will ensure you are cared for until you are ready to take that mantle.”

“Yeah, I know,” Custard said, drying her eyes. “I trust you.” Those words stung more than anything. It was a good thing in this case that Maud had so much trouble expressing emotion. “But until then, Starlight is in control. I-I don’t mean to… I just… I don’t like her.”

“She is not truly in charge of Holder, you are,” said Maud. “As for Equestria as a whole, Limestone has the better claim for… various reasons, and is more than capable of dethroning her strategically without causing too much damage.”

“O-okay,” Custard nodded.

‘Maud,’ Starlight’s voice flashed into her head over the PCB. ‘Solar is close to repairing the pulse barding and we can’t wait longer. We have to leave now so we can get there by tonight and hope she can fix it on the way.’

‘Affirmative,’ Maud replied, then looked to Custard. “I have to go now. I will be back soon.”

“Please don’t die,” Custard’s trembling voice devolved to sobbing. “What will I do if you die too?”

“I will not fail you again, little one,” Maud hugged the filly, then turned to leave her by the grave.

Date: Tuesday 11/10/2287

“Here we go,” Solar said nervously as Starlight pieced the last part of the armor onto Maud. “I hope this works this time… for my sake.”

Nopony wanted to face Maud if this did not work. That stung hard when it came from a pony that Maud wanted to like her.

Maud didn’t bother answering, simply galloping as soon as she could activate the stealth. She traveled light for speed, not even bringing Mite. Taking a few seconds too long could mean the loss of her sister and friend.

When she went through the shield, she left one hoof from the suit against the opening that the bypass made to keep it open. It’d let her still use the PCB, and she could always expand the field to hide her bare hoof.

After confirming through the PCB that Limestone was uninjured but going into the arena now, Maud’s heart thumped in her chest so loud it almost drowned out the world around her.

‘We must hurry!’ Pinkie’s gem said. ‘Our sister raised many death flags in our contact last night! We have no time to waste!’

‘Do you think she doesn’t know that?’ Boulder asked. ‘Don’t worry, Maud. You’ll rock this.’

Maud ran past the guards, resisting the urge to snap their necks. They looked around in confusion when Maud kicked the front doors open into the lobby, but only looked. Smarter guards would have sounded the alarm anyway, but these did not.

As she ran through, there was cheering from the back of the hotel, no doubt their perverse games were underway. She wanted to gallop to make sure Limestone was okay, but resisted the urge and kept going.

She opened the door to the stairs down more quietly. They had set up their machinery in the basement. It looked to be where both their power generators and shield control panel were. It was a foalish but fortunate place they had chosen.

Maud ran past them to the locked gate at the back. She skidded to a stop and could already hear the low groan of agitated ferals pressed up against the other side.

‘Opening the gate now,’ Maud sent to Limestone as she deactivated the door lock from inside. It didn’t budge at first, so she turned around and slammed her hind hooves into it as hard as she could.

When it flew open, Maud moved to the side and the ghouls didn’t even notice her. They focused their eyes on the panic-stricken ponies on the outside the door.

The guards that had guns didn’t have time to draw them. A wave of undeath slammed into them like a freight train, their screams lasting only a moment.

As they rushed up the stairs and into the lobby with uncommon aggression, Maud wondered if Gilda had hyped them up on chems, assuming there were chems that worked on them. The rush was followed by more screams of well-deserved agony up there.

‘Uh-oh,’ said Boulder. ‘If all these guards’ friends get killed, who’s gonna barium?’

“This is not the time for rock puns, Boulder!” Maud said.

‘It is always the time for punning rocks!’ Pinkie’s gem claimed. ‘Yes.’

“Nothing like watching a bunch of smoothflanks get what’s coming to them, yeah?” Gilda’s voice chuckled from behind her as she followed the ferals out. “I assume you’re here, Sandmare? You took down that door like it’d murdered your entire extended family.”

“Where’s your other dociles?” Maud told Gilda as she turned to run up the stairs. “Whatever. Get the shield down.”

“They’ll join the ‘rescue’ force once I do just that,” Gilda answered, though her voice didn’t ring with confidence. “We gotta make a good first impression after all.”

The guards were sparse throughout the building, and couldn’t have been less prepared as they faced the hoard. They relied on the shield and never expected to have to fight a real battle inside it. Most residents fled towards the upper levels.

Maud streaked into the back to find a wave of ponies trying to escape the arena, then trying to re-escape to it once they realized a hoard of ferals was between them and all passages upstairs. Limestone had them all on the run by herself, as she should have expected. Once she had Limestone in tow, they raced back towards the basement.

Maud led her out of the center and towards the basement stairs. A few unwise ones tried to pile into the elevator. Ferals rushed in after them, turning the elevator into a death trap like everything else. The elevator doors shut and took the ferals to whatever floor the ponies had been going to for safety.

‘Looks like these ponies shouldn’t have taken things for granite,’ commented Boulder. Maud ignored his puns for now.

Gilda was still at the control panel, looking more than a little confused as she flicked several switches back and forth. Not that Maud could fault her; she knew even less about this than Gilda.

“Well look who it is,” Gilda smirked as Limestone stepped out of the stealth field and towards the panel. “They didn’t tell me you were a glower, General, lucky bitch. I wouldn’t mind a piece of your plot later if your smoothflank sister is okay with being left out.”

“I will end you, Gilda,” Maud’s growled. She wasn’t joking even a little; Limestone was hers tonight.

“Fine,” Gilda rolled her eyes. “Party pooper. Anyway, I think I figured this out. The oscillator relay is here.” She tapped several switches on one side. “I flipped them off, but they charged back up and turned on again.”

“You’re impatient,” Limestone said. “Give each stage enough time to charge down before flipping the next one off or it reverses the polarity.”

Limestone flicked off the first switch. A gauge above it tapered downward as power drained.

“Oh,” Gilda sounded sheepish, but smirked. “Well, not the first time I’ve been called an impatient bitch. You sure you don't want to get busy later?”

“Gilda,” Maud warned again.

“Calm down, sis,” chuckled Limestone as she flicked off the second switch. “She’s only bucking with us figuratively.”

“Calm your tits, Maud,” Gilda smirked. “This is just like old times, yeah? There weren’t many old times between the three of us, but this is still like them. I’m nostalgic as shit right now.”

“I’m just glad this is over,” Limestone sighed. She reached for the third switch and…

Maud watched in horror as a burst of green plasma slammed Limestone’s plot like Pinkie on a Friday night, before several more frantic shots tore into the control panel. Maud would have torn off her head to save her, but there was no time, as the melting effect would be on Limestone’s shoulders in seconds, and Maud knew from Spitfire and Zane that taking off a glowing one’s head wasn’t easy, especially without Mite...which she had neglected to bring. Limestone gave her an apologetic look as she slumped to the floor.

Maud wanted to scream and despair, but locked the feelings away as she forced herself to stay in combat mode. Thinking quickly, she grabbed hold of Limestone’s soul gem and yanked it free of her neck before it too was gone, and saw her sister’s eyes close with a look of contentment. She tried not to look at Limestone’s head boiling into the pile of green sludge as she slipped the soul crystal into her gem bag.

First Maud shoved Gilda out of the way an instant before the assailant fired at her. She then turned to look to see who had sealed their own violent demise. It was a clean pony wearing a fancy red suit and bow tie. From the depictions she’d seen in Holder, this was Jacob Timothy Atticus, the one that planned to murder her sister. And now he had succeeded, temporarily at least.

“Die, you nasty freaks!” Timothy yelled as he pointed the plasma rifle back towards Gilda.

But he was not fast enough. Before he could pull the trigger again, Maud yanked the rifle away from him and threw it across the basement. His look of confusion only grew when Maud appeared in front of him.

“Y-you! You let them in!” Jacob screamed as if his accusation would cause her an ounce of guilt. “You’ve murdered hundreds of innocents with your monsters!”

“No,” Maud growled. “You had never met a real monster before this moment.”

Maud had never seen a purer ‘I am so bucked’ expression on a pony’s face. She savored the terror in his eyes as she grabbed a hold of the leg that had held the rifle. Without effort, she snapped it at the knee and twisted it.

Her combat training in pony anatomy paid off. As Jacob screamed in abject horror, she broke every bone she could without killing him. Every leg, every joint, every rib gave with ease. She rolled him onto his back, kneeing his groin and crushing his favorite parts as she snapped even his pelvis clean into two.

“Breaker’s hard-boiled nuts, dude…” Gilda swore, gasping but letting Maud have her vengeance without attempting to stop her.

Maud was barely aware of Gilda, but she had retrieved Limestone’s pipbuck before it melted with the rest of her. The griffon retrieved the plasma rifle Maud had thrown, blasting a feral that had wandered down the stairs and seen Maud. She then stood there on guard, letting Maud do her thing.

Leaving Timothy still groaning in torment, Maud let him drop to the floor and left him. She looked over at Gilda.

“I’m really sorry, Maud,” Gilda sounded sincere if frightened. “She didn’t deserve that… y-you still know who I am, right? I’m on your side.”

“Give me that,” Maud said, holding out her hoof to Gilda.

Gilda nodded and handed the plasma rifle to Maud. Maud looked again at the terrified and broken pony on the floor.

“Now I will show every breather in this tower what a real monster is,” Maud said to Jacob. “And if I find anypony that even looks related to you, I will buck them with the rifle that killed my sister and give them a karmic plasma enema. So congratulations, you will go down in history as the leader responsible for letting this happen.”

“No…” Jacob said as blood bubbled from his muzzle. “Kill me first at least… put me out of my misery…”

Maud glared at him once more and turned to go, leaving him. If she had done her work well, it would take at least several hours for him to die.

“Make sure no one shortens his suffering,” Maud told Gilda as she left up the stairs. “And nothing to dull the pain.”

“You got it,” Gilda answered in a hollow voice. She would not dare disobey Maud in her current state.

Maud reactivated her stealth field as she headed back into the lobby. She shut the basement door so no ferals would return, pulling a couch from the lobby to help block it off. She then turned towards the front.

Looking out the front, she saw the shield flicker. The shutdown had not completed and the panel had been blasted, but it wouldn’t stay up for more than a few minutes. She headed first to the gate.

From there, it was all a blur of seething rage. She let nothing living survive and left the front guard point a tomb of blood and green goo.

‘Maud,’ Starlight’s voice came in clear through the PCB. She had seen Maud clear out the front gate. ‘Good work. It’s taking a while for the shield to fail, but if you open the entrance, we won’t have to wait.’

‘Shut the buck up, you may very well be next,’ Maud replied.

‘What just happened?’ asked Mercury over the PCB.

‘Do not fear, Mercury,’ Maud told her. ‘You and your friends are not a target.’

‘I think Limestone is dead,’ Starlight answered Mercury. It was not hard to figure out. ‘Maud, I’m sorry, but you know I wanted her rescued as much as…’

Maud ripped off her pipbuck and tossed it on the ground, cutting off their voices from within her head. Voices from her gem pouch spoke too, but she did not register what they said. She was now lost in unyielding rage.

First she smashed the door to the stairs up open. She then deactivated her stealth and ran a lap through the lower floor. Once the crowd of ferals were after her, she led them into the stairwell and disappeared once again.

She went through the second floor. Ponies she could get close to she broke. Ponies she couldn’t she blasted into green flakes. Sometimes she just kicked open the locked doors of residences and allowed ferals to stream in, listening to the screams of the inhabitants as she continued to the next room.

She didn’t care who they were. Stallions, mares, foals, it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered. Every semblance of balance was lost, and now everypony in this den of fiends would pay for her sister’s death.

Maud found a door marked ‘school’, and heard whimpering foals inside, but their fear meant nothing in her current state. She prepared to kick it down as well.

“Maud stop!” a voice screamed behind her. “Limestone wouldn’t want this.”

Maud turned, ready to smash whoever dared get between her and her prey, only to stop short when she saw Dinky. Dinky couldn’t see her, but she must have seen the last door kicked open and knew she was there. Maud’s vision blurred as she tried to make out everything the little foal said.

“Limestone told me to take care of you, Maud!” Dinky screamed. “She made me promise that if she died that I would protect you! That I’d be there to center you! Don’t make me a liar, please Maud!”

Maud shook her head, tears streaming down her face as all thought devolved into noise and she collapsed on the floor, the stealth field vanishing. Her vision faded as she heard Dinky bang on the school door and call to be let in. The door opened, and to their credit they let the docile inside. Dinky dragged Maud inside too, shutting the door again to bar the ferals encroaching from the hallway. She then felt Dinky hugging her head as she lost consciousness.

When Maud woke again, she was lying on a soft mattress. She stirred and found all four legs bound to her hospital bed. With steel chains no less; they weren’t taking any chances. It surprised her that Starlight kept her alive at all as much of a threat as she was.

From what she could tell, she was in a room at Tenwhinney Tower. It was just a normal room, not a medical facility, but that was probably full of ponies with ghoulish injuries.

Maud looked around, seeing Mercury sitting there beside her. Mercury jerked when Maud stirred, looking at her with a mix of fear and sincere concern.

“Did I kill somepony you cared about?” Maud asked. Her memory was foggy on the matter.

“No,” said Mercury. “You… did kill some pretty young ponies, though.”

“I do not care,” Maud lied.

“I do,” Mercury showed bravery to even reply. She had grown up out here.

“Somepony has to, I suppose,” Maud sighed.

“Maud,” Dinky said from the other side of the bed. “Stop pretending to be a sociopath. You're not fooling anypony.”

Maud turned as Dinky’s chilly hoof lay atop her own. Dinky's expression seemed neutral, but it felt like she had to put effort into keeping it that way. Maud’s burned with shame.

“Am I that bad at it?” Maud asked.

“You’re pretty lousy at it, yeah,” Dinky nodded.

“Mercury,” Maud turned back to her. “Unbind me.”

“I-I should get authorization first,” Mercury stammered.

“Do you fear me?” Maud asked.

“You know it isn’t just this that terrifies me about you,” Mercury said, but was nice enough not to go into detail in front of Dinky.

“Those that loved me are gone,” Maud said. “Now I am left with those that fear me. And Crimson. This is my just reward.”

“No,” Dinky said, patting her hoof again. “I’m here, I won’t forget my promise to your sister.”

Maud only vaguely remembered the part of her episode where Dinky told her about the promise, but it wasn't hard to figure out what it was even without. Mercury slipped out as Maud lay quiet, having words with a few ponies in the hall.

Starlight entered next, hind legs propped on a small cart in a makeshift walker while they continued to heal. She was followed behind by Mercury and Solar. The other two stayed behind with wilted ears as Starlight approached. It was like she expected Maud to tear out of the bed at any second and end her. Maud wasn’t certain if she wanted to or not.

“Maud,” Starlight said, gauging every word. “Please believe you have my sincere condolences. I swear we will find you a soul recycler and bring them back.”

Maud stared at her.

“Maud?” Starlight asked.

“I am still deciding,” Maud answered.

“On what?” asked Starlight.

“If I will kill you,” Maud answered.

“What do you think Limestone would do?” Starlight asked. It was an unfair question, yet she had a point.

‘She shouldn’t be in charge,’ Limestone’s gem said. ‘But taking her out now won’t help. There are more strategic ways of doing this.’

Maud turned to the table next to her. Atop it sat her rock pouch, with Boulder and two shining soul gems laying atop it, with a third smaller pouch that contained the fragments of Marble’s gem. Someone had polished Limestone's as much as Maud had Pinkie's, but that made them look exactly the same. They thought to color code them though, sticky pink and green ribbons setting them apart.

“Maud?” asked Starlight.

“Enough with your pretend empathy,” Maud said. “I will not kill you, but never think I do not despise you. I will help you if it helps bring back the Equestria my sisters loved.”

“Fair enough,” Starlight nodded. She might have wanted to get rid of Maud at this point, but she wouldn’t dare do so with the influence Maud could have over her in Holder.

“She back on her hooves?” Gilda asked as she entered next. “Or at least sane?”

“How long did he last?” Maud turned to Gilda.

“Until just a few minutes ago, so about eight hours,” said Gilda. “Mercury kept him alive as long as she could, but it was inevitable. I didn't let her use pain-killing agents or show him mercy.”

“Thank you, compatriot,” Maud said.

She could not have been more sincere. Maud nodded to Mercury as well, but Mercury didn't want to make eye contact. The fact that Mercury had even thought to show him mercy meant she'd grown. Maud felt ashamed since she was the one who taught Mercury to show that kind of mercy to begin with.

“Regardless,” said Gilda. “Tenwhinney is under our protection. Starlight helped spin it to put the blame on Jacob, saying he unlocked the subway entrance with the intent of sending a mission to get more ferals, and forgot to lock it again, and a wandering group of them got in that way. Only a few that would know different to contradict us survived, but they were all conveniently murdered by a ghoul we somehow missed in our first sweep.”

Maud was sure that the convenient ghoul was Gilda, but had no problem with that.

“All the worst residents were at the arena to watch the match,” said Starlight. “The stands weren’t full because many residents were boycotting the match, apparently there’s been a political movement against their treatment of ghouls for some time, we just didn’t know because sprite-bots can’t get in here to report it to the news I guess. Perhaps they were less sheltered than we thought.”

“So mostly deserving residents died,” said Gilda. “The few left will be afraid to counter-protest my dociles moving in. I told you it was a good plan.”

“What about the foals that were brought by their parents?” asked Mercury. “Did they deserve to die?”

“I'll call it natural selection,” shrugged Gilda, showing remarkable heartlessness towards living ponies, as if they were less than ferals to her. “Besides, a lot of those were able to fit in small areas and hide, so we saved a good many of them.”

“Yeah, I suggested a few hiding places on my way to Maud.” Dinky growled. “News of it made me surprisingly popular with some residents, uncomfortably so to be honest. You could at least pretend to be disappointed at the ones that died though.”

‘It wasn't like Gilda knew it'd work out so well,’ commented Limestone’s gem.

‘The catbutt gives herself too much credit,’ agreed Pinkie. ‘Yes.’

“No one saw me and lived?” asked Maud.

“I don’t think anyone saw you attacking due to the stealth,” said Dinky. “And the room I dragged you into just thought I was taking a member of the rescue team to safety after you passed out, and seeing a docile ghoul save a pony, even one they didn’t know, probably wasn’t a bad thing.”

“Honestly with your reputation here,” said Starlight. “I’m tempted to appoint you leader. I hope the good impression you made on the foals and others she saved during the incident transfers to Gilda.”

“Lucky you,” Gilda chuckled at Dinky. “No doubt I’m going to hate this kind of responsibility, but I’ll be fair to the breathers too, I’ll even catch a few sprite-bots to put in here to show it. If for no other reason, I want some good reporting on dociles in the news.”

“And um,” Solar spoke up, though still more reserved than her usual self. “They have a lot of spare components for their shield. Combined with what we’ve found in the armory at Holder, I think I can whip up a shield for Holder too. I think we can also set up amplifiers so we can communicate between the settlements better. It'll be a lot of work, but worth it!”

“I can help with that,” said Dinky. “I had a thing for shields and studied them whenever I was too depressed to study other things, and I’ll hammer on Kami a bit if she still needs help.” She sighed. “Maybe once that’s done, I can continue my studies of ferals using the better equipment I have access to here. I… may have taken a liking to one of the captive ferals and it has made me think about that again.”

“Don’t know when you’ll be done sadly,” chuckled Solar awkwardly. “I could actually use your help with Kami’s wings trying to…”

“... kill everyone?” Dinky finished, apparently having theorized that exact issue. “I thought they might, but I think I can fix that. And I’ll need your knowledge on power systems for the shield as well.”

“Thank you, Solar, Dinky,” Maud said.

“I’m sorry I didn’t finish the pulse barding sooner,” Solar peeped and wilted more.

“Not your fault,” Maud said. “You are a loyal ally and friend.”

“Thanks,” nodded Solar, but flinched again anyway.

“What about the remaining ferals?” Maud asked. “You said you did a sweep. Does that imply you put them down?”

“We did, yeah,” said Gilda. “And the others guarding Railway will be too, humanely. Dinky explained the… nature of their condition. I guess I’m not a complete asshole; who knew?”

“You are more decent than I remember,” Maud said. “But that is not a very high standard.”

“Yeah, well fuck you too,” grunted Gilda, displaying the superiority of claws by extending the middle talon at Maud.

Maud turned to Starlight. “And now?”

“We’ll hold a memorial for your sisters,” said Starlight. “We’ll bury them next to your parents in places of honor.”

“I’ll stay here then,” said Gilda. “We have technicians that can repair our shield to its previous condition, but I expect access to any upgrades the pint-size genius comes up with.”

“Of course,” Starlight told her. “Don’t forget my instructions, either.”

“Right,” Gilda said. “If any of the slaver gangs show up hoping to trade, they’ll get more business than they can handle.”

“After the Pie memorial,” said Starlight. “We’ll meet to devise further plans.”

“I already know our first mission,” said Maud. “I agreed not to kill you so you owe me this.”

“What’s this?” Starlight quirked one ear.

“The Ministry of Magitech,” said Maud. “They have soul recyclers. There was a room full of them in Zecora’s memory.”

“That will be a task, but you’re right,” Starlight said. Her quick agreement surprised Maud, especially since it didn’t sound like an agreement from fear. “I’m sure we haven’t exhausted every avenue open to us yet; we’ll find a way.”

Maud looked back to the soul gems beside her.

“I am on my way, sisters.”