Fallout Equestria: The Ashlands Timeline

Date: Saturday 11/12/2287
POV: Twilight Sparkle
Old Appleloosa

They shooed Twilight out of bed too early again, but at least she was more used to it, and Gloomy had made sure it was somewhat gentle, knowing how to wake her. Starlight insisted they save time by doing their next 'mission briefing' on the way instead of in Ramble. Twilight understood and even agreed, but would have liked to get in a morning cuddle with her batfriend. She hoped she hadn’t gotten addicted to him.

They left on the same path as before, stopping before passing the GRRR to allow Tranquil to go through while deactivated. There was something up with that mare, but Twilight couldn't imagine the skittish pony becoming a threat on her own.

It still fascinated her, though. She asked Tranquil about it to come up with a working theory on why it happened, then Olivia since she was there when the diamond doctors examined Tranquil. Neither wanted to discuss it.

The surface looked all the more desolate after spending the night in the most civilized place she'd seen since arriving. Perhaps if Twilight got Starswirl's spell from the Ministry of Magitech, she could live and study it here. Deep underground, this might well be the one place with a chance of long-term survival if the Sun went out completely.

Twilight sat in the wagon's back as they headed out. Gloomy was taking his turn pulling it, which made her lonely in the back. She felt unsafe too, so maybe she had gotten too used to having a bodyguard. She sat nearest to Mercury and Olivia, the two team members she trusted the most to not destroy anything without warning, as well as to keep things professional. Crimson’s snide remarks she was almost used to, but Starlight and Maud seemed to have gotten worse about not showing respect for ponies lately.

“What's the status of the pulse barding, Maud?” Starlight asked as they left the city gates.

The damage on the barding Maud wore was difficult to see with its black surface, but it was worse for wear.

“The stealth mechanism is glitchy from damage sustained during my fight with the Overbot,” said Maud. “The bypass function may work, but while the stealth function will activate, we can no longer assume it will remain on indefinitely.”

When she first arrived here, Twilight would have offered to look in case she could fix it, but now she knew better. Even though she’d spent all the time she could studying in Holder, it was humiliating how far magitech still exceeded her knowledge. She'd have to study for months to understand what Solar did to make it work to begin with, much less fix it.

“It can't be helped, then,” Starlight said. “We'll take shifts keeping watch with Ashmaker's scope to make sure no one approaches, but at the least we’re protected from predators on the ground.”

“We have the energy turret too,” said Maud. “Though it seems mostly designed to down flying creatures by making them dizzy with a sonic pulse, it would probably still slow down other combatants.”

“What if the ones approaching have stealth?” asked Mercury. She was becoming more cautious and so far it was healthy caution, but Twilight felt bad they had tainted such an innocent soul with a sad reality.

“That type of stealth is difficult,” said Olivia. “And usually limited to small scouting parties or assassins. Any Midnight or Trinity has is being used on one another now as neither knows about our current mission.”

“Let's hope,” said Starlight. “We'll stay low, and I doubt a common covered wagon will warrant much attention, but I want to go over something else. Crimson? Everything you know about Stable 41.”

“Ah yeah,” Crimson said. “This was my favorite experiment other than Forgot's stable... okay no, third favorite if I count the two rape stables as one experiment, but it's still up there.”

That didn't bode well, and Twilight was definitely not asking about the ‘rape stables’.

“From what I know,” continued Crimson. “A few weeks after being closed, they pumped in an undetectable hallucinogen. Projectors activated that jump-scared ponies with holographic projections of Daybreaker chasing them, which was to last for 30 days. The idea was to see if making ponies fear her as some kind of devil would cause more strict obedience, as opposed to Holder where they tested a more kind worship. I may or may not have gotten ideas from the concept. Anyway, that's all I know. We got no proper reports from them.”

Twilight wished this information could shock her, but there wasn't a lot to shock when their 'leader' did similar experiments.

“But Statera said they worship Nightmare Moon and Midnight Sparkle, not Daybreaker, yes?” Olivia tilted her head.

Crimson shrugged. “Maybe the experiment had the opposite effect, and they worship Daybreaker's enemy to protect them from her.”

“It wouldn't be surprising,” said Twilight. “If I remember correctly, most of the area consisted of small communities, many with a high bat pony population. Even if they hadn't gone off to fight for Nightmare, they'd still be prone to resort to her if threatened.”

“Resort?” asked Gloomy from the front of the wagon where he pulled.

Even with what he knew, he didn't take kindly to the terminology. Twilight wanted to apologize for sounding insensitive, even if she meant what she said, but she couldn't risk hinting that Nightmare was alive in earshot of everypony else.

Was she really covering for Nightmare? Even if she knew this one was different from her own, it still felt strange.

“But they aren't bat ponies now,” said Starlight. “At least not all of them. Remember what Chief Fluffy said? So why did changelings join a cult that worships Nightmare Moon and Midnight Sparkle?”

“So nopony knows they're changelings,” said Twilight. “They probably joined as an outward appearance to avert suspicion. If Trinity has no reason to think changelings are in a sealed stable, she won’t go out of her way to have it searched.”

“Or perhaps there are not many,” said Olivia. “Maybe they took in a few changelings but most are bat ponies. The injured changeling the Chief spoke to was dying, so may not have been clear.”

“It's a mystery,” said Starlight, then looked to Crimson. “So that's it? It's safe to assume you're holding out on us, so give any other advice you have now.”

“Advice?” asked Crimson. “Sure! Have a plan to rape everyone you know, just in case the opportunity arises.”

“Do you have any relevant advice?” Starlight growled through clenched teeth. Her reaction to Crimson's antics weren't usually so emotional, and it was starting to scare Twilight.

“Name one situation where that advice is not relevant,” Crimson smirked. “I think...”

“Crimson,” Starlight cut Crimson off and held her muzzle shut with her magic. “I'm asking you again, and the next word out of your muzzle will be 'yes' or 'no'. If not, I will order Maud to punch it through the back of your skull and leave you and your pet tramp to rot. Now. Do you have any other information I would consider relevant?”

“No,” Crimson shrugged when Starlight released her muzzle. “Maybe I can hook you up on where to purchase a sense of humor though. Maybe we can buy you one from some black market raiders.”

“Starlight,” Twilight said. “I know she can test one’s nerves and her joke was inappropriate, but a threat like that is not becoming of a leader.”

“Don't start, mascot,” Starlight said as she slumped back against the side of the wagon. It seemed Crimson's inappropriate joke had her out of the mood to be pretend-nice; it seemed increasingly easier to get her to that point over time.

Twilight let it go, but wished she could do more. Regardless of what Crimson and Tranquil had done and still did, coercing Crimson into obedience by threatening her and her wife's life was inexcusable. Twilight missed being part of a heroic team that wasn't half villains.

Maud twitched as she kept watch. She must hate Starlight's way of doing things, but wasn't likely to oppose her yet. Not so long as Starlight could get Maud what she needed. Twilight wondered what Maud planned to do if she revived her sisters.

She also wondered if Starlight realized what Maud was likely to do and had a contingency for it. There were many ways this mission could go wrong; it would shock Twilight if they finished without a teammate murdering another.

Once they exited Appleloosa, there wasn't much to see. Even though most of the area between Trinity's and Midnight's territory didn’t fall to mega-spells, it was complete desolation. Countless years of conflict had reduced it to as much of a wasteland as the Ashlands where Twilight had arrived.

There was nothing but damaged stone and dead trees as far as Twilight could see. There wasn't anything resembling a road and only the occasional ruin broke the monotony. It seemed most of what the mega-spells missed was destroyed since; they didn't call this the Ceaseless Conflict for nothing.

Date: Tuesday 11/15/2287

With no sandstorms in this area and able to constantly fly their wagon, they made good time. They didn’t have to stop to eat or sleep so long as they did it in shifts, or even to use the restroom, just going over the edge. Twilight didn’t particularly like that part, especially with how Starlight and Crimson delighted in her discomfort.

“You know, I hate to bring this up again, but isn’t there some way we could use magic to cover us when we relieve ourselves over the back?” Twilight asked. “Or...maybe get some showers? A lot more dust gets under this leather armor and mixes with the sweat and it...it makes me feel all grimy.”

“There’s a way I could get you a shower at least...” offered Crimson, avoiding mentioning her book outright for some reason.

‘No more mention of the book,’ Starlight’s voice said through the PCB. Twilight could only assume she was hiding its existence from Olivia and that she’d been left out of the message. She couldn’t imagine why other than paranoia at revealing a potential advantage to her.

“Sorry, Crimson” Starlight glared at Crimson as if she should have known better than to comment. “I know what you’re thinking, and it’s a waste of time and magic, not to mention dangerous, and I don’t mean just the potential for getting hurt; we need Twilight in the wagon where she can help deal with threats.” She turned to Twilight. “And I can’t be casting trivial spells; I need to be at 100% if we meet trouble, since I’m the only powerful magic-user among us.”

It felt like Starlight was flaunting her horn over her, but Twilight didn’t give her the satisfaction of a response. Nor did Olivia, perhaps because she was tired of pointing out that she was also a magic user.

“Um, Starlight, Twilight’s headaches, shakiness, and constipation all point to stress,“ said Mercury with a tone of worry. “It can get worse if she isn’t allowed to relax.” Since the alchemist had ended up as the group’s medic, she’d been reading books to identify problems. Her study skills impressed Twilight.

“Hmph, she’s just a scaredy-cat,” remarked Starlight smugly...making everypony else do a double take at the outright childishness, especially Olivia, who had only been half listening up to that point.

“An empress should know a thing or two about morale and undue stress,” said Olivia in a far more diplomatic tone. “Besides, Twilight isn’t the most easily frightened unicorn in our group. It wouldn’t cost much magic to keep on the lookout for clean water sources nearby, I could do it myself if you’d use the information. It’d do us good even if it meant pausing our journey for an hour.”

She was right, Starlight should know about maintaining morale, even with her attitude, since she ran the Ministry of Magitech. There was no indication in the memories they watched that ponies were particularly overworked or miserable there. Was Starlight lacking some memory? Twilight worried if it might get worse.

“An EMPRESS makes decisions you couldn’t even fathom!” shouted Starlight. “Reduce stress? Fine, Crimson or the bat can have a go! I will not be having her and that fruit get the luxury of a shower out here...they...they can’t relax, or else they won’t be alert pulling the cart!“ That ramble barely even made sense.

“Excuse me?” Gloomy said from the front where he pulled, but didn’t receive an answer.

Starlight faced away from the others and went silent, perhaps getting a hold of herself, or just seething. Everyone else remained silent, and Twilight let it go because there wasn’t much else to be done.

The silence was a short reprieve though, since Twilight’s shift to fly the cart came soon. When it started, she found herself struggling to do so, shaking slightly from the thought of Starlight still staring at her and probably wanting her killed, and likely her coltfriend too. Starlight was getting more unhinged; Twilight wouldn’t have expected her to say a lot of that around Gloomy, since he represented a potential ally. She didn’t exactly expect good treatment, but this just seemed childish, and it was starting to get to her.

Twilight also noticed that Crimson hadn’t even commented on Starlight’s episode, even though she had looked to be paying attention. If Crimson wasn’t even bothering to joke, it meant she was actually taking things seriously, which increased the probability that she planned to disobey Starlight. If that happened, which side would Maud choose? Oh buck this could go bad in a hurry.

For the time being though, Crimson had returned to her usual disrespectful self, and was often too busy bucking Maud or Tranquil to say much when there was little to do. Although, this made Twilight realize her hoof was pretty sorry company, and she still wasn’t comfortable doing the full deed with others around.

Fortunately, Olivia took it upon herself to scan for water and found a reasonably clean water source without being asked. Luckily, Starlight understood the prudence of supplementing their water supply, and either had a lapse in her ego or just really wanted to get a bath herself, because she allowed a short break for them to clean up too. Twilight took the chance to drag Gloomy behind some rocks for some proper relief before bathing, just ignoring the rest of the group and letting the pleasure overtake her instead. Just as her and Gloomy pulled apart and her pleasure faded, she noticed Crimson peeking around the rock at them, jerking her head back when she was seen.

“Finally saw me?” Crimson snickered at her. “Your orgasm face really is something.”

“Break’s sake you’re all so annoyingly horny,” commented Starlight from where she sat distinctly out of line-of-sight. “And I thought you didn’t even like straight pairings Crimson.”

“That’s because you won’t cast shift spells for us,” Crimson scoffed. “If you won’t let the girls dick each other, I’ll watch the one dick we have and imagine really hard that it’s a mare’s.”

“If you noticed she was peeking, you could have told her to stop,” blushed Twilight as she slowly headed into the water.

“You know I normally would,” Starlight shrugged, finally smiling slightly. “But I guess I was too amused at how oblivious you were.”

“You should have joined the audience, then,” Crimson chuckled, seeming determined to intensify Twilight’s blush. “You could have seen how oblivious she was upfront; it was quite the rutting.”

“Don’t push it,” Starlight grunted, her smile twitching but remaining.

Twilight just rolled her eyes and got on with cleaning up in the little time left. Gloomy moved between her and them as if to protect her from any more stares while she finished cleaning, but what she wouldn’t give for some actual privacy...

As they continued on. Midnight and Trinity's distractions allowed them to move with less worry of ambush; Twilight doubted they could have survived the trip if both factions hadn't pulled most of their troops to other locations.

Twilight’s spirits were high, and even Starlight seemed a little bit better after the bath, but the next time they turned on the radio, it quickly solved Starlight’s good mood.

“There are many factions in Equestria,” Skyla was saying in one of her broadcasts. “Some good, and some bad… mmph… and there is little in between. Though one recently, this ‘New Canterlot Republic’, has me wondering which it is. Given the name, I was initially hopeful for a future ally, yet now I hear rumors that they are intentionally hiding information about the Crystal Heart from me… it would be disturbing if it came between us.”

To Twilight’s knowledge, Starlight had only mentioned having information on the Heart at the secret meeting prior to leaving Holder, which meant someone at the meeting probably had loose lips to Skyla. Luckily Starlight didn’t go into a tirade, instead sitting angrily in a corner and glaring at Gloomy.

But Twilight doubted Gloomy had been the one that informed Skyla. Twilight suspected it’d been Chrysalis, since she had the strongest reaction when Starlight mentioned knowing the Heart’s approximate location and not informing Skyla. Though Watcher also had a pretty strong reaction, Chrysalis had additionally bragged about knowing Skyla’s location. Honestly, Twilight wouldn’t fault either for telling on Starlight, but for now tried to put it out of her mind.

The Foal Mountains loomed larger in the north every day. It seemed mega-spells had struck the mountain; Twilight assumed that was why several of the peaks were lower than she remembered. They must have tried to hit Discordia, though from what Twilight knew, they survived intact.

One of the strange things about this world was it gave Twilight more respect for Discord. As much as he acted like a bratty child, he never tried to harm anypony. His goals as a villain were wrong, but it turned out he just didn't realize how much it hurt ponies, and backed off when he understood. The fact that Discordia spent most of the war refusing to take part proved his kind had limits.

Was this what it had come to, though? Twilight respecting one evil because it wasn't as wicked as another? She realized then that she’d even started to consider Midnight an ally...who she knew to do inexcusable things daily. And Starlight, their apparently half-brained leader, would kill out of convenience. This world was so bucked up.

As they approached the side of the mountain, the landscape was less ravaged, but just as dead. There were more dead trees and standing structures, though seemingly uninhabited. Twilight hoped uninhabited, at least, because anything living in these places were not things they wanted to meet. There was also a broken railway, whole enough to follow. Tranquil, taking her turn to pull the wagon, followed the tracks.

Unlike many other stables at major population centers, Stable 41 was for the many rural communities in the area. Ponies had more time to enter the stable since there were no direct hits at the base of the mountain. Though not much more with the wave of radiation rolling down the mountain soon after from higher impacts.

“I believe we are close,” said Olivia. “The entrance is just around a few more turns.”

“We can't stay in this area for too long,” said Gloomy. “Trinity's forces aren't much further away from Discordia than Stable 41.”

“We'll hurry,” said Starlight. “But I don't think we should pass up contacting an intact stable, regardless of the questionable beliefs they pretend to have. And more changelings under our banner can't hurt.”

“Limestone would like me to point out,” said Maud. “That if the residents treat Daybreaker as an enemy, it is best if Starlight is not visible. Starlight should wear Twilight's armor and Twilight should act as the leader during this visit.”

Starlight paused and peered at Maud. She took a deep breath, having to pry her clenched teeth apart to speak again.

“As long as Twilight understands that it is in fact an act just to test the waters,” said Starlight. “Then yes, that shows wisdom.”

“I have no interest in running the show, Starlight,” Twilight assured, even though she had no interest in Starlight running it either. “You can communicate with me through the PCB and I'll follow your instructions... as much as I feel I can.”

“Well then,” Starlight returned her fake smile. “I suppose I can fit my pipbuck beneath that gas mask, if uncomfortably, so I'm sure it will work out fine. I can cast a simple illusion to make it look like your horn is not useless.”

Starlight maintained her kind tone even while making a foalish jab at Twilight's handicap. Twilight had learned not to dignify the insults with a reaction, but Gloomy took a step towards Starlight. Twilight placed a hoof on his chest to stop him, not wanting to risk a fight.

“Ponies, please,” Olivia sighed. “Changelings will sense your emotional state so you must remain calm. Aggression at one another may be mistaken for aggression at them.”

“Can't imagine what they'll get off me,” Crimson smirked, then sighed. "Damn it. Now I miss Solar. She would have totally made an awesome pun about getting off there."

“Except you’re one of the few she would never want to get off,” commented Maud.

“Yeah, I am pretty special,” Crimson grinned.

“Here, I'll help you out of that,” Gloomy turned to help a blushing Twilight in undoing the leather armor instead, touching her a little more than needed in the process.

Maud helped Starlight into Twilight's armor once Twilight removed it. Starlight looked disgusted at wearing Twilight's sweaty outfit, and Twilight suspected she was regretting not letting her clean more often.

“Limestone advises we not let them know that we realize they are changelings,” said Maud. “They will cooperate to maintain the ruse if they think we are with Midnight. Then we can decide if they are worth revealing ourselves to.”

“As usual, Limestone's advice is solid,” Starlight agreed. Twilight surmised she wouldn’t say anything Maud would interpret as disrespecting Limestone, even if it might be an imaginary Limestone.

In fact, no one questioned Maud's assertions that Limestone's soul gem was telling her what to do. They all knew better. Twilight asked her about it a few times, but Maud got testy when they treated it as unusual. It made Twilight wonder though; was she communicating with Limestone's soul gem psionically, or was it psychosomatic with Maud being good at strategy from having spent so much time around Limestone? Twilight supposed she was as likely to understand it as she was to understand Pinkie Sense.

Starlight cast an illusion on Twilight's horn stump to make it look whole and her mane to look less matted. She gave Twilight one more suspicious glance before sliding on her gas mask. Twilight sighed, hoping she could give a good enough act without frightening the poor things.

That was a change, Twilight realized. She now considered changelings 'poor things' instead of monsters. Maybe she'd learned at least some good on the way. If she ever got back home, maybe she’d be more equipped to deal with changelings constructively.

As they arrived, they saw the stable door had the familiar Stable-Tec design. It looked like a giant gear embedded at the base of a sheer cliff, a faded yellow '41' adorned the center. They had carved Nightmare Moon and Midnight's cutie marks into the cliff side on either side of the door.

Though what was outside the door interested her more. A stone altar had four shoddy stone columns around it. There was a carving of Celestia’s mark with an X carved through it on one side of the altar to signify that the offerings were to ward her away. But most disturbing was that something occupied the altar, a writhing bat pony colt, at most six months old.

Twilight knew it'd upset certain others, but darted out of the wagon towards the altar. She beat her wings several times to fly to the edge of the platform before landing and galloping the rest of the way.

The little bat pony had a gray mane and darker gray fur, both matted from his struggles. He didn't look injured, but seemed exhausted as if he'd used all his energy wailing. He looked up at Twilight, pleading with bright blue eyes, whimpering and reaching his little hooves towards her in desperate confusion.

'Twilight, do not mess with their sacrifice,' Starlight said over the PCB.

“There is no way I'm leaving a foal in this condition!” Twilight said aloud, unable to contain her words.

There was no way in Tartarus that Twilight was leaving him to lay here even if Screwball might retrieve him soon. She fumbled at the knots, but when Mercury and Olivia ran up beside her, Olivia used her telekinesis to unwrap them.

'Keep conversation over the PCB' reminded Maud. 'We do not know what monitoring they have out here.'

'Olivia?' asked Starlight, sighing as she watched Olivia pull the pony off the altar and cradle his whimpering form. 'Is it a changeling?'

'I do not believe so,' replied Olivia. 'I detect none, in fact, which is strange because I should if changelings live inside.'

'If they attuned their stable structure like we did at 27,' pointed out Crimson. 'Could they block that? The same way we blocked radio signals?'

'I would imagine it’s possible,' said Olivia. 'It could explain how changelings are so close to Trinity's territory but have remained undetected by her, though they may have also simply figured out how to hide from her as our friends in Holder did.'

'Assuming they are undetected,' said Starlight. 'For all we know the whole ruse could be to get Trinity's spies closer to Midnight's territory.'

'That's not likely,' said Gloomy. 'If they don’t interact with the outside, they wouldn’t get much spying done. With the colt though, it is odd Screwball hasn't retrieved him yet.’

‘That’s not good,’ Starlight growled out loud as she spoke over the PCB. 'There's a reason I want to send you ahead to speak to Screwball without me, I don't want her ambushing me here either.'

‘Starlight?’ Twilight asked. ‘You think Screwball would have an issue with you? Just because of the war?'

'Screwball is Eris's daughter,' said Starlight. 'I assume Eris told her the story of how the Ministry of Magitech experimented on her.' Her statement was followed by a bit of a nervous laugh after she realized how openly she’d worded that.

'You mean how YOU experimented on her?' asked Twilight. 'What exact experiments did you run?'

'Enhancing her psionic ability,' Crimson cut in, fulfilling her role by making it sound less horrible. 'She volunteered, it went overboard, she went wacko, and she awoke Discord with her new powers during the Grand Galloping Gala. It was a mess, but the details aren’t important.'

'But if she wanted revenge, why didn't she get it before?' asked Twilight. 'If Discord gave Eris even half as much power as himself, it wouldn't be hard for her.'

‘Discord left her due to her violent actions,’ explained Starlight. ‘Because one of the first things she did with that power was attack Manehatten, which caused the reactor to overload and resulted in the first megaspell blast. After that, he left her alone and pregnant with his offspring, and obviously she took the rejection badly. When she retreated to Hollow Shades near here, we let her stay there so long as she didn't expand her territory again. We intended to take care of her after everything else settled, but it never did.’

Twilight understood. Even if Eris and Screwball hadn't come after her, they might fly into a rage if Starlight had the gall to show up to their refuge. It was best she held back while they went ahead.

'Hate to tell you Empress,' said Gloomy. 'But as close as Discordia is, Screwball already knows you're here. Ovo would have told her we are on our way and she’d be looking for us. The only reason I can think of that she wouldn't have retrieved the colt earlier is to see how we deal with it.'

‘So it’s likely a test,’ Twilight said. ‘An easy test to pass, I’d say. We do what she would do, save the colt.’

'Yes, all the more reason to save him,' agreed Mercury as she examined him in Olivia's grasp.

‘If she can do that, could she not teleport us there from here herself?' asked Olivia.

'According to the reports I’ve been given,' said Gloomy. 'Eris doesn’t like her leaving Discordia. As hard as it is to hurt their kind, it’s possible, so her mother still worries. If she can’t think of a good technicality for avoiding the rules, she’ll only ever pop out for a few seconds. Eris stays in a pocket dimension so isn't as aware of the 'real world'.'

'If she is watching,' said Starlight. ‘That’s also more reason to show I have the respect to not walk to the front gate with the rest of you.'

Their silent conversation stopped when the high-pitched screech of the stable door broke the silence, pulling inward and rolling out of the way. Twilight had forgotten they were right next to the stable due to the conversations, but their presence had not gone without notice.

Twilight stepped forward in front of the rest of the group. She took a deep breath and stood tall, waiting for the door to open all the way. Mercury and Olivia stayed with the foal as Gloomy and Maud moved to flank Twilight on either side. Starlight stood where she was behind them, fuming beneath her gas mask.

It surprised Twilight when the first to emerge was a unicorn rather than a bat, but she supposed there had to be a few non-bats there. She wore stable barding with a 41 on the front and collar, decorated with a gold trim as Crimson’s was. The mare had a pale yellow-brown coat and chestnut brown mane that looked somewhat familiar, and a pair of glasses. She had an almanac as a cutie mark.

A bat stallion followed behind her, wearing similar stable barding with a silver trim. He had light tan fur and a pinkish mane, which was odd for a bat, but not impossible if they'd interbred with other pony types. He prodded the mare when she seemed reluctant to exit.

'They might be changelings,' Olivia said over the PCB as soon as the door opened. 'I'd have to cast a spell to be sure. If they are, they’ve told their hive to be silent while the door opens, since I can normally detect one even if not able to listen to it.'

The stable ponies looked afraid to speak, but their nervousness seemed more akin to a criminal caught in a crime than a zealot in their deity's presence. It made sense if they were only pretending to be zealots.

“M-mighty Divine Shadow!” the stallion stammered when the Overmare didn't, remaining bowed. “You honor us by personally accepting our sacrifice instead of sending the Child of Light to retrieve it!”

Twilight assumed they meant Screwball. If she appeared and disappeared with the same flash of white light as Discord and retrieved the sacrifices, they may have mistaken her for someone sent by Midnight.

All this made Twilight uncomfortable, though. She didn't want to deceive or frighten them, nor did she want to encourage their bad practices. Yet she knew she had to feel out the situation to make sure, and it wasn't like she'd told them she was Midnight. They'd just assumed. Still, it felt like once again this world made her betray the attributes she believed were vital to Equestria's survival.

“You may stand, loyal followers,” Twilight said. “You are afraid, but do not be. I have seen nothing yet to show that you are guilty of a crime. So are you going to introduce yourself to my other loyal minions?”

“O-of course. I am Midnight Ebony Reflection, Overmare of Stable 41,” said the mare, “This is Midnight Blood Fang, first stallion in my Divine Harem.”

Twilight wondered if Midnight had a divine harem too. No, she probably considered her whole army the harem, including her own duplicates.

“That will get confusing,” Maud said. “I will call you by your middle names.”

“Midnight is a title for our holiest citizens,” explained Ebony to Maud, voice quivering. “Her Divine Shadow may call us what she wishes though, as can her guests if she allows it.”

Twilight recognized the mare when she told her name. This was a pony that worked in the Canterlot library when Twilight was a student there, but in this timeline Twilight was never a student. As normal unicorns didn't live centuries, she assumed this was either a changeling taking on a persona they'd found in a database or Twilight’s acquaintance in Canterlot was a changeling and they lived much longer. She'd look into that if she got back, but for now...

“I allow it,” said Twilight, letting it go for now. She introduced her own, pointing to them each with a hoof. “Gloomy Shade, Maud Pie, Sta... Clover, Olivia, Mercury Shine, Crimson Prose, and Tranquil Melody.”

“Crimson Prose?” Ebony's eyebrows arched. Twilight realized too late that she should have come up with a different name for Crimson. If they were up on their history, they might realize Crimson worked for Starlight.

“I defected,” Crimson explained. “I proved myself by publicly executing Starlight Glimmer. I beat that smug look off her face with a giant dragon dildo just like she deserved.”

Ebony and Blood stared. Starlight grit her teeth so hard Twilight could hear them creak behind her.

“You know, for the humiliation factor,” Crimson explained, then rolled her eyes. “You girls are slow.”

“G-Glorious!” Blood exclaimed, but looked confused at Twilight as if to confirm. He didn't dare question the outrageous lie out loud, but it seemed doubtful he bought it.

'Don't push it Crimson,' Starlight warned over the PCB. 'Twilight. Tell them to let us in and to give access to the Overmare's terminal.'

'Okay,' Twilight said over the PCB. 'And Crimson, she's right, we should tell as few lies as possible so we don't get buried under them.'

“Ignore her,” Maud covered for Crimson for once. “We scrambled her brain when we tortured her into submission so she says random things.” She reached a hoof and clamped Crimson's muzzle shut before she responded with a violent flirt.

“Ah, of course,” Blood bought that one more and nodded. “So traveling with you is her punishment? As long as you rendered her harmless.”

“Will you not invite us inside?” Twilight asked. “You will then give us access to your stable's maneframe.”

“Of course!” Ebony chuckled nervously. She was awkward and quiet for an Overmare.

Blood bowed again, then sat up, tapping his front hooves together. “Did you want to devour the sacrifice before you entered?”

It took Twilight a moment to realize that he meant the colt and when she did, she barely kept her composure. The whole thing had unfortunate implications, but if it was an act, shouldn't they have known Midnight didn't eat foals? Or maybe Midnight did, for all Twilight knew.

And if it was an act, changelings had taken over the stable and were leaving bat ponies outside as sacrifices. Were they raising them like cattle? Maybe these changelings favored the ones Twilight was used to more.

“Not yet.” Twilight didn't know what else to say. “I had a big lunch.”

“So early?” Blood tilted his head.

“Breakfast!” Twilight corrected. “A big breakfast.”

“Of course.” Blood smiled.

“Indeed,” Ebony turned, shooing Blood back inside. “Get a feast organized for later today. I must show Her Divine Shadow what she desires.”

Blood nodded and left to prepare as she said or perhaps to warn the others inside that 'Midnight' was entering. Ebony took a deep breath and turned back to them. “You wanted to see the maneframe, your Divine Shadow? Please, allow me to escort you.”

“Sure,” Twilight went with it. “Lead us to your terminal and stay with us so we can speak.”

'What nuts,' Gloomy commented over the PCB. 'It's a good thing Midnight didn't know all the stable locations for recruitment. Changelings or not, these wouldn't exactly raise the average sanity of our soldiers.'

“Maybe I should stay with the little one,” Mercury suggested. “I don't think we should take him back in there.”

“I will remain too,” said Olivia.

'Crimson and Tranquil will also stay,' Starlight said on the PCB.

'What about getting access to the Overmare terminal?' asked Crimson.

'She seems willing to give it,' said Starlight. 'And I don't want you telling different stories every time someone asks why you're here.' Or maybe she was just peeved that Crimson claimed to kill her.

'Ya got me,' admitted Crimson nonetheless.

'Is it necessary to go in at all?' asked Gloomy.

'Absolutely,' said Starlight. 'We must know if they may be a threat or ally later.'

“I'll stay out here too,” Crimson spoke aloud as she rolled her eyes. “Always wanted to buck my wife on an altar, anyway. Come here Tranquil, lay on your belly so I can smash your face on the stone.”

Ebony should have taken enough offense or at least looked at Crimson for potentially defiling their altar, but she didn't. She was so frazzled that she may not have even noticed. She walked inside, looking like a death-row inmate walking to her execution.

'If we want to keep communication with them outside,' pointed out Maud. 'We will need them to keep the stable door open. If the door blocks a hive signal, it probably blocks PCB.'

Good point.

“Keep the stable door open until we leave,” Twilight said as they entered.

“Open?” Ebony seemed reluctant, but nodded. “Very well.”

Stable 41 looked much like any other stable inside. The only main difference was the excessive amount of decorations centered on Midnight Sparkle. Right in the atrium was a large painting of Midnight Sparkle in her battle form standing over a bloodied Daybreaker in victory, even if that wasn’t how it happened.

They didn't see other ponies though. Perhaps they directed residents to leave the atrium, or maybe they weren't allowed there. Blood had gone elsewhere to prepare Twilight's holy welcome, which she hoped didn’t include a foal as part of the meal, so they were left with Ebony.

Ebony led them to an office just off the atrium, which Twilight assumed was the Overmare's office. There was a desk with chairs in front, a small bookshelf atop the desk. It only had a few books in it, which appeared to be religious texts. There was one with Midnight's battle form on it and another with her normal Twilight-like form. A long row of photos on the walls seemed to show the former Overmares. There looked to be eight including this one.

The dust around some of the books and decorations indicated that they hadn’t been moved in some time. Twilight got the impression that this room was set up for the unlikely case of visitors, but wasn’t actually used a lot in practice.

Near the back of the office was another desk with a terminal atop it. The lights were on so they'd kept it running, even if it looked as if it'd had every part replaced at least once. Ebony didn't move to do anything with it though. She just closed the door behind them. When Starlight locked it, Ebony's eyes widened as if holding in panic.

“I am done with this ruse,” Olivia sighed, apparently sure of their identity now that they were inside. “Ebony, please listen, but do not inform the rest of the hive until you understand to explain to them.”

“I-I don't know what you mean,” Ebony took a step back into a corner when Maud stood in her way at the door.

“Olivia,” Starlight warned.

“I will not support this kind of mistrust and deception!” Olivia said back. “And I will not spend the entire visit with them fearing us!”

“It's okay, Olivia,” Twilight said, holding up a hoof to shush Starlight. It shamed her that Olivia did the Elemental thing before she did.

Starlight glared, but could do nothing. Letting on that Twilight wasn't in charge would only invite more questions that Starlight wouldn't want to answer.

“Ebony,” said Twilight. “I apologize for not saying it earlier, but I feared you would resist letting us in if you realized we know what you are, and we wanted to be sure of some things. But you don't have to be afraid, seriously, we are not here to hurt you.”

“Of course,” Ebony sighed. “I don't know what I was thinking. You’d want to recruit us to counter Trinity's changelings.”

“We are not here to enslave you either,” assured Twilight. “When this conversation finishes, you can ask us to leave and never come back with no negative repercussions.”

“R-really?” Ebony calmed and even smiled, perhaps aware of Midnight's reputation for honesty.

“Just tell us what happened here,” Starlight said impatiently. She seemed to lose a lot of her diplomatic edge when feeling her position threatened. “Were changelings here when this started or did you arrive later? Start from the beginning.”

“It's okay to tell us,” Olivia smiled at her to take the edge off Starlight's tone.

“Are you familiar with the experiment here?” Ebony asked, moving to sit at her desk but still shivering.

“We are,” said Twilight. “It involved projections of Daybreaker and gas to make ponies hallucinate. Yet it ended with ponies worshiping Midnight?”

“Aren't you... never mind,” said Ebony. “Yes, it did.”

“Are the residents aware of the experiment?” asked Starlight.

“They are, now,” said Ebony. “Maybe it would be easiest if you watched the first Overmare's memory sphere. Before we changelings arrived, the first Overmare took steps to ensure her memory lived on and that no future Overmare has experiences that might cause them to reveal her secrets. Each new Overmare would have her existing memories erased and replaced with those from the memory sphere. I could show you the most important passages if you like.”

“The new Overmares allowed them to do this?” asked Maud.

“Sometimes,” said Ebony. “But my understanding is that they often were not given a choice. I have been Overmare since we arrived, but I did not take the memory wipe like the others.”

“And the foals?” asked Twilight. “Do their parents have a choice?”

“That's...” Ebony became nervous again. “That started as population control, I believe. They chose offspring of weaker stable residents as the sacrifice to ensure they passed superior genes. We continued the practice after we took control to keep up appearances and...”

“Wouldn't it be more efficient to sterilize inferior residents?” Starlight asked. “Though I suppose this practice implies Daybreaker will return if they didn't, which allowed the Overmare to maintain control. Impressive.”

“Stop making it sound like you agree with the premise, please,” Twilight said.

Starlight looked long and hard at Twilight but again didn't argue.

“Ebony?” Gloomy asked. “Where are the original residents? Don't tell me you are keeping bat ponies like cattle down here.”

“B-but you work for Midnight,” said Ebony. “And she eats bat ponies! You yourself came to retrieve the sacrifice.”

“I think they have given you the wrong impression of who Midnight is,” Twilight interjected. “Is there a way to watch that sphere without touching it, though?”

“Well, no, but you will understand more if you watch it.” The panic grew in Ebony's eyes again.

“Considering what you have told us about memory erasure,” said Maud. “I would not trust any sphere you provide.”

'Twilight, you watch the sphere,' Starlight said over the PCB. 'We'll take action if it harms you, but it shouldn’t with the PCB network’s security protecting your mind.’'

“Hay! Haven’t any of you read any of the old horror books about cults?” Gloomy said aloud, looking at Starlight. “These weirdos probably just want to grab her to control the bat cattle better, or clone her for nefarious purposes!” He liked horror books? She’d have to see if she could read some with him sometime, but who knew if she’d have both time and access any time soon.

“W-we’ll do nothing of the sort!” Ebony replied to Gloomy’s sudden freakout.

“Oh, um...that wasn’t supposed to be out loud...” Gloomy sheepishly said.

'It's okay, Gloomy,' Twilight said as she put a hoof on his shoulder. Risking herself for the others would help her feel like she was still a decent pony at least. ‘Starlight’s right; from what I’ve learned studying about the PCB, it’s virtually impossible for them to bypass its security without having one to study.’

Of course, Starlight surely was hoping that it would somehow kill her, and would be the one to know more about doing such, but it was best to put on a brave face for Gloomy’s sake.

“I will watch it alone,” said Twilight.

“But if we find you have tainted it somehow,” said Maud. “We will show you how slowly a pony or changeling can die screaming.”

“Do you still wish me to watch it?” asked Twilight. She wished Maud hadn't said that but may as well use the statement. “There will be no further punishment if you say no now.”

“It's not a trap!” Ebony said. “Believe me, I wouldn't dare! Besides, your soul gem would protect you.”

It was a good thing Ebony hadn't noticed she didn't have one.

“Very well,” said Twilight. “Get the sphere.”