Fallout Equestria: The Ashlands Timeline

Wednesday, 10/?/?
POV: Gloomy Shade
Canterlot

On the next mission, Gloomy’s team flew just below the cloud cover, flying in evasive maneuvers as they approached the city once again. The sniper had proven inaccurate with moving targets, so Gloomy hoped that the first shots would miss so they’d have time to activate their stealth bucks.They had to be seen though, else they wouldn’t know if Her Shadow’s idea worked.

Blinding was doing the best job being evasive, though not for good reason. The poor mare was barely holding it together, and Distraction had been eyeing her like a piece of meat since the mission began. Gloomy wished he could castrate him for enjoying Midnight’s orders so much.

Sure enough, when they came into range, several shots rang out, streaking past them. Gloomy almost reached for his stealth buck, but he spotted the target of the shots as a figure fell out of the sky behind them.

The team had a pyrebat on their tails and hadn’t realized it; that was what the sniper targeted. Gloomy dropped lower and zoomed in on the ghoul’s previous position to check, finding her at her post. The ghoul watched them through the scope, but now as allies to protect, not invaders to battle.

Thank the Nightmare that Gloomy wouldn’t have to go back and tell Midnight that her armor plan sucked. Midnight hated being wrong and might have made herself feel better by adding Gloomy's skin to her armor collection.

Gloomy sighed with relief as he flew higher to get an ‘ok’ signal back to Midnight Castle. Only the three of them were here now since Midnight didn’t want to lose too many more, but they should get a few more as backup now.

They made it to the anomaly in the Canterlot Archives, and it surprised Gloomy to find an actual visible event. An entire section of the room was missing; not destroyed, but vanished. A faint blue ball of energy resided in the center of the missing room, pulsing every few seconds.

Half of the first shift was here, killed while guarding it. Gloomy assumed the other they hadn’t found had fallen somewhere between here and the edge of the city. They’d search when their shift finished.

Gloomy checked his helm's tactical view to scan the room. The event itself gave no readings, but there were six blips inside the room as if other ponies were there. They were hard to lock onto, but life signs were clearly present...yet not there because there was clearly no one else at that location.

The only one clear enough showed what looked like a magic cutie mark. That’d make sense if she cast the spell, so maybe Midnight wasn't using insane logic after all. With better magitech than Gloomy’s helmet scanner, Midnight might have devised an approximate time they’d manifest. Maybe she’d been waiting for years and just didn’t mention it for fear that the Trinity would find out they were coming.

That wasn’t the only oddity however. There were a dozen sprite-bots hovering about the anomaly with more arriving. The contraptions often buzzed about, but Gloomy had never seen more than one at a time. He wouldn’t have thought they could even get a signal here. They could have formed a chain to bounce signals to get around the mountain, but that seemed too smart for sprite-bots to do on their own.

Until about a decade ago, they played propaganda recordings from before the Breaking. Recently, however, the messages changed as ‘the Crystal Princess’ Skyla started broadcasting. A message from her was playing now, echoing through the ruin as the bots played in perfect sync.

“Rest assured,” Skyla’s broadcast said. “I will not make the mistakes of my predecessors. When Princess Skyla builds a nation, she builds it to last. The Equestrian way... mmph... Don’t you, my darling ponies, deserve that? Don’t you deserve a future free of war, fear, and terrible uncertainty? Of course you do. As the Crystal Princess, you have my solemn pledge that I will never rest, never rest, until we all have what we deserve. A place to truly call… ah... home.”

A nice message, as they always were aside from the occasional odd grunt. It was hard for Gloomy to believe, however, and not just because the Crystal Empire hated Equestria as much as their New Lunar Republic hated both of them. There was no way to go back to the magical pre-war era, if it ever existed at all. This wasn’t the world any of them wanted, but it was the one they found themselves in.

And besides, everypony knew this Princess Skyla had another side. Who knew if she was a crystal pony at all? As far as Gloomy knew, those weak-minded things got the extinction they deserved during Daybreaker’s genocidal mania.

“Oh, for Shadow’s sake,” Distraction grunted. “Please tell me we can blast those things.”

“No way!” Blinding remained on the edge of complete panic. “Don't you remember? When we sent a division north looking for her, she invaded their minds and made them kill each other! Let’s not chance her wrath.”

“Blinding makes a good point,” said Gloomy. “Don’t forget we have a truce with her, and I don’t think Her Shadow considers inane rambling to be an act of war.”

“Why is one of them new?” Distraction added, pointing a hoof.

One of the sprite-bots was shiny as if freshly manufactured, something Gloomy had never seen. Clearly Skyla had some kind of authority, or at least control over a sprite-bot manufacturing facility. It seemed like a task that required pre-Break information, but who had survived to tell her?

“Reckon they’re waiting for this 'enemy' too?” asked Blinding. “Maybe they’ll help us?”

“Probably drawn by the stray signals in the anomaly,” reasoned Gloomy. “It’s not like the Crystal Princess has any interest in Her Divine Shadow’s old arch-nemeses. Let’s take positions just outside the door so we can ambush her when she arrives.”

It was an easy task now that they were here. Either this pony wouldn’t show up, or she would and they’d be ready to blast her.

After his shift, Gloomy sent his team to collect the bodies of most of the fallen. Gloomy himself flew to get Steam’s body near the glowing one. Gloomy knew he didn’t need to kill the ghoul now, but he was angry at losing friends, not to mention losing face with Her Divine Shadow. At least then Gloomy could tell the families of the dead that he avenged them, and Midnight wouldn’t punish him for going the extra mile with one of the easier-to-produce explosives.

Gloomy had brought an explosive charge from the armory, powerful enough to take out even a glowing ghoul, or at least leave her in enough pieces to not matter. If she wasn’t aggressive, Gloomy could sit the package down next to her and leave before activating it.

He didn’t see the sniper at first, so figured he’d leave the package and set it off later. Once he landed and walked closer though, he found the ghoul kneeling on the ground.

The glowing killing-machine didn’t look so intimidating now. She knelt on her haunches where she cradled the head of another pony’s corpse. The other corpse had gray fur like the sniper’s mane, with black and gray streaked mane and tail.

The sniper rocked back and forth as she cradled the other, slowly stroking her mane. She made a strange choking sound, like dry crying. The sniper had her foreleg reattached, and Gloomy had no idea how, but otherwise... Gloomy hadn’t considered that a ghoul might be capable of such emotions.

Gloomy felt a surge of pity for the creature. She had been here so long, everypony she knew was dead or feral. Whether she mourned a friend, family member, or lover, it was heart-wrenching to see.

The ghoul jerked in realization that somepony was close, gently placing the corpse on the floor of the rampart and staggering to a standing position, limping against the recently reattached leg. She saluted Gloomy with her better front hoof, and Gloomy saluted back, unsure what else to do. The ghoul seemed self-conscious, playing off having been caught displaying such despondence.

“Cover the northeast corner,” the ghoul drew breath to speak raspy words. Her breath smelled like dry rot. “A few small units of NLR soldiers entered from that direction.” Her eyes glanced at the package that Gloomy intended to leave, “What enemy is that for?”

Gloomy jumped at the comment about his package. Gloomy looked at the package himself but couldn’t figure out how the ghoul knew what was inside. He’d been careful that it would not show.

“I’ll keep an eye out,” Gloomy stammered, slipping the package back into his saddle bag. “Thanks for… covering us earlier.”

“Don’t bring that back here,” the ghoul’s voice gained a warning edge to it. Gloomy got the creepiest feeling that the creature could read his actions, possibly even his mind. Perhaps he had only surprised her because she was so distraught.

Gloomy turned away so the ghoul wouldn’t realize he was tearing up from the experience. He hefted Lunar up onto his back to carry her, the ghoul even lending a hoof.

Gloomy glanced back one last time as he trotted off with the heavy load. The ghoul stared at him, her peeling forehead creased, a mix of confusion and anger on her face. It was like she realized who Gloomy was, and what he’d tried, but her undead programming didn't allow her to attack due to the uniform Gloomy wore.

What torture that must be, but he left before that programming wore thin. He’d heard contact with living ponies tended to do that for docile ghouls.

Later at Midnight Castle

“Sorry he gave you a...another hard time in the latrine...no pun intended,” Gloomy sighed as he sat across the table from Blinding. “And sorry I can’t do anything about it, being Her Shadow’s orders and all.”

Gloomy had invited Blinding to his private quarters as a bit of an apology, especially after what Her Shadow made him help do to her before. He was giving her some of his own food ration tickets, since hers had been decreased for a while as punishment.

They weren’t large quarters, barely room for the bed they sat on and the small table next to it, but it was home. It wasn’t like Gloomy had a real family in the shelter beneath the castle anymore, and if he did would be too ashamed to face them.

“Distraction didn’t used to be like that, he was more like you,” Blinding said, her voice hollow, devoid of emotion. “The first time she ordered him to do that to a pony, he had to be forced. I suppose she let him live when he refused to delight in his corruption.”

“Yeah, working for Her Shadow changes ponies,” sighed Gloomy, nodding. He often wondered what happened to Midnight herself to make her act that way. “I sometimes wish I’d kept my head down and not excelled enough to be put into her main guard.”

“But then you wouldn’t get put on breeding duty so much,” Blinding chuckled a bit more bitterly than she probably intended. “Most stallions are jealous of you.”

Honestly, Gloomy would rather have a personal relationship with a pony like Blinding than regular ‘breeding duty’ with mares he didn’t care for. He could never tell her that though; it’d just cause her more emotional damage.

“I don’t want to kill them,” Blinding spoke again when he didn’t reply. “The ones we’re waiting for at that place. If they’re from before the Breaking, they can’t work for the Trinity, so do they really deserve this? I just… hope they arrive when we’re not there at least.”

“There’s not a lot we can do,” shrugged Gloomy. “You have a kind heart Blinding, but life would be a lot easier for you if you didn’t.” And for Gloomy, since he’d stop caring that he couldn’t be with her.

“I can’t change that,” Blinding said, wiping away her tears before sipping her tea again.

Tuesday, 10/25/?
POV: Twilight Sparkle
Canterlot

The rest of the entries were uneventful shifts guarding the anomaly, at least until today, which hadn’t yet been recorded from Gloomy’s memory. Twilight was glad there wasn’t more with Midnight; her presence was hard to bear even second-hoof. Also seeing Kamikaze treat Blinding’s head as a trophy from Gloomy’s perspective, after knowing she was a victim, was heart-wrenching. Gloomy had appeared to understand it was accidental, but Kamikaze’s silence after they woke up made Twilight think she might be feeling similar to Twilight about it now.

Twilight stared into space as the memories faded and she returned to the present moment. At first she panicked at how much time must have passed, but glancing at the clock on Starlight’s display, she realized that the whole memory had streamed into their head in around 20 minutes.

“D-Done already?” asked Spike when he saw Twilight come to, scratching the back of his neck. There was an odd tremble in his voice, the same tremble that he often made when he’d done something he didn’t want Twilight to know about. It wasn’t like there was much he could have done out here though, and she had other things on her mind.

“Oh Celestia,” Twilight felt tears streaming down her face. It hadn’t been easy to see that, especially the part about ‘her’. Was she really capable of that kind of horrifying behavior? There was no way…

But at the least, she was sure that Midnight was a villain, even if not the only one.

“Actually took longer than I expected, should have only been a few minutes tops,” commented Starlight, then turned to Twilight. “Did you recognize anypony in that memory?”

Of course, without their memories none of them knew for sure. Twilight wasn’t sure how much to tell them though. If she told them the ghoul was Limestone Pie and that the corpse near her was Marble, Maud and Pinkie would want to find them immediately. But if Limestone was still struggling to break her instincts, she might kill Kamikaze and Twilight on sight.

In fact it surprised Twilight that she hadn't already. Twilight was sure the gun Limestone used was the one Marble fired at them when they entered Canterlot. What distracted her from her watch?

But she had to say something; they’d find it suspicious if she had nothing to add.

“First,” said Twilight. “This Princess Skyla is similar in tone and accent to Princess Cadence from our time, so may be related.”

“I don’t know, maybe?” Starlight said, chuckling awkwardly. “I still don’t remember much from ‘our time’.”

“Right,” Twilight nodded. “That Midnight pony was obviously different at least. She was a head taller than me and had a single star as a cutie mark. My mark has five smaller stars around it that represent the friends that assisted me in saving Equestria. We can tell us apart then, but many may miss that difference at a glance like the bat ponies did. I still have ponies miss my wings sometimes.” She took a deep breath and added,“The skin that Midnight wore was Celestia, the ruler before this terrible war.”

“I felt something when I saw that, yes,” Starlight said, clear rage forming in her voice. “We’ll save our vengeance for later.”

“In his thoughts, Gloomy indicated that most ghouls lost their mind," Maud said. "He called them ‘ferals’. The dead filly that attacked us must have been one."

"At least that confirms we did the right thing putting her down," Starlight nodded. "But did you notice the Sun?"

"Excuse me?" Twilight tilted her head, then it hit her. "Oh... I didn't realize until you mentioned it, but either every memory was at the same time of day, or the Sun hasn't been moving."

"The air near the clouds was sweltering!" shouted Pinkie, making everyone jump. She looked apologetic and added more quietly. “Yes.”

Not hot enough though if the Sun was in the same place for all that time. Since the Sun looked wrong, Twilight deduced it wasn’t emitting as much energy as before. That was a grave problem indeed, but one that would have to wait.

"At least we know the attackers weren't from this shelter," sighed Starlight, slipping the orb back into her saddle bag. "In fact, our memory’s protag never even thought about the shelter, indicating they may not know it’s here.”

“Watch the bodies in there,” muttered Spike. “There were a lot when I looked in there."

Starlight and Kamikaze moved out of the office first, but as Twilight turned to leave, she realized that Maud wasn’t moving. Pinkie stood next to her, head tilted as Maud stared blankly at the floor. While Maud was normally flat, this seemed like a bit more.

“Pinkie’s sister is fine?” Pinkie’s tone took on an uncharacteristic concerned tone when her sister looked distressed. “Is she sad that they did not send the flamebrain for us instead of a fruit basket? It would have been more fun, yes.”

“Blinding was not a coward,” Maud said as she looked up. “It is not cowardly to assist your injured teammate, nor to show mercy to a friend that is beyond help. If allowed to act upon such decencies, she may not have broken down.”

“And the vile one murdered another soldier that was not beyond help!” Pinkie blurted out more enthusiastically. “It is dishonorable!”

“Yes, Midnight did many things…” Maud’s eyes moved to Twilight.

Twilight suddenly felt as if Maud’s flat anger might shoot through her, not unlike Limestone’s gun. This Maud seemed like the type to obey an authority figure without question, so she must have felt strongly to give Twilight that look. Pinkie’s eyes followed Maud’s and also narrowed slightly.

Spike, loyal friend that he was, tried to bravely stand between her and them. He then suddenly covered the back of his neck and glanced back at her as if he’d just realized something. He sure was behaving oddly.

“I agree,” Twilight assured them, politely coaxing Spike aside. “Neither of them deserved that, and I assure you that I would never treat others in such a fashion. In fact… It's a relief to hear the two of you voice those concerns. You’re both more kind than I initially gave you credit for.”

Pinkie opened her muzzle as if to say something even more angry, but Maud casually placed a hoof on it, which seemed to silence her.

“Take the compliment, Pink,” Maud told her.

Twilight couldn’t hold back a sigh of relief as she turned again to head out with Spike, Maud and Pinkie shortly behind. She kept Gloomy’s memory sphere, intending to return it to him if they happened to meet again.

Every corpse was now a potential enemy, and as they entered the tower, the soldiers were ready to attack if one so much as twitched. Twilight hoped that anyone in the shelter would have put down any ferals close to their front door, but only if somepony was still alive inside.

“Kamikaze?” Twilight asked as she entered. “Can you watch the exit?”

“Sure thing, boss,” Kamikaze nodded, finally speaking after being silent since they awoke. She looked relieved to stop walking, leaning against the edge of the door and clenching her face. When she spotted Twilight looking, she faced away, but Twilight could see her scratching her forehead with a hoof.

Kamikaze had been showing signs of serious pain since they arrived in the new time, and would scratch at her face when she thought no one would see, but at least she was acting less spastic. That concerned Twilight, though that wasn’t why she told her to stay there. The ponies in the shelter might recognize Kamikaze, more so than Twilight, who had her wings covered, and Twilight wanted time to explain that she wasn’t a threat.

Twilight looked down to the other end of the hall. There was a familiar star design, the horn key that in Twilight’s timeline led to the Elements of Harmony when they were kept here. It looked different, with more defined edges as if the whole wall could shift and roll out like a giant gear. There were panels on either side near the roof, made for who-knows-what to pop out. In the center, just above the horn lock on the faded blue door, they'd engraved ‘Stable 27’ in yellow letters.

Dozens of bodies littered the area around the door, and some looked to have died hammering their hooves into dust against it. Further out, entire families of bodies sat huddled together to die. Stallions, mares, and foals alike, more terrible than any part of the city she’d seen.

At least it was easier to tell they weren’t ghouls as most near the stable had decayed to bone. Perhaps bacteria seeped out through the stable door and survived so far away from the crater. Some bodies showed signs of having died by gunfire, perhaps ferals that were shot from inside the shelter.

That meant those panels on either side probably had guns inside. Twilight hung back, careful not to get too close in case there was an automagic system that might mistake her for somepony else.

Maybe that meant there were living ponies inside, but why hadn't they cleaned up these bodies? Perhaps they were just afraid to come outside. She couldn't blame them completely, but still, leaving ponies to rot like this....

As she looked away from the corpses, she noticed somepony had painted arrows on the floor leading out of the hall and into the city. Twilight didn't know where that might lead, but it'd give them something else to investigate should the stable door not open.

“Starlight,” Twilight called to her, keeping her distance. “You may be able to open the horn lock.”

“Right,” Starlight hesitated, flicking on her mini-cutie map display again. Her map registered tunnels and chambers beyond the door, but they were dark as if the machine couldn’t get a clear reading past the shielded gate.

As Starlight and the Pies cautiously approached the door, Twilight looked around the hall. In her time, this hall was decorated with stain-glass windows of some of her deeds. She feared what she might see on them here, but they could give her clues about this timeline.

First, she looked to the one that should have shown her and her friends defeating Nightmare Moon. It showed Nightmare Moon still, depicting four ponies opposing her: Starlight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Celestia herself. At least she thought the one was Applejack; she had a gear and wrench cutie mark instead of apples.

Rainbow looked gravely injured in the front of the group, missing her left wing. Nightmare Moon didn’t look defeated here; it looked like a stand-off.

The window that should have shown them defeating Discord showed Discord and Fluttershy. Twilight wasn’t sure if Fluttershy’s presence was ironic or predictable considering their relationship in Twilight’s timeline, but it depicted Fluttershy fighting on Discord’s side.

At least it looked like Fluttershy in color and mane style, though her cutie mark differed too. Instead of butterflies, the mark was a brain with Fluttershy’s staring eyes superimposed over it. Who knows how powerful Fluttershy’s stare might have been if it became her special talent.

Starlight held against them with an energy field, defensive rather than victorious. A city in the background, Manehattan given the landmarks, exploded in a green mushroom cloud with a rainbow sheen. Twilight couldn’t imagine what the story behind that was.

Then there was one she’d never seen, and the first that looked like a happy ending. It showed the wendigos, ghostly equines, being incinerated by some kind of energy cannon with Starlight and Applejack firing it. SInce they fed on pony hatred, it wasn’t surprising they showed up in this timeline, but it looked as though they had been soundly defeated.

Next was the ‘Canterlot Wedding’ window, which Twilight immediately regretted seeing. There was no sign of Chrysalis, who had attacked it in her timeline. It instead depicted Twilight herself attacking Cadance, who wore a wedding dress. Cadance wept over a slain Shining Armor, still dressed in his favorite uncle’s suit from the wedding. Twilight’s entire body felt cold despite the rancid heat of the city. The very idea that she might have murdered her own brother... why would she do such a...

Oh. That was why. Around the neck of the image’s Twilight was the Alicorn Amulet. Now that she thought about it, she believed Midnight was wearing that in the memory too, but Twilight had a hard time watching that part.

No doubt it drove her mad with its influence, but could it influence somepony so much, maybe drive them more insane the longer they had it on? That did little to sooth Twilight’s feelings; she didn’t understand why she would put it on or why even it would be enough to make her do that. Even after having seen Midnight’s antics in the memory, Twilight had to believe the death was an accident while targeting something else, though that wouldn’t help much since the ‘something else’ would have been Cadance.

Twilight imagined if Midnight removed it, she’d wake from the insanity and realize much of what she’d done. Given that, removing the amulet might be the cruelest thing anypony could do to Midnight. Not that anyone but Midnight could take it off, and Twilight suspected she couldn’t simply deceive her into doing so as she did Trixie when she put it on in Twilight’s timeline.

Twilight didn’t want to move on, but the others couldn’t be significantly worse. Indeed, the next was more predictable. It was the window that should have shown Spike defeating Sombra. Instead, it looked like the stain-glass window that Twilight had seen during her dark-magic induced nightmare that showed herself being defeated by Sombra. This one showed Starlight, Spike, and Cadance being defeated by him in the same fashion, thrown downward from his wicked face.

There was one left, which depicted who she assumed was this ‘Daybreaker’, an alicorn with a flaming mane and tail. Her head was separated after an apparent execution, a crowd of ponies surrounding her in a riotous state, and one of them covering where her cutie mark would be which prevented Twilight from seeing it. Midnight, still wearing the Alicorn Amulet, lingered behind them with a smile. Next to her was a pony with a light pink coat and dark red mane, licking her lips. Whoever it was, she had the cutie mark of a heart wrapped in chains, so Twilight couldn’t imagine her being nice.

This final window was unfinished, bits of glass around the edges having never been placed. That was certainly some loyal window-makers, creating a window as Cloudsdale raced toward them.

Then it occurred to Twilight. What about Celestia? Surely if she died, it would have been considered historically significant enough to make a window on, but there was no mention of her after her appearance in the Nightmare Moon panel. Had Nightmare killed her?

“It’s not you,” Spike’s voice made her jump as he slipped off her back and onto the floor, scratching the back of his neck again. “You didn’t do any of those things, okay Twilight? And it’s not your fault if more things happen, okay?”

“I know,” Twilight sniffled and sighed, “It doesn’t matter though. If my life took a different turn, I’m still capable of those things. That potential evil is inside me, waiting for the right events to pull it out. And it’s not just this, Spike, you have no idea what I saw her do in that memory sphere.”

“No, it’s not,” Spike patted her neck. “Your cutie mark is different, like you said, remember? So you have a different destiny. You’re defined by your friends, and she isn’t.”

“Maybe,” sighed Twilight. “But most of my friends aren't here.”

“Well,” Spike smiled. “Every stranger you meet is a potential new friend, right? Trust me, you’ll find friends here that would risk breaking time again to help you, and maybe you’ll even reform Midnight, right?”

“Thanks, Spike,” Twilight smiled gently back. “Though that seems unlikely.”

A large clanging sound disturbed their conversation. Twilight looked up to see Starlight, having finally wrestled up the nerve to push her horn into the lock. As she pulled it free, the door groaned as if it were about to pull open, but stopped. Above the door, a bright silver crystal glowed brightly, projecting a light onto Starlight, scanning her up and down.

“Identifying,” a voice that sounded like an angry Celestia with a mechanical twinge, spoke to them from the glowing orb. “Identified as Starlight Glimmer, Minister of Magitech, presumed dead. Resetting status to ‘living’. Identified as in line for throne: Upgrading rank to Current Ruler of Equestria. Please input desired title. Default title: Princess.”

"What?” Starlight looked stunned, “I, uh, guess that’s…“

“Empress!” Kamikaze called from the other side of the hall. Everyone turned to stare at her so she added, “What? It’s for your own good, Princess is a lame title, and my job is to help you stay awesome, right? I mean we don't know if that's my job, but probably.”

“Setting new title,” replied the machine without question. “Greetings, Starlight Glimmer, Empress of Equestria.”

“Did we just help Starlight Glimmer conquer Equestria?” asked Spike in a nervous whisper to Twilight. He was breathing heavily too, as if trying to brace him for something that frightened him. Did the idea scare him that much?

Starlight still looked stunned, chuckling awkwardly and rubbing her mane with one hoof.

“Just what I need,” sighed Twilight quietly, placing a hoof on her face and looking down. “Don’t fret too much, we’ll hope she’s more me than Starlight in this timeline.”

“Well, she’s not cackling madly or anything,” Spike agreed. “Yet.”

“Identifying.” The scanner moved to Maud and Pinkie, scanning them in turn. “Identified as Rock Sergeant First Class Maudalina Daisy Pie. Alias: The Sandmare... Identified as Rock Sergeant First Class Pinkamina Diane Pie. Alias: The Laughing Death.” It paused for a few beeps, “Resetting status to ‘living’. Assigning as Royal Guards to her Majesty Empress Starlight Glimmer.”

“Those are some badass aliases,” Kamikaze commented. “Not as awesome as mine, but pretty cool.”

“You cannot spell slaughter without laughter!” Pinkie was happy about hers, but Twilight didn’t intend to call the Pies such creepy names.

“Guess I’m not in charge anymore,” Twilight sighed. “I think the rest of us should stay back for now until you talk to those inside, just to be safe.”

The system had other ideas however. While Twilight thought she was out of range, it was only working through them closest to farthest. As soon as she spoke, the light focused on her and predictably freaked out.

“Identified as Twilight Sparkle, current ruler of the New Lunar Republic. Alias: Midnight Sparkle,” the voice echoed. “Activating defensive measures.”

The rusty panels on either side of the door opened with a metal grinding sound, hanging only a moment before twin gun barrels extended from the wall. Twilight’s eyes widened as they swiveled to target her, momentarily blinded by the light of laser sights shining on her face.

“Deactivate defenses!” Starlight screamed. “That’s not who you think it is!”

It was too late; the gun barrels lit up with a blaze of fire. Twilight threw up a shield instinctively, but couldn’t charge it fast enough to stop projectiles from high-caliber barrels.

Twilight froze with the shock of the sudden attack, but no bullet struck her. Spike heaved against her, reacting faster than one would expect in such an unexpected situation, shoving her out of the way as the guns blazed to life. A moment later the gunfire stopped, registering Starlight’s command and clanging loudly as they withdrew back into the closing panels.

It took a moment for Twilight to register the warm fluid drooling down her face, but it wasn’t her blood. When she opened her eyes, she stared at a streak of red where Spike had been standing after pushing her aside. Her eyes followed it several hooves back to watch Spike just as his body hit the floor, riddled with so many gaping wounds that he was barely recognizable.

“Spike!” Twilight’s shriek echoed through the hallway as she rushed him.

All else faded into nothing as she charged her magic and blasted him with as much healing energy as she could muster, but for once his draconic nature put him at a disadvantage as dragons were naturally resistant to pony magic. There was too much damage for even her best spell to do him any good.

All her spell did was buy him a little time. Another wave of guilt washed over her, wondering if she only extended his suffering, but she couldn’t give up. She drained herself of power trying to keep his rapidly-failing body alive.

“Least I didn’t make the same sound Starlight did,” Spike spat up the blood in his muzzle so he could speak; even now he saw the distress on her face and instinctively wanted to cheer her up.

“Spike, hold on,” Twilight shook her head. “You just have to hold on until we get help from inside the stable!”

But even that was just rationalization; she knew they wouldn’t get out here in time even if they had some crazy magitech that could heal vital organs and shattered bones. She pulled him closer, trying to hold him together so nothing else fell out.

“Don’t blame yourself,” Spike placed a bloody claw on her face, knowing her too well. “I believe in you even now, you always push through, and you will again… you’ll save this world. I know for a fact...”

Spike continued to try to speak, but the blood oozing from within reached critical levels, making his words slurred into a mush she couldn’t understand. Still, his eyes showed he had complete confidence in her even now. She didn’t deserve anyone to have that much faith in her.

It took a moment to register what this meant. Until now, they could fix all the carnage and despair. All Twilight had to do was travel back in time. Not an easy task, but possible, and she had all the time in the world to figure out how. Everything from this timeline would be fixed as soon as she went back, like it had never happened.

But not Spike. Spike was from her own timeline. Spike, her best friend, practically her son, was dying, and no amount of effort or time manipulation could stop it or bring him back as he should be without potentially creating an even worse paradox. She was useless, keeping him conscious, but twitching in her hooves as she continued to uselessly expend her magic.

“He is beyond help,” Maud’s voice said nearby. “Show him mercy.”

“NEVER!” Twilight shrieked, shielding him with her own body.

Twilight was so busy glaring at Maud for saying such a thing that she didn’t notice that Kamikaze approached from the other side. She barely caught a glimpse of the glow of the metal wing and felt a rush of heat as Kamikaze did what Twilight couldn’t, taking Spike’s head off to quickly end his suffering.

“No!” shrieked Twilight, reacting instinctively, her power sending Kamikaze flailing back against a wall hard enough that sparks flew.

Twilight didn’t even look to see if Kamikaze was okay. Instead her wail echoed through the hall, at first trying to put his cauterized head back on in sheer panic. All she could do was stare at his face as the last look of misplaced confidence froze there forever.

Twilight hugged his body close to her, the warmth of his torn scales and guts against her, and screamed uncontrollably. She sobbed as she rocked back and forth, the rest of the world fading into nothingness for her, because none of it mattered any more.