Back to the Past 01: Grave New World

Rain showers during the night had temporarily cleared away much of the haze and smog from Spaceport City, allowing a few rare shafts of morning sunlight to penetrate through the maze of megastructures to the city’s lower levels. Heftig and Cloud sat upon a rooftop, scanning the sky warily for chopperoids or police vehicles.

“Is everyone gonna be safe down in the tunnels?” the alicorn asked.

“I wouldn’t call the tunnels exactly safe. There’s things down there. But yeah. We’ll have to split up, lead the Commissars in all directions.”

“But you’ll regroup somewhere, right?” Cloud pressed.

Heftig gave her a sudden, penetrating stare. “No. There’s not gonna be any regrouping. Don’t you get it? Iggy’s Army is finished. The Commissars came down against us, they even brought a robot army, Sceleste’s army. There’s no fighting something like that. All we can do is run and hide. And you!” She didn’t make a sentence out of it, but the accusing tone was impossible to miss.

“Me? I fought back those robots. You might all be dead if I hadn’t.”

“There’s a million more where those came from. I thought you were working for Sceleste! I knew you were an alicorn. I thought she sent you to test our loyalty, and you’d keep the Commissars off us, or even bring them on our side if we impressed you enough.”

“Heftig, all I ever wanted to do was defeat Celestia. I’ve fought her before, and I’ve beat her before. I’ll do it again, no matter what it takes.”

The griffin recoiled. “You’re nuts! We’re all going to end up dead—or worse—because we trusted you.”

The alicorn looked down at her feet, her nostrils flared. After some moments, without looking up, she spoke: “I thought we were friends, and I believe we could have been. But there was a critical element missing between us, on both sides. Honesty.”

“Honesty! That’s a laugh.”

“I know, I know! It’s a mistake I’ll never make again. No more disguises, no more false names. From now on, everybody will know who and what I am and why I’m here.” She looked up, looked to Heftig, and declared, “My real name is Nyx. I’m the daughter of Twilight Sparkle, and I’m heir to the legacy of Princess Luna, and I won’t rest until everyone is safe from Celestia’s evil.”

Heftig shook her head. “I can’t be part of your mad dreams. It’s a scramble for survival now, and every creature for themselves. But for whatever it’s worth… Good luck! You’ll need that, and a few miracles too.” Then Heftig opened her wings and hopped off the roof and glided down toward the haven of the tunnels.