Half-Life: Equestria

by Ganymede

Appre-hay-sion

"Twilight!" Rarity's voice rang out over the radio. "Twilight, are you there? I think I'm in the control room, but I can't find my way out!"

Twilight heard the words, but didn't process them. Her mind was going crazy, racing from one possibility to another as Rarity's voice echoed in the background. Part of her wanted to hide. Another part fought to keep looking, in the dim hope that Rainbow had managed to escape.

As much as she hoped to see it, though, there were never any blue or rainbow colors against the harsh lights and fog around her, and the only thing she could hear was the incessant pounding against her chest.

"Twilight! Are you still there?!" Rarity's voice had been increasingly panic-stricken. "Answer me!"

Twilight reached back with a shaking hoof and pulled out the radio, eyes still careening over every square foot of space around her. She opened her mouth to respond, and realized how dry her muzzle had gotten. She was just about to speak when a voice echoed behind her.

"Twilight, dear! Are you all right?!"

Twilight turned around to see a speck of moving white leaning out the window that Twilight had fallen out of. Her heart jumped up into her throat as more possibilities surged into her head. She both raced towards Rarity, and stayed put at the same time, resulting in a strange half-stumble as she nearly tripped over her own hooves.

"Rarity!" She choked on the word and coughed, and swallowed as she trotted forward. "Rarity, she's gone! Rainbow Dash is gone!"

"Gone? What do you mean, gone?" Rarity went silent as realization set in, and she leaned out further to look around. "You don't mean she flew off, do you?"

"They captured her!" Twilight said. "They—" she swallowed, "they got to her. They teleported before I could do anything." She trotted right up to the building, until she had to crane her neck to see Rarity's head sticking out the window. "I need to get back into the control room," she said. "Can you get these blast doors open?"

Rarity looked down at her, and saw where Twilight was pointing her hoof.

"Honestly, Twilight, I couldn't even get the main doors open. They didn't even bother to add door handles. How do you expect me to—"

"There's a control panel in the back," Twilight said. "On the left-hand side. We used it to get the elevator working."

Rarity ducked her head back inside. "I'll see what I can do."

Twilight did a little dance in anticipation, and trotted up as close to the building as she could. The blast doors were indented into the wall, so she found herself standing beneath the second story overhanging above her. All the adrenaline in her body tempted her to throw herself at the doors, and try prying them open, but every pragmatic voice in her head protested before she could lift a hoof.

A crack and a hiss snapped and echoed behind Twilight, and she looked back towards the launch site to see what it was.

"I think that did it." Rarity's voice could barely be heard from Twilight's position.

Twilight stepped forward and peered around towards the crater, just enough to see something opening on the far side of the expanse.

"Wrong doors, Rarity!" she shouted. She growled quietly to herself, and stamped back under the overhang. She was becoming more and more aware of how fatigued she was getting.

"Sorry, dear, but I'm just not as familiar with this panel. I think—wait, this might be it."

Twilight was just about to lean up against the doors when they sprung to life, making her jump back. "That's it!" She stumbled back so she could see the windows again. "Stay put. I'll meet up with you." She raced down the corridor before she had finished her last sentence.

She half-expected to run into a door as she rounded the corner. Instead, she found herself entering a much more elaborate entrance-courtyard, half of which was occupied by a staircase leading to the second-floor. There was a gap between the staircase and the far wall, but all that was there were a few haphazardly placed boxes.

She had just placed her foot on the first step when she looked up to see what she was walking into. She stopped mid-step and stared dumb-founded, unsure whether to facehoof, or simply groan. She ended up closing her eyes and softly uttering "You have got to be kidding."

The entire surrounding wall above her was covered, inch-for-inch, packed to the brink, with sticks of dynamite. What was more, Twilight could just make out a number of trigger-mechanisms all over the staircase, in the form of laser detectors. It would be virtually impossible to climb without setting one of them off.

She stepped back and stared at the situation, wondering whether she could set it off somehow without being in the vicinity, and finally decided that, no matter what she did, setting off the traps would only cause an avalanche that would block the entrance.

She galloped back down the corridor until she reached the launch site, and yelled back through the window: "Rarity, do you see another way in? That way's blocked."

It was a few seconds before Rarity appeared at the window. "What do you mean, it's blocked? I pressed the button. The door should be open."

Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes. "No, not the blast doors. Just... can you meet me at the entrance?"

Rarity cocked her head, but didn't say anything.

"Thanks." Twilight galloped back towards the open blast doors, but stopped short. "Oh, and, whatever you do, don't go outside."

Rarity blinked with mouth gaped. "Wait, you want me to wha—"

Twilight was already halfway down the corridor by the time Rarity caught on to what was going on. Twilight stopped as soon as she reached the courtyard, and listened to the silence. Rarity's stumbling and faint complaining could be just barely heard through the door, but eventually, the door swung open, revealing an exasperated Rarity.

"Okay, Twilight. The door clearly opens. What is this about the entrance being—" she caught site of the dynamite, "— blocked..."

Twilight couldn't help but enjoy a guilty pleasure upon seeing Rarity's face. It was a particularly slow and dramatic realization, and Twilight could tell she was considering simply closing the door and forgetting about the whole thing.

"Well," she finally said, "it appears the military has been busy." She peered around the corner to see just how extensive the damage was. "No doubt the result of excruciating boredom, and perhaps one-too-many drinks."

"Alcohol isn't allowed in the Equestrian military, Rarity," Twilight said.

Rarity rolled her eyes. "Who said this was the Equestrian military. Back when I was in Ponyville, rumor had it there was a zebra nearby that concocted some pretty potent mixes." She took a step back. "A good apple cider is one thing, but," she waved a hoof around, "I think it would take a bit more than a few mugs of cider to inspire this."

Twilight wondering for a moment whether Rarity's words would come across as offensive to the zebra community. She decided not to pursue the issue.

"So," she said, waving her own hoof around, "any ideas on how to get around this? It would be nice to be out of here before the sun rises."

Rarity was about to point her hoof towards the boxes when Twilight interrupted her.

"Besides the boxes, Rarity."

Rarity retracted her hoof, looked around, and then shrugged, batting her eyes innocently.

Twilight bowed her head and sighed. "Fine!" she said, dragging her feet over to the crates in the corner. She mumbled as she did so. "Stupid technology," she said. "We break forcefields, communicate over large distances, and wipe out a large crowd of unicorns from mid-flight. But when it comes to getting around a staircase? Noooooo! We have to uses boxes."

Twilight made sure to exaggerate every hoist, every step, and every grunt as she sarcastically worked her way up the pile of wood. Rarity was at the threshold, leaning against the doorway, trying desperately not to roll her eyes, in fear they would leave her sockets from rolling so hard.

"Really, Twilight," Rarity said, "I think you need to complain a bit louder. There are probably a few soldiers out there who haven't heard you yet."

Twilight stopped herself before a few choice words escaped her muzzle, instead using the last of her energy to push herself to the top of the pile. The box she was standing on wobbled, but she managed to remain balanced.

"Okay," she said, half to herself, "the top of the staircase looks unprotected, so I should be able to leap onto it safely. I just have to—wh-hoa-oa..."

She grabbed onto the wall next to her, just below one of the packs of dynamite. "Okay, Twilight," she said to herself, "the sooner you jump, the better." She closed her eyes, breathed deep, and pushed off.

The jump went relatively smoothly. That is, aside from the spectacular wood-box avalanche she caused, and her faceplant caused by her leg getting caught on the side of the staircase. She waited for the rumbling of wood to subside behind her before peeling her face off of the top stair and looking up at Rarity, smiling in a half-derp.

"Proud of yourself, dear?" Rarity asked.

Twilight shook her head and got up on all-fours. "Hey, I made it, didn't I?" She looked back proudly at the mess of wood below her. "Now," she turned towards Rarity, "let's get to the control room. Hopefully we can use the equipment to track down Rainbow Dash."

=========================================================

It was amazing how much better it felt to be surrounded by lab equipment. The sounds of beeping and chirping, the lights blinking, the colorful ambiance—all of it felt refreshing after being trapped in a world of grey for so long.

Of course, none of it held a candle to the sight and smells of her old library. As useful as computers could be, nothing could duplicate the divine tactile experiences of holding a physical book.

Twilight had wasted no time getting to the control monitor, and was now racing through as many maps of the area as would fit on the screen.

"What I don't understand," she said, half-to-herself, "is why they only took Rainbow Dash." Her hooves continued to slide along the screen as she spoke. "I mean, obviously they couldn't grab onto my suit. But I don't have any kind of helmet! They could have easily grabbed hold of me."

Rarity was busy staring out the window. "Perhaps they were just distracted."

Twilight paused for a moment, and then turned around. "Rarity, do you think you could stand somewhere else? Having you stand right next to the window like that is making me nervous."

Rarity pouted her lip, and cocked her head, but ultimately stepped away from the window.

"I still don't understand what you hope to achieve, dear," she said. "Do you expect Rainbow Dash to show up on the monitor?"

Twilight gritted her teeth. "There is nothing else we have to work with," she said quietly. "It's not like they walked or flew out of here. There's nothing I can use to estimate where they went." She sighed. "The most we can do is find a new path, and hope it takes us closer."

Rarity had decided to make herself useful by staring over Twilight's shoulder at the screen. At least if they couldn't find anything, it would be four eyes not seeing anything instead of two.

Twilight slammed a hoof into the wall next to her, with a few choice expletive euphemisms. "I don't get it!" she shouted. "Why couldn't they have left some soldiers behind?! At least then I could have something to go off of: a radio, a map—heck, even a body would be better than nothing. Teleport magic can't be traced!"

Rarity leaned her head forward, pretending to look at the screen harder. "You think they planned it this way," she said quietly.

Twilight leaned her head into her hoof. "I know, I know. They're planning something, I just don't know what!" She shook her head. "It's all so strange."

Rarity reached back almost instinctively, and pulled out her radio. "Can we use these in any way?"

Twilight shook her head. "The only way we could track down something using the radios is if we receive a signal. All we can do is scatter the signal when we transmit, but there's no way to know what's picking it up."

"But that's exactly my point, dear," she said. "The military is using their radios all the time!"

"Yes, but there would be no way to tell which signal is the one we're looking for." She reached out a hoof, and let Rarity hand her the device. "Even if I remove the encryption, all we'll get is a bunch of jumbled signals from all over the base. Not to mention, there would be no guarantee that any one of them would be coming from Rainbow Dash's location. These radios have a very short range. You were breaking up just from being on the other side of the rail system, remember?"

Rarity sighed, and put a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "Then what do you want to do, dear? We can't just host a sleepover in a rocket control center."

"I know!" Twilight shouted. She stopped short, and took a deep breath. "I know," she said quieter. "They'll probably be targeting you next. They could send in more unicorns to this place at any time."

"Exactly," Rarity said. "The sooner we get moving, the better."

Twilight stared at the screen some more, hoping there was something she had missed: some clue, or passage, or... something that would lead her to a secret base of some kind. Finally, though, she simply lifted a hoof in defeat, and pointed it at a mundane place on the screen.

"This track leads back under the surface," she said. "They'll have a tougher time finding us there."

Rarity didn't say anything, but her eyes shed a glimmer of sympathy as they met up with Twilight's. Twilight didn't realize it at the time, but for the first time since Rainbow had been captured, she smiled.

=========================================================

"Aaaaaand step, aaaaaaand step, aaaaaaand step, aaa—"

"Would you hurry up?!"

Twilight had been standing at the bottom of the ladder for what felt like five minutes. In fact, as far as taking Rarity with her was concerned, she may as well have been pulling a sack of apples. Every time Twilight turned around, Rarity was staring off into space. It had taken her ten minutes just to get her out of the launch site area.

"Well, excuse me for being careful, darling," Rarity said. "It wouldn't do us much good if I injured myself."

Twilight opened her mouth to retaliate, but ended up closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. Her adrenaline was going crazy, and it was everything she could take to hold it down.

She watched as Rarity gently set down onto the ground before looking around. The area they were in looked like a much larger, much darker, and much more run-down version of the corkscrew lift rooms they had explored. One of the lights in the corner was flickering, and there were patches of mold here and there in the corners. The musty smell made Twilight's nose wrinkle.

She sighed. "Sorry, Rarity," she said, "but I just can't help but think of Rainbow Dash. I keep wondering what kind of crazy things she might try to do if we don't find her."

Rarity was staring lazily up through the entrance hole they had come through. "You mean like escape?"

Twilight found herself with her hoof in the air and her mouth open, and quickly closed it. "Actually," she said, "that would be the best case scenario." She turned around. "I mean, she'll do something stupid to provoke them. She'll get herself hurt, or—"

"—killed," Rarity finished.

Twilight turned to face Rarity again, realizing she couldn't bring herself to say the word herself. She stepped up to Rarity, who was still staring blankly up at the ceiling near the ladder.

"Look, I'm sorry if you find the scenery really fascinating, but we really have to go!"

Rarity looked like she was coming out of a trance. "What—huh?" She blinked, and then turned around to look at Twilight. "Oh, I—"

Twilight glared at her, but didn't say anything.

Rarity's eyes drooped, and she bowed her head. "I'm sorry if I haven't seemed very concerned lately." She swung her forehoof back and forth, scraping it along the ground. "I know I should be feeling more concerned about Rainbow right now. It's just, I can't help but think..." She turned her neck and glanced back up the ladder.

Twilight felt a twinge in her stomach as she realized what she was getting at. She hadn't even considered it until she saw Rarity's face. Neither of them had brought up Rarity's sister since before they had entered the silo. This was the first time since then that they had been at the surface.

"R-Rarity." Twilight could hardly even get the words out.

"I mean," Rarity continued, "It's not that I don't care, or anything. It's just—"

"Rarity." Twilight stepped up to put a hoof on her shoulder, but Rarity pushed it away.

"You must," she started, "think I'm pretty selfish." Her voice was stifled, as though she was having trouble controlling herself.

"Rarity." Twilight's voice was almost a whisper.

"Look," Rarity said, lifting her head back up. Her face was tinged pink. "Let's just get going, okay? The sooner we're away from here—"

"Rarity!" Twilight said.

Her voice echoed around them as the room fell silent. Both of them felt compelled to speak, but neither could find the words to say. The air was unnaturally still.

Twilight was the first to break the silence.

"You don't have to come with me," she said. "You have a home! You have a family! I'm not going to stop you if you want to go to them."

Rarity choked back, looking close to tears. "I know," she said. "I just feel so," she thought for a bit, "so guilty!" She stared off to the side. "You helped me get out of that office. The least I can do is see you through." She turned back to face her again. "I mean, I don't know if I'll go all the way to the Lambda lab with you," she said, "but I am not going to abandon you while I can still help."

Rarity's face was anything but pretty. Her eyes had swelled and become red, and much of her face had channels of wetness running down the sides, however much she attempted to hide it.

Twilight stepped up to her and placed her hooves on either side of Rarity's face. "Look at me," she said, forcing Rarity to meet her eyes. "You have a family. You're obviously in pain. Nopony is going to think less of you if you leave now."

She struck her head up into a dignified pose, and walked around Twilight, trying hard to regain her composure. "It is simply," she said, "out of the question! If you are going to find the Lambda Lab, you are going to need my help. I simply cannot see you do this alone." She turned and strained a smile at Twilight. "Besides," she said, "even if I found my sister, and returned home, I doubt that we would appreciate headcrabs teleporting into our dining room." She threw her head up with a "Hmmph!", and stamped across the room. "I daresay it would be most prudent to cleanse the invasion before having afternoon tea!"

Twilight snickered as Rarity wiped some of the drips from her face. She followed Rarity through the musty room, admiring how quickly she was recovering.

"Well, if you say so," Twilight said. "Just, do you think you could cut down a bit on the sarcastic remarks? Maybe just a little?"

Rarity scoffed as they reached the other side of the room. "Twilight, honestly! Stopping an invasion is one thing. But I'm not a miracle worker!"

She threw her head up in the air, but not without cracking a smile against the straight face she had been trying so hard to keep.

=========================================================

"Well, at least we don't have to walk the rest of the way underground," Rarity said.

Twilight reached the other side of the lift room to see what Rarity was pointing to. There was so much clutter in the way, she could barely make out what was at the tunnel entrance. A slew of crates, pallets, old rusted pipe pieces, and various outdated electronics infested the area, and looked like they had been accumulating for years. It reminded Twilight of what happened to her brother's workbench when her mother didn't remind him to clean it.

"Do you really see a train under there?" Twilight asked. "Or are you just suggesting we try using one of these pallets as a sled?"

As a response, Rarity wafted some of her white aura around the debris and pushed it aside one piece at a time. Twilight couldn't help but be amused at the way Rarity picked up some of the less pleasant items with as little magic as possible, as though the grime would wash off onto it somehow.

"Well, I do agree," Rarity said, "for a massive, glaringly red hunk of metal, this train certainly managed to blend in a lot."

She pushed aside a metal plate the size of her entire body that was leaning up against something, and revealed a large chunk of red metal behind it, crudely shaped into some sort of vehicle.

"Definitely not the sort of train we're used to," Rarity said. "Part of me wonders whether it still runs."

Twilight stepped up to it and ran a hoof over the top. It came just up to her shoulders, and extended into the tunnel just further than the length of the other trains.

"It's probably an older model," Twilight said. "It's too rusted and beat-up to be newer than the wood trains."

From what she could see in the dark tunnel, most of the train reminded her of a somewhat chubby monorail train. The front had a hood, as though covering some sort of engine. There was no roof covering the train, and even if there had been, it would have been so low that Twilight would have to lie on the floor to fit under it. Even without a roof, it would still be a tight squeeze to get two ponies inside. There were hinges on the side, as if there had once been doors, but Twilight suspected they had fallen off at some point. She could just imagine some maintenance pony driving around the corner with the door open, striking a wall that knocked it off, and shrugging the whole thing away as "just another thing that broke on this damn train".

"Please tell me you can get this thing working," Rarity said. "My hooves are positively throbbing from all the walking I've been doing!"

Twilight was already inside and looking at the control panels, trying to relate it to the wood trains she already knew.

"Looks like the same interface," she said. "If power has been routed to this part of the tracks, there's a good chance it'll turn on like any of the others."

As she worked, Twilight could hear Rarity shuffling uncomfortable outside the train.

"If you had asked me a couple days ago, I would have told you I'd have given anything in Equestria to ride the train to Canterlot." Rarity sighed. "I can't exactly say I have the same enthusiasm for trains anymore."

Twilight looked up, a few sparks flying from her horn. "This looks like the end of the rails," she said. "I'm not sure where our last stop is going to be, but I can tell you this: I'm not riding on anymore trains after this one. Even if it looks like the only way to go."

Rarity cocked her head. "You'd rather turn back?"

Twilight scowled. "I'd rather blast a hold in the wall with a grenade."

Rarity scoffed and flipped her hair. "Well, we already know you're capable of doing that, dear." She stepped up closer to the train to try and get a better idea of what Twilight was doing. "Are you sure you don't need any help?"

Twilight stood up. "I've been studying the mechanisms of the trains as we've been riding them, and they seem to be pretty simple. This one just needed a little magic."

She stood off to the side to make room for Rarity. "Looks like it's good to go."

Rarity just stood there and stared. Twilight had barely been able to shuffle to the side, much less move around to get comfortable. The engine was very close behind them, and she was not looking forward to having her rump pressed against it the whole time.

"Twilight, dear."

Twilight caught Rarity's eye, and had no problem reading the awkward expression on her face.

"Don't worry, Rarity," she said, "I have a plan, in case we get into trouble."

Rarity breathed a mock-sigh of relief. "Oh, good! I was wondering which technique we would use if there was an obstacle in our way: kamikaze, or the slam-on-the-breaks and scream. I daresay, I've gotten quite a lot of practice for the second one."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "I can't exactly promise neither of us will scream," she mumbled under her breath, "but!" she spoke up, "I will say, if we get into trouble, we can simple roll off the side of the train like I did back with that forcefield."

Rarity couldn't help but glance down at Twilight's rear hoof. The bandages were soaked red. Twilight caught her, and spoke up again.

"Just remember not to hit the rail when you roll," she said.

Rarity continued to stand there, face still blank and bemused, even as Twilight started up the engine of the train. The rear of the train roared as Twilight pressed the button, making Twilight look back to make sure there wasn't some sort of rodent or headcrab caught in the engine. It was a much more powerful engine than the other trains.

"So?" Twilight said. "Are you coming? Or do you want to wait for the next train?"

Rarity snapped out of her bemusement and shook her head. She looked as though she wanted to say something, but everything she tried to get out her muzzle kept choking back. She finally gave in, and squeezed her way onto the train.

Twilight pressed the lever forward one notch, and felt the train smoothly accelerate. It was so subtle that she had to look at the wall next to her before she realized they were moving at all.

For the next few seconds, Rarity histrionically wiggled around, rubbing her rump up against the back, wrenching her hooves out from under her before squeezing them back in, and making a lot of un-lady-like grunts in the process. At one point, she even made an entire scene out of turning around and placing her rump against the controls, only to find her ears right up against the roaring engine, and her flanks fiddling with the controls.

"Twiiiiilight!" she whined, "Hoooow exactly am I supposed to get comfortable in this thing?!" She pouted her lip. "I'm exhausted, it would be soooo nice to actually get some beauty sleep before this is over."

Rarity completed her full three-sixty turn in the train, and slumped her head against the dashboard, letting her cheeks and chin droop all over the cold metal, and whinnied.

Twilight's eyes had drooped so low they were almost closed. Rarity's whinny finally made her slam her face into the dashboard and keep it there for a few seconds.

"Why do I put up with this?" she mumbled into the metal.

She pulled her head back up and looked forward to watch the lights fly by. It was almost mesmerizing. One light, two lights, three lights, four...

"Uh, Rarity?"

Twilight counted another five lights go by before she started up again.

"I think we're accelerating."

Rarity was too busy counting the rust spots on the front of the train to notice much of anything. As fast as they were going, the ride was quite smooth.

"Rarity!"

Twilight was looking down at the controls, trying to fiddle with the speed lever. "I think we're going to have to get off the hard way," she said. "The speed controls are responding. There's no way I can slow it down. Not using the controls, anyway." She looked back up, and saw nothing but a long stretch of tunnel. "At least we have plenty of time. We shouldn't run into anything for a while, so that should give us some leeway for getting off before we crash."

The word "crash" made Rarity's ears, mane, tale, and coat stand on end, and she immediately leaped up and tried to turn in place, only to find herself still wedged in.

"Wha—! What do we do?! Where do we—Crash?! Really?! Whe—"

Twilight punched a hoof into her muzzle. "We'll be fine, so long as we get off now. We can use the back of the train. The leap off the back will slow us down, and help us control the roll." She wiggled her way sideways. "Here, I'll move off to the side so you can get yourself unstuck."

Rarity's panic only mounted as she freed her body. Being packed in was almost a comfort, like wearing a large coat of metal armor. The freedom of her body made her lose balance.

"T-Twilight," she whimpered. "I don't know if I can do this."

"You'll be fine!" Twilight said over the sound of the engine. "Just don't tense up. We have plenty of time. It's not like—"

Both of them froze as a blinding light went off in the distance, followed by a shockwave that shook the train and pierced their ears. A ball of orange burned in the air for a few seconds as it dissipated into smoke.

"On second thought," Twilight said.

Rarity's head spun around from side to side. "What did—was that a—where did that—"

"They're trying to de-rail the train!" Twilight shouted.

As the smoke got closer, Twilight could make out a boarding platform just next to it. The rails had been bent up and around from the explosion, and were now pointing towards the platform.

"Changeofplans, get over to the side, Rarity," Twilight shouted. She rammed her hooves against Rarity's rump, and pushed. Seconds remained. "Side, Rarity! Jump!"

Looking forward was like falling from a building. The broken rails shot towards her so fast that it caused vertigo. She barely had time to brace herself before it struck.

Rarity had stumble-trip-jumped out of the train just as it had hit the ramp, and was already performing a screaming barrel roll. Twilight's knees shook as she kicked off the train, and her ankle caught the back, causing her to lose what little control she had left. She wiggled in the air for a second, and then felt herself slam into the concrete below, carried into a roll by her momentum.

"Ra-ri-ty!" she yelled with each bone-crunching collision with the platform. With each one, she felt herself scrape against the surface and slow down. She kept her hooves in tight, forcing herself against her temptation to flail them out and try to catch something. She could barely breath, as each blow knocked more and more wind out her.

And then the ground disappeared beneath her.

There were no more scrapes and slides. It was just air all around her. She wheezed, trying desperately to get a breath of air to scream with, letting her hooves flail out as she fell. Her momentum kept her rotating, so she kept going back and forth between seeing the ceiling flying away above her, and the floor hurtling up below her. She felt her heart jump up into her throat just as the ground came up and slammed into her.

It took a second or two to calm down enough to see why she wasn't dead. The impact had knocked her dizzy, but she wasn't lying on the ground. In fact, she was suspended in the air—no, water! She flailed her hooves around, and felt the resistance. She took a breath by instinct, and instantly caught a lungful of water.

She paddled for her life, and just managed to break the surface. As soon as she did, she brought her hoof up out of the water and started pounding on her chest with with it while treading with the other. Sputtering turned into coughing, with turned into retching. Her head went under a few more times as her one hoof struggled to keep her afloat, and she felt the uncomfortable sensation of water streaming through her nostrils.

She tried to yell out to Rarity above her, but couldn't get the breath she needed to do so. She only continued to tread and cough, tread and sputter, tread and breathe.

It wasn't until some of the water had leaked out of her ears that she heard the battle above her. Magic reigned overhead, and she could just make out some of the green residue of it.

"Twi-ight!"

Rarity's voice could just be heard over the sounds. The voice was coming towards her.

"Twilight! I'm coming!"

A few green beams flew out overhead, illuminating the room she was in. Twilight could barely make out a few walls and items here and there in the glow, but other than that, all she knew was she was in an old flooded area of some sort. The beams struck the walls with a flash, leaving glowing residue behind.

And then Rarity's body appeared, leaping out over the edge of the platform. For a second, Twilight was afraid she was going to land on top of her, and flailed her hooves against the water to try and paddle away. However, after a few seconds without any sign of a splash, she looked back up to see Rarity still suspended above her.

A green aura was surrounding her.

Twilight let out what little breath she had caught up in her lungs as she watched Rarity float motionlessly away from the edge, and out of sight.

"Rar—" She breathed. "—rity!"

She could barely think, let alone continue to tread water, and almost considered taking a short break: just a quick trip to the bottom to rest. Every one of her legs were pained from impact and use.

And then something else caught her eye that made her snap back to reality. Something small had been hurled over the edge of the platform: something about the size of a baseball, mostly grey in the dim light cast from the tunnel, and probably missing a very important pin.

Twilight's eyes went wide as she watched it arc over the side.

And then she gasped, and dove underwater, furiously pushing against the water with what little strength she had left. Adrenaline was coursing through her body, making her feel like she could push herself that much harder. The muffled sounds and blurred sights around her almost became clearer in that moment, and she caught sight of a blinking light in the distance. She swam down hard towards it, letting a couple air bubbles escape as she pushed forward.

She fiddled with a switch at her side, and found the release mechanism for her gun. The weight at her shoulder popped away, and she suddenly felt much lighter, and could swim a bit faster.

As the light got closer, it revealed a wavering, blurred entrance door. Twilight reached a hoof out and managed to use the top of the metal entrance-way to pull herself through, and into the flooded hallway.

A mountain of heat washed over her as she swam through the tunnel, and she felt herself being blasted forward, riding the wave of the explosion. Her lungs were about ready to tear themselves out of her chest, and her limbs were threatening to cut themselves away from her body in protest.

She pushed forward, seeing a ramp ahead of her, and a subtle shimmering above, which must have been the surface. Her surroundings were becoming less focused, and shrouded in darkness. She was having trouble concentrating.

PUSH! she thought.

It was the only thing left she could think about as the last of her air escaped out in bubbles. All it would take is one breath. One breath, and it would be over. She could rest. Forever.

PUUUUUSH!

Her hoof struck the ramp, and she kicked off of it hard.

The breach of the surface and the first breath of air striking her lungs brought a dizzying amount of feelings back. An orgasmic feeling of relief pulsed through her body as she struggled to stay afloat. What little energy she had left, she used to push forward until she felt the ramp beneath her. Half-walking, half-swimming, she waded her way up the ramp and out of the water.

She had never realized just how heavy her body was until the water was down to her knees. The last few steps up the ramp were pure agony. Had her mind been focused enough to consider her appearance, she would have realized what a wreck she must have looked. However, all she could manage to do was slump up the ramp, and barely crest the top.

She lifted her wavering head and looked at the yellow-ish lights illuminating a very different-looking hallway with yellow-crusted paint on the walls, and tiled floor. Her eyes drooped, causing the lights to be the only thing she could see.

And then, she collapsed onto the ground, and left the conscious world.

=========================================================

The first thing she heard was dripping. Soft echoes reached her ears, each spaced a few seconds apart.

She moved a hoof and tried to open her eyes. It felt like somepony had placed weights on her lids, and the lights shining down upon her weren't helping.

Pressing with all the strength she had, she managed to lift her body up with her forehooves, and worm her way onto all-fours. The hallway in front of her was still coming into focus. All she could make out was a blur of yellow amid a rocking dizziness.

"R-Rarity?"

Her mouth was parched, despite the volume of water she had inhaled earlier. A pain deep in her stomach reminded her of how long she had gone without food. Rarity had suggested eating some of the grass outside the launch site, and while that was a good idea in theory, there wasn't enough for it to make up for a complete meal. Most of what was outside had simply been dirt.

She blinked against the lights as the yellow-peeled paint and tiled floor came back into focus. She stumbled a bit as she regained her balance, and immediately felt herself drawn back towards the water behind her. She stepped hoof-over-hoof up to the ramp, and collapsed on the ground just in front of the water, and plowed her muzzle into the surface, gulping as fast as her throat could work.

She could feel the pain as the water hit her stomach, but she didn't stop. She kept forcing down all that she could fit, even until she felt uncomfortably full. There was no telling when she would see water next.

A few memories snapped back into her mind, including a particularly disturbing image of Rarity engulfed in magic. Twilight lurched at this thought, and she swallowed wrong. Her coughing came up so fast, she didn't have any time to take a breath, and she found herself sputtering and struggling to breath.

She pounded her chest a few times with her hoof, and the coughing subsided over time, although the lump in her chest didn't go away. She couldn't help but notice how her eyes didn't water up, like they always did when this happened. She needed to rest. That's what every book she had every read on dehydration had said.

She didn't feel like resting, though. Sooner or later, she would have to move, even if for nothing more than to find food. As much water as she had just drunk, it wouldn't make up for a lack of nutrition.

She thought about what Rainbow Dash might say if she saw Twilight now. She would probably be trying to drag her out of the hallway, even if it meant Twilight clawing at the ground in protest. It was exactly the kind of thing she would do.

That's when she saw it.

She wasn't sure whether it was because she was thinking about her at the time, or if there had simply been a trick of the light. However, she had sworn she had just caught a glimpse of a rainbow-colored tail in the corner of her eye.

She focused, and found herself staring at the empty hallway. There was nothing there, save for the lights and that awful peeling paint.

"Rainbow Dash?" she said out loud, if for no other reason than to hear her voice. It was still cracked from being parched.

She trotted to the end of the tunnel stretch, and peered around the bend. Another short stretch revealed itself as she did so. No rainbows of any kind were there.

"Hello?"

Her voice curtailed and stretched in the silence around her. The only other sound was the constant dripping in the distance.

Part of her was afraid to keep going, in case she was to see something else. Perhaps next time, it wouldn't be a rainbow tail. She had read about ponies having delusions and hallucinations under stressful situations like this, and wasn't keen on having one.

Okay, Twilight, keep it together, she thought. It was just a trick of the light.

She closed her eyes, rubbed them with her hooves, and opened them again, blinking against the light. Again, no rainbows were present.

She took a deep breath, sighed, and set off down the hallway.

Just walk, she thought to herself. Don't think. Just walk.

As it turned out, the path was quite short. She didn't have to go around too many more bends before it emptied her out into somewhere more significant.

She stepped out of the tunnel, and onto a catwalk platform that surrounded the room she had entered. The place was flooded, but unlike the room she had fallen into before, it had the distinct feeling that it was done on purpose. The water level came just up to the bottom of a surrounding catwalk that went around the entire perimeter of the room. It was as though someone had made a make-shift fish tank out of a two-story room. Her suspicion was confirmed by a large rusted shark cage suspended over the water by a pulley system. She could just make out an observation area to the right, marked by a few windows, and a platform reaching out over the cage.

She stepped carefully along the catwalks, staying as far to the outside as possible, in case there was something in the water. There were a few ripples here and there in the surface, as well as patches of reflection on the catwalk that Twilight discovered were still wet, although from what, she couldn't tell. Something must have splashed the water at some point.

As well, a few ropes made Twilight look up at the ceiling. She regretted it the moment she did. The moisture had attracted a large array of barnacles, which were covering many areas of the ceiling. Their tendrils could barely be seen in the room, unless one was specifically looking for them. They blended in too well with the water and the glare of the lights, and Twilight had to work hard to avoid them.

She went back and forth between looking up at the ceiling, and looking ahead of her for long strands. Very few of the barnacles were over the path of the catwalk, which made things easier, although It didn't make her feel any less nervous.

As she reached one of the corners of the perimeter, however, she saw it again:

A rainbow tail was sticking out around the corner of where the path lead. It was only there for a second before disappearing. However, as it did so, it was accompanied by the quiet pattering of hoofsteps.

"HEY!" Twilight yelled.

She took off down the catwalk, nearly running into one of the tendrils hanging from the ceiling. She dodged it awkwardly, and ran around the corner, and into the cubbyway that it lead into. She was running so fast, she nearly ran into the dead-end wall that it lead to, and almost fell over from stopping so hard.

She looked up, and noticed the there was a ladder against the dimly lit dead-end, which lead straight up into another room. Rainbow Dash could have easily flown up there. Twilight was already breathing hard, mostly from anxiety, but somewhat from exhaustion. Nevertheless, she placed her hooves on the ladder rails, and hoisted herself up, pushing her hooves to move quickly.

She couldn't be sure, but there was a moment when she thought she caught a glimpse of the rainbow streak just over her head, at the crest of the ladder. She only saw it in her peripheral vision, though. It was gone by the time she looked up.

"Rainbow Dash!" She crested the ladder, and ran around the small bend just in front of it, which lead out into the observation room. "Rainbow Da—OOF!"

The impact of another body caught her by surprise, and she almost lost her balance. A pair of hooves grabbed her by the shoulders, and a nasal stallion's voice reached her ears.

"Ow," it said.

Twilight caught her balance and took a step back to look around. It was difficult to see the rest of the room, as it was being blocked by a short, light-tan stallion with thick black glasses. She could see his tail flicking behind him, and noticed it was black, just like his mane.

She whipped her head around a few times, in case Rainbow Dash was clinging to the ceiling, or hiding under some equipment, before turning back to the stallion.

"You haven't seen a blue pegasus around here, you have?"

The stallion turned around in an awkwardly-postured way, and stepped up to some controls on her right. "You mean Rainbow Dash?" he asked.

Twilight's ears perked, as did her eyelids. "You know her?!" she jumped up. "I mean," she took a deep breath and sunk into the floor, "she's here somewhere?"

The stallion shook his head. "Nah. I just heard you shouting her name. I've never seen a blue pegasus in this room in my life."

Twilight lowered her lids, letting a sigh escape her lips.

"Listen, lady," he said, still not looking at her, "I don't think this is the best place to be looking for someone. It's pretty much abandoned." He reached out at one of the controls, and tapped one of the levers curiously. "Honestly, I don't even know how you got in here." He brought a hoof up to his head. "Come to think of it, I'm not even sure how I got in here." He looked around. "This is pretty much the nowheresville of everywhere."

He made a cough-sneeze-smirk, as well as a nasal chuckle, before sighing and walking off to the corner of the room. "Ah, listen to me," he said. "No beautiful mare like yourself would want to listen to me."

Twilight cocked her head with a weird look on her face. This statement came out of nowhere.

"What?" she said.

The stallion simply reached one of the far corners of the room, and sat down, facing away from her, fiddling his hooves. "Sorry," he said, "I'm not good with mares. They make me nervous." He snorted, and flinched in another nasal laugh. "It's actually one of the reasons I work here," he said. "No other ponies."

Twilight just stared at him. "Wait. Didn't you just say you didn't know how you got here?" She hardly notice that she had backed up a few steps.

"Sorry," the stallion said. "Just trying to make conversation."

Suddenly, he perked up and turned to face Twilight with wide eyes. "Hey!" he said. "You wanna kill a shark?!"

Twilight's face contorted into a horrified frown, and she found herself involuntarily shaking her head.

"No, no!" he said, "It's real easy. Just use the tranquilizer."

Not even the shock from hearing a scientist not know how a tranquilizer worked could making Twilight talk. She just continued to stare in horror.

"Well, I guess it's not really a shark," he continued. "More like a flesh-eating piranha the size of a manticore. It likes to hop out every so often, and scare the other ponies." He laughed nervously, rubbing his hooves together, before looking off to the side. "I'm so lonely," he said quietly.

Twilight's horrified look dwindled, and she almost felt a bit sorry for him at this last statement. However, something was instinctively repelling her away from him, as if he had a cold, or really bad body odor. She just couldn't push herself to get close enough to comfort him.

Instead, she trotted up to the window, placed her forehooves on the sill, and peered out over the edge at the water below. She could just make out a dark patch of the water that was moving around: something just beneath the surface. He had overestimated its size. It was more like the size of a large stallion. Its movements kept the water surface rippling.

"Is there any way out of here without using the platforms around the tank?" she asked.

The stallion shook his head. "That's why nopony wanted the job," he said. He chucked again. "I don't mind, though," he said. "I don't think it's a monster. It's just a little misunderstood."

Twilight didn't even try to comprehend this. One minute ago, he was asking whether she wanted to kill the thing, and now it sounded like he was describing his pet.

"You said there's a tranquilizer gun?"

"That's right," he said, perking up. "I made it myself, out of old scraps and stuff I found lying around."

Twilight stared at him for a moment, wondering whether this stallion could just be another hallucination, and decided there was no way her mind could conjure up something like this. He was definitely real.

"I'm assuming you know where you put it?" Twilight asked dully.

The stallion smiled wide, and walked over to a small exit door, where the suspended platform was attached. "I put it in the shark cage!" he said.

Twilight didn't even bother to sigh. She simply stepped up to the control panel to her right, leaned her head back, and smashed her face into it.

The resulting noise made the stallion jump. He scratched his head, stepped up to Twilight, and leaned over her shoulder.

"Was it something I said?"

=========================================================

Twilight stood at the exit doorway that lead out to the shark cage. The suspended platform looked much wider from up here. It had blended in so well from below that she had barely noticed it was there.

"So, let me get this straight," Twilight said, turning back towards the stallion. "You had one weapon to defend yourself, and you decided to toss it into a cage suspended over a monster-infested pool?!"

The stallion looked down and pawed at the ground. "It seemed like a good idea at the time?" he said, his voice going up an octave in pitch.

Twilight looked around the room. "How did you manage to survive this long?! There's not exactly that many places to hide."

The stallion blushed and backed up, and his glasses slid down an inch of his muzzle. "Survive?" He pushed the rim back up his nose as he laughed nervously again. "Wha—What do you mean? I work here."

Twilight scrunched her mouth to prevent herself from letting another exasperated sigh escape her muzzle and ravage the room. "Oh, I don't know," she whispered, "maybe the ALIENS roaming around?!" She flailed her hooves as she said this.

Now it was the stallion's turn to look confused. "Aliens?" He looked around. "There are aliens here?"

He started trotting around the room, looking under some of the control panels, and inside some of the storage boxes. "Nobody told me they would be—" He looked up. "Is that who this "Rainbow Dash" is? Is she an alien?" He started gnawing on his hooves. "Did you... let her loose? Is she roaming around here, looking to eat us?! OH, CELESTIA, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"

He jumped up and grabbed onto the front of Twilight's suit, in a beggar's position.

Twilight just stood there, watching the entire thing as though it was one of Princess Luna's favorite Marelequin novels. She couldn't decide whether she wanted to push him away, or toss him into the pool behind her. Perhaps she could throw him into the shark cage, and have him toss her the tranquilizer gun before dropping into the water: get the best of both worlds.

"For your information," she said quietly, placing her hooves on his own so she could guide them off her chest and onto the ground, "Rainbow Dash is very much a pony, and I'm not about to study her anatomy to confirm it." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, pushing the bad mental images out of her head. "Honestly, I don't know why you haven't seen any aliens here. They're all over the facility. They keep teleporting in from nowhere."

Twilight phased out for a second as she considered all the times she had seen the aliens. A pattern was starting to emerge, as it sometimes did in the back of her mind.

"Actually, from what I recall, the only time we ever saw the aliens teleport is when there was a lot of other activity. There was always either gunfire, or some sort of ruckus going on."

The stallion whimpered when he heard the word "gunfire", but Twilight ignored him.

"Either that means the rift gets thinner when there's more energy in the area," she put her other hoof up as she continued, "or the aliens are deliberately looking for the most likely places for organic life to be." She put a hoof on to her forehead. "Oh gosh, I really, really hope it isn't the later."

She started trotting nervously around the room.

"When did the monster appear in the water?" she asked, not stopping.

The stallion was close to tears. "I-I don't know! Maybe a... a week? Or maybe two. OH GOSH, I DON'T KNOW ANYMORE!" He put his hooves over his face and started balling.

Twilight stopped dead. "A... week?!" She blinked a couple times. "But, that would mean—"

She had to pause for a bit to regain her thoughts. The stale air and lights around her didn't help with her thoughts process, but she couldn't stop. "A week!" She put her hoof down. "They've known about this for a whole week!"

The stallion whimpered again. "Know?" he squeaked.

Twilight was barely paying attention to him anymore.

"I need to get to Lambda before this gets any worse. The aliens could be planning something big!"

The stallion's glasses had fogged up, and he had taken them off to rub his eyes. "P-planning?" he said.

Twilight sighed. "I don't suppose you know how to get to the Lambda Lab from here?"

The stallion just chewed on the end of his hooves for a bit, and shook his head.

"Didn't think so," Twilight said. She turned back towards the exit, and peered out. "So, here I am, stuck in some tiny control room, Rainbow Dash and Rarity are gone, I'm starving to death, and there's a monster that's looking forward to having me for lunch." She swept a hoof up sarcastically. "What could be better?!"

As if on cue, a rainbow streak appeared in the corner of her eye. Twilight instinctively whipped her eyes to the bottom of the main chamber to focus on it, managing to catch a blue flank and a rainbow tail just as it crossed a broken catwalk, and exited an open doorway.

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight galloped down the platform without thinking, desperate to get a better look. "Rainbow, wait!"

She reached out a hoof to stop herself at the edge of the platform, and felt it slip out from under her. She flailed out a hoof to grab onto something, but she was already slipping right off the platform. She managed to hook a hoof over the ledge, but it slipped right off, and she felt herself bang against the top of the shark cage before falling through an opening in the top and landing at the base of the cage.

The fall wasn't nearly as bad as the one from the train. She could ignore the pain easily enough.

What she couldn't ignore was all the blood rushing to her face from embarrassment. No matter what condition her body was in, she still couldn't help the fact that she was now stuck at the bottom of a suspended shark cage. She kept her head turned away, and prayed that the stallion didn't see or hear anything. She put her hooves over her head, and tried to imagine being back in her bed, with the pillows covering her face.

"Oh, good!" a nasally voice shouted in the distance. "You found the tranquilizer!"

Twilight stifled a groan from under her hooves. She wished more than anything that she could simply walk away from this.

"I'll just release the cage so you can deal with that monster," the stallion shouted.

Twilight poked her head up so fast, all the blood rushed away from it, making her slightly woozy. That didn't prevent her from standing up and waving her forelegs around, banging on the bars and shouting, "NO, NO NO NONONO!"

The cable snapped above her, and the ground fell away. The stallion's voice echoed "there we are" just before Twilight was plunged into the water. She barely had time to start holding her breath.

She banged against the bars a few more times underwater, and then looked up for the opening. Even in the blurred surroundings, the hole that the bars formed in the top was easily visible. She was just about to reach up and hoist herself through when the cage shook. The bang that it made was stifled from the water, but it was still loud enough to make her jerk her head around.

Two massive rows of teeth stared back at her from the other side of the cage, and a few air bubbles escaped her muzzle as she yelled out. The jaw that the teeth belonged to was gnawing at the cage, making it rock and move around, but the bars were just as strong as they were above the water.

Twilight fiddled around, looking for some sort of gun at the bottom of the cage, and grabbed onto the only long-ish thing she could find. She couldn't see it very clearly, and her hooves struggled to grasp it. The fact that she couldn't feel anything through the rubber-tipped suit legs didn't help. It took all the energy she had left just to find the firing lever.

Everything else was what she could only describe as "awkward". She managed to hold the gun up between the bars, but hardly had any control over it. It slipped around too much. The only reason she managed to hit anything when she pulled the lever is because the monster was at point-blank range, and took up the entire wall of the cage. The cage went still, and she could only hope that meant the creature was dead.

She barely managed to hold onto the gun as she pushed herself through the opening of the cage, and was so busy looking up at the surface that her hooves kept getting tangled in the upper bars.

She breached the surface, and inhaled. The first thing she saw after her eyes started clearing were the barnacles clinging to the ceiling. She couldn't keep her head above water for too long. She only had one hoof to paddle with, and had to work hard to cradle the gun in the other.

She swam off in what she hoped was the direction Rainbow Dash had gone. A platform was there, leading up to a door. The platform had been broken, and only extended out a few feet. The fact that it was bent under its own weight made it easy for Twilight to climb out. She tossed the gun onto it first, and then hoisted herself out after it, pushing the gun forward with her muzzle.

"You're welcome!" the voice shouted behind her.

It was all Twilight could do to prevent herself from using the gun to "tranquilize" the stallion. She found a particular perverse pleasure in imagining the look on his face when she did it, as well as the choice words she could say to him just before he blacked out.

Of course, none of it came to pass. All Twilight could manage to do was climb onto her hooves, kick the gun forward, and follow the platform up to the open doorway. If Rainbow Dash had been here, she had at least been nice enough to leave the door open for her.

=========================================================

The "gun", it turned out, was actually a crossbow, and was very likely not created from bits and scraps, as the stallion had described. She remembered seeing these things all the time, back when she was around the Equestrian military. Very few of the guards at Canterlot had one of these, but they were some of Twilight's favorite weapons. She had begged her brother to show her one up close, but Shining Armor said it was too dangerous to show her at such a young age.

Of course, the crossbows in Canterlot all had spear-tipped arrows. Twilight had never considered using a crossbow to fire darts, much less tranquilizer darts. The closest she had read about were a few ancient pony tribes, and some zebra cultures that used blowguns to propel darts, but they were quite rare. She had only ever seen a blowgun in one of Canterlot's ancient history museums.

This crossbow, however, was anything but ancient. It was made from some sort of metal, much like the gun she had jettisoned. The best part of this was that it fit into her suit just as well. She didn't have any spare ammunition for it, so she would have to be sparing, but it would at least provide some protection if anything should attack her.

She looked around. She had just traversed a number of descending ramps down to the bottom of a much dryer room. She could still hear that incessant dripping in the background, but it wasn't quite as loud. There were some red maintenance lights beneath the ramps, and the old rotting yellow of the previous walls had been replaced with rusting red. A "wet floor" sign was standing towards the exit doorway in the back, and Twilight got a sudden urge to kick it.

She rounded the corner, and let out a loud groan. The rear-end of a blue pony was facing her, with her rainbow tail flicking at her, as though in jest. It whipped around the bend as soon as she saw it.

"RAINBOW!" Twilight said. She lunged forward, and started galloping down the wet floor, being as careful as she could not to slip. "Rainbow, this isn't funny!"

She reached the bend, and followed the sound of hoofsteps until she reached another flooded chamber, much like the first one. This one was much dimmer, grayer, and smaller, but the catwalk platform still went around the perimeter, just like the other one. Twilight could just make out two forms swimming beneath the water.

"I know you're in here, Rainbow!" Twilight said, looking around. "There's no point hiding!"

As though answering her call, she caught one last flick of rainbow whipping around a doorway at the opposite corner of the room.

"AHA!" Twilight said, pointing a hoof in her direction.

She lifted her forehooves in the air, as though about to charge off after her, and ended up slowing to a trot. She wanted to be extra careful going over these platforms.

"It's like she's trying to make me fall," she mumbled to herself.

Between the moister, the dripping, and the tight enclosure, Twilight felt more like she was in a swamp cave than a flooded facility. It already had the swamp monsters she had read about in her fillyhood fairytales. It even had that moldy smell.

As soon as she made it to the corridor, she sped up, and rounded a number of corners before coming out into an open space large enough to house a missile. The sheer volume reminded her of the area that the tram had gone through, with all the forklifts and pony workers traveling around underneath. That place had actually had a rocket in it. In fact, for a moment, she had to check to make sure this wasn't the very room she was in.

Instead of a missile on her right, however, there were instead a number of large crusher pistons in the floor and ceiling. She couldn't quite tell what it was, but each set of pistons was large enough to easily smash an entire carriage if it wanted to.

"Come out, Rainbow!" she shouted.

She couldn't see her anywhere, but she still had a feeling. There was definitely a presence. It kept making her look over her shoulder. It was drawing her eyes somewhere, and she kept turning around, trying to work out exactly where it was coming from, or what exactly it was.

Her eyes focused on a catwalk in the back, and the entire rest of the room went black. She suddenly felt light-headed as an attack of tunnel-vision hit her, and all she could see was the form standing on the platform: something dark, with green eyes. Something... with a business suit.

She gasped and rubbed her eyes, trying to stabilize herself after her sudden onset of dizziness. She took some deep breaths, trying to get some oxygen back into her system, and opened her eyes again, blinking.

The pony standing on the catwalk was still there. However, it was no longer wearing a business suit. It was instead a mare: blue, with a tuft of rainbow. She was staring right at her.

"Rainbow!" Twilight shouted, regaining her composure. She saw no way of getting up onto the catwalk, but charged after her anyway. "Rainbow, come down here!"

The blue mare had already sped off to the right, and around the corner.

Twilight kept running until she was right under the catwalk, and looked around for some way to get to the top. A few crates stood in the corner to her left, shrouded by the shadows under the catwalk. Twilight could just make out a ladder underneath, and galloped over to where they were.

She wasn't sure where all her energy had come from, and frankly, she didn't care. She was already swiping at some of the boxes on the top of the stack, trying to clean a space for her to climb up. She ended up causing more of a mess than was already there, but eventually, the scattering of wood and debris gave way to a set of stepping stones she could use to climb up to where the ladder was.

She was amazed how quickly she was able to climb, considering how exhausted she felt otherwise. She couldn't help but stop midway down the catwalk to stare at the contraption of pistons one last time. If she didn't know any better, she would have sworn they would make a pretty good obstacle course. If only the pistons were a bit closer together, and didn't completely crush whatever was sitting on them. Knowing these scientists, this entire room may have been built to entertain the security guards.

She dashed down the platform, and around the corner.

=========================================================

The next many bends yielded no signs of Rainbow Dash. In fact, she didn't see anypony at all, much less a blue pegasus with rainbow-colored hair.

The corridor lead out into what looked like some sort of control room, or central computer room. Shelves upon shelves of electronic equipment beeped and lit up all around the room, and she could only imagine what kind of information must have been on these servers.

She stepped up to one and stopped in front of the blinking lights to have a look. She immediately wished she hadn't. No sooner had she stopped than she got an overwhelming urge to collapse. Her mouth was dry, her muscles ached, and she was having trouble keeping her eyes open. It was an epic struggle just to keep herself on her hooves. Even her stomach was pining for nourishment, and was insistent upon making it clear how empty it was.

She looked around for a place to rest, and caught sight of a nice corner of the room, a bit darker than the rest of it. She trotted uncomfortably toward it, feeling the rest of the room wavering around her.

A loud hissing sound made her turn around. She aimed her crossbow in its direction, but was having trouble aiming it. Her eyes were somewhat blurry, and her shoulder was shaking.

"Hey!" a female voice sounded in the general direction, "are you all right?"

Twilight squinted, and realized the hissing sound had been a sliding glass door opening in the distance. She could now see the teal mare earth pony peaking her head out. The only other features Twilight could make out were a blue-white striped mane and a lab coat.

Twilight lifted a hoof, and then trotted over to her direction. She became much clearer as she got closer, and a small prep-room came into focus behind the glass door, not much larger than a walk-in closet, but much brighter, and more metallic.

"You look terrible," the mare said, looking up and down Twilight. "You're not trying to single-hoofedly fight off the whole army, are you?"

Twilight stifled a chuckle, and thought about what a mess she must have looked. Part of her was glad there wasn't a mirror around. Between her bandaged hoof, her calloused face, her half-a-horn, and her exhausted posture, she must have looked more like a soldier coming back from the front lines than a scientist travelling around a facility.

"I'm fine," she lied. "I didn't think there were any ponies in this area."

The mare lead Twilight into the prep-room and closed the door behind her. "There aren't," she said. "Or, at least, not many of us. This isn't a very populated area."

Twilight saw her get down onto her belly, and decided she'd follow suit. As soon as she was down, she instinctively put her head down. She couldn't help but think of magic kindergarten, and the way the teacher would give them all "nap time" midway through the day. That's what she really needed right now: to put her head down on her desk and close her eyes for a few minutes.

"I'm sorry we don't have a bed," the mare joked. "These labs are sorely in need of room service. I'm still waiting on my Martini."

Twilight didn't have the energy to laugh. She just let her eyes droop, and breathed heavily for a few seconds before mumbling, "I could really just go for some orange juice."

The mare chuckled. "You'll have to wait for the breakfast buffet for that, I'm afraid," she said. "It doesn't open until 8:00."

Twilight lifted her head up and sighed with a dazed smile. The mare smiled back, and they both looked around the room and giggled.

"How long have you been here?" Twilight asked.

The mare prodded her hoof at the ground. "Not too long. Maybe eight hours?" She sighed. "This place has been pretty safe from all the activity. I spent the first few hours after the incident running around in circles. My lab is a ways from here."

Both of them looked at each other for a bit. Twilight could see that the mare had some heavy bags under her eyes, and was realizing that she was just as tired as Twilight was.

"I had a feeling this would happen," the mare said. "With the stuff Lambda's been doing, it was only a matter of time."

Twilight's ears perked. "Lambda?!"

The mare's eyes went wide. "Don't tell me you haven't heard of them."

Twilight shook her head. "I've been trying to reach them ever since the military showed up."

The mare rolled her eyes. "Don't bother," she said. "They're probably just busy making things worse. Heck, even if you managed to reach them, they'd probably just use you as a guinea pig. They're always looking for new ponies to throw into their little experiments."

Twilight cocked her eyes. "Isn't that a bit... unethical?"

The mare laughed. "You must be new here," she said. "I'm sorry. Welcome to Pony Mesa!" she mocked. "Where the scientific process goes to die."

Twilight felt a twinge in her stomach, and brought a hoof up to hide the blood rushing to her face.

"It's all right," the mare said. "None of us knew this place would be like this when we applied. Most of us only got the invitation because of our knowledge of the fields. There aren't many ponies who would be willing to do this if they knew what they were getting into."

Twilight thought back. It seemed like forever since she had received her invitation. Even Princess Celestia had been surprised at the time. None of the ponies in Canterlot had heard of Pony Mesa, and Princess Celestia couldn't gather much information. In fact, the Princess hadn't been very keen on letting Twilight go. If it had been her choice, she would have had Twilight stay in Canterlot.

Twilight had been at odds about the whole thing for months. Princess Celestia had been her mentor for so long, and had almost become like a parent, taking her under her wing. And yet, she kept feeling a bit trapped towards the end of her studies. She felt like she needed to do something with her knowledge: to help contribute. It had been Twilight who had convinced Princess Celestia to let her finally go to Pony Mesa.

She had meant to get together with her one last time before she left, but Spike had reminded her of a number of things she still needed to do on her list. Once Princess Celestia had been informed that she wouldn't make it, she sent Twilight a letter while she was on the train.

Of course, that letter was probably long gone by now. It had been sitting on her dormitory desk for some time now, and had probably been consumed by some fire, or ravaged and eaten by a headcrab.

"You went through the same thing, didn't you," the mare said.

"Huh?" Twilight refocused, coming out of her stupor.

"The letter. The invitation, I mean." She pawed at the ground as she spoke. "You were just as excited about coming here, weren't you."

Twilight shook her head. It all seemed so stupid now. So pointless.

"Well, I don't think there's much I can do to persuade you," she said. "You've clearly got your heart set on reaching Lambda, and frankly, I don't blame you." She chuckled. "Not much else to do around this place. If you're gonna die, may as well run around and try to fix the world's problems while you're at it."

Twilight blinked. "You're... coming with me?"

The mare shook her head and laughed. "No, no. You misunderstand me," she said. "I'm staying right here. In case you haven't guessed, I don't think too highly of of the Lambda ponies."

Twilight dropped her head and sighed.

"Don't get me wrong," she said, "I'm sure what you're doing is better than just lying around here in this room, but," she sighed, "I'm just not up to that kind of punishment." She indicated the cuts and bruises around Twilight's body. "At least you have that suit. Just imagine what I'd look like by now."

Twilight looked down at the bandage around her rear hoof, and noticed it had gotten loose from all the water. She reached her muzzle down and worked it forward until it slipped off her leg, revealing a thin streak of red. It wasn't bleeding anymore, and the suit had done wonders for healing it.

"Listen," the mare said, "you want my advice? Stay down here." She waved a hoof around the room. "This whole part of the facility is practically dead. They'll never think to look for you down here."

Twilight nodded. "I noticed there weren't any breaches down here. It doesn't look like there's been much alien activity."

The mare shook her head. "I'm not talking about the aliens. I'm talking about the swarm of soldiers on the surface!" She pointed her hoof at the ceiling. "Whoever's leading them does not want us finding out about something. There's only one reason to explicitly kill every living pony after a disaster like this." She took a deep breath. "They're hiding something, and whatever it is, it's out in the open now."

Twilight thought back to her vision of the business pony.

"I have a feeling I know who's behind it," Twilight whispered. "But I'm not even sure that they're a pony. I keep seeing... visions."

The mare rolled her eyes. "Wouldn't surprise me," she said. "After the things I've seen today, I bet some of the ponies here sold their lives over to the demons of Tartarus. If you told me that Kronos himself was leading this, I'd be hard-pressed to refute it."

Twilight watched the mare put her head down on the ground and close her eyes. She felt her own eyes droop as she did so.

"There's a freezer through that door," she said, indicating her head towards the back wall, eyes still closed. "I think there's a ladder in the back that should take you deeper into this part of the facility." Her voice was fading. "I'm gonna stay here." She breathed deep. "Get some rest." She lazily lifted a hoof at the wall behind her. "Just press that switch behind me to open it, and be sure to close it on your way in." She cradled her hooves under her head like a pillow. "Don't wanna freeze in here."

Twilight put her own head down for a few seconds and thought about the situation. The more she thought, the more she wanted to stay here and rest. She even considered staying here for a few hours, just to get some shut-eye. But then, the thought of Rainbow Dash came back into her mind, and she found herself pushing up onto her hooves.

She looked down at the mare, and wondered what to say. She looked so peaceful.

Ultimately, she simply stepped around her, lifted her hoof, and pressed the switch on the wall.

=========================================================

When the mare described the freezer, she neglected to tell Twilight how cold it was. As Twilight managed to reach the ladder in the back, she couldn't help but babble a few four-letter words: a difficult task, considering her bottom lip had gone numb. This was no ordinary freezer, and Twilight felt lucky her entire system hadn't shut down by now. The only reason she figured she was still alive was because of the suit, and even then, the automated voice kept ringing out, warning her to get out of the cold.

It had only taken her a few seconds to reach the ladder and climb down into the storage area below, but that's all it took for half her face to frost over. Any longer, and she feared she's start loosing her skin. Literally.

She put a hoof up to her cheek as she reached the bottom, as the numbness turned to burning pain. It was warm in here: even warmer than in the generator room. A freezer like that one needed an enormous heat pump, and all the heat obviously need to go somewhere. She could see the heat coils against the walls, and could feel the waves dissipating. She cringed at the pain, but at least pain meant the skin wasn't dead. Plus, it served as an excellent means of keeping her awake.

The small maintenance area lead out into a large passage, filled with enormous pipes lining its walls. They looked like they hadn't been used in years. Everything was rusted over, and derelict. Not only that, but the passage also looked like a dumping ground for old unwanted trash. All sorts of old crates and piles of electronics lay bare on the floor, and Twilight had to watch her step as she traveled.

A light breeze traveled down the hallway, and she could hear the soft hum of machinery in the background. It was certainly better than the dripping sounds from before. The only thing she didn't like was how the wind hitting her face only increased the pain.

A twinge of fear caught her. She wasn't sure what made her think about it, but part of her wondered what would happen if she couldn't find her way out of here. She was completely alone in this tunnel, with nothing but the incessant hum to keep her company. This looked like the kind of place where one might find a skeleton. Part of her was afraid she'd find one.

"Rarity," she whispered, trying to remember what she looked like the last time she saw her. She would give anything to be able to see her face again. In fact, anypony would be better than being alone. She wouldn't even mind seeing a headcrab, if it meant she wasn't the only thing alive down here.

Luckily, all her fears were put to rest a short ways down the passage. She rounded the corner, and caught a glimpse of a light above her. The floor in front of the wall was actually a cargo lift, which traveled up the wall to a floor just above it. Twilight could just barely see the ceiling of the floor above her from where she stood.

She stepped onto the platform, and pressed the switch on the wall to activate it. It was a bit rusty, but with enough force, she managed to push it into position, and sighed in relief when the lift started moving. She rolled her eyes at how pathetic her life had become. She never imagined she would find such joy in feeling the ground beneath her travelling upwards. It was like progress without all the work. Why couldn't there be something that simply carried her to the Lambda Complex?

As the lift crested the top, a long stretch of hallway came into focus. Judging by the breeze, the temperature, and the lighting rounding the corner at the end, this part of the facility was open to the outside. She had to take a deep breath as she stepped off the lift, just to be sure she was smelling fresh air. The feeling brought a bit of life back into her hooves.

As she stepped forward, however, something caught her eye: a tail, wiggling and shaking from around the corner, just before it disappeared.

"RAIN—" she started, "—bow?"

A laugh was echoing around the hallway. It was very distinctive, and was definitely not a sound that Rainbow Dash would make. It was like giggling—a high-pitched mocking-sort of giggling—and she couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from.

She trotted down the hallway some more, until she could see more around the bend. A few glaring lights shined from a large cargo bay, and she could see the night sky through an opening in the ceiling.

Again, something peeked out from behind a pillar and wiggled around. It was very pink, and very fluffy... almost like—

"Cotton candy?" Twilight said out loud.

The giggling got louder. She couldn't tell whether it was the acoustics of the room, or if there was more than one of them, but she couldn't pin-point where it was coming from.

A glimmer of light flashed in the distance, and Twilight heard a soft snap of wood behind her, as well as a twinge of pain on the side of her ear. She instinctively reached up and rubbed it with her hoof before bringing it back down. There were red streaks on the rubber of her suit. She glanced behind her, and noticed a small hole in the wood of the crate just behind her head.

Without thinking, she leaped up and dodged behind the crate, just as another snap struck the wood box, right around where her head had been. She couldn't even hear the bullets being fired. All she could hear was her heart pounding harder against her chest, and the giggling getting louder all around her.

"Are we playing hide and seek?" the voice echoed. It was high-pitched, and very playful: the kind of voice a baby sitter would use. "Because I know you can find a better hiding place than that."

A few more snaps came from the other side of the crate, and then the giggling shifted around. She could hear the voice moving, until it was almost behind her.

Another snap went off just over her head, on the side of the crate she was on, and Twilight cried out.

"Aw, this isn't any fun," the voice said. "You're right there!"

Twilight didn't have time to think. She put one of her forehooves over her head, and bolted out from behind the crate. The manic giggling started up again as she charged out, and she could hear whistling as a few bullets flew past her. She rounded the corner, making sure to keep her back to the gunfire. She felt a few sharp pelts against her backside, and then everything stopped.

She had barely rounded the corner of a short stretch of passage behind the central room before she heard the voice again.

"That's more like it!" it said. "Although, It's not as fun to shoot a pony from behind." It sighed, letting the sound echo from all directions. "Why won't you just come out and play with me? It's not like you're very good at hiding."

Twilight curled up with her back against the wall, looking in both directions. She could see everything very clearly from here. If the mare rounded the corner, Twilight would be able to see her.

"Oh, I know!" the voice said, starting to converge onto one spot. "How about we switch places!" The voice finally converged at the end of the short U-bend behind the central room, and Twilight turned to see a pink face staring back at her. She couldn't see her mane, since it was covered by a black leather hood, but she assumed it was pink and frilly, just like her tail. "You can try and find me!" she waved.

Twilight didn't even think. She got up onto her forehoof, and slammed on it, sending a dart hurtling towards the pony.

The mare was gone as soon as she had fired, and a clink told her the dart had hit the wall behind her.

"Ooo!" the voice said, once again echoing around the room, "you're good."

Twilight ran up the passage and peeked around the corner, ready to pull back the moment she saw anything. The entire room was still, from what little of it she could see. Stacks and stacks of crates littered the small part of it in front of her, but there wasn't any movement, and no bullets ever came.

"What are you waiting for, silly?" the voice echoed. "I'm not going to find myself!" There was a pause, followed by a loud outburst of laughter. "HAHAHA! Find myself! HEHE!"

Twilight readied her crossbow and bared her teeth. The giggling was getting very annoying, and Twilight felt it would be worth putting a dart in her neck just to shut her up.

She raced out from around the corner, and charged down the passage, coming out into the central chamber. The small expanse of crates grew into a much larger cargo bay, complete with a large platform that took up most of the room, held up by a number of pillars underneath. She could just make out a ramp that lead up to the top.

More giggling echoed around her. And then, the voice came from directly behind her.

"Why are you looking over there?" it said.

Twilight turned around and shot a dart at something pink that was peering around the corner of the passage she had just exited. It was gone before her hoof had reached the floor to fire.

"Missed me!" the voice echoed, converging somewhere else. "I'm really over here!"

Twilight turned in the direction of the voice to see the pink pony dangling by her rear hooves from the back of the platform, like a possum.

Twilight mocked firing another dart, but the pink mare didn't move.

"Ah!" she put a hoof out, "you can't fool me!" She swung back up and disappeared. "I don't think you really want to shoot me," the voice echoed.

"Besides!"

Twilight craned her neck at the direction the voice was coming from, and saw the mare peering down at her from the roof. The black suit was camouflaged against the night sky.

"What fun would it be if I wasn't here?"

She whipped her head back, and her voice echoed off to the left. Twilight turned her head in that direction to see the mare's head poking around the entrance passage.

"It must be so lonely out here."

She disappeared again, and the voice reappeared from the top of the platform. She was lying on her belly with her head on her hooves, as if she was bored.

"It's got to be much more entertaining with me around!"

Twilight didn't wait for the mare to disappear again. She dashed back towards the passage she had entered by, praying nothing would hit her from behind this time.

"Where are you going?!" the voice echoed.

Twilight rounded the corner and nearly jumped out of her hide. The pink pony was right in front of her, and it was everything Twilight could do not to run right into her. She slipped as she tried to regain her balance, and felt her hoof trigger the crossbow.

An anticlimactic thum went off on her shoulder, and she collected herself just in time to see the mare with a shocked look on her face. A tiny dart was protruding from the side of her neck.

They stared at each other for a second, the mouth of the mare getting wider.

"You shot me!"

The mare didn't even bother to try removing the dart. She just stood there, like a puppy dog, pining at Twilight.

"I thought you were my friend, and you shot me!"

Twilight was breathing hard, trying to keep calm.

The shocked look on the pony's face slumped, and her eyes drooped. With one last pining whimper, the mare keeled over, and collapsed in a heap on the ground.

Twilight reached out a shaking hoof, and put it up to the mare's neck, trying to feel for a pulse. It was almost impossible to feel anything at all through the rubber of the suit, but she had to try. She did everything short of putting her nose to the mare's neck to try and make sure she was still alive. She wasn't sure she could take another death, even if it was a pony who had just tried to kill her.

She looked up at the rest of the room, and tried to make some sense out of it. It was so cluttered and convoluted, it was difficult to get a sense of what choices she had for where to go. Her entire body was running on adrenaline at this point, and her mind wasn't functioning normally.

She blindly ran out into the middle of the room, beneath the platform, and looked around. There were too many stacked crates under here, and even with the lights on the beams holding the platform up, the crates cast enough shadows to make it difficult to see.

The last brilliant idea she could come up with was to climb the ramp onto the platform. With the state her mind was in, even climbing a platform was considered "brilliant" compared to the ideas floating around in there.

She didn't remember climbing a ramp to ever be this difficult. Her muscles were in pain by the time she reached the top, and she was completely out of breath. However, she was able to get a good look around the room from up here, even if she had to trot up to the edges to do it.

Most of the room was devoid of ways out. She was hoping for some sort of "exit" sign, probably accompanied by a small door of some sort. However, the closest she could find was an enormous passage in the back with the sign next to it that read "surface". The passage was partially blocked by garage door that was only half-open. There was another passage next to it, but the door was completely shut.

She stumbled her way back down the ramp, and trotted through the myriad of crates to get to the passage. It was tough just to stay on her hooves without collapsing off to the side. She was starting to lose her balance.

As she rounded the corner, however, her whole body jerked and tensed.

Rainbow Dash was standing in the middle of the passage, staring right at her. She flicked her rainbow tail a couple times, and then turned and darted on hoof down the passage and out of sight, not even bothering to use her wings.

"Oh, not again," Twilight mumbled. "Rainbow Dash!"

She could barely sense her hooves moving as the adrenaline took over, and she was galloping down as quickly as she could. She was around the corner in seconds, her breathing getting shallow but quick.

The blue mare was in plain sight, travelling away from her, just before rounding the corner.

"Why... are you... running?" Twilight couldn't get the words out loud enough as she galloped after her. It took all she had just to breathe.

She rounded another corner, and saw the blue mare stopped in the middle of the passage, facing away from her, and looking around for where to go. Just before Twilight caught up to her, she dashed to the right, and through a doorway that Twilight almost overlooked.

Twilight turned and ran after her into the darkened room, trying to keep an eye on the glowing rainbow mane and tail, which scattered the light more than her hide. She followed her through another doorway into a smaller room, and looked around.

This room was smaller, but brighter. There was a skylight in the ceiling. It looked like just another cargo hold, as if it housed part of a sorting facility at some point. Metal desks and wooden crates were stacked around, and the few doors she saw only lead into small closet-sized areas.

She peered through a few of them, sighing with each one as all she saw was darkness.

And then, around her third check, she saw it: the face of a mare looking out at her in the dim light. She was flicking her tail impatiently, as if waiting for her.

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight said, stepping up to the doorway. "There you are! What have you been doing?! I feel like I've been trying to catch you for hours!"

She got right up to the doorway so she could get a better look at the mare. The room was a bit larger than it looked from the outside.

Rainbow wasn't moving. She simply stood there, flicking her tail. If it hadn't been for her nostrils moving with her breaths, and her occasional blinks, she could have almost been a manikin.

"Rainbow?" Twilight asked, a little quieter. "Are you okay?"

She stepped into the room, and turned on her flashlight. The room looked almost empty, but she wasn't shining the light on the rest of the room. She walked around and shined the light at Rainbow Dash, causing an eerie shadow to fall on the opposite wall and floor. Rainbow merely shifted her hooves on the ground, but didn't turn.

"Rainbow?"

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth, and two words came out.

"Get her."

"Huh?" Twilight turned around just as the door slammed shut, and a dozen silhouettes came out from the corners. "Rainbow?" She whipped around and saw one of them running straight at her. Twilight reared onto her hind legs. "RAINBOW!"

A hoof whipped out, crashed into her head, and everything went black.

=========================================================

Voices could be heard around her. She couldn't really make out very many of them, but they were all around her. Some were whispering, others were shouting in the distance. The air was warm and fresh, and she could tell she was probably outside somewhere.

She moved her head, and groaned at how difficult it was. Her posture didn't feel natural: her hooves had been forced behind her, and she was upright, probably sitting on something. She tried to move her hooves out in front of her, but something was preventing them from doing so.

"Hey," a voice sounded close to her. "I think she's coming to."

There was a loud snap, and a bright light poured down from her. She clenched her already-closed eyes, and felt a hoof against her chin.

"Do you think she's the one?" another voice said.

The hoof lifted her chin up, and Twilight clenched even tighter as she was brought up to face the light.

"We're about to find out."

Twilight blinked, trying to adjust to the light. She could feel tears forming as her eyes protested. It was like looking directly at the sun. She could see little more than silhouettes in the background against the blinding light in front of her.

"You!" another voice said, much stronger than the first, "move that light!" One of the silhouettes stepped forward. "I want to be able to look her in the eye."

The light subsided as the source of it moved off to the left. In its place, a white stallion stepped forward, wearing what Twilight could only describe as standard Canterlot regalia: bronze armor and helmet, with a blue crest. His face looked familiar.

He got up close and put his muzzle up to Twilight's eyes and stared at her.

"You, mare," he whispered. "Do you recognize me?"

Twilight swallowed, trying to look around, but was unable to look past the stallion's eyes. His face was taking up her entire view.

"You're—" Twilight cleared her throat, "you're Silver Lance!" She squinted, trying to make sure she was seeing right. "I saw—you were at the coronation ceremonies!"

The stallion backed up and smiled, shaking his head. "I never thought I would live to see the day," he said quietly, "that you, of all ponies, would live to commit treason."

Twilight's voice faltered. She couldn't have heard that right. She shook her head, trying to work out what he was trying to say. "I didn't—"

"Oh, yes you did," he said, a little quieter. His voice sounded disdainful. "Don't try to hide the obvious. A mare is seen at ground zero, dressed in a hazard suit. She somehow manages to survive, only to meet up with an office worker who also just so happens to have helped sabotage the experiment. She then goes forth to commit act after act of terrorism against the military, whose only job is to help clean up the very mess you started."

"Those soldiers were killing innocent ponies!" Twilight shouted.

"Don't," he shouted, "lie to me, Free Mare." He bared down, letting his golden armor shimmer in the light. "You scientists have been planning this. Admit it. Confess. This whole facility is just an excuse, isn't it? You're trying to start a war. You don't have the—"

"I am not trying to start a war!" Twilight shouted. "I know nothing about this place! I only just started working here!"

A streak of pain lit up her cheek with a snap as her head jerked to the side. When she looked up, she saw Silver Lance holding his hoof off to the side, as if he had just struck her.

"You don't talk back unless I say so," he said. "Or do I have to teach you that lesson?"

Twilight reached her tongue around the side of her mouth to check for any missing teeth. Luckily, everything was still intact, but it still stung.

"Now, you're going to tell me exactly what happened, starting from when you got your acceptance letter." He walked back and cocked his head to the side to look at her. "Slowly."

Twilight could see just past the stallion, and could make out a few other stallions trotting up and down a nearby road. Some of them looked like they had just grabbed weapons. Others were taking off to fly.

However, the thing that caught her attention the most was a small cage just in back of the street. She couldn't fully make out what was inside it. However, there were three small figures, and Twilight had the strangest sensation she knew who one of them was.

"Well?" Silver Lance walked up to her again. "Are you going to talk? Or do I have to persuade you again?" He lifted his hoof again.

Twilight closed her eyes for another blow, but it never came. "You all are delusional!" Twilight shouted. "You have absolutely no evidence that I did anything at all! I simply—"

"DO NOT LIE TO ME!" he shouted. "This is a matter of Equestrian safety! I will not have every pony put at risk just because one mare refuses to admit her crimes. Now CONFESS! YOU ARE UNDER THE—"

"What is going on over here?!"

Twilight ears perked up. She knew the voice. It sent a chill down her spine, and for a moment, she was more frightened than she ever was in front of Silver Lance, without fully understanding why.

An eruption of light lit up the area in front of her like the sun, dwarfing the interrogation lamp, and filling the area with a presence so all-consuming that all Twilight wanted to do was shrink into a corner and hide.

It was all Silver Lance could do just to stay on his hooves. He clenched his jaw, trying to stay serious, but nothing could hide his shaking.

He turned around. "Y-Your... Your Majesty!" He immediately fell onto one knee, as if an invisible force had pushed him there. Twilight could not see any magical aura, though.

Twilight tried to blink her eyes open so she could see, and managed to make out the faintest hint of the waving colors and stern soft face she had grown so familiar with all her life. A single eye looked piercingly at the situation, and the gaze was almost tangible, like a ray of light scanning the area.

The Princess was completely ignoring Silver Lance, and was simply staring right at Twilight. She couldn't make out her expression. She had never seen Princess Celestia like this before, and felt her body go cold from fear. Celestia may have had a straight face, but she was hiding a wealth of emotions that Twilight couldn't even begin to imagine.

Silver Lance was still on his knees, afraid to look up. "Your... Your majesty?"

In one swift move, the aura around Princess Celestia diminished, and her horn lit up. Silver Lance was cast aside, leaving the path to Twilight clear.

Her speed on hooves was remarkable, and she was on top of Twilight before she could blink, horn lit. Twilight immediately heard her bonds severed, and her hooves freed. She dropped onto all fours as Celestia leaned over and placed her horn at various parts of her body. A twinge of pain lit her rear hoof, and was gone in an instant. Her face, too, was cleared of pain. Every part of her was being rejuvenated.

And then, The Princess saw her horn. Twilight could almost feel the gaze of the Princess upon it, and her face went red. She could only imagine the Princess's expression upon seeing, and part of her was hoping that it, too, would be healed, and become whole again.

But nothing happened.

Instead, she felt a set of large hooves wrap around her body, and the next thing she knew, she was pulled into a hug so tight she could barely breathe.

"P-P-Princess?" Twilight sputtered.

She could hear a few gulping sounds from above her. "Twilight," she barely whispered. Twilight had never heard her like this. She didn't think she had ever heard the Princess cry before. Twilight wanted to ask a million questions, but nothing came out.

As soon as the hooves released her, Twilight cried out, "What is going on? What are you doing here?"

Celestia put her hoof up to her muzzle and made a soft noise, as though to quiet her and comfort her. "We'll have to talk later," she said. "We need to get you cleaned up."

With one giant swooping motion, she guided Twilight forward with her hoof. "Don't think," she said. "Just go to the barracks. They have food and water. They can get you cleaned up." Her voice was still stifled, as though she was trying hard to hold back an outburst of emotions. "We can—I will take you back to Canterlot," she said. "And then, I will tell you everything."

Twilight turned to look at her. "But what about—"

"I will not have you starve, Twilight," Celestia said. "There will be plenty of time to talk once we're back home."

She looked up past Twilight, and caught the eye of one of the guards. "You," she said, "Take Twilight to the barracks. See to it she is well nourished." She bent back down to look at Twilight. "I believe you will find someone there that has missed you very much." She gave a teary-eyed wink, and then turned to go back down the road.

Twilight could only watch as the Princess stepped away from her, and a brown unicorn guard walked up to take her place.

"Miss?" he said.

Twilight looked at him, and then looked past him at the cage next to the road. She could see what was inside much more clearly now: three fillies, all huddled together and sleeping under a single blanket. The one in the middle looked very familiar, and Twilight couldn't help but assume who it was.

"Miss, come with me," the guard repeated.

Twilight felt a hoof wrap around her foreleg, and she was pulled around to follow the road. Her head was spinning, and she was still trying to grasp everything that was going on. She had so many questions that she couldn't keep them all straight.

The surrounding area was very busy, especially considering the time of night. Many ponies in various types of uniforms and armor were galloping down the street. Pegasi were taking off and landing. Unicorns were practicing their spells. Twilight was having trouble keeping track of all the activity, especially considering half of it was in shadow. The place was littered with crates and supplies, creating a labyrinth on either side of the road. There were high walls at the far ends, as far as her eyes could see.

What caught her eyes the most, however, was the building just down the road. There were many other smaller buildings that could be taken as barracks, but this one didn't look anything like a barracks. If anything, it looked like someone had uprooted one of the Canterlot buildings, and put it down in the middle of this place. The marble walls and exterior decor made it stick out, as though a tornado had randomly tossed it next to the road.

It was with some confusion, then, that the guard lead her straight up to the doors of this marble building.

"The Royal Barracks, my lady," the guard said, bowing to her. "You should see yourself inside. Princess's orders."

Twilight looked around, wondering whether she might wait for the guard to leave before exploring a bit, but decided it wasn't worth it. There were too many other guards around. It would be too easy to get caught.

She stepped up to the ebony doors and pushed one of them open. It was already partially cracked, so there was no need to open a latch. A crest of light expanded and spilled out across the threshold, and she blinked as she stepped into it.

The inside looked like a miniature version of the Canterlot Castle entrance hall. The architecture was modeled after it almost perfectly: marble walls, vaulted ceilings, red carpet, sconces—all it was missing were the stain glass windows. There was even a small version of Princess Celestia's throne in the back, albeit without the stairs leading up to it. There were two staircases on either side, leading up to the second floor.

Twilight stepped across the red carpet, very aware of how dirty the hooves of her suit must have been, and looked around at the archways in the walls, each one arcing over a door. She had no idea where to go, and wondered whether she should just wait here for someone to come down.

She stepped up quietly to get a better look at the throne. She couldn't help but feel ill at the thought of Princess Celestia sitting in it. It was one thing to be sitting at a castle, managing the country. It was quite another to be sitting at the head of a barracks, commanding an army. As much as it was staring her in the face, she still refused to believe Celestia would wage war against an innocent population.

"TWILY!"

Twilight jumped and turned around. She hadn't heard that voice in over three days.

A white stallion with a blue mane stood at the entrance to the barracks, dressed in a red uniform with white sashes. She had never seen a stallion smile so brightly, and she couldn't help but smile herself at the sight.

"Shining Armor?!" she said.

Twilight didn't wait for her brother to start charging down the hallway. She was already galloping towards him before he could say another word.

They met halfway, and slammed into a hug so tight it made Celestia's seem mild.

"Twily! You're alive!" she heard her brother say.

They embraced for another few seconds before parting.

"Princess Celestia said she would find you," he said. "I never doubted her for a second!" He reached a hoof up and rubbed it into the top of her head. "My little sis. Up to the challenges of war! Wait until mom and dad hear about this!" He looked down at her. "Although, I have to say, that suit does not match your color."

Twilight's smile was starting to make her lips hurt, but she couldn't stop. She simply batted a hoof into Shining Armor's chest and tried to regain her composure. "What is going on?!" she said, trying not to laugh. "Why are you here?! Is this—" she jumped up at the prospect, "Is this some sort of rescue mission?! Are you here to rescue all the scientists?"

Shining's smile faltered, and he raised a hoof up to comb his hair back. "Ehe... uh... noooot exactly." He laughed nervously.

Twilight's smile also started to falter, and she stopped bouncing. "I... I don't understand," she said. "What are you all doing here, then?" She looked around, as if expecting someone to jump out and yell "gotcha!". "Princess Celestia told me she wasn't aloud to be in this area. She shouldn't be here. Couldn't she get in trouble?"

Shining scratched the back of his neck. "Well, she, uh, is the Princess. I'm sure she has as much right to be here as any other pony."

Twilight scowled. "That's not what she said in her letter."

Shining thought for a bit, and then smiled, patting Twilight on the shoulder. "Look, why are you worrying about this? We found you! You're going back home!"

Twilight pulled away, and let Shining's hoof drop to the floor. She shook her head. "I just don't understand," she said. "Ponies are dying out there! I've seen how bad it is." She backed up a few steps and continued shaking her head. "I guess I just want to know how Princess Celestia and the Canterlot military fit into all this."

A look of understanding hit Shining, and a light smile crested his lips. He stepped up to her and looked down into her eyes.

"I promise, Twilight," he said, "we never wanted to hurt you. You weren't our enemy."

Twilight closed her eyes and opened them. "Then who is?!"

Shining lifted his forehoof and waved it back at the entrance doors. "Those... scientists! The ones who are creating all this destruction and chaos! The ones who are sending all these creatures through the portals." He put his hoof down. "Look, I don't know how all this started. I don't have the big picture. All I know is, Princess Celestia informed us of a great threat against Equestria." He took a deep breath and straightened his posture. "That's our job, Twi. To protect the lives of our fellow ponies against threats like this one."

Twilight's mouth gaped, and she squinted her eyes. "That's what you're telling yourself? That you're protecting Equestria?! That's your excuse for murdering innocent ponies?!"

Twilight put a hoof to his face. "I follow my orders, Twilight," he said. "According to Princess Celestia, the ponies we're fighting are not innocent."

"NOT INNOCENT?!" Twilight screamed. "My friend out there was an office worker, following orders just like you. She has a little sister! All she wants is to see her again. And you think she's threatening Equestria?!"

Shining opened his mouth to say something, and closed it again. His face went even paler than usual, and for a moment, he looked like he was about to be ill.

"Look," he said, slightly shaking, "None of this is black and white. Some of the ponies in there may be like you or your friend. But there's no way to know! It's—"

"—complicated?" Twilight finished.

They both looked at each other, and Twilight thought she saw something in his eyes. They had known each other for too long to be able to hide stuff from each other, and Shining finally gave in.

"Look, I've been thinking about this too," he finally said. "Something about this whole thing is... not right. It isn't like Princess Celestia to wage war on a corporation like this." He sighed. "This whole thing has been bothering me ever since we arrived."

They looked at each other again, before both opening their mouths at the same time.

"I think you should—"
"I think that—"

"Go ahead," Twilight said.

"I think you should talk to her," Shining said. "You're her prized student. Maybe you can find out what's going on, and try and talk some sense into her."

Twilight put a hoof to her face. "Talk some sense into her," she repeated. "Talk some sense into Princess Celestia?!" She put her hoof down. "I never thought I would ever hear those words. I've known Princess Celestia for most of my life, and she has never once done anything I disagree with."

Shining stepped up to her. "Then my guess," he said, "is that something is very wrong."

Twilight nodded, and they finally looked each other in the eye one last time. Both of them couldn't help but smile again, and they reached their hooves around and embraced again.

"Come on," Shining said, parting from the hug. "Let's get you something to eat."

=========================================================

Princess Celestia had gone all out for her superior officers, as far as the cuisine went. In fact, according to Shining Armor, she was trying her best to deliver the same food to all the troops, with mixed results. There was very little in the way of desserts, but the majority of the food was surprisingly fresh considering it was all imported from remote towns and farms. The apples were particularly good. Twilight hadn't had a meal as nourishing and filling since the going-away party her family threw for her.

Nevertheless, she couldn't help her mind being stuck on her impending meeting with Princess Celestia. She desperately wanted answers, and yet, she was so full of questions that she wasn't sure which ones to ask first. The whole situation felt much larger than anything she had dealt with before, and part of her felt like she was about to infringe on something beyond her league.

Shining Armor didn't say anything about it, but Twilight could tell through all his reminiscing that the same questions were gnawing at him. The only time he mentioned anything about it was right after the meal, when he offered to find the Princess for her. In fact, it wasn't so much an offer as a statement. He suggested it just before walking out the door.

And now, Twilight was pacing up and down the red carpet, waiting with baited breath, sure that the next time she turned to face the doors, Princess Celestia would be walking through them. It made her uncomfortable every time.

In fact, by the time Princess Celestia finally stepped across the threshold, Twilight had almost worked herself into a frenzy, and had to actively work to not let all her pent up energy loose at once.

Shining Armor was the first one through.

"I found her, Twilight," he said, stepping over the threshold. "Turns out, she was on her way over here to check on you."

The light emanating from the Princess was attenuated, making it much easier to distinguish her body. It didn't take anything away from her presence, however.

She smiled calmly at Twilight. "I gather Shining Armor took care of you while I was gone?" she asked.

Twilight was about to answer when she realized it was a rhetorical question. Celestia stepped up to her and lowered her muzzle down to her ear. "If there's anything else you need, don't be afraid to mention it." She lifted it again, and continued walking past her until she was at the throne in the back.

"Now," she said, taking a seat, "Shining Armor says you have some questions for me." She smiled warmly. "I can only imagine how confusing this must be for you, and I believe it would only be fair for you to know as much as I can tell you."

She glanced at Shining Armor, who nodded and turned to leave.

"He's—" Twilight turned to look at her brother.

Celestia waited until he had stepped outside the door and closed it before continuing.

"Shining Armor is too close to the troops to hear what I have to say," she said. "I don't want rumors to start affecting morale."

Twilight looked at the Princess, then back at the door, then back at the Princess again. She trotted right up to the throne.

"This isn't like you, Princess," she said. "I've never known you to wage war before! Much less against innocent civilians." She started pacing before the throne. "What is going on?! I thought you couldn't come here! How did you find out about this? What does this have to do with Equestria? What—"

Celestia put her hoof up, and Twilight fell silent. Twilight looked up at her, trying to keep her interrogative stance, but couldn't hold it after seeing the pitiful look on Celestia's face. If anything, it looked like many of the questions Twilight was asking were wearing on her just as much as they were Twilight. She closed her eyes and breathed deep before looking wearily back at her.

"I can see I have a lot to answer to," she said quietly. "And I understand all of your concerns. This is not something that I would normally do, and if it was any other situation, I would do everything in my power to prevent the situation that we're in now." She got up from her throne and started walking around the room. "But I suppose you have a right to know."

Twilight watched as she started walking along the walls. "Know... what?"

It took some time for Celestia to gather her thoughts before she turned back towards Twilight. She had never seen her look so serious before.

"Everything you have seen so far," she started, "The new creatures, the experiments, the political divisions—even your own acceptance as an employee is all but a small tip of a much larger problem."

She lit her horn, and a wave of light spilled out onto the floor. It changed hue into a dark green, and a strange canvas was painted before Twilight: nebulous clouds, islands of floating green land, eerie lights in the distance.

"Xen," Celestia said, "is what they call the world between worlds. It was a discovery that should never have been made. We were not ready for it, and the creatures terrorizing this facility are but a pinprick of the proof."

She closed off the light, and the canvas on the floor disappeared, reverting back to the brilliant red carpet.

"It is not just this world that is the problem now," she said. "What we have done is open a rift between Equestria, and many, many other worlds: worlds much stronger than us." She looked Twilight in the eye as she said this. "I have seen one of these worlds. I have seen the one which poses the most imminent danger to Equestria."

She turned around and stepped off to the side, staring at one of the many arches along the marble wall. "It is my duty," she continued, "to ensure the safety of My Little Ponies. They have been my children: my family, and after all that we have been through, I could not live with myself if I let anything happen to them."

Twilight couldn't help but interrupt at this point. "But, ponies are dying out there as we speak!" she said. "The soldiers that you are sending out there are committing murder!"

Twilight couldn't see from the back, but Celestia made a movement as though she had closed her eyes tightly, and tried to block something uncomfortable.

"I want to help them, Twilight," she said. "And I would, if that was possible."

"It is possible!" Twilight shouted. "You can call off these attacks. Try and rescue the scientists!"

Celestia turned back to face Twilight again, and Twilight could see that one of her eyes was a bit puffy. She was very good at trying to hide it, but Twilight had been too close to her to ignore something like that.

"These are things," Celestia said, "that do not entirely make sense until you are sitting on the throne: until it is you who have to make the decisions." She came right up to Twilight and got down onto the floor. Twilight did the same: both of them sitting comfortable on the red carpet together, like old friends.

"Try to see things through my eyes. Let's assume I call off the attack," she said. "Let's assume that every pony survives this crisis, we close the rift between the worlds, and everypony goes back to living normal lives."

Twilight had no problems imagining this situation.

"Do you see any problems with this?"

Twilight considered what Celestia was saying, and wondered why she was even asking the question. Any pony who saw a problem with ponies living happy lives must have a very strange world view. She shook her head.

"Naturally," Celestia said. "It's the perfect scenario, in the mind of the average pony. Even ponies who have great power, and much experience as rulers would agree that that is the best solution. For example, my sister believed that was the correct solution."

Twilight looked confused. "I don't get it," she said. "What's wrong with everypony being happy?"

"Absolutely nothing," Celestia said in a heartbeat. "In fact, if everypony could be forever happy, and forever safe, then everything would be black and white, and ruling Equestria would be one of the easiest jobs there is."

Twilight cocked her brow. "So, what's the problem?"

"The problem is information," Celestia said. "Once all the ponies are rescued, how many of them would know exactly how the rift to the other world was created?"

Twilight shrugged. "Who cares? Everyone who survived would want nothing to do with it anymore. It would be useless information."

Celestia eyed her closer. "Do you know that?"

Twilight put a hoof to her forehead and made an exasperated noise. "I don't even know why this is an issue! Nopony would ever want to purposefully risk destroying Equestria! Especially not after almost being killed in this giant mess!"

Celestia didn't move. Her eyes were still on Twilight, with an almost aggravatingly understanding look. It made Twilight feel like a little filly again.

"What?!"

Twilight didn't know what made her ask it, but she couldn't stand being looked at like that anymore.

Celestia just kept staring at her though.

"Oh, nothing," she said simply. "You just remind me of a certain Princess, long, long ago."

Twilight cocked her brow. "Your sister?" she said sarcastically.

"Me," she said simply.

Celestia shifted in her spot. "Let me try explaining it to you this way," she said. "Everypony at this facility looks at their job as more than just an occupation. Science is their passion, Twilight, just as magic is your own passion."

Twilight gave her a "get to the point" look, but tried to hide it behind an understanding guise. She desperately wanted to understand, but nothing she had heard so far made any sense.

"If Canterlot were to be destroyed, and you were nearly killed at the hand of your own magic, what would you think? Would you forget everything you learned?" She leaned in closer. "Or would you be driven to learn more? Perhaps, to find out what went wrong? What you did wrong? And try to correct it?"

Twilight opened her mouth to say how she obviously wouldn't want to use magic anymore, but the last questions made her think. It was very unusual for anything to go wrong during her spells. However, every time it did, she had always delved that much deeper, checked out that many more books, and studied that much harder.

"I—"

What was she going to say? That she wouldn't give up until she got the spell right? That she would keep researching until she found out the cause of the disaster? That everything that happened would define her lifelong goal of realization and redemption from that day forward? Nothing that was going through her mind could help with her argument. Attempting to give up magic entirely would only increase her curiosity, and make her life miserable.

Celestia seemed to be able to read all these thoughts just by looking at her.

"I think," Celestia said quietly, "you're beginning to see the problem." She lifted her head back up and shifted in place. "The first time this happened, it was a small group of fanatical unicorns experimenting with a new kind of magic. Back then, they found themselves in trouble, just as these scientists are now, and I did exactly what you would have done: I rescued every pony involved, told them of the dangers of what they were doing, and let them go their way." She closed her eyes. "That was over two thousand years ago." She opened them. "But the memory is still with me today. Those few ponies rebuilt their magical domain into a massive cult, and they did it so quickly and stealthily that I wasn't even aware of it until they were threatening half the country." She leaned back in towards Twilight. "Perhaps you've read of the event that came of it in your history books."

Twilight felt her stomach drop. "You don't mean... " Her eyes went wide. "The Equestrian Mage War?" she whispered.

"Followed by the Great Unicorn Purge," Celestia finished. "It was a dark time, Twilight. It took five hundred years to recover." She bowed her head, and spent a few seconds in silence before lifting it back up. "I was young back then. I had only first started ruling. I was tired of ponies before me ruling with such an iron hoof. I wanted to be more trusting."

"But you are trusting!" Twilight said. "I've seen the way you rule. You've never left ponies to die before, or killed anypony because of something they did, or studied, or thought. It's not like you—"

Celestia shook her head. "And I don't want it to be," she said. "I was much more harsh before you knew me. After the purge, I was afraid of making the same mistake again, and I did some things that I still regret." She took a deep breath. "But that's all behind us now. I have tried very hard to return to the trusting sovereignty I had first sought."

Celestia shook her head. "Not this time, though," she continued. "This time, it's almost an exact repeat of the events from before. And with the information I've been gathering, it has the potential to be worse than anything seen during the Equestrian Mage War. I cannot take that risk."

"So you're simply going to kill everypony off?" Twilight said.

Celestia's smile faltered, and the light emanating from her wavered, and nearly turned to shadow. She looked like she was fighting off a large weight that was crushing her from above.

"They're already dead, Twilight," she whispered. "They've been dead ever since the portal was opened. Whether their bodies live through this event or not, they will never be able to return to the life they once had."

Twilight was having a hard time getting past the look on her face. It really did look like she had given up on the situation: like she honestly believed that this was the only option.

"W-What about closing the portal?" Twilight asked. "How do you expect to close all the rifts—close the way to "Xen"—if you kill everypony who knows how to close it?"

Celestia shook her head. "That is beyond our control," she said. "The rift is impossible to close."

Twilight stood up. "Lambda!" she said. "Lambda can close it. I know. They've been working on it ever since it opened!"

Celestia remained on the floor, and gave Twilight a look as though she wished Twilight would do the same. "Lambda," Celestia said, "is the team who opened the rift in the first place. If anything, they are the most dangerous group."

"But we have to get to them! Even if they're going to give up their lives, they at least can spend the last few hours of them trying to redeem themselves! At least give them a chance."

This time, it was Celestia's turn to stand up. "If you knew what I do—if you could see what I have seen—you would think differently."

Twilight backed up. "If I knew—but, how would you know?" Her eyes widened as she started to realize something. "You've... wait a minute—" She stopped and lifted a hoof. "You've been in contact! But, who would—"

She felt a chill run from her head down through the rest of her body.

"That... pony in the suit!" She backed up even further. "That pony that's been watching me. He's been contacting you, hasn't he?"

Celestia stepped up to Twilight, and her countenance almost looked frightened. "Now, Twilight—"

"You've been talking to him this whole time!"

"Twilight, this has nothing to do with you."

"THIS HAS EVERYTHING TO DO WITH ME!"

They stared at each other for a moment, and Twilight could see Celestia's thoughts racing as her face went from scared to angry to confused and back again. Neither of them moved. The air was particularly thick, and she could feel the heat from the lit sconces on the wall.

"I believe this discussion is over."

With one swift move, Princess Celestia stepped around Twilight, approached the door, and turned with one last look. "We'll discuss this further in the morning, after you're well rested." She crossed the threshold, and was just about to leave entirely when she stopped. "I'm..." she paused. "I'm glad to see you're safe."

With that, she stepped away, and the entire room dimmed as her aura disappeared with her.

Twilight ran off down the hallway, and stepped out the door a moment later, only to see Shining Armor standing at the foot of the stairs.

"Twilight," he said, walking up to her. "I just saw Princess Celestia leaving. What happened?"

Twilight looked off in the distance as the bright aura faded away. Thoughts raced through her head, each one vying for attention, and she had to work to keep from drowning in them. She desperately wanted answers, but nothing she could think of would convince the Princess to speak rationally.

She thought about Rarity, and Rainbow. She thought about the Lambda Lab. She thought about everything Celestia had said.

And then, she thought about Canterlot, and her brother. The Princess wanted her home. She wanted her under her visage. She wanted to under her control. And the more she thought about it, the more furious she got.

Finally, she turned back towards Shining, and uttered two words.

"We're leaving."

=========================================================

It took a while to explain everything to Shining Armor, and even then, he only partially understood. They walked as she explained it, trying to whisper everything so no other pony would hear.

"So, you really think the Princess has lost it?" Shining Armor asked.

"I don't know." Twilight looked up to make sure no other ponies were looking at them. "But I think she may have been influenced somehow. If I go back to Canterlot now, I'll never get another chance to help close the rift."

"Twily!" Shining Armor stopped and spun Twilight around. "This isn't a light decision. If you choose not to go back to Canterlot now, you may never see it again!"

Twilight couldn't help but remember what Celestia had said about never truly returning to her former life.

"I'm not sure I could really return there even if I wanted to."

Shining Armor cocked his brow. "Huh?"

Twilight shook her head. "Nevermind. I need you to do me some favors before I go." She looked around. "Two of my friends were captured before I was taken prisoner. I need you to find them, and free them."

Shining Armor scratched his head, mouth gaping, trying to work out what was being asked of him. "Twilight, I don't even know what they look like. How am I—"

"One is a white unicorn with purple curly hair. The other's a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail."

"Rainbow mane and—Twily, are you sure you're not just making this up?"

Twilight ignored him. "Once they're free, I need you to go to the cage that's on the street and free the three fillies that are trapped inside." She indicated a hoof in the direction of the cage. "One of them is related to my friend. I need you to take them away from here, somewhere far away. Ponyville, perhaps."

Shining Armor closed his mouth and glared at her. "Twilight, Ponyville is a long way a way! How am I supposed to do all this without—"

Twilight waved her hooves. "I really don't care," she said. "Just... do it somehow. We need to get out of here while we still can. I need to reach the Lambda Complex, and I'm going to need all the help I can get."

She reached out and grabbed her brother's hoof, lifting it up and grasping it close to her chest. "Promise me, brother." She made a face she hadn't made since she was a filly, trying to convince her brother to let her have a second scoop of ice cream. It was a face Shining Armor had never been able to resist.

Shining signed. "All right, Twilight, I'll do what I can." He lifted a hoof. "But no promises!"

Twilight smiled and almost jumped at how well that face still worked. "Great!" she mouthed. "Now, what's the best way to get out of here?"

Shining glanced around, and lead Twilight off the road, into a shadowed area where there weren't any soldiers. The path wound around and twisted, going around small buildings, sword-sharpening stations, target practice boards, and other places that were not being used at this time of night. Eventually, they made it to the wall in the back, in an area almost impossible to see due to the lack of light.

"There's a sewer drain right around here," Shining whispered. "I don't know where it leads, but it's large enough for a pony to slide down. The guards use it as a dumping place for some of the left-over trash and scraps of food. Your best chance of not being caught is through there."

Twilight peered through the large pipe opening and cringed at the smell. She held a hoof up to her nose and looked up at Shining Armor. "Thanks," she said.

She was about to start climbing in when Shining Armor grabbed her and hoisted her into a tight hug. Twilight almost cried out from how tight it was.

"I love you, sis," Shining said. "Don't get yourself into too much trouble, okay? I'd like to see you in one piece again."

Twilight took a deep breath as soon as her brother released her. "I'll see what I can do, BBBFF," she said.

They both smiled.

"If I manage to complete my task at the Lambda Complex, I'll see if I can meet you over in Ponyville. That's where Rarity said she used to live. It's probably the safest place to be."

Shining Armor nodded. "That'll be the first place I go." He looked around. "I just hope I don't forget any of those errands you gave me."

Twilight pushed Shining Armor in the chest and giggled. "Get going, big brother."

Shining backed up and gave her a sarcastic smile before looking at her normally again. "Good luck, sis."

He turned around and started heading back to the camp. Just before he made it back to the main road, he turned his head, and they looked at each other one last time. It only lasted a second. And then he was gone.

Twilight turned back towards the pipe. She held her nose and wafted her hoof in front of it, trying not to imagine what kind of trash had been poured down recently. Then, taking a deep breath and holding it, she bowed her head down, and dove straight into the pipe.