Faith. What's it like to lose faith? Faith is a fleeting concept in the Wasteland. Sometimes, things get so bad that faith alone cannot sustain a pony through dark times. A wise pony once told me that sometimes faith means believing in the impossible, but how am I supposed to do that? How am I supposed to believe in something I know to be false? Faith built on lies is no way to live one's life.

I had thought myself past this... lack of faith. But seeing the statue of Lucky brought back so many feelings of failure and heartache that it was simply unbearable. I had failed the green mare, a failure that had resulted in her death and eventual continued existence as a creature of pure metaphysical impossibility. To be honest, I felt like my life was one massive failure. I was a dreg. An outcast. Unwanted by even the Element of Magic herself.

I thought on the life that Twilight led, and the choices she made that brought her to this end. Her own faith was misplaced. She had put all of her faith into Princess Luna's war, and it resulted in a chain of events that sent shockwaves echoing across the entire history of the Equestrian Wasteland.

I broke down, sobbing on the floor in front of the smooze creature as I stared at the statue of Lucky. The green mare had a brilliant smile on her face, and her mane was more vibrant than I had ever seen it - too purple. My eyes drifted to the base of the figurine. Have Faith? I thought. Is that some sort of joke? I let my thoughts go back to my time with Twilight's emotions. How was I supposed to have faith when I had failed so much? I looked up at the roiling purple lump currently watching me with a concerned expression on its rough-hewn face.

“Where... where did you get this?” I said finally.

The thing's mouth turned into a semblance of a smile. “I made it. I made it for you. She told me to. She told me that you would know what it meant,” it said. “Now we escape, yes?”

I blinked for a moment. Was Lucky here? If so, where did she go?

“But... was she here? If she was here, why didn't she wait for me?” I said frantically. “Why didn't she wait?!”

The smooze being looked at me expectantly.

“Why?!”

The thing's smile disappeared, literally sinking into its face, leaving flat purple behind.

“I... I don't know. I'm... I'm sorry,” it said, looking away from me sadly.

I sighed as I realized that I had yelled at the creature. It was almost child-like in nature, and it clearly hadn't understood my outburst. I put my hoof out, touching the thing on the shoulder... at least what I thought was its shoulder.

“Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you,” I said. The creature smiled in return and nodded. “It's just... things have been so frustrating for me lately.”

“It's okay,” it replied, patting my hoof with a goopy tendril.

I looked down at the statue of Lucky again. I tucked it carefully into my saddlebags next to the statues of the Ministry Mares. To me, it was just as important as they were. It represented my promise to save Lucky, to find her once more and to help her return to her flesh and blood pony body. I looked back up to the Smooze.

“Now, then. If you want to get out of this place, you're going to have to show me where my friends are,” I said, smiling.

The creature nodded animatedly and pointed at a door in the far corner of the room, past another row of clay statues. I trotted behind him to the locked door.

“I can get out underneath, but I don't think that will work for you,” it said.

I looked at the steel door, noting that the lock was electronic and not a traditional lock. I brought up my E.F.S., hoping to get something on it that showed where my friends were, but there was nothing. Apparently, whatever was interfering with my PipBuck was still in force. Fine then, time for a little old fashioned lock picking, I thought, latching onto the door with my magic. The steel surface began to glow with the telltale purple of my telekinesis as it started buckling under the force I was exerting upon it. Finally the steel relented and crumpled outward, falling to the floor in the room beyond. I looked over at the Smooze.

“Not a problem,” I said, the glow on my horn dimming. I stepped into the next room, which was another long hall filled with clay ponies. In fact, it was the room we had first seen the Smooze substance in. In the center of it were my friends. I grinned as they looked up, seeing me. A green blur shot past the others as Violet leaped into my hooves. She was blubbering like a little filly.

“Star!” she shouted. “You're alright!” She latched onto my neck in a tight embrace.

“Yes, my dear. I'm just fine,” I said, smiling softly before looking up at the others. “I know you all have already met him, but our new friend here is willing to help us escape this crazy place. We just have to disable the security system to get out.”

“Yes, Yes. We escape, and then I be free,” the Smooze said happily.

Patch chuckled as she bounced around the ooze-like creature. “I knew we could believe you,” she said. “I just knew you wouldn't have done anything to Star.”

“He told us flat out that he didn't do anything to her, greenie,” Lust cut in, grinning.

Patch shot a glare back at the black mare, blowing a wet rasberry in her general direction. I couldn’t help but smile. They weren’t fast friends by any stretch of the term, but they were at least getting along somewhat.

“Yes, well. He has been stuck here a long time, and we're going to help him get out,” I said. “First things first. We need to find the central computer core that is driving the security system.” Without my PipBuck working normally, I couldn't begin to figure out where in this crazy place that was. “So. Does anypony have any ideas?” I looked back at Danish and Nixis. The unicorn and the hellhound had been poring over some sort of crudely drawn map

Nixis let his eyes meet mine as he grinned widely. “Star. I believe we may have some sort of idea about this place. Danish and I have mapped out our progress so far, and we believe the key to true progression is to stop going forward,” the hellhound said with a broad toothy grin. I blinked, completely confused. “If we can find a maintenance level access, we should be able to bypass the security spell that is blocking our travel.”

I looked back at the Smooze for some help.

“Are there any maintenance stairwells around here that we can use?” I asked.

The creature's face contorted for a moment as it thought on my question. It grinned widely.

“There is. It's in the back of the next room over. It's locked though,” the Smooze replied. “I've never been able to get through it.”

“Well, I think we should give it a shot then. I'm pretty good with locks,” I said.

“You mean you're good at breaking locks,” Violet eased, poking me in the side as we followed the Smooze into the next room.

It was another room filled with rows upon rows of clay statues. At the far end however, was a terminal and a metal door. Violet sat down at the terminal and plugged in her PipBuck. The terminal lit up and asked for a password. Tapping around a bit, my love motioned with her hoof to me. I stepped over as she pointed out something on the screen.

“It looks like the section of the museum we're in now is actually far below the ground level. These rooms must not be affected by whatever spell is enforcing the security above at all,” she said. “The central core is located even farther down. Shit, this place is huge. It's like they built it downward instead of outward.”

“Does it say how to get there?” I asked.

“No, but I think... I think I can at least open this door,” Violet replied, pressing another button on the terminal's keyboard. The door in front of us slid open silently, revealing a gaping darkness beyond. I stepped inside the doorway, looking out into the dark stairwell. The stairs were massive metal monstrosities, extending up and down with no end in sight. The stairs were situated next to some sort of ancient elevator shaft. I looked over at the Smooze.

“I think perhaps you better stay here,” I said, smiling. “We will return for you once we have disabled the security system.”

The creature looked... sad. “You won't leave me?” it asked.

“No, we won't leave you. You have to trust me. That's what friends do, they trust each other,” I replied, shaking my head. “We'll be back before you know it, and we'll get you out of here.”

The creature nodded and began to slump its goopy way back to the statues. Violet stepped up next to me.

“You sure it'll be okay? It didn't seem that pleased that we're leaving it behind,” she said quietly.

“It'll be fine. We're going to come back for it. But it's so... I guess child-like? I don't think it would be able to handle itself in a fight, and you know it’s going to come to that one way or another,” I said.

Violet nodded and turned towards the open door. “I suppose you’re right about that.”

We moved out onto the landing and began to descend the stairwell. Every so often we would hear some sort of screeching noises coming from above us. I looked up, seeing nothing but metal. I took a moment to glance at my friends. Lust was fidgeting. I could tell she was uncomfortable being in such an enclosed space. I shot her a smile, letting her know everything was alright before turning back to my PipBuck. Another screech erupted in the air above us.

“What is that?” Steeljack said, looking up as the screeching began to get louder.

I brought up my E.F.S., the security enchantments inside the museum still messing with the detection spell. I shut it down again, scowling. Even if it was working, I didn’t think it would matter. We were going to find out what the noise was soon enough. The screeching continued until it was reverberating off of the walls around us. Then I saw it. A large leathery creature with deep red eyes was zipping down the shaft next to us. Far above it, thousands of red orbs followed behind it.

“Fuck, bloodwings!” I shouted, levitating out Stargazer and taking aim. I tried to trigger E.S.A.T.S., feeling time freeze as I silently cheered the fact that the targeting system at least hadn't been overridden by the museum's crazy ass security system. I lined up a shot on the head creature and let loose. Stargazer aimed and tore the thing's head clean off. “Everypony keep going! Don't let them catch up with us!” I vaulted out into the open shaft, flapping my wings and pulling my gun to bear on the swarm. Gunfire erupted from my faithful minigun, spitting hot lead into the swarm of mutated bat things. Despite my best efforts however, the bloodwings continued to surge forth. My only hope was that I was enough distraction to keep my friends safe. “Come and get me you fucking pieces of shit!” I shouted as I locked my wings, dropping down the center shaft like a rock.

The bloodwings took the bait, completely ignoring the shouts of my friends as the swarm poured down the shaft after me. Silver fire filled the air above as Thunder Flash melted several of the swarm's number into silvery goop that fell past me with a sizzle. I took a moment and looked down. The shaft stretched out below me, with no end in sight. I brought up Stargazer and fired off several more rounds at the oncoming beasts. Bullets struck flesh, knocking several of the mutant bats into the sides of the shaft. How fucking deep is this place?! I thought as I fell, firing round after round. I heard gunfire from above as my friends continued down the shaft. I feared at some point the swarm would no longer consider me to be prime target number one and start heading towards Violet and the others. I had to come up with something. I considered casting a shield spell, but I was sure I wouldn't be able to hold back the swarm for very long. I needed to come up with something drastic.

“Violet!” I shouted loud enough so that she could hear me. “I'm going to need you to trust me!”

“What?!” she shouted back. “What do you mean, trust you?!”

I charged my horn into a massive teleportation spell. I released the magic and felt my friends appear in the air next to me. As expected, shrieks and shouts came from the non flying members of our group.

“Star! I'm gonna kill you! I told you never to do this again!”

“Too late!” I shouted, grinning widely as I reached out with my magic and brought my friends into a telekinetic embrace. Lust cackled maniacally as she began swooping around in my telekinetic field, dropping behind and slicing the occasional bloodwing in half as we fell. The screeching of the bloodwings echoed behind us, just barely covering the shouts and screams of my floating friends. Eventually a landing could be seen at the bottom of the shaft, a metal floor approaching at high speed. With a grunt of effort, I pushed a shield spell out. The walls of the shield bubble ground against the stairs and walls of the shaft with an unholy screech, drowning out even the infuriated cries of the bloodwing swam. I could feel each crumpling staircase and shredded bolt in my horn, but we slowed enough to land safely. Without time to think, I flung the nearest door open.

“Everypony up and out of here!” I shouted.

The others followed into the room adjacent to the shaft and I slammed the door. Several moments later large thud sounds came from the other side as the bloodwings tried to slam into the steel door. I breathed a sigh of relief and turned back to my friends. Patch had a completely goofy look on her face as she was being helped up by Steeljack. Nixis, Lust, and Danish were panting hard. Violet was glaring at me with laser death eyes.

“Well, I don't think we're going back up that way,” I said casually, before turning to my angry little green mare. “Violet? Everything alright?” I knew she was angry, so I grinned for good measure.

“Star. We talked about this,” she fumed. “No more throwing me out of high places and nearly dropping me!” She turned away from me and began to trot into the hallway.

My eyes went wide as I grabbed her with magic and yanked her back before she could step any further.

“Hey! What are you doing?!” shel yelped.

I put a hoof up to her mouth and pointed into the room. It was a long hallway with the same typical steel walls that the majority of underground tunnels seemed to be made of. The floor of the room beyond the initial landing, however could hardly be called a floor. In fact, it was made of clouds. I smiled sheepishly at Violet and sighed.

“Sorry, love. But unicorns can't exactly walk on clouds,” I said, another of Twilight's memories floating up into my forethoughts. “Not without a little assistance at least.” I reached back into that memory, thinking about a spell that Twilight had used quite often in her dealings with her friends as well as any joint operations with the Ministry of Awesome. I set my horn to work and cast the spell, bathing Violet in a soft white light that disappeared almost instantly. Grinning widely, I nudged my love with a nuzzle to her neck. “Go on.” I said. She cautiously put a hoof out, setting it on the cushy cloud covering. She stepped forward onto the cloud with more confidence, bouncing around it and giggling like a little filly.

“I didn't know you knew how to cast a cloud walking spell,” she said, her eyes lighting up with awe. I shrugged.

“I didn't either,” I said. “I think it's one of those old Twilight memories kicking in.” I turned to my other friends and re-enacted the cloud walking spell on each of them except for Lust. Within moments we were in the hallway, trotting along the clouds. A sign at the end of the hallway caught my eye.

Ministry of Awesome Research and Development Center

“Huh?” Lust said. “You mean the Ministry of Awesome actually did research?”

“Well, apparently Dash's Ministry was involved in lots of things, but I agree. Research? Just doesn't seem like her,” I replied, pushing open the door that led into the center . The inside of the room appeared to be some sort of command center. Large cloud terminals lined the walls, all surrounding a massive metal door in the center of the room. This certainly didn't look anything like the security system of the museum. I stepped forward, looking at the various terminals. They were all disabled, and some of them had been partially destroyed.

“What do you think happened here?” Patch said aloud.

“I'm not sure,” I said. “But I bet it has something to do with whatever is behind that door.” I stepped up to the cloud terminal closest to my goal. It was still active, and waiting on some user action. I tapped on the keyboard, but the terminal still refused any sort of access. I groaned, unsure of what it was waiting for. Considering my track record with these kinds of terminals, I decided to try and hit it with my magic. As I expected, there was an immediate response, but not the kind I had hoped for. A shimmering light appeared in front of the door as the visage of a familiar cyan pegasus came into view. The mare had strands of gray among her rainbow mane along with heavy bags under her eyes.

“Twilight? It's me Dash. I guess if you're watching this, then I'm not around to open this door for you am I? At the very least, I hope we took those striped bastards down for good.

Anyways, you're not here to listen to me ramble on about that. You're here for what's inside this room. I still remember when you had us build this place. You said it was the best hiding spot for the artifacts we repossessed from Daring Do. I'm still not sure that was a good thing for us to do, but you said it would help us win the war, and you know me... I trust you.

By the way, the elevator in this room will take you up to the central computer core for the entire complex. It was designed to be the most secure in all of Equestria. Only you and I are allowed to have physical access to it.

Anyways, I hope you know what you're doing here. If you need me, let me know. I sure as hay won't leave you hanging.”

The cyan mare dissipated as I stared blankly at where she had been. Was this another clue left by Twilight and her friends? I strained my thoughts, considering the memory orb of one Daring Do. Twilight and Rainbow Dash had taken a series of magical artifacts from the pegasus archaeologist, against her will no less. I glanced around at my friends. None of them had apparently witnessed the illusion. That's odd, I thought. I let my mind drift back to when I had seen both Rarity and Applejack's holograms. I couldn't quite place whether my friends had seen them either. Is it just me? And if it is... why? Is it because of Twilight's memories? The metal door hissed open, shaking me out of my stupor as it began to open. A pale blue glow came from within as we cautiously entered the room.

The room was circular in shape, with long shelves curving around the inside of the cylindrical walls. Sitting on the shelves were statuettes and totems of various shapes and sizes. The artifacts were glowing brightly. Terminals were placed every few feet, some dark, some showing fluctuating readings from the nearby artifacts. Magical shielding was in place in front of the shelves. Thankfully the floor was real flooring. Perhaps the cloud cover in the hallway and main center was just to deter anypony who wasn't a unicorn or a pegasus. What did they have to hide here that was so important? I thought.

In the center of the room was a large pedestal. Sitting on top of it was a large chunk of bluish metal surrounded by a clear shielding. My eyes widened as I realized what it was.

“Is that...?” Violet said softly.

“Starmetal,” I replied, nodding. “This entire room is filled with the stuff.” I checked my PipBuck for any signs of radiation in the room. Nothing. Even though starmetal was highly poisonous, it apparently was not spreading any of its special radiation throughout the room. I supposed that the shielding surrounding the shelves had something to do with it. I stepped up to a nearby terminal, looking at its readouts. Sure enough, the shielding that was in place was containing any radiation coming from the artifact in question. Granted, most of the artifacts on the shelves had very low levels of the stuff in them. What caught my eye was the nature of the statuettes themselves. Various races of pony and non-pony made up the majority of each one of the statues. They looked very similar to the same type of statue we had found in the town of Far Hills.

“Star?” Patch said as she looked about the room. “These things look familiar.”

“Whaddya mean?” Danish said.

“Before we came to Chicacolt, we had to stop a raider named Greed. He had a statue that he stole from a town museum just like these,” Steeljack said.

Danish cocked his head at the earth pony. “Wait... Greed? You guys knew Greed?” he said.

“Yeah. I killed the fucker,” Violet said casually.

“So that was you guys? Holy Celestia's plothole, I never put those two and two together,” the cream colored unicorn said, chuckling.

“How did you know Greed?” I asked.

Lust chimed in before the unicorn could reply. “Because Greed was from Chicacolt. Used to run a small gang of raiders around town. He left... after,” she said.

“After what?” I asked.

“After we became what we are today. I don't know any more than that. Pride wiped our memories of what we were before, and we don't remember that much about how we became what we are,” Lust said. She flared her wings out for a second. “Can you recall that I haven't taken these wing blades off the entire time I've been around you? That's because they're not wing blades. They're parts of my actual wings.”

“What?” I said. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, I'm not normal,” the black mare said. “I'm not normal, and I never will be. Pride did something to me, to make me like this.”

I nodded, thinking about what the pegasus had said. I had already considered the fact that the mare was not a normal pony, much like Cranky wasn't a normal donkey. As I pondered this, I looked over another shelf of artifacts. What were these things used for? I thought. Who would create such beauty and infuse it with such deadly materials such as starmetal? I ran my hoof over one of the shields. It was cool to the touch.

“I'm so confused,” I said aloud. “Why would Twilight want these things to study? What good were they? They're just little statues.” There had to be some form of audio log here or something. Something, anything that explained what types of research had been performed here. I moved over to the terminal next to the large chunk in the center. Tapping at it, I found out that the radiation being outputted from the pure starmetal rock was intense, but that the shielding was keeping it under control. A password prompt appeared when I tried to access the administrative functions. I connected my PipBuck to it, and lines of text began to scroll on the screen. After a few minutes of searching, I found that the password was 'loyalty'. A window appeared on the screen, showing several options to unlock the magical shielding around the room. Staying away from those, I thought as I turned to the options for audio logs. There was only one. With nothing else providing any sort of information, I pressed the button to play it. A familiar voice tickled my ears as the audio filtered into the room. It sounded bright and eager.

“Hello? Is this thing on? It is? Okay, good. Ministry Mare Twilight Sparkle reporting from the Ministry of Awesome Research and Development Center.”

A second, scratchier voice joined Twilight in the background of the recording.

“And this is Ministry Mare Rainbow Dash, overseeing all research performed here.”

“Thanks Dash. I really appreciate this. All these artifacts, in one place. It's so amazing. There's so much that we can learn from these things.”

“I don't get it Twilight. What is so important about these little statues?” I grinned widely, pondering the same thought as Twilight began to speak again.

“Dash, these artifacts are more than just statues. They're focal points for magic. Daring Do really didn't know what she had when she unearthed these things. The Princess said that they were extremely important.”

“But for what Twilight? Why was it so important that she had us build this underground center just to study these things?”

“Well Rainbow, like I said before... the artifacts are focal points for magic. If we can learn more about them, we might be able to use them to develop magical defenses to protect Equestria with.”

“Or weapons?”

“... That too, thank you very much for pointing that out Rainbow. Yes, that is one such application.”

“Awesome! Well, Twilight. I've gotta run, important things to do you know. I'll leave you to your research.”

“Thanks again Rainbow, I'll see you later. We're still getting together with the others later on for that play right?”

“You know it.” A door in the background of the message opened, and then closed. A sigh echoed across the room as we sat there and listened. Twilight began to speak once more, however, her tone was much darker than before. Gone was the brightness from her voice.

“Excellent, she's gone. Alright, since this audio log is keyed to me and only me... I have a confession to make.

I lied to Rainbow. These artifacts aren't focal points for magic. They are magic. Condensed starmetal forged into statues of pure, unadulterated magic. They're a lot more powerful than anypony could ever dream of. And they're going to help me. With them, I'm going to develop a way to bring my brother, Shining Armor, back from the abyss.

I don't know what's going to happen from here. But I do know this. That book that Rarity has will be mine. Once I can use it in conjunction with these artifacts, I'll know all the secrets it has to offer.

Then... and only then... will I find a way to bring you back.

End Report.”

I blinked as the message faded into nothingness. I looked around the room again, suddenly feeling very frightened of the items surrounding us. I felt a sudden heavy weight on my back, and a tickling on my neck as I pulled open my saddlebag.

The Book. It was still there. In the commotion of escaping Colter Field and this insane museum, I had completely forgotten that I had it. I levitated out the hateful thing, setting it before me on the desk in front of the terminal. I felt a hoof on my shoulder. I looked up, seeing Violet standing there.

“Star? What are you doing?” she asked softly, her eyes falling upon the Book that had been bound in zebra's flesh. “Star... Why do you have that thing out?”

“I... I don't know. I didn't even realize I still had this... thing,” I said, looking at the Book with utter disgust in my eyes. At the same time, I wondered still if I could use it to bring Lucky back to life. No, stop thinking about that. You don't even know where Lucky is, I thought. Still, the thought festered in the back of my mind. A whisper on the wind told me that I could do it. I could save her, and nopony would have to get hurt in the process of doing so. I shook my head fiercely as I pushed away the Book. “Violet, I don't know what to do,” I said quietly.

“I think we should get rid of it,” she said. “Just leave it here, where nopony will ever find it.”

My eyes widened. No! We can't do that! I thought. If we leave it, then I can't save her! I can't do it without it!

“But...” I started to say before she cut me off.

“Star, look. I know what you're thinking. This thing might promise to have the answers you're looking for, but it doesn't. Don't forget it's this thing that let Spark take over your body in the first place,” She said. “Leave it. We have more important things to worry about.”

I sighed and looked back down at The Book. In a fit of anger I grabbed it with my magic and tossed it to the ground before looking back at Violet.

“You're right,” I said after a few moments of silence between us. “I'm sorry, you're right. I shouldn't be fussing over this horrible thing. Spark is what's important. Finding her is the key to all of this, I can just feel it.”

“That's my girl,” Violet said softly, nuzzling closely so that only I could hear her.

“Thanks Violet. I don't know what I would do without you,” I said in response.

A coughing noise broke us from our embrace. I looked up to see Danish standing there.

“This is sweet and all, but I have good news and bad news,” the cream-colored unicorn said.

“What's the good news?” I asked.

“Good news, is I think we found the elevator that goes up to the central core,” he said. I jumped for joy inside. Finally! We could get out of this place!

“And the bad?” I said hesitantly.

“Bad news... the damn door is locked up tighter than Lust's plothole,” the unicorn replied.

I heard Lust snort indignantly. “I heard that,” she said under her breath. “And, tight or not, you don’t need to ever worry about my plothole, pastry boy.”

Danish merely chuckled. He motioned for me to follow him to the back of the room. There, flush amongst the wall, was the outline of a door. As I got closer, I began to see symbols forming on the metal. Stylized cutie marks belonging to Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash appeared on the door. I looked over at Danish for a second, wondering if he could see them too. After a few moments of careful observation, I realized that he couldn't. Why am I the only one who can see them? I thought. I pressed my hoof against the cold metal, tracing the glowing marks. I lit my horn and traced them again with a brush of magic, feeling a response from the door as it began to shift and dissipated into nothing, revealing a large elevator behind it.

“How did...?” Danish started to say. For once, he had no witty joke to explain how I was able to open the door.

“Magic. Ain't gotta explain shit,” I said, grinning wider as the stallion snorted.

“Magic, schmagic,” he grumbled. “Can we just get on the elevator and get the hay out of this crazy place?”

I rolled my eyes as we filed into the elevator. Surprisingly enough, we all fit. For an elevator only designed to take both Ministry Mares directly into the computer core it was quite large. I briefly wondered how much space each Mare must have decided she would have needed. I looked around the room and sighed.

“Where are the buttons?” I asked aloud. I was met with confused stares. There was no control panel at all inside the elevator. I groaned as I realized that Twilight would not have made it very easy on anypony who gained access to this elevator. Again, wondering if magic was the key to all of this, I reached out and swatted the side of the tube with a thrust of telekinesis. The effect was immediate as the entire thing shuddered to life. A cold mechanical voice sounded from above us.

“State destination,” the voice said.

“Umm... computer core?” Violet said. There was no response. “I said, computer core dammit!”

“State your destination,” the voice responded.

I sighed. I knew what it was waiting for. “Computer core,” I said.

The room around us began to shudder and light up. The influx of brightness began to overwhelm my senses. “Wait--!” I started to cry out as the spell activated. The next moment, we were somewhere... completely different. The room around us was massive. Terminals dotted the walls, separated by decorative arched panels. In the center of the room was a maneframe. Wires hung from the ceiling around the ancient computer. Three large monitors surrounded a console that looked like it hadn't been touched in ages. I heard a gasp from behind me.

“Is that a... No... it can't be...” Patch said.

“What? What is it?” I said.

“It looks like... like a Crusader Maneframe. But there's something... wrong with it,” the green mare said.

“A Crusader Maneframe?” I said, looking up at the metal computer core. It appeared to be... dormant.

“It was a giant supercomputer designed by Stable-Tec. But there was only supposed to be like... three of them in existence,” Patch said. “They never made any more of them. They're like really super powerful computers. Designed to be like the smartest things in existence.”

“Well. Let's see what this thing is, and if we need it to shut down the security systems,” I said, stepping forward to the console in the center of the room. I tapped a button with a hoof, hoping to evoke some sort of response. Nothing. My friends meandered around me in the room, checking over the terminals around us. Patch stepped up next to me and began inspecting the console. “Anything?”

“I don't... I don't know. It's almost like it was supposed to be a Crusader, but hasn’t quite figured out how to.”

Some of the cases of equipment were styled and colored differently than others. Patchwork cables ran like wirespiders had gone amok. Patch banged her hoof on the console a few times, but it was still unresponsive. I sighed. I was about to give up when suddenly the largest of the three monitors lit up brightly. A bright pink earth pony face appeared within its confines. By this time, I knew Pinkie Pie by sight alone. The mare had a insanely wide smile on her face.

“Surpriiiiiiiise!” the mare in the screen shouted. “Awww... you're not Dashie or Twilight. Well phooey. Were you surprised?! Huh, were ya were ya were ya? I bet you were. I'm really good at surprises!”

“What?” I said aloud, blinking. “What are you doing here?”

The bouncy pink mare grinned widely as she hopped up in down within the confines of the screen.

“Well, you see. I wanted to play a super secret special prank on my friends, so I installed this special program on this here computer with the help of Apple Bloom. I was so hoping to see Twilight and Dashie and their faces when they realized what I had done,” the pink pony replied.

“So... you're just a computer program?” Violet asked.

“Yepperooney! I was designed to override all systems in this maneframe. I'm in control now!” the pink mare chirped, nodding excitedly.

“So you're controlling the security systems?” I said.

“Oh, you saw those?! Weren't they just awesome?! It's one of my better pranks!” the computer Pinkie said.

“Wait... those repeating rooms... the ghostly images... they were just... a prank?” I said, blinking.

“Yup! I really hoped that Twilight would have seen those. I spent so much time having my roboponies work on them, too!” the computer Pinkie replied.

My patience was beginning to wear thin. We had to get out of here. I decided to chance asking the computer if she'd just drop the security protocols.

“Well... Pinkie. I don't think Twilight is coming. So can you maybe drop the prank? We'd like to get out of here,” I said calmly. As soon as I finished, the mare in the monitor's hair instantly flattened.

“She's... she's not coming? But I spent so much time working on this prank just for her and Dashie,” she said.

I started to worry. Before, the programmed pink pony had been as bouncy and excitable as the Pinkie Pie I knew from Twilight’s memories. Now her mane hung straight and limp. Her movements were stiff and angry as she pounded the ‘inside’ of the screen with her forehooves.

“Why? Why isn't she coming? HUH? TELL ME!”

Alarms began to sound around us as the decorative arches slid open. Security robots of all shapes and sizes began to pour into the room.

“I've got a very bad feeling about this,” Patch said, pulling out Para Bellum. The robots began to converge on us, but they had yet to engage us.

What is she waiting for? I thought. I realized that even as unbalanced as she was, the digital mare was waiting for an answer to her question.

“Hold on,” I said, an idea forming in my mind. “Pinkie... Twilight told me to come here so you could pull your pranks on me instead. So... you got me!” I chuckled lightly, to show her I was laughing. I motioned at my friends. They too began to laugh. “See? So, you got us good. They were really good pranks.”

“But you're not Twilight. I want to see Twilight,” Computer Pinkie replied. Her mane was still flat, and her eyes spoke volumes of malice.

I narrowed my eyes at the mare. “What are you? Really?” I said finally.

“I'm a computer program,” Computer Pinkie said. “Pinkie designed me to be self-aware, so that I could pull the ultimate pranks. I was also designed to keep track of all the bad ponies, so that she could punish them.” Uh oh, I thought. That isn't good.

“Did I just hear her say self-aware?” Lust said.

“I believe that is what she said,” Nixis cut in. “I would suggest that we take this opportunity to shut this thing down.”

I nodded, lifting Stargazer with my magic. “Last chance, Pinks. Shut down the security system,” I said. “NOW.”

The mare in the monitor laughed cruelly. “No. You're bad ponies, and you need to be punished!” She nodded and the security robots surrounding us lifted their weapons. “Punish them.”

Without thinking, I turned and fired on the closest robot, ripping it to shreds with a hailstorm of bullets. The sharp retort of Steeljack's rifle, combined with the explosive power that was Para Bellum filled the air, along with the red laser fire coming from the security drones. I moved amidst the robots, dodging and trying to fight my way to the central core. Nixis gave a tightly controlled bark of fury as he slid past my right side, cleaving the spinning saw blade arm off a menacing drone in passing. I shot him a grateful look as I finished the crippled unit off with a quick applebuck.

More robots poured forth from the side walls, making me think that this insane computer must have had thousands of them. Pinkie Pie appeared on the other two monitors of the central core, then began flickering into existence on the remaining terminals in the chamber. Her manaical laugh was a wicked chorus as I waded closer and closer to towards the console. I wasn't sure what I was going to do when I got there. Try and reason with the virtual Pinkie? Smash it? I opted to try and reason with her as I cut down the last robot blocking my path. Stepping forward, I addressed the virtual mare.

“Pinkie! You have to stop this! Look, I'm sorry! Twilight's dead! They all are! You've been stuck here, running this same prank for over two hundred years now!” I shouted, trying to shock some sense into the sentient program.

“Liar! She's coming! I just need to punish you bad ponies and she'll show up!” the angry pink mare shouted from the screens. Chaos continued to erupt from behind me as my friends kept the robots off of my back.

“I'm not lying to you. You have to believe me. It's time to shut this down, and end the prank!” I replied. “Please. We're not bad ponies. We want to be your friend!” I kept talking, trying to convince the virtual earth pony to shut down the security system while I connected my PipBuck to the console. The second I connected it however, the pink mare growled angrily.

“Oh, I don't think so miss bad pony, you're not going to get to me that easily,” she said. A jolt of electricity shot through the console.

I scrabbled to disconnect the cable, but the bolt hit me square in the chest. I grunted in pain as I collapsed to the ground, fighting my twitching muscles to push myself back to my hooves. There was going to be no reasoning, no tricking this thing. I was going to have to tear this maneframe apart piece by piece to shut it down for good. I lifted Stargazer and began firing wildly. Sparks flew from the massive machine as round after round struck home. The virtual Pinkie howled a synthetic chorus of digital pain. Cables and wires flailed as bullets severed from the ceiling, but the maneframe itself stayed completely intact. If this thing was designed by Stable-Tec, it was designed to withstand a megaspell. Even the fire from Stargazer couldn't pierce the inner workings of the device. Nixis appeared next to me, leaping forward with his wicked claws as he slashed at the maneframe. Even his unnaturally sharp talons were unable to make even a dent in the computer core.

“What is this thing made out of?!” I shouted.

A blast of silver fire decimated more robot drones as Violet cantered up next to me. The virtual Pinkie Pies cackled and giggled wildly.

“You can't shut me down! No sir! I'm here to stay!” she said. “You're never getting out of here you bad ponies. Pinkie Pie is watching you... FOREVER!!! We're gonna make you smile, smile, smile!”

I looked about, the security robots surrounding us from all angles as they forced me and my friends into a corner. I gritted my teeth, waiting for the end. Waiting for the computer program to make the call. I glared at the mare on the screen, her eyes wild with insanity. It seemed like no matter how much we fired and fired at the robots, more continued to appear. Was this part of the ultimate prank? I couldn't tell. Somewhere along the line, this computer had lost its simulated mind in the quest to administer the biggest joke that could have ever been played. Violet leaned close against me, holding Thunder Flash aloft in her magic. Her eyes were cold and determined. A flash caught my eye and I noticed something creeping along the sides of the maneframe. Wait... is that...? What? I thought. A mix of purplish goo was slowly covering the wires and pieces of the console. The smooze forced its way inside the maneframe, using the grates and panels as access points.

“What?! What's going on? What is that stuff? No, no no no no!” Computer Pinkie shouted. The screen began to leak purple goo as the mare began to scream and shout. As violent as the computer pony was, it was nowhere near as violent as the explosion that resulted from the smooze's intrusions. With a final multi-voiced shriek, the monitors around the room snapped off as one. The last I saw of the virtual pony was her frantically beating on the ‘inside’ of the central monitor. For a split second she met my gaze, tears rolling from her eyes as she pressed a hoof to the inside of the glass. I closed my eyes, and the maneframe died with an anticlimactic *pop* and a curl of fould smoke. The effect was immediate, as the robots menacing us fell over silent and still. I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Smooze?” I called out amidst the quiet.

The smooze goo began to pour out of the maneframe modules, reforming into the vague features of the mushy creature. A smile cracked on his face.

“Big computer go boom!”

I blinked, and then broke out into a giggle. It was just too amusing.

“How did you find us?” Patch said. “I thought you couldn't get out beyond your rooms?”

“I think crazy computer pony was too focused on you, the security system let me go,” the Smooze said. “What was crazy computer pony?”

I sighed as I looked up at the ruined remains of the maneframe. “A bygone of the past era,” I said. I stepped up to the device, now noticing the Stable-Tec logo on the side of it. A name plate below the logo stated CRUSADER MANEFRAME PROTOTYPE 0.5B. “Huh. So it was a Crusader. Well a prototype at least. No wonder this thing was so...”

“Crazy?” Patch chimed in. I nodded. “I once heard a story about how a pony could upload their entire mind into one of those things. If this was a prototype... there’s no telling what could have happened to an intelligence trapped inside it. And it had control of the whole museum.”

“Well, now it's toast,” Danish said, poking at the smoldering remains. “And I think it's high time we blew this pop stand.”

Steeljack and Nixis nodded in agreement. I took one last look at the ruined computer, thinking about Pinkie's final prank. In retrospect, it would have been pretty funny had it not gone completely insane and tried to kill us.

“Yeah. Let's get the hell out of here.”

The journey back towards the ground level of the museum was far less harrowing than the trip down had been. With the security system fully disabled (that we knew of), there were no more random rooms or turrets that magically repaired themselves. Because of this, we were able to find another set of stairs. Luckily enough, this set hadn’t been used as friction brake for a group of flying ponies, and wasn’t home to a swarm of bloodwings. While I doubted that we'd get out of here without running into any more undead monstrosities, I was far more confident of our ability to deal with them than I had been with the virtual Pinkie. As we emerged into the lobby, I started to relax. We'd get out of this wretched place, find Pride and Spark... and then what? Faith had said that I would have to make a choice when I faced Spark. What had she meant by that? What choice? I didn't know, and for some reason... I wasn't sure if I cared. Spark had to be stopped, by any means necessary.

The moment I glanced up at the main doors of the museum, I knew that something was wrong. The doors that we had used as barricades were shattered, lying strewn across the front of the lobby in piles of wood and metal. I flipped on my E.F.S., revealing a single red blip... right on top of us?

“Fuck, move!” I shouted, as I let loose a blast of telekinesis that pushed my friends away from my position. I noticed then that the Smooze was missing. Where did he go? I thought. I turned to move, just barely missing the dark form that pounded into the ground next to me, blasting a crater in the marble flooring below. A flash of red blinded my vision as blood poured from my muzzle. A shock of pain echoed through my entire face. A growl emanated from in front of me. I brought Stargazer to bear, preparing to fire on... Oh... Oh FUCK ME, I thought. Wrath, the leader of the Cult of Iron Will, knelt in front of me. His eyes were on fire as he met my panicked eyes with a steely glare.

“We meet once more... Ministry Mare,” the minotaur rumbled. “I told you before... I will end you.”

“Star! Get down!” I heard a voice from behind me shout. A blast of silver fire shot past my head as I scampered away from the cult leader. Wrath grinned and stood, batting away the blast with a simple swipe of his gauntlet.

“So this is how our final meeting is going to go? Letting others fight your own battles for you? I am disappointed. We still have an accord, you and I,” He said.

I narrowed my gaze at the minotaur. He was right, of course. We still had a fight to finish.

“Everypony, stand down,” I said finally. “He's right. I have to finish this myself.”

“Star, you moron. You don't have to do this,” Lust said angrily from the right of us. The black mare had stepped up next to me, as had all my friends.

“Sister. You will stay out of this,” Wrath commanded, baring his teeth and snarling.

Lust glared at the minotaur. “And you will fuck right off. I'm sick of this shit Wrath. I'm sick of being Pride's bitch,” she said. “I'm done with this, and I'm done with you.”

I smiled briefly. Even in the midst of this final match with Wrath, it was gratifying to see the black mare deciding to stand on her own hooves. I hoped she would get the chance to truly live, out from under Pride’s shadow.

“Lust, it'll be alright. Everypony stay back. Wrath and I will finish this,” I said, keeping my eyes trained on the cult leader. “Just you and I. If you threaten any of my friends... I swear to Luna I will rip your fucking head off.”

“Agreed,” Wrath said.

Violet too glared at the minotaur as she stepped closely to me, nuzzling my neck quickly.

“Good luck, sweetie,” she said softly.

I nuzzled her back as Danish pulled her away. Nixis and Steeljack stepped back as well, along with Patch and Lust. Wrath cracked his knuckles through his metal gauntlets, and I cringed at the sound of it. I decided that I needed to be confident.

“So...” I started to say. “Where's your cult cronies at?”

“My brethren are waiting to lay siege to this place once I have killed you. I will carry your broken body from this wretched museum in pieces!” Wrath replied.

“Speaking of... how did you get in here? The impression I got from your guards was that they didn't like this place,” I said, attempting to keep the minotaur talking as much as possible.

“Yes... this museum has always had something... wrong with it. Even the strength of Iron Will was not enough to penetrate its defenses. But now those defenses are gone. I can only guess its recent change lies at your hooves?” the cult leader said.

“The security system in this place was quite unique,” I replied, deciding to change the subject. “I know about Filly's Tower. About Pride and Stable 180.”

“Oh? And what is it that you know?” Wrath said.

“I know that you used to be a regular Minotaur. I know Pride did something to you,” I said, hoping to end this before it could even get started. “So why do this? Why waste time and energy fighting me? Together, we could stop her.”

Wrath bellowed with laughter. “You make me laugh, Ministry Mare. You are pathetic. A waste of space. You could not even prevent your friends from being hurt in the Arena. How could you expect true strength to ally itself to you? Even if I was to fight at your side, your weakness could not defeat Pride.” he said. “You are weak. And I shall cull you from this world, like Iron Will says that I must do.”

“I'm... I'm not weak!” I shouted reflexively. I looked away for a moment, not letting the minotaur see the pain in my face. In truth, I knew he was right. I still had no idea how I was going to handle Pride. I had failed Lucky, and now... now I didn't even know where she was. Violet had gotten her leg cut off, all because of my failure to contain Spark. Steeljack and Patch had both been injured in the violence in the Arena of Colter Field. When was I going to pony up and become better than this? “I'm not. I will find Pride, and I will stop her. I will make sure she doesn't hurt anypony else, ever again!”

“Brave words, from such a weak mare. Why don't you prove your strength then,” Wrath replied as he charged forward.

A clawed gauntlet shot out towards me as I lifted Stargazer to block. The gauntlet struck hard, knocking the minigun out of my magical grasp and to the ground. A second claw came in behind it, aiming for my neck. I hopped back as his strike barely missed me. Grabbing Stargazer again, I lifted the weapon and dropped into E.S.A.T.S. I took a moment and studied the powerful minotaur before queuing up several shots to his body. Wrath was... not well. His armored gauntlets were rimmed with crusted blood where they dug into his bulging forearms. The injectors harnessed to his biceps had black snakey lines running away from them under his flesh. I wasn’t a medical pony, but that didn’t look at all good. In the frozen stillness of E.S.A.T.S., Wrath’s face looked worn and tired. His hateful grimace held pain and suffering, dark bags under his bulging eyes.

Regardless, this was only going to end one way. I ‘pulled’ the mental ‘trigger’ in E.S.A.T.S., and time fell back in. Stargazer fired. Round after round pounded the cult leader, knocking him back. Blood poured from his side as he snarled loudly and slapped one of his arm injectors. The blood flow began to slow down, and Wrath grinned.

“So you can shoot with the help of that computer on your leg. But that will not help you win against Pride,” he said, slashing out with his right claw, catching me in the side and knocking me back. I gritted my teeth and moved to dodge as Wrath appeared in front of me. His eyes were wild with glee. “Don't be shy, punch them in the eye!” His fist shot in out of nowhere, striking me in the face. I distinctly heard something crack as I felt myself flying to the ground. I groaned as I tried to push myself up, feeling a foot hit my barrel, several ribs cracking under the pressure. Blood streamed into my vision and I felt warmth on my forehead. I was blinded by the bloody mess that was my face. Flailing about wildly, I pushed myself up and flared my horn. I threw up my shield spell just as Wrath's fist slammed into it. Wiping the blood from my face, I glared at the minotaur. I heard several shouts behind me from my friends. I couldn't make anything out that they were saying through the haze of my pain. I dropped the shield and growled.

“That's it. I've had enough of this!” I shouted as I moved towards Wrath. I lifted Stargazer, intending to use the gun as a bludgeon.

Wrath merely stood there, grinning widely as I struck him across the side. The blow forced the cult leader back as he spun around, slamming into my side with a well placed kick. I was able to catch this one in the muscle of my shoulder, using its energy to spin away from Wrath. I put my all into a spectacular applebuck. The kick landed hard enough to send a shock of pain up my hooves, and Wrath was blown completely off his feet. He fell backward, hitting the ground with a resounding *crack*. The marble flooring shuddered underneath the cult leader's massive frame.

“And that's how we do it in the Wasteland,” I crowed, walking towards Violet’s smiling face.

The cult leader growled as he pushed himself off the floor. I spun about as Wrath launched himself at me, grabbing me in a bear hug that brought us both to the hard ground. We rolled and tumbled over each other as we ended up slamming against a nearby pillar. I ignited my horn, pushing on the minotaur with my telekinesis. He flew backwards, hitting the wall and nearly putting a hole in the solid marble. Wrath levered himself to his feet and coughed, spitting a gob of bloody phlegm onto the floor. I could tell that despite his resilient nature he was hurting. I took a chance and looked behind me at my friends. They were standing to the side, silently watching the spectacle of my fight with Wrath. Violet's eyes were concerned as she let her gaze drift up to my injured face. I smiled at her, trying to let her know that I was alright.

“Much better... Ministry Mare. Very passionate. Iron Will's strength is flowing through your veins,” he said, holding his side with a claw. “So, I shall share with you some tidbit of information about my wayward sister.”

“What kind of information?” I said.

“You were right, Ministry Mare. I used to be a normal minotaur. But then, she came. Pride helped me achieve what I had always sought in my life... power,” he said, stepping towards me.

I cautiously backed away, maintaining my distance from the cult leader. “So... why do you hate her then?” I asked. “She gave you what you wanted, right?”

“I value strength. And Pride's tactics are anything but strong. She is manipulative, sneaky, and underhanded. She does not know the true value of strength. It’s not that she doesn’t know the way of Iron Will,” Wrath said in exasperation. “Most people don’t. She doesn’t have any respect for physical prowess or straightforward challenge.”

I blinked. The minotaur was disgusted by this, more than I had ever seen him when talking about me.

“She thought her wiles could control all of us, but as you’ve seen from my other brethren... only a scant few remained truly hers.”

“Like Sloth?” I said. Wrath nodded. “So she what... made you all? Are you even real?”

“We're as real as anyone else. But we are special,” Wrath said, continuing his stalking advance towards me.

I kept moving backwards, unsure of what to do next other than to keep him talking. I panted hard as I did. I could still feel the blood on the side of my face and I felt like my sides were on fire.

“And once you find Pride, you will know the full story. However, now I feel as if I must have some of your information. Why are you so interested in my sister?”

“She's got something I want. Something that is important, quite possibly to the safety of the entire Wasteland,” I said. “I'll say no more than that.”

Wrath laughed heartily. “So you fancy yourself a hero then? A bonafide Wasteland heroine, just like the Lightbringer?” he said, noticing my discomfort at using the Destroyer's name. “No? So you are just like Greed then, purely in it for yourself?”

“No!” I shouted, dropping to my front knees. I began to cry. “Because it's my fault! I let her out! I should have been stronger! I should have...”

Wrath stepped up, towering over me like a monolith of hatred and power.

“Please... I should have stopped her...”

“And you never will, because you are weak,” the minotaur said gruffly. “You have failed, and your mission ends here.”

“No!” A voice rang out. I looked up, seeing Violet. She looked... angry. My eyes widened.

“V-V-Violet?” I said.

My green mare stalked forward, putting herself between Wrath and me.

“She's not weak! She's strong! And you have no right to judge her so after all she's been through!” She shouted.

I smiled weakly. Thank you Violet, I thought.

“Oh? Sending in your little marefriend to stand up for you. How... precious,” Wrath mused.

Violet glared daggers at him. “Sometimes... sometimes she's not smart, and she definitely can't think of a plan to save her life. And sometimes I really hate how she beats herself up over shit,” she said. I blinked.

Gee... thanks for the vote of confidence there Violet, I thought as she continued to speak.

“But she has one thing you don't Wrath. And that's friendship. And if you want to fight her... you have to take on all of us. Because we don't let our friends down. And I refuse to let you do anything to her, because if you so much as hurt her... I will put you so far down into the ground not even the Steel Rangers will be able to find you!”

I felt a hoof on my shoulder as I looked back and saw Patch... Steeljack... even Lust, Nixis, and Danish. They had all come forward to help me. The feelings that welled up inside me were incredible. They were my friends. And they had shown faith in me, no matter how bad things got. Wrath snorted in response.

“Friendship? Having friends does not make one strong,” he said. “It makes you st--

I stood up and put a hoof out, cutting him off. “No. Having friends does not make one strong. It makes the whole stronger,” I said. “You don't get it Wrath. I’m not standing by myself. My friends are with me, and they are my strength. They are my rock. And with their support, I can do anything. Including kicking your sorry ass into next week.” I smiled widely, having realized what Faith was talking about. Faith in the impossible... it meant having faith in what you couldn't see. Friendship was such an impossibility in the Wasteland. But yet, here it was... thriving in my heart. Without further words, I flared my horn and brought into being a brilliant blaze of light that coalesced into a solid blade of magic. “Prepare thyself for combat, foul wretch. We have unfinished business with you.”

Wrath sneered as I charged past Violet, grinning widely. I can do this! I thought as the flat of my blade connected with the minotaur's gauntlet. He had raised it to block, much like he had the last time I had used this move against him. This time however, my magic was bolstered by a more powerful force. Friendship. The blade crashed into the gauntlet, but instead of dissipating it knocked the minotaur back towards the wall.

“Have at thee!” I shouted with glee as I slashed at Wrath, cutting into his shoulder with my magical blade. Blood spurted from the wound as the minotaur tried to slash back. I twirled around, grinning widely as he barely missed me. Flaring my wings out, I swung the glowing blade, slicing Wrath across the chest. A thin line of blood appeared there. Wrath snarled and lunged at me with his wicked claws. I pushed back, bringing up my alicorn shield. The minotaur struck the shield and began pounding away, trying to push through my magic with sheer strength. I expanded the shield, shoving him across the slick marble as I latched onto Stargazer with my telekinesis.

“It's time to end this,” I said, dropping the shield and catching the cult leader off guard. Stargazer lifted and I dropped into E.S.A.T.S. I queued up as many shots as possible, looking to disable the minotaur. Time came back into motion and round after round erupted from the minigun. Wrath barely had any time to move away before Stargazer's starmetal bullets struck. Wrath hit the ground hard under the force of the fire. Blood erupted from every wound at once. The minotaur lay there, unmoving. I stood over the prone form of the cult leader, blinking. I... I did it? I actually did it? I thought. I lifted the magical blade, expecting Wrath to pop up at any moment.

“Is he... is he dead?” Violet said.

I turned away from Wrath's body, looking back at my friends. Something didn't feel right about this. Wrath was strong. He was powerful and fierce. My victory over him felt... hollow. Like it was undeserved. I started to walk back to Violet, turning around one last time to look at the cult leader's body. When I did, two pairs of red eyes were staring straight into my very soul. Wrath stood there, bloody and beaten, but somehow still breathing. He growled, launching a clawed gauntlet right at my face. He struck hard, and I felt something crack beneath the force of the impact. I went flying back, hitting the ground with a *thud*. I pushed myself up to see the minotaur rushing towards me.

“It’s going to take you a lot more than that to kill Wrath, Ministry Mare!” he snarled.

Pain shot through my face and neck as I tried to move out of the way. Wrath struck me like a freight train, pushing me into a vicious grapple with the minotaur. Claws raked across flesh and I howled in pain as I tried to focus on my magic. My horn flared, as I slashed at the minotaur’s back with magical blade. It struck with vicious force, and Wrath howled his pain into my ear. He let go for just a moment, which I took to unleash a blast of telekinesis. Wrath slid away from me, knocked back by the force of my magic. The minotaur sneered at me through his bloody face. We both slumped to the ground, panting hard as we tried to push on towards each other slowly. We stopped a few feet away from the other. Silence filled the air.

“Had enough?” I choked out finally.

A throaty chuckle ripped through the air from the minotaur. “Not nearly...” he said, coughing loudly. I couldn't help it. I started to laugh. This whole situation was kind of hilarious. “I will admit it, Ministry Mare. You are stronger than I thought you to be. You are a worthy opponent to take on Pride.”

“Really now?” I said. “I thought you were going to kill me.”

“Oh, that is to be expected. And when you've murdered my winged sister, then I shall find you and we will finish this,” Wrath replied as he tried to push himself up off the ground. He weakly lifted his hand, making a signal with it. Instantly, two minotaurs in blood red robes appeared on each side of him. “We will meet again, Ministry Mare. COUNT on it.” The cult leader disappeared just as quickly as his retainers had appeared. I groaned loudly. Pain shot through every part of my body. I tried to get up, but instead fell to the ground. I heard my friends cry out as I finally blacked out, the darkness taking me into oblivion.

I blinked, looking up at the hallway before me. Of course, I thought. The endless doors and torches stretched out as far as I could see. I shakily got to my hooves, gathering my limbs under me. Wrath had beaten me so soundly that even this spirit or dream form was hurting. My ears perked at the familiar *fwoosh* of the torch blowing itself out, followed by the *creak* of a door opening. I stretched, wondering what emotion I was going to meet this time, and trotted into the door. The door opened into open air, a standing frame on the hillside behind me as I stepped through it.

I recognized the fields just below Cloudsdale immediately. Amidst the war torn battlefield, a single purple unicorn filly sat. She was stroking the mane of a stallion laying next to her. I stepped up behind her. I could hear her crying.

“Hello?” I said softly.

The purple filly looked up at me, tears in her violet eyes. She sniffled, looking back to the stallion. His electric blue mane spilled all over the ground. I realized that he was... dead.

“Are you alright, little one?”

“No... No I'm not,” she said quietly. “He... he's dead. It's all my fault.”

I sighed, sitting down next to the filly. “It's... it's not your fault,” I said. “Shining Armor... he chose this. You know that right?” The filly nodded. “Let me guess... Guilt?”

“Remorse,” she said. “I loved him so much. He was such a good older brother. But he was hurting.”

“The Pink Cloud?” I asked.

The filly nodded once more.

“I didn't mean for it to all end up like this, Radiant Star,” she said. “Now Spark's out there... and it's all my fault. I messed up. I should have listened to my friends... should have...” Remorse trailed off, and I could hear the hints of sobbing come from the poor little filly.

I put my hoof on her shoulder, holding her close. “No... it's not your fault. It's mine. I should have listened to Lucky and not her. Maybe this whole thing could have avoided if I had just paid a little attention to Spark,” I said, feeling a little defeatist. I had let Spark out after all. I was responsible for her. Remorse sniffled, looking up at me with fresh tears in her eyes. “Remorse... we can't dwell on the past. Spark is out, and I need to stop her. Faith told me that there was a choice to be made. What choice?”

“Spark... she's not all bad. There's still some part of her that is pure. Nightmare might have been smart, but there's no way she could have erased everything that was the Element of Magic,” she said, looking back down at the dead stallion.

“So what can I do?” I said, extending a wing over the small filly. “Spark doesn't seem like the type to accept help.”

“I... I don't know, Star,” she said. “But I know that somewhere in there the real Magic is there. You just need to bring her out.”

I pondered the filly's words. Was that really the choice I was expected to make? Kill Spark... or save her? I sighed. How was I supposed to make that choice? Spark was evil! She had nearly killed Violet, and her aspirations to become a Goddess could mean big trouble for the Wasteland. How could I even consider saving her?

“What if... what if I can't make that choice? What if I can't do it?” I said.

Remorse smiled briefly. “Then we may be doomed forever. Equestria needs the Element of Magic,” she said. “I know this is hard for you. It's hard for us too. We endured the loss of Shining Armor, the betrayal of Spark, and the end of the world as we knew it. Now, we need your help to end this once and for all.”

“I'll... I'll try. But I don't know... this is a lot to take in,” I replied.

Remorse looked back to the dead stallion, and began stroking his mane once more. We sat there in silence as the world faded back into blackness.

I awoke in bright light, feeling the warm sun on my face. I let my vision realign back into focus, the sign of the museum appearing right above me. I groaned, and looked back down at my body. Magical bandages were wrapped around my torso, and I felt like death warmed over. I tried to stand, and nearly fell over immediately. If it hadn't been for Violet, I probably would have gone face first onto the hard stone.

“Oof. Thanks,” I croaked, finally adjusting to the light. My friends were standing around, having built a haphazard camp right outside of the museum. At the far edge of the camp was the Smooze. Where did he go during my fight with Wrath? I thought. He appeared to be hunched over, working on something. I stumbled, getting my footing as I trudged towards the creature. Violet helped me, staying silent as we walked. The Smooze looked up briefly, before continuing his attention on what he was working on.

“Hello,” he said quietly.

“Hi,” I said. “Well... we did it. We got out. You're free now.”

The thing looked back at me, a smile appearing on his slimy face. “Yes... thank you so much. There's so much to see,” he said. He turned away for a brief moment, grabbing something off the ground. “I made something else for you... to thank you.” He lifted his hands, a small clay figurine resting there. It was... me, and the others. Violet stood proudly next to me on the base of the statuette. Patch and Steeljack were on each side of us. Nixis, Danish, and even Lust were even present. They were perfectly accurate right down to the smallest detail. I smiled at the creature as I lifted it with my magic, placing it into my saddlebags.

“Thank... thank you,” I said nervously. “Where will you go now?”

“Somewhere out there,” he said, pointing out at the vast Wasteland. “Somewhere I can see everything there is to offer. I've been stuck for so long.”

“Just be careful out there. Some ponies might not be too welcoming to you, looking like you do,” I said. “But... if you look hard enough, you'll find friendship. It's an incredible thing, but friendship has survived hundreds of years of hate and anguish.”

“In that case... I am thankful you are my friend,” the Smooze said. “All of you. Farewell.” He turned away as he began to trudge along into the Wasteland.

I stood and I watched as he disappeared off into the horizon. I looked back, grinning at my friends widely.

“Let's go. Filly's Tower is just in the center of the city,” I said confidently. “There isn't any time to spare!” I took a confident step forward, and my foreleg crumpled under me. Pain shot through me as I fell to the ground. I groaned, hearing laughter behind me.

“Sweetheart, you've been out for several hours after some serious injury. You need to rest,” Violet said. I grunted in reply. I wasn't about to argue with her. My body ached all throughout.

“Fine,” I said, rolling myself over so I could at least see her. She had a smug grin on her face. “But as soon as I'm up and able, we're going to find Spark.”

Her grin disappeared, replaced by a serious expression as she nodded. I looked over at Danish. The cream-colored unicorn had been talking with Lust as he met my eyes. He trotted over and sat down next to me.

“Darlin',” he said.

“Danish,” I replied. “I assume you'll be getting back to the MMMM now?”

“Nope. I'm going to come with you,” yhe stallion said. My eyes widened. “I reckon that you need help, and what you're doin' is really important. If this Spark is as dangerous as you say she is, then not just Chicacolt, but the Wasteland is in grave danger. And to be quite honest... I like this city.”

“Thank you,” I said quietly. “I know that you must miss your gang though.”

“I’ll be honest, Star. I do need your help with the boss. Things are gettin’ a little crazy there.” the unicorn said somberly. “But I think this has to come first. The boys should be able to keep this cake from collapsin’ while we’re takin’ care of Pride. For that matter, if things go wrong, the boys can handle themselves. They did before me, and they'll do so again if I die.”

“Rather morbid way of looking at it isn't it?” I said.

Danish shrugged. “It's the way of the Wasteland, darlin'. Ponies live, ponies die. It's the way things are,” he said. I hung my head for a moment. “You alright?”

“Yeah. Just... lot on my mind, you know. This is just... too much,” I said quietly. “If you had to make a choice... one that you knew had the potential to cause a lot of hurt no matter what you did... would you do it?”

“Sure as shootin' would,” Danish said.

“Why?” I asked. “How could you make any decision?”

“Because you have to. Because... no matter what, you can't not make a decision. Even if you stood there and did nothing you're still making a decision,” he said. “That's what choice is.”

My eyes widened. I realized that he was right. Regardless of what was going to happen, I would have to make this decision. This choice would have to be made.

“I... I hadn't thought of it like that. Thank you, Danish,” I said.

The cream-colored stallion nodded as he stood and trotted off. Soon, I was left alone as the rest of my friends handled the guarding of our makeshift camp. Violet joined me before too long, snuggling up close to me as night began to fall. As I lay there, I felt a bit better. The pain in my sides had begun to subside at least.

“Violet?” I said after a few moments of silence. My marefriend looked up from beside me. “I wanted to thank you. For standing up to Wrath. For believing in me.”

She smiled, coming in close for a kiss. She pulled back after the soft embrace.

“You're welcome,” she breathed. “I would do anything for you. You know that, right?”

I nodded, feeling very vulnerable at that moment. “I know,” I whispered. “I just really appreciate it. I so love you.”

“We all love you, Star,” Violet replied. “Just never lose faith. We're right behind you, supporting you all the way.” She nuzzled my neck sweetly, and I let myself fall into her. We stayed that way for what felt like forever, locked in each other until we fell asleep.

The next morning found our little band in much lighter spirits. I was finally able to stand without falling over, the injuries I had sustained in my fight against Wrath were healed enough that I was capable of travelling. Not wanting to waste any more time, we packed up our things and began making our way back towards the city. As I walked, I realized just how far away the Museum had been from Chicacolt. As I looked back at the massive building, I could see a sickly looking lake in the distance. It glowed a green sheen in the morning light. To our immediate north, Colter Field loomed over us. I shuddered, thinking about the Arena and Wrath. I hoped not to go back to that place anytime soon.

We walked along, finally coming to the edge of the ruined city within a few hours. I decided that I had enough silence after a while, clicking on the radio to see what was going on in the city proper. The rough and tumble voice of the Minotaur greeted our ears.

Yeeeeeeeeehaawwwww!!!! It's time again kiddies for the Morning MOO Madhouse, with your host... the ONE, the ONLY, the MINOTAUR!!!

That's right my friends, it is I, the Minotaur, bringing you all the hottest news in the Chicacolt area! And boy do we have some news for you! It seems our good friend, the Ministry Mare, has been seen! The Mare herself was last seen escaping Colter Field after fighting the leader of the Cult of Iron Will. Later on, something big went down at the old Museum, and the Ministry Mare was at the heart of it. The terror of the Museum has been broken, and she survived to tell the tale! Good on you, Ministry Mare! I want the story straight from the pony’s mouth, next time you stop by!

In other news, the political background of Chicacolt is heating up. The Lotus Triad is making deals and alliances with the other gangs, folks. There's also shake-ups with the Cowpones. It appears the old bastard the Bullfather has finally kicked the bucket. The gang now has a new leader, a shadowy figure we only know as 'Cow-Face'. The gang themselves have kicked up their activities, taking their slavery operations to the next level. They've taken over a few of the small factories within city limits, forcing their slaves to work to get them up and running. Cow-Face has some aspirations of grandeur it seems.

And with that, we're off and running with the smooth rocking beats of the Rolling Pones! See ya on the flip side, kids!

A smooth chunky beat filled our ears as we stepped onto a ruined street. The city was ominously quiet. Filly's Tower loomed in the distance, a black monolith standing over the rest of the ruined city. It called to me, beckoned even. There... just below the tower itself... was Stable 180 and Pride. Spark was beyond that. I didn't know what would happen when we got there, but I knew that I was going to have to figure it out. No more running, I thought. No more avoiding. I was ready, but the choice I faced weighed heavy on my heart. A hoof on my shoulder brought me out of my thoughts. I looked down, seeing Violet smiling up at me.

I nodded and we continued on, moving onto a street that Violet's book had called the 'Magnificent Mile'. Mareigan Avenue. Once a thriving center of commerce, it was now a ruined path of concrete and asphalt. Rusted hulks of skywagons and ruined travel carts littered the road. The shops that lined the street were in a state of perpetual disarray. Gang graffiti splattered over every inch of wall space. What struck me as odd however was how still and quiet it was. There was no noise... not even the persistent howl of the wind that we had gotten so accustomed to in this city. An check of my E.F.S. showed that I was right to be paranoid, as several red blips appeared on each side of the street.

“We’ve got company,” I said, motioning around us.

Violet had already floated out Thunder Flash. Before anypony could get a shot off, gunfire streaked across the street, dust and debris flying into the air. I ducked behind a nearby skywagon and lifted Stargazer, firing towards the source of the sound. The sharp retort of Para Bellum sounded off behind me, and I heard the gurgle of a dying pony falling from a nearby store. Patch whooped a victory cry as more gunfire rained down upon us. I couldn't see where they were firing from. Only my E.F.S. showed that the red blips were directly on each side of the street. A glimmer of silver flashed from above, and I caught a glimpse of one of our assailants. It was a dark brown earth pony stallion with a mustache. It was a dirty white earth pony raider, his crimson mane styled in a mohawk. A slick black leather jacket rested on his shoulders, and a battle saddle with a hunting rifle attached was attached to his back. The stallion shouted wildly with insane glee and took aim. Before he could get a chance however, he exploded in a shower of gore. I grinned over at Danish, smoke rolling out of the barrel of his carbine. The cream-colored stallion took cover next to me, a grimace on his face as he looked up at me.

“Fucking Hellraisers!” he shouted. “What the fuck do they want?”

I cocked my head at him. “Hellraisers?” I asked.

“They're a bunch of raiders who think they're a gang,” he replied. “Otherwise known as the Hellraisers. Fuck... there's radroaches that have more sense than these stupid fucks.”

A flash of silver fire struck the side of the store-front that the gunfire was coming from, punching a hole into the concrete. I growled as I stood, lifting my gun into the air and dropping into E.S.A.T.S. I couldn't see a damn thing, so I just queued up numerous shots into the store windows. Time resumed and Stargazer fired. I could hear shouts from within the store. The front door of the shop exploded open and I heard a *thwump* noise. A silvery apple hit the ground at our feet.

“Grenade!” I yelled, instinctively tossing the death apple as best as I could. The grenade got about half my length away from before it exploded, still caught in the haze of my telekinesis. Shrapnel dug into my sides, and I grunted in pain. Luckily, I was the only target it had caught. A shot pinged off the ground in front of me. I looked up just in time to see a bloody blue coated raider charging at me, his assault rifle aimed right for my head. I flared my horn, throwing up my alicorn shield. The stallion, being as dense as Danish said they would be, charged right into the shield and hit the ground hard. I took a brief look around the street. The rest of the gang had poured out of the dubious safety of the storefronts, engaging my friends in tight little knots of battle.

I leapt into action, lifting Stargazer as I moved. The minigun meted out hot, fiery justice against our would-be assailants. I had to admit, Danish was right. The Hellraisers weren't very smart, and they didn't seem very interested in talking either. When they did speak, it was usually to spout profanity or scream wildly. What was also interesting was that they all seemed to be earth pony stallions. There were no unicorns or pegasi, no mares in the ranks of the Hellraisers. I took out another member of the raider gangers as I made my way through the melee to Violet’s side. My marefriend was busy with her own battle, taking on two of the stallions at once. Thunder Flash made quick work of them and I brushed up against her.

“Like old times?” I said, grinning.

Violet smiled back, and nodded. We stood back to back, firing in tandem with each other. Meanwhile, Nixis was violently ripping apart pony after pony, growling almost musically. I admired the controlled ferocity that the hellhound could sometimes channel. Steeljack and Patch also fought side-by-side, the couple playing off each other's strengths. Lust was working with Danish, ripping limbs off of any pony that threatened him while he worked his way across the chaos of the battlefield. The fight was going well, much better than I had feared initially.

That was when another set of shots rang out, a third group joining the battle. A flash left a charcoal black unicorn right in my face, a combat shotgun held in her magic. A sharp grin was on her face, and I recognized her as one of the Lotus Triad’s enforcers. The Triad and the Hellraisers... working together? I thought. This can't be good. The unicorn made a hoof gesture, and more of the Triad's enforcers began to appear inter-mingled with the raiders. I heard a snicker from above. I looked up, seeing the familiar face of Lotus Petal standing on top of the nearby store-front. The battle stopped for a moment as I noticed the Triad enforcers training their weapons on me and my friends. I knew at that moment we were outclassed and outnumbered. The Hellraisers had drawn back, clearly waiting for the Triad to act.

“Well, well, Ministry Mare,” Lotus Petal said. “We meet again.”

“Lotus Petal,” I called out to the pink mare. “What's the matter? Couldn't get enough of me?”

“Pssh. Please. We still have unfinished business, you and I,” the pink unicorn said. She grinned widely. “Besides, I still have your other ear to finish off.” She lifted her cruel knife in the air with her magic, waving it as if she was taunting me.

“I don't think so. I've got far more important things to deal with at the moment,” I said. “If you recall, I kicked your sorry ass last time.”

Lotus Petal cackled wildly at this. “If I recall correctly, you spent most of the time talking to yourself,” she said. “No. We're going to finish this little game. You and your friends are mine.”

I growled under my breath. I needed a way out of here. A little pony in the back of my head told me I should just end Lotus Petal. Then at least this would all be over. Another little pony chimed in, and I took a deep breath. No... I couldn't just kill her. I had to be better than that. I had to do better. I looked over at Violet. She was panting hard, barely holding onto Thunder Flash with her magic. A glimmer in the sunlight caught my eyes. I smiled. Yes... that will do, I thought as I reached inwards and touched my magic. I only had one shot at this. My horn began to glow and Lotus Petal's eyes widened.

“Fucking kill her! Don't let her ---” she said before a massive *crack* cut her off. Steeljack's rifle echoed out across the street, blowing a hole in one of the nearby enforcers and drawing Lotus' attention. The distraction was enough to give me the second I needed in order to cast my spell. My horn flared and the magic released and the world fell away into nothingness. It reappeared a few moments later, and I smiled.

“Did it,” I said, releasing my breath. I looked around me, noticing the confusion on the faces of my friends. I winced at the pain in my horn. The teleportation spell had taken a lot more out of me than I had realized. I slumped to my haunches, grunting as I fell over.

“Star!” I heard a voice call out. Violet was next to me immediately. I could see a mixture of concern and surprise on her face. I smiled weakly.

“Hey,” I said, looking up at her. “We got away, right?”

She hesitated and then nodded. “We did, thanks to you,” she said. My love smiled, and helped me up.

I groaned in pain as I looked up, seeing where my spell had landed us. A golden globe towered above us, and I got the distinct impression that we were up somewhere high. I grimaced, feeling the pain in my horn once more.

“Wow...” I heard Lust say. A low whistle emitted from the mare's mouth.

I followed her gaze, seeing the whole of Chicacolt stretched out before us. The words Equestrian Sun-Times were etched on the side of the ruined globe. I had somehow managed to teleport us onto the roof of a very tall building. In the distance, Filly's Tower loomed over the middle of the city. A quick glance behind us revealed that were more than several streets away from Mareigan Avenue. The sun hung low in the sky, gilding the city with a divine touch at odds with its ruined nature and fractious inhabitants.

“Well then, nowhere to go but down,” Steeljack said, breaking the silence finally.

I nodded. The low throbbing of pain in my horn told me I wasn't casting a teleport spell like that any time soon. Patch bounced behind him as we headed towards the only door on the roof. It appeared to be locked, but Lust made short work of that with a swipe of her wing blades. We filed into the tiny stairwell, and I walked along with Violet supporting me. I smiled as she floated out a Med-X, jabbing it into my side. It helped... a bit. The pain was still there, but it was lessened considerably. The stairs ended at a door that had been chained up. A slash later and the chains fell to the floor, clattering loudly. I checked my E.F.S., but nothing more than the green blips of my friends appeared. I nodded at Lust. She pushed the door open and we stepped into the hallway.

The hall was dusty, and it definitely looked like it hadn't been touched in over two hundred years. Blackened skeletons lay on the floor every few feet. Ponies from the world before the megaspells dropped. At the far end of the ruined hallway was another set of stairs that went down into the main office level. The offices were completely barren. It seemed like the ponies had tried to move either up to the roof or even further down when the end of the world had happened. I stepped forward, being helped along by Violet as I slumped down to my haunches. Pain shot through my head.

“I... I need to stop,” I said, breathing hard. “I have to rest. I... I...”

“It's alright, sweetheart,” Violet replied, sitting down next to me. “I think it'll be fine if we stop here and rest for a bit.”

The others nodded as they moved further out into the office level, checking to make sure that we were indeed alone. I sat there in silence next to Violet, leaning into her and sighing.

“Thanks...” I said. “I guess that teleportation spell really hit me hard.” I chuckled at the silliness of something as simple as magic burnout hitting me this hard. Why had it hit me this badly? The fight with Wrath, the stunt in the stairwell, and this teleport. That was quite a workout, but it shouldn’t have hit me this hard. I lay my aching head against Violet as the others came back into view.

“It's clear,” Danish said to Violet. “There's some elevators, but they don't look like they work. We're gonna have to hoof it all the way down.”

“Great,” Lust said, rolling her eyes. “Remind me again why I'm following you still?”

“Because you're afraid Pride will find you and kill you?” Patch casually mentioned.

Lust growled. “Shut it,” she said. I glared at her and she instantly shut up, her cheeks flushing red. “I mean... sorry.”

“It's fine,” Patch replied, sighing. “I'm sorry too. Friends?” She stuck out her hoof.

The pegasus smiled weakly, and took the hoof. “Friends,” she said.

I smiled. Maybe things were looking up after all! I watched as my friends spent their time setting up a barricade in case we were attacked. I struggled for a bit with boredom, trying to keep myself occupied while I rested. For a little while, I pulled out Twilight's diary, reading through her old friendship letters to the Princess. I came upon the final entry once more, sighing deeply. Twilight's words cut across the pages like a knife. Was she really in so much pain that she felt there was no way out? I let my gaze drift over to my case of memory orbs. There was still one more I hadn't viewed. I looked over at my friends. They were busy discussing the plans to get to the bottom of this building. I felt... disconnected. I hadn’t been able to pay attention to anything, the throbbing of my head distracting me from even watching my friends.

“Violet?” I called out. My marefriend looked over, smiling. My eyes moved to the box of memory orbs. Hers followed mine, locking onto the box and then back to mine. She nodded slowly. I mouthed Thank you and opened up the box. The final memory orb from Fort Knowledge sat there, taunting me. What secrets did it hold? I was about to find out. I latched onto the orb with my magic, letting the world fall away into nothing.

The body of my host was... different. It was... the same as my normal body? I was an alicorn! Wait...if I'm an alicorn... that must mean... I thought as everything around me came into focus. I was sitting at a table in a long dining hall, in what appeared to be the palace. My host smiled politely at the servant that stepped forward and took my plate. Seated across from my host was a familiar purple unicorn.

“...So you see Princess, I have it all planned out. We'll coordinate with the other Ministries to get this project completed. I'm sure it will mean big things as we work towards the end of the war,” Twilight Sparkle said as my host looked over at her. I was Princess Bucking Luna! How? Luna was reclusive during the war. Why would she have ever agreed to have a memory extracted? I thought as I realized that my host hadn't exactly been listening to the other mare.

“I'm sorry?” my host's deep and powerful voice echoed across the room. Luna's guest pressed her ears back, looking a little distraught at my host's lack of attention. “Forgive us, Twilight Sparkle. We were... lost in thought.”

“It's alright Princess. We were just discussing the megaspell project. You know, the one that the Ministry of Peace came up with?” Twilight said.

My host pondered the unicorn's words for a moment. “You wish to research the concept further?” Luna said finally. Twilight nodded. “Then you have our blessing to do so. What are the reports from the other Ministries on their progress?”

“Well... Applejack's Steel Ranger program is just getting off the ground, but it looks very promising. I think I speak for everypony when I say that it has a lot of potential to save a lot of pony's lives,” Twilight began. “And then of course there's Rainbow Dash's Ministry. I'm... not exactly sure what she is doing honestly. Pinkie's just... Pinkie. I'm slightly concerned for her to be honest.”

“Indeed. We shall have a talk with Pinkamena at our earliest convenience,” my host replied. The alicorn pondered for a moment, and continued. “Twilight. How fares your brother?”

Twilight's eyes widened at the mention of Shining Armor. She stammered, trying to get the words out.

“He... He's fine.” the lavender unicorn said. “Why do you ask?”

My host raised an eyebrow. “We are concerned for General Armor's health. We... No, I am concerned for you, Twilight. You have let this disease... this affliction of his dominate your life,” she said. “We wish to ensure that you are thinking this through, clearly.”

Twilight sighed and looked up at the Princess of the Night, a mixed expression of fear and confusion on her face. She took a few moments to recompose herself, and began to speak.

“I am thinking this through, your Highness. I told you before, I am quite certain that I can find a cure,” she said with confidence. Luna smiled. “Don't worry, Princess. I have everything all completely organized.”

“We have faith in thee, Twilight Sparkle. When all is said and done, you will be regarded as one of the great heroes of Equestria,” My host said.

Twilight saluted and stood up from the chair she had been sitting in. “Thank you... Princess,” she said. “I won't let you down.” She turned and stalked out the main door of the dining hall.

Luna sighed as she watched her go. I felt my host stand, looking at the batpony guards standing near the door.

“Leave us,” she said, her voice filled with power. “We wish to be alone now.”

The guards looked at each other and nodded. They left the hall, leaving the Lunar Maiden alone. Luna looked out the window of the dining hall into the night. Her horn glowed and the windows opened, letting in a cool breeze across her midnight coat. I felt the alicorn shudder slightly at the touch. She was about to turn away from the window, but something stopped her.

“Well, well, look at pretty Princess Luna,” a cold, dark voice echoed in the back of my host's mind. Luna spun about.

“Show yourself, fiend!” she shouted.

The voice cackled wildly. The alicorn scanned the room for any sign of the intruder.

“Come now... you don't recognize me?” the voice continued.

My host sneered, turning about once more to face her foe in the flesh. Another alicorn appeared in the room before her, this one a solid black pony with blue steel armor.

“You.” Luna said. “What are you doing here, Nightmare Moon?”

The other alicorn chuckled lightly. “I would have thought you of all ponies would have been happy to see me,” Nightmare replied. She trotted past the Princess of the Night, looking out the window briefly. “I trust you are well?”

“How we are is of no consequence to you, fiend,” Luna replied, glaring daggers at the other alicorn. “I repeat: What are you doing here? The last time we saw you, you were being run off by the Elements of Harmony.”

“The Elements of Harmony. Pfft,” Nightmare Moon said. “Did you really think that those pathetic relics would have any real effect on me? I escaped, you foal. I've been here... all along.”

“What do you mean?” my host asked. “How did you escape?”

“Simple really. I just hid at the right time,” the black alicorn replied as she trotted past the Princess of the Night. Luna scowled at the other alicorn. “Of course... I've had to do a bit of masquerading to stay hidden, but soon I won't have to worry about that much longer.”

“The war,” my host said. “Your doing?”

Nightmare Moon chuckled lightly. “No... while I would like to claim that I started the war with those silly superstitions the zebras carry about us, no... you ponies are to blame for it, right from the start,” she said. “No... I will claim responsibility, however for Celestia's little protégé.”

“What have you done to Twilight?” Luna said, anger rising in her voice.

“Oh you know... a push here, a push there. She really believes in the work she's doing, you know,” Nightmare Moon said. “Did you know she has an idea on how to turn regular ponies into alicorns? An entire army of creatures just like you and I. Can you believe it? How delightful she is.”

“You will stay away from Twilight Sparkle, fiend,” Luna challenged, locking eyes with the other alicorn. “Or we shall end thee.”

“Please... you couldn't end me if you thought really hard about, Woona,” Nightmare said, rolling her eyes. “The only reason I'm revealing myself to you now is to gloat. Soon, with Twilight's help, we shall rule Equestria. Now then, I'm afraid I must take my leave of you my dear. So many things to do, so little time.” She grinned widely, her fangs showing clearly in the soft light of the torches. Her horn glowed midnight black and she disappeared into the cold night. My host snarled as she spun about, storming out the door as the memory faded away.

I came out of memory feeling quite disoriented, but at the very least it seemed that my headache had gone away. Violet lay next to me, reading over the history book on Chicacolt. I stirred on my bedroll, drawing her attention. My other friends were mostly sleeping, Nixis silently patrolling the perimeter of our crude encampment.

“Hey,” she said quietly. “Everything alright?”

“It was... strange,” I said. I started to explain what I had seen in the memory, mentioning explicitly the parts having to do with Twilight. “Nightmare was responsible for corrupting Spark. I just... I don't know what to do, Violet. Is there something good in there? Or is she truly evil now?”

“I don't know either, Star. It sounds like the only way to know for certain is to confront Spark directly,” Violet said, sighing. “Don't worry, we'll get there. We're not far away from Filly's Tower at least. Did you know the construction of the tower itself goes deep into the foundation of the city itself? It's all here in this book.”

“Does it say anything about the megaspell?” I asked curiously.

Violet cocked her head at this. “What megaspell?” she replied.

“While... while Spark had my body under control, I sort of had some company. Lucky was around,” I said, pulling out the figure that the Smooze had given me.

“I... I see,” Violet replied. “Is she still around?”

“No... And I'm worried about her. I think Spark might have... done something to her, or drive her off. I don’t know.” I said, shaking my head sadly. “Anyways... Lucky told me that there's some major megaspell that's in Filly's Tower. It was some sort of defense spell.”

Violet looked at the book again, murmuring under her breath. “No... nothing here about that. But then again, this book probably wouldn't have any info on something that secret,” she said. “Being a Ministry project and all... I don't know. We'll just have to watch out for it I guess. Do you think Pride has access to it?”

“I doubt it. Lucky had said it was in the Tower, and that the Minotaur had it. I’m sure that even with the Stable underneath the Tower, he keeps it well under wraps. I just hope he doesn't use it,” I said.

The sun began filtering into the office windows, and the rest of our motley crew began to awaken. I stood, feeling whole, healed and rested. I looked to my friends, and grinned widely.

“Everypony ready?” I received nods of affirmation from my companions. We moved forward as one, and I kept a close eye on my E.F.S. Nothing showed up as we descended into the stairwell down to the next floor. It seemed like the prewar ponies that designed this place made it so that you had to progress through each floor to get to the next one. I silently wondered if that was intentional.

The next floor was bare as well, no signs of bodies or skeletons. There wasn’t even any rubble or debris! It was extremely confusing. Maybe there weren't that many ponies working here on the day the megaspells dropped, I thought as I stepped into the cubicle farm. I didn't get five steps in before a turret popped out of the ceiling. Instead of bullets however, it began spraying magical beam fire at us. I growled, putting up my shield and raising Stargazer. The laser beams struck the magical shield, harmlessly bouncing off. I fired, punching a large hole in the metal casing of the turret. It exploded in a flash of red fire, spraying metal and sparks all over the floor. I dropped my shield and stepped forward.

“Everypony keep a close eye on the ceiling. I have a feeling that won't be the last one of those we'll see,” I said. “Danish, take up the rear. I'll hang in the center and throw up a shield if we run up against anything else.”

The cream-colored stallion nodded and hung back behind us, floating along his carbine rifle with his magic. We moved into the hallway leading to the next set of stairs. The hall was the same quiet as the Miracle Mile had been. Too quiet. Amazingly enough, nothing happened at all as we made it to the stairwell. We trotted down carefully to the next two floors, watching for any more turrets or security systems. Each floor was just like the rest, barren. What happened here? I thought as we continued forward. I pushed on the door for the third floor with my hoof, finding that it was locked. I flared my horn, blowing the lock off of the door with telekinesis. Behind me, Violet chuckled quietly.

“I do have to admit, my love. You do have a way with locks.”

“Whoa,” I said, looking into the doorway. This floor... it was far different than any of the others that we had seen. The floor was solid black, outlined by soft white lights. Grey terminals lined the walls, and several large monitors were clustered in the corners. The most noticeable thing about this floor compared to the others though was the fact that there appeared to be no exit. No door to any other stairs, no elevator... nothing. I stepped in, putting my hoof down on one of the black tiles. The room lit up immediately as the floor changed from black to white. The terminals flared to life as well, lines of code scrolling down the screens. A black and white pony appeared on the monitors, his crimson eyes the color of blood.

“Ahhh, the Ministry Mare and her friends. Welcome.” it said, grinning with gleaming white teeth. I shuddered when I realized they were sharpened, jagged and pointy. “I want to play a game.”

“Game? Where are we? What is this place? Who are you?” Patch said.

The black and white pony chuckled loudly. “Who, me? I'm nopony important,” it said. “Now then... shall we begin? The rules are very simple. If you win... I'll let you go free. If you lose... you all die.”

“And how exactly are we supposed to win?” I asked, snarling. “Do I get to shoot you? Please tell me I get to shoot you. Because I have someplace important to be, and you are in my way.”

“Oh! Impatient, are we? Right then, well let the games begin! And good luck to you!” the black and white pony said, grinning widely. The floor flared with a red light, black walls rising out of the tiles. I cried out, along with my friends as we were separated. The room was a maze now. How fucking big is this place? I thought as I stepped forward. And what is it with pre-war ponies and space/time distortion! So fucked up...

“Is everypony alright?”I called out, hoping they could still hear me.

“Star? Is that you?” Violet called back.

I pounded on the side wall, trying to make a dent in it.

“I'm here!” Patch yelled. Steeljack and Danish called out their affirmations as well.

“Nixis is here, Ministry Mare! I have tried to slash the walls, but they seem to be resistant to my claws,” the hellhound shouted.

“Lust is here too, sexy,” Lust called out from another side of me.

I sighed. At least the others were okay for the time being. “Everypony hold on, I'm gonna try and teleport us,” I said.

A deep chuckle interrupted me as I started to flare my horn.

“Tut, tut. That's cheating,” the voice said. The monitor at the far end of the first hallway flared to life, revealing the black and white pony. His red eyes remained impassive as he grinned widely. “As you were just cursing, this is a spacetime distortion, my dear. A teleport out of here would leave the lot of you as more of a pile of sausage than a group of ponies.”

“What the fuck are you?” I shouted, growling.

“That's part of the fun of the game,” the pony replied with a chuckle. “Now, are you going to play, or am I going to have to end the game prematurely?”

“Star, I don't think he's bluffing. We'll see each other at the end of this,” Violet called out.

I sighed, moving forward down the hall. The long hall ended in a sharp right turn, taking me down another long hallway that ended in a fork. The monitor in the center of the fork illuminated. The black and white pony grinned at me from it. I was really starting to get sick of seeing that face.

“Well my dear, now time for our first challenge,” he said. “Before you lies two paths. One leads to the truth. The other... leads to lies. It's up to you to decide which is the proper path.”

“That's not a very good riddle,” I said. “Which one leads out of here?”

“There's no fun in just telling you,” the black and white pony replied. “However, I am sporting, and will give you a hint. The truth is hard, sometimes a lie is easier to believe. The path on your left will lead to the truth. The path on your right... the lie.”

I paused, considering the pony on the monitor. There was something amiss with this, beyond the obvious weirdness of a spacetime distortion in an office building. It was naggingly familiar, but I couldn’t put a hoof on it. I decided to head left, trotting along the hallway. It ended in a large open room, with the same red light up tiling that I had been walking on. However, in the center of this room was a large bank of monitors. It lit up as I stepped in and began to play some sort of video feed. I heard Violet's voice come from it.

“I hate you!” My love's voice rang out from the screen. The image was of me... and my friends. Violet was shouting at me. “I never want to see you again!”

“I hate you, too!” my voice rang back. “And I never want to see you again, either!”

“Fine!”

“Fine!” The ponies and hellhound around us walked off in separate directions. Violet glared at me and stomped away. The image on the screen distorted as it flickered out of existence. I stared at it, wondering what it meant. I would never yell at Violet like that, I thought.

“Oh? I think you might,” a voice said from all around me. “You wanted the truth. The truth is... this is the future... your future.”

“That's impossible,” I said shakily. “I-I would never...”

“Wouldn't you?” the voice continued. “You and your friends are bound to fail. In the end, it will tear you apart. Are you sure that is what you want?”

I started pondering his words. Were we really bound to fail? Was the end result of our journey the end of our friendship? The end of everything we'd ever worked for?

“I... I...” I started to say. “I don't...”

“That's right... you don't. And you never will, Radiant Star,” the voice replied. I blinked. Wait... I never told him my name, how...? I thought. “Oh yes... I know who you are. But do you know who I am? If you can figure it out, then you’ll win the game. I’ll even let you skip the other challenges, which is a shame. The pit and the pendulum is always fun, and a sack of vipers is so hard to come by in the Wasteland.”

“I...” I couldn't say much else, my voice having caught in my throat. The vision on the monitor had really rattled me. I was afraid. Afraid of losing Violet, of losing my friends... afraid of Spark and her vision for the Wasteland. I was still no closer to figuring out what I was supposed to do with the Element of Magic. Forcing myself to focus on the task at hand, I trotted forward into the next hall. This... thing, whatever it was, knew who I was. Granted, lots of ponies knew who I was, but only as the Ministry Mare. This thing had called me by name. I started to wonder if maybe Pride had gotten wind of us being in the city... and if this was just one crazy mind-fuck dream she had cooked up.

At least I sincerely hoped that was the case.

I turned down the next hallway, trying to rack my brain and figure out what was going on. The thing had said this was just one big game where we were supposed to win. But how? How was I supposed to figure out who or what this thing was? None of this made any sense whatsoever! I stopped for a moment as a stray thought entered my mind. Sense. Of course... that's it. None of this makes any sense! I thought as I came into the next room. In the center of this room was a pedestal where six stones sat. My thoughts drifted back to the Museum, and the faux Elements of Harmony. The six stones in this room however, were made from the same type of glowing tile as the rest of this place. Each one was colored based on its bearer. At its center lay the Element of Magic, glowing a bright lavender.

“The Elements of Harmony... pathetic relics of the past. They've done your race no good,” the black and white pony said from the monitor. The center Element went dark as I stepped up to the pedestal. “Without Magic, the rest of the Elements will wither and fade. Without a spark, there is no light to guide their way.”

“More riddles?” I said, looking up at the monitor.

The black and white pony chuckled. “Cold, hard fact, my dear. Ponykind put all their faith in the Bearers of Harmony. And look how well that ended up for everypony,” he said. “No... my riddle, and the second challenge is as follows. The spark goes out, and hope is lost. Ignite the spark, and find the way forward. Three tries are yours to make, fail and thus seal your fate.”

I looked intently at the pedestal. The faux Elements were beginning to fade in color. I focused on the center Element, the one that was dark. I picked it up with my telekinesis, hoping that maneuvering around the rocks would stir some sort of reaction. Nothing happened. I set the rock back down on the others, and walked around the pedestal. Is there some sort of trick to it? I thought, trying to process the riddle in my head. Ignite the spark? But how? I thought.

The pony in the monitor leered at me I focused hard on the rock once more. I opted for a shield spell this time, wondering if I could force the faux element to spread its magic to the others. A shiny purple shield appeared around the darkened element, but once again nothing happened. I growled, feeling very frustrated with myself as I tried to figure out what to do. I had been so sure the shield spell would do it, but all I really had succeeded in doing is placing a shield around a rock. I dismissed the spell, leaving the darkened element lying on the others.

“One more try,” the pony on the monitor said mockingly.

“I know, I know. Just give me a minute,” I muttered under my breath. I studied the rocks closely. The material they were made of was the same as the flooring. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that each one had a cutie mark engraved upon it. The darkened one held the cutie mark of Twilight Sparkle. I closed my eyes and mulled over the monitor pony’s riddle. If normal telekinesis didn’t work, and a shield spell didn’t either... maybe just any sort of magic could do it? What would happen if I simply charged the rock with a bunch of magic at once? It was worth a shot. I opened my eyes and set to work. My horn glowed and I began to fuel as much magic as possible into the rock. With a spark of light the rock exploded, spreading its light to the other spheres. A shuddering noise met my ears and I looked up. The next hallway had opened up. I grinned at the pony in the monitor.

“Piece of pie,” I said. The black and white pony simply sneered at me, saying nothing. I frowned. Sore loser, I thought.

I wondered what the others were being subjected to. I had my suspicions, and I believed I knew who was doing all of this. With nothing else to do in the room, I moved forward into a maze of halls, twisting and turning. Pretty soon, I was sure I was lost. I turned down another hallway, finally coming to a final room. It was the same room as where we had started in. The black and white pony leered at me from every monitor as I stepped in. I knew it was time. Time to move to the endgame.

“So... you find yourself from whence you came. You know what they say, you cannot go back again,” the creature rhymed. “Do you have a guess for me? I do so love guessing games.”

“You know... it took me a little bit to figure it out. I can't believe I didn't see it before,” I said, glaring at the pony on the screen. “What do you want now, Discord?”

The black and white pony's eyes widened and a toothy grin appeared on its face as the eyes changed colors from red to a pale yellow. The thing expanded out of the monitor, growing a long snake's tail as its body stretched and expanded. In moments, the god of Chaos and Disharmony stood before me.

“Well played, Radiant Star,” the beast snorted. “I had hoped you would figure it out, given our past history.”

“Again, what do you want?” I asked, angrily. “You know my power is no longer here. You must have sensed it. So why are you here?”

Discord paused in thought for a long moment. I shuffled my hooves angrily, not willing to aggravate the unpredictable chaos god any further.

“A test,” he said finally. “You see, I've been tracking your efforts for some time, so yes I am quite aware of Magic's exodus from your body. I, however, am interested in you my dear.”

“Me? Why me? And what test?” I said.

“A test of your resolve, oh fairest of all mutant creatures,” Discord said, chuckling madly. “I had to see whether or not your heart was still in it. I nearly thought I broke you with separating your friends from you and showing you the vision of your future.”

“But that wasn't real, was it?” I replied.

The beast slithered around me, grinning widely. The different textures of his hide on my fur made me shudder.

“Oh, but it was. That was just one possible future that awaits you. You corporeal beings are so blinded by your linear concept of time. Every thinking being, and a few that don’t, have the power to change their future. Time is not a river, like you ponies think, but a storm of great chaos.” the god said, springing from my back. Discord landed in front of me in a rain slicker and two different sized rubber boots, a skeletal umbrella clenched in his hand as storm winds whipped a gust of chocolate rain over us. I leaned into the wind, shouting to be heard over it.

“What do you mean, we have all the power?!” I bellowed... into sudden silence.

Discord stood unclothed, holding his ears and wincing. “Why all the yelling, Radiant Star?” he asked plaintively, before tossing me a wink and crossing his arms in front of him. “Like anypony, Radiant Star, you are the captain of your own ship of fate, to horribly abuse a metaphor. The vision I provided of your future is certainly a possibility, if you neglect and mistreat your friends.”

Discord lounged back on a throne that was suddenly there, a misshapen construct of wood and concrete. “In short, Radiant Star, you’ve already passed four tests in my little game. You chose the correct path, you didn’t let a possible future stay your course, you solved the little riddle of the Elements, and you deduced Me. All in all, I’m quite impressed.”

“If you're so impressed, why don't you get us out of here already?” I said.

The beast laughed, lying crosswise on his throne and kicking his legs joyfully over the edge.

“What fun would that be? No... I wanted to see you sweat,” Discord said, grinning widely. “Your friends did just as well, although none of them figured out who I am. They should be arriving in 3... 2... 1...” The god snapped his fingers and in a flash my friends appeared around me. They looked confused as to where they were. Violet glanced up at the spirit and her eyes widened.

“D-D-D-Discord?” she said.

I put my hoof on her shoulder. “It's fine. Take a deep breath. He's not here to hurt us, are you?” I said, smiling.

The god chuckled madly, slithering about the room like a snake.

“Indeed, my dear Radiant Star. You and your friends shall be free to go, but I have one final riddle before I leave... one which you will have to ponder well,” Discord said. “A heavy choice awaits you in due rhyme, one which will affect the very course of time. Choose wisely or the world will burn.”

“A choice?” I said, reflecting back on my thoughts of Spark. “I... I will think about it. So, that's it then? No epic struggle between us? No fight to the death?”

“No, my dear. The best part about being a god of Chaos is that I don’t have to be predictable. It’s in the name, even! Take care of yourself, Radiant Star, we shall meet again, in the due course of time,” the spirit of Chaos said. “Now then. Ta, ta!” Discord snapped his fingers, and a flash of light engulfed us. Soon, the world was gone in bright unending light.

I opened my eyes, and the world coalesced around me. I looked up, seeing the sun in the sky. We were standing in front of the Equestrian Sun-Times building in the courtyard. My friends were on all sides of me, staring in confusion. We stayed there, silent for a few moments.

“What just happened?” Lust said finally, breaking the silence.

“Discord,” I said flatly. “Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony.”

“Really, now?” Danish said. “I thought that was just old hullabaloo in them old pre-war books. You know, scary stories to scare tha' foals into behavin'.”

“No... he's real alright. And he just keeps getting weirder and weirder,” I said as I began to look over my friends. “Now then, is everypony alright? All body parts in place? I wouldn't expect Discord to leave us untouched.” The others began to check each other out, but nothing seemed to be amiss. Why had Discord appeared to us like this? What was his angle? Did he still want my power? Thoughts of my previous encounter with the spirit of Disharmony swam freshly in my mind.

“According to my map, we're just a few blocks away from the center of the city and Filly's Tower,” Violet said from beside me. “If we hoof it, it shouldn't take us more than a half hour.”

“Alright then, let's get going,” I said.

We began to trudge along towards the looming black tower. While we walked, I explained to Nixis, Danish, and Lust about our first meeting with Discord. As we drew closer to the center of the city, a tight feeling crept up into my chest. Soon, I would be confronting Pride. Not just Pride... but Spark as well. I still wasn't sure what my decision was going to be, but I knew I was going to have to make it soon. I pondered Discord's riddle. The world would burn based on my choice?

We walked in silence as we finally stepped into a massive clearing. All around the blackened tower, the buildings in its immediate vicinity had been reduced to mere rubble. The ground was charred and the air was thick with the smell of burning. The tower held itself over the entire area, a monolith of pure blackness that seemed to dominate everything. I looked up at it, wondering what was going to happen next.

Filly's Tower. Pride. Spark. A choice that would affect the entire world. Everything was falling into place, and I was ready. I would not let my faith in myself, or my faith in my friends falter again. Discord was right about one thing... I had not let myself fall apart in his presence. I couldn't afford to fall apart again. I wouldn't. I would be strong, and sure and true. Supported and surrounded by my friends, I would march right into the gates of Tartarus to stop Spark for good, if that’s what was needed.

No pressure, right?

Author's Notes:

And there it is. This chapter took soooo long to complete! I hope all you ponies enjoy it very much!

This chapter almost ended up far longer than it actually did. Rather than subject you all to that insanity, I chose to end the chapter right at Filly's Tower. I'm pleased with this, as it really sets up Chapter 19 for me quite well.

Speaking of Chapter 19, the title of the chapter is going to be...

“Baker's Dozen”

Alright now... onto the pluggy plugs! Keep asking those questions over at http://askradiantstar.tumblr.com as Star really likes answering them!

Mucho thanks to Wirepony and Vieral. You guys have been really kicking me in the butt to get 18 done, and now it is. So have fun with the editing and I'll see you on the other side!

Also, thanks be to the people of the FoE IRC Chat, most notably McMesser (who is again, totally awesome. You people out there should send his stuff to EQD. He deserves it!), Julep, Mad_Modd (who is running a PNP game on the IRC that is set in my version of Chicacolt! Thanks a bunch Mad_Modd! You're awesome!)

Thanks again to Kkat, for creating this crazy little world that I've chosen to fill my own little characters with. Your works have been truly inspiring.

Author's Author's Notes:

So... some changes got made to this chapter. The former Puneta's have been rewritten to become the Hellraisers, a gang of raiders in Chicacolt, due to the fact that they were in a sense blatantly a bad Mexican stereotype that was unintentional in the end result, but still could be construed as offensive to some. As always, the message of Starlight remains to be one of hope and the power of second chances. And the best thing about them is that everyone deserves them. So... the gang, however small their part really is. If anyone had noticed this and felt offended by the original version of them, I do apologize. It was never an intent to offend anyone, and thus why they are being corrected now.

Much thanks, love, and respect to Grudir off of Reddit, who pointed out all of this in some very helpful feedback. Thank you sir. That kind of feedback is hard to come by in the Wasteland. Thanks for being the voice of reason and the voice of Three Dog. Bringing you the truth, no matter how bad it hurts.