- Twilight Sparkle

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

Scootaloo slowly moved in front of the capsule. As a voluntary test subject, she would undergo cryogenic freezing, as an observer. She would be woken 500 years in the future.

Beside her stood Sweetie Belle and Applebloom, both were esteemed scientists who had worked round the clock to perfect the technology that would send their friend into the unknown.

Princess Celestia, Luna, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy, as well as the entire staff of the Canterlotian Biological sect were gathered around them.

Scootaloo took a few steps forward as Princess Celestia began speaking.

Scootaloo heard raucous applause as she stepped up to the contraption, a massive tube glowing blue with magical energy. Wires ran too and from the massive vats of cryogenic gas and nutrition vats to keep her from wasting away, and gel to keep her in suspended animation.

She stepped inside, her stomach churning as the giant glass door swung shut, sealing her in. There was nothing left to do now, it was in the hooves of the rest of the scientists as she relaxed against the padded leather meant for reclining and relaxing. Instantly she heard the scurry of many hooves on the ground as they rushed off to their respective locations. She heard two voices above all as the first of the Anesthesia gas began dispersing, fogging up the contraption from the inside.

"Alright! Mission 'Cold Sleep' is a go! You three! Get to the medical bridge! Monitor all vitals and gimme a shout when her BMP starts dropping!"

Scootaloo had to smile even as she became sleepier, Applebloom was always the bossiest of the three.

"Alright! Do what the lady tells you. You three! You're with me, I want you and you to monitor the wiring, make sure there isn't an influx once the gel and cryo-juice start feeding in. You! I want you with me, we're gonna keep an eye on the tube itself, make sure there aren't any leaks." That was Sweetie Belle

Scootaloo was fighting to stay awake, constantly whipping away the condensation as she strained her neck to see the various amorphous shapes scurrying here and there.

Finally however, she heard a particular set of hooves clopping as Sweetie Belle's signature bun came into view, followed by the face.

Scootaloo flashed a grim smile, the corner of Sweetie Belle's left mouth turned upwards in a grin as she tapped on the glass.

"You're gonna be fine Scoots, trust me."

Scootaloo inhaled deeply, instantly wishing she hadn't after a massive wave nausea and drowsiness threatened to overcome her.

"Thanks Sweetie Belle, see you on the other side." Replied Scootaloo, the effects of the K.O gas were too strong as she felt her eyelids droop. What she didn't see was Sweetie Belle flash a grimace, her eyes filled with sadness.

"Alright! BPM dropping!" Scootaloo could still vaguely hear the outside world even as she succumbed. She only vaguely heard the sound of burbling water as the stasis gel bubbled up from floor vents, surrounding her.

"BPM at 18!"

The world started going dark, dark and numb.

"BPM at 10!"

She heard the vague outlines of words, probably Applebloom as whoever it was shouted out.

"Alright! Shut off K.O gas! Stasis is in! I repeat! The stasis gel is in!"

"BPM is at 7! Fire up the cryo-vats!"

And then, the world went dark, very dark, very quiet, and very still.

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

For a few moments, nobody moved, they all held their collective breaths as the technicians poured over Vital Sign readings and the feed from the various vats keeping the mare in stasis. Finally, after staring intently at some numbers dribbling out from a nearby terminal, Applebloom sighed deeply.

"Alright folks, she's sleepin'." She let her old Ponyville accent slip as she relaxed from her rigid stance.

And in the instant she did, raucous applause nearly threatened to overwhelm her.

Celestia came up to the dusk coated mare and raised her hoof.

The whole plaza where the "sealing" was taking place. Applebloom smiled for the masses, her magnum opus complete and operational.

But behind it all, behind the glitz and the glam, behind the glare of the camera lenses as the press behind them called for attention, behind the smiling faces of Celestia and Applebloom, there was the still grimacing face of Sweetie Belle.

Sweetie turned towards Luna, one of the many faces in the smiling and celebrating faces in the crowd. Luna's expression however, mirrored Sweetie's.

Sweetie Belle completed her report on project 'Cold Sleep'. The various notes during First stage, second, third, and finally, 'execution'.

Smiling with satisfaction, she placed it alongside the various stacks of note on her office desk. Whipping her brow, she stood up and arched her back stretching the cartilage and re-alligning all the disks in her spine pushed out of line by her hunched posture.

"Heading out Sweetie Belle?" As Sweetie passed a low hanging cat-walk, Applebloom called out to her, a welder's mask attached to her face shielding the mare from the 80+ kelvin degree welder.

"Y...yeah. I was. See you tomorrow Bloom." The mare stuttered, giving a false smile. Applebloom stopped her welding and flipped up the mask, eyeing the pure white mare with a mixed look of both curiosity...andsuspicion.

"What're yeh talkin' bout? Sweetie Belle, with this project? WE can fuckin' take our lives off!" Applebloom started spinning like a hyper-active foal.

"Yeah..I guess you're right. Well, I'll be off then!" Falsely chirped Sweetie Belle swaggering to the massive double doors.

"......Sweets....'s there something you're not tellin' me?" Asked Applebloom from behind her.

Sweetie Belle sighed deeply as she reached the door, placing a despondent hoof on the glass.

"Alot actually."

And with that, she walked out. Applebloom merely shrugged and returned to her work.

Sweetie Belle walked out, and after a little while found herself walking in Canterlot Park, south of the royal castle on Hoofston Avenue.

"Did anyone follow you?" Asked Luna all of a sudden popping out from nowhere to her left.

Sweetie Belle merely kept her eyes forward as she walked on. "No. And I checked." She replied without bothering to turn her head and address the Night Princess.

"Good. Sweetie Belle...you and I both know this has gone on long enough." Sweetie smirked, Luna never really did chit-chat when they met.

"Yeah. Celestia's only funded us because we were directly related to the 6. I'd say that's a blatant form of Nepotism. Coupled with the fact that's she's been hammering at our director's to allow the state access to all our work. I think she means to use us for something or another. But I don't know what."

By the time Belle had finished, the two had arrived at their usual meeting place, a small innocuous Cafe just off the main road.

"I do." Luna said after a little while. The two were now seated in a table out on the veranda.

"She means to make bio-weapons." Sweetie had to all but fight to keep herself from spitting.

"What? How?" Celestia had been getting a bit 'power hungry' as of late, but this was well...

"And project 'Cold Sleep' was only the proverbial Ice-burg." Luna snickered a bit, a short horse one.

"How does Cold Sleep fit into this at all? I thought the whole intention of the project was to see if we could keep a subject alive long enough in stasis for them to awake 500 years to the future. How does that fit into her plans for a larger military?"

Luna took out a file from somewhere in her mane and slid it across the table.

Sweetie gave her a questioning look before picking it up with her magic and opening it.

Her eyes grew very wide as soon as she scanned the first few paragraphs.

"How did you-"

"I persuaded the Director of Intelligence to hand it over."

"Faust's sake. This is...this is..."

Luna placed a hoof on her shoulder.

"Sweetie, what I'm asking of you right now. It's hard. I know."

"Our entire project, all the blood, sweat, and tears. You're telling me...you're telling me it was all set up by her..so see if we could keep clones alive?!? To make new bodies to fight wars?!?" She hissed, being unable to shout.

"Yes. SWEETIE! Look at me!" Luna yanked the mare's face up and into her own. Staring her in the eyes."

"I'm sharing this with you because I need you to help me stop this. Sweetie, she's gonna take over everything if we let her. First she did away with Parliament, then she single-hoofedly passed laws allowing the state to take anything it needs. Then she passes laws limiting our rights. Sweetie Belle, if we don't stop her now, she'll take over everything, she'll plunge is into war if we don't stop this here and now."

Luna exhaled, Sweetie closed her eyes.

"How long? How long do you think this'll take? I mean the sabotage?"

Luna took a deep breath.

"Well..first I need to notify the public of...this madness. I need to do it covertly though. I'll probably need to plant some video or evidence of secret meetings in a News Agency, let them run the story and let it spread like wildfire. I'll need to set someone up though. Probably the Director or the Vice Director. Then I'll need to start an opposition. I don't know how we'll do it Sweetie. But once we start, it won't end peacefully." Luna had zoned out, and as she muttered, Sweetie Belle reclined into her chair, the shock still coursing through her body.

"No....this won't end peacefully...it'll end with somepony's head on a pike."

Applebloom reclined in her chair, sighing ever so softly as the weight was taken off her bones. Currently she was sitting in her office.

"CMC Bio inc. huh." She mused. Their company had come a long way from the little sprouting almost 45 years ago. Now it was a massive 'Jack of all trades' name that specialized in Pharmaceuticals, everything from Astro-physics, to oceanology, bio-chemical weaponry, and manufacturing of various weaponry, vehicles and others that shall remain unnamed.

"Ma'am? The Princess is here to see you." The phone on her desk rang with the voice of her male receptionist.

Applebloom walked over to the window, admiring the skyline view from the Skyscraper she was in.

"Send her in."

With a few minutes to spare, Applebloom reflected on the past. The resignation of Sweetie Belle not 5 years ago had nearly threatened to collapse the whole company. Applebloom still remembered the day.

"I can't keep doing this. I can't keep lying."

"Sweets? What're you talking about? Keep doing what?"

"Lying, keep doing...this I can't just sit by and let all these weapons, destined for Faust knows where pass by. Right under my nose. I can't keep watching...I can't keep watching as Celestia tears down everything Ponykind has stood for."

"Careful what ya say Sweets..."

"AND YOU BE FREE WITH WHAT YOU SAY! DON'T YOU SEE?!? SHE'S TAKEN OVER EQUESTRIA AS WE KNOW IT! WHAT DO WE DO NOW? WE MAKE WEAPONS TO HELP KILL. AND KILL EFFICIENTLY. WE MAKE GASES THAT CAN EAT AWAY YOUR ORGANS. WE MAKE MEDICINE BUT WE DON'T USE IT ON THE DYING POOR. WE MAKE INGENIOUS INNOVATIONS AND WHAT DOES SHE DO? SHE TAKES AWAY THE PATENT AND KEEPS FEEDING US MONEY WHILE HER DOGS USE IT TO KILL MORE INNOCENT GRYPHONS, HYDRAS, BASILISKS, AND ZEBRAS."

"Sweetie Belle! Calm down and listen to me!"

"NO! You listen to me! What did we stand for again? What did we believe in again? We believed in the power of love and friendship. We believed in the power to help others, and not kill them. To heal others and not poison them. To help others rise, not oppress them. This is what ponies believed in. And what has she done? What has that sun monster done? She's taken it to ruin! Now we believe in 'the holy matriarch'. We believe all the lies and bullshit she feeds us and what do we do? Nothing that's what."

"Sweetie Belle for Celestia's sake!"

"No. Not for Celestia's sake. For the sake of ponykind. I'm defecting."

"WHAT?!?"

Applebloom took a deep breath. She still remembered the day Sweetie Belle had defected to the Lunar Republic. A movement that had sprung up after leaked footage of CMC Inc's....more classified meetings and projects.

A brainchild of Luna's. She had instantly defected to the Zebra Kingdom, they had offered her a small plot of land to start her kingdom.

"Not even 30 years." Muttered Applebloom to herself, coughing up a laugh sounded more like a bark." The Lunar Republic had sprung up. From the ashes of conquered nations it had brought together the fallen Gryphons, the Zebras, the Basilisks, the Wolves, and the Dragons. And in the name of all of those species, it had risen.

"She calls herself an activist. A petitioner for freedom. But she's just another Queen." Applebloom narrowed her eyes, she held nothing but contempt for Luna...and for Sweetie Belle. Especially since Sweetie Belle had been one of the first to join Luna in her mad quest.

"Ma'am. Princess Celestia's on the floor." Her receptionist alerted her before Celestia ever stepped in the room.

"Thank you Wilkes, consider today your day off." She said.

"Much obliged ma'am." Said Wilkes before logging off.

Applebloom swung around as the audio recording of a chime went off, signaling her visitor's arrival.

"Princess Celestia! I was expecting-"

"Hello Bloom."

".....Belle."

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

Applebloom squinted as the tall mare in front of her sighed. Her coifed mane bouncing a little before settling on her head. Streaks of grey shot through Belle's once vibrant purple and pink mane, giving the mare a more...elderly touch.

"So. Come to visit an old friend have you?" Questioned Applebloom turning back once again.

"Bloom. Don't be like that. I just came to check up on you."

Applebloom spun around, hate in her eyes, though she was careful to keep her tone even.

"Oh? Now? Now are we? Sorry, so now is the perfect time to check up on old acquaintances?" She spat. Sweetie Belle flinched slightly, grimacing.

And Applebloom was loving it.

"So..you couldn't drop by for tea during...let's say the great peace two years ago? Or here's one. WHEN YOU QUIT?" She exploded. Sweetie Belle merely sighed.

"I knew it. Bloom. You're not seeing it." Sweetie Belle's eyes held nothing but sadness and pity as she gazed upon her former friend.

"And what am I not seeing? Or better yet, what are you not seeing? Take a look Sweets! I'm living in the lap of luxury here!" She gestured for Sweetie Belle to join her at the window, which Belle did.

"Take a look at that Belle, and tell me again, what am I not seeing?" She showed her the skyline, the towering buildings and glorious hovering monorails, all designed and built by CMC Industries, a branch owned by Applebloom personally.

"When viewing through the eyes of a god. It is often hard to see the mortals." She said simply.

"Bloom, what you're not seeing is what your weapons are doing. Your not seeing what you're designing. You're not seeing the rotten bodies lying abandoned in gutters. Your not treating the sick and wounded as they moan and ache."

Apple Bloom, who had been preparing a rebuttal not stared at her friend. True she had seen first hoof the devastation that her designs wrought...but they were in controlled environments.

Not thinking about the repercussions was what let her sleep at night.

"No Bloom. What you're not seeing is the bloated and infected wounds, the para-plegics who come in. And these are just foals Bloom! Not even fully grown mares or stallions! FUCKING CHILDREN!

No Bloom, what you don't see is the sick and dying, what you don't smell is the stench of shit, puss, and piss. What you don't hear is of the constant air raids on DEFENSELESS AND BORDERLINE COUNTRIES. What you don't hear is of the enslavement! Look around you Bloom! Who do you think built this empire? It was not through the sweat of our brows! It was through the blood of others!"

She was screaming now as she gripped the mare.

".....How? How do you now all this?" She asked after a little while. A little part of herself not believing.

"Because when I joined up with Luna, she made me tour the outer-lying provinces. She made me see the dead and the dying. And I have been trying my damnedest to stop that rampaging Sun Monstrosity from causing any more."

She finished. Bloom merely stared at the picturesque scenery."

"......I knew...Sweets." She said, after a long silence.

Sweetie Belle's jaw loosened a bit.

"...I knew all along....Celestia...she made me watch it Sweets." The mare began crying. Memories locked away started surfacing.

"....Sweets...she made me watch...watch as she tested the first of the Acid Nanites on mah family." Her lower lip began quivering. Horrible memories.

"Bu-bu-but. I thought you were doing this of your own free will! What? How? Bloom speak to me. I saw the news feeds, you and Celestia are 'the closest of friends-"

"NO! NO IT WAS ALL A LIE!" Applebloom spun around facing her friends. Her eyes wild, her head aching as memories long repressed began surfacing.

"NO! SHE- AUGH! SHE!" Applebloom began bleeding heavily from her lips, from her eyes, from and from her ears. Sweetie Belle caught her as she lost balance.

"She.....she.....brain....wa-" the mare suddenly gacked, a quick and unnatural sound.

"....Bloom....Bloom speak to me c'mon." Sweetie Belle felt her entire body grow cold as she held her friend.

"Mental conditioning combined with memory reactant serums designed to instantly block and over-stimulate certain blood vessels into exploding, causing a brain aneurism. Perfect for keeping secrets is it not?"

Sweetie Belle could only turn her head, it felt like a watermelon on her cold and unfeeling body as she swiveled around to face a grinning Celestia.

"I knew at some point she'd break. That's why as soon as were done brain washing her, and while her brain was in hard reset mind you, we hooked a couple gadgets up."

She clopped silently over to where Sweetie Belle was kneeling, a pistol attached to the Princess's shoulder by some infernal chest plate thing.

Sweetie Belle started shaking her head slowly in a 'no' fashion.

"She was your ally. Why. Why now? Why this?" She started, too shocked to even process sadness.

"Oh simple, she was a liability. Besides, I can always get somepony to replace her." Celestia sighed and moved over to the table, on it sat a single glass of red wine.

"There are always other ponies."

"Why though? Why do you continue to conquer nations with such brutality? Why do you continue to kill?" She asked again, some feeling returning to her body.

"Why? Because I'm immortal! That's why! Everyday I've seen ponies come and go. And do you want to know something? I'll always outlive them. Even if I fall, I can simply rise again. And again, all I have to do is change faces, and I can be somepony new! And they'll hoof power to me on a silver plater! Because that's all anypony wants to do! Be ruled!"

She laughed maniacally.

Even though the situation was dire, grim, and depressive. Sweetie Belle cocked a smile. Celestia noticed and cocked hers.

"Oh? Something tickled your fancy?" She asked.

It was then she noticed Sweetie Belle's left eye moving, zooming in and refocusing on it's own accord. It was then, that a sudden and horrific realization dawned on her.

"Smile, you're on camera."

Celestia frowned before sending a telepathic signal to her shoulder mount to fire. A silent cough, and the bullet flew through Sweetie Belle's mechanical eye, lodging itself in her brain and splattering blood all over the window.

Celestia swindled her wine.

"Oh bugger, that was some quality glass."

It was then she noticed the sudden glare from the outside, turning her attention away from the wine, she observed that something big, round, and trailing fire was coming towards her, and fast.

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

Luna shook with silent fury as the transmission replayed itself over and over again. She was in the control room in New Canterlot, deep under the city which was sitting on an old Zebra city. All around her, the once vibrant command center buzzed with traffic and voices, up until a few minutes ago.

"....Ma'am?" Asked a consultant. Luna's eyes had been closed until now, but now, they flew open with such fury in them.

"Everything." She said curtly. When the consultant stuttered, she whipped around.

"Everything we have. Fire all armed nuclear warheads. Obliterate that festering hellhole from the face of the earth." Her voice shook with such fury.

"Roger, this is Moon actual. All units are advised, operation 'Falling Star' is a go. I have just received the go ahead from Big Moon, we are a go." A voice pipped up.

"Moon 2 reported launch Ma'am."

"Moon 7, 8, and 9 have reported launch."

"Copy that, notify all ground troops, authorize a declaration of war. I repeat, we are at war." The command center lit up again as all sorts of orders were passed from hoof to hoof, from mouth to mouth, from ear to ear.

"We're at war ma'am. Is there...is there anything you'd like to say?" The same consultant asked.

Luna sighed and rubbed a temple.

"Everything to be said already has been. Now, only actions speak." She said. And even more quietly, added "you're move sis." Afterwards.

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

Celestia sighed and rolled her eyes with exasperation. "Nuking the city? Really Luna? Are you really that desperate? Oh well, you know what this means." She snorted again before teleporting to her own Command Base hidden under the old Royal Palace in Old Canterlot.

"Ma'am?" Asked a male consultant, the command center had fallen quiet as everypony knelt."

"I have just witness a declaration of war from the Lunar Republic via a Nuke to New Canterlot." Sighed Celestia.

"Are you sure ma'am?" Asked a voice off to her side. She whipped around with a dead pan expression as if to say 'really?'

"I have just received reports that New Canterlot has- oh my Faust." Another voice, this one female spoke.

"I take it you all know what this means? Hold nothing back. Scramble the fighters deploy the troops and all that jazz." Celestia reclined in her own seat, a throne at the center of the HUB.

"Let the fireworks, begin." She said pausing to let the words sink in.

Celetia, still alive, crossed the landscape, currently a dust storm of colossal proportions threatened to topple her as she braced her and moved on.

"Should be around here somewhere." She muttered, not caring that she was walking on 100+ kelvin heated earth and irradiated air.

"Ah!" She said as she spotted what she was looking for, a massive crag in the ground.

Leaping in, she walked for a quarter mile before coming across a massive door.

"Identify" Pipped the door, still functioning even after the Nuclear Apocolyptia.

"Identity, Celestia." She said, instantly a red dot shot out and scanned her pupil, verifying her identity.

As soon as it was done, she proceeded into the yawning cave as the door closed behind her.

And she smiled at the sight that greeted her.

A massive cavern with rows upon rows upon rows of cryogenically preserved civilians.

"Oh. I didn't die. No, far from it dear sister." She said mostly to herself as she moved over to an interface, pressing a button.

"I'm going to rebuild."

(A/N: We're bringing cyberpunk back! Just you wait)

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