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The Sweetie Chronicles: Fragments

by Wanderer D

Chapter 28: Project Horizons Pt. 2

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TSC: Fallout Equestria Pt. 1

By Wanderer D, based on the work of Kkat

Chapter 1

Midnight Shimmer had been free for a little over a month—ever since a certain interdimensional filly had visited the Wasteland and helped the ghouls from her S.T.A.B.L.E. break free of their religious leader. An unintentional side-effect of that battle was that Midnight Shimmer was now truly alone and treated like a pariah by any other alicorn she encountered, even if thankfully they weren't downright hostile.

When whatever the entity that had possessed Eruth was had severed her connection to the Goddess, it had done so in a way that prevented even willing reintegration. Needless to say, Trixie had not been happy. Midnight Shimmer had been placed at that S.T.A.B.L.E. as a punishment, after all, because one of the mares that made her gestalt being had magically removed important memories from her mind just before she was absorbed into the Goddess, denying her of valuable information.

However, Sweetie Belle had seemed to touch something in the Goddess… something deep, very DEEP within the goddess. Something Trixie herself had thought she was beyond—kindness. And as a gift of sorts, in a twisted show of mercy, she had allowed Midnight Shimmer to exist. And there was no doubt that Trixie had the power to destroy her if she so wished. A direct confrontation would be both lethal and stupid for Midnight Shimmer, and if Trixie had felt inclined to, any alicorn that encountered her could have summoned many others to bring her down… but most of her kind saw her with some semblance of horror. A creature that once had been many, reduced to whatever was left.

Midnight Shimmer didn't allow herself to be convinced, however. Having been part of Trixie, she also knew that the so-called Goddess was also a bit afraid that something like that could be contagious and slowly she would lose all of her extensions.

So now she was here, with a familiar sense of being an outcast all over again, flying over the mostly barren surface of the Wasteland, avoiding settlements and landing occasionally on the random irradiated patch to soak up power. She could have stayed with the ghouls, but… that was just not her. It wasn't in any of her mixed natures to be holed up, doing nothing and content to share the place with a bunch of not-quite alive ponies, quite honestly, and the fact that there was so much happening out there… well. She needed clean air (occasionally toxic), freedom to move around and explore.

Now that she was free from both, Trixie and the S.T.A.B.L.E., she could attempt to regain her memories… if only she could remember how. Making sure there were no griffons or other aerial threats, Midnight Shimmer let her mind wander, trying to remember or gain a hint of where she had come from.

She knew, objectively, how she had been born here. Throw a unicorn, a pegasus, and an earth pony into the radioactive goo of a gestaltic abomination, have said abomination play around with their essence and mix them up as she saw fit... Bam. Instant Alicorn.

She could still somewhat feel the remnants of the other two, not slumbering or even aware, but… souls, spun into her own; one a muted, encouraging memory, the other a scared whimper that echoed fear in its current state as much as it had used violence in life to cover it.

At first—when she had been cut off from the Goddess and left in the S.T.A.B.L.E. to watch over the ghouls—the three distinct voices inside of her that made her who she was had warred with each other, cut off from the main gestalt consciousness of the Goddess, it was easy for personalities to try to fight themselves back into reality.

The Earth Pony personality had been the most recent addition of the three, having been obtained years after the war: a survivor-raider mare who had been exploring the Wasteland and trying to obtain resources for her unexpected and mostly unwanted family of murderers and psychopaths.

Whatever she had been in life, her attachments were flimsy at best, and her conviction in her own worth a joke. She survived, fornicated, and survived some more. She had even killed and robbed and murdered and given birth all in one day, one time.

This pony was part of Midnight Shimmer now… something that she'd be unable to forget, no matter how disgusting the whole thing was to her (and even had been to the raider herself, despite her despicable willingness to keep doing it). The raider personality had been loud, obnoxious and demanding at first, threatening and demanding to have full control of the body. She had been the first to break into despair within a week. She had begged to be free and the other two had simply… absorbed her.

It had been somewhat disgusting to mix minds fully with such a creature, but a voice… not another personality, but some hidden memory had said: be kind.

The unicorn had also been a mare. She was… she'd been…

And lastly, the pegasus had been a male guard who had been watching over Twilight Sparkle at some point or another. No one important, but the main source of Midnight Shimmer's passable knowledge of fighting both in the air and on the ground. The raider side of her had been savage, less concerned with efficiency and more with impact. The guard, a family stallion with a daughter, two sons, and a loving wife at the time of his… absorption, was highly trained, efficient and a bit of jughead. What the hell were the Wonderbolts anyway? Had he been as smart as her unicorn side, he would have climbed the ranks fast.

He had lasted a while… and Midnight Shimmer's unicorn side was to blame for that. He had been a comforting side, sensing the fear in her when the Earth Pony Raider could only feel her own necessities. For a jughead he had been very empathic. In her mindscape, he had faded slowly, merging into her as her unicorn side slowly felt more and more confident… until they were a complete, gestaltic being. Three minds, one thought—one self.

The most surprising thing was that—visually speaking—when it came to armor aesthetics or clothes, she shared a LOT with her raider part. Just what kind of unicorn had she been?

Her pleasant internal musings were then interrupted by the tornado.

Gangrene Sawbone was having a great day so far. Yesterday after attacking a caravan, he had acquired a genuine black radigator leather jacket, decorated with sharp, slightly rusty spikes on the shoulders and smaller ones on the sleeves. He'd need to add more metal to it to make it a true Raider wear, but for now, it would work.

After a night of debauchery—inhaling Jet to make the partaking of victims, killing and eating last longer with his fellow Raiders—he had drank himself to a stupor among the bodies of his victims and the whimpering of the females that had survived. After a good-morning romp, he had pushed the broken ponies and occasional dead body away just to stretch, take a crap and prepare himself for a new day of mercilessly ruling the wasteland.

Sure, his camp was small compared to other, larger, Raider gangs, but it was growing, and soon he'd be strong enough to challenge anypony that even looked his way. As he was making his way back to his tent, he heard a voice.

It was too gentle and sweet to belong to any mare in his gang, so he slid towards the supplies shack as silently as he could, and peered in through one of the many holes in the wall.

Inside, a young mare with the whitest coat he had ever seen… pristine, really, was mumbling something and sniffling, looking like the most breakable, sensitive thing in the world.

He grinned, already salivating, his thoughts turning to what he would do to her… chain her up, stab her forelegs as he made her his. Break her mind until she belong to him and his gang. Turning around, he motioned for Bloody Chain to quietly gather the others.

Once they were ready, he kicked the door in.

Slowly, a tear splashed on the photo, soaking the diary pages a little, followed by another. Sweetie shook, her mind unable to fight the overwhelming sense of loss she suddenly felt. "No…" she whispered, gritting her teeth. "No.. nono… Twilight—why didn't you tell me…"

She bent forth burying her face on her diary, pressing her forehead against it as the smell of a freshly-printed photo invaded her senses, preserved perfectly by the magic of her diary. The one thing that she hadn't been able to see or use when she had been reborn in Vision.

The one thing that might have changed her ultimately selfish decision. The one thing she could not make an excuse for to herself or anypony else. She hadn't know… couldn't have known… and yet—

Sweetie didn't hold it in, snapping her head back and wailing in despair as her fully-restored magic created a maelstrom of destruction around her. The metallic barrels shook as Twilight's fragments resonated with the magic, spinning around her, shredding the building and ripped the flimsy roof away.

She heard distant screams, blocked by the roar of magic and wind and thunder.

"You played me!" she shouted, tears not even reaching the ground before they were blown away by the winds.

Twilight had seen right through her.

"You played me like a fool!"

Midnight Shimmer considered turning around and flying in another direction, but then she heard the desperate screams of a pony as a burly, chained-wrapped pony flew past her, caught in the tornado. She could now see several pieces of structures hurling up in the air, sucked up by the force of the winds, and in the eye of the storm, a single, familiar-looking mare stood, shouting something into the sky as lightning and fire swept around her.

Midnight Shimmer quickly flew down, carefully avoiding the worst of the winds, and casting a shield around herself to prevent the debris from hitting her. She landed a few meters away from the origin of the magical maelstrom, and her eyes widened slightly when she realized she had not been imagining things.

It was Sweetie Belle… but looking slightly older. No longer a cutie-mark-less teen, but a young adult mare in obvious distress. The fact that she had several of those purple shards spinning like crazy around her, amplifying her magic, was also a good tell.

Eventually the magic storm died, along with its invoker's willpower, and Midnight Shimmer quickly made her way over to cast her shield over Sweetie as well, protecting her from the falling debris.

She enveloped the young mare in her magic, closing the diary at her hooves and looked around, trying to figure out what to do.

Things had gotten complicated again.

End Part 1

Author's Notes:

Yes. A much shorter chapter, but this will make it easier for me until I finish the FOE chapters with some consistency. Not all chapters will be the same size... hopefully the following ones will be longer, but hey, progress!

Mini-reminder that Gunsmoke Pre-orders are on! Don't miss your chance for the pre-order-only extras!

Next Chapter: Vision Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 41 Minutes
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