It all felt wrong to me, like somepony had replaced my skin with that of another pony. Not just my skin, but eyes, tongue, heartbeat, my everything. It was not just my body that had changed, but my mind felt scattered a bit, with small flashes of memories that were not my own, and feelings of fear that were not normal for me. The feeling of fear I had for Blaster Beam was far different than that of Quena, as I feared being found out and executed, her fear was for the ponies she loved getting hurt.

The magic involved in the transformation was extensive, and the talisman must have been expensive to make. It couldn’t have been a mere prototype either. To give it to me would have been too much of a risk, so it must be part of a test batch at best, or at worst part of a series of new talisman’s that the republic now uses. Something like this would be of huge value to any interested party.

Sadly, the biggest thing on my mind was the third talisman given to me, which was the same one given to Quena. The only thing left of her was her poorly maintained prosthetic legs, except for the one that got the third talisman, it was half melted to where the talisman was installed. It was without a doubt a kill switch, and I had one too, and I doubted I could take it out without it triggering. Not that there were ways to prevent that talisman from killing me, detaching my back leg would do the trick, but it would put me in the bad position of being under suspicion.

Blaster Beam had me by the metaphorical balls, and she was enjoying every minute. It was the look on her face, and the skip in her step that told me everything I needed to know. She was like a mare who had four aces at the poker table, and another player just went all in. I on the other hoof felt uneasy, and the bit of Quena that was in my head made the feeling even worse.

The smell from the kitchen was a bit overpowering, as though the cook was purposely burning the punga fruit, giving the place a bit of a sickly sweet smell. Not that I would openly complain about it. This bar was the only place a pony could go to get some alcohol that was not made from mushrooms, and the best place to get an easy mark.

Fife and I tried to work the normal bar, but the ponies who would drink mushroom vodka were only interested in getting drunk before going to sleep. Here they were more willing to have some fun, and were willing to give a young mare their time.

Two ponies trotted in, both stallions, or at least they looked like stallions. Androgyny was annoyingly common, so we often had to play ‘who has a dick’. Fife and I stepped out to greet the two ponies, hoping that they were interested in spending some time with a young pretty mare.

Shaking my head, I returned to reality. Whatever this talisman had done, it made me feel dirty. I have had heard of memory orbs, but from what I had been told about them, it was like looking through the eyes of the pony the memory belonged to. This memory talisman felt more like I was Quena, and it felt... wrong.

Other than the random memories, I also knew things I didn’t before. The station itself now felt familiar to me, and some of the ponies we passed, I knew their names. I also knew were Quena last met Uilleann Pipes, and even what he looked like.

What luck, the Stallions agreed to hang with us, even buy us drinks. They didn’t even ask if we were old enough to drink, unlike the other asshats. The stallion next to me had this vibrant green coat, and a fiery red mane, almost too good looking to be real.

“So, what’s your name stud?”

The stallion chuckled. “My name, is Uilleann Pipes, what about yours.”

I couldn't help but giggle. “That name is doubleplusgood… I’m Quena.”

Ya, the random memories were not going to be fun. Luckily Quenas memories felt a bit fuzzy and jerky, so I doubted that I was going to have a piece of Quena stuck within me. Though the old mare’s tales still bugged me, like viewing a memory orb too long can imprint the piece of that pony onto you for good. There were even a few horror movies about it, but the science said that it couldn’t happen. It didn’t stop me from feeling a bit worried.

Shaking it off I continued on to my new destination, Blaster Beam now keeping far back, possibly just sitting back and relaxing. She had activated the ID tag of the pipleg on me, so now as long as I had the leg, she and everypony in the M.o.A. knew where I was. So I went from having a feeling of isolation, to having hundreds of eyes on me. Oh joy.

It didn’t take me too long to get to where I was going. Shortcuts were everywhere if a pony knew where to find them, and Quena knew a lot of them. I found myself just outside of the entrance to tunnel that had collapsed a few days before. The ponies on guard were armed with Magical Energy Muskets, and had them at the ready which kept a constant humming coming off of them. Other than the guards, there was a rusty chain-link fence haphazardly put up in front of tunnel held up by a few barrels, and probably the hopes and dreams of the guards.

I stood at the entrance of the old service tunnel, Uilleann embracing me in a hug and kiss. The old light bulb from the tunnel gave off a dull yellowish hue, and seemed to drown out almost all the color here, making everything look like it was in black and white. It made me feel like we were in that old romance movie that he had found for me.

Uilleann broke it off, and took a step back “Just stay at my place for now, I should have a solution by the time i get back.”

I shook my head, not wanting him to go. “But can’t we just go and get the pipbuck replaced, it’s just a headache.”

Sighing, Uilleann turned away from me. “You had a seizure last time Quena, and that was from your replacement pipbuck leg. No, I need to do this or you’re going to die.”

“But… but what if they find me before you get back. Shutting down the pipleg is plusungood.” I took a step toward him, but Uilleann simply raised a hoof in my way.

“Just do as they say, don’t worry about me, I’ll deal with them when the time comes.” Uilleann trotted off into the tunnel, disappearing into the darkness.

“Fuck.” I whispered to myself. If I was going to get through this without Blaster Beam flipping her shit at me I needed to find Uilleann or at least a clue to where he was. I doubt I’d find anything by rushing into an unstable tunnel, except my death. But sitting here doing nothing was not helping either.

Sighing, I decided to do the one thing I could actually do. And that was to ask the guards if they knew anything. Having had done guard duty myself, I knew that it was a boring and thankless job. When their job came to seeing other ponies, it ranged from seeing almost nopony, to seeing so many ponies that their faces tended to blend together. But I also knew that a lot of gossip did pass through them, so I just needed to be nice enough for them to share.

Quena meekness seemed to overpower my own confidence as I stepped up to the guards. No, not overpower, it was more like I was suppressing myself, and letting the memories of Quena fill in the void. “excuse me… so…sorry to bother you, but can I ask you a question?”

The mare on duty was covered up completely, her head in an old gas mask that seemed to be a bit too bulky to be comfortable. The reason why was easy to understand. If the air suddenly became poisonous, they can respond to it, instead of being the first victims. “Go ahead ma’am.” The guard said with a muffled voice.

“Thank you.” I said with Quenas meek voce. “You see, my special somepony left through this tunnel a few days before it collapsed, and I was wondering if you might have heard of him. You see, he’s a stallion, so you can’t miss him, name’s Uilleann Pipes?”

The guard looked to her partner, exchanging looks for a moment before looking back took me. “A stallion you say… We might have. What did he look like?”

“Green coat, red mane. You can’t miss him.”

The guard chuckled for a moment. “Sounds like a catch, but sorry, no I have not seen him. I can put a call out, see if another guard has.”

“Yes, that would be doubleplusgood.”

“Right and your name miss?” The guard asked.

“Quena.” I answered, making me wonder just how many names I will go through before this was over.

“Now sit tight, I’ll put a call out.” The guard hoofed out her radio and made a call.

Carefully observing the guard, though trying to avoid appearing to doing so, I saw that she had switched the frequency of the radio before putting a call out. It was subtle, but it was something I had seen done before. Commonly done when fucking with civilians, or sending a message to a different pony then the other guards. The thing was, you never did it when dealing with another guard pony, as we all knew the trick. A voice called back on the radio, so I at least knew she was not talking to dead air.

I did as the guard told me too, but with the knowledge that it didn’t go to another guard. I wasn’t being sent away, which was good, but something was up. Despite my worry I had to follow through with this, I was probably a dead mare otherwise.

Fiddling with the pipleg that I had, it made me miss Minerva. Though a bit old fashioned, the cyberleg was sturdy and reliable. This leg I could walk on at least, so that was good. With a crackle, the radio turned on, and marching band music began to play. I was having a hard time telling what song this was, as most of the music here sounded the same, all marching band music.

The music died down, and the unexcitable DJ of the republic began to talk. “Hello citizens of the republic! I’ll have more music for you later, but right now I have a public service announcement. Beware of capitalist spies, they are as cunning as they are cruel. They seek to infest your mind with their poison, to get you to not see yourself as equal. To get you to put yourself above others, and be more like them.”

“One method is the cocktail party. Seemingly innocent at first, a get-together with food and drink, talking about what interests you. But when your guard is down, they will whisper doubts into your ears, never outright questioning the republic, just voicing small complaints. But that’s how it always starts. The small complaints will only grow, until they have you wondering if the republic should be burnt down, it’s people killed. That’s how a cocktail party works, you go in as respectful citizens, and walk out as terrorists.”

“If you see this happening, don’t be afraid to report it to your local security officer. Vigilance is what keeps us safe in these troubling times, and will be rewarded. The capitalists may try to tear us down, but together we are strong, stronger than they could ever imagine.” Music slowly faded in, and I felt even more paranoid now. What was the equalist word for all this, Untrue, doubleplusuntrue. Though I would rather call it a hog shit fucking lie. As far I knew, Pineapple Island and Orthrus didn’t even want to touch the republic, or at least they were more interested in letting the republic collapse in on itself.

After a while had passed I turned off the radio, the marching band music was starting to blend together, and become background noise. That’s when I saw a guard pony come out of the old damaged tunnel, covered in dust, and armed with a modified digger gun. The pony was still in full gear like the others, but it was easy to tell that the guard was looking at me.

“Miss, can you come with me for a moment?” The dusty guard pony called to me, as he turned to a nearby shack. Getting up, I trailed behind him, the shack we were trotting too look like a simple rest spot for guards. Inside was a cot, and a radio, but nothing more than that, so yeah, a rest spot for the guards. “If you take a seat ma’am.”

Taking a seat on the cot, my hooves just about reaching over the edge, I looked at the guard who sat next to me. I could hear a sigh from the guard, and she took off her gasmask.

Uilleann and I wrapped ourselves in an embrace, the smell of his….

Shaking my head to bring me back to reality, my heart thumped. Sitting next to me was Uilleann Pipes, the stallion Quena loved. So much it made my heart hurt. “It’s you.”

“It’s me.” He said, his voice a bit raspy, probably from working in the tunnel. “Why are you here?”

Now it was time to put this disguise to use, and hopefully move on from here as soon as possible. “They’re after me!” my voice quivered, and my body shivered. Quena’s feelings of fear and loneliness washed over me, my own knowledge of her death fueled the fear. It was almost as though Quena was still alive in me, and didn’t know that she was but a memory. “Take me with you, I just know they’re going to kill me.” Hugging Uilleann, it was like a dam had burst as I started crying into his chest.

A gentle hoof patted me on the head, and another held me tight. “It’s alright, stop crying, I’m here for you.”

“What am I going to do? They’re going to find me, and… and.”

Uilleann held me a little tighter. “It’s okay now, I know a place where you can stay. Just come with me and everything will be alright.” He got up, and pulled out a box from under the cot. Inside was another large gasmask, and the uniform that went with it. “Put this on, we need to go as soon as possible.”

Doing as he said, I slid on the uniform and followed Uilleann out of the shack. The two guards that were at the tunnel entrance were waiting for us, and two more guards had shown up in the normal uniform.

“Thanks for giving us a heads up.” One of the new guards said with a smile on his face. It was one of the more forced smiles I tended to see on most ponies around here. “It’s uncool that you have to go back in there, but plusgood that you're willing to do it.”

One of the gasmask guards chuckled. “We're just glad you can cover us, can’t have some foal wandering in and getting hurt.”

“Too true, if another colt falls down a well, it will be too soon. Thank goodness for the dog, or that kid would have died.” The replacement guard stated. “I hope the I.o.E. send us another, Lady is getting old.”

The gasmask guard rubbed his mask. “I don’t know if it’s true, but I heard that the I.o.E. is investing in advanced cybernetics. Maybe they can give Lady a new body.”

“Enough chatting, we need to move out.” Uilleann called out, and the two other gasmask ponies straightened up. “Sorry about how abrupt this is, but we need to check for a possible hole to the surface.”

Everypony saluted each other, and we were off. The old dark tunnel reminded me a lot of the tunnels on the big island. Luckily our masks all had torches attached to them, so our combined light held the darkness at bay, and allowed us to see most of the tunnel. Unlike on the big island, most of the vegetation around here came from fungus and not from tree roots. It also looked more like the tunnel was set up to have lights in it, but the collapse must have damaged the power line, making the lights stay dark.

Nopony said anything as I walked next to Uilleann. Any anxiety I was getting from Quena was easier to manage the closer I was to Uilleann. I would say that I didn’t understand what was wrong with Quena, but the fact that Blaster Beam killed her, I had methodically took her skin, and was with the pony she loved, this all made my brain hurt.

Looking up, I could see where some cracks had formed in the roof. The tunnel was defiantly reaching the end of its lifespan, even if it was probably made by Solaris. Centuries old paint, and some not as old paint had flaked off, adding to the dusty floor along with small bits of concrete. There was even garbage here and there. The very clean citizens obviously feeling that the old tunnel was not worth cleaning like their station. What surprised me the most, no not me, Quena, was a dead lurker hatchling. Unlike the sparkle-lurkers, this was one of the classic eight legged monsters. It looked like it took an energy blast, and almost half of it was burnt black. Around it was a few ash piles, some much bigger than others.

“What happened?” I said, pointing at the ash piles.

“Lurker infestation.” One of the guard ponies answered. “But we cleared it out.”

Uilleann got a little closer to me. “It must have happened after the collapse, and a connecting sewer tunnel must have opened up. The sewer tunnel looked like a lurker nest, so when the door broke open, the lurkers moved in to hunt for food.”

“Oh, does this happen often?”

Uilleann shook his head. “No… well not back a few years ago. The lurkers tended to stay along the coastline, but lately we have been finding more of them inland. They’re starting to become a bit of a pest.”

We continued further down the tunnel until we came to a blast door. It had survived the tunnel collapse relatively well, and opened up without much problem when Uilleann turned the switch. It was mostly dark inside, so we entering one by one, with Uilleann closing the door behind us.

“Just a little further around the corner. There’s a safe place there.” One of the guards instructed. I just nodded and followed them. Turning the corner, we entered a hallway that wasn’t too long, and at the end was a closed door. Knocking on it, the guard pony spoke up. “One pony seeks truth, two ponies seek love, and three ponies seek hate. We are the one’s who are like two, but seen as the three.”

I just raised an eyebrow as there was a long pause. With a clunk, the door opened and the dark hallway was bathed in light. Entering, I saw something I have never seen before… no, something Quena had never seen before I think. Past a bright hallway, was a bunch of hanging lines of beads, and some loud music, I found myself at a strip joint, much smaller than the Lucky Rabbit’s Foot, but very active.

“What is this?” I had to ask. This was definitely not something that the Republic would condone, so it had to be an illegal club.

“This is the Rad-Den, and your new home.” Uilleann said, as he took off his gasmask. I took off mine, and the smell of smoke in the room hit my nose hard. Tobacco was hard enough to get on the other islands, but here it felt like they were smoking it like it was going out of style. “Let’s keep going. You need to talk to the boss first.”

I just meekly complied, still a bit shocked to see what I was seeing. In the center of the stage was a stallion dancing on a pole, with almost everything on display, and a hat on. Ponies who were sitting down almost all had a partner leaning onto them, and there was a bar, with what I hoped was real liquor

As I moved along, the smoke, pounding music, and light faded to a less disorienting level until we entered a dim room. The room had little in it. Some photos, a painting, and a pony behind a desk. The pony wore a brown suit, and had a dark pink coat, with light pink mane, her brown eyes were enlarged by thick glasses. Something about her was familiar, but I just could not place it.

The mare took a long look at me, and as though the air deflated from her, her head hit the table. “Why is she here. Why did you bring her here?”

Uilleann ears drooped. “But she said she needed help.”

“And you bring her here, at this time? Did you not think that you could be followed?” The mare stated flatly, banging on the table as she talked.

Uilleann took a step back. “But I was thinking that-”

“No, you weren’t thinking, that was the problem.” Her eyes turned to me, and softened. “I’m sorry that it had to come to this. I will set you up with a room for now. And also, does your head still hurt?”

I shook my head. “It’s all fine.”

“Good, how about the rest of you?”

“I’m feeling okay, maybe a bit hungry.”

“Okay, one last question.” The mare’s eyes narrowed. “Who are you?”

“I’m Quena.” A chill ran down my spine, like somepony was looking through me. “Why do you ask?”

The mare got up out of her desk, and trotted over to me. “I know a lot of things, like how to run a business, and why the Republic should have collapsed in on itself a generation back. But there is one thing I know the best.”

My eyes darted over to Uilleann, but he simply backed up out of my vision, forcing me to look at the mare in charge. “Is it about breeding dogs. I like dogs.”

With a silver flash of light, the mare burst into silver flames, it was only for a second, but it when it was over, another pony stood before me… Quena was standing before me. “I know how to disguise myself as another pony, better than most.” Her voive matching that of the fearful mare.

I held my mouth agape, and couldn’t find the words. The pony who became Quena motioned her head, and before I knew what it was about, something poked me in the neck. Stumbling about in shock, I managed to not trip over my hooves, no thanks to the cheap forelegs I had now. “What did you…” my head started to spin, and I felt fuzzy. Next thing I knew I was on the floor looking up, and then everything went dark.

Music played in the background, the old classical kind. Deep Dwellers played the music all the time, often claiming it was from a better time, a time before Mirage ponies. I like to think it was from a time before they fucked up the world. But I mostly thought it was a shame to use such lovely music as a propaganda tool for racism. It felt unfair.

Opening my eyes, everything was dark because i had been blindfolded. Sniffing lightly, wherever I was had a musty smell to it. Old, but lived in.

“Who are you?” A voice spoke up behind me. It had a cold feeling to it, like the pony had no life to them.

“I’m… Chime.” It was best to keep up the act, I didn’t know who I was dealing with. Likely the ponies who knocked me out. But that transformation, it was possible that it was another republic group. So a test maybe.

“Is that so. You are not lying are you?” Not the line of questioning I wanted at all, so I shook my head and hoped that they moved on. “A shame, here I was hoping to find a mare by the name of Vibraphone, such a shame.”

Shit, this was not good. “Sorry, but I don’t know who you're talking about.” Bluffing was all I had, I just hoped that this pony was not into torture.

“Well you look a lot like her, sound like her too. Care to explain?” The voice whispered in my ear, feeling as cold as they sounded.

I was just being toyed with now, but I did have one thing on my side, the fake memory. I just needed to bullshit my way through this, maybe. “Not that uncommon, I’ve seen plenty of ponies who look alike. We could have the same father, happens all the time.” Sorry dad. “I knew two ponies who got in a relationship, only to find out they were related.”

The other pony chuckled, not that they sounded amused, more like they were mimicking some pony who was amused. “Is that so. Then if you could, if you see her. Send miss Vibraphone a message for me.”

The blindfold came off, and I found myself in a large cavernous room. Surrounding me were books, parchment, and stone tablets. Slowy turning, I saw nothing but a black wall. “What is this?”

“Look up my little pony.” Slowly, I tilted my head up, the black wall went up high, turning into what was a large reptilian body. It was a gigantic black… Dragon, like in the old story books. Nothing like the the paradise dragons here on the island. This thing could crush a paradise dragon under one claw. “Let miss Vibraphone know this; Her time grows short, and soon her mask will fall. Move swiftly to your destination, or be dragged there. The one you bested in battle will soon return, stronger, more driven.”

The dragon's golden eyes gared at me, and it’s mouth open, showing rows of dagger like teeth. A gout of black fire poured out, surrounding me, engulfing me. It was not hot, nor did it burn, it only covered me in darkness, as though feeding on the light itself.

“Wake up thee!” a voice loudly spoke into my ear, making me flinch. “Valorous, we must discuss our plan to escape this lodging.”

“Don’t talk right in my fucking ear, you’re too loud.” I responded as I screeched out. Everything felt a bit numb, and my head felt a bit light. “What’s going on?”

Getting up, and rubbing my eyes, I was met by red eyes… glowing red eyes. “We has't beest imprisoned by shapeshifting ruffians. That’s what’s going on.” Taking my time to clear my head and understand what was going on, it came to me slowly at first, but soon became a flood of understanding. “wherefore doth thee behold at me that way?” Mayall’s face, despite it being made of chitin contorted into a look a look of confusion. “Doth I has't something on mine visage?”

I shook my head, and gave her a hug. “No, you’re fine… and I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry.” It was then that I found that I only had one foreleg again, and the hug was more me pushing my chest into hers. “If I didn’t take Turnip with me… if I’d just gone on my own.”

Mayall pushed me off of her. “Don’t taketh responsibility for mine subjects, those gents art mine, and mine responsibility. His actions art mine to shoulder, and to grieve.” She held herself firm, but tears formed from her eyes, and ran down her purple chitin. It was like a dam had burst, yet she held firm. “that gent kneweth what he wast doing, he always knew what to do to keep me safe.”

The Sparkle-Lurker princess collapsed into me, though smaller, she was decently heavier than me. All I could do was hold her as she kept crying, I didn’t know how to console the grieving, so offering a lap to cry into was all I could do. I myself couldn’t help but cry a little as well, but my connection to Turnip was not as strong or old as hers was, though losing him still hit me hard.

We stayed like this for a few minutes, though it felt like it was a lot longer. Mayall’s sobbing slowly stopped, and she just laid there in my lap for a bit longer. After some time, she got up and straightened herself out. “My apologies, the last few days have been… Stressful.

I chuckled. “You and me both. You would not believe how much of an ungood time I had.” Pain hit my cheek, making a loud smacking noise.

Mayall had slapped me, her face looking serious. “Don’t use such degraded words, it only limits your ability to think, and prevents you from questioning authority.” I stared at her blankly, and she frowned, well tried to as she scrunched up her face. “It’s from an old book by Boxer Orange, called Era forty two. It’s a fictional book about a pony living in a dictatorship that is pretending to be a democracy. One of the tools that the fictional government uses is betterspeek, which just removed words to the point that a pony could not express themselves. Some of the words their society reinforced was plusgood and ungood, so don’t use them!”

Sighing, I once again chuckled. “Ya, this place has been a real head-trip for me. I’m even seeing some black mare with golden eyes everywhere. So ya, it’s just shoot me in the head, bad for me right now.” Stretching out my back a little more, I now just noticed that I was in a cell, iron bars on one side, and concrete walls covering everywhere else. Checking myself, along with the pipleg, the rest of the talismans were gone, and I was naked, even striped of my underwear. “Great… I hope they give us some cloths soon.”

Mayall groaned. “I hope they give us some real food soon. I can’t eat that pink slime they give me. It has some kind of chem in it.”

“Chem?” I had to ask.

She nodded. “Like the kind made from punga trees. Chill I think. The amount is small, but I can still taste it.”

Finding a nice spot in the cell, one without a stain on it, I laid down. “So, you’re allergic to it or something?”

Shaking her head Mayall sat next to me. “No, it’s more that we just don’t like the flavor of the sap. We can eat the fruit, but the sap is no good. Mother says that we were born of an old punga tree, so eating the sap is like drinking the blood of our kin. That is why it tastes bad to us.”

It sounded like an old mare's tale, but I was willing to entertain the idea. “So you’re born from a tree?”

Mayall flicked her rubbery tail. “No, we are born from eggs. I am born from mother, making me a princess.”

“Wait, so most lurkers are born from eggs. But your mother carried you in her womb?”

“Yes” she nodded. “Mother says that it makes us stronger, and smarter. Other lurkers do the same, not all live after new lurker is born, so most just lay eggs.”

With a loud clack, our attention was drawn to the door to the room we were in as it opened. Out trotted the leader of the ponies of this establishment, still with her too thick glasses on. Two ponies stood at her side, one of which was Uilleann, who luckily no longer affected me. The mare stepped up to the cell we were in, close to the bars, and looked down at me.

With a sigh, she spoke up. “Why the fuck are you working with the Ministry of Awesome Miss Vibraphone?”

I raised a hoof to answer, but suddenly felt dumbstruck. “You know who I am?”

She rolled her eyes. “I was there at the fucking gun show, over at Ironshod Firearms.”

I face hoofed, only now remembering her face. “Ya, I recognize your face,”

“Good” she huffed. “Now tell me why you’re with the M.o.A.?”

“Long or short story?” I asked.

“Make it short, time is not a comfort we have right now.” The mare responded.

Taking a deep breath, I went over the events that led me here, keeping to more simplified explanations. Starting with how my mission to the radio tower blew up in my face, and eventually ended up among the equalists. I didn’t need to go over in detail about my time with Clarinet. What interested the mare the most was my search for Quena, and her later death, Uilleann didn’t respond, but the mare did show some sorrow on her face over the news.

“Thanks for sharing, it’s troubling that they have developed such talisman’s, we will have to develop a counter for them soon.” The mare motioned to Uilleann, and he opened up the cell door, it making a grinding noise as it slid open. “Both of you out. We need to take you somewhere safe. Longer we’re here, the worse things will be.”

Mayall stepped out with me, not looking all that happy. “So fake ponies now treat me with respect. I should feel so blessed.” Her head was held high, but the pompous attitude was soon ruined by a gurgling noise coming from her stomach.

I face hoofed. “I got some snacks in my saddle bag, you can eat them.”

My heart skipped a beat when we entered the next room. In an open box was all my stuff that I thought was lost after being found by the equalists. My scarf and hat were still in good condition, and my guns were safe inside their gun case. The Fire Bug was even still here to my amazement. It just filled me with hope, not just that I can get home, but to stay sane as well.

My pipleg was there as well, oh fuck ya my pipleg was here. “That better be in good condition!” I said, pointing at the leg.

The leader nodded. “We had to check it for any tracking devices. We didn’t find any, so take it and go.”

With a wobbly skip to my step, I picked up the leg and shoved it into my side. Bracing myself for the feeling, I concentrated my magic into it, it flowing through me like warm water, into the empty space that the leg was attached too. Opening my eyes, the hud display was back, only appearing for a few seconds before fading away until I needed it. “Minerva, do a quick diagnostic.”

The pipleg beeped, and some data scrolled in my vision for a second. “Bioscan shows that you have trace amounts of chems in your system, and are at risk of minor addiction. Several hairline fractures in your skull, which have healed. You are advised to still seek proper medical attention at your earliest convenience. That is all.” Better than I thought it would be, but still not all that good.

Moving the leg around until I felt satisfied that it was working properly, I then turned my attention to my other stuff. Sadly, there was one big problem. By having all this stuff on me, I’d stick out like a loose nail anywhere I went. I was still going to have to keep it all hidden until I was out of here, or risk finding myself executed for espionage. With a heavy sigh, I pushed it all away and threw on my gray jumpsuit and the overalls I had gotten from Clarinet. I was going to least keep one thing on me, and that was my Lunar Eclipse. Putting it under the denim overalls it would stay fairly unnoticed. Placing the two cartridge holders next to it as well gave me eighteen bullets to use if this ever turned ugly.

I let Mayall hold onto the rest of my stuff. Though she had been less than happy about it at first, after shoving a supplement bar into her mouth, she was a lot more compliant. The next problem was passing the Sparkle-Lurker off as a pony. Pineapple Island may not have cared about Turnip all that much, but here in equalist territory that was going to be a problem. Luckily, it was not too hard of a problem with all the clothes Clarinet had gotten for me. The thigh high socks, a turtle neck shirt in the bunch along with some pants, along with a jacket over all of it, now she could pass for a pony. An odd looking pony, sure, but still a pony at the very least.

Her fin like mane and tail had a slight glow to them, but they could pass off for a normal mane and tail as long as nopony took a closer look at them. However her eyes, they also had the red glow, and would probably be a problem. Luckily, the ponies here had a pair of welding goggles which fit nicely around her head.

“How do you feel, Mayall?” I asked in a polite tone.

“Overly dressed. Why do you ponies wear so many clothes?” She threw a question back at me.

I had to think about it for a moment. Knowing our history, clothing was never such a big thing before the great war, and a lot of old picture’s showed ponies wearing not much more than a hat and a scrap of cloth. “Tradition mostly.” I said with a shrug. “But it does separate us from the more savage ponies.”

“I see. Back at the nest, back home, I let others use clothes to help separate ourselves.” Mayall said with a bit of a quiver in her voice. “It’s not that we can’t tell who is who, even if most of us look the same, we still know how to tell each other apart. But, I want everyone to be their own, to express themselves and not all be just the same.”

“Let me guess, your sister does not think so?” Remembering what Turnip had told me, the older sister was a tyrant, so it would make sense.

Mayall nodded. “Yes, she sees that individuality only weakens the nest, but mother lets it happen. They argue about it regularly, and mother has been slowly giving up ground.” Sounded like a bad situation. No wonder Mayall had ran away, the writing was on the wall for the Sparkle-Lurker’s.

“I guess your only option is to split off then.” I thought out loud. “And take anypony who would follow you with you.”

Mayall huffed as we stuffed the rest of my stuff into the gun case. Luckily my more important items didn’t take too much room, and everything else would not be all that suspicious for her to have. To top it off, her having the firebug on her out in the open might just keep ponies from getting too close. “But where would I go? Home is the only place I know.”

Thinking about it for a second, I remembered something important. “Turnip did mention that he and a few other Lurkers were fixing up an old submarine, if you can find it, you could go to what’s left of Equestria.”

Mayall looked dumbstruck by my statement. The Sparkle-Lurker was frozen in place, I even waved a hoof in front of her, but got no response. Before I could get her to move, a pony galloped in, sliding on the floor, and colliding with a locker. “We’ve got to go right now. Security is conducting a raid!”

“Let me guess, Blaster Beam is with them.” The pony looked at me a bit confused. “The pony with guns for wings and a gun for a tail.” The pony nodded franticly.

Another pony trotted in calmly, the leader of the group. “This could not be any more of a disaster then it could be.” She pointed at the pony who had ran in. “You, go get that monster pony to the extraction point, I’ll take miss Vibraphone with me.”

Mayall stomped her hoof like leg. “I’m no monster!”

The leader rolled her eyes, “Whatever you are, I’d rather the republic not to get a hold of you, so get moving!” The other pony lead Mayall away, closing a blast door behind them. “Now for you, we need to put on a show. Come with me.”

Putting on my gray saddlebags, I followed the leader to another room. “A show? I hope you don’t intend for me to sing, it’s not really a talent of mine...”

She sighed. “If only. No, sadly I have to have you play the good M.o.A. agent. Keep up the charade you’ve been doing. You understand, right miss Chime Catbell?” The mare pulled out my E.C.S. Passcard, and hoofed it to me.

I nodded. “Playing along is my only way out of here, unless of course, you have a way?”

She shook her head. “Normally, yes. However, it would be too dangerous right now, and the routes we use would be too difficult for a normal pony to pass through.”

I raised an eyebrow. “And what, you’re not a normal pony?”

She nodded, and was engulfed in a flash of silvery flames. Before me stood something closer to what Mayall was, but completely different. The not-a-pony was mostly brown with black dots and circles. She actually looked a lot like a moth with a fluffy chest, she had large brown wings that looked like they had eyes on it along with a white stripe going through it, and solid blue eyes. On the top of her head were two horn like things, which almost look like antenna’s. I was as in awe as I was shocked.

The not-a-pony sighed. “I am... we are known as changelings, though we call ourselves Ascalapha. As you have seen, and as the name implies, we were shapeshifters and can fly. So the places we can go, you cannot. My name is Sorrow Witch.”

“I… I… What?” I said with a nervous chuckle. “I’m sorry, but this is a bit much.”

Sorrow sighed. “Well, get it together because I need you to do something terrible.”

Something cold trickled down my spine. “what do you mean?”

She trotted over to the side of the room and hit a button, it opened a window that had a few ponies waiting in it, guns at the ready. “You’re going to need to kill a few of us in front of the security team that’s coming.”

I froze, trying to process what she had just told me, but it was just not clicking in my head.

“You’re going to stage your own escape, but to make it believable, some of us need to die.” Sorrow open up a box, and hoofed out a magical energy musket. “Don’t worry about us, we’ve sadly had to do this before. The plan is to have them see you before we start blowing the supports, this will force them to retreat, but keep you in good with the M.o.A. so that you can join back with them later.”

Taking the musket into my hooves, I couldn't help but feel uncertain. “Are you sure this will work?”

Sorrow nodded. “The republic of today is about collective thought, not independent inquiry. Even their brightest are easily taken in by a flashy show. Good for keeping order, not so much for the making of a smart citizen.”

“But killing one of your own?” It just felt wrong that she was ordering me to do such a thing. “Is there another way?”

The moth like changeling simply shook her head. “Not without more time. So just sit tight, I’ll be in the next room. If it all goes well, then we may both be of help to each other.”

Holding onto the musket, and checking to see if everything was in the right place. Though bit crude looking, a lot of care went into these guns. “So anything else I need to know; like anything I should say?”

Sorrow nodded. “Just tell them to get you out of there, if they inquire more, tell them that you got away, but trapped yourself in this room. After that is when you need to use that musket.” With that she backed out of the room, and closed the door.

Alone now, I figured that I should test the musket out first, and focused my magic into it. The musket was simple just four parts, with the rigging, the focus lens, the generator, and beam case. The rigging was the simple part, holding it together, my hooves on the shaft and trigger. The generator took in the magical energy I was sending through it, converting it for weaponized use. Aiming the musket at the window, I pulled the trigger. In a second, the energy from the generator flowed into the beam case, powering the beam talismans inside. Busting out of the case, hitting the focus lens, keeping the beam from simply dispersing after a short distance. With the musket having two lenses, it would have a good distance, but still not the best accuracy. So with a twangy sound, the beam hit the blast window, leaving a blackened dent in the heavy glass.

The musket was powerful enough, easily disintegrating most ponies it hit. but it’s power relied on the generator, and the beam case, so rarely were there any small enough to be a side arm like my revolver. They existed, I knew that much, but they were considerably expensive. It had to do with higher quality talisman’s, and parts to make a small generator. The full muskets on the other hoof were cheap, and easily mass produced, so they were almost as common as the air guns. Air guns were just more popular due to how quiet they were.

My attention was drawn away by the sound of an explosion. Muffled, but it was definitely a boom. Focusing my magic into the musket, I inched toward the window, where I saw the door to the other room open up. Two ponies jumped out from a cloud of smoke, but one was hit by a beam and turned to ash before she hit the ground. The other fell into a defensive position at the side of the door, firing back with a digger gun from cover.

Her attempts to hide from return fire proved useless. Blaster Beam dashed out from the smoke, and as she skidded to a stop, she spun around and fired a pink beam from her foreleg, turning the second pony to ash. Her wings flicked around, one spotting me and fired. The glass protected me, but the sudden burst of light right at me was enough to startle me back onto my flank.

“Fucking shit Blaster, you could have killed me!” I shouted at her.

Blaster Beam turned her head to me, and smiled. “So there you are!” Stepping up to the glass, she pressed her face up on it. “What are you doing in there, Chime?”

Remembering what Sorrow had said, It wasn’t going to be hard to form a simple lie. So with a sigh, I opened my mouth. “To make a long story short, your plan sucked. I was marked as soon as I got here. Luckily this raid gave me an opening to get away, but I only managed to trap myself in here. Any chance you can get me out, I already tried on my end.”

She backed off from the window. “Impressive that you’re still alive.” Her eyes drifted to the blackened spot. “Must be blast proof glass, we would need a circular saw to get you out.” Two security ponies stepped out from the smoky doorway, and saluted Blaster Beam. “Looks like you’re just going to have to just sit there and be pretty. We will have to clear out this place first.”

There was a small tremor, flakes of concrete fell from the ceiling, and the lights flickered. “I don’t like the looks of that.” I commented. “You think you can work fast?”

Blaster Beam had a look of pure annoyance on her face. “No it doesn’t. I guess it just means that we have to work fast.”

The room shook again, and a crack formed on the ceiling. That’s when the door to my room opened up and Uilleann ran out. “You!” he shouted. For a moment I could see the look of fear on his face, but he quickly forced it to that of anger. “You murderer. I’ll kill you for what you did to Quena!” It did look like he was forcing the anger, yet it seemed that there was some hate in his voice.

I lifted the musket at him. “Sorry.” He charged, and with one blast, I turned him to ash. Even as he disintegrated, he was looking me in the eyes. Fear, Despair, Hate, I think I could feel them all from the look he was giving me.

There was another tremor, bigger than the last. One of the security ponies pressed the lever on the door but it didn’t open. “Mam, it’s locked, or jammed. Don’t know which, but it’s not going to open.”

Blaster Beam rolled her eyes. “It’s just one of those days.” She looked me in the eyes, and motioned to the open door on my side. “Chime, you get moving and save yourself. If you get out alive I’ll be expecting a message on the network, I’ll add you as a contact, now get moving before this place collapses.” There was another tremor. “Now!”

Not feeling like waiting around until this place became my tomb, I ran out the door. There was so much dust in the air now, that it felt like I was back in the big island's tunnels. Luckily, Sorrow was waiting for me in another doorway, throwing me a gas mask when I got close.

“let’s move, we have a few minutes at best.” She told me as she slipped a gas mask over her own face.

Putting on the mask, I followed her down a hallway. “Why cut it so close?”

“Stupid question.” She spat back at me. “We simply have no time to spare, not with that mad mare out there. If we give them any time, they'd kill us all, so stop asking and gallop.” We rounded a corner, and through the next room. The doors were all open, probably to make it easier for others to escape. There were two other ponies ahead of us, hauling two very packed saddlebags, which luckily were not slowing them down.

With another ferocious tremor, the room behind us caved in, spewing a cloud of dust that we now had to outrun.

It was as if the entire facility was now trying to swallow us up. Cracks forming all around like it was breaking itself just so it can move the insides like a mouth, the dust cloud behind us like sick bile being spewed up at us. There was even water bursting through pipes and cracks like saliva, obviously salivating at the idea of eating us alive. The most mane raising thing was the noise the tremors were making, a combination of a groan and a roar. In the short time we ran for our lives, this whole place seemed to come alive like a massive, hungry monster.

With a crash, the two of us managed to make it out and into what looked like a service tunnel. Behind us became nothing more than a wall of rubble with some water seeping through. Trotting up to the mess, my heart pounding with adrenaline, I kicked the rubble. “Didn’t get me, ass hat!” The rubble shifted, and I was startle by it enough that I hopped back. It still had some life to it, the cunning beast.

“You’re gloating at a pile of rubble.” Mayall spoke up, her voice a bit muffled. Turning to see the Sparkle-Lurker, reality finally set back in, and I felt a little embarrassed. “Did you hit your head?”

Shaking my head, I took a deep breath. “I hope not, but I haven’t felt normal for days now.” Looking around, the tunnel we were in looked a bit cruder than the last, but still sturdy. It didn’t have the ancient call signs of Stable-Tec, or Solaris. It didn’t even look like the newer tunnels made by the Republic. “Where are we?”

Sorrow Witch placed a hoof… appendage… whatever it was at the end of her leg that looks like a hoof, but is not a hoof, on the wall. “It is a tunnel dug out by my people. We call it a migration tunnel.”

Looking at it, it was not as wide as most other tunnels, at most three ponies could walk side by side without touching the walls or each other. The ceiling had many supports to help hold it up, made of stone, and looking like it came from castles I’ve seen in old story books. It also had some internal lighting, though it was spread very far apart, with long stretches of darkness in-between.

“Can I get out of the republic through here?” I couldn’t help but ask, just skipping all this bullshit, and going home to a warm shower was well worth every bit I had right now.

Sorrow shook her head. “Sorry, but this tunnel only goes to another republic station. We had one tunnel that connected a free station to a republic station, but recently the station has been annexed by the republic.”

I felt some of the air deflate from me. “Never a lucky break. So where are we going?”

“Fishery station?” She stated. “Not one of the best stations, but the republic’s presence is not as strong there as it is in other stations, so we can relax there for a day or two.”

“Fish!” Mayall spoke up. “I could go for some fish. And here I thought ponies only ate food from a package.”

Sorrow looked a bit confused by the Sparkle-Lurkers response. “Ah… no. No, Fishery station is connected to an old aquarium and oceanic life research station. Simply, it’s for ponies to look at fish, not eat them.”

Mayall looked a bit annoyed. “Of course pones would just look at fish. Actually doing something productive or interesting would be too much for them.”

Feeling a bit irritated now, I put a hoof on Mayall’s flank, and pushed her along. “Let’s just get moving before some mole pony pops up, and we form a merry band of freaks.”

“Mole ponies? Like the kind in the Captain Andromeda comic? Surely they are not real… right?” Mayall sounded a bit concerned.

I just shook my head. “Let’s not tempt fate.”

The two of us followed Sorrow down the tunnel, being the last in what might be a long line of ponies. Though dark, eerie, and cold, I felt a lot more comfortable now. Like, for the first time in days I could let my guard down. Still, we were only trotting along to another equalist station, but for now, I could take in the freedom to be myself.

Strange that freedom came in the form of a long, dark, and narrow tunnel. I must be losing my mind...

Footnote:

Quest progression: The Magic of Equality is not Friendship. (80%)