“So… I want to know… how is it that you know so much? Like your protocols… you said that you have libraries… I don’t understand,” Sideralis said to Mustang as he rolled a red rubber ball forwards with a push of his hoof.

Mustang caught the ball, stepping on it, and rolled it back towards Sideralis with a gentle kick. “Queen Chrysalis has her drones study a subject extensively, gather as much research as possible, and everything that her drones know, Chrysalis knows. She then takes that knowledge that she has and dumps it into our heads by touching minds with us. We’ve been modified a bit to make it easier. It allows us to learn all kinds of stuff with astonishing ease.” Mustang watched as Sideralis bopped the ball with his hoof to make it stop. “Chrysalis took a whole bunch of knowledge out of Mjölna’s head, engineering stuff, and then put it into Apple Bloom’s head. Apple Bloom is a natural builder, she’s a handy pony, no doubt about it, but now, she has an extensive library of engineering knowledge. As Mjölna’s assistant, she’ll learn even more. Apple Bloom learned an entire lifetime’s of knowledge in seconds. It’ll take her brain a while to sort everything out.”

Sideralis kicked the ball over to Mustang, mindful that Stout was watching his every move, making certain that he was making progress with his coordination. He turned and looked at Stout. “Is this how you learned nursing?”

Stout sighed. “A little. I’m uncomfortable with this method of learning.”

“My sister learned by following Flutterbutter around, always hiding under our mother’s legs, and paying attention to everything being said and done. As a filly, Stout knew more about practical nursing than most adults… and all of this without a huge knowledge dump. She was trusted and her skills were valued.” Mustang looked at her sister and gave Stout a half-smile as she kicked the ball back to Sideralis.

“I could understand why some ponies might feel threatened by ponies like you and Stout. You’re faster, you’re smarter, you’re stronger, you are vastly superiour in every way that matters… I suppose that I could even understand why some ponies feel the need for inhibitors… even with that understanding, I cannot help but feel that they are wrong.” Sideralis stopped the ball with his hoof, and then rolled the ball around beneath his hoof, flexing his fetlock and giving his leg a good stretch.

He blinked a few times, trying to think of meaningful words, and then continued, “But I do not agree. You do not cripple a genius that might contribute to the greatness of others. You do not hamper a soldier that might defend your home. You do not hold back a unicorn that might use their magic for great purposes. I’m an alicorn… I probably have phenomenal mystical powers… I probably have terrifying magic, perhaps even enough to level whole cities and wipe out hundreds of foes in battle… and the thought of somepony hobbling me because of what I am… because I exist… the thought sickens me. Both of you were created with the hope that you would save your fellow ponies, but your fellow ponies have wronged you.”

“I suppose they have,” Stout said, her words hesitant.

“Mustang, have you ever hurt a pony when you are angry?” Sideralis asked.

“No, no she has not,” Stout replied before her sister could. “But ‘Stang has scared quite a few ponies in her fits of rage.”

Sideralis slumped, his wings drooping. “But she has never hurt a pony?”

“Only a few times, working as a guard for Twilight. She has incapacitated a few ponies… now that I think about it… ‘Stangy was rather gentle… she could have thumped those ponies good and didn’t.” Stout’s lone eye narrowed and she began to rub her chin. “Mjölna and I on the other hoof, we’ve killed other ponies.”

“Look, I’ll admit to being really super pissed off about a lot of things, but the idea of hurting my fellow ponies makes me feel awful. I suppose I’m just a natural bitch about things.” Mustang shook her head and watched as Sideralis kicked the ball towards her. She locked onto target, gave the ball a swift kick, sent the ball flying, bounced the ball off of the wall, then watched as it bounced off of the kitchen table edge, and then, POW! the ball slammed into Stout’s head. “Yep. Natural bitch.”

Stout glowered at her sibling. “You’re adopted.”

“So are you!” Mustang grinned, glad to see that she gotten a rise out of her sister.

Still glowering, Stout rolled the ball over to Sideralis and then looked at her sister. “No rough housing in the house. If we wreck this place, Fluttershy will ruin the both of us and poor Sideralis will be complaining about cybernetic equine abuse as Fluttershy dismantles us.”

“Aw… I hate it when you’re right.” Mustang’s lower lip protruded in a pout.

The ball was forgotten when there was another knock upon the door. Mustang’s ears perked forwards and her foreleg raised, pointing at the door. A low hum could be heard as she armed herself. Stout rose up into a standing position and then moved towards the door. As she crossed the room, there was another knock.

Stout opened the door and a very frazzled Twilight Sparkle stood on the other side. Her eye was red and bloodshot. Her mane had not been combed and stuck out in all directions. One ear twitched and the corner of her mouth had a noticeable tic.

She stomped past Stout, not even bothering to say hello, advancing upon Sideralis. Twilight sucked in a deep breath, filling the room with a noticeable wheeze, and shoved her way past Mustang, who was lowering her leg and powering down her weapon.

“How could you?” Twilight demanded, her eye glistening with tears. “How could you do that to me? I know you did it, don’t deny it!”

“What’d he do?” Stout asked, looking concerned.

“HE KNOWS WHAT HE DID!” Twilight snapped, stomping her hoof for emphasis.

“The guilt called, and I was compelled to answer,” Sideralis said to Twilight.

Oh, darling, please, do be careful. Be gentle… be the good pony that I know you can be.

For once, Sideralis was glad to hear that little voice in his head. He looked at Twilight, whose mouth was moving, but no words were coming out. A tear slid down her cheek. Her wings drooped at her sides, and then, with a muffled thump, she sat down upon the floor, her front legs shaking from the strain of holding herself up. Another tear rolled down her cheek, slipping from the corner of her eye.

“Mustang, I’m sorry!” Twilight launched herself at Mustang, slamming into her with terrific force. She wrapped her forelegs around the confused mare, squeezing her, and crying into Mustang’s neck.

“I’m not sure I have a protocol for this, and even if I did, I can’t self activate.” Mustang sat there, looking very confused and out of sorts. “Um…”

“Twilight, the right thing must be done,” Sideralis said, trying to be gentle.

“It’s not that simple,” Twilight replied as she sniffled and sobbed against Mustang.

“Twilight, Mustang has more to fear from regular ponies than regular ponies have to fear from her.” Sideralis, with a great deal of effort, managed to extend his wing, his tail flicking, and rubbed the side of his face where it felt itchy. And a little wet. He blinked a few times. “The inhibitors restrict her for the sake of protection… but who or what protects Mustang from the ponies that wish to hurt her?”

Twilight’s sobs intensified and she pressed her face against Mustang’s neck.

“I still don’t know what is going on… I feel weird, real weird… I don’t have a protocol for this.” Mustang squirmed and began to look uncomfortable. “I was modified for combat and the technicians stripped away everything they felt wasn’t necessary… what do I do?”

At the sound of Mustang’s words, Twilight sobbed even harder.

“Mustang, I… I don’t even know where to begin.” Sideralis licked his lips, feeling nervous. “I went into one of your nightmares… you were having surgery… and you felt everything—”

“Oh shit…” Mustang muttered as she slowly wrapped a foreleg around Twilight.

“My mother instructed me to take this memory and allow Twilight to experience it as a nightmare,” Sideralis continued.

“Oh… fuck… everything.” Mustang pulled Twilight a little closer. “You asshole!” Mustang’s ears twitched and her face contorted for a moment, taking on an expression of pain. “Ah, fuck me, my royal guard protocols don’t like it when I call my prince an asshole, even though he is!” Mustang contorted and jerked again, her whole body spasming. “You insidious asshole! How could you do that to Princess Twilight? How could you do this to me? Now I have conflicting directives! I’m supposed to protect both of you, but my directives are saying I should thump you for hurting Princess Twilight.”

Mustang jerked, her whole body twitching. “Directive fault error, cannot process directives.” Mustang’s voice was cold and mechanical. Once more her body twitched and then, she went still. “Asshole!” she muttered one last time, before going silent.

“What happened?” Sideralis asked, feeling worried.

“She shut down because she had conflicting directives. She’s crashed,” Stout replied.

“That’s horrible!” Sideralis stumbled forwards, trying to reach Mustang. “Turn her back on! This is awful… ponies… ponies shouldn’t just shut off when they get confused! This is so very wrong!”

Sobbing, unable to reply, Twilight nodded as she rubbed Mustang’s unresponsive body.

“I’ve turned off her protocols… she’s going to wake up… well, the way that Mustang always wakes up,” Twilight said as she stepped back. She watched as Mustang’s body jerked, her ears twitching, and a low mechanical thrum came from within her barrel.

“You horrid little cock dribble!” Mustang snarled as her eye opened. “You filthy, horrible, rancid little glob of dick cheese scraped from a diamond dog’s penile sheath!” Mustang rose, standing up on all fours, and her ears pitched forwards, pointing at Sideralis. “May the fleas of a thousand camels infest your hairy, wrinkled ballsack!”

“Okay, that’s enough.” Twilight reached out and prodded Mustang. “I’ve made a modification, you should be able to turn your royal guard protocol on and off on your own. When I’ve made a decision about what I need to do, there will be more changes. Mustang, I’m sorry, but I have failed you.”

“Yeah, you have, you horrible cunt,” Mustang replied, now turning her angry eye upon Twilight Sparkle. “You let them carve me up, not just once, but twice, even after giving me your promise that it would never happen again, you worthless twat nugget gobbler.”

Twilight took a step backwards and closed her eye, her lips pressing together into a straight line. “You’re angry. And it is time I acknowledged that.”

“You’re damn right I’m angry! And every fucking time I get angry, I get something activated or something turned off so I am forced to stop being so angry, you clitty lint sniffing gash goblin!”

“I am really, really glad that Flutters is off somewhere doing nice things for injured ponies.” Stout took a deep breath, looked over at the front door, looked back at Mustang, and then shook her head.

“I apologise… I know I’ve said it before, you don’t have to believe me, but I really am sorry… and I really am going to try and make this right—”

“Oh fuck off, I’ve heard that before as well! I’m sick of your lies, every word that comes out of your mouth is utter shit! No, worse than shit! It’s like your mouth is really your asshole, but your words are worthless! At least pony shit is useful, it makes gardens grow… your words make things die! Everything you say is either appeasement or a lie! So you can just take your promises and you can go and fuck the fuck right fucking off, you fucking fuck faced fucker of fresh fucked fucks!” Mustang turned, doing so with so much force that her tail slapped Twilight in the face. She stomped towards the front door and shoved Stout out of her way. “I’m going to go roll in the grass so I’ll feel better! Leave me the fuck alone!”

Twilight, who stood open mouthed, watched as Mustang left. Much to her surprise, the door did not slam, but was closed gently. Outside in the hall, Twilight could hear more cringe inducing profanity spewing forth.

“She took that better than I thought,” Stout remarked as she turned to look at Twilight, “all in all, I’d say that you got off lucky.”

“My ears hurt.” Sideralis shook his head, causing his ears to flop around. “I feel like I need a shower.”

Stout, hearing Sideralis’ words, began to laugh.

Author's Notes:

Mustang ate a lot of soap growing up.