I couldn’t shake the vision of that skeletal, card-shuffling pony holding up cards from my head as Basalt led me out of the makeshift prison. What the hell was wrong with me? Were there some sort of spores down there that were screwing with my head? Or, oh goddesses! Was that a mental attack of some sort and I’d failed to catch it?

I intentionally bonked my head against the railing as I followed Basalt, seeing if the whack to the noggin would cause the vision to leave, all while causing the big mare to turn and look at me in alarm.

“You okay there?” She asked, her pretty purple eyes filled with concern..

“Yeah,” I lied. “Just tripped over a stone. Don’t worry about it. Um, where are we going, anyway?” I asked, deflecting the subject away from why I now had a throbbing forehead.

Basalt frowned at me. “I was going to take you back to Fish. I mean, she is your boss, after all.”

Ah. Right. Fish. Fishy Fish. Clearly the one pony I needed to see right now to make my life more complicated. How was I supposed to tell my frie-

Hey now! Friend? I thought. When did I start seeing Blackjack as a friend, and not as my client?! She was my client! Oh goddesses! I was losing it! I had helped facilitate the foalnapping of Bubblegum, dragged Glitter Bomb halfway across the wasteland, and now I was thinking of Blackjack as a friend!? Oh no. My case was terminal. I was picking up a horrible case of the stupids from Blackjack.

...Was that because I was sleeping in close proximity to her? Did you get dumber just being that close to one of the craziest mares the wasteland ever spat out?

At least you aren’t sleeping with her! Some addled corner of my brain helpfully interjected. Right. Cause I needed that complication on top of all of my other shit.

“Uh… Thren?”

I looked up, realising that I’d stopped trotting after Basalt, whose expression and general aura screamed ‘what the hell is wrong with this filly?’

“Argh, sorry Basalt. Just… processing everything that’s happened today. Mild existential crisis and all that,” I said, waving a hoof as I fluttered over to the big earth pony’s side.

Basalt arched a brow at me. “Exe-what?” She asked. “Where did you learn a word like that?”

“I read it in a book once,” I explained. “Just… basically my view of what’s going on in Fold is so radically different from the first glance that I’m trying to work it out in my head.”

Basalt blinked at me. “You can read?”

I gave Basalt a quizzical look. “Uh, yeah? I’ve been reading since I could get a book in my hooves. You can’t?”

Basalt slowly shook her head, looking me over with an emotion that felt something like… awe? “Not many of the Timberjacks can. I mean, I can read like, enough to go to the canteen. And I know my numbers. Gotta know those if you work around a lumber mill. But really Buzzsaw was the only one here who reads regularly, and I don’t think she likes it. A few of the unicorns can read now cause the Family made ‘em learn, but we didn’t get any quality learning aside from what our parents knew,” She explained.

My worldview came to a grinding halt for the second time today. I really, really needed to get out more. It struck me that, as a filly who grew up in a library, I really did grow up with a privilege that not everypony had. What I took for granted - the ability to read - made it so I often forgot that not everypony had the same life experiences that I did. Which was a remarkably silly thing to overlook! I was a heartmender, for Luna’s sake! My talent let me literally step into the horseshoes of others, and here I was, completely oblivious to the fact that because I could read, it might make my life that much…

… that much better.

“I mean, I can, er, see why you maybe didn’t?” I said, coughing awkwardly into my hoof. “I just… my momma wanted me to know how to read, so she taught me. One of the only lessons she taught me that I’m glad I learned.”

Basalt nodded as she listened. “Well, I guess you were lucky then. Would have been nice had my momma taught me. I keep looking at some of the books that we found in the old carving store here in town, and…” She sighed, shaking her head. “Why the sorrel hells am I telling you this, anyway? Yeesh, Basalt, wake up and smell the herb.”

My eye twitched slightly at the mention of the mephitic drug that everypony around here seemed to like. “Is… that really a good thing to do in the morning?” I asked, shaking my head as we made our way back toward the town proper. The unicorn guards stopped us before lifting the fence out of our way.

Basalt chuckled. “I don’t know about waking up with it. But I know a lot of folks smoke it before bed. Something in it helps ease all the aches and pains. And if you’re a hard worker in Fold, believe me, you got aches and pains.”

I quirked an eyebrow at her. “You mean that there aren’t hard workers in Fold?”

Basalt stiffened. “No. We all work very hard for the good of Fold,” She said stiffly.

A miasma of sickly sweet hate flowed over my shoulder as Basalt’s eyes widened. I swallowed as I felt a cool flow of magic twisting around my neck. I struck out with a wing, breaking the magic on my back as I turned to face Sweetness.

“My my, did I startle you?” The redheaded nag asked in purring tones of nakedly false cordiality. Her ruby eyes smouldered with a cold, disdainful fire as she looked me over. “That was a neat little trick, brushing off my magic. Where did you learn that, tiny bird?” She asked, the weight of her loathing threatening to force me back onto my haunches.

I bristled, my wings flaring out behind me. “I learned it from my mother, miss Sweetness. She was a unicorn. And I learned at a young age that pegasus wings can disrupt telekinetic magic if you catch it right.” I replied, instinctively puffing out my chest in an attempt to make myself look bigger.

I realised that was probably the wrong thing to say as Sweetness’ gaze narrowed. “So, you were a disobedient little bird, hmm? Maybe somepony needs to teach you some manners.” She said, her horn flaring.
I became distinctly aware of the trio of stallions advancing behind Sweetness, all near carbon-copies of her; matching sour cream coats, red manes… golden magic auras…

Oh crap.

Basalt stood paralyzed with terror as Sweetness’s magic flared more brightly from the unicorns’ horns. Sweetness’ magic lashed out like a whip, and coiled around my middle. I tried to shuck her off with my wings, but with the strength of four unicorns behind it, I couldn’t break her spell. That warm golden glow quickly turned into crushing chains of solid iron as she roughly clamped my wings against my barrel, pressing them painfully into my ribs.

I grit my teeth as Sweetness smiled at me. The curl of her lips was surprisingly beatific, juxtaposed with her teeth, grit tight with simmering sadistic glee just behind them. “I wonder what would happen if I do this?” She asked, her magic snaking from the tight binds roughly tugging on a primary feather, and ripping it out of my wing.

She tore a strangled scream out of me along with the primary she’d grabbed. It was a pin feather that I hadn’t gotten completely unfurled yet. Sweetness flourished her new prize, sending blood trailing from the raw, immature root and spattering Basalt’s horrified face.

“This is what happens to little birds that don’t listen, isn’t it?” Sweetness crooned, moving her face close to mine. Close enough that I could smell the alcohol on her breath.

A memory popped into my head. In retrospect, I was experiencing a flashback, but I didn’t exactly have the awareness at the moment to realise what was happening. I couldn’t tell what was real and what was memory, as they overlay each other in my awareness.

Mom was drunk again, and angry that I started crying when she told me I had to go see the Mayor. In a fit of temper, she’d grabbed my wing with her magic and nearly sprinted for the door, wrenching my 8 year old form hard enough to nearly dislocate the wing.

“You’re going to see her, and you’re going to keep seeing her until she’s fixed!” Mom spat, yanking out a pin feather. I remembered watching the blood drip and pool on the floor of our home as my breath hitched and I sobbed harder. “If you weren’t so fucking pretty, she’d be able to keep her hooves off of you. If you weren’t so fucking useless, she’d not even think about putting her hooves on you!”

Memory and reality bled into each other as my Mom, wearing Sweetness’s face slapped me across the muzzle with the back of her hoof. A familiar warm, coppery wash dripped from my split lip as I stared up at Sweetness. I felt an emotion that I tried so very, very hard to not let myself feel.

Rage.

“You do not get to touch me,” I hissed, glaring up at her in defiance.

“I don’t what?” She snarled, raising her hoof to strike me again.

That’s when I snapped.

All of my hurt. All of my pain. All of my sorrow. All of my anger. I focussed it all into my left leg. I barely even felt the blow to my muzzle this time. Sweetness’ smile slipped from Mom’s face as she paused, and I ever so gently pressed my small hoof against her porcelain cheek.

Every memory of sobbing exposed on the floor of the Mayor’s office as she laughed at my attempts to cover myself up. Every memory of washing my tongue with filth from the underside of my hoof to get the taste out of my mouth after she’d shoved my head between her thighs and told me to lick. Every ounce of pain I felt when Mom forced me to go back. Every soul-crushing tonne of fear I felt when I watched the Mayor pick up some new object in her magic, certain, with knowledge no foal should have, exactly what excruciating indignity she was going to inflict on me with it, then ask me ‘how much I liked it.’

Heartmenders were trained to not push negative emotions onto others, only positive ones like calm and security.

...But that didn’t mean we couldn’t.

There was a moment of eerie calm as my hoof, now empty of the caustic mass of pain, betrayal and hate it had held just moments prior, fell away from Sweetness’ face. Then she let out an ear-splitting screech as blood erupted from the spot on her cheek where I’d touched her. I recognized the telltale signs of empathic feedback as she recoiled away from me. Then her brothers joined her in chorus. The trio of stallions covered their heads with their hooves as Sweetness’ horn flared, causing the magical connection between them to burn incandescently before slumping over, blood running out of their nostrils, identical weeping wounds slowly opening up on their cheeks.

I screamed as Mom lashed out again, using Sweetness’ magic to wrench my wing to the side, dislocating it.

Something dark and feral rose up inside of me, and erupted out of my mouth. “Suffer. Bleed. DIE! DIE YOU CUNT!”

I heard the chiming of her magic crescendo into a loud keening squeal as Sweetness tried to raise a shield between her and the source of the hurt she was feeling, not knowing it was already inside her, like venom festering in a wound. Then came a sharp crack as I watched a fracture form in her horn and her shield exploded, throwing me against the wooden railing.

Then everything went black.

I awoke in an unfamiliar bed to the feeling of somepony’s hoof stroking my forehead. They weren’t saying anything, and the silence felt odd. The hoof felt calming and what I imagine motherly should feel like, and I didn’t need to open my eyes to know Blackjack was the one touching me.

Why wasn’t she saying anything?

I cracked an eye open as I realised my head was on her lap. She mouthed something to me, but I couldn’t make out what it was.

“Are we supposed to be quiet?” I whispered. Or I thought I whispered. I couldn’t hear the words come out of my mouth, but I could feel the buzz of my throat as they formed and my breath carrying them over my tongue. Panic set in as I swivelled my ears about. It was way too quiet. Oh Goddess Cadence, why was it so quiet?!

Concern radiated off of Blackjack in waves as her horn flared, and she snagged a healing potion from somewhere behind me. I watched as she levitated a small eye dropper into the potion, then gently gripped my right ear with her lips. I held still as she dropped the small purple fluid into my ear. I felt the most painful knitting sensation occur before I was met with the most awful ringing.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I grit my teeth as she tugged down on my left ear and repeated the process, causing more ringing. I felt something crack in my jaw, but slowly, very very slowly, the ringing faded and I could hear again.

“That better?” Blackjack asked softly, placing a kiss on the tip of my ear.

I wiggled my ears as the pain slowly subsided, giving way to a new pain. This one radiating slowly upward from my left hoof. I looked down, and saw that somepony had bandaged it and set it in a cast.

“So… I’m not exactly unfamiliar with strange shit, but just what the fuck did you do?” She asked, looking over me. “One minute I’m trying to make sure that Glitter doesn’t drink the punch that Peculiar is trying to give us, listening to him blather on about some sort of genetic legacy experiments his Stable has been working on. The next, I hear screaming, Basalt Breaker is carrying you in saying that there was an attack, and that you, Sweetness, and those three stallions she always has with her were hurt. All four of them are still unconscious, and they all have a burn the exact size and shape of your hoof in the exact same place,” She said, pointing down to the bandaged appendage. “On their cheeks. Now what did you do?”

I looked down at my hoof. I wasn’t sure how to explain myself. How could you explain to somepony who could only remember extreme amounts of suffering and trauma that, in your anger, you’d used a portion of your own hurts and suffering to wound someone else? Blackjack was going to hate me! She was going to think I was a monster!

That selective mutism kicked in, and I felt my voice wither into nothing.. My tongue turned to granite in my mouth, and refused to move. Blackjack stared at me, apparently trying to wait out my silence. To my dismay, her patience was working, as the self loathing I felt for hurting another pony in the worst possible way a heartmender could started to press down on my chest.

“I got angry,” I croaked quietly, not willing to look into her ruby eyes.

“Angry, huh?” she replied with a half smile. “I saw Sweetness. Why didn’t you break out that anger when there was a radscorpion on your butt, huh?” It was teasing. A way to break into the topic without directly addressing what I’d done to the unicorn.

“Cause when the Radscorpion got me, I felt fear,” I admitted slowly, then shook my head. “If the radscorpion had gotten you or Glitter, I would have… been really scared and upset and tried to kill it. But…” I looked down at my bandaged hoof. “Angry? I… try to avoid angry.”

“Well, consider me warned. I don’t think I’ll play with your buttons again any time soon,” she murmured. Then that horrible silence. “Sweetness lost most of the right side of her face and those stallions aren’t much better. Healing... it’s not working like it should. The unicorns are freaked out. I think the fact no one has a clue what you did is keeping them back for now,” She said as she stroked my mane again.

Tears welled up and started to run to down my cheeks as I thought about what happened. Sweetness’ body took all of that empathic feedback I’d been hanging onto. Oh goddesses! I was a monster!

“It’s… not going to heal with healing potions. She’s… gonna need bandages and time,” I whimpered. “Her scars are gonna be like the ones on my back. I…” I looked up into Blackjack’s eyes. “I did something really, really bad, didn’t I?” I knew the answer before I asked it, but… I needed to hear her take on it. To hear Security’s judgement of just how horrible a pony I was.

“Absolutely,” she replied grimly. “It’s terrible the way you hunted her down and took her completely alone and unarmed and used your special attack on her. Gosh, you must have wanted her bad,” she said... but the emotions coming off her were amused, not angry. Not fearful. Her hoof gave my head a little bonk. “You were defending yourself, Thren. You don’t have anything to apologize for. If anything, you bought us a day or two more. Probably. With luck, no one’s going to move on you until they figure out if you can melt all their faces with your brain.”

I gave her a flat look, laying my ears back. “I can’t do that. And… I really, really, really don’t want to do something like that to anypony ever again,” I stated quietly. I paused, gathering my thoughts. “Blackjack, I… At the end? After she yanked on my wing? Something… dark inside of me came out. I wanted her to hurt. I wanted her to die! I never want that! I’ve never wanted that ever!” I said rapidly, panic causing my heart to race. “I just wanted her to let go of me, notー”

She reached out and pulled me into her embrace. “Welcome to the wasteland,” she murmured quietly. “Funny how it gets to you, isn’t it? One bad moment, and it all goes ugly.” She rocked me a little as she sighed. “For me, it was a place called Yellow River. I was tired. Hurt. I found out some ugly truths from all the way back in the war. And six Enclave decided to jump me and some people I cared about. I took them apart. I took them apart hard, and almost killed Glory’s sister. If I’d had a choice about when I’d've stopped, I would have killed her for sure.” She took a deep breath. “What you felt? That’s the wasteland. I’m glad you don’t want to feel that. Really. But I’m also glad you did. Because I’m pretty sure that if you hadn’t, then Sweetness would have hurt you. Maybe killed you. And then I would have brought the wasteland here, too.”

I disliked the idea of the wasteland as a concept enough on its own. The wasteland as a living, physical force was horrifying! Why would–

A dusty, dry chuckling echoed on the edge of my hearing, and the shuffling of playing cards rang in my healing ears.

“Blackjack?” I asked softly. “Is the wasteland a real thing? I mean, not like… argh. You know, I know it’s real, but… Does the wasteland have a spirit? Something maybe… real but not real?”

“I think so,” she answered somberly. “I think it’s something we created with the war. Or maybe with Nightmare Moon. Or maybe it’s always been here. I think when we hate... when we hurt... when we want to destroy each other... the wasteland shows up. It doesn’t have to be ruin either. Your mom... the mayor... they brought the wasteland too, in their own way. Not enough to spoil civilization. That’s too comfy to lose... but the harm? The hate? That can take the Wasteland anywhere.”

“Is that why I keep hearing the shuffling of cards?” I asked, hoping that maybe, just maybe, I wasn’t completely losing it. Maybe Blackjack had heard it before? Maybe she knew why I saw that dusty bones of a pony show me a horrible hand?

“Cards?” she asked with a frown.

I nodded, averting my eyes. “And... a thing...”

“The Dealer?” She asked in surprise. “You’re seeing the Dealer? Skeleton? Long, ragged cloak? Wide brimmed hat? Cryptic and creepy as fuck?”

“He’s never said anything. But, he has laughed before. It sounds like he was inhaling dust, or maybe spent his final years smoking a carton of Marelboros a day. He… showed up before Basalt Breaker and I left the um… the prisoners. He showed me his hand.” I admitted, laying my ears back as I began to realise that what I’d said about this hallucination was very much disturbing Blackjack’s calm. Which did not bode well for… well, anyone.

“Shit,” she muttered, her eyes wide. “I thought he was gone. I haven’t seen him since I woke up. Hell, I thought he was half my crazy up to the very end, just before I died... fourth time, I think.” She frowned and counted softly, before shaking her head hard. “Nevermind. Not important.” She regarded me and took a deep breath. “I don’t know what it means, Thren. I don’t know why you’re seeing him, and I’m not. Maybe the Wasteland’s decided you’re the one it wants to test now. See what breaks you.” She tapped my chest. “Don’t. Let. It.”

“I… I won’t. I promise I won’t. I just… am really scared that something bad is going to happen. He showed me Basalt, Buzzsaw, Peculiar - though he was upside down - me, and you.” I frowned. “Did he ever do that to you? Show you ponies?”

“Once. He liked to play with me. Sometimes give me boosters, other times make me doubt myself. Like... he wanted to see just how much I could take before breaking. I’m not sure how much of that was him, and how much of it was Echo, but at the end there... he knew me. He knew me in and out. He knew I’d fight, and he knew I’d die. I think he was just looking forward to the show.” Blackjack has a solemnity inside her I’d never felt before.

I nodded, silenced again in the face of Blackjack’s uncharacteristically sober mood. I didn’t know what it meant. I didn’t know who Echo was, though apparently he was important to Blackjack somehow. I’d have to ask her about him later. Still, I didn’t know cards. I knew that having 3 queens was a good hand in poker. But having the faces of ponies I knew on them? Why he was showing them to me? That… made the entire experience more disconcerting.

“Dammit, I wish I knew why he was showing them to me,” I said, hitting the mattress with my right hoof. “I know it means something. He had Buzzsaw and Basalt connected, cause they were in the same suit. But… you were the Queen of Spades, and I was the Queen of Hearts. And why the hell was Peculiar upside down!?” I needed a book on this. Books would solve this, right?

She tapped my head gently. “I. Am. Not. A. Smart. Pony.” She intoned. “Next time you see him, ask. He seems to live… well, exist, to fuck with people. You are a smart pony. Maybe you’ll figure out a way to get rid of the bony fucker for good.” She took a deep breath. “Anyway, we need to figure out our move. Once you melted off Sweetness’s face, and scarred up her squaddies too, they put her in a coma. She’ll survive, probably, but there’s going to be a lot of pissed feelings focused at you. Did you find the resistance before Sweetness jumped you?”

I chuckled. “Uh, is Basalt around? Cause uh, she’s the resistance.” I replied, shaking my head. “She’s the one that’s been causing all the trouble around here. I think she’s… I don’t actually know what she thinks. I was going to try to talk to her more about it before we got jumped by Sweetness and the triplets.” My heart sank. “Before I melted their faces.”

“Well, that’s something.” She pulled away and slipped on to her hooves. “We need to find her, Bubblegum and Glitter, and figure out a plan. Something other than ‘kill everyone shooting at us’. That’ll be plan C. Plan D, maybe?”

“I was hoping that was Plan Worst Case Scenario?” I said, rolling upright. I winced as my left wing flexed, and I realised that, despite somepony resetting it so it wasn’t dislocated, there was no way I was going to be flying anytime soon. “I… think we should leave the plans to when we’re with Basalt. Try to figure out what she needs to get her ponies moving. They… really want the Family gone. She was visibly and emotionally upset at the treatment of the ponies they have captured.” I paused. “Oh… I forgot to mention. The ‘saboteurs’? They were actually envoys from Stable 9. They wanted to start trade with the Timberjacks, but got caught and beat up by the Family because Peculiar thought they were the ones that sabotaged the equipment.” I explained.

“Really? That’s interesting,” she said with a small smile as she headed to the door. “The Family seems to roll in with promises of help and partnership, and then just oozes into command. Wouldn’t surprise me if Buzzsaw has an ‘accident’ soon.” She tapped her chin. “I wonder if Buzzsaw knows? She started trading with the Family to help her people. Maybe Stable 9 had a better deal?”

I thought back to Puddle Splasher, and the little teal earth pony’s happiness and genuine desire to make friends. “I… think so. I wasn’t able to talk with them much. Their unicorn, Solidarity? He was in really, really bad shape. Peculiar really did a number on him. But Puddle Splasher, the earth pony? She seemed really motivated to make friends. She even said something about… Rihannon? I think? I think it was their overmare always talking about using friendship to heal the wasteland.” I shrugged. “I don’t know what that means, but… they weren’t lying when they said they wanted to trade food for lumber.”

“Wonder what a stable wants with lumber,” Blackjack mused. “Did they have anything in writing? Like an official letter from the Overmare to Buzzsaw?”

Huh, hadn’t thought of that. “Um, I don’t know. Maybe? I didn’t ask about it, but I would assume so? I just… don’t know that Buzzsaw got it. Peculiar seems kinda… well, the sort to ‘lose’ something like that, don’t you think?”

“I’m not so sure about that. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s holding on to it somewhere. He seems the kind to court disaster like that. Reminds me of Goldenblood,” she said with a sour twist of her lips.

“Then we need to get it! Or… figure out if he’s hiding it? Figure out how to overthrow the Family and get them out of here!” I paused as I realised just how crazy that sounded. “Uh… did I just suggest that we overthrow a major power in the wasteland?” Oh Cadence! I was gaining more of Blackjack’s crazy by the day!

“Just wait till they put a crown on your head. Then the real fun begins,” Blackjack said with a definite smirk.

I shuddered at the thought. “I’m one hundred percent positive that my neck would break under the weight of a crown. Please don’t make me a princess. That is way too much responsibility.”

“Pffft. As if anyone cares about that. First it's the crown and then there’s the plotting and scheming and before you know it you’re teleporting away to kill the Lightbringer,” she said with a snort and a wave of the hoof. “Let’s go find Basalt. I think she’s laying low. Folks may be giving you a wide berth after the face melty business, but things have gotten a little more tense around here for everyone else.”

We left the room in the abandoned house Blackjack had been taking care of me in. “Let’s find her, yeah. And we should get Bubblegum and Glitter. We kind of need help. A lot of help.” I blushed as I turned and looked at Blackjack. “I mean, n-not that you’re not capable on your own. But we do kinda want to keep the wasteland out of here.”

“I think it’s more getting it to leave,” she answered, her smile gone as we trotted down the street towards the mill. It hadn’t been like Fold was the most crowded settlement ever, but the streets seemed oddly empty, as if everypony was laying low, sensing a coming storm. I’d never imagined that I’d ever be the storm though! Oh goodness. Hurricane Threnody. That sounded ominous.

We made our way through the abandoned streets, when Blackjack suddenly grabbed me in her magic and pulled me into an alley. She covered my mouth with her hoof, pulling me tight against a nearby dumpster as a quartet of armoured ponies walked by. They all carried assault rifles on battlesaddles, and wore the riot armour that I’d come to recognize as that used by ponies who were loyal to the Family. We waited in silence, my heart racing as they passed.

“Looks like our luck ran out already. Let’s not stop and play with them right now,” Blackjack said softly after the ponies had passed. “Come on.”

We made our way through the back alleys to the old hotel that we’d stayed in the night before. Blackjack told me to hide while she ran up and got Bubblegum and Glitter. A few minutes later, there was a flash behind me and my alicorn friend, Bubblegum, and Blackjack all appeared.

“So what’s the plan, Boss?” Bubblegum asked upon spotting me. “You did quite a number on Sweetness’ face. I’m impressed.” he said, wearing a grin too charming to belong on… anyone!

I blushed and looked down at the ground. “We… need to find Basalt. She’s the head of the resistance.”

“Not a problem,” Blackjack said, turning to Glitterbomb. “Teleport us to Basalt,” she instructed matter of factly.

“But I don’t know where Basalt is!” Glitter protested.

Blackjack smirked. “What if I said that Basalt was thinking of taking Bubblegum on a date. Without your permission?” She asked, a slightly evil grin on her muzzle. Glitter Bomb’s head reared back, eyes wide, pupils shrinking to infuriated dots.

A second later, there was a purple flash and we were in Tree Hugger’s Fine Herb again, in front of a very alarmed Basalt Breaker.

“What? How?” The grey earth pony stammered.

Glitter leaned in, her nostrils flaring as she stared down the earth pony. “Stay away from my Bubbles!!” She commanded, her horn glowing dangerously.

“Isn’t it thrilling to be the object of every mare’s unbridled desire?” Blackjack asked Bubblegum as she trotted forward.

“Not particularly, no,” Bubblegum replied, grabbing onto Glitter’s tail and tugging her away from the very confused and scared earth pony mare. “Especially if one of the mares in your life gets a bit perturbed if you forget to turn the swag off.” Glitter mewled softly as Bubblegum patted her rump.

Blackjack was actually laughing as she put herself between the two. “Sorry. Needed to give Glitter a little incentive to find you,” she told the earth pony mare. “Guess things are getting interesting, huh?” she said with a toss of her mane as she looked at Basalt. “We’re working on a plan A. Have any ideas?”

“Plan A? I…” Basalt’s amethyst eyes met mine. “Well, our original plan was to find a way to prove to Buzz that she needed to kick out the Family once and for all. I… was going to try to get a lot of our unicorn fighters that are pretending to buy what the Family is selling to steal some of their weapons.” She turned to Blackjack. “You have a better idea, Fish?”

“Nope! Like that we’re on the same page,” she said with a smile. “Those ponies from Stable 9? Did they have some official papers or something on them? Like an official trade offer from their Overmare to Buzzsaw?” If this was all word of mouth, it was going to be a lot harder to convince Buzzsaw.

Basalt nodded. “Well, so far as I know they did. I talked with Solidarity about it before Peculiar got ahold of them. He said that,” She paused looking down at her hooves, her ears drooping. “He said that they really wanted to trade lumber for food. So we wouldn’t have to go hungry.”

“Right,” Blackjack nodded. “So somepony gets to go into Peculiar’s quarters and find it, take the evidence to Buzzsaw, and then have the Timberjacks armed and ready to toss out the Family.” She looked at me and Basalt. “I nominate you two.”

My eyes widened. “Wait. Us two? Uh, Bla-… I mean, er… Fish. Everypony in town is kind of looking for us. How in the hell is that going to work?” I frowned. “I mean, I am very small, but…” I trailed off, looking to Basalt. “Can I ask that of you?”

Basalt nodded. “I want to be able to save Buzzsaw. I’m… I just have a horrible feeling that Buzz will die if I don’t do something soon,” That familiar sound of shuffling filled my ears. “I can’t let her die. I won’t!”

I cocked my head at Basalt’s words. She felt… “You love her, don’t you?”

The grey earth pony’s cheeks flushed bright red. “I… Well… No… Maybe?”

“Regardless,” Blackjack interrupted as Basalt dealt with that sledgehammer of question to the emotional kneecap, “I think you’re right to be worried. Threnody melted the face off one of the Family’s enforcers. Things are unstable, and they’ll probably move to take over the Timberjacks soon. Like, today. I don’t think they’re going to wait.”

I shook my head, stopping my mental process of little dolls of Basalt and Buzzsaw kissing in my head. “So we need to move fast. And while we’re at it…” I turned to Blackjack. “I think you need to get Solidarity. I got a look at his cutie mark. It was a group of pistols. Might be another fighter?”

“Sure, know where they’re keeping him?” she asked with a causal half smile, like this was all some sort of game.

“In the old mill. Down in the old ovens where they dried the lumber. It’s toward the base of camp where we keep all the cut wood,” Basalt explained. Those were ovens? Oh goddesses! I’d thought the jail was in some sort of freezer! “If you go there, Blue Belle should be standing guard. Tell her that you know about…” She flushed bright red again. “Tell her you know which way Basalt’s barn door swings.”

Bubblegum chuckled, then put a foreleg around Glitter’s neck. “See Glitter. You didn’t have to worry about Basalt trying to steal me away!” He paused. “Wait… you said you wanted to go out for a drink later!”

“I knew if you came for a drink, you’d probably bring these cuties with you,” Basalt said with a sniff.

Wait, what cuties? Glitter and Blackjack? I realised that Basalt was smiling at me. Oh! She means me, too! Why did that make me feel ill?

“Anyway,” I said, coughing into my hoof. “We better go. Black-argh. Fish is more experienced with this sort of thing. If she thinks things are going to go down soon, we better move.”

“Yup. Glitter and Bubblegum, get the guns and teleport them to the ovens with Soliwhatshisname and I, and when you get the evidence to Buzzsaw, we’ll be ready. Easy.”

Why did I suddenly feel like she’d just doomed us all?

Basalt and I had crept our way along the town, taking back alleys and little tunnels that only she seemed to know about to get into the Family’s enclave. I realised that I had a talent for being quiet along the way, often being looked over by guards when I swore I should have been seen. We made our way up toward Peculiar’s room, largely by feel. It wasn’t too hard to find once we were inside - it was the one place where nopony else would go.

Basalt pulled a bobby pin from her mane and set to picking the lock on Peculiar’s door.

“Does this feel too easy to you?” I asked, barely louder than a breath as Basalt worked on the door.

She didn’t answer for a moment, cutely sticking her tongue out of the left side of her mouth as she worked the screwdriver. As the lock opened with a soft click, she shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe they’re off at a meeting or something. You know, evil plans with the Family. Maybe a seminar on how to be even bigger insufferable dicks to earth ponies?” She asked, spitting the bobby pin up into the air and back into her mane with a flick of her head.

I frowned as we made our way inside. I froze as I stepped into the room. Nothing inside of it made any sense. The colours all clashed in manners that made the spatial processing part of my brain stall and start crying. Purples and oranges and teals and browns painted in spirals that made my eyes wish that somepony had introduced Peculiar to a colour wheel. Repeatedly. And with great force. Strange geometric mobiles dangled from string hanging from the ceiling: pyramids and cubes and even more complex shapes made of copper wire. In the corner, a tiny music box began to play a tinny melody that seemed to wander up and down in slightly off tune notes. I didn’t want to imagine what the source of a sickly-sweet stench that hung about the place was. It made me want to breathe through my mouth, but that just made me taste it. Tart and foul, like licking a rotting apple.

“Where are we supposed to look?” Basalt asked, visibly disturbed by the decor. If you could call it decor. I had this distinct feeling that the Ministry of Image would have considered this room a capital offence.

“Uh… his desk drawer?” I asked, pointing toward a massive desk painted to look like it was missing a bit of one of its dimensions. “Or maybe his bedside stand?”

Basalt nodded. “I got the desk. You get the bedside.”

I trotted over to the bedside stand, and opened the single drawer. A massive cloud of sickly sweet smoke exploded outward, assaulting my senses. “Basalt!” I shouted, before the world started to shift before me. The spirals painted in the walls were spinning around me and the horrible, off key music started to echo in my ears, harmonizing with its own feedback into a tune that I couldn’t help but hum along with. As my world was filled with spirals, a deranged, distorted giggling filled my ear until it became my entire world.

I looked around in the twisting world. It was a trap. Of course it was a trap. I searched for the source of the giggling. “Peculiar?” I called out. “Where are you?”

“Still thinking three-dimensionally? So disappointing.” came the high pitched titter. Was it just me or were those dangling geometric shapes overhead swinging and jangling around to form his pudgy, laughing face? It had to be a hallucination. Or a psychic attack. I called out to Basalt, but she was lying on her side, eyes vacant, body twitching as if it were under assault. The panicked, terrified horror I felt glaring from her was poisoning me. “Well? Are you going to do to me what you did to poor, poor Sweetness. Sugary sugary sweetie pie...” he crooned as the world folded and divided about me.

I looked around, and remembered what Blackjack said about a dreamscape. I could take control. I had to take control. I unfurled my injured wing and took to the direction that I thought was up. But ended up falling down as my wing reminded me that there was to be no flying for at least a day or two. Then gravity had a change of heart about which way was up and I fell sideways. Okay, this was unhelpful. “I don’t want to hurt you, Peculiar. I just want you to leave!”

“What an interesting proposition! Let me think. Mmmm...” the mobile face rubbed it’s chin before concluding, “No!” Then it let out a high pitched giggle that sent the mobiles swaying wildly above me.

I frowned. “What are you doing here? Why do you even want Fold to begin with?” I asked, trying to move up to where the face was. No matter where I went, the face was always behind, above, beneath, or slowly moving away from me. Was this a dreamscape? Or was I awake and just seeing things? None of this made any sense at all!

He took on a simpering little pout. “Why, I am just a poor, humble servant sent to assist Buzzsaw in her management of the premises. A poor overworked, under appreciated consultant.” The voice turned sly. “Don’t you believe me?”

“Like hell! I know what you did to Solidarity! You lied to Buzzsaw about what the Stable 9 ponies were doing there. They wanted to bring food. And you locked them up and nearly killed one of them for it!” I glared at him, trying to project my will more strongly over the illusion. “Everything about you is illusions and obfuscations!”

The face disappeared, but the music hadn’t stopped. Had I gotten him? “If you only knew what we went through, perhaps you wouldn’t be so quick to judge,” I heard a tiny voice on my leg, and stared at Peculiar’s face staring out of my own coat rendered in individual hairs standing and laying flat. I could feel his mouth moving on my skin. “And here I thought you’d be happy with me. I almost killed Solidarity. Almost. But I didn’t. Isn’t that a good thing?” The simpering face asked with a pout.

I slapped at the face, with my cast only causing pain to my leg where I’d struck myself, and my other, already injured forelimb. “No! Hurting anypony is-” I stopped, realising just how hypocritical I was being. “You lied!” I protested.

“I did no such thing,” said a voice from a mirror over the nightstand, and I stared at my own reflection, facing the wrong way and protesting its innocence. “The family had an agreement with Buzzsaw. Terms and conditions. An agreement. An... understanding. I certainly couldn’t just let a competitor walk in with lies and deceptions. Do you know what goes on in Stable 9? I doooo!” my reflection crooned, her neck twisting at impossible angles, eyes spinning madly in their sockets before suddenly fixing on me.

“Well, I don’t know. But I do know that Puddle Splasher is one of the kindest, most honest ponies I’ve ever met. So it can’t be bad!” I said, punching the mirror with my left hoof. I cried out in pain as my injured hoof reminded me again that using it was a bad idea. Why did it feel like the glass was digging into the frog of my hoof? It was so hard to think. Basalt was like a beacon of torment, burning away my focus, and I couldn’t help but suck it up.

“Oh really?” Came a rasp from under my hoof, and I turned to see a face lacerated into the soft flesh. “So naive. You know, your Heartmenders didn’t tell you everything. You know they had their own secrets and lies.” The oozing gash in my flesh smirked, a tongue of bloody glass sticking out at me.

I glared down at him. “Everypony lies. It’s not a secret. It’s not even unexpected. So what if Sandalwood didn’t tell me everything? So what if Slate wasn’t completely truthful? So what if Heartshine has her dark secrets? That doesn’t matter! You lie just as much as I do. We all lie!” I shouted, smashing my hoof into the ground. The glass felt like it was scraping into my coffin bone, and I screamed. When I screamed, Basalt’s body twitched violently, like she was starting to seize. Oh hells, I was killing her by not ending this quickly!

My face tingled, as the horrible melody played up and down and up and down as if concepts like tempo and key were an affront to it. Then I felt myself speak, heard his giggling, lispy words in my own voice. “Well then, you’re just... like... me...”

I was nothing like him. I had my friends. Who the hell did he have? “I am nothing like you!” I roared, flailing my wings out at the fractured image of me in the mirror. I hobbled over to Basalt’s side smarting as my injured left wing reminded me that no, this wasn’t exactly a mindscape, and that yes, things did hurt like hell. I stumbled over to her, covering her with my body. “I have ponies to protect! What the fuck do you have?”

“We have each other. Together. Forever,” came the whisper from underneath me. Basalt twisted her head to stare up at me, her eyes darted rapidly in different directions as she grinned from ear to ear. “Are you going to melt my face now?” she rasped as she stared at me.

“I am not yours!” I said, squeezing my eyes shut so I couldn’t see his face. I needed to focus. I wasn’t going to beat him with words. I needed to know what was real.

Then it hit me. My wing. I flailed out my left wing. The strained muscles and bruised tendons cried out in protest at my moving it. I stamped my left hoof into the floor, driving more glass into the frog. The music rose. The music fell. The music rose. The music fell... the music...

“I. Am. Not. Yours!” I said, listening for the source of the music. Where was that music box? I peered past the swirling spirals and impossible geometry, spotting the music box on the bedside stand. Had to get to it!

The room seemed to stretch before me like taffy, undulating like rubber as I tried to cross the distance, the whole while keeping my wing pinched, the stab of pain twisting in the joint. All else could be an illusion, but the pain, the pain was real, the pain was certain. Step. Step. Step. It seemed like the bedroom had become a hallway. The walls twisted into a garish face, the music box on the tip of a snaking tongue. “No! Noooo! Not yet! We have so much more to talk about! So much more left to do! I haven’t finished taking you apart yet! I must know! I must understand you! I must! I must! I must!” he shrieked as I lunged. It seemed like a mile or more, time slowing down as the shrieks came faster and faster.

Then my chest slammed into the nightstand, my forelegs wrapped around the tacky music box. I lifted it over my head. “You must,” I roared, “shut up!” And I threw it down with all my strength.

The box smashed open in an immensely satisfying shower of steel and brass confetti, the meandering melody cut off as if by a knife, and I stood there as the guts of the machine pinged softly over the floor and all was silent, save for Basalt’s groans and my own ragged breaths.

“Basalt?” I rasped, limping over to her side.

Basalt opened her eyes, and rubbed her temple. “Luna, Celestia, and Cadence. Did somepony get a number on that widowmaker that got me?” She asked, rolling to her hooves.

I wasn’t sure what a widowmaker was, but I shook my head. “I think this place was trapped. But we better get out of here.”

Basalt nodded as she got to her hooves and started rummaging through the dresser. I made my way over to the bedside stand. Pulling out a bag of caps, I found what I was looking for. A small package with the number 9 on it.

“I found it!” I called quietly. “We better get back to Blackjack and everyone!” I said without thinking of using my friend’s alias.

“Blackjack?” Basalt asked, cocking her head to the side. “Wait… who is Blackjack?”

“Er… Fish. You know, don’t worry about it!” I lied. “We better get this to her and to Buzzsaw!”

Basalt nodded. “Right. Got the evidence. Now to go save the girl!” She said with a grin.

I chuckled. “Uh, Basalt, does Buzzsaw’s barn door even swing that way?” I asked as we stepped out of the door.

She nearly tripped as my question stuck like a knife in her chest. “Um... no. No, it don’t. But that doesn’t matter, got it?” She snapped, thrusting a hoof at me. “We’re saving her, no matter what!”

Crack! Ping!

Basalt and I hit the ground as a bullet pinged off of the door hinge. Basalt grabbed me around the barrel and rolled us back into Peculiar’s room as an assault rifle chattered, chewing holes in the wall, and peppering us with chunks of drywall and splinters.

“Shit!” Basalt swore, and flicked her tail. Those two chisel hooves flew out of her tail as she thrust her hooves into them. “They know!”

“Which means our friends are in trouble!” I cried out, drawing my plasma defender. “We’ve got to get out of here!”

A white unicorn’s head appeared in the doorway, and just as quickly ducked back as I fired off a pair of rounds at him. The green glowing blobs of disintegration magic blew a hole in the doorframe, and in the hall outside.

“Surrender! We’ve got you surrounded!” A commanding voice bellowed. Basalt pulled me down as the assault rifle fired again. “Surrender in the name of the Family!”

“Threnody, we’ve been set up,” Basalt said quietly, slipping off her chisel hooves. “Hide that package in your barding.”

I nodded, stuffing the folder down the breast of my barding. She let out a sigh of relief as I hid it from sight.

“Okay, we’re coming out!” Basalt said. “We surrender!”

I put down my defender, and followed Basalt out of Peculiar’s room. A group of four armoured unicorns trained their assault rifles on us as we came .

The unicorn in charge glared at us, and slapped Basalt across the muzzle. The grey earth pony glared back at him defiantly as his partners levitated sturdy cuffs around our hooves.

The stallion looked down at his pipbuck, and triggered a broadcaster. “Sir? This is Security Team B. We’ve got the terrorists.” He said, smirking at us. “Do you want us to bring them to the head office?” He put his hoof to an earbloom to listen, then nodded. “Yes sir, Captain Elusive. I’ll bring them in.”

“Who is Captain Elusive?” I asked, still looking at the hoofcuffs.

The stallion glared at me. “He’s the new mayor of this town. The Family is taking over.” He said, jabbing at my shoulder with the butt of his rifle.

Basalt’s head shot up. “New mayor? But… but Buzzsaw-”

“Buzzsaw has been executed for collaboration with terrorists like you.” He said matter of factly, not flinching as tears welled up in Basalt’s eyes. “We are in charge of Fold now.”

Level Up! Level 4 Reached
New Perk: Extra SPECIAL
Endurance +1

Level Up! Level 5 Reached
New Perk: Student of the Followers
+5 points to Medicine and Science.

Author's Notes:

Ok. Done. Finally! Oh goddesses. So, legit, work has been an issue. However, I am getting 2 weeks of FMLA leave coming up, and I really, really, really want to get the Fold Arc concluded. I mean, who doesn't love conflicts?! Not me, goddess Luna save me.

As always, thank you so much to Somber, Bronode, and OverKenzie for helping me out with this.

This chapter's promotion is Fallout Equestria: Sunny Skies. We don't get many pegasus MC's, so I liked this story because of it! Check it out! Maybe it'll get IM to write more.