Rainbow Dash and I stood silently for a while, our heads on each other’s shoulders, then I felt her shift a little and leave the embrace of my hooves. To her credit, it lasted much longer than I expected, considering Rainbow’s attitude towards such “sappy” things, as she called them.

“Hey! You there!” she called to somepony behind my back. “Come out!”

I turned to see at whom she was shouting and saw Flower, Wire and Del cautiously poking their heads out from behind the metal plate. In the heat of the moment I had almost forgotten about them, and I could easily understand their curiosity. I imagined they would have been very confused by the scene which had unfolded before their eyes – a lot of different emotions passed between me and Rainbow in the span of mere minutes. However, they weren’t eager to leave the protective bulk of the old metal sheet, which was still standing fast despite being mauled by bullets.

“Sorry, but I didn’t enjoy your guns being pointed on us!” Red Wire yelled back, her tone as caustic as ever. “And as far as I remember the Crown doesn’t leave any witnesses!” she added with clear concern in her voice.

“They were offline.” Rainbow rolled her eyes in exasperation. “And we don’t fire at minors, anyway.”

But Rainbow’s excuses fell on deaf ears, since none of the girls left the shadow of the rusty remains. If anything, they only retracted their heads deeper, especially Delight. I wasn’t sure if it was Rainbow’s unconvincing choice of words or the general distrust towards the Crown. For them she was just another enforcer of their tyrannical rulers’ will after all.

I shook my head in mild amusement – five hundred years hadn’t done Rainbow any service in terms of her negotiating abilities. I had to intervene if I didn’t want to watch her and the girls bicker across the clearing until the next day. Though, it seemed Rainbow was just as aware of her failure in persuading my new friends that she wasn’t a threat.

“I’m sorry, alright?” she yelled, unfortunately sounding more annoyed than apologetic. Rolling my eyes with a smile, I, unseen to her, motioned to the girls with my hoof to come out.

Slowly and ever so cautiously, the three ponies left their little sanctuary. Flower was the first, followed by Delight, and after a few moments Wire joined them as well. They all trotted almost on half-bent knees, constantly glancing warily at the dark skies as if expecting the Royal Guard to descend on them at any moment.

Finally, they approached us, keeping mostly to me and trying to keep as much distance as possible between them and Rainbow.

Tin Flower was bearing an expression of stubborn defiance, glancing back and forth, curiously at me and apprehensively at Dash. She alone positioned herself between me and Rainbow, while the others seemed to hide behind my back. Delight was obviously frightened, her healthy eye wide and peeking from behind her frazzled mane as she nursed her wing, dewing the charred ground with occasional drops of blood from the wound. And Red Wire was just glaring at Rainbow Dash with outright disdain, giving me disapproving glances from time to time. Even Trixie stood back, looking at the entire scene with clear concern.

Awkward silence hung in the air. Everypony present shifted anxiously, though each for different reasons. Despite my success with bringing all my friends in this world together, the atmosphere could be described as strained at best. And I knew why.

“What’s going to happen next?” I asked Rainbow. That had to be the question on everypony’s minds right now. Not that I wasn't curious as well. With the changelings added to the picture, the future had become unpredictable.

“I actually have no idea?” Rainbow rubbed the back of her helmet, scrunching her nose and frowning. I raised my brow questioningly. “I mean, I was ordered to retrieve an ‘invaluable equinoid’, undamaged and at any cost. I didn’t know it was going to be you, nor did I expect to be attacked by the locals and take casualties,” she explained, her frown deepening at the last part. “The problem is that right now my squad defied my orders and the Command Center is silent, though they didn’t cut me off.”

“Do you think Queen Chrysalis expected the equinoid to be me?” In my mind I listed all the times I had mentioned my name to anyone since I had ‘returned’. The most obvious guess had to be Archivarius, after all he was ‘the Crown’s property’, which in turn explained why he looked so uncanny – he was a pony created by changelings.

“I’m pretty sure this is why she sent me of all the Guards, and with a full squadron.” Rainbow looked around, squinting her eyes at some certain points in the darkness, though I could see nothing there. “One thing I can tell you with certainty – we need to leave the combat area right now.”

“Why is that?” Now all of us were glancing around in concern. Were we about to be attacked again? However, from what I had seen before, looking for the remaining members of Mercury's gang was an exercise in futility – until the Edge attackers opened fire, they were practically invisible. The rapidly growing dusk wasn’t helping the issue either.

“My squad didn’t return to base, they have encircled the clearing and are waiting – we absolutely need to retrieve the body, the armor can’t fall into anypony’s hooves.” So she was looking at the changelings hiding in the darkness – not a pleasant difference for me. Though, I could understand her concern – the Royal Guard’s invincibility had to be resting on the secret of their protection. After all, most of it was granted by the enchantments rather than the arcanium itself. If understood and deciphered, it wouldn’t be hard to eventually come up with proper counterspells. “And at the same time, we cannot afford to be seen lingering for far too long at the Edge, it can become suspicious,” she continued. “The last thing me and any of you want right now is the TCE police sniffing around.”

“It is too dark for traveling, unfortunately.” The sun had set, leaving us no chance to leave the Junkyard and head to the Badlands without risk of stumbling into the jagged metal scrap or tripping over our hooves. That is, if we were still heading there – I didn’t plan to leave the girls so soon, not to mention Rainbow Dash now that I had met her. And there was also the question of if I would be allowed to do that – Princess Luna, sane or not, meant a death sentence for Queen Chrysalis.

“And you were heading to…?” Rainbow asked, tilting her head. Flower and Delight joined her puzzlement, glancing at me.

“Trixie and I wanted to find Princess Luna.” I could almost feel the girls’ confusion, especially Flower’s; she began to open her mouth in an obvious question, so I added, looking at her, “Not before visiting you, however.”

“Well, it is very noble of you, but I don’t think there is anything left to look for,” grumbled Rainbow, who to my amazement apparently had no idea Princess Luna didn’t die.

“Dash, she is alive.” Rainbow frowned in disbelief. The girls exchanged clueless glances as well, since for them my answer contradicted everything they knew.

“If she was alive, I wouldn’t be taking orders from Queen Chrysalis,” she retorted with an annoyed huff, still refusing to believe me. “Come on, Twi, it’s a waste of time.”

“Rainbow, I’m serious!”

“She is telling the truth – I’ve seen her myself,” came Trixie’s voice, though she remained where she was – a few paces from us.

For the first time Rainbow Dash seemed to acknowledge Trixie’s presence and turned to regard her with an unreadable expression, though her eyes were squinted in a somewhat menacing way.

Rainbow slowly walked to Trixie and stopped right before her. Despite Trixie being taller (the armor didn’t add much height to Rainbow’s frame), Rainbow seemed to tower over Trixie. And even though they both kept as neutral faces as was possible, the air between them was all but crackling with animosity.

“Trixie Lulamoon,” Rainbow Dash said slowly and carefully, her tone low, but otherwise peaceful. However, there was something else to her voice, some notes so subtle I wasn’t able to discern them. Disdain? Admiration? “I’ve wanted to meet you ever since I learned about you. About what you have done.”

I frowned. Even though I was undoubtedly happy to meet Trixie, I knew from the very beginning she wasn’t telling me everything. She might have been using dark magic for good, but there was something else to it – there always had to be a dire price paid for it, and now I wasn’t sure anymore if it was only Trixie who paid it. I took a step closer to them, but not only because I was utterly confused – I saw Trixie visibly tense and her gun poking out of the holster shift ever so slightly. Whatever was happening, the situation seemed to be escalating in the wrong direction.

“You won us the war,” Rainbow suddenly stated loud and clear. I blinked in confusion – Trixie definitely didn’t tell me something. “It may have taken you a while to figure where your loyalties lay, but you made the right choice in the end. I can respect that.” With those words Rainbow extended her hoof towards Trixie for a shake, which she hesitantly and gingerly returned. Meanwhile my mind raced, as I stood where I was with my hoof still lifted, frozen in the air mid-step. I tried to find a reasonable explanation to what just transpired before my eyes, considering the new information I had just learned. And after a few moments, pieces started to come together in my head.

Trixie had been using dark magic since before we even met for the second time in my ‘other’ life. And back then there was only one place where a pony could learn such things – the Coven, a fact only confirmed by Rainbow’s mention of misguided loyalties. However, I still had trouble connecting Trixie to the victory in the war. Though, she mentioned the King being betrayed and her being cursed at the same period of time, but that sounded like a crazy theory… Nevertheless, I now had to confront her about the whole truth.

“Thank you,” Trixie humbly replied, still recovering from what she (and I as well) had expected to turn into a fight; but apparently it didn’t take her much time, as she added with a chuckle, “I’m going to kill Soarin the next time I meet him for not telling me you were alive all this time.”

“Don’t blame him, it was me who gave the order not to tell anypony.” Rainbow smiled and waved her hoof in dismissal. Then her expression hardened. “So if Luna is indeed alive…” She fell silent for a few long moments, face scrunched in concentration. “I need to think about it, but right now we have to move out, fast.” She looked at me and for a single very brief moment her eyes shifted to the fillies right behind me. It took me a second to understand her subtle hint.

“Um, Flower, can we use your shack for the night?” I turned to the filly who bore an increasingly displeased and skeptical expression throughout the entire exchange between me and Dash and then between her and Trixie. Though to my guess the reason for this wasn’t genuine disapproval of everything transpiring before her eyes, but rather it was to hide a total lack of understanding. After all, the things spoken about were even erased from history, remaining only in the minds of the few who lived through them and still walked around.

However, perplexity didn’t linger for long on Flower’s face as more practical and personal concerns took up her mind. And it didn’t take her long to come up with the answer.

“Can’t see why not.” She shrugged nonchalantly but then proceeded to give a critical look not only to me but to Rainbow and Trixie as well. “Though I have no idea how you are all planning to fit in.” Her eyes shifted between the tip of Trixie’s horn (which marked almost twice Flower’s height) and Rainbow’s wings – even folded they were still giving her quite a volume. “There isn’t that much space for me and Delight already.”

“That’s because it has so much junk in it,” the pegasus in question dryly commented.

“They are components!” Flower snapped back, though I couldn’t disagree with Del.

“Nah, it’s garbage,” Wire quipped, joining the squabble and the girls began to exchange verbal jabs as they headed away from the clearing, leaving me, my ‘old’ friends and Del to come after them.

As we began to follow, Rainbow lingered behind to spend a few quick moments examining the fallen Guard’s armor, and by the time she caught up with us she had a first-aid kit held tightly under one of her armor’s airfoils.

“For your wing,” Rainbow quietly said as she passed the small white box with a red cross to Delight. “And for your service to the Crown,” she added just as low with a glance at Del’s burned Moth’s mark. Delight just silently took the kit with a timid nod and began to nose through its contents as she walked slightly behind me.

I stared at their exchange and an unpleasant question began to form in my mind. Now that I could clearly see the true purpose of brothels in Canterlot and the circumstances surrounding them seemed illogical no more, it left only one mystery unanswered. Were the Moths changelings? Delight certainly didn’t appear to be so. I could write it off as an act, but more importantly, her blood was red rather than green. However, that might be an illusion as well, the changelings were all about deception. I didn’t realize I had continued to stare at Del until I felt a soft tap on my shoulder. As I turned to see who it was, I saw Rainbow, who was looking at me intently and shaking her head slowly. I glanced at Delight again and she finally noticed my attention and smiled back at me around a mouth full of bandages.

What was I thinking? Of course she wasn’t a changeling. Delight had kindness so genuine that no monster like them could mimic, no matter how good they were at it. I had to do something with my mind, because I felt very soon I might start seeing changelings in anypony. The last thing I needed right now was paranoia taking me over. My gaze slid back to Rainbow, her expression couldn’t decide between being sympathetic and disapproving and I realized I was scowling. Regardless of how events turned out, the ride ahead of us wasn’t going to be smooth, that I was sure about.

After a couple of minutes of fierce bickering and muffled swearing Flower parted with Wire, leaving her to angrily stomp ahead, muttering curses. She slowed down and waited until I was walking beside her.

“What happened to you after we left? We expected you to take two days at most, but it’s been nine.” Flower’s tone was concerned, but I could clearly hear subtle notes of accusal in her voice.

I hesitated for a few moments before answering. How could I explain to a filly, though not so innocent, what I went through? Did she need to know about the sins of my past which echoed still?

“I ran into some trouble in the Tunnels,” I went with the truth, but decided to leave out the details. “I accidentally downloaded a virus.”

“You don’t get that shit accidentally,” Red Wire grumbled from my other side, surprising me – I had failed to notice her approaching.

“Tone it down, Wire,” Flower said harshly, glaring at her friend over my back, “she couldn’t know.”

Knowing the fillies, I had to cull that conflict before it began, or I would never hear the end to another verbal fight. The worst thing was that it seemed to be how their friendship worked – with borderline unhealthy banter. It was something I would definitely address at some point when I got the chance.

“I’m alright now, Flower, don’t worry,” I interjected, preventing Wire’s reply – she snapped her mouth shut with a frown. “How have you been? Did you escape without any trouble?”

“Yup, we’ve been fine,” Flower replied and then paused, turned her head back and continued in a louder voice over her shoulder, “except for Delight trying to kill me.”

The reaction from the usually mellow pegasus was instantaneous and fierce.

“I’d like to watch how well you do a perfect landing without depth perception!” she yelled at Flower in an extremely wrathful tone, scowling and letting the bandages she was applying to her wing fall out of her mouth and hang from her wounded limb or drop on the dirty ground. However, Delight’s eyes betrayed the true nature of her feelings – an almost hidden mirth sparkled in them.

“Yeah, Flower, shut the fuck up,” Wire readily re-joined the conversation, “it’s easy for you to talk when you have both eyes.”

I let out an exasperated sigh. I absolutely had to talk with them about the way they treated each other, including Delight, who might have good intentions, but ultimately was only fueling the spite between Flower and Wire. And I also began to have an idea of why Del and Wire were getting along – a common injury was a strange thing to bond over, but it seemed to work nevertheless.

As fast as it began, their little fight began to wind down. Wire was now walking beside Del, helping her fasten the bandages with her magic, while Flower was again trotting beside me.

“What was all that about?” I furrowed my brow in confusion at her question – she had to be more specific. Apparently, she took notice of my reaction and hastily added, “Is one of the Princesses really alive? And who are the changelings?”

“I’ve learned that Princess Luna somehow survived, but she is…” I paused momentarily, searching for the right words, “...not well and needs my help.” I really hoped that it was so, because the longer I thought about Trixie’s plan of just showing up before Nightmare Moon and hoping that she would miraculously regain sanity, the less I wanted to proceed with it. “And the changelings are an old enemy of Equestria.” I had to pause again and uncertainly added, correcting myself, ”Were.” Again, it was something I wasn’t sure about. A lot of things were pointing to Queen Chrysalis acting in the interests of Equestria these days, but it didn’t change the fact that ponydom existed in a living nightmare.

It took some time for Flower to process my words – she was obviously giving it her best try judging by her furrowed brows and scrunched snout. But apparently she couldn’t come to some certain conclusion.

“It is bad or good news?” Flower asked, looking at me expectantly.

That is where the problem was – I too couldn’t answer that question.

“I don’t know. It’s… complicated.”

Flower frowned at that, but said nothing and continued to walk by my side, as we followed Red Wire. Darkness embraced us from all the sides, and I could see only Wire’s scarlet mane in front of me, shining in the night with the reflections of her spell – a little yellow mote of light on the tip of her horn. I used my own magic to light the treacherous ground and no less dangerous surroundings. Because of the constant risk of running into some rusty and sharp debris, we moved carefully and thus rather slowly. And while Wire and Flower effortlessly evaded any decayed perils, I could hear Del, who followed me step by step, yelping from time to time as she was poked by the rotten iron bones. I turned my back and saw two eerie purple eyes a few paces away calmly gazing back at me – it seemed Trixie was absolutely comfortable with being completely submerged in the inky blackness. Though it came as no surprise. However, I couldn’t spot Rainbow in the dark behind me. Did she trail off?

Suddenly, her voice came from my side, almost making me jump in the air.

“So, Twi, how did you get back?” Even if Rainbow noticed that she spooked me, she made no sign of it and continued, “The last time I saw you, you were acting like a fancy calculator.”

At first I wanted to harshly reprimand her, but I realized that if Rainbow hadn’t changed her habits after a few centuries, doing so would be an exercise in futility. Instead, I began to think how to explain the peculiarity of my situation. Just like it was with Trixie, she thought that I ‘completed’ the transference and was the same Twilight who attempted it.

“This filly,” -I pointed to my other side- “Tin Flower, used my old recording crystals to create an equinoid and brought me back to life. Later I… re-acquired this body.” Inwardly I winced at my choice of words – I could still recall the ‘Twilight’s’ words from my hallucinations. Despite the fact it was at least the third time I had said that, my next words I had to force out of myself, “I don’t remember anything beyond the trial…”

“What trial?” Rainbow looked at me in genuine confusion, which lasted only until she saw my pained look, for I had no words. She grimaced, her eyes going wide for an instant, then mirroring my own. “Oh, right...” she mumbled and cast her gaze to the ground.

For a few minutes we trotted in heavy silence. I didn’t dare look at Rainbow, I didn’t want to see the truth in her eyes. She might have stopped thinking about that incident, but for me that memory was very fresh. My mistake didn’t kill Rainbow Dash, but it cost her dearly nonetheless, and I had just reminded her of that.

“Well,” Rainbow finally said, letting out a deep sigh, “that makes two of us, I missed out on everything that happened next, too.” Though her tone bore no notes of accusal or malice, only weariness, I still stubbornly refused to look at her. “And thank you for bringing my friend back, Tin Flower.” She threw over my back to the filly in a much more upbeat tone, though still noticeably tensed. Flower grunted something unintelligible in acknowledging the praise, but remained silent otherwise.

After five more minutes of silence which was disturbed only by muffled curses when the debris got the better of Del, Rainbow or even Trixie, we arrived atop the hill, where my journey once began. Flower’s sordid dwelling met us with shadows in the old wounds on the walls quivering from my and Wire’s light spells. Without missing a beat Wire disappeared inside, followed by Delight. Flower was the last to join them, though she stopped before the door creaking in the wind and gave me and the rest of the company a critical glance, shrugged and remained there waiting with a slightly curious expression.

By my side Rainbow emanated a quiet sound which I could only describe as a groan of skepticism. Flower’s previous remark was quite justified – it was clear Rainbow’s wings wouldn’t even fit the doorframe.

“I will stand guard outside,” she stated and quickly added, “I feel like the TCE has their hoof in all of this somehow.” With those words she trotted to the crest of the hill at a leisurely pace, to the exact place where I saw the scenery of Canterlot for the first time.

That left me and Trixie. In her case it was her horn which would be scraping the ceiling.

“And I want to check something,” Trixie said as she appeared at my side, as if literally materializing from shadows. However, she didn’t address me, but rather the filly at the door. “Tin Flower, right?” Trixie approached her, who seemed to be no less surprised than me but held defiantly as the figure shrouded in darkness towered over her. “Do you know where that psycho with that rifle lived? Because I don't believe that a filly that crazy was able to accomplish something the TCE had tried for centuries.”

“Mercury’s shack is between the nearest smelter and the old camp. It's the most decent looking one, can't miss it.”

“Good thinking, Trixie,” Rainbow suddenly commented from halfway to the observation point.

“The Crown owes me for this one,” she exclaimed back. “Again,” she added in a quieter voice, making me tilt my head in curiosity. Was that truly why Trixie defended the Crown? Yet another thing she didn’t bother to tell me about.

“Thanks, kiddo,” Trixie said to Flower with a shallow bow of her head and dived into the darkness, instantly dissolving into it.

With Rainbow now holding a silent vigil over the decaying landscape and Trixie gone to look for the origins of the devastating weapon Pepper Mercury wielded, I was left with only one thing to do – to follow Tin Flower into her shack. I had mixed feelings about that. On one hoof I wanted to take a moment of rest, to spend some time with the girls. But on the other, I couldn’t stop thinking about what was going to happen next – how my plans changed regarding Princess Luna and the next steps after that. I glanced at the dark armored silhouette of my old friend against the neverwaning neon glow of Canterlot. She needed time to think, and I might have things to reassess as well.

So I walked to Flower – she looked frazzled by the events of this evening and quite tired. I smiled at her encouragingly, hoping that today’s experience didn’t take too much of a toll on her psyche, and together we entered her humble abode.

Surprisingly, it looked a bit better than the last time I was there. But only a bit, the room was still very far from the order of the goat’s workshop or even that of Scuff Gear’s. I suspected I should have thanked Del for that – it must have been her who brought some cleanness to the messy interior. There were places clear of spare parts now, especially on the floor, where a relatively decent bedding resided – I couldn’t remember it from before. The empty window had a sheet of dirty cloth stretched over it – torn and having the sky and wind peeking in through the many holes, it was still better than not having half of the wall.

Delight and Wire barely paid us any attention as we came in. Del was busy with... cooking, or at least that's what it looked like. She stood in front of a small black pot on the small stove powered by an enchanted crystal, judging by the soft glow. The contents of the pot quietly bubbled, emanating the musty smell of mushrooms – probably the same I could see in the bunches besides the stove along with rusty tin cans. She stirred the meal and grimaced – whether it was from her lack of success or the gross nature of the ingredients she was using, I couldn’t tell.

Red Wire was fumbling with the remains of some device, probing it with telekinesis, tugging at the loose cables and making the screen and diodes blink back to life as she funneled her magic into them. Flower approached her, took the broken gadget from her friend’s hooves and did something, and it came to semi-life – the light coming from it became steady, but very weak. Wire pursed her lips at her friend’s success and lost interest in the device altogether, instead focusing on me.

“Well, Twilight, I must say you’ve gotten yourself a nice frame, much better than that heap of shit Flower glued together,” she finally said in her grouchy tone after studying me for some time.

“Hey! I’d like to see you do better!” Flower snapped at her while she still held the device in her hooves, still trying to completely restore its functionality.

“I’m not going to stoop down to your level, criminal.” To my immense displeasure, the fillies returned to their bantering routine for the umpteenth time this evening. As I contemplated stopping them once again, I wondered what kept them from outright fighting – Flower’s heavy metal hoof or Wire’s magic.

“As you can see the Crown is more than alright with this,” Flower grumbled, grabbing a screwdriver and sticking it into the device – she seemed to be adamant on fixing it.

“I think that Guard didn’t poke you with her guns enough,” Wire icily continued her verbal attack. However, Tin Flower seemed to be ready for it as she was very quick to come with a retort.

“You're just saying that because you almost shat yourself,” she grumbled almost incomprehensibly due to the screwdriver clenched in her teeth.

“Pff. Why would I?” Wire dismissed her words with as much nonchalance as possible. “She is just a pony with a gun, no big deal...” She let her words trail off in the way that it was obvious there was to be a continuation. Flower stopped for moment and raised her eyes at Wire to give her an annoyed look. The unicorn filly smiled incisively, making sure that her friend was now paying her undivided attention. “Trixie’s magic on the other hoof… that’s something I can call cool.”

The screwdriver fell on the floor and soon the device followed it, though in a much gentler way, and the accusing hoof pointed at Red Wire.

“Now, listen here, you…”

I rolled my eyes and turned away from the fillies. Though it could be a bit amusing, I had no desire to listen their debate on who was “cooler”, for I feared I might have learned some new words they shouldn’t have known. Stopping them was pointless just as well, since I had to root out the problem instead of just getting rid of the symptoms – it would take them about five minutes at most before they started to bicker again.

So I headed to the corner where Del made a makeshift table on the workbench and now was battling with the supper. To be honest, I couldn’t offer her much assistance, there was a very good reason why it was always Spike who cooked for us both. But I could lend some moral support and as I suspected, it might have been in order not just for cooking.

Since Delight was completely absorbed in the process, I waited until she noticed me – I didn’t want to spook her, not after today. Very soon she paid me a single glance out of the corner of her eye, acknowledging my presence, but said nothing.

“Del, are you alright?”

“Twilight, that’s very nice of you but I feel much better than I look.” She was very quick to realize I wasn’t asking her about her current culinary misadventures. And even after her reassurance I had a very hard time believing her words – the Edge certainly did her no favors for her appearance. Though her coat was not pristine when I first met her in the Tunnels, the Junkyard did everything possible to mar it with rust and grime, trying to make her resemble Tin Flower. Del now was wearing rags all over her body, but judging by how they were positioned, it was mostly to disguise her rather than keep her warm – her pegasus plumage worked on that already and despite the best efforts of the Edge it stood out with its almost white color. But at least she managed to keep her mane in relatively good condition, with Wire’s help, I suspected – that filly certainly cared about hers.

“I would give a lot for a warm shower and decent meal, though,” Delight continued, scowling in apparent dissatisfaction at the miserable meal she was cooking. “At first I was absolutely horrified by this place, but I got used to it.” She slowly looked around as if inviting me to take in our lamentable surroundings, but when her eyes stopped at me, she was smiling. “You know, after my entire life in the city, spending a week in the company of just two fillies is so refreshing. I didn’t know I’d forgotten how silence sounds.” She chuckled. “Also, Flower and Wire are such nice kids. Geode is actually a pretty sweet filly, once you know her better.” As Del used Wire’s real name, her smile gained a mix of triumph and slyness to it – getting that name meant a deep degree of friendship with that filly, something I didn’t have. “Taking care of them almost made me regret becoming a Moth,” she finished with barely noticeable sorrow in her voice.

“Hm?” I tilted my head at her. Did I miss something when she was telling me about her former occupation?

“Part of the job,” Delight very quietly replied. Her voice became so soft I could barely discern it over whistle of the wind in the rust-perforated walls and the girls’ quarreling. “The Moths can’t have foals.”

It took me a moment to actually register that she was saying and connect the dots in my head. I gasped.

“I’m so sorry…” I moved closer to her to offer a sympathetic touch or even a hug if needed, but Delight leaned away.

“Don’t be.” To my surprise her voice was full of scorn and bitterness. “I’m glad I made that choice. Nopony so good and innocent should suffer this city,” she hissed, giving a very quick glance to the fillies who oblivious to us were still arguing about who was more ‘awesome’ from my ‘old friends’ they recently met.

For a few moments a heavy silence hung between us. I realized that I couldn’t actually argue with Delight’s point. It wasn’t a place for foals and that applied not only to the Edge but to every place I had seen so far.

Del’s breath was audible – the air forcefully coming from her nostrils flaring in anger. But her state of wrath didn’t last for long and she turned her head to look at me, studying my face for some time.

“Are you alright Twilight?” She finally asked, squinting at me. “You have been away for a whole week and… there is something different about you.” She flicked her ear and added, “Not that it’s a bad thing.”

Once again, I hesitated with the answer. I didn’t doubt Delight’s ability to understand the intricacies of that I went through. But the question was the same – did she really need to know? What would change if I told her I had faced my past mistakes and came out as a different pony from what I was, even before the Great War? She respected me already, so much that without hesitation she followed what was basically an order to take a filly she barely knew and flee to one of the worst parts of the city. I didn’t need to prove to her that I had changed to something better. She, like Flower and Wire, accepted me as is.

“I…” I paused momentarily, searching for the best way to put the days spent battling with insanity deep under the city into a few words, “ran into some trouble in the Tunnels with my memories. It was related to my…’previous’ life.”

Any traces of the burst of anger Delight just had vanished from her face completely and a watchful sympathetic expression overtook her features.

“I will lend you an ear, if you need.”

As I expected, it didn’t matter for her. Just as it was when we were traversing the streets of Canterlot I saw in her the reason why it still stood – there might have been many things gone from Equestria and forgotten, but not true friendship.

“Thank you, Delight.”

I silently watched as Del finished cooking the mushrooms and poured the steaming meal into two metal bowls, leaving the rest in the pot and taking it for herself. The result of her exertions was as good as it could be, I supposed. Somewhat pleasant-smelling, brown mush sloshed in the dishes. In other circumstances it wouldn’t be possible to call it a proper meal, but considering that mushrooms and a few cans of preserved vegetables were the only supplies at her disposal, it was probably the best option. Much better than chewing on raw slimy rampled shrooms and certainly better than eating mold.

The moment Del finished filling the bowls, the fillies approached them to take in their hooves. They were already done with their argument, though without coming to any conclusion. So Tin Flower had returned to her attempts to repair the device, but without much enthusiasm, while Wire had leaned against the wall and dozed off. It was quite clear they were running on fumes – the long day had certainly taken its toll. Now they all sat closer to the lamp in the corner, with Delight soon joining them with the pot under her uninjured wing, and began to slurp the gruel.

As usual, I had no need and no ability to join their meager meal and instead just sat with them, as silent as before.

Every so often, one of them would steal a glance at me full of curiosity, but it was very quickly snuffed like a candle in the wind by drowsiness. There was an unspoken understanding between us – nothing was decided yet and things would be clearer in the morning, but not earlier. Ironically, of all of them I probably hoped for it the most. While the girls would have their oblivious rest, I had to think of what steps I was about to make and by extension, they as well, for our lives had become too intertwined by this point.

The girls licked the last drops of their supper from their dishes and, after putting them on the improvised counter, began to settle for the night. Taking me unaware, Delight hopped in a rush of feathers onto one of the racks with boxes and spare parts. On top of it was a nest made from rags and loose feathers, something I failed to notice when I first entered this shack. Her single eye peered from the shadows as if asking me, “What?”, but I just smiled faintly and shook my head – the pegasi and their habits. Another pair of eyes watched me from the dim of the shack – Flower looked at me fixedly from the bedding where she and Wire lay side by side to save warmth on this cold night. The red-maned filly was already fast asleep, judging by the slow rise and fall of her sides. In less than a minute, Flower’s intent gaze went out as her heavy eyelids dropped, letting the tired filly succumb to the world of dreams.

And nightmares. I doubted Princess Luna cared about guarding the Dream Realm in her state. One more reason to save her. But would I be allowed to? There was no question of what would happen to Queen Chrysalis with the return of Princess Luna – the vile witch would do anything to stop me if she knew. But did she? I didn’t know if Rainbow had told her anything and if she would betray my plans or help me.

I could sit here all night long, silently asking question after question, but I would never receive any answer. However, there was somepony still awake, and I hoped that now, after some time had passed, Rainbow Dash would be ready to discuss the future. But with how our last talk ended, I wasn’t looking forward it.

As quietly as possible, to not wake the filles and Delight, I exited the shack and entered the night.

It was apparent that the Thunderspires rested as the veil of darkness ceased to cover the city. It meant that the storms surrounding them dissipated, letting the Moon bathe Canterlot in its mellow glow. But the city rejected it, replacing the moonlight with cold neon, so bright it blinded the stars, making them hide in the darkness of the firmament. And under that blank sky Canterlot churned with life even despite the night. It felt like a cruel joke now when there was the possibility of Princess Luna’s return – ponies had finally begun to appreciate the night, but at the cost of turning it into a nightmare.

The picture before my eyes was pretty much the same that met me not so long after I woke up from my ages-long slumber. Back then Canterlot frightened me as if it was unfamiliar and strange, something novel. But now, when I knew the truths it held, the dark secrets it concealed, it was only bringing sorrow to my proverbial heart. There was nothing new about it, nothing marvelous, only the timeless flaws of ponykind disguised as progress.

The only thing that was different now was a pony sitting against the glowing landscape. I let out a deep sigh – there was no escape from it, I couldn’t run from myself, I was different too now.

It felt like I was wading through slog as I approached Rainbow Dash. She gave me a single sideways glance and then continued to scan the scenery for any signs of trouble.

I steeled myself.

“Rainbow, I’m sorry,” I said quietly and as steadily as I could.

She tore her gaze from the view of the Junkyard and the city and turned to me with a confused expression.

“Huh? For what?”

“For the trial,” I whispered, hanging down my head. I couldn’t bear myself to look at Rainbow right now and feared to hear her next words like nothing else.

“Twi…” she softly chuckled and paused. It wasn’t a reaction I expected. “You…” She groaned in exasperation. “Agh… just don’t be ridiculous.” I felt her hooves on my chin as she lifted my head to look me in the eyes. They bore no hint of accusation, just the endless serenity of somepony who came to peace with her past. “It’s not your fault, we were at war – it could have been Sombra’s spies. Or it could even be the changelings.” She rolled her eyes with a shrug. “We will never know.”

“And if it was my fault?” I choked out the only option she omitted, the only that mattered.

Her expression didn’t change, if anything her calm smile only grew.

“Mistakes happen to everypony, Twi.” She let go of my chin, put her hoof on my shoulder and tilted her head a bit in an expression of assurance. “Really, stop it.”

I felt like a huge weight was lifted from my shoulders. I was really glad to know that the event which changed our lives didn’t weigh on her mind and even if she saw my fault in it, I was forgiven.

And now I was curious.

“So, um, how did you end up in this suit for so long?” It could save her from imminent death caused by wounds, but once they were healed, there would be no need to wear it anymore, at least not as Rainbow put it – being stuck in it.

“As you can imagine the explosion hurt me pretty hard. I was left alive but barely so – wings torn to shreds, multiple fractures and internal hemorrhages.” I winced. If I was left blind and semi-paralyzed from being that far from it, then Rainbow was either incredibly lucky or wasn’t telling me everything. She rubbed the back of her helmet and continued, squinting in search of the memories – it probably wasn’t a topic raised very often in her life. “I don’t know who it was, changelings or ponies, they put me into a coma to prevent my brain from getting more damaged than it already was. And since the medicine at that moment couldn’t do much for me they used some kind of time-bending runes to put me into stasis and then to keep me alive after I was awake.” Grimly, she added, “I’m not sure if Chrysalis woke me up because everypony I knew was gone or if she had finally gotten a new set of organs for me.”

“Why did she even leave you alive?” Rainbow Dash was a soldier clad in the armor that won the war. Leaving her alive, not to mention waking her up in the midst of the Hive, was a huge risk. “Not that I’m not glad about it.”

“Why didn’t she kill you while you were unconscious? Why put Pinkie in an asylum and exile Fluttershy to the Everfree instead of just assassinating them?” she retorted with questions just as fair, making a very good point. “It’s gonna sound strange, but that’s not her method. She prefers to use ponies instead of removing them.” I felt my face form a scowl on its own, and Dash, noticing that, quickly added, “Though there were exceptions.”

For a few moments we sat, Rainbow returning to studying the surroundings, while I was calming myself. Finally, I felt that I was able to temporarily forget all the lives Queen Chrysalis took as ‘exceptions’. I focused my mind of the next subject of my interest.

“How do these runes work?” I suspected that the pony I saw in the Deep Tunnels and who, if I understood everything Trixie and Dash said, happened to be Soarin, had the same runes on his armor. The last time I saw them was when I ‘borrowed’ Starswirl’s scroll with a time traveling spell. There was a reason such magic was contained in the restricted wing of the Royal Archives of old. It wasn’t as much a problem of them getting into the wrong hooves, but rather their instability and lack of instructions. Nopony really knew how time-bending worked, and experimenting with time and space was an extremely dangerous endeavor.

“You’re asking the wrong pony, Twi,” chuckled Rainbow. “I only know they keep me alive as long as I’m wearing this suit.”

“What happens if you take it off?” I cast a concerned glance at her.

“I dunno, never tried, but nothing good I think. The changelings who work on its maintenance say I’d likely to turn to dust in a few seconds – ‘that time is going to catch up and take what it owns’.” Despite Rainbow’s attempts to sound nonchalant, there was noticeable uneasiness in her voice.

“It must be hard to wear the suit of armor all the time, even if it’s enchanted.” Not to mention that a single seemingly nonserious injury could turn fatal just because it would cause a break of airtightness.

“The armor can be removed.” She hooked her hoof under one of the plates and lifted it like a scale, showing a smooth surface of synthetic fabric underneath. “When I’m not on a mission, I’m only wearing a costume of special cloth.”

“It still doesn’t sound completely comfortable.”

“I have had a lot of time to get used to it.” Rainbow shrugged and then looked at me, her eyes studying my metal body from the rock-ravaged hooves to the sharp tip of my arcanium horn. “Speaking of getting used to things, how are you doing in this body?”

“Not as bad as at the beginning, and Moondancer did great work preparing it for me, I even got my magic back.” I decided not to go into details of how bad it was in the beginning and that only very recently I became accustomed to my artificial flesh.

“Good to hear.” She nodded and returned to watching the sky and rusty scrap decaying underneath it. “You know, you don’t have to stay with me, better have some rest.”

“I don’t think it is an option for me anymore, Rainbow,” I bitterly muttered. There were also many other things I couldn’t do.

“Your body is a machine, but your mind is not – you will go crazy without sleep. Even the equinoids need it,” she patiently explained. “Go, I’ll be fine.”

It was then I realized that I actually underestimated Rainbow’s ability for subtlety in conversation. She was trying to hint to me that while she might not mind my company, what she was doing was very serious business and she better not be distracted. So I nodded and left, heading back to Flower’s shack.

The lamp in the corner cast its quivering shadows on the ponies asleep. Del’s wounded wing hung from her nest like a banner. Flower and Wire were exactly where I saw them last time, tightly pressed back to back.

Trying not to stomp with my metal hooves against the rusty floor, I came closer to them and adjusted the rag they used as a blanket to cover them better.

As I looked around, I realized there wasn’t much free space for me to lie down except on the edge of the bedding. Even more carefully I stood on it and lowered my body, wincing when I heard grit scrunch in my joints. I grimaced – I was just five hundreds years old... But jokes aside, I needed to ask Flower to help me with that as soon as possible.

I closed my metal eyelids and tried to relax my mind. As Rainbow said, while I felt no fatigue, there was some weariness to my mind, like when I hadn’t slept for a few days. As hard as I could I avoided thinking about anything troubling, though since nothing in my current life wasn’t such, I had to settle on just void. And very soon it accepted me.

My dreams, as if they could be called such, lasted a few minutes until I would surface from them like from a shallow pond, return briefly to reality, and drowsily, semi-consciously observe its quiet peacefulness. I dreamt of the green flash of dark magic followed by the rain of singed alabaster feathers and distant cry of a broken heart. Of a filly in my hooves, both of us reading the same book together. Of cyan eyes with dragon-like irises, but somehow I knew those didn’t belong to a reptile, nor to a pony, but to something else I couldn’t recall. Of genuine laughter. Of a chittering voice and hoarse replies…

But that wasn’t a dream, it was what met me one of the times I emerged from my strange not-quite-sleeping state of mind – hushed voices right beyond the door. I instantly recognized one of them as belonging to Rainbow Dash, though I couldn’t make out the words. The other one, however, wasn’t only unfamiliar, but there was some oddity to it, a sort of accent, a click-clacking quality. I took me a few moments before I realized I was listening to a changeling speak.

I instantly tensed and began to funnel magic in my horn.

What were they doing here? What it was saying to Rainbow? Did she… Did she decide to betray me?

And in a second I felt a sharp pang of guilt. What was wrong with me? Could I have at least a bit of faith in the most loyal friend ever? My paranoia struck from the shadows of my mind, without me noticing, again. Not only was the entire notion but a twisted fear born from the depths of my head, but if Rainbow indeed wanted to see me dead or captured it would have happened hours ago.

However, I still wanted to check what was going on, so I tried to stand up only to find out I couldn’t – there was a weight on my body stopping me from that. My gaze slid down and I saw Tin Flower using my flank as a pillow, preventing me from any movement, or rather, forcing me to wake her up if I wanted to move my lower body.

That was a situation I didn’t expect, nor could I decide what to do. Finally, I came to the conclusion that sating my curiosity wasn’t worth Flower’s sleep. Though, it didn’t mean I was going to have any myself – I felt somewhat rested, or at least better than before. So I just decided to lay there and try to listen to the muffled conversation.

As the minutes passed, I yielded no results. The voices were still too quiet to discern, and after a while they disappeared completely with a soft sound of hooves scrunching against flakes of rust. However, not much time went by before I heard them again.

“How's things been going in the Deep?” Rainbow croaked, addressing an unseen and silent pony, who I could guess was Trixie, judging by the nature of the question.

“What, don't you get Soarin's reports?” came the reply in that strange echoing voice of Trixie’s, confirming my guess. In the background I could hear soft flapping noises. She was dusting her long-suffering cloak most likely.

“I do, and I always read them thoroughly. But he isn't a unicorn, some things are missed by him,” Rainbow retorted in a bit of an irritated tone.

“All the same, I think.” Her answer came after a slight pause and didn’t sound very certain.

“You think?” It seemed I wasn’t the only one who noticed that.

“There is something, maybe, but…” Trixie’s voice trailed off. I could easily imagine her muzzle scrunching in confusion and Rainbow’s in impatience. “I'm not sure.”

“Spill it, Trixie.”

“You know there is an anomaly, right? It feels like it's becoming more unstable.” I strained my hearing not to miss anything – the mystery of the Deep Tunnels still captivated my attention. However, my interest was somewhat ruined by the fact Trixie was again withholding something from me. It was becoming a concerning issue – while she didn’t seem to outright lie to me, it wasn’t the first time she had told me less than the whole truth.

“I thought it was already as weird as it can be,” Rainbow grumbled, and I couldn’t disagree with her. “What's wrong with it?”

“I've been patrolling the Deep Tunnels and there are more twists and turns. Less dead ends. They also go up and down now, that has never happened before. And there are many more madponies.”

Well, that wasn’t very objective evidence. Considering how weirdly the Deep Tunnels worked already, them becoming more convoluted could be just some kind of reaction on Trixie’s part. Or something else. I had never dealt with those kinds of things before, and if even Dr. Hooves who studied it for centuries couldn’t give a definitive answer, spending my time trying to solve that riddle was nothing but an exercise in futility.

“We are living in hard times, Trixie,” Rainbow scoffed bitterly. “And that hardness breaks ponies more than ever.”

“I don't know, Rainbow, the Temple of the Forgotten Deities was never full, no matter what.” Trixie wasn’t giving up on the idea of her observations being meaningful. “But not these days.”

“Remind me, who do they follow?” That was actually a very good question – strange it didn’t occur to me earlier. The madpony called Pinkie a harbinger… but whose advent was she foreboding?

“Insanity. Not even once in more than four hundred years have I gotten a coherent answer to that question.” That was one way to resolve that question, and, I was afraid, the only correct one.

“So, what do you think is causing all this?” Even though Rainbow sounded in doubt of most of Trixie’s explanations, she refused to drop the topic completely. “Another dark mage?”

“Don't think so, I would have known.” I heard Trixie let out a deep sigh of frustration. “But something is happening.”

There was a pause, and I could almost hear Rainbow frowning.

“I'll keep that in mind, but we've got more serious problems on our hooves right now.”

“Can't argue,” came Trixie’s response accompanied by a somewhat mirthless subdued laughter.

There was a considerable pause before she spoke again.

“How's Twilight?”

I strained my hearing again, but this time it occured to me that I actually only thought of doing it. After all, my body was made from mechanical parts and there was no way I could make my sound receivers work better just by force of my will. Anyhow, I tried to listen more carefully, though it felt a bit like eavesdropping.

“She is fine, with the fillies right now,” Rainbow curtly replied and added, “I could ask you the same question, though. You have spent more time with her after all.”

“Twilight took it all much better than I expected,” Trixie didn’t hesitate with the answer for a single moment. “She is different from what I remember.”

That made me feel a pang of shame. In that record I did indeed sound different – jaded and acerbated. I felt bad knowing that Trixie had to tolerate me for many years. Even though it wasn’t really ‘me’, I began to become that way before the fated trial which split my life in two. On the other side, I was happy that I managed to leave that path leading to more than just simple grief.

“Yeah, it seems that all she went through the last couple of weeks brought her back, the old Twilight, as she was before the shit hit the fan.” I rolled my eyes at Rainbow’s choice of words, though in the present company it didn’t matter much – Red Wire could easily give her a run for her money. “To be honest, I never expected to see her alive ever again. But I’m not saying I’m not happy, I’ve just forgotten surprises can be pleasant. And with her around, the future seems a bit brighter. We need her now more than ever.”

“And I think we may need her right now, because I’ve found something, but can’t make heads or tails of it.” Trixie’s response was accompanied by the rustle of paper.

“What is it?” Rainbow asked with a clear curiosity in her voice.

“It seems like a blueprint for the rifle that pegasus used.” That made me very curious as well. I wasn’t fond of weapons, but I did want to learn about the technology that powered it.

“Let me take a look, I know a thing or two about guns.” But after a short pause, Rainbow concluded in a distraught tone, “Yeah, makes no sense to me either.”

It seemed it was my cue. Fortunately, Tin Flower changed her position in such a way that I wouldn’t wake her when I stood up, though I still had to do that extremely carefully.

Judging by the pale light coming from the holes in the walls and the improvised curtain, it was still very early in the morning and thus Del and Wire were also asleep. So, I crept to the door as silently as I could and winced when it creaked as I opened it. Luckily, it didn’t disturb the sleep of my friends, or at least it didn’t seem to when I turned my head to check the room once again.

The outside greeted me with gloomy weather, but at least it wasn’t raining. Rainbow and Trixie both turned to look at me from where they were sitting – on a shiny metal box which wasn’t there before. And it also seemed Trixie brought not only the blueprints with her – a medium-sized sack was resting at her side full of mysterious contents.

“Good morning, Twi.” Rainbow was the first to acknowledge my appearance, though as soon as the last word left her lips, Trixie joined her in welcoming me with a single silent nod.

“Decided to join us in our little brainstorm?” Trixie asked with a raised eyebrow and invited me with her hoof to take a look at the inscrutable blueprint.

I approached them and took a look at the schematic.

It took me a few moments to understand what I was staring at. It was a mess of lines, not because of the execution (the lines were perfect and straight), but because of their amount and the general complexity. The device suggested a complex system of connections leading to simple coils, but other than that I couldn’t draw many meaningful conclusions from that blueprint. The weapon relied on magic crystals only as a power source, it seemed, which was confusing and amazing at the same time. It meant there was scientific principle rather than magic behind this creation.

I was so absorbed in my attempts to understand the mysterious mechanism that I failed to notice Tin Flower standing by my side and doing the same until she spoke.

“I may have an idea of how it works, I’ve seen Mercury hammering away at it.” Her words were met with bewildered glances, but without a hint of scepticism – my presence was proof of her skill. “These coils here are actually magnets, everything that goes inside them is pushed out.” She pointed at the said parts on the schematic with her metal hoof and commented, “Given enough energy they can push stuff out of them at extreme speeds.”

“There are ten coils on this blueprint and each has an empowering enchantment,” Trixie mumbled and as I followed her gaze I could clearly see it for myself – the runes I had missed initially.

“The trick is in setting them to power up at the precise time, so the bullet will be sucked into the next one and pushed harder with each one,” Flower continued, her hoof sliding from the first coil to the last. “Now I know why she needed that old wave generator.”

Now, when Flower uncovered the weapon's secret, I quickly became capable of reading that schematic. I could discern condensers woven into the electric network, supposed to power up the coils, making them emit magnetic impulses to propel any ferromagnetic object through them.

And as I glanced around I saw the same understanding dawning on everypony present. Even Rainbow Dash furrowed her brow in concern – it was clear she hadn't only spent her time warring with the city, but had learned some ‘egghead stuff’, as she called the sciences. And she was the first to speak aloud, voicing a grim conclusion to her swift analysis of the contraption.

“So, we are looking at a gun which is powerful enough to rip through enchanted arcanium like wet paper. It's silent, can use almost any metal crap for ammo and on top of that it also almost doesn’t need any complex enchantments,” she stated levely, but I could hear a hint of deep dissatisfaction in her voice. The implications hung in the air like storm clouds.

“Yeah, I would say it’s pretty neat, though I’m not into weapons,” Flower commented, oblivious to the gravity of situation.

“And I would say it is really bad news,” Trixie spoke in turn, scowling. “It’s the TCE's work, no doubt, the only question is how it has ended up at the Edge.”

“They were testing it here so we won’t know,” Rainbow hissed. “We have spies all over their facilities, but we don’t watch the Edge and the Junkyard, especially so close and for that kind of stuff.” It was hard to say if was she angry at the TCE for creating such a thing or at the Crown for missing it under their nose, but either way she was anything but pleased with the situation.

“Who knows what else is hidden there,” she grimly concluded, rolling the blueprint and passing it to Trixie. “We have to make it to Luna and back really fast, the Command Center has to be made aware of this, and we must scour the other sectors for any suspicious devices.”

At first I thought I misheard her, so casually she dropped that information.

“You are coming with us?” I asked incredulously. “And letting us go to Princess Luna?”

“Affirmative, the Guard came by a few hours before the sunrise. Chrysalis ordered to proceed and sent us some supplies,” Rainbow said tapping the metal crate with her hoof.

“I don’t understand. Princess Luna is mad with the idea of killing her,” I exclaimed, my brows furrowing in confusion.

“It may look so, but Chrysalis isn’t dumb.” Noting my and Trixie’s eyebrows, she added, “Well, not that dumb. For her, Luna is a wild card, so she probably wants you to deal with her.”

“What do you mean by ‘deal with’?” I didn’t like the sound of that. She already ‘dealt with’ Princess Luna’s sister. And now Luna was the only one who could challenge Queen Chrysalis.

“I’m not sure.” I could see Rainbow’s eyes mirroring my exact concern, however, she didn’t change her mind. “But the last thing we need to have around is Nightmare Moon.”

“I don’t believe Queen Chrysalis is willing to risk bringing Princess Luna near her, because I’m sure the moment we free her from the madness she is going to even the Sky Palace with the ground!” I yelled at Rainbow in irritation. Yes, I was happy she was coming with me and Trixie, but I didn’t like it being part of Chrysalis’ scheme which, despite Rainbow’s reassurances, did sound either stupid or malicious.

All my yelling seemed to wake up Delight and Wire – I could see them peeking through the doorway in the corner of my eye .

“Chrysalis must have a plan even if she didn’t share it with me.” Rainbow shrugged, making it clear she didn’t really care about any deeper works behind what was about to take place.

“To me it sounds like her plan is to kill Princess Luna!” I finally snapped at her, fed up with her willingness to follow the Queen’s orders and refusal to think of her true motives.

However, it seemed that Rainbow was also fed up, but with arguing with me. She sharply stood and approached me, rising her hoof to point right at my face.

“First, she doesn’t have enough strength for that,” she began to chide me in aggravated tone. “Second, we don’t have much of a choice. Something has to be done with Luna and I suspect that if we refuse to cooperate, we won’t last long.” I took a small step back. Was that a threat? Or was she talking about the danger ‘Nightmare’ Princess Luna posed? “And finally, we don’t know if we can save Luna or if there is anything left to be saved, the insanity could have consumed her completely.”

She gave me a hard stare which I returned unwaveringly, then she turned on her heels and went to the crate, opened it and beginning to rummage through it.

“I wasn’t given any concrete instructions, so let’s just follow the orders and act according to circumstances, not assumptions,” she threw over her shoulder as consolation, but it helped none.

I wasn’t pleased with the situation. On one hoof, I was about to do what I had been planning to do before I met Rainbow, but on the other I absolutely hated the fact that the entire endeavor was now being overseen by Queen Chrysalis and likely serving her vile goals. And returning to the first statement that I was planning to go with Trixie to the Badlands to see Princess Luna – I wasn’t sure it was a good idea anymore even before this morning, since, with Queen Chrysalis added to the picture, the whole situation had changed drastically and the priorities had shifted. And now I had absolutely no choice in the matter – I had to go there, not knowing what I was about to find, and then I had to return without any idea what would happen, and the accursed queen of the Swarm was in the middle of all of this.

As I stood fuming I totally forgot about the girls whispering in the doors, though it became very clear when Tin Flower approached me and, after giving an unsure glance to her peers, asked, “Can we go with you?”

“Absolutely not.” I almost choked on the ridiculousness of that inquiry, even though I had no throat. “It’s too dangerous!”

“I’m afraid I have to disagree with you, Twi,” Rainbow grimly commented from the crate and I noticed saddlebags lying beside it – more than three pairs and not all adult-sized.

“You just said yourself we don’t even know what we are dealing with!” I barked at her, becoming more and more agitated with the situation.

“They are witnesses and not just in the Crown’s eyes, but in the TCE’s as well,” Rainbow calmly explained, though I could see she was on the verge of losing her patience. “There is a very high chance you won’t find them here when we return.” The girls glanced at each other with wide eyes. “They will be safer with us.”

I couldn’t argue with Rainbow on that, she had a very fair point, and yet I was becoming absolutely livid with the fact that the whole situation was rapidly spiraling out of my control and, I was afraid, not into my friend’s hooves.

“Fine!” I yelled at nopony in particular and stormed away.

To avoid saying something I would regret, and not being really eager to be in company of anypony at that moment, I stomped to that fateful crest of the hill to calm myself. My eyes instantly fell on the dark tower in the heart of the city, in truth an alien barb poisoning all of Equestria by its vile influence.

I could glower at the scenery only for so long, and even that didn’t matter. The city didn’t care for my frustration, nor did the Junkyard’s rusty corpse. I let out a deep sigh – all that was left after my anger was mental exhaustion running very deep.

It would be a lie to say I was enjoying the adventure I had found myself in. It was so different from those I had with my friends in the past. And there were two main reasons for that. Firstly, I didn’t actually have to be a part of it, something I thought of before and returned to once again. I wasn’t a Bearer of the Elements, I wasn’t a Princess’ protege. I wasn’t even anypony important – just a pony who wanted to survive, not much different from any other pony in Canterlot, well, in that regard, at least. However, now there was Rainbow Dash, my friend. Would I leave her? Never. But something was telling me she wasn’t going to just leave the city with me if I asked her. And that brought me to the second difference: I couldn’t tell the sides in this huge mess. I didn’t doubt Rainbow’s judgment, or rather, I didn’t want to, but… If she was right, then Queen Chrysalis was a ‘good pony’ in this situation, and I knew it couldn’t possibly be true. If Rainbow was wrong, then I was about to help the changeling swarm to take a tighter hold on what was left of Equestria or serve whatever Queen Chrysalis’ odious goals were. If I was about to make the next step, I had to know where it would lead me and what would come after. That was where the problem was: I had no such freedom. I had to take the girls with me and follow Rainbow to an unknown fate, but in fact I was following Queen Chrysalis’ will by proxy.

I let out another deep sigh and closed my metal eyelids.

The best thing I could do right now was not to allow frustration to rule me and affect my interactions with others. Being mad and barking like an old dog at everypony would do no good to this already unpleasant situation. Nor would tarrying help; the sooner I dealt with it, the better.

I had noted before that it wouldn’t be a smooth ride, but it seemed my prediction came true much sooner than I had hoped.

Author's Notes:

Well, it is another of those peaceful chapters. I hope you don't find it too boring. And if you do I can promise you that on top of being giant (over 18k words) the next chapter has some juicy action and drama.

Again, I don't have many news. Chapter 13 is being editing and chapter 14 – written. I have one story not related to Aftersound in works (but it is too early to say anything) and after finishing chapter 14 I will decide the fate of the side story for Aftersound which I put on hiatus a couple of months ago.

Aftersound Project Discord server - it's a little community dedicated to discussion of the story and whatnot. Everyone is welcome to join.
There is also a one more community I recently joined - Pony Tales. It is a quite welcoming place dedicated to disscussing and working on many great stories (now including Aftersound). I think you may also find it interesting.

If you notice any mistakes sneaked in through the editing, let me know.
I hope you enjoyed reading this story so far.
Stay awesome.