"In this sunless world, where time itself has ceased to be,

A dark land where all deeds of man and beast,

Have fallen to irrelevance in this, the absolute end

Here dwells the warden of this bleak world, cloaked in shades of night,

He who bears no names, no titles, bereft of identity,

Surrounds himself with the cadavers of fallen civilizations

He tells the tale of an ancient bauble crafted by his own hand,

A forge of dreams, a relic bestowed aeons ago,

The gift of the faceless god, Saampas is its name"

- Translated from "The Beyond", c. 1010 CE

Everypony came to a sudden stop as a low rumbling filled the laboratory. Everypony, that is, except for Cerise, who continued peering through a thick lens at the strange rectangular device lying on her desk, occasionally prodding at it with one of several small tools. She traced the outline of the stylized silvery lettering that had been printed on the flat face. It was similar in many ways to Equestrian, but the word itself made no sense to her at all, causing her untold frustration.

"Samsung," she said aloud, hoping it would respond to what she could only guess was its name. When it became apparent that there would be no forthcoming response, she grumbled quietly to herself.

A smaller series of quakes passed through the room. Cerise furrowed her brow, finding it difficult to concentrate in such noisy conditions.

"Ma'am? Shouldn't you be in there with them?" asked one of the youngest researchers in the room, approaching Cerise. "After all, it was your project. I thought you'd want to see it in action."

Cerise paused, levitating the lens a short distance away and resting it gently on the surface of the desk.

"Oh yes, I had planned to be there," she began in a pleasant, almost musical voice, "but the Grand Inquisitor did not see fit for me to be present when nearly a decade of my hard work yielded its ultimate result, so instead of that, I'm here examining uninteresting lumps of trash alongside little foals who have nothing better to do than interrupt me."

By the end of her sentence, her tone had become one of bitterness and spite, and her smile had twisted into a furious glare, causing the young stallion to shrink back with fear.

Cerise allowed an uncharacteristic snort to escape her nostrils, satisfied that she had made her point, and silently returned to her work.

The trio proceeded back through the tunnels, Shining Armor took the lead, illuminating the path with his horn, Adrastos took the center, the usual position for a prisoner being escorted, and Rolling Thunder manned the rear, in order to 'keep an eye on the traitor'. They had been walking for quite some time in silence before curiosity got the best of the Captain.

"You know these tunnels better than either of us, Adrastos. How far do they reach?"

"They span the entirety of Canterlot. There are six entrances hidden in the city, and one at the base of the mountain which allows swift passage to Ponyville."

"Why would the Order need a tunnel to Ponyville?" asked the Captain, a hint of concern in his usually steady voice.

"In the old days, when the Scarlet Queen was still in power, it was the preferred route for raiding the town in search of what they considered undesirable elements. Anypony thought to be conspiring against the rule of Queen Chelsea was a target, and a single subversive word or action overheard by an Inquisitor was considered high treason, punishable by something known as 'reformation.'"

"Which is...?" Rolling Thunder prompted impatiently.

"You're familiar with the concept of brainwashing, correct?"

"And just what do you mean by that!?" Rolling Thunder roared, wings flexing anxiously as he prepared to leap at the Inquisitor.

"At ease, Thunder!" ordered Shining Armor.

"If I may continue," Adrastos began, his voice calm but stern, "Queen Chelsea was the first to experiment with mental manipulation, and the techniques she developed are still the basis of modern suggestion spells."

"I didn't know the Order taught you non-unicorns so much about magic." Shining Armor commented, gently pressing for an explanation.

"All members are required to familiarize themselves with the art of suggestion magic, at the very least. For those incapable of using it, such as myself, that simply entails learning to guard against it. This serves the dual purpose of keeping unicorns within the Order from having too much power, and it greatly reduces the chance of extracting any information from a captured Inquisitor, should the captor attempt to use such techniques."

The Captain nodded. "Makes sense. Do you think we would do that?"

"I think it would be unwise to dismiss the possibility utterly, considering recent events which have transpired, but I remain confident that you and your princesses will see no reason to resort to such measures once you have heard what I have to say."

A thunderous quaking filled the tunnel, shaking loose dirt and stones which clacked and clattered noisily as they bounced off of the floor, walls, and the three stallions.

"What in Equestria was that?!" Rolling Thunder called over the rumble while attempting to shield himself from falling debris with his wings.

"No idea!" replied Shining Armor as the tremor subsided. "Is everypony okay?"

"I'm fine," Thunder sounded off, "and it looks like the traitor's still standing."

The Captain shook off the worst of the dirt and pebbles which had collected on his coat before turning to face Adrastos. In an instant, he knew that something was very wrong.

"What is it? Are you hurt?"

The massive stallion looked visibly shaken. It took him a moment to recover before he was able to reply, "Our time is now... extremely limited. We must hurry."

Lyra shoved Bon Bon roughly toward the nearby doorway, snapping her back to her senses. "If you don't run, you're going to get more than just yourself hurt! Go!"

With little choice, Bon Bon began moving swiftly toward the others. Sophie and Taylor had already taken cover behind the few remaining defectors, who struggled to maintain defensive wards, guarding against a hail of spellfire coming from the Order loyalists. Once safely grouped together, Taylor, Sophie, Lyra, and Bon Bon, and three defectors fled down a narrow hallway, leaving behind the other defending members of Sophie's rebellion, whose wards fell almost immediately. The resulting explosions obliterated their bodies, and much of the entrance to the hall. Those unfortunate enough to be at the rear of the column were peppered with bits of stone and their deceased allies.

"Those were some of my best legionnaires," Sophie stated grimly. "Their lives just bought yours, so you can show your gratitude by surviving at least until we reach the throne room. To do that, you'll need to do exactly as I say without hesitation. Are we clear?"

"If it gets me out of this hellhole, I'm on board!" Taylor exclaimed, trying in vain to wipe away the blood spattered on his arm by a stray chunk of one of the slain defectors.

"I... I don't..." Bon Bon trailed off, slowing her pace. "My father-"

"Is dead!" Taylor blurted out, taking everyone aback. "In case you didn't notice, whatever that red horsemonster thing did to him turned him into a corpse right in front of us, and we're being chased by a group of psychopaths who just exploded half a dozen peo- ponies into flying meat chunks while trying to kill us! This is not the time to be feeling sorry for your situation!

"Taylor, that's enough!" Lyra shouted, horrified by Taylor's outburst.

"No, she needs to hear this! Despite what a little pain in the ass she has been so far, you still care about her. That means she has to survive." Taylor turned toward Bon Bon. "You hear me? Get your shit together! If you want to mourn your father, you're going to have to live long enough to do it."

"Well said," commented one of the Inquisitors.

"Don't worry," a bubbly voice from beside Taylor began, "we're quite capable of 'motivating' her if she won't cooperate."

Starbright dashed along next to him, matching his pace easily. She moved in close, keeping her voice barely above a whisper. "Just stay focused. Your are the only truly irreplaceable asset, so your survival is crucial. If the worst should happen, getting you out in one piece is my single goal."

Taylor narrowed his eyes at Sophie's doppelganger. "You're saying you would leave the rest to die?"

"To ensure your survival, yes. If you don't make it out of here alive, then everypony in Equestria is doomed, present company included. I have to prioritize the future of this world over these lives. That means prioritizing you."

Taylor's jaw tightened. "Suppose I can't exactly argue with that reasoning."

Starbright nodded, then vanished in a flicker of light, reappearing a significant distance ahead of the pack at an upcoming intersection. She peered around both corners and vanished again. Sophie slowed her pace, and the rest of the defectors followed suit.

"Of all the ponies in the Sanctuary, it had to be her," Sophie hissed through clenched teeth. "Restrain these three at once!"

In an instant, each of the defectors had manifested glowing magical bindings on Taylor, Lyra, and Bon Bon. Despite the lack of physical components, the pressure they exerted was very real, making escape utterly impossible. Sophie faced the restrained ponies and human. Her expression did more than enough to convey the seriousness of the situation they now faced.

"I need all of you to play along, and do it well," she commanded in a low voice. "Act as if your lives depend on this, because they just might. If we don't make this look convincing, we're going to have to fight one of the Order of Canterlot's stronges-"

The rhythmic, rapid clacking of hooves echoed from just around the corner, interrupting Sophie. Without missing a beat, she spun around and galloped forward toward the intersection. Taylor, Lyra, and Bon Bon struggled to keep up, followed by the defectors, who maintained a close proximity to avoid breaking the binding spells.

"Don't look so nervous," one of the Inquisitors reassured the group, "this sort of thing is nothing for our captain. She can deceive just about anypony"

A dozen eyes stared intently as Sophie began to round the corner, nearly colliding with Cerise. There was a brief moment of tension as they sized each other up. Cerise adopted an aggressive stance while Sophie simply stepped off to the side, allowing Cerise a clear view of Taylor and the others.

"Wh-what in Equestria is going on?!" Cerise demanded, taking in the scene.

"Well, something went wrong with the summoning." Sophie stated in her most innocent tone of voice. "Somehow these three got loose and tried to run away in the confusion."

"That can't be right. I've had years to check it hundreds of times over. My work was flawless. Besides, even if the revival process failed due to somepony's incompetence, it wouldn't have caused the explosions I heard earlier. What really happened in there?"

"I was too busy trying to avoid being crushed to death by falling debris while chasing down our prisoners to really notice exactly what went wrong."

Cerise's gaze hardened. "Well, you have them now. Why don't you bring them back to the chamber?"

"It's mostly destroyed, and the path back that way is blocked. I'm taking them back to the cells until Magnus decides what we should do."

Cerise resisted the urge to berate Sophie for referring to the Grand Inquisitor in such a familiar manner. She strained her eyes, looking down the long hallway. The lack of light from the other end seemed to confirm Sophie's claims, but did little to ease Cerise's suspicion.

"In that case, I'll accompany you. These three seem to be troublesome escape artists. I believe you could use the extra help containing them."

"That's not going to be necessary," Sophie interjected sternly. "Your project just blew up a room and a significant number of our Order. Your top priority should be figuring out what happened and working to correct it for the next attempt."

"Next attempt? That's impossible now! With what the process does to the key-"

Cerise's protests fell on deaf ears as Sophie and her Inquisitors swiftly led Taylor and the others past her and down the hall, but her emerald eyes remained trained on Lyra the entire time, studying her closely, searching for something.

Her eyes widened slightly when she saw the telltale fracture spanning roughly half the length of Lyra's horn. Doing her best to suppress her reaction, she made a swift exit in the opposite direction.

"I don't know what you're up to," Cerise hissed bitterly under her breath, "but whatever it is, I'm not going to let you get your way this time."

The Dark Figure stood at the pinnacle of a once-mighty spire eternally frozen mid-collapse, gazing out over the wasteland of Terminus. Subtle shifts in the landscape were slowly taking place. The crystalline vines which blanketed the world had begun to fade, and many of the structures unique to the Scarlet Queen's empire ceased to exist.

Beside the figure hovered an elegant legless table which appeared to be of etched marble ornamented in gold, heavily worn by time. A thick coating of dust and grime coated much of the surface, with the exception of a single circular area, as if an object which had long occupied the table was recently removed.

"Human, you may topple the tyrant's empire, but you will only have cleared the way for another to rise and lay claim to that which is mine."

"It seems your path may need to be... corrected."