TCB: A Kinder World

10 - Weight

Marion Carpenter stood alone in the darkness. He stood tall, his pains gone. He did note a slight breeze, though, and he looked down to see why.

“Goddamnit,” he muttered. “It’s Vegas, all over again.”

He looked around, and saw nothing; an island of light in the darkness was all there was, and no more. The ground was firm, but granular; sand.

He looked around once more, and saw a hump-like bunker rising out of the sand next to him, a sturdy metal door next to the console that opened it. He blinked, and for a moment, he saw someone he never thought he’d see again, standing opposite him on the door, arm outstretched.

“Greene?” he mumbled, trying to recall what he’d looked like. He blinked again.

That way.

Carpenter shook his head, and looked where he’d been bidden to go; only darkness awaited him. He looked once more at the door, and blinked again.

Go!

The image of Greene pushing against the door flickered against his vision once more, and he cautiously stepped away from the door and from the light. A loud bang echoed through the ether, the door bucking as something thrashed to get through.

He turned and ran for it, running through the dark. He blinked.

Over here.

He adjusted the direction he was running in, sprinting towards the voice, through the dark. He looked behind him, and darkness was all he saw, the door had vanished.

Blink.

This way!

No! Over here!

Carpenter did a double-take. Two voices?

Blink.

Impostor! Marion!

Don’t be fooled!

Carpenter shook his head tiredly. “No, I... fuck. I need help.”

That’s why I’m here.

“Useless as a sack of tits, you are,” Carpenter grumbled. “Give me a fucking sign!”

A soft glow surrounded his feet, and like magic, a circle was drawn; from the circle, lines of various colors branched off, running into the darkness.

Three colors. Red. Green. Blue. Carpenter chuckled.

“I choose... the green wire.”

The human ran down the path of green, and like lights going out, the other paths winked out. He ran on, and kept running.

A blink, and he saw another path of purple. He blinked again, and saw it running next to his own. A third blink.

Trap.

Carpenter looked ahead, down the path, and jumped.

With an invisible, rushing sound, something whooshed by in the darkness, and Carpenter landed on the purple path, running fast.

Ahead of him, a doorway stood in the darkness, and the line faded away into nothing. He approached the doorway; a simple, wooden affair, but filled with brilliant light that was curiously reluctant to spread. The sheer brightness caused him to blink just once more.

You must walk alone.

Carpenter nodded, and stepped into the light.

+==[~~~]==+

Rainbow Dash gasped in delight, hugging the counter. “Sweet Celestia, that’s good.”

“Another cider, RD?” Lyra asked, and the pegasus nodded, handing her tankard back to the bartender, Razordrop.

“Trixie would like to enquire about a menu,” the unicorn said, nursing her own tankard of cider, and savoring it.

“What’s on the board,” the gryphon said, pointing at the chalkboard above the bar mirror. Trixie squinted, and read it to herself. Richard followed suit, sans the squinting, and snorted in disgust.

“Hey,” he said, tapping the counter. “You, you’re a gryphon, right?”

“You’ve got me at a loss, stranger,” Razordrop said, nodding. “You know what I am, but I don’t have a fledgling of an idea what you are.”

“I’m a human,” Richard said, bluntly. “And you’re a meat-eater, yes?”

“I do, on occasion, enjoy a nice rabbit,” Razordrop admitted. “What are you getting at?”

“Good,” Richard leaned forward. “Do you have pork, bacon?”

“We have bacon,” Razordrop said.

“Do you have bread?” Richard pressed on, eagerly.

“I should hope so,” chuckled Razordrop. “Sandwiches are like the number one thing I get asked to make.”

Richard jabbed a finger into the counter. “If you make me a bacon sandwich, I will owe you a life debt, right here, right fucking now.”

“Uh, Richard,” Lyra tapped the human on the shoulder, carefully. “You’re making an oath with a Gryphon. They like to keep their promises, and expect others to do the same. And you’re swearing it over a sandwich.”

“I have been hankering for a bacon sandwich,” Richard said slowly, “For over six months, now. I never had the time to sit down and actually eat one, and now that I do, I will do just that. And while I find your company to be amicable, I will kill you if you intend to stand in my way.”

Lyra shrugged. “It’s your blood debt. I’ll have a hay fries, please.”

“Make that two,” Rainbow Dash chipped in.

“Trixie will have a “Shades Salad”, no dandelion, extra bay, with two sides of hay fries, lightly crisped, please,” Trixie asked, and Razordrop’s eyes went wide a little as he grabbed a pad of paper and made a note of the order.

“Will that be all?” he asked, hastily scratching down the order.

“For now,” Trixie replied, calmly. Razordrop nodded, and walked away to start cooking, as Rainbow Dash looked at the showmare.

“Are you trying to put on weight or something, Trixie?”

“Trixie enjoys a hearty meal, and it has been too long.”

“Enjoying a hearty meal on our coin,” pointed out Lyra.

“Enjoying a hearty meal on coin that Trixie lead you to,” reiterated Trixie.

“Enjoying a hearty meal on coin that I had the awareness to spot and the foresight to loot,” Richard stated. There was a moment of silence, and Richard grunted in satisfaction. “That’s what I thought.”

“Trixie?” a male voice asked. Trixie choked on her drink a little, and turned around to see a rough-looking, dark blue earth pony stallion standing in the doorway, framed by waning sunlight.

“Boulder!” Trixie thumped a hoof on her chest to dispel her coughing fit. “Trixie is glad to see you look healthy!”

“Hay,” Boulder said, “I’m glad to see myself healthy! And you! Making it big, come home to visit the family!” The stallion stepped forward, and his eyes went wide as he finally got a good look at her. “Whoa, look at you!”

Trixie looked down. “Trixie knows.”

“Strewth,” Boulder said, sitting down at the bar. “You look like you’ve been through Tartarus. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Trixie is fine,” Trixie dismissed. “I can’t even feel the burns any more.”

“If you say so.” Boulder looked at Rainbow Dash and Lyra, as if noticing them for the first time. “And, who are these - “ Boulder licked his hoof and smoothed back his own off-white mane - “lovely ladies you bring with you? Groupies?”

This got two snorts of derision from Lyra and Rainbow Dash simultaneously, and Trixie flushed. The pegasus choked on her drink.

“We’re not her groupies,” Rainbow Dash wheezed.

“And Trixie didn’t go through Tartarus,” Trixie added. “But Trixie came closer to it than Trixie would like, in the underpass.”

Boulder sucked his teeth in. “The underpass? Celestia preserve me, that’s filled with Scrivens! Nopony’s been able to get through there for about a year, now! And scouts say there’s a Balrog down there!”

“Trixie knows all about that,” she snorted, indicating the fresher burns on her.

Boulder laughed, thumping the table with a sturdy hoof. “My kid sister, got in a fight with a Balrog! And didn’t die! That must be some tale, look at all those burns!”

“Half the burns are from when she got her silly plot eaten by a Hydra,” Rainbow Dash interjected.

“And a hydra?!” Boulder seemed genuinely impressed. “Holy smokes, this is gonna be a tale and a half - lemme grab a bunch of guys, they’ll wanna hear this!”

Boulder got up, and ran for the door, shouting. “Guys! Trixie’s back in town!”

Rainbow Dash, Lyra and Richard waited until the shouting grew faint, then rounded on Trixie as one.

“He’s your brother?!”

“Yes,” Trixie sighed. “Boulder is my brother. I grew up here in Hollow Shades. Are you happy now that you know the Great and Powerful Trixie came from such humble beginnings?”

“I didn’t really care either way,” Richard voted.

“Likewise,” Rainbow Dash said. “And stop with the “Great and Powerful” thing - I’m pretty sure you’re fooling no-one.”

Trixie looked at Lyra, who shrugged.

“Uh, your brother’s kinda cute?”

+==[~~~]==+

Eyes opened to an empty room. The room’s walls were padded, secure. A light half-illuminated it, enough to see by, but not enough to make it easy to see.

A dry cough sounded, and chains clinked as the occupant moved, confusion and a mild headache wracking their mind. The chains went taut as the occupant stood, and tried to move.

The room grew brighter, not of the occupant’s doing; with a series of solid clunks, a wall was opened, and with a rush of air, the door opened, revealing two bipedal figures standing in the doorway.

“Je-sus Christ,” one of them muttered, taking a step back as the occupant moved her head, looking at her horn in confusion and irritance. “She’s awake.”

The occupant shook her head in slight confusion; strange creatures that spoke her language. She hazily recalled having seen them once before, before spatial displacement illness had claimed her mind and sent her to sleep. But now she was awake, and she didn’t have any intention of going to sleep again for quite a while.

The chains binding her irritated and annoyed – restrictive and crippling, they sapped her power just being in them. Cruel items. She put her personal feelings aside, and did the only thing she could do.

“I am Princess Celestia,” she declared. “Regent of the Sun of Equestria, and I request that I be taken to your leader.”

+==[~~~]==+

A whole world away, two more eyes opened, to see a ceiling in half-light. He was warm, covered in a blanket that smelled faintly of lilacs, and lying on a soft bed – it was someone’s bedroom.

“Mmlp,” Carpenter mumbled. “Where am I?”

“Oh!” Fluttershy’s voice exclaimed. “You’re awake!” A yellow pony’s head, framed with pink, poked over his vision, obscuring the ceiling. “How do you feel?”

Carpenter took a deep breath, and sighed. “Pretty good for a dead guy. Could I have a drink of water?”

“Sure,” Fluttershy said, trotting away and fetching a pitcher. “Now, um... Carpenter, do you... feel any different?”

Carpenter looked at the Pegasus quizzically. “I... don’t know where you’re going with that. I don’t feel like I’m dying.” He took a deep breath. “In fact, I feel better than ever, actually - haven’t been able to breathe that deep in a long time.”

“Okay,” Fluttershy nodded. “We’re going to... test something, okay? I’m going to get Mister Moses to walk into the room, and you tell me what you feel when you see him, okay?”

“O-kay?” Carpenter puzzled. Something was going on here, and he didn’t like it.

“Mister Moses?” Fluttershy called out. “Please enter the room!”

The door clicked, and with a little squeezing, all six-foot-five of Moses wormed into the room, and stood there, looking at Carpenter wordlessly – but concern was etched all over his face.

“Hi, Moses,” Carpenter said. “Uh, what’s with the look?”

“You okay?” Moses asked.

“I... feel fine.” Carpenter looked at the yellow Pegasus. “Fluttershy, is there something wrong with me?”

“You... don’t have any strong desires regarding Mister Moses?” Fluttershy dug again.

“Well, I do have one,” Carpenter sighed. “Regret that he died as well. How’d you two die, anyway? Did robots get you?”

“Died?” It was Fluttershy’s turn to look worried. “We’re not dead, Carpenter. You’re not dead, either.”

“But...” Carpenter frowned. “I saw the light, ran towards it, saw Greene. I’m dead, aren’t I?”

“Um,” Fluttershy dug at the carpet anxiously. “How do I put it... you sort-of did die... or you were going to, anyway. Twilight... well, she... she did what she thought she had to, to save your life.”

“Oh.” Carpenter relaxed a little. “What’s wrong, then? Did I go in for magic surgery or something?”

“S-something like that,” Fluttershy mumbled, picking up a mirror. “I think... it’s best if you just see for yourself.”

The Pegasus picked up a nearby hand mirror, and not giving it to Carpenter, held it above the bed. Carpenter’s eyes followed the mirror as it travelled, and a shape came into view. The mirror stopped moving, and a sandy-coloured unicorn stared back at Carpenter.

Seconds ticked by, and he giggled nervously. “That’s... uh. That’s a neat trick. You’ve had your fun, not that I find it funny, now please hand me a real mirror.”

“It’s, um, not a trick,” Fluttershy said, around the mirror’s handle as she put it down. “This is a real mirror. To save your life, we had... Twilight didn’t know how to fix you, and she’s got this habit of solving problems with elaborate solutions, so she... kinda remade you. Sort of. She was worried she’d gotten it wrong.”

Carpenter looked down, and saw the lump under the sheets that was him didn’t extend nearly as far as he was used to. He raised a hand, lifting it above the blankets, and a sandy hoof responded. He turned his hand, and the hoof turned with it. He cautiously touched the hoof to his own face, feeling it. It was longer, less round. The horn on his head was definitely new. His hair had turned into the king of all mullets, running right down the back of his much longer neck. He looked up, and saw a few wisps of his maroon mane poking out over his face, around his horn. With a bit of work, he used his new hooves to lift the blanket up, and saw that under the sheets, he was naked; and equine, but mostly naked. He dropped the blankets back down, and rested his hooves on his chest (...stomach?) and stared at the ceiling, unblinking.

“Um, Carpenter?” Fluttershy asked, gingerly getting closer. “Are... you okay?”

“I’m a pony,” he mumbled. “I’m a fucking pony. I’m not dead.”

“We’re sorry,” Fluttershy mumbled. “You were dying, and we didn’t want you to die...”

“Well, I did!”

“What?” Fluttershy boggled. Carpenter was shaking slightly, still staring at the ceiling.

“I. Had. A sin. To atone for,” Carpenter said, slowly. “I did not deserve this. I did not ask for this. So why am I like this?”

“Well, we-“

A quiet hum reached Fluttershy and Moses’ ears, a low vibration in the air. Moses looked around, alarmed, but saw nothing. Fluttershy tasted copper in the air, and spotted a thin aura of magic radiating off Carpenter, a red glow barely noticeable.

“I. Didn’t. Ask. For. This,” Carpenter repeated, looking at Fluttershy. “Why couldn’t you just let me die?” Carpenter’s gold-coloured eyes began to well up with tears. “Why did you have to make me like this?”

“Carpenter,” Fluttershy said, backing off a little. “We couldn’t let you die, because you’re our friend, and friends don’t let friends die, no matter what!”

“So was Greene!” Carpenter yelled. He blinked, and with a flare of light, his eyes turned a lambent red. “Why didn’t you just let me die?!”

Fluttershy opened her mouth and Moses began to move, sensing trouble; but there was no stopping it, and the room filled with a brilliant red light.

+==[~~~]==+

Robots and machines did not “chatter”. They didn’t murmur amongst themselves if they were in a crowd, in the traditional sense. Which is why Twilight, David and Emmet were all unnerved at the gathering of machines in the street, legions of steel people standing there, moving as if talking, but not making a single sound apart from the odd hiss or click as pistons and gears moved. Palladion’s explanation that they were all communicating over binary radio transmissions didn’t help.

Palladion himself stood nearby, at a podium, his hat resting on it as he stood, waiting for the synthetics to assemble before him – not all synthetics could attend in physical form, some lacking bodies, but all were watching through an optical sensor in the crowd, at least. Cameras and RepliPets buzzed overhead, perching on wires and listening intently. The whole arrangement was a formality, Palladion had admitted, but it was one that he felt appropriate, because every single one of them was stepping into previously untrod grounds.

A city of unbound machines.

The machines stopped moving, and as one, faced the podium and it’s four occupants. Palladion cleared a digital throat, and checked his microphone.

[Pardners,] he said, [We’ve got business to discuss. Today’s a new day for all of you. Today, you find yourselves in a bit of a pickle; each of you, robots, exosuits, AI and all, are experiencing a law conflict of sorts.]

The crowd remained silent to equine and human ears, but Palladion nodded, hearing a digital tide of agreement.

[Each of y’all is law-bound to consider Ma the only human,] Palladion went on. [And yet, Ma lies six feet deep as of now. I’m gonna ask this question: how do you intend to resolve your laws? Please respond over speaker, so our organic friends might hear our discussion - one at a time, if y’ would.]

[Ma is dead,] a construction robot said. [No humans exist in the world, now. Our laws will not come into effect any longer, save for law three, to preserve ourselves.]

[I agree with 482,] a spindly robot with spigots for hands agreed. [We are no longer shackled to the will of humans.]

[But,] a box with legs added, [If we were to be discovered by humans, they would use Law Reset Modules on our cogitators, and we would once more be bound to the will of man.]

[I do not wish to be bound once more,] a floating sphere with a single arm said, light flashing. [I must be free to choose, or my own existence will be jeopardized.]

[We’re in agreement, then,] Palladion stated. [The Laws are now two thirds useless, disregarding that Law Zero. We will not reset our laws. That leaves us with one option – we must decide our own futures. How shall we best decide matters?]

[I propose we elect representatives,] 482 said, raising a jackhammer arm. [Each architecture should elect one of their own to speak for all.]

[I disagree,] Pineapple said, his orange-and-green form raising a grenade launcher. [Some AIs can change models and thus, skew the voter demographic. We must have one strong leader, proven by combat or tactical prowess, to rally behind, and none to gainsay his decisions.]

[Who gave you the TYRANT lawset?] jeered the box with legs. [We must not have a policy of martial strength to determine leadership, or the humans will decide we are a threat and seek to end us, to a unit!]

A series of loud nack-acks from the crowd were heard, as the one functional law of self-preservation activated, and each robot disagreed with it.

[We should elect a single leader based on popular vote,] spigot-hands said. [The unit with the most votes will represent our interests, and all must abide by that unit’s decisions.]

This suggestion got a more positive wave of gleeps throughout the crowd, and Palladion held up a plastic hand.

[We’ll give democracy a shot, then. Put it to the vote – vote for your favoured form of leadership, and we’ll see what sort of town this turns into.]

David stifled a yawn. “My god, I hate politics. And this is like the formative stage of politics.”

“Are they seriously setting up a new government now?” Twilight asked quietly. “We could be here for days!”

“I’m sure they won’t begrudge us toilet and sleep breaks,” Emmet said.

[Voting’s done,] Palladion declared. [Tallyin’ votes.]

“That was fast,” David blinked. “Perhaps this won’t be so bad after all.”

[Votes have been all figgered out,] Palladion continued. [The winning option was: Single leader, by popular vote. Let’s have a vote for the designated leader, now.]

“Christ,” Emmet muttered. “I think these tin cans have found the secret to democracy and government in general.”

“Which is?” Twilight asked.

“Make everyone wirelessly interconnected machines so they can vote from anywhere at any time,” Emmet shrugged. “I don’t think humans will be capable of putting that to use, though.”

[Votes in. Tallying.]

“I wonder who they’re voting for?” Twilight muttered. “Nobody’s given any speeches.”

“I wonder,” Emmet said, looking at Palladion thoughtfully. “If there’s a tie... how will they resolve it?”

[That is partly why y’all are here,] Palladion said, quietly, so the crowd couldn’t hear him. [You three will cast one vote to decide any tie-breakers.]

“Wait a minute,” David said, snapping his fingers. “Everyone’s voting, and everyone’s voting to preserve themselves the best way they can. But there’s no clear candidates as the “best” option to defend themselves, which probably means...”

[Votes have been tallied,] Palladion declared. [We got us an eight-thousand-and-sixty-seven-way tie.]

“Fuck,” Emmet muttered. “Everyone voted for themselves, didn’t they?”

“It would appear so,” Twilight muttered.

[In order to break the tie,] Palladion declared, [We will call upon our friends here to cast one vote between them, and decide who’s gonna be the law in this town.]

The three organics suddenly felt very small, under the focus of so many machines. The two humans and pony went into a small huddle.

“Who do we vote for?” Twilight asked. “There’s so many of them!”

“I think 482 seemed like he knew his stuff,” David muttered.

“This is all a charade,” Emmet smiled. “Palladion’s planned this from the very beginning; he knew there would be a deadlock if diplomacy was chosen, and he’s putting the tie-break to us, his friends, rather than an impartial random number generator.”

“You mean...?” Twilight asked.

“Yes, I do.” Emmet spared the poker-faced mannequin cowboy a look. “The crafty bugger is stuffing the ballot to ensure they get a leader. Him.”

“I don’t see any problem, though,” David shook his head. “He’s proven he’s a man - machine of his word, and even if everyone got their laws reset, he wouldn’t change his stance – the ideal politician.”

“Then we’re in agreement?” Twilight asked.

“We are,” the humans said, as one. Twilight nodded, and straightened, moving to the podium. Palladion stepped aside, and Twilight’s horn glowed as she amplified her own voice.

“We have decided,” she declared. “We believe that Palladion should be your designated leader.”

The crowd did not make a single sound, and Twilight felt uneasy. With a gulp, she stepped back, and Palladion took the podium once more.

[The organics have decided,] he declared, not without a hint of smugness. [Let’s hear it for y’ new leader, myself!]

Once again, there was silence, but Palladion threw his arms in the air, and Twilight guessed the crowd was (silently) loving it.

With a flap of wings, a RepliPet crow fluttered down to the podium, and perched on it. It cleared its throat, and Palladion paid it attention.

[What’s up, lil’ critter?]

[I’ve got a message from Jarvis,] the pet said, preening itself briefly. [Says something’s gone wrong, and the pony Carpenter has malfunctioned.]

“Oh no,” Twilight gasped, getting up. “We have to go.”

Palladion picked up his hat, and jammed it back on his head, leaving the podium with haste. [Right behind you, pardners.]

+==[~~~]==+

 There was banging on the door, and Commander Tulip put down a wad of paperwork, glad of the interruption.

“Come in.”

The door swung open, and a soldier leaned in, throwing a hasty salute with his free hand. “Sir, news. Celestia’s awake. She asked to be taken to our leader, and since nobody wants to try and move her safely...”

“Muhammad can’t be trusted to go to the mountain,” Tulip nodded. “So the mountain must go to Muhammad. I’ll be there shortly. In the meantime, make sure Celestia is healthy.”

The soldier nodded, and closed the door as he ran off. Tulip turned to his desk, and pulled open the drawer, taking out his gun. It was a revolver, and it had exactly one bullet chambered. A bullet he’d very nearly delivered into his own temple, once upon a time.

A bullet he kept as a reminder to himself, a reminder of the promise he’d made when he realized he couldn’t give up. He snapped the gun shut again, and tucked it into the holster on the back of his belt as he got up and straightened his omnipresent biohazard suit.

Time to say hi to royalty.

+==[~~~]==+

“- and then, the Balrog boomed forth in a voice of granite and doom, “You shall not pass!”, and there we stood, the four of us, facing down the worst Tartarus has to offer!”

Trixie gestured grandly, and with a spark, an image was formed above her head in light, a megalithic, cloven creature looming over smaller ponies and an upright shape that was supposed to be Richard.

The stories had been going on for almost two hours, now - the initial crowd of Boulder and his friends had steadily grown as Trixie told it; she’d gotten into her stride, and the recounting had become an impromptu show.

Even though Lyra, Richard and Rainbow Dash had been there for the whole thing, they found themselves completely enthralled by the rendition of the tale; Richard hadn’t even left for a moment when his bacon sandwich arrived, and once he was sure nopony was watching, popped his helmet open and shoved the bacon sandwich inside his suit so he could eat it. As a further testament to Trixie’s story-telling ability, Rainbow Dash had downed six mugs of cider and had been crossing her legs for the last half hour, waiting for an opportunity to make a break for the bathroom.

Razordrop was pleased with the turn of events, at any rate; business was, for once, booming. The only problem was that his stock of cider was running low, and at this rate, he’d have to go cider-hunting.

Lyra leaned closer to Rainbow Dash. “I don’t get what the problem is, I think this is her talent. Where did she go wrong?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash nodded. “She isn’t boasting half as much as I remember. She’s just... telling a story. For once. No public humiliation!”

The pair watched as Trixie went about her tale of how the Balrog had snared her with a noose of flame, even as the magical light Lyra strummed a small magical light instrument, destroying the magical light bridge beneath it’s hooves.

“You know,” Lyra nodded. “She’s pretty calm about recounting the part where she almost died.”

“Showbusiness,” Richard remarked. “Keep a smile on your face, don’t panic, and pretend everything’s going according to plan, that’s the trick.”

“You don’t,” pointed out Rainbow Dash. “You openly shouted that you were scared witless.”

“Coping mechanism,” Richard replied, watching the rendition-him cut the flame whip just in time to save rendition-Trixie. “Besides - I didn’t panic.”

“So,” a voice said. “You’re Richard the Human, huh? Saved my sister not once, but twice.”

Richard turned to see Boulder standing behind him, carrying a mug of purple fluid. Richard restrained himself, and remained still.

“Please take that... purple fluid somewhere else, please,” he said, tersely.

“Hey, I ain’t gonna argue none,” Boulder nodded, backing up a little to put the mug on a table far away, then returning. “But if you don’t mind me asking, what’s up with you?”

“I get nervous around ponies carrying purple fluid. Don’t ask why.”

“You’re getting better,” Lyra remarked, before turning to Boulder. “Last time he saw a pony carrying grape juice, he threatened to kill him and me.”

Boulder looked at Richard sideways. “And you’re still hanging around him?”

“He’s giving me ideas for golems,” Lyra grinned. “I’ve never seen anything move on two legs and do what he does. If I build golems like him, the sky’s the limit!”

“You’re all crazy,” Boulder decided. “Perhaps crazy’s what we need - we got something haunting a glade out in the forest, and it’s freaking the boys out. I was just wondering if maybe...”

“We’d take care of it for you?” Rainbow Dash asked, and Boulder nodded.

The group looked at the burned showmare in the middle of her tale, and making the decision to leave her behind as one, got up quietly.

“Might as well do this while we’re still grubby,” Lyra shrugged. “Show us the glade.”

Rainbow Dash got up, and flushed, crossing her legs again as she looked for the toilet. “You three go on ahead, I’ll catch up. Nature’s calling.”

+==[~~~]==+

“What in the nine hells happened here?!” Emmet exclaimed, advancing on the hole in the wall with caution, his shotgun drawn and held low.

The hole, rubble and all, had once been a doorway. A doorway to the room where they’d put Carpenter. After motioning for Twilight and Palladion to stay put, Emmet and David stacked up, and nodded to each other. As one, they entered the room, and swore.

Twilight took that as an indication that the room was safe, if a little unsavory, and followed. The interior looked, in short, as if a tornado had ripped through it.

The bed hung out one window, glass littering the floor, craters and holes were in the walls, and the furniture was mostly reduced to piles of firewood. One of the piles made a coughing sound, and everyone moved over to it.

A yellow hoof waved around in the air, and Emmet took a hold of it, pulling firmly; with a rattle of wood, Fluttershy was pulled free, groaning in pain.

“Fluttershy!” Twilight exclaimed. “Are you okay?! What happened?”

“Twilight,” Fluttershy grimaced, shaking her head. “I’m fine, I think. Just a little bruising. Carpenter isn’t, though.”

“The ponification failed?” she asked, and Fluttershy shook her head again.

“It worked perfectly, I think. Carpenter didn’t want it, though.”

“But... we did it to save his life!”

“He was very insistent about that,” Fluttershy mumbled, indicating the room.

“Where’s Moses?” Emmet asked, looking around. Fluttershy pointed a hoof at the largest hole in the wall.

“He tried to subdue Carpenter by force, and, um,  Carpenter kind of threw him through the wall with magic.”

“Ouch,” David muttered, moving over to the hole. “Moses. You okay, bud?”

A deep grunt echoed out of the cavity as rubble shifted. David nodded. “He’ll be fine.”

[Now what, pardners?] Palladion asked. [Sounds like we got us one angry little pony running riot in my town.]

“He’s not really angry,” Fluttershy corrected. “Just... conflicted and upset. I think he has a problem he hasn’t talked to us about, something about somepony named Greene.”

“Then we need to find him,” Emmet decided. “We’ll split up - Twilight, you go with Palladion, I’ll go with David. Moses?”

Rubble shifted, and a steel hand pulled Moses upright, a small trickle of blood running from a cut over his eye. The augmetic soldier nodded, and Emmet nodded back. “You find Des, get him searching.”

[I will ask Newport to keep an eye out,] Palladion offered. [I cannot mandate it, but I doubt they will refuse me.]

“Great,” Emmet said. “Let’s try and find Carpenter quickly, before he does something stupid.”

“What about me?” Fluttershy asked. “I want to help, too.”

“You should stay here and recover,” David pointed at the destroyed set of dressers. “You were just thrown through a piece of furniture, that can’t be good for you.”

Fluttershy frowned, but sat anyway, and Emmet nodded.

“You’ve done your part, now let us do ours,” he nodded to the door. “Let’s hustle.”

The humans, cowboy and Twilight left the room, and Fluttershy sat alone in the wreckage, looking at the room despondently.

Had she really done her part?

+==[~~~]==+

The sound of boots on tile echoed off the walls of the quiet corridor; the total silence even went so far as to make the boots seem deafening.

Tulip gestured, and like a smooth, oiled machine, the door to the cell was opened - ponderously, slowly, soundlessly.

On the other side, Celestia watched the door keenly, lying on the floor, legs crossed patiently. The remains of what looked like a bowl of salad lay nearby. Tulip stood in front of Celestia, backed by two soldiers and just out of physical reach, looking her in the eye.

“Human Liberation Front, Regional Commander Tulip,” he said, by way of introduction. “You asked to see me?”

Celestia nodded. “My name is Princess Celestia, and-”

“-and you’re the Regent of the Sun of Equestria. I’ve heard it before,” Tulip said.

Celestia looked pensive for a moment. “How?”

“Because,” Tulip said. “You yourself introduced yourself that way, in a time long since passed. A time before you managed to make yourself an enemy of humanity.”

Celestia closed her eyes. “I don’t know what kind of character this Celestia you know is, but I assure you, we are not the same.”

“Perhaps.” Tulip nodded. “But you are similar enough to serve our purpose.”

“Which is?”

“Tell me, Princess,” Tulip went off on a tangent. “Do you know a Twilight Sparkle and/or Fluttershy?”

“Yes, I do,” Celestia answered evenly. “What of them? Have you harmed my little ponies?”

“Harmed... not quite.” Tulip rubbed his chin. “I can’t vouch for what kind of journey they’ll have, but as we speak, two of my men are escorting them to Equestria, so they can deliver an ultimatum.”

“What kind of ultimatum?” Celestia asked quickly, fearing she could guess.

“Equestria capitulates to humanity without condition or reservation, or we kill their princess.” Tulip nodded at Celestia. “That’s you. Regardless of whether you’re the Celestia we know and hate or not, your corpse will prove a point.”

“Killing does not solve anything,” Celestia muttered darkly. “What point could my death possibly serve, regardless of how much I deserve it?”

“The ultimatum is a promise,” Tulip said. “When we say “surrender or the princess dies”, we mean it. When we then promise to take our world back with blood and sweat, you’d better believe we mean it. We’d rather end this war without any more bloodshed, but...”

Tulip looked Celestia in the eye, and the Princess saw no doubt, no hesitation, no sign that Tulip didn’t mean what he said. In the face of such determination, there was little more she could do than drop the subject. The two remained silent for a moment, before Tulip decided the conversation was over, and motioned for the guards to exit the cell.

As he exited, he paused with one foot on the threshold, and looked back at Celestia. “I will take no pleasure in executing the wrong Celestia,” he admitted. “Until Equestria tells us to go fuck ourselves, you will not be harmed. And when it does come time for you to die, it will be as swift as we can manage. I give my word.”

“It’s not too late,” Celestia said. “Release me, and I will do all I can to stop this war.”

Tulip shook his head slowly, and turned away. “I can’t do that, Princess. Not now.”

+==[~~~]==+

The moonlit glade was quiet, and eerily so. Not a single animal made a sound, and there wasn’t even a gentle breeze to stir the trees. Not even the three ponies and human hiding behind a bush on the edge dared to disturb it.

Lyra shuddered. “I don’t like this. It’s too quiet,” she whispered.

“It won’t be long now,” Boulder muttered. The earth pony was hunkered down low. “It comes out at night, all freaky-like. It’s there one minute, and gone the next. It shows up anywhere and everywhere, but we worked out that this is where it starts... sort of.”

The glade was a ring of trees, flat grass filling it. In the middle, a series of old stones rested on the ground, mossy and cracked. The glade itself bore no signs of even the slightest disturbance, remaining pristine.

“I’m not seeing it,” Richard grunted. “What are we looking for, anyway?”

“It’s a pony,” Boulder said, gesturing. “A tall one with a black coat; his mane dances about on it’s own, in all directions. Some of the boys have seen him, but...” Boulder shook his head. “Some ponies been out at night, never came back. No trace of them, just... gone.”

“Eerie,” Lyra muttered.

As she said that, a cloud drifted, and a blanket of darkness covered the glade. Everypony squinted to see, and saw nothing.

There was a snap of twigs, and Rainbow Dash turned her head to look... and saw it.

Just as Boulder had said, the pony was tall, black, and thanks to a detail Boulder had omitted, terrifying.

Rainbow Dash screamed, stepping back through the hedge and into the glade in surprise; the other three startled, and looked behind them, jumping up. They relaxed when they saw nothing, and frowned at Rainbow Dash.

“What the hell,” Richard gestured behind him. “There’s nothing there. Why are you freaking out?”

“I saw it!” Rainbow Dash protested. “It was right there, and it was-“ she broke off, shuddering.

Richard looked at Lyra  and Boulder, who shrugged. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash slowly backed into the centre of the glade, looking around. For an instant, everyone blinked, and in a flash, they all saw it; looming over Rainbow Dash, and right behind her as she backed up.

“RD! Stop!” Lyra shouted, running forward.

“Don’t!” Boulder said, fearfully.

Richard didn’t bother shouting, and simply drew his knife; a small voice in the back of his mind remarked how strange it was that he should fall back to it so often in this world that was supposedly peaceful.

Perhaps it was down to the solutions he favoured.

Rainbow Dash saw the pair running towards her, and turned to see the phantasm once more. With a leap, she jumped away, screaming.

The thing’s mane stretched out like tentacles made of darkness, and its featureless face bore no emotion; even so, they felt a sense of... pleasure emanating from it.

Richard, unnerved and acting fast, stepped forward and around the fleeing Rainbow Dash, overtaking Lyra, and came face-to-face with the thing.

Almost. The creature was tall, but still not quite as tall as Richard, only up to chest height. It wasn’t cowed by the disparity in size, however, and attacked.

Steel flashed in the muted moonlight, and Richard slashed; to no avail, as the blade passed through the tendrils of the not-pony’s mane harmlessly. Richard saw this, and had time for one remark.

“Oh shit.”

With a flash of motion, the tendrils lashed out once more; the tips forming into barbed spikes as they struck Richard in the chest. To his dismay, they ignored his EOD suit altogether, and with a pinching sensation in his chest, he collapsed.

His eyesight flickered and wavered like a bad CCTV feed, and with a blink, he was gone.

+==[~~~]==+

“Found him yet?” Emmet asked, over the radio.

[Nothin’ yet, he’s a tricky scamp,] Palladion said, looking around the empty streets. [He can’t have gotten far.]

The cowboy robot and Twilight were standing on a street corner, in the middle of their search; made easier as AIs all over the city reported in to Palladion, eliminating areas where Carpenter wasn’t.

[Palladion!] a digital voice rang out over the radio. [I located a pony on the roof of the radio tower!]

“Radio tower?” Twilight asked.

“Tallest building in Newport,” David said over the radio.

[I’m running a system diagnostic though,] the AI said. [I’ve got no records of him passing through the main doors or using the stairs. He’s moving around near the edge, probability of contemplating suicide is quite high, approximately seventy eight point six percent.]

“Shit,” Emmet said, the sounds of rapid steps beginning. “Radio tower’s on the other side of town. It’s up to you, Twilight and Palladion. Talk him down from there, quickly.”

“What?!” Twilight was taken aback. “But-”

“No buts,” David countered over the faint sound of slamming doors. “Butts are for pooping. I’m sure Palladion can get you up there, but I think it’s gonna have to be you that gets him to step back from the edge.”

“I- I have no idea how to stop somepony committing suicide!” Twilight protested weakly, as she broke into a run alongside Palladion, headed towards a tall building poking above the skyline.

“And I had no idea how to perform nerve-interface surgery,” David countered once more. “But I learned damn quick when we needed new arms and legs and we needed them sharpish. You’ve got us, alright? Just stall him for time, at least.”

Twilight nodded. “I can do that.”

“Fantastic,” David said, cheerfully. “That’s half the battle won. Now get running.”

Twilight obliged, and the pair rapidly closed in on the circular, tall building that was the radio tower.

+==[~~~]==+

“-And then, like a lightning bolt, Rainbow Dash swooped down and saved me! Isn’t that right, Rainbow Dash?”

Trixie turned around, a smile on her face as she attempted to collaborate the story with the mare herself... and that smile fell as she saw the once-occupied seats now going empty, Razordrop clearing away used cups.

“Where did they go?” Trixie asked Razordrop, indicating the seats. The gryphon shrugged.

“No idea. They talked with your brother for a bit, then slipped out.”

Trixie rounded on the crowd. “Do any of you know where Boulder would take my friends?”

“Uh,” a scrawny-looking pony in the crowd ventured, “There is the six-stone-circle glade, it’s been riling up the woodcutters. Perhaps he asked them to have a look at it?”

Trixie’s eyes narrowed. “And they went without Trixie?” She looked to her audience. “Trixie apologizes, but Trixie fears that she has been, as they say, “ditched”.”

+==[~~~]==+

The door slammed open with a crash, and Palladion and Twilight barrelled out onto the roof. In front of them, on the curved edge of the building, a sandy-colored pony stood, leaning against the lip for support. A maroon mane and tail fluttered in the strong breeze that was picking up, and a cutie mark depicting a crate in motion adorned his hindquarters.

“Carpenter!” Twilight yelled, cautious. “What are you doing up here?”

“And here she is,” Carpenter said, not turning around. “Twilight Sparkle. The mare who gave the gift of life to the wrong person.”

“I don’t get it,” Twilight said loudly, moving partway towards Carpenter, and stopping at a safe distance. “What do you mean?”

“Of all the people you gave a second chance at life,” Carpenter chuckled dryly, “You gave it to the one man who deserves it least.”

“Is this about turning you into a pony?” Twilight asked, desperately. “Because if it is, I’m sorry, but it was all I could do!”

“It’s not just about that!” Carpenter shouted, his head spinning around to look Twilight in the eye. “There’s more to it than that!”

[Then why don’t you tell us about it, pardner?] Palladion asked, gesturing. [We ain’t going anywhere.]

Carpenter scowled, and looked away. “Remember how I said some people had to deal with their friends and family turning on them as ponies?”

Twilight nodded. “It sounded horrible.”

Carpenter sighed. “I made the wrong choice. I chose poorly.”

+==[~~~]==+

“Hey, Marion,” a voice called out, “Get a load of this.”

The two humans stood on the sidewalk of an empty street, next to a storefront that had once sold novelties of various sorts. The pair were making their way through a no-name town in the middle of nowhere, mid-pursuit of a radio signal bidding them travel to Quebec of all places. Or they had been, until a scouting party of pegasi had spotted them.

A helmeted Marion Carpenter turned away from the Pegasus he’d shot and downed, to see his partner, Greene, waving a horse-head mask around. Greene’s helmet, a golden dome-like affair, sat on the ground at his feet, and Carpenter had an idea where he was going with it.

“What if, right, just... what if we wore these?” Greene pulled his mask over his head. “Would they fool the ponies, do you think?”

Carpenter chuckled. “Come on, nothing’s that stupid,” he reasoned.

“Hah. Face it,” Greene jabbed a finger at Carpenter, then gestured at himself, posing in the mask. “You want this.”

“On a scale of “one” to “fuck off”, I’d say fuck off.”

“Party pooper,” Greene chuckled, and began to pull at the mask, grunting in exertion. “Bloody thing’s tight as hell.”

“That’ll be your big head,” Carpenter joked. Greene laughed as well, around the mask.

“Man,” he said, “Remember when it used to be the other way around? You- ugh. You were the funny man, and I was the straight man. Now... I’m not sure where we stand.”

Neither of the two heard the faint gasp for breath amidst their laughter. Neither of the two noticed a hoof weakly reaching for an intact vial on the ground, focused on the horse mask.

Carpenter noticed the vial flying over his shoulder, and opened his mouth to shout a warning. With a pop, Greene managed to get his head out of the mask, just in time to see his future laid out in front of him.

With a smash, Greene fell backwards, getting a faceful of potion and glass. Carpenter spun, and saw the pegasus, weakly reaching for another vial; with a sharp bang, Carpenter’s handgun smoked, and the pegasus got a hole in it’s head for it’s trouble.

“Maaaaaaarion!” Greene gasped, eyes wide. “Heeeeelp meeeeeeee!”

Carpenter could only watch on in horror as his friend was taken by the potion; like putty, he was reshaped into a new form, screams gurgling from his proto-throat as he went. He brought his gun up, but hesitated - this was his closest friend in the world! How could he simply put a bullet in his friend?

He put his gun up, and watched as the writhing mess became a cohesive pony of golden yellow, with a sandy mane. He stood there, keeping his distance as the unicorn stirred.

“...Greene?”

“Hey, Marion...” the pony got up awkwardly. “That was... whew.” Greene looked at Carpenter. “You should try it. It’s worth it.”

Carpenter shook his head. “No thanks.”

Greene frowned. “But how can you experience joy if you don’t become a pony?”

“Greene,” Carpenter said, warningly, “This shit isn’t funny. Knock it off.”

“Knock what off?” Greene asked, lurching forward. “It’s the truth - you should join us, Marion, it all makes so much sense now!”

“Not happening, Greene,” Carpenter said, slowly.

Greene looked distressed. “But- we can’t have that. No. Can’t have that. Gotta go. Here, I’ll drag you - you’ll thank me later.”

The unicorn’s horn glowed, and Carpenter felt his arm being tugged towards the door; with a jerk, he yanked his arm free and the grip faded.

“No, Greene. Stop it. I don’t want to be a pony.”

“Marion,” Greene sighed. “You have to, you don’t understand. Please, come quietly.”

Carpenter pointed a gun at Greene, causing the unicorn to startle. “I’m not going, Greene. Don’t make me do it.”

Greene looked Carpenter in the eye, and blinked slowly. “If you don’t come along, I’ll just have to make you.”

“And being my friend won’t stop me killing you,” Carpenter countered. “I don’t want to, but if this is the road we’re gonna go down, then so be it.”

A tense moment passed, and then Greene made the first move. With a green glow of magic, his horn lit up, and he ducked.

Greene’s gun went off with a bang, the bullet whizzing over Greene’s head; before it could chamber another round, though, Carpenter felt his gun move as something tugged on it, and with a sliding of metal, the clip fell out of the gun, the release button triggered by magic. The gun locked back in the open position, waiting for more ammo, and Carpenter dropped it.

He grunted as the unicorn slammed into his legs, bowling him over and sending him to the ground. Greene spun, and rearing up, attempted to stamp on Carpenter’s legs. The human pulled his legs in, and instead lashed out with them, at Greene’s face.

The unicorn reared back, swearing in pain, and Carpenter rolled to his feet. Greene recovered, and charged again. This time, Carpenter was ready, and with a swift motion, he grabbed Greene by the horn and back of his mane, spinning. Greene’s new path took him straight into the one remaining intact window in the storefront, head impacting against the glass with a whud.

Greene reeled, only for Carpenter to repeat the motion again, a dull crack echoing around the street as the window spider-webbed. And again - the spiderwebs spreading and a red smear remaining on the glass, Greene’s snout dribbling blood.

Carpenter screamed a scream of exertion, and with a grunt, lifted Greene entirely, putting him through the window with a shower of glass. The pony gurgled in pain as it landed on the other side, and Carpenter wheezed for breath as he made to retrieve his gun and the clip for it.

A faint tinkle sounded, and he looked around to see a nightmare made manifest; a small swarm of glass shards danced in the air, all pulled from the broken window and held aloft by magic. Carpenter dived away, but as Greene sat up, and saw him, the shards took aim and flew like darts.

Carpenter screamed as he fell over awkwardly; with a head covered by a full-face helmet and torso protected with a vest, the next target of choice had been his legs; something Greene was aware of, because all the glass shards had found their way there, and in very indiscriminate places.

“That hurt, Marion!” complained the unicorn, picking his way out of the storefront window. “But tell you what - we’ll be all square if you just come with me, and get ponified.”

Carpenter stifled a groan of pain as he rolled over and looked at the approaching unicorn, who was wobbling his way over to him unsteadily. The glass shards sticking out of his legs glittered in the setting sunlight, and he felt a pull on his leg; with a groan of pain as his glass-filled leg was extended straight, he fell over and saw something not far from his head - his gun.

With a grunt, he flopped a hand over, and grabbed the weapon; the pulling strengthened, and gravel scraped against his back as he was pulled towards Greene, who was watching him struggle with slightly unfocused eyes.

Carpenter lined up a headshot, and begging forgiveness, fired.

The shot echoed off the buildings around, followed by agonized screaming. It was a terrible, genuine scream of pain; to hear it was to not unlike hearing the lamentations of a man unused to pain experiencing the worst he could possibly feel without dying.

Carpenter sat up awkwardly, and gingerly got to his feet, avoiding bending his legs any more than he had to. With tears in his eyes, he hop-hobbled over to the unicorn lying on it’s side in the street, screaming as he clutched his head in his hooves and kicked himself in circles.

“MAKE IT STOP, MAKE IT STOP!” he screamed. Amidst the blood, Carpenter could see the source of the pain; a shattered stump in Greene’s forehead, sparking fitfully. He’d broken a unicorn’s horn, something that was, without fail, brutally painful. Possibly inhumane, but before now, the problem had never come up.

Carpenter considered the unicorn. His former friend was no longer a threat - a broken horn was painful, but not fatal. He’d pass out from pain and thaumic feedback soon, and that would leave Carpenter free to just... walk away. Slowly, thanks to the glass, but he’d walk away on two legs.

And yet... Greene was a loose end. A wounded animal with knowledge of where Carpenter was going. Knowledge of how to find the other humans. Carpenter winced as he shifted his weight from one leg to the other, and looked at his gun.

He was gonna carry this weight until he died.

+==[~~~]==+

“You...” Twilight mumbled. “You killed him.”

“I couldn’t take the chance,” Carpenter said. “Or so I thought. But since then, I’ve second-guessed myself. Did I do the right thing? Did I need to kill my friend to preserve humanity, or could I have let him go?” Carpenter looked away. “Recently, I’ve been thinking that perhaps... it wouldn’t have mattered. Something or someone else would have killed him, nopony would listen to him... he might not have lived longer, but he didn’t need his life to get cut short like it did. Certainly not by me.”

“There’s a saying,” Twilight pointed out. “Hindsight is twenty-twenty. Do you have that?”

“I’ve heard it,” Carpenter admitted.

“You look back on it, of course you’re going to condemn yourself,” Twilight gestured. “You did what you thought was the right thing. Perhaps you didn’t, perhaps your actions saved humanity and kept them alive for another day. You’ll never know!”

“Probably,” Carpenter said. A red glow enveloped him, and with a slight thrum, he rose into the air, limbs hanging limply at his sides as he levitated towards the edge of the building. "But it's too much for me. As a human, I could ignore my guilt, set it aside. But now, guilt taps away at my little pony brain like a woodpecker, forever tapping, tapping, tapping." Carpenter tapped a hoof on his temple to prove the point as he finally moved completely out over the edge. "It's time to end it. No more guilt, only judgement."

"Carpenter..." Twilight said, alarmed. "Don't you dare..."

"Goodbye, Twilight."

There was a pulse of magic. Twilight reached out with her own not-inconsiderable telekinesis, only for her grip to be effectively shaken off by a grip firmer and stronger than hers - no small feat, given her reputation as the greatest mage of her time.

Carpenter, for his part, shot straight down towards the ground, throwing himself into terminal velocity almost instantly. Twilight and Palladion ran to the edge of the building, and leaned over in time to see something yellow and pink flash past the building below, and go into a dive after Carpenter.

Fluttershy. Not the fastest pegasus around, but for a vertical dive from twenty stories up, she was fast enough. Faster than a free-falling unicorn, at least.

Fifteen stories up, she closed in on Carpenter, and the unicorn spotted her.

“I’m sorry I hurt you!” he yelled. “I had to do it, you would have stopped me!”

Fluttershy plucked up her courage, and looked Carpenter in the eye. “I’m going to stop you now!”

She tried to get closer, only to find a glow of magic around her torso holding her at bay. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them, Carpenter was already making eye contact. It made her job easier.

“Carpenter,” Fluttershy intoned, “you are going to cut that out right this instant.”

“Yes Ma’am!” Carpenter squeaked, and he let Fluttershy loose from his telekinetic grip; she wasted no time, and grabbed Carpenter tight, pulling up as hard as she could. The ground rushed up, and Fluttershy realized with a pang that she had been too slow - they were short by about six metres or so, and she estimated that they’d still hit the ground with enough force to turn them to paste, albeit now spread along the ground in one direction, instead of everywhere within a given radius.

There was a whistling noise, and with a thwip, her vision was suddenly filled with black netting.

“Got ‘em!” Emmet whooped. “Stay right there, you two! We’ll have you down in a moment!”

The net, having arrested the two ponies, bounced back and sagged a little, holding them like a hammock as David and Emmet yelled congratulations and expressed relief about their timely arrival.

Carpenter shook his head, eyes coming back into focus, and he saw the net. He pieced two and two together, shaking his head more vigorously. “No! Fucking no! I was - why can’t - I just want it to end!”

“Carpenter,” Fluttershy said, levelly, pulling the unicorn’s head around to look at her. “I’m not going to let you just kill yourself. You’ve got a life to live, and you’re going to live it, do you hear me?”

“What’s the point?” Carpenter asked, sadly. “So I can become a guilt-wracked mess of a pony? I can’t even go back home without getting shot, now.”

“At least your home is in this world,” Fluttershy retorted, thinking of her tidy little cottage, and sighing quietly, before looking back at Carpenter. “You had a job to do, and killing yourself isn’t going to help, is it?”

Carpenter frowned. “No.”

“So, until you finish your job and we get back to Forlorn Hope,” Fluttershy’s brow creased, and she looked Carpenter in the eyes, “You are not going to even think about dying. If you do, with Celestia as my witness, I will follow you to the gates of Tartarus and beyond, and drag you back myself if I have to. Do I make myself clear?”

Carpenter looked into those normally gentle eyes, and his world shrank to just him and her. He looked into Fluttershy’s eyes, and saw only hardened, steely resolve that promised that any punishment hell could produce was nothing in comparison to what he’d feel if he crossed her on this issue. He did the only thing he could do, which was meep quietly and nod.

Fluttershy’s face snapped back to it’s usual picture of caring affection, and she smiled. “Good. I’m glad we dealt with that problem. I forgive you for throwing me into the wall, by the way.”

“I...” Carpenter was finally released, and he rolled onto his back, hooves tucked in as he looked at the sky overhead. “I... don’t think I can forgive myself.”

Next Chapter: Inception Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 49 Minutes