Chapter 17 Broken Hearted

Pulling into the station just outside Sanctuary, the platform was alive with the hustle and bustle with its new arrivals. Pumpkin bounced happily out of the train and down the platform stairs, humming a holiday tune I feel I'd heard somewhere. Orange Juice followed her, also bouncing along. Wonder was third, carrying a few things in a wine red magical aura that seemed to be attached to the bangle anklets around his forelegs.

Guardian was next, having had help from Ashe Erza to strap some cases to his back, and in turn, she had also gotten a few cases strapped to her back too. She followed the Guardian. Combat Zone and Cherry followed them, Cherry balancing in one hoof a few items and the former ignoring supplies altogether. He was so rude! Lily was carrying the last of it. I checked myself before getting off the train, making sure I had all my weapons and my satchel. Capper didn't even have to think about it because his inventory seemed to be in that giant ass trenchcoat of his. It was bigger on the inside than it was on the outside in my opinion. I wish my vest did that.

I made sure my revolver and all my memory spheres were with me and hopped off the train onto the platform. I decided to skip the stairs and just jump off the platform, landing smoothly a few feet below, kicking up some dust. Capper was behind me, copycatting my notion, landing beside me. "Hey babe," I smiled and kissed him. He kissed me back.

Press was at his workbench at the Community Home. "Ohhh, look who's back!" he came in for a hug which took me off guard. He also hugged Orange Juice who was more than happy to receive it. Mama Madmaer was in a rocking chair near the workbench and behind her a power armor station with a suit of light power armor was visible. It appeared to be a heavily modded, versatile piece of hardware.

"I take it you all had no trouble taking the castle. Ten of you should've done nicely," he was all smiles.

"Some of us stayed behind to guard Griffonstone Station, but yes, we cleared out the Lurkers and killed the Queen." Buck filled him in.

"Good, that's what I heard on the radio too, I just wanted to hear it straight from the horse's mouth." he winked, tipping his hat.

"May we negotiate terms of alliance now?" Ashe Erza bucked up to him.

Press nodded, "That sounds like an excellent idea. If you would follow me into the Community Home…" Buck and Erza followed him, the rest of the group dispersed for now.

"Blitzfire," said Lily before wandering off, "I have to speak with Buck here soon, but I will not be accompanying anypony further into the Wastes. My job is much too important back at the Fort and I must return to my post."

"Understandable, aren't you a doctor?"

"Cheif of Medicine, actually; but yes, I am a doctor." she nodded.

I asked, "Is Cher staying?"

"He's the ordnance officer on the base, but has somepony filling in his post while he's away. I've discussed it with him and he's comfortable staying with the group." she looked up toward the sky outside the roofed porch. "He said he's fine with his active ordnance replacement until he returns and wants in on the action here." she rolled her eyes. "Pumpkin asked me to stay for a party, but after that, I'll be gone."

"A party, hmm?" Capper's interest was peaked.

"I've heard of such a party," came a croaky voice from nearby. It was Mama in her chair. She was woken up and had been busily eavesdropping on us.

Lily moved away from us as I went to speak with Mama. "What do you mean?"

"Do you have any Malice, I would like to try half, to get a better understanding of what the Sight is trying to tell me." she was staring at my satchel.

"What do you think Capper?" I looked up to my tomfriend's green glowing eyes.

"Press did say she's an addict but left it up to us. He might not like it so we don't got much time to dwell on the answer," he told me, sounding pretty helpful anyway.

"I'll decide if I'm an addict or not, thank you very much." she crossed her hooves.

"Fine, but only half," I told her. "I only have a few vials left."

"Yes, I have seen that you will need them." when she stuck herself with the needle, her eyes rolled up a little. Then she closed them and handed me the half full vial. "Yes! A party in a gem. A party, seemingly filled with darkness. It's so dark here I cannot find what I'm looking for. A place called…I'm not sure, third base maybe? Oh! He's horrendous, he's terrible!" her eyelids were fluttering as she rode the high. "He wants to kill you all, be very suspicious of a blue stranger…My goodness who…? YOU MUST HAVE SYMPATHY OR YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS WILL FAIL. GO NOW! GO! To the Everfree Forest, a hidden secret awaits you…" she opened her eyes and snorted, "That's all I can see for now. Do you have Sympathy?"

I creased my eyebrows, "I feel like I have sympathy for my friends, is that what you mean?" she just shook her head.

"Okay, it's settled then?" came Guardian's voice as the trio emerged from the house. I saw a fourth behind them, Melody. She waved at me and I waved back.

"Melody here was just telling us she saw a strange pony she'd never seen before in Double Diamond City. Press told me you've been there before?" Buck was addressing me.

"What strange pony?" I asked her.

"A blue pony with an even darker blue mane. He claims to be from Double Diamond City but I had never seen him before in my life." Melody was shaking her head as she continued walking. "I hope my info was helpful but I gotta get going again!" she headed off.

I looked over to Mama Madmare who had warned of a pony matching that description. She also asked if I had any Sympathy which I now assumed was a drug I'd never heard of. It made sense, if she wanted me to go to a hidden place in Everfree, maybe I had to make Sympathy. I really hoped I didn't have to go there, and what if OJ wanted to come!

"So, it's settled, we're all coming with me to Everfree?"

Combat was approaching, "From what I hear, we're gonna have to. If that pony is who I think he is then there's a huge problem, but I'll need to see for my own eyes."

"Double Diamond City it is." Buck nodded.

"Then to the train!" yelled the Colonel, from somewhere a sword had appeared and she was pointing it at the sky. Then it disappeared and she marched on.

Double Diamond City was its usual lively with normal traffic and activity in its residential township. We all regrouped at the bar where Piper tried to give me a warning. She slid into the table I was sitting at in Third Peak, possibly the third base Mama had mentioned as it was the third base, or rather peak, from the top.

Piper had stopped in the center of the room and looked around desperately as though searching for somepony. When her eyes locked on mine, she galloped my way.

I was harboring a hard cider that I was barely touching. I was planning on keeping my drinking down to a minimum. I perked to attention when Piper arrived at my table and took a seat across from me.

"Whatcha doing all the way over here by yourself?" she asked.

"The party has barely started," I took a tentative sip of my cider.

She looked around, "Well, if ya ask me, that's a good thing. I don't see that blue party pony about anywhere."

My ears shot up at the mention of the nameless blue pony who had caught my suspicions. "What about him?"

"Ah, I can see you're suspicious too. I'm glad." she gave another cursory glance around the bar, making sure of something before continuing. "He came back with Double Diamond and I, but I didn't get to see where he came from. DD refused to let me come with him into the train station Party Favor came from."

"He didn't?" I narrowed my eyes, growing more concerned.

"No! He had me stake lookout to make sure none of "Combat's" raiders showed up. I don't know who Combat is, but it sounded crazy, raider's ain't been in Bittsberg for almost a whole year now!" Piper slammed both hooves down on the table. "And now they're both missing!" the party was underway and she had to go for now, but she promised to return later.

Later, as I lowered the green memory orb, I noticed Capper had fallen asleep on my shoulder. He hadn't seen Nexus kiss me thank Faust. I hadn't even known the colt had pecked me on the lips that night! I was either too drunk to remember, or the alcohol had caused us to both black it out. I'm definitely never losing this orb, I thought as I stuffed it back into my satchel in the memory pouch, don't need anypony seeing that.

Piper came galloping in from outside, where an unexpected snowstorm was raging. "He's back and it's not good!" she shouted above the noise of the wind. The wind was so loud it even drowned out the music coming from the speakers. Pumpkin turned off the music and the record made a scratching sound.

"What's going on?" she galloped up. Our group noticed the commotion at the door.

"Party Favor has lost his damn mind is what up! And dark shawled ponies who seem resistant to the warm temperature have appeared out of nowhere. There's snow that shouldn't be here and Faust what else do I have to say?!" Piper was out of breath. "Chef!" she called and galloped toward the bar, "It's hard to breathe out there, we need to use this place as shelter!" Chef was nodding and he and Piper went to help ponies through the door.

"That's not snow," said Combat Zone with a grimace.

"It's ash…" said Buck in slow tones.

"What's ash doing here on the mountain?" asked OJ, then his eyes lit up in fear. I was looking between everypony not sure what was happening.

"Circle of Ash has returned!" Erza proclaimed, "and he's brought his ashlings to Broncston." her voice was downtrodden but her expression was hardy.

"Buck, what do we do?" Cherry was cocking a gun and pointing it at the door, where Piper was helping ponies in.

"Somepony tell that newsmare not to let in any ponies wearing gray cloaks!" Buck yelled.

"Piper!" I shouted and she looked up at me. "Gray cloaks are bad!"

"But I've already let in—" a pony in one such cloak, this one dark black and tattered at the bottom, punched her suddenly in the face and she was knocked out in a second flat.

That same pony lowered his hood, revealing himself to be Party Favor, except now instead of blue eyes, his eyes were glowing a deep red, permeating the growing darkness of the room. A darkness so thick it seemed to suck the light straight from the room. "Now the real party can begin!" he was laughing maniacally and his high pitched voice still sounded the same.

Behind him came in the mayor, Double Diamond himself. Piper was just now coming to, and she rubbed her temples. "Oh DD, thank the sisters you're here. Somepony needs to tell this dolt to leave, he just punched me in the fucking face!"

"Oh, but you my dude are greatly mistaken as to my purpose here. I own this town and I take orders from nopony!" Double Diamond had similar glowing white eyes. The glow seemed to be coming off of Party Favor's horn from his red colored magic, transitioning to white partway through.

"Circle of Ash," hissed Combat through gritted teeth, staring firmly in Party's direction.

"But which witch is which?" asked Pumpkin Spice.

"We are both Circle of Ash!" yelled both the white earth stallion and blue unicorn stallion at the same time.

"You only recognize the one, because I am your dear friend, Combat…I am Party Favor, and it's nice to finally meet you." he was smiling a sinister grin.

Double Diamond addressed us too, "We are two halves of one whole, I'm the sun to his moon. Thank you, Piper, for allowing me the opportunity to complete the ritual he started through his astral projection." Piper was cowering, trying to get as far from their evil magic as possible.

"For Faust's sake, there's two of them?" Wonder groaned. "As if one wasn't enough!"

"Just more of him for me to kill!" said Erza, wearing a completely different outfit now, actually in full blast shining metal armor and she had a shortsword that matched it. Where in tartarus…? Now I saw her prominent horn, poking out from the silver plating of her helmet. She appeared to be a very powerful unicorn.

"I knew I didn't like you," spat Piper from the floor, slowly trying to get up. Party pushed her back down.

"You will all submit to the will of our ashlings and darklings, or you will all die trying to resist."

"It is better to resist darkness than to do nothing at all!" Erza yelled and charged them. As she swiped her blade both ponies disappeared in swirling black smoke and what was left in their place was the sound of echoing laughter and two empty cloaks that billowed to the floor. Ash blew in from outside like snow.

"You'll need better magic than that to defeat us and it appears you only have 2 unicorns in your midst," came the echoing call of Double Diamond and Party Favor speaking as one. The door slammed shut. "Have fun with my darklings," said just Party Favor. The room went completely dark and everypony was silent. Then on the tip of Erza's horn came a light. Orange Juice lit his horn as well. I saw Piper dart to the back, where all the trapped civilians were now hiding with Chef. It was our ten against whatever was going on now.

Guardian activated the light on his suit and then I saw them. At least 5 if not more. Creepy as wraith looking ponies, all wearing similar black cloaks to Party Favor, tattered at the frays, unlike the gray clean cut cloak Diamond had been wearing. I didn't like the looks of this.

"Guys, I don't like this," came a whimper from Orange Juice. I would lay my life down for that colt, and I got in front of him, where Wonder joined me.

"I have a drug that gives the user a sense of magic, if magic really is required to fight these guys, we may need it. But I only have enough for 4 ponies and I need to save some for future battles!" I whispered low trying to make sure the darklings didn't hear me. They hadn't moved, they just appeared to be watching us and sucking up the light in the room, and since the light source was magical, it did not end. I hoped that wasn't a bad thing, but by the way they were feeding off it, it quite possibly was a bad idea to have lit horns and flashlights. There was just no way of knowing.

"I say we just shoot them in the face," Cherry pumped a double-barrel shotgun. He aimed and fired at one, the gun exploding in fiery light and the shell hitting its target. The second the pellets from the shell dispersed, the darkling exploded in a burst of enormous white light energy and it nearly blinded me. I had to lift a hoof to shade my eyes for it hurt that much to look at! "Okay so bad idea…" the darkling then reformed and continued to do exactly what it was doing before.

"They're eatin' the light!" Lily gasped. "I ain't never seen such creatures!"

"Neither have I," stated the Guardian. "They seem different from the ashlings, almost ghostlike."

"How do we stop them?" asked Orange Juice.

Erza stepped forward, a black sword held high, "By using magic of course. I call upon the aid of a thousand moons! Moon Song Blade, come to me!" the blade in her hoof shined a brilliant white for a moment before looking like darkness incarnate itself. It appeared to be an evil weapon, but in the right hooves, good could be done.

"What are us non magical ponies supposed to do?" Cherry was backing away from a slowly approaching darkling. Its eyes glowed white and it did not look friendly. It appeared as though it was preparing to attack.

I patted my satchel, realizing the many needles of Malice were still in there. I also had 12 batches of Steadfast. I had enough chems to help at least 6 ponies two times, but something in me knew we would need to save as much of it as possible. "Um guys, not to throw out crazy ideas, but I have a drug that may or may not give its user magical abilities, regardless of race."

"Well…" said Lily, "if y'all could tell us what it was, I may be able to approve some per'scriptions."

"Unfortunately, coming from a doctor's point of view, a raider drug may be considered illegal. However, I have notes dictating that combining it with over the counter Steadfast would make it safe for consumption and possible use in combat." I told her. I saw more and more of the white eyed darklings coming toward us.

"We don't have much time, just show us how the darn thing works!" Lily appeared to be sweating under pressure.

I stuck myself with a Malice needle, then popped a Steadfast tablet. My entire EFS shifted focus and a new bar was added next to my HP bar. I felt fast, and steady all at once. It was a hard feeling to describe as it almost seemed like time had completely slowed down. It was like I had the option to use S.A.T.S. through a Pip-Buck function without the actual Pip-Buck device present. I didn't have S.A.T.S. because without a Pip-Buck, my EFS was primitive, a leftover piece of arcane science from my time in the Power Armor. Suddenly now I did, and with an MP bar I seemed to have control over newfound magical abilities. What I could do, I did not know.

I stomped a hoof and a flash of light hit the nearest darkling. It seemed to just absorb the magic. "Okay, so they're immune to Light Magic!" I yelled and began passing out Malice and Steadfast as quickly as possible.

"I imagine they are also immune to dark mana as well," said Erza who tossed her sword into the air, "Requip! Flaming Phoenix!" her black sword changed into a red sword, flames swirling around the blade. Her armor remained unchanged, just a silver shining metal.

"I don't have enough for everypony, so non-magic users only." I told them. I skipped Capper, Wonder and OJ, for they all had magic. Erza was defending our position, having blasted the tables in the main room out of the way and setting up a blockade behind another few. I gave some Malice and Steadfast to Lily, Cherry, Buck and Combat; Pumpkin said she had some enchanted items with her she could use instead. So I was left with 6 and a half batches of Malice and 8 Steadfast, items I planned to save for later.

"Okay, let's bucking do this!" yelled Pumpkin, who was the first to jump over the barricade and follow Ashe into battle. She had her cherry bombs, which contained fire arcana. Erza had left a couple magic swords here, to better channel our newfound abilities. Everypony was a little uneasy, but the Steadfast kept us level headed. Wonder decided it'd be best if he stuck by Orange's side, and I agreed, following the two of them into combat.

"Wonder, can you help me channel this? I don't know how to use magic the way you do!" I called to him as I stomped a hoof and sent a burst of blue colored magic at a nearby wraith. That's what my EFS labelled them as anyway.

"Sure thing!" he yelled and lifted a hoof, a wine red orb appearing there. The magic appeared to match his eyes. "You're gonna wanna find your niche," he called, tossing the ball of energy at a couple wraiths, where the magic split and hit both of them. There came a shrieking sound as they dispersed into shadows.

"My niche?" I asked, stomping an orange blast at another of the darklings. It felt way easier to do than any other color I had chosen.

"Look for something about yourself that makes sense!" he told me, sending a ball of white energy toward an approaching enemy. It was absorbed into it, "Okay, so you're right, that doesn't seem to work."

I sent a burst of orange at it, killing it on contact. "You mean…like whatever this orange magic is?"

"It's fire magic and yes! You have orange on your cutie mark. Your name is Blitzfire, so fire some blitz at it!"

"That doesn't make sense but I'll try." I concentrated on the energy, focusing it into more of a beam shape. What appeared to me as the magic formed was the glowing orange shapes of many bullets, or blitz in my opinion.

"Talking helps," Wonder groaned as he strained under the pressure of using his red magic to defend me.

"Blitz…Fire!" the bullets reared up in front of me on the command "Blitz" and glowed an extreme orange as they shot out like bullets. Actual bursts of fire hit on contact with the bullets and I realized I just needed to pretend I was firing a gun. I aimed and focused the magic down into more of a blitz pattern, spread out and able to hit multiple targets at once. I used my new Blitzfire spell over and over, getting the hang of it.

"You also have red, white and black in your cutie mark, so maybe experiment with red magic?" Wonder said as he began to veer off, heading towards OJ.

"Okay, thanks for the heads up!" I nodded and let him go. Time to let loose and kill some sons of bitches. The full effects of Malice were now kicking in.

Capper Dapperpaws

I spun and dodged as more and more darklings came at me. Some even began to take the forms of catlords in order to fight me. I let my paws glow purple as Cheshire assisted me, lending his own magic and fighting the creatures one on one himself. "This is delightful!" he cheered as he punched the monsters and killed them rather quickly with his furious purple energy.

"You're telling me!" I laughed, punching an enemy of my own. They dissipated like smoke, dying on contact with Cheshire's powerful energy. "What are you, some kind of savant?"

"I'm whatever you will me to be and all that comes in between." he snickered as he killed another catlord shaped wraith. I was calling them wraith because they acted as ghosts, especially when they died. There was no physical body left behind. I'd never seen anything like it out in the wild wild wastes of Broncston.

"Whatever that means." I rolled my eyes as I fire punched a darkling that got too close. Sometimes it was like that cat spoke in gibberish.

Finally it was as though we finished off the last of the darklings. Just when we thought it was safe to get the ponies in the back to evacuate, the front door burst open, sending in a swirl of snow-like ash. A few ponies in gray neatly-trimmed cloaks filed in. "Ashlings!" I heard somepony with a higher pitched voice shout, possibly the Orange one.

"What in the hell are ashlings?" I asked, looking around the room at the large group.

"They are a disgrace to Equestria," said the Colonel.

"It would seem to be a corporeal wight!" Cheshire called, referring to the ashlings in comparison to the darklings, backing away from them slowly. He had lost his grin, for once, and was instead hissing and baring his claws. He had no power to attack them.

"You all made a grave mistake." came the eerily low voice of one ashling.

"It is time to kill or be killed," said another.

"Be at the mercy of us all," said the last, all their voices chilling and cold.

In unison, "We are the Triplets Three, and our meeting shall be your last."

"Well they certainly aren't Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb, but they are dull if they think all of us can't undertake the task of all of them." Cheshire had disappeared from view and his grin had returned, showing in midair. Then his tail flicked, swooshing and causing him to reappear in a different place across the room, far from the ashlings, leaving me stranded and with a weaker connection to his magic.

"I take resentment to being called dull, cat." said the first, taking a step forward and dropping his hood to reveal a long sharp horn.

"I can show you we are anything but," said the second, lifting a hoof to her hood and beginning to lower it.

"The power of three will destroy thee." said the last, who was lowering her hood as well.

Lady Ashe stepped forward, "No one has called you a thing! Now kindly take your leave, because I won't speak again."

"Neither will we!" they all shouted and with the drop of their hoods and revealing only two had horns, the mare in the middle was without, a strange magic began to form between the two unicorns and above the head of the middle mare. "We don't take kindly to insults." said the stallion. The mare in the middle had her eyes closed and was murmuring to herself then she began to float and putting her front hooves together, her eyes opened and her eyes were glowing white. "The summoning gate is opening." she spoke for everypony to hear.

"Stop them!" shouted the Guardian and the sounds of gunfire were heard coming from Cherry.

"This oughta shut them up!" he was yelling, waving a semi-auto and pumping the trigger. On the contrary, the bullets only bounced off an invisible shield.

Ashe Erza growled, "I call upon my Vorpal Sword, to slice away any barriers that bar my way and to fell the enemies before me. Requip!" Her flaming sword disappeared and in its place was a long, black and red sword.

"She took her Vorpal Sword in hoof;

Long time the manxome foe he sought—

So rested they by the Tumtum tree

And stood awhile in thought."

Cheshire was disappearing and reappearing all over the place, first by Lady Ashe when she mentioned her vorpal sword; appearing to be lying down on his side in the air above her, tail flicking—then by Combat Zone when he mentioned the manxome foe; standing by his side, then by Orange Juice and the Guardian when he mentioned the Tumtum tree. Lastly he returned to me, as though the whole poem was meant for me and was not complete. How I knew that, I didn't understand, but the words were nonsense to my tall kitty-cat ears.

Ravager Blitzfire

Across the room, closest to Capper was the enemy and all over the place it appeared that Cheshire was floating around and singing some song that all of us could hear. The Malice must be making it possible to see and hear him but it was beginning to wear off because the purple Cait Sith was disappearing and reappearing randomly.

I think we all heard him singing, especially those of us hopped up on Malice. Unfortunately our drugs were beginning to wear off. The good thing was, was that there was no longer any darklings to worry about, however, more ashlings could be seen outside. "Somepony needs to get outside!" I yelled as everypony jumped into attack mode. We were done being on the defensive.

I saw the Guardian and OJ rushing forward, alongside Wonder. The three ponies pushed their advantage on the Triplets, attempting to stop them from summoning whatever was about to come out of that giant black and white orb. The orb dissipated before anything could happen and the three ashlings became even more pissed off. However, the Guardian was able to get himself, OJ, Wonder and Pumpkin Spice out of the bar. I saw Capper slip out with Pumpkin, and I was left to fight alongside Combat Zone, Lily, Cherry and Ashe Erza to defend the ponies hiding in the back.

"We liked hearing about the Tumtum tree," said the stallion.

"But we don't like hearing it from your demented cat friend," said the earth mare.

The unicorn mare spoke up, "We'll kill you and take the 6 Tumtum berries for ourselves."

"What in Equestria are Tumtums?" I asked aloud.

"They must be referring to the Tree of Harmony and its 6 magical gemstones," called the Colonel. "Those Tumtums are not yours for the taking!" she yelled at the Triplets. "They must be awarded."

Tumtum berries in reference to the 6 stones only kind of made sense. But, I thought, if Celestia herself had to dub Harmony bearers and they can't be stolen as Erza says, then the Triplets must be meaning some sort of drug. Malice! Of course they meant Malice. Any outlaw worth their salt liked to get their hooves on powerful drugs. Malice combined with Steadfast had the capabilities of bestowing magical properties on their users, so it must somehow be connected to the Tree of Harmony. I wondered, what was that secret ingredient in Sparkle-Cola X? Perhaps this Tumtum stuff was one of the ingredients. "Guys, if we don't use magic here we won't win!" I yelled to my group.

"You!" snarled the earth mare. "You are the cause of all our problems." she connected hooves with her two companions on either side of her and I saw an unavoidable magical orb come flying toward me. Somepony yelled then I blacked out.

Orange Juice

Those ashlings in the bar were pretty scary, so I was glad I was following Buck outside. Buck's helmet gave him a protective layer and a better breathing apparatus but I was left coughing in the dust. I saw everypony stop, noticing that the kitty-cat guy had come with us too. "Here, I have a gas mask! Or a few!" Pumpkin started passing out gas masks to everypony who needed one, and Capper was happy to accept. She put on her own gas mask, and pulled her goggles down to shield her eyes from the ash falling from the sky.

"Where's it coming from?" asked Wonder, his eyes looking upward to the tallest peak.

Capper pointed, "It looks like it's coming off the Broncston Commons."

"Starlight's old cave?" asked Pumpkin.

"You got that right," Capper finger gunned her. I wished I could make hand-signs like that. All I had were these orange hooves.

"It looks like we need to get to the tallest peak and take a look inside those Commons." said Buck, hoofing it forward. We all followed, now that we were able to breathe better.

"We've gotta be careful, OJ," said Wonder, keeping pace with me. "If there are ashlings attacking the township, then who knows what lies in wait for us in the caves."

"Up there is Secret Stable," said Capper. "I would know, Blitz and I opened it up a little over a month ago."

"You guys did what?" Pumpkin Spice gasped.

"You two opened a Secret Stable, not knowing what was inside at all, and didn't expect there to be consequences?" asked Buck, incredulous.

"Well, alls we knew was the mayor resided inside. We didn't know the mayor was an evil psychopath."

You have discovered

Broncston Commons

Popped up on my Pip-Buck and on my EFS's upper left corner. The Commons were in fact a giant hidden Stable in the mountainside, as I recognized a big Stable gear door when I saw one. I drew in a sharp breath, nearly choking as the gas mask couldn't handle that much ash at once. The gear was wide open and the ash was coming from inside. "They must be doing another wacko ritual in there," Pumpkin commented as we all ducked inside.

Here the air was much colder, as it should feel out on the snow capped mountains. The ash was like a style of terraforming in a way, the wasteland becoming worse and worse as the ash rained like snow outside. "We have to find the source of all that ash!" the Guardian shouted over the loud sound of billowing wind. There was a heavy outgoing draft in here, shoving the thick ash outside.

Capper shouted too, "Everypony better cover their eyes. Faust, this ain't gonna be good for my fur."

The further we ventured the thicker the ash got until out of nowhere my Geiger Counter began clicking. I jumped at the sound, growing more and more anxious. I already didn't like being in another Stable, now there was residual arcana radiation too? "Um, guys, not to alarm anypony but my Pip-Buck is starting to go crazy and I don't like it."

"Don't worry, OJ, the levels are as of yet harmless. Although, that confirms a magical ritual is being done," the Guardian was muttering to himself.

We came to a place where the tunnels diverged. "Looks like we'll need to split up if we're gonna find the ritual chamber." said Pumpkin.

"Not to worry, folks!" Capper was tugging on his trenchcoat sleeve with a mischievous look in his glowing green eyes. "I got a trick or two up my sleeve. Besides all that, I've already been here before." he bragged. "If you'll allow me to lead the way, I'm the friend you need."

"Friendship never changes!" Pumpkin Spice called out a saying I'd come to learn was positive wartime propaganda from the Princess of Friendship Pre-War.

Capper led the way down the tunnel on the left, and when we all arrived we found that he had been right. A ritual was being done and it looked to be just about complete. Double Diamond was standing in front of a couple pods big enough to fit a single pony each, and he was talking to somepony residing inside one of them. "Pone, I've done it! I've finally freed you from your stasis, my dude! Those donkeys in Bittsberg had no idea what magic they were messing with."

"I don't appreciate being called donkey." the Guardian entered the room and stomped a metal clad hoof against the metal plated floor.

"By the sisters!" Party Favor was shakily exiting his pod, his eyes a nice blue color instead of that scary red.

"This ends now, Circle of Ash," the Guardian snapped.

"No! You don't understand!" Double Diamond was protesting. The Guardian lifted a gun to fire.

"Please, let us explain!" Party had a hoof up in surrender, as did Double Diamond.

"We had to do what we did, there was no other choice!" Double Diamond was crying.

"We were dying and the sisters never came back to save us!" Party moaned. "Please, we're telling you the truth. We aren't Circle of Ash!"

I stepped forward, gripping the Guardians hoof and making him lower his gun, "Buck, I don't think this is Circle. Wherever Circle is, they are not him, or don't you think they'd have attacked us by now?"

"You remind me how much you've matured every single day, OJ." the Guardian holstered his weapon. "Mind explaining to me why there are ashlings and darklings running around Double Diamond City?"

"It wasn't our fault!" Party Favor gasped.

"Dude, listen," began DD, "when the sisters didn't return to awaken us we had to take matters into our own hooves. We had no alicorn magic."

"For the past 200 years I've been reaching out through astral projection to try and find a magic capable of saving us!" Party said, jumping up and looking much healthier and much nicer than the creepy version of himself back at the bar. "When my magic touched Combat and became one with a group of raiders, my astral self became evil. Double Diamond here has been working tirelessly for the past 20 or so odd years to keep my true self from turning along with him."

"Circle of Ash was nothing more than a magical projection!" Double cried.

"What do you mean, 'was'?" asked Capper, making air quotes with his paws.

"Well…our astral selves only just became corporeal and it started when Blitz unsealed the Stable. None of that magic was capable of leaving until the Commons were opened." Diamond said. "Why do you think we keep this Stable sealed?"

"Why were you playing with dark magic in the first place?!" Wonder stomped a hoof with an angry expression on his face.

"There was no other way…once it became evil, there was no controlling it. Circle of Ash became his own entity." Party looked down toward the floor, looking ashamed of himself.

"Waking me up was a good first step but it allowed Circle to take two corporeal forms instead of just one!" DD explained.

"Well then we have a huge problem on our hooves. Do either of you know where either of…you are?" asked Buck.

"No, they're completely independent now. They have bodies and magic of their own. They'll look exactly like us but their eyes are red and white instead of dark blue and light blue, respectively." said Party.

"I am the true mayor of Double Diamond City, pone, and I never intended for any of this to happen." said Diamond in that fun beach bum accent of his.

"We need to find the summoning gate and try to shut it down!" Party gasped. "Either that or activate the permanent emergency lockdown protocols and get the buck out of here before the gear slides to a permanent seal."

"Is that where all the ash is coming from?" asked Pumpkin Spice.

"It's a Projection Gate," explained Party, "It's a type of summoning gate that makes a sort of portal between two points in the corporeal world, allowing for fast travel between destinations."

"That sounds like it could be useful. If we seal this Stable, can you make a better gate for us to travel throughout Broncston?" asked the Guardian, looking between the two ponies.

"My lover can do anything, dude!" DD beamed, hugging a hoof around his coltfriend's shoulders. "Why do you think he was appointed my Secretary of Arcane Arts?"

"Oh, okay, babe, don't get ahead of ourselves, you never even introduced your city to me because of Circle. Everypony thinks we're evil masterminds."

"We'll just have to prove them wrong then!" I smiled at them, happy that they weren't evil after all.

"I think I'll tell Piper the good news!" Pumpkin bounced off down the tunnel.

"Let's seal this Stable and get the buck out of here." DD was at the control panel.

"EMERGENCY PROTOCOLS ACTIVATED. LOCKDOWN CODE DD#1 ACCEPTED. ENGAGING SAFETY LOCKS NOW. COUNTDOWN TO TOTAL LOCKDOWN IN T-MINUS 1 MINUTE." came a computerized mare's voice from the Stable speaker systems.

"I'll set a self destruct too," added Party, heading to the controls and pressing buttons with his blue magical aura.

"SELF DESTRUCT SEQUENCE ENGAGED. SELF DESTRUCT CODE PF#2 ACCEPTED. ACTIVATING SELF DESTRUCT SEQUENCE NOW. COUNTDOWN TO SELF DESTRUCT IN T-MINUS 2 MINUTES."

"That sounds like our que to leave." Wonder grabbed my hoof and pulled me out the door. "Come on, OJ."

We all ran at full speed to catch up with Pumpkin Spice, who seemed to have not a care in the world even in the face of a 1 minute lockdown and 2 minute self destruct. She just bounced along at normal pace until the Guardian grabbed her scarf and yanked a little, "Come on Pumpkin, didn't you hear the alerts?"

"Oh I did, I was just waiting for you guys to come along." she beamed at me and kept speed with us.

Ravager Blitzfire

When I came to, it was revealed to me that the Triplets had been defeated and everypony was slowly emerging from the back. "Well that was one event I don't think we'll be having for another long while," said Chef as he returned to his bar.

"There's nothing we can do about what just happened." said Combat Zone, "Circle of Ash is a bastard that needs to be put down."

"Now that there's two of them, I think it's even more dire we find and eliminate them." said the Colonel.

OJ and crew were just returning and all the lights in the bar were back up. "I can't believe they interrupted my party like that," Pumpkin was saying to somepony beside her. "Now we'll never get back on track." the mayor came in with her! All weapons in the room trained on him. Party Favor was right behind her.

"Wait!" yelled the Guardian, who headed the group. "Ashe, the true Circle of Ash colts have left the city. These are the innocent Mayor and Secretary of Arcane Arts."

"Very well, everypony lower your weapons." the Colonel called to the group.

"How do we know they aren't lying?" I narrowed my eyes.

I saw Piper emerge from the back. "I have the same concerns," she said as she eyed DD and Party. "That guy punched me in the face.

"I'm sorry for whatever Circle of Ash may have done to you." Party told her.

"So wait, you're saying Circle of Ash is a different pony that looks exactly like you?" asked Piper, narrowing her eyes in confusion.

"That's right!" Pumpkin Spice bounced forward, "Let me try to explain." she dragged Piper off.

"They're not lying to you!" the Guardian called to the wary citizens, "The problem was taken care of by them. They set the Stable to blow so no more ashlings can come through and terrorize this town."

"That sounds pretty honorable to me," said Ashe Erza.

"We're even going to begin helping the ponies of Equestria by setting up safe checkpoints throughout the world." Party announced. "As Secretary of Arcane Arts, I have the capability to form a fast travel portal between safe settlements. Our first point of contact will be between Double Diamond City and the Minute Hoof Sanctuary."

"I don't want none of that magic mumbo jumbo stuff in my bar," said Chef.

"Don't worry, the contact point is already established in Our Town," said DD. "Everypony can feel safe and assured that somepony will stay here to guard the gate."

"I think I'd like to be that pony," spoke Cherry Blossom. "Until the Minute Hooves send backup at least."

"I just need to travel with this group of Fort ponies to set up a contact point in Sanctuary, and then hopefully in Bittsberg as well. The Minute Hooves sound like they don't like to travel too far from home." said Party.

"I can take y'all to the East Gate Outpost and the Fort once we create a gate in Sanctuary," said Lily.

"You're really going home, sis?" asked Cherry.

"I ain't gon' be stayin' here if that's what you mean. I got more work to do back home." said Lily Bloom.

"I will be staying here," said Double Diamond. "I have a mission to protect this town," he told us, then made eye contact with Cherry, "If you're staying here until the Minute Hooves send backup through the gate, then I would greatly appreciate the assistance in clearing Our Town of ashlings."

"Don't forget the darklings," Wonder said, rolling his eyes. "I just can't believe the amount of dark magic filtering into the town from the Stable."

"There won't be much we can do about that unless there's alicorn magic around."

"I don't know much about that, but we did do a mighty fine job on kicking their asses when we used Malice." said Capper. All eyes were on me now.

"Oh, you guys are asking me?"

"Well it was you who done gave us the medicine, now wasn't it?" Lily asked in her thick country accent.

"Yeah, but…" I could see these ponies weren't going to take no for an answer. "Malice is unrefined and dangerous. We'd have to go to a secret lab in Everfree if we wanted to come back and use it safely in Broncston."

"Then it sounds like we need to talk to the Minute Hooves." said Party Favor.

"Hold on, Everfree is on the edge of Ponyville. That place is a deathtrap!" the Guardian was biting his lip.

"But we're north of all that, aren't we?" asked OJ.

"Yeah, he's right, we could just sneak in over the mountains from Hollow Shade," said Wonder.

"Those mountains are unsurpassable," said Ashe. "I would know, I once tried to scale them before I found myself in Bittsberg."

"We have to get there somehow!" said OJ. "If alicorn magic is the only magic capable of stopping the darklings then how do we stop them without it?"

"Once again, OJ is right." the Guardian sighed. "Alright, for now we go to Sanctuary and regroup. Then we talk about Everfree." It was settled. With that, we went to the DDC train station, taking Party with us and leaving Cherry and the mayor behind.

(Footnote: How do you like the way I related the Jabberwocky poem to the story? It doesn't just relate now, but in a later chapter too! What do you think the Tumtum tree may be? I'm really loving creating more about this Cheshire character every time he pops up. I also hope you like the way I differentiate between the true Double Diamond and Party Favor and their evil twins. You'll learn more about what they really are in later chapters. For now, I can't wait to get going to Chapter 18.)

Brohoof! /)