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Revenant

By Writefag_Is_Kill
Created: 2023-02-20 08:23:43
Updated: 2023-04-26 06:40:31
Expiry: Never
safedramamy little progress

  1. Revenant is the epilogue to Red Shift. No attempt has been made to have it make sense to people who haven't read Red Shift.
  2.  
  3. >Princess Celestia was having a good day.
  4. >A REALLY good day.
  5. >The environment minister had just finished telling her that Infernal Toxin levels in the ocean were DROPPING!
  6. >It looked like the molecule was less stable than she’d been led to believe, making containment much easier.
  7. >And while the Blight hadn’t receded a significant amount in the year or so since it had formed, satellite images suggested the fungal blooms had almost completely died off.
  8. >There would be a blight for decades to come.
  9. >But some of the more northern settlements might be reclaimed within a few years.
  10. >In a strange way it was exciting. Equestria’s borders had been defined long ago, with the only changes in the last few centuries coming from improved surveys.
  11. >The lands to the south may have already been mapped out, and they may have rightfully been Equestrian soil.
  12. >But in a way, it was a new frontier.
  13. >Vast fields, rolling hills, even mountains to claim and restore.
  14. >After so much doom and gloom, the promise that some things would get better was downright intoxicating.
  15. >But that wasn’t even the best news of the day.
  16. >Twilight Sparkle had said she’d finally done it.
  17. >That she had stopped the Tide!
  18. >That it wasn’t a hypothesis, nor a gamble.
  19. >She already had proof of concept!
  20. >Celestia could barely contain her excitement.
  21. >Years of despair, and it was all going away at once!
  22. >Princess Celestia stood from her chair and gracefully made her way to meeting room 3.
  23. >It was intentionally a misnomer. By not having a meeting room 1 or 2, it was easier to throw spies off her trail.
  24. >Simply announce that something was to be done at one of the mythical meeting rooms, and watch the unscrupulous sorts toss the palace trying to find the place.
  25. >Today, however, there was to be no trickery.
  26. >Twilight had requested a meeting, stating she finally had the solution.
  27. >It was time to put this whole thing to bed.
  28. >She was in sight of the meeting room when the new captain of the guard intercepted her.
  29. >”Your majesty.”
  30. “Phalanx. I trust you are well.”
  31. >”I am, your majesty. However…”
  32. “I ask that you make it brief. I’ve extremely important matters to attend to.”
  33. >”A group of guards was overwhelmed last night while transporting a dangerous prisoner.”
  34. >That was pretty serious!
  35. “Are they okay?”
  36. >”Several broken bones, light internal bleeding, shattered pride.”
  37. “This prisoner. Have they been apprehended?”
  38. >”No, your majesty. They’re still at large. They escaped to the hills to the west, but we’ve not been able to find them.”
  39. “How many guards did they beat?”
  40. >”Fifty.”
  41. >FIFTY?
  42. >This WAS a dangerous prisoner.
  43. “Find them, but maintain distance. Don’t engage without appropriate special forces.”
  44. >”Can I, err, can I ask THEM for help?”
  45. >He wanted S.M.I.L.E. for a prisoner?
  46. >That was unusual.
  47. >Phalanx was proud of his soldiers.
  48. >And while he was no Shining Armor, he still did a fantastic job.
  49. “They’re stretched pretty thin, but if you can find the fugitive we should be able to spare a cell.”
  50. >”Wonderful. Thank you, princess.”
  51. >That had put a damper on her day.
  52. >However, it was ONE fugitive.
  53. >No matter who they were, they couldn’t possibly be as bad as the demons or the Tide.
  54. >So things weren’t perfect, they were just vastly improved.
  55. “Don’t let it worry you too much.”
  56. >She muttered to herself.
  57. >Celestia entered meeting room 3.
  58. >It had been designed for larger groups, the long varnished oaken table set up to handle dozens of ponies on each side.
  59. >The chandelier above the table had been refitted for LEDs, providing a much steadier but cooler light than the candles to which she was accustomed.
  60. >But by and large it was as it had been for generations, save for one massive change.
  61. >A projector, built into the ceiling.
  62. >She stepped onto the hardwood floors and made her way to one of the nearest chairs.
  63. “Sister. Twilight. Where is Cadence?”
  64. >”She had an emergency to attend to.”
  65. >Luna didn’t sound too pleased about it.
  66. >Truthfully, neither was Celestia.
  67. “What’s the matter?”
  68. >”Helios is broken.”
  69. “Again?”
  70. >That thing was nothing but heartache.
  71. >But they needed it, just in case.
  72. “I suppose we’ll need to update her on the situation later.”
  73. >Twilight started sorting through a stack of papers.
  74. >”Should we cover the minutes of our last meeting?”
  75. “I don’t believe that will be necessary. We should move onto more pressing issues. The state is in good shape. Food stores are holding steady, and we’ve only got two active cases of the Burning Plague. Our emergency shelters are almost completely vacant, we expect the last of the displaced ponies should have long term shelter available in a few months. Barring immense external pressure we should be fine. Speaking of external pressure, sister?”
  76. >”Achlys made a move last night. She’s adapting slower than anticipated, but adapting nonetheless. Unlike our previous foe she’s not a poison fetishist, so we’ve had excellent results with nerve agents. Zero fatalities on our side.”
  77. >Celestia couldn’t help but wonder how many had fallen amongst the opposing force.
  78. >But she knew better than to ask.
  79. “You said she’s adapting.”
  80. >”Smaller waves, looser formations. She’s attempting to bait out our heaviest ordinance before the bulk of her force makes a move. There’s now a delicate balancing act wherein we must rely on small arms for as long as possible lest we find ourselves underequipped when the real offensive begins. She’s sure to think of better solutions in the future, but we’re safe for now.
  81. “Have you backup plans in case she finds a way around your counteroffensive?”
  82. >”We do. I’m hesitant to use them though.”
  83. >A weapon that Luna was hesitant to use?
  84. >A shiver ran down Celestia’s spine.
  85. >The only weapon she’d ever shied away from was the Tide itself.
  86. >”I would much prefer to take the initiative, but we currently don’t have the means to safely destroy her. Our agents are too few in number, our equipment too damaged or unreliable, and our technical teams are overburdened.”
  87. >”Unfortunately, I’m going to need most of the technicians for a while.”
  88. “Ah yes. I believe it’s about time we get to the primary issue. You say you know how to stop the Tide?”
  89. >”Kinda.”
  90. >That wasn’t quite a yes.
  91. >Luna and Celestia shared a confused look.
  92. >But Twilight had a freakishly large small that threatened to split her face in half.
  93. >”Do you or do you not know how to stop it? Answer us, Twilight.”
  94. >”Well, I don’t really know how to stop it at all actually. But we stopped it anyway!”
  95. “I’m sorry, Twilight, but I do not follow. Isn’t the solution an encrypted radio signal of some sorts?
  96. >”I thought so too. But then your informant called and told me it might not be using light at all.”
  97. >Not using light at all?
  98. >Celestia didn’t pretend to know what had led Lyra to believe that.
  99. >But Twilight seemed to think she was onto something.
  100. >”Who is that informant anyway?”
  101. “They have asked that I not disclose that yet, and I intend to honor their request. For now, we can call them Anonymous.”
  102. >”Well, Anonymous had a CRAZY idea that turned out to be right! They said that the Tide was malfunctioning. I didn’t want to believe it at first because it’s such a simple answer and we’d put so many hours into this problem, but the more I looked into it the clearer it was that they were right.”
  103. >Her Anonymous green friend HAD pulled through again.
  104. >Somehow.
  105. >”We knew that the signals had to be carried on something similar to light, and our research had hinted at a particle that, according to our understanding of physics, is impossible.”
  106. >”So this hypothetical particle can stop it?”
  107. >”It’s not a hypothesis, we just don’t know anything about it! But just because we don’t understand it doesn’t mean we can’t use it. Last night we had an active sample of the Tide sitting on a table, totally inert for almost half an hour!”
  108. >Half an hour?
  109. >Celestia barely managed to maintain her composure.
  110. >Luna’s eyes were bugging out a bit.
  111. >”That long? Can you extend it?”
  112. >”We only stopped because we were going to overheat. But if we can fix that problem and put enough power through, we should be able to protect the entire planet!”
  113. >The WHOLE planet?
  114. >They had just been hoping to secure parts of it.
  115. >Tiny little bubbles of life, ever defiant against an unending scourge.
  116. >Perhaps that was still the goal.
  117. >The Tide had consumed so much, one planet may indeed be small.
  118. >But it was still far more than Celestia had hoped.
  119. “Wouldn’t adding more power make it overheat faster?”
  120. >”Well, yes. But we were using a single emitter, only a couple centimeters across. And while it was based on the ones in the Tide we had to approximate a lot of stuff. If we refine it a bit and make an array of them taking up a few hundred square kilometers?”
  121. >”Square KILOMETERS? Have we the resources to do that?”
  122. >”Yes! Barely! When we were studying the Tide it quickly became apparent that we can’t hope to replicate most of its components. There are all sorts of tiny bits and pieces that don’t make any sense at all. The receivers? The power management and temperature controls? Lifetimes away at LEAST! But the actual emitters just seem to dump energy in a tiny location. We think that they’re exciting the Higgs field, and when it gets so charged that it can’t return to symmetry… SOMETHING happens. We don’t really know what.”
  123. “Hadn’t you said your team had already examined these fields?”
  124. >”We had! And we didn’t notice anything unusual when we did. But the Tide is picking up on something that we missed! Now, the Higgs field is a scalar tachyonic field, so we’re calling the particles it emits tachyons right now. We’re not actually sure if they ARE tachyons, but they might be!”
  125. >”What would it mean for us if they are?”
  126. >“I have no idea!”
  127. “What might they be if they aren’t?”
  128. >”I don’t know! Isn’t this exciting?”
  129. >It was.
  130. >But Celestia got a strange feeling that what she and Twilight were excited about were two different things.
  131. >”Whatever is going on though, we’ll need to keep it far away from civilization and ideally only interact with it with robots. I’d like to build the emitters in the Blight.”
  132. “Why? Is it that dangerous?”
  133. >”Probably!”
  134. >A machine beyond equine comprehension.
  135. >Drinking down an insane amount of power.
  136. >And spewing out an unknown particle.
  137. “This doesn’t sound safe at all. What assurance do we have that the cure won’t be as bad as the disease?”
  138. >”Our experiments with the Tide showed that the cancer risks dropped to near zero at about a hundred meters, regardless of shielding. We don’t really understand it, but extrapolating how much power the Tide uses and how much I’m aiming for, five kilometers might be enough.”
  139. >Might be.
  140. >It wasn’t great, but it was by far the best solution they had.
  141. “You’ve pulled through for us, Twilight. And I am anything but surprised.”
  142. >Twilight offered a sheepish smile.
  143. “The only remaining hurdle that I can think of is construction. How long should it take?”
  144. >”Give me… two years?”
  145. >Two years.
  146. >An unknown.
  147. >Something that ponykind didn’t understand, and had never before perceived.
  148. >Produced on such a grand scale that it could be seen from amongst the stars.
  149. >All this stress, all this blood and destruction, all ending so soon.
  150. >There had to be a complication.
  151. >”But…”
  152. >There was always a complication
  153. >”I don’t know how we’d power this thing. If we want to keep the Tide off Elysium entirely we’d need somewhere around ten terawatts.”
  154. “I trust that that’s quite a bit. We may have to cut into private and industrial electrical usage. Unfortunately, I must insist we try to preserve the moon as well. It is vital to our ecology and our culture. How much power do we currently generate?”
  155. >”Somewhere around a thousandth of a percent of that.”
  156. >Oh.
  157. >Oh dear.
  158. >That was extremely bad.
  159. “Fusion power could cover the remainder of the gap. They say it’s only three months away now.”
  160. >”They’ve been saying that for three years though.”
  161. >Twilight was right, of course.
  162. >”And even if we had it today I don’t think we’d be able to make the reactors fast enough. The sheer amount of heat we’d need to generate is unfathomable. I think we’ll have to devote all of our non-renewables to it as a stopgap measure. That should get us decades of time if we’re fast enough. Then we make a massive solar farm! If we keep the skies above it perfectly clear and make sure the sun never sets-”
  163. >”It’s heat you need?”
  164. >”Yes. Lots of it.”
  165. >”How about Hellfire?”
  166. >Twilight and Celestia shared an uncomfortable look in complete silence.
  167. >Luna was right. There was lots of heat to be had there.
  168. >But who knows what it might cost them?
  169. >”The inferno sits in the heart of Orcus, and has been burning since before the stars formed.”
  170. “It’s not safe, sister.”
  171. >”What is it you propose, then?”
  172. >Nothing.
  173. >Celestia had no solutions.
  174. >Well, she had one.
  175. “A series of satellites orbiting the sun with tachyon emitters onboard.”
  176. >Twilight rubbed her chin for a moment before shaking her head.
  177. >”A dyson swarm might work some day, but just think about all the trouble we’ve had with Helios. Never mind the fact that photovoltaic cells degrade; we’d be replacing them all the time, and that’s assuming nothing ever broke.”
  178. “And using heck for power wouldn’t have us replacing machinery all the time?”
  179. >”It would. But we wouldn’t have to launch thousands of spacecraft every day, and we’d be able to repair things rather than replace them entirely. That, and there’s no way we’d be able to get the swarm big enough in time, we’re on a pretty tight schedule.”
  180. >Celestia didn’t simply dislike this.
  181. >She abhorred it.
  182. >The plan was to go back into hell to plunder it.
  183. >Even that had proved to be a catastrophe.
  184. >How disastrous would a prolonged occupation be?
  185. >Would they still be occupying that infernal realm in a hundred years?
  186. >In a thousand?
  187. >Once they had become dependant on the infernal, would they ever be free?
  188. >Or would they be forever chained, addicted to the power offered by unfathomable sin?
  189. >But Twilight of all ponies would know.
  190. >If they really had no choice in the matter…
  191. “Luna, can you protect them?”
  192. >”It won’t be easy. But if we have to we will.”
  193. “Twilight? Can it be done in time?”
  194. >”I don’t know yet. There are lots of factors to consider, we need somewhere to dump the heat, we’ll probably have to use superconductors to move the energy… it might not be possible to extract that much power, but we should be able to get a lot.”
  195. “Enough that we could cover the difference with more conventional power sources?”
  196. >”I’ll need a lot of workers to get it done in time.”
  197. “You shall have workers by the millions if you need them. Can you do it?”
  198. >”I mean, yeah? Ponykind has never tried something on this scale before, but there’s nothing particularly fancy about a thermoelectric generator. It’ll be expensive, but it’s possible.”
  199. “Get us a rough plan as soon as you’re able. Whatever resources you need, I’ll find them. Luna? I need a timeline for dealing with Achlys.”
  200. >”What may I do to stop her?”
  201. “Last time I weighed in on something like that I killed hundreds of thousands of ponies. I leave it to you.”
  202. >”We aren’t currently in a position to destroy her. But I do have a project in the works that should make defending much easier.”
  203. >It was so surreal.
  204. >Like a dream, or a half formed memory.
  205. >Celestia’s life had been nothing but fear and dread for so long.
  206. >And while there were still questions and variables, it all sounded so…
  207. >Possible.
  208. >There WAS a solution to the Tide.
  209. >There WAS a solution to Achlys.
  210. >They hadn’t yet won, but at last they had a chance.
  211. >All it would take now was enormous effort.
  212. >As long as no new threat emerged, they had withstood the storm.
  213. >An ear splitting noise filled the air.
  214. >Celestia froze in terror.
  215. >Twilight jumped under the table.
  216. >Luna calmly surveyed the area.
  217. >And an ominous, scratchy voice began to sing.
  218.  
  219. I’ve handled a load of tribulations
  220. Fought monsters from beyoooond
  221. I’ve carried this burden ‘cross all creation
  222. But how do you all respond?
  223.  
  224. You’re rotten betrayers, leeching off taxpayers
  225. But guilty of so much moooore
  226. The time has come better say your prayers
  227. You’re rotten, to the core!
  228.  
  229. There’s no place I’d rather be
  230. Than hanging at home with my minty
  231. She’s the best pony ‘round know you can all see
  232. Kind, loving, smart, and carefree!
  233.  
  234. Lyra’s your better, you know, you’ve met her
  235. Release her you dirty whooore
  236. You’ll be sorry if you’ve upset her
  237. You’re rotten to the core
  238.  
  239. >Luna shot a bolt of darkness at the doorway.
  240. >Part of their palace erupted in flinders from which an inky smoke emitted.
  241. >The sound stopped.
  242. >”Twilight? Teleport out of here and get as far away as you can.”
  243. >”Why?”
  244. >”Don’t ask, just do!”
  245. >Twilight vanished in the blink of an eye.
  246. >Luna approached the door cautiously.
  247. >”That was Sweetie Drops’ voice.”
  248. “She mentioned Lyra.”
  249. >”Stay back and get down. This could be bad.”
  250. >She stood a fair way from the door before throwing it open with her magic.
  251. >A blinding light, the sound of thunder.
  252. >Fire consumed the hallway.
  253. >Luna took a few steps back from the inferno, hissing.
  254. >The flames were nigh on omnipresent, the air was already threatening to blister Celestia’s lungs.
  255. >Yet her blood ran cold.
  256. >“I had Lyra arrested.”
  257. ”WHAT?”
  258. >“The investigation on the missing bomb finished. I ordered the perpetrator arrested.”
  259. ”I thought we’d decided Lyra didn’t do it!”
  260. >“Then why did Sweetie Drops just bomb us?”
  261. >This was extremely bad.
  262. >They had to release her immediately.
  263. >But…
  264. “Wait! I was told today- oh no. A dangerous fugitive escaped holding, they beat up 50 guards!”
  265. >”She escaped? Good.”
  266. “No it’s not! We don’t know where she is, we can’t release her!”
  267. >”Trust me. It’s good.”
  268. >Luna backed far enough away from the blaze to be near Celestia’s side.
  269. >Celestia covered her sister with a wing, trying to block the burning light.
  270. >The fire suppression system would go off soon.
  271. >But while the flames would soon be snuffed, the fire would soon consume them all.
  272. >They had to somehow convince Sweetie Drops that Lyra wasn’t in their custody.
  273. >Would she believe she’d broken free?
  274. >What if she still wanted revenge for the arrest in the first place?
  275. >What if Lyra was lost or injured?
  276. “What do we do?”
  277. >”Damage control. She’s a powerhouse, but she’s still just one pony. She can’t be everywhere at once. Deny transportation, WMDs, and anything else she can use to wreak havoc. Try to find Lyra before she gets angry. We play our cards right, her first attack won’t leave us dead.”
  278. “Isn’t this her first attack?”
  279. >”This is a FUCKING WARNING SHOT!”
  280. >The fire alarm finally started ringing.
  281. >”GET DOWN!”
  282. >Luna grabbed Celestia and threw her under the table as the fire suppression began to spew out smoke and flames.
  283. >Gasoline rained down from the sprinklers.
  284. >The heat was becoming unbearable.
  285. >The air was far too polluted.
  286. >Celestia and Luna teleported out of the palace, unable to oppose the fire.
  287.  
  288.  
  289. >Southern Cross was sitting in a private car on a train.
  290. >She was on the older side of agents, pushing forty.
  291. >Some agents grew to a very advanced age before quitting, but for the most part they were done by their mid thirties.
  292. >Hardly a day went by where she didn’t consider joining them.
  293. >Hell had been hard on everypony, and none had escaped unscathed.
  294. >Cross considered herself lucky, having retained all of her limbs and organs.
  295. >But she’d been wounded regardless.
  296. >Pain still wracked her legs with nearly every step after those accursed bugs had burrowed into her muscles.
  297. >And though they’d been recast, her once shattered ribs still ached whenever she breathed too heavily.
  298. >Outwardly she looked like a perfectly normal pale purple pony pegasus.
  299. >Nopony thought it odd that she flew everywhere, even indoors.
  300. >And though they were more commonly found on unicorns, constellation cutiemarks were not so weird as to be eye catching.
  301. >Besides, a knack for celestial navigation was pretty useful for a pegasus.
  302. >She could have easily slipped into civilian life.
  303. >Yet something wouldn’t let her.
  304. >A sense of obligation?
  305. >A fear of normalcy?
  306. >Simple force of habit?
  307. >Southern Cross didn’t know.
  308. >What she did know was that she’d received a mission.
  309. >A very unusual one.
  310. >At first she’d understood it to be a solo op.
  311. >Deploy to the middle of nowhere, find the mark, and deliver a message.
  312. >That alone would be enough to raise eyebrows.
  313. >But the more she read into the mission orders, the weirder things got.
  314. >Turns out ALL agents had been activated on this one.
  315. >Every. Single. One.
  316. >It wasn’t just S.M.I.L.E. either, half of Equestria was on the lookout in one way or another.
  317. >They wanted the mark found immediately.
  318. >Agents were instructed not to engage without orders, and to flee at the first sight of aggression.
  319. >But they were also instructed to arm themselves with lethal weapons.
  320. >A non-combat deployment whilst heavily armed just didn’t add up.
  321. >And finally, the princesses themselves had signed the order rather than command or a recon team.
  322. >They usually didn’t get involved at all.
  323. >S.M.I.L.E. normally enjoyed a great deal of autonomy, allowing the princesses to distance themselves from all but the most critical operations.
  324. >Yet here they were getting involved before anything had even happened.
  325. >It all made perfect sense once she’d learned who the target was.
  326. >Not an eldritch abomination, or a rabid fiend.
  327. >They weren’t after a demon, nor was this some unknowable horror.
  328. >Southern cross knew this monster very well.
  329. >And the truth was, she was afraid.
  330. >No. Not afraid.
  331. >Terrified.
  332. >They were up against THE Jawbreaker.
  333. >Was the entirety of S.M.I.L.E. enough to stop her?
  334. >Most certainly, if they were able to act as one.
  335. >Would they even be able to organize a coordinated assault?
  336. >Maybe. If they were lucky.
  337. >But Jawbreaker was crafty.
  338. >She wasn’t the kind to pick a fight she didn’t think she could win.
  339. >And even when her back was against the wall, she always had a trump card.
  340. >There would be no fair fight.
  341. >Some ponies retained hope that things would not come to blows.
  342. >Cross was not one of them.
  343. >Jawbreaker was known to be unstable, perhaps even mad.
  344. >And rumor had it she’d finally snapped when her anchor was taken away.
  345. >Intel suggested she was moving in on a nuclear silo.
  346. >Who knew what was going through her head?
  347. >With a lot of luck, they’d be able to reason with her.
  348. >If not?
  349. >Well, nopony knew just yet what she was planning.
  350. >But nothing good could come from her being armed with nuclear weapons.
  351. >There was a flash outside the window.
  352. >A great big burst of light.
  353. >She smashed the window and flew out of the moving train, cross winds buffeting her about.
  354. >She righted herself in the blink of an eye and began ascending.
  355. >A flare hung in the sky.
  356. >Its point of origin didn’t seem to be too far away.
  357. >Cross carved through the air, trying to ignore the burning in her wing.
  358. >She’d never been the fastest flyer, her skills lie more in manoeuvrability and precision.
  359. >The flight took an uncomfortably long time, giving her plenty of time to stew in her apprehension.
  360. >They knew so little.
  361. >Jawbreaker could have been on a sabotage mission, looking to disarm Equestria.
  362. >Or she could have been looking to claim that power for herself.
  363. >She might have been hoping to use it as a deterrent, or she might have been planning on firing it off.
  364. >Would she be willing to talk? Or was she so far gone that was already off the table?
  365. >Who knew.
  366. >Cross spotted the source of the flare.
  367. >Jawbreaker was sitting on the ground, leaning against something.
  368. >Cross descended, making sure to stay out of reach.
  369. >”Hey. What’s up?”
  370. >On closer inspection, that lump Sweetie Drops was leaning against was THREE ponies.
  371. >“What’cha doin’ out here? Me? I’m just getting ready to kill a demon.”
  372. “What happened to them?”
  373. >Cross pointed at the bodies.
  374. >”Don’t worry, they’ll live.”
  375. “You’re sure?”
  376. >”I want them to report back.”
  377. >So much for the whole peaceful thing.
  378. “Who are they?”
  379. >”Luna’s fiends.”
  380. >She fished around behind her for a bit before pulling out a bag.
  381. >Sweetie Drops produced a few hard candies, and popped a few of them into her mouth.
  382. >”Want one?”
  383. “No thank you. I’m here to deliver a letter.”
  384. >”Already got it. Six copies.”
  385. “SIX?”
  386. >No way.
  387. >How had she done that?
  388. >She was a legend, yes, but still!
  389. >She was a shadow of her former self!
  390. >Wounded over and over again, massive scarring of the heart, missing lung, burns and cuts and scrapes beyond measure!
  391. >And she’d bested SIX agents in one day?
  392. >Cross flew a bit higher.
  393. >”Are you here to stop me too?”
  394. “I’ve been ordered not to engage.”
  395. >”Ah. So some of you have basic intelligence then. These three decided to ambush me, guess they thought they could make a name for themselves.”
  396. “We don’t have Lyra.”
  397. >”So I’ve been told.”
  398. “She escaped.”
  399. >”You shouldn’t have touched her in the first place.”
  400. “It was an accident.”
  401. >”Drop your weapons.”
  402. >Uhh…
  403. >”I said drop your weapons.”
  404. “I’d rather not.”
  405. >Sweetie Drops rolled one of the unconscious ponies over and pulled a pistol off of them.
  406. “I know you can’t hit me with that. You’re a pretty bad marksman.”
  407. >”True. Never really adapted to firearms properly. Still more comfortable with a crossbow. Not really sure why, but I think the volume of fire of these things makes it too tempting to shoot without properly aiming.”
  408. “What about repeating crossbows?”
  409. >”Huh. Good point, I’m actually okay with those. Not sure why I’m such a bad shot with firearms. Whatever the reason though, I’m not aiming for you.”
  410. >She pressed it against the barrel of one of the beaten agents.
  411. “You wouldn’t!”
  412. >”I only need one of you to report back.”
  413. >Sweetie Drops was practically indestructible.
  414. >There was no way small arms would stop her, not now that she was on her guard.
  415. >Maybe if Cross had caught her in her sleep or something?
  416. >Not that it mattered right now.
  417. >Southern cross dropped her gun and four grenades.
  418. >Sweetie drops turned her pistol skyward and fired three rounds.
  419. >All three missed wildly.
  420. >Southern cross dropped her monofilament blade too.
  421. >”Better. Do you know why I stuck with S.M.I.L.E. for so long?”
  422. “That never came up.”
  423. >”Love.”
  424. >She popped another candy into her mouth.
  425. >”Love of ponykind. Of friends and family. The desire to protect them from all sorts of nasty things. Not sure when it happened, but at some point I lost track of that. It became about the enemy, about the mission, and about my rank. Before I knew it, I was serving the Beast, not the pony. Truth is it should never have been about S.M.I.L.E., I should have quit years ago.”
  426. >Southern Cross had no idea what was going on.
  427. >It didn’t quite mesh with reality somehow.
  428. >Cross couldn’t put her hoof on what, exactly, it was, but she knew that there was a disconnect here.
  429. >”Problem is, that means I still have a duty. Doesn’t matter what banner I fight under. If the ponies are in danger, I’ve got work to do.”
  430. “The only danger I see is you.”
  431. >”You need glasses. Demons are still a threat to ponies you know. It’s up to me to finish them off.”
  432. >Cross was aware.
  433. >Achlys was still out there.
  434. >And the peace treaty had, rather predictably, started to fall apart.
  435. >”So unfortunately for you and your ilk, I can’t rest until the demons are gone.”
  436. “I don’t really see how that’s my problem.”
  437. >”What, you think I’m going to leave her servants alone?”
  438. >Her servants?
  439. >”I don’t want to hurt you. As far as I’m concerned, you’re not the problem. But you and I both know Luna’s going to throw you in my path.”
  440. >The pieces clicked.
  441. “This demon you’re hunting. It’s not Achlys, is it?”
  442. >”I’ll get around to her eventually. Right now though? I’m a little more worried about one who’s a bit closer to home.”
  443. >She was gunning for Luna.
  444. >”You have a choice.”
  445. “I’m not joining you.”
  446. >”Good! You wouldn’t be able to pull this off anyway. But just because you’re not with me doesn’t mean you’re against me. You can either throw your life away, or do the sane thing. Report back, tell them they’re to abdicate the throne immediately. I want my crown by tomorrow.”
  447. “YOUR crown?”
  448. >”Of course!”
  449. “You think that anypony would follow you for a second?”
  450. >”They might. Once they learn what the so called rulers have been hiding from them. Can’t imagine many ponies will be happy to learn that their precious princess came straight from Hell. You know it’s illegal to be a demon in Equestria, right? Mighty hypocritical if you ask me, but honestly it’s a good policy. Only problem is that it’s not yet punishable by death.”
  451. >She was serious.
  452. >She was announcing a coup d’etat!
  453. >”Accessory after the act. What do you think the punishment should be for that one? Exile?”
  454. “Would you LISTEN to yourself? You’re talking about exiling one of the princesses and KILLING the other!”
  455. >Sweetie Drops rolled her eyes.
  456. >”Really? I hadn’t noticed.”
  457. “Your flippant sarcasm doesn’t change the facts that you’re a TRAITOR!”
  458. >”Traitor? See, that’s going to be a hard sell. Because unlike them, I don’t MURDER PONIES!”
  459. >She stared at Cross with a bizarre face.
  460. >One eye stable, normal.
  461. >The other focused intently and radiating aggression.
  462. >The eye of a rabid dog.
  463. >”And let Celestia know that I’ve read the incident report, and that she’d better PRAY that Lyra’s okay.”
  464. “Incident report?”
  465. >”What, they didn’t tell you? No, of course they didn’t. They didn’t want you leaking that info. How does one transport a high risk unicorn?”
  466. >Cross had never had to transport a Unicorn before.
  467. >But she had been involved in more than a few monster relocations.
  468. >First, defang the target.
  469. >Make sure they’re disarmed, gotta interfere with the magic somehow.
  470. >Next, make sure escape is impossible.
  471. >A solid container that they can’t break, or make sure they’ve got nowhere to run.
  472. >Like by boat for something that can’t swim, or-
  473. >Oh no.
  474. “By air?”
  475. >”Eeeyup. Dropped her from a soaring altitude. I don’t know what she was planning, but even if she had some clever idea that’s a hell of a drop.”
  476. >Cross hadn’t heard that.
  477. >Lyra Heartstrings might be dead.
  478. >The princesses were trying to buy time to find her, but what if they just find a corpse?
  479. >Wait.
  480. “Wouldn’t they have found a body by now?”
  481. >”They still have to dredge the lake.”
  482. “Look, she fell in the lake and she’s fine! The water broke her fall.”
  483. >Sweetie Drops scowled at Cross.
  484. >There was venom in her voice.
  485. >”You’re a pegasus. She probably weighs ten times what you do! Higher terminal velocity, higher mass, bigger impact. And unlike you featherbrains, her skull is full.”
  486. >Wow.
  487. >”Huge risk of concussion. What happens if you get knocked out while under water?”
  488. >Damn.
  489. >”State your name and rank.”
  490. “Southern Cross, zero-zero-three.”
  491. >She immediately regretted saying it.
  492. >”Three? Two got himself killed, poor bastard. Then I got a dishonourable discharge. So you would have been five before it all went down.”
  493. >Yup.
  494. >Cross didn’t feel right being number three.
  495. >She didn’t feel like she’d earned it.
  496. >”Number five… Say, weren’t you part of the siege of Pandaemonium?”
  497. >She was.
  498. >”Hay, YEAH! I remember you now! You’re the one that had the nervous breakdown!”
  499. >Cross averted her gaze and blushed.
  500. >”Hard to blame you, it was pretty horrific. Truth is you’d have to be mad to keep a level head through all that. Want my advice? Quit. You’re not hard enough for what’s coming next.”
  501. “I can’t quit. You’re labelled a Nightmare class threat, this is a national emergency.”
  502. >”Then desert. I’ll pardon you when I’m empress.”
  503. >She spoke so casually, as though it were a forgone conclusion that she’d take the throne.
  504. >Maybe it was.
  505. “I can’t go along with this. You’re INSANE.”
  506. >”That’s what they tell me.”
  507. “Look at you! You’re betraying your own country, attacking your brothers and sisters in arms, and planning on KILLING ponies! Do you really think this is what Lyra would have wanted?”
  508. >”Don’t say her name! You haven’t earned it!”
  509. >Don’t even say her NAME?
  510. >This girl’s totally nuts.
  511. >”So I’m not surrendering, I’m not forgiving Luna, and I’m not afraid. Get it?”
  512. “Sweetie Drops, you don’t understand.”
  513. >”No. YOU don’t understand. Special agent Sweetie Drops is LONG gone. It’s just me.”
  514. >The agent formerly known as Sweetie Drops stood up and stretched.
  515. >”Say, you’re wearing a wire, right?”
  516. “Would you believe me if I said I wasn’t?”
  517. >”Nope. Tac would want to know the second somepony spotted me.”
  518. >She was right, of course.
  519. “Alright, you got me. We’ve got somepony listening live, and it’s being recorded.”
  520. “Fantastic. ATTENTION EVERYONE! The pony you call your princess is not merely a user of demonic magic, she is a SOURCE of it!”
  521. >What.
  522. “Luna carries with her the power and the evil of Erebus! You are being ruled over by an elder demon!”
  523. >Southern Cross started to dig around in her chest fluff, looking for the microphone.
  524. >”Also the state of emergency was caused by nanomachines, sun princess has been hiding it because she can’t stop it!”
  525. >Cross found the wire and broke it.
  526. >”Also they’ve developed weapons they can’t control! They don’t care who gets caught in the crossfire!”
  527. “We’re not transmitting anymore!”
  528. >”Oh. I usually get the whole speech out before that happens. You’re pretty decisive!”
  529. “What was that about weapons they can’t control?”
  530. >”Oh come on. You’ve seen it happen, haven’t you? Helios. Giant death cannon, just floating out there. Loaded and pointed at our cities. All it takes is somepony bumping a button. Might as well just tell every citizen to put a loaded gun in their mouths.”
  531. >Cross WAS aware of Helios.
  532. >And she wasn’t comfortable with it.
  533. >It kept malfunctioning.
  534. >Who was to say the next time wouldn’t be a catastrophe?
  535. “If we hadn’t made it, it’d be a nightmare class threat. Joint ops, ‘round the clock until you take it down.”
  536. >”That’s what I said! Well, almost. What about the nuclear arsenal? When they fire those off you’re not even allowed to approach the blast site! We’ve got thousands of them. Something’s going to go wrong eventually.”
  537. >That was true too.
  538. >No matter how safe they were about it, accidents eventually happen.
  539. >But they’d been necessary not so long ago.
  540. >”I’d be willing to forgive both of those, believe it or not. Those nanomachines I mentioned earlier? Helios and the nukes might be critical for stopping them. That which is necessary is not evil and all that. But there is another.”
  541. “Another what? Bomb?”
  542. >”Another WMD. One you haven’t heard about yet. Project Revenant.”
  543. >Revenant?
  544. >Cross hadn’t heard of any such thing.
  545. >The development of a new WMD would have been an absolute top secret.
  546. >But she was extremely high ranking.
  547. >She got briefings on new developments and options.
  548. >Not so much as a whisper of a WMD.
  549. “I don’t believe you. They would have told me by now.”
  550. >”Riiiight. Like when they told you where they were getting all their new tech. What, did you think they just invented all of this stuff overnight?”
  551. >She had to admit that it was extremely suspicious.
  552. >”Or when they told you the combat stims were highly addictive? Or how about when they told us the surveillance cameras downtown were going to be a temporary measure? They aren’t very open with these things.”
  553. >That was true.
  554. >But still, WHY would they hide this?
  555. >A new WMD was really important information.
  556. “Achlys is still active. We were expecting activity on holidays. What we didn’t expect was that she’d declare new holidays whenever she felt like it. She could strike whenever she felt like it, so we’re still fielding new gear. I would have seen it.”
  557. >”It’s not ready.”
  558. “Princess Celestia wouldn’t authorize another WMD anyway. They sicken her.”
  559. >”What, you think she’s been told about it? No, Revenant is top secret. Pacifists need not apply.”
  560. >Now THAT was impossible.
  561. >Why would Sweetie Drops know about a project that even princess Celestia had never heard of?
  562. >She was clearly delusional.
  563. >”I’m afraid I can’t sit around and chat all day. Places to be, things to do. See you when I’m empress.”
  564. “You never struck me as the type who wanted to rule.”
  565. >”I’m not. But those who can’t follow are doomed to lead.”
  566. >She stood up nonchalantly, throwing her bags over her back.
  567. >”Keep your eyes open. I’ll find Revenant soon enough, then you’ll know I was right.”
  568. >She started walking away.
  569. >Seemingly making a beeline for the blacksite.
  570. >Cross landed next to the battered agents, and started inspecting them.
  571. >Each had exactly one impact wound, delivered to a limb.
  572. >Severe bruising at the site of impact, bone snapped.
  573. >They were breathing, and their hearts were beating.
  574. >But they were non-responsive.
  575. >Those wounds shouldn’t have compromised their awareness; it was clear that they’d been drugged.
  576. >Cross had no means of calling for help.
  577. >But she found a satellite phone in the possession of one of the fallen agents.
  578. >That was odd…
  579. >There was no way Sweetie Drops had failed to notice it.
  580. >Had she simply forgotten to take it?
  581. >Or was she so confident, she didn’t care?
  582. >Whatever the case may be.
  583. “Hello Tac Com, come in Tac.”
  584. >A familiar voice replied.
  585. >One of the nameless ponies known only as Tactical Communications.
  586. >Cross had no idea how many ponies held the title, but she knew of three voices.
  587. >Looks like this pony was connected to one of the same ones.
  588. >”You aren’t 37. Report!”
  589. “Number three, reporting.”
  590. >”Three? We lost your feed a minute ago, what’s going on?”
  591. “We have wounded at my location-”
  592. >”Medivac already en-route.”
  593. >That was fast.
  594. >They must have sent it as soon as she’d made contact.
  595. >”What’s their condition?”
  596. “Uhh… three ponies, each with a broken leg. They appear to be drugged.”
  597. >”Breathing steady?”
  598. “Yeah. All have a steady pulse too, somewhere between 60 and 70.”
  599. >”Do you have eyes on the Jawbreaker?”
  600. >She looked up.
  601. >To her surprise, she couldn’t see Sweetie Drops anywhere.
  602. “Negative.”
  603. >”We examined her home and found a hoard of stolen equipment, so she may have cloaking. She- hold on.”
  604. >The line went dead for a few minutes.
  605. >Cross was starting to wonder if the connection had been lost by the time she heard back.
  606. >”North Point is reporting an attack! Move!”
  607. “The wounded-”
  608. >”Will be picked up soon. GO!”
  609. >She took to the skies and began pushing toward North Point.
  610. >One of the least subtle blacksites ever, it was used as a missile silo to store nuclear arms in the arctic.
  611. >Easily visible from the skies, connected by rail.
  612. >Supposedly Jawbreaker’s buddy had found it on her own.
  613. >Cross could see smoke rising in the distance.
  614. >She had no clue how Jawbreaker had gotten here so fast.
  615. >It shouldn’t have been possible for an Earth pony without a vehicle of some sort.
  616. >All she knew was that there was trouble.
  617. “Tac. I’m approaching North Point.”
  618. >”Stay nimble. Your objective is damage control and intelligence, do not engage.”
  619. “Don’t need to tell me twice.”
  620. >A few dozen ponies had filed out of the strange, stilted buildings.
  621. >Cross landed next to them, quickly looking through the panicked masses.
  622. >She chose a burly stallion Earth pony, since he seemed the most collected.
  623. “Emergency response, what’s going on?”
  624. >”Security yelled at everypony to evac, then everything was on fire!”
  625. “Any wounded?”
  626. >He pointed over by the rail.
  627. >”They were underground, didn’t get out fast enough!”
  628. “Everypony accounted for?”
  629. >”Uh, I think so. Yeah, everypony's here.”
  630. >Cross looked over to the rail.
  631. >A couple of ponies were crowded around a fallen figure.
  632. >Cross ran over to them, to see a small unicorn mare writhing in pain on the ground.
  633. >Covered in burns.
  634. >Ponies were pouring water on the burns.
  635. “Whoa, whoa! Stop that!”
  636. >”She’s in pain!”
  637. “You’re making it worse. Trust me on this.”
  638. >She pulled out the phone again.
  639. “Boss, I’ve got one wounded. Burns over most of the body, looks to be second degree.”
  640. >”Medical resources are already en-route. ETA three minutes. Search the area.”
  641. >She took to the skies, looking for any signs of Sweetie Drops.
  642. >She couldn’t spot any movement on the ground.
  643. >A few fliers were coming in, towing a carriage marked with a rod of Asclepius.
  644. “Hay, everypony! Medics are almost here!”
  645. >She shot down to the ground and opened the doors to one of the buildings.
  646. >Smoke came billowing out.
  647. >She saw foam smothering the flames, preserving whatever was left after the attack.
  648. >Notably, there was a hole in the middle of the floor.
  649. >A quick peek under the building showed blast marks and scorching on the underside, along with a bit of burnt grass.
  650. >She also saw small fragments of metal scattered around.
  651. “Damn. We’ve been tricked.”
  652. >”What’s going on?”
  653. “Fires started by incendiary charges beneath the buildings. Probably remote detonation, possibly timed. Jawbreaker didn’t just attack here, she used this to lose us.”
  654. >In retrospect, Sweetie Drops probably didn’t even have cloaking.
  655. >Chameleon suits were kinda bulky, and were hard to put on.
  656. >Even if she’d had one stashed nearby it would have been hard to get it on in time.
  657. >She could have just hidden somewhere.
  658. >”We need eyes on the weapons. Opening the aperture now.”
  659. >Massive steel plates built into the ground began to retract, revealing a launch pad below.
  660. “No smoke. I’m going in.”
  661. >”Watch yourself. It might be trapped.”
  662. >She hovered over the aperture, taking careful stock of the area before lowering herself in.
  663. “No signs of hardware on the launch pad.”
  664. >”The princesses ordered all WMDs at this site to be taken offline. The cores should be in storage, and the missiles shouldn’t be fueled.”
  665. >She flew further in, and opened the blast doors to enter the facility proper.
  666. >There were massive missiles laid carefully on racks.
  667. >Nothing was missing.
  668. >Nothing was damaged.
  669. “These are all disarmed?”
  670. >”Confirmed.”
  671. >Sweetie Drops didn’t have much use for a disarmed missile without any propellant.
  672. “Moving further in.”
  673. >”Roger. Unlocking the vault. Get in there and check for irregularities. Grab the dosimeter on your way in, and be warned we’re going to lose our signal.”
  674. >A massive, steel door nearby began to creak open on its own, revealing a brilliantly lit vault.
  675. >Cross pulled a machine off the wall and stepped in.
  676. >A few dozen heavy, rugged cases sat atop shock absorbent platforms.
  677. >They each had a hatch on the side, opened and facing the doorway.
  678. >Further in lie a series of heavy, reinforced storage lockers.
  679. >One step in.
  680. >3.6 millisieverts.
  681. >Not great, not terrible.
  682. >Should be fine, she wouldn’t be here long.
  683. >There wasn’t much to see, after all.
  684. “The hatches are open. Could that be why it’s elevated?”
  685. >Surely not.
  686. >If the shielding was open it’d be way higher.
  687. >Cross circled the vault, examining the cores from a distance and progressively getting closer.
  688. “I’m seeing cameras here. There must be video footage somewhere.”
  689. >That should allow them to pinpoint when Sweetie Drops was here.
  690. >IF she was here.
  691. >There was no sign of anything odd so far.
  692. >All of the cores were here.
  693. >As far as she could tell they haven’t been touched.
  694. >No obvious tampering with the lockers.
  695. >Wait, scratch that.
  696. “One of the padlocks is hanging askew.”
  697. >The shackle had been snapped.
  698. >Cross opened the locker.
  699. >Inside the locker was a mare portable missile launcher.
  700. >Recoilless from the looks of it.
  701. >And a rocket propelled grenade with a radiological hazard sign painted on its side.
  702. “What is this?”
  703. >Radioactive grenades?
  704. >For what purpose?
  705. >Unless…
  706. >This was where they kept nuclear bombs.
  707. >Could these possibly be miniaturised nukes?
  708. >They were still big.
  709. >Much too big for a conventional grenade.
  710. >But it was plausible that somepony could carry and deploy a few of these without a vehicle.
  711. >Could this be the Revenant?
  712. >That had to be it!
  713. >This was what Sweetie Drops was talking about!
  714. >A new WMD. One more agile and precise than what they’d deployed before.
  715. >She shouldn’t be looking at this.
  716. >And yet, somehow she couldn’t look away.
  717. >The launcher had a single word painted on the side with what looked like white-out.
  718. >Orion.
  719. >This was bad.
  720. >Cross closed the locker and ran out, heading to the surface.
  721. “Tac, can you hear me? We’ve got trouble!”
  722. >”What is it?”
  723. “ALL of the cores have been tampered with. There was a hatch on the side that was open.”
  724. >”Nothing to worry about. They took the firing mechanism out, and left the maintenance hatch open so they could be checked on easily.”
  725. “Alright, fine, but I think she stole something called Orion.”
  726. >”Orion? Hold on…”
  727. >Cross surveyed the landscape after confirming medics had arrived.
  728. >Absolutely no sign of Sweetie Drops.
  729. >”I’ve got nothing. What’s Orion? What the… princess!”
  730. >”Agent, report! What did you see?”
  731. >Princess Cadence!
  732. >This must have been big.
  733. >Well, of course it was big!
  734. “What’s Orion?”
  735. >”A mistake.”
  736. >A mistake?
  737. “What’s wrong with them?”
  738. >“Not a lot I can say. Uh, we decided they presented too much of a hazard to the user so we dropped the project. Wait, Sweetie Drops was after Orion? Oh no. This is REALLY bad. Did she get it?”
  739. “If she wants it, she has it.”
  740. >”What should I do?”
  741. “Princess?”
  742. >”I don’t know what to do! We had started scrapping them, but then we had to put that on hold to take the big bombs apart, but we thought it would be okay because she shouldn’t have even known about them! What am I supposed to do? I don’t know how to handle this!”
  743. “Whoa, whoa. Princess. Just calm down for a bit. Deep breaths.”
  744. >”Calm down? HOW? Lyra was my friend, and she might be dead! And now this monster is on the warpath, and is going to use something I made to kill my aunt!”
  745. >She was panicking.
  746. >Hard to blame her.
  747. “Princess, I need something from you. Please try to focus.”
  748. >”Okay. Okay, I’m- okay. What.”
  749. “Do you have a Project Revenant?”
  750. >”Revenant?”
  751. “Sweetie Drops said it was an experimental WMD. I think it’s her next target.”
  752. >”I’ve- uh… okay, Revenant. I’ve never heard of that.”
  753. “You don’t have to tell me what it is or anything if you can’t. But is there ANYTHING called Revenant?”
  754. >”I’ll look into it, but I honestly have no idea what she’s talking about!”
  755. >No Revenant?
  756. >She didn’t sound like she was lying.
  757. >Was Sweetie Drops just crazy?
  758. >Or was she really onto something?
  759. >She knew about Orion, after all.
  760. >Either way, Cross had to find her before anything crazy happened.
  761. >This was going to get worse before it got better.
  762.  
  763. Operation Crystal Haze
  764.  
  765. Mission status: FAILURE
  766. Targeted evaded capture, several wounded, catastrophic loss of assets.
  767.  
  768. Agent 34: wounded
  769. Agent 42: wounded
  770. Agent 55: wounded
  771. Agent 67: wounded
  772. Agent 69: wounded
  773. Agent 77: wounded
  774. Dr. ⬛⬛⬛: severely wounded
  775. ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ seized by hostile forces
  776. Partial destruction of North Point
  777. Damages in excess of 150 million bits
  778.  
  779.  
  780.  
  781. >Sweetie Drops had vanished.
  782. >Several days had passed without so much as a peep.
  783. >Many ponies were allowing themselves to be cautiously optimistic about the whole ordeal.
  784. >Some even reasoned that she might have abandoned her plans because she wasn't strong enough.
  785. >Surely, they said, a pony as crippled as Sweetie Drops was no threat.
  786. >None had escaped Hell unscathed, not even her.
  787. >And nopony, legend or not, could take on the whole world as beaten as she was.
  788. >Perhaps they felt their collective denial might be enough to alter fate.
  789. >Southern Cross was less naive.
  790. >Sweetie Drops WAS merely a single pony, yes.
  791. >A pony who had nothing left to lose.
  792. >At this point she could be anywhere, planning anything, and preparing any number of strikes.
  793. >They could only be certain of one thing; Sweetie Drops WOULD catch them off guard.
  794. >She would move about as quietly as a whisper in deep space, then strike with all the subtlety of a napalm enema.
  795. >Or so Cross had believed.
  796. >Contrary to her predictions, the silence had finally broken in a massive anticlimax.
  797. >When Cross had gotten the call she could hardly believe her ears.
  798. >And so she found herself sitting in bed at home, still groggy from a short morning's sleep after spending the night searching.
  799. >Talking on her phone, and getting a briefing she didn't fully believe.
  800. “Sorry, Tac. Could you repeat that?”
  801. >”We spotted Jawbreaker in your area.”
  802. “Seriously? How did you find her?”
  803. >”We have her on camera shoplifting.”
  804. >Shoplifting.
  805. “What did she steal?”
  806. >”About 5000 bits worth of candy.”
  807. >Candy!
  808. >THE Jawbreaker was a petty thief!
  809. “Why that much though? The bit isn’t worth what it once was, but that’s still an awful lot.”
  810. >”Intel suggests she’s overweight. Apparently she’s been eating an awful lot of sugar in the last year or so.”
  811. “Yeah, but thousands of bits of candy? Can she even carry that much?”
  812. >”Uh… I don’t know. Do you want me to check what kind it was? They might be fancy or something.”
  813. “No, that’s not important. Still. Stealing candy?”
  814. >They say you should never meet your heroes.
  815. >”We need you to tail her, see if she's carrying that Orion thing.”
  816. “Do not engage, I assume.”
  817. >”Correct. The area is heavily populated, even if she isn't carrying the package there's too much room for disaster. And be careful out there, she's shown she'll hurt ponies to get her way.”
  818. “Do you think she’d go after civilians?”
  819. >”Nuclear weapons aren’t known for their precision, even the small ones.”
  820. “Speaking of. Why didn't they have tracking beacons on them?”
  821. >”They did. Can't find the thing, she must have had some countermeasures planned.”
  822. >Figures.
  823. “I still don't know how she even knew about them.”
  824. >”That doesn't really matter right now.”
  825. >It mattered to Cross.
  826. >Sweetie Drops had privileged information.
  827. >If she was right about Orion, might she be right about other things?
  828. “Any word on Revenant?”
  829. >”Negative. The higher ups all say there's nothing by that name. Princess Celestia herself has been reading through all records on weapons development. Canned a bunch of projects, didn’t find any Revenant.”
  830. “Any third party database searches for it?”
  831. >”Hundreds across all access levels. Jawbreaker got everypony curious, but nopony can find anything.”
  832. >Hundreds.
  833. >Any of those searches could have been her.
  834. “So there are no official records that anypony can find, the head of R&D has never heard of it, Princess Celestia herself can’t find it, and even Sweetie Drops doesn’t know where it is. That’s going a few steps beyond top secret.”
  835. >”It’s not real.”
  836. “Looks that way.”
  837. >In some ways it didn't matter.
  838. >Imagined or not, the danger was very real.
  839. >Sweetie Drops believed in it.
  840. >And she wasn’t going to tear Equestria apart looking for it.
  841. >They had to stop her before anything bad happened.
  842. “Too late for that.”
  843. >”Too late for what?”
  844. “Never mind. Do we have eyes on her?”
  845. >“Satellite surveillance lost her in a crowd about half an hour ago, but she can’t have gone far.”
  846. “Solo op?”
  847. >”Negative. Backup is en route.”
  848. >Thank Celestia for that.
  849. >“We're calling in all available assets and then some. I haven't seen anything like this before.”
  850. “What do you mean you haven't seen this? You were around a year back. This can't be as big as that.”
  851. >”It's not. But it's… different.”
  852. “Tell me what you can. It might matter.”
  853. >”Well, the princesses keep breaking things.”
  854. “Like?”
  855. >”Hold on, I'll check your clearance… okay. Helios and SLIDE are offline. We have no nuclear arsenal, our missiles are being defueled and disarmed, chemical agents are being neutralized, conventional explosives destroyed- we've got almost nothing left.”
  856. “They're trying to keep her from using our assets against us.”
  857. >”She already has Orion.”
  858. ”Correction. She ONLY has Orion. The user is supposed to survive shooting it, right? Probably only a few dozen tonnes TNT equivalent at most.”
  859. >”But what if something else comes up? Aren’t they going too far?”
  860. “They’re not going far enough. You never worked with her, I take it.”
  861. >”I can’t tell you that.”
  862. “You don’t need to. If you’d seen her in action you’d understand. We’re just lucky she was satisfied with Orion.”
  863. >”LUCKY? She’s a nuclear capable rogue element!”
  864. >That was true.
  865. >But it could have been far worse.
  866. >Orion was small compared to what she could have taken.
  867. >A blast like that in the wrong place at the wrong time would still be disastrous.
  868. >But at least she couldn't wipe entire cities off the map.
  869. >Well, not without putting her back into it anyway.
  870. >Though Cross wasn't convinced that was an actual threat.
  871. >Sweetie Drops had targeted Orion specifically.
  872. >And then she didn't take all of them.
  873. >Why not hijack Helios? Why not unleash the entire nuclear arsenal at once? And why not
  874. >There was a specific target in mind. Something Sweetie Drops wanted to wipe out.
  875. “This doesn’t seem right though. Why would she go after candy of all things?”
  876. >No answer.
  877. “I mean, sure. She likes candy. But would she really draw attention to herself like that? And wouldn’t she be able to evade security?”
  878. >No answer.
  879. “Are you sure she's here? This feels like a trick.”
  880. >”I know.”
  881. >An answer.
  882. >But the audio quality was terrible.
  883. >”Maintain altitude when you get out there, and be ready to bolt. We’ve got not idea what this TCCCCHHHHT-”
  884. “Tac, you’re breaking up. I don’t read.”
  885. >The static grew louder and denser.
  886. >Cross heard a loud popping noise.
  887. >The line went dead for a moment.
  888. >Shortly after, she got her comms back.
  889. >But it wasn’t Tac on the line…
  890.  
  891. Wire by wire, rip them out together
  892. The comms grid, cutting out the power snip by snip
  893. Making sure the chaos spreads quickly
  894. The next shot fired from my hip
  895. Always gotta keep in mind my pacing
  896. ‘Cause my mangled heart is surely racing
  897. I’ll get the com-sats neeeeext!
  898. Yard by yard, burning down their empire
  899. For their crimes, they won’t get away this time!
  900. Wipe away their evil with my fire
  901. Crush the frauds that so many admire
  902.  
  903. >Sweetie Drops was on the line.
  904. >And she had COMPLETELY lost it.
  905. >This was bad, she was in the area and actively sabotaging their efforts.
  906. >But it was about to get worse.
  907. >Sweetie Drops broke down the door and walked in.
  908. >Cross nearly jumped out of her skin seeing the mad mare standing right before her, looking straight at her.
  909. >She was met with a two faced, asymmetrical grin.
  910. >One side of her face seemed to look straight into Cross’ eyes, a warm and gentle gaze that might look right at home attached to a loving mother.
  911. >The other eye was plucked straight from an amphetamine addicted shark.
  912. >It radiated danger and malice, and seemed to be focused on something that none save for herself could see.
  913. >Cross’ rump bumped into the back wall.
  914. >She’d backed herself away without even noticing, and was now out of room.
  915. >”Hello!”
  916. >She spoke just a bit too loudly, and with a bit of gravel in her voice.
  917. >”I wasn’t expecting any visitors! To what do I owe the pleasure?”
  918. “Please don’t hurt me!”
  919. >”WRONG ANSWER!”
  920. >She stomped on the floor.
  921. >The light fixtures shook violently, casting erratic shadows about the room.
  922. >”Why did it take you so long to contact me, huh? HUH?”
  923. >She was approaching.
  924. >Eyes locked.
  925. >Cross froze in terror.
  926. >”I’ve been waiting for you to show up, but you never did!”
  927. >Cross opened her mouth.
  928. >Nothing came out.
  929. >A gentle look of concern filled Sweetie Drops’ mad eye.
  930. >”Oh my goodness! Did they infest you?”
  931. “Why would they- URK!”
  932. >Sweetie Drops forced Cross’ mouth open and stared down her throat.
  933. >”I see it!”
  934. >Sweetie Drops grabbed her tongue and pulled, seemingly trying to hoist her from the ground.
  935. >”It’s already burrowed! Hold on, I got this.”
  936. >She produced a bunch of jelly beans from somewhere.
  937. >Cross didn’t have time to wonder where they came from before they were being shoved down her throat.
  938. >She coughed and gagged, but Jawbreaker held her mouth and nostrils closed until she swallowed.
  939. >“It’s going to be okay. Don’t worry.”
  940. “What- *COUGH COUGH* what was THAT for?”
  941. >”They got the worm in you. But that’s okay! You just need to take the worm kill pills!”
  942. >Cross’s tongue hurt.
  943. >Having a crazed pony try to pull it out was apparently not good for it.
  944. >”What took you so long? I need my trusty sidekick!”
  945. >Sidekick?
  946. >Sweetie Drops started looking through the cupboards and drawers.
  947. >Cross took the opportunity to back away slowly.
  948. >”Really though! I’ve been waiting for you to show up for days now! It’s not nice to make a lady wait, you know.”
  949. ”I-”
  950. >”Did your tracking beacon break or something?”
  951. “Tracking beacon?”
  952. >”Yeah! The one you planted on me.”
  953. “I didn’t put a tracking beacon on you!”
  954. >”Why not? That’s very disappointing. It’s going on your permanent record.”
  955. >Jawbreaker reared up on her hind legs and started pushing Cross out the front door.
  956. >“Let’s get going, servant! We’ve got ops to handle!”
  957. “Servant? I thought I was your sidekick!”
  958. >”Silence, minion! I need your help!”
  959. ”But why ME?”
  960. >”Because you’re not retarded, DUH.”
  961. “But-”
  962. >”Of all the agents I’ve had try to take me on, you’re the only one who has what it takes to handle this op.”
  963. “Cunning?”
  964. >”What? Oh heavens no! Discretion, experience, a healthy hatred of the beast, technical skills, agility, and cowardice!”
  965. “What was that last one?”
  966. >”Ready to go?”
  967. >Not answering the question, then.
  968. >”So it turns out the Revenants are still in Ponyville! I’d assumed they moved the project, but apparently not.”
  969. “What IS the Revenant anyway?”
  970. >”As if you don’t know.”
  971. >Sweetie Drops stopped pushing.
  972. >She pulled the knob off of Cross’ ruined door and climbed on.
  973. >Nothing happened.
  974. >”Bah.”
  975. “Is the door not working right?”
  976. >”I wanted to ride it downhill like a sled.
  977. “Sounds dangerous.”
  978. >”Minion! Get me a shopping cart!”
  979. >A shopping cart?
  980. >Just go along with it, girl.
  981. >The objective demands you keep an eye on her.
  982. >Being her sidekick or servant or patsy or WHATEVER will make that easier.
  983. >Besides, this way you might be able to stay on her good side.
  984. >But where was she supposed to find a shopping cart?
  985. >Oh.
  986. >Right across the street.
  987. >There was a shopping cart loaded up with candy.
  988. “I’d been wondering how you carried it all.”
  989. >Sweetie Drops was already climbing into the cart.
  990. “Why did you ask me to get a cart if you already had one?”
  991. >”That was a test.”
  992. “A test of WHAT?”
  993. >”If you were able to identify shopping carts.”
  994. “But that’s stupid.”
  995. >”I needed to know if you were a robot.”
  996. “And HOW does that tell you if I’m a robot?”
  997. >”When was the last time you saw a robot going grocery shopping?”
  998. >This felt… off.
  999. >But not in the way that was expected.
  1000. >She was insane, sure, but…
  1001. >In the wrong way?
  1002. >Cross had seen what Hell did to a pony’s mind.
  1003. >She’d experienced it of course, but also witnessed it.
  1004. >”BEEP BEEP!”
  1005. >The cart started rolling downhill.
  1006. >Cross took flight, tearing through the streets after the runaway cart.
  1007. >Ponies fled in terror at the sight of a sugary avalanche being piloted by the giggling maniac.
  1008. >Her howling delight drowned out exclamations of fear and panic as the bearings on the cart were pulverized.
  1009. >The cart collapsed under the stress, scattering high velocity candies through the air in a hailstorm that would ruin windows and teeth alike.
  1010. >Sweetie Drops crashed into the old cobble streets, shattering stone and spraying freshly minted crush in her wake.
  1011. >She lie in the wreckage of twisted metal and jagged stone.
  1012. >Laughing.
  1013. >Not a twisted, sick, maniacal laugh.
  1014. >But a healthy and wholesome giggle.
  1015. >”Oh wow. Pinkie Pie was right, that IS fun!”
  1016. “Maybe a bit destructive. And dangerous!”
  1017. >”Maybe. She says it was an accident, but it’s hard to tell with her.”
  1018. >She pulled herself out of the debris and dusted herself off, completely unharmed.
  1019. >”AGAIN! I WANNA GO AGAIN!”
  1020. >This was the Jawbreaker.
  1021. >The champion that stood hoof to claw with fiends and nightmares alike.
  1022. >The unbreakable warrior who all of S.M.I.L.E. had looked to, nay, had IDOLIZED.
  1023. >Giggling.
  1024. >Behaving like a filly.
  1025. >It was kinda infectious.
  1026. >Cross couldn’t get the grin off of her face.
  1027. >”There ya go! That’s what I was looking for!”
  1028. “Do you want me to fly you to the top of the hill for another round?”
  1029. >”Kinda, yeah! But maybe we’ll do that later. I’m sure Tac is worried about you.”
  1030. >Cross had forgotten about that.
  1031. >Hay, for a hot second she’d forgotten she was even on an op!
  1032. >She suddenly felt self conscious about her equipment, open for the world to see.
  1033. >There was going to be a disciplinary hearing about this…
  1034. >”Go ahead. Phone home. Tell them you’re okay.”
  1035. “Right. Tac, come in Tac. Do you read?”
  1036. >”I read! Are you hurt? What’s your status?”
  1037. “I’m unharmed. Can’t you see me?”
  1038. >”Optics offline, spy sats down, street cams scrambled… Command is in a panic here, something knocked nearly everything out.”
  1039. “Well, I’ve got good news for you. I have eyes on Jawbreaker.”
  1040. >”You do? What’s she doing? Is she armed?”
  1041. “She’s… playing. Having fun.”
  1042. >”And Orion?”
  1043. “No sign of it. I’m not even sure she has it at this point.”
  1044. >Cross turned away and hunched over, trying to whisper a message to HQ.
  1045. “And I think she’s faking. Even if she is crazy this isn’t psychosis, it’s an act.”
  1046. >Why would she be worried about ROBOTS?
  1047. >It didn’t make sense.
  1048. “I think she’s bluffing. There’s no way she sets off Orion.”
  1049. >”Oh, don’t you worry. I will.”
  1050. >And Sweetie Drops was on the line.
  1051. >Cross turned around to see the pony in question looking at her with a bizarre mix of respect and irritation.
  1052. >And of course, she was speaking on her own headset.
  1053. >”It detonates tomorrow before dawn. Any signs of Lyra?”
  1054. >Everypony froze.
  1055. >”Didn’t think so. Might wanna get on that.”
  1056. >She dropped the microphone, producing a terrible squealing sound.
  1057. >The feedback died out suddenly.
  1058. >Comms had been cut once more.
  1059. >”So… I’m faking, eh?”
  1060. >Her gaze had returned to the half crazed half gentle rictus from earlier today.
  1061. >Cross froze, instincts telling her to fly away but not telling her which way to go.
  1062. >Sweetie Drops approached slowly, never breaking eye contact.
  1063. >Her glare dissolved into disappointment in the blink of an eye.
  1064. >”What gave me away?”
  1065. “Umm, r-robots.”
  1066. >”Robots?”
  1067. “You were afraid I was a robot. None of my comrades have episodes about those. Just…”
  1068. >”Ah. Well… cats out of the bag then. Follow me if you want to complete your op.”
  1069. >She turned away and began to descend the mountain once more.
  1070. “Where are we going?”
  1071. >”I don’t want to be ambushed, so I’m not telling you.”
  1072. “Okay… so why are you taking me along for the ride?”
  1073. >She paused for a bit, staring off toward the still rising sun.
  1074. >A gentle stillness hung about them, contrasting the excitement and panic from mere moments ago.
  1075. >Sweetie Drops released a wistful sigh.
  1076. >”Because the world needs a hero.”
  1077.  
  1078.  
  1079. >The unlikely duo of Southern Cross and Sweetie Drops were walking casually through the streets of Canterlot.
  1080. >Cross’ equipment was attracting a few more glances than she cared for.
  1081. >But she had little recourse but to tag along.
  1082. >Her mission was unambiguously to follow the rogue former agent before her, and she didn’t want to know what central would say if she ran off without finding Orion.
  1083. >She also didn’t want to know what Sweetie Drops would do if Cross left without permission.
  1084. >And truth be told, she didn’t want to leave.
  1085. >This was THE Jawbreaker.
  1086. >Nutcase or not, getting to know her was a once in a lifetime opportunity!
  1087. >Her cell was going to be so envious.
  1088. >”So… why are you still with them?”
  1089. >Sweetie Drops suddenly spoke up.
  1090. >Was this information important to her?
  1091. >Or was it just small talk?
  1092. >What angle was she playing?
  1093. “I’m not at liberty to disclose that.”
  1094. >”Who’s going to stop you? Comms are down.”
  1095. >Cross made a point of keeping her mouth closed.
  1096. >”I can’t imagine staying with them after that whole mess in Hell.”
  1097. “Why? Was the job too hard for you?”
  1098. >”Yes.”
  1099. >Cross was taken aback.
  1100. >That was not the answer she was expecting.
  1101. >”I honestly didn’t think I was coming home from that one. I’d said goodbye and everything.”
  1102. “Wait, you were planning on dying?”
  1103. >”Sure. You weren’t?”
  1104. “NO!”
  1105. >Sweetie Drops scoffed.
  1106. >”Arrogant little thing, aren’t you?”
  1107. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
  1108. >”You knew what we were up against. Did you really think you had a chance?”
  1109. “Sure! Hay, I figured the odds were in our favor.”
  1110. >”Why? What could possibly lead you to believe we had a chance that day?”
  1111. “You were there.”
  1112. >Sweetie Drops looked confused for a moment before catching the implication.
  1113. >She looked away, but not before blushing slightly.
  1114. >”You put way too much faith in me.”
  1115. “You beat him, didn’t you? Hay, I if anything I didn’t put ENOUGH faith in you! Not only did you win, you saved Cloudsdale!”
  1116. >”I just got lucky. I’m no hero.”
  1117. “You’re my hero.”
  1118. >”You need to find better heroes. I’m just a pony, I make mistakes all the dang time.”
  1119. >Something was bothering her big time.
  1120. >Hopefully she felt like sharing.
  1121. “Like what?”
  1122. >”You don’t want to hear about my problems.”
  1123. “Sure I do! You’re famous in the organization, you know. Everypony wants to be like you.”
  1124. >”You don’t want to be like me. Trust me on this.”
  1125. >She was hurting.
  1126. >Badly.
  1127. >Then again, they all were.
  1128. “Please? Do it as a favor for me?”
  1129. >She offered a noncommittal grunt.
  1130. “If I’m following you to this Revenant thing, I want to know who I’m with.”
  1131. >”Gah, FINE! I let a demon escape. A REALLY nasty one.”
  1132. “That’s not really a big surprise though. There were too many of them to count.”
  1133. >”Yeah, but this wasn’t just your rank and file. It’s one of the head honchos, calls herself Luna.”
  1134. “Luna? Look, we all know she’s a little… weird. But she’s not a demon.”
  1135. >This might be it.
  1136. >Genuine psychosis.
  1137. >She was faking earlier, true, but that didn’t mean she was faking about everything.
  1138. >Everypony in S.M.I.L.E. had mental scarring, even Cross.
  1139. >And if the briefings were to be believed, even Jawbreaker.
  1140. >”You didn’t see what I saw. Everything was in place. She was on the ground, vulnerable, and I had a soulstone ready. Then... I let her go.”
  1141. >She stopped dead in her tracks.
  1142. >Cross took several steps before noticing, and had to turn around to find her hero and target.
  1143. >Jawbreaker was sitting on the ground.
  1144. >Trembling.
  1145. >Hiding her eyes.
  1146. >”And Lyra paid for it.”
  1147. “She’s going to be fine.”
  1148. >”She’s dead.”
  1149. >Cross felt a chill in the pit of her stomach.
  1150. >She’d been counting on using Lyra as leverage.
  1151. >Jawbreaker wouldn’t do anything terminally stupid if her friend might come back.
  1152. >But if it was final...
  1153. >”They say she was being transported and jumped out while at altitude. Nopony survives that.”
  1154. “Isn’t she a unicorn? Maybe she teleported.”
  1155. >”She didn’t. She doesn’t know how. She’s dead, and they murdered her.”
  1156. “Murder?”
  1157. >Sweetie Drops stood up and started walking again.
  1158. >She didn’t look sad, nor angry.
  1159. >She looked… hollow.
  1160. >Like the tears had long dried up and now there was nothing left.
  1161. >“You’re a pegasus, so you might not get it. But us ground dwellers don’t just jump to our deaths. They pushed her out.”
  1162. >Cross didn’t believe it.
  1163. “Why would they want to kill her though?”
  1164. >”She knew too much. She managed to push her muzzle in where it wasn’t allowed, and got in a little too deep.”
  1165. “What could she have possibly figured out that would warrant this?”
  1166. >”Lots of stuff. She’s the one that discovered Revenant. I’d tell you more, but then they’d have to kill you.”
  1167. >Cross continued to not believe it.
  1168. >”So yeah. I’m not a hero. I’m a failure. The most important pony in the world, and I let them kill her. You can’t count on me.”
  1169. >Cross couldn’t begin to imagine what that must feel like.
  1170. >Losing somepony that dear was agony.
  1171. >But to blame yourself for it?
  1172. “So that’s what this all is then? Revenge?”
  1173. >”Penance”
  1174. >Penance.
  1175. >Something about that choice of words felt a bit off somehow.
  1176. >It wasn’t atonement.
  1177. >Maybe she was reading too much into it?
  1178. >Silence returned.
  1179. >It was not the comfortable silence between two friends who’d run out of things to say.
  1180. >It was awkward and heavy.
  1181. >A silence that reeked of danger, the kind that hinted at something horrendous just below the surface.
  1182. >Cross couldn’t tolerate it any longer.
  1183. “Why pretend you were having an episode?”
  1184. >”Hmm. When I found out what had happened I acted rashly.”
  1185. “I’ll say. You BOMBED the palace!”
  1186. >”And I regretted it. Then I stupidly stated my goals for the world to hear. I… I don’t think I was thinking straight. I might have had an episode around that time, I don’t know. But it made my job way harder! Suddenly everypony was looking for me, and Luna was trying to destroy evidence. I figured if I looked like a lunatic, it would be easier to trick everypony, make it easier to get at Revenant.”
  1187. “You know there’s no such thing as Revenant, right? It’s probably one of your episodes.”
  1188. >”Maybe. I hope you’re right. Guess we’ll find out tonight. If it’s there… could you tell everypony what you saw?”
  1189. “Probably not. The contract is going to get in the way.”
  1190. >Wait a minute.
  1191. >How had Jawbreaker talked about it?
  1192. >”Wait. You’re actually bound by that dumb contract?”
  1193. “You aren’t?”
  1194. >”No!”
  1195. >That explained it at least.
  1196. >But it raised another question.
  1197. “How though? I remember signing it and there wasn’t really that much leeway to get out of it. Did you find a way to dispel it? I mean, magic spells can be broken. But that would be next to impossible, wouldn’t it? I mean, otherwise everypony would do it.”
  1198. >”I wouldn’t know where to begin with that. Most unicorns don’t even acknowledge that curses can happen, finding one who could break that would be hard enough. Getting it done undetected would be a nightmare.”
  1199. ”Did you use a fake contract?”
  1200. >”Fake? How? It’s a giant stone tablet with engravings in a dead language almost totally worn away by generations of blood offerings. Not the easiest thing to recreate, harder still to move.”
  1201. ”Okay… so if you actually were at the thing then how did you not sign it? You have to willingly shed your own blood on it to join the org.”
  1202. >“Correction. You need to convince the witnesses that you shed your own blood on it.”
  1203. ”Wait, do you mean to imply you FAKED cutting yourself on that thing?”
  1204. >”It was surprisingly easy.”
  1205. “Okay, but how? Did you draw somepony else’s blood and fill a vial with it that you then implanted under your skin or something?”
  1206. >”Fake blood pack from a prank store.”
  1207. >Unbelievable.
  1208. >A simple sleight of hoof trick.
  1209. >”We’re here.”
  1210. >She announced it suddenly.
  1211. >Cross carefully surveyed the area looking for any credible threats.
  1212. >But as far as she could tell, this was a perfectly normal neighborhood.
  1213. >Well, maybe not PERFECTLY normal.
  1214. >The dwellings were small and cramped for the income bracket of this area.
  1215. >It wasn’t high density or low income housing by any means, the ponies living here had SOME wealth to play with.
  1216. >But not as much as one might expect from those living in the richer parts of Canterlot.
  1217. >Why would there be a WMD here?
  1218. “Where are we?”
  1219. >”Isn’t your cutie mark for navigation?”
  1220. “CELESTIAL navigation. There aren’t any stars out right now!”
  1221. >”The sun is out.”
  1222. >That was true.
  1223. >Cross could get some bearings at least.
  1224. >It wasn’t great, but…
  1225. >They’d gone downhill North of East a few kilometers on the cart, then walked East of North East in silence for about an hour.
  1226. >Then they chatted for a while after correcting to what was probably a true East road.
  1227. >It would have wound up angling a bit to compensate for the terrain after a while, but probably only a few degrees.
  1228. >She hadn’t been paying attention to how long that was, but it couldn’t have been that long else they’d have hit the campus.
  1229. “We’re west of the university. This is too nice for student housing… probably a faculty housing development.”
  1230. >”See? I knew you could do it.”
  1231. >She walked up to a house and walked through the door.
  1232. >WITHOUT opening it first.
  1233. >Cross wove her way in through the Jawbreaker sized hole to see a messy, poorly lit kitchen.
  1234. >A shocked and slightly disheveled unicorn was staring at them, sitting at the table.
  1235. >Sweetie Drops casually sat at the table like she hadn’t a care in the world.
  1236. “Hi, Moondancer. I- oh, woops. Just a second.”
  1237. >She walked out the door again.
  1238. >Cross was about to follow her when the unicorn, this Moondancer, stopped her.
  1239. >”Who ARE you?”
  1240. “Uhh…”
  1241. >This was awkward.
  1242. >Her equipment made it clear she wasn’t just a regular pony.
  1243. >Chameleon suits weren’t your everyday fashion statement.
  1244. “The better question is who are YOU?”
  1245. >Smooth.
  1246. >”Well, I’m not sure I want to give out my True Name with all this demon stuff happening.”
  1247. “I crossed your threshold uninvited though.”
  1248. >”That’s vampires!”
  1249. >Sweetie Drops returned with a bag in tow and sat herself at the table again.
  1250. >”Sorry to drop in unannounced.”
  1251. >”That’s alright. But couldn’t you have knocked first?”
  1252. >”Details.”
  1253. >”Well… can I offer you some tea?”
  1254. >A teapot levitated from the countertop to the table, followed by a set of glass jars.
  1255. “You had a pot ready?”
  1256. >”Of course.”
  1257. “And you drink it out of glass jars instead of teacups.”
  1258. >”Does that matter?”
  1259. >No.
  1260. >What was odd was the sink full of dirty teacups.
  1261. >Why didn’t she just wash them?
  1262. >”So what brings the two of you here and who is she?”
  1263. >”That’s my faithful sidekick.”
  1264. >Back to sidekick.
  1265. >”Sidekick? Riiight. Look, Bon-Bon, it’s not that I’m not happy to see you but you’re acting a bit weird. And also a bit destructive.”
  1266. >She poured three jars of tea and spread them about.
  1267. >It was a black tea, clearly oversteeped from the smell of it, probably extremely bitter.
  1268. >Moondancer took a greedy mouthful of the nearly boiling liquid regardless.
  1269. >”Like, I don’t actually know you all that well if I’m being honest. But I don’t remember you being this… scary.”
  1270. >”Scary?”
  1271. >”Sidekicks and doors and deranged looks and whatever that ratty bag is.”
  1272. >It really was ratty.
  1273. >Now that her attention had been drawn to it, Cross couldn’t help but wonder what it was.
  1274. >A plastic bag of some sort, but heavily degraded.
  1275. >And really dirty to boot.
  1276. >It looked like it had been left out in the rain for a few months before being buried.
  1277. >”Are you feeling okay?”
  1278. >”Yeah, just…”
  1279. >”And where’s Lyra? The two of you are usually inseparable.”
  1280. >”She’s… not… here. Right now. She’s not here right now.”
  1281. >”Well, tell her to stop by some time! I haven’t heard from her in a while, I was starting to wonder if she’d forgotten me.”
  1282. >”I don’t think you need to worry about THAT.”
  1283. >Moondancer seemed to miss the inflection.
  1284. >”Well, that’s good. I miss her, you know.”
  1285. >”Yeah. Me too…”
  1286. >”We’ll have to get together some time to catch up. She never has much of anything going on, but somehow she always manages to make it really interesting. Like, she has this gift for making the simplest things in the world seem so exciting.”
  1287. >Sweetie Drops was starting to tear up.
  1288. >”Yeah. She’s… really something special alright.”
  1289. >”What’s wrong?”
  1290. >”Nothing. It’s…”
  1291. “I didn’t know you were such a bad actor.”
  1292. >”NOPONY ASKED YOU!”
  1293. >Her enraged words echoed throughout.
  1294. >Birds could be heard scattering in fear.
  1295. >In the distance, a window broke.
  1296. >None present realized that it had shattered for unrelated reasons.
  1297. >”Sorry. I might have said some things last time I saw her. Things that I regret.”
  1298. >”You’re fighting?”
  1299. >That was news to Cross.
  1300. >”What are you fighting about?”
  1301. >”Have you heard of project Revenant?”
  1302. >Revenant again?
  1303. >Moondancer finished off her tea before shaking her head.
  1304. >”No. What’s that?”
  1305. >Cross tried tasting her brew.
  1306. >It was too hot and too bitter.
  1307. >How did that pony swallow this swill?
  1308. “Revenant is nothing.”
  1309. >”Sorry, whoever you are. But I don’t know you. I think I’d rather hear it from Bon-Bon.”
  1310. >”She’s right. You don’t need to worry about Revenant.”
  1311. >”If you and Lyra are fighting over it, it must be pretty important.”
  1312. >No answer.
  1313. >”What did you say to her anyway?”
  1314. >”I don’t remember…”
  1315. “I don’t believe you.”
  1316. >If those were her last words to Lyra, she remembered them.
  1317. >No doubt.
  1318. “I don’t know you as well as I’d like, but I’m sure it’s eating you up inside.”
  1319. >”I…”
  1320. >She sniffled.
  1321. >Sweetie Drops was staring into the middle distance.
  1322. >Her face and voice were both pained, grieving even.
  1323. >But no tears came.
  1324. >”I’d rather not say.”
  1325. >”Look, Bon-Bon, I’m sure she’ll forgive you. Lyra’s not the kind to hold a grudge- well, okay, she is. But still! Whatever this is about it can be patched up!”
  1326. >”Yeah…”
  1327. >”Why don’t you go find her and talk to her?”
  1328. >”I’d love to. But I can’t.”
  1329. >”Well then I’ll talk to her! I betcha she feels as bad about this whole mess as you do. We’ll have it all smoothed over in no time.”
  1330. >Moondancer yawned loudly.
  1331. >”Whatever this fight was about, you two are too good of friends to break up. She’ll always forgive you no matter what you say.”
  1332. >”Thanks, Moondancer. That means a lot. Can I ask one more favor though? Lyra tells me you’re pretty knowledgeable about some stuff.”
  1333. >”Well, I do have a doctorate.”
  1334. >”What makes a good soulstone?”
  1335. >Moondancer yawned again, her eyes half lidded.
  1336. >Cross couldn’t help but yawn as well.
  1337. >She was pretty tired herself after spending the night searching.
  1338. >”Why do you need a soulstone?”
  1339. >”Just answer the question.”
  1340. >”Is this what you and Lyra were fighting about?”
  1341. >”No, believe it or not. This is something else.”
  1342. >Uh-huh.
  1343. >Sure.
  1344. >”I’m writing a screenplay. Last year left me thoroughly spooked, and the doctors say that writing could help me work through some of my trauma.”
  1345. >”Oh. Well, I’d be glad to help then. A soulstone is just like any arcane crystal you’d use to make an artifact, but it should be bigger. Since you’re trying to store so much magic you need a much higher quality gem. A bigger jewel will mean there’s more space for the energy so less pressure, it’ll leak slower that way.”
  1346. >She actually bought that lie?
  1347. >Wow.
  1348. >Maybe Sweetie Drops WAS a good actor.
  1349. >”You want something without chips or cracks because magic will seep out of them, and preferably a really hard jewel like a diamond so it’s more durable.”
  1350. >”That’s it? Big, hard, and no cracks?”
  1351. >”Pretty much.”
  1352. >”Well, would the jewel in the bag work?”
  1353. >Moondancer levitated the bag and spilled out an enormous diamond.
  1354. >She and Cross gawked at it for a good while.
  1355. >It was by far the largest diamond she’d ever seen.
  1356. >Brilliant cut, but not great clarity.
  1357. >The slightly golden brown jewel glittered in the light before them.
  1358. “Is that the Golden Jubilee?”
  1359. >Sweetie Drops shrugged.
  1360. “How the hay did you get that?”
  1361. >”Would you believe I found it in the gutter?”
  1362. “It’s been missing for half a year! How long have you been planning this whole thing?”
  1363. >”That’s, uh…”
  1364. >Moondancer was mumbling.
  1365. >”Big rock. Hehe.”
  1366. >”Say, S.C., were you the one who drugged her tea?”
  1367. “What?”
  1368. >”Benzos from the looks of it. Something along the lines of rohypnol.”
  1369. >Moondancer’s head collapsed on the table.
  1370. >Her mane began to soak up the drugged brew.
  1371. >Somepony had drugged it, probably to get Sweetie Drops.
  1372. >A gunshot rang out.
  1373. >Dozens of daggers seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
  1374. >The Earth began to tremble.
  1375. >A long coil of magic had wrapped itself around Jawbreaker and was working its tendrils up her nostrils.
  1376. >A shotgun’s flechettes splattered harmlessly against the back of Jawbreaker’s head, the daggers shattered on impact with her hide, and she made a point of swallowing the spellform before belching violently.
  1377. >”That only leaves… you.”
  1378. >She turned to face Cross, wrath burning in her eye.
  1379. “Whoa, whoa! I didn’t do that, I promise-”
  1380. >Cross nearly fell forward, pulled in by some unseen force.
  1381. >A whooshing sound.
  1382. >A cracking sound.
  1383. >A screaming sound.
  1384. >Some poor Earth pony had moved in while cloaked and tried an axe kick on Sweetie Drops.
  1385. >Their leg was snapped in half, bone protruding from their skin.
  1386. >Sweetie Drops picked up the gem and walked outside.
  1387. >“Cross? Call a medic.”
  1388. “I still can’t reach Tac!”
  1389. >”Use Moondancer’s phone. It’s about to get ugly.”
  1390. >Cross tore through the house looking for a telephone, hearing a hail of bullets and cries of pain from outside.
  1391. >She finally found it in the bedroom, underneath a heap of unwashed laundry.
  1392. “0118-999-881-999-119-7253. Wait, that’s the old number. 911.”
  1393. >Mercifully, somepony answered.
  1394. >“Please state the nature-”
  1395. “Jawbreaker’s attacking!”
  1396. >”Who?”
  1397. >Of course
  1398. “A mentally ill Earth pony is attacking, and she’s armed! We’ve already got wounded! I, uh, I don’t know the address! It’s faculty housing near the university!”
  1399. >”The royal guard is already en-route. Please stay on the line.”
  1400. “NO! Don’t send the guard, that’ll just make it worse!”
  1401. >”Please calm down, ma’am. The royal guard is trained to resolve all sorts of disputes like this.”
  1402. >No they weren’t.
  1403. >Nopony was trained to deal with this.
  1404. “Get them out of there NOW! Just send the medics!”
  1405. >”Medical staff are en-route as well, but we need to make sure the danger has passed before they can land.”
  1406. >This was pointless.
  1407. >She had to get her out of here FAST!
  1408. >Cross flew through the broken door and pulled into the air to survey the damage.
  1409. >Five ponies were writhing in the streets.
  1410. >Two weren’t moving at all.
  1411. >And Sweetie Drops stood above them all, blood splattered on her face.
  1412. >Cross couldn’t tell the extent of the damage.
  1413. >Had she limited her assault to their extremities?
  1414. >Were the stationary ponies merely unconscious?
  1415. >Would there be ANY survivors?
  1416. >She couldn’t tell.
  1417. >Cross barely remembered to flap her wings, transfixed by the stoic savagery below.
  1418. >Sweetie Drops said something not quite audible before reaching down and pressing on one of the wounded pony’s necks.
  1419. >Cross swooped down without thinking, entering freefall as a falcon might, seeking to deliver a brutal kick to the Jawbreaker’s head.
  1420. >Sweetie Drops nimbly ducked the attack before wrapping her hooves around Cross and throwing her aside.
  1421. >Cross failed to catch the wind and landed hard on her back.
  1422. >She blinked until the pained tears left her eyes.
  1423. >The world eventually resolved itself to show Sweetie Drops again messing around near the pony’s neck.
  1424. >Not delivering a killing blow, but injecting something.
  1425. >She dropped the needle before reaching for the target’s back and fetching another from a small hardened case.
  1426. >Cross recognized the container.
  1427. >Every cell had at least one, carried by their field surgeon.
  1428. >A medkit.
  1429. >Sweetie Drops was injecting them with morphine.
  1430. >This was first aid.
  1431. >”You’re telegraphing your attacks too much. If you’re going to do anything to me, it has to be sudden.”
  1432. “I thought it was.”
  1433. >”You swooped. It gives you more stopping power and more speed, but it gives me a chance to prepare. When you’re against something that’s out of your league, you need to tailor your attacks to their weaknesses. You’re never going to hit me hard enough to accomplish anything, not if I see it coming. Don’t swoop, don’t even do a proper kick. Just jab and hope for the best.”
  1434. >She took the time to go back inside with a syringe.
  1435. >Cross watched from the sidelines as Jawbreaker fetched both the grievously injured Earth pony and the drugged unicorn and lay them on the streets.
  1436. >She pried a firearm away from an unconscious agent and began to casually walk away.
  1437. >Cross surveyed the wreckage.
  1438. >Each and every one of them had at least two broken bones save for Moondancer.
  1439. >Each break seemed to be delivered with almost surgical precision, sitting exactly halfway between the joints.
  1440. >This wasn’t a ruthless counterattack by a crazed beast.
  1441. >She was trying to make sure the joints weren’t harmed so the wounds could heal properly.
  1442. >Whatever was going on, whatever affectation she bore, there was a good pony underneath.
  1443. >”You coming?”
  1444. “Uh, yeah! Aren’t you going to wait for the medics?”
  1445. >”If I’m still here when backup arrives there’ll be more wounded.”
  1446. >She raised a good point.
  1447. >Cross flapped at a brisk pace, easily catching up to her ground bound companion.
  1448. “That was good of you. Taking care of them like that.”
  1449. >All she got was a noncommittal grunt.
  1450. “You’re trying to pretend otherwise, but you really do care about them.”
  1451. >Nothing.
  1452. “But what I don’t get is why? If you don’t want to hurt anypony then why are you doing this?”
  1453. >”Revenant has to be destroyed.”
  1454. “I was talking about Luna.”
  1455. >”Shut up already.”
  1456. “It’s not too late to turn back, you know. You don’t have to kill the princess.”
  1457. >No answer.
  1458. “You’ll lose everything if you do.”
  1459. >”What have I got left to lose?”
  1460. >Ouch.
  1461. >Uhh...
  1462. “Your reputation? Nopony will accept you if you do. You’ll be a pariah.”
  1463. >”First I have to live that long.”
  1464. >First she has to live that long?
  1465. >Wait…
  1466. “Why did you need me again?”
  1467. >No answer.
  1468. “You said the world needs a hero. Why?”
  1469. >Again, no answer.
  1470. “Is it Achlys? Is that what you’re worried about?”
  1471. >”No. I’m sorry to say this, but you can’t stop her. You’re not strong enough.”
  1472. >It was true.
  1473. >But it still stung a bit.
  1474. >”Hay, I’m not strong enough anymore. We’ll have to count on their poisons.”
  1475. “Well it better not be Luna. I don’t plan on hurting her.”
  1476. >”No, I’ll handle that.”
  1477. “Is it Revenant?”
  1478. >”No. Well, maybe. I might need help clearing the area first.”
  1479. “Then WHAT? It feels like you’ve told me pretty much your whole plan EXCEPT for how I fit in.”
  1480. >Her face was impossible to read.
  1481. >It wasn’t like a simple poker face, nothing so simple.
  1482. >It was as though she HAD no face.
  1483. >Like it had been replaced by a lifeless wooden carving.
  1484. >A faithful recreation of the form, but containing no qualia.
  1485. >No soul.
  1486. >”Once the demon is gone, somepony needs to take out the monster.”
  1487. “Monster? I haven’t heard of any monsters lately.”
  1488. >It wasn’t Achlys, it wasn’t Revenant, and it wasn’t Luna.
  1489. >There were some threats being monitored, there always were.
  1490. >But they weren’t anywhere nearby.
  1491. >All the monsters she could think of were either well away from Equestria or already handled.
  1492. >Aside from Achlys, there was really only one big thing on the radar...
  1493. >The pieces clicked together.
  1494. >Jawbreaker had nothing to go back to.
  1495. >She had no hopes for the future.
  1496. >She’d had a fight with her dearest friend, who was DEAD because she’d made a mistake.
  1497. >Crushed by guilt, she’d concocted an insane plan that could only be the product of a tortured brain.
  1498. >Nothing to lose, nothing to gain, no future, nothing but penance.
  1499. >A self imposed punishment.
  1500. >One that would cost her any hope of living a normal life, if she was planning on living one at all.
  1501. >This wasn’t your everyday revenge.
  1502. >This was an elaborate suicide.
  1503. >And Cross had been chosen as the executioner.
  1504.  
  1505.  
  1506. >The train ride out of Canterlot was less eventful than Cross had expected.
  1507. >Jawbreaker had boarded normally, and had even paid for a private cabin for the two of them.
  1508. >Had she given up on hiding her movements?
  1509. >Had Cross’ brief contact with Tac earlier on made all attempts at subterfuge seem futile?
  1510. >Or did Jawbreaker just not see any reason to hide anymore?
  1511. >Cross looked out the window, watching the countryside slip by.
  1512. >Vast fields of jet black clouds were moving in from the blight and forming a stormfront in the distance, smothering the sunset.
  1513. “I don’t like the looks of that.”
  1514. >”What? The clouds? Is that not scheduled?”
  1515. “No. Weather systems can form from the smallest little thing. When you’ve got enough pegasi flying around to knock them out before they even get started it’s not a big deal, but once the system’s formed it’s hard.”
  1516. >”And it’s too dangerous to go into the blight. Guess that explains the weather lately.”
  1517. “It’s like Everfree but colossal.”
  1518. >The blasted hellscape known as the blight was almost completely untamed.
  1519. >Not only was it devoid of ponies, it was devoid of life.
  1520. >Occasionally some fungal growth or bacterial colony would be spotted, but they were vanishingly rare.
  1521. >The blight had run amok, and in the end destroyed itself.
  1522. >There was nothing there but the rawest form of nature, devoid of even the most basic of caretakers.
  1523. >No roots to hold back mudslides, no grasses or forests to absorb the sun’s rays, no thirsty beasts to pull salts from lakes.
  1524. >Nature itself was sick.
  1525. >And nature was too great to be controlled by the likes of Cross.
  1526. >The only one who seemed to wield that power sat across from her, somberly gazing out at the darkened landscape.
  1527. >How had she done that anyway?
  1528. >No other Earth pony had.
  1529. “Would you mind telling me about the eye?”
  1530. >Jawbreaker immediately looked away from her, hiding her face.
  1531. >”I’d rather not.”
  1532. “Why? Most ponies would be really proud to have done that. NOTHING grows in the blight, except right there.”
  1533. >”What? OH! Oh, THAT eye. It’s really nothing that special.”
  1534. >Nothing special.
  1535. >Riiight.
  1536. “Were you trying to make plants grow or something?”
  1537. >”No. That’s just the what Earth pony magic is supposed to do. Anything else is something of a perversion.”
  1538. “Okay, but why did it happen at all? I’ve never seen an Earth pony make a bloom like that while fighting before. And I’ve seen more than a bit of fighting.”
  1539. >Come to think of it, she’d never seen a bloom like that EVER.
  1540. >Much less mid battle.
  1541. >”Yeah, it’s a bit embarrassing. I lost control of some of the magic and it went wild.”
  1542. “You mean to tell me that THAT was the wasted energy?”
  1543. >Sweetie Drops shrugged.
  1544. >Just how much magic was there in that strike that the leakage had done something like that?
  1545. >Wait, there was something else wrong with that.
  1546. “I thought Earth magic was really easy to control once you’d called it. Isn’t the trick supposed to be making it do anything in the first place?”
  1547. >”There are limits to these things. I just lost control near the end.”
  1548. “Somehow I doubt that. There’s no way a botched kick would finish him off after he shrugged off everything else.”
  1549. >”It wasn’t. That thing was way too strong and too light to ever kill with a kick.”
  1550. >She hesitated to elaborate further, perhaps not wanting to think about that terrible day.
  1551. >But after a while she let out a sigh and continued to speak.
  1552. >Was it pride that prompted her to continue?
  1553. >A desperate need to unburden her soul?
  1554. >Maybe she just wanted her story to be told at least once before she killed herself.
  1555. >”I couldn’t do it. You could drop a meteor on that thing and he’d just get knocked aside. Without some way to hold him in place it was hopeless. But that’s not what Earth ponies are known for. We’re really good at what we do, but…”
  1556. >But they really only had a few tricks to their name.
  1557. >”I ran into an old friend, the previous Agent Double O Zero.”
  1558. >The previous…
  1559. “Babbling Brook? Wait… I heard there was a unicorn that showed up when you were fighting Eurynomos.”
  1560. >”Yeah. Believe it or not, he actually survived the encounter. Wasn’t pretty though. He wasn’t agile enough to evade attack, even with teleportation and all his other tricks. Some of his old guy medicine kept him alive after he got poisoned, and the beast didn’t bother to confirm the kill. He was able to just lie there until evac arrived.”
  1561. >Huh.
  1562. “I thought he’d died long ago.”
  1563. >”No, he’s too stubborn. He’s a shadow of his former strength, but he’s still just as sharp. That old coot knows more combat spells than I know names. No matter what he’s up against he can pull a trick out of his hat that slips right through his target’s guard. And he proposed it was time to expand the Earth pony toolkit.”
  1564. “He invented a new Earth pony spell?”
  1565. >”Not quite, but almost. He came up with the idea, and he did a lot of the theory work. I had to actually make it happen though.”
  1566. >Wow.
  1567. >A spell designed specifically to kill Eurynomos.
  1568. >One that could only be cast by an Earth pony, yet was designed by a unicorn.
  1569. >No wonder some of her magic had slipped at the end.
  1570. >It must have been enormously powerful, and she wouldn’t have had much time to practice or refine it.
  1571. “So what was it?”
  1572. >”What, did Erebus not tell you? She was there.”
  1573. >Who?
  1574. >Oh, right.
  1575. >She thought Luna was a demon.
  1576. “Wasn’t she practically dead when you did that? She might not know.”
  1577. >”You know, that hadn’t occurred to me. Hm.”
  1578. “What, you’ve been preparing this stunt for who knows how long-”
  1579. >”About eight months.”
  1580. “For eight months and you didn’t think that maybe she didn’t know your new trick?”
  1581. >”We all make mistakes.”
  1582. >Huh.
  1583. >She seemed pretty lackadaisical about her plans at times.
  1584. “Not going to make you drop the whole plot, then?”
  1585. >”Nope.”
  1586. ”Because you know it’s not too late to quit, right?”
  1587. >”Shut it.”
  1588. “Lyra wouldn’t want you to do it.”
  1589. >Oh crap.
  1590. >THAT was a bad idea.
  1591. >She definitely shouldn’t have-
  1592. >Was Sweetie Drops tearing up?
  1593. *Sniff*
  1594. >Oh no.
  1595. >She was starting to cry.
  1596. >Now Cross felt bad.
  1597. >At least she wasn’t about to get her ribs shattered though...
  1598. >Wait, this might be an opportunity!
  1599. “I don’t think she’s dead. And when she shows up, you don’t want her to be mad at you.”
  1600. >”It’s a bit too late for that.”
  1601. “Is, uh, is this what you two were fighting about?”
  1602. >To Cross’ amazement, Sweetie Drops nodded.
  1603. >A breakthrough!
  1604. >”Lyra said we didn’t have to do anything about the Revenant except tell Celestia. She figured there was no way the princess would approve of it, so it had to be Erebus’ secret project.”
  1605. “And you wanted to destroy it yourself. Why not at least try her way?”
  1606. >”I am.”
  1607. >Eh?
  1608. >”I announced my intention to destroy Revenant so Celestia would look into it just in case I die before I finish the job. But Lyra’s plan doesn’t solve the root of the problem, even if it does work…”
  1609. >It doesn’t kill Luna.
  1610. “You really should have listened to her. You’re not well.”
  1611. >”What was your first hint?”
  1612. “And Lyra sounds like a very clever pony.”
  1613. >”Look, I get it. You’re trying to get me to turn myself in.”
  1614. ”Not quite. I honestly don’t want to capture you.”
  1615. >Partially because she had no idea how, nor what to do with the pony once they did.
  1616. >Not like any dungeon would hold her.
  1617. “I just don’t want anypony to get killed.”
  1618. >”I don’t either.”
  1619. >Well then…
  1620. >What the HAY was the point of all this?
  1621. “Then why the nuke?”
  1622. >”It’s the only way to be sure. Look, I don’t know what they told you about me, but I don’t kill ponies! I never have, and I swore I never would.”
  1623. “What about Luna?”
  1624. >”She’s not a pony.”
  1625. >Well, that was worth a shot.
  1626. >”We’ll be there soon. Once you see the Revenant, THEN you can try and convince me I’m wrong. Deal?”
  1627. “So you’ll at least hear me out?”
  1628. >”What? No, not a chance! My mind is made up. I just figure you’ll agree with me afterwards.”
  1629. >Hm.
  1630. >This elusive Revenant.
  1631. >The horrible thing that Sweetie Drops refused to explain.
  1632. >The project so secret that even the princesses didn’t know about it.
  1633. >The product of a tortured brain.
  1634. >But who’s brain?
  1635. >A maddened Sweetie Drops, or a tormented Luna?
  1636. >Cross could feel the train decelerating.
  1637. >They were nearing the station.
  1638. >A quick glance out the window revealed they were already well into the city.
  1639. >Ponyville.
  1640. >The second largest settlement on the planet, and presumably the home of a monstrous creation.
  1641. >Soon, the two of them would disembark-
  1642. >Aaaand Sweetie Drops just jumped out the window.
  1643. >Cross cautiously worked her way around the broken glass, trying her best not to cut herself.
  1644. >The crosswinds failed to knock her off course when she finally exited.
  1645. >There was a small crater in the streets where the mad mare had landed.
  1646. >A point of impact littered with shattered glass.
  1647. >Sweetie Drops was already walking away.
  1648. “Was that necessary?”
  1649. >”No. But it was fun. Come.”
  1650. >This place had been a warzone not so long ago.
  1651. >But looking at it you wouldn’t be able to tell.
  1652. >The whole of the city looked pristine, save for some significant road damage just a bit back.
  1653. >Cross couldn’t help but notice the two of them were being watched from a distance.
  1654. >Hundreds of eyes furtively peeking around corners and through shutters, hazarding a glance at the latest terror to strike at Ponyville.
  1655. >Most were too far away to make out clearly without mechanical assistance.
  1656. >Some of the closer ponies looked relieved to see that a mere mare had caused the commotion.
  1657. >They returned themselves to their supposedly secure stations, trusting that law enforcement would be by to handle the issue.
  1658. >Poor fools didn’t realize what that mare represented.
  1659. >Perhaps that was for the best.
  1660. >Cross didn’t want to know what it would be like if the whole city wet itself all at once.
  1661. “Where are we going, anyway?”
  1662. >”Post office.”
  1663. “What. Gotta mail a letter?”
  1664. >”I’m not sure how, but Lyra learned of a secret biolab beneath Ponyville.”
  1665. >Riiiight.
  1666. >Secret biolabs beneath the post office.
  1667. >That place that had heavy public traffic. Totally the best spot for a blacksite.
  1668. >”It’s actually genius. All that public traffic makes it easy to conceal activity and deliveries. Nopony thinks it's weird when thousands of unmarked boxes show up there overnight.”
  1669. >Okay, so that was actually a good point.
  1670. “It still seems a bit… unorthodox.”
  1671. >”I think it happened before the battles started. Back when their projects were intended for civilian benefit. They weren’t taking security as seriously back then.”
  1672. >That was true enough.
  1673. >Cross could remember a time when opsec just meant burning paper trails and using codenames.
  1674. >Back when the only thing they had to hide was themselves.
  1675. >Now they had to pretend nothing existed, even though the facade had long ago shattered.
  1676. >”Besides. It’s not like the revised security was any better. Lyra was many things, most of them great. But she had no background in espionage or black ops. She should never have gotten half as far as she did without getting caught.”
  1677. “Wait, I feel like I missed a step. How far did she get?”
  1678. >”What, they didn’t tell you? No, of course not. It would have raised too many questions. Ever wonder where all this tech came from? What Erebus was looking for in Hell? Why Twilight lost so much weight? Where Celestia hides her diary? Lyra knew it all.”
  1679. “You made that last one up.”
  1680. >Hopefully.
  1681. >”Lyra knew everything that led to this point. She knew where first contact was made with the aliens-”
  1682. “You mean like, from Grypphonstone?”
  1683. >”And she even knew how to stop the madness. Keep an eye on the news, Twilight’s going to have a giant power plant built in Hell to run something called a tachyon emitter array. Without Lyra’s insight she would still be bashing her head against the wall. Lyra knew almost as much about Twilight’s top secret research as Twilight herself did. She kept outsmarting them or overpowering them until all their secrets were laid bare. Well, except for one. There was this one piece of the puzzle that never really fit. Everything was devoted to stopping the Tide. Even the weapons we used against the Beast. Nuclear weapons and Helios were strategies for holding back something bigger, repurposed for Hell.”
  1684. “What about Nemesis and Aries?”
  1685. >”Okay, almost everything. Some stuff was just for the smaller doomsday. This place had chunks of living tissue growing in sterile environments. They were experimenting with living flesh, partial organisms separated from their body. It looked like they had figured out how to grow parts of animals without growing the whole thing. Apparently they PRINT them on an organic lattice. Don’t ask, I don’t know.”
  1686. “So if what you’re saying is true…”
  1687. >HUGE if.
  1688. “Then that sounds like a research hospital of sorts, right? Maybe growing grafts or transplants for sick ponies? Or perhaps it’s just a humane source of food for carnivores.”
  1689. >”Excellent explanations. Except all superfluous projects were canned when they found out we were staring down the barrel of a loaded apocalypse. Lyra suspected that it started as you said, but why weren’t the assets reassigned?”
  1690. “I dunno. Why weren’t they?”
  1691. >”That’s just the thing. They were.”
  1692. >The streets cracked beneath her next step.
  1693. >An enormous fissure opened up and gorged itself on asphalt and concrete.
  1694. >Cross instinctively took flight to distance herself from the collapse.
  1695. >It wasn’t a sewer down there.
  1696. >It was something else.
  1697. >A secret tunnel beneath the streets.
  1698. >Laminate tile flooring suggested some degree of care had been taken in finishing it.
  1699. >”This is it. These tunnels connect to a secret entrance attached to the secret biolab beneath the post office. This… is project Revenant. I need you to promise me something. If I start acting weird, run. Don’t try to stop me, just run.”
  1700. >Cross could barely believe it.
  1701. >There actually WAS something hidden here.
  1702. >But that didn’t actually mean it was a super secret WMD.
  1703. >Right?
  1704. >Of course it wasn’t, they would never put something like that beneath a massive city.
  1705. >And how would printing flesh even work as a WMD anyway?
  1706. >Sweetie Drops jumped down, and Cross followed her making sure to stay well back.
  1707. >The lights were out down in this facility.
  1708. >The two of them were soon swallowed by an oppressive darkness.
  1709. >Her special talent proved to be nigh on worthless in the bowls of this crypt, a complete absence of stars had deprived her of her bearings and had seemingly cursed her to an eternity beneath the streets of the city.
  1710. >As they descended deeper Cross could only follow the rhythmic steps of the insane supersoldier before her.
  1711. >The musty and oppressive atmosphere began to feel almost tangible as they progressed further beneath the surface.
  1712. >Cross’s heart hammered insistently that something was terribly wrong down here, even beyond the obvious.
  1713. >She wasn’t certain what had clued her in, nor when, but a small part of her mind was absolutely certain that this was beyond simple danger.
  1714. >Something had died here.
  1715. >The sense of dread grew stronger, and with it came a vile stench of rot and disease.
  1716. >Something tripped an alarm.
  1717. >Klaxons blared, frightening both Cross and Jawbreaker alike.
  1718. >The latter adopted a defensive stance, sending cracks running through the flooring beneath her immense weight.
  1719. >The former took flight and slammed themselves into the ceiling, reorienting themselves far too slowly for a real combat situation.
  1720. >Red emergency lighting burned brilliantly, revealing a terrible sight.
  1721. >They were surrounded by corpses.
  1722. >No fewer than a dozen dead ponies.
  1723. >And from the looks of it, they’d perished days ago.
  1724. >Dried blood was caked onto the floor and walls.
  1725. >And disturbingly enough, the ceiling.
  1726. >Before them stood heavy steel blast doors, peeled back like a banana that had met bolt cutters.
  1727. >“DAMN. Okay, one of them escaped. This changes things.”
  1728. ”WHAT THE HAY HAPPENED?”
  1729. >”That.”
  1730. >Sweetie Drops gestured through the doorway to reveal a monstrosity that was at once familiar and alien.
  1731. >A short, squat quadruped was pacing back and forth.
  1732. >Its furless hide had dried blood splattered about it, primarily about the jagged bony protrusions sticking out of the backs of its legs.
  1733. >The serrated hoof tips scraped the flooring with every step, showing its pacing patterns.
  1734. >It had been walking in circles for a while.
  1735. >Perhaps for days.
  1736. >The pale skin was covered in sores and blisters, and its barrel riddled with bullet holes.
  1737. >This was Eurynomos.
  1738. >Except for two key details.
  1739. >It wasn’t rotting.
  1740. >And it had no head.
  1741. “What.”
  1742. >The.
  1743. >HELL.
  1744. >Cross cautiously backed up, praying the beast wouldn’t notice her.
  1745. >”It’s not actually him. It’s just clones of his shell.”
  1746. “Why?”
  1747. >”Their newest WMD. Cheap to produce, immensely deadly, and if they can get the artificial brain working? Well, it’s hypothetically easy to control.”
  1748. >It collapsed.
  1749. >Then it imploded.
  1750. >Within seconds there was nothing but a puddle of mashed meat and a cracked circuitboard.
  1751. >WHAT THE HELL WAS HAPPENING?
  1752. >”They don’t have his magic so they’re not invulnerable, but most of their offensive capabilities are intact. Less the teeth, of course.”
  1753. >The world was blurry.
  1754. >Cross was hyperventilating.
  1755. >And a warm stream was running down her leg.
  1756. “They… they brought him BACK?”
  1757. >”Revenant. To return. A type of undead. Pretty fitting title, honestly.”
  1758. “But!”
  1759. >BUT!
  1760. “But I thought it was just like, a metaphor for something!”
  1761. >”It’s a living weapon that they lost control of. What could it possibly be a metaphor for?”
  1762. “YOU! It could be a metaphor FOR YOU! Where did that even COME from?”
  1763. >”Apparently they managed to recover a tissue sample from one of his hundreds of corpses.”
  1764. “Well. At least it’s dead. Right? It’s over now, so we can go.”
  1765. >”Over? Cross, they can PRINT those things. There are probably hundred of them down here, and even if I crush them all they can make more. He’s not going to be gone for good until this place gets wiped out.”
  1766. “Oooohh.”
  1767. >Hundreds.
  1768. >”I need you to be brave right now. We need a hero.”
  1769. >Why me?
  1770. >”And that hero has to warn everypony about what’s going to happen. I want you to get out of here.”
  1771. “OH THANK THE STARS!”
  1772. >”Get out of here, and get ahold of Tac. Tell him what you saw. And then tell him to evacuate Ponyville, because I’m about to blow it right back to hell.”
  1773. >Cross was already flying out.
  1774. >She’d seen that thing in battle before.
  1775. >It wasn’t cowardice to admit she couldn’t beat them.
  1776. >Vulnerable or not, it didn’t matter when there were HUNDREDS of them.
  1777. >The emergency lighting revealed her path to the surface, and after an apparent eternity of running Cross finally reached the surface.
  1778. “TAC! COME IN!”
  1779. >Silence.
  1780. >Wireless comms were still down.
  1781. >She turned to a nearby office building and produced her gun.
  1782. >A single bullet destroyed the glass, and prompted frantic screaming from within.
  1783. >Cross flew through the broken window, trying to ignore the panicked ponies fleeing their workspaces.
  1784. >It didn’t take long to find a telephone.
  1785. “Come on, come on! Pick up, Tac!”
  1786. >”Uhh, hello?”
  1787. “TAC!”
  1788. >”Cross! This isn’t a secure line-”
  1789. “SHUT UP AND LISTEN! I know where the bombs are!”
  1790. >”What? WHERE? Did you manage to disarm them?”
  1791. “NO! They’re in Ponyville, and she’s going to set them off!”
  1792. >”You’re certain-”
  1793. “WE NEED TO EVAC THE CITY!”
  1794. >”Ponyville is home to millions of ponies. Do you really think she’d do that?”
  1795. “DO YOU WANT TO FIND OUT?”
  1796. >The ringing in Cross’ ears had started to subside.
  1797. >She’d been away from the sirens for long enough that her hearing was starting to recover.
  1798. >Then, a new alarm sounded.
  1799. >A deep and rumbling tone followed by three grating high pitched pulses at varying pitch.
  1800. >A robotic voice cried out as though trying to deafen half the city.
  1801. >”THIS IS THE CIVIL DEFENSE SYSTEM. ALL LIVING CREATURES ARE TO VACATE THE CITY OF PONYVILLE IMMEDIATELY. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. REPEAT. THIS IS THE CIVIL DEFENSE SYSTEM.”
  1802. >”How long do we have?”
  1803. “I don’t know!”
  1804. >”DAMN! We- of course, your majesty. Cross, it would take DAYS to fully evac Ponyville. We can’t count on her waiting. We have to stop Sweetie Drops before she can get clear of them. She won’t detonate while she’s still in range, so if we can force her to stay close-”
  1805. “I think she’s suicidal! She and Lyra had a big fight about something, and she blames herself for Lyra’s death.”
  1806. >”ALLEGED death.”
  1807. “Sure, WHATEVER! She thinks Lyra’s dead, that’s what matters! She’s a nutjob with nothing to lose!”
  1808. >Cross could hear chattering in the background.
  1809. >It would be a mistake to say a sense of dread came over her.
  1810. >The truth was that it had been there all along.
  1811. >Only now was it coming to the fore and crushing the other emotions she felt.
  1812. >Terror from the demons and the insane Sweetie Drops.
  1813. >Pity for the former Zero’s suffering.
  1814. >RAGE at the princess who ordered that that thing be revived.
  1815. >They all took a backseat when she heard the hushed tones and hurried voices.
  1816. >The foreboding emanations coming through the line turned out to be well warranted.
  1817. >”Cross? Weapons hot.”
  1818. “Pardon?”
  1819. >”We’re deploying specialists to disarm the bombs, but you have to buy time. You are to engage Sweetie Drops. Be warned, I have intel that she can manipulate her opponent’s movements though unknown means.”
  1820. >No…
  1821. >”Your cell is out of the area, so you’ll be meeting up with Cell 3, codename: Golden Wind.”
  1822. >No no nooooo.
  1823. >”Further reinforcements are inbound with specialized equipment. We both know there’s no way you can beat her, but they can. You just need to keep her busy for ten minutes.”
  1824. >No no no no NO NO NO NONONONOOOO!
  1825. “TAC! I can’t! It’s- it’s impossible!”
  1826. >”Cross-”
  1827. “You and I both know that I can’t go hoof to hoof with her!”
  1828. >”Cross, you have to do this.”
  1829. “HOW? HOW am I going to beat her? Do I just hope she has a STROKE or something?”
  1830. >”CROSS! Listen to me! We’ve got dozens of ponies who took her on, and she never killed any of them. Your odds of survival are good.”
  1831. “So what, I’m just supposed to go there and let her break EVERY BONE IN MY BODY to buy you a few SECONDS?”
  1832. >”YES!”
  1833. “But-”
  1834. >”If you DON’T, she sets off a nuclear device in a major city! You have your orders!”
  1835. >He was right.
  1836. >Cross was shaken to her core, but the fact of the matter was he was right.
  1837. >Jawbreaker’s previous encounters had left everypony in her wake broken and bleeding.
  1838. >But not dead.
  1839. >Cross had done things far more dangerous in the past.
  1840. >And she had no clue how many lives were at stake, but it had to be numerous.
  1841. >Swallow your fear, Cross.
  1842. >Pain is transient.
  1843. >Fleeting.
  1844. >If she fled like a coward, her shame would be eternal.
  1845. >You can do this.
  1846. >And yet she wondered…
  1847. >Was Sweetie Drops truly the greater evil?
  1848. >”CROSS!”
  1849. “Right. Tac, I’ll do it. But we need to do something about the Revenant.”
  1850. >”What are you talking about?”
  1851. “They’re cloning demons, Tac.”
  1852. >”Yeah. I know…”
  1853. >What.
  1854. >”I found out just now. It’s… They’re deploying them. They’re going to be on your side for this one. I don’t like it either, nopony here does.”
  1855. >She was supposed to be working WITH those things?
  1856. >This wasn’t right.
  1857. >This was NOT RIGHT!
  1858. >”One problem at a time, Cross!”
  1859. >He was right.
  1860. >They couldn’t let the city go up in a mushroom cloud!
  1861. “Moving.”
  1862. >She flew out the window, gaining altitude as fast as she could.
  1863. >No, keep it steady girl.
  1864. >Save your stamina.
  1865. >There was a group of four pegasi perched atop what Cross thought to be the post office.
  1866. >They were all wearing deactivated Chameleon suits, concealing everything except their build.
  1867. >Perched at the top was a tall, slight pony. Likely a stallion..
  1868. >Cross flew in closer.
  1869. >”Zero zero three?”
  1870. “Yeah. You the head of this cell?”
  1871. >”Yes. Number fifteen.”
  1872. >He sounded calm.
  1873. >WAY too calm.
  1874. “What’s wrong with you? Don’t you know what we’re up against?”
  1875. >”I’ve been briefed. Earth pony that reached Nightmare class. Nearly invulnerable when her guard’s up, manipulates her opponent’s movements when they get close enough.”
  1876. >That was such faint praise.
  1877. >It would have been more accurate to call a Breezie a lion.
  1878. “You’ve never seen her before, have you? Weren’t you in Hell?”
  1879. >”Recon and sabotage.”
  1880. >Oooh this was bad.
  1881. “Okay, look. We don’t have time. Just… don’t make her angry.”
  1882. >”Angry? Three, you misunderstand us. We’re taking her down.”
  1883. >What.
  1884. >”I, agent fifteen, have a dream. To bring my cell to the very top, and be a star!”
  1885. “Wow. If ignorance is bliss, you must be more bubbly than Pinkie Pie. Remember our objective isn’t to beat her, just to stall.”
  1886. >”You underestimate the Golden WInd. Each one of us is-”
  1887. “A JOKE! She’s a FREAK! A once in a lifetime mutant who bagged her first monster when she was SIX, before any training at all! She could have creamed you BEFORE she joined, never mind all the combat experience and training!”
  1888. >”She’s a cripple with a missing lung.”
  1889. >There was no getting through to them.
  1890. “Don’t do anything terminally stupid. Follow me.”
  1891. >This was it.
  1892. >Cross flew through the air to the fissure Jawbreaker had made, ears still ringing from the constantly blaring sirens.
  1893. >Her task should have been easy.
  1894. >A pegasus should just stay out of reach of an Earth pony and pepper them with projectiles.
  1895. >She wasn’t invulnerable if her guard was down, and if she protected herself she was too heavy to move.
  1896. >Five pegasi should be able to keep any Earth pony locked down almost indefinitely.
  1897. >And yet, Cross knew that that was impossible.
  1898. >Somehow it felt as though she was flying to the gallows.
  1899. “Down there. She’s underground. ”
  1900. >”Looks like the AO is clear of civilians. At least those sirens are useful, even if I’m going to have permanent hearing damage. We’ll prepare an ambush. 20, 56. Move to a firing position, high explosive munitions. 33, rig the streets to blow on our mark.”
  1901. >They moved without a word.
  1902. >33 was impressively swift with the plastic explosives, forming and priming them in the brief seconds they were airborne while moving between locations.
  1903. >Every chunk of asphalt that had been scattered when she made her entrance had beneath it an explosive charge.
  1904. >Cross had already lost track of the gunners.
  1905. >Wherever they were, they were hiding well.
  1906. >But there was no guarantee Jawbreaker would actually come out of that hole.
  1907. >For all they knew-
  1908. >Sweetie Drop’s head popped out of the hole.
  1909. >She looked around for a brief moment.
  1910. >It was hard to make out, but Cross thought their target was rolling her eyes.
  1911. >She knew something was up.
  1912. >And yet, she climbed out anyway.
  1913. >The streets were immediately filled with fire.
  1914. >Nearby buildings had their walls blown out, sending detritus scattering several blocks away.
  1915. >A blinding light, a jarring shockwave, an intense blaze.
  1916. >A strange calm.
  1917. >Nothing but the sirens.
  1918. >No movement below in the rubble.
  1919. >Cross didn’t believe it.
  1920. >She literally did not believe it.
  1921. >That wasn’t the end.
  1922. >”Job’s done.”
  1923. “No. It’s not.”
  1924. >”There’s no way she’d survive that even if her guard was up, and there’s no way she could have protected herself in time. The mark is gone.”
  1925. “No. SHE’S NOT.”
  1926. >”ANY MORE TRICKS?”
  1927. >The voice came from down in the streets.
  1928. >Beneath the rubble.
  1929. >Strangely, it didn’t sound angry.
  1930. >It was almost amused.
  1931. >Sweetie Drops pulled herself out of the wreckage and shook herself off, spreading ash and gravel about.
  1932. >Her mane was almost entirely gone, and her tail burned back to near the dock.
  1933. >”You do know this is a REALLY bad idea, right?”
  1934. >She turned what was left of her tail and calmly walked away.
  1935. >Blasts erupted all about her center mass, brilliant blooms of flame and wrath growing from the bullets as they peppered her.
  1936. >They seemed to have no effect.
  1937. >And yet…
  1938. >It was working.
  1939. >Her movements were slow and methodical.
  1940. >They didn’t have her locked down, but she was at least hobbled.
  1941. >And best of all, she was moving in the wrong direction!
  1942. >She didn’t know where they were!
  1943. >Cross could see the gunners moving from vantage to vantage from her position, maintaining aiming angles on Sweetie Drops.
  1944. >And fifteen…
  1945. >Cross couldn’t see his face through the Chameleon suit.
  1946. >But his body language spoke volumes.
  1947. >He was tense.
  1948. >This had not gone as planned.
  1949. >He’d never even imagined she could take this much punishment.
  1950. >He didn’t yet know half of it.
  1951. >Sweetie Drops wasn’t going to be taken down by mere firearms.
  1952. >In fact, it was odd that this farce had gone on so long already.
  1953. >And that she didn’t seem to know where the fire was coming from.
  1954. >It was-
  1955. >Wait.
  1956. >This city was her home.
  1957. >She knew the layout.
  1958. >And if Cross was remembering what she’d seen while soaring to the AO…
  1959. >She was headed in the general direction of a small back alley.
  1960. >One with an overhang.
  1961. >She wasn’t going the wrong direction…
  1962. >She was LURING them!
  1963. “STOP! It’s a TRAP!”
  1964. >Jawbreaker stopped in the middle of the street.
  1965. >The bullets ceased their formerly relentless assault as she scanned the skies.
  1966. >All too soon her gaze was locked in Cross’ general direction.
  1967. >”CROSS! STAY OUT OF THIS, I STILL NEED YOU LATER! YOU-”
  1968. >She suddenly grabbed at her neck.
  1969. >Sweetie Drops shrieked in a mixture of pain and shock, nearly collapsing on the spot.
  1970. >A shallow gash had appeared in her neck.
  1971. >Fifteen had snuck up with the Chameleon suit and tried to slice her neck.
  1972. >And against all odds, he’d actually accomplished something.
  1973. >”AUGH! You…”
  1974. >She closed her eyes.
  1975. >That couldn’t possibly have been good.
  1976. “Get away from her! She’s going to crush you!”
  1977. >Grass was starting to push through the ruined asphalt, reclaiming a small part of the blasted cityscape.
  1978. >Was it too late?
  1979. >Sweetie Drops headbutt one of the nearby hollowed out towers, dropping twenty stories of concrete and steel down on her.
  1980. >The neighboring tower began to collapse even as the first one fell, then a third tumbled toward the ground in a cacophonous display of destruction.
  1981. >Dust washed through the nearby streets.
  1982. >The sounds of tumbling debris washed out even the alarm systems.
  1983. >And then there was nothing.
  1984. >She had buried herself beneath the rubble.
  1985. >Cross hadn’t seen how severe the neck wound was.
  1986. >Was she going to bleed out down there?
  1987. >Was this an ignoble end?
  1988. >No, she’d seen Sweetie Drops before.
  1989. >She wasn’t the kind to die quietly.
  1990. >She was going to be back.
  1991. “Everypony! Keep your distance!”
  1992. >”Coward.”
  1993. >Cross nearly jumped out of her skin.
  1994. >It was fifteen’s voice.
  1995. >She wasn’t sure where he was, but it was close.
  1996. >”It was FIVE against ONE. Equestria’s finest with lifetimes of combat experience between us, equipped with cutting edge equipment against a washed up cripple.”
  1997. “It was reckless of you to go in like that. We’re just supposed to stall until help arrives!”
  1998. >”Help? Her neck was cut open and she’s been buried beneath a thousand tonnes of rubble! It’s over.”
  1999. >He moved in close enough to Cross that she could make him out despite the camouflage.
  2000. “Idiot. Eurynomos couldn’t kill her, why would YOU be able to?”
  2001. >She jabbed him in what was probably the barrel.
  2002. “Your cheap shot isn’t going to cut it! Hang back and watch for movement.”
  2003. >”WHY would we stay back? If she’s alive we need to seize the initiative!”
  2004. “I outrank you. THAT’S AN ORDER, FIFTEEN.”
  2005. >The insubordinate moron flew away.
  2006. >Cross wasn’t able to tell his exact vector, but it seemed like he was moving in the rough direction of Jawbreaker.
  2007. “At least I won’t have to discipline him.”
  2008. >”Cross. CROSS! COME IN!”
  2009. >TAC!
  2010. “Am I glad to hear from you! How’s the evac going?”
  2011. >”Poorly! We’ve only got so many exits, Cross!”
  2012. “No, not that evac. I meant ours.”
  2013. >Agent fifteen could be heard in the distance.
  2014. >”NO SIGN OF HER! I SHE’S DEFINITELY DEAD!”
  2015. “Yeah, Tac. We’re going to have casualties in a couple seconds here. Well, that or fatalities.”
  2016. >”Is this line secure?”
  2017. “Golden Wind blew her up several times. There’s no way any radio equipment survived.”
  2018. >”Great! Reinforcements are arriving any second now. When they show, disengage and put as much distance between yourself and them as you can. You’re not going to want to get caught in the crossfire.”
  2019. >If it was really something that could kill Jawbreaker, then she didn’t even want to be in the same city.
  2020. >A primal cry of rage like that of a rabid gorilla cried from the rubble.
  2021. >Broken concrete shot into the sky, blocking out what little remained of the sunset.
  2022. >The miniature Vesuvius’ eruption came crashing down in all directions, scattering wreckage several blocks away.
  2023. >Jawbreaker looked…
  2024. >Vacant.
  2025. >Her expression blank, her eyes unfocused.
  2026. >Her neck crudely stapled together with office supplies.
  2027. >Something had changed when she was wounded.
  2028. >More bullets hammered at her.
  2029. >More explosions shrugged off.
  2030. >And beneath the torrent of lead and TNT, an impossible sight.
  2031. >Jawbreaker was walking.
  2032. >Slowly though it may be, she was mobile while enduring full auto fire from three directions.
  2033. >In the blink of an eye the assault stopped.
  2034. >In the twitch of an eye, fifteen appeared just behind Jawbreaker.
  2035. >Flying away at an awkward vector.
  2036. >Chameleon suit disabled, monofilament blade shattered.
  2037. >Somehow she had turned his second sneak attack against him.
  2038. >The ground was trembling, and Cross couldn’t help but notice dandelions were coming into bloom nearby.
  2039. >Her magic was leaking.
  2040. >Fifteen recovered, righting their trajectory to fly perpendicular to the ground and distance herself from the threat.
  2041. >The foolish raptor dropped down again, somehow thinking he’d accomplish something unarmed.
  2042. >Jawbreaker snapped at the air, catching fifteen’s wing in her TEETH.
  2043. >She thrashed about erratically for what felt like minutes.
  2044. >Fifteen fought and screamed and struggled, only to be thrown aside.
  2045. >His mangled wing had been snapped, its feathers ripped out and flesh rended.
  2046. >It was bleeding at an alarming rate, as Jawbreaker’s sanguine face displayed.
  2047. >She kicked his prone body in the ribs, then leisurely pressed on his hind legs.
  2048. >Cross flew in closer against her better judgement.
  2049. “STOP it! He’s down, you’ve beaten him!”
  2050. >She put her weight on the leg, crushing the bones to powder.
  2051. “STOP IT! His career is already over!”
  2052. >She put a hoof on his neck.
  2053. >Cross kicked Jawbreaker in the face.
  2054. >A sharp pain ran through her hoof.
  2055. >”Wha- where? Oh. Oh right.”
  2056. >And she simply began to walk away.
  2057. “TAC! Fifteen is hurt bad! He needs medivac!”
  2058. >”Negative, Cross. Pursue Jawbreaker.”
  2059. “She mangled his wing, he might never fly again!”
  2060. >”And none of you will every fly again if that bomb detonates. MOVE!”
  2061. >A chill set into the pit of her stomach.
  2062. >Negative on medivac?
  2063. >How could…
  2064. >How could Sweetie Drops be so cruel?
  2065. >He was an idiot, yes.
  2066. >But this was going too far!
  2067. >Multiple broken ribs, a pulverized shin, and more than likely an amputated wing!
  2068. >She didn’t need to go that far.
  2069. >NONE of this had to happen!
  2070. >The brutality and shattered bones she’d delivered back in Canterlot.
  2071. >The arson at the palace.
  2072. >The heaps of wounded and burned at North Point.
  2073. >The chaos and terror of countless civilians today.
  2074. >And left unchecked, a nuclear strike against her own home.
  2075. >Then regicide.
  2076. >She had been Cross’ hero, once.
  2077. >But there was nothing heroic left in that shell.
  2078. >This was no longer the pony Cross used to know and admire.
  2079. >Cross rushed at her, knowing victory was unattainable.
  2080. >She merely had to buy time.
  2081. “TRAITOR!”
  2082. >Sweetie Drops casually ducked a spin kick, letting Cross shoot past harmlessly.
  2083. “They were right about you, MONSTER!”
  2084. >She rushed at her face, attempting a flip kick at the chin.
  2085. >She caught nothing but air.
  2086. “You swore to PROTECT ponies! NOT TO CRUSH THEM!”
  2087. >”Shut it.”
  2088. >Cross wrapped her legs around Sweetie Drops’ neck, desperately trying to pull the staples out and reopen the wound.
  2089. >”And look at you, trying to KILL a pony.”
  2090. >She bucked Cross off with minimal effort.
  2091. “I’M NOT TRYING TO SET OFF A NUKE! You left your soul in Hell, now we’re going to send you back to get it!”
  2092. >Go for the eyes.
  2093. >GOUGE THE EYES.
  2094. >Cross groped at her face.
  2095. >And to her horror, she found an empty socket.
  2096. >”I left a lot in Hell.”
  2097. >The remaining agents of Golden Wind joined in the battle, buzzing and swooping at her.
  2098. >Amazingly, Jawbreaker never put her guard up.
  2099. >No strike was able to find purchase.
  2100. >Jawbreaker stopped midstride and closed her eyes.
  2101. >Cross landed an unguarded kick against her ribs, sending the madmare tumbling to the ground.
  2102. >One of the agents produced a dagger and lunged at her neck.
  2103. >And Sweetie Drops opened her eyes.
  2104. >Cross felt heavy.
  2105. >IMMENSELY heavy.
  2106. >Her legs failed her, causing her to tumble against her opponent.
  2107. >She drew upon as much of her wind magic as she could, shaving her mass down to near zero.
  2108. >And yet, she felt heavy as lead.
  2109. >She desperately tried to flap her wings to fly away.
  2110. >But it was to no avail.
  2111. >She couldn’t get away from Jawbreaker.
  2112. >”I’m sorry, Cross. It needs to die. I can’t let them bring him back.”
  2113. “What… it’s…”
  2114. >”Gravity.”
  2115. >Earth pony magic allowed them to increase their density at key points.
  2116. >That great of a mass, this close.
  2117. >The world was going dim.
  2118. >Her body couldn’t handle this much gravity.
  2119. >Her heart was failing to supply her brain.
  2120. >And then she was released.
  2121. >Cross nearly vomited after landing, the disorientation and strain exceeding her brain’s capacity to cope.
  2122. >”CROSS!”
  2123. >Tac!
  2124. >”Reinforcements are here. GET THE HAY OUT OF THERE!”
  2125. >She saw it.
  2126. >And she wasn’t sure she should be happy about it.
  2127. >Demons.
  2128. >DOZENS of decapitated, computer controlled demons were coming in at them from all angles.
  2129. >Sweetie Drops stared at them again with that vacant expression.
  2130. >But… was her mouth foaming this time?
  2131. >She started backing away from them, babbling incoherently.
  2132. >She was crying.
  2133. >Running away!
  2134. >Jawbreaker was in retreat!
  2135. >Except…
  2136. >They were surrounded.
  2137. >The only way out was through.
  2138. >Jawbreaker collapsed, and was soon being swarmed by decapitated demons.
  2139. “RETREAT!”
  2140. >She managed to struggle into the air and bumble her way to fifteen’s crippled body.
  2141. >The earth was trembling.
  2142. >What remained of the nearby buildings began to crumble.
  2143. >And the land began to bloom.
  2144. >A colossal wild growth, not like the small sprouts and grasses from earlier.
  2145. >A growth on the scale of the Eye.
  2146. >But unlike the eye, it wasn’t flowers.
  2147. >It was nettles, skunk cabbages, hemlock and snakeroot.
  2148. >And it finally made sense.
  2149. >Cross understood how the Jawbreaker was so strong.
  2150. >And why she was so unhinged.
  2151. >Sweetie Drops didn’t wield the planet’s might.
  2152. >She wasn’t simply a master of natural magics.
  2153. >She WAS nature.
  2154. >Just another aspect of an incomprehensibly vast superorganism.
  2155. >She didn’t command Earth magic, and it didn’t bow to her will.
  2156. >She bowed to IT.
  2157. >Sweetie Drops had surrendered control of her power long ago and acted in accordance with its whims.
  2158. >She was a manifestation of Gaia’s wrath, like a T cell set out to eradicate anything that disturbed the natural order.
  2159. >Anything that did not belong in Elysium, such demons and lesser monstrosities.
  2160. >And, of course, anything that got in her way.
  2161. >The winds were controlled by forces great and small, heat sinks and sources working together endlessly and seamlessly to create massive pressure fronts.
  2162. >Insignificant and undetectable changes unleashing their wrath to impose a normal state in an eternal cycle of eradication and regrowth.
  2163. >The mudslide was caused by the loss of the forest, the firestorm caused by a single flash, the lightning strike by a few stray ions.
  2164. >Despite her strength, or perhaps because of it, Jawbreaker was at the mercy of forces far smaller than herself.
  2165. >Without something to keep her balanced, anything could catalyze a rampage.
  2166. >Sights, smells, sounds, any sensation could be her butterfly’s wings in the chaotic remnants of her shattered mind.
  2167. >And like any natural disaster, her wrath would be sudden.
  2168. >Terrible.
  2169. >Absolute.
  2170. >And above all else…
  2171. >Indiscriminate.
  2172. >The wrath of the world, concentrated into the hooves of a helpless mortal.
  2173. >Gaia herself at once controlling and controlled by a wounded beast.
  2174. >Nature, itself, was sick.
  2175. “GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE! SHE’S GOING TO-”
  2176. >Sweetie Drops attacked.
  2177. >And then there was nothing.
  2178.  
  2179. Operation Fallen Saviour
  2180.  
  2181. Mission status: FAILURE
  2182. Nuclear devices successfully disabled before detonation. Catastrophic loss of personnel. Major damage to civil infrastructure.
  2183.  
  2184. Agent 015: KIA
  2185. Agent 056: wounded
  2186. Agent 017: wounded
  2187. Agent 003: KIA
  2188.  
  2189.  
  2190. >Luna stood atop the Western tower of what remained of her palace.
  2191. >The inferno had claimed much of the furnishings and ruined most of the utilities, but the stone remained.
  2192. >It was finely carved and delicate work, but still nothing more than rock.
  2193. >It was fitting, in a way.
  2194. >The rage that had consumed her home had erased all modernity.
  2195. >Machinery, plumbing, telecomms, all of ponykind’s attempts at sophistication and advancement had been devoured in mere hours.
  2196. >Only the primal had survived.
  2197. >Sweetie Drops was still out there, and she was still destroying Equestria.
  2198. >And none of the sophisticated and advanced weapons had any value.
  2199. >Whether through cowardice or through madness, she had made a point of staying in densely populated areas ever since they’d found her.
  2200. >They had no nuclear capabilities, and no orbital weapons.
  2201. >Even if they remained, to use them would be to butcher countless civilians.
  2202. >Chemical weapons weren’t much better.
  2203. >A few shells filled with sarin or a cloud of sulphur mustards would end the madness.
  2204. >But with over a million ponies still in the city, such an attack was unconscionable.
  2205. >Orion was a small bomb by nuclear standards.
  2206. >The carnage of an uncontrolled chemical attack could easily exceed what Sweetie Drops had threatened.
  2207. >It was down to the infantry.
  2208. >Warriors facing off against each other, in a ruthless test of strength and skill.
  2209. >A test that had been rigged from the start.
  2210. >A burning sensation was mounting on the back of Luna’s neck.
  2211. >The detestable radiance of tranquillity that to any healthy pony might seem soothing.
  2212. >Celestia was approaching.
  2213. >”Is it bad?”
  2214. “I’ve been told the bomb has been disarmed and removed. Ponyville is no longer in danger of a nuclear strike.”
  2215. >”Thank the heavens.”
  2216. “Hm.”
  2217. >Celestia walked closer, eventually looking over the cityscape with her sister.
  2218. >”You don’t sound pleased.”
  2219. >Her horn burned bright, and the sun finally sank below the horizon.
  2220. >The day was done.
  2221. >Soon, the madness would end too.
  2222. >But not soon enough.
  2223. “Two confirmed fatalities.”
  2224. >”Oh...”
  2225. >It was a dark night.
  2226. >Luna found it somehow unsettling.
  2227. >She was generally more comfortable in darkness, away from the burning light.
  2228. >But this empty sky was wrong.
  2229. >A perversion of the natural order.
  2230. >The suppression of her domain’s beauty.
  2231. >”Are you not going to raise the moon?”
  2232. “Not tonight.”
  2233. >Sweetie Drops was missing an eye, but she wasn’t blind.
  2234. >If Luna could darken the battlefield enough, she’d be at an advantage.
  2235. >”I see.”
  2236. >Celestia’s tone was saturated with longing.
  2237. >She knew full well that things were not yet well.
  2238. >And that they might yet get worse.
  2239. >For armageddon once again threatened their land.
  2240.  
  2241. “Some say the world will end in fire,
  2242. Some say in ice.
  2243. From what I've tasted of desire
  2244. I hold with those who favour fire.
  2245. But if it had to perish twice,
  2246. I think I know enough of hate
  2247. To say that for destruction ice
  2248. Is also great
  2249. And would suffice.”
  2250.  
  2251. >”It has been many moons since I last heard of you studying poetry.”
  2252. “It seems apt.”
  2253. >It was as much a premonition as a poem.
  2254. >”And what of the third end?”
  2255. >Luna knew not.
  2256. >Perhaps it was too alien for their artists to understand.
  2257. >Or perhaps it was merely Luna that didn’t understand.
  2258. “I have never known such a thing as it. It is chilling, devoid of passion and rage. An unfeeling menace. Murder sans motive. I understand Sweetie Drops. I understood Eurynomos. This… I cannot comprehend.”
  2259. >It was not, however, her battle to fight.
  2260. >That would be done by others.
  2261. >A machine to fend off the machine.
  2262. >A monster to fend off the monster.
  2263. >“You’re going out to face her, aren’t you?”
  2264. >Luna didn’t answer.
  2265. >She didn’t have to.
  2266. >There was no choice in the matter, after all.
  2267. >Everypony with any sense knew that Sweetie Drops was deadly.
  2268. >But while they all knew, few understood.
  2269. >Only those who had seen her in battle could truly comprehend.
  2270. >There wasn’t a pony alive who could best her.
  2271. >They needed something inequine.
  2272. “It was wrong of me to ever send anypony out against her. This was not their fight.”
  2273. >In all the realms, Luna knew of only herself and Achlys who could best that freak in combat.
  2274. >Even then it would be no small task.
  2275. >It should have been obvious from the beginning.
  2276. >Why had she not been the first into the fray?
  2277. >Luna knew all too well why she had chosen to stay at home.
  2278. >Cowering far from harm.
  2279. >It was fear.
  2280. >”You still intend to take her alive, I trust.”
  2281. “I do.”
  2282. >“Please don’t lie to me.”
  2283. >She was right to doubt.
  2284. >”It’s wrong. She’s a heroine in grieving. We can’t kill her after all she’s done for us.”
  2285. >Was it immoral to kill her?
  2286. >Maybe?
  2287. >She had to be stopped though, and she was far too dangerous to take alive.
  2288. >How could it possibly be wrong if there was no choice in the matter?
  2289. “I don’t care anymore.”
  2290. >”But- but you CAN’T fight her. You’re disabled!”
  2291. >She was.
  2292. >Sweetie Drops had done that to her.
  2293. “Who else is there?”
  2294. >Luna had been subject to the ravages of the burning Hells as with her agents.
  2295. >But she, unlike they, had recovered.
  2296. >She had evaded harm and shrugged off wounds, only growing stronger from the experience.
  2297. >Even Eurynomos had failed to kill her when he’d impaled her.
  2298. >Nothing had ever inflicted lasting harm on her largely immaterial body.
  2299. >With one exception.
  2300. >And still, she had no recourse but to face the horror that had filled her with tracer rounds.
  2301. >Hiding was futile, it would seek her out soon enough.
  2302. >”There must be some other way.”
  2303. “There isn’t.”
  2304. >”Violence isn’t the answer.”
  2305. “Then what would you propose?”
  2306. >Celestia placed a hoof on Luna’s back.
  2307. >It burnt just a bit on contact.
  2308. >”We can’t be like that. We have to be better.”
  2309. >Luna couldn’t help but scoff.
  2310. “Better? Better than what? Better than survivors?”
  2311. >”Better than the demons. Better than YOU!”
  2312. >Luna pushed her sister away without looking at her.
  2313. >She’d known for a while now what her sister thought of her.
  2314. >The only shock from those words was that Celestia had actually spoken her true feelings.
  2315. >And yet somehow, it still stung.
  2316. “I’d rather be alive than be good.”
  2317. >”I-”
  2318. “No. You led us all to ruin a year ago. Have you learned nothing? We cannot afford to be weak.”
  2319. >”WEAK? Forgiveness isn’t weakness! MERCY is NOT a weakness!”
  2320. “Two ponies are already dead. Isn’t there enough blood on your hooves?”
  2321. >”And killing a THIRD would bring them back?”
  2322. >Luna melted into the black sky.
  2323. “I am sorry, sister.”
  2324. >It is said that nothing can move as fast as light.
  2325. >This is, of course, a lie.
  2326. >Or at the very least an oversimplification.
  2327. >Nuclear radiation can move faster than light within certain mediums.
  2328. >Gravity propagates as quickly as light in a vacuum.
  2329. >Twilight insists she’s discovered a particle that moves even FASTER than light in a vacuum.
  2330. >Yet she and her researchers all forget about darkness.
  2331. >Darkness is always ready to take the place of light.
  2332. >As quickly as the photon vacates, darkness manifests.
  2333. >Under some circumstances, a shadow could be said to move faster than even the proposed tachyon.
  2334. >To move as a shadow was to be freed from material restrictions.
  2335. >Luna could not control this speed.
  2336. >It was inconceivable that anything would ever be able to fully control something so swift.
  2337. >But despite how crude her efforts might be, Luna’s speed was still unmatched.
  2338. >Just so long as she had no need for precision.
  2339. >She aimed for the heart of Ponyville, and overshot horribly.
  2340. >The blasted hellscape of the Blight sat far below her.
  2341. >A land so desolate that not even ash remained.
  2342. >A fate that Sweetie Drops had spared them.
  2343. >They owed their very existence to that brave warrior.
  2344. >And yet...
  2345. >The fates could be cruel beyond measure.
  2346. >Her second attempt placed her over the ocean.
  2347. >The vast and critical ecology of which had narrowly been spared complete devastation.
  2348. >Because of the Jawbreaker.
  2349. >On her third try, Luna finally landed close enough to her target.
  2350. >Just beyond the city limits, a tiny bit south west.
  2351. >She carved through the air, no longer made of shadow but of flesh and blood.
  2352. >She was far from being the strongest of flyers, but Luna had not neglected her body as her sister did.
  2353. >Her numb legs tailed behind, gracelessly caught in the winds.
  2354. >Magic filled her body, both equine and infernal.
  2355. >A missile of malice sent to strike a psychotic super soldier.
  2356. >Finding Sweetie Drops proved trivial. One could simply follow the swathed cityscape.
  2357. >Her destruction was absolute.
  2358. >A steady cascade of concrete, steel, and glass flowed in her wake.
  2359. >The streets themselves had been ripped open, mimicking a fault line of Jawbreaker’s own creation.
  2360. >Luna could feel the Earth magic assaulting her even up here in the sky.
  2361. >It was out of control.
  2362. >No, the magic wasn’t out of control.
  2363. >Earth magic was notoriously stable.
  2364. >The antipode of the wild and unpredictable Winds, as the precise and measured unicorn magic opposed the passionate and reckless infernal magic.
  2365. >It was the pony who was out of control.
  2366. >Acting independent of reason, blinded by the visions in her blind eye and deafened by the voices in her head.
  2367. >Consumed by rage, heart of ice.
  2368. >Did she even know where she was?
  2369. >Or what she was doing?
  2370. >Did it matter?
  2371. >Two were dead, and more would follow if nothing was done.
  2372. >The destruction of equine life was immoral.
  2373. >Surely that meant the preservation of equine life was moral.
  2374. >It was right to minimise death and injury.
  2375. >Her history with Sweetie Drops didn’t matter.
  2376. >Nor did their collective debt, nor her infirmity.
  2377. >Luna began to collect energy.
  2378. >She didn’t fully understand the largely instinctual process.
  2379. >It defied reason, a power borne of madness and taint.
  2380. >Were she to try and explain it, she might equate it to a filtration process through which strong shadows were extracted from the miasma about her.
  2381. >She watched as homes and businesses were consumed in the terror below.
  2382. …
  2383. >It wasn’t just the concrete that was in danger.
  2384. >There were still uncounted civilians down there.
  2385. >The immediate vicinity should be clear, but the target was moving toward civilians.
  2386. >If she stalled, more could perish.
  2387. >That meant that delays were immoral.
  2388. >Which meant that haste was moral.
  2389. >And tactically advisable.
  2390. >Sweetie Drops needed to harden her flesh before the strike landed for her defences to have any value.
  2391. >A sneak attack was her best bet.
  2392. >Luna let a bolt of pure blackness fly.
  2393. >Sweetie Drops stopped mid stride.
  2394. >Had she been aware she was being watched?
  2395. >A brilliant flash came from below.
  2396. >And three flares shot up from the pony below.
  2397. >The oppressive darkness of Luna’s strike swallowed the burning magnesium flares, letting only embers pass through.
  2398. >The vastly weakened shadow ball continued on its trajectory, threatening to devour its prey.
  2399. >The blackness struck Sweetie Drops.
  2400. >An animalistic shriek assailed her ears.
  2401. >The pony below vanished in the dark.
  2402. >Luna dared for a moment to think it might be over.
  2403. >That the last blow had been delivered, and no more blood would be spilled.
  2404. >Yet she knew in her blackened heart that it wasn’t true.
  2405. >A small wisp of smoke began to rise from the pool of inky blackness.
  2406. >A portent of the coming retribution.
  2407. >Luna called upon her unicorn magic and levitated the ruins of the city, lifting tens of thousands of tonnes of rubble into the air.
  2408. >She shot it at blinding speeds at the pool, each and every improvised bullet screaming death as it ripped the air to shreds.
  2409. >The cacophonous barrage hit home.
  2410. >The dust cloud was dense, blocking out any remaining lights entirely.
  2411. >Luna couldn’t see Sweetie Drops.
  2412. >But she knew she was down there.
  2413. >And she knew it would take far more to put down this rabid beast.
  2414. >Luna drank deep from Aquarius, the master ley line.
  2415. >A thousand years of practice.
  2416. >A millennium as that wretch’s puppet, of torment and hopelessness.
  2417. >Time her captor had spent training.
  2418. >Preparing.
  2419. >Honing Luna’s magic and body for her intended revenge.
  2420. >Luna had learned much of spellcraft from the experience.
  2421. >Her incantations were crude and ill devised.
  2422. >Clearly the product of one who had no appreciation for thaumaturgy beyond its capacity to do harm.
  2423. >Isolated from the uncountable hours of study by the innumerable geniuses who had built up their collective knowledge over centuries.
  2424. >Primitive.
  2425. >And devastating.
  2426. >What was lacking in finesse was addressed by raw power the likes of which only a scant few could match.
  2427. >A technique of passionate rage taught by Erebus.
  2428. >And honed by Luna.
  2429. >She had spent the last year training, preparing for the moment that Achlys struck.
  2430. >Applying proper form and technique to her spellcraft to hammer raw iron into polished steel.
  2431. >She had not yet mastered this ability.
  2432. >It had failed her in battle before, and that failure had nearly meant her end.
  2433. >Yet Luna knew too well that she could not afford to be overly cautious.
  2434. >This foe would end her the instant she let up her pressure.
  2435. >She could only hope her practice had yielded fruit.
  2436. >None had ever executed anything like this spell, save for her.
  2437. >Few could even begin to attempt.
  2438. >Only a few dozen ponies walked the land with both requisite talents, and none would ever succeed.
  2439. >Mastery of Aquarius and mana synthesis, meeting their logical conclusion.
  2440. >Luna held Aquarius.
  2441. >Then merged it with Leo. Fast, but temperamental.
  2442. >She then added Cancer. This ley line was slow, but it alone could take physical form.
  2443. >Libra was next.
  2444. >This mana was noteworthy for how unremarkable it was.
  2445. >A perfect balance between strength, speed, and stability, it was the go-to for most applications.
  2446. >Sagittarius. Her mana could now manipulate things beyond her line of sight.
  2447. >And finally Virgo.
  2448. >The most pristine of mana.
  2449. >Shallow, gentle, and pure.
  2450. >The ley line usually claimed by novices for its ease of use.
  2451. >All six merged into one overwhelming current through byzantine routing and unyielding force of will.
  2452. >A gestalt magic with potency greater than even her shadows.
  2453. >Across the world, Unicorns were feeling drained.
  2454. >Spells were failing, limbs growing weak, and minds foggy.
  2455. >And finally, every single unicorn was totally deprived of mana, as Luna pulled the last vestiges into her horn to form Corona.
  2456. >This was well beyond what the unicorn’s horn was adapted to.
  2457. >Aquarius could hurt the user if they lost control.
  2458. >Corona would KILL.
  2459. >No regular pony’s body could hold this much power without ripping itself apart cell by cell.
  2460. >Even Luna, durable as she was, couldn’t hold this much power in herself for long.
  2461. >Luna aimed her horn at Jawbreaker’s last known position and unleashed her power.
  2462. >There was no controlling Corona.
  2463. >Even for all her experience and practice, Luna couldn’t yet hope to wield it with the fineness to form a proper spell.
  2464. >She was barely even able to aim it.
  2465. >Luna sprayed an overwhelming stream of magic into the rubble, making pools of molten rock.
  2466. >A massive surge of Earth magic washed over her.
  2467. >Luna called upon the winds, trying to wield pegasus magic and brace herself for the coming attack.
  2468. >It was to no avail.
  2469. >Her attraction to the ground soared to several hundred times normal gravitation.
  2470. >A wild growth of thistles and weeds overtook the ruins, instantly catching ablaze in the presence of the lava.
  2471. >Luna plummeted through the noxious plumes, fast approaching maddened cackling.
  2472. >She tried to change her course.
  2473. >She tried to crash into the ground.
  2474. >She failed.
  2475. >Jawbreaker executed a backflip, catching Luna on the side of the head and spiking her into a nearby lava pool.
  2476. >The shockwave from the strike echoed beyond the city limits.
  2477. >She pulled herself out of the lava, body flickering erratically between her normal dark blue and the blackness of deep space.
  2478. >Sweetie Drops galloped toward her, intermittently giggling and sobbing.
  2479. >Luna feigned attempting to fly.
  2480. >Sweetie Drops took the bait and tackled Luna, plunging both of them into the mercifully shallow lava.
  2481. >She pinned Luna down with her incalculable weight, grinning wickedly at the burning princess.
  2482. >Amazingly, Sweetie Drops seemed completely unharmed by the liquified rock.
  2483. >She raised a hoof to strike at Luna’s face.
  2484. >Leaving herself unable to dodge.
  2485. >A look of realisation crossed her face just before Luna attacked.
  2486. >A massive surge of Earth magic hardened her flesh.
  2487. >The gravity drew nearby rubble and lava toward the pair.
  2488. >Corona hit home, blasting Sweetie Drops into the distance and burning her flesh well beyond the Lava’s reckoning.
  2489. >Any ordinary pony would have perished before the blast even reached them.
  2490. >Sweetie Drops landed on her hooves, ripping apart what remained of the streets as she slid along.
  2491. >She was not, however, unharmed.
  2492. >A massive burn had covered most of her body.
  2493. >Small patches of her dermis had been completely destroyed.
  2494. >It was a life threatening wound, one that warranted immediate medical attention.
  2495. >But not enough to stop the crazed former agent.
  2496. >Her movements were still swift and precise.
  2497. >She had completely dropped her guard to stay light on her hooves, knowing that she couldn’t simply endure Corona.
  2498. >She would duck behind debris not to shield herself, but to mask her movement and confound Luna.
  2499. >Sometimes she would run straight through, other times she would double back.
  2500. >Luna did not cease her assault.
  2501. >She melted dozens of gashes in the vicinity, barely able to keep the Corona on target.
  2502. >And for her troubles she managed to strike home once more.
  2503. >A wound opened on Sweetie Drops’ neck.
  2504. >There was no chance of her maintaining her assault with how damaged her body was.
  2505. >Luna couldn’t maintain this either.
  2506. >Fissures were forming on her head, radiating out from her horn.
  2507. >Uncontrolled mana radiated from each and every crack, gradually widening them.
  2508. >Corona would soon consume her.
  2509. >She released the magic, satisfied that it had served its purpose.
  2510. >Luna took flight once more.
  2511. >She bombarded Sweetie Drops mercilessly with solid shadows.
  2512. >Her quarry’s movements were slow and clumsy.
  2513. >Nearly every strike hit home.
  2514. >Many of them even left a mark.
  2515. >After several blocks of pursuit, Sweetie Drops collapsed.
  2516. >Luna landed well away from the downed pony, gasping for breath.
  2517. >Every part of Luna’s body burned.
  2518. >From the lava burns to the light exposure and the brutal beatings, she was barely able to suppress screams of pain.
  2519. >But the single worst pain came from her horn.
  2520. >It was the blinding agony one might expect from biting red hot iron with a broken tooth, exposed nerve and all.
  2521. >She whimpered, unable to ignore her own injuries any longer.
  2522. >And yet, despite all the damage, Luna’s heart soared.
  2523. >She had done it.
  2524. >Even for one such as herself, defeating Sweetie Drops was no small feat.
  2525. >She merely had to deliver the final blow.
  2526. >She began to amass her shadows for one final strike.
  2527. >And Sweetie Drops began to cough.
  2528. >No, not cough.
  2529. >Laugh.
  2530. >The trap was sprung.
  2531. >The ground beneath the two of them gave out suddenly.
  2532. >Luna heard a loud bang nearby.
  2533. >And the world was consumed by a blinding light.
  2534. >Luna was completely disoriented, feeling nothing but the damnable light of burning magnesium around her.
  2535. >She was vaguely aware of herself vomiting as she fell.
  2536. >Luna lay helplessly on the ground.
  2537. >Her vision was starting to resolve into a malevolent grimace hanging above her.
  2538. >A massive crystal was glowing just ahead.
  2539. >She planned on using a soulstone to trap her power, as they had done to Eurynomos.
  2540. >Luna didn’t try to resist.
  2541. >She was beaten.
  2542. >There was no point in fighting the inevitable.
  2543. >Her magic had been pushed beyond its limits, and her shadows had been burned away.
  2544. >There was nothing left.
  2545. >She closed her eyes and wondered.
  2546. >What was it going to be like in the crystal?
  2547. >Would she be aware but helpless, as with her centuries as Erebus’ pawn?
  2548. >Was she facing her new faceted Hell?
  2549. >Or might the process only trap the demonic taint and release the rest?
  2550. >Her body was too broken to survive without the corruption she carried.
  2551. >If the taint were stripped from her, it would surely mean her death.
  2552. >But she would be free from her burden.
  2553. >Finally released from the eternal damnation she knew.
  2554. >Perhaps, if she was extremely lucky, Luna would find oblivion.
  2555. >A strange calm filled her mind, one that had been absent for so long that it was almost alien.
  2556. >Luna was at peace.
  2557. >She smiled as the gem came down.
  2558. >Luna blacked out.
  2559.  
  2560.  
  2561. >Lyra was nearing the pit.
  2562. >Her strength had only recently returned from Luna’s greedy spellcraft.
  2563. >She was exhausted from her ordeal, and she walked with a limp.
  2564. >But still, she pressed on.
  2565. >The sounds were unmistakable.
  2566. >This was where all the destruction was coming from.
  2567. >And the actual cause was all too clear.
  2568. >But something was wrong.
  2569. >A horrible, gut wrenching sense of dread emanated from that pit.
  2570. >Something terrible was in that pit.
  2571. >Something powerful.
  2572. >Something ANGRY.
  2573. >Hundreds of hairy, spider-like appendages skittered out of the crater, holding a pitch black cocoon aloft in the middle.
  2574. >Viscous drops of an inky black substance fell from the thicker hairs, dark blue smoke wafting from them as they fell to the ground only to vanish without a trace on contact.
  2575. >Bon-Bon was scrambling erratically, trying desperately to avoid being skewered by the monstrosity.
  2576. >But they were too swift.
  2577. >Bon-Bon was soon ground into the dirt beneath the heel of the shadowy colossus.
  2578. >Lyra hurled everything she could find at the monstrosity.
  2579. >Her projectiles passed through without slowing down, as though it were immaterial
  2580. >Bon-Bon wrestled her way out from under its apparently solid heel and took a swing at it, only to have her hoof pass through without colliding.
  2581. >The legs punted her back into the pit.
  2582. >The monster positioned itself above her, its black drippings growing more intense by the second.
  2583. >Lyra could no longer see the Beast clearly.
  2584. >It appeared as a blur akin to something seen in peripheral vision, except directly in front of her.
  2585. >Like a massive blind spot had formed in her vision that followed its every move.
  2586. >No matter how she strained her eyes she couldn’t see it.
  2587. >Lyra knew what this was.
  2588. >Erebus.
  2589. >Or at least what was left of her.
  2590. >Her heart nearly stopped.
  2591. >Her blood ran cold.
  2592. >Lyra felt faint.
  2593. >A scream of agony came from the pit.
  2594. “Bonny!”
  2595. >The terror melted away in an instant.
  2596. >Lyra’s blood was BOILING.
  2597. >And she was consumed by an emotion that had become far too familiar.
  2598. >She couldn’t think clearly through the fury, nor could she control her own movements.
  2599. >Lyra acted entirely on instinct, and cast Rip Current.
  2600. >She failed.
  2601. >She’d put too much force into pressurising her attack, and it burst before it even formed.
  2602. >But Lyra wasn’t done yet.
  2603. >She had levitated several pools of lava into the air before her first attack had even dissipated.
  2604. >She split it into thousands upon thousands of glowing hot drops and consumed the heart of the shadow within a torrent of light.
  2605. >It looked like a massive meteor shower against an endless abyss.
  2606. >And it was working.
  2607. >Erebus’ power faltered for just a moment, allowing Lyra to get a clear look at the Black Queen.
  2608. >Hundreds of angular segmented legs sprouted out from beneath a massive blob.
  2609. >Each segment of the demon was separated by wraps of heavy chains, each forming a roughly pentagonal shape at the centre of which was an empty eye socket.
  2610. >The chains were clearly too tight, causing the surrounding hairy tissue to bulge out around it.
  2611. >No, not hairy...
  2612. >What first looked like thick spines or hairs proved to be innumerable writhing limbs of all sorts, from legs to arms to claws to wings.
  2613. >They were all struggling to break free to the surface, clawing and clutching desperately against some unseen force.
  2614. >And none could escape.
  2615. >Despite the notable lack of eyes, Lyra knew it was looking at her.
  2616. >But not at her face.
  2617. >It was looking beyond the surface, gazing at and assessing something immaterial, something Lyra probably couldn’t even understand.
  2618. >Lyra’s focus faltered for a moment beneath its gaze.
  2619. >The instant her assault failed the monstrosity became blurry once more.
  2620. >In the blink of an eye it wrapped one of its spindly legs around Lyra’s neck, constricting with enough force to shame any snake.
  2621. >Lyra had to sever the appendage, and she had to do it fast!
  2622. >She cast Rip Current.
  2623. >She failed.
  2624. >The serrations tore themselves apart against the improbably leathery limb, and her attack devolved into little more than a stiff breeze.
  2625. >Her vision went dark.
  2626. >A guttural cry of agony shook the sky.
  2627. >Lyra was only vaguely aware of it letting go.
  2628. >By the time she’d regained control of her legs, the battle had moved.
  2629. >Several shadowy appendages were scattered about, still writhing as they slowly boiled away into nothingness.
  2630. >Bon-Bon had wounded the creature.
  2631. >Badly.
  2632. >The two had seemingly moved on, tearing off toward the suburbs without even a momentary pause in Erebus’ attacks.
  2633. >Lyra pursued as quickly as she could, cursing her poor physical condition.
  2634. >The combatants were moving faster than Lyra could match, with Bon-Bon seemingly helpless to do anything other than dodge.
  2635. >She wasn’t even trying to counterattack.
  2636. >She was just luring Erebus to-
  2637. >To Lyra’s home.
  2638. >Lyra was out of breath.
  2639. >Her leg was hurt.
  2640. >She couldn’t possibly keep up.
  2641. >But she tried regardless.
  2642. >A massive flash of light filled the sky, hurting Lyra’s eyes even from a distance.
  2643. >Smoke was rising.
  2644. >Their house was on fire.
  2645. >When Lyra arrived she immediately used her magic to knock one of the walls down, allowing herself to look into the inferno.
  2646. >Flames licked at every part of Erebus’ body, sending off a thick black vapour.
  2647. >Lyra couldn’t help but notice the Beast was much smaller than before.
  2648. >It was dying.
  2649. >But so was Bon-Bon.
  2650. >Both fighters were scrambling to leave the blaze, but both were being mercilessly hamstrung by the other.
  2651. >And based on the sickly choking coming from Bon-Bon’s smoke filled lung, Erebus was about to come out on top.
  2652. >Lyra pulled as much burning timber onto the thing as she could manage, almost totally engulfing Erebus in flame.
  2653. >Bon-Bon finally pulled herself free from the inferno.
  2654. >The Earth trembled slightly and she turned her gaze back at her foe.
  2655. >Several seconds passed before a massive surge of gravity threatened to pull Lyra over.
  2656. >And Erebus collapsed.
  2657. >Lyra and Bon-Bon both fell to the ground gasping for breath as the smoke rose to the heavens.
  2658. >But their brief respite was not to last.
  2659. >Bon-Bon’s magic finally failed her, and Erebus began to crawl from the blaze.
  2660. >Lyra’s legs would not support her weight.
  2661. >But her horn glowed regardless.
  2662. >She began to charge an eruption when a ripple ran through the shadow.
  2663. >The waves radiated from the core like if one tossed a pebble into a lake.
  2664. >An inequine cry assaulted her ears as the ripples grew more and more intense.
  2665. >It was no longer akin to a pebble, but trainloads of gravel being dumped into a rapidly diminishing puddle.
  2666. >Then Luna’s head popped out.
  2667. >She was clearly unaware, eyes closed and neck limp.
  2668. >But still the shadows were retreating into her through her nostrils.
  2669. >Soon no sign of Erebus remained.
  2670. >And Luna lay on the ground unconscious.
  2671. >And Bon-Bon walked away.
  2672. “Bonny! It’s me! Are you hurt?”
  2673. >No answer.
  2674. “Oh my stars, what happened to your neck?”
  2675. >Nothing.
  2676. >She stepped over Lyra’s prone form and kept moving.
  2677. >Bon-Bon wasn’t present.
  2678. >She was having an episode.
  2679. >Lyra scolded herself for not realising it sooner.
  2680. >Bonny had no idea where she was, nor what was going on.
  2681. >She probably thought she was in Hell again.
  2682. >It took Lyra all too long to get on her hooves again.
  2683. >She cautiously approached Luna and put her ear near her muzzle.
  2684. >She was breathing.
  2685. >And covered in wounds.
  2686. >Half her body was blistered from burns, the rest bruised.
  2687. >Amazingly, the injuries were shrinking before Lyra’s eyes.
  2688. >Slowly.
  2689. >It would take several hours at this rate, perhaps even a whole day.
  2690. >But each time she looked the bruises and burns were a bit smaller.
  2691. >Satisfied that the Princess was alive, Lyra turned to look for Bon-Bon.
  2692. >She nearly walked into Princess Celestia.
  2693. >Celestia’s jaw hung agape, her eyes wide and watering.
  2694. >She approached slowly.
  2695. >Cautiously.
  2696. >Fearfully.
  2697. “She’s breathing.”
  2698. >”What… happened? How?”
  2699. >Lyra wasn’t sure.
  2700. >But she could take a guess.
  2701. “Bon-Bon.”
  2702. >Celestia was hyperventilating.
  2703. >She took several steps back, nervously scanning the area for any signs of movement.
  2704. >A few moments later she shook her head violently, then stared at Lyra with steely resolve in her eyes.
  2705. >”Help me move her.”
  2706. “I’m not strong enough to lift her!”
  2707. >”Don’t! Just drag her, get her away from the fire!”
  2708. >Lyra was hesitant.
  2709. >But she complied.
  2710. >It took a while to get a good grip on the princess.
  2711. >She eventually settled on her chest plate.
  2712. >Lyra and Celestia didn’t manage to drag her far before they were too tired to proceed.
  2713. >The two of them sat down.
  2714. >Lyra couldn’t help but notice Celestia was keeping her distance.
  2715. “I thought you’d want to be close to her.”
  2716. >”I don’t want to hurt her any further.”
  2717. >Right.
  2718. >Lyra had forgotten about that.
  2719. >Celestia was a hazard to her sister.
  2720. >”I’m… I’m sorry Lyra. Sorry for your loss.”
  2721. “Yeah. It was a nice home. And I had some nice instruments in there. But it was just things.”
  2722. >”Just things? You’re talking about the house. She’s ALIVE?”
  2723. >Princess Celestia slowly looked around the wreckage, rubbing her eyes as though she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
  2724. >”She was able to do THAT to my sister? And then she still had the strength to survive all this?”
  2725. >Lyra was pretty sure Bon-Bon had caused most of it.
  2726. >”I’m shocked. But glad. Glad that the fight ended without any further death.”
  2727. “Ended?”
  2728. >”Yes. They’re done fighting. Right?”
  2729. >Lyra locked eyes with the princess, but said nothing.
  2730. >”Right?”
  2731. “Bonny’s coming back, I’m sure of it. Probably with a soulstone.”
  2732. >”We need to get my sister out of here! I’m calling for medivac!”
  2733. “NO! She’ll kill them if you do!”
  2734. >”But they’d be flying.”
  2735. “And you think that would stop her? Do you have ANY idea who you’re dealing with? No, of course you don’t.”
  2736. >Bon-Bon was having an episode.
  2737. >Anypony that got between her and the demon she was hunting was in terrible danger.
  2738. >Lyra included.
  2739. >But she wasn’t going to run.
  2740. >She couldn’t.
  2741. >Bon-Bon had to be stopped.
  2742. >And Lyra knew just how to do it.
  2743. “Your sister taught me a spell to knock ponies out for a while. I need to get close to her.”
  2744. >”How?”
  2745. >That was a good question.
  2746. >Bon-Bon was already on her way back.
  2747. >She walked a bit too slowly, too casually for all the madness that she’d wrought.
  2748. >It was as though she was taking a casual afternoon stroll, totally oblivious to the spreading fire.
  2749. >In her mouth she carried a massive diamond.
  2750. >Lyra stepped in front of Luna.
  2751. “BONNY! Stop it right now!”
  2752. >No answer.
  2753. “PLEASE! You’re making a huge mistake!”
  2754. >Bon-Bon’s eye was glazed over.
  2755. “This is PONYVILLE! You’re not in Hell, you’re at HOME!”
  2756. >”Stay out of my way, Lyra.”
  2757. >The words were sharper than any dagger.
  2758. >More venomous than any serpent.
  2759. >Bon-Bon WAS aware.
  2760. >Maybe she hadn’t been a moment ago.
  2761. >Maybe the worst of her destruction had happened during an episode.
  2762. >But there was no excuse for what was happening here and now.
  2763. >Bon-Bon knew full well what she was doing.
  2764. >She knew Lyra was alive.
  2765. >And she didn’t care.
  2766. “Bonny. This isn’t like you.”
  2767. >”I said MOVE!”
  2768. “No! Not unless you promise me you’re going to leave princess Luna alone!”
  2769. >”PRINCESS? She’s a DEMON, Lyra! Do you have ANY idea what she’s done to Equestria? What she’s done to ME?”
  2770. “Yes! I know what she’s done. And I know WHY she did it!”
  2771. >”Why? Her GENIUS plan to absorb the others? To become the ultimate evil?”
  2772. “She was trying to protect us!”
  2773. >”PROTECT us? She opened the gates of HELL! Ponies were slaughtered!”
  2774. “She isn’t Eurynomos!”
  2775. >”She’s trying to revive him!”
  2776. “Under her control!”
  2777. >”And you think that makes it better? You don’t understand what I went through to put that thing down. You’ll NEVER understand what it feels like.”
  2778. “KILLING HER WON’T MAKE YOU BETTER!”
  2779. >”I never said it would.”
  2780. >”So what? Why are you DOING this? You’re not going to fix anything, and you’re CERTAINLY not protecting anypony! Killing her accomplishes NOTHING! You’re destroying Ponyville and for WHAT?”
  2781. >”I’m killing Luna because she deserves to die.”
  2782. >She spoke dispassionately.
  2783. >It was eerie to hear Bon-Bon promise murder in such a manner, like it was less interesting than doing laundry or reading the newspaper.
  2784. “So what, this is some sick form of justice?”
  2785. >”JUSTICE? No, this isn’t justice. This is revenge.”
  2786. >Bon-Bon barely touched Lyra, but the pain was crippling.
  2787. >She could practically feel the bruise forming on her ribs as she collapsed.
  2788. >Bon-Bon stepped over her prone form.
  2789. >Princess Celestia galloped in front of her, seemingly trying to tackle Bon-Bon.
  2790. >She bounced off her side harmlessly.
  2791. >Luna’s death was imminent.
  2792. >Lyra strained to use her magic, but was barely able to grasp a weak trickle of the arcane streams.
  2793. >She was exhausted.
  2794. >She was injured.
  2795. >And she was confused.
  2796. >Too many stray thoughts clouded her mind, and she could scarcely weave even the most rudimentary strike.
  2797. “Get. Mad.”
  2798. >Brook had told Lyra anger was the key to her power.
  2799. >And he was right.
  2800. >Lyra had managed some impressive attacks when consumed by rage.
  2801. >She had destroyed a greater demon when Dinky was wounded.
  2802. >She’d made a supercritical eruption when she’d thought Bon-Bon had died.
  2803. >And just a few minutes ago she’d even injured Erebus.
  2804. “Get angry!”
  2805. >The pain seemed to be fading.
  2806. >The tears in Lyra’s eyes were blurring her vision just a little less.
  2807. >The sting of betrayal was starting to melt away.
  2808. “GET FURIOUS!”
  2809. >Bon-Bon had gone WAY too far!
  2810. >She’d blown up their house!
  2811. >The city was on fire!
  2812. >Who knows what else had been done?
  2813. >It took seconds for Lyra to drink in Aquarius.
  2814. >She stood to face Bon-Bon, eyes glowing with the signature radiance of the master ley line.
  2815. “Last warning. Stand down.”
  2816. >Bon-Bon ignored her, and stood astride Luna.
  2817. >Lyra responded with Undertow, quickly engulfing her dear friend in a torrent of death.
  2818. >But something wasn’t quite right.
  2819. >The hundreds of projectiles hardly ever collided with their target.
  2820. >Bon-Bon brought the stone down on Luna, impaling her chest with the diamond.
  2821. >Lyra threw an Eruption at them.
  2822. >The blast sent chunks of turf flying, and knocked Luna several meters away.
  2823. >Bon-Bon didn’t move at all.
  2824. >She also didn’t lose her grip on the diamond.
  2825. >Bon-Bon didn’t even turn to look at her.
  2826. >She just ran to the even more wounded princess, ichor dripping from the soulstone that hadn’t quite hit home.
  2827. >Lyra charged another eruption while levitating a burning beam.
  2828. >She swung the timber at Bon-Bon’s head, missing entirely.
  2829. >She tried again and again, finally clipping Bon-Bon’s head.
  2830. >The beam exploded into flinders without so much as slowing her down.
  2831. >The eruption was ready.
  2832. >And Lyra knew exactly where to place it.
  2833. >She aimed for Bon-Bon’s empty eye socket and-
  2834. “C’mon, you have to do this!”
  2835. >She couldn’t let Luna die!
  2836. >She was too important!
  2837. >She had to hit Bon-Bon with EVERYTHING she had!
  2838. >And-
  2839. >And…
  2840. “I can’t do it.”
  2841. >The Eruption detonated prematurely, merely knocking the diamond out of Bon-Bon’s grasp.
  2842. >Bon-Bon stopped mid stride.
  2843. >She turned to face Lyra.
  2844. >Bon-Bon approached brusquely.
  2845. >She stood right next to Lyra and stared her in the eyes.
  2846. >”You’re not this stupid, Lyra.”
  2847. >Lyra charged, trying to make contact with her horn.
  2848. >Bon-Bon easily stepped aside and gave Lyra a shove, knocking her face first into the dirt.
  2849. >Lyra couldn’t see what happened next.
  2850. >She didn’t need to.
  2851. >Hearing was plenty.
  2852. >”Sweetie Drops, please! I beg of you-”
  2853. >”Shut the fuck up, Celestia.”
  2854. >”Just listen! I- AUGH!”
  2855. >Celestia collapsed in the dirt next to Lyra.
  2856. >Her front right ankle rolled on her way down.
  2857. >She had torn a ligament.
  2858. >She grit her teeth and closed her eyes.
  2859. >And to Lyra’s surprise, began speaking.
  2860. >”Let go of your anger.”
  2861. “Now really isn’t the time for this!”
  2862. >”Please, Lyra. Let go of it right now. You don’t need it.”
  2863. “YES I DO!”
  2864. >It’s what let her fight!
  2865. >Without rage she could barely attack rocks properly, much less ponies!
  2866. “My hatred makes me strong! Babbling Brook says it’s the key to my strength!”
  2867. >”He is mistaken.”
  2868. “Pft. You think you know better than Brook?”
  2869. >Lyra managed to struggle back onto her hooves.
  2870. >She threw everything she could find at Bon-Bon.
  2871. >Little of it actually hit her.
  2872. >None hurt her.
  2873. >Celestia grabbed at Lyra using one of her unbroken legs.
  2874. >”Do you hate her, Lyra?”
  2875. “What kind of question is that?”
  2876. >”An important one. You’re using hatred as a crutch. But do you hate her?”
  2877. “I-”
  2878. >”Are you even angry with her?”
  2879. >Now THAT was a stupid question!
  2880. >Of course she was angry!
  2881. >FURIOUS!
  2882. >Bon-Bon had destroyed their home along with half the city!
  2883. >She’d killed two good ponies!
  2884. >And yet-
  2885. >And yet…
  2886. >Lyra watched her dear friend stomp on Luna’s face.
  2887. >She watched Bon-Bon revelling in grinding the princess into the dirt, watched the sick smile on her face as the methodically snapped bones like twigs.
  2888. >She watched the traitorous pony delight in the harm she was inflicting on the helpless princess.
  2889. >And while she watched all this, Lyra was overwhelmed by one emotion.
  2890. >Not hatred, not even anger.
  2891. >Love.
  2892. >The love of a pony who might as well have been family.
  2893. >A cherished sister from another mister.
  2894. >”Do you hate her, Lyra?”
  2895. “No.”
  2896. >Lyra smiled despite herself, eyes welling up as she fondly reminisced.
  2897. “I don’t hate her. And I never will.”
  2898. >Lyra wasn’t just here to save Luna.
  2899. >She was here to save Bon-Bon.
  2900. >A strange clarity of purpose fell upon her.
  2901. >Lyra called upon her magic for one last attempt.
  2902. >It flowed evenly and calmly, bending to her will without hesitation.
  2903. >Bon-Bon raised the soulstone to finally finish off Luna.
  2904. >She brought it down swiftly, aiming for the heart.
  2905. >And Lyra cast Rip Current.
  2906. >In the blink of an eye, the diamond was torn to shred.
  2907. >Bon-Bon brought a blunt surface down onto Luna’s chest, not even penetrating her hide.
  2908. >She stared slack jawed at the ruined gem.
  2909. >Bon-Bon clearly couldn’t believe what had just happened.
  2910. >Lyra couldn’t believe it either.
  2911. >She’d been trying to cast that spell for a whole year!
  2912. >But it had happened.
  2913. >The Golden Jubilee was no more.
  2914. >Bon-Bon grabbed one of the larger shards and swiftly tried to shove it into the princess.
  2915. >It disintegrated before she even had a good grip on it.
  2916. “Give it up, Bon-Bon. You can’t finish her without the rock.”
  2917. >Lyra began to scatter the remaining shards, ensuring she’d have plenty of time to destroy them if she needed to.
  2918. >”You think I won’t find another diamond?”
  2919. “I’ll smash it too. I’m not letting you do this, Bonny. I’m not letting you be a monster.”
  2920. >”You can’t stop me! I’m stronger than you!”
  2921. “Doesn’t matter. I’m always going to come back. The only way you’re going to take out Luna is if you bury me first.”
  2922. >Lyra began to approach Bon-Bon.
  2923. >She did her best to walk casually despite her limp.
  2924. >Bon-Bon sat on the broken and bleeding princess, staring up at Lyra as she approached from the growing inferno.
  2925. “I’ll never give up on you, even if you’ve given up on yourself. So I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to have to stop.”
  2926. >”DON’T YOU GET IT? I need to do this! She took my eye! She took my lung! She took my career! She erased my greatest triumph! Luna took EVERYTHING from me! “
  2927. >She screamed those last words so loudly it was barely intelligible.
  2928. >”This is all I have left, Lyra! This is all I have!”
  2929. “That’s where you’re wrong, Bonny. You’ve got something other than revenge.”
  2930. >”WHAT? Name ONE THING!”
  2931. >Lyra walked right up next to her and looked her dead in the eye.
  2932. >She them closed her eyes to compliment a big grin.
  2933. “You still have me.”
  2934. >Bon-Bon’s glare softened.
  2935. >She began trembling slightly.
  2936. >Her posture sagged.
  2937. >And finally, Bon-Bon collapsed.
  2938. >She began sobbing.
  2939. “It’s going to be okay, Bonny. Don’t worry.”
  2940. >Bon-Bon blubbered something, but Lyra couldn’t tell what.
  2941. “Shh. Just relax now.”
  2942. >Lyra touched her horn to her friend.
  2943. >The catatonia spell set in.
  2944. >And Bon-Bon fell limp.
  2945. “Princess!”
  2946. >”Help is nearly here. I had them circling at 1500 meters.”
  2947. >Celestia was still lying in a heap over by the encroaching flames.
  2948. >Lyra quickly checked to make sure Bon-Bon was still breathing.
  2949. >She was.
  2950. >Barely.
  2951. >Lyra dispelled the illusions around her to get a better view at her injuries.
  2952. >They were bad.
  2953. >Very bad.
  2954. >Mercifully, the medics were already landing.
  2955. “Princess-”
  2956. >”Hold on- You there! The Earth pony gets priority treatment!”
  2957. >”But your majesty- your sister!”
  2958. >”She’s recovered from much worse than this. She’ll live as long as we get her away from the fire, don’t worry. Oh! But I still want you to take care of her as soon as you’re able.”
  2959. >”Of course, your majesty!”
  2960. >”Mercurial! Tell the fire department the threat has been neutralised. I want a rainstorm here immediately!”
  2961. >”On it!”
  2962. >One pony remained around Princess Celestia, assessing her injuries.
  2963. >Lyra couldn’t help but notice they were flagrantly disregarding her earlier orders.
  2964. >A mere two ponies were trying to load Bon-Bon onto a stretcher.
  2965. >Celestia tried to push them away, but to no avail.
  2966. >”That Earth pony is a critical asset, my leg isn’t!”
  2967. >”But your majesty, it looks like you’ve got a torn ligament! You’re going to need surgery-”
  2968. >”We don’t have time to argue. She needs your help more than I do.”
  2969. >”Would you like some morphine first?”
  2970. >”Oh. That would be appreciated. Please be quick. Lyra, I promise you she’s going to live.”
  2971. “I hope you’re right, Princess.”
  2972. >”I am. We’ve saved ponies in horrendous conditions before. You know about the one. First to go to Nexus.”
  2973. >Applejack.
  2974. >Half of her body had been devoured by the Tide, and she was alive.
  2975. >Hopefully Bonny wouldn’t need such a drastic procedure...
  2976. >”Please help me walk to her.”
  2977. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
  2978. >”I need to see her. To see what I’ve done.”
  2979. >Lyra was a bit hesitant, but followed through.
  2980. >Celestia leaned on her as they walked, resting her weight on Lyra’s side as a crutch whenever her hurt leg was needed.
  2981. >It was slow.
  2982. >But they didn’t have far to go.
  2983. >Bon-Bon had been moved to a stretcher, belly facing upward.
  2984. >She was completely bald.
  2985. >Whatever fur had been there had been burned away in the fight.
  2986. >Huge parts of her body were blistered, but more alarmingly was the parts that weren’t.
  2987. >Much of Bon-Bon’s skin was absent.
  2988. >Exposed, dirt covered tissue sat right there in plain sight, sometimes showing right down to the muscle.
  2989. >And her face…
  2990. >Dozens of small cuts were scattered about the already scarred visage, accentuating the hollow eye socket.
  2991. >Her mouth hung open, showing that most of her teeth had been knocked out of their sockets, making a bloody mess of her jaws.
  2992. >Lyra had already seen it.
  2993. >Moreover, she had seen Bonny after the first time she’d been mangled.
  2994. >But Celestia stood dumbfounded.
  2995. >She’d probably never seen Bon-Bon beneath the illusions.
  2996. >This was her first glance at what had been done to her.
  2997. “Princess… do you think she’ll wind up like-”
  2998. >Don’t say her name.
  2999. >She has a right to some privacy.
  3000. “Like that hero who went to the nexus?”
  3001. >Celestia stuttered for a moment, still processing the sight before her eyes.
  3002. >”I don’t think so. That pony had no tissue left on her rear end. We’ll have to consult the professionals, but she’s in much better shape than that.”
  3003. >Applejack had it worse than this?
  3004. >That was at once a relief and also horrifying.
  3005. “Wow. I knew she’d been through a lot, but still. Maybe I should send her a fruit basket? She really likes fruit after all. Wait, no, that’s stupid. Am I rambling?”
  3006. >”Maybe a tad. We’ve all had a stressful night.”
  3007. >The two waited patiently as the paramedics strapped Bon-Bon down and flew her away.
  3008. >Lyra watched the skies, seeing them move straight to Ponyville general as the rain began to fall.
  3009. >Both she and Bon-Bon had spent far too much time in that building.
  3010. >Lyra found herself idly wondering which floor they’d be stuck on this time.
  3011. >A torrential downpour had started.
  3012. >Soon, the fires would be flooded out.
  3013. >But no amount of rain would wash away the blood on Bon-Bon’s hooves.
  3014. >Celestia’s face was softening.
  3015. >The pained expression had been nearly erased, and a strange mixture of relief and joy was taking its place.
  3016. >”I’m very proud of you, Lyra.”
  3017. “Really?”
  3018. >That didn’t sound right.
  3019. >Last Lyra had checked, princess Celestia was kinda disgusted by her.
  3020. >”Of course. Of all the ponies who have failed out of my school, you’re by far the best. Oh, and don’t tell anypony I said this…”
  3021. >Celestia tried to lean in to whisper into Lyra’s ear.
  3022. >She recoiled in pain after touching the ground with her bad hoof.
  3023. >”Ooh, that may take some getting used to. What was I going to say? Oh right! There are hardly any students who’ve graduated whom I would trust to do what you did today. Know that it’s a compliment when I say you’re my greatest failure.”
  3024. >Celestia giggled just a touch at her own joke.
  3025. >Lyra wasn’t in a laughing mood.
  3026. ”Two ponies are dead.”
  3027. >Lyra could only hope it was ONLY two.
  3028. >”I know. And I will mourn them. But this was far bigger than two ponies.”
  3029. >One of the medics came up to Celestia and began to speak.
  3030. >”Princess-”
  3031. >”Just a moment, please. Lyra? Prepare to teleport.”
  3032. >The world was washed away by a surge of light.
  3033. >Lyra felt disoriented, as though she were falling.
  3034. >Then she found herself in a decrepit, unfinished room.
  3035. >A lightbulb hung from the buttresses above, lighting the walls just enough to reveal they were made of rocks and dirt.
  3036. >There wasn’t even a proper floor, it was just dirt.
  3037. >But at least there were chairs.
  3038. >Sturdy office chairs, sat next to a metallic desk upon which sat a single computer terminal.
  3039. >There was something oddly familiar about this cave.
  3040. >”Do you know where we are?”
  3041. “No. I recognize it, but…”
  3042. >”The control room for the greenhouse.”
  3043. “Oooh, yeah! Now I remember. I didn’t really get a good look at it since Applejack caught me snooping.”
  3044. >Lyra had just been desperate to leave at that moment.
  3045. >And once the AJ had pulled the gun, examining the furnishings had ceased to be her priority.
  3046. >Lyra helped the princess onto one of the chairs before slumping down on the other.
  3047. >”Sorry about the rough conditions. I needed some place where we could converse in private, and my usual meeting room has suffered from a bit of a fire recently.”
  3048. “Bonny?”
  3049. >”Indeed. She certainly knows how to command one’s attention.”
  3050. >Yeah…
  3051. >Bon-Bon hadn’t exactly been subtle lately.
  3052. >”I shall return you to Bon-Bon as soon as we are done here, we won’t need long. You should have the physicians look at you while you’re there.”
  3053. “Can we hurry? I’m really worried about her.”
  3054. >”They won’t be allowing visitors for a while I fear. We shall be done by the time they’re done with their preliminary care.”
  3055. >That was probably true.
  3056. >Lyra didn’t like it though.
  3057. “And what about you? Shouldn’t you see a doctor?”
  3058. >”I will when we’re done here. Lyra, do you think I’m an idiot?”
  3059. “What? No!”
  3060. >Kinda.
  3061. >”I cannot fault you. I’ve made many questionable decisions of late.”
  3062. “Well… maybe a little.”
  3063. >”My devotion to peace comes from learned experience. I fully admit to having gone too far, but we saw today exactly what I sought to avoid. A good pony has made herself a monster.”
  3064. “Hay! Don’t call her that!”
  3065. >”She killed two ponies.”
  3066. “Yeah, and she’s going to be livid when she figures that out! Bonny had a really bad episode.”
  3067. >”Did she? Perhaps. But we cannot ascribe all her faults to that. Unless you wish to argue that there was no malice of forethought in her actions.”
  3068. “Well, I don’t think she wanted it to go this far.”
  3069. >”She intended to detonate a nuclear device in Ponyville, Lyra.”
  3070. >Yeah…
  3071. >She did that.
  3072. >And she’d planned it all out.
  3073. “I just can’t figure it out. Bonny would never do something like that! It’s not like her at all.”
  3074. >”It’s exactly like her, Lyra.”
  3075. “But-”
  3076. >”How can one’s actions not be representative of one’s actions? If she did it, it is something she would do.”
  3077. >Lyra couldn’t respond to that.
  3078. >It hurt.
  3079. >And it felt wrong.
  3080. >But she had no answer.
  3081. >”Violence corrodes the soul. I’ve seen it before with several noble ponies. Babbling Brook comes to mind. He was once talkative and fun loving. One can only engage in so much conflict before it becomes natural.”
  3082. “Okay, but it’s not her fault!”
  3083. >”No, it isn’t. Nopony can be steeped in bloodshed for so long without losing their way. Tell me, were you going down this path as well?”
  3084. >Definitely.
  3085. >Lyra could recall a time when she was horrified by even simple combat spells.
  3086. >”Where do you think Bon-Bon went wrong?”
  3087. “I dunno. It’s just so weird. One day she was making chocolates in the kitchen, then she found out about Revenant, and then I caught her making bombs at three in the morning!”
  3088. >”It’s simple, Lyra. She forgot to love.”
  3089. “But that’s cheesy!”
  3090. >”It’s the truth. You told me today your hatred made you strong. Is that true?”
  3091. “Well, yeah! Every time I’ve fought really hard it was because I was angry.”
  3092. >”Angry that somepony you love had been hurt?”
  3093. >Huh.
  3094. >”I don’t understand hatred, much like my sister doesn’t understand love. We are both… incomplete. Heads without tails. Up without down. My failings make me unwilling to act, her failings rob her of her temperance. To which side do you think Sweetie Drops leans?”
  3095. “Uh… definitely leans to the Luna side. She always has. But when she found out about Revenant...”
  3096. >”I can only imagine how it must have felt for her. The poor soul.”
  3097. “It consumed her. Like, I was only with her for a few days after we found out and I kept trying to get her to calm down, but she wouldn’t talk about anything else! She had to kill it!”
  3098. >”Her goal in life was to protect ponies, once. To do that she fought. She destroyed. She killed. Now, her goal is to wipe out demons. She did the exact same thing, with one key exception.”
  3099. “Yeah, you’re right! She stopped caring about the consequences. Bonny would have always wanted to wipe out Revenant, but she’d have never tried to blow up the city to do it.”
  3100. >”She betrayed her purpose, as have far too many before her. I feared you too would do that, but you exceeded my highest hopes. Thank you, Lyra. I am entrusting you to show her the way, and bring her back to who she once was.”
  3101. “I will. She’s still a good pony, I know it.”
  3102. >”Excellent. Now, there is no tactful way to ask this. Did my sister order your death?”
  3103. >There was no tactful way to answer.
  3104. “Yes.”
  3105. >”I swear to you I had no clue until it was too late.”
  3106. “I know, princess. You’d never do that.”
  3107. >”I hate to make you relive this, Lyra. But please. Tell me what happened.”
  3108. “Rarity caught me, if you can believe it.”
  3109. >”Rarity?”
  3110. “I went and questioned her about her business practices, which got her interested. When I was tampering with the records at the oralloy refinery I apparently left an eyelash, and she was able to match it to some hairs I left at AJ’s place. Found out it was the same pony.”
  3111. >”And how did she know that was you?”
  3112. “Oh. When I was visiting AJ I sat on one of her hay bales.”
  3113. >”Ahh, that would explain it.”
  3114. >It wasn’t the first time Lyra’s strange sitting habits had gotten her in trouble.
  3115. >Granted, it hadn’t been very serious trouble in the past.
  3116. >This was a bit different.
  3117. “She told somepony what she’d found, and they went to arrest me. I went along quietly because I knew you wouldn’t try to actually hold me.”
  3118. >”Indeed. We saw today just how hazardous that can be.”
  3119. “Once they had me caged, a different group of ponies took over and started flying me south.”
  3120. >”To the blight?”
  3121. “Yeah. They were going to dump me in the wastes. There was a standing order to, uh, to get rid of whoever pretended to steal the bomb. Luna figured that whoever it was would be too dangerous to keep around. If she knew it was me, she’d have probably let me go though. Either way they weren’t expecting me to break out with a blocker ready.”
  3122. >”How did you survive the fall?”
  3123. >Lyra pointed to one of the larger bruises on her body.
  3124. “Used magic to shoot myself with water balls over and over again. Slowed the fall.”
  3125. >Celestia grimaced at the thought.
  3126. >“That would explain the bruising. I can never make this up to you, Lyra.”
  3127. “You didn’t do it.”
  3128. >”But I also didn’t stop it. Ever since the debacle a year and a half ago, sister has been ignoring my council. I suppose I cannot blame her. My attempt at diplomacy was… disastrous. I went behind her back on that day, and many innocent ponies paid the price. Luna doesn’t tell me her plans anymore.”
  3129. “I figured as much. You’d have never authorised Revenant.”
  3130. >Celestia’s eyes went wide.
  3131. >She stared at Lyra for an uncomfortably long time, but said nothing.
  3132. “Yeah, Revenant is real. Though Bonny might have wiped it out… hard to say for sure.”
  3133. >”She lied to me. Luna looked me in the eye, and she lied to me.”
  3134. >Was she crying?
  3135. >She was!
  3136. >It was heartbreaking, like looking at a legless puppy.
  3137. “I think she was preparing to fight Achlys. Has the peace treaty fallen apart yet?”
  3138. >”There are frequent skirmishes, but no major battles. Luna says that’s inevitable though. If we lose control of Heck, we’re doomed.”
  3139. “Yeah, the Tide’s still out there. You need that power plant.”
  3140. >”You know about that? Of course you do. Twilight’s team has proposed other power sources that could reduce our reliance on that place. Satellites orbiting the sun seem the most promising, though I understand we won’t be able to do that in scale any time soon. They’ve proposed that we might even be able to replicate the Tide’s reactors given enough time. But all of their proposals have faults.”
  3141. “Not fast enough or not sustainable enough?”
  3142. >”And sometimes not real enough. Until a better answer manifests, we need to hold Heck.”
  3143. “And the emitters. If anything happens to the tachyon emitters, it won’t matter how much power you have.”
  3144. >”And I am not strong enough to protect them. I need your help, Lyra.”
  3145. “Me? Why me?”
  3146. >”Because you are both loving and wrathful. You could hold Equestria together. You are fit to rule.”
  3147. “Oh. OH! Oh wow, uhh. I’m flattered, but I don’t really wanna run Equestria.”
  3148. >”I wasn’t offering you my crown. You would do well, for a time. But we must stand for millenia, nay, for millions upon millions of years! Only my sister and I can live that long with our current knowledge. Equestria must be stable, forever. No matter how reliable succession was, catastrophe would be inevitable. Either she or I must rule, and yet it is clear that neither of us are fit.”
  3149. “Okaaaay, so what do you want me to do about it?”
  3150. >”I wish for you to be my advisor.”
  3151. “Heh. Wait, you’re serious.”
  3152. >”We both make up for what the other lacks. Together, I believe we can succeed. And yet, we cannot work together. My sister will continue to do things I do not understand. You understand wrath, so you can understand her. You understand love, so you can communicate with me.”
  3153. “Let me get this straight. You want me to be an interpreter for your sister.”
  3154. >”Yes. I suspect she’ll come to you with a similar request.”
  3155. “It’ll probably be a demand. Either way, my answer is no.”
  3156. >”But-”
  3157. “No.”
  3158. >”We need you.”
  3159. “Don’t you think maybe that’s a problem?”
  3160. >Celestia looked hurt.
  3161. >She clearly knew it was true.
  3162. “You said it yourself, Equestria needs to be protected FOREVER! What are you going to do when I’m gone? Hay, why should you need me anyway? If you two complement each other so well, shouldn’t you be able to handle things if you just TALKED to each other sometimes?”
  3163. >”We do.”
  3164. “But do you LISTEN?”
  3165. >She didn’t have to answer.
  3166. >It was clear that they didn’t.
  3167. “Neither of you is fit to rule. But both of you together have a chance. Don’t blow it.”
  3168. >”We will try.”
  3169. “You’ll do more than try. I’ll be watching.”
  3170. >The threat was clear.
  3171. >”I shall ask my sister to keep her distance from the two of you.”
  3172. “Believe it or not, I don’t think that’ll be a problem.”
  3173. >”Really?”
  3174. “Look at Ponyville. If Luna tries anything, that’ll happen again. And I bet she knows it. It’s much safer to leave Bonny alone so long as she’s not doing anything too bad.”
  3175. >”Hm. I told you you’d be a good advisor. Are you certain you won’t reconsider?”
  3176. “The two of you can work it out yourselves. I believe in you.”
  3177. >”Thank you, Lyra. I shall send you back now.”
  3178. “WAIT!”
  3179. >The magic had nearly enveloped her.
  3180. >But Celestia cancelled her spell moments before completing it.
  3181. “What happens next? With S.M.I.L.E., with your preparations, with, y’know, everything.”
  3182. >”The first step is to turn Helios back on.”
  3183. “Seriously?”
  3184. >”Its base design was an interstellar radio relay. We owe our existence to those radio signals, and I want the message to continue. Perhaps there are others out there who can yet be saved.”
  3185. >Oh, yeah!
  3186. >Lyra hadn’t even thought of that!
  3187. >”And next? We tell the ponies what happened.”
  3188. “SERIOUSLY?”
  3189. >”Of course. Pending my sister’s approval, of course. We may exempt some details, and we won’t tell them everything at once. But the time for emergency measures is passing.”
  3190. >Wow.
  3191. >Lyra hadn’t expected that.
  3192. >”Then… I don’t know what. I cannot predict what Equestria will become with our newfound knowledge and power. But I trust that the ponies will find a way to make it a paradise once more.”
  3193. “I hope you’re right.”
  3194. >Celestia’s soothing magic washed over Lyra once more.
  3195. >And the hospital formed around her.
  3196. >The road to recovery would surely be long and brutal.
  3197. >But Lyra knew that whatever the future may hold, she and Bon-Bon would face it together.

Steel Sanctuary Part 1

by Writefag_Is_Kill

Steel Sanctuary Part 2

by Writefag_Is_Kill

Steel Sanctuary Part 3

by Writefag_Is_Kill

Red Shift Part 1

by Writefag_Is_Kill

Red Shift Part 2

by Writefag_Is_Kill