//------------------------------// // 9: Angelic Reign, Coronation // Story: The Clockwork Heaven // by Leliel //------------------------------// There was a great sensation of falling, but yet not of actual movement. Twilight had the unmistakable feeling of weightlessness and compression that came from losing a great deal of altitude in a not-so-great amount of time, yet there was no air resistance, no sound of wind rushing, only her own screaming. After about what felt like a minute of this, the sensation slowly left her. As the haze of "ohmysunimgonnadie" followed it, Twilight looked around wherever the Overseers had dumped her. The first impression was "black". The second was "quiet". The third was "hey, where's my friends?" For a few seconds, she simply wrote it off as "too dark to see", which wasn't hard to blame her for-there wasn't anything but purest black as far as the eye could see. Then, she looked down, and realized that the eye could actually see a lot-her own legs and flank were perfectly visible, and if anything appeared better lit than in the Containment Zone's hospital. It was more like there was just nothing else to see. With a lurch, the darkest, most pessimistic parts of Twilight's brain immediately leaped to "the angels killed me, and this is the afterlife", but for the sake of her sanity, Twilight discarded that almost immediately. Now, what- "...comes...." -the heck was that!? "...another..." Oo-kayyyy...creepy voice. "...pony..." Very creepy voice. "...Girl...Pretty...." With a friend. "...y o u n g e r...." Make that two friends. "...r e a l....?" There was suddenly a small woosh sound. *thwack* Twilight yelped from the sudden, stinging pain of a slap. "....feels...." "....Mine...." "...m i n e..." "..mine..." There was suddenly a lot of woosh sounds. "O u rs." Almost without thinking, Twilight duck. There was the sound of impacts above her, but her invisible assailants were quick on the draw. Before she could run, something grabbed her. Something that had no texture, no weight, no heat, and no cold, but something that was undeniably there, simply by the pressure it exerted. Very strong something too, if Twilight being lifted up was any indication. "Back off! She's mine!" Relief surged through Twilight. Panic quickly followed when she recognized the forceful, feminine voice. "You can have her after I'm done. It'll only take a minute, and you can watch." A light burst into existence in front of Twilight, and the force laid her gently on the ground (for reasons the mare was sure weren't benign). As the light moved closer, it slowly dimmed, revealing an odd form. "Why Apostate," Jophiel said with more than a hint of dark glee. "I have been waiting to meet you for a very, very long time. Face, to face." And what a face it was. The first thing that came to Twilight's mind was the Overseer's wings-great yellow butterfly wings covered in grid-like patterns, glowing silver. Just a quick glance at them revealed they were just as much pegasus as insect, though-there were tiny feathers in place of scales, and the shifting told the scientific parts of the mare's brain that there where internal bones. Above them, a set of three of those same scale-feathers extended further than the rest on either wing, twitching like fingers. Between them, floating vertically, was the pure white body of a lean mare, made of an inorganic substance that shimmered in the light. Where joints on a normal pony would be, breaks in the inorganic skin served to allow flexibility instead, and Twilight could just make out something grey and pulsating beneath it. The front hooves where clasped together, as if in prayer, with the body's solemn expression completing the image. It was the tail and eyes that were the most disturbing though. In place of a horse's tail, Jophiel possessed a long, grey contraption of metal, like a demented version of a donkey's. On the tip, in place of a wiry dash of fur, there was a forest of longish tentacles of wire and electrical cables, clenching and declenching constantly. From each tip, a tiny mechanical claw extended and clicked, grabbing the air and letting it go. Her eyes, however...her eyes were neither pegasus, insect, or even both. Rather, they were compound eyes of mechanical irises, each cell another camera. She had pupils too-the cluster of cameras at the center of each eye glowed with a blue light. Even as Twilight looked on, some of the lights turned off, causing Jophiel's pupils to become the slant of a malevolent smirk. "Well, Mom. Like your little girl's new look? The Creator worked on it so hard." As Jophiel spoke, the hinge holding the mouth closed flipped down, causing it to remain open, but utterly ummoving, as she spoke. What the...is she even alive? Twilight thought. After getting over the shock of her "child's" appearence, the mare decided to look as apologetic as she could. "Look, Jophiel. I'm sorry I hurt you, I honestly didn't know-" "NO EXCUSES!", the angel roared as the tail lashed out to strike Twilight, her eye-glows turning red. After a second, the angel made a sighing sound, and the glows turned orange. "My apologies. I don't possess the emotional control of my siblings, due to what I was built from. As the sarx, and the seat of the Virtue of Zeal, I am the id of our little band, the engine of passion that drives the mission forward." The glows turned blue again, and the smirk returned. "So, Apostate? Want to know where we are?" "...under the Containment Zone hospital?" "Hmhmhm. Yes, and no." There was an odd crackling sound, like muted lightning, and the black dissipated. Twilight gaped. In the place of the blackness, what looked like the inside of a gash in reality, a shifting expanse of what was almost a nebula of disturbingly organic reds, purples, and blacks, And yet, just by looking at them, Twilight could tell that these colors had no substance to them-they where there, and obviously energetic going by the colored lightning jumping from color cloud to color cloud, and yet, that seemed to be all they where-colors, like a three-dimensional photograph. "We're beneath everything. Welcome, my dear, to one of the many Lower Depths-a world where demons are born." "Well, if you want to be pedantic, a type of demon," said Harahel as he absentmindedly fiddled with the controls of the device he was holding in his bottom pair of arms. "There are many, many different varieties of creature that have had the term applied, but demons as embodiments of hunger and desire are native to here and the thousand other worlds collectively classified as the Lower Depths." If either Rarity or Applejack could answer, they would. Presumably rather snarkily in order to set the ameboid angel off his game. Sadly, it was not possible for either of them to move. Or breathe. Or die of either. Indeed, nothing, except in the glowing shell Harahel was standing in, moved at all. "Indeed", he said as his head cycled through platonic solids, "Each of these little pocket universes share one thing in common, and that is a surfeit of something we denizens of the mortal coil take for granted-life, death, mental processes, or in this Lower Depth, time. I believe the area Jophiel took her subject to lacks any form of matter or solid substance, and Barachiel is with his group in a Depth that lacks spatial relationships as we understand them. It's quite pitiable, really-the inhabitants are born knowing their native world lacks something important, and they crave it above all other things." "It it a sad fate," said the chorus of cubes and related shapes that Rainbow assumed were around her in this crazy, eye-bleeding universe. "To know that what you lack, and never had. But more so to be able to attain it-for it gives them hope forever crushed." Barachiel sounded actually sympathetic to their plight, rather than coldly condescending as he had before. Not that she was really paying attention, what with nothing at all being anything resembling a straight line. Or united lines. Or anything resembling anything continuous, only a random jumble of things that she could not be sure were near, far, or both. It hurt just to look at it, and even the buzzing from the Malkavia infection seemed a little maddened by the sight of being in the center of it all. "For our purposes, though, it means that the Depths serve as a realm of disciples; the hunger of the infernal is most predictable, and they only seek of simple pleasures-the beings that inhabit this Depth seek conherence, and concrete relations between things, of both living and not." "And of course, the most prized matter these demons seek is organic matter," Jophiel continued as she absentmindedly inspected her finger-feathers. "They want to use it to build bodies for themselves and escape into the mortal coil, and so gain touch." She looked up, the glows having turned to the upward curve of a genuine smile. "That's why we don't use them more often, you know? Not enough resources that will be unnoticed in order to bring them to our world. As it is..." Her forehooves thrust out, and golden flames ignited before each of them. "We still don't have that, but frankly, it's just the icing on the cake." Chapter 9: Angelic Reign The angel wasted no time, releasing twin streams of fire in a wide arc. Twilight immediately teleported behind her. "Why are you doing this!?" the mare shouted as the Overseer spun around. "I can understand why you're bitter, but why do you think this is a paradise!? Can't you see it's horrible!?" "Horrible?" Jophiel chuckled as she released a fireball,which Twilight blocked with a magic shield. "Well, I suppose you hate the current world as well! Everypony has a role to play, as dictated by the cutie mark," she said as she used her forehooves to draw a flaming circle in the air. "We're just making the process more efficient!" "But ponies like their talents, and enjoy what they do!" Realizing what the spell was, Twilight curled up and let the circle of fire erupt around her, leaving her mane singed but otherwise unharmed. "You're just brainwashing them into emotionless drones because it's easier than paying them!" "Correction," said Jophiel as she charged another stream of fire, "We're brainwashing them into emotionless drones until our mission is complete, and we have more effective alternatives." "Effective-wait, what?" Twilight rolled away from the blast. "You're planning on something else?" "...Nah. You could survive this, so I'm going to let you die wondering." Jophiel laughed at her own comment as she drew a sigil of flame into the air. "But let's just say the foolishness of being anything else will no longer be a problem." Pain. Both Rarity and Applejack thought they knew what pain was before Harahel switched on his device. Both would have decided otherwise, had the world not become a pure white haze of pain. "Hmm...I do wonder why I've never done this procedure on equoid lifeforms, before." Harahel hummed a bit to himself as he twiddled with a knob. "We will need this data to ensure the signal remains coherent, but I've never actually used a pony before. It didn't seem altogether important until now." He paused as his head rippled. "It still doesn't, but it should be a useful avenue of study for the control." This would all seem very interesting to the ponies, were it not for their limbs aging in opposite directions. and the feeling of them being briefly severed as each one was focused on in turn. "Besides, the effects of time in a literally timeless environment are always interesting to observe, wouldn't you agree?" Even Harahel seemed to be aware he was rambling to himself more than anyone else, or at least at the device he was holding. He certainly didn't notice Applejack inching towards the window he was standing behind. "HOLD STILL, DARN IT!" Swing and a miss. "None of my modules have had any motion," Barachiel said, a mote of mischief in his voice. "I am remaining in a still sate." "Arrrgh..." Rainbow felt something alien stir behind her eyes, and the world turned warped and strange...and thus, something a little easier to understand. She guessed the giggling, demonic faces were Barachiel's "modules", and rushed directly at one. Connection! Then a sudden blast of wind, blowing her far away. "I would advise you to just lie down and accept your end. It will be of an easier task on the both of us." The angel sounded bored now. "With your spatial relations sent to the demons that dwell here, you will serve the cause of paradise well." "You could fight!" "What would be the purpose and underlying logic of that? The Flowers are kind enough to do that task for me." Pain blossomed over Rainbow's flank. When she looked back, she realized with a start that part of said flank had become cracked like a jigsaw...and a bit of the chaos around her now looked more coherent, a distinct shape. "All I must do is remain patient." "Stop fighting! You're just wasting my time!" Jophiel laughed manically, and fired off a couple more blasts. Twilight teleported away, which the calm part of her mind noted was oddly easier, letting the fireballs explode harmlessly on the other side of the crazed Overseer. "You know, for someone who regards herself as so superior to me, you have a lot worse aim!" Twilight then demonstrated this by sending a blast of pure magic directly at the angel's forehead. When the purple smoke cleared, part of the shell was torn off, revealing grey, artificial-looking muscle and golden gears, which scraped loudly against each other, the hissing whirrk of damaged clockwork. Not that the Overseer they powered seemed to mind. "Temper, temper, Apostate. We don't want to be too...zealous, do we?" Jophiel's eyes briefly turned gold, and an overpowering sense of despair and apathy powered through Twilight. It was brief, but more than enough to make her lose concentration for the big blast she was charging. "I'm an angel of Zeal, witch. I can manipulate that passion, strengthen it..." Her eyes sneered. "Or take it away." Just...a little...more... Applejack grunted through the pain of being selectively aged and de-aged by the angel currently standing sensibly (an annoyingly) behind a reinforced glass wall. Slowly, she crept over to the door... "Hm, you show incredible physical endurance for the treatment despite the less-than-physical nature of your profession and build, Subject Rarity." ...a little further.... "I must compliment you on your incredible resistance and stamina. Both for your sake, and because now we will have two subjects for the intensive experiments." ...doorknob, turn and.... "While we are on the subject of your friend, I did happen to notice that door, Subject Applejack." ....on the other side was a blank, unadorned wall. "I had gone through the liberty of constructing it there in the first place, as part of pain tolerance testing. I am actually quite pleasantly surprised you passed." Harahel's head reshaped into a pyramid. "That indicates I can move on to more extensive experiments." Applejack felt the lower half of her body detach. There was another bite, and a bit more of Rainbow's body became a jigsaw. "They are being most eager in seeking you and your coherency. These were of most help in forming the portal here." The forming...Flowers lunged, but this time Rainbow was ready. Using one of Barachiel's "modules" as a reference point, the pegasus made a quick dodge, leaving only the sound of snapping jaws. "Heh. You guys aren't so tough. Maybe you should learn what a broadside of a barn is before you-" Pain. And part of the jigsaw disintegrated into the blur. And overlooking her was a big, toothy....something. "If you were of the persuasion to use my modules as a reference...I am not recalling saying I would not move." The something grinned using now-visible teeth. Very large visible teeth. And very much of them. "Eyaaa-hahaha! Even I couldn't guess at how fun this is!" Jophiel cackled madly as bolts of fire were shot everywhere, no longer even bothering to aim. Twilight had long found teleporting was easier in the Lower Depth was easier, but as the battle had worn on, her transports were getting slower and slower, and she found it harder each time. That the angel would "remove her Zeal" every time it looked like she might be getting the upper hand really did not help. Okay...one last trick... "Aha...ha...ha..." "Eh?" Jophiel's eye's turned orange. "What's so funny?" "...No, not funny...sad..." Twilight broke into a lopsided grin. "This entire time we've fought...you've been fighting for...yourself. Your own...catharsis." "Yes, and?" "You've...never known...friendship, have you? " There was a brief pause before Jophiel's eyes turned red. "What are you implying, Apostate?" "You're...still...broken." Jophiel gave a howl of rage, swung back for a rush... Then suddenly stopped and began to cackle. "Hmhm...I see what you did there. Actually hit a nerve." A wing tapped the side of her forehead. "Unfortunately, I have siblings, remember? I have all the company I want or need in them." Damn it... Twilight gritted her teeth. Thought that would get her.... I'm out of options. It wasn't a devastating thought, or even a disheartening revelation. It was certainly grim, but rather than despair, or fear, or even glum acceptance, Twilight felt...relieved, almost. There was a little disappointment for not finding out the ultimate plan, but there was no sense of doom, just...bleak joy, if that made any sense. Like she was glad to die standing up. ...This has to be what the Cosmic Marines feel like all the time. Twilight had to suppress a laugh. I guess we were led to the eightieth millennium after all. "Yeah...Guess you do..." Twilight broke into a lopsided grin. "Doesn't mean you can fight worth a darn." By this point, the pain had eased. The part of Applejack's mind not blotted out by pain guessed that it was not a good thing, in this case. The parts of her not riddled by the sensation of detachment or old bones felt smaller than the rest of her. "Intriguing. From my neurological data, you do not appear to be suffering from major delirium or soul degradation. It appears I will need to take notes to leave for my successors, and have them compare earth ponies to other subraces. Unicorns in particular-Subject Rarity shows signs of both, in particular pneumal damage; I almost diagnosed it as soul loss." And the white unicorn did indeed look rather worse than her friend. While she obviously couldn't move much in the timeless Lower Depth, the struggling motions during her brief mobile moments had ceased, and her eyes had adopted a hollow, empty look to them, like her mind had fled to safer regions. "Don't worry, however. I am sure that once we have integrated the commandment with her neural network, we will be able to perform a full reconstruction of her psyche. With certain considerations needed for a safe and happy citizen, of course." He chuckled absentmindedly, accidentally brushing against a control. Applejack felt enough mobility return to glare at him. "Ya...bastard..." "And an adequate representation of your friend's impulses to gain knowledge and learn, free of any naive moral obligations or restraint. Brace yourself." Thankfully for Rainbow, with new shapes, however vague, also came with the ability to tell where the Flowers actually were, and the Malkavia-o-Vision went into overdrive tracking them (given the representations they had, the pegasus wasn't sure if that was entirely a good thing). "Please. This is of a boring nature. All you are doing is tiring yourself before the inevitable end. "Screw...you..." Rainbow panted. "Defiance. A trait most admirable, if flawed.and an irritant. Watching it is still of an enjoyable nature before its end." "Well, good to know you're not bored. Because I am not going down anytime soon!" "Are you of complete certainty saying that?" No, Rainbow's mind said. "Heck yeah!", he mouth said, with her brain adding but I'm sure not giving you the sick pleasure of watching me give up! One howl of insult-born rage later, Twilight was knocked back by the explosion of a fireball, into one of the nebula-like splashes of color. Given the lack of matter in this universe, this had the odd effect of feeling like there was nothing whatsoever despite looking like it. "You're still not taking me seriously!? You're going to die here, alone and lost, and you're still acting like you're on top of the world, you idiotic bitch!? I'm glad I'm not a part of you anymore!" And if you're any indication of what I'd be like as a goddess, so am I. What is with these mood swings? "No, I'm not." Twilight got to her hooves, her voice even despite ragged breathing. "In the end, you'll still just be a huge bully who's too absorbed in her own hate to be a really good servant of the God-Machine. Frankly, even if you win this mission, you'll-oof!" That was a kick that time. The tail grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and brought her, choking, to eye level with the angel, whose eyes now looked like very narrow rubies. "If that is the case, Apostate, then you're the hateful bully. I'm everything you've ever felt, every passion, noble and dark. Your thoughts, your feelings! And the design...is....perfect!" Jophiel hurled the unicorn as hard as she could, and charged a blast. "You know, playing with you isn't that fun anymore." The ball grew bigger, turning blue with heat. "And frankly, the demons were waiting long enough-" BOOM The fireball dropped from her hoof and fizzled out. "Eh?" A blast of air hit Twilight. Applejack suddenly gasped in slow motion as she unfroze, staggering for just a second before she regained her balance. Rarity simply fell over. Their tormentor's head turned very solid, no wibbiling of the amorphous blue goo. He looked up. "...Contamination? What sequence of events led to this?" "I am not foreseeing its possibility, unless...." Rainbow managed to keep her jaw up. "Unless...." Was the angel...scared? Another blast rippled through, causing the world to become even easier to perceive properly. "...No. No way. No bucking way." Jophiel began to shake as the visible gears sped up. "We killed it. We bucking scoured the place it was then gassed it in anti-Aether. There is no way in any universe-" Another explosion. A crack appeared in the fabric of space, revealing bright light...and a blueish-grey tentacle. There was an odd sound of something between a masculine cry of rage and an animal roar. "You...you....WHY WON'T YOU DIE ALREADY, YOU TRAITOROUS SCUM!?" Traitorous scum!? Wait, so that thing's a rebel- Twilight's thought process was interrupted by a blast of heat and fire. "FINE! AT LEAST I'LL BE ABLE TO KILL YOU FIRST!" Jophiel howled in fury as she began to charge the blue fireball again, rearing back to unleash- And the tentacle darted through, grabbed Twilight by the torso, and yanked her out of the way. Dazed and somewhat delirious, Twilight barely registered the flurry of fireballs, lasers, and strange metallic objects glittering with electricity flying about as she was pulled through the crack. She could definitely hear shrieking, though. She doubted it was the rebel. Ten minutes later, the angels were gathered in the remnants of the hospital room, and the still-sizzling hole to the Lower Depths in it. "Hmm. Intriguing," Harahel stated flatly. "It appears the rogue has learned how to hack and commandeer Infrastructure relating to interdimensional travel." "Yes," said Barachiel, as grandfatherly and calm as ever. "We will have to change the codes-" There was a blast of flame. "No. No. We. Do. Not." Surprised, Barachiel spun to face his sister. "But it is of a standard procedure-" "Buck. That. Noise." While Jophiel did not have teeth to grind, her gears provided an adequate substitution for the sound. "This entire occult matrix has been a disaster, but not a complete one. We have the commandments ready, we move to the Output phase." "Excuse me-" "DON'T. YOU. DARE." For the first time in their admittedly short lives, both male angels suddenly felt very scared of their sister. "As the head of the park's day-to-day operations, chief of security, we move forward. And I am ordering the Dalga to ignore any orders to the contrary." And I am not letting you have this victory, Apostate. The first thing Twilight saw was blue. The second thing she saw was the sun, ensuring that the third thing was the inside of her eyelids. Slowly, she became aware of the grass she was lying on, and that she felt it on her back. Slowly, she rolled over onto her hooves, trying to ignore the pain of the burns as they touched, well, anything. "Hey Twi? You up?" "...Rainbow?" "Yep. Want me to help you up?" "Yeah...urgh...." While her eyes were still too unfocused to see, she could feel a feathery wing wrap around a forehoof and lift, as her unsteady legs tried to stand. As they ground became a little more constant, Twilight blinked a few times and looked up at her pegasus friend. Then blinked a few more, since she was still seeing strangely. When that failed to help, she gaped. "What happened to your flank!? It looks like a three-dimensional jigsaw!" "Long story. It looked worse a few minutes ago, so I'm going to guess the uh, excess of space here is replacing what the demons stole." Twilight immediately remembered the creepy, invisible trio. "Ouch." "Yeah, it hurt when they did it too. Applejack and Rarity are going back to normal too but-" "Wait, what!?" Twilight felt fully conscious now. "What happened to them!? Are they hurt!? Oh, wait, of course they're hurt, how-" "Twilight, I was getting to that." "...Oh." Rainbow looked down. "They looked...aged wrong." Discord, Twilight thought. "Applejack's fine, but Rarity...see for yourself." Dread filled Twilight's very core as Rainbow stepped to the side. On the grass was a now white-maned Rarity, with a filly's front leg, looking out into the distance with a vacant stare. Twilight limped over to her, feeling the pain of starting tears in her eyes. "Rarity...I'm sorry." Rarity didn't even react. Not even a twitch of the eye. "YOU SHOULD BE!" "GAH!" Twilight nearly fainted again as she went head over hoof. Rarity's thousand-yard stare was gone, replaced by her furrowed brow. "That mane...ugh! I know you were just in the fight for your life, Twilight, but for the love of the Sun, you need to protect your coat better! It looks like you were in a fight with somepony wielding the dreaded Ugly Stick!" There was a perfect silence for a second, before Rarity's snobbish expression was replaced with a mischievous grin. Rainbow couldn't keep a straight face. "I'm telling her, looking like an incomplete statue is so in for athletes this year, but no! 'Rainbow Dash, you look like some foal ate your pieces and is now sad he can't complete his puzzle! A look should not put ponies in mind of sad foals!' For the love of the Princess, lady, I thought you were the resident fashion mare!" She fell over, laughing. "...You do realize you're both dead for making me worry like that." Rarity's grin widened. "Of course, dearie, That was the plan, because if you have a promise for our painful demise, that means the angels are out of luck. First come, first serve, and all." Twilight growled as she struggled to her hooves, even as she smiled. "Good to see you're both as giant flanks as usual. But for the record, pranks are generally not meant for just after tragedies only averted by deus ex machina." Rainbow stopped laughing. "Do-s ecks what now?" "Unexpected help that solves all conflict. Not what you're supposed to do in stories, though I'm not complaining. Who was that who saved us, anyway, and why aren't we seeing him?" Rarity cleared her throat. "Actually, dear, it was a giant jellyfish. Sound familiar?" Giant jelly-wait. Twilight cocked her head. "You don't think that..." Rainbow shrugged, which looked interesting given how her left wing-joint was currently invisible. "The, ahem, 'Medusa of Doom'? Probably. Kinda rude though-he just dropped us off outside the park and flew off. Maybe he's a shy monster?" Twilight hummed a bit to herself. "Maybe. Jophiel called it a 'traitor'." "Traitor?" Rarity looked thoughtful. "That's...interesting. It would go a long way to explaining why he hates the Overseers. Perhaps he accidentally hit his head, developed a conscience, and then realize that the angels are some of the cruelest, meanest, ev...vil..." Rarity looked her unicorn friend, and then down at the ground. "Eh, I'm not offended." Rainbow tilted her head. "But you heard what they said! 'Oh, we're a part of you, you abandoned us, blah blah blah.' I mean, if I realized parts of my personality turned that bad when spliced off, I'd be a little disturbed." "I appreciate your concern, but you're forgetting something." "Which is, dear?" Twilights eyes turned dark. "I fought Jophiel, too." The ex-princess looked at the park's perimeter. "And I can tell you this one thing-if she was ever really part of my personality, ever, I hope she's gone from the rest of me forever. Given the way you two look, probably the other two as well." Her friends were silent. How do you respond to something like that? The lavender mare sighed and turned back to the other two, looking unperturbed. "Anyway, any theories on what the Medusa is? Maybe we can ask Fluttershy...if..." Twilight's eyes widened. "Where's Fluttershy?" Both of the other ponies looked very shifty, very suddenly. "Um..." "WHAT HAPPENED TO FLUTTERSHY!?" Rarity cleared her throat, and opened her mouth. "We don' think what was travellin' with us was the real deal." Twilight spun around to face the suddenly appeared Applejack. "Huh!?" The farmer dropped something on the ground. "Take a look." Twilight looked. What she saw was the dismembered corpse of Fluttershy...except in place of blood, there was oil. And in place of gore, silver gears and golden sprockets. And even as she stared, "Fluttershy's" image flickered, revealing, however briefly, a changeling with metal skin.