• Published 27th May 2012
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Fallout Equestria : New Roam - Delvius



The city of Roam is tortured by ambient and open hostility. Finally, a Praetorian arises to protect the city like the Legionnaires of old, and nothing will stop him. Nothing but himself, that is.

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Chapter 15 - Underground Army

Chapter 15
Underground Army
"Make no mistake; war is coming, with all it's glory. And all it's horror."




Now, at this point I have been knocked out around five times, either by circumstance, folly on my part, or the actions of others. However, each one of those times I woke up in relative safety and comfort, usually on a bed with my friends either nearby or in the general vicinity. Those times, my body had recovered as well as it could from any injuries I had obtained, either because it just healed that quickly or because someone had taken care of me while I was out.

Hard as it is to believe, considering the circumstance of how I got knocked out recently, this time was actually only a little different. I was on a mattress, though this one was stiff and festering with... I don't even want to say... and reeked of rot. My ribs weren't puncturing my skin any more, although whether or not someone was responsible for that I couldn't say. I wasn't dead, and the spores in my lungs weren't swelling up, which was very good. Still, if I focused enough I could feel what felt like tiny grains of sand in my lungs; the spores must temporarily go dormant when the victim utilizes that drug or mix, or whatever it was. Although that would have meant that someone was indeed taking care of me while I was out. I couldn't see my friends yet, but then again I was facing a wall. My helmet was gone, as were my things.

On the plus side, my wings were no longer broken. You know, in the past three weeks they've been broken and fixed at least twice. It also kind of sucked that I didn't get to use them much, seeing as I was underground for maybe four days, and even before that I didn't use them much. Maybe it was because it was hard and taxing to fly in my former praetorian outfit?

I was in a small room, maybe thirty square feet in area. The floor was dusty and dirty but not particularly ruined. Cracks ran along the ceiling, threatening to send fairly large concrete blocks down on me. The air in here was stuffy. I got up and trotted over to the door. It was, as expected, locked. All of these, of course, quite resembled the locations where I had woken up before.

Now, the real difference that separated this circumstance from the others? The screams and the torturing.

The sounds of it all was coming from everywhere. Distant echoes of tortured cries rang through the floor and into the room I stood in. Muffled yells sounded again and again from every direction. The constant crackling of electricity accompanied every yell, and the sound of hard hammering and enraged roaring and growling was as terrifying as anything you could possibly hear. A thousand wild cats and dogs being roasted alive together in the slowest and most painful manner wouldn't have compared.

A particularly clear scream came from nearby. Much as I didn't want to, and instead wanted to just curl up and never awake, I turned around. There was some kind of reinforced ballistic glass on the other side of the room; a large enough window for viewing. On the other side of the room beyond was an opaque glass window; probably for another viewing room. Through the glass on my end I saw a dozen zebra stallions, all blindfolded and tied to chairs, with three chimera creatures inside with them. The majority of the zebras had disgusting mutations, like scales snaking along their neck before disappearing on their faces, or black carapace growing out of their shoulders. They looked as though they had been tortured like this for days or maybe even weeks, and at least nine of them were probably dead, failed-looking mutations and growths dotting their corpses, while wires crackling with electricity zapped and cooked at their rotting flesh.

As I watched, one of the chimeras split open the stomach of one of the zebras, eliciting a howl of pain so loud I heard it through the glass. As he bled, another of the chimeras, one that glowed a faint green, lifted one of it's front paws above the bleeding zebra and held it there. There was a piercing ring, and in a few seconds the zebra's stomach was closed again. Some soft-lookng scales then grew onto the new skin.

Okay, this was bad. Really, really bad. I had to find my friends. I couldn't bear the thought of them being tortured like this in some other room. I had to find Predator; I knew he wasn't in control of himself back there. He had absorbed all of that energy, maybe it messed with him and turned him on us? I just couldn't be sure with Tod any more.

I barely took two steps away from the door, when every single chimera in the room beyond all turned to look at me. Their glowing red and green eyes froze me in place immediately. I could feel their hatred for me in my head.

'So,' One of them, one of the green-eyed ones on the left end of the room thought in my mind, in Tod's voice. The mere fact that these creatures were communicating with me nearly made me crawl back to the mattress. 'You thought you could stray down here, in my tunnels, with the Arsonist, and not be noticed? Hahaha! Oh, the irony.'

'My Lord,' Another of them, the red-eyed one right next to the one who had spoken to me, thought. It wasn't in Tod's voice. If I didn't know it was coming from some chimera, I would have thought it was coming from an actual zebra! 'This one's resistance is crumbling. He will be stage three soon. Shall I have him brought to the exposure chamber?'

The one who had spoken to me approached the closest zebra. If by 'his resistance was crumbling' he meant 'on the verge of looking like some kind of mutated freak from a monster movie', then yes, his 'resistance was crumbling'. Indeed, I could already see the scales covering most of his body. His snout already partially resembled a crocodile's, and his legs were already growing brownish fur. Forced mutation; it sickened me.

He grabbed the drooping zebra's head and pulled it up. "Surrender yourself, and your suffering ends. I grow bored of torturing people who don't break on the deadline I set," He said in a voice reminiscent of Predator's, creating a small orb of green light in it's other paw. "Join us, and we will forge a world immune to chaos and the frailty of your pathetic nation. And maybe THEN I can finally take a break and go on vacation."

Then there was a pained screech, and one of the creatures fell to the ground, clutching it's head. I felt around in my mind, and I sensed the immense pain the creature was in. I detected what was causing it and where it was coming from; the signal was being forced into it's head like a blade, and the one manipulating it was one of the zebras. He had as many growths on him as the others, but those growths seemed to be having a hard time maintaining themselves in his body.

The zebra gasped as he released his control over the signal. "How do you like that, demon? Heh, it'll take more than some damned mental torturing to turn a Legionnaire away from his duties!" He screamed at the recovering creature, who then got up and carved a meaty chunk out of his hindleg. He hissed and finally cried out in pain as the creature cut off what must have been five pounds of muscle.

The green-eyed one grabbing the zebra's head released it, and at once the zebra's head bowed limply. The chimera approached the other zebra and gestured the one who had mutilated his leg to turn his attention to one of the other zebras in the room. He picked up the zebra Legionnaire's head in his paw like before and leaned in close, snorting a small tongue of emerald fire into his face. The zebra hissed as the fire singed his abused and beaten face.

"You are proving to be a nuisance, fool," The creature said threateningly. "For the sake of your own pain threshold, I demand you surrender your body and mind to me. Your existence will mean more in service to us than to that idiotic 'Legate'," The creature said with a growl of disgust.

The Legionnaire snorted, "Yeah, like that'll happen. You're a fucking fool if you think I'll back out on my oath to Roam just to end my own dammed suffering, even if I've been in this stars-damned place for gods know how long. I don't care what the hell that shit was that you pumped into me, go ahead, I can take it!" He screamed in the creature's face.

The chimera pulled away slowly, growling in annoyance. Then it turned it's head slowly to me, and a devious smile crept onto it's dragon-like snout, and the mandibles worked themselves as though they were gesturing me to come closer. "I hope you're sure about that," It said with a low chuckle, then picked up one of the electrical wires off the ground and created a ball of green light in it's paw. Then it jammed the wire down the zebra's throat and pressed the orb against the zebra's forehead, and at once the Legionnaire started wailing in agony. I saw the sparks flash in his throat, cooking his vocal cords. Soon his screaming became horrid chokes, broken only by the occasional pained sob.

What was worse, the growths on his body were growing exponentially, with the tumors and scales and chitinous carapace popping all over his hide. All I could do was watch in frozen terror. There was nothing I could do, not even turn away. It made me feel useless beyond compare. To my disgust, the other chimera in there was watching with a look of inspired awe. The other two Legionnaires, or at least I assumed they were Legionnaires, seemed to be in pain as they listened. I wanted to go in there so badly and kick that thing's flank so hard it turned to pulp!

The creature pulled away, and it had to tug at the wire to pull it out. Along with the sparkling tip came a strip of fried flesh. "You sure about that?" The creature asked with sarcastic amusement. The Legionnaire choked and coughed hoarsely in response, nodding his head afterwards with a pained pout. "I said are you sure about that!" The chimera yelled, and at once a piercing ringing flooded into the room from all directions, including from behind me.

The Legionnaire's wounds began to heal immediately. The chunk that had been cut out from his leg was regrowing with startling speed, and any other wounds he had on him were healing. His lips quivered as he just sat there, letting his body regenerate. Clearly, he had gone through this before and had expected it, though he still felt immensely disgusted at what was happening to him.

Once his wounds were fully healed, he went through a whole 'nother round of torture. The creature ripped and slashed and plunged and tore, and with each strike the Legionnaire would wail and scream and howl in endless agony as his normally fatal wounds were healed afterwards. There was nothing I could do but watch as his organs and flesh flew about the room, spreading blood and bodily fluids all over. I didn't care that he was with the Legion, nobody deserved to be put through that torture. I actually screamed and pounded against the glass, but it didn't even get scratched. After that proved futile I finally just gave it up, panting as I leaned against the glass.

All I could do was fail to defend the people I promised to protect. And all he could do was endure round after round of pain.

Again...

And again...

And again...

After nearly a quarter of an hour of tearing, the creature finally seemed to grow bored of repeatedly beating the Legionnaire to near death and decided to give it a break. I had stopped my pounding minutes ago and was now just watching with wide eyes at what was going on on the other side. In that time the other chimeras had taken the other two zebras, who seemed to have succumbed to the mutations and were almost completely chimera, out of the area through a door on the far side of the room.

The remaining zebra was now a hideous, scaly, mutated, bleeding, scarred, panting, pitiable creature. Most of his hide was now covered in scales, and the chitinous carapace was all over his chest. The wings and the snout weren't there yet, thank the Goddesses.

To my complete disbelief, though, the scales and the carapace was slowly receding into his flesh, disappearing underneath his skin. I detected the effort he was putting up in his mind; whatever was being done to him, he was resisting it. And to be honest, he was doing a damned good job at it.

The creature, though, was obviously not impressed by his efforts. He picked the zebra's bowed head up by the mane and stared into the Legionnaire's blindfolded eyes. The zebra scowled at him, and the chimera returned it with a snort of flame. "Surrender yourself!" It growled in his face.

The zebra breathed in for a moment, before his scowling mouth opened. Then he screamed in it's face, "I am a soldier of Roam! I will not yield!"

My jaw dropped. Here was a soldier who has gone through days, maybe even weeks of torture like this, and yet he still had the will and conviction to not turn his back on his duties. That warranted a lot of respect and admiration, and I gladly gave it. It wasn't much, in fact it was useless to him and wouldn't help him survive, but it was all I could give. I wished I could have done more for him, considering my failure to do anything for him during his torture, but there was truly nothing else I could do.

The creature laughed, "Yes, yes, that's exactly what the other cent-..., how do your people say it? 'Kenturions'? Yes, that's exactly what your fellow kenturions said, before we shattered their dreams and will and resistance, and made their forms our own. Now they thrive as one of the Rising, immune to the weaknesses that plague your race. Honestly, what is with you people and your great fondness of wines..."

Then the creature's eyes lit up, literally, as it seemed to realize something. In my mind I sensed he suddenly had an idea; a thought of malicious intent and sick cruelty. "A weakness that plagues the newcomers as well. A weakness... like pleasure." It chuckled as it walked away, towards the doorway the others had exited through, "Oh, this is going to be great!"

"W-what?" The centurion Legionnaire (or 'Kenturion', as the ancient Roamans would have pronounced it) asked softly as he turned his head towards the walking creature. "What the fuck do you mean by that?"

'Oh, no,' I thought, already getting an idea of what was going to happen. I tried slamming against the glass harder in an effort to get him out of there before... before what I thought was going to happen would happen. All of my efforts yielded no fruits, much to my dismay.

The creature opened the door, letting some of the wan external light enter the scantily lit room. "Profligate!" The creature called, "Get in here! I understand your... 'equine' libido is acting up again. I have a fairly suitable partner for you."

"Wait, what?!" The centurion yelled, yanking at his restraints to no avail. "I am an officer of the Roaman Legion, and I demand to know what you intend to do!" He demanded, but I could sense the fear and frailty in his voice. Clearly, he was as worried about what was about to happen next as I was.

A slightly chimerafied yellow earth pony mare with a white mane entered the room and closed the door behind her. She had scales growing along her neck and down her back, which showed no signs of growing wings any time soon. Her cutie mark seemed to have been removed or singed off, somehow. Other than that, though she seemed normal. I also had the distinct feeling that I knew who she was, or at least saw her before...

She looked around the room intently, and when her eyes landed on the tied down stallion they perked up. Slowly, an intent grin crept onto her face. Then she seemed to realize something and looked to the chimera monster, it's glowing green eyes focused on her. "Are you sure, my Lord?" She asked meekly, clearly having some kind of deep, unnatural respect for the creature or the signal controlling it. I couldn't tell which. "I... understand that... it is a weakness, and I don't want to indulge..."

Okay, I REALLY recognized that voice...

"I am sure," The monster replied evenly. "Not only will it perhaps break this one's resistance and add to our numbers, but it will also teach THAT one the futility of his efforts to protect people," He said with a nod at the glass, at me. "Plus, it's gotten boring hearing screams of pain. Now I want to hear screams of denial, instead."

The mare seemed a little confused, then tried closing her eyes and focusing. There was a faint ring for only a moment, and then it died down. She gasped from the effort. "I am sorry my Lord, but I... cannot quite detect others yet. I am still working on it," She said, ears drooping.

"Hurry it up," The creature replied with a role of it's eyes. "The plan will not wait for a single newcomer to master our abilities. Now, if you are done questioning, we have an individual to break and a womb to fill."

Immediately the mare's smile returned, wider than ever. She slowly rolled her eyes over to the struggling Legionnaire, and put on a sickly affectionate look on her face. She started trotting over to him, licking her lips with a thankfully still equine tongue. The creature just waited in the corner of the room, watching me through the supposedly opaque glass and chuckling to itself. All I could do was watch, hooves on the glass and breathing hard. I tried a whole slew of things to stop this... violation... like mentally willing the mare to drop dead. For a moment, I actually thought it was working, as the mare staggered a little. Then she recovered and, just like that, continued trotting as though nothing happened.

When he heard her approaching, the Legionnaire said, "I'll not partake in this, whore! I am a dignified officer the Legion of Roam, a husband with three children, and among many other things, the one thing I am NOT is a tool for the reproduction of abominations!" Still, despite his tone, I could sense the fear and terror in his head. He knew as well as I did there wasn't truly much he could do about it.

"Three children, huh? That must mean you have good genetics," The mare said with amusement as she got up to him, then kneeled down towards his stallionhood. The feeling of her breath made him press his tied down hindlegs together, eliciting a small frown from the mare.

"Silence yourself! I-I will not... I will not! I will not do this! You can't make me!" He shouted, though now his voice was filled with nothing but anxiety and tension, and the supposed fierceness of his tone was obviously spawned by desperation.

"My, my, you are a very loud-mouthed stallion," The mare teased, getting up and putting her lips next to his ear. "I will enjoy hearing more than just yells from that mouth of yours." The Legionnaire gulped and went a little red, letting out a shaky breath as he pressed his legs even closer together.

I gulped as well, and was about to turn away from the scene when I found out I couldn't move. I couldn't even move my eyes to look around, nor close my eyelids. I was just frozen. I mentally cursed the chimera creature again and again for making me watch this... desecration of life. The amused chuckles I received in my head told me he had gotten my swearing, at least.

I would have to watch...

The first thing the mare did after pulling away was snaking her forehoves down his chest, tracing over the fading scales softly. The stallion whimpered, scrunching up his face in an effort to keep some of his shame in. Next she carefully placed her hooves on his knees, and began slowly pulling his legs apart. The Legionnaire drew his head back and jerked it forward in a savage headbutt, but the mare was able to dodge it. She frowned at him, then pulled away entirely. That made the stallion let out a breath of relief. I too breathed out in relief, and I even went so far as to hope that this act of disgusting violation would stop then and there.

Then she reared and bucked him hard in the face, and the chair almost toppled over from the impact. She waited for the chair to fall back down before she bucked him again, this time with a few chitinous edges on her hooves. That impact cut several bleeding gashes in his face, and he barely suppressed his pained scream. She bucked again and again until his head hung limply from his neck, though he was still conscious, if his haggard, soft breathing was any indication. My breathing became hot as I seethed in rage out of my inability to do anything to cease this travesty and to save that poor soul from it.

Again he tried headbutting her, and again he missed. For that effort he was punished with having a portion of his cheek scraped off by the mare's carapace-covered hoof as she smacked him across his face. He tried rocking the chair to get her off, but that just toppled them over at an angle that the chair's butt rest obscured their flanks, with her on top.

He yelled out all sorts of profanities as he thrashed around, attempting to shake her off. Instead, she just brought her hooves down on his neck again and again until he choked out some blood and his breathing became a horrible wheezing. It was good that the chair had fallen in an angle where the butt rest obscured them, though, because it was at that point that the Legionnaire's already exhausted body couldn't seem to muster up any strength any more. She just gave him a few stomps to the face to make sure, but not enough to knock him out. He whimpered pathetically, taking in shallow breaths.

'Please no!' I yelled in my head. I did not want to see this! Even if it was obscured by a piece of flat wood, this was... was... this was an act more abominable than mere killing! At least in killing the suffering eventually ends, but this... using them as breeders for who knows how long, then turning them into monsters... there wasn't enough medicine in the world for how sick it made me.

Screw my body being frozen, I was NOT watching this.

I forced all of my will into my muscles; I didn't care that the creature was staring at me, I was NOT going to watch this! I imagined my body occupied by enemy troops, my limbs populated by fortifications, in turn filled with green-wearing zebras. Then I imagined a wave of tanks and infantry emerging from my head, opening fire on the invaders. Slowly but surely, they were regaining control of my limbs.

Then, very slowly, I could turn my head. It may have been exhausting, and certainly my lungs nearly gave up on me. My neck became sore from the amount of effort I was putting into merely turning them; it was almost like it was made of stone, and I was cracking it just by turning. I forced myself to go on, and finally I managed to turn my head just enough that I was no longer looking at the glass. I could already hear the sounds of it going on.

There was a wet slap that accompanied every bounce. I could hear it clearly, even above the mare's pleasured gasps and moans and Legionnaire's disapproving yells and cries. Every once in a while I heard him manage to shake her off, but then I heard her just get back on him. I couldn't find it in myself to move again, so it was good that I had managed to turn. All I could do was listen. Had he not had a blindfold and the glass not been opaque, he would have seen me listening him get violated. I don't think I could have stood the begging look for assistance he would have given me, seeing as I could do absolutely nothing, literally, except for fighting the creature's efforts to make me turn my head. Aside from that, I just distracted myself by congratulating myself for being able to turn away. It was pathetic and irresponsible; I was supposed to be helping that guy, not distracting myself!

She huffed as she increased speed. Every few seconds I heard her turn around to give him a good set of stomps. That happened less and less frequently as each beating stomped out more and more of his remaining strength, and soon I could hear no more of his efforts to resist. In fact, unless my ears were tricking me, I was SURE that his groans and gasps became a lot more... willing. Either way, the creature was right; pleasure was a weakness that could topple almost anyone.

Before long the mare gave a series of loud, thrilled yells accompanied by a heavy grunt from the centurion. I heard him give one last struggle for freedom, but then there were the sounds of his ribs cracking as her hooves were brought down on his chest. I just stood there shaking as both thanked the Goddesses for not letting me see it, and cursed at them for letting it happen at all.

The mare breathed in heavily for a moment, then got off. There was a soft pop as she removed herself from him; a pop mostly drowned out by the Legionnaire's shamed whimpering. Feeling it was over, and with my neck being more sore than it had ever been before, I finally gave it a rest and allowed it to turn.

As the mare trotted away, she stopped abruptly. She reached a hoof to touch her stomach, then looked at where I assumed the chimera was. "I... I don't feel anything, my Lord. The others started carrying almost immediately. Did I do something wrong?"

'What?!' I screamed in my head, utterly baffled. Not only were there MORE of these... things... but they started carrying their abominable offspring immediately? Goddesses fry my cock with a solar flare...

"Then there is only one solution," He replied, his gaze brightening and freezing me in place. I panicked and tried struggling again, but no matter how many mental tanks I conjured up in my head, nothing was happening. I mentally berated myself for turning around and letting it freeze me. "Go again until you are filled."

'Oh, NO...' No! Just... no! Again? What madness was this?!

The mare squealed in delight, then glanced behind her at the stallion, who was trying to curl up into a ball as much as his restraints would allow. She didn't hesitate this time, pouncing back onto his cowering form with lust burning in her eyes.

"Get off me, bitch!" He yelled in a high, tense voice as he tried to curl up defensively. "You may have done this to me once, but if you think I'll let it happen to me again then you are truly idiotic."

"Aw, come on!" The mare said merrily. "There's nothing you can do about it, might as well enjoy it before we lose the ability to fuck."

"But there is nothing to enjoy!" The stallion hissed. "This is supposed to be a gift, not a torture method!" He breathed heavily for a moment, then let out in a hiss, "There is nothing nice or pleasing about this. Personally, I'd rather be set ablaze, you whore."

The mare just looked at him with a small smile, before turning her attention back between his legs. "Really?" She asked teasingly. "So, you are telling me you do not enjoy this?" Then she lowered her head down again, licking her lips as she did so.

He jerked his head up. "Now, just stop right th-..." He stopped abruptly and let out a gasp as the mare's... 'oral treatment' wrested his attention away from his protest. He tried speaking again, but his voice cracked and he stammered gibberish. The mare's head stayed down there for nearly a full minute before she pulled it up, looking at his erect member with wonder (Thankfully I still couldn't see it). The Legionnaire just groaned softly.

And this time I would have to watch.

After a moment she was giggling in glee as the zebra still tried to resist. He shook and kicked and yelled out all sorts of insults, until at last he just lay down and looked to the side, a sharp frown on his face. It was all that was on his face as he endured it again. I shared his feelings... but I couldn't do anything as I stood there helplessly watching him endure a second round of humiliating violation.

And a third.

And a fourth...

And a fifth...

And a... sixth? Wow, really? Horny bitch...

Finally she pulled herself away, a look of imperishable bliss on her wet lips. She looked behind her shoulder at the staunch zebra, his jaw locked in a stubborn frown. That got a disappointed look from her, and as she trotted away she scoffed at him.

Finally the creature took it's glance off me and I could move, and the first thing I did was turn away and slump against the wall. All I could do was breath shakily and quickly as I replayed what had happened over and over. It disgusted me... and yet I couldn't find it in myself to forget it. Every detail was burned in my mind, every single noise, every single motion... Thank Celestia Myst had not seen that. Or any of my friends for that matter.

As I sat there trying to get my thoughts under control, the creature said, "Well, that provided a nice change. Now that that is finished, continue learning your abilities. I'll take care of our guests here." Then there was the sound of the mare trotting out, and a moment later the door closed. I got up and looked through the window, and I saw the creature staring at me from the other side, a faint piercing note emanating from it's glowing body. I found it strange that it's gaze hadn't frozen me, or that the sound didn't cause me a headache...

"You sick bastard," I said to it, specifically at Tod. The one-way sound proofing probably muffled what I said, though. Then again, it was also supposed to be opaque from the room beyond, yet it was staring at me. "I don't know what kinds of other things you do to these people, but I hope that when the end comes that your black soul suffers for eternity in whatever hell exists. What are you trying to prove, huh? That weeks of torture can break people? Yeah, I already picked up on that even before I left my home," I said with a glower.

"I am not trying to prove anything," The creature replied, in Tod's voice. "I simply made you watch so that you will feel the pain of being useless. That is all. Besides, you did beat me out of your head more than once, I'd say that was payback. Oh yes, and it was fun to make you watch. You have NO idea how boring it can get down here." Wow, this thing was sounding a LOT like Predator when I had first met him. Minus all the 'fun torturing' parts; Predator as far as I knew may have been a sadist, but at least he was so in a more subtle manner. "Of course, there was also the necessity of breeding my army. Had that not been necessary, I would have left that mare's libido to fester for all I cared. My mutations would have eliminated it completely at one point, anyway."

Then it seemed to remember something as it's eyes perked up. "Speaking of the mare, I would like to inform you that she has been a fair nuisance since we captured her. I don't understand why you even spared her outside the city's gates. Still, if I can do it with her, then I can drag all of you savages from your primordial frailty and to the perfection you people so constantly strain yourselves to achieve."

Fuck. So that's why I recognized her. If I recalled, I promised to kill her the next time I caught her; yet another promise I couldn't fulfill. If this creature's... or Tod's goal was to make me regret sparing her, then he had succeeded. I guess it was a little too much to hope that she wouldn't do any more wrong just because I threatened to kill her. Still... it was both disappointing and disheartening. I had so much hope that perhaps she would change.

I kept myself from cursing it and instead turned my attention to the violated zebra. He was curled up as much as his restraints would allow, a few tear stains on his blindfold. My heart went out to him; if I felt this devastated at the rape of someone I never even knew, I could only imagine how I would have felt had it actually happened to my friends. And to think, it was just several days ago that it nearly did happen.

Then I found myself murmuring, "I'm sorry I couldn't help you." It was a stupid thing to do. I was not responsible for what had happened, nor would my apology do anything to make him feel better. But I had taken on the responsibility of helping these people, and so to not be able to do anything in their time of need just stabbed my heart. And made me want to tear off the nutsacks of the mofo's who hurt the people, of course.

The creature growled in annoyance bordering on disgust, "What is with you?" It took a step closer to the window. "Every single sentient being I found is a self-centered profligate, whose life consists of nothing but pain and suffering and guilt. Do you know how to deal with that pain, Praetorian? Muscling it out is impossible. There is only the option of numbing one's self, and to do that we must experience more and more pain." He gestured behind him at the violated equine. "Showing compassion: WEAKNESS. Showing mercy: ILLOGICAL and a waste of time. There can be only one solution, and this poor scum is already on the path to achieving his perfection. YOU are simply withholding that from him, and yet you claim to want the best for others!"

I glared at him for the longest time, utterly disgusted and horrified at his... or it's words. This was exactly the sort of thing Predator had told me about. To think that there were more creatures like this, spreading their lies and words of destruction and pessimism to the populace under the command and influence of Tod. Had what I seen in my dreams been Tom and Tod battling it out for the freedom and enslavement of these people's minds, respectively? What was all of this... indoctrination? Mass hypnosis? Social manipulation? It didn't matter what it was, it had to be stopped.

Finally, I said with a low voice, "I just want things to get better. The world's seen enough suffering, it doesn't need more." I glanced past the creature and at the zebra. "I just want to help people."

The creature roared and raised up a paw, the signal increasing in strength as it rose up. "You want to help people?!" Then it punched the ballistic glass so hard it shattered, and the large shards flew into the room and nearly perforated me. I covered my face with my hooves until all of it passed.

When I withdrew my hoof, I saw the creature reaching in one of it's forelegs to grab me. I jumped away, but I don't think that it was looking to grab me physically. Immediately an energy like invisible water wrapped itself around me, and I was levitated into the air and flung into the room beyond. I crashed against the ballistic glass on the other side, nearly breaking my bones again in the process.

As I struggled to get up, the creature's large, monstrous form got up to me and grabbed my head with it's paw. I fought to breathe through it's grasp as I flailed around. A moment later it slammed me on the ground next to the tense zebra. I could have sworn I heard something pounding against the non-shattered ballistic window, as though someone were trying to get into the room as well.

"Then help him!" It growled in my face, then turned away. It went over to the other side of the room and leaned against the wall there, watching me with unblinking, angry eyes.

I shot a dark glare at it, resisting the urge to charge it and tear it's chest open now that I was not obstructed from it; I was a logical pony, and I knew that I would lose in a physical confrontation with this thing. I was NOT Predator, and so possessed none of his ridiculous physical ability, despite my robust conditioning.

Then I looked down at the shaking zebra below me. This close, I could see the countless scars that snaked all over his hide where he had been eviscerated again and again. I looked over myself once, taking in the many scars I myself had obtained since my emergence. Even still, my own scars were few and minor compared to his. His mutations were coming back up; his mental resistance was weakening. His lips were dried and bloody, his skin sweaty and filthy, his breathing rough and shallow. He was in such a sorry state that I imagined he had gone through at least four times as much as I had been.

I carefully placed my hoof on his shoulder. He jerked away at the contact, rocking the chair a little further away in the process. "It's okay, soldier," I murmured softly. It was all I could do. I didn't have healing potions, nor any of Predator's ridiculous amount of medical and drug syringes, nor did I know any first aid. "It-it's alright. You're... you're safe now." Was he? No, no he wasn't. And neither was I, or my friends if they were near. As long as we were in wherever the hell this place was, we were absolutely in these thing's power.

He breathed for a moment, before he sucked in his tears and his expression hardened. He turned to face me. "And who are you to say that, huh?" He asked hoarsely with a forced indignant tone. "You're probably just another one of them, taking someone else's voice to try to trick me into submission. Probably just that fucking mare, changing her voice. Well, whoever you are, fuck you," He rasped, then spat in my face. Afterwards he went into a fit of coughing and gagging, spitting out blood and... purple phlegm.

Despite everything, I wanted to stomp his face in. Here I was, trying to help him in the only way I could, and he was not only refusing it but also insulting me? I deserved better than that, and not getting that respect made me angry! I had gone through enough to warrant some kind of break, dammit!

Then I glanced behind me at the creature, a devious grin on it's reptilian face. No, I couldn't feel that way about this guy. That's just what Tod wanted. Much as I and my friends were stressed, this guy had gone through more. I couldn't get mad at him now.

I turned back to him. "Listen," I said softly, "I'm not here to hurt you, nor am I one of them. I'm just like you: a victim. I don't know where I am, or what these things are." I took in a breath, then leaned close. "I know what you went through. I saw. I couldn't do anything, but now I can. Even if all I can do is talk."

He gritted his teeth and snarled, apparently both angry that I didn't do anything when he had been used and hurt that I even spoke of it. I felt a little presence erupt in my head, prodding around inside. Then after a few moments it disappeared. His expression softened a little, and slowly, very slowly, he shifted closer and closer to me, sniffing as he did so. I met him halfway, and did all I could to muffle his already repressed sobs as he buried his face in my chest.

I couldn't do anything else. I couldn't say any words of comfort that would help him out. I couldn't speak to him on his level; that would require that I be hurt in the same manner as he did, and I did not intend to let that happen to me. I couldn't remind him of good memories he had; I had never known him. I couldn't even kill the bitch that did this to him, or any of these damned monsters. Still, I could at least hold him close and pat his head. He had endured enough. Even soldiers needed to cry.

And all the while the creature was just watching us, a look of disgust on it's monstrosity of a face.

After a while his crying died down. "I'm sorry," I murmured. "I don't know how it feels, but I know it won't go away. So if there's anything... anything... that I can do, then tell me."

At that he silenced. After a while, he rasped softly, "Please... kill me."

"What?" I asked, baffled. "You want me to kill you? Bu-but what about your wife? Your children? Your oath to protect the city?" I understood that he was hurting and all, and that he didn't want to suffer any more, but... how could he ask for that? How could he back out on his service to his nation?

"My wife hates me. I lead all three of my children to death on the battlefield, and she couldn't take it. Now she's with someone else." He sighed sadly, "As for Roam... well... I've served for twenty-five years, a full campaign. I served her since before we even emerged onto the surface. Technically, I can retire now. And... well... this is my retirement."

Twenty-five years? Yes... the ancient Roamans had their troops serve for that amount of time, after which they could retire. Of course, they could serve for longer. Still, twenty-five years of service in combat against the wasteland was very, very different than that much time against barbarians.

"But... but I'm not sure if I can. I killed people who tried to kill me and my friends, but I don't think I can do that to someone who didn't." I paused for a moment, then murmured, "And I don't think I'll ever want to."

"I know," He replied. "I've seen the world, you know. From Canterium to the beaches, from Neapolis to Ravenna, and I'm sure I've seen every street in Roam. In the months I've been out here, I've seen how fucked up everything can get, but I could always take it because I knew my cause was just." Then he said a little angrily, "And I sure as hell am not going to turn into one of these things and terrorize the city that we all fought so hard to protect. I'd rather die before they break me, and that's where you come in."

I wanted to protest, to disagree. This wasn't right, even if it was mercy killing. At the time I didn't care that I wasn't putting the concept of mercy killing it's fair share of my mental capacity, because the majority of my head reached the consensus that it was wrong. There was always supposed to be an alternative; something to give the person desiring death a reason to continue living. There was aways another way.

"But... but I..." I stammered, then stopped. He was right. If he lived, they'd just keep torturing him until he finally just gave up. He'd lose himself to the signal, surrender his mind and body, and turn into a monster. Even if he would never feel it, his subconscious would scream in sorrow as his monster tore down that which he protected. I couldn't let that happen, and neither could he.

But this was an exception. The circumstances were too much against him. Even if I did manage to break us out of here and find him some kind of purpose, he'd carry it with him his whole life. He wouldn't be able to forget it, wouldn't be able to go near a mare without being reminded. He'd be unable to live normally ever again. And the alternative was staying down here and getting turned into a monster...

I really didn't want to... but I had to. Luna pound me to pulp with the moon, I was actually going to.

"You said you wanted to help me, well this is the only way you can. If you won't, then I'll try pissing off that thing as much as I can again. Not like that would do anything," He said solemnly.

I sighed, gritted my teeth, and relaxed. "Alright," I said softly, shaking my head out of disgust at myself. "But what am I going to use? I don't have a gun, nor a blade. And I'm definitely not going use the electrical wires. I want to make it as painless as possible." That I should give at least. He'd gone through too much suffering only to have his escape be filled with agony.

"Well, you got hooves, right?" He rasped, and, much as I didn't want to, I replied in the affirmative. "My neck's not yet... changed, or at least not so much. Damage there doesn't heal quickly, compared to the rest of my body. One good snap, and I think that'll be it."

"Piece of..." I murmured, looking away and shaking my head. Fuck, was I actually going to do this? Not just the whole killing him thing, but killing him like this? It was already slapping me in the face just thinking of actually doing it, it was even worse thinking that I'd end it like this. I looked around and spotted only broken pieces of wood and concrete and the sizzling electrical wires; none of them good for a painless death. I also noticed that the pounding on the glass window was getting more and more frantic.

It was the only way.

Slowly, I wrapped my hooves around his head. My left went around and clasped on his right ear, my right went beneath his muzzle and pushed against his neck. I could have sworn I felt his mouth curl into a small smile.

"Do it," He said in a tone of patient joy.

'Okay,' I thought. 'Just one quick jerk. Just one, and it'll be over. You can't let him suffer more, you have to do this. You have to.' I focused, feeling every single detail I could. The hot moisture of his tears soaked into the cloth, his matted and bloody fur, the few scales hardy enough to have remained on his flesh, his deep, shaky breathing. All of them I could feel with startling detail, all of them reminding me of just how much he had been through. All of them begging me to end it all.

Just one quick jerk. That's all it would take. Okay...

One.

Two.

Three...

I pulled my forehoof a little, bending his head along with it. It was a lot slower than I had hoped, and I could feel his neck bones crackle faintly. He huffed, obviously surprised it wasn't as quick as he had expected. I panicked, and I released my hold and let my forehooves fall to the side, shaking. He just sighed.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, shaking my head softly. "I... don't think I can." And I sure as hell didn't want to. I may have 'needed' to, but I SO did not want to.

"Let's try again," He said disappointedly, and my ears drooped at his tone.

"But I... don't think I can. It's... I just can't..." I stammered.

He silenced me, "Listen, if there's one thing being with the Legion's taught me, it's that I do what I have to do. It's a core motto, made by the Ursalanix cohort: 'Do what you gotta do'. So if you know you gotta do it, you do it quickly and without hesitation, understand?" He sounded a lot like Lighthouse, back when I made a mistake and he had to correct me. Lighthouse yelled at me though, while this guy just told me sternly. Still, it was the same in nature.

I sniffed and nodded, then brought my hooves around his head again. Okay, don't think about it. Or if you have to, think about what you're doing for him. He'd suffered, he deserved an end. There was no other way; nothing that could work, at least.

"Do it," He said quietly. "Don't think about what you have to do. Just do it." The pounding on the glass became even more frequent.

Okay. Just... don't think about it... simple enough.

Then a thought struck me. "What's your name, soldier?"

"My name? Eh, easy enough. It's Asturion, though my friends called me 'Asty'. Heh, assholes..." He murmured, a small smile on his face. Then he asked, "And what about you? I'd like to know the name of my savior when I meet Hades."

"Goldwreath," I replied without any hesitation.

"Huh. Nice name, describes the symbol of the Roaman Caesars. Is it symbolic, somehow?" He replied.

"I... don't know," I admitted, once again feeling stupid about matters regarding my identity.

"Eh, oh well. So much for that. Now," He coughed, "Where were we?"

Oh, right. I still had something to do. I breathed in deep, as did he.

Then, without hesitation, I jerked as fast as I could.

I felt every single crack in his neck like fireworks exploding on my skin.

I stared as I let his corpse drop to the side, his lifeless body letting out his final breath. I could feel my hooves shaking, my mind condemning me for doing what I did. One second. That was all it took to end it all, yet it felt so much longer than that. One second was too short of a time for all of those snaps to have taken place. It might as well have been a full hour; a full hour of jerking his head sideways, again... and again... and again...

Suddenly, the gravity of what I had just done fell on my head like a barbel, forcing me to slump to the ground, shaking. I had just killed a zebra who had asked for death. That was... suicide! Not direct, but still! Suicide was never supposed to be an option! I wanted to play back time and stop myself, and just smack the guy upside the head until he found some way to deal with it. I was angry, both at myself and at him. At myself for being so... stupid as to actually do that, and at him for even asking me to do it! I was so enraged I wanted to stomp everything nearby to fucking glue! That fucking creature in the corner, watching me. The walls would crumble beneath my fury, the floor crack and break. I would stomp until the very earth trembled to my rage, unstoppable and insatiable.

Instead, I just lay there and shivered. Yes, shivered. For all my burning rage and regret, I was shaking like I had bathed in ice water. It was good, though. Good because it calmed me down, despite my rage being supposedly unquenchable. Good because it helped me see through my emotions and at the logic with which I did what I had. My mind still seethed at my abominable act, but at least I could find some comfort in knowing that it had to be done. It had to be.

But that didn't make it any less wrong, a part of me felt.

As I lay there, shaking and looking at his body with eyes blank as a white cloth, the creature finally said, "Oh, boohoo. So you killed someone, big deal. Not like it makes much of a difference. You killed before after all, what difference is one body?"

Any rage that died down reignited at once with explosive force, blasting inside my mind like a truckload of napalm. I turned and looked at the monster with eyes so full of hate and rage I thought they should have been able to shoot lasers. That would have reflected my hate rather nicely. I wasn't supposed to be angry at myself, I had to do it. I wasn't supposed to be angry at the zebra, he deserved it all to end.

I was supposed to be mad at this piece of shit right here.

"You..." I said threateningly as I got up and turned around. "YOU..." I said again, a little louder. "YOU ABOMINATION!" I screamed as I flew forward, blasting my wings behind me with enough force to send me as quick as a bullet.

Maybe it had not expected such a move, as the creature made no attempts to block my forehooves from it's face. I impacted so hard I must have cracked my own hooves, instead of just breaking one of it's mandibles. I didn't care. Pain was not present in my mind. Only hate and rage. No, as it fell down, I stomped down on it again and again, making sure to put in EVERY LAST ounce of fury into each stomp. I was going to make it suffer as much as it had made them suffer! I was going to break it's unnatural ribs and force them out it's back, then grind it's head to pulp with my own bare hooves if I had to! It deserved NO MERCY!

It had had enough. Even as my stomps were finally beginning to take off scales and flex it's ribs, it dodged my last stomp attempt by rolling to the side. I turned to it and was about to dash it against the wall, when it reached a foreleg forward and with it's paw gestured at me with crooked extremities.

At once I froze completely. Not just plain frozen, though. This sensation of being unable to move hurt a damned lot. It was as if my blood had turned to radioactive sludge in my veins, corroding my body and burning through me like acid. My bones felt like they had condensed so much as to be brittle, and that one pebble flung at me might have shattered me like glass. My muscles spasmed, tearing themselves as they did. My internal organs lurched and contracted; even those that shouldn't have been able to, like my kidney.

And that was nothing compared to how my head felt. It hurt so damned much that a thousand hot knives dicing my brain up all at the same time would have been about as pleasing as getting a massage. I could not think at all or perceive anything except for what my eyes were forced to see, no matter how hard I tried. Hell, the burning pain was so intense I couldn't even put one plus one together.

All in all, I'd say that I would have woken up deaf people with the volume of my screams, had I been able to yell at all. All I could make out was through all the agony was the pounding on the glass.

Then it turned to the glass window, and roared at it, "And you want to help your friend here, I take it? Then join him!" It reached out another foreleg towards the glass, and after a moment jerked said foreleg back.

The glass exploded outwards, small shards eviscerating my hide and adding even more pain to my suffering. The ones that struck the creature simply bounced off it's scaly hide, and even it's barely scaled limbs were unperforated.

Skyfire, Doodle, and Myst were levitated out, the first flailing her hooves about in mad rage, and the other two shaking uncontrollably. They had all their clothing and items removed from them, even Doodle's sock. They had scratches and bruises all over, though they weren't really serious, except for some of the bruises. They didn't seem hurt beyond that, though. Which was a blessing, as I don't think my head could have handled how much more it would have enraged my burning mentality.

Then Tod floated several severed wires off the ground, and with it forcibly bound all three of them like hogs. Skyfire struggled and thrashed, yelling at the creature with an enraged tone, "I'm gonna tear out your stomach and use your intestines to strangle you, fucker!" For some reason, Myst looked like she was fighting tears as she simply lay still, eyes closed and nose runny. Doodle looked on with absolute terror as they were brought further into the room, struggling to back away from the monster as though her bound hooves were on solid ground.

The creature released it's telekinetic grip off of them, and they each dropped to the floor. Skyfire raved at it as she strained the wires trying to get free. Again, Myst seemed on the verge of crying as she curled up on the floor, with Doodle inching towards her slowly before hiding herself from the chimera with Myst's body.

I stared at each of them, then turned my hateful gaze to the monster. "Release them, demon! I'll not just watch as you torture them for mere fun! I'll break my own limbs if it means freeing us from your unholy grip! And I swear, if you've touched them..." I glanced over at Myst, pressing her hindlegs tightly together. The mere sight of that made me want to break free of my telekinetic bounds and tear off the monster's limbs, however painful and impossible it may have been.

The creature's face hung low in sudden realization, then it face-pawed. "Ugh... I can't believe I forgot to have your friends violated while I had the chance!" Skyfire suddenly put on an expression of absolute disgust, temporarily stopping her thrashing. It sighed, "Ah well, more time for that later. And If I were to torture them for fun it would be in a much more memorable way than just beating them, just so you know."

It paused, seeming to think of something. Then suddenly, "Ah! The archon is here! Good, now I can finally get another few dozen into their salvation."

The creature's eyes went from green to red, and the creature's gaze on us became more... hateful. Not the kind of hateful glare you give someone when they did something personal to you, though; more like the hate you have for someone merely for a bad reputation. Since I more or less knew at this point that these creatures had some kind of telepathic link, I assumed that it had gathered said hate from what I did to it's other comrades.

It snarled as it turned around, opening the door and levitating us along with it. I heard the sounds of distant torturing flow in from the doorway; clearly there were even more rooms like this, wherever we were. I barely managed to look behind me through the agonizing burn of my body, and what I saw was Skyfire screaming and yelling and Myst and Doodle huddling in on themselves as much as they could.

We were levitated out, and at once I was greeted with the terrible sight of the scenery before me.

This place was in many ways like Home Base; it had a similar cylindrical shape, with the floors ringing around the edges all the way to the top, a thousand or so feet up. There were many doors and passages, all of which seemed to still be serviceable. Hell, the place even had similar blast doors, maybe twelve of them, each leading off in a different direction.

Of course, it was also VERY different from Home Base. The oculus like hole in the ceiling was completely gone, with no sign of removal or any hint that it had ever existed at all. The areas of the first floor where the Specters had set up robotic arms and crew pits were gone, as well as any merchant stall. The result was a vast, almost completely empty chamber, save for some kind of ziggurat at the center, jutting upwards maybe until the second floor. The whole place was much less well lit, yet it also had a slightly less ramshackle look to it. The walls and floor were actually less cracked than Home Base's, although a little dirtier. There were signs of ongoing construction, though: stone and concrete lay in controlled piles near the edges of the floor, where entire sections of the wall were torn away and more of the creatures seemed to be creating new chambers, which they apparently were going to make as well-constructed as the rest of the place, if the construction equipment I saw were any indication. The rooms on the different floors were converted from what would have been residential chambers in Home Base to interrogation and torture chambers, and there were dozens of them.

Now, the creatures were the biggest difference. There were hundreds of them, all either flying about the very wide empty space of the chamber (I actually wanted to join them; not really JOIN them, but to use my wings. Apparently, pegasi had this natural craving for freedom. I guess it's in our nature), or climbing along the walls and pipes, or even gathering together in small groups about the different floors. Many looked the same, though the majority were different from the others in some subtle way; some lacked wings, others had an underdeveloped snout, etc.

However, the majority of them looked like regular ponies and zebras. Well, they would have been regular if they didn't have scales and chitin on their hide, if their cutie marks and glyphs weren't removed, and if they weren't mingling with these abominations. The mere thought that my fellow ponies and the zebras that I promised to protect were joining with these things filled a great chasm within me with disgust and shame.

The chimera levitated us down the stairs to the first floor, before jumping down after us and landing with a loud thud. Skyfire glared at it fiercely, and I did my best to do the same, despite the hell I was in; it was all I could do to express to the creature my absolute loathing for it, aside from trying and failing to break through to it on a mental basis and call it all sorts of colorful names. The other two simply cowered, much to my discontent; for what these creatures did to them, they should both have hated these things and shown it.

All the attention in the very large chamber was turned to us almost immediately, and I could feel all their disgusted and hateful glares on me; yes, me specifically. Not much attention to my friends, except for Skyfire. I guess not even powerful chimera monsters with telekinetic powers can ignore the very undisciplined and loud-mouthed pegasus.

And everywhere was Tod. I could hear him, loud and strong in the air as we were levitated along the first floor to the ziggurat. Through him I could feel the magnified loathing they all seemed to have of me, and through him I could feel the pain and misery of the many other unseen prisoners, their minds tapped into the telepathic community and sending echoes of their agony rippling across to me. Skyfire steadily silenced, and in one if the few instances she ever seemed to, she was listening, thinking. Her expression turned horrified as a particularly pained howl blasted across the mental landscape, but to my complete disgust a great majority of the monsters put on horrid smiles on their reptilian maws.

I did my best to not feel that particular one's pain. I didn't know if it was actually what I was doing, but I managed to focus my thoughts into imagining a glimmering shield of energy around us, protecting us from the waves of pain and torment and thoughts of malice. It actually seemed to work, if Myst and Doodle's slightly lessened shaking and sobbing, and Skyfire's slightly disturbed expression, were any indication.

Finally we reached the ziggurat, and in front of it was a wide circle carved into the ground, with massive chains of a strange silvery metal bolted to the ground around the circle's edges. Those chains all converged on the center, towards a large metal block with hundreds of metal spikes jabbing into it. I looked at the block more closely, and I saw that there were at least two of the titanic chains bound to each of the four leather-encased limbs I saw stretched out from the corners of the metal box. Predator's helmet stuck out from the front, gaze frozen forward like a statue. Still, I could have sworn I saw his glowing eyes move to look at me as we were brought closer.

I felt a weak yet familiar presence reach into my mind; it felt like another of the chimeras, yet it had this distinct difference to it.

'I didn't intend this,' Predator said drowsily in my head. 'I never even knew these abominations had grown to such power. I thought I had destroyed them all those years ago. It doesn't make sense. And when he took control earlier...'

'If we survive this, you are going to tell me everything about these things, got it?' I said sternly, mentally of course.

Their was a rustling of chains as the block in the middle moved uneasily, almost toppling over. Several of the creatures approached it, and in unison gestured their paws to it. A piercing note sounded over the block, and the spikes descended even deeper.

'Argh!' Predator roared in pain in my head, his agony seeming both particularly pleasing and particularly sad for the creatures.

I heard him stammer a little inside my head, mumbling to himself on whether or not 'my brain could be trusted'. Finally, though, he said in a tired yet still fiercely powerful tone, 'Fine. But I will educate you on the matter in my own ways, not yours. Got it?'

I thought for a moment, pondering on what that meant. Predator said he was changed, by Tod and by what he had had to do. That had serious mental implications, which could potentially affect how he would 'teach' me about the weird-ass phenomenon going on around the here. What would he do? Would he bring up his depressing, death-speaking, pain-ending side to numb me so that I would understand his point, or would he maintain his fairly sociable, yet calculating and cold persona? Though the two had their similarities, I would obviously favor the latter over the former.

Still, my fucked up brain eventually reached the consensus I had fully expected, but not necessarily wanted, to come upon. 'Alright,' I replied with a mental tone of discontent.

We were set down in front of the circle, a few feet from each other. From here, I could only make out the edge of the ziggurat's top floor. The creature had finally withdrawn whatever power it was using on me, and I could move again. The other three had their bounds removed, and the first thing Skyfire did was charge the still mostly zebra chimera removing her wires. Two of the full chimeras intervened and began beating her to submission, and all I could do was pant for breath; the pain had been extreme, and I felt that I shouldn't have exerted myself to save Skyfire's sorry flank. She needed to be taught that she shouldn't attack everything all the time, anyway. I didn't worry that they were going to kill her; they had had opportunity before. Besides, it was obvious they wanted us for something. That something was what I was really concerned about.

When they finally ceased, Skyfire had a few new scratches and bruises. Nothing serious, really; I suppose that they were holding back, though why I didn't know. She seethed at them and seemed like she was going to attack again, but the creatures just snorted flame at her and she backed away in surprise; apparently, she hadn't known they could do that.

Myst and Doodle were the ones I actually worried about.

The creatures simply wandered about, paying us little heed. Two sentries stood by, though, their eyes staring at us with the intent to kill should we try anything. I decided to not press their patience, however much I loathed them. I shifted closer to the cringing, quietly sobbing Myst. Doodle was pressing herself against the earth pony's side, darting her eyes about in fright.

"Myst?" I asked quietly, getting over to her.

She didn't respond for a moment, just laying there and shaking. Finally, though, she murmured quietly, "Please... go away..."

Yeah, like I was going to do that. "They didn't hurt you, did they?" I asked, feeling an overprotective part of me take over my mind. If these monstrosities had indeed done what I suspected of them, then they were fucking dead.

"Go away," She said a little louder, crawling away a few inches. Doodle got up partly onto her back, looking at me with wide, scared eyes.

"Myst, tell me." I placed my hoof on her side, hoping to get her to talk with me. She froze almost instantly. "I know you're scared, there's no shame in-..."

She whirled on me and shrieked, "Don't touch me!" Then she hit me with her hoof so hard across my jaw that I bit my tongue mid-sentence. Blood flowed out with all it's coppery tanginess as I yelled out in pain and fell backwards.

That yell echoed ominously across the area, at once silencing all talk both mental and physical. I stared at her in shock, holding a hoof to my mouth to keep the blood from flowing out. She returned it, staring at me with a horrified gaze as she shook so uncontrollably she fell down on her haunches. Skyfire and Doodle both looked equally astonished, giving her stares which she tried to hide her face from.

"Goldwreath... I... I..." Myst stammered, glancing up at me with her bowed head, unable to meet my gaze, nor the gazes of the other two behind her. Finally she hung her head low, then looked up at me with hurt eyes. "I'm... I..."

All of a sudden, the great majority of the creatures started laughing, both mentally and physically. I detected the great torrent of mocking laughter and jeering they sent to Myst's mind, making her curl up and cover her ears as she whimpered in shame. A great wave of anger washed over me as I turned to face them.

"Stop it!" I yelled at them, doing my best not to choke on my own blood. The wound was closing slowly, I could feel it, but much as it should have disturbed me I didn't care for it at that time. "Leave her alone!"

'And why would we do that?' One of them asked me in my head, amidst all the laughing. 'We happen to like seeing her like this. So weak and pathetic... so abusable,' It said with a malicious chuckle. At the last word, Myst curled up even tighter and shook even more.

"Shut up!" I snapped at them in general, hoping that whoever spoke was within my field of vision as I glared at them. Skyfire got up next to me, wings ready to propel her in a charge. Doodle was the only one of us who'm Myst didn't try to shove away as the filly tried (and failed) to comfort her.

They laughed some more, yet despite all that there were in fact some who simply looked either bored or even a little disgusted at their brethren's actions. Whether or not it was disgust out of dislike for what they were doing or something else, though, I couldn't say. Still, at least there were SOME of them that didn't like it. Nothing was ever completely evil, I guess. But that didn't lessen the rage burning within me.

Suddenly there was a loud omniscient pong, like the entire area was encased in a shell of metal and that shell was suddenly struck by something. The creatures ceased their jeering, coming closer to the ziggurat with their attention turned up towards where the oculus should have been. Most of those on the floors ringing the area either jumped or flew down, though a few stayed behind and entered the various interrogation rooms.

A moment later the ceiling exploded, sending giant concrete blocks down upon us. I barely had the mind to move, dashing away from the area of effect. I yelled for my friends to move, but only Skyfire did as Doodle was preoccupied with Myst. I ducked and covered my head, my mind split into hoping that we were being rescued, or at least that what was happening would allow us to escape, and the other half being scared to death at being crushed by suck large blocks.

I got all sorts of amused laughter and snide comments inside my head for doing that. After about ten seconds where there was no impact, I decided to glance up. Skyfire did the same from her position several meters away, as did Doodle and Myst.

The gargantuan blocks of concrete were floating there, slowly moving about the great gaping hole in the ceiling. They formed rings around said hole, letting the bright gold rays of early morning or afternoon descend into the darkness of our prison. Three dark forms loomed in the hole as I looked up at it, casting their shadows upon me.

Two very large, very scary-looking chimeras descended. Their dragon wings spanned ten feet in both directions, yet that wasn't what was allowing them to descend slowly down to the ground; they weren't flapping. Whereas the smaller chimeras had hides of comparatively frail scales and brittle-looking chitin and thick leathery skin for their legs, these chimeras had a full body suit of monstrously thick, obsidian-colored, sharp-edged carapace. Their scales were much larger and thicker, visible through the small gaps of their biological armor. Their dragon heads sported two bony horns protruding from the sides, and the smoke puffing out from their nostrils was blacker and thicker than that coming from any of the other chimeras. And it was their telekinetic ability, I detected, that was upholding the concrete.

If these were the sorts of things that Predator had been so thoughtful about, I didn't think I needed any explanation as to why. If these things got onto the surface...

Between those two loomed another dark, hooded form; actually, not quite dark. It's wings weren't as large as their's, but whereas their wings were purely biological in appearance, this one's wings consisted of bony appendages from which hung wings of transparent, luminous green energy. It's veins glowed a bright green, snaking along it's visible limbs like radiation goo trails. I could see a circular pattern on it's obscured forehead. Whatever it was was also significantly smaller than the other two, being perhaps just the size of a regular pony or zebra.

They landed on the top of the ziggurat, the two giant monsters immediately bowing and covering themselves with their wings, while the hooded, green-glowing being in the middle stood up on it's hindlegs and splayed out it's wings proudly, the green glow of it's energy wings increasing in intensity. Their presence on the mental landscape was significantly more powerful and immediate than any of other being. Except maybe for Predator, whose presence was significantly more... compressed. He felt just a little more powerful than the smaller monsters, yet I could compare his presence with that of the three recent arrivals.

The creatures approached and gathered about the ziggurat as the concrete blocks floated into the gaping hole in the ceiling and came back together to fill it up as though the explosion had never happened. The creatures were obviously eager to partake on whatever special ritual the three's arrival entailed. Inside my head, I could feel Predator's worried and frantic presence.

One of the large chimera's eyes suddenly glowed a bright green, and it stood up from it's bowing posture. The hooded head of the one in the middle looked to it once, then immediately turned and bowed to him instead. Every single chimera in the area did the same.

"Rise up, already," Tod said, sounding a little impatient. "You took your sweet time getting here, archon. Do you realize how boring it's been getting around here? I haven't had any new arrivals except for these five, and the ones I've had here before have become SO pathetic. Why, I think I've just been beating the ruins of their hopes for days now. It is NOT fun destroying something that's already destroyed."

The archon rose, along with every other bowed creature. "Forgive me, my Lord," He said, his voice carrying an echoing permanence with it. "Travel by the surface has become difficult, what with all activity going on. And then there is their arrival down south, messing with our link."

Tod just rolled his eyes. "Let's get this over with already. I'm sure that with the Arsonist's genetics we can formulate a more flawless serum for getting the new arrivals up to speed." He gestured his host chimera's clawed arm with boredom around the area. "Come on, no time to waste and all that."

Then he looked to the ground of the ziggurat's top floor, where he was standing. He leaned down and picked something up. I strained my eyes to see it, and I could make out the form of my praetorian helmet in his filthy clawed arms. He raised an eyebrow and looked down at me, then tossed the helmet behind him with a bored roll of his eyes. Then he telekinetically lifted up a piece of clothing... it was... Myst's hoodie? And then Skyfire's battle saddle, rifles attached. And then even Doodle's sock. Tod seemed particularly baffled as he looked the sock over, looking so altogether puzzled that he finally just tossed it behind him with a shake of his head, eyes wide. The archon simply stood by, seeming to be chanting something as he looked up at the ceiling.

Well, I guess that meant that our stuff was up there, getting clawed by the arms of a freak of nature out of his own curiosity and boredom.

Soon there was a clanging of dozens of doors from each of the floors. Pained and frantic cries came from the mouths of ponies and zebras as they were either hauled along down the stairs or flung off the rails, screaming their lungs out in panic only to be caught by a telekinetic grip from one of the creatures. All of them, I saw as they were brought closer, were blind-folded, beaten for what l must have been weeks, and partially chimerafied. Along with that, their presences in my head were all of such anguish and hopelessness that I had to divert my attention away so as to not suffer an emotional breakdown; most of them were soldiers, some even Specters, and I always had a little more affinity for soldiers than I did for most people.

Eight chimeras came out of the crowd and walked over to us and divided into four pairs, with each pair watching over me and my companions. Not even Doodle was spared of it, and soon they took us away from each other several meters. Skyfire screamed and kicked, and Doodle could only struggle weakly with terrified eyes as the creatures took her away from Myst, who could only keep her eyes shut as they took her further from me as well. I resisted the urge to let my overprotective side take control and beat the crap out of them; I was NO match for these things, either against groups or a one-on-one, and so struggling would have just lead me perhaps being taken even further from them.

They set us down with a few meters interval each, with Skyfire being the closest to me. The blind-folded equines arrived a moment later, most of them struggling, yet all of them were thrown onto the ground with the same cruel brutality. They were set down along with us, kneeling to the ziggurat in a circular ring of people. After that we were all frozen in place; thankfully, this time it wasn't the painful type. Even better, I could move my eyes around. Unfortunately I couldn't close them.

Tod stared down at us, looking mildly amused at the ring of several dozen equines set about before him. The archon was kneeling next to him, not necessarily at him, and gestured up at the ceiling with both forehooves. The other large chimera was crawling all over the ziggurat, looking like a hunting animal as it sank it's claws deep into any crevices or nooks in the ziggurat's design. It crawled around until it clung to the wall in front of which was the chained Predator. It jumped down and circled my incapacitated guide, snorting flame and growling all the while.

A great wall of green energy erupted from the edges of the chamber, it's glow growing stronger with each passing second as it raced towards the center of the chamber, on top of the ziggurat. As it passed through me, I felt a tug inside my chest and head, like a tissue was aching to go along with the luminous wall of mysterious light. The energy compressed to a small orb above the spread out forehooves of the archon, who at once took it into his hooves as though it were a physical object. The orb's glow dimmed, yet I could sense that it's power was growing.

Then it detonated like a nova, the walls expanding like a great bubble, except this time they were clear save for green motes gathered within the boundaries of the luminescent energy. The light of it stung my eyes as though a drop of hot oil had landed in my sockets, yet I couldn't scream or close them; I was frozen. Still, at least some tears flowed out to ease the pain a little. I wasn't the only one who had suffered the pain, though; everyone in my field of vision except for the chimeras stiffened and twitched.

When my tears dripped away and I could see again, the entire area was encased in a scintillating, wavy wall of watery energy. The creatures paid little heed to it, save for the only partially chimerafied, who looked at the dome with awe. I myself was stunned at the sight before me, my curiosity, of all emotions, taking over and begging me to try to find out more about it.

"Now it is time to welcome more minds to our glorious salvation," The archon declared, raising his wings and stretching them to their full length. The creatures surrounding the ziggurat all drew themselves up and did the same. There was a great movement of air, like the very area was taking in a massive breath.

'What the hell is goi-...' Was what I thought.

Just then all of them opened their maws and mouths wide and blasted out emerald green fire into the air. The mere heat of it nearly singed my coat, and drowsiness flooded all my senses as the wave of extreme temperature blasted me again and again. The sensation of nearly passing out mixed terribly with the fact that I could not even close my eyes; I can't quite describe it, save for it resembling an overwhelming sense of panic. The breaths I took were hot and burned within my lungs, which were doing what I could not: express pain. I even lost all breath for a few moments as the heat swarmed about me, reaching temperatures which I worried would melt the whole place down on top of us.

They finally stopped, and at once I drew in breath once more. I wanted to gasp and take in deep, heavy breaths, but my breathing was limited to the regular pace by the monster's tyrannical grip. Just as well, though, as had I breathed in the hot air deeply I believe I truly would have passed out. Slowly, very slowly, the sensation of nearly passing out left me as the heat subsided.

The blindfolds were removed, and at once I saw the many pairs of eyes darting to and fro in horrified fright. So many of them landed on me and looked at me with alarm; they must have been so used to seeing beaten up and changed ponies and zebras that seeing one who wasn't either surprised them. Skyfire, Doodle, and Myst all got the same looks, and only the last of the three could not return any of the gazes.

"Silence yourselves," The archon commanded, and over the course of a few seconds the area went from a noisy, clamor-filled chamber to an eerily quiet and calm one. I could sense the anticipation of the monsters, the fear and uncertainty of the captives and Predator, and the immense boredom of Tod as he sat upon the ziggurat's peak, leaning his host's head on it's clenched fist.

But Tod finally stood and spoke up, putting on a tone of strangely genuine eagerness, "Ah! Finally, my favorite part! I don't get to enjoy this part often." He got up off the ground, gesturing an arm in an arc before the crowd assembled before him. "Let us welcome our new brethren! Let us grow our army! Let us perfect these weaklings!"

The crowd cheered, an ear-splitting mix of howling and roaring. The volume of it all vibrated through the ground, nearly toppling my frozen body over. Even when they stopped, their echoes rang all throughout the vast chamber. At once the signal all over the chamber began pulsating, like stagnant blood that was finally being pumped. Each pulse was like a war drum beating, it's deep ominous thump growing stronger and stronger. Soon the chimeras were chanting along with it in a language I couldn't fathom. In fact, had it not been for the repetitive organization of the exact same sounds, I would have thought that they were just groaning and roaring loudly. Glyphs appeared out of the motes on the energy dome, but they weren't zebra glyphs. They looked far too sinister to be zebra glyphs.

"You there," Tod said, pointing at the large chimera standing by Predator. The monster turned it's gaze up towards Tod. "You get to have the honor of extracting perfection's essence." The archon approached Tod's avatar reverently, a very large, custom-made looking syringe in his hooves. Tod took it without so much as a glance at the archon, then flung it off the side of the structure. The creature below caught it midair with a telekinetic grip, then slowly lowered it down to it's claws.

The creature approached the chained Predator with a wide grin on it's face. I tried forcing my way out of being frozen, but my efforts were stomped to paste brutally by the mentalities of at least a hundred different creatures. I was left with a headache the like of which I only had when Tod screwed with my head the first few times. I mentally yelled for Tom to appear and do... something! Damn it, we were likely going to be forcefully turned into freaks after weeks of torture, and I so did not want that! He saved us before, why couldn't he now?

The needle plunged deep into Predator's shoulder, and at once it began extracting the same multicolored ichor he himself had used on Doomtune days before. I sensed Predator's great sensation of anger panic, both growing exponentially. Even still, with him incapacitated, the creature just kept on extracting until the syringe was full. By the time it was, there was probably enough ichor in it to fill up a fourth of a bathtub.

The crowd's chanting increased, raising and lowering in volume every few seconds. Tod stood on the edge of the ziggurat's top floor, standing up tall with wings splayed out. He was bobbing his reptilian head up and down in accordance with the crowd's cheering, and for once I saw a terrible smile of absolute delight on his face. Clearly, these creature's admiration and glee were absolutely thrilling to him.

"Let us welcome them, then!" He yelled in a voice that was a mix of his host's horrible dragon vocal cords and his own sinister, imp-like voice. The crowd roared and stomped and blasted fire everywhere in wild agreement, some of them even snapping at each other and at the captives through all the chaos; and Tod reveled in it all. "Who shall we begin with? Who shall be the first to experience me in earnest?"

At once their was a great mental clamor, the hundreds of creatures debating as to who should be 'perfected' first. Quite a few voted for me; I was, apparently, an extremely annoying case for them. Still, others voted on others who had been here longer and had caused more trouble.

They came upon their conclusion: a zebra stallion Specter, one who had been a captive for several months. He was already mostly chimerafied, as all he lacked at that point was a pair of fully developed wings and a distinct dragon snout. He managed to temporarily break free of being frozen and of the grip of the two chimeras holding him, and at once he turned and blasted a jet of emerald fire at the crowd. He was quickly subdued by Tod, whose manipulation of the signal was too strong for even an experienced manipulator to resist. The two chimeras then came back on him and dragged him in front of the ziggurat, in front of Predator.

After a moment of stomping down any and all resistance the Specter still offered, they finally let his beaten and tired form slump to the ground. The two chimeras backed away as the larger one approached, syringe in it's claws. Tod and the archon paid close attention as the fluids were pumped into the barely conscious Specter's form, while every other creature was chanting louder and louder as the ominous thumping grew.

Predator, though, was mentally screaming at the top of his non-physical lungs.

The fluids disappeared, and the large chimera slowly backed away. It was then that I started feeling a rapid change in the operative's mind; all thoughts were being twisted and some were altogether removed. Soon there was a great torrent of energy washing over his head, flooding out any and all foreign thoughts and presences. I was pushed out, and was unable to detect any more changes. From the look on Tod's face, though, he could feel what was going on inside the operative's head and was as jubilant as though he were watching his favorite show.

Then the Specter's body jerked up, head looking up at the ceiling as though he were possessed. His wings were becoming bigger and longer with each passing second, as was his body. There were the sounds of his chest and bones ripping open and cracking as his chimerafied body struggled to keep up with the changes. A very distinct dragon snout suddenly jutted from his head with a resounding crack of bone, and it was all he could do to reach up his rapidly changing arms up to touch his face. He shook uncontrollably, glancing to the sides in terror.

Then he suddenly let out a noise like the moan of a whale as he collapsed and howled, roaring as his skeleton was forced to grow more than eight times it's original size over the course of seconds. His weak scales came off in great piles, immediately replaced with tougher looking ones. Chitinous carapace jutted out from his joints before spreading steadily across his body, covering him in a completely black suit of nightmarish armor.

Then he stood still, a monster of great proportions and a color scheme of nightmares. It's carapaced head was bowed, it's obsidian body glowing softly in the wan green light of the area. It's growl low and foreboding, the intense glow of it's hidden eyes illuminating the patch of concrete it was staring at with a deep blood red coloration. It's limbs were tense, ready to spring up at any moment and destroy any and all things within it's grasp.

Tod and all the types of creatures watched in anticipation, tense and eager at the same time. The gargantuan creature stirred, extending it's wings to it's full length and standing up on it's rear legs. It's eyes scanned the quiet crowd, a rumble of a growl emanating from it's throat. It reached one of it's arms up, looking at the new clawed hand with curiosity. After that it looked down at it's self; at it's chest, puffing in and out with each breath. At it's legs, where underneath the obsidian colored carapace was a skin of scales.

Then it roared, not one of terror or any sense of being a monster, but a roar of absolute pride. With it the others roared as well, all in unison. "I am perfect!" It yelled in a deafening boom that shook the earth and blasted me and the nearest captives (a very terrified Doodle and Myst, and a very wide-eyed Skyfire) away, and only the chimeras holding us in place kept us from getting blown into the crowd.

I looked up and saw Tod closing his eyes, and when he opened them again the creature's eyes were red. I felt a massive presence float through the air; a presence of great power and malice. The presence encircled the newly made chimera, who was gesturing his limbs and wings out as though he were truly welcoming the incoming entity. A moment later the presence flooded into the chimera's body, and the creature's eyes went green.

"Ah!" Tod said, his voice more controlled than when the Specter's conscience had been in control. "This form feels so much better! Sadly it isn't completely perfect, a few quirks here and there, and my neck feels a little stiff. Still, much better!" He said with a tone of delight as he stretched his host's arms.

'Heh,' I chuckled in my head, out of spite for him. 'Yeah, you went through all that and you're still not perfect, asshole.' Okay, maybe not just spite. Throw in a little relief in there; at least if his form wasn't perfect, then he had SOME weakness that could be exploited.

'Yeah, don't rub it in,' I heard him reply with a sour, disappointed tone that did not fit his disappointed mental one. I mentally smirked, and he grumbled.

He drew himself up, making his host stand to it's full height. "And now, who shall be next?!" He yelled at the crowd, and they cheered.

I tried tapping into their mental debate. Some of them, those more focused than the others, had the sense to keep me out of their conversation. But they were few, and after some time looking for an opening, I managed to get in.

Quite a lot of it was discussion about the different prisoners; about how annoying some were, and about how much resistance they gave to 'the gift'. I heard them clash mentally as to which individual to break so as to have the greatest effect on others; some of them were closely related, they claimed, and said that if particular individuals were turned in front of the rest, that the wills of the others would crumble.

Shattering hope... mental warfare. It disgusted me; there was no satisfaction in beating an individual who didn't resist. It was like a vulture swooping down on a dying animal, cheap and opportunistic.

After sifting through the thoughts, I finally came upon a large group who were talking about us.

'That earth pony mare doesn't seem capable of resisting in the slightest,' One of them said.

'Yes, and she witnessed that annoying one, Asturion, get violated earlier. Though I believe that she should be numbed first before we turn her; no telling what her trauma will do to her psychology when she joins us,' Another said.

'Well, if not her, then that pegasus mare is another good candidate. Melted one of my wings when we attacked them earlier. Or maybe even the Arsonist. I had to re-merge with the gift again because he stole it from me!' Another of them yelled.

'Sad as that is, brother, I believe that breaking the earth pony, that... 'Myst' will break the Praetorian as well; he is very overprotective, he even attacked the Lord earlier!' Yet another of them said.

A lot of them expressed their disdain for me after that, and the majority of those who spoke after agreed to chimerafy Myst.

'Oh, fuck no...' I said mentally, a growing worry for Myst forming in my head.

I probably shouldn't have done that, though. Amidst all their debating and elaborating, they had not noticed my mere presence. But at my words, I was immediately and brutally shoved from their mental talk room, my mind erupting with massive headaches as they bombarded me with mental attacks. Some of them even went so far as to cause me actual physical injury; my scars were slowly reopening. I mentally cried out, to their laughter.

Tod looked over at me, bleeding and shaking, and I saw a horrid smile crawl onto his face. "I believe you have reached a consensus?" He asked, and after some time the mental torture stopped, to my immense relief; I wasn't sure how much damage my already screwed up head and battered body could sustain, and didn't want said endurance to be tested.

"Myst!" They yelled in unison, most being so eager in the proclamation that they flapped their wings hard and roared flame all over the area. I myself was just barely out of the range of the nearest pillar of flame.

I saw her eyes pop wide, and I'm pretty sure that she would have ran 'til she was out of breath if she could have. She was able to shake, though; it was the only way she was able to manifest that fear, and I didn't need to locate her mind to know that she was scared to death. And as she was hauled over in front of Predator, who was still staring forward, I saw the faintest signs of Skyfire trying to break through being frozen to help her friend out.

How could I do any less?

I was already enraged by the acts of these abominations, more so after finding out how many captives they had here and after being forced to kill Asturion. My mind was under control by the very protective aspect of my personality, and I was just aching to tear out there guts through their fucking scales and splay it all over the place; okay, maybe that last part was my very angry side rather than my overprotective side, but still. And damned if I was going to let these things do to my friend what they did to who knows how many others.

All I had to do now was channel all that emotion.

Myst kneeled in front of the circle with her eyes tearing in fright, this time with Tod personally extracting Predator's ichor. As he did, he used his other hand to project the signal (or was it 'himself'? Was Tod actually the signal, or merely some being influenced by it? I personally believed it to be the former) at the syringe, and very slowly, after the other colors winked out one by one, all that was left was the emerald green blood of the chimeras. A smirk crept onto his face, and he looked down at the bound Predator with a look of amusement.

Alight, that was as far as I was going to let this go on.

I concentrated every emotion in my head, from the only partially subsided burning rage to the immense pity I had for the captives. I imagined the feelings coming together to form a multicolored, glowing spear. Next I imagined myself in a vast, endless void of black, surrounded by a glowing field of energy projected by the luminescent presences all about me. I pictured myself picking up e spear, then I pictured myself ramming at the shield full speed. My vision became blurry as I focused on my mental imagery.

To my amazement, the shield cracked. No, I was not the one imagining it cracking, nor was I even imagining this scene anymore; I was actually standing within the shield, spear in hooves and surrounded by blackness broken by cheering green-glowing forms and an omni-present green fog. I stared at all this in disbelief for a moment. Was... was I actually in my head? Was that possible? It couldn't have been possible! That was like... like getting superpowers! It was just an imagery, it wasn't supposed to be real! I began panicking, and I dropped the spear as I backed away.

'No,' I thought, stopping myself. 'Keep it together, Goldwreath. Your friend needs you, your lives depends on this. Your head is already fucked up, are you actually surprised this is happening? Pick up that spear and break that shield!' I screamed mentally at myself... okay, I screamed in the mind of my mind at myself... ugh, nevermind. Look, I just shouted at myself to get myself motivated, okay? Okay. Wow, this paragraph sounded way better in my head...

Anyway, I picked up the spear again. Tentatively, I rammed it into the shield again and again. Whatever sane part of my head that was left screamed and yelled at how unnatural all this was. I shared it's feelings, but right now I had to do this. I had to.

The shield cracked and flashed, and the shards fell to the ground like pieces of green glass. At once I brought the spear up into my jaw, and with all the force I could muster flung it at one of the luminescent beings. The spear disappeared into it's glowing shape.

Suddenly I was back in the real world. One of the chimeras was thrashing on the floor, reaching for it's back as though trying to pull out the spear. It howled and snarled, it's pain rippling across the mental landscape like the waves of a tsunami. All the other creatures were too shocked at the occurrence to pay attention to Tod, who himself looked absolutely dumbfounded.

Now was my chance.

Just as I felt, I was able to move. The pain was there, gathered in my limbs like shards of crystal locking my joints. I forced myself past it and lunged forward, swooping at Myst with the intent of somehow... somehow... get us all out of here; that somehow, I could bring all my friends out of the mess I got them in. I dashed the short distance with a quick glide, and I grabbed the still frozen body of Myst as I flew up. Without all my heavy gear, my strong wings were able to bring me up quickly and efficiently.

Just then I glanced behind me, and I saw the dozens of chimeras taking off and flying after me. Damn it, they were fast! Whatever distance I had gained on them was quickly dissipating as their even stronger wings brought them closer each second. And to think, for a moment there I had actually been so foolish as to think this plan would work!

As with all my plans, this one went to hell as quickly as it was formed. One of the chimeras crashed into me from above, sinking it's monstrous claws into my side as it used it's weight to push us towards the ground. My side began to bleed and my wings were straining themselves just to maintain altitude. I focused all effort I could spare into bucking it's chest with my hindleg as I repeatedly struck it in the gut again and again. I think I managed to push it away only because it had not sunk it's claws THAT deep into my chest.

Then another came down on me, and I very quickly lost altitude as it suppressed my wings from flapping. Then a second lunged up at me, grabbing Myst's dangling hindleg. And then a third, crashing into me from the side and sending us spiraling out of control as we plummeted towards the mass of very shocked and very angry monsters below. I landed with a thud, and I lost my grip of Myst and she rolled away from me several feet.

Needless to say, I was quite thoroughly pummeled when I crashed. Very angry chimeras stomped me with as much non-lethal force as they could muster. Really, had they each used their full strength, I'm pretty sure there would have been an earthquake. I flailed my hooves defensively, not taking notice of the fact that through all the agonizing stomping, several of them were dragging Myst away. I finally noticed that, and was about to get up and do whatever the hell it took to get us out of here, when I was lifted out of the angry crowd by a very large hand that smothered my face and made my neck sore as it lifted me. I felt my limp limbs droop down and my blood dripping in large volumes; was I really getting myself injured this much out here? Really, just three or so weeks, and I had already gathered up more scars than I would have ever thought possible!

I was flung in the air, and was caught by some very sharp claws by my surprisingly non-broken wings right before I struck the ground. Tod lifted me close to his face, letting me see every ugly detail of his chitinous carapace and maw... that, and he was just generally ugly as hell. I never did understand what they imagined 'perfection' to be like.

Tod raised an arm, and green wisps erupted from the head of every chimera in the area. At once I felt their anger subside, replaced instead by confusion. They looked at him with a questioning look, but then he sent a wave of piercing energy to all of them. At once they began returning to where they were before my little stunt, some if them still looking confused.

He exhaled, "You are very, very annoying, you know that?" He turned and shook his head, not taking any effort to handle my wings less painfully as we went back to the ziggurat. "What in the name of all things is wrong with you? Always trying to do things for others, even at your own expense... sickening."

"You're crazy," I murmured as I struggled for breath, letting my very fucked up body and head take care of my wounds; at the moment I wasn't as disturbed of that as I should have been. "I'm just... j-just trying... to help things get better."

"Then join us!" He said, lifting me in front of him and making me stare into his eyes. "At the end of time, only chaos will remain. You think you peace-loving mortal equines can survive? You think you can thrive? Well, you can't!" He pulled away, and looked over the entire area and at the creatures with a look of pride. "But we can. I just have to eliminate a few more weaknesses, a few more imperfections. Then we can face the tide of doom... and laugh in it's face."

"Chaos?!" I yelled. "What the hell do you mean? If you're trying to imply that you're FIGHTING chaos by causing destruction, then you're fucking insane!" Honestly, that was the most ridiculous concept I ever heard of. For, you know, the past three weeks, at least.

He harumphed, "I would not expect your un-enlightened mind to understand. You mortals, going about preaching values of honesty and bravery and organization; promoting your futile 'order' and 'peace'." Then he frowned. "There was a time such fragile concepts were palpable. A time when joy was so commonplace it was basked in in great abundance. A quiet time in the universal cycle, marked with happiness," He said quietly with a tone of reminiscence akin to Predator's whenever we asked him about his past. Then a resolute expression formed on his reptilian jaw. "But no more. The time of order is over; chaos is coming, and only those who will adapt will be spared."

Despite everything, I took in his words and analyzed them with as much focus as I could spare. What in Celestia's name was he talking about? The universe? Chaos? Just... what? What was this, a prophecy of doom? Oh, come on! I knew the world was fucked up, but what the hell could be so destructive as to wipe the planet out? What could possibly be SO powerful to do anything of that magnitude?

We arrived back at the circle, and this time the number of sentries per prisoner (including my friends) was increased from two to five; clearly, they did not want such an incident happening again. I was set down hard in front of Predator, his eyes looking at me with a look I couldn't quite fathom.

"Now," Tod started, "I believe it is now a general consensus among all of you that the earth pony is, in fact, NOT the one you want to break first." The crowd roared it's response in the affirmative, many of them looking truly pissed that I had interrupted them earlier.

Tod just nodded. "Mhm, yes, I see. Now, I'm not even going to ask because I already know who it is." He looked down at me as I lay on the ground, exhausted and in pain. I returned his gaze with a weak glare.

He picked me up by the skin of my back, piercing his claws through my hide to dangle me. I wanted to scream in pain, but I was exhausted of everything. Exhausted of constantly screaming in pain, exhausted of trying to figure out answers to the many questions coming up in my head, exhausted of trying to think about what the hell was up with the city, and most especially exhausted of trying to keep fighting... whatever I came across. I just wanted a break, or at least something going my way for once. We would have been dead at that point had it not been for luck and Tom. No, as I hung there, my back bleeding profusely, I just winced from the stinging of the sharp claws.

That was to the surprise of Tod, who shook me vigorously as though confused. When I still didn't scream, I could have sworn I heard him chuckled to himself. "Ah, good!" He said, then turned to the crowd. "Congratulate yourselves, for through our combined efforts we have broken the extremely annoying Praetorian! Now, it is time for him to join us!" He threw me down onto the ground, and procured the syringe from where he had dropped it.

Go ahead. That's how I felt. Just let them do it. I was tired of everything. Maybe once they were done they'd let my friends go; it was a small hope, but there it was.

I was in such a near constant state of pain ever since leaving the stable that I had grown numb to most of it, and I was sick of it. I was tired of failing at every single plan, no matter how simple. First and foremost was going to the Forum; how had everything gone so wrong? The plan was simple: go-there. Then getting Zaita updated, that was also supposed to be simple! Instead we went on an adventure that nearly got me and Myst killed, and in her case nearly raped! Then going to the dam... I had thought it was as simple as following a guy I hated. Instead, I had learned how supremely misunderstood he was and got us captured by monster chimeras controlled by Tod. I was in the city for barely a few days, and already things were proving far more difficult than anticipated; how much more the more I stayed here?

I was stupid. I had charged into all this mess without any thought. I looked over the city once, and then... then I decided to spend my life trying to save it from itself? Was I really that ambitious? Julius Caesar of the Roaman Republic had been ambitious too, but at least he had the means to succeed. I didn't. He had smarts, I didn't. His plans went right, mine didn't. He had an army, I didn't. He had a people backing him up, I didn't. I may have been respected by the common person in Roam, but the Legion was the supreme authority, and they hated me. That counted for a lot.

I just wanted to give up. So much to do, each task seeming more impossible with each step... It was enough to make me very, very tired. I just failed at everything. At going to the Forum, trying to protect my friends, making plans, trying do something simple...

Trying to avenge the death of the only one who had taken me in...

'For fuck's sake, snap out of it!' A voice yelled in my mind, and I shook my head hard.

What the hell was I thinking? Was I actually giving up? Already? Well... fuck that! A great wave of determination and fresh rage washed over me, and at once I diverted all of my attention back to what was happening in the physical world.

I looked up at Tod, seeing his clawed hand holding the needle, which was already in my skin, ready to pump Predator's altered ichor into me. Cold calculation took over my mind, and I began to assess the severity of my situation more closely; chances of escape, what I could do to improve the chances of those actions, and how to integrate my friends into those actions, mostly. I didn't panic; panic was a terrible enemy at a time like this.

However, my calculating mind was suddenly stopped short when it realized something.

'Wait,' I thought, 'Who just spoke in my head?'

Tod suddenly stiffened, and then, very slowly, he looked up at the center of the energy dome the archon had formed. There, right smack in the middle, was a hole the size of a chimera, with the edges of the energy rippling like water washing onto the shore. Every other chimera, in unison, did the same, and at once their eyes widened in shock.

Tod took in a deep breath and boomed, "Seal the gap! Seal it no-..."

A great pillar of blue wind struck down from the hole with a mighty sound of thunder, slamming into Predator with such a strong impact that every single chimera and prisoner were blasted to the very edges of the chamber; everyone, except for me and my friends. Tod managed to hold his ground, sinking his titanic legs into the concrete as he braced himself against the wind. I only felt it as a breeze on my face, gentle and kind. And as I let it blow around me, I heard a voice. It was... distant, yet all around me and accompanied by a humming... a voice I recognized...

"Goldwreath, move closer now!" Tom yelled from the omni-present blue cloud roaring around me. "Don't worry, I'll take care of your friends!"

Damn it, Tom! Of all the times to show up, you show up now? You could have gotten through to us earlier! You could have... you could have saved some of these people! Saved them from losing their minds ad bodies to Tod!

I decided to not be angry at him just for the moment, and so I bolted towards the center of the room, where the continuously swirling column of blue wind touched the ground, completely obscuring Predator in the process. I saw my friends through the cloud, struggling to keep away from the column; I couldn't blame them, as they didn't have the same amount of contact with Tom as I did. In fact, I had to question whether or not they had ANY contact with him at all.

As I was about to reach the center, finally being able to see Predator's hazy form, a sharp pain erupted along my spine and spread to all my four legs. I yelled and collapsed, and Tom was forced to begin dragging me back towards him.

"Oh no you don't!" Tod yelled, jumping out of the blue cloud behind me and landing just a few inches from my head. His host was quite different from what it looked like before, as now veins of brightly glowing green light spread across it's whole body, and his wings were already translucent glowing energy, bigger and brighter than the archon's. His eyes glowed a murderous green strong enough to pierce through the blue cloud like a knife.

But as he approached me, intent to destroy evident in his gaze, all the cloud within the chamber began racing back at great speeds towards the central column. My friends and I were forcefully dragged along, but as we reached the swirling formation of blue our momentum ceased and we slid gently across the floor. We found ourselves within the column, and from within it the outside was a blue-tinged blur.

The creatures that had been blasted all the way to the edges of the area took that opportunity to swarm us. I felt a horrible sensation of chilling fear at the sight, as all their howling and groaning and snarling reminded me of that dreadful night back in Pyro Kinetic, when I first encountered ghouls. My friends were similarly petrified, watching the oncoming horde with resigned and terrified expressions.

Then a great inward wave dragged us all closer towards the center, and again my friends tried to resist. On the contrary, the progress of the angry monsters charging us was significantly slowed, as though they were running underneath water. Tod was less affected by it, but I could see the strain on his face.

Suddenly a blinding detonation erupted behind us, it's force sending a powerful shockwave that blasted in all directions. Yet it was not a detonation of explosives, but a detonation of gentle energy that raced across the landscape, once again pushing back all the chimeras, save Tod. The light only temporarily blinded me, and from behind us the sound of a great battle-cry thundered from a throat both physical and... metaphysical.

I barely had the mind to turn and look, as at this point I was almost as scared of Tom as I was of Tod. There, behind us, standing amidst the blue mist and blinding light, was a two-armed shape formed out of the blue cloud. It's featureless legs were obscured by the blue glowing fog, but it's several dozen foot tall cloudy body loomed over us like a tower.

It let out a deafening yell as it pulled something from it's side, and as it did a metallic ring filled the air. A hundred foot long blade of solid blue cloud jutted out from the form's hand, the tip shining like a star.

Tod looked at that for a moment and roared, and at once his veins seemed to erupt with green flame. As his body grew ever larger, the flesh cracked and widened to reveal his insides to be nothing but pure green glowing energy, and his light filled the chamber to combat the blue form. The chimeras also roared, their green eyes piercing through the blue cloud like candles in the night.

But as they once more charged, the sword tip pierced into the earth, splitting the ground in front of us into a wide gorge. A great wind blew from behind us, and with it dozens of cloudy forms emerged from the source of the blinding blue light. As they neared, they seemed to me like strangely clad beings with large round shields, armed with spears with faintly shining tips. They rushed into us, passing through us like ghosts and forming a ring of ethereal shields in a wide area before us.

The form removed it's sword from the ground, and at once the tip shone brighter than ever before. Motes of energy appeared out of the air, gathering around the tip and forming a small sphere of blue around it. By then Tod had grown almost as large as the gargantuan cloud form, and all his parts save his murderously glowing eyes were obscured by massive tendrils of dark green.

The sword tip erupted with multicolored lightning, a great bolt of blue impacting the ceiling above us and blasting through the concrete, while smaller bolts of different colors struck the heads of the creatures comprising the rampaging horde, and any that were struck dropped dead as fried corpses.

But that did not stop them all. Right before they reached the ethereal wall of translucent shields, the blue form reached down one of it's arms and gripped me and my friends within it's grasp, and at once it flew up, still blasting the continuous bolt of blue lightning into the thick concrete. As we ascended, there was a great crash as the swarm smashed into the shield ring. That was followed by a resounding snap of metal, followed by the faint dangling of chains.

As we went further up, reaching the ziggurat's top, I saw the archon sandwiching his head in between his hooves as he staggered in apparent agony. As we flew even further up and finally into the large hole blasted into the concrete, our stuff, which was thrown about along the roof of the ziggurat, was enclosed in a small cloud of blue and levitated up along with us. At that, amongst all things I should have been feeling -- fear, anger, worry -- I felt immensely relieved instead.

The sounds that came up at us from below as we ascended were pained howls and united battle-cries, but they were soon drowned out by the loud crackling of electricity. Bits of concrete fell all around us, crashing into the diminishing hole of the chamber beneath us. And as we went further up into the darkness which was only broken by the blue luminescence of the form and of it's lightning, one thought in particular stole all my attention:

'Where's Predator?'

*** Magnus et Potens Roamanus ***

At last we blasted out of the hundreds of feet of concrete, and immediately us and our stuff were gently floated down onto the moist floor of a massive sewer pipe which had a huge portion broken away, revealing the city of Roam outside. Skyfire jerked herself free and took several steps away from the cloud, while Myst and Doodle carefully crawled away to the cover of a nearby rock. Finally being close to the city, I at last heard the very constant gunshots and explosions.

But they were had to hear through the loud humming coming from the blue cloud. It slowly compressed and collapsed into a much smaller version of itself, and that much smaller form then approached me and stood still.

"You're Tom, I suppose," I said quietly, looking the shimmering being before me over; this was him, I could feel it. "What... what are you?" It was a question I had asked a few times, and with each encounter with him I wanted to know the answer more and more.

"That is a question for another time," Tom responded. "For you see, I have been searching for that chamber for quite a while. Now is my opportunity to destroy it before Tod gets that abomination of his out of there."

The blue form raised it's arms high, then slowly lowered them in an arc towards it's sides. The blue cloud shimmered violently before forming into a concentrated blue ball and quickly flew over to the gaping hole in the ground, the water trickling into it and falling down into that chamber down there. There, right where the fairly large blue form had been standing earlier, was the kneeling form of Predator, his head bowed and downcast eyes glowing blue. As the blue ball flew further away, the glow steadily disappeared.

'Well, that answers that question,' I thought, before I turned my attention back to Tom.

"And what about those prisoners?" I asked, and Tom stopped. The hovering ball seemed to turn to face me. "What will you do about them?"

"What I can do, if saving them is possible, and what I must do, if it is not," He responded ominously, then hurriedly flew down the hole as if avoiding conversation with me.

"Yeah. What you have to do..." I said sullenly, remembering why I had to kill Asturion. It was an evil... but a necessary evil. That little epiphany didn't really make me feel better.

I sighed and turned my attention to my friends; they deserved it all right now. "You okay, Skyfire?" I asked her, looking at her shocked and wide-eyed expression. She kept that look up for a moment, but then nodded her head in two quick jerks. I was of course referring to her physical condition; she was not alright, none of us were. Not after having had our bodies fucked up by Tod. Not after what happened down there.

Next I turned around and looked at Myst, who actually seemed to have the sense to start picking up her stuff off the floor. She had already gathered up her only real belongings: her rifle and accompanying cartridges, her single saddlebag, and her hoodie. She zipped the final zipper of her hoodie, her eyes half-closed and looking at the ground miserably. Doodle looked around frantically, before spotting her little pink sock next to a small stream of sewer water. She squealed and galloped over to it, raising it in the air with both her forehooves and putting on a smile wider than I would have thought possible. Despite all the shitty problems I knew our recent experiences would bring up which I had to think of, I couldn't help but smile as I went over to pick up my Praetorian helmet.

Skyfire cantered to Myst before slowing down to a trot. "Myst, you okay?" She asked softly, and Myst turned her head away silently. Skyfire nudged her flank with her own, "Come on, talk to-..."

In one swift move, Myst unslung the rifle from her back and with the butt of it delivered a savage blow to Skyfire's face. My pegasus friend collapsed onto her back, grunting as her bleeding snout dripped her blood all over her chest.

"Gah! Myst, wha-what are you doing?!" Slyfire asked in shocked pain, before Myst whirled on her and stepped on her throat, then pressed the barrel of her rifle against Skyfire's head. Myst looked crazed, anger and murderous intent visible in her eyes; a look I thought I would never have gotten to see from her. All Skyfire could do was cough as Myst's hindleg buried itself in her throat.

"I won't let you fuck me, I won't!" Myst half-screamed at her friend, pressing the barrel even harder against Skyfire's head. Skyfire tried to speak but choked, then brought up her forehooves to try to push the leg off. At that Myst pressed her leg down even harder before bringing the butt down on Skyfire's face again and again.

I had just finished strapping the helmet on. I stared at them in horror for a moment, before I finally gathered enough wits to speak up, "Control yourself, Myst!" I angrily stomped towards them, when suddenly Myst pointed the barrel at me. My anger subsided, replaced by sudden fear and even more shock.

"Myst..." Skyfire managed to choke out, "We're your friends... we... won't hurt you..." She gasped and brought her forehooves up once more. The amount of blood on her battered and twitching face was a testament to how hard Myst had struck her.

Myst stared at me a moment, eyes no longer fierce and murderous, but wide and fearful. Her forehooves began to shake uncontrollably, and she slowly looked down at her choking friend, and at her own hoof crushing her windpipe. She looked back to me with a desperate look, and saw the look of bafflement I gave her.

The rifle clattered to the ground as she dropped it, and then she herself fell down shaking, pulling her hoof off of Skyfire's throat. The pegasus gasped hard and crawled a few inches away, massaging her throat. Myst looked at her with horror, trying to scuttle away with her hooves. She scurried off and pressed her back against the wall, looking at me and her with a look of terrible guilt.

When Skyfire finally managed to get up, she and I approached Myst together. She seemed only a little hesitant at approaching the mare who had, only a few moments ago, pressed a gun barrel to her head.

Myst's eyes darted between us, a look of desperation and fear showing through them. She finally stopped trying to push herself away and just hung her head before lying down as though just waiting for us to kill her. She opened her eyes and looked up at us, then curled up a little bit before saying in a voice so soft and burdened with guilt it thrummed, "Please don't hurt me. Please..." She sniffed and pressed her legs closer to her body, looking up at me with an expression that seemed so certain I was going to hurt her.

Skyfire looked at me with a look so surprised her blackened and swollen eye popped wide open. Then she turned her attention back to Myst.

"Myst, tell us-..." We said in perfect unison, getting startled looks from each other. Again we tried speaking, and again we emulated each other perfectly. Finally, she gestured for me to go ahead.

I sighed and looked my earth pony friend in the eye. "Myst... talk to us. Come on. Please?" I lifted a hoof to try to pat her, but at that her eyes widened and she backed away with a scared eep. Now she was pressed so tightly up against the wall her flanks slid upwards.

"Myst, please!" Skyfire begged, daring to take a step forward. Myst just closed her eyes and shook as though she were cold.

Skyfire backed away, and we found ourselves looking at each other and at her with uncertainty. We seemed to come across the joint conclusion that it was best to leave her alone for the moment, and so we backed away. Just then Doodle sat herself right next to Myst's head as she began crying. Doodle looked at her with a look of sadness that suggested she was only sad because Myst was sad, and then she curled herself up against Myst's body. At that Myst pressed her head lightly against the filly.

Skyfire only wiped the blood from her face before picking up her stuff off of the ground: her battle-saddle with attached plasma rifles, and her SMG. I went over to pick up my own things, but it all felt lacking without my armor.

Predator finally got up, and looked at each of us silently. His eyes were blank of any emotion; they always did manage to convey feelings his voice didn't. After a moment, his eyes' glow disappeared.

I had tried getting him to talk as well, but he only looked over at the weeping Myst and the now weeping Doodle and continued his silence. I could feel his presence in my head, but I couldn't feel in on his thoughts. When I tried, he looked at me with an expression so blank and lifeless he made a corpse look like a fucking dancer.

Then he simply picked up his backpack off the ground, and from it procured another HMG-AR hybrid easy as he pleased. Then, with a simple, "Let's go," -- his only words to me ever since back down there, in the chamber -- he turned and began climbing up and out of the massive sewer pipe we were in.

I sighed and looked to Skyfire, seeing the immensely distressed look on her face. When she saw me looking at her, she put on an expression that was more certain and collected than I was sure she actually felt.

"Come on," I said quietly. It was stupid. Among the many other things I should have been discussing with them or thinking about -- what was happening to my head and my body, my friends' own distress, the Tod and Tom phenomena, Predator's role in recent events, the battle at the dam -- I just said that? Was I really that much of a procrastinator when it came to problems?

"Hold on -- what happened down there?" She asked in a tone just short of a demanding one. "I don't want to go any further with that guy unless I get some answers."

I sighed, "Alright, I'll... I'll get him to spill. Just... just let me handle it, okay? I'm not really in the best shape to think right now," I admitted. That got me a look of concern from her. "Look, just get Myst and Doodle. When I get an answer, I'll tell you, alright?"

She gave an uncertain little nod, before proceeding to collect Myst and Doodle... somehow. I didn't really care. I climbed the slope leading out of the pipe. When I finally got out, I found myself standing in the crossroads in between four titanic skyscrapers. The rubble that had fallen from them piled up in messy heaps all around them and onto the ruined road.

I saw an old billboard on one of the piles. It showed an image of a zebra sitting on a golden throne, gesturing his forehoof forward at me. Rays of golden light shone from it and gleamed off the metal marble buildings around him. Above the zebra's head, where the old text was supposed to be, there was instead a new sign. Only the first three words remained of the original text.

"Salutatio ad Roamae," I read the first three words. Then the last two, crudely painted, read, "Civitatem bellum."

I gulped and read the Equestrian translation aloud, "Welcome to Roam. City of War."





Footnote: Level Up
New perk gained : It's My Mind, Level One -- Tod has tried and failed to completely control and subjugate you. For your efforts, you gain your very first Mental Resistance attribute. You get +1 to your MR attribute.