//------------------------------// // The Jealousy Of Those Who Were // Story: Hecate's Orphanage // by BlackRoseRaven //------------------------------// Chapter One Hundred and Twenty: The Jealousy Of Those Who Were ~BlackRoseRaven Thorn grimaced as they headed quickly through the underground tunnels that ran beneath Exoterra, Muse and Necrophage hurrying along at his side as the wild cackles of the destruction entities chasing them echoed through the passages behind them. The security gates were slowing them down a little, at least, but unless they reached the bunker quickly- Thorn scowled as dust hailed down from the ceiling above, the fluorescent lights flickering before a vent cover exploded, a mass of toxic white goo exploding out of the steam pipe and landing with a splatter in front of them. The three halted, and Thorn narrowed his eyes as Cancer's head formed out of the puddle, his crimson eyes glaring gleefully into Thorn's as he mocked: “Well, well, looks like you're at the end of the line, kiddo!” “The end of the line is thirty meters away, past the security partition.” Thorn said distastefully, and Cancer gave him a flat look as the goblinoid destruction entity popped up into the air, his body forming in mid-flight before he dropped down on dainty hooves right in front of Thorn. “It was. A joke.” Cancer enunciated, and then he spun away with a theatrical sigh, strutting away as he complained: “Y'know, it just about ain't worth it to kill you dead! I mean, your brother, least he had a sense of humor. 'Cept when I killed his bitch. Which one of these is your bitch, by the way? Or do you got bitches? Multiple bitch, do you see that, Faffy?” A giggling filled the air behind them as the other destruction entity slowly pried up the sealed shutter, blurting out: “Dogs!” “Yes, honey, dogs, sweetie, that's very good. 'Snot what I was talkin' about, but hey! Progress, right?” Cancer clapped his front claws together- Claws. Cancer lunged suddenly, violently forward, claws raised high, and then he squeaked, head snapping back when Thorn slammed his metal hoof up under his jaw before Muse seized him with telekinesis and rammed him so violently into the ceiling he knocked a hole in it, squealing in pain and fury as he rocketed through the solid stone and cement. Muse turned her glowing, furious eyes towards Fafnir, who stared for a moment before the mantid-like Destroyer suddenly rose a claw and blurted out: “I think I hear boss calling!” “You should go find him.” Thorn said bluntly, and Fafnir squeaked as he leapt up to the ceiling and slithered hurriedly away through the hole after Cancer, the blue unicorn turning and saying calmly: “They'll be back, and much more ferocious. We need to get inside the bunker and-” “Seismic activity! Bad thing, bad thing coming!” Necrophage shouted suddenly, before Thorn even felt the tremors, and he looked down too late before the earth exploded under his hooves, cursing in pain as some massive thing pounded heedlessly upwards, barely able to insulate himself with magic before he was being crushed and torn against rock and stone and the hard, terribly-hot body of the monstrosity that was pushing him up through the earth of Endworld along with it. They smashed out onto the street, and Thorn was flung free, crashing and rolling painfully backward before he managed to shove himself to his hooves, bruised and battered and bleeding as he looked up with shock as a half-melted, hideous Tyrant Wyrm slowly pried itself out of the earth, turning glowing, hell-blue eyes on him as it rasped: “The Void has returned for us. The Void has come for us. We will unite with it.” “As Regent of Decretum, I order you to stand down!” Thorn shouted, even knowing it was useless, pacing backwards with a grimace as the road buckled under its weight, sending ripples through the cracked streets. The Tyrant Wyrm – a Grand Vizier, from its size and the malformed, loose horns that still vaguely formed a crown around its face – only looked down at him with contempt before it rasped: “You share our blood. We shall show you the true meaning of the Void. We shall show you what you are.” The massive behemoth glared into Thorn's eyes, but Thorn looked back, cold and unflinching, the mental hooks unable to find any purchase in his mind as the Wyrm snarled in disbelief, leaning down as it tried to apply more psychic pressure to the stallion. “What? What is this?” Thorn responded by deflecting the psychic attack, then responding callously: Shut down. The Tyrant Wyrm reared back with a snarl, then it grinned, and Thorn's eyes widened before the massive monster simply slapped him backwards like a toy, sending him crashing and rolling down the street as it hissed: “Your powers do not affect us. We deny you.” The Tyrant Wyrm dragged itself after Thorn: even half-melted, emaciated, and deformed, it was still terribly powerful, the Wyrm leaning down with a roar that shook the world and unleashed both shockwaves of sound and waves of toxic blue smog that decayed whatever they touched. Thorn cursed as he rapidly backpedaled away, before he gritted his teeth as something snared one of his legs from behind. Cancer cackled as his claws sank into Thorn's hide, his eyes gleaming as he squealed: “You brought me a gift to make up for bein' such a bastard! Now, ain't that sweet, Faffy, he brought us a present!” Fafnir giggled at this, nodding violently several times before his hands transformed into massive scythe blades, asking eagerly: “Can I unwrap him, boss?” “He ain't the gift, stupid! That's the gift! But hey, if you really want this old thing...” Cancer grinned as he hefted Thorn into the air, the stallion grimacing before he was flung back towards the Destroyer. “Who am I to say no? Go long, pal!” Fafnir cackled, wings exploding from his back as he leapt backwards, bringing his claws up as Thorn sailed through the air. But the stallion took in the situation even as he flew backwards, taking a short breath before he suddenly flipped and kicked viciously off Fafnir's stomach just before the monster could grab him, knocking the Destroyer flat on his back with a squeak as Thorn gracefully flipped before he landed neatly on his hooves. “Oh come on!” Cancer shouted in frustration, as Fafnir spasmed and wiggled against the ground, before the mottled white destruction entity winced as the Tyrant Wyrm stomped up behind them. But the Tyrant Wyrm only grinned down at them, and Cancer grinned awkwardly back after a moment before he pointed back at it as he faced Thorn, shouting: “I got myself a real big pet now, see? He likes me a hell of a lot more than he likes you, you cheap ol' sack o' socks and dirty garbage! Which, I mean, that would be real nice right about now but hey, I'll settle for-” “Lethal force has been authorized.” Thorn said coldly as he reached up and grasped his mechanical limb, and it sparked violently as Cancer and Fafnir traded looks, and then Fafnir giggled as Cancer waggled his claws and made his eyes bulge out. “Oh no! He done shouted some scary words at us, what are we gonna do-” The Tyrant Wyrm twitched with a growl of surprise as Necrophage bit savagely into its hind leg, snarling as it turned to kick angrily at her before it roared as a massive boulder shot through the sky and smashed through its soft skull, sending down a hail of muck and rotten flesh. It turned a half-formed head towards Muse with a look of fury, but Muse only responded by hammering it with several more massive boulders, tearing away most of its skull and leaving behind only an open, gaping hole that steamed blue mist and thrummed with eerie light. The Tyrant Wyrm turned to go after Muse, and then it staggered with a roar of shock as Necrophage chomped entirely through its ankle. It half-dropped, then leaned down with a roar of force and poison, but Necrophage exhaled a thick mist of black smoke in response that mixed with the blue gas and neutralized it. Cancer howled in frustration as he grabbed his head, and then he lunged towards Thorn with a roar, his forelegs transforming into hideous blades, tentacles ripping out of his body as he screamed: “I'll rip you-” Thorn's metal hoof tore into Cancer's body, and the monster's eyes bulged before he was blasted backwards as Thorn's leg gave a powerful pneumatic pulse, the destruction entity crashing onto his back with a gasp before he screamed as he grabbed at himself, his body steaming violently as Fafnir staggered back from him in horror. “What... what did you...” “I injected you with White Matter compound.” Thorn said calmly as he held out his hoof, revealing the holes in the underside of the material that were still faintly steaming. “Voidal composition or not, your molecular makeup is still similar enough to what it was that the White Matter will inhibit your abilities and cripple you.” Cancer gasped loudly, and then he pointed helplessly, screaming at Fafnir: “K-Kill him! Kill him up!” Fafnir snarled, then he spun towards Thorn and dashed towards him. Thorn began to ready himself, but then he only frowned and raised his head slightly before he said distastefully: “I do not require your assistance.” Fafnir leapt at him, and then squeaked when a pair of hooves slammed into his face, knocking him backwards before a massive bolt of lightning crashed into him with enough force to bounce him against the ground like a ball. He bounced all the way back to Cancer, landing in a sprawl beside him with a squeak as Antares landed with a grin on one side of Thorn and Prestige dropped to the other, smiling at him as she said: “Maybe not, but this is bigger than all of us, isn't it?” “Yes. That's why we're all here.” Thorn agreed with a brief smile, before he grimaced a bit as he saw the Tyrant Wyrm pick up Necrophage and fling her at Muse, who was barely able to slow her sister down before she cannonballed into her. “I think my friends require assistance.” “Hey, asshole! Pick on someone your own size!” roared a voice, and Thorn watched as a massive Tyrant Wyrm of black crystal charged by, the Grand Vizier turning too late to react before it was plowed over and shoved down to the ground, the two immense warbeasts struggling against each other gamely. Cancer wheezed as he dragged himself up to his feet, one of his red eyes twitching as Fafnir slithered to his own, clicking and hissing. “God-dammit, stupid ass stupid dumb kid! Who the hell said you could interfere? Unless you're saying you want me to take the sloppy seconds on your girlyfriend again, that is.” Cancer glared at Prestige, and Prestige smiled thinly before she suddenly snapped her horn upward, Cancer squealing as he was blasted into the air by a powerful explosion of force before streams of lightning ripped across his body, which then transformed into crimson snakes that spun violently around him, becoming a massive tornado of flame that carried Cancer backwards. Fafnir screamed as he realized it was coming too late before he was sucked into the vortex. As the tornado of flame carried the two destruction entities away, Innocence forcefully slammed a claw into the Tyrant Wyrm's neck, the half-formed beast snarling in fury as part of its body rapidly crystallized, allowing her to shove it roughly over and pin it helplessly on its back. She slammed a claw down into its breast, raking it open with her crystal claws before the Tyrant Wyrm flung her backwards even as its hideous, mottled core of a gaping eye was exposed, but the Grand Vizier never managed to climb back to its claws as Necrophage came rocketing out of the sky and slammed through the hideous heart of the beast. The Tyrant Wyrm roared in outrage before it collapsed backwards in a rotting, useless heap, and the crystalline wyrm stepped back from its defeated foe before it dropped its head low, jaws opening wide to allow Innocence to leap out, striking a pose in her black Valkyrie armor as she slammed a bladed gauntlet against the ground, declaring: “And that's how I saved the entire world by myself!” “Yeah, great job, Sin. You haven't quite done that yet, though.” Antares said dryly, before he patted Thorn on the shoulder, saying quickly: “I came across Cowlick and found out she's got a communication relay back up. You might want to go and find her.” “Alright, I...” Thorn stopped, then he frowned and looked up as a weak, broken laugh filtered through to his ears. “You don't... get it, do you?” rasped Cancer, as he and Fafnir dragged themselves back towards them. They were both badly burnt and grievously injured, steaming energy, and yet in spite of the pain and the wounds across their bodies, they both seemed manic, gleeful even. “It's all... it's all over...” “We're done... finished... kaput!” Fafnir giggled, clutching at his chest before he whispered: “No more magic, no more rings, no more anybody or anything...” “No more anything! Just... us... just us, and the end...” Cancer gurgled, as he leaned into Fanfir, who leaned back against him, before they both grinned as their eyes glowed, liquid metal and mottled slime flowing and twisting together before the ponies flinched in surprise as a shockwave of force rushed over them. Two indistinct masses leapt backwards, flooding into the corpse of the fallen Tyrant Wyrm, and Innocence swore before she pointed sharply, her crystalline Wyrm-golem leaping forward- A massive claw of metal tore out of the Wyrm's hide, smashing through the face of the construct and knocking it backwards before cracks and ruptures traveled along the entire body of the golem, and Innocence shouted in disbelief as her Wyrm-construct shattered like glass, pelting the street around her with chunks of rotting crystalline debris. A hideous, faceless thing yanked itself out of the corpse of the Tyrant Wyrm: no two parts of it were alike, and it bore no parallels, no symmetry, no beauty. It was hideous, nothing but stretching claws, and poison, and jaws, a beast of destruction without redemption. It leapt at Innocence, swinging down an oversized arm ending in terrible hooked claws, and Innocence scurried backwards with a curse, narrowly avoiding the first swipe before she screamed in agony when a leech-like growth lashed around from the creature's back and clamped onto her, instantly beginning to inhale her life and energy. She wriggled for a moment, but then Prestige was there, slicing her horn through the tentacle before she snapped her horn at the beast, but fire didn't burn it, electricity didn't shock it. It slapped her aside, then tried to hook her with an insectile appendage on the other side of its body, but Antares blasted this with white fire before he winced and ducked back when the monster spun towards him, lashing its claws out and vomiting out toxic acid, making only a sick rasping noise as it half-crawled, half-loped after Antares. “I can't read the goddamn thing! It just feels like... like pain and destruction and...” Antares winced as he ducked to the side when a tentacle lashed at him suddenly, before he retaliated with a blast of purification that at least managed to drive the creature back a step, making it hiss before it belched out a stream of blue gases that filled the air around it and rotted whatever it touched. Antares backed quickly up, then he winced as the monster lunged out of the smog towards him, all seething claws and tentacles. He flapped his gemstone wings hard, launching himself into the air as he unleashed a flash of white light that at least seemed to stun the monster, giving Prestige enough time to hammer it again with another volley of magic. The destruction incarnate barely stumbled, the magic having little effect on it but to draw its attention to her as it spun around and lunged, head almost splitting in half to reveal a beartrap jaw full of deadly curved teeth that snapped savagely at Prestige, who winced and narrowly avoided being caught in their crushing embrace. She was only saved by Innocence leaping in with a roar, slamming a talon across the face of the creature to knock it stumbling before she stomped down, sending blades of corruption exploding up from the earth to- The corruption uselessly twisted around the monster, like the dark poison couldn't affect it, and Innocence stared in shock before she squeaked when it smashed her into the ground with its oversized claw, before it hefted her in the air and began to squeeze. She gasped in pain, then snarled as her horn thrummed, and the monster was jerked away from her by huge vines that tore out of the cement and snared around the beast's limbs before they turned to stone, restraining it for a few precious moments that the ponies were able to use to regroup. Then the vines simply melted away as the entity dropped forward, and it finally spoke, jaws gaping open to let the words seemingly simply fall out, echoing: “All will become one with the Void. Surrender. Give in. Shallock, kra'a tel; Shallock, tes'ra da maen...” Antares flinched and Prestige moaned, grabbing at her head as her eyes watered and blood ran from her ears, but Thorn stepped forward and replied sharply, in the same cursed language of the Black Verses: “No dak'ra nay zakan shallock!” Antares blinked dumbly as the destruction entity vibrated violently, its whole body rippling before it seemed to grow in size and stature as it visibly became enraged, then it lunged after Thorn, claw-hands becoming massive blades that pounded viciously down like pistons as Thorn expertly dodged backward before he whistled loudly. Out of nowhere, a massive girder slammed into the monster, nearly cutting it in half as it twisted impossibly several times around on itself before Thorn leapt forward and caught the end of the metal rail sticking out of the beast, electricity surging down his mechanical limb and across the monster. But the beast barely seemed affected by it, only twitching a little before it slashed a claw down, and Thorn gritted his teeth as he ducked back before his eyes widened as a second claw slammed down and tore through his prosthetic limb, knocking staggering as the remains clinging to his shoulder sparked violently. He was punted into the air by the destruction beast, then slammed down into the ground by a lash of a tentacle before a jaw-like growth attempted to bite into him: Antares, however, rebounded this with a wall of white energy that formed in front of Thorn, before he shattered the platform with a sharp slash of his horn, pelting the creature with shards of energy. The monster staggered away from Thorn, who rolled quickly to the side as he grabbed at his broken prosthetic, popping it loose with practiced flick of his hoof. Necrophage, Antares, Innocence, and Prestige all rushed forward to the stallion's aid, the monster transformed as it stalked forwards, long, gangly limbs ending in horrific blades slashing wildly out on all sides of it along with rubbery, spiked tentacles that struck like whips, slashing and smashing the other ponies flying like bowling pins before it lunged at Thorn, gaping jaws first. Thorn lunged to meet it fearlessly as a black limb exploded out of his stump, the monster reacting too late before a black fist slammed into the monster's face, stopping it dead before the claw seized into its skull and slammed it face-first into the ground with a tremendous crash. Thorn leapt quickly back, face twitching slightly as black veins pulsated slowly across his features, his dark claw flexing against the ground before he said coldly as the others automatically assembled themselves around him: “We have to neutralize it. Innocence, you and I will flood it with corruption. Prestige, physical magic should still slow it down: work with Necrophage and Muse to stop it from moving long enough for Innocence and I to get close. Antares, wait for my signal.” “You got it.” Antares said sharply, and his seriousness and deference to the young stallion made Innocence and Prestige both immediately nod as well, even as the beast slithered up to its feet, transforming and twisting itself into a wretched, hideous thing that defied explanation or logic, all claws and blades and heads that were nothing more than jaw-traps. Thorn flexed, letting the rage flow through him, not fighting the emotion but refusing to let it take over, either. He was intense and focused as he charged straight at the beast, trusting in the others to do their jobs even as the destruction beast lunged at him with its countless blades and claws and maws. The creature twitched as if in surprise as a glow suffused it, Muse's eyes and horn glowing with power in the distance as she forcibly bound the creature with telekinesis before Necrophage skidded underneath it, leaping around to its back to seize it by its many tails and yank it backwards with a grunt, making it writhe and twist in an attempt to pull away. Cables and vines erupted from the ground around it before it could turn on Necrophage, however, snaring it from every angle, its too-many limbs and appendages working against it as the bindings found purchase across almost every inch of the monster's body. The destruction creature was dragged to the ground, even as it began to morph, but Thorn reached it before it could completely change, slamming his black claw into its face and gritting his teeth as he focused his corruption into the monster: Innocence crashed into the side of the monster a moment later, slamming her claws against it and pushing her own black poison in, and Thorn laced his corruption with hers, black veins pulsating through his veins as he concentrated and ordered coldly, speaking into the destructive heart of the being: Hunger. The monster fought against them, then suddenly trembled before it lurched upwards, tearing apart veins and bonds as it pulled inward, claws eagerly grabbing at both Thorn and Innocence. The mare swore as she blinked out of existence and reappeared a short distance away, while Thorn didn't fight as it hefted him up, its jaws opening eagerly wide before the stallion slammed his black claw down its throat, pumping corruption into a destruction beast that was growing steadily darker and more mutant by the moment- “Antares, now!” A ray of white energy slammed into the destruction beast, and it twitched before it flung Thorn away, its jaws gaping in a wail as its whole body contorted impossibly on itself, trying to shield itself too late as its body vibrated beneath the beam before the ray of purification touched the blackness streaming through it. And like a light to gunpowder, white fire raced violently across the paths of darkness that had been infused in the destruction beast, turning it completely to stone in a matter of moments. The others staggered backward in shock from the statue, but Thorn simply gestured at it and clicked his tongue. Necrophage leapt onto the malformed statue, leaping up above it and raising her hind legs with a snarl before she stomped down as Muse accelerated her sister towards the ground, sending up an explosion of dust and shale as the Replicant tore through the statue like a knife through butter. She shook herself quickly out as she straightened, then she looked up at Thorn with a bright smile, blurting out: “We did it!” Thorn smiled for a moment, before he frowned and glanced back as a chuckle rose up from the hole in the street, and the stallion narrowed his eyes as a malformed claw tore into the ground as two smaller Tyrant Wyrms rose their heads out of the hole, one of them grinning cruelly as its eyes turned to Thorn, whispering silkily into his mind: We smell you. You cannot run from us, child. You are kin to us now. You know this cannot be stopped. Thorn began to turn towards them, but Antares grabbed his shoulder and grinned, saying easily: “Hey, don't show off. I got this. You go find Cowlick. She was bad enough when she was alive but now she's got like superpowers.” “She's just like strong and stuff. That's not superpowers. I have superpowers.” Innocence said grumpily, then she demonstrated by levitating herself into the air. “See?” “Can you handle the Black Verses?” Thorn asked, and Innocence glowered at him as Antares grinned and shrugged amiably. “Antares, this is-” “Serious, I know. You gotta go.” Antares said quietly, pointing into the distance as a massive explosion went up, and Thorn looked up and watched with a grimace as a tower in the distance slowly collapsed as blasts tore across its face. Nothing was getting close to them because of the emerging Tyrant Wyrms, but... Cancer and his friend weren't the only Voidborn who entered Endworld. And Loki is out there, too... “You're right.” Thorn turned as Necrophage and Muse quickly joined him, the stallion glancing back once as he almost ordered: “Stay alive.” With that, he broke into a gallop down the street in the direction that Antares had come from, and the stallion huffed after his younger brother as Innocence shouted: “Hey, I'll die if I want to, you douchebag, and don't you forget it!” “Let's get serious, guys.” Prestige said flatly, and Antares and Innocence both turned as two massive Tyrant Wyrms came stomping towards them, half-melted and dripping both corruption and ashes, but Innocence only grinned as Antares winked. “What, for this?” Antares asked, and then he smiled slightly over at Prestige, saying easily: “We've lived through a lot worse than this.” Prestige smiled despite herself as Innocence grinned, and the three stepped forward, fearless in the face of the deformed and hideous beasts even as they began to chant the hymns of the Void that had promised to infect and embrace and destroy them all. Cadence stepped back down into Endworld, and blinked in surprise as she arrived beside her team inside some sort of makeshift camp, La Croix grinning wryly and holding up a hoof as a few ponies glared distrustfully at Cadence. “Hey, hey, y'all calm down now. This one ain't bad.” “Hello again, Cadence. It is good to see you again.” greeted Tender Trust, and Cadence smiled wryly as she looked up at the Phooka, before she cocked an eyebrow in surprise as she noted there was a second winged Phooka here as well, this mare dressed in armor that looked suspiciously like Sol Seraph's. “This is my okâwîmâw, Fluttershy. I believe we talked of her when we last met. Okâwîmâw, this is Cadence.” “It's very nice to meet you, Cadence.” Fluttershy said politely, and Cadence bowed her head back to her before the Phooka gave a small smile, adding: “Please don't be alarmed. Sol Seraph was my mother. She has passed on now, and I have taken on her armor.” “Oh, uh... that's... great.” Cadence said awkwardly, torn between a slew of conflicting emotions before she threw it all off with a shake of her head as she looked quickly around the camp: they had set up in the ruins of a residence, and the mare could see Kirin coming and going, a few angels, a hoof-full of Orphans and warriors from other worlds, and a Dogmatist or two... “This looks awful.” “Oui, we don't got time to rest much, either. Somethin' fried most of Endworld's fancy electronics, and it seems the first thing Loki did was attack the portals where our amies were comin' in from.” La Croix hesitated, then he slumped a bit with a sigh as Moonflower smiled faintly and Sombra gently grasped his shoulder. “First wave was bad enough. Husks and ghouls. Now seems like he's callin' up the Tyrant Wyrms somehow, and all sorts o' crazy things wiggling into reality. 'Slike... Loki and his crew bein' here is lettin' 'em...” “Home in.” finished Cadence, feeling strangely unsurprised. That felt eerily familiar, like it had been... something we did before? That doesn't make sense. Who is 'we?' Not me, but someone... else. She shook her head quickly, glancing up in surprise as Courtly Love leaned back from a mobile terminal, the Changeling giving an awkward smile as he said quickly: “A lot of friends still made it through the portals, though, and uh... there's at least two portals still waiting to connect to our world. If we can just activate them, we can get reinforcements.” Cadence privately didn't know if she agreed with the idea of dragging more people into this, but she was spared answering as Courtly sat up a little, almost blurting out: “But wait, you can-” “I can't jump anywhere at the moment. I just went back and forth between this planet and an Orbiter. I'm exhausted.” Cadence said dryly, but Courtly Love only smiled and nodded hurriedly. “No, no, that's not what I meant! You're a Rex Prox! See, Seneschal isn't available, the pulse from the nuclear rail that knocked the Ahriman... wait, that was you, wasn't it? You... I mean, yes, of course, I... yes.” Courtly Love smiled embarrassedly as Cadence gestured at him grouchily, blushing a bit at the awkward looks she was getting. “Seneschal is only working in limited apparatus right now, so we can't reactivate some of the defenses. But you should be able to use your Rex Prox authorization to bring security back online, maybe initiate a system reboot for the power grid, too.” Cadence hesitated, then she nodded grudgingly with a grimace: if the rail had caused the blackout, she had a responsibility to fix as much of it as possible... and besides, that sounds like it might actually help. “Okay, so-” “Ain't gonna be that easy, Cygne. Like I said, things were bad enough at first, but it's only gettin' worse.” La Croix said, and Cadence frowned and looked up as the zebra grimaced a bit. “Lost Souls are appearin' all over too. The exploding kind. It seems like more Terrors are comin', too, like...” “They're being attracted here. Maybe by Loki, maybe by his Ahriman. What about Thorn and Hecate?” Cadence asked even as she approached the mobile terminal, gesturing Courtly Love aside so she could see what she could do remotely. The Changeling bit his lip, saying uneasily: “We lost contact with both. We lost contact with the entire castle... and no one can get close to find out what's happening. We've had reports of some kind of puppet things, brittle if you can actually hit them, but they have impossible powers...” “Yeah. They're infused with the energy of gods and giants that Loki couldn't absorb or control any other way. It must be something his powers don't let him manipulate somehow...” Cadence shook her head. There was no time to puzzle it out, just enough time to accept it and deal with it as it came. “Are they staying in that area?” “Yeah, I don't know why, though. We detected some incredible energy levels and picked up some images of fighting in that zone, and some of the survivors from the castle we rescued reported that Hecate saved them, threw them clear of the blast with her powers somehow and shielded them. But otherwise the area's been almost completely locked down.” Court hesitated, and then he said apprehensively: “If... maybe if... it's not my place, but I mean, Endworld has a massive network of underground tunnels and bunkers. I bet with a little bit of effort you could pretty easily sneak through there. The only thing is that you'd need help from Seneschal, Thorn, or Hecate herself... I don't think anyone else has security access high enough to pass from bunker-to-bunker.” Cadence smiled slightly at this: she thought she might know one other person who did. “Thanks, Court. And I bet I can access the bunkers from...” Cadence brought up a fuzzy map of the sector they were in, before she tapped on a building marked with a red circle. “Station 4, here.” “Oui... oui, yeah! Communications be in and out right now 'cause the antennae ain't all raised, but if we bring the power back online, at least most of the sectors will be able to talk again, and then we should be able to turn on the security remotely, right? At least the Drones will be functionin' again.” La Croix said suddenly, perking up before he gave a wry grin. “Maybe it ain't over yet.” “It's not. We're going to finish this thing, and we're going to stop Loki.” Cadence said firmly, and she was surprised at how her words, her confidence, had such an effect on the group: even the people who she hadn't thought were listening perked up, and Cadence shifted awkwardly before she cleared her throat, ignoring the faint blush rising from her collar as she asked: “Fluttershy, do you know how many ponies came here from Looking Glass World, and where they ended up?” “Yes; about fifty of us volunteered, but I think only forty or so made it before the portal exploded. I hope the others weren't badly hurt when it collapsed on us.” Fluttershy shook her head, biting her lip for a moment before she continued: “The portals weren't functioning right to begin with, which was why a lot of us weren't here earlier. Someone said something about how the signals were being 'scrambled.' We activated the portal and made the run blind, but when we came out the other side it was right into a trap. A lot of us were scattered, just teleported in random directions. It was strange. It wasn't like they were trying to stop us or kill us. It was like they were just trying to split us up for now.” Cadence grunted, before she looked up with a frown of surprise as Courtly Love added: “Yeah, according to the logs, the portals were eventually just blown up... but it looked like someone tried to overload them first. I think... I don't want to-” “Just spit it out, Court.” Cadence said, and the Changeling swallowed before he took a breath. “I think this was part of Loki's plan. To screw with the portals, knowing we'd call in help from other worlds. And once we did, I think he tried to send some kind of signal back through them...” “And his forces might have started an attack on other worlds, too. The ones that dared to help us. The ones that would stand up against him.” Cadence said, and she grimaced a bit: even if all the Voidborn were here... there are Terrors. Who knows how many Husks and Lost Souls Loki commands, too... and he's obviously not shy about borrowing monsters from other worlds... and that's assuming he didn't just try and rip a hole in reality, so that... like Moonflower's world... “Okay. That just makes it even more important that we deal with Loki fast, and put a stop to this. We stop Loki, we save our world. We save all our worlds.” Fluttershy shifted a little, then she took a breath and nodded, saying quietly but firmly: “Let us know how we can help, and we'll do everything we can.” “Alright. Thank you, Fluttershy. I guess I know by now not to underestimate what the people of Looking Glass World can do.” Cadence tapped across the console, then she muttered: “Looks like we have a large group of hostiles moving into the area. Can anyone get any working scans?” Cadence straightened, and there was silence, for long enough that the mare was about to give up, before a Dogmatist calmly, mechanically announced: “Unknown entities detected, number uncertain. Voidborn presence detected. Readings indicated minimal Void activity: fifty percent chance Voidborn operative is alone.” “Either way we've got an officer to deal with, good. Let's home in on him and take him down.” Cadence said calmly, checking the projected readout on the mobile terminal before she stepped away from it. She looked over the forces here, and for a moment she tasted the Astra in the air, felt how they felt... and what is that? That sensation... “Courtly Love, you're in charge. Fluttershy, you and Tender Trust come with me. Dogmatists, remain on duty. Switch priorities to defense: if you want to help, protect this camp.” Courtly blushed as he looked up, and then he rose his head in surprise as one of the Dogmatists promised in its chill, emotionless tones: “We will protect them with our lives, Rex Prox.” “Cadence. My name is Cadence.” the mare answered with a smile, and the Dogmatist studied her for a few moments with its glass eyes before it nodded once. “My name is Logic Circuit. I will do as you ask.” answered the Dogmatist, before it added, toneless, but glass eyes filled with more than just the glow of mechanical lights: “Good luck, Cadence.” Cadence smiled briefly and nodded firmly back before she turned, saying sharply: “Fall in, then. Let's punch through to that Voidborn and see if we can disrupt their operations here, then bring the power back online. Then, we get to Loki and stop him. Understood?” Moonflower bit his lip and La Croix took a slow breath, but Sombra nodded calmly before he spoke with quiet conviction: “We will get you there, mi amore. And no matter what happens, I have faith that you will stop him.” “We'll get there together.” Cadence said with a small smile, not wanting to get into her vision, and also not wanting to waste any more time. “Let's move, people!” Cadence headed quickly towards the edge of the camp, her team following, Fluttershy and Tender Trust bringing up the rear, and ivory mare forced herself not to look back even as Court blurted her name, before the changeling shivered, then waved wildly and shouted: “Good luck!” They pushed quickly through the wreckage of the residence, and exited onto a street that had been torn apart. Cadence made a face as she led the way past the fallen corpse of a Tyrant Wyrm, but as they passed it, she could swear that it whispered into her mind: We are never gone. Not now, not ever again. Soon, all shall be us... Cadence grimaced a bit, before she swore as a Tyrant Wyrm marched through an intersection ahead, snarling and readying herself, but Fluttershy was at her side in an instant, grasping her shoulder and saying gently: “That one is not hostile.” “How do you know?” Cadence asked, but even as she asked the question, she realized Fluttershy was right: this Wyrm was different, anyway, more draconic than machine-beast, plated with heavy armor and with visible machinery across its back instead of the ugly bone-pistons, but most of all it was the sense it exuded: the Clay of Prometheus flowed through it, but it wasn't consumed by the Void. Cadence led the way across the intersection once it passed: friend or foe, she didn't want to chance setting it off. They headed down the crumbled streets, and Cadence swore as several ghouls burst out of a building in front of them, not hesitating to fling a dagger into the face of the first and slam her hoof into the head of the second, sending them both crashing backwards in dead heaps. Fluttershy kicked the third gracefully into the air before she slammed it down into the ground, and Cadence couldn't help but pause for a moment and cock an eyebrow as La Croix and Moonflower stared: from the crack... “You must have broken every bone in his body.” “No, mainly the spine. These poor things... there's nothing else we can do for them, is there?” Fluttershy asked, and Cadence looked down at the snarling corpse of the Kirin before Fluttershy reached down and gently slid the ghoul's eyes closed, saying softly: “Perhaps sometimes death... is a mercy. It's a truth I've grappled with all my life.” Cadence grunted, then she shook her head quickly, looking at the gaping black hole of the shattered doorway the ghouls had punched through: there might be more in there. “We have to keep going. Pick up the pace.” She led her team quickly down the street: they avoided contact as much as possible with the other ghouls and the few Husks they saw and kept going on as straight a path as possible until La Croix grimaced as his Mission Drive gave a few low beeps: “Detectin' lots of activity just up ahead, Cygne.” “They're either heading to Station 4 too, or trying to secure the sector exit. Great.” Cadence muttered, before she led the way quickly down a side alley on instinct, glancing over at her father and asking: “Can you follow us up?” Sombra nodded calmly, and Cadence smiled briefly before she took a breath and leapt into the air, flapping her wings to fly quickly upward through the maze of broken cables and collapsed fire escape. She landed on the rooftop, and it was like Fluttershy and Tender Trust had already been there, as the older Phooka said softly: “They know.” Cadence frowned as the rest of her team joined her; Moonflower flumping down on the roof, Sombra phasing through the material, La Croix appearing out of nowhere. “What do you mean? Do you...” And then Danzsöngr was there, beside her, looking out through the Astra, and Cadence narrowed her eyes. “Two Voidborn... or one and a half, I guess I should say. Swiftly Wing and Auriculos. But there is something... wrong with Auriculos.” “Swiftly Wing... she was there when I first...” Fluttershy paused, then she gave a small smile as she reached up and touched at her throat. “No, that's not quite true. She ran away. I can't blame her. We all died, after all... has she spent this long in the Void, pining, afraid? Is Loki that... cruel?” “Wait, what?” Cadence frowned, looking over at the mare, and Fluttershy smiled briefly. “Our first world was destroyed, and all of us died. Everyone except for Luna and Scrivener. I died before the apocalypse: I was killed by the powers of a Blood Seer. Swiftly Wing, I don't blame her, but when she saw what was happening she ran away. She was just a smuggler who lived in North Neigh, the city that... was where everything ended, I suppose.” Fluttershy looked musing, lowering her head. “Strange.” “Loki said he filled his army with traitors and cowards. People he wouldn't care about losing...” Cadence said slowly, but then she shook her head and muttered: “We'll figure it out later. Let's keep moving.” “Think while you move. The mind and the body can work independently.” Fluttershy advised, and Sombra smiled and nodded to her in agreement. Cadence only looked awkwardly at the Phooka for a moment before she shrugged and led the way over the slanted rooftop. Danzsöngr leapt ahead, and Cadence grimaced at what she saw: Swiftly Wing was riding in some kind of hell-machine with spiked treads and a battering-ram head and a single massive cannon turret, and Auriculos was doddering behind this in a modified drone body, muttering to himself and bleeding Astra... why is he already so badly injured? “He did not heal in the Void. He is little more than circuits now, glued together with madness.” Danzsöngr said calmly. “Yes, he senses us. But he does not know what to do or where we are. And yet his pride prevents him from saying more than that we are here, we are here...” “They're heading for the sector exit. I don't get it. We just head they were moving into the sector. Why are they moving back out already?” Cadence asked, and Fluttershy smiled as her daughter tugged at her childishly. “I'll go get Swiftly so you can ask her yourself, Miss Cadence. Excuse me.” Fluttershy said politely, and then she was simply gone, moving so quickly and gracefully that Cadence could barely track her movements. Swiftly snarled as she looked back and forth desperately from the safety of the Black Sheep, swearing violently under her breath: even with a sea of ghouls around her and the machine-monster Auriculos staggering along behind her, she didn't feel safe. She felt like at any time, someone could just swoop down and- Something grabbed her, and Swiftly didn't even have the time to scream before she was yanked into the air, feeling wire twining rapidly around her body. And a moment later, she was slammed to the ground, hogtied by silver wire and helpless to do anything but wiggle before she screamed in terror when she looked up and saw Cadence looming over her with a scowl. “Oh no no no! Not you, no you!” “Me.” Cadence said distastefully, and then she roughly booted Swiftly off the roof, Fluttershy wincing even as she automatically caught the ends of the wire against her hooves, so that Swiftly didn't fall very far before the wires went taut. She hauled the Voidborn quickly back up the wall as Swiftly screamed like a lunatic, before her eyes bulged out in terror as Cadence grabbed her by the hind legs and hefted her into the air as she stood up tall, asking sharply: “What did Loki tell you to do here?” “I'm just following orders! I just tell his soldiers what to do, I'm just a middlemare, that's all!” Swiftly blurted out, shaking her head vehemently as she looked with terror between the ponies – the creatures – she was dangling uselessly in front of, like prey. “Oh Horses of Heaven, I never asked for this, I-” Cadence dropped Swiftly on her head, which at least made the mare shut up, before she firmly stomped on the skull of the Voidborn to stop her babbling, Swiftly's eyes bulging out as she wiggled for a moment before falling still. Once Cadence was satisfied she was paying attention, she said coldly: “I don't like to repeat myself. What did Loki order you to do?” “Hold... hold down a specific area. Keep Auriculos protected, he's broadcasting... I don't know what it is, how it works. He's jamming the systems?” Swiftly was clearly just parroting a term she'd heard, but if anything, that convinced Cadence she was telling the truth about her orders. “I don't know anything else! The ghouls... they'll come for me, they'll come get me, and-” Cadence drew one of her long daggers, before she scowled when Fluttershy reached out and grasped her wrist, saying quietly: “Please don't.” The ivory mare hesitated, but Fluttershy smiled before she looked down and simply flicked her wrist, and Swiftly blinked in surprise as the wires fell loose from around before before she stared when the Phooka leaned down into her face, and then said softly: “Run away.” Swiftly trembled, then she turned and bolted, flapping her wings wildly and abandoning the horde of confused ghouls below. And, fearlessly, Fluttershy and Tender Trust both leapt off the building  before Cadence could react, the Phooka dropping into the army of undead below. The ghouls nearest them reacted on instinct, lunging at the Phooka with snarls of fury, but then only becoming confused when their claws couldn't grab, their jaws couldn't bite into flesh. They scrabbled uselessly at the two as Fluttershy and Tender Trust simply walked through the horde, heading towards where Auriculos was uselessly trying to climb up the back of the stalled Black Sheep in his modified drone body. “Target! Target them!” he snarled, and the main cannon of the Black Sheep rumbled slowly around to face the two Phooka, before it fired, almost point-blank, into the pair, an explosion of force ripping up the pavement, shredding ghouls and roadway alike. But both Fluttershy and Tender Trust emerged from the smoke and debris unharmed, and Auriculos' eyes widened before he half-fell to the ground, his crystalline horn beginning to glow- A glass bauble smashed into his face, exploding in a burst of antimagic that scrambled Auriculos' systems and drove him back with a scream of pain before he was kicked savagely into the air when Fluttershy seemed to simply appear beneath him, then punted viciously to the side by Tender Trust, who easily caught him in midair. Silver wire gleamed, yanking Auriculos on a steep angle to smash face-first into the ground before Fluttershy was on top of him, slamming precise strikes augmented further by the hidden blade that struck like a scorpion's sting down into the drone. Auriculos began to sit up, and then gears whirred wildly inside of him before smoke burst up from his drone body as he fell backwards, a few loose plates of armor popping off and broken wiring fizzling as he realized she had targeted the spaces in his armor and destroyed the joints and circuitry that allowed him to move. He shrieked in wordless fury and indignation, but that was all he managed to do, his glass eyes glowing with rage even as a thousand voices rasped through his mind- “Y-You won't break me! I... I can control it too! Get... get off me, shadow! Get off me!” Fluttershy only smiled, and then she asked: “Why so much hate, so much anger? Why so much pride? I've never really understood pride, I suppose... I don't know why you'd want to yell at the world about all the things you can do instead of just doing them.” Auriculos snarled, then he leaned up and rasped through the static distorting his voice: “You and y-your kind can n-never understand... what it was like, to be bred as a s-superior specimen.. and to be... relegated to some backwater un... unimportant wreck. I... I was supposed to be... they made me...” Fluttershy looked down at him with sympathy, as ghouls uselessly milled around her and her daughter, before Tender Trust said softly: “From the smallest acorn to the mightiest tree, all have their place in the world. It is not our job to change that, but to facilitate it. To keep the balance, where otherwise balance might be lost.” “Savages.” hissed Auriculos, and then his metal plates shivered as his metal body sparked uselessly, before he snarled: “Initiate self-destruct protocol! The Astra bomb inside me will-” “You can't control what you can't understand. Please don't hurt yourself.” Fluttershy said softly, and Auriculos screamed at her wordlessly before Fluttershy smiled faintly as she reached out and gently touched her daughter's shoulder, promising: “Things will be okay.” “I don't believe you.” Auriculos whispered, and it was the last thing he said, Cadence wincing and stumbling along the rooftop as she stopped to stare in shock at the massive blast that went up, watching in shock as ghouls trampled each other in terror to get away from the enormous shockwave of energy that ripped through the air. And yet even as the ghouls fell dead, when the energy breathed against her, Cadence only felt a strange and harmless longing, beneath the sizzle of electricity. She grimaced a bit as she looked down at where Fluttershy and Tender Trust had been, but a thick smoke obscured everything, and the strange energy boiled in her vision, was hard to see through because it was filled with the thoughts, the emotions, the ideas of a thousand souls... “We have to keep going. All we can do is hope that they survived.” Cadence said quietly, as painful and merciless as it was to say, but she knew there was more gratitude in moving forward than staying behind. After all, it wasn't just Endworld they were fighting for anymore.