Twilight’s wings beat hard against the growing storm. Through her visor, she scanned the snow and ice below. She had lost it once or twice, each time finding herself starting to panic and fly erratically as she tried to locate the path again, but each time returning to the trail. Down below, there were five sets of hoofprints: four from normal ponies, and one set that was far smaller that came from a remnus. Twilight had been deep Starlight’s facility for far longer than she had thought, and her friends had gotten far.
She accelerated, racing ahead. Part of her did not even know why she was bothering. If anything, the recordings had only confirmed her suspicions. What she had thought had been her original friends had been exactly what she had thought they were: copies, or clones of some sort, built in a laboratory and given the memories of ponies that had long ago passed away. They were not the ponies they appeared to be, even if they did have the minds and memories of ponies Twilight had loved. Yet she pressed on through the cold air and snow, desperately trying to catch up with them.
They had reached the forest, and entered it. Twilight accelerated, flying between the trees and stirring up strange insects from the leaves of the enormous trees. No doubt there were all manner of unsavory things watching her, some eyeing her with hunger and others watching with impassive hatred. She did not care. She just kept going.
For a time, she thought that she would not find them. That they had gone all the way to the rendezvous point, and already gone up to the ship. They would already have left orbit by now, if that was the case. Twilight would have, by her own orders, been left alone on the planet, not to return for many centuries. Indeed, she would no doubt return with the cure for the Mortality Virus- -but by then, it would be far too late for that victory to mean anything at all.
Then she saw them. They were far below, and looked like little dots, but they were clearly there. From high above, Twilight saw them all walking, save for Rainbow Dash who was curled on Silken’s back against the cold. Twilight quickly swooped down through the trees and landed behind them.
“Wait!” she called, trotting toward them.
Rarity turned suddenly and cast a wall spell. A short barrier formed in front of Twilight. “Stay away!” she cried.
“Please! I came to talk!”
“You mean yell at us more,” said Pinkie Pie. “And I say neigh! Neigh I say! Go away!”
“You’ve already made yourself pretty clear, Twilight,” said Applejack. “And we know we’re not welcome.”
“And neither are you!” said Rarity, turning her head with a dramatic mane flip.
“We’re not ponies, after all,” said Fluttershy. “Just copies!”
“I know,” said Twilight. “But I still need to talk to you! Please, just give me a minute!”
Rainbow dash stirred on Silken’s back. She looked up groggily. “I think I missed something here.”
“Go back to sleep,” said Silken. She turned to Twilight and looked somewhat afraid. “Please do not take my central processor,” she said. “Not until I can get them to the ship.”
“I’m not going to take your processor, Silken.”
“But you said- -”
“I know what I said! I was angry, and I felt betrayed! But I wasn’t thinking! Not about any of you!”
They slowed and turned. They were all frowning- -even Pinkie Pie- -but it seemed that they had decided to hear Twilight out.
“I was a jerk,” said Twilight.
“You were a big fat meanie, you mean,” said Pinkie Pie.
“That too. I know. I was a lot of bad things. I’ve been alone for a long time, and I thought…I thought I was alone again.” She looked at the ponies. She knew what they were on the inside, but they all looked so much like her friends. “I looked at the recordings. They were from the pony that created that place. That created all of you.”
“Oh,” said Applejack, her expression falling. “I see. So you’re here to rub it in our faces, aren’t you? That we’ve got yellow blood and ‘aren’t ponies’ even if we darn-well are- -”
“It was Starlight.”
They all fell silent.
“Our Starlight?” said Fluttershy at last.
Twilight nodded. “She spent her entire life trying to bring you back. She thought that the Elements of Harmony could heal Equestria. She didn’t realize we’d already left the planet behind. She lived longer than any mortal pony is supposed to, all alone. So that she could make you.”
“But that still means we’re just copies,” said Applejack. “At least in your eyes.”
“Yes,” said Twilight, “and no. When I saw what you…are, I didn’t know what to do. I panicked. I didn’t know if you were trying to deceive me, or if you were even who you are. But now I know you aren’t. Whatever you are on the inside, you’re still ponies. You feel the same things that ponies feel, think the same thoughts, and have memories. Our memories.” Twilight took a breath. “And you can be afraid, abandoned, and confused, just like I can. And I had no right to treat you the way I did.”
“Even if we’re not original?” asked Rarity.
“Would two identical dresses, sewn by the same hooves with the same love be any different?”
Rarity seemed taken aback by the analogy. “Well, there might be subtle differences, but…no. They would be the same.”
“And you are the same too. I can’t claim that Starlight was right. In fact, it was cruel. To bring you here, to a world you don’t understand. But it was more cruel for me to reject you like that. You may have different bodies, but you are still my friends.”
They fell silent once again. None of them spoke, and Twilight sighed.
“That was what I had to say,” she stated, forcing a weak smile. “Thank you for listening.” She turned and started to walk away.
“Now just wait an apple-pickin’ minutes,” said Applejack, stepping forward angrily. “You can’t just say something like that and walk away.”
“I can’t.”
“No. You’ve got to at least give us a chance to accept your apology.”
“It’s only proper,” aid Rarity in a huff. “And even then, forcing us to accept it so quickly is just rude.” She harrumphed gracefully. “That said, even though I do accept it, I will be holding a grudge against you for some time. Perhaps as long as a month.”
“Oh,” said Fluttershy, letting out the breath she had been holding. “I’m so relieved.”
“I still have no idea what’s going on,” muttered Rainbow Dash.
Applejack turned to Pinkie. “Pinkie?”
Pinkie Pie shrugged. “Eh. I’ve always been a clone. Ever since you sent the original back in that weird copy-pond out in the Everfree Forest.”
“Wait, what?”
“Joking, joking!” laughed Pinkie Pie. “Probably.”
“So…what now?” asked Twilight.
“Hmm,” said Rarity. “I do believe a group hug is in order.”
“Group hug!” cried Pinkie Pie. “GROUP HUG!”
The ponies converged on Twilight, and they hugged her. Silken even set Rainbow Dash down so that she could stumble to them and join in. Twilight knew that inside, they were strange amalgams of technology and mutated tissue, but they felt war and soft on the outside. She was content in the illusion she had chosen.
“Silken?” said Twilight, noticing that she was standing back.
“I’m just here to observe, and help when I can.”
“Nonsense!” said Rarity. “You are our friend too, of course you are welcome!”
“Everypony is welcome in the group hug!” giggled Pinkie Pie.
“Yeah,” said Rainbow Dash. “You really saved my bacon back there.”
“Again,” said Fluttershy, “what is bacon?”
Silken smiled, and hugged them. It was actually somewhat crushing; despite the thinness of her limbs, she was quite strong. To Twilight, though, it felt good to be hugged.
As they hugged, though, Twilight’s ears pricked. She heard a strange sound, like a chugging coming from the distance. She looked up, scanning the sky. Her friends noticed that something is wrong.
“Twilight?” asked Rainbow Dash. “What is it?”
“Silken, do you hear that?”
“I do more than hear it,” she said, her voice sounding cold. “A small ship just entered the atmosphere and is approaching rapidly.”
Rarity gasped. “The ship is here! The ship is here! Oh! Can I please have the suit back, I want to look my best when I go meet the captain!”
“But the ship shouldn’t be here,” said Twilight, scanning the sky with her visor. “This area is too unstable, and there’s nopony on the Prodijila who can do the math to plot a course here.”
Then she saw it. The chugging sound grew almost deafening, along with a roar and high-pitched whine. The ship came down from the sky like a meteor, taking a turn that would be impossible for any occupant to survive. It slowed and passed directly overhead. As it did, Twilight saw its shape. It was a system of revolving spirals around a solid core, an eccentric sphere of metal that twisted and writhed as it changed course. Several smaller versions of it followed behind.
“Oh my,” said Rarity, looking up at it with a look of displeasure as it stopped and hovered, blocking out what little light the sky had lent them. “That certainly looks different than I expected. I thought the Royal Navy would look a bit more…elegant.”
“And less terrifying,” said Fluttershy.
“That’s not the Royal Navy,” said Twilight. She immediately recognized the architecture because she had designed it. “That’s a Cult ship. My Cult.”
Almost as if it reacted on cue, the bottom of the ship shifted and opened. Four objects fell from it and landed in front of Twilight and her friends, each landing with a resounding boom. The ponies instinctively braced themselves for an attack.
When the dust cleared, four figures were standing on the Equestrian earth. Each of them was indistinguishable from the other. They were remni, and their bodies were physically identical to Silken’s save for the fact that they were slightly taller and had been given different color schemes. Whereas Silken had been made white, as was standard for remni in the Royal Navy, these Remni were black. On each of their right shoulders, they bore two horizontal violet stripes, denoting rank; on the left, they bore the insignia of the One-and-Five. The only part of them that was white was their faces, making them appear to be wearing extremely high collars and giving them a distinctly skeletal impression.
“Eek!” cried Pinkie Pie. “They’re dressed in black! That means they’re evil! EVIL!”
“We’re not evil,” said one of the remni. Her voice sounded similar to Silken’s, although with subtle differences. Although every remnus had the same voicebox, each had had different accents and speech patterns in life that tented to carry over to their new career. “Our color scheme is not intended to be threatening. It was selected by Twilight Sparkle herself.”
The others turned to Twilight.
“Darling!” cried Rarity. “Why in Equestria would you commit such a crime! They look HORRIBLE!”
“What?” said Twilight, defensively, “I thought black was always fashionable!”
“Not on armor! It makes you look like a fascist!”
“Or a Nilfguaardian,” suggested Pinkie Pie. She paused. “Actually…that suddenly makes a lot of sense…”
“Well I thought it looked good!” exclaimed Twilight. “ And I still think it does!”
“Ahem,” said one of the Cult remni, putting her pointed black hoof over her mouth.
“Don’t rush me!” shouted Twilight, turning suddenly and approaching. “I will get there when I get there!”
“Of course, Godde- -”
“What is the Cult doing here?” demanded Twilight, suddenly and without warning. “This area is still under strict quarantine, and you are in violation of it!”
“We were given orders to be here.”
“By who? Who is your commander?”
The remni looked at each other, as if trying to decide whether to tell Twilight or not. This insulted Twilight deeply.
“You are members of my Cult,” she said. “All your orders stem from me, and nopony else. Now, I don’t require you to stay with me if you don’t want to, but if you’re going to wear MY cutie mark, you are going to obey my orders! Now tell me who sent you here!”
“Wow, Twilight,” said Rainbow Dash. “Holy nuggets, you’re awesome…”
“Darling,” whispered Rarity, “your wings!”
Rainbow Dash looked back to see that her appendages were fully extended, but Twilight ignored it.
The main remnus stepped forward. Her lines were two percent wider than those of the others. “I am Corona Fade,” she said. “I follow the High Priest Light Gloom.”
Twilight gasped. “Light Gloom?”
“You know him?” asked Applejack.
“Of course I know him, he’s my High Priest! He was my personal student, one of the very best! We even- -” She stopped herself. That was not something she wanted to go into.
“Until he turned evil, right?” said Pinkie Pie. “You know, blew up the place, gave a speech, then ran out swearing vengeance?”
“No, of course not! We still have a very cordial professional relationship. He’s never showed any signs of being evil.”
“He is not evil,” said Fade. “As, again, neither are we. However, we do have an important mission here.”
“No, you don’t,” said Twilight. “You have no business here. This planet is off limites to you. It’s off limits to anypony except me.”
“Incorrect.”
“What do you mean incorrect? I just gave the order!”
“We obey the Will of the Goddess.”
Twilight blinked, confused. “Will of the Goddess…I AM the Goddess!”
“Yes. And we strive to create the world that you decided must come to be. We are here on your orders, even if you did not issue them.”
“So…not evil,” said Pinkie Pie. “Just crazy.”
“I assure you, we are quite sane,” said one of the other remni. “As is High Priest Light Gloom. He would very much like to explain his motivations with you, perhaps over tea.”
“I do like tea,” said Fluttershy. “Tea sounds really good right now, doesn’t it?”
“I’m a bigger fan of punch,” said Rainbow Dash, brandishing a hoof weakly.
“Good one,” whispered Pinkie Pie.
“Really? I just thought of that on the fly…”
“We were sent to retrieve you,” said Fade, stepping forward. The others backed away, but Twilight held her ground.
“I will do no such thing. I did not request extraction by you.” She turned to Silken. “Silken, contact the ship. Check the status on the REAL shuttle.”
“I cannot,” said Silken. “I lost contact with the ship some time ago.”
“You WHAT?! And you didn’t tell me?!”
“You did not ask.”
“The frequencies have been changed,” said one of the remni on the end of the line. “The captain of your original vessel has committed high treason and heresy. Light Gloom has assumed command of the vessel per protocol.”
“You WHAT?! I mean, I know I just said that, but- -”
“We now serve in the capacity as your original crew,” said Fade. “I assure you, they have been treated fairly and gently.”
“Reasonably gently,” added one of the others.
“Reasonably gently. As such, we have been sent to retrieve you.”
“And the others?” asked Silken.
“That was left to my personal judgement,” said Fade. “And I am not unreasonable. They will return with us. Our shuttle is equipped to give them a full medical examination, and perform any corrections that may be needed.”
“Corrections?” said Fluttershy.
“And if we don’t go with you?” asked Twilight, still maintaining her defiance.
Fade stared at Twilight for a long moment with her tiny blue pupils. “Goddess, you need to come with us. This planet is slated for demolition. If you remain, you will be caught in the blast.”
“Demolition?” Twilight almost laughed. “You can’t demolish a planet! That would require- -”
“A dimensional hammer. One has been installed in the Prodijila and is prepared to fire.”
Twilight’s eyes widened and her blood ran cold. “But…but that’s impossible…”
“Twilight,” said Rainbow Dash. “Come on, we can’t keep up with this.”
“Yes, darling,” said Rarity. She at least seemed to understand some level of the threat that the world presented, although there was no way she could fully comprehend what it meant. “Please, how bad is it?”
“That weapon is not supposed to exist,” said Twilight, her voice low and wavering but rising with anger as she continued. “I MADE SURE it can’t exist! I deleted every record, every schematic, every design- -”
“You erased the ones that you knew about. The work of a great many scholars uncovered some. The rest was produced by independent discovery and improvement, much of it by the High Priest himself. You cannot suppress that. It is not your way.”
“Twilight,” said Rainbow Dash again, “what’s all this about hammers?”
“It’s not a hammer,” said Twilight, trying to keep her composure. “That’s a euphemism. It’s a weapon. They were developed in the Last War, the one before the Exodus.” She stepped toward Corona Fade. “You have no idea what that weapon is capable of, why I did what I had to do. It was a dimensional hammer that rendered the moon uninhabitable and nearly killed Princess Luna. With a single shot. And what they did to Equestria…” She gestured out to the land around them. “You can see what it did here.”
“This was not the product of a single event, but a combination of factors.” Fade paused. “Although I admit that the dimensional hammer was a significant contributor. However, it will not be in this case. The design has been modified to ensure no part of the planet remains.”
“But why?” demanded Applejack, stepping forward to stand beside Twilight. “You can’t destroy Equestria! That’s downright ridiculous!”
“All of our calculations indicate that it is entirely possible.”
“That’s not what I meant and you know it!”
“They probably do not,” said Silken.
“We did,” said one of the other remni.
Fade nodded. “The destruction is an unfortunate collateral effect. The dimensional hammer was determined to be the only weapon capable of eliminating our target.”
“And what target would that be?”
“The remains of Princess Mi’Amore Cadenza.”
Twilight gasped, and she saw the remni’s eyes focus on her. In that one instant, she had shown her hoof. They knew, and so did she.
“You can’t do that,” said Twilight.
“You were sent here to retrieve them. To use her unique genetic code to establish a cure for the Mortality Virus. We cannot allow that to happen.”
“Are you insane?! Why?!”
“Because that is the Will of the Goddess.”
Twilight was about to scream at them, but she felt a cold pointed hoof on her shoulder.
“Silken?”
“Let me talk to them.”
Twilight nodded, and Silken stepped forward. “Sisters,” she said. Then she looked to the one on the far left, who was perfectly identical to the others. “And brother.”
“Silken Dream,” said Corona Fade. “It is good to see one of us here. However, that mane looks ridiculous.”
“It may,” said Silken, shaking it. “But it is so soft.”
“Indeed. I have heard that the Royal Navy has much looser remni coloring restrictions than the Cult of Twilight Sparkle.”
“It’s called the ‘Cult of Twilight Sparkle’?” whispered Rainbow Dash. “So. Awesome!”
Pinkie Pie shoved a cupcake in Rainbow Dash’s mouth, forcing her to be quiet. Nopony asked where Pinkie Pie had found the ingredients to make said cupcake.
“The restrictions are similar,” said Silken, shrugging. “With that said, you are out of line.”
“Am I?”
“It is not our position to give orders to ponies. Especially to the Gods.”
“I am not giving orders. I am relaying them, in a sense. You could say I am offering a suggestion.”
“A suggestion whose consequence for noncompliance is atomization. That is not a suggestion at all, I think.”
“Then what is it?”
“A threat.”
Fade made no facial response. Remni generally did not. They were patient. “It is not meant that way. However, I feel- -as do my siblings- -that it is critical that we remove the Goddess and her associates from this world before demolition can commence.”
“You would not fire if she is still here.”
“I would not, no. Light Gloom would.”
“I see. Then that leads us to the most important question.”
“Which is?”
“If the Goddess refuses to depart of her own free will, will you take her by force?”
Corona Fade stared at Silken for a long moment, and then turned her eyes toward Twilight. “She will not elect to stay. It would not be logical.”
“Don’t pretend to speak for me,” said Twilight. “I’ve done a lot of things that aren’t logical today, and I feel like I might want to keep up my streak.”
“Then yes,” said Fade. “If that is your decision, we cannot allow you to come to harm. We would take you by whatever means necessary.”
Silken stared at her for a long moment. “I see.”
A sudden explosion knocked Twilight and her friends to the ground, the result of thirty two tons of metal colliding at maximum speed. Silken had charged Corona Fade, and Corona Fade had shifted her body to brace for the impact. Neither had sustained the slightest damage.
“Silken!” cried Twilight. “What are you doing!?”
“I serve the Goddess,” she said, more to Corona Fade. “I have been ordered to defend her!”
“As have I,” replied Fade.
The two separated and attempted to punch one another. It was an odd thing to watch: both were far stronger than any living pony could be, but both were perfectly maladapted for physical combat.
This did not bother the other remni. Twilight felt a distortion in the air, and out of the corner of her eye saw orange panels appear beside each one. They had begun casting technomagic.
Twilight raised her own magic, casting a shield spell around herself and her friends to protect them from a pair of concerted stun spells.
“Stop!” cried Fluttershy. “There has to be a peaceful resolution to this! Can’t we just talk!”
“I would prefer it,” said Corona Fade, punching Silken so hard that she flew backward and nearly crushed Applejack, “but due to the circumstances, we will need to render you unconscious first.”
A beam suddenly shot out toward Twilight. Fade had not summoned a panel, and Twilight had been too distracted to feel the characteristic distortion of the device. Twilight was struck from the side, though, and tumbled into the snow. Rarity had jumped on her, pushing her out of the way.
Twilight rolled a distance and then stood up, wondering why she suddenly felt so cold. She looked down at herself, but rather than finding a horrendous injury as she expected, she instead discovered that she was nude.
“Rarity!” she cried, looking up to see Rarity charging toward one of the remni wizards wearing full morphiplasm armor. “My clothes!”
“Borrowing it, darling! I’ll have it right back!”
“Rarity!”
“Alright!” cried Rainbow Dash as she bated her wings. “Let’s do this!” Then, despite her previous injury, she charged recklessly toward one of the other remni, barely managing to dodge a complicated net-spell that would have ensnared any slower pony.
Twilight sighed and stood next to Applejack. “Do you think you can win this one, AJ?”
“What are you talking about? I won the last one! And I’m not a violent pony anyway- -GAH!” Twilight cast a levitation around them both as the ground below them began to liquefy from a technospell.
“Well, that’s just not fair…”
Rainbow Dash reached her opponent in a fraction of a second. Despite her speed, though, as a machine his reaction time was faster than hers. He dodged, turning one of his eyes to scan her as she passed.
“My observations indicate that you are injured,” he said. “Please refrain from fighting. I do not want to risk injury to you.”
“Fat chance!”
She swooped down again, and the remnus coated himself in magical armor. He was not sure why; there was literally nothing a pony could do to him without any sort of weapon or spell. The most she could manage would be to slap him slightly, which would be essentially trivial. Yet, somehow, he felt distantly threatened. The idea of a small, colorful creature moving so quickly spooked him slightly.
“I cannot allow you to injure yourself,” he said as Rainbow Dash rebounded off his armor. He opened a panel and processed a different spell. This one was quite a bit more advanced than a stun or shield spell, and he felt his processing power momentarily drop.
Then the spell activated. Rainbow Dash, who was coming around for another pass, seemed to slow. She was still moving at the same speed and still leaving a characteristic rainbow contrail, but time for her was moving more slowly than it was for the remnus. Time spells that allowed the user to travel back in time were, of course, forbidden, but such things were far beyond the ability of a remnus or really even any pony save for the pure alicorns and perhaps the witchlord Sarkon Vortrenth. This spell was far more primitive; it only slowed time relative to the caster.
The remnus stepped forward, feeling the massive strain on his mechanical body as he did so. He approached Rainbow Dash, preparing a stun spell. His observations indicated that she was close to opening old wounds, and he needed to act quickly if she was going to be recoverable.
That was when he felt something plop onto his back. His eyes revolved to see what had landed on him, and he saw a pink, curly-maned pony sitting on him.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hello,” he replied. She smiled in real-time. “Well,” he said, “that’s an anomaly. I should take this down…”
“What were you going to do to Rainbow Dash?”
“Stun her. Then retrieve her.”
“In a sack?”
“Excuse me?”
“In a sack. You were going to shove Rainbow Dash in a sack! You were going to play a game of disappearing ponies!”
“I assure you, there is no sack involved. There are five remni here. We anticipated that each would carry one stunned pony, and the Goddess would join us on her own.”
“You’re counting Silkie.”
“Silken.”
“But she’s so silky smooth.”
“You would be surprised.” The remnus paused. “Could you please get off my back? I do not appreciate being ridden like a horse.”
Pinkie Pie make a facial expression that the remnus did not recognize. “You mean you don’t like pony rides?”
“Not if I am the pony being ridden, no. And I am not a pony. I am a remnus. There are physiological distinctions.”
“Are you saying you want to get me off?”
“I’m saying that I am about to capture you.”
Pinkie Pie giggled in a way that made the remnus feel distinctly uncomfortable. “You can sure try!”
He did indeed try. He moved rapidly, even though doing so caused the time spell to immediately shatter. Strangely, though, despite his mechanical speed, he was unable to catch the pink pony. She just kept slipping out of his grasp, even when- -after several attempts that no doubt would have looked comical to any observer- -he actually did grab her.
As she literally slipped out of his grasp, he looked down at his long, pointed front legs and saw that they were covered in an oily fluid.
“Is this…butter?” he looked up. “Where did you find butter in a place like this?”
“That’s for me to know,” giggled Pinkie Pie, “and for you to find out!”
In the time that it had taken Pinkie Pie and her opponent to speak in hyper-time, Rarity had reached her target. The remnus took a defensive position, digging her pointed feet into the icy ground. She was not entirely sure what to expect, but her analysis of the incoming target indicated that she was capable of biological magic. Biological magic was something the Cult had studied in great detail, but it was considered something of a divine mystery. The only living ponies that still possessed the ability to use it were the Tribunal, and now, this unicorn pony. This made the situation unpredictable.
The remnus expected some devastating attack, or even a formal wizard duel. She had prepared a number of shield spells and seals optimized for magic of any sort. What she did not expect, though, was for the white pony to bump softly into her lower legs. It was something like being stuck by a low-speed marshmallow.
“Did you just ram me?” she asked. “How rude!”
“My apologies, darling,” said Rarity. Had the remnus facing her still had blood, she might have blushed. White alicorns- -by their own definition of “white”- -were extremely rare. This white unicorn was both adorable and stately at the same time. “It was the only way to conduct the transfer.”
“Transfer?” The remnus looked down and only then realized that a foreign morphiplasm signature was crawling up her body. This was no doubt a lethal attack meant to hack and interfere with her own morphiplasm; she could fight the infection, but depending on how powerful this unicorn was time might be very short.
She took a rapid step forward, intending to strike the unicorn in the horn and attempt to knock her out. As she did, she noticed that the pony had retained some of the morphiplasm on her own body, a portion that covered her rear skull and her spine. It was an interface, and the remnus was validated.
Except that she was wrong. She got two steps before, rather than cutting into her internal systems, the morphiplasm suddenly sprang out and formed a long, elegant dress.
“Wh- -what?” she said, looking down, and then at the pony. “What did you do to me?”
“I made you a dress.” She raised an eyebrown and seemed to think for a moment. “But the height is more challenging than I thought it would be. Maybe an accent on the upper body?” The pattern on the Remnus’s admittedly tiny torso changed slightly, and a pleasant brooch appeared in the center of her chest. “There! Much better!”
“How am I supposed to fight you in formalwear?”
“You’re not, darling!” said the unicorn with a mischievous smile. “See? I win.”
“This isn’t going to stop me.” She charged a spell and stepped forward. “I still can- -”
The clothing shifted again, this time forming a stunning black suit over a brilliant purple blouse.
“Oh my,” said the remnus, poking at the glossy fabric of the blouse. “Is this silk? How did you do that?”
“Well, that’s my little secret! But if you must know, it’s a matter of the weave direction…”
Of the other two Cult remni, only one remained unoccupied. She had been providing support to Corona Fade in the form of calculation assistance and cover-fire, but that had turned out to be largely unnecessary. Despite physically fighting a remnus twenty times her age- -something as difficult as it was rare to encounter- -and defending herself from the Goddess Twilight Sparkle, she was actually holding her own. There were rumors that in life, Fade had been the head of Twilight Sparkle’s personal military forces. From her skill at combat, this might very well have been true.
The remaining remnus took a survey of the crowd. Her brother was engaged with the pink and rainbow ponies, and sister appeared to be trying on dresses. This left her to deal with either attempting to deal with the pale orange pony that was assisting the Goddess or to attack the pastel yellow one that appeared to be cowering far away from the action. The most logical choice was to attack the weak pony and return to the fight, perhaps using her unconscious body as leverage to get the others to surrender.
She moved forward at incredibly speed, easily outpacing the pale-orange pony’s reaction time and breaking past toward the pastel. The remnus lifted a needle-like foot and drove it down. The pastel pony squeaked loudly and barely managed to dodge in time, leaving the remnus’s limb to imbed itself a food into the rocks below her.
“Be careful,” ordered Corona Fade through their shared transmission channel. Now she was fighting an elder remnus, a Goddess, a pony, and talking. “We agreed on nonlethal retrieval.”
“The cybernetic architecture will rebuild small holes.”
“They do not have cybernetic architecture.”
The remus paused. “Oh. I did not know that.”
By this time, the pale-yellow pony was weeping and running into the forest wildly. She had wings that no doubt worked, but in her fear they had clamped closed. This was an unfortunate situation; the remnus was actively detecting over one thousand individual species of fauna in the woods. The yellow pony would no doubt be in danger from the native animals.
The Pegasus was fat and slow. The remnus pursued quickly and efficiently, moving rapidly over the rough terrain without difficulties even as the Pegasus was stumbling and falling over herself. Even when she managed to attempt to hide, the remnus would simply track her by the trail of salty fluid she was leaving. This trail, hopefully, consisted of tears.
The chase was short. The remnus cornered the yellow Pegasus beneath a large tree root. She was defenseless and soft, quivering from fear against the root and stone.
“P- -please!” she pleaded. “Don’t hurt me! I bruise easily! Can’t we solve this nonviolently? Over tea, maybe?”
“I do not have the capacity to drink tea,” said the remnus. “Nor did I like it when I did. It tastes like old leaves.” She began a spell. It was an ordinary stun spell, but she had increased the voltage substantially in the name of curiosity. She wondered what that would do to an organic.”
“No! Stop! I’ll- -I’ll go with you!”
“Yes you will. Ideally in a sack.”
The spell began to fire, but was suddenly distorted by a failure in targeting. The remnus took a few steps back, confused as to why her optics were not functioning. Then her internal diagnostic systems began to indicate that she had been coated with fluid, and that it was massively corrosive. Her entire outer surface was dissolving.
She looked up to see an arthropod. It’s body had previously been obscured by the well-trimmed greenery and fungus that covered its body.
“Simon!” cried Fluttershy, looking up at her vinegaroon friend.
The remnus took several steps back, reeling from having been covered in Simon’s vinegar. When she looked up, Fluttershy screamed. The remnus’s surface had been partially burned away, revealing robotics and a skeletal face with one badly damaged eye peering out at her through an uneven blue pupil.
“Oh my Celestia!” squeaked Fluttershy. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t realize that, you know…well, I kind of did, but…here, let me help you! It- -it’s not that bad!”
“No,” said the remnus. “It isn’t. I’m a machine. I don’t have pain receptors. This is unfortunate, but it will heal. Quickly. However,” she turned to Simon, “I do not like interference in my hunt.” She powered up a spell, and before the creature could react it was trapped in a crystal-like structure of orange magic.
“Simon!” cried Fluttershy. “Nooooo!”
“That was oddly effective,” said the remnus. “I have decided to use the same spell on YOU.”
The Pegasus released a high sound and ran. The remnus followed, but her speed was badly impacted by the fact that she now had acid in her joints. The pursuit was now more even, although the remnus still managed to catch up to the pony as she approached a number of stacked rocks surrounded by small, waving tendrils.
“You cannot escape me. I will catch you. And then I will treat you with great respect and care. And also electrocute you. Because I want to see what happens.”
“Please, help!” cried the Pegasus. “Somepony help me!”
“That is what I am trying to do,” said the remnus. She approached the ring of rocks and, due to her failing body, accidentally tipped over one of the stone columns. The tendrils suddenly became excited and wrapped around one of her legs- -and then pulled back into the ground.
A massive head suddenly shot out of the ground, opening its wide mouth wide to reveal hundreds of rows of needle-like teeth. The remnus did not have time to react; she was bitten in half and swallowed immediately. The many-eyed worm creature then turned to Fluttershy and looked at her.
“Oh my,” said Fluttershy. “You didn’t have to eat her!” The creature let out a series of light clicks, and Fluttershy hugged it. “I know, I know. It’s in your nature to eat tasty things. I just hope she’s alright.”
“I am,” said a muffled voice from inside the creature. “Although I would be better if I were outside.”
“Oh,” said Fluttershy, looking slightly disturbed. She looked up at the creature, and its many largely blind silver eyes looked back at her. “Well, I don’t know if that is really possible…”
“Then could you send my rear half in? That is where my technomagic assembly is.”
Fluttershy looked at the still-moving rear half of the machine. It was somewhat disturbing. “Um…no. You’ll just have to find your own way out.”
“And how do I do that?”
“Just wait. You’ll be fine. Although you ought to feel ashamed of yourself for giving this poor creature indigestion! You’ll pass in two to three weeks.”
“I see. So I’m getting vaporized with the planet. And all of you.” Fluttershy could almost feel the shrug through the worm-maggot’s thick hide. “Oh well. I guess I have to go sometime. Again. And it’s probably better than getting ‘passed’.”
Twilight parried a blast of magic, altering the mathematical predictions based around the spell to divert it. Corona Fade’s coding pattern was complex, as would be expected, but paradoxically it made it easier for Twilight to create parallel neutralizing systems. She was not sure, but she had a suspicion that Corona Fade had once been called Albedo Shine; a powerful pony, to be sure, but one who had always considered advanced study as somewhat inferior to practical magic. If that were the case- -and Twilight were correct concerning her identity- -that gave her an advantage.
The advantage was limited, though. Silken was still engaged, and the fight moved at a pace that was entirely reasonable if not downright slow for remni but that was more or less a blur to Twilight. She could use targeting spells to determine where she needed to hit, but even in her nearly-healed state the power drain would be too much for her. Without them, there was too great a risk that she would hit Silken.
The two of them were not evenly matched. Silken was an older and more experienced remnus, But Fade had a Cult-built body that was substantially more advanced. Strangely, though, neither of them seemed to be trying especially hard.
“This is absurd,” said Fade. It was somewhat jarring that her voice sounded consistent and without even the slightest hint of being out of breath. She did not breathe, of course, but it was strange nonetheless.
“I agree,” said Silken. “However, if you will not retreat willingly I must oust you.”
“That would leave the Goddess vulnerable. Are you prepared to accept the responsibility for that?”
“I am a remnus. I am free of all responsibility.”
“The time had come where we no longer have the luxury to maintain that tired affirmation.”
They slammed into each other, locking in position for a moment. Twilight saw her opening. She charged her horn and directed it toward Corona Fade’s central processor.
She fired without hesitation. One of Silken’s eyes shifted toward her, though, and saw what she was doing. Suddenly, one of her long legs wrapped around Fade’s neck and pulled her downward toward the ground. The beam passed over her head, burning a sixty-foot deep circular hole through a nearby granite rock formation.
It was at that moment that Twilight was tackled from the side. She turned to see one of the other remni, the male one that had been fighting Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. It had broken free in an attempt to defend its leader. Pinkie and Rainbow Dash had been able to slow him, but not stop him.
He charged. Twilight reacted instinctively, charging a teleportation spell to dodge. Only after the spell was complete did she remember the effects of teleportation through Equestria’s fallout on the pony brain. She could not possibly teleport herself without leaving herself vulnerable or worse. So, instead, she fired the spell at the oncoming remnus.
There was a snap. The remnus vanished in a plume of pink-violet light, and then appeared in a similar surge twenty feet away.
He looked around confused. “Huh?” he said. “How did I get over here?”
Twilight saw her chance, and charged her horn again. She fired at him while he was still confused, and he could not raise a defensive spell in time. He was teleported again, this time to a location on a continent several thousand miles away.
That spell would have been challenging on a good day, but in this circumstance it had been positively draining. Twilight took a breath and fell back. As she did, she spied Applejack. She had originally retreated into the forest to try to help Fluttershy.
“How is she?” gasped Twilight, suddenly realizing just how concerned she was.
“She’s fine. Did you- -whoa!”
Applejack barely managed to dodge as Silken was thrown past her and into a rock. Silken’s legs flailed out in various unpleasant looking directions. Her body was badly damaged, but it was rapidly repairing itself.
“Well, that count’s as tagging out if I ever did see it,” said Applejack. “I guess it’s my turn!”
“Applejack! You can’t! Don’t be an idiot- -”
It was too late. Before Twilight could stop her, she stepped forward against Fade.
Fade looked down at Applejack, neither amused nor concerned. “I am not going to fight you.”
“Afraid you’re going to get your flank handed to you on a silver platter?”
“The silver platter is extraneous. No. You are not a remnus. I have no desire to injure you.”
“This isn’t my first scrap,” said Applejack.
“Nevertheless. No.”
Fade raised a spell. Twilight reacted, dodging it, but without Silken to distract her Fade was able to perform an unexpectedly complex spell, one of the sort that Albedo Shine never would have been able to perform. The front end of the spell used a triton-style algorithm; when it hit Twilight’s shield, it split into three portions. Twilight managed to summon a second shield to block one of the secondary heads, but she did not have time to stop the other one. It arced outward and struck Applejack in the side.
Applejack cried out and stumbled, but did not fall. This seemed to surprise Twilight and Fade equally.
“Interesting,” said Fade. “That was a grate four stun spell. It should have rendered you unconscious for the better part of a week. Either you are far more durable than you appear, or your physiology is vastly different from that of a modern pony.”
“Or you’re just bad at magic,” groaned Applejack, swaying as she tried to stand.
“Perhaps,” said Fade, stepping forward gracefully. “However, you are a secondary objective. So go away.” She lifted one long leg and kicked Applejack in the chest. The force was so great that Applejack sailed through the air and slammed hard into the lower trunk of one of the enormous trees.
“Applejack!” cried Twilight.
“Now,” said Fade, turning to Twilight. “Protecting you is my primary objective, so if you do not mind- -”
“I’m not through yet,” said Applejack, standing up.
Fade sighed. She did not turn away from Twilight. “Stop trying to fight me,” she said. “As I have stated, you are not my concern save for the fact that I do not want to accidentally injure you.”
` “You think that little poke is gonna do anything to ME?”
“If I had wanted to, I could have sent you through that tree and the rock face behind it.” Fade turned to Applejack. “Calm yourself. Your cutie mark betrays you. You are not specialized for fighting.”
“You’re right about that,” said Applejack. “But do you know what my cutie mark is in?”
“What?”
“Apples.”
Without warning, Applejack lifted her full weight onto her front legs. There was a moment of pause where Twilight could see every muscle on the earth-pony’s body tighten and every sinew stand tight. Then, with a deafening force, she bucked the tree behind her.
For a moment, nothing happened. Fade looked to Twilight, and then to Applejack, confused.
“What did that tree ever do to you?” she asked. “That is unhealthy for the bark- -”
She barely managed to dodge as an apple three times her size fell to the ground beside her, bursting open in a plume of juice and seeds. Fade landed gracefully out of the path, but before she even had two hooves on the ground another three apples fell. Two of them exploded, but the third landed without harm and extended its legs. Fade had not been expecting this, and as the next batch of apples fell she tripped over the ambulatory one and fell directly into the path of a fifteen-foot wide golden delicious.
The apple struck her, and the force was so great that it momentarily imbedded her entire body into the apple’s center, trapping her. Twilight once again saw a chance. She did not have enough energy left for a beam spell or shield summoning program, but she did have enough for a transmutation procedure.
Her magic struck the apple and changed it. The golden flesh expanded and shifted, becoming translucent citrine. It formed a new structure, one charged by magic that could not be broken by normal means; a spell ingrained on matter of Twilight’s choosing. Corona Fade attempted to tear her way out of the apple, but by then it was too late. The fleshy edible mass had been converted into unbreakable crystal.
Fade struggled, but was unable to escape. Silken, by this time, had repaired herself. She stood up and approached the defeated foe.
“I cannot escape,” said Fade.
“No. You cannot.” Silken drew back one of her pointed hooves, and then rammed it forward through Fade’s forehead. Fade’s body twitched as Silken tore out a silvery oblong shape from her opponent’s skull.
“SILKEN!” cried Applejack, looking as though she were about to be sick.
Silken looked back, still holding Fade’s central processor as it dripped black fluid but otherwise looking profoundly confused.
“What?”
Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie approached as well, and when they saw what Silken had done they gasped.
“Dude!” cried Rainbow Dash. “Did you just…you didn’t- -”
“That isn’t something we do!” cried Applejack.
“Yeah,” agreed Pinkie Pie, who looked even sicker than Applejack.
Silken still appeared confused. “I do not understand.”
“Imagine it from their perspective,” said Twilight.
“I cannot.”
“You just pulled out her brain.”
“Oh,” said Silken, holding it up. “Yes. I did.”
“You just- -I can’t believe- -I actually trusted you!”
“Why would you trust me? Corollary: why would you distrust me? I have not done her any harm.”
“Harm? HARM? You just yanked her thinker!”
“Yes. And it is still intact.” Silken held it up. “This is not unusual. The central processor of a remnus can indeed be abstracted safely. She most likely shut down to low-power mode.” Silken looked down at Fade’s body, which had begun to liquefy. Twilight permitted it to leave the crystal, and the morphiplasm assembled itself into a large white sphere that contain the more expensive portions of Fade’s body within.
“I don’t even know what half that means!”
“I don’t know what any of it means,” said Pinkie Pie. “But…I wasn’t paying attention…so…”
“It means she is asleep,” said Silken. “A remnus exists so long as her processor is intact, regardless of what body it is placed in or whether it has a body at all.”
“Indeed,” said the last functional Remnus. She approached the group slowly, moving elegantly in a swirling dress adorned with various symmetrical jewelry. This sight alone was shocking, but the others took a defensive stance, ready to fight her. Twilight’s eyes only left her for a moment at the sound of moving brush behind her; what she saw was Fluttershy riding atop the head of a vast and terrible creature, a worm with the head of a lizard and the body of a feathered maggot. It was detestable, but at Fluttershy’s command it braced itself to defend her.
“What is this?” said the remnus. “Oh. My apologies. I yield.”
Silken immediately relaxed and smiled. She then stepped forward.
“Silken!” hissed Rainbow Dash. “Don’t approach the enemy!”
“She is not our enemy. She yielded.”
“Indeed,” said the other remnus.
“Wait,” said Applejack. “And that’s just it? You can do that?”
“That isn’t fair!” cried Rainbow Dash. “I wanted a FIGHT!”
“I think it’s very chivalrous,” commented Rarity, who was approaching at the heels of the remnus beside her. “It’s certainly a more civilized way to do things, isn’t it?”
“But, you’re just giving up? Like that?”
The remnus stared at Rainbow Dash. “Of course. For one, I am not dressed for combat. Second, you have incapacitated my comrades. One has been cored, one eaten, and one is almost surely wandering around confused somewhere. My primary objective has shifted to collecting them, and returning them to safety in orbit.” She paused. “Before the planetary demolition, of course.”
“And just how are you going to do that?” asked Fluttershy, suspiciously.
The renmus looked up at the creature that Fluttershy was standing on. “With great difficulty, I think.” She turned slowly to Twilight. “However, Goddess, I must make one more plea for you to come with us.”
“I think my answer is pretty apparent.”
“Nevertheless, I must ask. Please. While it may not be clear in my present state, I was once one of your devoted followers. The name I bore is now of no consequence, but I worshipped you for my entire life. Longer, even, as I still owe my allegiance to you now.”
“I doubt that.”
“So you may. It is your prerogative. But know that I am sincere when I ask you if this is what you really want. Do not answer. I do not need to know your response. But be sure that your choice is the correct one. Because when the dimensional hammer is used, there will be no going back.”
Twilight looked up at her, staring into the remnus’s unblinking eyes. The false-eyes of a pony who had known death, the one thing that according to all calculations Twilight could never know. She did not answer the remnus’s question, though, as she did not know the answer yet.