//------------------------------//
// 19. KYS 
// Story: Divine Indifference 
// by Orthoros 
//------------------------------//

“Alright, you’re definitely sure what to do?” Atlas nervously asked.

“Yes, dad, we’ve gone over this like a million times…” Luna responded with a playful roll of her eyes.

“Ok, cool… Just making sure…” Atlas replied defensively.

It took Atlas another four years to complete the rest of his mana batteries, and all six of them were currently hanging on a wall behind him. Like a rainbow, they were affixed to the wall via pure gold like bezels in a ring. Completely unnecessary, but it made them look incredibly good nonetheless. As to not let them go to waste, he was actively using them to power any wards in and around the cave system, which allowed him to put down more defensive wards than ever before and keep them charged with an absurd amount of magic.

During that time, he had made sure to teach Luna and Celestia as much as they wanted, in whatever subject they wanted. And while Luna apparently had her mind set to the art of runes, Celestia was becoming some sort of knowledge Overlord, similar to Atlas, if not more. By now he was pretty sure that Celestia simply refused to go outside unless absolutely necessary. Her trauma really didn’t show itself in any other way aside from her aversion to being outside, so Atlas hadn’t really taken any steps in correcting her behaviour, but he’d have to do something about it eventually. He couldn’t have her be a shut-in all her life.

“Where did you put the schematics for the rune-array?” Luna asked while sifting through a sizable stack of papers.

“They’re on the workbench over there,” Atlas said, pointing towards their location. “Grab them and follow me.”

“Can’t we just do it right here?” Luna asked, picking up the papers in her magic. “We’ve been practicing up here, so why use a different place for the real thing.”

“I might not have told you everything about this project that there is to know,” Atlas said cryptically, “but I’ll tell you the details once we arrive at the proper room.”

Luna rolled her eyes once more while shaking her head, giving up on pressing the matter. Whenever he got like this he wouldn’t budge, so she’d just have to go along. She followed close behind Atlas, who lead her towards one of the paths leading deeper underground. Usually, Luna wasn’t allowed on the deeper levels as, according to Atlas, there were things down there that could be dangerous if not handled correctly. So, seeing as they were going down, her interest in whatever they were about to do was renewed.

“Alright.” Atlas suddenly stopped in the middle of a hallway and turned around, facing Luna. “I need you to promise me, that whatever you’re about to see never reaches the ears of your sister. I shouldn’t even show you this, but you’re currently the only one with enough knowledge about runes that can help me, and what I’m about to do is a two pony job. You understand?”

Luna was a bit thrown off with how serious Atlas suddenly became, like if he was about to let her in on some great secret, which caused her to pause momentarily. “I promise,” she eventually said, slightly intimidated by the look Atlas gave her.

After a few moments, Atlas gave a satisfied nod and turned towards the wall on his right. His horn began to glow a deep purple before the seemingly solid wall began to shake and rumble before sliding to the side, revealing another passage. Atlas walked straight into it as mana lamps turned on to illuminate the interior. Luna reluctantly following behind, and she suddenly felt like she was actually about to see something she shouldn’t.

The wall closed back up behind her, further adding to the feeling of having stepped into something she wasn’t supposed to, yet she still followed behind Atlas, as she trusted her father to not put her into too much danger. They followed the path for quite some time, passing by doors that she never got to see what they led too, until they finally stopped at a seemingly random one.

“Alright, here we are,” Atlas announced. “Come on in.”

They filed through the door and into a simple room with just a table, two chairs and a bed in it. Upon closer inspection, Luna also saw a pile of medical supplies on a little table next to the bed, but otherwise, the room was empty. Atlas went over to the table and sat down, motioning for Luna to sit down in the other chair.

“This is your last chance to back out of this,” Atlas said with a serious voice. “It's either now or never.”

Luna fidgeted a bit in her seat, actually quite nervous now. Just a few minutes ago she thought they were just going to do a regular experiment with a new rune array, but everything that just happened told her this would be anything but regular. Yet still, she completely trusted her father, and if she could be of help, she’d do it. No matter what.

“I’ll do it,” Luna said with conviction.

“Thank you,” Atlas said, letting out a sigh of relief for some reason. “Then, I need you to promise me, that everything you see, hear and do in this room, stays in this room. None of this can leave this room, unless I give you the express permission to tell someone. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” Luna furrowed her brows. “I promise.”

“Okay, good… Good…” Atlas took a few seconds to collect himself.

He was actually somewhat afraid of Luna flat-out refusing him, in which case he’d have to deal with a problem, since this was a two-pony job. Truth be told, he really didn’t want to involve Luna in this job, since it would be quite gruesome, and she was still technically a child. If only Starswirl was still here. He’d most likely tell Atlas that he was insane, but would still help him out of curiosity.

“I know, we’ve gone over the arrays that we’ll be using today until you can probably carve them in your sleep, but I’ve never actually told you what they do and where we’ll put them, right?” Luna nodded. “Truth is, they’re supposed to go on my bones.”

Like ripping off a band-aid, Atlas decided to just come out with the truth. Luna blinked a few times, apparently processing this new information, before a shocked expression crossed her face.

“WHAT?” Luna shouted and jumped backwards off her chair. “Your bones? That’s insane!”

“Now calm down, I know this sounds a little out there, but trust me…”

“Calm down?” Luna interrupted Atlas. “You want me to calm down after telling me this? I can’t believe you! The very first thing you told me about runes is to never put them on anything that’s alive! And now you want me to actually put them on you?”

“I can understand that this is very confusing to you, but this is different.”

“How can it be any different?” Luna asked with an incredulous face. “You told me that last time somepony tried, a great calamity befell them. I would never do something that hurts you dad, what if this actually… kills you?”

Luna had retreated into one of the corners of the room, near the door and was looking at Atlas with a somewhat fearful look in her eyes. This wasn’t what she was expecting at all when she just promised to help, not at all. As far as she was concerned this was supposed to be a run of the mill rune experiment, and all of a sudden Atlas wanted her to violate the single most important rule of runic magic.

For all she knew, carving runes on anyponys bones would just blow them up upon activation.

“It might,” Atlas said calmly, looking towards Luna with apologetic eyes. “But that doesn’t matter right now, why don’t you come back here, take a seat, and I’ll explain everything to you?”

“Wha...?” Lunas mind came to a screeching halt upon Atlas’ admittance that there was a possibility of him dying and then immediately dismissing it as unimportant. “How… How could you say it doesn’t matter?! I love you!” Luna began shouting again. “Celestia loves you as well! How could you just shrug off the possibility of you dying? How could you do this to Celestia?” Tears were now freely falling from her face. “I… I know that you are not my real father… I know that… But I never even got to meet our real parents, so you’re like the real thing to me. But, Celestia… She had to lose her parents once before! If you were to disappear now as well… It would break her…”

Luna fell to her haunches as she started to cry in earnest, letting all of her emotions out into the open. The sight of his daughter crying like that stung Atlas’ heart, making him realize that he should’ve maybe approached this subject a little differently from how he just did. He slowly got up and walked over to Luna, sitting down next to her and pulling her into a tight embrace.

Luna recoiled slightly at Atlas’ touch, but eventually let herself fall into it. She cried against Atlas’ shoulder while he whispered comforting words into her ear. They remained like this for a while until Luna eventually calmed down a bit.

“Look, I’m sorry,” Atlas said carefully. “I shouldn’t have said it like that. I know I mean a lot to you two, and you two mean a lot to me. But… there are certain things you two don’t know about me. Nobody really knows, actually, since I keep it a closely guarded secret. And believe me, if there was any other way, I wouldn’t even tell you.

Luna lifted her head and to shoot Atlas a questioning, tear-filled look, confusion apparent on her face.

“I know that I told you that carving runes onto living things is extremely dangerous, and rightly so, but you have to understand that I’m a somewhat special case,” Atlas explained further. “I’m willing to tell you, if you’re willing to listen.”

Atlas looked into Lunas eyes, waiting for her to make a decision, hoping that she would at least hear him out after the stunt he just pulled. He knew he’d fucked up and Luna must be confused and scared right now, helping with the decision to scrap the band-aid approach and instead explain everything calmly to her.

Well, maybe not everything, but most of it…

“Alright,” Luna said, sniffling. “I’ll listen.”

“That’s my daughter!” Atlas exclaimed, giving Luna a final squeeze before letting her go.

He returned to his seat, patiently waiting for Luna to collect herself and, once more, join him at the table.

“Now, what I’m about to tell you might sound like I’m trying to make a fool out of you, but trust me, every single word will be true,” Atlas put a disclaimer before his story. “It will sound fantastical and at times, impossible, but it will still be the truth.”

Luna simply nodded, apparently accepting Atlas’ opening statement.

“Alright, here goes then…”

Just like that, Atlas began to tell Luna all the things about his life that she had never heard before. She knew all the stories of his exploits within Equestria, and now it was time for her to learn of the secrets Atlas carried. He left out the parts about him being a human, and generally fit his story to the lore that was generally accepted within this world, but at its core, the truth was still there. He really didn’t want to lie to Luna, especially after he just told her that he’d tell the truth, but on the off-chance that there was a god listening in, he’d have to bend the truth a little bit.

Over the span of half an hour, Luna learned about Atlas being akin to a demi-god, his strengthened abilities, and most importantly, his immortality and how it worked. All the while, Luna remained silent, listening to Atlas explanation without interrupting once. Aside from occasionally clearing away the remnants of tears on her face, she didn’t even move that much.

“And that’s just about everything,” Atlas finished up his tale, looking towards Luna for any kind of reaction.

“Even if all of that is true…” Luna said after a while. “I don’t get why you’d need runes all over your bones.”

“So you believe me?” Altas asked hopefully.

“For now,” Luna answered carefully. “It is a lot to swallow, but even then, you promised you wouldn’t lie to me, and I’m willing to at least believe in that.”

“Thank you,” Atlas said, letting out a sigh of relief.

“All of that still doesn’t explain why you’d need something as dangerous as runes all over your skeleton,” Luna said, determined to get an answer to this question.

“Well, as I’ve said before, I’ve been told that a great evil will someday come to destroy everything, and that runic magic is the key to defeat it,” Atlas explained. “We’ve lost almost all knowledge on runes, and this is just one more effort to be as prepared as possible, once the calamity hits. I don’t know what shape or form this evil will take, or how much it will take to defeat it, so there is nothing left to do but simply… give it my all.”

“Alright…” Luna let out a deep breath. “Let’s just assume we go through with this… what would these runes actually do to you?”

“Oh, all kinds of things,” Atlas smiled, happy that Luna finally seemed on board again. “Passive shield spells, physical enhancements, better mana conductivity, and even automatically activated regeneration spells, just in case I get hit badly. As you now know, I can resurrect, but depending on how grave the injury is, I can be down for the count for quite some time. Ideally, it’d be best to prevent any injuries or even death before they happened.”

“So… these things would be to protect yourself?”

“That’s pretty much what this all boils down to, yeah.”

Luna looked down at the table, her muzzle scrunched up in thought. She was obviously conflicted about wanting to help her father, protecting him, and the fact that he could possibly die by doing it, even if he was supposedly immortal. She had a lot of information to process so Atlas let her have all the time she needed to come to an answer.

“I’ll do it,” Luna suddenly said. “I’ll help out, what do you need me to do?”

Atlas could see and hear the conviction behind Lunas words and immediately felt proud for how mature his little Luna turned out to be. A big smile appeared on his face, happy to have a daughter that would go this far for him.

“Thank you very much,” Atlas said, dipping his head in an appreciating bow before explaining the actual process they would have to go through for this. “First, we’ll have to remove all of my skin and flesh currently attached to my bones, with the exception of my head.”

“WHAT?”






Atlas awoke, feeling like he had been thrown into a meat grinder over and over again for the past week, which was more or less what happened, really. The carving of runes on bones was a relatively simple process, made infinitely harder when the owner of said bones was still alive and kicking.

Though, by using a plethora of healing and anesthetic spells, it was made possible. While there were various pain dampening spells in effect, Atlas still had his flesh removed down to the bones, where Luna then literally carved runes into them. There wasn’t really a pain dampening spell that could negate something of this magnitude, so Atlas was still in a substantial amount of pain, making it hard for him to focus.

It was made abundantly clear that doing something like this was straight-up impossible with just one pony, thus proving the need for Luna.s presence during the whole process.

Luna did her best to not let the copious amounts of blood and gore affect her, but was fighting a losing battle most of the time. It was hard on both of them, but still, they persisted, and once they actually finished, they felt closer to each other than ever before. Since they returned back upstairs every night, Celestia didn’t ask too many questions, even if she obviously caught on to something going on behind her back.

Yet, they were finally done with their gruesome task. While not visible, runes now covered all of Atlas bones, aside from the head, with the one exception being his horn. Tiny runes were carved along the twisting bone extending from just over the spot between his eyes. Compared to everything else, carving runes into his horn had actually been easy and almost painless, since a unicorn’s horn was very sturdy and durable.

Now, as long as Atlas didn’t lose a limb or get crushed to dust, again, these modifications would be permanent. It was entirely possible that after a certain time had passed, his body would assume the runes to be a natural part of him and even regenerate them should the need arise, but it was best to assume he’d lose them.

All that was left was to activate them.

“Luna?” Atlas croaked. “Are you there?”

“I’m here!” Luna said, startled, her head shooting up from the blood-splattered bedsheet where she had rested her head to sleep next to Atlas. “I’m awake!”

“Good morning,” Atlas stammered, looking down at his left hind leg, which they had just “operated” on. It was still firmly attached, and the healing spells, combined with his healing factor had restored it to its former, furry glory. “I’m afraid I kind of passed out near the end there… Did everything go as planned?”

“Yes, I finished all of it, exactly like the schematics said,” Luna answered, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Her fur was caked with blood in some places, but she mostly ignored that fact.

“Then I guess we’re finally done,” Atlas declared, a tired sigh escaping his lips.

“Oh thank god,” Luna said, letting her head fall back on the bed. “Promise me to never ask something like that of me again?”

“I promise,” Atlas said with as much of a serious voice as he could muster. “Promise to never let me do something like that again?”

“Absolutely,” Luna declared.

The two of them remained like that for a while, each letting the fact sink in that they finally were past this ordeal, until Atlas slowly started to laugh. Luna looked at him like if he had lost his mind, but soon enough joined in on the mirth as well. They were just happy to be done, each of them having different reasons to be.

“Come on, we should get cleaned up,” Atlas said, weakly rising from his prone position. “And then we’ll have to activate these runes, see if they’re actually working…”

Luna nodded, realizing that the experiment wasn’t technically finished just yet. Together, they moved to one of the adjacent rooms that had a shower and a bath installed, where they cleaned themselves up almost methodically, getting rid of the blood and grime on their furs. Finally, feeling much cleaner, they moved deeper into the cave system until they arrived at Atlas’ most secure testing chamber.

The chamber consisted of a single, dome-shaped room that could be completely closed off. The amount of powerful protective wards inside was borderline ridiculous, and the fact that they were supplied with magic from his mana batteries made them even stronger.

“Alright, this is it then…” Atlas said standing before the door leading into the chamber.

“Good luck,” was all that Luna said, feeling quite nervous.

They shared one last look before Atlas entered, completely sealing the room off after him. He had done a ton of experiments in the past and if he hadn’t made any foolish mistakes, the way the runes were arranged on his body would make them stable. If not… he just hoped that the spells around him were enough. At the very least there shouldn’t be a repeat of the Discord incident, since he was the only living being in close proximity.

With some trepidation, Atlas stepped into the middle of the chamber and sat down, preparing himself to activate the runes inside of him. After he had taken some time to collect himself, he took the plunge and started manipulating the mana inside his body to flow into the runes activating them in a very specific order. The sensation felt weird, almost alien to him, as the runes slowly accumulated the mana they needed to operate, almost as if he now possessed a second set of bones overlapping with his normal ones.

Atlas could feel the slight hum of active magic emanating from within himself, as his bones were in a constant state of vibrating in the tiniest of movements. If he had to describe it, it was like when a limb fell asleep, but instead of the whole limb, it was only the bone. The entire thing made him suddenly aware of where every single bone was within his body, and the sensation sent shivers down his spine.

While the feeling was strange and more than mildly uncomfortable, he’d just have to get used to it from now on. On the plus side of things, Atlas hadn’t redecorated the walls with his entire being, even after the last rune had been activated within his body. He waited a few minutes, slowly getting accustomed to the alien feeling within himself, before deeming himself safe.

The runes on his horn remained inactive, as they simply would activate themselves whenever he’d cast a spell, due to the magic running through them. These runes already saw quite a bit of testing during the past week and were deemed safe and fully functional.

With a relieved smile, Atlas got up from his seated position and started walking towards the exit, only to immediately lose his balance and faceplant after his first step. Grumbling a few choice expletives, he got himself back into a sitting position. Apparently, he’d have to re-train his walking skills, now that his entire body felt weird. It took a few more tries, that would have been embarrassing if anybody saw them, but eventually, he managed something akin to a regular walk.

Monty Python would be proud of him, since it looked quite… silly.

Atlas unsealed the chamber and stepped outside, only to immediately be tackled to the ground again by a blue bullet.

“Dad! You’re okay!” Luna shouted happily as she hugged Atlas as hard as she could. “I was so worried when you didn’t come out for so long!”

“Now now, you know that I would have been okay either way,” Atlas reminded Luna, which earned him a smack over the head. “But I’m glad, too,” he added, returning the hug.

“It looks like everything is working just fine, Luna, you did a great job and I couldn’t be more proud of you!” Atlas told his daughter, who was enjoying the embrace. “You did well, enduring for so long.”

Akin to a wall being torn down, Luna finally let out the pent-up emotion she had saved up over the last week, making her a laughing and crying mess at the same time.

“I’m so sorry! It must have hurt so much!” Luna cried out. “I never want to do this again!”

“Shh, it’s okay…” Atlas cooed. “I should’ve never asked this of you, but I’m very grateful that you helped me anyway. I’m sorry to have put you through this… I’m sorry.”

Atlas and Luna spent quite a bit of time on the floor, one of them letting their emotions run wild while the other whispered calming words of encouragement. None of them really knew how much time had passed, but eventually Luna calmed down. They remained in their prone position for a while longer, Atlas just stroking Lunas mane in a calming manner until Luna broke the body contact by herself.

They got up from the floor quite awkwardly, each having their own reason for doing so. Luna tried to clean off the damp fur on her cheeks while Atlas tried to regain his balance.

“I don’t know about you, but I could go for something to eat right now,” Atlas said in an attempt to lighten the mood.

“Yeah… Yeah, that sounds good,” Luna said, showing Atlas a smile that tugged at his heartstrings and they started to make their way back into the living compartment of the cave system.

Celestia was lounging on the couch, book in magic, as always. “Oh, welcome back you two,” she said, shooting them a smile. “Done for today?”

“Done forever, I’d like to say,” Atlas replied, tiredly sitting down next to her. “The experiment was a success.”

“Congratulations,” Celestia said, actually putting the book away. “Does that mean you’ll finally tell me what this was all about?” she added with a hopeful voice.

“Uhmm…” Atlas and Luna shared a knowing look. “I don’t think just yet,” Atlas said. “It’s quite complicated, but I’ll tell you eventually… when you’re ready to know.”

“Aww, there you go being cryptic again,” Celestia said, disappointed. “When will I be ready?”

“Do you hear that?” Luna suddenly interjected, her ears swiveling around.

Atlas furrowed his brows and tried to listen as well. At first he thought it was just the hum of his modified bones, but there was indeed a whistle-like sound that could be heard, constantly growing louder.

“What’s that whistling?” Celestia asked with confusion.

The sound intensified more and more, until it was apparent that it was coming from outside. All of them turned their heads to look outside, just in time to see a bright flash zoom past their balcony. Before anybody could even question what just happened, a loud crash could be heard from downstairs, along with a small quake rocking the entirety of the cave system.

Luna and Celestia shared a confused look, while Atlas was already up and bolting downstairs, albeit with some difficulty. The main cave was a mess, with papers floating around everywhere, but at first glance nothing seemed broken, which caused Atlas to sigh in relief. Celestia and Luna came following shortly after, when Atlas noticed a small crater in the floor, and approached it, the sisters close behind.

At the center of the crater, rested, of all things, a smoking baseball. Atlas blinked a few times, staring at the offending white ball, trying to come up with an explanation.

“Huh,” Celestia said beside him. “I guess the wards couldn’t keep all of the chaos outside.”

Atlas was inclined to agree, but knew that the reason for the chaos not touching this place wasn’t due to his wards, it was simply Discord leaving them be. As such there had to be a reason for this. True to his suspicion, he could see a small piece of paper that was stapled to the ball. Carefully, Atlas used his magic to remove it and floated it up to his eyes.

A few letters were hastily scribbled on the note with green ink. Green ink that Atlas had only seen once before in this world. He read the note a few times, just to make sure that he didn’t misunderstand it. Letting the note fall to the ground, he turned around to Luna with a serious look.

“I’ve just been contacted by my benefactor,” Atlas said. “I’ll have to meet with him as soon as possible.”


“What? Where?” Luna asked, not quite catching up to the situation. “I don’t understand.”

“Don’t worry, I can meet him right here, I won’t leave,” Atlas reassured Luna. “I’ll be able to meet him in… the dream realm.”

“There’s a dream realm?” Luna asked with furrowed brows.

“Uhh, yeah,” Atlas answered. “I’m sure you’ll someday be able to visit as well, but right now, I really need to go to bed. Don’t try to wake me up, since my spirit will be disconnected from my body.”

Atlas started walking back upstairs and towards his bedroom, while Luna watched him leave with a suspicious look on her face.

“Uhhh… What just happened?” Celestia asked, not having any context at all. “Why did he suddenly get so serious after looking at this blank piece of paper?”

Luna looked to the ground as well, where the small note had landed, seeing that it was indeed completely empty. Shaking her head, Luna started to go back upstairs as well.

“Even I am not sure of what just transpired,” Luna said. “All we can do is trust his words, I guess.”

Meanwhile, Atlas was settling down in his bed, getting as comfortable as possible. Apparently, he’d get to try out his new enhancements a lot earlier than he expected to, especially one rune that rested close to his neck. The array it belonged to would activate as soon as a certain code word was spoken, along with being supplied with more mana than necessary.

Atlas closed his eyes, preparing himself for what was to come. There was no doubt in his mind what the cryptic message meant he just received, or who it was from. And for him to be contacted in this way meant nothing less than it was urgent. Taking one last, deep breath, he steeled his mind.

“Nyx,” Atlas whispered, and one moment later, he was dead.








KYS

-H