//------------------------------// // XII. Revoke (unedited) // Story: Replicated Wanderer // by QuartzScale //------------------------------// “Well… this is unexpected.” Hurricane muttered as he stepped over towards the still captured ponies. The sight of three corpses took him aback but there was something off about it. Under the pale moonlight and glistening torches it was hard to say what kind of ponies they used to be. “Sir?” Second Stand spoke up gathering his wits as he surveyed the scene before him. “Yes Stand?” Hurricane curtly answered. “Permission to speak freely?” Stand asked just as quickly. “Granted.” Hurricane answered to the displeasure of Platinum and Puddinghead who groaned because it meant they would hear Second Stand’s famous ability of putting his hoof in his mouth. “This is bucked up beyond belief. Oh Faust I think one of the eyes are still blinking. There's body parts everywhere. Oh Faust I think I touched one of the organs. Oh no stomach started churning… sweet merciful Faust deliver me from this evil. Oh no, oh no one of the hoofs is twitching. I think it's still alive… and it's… oh never mind it's dead. Oh that's so weird that it's pulsing.” Stand allowed his words to flow without consequence. “Stand. Do us all a favor and keep your mouth shut.” Princess Platinum scoffed though secretly she was trying to keep her stomach down. “For once I agree wholeheartedly.” Puddinghead chimed in though she couldn't keep her stomach down as well and rushed off with two of her guards to relieve her stomach. “Second… you remember the chat we had about acting while out on duty?” Hurricane softly stated as he rounded on his hapless second in command. “Uh… keep my mouth shut and don't describe any bloody scenes?” Stand nervously chuckled as he took a step back. “No more talking soldier. For the rest of the mission unless it's really important.” Hurricane grimly growled out affixing his glare of his soldier. Stand immediately shut his mouth and made absolutely certain that nothing came out of his mouth again. He was still freaking out internally about the bloody mess that had been left behind. Platinum finally gaining her composure lit up her horn and started scanning the body. While it was usually below her to do the dirty work… the need for stability and the idea that Harmony would finally spread got her to scan what was wrong with the ponies who had died. “Well… that is definitely disturbing. Hurricane has Puddinghead finished clearing her head.” Platinum called out as her horn went off. “Almost. I think…” Hurricane answered up until a slightly green tinged Puddinghead trotted out unsteadily. “Urk… I really hate dealing with anything like… well, this. Please, please don't tell me it gets worse than this.” Puddinghead muttered as she wiped her muzzle clean. “Yeah sorry there pudding but it does.” Platinum chuckled though the cringe on her face was extremely noticeable. “Great…” Puddinghead sighed and steeled herself for what came next. “Go ahead Platinum and just give us the rundown. Stand go see if we have any chatty guests before we transport them.” Hurricane commanded as his second in command began searching through all the unconscious and wounded ponies around. It took a bit until Second Stand got out of earshot. Hurricane wasn't looking forward to this conversation and neither was Puddinghead. Platinum seemed to be articulating her thoughts of the amount of concentration sculpted on her face was indicative of how big this actually was. “It was strange enough that we've been facing pony like golems for a while now but this might actually explain what we've been facing. Now I've found out what it means and I don't like it at all.” Platinum derisively sniffed the air though the effect was lost on the pegasus and earth pony leaders. “Get on with it.” Hurricane hissed through gritted teeth. “Fine. Ruin my passion for dramatics.” Platinum harshly sighed though she took on a more contemplative gaze. “These weren't just pony like golems. They are pony golems. Each of the ponies that had been torn apart seemed to have been transmogrified into their crystalline form and stripped of everything that made them ponies in the first place. At first I thought they were turned to crystal but…” Platinum bit her lip which was slightly quivering. “It's worse than that!” Puddinghead sharply hissed managing to keep her voice down so the other guards didn't hear. “What is it then?” Hurricane passively stated though his eyes were slightly scrunched out and his gaze harshened from the glare he had given Second Stand. “The crystals grew from inside these ponies almost instantly. They burst from the inside out turning into those golems that were shattered there, and over there and way over there staining that guard.” Platinum pointed out to each respective golem and their shattered carcasses. “What? How!?” Hurricane finally reacted roaring out in anger. “I don't know. I don't know and I'm really worried on what this means for those under Goring Corundum.” Platinum backed up clearly not desiring to be victim to his withering gaze. Hurricane fumed and ranted to nopony in particular but Puddinghead and Platinum gave him a wide berth. When he got made no one wanted to deal with him. The original zebra delegate Zetto learned that first hoof by pushing all his buttons with the big no-no of hitting on Private Pansy who he treated like a daughter from time to time. Needless to say Zetto was no longer the zebrican delegate after that fiasco. Neither the Princess or the Chancellor wanted to deal with that kind of incident again. It was lucky that it didn't delve into further incidents and ended with Zetto’s lecherous advances. “So the Crystal Empire is under the control of some mad pony who enjoys turning their subjects into walking crystal experiments.” Hurricane growled out so lowly only the other leaders could hear. “Unfortunately, yes.” Platinum answered evenly affixing the curls of her mane back under her travel crown. “I will never understand how some ponies are so willing to kill off their fellow ponies so easily. Still this scene before us… “ Puddinghead muttered as she trotted near where all the prisoners of war were. Several looked out lost in thousand yard stares utterly broken. Others were snarling tangles of rage attempting any form of revenge they could latch on to. The few sane ponies who had seen what happened gave up immediately and threw themselves at the mercy of the Equestrian forces. In the matter of events that had transpired several ponies spoke of the golem that they were ordered to fight. The crazy plan of using a large lightning storm to take it out. The sudden shock of the golem behind a protective shield that was assumed to be from the unicorn he carried on his back. Then the massacre that followed. “Are you certain that that happened?” Hurricane stared at the guard that they were interrogating a little unsure of his story. “Yeah. One shot for almost every guard and it took them down almost instantly. It wasn't normal at all. Then he stopped using his weird fireball shooter and used his bare fists to crack the golems that attacked. One swing was all it took…” The defeated guard admitted before faltering down and going silent. “Right then… “ Hurricane trailed off. While not overt the story has unnerved him. Tales of the assassin golems being nearly unstoppable and their successful assassination of Governor Cirrus was the stuff of nightmares. He had been found flayed alive before ponies could find him. He died shortly after from his wounds and blood loss that even magic couldn't solve for. “I take it we have a lead then?” Puddinghead chirped up dragging Hurricane’s attention. “Yeah. There were several maps detailing checkpoints that the Crystal Guard made for their supposed conquests. Second Stand has made certain to keep lookout for any sighting of X. If he has we will be informed. “Sir?” Stand piped up flapping down to Commander Hurricane’s side. “I’m seriously not going to enjoy taking command of this mission am I? There have been too many surprises already. My heart can’t take it.” Hurricane muttered under his breath silently cursing that he couldn’t retire just yet. “Well… you should see for yourself.” Stand cringed as he flapped his wings back up. Off in the distance there were several burnt down establishments. They were all in the same positions on the map Hurricane appropriated that corresponded with the Crystal Empire checkpoints. All of them were burning… Twelve hours earlier… “So what should we be looking for then?” I mumbled as we came upon the second checkpoint that the Crystal Guard had built up. The first had been abandoned and I reluctantly made it crumble with several well placed shots as judged by Concerto. “Well… I think we should fine a scarf for you to wear that way the cold won’t affect you.” Concerto sweetly mentioned tapping her hooves on my back as she rode on. We had found some more water and I had cleaned off my armor. Part of me wanted to use Fire Wave to clean off my body but my arms had proven not to be as flexible. Though that only seemed to apply when I had my buster out. Also the algorithms running through my brain that kept repeating that using fire to clean my body of puke wasn’t exactly viable. The other thoughts wanted to tell Concerto that I didn’t need a scarf for the trip… but I couldn’t actually say it out loud. Even Nana dissuaded me from it even though I didn’t need it. “Yeah. Should keep me warm…” I chuckled as normally as I could but there was a small bit of trepidation in my voice. I hoped I hid it well enough and by the childlike humming coming from Concerto I was glad I could regulate those emotions as need be. The first had been a disappointment in both discovery and action. Overturned tables and destroyed crates full of spoiled supplies… most likely due to the fear I instilled in the nine guards who had managed to escape. Whether they actually retreated this way was still up in the air and the lack of their resources and pony power, I guess that’s the term, had been taken out in one failed attempt. When we had left Concerto pointed at the shoddily made pillars and pointed her hoof at my buster and I willingly agreed with her assessment. With those well placed shots the structure fell and the dust cloud from the sudden destruction lingered in the air where no pegasus seemed to buzz through. Alternatively I may have crippled the immediate pegasi grouping and that would mean any destruction I wrought on their bases could be seen for miles. On the other hand, my destruction could be seen for miles and certainly seemed intimidating enough if it stuck around long enough. Our second checkpoint, however, held several guards… who seemed to be lazing about like self important little jerks. Each had their nose pointed in the air trying to act regally noble in their protection while they seemed to be initiating one of their own. A crystal pegasus was being knocked around by several crystal earth ponies and crystal unicorns. What little I heard from their… encouragement seemed to be hazing the pony into complying to their worldview of fighting to make Corundum top dog. At least I hoped that’s what they meant when I thought I heard one of the more… dour looking ponies mentioned the word gelding... ‘Intervention time Nana.’ I immediately thought when I heard that word. “Already? Be careful X, while you may be saving this pony we don’t know how he will react. Most ponies seem to be fanatically loyal to Goring Corundum for some strange reason. We need to interrogate more ponies that aren’t fanatically loyal to him at some point because scans from the golems we’ve faced have been… inconclusive. They were radiating heavy thaumic energy but that was all I could get out of them. How the crystals grew or how they even got inside the ponies have drawn up no viable conclusions. Well, no good viable conclusions and would have been extremely frowned upon by the Maverick Hunter Command Center. Though I will admit that there hasn’t been any chance to link back up with their communication hub.” Nana exposited revealing something to me I hadn’t realized. The programs inside my head… the ones held by all the small armor modules were all pre-programmed with intimate knowledge of the Maverick Hunters Command Structure which I honestly only had vague knowledge of. Throughout the entirety of the games, of the Megaman X series at least, there were very few looks into the entirety of the Maverick Hunters and their combined forces. There had been eighteen different divisions each tasked with different areas of policing the world post reploid creation. That brought up a very interesting question in the back of my mind. Before I pounce out to save that crystal pegasus I needed to know something about the status of the Maverick Hunters. ‘Nana… what is the status of the Maverick Hunters as you know so far?’ I slowly let the phantom tension I felt from that question exude from my back outwards. I didn’t know if Concerto could sense it but her eyes did look worried from my peripheral vision. The looked extremely worried though I didn’t know if it was from me or from the beating that she was accidently witnessing. I wasn’t very good at keeping her smiling at this point and while I knew better… curiosity and desire kept locking me into small internal struggles that did nothing good for the battle between my human mind and the robotic mind. “You are Commander of the entirety of the Maverick Hunters, sir. After the betrayal of Colonel Redips and the death of Chief R we joined the Maverick Hunters in an attempt to help quell down the use of copy chips on the reploid populace. There were attempts by a scientist known as Dr. Weil to try something but he was caught and punished. Before long we had managed to establish a much better world then for some reason we are now here and most of us are cyber elves except for you, sir. Though like we’ve told you before sir, we would follow you anywhere you ask us to.” Nana completely and honestly answered me with the smile on her face being audible somehow. Complete utter trust radiated off her presence in my mind. I wished I didn’t ask. Pressure to live up to their expectations bubbled to the surface making me realize that I was raring to go into battle not to save the pony in trouble, but to keep myself from thinking much longer on the implications that she brought up from her own archived memories. With a quick dash I charged in with a small unicorn mare on my back dressed up like a fuzzy backpack. Firing several shots at the organic ponies that beat the pony in the center of their little initiation, I sent them sprawling from the stunning effects of my buster shots. The ones that weren’t participating immediately stopped looking so smug and tried to sound out an alarm. “X is he-!” One guard tried to cry out before I shot him accidentally in the throat… crap… I dash through the few ponies who tried to stop me easily enough knocking them aside when they got too close. Concerto helped as well managing to buck the two who had tried to sneak up behind me to grab her. Unfortunately for them, they got off easy with the kicks to the jaw. The motion sensors had already warned me of them several seconds before they even got close. “Concerto. Try to get this pony to breath again. Accidentally hit him in the throat with a lucky shot. I’ll keep you guarded.” I commanded pulling her off near the downed guard. She immediately got to her hooves and rushed over checking the swelling of his throat from the stunning effect. Concerto immediately started doing chest compressions on the guard… which didn’t surprise me as much as I thought it would. Her ministrations on the bandaging of the pegasi we captured back at the main camp proved to me that she for some reason knew how to do rudimentary medicine. The guards who tried to challenge me, on the other hand, didn’t give us the luxury of saving some random pony so easily. The crystal pegasus that I had wanted to save joined in with the rest of the guards and was one of the first to actually try attacking me when I took up my post. ‘So much for good will…’ I darkly thought as a buster shot rang out sending him hurtling towards the ground in the same paralytic shock as all the others I had hit. Twenty guards later and the small checkpoint of twenty-seven guards had been put out of the fight. The guard Concerto worked on managed to survive as well which was a boon to my own sense of… justice, no, not justice. Guilt may have been the better word. I still haven’t taken a life in this world. Back on earth I had been forced to do to wolves attacking our home whenever I was with Uncle Claudius. I couldn’t do the same thing I did back home here. Everything seemed to hold a certain level of sapience. While a few wild creatures did attack me, they couldn’t hurt me at all. Most ponies were very much the same at this point as well. They couldn’t do much against me, at least at this point from what I knew, and I didn’t need to be… extreme with my counters. Yes, they hated me immensely if the sight of how Vicious Aegis managed to rile up other ponies into the immediate dismantling of my body was how they reacted to golems. That didn’t mean I would play along with that world view. “How is he?” I stepped behind Concerto, buster ready in case he tried something stupid. I was forgiving… not gullible. “He’ll live. I managed to get him to breath normally. Though he needs to stay still otherwise it could get worse. Also you don’t move at all to answer. Blink once for yes and twice for no.” Concerto sniped at the fallen guard when he attempted to move his jaw. With a simple blink he answered and went back to gasping for air on the ground. I lowered my arm and Concerto readily got back on my back. Her scowl told me everything she thought about the checkpoint in the first place. I quickly checked inside and to her pleasure, and my discomfort, she found a scarf made of bright blues and cyans with a red stripe through the center while the ends were of a white wool. It matched me almost too completely and with a gleeful giggle she wrapped it neatly around my neck. I smiled for her and patted her head which she didn’t shirk away from. Happy at some progress on her mental well being I began searching for what I really needed to find. There were several ropes actually within this checkpoint and I put them in the saddlebags that Concerto wore. With only three spares I had to make them count. Heading back outside I gather the twenty six guards who had tried to stop me and tied them all together. The few unicorns had to be neutralized so I had to search for anything I could use to inhibit their magic. With some luck and Concerto fumbling around with boxes I found something interesting. “Oh my… these are inhibitor rings…” Concerto shivered at the sight though it confused me entirely. “Inhibitor rings? So… these inhibit magic?” I examined them more closely noting how they all looked like nuts, the ones used for bolts and bolting things to other things. They were certainly the biggest I’d ever seen. The childish side of my mind giggled haphazardly at the innuendo laden commentary in my mind. Though I didn’t know if it was the human side… or robotic side that giggled more. “Yeah… Geode never used one on me… he figured out ways to make my magic less useful by cracking my horn slightly…” Concerto whimpered out as she cradled her horn in her hooves. Surely enough the frayed edges and slowly mending crack in her horn was barely visible when I looked closer. “You used magic earlier with the bandages though… it hurt didn’t it?” I mentally winced if it did. She shouldn’t push her horn if it had been this damaged. “A little… though it’s for the best. I need to use magic to allow my horn to slowly regrow again. As long as I only use the bare minimum of magic my horn will get better with time. The bandages was my limit for that day. I still have my magic for today if it’s needed.” Concerto smiled though the fact her hooves still wrapped around her horn didn’t exactly convince me. “Just… don't strain yourself then. I'll handle the brunt of things when they get to us.” I stated as calmly as I possibly could while we trailed back outside and capped off all the unicorns before they could do anything. The few who realized what happened were immediately trying to cast magic before settling into defeated silence. I went over pulling the wounded pony into the group and tied him up with the excess rope. Concerto looked at all the soldiers noting something wrong. “Why do you all look so relieved to be defeated?” Concerto called out to the guards. The few that hadn't glared at her looked extremely saddened. “Talk.” I stepped forward causing every single guard to instantly flinch even though I didn't place any inflection but the lack of tone… that made all of them freaked out more than I thought it would. I pushed it from my mind and kept my arms crossed as I watched all of them. The ‘attempted’ murder that I almost committed probably weighed heavily upon their response. “We hate Corundum. He’s been doing things to our fellow guardsponies and we can't take it anymore.” One of the grizzled looking guards called out. Though with how densely I packed the group into their bindings I couldn't tell who had spoken. “What has he done?” Concerto growled out, clearly pissed at the implications that were being painted at this point. “We don't know. Guards go into the castle and come out different. The last few seemed fine but then something changed. Their eyes looked glassy and lifeless.” Another guard sniveled out with a grating tone that I doubt I could handle. By the way Concerto’s ears splayed she couldn't handle it either. “X… should we… recruit them?” Concerto whispered in where my ear would be and I looked them over. The fact they had attacked us even though they hated Corundum spoke of their loyalty. Even if it was coerced through fear they still attacked regardless. Then there was the crystal pegasus that still attacked even though I wanted to help him. At this point it would be impossible to trust them to follow us without being betrayed. “No. They haven't really proven trustworthy. You know what I mean…” I muttered darkly while my eyes trailed to the pegasus in question. Concerto followed my gaze and with a sad grimace nodded and pointed over to the checkpoint. I charged up my buster until pink energy was formed and fired it off towards one side of the checkpoint base. The plasma disintegrated the supporting walls and may have hit something flammable because the whole building went up into flames. Luckily, it had been built along the makeshift dirt road in one of the more barren parts the Equestrian Principality. I dashed to the side where the brush was growing and pulled out Storm Tornado using it to keep the fire from blowing in that particular direction. It took an hour before the fires finally died out leaving the smoking husk of a building shoddily standing on its last leg left standing before us and the guards. They didn't even react to the destruction. I pulled Concerto onto my back once again and with a small tap of her hoof I dashed off for the next checkpoint. I'm certain as I left that they all released a collective sigh as I disappeared over the next hill but I wasn't sure. All I knew was that I used up half the energy of Storm Tornado keeping the fire controlled. “We're checking for anything flammable next time before I bring down another checkpoint.” I mentioned offhandedly as I locked on to the next building I could see in the distance. It would take five minutes at most to dash to. Had I only been walking I would have worried about distance. “But wood is flammable…” Concerto answered me looking slightly confused. “Yes I know. I meant more flammable. When I fire I shoot out plasma which while able to burn, is too hot, disintegrating non organic things and doesn't have enough time to ignite said object before it dissipates into gaseous form. Something in that building reacted with my buster shots and caused the fire to start.” I reasoned out as best I could. For all I knew my attacks could be able to cause instantaneous combustion just on grazing a target. “Oh… I don't really understand what you mean with your, what was it called, hand held cannon shooting plasma, was it? Maybe explain it to me later?” Concerto tapped her hooves together trying to understand what I meant though the constant shifting of her eyes told me she didn't want to come off as rude. “It would take a while but I'll try once I've dealt with Corundum.” I stated as we came into view of the checkpoint. Guards were on high alert keeping their patrol route tightly wound if the sheer fatigue from said patrolling guards was anything to go by. I decided not to deviate from my last plan just yet as I charged in with a whooping mare holding onto my back as I fired my buster into the cluster of guards. It was stunningly effective… I wanted to facepalm due to the joke but the need to keep moving in combat stopped me from following through. By the fifth checkpoint we had built up a decent rhythm for dealing with the Crystal guards. Several times there were a few guards who managed to graze me with their weapons causing scratches to appear where they hit. Unfortunately, for every attack they hit their weapon soon dulled and chipped from the assault. The smithing part of my mind looked at such disgraceful looking weapons and wanted to cave the skull of their creator for how shoddily the blades were. Another part wondered if war was rare in this world since the weapons had mostly consisted of pole arms of various kinds. There were the odd sword or dagger combos but for the most part polearms were the most popular convention of warfare present. Polearms could, at least in my own imagination, be useful for fishing and magic gave it a much longer reach that what was possible. They were also more common with cavalry troops… which the users of said weapons were what the cavalry usually rode. With a burst of my buster the next checkpoint fell and I tied up the guards we captured once again. There were several grumbling dissident comments made in my direction that were promptly ignored. There was no need to stun the guard again for being a little lippy and I didn't need to play into their beliefs of being a monster. Concerto had gone quiet after the fourth checkpoint. Fatigue was the most probably answer but her eyes just seemed to stare straight ahead into the frozen north, as she called it. I didn't know what to make of it and Cinnamon wasn't able to take charge of the situation in case Discord was watching. Also because Nana was the first to materialize due to the need for information; I couldn't get another of the cyber elf programs to take her place. It seemed each cyber elf was keyed into one of the capsules and they needed a small amount of data to be complete. Nana was tied into the Light Armor and the rest were most likely tied into to one of the others. From speculation and Nana’s own inquisitive nature we postulated which cyber elf corresponded to which armor. Massimo was with the Giga Armor. Marino was with the Max Armor. Cinnamon was with the Force Armor. Harpuia was with the Falcon Armor. Fefnir was with the Gaea Armor. Zero was with the Blade Armor. Phantom with the Shadow Armor. Leviathan with the Glide Armor. While Axl seemed to be with the Icarus Armor which left the Hermes Armor unconnected to any Cyber elf. “So we meet at last, X.” A voice called out from further down the path I had been walking. Concerto broke out of her daze and I could feel my back start to rattle from the sudden change. My eyes immediately locked onto the stallion before us. He had a rust red coat and seemed to be switching between a muscled form and an overweight sack of meat. He was also standing in a circle of cleared snow with a lit up horn trying his best to look menacing. He didn't. “Ruby Geode, I presume. You look worse than I thought you would.” I chided the stallion who seemed to be postulating himself. “Don't speak of my appearance you sack of soon to be scrapped arcane circuits! I am General Ruby Geode! I am the leader of those force you have so thoroughly trounced and I will not stand for it!” Geode screamed like some petulant child… up until I noticed something wrong with his eyes. What used to be strange teal looking eyes slowly warped to yellow sclera with red pupils… then I noticed the shadow of Discord further above him. “What is that thing!?” Concerto cried out. “Mares and Gentlestallions! Welcome to the extravaganza of epic proportions as tonight we see the epic struggle between two titans of change during it out over the safety of the lovely Princess Mon Amour Concerto!” Discord called out as he snapped his talons creating a bubble around us. Strangely, he didn't take Concerto away though I did notice the slight scowl when he snapped his talons again only for nothing to happen. He quickly dismissed it and returned to his smug demeanor. “Discord! What are you doing?” I yelled out… I didn't know what else to do at this point. While I could shoot him he would most likely just dodge and at this point Geode was the premier threat. Discord promptly ignored me. “In this corner, the master with a blaster, the original rock’em, sock’em made metal, at least in this world, X!” Discord announced to no one in particular though the boos and jeers were slightly intimidating since they came from nowhere. The spotlight on me confused Concerto who was positively flustered and freaking out from the sudden attention we were receiving. I lifted my buster up towards Geode. I wasn't taking any chances. “And in this corner, my personal champion! The whiner of a shiner from back in the Crystal Empire, the bad mamma jamma that fresh to be thrown in the slamma. The terror of radishes everywhere, Ruby GEODE!” Discord cried out to the constant cheer of the invisible crowds. Even then Geode didn’t react at all. His eyes still seemed to be… off. Almost as if they were tossed into constant discord… oh… I get it now. “X… this is the last time you make light of my power! I revoke your right to live!” Geode called out as several of the first golems I fought against rushed out of the snow that Geode had been piling up. They were all covered… in some strange plaid energy field… it was a chaotic mess. “Well… this is probably bad…” I muttered to no one in particular while Concerto used her new coat to hide her face. Discord gleefully chuckled as he went back into the astral plane only leaving a small venue for him to watch the match unfold.