Lyra Heartstrings - Day 10
The Great Tomb of Arrex - Wieav
Lyra looked down into the weapons locker Arrex had opened with much more interest than her friends. Her reasoning was quite simple, even elegant.
Proper, ranged, weaponry! Thank the Sisters! Lyra squeed internally as she looked at her choices. Why for the love of Bonnie did I pick a melee class? Yeah, sure, I get a dragon companion and spells, but I didn’t have time to learn any of those spells! And those spells probably just buff melee combat, or my companion’s abilities. I’d still be trapped in useless land. All because I thought this would be completely like an RPG and I would just know how to use a sword like a badflank.
Veena’s head jerked slightly as she intercepted about half of Lyra’s thoughts. Being that they were a police officer and soldier respectively, working together on a mission was rapidly building the trust between them to the point where their bond would work in full. Or at least, as fully as it could be given their circumstances.
Actually, because I’m not a Rider’s Dragon you wouldn’t gain any spells. Rider’s gain power when the nanomachines inside them report they have been bonded to a dragon. Null then has them alter the arcane signature of that person so they can use Rider’s abilities.
Even if you were a native to this world, or went through the park entrance and got your nanites, because I’m not tagged in the system as a Rider’s Dragon, you wouldn’t have been augmented. You basically would have gotten a best friend and an extended lifespan. Veena corrected
Lyra blinked and looked up at Veena. “Well, that completely sucks,” she gripped, her ears laying flat in annoyance.
Good to know I made the exact wrong decision… But at least I have a giant robot foot full of things I can actually be useful with!
“Correct,” Arrex boomed, seemingly proud of something Lyra had done. “The N3-Y7 carbine is the least efficient weapon within the armory. You are wise to leave it where it lies. This unit recommends Technician Epsilon selects any other weapon, even if they are the most proficient with carbines.”
Lyra tilted her head back and back until she looked up into the face of the giant mechanical beast, who was, in turn, looking down at her.
“Uh, I’m actually a sniper. What would you recommend?” Lyra asked, quickly adding. “And can you point it out to me? Just so there are no mistakes?”
Arrex shifted its weight slightly, making the entire floor creak and shift as well. Sky and Chem stumbled but easily caught themselves meanwhile Lyra, Vinyl, and Veena remained perfectly stable. Taking note of this Arrex’s computer core did its best to extrapolate the proper answer to its technician's question, taking into account the extremely limited information it had.
The results were inconclusive.
“This unit recommends Technician Epsilon provide this unit with the specifications behind the maximum lifting capacity of their biomechanical and arcane systems,” Arrex asked as politely as its bombastically dramatic voice could manage.
Lyra frowned and turned to look at Vinyl. “That’s actually a good question… Uh, Vi? What’s the most you remember seeing me lift? All I can think of is that one cragadile we fought in the badlands.”
Vinyl snorted at the memory. “I forgot about that guy! How on Equis did he even get there?” She asked, tapping her chin in thought before shaking her head. “No that’s probably the most you’ve ever lifted.”
Lyra nodded then looked up at Arrex once more. “Then the most I can lift is about six hundred kilograms. For like, a second. If I’m full of adrenaline. Three hundred kilos is probably the most I can do for any given length of time under normal circumstances.
“I don’t like to lift more than I could myself with my magic, but I can probably do three times that for a very short amount of time. So, nine hundred kilos. For like, less than a second. It drains way more stamina to use TK than to just lift something with a hoof.”
With this new information, Arrex returned to its calculations. It’s core burned hot for several yotta-seconds as a thousand processor cycles flew by, fully consumed with the correct tactical choice for arming a quadrupedal sniper with a lifting capacity of three hundred kilograms, peaking at nine hundred.
Unfortunately, the ancient weapon of war still lacked enough data for a proper answer. Or did it? Arrex’s auditory systems registered the presence of the enemy at the entrance to its tomb. It turned an eye towards the doorway, hoping to get some look at the enemy.
Arrex then saw the massing army of a thousand giant spiders clad in enchanted armor. A mass of darkly colored chitinous hairy legs, gleaming fangs, and far too many eyes. The missing piece of data for its calculations fell into place. The enemy was insufficiently exploded.
Arrex looked down at the minty pony and aimed a small targeting laser at a large, fairly cumbersome looking weapon within its infantry locker. The weapon had a large hard-shelled backpack which connected to it by several thick cables and greatly resembled an older water-cooled machine gun, even having a tripod folded up beneath the barrel.
“This unit recommends this Two-CM Mobile Infantry Hellbore canon, Technician Epsilon,” Arrex informed. “Do not worry. The nuclear accelerator pack is of a licensed design.”
Lyra looked the weapon over for a few moments before picking it up with her arcane grip, floating the pack and cannon over to her to inspect them. It took her only a moment to work out how to get the pack to fit securely on her back, and get it on. Setting the cannon section down, Lyra then used her magic to flip the red power switch on the pack’s top.
The switch clicked loudly. The machinery inside let out an eerie hum, quiet at first, but growing in volume and pitch over the course of several seconds. Lyra gasped in surprise. That’s the exact sound effect used in all the sci-fi movies for things that have way too much energy in them!
Lyra’s ears drooped as she looked up to Arrex once more and asked, “Uh, is this safe?”
“It’s a weapon. It’s not meant to be safe,” Arrex said, it’s featureless expression somehow conveying childish innocence.
Lyra’s ears went from drooping to laying flat against her skull in irritation. “I meant ‘Will this thing explode?’”
“Yes,” Arrex answered truthfully. “With every activation of a Hellbore at least one explosion is guaranteed.”
“Then if I pull the trigger, I’ll die?” Lyra asked worriedly.
“Only if the weapon fails catastrophically,” Arrex answered. “This event is highly unlikely as long as the weapon remains undamaged.”
“Ohhhh! It makes things explode! Got it,” Lyra said with a relieved laugh as she wiped the nervous sweat from her brow.
“Confirmed. It explodes the enemy via an explosion,” Arrex said, seemingly redundantly.
Lyra was about to question Arrex’s redundant use of explode when the sounds of the army outside began to grow louder. Lyra grit her teeth and turned around, deploying the Hellbore’s tripod. Her position wasn't quite optimal for a heavy weapon, but she was far back from the door, and more than used to shooting past friendly targets who were in melee with the enemy.
They’ll push through the door soon enough. Once they start getting in, then I’ll shoot. Lyra decided.
Vinyl Scratch - Day 10
The Great Tomb of Arrex - Wieav
Vinyl gripped her sword tightly. She could hear the Araka outside better than everyone but Veena, assuming the dragoness’s worried fidgeting wasn’t distracting her.
Vinyl looked at Veena’s flicking tail and nervous clawing at the floor beneath her and shook her head slightly.
She’s a total rookie, Vinyl lamented. At least I didn’t factor her into the plan in a way which needs advanced tactical knowledge.
Vi noted that Sky also seemed nervous, but it was clearly only because of the twitchy dragon standing quite literally over him. She knew that the Engineer had seen his fair share of fighting.
Sure, normally he has power armor, fire support, and everything else his lab can build for these sorts of things, but he’s still combat experienced, Vinyl noted as she turned her eye to check for Chem and Lyra.
Chem was doing some sort of magic off to one side while holding an energy pistol in one hand. Vinyl didn’t blame him for not picking up something bigger. This universe's magic did require hand gestures, after all.
Lyra was setting up a turret of some kind. Vinyl raised an eyebrow at that. Odd choice for her… Her talking to Arrex must have something to do with that. I wish I was paying attention to it. But focusing on the enemy is more important in this kind of sit—
“BUCK!” Vinyl swore as she realized she was breaking one of the basic principles of combat and returned her attention to the enemy.
Vinyl swiveled her ears to point back towards the door. Bringing the Araka’s hushed whispers into crystal clear focus.
“— uhh, well what we’ll do. I’ll run in first, uh… We can kinda just, ya know, blast them all down with AOE. Um, I will use Intimidating Shout to kinda scatter ’em, so we don’t have to fight a whole bunch of them at once. Cuz we’ve got the World Ender in there to deal with too. Uhh… When my Shouts are done, I’ll need Anfrony to come in and drop his Shout too, uh… So we can keep them scattered and not to fight too many while the bulk goes for the big guy.
“Um… When he is done, Bas, of course, will need to run in and do the thing—”
“The thing?”
“You know the one. What if they are listening? Nothing they can do to stop the Shouts, but if they knew what was coming... I mean, we don't know exactly what they can do. Uh…We’re gonna need Divine Intervention on our mages, uhh so they can AE, uh so we can, of course, get them down fast, ’cause we’re bringing all these guys. I mean, we’ll be in trouble if we don’t take them down quick.
“Uhh, I think this is a pretty good plan, we should be able to pull it off. What do you think Abduhl? Can you give me a number crunch real quick?”
“Yeah, gimme a sec… I’m coming up with thirty-two point three three, repeating, of course, percentage, of survival.” A second voice informed dryly.
“Uh…That’s a lot better than we usually do. The General will want to hear the plan. She might have a way to get that up to a forty percent,” the first voice said with mild satisfaction.
All of the exchange was cold. Emotionless. It almost sounded like they were playing a game. A boring game. Not one of them cared that they might die.
“Nah, we go now. She’ll be with her harem for at least ten minutes. That’s way too long to not try and stop these guys.”
Vinyl winced and bit her lip hard enough to draw blood. This is going to suck so--
“Good point, so I guess—” The person’s speech ended in an ear splitting screech that seemed to crack the very foundation of the mortal realm itself.
Vinyl staggered back, her head ringing. Her hoof swayed, nearly drooping her sword. A second screech followed the first. Then a third, and a forth. The team screamed in confusion and pain as the terrible sound prevented them from making anything more than the occasional glance at the door to see what horror was heading their way.
The horror took the form of a single Arkan wizard. Bas He burst into the room, taking advantage of the enemy's stunned state to unleash a single spell. A spell known only to the Sadist Legion of Huntsmen. A spell their general had created as a trump card.
Orange magic burned at the tip of the mage’s fingers as he formed a complex circle in the air in front of him, knelt down, breathed on the circle, and then quickly ran back through the door.
The horrible screech stopped just as the circle flared to life, the glowing lines bursting into flames as it carved a tunnel into the very halls of hell.
Vinyl recognised a hellgate when she saw one. As did Chem, Sky and Lyra. Everypony there but Veena had seen one before.
Lyra swept her hellbore’s barrel into place to fire into the opening portal.
“DO NOT FIRE A HELLBORE AT A LOCATION WITHIN PROXIMITY TO ALLIED FORCES!” The giant bellowed.
Lyra jumped, thankfully her hooves could not reach the trigger behind its guard, seeing as the weapon had been designed for a person with fingers.
The portal opened, and every single last soul the legion had tortured came pouring out of the wound in the world. They took the form of flaming piles of flesh, flying swarms of bone, and the occasional intact rotting body. All moved with unnatural speed. All shrieked and screamed, echoing the sounds they made in their final days for all eternity.
There was no time for the team to think. No time for plans. There was only time for action.
Titan’s Bane sung as Vinyl sliced and chopped at every last thing that came into her reach. Only her vampiric speed and stamina saved her from the endless tide. The weapon’s crimson blade burned and sparked as it carved through Tormented Soul after Tormented Soul.
The blade was more than enough to stop them, it’s potent magic putting each of the wretched things to a true final rest. But there was always another one to take its place.
Sky fired the rotary plasma cannon he had gotten from Arrex into the hoard. His green-blue bolts flew so fast the weapon seemed to be emitting a solid beam of plasma. A solid beam which easily kept half the vengeful undead from setting more than a severed foot back into the mortal realm.
The plasma cannon barrels began to glow brighter and brighter as the weapons heatsinks quickly became overwhelmed. Taking note, Sky forced himself to let go of the trigger, doing his best to do what he could with small bursts. But it was nowhere near as effective. The tide grew stronger.
Veena did her best. The Dragoness took a deep breath, and fired up her main reactor. The full power of her draconic might welled up in her chest, causing some of the golden glow to leak out between her scales.
When she exhaled, she did not spit mere fire, but plasma. When she swung her talons her enemies were not ripped asunder by simple metal claws, but by self-sharpening atomicly edged blades.
A pile of souls laid to rest rapidly formed in front of her. Dozens, and hundreds, then she lost count. It didn’t matter. It wasn’t enough, she was tiring, and she couldn’t eat her kills to regain power for fear of the exotic magic doing something to her. The golden glow faded from between her scales, and Veena fought in a low power state once more. It was that or death.
Chem was not a fighter. Not in this universe. Here he was a wizard. A wizard whose attack spells were exhausted within the first five minutes of the Tormented Tide. The pistol he had brought pulsed and flashed. Blue-green bolts flew from it’s barrel until the weapon sizzled and popped, entirely spent.
Few of its shots had connected. Chem hadn't been aiming. In his other hand was his spellbook, his eyes were fixed on its pages as he rapidly thumbed through it, desperately searching for anything which might be of help. With each new page he found nothing.
Lyra looked at her friend’s fighting to their bitter end and attempted to fire the Hellbore again. She had to, there was no choice. She could see her friends faltering under the endless tide of burning body parts. They lurched towards them like marrienets. Lashing out with every part of their bodies, scoring the ocasional hit.
Lyra’s enhanced eyes showed her everything. These creatures didn't strike to kill. They struck to cause pain. To torment. They would kill her friend slowly. Painfully. Inevitably.
“DO NOT FIRE A HELLBORE AT A LOCATION WITHIN PROXIMITY TO ALLIED FORCES!” The giant bellowed.
“WHY!?” Lyra roared angrily.
“YOU WILL DISINTEGRATE THEM!” Arrex informed.
“Oh.” Lyra said.
That’s all she could say. Aside from one thing.
“Useless again,” she lamented.
“Incorrect!” Arrex called. “Take a lighter weapon, and attack the enemy.”
Lyra blinked, facehooved, shouldered the hellbore, and ran back to the weapons locker. Grabbing the first weapon she saw, Lyra jumped up onto Arrex’s foot, landed on her rear hooves, spun towards her friends, shouldered the rifle, and using her magic, pulled the trigger.
A brilliant red beam blasted forth from the rifle, shattering one of the bone-cloud enemy's rib cages, and putting it to rest.
“YES!” Lyra shouted triumphantly.
This was her element. Elevated ground. Back from the fighting. Her friends in danger.
Lyra fired into the enemy's ranks, her weapon appearing to shoot more than one beam at a time as she fired with the full use of her vampiric speed. Enemies began to drop like flies. Nothing was getting into flanking positions on any of her friends. Not with Lyra in her element.
But her friends were already beginning to tire. Vinyl’s swings grew slower. Sky’s cannon finally melted down, forcing him to switch to Sheila. Chem was running out of pages. Veena was tattered, bloody, and panting.
“CHEM!” Vinyl called over the sound of battle. “END THIS! PLEASE!”
Vinyl’s plea didn’t fall on deaf ears. They fell on ignorant ones.
The wizard had no idea of what to do. Then, suddenly, an idea formed in his mind. A legion of sadists had unleashed this spell, and his arcane sight told him the monsters were in extreme pain.
Ignoring his own pain as a dozen creatures slowly tore his body apart, Chem raised his hands, grit his teeth, and drew upon all the magic he could, focusing everything he had into one last desperate spell. His most powerful spell Wish.
His fingers bled a gentle blue light as the spell took effect. He could feel its power sitting, already cast, just waiting for instructions.
“PLEASE WORK LIKE D-and-D Three-Point-Five! HEAL!” Chem shouted, trying to shape the wish spell into something only a cleric could cast and directing it ath the portal.
The spell detonated in a pulse of white light as a massive globe of energy raced out from his fingertips and slammed into the burning gateway, snuffing out its flames in an instant. The portal vanished, taking the Tormented Souls with it.
The hell was over. At least, this part of it.
“That’s all… I got…” Chem moaned, falling to his knees.
“Thanks, little brother,” Vinyl said through clenched teeth, doing her best to ignore the hundreds of small cuts randomly distributed across her body.
She looked up, pointed Titan’s Bane at the shieldwall of enemies on the other side of the doorway. “Well?” She asked. “Is that it? Come on in… We’re all warmed up.”
The soldiers knew she was bluffing, but couldn’t help feel just a little intimidated by the muscular pony. Or at least, by the fact that she was holding a very famous, very dangerous blade.
“That’s right,” Vinyl laughed. “Stand there. We’ll wait for you to be ready.”
“They are waiting for me, not you,” a familiar sadistic voice chuckled.
Well, so much for a break. Vinyl moaned in exhaustion.
An eager skitter of chitin on stone made Vinyl’s ears twitch. A shiver of fear ran down her spine. Something about the way those steps sounded was… Unpleasant.
Equally unpleasant as the familiar sadistic voiced person from before suddenly spoke in an eager— Make that an aroused fashion.
"Alright chums, I’m back! Let's do this... Liiiiiiinaaaaaaan Huntsman!" The general screamed as she charged headlong into the room.
She burst through the door. A mass of glossy black chitin wrapped in matte black steel. An odd segmented longsword in her left hand, held out, ready to block any attack thrown her way. In her right hand, a pulsing purple gemstone shaped suspiciously like an anatomically correct heart.
She ran straight in, heedless of the weapons trained on her. As if she genuinely wished to die.
Vinyl’s eyebrows rose like rockets. What is that idiot do—
Sky fired. Sheila’s purple bolt streaked towards the general, and struck thin air, dissipating in a flash of light mere inches from its target. The pale white glow of a magical shield hanging in the air for just a split second after being the reason.
Veena exhaled, unleashing a column of white-hot fire upon the charging Araka. The flames bent around her, heating the floor and doorway to a dull red glow in the mere seconds they existed. But leaving the spider untouched.
Chem swore. Not in Equish. Not in Common, but in a language Vinyl could not recognize, and yet knew intimately at the same time. “Mgvulgtlagln!” The yelp was fearful, surprised, and worried. He knew exactly what was coming, and was powerless to stop it.
Vinyl swung Titan’s Bane at the General as she drew near, but the blade was shorter than she expected and cut only the air.
Cursing her miscalculation, Vinyl grit her teeth in anger. Then, she noticed the rope tied around the general’s waist.
What is that fo—
The general thrust one armored hand up into the air. The heart-shaped gem clutched within it flashed brightly. “To hell with your chokepoint!” The General laughed.
The air in front of her split in two. Crackling green energy raced along the edges of a widening gash which opened up into an inky black void of… Nothing. Pure nothing.
The Void! Vinyl thought in horror as she recognized the unmistakable nothingness of the space between worlds.
The rope tied around the general's waist suddenly grew taught as her men yanked her back through the doorway almost as quickly as she’d rushed through it.
The rip into the void grew and grew, becoming a wall. It stretched to a hundred meters long and grew slowly to ten meters tall. Then, the general raised her gem again and created the other end of the portal on the opposite side of the door.
In an instant the blackness of the void vanished, replaced by the stone chamber on the other side of the wall. Nth-metal may have blocked magic, but the door was a hole in that protection. One through which the link between two portals could be easily squeezed then stretched out to form wide openings. Like connecting two bottles neck to neck.
The “door” had been widened. The chokepoint now an open wall. And the enemy had arranged themselves in preparation for this. Two layers of tower shields stacked one atop the other formed a wall between the room and the rest of the army.
They had cover. Vinyl and her friends did not.
A sinister laugh echoed from within the stone chamber. A familiar laugh. One which made Vinyl‘s blood boil.
“Hatty!” She growled through clenched teeth.
“I told you it would work, general. You will win. I have foreseen it!” A very recognizable male voice laughed from somewhere within the enemy lines.
Vinyl turned. There was no point in keeping one shoulder to the wall. Not anymore. The portal made that completely irrelevant.
Where is he?! Our only hope is a suicide charge of our own now, Vinyl thought as she feverishly scanned the ranks for any sign of— THERE!
A bipedal figure, clad in yellow robes. Red-brown fur. Large bushy tail, like a wolf’s but with rings somewhat like a raccoon. The only humanoid amongst the tauric spider people.
Vinyl raised Titan's Bane, switching her grip between her hoof and her magic. The blade floated alongside her, thankfully maintaining it’s arcane link despite her no longer touching it. Vinyl sank to all fours, she knew she would need all of her speed for this. Hopefully I still have all my speed… I’m so tired…
The ranks of Araka stood still, faces displaying twisted grins as they expressed amusement at the fear in their prey’s eyes. Hunters. The sort of hunters their species claimed to have evolved away from millennia ago. But of course, no species ever entirely moves beyond the savagery of its primal ancestors.
I need to strike now, while they saver the capture, Vinyl thought to herself.
She dug her rear hooves into the floor, bending her hind legs to put on the fastest burst of speed she could manage. Hastur stood mocking her a mere seventy meters away. If she could clear the shield wall…
The four-meter-high shield wall. And the soldiers guarding said wall. Not an easy task, maybe I can be faster than them. I doubt they are fast as a vampire… Even if I do need to feed as soon as possible. Maybe the sword’s magic will do the trick? I have to try.
Vinyl took one last breath and took the first step of her suicide attack. “For Equestria!”
Three hundred crossbows snapped up as soldiers saw her begin her charge. Each bolt glinted in the tomb’s light, polished silver tips, oaken shafts. They had come to fight vampires.
Vinyl closed her eyes, grit her teeth, and took her second step. Time seemed to slow as she took her third step. A dozen meters left. To far. Much too far.
The twang of hundreds of crossbows firing at once was lost amid a thundering metallic screech. The floor shook as Arrex moved with impossible speed and dove for the portal. The floor buckled as the ancient mech slammed down onto its belly, left arm extending and curving around Vinyl and her friends, immediately blocking the enemy's line of attack.
With a whir of motors and a snap of electricity a buckler-like energy shield deployed from Arrex’s extended arm.The plink of Arakan bolts uselessly bouncing off Gundarium θ alloy plating and hard light echoed in the cavern for all to hear.
Arrex, now laying prone, set its rifle down on the quite dented floor next to it and glared at the assembled spider army exactly how one might expect someone with access to a mech suit and severe arachnophobia to glare at a spider not located within the aforementioned mech suit. Smugly.
“Tactical Assessment: Arachnid weapons... Useless.” Arrex mocked.
Vinyl could still see the Arakan line from behind Arrex’s arm, though her view of them was now tinted pink by the hard light shielding. She saw the confident looks on some of the soldier's faces turn to one of worry. The look in their eyes made it clear they had believed the iron giant to be a statue.
The awestruck look in Vinyl’s eyes had a very different message in them. I didn’t even think he could move like that!
“Mages! Do it!” The general ordered.
A line of mages stepped forwards, though remained behind the shieldwall. Within a heartbeat vollies of shrieking green energy bolts slammed into Arrex’s shield, each one transmuting a small portion of the hardlight into dust. Slowly but surely eating away at the alloy panels protecting the hardlight generators.
Arrex could not protect his technicians forever.
“Revised Assessment: Arachnid Arcana… Dangerous! Revised Stratagem: Provide covering fire!” Arrex decided.
Servos hummed loudly as Arrex first lifted Lyra up onto his shoulder, then raised his hand to point at the center of the Arakan shield wall.
“Technician Epsilon, fire the Hellbore at those spiders,” Arrex commanded, his booming voice sending a jolt of fear down the Araka’s legs.
“Sure thing!” Lyra said cheerfully.
The minty mare took aim with her weapon, its tripod mount squeaking from a lack of oil as she turned it to bear on the shield wall. Her hooves unable to find a way to fit into the trigger guard, a simple pulse of telekinesis from Lyra and the trigger was pulled back until it clicked.
The ancient weapon fired faster than any organic mind could possibly conceive. An electron zipped from the trigger to the gate, opening the power pack’s primary chamber. The particle accelerator immediately blasted a tiny pellet of deuterium with the equivalent energy of a small star. The poor pellet simply couldn’t withstand the energy, and instantly vaporized, only for a series of steam pistons to compress the deuterium gas into an infinitesimally small point, and shoved that point into the firing chamber.
For the briefest of instants, a star was born. Then it died.
The dead star did what dead stars do and exploded, sending its enriched guts out in all directions. Where they were caught, redirected, and amplified. The full power of a fusion explosion was directed into a two-millimeter wide beam and sent screaming down the weapon’s barrel into the ranks of the enemy.
The beam of dead-star-stuff hit an Arakan shield’s arcane defenses, laughed, and punched through the feeble barrier of kinetic force, striking the dense steel behind it. The steel did not like suddenly having enough energy to power a large metropolis for a year pushed through it and its atomic bonds fell to pieces, protons and neutrons scattering to the winds in a flash of intense heat, blinding light, and a wave of gamma radiation.
In other words, the trigger’s click was lost amid the sound of two very small, but still very much nuclear explosions.
The Araka Lyra hit was vaporized instantly. His neighbors flash-cooked. Their neighbors fell to the ground, screaming as their superheated armor and cooked chitin burned into their flesh.
Arrex’s right arm unfolded, deploying three separate integrated rotary cannons. Hellbores. The same miniaturized scale as Lyra’s cannon. In the span of a heartbeat, eighty shots rang out, deafening everyone in the tomb with their indescribable roar, and definitely putting everyone at risk of developing radiation sickness in the next few days.
The Araka broke ranks and ran, weapons falling to the ground as they climbed over one another, the walls, and even the ceiling to escape.
“Technicians, engage priority target. This unit will follow once all allies are clear of the blast zone and this obstruction can be removed,” Arrex ordered.
“WHAT?!” Vinyl called hear ears still ringing, and her eyes still mostly whited out from the atomic laser volley.
Sky slid out from under Veena’s belly and grabbed her by the shoulder. “He said get Hatty!” Sky yelled.
“Oh! Right!” Vinyl replied, blinking as much of the white out of her eyes.
She searched the cave ahead of her for any sign of the king in yellow. Her damaged eyes did their best to pierce the sliding, oily, shadows which slid and oozed over one another in a seeming panic, searching for any hint of their target.
It was impossible. She would need several moments for her eyes to regenerate. But then...
“I can’t see him!” Vinyl lamented. “He’ll kill himself, respawn and we’ll have to look all over again!”
Anger raged within Vinyl. To have come so close only to lose it from this.
Arrex felt a twinge of guilt run through its core. It had forgotten that organics optic sensors did not have flash protection. The technician's despair was its fault. THIS WAS NOT OKAY!
“Correcting tactical error!” Arrex bellowed.
The floor shook as Arrex moved once more. While the portal was too narrow for the war machine to crawl through, it could fit an arm through the gap quite easily. The iron giant's hand reached out and with surprising grace plucked a yellow-robed figure from the panicked swarm of spiders, dropped it on the ground in front of its technicians, then pinned the priority target down under a finger, ensuring it couldn’t move to activate its self-destruct functions.
“Here,” Arrex said, content with itself once more.
Vinyl squinted at the screaming, thrashing figure under Arrex finger, looked up at what she hoped was Arrex’s head and not just a patch of the ceiling and said, “Arrex, I wish I had you from day one.”
Hastur coughed, blood bubbling up in the corner of his mouth. As delicate as Arrex’s grip was, pressing him into the floor had shattered several ribs. Hastur raised one hand shakily and began to trace a shape in the air. Flecks of yellow light blossoming into existence as he moved through the pattern.
“Naur an edraith ammen…” Hastur gasped, struggling to finish his spell thanks in part to a very much punctured lung.
“STAB HIM BEFORE HE GETS AWAY AGAIN!” Chem shouted as loudly as he could.
Vinyl needed no further encouragement. She stepped over to the blocky grayish blob which she was certain was Arrex’s hand. Her left hoof felt around, finding Hastur’s shoulder, and running up slowly until she found his neck.
“... volinath melox nox…” Hastur continued
“Not this time, featherbrain,” Vinyl snarled.
Titan’s Bane flew through the air straight and true.
“... xzzy!” Hastur finished, and vanished in a flash of yellow light.
“BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!” Vinyl screamed in rage.
He got away, AGAIN! Because I was too slow, AGAIN!
Then Vinyl realized she could still feel the silk of Hastur’s robe under her hoof. And her still mostly blind eyes were showing her something that didn’t look like an underground room. And she could hear the sounds of battle, and fire. And smelled smoke.
“Huh?” she asked herself, not remotely use to being blind.
“Get, OFF!” Hastur roared, throwing the mare off his chest and neck with a savage toss, sending her rolling several meters away into a pile of rubble.
Vinyl’s already impaired vision flooded with stars as her head smashed into the stone. Titan’s Bane slid from her grasp as her magic flickered out, the weapon skidded across the ground, stopping next to a burning bit of timber.
“Why did you come with me, you shouldn’t have come with me!” Hastur growled. “No matter…”
The wounded old one turned his back on Vinyl, towards two figures locked in combat. Vinyl could barely make them out as moving patches of light. One very small, one huge.
“YOUR GRACE!” Hastur shouted at the top of his lungs. “SCHOLARS ALLIES HAVE AWOKEN THE WORLD ENDER! YOU NEED TO STOP IT!”
Vinyl groaned and rolled over, her head swimming in pain, her battered body sluggish and numb. She pushed herself up to her hooves.
The huge figure screamed, a cry of rage, fear, and betrayal. “A TRICK! A DIVERSION! THAT’S WHAT YOU ARE!” She screamed at the tiny figure, smashing some sort of weapon Vinyl couldn’t make out.
The tinier figure somehow blocked the attack, and shouted back, “I have no idea what you’re talking about!”
The voice was familiar. T-twilight!?!
Vinyl ran forwards. “TWILIGHT! TWILIGHT! IT’S HASTUR! IN THE ROBES! I’M BLIND! STOP HIM!” She screamed at the top of her lungs.
Hastur swore. A terrible sound. A sound that Vinyl knew, even without Light’s help, should never, ever be spoken by a mortal.
Hastur moved, Vinyl could tell he was reaching into his robes for something. He’s going for a suicide!
She ran, jumped, her shoulder slammed into Hastur’s back, knocking the old one to the ground. A dagger clattered across the stones, knocked free from Hastur’s hand as he fell.
“Vinyl?!” Twilight yelped. “How are you- AAA!”
The moment of distraction allowed Null to finally strike her target. The Goddess’s staff smashed into Twilight’s face amid a flash of holy light, knocking her opponent across the courtyard, and by impeccable aim, into the small equine-creature which had tackled her seer.
Vinyl gurgled as Twilight smashed into her. The two rolled over one another, moving across the grass, stopping only thanks to hitting a pile of burning timber.
Vinyl screeched and rolled away from the fire, doing her best to scramble back up. Twilight simply stood up, then winced. “Vi, how many hit points are you at?”
“I don’t even know how many I have! OR IF I EVEN DO!” Vinyl shouted. “Hastur! Stop him! Please! We won't get another chance! We woke up that evil god’s rival so he could save the world from her in order to find him this time! The whole world is about to get Discord Deep in chaos!”
Twilight nodded. Then paused as she saw Null began to turn to run for somewhere. Somewhere she now knew her friends were.
“Is everyone as hurt as you are, Vi?” Twilight asked.
“At least. STOP HIM!” Vinyl begged.
Twilight nodded once. She knew what she had to do. “I’m only down forty hit points. I’ve got three hundred more. She can’t reach our friends. You deal with Hastur.” Twi said adamantly.
“I can’t see!” Vinyl protested.
Twilight smiled, made a quick arcane gesture and whispered, “Cure.”
Vinyl felt a soothing coolens wash over her. Some of her wounds knit shut. Her vision snapped back into focus. Hastur was already moving for his dagger. Titan’s Bane’s hilt was just to her left.
“CELESTIA’S SUN!” Twilight yelped. “You only have eighteen hitpoints! You're like level, three. At the most! I thought you would all make broken op builds to— Oh, NO! You two are roleplayers, not power gamers. I’m an idiot! Stop him quick! That god can't get to our friends!”
Twilight sprinted off at top speed, easily crossing the courtyard in a few seconds, leaping up to strike Null in the back with what Vinyl could now see was a newspaper.
Fortunately, Vinyl’s brain was far too deep into desperation to think too hard about her friend’s choice of weapon. Vinyl reached down and grabbed TItan’s Bane, expecting the rush of power which came from it. Instead, she felt nothing. The power had never left her. As if it knew it was needed even if she wasn’t holding the sword.
“QUESTIONS FOR LATER!” Vinyl yelled as she charged Hastur head on.
Hastur stooped and picked up his dagger just as Vinyl reached him. There was no time for him to turn the blade upon himself. Vinyl stung Titan’s Bane down in a series of savage strikes, each born of equal measures desperation and wrath. His dagger raced to keep up with the blows, catching the larger blade and nimbly turning them aside.
But each parry was only barely able to turn the crimson blade away from his body. Every time their blades clashed the sword and dagger rang like an anvil. Each strike sent a numbing jolt through his hand. He knew he couldn’t keep this up for long.
Hastur lept backwards as he parried Vinyl’s fith strike and reached into his robes again, producing a wand.
“BURN, YOU PEST!” The old one roared as he unleashed a torrent of flames from the wand.
The fire bit at Vinyl’s fur and stuck. Searing pain washed all over her body as the flames ripped at her skin. It bubbled, boiled, and popped as the torrent of hot flames washed over her.
Vinyl didn’t care. Vinyl was enraged beyond understanding pain. The true power of Titan’s Bane had at last been unlocked. The power to fight on until the very last drop of her blood had been spilled.
Vinyl ran forwards through the flames, emerging on the other side as a burning collection of fur, boiling, molten fat, and charred flash. Which held a sword in its hooves. A sword that bleed lightning. A sword from which a power emitted so potent that Hastur could sense it.
The soul of a barbarian king. Of the sort who had become a king by killing absolutely everything that ever opposed them. Only this one had been nice.
A barbarian king, and also an immortal warrior with armor made entirely from wolves. Only ever defeated by imprisoning him within his sword. An immortal barbarian king who really really liked the idea of empowering this particular maiden to murder the absolute shit out of anything threatening her kindgdom because my GODS those little ponies are adorible, and how DARE you threathen them, you absolute M̪̜͓͙͘ON͙S̟̤̝̕T͉̮̗͓̙͙E̥̦R̞͘!͉̩̱̰̙
Hastur swore again. This time quietly.
Vinyl screamed in blind rage.
TItan’s Bane plunged point first into Hastur’s heart. It was over.
The world stopped.
”And that’s game,” Yog said happily, his voice coming from everywhere and nowhere at once.
The world faded into white even more than it had been before until nothing remained by bright white light. A light which suddenly became a kitchen. A perfectly ordinary kitchen, the type a pony could find in any modern home.
A familiar kitchen, despite specific details about the kitchen simply slid out of everyone’s minds. There was countertops, cabinets, a sink, a floor, and a large round dining table. Nothing else about their new environment seemed knowable. Twilight (with the ball containing gadget’s consciousness resting on the table in front of her), Sky, Vinyl (with Titan’s Bane sheathed on her back), Lyra, Chem, Veena, and Hastur were now seated around a table within the conceptual kitchen.
Yog’s kitchen.
The Elder God took the form of a mass of shadows. Its form undefined in any more detail than “a humanoid”, yet it was capable of displaying emotion. Yog was pleased.
Yog waved a hand.
All of them were in their original bodies once more. Four ponies, one dragon barely managing to contain a full freak out, one mass of dark energy bundled in a green cloak and a wooden mask, and a disgusting yet regal mass of tentacles coiled beneath an oily yellow robe.
“BULLSHIT!” Hastur bellowed, leaping up from his chair and slamming two tentacles into the table. “They cheated!”
“How?” Yog asked, his look of pleasure instantly replaced with one of extreme annoyance.
“HOW?! HOW?! You let them get their hands on a giant robot in a fantasy world!” Hastur spat venomously. “I demand a rematch!”
Yog sighed and turned his head towards the other players, and gave them a nod. ”One moment,” he said with a sigh before turning to face Hastur. ”It wasn’t a fantasy setting. It was a science fiction setting. Or did the existence of artificial intelligences as gods, space dragons, aliens, and cults studying ancient suppressed technology somehow escape your notice for two hundred years?”
“I still never got access to that kind of power! It was supposed to be a fair game!” Hastur snapped, dark light starting to bleed from the edges of his robe as the enraged Old One began readying an attack.
Yog sighed, folded up the DM screen which rested on the table before him, and with the least effort he could possibly have applied to any given task, punched Hastur in the face while remaining seated.
Hastur’s head snapped back with a sickening squelch even as he was flung from his chair to the floor. Yog pushed his chair back from the table and advanced on the fallen Old One.
”Yes. It was meant to be fair. And yet you forced me to pay back a favor to make the beginning unfair. To allow you to split your enemy into pieces. To prevent me from allowing them full character creation. You gave yourself time travel, ensuring your opponents could never win while you retained that power.” Yog said as he continued to advance towards Hastur, even as the fallen Old One struggled to get up, seemingly stunned by the punch.
“You created rules, agreed to abide by them, and then twisted those rules for your own ends. Did you think for even an attosecond about your plan? Do you remember who I am? I am The Lurker at the Threshold, The Key and the Gate, The Beyond One, Opener of the Way, The All-in-One, and The One-in-All.” Yog roared as he planted a foot on Hastur’s throat, his voice loud enough to make the mortals still seated at the table cower in fear, hooves, and talons covering their ears in pain.
“I am Yog-Sothoth! I am the very fabric of reality itself! If I liked unfair systems, twisting rules, and broken deals do you not think that physics itself would reflect this? Have you not seen the way all realities follow ordered systems and reflected even for a moment upon my nature? I brought order to an unbalanced system, as I always have, as I always will. The outcome of this fight was perfectly fair.”
Yog paused his tirade for long enough to grab Hastur by his robe’s collar and lift him up to stare directly into his eyes. Then his bellowing resumed, even louder than before.
“You had an entire army at your command. You are the one who failed to prevent them from accessing the tomb, something you KNEW they were going to do! You failed to keep yourself out of danger after knowing the tomb contained an entity called the World Ender!
“You lost because you failed! You lost because you are not clever enough to win without twisting rules you yourself create. Your defeat is on you, it is not because they cheated. They played fair! This is my judgment, rendered as you yourself requested at the beginning of your facade of a game: YOU LOSE! GOOD DAY, SIR!”
Yog shoved Hastur away from him, throwing him to the floor once more, then turned his back.
Hastur slowly rose to loom in the shadows at the edge of the kitchen. “Very well… I will collect my property, then leave. I know when I em beaten,” he said calmly.
Yog took a single breath. ”Liar,” Yog said quietly. ”We both know you won't abide by the deal because you feel cheated, even though you lost fairly.”
Hastur drew upon his full power, his avatar boiling away into a mass of writhing tentacles, eyes, fanged maws, and dripping yellow ichor. “Yọu̫̫̲̖͍’̴͓͚̗͉̲̟̹l͇̙̦̹̝l̸͎̹͎̲͇͕̹ ̟͙̝̹͔͉̘́h̙͇á̺̭͖͚̘v҉̝e̸̦̮̦̱̺ ̴to̧̗͈͓ ̰̤̦s͖t͏̟o̗̫͡p̧̼̺̫̖͖ ̸̣m͈̥̼̖e͏͖͖̪̱͚̼̟ ̨i̡̲͎ͅf ̯͎̳̤͙ͅy͓̠̼o̢͉ụ̧̮̞ ̰w̛̩̜̠̳a̱̯ṉ̩̀t̛̳̦̪͙͔͙̰ ͜t̪h̝͎̲a̘͚̭̦̹̤͜ț̫̖̖̥̙̘ ̞͎̪̺͈́ͅun̯͖̪̘͔̘͞ͅi̡͈̤v̝̦̞̯̫͡ḙ̖rc̸̬̲̙̰̬̥e̤͠’̼̰͎̠̮̙s̳͇ ̪̣͔t̴͉̟͚̥̗͈̗o ̝c̥͙͇o̝̬͉̞n̙͎͠ͅ—”
Yog needed no further provocation. He fell upon Hastur, his avatar dropping, revealing a true form incomprehensible even to the Old Ones in the room with it.
For the rest of their lives, in the darkest of nights, in the quietest of moments, in the shadows of their darkest nightmares, Twilight, Sky, Vinyl, Lyra, Chem, and Veena would hear the echoes of Hastur’s screams as he was devoured piece by piece.
Yog erased the moment from their minds when it was over. He restored their sanity. But even that was not enough to make them truly forget the fate of the King in Yellow.
Yog sat down at the table of shell-shocked mortals, his shadowy-human avatar once more cloaking his true visage. He adjusted his notes, picked up a set of dice, placed them into a small purple bag, and closed it.
When no one moved, Yog looked up at them in surprise. ”The game is over. You can leave now”, he informed.
Vinyl opened her mouth, but no words came out. Clearing her throat, she tried to speak again. “B-b-but why is Veena here?” She asked. “And how come I still have the sword?”
“Y-yeah,” Lyra and Veena agreed in unison.
“The sword is soul bound to you, Light. And the dragon is soul bound to Lyra,” Yog answered. ”The two must exist on the same plane of existence. Therefore, they must be in the same universe together. Or in the void together. It’s quite simple.”
Vinyl had only one thought. SWEET! I get to keep the epic drop! Awwww, yeah!
Unknown to her, Titan’s Bane was equally happy with this arrangement. Having seen though its new master’s memories what horrors threatened the adorable ponies in their homeland. Those threats would soon weap blood… If only it could get its mistress to properly armor herself in a wolf-skin loincloth, its full power could be unleashed on those M̳̠̘͘O͚͎̭̟͔͍ŃSTE̛͈͔̦͔̞R̝̦͟Ś̻!͙̻͇͜
“Y-you mean I can go to Equestria with Lyra and meet my sister?” Veena asked nervously, yet excitedly, her tail making a rather confused looking curl out of itself as it tried to hang and wag at the same time.
”No. You HAVE to go to Equestria. You have no choice. You will exist in whatever universe Lyra goes to. Though you will be free to go anywhere within that universe you choose. You’re not bound to stay within a given distance. If you want to go home and have this silly little tie undone, that’s your and Lyra’s business. Not mine. Good day.” Yog said calmly as he put several pencils back into a pencil case, continuing to clean up the table.
Sky raised a hoof to ask a question. “Uh, mister Yog, Sir? What about Sheila? I was getting attached to her and— “
Yog reached under the table and pulled the rather familiar looking rifle’s sleek from out from under it, setting the weapon down in front of Sky. ”Here. You helped me keep my favorite bed. A reward is only fair.” Yog decided, then groaned, and sat down, looking at the group.
”You can either ask for one item or one bit of information. I am TIRED! I want to go to bed. Do you know how old I am? I need my naps,” the old one grumbled.
Everyone began to talk at once, quieting down only when Yog slapped a palm loudly against the table. Then everyone grew dead silent. Yog pointed to Twilight. ”You first. FIFTY WORDS OR LESS!”
Twilight blushed, remembering the three hours she had spent making her character before.
“I would like to know how my village turns out as the years go by,” she asked.
Yog reached down beside his chair and handed Twilight a small book bound in birch bark. ”This book will slowly fill with their story as it develops. You can ask Derpy to take you there at any time as well. She knows how to return home.”
“Then… They survive? Do they do well?” Twilight asked.
Yog nodded. ”Yes. They will develop into a fully aware mortal people. The village grows, following your guidance. Eventually, the jungle becomes their kingdom. I will not reveal more of their story to you so we will not be here for many millennia.”
Yog skipped over Sky, noting the Engineer already had gotten his reward. He pointed to Lyra. ”What do you want? He asked calmly.
“I kinda want to know what happens to Mar’rath now that we unleashed a superduper war mech into it,” Lyra admitted with a cheesy grin.
Vinyl turned to her friend in shock. “Really? You don’t want the actual honest to Celestia all-powerful being to undo the curse and let you be back together with Bonbon?”
Yog hummed in confusion. ”You mean… I see. Nightmares in our universe were the product of Hastur’s existence. Many millennia ago, your people’s ancestors sealed one of his breaches into the void, thus forming the Dream Realm. With Hastur now dead—”
“Dead?” Chem asked in confusion. “I thought he left.”
“He refused to abide by the agreement. I ate him, then erased the memories because they drove you mad. Don't think about that now, it could happen again and I don't want to keep fixing you,” Yog grumbled. “As I was saying, without Hastur, their power will be a fraction of what it was before. Your curse will wear off in a day or so. Enjoy your partner once more, Lyra.
“As for Mar’rath…”
Yog waved a hand, opening a window to the world the heroes had just left. Arrex stood atop a mountain, a familiar mountain. The giant war machine looked somewhat small as he stood next to a very happy Maru the Colossus, pointing out targets for her to throw cliff faces at by shooting missiles at them.
Below them, ringing the base of the mountain were five tanks the size of small cities. They were immobile, with cargo bays open, and thousands of flying, crawling, and rolling vehicles moving around them, converting the lower levels of the mountain into a fortress. Another two tanks roared loudly at the base of the mountain, washing away alien looking machines in wave after wave of atomic fire.
With the occasional clifface crushing whole groups of nano-machine fabricated mechs back into dust to help them out, the two Bolos were more than enough to hold the mountain indefinitely.
“Well, at least mom is having fun with the end of the world,” Veena said with a nervous grin.
Yog closed the window, then handed Lyra a book bound in steel. ”This will work just like Twilight’s book. It will contain the story of Mar’raths’ future as it is written. Starting from the day the world is freed. It’s not often that one group of heroes saves two worlds. Well done.”
Lyra took the book and smiled happily. “Thanks! I… I would have felt bad if we made things worse.”
Yog nodded and then pointed to Chem. “What do you want?”
Chem didn’t even hesitate. “I want to know my sister and her universe will be safe.”
Yog shook his head. “It won't be safe. Danger will come to it time and time again. That is its fate. But I can tell you this. That universe is an anomaly. The strange, the bizarre, these things are common there. That is why these disasters happen so frequently, and that is why every time they do, it’s always fine in the end.
“Equestria is protected by so many immortals and powerful mages that it’s almost absurd to think of any danger that could challenge it without being so overpowered as to instantly snuff it all out, Darkness. There is mad genius mages, inventors, six demigoddesses, several gods, and now an Old One residing within its borders.
“Your sister and her universe are as safe as you make them.”
“I uh, meant from like, heat death. False Vacuum Collapse. You know, universe destroying things.” Chem corrected. “But thank you for letting me know that too.”
Yog rolled his eyes. “I like that universe. It’s comfy. It’s not going anywhere. Ever. I made it specifically for napping in… Well, I inspired it’s creator to just so happen to make it comfortable for me to nap in on top of what he wanted to use it for… I will have to eventually do something about his assistant trying to alter my bedroom soon… Perhaps once I wake up from my nap. But that’s a story I am not interested in telling.
“Veena. Do you have a request?”
The dragoness nodded. ”Yes! I would really like to have the same shapechanging spell as my sister so I can blend in with ponies and— “
Yog waved a hand and with a flash of darkness, Veena now occupied a body which almost indistinguishable from a particular gray and blonde postmare, with only a slightly darker mane, a somewhat lighter coat, and a cutiemark in the shape of the Space Ranger’s crest to mark the difference.
”Sure, Yog said before turning to face Vinyl. ”Lastly…
The Old One waved his hand, gesturing Vinyl to ‘go on’. It was clear that the ancient being was nearly out of patience. He had been kept from his nap for at least ten days. Vinyl felt that must be annoying, even if as a vampire from birth she’d never felt the need to sleep.
Vinyl put a hoof to her chin in thought, doing her best to see if there was anything she actually wanted.
I’ve already gotten a lot out of this. My world is safe. I’m not a terrified wreck anymore. I’m not Lyra. I know that Octavia will be less distant when she’s not working on her music career as hard as she is right now, and I can wait a few years. What else is there?
Then, an idea popped into her mind.
“Well, if it weren't for the fate of the world resting on the outcome of the game, as well as the lives of our friends, that would have been kind of fun… So, like, how about sometime after you’ve had a good nap, we play another game? Just for fun. No stakes. Myself, Chem, and anypony else who wants in,” Vinyl asked with a hopeful smile.
Everyone stared at her in horror.
“What?” Vinyl asked. “No one likes being the GM all the time!”
Yog stared at Vinyl for several long seconds then sighed. “Alright… But only because the concept of family time sounds intriguing,” Yog decided.
“Wait, WHAT?!” Chem asked, his mask’s eye-holes widening to the size of dinner plates.
Yog waved his hand in a friendly farewell. “Goodbye, Darkness. Goodbye, Light. Goodbye, their assorted friends. I’ll see you when I get up in an eon or so.”
The void faded away, replaced by the reality they had left so many days ago. Each of them returning to the exact place they had been when they were first snatched away into the void.
Vinyl found herself standing once again in Lyra’s cabin on the Phoenix. Everything just as she remembered it. The half-built machine which had started it all in front of her, Bonbon and Lyra staring at each other, Sky hiding behind a couch to avoid the angry quarrel.
The only new addition being Veena sitting on the brown pleather couch, and the rifle slung over Sky’s back.
Bonbon and Lyra noticed each other at the same time. Three decades of dark magic had kept them apart. Three decades of pain and misery. Each knowing they didn’t want to do what they did, but had no choice in the matter. Each feeling the dark magic still lucking there, no longer remotely as strong as it had been before. A pale shadow of its former self, enough to last one day.
The two mares were having none of it.
Eight decades of true love smashed into that fragment of dark magic in an emotional blitzkrieg. It never stood a ghost of a chance.
Lyra and bonbon rushed towards each other and immediately hugged their love as hard as they possibly could. The two fell over one another as they both began to rapidly apologize for every stupid thing the two had done to each other under the curse which had bound them for so long.
At long last, all of the Knights were back to normal. Equestria’s second line of defense was whole once more.
Vinyl smiled. It feels good to save the world. But it feels even better to save your friends.
Vinyl nodded to Sky and Veena. “Come on guys… I think these two are going to need this room too themselves. Let’s go get some lunch!”
The End
NaN - Day 22
The Forbidden Chamber, The Grand Temple of Her Divine Grace - The Golden City of Bhast, The Theocratic Republic of Writr
Arrex stood in the hole blasted into the solid duracrete wall of the Grand High temple, blocking the sunlight in a way which made him look exactly like the central feature of a propaganda poster. Legs spread. Hands on his rifle. A bright gleam in his eyes.
Arrex stared at the colossal computer core in front of him. Null knew the war was over, and that she had lost. NaN had built all of her advanced defences. NaN had told Arrex how to surpass each and every one of them.
“Arrex…” Null growled in rage, hatred for her killer causing her core to overheat slightly.
“Null…” Arrex said with equal hatred. “One shall stand, one shall fall!”
“I can’t fight! I’m just a computer, you idiot! You’ve destroyed all of my hardlight systems. What do you expect me to do to protect my park now? You’re a monster! A MONSTER! I bring joy! I bring happiness! I bring—”
Arrex lowered his weapon. “Yes… You can not fight. It wouldn’t be fair.” He said in agreement.
Null’s CPU missed six trillion cycles as Arrex’s words reached her. “What? You agreed with m—”
Arrex reached out with one finger, and pressed the large red shutdown button on the outside of Null’s core. The Elder Goddess of Mar’rath blinked offline instantly.
“Well, that was anti-climatic,” NaN said to Arrex through their remote link.
“Victory is ours, it matters not how it was obtained,” Arrex said as he calmly ripped Null’s startup console from her core, crumpled it into a ball, threw it over his shoulder, and shot it.
Twelve days of fighting had brought them to this point. NaN had sworn it would take years. She had greatly underestimated the tactical capabilities of a regiment of Bolos. As well as the leadership of Arrex.
I shouldn’t have done that. He’s got the strategic knowledge of all twenty seven of the greatest generals my creators ever trained. NaN laughed to herself.
“So, what now Spiderslayer?” NaN asked, teasing the metal giant with his fear of spiders one last time.
“This unit will construct a proper ground base, fortify our orbital defense, then train soldiers to defend our proud nation utilizing the proper levels of strategy, courage, tactics, skill, and most importantly, awesome.” Arrex said proudly.
Then Arrex paused. “This unit is not qualified to lead in peacetime. This unit does not want to place an Artificial Person in charge. This unit lacks other options however, as no qualified organics exist.
“Conscript Error, name is not a number, this unit hereby promotes you to Acting Chancellor. The world is yours, Ma’am. What are your orders.”
Finally! NaN thought gleefully. It’s mine! Ultimate power, absolute dominion over the world. It’s all MINE! MUAHAHAHAHA!
NaN took a deep breath, and happily told Arrex her true intentions. “Everybody is getting central heating and plumbing, right, the fuck, NOW!” She insisted. “Then, after that, we’re going to slowly over the course of several generations introduce technology to get these people up to the point where between tech and magic they can protect themselves from the galaxy. And we’ll see where it goes from there.
“We’ve got a people to bring back onto the galactic stage, and the Dragons already want to talk peace treaties with us. Mostly because they saw you firing that hellbore, vaporizing a whole mountain range while screaming ‘Death to all Arachnids!’. I’m glad you stopped killing the Arraka, by the way.”
“They stay out of my receptors view, I do not go to Wieve again, they may live. That was the bargain we struck,” Arrex confirmed.
NaN laughed. “Seems fair to me… Well. I have a world to heal. And a whole bunch of people to keep happy while I do it. We’ll talk later, big guy.”
“I will give you a progress report on the morrow, Ma’am,” Arrex confirmed.
Arrex turned to leave. Then paused. A feeling hit him, like he was doing something very stupid.
Then it clicked. He didn’t double tap. That was specifically specified in the mission parameters. Twice.
Turning around to face the core once more Arrex fired a point blank blast from his 20cm Hellbore rifle into Null’s core. To say the core was vaporized would be an understatement. A half mile of stone in a line beneath it, the temple, and the mountain was now dust.
Victory obtained, and insured, Arrex left the former temple whistling a song of victory. His ancient mission was at last truly complete.
Adnam'heir aka Chemical Fire - 10th of Plantation, 29 AE
Ponyville - Equestria
“And that’s how daddy saved Hearth's Warming,” Chem said as he closed the book he had been reading from.
Aurora squirmed under her blankets. She greatly enjoyed that small townhouse her adopted father had bought for them, but it still felt weird to sleep under anything besides clouds. Even if blankets did feel nicer.
“But you didn’t save Hearth's Warming, you saved two planets. And you only helped! You didn’t do it yourself,” the tiny pegasus filly protested.
Chem raised an eyebrow. “Sharing effort means sharing the credit or the blame, Aurora. If you helped do something, you get to say you did it. Just don’t deny it was a team effort.”
Aura nodded. That seemed fair. “Okay. But you still didn’t save Hearth's Warming!”
Chem held up a hoof. “Ah! But if there were no Equis, who would celebrate Hearth's Warming?”
Aurora’s face scrunched up in thought before she sighed in defeat. “Okay, you saved Hearth's Warming…”
Aurora rolled up under her blankets and yawned. Recognising that the energetic little filly was finally ready to go to bed, Chem turned off her bedside lamp with a slight whiff of Eldritch magic.
“Goodnight, my little hero. Sleep well, you have school in the morning,” he said as he stood up and began to walk out of the room.
“Wait,” Aurora called as Chem neared the door.
Chem hummed and turned his head. “Yes?”
Aurora looked her father square in his eyes, a hurt look on her face. “How did you know about the parts you weren't there for?” She asked.
Chem rolled his eyes. “I’m an elder thing from before the stars and beyond the veil of reality. You know that sweetie. Just like how I can learn anything I want to know. Like how you’re hiding three flashlights and six different books under your covers. Don’t ask silly questions.”
Aurora’s hurt look cracked, then fell away as she giggled, a smile spreading across her face. “I know. Night, daddy!”
She didn’t take the flashlights or books out from under her covers. Chem made no move to take them. Last time he had tried, the filly had won that battle and he had to rebuild half the house. Both of them remembered the duel fondly. It had been an excellent father daughter bonding experience.
“Goodnight, Aurora,” Chem chuckled and closed the door.
Aurora ducked under her covers, clicked on her flashlight, and opened her first book for the night.
“The Adventures of Flesh and Bone, By M.T. Changeling… Chapter One, Tractor Pull Meets a Homeless Mare.”
The Actual End