//------------------------------//
// Chapter 81: Vandrare 
// Story: Daring Do and the Hand of Doom 
// by Unwhole Hole 
//------------------------------//

“No!” snapped Rainbow Dash. She could not understand his reaction, why he seemed so afraid. She had won. The Hand had been defeated, and Absence was alive- -even though Flock had claimed that both would never be possible at once. “I didn’t! I found another way! Because no matter what, I can’t hurt a friend!”
“You abject IDIOTTT!” screamed Flock, his voice rising so high that it was no longer the shout of a pony but rather the high, terrified call of the crows that made up his body. “The Hand has already accumulated enough magic and material, plus a genetic signature, it- -”
His sentence stopped with a sudden squeak, and he took a step back. Rainbow Dash had not thought it possible, but the fear on his face had grown exponentially. She also saw that he was staring at something. Not at her or Absence, but at something behind them both.
Slowly, Rainbow Dash turned to look where she already knew that the Hand of Doom had fallen- -and she saw that it was no longer on the ground, but standing before them. 
Segmented cables had emerged from its empty wrist, spreading outward and forming a network that had roughly taken the form of a body. They crawled over themselves like snakes, churning and aligning as the shadow of something terrible stood up, rising on two legs.
Then they hardened, fusing inward and burning away metal until all that was left was a thin framework. From this metal poured forth a white substance that grew around it, forming bone. Tissue then grew outward, but what type, Rainbow Dash did not know. She had seen diagrams of muscles, both in school and in Flock’s horrible book concerning the Hand- -something that now seemed all-too relevant- -but these were not normal muscles. They glinted with streams of strange metal, and the blood vessels that powered them did not pump blood but some strange, glittering black fluid. 
It seemed to look at them as it completed itself- -or so Rainbow Dash thought. Skin formed, and a creature stood before them: a pale, thin, hairless creature. Its eyes were brown, and there was a thin fuzz of dark hair on its head. Perhaps this was its perfect state, or what the vandrares had once been. 
Except that it lasted only for the briefest fraction of a second. Time and evolution had rendered that form pointless and obsolete. As Rainbow Dash watched, the pale skin became ashen, pallid, and finally leprous as if it were diseased. Its eyes faded from brown to milky, pale blue, and it was blind. 
Strange things sprung from its ruined skin. Some seemed to be machines, but not like those that had covered Absence. Stronger, better ones. Others looked as though they were organic, but made from an entirely different form of life than the creature had been moments prior- -or in actuality several forms of life. 
Technology began to overtake the creature as the body faded away, and this technology was in turn eaten away as strange, luminescent crystal began to grow from within it, creeping up the creature’s sides in perfect symmetry. Through the opening of its chest, Rainbow Dash saw the formation of a tiny crystal heart.
And she saw her chance. She once again grasped the Spear of Extinction, and she charged, once again at full speed, ignoring Flock’s protests. The Spear lit and she jabbed it forward, intending to ram it into that crystal heart. 
Except that the Spear stopped. Rainbow Dash blinked. She had not seen the vandrare move, but it had. The Hand of Doom was now wrapped around the incandescent end of her spear, holding it. 
Rainbow Dash cried out in anger and pushed- -but it did not budge. Her anger faded to surprise, and she saw that although the metal- -except it was not metal, it never had been, it was something else that ponies had no name for- -that made up the Hand was slowly glowing from the heat, but receiving no damage whatsoever. 
Then, with one swift motion, the vandrare threw Rainbow Dash and the Spear back and away from it. As Rainbow Dash landed, she became aware of other ponies approaching. She was not sure what good they could do. It really had become unstoppable. In saving Absence, Rainbow Dash had ultimately failed to stop it. 
“Scarlet! SCARLET!” cried Flock. “Time spell! TIME SPELL! NOW!!”
“I’m not a chronoplexer, I can’t- -”
“NOW!”
Scarlet Mist reached the vandrare. It was nearly complete. The last of its armor was beginning to knit together. It no longer had a face, but simply an angular, featureless metal helmet. All of it was encased in metal and growths of crystal. There was no longer a Hand of Doom, as there were two: a right that had lain waiting for eternity for this moment, and a left that had only recently returned. There was now only the creature, and it was nearly complete.
Before she even slid to a stop, Scarlet Mist lit her horn. A spell flickered in the air, conjuring a number of almost mechanical components that assembled themselves into a ticking dome over the vandrare. In a fraction of a second, it looked almost exactly like the rogue time-spell that Flock kept in his castle, protecting Equestria from perpetual motion. Except that this one was constructed by a sorceress who was actually competent. 
Scarlet Mist let out a long, low groan. The mechanisms of the spell clicked, and then suddenly began to slow. The color of the vandrare shifted as well, becoming red in color and finally losing saturation until it was nearly gray. The growth of the vandrare’s armor slowed and nearly stopped.
The vandrare, though, did not. Its head slowly turned toward Scarlet Mist. Then, at an almost glacial pace, it began to raise what had once been the Hand of Doom. 
“It’s not freezing,” whimpered Flock.
“I told you,” groaned Scarlet Mist. “I’m not a chronoplexer, the spell cannot be expected to be perfect.”
“But how fast- -”
“To fast. Impossibly fast. And it’s distorting time.”
“How long to we have?”
“Based on its motion, four minutes and nineteen seconds. But that is a moot point. This spell is draining a considerable amount of energy. This body will only last three minutes and twelve seconds.”
Caballeron, who had only recently arrived, heard this, and nearly cried out. “No!” he said. “You can’t!”
“It is already fading,” said Scarlet Mist. “Look.” She did not need to motion. Part of her flank was already collapsing into dust. “Gxurab. I will hold it as long as I can. I will burn this body to ash. But I can only buy time.” 
“I know,” said Flock. “I know.”
Daring Do caught a glint in his eye. “You knew this would happen,” she said, softly. Then, louder, “you knew she wouldn’t do it, didn’t you?”
“I had a contingency plan,” said Flock. “Which is why you brought the Book.”
“The book?” Daring Do reached to her side, and found it tied there, exactly where she had left it. She produced it, and Flock approached it quickly, opening it to one of the many seemingly identical pages. The page, in fact, that Rainbow Dash had found in the Crystal Empire library.
“This one,” he said. “This was the first I translated, long ago. The one that gave me the secrets of the phase balance, to travel to the other realm. This is the one we need.” 
“You’re going to send it somewhere,” said Daring Do, immediately understanding. “Somewhere where it can’t come back. A banishment.”
“No. A banishment will always fail. It knows where it is, and it knows the way back. I intend to take it somewhere where it will be destroyed instantly.”
Daring Do felt a frown crossing her face. She understood something, although only instinctually. This was not good. If it had been as simple as a spell, they would have never bothered with the Spear. This was a plan forged from desperation, and it would have a cost, as all such plans did.
“Where?” she asked.
“I’m going to break its phase completely. Send it to the reality that THEY inhabit, the alicorns. To Dagon’s universe.” 
“And that will destroy it?”
Flock looked at her as though she were joking. “We would be shoving it into the heart of an Elder God. You might as well shove a mite into the center of a nuclear forge.”
“A what?”
“Never mind. There isn’t much time.”
“Well why didn’t we do this before?” demanded Rainbow Dash, still cradling Absence, who was not tremoring to the point of having mild convulsions. 	
Flock and Daring Do both looked at her. Then Flock spoke, explaining what Daring Do already knew was coming. 
“The reaction will require power. Not just any power.”
“What kind of power?”
Flock took a deep breath. The expression of fear had returned to his face, but also one of resolve. “My soul is unique. It is bound entirely to the material plane. It is no longer immortal. I believe the destruction of a soul should suffice.”
Daring Do shook her head. “That’s insane- -”
“I will act as a bridge. Between the spell and between the other world. A free soul will be sucked in, pulling anything its touching along with it. There is no other way to open the Gate.” He looked into Daring Do’s eyes. “But I cannot open that Gate. Not alone. I am unnatural. My curse forbids me from summoning an afterlife. But you can.” 
Flock reached down and plucked his dial from Rainbow Dash’s chest.
“HEY!” she cried. 
“Keep in contact with the Spear, and you will survive,” said Flock. He then slapped the device onto the page, and it began to swirl and twist weakly around its shattered gemstone. It was slowing, but it still had enough energy for one last task. Flock then touched the edge of the book. His hoof distorted for a moment, and some black feathers fell from it. A fully formed crow stepped out, staring at Rainbow Dash with miniature versions of Flock’s eyes. It cawed softly, and then sat silently on the corner of the page. 
Daring Do stared at it, and then looked up at Flock. “You know what will happen. You won’t survive.”
“If it’s any consolation, neither will you.” 
Daring Do sighed deeply, and then nodded. “Yeah. I figured that.”
Rainbow Dash’s eyes nearly bugged out of her skull. “NO! Wait, come on! That’s not fair! You can’t ask her to do that!”
“You already chose which one  you wanted to save,” snapped Flock, darkly. “My plans have been ruined twice by a sacrifice I can’t understand. But a third one ends everything. I cannot allow that to happen.”
“Nether I,” said Daring Do.
Rainbow Dash stared at her, both struck by awe at her impending heroism as well as complete disbelief. She shook her head harshly, refusing to accept what she was saying. “No. No no no. You can’t. But I can. I’ll read it- -”
“You don’t know the languages,” said Daring Do.	
“Then Caballeron- -”
“NO,” said Daring Do with such authority that Rainbow Dash almost jumped back. “I won’t ask him to do that. Not now, and not ever. This is my job. Only I can do it.” She smiled, and for a moment almost looked like the young, swaggering adventurer pictured on her book covers. “Nopony else could do it right, anyway.” 
Rainbow Dash opened her mouth, but did not speak. She felt tears, though, and hot embarrassment. She understood that Daring Do was right, and that somehow this was her fault- -but also that there was no right way to end this. No matter how she searched, she could not find a way to end it like a proper Daring Do story, where everypony left safe and Daring Do always won. So she cried, not out of fear or anger, but out of frustration at why the world just could not seem to manage to be like it ought to be.
Daring Do put one hoof around her, and then unstrapped her whip, giving it Rainbow Dash. “It’s going to be okay,” she said. “Remember, I’m the hero. And I couldn’t have done it without you. You didn’t do the wrong thing.”
Rainbow Dash looked up at her, as did Absence. Rainbow Dash sniffled. “But now you have to do the right thing, don’t you?”
Daring Do smiled and put her hat on Rainbow Dash’s head. “Now you’re starting to get it. You’ll do fine, kid.”