Scarcity stared at the amber symbol on the wall – five circles surrounding a sixth.
She’d seen far too many of these over the course of her extended life. A reminder that, yes, she had been apart of something, once.
Once.
She cast an explosive spell, tearing the symbol from the Runic wall. There were other amber runes behind it – just as there were all over the cavern she was in.
At least it wasn’t pink. The amber was a reminder of the current problem, not a past there was no use dwelling on.
Here she was, sitting inside the very Rune she had been tasked with capturing. Laying her hoof on it, touching it. But it didn’t mock her. No, unlike her other enemies, this one had another devouring it.
It would prefer to become amber ashes than to let Rx’len have its way.
For once, Scarcity would give a Rune what it wanted, inasmuch as it could want something, corpse that it was.
She hated that. The Stars could never suffer enough for what they had done. Even in death, they needed to pay. However, even Scarcity could tell when revenge wasn’t worth the price of admission. There were already too many Runes out among the other nations, contaminating them.
This Rune – this planet – was unlike any she had ever seen before, even during the Starstream war. No star died and left behind a husk this big. They always shattered into multiple pieces spread across their dimensional network.
Glimmer teleported behind her, breathing heavily. “Well… that went about as well as expected.”
Scarcity sighed. “Did you at least…?”
Glimmer nodded, levitating the staff over to Scarcity. Held within the prongs was a brilliant purple star. “This’ll do nicely.”
“Rx’len stepped in, sending one of his little friends after me,” Glimmer sighed. “Allowed the Queen, Agent Dash, and your counterpart through. Just enough to let the bombardment overpower the ship’s defenses.”
“It’s not an idiot.” Scarcity hefted the staff, analyzing the power of Twilight using her own magic. “It knew to trap us here the moment we arrived, in an offset universe no less. It wants to feed and take the light of the Rune for itself.”
“…Do you think it’s Capella?”
Scarcity frowned. “We never confirmed that Capella really existed.”
“What else could this giant Rune be?”
“A Star experiment.”
“So, Capella.”
Scarcity sighed. “Just because it matches the legend does no-“
“I’m calling it Capella and I may have spread the name to some of our soldiers.”
“…Fine. It’s useful for disambiguation purposes regardless.” She walked toward a ring of metal spikes she had set up in the middle of the Runic cave. “Time to make use of this.” She held the staff over the spikes and released its hold on Twilight’s magic. The orb threatened to explode and engulf them all, but the spikes shot forward and pinned the energy between them. Instead of exploding outward, the energy directed itself downward in a wide laser.
Burrowing a small hole into the ground.
“And now we have a backup plan,” Scarcity said, smirking.
“What are we going to send down there? We can’t just absorb the magic anymore. We don’t have the ship.”
“We’ll just have to use something more traditional.” Scarcity frowned. “You do remember how to prepare the final cascade spell, yes?”
Glimmer blinked. “Yes… but are we sure we want to do that? That could destabilize the entire universe. And I have no idea what it’d do to the nearby universes.”
“Destroying a high eldritch deity is no easy matter. You know we have to do it. Rx’len cannot have ‘Capella’.”
“Just because you’re right doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
Scarcity shrugged. “So long as you keep your sentiments from clouding your judgment.”
“…They’re going to be looking for us, you know. We may be hidden well, but they will find us, and we’re digging from scratch with a significantly slower process.”
“Arm as many defenses as you would normally and prepare the personnel we have remaining. We will not be able to engage them directly without some… what’s the word?”
“Shenanigans?”
“I suppose.” Scarcity furrowed her brow. “Just make sure it gets done.”
“Righty-o.”
“One more thing.”
Glimmer turned back to her. “What is it?”
“What was the other me like?”
Glimmer pursed her lips. “I didn’t see all that much… but from what I can tell, she’s a lot like you before the end of the Starstream war.”
“You weren’t there.”
“No. But every mare in the know in the Starcross Society has read your biography. …You are a hero, after all.”
Scarcity smiled sadly. “I haven’t been lately.”
“Hey, we’re trying to stop an eldritch monstrosity from eating every nearby universe, I say that qualifies as heroic! The destruction of Capella is just a bonus.”
“You lost to ‘heroes’.”
Glimmer nodded. “Ka is a fickle mistress. It may smile favorably on them now, but it’s just as likely to turn the tables in our direction.”
“Still, we must tread carefully.”
Glimmer saluted. “I try my best!”