Exenn’s glorious charge bled off momentum as it blasted asunder multiple layers of titanium plating, crumpling the metal like paper, no walls daring to stand between its twin pilots and Beanos. Soon they came to a stop, the massive ‘drill’ vanishing in a flash. Emergency bulkheads slid closed behind Exenn, keeping the ship airtight, as it landed into a skidding crouch.
Though the maneuver suredly looked sweet, Sunset was busy marvelling at the fact it was even possible, as gravity once again acted upon her. Somehow, Twilight had managed to set up artificial gravity; just one of the many wondrous things she’d be capable of sharing with the world once Sunset could snuff out her all-consuming mania for all things beany. She had zero clue what lay in store from here on, only that beans would be seeped into every conceivable pore of it. And Sunset would be ready.
Exenn rose, its spiky-haired head slowly panning back and forth as she and Rainbow took in their new surroundings. They had found themselves in a vast chamber, lit with an unnatural greenish hue. Large organic fixtures rested, empty, in orderly rows, like if hydraulic jacks had been grown instead of built. A scattered few unarmored and unhelmeted Curd Grunts ceased their work to hide or flee upon Exenn’s unconventional entrance. All wore the likeness of one of Sunset’s friends, perversions loyal only to Beanos. Sunset shivered in disgust, looking away.
However, images displayed on bean-shaped screens lining the inner hull they’d smashed through were also those of Curd Grunts. Emergency alert text scrolled beneath security footage, showing someplace stuffed with huge, vital-seeming rows of pulsing bean tech, possibly one of the Fathership’s engine rooms. A small group of people wearing black, and one seemingly in Daring Do cosplay for some reason, fought against a much larger throng of grunts. Even the ones that looked like Fluttershy were proving a threat, though the saboteurs were more skilled and held their own. Could they have snuck onto the ship before it launched? Though Sunset wished them luck, they weren’t really relevant to her objective of finding Beanos.
Dash, meanwhile, was still squicked out by the beandroids right in front of her. “Okay, I’m not sure if this is really flattering or really creepy,” Dash said, pointing Exenn’s finger at one based on her own body.
“Creepy. Definitely going with creepy,” said Sunset. Just how far gone was Twilight, to make so many of these?
“Well, I think they represent the perfect confluence of the human form and protein-packed function.”
Sunset whirled in her seat, meeting Beanos’ displayed gaze, unyielding. “They’re wrong. All of this is wrong. Good people don’t make clones of their friends. Good people have faults; that’s what makes us human. And with how you’re acting...” Sunset trailed off, inhaling hard. “I’m afraid you have very little humanity left.”
Beanos was impassive, sizing her up like one would a particularly troublesome garden pest. “If so, that is because I am above you, in more ways than you can fathom.”
“The girl who raised me would never say that! She was nice,” Spike interjected. His snarl faded to a pleading frown. “It’s me, Spike! Your oldest friend, remember? I’ve barely seen you since all this started. Please, snap out of it, for me? Again?”
Sunset thought for sure Beanos would at least waver slightly at that, but the transformed tyrant didn’t budge at all, only becoming more annoyed. “There is no undoing enlightenment. You, all of you, are the ones who must change.”
“Have you even looked at yourself?” Sunset asked, forcing back the tightness behind her eyes. “This isn’t you!”
“Your words are tiresome,” Beanos said, brushing Sunset’s question aside, her magic-infused hair waving about in her ire. “All I want to hear from you is your surrender.”
“Oh, yeah? If you’re tired of talking, come out and face us, then!” Dash taunted, coiled with anticipation. “Prove you’re so damn superior! Just don’t complain when we knock the sense back into you!”
She just laughed and shook her bean-crowned head. “I was already in transit.”
Out of nowhere, a wide circular hatch hissed open, rising up out of the floor in front of them. A hollow cylinder rose, shining intense light on a huge, human-shaped silhouette from behind. Its smooth curves kept rising along with the platform, only stopping once it was completely looming over Exenn at a hundred feet tall. Then the lights flicked off, and the tremendous mecha took a single menacing step.
Sunset beheld the terrible creation before her, undisturbed. Beanos’ weapon was a reflection of her own warped image, a multicolored mess of greens, violets, and oranges. It had bulky, bean-shaped shoulder and knee pads, an enormous beanis attached to each limb, and no face, only a crown to match its pilot. The word ‘beans’ was etched onto its bulbous body on every exposed surface, over and over.
A sadistic grin split the face that was once Twilight’s. “Tremble in insignificance. You have no chance against my Mean Bean Machine. I will crush you with overwhelming force, and none will dare challenge the might of Beanos forevermore!”
Sizing up the villain in their path, Rainbow’s body twitched as she licked her lips. “Can’t believe I’m saying this, but, Sunset, this is your fight, so... you take point.”
Sunset smiled gratefully. She had something Beanos didn’t: a partner. Bringing her wits to bear, drawing to the fore all her knowledge and experience in battle, and in friendship, she lowered Exenn into a combat stance, fists raised. Beanos drew a massive battle axe from the Mean Bean Machine’s back, hefting it in both mechanised hands as she angled its feet with echoing thuds. For a moment all was still. And then both robots lunged.
Sunset drew out a phallus on each of Exenn’s hands, coming in with a rapid burst of motion. Beanos moved the Mean Bean Machine’s axe blade to the side, aiming to cut them in half with a mighty chop. With a rush of air, the blade swung in from the left, but Exenn dodged low, the attack sweeping above harmlessly. Getting inside its guard, Sunset jabbed at her foe’s ankles to knock the larger mecha off balance. But Beanos saw it coming, sidestepping the blow before bringing the axe handle down on Exenn’s head and kneeing them in the face. She and Rainbow barely brought one of Exenn’s forearms back in time to block, but the force still sent them sailing away head over heels.
Righting Exenn in midair before landing, Sunset tilted them to the side just enough to avoid the Mean Bean Machine’s follow-up diagonal slash, Beanos snarling in frustration. She’d overcommitted to the swing, allowing the more nimble Exenn to get in a quick hit against its side. But the huge dildo barely dented the heavy armor, and Exenn rolled out of the way of Beanos’s third strike before springing back to its feet. Sunset needed to land a rock solid blow, using any means at her disposal.
First, though, she and Dash needed an opening, and the Mean Bean Machine didn’t afford many with its overwhelming presence. In fact, its axe was raised high, about to plunge down and bisect Exenn. “Die!” Beanos roared.
Bracing for impact, knees bent, Exenn raised its weapons in an X-shape, catching the strike between the cocks with a sharp crash. “Nice try!” Rainbow retorted, she and Sunset pressing back with all the force they could muster. Beanos, too, leaned into the blade lock, exuding killing intent.
As their weapons ground against eachother, sending off sparks, Sunset still pleaded with Twilight to see reason. “You don’t have to do this! Remember who you were, who you are! This was never about beans; they were just the means to an end: bringing pleasure! A noble cause if there ever was one. But brainwashing the people into mindless bean worship is the exact opposite of that!”
“Pleasure?” Beanos scoffed. “I am liberating this planet, ushering in a shining new age, ordained from on high! And all who oppose me shall fall!”
Still struggling against the axe, Sunset’s eyes widened as the four beanises on the Mean Bean Machine’s limbs detached from their alignment with a series of pops, angling to point at Exenn on spindly mounts. A dreadfully familiar white light built at their tips.
“Oh, shit!” Sunset uttered, breaking Exenn away from Beanos with a backstep, the battleaxe missing its armor by inches. Retreating rapidly, the quad plasma cannons fired their streams, arcing through the hangar in a lethal spray. Sunset and Dash barely dodged, Exenn jumping into a sideways twist, the devastating shots sweeping by above and below, subsequently melting huge gashes in the ship where they eventually hit.
While Beanos reloaded, Exenn dove behind one of the biomechanical maintenance fixtures for cover. Rainbow Dash huffed in annoyance. “Dammit, we have no ranged attacks! How are we even supposed to get in close again without being vaporized?”
“You can’t,” Beanos answered matter-of-factly, firing another burst from one of her mecha’s beanises. A hole was rapidly being melted through the shelter Exenn knelt behind, forcing it to scramble behind another spot just as the deadly substance bored through. The next beanis immediately began blasting their new position.
Sunset, though, had other plans. Mind coiled in preparation, she waited, waited, up until the last possible second. Just as the material in front of Exenn began to glow orange from the heat, the mecha jumped, grabbing the hydraulic arm with both hands and turning on its rocket thrusters. As the area below it was obliterated, Exenn flipped around once before letting go, careening back towards the Mean Bean Machine feet first. Beanos gasped, twisting to the side, catching the great double kick on its bean-armored shoulder. It was forced stumbling back a dozen feet as Exenn met the floor again, planting its feet for a desperate push.
“It’s over!” Sunset, Rainbow, and Beanos all shouted at once. As Exenn bent, readying a final, decisive hit to capitalize on the window of opportunity, Beanos aimed the third beanis cannon, nearly charged, straight at Exenn’s head. There was no way they could get out of the way in time.
So, Sunset didn’t try. Instead, Exenn leapt, grabbing tightly onto the end of the beanis with Exenn’s other hand, then bringing up one robotic leg high before unloading a snap kick at the Mean Bean Machine’s chest. As she did, Sunset uttered a sharp war cry and formed a steel dick on the bottom of Exenn’s foot, forcefully blasting a hole through Beanos’ mecha. Simultaneously, the plasma blast from the beanis went off, melting Exenn’s hand to slag, some of the superheated substance splashing between its fingers and searing shallow holes all over Exenn.
The force and recoil of both attacks sent the two mecha sprawling apart, arcs of electricity crackling from exposed circuitry. As Exenn collapsed from its critical damage, its lights and screens winking out, so too did the Mean Bean Machine, and Sunset couldn’t help but smirk. Quickly glancing down and up, she confirmed her own body was uninjured, along with Spike’s, before breathing a sigh of relief. A draw was close enough to a win in her book, especially in this situation.
Sunset forced Exenn’s head open after a few moments, carefully climbing down the mecha’s sizzling body. “Rainbow, are you alright?” she asked.
A muffled cry of “Fine!” reached her in response. When Dash didn’t open her own cockpit door, Sunset did it for her, concerned her friend was exaggerating. Once through, Sunset’s fears were quenched, since she, too, was unharmed. However, she wasn’t moving from her spot, her body slumped in her seat.
“Dammit, get up!” Beanos exclaimed in the meantime, still trying to force her deadly robot to move.
Sunset ignored her for now, still focused on Rainbow Dash. “What’s wrong?”
At this, Rainbow moaned, pointing below the belt. She was limp in more ways than one. “All that fighting with Exenn tapped me out, I think. Got no energy left.”
Sunset didn’t know whether to console her or make some pithy remark. So, she did neither, straightening up before pulling Rainbow out of Exenn and setting her on the ground a safe distance from the wreckage. “Spike, watch Rainbow for me,” Sunset said, fresh determination filling her breast, eyes narrowing. “I’ve got a job to finish.”
As if on cue, Beanos roared in frustration as she popped her own hatch with magic, flying out into the open on bean-shaped wings. Her unnatural grin had been stripped away, replaced by a teeth-baring rage.
Spike did as asked, hopping down to stand next to Dash. Knowing there was nothing between them now, no metal, no distance, no restraint, Sunset strode towards Twilight. Spike and Rainbow watched with bated breath. “Any chance I can convince you to give up?” Sunset posed.
“No,” Beanos uttered, her glowing pupils narrowed to pinpricks. “You dare challenge me unarmed? I am far stronger than you could ever dream, than this fleshy vessel ever was alone. For you see, I have been chosen! Powers beyond mortel ken have recognised my passion. Yes, I have been joined, one with the Promare!”
Sunset’s gaze was frozen as she pushed past her pain. “You’re completely mad. What do Equestrian office ladies even have to do with any of this?” she asked, gesturing all around.
“Ah, of course the meatbag would not know the truth,” Beanos replied, her chest shaking along with her head. “As I filled the world with beans, the dimensional barrier separating our universe from another weakened. The beings who reside there, the Promare, are comprised of that which shall conquer: beans! With the Seal broken, they could slip fully through to push this universe onto the path of bean-ness, exercising their limitless majesty through me!
“I am no mere human any longer; I am Beanish!” Capping off this declaration, she tapped into her magic fully, the coppery aura around her eyes and hair exploding to cover her whole body, swirling energies practically smothering Sunset with their intensity. Her crown also shone with malevolence. Behind her, Spike and Rainbow gasped. Whether her rant was factual or otherwise, Sunset could not deny Beanos’ power, which was at least a full order of magnitude higher than Midnight Sparkle’s had been.
There was only one thing she could do in the face of such overwhelming energy: try and counter with her own, no matter the chances. Digging deep inside herself, she reached for her own magic. It answered, but not in the way she, or Beanos, had expected. Sunset’s hair blazed to life, literally, as her body filled with heat. Rising flames danced upon her scalp, and when she focused further, balls of fire formed around her hands.
This wasn’t the magic of friendship, Sunset knew. Nor was it the devilish inferno of long-buried hatred. No, this was pure, unfettered resolve given form, a burning manifestation of her willpower, once heavily strained, now reaffirmed and greater than ever. She clenched one flaring fist, staring into Beanos’ shocked eyes, unflinching and unbroken, terribly sane. Using this power, she could finish this, set her friend free.
Sunset felt something she hadn’t experienced in years, welling up from within. A heartsong, birthed from the magic of the world and the depths of her soul, begging to reach for Twilight’s, to be released in clarion notes. So, she let it out.
Along with Sunset’s first lyrics, Beanos unleashed her power, forming a half-dozen car sized beans above her upturned hands and hurling them at Sunset. However, she nimbly rolled out of the way of the bouncing projectiles, rushing straight forwards.
Winding up her arm and her energy, Sunset threw a fireball up at Beanos. Before it could connect, though, lavender fingertips spread wide, unleashing a hail of beans like grapeshot from the muzzle of a double-barrel. They disintegrated the fireball before sailing on towards Sunset, who reflexively put up a dense wall of flames to counter. All that reached her were ashes.
Shaken by the ineffectiveness of her onslaught and Sunset’s gall to continue singing mid-combat, Beanos cried out in fury, miming clenching her fist around the blazing woman. Against all logic, beanstalks grew from the metallic floor around Sunset, the vines twisting to ensnare and snuff her out. But Sunset was having none of it, her resolute countenance undisturbed as she dropped down, hands first. Just as the vines were about to crush her, she went into a breakdance spin, feet wrapped in fire, shredding through the growths as if they posed no resistance whatsoever.
Resuming her approach, Sunset kept her feet lit, using the force of the flames to lengthen her strides. However, before Sunset could get too close for comfort, Beanos simply flew higher on her bean-wings, exercising her eldritch powers as she did. In her wake, a faintly brown cloud of noxious gas formed, the cloying fumes nearly choking up Sunset and interrupting her heartsong. But she was having none of it, and simply willed her personal inferno to truly burn. The cloud lit up white before detonating all at once in an explosion that would have awed even the most blast-happy director of cinema.
Without missing a beat, Sunset kept the pressure on, bracing herself before thrusting her arms high to shoot a cone of flames Beanos’ way. Exuding a casual arrogance born of supreme confidence, she simply raised her hand, concentrating the bulk of her immense magic into the formation of a bean-shaped shield of metallic light. Therefore, she was greatly shocked when Sunset’s attack slowly but surely melted right through it, singeing her palm.
This was apparently the last straw. Now screaming with unrestrained bloodlust, Beanos pulled out all the stops, letting loose a wave of pure energy that put Sunset to her knees and snuffed out Sunset’s mystical flamethrower. Then, a great, heaving mass of beanises erupting from all over her body before thickening to over four feet wide, each. They lurched through the air, writhing around eachother in their path to utterly crush Sunset. Seizing her moment, mind and body kicking to the max, Sunset leapt, her hair discharging embers. The first beanis caved in the spot she’d been standing, and she ran up along its surface. When another crossed her path, she leapt to the next. Again and again, ever closer to Beanos, even kicking off their sides, a streak of orange unimpeded, jumping, bobbing, and weaving.
Sunset’s heartsong came to an end as she reached Beanos at the center of it all, reached the girl trapped within. She dug deeply into the core of her being, the core shaped in part by Twilight herself, and all the memories of pleasant bygone days they shared. Sunset’s geode shined with the light of the sun upon her neck, ready to push all those nostalgic thoughts and feelings back into Twilight, where they first originated, with all of her being, and banish everything else. She pulled her arm back, its fire crackling with potential energy. “PHOENIX…”
Time seemed to slow down as the distance between the two shrunk. Beanos’ eyes widened. And Sunset’s fist flew forwards, its flames forming into the shape of that legendary bird of resurrection. “PUNCH!”
Beanos’ face twisted to the side as Sunset struck her cheek with titanic physical and magical force. Her aura winked out along with the beanises, vanishing into motes of light as she spun about her spine, careening diagonally down into the ship with an explosion of debris. No longer standing on anything, Sunset fell after her, stumbling as she landed and letting out a long sigh of relief. The flames on her head and hands tapered off and faded away, and her geode shattered, overloaded and expended by Sunset’s final attack. Rainbow and Spike gawked with jaws agape, in equal parts awe and concern.
A few moments later, the dust cleared, revealing the battered but intact form of… Twilight Sparkle. Beside her, Beanos’ crown laid broken, the light of its gems forever dimmed.
Sunset beamed, the sight of that bespectacled face finally lifting her up out of her nigh-perpetual malaise. Not since getting her cutie mark, decades ago and a world away, had she felt such unfiltered joy.
“S-Sunset,” Twilight uttered, brushing her bands away from her face. She stared up at Sunset with almost religious reverence before choking back a sob.
Without thinking, Sunset moved to Twilight’s side, kneeling down and pulling her into a firm hug, her own tears threatening to escape. “It’s good to have you back, Twi.”
At this, Twilight managed a single chuckle, leaning into the embrace with the exhaustion and need of a starving changeling. “It’s good to be back.”
Neither of them spoke for a long, precious moment, an equally relieved Rainbow and Spike walking up to them. It was Twilight who broke the silence, leaning back slightly so she could face Sunset, dozens of emotions warring on her own. “You did it, Sunset. Beanos, the Promare, Midnight, they’re all gone,” she forced out, breathless, before turning away. “Even my own sheer idiocy,” she added, voice small.
“Don’t you dare beat yourself up over your mistakes,” Sunset said. “We both learned that lesson the hard way.” Sunset’s smile widened, and she shook her head a little. “Besides, I just did that for you.”
“Y-Yeah,” Twilight sighed, shaking in Sunset’s arms. Then, unable to hold back any longer, she burst into tears, shining streams sliding down her cheeks as she buried her nose into Sunset’s shoulder. “A-All this time… I was so focused on trying to earn you as a lover that I lost you as a friend. I-I’m so sorry. For all the sex stuff, for all the pain I’ve caused. For declining birth rates, for driving a wedge between you and the others. For Beanis Inc, f-for everything.”
“It’s okay, Twilight. It’s okay,” Sunset reassured, gently rubbing the back of her head. A part of her had always known Twilight’s true feelings, but she’d buried it deeply, afraid of what might happen to their friendship. Now, it was much too late. But, Sunset knew, they could start over, better than before. “This was partially my fault, too. I should have paid more attention to what you were going through, beneath the surface. I was so preoccupied by all the beans and cocks that I just… didn’t.”
“None of that matters, not to me, not anymore,” Twilight said, looking around at all she had built with regret and disgust, before locking her gaze onto Sunset. “All that matters is you, Sunset. You’ve made it abundantly clear your dislike of the beanis and related paraphernalia, and I never respected that. Well, effective immediately, I’m done. No more bean or sex toy anything, for as long as I live. If that’s the price I have to pay for our relationship, so be it. I’ll pay that price a thousand times over, just to keep that perfect smile on your face.”
Sunset was moved by her words. In the face of such earnest devotion, how could she possibly refuse? Looking into those brilliant eyes, only one thing came to Sunset’s mind: the truth. “Celestia, I missed you. Missed this. And I never want to forget this feeling, for the rest of my life. It might never be as strong as yours, but that shouldn’t stop us. You’re my best friend, Sci-Twi. Now and forever.”
In response, Twilight’s face became an example of pure elation before she leaned up against Sunset even more tightly. “Oh, Sunset!”
Seeing her smile like that, after all she’d done, it was too much for Sunset to bear, her own sinuses aching as all her pent-up emotions escaped. They knelt there, on the cracked floor of the Fathership, as years of turmoil gave way to relief in eachother’s warmth. Even Spike and Dash joined in on the hug, providing wordless support. And there they remained, eyes shut, for an infinite moment of catharsis.
The dark age of the Beanis had ended, and a bright future loomed over a new horizon. Following sunset and twilight, a new dawn.