The Tomb of the Nameless Evil

by Klamnei

Part 8 - Necessary Evil

All types of evil things streamed out when Pandora opened the box: Illness, worry, crime, hate, envy, along with countless horrors she could not even describe. She tried her best to slam the lid shut, but the tide of darkness was too great, her mistake too late to undo. All she could do was watch as curses, sins, and worse escaped into the mortal world to wreak havoc forevermore. At last the box was empty of its contents, and the chamber fell silent once more… silent save for Pandora’s sobs.

Yet as Pandora despaired atop the chest, she felt one last thing stir within. She looked, and there she found something strange; something she did not understand. It was the inability to accept the inevitable, the little voice whispering “maybe”; a bittersweet medicine that could heal or poison the very soul. It was recklessness, persistence, zeal, irrationality, denial, certainty, cowardice and more. It was a powerful force, deceptively so, yet she could not discern its intent. Was it a device of good? Of evil? Or something in between? Of something else entirely?

It took some time for Pandora to decide on what to do. Perhaps it was because she was already under the force’s thrall, but she saw a glimmer of light within it; a promise of redemption and salvation. Opening the box at all had damned her, but even if she was being deceived, there was no way releasing this last paltry force could make things worse.

And thus “hope” was brought into the world.

-The Myth of Pandora’s Box

Outside-

There weren’t many who could claim they were familiar with hiveminds. Neighsay was the exception in this regard, for while Chrysalis had never connected him to the changeling hivemind proper, his connection to her had, over time, resulted in some osmosis.

Good thing, too. He’d be dead without it.

The magenta leylines pulsed amidst the worsening storm. Blustering winds raged amidst slime-slick sleet and hail. Inches of muck had already accumulated on the ice sheet below, and the tremendous fire wall still raged off in the distance. The main windigo force was being held at bay by the Elements of Harmony and the Army of Shadows, with “only” twenty-some behemoths currently engaged with Neighsay.

Neighsay cursed as the oversized windigo he’d been chasing faked him out again. He whipped his body right in pursuit, twisting his wings in a way that’d make an experienced flyer cringe. He probably wouldn’t have stood a chance if the windigos were in peak form. Luckily for him, the millennia of inactivity actually made things about even.

A lovesucker’s greatest weapon is their empathy. The knowledge bubbled up in Neighsay’s subconscious as he flew. They rely on it more than any other sense: Sight, smell, hearing, all of them are secondary. It’s what lets them hunt in unique environments and evade would-be enemies.

Neighsay caught up to his quarry like he had so many times before. He felt like he had the speed advantage, but he honestly couldn’t tell if they were just messing with him. The windigo was filled to the brim with succulent energies; energies that he could still taste on his tongue. He opened his jaws to snap at their wispy tail—

SMACK!

—only for said tail to deliver a vicious slap. The windigo then fled as a surly mob of its cohorts emerged around Neighsay. They brandished their back hooves to use him as a piñata.

D̸̢̈̏İ̴̜͇E̶̱̓̿

He came within feet of death. The explosive bucks cracked like thunder as he went into a dive. Four new windigos gave chase while the rest reoriented.

Ambushes and hit-and-run attacks are a lovesucker’s bread and butter. Neighsay had noticed the similarities, but applying that knowledge offensively was another matter. They typically operate in groups of eight or more, with at least two members assigned to monitoring the target’s location. This allows the remaining drones to focus on things like attacking or serving as bait.

Neighsay accelerated in a spiral towards the ice. The windigos caught up with some difficulty to mirror his flight path like a double helix. They assaulted him at every pass with vicious hits on his barrel, One or more of them drawing his attention while the rest struck his opposite side. Sharp, crunching agony exploded across his body with every strike.

A̵͈͘F̴̧͝Ṱ̷̇E̷̳̕R̷̞͗ ̴̳̂Ẁ̸̭E̶̝͐ ̵́ͅK̶͔͠Ï̶̢L̴̙̽Ḻ̵́ ̷͕͋Y̸̝̏Ǒ̵ͅÚ̷̟ The windigos’ maddening screams made his vision blur and swim.

T̷̟̐Ḩ̸͛E̶͓̚ ̵̲̈B̶̩̓Ō̸͇Y̴̻͋ ̷̱͝A̵̤͛N̴̢͂Ḓ̷͘ ̸͉͂H̵̻͑Ï̷̩S̶̤̈́ ̷͕̐M̵̖̂Ö̵̼́T̷̝̐Ḫ̵̅E̸̖͠R̵̮͋ ̶͉̅Ạ̷̈́R̸̳̉Ė̴̢ ̷̭̒N̷͍̓E̵̢̔X̵̟̑T̴̖̒

Shattering, splitting pain wracked Neighsay. His regeneration kept him conscious, but the
windigos were relentless. The sight of the ice zooming up to meet them was accompanied by a feeling of deja vu. If only he hadn’t lost his portal medallion...

The more dangerous the foe, the less risk lovesuckers will take. The appearance of an easy victory is, to them, an attempt to use their own tactics against them. This paranoia can be considered their greatest weakness, for even when the odds are overwhelmingly in their favor, they still struggle with straightforward approaches.

But playing interdimensional teeter-totter had never been Neighsay’s plan. While the windigos’ greater size gave several advantages, it meant they required more space for a great many things…like pulling out of a dive.

His attackers managed one more pass before realizing this. They bellowed their indignance, but ultimately had no choice but to pull away or risk becoming windigo paste. They watched as Neighsay accelerated straight down towards the muck-laden ice, hoping against hope that his second gamble with gravity didn’t pan out like the first.

Neighsay could hardly see straight. The ice was zooming up to meet him, closer with every blink. Soon he could make out the countless spikes and barbs amongst the ice. A scream fought to escape his lips as he drew closer still, panic clawing in his chest and limbs wanting to flail.

He waited until the last possible second before snapping his wings open. The scream that’d been building tore free, flight muscles straining with sheer torment as he angled himself up. His scaly form WHOOSHED over the ice and sent muck and snow flying. He pulled up as soon as he could without daring to look down, for he was mere feet from an ocean of countless spikes and barbs that would’ve ripped him apart.

Pain and the howling wind were Neighsay’s only companions. He flapped his leathery wings while keeping low to the ice sheet. As the pain slowly ebbed, he took a moment to collect himself before seeking out his targets again. Every time he went on the offensive the windigos flipped it on him, but what other choice did he have? He knew how they fought, how they intended to bring him down. The longer he let them plan, the less of a chance he had. His “smaller” size may have granted him more maneuverability, but he doubted he could use the same trick twice.

Neighsay continued to soar along at breakneck speed. He gained some altitude and continued along as hunger gnawed at his insides. If only he’d been able to gain more of that first windigo’s power! To have accomplished so much and yet so little… ERGH!

He glanced down at the ice sheet backlit by magenta glow. He’d already tried eating some of it earlier—both the sheet and the leyline magic—no dice. The energies were TOO dense. His body couldn’t break it down. The shadowfrost chunk had sat in his stomach until he’d vomited it back up, and the raw leyline magic had felt like being electrocuted. How ironic that the answer to all his problems sat just below him—a king’s ransom of raw shadowfrost above three literal rivers of power, and it was too much for him to claim.

Neighsay’s frustration seethed as the silhouette of the Centimane emerged from the storm. He needed more power, more strength! He had to find a way to score another kill—

CREEEEEEEEAAAAAAAK-CRUNCH!

The noise was enough to startle Neighsay out of his battle haze. The Centimane, a millennia-old structure of unmatched design, was imploding before his eyes. Half of the mechanisms had already collapsed into the leyline, and now it was the other half’s turn to go. Supporting contraptions of the past exploded in magical white and red bursts. The heavy, wing-like vents were in the midst of dragging the Centimane’s trunk into a long, agonizing fall. Several branches had already snapped with several more now sharing their fate; some vanishing into the fissures of violet light while others dashed against the ice.

The scale of it made it seem like it was happening in slow motion. The clamor was audible even through the roaring vortex. The violent light show was like muted fireworks amidst the storm. On impulse, Neighsay searched empathically for any sign of the geologist girl—

FWWWWWSH!

A fast translucent dot blasted out of the wreckage. Metal scraps followed after it in a glowing aura like a comet’s tail. Neighsay didn’t recognize what kind of magic it was: It was pure, yet also corrupt. It was fiery, yet it resonated with the icy storm. His empathy noted there were multiple minds within that light—one living, one artificial, and one… well, he wasn’t sure there was a word for it, but he’d felt them once before.

“The prodigal princess returns...” Neighsay narrowed his eyes. “With a newfound flunkie in tow.”

Maud jetted out of the fissure with newfound flight. The heavy snow and slicing winds felt wonderful to her, like a warm summer shower on a hot summer day. Using her terrakinesis to collect metal was barely something she needed to think about—it may as well have been a reflex.

We’re clear. Maud mentally pinged each of her passengers. Still with me, you two?

CORE MATRIX TRANSFER SUCCESSFUL - FLIGHT ASSISTANCE PROTOCOLS ENGAGED

Amore’s notes were somber. The... Hate... Filled... Dragon… is… near... Be… wary.

Maud chewed on her lip. She could barely see a few feet ahead of her in this storm, but she could definitely sense him. His twisted mind was a ravening void that sparked envy in her dark half. Princess, before we go any further… I want you to know I’m aware of the Eleven Rules of Future Sight. I’m also aware of the concept and limitations of temporal causality.

Amore didn’t comment. She simply existed in the background while repeating a quiet, meaningless set of chords.

Maud wasn’t sure who was getting the short end of the stick here. She was grateful she understood the situation, but it was still a bitter pill to swallow. I understand there’s only so much you can tell me. If I had to guess, I’d say the desired outcome of all this requires that you only intervene at specific instances. I… just want you to know that I trust you.

Amore hesitated. It was only for an instant, but when her song started again, the melody was full, rich, and smooth. Thank… you.

Maud grunted. She did her best to push it out of her mind for now, for dwelling on it was only going to result in a headache. She had far bigger concerns at the moment—

Well, now, said a thought like an avalanche in a whisper. Look at you.

Much, MUCH bigger.

He came into view like a skyscraper on a foggy day. She was a mere dot compared to him; his ash-gray body so humongous she couldn’t even take all of it in. A small part of Maud’s mind insisted something so gigantic couldn’t possibly be alive; that she was actually looking upon a portion of the cavern wall…and yet the cavern wall didn’t have immense, ravenous gold eyes.

How fortunate that my senses have grown with the rest of me. Neighsay’s sly chuckle was like a lake of shifting gravel. Maud, was it? You look like a windigo, but you’re definitely not one of them; oh, no. You’ve become something else entirely.

It was true. Maud was not a windigo, but a windigo redeemed. Her semi-opaque body was a warm gradient of magenta and pink. Her colorful mane and tail were composed of frosty ethereal flame. Her cutie marks had changed into glowing hearts that also dotted her luminous legs, and her glowing eyes burned with prismatic contrails.

She was also fully armored. Silver in color and light in weight, the ensemble had been forged from the Centimane’s metal. Sombra’s cruel helmet had been refashioned into the noble style of the Crystal Empire, with Amore’s own cutie mark—an intricate blue snowflake—etched upon the brow.

I am who I’ve always been. Maud suppressed her harmonic aspect and entered his corruptive aura. She noted he still flinched on impulse. But never mind that. I’ve come to help you fight—

A̴̽͂B̴̳͝͠Ờ̷͓̠͈̯̎̓́͌͘M̷̺͂̈́͝I̷̊̍̈͝N̴̢̧̫͊̈́A̷͑͛̕͠T̷̘̬̿̈́̈́͝I̷͛̇Ó̴̮͕̏́Ṅ̶͋͑͝Ś̸̀̔ Demonic windigos exploded out of the storm from every angle. There were

even more now than when they’d jumped Neighsay, their numbers bolstered by a new group from over

the wall. B̶͙̫̮̘͘Ȍ̴T̶͕̩̪͗̍̚͝H̵̢̡̢̻̮̤̭͌̑̕͝ ̴͚̻̼͛̑͛͠Ơ̶̾̄F̴̪͖͙̱̈́͑ ̴̛͙̭͉̂͜͝Y̴O̶͐̋͌U̸̩̗͝͝͝

Maud’s world slowed. She had been fighting the windigos through the Army of Shadows for some time. yet they were nothing but empty shells, immune to the windigos’ effects on the mind. No longer did she have any buffer against their baleful presence, their unfiltered malice and chilling wails shattering her resolve like brittle glass.

Maud couldn’t breathe. A sudden dizziness swept over her, her stomach tying itself in knots. What in Celestia’s name was she doing? She was nothing more than a fly to these things—a foolish, powerless insect! Her feeble attacks wouldn’t just be useless, they’d only make the windigos stronger! Hope was nothing more than a reckless disillusion against the wrath of the gods—

No.

It was like the beginning of a symphony. Without warning, Amore’s harp-like “voice” was joined by a veritable ensemble of instruments: Ethereal strings sang. Bright brass played. Mystical woodwinds murmured. Even some faint percussion could be heard. It was merely Amore’s soul playing in layers, but that made it no less powerful.

Hope… springs… eternal.

The first extravagant chord swelled until the terror was drowned out. Maud’s eyes glinted, brilliant flames crackled with rage and resolve. More wreckage of the Centimane and the fallen pipelines whizzed up around her in the blink of an eye. She imposed an image upon the metal, one it swiftly conformed to, the pieces melding into an ENORMOUS harpoon the size of a wizard’s tower.

Lightning flashed. Maud’s new weapon burst into flame, its stark silhouette visible against the charging windigos. The crash of thunder was deafening, but it couldn’t drown out Amore’s song. Maud could feel the warmth in every note, every bar, every stanza. It was a tribute to life itself; a prelude of hope and love.

She chose her target and took aim with Centimane’s aid.

WHOOSH!

THUNK!

A high-pitched scream rent the air. The fiery harpoon had pierced a windigo’s shoulder, scorching its ethereal hide and sending it veering off course. Like two cruise ships colliding, the creature crashed into its neighbor with an echoing SMACK that also sandwiched the holy spear between them.

Now the second windigo screamed. The hiss of steam and smell of burnt flesh filled the air as It recoiled like the first had, colliding with another windigo with just as great a crash and spectacle. That windigo then careened into another, who ran into another, and soon a domino effect of mythical proportions was made.

It was the perfect distraction. Neighsay blew past Maud like a landslide, sights set on the one she’d hit. He tackled the phenomenal creature and sank his jaws into its ghostly side. Its screams reached a new octave as the inertia sent them flying backward, the two fading into the storm in a downward-spiralling jumble.

The other windigos panicked. They gave chase immediately, Maud left staring in their wake as they vanished as quick as they’d come. The whole ordeal had unfolded in seconds. She’d been ready to have the fight of her life, but now all was silent save for the wind and the melodies of Amore’s—

ALERT: WINDIGO REINFORCEMENTS INBOUND

A new windigo from the wall charged her from behind. Maud only just managed to swoop away, its gargantuan head and icy body sailing by with terrifying speed. She was still watching it pass when the outlines of three other windigos emerged.

Not good… Maud summoned up more metal from below. Centimane! Tell me the best way to fight these things! Should I make more harpoons?!

IRRELEVANT QUERY - USER DOES NOT POSSESS THE MEANS TO OVERWHELM, BYPASS, OR NEGATE THE WINDIGOS’ REGENERATIVE CAPABILITIES

THE ENERGIES OF THIS STORM WILL HEAL ANY INFLICTED DAMAGE

Maud grit her teeth. I’m just trying to buy time until Neighsay gets back! I know I can’t take them out alone!

CONTEXTUALIZATION ACKNOWLEDGED - MODIFYING RESPONSE

RECOMMENDATION: LARGE-SCALE ATTACKS WILL QUICKLY EXHAUST USER - TO OPTIMIZE STAMINA, TRANSITION TO MORE EFFICIENT TACTICS

Maud wanted to facehoof. Leave it to a construct to be both vague and incredibly precise. Thinking on the fly had never been Maud’s forte, but given it was that or death, you’d be surprised what you can do when you don’t have a choice. It was time to see what her new powers could do.

The ocean freighter that was the windigo’s body still hurtling by. The cold radiating off it was staggering, like countless invisible fingers clawing at the surrounding warmth. Maud found it positively invigorating. She summoned up more compressed metal around her, sped it up to create a serrated cyclone, then flew straight at the windigo’side.

ZRRRRRRRRRRRRM!

The stark, piercing squeal stopped the others in their tracks. Maud retreated just as the windigo twisted around to either retaliate or evade. She tried to position herself far enough to keep all of her attackers in sight, but their size and the weather made that nigh impossible. There were four by her reckoning, identical for the most part, all staring at her with that same look in their eyes—studying, measuring.

ADVISORY: DUE TO AN ISOLATED INSTANCE OF THE SAME SPACE-TIME ANOMALY AFFECTING USER AMORE, THE SIPHONING POINTS ON THE WINDIGOS’ POSTERIOR NECK REGION WILL NOT HEAL BEYOND CURRENT STATE FOR TWENTY-FOUR HOURS

ATTACKING THESE AREAS AT A CRUCIAL MOMENT COULD PROVIDE AN OPENING, BUT FOCUSING THEM REPEATEDLY WILL YIELD LESS OF A RETURN—

Direct the Army, Centimane, said Maud. I’ll handle this.

ACKNOWLEDGED

Suddenly, the windigos tilted their heads back and sang. Unlike before, however, this was not a song of madness, or at least, not to Maud’s altered senses. It was like a haunting and melodic fugue to her, its subject and countersubject serenading her in succession. Each entry of the melody was hypnotic despite being slightly different—

UP!

Maud rocketed straight up right as a building-sized chunk of ice came hurtling out of the storm. She was still ascending when the attack was followed by a salvo of supersized icicles, slicing blasts of wind, and dissonant whispers in her mind.

Hang on, Princess! Maud focused on the positive aspects of hope. The assurance of what she wanted. The drive to surpass her own limits. The insistence to move forward. Her whirlwind grew brighter and hotter, the shards speeding up until they made a metallic whine. She bisected an oncoming ice spear, danced along the crosswinds, then charged straight at the four windigos trying to fight her at range.

Amore’s grand opus transitioned into a powerful, melodious bridge. The hivemind’s combined will was bearing down on Maud, but she shrouded her mind in shadow to drown out their whispers. She fought with a skill that wasn’t hers, flowing effortlessly between fighting styles despite never once practicing their forms. She soaked up the corruption around her while lashing out with holy metal. She pulverized glacial boulders and anything else in range. She could still feel Twilight’s fire affinity crackling merrily within her—a comforting reminder that the others were still out there.

A world buried in ice and strife. Visions flashed in Maud’s mind. The deeper she drew upon one part of hope, the stronger the other became. A path not meant to be. I am a servant of the lost princess, the Eternal Seer, the Witch’s Bane. The long winter has come to an end.

H̶̢͝Á̶̺͜L̷̳͂F̸͈̠̽̾-̶͎̙͑S̴̯̿O̶̙̍͜U̵̩͛L̵̤̆͘É̷̤̅D̵̹͋̀ ̷͚̗̐͘Ŵ̷̼͎Ŗ̶̞̈́Ȅ̴̠͠T̸͍̘͐Ċ̷̨͍H̷̡̰̋ ̵̊̐ The windigos’ murderous hate caused toxic hail to

fall.W̴̡̛̗̆͜Ē̴̦͍̭͊̾ ̷̣̥̠͛̒͆W̷̢̙̅̚ͅÌ̶̯̟̋L̴̪̩̖͌L̷͉̟͖͊̄ ̶͙̃M̷̰̘͉̓̄̈A̴̭̎͠K̸̲̫͛̀̾Ë̵͖͉́͝ ̸̣͋͜͜Y̶͖̐͠ͅO̷̤̅Ṷ̷̦͋̿͠ ̶̢̺̞̅̃̇W̸̰͋̍İ̴͇̲͎͑S̴̟̙͋̅̂͜H̸̠̉͗ ̶̜̭̪̄́̕Y̶̩͂̕͝Ơ̴̞̮̙̒̈Ṵ̴͖̻̾͗ ̴̮͆͗̓C̵͖̪̳͒Ơ̸̢̜͓̈́̀Ṵ̵̄̉͝L̸̖͐D̴̦͛ ̷̮̖͖̑̅Ď̶̖͎̤̆̀I̷̡̼͗̔Ě̷̢

The future is not yours to take. Maud caught a colossal ice slab they’d thrown and HURLED it right back. A windigo screeched as it was hit on the snout. Ponies defeated you once. We can do it again.

Meanwhile-

Neighsay clung to his screaming prey like a bat. Snow and wind was whipping by, the cracked ice approaching fast. He had bit the windigo’s side and was relishing the vast amounts of energy flowing into him. He could feel it rushing through him like electricity, heart racing, mind moving faster than he could think. The thrill of the hunt was as sweet as the silvery blood in his mouth—

THWACK!

A buck to the jaw filled his mouth with pebbles.

THWACK-THWACK!

Two more kicks, this time on his barrel. He was pretty sure something ruptured.

THWACK!

The windigos surrounding him were relentless. Neighsay blindly kicked behind him while whipping his heavy tail at the air. The fresh power and euphoria drowned out the pain, but even if it didn’t, nothing short of death would make him relinquish his prey. He could feel his limbs shaking and thickening, muscles quivering as they grew. His bones creaked and lengthened to proportions unseen. Twitches raced through his tail with every foot gained. Skin and scales itched as new cells formed.

The windigo was shrinking fast. It was struggling less and less as Neighsay became an even greater leviathan.The contours of Neighsay’s scaly frame bulged with dense muscle. The depths of his magic continued to expand with newfound energy. It was almost more than he could comprehend! It was almost jittery the way it made him feel, but he wanted more… MORE! If his mind or body couldn’t handle the energy, then it would adapt and evolve until it could! He was a being of limitless potential!

The windigos were still bucking him with all their might. They crushed his muscles and stuttered his organs, but Neighsay noticed the attacks less and less. Too late did the windigos realize their attacks were hardening his scales and making their own job harder. Neighsay misinterpreted the sudden panic as them discovering what he intended, but even if they had realized, it was too late to run.

With newfound strength, Neighsay bit down hard as he could.

KA-BOOM!

The explosion happened a dozen feet over the ice. Maud was far enough above to avoid the initial blast, but she still screamed as the sound ravaged her hearing. Ears bleeding but healing fast, she at least reacted fast enough to phase through the coming shockwave. She then extended her senses in search of Neighsay—

A spinning ice disc TINGED off Maud’s armor.

GAH! Maud whirled about. One of the four windigos was wielding a great ice column, the object raised to turn her into paste. Maud waited until the windigo had swung, then unleashed a brutal fireball with a blistering FWOOSH! She then went straight through the pillar via a pony-sized hole. Neighsay! Are you alright?!

No response. She could feel his mind floundering in a dazed fog. She was about to call out again when countless needle-sharp icicles came flying at her from all sides. She conjured a full body shield and serpentined between her four attackers.

He… shall… recover... came Amore’s voice. Hold… fast.

Maud wanted to retort that was easier said than done, but she kind of had her hooves full at the moment. Just because the windigos didn’t want to close with her didn’t mean they were messing around. They were relentless in their efforts to wear her down little by little, chipping away at her stamina until she—

Waste...

The pain-soaked word gave Maud chills. Even the four windigos gave pause, his mental presence against theirs like a cold cinder in the void. Maud gulped as the THUD of impossible wings grew louder from below.

He came into view like an island rising from the sea. He had to be half the windigo’s size now, his elongated shadow immersing her in eerie demi-night. His head alone was so huge she could’ve run laps on his muzzle. Vertical walls of scales and spines, alive and shifting with every breath, stretched beyond her view like some alien landscape. The muck of the storm sloughed off his town-encompassing wings with every flap.

I want more. His voice was deeper and more oppressive than ever. Maud was like a snowflake to him; a pink peculiarity the size of a pea. I want to eat every last one of them.

The four windigos were seething. Their gazes shifted between Neighsay, Maud, and the ground below. Their kindred had been stunned and scattered, and four against two wasn’t looking as good as it sounded.

Maud shuddered. His hunger hadn’t lessened in the slightest; a tantalizing emptiness both intimidating and enticing. The downdrafts of his wings—and even his breaths—were astounding. W-Well, you are a growing boy.

Neighsay licked his bloody chops. Nice throw. He gestured below. I doubt the ones scattered by that blast have recovered. We should seize the chance to prey on the weak.

Maud’s shards reconverged like glinting bullets. She noted Neighsay was shielding her, the attacks of the four windigos bouncing off his scales. What about the four up here?

Oh, no doubt they’ll try to stop us... Neighsay swatted away an ice chunk that could’ve passed for a hockey rink. The key word being ‘try’.

They dove towards the ice together. The attacks of the four windigos continued after them and then some, their occurrence increasing to an almost frantic level: Wind walls popped up to slow them, mirages and illusions were constant, and ice pieces of all sizes came hurling at them. Maud and Neighsay used their extrasensory powers together to fight—clumsily at first, but soon they were synchronized.

The storm had turned the shadowfrost sheet into lumpy porridge. The magelight of the leylines shone up through the slushy fissures like violet magma, though it wasn’t nearly strong enough to improve their visibility. Neighsay reverted to mist so he could get closer to the ground, and to both of their surprise, the windigos’ attacks all but stopped.

What the…? Maud looked around. The silhouettes of the windigos were nowhere to be seen. Why’d they stop?

Hmm. You could almost hear the frown in Neighsay’s voice. I can’t be sure, but given how malleable this form is, they could be wary of me trying to zoom down their throats.

Maud cringed. She supposed it made sense, but it wasn’t something she wanted to witness firsthoof. I think I’ll leave that tactic to you. I can take that form as well, but I’ve seen what happens when these things “die”.

Neighsay booming mirth echoed in her head.

Soon after, they came upon a crater-like depression larger than the entirety of the Pie family rock farm. In the center they found a grime-covered windigo struggling to rise, the dark snow and sleet speeding along its healing. It gave no reaction to their approach.

There! Neighsay burst out. Hurry!

Maud was already recalling her harpoon. It came whooshing to her from the distance like an arrow of the gods, battered and bent but still in one piece. As they approached, Maud spotted a still-sizeable lump on the punch-drunk windigo’s head. She transformed her harpoon into a hammer and brandished its bloody, blunt head.

Get it… Neighsay’s manic bloodlust blended with Maud’s nervous fervor. Get it get it get it getitgetitgetitGETITGETITGETITGETITGETITĢ̸̀Ḙ̶̃T̸̥̾I̵̯̎T̷̺̿G̸̤͘E̵͙̓T̴̛̹I̸̞͑T̶̟̀

A dark smirk crossed Maud’s face. Both she and Neighsay had tasted the windigos’ power, but only now did she want more… SO much more! Exhilaration replaced the low-burning fear she’d been struggling to contain. It was laughable, really; what was there to be afraid of in the first place? Never had she felt something so intuitive, so RIGHT!

And it was just the beginning. Salivating, she gripped their enormous weapon and raised it high.

WHAM!

The strike echoed for almost a mile. It was still audible even when the mass of the falling beast made another roar of rushing air. Ice splintered and gunk splattered in all directions amidst a shockwave that was paltry to those previous.

Y̴̢̛̪̮͔͆͊̆E̷̙͎̅Š̴̡̻͓̄͗̐ Hysteria further infected Maud’s thoughts. Neighsay was already moving, the crater buckling as he coalesced beside their prey. Ḿ̸̬ǒ̷̲r̴̠̈E̷͎͝... M̴̻̉O̷̽ͅr̶͛͜É̴͈

The bloodlust was intoxicating. Neighsay pounced on the windigo, Maud shuddering as the first torrent of POWER gushed past their lips. The tingling rapture was unparalleled; far beyond the meager taste she’d had! She hadn’t realized it before, but the more sensations intensified, the more Maud realized this was the way it was always meant to be! They were so much stronger as a whole! Soon they would become unstoppable! There was no Maud, there was no Neighsay, there was only THEM!

A black miasma surrounded Maud as Neighsay grew in leaps and bounds. Doubtless the four harriers had realized their mistake by now, but there was nothing the fools could do. Maud cackled as pieces of the broken pipeline and Centimane debris were summoned with newfound ease. Mammoth pipes rose from far off fissures as her range of influence increased. She was going to enjoy tearing those bloated worms apart with metal, crystal, and stone—

That… should… suffice. Amore’s ensemble, which had just finished its first movement, now crescendoed into a bridge with jarring dissonant chords. Come… back… now.

It was like going from walking on a sunny day to being frozen in the dark. Looking back, neither Maud nor Neighsay could’ve told you when the merge occurred, but they certainly knew when they started drifting apart. Amore’s inexorable presence inserted itself between their minds and pulled Maud away—not forcefully, but like she’d turned Maud into smoke.
_Wh-What?
Wh-What? Panicking, Maud and Neighsay tried to mend their nascent hivemind. Every strength, every ability, every bit of awareness had all been shared! They couldn’t go back to being individuals! They hadn’t known true happiness until now! N-No! NO!

Hello… Dragon. Amore regarded Neighsay’s corpse-black soul. It was an icy, slime-slick nightmare saturated in greasy slush… Yet even still, she could see what lay beneath. I’ll… see… you… again.

They couldn’t rejoin no matter how hard they tried. As their respective individuality returned, Maud slowly became aware of what they’d almost done. Her stomach dropped into her hooves like lead, eyes glassy and unfocused—

W̸̖̩̉̌̐E̵̜̍̃ ̶͈́͂̾Ẃ̷͖̰͚̓Î̸̥̹̫̀L̷͎̎̄̕L̶̞̞̂ ̷̝̬͊̿M̸̲̈́̆̈́A̴̳͇̒͐K̶̛̮̩̠̽̂E̴̠͎̅ ̸̨̻̐̓́Ỹ̸̲͠Ő̶̖̍ͅU̷͙̮͂̈́ ̵͕͒F̶̲̈́E̴̫̱̭̍Ě̵͎͖̉L̵̢̨͆͘ ̴̩̚I̷̠̓̏T̵̬̅̑ͅ ̵̢͉̲̈́Ḁ̵͗L̴͖͒͜͝L̸̤̬̈ The four harriers charged out of the

storm. They were all making for Neighsay, who was still in a daze beside the knocked out windigo.

E̴͉̿̍V̷̪̍Ë̷̡͚́Ṙ̸͔Ÿ̸̙̯ ̵̥̉͠P̵̨̠̓̚Ả̴̭̟́Ḭ̴̒N̶͇̙̈́͠,̶̗̿ ̶̺̿̽͜E̷͖̗͗͒V̵̭͚͂̋È̴̺̤Ṙ̷̘̚͜Y̵̬̲͠ ̷͉̗̈̈́Ḓ̶̰̌̾Ḙ̵̇Ä̷̟̤́T̶̛̳̈́H̶͎̭͗

Maud snapped to. The dark power from Neighsay flared to life, the harmony of Amore’s symphony wreathing her body in light. With a wave of a hoof, she sent salvos of burning metal hurtling towards the backs of the windigos’ necks.

ZRRRRRRM!

They howled. Oh, how they howled. The sound was so loud Maud’s ears nearly blew out again. The windigos whirled on her in a blind rage, baring down with enough psychic strength to—

WUMPH-WUMPH-WUMPH-WUMPH-WUMPH

Four GIANT pieces of pipeline pinwheeled into view. They homed in on the quartet with a sound like air rushing through a tunnel.

CLANG!

It was like watching a train crash through the eyes of an earthworm. The strike’s ringing resonance echoed far on the relentless winds. The four windigos weren’t just blindsided, but taken out like bowling pins and thrown against the ice. They cried out as their flesh was rent by the glacial barbs.

To fall so far, yet learn nothing... Hope-fueled flames crackled around Maud. It was tempting to push the attack, but more were likely on the way. Like master, like servant.

She knew they’d just keep going for Neighsay. He was wide open right now, staring at nothing and blinking like an owl in the sun. She couldn’t just leave him be and hope for the best. Hope was indeed her Element, and it certainly did have its strengths, but one of its greatest dangers was it could—

It crept in like a shadow against another shadow. It was a choking wall of smoke as thick and dark as ink that infused her in a sudden flood. It was sinister, but powerful. It was a lie, but it was a lie that served her.

The thing dreams are lost on. She turned her focus inward, her eyes shifting to resemble a prismatic version of Sombra’s. The damning force of irrationality. Denial conceals the most obvious truth, delaying proper action and forfeiting personal power.

She manipulated the considerable pieces of pipeline to orbit the crater’s inner half. She bolstered them with even more summoned metal, using Amore’s illustrious skill and Centimane’s precision to create a metal dome around Neighsay. Granted, a simple dome wouldn’t be much protection against such powerful foes, but with a bit of creativity and modern day knowledge, perhaps this dark power could be used to—

Wait… Maud’s mouth fell open. Her effort had been successful, but unexpectedly, the gathered metal and corrosive energies had just combined into something familiar. It was a powerful material, jagged and ominous, jet black in hue with a crystalline finish.

She recognized it immediately, of course. She’d come here hoping to learn more about it.

I… entrust… this… to… you. Amore’s chords were somber. The… secret… of… dark… geomancy.

There was unfortunately little time to dwell on it. The windigos who’d been scattered—numbering over two dozen—had started arriving from all sides. Maud decided to lay low near the crater’s edge while they all funneled in. She swooped down near the ice sheet and suppressed her power as best she could, watching her behemoth foes swim gracefully through the air.

As expected, the windigos’ first priority was Neighsay. If they noticed Maud was still in the area, they didn’t give any sign. They barely even reacted to the newfound dome made to stall them. A pity; Maud personally was quite proud of it. Not only was it so large that several of the tremendous windigos could crowd around it, but its glossy surface was pristine despite the vicious storm. The windigos that couldn’t gather around the dome formed an outer protective circle.

In a synchronized motion, the inner windigos whipped about, took aim, and bucked with thunderous—

—their kicks slid right off.

Ẃ̶̢͕̐͘H̴͈̓À̴͇̜T̵̪̋̽ They tried again, but even kicks that tore the air asunder failed. Searching for a weak spot
proved fruitless, for even the surrounding ice was metal-coated and slicked.

Crouplomb’s Law, came Maud’s voice.

NOW the windigos noticed her. They had little time to react when her gigantic hammer exploded out of the muck and swung at them in a wide arc.

W̶̯̫̕H̸̓A̶̒T̷̢͍͔̈́̍ ̶̙̳̅͘Ḧ̴̱̪͕̅͝Á̵̫͝V̸͙̲̚̕̚Ę̸̧̼̚ ̸̖͝Y̴̒Õ̶̝̳Ư̵̈́ ̴̞̫̭̾̈́́D̴̠̼̜̔̓O̷̭̬͛͑N̵̖͆̌E̶̱̐ The windigos traced Maud’s damnable energy to her pink blip rising into the air. She was summoning more metal, crystallizing it with ease into a menacing second hammer.

A rare smile graced Maud’s face. I always did enjoy physics.

The windigos’ scream would’ve put a banshee to shame. The majority charged her while a select few fruitlessly kept at the dome.

The dome’s crystal facets glinted in Neighsay’s slitted eyes. He hadn’t noticed the curved enclosure at first, but even now it seemed an afterthought compared to what’d happened—what’d almost happened. Intentional or not, his experience with hiveminds contextualized things to a stark degree. He wouldn’t be risking contact—empathic, psychic, or otherwise—with Maud again.

Speaking of otherwise, there was the matter of… her. She’d been tangible yet not, alive yet not alive, like a spirit of pure light beckoning from beyond. There was no doubt to her identity, but that just made things more frustrating. Not only had he not sensed her, he hadn’t even realized she’d been concealing parts of Maud’s mind until it was too late! How could he repel the influence of something like that? What would it take to be free of the immortals that held Equestria in their thrall?!

Neighsay glowered at the fallen windigo. Funny to think that a short while ago, he would’ve been able to live in a house on its snout. Now he was more than three-fourths its size, yet even now he was still trapped like a fly in a spiderweb. It wasn’t fair. His whole reason for wanting power was to acquire true freedom, but... what if he was better off settling for something else? What if acquiring true freedom was impossible, or the price was too great to pay?

What would he even want in that case?

…

“After we kill you, the boy and his mother are next.”

The choice that had created him in the first place. He’d never forget Stellar’s cries as he walked out of her life. He’d never forget the look on Sunburst’s face before he stormed away. Ashes of burned photos still haunted him, all destroyed before they were seen.

The mare that should’ve been his wife. The boy that would never call him Father. They’d always be strangers to him or worse no matter what he did. There was too much damage done, too much time passed, too much change in general. The past was set in stone.

…

“But the future can change.” Neighsay’s caustic drool stained the windigo’s back. With a mighty heave, he propped up the creature and opened his mouth WIDE. PUPPET MASTERS BE DAMNED

GLOMPH! Neighsay shoved the windigo’s head into his maw. It wasn’t as uncomfortable as he’d feared—assimilating Chrysalis’ serpent form had changed the structure of his jaw. His stomach rumbled like an earthquake as the windigo’s ears barely tickled the roof of his mouth. He hooked his hooves behind its front legs and pulled, sliding its neck across his tongue until his lips met the windigo’s shoulders.

Neighsay’s pulse was racing. He pulled forward again and gulped hard to force the creature’s head down his throat. Next he pressed its legs to its barrel and wedged its shoulders in with a mighty tug. The creature’s staggering size and mass sent sharp pains along Neighsay’s jaw, but he didn’t care. He continued to pull and swallow while “walking” in the windigo’s front half, his neck bulging and rippling as its barrel slipped into his greedy maw.

The tight feel in his mouth and throat was heavenly. He swallowed again and again while tasting its belly, his gut rumbling with pleasure as it received the first part of its meal. He refused to subsume the windigo until he’d devoured it in full—for obvious reasons—but he could only hold back for so long. The mother of all adrenaline rushes was on the horizon, just a few measly swallows away!

Neighsay reared back—lifting his meal off the ground as he did—and crammed the windigo’s hips into his drooling mouth. His excitement was palpable as he straightened his neck and let its body ripple down his throat. His scales stretched tight across his hide, his gut ballooning in size with every swallow, but still he wanted more… MORE! Finally the windigo’s back legs slithered past his lips; and when he sucked down its ghostly tail with a loud, wet slurp, there was no evidence of the windigo’s passing save for the swell of Neighsay’s gut.

But even that didn’t last.

o̸͙̓̎͆Ȟ̵͉̖̭̈ ̷͉͉̜̑͌͠Y̵̫̭͑E̶̙̙̓ṡ̸͔ Neighsay’s body shook like a revving engine. His stomach SHLURPED back to normal as the windigo’s inestimable energy stores—enough power to cause untold devastation—flooded him in a moment of bliss. The leyline-violet accents on his wings grew brighter than ever. His dread aura intensified until it rivalled—no, surpassed the windigos’. The air was shimmering around him, a hyper sensation thrumming in his ears beyond anything he’d thought possible!

The first surge filled out his core so fast the rest of him struggled to catch up. The ice sheet was bulldozed by a wall of spreading muscle, his staggering weight doubling, tripling, quadrupling and more! His lithe body stretched longer, his serpentine head rose higher. His shoulders widened with new muscle, legs thickening and creeping outward. The contours of his limbs ALONE were like steep hills! An entity such as he wasn’t shaped by the world; the world was HIS to shape!

It wasn’t long before he felt himself pressing up against something. Only light touches at first, but soon his whole body was testing the stadium-like dome. Loud creaks and groans accompanied the sensations of his growing body, so exhilarating and all-consuming! It felt like he was getting bigger with every breath!

He was so enthralled he never noticed the commotion outside...

Maud was finesse incarnate. She wove through the windigos’ murderous swings, lethal salvos, and mental assaults in an unpredictable dance. Her mighty twin hammers whipped about to deflect vicious blows from all sides. It was as if a fly gained the ability to dual wield flyswatters and then attempted to fend off an angry mob.

Y̵͎͠O̷̻͐U̸̺̓ ̵̗͒W̴̤̓I̶̮̐L̷̬̉L̵͒ͅ ̵̧̀F̷̛͔Ā̵̳Ḻ̶̐T̸̟̈́E̵̪̿R̵̮̿ The windigos’ bucks were getting more accurate. They only needed to land one hit to turn Maud into pulp. I̷̡̚T̸̟̎ ̶̮̇İ̶̲S̴̱͑ ̵̻͗Ò̴͇N̴͖͠L̵̠̀Y̴̥͂ ̷̰͂Ả̶̝ ̷̻́M̴̥̿A̸̭̔T̵̡̊T̸̲͌E̷̺̎R̴̩͆ ̴̰̚O̷̹̐F̸̰̃ ̸̟̕T̸̰̾I̵̡͋Ṁ̵͉E̸͓̔

All of the windigos had given up on the dome to focus on her. They kept trying to hem her in, their attacks whittling her down until they could truly make her suffer. Every dodge was made by the skin of her teeth, every hit she scored little more than a glancing blow. She’d break free every so often to lead them on a zigzagging chase, but they kept slowing her down with missiles of wind, ice, and shadow.

The turbulence was like a hurricane. Those that dared close with Maud suffered a painful punishment, but there was only so much she could do. She was trembling, head always whipping about as she prepared for the next attack. She could feel the windigos’ contempt and frustration trying to strangle the very air out of her lungs! It was becoming a challenge just to survive by the second—

KRR-KKK-K-KKK!

The sound drew Maud’s attention. Amidst the whistling wind and cascading snow, she spotted her crystal dome shaking, almost vibrating. Monumental cracks blossomed along its surface that oozed corrosive shadowfrost. It looked like a skin disease gone out of control.

O-Oh... Maud wasn’t sure whether to cheer or scream. Neighsay’s devouring darkness was swelling, pulsing like a nightmarish tumor. His growing might made her feel more miniscule than ever. W-Well, I guess he—

It happened with a WHOOMPH of pressure. Six surfaces of muck, each one just transparent enough to be camouflaged, converged on Maud from all sides. They splattered around her to trap her in a formidable fetid cage.

AHHHH! Maud directed one of her hammers to break her free, but the windigos’ malice was hammering her mental barriers like never before. She could feel the grip on her weapons weakening as the windigos dogpiled atop them. NO! NO-NO-NO-NO-NO-NO-NO!

Her panic allowed the windigos to worm further into her mind. Slushy muck flew everywhere as she slashed wildly at the frozen wall, but to no avail. Even the dark portion of her soul couldn’t withstand the leeching despair spreading through her mind.

Princess! Maud mentally reached out to Amore. HELP!

Only now was it apparent Amore’s symphony had paused. She resumed like she’d been waiting for her cue, but what she “played” wasn’t a stirring anthem, nor some powerful concerto. It was simply her haunting chimes.

Peace…

Irresistible and hypnotic, the notes floated into Maud’s mind to murmur the single word. Maud was taken aback as she felt something within her… detach. It was hard to describe—she was drifting away, falling, almost; but she hadn’t actually moved at all. She could still move and feel her body quite clearly, but was also like she was watching herself from outside her body.

Wh-What… The windigos’ freezing, paralyzing influence still had her in a metaphysical stranglehold. Through the wall, Maud spotted the growing outlines of the windigo’s monolithic hooves. Princess…?

Amore’s twinkling chords were like a lullaby. It felt like this was all a film Maud was watching, or a particularly vivid dream. Her wild, frantic attempts to break free faded beneath a blanket of calm.

Centimane, said Maud. Or had that been Amore? Emergency override. Transfer core matrices to Seer remains.

ACKNOWLEDGED

EXECUTING TRANSFER NOW

The immeasurable hooves of death filled Maud’s vision. It felt like gravity itself had tripled, but yet Maud also felt weightless. Someone was screaming, but also smiling. The rising air pressure made her ears bleed.

Maud closed her eyes.

CRUNCH

Y̸͑ͅE̵͕͆S̴͓͐ The windigos’ hit struck true. Ṡ̷̟Ă̵͖Ỳ̸͕ ̴͔́Ģ̴͑Ó̷͇Ǒ̴̙D̵͚̏Ḇ̷̎Y̶̮͐È̷̗ ̷̪̓T̶̜̓Ò̵͕ ̷̰͐Y̶̜̿O̷̞̕U̷͔͒R̴̪͒ ̸̦͒M̴̮̂I̷̡̚N̶̦͌Ȋ̸̬Ö̴͍́N̷͎̈́,̶̻̕ ̷͙͐A̶͉͆M̶͈͊Ó̷͎Ŕ̸̜É̶͕

The entire mob screeched their catharsis. They’d been in the minion’s mind; they’d felt her wretched flame snuff out. The muck walls caved with a shattering smash and crushed everything inside. They had done it. They had finally, FINALLY done it! The Half-Souled Seer had been stopped! Her grotesque lackey was a smear on their hooves!

Mania spread through the hivemind. An impossible spike of malice whipped up an ominous gust carrying golf ball sized hail. There was a distant cry from beyond the fire wall as the rest of their force echoed the triumph, all of them SURGING forth—

tseeeeeeee-BANG!

A blinding flash pierced the storm. The lesser windigo force staggered—first from the sudden light, then from the sizzling shockwave that ripped through them. The stench of burnt air and charred flesh was overwhelming.

tseeeeeeee-BANG-BANG-BANG!

It was coming from the direction of the fire wall. None in the hivemind knew what’d happened; only that it’d hurt. Any gathering momentum the windigos had was lost, for those that weren’t blinded or deafened were retching. The lesser force fumbled about the crater while trying to get their bearings.

KSHHHHHHH!

“HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!” Neighsay exploded out of the crystal dome. The mere motion of uncoiling his body and unfurling his wings sent a tsunami-like wave through the storm. He let loose a mighty roar and spewed shadowfrost into the air. “POWER!”

The windigos recoiled. Neighsay’s mind-shattering voice echoed with hideous might. His skyscraper-sized horn crackled with the mighty forces raging within his veins. His fell wingspan exceeded the crater itself! Despite all their efforts to stop him, the windigos were faced with the reality of their failure. No longer was Neighsay an aggravating parasite, but a hulking predator with an insatiable taste for their flesh.

Neighsay took a moment to admire himself. His body was long and sinuous before, but now it was even more so thanks to gaining the windigos’ lithe frame. Incomparable muscles flexed beneath a resilient hide, iceberg-sized spines, and serrated gray scales. His fell wingspan exceeded the crater itself!

“WELL, WELL, WELL.” Neighsay chuckled, the sound like a mountain being ground to dust. “LOOKS LIKE I’M THE BIG COLT ON THE PLAYGROUND NOW.”

A heavy, sinking feeling descended on the windigos. Bit by bit they edged away, the remains of Maud’s cage left to plummet to the filth-stained ice.

“WHICH ONE OF YOU WANTS TO BE NEXT?” Neighsay’s hungry gaze travelled between them. “ANY VOLUNTEERS?”

The windigos backed to the edge of the crater.Ÿ̷̟͓̽O̸͉̘̐́U̶̦̪͛̎ W̵̟̕I̵̧͚̊L̴̙̥̎͝L̶͙̟̍ ̴͍̠̎̂S̵̜̣̆̅Ù̷̺̩F̸͎̉̓͜F̸̫̅E̶̬͋R̴͇̊ ̶̖̓͊F̶̹̍̍O̶͇̭͗́R̴̦̩͐ ̸̮̌T̶̲̊̐H̶̩̫̔̀Ȋ̶̻̟̄Ș̵̨̓̑
Their words still held fury, but the bravado was gone. E̴̢̚͜V̷͓̌̆Ẹ̸̓Ǹ̸̘͖̌ ̷͓͛̉M̶̞̋͒O̷̼̺̔̇R̸̾͜E̸̹̩͒̎ ̸̼͎̿͆T̴̖̂H̷͕̺͆͋A̸̹̱̔N̶͕̜͌̂ ̵͇̌̃A̵̩͎̿M̶̤̍ͅO̶͈͐̒R̵͍͇͌͝E̷̜͐

Neighsay dropped into a crouch, the great ice sheet groaning beneath his weight. “THE WORDS OF A LIAR ARE EASILY DISMISSED.”

Meanwhile-

“RAGGGGGGGGGGGH!” Rainbow unleashed a great tornado of spiralling flame. The surrounding air boiled as she poured power into it, its strength and radius growing until it could’ve funneled water up to Cloudsdale. Its slow speed and lack of subtlety meant few windigos were actually hit, but It was still an awe-inspiring feat that lit up the cavern. It even affected the windigos’ storm!

Yet by clearing her side entirely, Rainbow had caused the windigos to adapt their tactics.

“We’re not scared of a bunch of ghosties!” Pinkie readied another salvo of party meteors. “You’re just another verse in my song!”

Her voice rang with magical might as she let the barrage fly. Colorful flames descended on a small group of windigos, who saw the attack coming and tried to slip by. They might have made it, but Pinkie’s second point blank salvo caught them all in the face, all of them shrieking from the welts that bloomed across their bodies. They fell back before she could set them try and set them on fire.

“Yeah!” Pinkie raised a hoof. “Take that—”

Suddenly a gaggle of four windigos from Rainbow’s side zoomed in without warning. They vaulted over the wall and disappeared before Pinkie could even throw a potshot.

“HEY!” Pinkie glared in Rainbow’s direction. “You’re making me look like the weak link!”

The sentiment was understandable, but had Pinkie been able to see the others, she’d know that all of them had failed to gatekeep a couple here and there. She’d actually been the last to let any slip by.

And speaking of the others, the struggle was taking its toll on all of them. Fluttershy’s fire animals had shrunk dramatically in size. Rarity’s ember ribbons weren’t glowing as hot as before. Applejack had switched to using her lassos like lashing whips instead of trying to keep any ensnared...

“Ergh…” And then there was Twilight. She was sealed within a locus of pure white, eyes blazing, her immortal soul burning with divine might. She couldn’t have told you how much time had passed, for she was solely focused on the energies keeping them all alive. She’d never called upon her divine spark to this extent before; had not the last vestiges of her mortal psyche been eaten by that… void thing, they would’ve been obliterated now.

SKREEEE

At least the Army of Shadows was doing well. They were nigh undetectable for the windigos, for empathy didn’t work against emotionless golems. Every time one of the girls started to falter, the untold masses of shadowy soldiers would explode out of nowhere to help drive the assault back. There was no doubt in Twilight’s mind the wall would’ve been overwhelmed long ago without them.

The presence of so much magic allowed Twilight to monitor Neighsay and the anomalous energy source from the Centimane. She had suspicions to what—or who—it was, but she didn’t understand why it had such a stark, tainted feel. She couldn’t tell how powerful Neighsay had become without diverting focus, but she’d certainly heard the screams behind them even with the buffeting winds. Something told her she didn’t want know the details beyond—

Y̸͑ͅE̵͕͆S̴͓͐The windigos’ shout was like nails on a chalkboard. Ṡ̷̟Ă̵͖Ỳ̸͕ ̴͔́Ģ̴͑Ó̷͇Ǒ̴̙D̵͚̏Ḇ̷̎Y̶̮͐È̷̗ ̷̪̓T̶̜̓Ò̵͕ ̷̰͐Y̶̜̿O̷̞̕U̷͔͒R̴̪͒ ̸̦͒M̴̮̂I̷̡̚N̶̦͌Ȋ̸̬Ö̴͍́N̷͎̈́,̶̻̕ ̷͙͐A̶͉͆M̶͈͊Ó̷͎Ŕ̸̜É̶͕

Twilight felt the anomalous energy source… flicker. The Army of Shadows halted their efforts, the black innumerable masses going still right as they’d ambushed another windigo. It was like they’d been frozen in time.

Something in Twilight’s mind shrank to a pinprick. Through her link to Pinkie, she’d just felt Pinkie’s link to Maud vibrate like a guitar string. It was hard to interpret secondhoof, but it hadn’t been severed or detached, but neither was it... well, it was hard to explain. It was like a mischievous poltergeist—taunting you in your peripheral, but going invisible when you looked. The Army of Shadows were now like a bizarre display of floating statues, the ones Twilight had been watching now swatted away by a flick of a windigo’s tail.

Then, from within the storm, there was a chilling, livid screech. Above and around Twilight, the murderous glow of countless eerie eyes shone in the storm. The windigos’ chilling aura of despair swept over the girls like a plague.

F̸͎͛O̵͚͌R̸̯͒ ̸̘̚Ṫ̵̯Ȟ̷̢Ḙ̷̒ ̶͍͊M̵̼̎A̷͙͂S̵͕̃T̸͋ͅÊ̷̞Ṟ̸̊

The legion charged. All of them, full speed, not one hanging back or splitting off. The numbing, frigid cold felt like it was ripping the girls’ life away.

Twilight realized she had no choice. All this time she’d been trying to conserve energy, limiting her resource use just in case of an emergency. Even when her stinginess nearly got them killed several times, something in her had insisted it was the right call. Perhaps it was because she’d studied control her whole life, perhaps it was out of some lingering fear, or perhaps it was something else entirely, but regardless. Even now with all she was maintaining, she’d still been holding on to something as a last resort.

tseeeeeeee-BANG!

It went off in the front of the charge with a whistle like a bird’s cry. A stunning flash, rapid and violent, thunderous and overkill. Its destructive force blossomed like a colossal incandescent flower and blew a hole in the storm itself. The shrill screams of ten windigos were lost under the roar of radiant light and heat.

Twilight’s locus of power now resembled a majestic bird. Horn glowing, she spread her wings to reveal they were engulfed in flame. “For the future.”

tseeeeeeee-BANG-BANG-BANG!

The air sizzled and flashed. Superheated flames raced along ripples of concussive force. Twilight’s ancestral wrath was raw energy given purpose; divine wrath given form. The vivid contrast put her silhouette in stark relief. She loosed blast after blossoming blast that turned everything red, the power to destroy wreaking merciless havoc.

The windigos’ charge dissolved. Most fell back while the rear line dove after the smoking, freefalling bodies of their wounded. Everything was awash in heat and deafness, the acrid stench overwhelming. Roiling smoke and steam ablated the snow to leave an odd open hole like Twilight had torn a hole in reality itself.

The other girls were speechless. They could only stare wide-eyed at their now-retreating foes, not even noticing the protective magenta forcefields that’d been erected around them. One by one, they looked to the wall’s center and spotted the effigy of Twilight’s aura.

“Phoenix…” said Fluttershy.

“HA!” Rainbow raised her hoof in the air. “Eat that, ya frost buckets! Have a parting gift while you’re at it!”

She made to let loose another fire tornado. However, as she called upon Twilight’s affinity, she noticed the influx of power was significantly… less. She still managed an attack, but it was more a fire dust devil than a fire tornado.

“Uh-oh,” she said.

The others noticed, too. Their respective fire attacks waned until they were all but useless against the windigos. The fire wall was shrinking as well, its temperature falling fast.

“Greh… zeh…” Twilight’s head was pounding. Her wings lost their fiery visage, her locus of power starting to dim. She could only pray the windigos didn’t make a second charge. She dropped the shields on the others and took a moment to catch her breath. The girls were already flying towards her.

“Twilight!” said Fluttershy. “Are you alright?”

Twilight managed a nod. “Don’t tell… my family… I did that...”

Applejack kept an eye out for the windigos. “Not to be preachy or nothin’, but shouldn’t you have OPENED with that?! Why the hay were you sitting on it?!”

Twilight didn’t answer. She’d thought her reasoning had been valid, but now… Would it really have been better to go all out from the start? Should she have cut loose as soon as it became clear they weren’t going to get the Elements charged in time?

She honestly wasn’t sure. She wasn’t sure of anything right now.

Rarity saw Pinkie was on the verge of tears. “Pinkie! Maud’s soldiers… don’t tell me…?”

Pinkie swallowed hard. “I-I’m not sure… I can feel her, but… it’s like… she’s o-only half there.”

None of them were sure what to say. The Army of Shadows hadn’t resurged yet, and all they could see was the storm. Their ears filled with the blasts of wind, the roar of the flames, and—

“HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA! POWER!”

The teeth-chattering bellow turned their blood to ice. Twilight didn’t need to divert focus to know Neighsay’s progress—the looks on her friends’ faces said it all.

“Let’s finish charging the Elements!” said Rainbow. “Big Nasty can take it from here!”

“I’d say we should go somewhere else to do it, but...” Applejack gestured around them. “I can hardly tell which way is up!”

“Can Twilight teleport us somewhere?” Fluttershy asked. “We could go somewhere safe, charge the Elements, then come back!”

It sounded like a good idea, but the very notion made Twilight ill. Performing two long range teleports on six ponies? Sure. Performing said teleports while simultaneously charging the Elements of Harmony? Difficult, but not impossible. Doing all of that while THIS close to three planetary leylines, however...

“I don’t believe so, darling,” said Rarity, seeing the look on Twilight’s face. “Surprising as it may be, even she has limits.”

“Whatever! We’ll do it here!” Rainbow checked the opposite sides of the wall. “Hurry before we get—”

Then, from Neighsay’s side of the wall, the girls heard the screams of the windigos getting closer. Neighsay’s miasma-like presence took off and started heading towards them as well, both groups closing in with unreal speed.

Rainbow gulped. “Caught in the middle.”

“What do we do?!” said Fluttershy. “The rest of the windigos could be surrounding us by now! We can’t run when we can’t see!”

Twilight’s head was spinning. There was so much to consider it was like bashing her head against a wall. Positioning aside, she didn’t understand why the windigos weren’t attacking right now. Maybe if her explosions had managed to be lethal, but she’d seen the worst afflicted healing as they were carried away! Not to mention there was no way they hadn’t noticed the wall’s weakened state right now, so why would they be hanging back right now if not to lure them out?

This was starting to seem more and more impossible. The windigos and Neighsay were empathic, so they could track Twilight and the others whether they stayed put or flew away. And even if they got around that, the Elements gave off far too much energy to be charged in secret! Teleportation wasn’t an option, so how in the world were they going to completely conceal an immense amount of magical power WHILE removing themselves from local space—

…

“I’ve got an idea.” Twilight relaxed with a slow breath. Her flames began to recede even more, the whipping sleet and numbing dark enveloping them like a viscous veil. Within seconds the fire wall was quenched with little to no fanfare, Twilight’s fire affinity now reduced to only the immediate space around them. “Everypony, sit tight! I need to make some alterations to my pocket dimension!”

The others didn’t catch on right away, but it slowly dawned on them one by one. They’d all seen how Princess Amore had been imprisoned, after all.

“We’re wasting time!” Applejack looked to the others. “We can keep Twi’s Element charged for her! It’ll help take some of the load off!”

Fluttershy blinked several times. “Keep… her Element charged? Can we even do that?”

“We just need to keep it idling!” Rainbow closed her eyes. “C’mon!”

The girls complied. Pinkie was the last to join in, at last turning away from the storm to do her equal part. As she focused on her Element, her thoughts turned again to the one absent from their group, Maud’s presence an echo of what’d been.

It was like she’d turned into a ghost.

The chase was on.

The windigos had a head start on Neighsay, but his wings were so strong he could overpower the gale-force winds in their wake. His body felt electric, light as a feather, even! Soul-nourishing power flowed through his body and fired in every synapse! He could scarcely comprehend the speed at which he could move...

But he was not invincible. He had to learn from the windigos’ mistakes, not commit them himself. There would be a time for self-indulgences like narcissism later—right now, his formidable mind needed to focus on the issues at hoof.

Like Maud and Amore, for instance. He’d sensed something had happened to them, but right now, he couldn’t have even told you where they were. All he knew for certain was that an entity such as Amore couldn’t be destroyed so easily. As for Maud, well… he didn’t really understand HOW she could be alive, but if she was, perhaps he could use her in some way to learn more about Amore. Assuming that path still interested him, that is...

All these thoughts and more crossed Neighsay’s mind as he neared the rearmost windigo of the pack. As the fire wall’s light grew brighter, it became more and more clear most of his quarry was going to beat him there. He cursed. Stopping them would be easy if he could use magic, but considering even the legendary Twilight Sparkle had been keeping her spellcasting to a minimum, he could only imagine...

He decided to try it anyway. The power he had at his disposal was overwhelming compared to what he was used to: vast, deep, and so very transformative. It was like a wellspring that he couldn’t even feel the bottom of… Yet despite his eager dive into his exponentially-grown font of magic, the leyline interference was staggering! Trying to overcome it was trying to buck a hole through the ice of a frozen lake!

“Nggh…” Neighsay tried again with more effort. The strain made his head ache, but the more he pushed, the more he could feel the “ice” crack. He just had to give it that little bit of extra oomph to break through! If Twilight Sparkle could use structured magic down here if she wanted, then by Starswirl, HE COULD TOO!

Blood trickled from his nose under the strain. It took all the power and focus Neighsay could muster, but he punched through the interference with one final mental cry. He pumped his wings harder and willed a spell into being—a simple noise cantrip, nothing more. He waited until the outline of the rearmost windigo came into view, then took careful aim at its pony-like ear...

BANG!

It worked. The windigo flinched and veered right with a sudden yelp. Said yelp quickly became a shriek, however, when it looked back and saw Neighsay bearing down with his mouth open WIDE.

His momentum proved surprisingly helpful in the process. Neighsay’s jaw creaked with the mass of the windigo’s rump, legs, and hips, all three shoved into his mouth and swallowed in a single hearty gulp. He ignored the desperate attempts to climb free and continued to gulp and swallow, the windigo’s heavy barrel swiftly sucked into his saliva-slick maw.

His prey’s utter terror wasn’t just tangible; it was delectable. It was almost as good as the wriggling sensation moving down his throat. Eagerly, Neighsay grasped the windigo’s shoulders and took half its upper body in one go. His stomach ballooned as he tilted his neck up and let the windigo’s muzzle be enveloped by his own. He added insult to injury by closing his mouth ever so slowly, allowing his meal to catch one final glimpse of this world…

Before all went dark.

Neighsay would’ve chuckled if he didn’t have his mouth full. He’d eaten the windigo in full before its kin could even double back. Its wild terror now flooded the hivemind to make them all scream loud and long. It was tempting to make them all suffer while relishing the thrashing in his gut, but alas, he needed the power. Still had to remain focused, and all that...

The windigos felt their eaten kin be no more. Their anguished screams trailed after them as they wheeled about and resumed course for the wall. Neighsay hugged himself with a groan, his whole body shuddering, his stomach once more a furnace fueling his ascension…

“Remind me again, nngh... who we’re rooting for?” said Fluttershy.

The snow concealed the unfolding horror, but there was little question as to what was happening. The pitch of the windigos’ screams combined with Neighsay’s power increasing could only mean one thing, after all. Twilight was still working as fast as she could to configure her pocket dimension, the others struggling to sustain the Element of Magic as best they could.

“Gah!” A painful flash of light burst from Rarity’s eyes.. “Us, dear! You should be rooting… for us.”

Fluttershy flinched as the same raw surge passed through her, as well. “R-Right...”

They’d noticed the approaching screams, of course. The words pincer attack had briefly blared in their minds, but the main windigo force still hadn’t made any move. Had they just not seen the opportunity? Were they worried about their smaller force being pincered between Neighsay and the wall? Were they planning a trap of their own?

“TWI!” Rainbow was glowing so bright you could barely see her features. “UPDATE!”

“Halfway… done!” The air around Twilight was a mess of distorted space. Crackling, whistling strands of pure energy arced around her in a dizzying, ever-shifting tangle of patterns. “Hang in there!”

Applejack shuddered. Not from the screaming windigos or the Element of Magic’s power, but Neighsay’s gruesome presence as it surged towards them like a rancid mudslide. The curtains of falling sleet were nothing but white and gray—a torrential sickly maelstrom stretching on into forever. “Stars help us all…”

Then, from Neighsay’s side, Rarity saw it. “INCOMING!”

The first windigo came into view. An odd hiss of pressure accompanied its movement, the air thinning out in front of it before rushing along its form. It didn’t so much as glance at them; it just zoomed over them like it was crossing from one horizon to another.

“Ho, boy…” Rainbow caught a glimpse of the windigos’ expression. Its nostrils were flaring, its white eyes wild and wide. It was the look of a creature that, had the girls somehow been able to cut off one of its limbs, it wouldn’t have stopped, noticed, or cared. It may not have even realized the girls were there at all; it just kept right on going and disappeared into the blizzard.

More windigos followed. Every last one looked equally terrified, uncaring and unthinking about anything other than retreat. The reduction of Twilight’s fire became apparent as the raw, biting cold seeped into the girls’ muscles and made their bones ache.

Fluttershy said what they were all thinking. “Th-They really are running… running from him!”

“Steady…” Applejack wasn’t sure if she was talking to the others or herself.

The great ghostly herd fled past with all speed. The air felt greasy and acidic, its numbing chill threatening to strangle the breath from their lungs. Twilight’s head felt like it was about to explode as she raced to convert her storage compartment. The others were more on edge than ever as they held fast, eyes glowing and leg sigils glinting, the maddening, brilliant noise of Twilight’s Element testing them in every way. Should any one of them falter for but an instant…

Finally, the screams had mostly faded towards the direction of the main windigo force. There was only one left now—a straggler? The rear guard? The girls had no way to know. They only knew it was a larger specimen, the wound on its neck slightly worse-looking than the others. It was flying with all speed like a bat out of Tartarus, the hiss of pressure so loud it was like a scream in and of—

SKREE

A monstrous shadowy mass burst up from the ice. It was like the limb of Something That Should Not Be, its shuddering, roiling shape wrapping around the humongous windigo with a familiar keening cry.

The windigo screamed. The girls screamed, too.

N̵̠̈̒͠Ö̸̱́̒͠The windigo swung and bucked at the Army of Shadows. Hundreds of soldiers were reduced

to smoke in a blink… only to reform and trap their prey. Ÿ̸̧̫́́̒Ó̴̞̮U̷͙͔͖͝ ̷̦͖̏Ś̶̝̥̺H̷̼̅O̴̰̱̎̄Ṳ̵̅L̵̦̬̅͐D̷̳̎ ̴͉̓B̶͓̒͆͊͜E̷̩̰̔̿ ̸̰̻̀D̷̫͗̏̌Ę̵̠̿͗̕A̵̪̺̤͂̿̈́D̶̲̪̈́͘

WHOOSH!

As if in response, a metal harpoon larger than life came sailing from the clouds above. It was awash in holy light, yet enshrouded in dark wrath. It sailed straight as an arrow towards the windigo with an eerie pressurized hiss.

D̷͒A̷M̷̛̝͝N̵̫̟̋ ̶̛̼͐̓Y̴̛̙̤̿̈Ō̵͙U̷͂͜ The windigo used its free hoof to conjure a mansion-sized block of ice. The harpoon went through the block with a magnified sound like shattered glass, but was deflected enough to only graze its target. The weapon sailed out of sight towards the ice below.

That was when it revealed itself. From out of nowhere, the anomalous presence appeared for all to detect. It was far above near the cloud layer; perhaps close enough to see!

“Maud…?” Twilight’s heart beat faster. She looked up, and sure enough, a faint pink light was shining from on high like an antipodal star.

“MAUD!” Pinkie tried taking off like before—

“NOPE!” But Applejack was already grappling her. “FOOL ME TWICE, GIRL!”

“LET GO!” Pinkie struggled so much that Rainbow had to jump in, too. “LET ME GO!”

“WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON?!” Rainbow screamed in her ear. “IF YOU GO, EVERYTHING DIES!”

“Pinkie! Look!” Fluttershy pointed above. “There’s more coming!”

A whole collection of oversized wreckage was flying down from the pink light. There were fragments of the ruined pipeline, “branches'' and apparatuses from the Centimane, and even what looked like chunks of black crystal. It wasn’t long before the windigo was swarmed by a whole assortment of animated metal, all of it tinged with that mix of bizarre power.

WHACK! CLANG! BAM!

NOW Pinkie stopped resisting. She knew in her heart it was Maud—she’d never been more sure about anything—but she still didn’t understand why Maud’s power felt so… off. Not only that, the strange “there-yet-not-there” feeling still surrounded Maud’s essence, and it was all the more wonky the closer they got.

“I-I...” Tears filled Pinkie’s eyes. “Oh, Maud...”

The lone windigo was now fighting the Army of Shadows and a veritable junkyard come to life. It whipped and about to escape the Army’s grasp, but the golems kept it rooted. It bucked and slung ice at the metal, but it kept slicing its body and digging into its frigid hide. The desperate creature was berserk by this point, doing everything it could in an attempt to get away, but no matter what it tried—

FWWWSH!

Then, the girls saw it. The icy blue glow of unicorn magic lit up from within the putrid clouds. The impenetrable gloom was nothing but a light fog compared to its austere brightness. It was like a ghastly lighthouse at the top of a mountain… and the girls were at the mountain base.

“Celestia save us...” Rarity whispered.

The windigo screamed bloody murder. At last it wrenched itself free, the black smoke of the soldiers’ remains wreathed around its body. Swarms of buzzing metal and crystal ripped and tore its flesh as it made a last-ditch effort to escape—

VWUMM

Too little, too late.

Gaunt blue magic spread across the windigo like a disease. The Army of Shadows retreated, and the animated metal did as well… save for the several tons of wreckage still stuck in the windigo’s hide. Behind them, a LOUD rumble rose over the wind… one that was far too organic for thunder.

DON’T INTERFERE, came a malevolent voice in the girls’ minds. OR I’LL REPAY YOUR EARLIER BETRAYAL.

For a heartstopping instant, the doomed windigo met the girls’ eyes...

ZRRRRRM!

...until a ruthless YANK pulled it back into the storm.

…

I SEE AMORE’S PLAN NOW. Neighsay’s voice stung the girls’ minds like a raw, angry red wound. DO YOU THINK ME A FOOL, ELEMENTS OF HARMONY? THAT I’D BLINDLY DO YOUR DIRTY WORK AND NOT SEE THE GREATER PICTURE? I KNOW YOU INTEND TO TAKE ME OUT WITH THE TRASH WHEN ALL IS SAID AND DONE.

The glow of Neighsay’s magic melted into the distance. The girls’ imaginations ran wild as they listened to the windigo’s shrill screams rise over them. Magic raged around their glowing forms as they fought to retain concentration, their manes and tails now ethereal and bright.

YOU ARE IGNORANT PUPPETS AT BEST AND WOULD-BE MANIPULATORS AT WORST, Neighsay said. I’D HOPED YOUR MORTAL TIES AND LOGICAL NATURE WOULD MAKE YOU SEE REASON, BUT YOU’RE EITHER PAST THE POINT OF NO RETURN, OR YOU’RE NOT AS SMART AS I THOUGHT. EITHER WAY, THE RESULT IS THE SAME.

The crude sound of flesh-on-slick flesh cursed the girls’ ears. The GLUCK of wet swallowing followed, so loud and subsuming it drowned out the storm itself. There was another gurgling rumble, followed by more gulping sounds; and suddenly, the windigo’s shrieks became... constricted. The girls’ hearts felt like they were going to explode from their chests.

AND SO BEGS THE QUESTION OF WHAT TO DO WITH YOU. That slight lilt crept back into Neighsay’s voice. SEVEN “HEROES” AND AN IMMORTAL SEER: TOO DANGEROUS TO IGNORE, UNABLE TO BE SWAYED BY WORDS AND LIKELY SCHEMING AS I SPEAK. YOUR HISTORY OF ACCOMPLISHING THE IMPOSSIBLE CAN ONLY DETER FOR SO LONG, MY LITTLE PONIES. SOONER OR LATER, OUR MISTAKES ALWAYS COME BACK TO HAUNT US...

The windigo began coughing, gasping; like its lungs didn’t have room to expand. Its cries gained a hollow echo, growing fainter and fainter amidst several loud pops and smacks. There was one last rumble, followed by an audible GULP… and at last the yells died away. There was only one more noise that followed a few seconds later: the fleshy gurgle of a shrinking gut.

“Twiiiiiiiii?!” said Rainbow.

“ALMOST… THERE!” The space around Twilight was like a Pintocasso painting. Strands of magic had splintered in mind-boggling ways to be reformed by magenta magelight. The strain felt like Twilight’s head was being split by a rail spike.

YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW, ELEMENTS. Neighsay’s voice was giddy, almost manic. NOW, ALLOW ME SHOW YOU THE FRUITS OF YOUR LABOR!

He didn’t so much “emerge” from the storm as replace it. They never saw his silhouette, for it’d long filled their field of view. His castle-sized muzzle loomed a mile above them, flanked by tainted eyes bright as dual suns. Curtains of sleet parted before gray scales so big they could see the individual grooves. A reflective sheen was now rippling across those scales as they became harder, stronger, nigh impervious before their eyes. He was like an avatar of Everhoof itself—a piece of the mountain come alive...

And he was still growing BIGGER… his power still skyrocketing even now.

“Mother…” The world spun around Applejack. Her sense of direction was gone; there was only him. “What have we done?”

THE SHADOWFROST AND THE WINDIGOS ARE MINE. Neighsay’s voice gained an edge like an apocalypse in a whisper. STOP WHATEVER SPELL YOU’RE CASTING, TAKE YOUR LOST PRINCESS, AND LEAVE, ALL OF YOU. I WON’T TELL YOU A SECOND TIME.

Twilight couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Neighsay had gone from a perceivable creature to… t-to… practically death itself! His simplest movements disturbed the sheets of snow, the merciless wind, everything. His incredible breaths moved hurricane-force winds through lungs bigger than city parks. His soul was a hideous absence; a rotten power hungry to become more… Yet it was only a tiny sliver of what it could still become.

There was no way this was reality. Surely any minute now they would all wake up and still be in bed back in the Empire. How could they possibly stop an entity of this scale?! His power felt capable of moving oceans and shaping continents! The storm itself simply ceased to be beneath him! She could sense the others were even more terrified than she was, and she honestly didn’t blame them...

Yet acting in the face of fear was what courage was all about.

Twilight drew upon her friends’ powers as much as her own. Memories of all the time they’d spent together, the lessons they’d learned on their adventures, and the values they represented filled her mind. The horrors of what might be faded broke against her hardened resolve. Her second wind spread to the others and invigorated them as well, their paralyzing dread overcome by five flashes of multicolored light.

Twilight didn’t even dignify Neighsay with an answer. Ten more seconds; that was all she needed.

A Few Moments Earlier-

COMBAT STATUS REPORT

90% OF TOTAL ARMY FORCES REMAIN - GREATEST CAUSE OF CASUALTIES: DISRUPTION DURING CORE MATRIX TRANSFER

ALLY BLOCKADE VOLUNTARILY DISMISSED, ELEMENTS OF HARMONY HOLDING CURRENT POSITION

PARASITIC ENTITY HOLDING POSITION - CURRENT INTENT UNKNOWN

ENEMY FORCES REGROUPED, CURRENT STRATEGY UNKNOWN - ATTEMPTING TO GATHER INTELLIGENCE

Maud was quiet as she hovered near the cloud layer. Her attention was divided between consulting her two passengers, listening to Neighsay prattle on, and her own private thoughts. She wasn’t sure what was more disconcerting—that she’d failed to extract all her metal in time, or that he’d eaten it with the windigo without a thought.

He… is… wary. Amore’s faint sonnet gave Maud pause. Of… them… and… us.

Maud’s gaze trailed up Neighsay’s expanding form. Trying to look him up and down was a good way to hurt your neck. By her estimate, he was over twice as long as the phenomenal cavern was tall. That he could still fly in here was likely thanks to the same windigo magics that let him—and her—slide soundlessly through the air. I had a feeling the jig was up.

Amore’s notes meandered a while before fading, not answering in the affirmative or the negative.

Maud sighed. She’d noticed Neighsay’s growth per windigo was decreasing as his mass increased, but even still, it wouldn’t be long before he’d outgrown this place. How soon until he could magically carry the entire legion one by one into his mouth? How much longer until he could stomach the shadowfrost sheet—or worse, the leylines beneath?! What if he decided to go mist form and flee before Twilight and the others were ready? What if he was already too powerful to stop?! What havoc would he—

HIGH LEVELS OF ANXIETY DETECTED

REMINDER: PROLONGED INSTANCES OF EXTREME EMOTION ARE ILL-ADVISED IN USER MAUD’S CURRENT FORM

RECOMMEND RETURNING TO A NEUTRAL EMOTIONAL STATE

Maud glanced down at her “hooves”. There was no skin, no muscle, nothing organic beneath her barding. Prismatic light and pulsing shadow was all she was now. Her barrel, her chest, her head, her mane, her tail, everything, all of it was gone. She was a wraith-like being, featureless save for her cutie mark and glowing eyes. The armor was just a cosmetic frame with some extra pieces to better preserve her form.

She still wasn’t sure what’d happened back in the cage. All she knew was Amore had kept her… “tethered”... for lack of a better word. However, it’d come at a cost—not only was Maud in her current state, but Amore’s song was fainter, her chords occasionally bleeding into one another.

Centimane. Fortunately, Maud still retained her telepathy. Before I linked to Princess Amore, you mentioned something about the “unknown effects on an unstable soul”. Can you elaborate more on that?

Centimane didn’t reply. For a moment Maud thought the construct was being problematic—again—but she sensed its matrices working hard… too hard. Either the nature of the question was confusing it, or it was preparing a novel of a response.

Stop. Maud didn't want either of those outcomes. How about this: Summarize the most likely cause and outcome of my current physical state. Provide context as necessary.

Centimane’s workflows calmed. ACKNOWLEDGED

CONTEXTUALIZATION: A “SPIRITUAL CATALYST” IS THE SOURCE OF A RAPID AND FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE IN THE STRUCTURE OF A SOUL

NOTE THIS REFERS SPECIFICALLY TO THE ORIGIN OF THE CHANGE - THE PROCESS OF CHANGE ITSELF IS CALLED “MUTATION”

WHEN A SOUL IS EXPOSED TO A “SPIRITUAL CATALYST”, IT BEGINS TO “MUTATE” THEREBY RENDERING IT “UNSTABLE”

MULTIPLE SPIRITUAL CATALYSTS AFFECTING A SOUL EXPEDITES THE PROCESS, BUT THE RESULTS BECOME HARDER TO PREDICT

CONTEXTUALIZATION (CONTINUED): “DOMINANCE” IS MEASURED BY A COMBINATION OF ABUNDANCE, EXPOSURE, AND CONCENTRATION

THE DOMINANT SPIRITUAL CATALYST IS WHAT INFLUENCES THE MUTATION MOST

IN USER MAUD’S CASE, THE DOMINANT SPIRITUAL CATALYST IS SHADOWFROST CORRUPTION

THIS IS WHY USER MAUD’S FORM NOW CLOSELY RESEMBLES A SPECTRE - A LIVING WRAITH RESULTING FROM A FAILED WINDIGO TRANSFORMATION

AT TIME OF USER AMORE’S AWAKENING, USER MAUD’S PREVENTATIVE MEASURES WERE FAILING - THE SHADOWFROST HAD TAKEN ROOT AND USER’S PSYCHE WAS COMPROMISED

ASIDE FROM DIRECT WINDIGO AGGRESSION, THERE WAS ONLY ONE GUARANTEE OF WHAT USER AMORE’S INFLUENCE WOULD BRING - AN ACCELERATION OF USER MAUD’S TRANSFORMATION

THIS IS BECAUSE USER AMORE’S UNIQUE NATURE MAKES HER A SPIRITUAL CATALYST IN AND OF HERSELF

A long pause followed. Maud half-expected Amore to speak up at this, but the more Maud thought about it, what was there to even say? Did she want an apology? A confession? A rationalization, explanation, or reassurance? Did she just want a reason to point blame, maybe even vilify the princess? Who really had the moral high ground when they were trying to prevent the end of the world?

Wow, Maud managed. I-I—okay, that explains some things, I guess… S-So you said I’m a “spectre”? Or that I’m like a spectre?

KEY DIFFERENCES EXCLUDE USER MAUD FROM THE SPECTRE CLASSIFICATION

FOR EXAMPLE: ALL SPECTRES ARE OBLIGATORY EMPATHOPHAGES - USER MAUD IS AN OMNIVORE WITH UNKNOWN RESTRICTIONS

FOR THIS AND OTHER REASONS, USER MAUD FALLS UNDER CLASSIFICATION: “AMALGAMATE” - AN UMBRELLA TERM FOR MUTANTS INELIGIBLE FOR OTHER CLASSIFICATIONS

IT SHOULD BE NOTED PARASITIC ENTITY IS AN AMALGAMATE, AS WELL

Maud’s eyes fell. Every time she’d encountered Neighsay on this excursion, she’d been appalled at how much more monstrous he’d become. So what did that make her? Is there any way I can undo this? Or am I just going to keep changing?

UNKNOWN - IN ALL PREVIOUSLY DOCUMENTED CASES, THE AMALGAMATE’S SOUL UNRAVELLED DURING THE MUTATIVE PROCESS

THEORETICALLY, ALL MUTATIONS ARE REVERSIBLE SO LONG AS THE SOUL REMAINS INTACT

THE EXACT METHOD, HOWEVER—

THE SHADOWFROST AND THE WINDIGOS ARE MINE. STOP WHATEVER SPELL YOU’RE CASTING, TAKE YOUR LOST PRINCESS, AND LEAVE, ALL OF YOU. I WON’T TELL YOU A SECOND TIME.

Maud froze. She realized Neighsay had moved closer to Pinkie and the others—close enough to be in eyeshot! Their rising dread was like a punch to the gut as Neighsay’s body slowly consumed everything.

Princess Amore... Maud tried to get a feel for her friends’ emotions, but she wasn’t exactly an experienced empath. Please, tell me what they’re doing. Why are they just sitting there?!

Amore’s sluggish notes ran up and down the scale. Configuring… pocket… dimension… Charge… Elements… within.

Maud tilted her head. She didn’t know the first thing about how pocket dimensions worked, let alone how feasible that plan was. What do I do? Even with the Army of Shadows, I’m no match for Neighsay as he is now. I’ll just make him even stronger!

AGREED - USER MAUD AND ARMY FORCES ILL-EQUIPPED TO PROVIDE MEANINGFUL ASSISTANCE AT THIS TIME

HOWEVER, SCANS OF USER MAUD’S BIOLOGY INDICATE AN ABSORPTION PROPERTY WITH AN UNKNOWN UPPER LIMIT - PARTICULARLY AGAINST AMORPHOUS ENTITIES

AN INCREASE IN MASS IS INEVITABLE, BUT EARLY SIMULATIONS SUGGEST CONSOLIDATING ARMY FORCES WITH USER WILL PROVIDE AN EXPONENTIAL INCREASE IN COMBAT ABILITY

And that was when it all clicked. Maud would’ve smiled if she’d had a mouth, but since she didn’t, her mental laughter filled the gap. She directed her next words not at Centimane, but Princess Amore. So THAT’S why you had me turn me into this! It was all so I could still fight, wasn’t it?

Amore’s notes played in a rush. I’m… so… sorry. There… was… no… other—

Why are you apologizing? Maud sent the order out to the Army. I already said that I trust you. I just wasn’t sure if I was supposed to come up with something on my own. It's always darkest before the dawn, right?

If it was possible for Amore to breathe out a sigh of relief, she did. Element… of… Hope… indeed.

Maud snorted. I like to think of it as ‘identifying trends within empirical evidence.’