//------------------------------// // The Stone Chisel Way (Part 1) // Story: The Stone Chisel Way // by King Genesis //------------------------------// Arc III - Chapter VI - The Stone Chisel Way (Part 1) They heard it. Now they feel it. No one says anything after hearing that explosion. It was massive, a sound they never heard before. Luckily, it did happen a few miles away from the city and all of the ponies and colts who were there wanted to get nearer... but suddenly the Princesses said no. No one moved from their places. The Princesses knew approaching that cloud would be something suicidal. Meanwhile, Sunburst... "You... you did it." he points now at Stone Chisel, who is trying to figure out what was that sound for real. "You did it!" Chisel gasps and feels his fur getting spiky. He's doubting. He still can't believe it. "What are you talking about?" now angrily shouts the stallion, desperately looking around at everyone in the castle trying to take a breath. However, Sunburst is about to do something. His horn is glowing with power. "You brought them here! The explosions! The ram! The monster!" "NO!" he angrily shouts while trying to jump onto him with the shackles. He can't say that. He cannot say that. "Of course not! I didn't! I never!" Suddenly he realizes that while talking... the explosion, the desperation... they are here. How stupid of him. Why would he doubt that? No. No. They have to escape. There's no way they can fight him. Everyone has to go to the mare's house. Now. NOW. "You remain silent," whispers Sunburst, while everyone looks now at Chisel, Bag and the cops in silence. "AND YOU REMAIN SILENT!" "WAIT!" shouts Golden Badge, trying to calm down the waters. The princesses have already moved from their throne, and the Mane 6 and the Pillars have just turned into the judges of the situation. "I know he's not lying..." "It's a trap!" "It isn't a trap, you dumb!" shouts Stone Chisel, clenching his teeth. "I almost die! I saved the baby, Flurry Heart! I told you everything I know about that monster!" "Are you sure about that?" "Of course, I'm sure about that!" "Then, why did you remain silent, huh?" "What? Only because I remained silent you are trying to bring me down?" "Yes." He clenches his teeth, looking at his partner Stolen Bag, who is not making any comments. "Really?" he angrily asks. Sunburst shakes his head. "I don't want to debate all of the time we have left with someone who has been with the one who killed my best friend." "BEEN WITH?!" suddenly Chisel's eyes go bloodshot. His anger is literally coming out of his eyes and mouth. "But I've already said... I'm gonna---" Stop. Suddenly everything stops when a magical aura surrounds both Chisel and Sunburst. The Princesses' horns start glowing while Celestia, escorted by Twilight Sparkle and her friends in desperate silence, starts approaching slowly to Stone Chisel. "It is no time for fights and discussions, please," she whines. "Stone Chisel... where is the house?" Chisel is blind now, because of his anger which eventually starts getting drained while having the Princess on his front. However, he only says, this while being observed by every living form of that room. "What?" Twilight suddenly jumps into him, trembling. "The house!" she shouts. Rainbow Dash also shouts from the back. "Where is this mare living?" "THE HOUSE! THE HOUSE!" It echoes non-stop on his inside. Chisel surprisingly swallows saliva while looking at everyone and suddenly shakes his head, desperately. Twilight grabs his face with one of her hooves. "No?" she says. "NO?" "It's near the train rails," he immediately answers, observing Twilight with some isolated eyes. "It's near the train rails... um... it's a purple house. Small... purple house." "Train rails?" exclaims Applejack with her eyes wide. "Train rails on the mountainside?" Chisel softly nods and just echoes: "Train rails on the mountainside." Rarity drops her jaw. "But... that's far away from the castle!" "How far?" suddenly asks Spike, looking to the Princesses, who now look at each other. Luna's ears suddenly get down due to her sadness, and that only makes Pinkie Pie, who has remained silent this whole time, get her hair smoother. "It's on the other side of Canterlot," replies Luna. "We have to pass by all of the city to get there." Celestia starts looking around, biting her lips. "You..." she whispers. "You shouldn't." "Shouldn't?" says Stone Chisel, nervously. He's about to pass out. "But we have to go there! It's the only one who can talk to this Wizard, Princess! You have to trust me!" But the Princess shakes her head and looks at him. Even he is in silence, waiting for her words. "I don't mean that," she suddenly says. "I mean... you shouldn't confront the ram... and just run to the house..." "But..." says Twilight, surprised at that conclusion. "Princess Celestia!" "Her Majesty!" pronounces the guard which was there all this time. "Are you sure about what you said? We are not going to leave you alone!" The Princess, however, looks at her sister who nods her head by observing her eyes. "It's..." says the Sun Princess. "It's different. It won't be easy to confront him. This is not Discord... Discord can..." then, she corrects herself. "... could... be easily distracted and confronted but... we can't handle the power and the bloodthirst that describes Tenebris the Night Ram." "But we have to confront him!" shouts Sunburst. "Someone has to!" "If you do it, you'll die," replies Luna, now impatiently. "Your magic can't harm him, Sunburst." "And what about our magic?" asks Pinkie Pie, with her smooth hair. "Can we counter him back?" "No, no, no," interrupts Celestia. "I'm afraid we can't match him right now, despite our power together. We can confront Chaos, as we did with Discord... but his... bloodthirst... is what makes him a different monster." "What if...?" suddenly says someone from behind. "What if we act together?" The Princesses turn around, along with her protégés, Twilight Sparkle and her group of friends, to take a look at the Old Pillars of Equestria standing next to each other. Mistmane is the first one to take a step forward, blinking and taking a breath. "We say..." she whispers while looking at her partners who are not making any commentaries. "Me... my long-time, eternal allies and partners... we fought and defeated the menacing Pony of Shadows..." Celestia and Luna look at each other one more time. They don't have much time left to plan this, so it may not be a bad idea but... they are not so sure about it yet. They feel... they still feel they have to do something. "No," suddenly replies the Moon Princess. "We, as the sisters of rulers of our Kingdom, have to confront hi---" "NO!" suddenly shouts Stone Chisel, which leads to lots of whispers, shouts and chaos inside that room. "Princesses!" shouts Twilight. "You already said it was impossible to confront Tenebris' bloodthirst!" "But someone has to sacrifice its integrity to let the Princesses escape," suddenly exclaims Star Swirl, closing his eyes, and leading the whole room to shut up. "They have to get out of here. He may want Luna, and maybe Celestia too. And I fear the one who may sacrifice it's going to be..." "Who?" asks Stone Chisel. "You have to know, also you, Princesses... that you need to be alive... the cops are just pegasi and earth colts and ponies... I am just a stupid robber as my partner..." "Stupid?" suddenly interrupts Stolen Bag, angrily, but Chisel counters him back. "You dare to call me stupid now?" "It's not the moment, a-hole," he exclaims and goes back to his speech: "Besides, not only I'm a stupid robber but also... I am the only one who can take you to this house... The Elements, maybe? Him?" he suddenly points at Sunburst with his hoof, something that offends the colt. "Me?" he shouts. "I'm not going to follow orders of you." "Uh, come on!" he shouts back. "It was just a saying!" "But, wait..." The colt with glasses interrupts back, then looks at the Princesses. "I think... I think I'm going to stay." "SUNBURST!" suddenly shouts Spike. "No... wait... are you sure of that?" "If there's someone I have to confront for my late best friend Starlight Glimmer, it's that... monster." "But..." then whispers Rarity. "Your mother!" she approaches him. "Your mother, Stellar Flare... she---" "Then tell her I love her," he interrupts. "With all of my heart." "But..." also whines Twilight, but at that same time, she said that... BOOM ... another explosion is heard... VROOOOM ... this time nearer... CRACK! ... and makes the whole castle shiver. Twilight grabs Flurry Heart and holds her. It's the only thing she doesn't want to see fading... along with her friends and the Princess... she will never hold it. Never. She can't even hold her tears while thinking about her brother and his wife. If something happened to her... The windows break into pieces by the time they observe two mysterious things breaking into the room and sitting on the throne. Two small rams with dark blue fur. Two small rams with dark blue fur... Stone Chisel doesn't recognize. Mors and Sanguis are the first ones who entered the castle, and immediately Stone Chisel exclaims what he knows: "THOSE... THOSE DON'T LOOK LIKE TENEBRIS AND RUSHKWA!" "Because we aren't!" Celestia recognizes those yellow pupils both night rams have on their eyes. Infested with chaos... with bloodthirst... with the darkest wish of them all. "We are---!" BOOM. Suddenly Celestia's horn started glowing and fired a beam against the two tiny rams. Then, she turns around, letting both Stolen Bag and Stone Chisel free from their hoof shackles, shocking everyone there. "Now," she says, turning around to look at Stone Chisel, who is feeling like a stupid small ant. "Take us to where that mare lives." And a second after the shackles hit the floor, other rams end up entering the broken Kingdom, in the middle of the pink smoke Celestia caused. Star Swirl, shocked and desperate, look at his old partners, the Pillars of Old Equestria for a second and all of them nod their heads while making eye contact with him. He takes a deep breath and looks at the shadows coming out of the celestial smoke. However, Celestia fires another beam along with Luna, Twilight Sparkle and Sunburst, while Stone Chisel runs away with Stolen Bag. Golden Badge and her crew follow them from behind. "RUN!" someone shouts. Nopony knows who, but that shout makes everyone run. The Elements of Harmony look at each other and doubt, question themselves if they have to run away but then a second shout is heard: "RUN!" shouts Celestia one more time, while firing another beam from her horn one more time. "GO TO THE HOUSE!" An explosion is heard from inside the Throne Room which makes Twilight and her friends fly away from there, not before the sister of late Shining Armor saves Flurry Heart's life, by taking her away on her loin. They also see Celestia and Luna doing the same while listening to somepony else shouting from far away: "GO!" An old voice... maybe Star Swirl, nobody knows. ... Is he still there? ... Star Swirl the Bearded? ... Is he sacrificing himself? STAR SWIRL Inside the huge wave of smoke and sounds of broken crystals, Star Swirl identifies his partners inside the raided place. He barely sees the Princess' throne, being occupied by those little rams... they don't have any scratches at all. Celestia's magic didn't harm them... they must be invincible now. Immortal. A minute later, he can see the whole scenario. The roof of the castle doesn't exist anymore. Behind him, his partners, Pillars of Old Equestria, are still standing, not even showing a grin of fear. However, there is someone else by their side. Right behind big Rockhoof, an orange colt with dark red hair looks at his broken glasses on the floor. He can't see so well now, but can easily identify who is he with and who is he against. "What are you doing?" suddenly asks Mage Meadowbrook, angrily. "You have to go! You have to run!" Sunburst blinks, trying to see something... and then they come in. The enormous, menacing ram along with his soulmate and its children... all of them standing with their cynical gestures, conscious of being able of destroying all of them in a matter of seconds but no... ... they like to play games. Somnambula is the first one who dares to speak to those: "Are you conscious, monsters, that you won't be able to touch even one hoof of our Princesses if you don't step on us?" "And it will be hard to make us fall," says Rockhoof. "We will fight until death." The smaller rams start laughing but stop when they find out both adults Tenebris and Rushkwa don't. They tend to take things seriously. "Well," pronounces Tenebris. "Now that you are talking... it's my turn... are you conscious, ponies, that you won't be able to touch even one hoof of us because we can manipulate reality the way we want... because we have chaos by your side?" Flash Magnus angrily shouts, hitting his helmet while raising a hoof: "YOU WON'T TOUCH THE PRINCESSES!" They jump onto the rams with all of their strength, preparing their magic, force and power... ... but they don't hit anything. Star Swirl was the only one who didn't jump. Instead, he stayed right there, in front of the rams, who also didn't move. Unexplainably, nopony touched the rams and simply went through them, as if they were just fresh air. Tenebris, right now, finds out there's a shine in the Bearded's eyes. A shine... of confusion. "Did you understand?" asks Tenebris to the Wizard. "It is impossible for you to fight us, colt. We can control you." And at that moment, that characteristic blue hat of his suddenly vanishes in the air, turning into dust. The ram didn't even touch him to perform that tragic trick... ... but Star Swirl... He doesn't give up. He will never, nor his partners. He doesn't let him go. He still stands there. "Rockhoof!" he shouts. "Flash Magnus!" Tenebris' body freezes at the time he hears that name... Flash Magnus? What is he talking about? Is it... the one... ... his father came across with? The one who told him they knew they were there? And said they were just busy? He tries to turn around but... He boils when he hears that name. His inside burns with anger. CRASH! Suddenly a huge amount of muscle crashes against the strongest ram of them all and makes him fall to the floor for a second. Rockhoof did it. He freakin' did it. He hit Tenebris, at least. However, nopony of them could enjoy the moment for more than a second. Suddenly Rockhoof gets thrown away by the magic of the female adult ram, and a horde of small, horned children with fur run to him until he is defended by both Mistmane and Somnambula... ... but no. "Children," suddenly says a rising monster. "Go outside." They didn't even finish nodding their heads by the time Tenebris took them out of the castle with his power. On the other hand... about Mistmane and Somnambula... ...They can't defend him. Tenebris is back, completely sane and with no damages at all after being crushed by a muscle beast and thrown to the floor and looks at both ponies doing their best to defend their friend, and in a couple of seconds, the ram takes charge of the problem and literally turns both of them into dust. Silence in the room after that. Rockhoof, Flash Magnus, Mage Meadowbrook and Star Swirl are straight like a statue. Rockhoof can't even move because of its shock and is easily attacked by Tenebris, throwing him away against the skies. Sunburst, who was a step aside all of this time, decides to get inside that spotlight and fire a magical beam to Tenebris, but Rushkwa sees that on time and literally controls the beam to make it return to its owner as if it was a boomerang. Sunburst gets hit and is thrown to a wall, passing out in the process. Mage Meadowbrook tries to stop Tenebris but suddenly Rushkwa saves the day for him, getting in the middle. Her yellowish eyes freeze the pony's body, not letting her be able to move... . She feels all of his body turning into a rock while Flash Magnus is trying to save his friend in the skies... ... but sadly, Rockhoof goes down, with his eyes wide, and feels his body getting cold. "ROCKHOOF!" shouts Magnus while trying to save him. "YOU... Oh, my... YOU ARE TURNING INTO A..." The big colt looks at his hooves changing from a cyan colour to a shiny, light grey. He looks at them getting sharper... and sharper... and then looks at his body turning into grey... and grey... and sharp... and grey... ... and it goes right to Mage Meadowbrook. Star Swirl, who did nothing but stand up in shock and in silence, tries to do something to get Mage out of there, trying to pass by Tenebris, Rushkwa, and the small rams... but it's too late. He feels heavier than he ever felt before, not being able to move... and looks at how Rockhoof is literally turning into a big, sharp blade. And... SHRICKK! "NO!" shouts Flash Magnus when finds out what happened. Star Swirl only swallows saliva... or at least tries to because of that gigantic lump he has on his throat. The blade that was Rockhoof seconds ago has completely impaled Mage Meadowbrook. She instantly died and didn't have at least one second to beg for mercy. The loyal pegasus with a helmet fastly goes down to attack the ram, but something else stops him. An indescribable pain appears on his back that doesn't let him move again, but what calls his attention for a second is that it's only on one side of his back. He suddenly can't fly or recover his height because he feels one of his wings doesn't respond. He falls and falls, and someone has to save him. Star Swirl growls and levitates with his magic, breaking that weight that was stopping him, only to fly like a rocket to rescue Flash Magnus from the skies. He suddenly looks at that wing of his floating in the sky, while the almost wingless pegasus is falling while closing his eyes due to the pain, but when he's about to grab him on time... ... he can't move. Again. Something, this time much stronger than him, stops his hooves and he can't move them. He tries to reach his own limit by fighting, and confronting that force but simply can't. He looks at his friend Flash Magnus falling faster than he ever thought and only is able to shout: "HOLD!" But luckily, as if it was a miracle, Flash Magnus stops when he is about to crash on the destroyed floor. He floats in the air for a few seconds, not being able to move and about to pass out, and suddenly gets crashed onto a wall by that same force that is dragging Star Swirl's hooves. Then, the bearded magician gets thrown to the floor while being observed by the rams. He only turns around, getting up faster than ever, and glows his horn against the community of horns... but nobody harms him... or touches him. He slowly approaches his injured partner, Flash Magnus, and stands right there, with a smile on his face, not showing concern while his horn is glowing. "You dare to step on him and I'll step on all of you..." then, he chuckles, although he tries to hide it, visible confusion and shock. "... I bet you heard of me during your long trip to Equestria, Tenebris the Night Ram..." Rushkwa looks at her soulmate, then the children. Confused, the ram raises an eyebrow. "No, I don't... but who I do remember is the living litter you have behind you," he swallows saliva trying to hold his anger. "He told my father he wouldn't help us. I recognize his name every day." "He never said he didn't want to help you," replies the magician. "We were fighting against a menace, and by the time you arrived at the castle after your long trip, we were facing the Pony of Shadows, saving your world from the villain while you were trying to show the world your dark plans." "You clearly didn't see me today if you say that," he laughs. "You still feel the United Kingdom is my darkest plan? The plan I made not only for me but for all of the creatures who are living in this world... you are just like me, whoever you are, the cheap magician..." "I'm not like you... I'll never be like you... I saved the world, I turned bad into good... you only turn the good to bad..." "Well..." he thinks, with some fire in his eyes. "... I thought that twice, and I have to agree with you... we are not the same." "We will never be the same." "But you know why?" "Because you are a monster." "No," he says with a smile, disarming Star Swirl. "It's because you still don't understand how I feel." "Being isolated? I do understand that, Tenebris." "No, you don't." Then, a mysterious hole is opened between the magician and the ram, which shocks both colts. "But I can teach you how..." "You're not going to teach me anything." "I will." From the hole, something strange comes out. Something which looks like a bell... which makes Star Swirl's mouth to open widely. The Bewitching Bell is back in Canterlot. It slowly rises and stays above both creatures. Star Swirl tries to touch it at first but can't. It's almost invisible and untouchable to his weak hooves. "Go ahead, Tenebris," dares to say Star Swirl, shaking his head. "You can kill me... but this is your only opportunity to stop what you started... you can bring everyone back to life and your wishes will be granted." "Granted?" he shouts angrily. "You are only telling me you are now lost in my shadow... and you need to understand what I've been dealing with. I won't surrender to those who ruined me." "I understand what you dealt with..." "No, you don't, of course, you do not understand it," suddenly interrupts Rushkwa. "Why are you trying to discuss something you don't know? You clearly don't have enough empathy to understand what we dealt with all of these centuries... closed and lost in nowhere while you were enjoying your powers." "I've been also closed in another dimension for decades along with my partners, who you have killed with your bloodthirst and your futile wishes of death..." suddenly, the magician without a hat grabs Tenebris' face. The ram doesn't even say anything. "Violence only leads to violence. Death only leads to death, Tenebris... What you are doing will only lead to your defeat, ram..." The beast only snorts at Star Swirl's face which makes him close his eyes. "Do you want to know why I haven't killed you yet?" Silence. Flash Magnus tries to move but the pain doesn't let him. "No..." he whispers. "Star Swirl... don't." "Shut up!" Star Swirl, however, shakes his head. "No," he says. "I don't have any idea about why you haven't---" He doesn't even finish talking when he fires a magical beam from his horn right to Tenebris... ... but nothing happens. Nothing. The beam stops right in the ram's face and suddenly fades out when Tenebris takes a breath and blows fresh, chill air from his throat. His air, his breath literally vanished the powers. "And that's why I haven't killed you yet." The magician clenches his teeth. "Huh?" "I saw you levitating yourself with your magic. From what I know not any kind of unicorn can do that... your power seems... kind of appealing to me... attractive." ... attractive? What does he mean by that? He takes a look above the ram and finds out the Bell is pointing right at him. "No," he says, frowning his eyebrows. "No, you won't... YOU WON'T---!" A light flash comes out of the Bell and covers the magician in a black aura. The injured pegasus tries to raise a hoof to help his friend but just looks at some blue light getting out of the Bearded. An echoed shout is heard right on his inside and just seconds later, he falls to the floor. Defeated. Powerless. No matter what, he is still standing, and won't die kneeling. He slowly stands up in silence, hearing Flash Magnus' desperate, whispering shouts, begging him to don't do it... but he is there, he is still standing. He is still Star Swirl. "Go ahead." He only says that to taunt him. "Do it... but when you finish, then there's no way back. You'll die with me, Tenebris the Night Ram." The ram only rolls his eyes while looking at Rushkwa and sighs. "Shut up." CRACK "NOOOOO!" shouts Flash Magnus with all of his strength, which wakes somepony else up. SUNBURST He slowly opens his eyes until he looks at a soul-less, eyeless creature impaled with a gigantic blade. He can't see it on its whole, but when he relates that with the presence of Mage Meadowbrook, it only gets his fur spiky and opens his mouth widely while standing up and getting off the wall. "Flash Magnus." The voice makes him tremble. A lump on his throat. A hole in his stomach while also looking at a grey figure lying dead on the floor, right under the rams' hooves. "Don't!" The rams suddenly turn around and look at that lost colt without glasses and its characteristic cape. It almost looks like he's naked. "You monsters," he shouts, grinding his teeth. "YOU MONSTERS! YOU KILLED STARLIGHT! YOU KILLED MY FRIEND!" The shouts echo and resonate in all of the destroyed room. However, Tenebris and Rushkwa don't get intimidated. The rams turn around but don't move. "Who?" "Starlight Glimmer was her name. You killed her like nothing... and I know I won't win this battle... but I'll do everything to avenge her and beg, shout for justice... you will die." Rushkwa chuckles. "Die?" she says. "And who are you to say that, pony?" The colt takes the longest breath he took in his life. My Name is Sunburst. "Sunburst?" she says. "Don't you see what's around you, pony? All of your friends are dead." "But I'm not." Tenebris snorts while looking at Flash Magnus, still lying on the floor and trying to move. "Sunburst... don't you see it?" "No," he chuckles. "I don't have my glasses to look at it in detail..." and then he goes back. "Monsters, that's what you are... that's what you were... that's what you will be... you and your community." "Don't you dare to say something about my community." "After what you did? To me? To everyone? To Starlight?" "And you bring the Starlight thing again... you have your sensitive root. I also have one. Don't you dare to talk about my community if you don't want to die first." "And you talk about her as if it was a thing... just... a memory? An event? A success? How could you? You ruthless monster, you will rot in the fire, both of you, forever when you die..." "We'll never die..." she raises an eyebrow. "But you... well... I'm afraid I can't give you the answer you want to hear." "Oh, trust me... it is the answer I want to hear... go ahead," he says, taunting. "Call your children... maybe your community of banished souls would like to see this execution." A noise is heard from Flash Magnus. His eyes go bloodshot while he starts vomiting blood. Looks like something... exploded right inside him. He's now another dead colt. All of the Pillars are dead. Tenebris snorts again. "Great," he says, grinding his teeth and stomping his hoof against Star Swirl's body. "You made me kill the one I wanted to suffer because of my anger... is that what you want, you imbecile? Be my coup de grace?" "I want to punish you... show you what I've been..." "Been what, piece of filth?" "Don't you dare to call me by that name!" he shouts and fires an orange beam, maybe the last one, through his horn... ... but the beam never hits them. As a matter of facts, it didn't make its way... it suddenly, literally vanished in the air. "No." CRACK Suddenly, Sunburst's horn doesn't exist anymore... but he doesn't care. Of course, he ignores it. He only prepares his hooves, stomping against the broken floor... and as if it was in slow motion, the colt takes his... last... breath and runs. Without glasses, without magic... ...he is running. SHRICKKK!!! "AAAARGHHH!" a shout is heard like an explosion. One of Sunburst's hooves is cut in half and he trips over, crushing against the ram's hooves, with his face crushing against his own blood. "AAAARGHHHH!" but he is now shouting because of anger, grinding his teeth, breathing heavily and now, right under Tenebris' cold, bloody dark-blue fur, he tries to, at least, bite him. "Wait." Rushkwa is about to say something... not good. "Give him a little bit of time." Tenebris, surprised, raises an eyebrow. "Look at you..." he says, looking at her. "Want him to suffer like I want him to do?" "ARRRGH! I'M GONNA... I'M GONNA... I'm gonna..." As time goes by, Sunburst's voice gets much lower. His skin is getting much paler... he's slowly dying, but the rams would like to see something else on the show. "Could I?" He chuckles. "Let's see..." "Arrrgh... arrrgh... arrrrgh..." SHRIIIPP!! "AAAAAARGHHHHHHHHHH!" SHRAAACKK!! "AAGHHHHHHH!" Two hooves... three, if you want to count that other one... Rushkwa bites his lips while her eyes are getting fulfilled by that scary, yellowish tone... he has one hoof left while dying on a lake of blood... ... drowning in his own blood... "Wait." Rushkwa turns around and looks at her soulmate passing by, stepping on the lake and getting stained with pony blood. "How foolish... how immature from you... Sunbather was your name? His pale skin can't stop fading out while his whole body is feeling cold and trembling. "It's... it's... Sunburst... you... mother---" CRACK.