//------------------------------//
// 8. Duality of Intentions 
// Story: One With the Hive 
// by Jank Rubz 
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	“Sister,” Luna said with great trepidation in her voice. “Are you alright?”
The once noble and well-revered ruler of Equestria had been changed dramatically. Ranging from the bulbous, pulsating, appendage-like sacks of what Luna could not even fathom to imagine them containing anchoring Celestia to the ground, to the curdling, liquid-like texture of Celestia’s body, Luna wasn’t expecting a straightforward “I’m fine” kind of answer. She had an amorphous body, which definitely called for more proper answers.
“Of course I’m fine,” Celestia responded, surprising Luna. “I think I should be asking you if you’re alright!”
“Sister,” Luna began, slowly hoisting Fluttershy onto her back. “You’ve taken on a different form. You look less than alright; you look like… like…”
“Like what?” Celestia finished for Luna. “What are you trying to tell me that will somehow change my perspective on valuing your life right now?”
“I- wait, what?” Luna replied, shocked. “What are you talking about, sister?”
Luna’s fears of Celestia were only exacerbated by the poor choice of words on Celestia’s part. Celestia had then taken on a more concrete form: herself. She looked like her normal self, but only with a slight green tinge about her and the fact that she was larger than before. By then, she had commanded the afflicted ponies before her to sit subserviently, to watch her engage in her plans in awe. This gave Twilight and Applejack the perfect opportunity to pour through the mob of ponies to confront the two alicorns. 
When they arrived, they had witnessed the sudden change in Celestia’s form, but remained silent, hoping to not disturb the afflicted ponies before them. Celestia had paid no attention to the insignificant unicorn and earth pony that had just arrived.  
“You heard me, sister,” Celestia said, lowering her head in a focused state while assembling herself into an aggressive stance. She had her legs spaced away from each other, lowering her body and giving the visage of an angered Celestia, ready to be aggressive. “I thought I had made it clear how I had changed my perspective of how I preferred your existence. Apparently, I’m going to have to try my best to make it crystal clear to you.” 
Suddenly, it had become apparent as to why Celestia was in that stance. From her abdominal area sprouted a frightening array of tentacle-like appendages. The way they had emerged from her body was with almost liquid-like fluidity that made it hard to notice at first. The tentacles, catching every pony off guard, had then lunged at Luna, constricting her in an almost inescapable grip. They had then slithered their ways back to their source, letting Celestia stare Luna in the face as she had her in a helpless position. All of this was accomplished within a blink of an eye, as Twilight and Applejack had to look twice to see what had happened, unable to immediately think of a way to rescue Luna.
“What are you doing, sister?” Luna shrieked, trying her best to writhe her way out of Celestia’s grip. “And why do you want me eliminated so much?” 
Celestia had raised a curious eyebrow to Luna’s question. She knew that her sister’s reactions were subjective to what she knew from her own aesthetics and actions. However, her intentions were vastly contrasted from what she allowed her sibling to infer. 
“Dear Luna,” Celestia replied mockingly. “I do not wish to see you eliminated. I do not wish to see you die before me. That would be sadistic of me to do that. I have more constructive intentions for you.” 
Luna could feel a sharp stabbing pain enter her sides, causing her to cringe with an ostensive look of dread fill her face. She fell in Celestia’s grip, looking significantly weakened, which was enough for Twilight and Applejack to properly react to and engage Celestia appropriately. They both readied themselves in an aggressive stance, ready to spring into action if Celestia did anything to them.
“You have to stop, Princess!” Twilight shot back at the malevolent ruler in her midst. “I don’t know what came over you, nor what happened to you, but you have to stop!”
“You said you wouldn’t k-kill her!” Applejack stammered, taking an aggressive stance along with Twilight at her side.
“I didn’t kill her, whelps,” Celestia responded to both of them coldly, still cradling the limp Luna within her tentacle appendage. “She has been filled with perfection. And at this moment-”
“At this moment,” Luna managed to utter, as she slowly lifted her head to have her eyes stare into the cold, desolate eyes of her sister. “I’m not going to sit idly by and let you do this!” 
Luna managed to summon the strength to have her horn illuminate with magic, strangely enough glowing with an intensely dark aura, and thrusting her head forward, releasing a highly concentrated bolt of destructive magic hurling at Celestia, straight to her face. The two ponies before them stared in awe as the hidden power of the princess unleashed at Celestia. They could see the damage inflicted, seeing Celestia’s skin flake off of her as quickly as she shrieked in the pain it caused, until even her very bones were dissipating in tandem. 
In the aftermath, Luna was released from the tentacle grip, dropping to the ground with a massive, open wound in her side. It was fresh, brimming with blood and a black ichor slowly replacing the red flesh hidden under her skin. Her pain was nothing in comparison to what she had done to Celestia, for that her entire head, from her neck up, was entirely decimated. Nothing existed in its place; a hallowed void replacing what used to be the familiar princess. Twilight and Applejack then managed to shift their attention to the fallen Luna, desperately trying to help her up.
“She’s… not dead…” Luna managed to gasp, coughing profusely. “Alicorns… have an amazing… regenerative ability. It will take her a while before she will be a… legitimate threat.” 
Luna had coughed up a tremendous load of blood, surrounding her head in a pool of the vital fluid. 
“Luna, I don’t understand what’s going on!” Twilight shrieked, desperately using her magic to try to cauterize Luna’s wound. “Why did you do that to the princess?”
“She… she’s not Celestia,” Luna replied weakly. “It is the threat Celestia called me to help her take care of. She is… the Hive…”
Twilight and Applejack gasped, caught in terror at what Luna had uttered. 
“…How?” Applejack managed to squeak. “She’s the princess! Nothin’ can happen to the princess like that! She’s stronger than that!”
“Apparently, she had let her guard down, taking in too much of… the Hive…” Luna replied, continuing to cough up blood. “It consumed her mind. I could not see the Celestia you and I have grown to know, Applejack, Twilight.”
Luna managed to rest her head on the ground, giving an exhausted sigh of pain as her head met the inviting dirt.
“We have to get you out of here!” Twilight proclaimed, helping hoist the near-lifeless Alicorn body onto Applejack’s back. “Then we can find a way to help you and Celestia!”
“Don’t forget the other ponies afflicted,” Applejack chimed in nervously, gulping in shock as she reminded the two of them that they had forgotten about the horde of afflicted ponies before them. They had established a healthy fortification around the three normal ponies, giving the feeling of no escape to them. 
Fortunately for them, the afflicted slaves of the horde were doing absolutely nothing. They stood before the three like beleaguered statues, not conveying a single thought of sentience; they stood cold and dead to them. At first, Twilight and Applejack were unsure if it were safe to mush through the blockade of bodies, but with an inquisitive prod to the ponies with a spell of annoyance cast by Twilight, the pillars of their catatonic aggressors fell to the ground without any resistance. With a simple wave of magic, Twilight was able to push down the ponies like dominoes, leading a clear path for Applejack to escort Luna out of the Everfree. 
With that, all that existed in the Everfree were the toppled bodies of the afflicted and the stump of what used to be Celestia, the area which her head and neck used to exist: utterly gone. She stood in the same pose for a few minutes, not budging even once. Then, out of nowhere, erupted many small, black tendrils of ichor from Celestia’s neck, lashing from the neck to the void, collapsing back down into her neck and solidifying. In unison, these tendrils were slowly performing this seemingly benign action, but it turned out to be an insidious mixture of the Hive and the former alicorn’s innate regenerative powers… 


*	  * 	*


Thanking a theoretical former Celestia for their grace period away from the Hive’s minions, Twilight and Applejack had managed to escape the Everfree without harm. They had insisted on galloping as fast as they could, prepared for the potential uprising from the hordes of catatonic hive drones behind them. Surprisingly, Applejack had managed to balance the unconscious Luna on her back, precariously balanced by both Applejack and with assistance from Twilight’s magic. They had reached the end of the Everfree forest, resting and panting heavily from their escape.
“Where to now… Twilight?” Applejack asked in between panting. “We’ve got to… get the Princess… to safety!” 
“Well,” Twilight began, looking incredibly unsure of the situation. She grimaced at the wounds Luna was holding off, surprised that the injured alicorn was fighting off her potential death so well unconscious. “We just need to… wake her up. She said that alicorns… can regenerate.” 
“I never knew that ‘til today,” Applejack replied, surprised. “But I’m not sure how we’ll wake her up.” 
Twilight began to ponder a solution to this predicament. She didn’t know if alicorns could regenerate while conscious or in any state. She bit her bottom lip in anticipation and confusion, feeling the very beads of sweat rolling down her face representing a frame of reference for her to think fast. She knew they only had so much time before somehow the drones would be reanimated. 
“I’ll try to shock her with a slight annoyance spell,” Twilight told Applejack nervously. “I’ll make it ostensible enough for her to awaken, but it won’t be too crippling for her in her state right now.” 
Instinctively, Applejack gingerly rolled the wounded Princess off of her back and onto the ground, into a pleasant patch of grass. She then held the alicorn’s arms down, ready to contain her if she started to produce spastic reactions from her awakening.
“Applejack, I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Twilight warned Applejack. “I don’t know if I can prevent my spell from forking into you via Luna. Let her go.” 
Confused but obedient, Applejack had removed herself from Luna, standing idly by as she would witness a rather rude awakening. Twilight bit her lower lip again and thought to herself, thinking of how she could channel the spell at just the right interval of pain without any lethal consequences. After a minute, she ceased the biting of her lip and gave Applejack a facial expression of pure confidence. She was ready to potentially save or murder Luna.
She lowered her head, pointing her horn in Luna’s direction. She couldn’t help but notice some rather intimidating ichor tendrils lash out from Luna’s wounds, cauterizing her wound with a thick black puss. Twilight knew she had to get the spell cast and over with soon, so she closed her eyes to distract herself from the grisly wound and to better her concentration. She thought of the proper incantation to perform, and her horn lit with a purple aura, giving a pulsating glow. She focused her efforts on Luna’s body, and thus a hideous bolt of electricity shot from the unicorn’s horn, shooting the near-lifeless alicorn. 
Luna’s body began to twitch violently from the shock, the coursing of much electricity into her body. Twilight let this persist for three seconds before retracting her spell, opening her eyes to see the alicorn leap up from the ground, eyes widened and her gasping for breath. In a twisted bit of comedy, Luna’s mane had stood up from her body from the electricity, which had made Applejack giggle quietly, then retracting her poorly-timed display of comedic taste. 
“Luna! We had to awaken you!” Twilight shouted to the Princess, suddenly entering a panic state now that they could save her. “I’m so sorry!” 
The Princess had to catch her breath, for that her heart was beating at an incredibly accelerated rate after being forced from her comatose state. This was led with her clutching her sides in pain, remembering that she had a finite amount of time to deal with the Hive infesting her body.
“Thank you, Twilight, Applejack,” Luna managed to say, much to the ponies’ delight. “But I think it’s too late for me to be saved. The Hive…”
“But… but you can regenerate, or something!” Applejack pointed out, concerned and scared for Luna’s life. “What’s wrong?”
“That incursion with Celestia…” Luna began, writing in pain. “She had severely wounded me. And it didn’t help that I channeled all of my energy to temporarily stop her.”
“Temporary?” Twilight interjected. “We had thought that you legitimately… killed-”
“No!” Luna barked. “I would never attempt to kill my own sister! It’s just… that thing wasn’t Celestia… It was what she had warned me about prior. It is the Hive. She will regenerate soon, so we must act quickly.” 	
Twilight was a bit relieved to hear that Celestia had at least regenerated and not truly died. Still, she was frightened by the fact that her mentor, the guiding force in her life, had succumbed to something as malefic and despicable as the Hive. It hit her hard to realize that her once infallible ruler could be corrupted. 
“How can we help then, yer highness?” Applejack asked Luna in a helpful, concerned tone. “How can we make you strong enough to fight the Hive?”
“You’ll have to use magic, Twilight,” Luna answered, fixing her attention towards Twilight. “You have to try your best to heal me so I can summon the energy to fight the Hive…”
With that, Twilight tried desperately to recall a proper healing spell, but nothing was coming to mind. She had remembered some minor healing spells, but nothing that compared to rejuvenating Luna. 
“I… I don’t know how,” Twilight dejectedly stated. “I don’t know a healing spell potent enough to help you.” 
“Then how will we save the Princess?” Applejack asked, worried.
Twilight took a moment to ponder on this, the sudden increase of sweat pouring down her face an indication of her nervousness, and with that nervousness heralded the sign that there was a lack of time. Her thoughts were being drowned by the ominous tintinnabulations of her heart, beating rapidly from the situation and thus clouding her thoughts. 
“Twilight,” Applejack asked, interrupting Twilight’s internal crisis with words of a sudden epiphany. “Wouldn’t ya happen to have a book about it at yer library?”
Suddenly, Twilight was filled with inspiration by the words of Applejack. She had remembered the countless times that she’s had to recount from her books methods of accomplishing tasks with unknown magical spells. She knew she had a book in her library that pertained to higher healing properties, but she didn’t know if it could provide the necessary power she was looking for. 
“Applejack, you’re a genius!” Twilight shot out in a confident display of approval. “We just need to get to the library! I know I have a book on this!”
“As long as you… make it quick,” Luna uttered, squirming and writhing in pain. “I can feel my ability to resist… diminish…”
Without sparing a moment, Applejack had hoisted the fallen Princess onto her back, and the two ponies galloped their way to Twilight’s library. 


*	 *	*


In the Everfree forest stood the army of unmovable ponies, bloated and swelled with the gorging properties of the Hive. They stood, still possessing the insidious idiosyncrasies of the Hive, yet they were immobile. Some were toppled over, while others towered over the fallen, silently standing idly by, waiting for the next sweeping change to occur. Next to them resided their decapitated ruler, the former Princess Celestia. She had her head, down to her neck, completely obliterated by the awesome might of Princess Luna. Somehow, the stump that resembled her neck had shown signs of regeneration, showing that the neck had been rebuilding itself. 
Resting near the lifeless statue of the former Princess stood the nearly desiccated remains of the pony known as Rarity. Her coat had entirely molted off, her mane was reduced to mere strands of its once meticulously-tended glory, and her skin had been eaten away by the Hive. With the absence of skin exposed a selection of grotesque imagery, starting with a thin spread of underlying muscles feebly protecting Rarity’s delicate skeleton. Her bones were stained with a slurry of red blood and black ichor. Within her bones resided her organs, as exposed as the very frame protecting them. They were still kept intact, their positions unperturbed, bearing the same crippling tinge of black and red that her bones sported. Contrary to what she looked prior, she had a distinct lack of green tinge about her. 
To a natural observer, one would see Rarity as being the lifeless corpse she should be. Her lifeless body held no signs of breathing, no signs of life at all. If her necrotic stench would bear any significance, then she’d have been pronounced dead by even the foolish of ponies. And her body continued to rest near the destroyed Celestia, inanimate for only a time, until her left leg twitched slightly.
The corpse that Rarity’s body represented had twitched its legs at separate times. The body then composed itself, and stood itself up on its hooves, balancing in a standing pose. The husk of what Rarity used to be then took in a deep breath, its lungs visible and showing the intricate inflation and deflation of her lungs cradled behind her ribs. 
“What… what happened?” Rarity spoke to herself, clarifying that the body indeed was sentient. “My head, my… my everything… is in pain…” 
She was grasping her head with one hoof while keeping her balance with the others. She swayed gingerly left and right, feeling incredibly debilitated and in vertigo, though she didn’t know why. She had not necessarily noticed the exposed chest cavity, or the sudden chill she received from a lack of a coat. She had come to a full realization of her complete form when she had glanced at her arm when grasping her head. Her blurred vision had become a bit clear to see the damning evidence of her seemingly posthumous state. 
Gasping in disbelief, she had to see if this was true for herself. Her crippling indemnities were indeed weighing her down, but she tried her best to gallop to a nearby puddle, ignorant of the regenerating Celestia near her. She shambled to the puddle, putting all of her energy into the movement of her body to her best extent to the awaited puddle, collapsing right to her destination, face submerged into the puddle. Grasping the pain of slipping, amongst other things ailing her at that moment, she pulled herself up from her potential mirror, in the stance of performing a pushup, to gaze upon the horror of her complexion.
Her look of horror best captured her appearance, for that her face was the perfect culmination of what had appeared to be her body. Despite her slightly blurred vision, Rarity could see the atrocities committed by the Hive, something she couldn’t even recall at the moment. Her face was extremely emaciated, with her face being bare of any of her coat, showing parts of her skull from underneath. Her cheeks were absent, replaced by the grisly visage of underlying bone and exposed teeth. Her eyes were present, but there was no skin at all surrounding the eyes, leaving only, strangely enough, eyelids to protect her eyes. Her horn was still present but, like the entirety of her body, it had looked as if it were peeled of its skin, festering with open sores surrounded by fresh wounds attempting to scab. Surprisingly enough, she still had her lips, despite her lips being fragments of what they used to be due to the degeneration occurring in her body. 
“Wha- wha- what?” Rarity spouted, gazing back at the horrifying visage staring back at her. “That’s not… me!” 
She had struck the puddle with her hoof in cowardice, incredulous of her aesthetics. However, this only exacerbated her predicament, as she got a glimpse of her hoof again as it made contact with the reflective liquid. 
“How… how could this have happened?” Rarity muttered to herself, still gazing in horror at her appendage. “How could I be so decrepit yet still… alive?”
She gave herself a moment to ponder on this, as her memories prior were extremely lacking. It took her a while to come to a mental stimulus that triggered her memory of being in Zecora’s cottage earlier that day. She remembered going there with Pinkie Pie and Applejack, on a quest to discover the whereabouts of Fluttershy. According to her fading memory, something happened to Zecora, then Fluttershy was present, only to cause her extreme pain and a blackout. She had remembered the entity the Hive, but she couldn’t recall its control of her.
Her train of thought, however, was interrupted by a weak contingent of coughs. She turned her head to witness, amongst the baffling amount of frozen-in-place ponies was the emaciated and exhausted body of Fluttershy, who lay upon the forest floor in defeat and near-fatal wounds. 
“Fluttershy?” Rarity questioned, shambling as fast as she could to the wheezing body before her. “Is that really you? Are you okay?”
Fluttershy couldn’t speak, as her lame squeaking and wheezing were bold indicators of this, but it had become apparent to Rarity that this was indeed Fluttershy. 
“Just hang on there, Fluttershy!” Rarity proclaimed. “I’ll try my best to help you out of this forest!” 
She had proverbially bitten off more than she could chew, for that in her crippling state she didn’t know how to properly whisk Fluttershy away from the forest and into the arms of medicinal aid. Every hoofstep she took was a like stepping on knives to her, but she was determined to save her friend. She attempted to see if she could still conjure magic by levitating a stone near her. It took her some mental straining, but she managed to levitate the immobile stone to her eye-level. She stared at the rock, content that she was at least competent in her magic. 
And so, she used her magic to drag Fluttershy out of the forest, engulfing her ally in an aura of lavender light and moving her body through the Everfree. Her weight was surprisingly light for what Rarity was expecting, but despite this satisfying observation, Fluttershy still weighed more than a stone. Rarity had to devote all mental faculties to the transporting of the near-lifeless body of Fluttershy. It was a grueling experience for her, indeed, as for every hoofstep she took was a piercing pain she had to suffer. Luckily for her, she wasn’t too far into the Everfree. She had felt bad that she had to drag the crippled Fluttershy through the forest floor, but it was truly the best she do for her at the moment. 
As Rarity left the secluded location of the Everfree, she was still left ignorant to the regeneration to the bane of her existence. She did not know that the very thing keeping her sentient was regenerating at that very moment, becoming whole again and ready to strike Ponyville again. For now, Rarity could escape with the satisfaction of somehow surviving an unknown onslaught and saving her friend from a similar fate.