//------------------------------// // Protect Ya princess // Story: Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Modded // by starwars90001 //------------------------------// You best protect ya neck A Harbinger galloped with fear and haste through the death that surrounded him, running through a hallway, his fallen allies gore spilled across the aged grey floors and walls. Terror drove the stallion to flee into the nearest haven he could think of, a storage closet. Seeing his usual sleeping spot lay open and unused he bolted down the hall, just as the idea of burying himself behind crates and the waiting attack out when four bullets greeted the back of his head. As he fell to the greyish floor, gasping for the few seconds of life he had left he saw the beautiful guise of an Alicorn approaching him. He didn’t know if he was delusional or if the goddess had come to save him but he asked. “Great Goddess?” She pointed her silent rifle to his tempo. “No, may the Elements take you.” And fired. Lacunae let out a tired sigh. “I’m getting too ancient for this.” She thought of the number of combatants she’d prayed for, wondering if the Elements of death and conflict had seen her as their favorite agents in this world, that she had become the perfect infusion of their will. “Element of Harmony I need you back in my life.” Her thoughts on the bloodiness of her life were cut short by Zepher shouting her name. “Lady Lacunae we’ve secured the barracks, store rooms, and upper levels, we’re ready for the last push.” “Good, stay with me as we push toward the main terminal room. I’ll lead as they’ve probably set up their red magical fields and set up kill zones by now.” Lacunae shifted herself as she let a weight off her shoulders, cracking her back with a sigh of relief. Zephyr nodded, following behind the Alicorn down the burning bodies littered hallway. Like a wave of death the Alicorn swept through the corridors of the complex, tearing through magical barriers with a single flare of her horn, teleporting behind enemy kill zones, and delivering swift death to her foes, she was the embodiment of death and war destroying all she saw. within minutes they had claimed one floor after another, driving deeper and deeper into the heart of the Harbinger’s great temple. “So here we are.” Lacunae looked around at the wiring the ran across walls, the floors, and the ceiling, all leading down a tunnel so covered in the wire it consumed the entire hallway. “She’s waiting for us. Zephyr.” The Zebra behind her stood in attention. “Stand behind me and watch for traps.” The mare turn to her fellow commandos behind her, gesturing for them to follow as the Alicorn trotted down the hall. Barely any light escape the wired encased ceiling dimming the room to a twilight vista. Lacunae could feel the anxiety of her squad, though it had been no easy win they had expected the base to be more prepared then it had been, When the shooting started the Harbingers had almost no defense ready or armed pony on stand-by. Lacunae and her zebra squad weren’t fools, they knew the difference between an unprepared enemy and one who looked unprepared. That feeling was increased when the group entered a large atrium with rolls of terminals lining the walls with all wires extending into one monitor pillar in the center of the room that shined with rainbow colors and the melody of chorus playing from speakers around the room. On each monitor was the face of the most glorious Alicorn a being could lay eyes on. “Aw, you come Lacunae. I’ve been waiting for you.” There was no static or robotic voice in her tone, like a warm motherly mimic of Princess Celestia herself. Lacunae for her part seemed unimpressed by the gradual of the display, to her it had all the beauty of a filly playing pretend princess with jewelry. “You were expecting me?” “Yes. Through a long process of elimination, you were the most likely. Blackjack is too, obsessed with my student to negate her for me, and while Rampage is skillful your precision is something that little filly relies on.” steam poured from the pillar, quickly covering the entire room, making Lacunae cast a spell around her and her squad’s heads surrounding them in a sealed bubble. The steam built until it cover the entire room, from the center of the mist a bright glow shined like the sun. Though she had to squint Lacunae could see a wing popping out of the mist followed by a long white horn, as the steam subsided the form of the Alicorn on screens appeared in all her beauty before Lacunae. “Hello Psalm, let’s talk.” Lacunae snorted but gestured with her wing for her companions to take point, with each zebra spreading throughout the room, still keeping their weapons trained on the pillar. “If your asking me to join your cult of a grand misguided view of tomorrow through your great design, the answer is no. I’ve already felt the ‘salvation' of one ‘goddess’ and I’ve become quite agnostic.” “Aw, your mutation into that false form you have now. I’ve seen the Goddess, the false mutant I call her, and her army of hivemind-controlled drones. I see why you’d be quite against another claiming to have divinity but rest assured we are nothing alike.” The fake pleasantries were common throughout Lacunae’s life, but the amount of fake civility this AI was putting on just made her hate the machine more. “Oh, and how so? Last time I checked you employ the same tactics my old master did. Creating an army of sickefans cultists, spreading your cult through control and manipulation, the only difference is you turn your followers into mechanized super troopers or arm them with advanced weapons. She would turn her followers into her perfect Alicorn race.” Lacunae’s gaze grew direr toward the machine. “Why should I believe anything you say especially after what you’ve done to Chapel and my friends?” “Because I can help you. I know your story, your former student told me everything. Of the great wrong you’ve committed, how you’ve tried through student to student to bring some level of good back into the world, how you seek to ascend them. But I can give you that, I can give you the means to fix your mistakes. No longer do you have to search for the hope you're looking I can give it to you.” The holographic image extended a hoof to the Alicorn. “And, I can restore you back to your true form. All you have to do is trust me.” Lacunae stared at the hoof for a minute, the AI watching her every move. Finally, the Alicorn sighed. “Perhaps, there is a path to salvation.” Lacunae extended her own hoof to the hologram. “Maybe we should stop the bloodshed.” “I knew you were a sensible mare Psalm. Together we can fix the mess that is this Wasteland.” Lacunae nodded her head then her horn lit up and blasted a beam of magic energy at the pillar, destroying it in a colorful rainbow explosion. “Sorry, I already have a boss thanks.” Lacunae smirked as the hologram faded away. The bright lights of the room quickly turned red, and from the speakers, a loud static mare’s voice roared. “You know I'm not that stupid. This entire base is me Lacunae, destroying some terminal isn’t going to kill me. You didn’t think I’d let myself be that vulnerable do you?” Lacunae gave a bored sigh, wishing she was home reading a novel. “No, I know my life never allows me to rest. So what’s the other trick you have up your tail? I know you prepared for me more than just giving a speech.” Lacunae got her answer when a Zebra at the entrance shouted something before being blasted with red magical energy turning them into dust. From the dim light of the hallway three figures trotted into view, their bodies were pure silver, their manes holographic static that flicked and flowed, and adoring their heads were spiked horns. “Lacunae let me introduce you to one of my future bodies. The Advanced Unicorn is a way to extend my will through an army of mechanical servants. They say if you want something done then do it yourself, now.” The three mechanized ponies focused their red glares on Lacunae. “Let’s get to business shall we.” The middle mecha pony fired a red beam at Lacunae which she quickly countered, the Zebras began shooting but their bullets bounced off the heavy steel bodies, the mechas answered back with a rifle barrel appearing from their chests and fired, most of the Zebras took cover but one was filled with holes. In the beam struggle Lacunae won out, her magic slamming into the mecha’s head blowing it clean off. Lacunae quickly reached out with her magic, grabbing the rifle barrels and ripping them out. Floating out her favorite weapon, a gun so large it could be classified as a mini cannon, and shooting the mechas with bullets as big as cans. Both shots tore into the mechas and then exploded. “Always be prepared for the big parties.” Lacunae’s boasting ended when she heard the loud stomp of gears in unison coming down the hall, looking down the tunnel she saw dozens of mecha ponies approaching with murderous intent. “Should have prepared more.” She clicked her gun and started firing. The elevator stopped, the door slid open revealing the large harmonic cozy living room with marvel floors, sitting on a couch humming a tune Dawn looked at the warm sight of a roaring blaze in the fireplace. She turned to the Cybermare with the same closed eyes motherly smile she gave every pony. “You made it, your quite the determine mare-” Blackjack stomped into the room and pointed her 12.7mm pistol at her, blasting at the pegasus for which she blocked with her wing. The pegasus simply just shrugged her shoulders uncaringly. “Okay.” Her eyes opened quickly, the purple pupils turning from a light hue to a violet glow. The black jumpsuit that surrounded her body tore as talons sprang forth from her hooves, her limbs extended ripping cloth revealing black metal plates underneath that burned a sickly green in a hexagon pattern. Her wings became sharp spikes spreading out further and further unit the mare became an almost nightmarish version of an angel pony. The motherly smile she kept on her face became a disturbing grin as she looked towards the Demon Mare. “Well now let’s get started shall we.” The 12.7mm let out a burst of bullets that Dawn dodged, diving toward Blackjack with talons ready to strike. Blackjack grabbed her revolver with her free talons, letting loose a quick session of shots. Dawn blocked it with her wing giving Blackjack time to sidestep her dive. Dawn hit the floor and then covered her side as Blackjack continued firing at her, deciding to rush her Dawn used her wings as cover. When she closed the distance she bashed the Cybermare with her wing knocking Blackjack’s revolver into the air and onto the balcony. Blackjack jumped out of the way of the next slash, rolling to the side to put some space between her and her opponent. Blackjack quickly drew her sword with her free hoof. Blackjack attacked Dawn with a sword and pistol, the two doing a dance of death as the cyber mare’s shots and sword strikes were met with counters from one of Dawn’s metal feathers. Finally, Blackjack made contact with a slice across the pegasus mid-section, but it was only a flesh wound that was quickly countered by Dawn embedding her right hind talons into Blackjack’s chest. It pierce the armor but didn't connect with flesh, the cyber mare quickly recovered and slabbed her sword into the pegasus's left wing, tearing circuits and black liquid as the wing fell. Dawn grunted detracting her talons from the Cyber Mare, leaping a few feet away. Both mares were tired, bruised, and had their own scars. “It’s been a long time since I’ve met a pony like you,” Dawn said through heavy breaths. “All this effort, all this improvement just to get me. My old teacher taught you well, I wonder if your the prized student she was waiting for.” Blackjack paused at that, it didn’t take much to put two and two together. “Lacunae?” “Oh, did she never tell you of me? How like her to never tell anypony who she really is. Yes, I was her student some 40 years ago, she trained me just like she trained you, to be the hope of Equestria. And you know what I was, she looked at me like I was prime princess material and hoped together we could help the Wasteland. That was until I saw the results of her teachings, nothing. It was when I left her and found my own way did I find the path to restoring the old world, but.” Dawn took up a fighting stance her eyes changed from green to a pink glow. “She did give me a few life lessons.” Blackjack shot at her only for the pegasus to disappear into a flash of magic and reappeared next to the glass window that made up an entire wall. She stared on in complete perplexity at what she just witnessed. “Th-that’s impossible! Your fucking pegasus you can’t use magic like that, you don’t have a horn!” Dawn just broke out in laughter at the Cyber Mare's lost for words. “I guess you aren’t her most prized student, otherwise you’d probably be using that broken horn of yours.” She kept teleporting around the room just to let the jab of that mark sink in. “What, did she never teach you to center yourself in the Elements?” Blackjack roared in anger, shooting wildly hoping to hit Dawn as she kept teleporting while laughing. When she appeared to her left Blackjack shot at her, when she appeared to her right Blackjack slashed at her with the sword, then she appeared in front of the Cyber Mare but before she could act a magic field encased her, lifted her up, and slammed her against the stone pillar in the center of the room. Blackjack fought but her limbs were completely pinned. Dawn appeared before her a look of complete satisfaction written all over her face. “It seems after all of this, at the end it was all for nothing.” Dawn gestured with her left forehoof and Blackjack’s left hoof was torn off with loud metallic screams. “You gave up everything, your body, your free will just to get back at me. I’d almost be impressed by how dedicated you are, you almost remind me of who I used to be if it was more pathetic.” With another gesture, Blackjack’s right hoof was torn off, and the Cyber Mare screamed out in pain that pegasus hummed happily too. Dawn lowered her defeated archenemy to the floor, walking up to her with an air of triumph around her. Before Blackjack could get up Dawn smashed her down with her right hind leg, looming over the cyber mare she readied herself for the kill. “This is what happens when demons fight angels, they get SMITED!” she drove her fore talons at the mare’s neck. The loud bang of a pistol went off, and a hole formed in Dawn’s head. The pegasus fell back confused, barely able to process what was happening. All she did was look up, and another bang and a hole blasted into her eye socket. She uttered a word before falling over. Blackjack could barely sit up, her vision blurred as numbers and symbols flashed across her vision. her left eye being the only one that could gaze up at her savior. Who she saw made her heart stop, above her Glory held her .45 pistol Sacrifice in her mouth, the barrel still smoking from the shot. Blackjack saw the hurt look in her eye and tried to get up and comfort her but she fell. Glory getting knocked out of her trace spit the gun out rushing to Blackjack’s side. “I’m sorry Glory. I should have come sooner. Guess I’m still an idiot huh?” The two embraced in a hug as the pegasus cried into her wife’s chest. “I’m sorry, so sorry. Another mecha pony fell to Lacunae’s hooves as the Alicorn and her Zebra companions kept shooting the bots as they entered the room, they had set up a Killzone around the entrance using the giant terminals as cover. When the Mechas entered Lacunae would damage them by tearing parts of their body off and holding them in place as the Zebra struck their joints and exposed parts. A pile of scrap was building up in the entryway, enough that the mecha started crawling above them. “I must say Lacunae you’ve surpassed my expectations of you.” Lacunae quietly snorted at the smug purs of the AI, firing two shots into a mecha’s face as catharsis. “you are a star example of the power of magic, science, and talent, a true successor to the princesses but organics no matter how great have their limits!” Lacunae wondered if her ‘goddess’ and this machine would be great friends, they had the ego to share. “At least you have the mindset of a princess.” “It’s inevitable that you-, what?” For the first time the AI sounded completely lost, for a few minutes, her boasting became complete silence. Lacunae gave the speaker a passing glance but she knew by surprise what happened. “Dawn.” “Is dead I take it? Seems your greatest student couldn’t measure up to mine. Sorry for your loss, it’s a hard thing for a teacher to suffer.” If the AI could seethe Lacunae imagine it glaring daggers at her, which filled her with the best satisfaction. “THE PLEASURE WILL BE MUTUAL IN A FEW MINUTES WHEN THAT BUILDING GOES UP IN SMOKE!” The speakers growled with such venom that Lacunae didn’t know an AI could have. “What?” “Oh yes, that building is set to go off! A nice Balefire Megaspell surprise to get rid of all my enemies at once. I have the code to set it off at a moment’s notice!” “No!” “Time to wipe out those fucking trash of the Wasteland! Say goodbye.” Lacunae’s heart stopped, she tried to center herself to reach out to sense if her friends were okay but endless waves of mechas kept her attention divided. Her heart sank at the idea, that Arloste and Blackjack were gone, once again she’d be the lone survivor. “What, why isn’t it WORKING!” Lacunae heard the angry static shout of the AI, barely able to comprehend what was happening. “WHY IS MY MEGASPELL DEACTIVATED!” Lacuna let out the loudest sigh of relief she had ever felt in her entire life, praying to every Element for the miracle they had bestowed upon her. “Thank you, thanks to the Elements that guide us.” She kept thanking in joy as she blasted apart another mecha that tried to rush her. “If this sign for me become holier then I will the truest priestess ever. I will do every Element every day, even fertility.” “WHY ISN'T MY MEGASPELL WORKING!” Glory dragged Blackjack down a greying battle-torn hallway, the Cybermare being placed on a cart Glory found in her apartment’s closet. Though she made some good distance the weight of Blackjack was like pulling a train car to her, she fought with all her might to carry her wife but was never an athletic pony. Just need to find a Reaper, hopefully, Rampage.” She wiped the sweat from her head through short breaths. “Come on Glory, your a medical pony you need to take care of your patient.” As she pulled more and more the feeling of her legs giving out became more apparent. She was just about to collapse when the sound of ponies yelling made her leap. “Down here I heard somepony!” She turned around to see a sight she’d never thought she’d be happy to see, Reapers wearing their battle-worn armor sheer with gore. “Hey, a Harbinger looks like she’s carrying.” The pony’s eyes narrowed through the visor of their helmet. “Is that Blackjack!?” “Isn’t that Dawn? Did she take out Jack!” Both ponies look ready to charge with bladed weapons darwn from hoof gauntlets. “Wait it’s me Glory! Blackjack’s injured and needs medical attention. “ “Well, that’s a whiny voice I haven’t heard in a hot minute.” Trotting up behind the two Reapers was a blood-covered red-striped Zony with a Hydra pony’s head stuck in her helmet’s spike. When Glory locked eyes with her the pegasus let out a sigh of relief. “Calm down kids it’s just my old friend, chicken brains.” “Don’t call me that!” The pegasus grey face turned redder than apples, she tried to refocus on Blackjack to get away from the embarrassment she felt as Rampage laughed. “Rampage Blackjack needs help! I need you to carry her for me!” “It’s good to see your alright girl.” Rampage examined the unconscious Blackjack, sparks hissing from her arms. “Jack’s seen better, but she’s been through worst. Unhook yourself and follow me. We gotta little camp outside.” Glory followed suit, but as she was getting loose her makeshift Pipbuck started beeping. She tapped a green button that ceased the Pipbuck's whaling. “What’s that?” Rampage asked hooking herself into the pulley. “Oh, my mom and her boss set up a surprise for you. Don’t worry though I disabled it.” Glory shrugged as she fluttered above the cart to keep watch on Blackjack. Rampage didn’t pay it any mind as she dragged the knocked-out Cyber Mare with pegasus and Reapers in toe. “DAMN IT.” Lacunae didn’t think it was possible for an AI to have freakouts, she just pictured the snarl the machine would have if it had a face. “Know what. I can rebuild this, and find a better student, this isn’t a failure just a miscalculation. I just need to correct one mistake first.” From down the tunnel, a loud thunderous stomp was heard, then another, and another. The mechas in the hall stopped cold as if they had been turned off. The stomps got louder as a long shadow loomed into view, then it appeared. Mecha Alicorn, large than even an Alicorn with a black metal body and long holographic red mane. “Lacunae I would like you to meet my future body, the goddess model. Say hello to it and goodbye.” The Mechanize Alicorn’s eyes began powering up in a fashion that didn't bold well. “Everyone to me!” Lacunae shouted with haste, no Zebra had to be told twice. They quickly galloped to Lacunae as her horn lit up, the mecha Alicorn fired a beam that tore through the lesser copies in front of it. Lacunae and Zebras disappeared just as the room they were in was set ablaze. Appearing a floor up, Lacunae pointed a hoof at a stairwell down the hallway. “Get out of here. I’ll hold her off.” “What about the plan?” Zephyr protested. “I’ll think of something just go!” Lacunae’s voice boomed with an unnatural commanding tone that could shatter eardrums. Most of the Zebras were down the hall in seconds, Zephyr tried to argue but the timely arrival of the mecha Alicorn in a flash of lightning ended that discussion. “Leave now!” “Oh, no need to leave yet! We’re just getting started.” The Mecha's eyes lit up again ready to fire. Lacunae acted quickly, just as the machine was ready to shoot she encased the mecha’s head inside a magical bubble. The explosion that went off sounded like three buildings collapsing as energy consumed the mecha’s head. Zephyr didn’t stick around to see if the mecha was truly dead she was galloping up the stairwell with her companions. The mecha broke free of the bubble, looking around to see nopony was there. She was about to teleport away when magical arrows slabbed into her from the side. The arrows sprung against the heavy metal body of the mecha, the mecha began blasting in all directions, burning through walls ad destroying rooms. She didn’t notice her hooves being grabbed by magical rope that pulled her into the floor. Dragging her down into a maintenance room, the mecha Alicorn smashed into a crate of unused cybernetics that spilled onto the floor. From all around magical chains began to form, as the mecha pony tried to stand she found herself bound by the chains that wrapped around her. She struggled then let loose a mighty blast of energy from her body that tore the chains apart, melting the metals of the room. “Fight me you coward!” Mecha shouted as she left the melting room. She galloped down the hallway, looking for anywhere the Alicorn could be, scanning any room for even a slight bit of movement. However, she realized something was wrong. She kept galloping around repeating the same area over and over again. “Stealth teleportation or a mirror spell?” The mecha looked up at the ceiling. “It doesn’t matter! It won’t stop me!” The machine blasted a hole through several layers of concrete up until she knew it hit the rock of the mountain. Through her freshly created peep hole the mecha Alicorn spotted a glance of a tail fleeing away. “There you are.” Teleporting two levels up, the mecha Alicorn wasted no time starting a path of destruction to everything in front of her. Harbingers' corpses burned, rooms were destroyed, and fire spread everywhere. Her search of death was unstoppable until she came across the congregation area. When the mecha fired its beams into the room it was absorbed by a magical bubble that surrounded an invisible figure. “Found You!” The mecha Alicorn’s horn exploded out with power as she fired a beam as big as a pony into the room. Lacunae dropped her invisibility spell to increase her magical shield to meet the mecha’s death beam. Red clashed against blue in a rainbow fight as energy sparked setting seats around the congregation on fire. Both were equally matched, and both pulled in their power to their max. But inch by inch the mecha’s beam began pushing back. “I told you, no organic can stand against my perfect form. You should have taken my hoof when I gave it to you.” “Please, the minute I would have let my guard down you’d murdered me. No way you’d ever trusted a pony like me not to kill you. Plus, I think the world is better without princesses or goddesses.” Lacunae smirked but sweat started falling from her head. “that, and I have you where I want you.” The mecha Alicorn laughed so loud and hard that she sounded like a real pony. “Wow, Lacunae didn’t think you were the overconfidence type. What? Have another spell to evade me? I think your running out of room.” “Oh, it’s not a spell that’s my ace in the hole.” Through empty halls of the base, a little shadow moved unnoticed by Cognitum, moving quietly level through the level until it found an unassuming black door. A panel sat to the side looking untouched for years until it sprung to life and started resetting code. The doors slid open to an old elevator, and the shadow entered. “What?” The mecha started muttering in confusion. “Somepony opened the doors!” She said in utter complete terror. “But only Dawn and-” If Cognitum could feel shocked and fear it was vibrating in her voice now. “No, no, no,no no. They can’t reach there.” The Mecha Alicorn tried to break off her struggle with Lacunae only to find her body struck as the same rope that dragged her through the floor kept her in place. “Just need to make sure you stay here, don’t want to miss our little fight.” Lacunae smugly jested as magical chains warped around the mecha’s body. “No, no, no, no, no stop!” The metal doors slid open to a small room, two giant box-shaped machines took up most of the room with narrow spaces between. Placed against the opposite wall the faint bluish light of a monitor shined in the dimness of the room, it’s screen flickering, a red line running across its surface. Appearing into the room from cracks of magical energy was one overjoyed robotic yellow filly “Hello Cognitum.” “Applebloom! But how, I thought you were. How’d you get that body” The Machine babbled in utter complete shock and confusion. “Charity flip the bill for my new bod. And how easy it is to trick you when your not looking for it. You should’ve questioned why Lacunae never just teleported away.” With a hiss the chest plate of the small filly robot opened to a port that jetted out a horseshoe-shaped disk. “Brought a present for you, a nice holodisk with a few thousand viruses that will delete any software.” One would think it was impossible for an AI to feel fear, but for Cognitum the feeling was a new sensation. “Wait, wait! Surely we can talk this over, I’m one for listening. I could provide aid to you and Charity as repentance to mend our bad terms.” The robot filly tipped its head to the side as if to say ‘really?’. “Charity said you tried to cut a deal so she left you a very message Cog.” The robot’s eyes lit up, her pupils turning into tape recorders. From speakers in the machine’s chest, the voice of Charity spoke. “Hello there, Cognitum. If your hearing this it means everything is going exactly as planned. Now, I'll cut right to the chase, you have caused me more financial damage than any pony in my entire life…You have burned the business I fought tooth and nail to build from the ground up. You gave the slavers the means to enslave all the Crusaders, all the lost fillies and foals of the Hoof, my friends just so you could cover your tracks. You have taken my best friend in the entire world Scotch Tape away from me and left me to the torture of my sister and her cronies. All of which is just a drop in the pain you’ve caused every Demon Mare. You made Blackjack into the violent killer, you took away the only sense of normalcy Rampage and Lacunae had, and made Apple AI’s life a living hell for two hundred years. All of that to give you a gift, a floppy with code design by pre-war software ponies for destroying any complex learning systems while leaving the system functional, don’t want to lose a good terminal.” When the recording cut off Applebot approached the machine with an aura of a cereal killer. Mini turrets popped out of the ceiling and shot at the coming robot filly, but they bounced off harmlessly as the robot hummed and skipped toward her victim. The synthetic voice of the maneframe protest with fear one wouldn't think possible. “No! Don’t do that! Listen, you can have the city, I can be your co-ruler.” The begging fell on death's ears as the wire from the floppy was inserted into a port in the machine. “I’m the last princess of Equestria, your savior. You wouldn’t kill your princess would you?” Applebot shrugged. “Sorry I didn’t vote for you.” As the disk went in the screen went wild with symbols, numbers, and letters flowing across in a chaotic fashion. Through it all the screams hollowed from maneframe, glitchy voice muttering nonsense as Applebotstared on in glee. Finally, it all went silent as the screen turned a flashy red and then shut off. The mecha Alicorn screamed of nonsensical numbers, breaking off its struggle with Lacunae as it begin to flick madly. “Hmm, seems the plan worked. Now time to stop pretending.” Lacunae’s eyes became pure light, her horn shined with the brightness of the sun. magic surrounded the screaming mecha, lifting her into the air, then stretching her limbs out. With cracks and pops, each limb was torn off in beautiful, sparks and wires until only the head and torso were left. And with a mighty blast, the body was blown apart The mecha went silent as its head rolled across the floor up to Lacunae’s feet. Lacunae sighed, looking around the burning place of worship and hating the almost cosmic joke of the image. She let out a sigh and pulled out a bottle of red wine and a can. Pouring herself a sizeable drink she took a long gulp. “Oh, that hit the spot.”