FALLOUT: EQUESTRIA - FALSE NOTIONS
CHAPTER FOUR - DNA: Do Not Ask
* * *
Diz
“Do you like them?” asked the voice emanating from the mostly dead robot. Somehow it was dripping with condescension despite being completely monotone. “I worked for decades perfecting the right variation of Taint. And, though they are not yet ready for their primary function, I think I’ve finally formulated the correct genetic configuration. However, this test run of the new and improved changelings will be just the thing to confirm my hypothesis.
“Bring the objective to me,” the voice announced. “Eliminate every other life form.”
Instantly the monstrous perversions of what I assumed used to be changelings leapt towards us, mouths opening onto rows of multiple teeth dripping with a faintly luminescent green saliva. Forty-Four had explained how changelings sustain themselves by feeding off of the positive emotions of others—somehow I didn’t think whatever these changelings had become sustained themselves in quite the same way.
Someone yelled “RUN!” as if doing so wasn’t the obvious course of action, and we scattered. A single one of these monstrosities was big enough to crush any one of us just by parking his rear on our ribcage, but what their new hulking forms had in strength, they lacked in speed and agility.
Our little group dashed between the beasties as they launched towards us, just in time to escape the creatures meeting in the middle with a satisfying CRACK of their skulls. That sort of thing would have easily knocked out an ordinary pony, and I assumed it would have done the same to an ordinary changeling, but as these things got up and shook their heads to clear the stars, all that registered on their faces was irritation.
“What ARE those things?!” Sunfire yelled from her hovering position overhead, looking down at the creatures with shock. She glanced at the hoofball bat still clutched in her hooves, but judging by the look on her face, she wasn’t quite as keen to try her luck batting these monsters around as she did with the robots. At least those machinations had been somewhat equine, something it was easy to imagine killing, if not easy in practice. But these things... there was just something wrong about them, as if they exuded distilled essence of ‘mindless hate’ through their armored skin.
“I don’t know, but maybe I can reason with them!” I announced.
Nuclear Force, who had run out of the encroaching circle of death beside me, shot me a look that quite clearly said ‘Are you kidding?!’
“Just hear me out,” I chuckled humorlessly. “I know how it sounds, but every draconequus has a way with words.
“Attention mighty warriors!” I shouted to the monster-changelings as they continued to shake the addled state out of their heads. I concentrated pouring what little draconequus magic I had into my silver-tongue trick. I even lowered my mismatched feet to the ground so that I wouldn’t have to waste any energy floating.
However, doing so made me aware that Nuclear was still standing beside me. My crimson-and-golden eyes quickly scanned the area, seeing that the rest of our group had already taken shelter in the ruins of the city street. I was really already referring to them as a group? Wow, that was fast—but hey, The Wasteland makes friends fast and enemies faster. I only hoped that The Wasteland didn’t eventually turn the former into the latter, like... No! Not thinking about that right now!
“What are you doing out here, kid?!” I snapped at the striped unicorn, my voice laced with worry. “Go hide like the others! It’s not exactly safe at the moment!”
“If you’re not hiding, then I’m not hiding,” Nuclear stated firmly, making it clear that he wasn’t about to argue the point. “Besides, you already saved my life—what kind of friend would I be if I didn’t at least try to return the favor?”
Friend...? I... I hadn’t had a friend since... and I sure knew how that had ended. In fact, Nuclear kind of reminded me of him...
No! Nuclear did NOT remind me of him! And I would NOT let the first real friend I had made in what was left of Equestria end the way THAT one had!
“Alright,” I agreed reluctantly, wondering how I was ever going to live with myself if the teenaged equine was hurt because of my stupid idea. Then again, it was nice to have somepony who was giving me backup. “Just be ready to run.”
He nodded, his horn crackling faintly as he readied for a potential fire spell. I really, really hoped he wouldn’t need to use it, but I had a growing feeling that he most likely would.
“Yes, you!” I resumed shouting to the black behemoths. The majority of them having cleared their heads, they turned to face us, toothy jaws opening and more of that green goo oozing out. I would have thought it was cool if I didn’t fear I might soon be in those jaws. “What are a bunch of warriors like you doing here in boring old Applewood? You should be out there in the greater Wasteland, hunting prey that will actually put up a challenge worthy of your skills!”
The monster-changelings cocked their heads for a moment as they gazed at me. Great, I had them thinking, questioning their motives—dare I say it, this might actually work!
I shouldn’t have dared say it.
I shouldn’t have dared think it!
Just as quickly as they had looked quizzical, the monsters shook their heads once more and lunged at us.
Nuclear dove to one side and I to the other, the things barreling past us and into the buildings behind us. Each crashed through the solid concrete and steel skeletons of said buildings, apparently being able to barge through rock and metal much more easily than they could each other. The buildings collapsed on them, Force and I rapidly backtracking as the debris came raining down like chocolate milk.
Not that it seemed to matter now, but these things were apparently immune to my silver tongue. I filed that information away for future reference should we ever come across such monstrosities again.
“Not exactly what I was planning,” I remarked. “But I love it when a plan doesn’t come together! This is much better.”
“Is it safe?” came Chrome’s soft voice from a nearby alleyway. “Nothing could have survived that, right?”
“Not that I know of,” I agreed. “Well, besides the great god Discord, but he’s a category all to himself when it comes to things like that.”
Apparently Discord was, in actuality, not alone when it came to things like that.
With an earsplitting roar, the monsters burst up out of the sea of broken concrete and steel, leaping into the air and beating their massive wings as they took flight.
“Are they retreating?” Chrome inquired hopefully, though the tone of her voice gave away that she knew just as well as the rest of us that nothing of the sort was going to happen.
The monsters roiled up in the sky before scattering and diving down, branching off from one another towards the others’ respective hiding spots. The creatures’ horns ignited with morbid red light, firing columns of magic into the street.
Mono and Chrome rushed out of their alleway as a beam burrowed itself into the ground they’d just been standing on, sending out waves of pulsating energy that crumpled the buildings on either side to buckled wrecks. Nuclear Force and I quickly followed the fleeing twins.
White Light and Sunfire were already in the air, so they didn’t have to worry about the exploding buildings below. However, they did have to worry about the gnashing teeth of the swooping abominations chasing them every which way. Thankfully their massive inertia kept them from changing directions too quickly, or the two pegasi would have been done for. As it was, they were able to abruptly turn whenever a pair of fangs got too close. I knew that couldn’t last; there were ten of those things up there and only two ponies!
This presented us earthborn folk with a rather difficult task (yes, I can float, but no, I can’t fly. The highest I can go is a few feet off the ground). Our pegasi were too busy dodging and flying for their lives to score many shots against the things, though what little they could do was thankfully enough to keep the heavy magical fire from glassing us down below with pinpoint accuracy. The monsters were still sending down beams, but haphazardly; we still had to dodge them, but White and Sunfire were preventing any careful aiming.
Thank Discord for pegasi! Those two ponies were saving our lives, and it was time to return the favor.
“Fire!” I shouted, whipping out my Chaos Corp. pistols and blasting the beasties between bouts of dashing out of the way of the red lasers. Nuclear and the twins didn’t need to be told twice, levitating out their own weapons and blasting away at the airborne monsters.
The monsters roared at the barrage of bullets, but as we kept firing I realized that pain was all our attack was causing them. Not a single one of them bore any wounds, even when struck in the sickly reddish-pinkish patches where an ordinary changeling’s holes would be. That armor was tough!
“This isn’t working,” I commented just in time to dive out of the way of another red laser.
“You think?!” Nuclear Force snorted. Then, as if realizing something, the young striped unicorn scanned the wreck of the street and spotted Forty-Four firing his submachine gun from an alleyway that somehow had yet to be levelled. Force turned to me and called, “This way!”
The twins and I promptly followed, me floating again as fast as I could. I’ve spent most of my life floating, and it allowed for a lot more maneuverability than walking did. If my silver-tongue trick didn’t work, then I saw no reason why I couldn’t use my magic to float.
“Why are we headed this way?” Mono questioned over the explosions and roars of the mutant changelings. How had they gotten that way, anyway? It didn’t look like any transformation magic I’d ever read about, even of the draconequus variety. That voice, whoever it had been, had said something about Taint. What was Taint?
“I have some questions to ask a certain changeling queen,” Nuclear Force hissed, shoving his way past Forty-Four when he tried to block his way.
“Please, don’t bother her!” the smaller insect-like equine pleaded as we filed past. “She’s been through so much!”
“Oh, and we haven’t been through anything,” I remarked sarcastically. “I mean, it’s not like we’re staring death in the face with all those mutant changelings flying around out there.”
“Heed my child, mortals,” Chrysalis rasped warningly. The long-limbed creature was slumped over, her legs badly folded. Her breathing was heavy. “This is not a time to trifle with me.”
“Uh, yeah, I think it is,” Nuclear Force snapped. “Aren’t you like, the changeling-version of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna? Shouldn’t you be able to just cast a single spell and stop those things? My mother told me stories about you—according to her, you even overpowered Princess Celestia once!”
“That was over two-hundred years ago, you little wretch!” Chrysalis spat, the insect-like buzzing in her voice intensifying. Changeling queen or not, I was not liking this creature’s attitude, especially after we had just liberated her from a bicentennial prison sentence! The fact that she was scolding Nuclear definitely wasn’t helping either. I don’t take kindly to those who are abrasive to my friends. “I had been feasting on the most abundant supply of pure, true love I had ever eaten! I’ve haven’t wielded such power since, and right now I’m even weaker than my child here. I have been starved of love for far too long.”
“Love?” I echoed, an idea suddenly blossoming in my brain. “That’s it!”
“What’s it?” Mono wondered.
“Mono, is your magic up and running again?” I asked excitedly, praying to Discord that my plan would work.
“Yeah...” the monochromatic unicorn affirmed, not seeing where I was going with this. “Why?”
“Can you cast an illusion of White Light and Sunfire?” I requested. “You’ll need to keep it going long enough for the real ponies to get away from those monsters and keep them distracted.”
“I can do that, but only for so long,” Mono cautioned. “And the illusions can’t go too far or they start to fade. We won’t be able to send them far enough to lead those monsters away and give us time to make a getaway, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“It’s not,” I promised. “My plan is a little more lovey-dovey than that.”
Mono gave me an odd look before trotting to the end of the alleyway and igniting her horn. Across the street from our hideaway, two copies of our pegasi companions materialized before launching themselves into the air. I really had to admire Mono’s skill—those doppelgangers looked identical to their originals, down to the last detail.
There was a roar from the monsters as they realized they now had four ponies to eat rather than just two. After a few nervous moments that number dropped to just two again as the real White Light and Sunfire landed on the street and hurried over to our alleyway at Mono’s beckoning.
“Thank... you...” White Light huffed between massive breaths. Sunfire looked equally exhausted. I couldn’t imagine what they’d just been through—it must have been like two fish trying to swim their way out of a school of great white sharks! “...Now, what’s the plan? How do we go about defeating those monstrosities or escaping them?”
“Simple,” I replied. “You and Sunfire should make out!”
“What?!” Chrome gasped.
“Did he just say what I think he said?” Mono called back over her shoulder, sweat beading on her face from the strain of maintaining two illusions.
“Typical draconequus logic,” Chrysalis complained. “Or rather, lack thereof.”
“Trust me on this!” I encouraged. “I know it sounds insane, but Chryssie here needs love to power her magic. If we get enough of a charge going, maybe we’ll stand a chance against those creatures.”
“Do NOT call me ‘Chryssie’,” the changeling queen snarled. “To you, spawn of Discord, I am ‘your majesty’.”
“Whatever you say, Chryssie,” I dismissed, only half-listening. “Now come on, you guys! Kiss each other! Show some love! At least hug, or something!”
“Not that I don’t love Sunfire,” White Light spoke up. “But it is a little difficult to feel romantic when we’re in mortal peril.”
“This will be a tough one, then,” I mused. “I’ve never used my silver tongue as couples counseling. Um, does anybody know any romantic songs?”
“Diz, I really think we need to come up with another plan,” Nuclear urged. “No offense, but this is sounding crazy, even for you.”
“Who was that famous pony singer from before the war?” I wondered. “Oh, that’s right—Hound Dog, the king of rock and roll. He also had a few romantic slow songs, such as this ol’ classic:
“Love me tender,
Love me sweet,
Never let me go.
You have made my life complete,
And I love you so,” I sang, throwing the full force of my silver tongue into the words.
Everypony save White Light and Sunfire stared at me like I was crazy, which wasn’t entirely an unfounded belief, but then again draconequui were considered crazy by all other sentient species before the war, back when other species actually knew who and what we were. According to the history books we had back in The City, the prewar draconequui had always thought things were the other way around. After all, what kind of species could call itself sane if they didn’t embrace the beauty of chaos?
Well, my friends could, for one thing.
But draconequus philosophy wasn’t exactly the pressing issue at claw right now. The pressing issue was the spark I could see growing in White Light and Sunfire’s eyes as my voice worked its magic. Good, it was working!
“Love me tender,
Love me true,
All my dreams fulfilled.
For my darlin I love you,
And I always will,” I sang on, putting an extra croon into the lyrics and motioning with my claws for White Light and Sunfire to get closer.
At my prompting, each pegasus turned to look at their lover and seemed almost startled when they did so.
“Is... is something the matter, White Light?” Sunfire asked, leaning in towards the other pegasus as she spoke, almost like she wasn’t even aware she was doing it.
“No, nothing’s the matter... darling,” White Light replied, leaning in closer as well as Sunfire blushed. “I don’t know why I didn’t notice this earlier, but you look exceptionally beautiful today.”
“Don’t I look beautiful every day?” Sunfire giggled. They were almost brushing each other’s lips by now.
Some of the others, especially Nuclear, had turned bright red themselves by now. Chrome respectfully looked away from the couple’s intimate moment while Chrysalis simply watched on with wide eyes, licking her lips. I nudged Nuclear, breaking him out of his trance, causing him to flinch as he realized he had been staring. He turned away in embarrassment.
I, however, leaned in close to the two pegasi and whispered “Now kiss already!”
They did, locking lips in a passionate smooch.
“...Delicious...” Chrysalis murmured from behind us as if savoring a delectable meal. I guess that’s exactly what she was doing. “I haven’t had anything this filling since the invasion!”
Turning to see Chrysalis with a wide smile on her face, I floated over to her and snapped to get her attention. Sadly, I had yet to learn how to actually make my snaps do anything other than get people’s attention. I was a grown (well, just adult) draconequus for crying out loud, and I could only master the most basic of spells like floating and the silver tongue trick. Pathetic.
Oh well. I’d gotten this far without more advanced spells, so I reckoned I could go a little longer.
“Hey, Chryssie!” I called up, interrupting the love-glutton and earning a heated look.
“What?!” she demanded. “I’m dining, in case you haven’t noticed!”
“Yeah, I have,” I noted. “And it’s kind of disgusting. But more to the point, do you have enough energy to use your super-changeling-queen-powers or something yet?”
“I just had my first real meal in two-hundred years and you expect me to waste it on you mortals?” Chrysalis asked incredulously.
“Yes!” I snapped. “We did save your life, you remember. Don’t you think it’s time to return the favor?”
“Very well,” the queen mused. “But after I do this, my debt shall be repaid. And I shall not be trifled any longer by you pony folk. Especially not by you, spawn of Discord.”
“Fine, whatever,” I agreed exasperatedly. “Just blast those monsters out of the sky already!”
Chrysalis arose, no longer needing the support of Forty-Four. The changeling was preoccupied anyway with peppering his mutated brethren outside with his submachine gun. Striding past her child, the queen ignited her horn with a sickly green aura. The glow brightened with a sound like a swarm of angry hornets.
The queen’s eyes swept over the ten monsters still chasing after two constructs of light, narrowing as her crooked horn reached the apex of its charge before—
“No!” Chrysalis suddenly shouted, turning her head away from the monsters. Not only did this cause her horn to spark with the charged but unreleased magic; it also alerted the monsters to her presence and our hiding place.
The illusion pointless now, Mono dropped the spell as the mutant changelings came rushing back.
“Just shoot them!” I insisted to the queen. “You said it yourself; they’re not your children!”
“But they once were!” Chrysalis protested as the mutants came charging down. “You know nothing of family if you want me to strike down my own!”
A lightning bolt shot up my spine, causing my mind to flare with heat as I suddenly became angry. “I know NOTHING of FAMILY?!” I roared, my chocolate milk blood boiling. “Don’t you DARE say I know nothing of family! At least I know enough to take action when one of your own turns against the whole of his race! At least I know that when you’re about to be killed by your own brother, and you know that if he succeeds he would then be responsible for the death of your species, you have to take charge and END HIM FIRST!”
Chrysalis gaped, shocked beyond words. The rest of the group was doing the same.
“Diz...?” Nuclear’s voice was quiet. Sad, even.
I turned to him, fury still in my eyes, but my burning rage extinguished the moment I saw the look on his face. He was looking up at me with a mixture of fear that what I said was true and hope that it was not. The little striped unicorn, who was willing to risk his life for me. Who I could tell had grown to like me, even if I was supposed to be some kind of monster in pony and zebra lore alike.
Nuclear Force really did remind me a lot of Dis—Distraction—especially now. The look in his eyes almost mirrored the way Dis had looked right before the end. Knowing I was about to crush him, in one way or another, yet hopeful just the same that I would be better than that.
But I wasn’t better than that.
I did what needed to be done, and I’ve hated myself for it for the rest of my life.
“I did end my brother,” I confirmed. “But in doing so, I may—and pray—have just saved every other draconequus in my homelands. And they don’t even know it.
“So, Chryssie, if you don’t mind, please teleport us away or do something to get us out of here before your mutant ex-children rip us to shreds,” I finished. “You can leave me behind if you want, or you all can depart from my company after we get to where we’re going. But one thing’s for sure—anypony who is left here when those things crash into us is going to die.”
Without another word, Chrysalis’ horn flared bright green, and we were gone.
******
I’d never been teleported until that instant. It wasn’t at all like I had imagined, no seeing strange lights and feeling like you were in some in-between plane of existence just outside of reality. I had always really wanted to teleport just so I could experience that imagined place.
But that’s not what teleporting was like. One moment you were someplace, and the next moment you were someplace else. That’s all there was to it.
Where this ‘someplace’ was, though, was anypony’s guess. I guess I should just be thankful that I hadn’t been left behind, but all I could think about was the way my friends—especially Nuclear—had looked at me. Pretty much everything else seemed irrelevant at the moment.
I almost wished Chrysalis had left me behind.
No! No, I do not wish Chrysalis had left me behind! Sure, I did something so horribly awful that nopony would ever be able to forgive me, but I had had to do it, or else I would have a lot more chocolate milk on my claws than just that of my brother. Maybe my newfound friends couldn’t forgive me for what I’d done. I wouldn’t blame them.
But I had a god to find and a homeland to save, and saving every last draconequus left in this poisoned world was a lot more important than the death of a single draconequus and the loss of a few friends.
At least, that’s what I kept telling myself.
So why didn’t I believe me?
I sighed. Well, whether my friends would accept me again or not—whether anything I’d done in the hopes of saving my species would count for anything or not—I wasn’t going to find out just by sitting here feeling sorry for myself.
Let’s start with where I was.
I looked around, noting the lack of detail in the room I had been thrown into. It was a relatively large room, about the size of a standard house (at least I guessed it was; I’d never seen a real, intact standard house, only read about them in prewar books). As if that wasn’t strange enough, the room seemed to be composed entirely of smooth, white panels. Ceiling, floor, and walls were all made of the uniform squares.
It was a perfect orderliness.
“What madness is this?!” I gasped, leaping into the air from where I’d been—gulp—actually touching those perfect pieces of order! Existential crisis or not, my natural draconequus instinct detested order the way most life forms detest anthrax.
“Attention test subject *332*. Welcome to Equestrian Genetics testing lab *441*,” announced a disembodied voice that seemed to emanate from everywhere at once. It was just as monotone as the voice coming from the presumably dead robot had been, but it had a different quality. They definitely weren’t one and the same, but that wasn’t exactly making me feel any better. “Today you have been randomly selected from our list of paid volunteers to test product *434*, also known as working title *viper pistol*.”
“Viper pistol?” I gulped. I did not like the sound of that.
Suddenly one of the panels at the center of the floor rose up with a hissing noise, revealing a sort of table underneath above which floated a small green firearm. it looked like a smaller version of my Chaos Corp. pistols, if they were made of... plants?
After a moment of me staring at the thing and not knowing what to do, the monotone voice instructed “Test subject *332*, please pick up product *434*.”
Was that a hint of annoyance I detected in the mechanical voice?
“What if I don’t want to?” I questioned, not really sure where to look when the source of the voice seemed to be everywhere at once.
“Then you shall not be paid and you shall be blacklisted from The Equestrian Genetics Volunteer Program,” the voice replied.
“That doesn’t sound too bad,” I mused. “In fact, if that will get me out of here—”
“You shall also be teleported to the Equestrian Genetics dissection lab to be integrated in our latest line of user-friendly products for industrial, commercial, and domestic use,” the voice cut me off. “Your time to begin the test will end in ten, nine...”
“Wait!” I shouted. “I didn’t agree to this! I’m not test subject number whatever that number was!”
“Correction: according to form *846*, you are test subject *332*,” the voice scolded, if an emotionless voice could scold. “And you have knowingly signed the waiver, having been warned of the risks beforehoof. Eight, seven...”
“Fine, fine!” I called quickly, floating over to the table and plucking the gun from the air. “See? I have the gun! We’re all peachy now, right?”
“Test begins-begins-beg-be-b...” The voice glitched and fizzled out..
“Huh?” I wondered aloud as the voice dissolved into static.
Suddenly, a new and different voice spoke. Unlike the first one, this voice was devoid of mechanicality. I could even hear haggard breathing, though I’m not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing...
“...I don’t... much time...” the voice told me urgently between bouts of static and catching their breath. The voice sounded female, though it was scratchy, as if its owner had been gargling sandpaper. I couldn’t tell if that was her natural voice or just an effect of the static. “...Can’t help you out... Tests, but I can guide you... friends... get out of there!”
“My friends?” I echoed, perking up considerably. “Wait, who are you? How do I know I can trust you?”
I received only a bout of static as my answer before the mechanical voice returned as if nothing had happened.
“Test begins now,” the monotone voice finished. “Release targets.”
Targets? I could handle targets—targets didn’t shoot back. However, I had more important things to do than shoot at concentric circles. The owner of that second voice may or may not be trustworthy, but right now she was the only potential ally I had.
But how was I going to get out of here?
Another panel on the far wall opened with a hiss as the panel that had given me the gun slid into the floor. A way out, perhaps? If so, that would be strikingly convenient.
As it turned out, this hole was a way in. Out of the latest opening popped three small forms. They each possessed scales, wings, and a number of vicious-looking claws and teeth.
“Baby dragons?” I wondered aloud. “I’ve heard you guys are intelligent—did that lady send you? Can you help me out of here?”
The dragons looked at me a moment, licked their scaly lips, and then leapt into the air, spewing fireballs at me.
“Whoa!” I gasped, ducking just in time to keep my head from being barbequed. “Can’t we talk about this? I’m sure you’d feel much less murderous if we just engaged in a little polite conversation!”
“Kill!” one of the dragon hatchlings cackled, swiping down at me with his claws.
Claws... did baby dragons have claws? Did baby dragons have wings, for that matter? And since when did dragons of any age have glowing red eyes?!
These were definitely not ordinary dragons, which explained why my silver tongue trick didn’t work and why they weren’t harmless, like baby dragons would be of their own volition. I think. Anyway, it seemed my persuasive powers only worked on sentient beings, and sadly enough, it seemed no wise dragons would grow out of these little bundles of death.
That being said, I didn’t really feel any worse for firing the newfangled gun at the hatchlings than I would have gunning down a feral animal. That’s exactly what these things seemed to be.
The bullet sliced into a dragon, which collapsed to the floor, beginning to violently convulse. Blood spurted from its mouth, its eyes dimming as scales were shed and its whole form turned a sickly ashen color. In a matter of seconds, it was a gray corpse.
What kind of bullets were these?!
I cried out in pain as a tiny fireball scorched my leg. Without thinking, I turned and fired another bullet at the offender. It was really weird feeling, the leafy softness of this plant-gun’s trigger, but it was even stranger the way the little monster just crumpled into another morbid heap.
That left only one, which I realized rather quickly when it sliced up my back from behind. I screamed in agony as what felt like fire filled my veins, and if the dragon was breathing on my new wounds, that might be exactly what was happening.
I flipped over in the air, throwing the dragon to the ground and firing at it before it had the chance to pick itself up. It too crumpled into an ashy lump like the others.
“Test completed,” the voice congratulated, actually sounding pleased. “Test subject *332*, please proceed to testing lab *442* for the next test. Remember, your contributions to Equestrian Genetics keep Equestria strong in the war against the zebra menace!”
“The war is over!” I shouted angrily, losing my chocolatey blood rapidly. “Everyone lost! I finished your stupid test; now let me out before I bleed to death!”
“Health potions, grief counseling, and a complimentary cake will be served upon completion of the tests,” the voice promised. “However, if you do not proceed to the next testing lab within the next ten seconds, you will be relocated to the dissection lab.
“Ten...” it counted.
A wall panel hissed open, near the one that had allowed the entry of those mutated dragons. Beyond it I could see another testing lab, looking almost identical to the one I was currently trapped in. I needed a healing potion now, or I was going to pass out from blood loss. I highly doubted that mechanical voice would provide any medical assistance, and I didn’t know if my potential new ally could even hear me or see me right now. Thus, I’d probably just continue losing blood until I died and journeyed up to the big chaos in the sky.
“Nine...” the voice threatened.
“Wait a minute...” I thought aloud. “Why didn’t I think of this before? If you can’t find a way, make one!”
“Eight...” the voice went on.
I floated over to one of the walls perpendicular to the wall I was expected to go through.
“Seven...” the voice continued.
I took out the bullseye case that had taken the bullet for me back during my first encounter with ponies--what, had that really been earlier today?! Wow, time sure does fly.
“Six...” the voice kept going.
Opening the case, I pulled out a thin, black, floppy circle.
“Five...” the voice warned.
I slapped the dark spot onto the wall, where it stuck fast.
“Four...” the voice intoned.
Without a moment to lose, I leapt through The Chaos Corp. Portable Hole and floated on through to the other side.
“Three...” I heard the voice carry on as if I was still in the testing lab once I had reached the other side of the wall.
I peeled off the Portable Hole from my end and stuffed it back inside its casing, a material specially enchanted to not be affected by the Hole’s magic, which thankfully was also enchanted to not make a hole in me whenever I touched it.
“Two...” I finished for my little bodiless ‘friend.’ “One.”
Nothing happened.
Ah, how sweet nothing is sometimes.
I reflected on that tidbit of wisdom for a parsec or two before I became bored. I looked around the immediate area to try and alleviate that boredom (and maybe find a healing potion and, you know, not die).
I appeared to be in a corridor of some kind, composed of metal and floored by a thin walkway. I was glad I didn’t actually need to walk on the rusted remains of said walkway, instead floating over to a door in the wall and quickly making my exit.
“Praise Discord,” I breathed as I floated into the next room. A sign hanging down from the ceiling announced ‘Equestrian Genetics Potions Lab 228.’If there were any healing potions in this facility, they had to be in here.
I floated as fast as I could over to one of the many fridges lining the walls, dripping chocolate milk as I went. I reached for the handle and attempted to throw the door open, and in so doing nearly dislocated my shoulder.
“You are not an authorized Equestrian Genetics potions scientist,” that mechanical voice came again. “And, as such...”
The voice dissolved into static again. What was with this place? It had obviously survived the balefire bomb that struck Applewood, which I assumed we were still in, but it certainly hadn’t aged well in two-hundred years. Well, a lot of it hadn’t, anyway.
Then again, maybe that was just a sign of—yes, my ally!”
“...Only speak to you when the automated...” the hopefully friendly voice that actually sounded alive announced. “...Bad connection...but can hack... for you...”
The living voice went the way of its mechanical counterpart before even the static cut off completely. However, with a loud BUZZ the fridge door unlocked with a click.
“Thank you!” I called to my ally, hoping she could hear me.
Throwing the door fully open, I rummaged through all kinds of potions marked with various labels—shrinking elixir, love potion, more cateye, to name a few—and finally found a marvelous, wonderful healing potion!
Yanking it out and sending several other potions crashing to the floor, I downed the whole thing. I breathed a sigh of relief as I felt my body restitching itself back together, but downed another healing potion just to be sure. I had lost a lot of blood, after all.
The crisis of my imminent death averted, my brain was finally able to realize that I wasn’t alone.
My eyes widened as I surveyed the bodies. They were very, very old. They were probably only skeletons by now, really, though I couldn’t tell. The hulking metal armor was caked in rust, obscuring even the slightest bodily feature.
“Steel Rangers?” I wondered aloud. I’d heard about these guys. Apparently, they were Equestria’s toughest soldiers during the war, though of course that hadn’t counted for anything when the balefire bombs hit, killing off everypony they had been protecting and a good many of their own numbers as well.
What could have happened here to kill so many? Why were there corpses of Equestria’s finest littering the floor of a genetics lab, of all places?
I floated over and attempted to lift the visor of one, a little surprised that I could, with all the rust that had eaten away at the armor. Out spilled marbles. Hundreds of tiny colorful glass orbs.
“What the...?” I asked nopony. That was weird, and I knew weird. I was a draconequus, the living definition of weird. If I thought something was weird, then it was downright freaky to anypony else. And, though I normally liked things that were weird, this was a little macabre for my taste.
I checked a few other suits, finding everything from confetti to old, rotted candy in them. Not a single actual corpse was among them.
What had happened to these ponies? I highly doubted somepony had taken the trouble to set up a platoon of Steel Ranger armor in poses of death and then filled them up with party goods.
Well, whatever had happened to them, it had happened over two-hundred years ago. Whatever had done this was long gone, and I had more pressing matters to attend to than puzzle over a bicentennial mass murder mystery.
However, as I floated towards the door opposite the one I had come in, I spotted a small satchel laying next to a large old book. Hoping I might have found something interesting—I’d already filled my bigger-on-the-inside pockets with plenty of healing potions from the surprisingly still-functional fridge—I rummaged through the satchell to find that it was empty, save a small booklet that looked absolutely puny compared to the larger tome, and one of those leg-mounted terminals the ponies of prewar Equestria used to wear. What did they call them? PipDucks?
Well, anyway, the screen was cracked, and the only thing I could do to a complex machine was mess it up. I tossed it back into the satchel and looked at the smaller book instead, flipping through its pages. They were filled with the mouth-written scrawls of an earth pony or pegasus, and the paper and ink had done remarkably well to weather the two centuries since it was written. There were even a few diagrams and pictures whose meaning I could not discern.
At the front of the book was a title page that read ‘This diary belongs to: Screwball.’
A diary? Eh, maybe I could sell it to a historian at one of the larger settlements. I had planned to go to such a place eventually anyway to see if I could find anypony who knew anything about Discord, before I had become entangled in this mess. I only wish I could have been entangled longer; it was nice to have friends, for however much longer I could keep them.
I pocketed Screwball’s diary and looked at its big brother, ‘The Book of Chaos: Draconequus Spells and Enchantments for Dummies.’ I laughed at the last part—typical draconequus humor. This book looked even older than the two centuries Screwball’s diary had weathered, though it looked even more lively than its little sister. I was more than a little curious how a draconequus text had ended up in Equestria, if this even was a draconequus text and not somepony’s idea of a joke, but all of that left my mind when I saw the author.
“Discord,” I read. I quickly flipped through the pages to find that they contained nothing but scribbles. It was even written in Gibberish! It was a language all draconequui understood, and I don’t think I need to mention that it was a language that no other living being understood. I remembered the sacred texts back in The City, all penned by Discord and his right-claw followers back in the earliest years of the homelands.
That didn’t definitely mean that Discord had indeed written this book, but it did mean that some draconequus had.
Almost shaking with anticipation in the hopes that somehow Discord had written this book, I flipped to the first page, made of some creature’s old tanned hide, seeing a line of scribbles. There was no pattern to the scrawl, no rhyme or reason, nothing that should have logically conveyed any message.
But I understood it.
“Yes, this book was written by Discord,” I read aloud, making sounds with my tongue that were just as nonsensical as the words I was reading. “Keep it with you, and it will impart to you the secrets of draconequus magic.”
“I wish,” I snorted, switching back to Equestrian, which had been the common language even in my homelands before the war, though I couldn’t imagine why. Though I was handy with the silver tongue trick and floating, that was literally about all I could do. I was decent with a gun, but then again so was most everypony these days. Regardless of whether or not this book would be of use to me, though, I was definitely keeping it. Who knows? It might even lead to me to Discord!
Wait a minute... The Gibberish had told me ‘Yes,’ almost as if it was answering my question about its authenticity...
Feeling a little creeped out, I turned the page and read another line of scribbles.
“Yes, I answered your question,” I read. “And yes, I can even lead you to Discord. I can also even teach someone with your level of skill the most powerful spells known to draconequui. But first, don’t you have some friends to be searching for?”
I snapped the book shut, a shiver running down my spine.
But... Why was I afraid? I’d just found exactly what I had been looking for! Er, well, the next best thing! I had found something that could lead me to Discord!
However, this book was right--I did have some friends to search for. Whether or not they still considered themselves my friends was irrelevant; they needed my help, and I was going to give it to them.
After stuffing the tome into my pocket, which was thankfully enchanted to accept objects larger than its opening—draconequus magic, don’t ask, I floated out the door opposite the one I had used to enter the potions lab. Outside was another hallway, this one lined with doors leading to other potion labs and whatnot. Like the lab, the lighting was just barely functional, and it was clear nopony had trotted these halls in over two centuries.
So why had the testing lab been so clean?
And while we were on the subjects of questions, why had I ended up in this facility at all? Had Chryssie just teleported us as far away from her mutant children as she could send us, not really knowing where that was? I certainly didn’t see her choosing this place intentionally. Also, why hadn’t we ended up in the same place when we teleported? The testing lab I had almost died in was large enough to accommodate the whole space of the alleyway we had been standing in, so shouldn’t we have appeared together just as we left together?
Something truly strange was going on here...
Well, whatever it was, I intended to find out. Knowledge is power, and I’d need all the power I could obtain to get myself and my friends out of this place alive. And it wasn’t all bad—after all, I had acquired this handy little plant pistol. What had that automated voice called it? A ‘viper pistol?’ I knew I’d never seen viper venom do what this gun had done to those mutant baby dragons. And yes, I’ve encountered viper venom before—a few draconequui have it. When you think about it, the whole of the draconequui species is really just a hodge-podge of the species of the world. Someone is bound to have viper venom.
Of course, I hadn’t been quite so lucky in the genetic lottery. All I got was a silver tongue and a not-unique knack for guns. Feeling the weight of The Book of Chaos in my pocket, though, I smiled at the thought that maybe all that would change soon.
But first things first. Find friends, then learn draconequus magic as I look for Discord.
Of course, that was much easier said than done.
This place was massive. I floated down hallway after hallway, peering into dusty old labs and other such rooms, to find everything but my friends. There were the skeletons of ponies in moth-eaten lab coats, the ruins of old arcane science projects littered about them, and even a few more of those mutant baby dragons that I had to take out. Unfortunately, my ‘viper pistol’ ran out of ammunition sooner than I would have liked, but I still had my Chaos Corp. pistols, so it didn’t really matter.
For the life of me, I couldn’t seem to find anything that wasn’t a laboratory, and not even a testing lab among them. If I had been deposited in such a room, then it was as good a guess as any that the others had ended up in such rooms as well. Of course, I only realized this after I had wandered countless hallways and lost all sense of how to get back to the line of testing labs I had started in. I may have been right next door to one or all of my friends in that orderly room, and I never would have known.
I don’t know how long it had been—hours, maybe, but there was no way to tell time down here in the dimly lit labyrinth of laboratories—when I first spotted something that wasn’t a mutant dragon or a skeleton. I’d finally worked my way out of what seemed to be some kind of wing dedicated to potions when I encountered doors labeled ‘Observation.’
Curious as always, I floated into one to find a small room with a few elevated seats in front of a glass window. Beyond that window was—
“Mono!” I gasped. “Chrome!”
I rushed to the window, pressing my face to the glass, not quite able to believe what I was seeing.
The unicorn twins were in a testing lab much like I had been, walled exclusively with those disgustingly orderly white panels. However, a section of panels in the center of the room had risen up to wall off each pony from her sister. I could see on either side of the wall through the observation window, but I did not like what I saw.
“Mono!” Chrome cried out to her sister from where a plethora of mechanical arms were holding her in place. Suddenly a surge of electricity crackled across the arms, shocking Chrome and causing her to cry out in pain.
As if that wasn’t horrific enough, Mono was screaming on the other side of the wall with what looked like the same excruciating agony, though the arms that held her in place didn’t so much as spark. Quicker than I could react, the process was reversed—Mono was shocked and Chrome left alone, even though both cried out in pain as if they were experiencing the electrification simultaneously.
I pounded on the glass, calling out the twins’ names, but not so much as a crack appeared. This glass must have been enchanted to prevent anything getting into the observation room—the architects of this nightmarish place had never counted on someone trying to get into the testing labs.
I whipped out my Portable Hole, applied it to the glass, and sailed through. I hadn’t been choosing any particular twin, but I ended up on Chrome’s side and raced across to her.
“Hold on!” I called. “I’ll get you of there!”
“Interference with testing,” that robotic voice intoned, clearly displeased. Then, after a burst of static “...Can’t release them from here... but found... zebra hybrid... fire test...”
...Zebra hybrid? I didn’t know anypony who was a—... wait. Did she mean Nuclear Force? I paused for a moment, stunned, before shaking my head. Yes, he had stripes, but I shouldn’t jump to conclusions. Maybe he just painted them on or something. I would ask him about it later... when the time was right. And I wasn’t really sure if my ally was referring to him or not. What did I know about ponies, much less zebras? I hadn’t even met a living pony until earlier today.
Well, whoever she was referring to, they’d have to wait while I freed Mono and Chrome. I only hoped I could find the ‘fire test’ after I did so.
I attempted to pry the mechanical arms off of the petite Chrome, but to no avail. Of course they would be strong enough to withstand average brute force, otherwise the twins would’ve broken out by themselves. Looked like we would have to do this shoot-’em-up style.
Backing up, I pulled out my dual Chaos Corp. pistols and began firing away at the arms. Thankfully the enchantment on the bullets prevented them from ricocheting and hitting a living being, if a living being wasn’t the first thing they struck. Otherwise, my rescue of Chrome might prove more deadly than these ‘tests.’
The arms finally crumpled under the force, some ripping completely. Chrome dropped to the ground.
“Thank... you...” I heard her wheeze before coughing up what looked like blood. Strangely enough, I thought I could hear Mono saying the same thing at the same time on the other side of the wall. Must be the weird echo effects in here.
I fished out one of the healing potions I’d snagged from the laboratories and dashed to the other side of the barrier to liberate Mono in the same way. I needn’t have bothered—the arms were releasing the taller unicorn of their own volition (if machines had volition) as they pulled into the wall. I must have messed up the test too badly for that AI to continue it. In your face, disembodied whatever-you-are! Then again, that didn’t leave any openings for my ally to give us any extra assistance.
“Diz...” Mono wheezed as the wall halving the room collapsed back into the floor. Chrome raced over and the two sisters embraced, Mono stroking her smaller sister’s mane as Chrome tried to hold back tears. “Thank you.”
What was that? Did both of their mouths move when Mono had talked?
“I’m so glad I finally found you guys,” I said, ignoring the latest weirdness for now. “I’ve been searching for hours!”
“Have you found anypony else?” they both asked. At the same time. “And do you know where we are?”
My eyes widened. What was going on?!
Seeing my look, they both announced “Sorry, we can’t help but talk like this—we were injected with something the moment we appeared in this ‘testing lab.’ It’s like, whatever one does, the other has to do. It’s been wearing off... When they first injected us, we even had to breathe at exactly the same time!”
Now that was creepy. I couldn’t imagine being bound to doing whatever someone else did, or having them bound to doing whatever I did. Or maybe they even made the same decisions at the same time, like their consciousness was temporarily melded or something... Ugh, just thinking about it gave me the chills!
“As I’m guessing you gathered from that mechanical voice, we’re in someplace called ‘Equestrian Genetics’,” I told them. “I have yet to find anypony else, but it sounds like my ally has just told us where to find Nuclear Force.”
“Ally?” they echoed.
“You heard that second voice cutting in over the mechanical one?” I asked. They nodded, still synchronous. Wow, that was creepy. “I don’t know who she is, but she’s been helping me. Already saved my life once.”
They both nodded again, looking mixed between relieved and suspicious, just as I had been at first, and maybe still was at least a little. Er, wait... maybe it wasn’t my ally they were suspicious of. Maybe it was me.
After all, who could trust a being who had killed his own brother?
“I know I can’t expect you to forgive me for doing what I did and not even telling anypony about it,” I sighed. “And I wouldn’t blame you if you decided you’d rather not see me anymore after this. But right now, you all need me, and I’m going to do my best to get you all out of this place.”
“I never blamed you, Diz,” they both said, surprising me and smiling up at me.
“What...?” I stated. “But... Why?”
“Oh, that’s just me talking—it’s Mono,” they told me. “Sorry for the confusion—if you think this is weird, just imagine what it’s like to be experiencing this firsthoof. But you already proved yourself when you rescued us. Three times, I might add, in the past day alone.”
“...Thank you,” I whispered, tears in my eyes. It was all I could think to say. I knelt down and embraced them. Mono hugged back, but Chrome wriggled out of my arms and backtrotted hastily.
My blood ran cold as I realized what was happening. Mono had forgiven me, and even though they had spoken at the same time, that didn’t mean Chrome had.
“Is something wrong, Chrome?” the twins asked.
“Is something wrong?!” each now inquired incredulously, though only Chrome looked angry. “He killed his sibling! Nopony should ever kill their sibling!”
“But he said if he didn’t then the whole draconequus race would die!” the twins debated with themselves, though I guessed Mono was back at the helm.
“And how exactly would the death of one’s own brother save one’s own species?” each demanded to know, both speaking for Chrome once again. “What would killing him accomplish?”
Chrome still looking like she was seething, and Mono looked uncertain.
No, Mono, please... I thought desperately. I can’t lose more friends!
Then maybe you shouldn’t have killed the one friend you started with, a thought popped into my head.
No! If I hadn’t then it would be over for all of draconequus kind! I knew that!
“I have to admit, I’m not sure how killing a sibling can save a race,” each spoke, Mono looking at me questioningly, leading me to believe she was the source of the inquiry.
“I can tell you,” I promised. Then, getting a thought, I continued with “But not until we find everypony. You all deserve to know. Then you can decide if you want to leave me.”
Mono seemed to think about this for a moment, and then they both nodded.
There was a loud clank, followed by a buzzing noise that slowly accelerated to form a voice.“Testing restarts in ten, nine...” that mechanical voice announced. Mono and Chrome’s faces acquired a deathly pallor. I must admit I was hoping for another intrusion from my ally first. And... There! After some static, the non-mechanical voice spoke “...Hacked into... finally able to... there!”
Another blare of static obliterated her, but just before it did, a panel opened in the wall opposite the observation room. Looking past it, I saw another identical testing lab, followed by another panel’s opening. So it went, on and on, forming a sort of hallway through who knew how many testing labs.
And at the very end of them, something warm glowed, like a fire...
“Emberwing!” both twins exclaimed, galloping towards the glow.
“Wait, that might be dangerous—” I tried to warn them, taking off in hot pursuit.
They didn’t heed my words, though I really couldn’t blame them. For all I knew, it could be our friends in danger, and how could I live with myself knowing I didn’t get there in time to save them when they might have needed help?
I zoomed after them as the far-off glow began to take focus, and then, suddenly, screams pierced our ears. This struck a chord with me for two reasons, the first being that one of my ears is that of a rabbit and everything is amplified. The second was that one of those screams belonged to Nuclear Force.
Why was I so desperate to help him especially, when everypony needed our help? Why was I so drawn to somepony who reminded me of Dis? Shouldn’t that kind of thing push me away?
Maybe... Maybe I saw a second chance in Nuclear. A chance not to lose another little brother.
“Hang on, Nuke!” I shouted, speeding ahead past the twins—they were even walking synchronously—and barging into the far testing lab. What I saw made my chocolate milk run cold.
Three members of our group were in this one testing lab. Emberwing had indeed been the source of that glow, but he wasn’t the only thing on fire. We just hadn’t been able to see the others through the opening in the wall.
Nuclear Force was held aloft with mechanical arms, just like Mono and Chrome had been. Only these arms were awash with a different kind of energy than electricity. An orange glow flowed over the robotic pistons and joints, culminating in Nuke’s horn, where the magic of the machines was forcing his horn to fire a continuous plume of green flame.
The little striped unicorn’s eyes were squeezed shut, his teeth gritted, and I could see sweat beading on his coat. His horn was glowing red-hot, like a piece of metal with an electric current running through it. I shuddered as I stared at it, imagining what that must’ve felt like. When it became too much for him to take, he screamed again, his fire burning more ferociously. In turn, the other two captives added their voices to the chorus of agony.
The recipient of this flame was Emberwing in the center of the room. He was continually dying, the flame burning away at his already fiery form and reducing it to ash only to have the fire flare up and give him new life. I couldn’t imagine what it must be like to be dying over and over, knowing there would never be any release on the other side.
Finally, Sunfire was caught up in more mechanical arms on the far left of the lab, the fire washing off of Nuclear Force and Emberwing burning her flesh. However painful her expression, her horrendous agony at being burned alive, her flesh didn’t blacken or melt. It was as if the fire was forcing her to stay alive just so she could endure it.
What WAS this place?! What kind of laboratory made its products and then tested them by subjecting sentient beings to this level of pain?!
I pretty much lost it at that point.
I raced forward to Nuclear, the unintentional spark of this fire. I drew my pistols, preparing to free him in the same way that I had freed Chrome, only to discover that my chambers were empty. Everything from those raiders to the mutant changelings outside and those dragons inside had depleted my ammunition. I also knew I couldn’t use the Portable Hole—it wouldn’t work on surfaces charged with magic.
“No!” I shouted, pounding my mismatched fists on the robot arms and receiving a burn from the fiery magic in the process. Then, turning to Mono and Chrome, I implored “Can you guys fire at those arms? We have to get Nuclear out if we’re going to stop this evil machine!”
The twins nodded and proceeded to do just that. The bullets slowly yet surely began to crumple the arms, but slowly wasn’t going to cut it for me. I could tell Nuke wasn’t going to make it much longer. I’d seen draconequui overload on magic back in The City, and it was NOT a pretty sight. If this kept up much longer, the little striped unicorn’s horn was likely to explode, and a good chunk of his skull along with it. I could only imagine what would happen if we hadn’t arrived when we did.
Suddenly, I realized there was only one way to stop this.
Maybe that’s why I had been drawn to Nuclear Force. Somehow, maybe I had just known that one day I could pay for my crimes, be redeemed. Save the life of one little brother for the life of the other I had taken.
Almost shaking with the knowledge of what I had to do, I lowered my feet to the ground. Taking a deep breath, probably the last I would ever take, I stepped in front of Nuke’s fiery blast.
“Test interrupted,” the mechanical voice intoned disapprovingly. With the chain of torture broken, that mad machine would have no further reason to continue its insane ‘test.’ Just like when I had interrupted the twin’s test, the apparatus would be terminated and every ‘volunteer’ would go free.
I could already hear my ally’s voice cutting in over that of the machine. With any good fortune, she would have enough time in her sporadic communication to help my friends find White Light and eventually escape.
I would then have finally paid for my crime.
“I thought you claimed that if not for your ‘crime,’ the whole of the draconequus species would be extinguished?” my ally told me as my chocolate milk boiled and searing pain raced across every cell of my body.
Wait, hadn’t my ally’s voice been that of a female? And where was the static? The breaks in communication?
“I’m not your ally,” the voice corrected me. It was definitely male, and even though I’d never heard it the voice somehow sounded familiar. “I’m your teacher.”
Teacher? I thought.
“Yes,” the voice affirmed, almost with irritation a if I wasn’t picking up on this as quickly as he had hoped. It had heard my thoughts?! “And now it’s time for lesson number one. Imagine you’re eating a hoofball bat on The Sun but you don’t have a trombone.”
This must be some dying illusion, I realized. My brain’s just firing up its neurons a final time before they’re finally fired up for real.
That being said, I might as well enjoy my final thoughts. And besides, this was chaos logic. I could roll with that.
But if I don’t have a trombone, how will I invite the Monkey Lords over for tea and crumpets? I wondered, half laughing on the inside, half burning on the out.
Wait, only half burning?
“Ah, you begin to understand,” the voice announced approvingly. “Now go melt an idiom before you tie up all the world’s grass in knots.”
Sounds like something a telepathic walrus would do, I thought, tears steaming up out of my eyes as the fire from Nuclear’s horn died down at last. The last thing I saw was his astonished face. Forgive me, Lil’ Bro. I’m sorry I could only be the big brother you needed, instead of the one you deserved.
“And the gaslamp freezes,” that odd voice said as the world blackened like my charred, crisped hide.
******
“...”
“...D...”
“...Diz...”
“...DIZ!”
“The fire escape ate the marmosets!” I shouted as I came out of the blackness of death, expecting to see The Disorderly Gates opening to let me into The Eternal Chaos. I’d heard that it was custom for souls of the recently departed to say something fittingly chaotic when they reached the afterlife, and so I eagerly complied.
But instead of floating in a formless void facing a glorious world for the dead, I realized I was laying on a decaying mattress. It was dark, to be sure, but there were dim magical torches lining the stony tunnel.
I looked around frantically, taking in the concerned faces of the five ponies and one phoenix looking down at me.
What were they doing in the threshold of The Eternal Chaos? Didn’t ponies go to a different afterlife when they died? Not that I wasn’t overjoyed to see my friends again, mind you, but it was quite a shock. I mean, after all, would beings who were historically famous for thriving upon order ever be happy in an eternity of chaos? Maybe my this afterlife was the only one there was, and you went to it whether you were a pony or a draconequus.
But that didn’t make sense either, as I’d just saved three of the people now looking down at me! What were they doing in an afterlife of any kind?!
Wait... Something else was wrong here...
Well, the dimly lit tunnel probably should have clued me in, though I suppose I can blame that on the disorientation of being brought back from the verge of death. That is to say, this wasn’t The Eternal Chaos, and I was alive!
“But... How?” I asked. It was all I could say.
“It’s a long story,” Nuclear Force piped up with a smile. “But suffice it to say that we got out alive—all of us. You picked the perfect place to be burned alive. There’s a LOT of healing stuff in a genetic engineering factory.”
Then the striped unicorn leaned down and wrapped his hooves around me. I hugged back.
“Thank you, Diz,” he said quietly, before getting back to his hooves.
“No,” I said, shaking my head and laughing a little. “Thank you.”
“For what?” Nuclear inquired, looking confused.
“Well, you were the one who insisted on taking Diz with us when the rest of us thought he was dead,” Mono replied.. “...Oh, and sorry about that, Diz.”
“Wait, Diz couldn’t have known that,” White Light pointed out.
“I know now. And I wouldn’t have blamed any of you for leaving me behind anyway,” I added.
“After saving my life, on more than one occasion I might add, you didn’t expect me to do everything I could to return the favor?” Nuclear snorted with a smile.
“But, even after I...?” I stated bluntly, confused.
“I don’t care what you did in the past,” Nuclear said dismissively. “I know you know, and that makes me think that you had good reason to do whatever you did back then.”
“I agree,” White Light affirmed. “You rescued Sunfire from that horrible torture. I care not what you did before I met you; the fact that your rescued Sunfire is all that matters to me.”
There was a comfortable silence I could have waited in forever.
“I can’t believe you ponies!” Chrome suddenly blurted, shattering whatever illusion I had had that everything was resolved. “Of course it matters what he did! He killed his own brother! I don’t care what it accomplished—nopony should ever murder their sibling!”
At least Chrome was speaking by herself now, that freaky connection she shared with her twin having worn off.
“Chrome...” Mono said cautiously, putting a hoof on her smaller sister’s shoulder, but the petite unicorn angrily shrugged it off.
“No!” Chrome snarled. “Sure, Diz may think he had a reason to do what he did. But that doesn’t change anything. He probably thought he was doing the only thing he could for the greater good—but what you don’t realize is that he’ll do the same to us whenever he’s faced with a choice between us or the greater good, even if there is no greater good!”
“No greater good?” White Light echoed. “But he saved you from those machines, and Sunfire as well!”
“Only because it served him to do so at the time,” Chrome went on. “Only because it helped him get closer to what he thinks is ‘the greater good.’ But what does that really mean, anyway? He’s looking for his god, but what kind of god is he talking about?!”
“He already told me,” Mono jumped in. “I told you, remember? Discord is supposed to be the god of chaos, which apparently has to do with making a world full of floating houses, chocolate rain, and no radiation. It doesn’t sound like it’s that a bad of a world, actually.”
“Maybe it’s not, to him,” Chrome continued. “But didn’t you hear what The Night Guard called him?”
“Who’s ‘The Night Guard’?” I asked, really not liking where this was going.
“Remember that voice that helped us?” Mono explained. “She was a lunar pegasus—they have bat wings instead of feathery ones—who apparently was trapped in Equestrian Genetics like us. After she helped us out, we found her and we each helped each other escape. She led us down here to these tunnels running beneath Applewood where The Night Guard lives. They’re some of the descendants of Princess Luna’s royal guards. They even offered us a place to stay as long as we want.”
That sounded pretty good, if my friends would let me hang around to enjoy it with them.
“Yes, they did,” Chrome went on. “They also didn’t expect one of our number to be a draconequus, even if you did help Nocturne—our Night Guard ally—escape. They almost didn’t let us bring you in. I asked one why, and he showed me a book of records taken from the castle at Canterlot. In it was the story of the truth about Discord.”
“So that’s where you were,” Mono intoned disapprovingly, glaring. “Listening to the propaganda of the descendants of ponies who helped blow up the world and poison it with radiation. Listening to them rather than to one of our own friends, who helped to save your life.”
“He’s not my friend!” Chrome spat. “And if you read that book, he wouldn’t be your friend either.”
“I... I suppose I do owe you all an explanation,” I sighed. “I should have told you the moment I met you. I’m sorry for for that, but please just hear what I have to say. Then you can decide whether or not you want me to part company.”
“You don’t have to explain anything,” Nuclear announced firmly. White Light nodded and, judging by the expression of Mono, she too agreed. Sunfire, who had said nothing so far, still looked unsure.
“I do,” I insisted. “If I don’t, it will eat this group from the inside out, myself included.”
Nuclear still looked like he’d rather the issue be dropped completely, but I’d made up my mind. I owed this to them.
“I mentioned that I came from a place called ‘The City’,” I told them. They all waited, watching and listening intently, especially Chrome. She was still staring daggers at me. “I’d also tell you my home country’s name, but it has none. Most draconequui just call it ‘the homelands.’ Anyway, this city is a place kind of like the Stables I heard Equestria built to protect ponies from the balefire attack. Only this city was built long before The Great War, and long before Equestria. Like the homelands, The City never really had any other name than ‘The City.’ It was simply the oldest relic of the beginnings of draconequus civilization. Even we don’t know how far back that goes.
“Though the homelands weren’t directly involved in The Great War, we were still pretty much wiped from the face of the planet when the balefire attack occurred. The City was left intact, though, due to the fact that it was built deep underground in a massive cave system,” I continued. “And since the capital of the homelands was in The City, it was expected that the family of The Lord Regent, who had been ruling in Discord’s name ever since he left the homelands millennia ago, would continue to govern the draconequui in the chaotic manner our god would have wanted. But that didn’t happen.
“After the balefire attack, a company called Chaos Corp. pulled a coup d'etat and took over The City and all that remained of the draconequus species,” I went on. “They kept anyone from leaving and ran The City just like the soulless business they were. Sure, they provided us with the finest quality of products like my trusty Chaos Corp. pistols and my Portable Hole, but they forced us to work in their factories as well and standardized everything. Each day was the same, every moment an endless work shift of slave labor. Slavery is bad enough, but they had us doing the same thing every day! Do you have any idea what that’s like to a draconequus?! It would drive others mad. For us, if you were worked too hard, you would be driven sane. And when a draconequus is driven sane, his brain ceases to function as a thinking individual. He becomes a mindless zombie, devoid of all imagination and free will. A sane draconequus is even worse than a dead draconequus.
“Why weren’t you driven sane as well?” White Light questioned.
“Chaos Corp. runs tests on the populace,” I explained. “They recognized that I had a gift for the silver tongue, and so they took me from my family before I was even old enough to remember them and put me in a special training program. They took my brother as well in the hopes that he had the same gift. They were planning to use us as advertisers.
“That doesn’t sound so bad,” Mono commented.
“If you could hypnotize people, would you use your gift to convince your own species that they should work themselves to death and be grateful to their slave drivers?” I asked.
Mono looked paler than usual and shook her head.
“That’s what they expected me to do,” I continued. “They allowed me full access to the library of Discord’s palace so that I may further my gift by learning from the texts of the master Himself. They never expected me to learn the truth from those texts, realizing that Chaos Corp. was everything a draconequus was NOT supposed to be. I tried to tell my little brother this truth, but Chaos Corp. had eaten him alive. He had grown to believe that everything they said was true. He wouldn’t listen to me.”
“And so you killed him,” Chrome snarled.
“And so I tried to escape The City,” I corrected. “I’m trying to find Discord so I can bring Him back to the homelands. Then he can stop Chaos Corp. and everything will go back to the proper order... Or rather, lack thereof. Without Him, Chaos Corp. will eventually work the draconequus race to extinction, or worse.
“And, when I was escaping, they sent my brother after me to try and stop me,” I told them. “They told him to kill me. And he tried. It came to a standoff where it was either him or me, so I chose to give the draconequus people the only fighting chance they had and killed him before he could cut off my search forever.
“I think I did the right thing,” I finished. “And it will haunt me for the rest of my life.”
Footnote: Level Up
New Perk: Resourcefulness—Running out of ammunition doesn’t stop you! Gain +1.21 to Endurance.