"And I heard, as it were, the sound of thunder. The human saying, 'come and see.' And I saw, and beheld four horses. One looked to me, a pale horse, and he said to me 'come closer.' And his name was Death, and all of Tartarus trembled, as I did upon looking on his visage, and I relieved myself on the floor of his office. And Death did look at me, strike me blind, and then call for the janitor."
-The Four Horses of the Apocalypse, from the Brotherhood of Man's holy book Golden Age.
***
Silver angrily kicked down the door to her hotel room.
"How can a god be so dense?!" she screamed.
The mare stormed inside and kicked the door shut again behind her, and continued to grumble.
"Stupid human...with his stupid hands and stupid suit and stupid cyber eye and stupid way of walking with only two of his legs..."
She sighed.
"What else could go wrong?"
"IMMA KILL YA, BITCH ASS HO!"
Thug Lyfe jumped on her from behind. He had been hiding just to the side of the door when she walked in, perfectly hidden from view. In seconds, he was on top of her and he had both his forelegs around her throat. He pulled back and began to choke her.
"NOW YOU GONNA DIE!"
"Thug Lyfe!" Silver coughed, "I'm not...in the mood...for your bullshit...right now..."
She gasped for breath.
"Get OFF!"
Silver backed up as fast as she could and hit the wall hard. She jumped onto her hind legs and threw herself against the wall. With Thug Lyfe and herself between it, it didn't hurt at all. The zebra's spine absorbed the impact.
"AGH! Fuckin' bitch!"
She slammed him back into the wall again.
"GET. OFF. ME. NOW," she screamed, punctuating each word with another impact.
Thug Lyfe fell off and groaned in pain as he hit the ground. Silver turned to face her attacker head on. He grinned as he climbed back to his hooves again, one of which he then scraped against the carpet. He charged at her again.
THWACK!
Before he could hit Silver, she was in the air, and had kicked him in the nose with a back leg.
She flew up above him, dropped down, and hit him in the back with all four hooves. Her target crumpled to the floor again. Before he could recover this time though, Silver landed behind him, facing away, and bucked him across the room.
CRASH!
The flying zebra hit the king sized bed and bounced off it, launching him into a large wooden wardrobe and bringing it down on top of him. It shattered on his skull, and the ruined wardrobe laid in pieces around Thug Lyfe.
"Oooh...I'm not...feeling so good..." he groaned as he dragged himself out of the wreckage.
Before he even knew what had hit him, Silver was back next to him again and hauling him up.
"You keep trying to kill me. Stop it."
Thug Lyfe growled at her.
"You tried to kill me first, bitch! You's a BUSTA, Silver! Straight busta!"
"I know. I tried to kill you out of jealousy. Then I thought I did. Then I felt terrible about it. And then you came back. And now I want to kill you for your repugnant personality and constant attempts to get back at me. Now drop it, otherwise I will do things to your genitals with a cheese grater."
He didn't say anything. He just continued to glare.
"Get in the bed," Silver ordered.
That got his attention.
"What?"
"You heard me. I'm very frustrated right now, you owe me for the multiple attempts on my life, and we've got a soundproof room."
The zebra paled.
"Umm..."
"I SAID MOVE IT, MAGGOT! THAT'S AN ORDER FROM YOUR NEW SUPERIOR OFFICER!"
Thug Lyfe frantically saluted.
"Yes, bitch- I mean ma'am!"
***
Sliske and Chain Mail looked into the warm fireplace. They were in the lower levels of the guard barracks. A few other ponies they knew were already asleep or falling asleep in beds all around the place. The royal guards all were accommodated elsewhere though. It was just the princesses and their friends in the barracks, and they were spread between two floors, so most of the beds remained empty
The two of them were on an old, but comfortable rug. It was an animal skin, but Chain Mail either didn't care right now or wasn't aware of it. He sat there silently, the metal of his armour finally warming again after their time out in the snow. Sliske laid on her belly just by his side, staring into the flames with a distant look on her face.
"Tell me about it then," said the captain.
Sliske gave him a sad look.
"...I was a year old at most," she began, "I was a pet...a zoo exhibit of sorts. I was one of many rare species in the personal menagerie of General Sliske the Destroyer. He was a conqueror, and a tyrant. He ruled the great Zarlan Empire, which stretched from where the sun rose to where it set. From what I understand, I was bred in captivity, and so I never had a host, unlike my parents."
"...Go on."
"One day, the general made a mistake. He thought I was tame. That I could be trusted. He got too careless, leaned in too close, and I crawled down his throat and stole his mind. And then...Suddenly, for the first time ever...a sakrassi became sentient."
Sliske closed her eyes and breathed deeply.
"Did Softy or Explodey tell you? About how all sakrassi were connected through species-wide telepathy?"
"...Yes."
"Well, then you'll know that the Overmind of the sakrassi has access to the collective memories of every one of us out there."
"Oh..."
"The moment I took the general's mind, and I mentally became him, the Overmind gained that same intelligence, that same sentience. And then, seconds later, so did every single one of my brothers and sisters, across all of Zarlow."
Sliske became quiet again. Chain Mail put a hoof on her shoulder.
"And then what happened?"
"Well...a few million previously unintelligent parasitic life forms all suddenly gained pony level intelligence, realised how horrible their lives were, and suddenly gained the insight and experience needed to catch zarlan hosts of their own and use their own weapons and tactics against them. What do you think?"
"...War?"
"War. The bloodiest, most brutal, gruelling war in all the memories of every host I ever took. Zarlans were primitive. They were an early civilization, still blooming. The most advanced mechanism they ever managed to invent before they were wiped out was a giant catapult for launching rocks at large fortresses. And they were up against an army of body snatchers who took their own.
"There were telltale signs of possession of course, but they were too subtle. Sakrassi infiltrated everywhere and struck the zarlans where they were vulnerable. And when it came to open warfare, there were so many of them. And every host they took, all their memories, and experience, went straight to the Overmind. And the Overmind redistributed the memories, so that every single one of its soldiers had the fighting experience of a hundred thousand zarlan warriors."
"...And what did you do?"
Sliske looked sideways at Chain Mail.
"I fought the onslaught to my last breath," she answered.
"...You didn't fight with your people?"
"They weren't my people. I was a zarlan. Sakrassi mentally become their first hosts for a time, and I had mentally become the leader of this empire that the sakrassi wanted to bring down and take for themselves. I wasn't going to let a bunch of parasites take that from me, even if I was one of them. I personally marched out into the battlefield and led my forces against theirs. And we slaughtered them by the thousands."
Sliske smiled, and stared into the flame with a disturbing glee.
"They were animals...and like animals, I hunted them down and tore them apart...And I made them suffer."
"Sliske."
The alien looked over to him suddenly.
"I-" she stammered, "I- I'm sorry...Chains, I didn't mean..."
She groaned as she buried her face in the rug.
"This is what I mean...That part of me..."
***
"ALERT. ALERT. SUBJECT UNSTABLE."
"Oh shit..." one of the scientists cursed, "WE'VE GOT A PROBLEM IN HERE!"
"ALERT. ALERT," the alarm blared.
"What the hell is going on in here?"
The senior unicorn marched into the room with a purpose. All the junior staff of the Mages' Guild rushed about the lab in a panic. In addition to the annoying voice, a klaxon was going off in the background, and the lights were all flashing red. On a large monitor at the front of the room, a warning came up.
PROJECT ATOM ONLINE.
"What's Project Atom?!" the head scientist demanded.
"We've got not idea! You're the boss, we thought you would know!"
The older unicorn sighed, and magically pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his brow.
"I've never seen this before...Atom...Atom...I've never even..."
BOOM!
"What was that?!"
"Sounded like an explosion on the lower floors, sir!"
"SHIT! This is serious, whatever it is. This tower is still under construction! We can't afford any structural damage below us, or these labs and several other floors could topple right off the building!"
"What do we do?!"
"CALL SECURITY! Override Lord Second's order! I want the Knights of Man here right away! In fact, I want Commander Steroid Abuser himself to help us out with this! We do NOT have the resources to deal with a rogue experiment smashing things up around here!"
"Sir?!"
"JUST DO IT!"
The junior scientist nodded and ran off out the room, leaving the others to continue frantically checking the lab equipment, while the boss was sweating buckets.
"I'm too old for this..." he gasped, "What is Atom?! What is it?!"
He reached into the top pocket of his lab coat with magic and pulled out a small black device. With a few button presses, he opened channel with the office of his superiors.
"Hello? This is the Four Horses' office."
"I need the bosses to get down to Blackspire Research Tower immediately. We've got problems in here, pertaining to a 'Project Atom'. I have no idea what this is, but they will, and we need their help."
***
Second stood in the hall of mirrors. Before him was his own. Facing him, just like the last time he saw this place in a dream, was a great fiery demon. The same one as before, only this time he recognised it better. He realised that it was not the same one that he had killed inside Sun Rise's mind. This demon was...greater, somehow.
"So what's the deal with this then?" he asked, "In the real world, these mirrors showed what people feared most. What do they show in the dream?"
"WHAT THOSE SAME PEOPLE THINK OF YOU."
"Namely that they all want to attack me on sight?"
"INDEED."
"And you? You were inside my mirror, why?"
"BECAUSE YOU PUT ME HERE."
Second tilted his head.
"And why would I do that?"
"YOU HAVE A DARK SOUL, LORD SECOND, AND YOU NEEDED TO BE SHOWN THAT."
"Like I didn't know that already..."
He paused.
"Who are you, anyway?"
"QRAMSTARFLOKRINHIR, YOUR LOYAL SERVANT."
"My servant?"
"ETERNALLY."
"If you demons are my servants, then what were you doing screwing with Sun Rise's mind? Why did that other one I killed attack me? And what have you been doing since then?"
"CHERNOBOG ATTACKED YOU BECAUSE YOU TOLD HIM TO, BOTH IN THIS DREAM AND IN SUN RISE'S MIND."
"Chernobog?"
"YOU WILL ALSO KNOW HIM AS 'THE MAN IN BLACK'."
Second was quiet.
"So apparently, I asked you people to give me a nightmare of this mirror place that I would later find beneath Canterlot, I asked you to take the form of a man in black to taunt and toy with me, I asked you to appear to me in my mirror, I asked you to burn me alive with rainbow fire, I asked you to possess Sun Rise, and I asked you to attack me and battle to the death when I went in there to kick the demon out?"
"YES, THAT IS ACCURATE."
"And precisely WHEN did I ask any of this of you?"
"ON THE DAY YOU BROKE FROM YOUR STONE PRISON, MY LORD."
Second nodded, and said nothing more.
"So you'd take my orders if I gave them to you now?"
"YES."
"I want to know where I can find a complete history of the demons and all that they've done. If you're going to be sticking around, I want to know what it is I'm dealing with."
"I HEAR THAT PONYVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY HAS THE TOMES YOU NEED."
"Bring them to me."
"BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY?"
"Key word is 'necessary'. I'd rather avoid a needless slaughter."
"WHY? DO YOU NOT INTEND A MASS SLAUGHTER YOURSELF? FOR WHAT REASON WOULD YOU HAVE US SPARE PONYVILLE?"
"The same reason I don't simply tell Equestria's people that they aren't real and let them rip themselves apart in an existential crisis. I don't want to actively destroy ponies. If I wanted Equestria gone, I'd have already wiped it off the map. Immediately after my son was killed, I wanted nothing more than to destroy everything, but I have self control. I became calm, and argued myself down to what you see before you now: pure, unrelenting apathy."
"IF YOU TRULY DO NOT CARE, THEN LET US BURN THAT VILLAGE TO THE GROUND AND RETURN WITH THE BOOKS YOU DESIRE."
"There will be no burning. Do exactly as I asked, and don't try to screw with me. I am an elder god, and you are as pitiful to me as that crippled pegasus I murdered earlier today."
Qramstarflokrinhir smiled at his master.
"IT WILL BE DONE."
Then Second awoke.
"...Oh no..."
He immediately jumped out of bed and ran over to the wardrobe.
***
Thug Lyfe's head poked out from underneath the quilt and rested on the pillow. He was sweating all over and trying to catch his breath. Silver just looked down at him disdainfully.
"So?" he asked, "How'd I do?"
"You're a virgin, aren't you?" Silver said flatly.
"...I was..."
"It showed. I give that a minus two out of ten; worst lay ever."
The zebra immediately burst into tears and buried his face in the pillow.
"I want you to apologise to me for that, and go sleep on the couch."
"Yes ma'am, sorry ma'am..." Thug Lyfe replied as he crawled out the bed and trudged over to the other side of the room.
Well, that's one way to deal with a guy trying to kill you all the time; destroy his confidence. Surprised I didn't think of it sooner.
Then the door burst open and Second ran into the room in a dressing gown and brandishing a revolver.
"GUYS! PROBLEM! SERIOUS FUCKING PROBLEM! SILVER, GET YOUR GUNS, GET YOUR ARMOUR, AND FOLLOW ME!"
He looked around the room frantically, and then noticed Thug Lyfe sobbing on the couch. He then looked over to Silver.
"...Yeah, sorry for interrupting by the way. Still important though! Come on!"
Second ran out the room again, leaving Silver staring at the door.
Mental note: Having sex with Thug Lyfe did nothing to correct sir's mistaken impression that I was having sex with Thug Lyfe.
She glanced to her side at the bawling zebra.
Damn, I never realised I was so cruel.
***
"Sliske?" Chain Mail said softly, "Tell me. What happened next?"
The alien continued to lay flat on the carpet, staring into the fire.
"They came."
"The sakrassi?"
"No. The Alliance. The Galactic Alliance."
"Who are the Galactic Alliance?"
Sliske sat up.
"The Galactic Alliance is basically what it sounds like. It's a space nation, a grand republic encompassing multiple alien planets, its citizens and government a diverse population of races, both biological and otherwise, and stretching all across our galaxy."
Chain Mail nodded to show he understood.
"It's not the only one of its kind of course. There are other civilizations between Equestria and the Alliance. The Delkrampic Empire for one. What matters though, is that back in those days, the Alliance made a habit of sending down scouts and missionaries to primitive planets that supported life, like Zarlow, and trying to educate us and make us part of them.
"It was a way of bolstering their numbers and allowing them more resources and power. Back then, it was seen as a very admirable tactic. In later years though, the Alliance would come to see this as unethical, and leave blooming civilizations to advance on their own, without interference. They would not approach them with an offer to join until a planet's natives had already proven themselves able to develop space travel on their own, and at minimum already reached their own moon, if they had one."
"Sounds sensible."
"Well, I lived on Zarlow before this policy was in place, so in the middle of the sakrassi and zarlan civil war, we were visited by a scout by the name of Quokromfar. He was a member of a vaguely avian looking race known as the giapelsh. They had an Alliance ship in orbit, a mighty vessel whose name roughly translates to 'War-Ender', because its weapons could destroy whole planets in a single blast."
"Oh no..." Chain Mail sighed, "I think I know where this is going..."
"Well, of course, Quokromfar and his people were aware of the war going on down on the surface, and so negotiators were sent to leaders of both sides. Both scouts took precautions to help protect them from sakrassi possession, and went to meet their assigned leader with the hope of either bringing about peace or deciding which side to take in our war. The other went to see the Overmind, and Quokromfar came to see me."
"And what did you do?"
"Zarlans had never met non-terrestrials before, so I and most others were pretty freaked out. But the Alliance was offering to try and end our war, either by taking a side or bringing peace. I said that there was no chance of peace with the sakrassi, so he told me to come with him up to their mothership and make my case for why the Alliance should assist the Zarlan Empire."
"And...?"
Sliske was quiet.
"Sliske, tell me."
She looked sideways at the captain.
"The Overmind came up there too. It had access to my memories after all, and it knew I was up on the ship making arguments why the Alliance should help my side. It wanted the same opportunity, so it was taken up to that same ship to argue too.
"The War-Ender had a conference room with an audio and visual link to the Alliance capital, and we both had to go into the same room, in the middle of this giant arena, and speak side by side, arguing why the other should be destroyed. However, I was a warrior king. The moment the Overmind stepped into the room, I did not bother to speak. I ran right up to the Overmind's host and ripped its heart out."
"Oh, Sliske..."
"Security went crazy. The guards opened fire on the both of us as we began to fight. My host, General Sliske the Destroyer, was dead in seconds. But I had a self preservation instinct. In my panic, I abandoned my host, for the first time ever. Mentally, I was still the general, but now I had a sakrassi body and powers, and I was fighting one on one against the Overmind itself. And all the while, a bunch of alien security guards were trying to shoot us both down, oblivious to the fact that lasers can't kill ghosts."
"So what happened to the Overmind?"
"It was a long battle. Both of us kept failing to destroy each other in sakrassi form, so we kept jumping hosts. Every time I did, my mind was flooded with new memories, telling me all about the Alliance, and the capability of the vessel. Most importantly, it taught me that the giapelsh had taken surface samples of Zarlow's native wildlife, including several klkrmizk."
"Klkrmizk..." the captain repeated, "I've heard that before..."
"I told the others about it already. They're my kind's natural predators."
Chain Mail's eyes widened.
"Oh. Those."
"Yes. And I set them loose."
The captain stared at the dark mare.
"I took a host to protect myself and got a gun. I killed the ones that came after me, and I killed all the other giapelsh I saw, including the Overmind's host. Soon, the Overmind was stuck in its natural form, out in the open, and with no new hosts. I watched it as it was eaten alive. And then I made a run for the bridge..."
***
The other scientists trembled and stepped aside as the Four Horses of the Apocalypse walked into the main lab of Blackspire Research Tower. They were the successors, the new owners of the Mages' Guild following the good doctor's death on board the Prometheus; genetically engineered super unicorns, all with great intellect, and all capable of bringing down a small army by themselves.
War stepped forward first, a red unicorn with a mane and tail of pure fire, and empty white eyes. He closely examined the screen, raising an eyebrow at it.
"'Project Atom'?" he said aloud, in a distorted voice, "We have never heard of this so called Project Atom."
The unicorn who had called him in went pale.
"How can you not know what it is?!" he asked, also addressing the other three, "You're the most senior members of the guild! You MUST know what this is!"
"We do not. Our brother speaks the truth," said the pale horse, known as Death, "Whatever entity is behind this so called Project Atom, it is nothing We were notified of. Perhaps the Lord himself is responsible?"
The tower shook, as there was another explosion downstairs.
"What is that infernal sound?" asked Pestilence.
"It's coming from within a vault downstairs," the scientist answered, "We've been trying to breach it, but we've never seen the vault before either! The entry code isn't on any of our systems, and nopony knows what's in there! We never even noticed it before, because it was hidden behind a bunch of stacked crates!"
Death snorted.
"Then let us go down to the vault and see this Project Atom for ourselves."
***
Celestia stumbled into the darkness and closed the door behind her. She was outside somewhere. The building she had just came from was lifeless inside. Long abandoned. This place was overgrown too. The skies were cloudy and she could barely see her sister's stars or moon through them. No sign of the moon at all, in fact.
The place she was in was strange. The building she had just exited rose high above them, but it was large and cuboid in shape. Half a mile in front of her though was another building, this one a gigantic tower shaped like a needle, with a disc shape at the top spinning slowly. It too was dark, and there were no signs of life from within it.
Between the two buildings, the land was grassy and wild, with rising and falling ditches and hills. Neither were very large. They didn't really make the landscape anything more than a little uneven. Dotted around the landscape were evergreen trees, but they were surprisingly few, and around the place one could see mossy fallen logs, rocks, and there was a stream running through the place.
Most perplexing of all though was that scattered around the place were chunks of rusted metal. They laid in ditches and were scattered around on the grass, and one laid at the base of an evergreen that had snapped at the trunk and fallen over, implying that the metal had fallen from above and crashed into it.
Directly in front of the princess was a vehicle. She recognised it slightly. Second had owned one for a brief time before both he and it were captured during their initial assault on the palace, before he killed her. It had been called both a car and a Ferrari by him, and she wasn't aware what its true name was. This one was ruined though. Rusted brown, the windows smashed, the seats inside torn apart...
What happened here?
Celestia approached the car and ran a hoof over it. She jumped when a cat that was sleeping inside it hissed at her and swiped a claw in her direction. It jumped out and climbed onto the roof, where it continued to munch on a rat that it had been enjoying when the princess interrupted it.
There was a scuttling to the side. The alicorn did not move for fear of giving away that she was aware of her enemy's presence, but her eyes darted in the direction of the noise. She saw the retreating form of something brown and eight-legged.
Legion soldiers?
She shook her head. If there was one, there were more. She could be surrounded for all she knew, and she couldn't see in this darkness. She needed some light. Not necessarily sunlight. Luna would never appreciate her sister forcing the night to an early end just because it was a bit too dark for her, but at the very least she needed the light of the moon. These clouds were making it impossible.
She tried to flap her wings to rise into the air, but found that she couldn't. That was alarming in and of itself, but she found that her magic still worked. For a pegasus, clearing the clouds meant flying up and pushing them all away. For an alicorn, weather was like clay that could be moulded any which way.
With barely any effort, the clouds all shot aside, clearing the sky in seconds. Then the princess gaped as she saw what was in the sky, lighting it up in place of the moon.
A great six pointed star, much like Twilight Sparkle's cutie mark, with the elongated top and bottom. It was brilliant white and very close to the ground, unlike the moon. She could see that it was solid instead of just being made of light or something, and this close she could also tell that it was massive. It sparkled, as if its entire outside were coated in diamonds, and it pulsed with an unnatural glow.
"WHAT ARE YOU?!" she shouted up at it.
The spiders were no longer a concern. Now it was that thing that caught her attention. She couldn't explain it. That thing, whatever it was, it was...wrong.
It did not answer her, but merely persisted in its presence and in making her uncomfortable.
"I oppose you!"
She did not know why she said that. It just felt right. Like anything good in this world would have said the same. Like it needed to be stated that such evil would not get to her, or else it would try to work its corrupting influence.
OH? REALLY NOW?
A tendril shot out of the thing. From the base of the star, a long black rope flew in her direction. The princess jumped aside to avoid it, and it instead hit a piece of scrap metal behind her. Up close, she saw that the rope was gooey and sticky, as if the whole thing were made of some kind of paste. It attached to the metal and tried to pull itself off, but to her amusement it was stuck.
She was glad it didn't get her.
Then it ripped the scrap metal out of the ground, and it turned out to be the very tip of another car just like the one next to her. The thing then began to wind back the tendrils, lifting it into the air and dropping it when it was a short distance away.
Now the star wasn't fooling around anymore. It released a billion tendrils, which fell straight down towards the ground. None of them were aiming for her this time. They just drooped down, directly onto the needle-like tower opposite her.
The tower was engulfed in blackness as the tendrils crawled over it and spread, eventually covering the entire structure. Then they hit the ground, and began to move across the hills and ditches towards her. She tried to fly to get off the ground, but it was still useless. All she could do was climb on top of the car as the whole world around her went black. In the darkness, she could hear spiders screaming.
Soon, the ground and both the buildings were covered in black, and the car she was standing on was a lone oasis in the darkness, and even then the tendrils were slowly crawling up the side. Much more slowly than they took the rest of the place. It was deliberate. Taunting her.
RECONSIDER YOUR POSITION, PRINCESS.
"...Who are you?"
And then she woke up.
***
"Where are we going?!" Silver called out.
"No idea!" Second shouted back over his shoulder, "Just follow me!"
A lightning storm was forming over Secopolis. That wasn't a good sign. Even worse was the fact that these storm clouds were almost the same level that clouds were in the human world, rather than hovering just a little way off the ground like Equestrian clouds were wont to do. It was worrying.
Second stopped mid-flight and looked around him. He was still in his dressing gown, his only addition to his apparel since bursting into the hotel room being a holster for his revolver. Why he had foregone his favourite shotgun in favour of the much smaller weapon wasn't clear, but Silver was sure he had a reason.
"THERE!"
He pointed to a large skyscraper in the downtown area.
"Blackspire Research?" Silver repeated.
"You know it?"
"Surprised you don't. It's one of the Mages' Guild's largest labs, alongside their old headquarters and lab beneath the museum. They take all the dangerous experiments that way."
"Oh fuck..."
"Is something wrong sir?"
Lightning struck above them.
"We need to get over there before everything goes to shit."
***
"The bridge is where it happened," Sliske said quietly, "The controls for their weapons systems were laid out in front of me. Understand, while I had gained new memories from all the giapelsh hosts I had taken, they had not made any real changes to my personality. That takes a large number of hosts. At that point, I was basically still General Sliske, only now I had the body of a sakrassi and knowledge of the War-Ender's capabilities."
She smiled grimly.
"I wanted to wipe out the sakrassi. All of them. At once. And I knew that there was one particular forest from which they originated. The biggest hive of our kind, and where the Overmind made its residence before I killed it."
Chain Mail winced.
"I took control of the weapon systems, aimed the planet-buster down at Zarlow, lined up with the sakrassi's forest, and I opened fire."
The captain dared to speak up.
"And it destroyed more than just the forest...didn't it?"
Sliske nodded.
"A mistake on my part. Still in the mentality of an impulsive warlord who barely understood the concept of such technology. I was a poor combination of a primitive, violent savage and several space faring aliens who had no idea what was happening. My host at the time was another giapelsh, and he was screaming in my head...I couldn't think because he was so terrified that it drowned out everything else..."
"So you destroyed your planet?"
"It burned, you know. It was slow. I stood on the bridge, face pressed against the glass, and stayed there for days waiting for the fire to go out. And it never did. I assume it must have, but I wasn't around to see it end...All I know is, nothing on the surface could have ever survived that."
Sliske looked at the floor again.
"Possibly the lava snakes, but even they'd have eventually starved without their regular prey. Unless they turned to cannibalism I suppose..."
The alien pondered that for a moment.
"Hmm. Actually, that would make what remains of Zarlow even more horrific."
Chain Mail put a foreleg around Sliske and held her close.
"I'm sorry."
"I lost everyone. All I had ever known was that simple life. Suddenly my whole race was dead. Both the races I considered myself a part of were dead. Even my family...and Drelmary..."
"Drelmary?" Chain Mail repeated.
"My wife."
What?!
"Well...General Sliske's wife...but...you know..."
Chain Mail stared at her in disbelief. He had known, of course he had known, that Sliske had some kind of life before becoming the monster of Equestrian legend. She had referenced that past life often enough when talking with the others. But he had never even considered the idea that Sliske might have once had people she considered family.
He tried to say something, but nothing seemed right.
"Do you know what the worst part was though, Chains?"
That wasn't the worst part?
"Our species are telepathically connected. There is always an Overmind. And the Overmind is always the oldest living member of our kind. It gets passed on whenever the previous one dies, along with all their memories. All the memories of a sakrassi, upon death, are absorbed into the collective. Adapt to survive, you see?
"Well...remember that Zarlow burned. Everything died. Every sakrassi died. All of them. And that made me the only one, and thus the oldest..."
"Oh sweet merciful Celestia..."
"I think you can guess what happened," Sliske said simply.
"You became the new Overmind."
"And felt, and lived through the dying moments of every single one of my kind. I saw Zarlow destroyed from all perspectives at once. I quite literally died a billion times over, and experienced an entire race's worth of dying agony all in the same minute."
Once again, tears began to fall from Sliske's eyes.
"The Overmind is telepathically connected to every one of us. And that's how I knew, once it was over, that I was completely alone; there was nothing but silence."
***
Meanwhile, approximately twelve thousand years into the past and on a planet that was then barren, lifeless, undiscovered and unnamed, a number of pony shaped aliens gathered inside a old cave in the side of a cliff. Outside the mouth of the cave were a number of strangely shaped rocks, and every minute, more and more of them would appear, open up, and release another one of these beings, who would then head into the cave.
Inside, they gathered, dressed in robes of red and gold and mumbling amongst themselves. They all gathered in a circle around the edges of the cavern, while a single one of their number stood in the centre, using magic to adjust a microphone.
"Can we all please come to attention?" he asked seriously.
The cave slowly went silent, as the others all listened.
"The destruction of our home was unpreventable disaster," he began, "None of us could have foreseen such a thing. Now the greatest civilization in all the universe has fallen, and it is up to us now to hold the torch and continue on in the name of old Gallifrey. Us, the survivors, who have been scattered across time and space for whatever reason.
"I know that none of you, my fellow lords, represent the council or any other form of time lord government. Not even Rassilon made it out of the inferno. Instead, our people survive only in the form of rogues and rebels, who ran off long ago, and those few of you who happened to be in your TARDISes already when it began. And despite this, I notice there is one particularly famous rogue time lord, whose face I do not see here!"
The crowd began to grumble.
"You know who I'm talking about!" he shouted, "I think that's the number one question right now! With EVERYTHING that's been happening, all the cosmic destruction, the loss of entire systems, including his own home...Where. Is. The Doctor?!"
"NOT COMING!"
The group all froze and looked to the entrance of the cave. Standing there was another time lord. Like the others, he resembled a pony, specifically a unicorn. He was green all over, except for a blue mane and red eyes, and he glared at them all hungrily with a big toothy grin. His cutie mark was of a radiation hazard symbol.
"What the- Who are you?!" the head time lord demanded, "Whoever you are, state your-"
Then he had another moment of shock, as he finally noticed it. The cutie mark. Time lords all had an hourglass. His was different. The visitor wasn't one of them at all! He was of some other species that resembled them! It was a...No!
"Who are you?!" he repeated.
The unicorn continued to grin at them.
"My name is Nuclear Anomaly. I'm here representing my master, and he isn't done with you lot yet."
"Listen you-!"
The time lord leader stuck a hoof out to point at him, but then saw that it was glowing gold. He began to feel ill, and clutched his chest. The others were all doing the same.
"Wha- What have you done to us?!"
"This room was more irradiated than a nuclear blast site from the moment I walked in here. I needed to induce you all into regeneration..."
"No! NO!"
Every time lord in the room suddenly exploded in a flash of gold, the energy crashing about the room violently as they all simultaneously began to regenerate, a trick that their kind possessed that allowed them to heal normally fatal damage and survive, at the cost of a change of body and a slight personality reshuffling.
Except it wasn't enough.
"...Because if I kill you all mid-regeneration, you'll stay dead."
The unicorn's horn lit up. Then he detonated.
***
Second pulled back his fist as he flew at the skyscraper and punched through the wall. He rolled across the floor of the laboratory inside and came to a stop in front of a great vault door. He stood up straight as Silver fluttered in after and settled next to him. Nearby, several of the Knights of Man glanced at them momentarily, before immediately returning to prepping their weapons.
Closest to them were the Four Horses of the Apocalypse, who all gave Lord Second a curious look.
"My Lord," Death said politely, "We weren't expecting you. Tell us, do you know anything about this?"
"No," Second said bluntly, "What is it?"
"The systems indicate that something called Project Atom is waking up in there, but we don't know what it is."
"Aren't you the heads of the guild?" asked Silver.
"Yes," War answered, "But We do not know what it is either. That's why We are worried. We were hoping it had been commissioned by you, Lord."
"Well it's not. Pandora was, but I've never heard of 'Project Atom'."
"...That's what We were afraid of," Famine muttered.
BOOM!
That came from behind the vault door, and what's worse was that it was immediately followed by the sound of something slamming into it on the other side.
"It is a good thing We called in the knights," Pestilence commented, "Though We do apologise, sir, for breaking your curfew."
"You know, I think I'll overlook it," said Second, a hint of worry creeping into his voice, "In fact, where is Commander Steroid Abuser? I'd feel a lot more comfortable if he were here too..."
"PRESENT AND ACCOUNTED FOR, SIR."
The half pony, half giant living mass of muscle tissue walked into the room behind them and stood the other side of Second from Silver. He was still in the custom made knight armour that they had first met him in, though this drew Silver's attention to the fact that she no longer had the power armour that had been keeping her alive so far.
"Well..." Second said nervously, "Looks like the gang's all here..."
"Sir? What's wrong?"
Second looked down at her.
"Do you ever have that feeling like things have been going too well for too long, and you just feel like everything's about to blow up in your face to balance it out?"
"...No sir. Can't say I do."
"...Good. Me neither."
BOOM!
"IN POSITION, KNIGHTS!" the commander bellowed.
A number of knights gathered in formation around the group and all pointed their guns at the vault door, which Second now noticed was sporting large dents in places.
CLANG!
Another dent appeared. The knights who were also unicorns took comfort in also magically drawing their daggers, so that they were armed for close quarters combat too. The others made do with just their rifles.
BOOM! CLANG!
Yet more dents. One nervous knight very quickly unloaded his gun and switched to the armour piercing rounds, just to be safe.
"...Fuck," Second said to himself.
One final time...
BOOM!
This time the vault door flew off. It shot straight towards them. Second would have dodged under normal circumstances, but Steroid Abuser punched it with a single forehoof as it came near them and knocked it back. It flew over the other knights, who all shielded their eyes as a blinding white light poured out from the other side of the now doorless vault entrance. Standing in their way, there was a silhouette of what looked like a human male.
With horns.
Second could barely contain his irritation as a vaguely demonic looking man stepped into the light and grinned at them. He knew him well, from his hallucinations.
"Anger."
"LORD SECOND YOU SHIT GARGLING, COCK GOBBLING, SON OF A PIG MOLESTER! I AM HERE TO PUT SECOPOLIS UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT! HAIL THE PANTHEON, NOW AND FOREVER!"
Second blinked, and looked back at the Four Horses.
"Is this guy serious?! This guy's serious isn't he?!"
***
Sliske had being crying on and off. Whenever she wasn't, she just stared into the fire with that haunted look.
"It's never stopped, you know..." she continued, "From Zarlow, it was the same thing over and over and over...I'd go to a new planet, try to make my new home there, and everything would crumble into ruin. The giapelsh home world was the first place I visited. Giapelsh were the only hosts I'd ever known not native to Zarlow. Even though I didn't feel like one of them, the giapelsh were the only people left alive for me to feel a connection to. And I had murdered an entire warship full of them.
"I went to their home world of Giagracious in hopes of finding a new home. It never happened though. The Galactic Alliance soon found out about what happened to my planet. They knew that the War-Ender was in the hands of an enemy. They sent an entire fleet to take me down. The War-Ender was destroyed without much of a fight. I could hardly pilot a behemoth like that by myself...
"Of course, that just gave me opportunity to escape. I survived in my natural form. I floated through the emptiness of space, moving as quickly as I could, just barely surviving off the sunlight of whichever system was closest. I spent years just travelling through the emptiness, until I got lucky and phased into another Alliance ship scouting the sector.
"I took other hosts, went to other worlds. They learned what I was though. The Alliance quickly found ways of identifying me, and worked on ways to kill me too. They never could though. After all, you can't kill a ghost, right? Oh, but they tried. I spent so many thousands of years jumping from one side of the galaxy to the other, hunted by some of the greatest assassins and mercenaries of all time."
Sliske smiled again, almost like an old mare recalling her youth.
"Those that tried to kill me, they are what shaped me. I learned so much from my interactions with all these different alien beings. I possessed doctors, and scientists. Philosophers. Business tycoons. War heroes. Ruthless criminals. Greedy merchants. Charismatic politicians. And of course, my assassins. I built up a very unique skill set over time.
"And the more I did, the more effective I became at outrunning and outfighting my pursuers. And they were adamant that they catch me. After they'd lost so much already, they weren't willing to give up the fight. I almost drove a hundred planets to economic ruin thanks to the amount they spent on going after me."
Chain Mail looked surprised.
"Just how badly did they want you?"
"For every species living on Zarlow, both sentient and otherwise, one count of genocide was added to my record. And they created a new crime with which to charge me for the destruction. Planetary demolition. To date, I am the only one I know of to have committed it outside of a full scale galactic war, and certainly the only one to have ever done it to a planet in Alliance territory.
"You're looking at this galaxy's most wanted terrorist for nearing six thousand four hundred and thirty years running."
***
Out in Ponyville meanwhile, the sound of moaning and the rattling of metal fences filled the air. On the outskirts of town, a great chain link fence protected the residents from being eaten by the hordes of the undead, who were waiting just outside and trying to force their way in. Were they still intelligent enough to use their wings or magic, they would have already been overrun. As it stood, the only thing protecting them was a thin piece of metal.
On patrol that night, a pair of officers from the Ponyville Police shone their flashlights at the fence and the zombie ponies gnawing on it. They had to keep watch on the place. Just the other day, a young foal had gone up to the fence and gotten bitten. They'd been forced to throw him over the other side to save him infecting the rest of the town. It was a hard job, but somepony had to do it.
And tonight, that somepony was Jimmy, a former portal station security guard from Rainbow's Rest, who didn't believe in zebras and thought they were just ponies who'd been soaked in industrial chemicals.
"...Jeez, these guys are ugly..." he whispered to the other officer.
"Yeah..." his co-worker agreed, "Reminds me of my son's comic books..."
"...Hey, is that a griffin?"
The other officer pointed his flashlight through the fence at the place Jimmy was pointing to. It was indeed a zombie griffin.
"...Gretta," the officer replied, "I knew her. She worked up in the Apple factory. She was probably working there when it was overrun...Celestia have mercy...I saw her just four days ago...I held a door open for her as she left Sugarcube Corner..."
The officer became quiet and bowed his head. Jimmy turned to him and patted his back lightly.
"I'm sorry."
"Yeah..."
"Just...Take some comfort in the fact it can't get any worse..."
Jimmy then noticed that there was a slight orange glow coming from their side. He and the other officer looked back to the fence simultaneously. Standing on the other side of it, completely silent and yet glowing like a bonfire, was a gigantic demon straight out of the old legends, easily three storeys tall, and backed up by lots of smaller ones, which nonetheless still all dwarfed the two patrol ponies. The zombies seemed to be ignoring them.
"...Well...On the bright side..." Jimmy began, "...Nope. Sorry. I got nothing. We're all going to die."
The demon stepped forward and trod on the metal fence. He ignored the both of them completely, as did all the other demons. They just marched dutifully past the two ponies heading into the centre of town. Unfortunately, the zombies did not offer that same courtesy, and rushed down the street towards them.
"Should we kill each other?" the other officer suggested.
Jimmy picked up his dagger.
"Make sure to stab me in the head."
***
"SO WHAT SHALL IT BE, SECOND?!" Anger shouted, "WILL YOU SURRENDER TO THE WILLS OF THE PANTHEON NOW, OR SUFFER MORE?"
Second cracked his knuckles.
"You know, it's a real shame Sexuality's dead now. I'm sure he would have loved to have been here for this, because I am about to fuck you in the eye socket, long and hard."
"YOU STAND NO CHANCE AGAINST ME. I AM THE LIVING PERSONIFICATION OF YOUR ANGER, AND ANY RAGE YOU FEEL ONLY MAKES ME STRONGER!"
"Thank you for sharing. Now go stick a gun in your mouth and contemplate why I would ever care."
He rushed forward and punched at Anger, but the demonic entity caught his fist mid-punch. Second struggled against it, but Anger began to squeeze. There was a loud, bony crunch. The human's eyes slowly widened, and then began to water. He tried to pull Anger's hand off with his other hand, but couldn't move it. Eventually, Second was on his knees screaming.
'This is new,' he thought to himself, 'I may actually lose this one...'
The Secopolitans meanwhile looked on with disbelief and shock. The one absolute that united them all, the one thing that they all believed in, was the infallibility of their lord and god, who was now being crippled by this demon creature.
"Don't just stand there, you fucking slack jawed idiots!" Second shouted, breaking them out of their stupor, "Help me!"
The Four Horses looked to each other for a split second, to confirm that they were all thinking the same thing. They all nodded in unison. Four horns glowed together, and they all vanished.
Commander Steroid Abuser meanwhile scraped a hoof against the floor and charged across the room at Anger. The rage fuelled entity tossed their god aside casually and raised his fists to fight the muscle-bound pony. He threw a punch at him as he came near, but Steroid Abuser dodged to the side and out of his way in a display of agility that would have normally been impossible for a pony of his build.
The other knights were all terrified, and with their god before and their commander now blocking them, they didn't dare fire their guns, instead all retreating to the furthest corners of the room and trying to flee.
Silver Vein was the one exception, and she rushed forward into the fray to assist her fellow commander.
"We have returned!"
The Four Horses of the Apocalypse teleported back into the room, this time all wearing the bastard children of Mages' Guild power armour and the Knights of Man's standard outfit. Each had also chosen their own weapons. War, Famine, Pestilence and Death had chosen a flail, a whip, twin daggers and a giant scythe respectively, and they surrounded Anger at all sides.
Silver and Steroid Abuser backed away to give the Four Horses their shot, and Anger looked to each one of them, silently daring them to attack.
"You're one fucking stubborn son of a bitch."
Second was back on his feet too, and wrapping some boxing tape around his hands. He finished up and threw the reel away just as he walked into the fight.
"So you think you're so tough?! Come on! Fight like a man!"
***
"So how did you come to Equestria?" Chain Mail asked.
"...Spaceship," Sliske answered.
She looked down at the floor thoughtfully.
"It was an engineering and rescue vessel, not designed for warfare. It came to assist in the repairs of a civilian cruise shuttle. Unfortunately for them, one of the civilians on board was me and my then current host. I had gotten discovered and was forced to fight against the security guards of the cruise shuttle. It of course ended in a slaughter, but enough of the crew survived to call for aid. When the engineer and rescue ship arrived, I stole it, and flew for the nearest planet."
"Which was the Equestria of two thousand years ago?"
"Longer than two thousand years. I don't remember it too well, but it was definitely pre-Nightmare Moon."
"So you left your spaceship, and-"
"I never left the spaceship. I crashed it, and my host was rescued from the wreckage."
"...The ponies saved you?"
"Oh yes. And that's how the killing started."
The captain furrowed his brow.
"I don't understand."
"My host was an alien being from another world. Diseases and viruses that were to his species as the common cold is to ponies were lethal. The pony village that rescued me was dead within two days."
"Oh Celestia..."
"I know. I abandoned my host as soon as I learned that. I was incorporeal. No body to carry disease, and that made me safe. It didn't save those already infected though, and the corpses of the dead still carried it. My host, once I had left him...He took responsibility. He knew he was toxic to the natives, so he got a biohazard suit for himself and went out to put a perimeter around the area. Sealed the whole place off and tried to disinfect it. He wiped out the diseases and stopped them spreading, then retreated back into his ship and killed himself."
"...Sounds like he was a hero."
"He was. I barely even remember his name, but he saved your whole planet that day. And while he was doing all that, I had already taken a roaming pegasus for my newest host and was heading for the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, with intentions of taking Celestia's body and enjoying an eternal daytime to feed from."
"...Damn it, Sliske..."
"I'm sorry."
She had stopped crying altogether. Now she just sounded...empty.
"I tried to take her. I failed. I took other hosts. I gradually learned more and more about pony customs and culture. My ship was wrecked, and that meant I wasn't going anywhere, so I set myself to work trying to conquer Equestria.
"Well, the sisters got help; they developed an exorcism spell to force me out of bodies, and eventually they got the Elements of Harmony and forced me into temporary state of corporeal helplessness. I took a liquid form, and the sisters stuck me inside a giant hollow rock, froze me, and launched me back into space. And I spent the following thousand years floating around the solar system, stuck inside."
Chain Mail couldn't believe it.
"Tha- That's horrible!"
"It was what they did. Discord was trapped in stone...even Celestia's own sister was trapped in the moon. Evil was punished, particularly evil that was too powerful to be destroyed. That was my fate too. I was frozen liquid in a meteor that floated freely in space. If enough heat was generated that it melted, I could have been free again, but there's not much of that in space. Until, that is, it fell back down into Equestria's atmosphere one thousand years later. And then, I was discovered by one Twilight Sparkle..."
***
He was having that dream. Again.
Spike opened the door to the Ponyville library, rubbing his eyes from how tired he was. This was way too late to be getting him up, but Twilight had asked him to see who it was. Outside though, he couldn't see anything. It was just darkness. Vaguely purple darkness, but darkness all the same. He only had a single candle to light the way, so he wasn't surprised he was half blind.
"Hello?" he called out.
The purple mass backed away. Spike found that despite the darkness, he actually could see just fine. It was just that something had been blocking the door. He looked up at that something, and found a slightly lizard-like face, except sporting an awesome orange moustache.
"Why hello, little darling!" he said flamboyantly, "I don't suppose you're Spike, are you?"
"Uh...Yeah. That's me," Spike answered nervously.
"I'm so glad I found you! I'm the closest dragon to Ponyville, so the elders asked me to come find you, and inform you of the situation. Is your mother home?"
Spike raised an eyebrow.
"...I don't know about my mother, but Twilight pretty much takes care of me. I could get her, if you want?"
Yeah, he was twenty something by now, and Spike did get frustrated when ponies treated him as a child. But when addressing other dragons, (even if they were very unlike most dragons he had met), there was no point in pretending he wasn't still very young by his species' standards.
"That would be splendid! She's the purple unicorn, right?"
"Yeah. How do you know Twilight?"
"Oh, she's an old acquaintance. Friend of a friend. I helped her save the world once."
"Uh...huh...What is it you want to talk to her about anyway?"
"Oh, just little things, darling. Tell her it's about the upcoming apocalypse."
"...The what?"
"Oh, now I've said too much..."
Spike glared at the strange serpentine dragon.
"Tell me everything, right now."
***
Up against seven opponents just by himself, Anger did not hesitate to restart the fight.
Second rushed at him first, but he dodged to the side and kicked him in the ribs. While he was recovering, War ran his way and swung the flail. The spiked head flew just over him as he leaned back to escape its hit. Pestilence came at him from the other direction with the daggers flying, but he dropped to the ground and rolled out of the way.
When opportunity presented itself, Anger snatched a dagger out of the air and turned on Pestilence. He slashed at him three times and cut up his chest, and kicked the Horse of the Apocalypse out of his way. He turned on War again, dodging to the side as the flail kept coming and then picking him up and throwing him across the room.
Second flew in out of nowhere, but he nimbly avoided him, and also Steroid Abuser coming at him from behind, whom he kicked in the back of the leg and knocked on the floor.
Silver flew in from above and hit the ground in front of Anger, having been aiming for the hallucination's head. She jumped onto her back legs and tried to strike him again, but he punched her in the stomach and knocked her back. Death was behind her, and he had to jump over the pegasus's fallen body to get in range of Anger and slash at him with the giant scythe.
Anger still had the dagger, and launched it into Death's eye. While he cried out in pain, he grabbed the scythe by the bladed end and smacked him in the head with the handle, causing him to fall unconscious. War came at him from the side, but he picked up Death and threw him at War, knocking both ponies out of the fight.
Commander Steroid Abuser rushed in, and threw a series of punches in Anger's direction. Anger countered each one, blocking the flurry of hooves with his forearms and waiting for an opening. When one came, he made a sweeping kick with his leg that floored the commander.
Famine was suddenly upon him, as a whip struck the ground where he had been standing. He lashed at Anger a second time, but this time the demonic looking being grabbed the end of the whip just before it struck and yanked on it, pulling it out of the magical field. Famine grabbed it in his teeth to prevent it from being stolen like how his brothers' weapons were, but he himself was then forced across the room and right into Anger's outstretched fist.
He didn't let go of the whip though, giving his opponent opportunity to throw the whip and its owner over his head and launch them into Lord Second.
"AGH! Fuck you, ugly piece of shit!" the human cried out as he moved to attack again.
Once again, sidestep, and kick in the back. Second hit the wall behind them and went down.
War and Pestilence charged in alongside Silver and the commander again. The latter Horse of the Apocalypse had recovered from his knife wounds and was once again making use of the dagger that had not been embedded in Death's eye. He kept his distance and made his dagger do all the fighting. War however was now carrying the flail in his mouth, apparently thanks to an injured horn.
Silver was flying above them, and she tried to kick the humanoid in his forehead. Instead, Anger grabbed her by the hoof and pulled her down. She was about to scream in surprise, but he was too fast for even that, as he swung her around and used her body to block War's flail.
"AGHHHH!"
Her faced was bloodied as the head of the flail struck her right in the eye, but Anger didn't let up, and immediately turned to block an incoming strike from Steroid Abuser.
Fortunately, he saw it coming, and stopped his attack just short of hurting the pegasus again. Unfortunately, this was the perfect time for Anger to hit him again. And he did. Hard.
Steroid Abuser staggered back, and a dagger in a magic field flew past Anger's shoulder, just barely missing him. It turned around and flew at him again. It was sweeping side to side and trying to stab the devil horned creature, but always stopping before it could get a hit in, as he kept holding Silver up as a pony shield.
Pestilence and War were behind Anger now. The former kicked him in the back of the knees, landing the first blow against him for the entire fight so far. War's magic was working again, and he manipulated his flail to come in from one side while he kicked from the other.
Second came in again. He raised a hand, and so did Anger, expecting an attack of some kind. Instead, he found Silver ripped out of his arms by the human's telekinetic grip, and now down a shield, War's flail head smashed against his shoulder and made him cry out in pain.
"Get out, Silver!" Second ordered.
"I'm not done with this guy!" she hissed in response.
Her boss gave her a stern look, and Silver growled in response. Reluctantly, she ran back out the room again, leaving a trail of blood behind her as it leaked from her face. Second watched as she left, and thanks to this distraction did not see War's body thrown over towards him. Both human and pony hit the nearby wall. Second got up again, but War was unconscious.
Second rose again and returned to the fight, which was down to just Steroid Abuser and Pestilence now. Famine was still conscious, but he was still mewling pitifully on the floor, though that stopped when Anger landed next to him, after back flipping out of the way of a flying dagger, and stomped on his head.
"COME ON, LORD SECOND!" Anger shouted over the chaos, "THIS IS PATHETIC!"
"Out the way!" Second ordered.
Steroid Abuser and Pestilence leapt aside to get themselves clear, as Second charged up an energy attack like he had used against Luna and his brother. He threw an open palm forward and released a giant ball of energy, bigger than Anger himself.
However, his hallucination proved capable of weathering even that. He kicked - actually physically kicked - the energy ball back at him. Second was hit by his own energy attack and thrown through the wall of the room this time, ending up in the lab on the other side of it.
***
"...And that's how they stopped me. One final blast of the Elements of Harmony, and once again I was beaten."
"...Wow," Chain Mail said quietly.
"This time they decided the meteor strategy was too unreliable. So they just stuck me in a vault in the archives and magically treated it so I couldn't escape. I'd later find out that the spaceship I originally came to Equestria in, or what was left anyway, was actually stored in another vault in those same archives. Vault 9F.
"It was kept along with all her other rare treasures, like a primitive mechanical walking tank, captured in a war, a few special magical artefacts, a secret recipe for some griffin delicacy and of course, Luna's foalhood drawings."
Chain Mail seemed confused.
"Why would they be kept in the royal archives?"
Sliske slowly turned her head to look Chain Mail in the eyes.
"So that those abominations never saw the light of day."
"...You saw them?"
"Celestia showed me them one year. I will never ever forget them. Or talk about them. So don't ask."
"Why would Celestia show you them?"
"The princess would come to visit me once a year. She was nice like that. She'd tell me all about recent events, and provide some artificial sunlight to keep me alive. It was from her I heard about the humans the first time they showed up. When I broke out of the vault, just before I met Broad Sword, the very first thing I wanted to do was track down Second and take him as a host. He sounded more powerful than anything I'd ever heard of. Then of course, I met him, and he talked me out of it...
"I think I'm glad really, that I never did possess Second. If a demon fucked me up this bad...just think about what a human could have done to my mental state..."
She shivered.
"...And that's it. That's the story of my life."
Sliske blinked, and looked to Chain Mail again.
"I've never told anypony that before. My story, I mean. Not even short bits of it. I've told them what I am, and where I came from, how my biology works and why I do...what I do...but you're the first pony I've ever told about...what I did..."
She embraced him again.
"I'm sorry," she said, "I've told you all this, and...I just...I needed to tell somepony...My mind is in chaos, and I just keep feeling all these emotions...And I've burdened you and the others with being in this state all night and crying all over you..."
She let go and rolled onto her back, laying in front of the fire again.
"Did you know on Zarlow, crying was considered the greatest dishonour? Children still did it, but it was stamped out...discouraged...that was a rule of our society, enforced by my empire...If you cried, it was seen as shameful, and disgusting. Zarlans over five who still cried were killed for it, usually by their families because they felt unclean having one of their kin partake in such a thing..."
The tears began to flow again.
"And look at me now..."
Sliske covered her face and curled up into a ball.
"And you hate me now too. Now that I've told you all of this. Don't you?" she said with a muffled voice.
Chain Mail paused, as he considered that.
"No."
"No?" Sliske repeated looking up warily at him, "But...you thought I was a monster when it was only a few thousand...It was trillions, Chains!"
"I know. But...look at you. It's tearing you up. You're feeling guilt, and regret, and remorse. A monster wouldn't feel those things. Above all, you think that the demon's influence is turning you evil and you're trying to fight it. And that means to me that you must have some good."
Sliske smiled faintly.
"...Thank you."
She hugged him again.
"...And I'm also sorry for being clingy tonight," she muttered, "I'm not normally a huggy sort of pony, but I think I really needed some affection tonight...And I'm surprised it was you to show it."
Chain Mail returned her smile as she let go.
"Hey, what are friends for?"
Sliske returned to staring into the fire.
"Yes...We're friends now," she said, more to herself than anything, "I'm glad."
The alien sat up properly and sighed.
"It's late. We've been up too long," she observed, "I'm going to bed. Are you coming?"
"Wait, what?" Chain Mail asked with surprise.
"You need sleep too, right? Last time I checked, those cybernetics didn't force you to stay constantly awake."
"Oh...Right. Sorry. I didn't understand for a minute there. I was thinking of something else."
"Well, whatever. Come on, lets-"
Suddenly, Chain Mail's suit began to make a whirring noise of some kind. There was a clicking noise, and one of the speakers on his neck began to play an audio recording of a mare's voice.
"Erection detected. Mental conditioning no longer in effect. Activating Secopolis Power Armour Theft Revenge Protocol Two-Zero-Seven-Dash-F."
"Ow!" the captain cried out, feeling a pain in his flank, "What was that?!"
There was a second clicking sound, and the female voice returned.
"Herpes injected. Please proceed."
Chain Mail stared at the flank of his armour, and then turned back to Sliske, who was staring at him too.
"...I'm...going to leave..." she said slowly, creeping backwards towards the stairs as she did, "You have a good night, captain..."
And then the cyberpony was left alone in front of the fire with his permanently attached power armour and his herpes, left to contemplate his life, the universe, and the nature of fate and tragedy.
"...I have a sudden, inexplicable urge to kill or grievously wound some humans..."
***
"Ohhhhhhh..." Second groaned as he lied on his back.
"Sir!"
"Hmm?!"
The human sat up to find Silver in the lab with him, suited up minus the helmet in Mages' Guild power armour. It was much like her old set, except this didn't have the yellow colouring of the Butterfly model, and instead was just plain silvery grey, like her actual coat was. Also, this one had a flamethrower on the back.
"Silver, what are you-?!"
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"
Pestilence flew through the hole in the wall and hit a lab table. It was knocked over, and he laid in a heap as a number of chemicals spilled over him.
"MY LORD, A LITTLE HELP HERE?"
Steroid Abuser retreated through the same hole, ending up in the lab with them. Anger followed after, practically foaming at the mouth.
"YES, SECOND. HELP HIM, SO THAT YOU CAN FAIL WITH YOUR WASTES OF AIR THAT YOU CALL SOLDIERS!"
Silver didn't wait a moment longer to jump back into the fight, smashing an armoured hoof into the hallucination's chest and forcing him back, however briefly.
Fuck it.
Second reached out with his telekinesis and homed in on Death's scythe from the next room. The bladed weapon floated through the hole and over towards him as Steroid Abuser jumped on Anger and tried to wrestle him to the ground. The demonic beast didn't go down so easily though, and flipped onto his back to throw him off.
The scythe landed in Second's hand, and he charged Anger with it. To his frustration, Anger dodged again, sliding beneath the attack and uppercutting him in the chin. The scythe went flying again. Silver tried to grab it, but Anger jumped in her way and caught it instead.
Steroid Abuser was up again, and he charged at his enemy. Anger swung around and struck with the scythe. It cut right through his neck. Commander Steroid Abuser's head fell off, and his neck stump sprayed blood over the rest of the lab, and Silver.
The headless body hit the floor. Second stared incredulously at it. Anger turned on Silver next and embedded the scythe in her side, cutting through the power armour like it was butter. She cried out as it hit her, and her eyes went wide.
Anger placed a foot on her shoulder, wrapped both hands around the scythe's handle, and yanked it out again. Silver fell on the floor, and the scythe's blade was now stained red. He pointed it at Second.
"THIS IS THE POWER THAT YOU ARE UP AGAINST, LORD SECOND!" he bellowed, "YOU ARE ONLY AS STRONG AS THE PANTHEON MAKES YOU, AND IF YOU DEFY THEM, THEY CAN TAKE THAT POWER, AND GIVE IT TO THOSE LIKE ME, THOSE LOYAL TO THEM AND THEIR CAUSE! AND THEIR FINAL PUNISHMENT FOR YOUR INSOLENCE STILL AWAITS, IN PROJECT ATOM, BEYOND THE VAULT DOOR!"
He was right. Silver, the commander, the Four Horses of the Apocalypse, and himself. All beaten. Some even dead. And the rest of the Knights of Man had just fled in terror at the sight of him. Was this the Pantheon's true power?
The human's face contorted in rage. Maybe not a good thing considering his enemy, but it was what he felt.
"You motherfucking..."
He held out a hand. Death's scythe was wrenched from Anger's hand and flew into his own. He raised it and prepared to strike at Anger, but his hallucination raised a hand too. He evidently also had telekinesis now, because War's flail from the next room came to join them just in time to block Second's attack.
"YOU CANNOT WIN. THIS IS A HOPELESS FIGHT. IT IS PRE-DETERMINED. THE PANTHEON HAS SENT ME HERE TO BREAK YOU, AND MAKE YOU OBEDIENT. AND THEN YOU WILL CONTINUE AS THE NARRATIVE DEMANDS. YOU WILL DO AS WE SAY. KILL WHO WE TELL YOU TO. CEASE YOUR FRUITLESS PLANS TO FIGHT US. AND WHEN THE FINAL BATTLE COMES, AND EQUESTRIA IS ASHES, YOU HAVE OUR PERMISSION TO DIE."
"Quoting Bane now, are we?" Second muttered, "And you call me pathetic. You can't even come up with your own boasts!"
Anger struck him with the flail, and the human fell on the floor, winded.
"ANY FURTHER SARCASTIC COMMENTS? WE WILL BE GLAD TO HEAR THEM."
Second looked up at him and grit his teeth.
"No. Just my rebuttal."
He climbed up slowly, supporting himself on the scythe.
"You can fuck with the ponies all you want, because that's what you're good at. What we all were! But I'm not a fucking pony! If you fuck with Lord Second, then I will fuck you right back! And believe me, when you fuck with Lord Second, you get fucked so hard that legends are written about it! Ever heard of Revelations? It's all about the Second coming! HA!"
He raised scythe again and pulled back, as if ready to strike. He grinned maniacally.
"So I suggest you bend over and just accept it."
Anger raised the flail again to defend himself from the attack, but then, the human did something he never expected.
He pointed the scythe's blade at himself, and slashed his own throat open.
"AGGHHH!"
Second screamed in pain, but as his throat was cut open, glowing green blood came shooting out, and it splattered all over the personification of his anger, who screamed in agony as his skin was burned off. A nearby wooden desk was also soaked in the fluid, and it began to hiss. The table caught fire. Soon, so did Anger.
"WHAT?! NOOOOOOOO!"
The human smiled wearily as his throat wound closed back up again, and he looked at the burning lab around him.
"Huh. My blood sets things on fire," he said as smoke began to fill the room, "Ironic..."
He stumbled back.
"I'm feeling...a little woozy..."
Howard fell over and landed on his back, drifting off into unconsciousness as the screams of his enemy filled his ears.
To him, it was like the sweetest lullaby.
END.
Author's notes:
Well, I was wrong about it being an interlude, like I'm wrong about everything.
I don't often say this, but I'd like to thank someone for helping me with a chapter; Garion, who I think made this one slightly better thanks to his criticism and advice. Sometimes I need some perspective.
Also, I just want to take a poll. How many of my audience are Fallout junkies like I am? I'm writing Fallout fiction as well right now, and I want to see how many of you would be interested in seeing it. And no, not Fallout Equestria. Regular Fallout. You know. The one with those scruffy looking two legged things?
Next Chapter: FRIENDSHIP TRAINING.