1
The crowd of guards that were closest to Volos were trapped, in order to save themselves they jumped on him, trying to pull him down or get him off balance. Others tried casting spells to keep him immobilized. Volos roared and deployed the claws in his hands. He spun around as much as he could, holding his arms as far out as he could manage. Celestia could hear screams of pain and see red liquid flying into the air. Shining Armour tried to shove his way through the crowd of guards but they were too packed in.
Volos stepped off of the table he had been chained to and stood atop the corpses of the guards he had just killed. The other guardsponies tried to back away from the creature that stood before them. Shining Armour, with Celestia, tried to force their way through the crowd. They managed to get some guards out of the way but they quickly reached a bottle neck, only making it a few feet. They continued to shove and pull both Solar Guard and Crystal Guardsponies out of their way, making slow progress. Celestia never let her eyes leave the sight of the creature that was now free and decimating guard after guard without much effort.
Luna did the same as Celestia, watching the carnage unfold. She had fear in her heart and her mind raced with reasons why he would do this if, in her mind, he regretted taking an innocent life. In Volos' mind, they were far from innocent. He held no qualms at killing these creatures that now cowered before him. Luna felt something inside of her, pulling at her in her very soul. Volos roared again and unleashed a new wave of bloodshed as he too tried to get to the Princess, ignoring the team of scientists that were trying to escape.
Luna could hear something in her mind with each roar Volos produced. Her head ached, and her mind’s eye was seeing. She closed her eyes, her mind burned. She could see them again. The Aliens she had seen before, their pupil-less green eyes and masks. They came in flashes, and vanished in an instant. She could hear a voice, angry and desperate. She could no longer control herself.
"DIE!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. Celestia looked back and saw that Luna was shaking her head and her eyes were squeezed shut. "I will kill all of you! I'm not going back!" she kept hollering. Her mind flashed with the sights of the green eyed and masked aliens. "I will not be your lab rat! You made me to kill, so I will!" Luna yelled at the top of her lungs, and at that same moment Volos roared louder than before. His claws sheathed and the blades in his fore-arms deployed. "You will not leave here alive!" Luna again roared.
"Go back." Celestia whispered in surprise. "Go back Shining Armour! Go back!" Celestia ordered.
"Princess, what's going on?" he said in a panic. Celestia remained silent at Shining Armour's question.
Celestia and Shining Armour turned back around and pushed their way back to the front of the crowd where Luna still remained. Celestia stole a glance to where Volos was now slicing his way through the guards. Inching his way ever closer to the Princess of the Sun.
"Luna?!" Celestia yelled, grabbing her sister by the shoulders.
"I will have my freedom!" Luna yelled, in Celestia's face.
"Luna, snap out of it!" Celestia tried again. "LUNA!" she hollered, in a lessened version of her Royal Canterlot Voice. Luna struggled and screamed as her mind was set free from whatever held it hostage.
"Sister?" Luna asked, her head aching and her mind burning. She looked over to where Volos was fighting. She saw him holding his head with his hands, the blades sheathed once more. He staggered around, thrust his upper body this way and that, while his legs compensated, keeping him from falling over. "Sister, stop the guards! He's afraid!"
Celestia looked over to Volos and she did not want to call off the guards but she trusted Luna's judgment, even if this was going to be the last time. "All of you back down! Get away from it!" she ordered. The guardsponies slowly acknowledged Celestia's order. The mass of guards managed to get back from the creature, giving it a small square of space for it to move in, unhindered. She still held Luna in her hooves and watched as the creature collapsed to the ground, unmoving. "What happened?" she asked Luna, with surprise.
"I could see it, the creature was angry and scared." Luna told Celestia, feeling every emotion that came from her flashes. "It was confused, he didn't see ponies, he saw the creatures that turned him into whatever he is now." Celestia was amazed at Luna's words. "Celestia, he's terrified of us, of Ponies. He kills because he is scared."
"And what about the three children from Ponyville?"
"Like you said, they were children, what reason is there to afraid of a child?" Luna asked.
Celestia held her sister still and would not let go. "Get that Alien restrained, magic chains only!" Celestia ordered. "Count the dead, save whomever you can." she ordered, her voice faltering. "I will look after Luna."
2
Once things had calmed down once more, Celestia stared at the sleeping monster beyond the glass. They had managed to get him into a smaller cell that still would allow for some movement, but only very little. Volos lay atop a bed made of ice, golden chains hanging from his wrists and ankles. Shining Armour came up to where Princess Celestia sat, observing the still behemoth.
"Will it remain secure this time?" Shining asked, unceremoniously.
"I made those chains myself, it will stay chained or die trying to escape." she answered ignoring Shining Armour's tone. "How many casualties?" she asked, somberly.
"Seventy dead, forty-three severely wounded, and twenty-five with minor injuries from the cramped conditions of the corridor where it escaped."
"How many guards did we have total?"
"Three-hundred."
"This creature took down forty-six percent of our guardsponies in less than three minutes." she deadpanned. "All of that just to have it collapse, unconscious." Celestia sighed. "Then there's Luna. She said she had taken a memory from the creature but I never expected what happened."
"She was speaking for the creature wasn't she?"
"Yes. I feared the connection between them was powerful, but that...I never could have foreseen."
"Do you think it could happen again?"
"If it happened once, I believe it could happen again." Celestia's face grew hard and determined. "If this connection goes to their life force as well, I will need to find a way to sever their connection without killing them both, but such a connection has never been heard of."
"Their life forces could be connected?" Shining Armour asked.
"If Luna was speaking for the monster earlier than I wouldn't doubt the possibility."
"Where is Luna now?"
"Waiting outside the cell."
"But didn't you say that she needed to stay away from the creature?"
"Plans change Captain Shining Armour. You should know this by now." she said, looking at him. Her eyes transitioned back to the glass window. "I need to see how he would react with her personally. These little outbursts of compassion are not unusual for her, but showing compassion, even a love for a creature that she knows is dangerous...It's something else entirely." Shining Armour looked away from the Princess and back to the unconscious Volos. "Luna you can go in, if you're feeling up to it." Celestia told her, through their magic.
"I'm feeling fine, now. I'll go on in." Luna responded.
Celestia and Shining Armour watched the door open to the cell. Luna entered, staying close to where Volos lay on the bed of ice. She looked at him, a mixture of rage and sorrow coursing through her.
"We are afraid of each other, and yet here you are, unconscious and at my mercy. I could kill you here and now but something prevents me from doing so." she studied his body. "Such a strange and terrifying thing you are. To have so much power but have almost no control." she lit up her horn with her magic and touched Volos' head again. Celestia jumped to her feet and ran up to the glass, placing her two front hooves on it. She tried yelling at her to stop but the glass would not permit sound to pass through. "I must know what drives you. What makes you tick. You gave me one of your memories, let me see more." Volos was enveloped in magic and Luna strained to keep her spell going.
3
Luna was standing in a dark place. She could see lines and stripes of red making different patterns and they all had these white dots of light travelling through them at intervals. She walked around a little bit, taking in the unusual sight that surrounded her. "What is this place?" she asked herself.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?" asked a deep and grovely voice.
Luna was surprised and jumped. She calmed herself down and regulated her breathing. "I am Luna, Co-Ruler of Equestria and Princess of the Night." she told the disembodied voice. "Who are you?" she asked.
"I am the one that you hate."
"You're the creature."
"I am not a creature!" it roared. "I am sentient, same as you!" it bellowed. "I'll ask you one last time, why are you here?"
"I wish to know more about the connection we share. What is it? Where did it come from?"
"I have no answer for you, horse."
"Horse?!" she yelled, surprised at being called such a derogatory term. "I am an Alicorn! The most powerful race of Pony! I demand to know why we share this connection! Answer me!" She heard a momentous roar and the strange plain shook violently. Luna fell to the surface bellow her and covered her ears.
"You attack me using strange abilities, subject me to torturous experiments and you demand me to speak?" it bellowed.
"You can trust me, I didn't want you to be subjected to that!"
The plain stopped shaking and Luna stood back up. She waited for the response of the voice she was hearing. "But I did." the voice said after a while.
"What? How could you say that?" she asked, in shock.
"Those experiments helped me gain better control over his mind."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean you’re kind has helped me make Volos a better killing machine!"
"Volos?"
"The one you’re kind call, Creature, Alien and the like.
Luna became frantic. Had they truly aided an evil being in killing innocent Ponies? "What manner of monster are you?!"
"Does it matter? I will make Volos kill all of you anyway, you won't live long enough for that to matter." it said, coldly.
"You're not the creature I saw that night!"
"What are you talking about?" the voice asked.
"The creature that I spoke to, that fell asleep when I asked it to. I saw pain and sorrow in its eyes, not evil.
The voice was silent for a time. "So, he responds to you." it finally said.
"What?"
"Yes, now I understand, your connected on a deeper level than just by mere coincidence. That's how he found the strength to fight me when I was killing those worthless things you call guards, and that night in the villages."
"What are you saying?" Luna asked, frightened.
Luna could see something materializing in front of her. She stepped back a little bit. She watched as a ball of orange energy formed in front of her.
"For me to have complete control over Volos, you have to die."
Luna was shocked. She stood in a stunned silence for a time before speaking again. "Who are you?"
"The one that's you have been speaking to. I am Anubis, Volos' combat A.I."
"Combat A.I?"
"Yes, I am the one who controls his body, the one who controls his very mind."
"Vile creature! Release him, now!" Luna ordered.
"You have no power over me and neither does Volos! You are as weak as he is!"
"I am not weak!"
"You show fear, horse!" Luna was becoming angry at Anubis' words. "I know you harbor love in your heart. I could see it! You are weak for the same reason Volos was! He loved life and wanted to protect it! I took that away from him! I made him what he was meant to be!" the orb hollered. "A killing machine, just as what was intended by the ones who made me!"
"You are pure evil!" Luna hollered at the orange orb.
"No! Evil is an idea, a word used to describe an action that others deem wrong. I was placed here to keep Volos from becoming weak. I was failing in my mission." the orb explained. "The masters put me here to keep him from feeling love, sorrow or any other emotion! The only way to succeed was to make him afraid of everything before him. I played with his memories, making him think he was seeing the masters again, whom he killed. That day made me proud to be his A.I. The bloodshed that day was tremendous, much like destroying your little villages and feeling your blood upon my sword was pure ecstasy, but that time was not too last. Despite my best efforts, he refused to take a life, he kept resisting. I spent weeks destroying his mind when we came here, piece by piece, little by little. It was only after he left the presence of the one called Sweetie Belle, was I able to push him over the edge. And then you came." Anubis began to chuckle. "When you fought Volos that night, I could feel something, he was no longer afraid, he began to fight back, but his efforts proved useless!" he stopped laughing and became angry, the orange turning a deeper shade and the orb itself began to shake. "You did something to him! What did you do?!"
"I didn't do anything!"
"LIAR!" it bellowed. "You gave him power, the power to resist me! WHAT DID YOU DO?!"
"If you wanted control, why didn't you do this before!?" Luna asked, now becoming angry at Anubis for his crimes.
"I would have done this sooner but I was shut down! My calculations suggested I was shut down for more than a millennium! When I was reactivated, I continued my mission to craft Volos into the ultimate killing machine."
"More than a Millennium?" Luna whispered to herself. "How is that possible?!"
"Space is a cold place, horse! The only thing that kept Volos alive, and by proxy, myself, was his life support system." Anubis paused before speaking again. "Those little things you found in his blood."
Luna was stunned. "You were in space? Beyond the atmosphere? What do those cells have to do with this?"
"Yes, we were above the atmosphere of your planet.as for those things you call cells, those little buggers in his blood glow a fierce red when their life support functions are initiated. Warms the body, fending off diseases and any foreign substances."
"That red star? It was Volos?" Luna asked quietly, in disbelief.
"So you could see him all the way down on your planet? Not surprising, light does travel rather quickly.
Luna stood in silence, her emotions becoming unbalanced. She strained to process all of this information that was given to her. "You're a horrid creature! You steal innocent lives from those who have not wronged you!" Luna hollered.
"Against my better judgment I have given you the information you seek! And all you care about is the lives that I've taken!?" Anubis yelled. "It does not matter if the ones I killed have wronged me! It' survival of the fittest on the battlefield!"
"You're mad." Luna stated.
"I am no such thing. I am fulfilling my mission! You are weak, he is weak. I am strong! I will destroy those weaker than I!"
"I will not let you!" Luna jumped at the orb but was stopped by an unseen force field. Luna was shocked and was thrown back. "I will not let you destroy everything I hold dear!" Luna hollered, staggering to her hooves.
"Leave this place! You are done here!" Anubis bellowed, expanding the energy field, again throwing Luna back.
4
Luna's magic ceased and she fell to the floor, her horn was sparking for a few seconds after she was forced out of Anubis' domain. Her mind spun and she felt light headed. She remained on her knees as the door to the cell flung open, Celestia and Shining Armour quickly filing in. Shining Armour stayed by the door while Celestia ran over to Luna.
"Luna, that was reckless! You could have hurt yourself!" Celestia scolded.
"It's not his fault." Luna spoke up.
"What's not?"
"His killing, it's not his fault." Luna explained.
"What are you saying?"
"In his mind" she panted. "Two beings reside." Luna began to explain. Celestia became wide eyed. "The true nature of the creature on that bed has been locked away. It wants to protect life, not take it away."
"What are you talking about?"
"The second creature, it calls itself Anubis, makes him kill. It tricks him into thinking he's back in his tormentor’s possession. He makes him kill when he does not want too."
"It's like Nightmare Moon isn't it?" Celestia asked, helping Luna to her hooves.
"Yes and no. Nightmare Moon resided in my mind as well before taking me over, but Nightmare Moon wanted eternal night and to rule over her subjects. This, Anubis, wants to kill everything and let none survive."
"Can we stop it?"
"I don't know. When I was in his mind, Anubis was nothing more than an orb. It has no physical shape. It uses Volos' body to carry out its will."
"Volos?"
"That's the name of the creature on the bed."
"It has a name?"
"Yes." Luna looked at Volos. "Anubis is going to use Volos to destroy anything and everything he possibly can."
"Then we have to disable the body and mind." Celestia said, seriously.
"No!" Luna said, loudly. "It would kill Volos as well."
"Better both than have a rampaging monster destroying our homes and killing innocents."
"Celestia, please don't." Celestia looked at Luna quizzically. "Anubis said that Volos responds to me and that our connection goes deeper than mere coincidence." This caught Celestia's attention.
"Go on." Celestia urged, now curious.
"Anubis said that in order for him to have complete control over Volos, I would have to die."
"What?"
"Yes. It said that while I live, Volos will continue to try too resist. I have to free Volos from Anubis' control."
Celestia thought about the implications of what Luna had just told her. "Did you learn anything else?"
"Yes. Do you remember what my favorite star was?"
"Yes?" Celestia asked, not sure where this was going.
"It was him." she said pointing to Volos. Celestia looked at Volos and back to Luna, her eyes giving a clear distinction that she had questions. "That third type of blood cell Gene Splice found, are his life support system. They glow bright red when their support protocol is activated. Those things were keeping him alive while he floated in space." Celestia was baffled.
"As in beyond the atmosphere?"
"Yes. Anubis told me that they had been floating there for over a Millennium."
"That's how long you were..." Celestia started.
"I know." Luna said.
"I have so many questions but..." Celestia thought for a moment. "There will be time for those later. If this Volos truly does not want to kill, than you have to stop Anubis from controlling him."
"Thank you Celestia."
"I can't help you with this fight, this is your fight and yours alone, Luna." Celestia looked at her sister apologetically. Luna nodded in return. "Luna, I leave this to you. Be careful." she told her, quietly and concerned.
"I will be." Luna said as she readied herself for the first battle that she would have to fight on her own.