Chapter Seventy Nine: Phobophobia
~BlackRoseRaven
Thesis shivered weakly, the black liquid around him burning his skin, filling his body with crawling heat and pain. He was clutching the sides of the chest-high tub he was sitting in, breathing uneasily in and out as his muscles flexed and contracted, enormous cables hanging from a large, metallic dome in the ceiling pierced into the raw flesh of his back.
All along his back, his coat had peeled away like paper, revealing red flesh beneath and the bones of his spine. The cables were locked into two large nodes in his back that rested in place of his scapula, each channeling chemicals and stem cells into his body as the tub of ultra-concentrated corruption boiled steadily around him, helping the process along.
He would become stronger, but he wasn't after strength: he was after completion. Slowly, he looked up at the walls of the glass cylinder he was in, but everything past the thick, insulated glass was blurry. This process had been long and arduous, but Mother was keeping him safe and it would all be worth it in the end, he knew. When it was over, he would no longer need he exoskeleton, and he would have taken the first necessary step towards his ultimate completion. Then he would have the power to take the second, final step.
Thesis shivered a little, closing his eyes. He had desired Scrivener Blooms and Luna to be here. Yes, partly because right now... he was vulnerable. With the exoskeleton off, he didn't just lose the ability to concentrate his corruption further, he became as clumsy as a toddler and almost as weak. Since both scapula had been removed in order to implant the exoskeleton, he instead had a complex system of gears and synthetic muscle in his upper body that was responsible for keeping his front limbs moving. The exoskeleton hooked directly into this and powered them, so without it...
Thesis gritted his teeth and shook his head out. There was no need to think about that, or how vulnerable he was with so much of his spine exposed. Or how Scrivener Blooms and Luna Brynhild had betrayed him. How he'd lost friends, his siblings, in that disastrous attack on Ponyville... when all he wanted was for them to join him. But no, they had pushed back again and again, and no matter what he'd reasoned or threatened or promised, they just kept throwing themselves at him until they'd actually tried to hurt him, like it was his fault this was all happening!
He shook his head slowly, then snarled and slammed a hoof against the rim of the tub, denting the metal before he shuddered and forced his head to lower. But it didn't matter now. He had harvested enough genetic information from them to move towards completion, and to activate the dormant genes in his own body. He would have much preferred having them here to help him, and so he could help them as well, but if this was the way it had to be... so be it. Yes, it made things more painful and more complicated, but thankfully Mother was very good at these puzzles.
The Replicant sighed quietly... then frowned in surprise as the voice of the very same mare he'd just been thinking of interrupted his reverie. “Thesis. We seem to have some uninvited visitors.”
“What now? Mutants? Just... let them approach Chinavar, then have Kismet deal with them or raise the bridge.” Thesis said dismissively, and the mare's voice laughed sourly at this, earning a frown from the stallion. “What, Mother? I'm busy right now, this isn't-”
“Do you really think I'd bother you about a few drooling idiots? No, Thesis, sit up.” grumbled the mare's voice, and Thesis's look of unease deepened as he pushed himself a little straighter automatically. “Look ahead. I'm channeling the feed from one of the sentry orbs to you now.”
Thesis glanced ahead at the thick glass, watching as something round and small flitted up to the other side of it before beginning to glow, and a moment later a blurred, distorted image was projected over the clear surface in pale colors. He frowned at this, tilting his head curiously before his eyes widened and his mouth went dry as he whispered: “No... impossible. They... no.”
“Scans confirm it. Scrivener Blooms and Luna Brynhild... now, I'm curious, Thesis, how exactly do you think they managed to trace you back to Endworld?” asked Mother's voice coolly, and Thesis shook his head in disbelief before the stuttering images of the ponies quickly approaching the only way in and out of this facility – my home! – vanished. “You're getting sloppy. You're lucky we started right away. But if we don't stop them now-”
“Raise the bridge! Raise the bridge!” Thesis yelled, sitting up hurriedly and looking almost panicked as he shook his head wildly back and forth. “They can't be allowed to approach here, they... this can't happen now, I'm too close!”
“Shut up, Thesis. I'll deal with your mess for you. What else are mothers for?” asked the mare's voice irritably, and Thesis ground his teeth together, looking desperately back and forth as he fought back the urge to start screaming for a status update already. He knew he had to let Mother work, even if at the same time, war was won with knowledge, and right now he didn't even know where Luna and Scrivener Blooms were...
...but the two ponies were drawing close now, running side-by-side along the highway. Two large pipes ran along either side of it, ending in culverts that constantly vomited poisonous water down into a deep, immense gorge going around what looked much less like a lone castle now, and more like some kind of massive fortress city that was further insulated by the enormous walls embracing it. Both Scrivener Blooms and Luna Brynhild had their heads raised, staring at this, isolated on an island with a massive, hundred or so foot bridge of concrete and steel.
It was guarded only by a set of immense, undecorated metal pillars, and a second pair of enormous girders that stood some five feet past, inside the railing of the bridge. Scrivener and Luna both slowed to stare at this, before their eyes widened as electricity shocked over the inner set of pillars and the two ponies realized too late these were actually rails that most of the bridge was now slowly rising up along.
Both ponies leaned forwards, gritting their teeth and throwing themselves into full-out sprints, and they cleared the distance between themselves and the bridge in moments before leaping upwards and landing on the raised section. Neither pony saw or realized the way the rail system worked, however, even as they ran quickly down the concrete bridge, until the structure had raised more than halfway up the rails and then began to quickly revolve upside down.
All Scrivener could do was continue to run even as the ground beneath his hooves rapidly began to angle and one his satchels bounced open, contents spilling out in a stream, and Luna cursed as she suddenly flung herself to the side, then sharply rolled sideways in the air as her wings spread out before flapping them hard to launch herself under the rotating bridge. And just as Scrivener's momentum began to fail and gravity to win and drag him down with their lost equipment, he felt Luna's armored back firmly shove against his, bearing against him with just enough pressure to keep him stable as he continued to sprint.
Even as the bridge rolled completely upside down as it finished its ascent, Scrivener continued to run, balanced precariously against Luna's back as he hooves thudded against the upside-down surface of the bridge. And Luna flapped her wings hard, her own teeth bared in a grin as her eyes glowed, matching Scrivener's pace before her eyes locked on the security checkpoint they were heading straight towards.
A closed steel gate blocked their path, made of tall iron bars. A second, almost-identical gate was maybe ten or so feet past that, the only easy way into this massive castle-city: even the space above the gates was blockaded by what looked like electrified nets of metal wire. Wire they couldn't just rip through... but those gates, on the other hoof...
Luna grinned widely, horn beginning to glow as Scrivener bared his own fangs, readying himself as they neared the end of the upside-down bridge before Luna suddenly dropped away from him and Scrivener flung himself forwards before curling up as the mare snapped her horn out. He felt her fling him viciously with telekinesis as her magic shielded his body, body cannonballing straight through the gates and nearly ripping them both off their hinges as they were torn forcefully open.
He almost bounced off the pavement before landing on all fours and dropping low on instinct as Luna shot forwards and landed on his back, before he leapt straight ahead as Luna kicked off his shoulders in the same moment, her body automatically going into a wild corkscrew as electricity sparked around her form.
The second set of gates were rammed open before Luna slammed down on all fours and skidded forwards with a wide grin on her face, fangs bared as Scrivener ran quickly in to drop to a ready position beside her. They had just torn their way into a large square, and a platoon of Dullahan and Soldier Drones were waiting for them, standing at the ready in front of a massive archway. The streets leading to either side were empty, while the guarded threshold led into some kind of long, straight tunnel... but before Luna or Scrivener could even begin to process the perfect, polished and geometrical world around them, an immense shutter slammed down to block off the passageway.
Several crystalline, floating orbs shaped like eyes shot through the air above their heads, then all of them projected a bright, blue-tinged light over the shutter that formed into a coherent, three-dimensional image. And Scrivener and Luna both stared in shock at the features of the mare that greeted them: she was gaunt, with a mane that sparked like lightning and black circles around her eyes, but it was also clearly the face of Celestia, announcing distastefully in a voice that echoed all around them: “Welcome to Exoterra. Go ahead and have all the fun you want in the city, since you got past Chinavar Bridge, but I'm afraid Thesis doesn't want your company in Genesis right now.
“He has some eloquent little arguments for why you should go away, but I think I'll just keep it short and simple. Fuck off.” the projected image said rudely, and then it vanished and the floating orbs all quickly withdrew into the air as Luna stared in surprise and Scrivener Blooms winced.
“No one ever said anything about an Evil Celestia. This suddenly does not seem like such a good idea.” Scrivener muttered under his breath to Luna, and the sapphire mare grunted and shrugged after a moment, focusing her eyes ahead as the Dullahan and Soldier Drones across the wide square began to slowly approach them.
“What equipment does thou still have?” Luna asked moodily, and then she added dryly: “And this seems like no negative to me. Every villainous Celestia we have faced, I have brought my hoof party to their face's house. The only difference here is that I may actually have to kill Evil Celestia. She uses naughty language.”
“Because I never hear you say things like that.” Scrivener replied wryly, and then he grimaced and flexed uneasily against his armor, looking up and watching as the enemies drew closer, the Soldier Drones beginning to move in faster, the half-mantis, half-draconic monsters of liquid metal clicking as the Dullahan kept in a phalanx formation. “I think I lost the... the portal flare. Oh hell.”
Luna only snorted at this and flicked her mane to the side to fling what looked like a fountain pen free, muttering back: “As if getting home was going to be so easy in any event. So thou lost only our gear then, not our munitions?”
“Your bullets are fine, dearest.” Scrivener said dryly, and then he winced as one of the Soldier Drones suddenly leapt forwards, wings bursting out of its back to give itself an extra boost before Luna grinned and flicked her horn towards the creature, sending the fountain pen burying through its chest... before a moment later, it exploded into full-sized Prúðbikkja and splattered the Soldier Drone backwards, Scrivener leaning backwards slightly as he added mildly: “Not that you need them.”
Luna grinned wider as she rolled her head on her shoulders, before Scrivener stared as Prúðbikkja drew back beside her in a ready position on one side... while on the other, Andlitstingar seemed to fling itself free of its sheath before extending to its own full nine-foot length. “Nay, I do not. Now let us simply hope that Celestia's enchantments took upon thy armor, Scrivener Blooms. Otherwise, thou art going to be very sore, very shortly.”
“I'll let you have your fun for now.” Scrivener said, feeling dark entertainment growing in his mind despite himself, and Luna grinned savagely before flinging herself into the fray, both her spears moving like they were extensions of herself, pieces of her body, and not metal cradled by telekinesis.
She tore quickly through the Drones, ripping through their chests and reducing them to nothing but silvery puddles. Scrivener Blooms stayed back for now as he shrugged off both satchels and pulled his helmet off to toss it into one of the cloth bags, watching as the Dullahan phalanx slowly approached Luna with their shields raised and swords pointed towards her before he finally heard the mare's sharp command, and the charcoal stallion shot forwards before leaping upwards and using Luna like a step as he dove towards the phalanx.
He grinned in midair, eyes blazing as his front hooves snapped apart into claws and he drew one back as he felt the scales spreading up along his form, felt his entire body burn with power and flex. In a matter of seconds, it wasn't a stallion pouncing towards them, but a Tyrant Wyrm that slammed down on top of the phalanx, crushing several of the Dullahan flat beneath his body and scattering the others like bowling pins as he roared furiously.
His armor still gleamed over his body, the plates stretched by magic, covering him still but much thinner and more brittle. The magic was less to keep him protected and more so he could transform even while in his gear, and he thanked Celestia for it even as he seized a Dullahan by its open collar and yanked it into the air, then slammed it straight down into the ground and crushed it beneath his enormous claw.
Scrivener and Luna were both aware that overhead, even as they ripped their way through the ranks of this small platoon, those floating orb-eyes were circling and studying them. Likely reporting everything to Thesis... and they were right on that account, as Evil Celestia's cold voice remarked: “Looks like they found their own way to completion, Thesis.”
“Impossible, i-impossible!” Thesis shouted from the bath, shaking his head wildly as he stared in disbelief at the blurry images being projected on the wall of the tube. “No, Mother, just... just stop them! Slow them down! Analyze them and have Kismet and the reapers-”
“Just shut up, Thesis. Mother already knows what she's supposed to be doing.” Evil Celestia said icily, and Thesis grimaced and lowered his head before the mare asked moodily: “Defensive positions, or shall I aim to drive them out? And don't sulk.”
“I'm not sulking.” Thesis glared up at the dome on the ceiling, shaking his head violently before he winced and grabbed at one shoulder with a curse. “Prepare ambushes in districts two and eleven. Flanking positions. And inform me immediately once analysis is complete... and divert power from Exoterra here to Genesis! I need to be complete as soon as possible!”
The mare snorted at this, then said contemptibly: “Really, Thesis? That's your grand plan? Well, when everything goes wrong, don't say I didn't warn you.”
“They have to take one of those two routes. Even if the tunnel wasn't blockaded it makes no tactical sense to take a direct rush through the center of a defensive formation... and I am going to be complete, Mother.” Thesis snarled, then twitched as he felt the cables hooked into his back spark with electricity, gasping before he hissed: “I'll do anything I have to in order to be complete!”
There was a snort, before the mare's presence withdrew, returning to monitoring the battle: Scrivener and Luna had already devastated the platoon, however, and even the Dullahan still sluggishly regenerating weren't bothering to pick themselves up unless it was to try and crawl away from the battleground. The sapphire mare grinned at this, her mane twisting around her like blue fire and both her spears raised high at the ready before she glanced towards Andlitstingar, and it immediately collapsed on itself and flipped backwards to slide back into her holster. “Scrivener, 'tis time to show off our brute strength!”
Scrivener nodded with a grunt, turning around and charging towards the armored shutter blocking the tunnel: he rammed savagely into this with his shoulder, wincing and bouncing off with a stagger but warping the metal enough it lifted up the lip of the shutter slightly, and the Tyrant Wyrm immediately seized on this with a growl before he began to slowly lift upwards.
His muscles flexed, several already-damaged plates of armor popping loose from his form before the shutter began to rise slowly... and then Luna was there beside him, Prúðbikkja spearing into the ground beside her for the moment as she seized the bottom of the shutter with her own front hooves, growling with the exertion.
Slowly, they forced the shutter upwards, gears screaming and clanking in protest before Luna arched her back and clenched her eyes shut once they had levered it high enough. Her soulstone horn glowed, and ice spread rapidly upwards beneath the shutter, freezing the rails and forming into thick pillars that blocked it open.
Scrivener ducked and crawled beneath the shutter as Luna ripped her spear free of the ground, then glanced over her shoulder and firmly flicked her horn, the satchel bag on the other side of the battleground flinging itself through the air towards her and landing neatly on her back as she turned around. “I shall carry the equipment for once, Scrivy. Funny, thou art now the large hulking monster and thou gets to avoid carrying the gear.”
Luna ducked under the shutter and hopped up onto Scrivener's back as he straightened inside the tunnel, and the Tyrant Wyrm grinned despite himself over his shoulder at her. “Yeah, but now I end up carrying you around a lot more.”
“I do not see why thou art complaining. Thou seems to enjoy it.” Luna replied with a slight smile as she grasped firmly into the back of the stallion's collar, settling herself against the thin armor over his back as she said firmly: “Now run, Scrivy. Let us show Thesis why he should be trembling at our approach!”
Scrivener grunted, nodding firmly before he looked up and roared down the tunnel, and Luna's eyes burned with excitement as she rose Prúðbikkja high beside her. Scrivener flexed, and she felt the movement before he launched into a run, his eyes glowing as they quickly shot down this wide – and surprisingly empty – stone passageway.
Neither questioned their luck as they tore out the other side, and neither cared even as a security shutter began to slide closed behind them, both of them charging through the slate streets. Neither cared even as klaxons began to blare, neither stopped to study the monolithic, geometric gray structures around them, neither even looked up as Drones and Dullahan and other Clockwork soldiers began to hurry towards them from the side streets.
The castle itself, protected behind this barrier of a mechanical city, was only a short sprint away. And even as a Thunderbird swept down out of the air, screaming, Luna only snapped her horn forwards as she reached her hoof up, catching Sting Mk. II and aiming it upwards to fire two White Matter rounds at the diving metal bird.
The first round missed, but the second smashed into its wing and knocked it spiraling off course to crash into a building and explode in a hail of shrapnel and a shockwave of anti-magic, and Luna grinned savagely as she leaned forwards, Prúðbikkja still floating beside her but most of her concentration on balancing the gun. She rose it, taking aim at a Dullahan running out into the street, and fired a round that smashed through its armor and knocked the creature onto its back in a fit of convulsions, howling as the White Matter spread through its very spirit and began to eat away at the dark magic that held it together.
Luna fired another round off, then snapped the cylinder open, her horn glowing brighter as she glanced over her shoulder to pull bullets quickly free from her holster and shove them into place in the gun, snapping it closed with a flick of her hoof before aiming forwards again. She thrilled in the charge as Scrivener roared loudly, vibrating the air around them with his fury as both pony and Tyrant Wyrm looked ahead towards the castle in the distance.
Up a ramp, past a short flight of stairs and a pavilion surrounded by ornate fencing, and across a short drawbridge, loomed the castle. And deep inside the bone-colored monolith, beyond the castle walls, the research facility, inside his sealed-off tower, Thesis shivered violently in the tub of black corruption as he rasped: “N-No... what's going on...”
“They're approaching. Very, very quickly.” the mare's voice replied distastefully, and Thesis shook his head wildly in disbelief. “They're almost through Exoterra. They'll arrive at Genesis any moment now. They're making a straight run for the bridge.”
“What are you talking about?” Thesis almost screamed, looking up in disbelief and horror as his body twitched, his muscles visibly flexing and trembling. “No one ever makes that kind of suicidal, direct attack! It's not a feasible option, they should have been... would have been overwhelmed and torn into pieces!”
“Well, apparently they disagree with you, because they're coming straight down the gullet of Exoterra. Maybe if you hadn't decided to place most of our soldiers in flanking positions and actually left some to defend the center stretch, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now.” Evil Celestia replied shortly, and Thesis cursed and slammed his hooves against the rim of the tub, before looking up in panic. “Orders?”
“I... I... Kismet! Where is Kismet? No, no, wait, no... he has to protect us, have him take up position in the center courtyard, in front of-”
“Every second you waste rambling away like an idiot, they get closer.” Celestia snarled, interrupting the Replicant and making him wince back a bit, before he hissed as there was another agonizing surge through his body, his hoof trembling before he slammed it against the rim of the tub again. “Enough, we're out of time. I'm sending Psukhikos to slow them down while you try and figure out a plan.”
“She's blind, weak, insane! Y-You can't!” Thesis shouted, but Celestia only chuckled dryly in response, and Thesis clenched his eyes shut, grabbing at his forehead... then one eye opened, and he trembled before snarling: “Send... send the Contagium as well. At least she can die with purpose.”
Evil Celestia laughed quietly at this, replying in a calm voice: “Much better. Now you're thinking like a military model should, Thesis. Remember that all your goals will be pointless if you aren't still alive to achieve them.”
Thesis only looked away, clenching his eyes shut and feeling a moment of apology... but acknowledging his Mother all the same with a single nod. She was right. He knew she was right, and the mare's presence drew away, as she easily passed Thesis' orders on through Genesis... although Psukhikos she had already sent out to wait for their approaching guests.
The Replicant mare was no longer able to see, and her mind was broken... but oh so well attuned to the sensation of her approaching enemies. She grinned as she strode off the drawbridge and into the wide, circular pavilion, a blindfold tied tightly around her features and covering her dead eyes as several orbs orbited around her, glowing with malevolent energies as a single rune pulsed on each: the rune Hagalaz. It was an ill omen, but Psukhikos was no longer interested in anything except disruption and destruction anyway.
She couldn't see, yet watched all the same as Scrivener Blooms flung himself up the stairs leading to the wide, circular area, landing on the weed-riddled tiles before he twitched in surprise as the ornate gate slammed shut behind him. Luna, meanwhile, only snarled on his back, half-hanging off the Tyrant Wyrm's neck as she leaned around him and pointed Sting Mk. II at Psukhikos as the Replicant laughed loudly. “I should have known, yes, yes, yes, I should have known that was what Thesis wanted! We're all selfish at the end of the day, we're all scared and crying little freaks looking out for our own interests... and yes, yes, that's why he wanted to kill you! Not to be complete, not to help us, no no no... to kill... him.”
Psukhikos' horn glittered as she stumbled forwards across the pavilion, almost drooling as the orbs revolved faster around her. “But he is stuck inside you, and I... oh... I want him out. So I'll rip you open and... help him escape... and we'll all die! No more being afraid when we're all dead!”
Luna snarled as she leapt off the stallion's back, and Scrivener glanced at her with surprise at her mental order, but then the Tyrant Wyrm's body flexed before he shrank slowly back down, while Psukhikos raved: “He hurt me but he'll reward me and he'll love me and he'll kill me and I won't be scared anymore, I won't I won't I won't I-”
The Replicant was cut off with a shriek, flicking her horn upwards and flinging her sword wildly through the air, Luna wincing backwards in surprise as the weapon flew to the edge of the battleground and the orbs around her fell uselessly to the ground... and then the sapphire mare's eyes widened in shock as Silverbacks flooded forwards and upwards, flinging and pouncing onto Psukhikos, biting into her flesh and stabbing their tails deep into her body, and she screamed as the swarm of parasites rapidly overwhelmed her.
Scrivener and Luna both staggered backwards, the mare's spear trembling in her psychic grip and gun lowering slightly, but a moment later she snarled and took aim again as Psukhikos' shrieks turned to rasping, gurgling laughter. The two could only stare in horror as the Replicant's flesh began to bubble violently, black mire and red blood mixing together as she writhed under the horde.
Then something that had once been a forelimb thrust out of the writhing mass, half-melted and horribly-stretched and mutated, a broken hoof slamming down on top of one of the orbs: but instead of shattering it, it sucked it into the psychic's body, even as electricity zapped up along the foreleg. The only response was rasping laughter that turned into growls and snarls, as a monstrous body humped upwards, and the two ponies watched with disgust and horror as the Silverbacks clinging to her began to merge into her body.
Mire sweated down her raw flesh as she rose her head, her once-beautiful, raven black mane falling away from rotted and distorted, freakshow features still mostly covered by the blindfold. She roared, exposing massive teeth from her distended jaw as putrid steam burst out of her mouth, then slammed her own face down into the pavilion floor with a sickening crack and squelch... but when she rose her skinned features, her blindfold was left hanging in tatters on one side, and another of the orbs she had been carrying glowed out of her eyesocket as blood ran down her cheek.
Spikes of bone jutted in every direction from her body as her form warped and cracked sickeningly: there was nothing pony left about her anymore. She had become a half-melted parasite herself, an incarnation of all the fear and insanity she had been filled with as gnarled, new horns sprouted next to her unicorn horn along one side of her skull. She was twisted and monstrous, and no longer Psukhikos, as she staggered towards them on too many limbs, all of them disjointed and broken.
The monster, the Fear Incarnate, roared at them before it began to lope greedily forwards on at least five unnatural, twisted limbs. Scrivener looked in horror over at Luna, and the sapphire mare trembled before roaring and pulling the trigger of Sting Mk. II as fast as she dared, emptying all four rounds in the gun into the charging beast.
One clipped its skull and shattered like glass, and two slammed into its features while the last smashed into the kneecap of a limb, and Fear was sent flopping forwards on its face with a howl. It grabbed at its features with a mangled, broken hoof as white goo began to bleed out of its face, screaming and convulsing on the ground before rolling onto its back, and its limbs twisted violently around to shove against the ground and heft itself back to its feet, head snarling upside down at them before it flung itself forwards.
Luna snapped her horn out, a blue fireball hammering into the creature... but simply bouncing off before Fear crashed into them, knocking them both sprawling beneath it. The spikes on its back flexed as it flung herself overtop them, dropping straight down to try and crush and gouge them with the bony thorns, and both ponies shoved their hooves up against its wet, burning flesh with revulsion before Luna snapped her horn forwards and sent Prúðbikkja ripping through the monster's flesh at the junction of shoulder and neck. Infected, boiling blood burst from the wound as it screamed, and Luna howled as it seared her features before Scrivener Blooms swung a front, unfolded claw down into the ground and rotted it quickly away to mire at their side.
The monster lost its footing as it sank slightly into the sludge, tipping and losing its pin, and both Scrivener and Luna kicked viciously upwards at the same time to knock it flopping over onto its stomach: but even before it hit the ground, its limbs twisted forwards and it caught itself.
It stopped for a moment to shake itself out all the same, Prúðbikkja still impaled through its body but the monster no longer seeming to notice as it began to turn towards them, and Scrivener launched himself forwards with a snarl to begin slamming fast, vicious claw strikes into the monster's face. He drove it backwards as Luna cursed and looked back and forth, then swept up Sting Mk. II, looking up before her eyes widened in shock as she saw something she could hardly believe.
Twilight's spirit was floating silently beside Fear, pointing wildly at the monster's glass-orb eye as she shouted silently at the sapphire mare, and after a moment Luna understood as she snapped her gun open, dumping out the empty casings and quickly reloading the gun, doing her best to ignore the pain as Fear finally smashed Scrivener flat with a hoof. It seized the back of his head and hauled him into the air as Luna took aim, and then the sapphire mare cursed as Scrivy was slammed face-first into the ground, making her flinch before she manged to fire.
The round flew true, smashing into the crystalline sphere in its eyesocket and shattering it with a small explosion of magic energy, Fear staggering backwards and screaming before it fell forwards and covered its face with its mismatched front limbs as its rear legs dragged its fleshy, mutant body hurriedly away. Scrivener Blooms picked himself up with a snarl of disgust, and Luna gritted her teeth before she shouted: “The orbs, we must destroy the orbs that have melded with her body!”
Scrivener looked back at Fear as the monster picked itself up, his eyes locking on one of its front limbs and remembering how it had pulled one of the spheres into its hoof. He didn't need to agree or even look at Luna for the mare to feel his instincts, and she nodded quickly before flapping her wings hard and launching herself to the side, Fear tracking the winged unicorn's movements, then roaring in fury as the sapphire mare fired two White Matter rounds into the creature. “Thou wishes to fight a warrior? I am a warrior! I am not afraid of thee, monster!”
Fear screamed and flexed, flesh rippling like water before it sprang forwards and made its lopsided and yet terribly-fast charge: for the moment, Scrivener only watched, grimacing as Luna flicked her horn and fired a weak blast of blue flame at the monster to test it... but again, her magic bounced off. He studied its movements before his eyes widened as it flung itself into the air at Luna when the mare launched herself towards the skies, but Luna was faster, snarling and bringing both rear hooves up to savagely kick them into Fear's already-devastated features.
The monster crashed backwards... and caught itself on its disjointed limbs as they spun around, skittering away before turning around and raising its head high. It screamed as its horns glowed, and Luna's eyes widened in shock from where she was hovering before a psychokinetic sledgehammer crashed into her and crushed her into the ground.
Fear grinned viciously, charging again and leaping towards Luna, but Scrivener Blooms tackled it in midair and slammed it down on its side with a satisfying crunch. The monster swung a claw at him, and the stallion cursed as it tore a rip through the armor protecting his chest, sending metal shrapnel and ripped chainlink mesh in all directions before he managed to catch the heel of the beast's claw, not letting it retract.
He dropped onto his back, slamming both rear hooves into its body as he wrapped one foreleg around its oversized limb to hold it in place, and he blindly slammed his other claw forwards, hoping he was right... and the crunch he was rewarded with told him he had been, before the explosion of electricity and force knocked him crashing backwards in a wet, slick wave. He bounced past Luna and landed on his back before most of Fear's foreleg landed on top of him as well, and the stallion shouted in disgust and slapped this hurriedly off as Fear itself wailed and screamed.
The monster dragged itself drunkenly to its gnarled claws, glaring furiously over at them, blood and mire spilling out of the stump of limb left behind. Its body heaved with its breaths, and Luna snarled before her eyes narrowed sharply as she took aim with Sting Mk. II, muttering: “Where is the last orb... it had three, did it not? Damnation, if it was absorbed into the monster's body...”
“How about we do this your way instead of the smart way? Because this thing is goddamn disgusting.” Scrivener muttered, and Luna grinned over at him before the stallion dropped to a ready position, gritting his teeth as the winged unicorn set herself at the same time, their emotions and plan whirling through each other's minds in a matter of moments.
Fear roared and charged them, and Luna waited until the last moment before leaping upwards when Fear pounced... and Scrivener, meanwhile, half-flipped his body to fling himself backwards, landing on his spine. Fear began to look down at him, but then the monster screamed when Luna's last bullet pounded into its back, distracting it.
It landed overtop Scrivener, back arched, soft target of its underside presented to him, and the stallion kicked both rear hooves up into his stomach to knock it bowlegged before he started to slam his foreclaws in vicious slashes and punches up into its breast and body. It howled again and looked down, opening its jaws to bite, but Luna slammed down into the monster's lower back with a sickening crack and forced its body to arch even as the hail of blows continued to rip up from below... only they were now joined by Luna's hooves smashing down into his warped back from above as well.
Fear shrieked in misery, caught between them, body jerking back and forth as Scrivener and Luna both snarled and landed attack after attack into the monster's frame before something inside the beast finally shattered in a distinct sound of breaking glass, and the monster arched its back with a scream as a blast of psychokinetic malevolence exploded from its body. Scrivener was crushed into the ground, howling in agony as his own armor twisted and bit into him like teeth, while Luna was knocked flying through the air as blood burst from her jaws, her eyes bulging in shock before she crashed down on her back some dozen feet away.
She gasped for breath, body unable to move, numb and tingling and staring as Fear shivered violently, then turned a snarl down to Scrivener Blooms, the stallion pinned beneath her, as paralyzed by the pain and psychic shock as Luna. And she stared, watching as Fear's jaws opened even as its body melted like wax, it swayed drunkenly with its missing limb, blood and mire dribbled out around the spear pierced deep enough through its chest and she didn't know how the hell it wasn't-
Luna's eyes widened at this, and then she snarled, trying to force herself upwards... but she didn't have the strength. Her body hurt. Her thoughts were scattered. She felt-
You are weak, and pathetic, and now Scrivener is going to die because you are nothing but a worthless junkie who's crying more over the fact she hasn't gotten her fix than that her soulmate is pinned by a rabid dog. Nightmare Moon said in a terribly calm, kind voice... and Luna stared as time became a crawl, as Fear seemed to move in slow motion, as a tremble ran through her body before that patronizing, cruel voice whispered in her ear: I knew I loved him more.
Luna roared in fury, eyes and horn glowing as she hauled herself up to her hooves, rage and hate and a sheer need to just lash out, cause pain, destroy ripped through her body, making her soulstone horn glow blackly, and Prúðbikkja sparked-
There was a single, concussive shockwave, and an eruption of red and black liquid that hurled the spear away, and at first, neither pony understood what happened. For almost a full second, there was nothing... and then the heavy, red and black rain began to fall around them, and Scrivener stared weakly upwards as he realized there were the smoldering remains of four scorched limbs fused to the ground around him, and that the rain tasted of both poison and blood.
It stained them both as it fell through the pavilion, and Luna trembled in disbelief as she mouthed wordlessly, looking weakly upwards as she swallowed thickly. But she only heard Nightmare Moon laugh quietly inside her mind before the dark entity whispered: That's my girl.
Luna retched, leaning down and shivering, barely able to believe what she'd done... sickened less by the fact she had done it, more from the fact that... that part of her took pleasure in it. No, not just pleasure... was proud of herself for it. For having such... oh... such power...
The sapphire mare groaned and shook her head hurriedly, then forced herself up to her hooves before gritting her teeth, trying to keep her head down, the blood stinging her eyes, the black mire making her nerves sizzle, the smell of copper and decay filling her nostrils. She breathed hard in and out as she looked over at Scrivener Blooms, as he slowly sat up, trembling a little himself before he grimaced and reached up to yank a crushed chunk of armor off his foreleg and toss it away.
Finally, he looked over towards her, and Luna looked silently back before the charcoal stallion smiled faintly and said quietly: “Looks like you saved me again.”
“Or perhaps not.” Luna murmured, shivering a little as the rain finally slowed to an end, and she looked weakly up at the listless skies with Scrivener, both ponies stained with black and red. Puddles of blood littered the pavilion now, and the stones had all turned a faint sheen of crimson rot, the two sitting for a moment before they turned their eyes to the drawbridge. “We... we should move, Scrivener Blooms. 'Tis dangerous to stay here.”
She halted, then glanced over her shoulder towards the ornate gates behind them... but the few Drones and soldiers there were lingering, as if the gates were an impassable barrier instead of simply warped metal. Luna felt strangely disappointed as she grimaced a little, then looked ahead and muttered: “Perhaps not as dangerous as I thought but... all the same, we should move onwards, Scrivy. Perhaps the real danger here is that we shall both end up thinking far too much if we stay.”
“Yeah.” Scrivener halted, hesitated, then added finally as he shook himself out and shivered once: “Thank you. I... don't blame yourself. You only did what you had to do.”
“Shut up, Scrivy.” Luna muttered, but she smiled faintly all the same before her horn glowed, picking up both her spear and her gun, and she studied the latter silently for a moment before shaking it briskly out and then popping it open. “Well, perhaps we should take one moment at least so I can deal with this damnable weapon. 'Tis even more frustrating than a bow, Scrivy. At least a quiver has the sense to be full of arrows, whilst this is like it has a quiver that has a quiver and such. What nonsense.”
Scrivener Blooms only smiled slightly at this, nodding a bit before he turned his own attention downwards, letting Luna grumble and moodily look around as she dug in the equipment satchel hanging off the side of her body. She managed to pull out a carton filled with bullets after a moment, while Scrivener glanced nervously up at the sky and slowly over the bridge, a little more uneasy than the sapphire mare.
And yet while Luna reloaded and Scrivener pulled off the broken pieces of his armor, the monsters stayed at a distance. Scrivy could see Thunderbirds in the air high above, and Clockwork soldiers across the drawbridge, and Luna had already noted the enemy at their own gates... but it was like the pavilion had become a strange place of sanctuary, hallowed by the sacrificed monster's blood.
There was silence as they went about their tasks, but at the same time, it was comforting to them: focusing on the little tasks helped them sync up and reassure each other before the stallion hesitantly looked up and asked slowly: “So... you really saw Twilight, huh? And she helped.”
“Aye, I believe so... I just find it strange that thou did not see her as well, as she was right there in front of thee whilst thou wert beating on the monster.” Luna replied softly, gazing over at him with a slight smile as she closed the box of bullets and slipped it back into the pack at her side, then glanced down at the filled loops along the holster before sliding this once more onto her back. “Perhaps, though, Twilight can only speak to one of us at a time if we are in the waking world... or mayhaps she simply did not wish to bother thee whilst thou wert in the midst of thy pummeling.”
Scrivener shrugged thoughtfully, then glanced down at his body and his damaged armor, and Luna smiled a little wider after a moment as she strode over to him, nudging him with her muzzle. He laughed a little, then nudged her back before glancing up at the gray skies, muttering: “Enemy territory, the world around us is more toxic than Decretum, we're both covered in blood and corruption and yet... I'm actually happy right now. We're sick ponies, Luna.”
“Aye, we are. And thou art an idiot but... all the same, I love thee for it.” She halted and gently rubbed a hoof along a chest that was only covered by mesh and chainmail now, while most of his damaged plating had been removed... which really, was most of the plating in general. “At least we haven't yet been too badly injured. Oh, aye, I am sure that we shall be before long, but... all the same. For now only thy armor has suffered desiccation.”
“Let's hope that neither of us has to suffer desiccation, Luna.” Scrivener said dryly, and Luna nodded a few times before becoming more serious as they both turned around, gazing across the drawbridge towards the castle. “Genesis... that's what Evil Celestia called it, right?”
“Aye. And we will have to doubtlessly go through her to get to Thesis, not to mention Kismet. And I can see from here that we will not just be dealing with soldiers and Drones, but the elite of Decretum.” Luna paused and smiled wryly, shaking her head in cynical entertainment. “And yet I find myself excited by the notion, Scrivy, not dismayed, not angered, not even afraid. There is something terribly wrong with us.”
Scrivener nodded meditatively in agreement after a few moments, and there was silence before they both stood, breathing slowly and readying themselves. Luna cracked her neck as Prúðbikkja spun once beside her, then rose to a ready position as she and Scrivener traded firm nods.
They both began forwards, striding to the end of the pavilion, away from the few sordid remains of the monster that Psukhikos had become. Together, in perfect step, they made their way towards the drawbridge... then both paused before Luna glanced up moodily as one of those strange, watching orbs buzzed by before the sapphire mare flicked her horn firmly, sending a chain of electricity hammering into the sphere and making it spark wildly before she snapped her horn back and yanked the orb towards her before the chain of lightning could vanish.
The mare grinned widely up into the orb as it smoked and shuddered in the air in front of her, and Luna leaned up and said nonchalantly: “I do hope thou art enjoying the show, hrafnasueltirs. But do not fear, thou shan't leave the murders starving for long. Very soon I shall help thee feed the birds full with thine own fat carcasses.”
With that, Luna leaned forwards as her soulstone horn glowed brightly, and the floating orb was surrounded by Luna's telekinetic aura before it simply shattered into pieces. Luna glanced down moodily as these tinkled to the ground in a pile, and then she calmly cracked her neck, turning her eyes upwards as she said easily: “And thus do I believe that I have made myself clear, Scrivener Blooms.”
“Yeah, you've... always been good at getting a point across, Luna.” Scrivener said mildly after a moment, and Luna nodded a few times in agreement before the two ponies passed calmly onto the drawbridge, focused forwards and neither flinching in spite of the fact there were enemies of all shape and size waiting for them on the other side.
And locked away in his tower, his eyes wide with disbelief as he shivered in his tub of mire, Thesis whispered a denial as the images of what had just occurred outside played over the blurry glass in front of his eyes. He could barely make out the words of what Mother was saying to him, only watching numbly as Luna Brynhild and Scrivener Blooms fought their way through his home, destroyed his sibling Psukhikos, and now challenged him without fear. As they crossed from Exoterra into Genesis, daring him, threatening him, and for the first time succeeding in making him feel intimidated.
Luna Brynhild and Scrivener Blooms: they were going to come and see him after all, it seemed. And the Replicant only hoped that Mother and Kismet and the forces of Genesis could hold them at bay for long enough for him to become complete.