//------------------------------// // The Forest Part 7: Found // Story: The Guardian // by InsaneBatPony //------------------------------// Volos held Luna’s hoof in his metal hand, the sparks washing over it and bouncing from its metallic surface. He let go and placed the hoof back on the metal table and walked over by the smoldering console. He examined it closely, looking over every panel and form. From where he stood it was non-usable junk. He returned to where the medical station had given him his upgraded form and looked to the ceiling, where the device rested. The arms had retracted into the ceiling and the control box remained hooked to its dock. Volos reached up and grasped the large box, piercing the docking mechanism with his clawed fingers. He pulled down and watched as the box fell from the ceiling in a shower of metal and sparking electronics. The box clattered to the ground and its arms flailed to the floor in a heap. Volos picked up each arm carefully and examined each. Drills, needles, and scalpels adorned the arms, leaving no trace of a pain relief method. He returned to the table and stood by it once more. He reached down and pressed a knuckle behind Luna’s ear and pressed into the soft tissue. She began to squirm and groan but ultimately went still, her quiet breaths filtering through the still air. He hoped that that would at least help numb some of the pain Volos’ gaze fell back to Luna’s metal hoof. He activated his scanner and found that the metal did not show up as metal but as bone in the displayed readings. He picked up her hoof again and raised a finger, placing a little farther up her leg. He rested it on her soft skin and plunged the blade into it. Blood seeped slowly from in-between the blade and her skin. He rushed the blade through and felt it scrape the metal of her hoof. He then separated the cut section of skin from her leg and found more of the same running from the hoof to where he had cut. Luna fidgeted and whined when he had cut out that section of her skin off of her leg, but somehow, did not awaken. Volos groaned and threw the sliver of skin and fur to the ground, making a splattering noise. He held the hoof, still, and continued to look at the metal. He groaned and placed it down by Luna’s side. Volos walked around the room in a large circle. He stopped after three laps and went back to Luna’s side. He reached out to her and grasped her shoulder in his hand and shook her lightly. Seeing that Luna stirred but did not awaken he shook her harder. Luna’s eyes opened slowly and she stared at Volos absentmindedly. He reached down and placed on hand on her back and lifted her into a sitting position. Luna cringed and groaned as she came up, the pain in her body flaring as she moved. Volos held her up as she adjusted to the new position. Her body continued to protest but she ignored it. “Volos, what happened?” she asked, looking over her body and seeing the missing patches of fur and reddened skin. She winced and rubbed at her eye with her free hoof, the other being covered by Volos’ massive hand. She blinked rapidly and found that her vision was dimmed and incomplete. Her sight was much clearer on the right of her field of vision. She rubbed at the left eye again and still the same result. She turned her head toward Volos and looked at him pleadingly. “I can’t see.” Volos looked at her face and saw the scar running across her face and traced it to her eye. It had become a milky white with little visible of her iris and pupil. “Your eye was damaged by the explosion and fires. It is miraculous you can see at all,” he stated. She turned away from him and looked herself over again. She gazed at her now burnt form and began to cry. She pulled her left hoof to her blinded eye and tried to pull the other away from Volos’ grasp but he would not let it go. She looked at him with teary and tired eyes. “Please let go,” she ordered. Volos hesitated and did not move it. “Please, whatever you’re hiding, I need to see it.” Volos remained still or a moment longer before releasing his grip. Luna looked down at her revealed hoof and gasped. Her breath caught in her throat and it would not rise. She brought it to her face and saw the metal and wiring sticking out of it. “What… What is this?” she asked, beginning to shake. She looked at Volos, who turned his head away from her eyes. She looked back down to her hoof and ignited her horn. It glowed dimly but the magic held firm. Volos looked at her quickly. “No, you need to reserve the strength you have.” Luna glared at him, silencing his protest. “I need to know,” she stated sadly. The aura surrounded the loose skin near Volos’ initial incision and it began to pull apart. Luna’s face twisted as she pulled the skin from her leg. Tears streamed as a river flows down her face and whimpered and pained grunts fell from her lips. Blood dripped and flowed from where she tore until she yanked it off completely at her knee. She screamed loudly and her magic faltered. She fought the shock and forced herself to look at her revealed limb. Through the blood she could see metallic silver and smooth surfaces. She wiped away the blood with her magic and saw the same as down by her hoof. Wires crossed each other and metal rods and pistons ran through it. “My leg is… like yours,” she whimpered. Volos again remained silent. Luna’s face hardened and showed determination and she ignited her magic again and gripped the remaining skin. Volos reached for her horn to stop the flow of magic, but was too late. Luna screamed as the remaining skin was ripped from away. 2 The Solar Guard, accompanied by Captain Helios, approached the throne room of the Princess. The massive golden doors opened, revealing the sprawling room with Celestia sitting on her golden chair. She smiled kindly as they approached her. “Welcome back,” she stated pleasantly. “How was the…a… Job I sent you on?” Helios cleared his throat and walked out in front of the other accompanying guardsponies. “It went as you predicted, Princess.” He began. “The castle is now a pile of rubble in the Everfree and so is everything in it.” Celestia smiled, “Oh wonderful,” she said gleefully. “Did you confirm that everything inside truly was destroyed?” she asked, reverting to a more stern look. Helios did not answer, and tugged at his neck armor. Celestia raised an eyebrow, “Well?” Helios cleared his throat again before speaking. “We combed the wreckage and found a large shaft going down under the castle.” He fished out a formal report on a clip board. “The shaft was made from metal alloys. The alloys are very difficult to create, even when using magic for the refinement process. I have an advance scouting party prepping for a descent tomorrow morning. And we found something else as well…” “In a moment captain,” Celestia interrupted. “Tell me more about this metal shaft. Do you know a primary use?” “Uh, no. At least nothing solid,” he replied. “Theories then?” “Yes. It looked like a system for the transport of goods or supplies into the lower levels of the castle. How they got up and down I couldn’t tell you.” He put the report back into his left saddle bag. He froze for a moment and remained still. “Captain? Is there something else you wish to tell me?” Helios nodded slowly. “Then tell me captain,” Celestia ordered. “As we combed through most of the wreckage we, uh, ah…” he began to trail off. “I…We…” he stammered. He reached into his saddle bag and hoofed over a small misshapen object. “Here, look at this,” he stated, settling for the phrase. Celestia looked at him questioningly. “We found this in the wreckage.” He reached into his right saddle bag and lifted out a black misshapen object with hints of silver within its black, scorched surface. Celestia looked at it while holding it in her magic and rotated to all possible angles. “It resembles a horseshoe?” She levitated to the side and stared at her captain of the guard. “Why show me a charred thing resembling a shoe?” Helios said nothing for a moment and then pointed to the object again. “Look at its base closely, Princess.” His emotional wall began to falter but he did not let it fall completely and held his emotions in check. Celestia rotated the thing around, scanning its base for whatever it was that Helios wanted her to see. She spun it a quarter rotations and she noticed a small engraving jutting from the, once fine, surface of the object. Celestia stared long and hard at the object held in her magical grasp. Her lips pursed and her eyes shot open. Her mouth twitched and her heart began to pound. A never ending sense of panic coursed through her veins, turning her blood to ice. “Captain, I want that crew ready to repel down as early as possible.” Helios nodded. “And leave me captain.” Helios nodded again and left the courtroom with the others, a knot forming in his stomach. 3 Luna twitched on the table clutching her right leg as Volos rubbed her back and cradled her head. She let go of her leg and let it fall to her side again. She had calmed down considerably since she finished her act. Blood littered the area, turning the grey metal red and dying the table the same. She whimpered and cried for what seemed like hours. Volos released his grip on her and she sat upright on the wet table. She stared at her work, a look of bewilderment mixed in inexplicable horror on her face. Her skin had been torn from her knee to her shoulder and it was all the same. Metal. “What am I?” Luna sobbed. Her body still burned and ached but she continued to ignore her need for recovery. “Why is my leg like this?” She looked at Volos again, hoping for an answer. “I don’t know,” was all he could say. Luna’s body shook and her posture faltered. She collapsed back onto the table, the shock and previously received trauma catching up to her. Volos moved her into a more comfortable position and placed his arm next to her newly revealed mechanical leg. The panels on his arm released and opened, showing all of his machinery. He looked at them closely and found their resemblance uncanny. The panels closed again and he stood at his full height. He turned and punched the wall behind him, resulting in a large dent and a loud clang as his fist impacted the metal walls. He groaned as he extracted his fist and looked at his hand. It moved when he told it to and did what he told it to do but it was just like Luna’s own leg. “We’re more alike than I realized,” he stated. Volos lowered his hand and went over to the entrance to the room, where the lift had been destroyed. He looked down and saw the broken remains of what had been the lift. He whined and released his swords. He jumped to the wall of the shaft in front of him and plunged the blades through the metal. He climbed part way up the shaft, using his swords as grips. He stopped when he heard voices near the top of the shaft. He activated his scanners and saw the same signatures that were present when the castle was destroyed. One moved very clumsily while the other moved like it was made of blocks. His auditory sensors heard them talking about their short mission to investigate the shaft where he and Luna were hiding. He descended once again. He stepped into the room and focused on the mare lying on the table. He walked over and scooped her up in his arms. Her head rested on his chest and her metal leg clanged against his waist as he moved her. He laid her down near the entrance of the room and leaned down to her ear. “It would be better for them to find you instead of me.” He stood back up and turned his back to her prone form. “I’ll wait here.” Volos retreated back into the old weapons room and slammed the door behind him, using his scanners to watch over Luna as the guards at the top of the shaft began hooking up to their repelling gear. 4 Celestia sat on her bed and stared at the burnt shoe with disgust. She flung it to the wall with her magic and listened as it thunked against the wall and the floor. She got off her bed grunted as she smashed a hoof into the desk in her room, smashing it to pieces. “You betrayed me Luna!” she roared, “Why didn’t you leave that…that BEAST!?” Her mane had reverted to its original pink and had become a long and disheveled mess of hair that flung uselessly from side to side. The fur under her eyes were matted and dried with the stains of her sadness and rage. Her regalia lay strewn all over her room, mixing together with the heaps of other discarded and broken things. Her mirror lay shattered to pieces mixed with the colored glass of bottles of various size and shape. The glass was cutting into her unprotected hooves, drawing blood. Her bloody hoof steps turned her regal rug into a sick cacophony of red, azure, and argent. She went to her small table mirror on the one piece of furniture that wasn't destroyed; her mother’s favorite dresser. She grabbed a large bottle off of its surface and shoved the tip into her lips. The liquid fell down her throat and left a burning ache in her throat and stomach. She threw the, now empty, bottle into the wall and smiled at its sound as it shattered. She wiped her lips with her forearm and licked her lips, lapping up whatever remains of the burning liquid she could find. She turned and faced the tiny mirror again. She looked into her own reflection. Her eyes were no longer puffy but burned with the rage of the Tartarus itself. Her teeth were bared and grinding and her nose was flaring out. Her lips lowered, covering her teeth, and she stood back up straight and smiled back to herself in the mirror. She began to cackle before bursting out into full laughter. “Stupid fool, stupid fool!” she laughed. “Stupid Luna, stupid Luna! You didn’t abandon him! Commendable but it got you dead!” She stopped abruptly and looked back into the mirror. She raised a hoof and pointed to her reflection. “Stupid Celestia, Stupid Celestia!” she laughed uproariously now. “Stupid Celli, Dumb Celli! You blew up your sister! HAHA!” she continued laughing. “Boom boom go little Luna!” “BOOM!” She screamed as stood on her hind legs and threw her front legs into the air and flared her wings. She collapsed to the ground and her eyes darted around the wreckage of her room until she saw the shoe in the wreckage of her desk. She crawled over and cuddled with it. “Shh, shh, it’s okay. Everything’s okay. Don’t cry Luna, sister will always be here, always and forever.” She rubbed the shoe against her cheek and inhaled its scent. She hummed a tune and carefully let go of the shoe, leaving in the wreckage. “Sleep now, sleep!” she yelled before her own body and mind gave out from their ordeal. 5 Helios knocked on Celestia’s bedroom door rapidly and waited. After a few minutes he knocked again, louder this time. “Princess it’s very urgent! The scout team reported in! Princess Luna lives!” he called. The door opened slowly and a much disheveled Celestia poked her head out. Her eyes were sunken and there were bags under her eyes. She yawned heartily and smacked her lips together. She looked at him with indifference. “Say that again.” Helios ignored his initial shock at her horrendous appearance and cleared his throat. “Princess Luna lives!” he said loudly, though a tad more professionally than before. “The scout team found her lying by the entrance of a room at the bottom of the shaft. She’s gravely injured but alive for the time being. She’s being transported to Canterlot Royal Hospital as quickly as the Pegasi can carry her. They are doing what they can to keep her stable until they arrive.” Celestia’s eyes widened and she retreated quickly back into her room, leaving a stunned Helios at her door. The door opened again revealing Princess Celestia in her full glory once again. Her main flowed in its invisible and silent wind and her regalia adorned her body. “Helios, we're going to Canterlot Hospital. We will greet the scout team there,” she stated coolly and began to gallop to her balcony before taking off into the sunny skies.