//------------------------------// // Reunion // Story: Labyrinth of Madness // by Speven Dillberg //------------------------------// Reunion Ethan and Scarlet were walking down the hallway in a surprisingly companionable silence, they weren’t friends, but they weren’t antagonizing each other any more. Suddenly they heard the sound of a woman screaming up ahead. “Duty calls,” Ethan told Scarlet as he drew his sword. Scarlet armed herself with her rifle. “Always the knight in shining armor?” “There’s no other way to be Scar,” Ethan replied with a chuckle before he took off down the corridor at a sprint. Scarlet rolled her eyes but took off after him. The pair ran down the hallway until they got to a doorway leading to a large chamber. Within they found the source of the screaming. “Oh Thomas!” “Mmm...” Ethan chuckled. They both stopped when they were suddenly aware of their audience. Thomas detached himself from Luna’s neck and removed his hands from her lower belly. “Can you give us... what, half an hour?” he asked, turning to his partner as though to see if that was enough time. Luna, whose mane was devoid of magic and flowed like normal hair, just turned as red as a tomato. “Yeah, sure Captain, go nuts man,” Ethan replied with a shrug. Scarlet just shook her head in disbelief while turning away and walking back to where she had come from. Ethan followed after her, whistling a peppy tune to himself. Luna turned to Thomas, an angry gleam in her eyes. “No, Thomas,” she stated. “What’s wrong with an audience?” he asked, returning his hands to their previous position. “Don’t let us stop you, kids, we’ll just be out here listening to the radio,” Ethan called from the hallway. Thomas took that as all the motivation he needed to resume. “Thomas, I said no.” Luna pushed the man away before he could latch onto her neck again. “I don’t feel comfortable knowing that they’re there.” “Says the pony that broke windows with her screams.” “That was different,” she pointed out. “We were both drunk, and there wasn’t actually anyone outside the room.” Thomas sighed. “Fine,” he said in disappointment. “I’ll make it up to you,” Luna said before leaning in for a nuzzle. She stood up, allowing him to do the same. As he stretched his legs, Luna looked at his face and held back a snicker. “What? Is there something on my face?” he asked, bringing a hand to his cheek. When he pulled it away his fingers were covered in sticky red blood. “Okay, that’s worrying.” “Sorry, I didn’t wipe my face before we started,” Luna answered apologetically. “Well I don’t want to know why your face is covered in your own blood,” Thomas stated. “Then I won’t ask why you had a stalactite in your throat,” Luna responded. “I don’t hear any sex, can we come back in?” Ethan called from the hallway before their conversation became awkward. “Yeah, yeah, sure,” Thomas called out to the other man. Ethan entered the room and walked up to the two, he took one look at Thomas’s healing throat wound, the blood that still partially covered Luna’s face, and decided not to ask, instead he said “You know Captain, most men avoid that time of the month, although I thought mares didn’t do that,” he said with a chuckle. Scarlet smacked him in the back of the head. “Yeah, how about you shut the fuck up?” Thomas replied. “Hey, I’m happy for you, any action is good action,” Ethan said with a shrug. “I’m just happy that we found you and not... something else...” Luna wasn’t sure what the other man was alluding to, but she guessed that he had overheard them. “As are we,” she calmly answered. “Mhm,” Ethan said with a small nod before a frown crossed his face. “I hope that Sparky is okay, I think that whatever Kata’s spell did to her was more than just an illusion...” He trailed off with a worried expression on his face. “Twilight’s a strong mare,” Thomas replied. “Yes,” Luna added, trying not to think about what the illusory Thomas had mentioned. “I’m sure that she will endure whatever Kata decides to throw at her. “Yeah, I know. She’s stronger than I am, but you know. I worry about her.” Ethan said with a shake of his head. “Oh ye of little faith. You need to stop worrying about others so much Ethan. You’re trying to remove splinters in other’s eyes but there’s a log sitting in your own,” Scarlet said. “Actually Scar, I’m doing my best to keep people from falling off of cliffs, while I’m already on the way down,” Ethan replied with a grin. “Down? More like you’re already splattered across the ground.” “That’s all relative Scar. Besides, I haven’t hit the ground yet, and if I do I’ll probably miss. That’s how you learn to fly you know, you fall and miss the ground,” Ethan told her with a chuckle. “Then only new problems will arise. Like how are you going to fly with so much weight holding you down?” The woman informed him. “Well that’s the thing, Scar, if you start to think about that then gravity notices you and bitch slaps you back to the ground,” Ethan informed her with a small smirk. “Exactly, and now there’s a nice Ethan pancake smudged all over the ground.” “Which is why I don’t think about it, Scar,” the man told her, smirk firmly in place. “Whatever Ethan,” Scarlet said giving up on trying to put some logic in the man’s brain. “Do you ever make sense?” Thomas asked, having given up on following the man’s words awhile ago. “I do if you pay attention,” Ethan said with a shrug. “Anyways, it’s just banter to eat up time while we wait for the others.” “If they wander in here, we only found this place because of the noise the two lovebirds were making.” Scarlet pointed out. “Hmm, good point, who’s up for an orgy?” Ethan asked with a chuckle. Scarlet just shot him a low glare. Luna shot a glare at him as well. “Yeah, not happening,” Thomas replied. “I was joking, geez, tough crowd,” Ethan said with a slight sigh. Twilight and Celestia were walking down yet another hallway, Twilight had a thoughtful look on her face. “Something on your mind Twilight?” Celestia asked seeing the look on her face. “I’m experimenting with this void essence that you’ve put in my mind, it’s interesting,” Twilight replied distractedly. “Don’t start messing with it Twilight,” Celestia said strictly. “It’s not self-aware, it’s only there to act as a guard against other spell containing void magic.” Twilight was only half paying attention to Celestia’s words. At the moment one of her personalities was busily experimenting with the void essence in the manner that science had proved to be the most effective way of determining what something did. She poked it. For a while, nothing happened, however moments later it started to react to her prodding. In a flash, the essence lashed out at the personalty, and with barely enough time for the fragment to shout for help it was dragged into the void essence. In the blink of an eye, the personality was fully absorbed into the darkness of the essence. “Um Celestia, what would happen if one of my personalities were to get absorbed by the void essence?” Twilight asked. “Hypothetically of course,” she added nervously. Celestia stopped in her tracks and gave a strict look at Twilight. “It happened didn’t it?” “Mmmm yep,” Twilight replied slightly distracted by the odd feeling of something new awakening in her mind. “Should I be worried?” “Twilight, you just created a new voidling,” Celestia deadpanned. Twilight... A whisper consisted of a thousand voices spoke inside Twilight’s mind. H-hello there, I’m Twilight, but umm I think you already knew that, Twilight replied uncertainly. The voices started to whisper what sounded like utter nonsense to the alicorn, going through many different combination of voices. Twilight Sparkle... the voice said in a more feminine tone. The void essence inside Twilight's mind started grow and twist into itself, losing it sphere shape and taking another form. “Twilight!” Celestia said in a firm tone, trying to draw the attention of the purple alicorn who was staring idly into space. Um, welcome to the world of the sentient, Twilight told the newborn voidling before adding in an undertone. Please don’t tear my mind apart Sentient...mortal...light... With every new word, the voices decreased in multitudes of combinations. Bonded The voice now sounded a bit like Celestia, but more like Twilight. Yes, bonded, I suppose that’s a good word for it, Twilight said. A mental picture of a small head of a unicorn filly appeared in Twilight’s mind. It ‘looked’ at Twilight central consciousness with curious, soulless, eyes. Life...existence...memories the filly’s voice kept it’s same combination of Celestia’s and Twilight's voice as it spoke in broken sentences. “TWILIGHT!” Celestia yelled, violently shaking the mare. “Shush,” Twilight told her detachedly. “Twilight you need to snap out of this.” Hello there little one, do you know where you are? Twilight asked the newborn voidling The filly didn’t answer right away as it continued to stare. I’m in your mind, which is in a mess by the way, she replied eventually. Oh, good, you can speak sentences, Twilight said happily. Sorry about the mess, I didn’t have a chance to clean up after... well what happened, Twilight told the voidling. Yes, that other void essence that was imbued with chaos magic, slowly eating you away bit by bit. Luckily it was only serving as a base for the spell and wasn’t the main focus of it, otherwise it would have been far too late to save you. For which I’m very grateful to you for doing Twilight told her. What happens now? The voidling glanced to the side. Now? Prepare for a bright flash of light. Wait, wha- Twilight began. Seconds later Twilight’s eyes were engulfed by a bright white light, taking her out of her blank, hypnotic gaze. “FAUST’S CUNT!” Twilight shouted loudly as she was blinded. “It was the only option I had left to ‘wake’ you up other than hitting you hard with shaft of my spear,” Celestia informed her as she lifted her head away from Twilight’s. “Why? It was going fine!” Twilight asked angrily. “You didn’t have to fucking blind me!” “Acting like a statue doesn’t give me confidence in that,” she replied flatly. “I was worried about you. Voidlings have the tendency to make their victims act like that as they eat away their minds.” She’s right. the voidling within her head stated. At least... in some cases at least. Rest of the time they just eat the body. “Sorry Celestia, it was mostly the shock talking,” Twilight apologized with a shake of her head. “Oh and she doesn’t seem to want to eat my mind,” Twilight added. “Good, it seems to have kept some of Ueirn’s morals at least.” Celestia said with a sigh of relief. “I’m fine, now hush and let me talk to her, oh and please keep me from running into walls,” Twilight told Celestia before her eyes glazed over again. Twilight began to walk in a trance state and Celestia just shook her head. “What did I do...” Celestia muttered to herself. So, do you have a name? Twilight asked. I have many names, though none of them describe the new me. I’m still thinking of one, bonded. the voidling replied. Ah, I see, Twilight replied. So, what now? She asked repeating her previous question. You’re going have to be more specific Twilight. There’s a lot of things we could do. Such as? Twilight asked. Travel through the void, go to other realms, new types of magic to experiment with, tell Celestia how foolish she is in reality. The voidling calmly listed. Especially waving that Zarian spear around like it’s some common tool... That last one doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence in you, Twilight told the voidling archly. Oh, sorry, that was from father’s memories. I’m still trying to sort out eons worth of knowledge and memories mother, it’s going to take some time to get used to this. Mother?! I’m not your mother! Twilight exclaimed in surprise. Sure you are. I’m made out of a part of Ueirn and a part of you, with a little bit of Celestia along a few hundred others. But it’s mostly you and Ueirn who composed of my personality. In the most basic terms of reproduction, you are my mother and Ueirn is my father. Well... Okay then I guess that makes sense... daughter. Twilight replied, trying out the word. Thanks mother, now I need some time to gather myself together. Talk to you later. The image of the filly’s head disappeared, though Twilight could still sense the voidling in her mind. A large smile overtook Twilight’s face, she was a mother, even if it was in an unconventional sense. Celestia watched and shook her head as the a wide smile suddenly overtook Twilight’s face, “I’m taking it everything’s good with the voidling for now?” “Celestia, I’m her mother,” Twilight replied with a slightly goofy grin. “And I didn’t even have to get pregnant first!” she added with a chuckle. Celestia shook her head. “What have I done?” she muttered once again under her breath. The two continued to walk through the maze, with a feeling that their time in the Labyrinth becoming a little more complex ran through Celestia’s mind. Suddenly they heard familiar voices up ahead, Twilight and Celestia exchanged a look, before they began to move quickly towards the voices. “How much longer do you think we should wait for the others?” Thomas asked with a small frown. “Well, I’m not leaving until Sparky gets here,” Ethan answered firmly. “I believe he meant that perhaps we should start searching,” Luna clarified. “Ah. I don’t know, I mean if we found you here, then odds are that this is a part of the Labyrinth where paths are meant to cross,” Ethan replied. “Of course I could be putting too much thought into this,” he added with a shrug. “Or it could have been their screaming,” Scarlet pointed out, waving a finger in the direction of the alicorn and the other Courier. As Luna turned red again, Thomas spoke up. “Actually, only she was screaming. Ow!” he exclaimed when he received a hoof to the back of the head. Ethan chuckled and shook his head. “By the way, sorry that we interrupted you, you two seemed to be enjoying yourselves.” Luna cleared her throat. “Yes, well, there is always another time.” Thomas’s expression went flat. “Yeah, I suppose so,” Ethan agreed with a slight shrug, then he winked at Thomas with a small smirk and a nod towards Luna. He received a glare in return. “You’re all so obsessed with sex,” Scarlet said with a scowl. “Not obsessed, just interested, Scar,” “Besides, Luna pounced me,” Thomas said. “Really? I would’ve bet that it was the other way around,” Ethan said with a glance towards the alicorn. Luna looked around nervously. “What I may or may not have done is irrelevant!’ she stated loudly. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of Lulu,” Ethan told her with a slight chuckle. “Hell if Cassie were here...” “I do not want to hear this,” Scarlet butted in before he could say anything else. “ETHAN!” A familiar voice called from the opposite side of the room. The group turned in time to see a flying purple streak rocket into the man and grab him in a bear hug. Celestia walked into the room a few seconds later in a much calmer manner. “Scarlet, it is good to see that you are okay,” Celestia called as she walked towards the woman. “You too,” Scarlet replied with a small smile. “Ethan, I’m a mother!” Twilight exclaimed once she’d finished her hug. A few seconds of silence passed before anyone said anything. “I don’t know what I was expecting, but it definitely wasn’t that,” Thomas said. “Agreed,” Luna added. “What do you mean, Twilight?” “Well, Celestia did something with magic to save me and now I’m a mother!” Twilight answered with a smile. “You knocked up Twilight... How does that even work?” Ethan asked Celestia after taking a quick glance at the white alicorn’s underbelly. “That spell Kata used on Twilight earlier wasn’t a simple illusion attack as we thought. It had a void essence acting as it base allowing it to regenerate and to slowly eat Twilight's mind. The only way I could help was to have my small void essence enter and take care of it, however I had to leave a part of it in there for Twilight’s safety. The essence wasn’t self-aware, however, even though I did warn her, Twilight messed with it too much and it seems to have ‘eaten’ one her personalities allowing it to become self-aware.” Celestia explained. “Okay, that wasn’t remotely what I was thinking,” Ethan said with a chuckle. “Also that happening isn’t all that surprising knowing Sparky,” he added, ruffling her mane. The alicorn snorted and moved her head out of his reach. “You have a voice in your head,” Thomas stated. “Those aren’t healthy.” Twilight’s eyes became unfocused for a second before she replied. “It’s perfectly healthy, it’s not at all a sign of mental instability. If anything it makes it easier to stay sane in a place like this when you always have someone to talk to,” she told him indignantly. “Oh, yeah, sure, that’s what ghouls say before they go feral.” “I’m not crazy, Celestia says so,” Twilight argued. “She really isn’t,” the voidling informed Thomas, speaking out loud for the first time causing Thomas and the others to jump slightly in surprise as a mare’s voice that seemed to come out of nowhere. “Right Celestia?” “Right, Twilight is as ‘normal’ as she was before. Voidlings normally don’t cause insanity with their hosts, though they might speed up mental break down if there was any. Though from what I’ve heard from Ueirn those cases are rare. Twilight’s heart is strong, I don’t see her breaking down anytime soon.” The white alicorn agreed. “Sure....” Thomas said with a slight roll of his eyes. Celestia dismissed the distrust Thomas was giving and focused on Scarlet. “Thank you for saving us Scarlet.” “Don’t start that Cele, you know I don’t like being thanked. I was just doing what I do best.” The woman replied. “Being a big damn hero?” Ethan asked. “I wouldn’t have guessed, Scar.” “No Ethan, being a good distraction.” The woman corrected. “Hero, distraction, same thing, Scar,” Ethan told her with a chuckle. Celestia looked back and forth between the two, with a curiously raised eyebrow. “So, Scarlet how did you get the means to use tainted magic? Last I checked we weren’t near a source of radiation for a while.” “Sleight of hand, did a quick swipe through Luna’s magical tail before we all split up,” Scarlet answered. “It also seemed I was right, my magic could harm it.” “Did we ever find out what it was?” Twilight asked. “I was too distracted keeping my brain from being eaten to be paying attention near the end there,” she added. “Kata said it was a banshee when she was talking to her brother,” Celestia answered. “Odd, banshees are usually mourning widows or vengeful spirits who’ve been betrayed by people close to them. Not a combination of tortured souls,” Twilight said with a frown. Perhaps they were betrayed by their companions and the banshee was eventually formed out of their tattered spirits, the voidling said in her head. “I suppose that that’s a possibility,” Twilight said out loud, earning several sideways looks. “Are you sure she won’t go muttering like No-bark?” Scarlet muttered to Celestia. “Who?” Celestia asked as she had no idea what Scarlet ment. “Never mind,” the woman replied dismissing the idea. “Girls, please don’t fight and ruin this happy moment of togetherness that we’ve got going here,” Ethan said. “We weren’t fighting,” Scarlet pointed out. “Well, it would’ve led to it, and frankly I’m not in the mood for that, Scar,” Ethan replied with a shrug. “I’m just happy that Twilight is safe and sound,” he continued with a smile at the aforementioned mare. “Thanks Ethan,” Twilight told him with a smile of her own. “So... why aren’t you calling her Kathrine anymore?” “Because I finally knocked some sense into him,” Scarlet answered. “Showed him why there was nothing he could do to help me.” “Wow, that’s impressive,” Twilight mused. “Well, it’s nice to see you two smoothing out the issues between yourselves.” Celestia said. “Yeah, well I just wish that it had happen a different way....Did y’all see any sign of Aeron or Dash?” Scarlet asked changing the topic once again. “No, not so much as a feather,” Twilight replied with a frown. “Their challenge must be taking longer than everyone elses,” the voidling mare said. “That or they’re dead.” Scarlet bluntly said. “I don’t know, but I’d say that we should give them a bit more time to get here,” Ethan said with a shrug. “Oh and Sunny, you’re lucky that you got here second, I don’t know how you would’ve reacted to what was going on...” he trailed off with a nod to Thomas and Luna, the later of whom blushed again. Celestia let out a soft amused chuckle, slowly shaking her head, but didn’t say anything. “It’s not funny,” Luna said grumpily. “It’s embarrassing,” “Personally I’d work on volume control Luna, when we can hear your orgasmic cries from a hundred yards away that’s typically a bad sign,” Ethan told her with a smirk. Scarlet hit him again. “Can we please just stop talking about it?” Luna asked angrily. “And does anyone have anything to wipe this blood off with?” she added gesturing towards both Thomas’s face and her own. “Y’all used all of my clean rags last time, so no.” Scarlet informed the night blue alicorn. “Let me see,” Ethan said as he began digging through his duster, in quick succession he pulled out a canteen, a handful of glowing, blue, alien blaster power cells, a small cybernetic component, and finally a clean-ish rag. “Here you go,” he said as he put the other items away before handing the rag to Thomas who took it with a nod. “Thanks,” Thomas said taking the rag and started to clean himself. “Any time,” Ethan replied with a shrug. “I always carry a spare blood rag on me after that time that one of Sparky’s arteries got cut open, there was blood everywhere even after we stopped the bleeding.” Twilight shuddered. “Please don’t remind me, I’ve never seen that much of my own blood. It was… unsettling, to say the least.” An ear-splitting, feminine, scream echoed through the area the group was in. The sound, however, was not that of Kata’s minions. But a more natural scream. “Well, that’s never a good sign,” Ethan said as he drew his sword. “That sounded like Rainbow Dash!” Twilight exclaimed as her horn began to glow. “Or it could be a trap,” Scarlet pointed out. “Either way, we should check,” Thomas said, tossing the bloodied rag to his side. Luna looked up and scowled when it got stuck on her horn. “Yeah, I’d rather not take the chance of having one of our group die because we were too worried to help her,” Ethan agreed. “Now come on, let’s go!” he added, nodding towards the doorway before setting off at a light sprint with Twilight on his heels. “Yep, just like Jason,” Scarlet muttered to herself before also breaking into a light sprint of her own with Celestia right along beside her. Thomas pulled the rifle off his back and took after them. “Are you sure we’ll need that?” Luna asked worriedly at his side. “Rather be ready than not,” he answered calmly. The group ran down the corridor, more or less together, as they continued the screams got louder and more terrified until they arrived in a new chamber. The sight before them took the group by surprise. Aeron was holding Rainbow Dash down by the neck, attempting to slice the pegasus’s belly open. To the surprise of no one, Ethan charged forward, throwing his sword to the side and tackled Aeron from behind. “Get off of me you mutated freak!” Aeron dropped his blade and punched wildly at Ethan’s sides in an attempt to get back up. “Fuck you!” Ethan replied before he drove his knee into Aeron’s balls, apparently not feeling the punches. Aeron coughed and wheezed as his most sensitive area took a critical blow. In response, the punching stopped and he laid on the ground with his eyes shut tightly. Ethan lifted a hand and prepared to punch him in the kidney just to make sure that the other man was down for the count. Before Ethan could do so the black man brought a dagger to Ethan’s gut in an attempt to kill him. Ethan brought his hand down and let the dagger sink into his hand, point and all before he grabbed the other man’s wrist. He squeezed hard enough to make him release his grip on the dagger. Then he brought his other hand back and prepared to punch Aeron in the face. “ENOUGH” Celestia’s voice roared. Both of the men were engulfed in a yellow glow and pulled away from each other. Celestia dragged Ethan back towards to the group near Twilight, while moving Aeron away from everyone. She let go of Ethan but continued to hold onto Aeron. Ethan landed on his feet and shot Celestia a slightly annoyed look but otherwise did nothing as he pulled the dagger out through both sides of his hand. “Let me go you freaks! I’ll make your death quick and painless!” Aeron yelled wildly as his bloodshot eyes glared at the group. “He’s gone crazy,” Thomas inferred. “Aeron, stop this! It’s us!” Rainbow Dash was up now and rejoined the group, yelling in an attempt to convince Aeron otherwise. “Stop talking in your hissing tones! Face me!” He yelled again. ”He seems to be experiencing some sort of hallucination” Twilight’s voidling told the group softly . “Are you okay Dashie?” Twilight asked the rainbow maned mare. “Y-yeah... But he just outright attacked me for no reason!” Dash exclaimed. “He obviously isn’t in the right state of mind, that much is certain,” Luna said as she eyed the man who was grinding his teeth as he struggled against Celestia’s magical grip. Meanwhile Ethan walked by the lunar alicorn and quickly swiped his injured hand through her mane. She glared at him but he didn’t even notice as his hand healed and he kept walking. “Well I guess we just have to give him a cognitive recalibration,” Scarlet said. “What?” Twilight asked. “Hit him really hard in head,” the woman simply explained. “Isn’t that cliché?” Dash asked with a placid look. “Things become cliché over time for a reason,” Ethan said matter-of-factly. “May I do the honors please?” “Be my guest,” Scarlet answered waving her hand carelessly in front of her. “Thanks,” Ethan said with a nod to the woman before he strode towards Aeron, along the way he picked up his sword. Then when he was within striking distance he brought the pommel back and then smashed it against Aeron’s forehead. Aeron grunted before his head fell limp and he stopped struggling against Celestia’s magic. Scarlet then walked up and placed her forefingers on Aeron’s neck and looked at his lips. A few seconds passed by before she said, “He’s still breathing and has a pulse.” “I wasn’t trying to kill him, Scar,” Ethan retorted with a shrug. “Just wanted to make sure,” Scarlet move her hand away. “You can lay him down now Celestia, he shouldn’t pose any more trouble.” Celestia nodded her head and laid Aeron gently on the ground, with his back flat against it before letting go of her hold. “You know, there’s nothing that makes me hungrier than being stabbed through the palm, want to make camp here?” Ethan asked the group. “This is as good as any other place,” Thomas replied with a shrug. Here, in this filthy place? Why stay here when you could spend the night with me! the voice of Kata’s brother asked them with a slight chuckle in his voice. “Because we can’t see you,” Twilight pointed out. Easily fixable. A doorway opened near the group, but it looked different than all the rest. It was made out of smooth, polished, white, marble and a bright light could be seen on the other side. The party exchanged a glance, before shrugging and stepping forward into the new door, or for Aeron case, dragged. Inside was a finely decorated dining room. A table in the center held food of every type, well except for one, but it wasn’t exactly breakfast at the moment so Twilight decided to ignore the slight problem. At the far end of the table was an elaborate chair and sitting in that chair was a dark tan teenager with mint green hair, dressed in a fancy old world suit. He stood up and held up a goblet at them and with a wild smile said. “Welcome, adventurers, to my Panic Room, I’ll be your host for a little while. So relax, take off your boots, eat, drink, make love, do whatever. There’s just one rule, don’t be boring!” the man said with a merry laugh before he took a swig of his goblet.