Gjallarsong

by BlackRoseRaven

Verse Ten

Verse Ten
~BlackRoseRaven

Thesis walked, with Singing Lark always by his side, there to support him. And Celestia returned to her quarantine, to complete her transition to becoming something more than pony. But shadows loomed all the same over the Castle of Harmony, as Valthrudnir discovered that an army of barbarians was gathering at Canterlot: a horde of bandits and scum, led by a self-proclaimed warlord.
He was tempted to destroy them himself... but Celestia desired that honor, and he was willing to concede it to her. He supposed it would be more poetic that way as well... and besides, if he didn't, he would never hear the end of her whining. Besides, his new project had become... strangely important to him.
He had never meant to see Thesis as anything more than... an interesting specimen with a touch of his own biology. Likewise, he had never meant for things to... become what they had with Celestia. Part of him, a very large part of him, often wanted to pull away, derided and mocked what he was becoming: weak. A puppet to feelings that didn't make any sense.
No, this could all be advantageous. He had been forced to... deal with several unexpected difficulties, that was true, but his experiments would ultimately be successful at the end of the day. Thesis had reacted extremely positively to the new Clay of Prometheus formula: it was something he would have to test further in the future, to see if he could better enhance its potency and effects.
Of course, all of this would be useless if Thesis' back was not repaired. As it was, he was strong enough to walk around and function as a normal pony did... but he was not a normal pony. He was supposed to be stronger, faster, better than them in every way... but the current prostheses were not capable of handling the full strain that Thesis could put on them, and nor were they designed to.
That was why the exoskeleton was being designed: it was something that would not only help Thesis regain full functionality, but press his body past its previous limits, and interact with the new chemicals flooding through his body. Valthrudnir had high hopes for the device: after all, with just the treatments so far, Thesis seemed stronger, calmer, and more intuitive than he'd ever been.
But high hopes, Valthrudnir was learning, seemed to exist solely so they could be smashed.
Everything had been going so well: the exoskeleton had been finished ahead of schedule, and Thesis had hesitantly agreed to it being implanted in his body without much argument, which had been a pleasant change of pace.
Thesis had gone to surgery again, and the exoskeleton installed into his back: it looked like a complex block of steel, with a shell of flexible metal over the back and six large, distinct pistons that would mix and pump the chemicals that were constantly being mixed inside the device. The machine connected to veins, nerves, and bone, as well as linked to the prostheses already inside Thesis: Valthrudnir supposed it looked like nothing more complex than a block engine, but in reality, it was an incredibly-durable and powerful piece of equipment, specifically designed for the stallion's use.
Thesis spent two days in recovery this time, trying to adjust to the fact that he could no longer lay down on his back and the feeling of the device sticking out of him... but he barely slept. He no longer felt tired, and he thought he saw... strange changes in his body. He felt stronger... but not entirely better at the same time.
Yet all the same, when he'd started walking around the castle again, he didn't feel heavier, or unnatural: he felt strong, and lighter than air. Valthrudnir brought him to be tested... and Thesis had been startled by how much he had changed, and how strong he had become.
His famed speed and reflexes had only grown faster; he had the strength of a hundred ponies, and endurance to match. He was able to decipher and recite volumes of information, his memory nearly eidetic, patterns and equations leaping through his mind: things he remembered being tutored in as a child but had forgotten among the flow of daily life, and yet now...
It had all been perfect.
That was, until Valthrudnir said calmly: “Now, we have to test the acceleration potential. This is your standard level of skill and strength, Thesis: impressive, but not completely beyond the potential of some of my Dogmatists, such as the Hexad. The exoskeleton, however, should allow you to bypass many of your body's limitations.”
Thesis looked uncertainly up at Valthrudnir, then he glanced nervously around the training room: he had run the obstacle course, moved weights, sprinted, ran mental and physical drills, had things thrown at him... and that had all just been a warm up? “Uh... it's been almost an hour...”
“Don't tell me you're tired, Thesis.” Valthrudnir said irritably, and the stallion shrugged lamely before he reached up and rubbed uncomfortably at one shoulder, where the steel shell kept digging against his skin. “Stop fidgeting.”
Thesis mumbled and dropped his head, and then he sighed before asking finally: “Is it really necessary, though? I just...” Thesis looked uncertainly down at one hoof, flexing it slowly. “I feel so strange. I'm healing... even faster than I used to before, and my blood... it looks a lot like the mire that surrounds the castle...”
“The only resemblance is in the color. If you took a moment to observe instead of simply assume, you would see plenty of differences.” Valthrudnir said irritably, scowling darkly down at the stallion, who lowered his head awkwardly. “And yes, it is necessary. The point of this exoskeleton is not simply to provide you with the chance to walk and perform in combat again, but to push you past your potential. To help you aspire to something your fellow animals rarely do: to surpass your failings and your limitations and gain actual value as something other than a pack animal.”
Thesis sighed a little, but he knew better than to argue as he lowered his head and muttered: “Alright. So what do I do?”
Valthrudnir studied Thesis for a moment, even as he felt a nibbling in the back of his mind... but no. He had done the calculations several times over. He knew how these ponies worked and while Thesis was biologically dissimilar to them, the chemical compositions had been calibrated and recalibrated to account for those differences...
The dragon realized that Thesis was only looking at him, and he scowled darkly after a moment before raising a hand and saying irritably: “It merely has to be turned on.”
He snapped his fingers, and all six pistons pumped with a hiss, Thesis gasping and arching his back as his body trembled, his white eyes going wide as he stared out into nothing for a moment... and then he wheezed and relaxed as the pistons all slowly returned to their standing position. But he was frowning uncertainly, his limbs trembling, his heart racing faster as an uncomfortable heat spread through his veins...
“The exoskeleton can be activated much the same way you ponies enjoy flexing your muscles. And like any muscle, it will take time for you to exercise it to the point where you can flex it at will.” Valthrudnir said distastefully, gesturing to the side to call a holographic screen into being beside him. “But similarly, the machine will also activate once a certain level of strain is achieved. I won't bother getting into how it detects this through the complex bundle of nerves and chemicals that is your body and the reactions therein, but instead-”
“Yes. I... I get it.” Thesis muttered, scowling a little before he reached up and rubbed at his head, breathing a little harder before he looked up and asked, as he felt a strange... fuzziness tickling through his brain: “What do you want me to do?”
Curt and short. Valthrudnir scowled in distaste, then he gestured towards several training dummies at one end of the room, saying moodily: “Curb your tongue and go put your hooves to use on those toys. Can you handle that for me?”
Thesis grumbled, but then ran quickly forwards, plowing into the set of six training dummies. His hooves smashed back and forth across one, and Valthrudnir frowned slightly as Thesis bared his teeth before he punched the training dummy almost in half. He certainly wasn't holding back his strength...
The dragon's eyes widened in surprise as Thesis tore his way through the group of rubberized steel targets: no, he wasn't holding back at all. Four of them were demolished before Thesis suddenly dropped forwards, his eyes bulging as the pistons on his back hissed before starting to pump as they detected the strain on his body.
Valthrudnir started to smile... and then it froze on his face as Thesis straightened with a roar and punched one training dummy into pieces, before he picked up the next and flung it across the room. It crashed into the cement wall hard enough to crack the stone, and Valthrudnir's jaw dropped as Thesis, foaming at the mouth, his eyes glowing with supernatural rage, leapt after the dummy and slammed hoof after hoof into it, crushing the cylinder into nothing but a broken can as the cement behind it cracked further and further, before he smashed it completely through the wall with a furious, primal roar.
Thesis staggered through the hole he had made, his hooves bleeding, but the stallion unable to feel it and unable to care. His mind was nothing but white hot anger and primal madness and absolute terror. His body felt like it was on fire and his veins felt like snakes as machinery pumped on his back; every breath he took felt like it was burning his lungs and everything he saw was too bright and too dark all at once, shadows always crawling at the corner of his vision.
He saw a Dogmatist, and some part of him knew what it was, but the heat that had overtaken him screamed that it was a threat. He felt fear, that this thing wanted to hurt him; he felt fury, that this thing existed, that it was there, that it dared to look at him.
Thesis reacted as he was driven to react: he shot forwards, smashing the Dogmatist back into a wall, the metal pony going limp even before Thesis slammed crushing blows down into its face. And when he crushed its skull like glass beneath his hoof he felt vindicated and vengeful! This thing couldn't hurt him anymore! But he was still full of rage and terror, there were still things that wanted to hurt him, there were still things that hated him, he was surrounded by-
“Thesis, what are you doing?” shouted a voice, and Thesis snarled over his shoulder at the dragon as it emerged from the hole in the wall. The dragon was all made of white that stood out so painfully against the red of everything else, except his eyes were great blazing meteors of gold and his mouth was a gaping dark chasm full of death and teeth, and the dragon reached out, with an arm as long as the entire world-
Thesis dodged to the side, time seeming to slow before he dashed forwards and leapt upwards, slamming a hoof under the dragon's chin and knocking its head back: he jumped with the savage uppercut, to add more force to the blow... and so he could bring both rear hooves up immediately afterwards and kick them viciously into the dragon's stomach, knocking it crashing onto its back with a gargle as Thesis flipped expertly to crash down on his hooves, before he roared when he saw others coming towards him, foam flying from his jaws as he dashed into the fray.
They were all monsters. He saw monsters that wanted to kill him. The only way out was to kill them all first.
Mechanical ponies were thrown around like toys as the pistons pumped their poisons through Thesis, the prototype exoskeleton working faster and faster. His muscles bulged with false adrenaline and synthetic energy, and his nerves were on fire, yet numb to the pain he caused himself as he tore his body on metal edges and hard stone.
Thesis roared, staggering back and forth before he looked up as a ghost rushed towards him, pale and terrible, screaming his name... and he snarled before leaping forwards, driving his hoof into the phantasm's face and driving it to the ground before he stomped on it, again and again, until it stopped moving, until-
Thesis screamed as ice tore across his back, the exoskeleton whirring brokenly as the pistons were jammed up before one of them snapped completely off. Mechanical parts ground together and pain flared through Thesis' entire body as he felt all the strength suddenly draining from his form, before he stumbled around in a circle... and right into a blast of lightning from Valthrudnir, which knocked him into a senseless, broken sprawl.
Valthrudnir swore furiously, flushed with pain and humiliation... before he stared in disbelief as Thesis started to struggle to his hooves, gurgling and foaming, mouthing incoherent words. He began to raise a hand again... but Thesis, thankfully, toppled forwards and gasped, his body quaking as poison and blood leaked out of the torn-ajar prototype on his back, the stallion landing beside a corpse...
And although most of her face had been crushed by his own hooves, and her body lay in broken and bloody disarray, Thesis recognized Singing Lark, all too well. Because Songbird had always been at his side, Songbird had always loved him, and Songbird... Songbird...
Thesis screamed. He screamed in agony, like he had never known. He screamed in denial of the truth that lay before him. He screamed in terror, and disbelief. He screamed, with hatred for himself. He screamed a scream that sounded up from his very soul.
He screamed, until Valthrudnir silenced him with a savage stomp, and he was left in darkness.

Three days later found Valthrudnir sitting in a cold concrete workshop with Thesis' broken prosthetic in front of him, silently pouring over the pages and pages of chemical compositions he had recorded in a notebook for easy perusal. Nothing seemed wrong. Everything added up. What had he failed to account for?
Why had he failed?
The dragon reached up and silently rubbed at his temples, dropping his head forwards as he gave a long, quiet sigh. He sat back after a moment on the stool he was resting on, and then he silently gestured out to the side, creating a floating screen of glass beside him... but he didn't dare to look into it. He could already hear Thesis screaming, even though the screen was silent. He could hear his struggles, even though he was locked away in the dungeons, out of sight, but never out of mind.
Finally, Valthrudnir made himself look at the screen... and in this floating window, he saw Thesis, chained to the wall by heavy shackles, the stallion screaming silently as his head snapped back and forth, foam spilling from his jaws and his eyes wild and insane.
All he had wanted to do was make him better. Was make him stronger. Thesis was supposed to have been perfect, and instead, he had lost his mind to rage and fear. Even now, with the chemicals flushed from his system... something had snapped in the stallion's mind, and all he did was cry, or scream. All he did was struggle uselessly in his bonds.
Valthrudnir silently paged through the calculations in his book again: they were perfect. Absolutely perfect, he thought. He had accounted for everything, from Thesis' unique physiology to his psychological stability to the chemicals already running through his system and the Clay of Prometheus...
The dragon frowned, then he opened his book up, paging quickly through it before he located the equation detailing the expected chemical reactions between the chemicals and the black ooze. He studied this intently for a few moments... and then his eyes widened slowly as he realized that he had never accounted for the fact that not just Thesis' flesh, but his blood ran rampant with the chemical... and that while he had made adjustments for Thesis' flesh being permeated with the Clay of Prometheus, he had simply used the standard formula for the liquid mire for Thesis' blood.
Valthrudnir looked at the notebook for a moment longer... and then he snarled before slapping it aside off the table. He stood up, and swung a fist out, smashing the floating screen beside him before he roared as he grabbed the table and flung it savagely across the room, sending the broken prototype crashing to the ground. Then he slumped, breathing hard and clenching his eyes tightly shut, his hands balling into painful fists.
All the work he had done... destroyed by a moment of laziness. By a single error where he had copied an equation instead of trying to account for all the additional chemicals that would exist in the bloodstream, that would be modified by the countless processes the body went through in the creation of cells and plasma and oxygenation and...
He snarled and stomped a foot hard enough to crack the ground beneath him, before the dragon forced himself to take a slow breath. Now he would have to work backwards in order to understand what had happened, how Thesis could have been so badly affected and what steps he could take to remedy this situation.
The dragon worked all night, feeling like the clock was against him: tests done by Beauty showed that Thesis' neurons had been damaged by the chemicals, that different parts of his brain had been affected in unexpected ways. Still, the dragon was sure he had this answer this time: he had located his error, and there was no possible way anything else incorrect in his equations. Everything else was there. He was sure of it.
How could he have let this happen? And why did he care so much? The fact he had made an error he understood weighing on him so heavily. He was not prone to making mistakes, after all, and this would be a lesson he would remember far into the future. But why did this feel so important to fix... and why did he keep seeing Celestia, disappointed in him? Why was that the biggest thing pushing him to fix this error, not the fact that it was an incorrect equation and...
Valthrudnir snarled and slammed a fist against the table, cracking it, before he simply gestured disdainfully to fix the damage he had done. Then he halted before looking moodily at his hand, flexing it slowly before he growled in disgust. Infinite power, and he couldn't fix...
No, he would not think like that and he would not give in to weakness. It already felt like a mistake to be pouring so much time and effort into fixing this problem... and it disgusted him that he felt that it had to be done before Celestia awoke from her transformation. He was only glad that she had gone into a deep sleep of sorts, while the process finished... he didn't want to imagine what she'd think or say, he couldn't stand thinking about how hurt and upset she'd be to see her son...
Valthrudnir froze, then grabbed at his face for a moment, steadying himself before he closed his eyes and took a slow breath. That didn't matter. Celestia could be as mad as she wanted. She had only a fraction of his power and there was no way she could ever pose a threat to him.
But he knew that wasn't what had him worried in the slightest.
The dragon muttered under his breath, shaking his head slowly before he looked up moodily, reaching out and absently touching along the prostheses... before he frowned slightly as he thought he felt a slight charge. He turned it gently, rolling it onto its side before he reached carefully into the broken pile of metal and wires, feeling around until he touched the crystalline core...
Valthrudnir narrowed his eyes as he felt the charge of energy running through the magical crystal that powered the engine. His fingers gripped into it as he closed his eyes for a moment... before they snapped back open and he snarled as he realized that there was too much energy being generated by the stone.
The dragon seized on the gemstone core with one hand as the other grabbed the face of the machine, and then he yanked the stone loose in a hail of sparks and metal shards. He looked down at this coldly for a moment... and then swore under his breath before he slammed it down on the table. The stone was chipped and one of the runes had been broken, something that had almost certainly happened before the exoskeleton had been installed in Thesis, considering...
But no, that kind of mistake wouldn't get past initial inspection, or the secondary check. And after the exoskeleton had been brought here from Decretum, it...
Valthrudnir looked slowly up... and then he pushed himself away from the table, striding quickly out of the workshop and storming through the castle to equipment storage, approaching the single Dogmatist in the cold concrete room as Worker Drones strode through the area, sorting and modifying equipment.
Valthrudnir stood over the Dogmatist quartermaster, scowling down at him darkly, until the Dogmatist looked up and slowly saluted. Both his eyes had been replaced with lenses, and he looked more like a living multi-tool than he did a pony anymore.
The Dogmatist didn't speak, only looked up at Valthrudnir as the white dragon looked back down at him, before he asked coldly: “Designation and commanding officer?”
“Designation Class I, Renewen. Commanding officer, Vice.” the Dogmatist replied in a hollow voice, looking emptily up at Valthrudnir. “Orders?”
“Stand by.” Valthrudnir said distastefully, then he flicked a hand to create a holographic screen in front of himself, the Dogmatist slumping slightly in front of him as it went into low power mode. “Now... let's see... review equipment transfer number 55-72-10.”
There was silence for a moment... and then static crackled across the holographic screen before Valthrudnir watched the memories of the Dogmatist scroll by on the screen. He watched the new equipment coming in, how it was all handled precisely and expertly, how the exoskeleton arrived in its solid container...
The memories fizzled slightly, and then the holographic screen suddenly went blank, apart from a single phrase that appeared on it a moment later: 'Access Denied.'
“Override. You will accept my voice as authorization.” growled Valthrudnir, and the screen sizzled for a moment before the dragon said icily: “This is precisely why the Clockwork King requires the Prophet as a special handler. AI systems getting too sure of themselves and thinking that they can go around, making changes to my programming and my world. Renewen, Vice has been terminated. Delete all data and orders received from him.”
There was a spark and a sizzle, Renewen twitching slightly as the holographic screen fizzled... and then the phrase vanished before the memories continued. Valthrudnir watched as Renewen carefully removed the exoskeleton to begin a summary check of the equipment... and then he scowled as the Clockwork Pony reached inside the device.
The dragon rose a hand to dismiss the screen: he had seen enough. But then he paused, frowning after a moment as he thought of other things Thesis had complained about, before saying slowly: “Populate a list of countermanded or additional orders made by Vice.”
There was a click... and then the dragon snarled slowly as dozens of orders scrawled quickly over the holographic screen in tiny font. Vice had used his command privilege to override and modify orders given by both himself and Celestia... many of them involving Thesis' team. Renewen, as a Dogmatist quartermaster, had access privileges to all of the Dogmatist equipment... and was also the least suspicious candidate to sabotage it all, as all Dogmatists did was follow the orders of their superiors.
But Vice had not been a true Dogmatist. Vice had been an android, an intelligent program in a robotic shell. So intelligent that it looked like he either had designs of his own for Equestria... or more simply, he had hated Thesis. Why? Valthrudnir thought it was very simple: because Vice hated anyone above his station, and Vice had already been outmoded by both the Hexad and the delusional and yet still more competent Clockwork King AI. He may have recognized that the Replicant project, if successful, was going to make him completely obsolete.
Valthrudnir looked down at Renewen for a few moments, and then he finally dismissed the screen before he held up a hand and said coldly: “Treason cannot be overlooked.”
He snapped his fingers, and Renewen twitched before looking up, the Dogmatist trembling as his glass eyes seemed to fill with faint betrayal for a moment... and then he simply, silently collapsed on his side, the light fading from his eyes, his body quickly going still as a bit of blood leaked from his mouth.
There was silence for a few moments, and then Valthrudnir shook his head before he simply snapped his fingers. And after only a second, Wisdom appeared in a burst of magic, the mare hurriedly dropping her head before Valthrudnir ordered: “Clean up this mess and install a new quartermaster. Furthermore, purge all Dogmatists of Vice's orders and any programming he might have left. He is responsible for Thesis'... outburst.”
Wisdom nodded, not questioning, only quickly obeying as she hefted the corpse of the Dogmatist and turned to carry it out. Valthrudnir looked after her moodily for a moment, and then he shook his head slowly, reaching up and rubbing at his forehead slowly.
He knew it. It had been someone else's mistake, not his, that had caused Thesis' problems. His chemical compositions were probably fine... if they erred, it was on the side of caution. This wasn't his fault after all... the fact that he'd doubted himself, and because of a failure like Vice, whom he should have recognized from the start had been trying to sabotage Thesis' equipment to make him fail...
Vice had probably been feeding information to both sides as well... Vice was the one responsible for those follies in the past, he was sure of it. Valthrudnir smiled coldly as he looked up, crossing his arms and saying disgustedly: “Plebeians. Your plans might have worked if you were not so brutish in their application.. and I was not as omniscient as I am. They may have succeeded in this minor distraction but I am supreme, I am superior, and I do not ever need to doubt in myself.”
That was right. He was far beyond any of these little inferior mortals and he should never question his own judgment or lower himself to their level. Nothing was his 'fault,' because he never made mistakes; why, they should be grateful for everything he did for them, that he bothered to linger among their kind, that he had gone to such great lengths to assist them with their pathetic, unimportant problems... there was nothing wrong with him.
Valthrudnir smiled at these assurances, raising his head and striding leisurely back towards the workshop. In the back of his mind, something still gnawed there... but he ignored it for now. No, he was certain, absolutely certain, that he hadn't made any errors of judgment, and all it would take now was a bit of recalibration. He would still double-check the formulas, of course, but that was simply to see if he had any further strokes of creative genius. Another chemical compound might suddenly jump out at him, or he might design a better way to distribute it evenly...
And of course the exoskeleton itself could be repaired now, now that he was certain there were no flaws left in it. He should have had Beauty check it over before installing it, even the innards... obviously she had been lax in her examination, failing to find that flaw. But as ultimately Vice was at fault, Valthrudnir would spare her, out of mercy and for the sake of the tight schedule they were on.
Valthrudnir returned to the workshop, where he tinkered with the device and the formulas. But he had decided to simply wait a few days for now: the increased ionization would have accelerated the chemicals and caused some changes in the structure of the formula, but it wouldn't be as serious as it seemed, the dragon decided. It just meant that some of those chemicals were probably still sticking to Thesis' neurons. He would wait a few days while the exoskeleton was repaired before checking if any permanent damages had been done.
So the dragon waited... and three days later, as he had expected, Thesis had calmed down, hanging in his restraints and shivering a little. Tears rolled down his cheeks and he whimpered like a dog and barely seemed aware of his surroundings, but as Beauty examined him, Valthrudnir saw plenty of intelligence had returned to the pony's eyes. “Respond.”
Thesis only sighed, and Valthrudnir scowled; before he could snap at the stallion, however, he was cut off as Beauty murmured: “His blood is testing completely differently from before... I've never seen this in the Dogmatists...”
Valthrudnir frowned, and without looking back at him, Beauty quickly rose a rubber-gloved hand and created a holographic screen in front of the dragon, allowing him to lean down and study the results before he scowled and muttered: “These levels are ridiculous. How many times did you run the test?”
“Three times, sir. The result was the same each time.” Beauty said quickly, and Valthrudnir returned his eyes to the holographic image, studying it intently.
“Interesting...” Valthrudnir muttered, rubbing slowly at his chin. He looked up past the translucent screen, and saw Thesis groggily looking at him, fixating on him... and was that anger? What did the pony have to be angry about? Considering what he had done... “Speak, Thesis.”
Thesis looked at him for a few moments, and then he whispered: “What did you do to me?”
“Nothing. The error was Vice's fault.” Valthrudnir replied distastefully, snorting in derision. “He has been tampering with your equipment for some time in an attempt to magnify your incompetence. Even after his death, he left coded commands in several Dogmatists to interfere with any equipment that was given to you, specifically by tampering with their power cores. The exoskeleton was tampered with as well, resulting in your... outburst.”
Thesis was silent, staring at Valthrudnir as the dragon sniffed disdainfully, then he said coldly: “But disregarding your failure to control yourself and Vice's meddling, we still have not suffered any great losses to-”
“I have. I have suffered.” Thesis said slowly, and then he lowered his head before whispering: “I don't want to ever fight again.”
“That is not your decision to make.” Valthrudnir said icily, and Thesis looked up at the dragon disbelievingly before he continued contemptibly: “It's fine if you want to be a coward, Thesis, or if you want to go back to hiding under your mother's skirts... or saddle, I suppose I should say. But you do not get to lay down and die. You do not get to simply... cry, and wish everything away. You do not get to stop fighting because you are in pain, or because you are weak, and pathetic.”
“Shut up!” Thesis shouted suddenly, yanking forwards against his bonds, his eyes blazing as tears ran down his cheeks. “This is your fault! It's your fault that I'm alive, that I'm a monster! I won't do this anymore, Valthrudnir! My sister is dead! My friends are dead! You have the power to end this war, so why won't you?”
“Because there is no god.” Valthrudnir said softly dismissing the screen in front of him so he could step forwards and lean slowly down into Thesis' face. “Because these worlds are chaos, and ruin. Because there is no sense in this universe, and that is not my fault. That is what I am trying to correct.”
The two looked at each other steadily for a few moments, before Valthrudnir continued in a quiet but ruthless voice: “You blame me because it's easy to, Thesis. But I am not at fault. It is your fault you could not control yourself. It is the other animals who attacked you. It is Vice who tampered with the equipment. All I am trying to do is install a little order in the world, but I can only do that one small step at a time. It is my fault that you live, Thesis, I will take the blame for that: likewise, it is my fault that all these ponies are still alive, and have been put towards serving a better, truer purpose, instead of festering in chaos. And it will be my fault that the universe will become a fair place, where there is no war, no insanity, no unnecessary bloodshed. Where all of you little ponies will work cohesively with each other, where all the races will be as one. Where across time and space, history will be as one ticking machine, never stripping, never breaking down, never burning away, because everything has a place, everything knows its place, and everything does its job.”
There was silence for a few moments, and then Valthrudnir straightened before he said icily: “You can help me build this world, Thesis, or you can continue to cry and give in to your primal drives. But your mother had the discipline and the courage to become something greater. I expect the same from you.”
Thesis trembled as he looked up at Valthrudnir for a few moments, breathing quietly in and out... and then he lowered his head and closed his eyes, whispering: “And what are you planning do with the broken parts like me?”
“Fix them. Or remove them from the machine.” Valthrudnir said coldly, before he leaned forwards and snapped: “Thesis, I have ordered you-”
“I don't care.” Thesis whispered listlessly, cutting the dragon off, and the dragon blinked and stared in disbelief. “You're right. There is no god. Or if there is, he doesn't care about us... why would he ever allow something like you to exist if he did? Why would he make us go through all this? There's only... chaos, and suffering, and... death.”
Valthrudnir slowly bared his teeth, and then he reached forwards and seized Thesis by the mane, yanking his head back as he hissed: “I am far beyond any god, Thesis, and you would do well to remember that.”
Thesis looked up at Valthrudnir with his empty, fearless eyes, and then he replied quietly: “And I'm less than any pony, but even I can see through all your smoke and mirrors. I see you now, for the first time, Father... you have infinite power... but not the imagination to use it. You know everything in the universe... but you understand nothing. You have an ocean of knowledge... and not a single drop of wisdom. And I feel sorry for you, because while both of us will always be different, always be forced to stand apart from the world, because you are so much 'greater' and I am so much 'lesser...' at least I'll always know why they hate me. And that's an answer you'll never have.”
Valthrudnir stared at Thesis for a few long moments, and then he slowly straightened before he narrowed his eyes and bared his teeth at the stallion. He clenched a hand into a fist, but Thesis only looked away, closing his eyes and whispering: “I can barely see her face anymore... I can't remember Red Sky, apart from her name... I feel hollow. And I feel sad and angry but I know that's not me... it's what you've done to me.”
“I have done nothing to you!” Valthrudnir shouted, reaching up to grab Thesis by the shoulders and slam him back against the wall with enough force to crack the stone, Thesis grunting... but then only looking up defiantly even as Beauty hurriedly pulled away from the two, watching with fear. “And you will not speak to me that way, Thesis, I am your-”
“Father?” Thesis cut off, and Valthrudnir only ground his teeth together before the stallion said quietly: “I thought that was nothing but biology to you.”
There was silence for a few moments, and then Valthrudnir said shortly: “Schedule Thesis for surgery, Beauty. And do not think for a moment this is for your sake, Thesis. This is because you are a project that I will not allow to fail even under the weight of your own ego and self-indulgent sniveling.”
Thesis laughed shortly, then he retorted: “You can't make me fight. I give up. I'm not going to listen. I just... I just want...”
Thesis trembled, looking down, and Valthrudnir looked down at the pony with contempt for a moment before he said calmly to Beauty: “See that Thesis is escorted to his room, and keep him there. He needs time to think about his decisions and how they may yet affect others: after all, he seems to have forgotten about his mother, and what may happen to her if he refuses to fight.”
The stallion only laughed faintly at this, before he whispered: “My mother has never needed me to fight her battles. And after she finds out what I've done... that I betrayed my own family...”
Thesis stared silently at the floor, and Valthrudnir snorted before he added derisively: “It's clear that the chemicals are still having an effect on Thesis' weak mind. Flush his blood, then give him a sedative. You're fortunate, Thesis, that I'm willing to excuse your behavior as a result of the chemical imbalance you've suffered.”
Thesis only looked up at Valthrudnir in silence, and the dragon scowled before he finally turned and left. The stallion simply allowed his head to droop back down as Beauty returned to running tests on him, until he asked in a whisper when the mare started to open his shackles: “Is it safe to do that?”
“You don't have the exoskeleton on, darling. And you seem very... coherent.” Beauty reassured gently, as she carefully opened the shackles and gently helped Thesis down to all fours. The stallion shivered in pain, the ugly, scarred valley of his back flexing, and Beauty carefully touched along this before she murmured: “Come, dear. To your room. You must want to lie down anyway.”
“I want...” Thesis shivered a little, lowering his head as his mind buzzed away. There was so much... anger, and so much despair, and a hollowness inside his chest... “Weapons... aren't supposed to have emotions. And I finally understand why... but... I can't shut off, Beauty. I can't turn the emotions off... I can't stop... crying, and yelling, and...”
He breathed shakily in and out, staring at the ground blankly for a few moments, and Beauty smiled reassuringly before she reached up and gently stroked along Thesis' neck, saying softly: “Now, dear, everything is going to be perfectly fine, you'll see. Let's get you to your room now, shall we? We'll take care of those chemicals in your bloodstream and see what we can do about getting you feeling better.”
“It's not just the chemicals, Beauty... I think you know that as well as I do.” Thesis whispered, but Beauty only gave him a small, sad smile as she gently grasped him by the shoulder, supporting him with one hand and half-guiding him forwards as the stallion wobbled on his hooves, his body shivering as he whispered: “It feels like something's going to tear out my back...”
“It's because there's no exoskeleton to support and provide leverage. But you can manage to walk, dear, you can do this. One step at a time with me.” Beauty said kindly, and Thesis nodded weakly before he lowered his head, breathing hard as they slowly made their way to his room.
It all became a blur for him, as pain and strange chemicals danced through his mind, confusing him, making his mind a fog, his eyes roving back and forth. Beauty's voice was soothing, but he couldn't hear her words: only her tone. He shivered at her touch, and he pulled away from her instinctively when he was able to crawl into bed: not just because of paranoia and distrust, but because he suddenly felt so... weak. So pathetic. So disgusting.
Beauty left and gave him a few moments to recover, before she returned with an assistant and equipment ordered from her lab. Again, Thesis found himself hooked up to needles and tubes, and he felt like... tearing them out, destroying the machines, trying to drive these Dogmatists out... but logically, he knew none of that made any sense. And there was some part of him that had... given up. That felt too weak, too broken to fight. That was hollow and empty; it didn't care whether fighting made sense or not, it was just... unable to.
So Thesis only laid there, staring blankly towards the wall, hugging himself and breathing quietly in and out as the machines whirred quietly away, the machine cleaning chemicals from his blood and then pumping it back into him through another vein.
The hours bled into each other, and Thesis wasn't even aware of how long it had been before Beauty returned with one of her assistants to take the machine apart. She offered Thesis a sedative, and he didn't resist, swallowing the pills before laying down and staring silently up at the ceiling, trying to let it work.
But it didn't really work. It made him feel tired, and feeble, and it just took the edge off the anger he felt burning inside himself and made him realize he was scared. Scared and alone and terribly sad, hurting in ways he couldn't begin to describe...
The stallion didn't resist when Beauty came to retrieve him for surgery the next day. He dragged himself listlessly through the halls, the sedative's side effects leaving him fatigued and confused. He was barely aware of what was going on around him, but... he couldn't resist. He felt too empty and confused and lost to resist. It all felt too... pointless, and trivial, because he knew that no matter what he did, it would end in failure. All things ended in failure. All life ended not in death, but failure.
Thesis was led to the table, and they fitted the mask over his face, and again, there were the drugs, and he was brought down into darkness; in the darkness, he dreamed.
He walked, guided by Red Sky and Songbird, through a burning world. Through the wasteland that Equestria had become... but it wasn't Equestria anymore, any more than it was a nation. It was black, and empty except for despair and pain. Puppets and pawns just like him drudged across its barren surface, urged on by the whips of slave-masters and the cruel breath of giant beasts.
He looked away... and a hoof made him look up, strong, hard eyes boring into his. The eyes of Sworn Tenet, another phantasm here to... to haunt him? To punish him?
He breathed shakily in and out, but all the same, he forced himself to look at what these ghosts were showing him, whispering: “I'm sorry...”
But the phantasms didn't seem to want his apology. They pulled him onwards, and they descended into a chasm, dark and terrible, filled with puppets and pawns with barely-visible strings stretching to the skies above, pulling them along as they mined the gulf of stone for its little worth. They stepped over their own fallen siblings, who twitched uselessly on the ground amidst their own piles of cut string...
Thesis looked back and forth, and he whispered: “What do you want? I know. This is... I never wanted this. Are you saying that this is my fault? Or that I'm... part of this empire?”
The ghosts were silent, and only pushed him forward.
After some time, they reached a massive gate. It opened before them, and they passed into a stone hall, full of emotionless soldiers sitting in assembly. No; sitting in wait. They were all made from metal, faceless, headless, with shields on their backs and swords resting in slots in front of them, as stiff as statues, all frozen in the same position. They were like suits of armor, waiting silently for when they would be put to use...
Soldiers that didn't fear. Soldiers that didn't need food, or water, or rest. Soldiers that did not need to train, because their every instinct was programmed into them, because they were all nothing more than cogs in the whirling machine...
“I feel sick.” Thesis whispered, and then he laughed weakly as they began to pass through the rows and rows of featureless, indistinguishable soldiers, asking weakly as tears flowed down his cheeks: “Is this... me? No... I don't want that...”
They passed through the room, and through another door that opened before them... but this time, they were somewhere different. A room of light, that burned all around them, as fire cavorted and danced inside a frozen, perfect glass pillar in the center of the room. Thesis stared at this with disbelief, then he looked back and forth before shouting: “I don't understand! I don't know! What is it? Tell me, please! Tell me what I'm supposed to see so I can learn, so I can be punished, so that-”
The glass pillar shattered, and chaos spilled through the white room. Thesis staggered backwards in horror as these insane and raving streams twisted in all directions: one laughed, warm, hot; one screamed, filled with rage, burning and yet cold as ice; one sizzled and crackled and yet was nothing but air, harmlessly washing over Thesis even as he flinched at its passage.
And in a moment, they were gone, as if they had never been at all, and all the light in the world went out as Thesis breathed hard, staring back and forth in the darkness, helpless... before a voice said quietly: “You can't keep blaming yourself.”
“I... I killed you.” Thesis whispered, trembling even as he blindly reached in the direction of Singing Lark... but she wasn't there.
“Soldiers are people, not metal toys. No matter how many toys you make, you'll never make an army.” Sworn Tenet said calmly, and Thesis stared towards where his voice had come from.
“I know. My soldiers weren't pawns... they were ponies, like me...”
“Exactly. They were like you.” said Red Sky's compassionate voice, and Thesis could almost feel her kind smile before she whispered: “Like you, Thesis. You are a pony. You are not a monster.”
Thesis laughed brokenly, and then he dropped his head and buried his face in his hooves. “I'm... I'm a homunculus and a slave to Valthrudnir. No matter how much I pretend otherwise... I'm always going to be nothing but a toy to him... nothing but his... little tin soldier. I'm... empty. I don't have a soul. I'm just...”
“Your father doesn't love you, big deal.” Sworn Tenet said shortly, and Thesis flinched before the stallion's voice said quietly: “There was no pony better than you at not taking orders. At disobeying his superiors, and ruining the mission... and bringing everyone back alive. I would be proud to see Equestria left in your capable hooves.”
Thesis trembled violently, and then Red Sky said softly: “Valthrudnir can take everything away from you. He will take everything away from you. But he can never erase you completely, Thesis. You'll fight. I know you will. Even when all seems lost, you'll fight.”
“I love you, big brother. We grew up together. And I know that you were taught to protect your family... but I know you've learned what that really means, too. That everypony is family: that every single person upon this planet is family. And you'll fight to save them all.” Singing Lark whispered, and he felt her forelegs lock around him in a fierce embrace, the stallion staring out into nothing before he closed his eyes and hugged her tightly back, trembling violently. “I believe in you. And I know that you won't give up, on anyone. Just don't give up on yourself, either.”
The world shook... and Thesis' eyes snapped open with a gasp, his whole body convulsing, his eyes staring out at nothing as Beauty shouted: “Bind him down! Stop the chemical injections!”
Thesis gargled and seized, twisting back and forth before his back arched as he screamed, the darkness, his loved ones all torn away in a blur of static and rage that screamed through his mind as the mechanical pistons on his back pumped. He roared, then tore a hoof easily free from the restraints before punching Beauty across the room, the mare slamming back-first into the wall with a gasp and falling heavily on her rump as electricity sparked over her body.
Thesis screamed, head jerking back and forth as he shoved himself up to his hooves on the table, then he grabbed at his head, looking down and clenching his eyes shut as tears spilled down his cheeks, fighting to stop himself, fighting to control, but the fear was back, the hate was back, the anger was back, and there was so much pain and his family, his family was gone and they were lying and he was a monster they had made him a monster-
Thesis looked up, eyes blazing with hatred before he roared at the glass window above, the stallion flinging himself into the air, but Valthrudnir only watched coldly as the security countermeasures activated and Thesis crashed into a wall of electricity, the stallion screaming in agony as his body twisted wildly back and forth before he dropped backwards. And immediately, Beauty's assistants ran forwards with shock rods, slamming them down on Thesis and electrifying him, the sound of crackling lightning mixing with the screams and growls of Thesis as Valthrudnir continued to look down as impassively as he could, while Wisdom stared with horror beside him.
Then Thesis slammed one of the Dogmatists away, and the dragon said coldly: “Thesis has obviously been more affected than we first considered by the chemical imbalance. This is all Vice's fault. Disable Thesis by whatever means necessary, and then have Beauty schedule him for surgery. We will correct his behavioral issues the hard way.”
“S-Sir... not... not to be...” Wisdom swallowed thickly, and the dragon glared down at her balefully, even if he was surprised that the mare wasn't rushing off to do what he had said. But after a moment, she took a slow breath before saying nervously, even as she looked at him with fear for the repercussions that would no doubt follow: “Not to question you, but... why don't we just... lower the chemical dosage? Or maybe change the exoskeleton, and-”
“You're as idiotic as the rest of those ignorant savages!” Valthrudnir snapped, and Wisdom dropped her head before Valthrudnir gestured sharply out at the surgery theater, where Thesis was now attacking Beauty in a wild rage, screaming in fury as he tried to punch his way uselessly through the electrified energy shield the Dogmatist was hiding behind. “I created the formula myself. I have calibrated it precisely for Thesis' mental function. Are you questioning the veracity and viability of my calculations, Wisdom?”
Wisdom lowered her head further, trembling, and then she whispered: “But... the chemical interactions may have changed, and... maybe the synthetic adrenaline is exciting his body so much it's releasing his own stores of adrenaline, and the overdose is sending him into-”
“Get out and do your duty.” Valthrudnir said coldly, pointing sharply towards the door, and Wisdom winced before turning and scurrying hurriedly out of the room. The dragon glared after her... but as the door closed, his hand trembled before he dropped it and quickly grasped into his own suit jacket to steady his shakes, looking back down into the room as his features lost their hardness, his eyes silently surveying Thesis as he was electrocuted again, driven to the ground, foaming and howling, the exoskeleton on his back smoking and broken but the stallion refusing to give up the fight...
No, he couldn't be wrong. He wasn't wrong, he knew he wasn't wrong. He had done everything right, he didn't make mistakes and he had accounted for everything. More than accounted for it, as a matter of fact. He was absolutely, completely sure that he was right...
And that meant... that the chemical receptors in Thesis' brain had been damaged beyond repair, and accelerating any signal he received to catastrophic levels. This was Vice's fault.
This wasn't his fault.
Valthrudnir took a slow breath, and then he silently smoothed out his suit before biting his lip. No, it didn't matter. He'd... they had seen excellent results with the neural nodes. Riordan had responded well to them, and he had served as a prototype of sorts for Thesis. There were a few flaws but the nodes could be reprogrammed as necessary as well.
Valthrudnir watched as Wisdom entered the fray, catching Thesis with her magic, crushing him to the floor with telekinesis as other Dogmatists pinned his limbs... and then the dragon shook his head before he turned to quickly head for the door.
This would all be so much easier if he just didn't care. This... caring, this compassion, it was making him weak, making him consider the impossible, making him feel unpleasant things. He should never have had feelings for this piece of meat and biology like he did, just like he shouldn't be so... concerned about the thought of Celestia waking up and finding out what he had done to her son...
No, finding out what Vice had done to her son. It was Vice's fault, not his. But he knew how to fix it. He would fix this, and in one fell swoop, prove his superiority to Celestia and create the perfect Replicant, the archetype over which all other Replicants would be made.
He did not make mistakes. And he would not lose this opportunity. He had not come this far to lose everything now.
Even if Valthrudnir was no longer sure what everything meant: losing his ultimate project... or the mare who loved the son he had never meant to have.