//------------------------------//
// Verse Thirteen 
// Story: Gjallarsong 
// by BlackRoseRaven 
//------------------------------//

Verse Thirteen:
~BlackRoseRaven


Gjallar's lament reaches its bitter end,


There is no longer anything to say:


The last note quavers, as if to pretend


He shall sing again, come another day.



But as the sun sets in flickering flame,


The moon does not rise into blackened skies:


The stars do not shine within the sky's frame,


And the only wind comes from Gjallar's sighs.



And then all is still as darkness consumes


All that once was everything in our world:


What hubris the Dragon had to presume,


Within his claws such power could be curled.



Dragon and Princess, along with Midgard,


Are consumed by shadow, forever scarred.



Celestia awoke, shivering and in pain. She didn't know how long it had been... only that it had been too long. She didn't know what was wrong with her... and yet, at the same time, she did. Oh, and she had accused Valthrudnir of having hubris... now look at her. At what had happened to her...
She slowly rose her hooves in front of herself, and trembled at the sight of the tubes through her bruised forelegs, at the pain that came from the other mechanical parts that had been fused into her body... and then the mare looked up as she felt a terrible, icy chill run down her spine.
She had been asleep for too long. There were worse things than her death happening. And this time she wasn't going to be stupid enough to ignore those feelings.
The mare stumbled towards the airlock... then snarled at it as it refused her, a holographic screen appearing. A moment later, Beauty's surprised face appeared on the screen before the mare said quickly: “Queen Celestia, you are not supposed to-”
“Open.” Celestia ordered, and the airlock doors slammed open, sparking violently as a tinny alarm went off. The mare strode through the holographic screen and the doors beyond, her body flexing and her eyes glowing with the power she still had... the power she was going to use to find out what was going on.
It didn't take her long to find Valthrudnir: he was in the throne room, so absorbed in whatever speech he'd been giving that he didn't notice her until she slammed the doors open and strode inside. Immediately, all the Dogmatists present turned to stare at her... and Celestia simply held up her hooves before she made a pulling-apart motion with them, and the Dogmatists were evenly split down the middle, flung violently into walls on either side of the room and trapped there by crushing, invisible force.
She saw Valthrudnir... and she saw her son, Thesis, and that glassy look in his eyes that told her... “What did you do?”
Valthrudnir looked back and forth at his Dogmatists, and then he turned towards Celestia and snapped: “Put them down! You stupid little horse, you are-”
“Valthrudnir!” Celestia roared as she charged forwards, and Valthrudnir had a moment to stare at her before she slammed into him... and the dragon howled in shock as he was blasted backwards off his feet and slammed through first the glass screen, and then the steel wall behind him, hitting the floor of the hallway and skidding a good dozen more feet away.
He came to a halt with a look of utter shock on his face, his mouth working slowly as Celestia stepped slowly through the hole in the wall after him, her eyes glowing with rage as she hissed: “What have you done to my son?”
Valthrudnir stared at her... and then he snarled in fury as he climbed up to his feet, clenching his hands into fists as he shouted: “I have put up with your plebeian, ignorant jackassery long enough, Celestia! Do not forget that you have but a smidgen of my power, and even that fragment is too much for your body to handle! If you dare raise your hoof or horn to me again I will-”
Celestia snapped her horn forwards, and a blast of raw force slammed into Valthrudnir's face, his head wrenching to the side as a tooth flew out of his muzzle, his jaw working spasmodically as Celestia snarled: “You treat us like nothing but barbarians anyway, and I have had enough of your arrogance. Every time I turn my back on you, you do something else... unforgivable! And this time, Valthrudnir, I will not forgive you!”
“As I will not forgive you for this insult!” Valthrudnir snarled back, snapping his fingers as he glared at her. And a moment later, spikes of ice and stone ripped out of the ground around the mare, trapping her inside a cage as he growled: “Giving my powers to a worthless brood mare like you, who thinks of nothing but the spawn of her womb, who-”
“Has a hundredth of your power, and a thousand times your creativity.” Celestia's voice said shortly from behind him, and Valthrudnir spun around... and right into a massive chunk of ice that slammed into his face, knocking him staggering backwards... before the cage he had created around Celestia suddenly erupted forwards, becoming a massive set of jaws of living rock and ice that bit savagely down around the dragon, slamming him to the ground.
Celestia approached slowly as Valthrudnir gasped on the ground, mouthing wordlessly before he looked over his shoulder at her, then snarled at her. Celestia snarled back... before her eyes widened as she heard hoofsteps behind her, the mare turning too late before Thesis slammed a hoof into her face.
The mare was sent flying into Valthrudnir, who caught her on reflex, the dragon's eyes widening in shock as he looked down at her in disbelief before blurting: “Thesis! What are you doing?”
“Protection protocols have been engaged. I am doing what you have programmed me to.” Thesis said rationally, lowering his hoof.
Celestia trembled violently in Valthrudnir's arms, touching her cheek and staring with disbelief at her son. Valthrudnir looked at Thesis, then he looked down at Celestia before he reached up towards her face with trembling fingers... and Celestia slapped his hand away before she shoved herself away from him, whispering: “Stay away from me. Just stay away from me.”
Celestia strode towards Thesis, staring at him... at his empty eyes, even as he frowned at her almost curiously. Almost: it was a facade, the emotions not really there, just masks covering layers and layers of synthetic, of chemical reaction, of...
The mare shivered and shoved past him, and Thesis looked after his mother for a moment as Valthrudnir slowly stood up in the middle of the wrecked hall. He looked down at himself, and then slowly turned his eyes towards his hands, before he held them out in almost a supplicating gesture... but Celestia was long gone, and Thesis was the only pony standing before him.
The stallion looked up at him attentively, and Valthrudnir dropped his hands, breathing slowly in and out. His hands trembled as he reached up to straighten his choker, before he smoothed out his jacket... then looked down as Thesis asked calmly: “Orders?”
Thesis looked up at him emptily: the stallion had apparently accepted what the cost of using his exoskeleton would be... and by now, his brain was so badly damaged by all the chemicals that without the neural inhibitors, his thinking processes would still be permanently altered. It wasn't Valthrudnir's fault: he hadn't had time to replace the exoskeleton with a new model, and he had explained to Thesis what the cost would be if he tried to use it. Thesis had made the choice.
Just like it wasn't his fault that Celestia was dying. He had done more for her than he had ever done for anyone... he had done more for these ponies, and continued to, going so far as to program Thesis' nodes so he could give those... annoying little reactions that made him seem more 'natural' to other ponies in spite of now being... he was perfect, now! He was the first true Replicant, the first of his kind. He was obedient, possessed a hundred times the strength of a normal pony, was able to regenerate from the gravest of wounds and had a logical, perfect mind that could process information as fast or faster than even the Clockwork King AI, all hidden under that equine shell...
“Orders?” Thesis asked again politely, and Valthrudnir looked at this pony, and saw nothing but misery and failure.
“Get out of my sight.” he whispered, and Thesis nodded before turning and striding around a corner, before the click of his hooves halted. Valthrudnir stared in disbelief at the corner, and then he asked disbelievingly: “Thesis? What are you doing?”
“I am out of your sight.” Thesis replied logically. “But I am still within range of command, Lord Valthrudnir. Do you have further orders?
Valthrudnir looked down, studying the silver rings that decorated his fingers, and the pattern of his scales. He thought about the intricacies of how his hand moved, the muscles, the fibers, the blood and the energy, cells and genetics... things he had all claimed to have mastery of, at some point or another. That he truly believed he had mastered...
“Do you have further orders?” asked the pony standing behind the corner, and Valthrudnir turned slowly around before striding silently away, leaving Thesis standing alone in the corridor.
Valthrudnir stepped through reality, and ended up somewhere he hadn't been for a long time. He stood on the same mountain he had stood on when he had first arrived in this world, gazing down over Equestria... but it was a very different place from when he had first been here. Even though it had only been a few days since Canterlot had fallen, the horde had already scattered to every corner of Equestria, like insects fleeing a destroyed hive.
The dragon had wanted to show Celestia this. The world, from his point of view: he was so high up, that everyone looked like ants, and even the mightiest castle was nothing but a stack of building blocks that he could see all the flaws in, that he could make something better. He wanted to take all the chaos, and make it into order. He wanted to fix everything he saw, because this entire universe seemed to be broken...
Was it though?
Was he broken?
Valthrudnir lowered his head as he slipped his hands into his pockets, before he closed his eyes. No, he couldn't accept that. He wasn't making a mistake... he had been too generous, but that was not a mistake, that was... different. He had tried too hard, perhaps, but so what? The ponies should have just been more accepting of him. He had given them choices, and the choices had all led to... terrible things.
In the beginning, it had been a game. He had been able to get close to Celestia easily, with displays of vulgar magic and simple tricks. He had been able to give her a child... and Thesis' original purpose had been nothing but a pet project, the ultimate Replicant.
When had things started to go wrong? When had he allowed himself to get too close? At some point, he had stopped... thinking as logically as he should have been. He had looked at Celestia as... he had thought of Thesis as...
Valthrudnir looked down at the snowy mountaintop, and then he slowly looked up at the gray, empty skies above, staring into the cosmic nothingness before he snarled, then shouted: “I am not wrong! I do not make mistakes, do you hear me? Ymir, you were wrong, it was always you... Odin, I will not let the gods take my right away from me! I will find the core of these worlds, I will not be distracted by the... pathetic excuses for life you have seeded these planets with, I will show all of you, every last one of you, what true genius, true creation is!”
Valthrudnir breathed hard, staring up at the sky, one hand clenched into a fist... and then he looked slowly down, trembling hard before he whispered: “I do not make mistakes and I am not weak, and I am not broken. I have not made any mistakes.”
“Then I have.” Celestia said quietly, and Valthrudnir spun around in surprise to stare at the mare with disbelief, the two looking at each other. They only gazed at each other for the longest time in silence... before Celestia finally stepped forwards and asked: “Why?”
“I... I don't need to give you any reasons.” Valthrudnir replied harshly, but he couldn't look at her, his eyes dropping away, his hands shoving back into his pockets as he kicked at a loose rock. “I... I do whatever I want to, Celestia. You should all be grateful-”
“Valthrudnir, I was grateful every single day you were here.” Celestia said quietly, and Valthrudnir looked up at her with surprise before the mare smiled faintly. “But I can't... fix you. I can't help you, if you don't want to be helped. And you...” Celestia stepped up beside him, looking silently down at what was no longer her country, or her world. “You still don't understand... that we're not toys. We're not animals. We're people, just like you.”
“But... you can't be.” Valthrudnir whispered, as if it was impossible, as he looked down at her before he said finally: “You don't have the powers I do-”
“You gave me your powers, and even if my body can't handle it... my mind can. Is that what scares you, Valthrudnir? The realization that even if we don't look the same, even if we're so different outside...” Celestia looked up at him silently as she reached up to rest a hoof against the dragon's stomach. “Inside, you and I... aren't different, after all?”
Valthrudnir only laughed shortly, but he trembled as he looked away from her, breathing hard in and out before Celestia looked down and nodded once. “I can't imagine what you've done, Valthrudnir... it makes me sick to think about, because I still love you, in spite of knowing...” Celestia smiled faintly, and Valthrudnir looked down at her, unable to speak, unable to think. “But I can't imagine... how you must suffer, every single day... with the realization that-”
“Stop it! Enough!” Valthrudnir shouted, stumbling away from her as he shook his head violently, before he bared his teeth at her... but even as energy boomed around him and reality itself trembled, tears shone in his eyes, his voice was petulant and childish and so very afraid as he yelled hoarsely: “I am supreme! I am superior, and... and I will not stop! I do not make mistakes, I do not... I do not care about you! I don't care about any of you! I am not weak, Celestia, and I will not be made a fool of, and this... this world is mine! This world will be mine, and every world will be mine and you are all nothing but... n-nothing but...”
Valthrudnir's mouth snapped shut, his lower lip trembling before he suddenly turned and ran away, stumbling childishly over the stony face of the mountain before he vanished in a burst of light.
Celestia stared after the dragon as a single tear ran down her cheek, the mare trembling for a moment... before she took a slow breath and swallowed her emotions, closing her eyes tightly before she whispered: “Goodbye, my love.”

When Celestia eventually returned to the Castle of Harmony, she was unsurprised to see it was in a flurry of activity. The mare strode past Dogmatists, going ignored by most of them until she was approached by Wisdom, who looked at her with contempt before she announced: “Lord Valthrudnir has revoked all your privileges and restricted your access to all areas of this Castle, which will hereby be known as Genesis. You are no longer permitted to-”
“Shut up, Wisdom.” Celestia said in a disinterested voice, absently flicking her horn to the side, and Wisdom exploded into a mass of silvery goo that splattered over several Dogmatists trying to hurry by, making them stumble to a halt.
Celestia walked onward: after a few moments, Wisdom hurried up in front of her again, although this time there was much more humility in the Dogmatist as she lowered her head meekly and whispered: “Please, Princess Celestia. Please listen to me. For everyone's sake.”
Celestia studied Wisdom for a few moments, and then she asked softly: “Why do you follow him when you aren't programmed like the others, Wisdom? You've certainly been well-trained... but you haven't been brainwashed to the extent the others have. You are cold, and cruel when you follow your Master's orders... but there's something else inside you, too.”
Wisdom looked down silently for a moment, chewing on her lip... and then she finally smiled faintly before raising her eyes and replying quietly: “Because my friends are the most important things in the world to me, and... Valthrudnir...”
She looked away, and Celestia laughed quietly, closing her eyes before she murmured: “Everything he touches, he poisons. Ruins. Including us.” She stopped, then asked softly: “Who was Princess Celestia to you? Every time you forget yourself, I hear you call me by that old, abandoned title...”
Wisdom looked down in silence, and Celestia asked with almost detached interest: “When did he kill her?”
Wisdom flushed and looked away, and Celestia continued to study her before she asked one last question, although she didn't expect any answer to this one, either: “Why was this world different? Why didn't he just destroy us or corrupt us?”
The purple pony looked up at her, and then she said after a moment, with what sounded almost like the faintest hint of envy: “Because of you. Because of you, Celestia... you were... everything that I think he was looking for. And now, for the first time, I think... he has regrets.”
Celestia nodded slowly, and then she looked down at herself, flexing her foreleg slowly before she said quietly: “I don't want to bother him. I don't want to get under hoof here, either. Are you taking over this world, or... whatever it is that you do?”
Wisdom laughed a little at this, looking down before she whispered: “I guess you could say that. Usually we don't take over the world, though. Usually we...”
She looked uncomfortably away, and Celestia studied the mare before she murmured softly: “That sounds like eternal torment to me. And this feels a little like damnation.” She halted, looking down and chewing on her lip slowly before she said softly: “Well, that's alright. I guess... this is what I deserve, anyway.”
Celestia dragged herself onward, and Wisdom watched the mare leave before she sighed softly and turned to return to her duties. The ivory mare, meanwhile, found her way up a high tower, from which she could gaze down over what was going on below, watching as the Dogmatists built what she guessed were portals.
It wasn't very interesting, and she felt too... listless and hollow to care much, but it passed the time. She was surprised by how little it bothered her to watch as several Tyrant Wyrms strode through the portals, grinning their malevolent grins before they started to skulk across the earth in all directions, likely to spread their poisons across Equestria. She wondered absently how long it would take them to turn her entire country into a blackened mire, like the poisonous bog all around her Castle of Harmony...
The answer to her question was a month, but of course that was in part because Tyrant Wyrms were marched into the land by the dozen, and there was very little left in the nation or beyond to try and resist. Their civilizations had all but destroyed each other, after all... and she knew that Dogmatist strike teams had been dispatched all over the world to eliminate any possible sources of resistance.
Celestia herself lounged around a few rooms in the castle she had claimed as her own, which Valthrudnir pointedly ignored. She drank, and abused her powers for petty reasons, and ranted to Wisdom and Beauty whenever they came to check on her or run tests.
Celestia sighed softly, then she stomped one hoof down angrily, before moodily looking down at what was no longer flesh and natural nail, but instead hard metal on the end of an appendage that several steel support bars had been grafted into. She flexed it slowly, then stomped it again... before childishly stomping it once more, this last time knocking a hole in the floor that a Dogmatist would have to come by and repair later.
Petty. But it made her feel better, if only for a moment. And she had to live for those moments these days.
Celestia snorted, then she bitterly turned away, striding across the room to her enormous throne. It was massive, and steel, and terribly cold... but that was only for now, since it changed based on her mood. Something she thought Discord would have appreciated... oh, maybe she could convince the Dogmatists to fetch his statue for her if he hadn't been crumbled in the attack on Canterlot, she would dearly love a cellmate.
Cellmate. What a cell she had, though! All of the world was at her hooves... and with barely a thought, Celestia vanished, reappearing on a desert island thousands and thousands of miles away. She looked back and forth moodily, then kicked a tree behind her before holding out a hoof, a coconut falling neatly into it before she vanished again, and reappeared in her room.
She simply touched the top of the coconut, and a perfect cut formed through the top of the fruit that Celestia easily pulled off and then grouchily upended, guzzling down the milky substance inside. Then she strode out through the open doors onto the balcony, holding the empty coconut shell in one hoof and studying what was going on below until she saw Wisdom.
Celestia flung the coconut, and it bounced off the Dogmatist's head, Wisdom flinching before she looked awkwardly up over her shoulder as Celestia shouted: “That is a coconut, Wisdom, and I expect to see my pantry stocked full of them by tomorrow!”
Below, she heard Wisdom sigh, but Celestia only grumbled and turned around, heading back into her room... before she scowled darkly as she felt his presence a moment before the dragon opened her door, glaring balefully at her.
She glared angrily back in silence, and then Valthrudnir spat: “Cease giving my Dogmatists pointless busywork and interrupting my operations, or-”
“Oh, if I wanted to interrupt your operations, I would do this.” Celestia retorted petulantly, and then she simply swept a hoof upwards, and there were yells and shouts and roars of confusion as at least a dozen Dogmatists and several Tyrant Wyrms outside were all hefted into the air by invisible forces.
Then Celestia simply let them drop as her hoof fell back to the ground, and Valthrudnir scowled at her, one of his eyes twitching. The mare only looked coldly back at him, however, until the dragon finally said in a growl: “I have decided that Canterlot will be rebuilt as a factory, since the diamond dogs were kind enough to destroy it for me. This Genesis facility will play host to several important structures, and small manufacturing city. I will call it the Exoterra project.”
“Wonderful.” Celestia said contemptibly, and then she asked shortly: “Why are you here?”
“Because, Celestia. As long as you are loafing here, you might as well contribute something to my society. I do not like extra parts simply... floating around and causing trouble.” Valthrudnir said patronizingly, and the mare narrowed her eyes at him dangerously.
He glared back angrily, and then took a slow breath before he rose his head and stated arrogantly: “Do not forget that you are now here on my-”
Celestia narrowed her eyes, and a cloth gag appeared and tightly wrapped itself around the dragon's muzzle, one of Valthrudnir's eyes twitching before he reached up and tore this off, then leaned forwards and growled: “You are pushing your luck.”
“I have to live every day like it's my last, Valthrudnir. Because it very well might be.” retorted Celestia, and Valthrudnir groaned and threw up his hands in disgust and contempt.
“You have at least a decade of life, you... odious little cretin.” Valthrudnir growled in disgust, shaking his head as he glowered down at the mare contemptibly. “Maybe if you could stop seeking sympathy and pity for a moment, you could put some of that dramatic energy towards directing my operations here. Then at least your existence would be similar to a scab instead of a festering boil.”
The two glared at each other for a few moments, and then Celestia said contemptibly: “I will work for you when my son is healed.”
“Thesis is fine. One might even be able to say 'happy.'” Valthrudnir retorted, and when Celestia glowered at him, he added contritely: “Or at least much happier than he ever was in the cesspit you turned this country into, considering how you forced him into the position where he saw each and every one of his so-called 'friends' killed.”
“You never learn, do you? You just never learn.” Celestia growled, her eyes glowing with anger before she took a slow breath, then said quietly: “Get out, Valthrudnir. Get out, and don't come back. I am not your servant.”
Valthrudnir scowled at her darkly... and then he finally snorted before turning and leaving, slamming the door angrily behind him. He took a slow breath... then calmly reached into his suit jacket and produced a single playing card, looking at this for a few long moments before he growled: “Fine, Celestia. I've given you all the chances I can give, and now... now...”
The dragon trembled, then turned and stormed quickly through the hall, shouting: “Wisdom! Ready a portal to Decretum! Thesis, meet me there! We are moving ahead with operations and I will see this entire world turned into a factory facility before the year is over!”
Outside, Wisdom flinched before hurrying to do as Valthrudnir had instructed, while Thesis only calmly looked up from where he had simply been standing, waiting to be called upon beside all the other Dogmatists on reserve. He strode quickly out of the room, making his way quickly to the portal room... but he didn't rush. His computerized mind was able to easily process where Valthrudnir's order had come from and judge his distance from the portal room, so...
Thesis arrived a moment before Valthrudnir did: Wisdom hurried into the room a moment later, before yelping when she was slapped aside by the dragon, who snarled: “Worthless! I'll do it myself! I can't depend on any of you ponies to do anything right, can I?”
“Our function is limited to our programming and physiology.” Thesis stated emotionlessly, and Valthrudnir turned a furious look towards the Replicant, raising a hand...
It quavered in the air, as Thesis looked up at him with those hollow, white eyes of his, and Valthrudnir stared down into the face of the pony who had once been... not this. He stared into glassy ivory eyes that looked up at him obediently, emotionlessly... emptily. Devoid of the ability to make decisions, with no personality, no feeling, no instinct: just a combination of passive logic and complex thinking patterns that could never...
“Thesis, what is the most important thing in this world?”
Valthrudnir had no idea what he asked the question. Maybe it had just been repeated so many times to him now in the presence of this stallion that... “The air.”
The dragon frowned at the stallion's response, and Thesis explained: “The most important thing in the world is the air. This is a generic term that encompasses both oxygen and carbon in the atmosphere, as well as a plethora of other gases. For organics, the answer is oxygen: being deprived for this substance for even a short period of time-”
“Enough.” Valthrudnir murmured, his hand slowly lowering to adjust his bolo tie, and then he looked up as the large archway at the other end of this cold steel room burst into crackling, electric life, a swirling mass of energy appearing within the metal pillars. Valthrudnir studied this for a few moments, and then he said finally: “Go through the portal, Thesis. There is... much to be done.”
Thesis nodded, striding towards the portal and passing through, and Valthrudnir followed... but halted in front of the swirl of energy, looking over at Wisdom before he said quietly: “You have the design specifications, and you know what to do. This world does not have to look... pretty. We will let the Tyrant Wyrms cover it with mire as they have Decretum, and then we will begin building mines and carbon drills. I want this world to be... black, and toxic. Fitting for... a factory.”
Valthrudnir flexed a hand slowly, looking down at it silently, and Wisdom bit her lip before she nodded hesitantly. There was silence for a few moments, and then she asked carefully: “What should I tell... Queen Celestia?”
“Queen Celestia...” Valthrudnir laughed shortly, and then he shook his head slowly before saying dismissively: “Tell her whatever you want. Tell her...”
The dragon looked away for a moment, and then he only shook his head and stepped through the portal, vanishing into the swirl of energy. The portal closed behind him... and it would not be until months later the portal was reopened, and Valthrudnir came back through.
But he did not come alone: strange ponies followed after him, many of whom had modifications and strange mutations across their bodies, but who all seemed somehow different from the Dogmatists. They were not hollow-eyed or empty: they looked around with a cold but still-present curiosity, reacted to each other, and to the world around them.
And last, came Thesis: his mane had been cropped into a stiff buzz cut, and his hide seemed more like synthetic rubber than natural flesh, his coat thin and dark and almost invisible against his jet-black hide, which merged smoothly with the advanced exoskeleton standing out of his back along the steel ridge of his prosthetic spine. His eyes were white and sharp and lucid... but it was a false lucidity. “Do you want me to go and speak to Mother?”
Valthrudnir looked moodily over at Thesis, then he said distastefully: “Do not attempt to skirt your duties, Thesis. Get the Replicants into order, and then you can go visit your precious mother.”
The dragon paused, and then he looked back over his shoulder, watching as several large, pony-shaped golems of steel slowly dragged a large, armored crate through the tall portal, the dragon looking intently at this sealed, heavy-duty box as it gradually rolled past. As it did so, he reached up a finger, stroking it along the surface of the sealed safe-box, then he said softly: “After that, meet me outside, and we shall see that you fulfill your original purpose.”
“Yes, sir.” Thesis saluted sharply, and then he turned around and ordered, as the golems dragged the crate out of the room: “Replicants! Fall in!”
The Replicants all looked up, then quickly assembled themselves into a line: all ten faced towards Thesis, their expressions varying from emotionless and empty to cunning and perhaps even resentful of the stallion standing in front of them, as Valthrudnir only watched with cold eyes. “All of you were assigned your orders in Decretum. You will continue your duties here in Endworld unless otherwise commanded. As this dominion does not have a working AI interface yet assigned, all communications must be relayed through direct contact and communication uplinks. Node will be responsible for bringing these uplinks online.”
One of the mechanical ponies saluted, and Thesis drew his eyes over the others before stating calmly: “You will all be monitored. Those who disobey their orders or waste their time will be punished accordingly.”
The rest of the Replicants saluted, and Thesis gave them one more look before ordering: “Go.”
The Replicants gave their acknowledgment in chorus before they turned and filed quickly out of the room. Thesis looked over his shoulder at Valthrudnir, who studied him in return before he said distastefully: “I suppose it was acceptable. You are dismissed for now, Thesis. But remember to report back to me as soon as you are done with your... social frivolities.”
“Yes, Lord Valthrudnir.” Thesis nodded, then he quickly saluted before turning and heading to the door himself. He made his way through the Castle, noting what was different with barely-marked interest: the only reason he cared was because it allowed him to update the mental map in his mind and the defensive strategies necessary to protect this place.
Not that they had anything left to worry about: thirteen days ago, they had been informed by Wisdom that this world was now completely their dominion. There might still be patches here and there where non-converted residents might be hiding, but they wouldn't last very long. The mire was hostile, and carbon was filling the atmosphere: the heat had already increased by more than a degree worldwide, and soon, they would have to move the sun back to reduce the greenhouse effect.
Thesis smiled: everything felt right in the world. The Replicant project was well underway, and Valthrudnir had upgraded his programming and helped him to understand the world better. He was White Delegation, and the only one of his kind: the other Replicants were Class IIIs, and their design was inferior to his own... but they were still far stronger and more advanced than the Dogmatists, and Valthrudnir already had retrieved the necessary organic materials to create what would become the Class IV Replicants.
After all, as had been confirmed by Valthrudnir's experiments, a body formed naturally in its mother's womb tended to be much more versatile than a pony created in a laboratory, by processes that were still imperfect.
Thesis looked up as he suddenly heard hooves moving towards him down the hall... and then he smiled when he saw Celestia, his mother, running towards him. She skidded to a halt in front of him, and he studied her before nodding to the mare, greeting: “Mother. I have missed you.”
Celestia looked at her son, breathing quietly in and out before she shook her head slowly and whispered: “Thesis. What has he done to you now?”
Thesis only tilted his head for a moment, as if he didn't understand, before he said slowly: “I have been modified and upgraded to my fullest potential by a variety of chemical and genetic processes. Your tone tells me that this question is rhetorical, or used to express disbelief, even shock and horror.”
Celestia stared at her son, and Thesis looked back at her before he smiled. “I am glad to see you, mother. It has triggered a neurochemical reaction, releasing dopamine through my cerebral cortex to create happiness.”
The mare shivered at this, feeling a sick twist inside her stomach before she whispered: “Thesis... what...”
Thesis only looked at her calmly, and then he stiffly stepped forwards and clumsily attempted to hug her. Celestia trembled at the contact, staring over her son's shoulder: he was more mechanical than the Dogmatists, like some sort of machine attempting to imitate social functions-
He started to pull back, and Celestia wrapped her forelegs around him, squeezing him fiercely against her. Thesis only hung limply off her, not trying to pull away nor return the embrace before he stated: “This extended period of physical contact serves no purpose.”
“Thesis...” Celestia whispered, and then she clenched her eyes shut before pulling away, shaking her head slowly as she stared at him before the mare closed her eyes tightly. “I can't tell if this is Valthrudnir trying to apologize... or just insult added to injury...”
Celestia looked silently down at her foreleg, flexing it slowly before she looked up as Thesis said curiously: “But I am more functional now. I am further capable of adaptation. I am able to recognize what these chemical reactions in my mind are and react to them. I am superior.”
The mare laughed shortly, and then she looked at Thesis and asked coldly: “What is the most important thing in life?”
Thesis looked at her for a few moments, before he responded in a thoughtful, detached voice: “The answer you desire for me to give is family. This is not a necessity, but your beliefs are based in neurochemical conditioning. As the thought of family activates so many chemical reactions and receptors throughout your brain, it generates a reaction that feels physiologically dominant: in reality this is psychological adaptation, herd instinct and conditioning synthesized and influenced by nothing more than chemical reaction. You adhere to the belief that biological connections are all that matter because you are compelled so strongly by your own biology.”
Thesis smiled at her, as Celestia looked at him for a few moments... and then she slapped Thesis hard across the face, and he blinked in shock, his jaw working slowly before he whispered: “Pain... but a chemical has been stimulated in my brain that amplifies the nervous system's reaction and yet drowns it out at the same time, making me feel... sadness...”
“Enough, Thesis!” Celestia shouted, and Thesis stared up at her in confusion as the ivory mare trembled, then snarled and spun away, trying to hold back the tears in her eyes as she said harshly: “Go, get away and stay away from me! Valthrudnir is nothing but a monster and I'll... I'll never, ever forgive him, no matter what he does! I did not give birth to a machine!”
Thesis was left standing in the corridor, looking after Celestia in confusion before he reached up and touched his own face, then he said slowly: “I am not a machine. I am organic. But I merely have come to understand that I am nothing but molecules and chemicals, as all things are...”
Thesis looked down at the ground, and then he closed his eyes. He didn't like this chemical reaction flooding through his brain now... and for some reason, he felt... like he should pursue Celestia. He was not sure why: the conversation had been ended and there was nothing further to be gained from the interaction. He had completed his personal objective and now had to return to duty.
Thesis hesitated... but then finally turned and headed through the castle, frowning as his logical and emotional programming conflicted. All the same, responsibility and duty overrode his misgivings... but why had he been programmed with the ability to have doubts?
He entered the entrance hall of the castle, striding across it towards Valthrudnir, who was inspecting the armored crate with several Dogmatists. The stallion approached, and then he hesitated for a moment before saying: “Lord Valthrudnir. I have a personal information request.”
“Go ahead.” Valthrudnir said moodily, not looking back at Thesis as he stepped away from the crate and gestured at the golems, who stepped forwards to begin opening the locks along the heavy steel box.
Thesis nodded, and he gathered his thoughts for a moment before asking: “I do not understand why I was programmed to feel doubt.”
Valthrudnir frowned at this, then he turned around and studied the pony before snorting, saying contemptibly: “I see. Doubt is nothing but a... a programming error, Thesis, a flaw very common in you ponies. I do not make mistakes. But you and your kind make many. In fact, your entire existence is nothing but a mistake, so I suppose it should not be any surprise that you still have this flaw inherent in your own mind, no matter how much I have done to remedy your damaged brain matter with the neural nodes and chemical treatments.”
Thesis looked up at Valthrudnir, and then he nodded and said calmly: “Acknowledged. Thank you, Lord Valthrudnir. In the future, all moments of doubt shall be treated as flaw, and I will revert to logical programming.”
“Fine, yes, very well.” Valthrudnir said dismissively as he turned back towards the armored crate as the golems finished unlocking it, the dragon watching coldly as it was slowly opened to reveal another heavy box inside.
This was lifted out and set down in front of him, and Valthrudnir reached out to gently stroke a finger along the top of the ornate gold container before he pushed the thin lid back. He reached into the plush interior of the crate... then removed a smooth, white-metal war horn, Valthrudnir studying this intently as he cradled it in both hands before saying softly: “Come with me.”
Valthrudnir strode towards the doors, and Thesis followed calmly... but just as they reached the open doors, a voice shouted: “Valthrudnir, what are you doing?”
“None of your business.” the dragon retorted contemptibly, glaring over his shoulder at Celestia as she stormed through the hall towards him. He lifted the instrument in his hands a bit higher, as if to defend it, as he spat: “You have no interest in helping out my operations, isn't that right? You just want to bemoan and cry away about your-”
“Shut up.” Celestia said coldly, and Valthrudnir stared at her with disbelief before the mare came to a halt in front of him... then snarled as Thesis stepped defensively forwards. “Come out from hiding behind my son, you coward!”
Valthrudnir only snorted, replying darkly: “Thesis is merely doing his duties. Unlike you, he understand and recognizes responsibilities, and that we can't all sit back and abuse our privileges. Some of us have work to do, Celestia, so why don't you go toddle off and eat and drink yourself into oblivion, just like any other pompous princess who can't get her way does?”
Celestia snarled, the very air crackling around her with her anger, and Valthrudnir winced slightly as he clutched the horn into his chest, realizing a little too late that he may have pushed too far. But then Thesis stepped forwards, his voice suddenly emotional as he shouted: “Stop! This does not serve any purpose, you both... I...”
Thesis dropped his head, grasping at his skull as he whispered: “I do not understand. Has my programming crashed? Why does my functionality feel as if it has been compromised, why is there such a flux of... chemical, and my logical systems are...”
Valthrudnir winced, and Celestia looked worriedly at Thesis before she gritted her teeth, glaring furiously up at the dragon as she accused him with her eyes. But Valthrudnir only glared back at her after a moment before he said shortly: “Thesis, get control of yourself. Recalibrate.”
Thesis shivered for a moment... then dropped his hooves, his features becoming completely emotionless as his pistons pumped once, his exoskeleton sizzling before the stallion murmured: “Systems flushed. Emotional stability regained.”
He turned his eyes towards Celestia, who was still looking hatefully up at Valthrudnir, before she blinked when the stallion stated: “I am going to fulfill my purpose. Please come with us. This affects you as well.”
Celestia frowned at Thesis, and Valthrudnir narrowed his eyes dangerously... but in spite of how angry he looked, he chiefly seemed surprised, even as he growled: “Thesis, I did not give or permit that request, and-”
“I want to see.” Celestia said quietly, looking up at Valthrudnir with trepidation... but much more calm now. The dragon looked at her uncertainly, frowning moodily, but Celestia only shook her head before he said softly: “He is my son. I want to see him... reach his full potential. I want to know... why all those years ago, you...”
There was silence for a few moments, and then Valthrudnir nodded shortly before he turned around and strode through the doors. They walked outside, and into the forest of girders and brick buildings that was slowly starting to rise around the castle through the marshland, filled with Worker Drones and Dogmatists all working to create this... Celestia didn't know what it was, really. What purpose could a city have, if all it was inhabited by was statues and machinery?
But as they walked forwards, Valthrudnir's powers stretched out, and a staircase of ice began to form before them, stretching up towards the sky. They walked up this as it grew higher and higher, until the frost under their feet bridged and stretched around into an enormous balcony.
They stood, above everything. How had they climbed so high so quickly, Celestia wondered silently: it felt like they were above even the Castle of Harmony... Genesis, she reminded herself. That was what it was called now. Fitting, she thought quietly, that the end of everything would start at the beginning.
She looked over at Valthrudnir, then asked with almost detached, empty curiosity, as he slowly rubbed the horn between his hands: “Why are you calling the apocalypse after you've already destroyed my world?”
Valthrudnir looked down at the horn silently, lifting it in front of himself... before his eyes roved towards Thesis, the dragon replying in a surprisingly-soft voice: “Because this is what Thesis was originally designed to do. This is his purpose, Celestia, and I... strayed from my true purpose for too long. Was lured off the path by...”
Valthrudnir cleared his throat, then forced his head to rise... but he couldn't make himself look arrogant, or angry, or even pedantic. He just looked like a sad, hurt child, as he passed the horn to Thesis, saying coldly: “This is not the original, but an imitation that I have designed. Now that our conquest is complete, this world must be removed. Cut loose, like a flower petal. And only after every petal is removed from this flower will I be able to reach the core world, and complete my designs. No longer will my projects be incomplete. No longer will any of you mortals interfere with me. I will transform the core reality, and when it becomes my perfect vision, so shall all the other realities change, to reflect the world they revolve around. I will make this universe make sense, even if I must purge all life first to do so.”
Celestia looked down at one of her hooves, flexing the steel appendage slowly before she laughed shortly, then she looked at Thesis as he sat with the horn in his hooves, staring down at it silently. “So when this 'petal' is removed from the chain... we'll all die?”
“No. This world will be... set apart. Other realities I have merely burned, but I have found that they often continue to clutter up my calculations, long after I have destroyed them. This method will exile your world completely: only those with great power and my own portal technologies will be able to reach this place.” Valthrudnir smiled thinly, looking coldly out over the world. “Such a task would be a waste of energy for me to perform myself... but the resonance of the Horn of Gjallar – or in this case, a near-perfect duplicate – should be more than sufficient to undo the ancient ties that bind this world to its neighbors in the maze.”
Celestia looked out over her world, and then she looked over at Thesis, studying her son. Thesis was trembling as he gazed at the horn, his head shaking slowly back and forth, and the mare frowned a little before she began slowly: “But why...”
“Because, Celestia, Thesis does not merely carry the legacy of a so-called 'sun princess' and a Jötnar in his veins... the child you carried inside you was made of Kvas, the blood of the gods, my Clay of Prometheus, and the captured essence of Heimdall, the Watcher of the Worlds.” Valthrudnir said with terrible calm, and Celestia looked up at the dragon silently as he looked back at her with icy and yet hurt eyes, before he said quietly: “And yet you never realized it. That you were carrying inside you a hybrid of god and beyond-god, hidden in a pony's body. Many of his genes are still dormant in his body, Celestia, only waiting to be activated by the right stimuli...”
Celestia smiled faintly, looking away before said softly: “Then maybe you should have just given me a normal child, Valthrudnir, instead of a science experiment you're so afraid of that you'll never let him reach his full potential.” She turned away, striding towards the railing of the balcony as Valthrudnir glared at her... before he flushed deeply as the mare added softly: “All I'm taking away from this conversation is that you easily could have put Thesis inside me without sleeping with me... but you did anyway. I never cared about Thesis because he was special, unlike you. I cared about him because he was my son. But I shouldn't be surprised that you never understood that... you make a lot of mistakes, after all.”
The dragon snarled, then he looked at Thesis and shouted: “Play the horn! Do what you were designed to do, and take another step towards completion!”
Thesis clenched his eyes shut, and without looking back, Celestia said quietly: “Play the horn. Petty victories are all your father has left... apart from petty failures.”
Valthrudnir's snarl stretched wider, and Celestia only looked coldly out over the wastes, and Thesis trembled as he stared down at the strangely-familiar horn in his hooves. Logic and emotion warred in his mind, and he could feel his exoskeleton sparking on his back as it reacted to the sudden overload, pistons pumping jaggedly and toxic chemicals spilling through his veins.
He was nothing but chemistry and science, nothing but a series of chemical and molecular reactions... but what was causing these surges through his brain and body? Why did hearing all these words confuse and scare him, why should it matter how and why he had been born, or made? Why was part of him screaming while the logical, sensible, coward slave weak part of him said obey, obey, obey...
Thesis brought the horn to his lips, even as tears ran down his face, and he blew. He blew, and the note echoed through the air, a roar that built, and built, and built, as his whole body quaked, as he felt energy like he'd never felt before coursing through his veins. His mind lit up with chemicals-
No, not chemicals. Memories. Emotions.
He felt pain. He felt wonder. He felt glory. He felt despair. And all he could do was play on, as even the machines working tirelessly below halted to stare up at the sky in confusion, as even with the bright and brilliant and shining sun still so visible above, black bled through the listless gray ceiling of their world. There was still the light of day, and shadows stretched over the ground, neither growing nor shrinking... but the sky became nothing but a solid not-color, as if the sky had been stolen away.
Valthrudnir and Celestia gazed up at this phenomenon in silence... and then Thesis cried out as the horn shattered in his hooves, the stallion knocked to the icy floor of the balcony they stood upon. Immediately, the blackness above vanished as the horn's sound vanished, returning to empty gray... but all of them could feel it, from the smallest insect to the dragon standing atop his tower of ice.
The world had changed. The air was stale. The magic that had surrounded, protected, and kept their world as part of the great network that connected all the planes had vanished.
Thesis breathed roughly in and out on the ground, bleeding from the ears, his eyes staring mindlessly at the ice before Celestia commented cynically: “A perfect imitation?”
“It was Thesis, not the fault of the device! Thesis failed, Thesis is... nothing but a failure!” Valthrudnir shouted, pedantic, childish, eyes blazing with fury as he glared hatefully at Celestia. “What do you know of... gods and magic and worlds? Fairy tales, that is what you know! There are no gods, Celestia, and there is no magic! All of this, from the pathetic parlor tricks you plebeians perform to the mightiest of imaginings I can, all of it is nothing but science! Chemical reactions and molecular attraction and impulses of protons and the ionization of particles! Nothing is magic! Gods are nothing but the product of selective evolution! There is no good, and there is no evil, and we are all nothing, nothing, nothing but a mish-mash of biology and freak occurrence!”
Valthrudnir breathed hard in and out, glaring down at her as Celestia slowly turned towards him, and then she leaned slowly up and replied quietly: “You're very quick to hide behind that shield every time something goes wrong. But where is 'everything is biology' when you're out to prove you're right, or that your plans are the best, or that you're superior to us? It's one or the other, Valthrudnir... and unlike you, I'm not a coward, and so I'm not going to just hide behind the excuse that 'my chemicals made me do it' every time I make a mistake. And I have made mistakes. You, being the greatest mistake I have ever made.”
Valthrudnir's mouth slowly closed, his eyes widening slightly, his hands grasping at himself before Celestia turned to Thesis, opening her mouth... and then she softened as she saw he was shivering on the ground, hugging himself, his eyes wild and scared and full of emotion. He looked up at her, and Celestia gazed down at him before Thesis whispered: “M-Mom... the... the brain... can't think straight. Hurts... chemicals hurt... my... I don't understand, I'm scared, I'm... m-mommy...”
Celestia strode over to Thesis, then silently leaned down and picked him up in one steel hoof, curling him against her. And like a child, Thesis buried his face against her neck before he started to sob, his mind on fire, half-programmed thoughts fizzling uselessly against the torrent of emotion and only adding to his confusion as he miserably tried to explain: “S-Serotonin dropping, chemicals... invading... h-how do I... how do I...”
“You say that you are sad, Thesis, and you let yourself cry. It's okay to cry. You used to know that.” Celestia whispered softly, before she looked up and opened a portal as she hefted the Replicant with one foreleg with the same ease she had when he had been but a foal, before she looked down and said calmly and quietly: “I expect that sooner or later, you will take my son away from me again, or the machines in his head will take him over and make him back into your little tin soldier. You've broken him, Valthrudnir. I hope you recognize and understand that.
“But right now, my son needs me, and family comes first. And you will give me my last few moments with my child.” Celestia continued in a gentle but unyielding voice, looking up and through the portal as Thesis cried quietly against her, clutching into her as he trembled violently. “Family is the most important thing in the world. And no matter how much you steal from us, how much you break us, how much you hurt us... we will always find each other again. Go and burn the worlds, Valthrudnir. Go and burn all of them. Destroy all the universe. It doesn't matter to me, because I know that no matter what you do, you'll never win.”
Celestia looked over her shoulder at the dragon, tears in her own eyes as the Jötnar gazed back at her silently, one hand slightly raised towards her, as if in silent plea, as the other clutched his own perfect suit. “You betrayed your family. And that pain, and that curse, will never, ever leave you. Even if you can lie to yourself that our mortal lives don't matter, and we're nothing but dolls and you're the toymaker... you'll never escape yourself.”
With that, Celestia strode through the portal, carrying Thesis with her to what lay beyond: the shattered, collapsed ruins of Canterlot. She stood upon the wreckage, and then took a slow breath as Thesis shivered and whimpered against her, before the mare slowly rose her head as she summoned up all of the power she had been given, and used it to do what she should have in the first place.
The world around her reverberated... and then a platform of stone slowly snapped itself together from the wreckage under her hooves before it lifted her into the air. They rose, higher and higher, as stone and brick yanked itself together all around her, as temporary scaffolds that had been set up by Worker Drones were obliterated, as the small structures here and there around what had yet to be converted into a construction zone were torn apart.
Brick after brick slammed into place, as regal marble spread upwards, and gorgeous pillars hefted themselves out of the ashen remains. Dust and dirt and filth burst away from the wreckage in great gasps, as the air trembled with the power exerted by the mare. Out of nothingness and ruin, wood snapped back together, and cloth and glass flew upwards, lining the walls as they repaired and replaced themselves.
And when Thesis looked up, he stared in shock as he found himself in his old bedroom, cradled in Celestia's embrace. She smiled down at him, bleeding red blood and strange coolant, but before he could speak, she whispered: “Look.”
Thesis turned to look... and he trembled violently as he stared at the wall across from his bed, which had once been illustrated by the outlines of himself and Singing Lark... and now, painted beautifully over the surface, he saw himself, and his sister, and Red Sky. He saw his mother as she had used to be, and Sworn Tenet, and the Dogmatists who had become his friends and soldiers... he saw the ponies who had shaped him, and the people who had become his family.
He breathed hard, staring at the beautiful, painted engraving, and then he looked over his shoulder as Celestia slowly slipped away from him, carrying herself into his bed to lay herself down. The stallion turned towards her,  opening his mouth, but unable to do more than croak... but Celestia smiled faintly at him before she whispered: “I just need to rest, Thesis. And you do, as well. And you also need to remember... to plant in your mind, firmly, who you are. Complete or incomplete, Replicant or pony, mortal or not... I love you. I will always love you. And even if I lose you, because I know I don't have long before my body gives out, and I know that the chemicals and the nodes implanted in your mind have a terrible power over you... I want you to remember that you'll always be my son, and I will always be your mother. Even after I am gone, you will always have family...”
Celestia's eyes closed, and Thesis trembled, stepping towards her and swallowing thickly before he looked over his shoulder at the wall... and even though the chemicals in his body wanted to make him furious, and the nodes in his mind were trying to reprogram all his thoughts, looking at that picture gave him strength, and purpose. Seeing all those old faces renewed his strength and energy, and gave him something to hold onto, to bury deep inside himself...
“I won't forget, Mom... family is everything. I won't ever forget my family.”