Soda. That's what she would describe the feeling in her veins if she had known what that was. It bubbled and fizzed throughout her veins with life as she had never known. But this was the only life she knew. There were no other memories. Save for the vague sensation that she had once had wings, and that she had almost drowned a little while ago.
But even after that terrifying experience in the water, she couldn't help but feel happy with the warm fizziness flowing throughout her body. She plodded along the edge of the shore, the giggling kicking up the sand and stones as if it were a game. She was still soaked from her near-death experience, but she ignored it and kept playing on the shore. A flash in the corner of her eye caused her to turn her head to the sky, where she saw meteors flash across the sky. She slowly stepped forward, wading back into the cold water, eyes sparkling with wonder at the sight.
For some reason, happiness seemed new to her. She didn't understand why. Who would ever want to not feel this way?
* * *
With tremendous grinding noise, the ground dimpled and then split open around a glowing purple drill. The drill transformed into cylinder to hold back the heavy walls of dirt and stone that threatened to collapse inward and crush those below. There was some frantic speaking, then a yelp, a moment later, one Pintsize Slasher levitated out of the cylinder in a purple aura and onto, mostly, stable ground. He carefully shuffled away from the hole. testing the ground as he went.
Satisfied it was safe, he called out. "Okay, it seems stable enough. You can come out now."
Next up was Cold Wind, breathing rapidly with an almost deranged look in her eye. It was quite unfortunate that they only found out she was claustrophobic after the canyon had collapsed on top them. She landed stiffly on the ground and stalked around a bit to reorient herself before turning back to the hole and peeking down. The purple glow of the DMCs illuminated the strange mare below in an almost surreal light.
"Are you feeling better now?" Andromeda asked with some concern. Cold nodded and smiled apologetically. Andromeda gave her a compassionate look. "That's good to hear, dear, now... um, could you, maybe, help me up?"
Without a word, Cold wrapped her magic field around the strange mare and gently lifted upwards. Her legs were still a little wobbly but she kept her footing as she hauled up the mare. She moved as if to collapse once Andromeda was set upon the ground, but Pintsize quickly caught her, pressing a non-spikey part of his body against hers to brace her.
Andromeda saw this and smiled. "Well, it seems you two will finally have some proper time together. But, please, wait until we're far away from this place." She began to move slowly away from the hole, keeping the DMCs up just in case it might be keeping the rocks they stood upon from sliding. "Carefully, and calmly, walk towards the lake."
The two teenagers looked at each other in bewilderment, not exactly sure what she was implying, or how she could be so calm after having been buried alive. But they complied with her wishes and moved over the dirt and large rocks, some of which would shift slightly under their combined weight. They promptly split up to avoid applying great pressure upon the already unstable surface. Pintsize kept pausing to check Cold's progress every few steps to make sure she was doing alright, much to the delight of a certain Space Captain.
"hope their foals aren't born with spikes," she muttered thoughtfully, giving a quick look at the DMCs. She could feel her connection to them starting to dwindle as she got further away. "Birthing a unicorn, a colt especially, would be hard enough," she mused, remembering that experience, "but a hundred spikes? Ugh, it be like pushing out a cheese grater... Thank you, brain, I really needed that image."
"What was that?" Pintsize asked, giving her an odd look.
Andromeda gave him a nervous grin. "Oh, nothing, just the rambling of a madmare. You wouldn't understand." Another thought came into her head. "Lucky you," she whispered, hoping he would never be able comprehend such a horrible thing. No need to spread suffering.
The two teenagers reached the edge of the rubble, leapt off, and turned back to see Andromeda standing still some ways back. Pintsize took a step towards her, but she stopped him with a raised hoof.
"No," she ordered him firmly, "stay back. I can't my keep DeMaCs up for much longer at this range. I'm gonna have to make a run for it. Get far away you two, I don't know what's going to happen. Sure as space is ugly, I don't want either of you getting hurt. So, please... run."
It was strange, the teenagers found, they were pausing to consider her orders. Rather than blindly obeying some pony with the biggest gun, or abandoning a wounded comrade that had been deemed useless, they found themselves conflicted in this scenario. Cold took a step forward.
"Will you be okay? I... we don't want you to get hurt. If we're not..."
"I said run," Andromeda shouted at them.
Being yelled at was something set too deep in their bones to ignore. They turned tail and raced away, aiming for the lake. Andromeda smiled and watched them leave, chuckling a little. "I'll be just fine." As soon as they disappeared into the tree line, she deactivated the DMC and the rubble began to slide like a tower of marbles.
* * *
The two teenagers stopped for a moment when they heard the thunderous rumbling. They turned to look back, only to gape in horror at the great cloud of dust, like a sandstorm, billowing forth with enough power to sand the fur off their skin. Not only that, but little chunks of stone were being forced along in the great pressure great by the collapsing rubble, and were impaling themselves into trees.
Pintsize placed a hoof on Cold's flank and shoved her ahead of him so he could shield her body as they rushed ahead of the dangerous cloud. Plus, if he was going to die, there were worse things to be looking at. The gravel and stones hit all around them and the cloud was gaining ground rapidly, and their nimble legs were aching and tired. Nevertheless, the forced themselves to go faster, unwilling to disrespect an order from that strange mare. Like foals afraid of disappointing their mother.
The cloud dust cloud stripped the needles and leaves from the trees, and sanded the bark smooth. Limbs snapped off as thousands of little stones rammed into them, some trees would wind up appearing like Swiss cheese. The path, beaten out over years of service, would became indistinguishable under the carpet of dirt and rock.
Pintsize looked back at the cloud and saw it was practically swallowing his tail. He yelped in terror and looked around for an escape route. A rather large tree to the left looked promising. He promptly grabbed Cold's tail with his mouth and bolted over. Cold shrieked the whole way, clawing at the ground in terror, but she was no much for an earth pony's strength.
She didn't know what he was he was doing, but soon found herself surrounded by the colt as he settled upon her body as a shield against the cloud. The cloud rammed against the tree with a great wail, and rocks beat against it, but it held, keeping the two ponies safe. Both ponies cringed and waited for the wind to die.
It had only lasted a mere minute, but it was terrifying moment for all those concerned.
"Um, Pintsize?"
"Yes?" the colt asked, eyes still closed as he covered the mare's body.
"I think it's over," she said nervously. "You can get off now."
"Oh," the colt gently got up, mindful of his spikes, and offered her a hoof, which she gratefully accepted. "So, do you think she survived?"
* * *
The thunderous noise took away the happy sensation, and the fizziness in her veins died down. She turned away from the celestial show and into the woods, where she saw a raging storm of dust. It was moving at an alarming rate. She felt fear, then pity. She took a step towards the coming cloud, feeling it's rage and anger. She didn't like that. Anything filled with so much anger shouldn't exist.
A bright pink aura formed about her horn just moments before the cloud would have hit her. A massive wall of hot pink tendrils reached out and tore the cloud apart, devouring the dark magic within. She gagged.
"It tastes like black licorice."
* * *
Andromeda deactivated the DMCs she had sent spinning around her suit after the rumbling died down. It was rather strange. She and expected some sliding, maybe even some rolling stones, but this had appeared almost like a cave in. Her horn tingled with a strange magic pulsing through the air. A cloud of dust was expected, but the air was full of it, thick blocking out almost all light. She turned the DMCs into a large wall and swept it from side-to-side to dissipate the cloud so she could get a better view.
After this was done, she saw she was standing in a hole, surrounded by gravel, remains of the rocks that had tried to swallow her up. It brought a smile to her face, but then she noticed the trees were torn apart. She swallowed hard and rushed up to one. She ran her boots over it, feeling the damage. Looking up the path she held her breath as she prayed to not see the remains of the teenagers. Fortunately, the path, or desert landscape now, was bare of any bloody corpses. She sighed in relief.
Unbeknown to her, she had an observer, who stood both in awe and loathing of her presence. He watched as she heading up the path towards the lake, his sides heaving in pain and rage. His calamitous spell had had no effect on her, and now he was too tired and hurt to do more. He collapsed to the ground and groaned.
"I curse your name, mare. Whatever it is, you are cursed. You dared halt the ceremony, you dared defile our queen's holy ground with your presence. Consider yourself marked. You will never cease being hunted."
* * *
She heard the sound of hooves, and she felt excited. She had never been excited like this before. Maybe they would like to play game. She new of a good game. It would help her forget the taste of that terrible magic. She quickly leapt into a cluster of reeds, settling down into the water, giggling gleefully.
She briefly wondered if it would have been better to tell them that they were playing. But it was such a good place to hide, and she wouldn't want to give herself away. She would stay put until they found her.
* * *
The lake seemed unusually dead that night. Only the waves could be heard, not even the splash of a fish breaking the surface or the buzzing of insects could be heard. It was all eerily silent. But to the two ponies soaking their hooves in the cool water, it was intoxicating. No pony screaming at them, calling them for "services", no wailing of tormented foals, cries of prisoners, or other horrors they had not realized before. Now, standing beneath the moonlight in utter silence and in the company of a... friend, was a new experience they were finding to be enjoyable.
"This has been the greatest two days of my life," Cold Wind suddenly said, closing her eyes and resting her chin upon her chest contentedly. Pintsize looked at her, curious as to what she meant. "What about you, Pintsize?"
Pintsize looked away, staring at the reflection of the moon in the water. There were so many thoughts and images running though his head, emotions he had never felt, and concepts he didn't understand. "Just a short while ago... we were murders, Cold. We did things that felt so natural, but... but now...," tears began to form in his eyes, "now I feel like somepony's forced me to eat rocks. Some of those things we did make me want to vomit. Why does it feel so wrong now, Cold? I feel strange pains, but it makes me happy."
Cold looked as him sympathetically and rested her hoof upon his shoulder. "I feel the same as well. It's... so natural. As if we'd been dead until now."
Pintsize looked into Cold's eyes and sniffed. "And... my sister... she never got to experience this."
Cold leaned in close and gave him a gentle embrace, it felt right. "She died free, Pintsize. She'd want you to be happy."
Pintsize made a splash when he sat down in the water, tears flowing down his cheeks in rivers. He couldn't wipe away the stinging salt for fear of accidentally gouging out his own eyes with the terrible spikes. He raised his head and cried sorrowfully, truly for the first time since he cradled his sister's corpse. "I can still see her little body. I just want my little sister to feel these things. I want her to feel freedom from that perversity we called life."
Cold nuzzled his cheek gently, an unfamiliar, yet comforting feeling for them both. "She was free. Remember that, always, Pintsize, she was as free as you and I are now. She was always the more naïve of you two. She probably felt what we are feeling now and then some."
Cold fell silent after that, keeping her cheek resting against her friend's listening to his cries. Crying was only for foals and those about to die in the Marauders, believing it to be a weakness. But that way of thinking was falling away now.
"While this is touching, don't you two think it would be a little bit better without... the spikes?"
Both ponies whipped their heads around to see a rather dusty mare in a space suit. With a great cry of joy, they sped towards her and wrapped their hooves about her in an embrace. Andromeda was both taken aback and pleased by this display of familiarity.
"You're alive," Cold whooped joyfully.
"Yes," Andromeda said pensively, thinking back to that magic she had felt.
"You came back to us," Pintsize said through his tears, beaming her a great a smile. He let out a yelp of surprise when she threw a hoof about his shoulders and pulled him in close. "Don't worry about the spikes, they can't penetrate this armor. Armor. Ha. You two already tried that, remember. Oh, not that I'm upset with you or anything... it was those adult hippies who really messed you up. I can see you're both healing already."
Cold nodded. "We've... never felt such things. What's happening to us? Is it magic?"
Andromeda chuckled and shrugged. "In a way. You were just a few coins somepony had dropped in a mud puddle. All you needed was for somepony to come along and wash the grime away before it set in too deep."
"What's a coin?" Pintsize asked, confused.
Andromeda's eyes tabled and she sighed. "Yep, you were raised by hippies. Freelovin', murderous, sadistic hippies."
"Hippies?" Cold pondered to herself. It was a strange insult to be sure, being both funny sounding and disgusting at the same time. She liked it.
"Now then," Andromeda said, releasing the colt and looked between the two. "Who wants their spikes removed first?" She created a micro saw with the DMCs and smiled.
* * *
Pintsize had volunteered to go first, discovering himself to be chivalrous and test the waters before the mare. The small, magical saw sliced through the metal spikes like butter, tickling slightly even. For each of the sharp prongs that fell to the ground with a musical plink, his heart would skip a beat, and his body would feel lighter, as though shackles were being removed. He could help but shout for joy when the final spike was removed.
Andromeda watched in great amusement as the colt began running about like a foal at an theme park. Chuckling at his antics of testing the newfound freedom of motion in his legs, she turned to Cold and gestured for to come over. The small unicorn seemed a little more nervous than Pintsize had, even after seeing the smile on his face.
"No need to worry, dear," Andromeda reassured her, sweeping the fallen spikes away with a hoof. "I've cut metal with this thing lots of times. I think I'm pretty good at it. It did save my life after all."
"How so?" Cold asked, sitting down and holding out a hoof her to work on.
Andromeda began cutting as she spoke. "Well... I can't exactly talk about it. But... did anypony, at all, see a bright object falling from the sky a few nights ago?"
Cold nodded. "We saw, but, when we didn't hear a crash, or feel any tremors, we figured it had just burned up. Why? What does that have to do with you?"
"Weeelll," Andromeda felt her geek nature start bubbling up. She wanted so bad to say she was working for the Ministries, but she wasn't so sure she could, especially in a forest that seemed to have ears. "Let's just say I was riding it."
"What? Ow!"
Cold was taken aback by her words and jerked her leg, causing Andromeda to nick the flesh. Andromeda gasped and quickly deactivated the saw. She grasped the mare's leg and examined the wound. It was small.
"I'm fine," Cold said with a shrug. "It's just a scratch. I've had worse."
Andromeda shook her head. Her horn lit up and the small scratch slowly closed up. Cold's mouth fell open as she gawked at what had just happened.
"H-how did you do that?" she asked in amazement. I thought only health potions could heal wounds like that."
"When you have a couple foals, you learn a few tricks," Andromeda said as she reactivated the saw and got back to work. "Little cuts and scrapes are simple things. Takes a little energy though."
"It wasn't really that necessary," Cold said, Andromeda just rolled her eyes. Cold decided to change the subject. "So, you rode that falling star?"
Andromeda just nodded. "It sounds crazy when you say it like that but..."
"No-no," Cold said with slow shake of her head. "That's not crazy at all. What is crazy is a mare wearing an indestructible suit, carrying weapons of mass destruction, wandering through a dangerous forest, befriending ponies who were intent on murdering her, and then brings a canyon down upon of herself in order to kill her enemies and survive. That sounds crazy."
Andromeda paused in her work to review that. "Huh. Never thought about it like that before." She finished cutting the rest of the spikes in thoughtful silence.
It was amusing to see both the teenagers running about like foals when she was done. In fact, she couldn't help but join them. They frolicked about the shore a while, tussling about in good fun. Andromeda felt good, there was no other word for it, Promise had been a downer, the past couple days had been rather dangerous, and a lonely mare had given her life to kill the monsters that infested the forest.
She paused a moment a the memory of Mrs. Miserables. "Oh, my. How could I have forgotten?"
The two teenagers collided with each other when they turned their heads to look at the strange mare. They groaned and staggered about for a moment.
"Forgot what?" Pintsize asked, rubbing his head tenderly. It was exhilarating at the same time though, not having to worry about cutting himself anymore.
"That alicorn," Andromeda said, looking back in the direction the canyon. "Her name was Mrs. Mi-z-er-obbes, and she sacrificed herself to help us. Ponies she hardly knew. Me, a pony who broke into her home, demanded things from her... accidently got her to shoot herself," she cringed a bit at that memory, "and yet... she still... she still did this for me. And by extent, you two as well."
Cold approached Andromeda's side and laid a hoof on her withers. "I've noticed that you have that effect on some ponies."
Mercy just sighed and shook her head. "I've been around at least hundred ponies since I... came here. Only four ponies have done anything to help me. Oh, speaking of one, I'm very sorry about Peppershot, Pintsize. I think it's alright to mourn now if you want. We should be safe now."
Pintsize didn't say anything, he just walked up beside Andromeda and sat down, placing a hoof on her other side. The two mares followed suit, sitting down upon the ground.
"Out of all the ponies I've met these past weeks, only you have shown me any kindness," Mercy said in a low tone. Then she began chuckling wryly, "and all of you have attempted to kill me. I keep strange company."
"Oh, come on."
All three ponies whirled around in time to see a small unicorn filly peering out from a cluster of reeds with a frustrated look on her face. Andromeda looked at Cold Wind.
"Friend of yours?"
Cold shook her head in bewilderment. "No. I've never seen her before in my life. I've never seen anypony so... well, there is you... odd."
Andromeda was too ladylike to take offense. "Well, then she certainly wandered into the wrong neighborhood." She trotted towards the annoyed filly to get a better look. The filly seemed to oblige her curiosity, as she slipped out of the reeds and walked towards her, stomping her hooves in frustration. They both paused just a few hooflengths from each other.
"I've been hiding since... forever, and none of you even tried to find me," the filly huffed haughtily before sitting on her rump and crossing her legs in front of her chest. "What a stupid game."
Andromeda's wide eyes looked the newcomer over in astonishment. The little filly had a red body, white hooves, a pink tail, a translucent pink mane upon a dark blue head that billowed in a magical breeze, giving off a ghostly effect, and her eyes were reptilian, like those cultists in the canyon, except they were bright pink as well. But the most enigmatic feature of the filly was the glowing square on her right front leg, which blinked and shimmered in archaic patterns. Andromeda wasn't a stupid mare, she quickly connected the dots.
"My suit had baby!" she shrieked in a mixture of wonder and horror. Then she promptly fainted, falling asleep for the first time since she woke up to the desolation of Hope.
* * *
Spell Nexus had managed to drag his battered body quite a distance into the forest. He was in no condition to pursue the mare. Medical experts would tell him he was in no condition to be alive. He kept moving, ignoring the pain the riddled his form as he sought out the remnants of his Marauders.
"You vile mare... damned creature of... of light. You cannot... kill me... with lightning, nor a... mountain. Truly, I am these ponies' high priest. I will... rebuild the Marauders. We're no co... common band... aaaugh... of r-raiders. I. Am. High. Priest. Of the. Queen Goddess. Not that low-born hack... who could be killed with a simple... megaspell. My Queen shall... rise... and I shall be her Consort in the... new order. No power of this world shall... defeat her dark glory. I shall... build an army. Yes. And tear that suit from your hide. In... your womb, I will place my seed... and you will watch... from a box... as the child grows. I will... fill him... with incredible hate. And... and he will carve you apart and be... a great general unto the Queen. That shall be my revenge. I want you... to suffer for... delaying my Queen's return. You're own... child shall kill you. Even if my great tempest spell could not."
On that last word, he stopped, hearing a noise. He looked up ahead and saw a glint of blue. He smiled. Ponies, watchers of the foals that had left before the ceremony began, stepped out from the brush, their eyes still the same reptilian turquoise as his own. He chuckled darkly as they silently stepped up to him and bore him away on their backs.
"I shall... return," he managed to croak out as he slipped into a deep slumber.