//------------------------------//
// Noon 46, fragment six: Djiins and grins 
// Story: A mare and her dog 
// by cammera 
//------------------------------//

Pale green light emerged from the door. Feeling trepidation, Hlaoo opened it and entered the place he expected, hoped, the bastard to be.

It was only occupied by a glass tower in its center, shinning bright green. White figures could be guessed moving under the surface of the glass.

"Cool, isn't it?" Hlaoo jumped away from the door upon realizing what was in above it "I made it. I don't really know how it works, but I made it"

To say that Rubicon's body had been violated would've been an understatement: several long, deep gashes had been dug in his sides, duct tape keeping them somewhat closed, and from them several lines in geometric patterns extended through the thorax, finding themselves over the column and throat.

"It hurts, yeah" the bastard walked in the wall "But mixing layers of reality costs a bit when you aren't an alicorn. It wasn't enough to turn mass into energy, whatever that means, but it also had to be my lifeblood. I don't kn-" the bastard snickered "Gimme... gimme a second" it laughed loudly "You know the funny part? I don't know if that part was literal, I mean- It was a very old book, and Rubicon read it nearly forty years ago, but it said "Lifeblood from the bridge" and well, I wanted to be sure. No biggy" it shrugged, then jumped to the floor "Now, why had you been breaking my stuff? I like my stuff" it asked, a mirthless smile on his lips.

It was then than Mirria flew into the room, charging into him.

The bastard bounced like a ball through the air, one of his legs dangling and broken in several places.

"Cool" the bastard stopped moving, and Mirria stopped her second charge from the surprise "I mean, bad vibes and all, but cool. You know, this is kinda sorta a trap" the door closed with a bang "Did you think you were the djinn at this, with your loopholes?" it fell slowly to the ground "I am the dj-" it was charged at again by Mirria, only this time she used a different strategy.

She ran to him, crouched, and immediately jumped into it, head clashing against throat. Its head snapped back from the force of the impact, and she kept her assault, forehooves pummeling its face mercilessly until it had fallen on its back and no sound came.

She stood over the body, breathing deeply. When a moment of silence passed, she moved away from it, making to walk back to Hlaoo.

Then it rose.

She didn't waste an instant this time-- before it had time to talk, she had spun in her hindhooves and planted a firm hit in the side of its head, making it leash with a wet cracking sound, and another in the opposite side of the neck, jerking the head to a sickening angle. Without missing a beat, she pined the already falling body to the floor with a firm hoof in the now spongy neck and took one of the poison vials from a pouch, then forced it down the remains of its throat.

The corpse coughed, black smoke coming from its every orifice.

With an enraged snarl, she kept pounding the body, breaking both forelegs.

"Tsk, tsk," Mirria found herself unable to move midpunch, and the corpse slid from under her and rose, its legs moving like those of a spider due to their forcibly made articulations "Poison? Didja think poison could affect-" it coughed, and a piece of its belly fell "Woah, I don't think I am old enough for anything this strong" it turned to Hlaoo "What was your minor drinking age? fifteen?"

With a scream, Hlaoo ran to it -he'd fall fighting, at the very least-, a knife in his mouth. There was a vial, darker in tone than the one Mirria had used, in a socket on its handle.

The bastard didn't even move from the way, flesh arranging itself into a small smile, so the knife planted itself deep into its head like a second horn and bubbles rose in the vial, the liquid draining quickly.

"wOAH WOAH WOAH, THIS IS CRAZY" Hlaoo tried, unsucesfuly, to move "hOW WHERE THESE CALLED? nEUROSOMETHING?" it paused for a moment "yEAH, i THOUGHT SO. aLICORN-GRADE POISONS, REALLY? i DIDN'T KNOW YOU WERE A COWARD, KILLING LIKE THIS" it smiled again "bUT i LIKE IT. fITS THE THEME, KINDA THING"

There was a moment of silence. A teeth fell to the cobbles with a plink.

"yOU KNOW HOW THIS IS CALLED?" the corpse gestured to the green tube "a TURËTA ENGINE, ACORDING TO THE BOOK. wITH ENOUGH ENERGY, i CAN DO WHAT NORMALLY ONLY A FULLY GROWN ALICORN OR DRAGON CAN," meat arranged itself into a toothless grin "a FULL COUPLING. tWO LAYERS OF EXISTANCE OVERLAYED WITH A COMPATIBILITY INTERFACE. nOT THAT i KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS, ANYWAY" Both Mirria and Hlaoo a realized that the voice didn't come from the corpe anymore, but simply wandered close by "wHAT i DO KNOW, IS THAT YOU AREN'T JUST ANYWHERE WHEN IN THIS ROOM" it's grin increased in size, escaping from the limits of the face "yOU ARE IN MY ROOM. aND i DON'T LIKE PEOPLE BREAKING MY STUFF. nOW, HOW ABOUT WE HAVE A CHAT? tHE ENGINE HASN'T QUITE HEATED UP. wE HAVE TIME"

Mirria's eyes moved madly in their orbits, the only part of her body that could move, but whatever held the rest of her body didn't let go.