The Songs of True Madness

by Kaffeina

Voidlings

Outside the castle the group wait for Alhardir and the Chapter Master to arrive.

"I have an inquiry. Are there any locations we need to get to to gather void fragments, or do we just gather it?

“Just gather it,” I said monoton-ish-ly.

“Understood. Gathering void fragments. By the way, is it possible to use void fragments to create a tangible bioform to use? As it is, none of the three Titans; Atlas, Ogre, or Stryder can go into small spaces.”

“I’d assume so,” I pondered laying my finger on my chin, “But I’d specify what you want.”

“Noted.”

I stepped in the castle and made my way towards the center hall, the others followed close behind. I opened the door and two men fell out of a De gap in the world which closed seconds later.

“Will?” asked the heavily armored one.

“Hm?” responded the one in a brown and green mottled cloak.

“Where are we this time?” the armored one asked.

“I believe we’re in the universe of another Displaced, Horace,” said Will as he gestured at me.

“Well. This is a surprise, albeit a welcome one,” I said, my tone a bit humored.

“I might as well fill you two in on the situation. My name is Bladesong, an AI or inner conscience of another Displaced. This universe is being torn apart by the doings of [bold]The Merchant[/bold]. Portions of the world have been ‘eaten’ by void particles and fissures are opening up, releasing “Tartarus’ minions” into the world. Us Displaced have been called to aid Essence here. Apparently there is a way for Displaced to gather void fragments, each and every Displaced has this capacity. Our ability to gather void fragments is crucial to the salvation of this world. We are also waiting for the arrival of two Space Marines, if I have my ‘realms’ right, which should be in fifteen minutes.”

“Short and sweet,” I snapped my fingers, “nice job Bladesong.”

Will groaned, “As usual we get the troubled worlds.”

“Thank you Essence. By the way, a Titan is ready. Stand by for Titanfall!”

Outside came a dull thundering, followed by a dull boom. I tried to look outside but couldn’t see anything. The Princesses and elements looked extremely confused.

“Never gets old.” came a muffled voice from outside. After a few seconds of silence there is a knock on the gate.

I opened it and looked out. “Well, hello! Come on in!”

A slightly taller, slimmer built, alabaster titan walks on in, having a different rifle with a drum mag attached to the bottom of it and a different missile pod on his left shoulder with a large ocular in the center of his upper torso with a smaller ocular on his upper left torso. He looks around and spots me. “Don’t mind if I do. Name’s Atlas C. Titan by the way. You met by ‘brother’ Ogre Titan beforehand. I assume you are Essence.”

“Brother?” Luna commented.

Atlas sighs, “Yeah. About that, he isn’t my brother at all. He is me.”

“Um, huh?” asked Twilight, “That’s ridiculous… You can’t be two physical beings...:”

“When your soul is bound to one form, yes. My soul is bound to four. I have something similar to multiple personality disorder, thanks to my appearance on Gol, my Equestria’s planet. In all reality, it helps keep me sane as all three titans can be on the ‘field’ at once. To keep me from losing my mind because I’m seeing four different things at once, my conscious split into four parts: Bladesong, Ogre, Stryder, and myself."

“Makes sense,” I commented waving my hand, “but then I speak gibberish, understand madmen, and have been called Madness, so who am I to speak.”

Atlas nodded, looked at the group, then back to me. “So, got a place for me to set up shop?”

“Anywhere, I guess, not really planned for Displaced… Only encountered 1 before you guys. Xante the Lich,” I said.

Suddenly a voice said, “Xante, Baron of the Frozen Wastelands, First among Liches, Lord of the Dead, Fabulous Rainbow Magician, the Walking Ice Age, Lord of the Dance, Three Times Winner of Best Smile in the Land, Former Mayor of Sycamore Town, Current Mayor of Lavender Town, Former Professor of Defense against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts, the Richest man in Metropolis, Grand Master of Ecky Thump, the Epic Level Lich, Sorceror/Monk Multiclass, Most Fabulous Undead in all the realm, The D, Leader of Gamergate, Elf-Murderer, Master of Face Punch, Big Sexy, Troper, Friend to Children, Current Mayor of the Necropolis, The Bifrost, and Maker of the Best Ever Cheese Sandwich!”

“How, the, hell did he do that?” I murmured.

Atlas chuckled, “Sometimes it’s best to leave some anomalies to their antics, right Pinkie?”

“Yup! Oh no! I forgot balloons!” The pink mare vanished.

Altas looks at where Pinkie once was. “Aaaand there goes the promiscuously pink, prancing, partying paradox pony. Don’t worry, Bladesong’s got tabs on her.”

“Good. Why is everyone else so quiet though?”

“Looks like there’s some idle chit chat between the ponies, Will and Horace are taking stock of their gear and whatnot, and Wade is… wait...where’s Wade?” Atlas started looking around.

I peered around the corner, “That’s a very good question.”

“It seems Wade decided to do a little bit of exploring.”

“Alright, now we wait for… Alhardir , I guess.” I shrugged.

Atlas ‘nodded’ in agreement, “The Chapter Master as well. Since we have time on our hands, I have been wondering. Where is Shining Armor?”

“He, um…” Cadence started before she and Twilight broke down into sobs.

I whispered to Atlas, “He disappeared in the Empire. The void was breaking through and he tried to protect the Empire and before it was consumed by Voidlings.”

Atlas gave a solemn 'nod' and turned towards the mourning mares. "I am sorry I brought up something that tragic. But I implore you to have hope. There may yet be a way to bring him back, as well as the Crystal Empire."

“That’s true,” I said, nodding.

“...ello?... nypony there? Cade... Twily?... cess Celes... una?... arus,... en be… ateful if I… get Dis…” A dissonant, disembodied voice rang out.

Twilight and Cadence gasped. “Shiny? Where are you?”

“Finally… through...Thank… couldn’t… pire safe… aved as many… I co… on’t be… hold THEM… nger.”

"I'm getting some strong interference with the source of the signal."

I looked at Atlas. “Throw me. Directly at the Void. Hard as you can.”

Atlas looks at me before kneeling down and picking me up with one hand. He waits for a few seconds, then turns around and chucks me straight into the air towards the top of the front gate just as they open.

“Signal isolated. Patching through to the other side.”

“Heads up Shining!” Atlas shouted.

I take the chance to let out a loud “wheee!” before passing through the Void and landing on a small piece of land. I whistled.

“Damn, Shiny, you’re one lucky SOB. Grab on,” I gestured to my back. The stallion leaped aboard and the void bent around both from me forcing it to change with my mind and my music. Soon we were once again standing next to the others. I reached behind me and set the stallion down.

“Ta da!” I said as confetti streamed down through the air.

“Thirty minutes on the dot.”

Rainbow Dash grumbled and hoofed over ten bits to a grinning Applejack while a teary Twilight and Cadence ran up and hugged Shining Armor.

“Thirty? Ha! Took less time than I thought.”

"That is what I thought as well..." Rainbow Dash grumbled.

"I may have attached a Void Sync to you when I chucked you." Atlas shrugged while looking out a window.

I looked at him. “Void Sync? Alright then. Is it that thing right there?” I gestured to a small object on the ground.

Atlas turned around and looks at me. “No. That is the Void Anchor I paired the Void Sync to.” Atlas reaches down and picks the small object up. “And now I have a valid hammerspace. The Void Sync detached from you and attuned itself to that small void pocket.”

“Cool. If what we do is successful I may be able to turn it into like a pocket or something for you guys. Infinite storage.”

“That would be helpful, but me, myself, thine, and I can manage with one. I can, however, get others set up with personal Void Syncs and Anchors. Although I will accept the infinite storage setting.”

“Alright,” I said.

Atlas produced several pairs of Void Syncs and Anchors, handing each Displaced one set of each. “The red one is the Sync, the blue one is the Anchor.

“You want me to get the infinite storage setup?” I asked

“If possible right now, yes, please.”

“Alright,” I opened the piece of Void I had just been in and expanded it from the center then covered it in a Universal separation. “Done.”

“Thanks.” Atlas nodded towards me. “Whenever we come across another Void, feel free to claim it and we will sync it and separate it. Sound good?” Atlas spoke to the other Displaced.

“To be honest, I don’t really need it. I can use it for a backup though…”

“Fair enough.” Atlas said as he passed me my own Void Sync/Anchor set.

Repeating the previous process I looked to Atlas. “Now what?”

“I am not sure I understood everything you said when you were in the void Shining, but you said something about saving as many...ponies? as you could. Am I correct?”

“They are in an isolated limbo, safe from Voidlings,” he said, moving his hoof exaggeratedly.

“Alright. I’ll have Bladesong ping check for that Limbo space so that we’ll be able to pull them out once it’s safe to do so.”

“Would you be able to find the Crystal Heart?” Shining asked.

“Note, I modified it as well,” I commented. Cadence gave me a disapproving glare.

“If you give me the altercation specifications, I can search for the Hearts algorithm through the void.”

“Let’s see… Lasers, missiles… grenade launcher…. Naw, just kidding. It’s now able to store love instead of just amp it up.”

“So you changed it from just a step up transformative capability to a capacitive capability as well. Algorithm modified. Searching now.”

“Who was that?” Shining asked as he looked around.

“That, would be Bladesong, my AI and conscience. Name’s Atlas by the way.” Atlas stated.

“...Huh, okay...Wait. What?” Shining asked, becoming rather confused.

“... Long story short, multiple personality disorder.” Atlas said as he slowly ‘facepalmed’.

“Ah. Makes a little sense. Anyways, thanks Bladesong.”

I snickered. Shining could be a little dull.

“... Understood… The Reclusiarch and the Chapter Master are en-route. Be advised, the Chapter Master is not himself. Recommended action: Subdue, detain and purify.

CAUTION: Voidlings approaching from the South West perimeter.”

I groaned. “Anyone wanna try to take ‘em out first?”

“Got a tower or opening I can shoot from?” Atlas asked as he picked up his rifle.

“Sure.” I pointed four feet away. “Right there.”

“Thanks, if any of you want in on the action, feel free to join in.” Atlas said as he walked up to the opening and pointed his rifle at the oncoming horde. “EAT CHARGED LEAD, YA’ BASTARDS!” The main corridor resonated with the thrumming of the rifle firing at a high speed.

I clapped. “Geddit! Get dat bastards.”

After emptying several drums of munitions at the Voidlings Atlas stopped and let the barrel of his rifle drop forty five degrees. “... Tell me, in any of your encounters with the Voidlings, did they ever pull back?”

“No…” I said, cautiously.

“Then we have a bigger problem on our hands.”

Comments

[Kaffeina]

5350610
And? It gets better at the Baron and Some Spiders chapter. The first few sucked.

[Bones_]

I stepped in the castle and made my way towards the center hall, the others followed close behind. I opened the door and two men fell out of a De gap in the world which closed seconds later.
“Will?” asked the heavily armored one.
“Hm?” responded the one in a brown and green mottled cloak.
“Where are we this time?” the armored one asked.
“I believe we’re in the universe of another Displaced, Horace,” said Will as he gestured at me.
“Well. This is a surprise, albeit a welcome one,” I said, my tone a bit humored.

[Kaffeina]

5360476
You recognized them?

[Bones_]

5360778 'Course I did, I read the entire series, except eleven!

[Kaffeina]

5360806
and 12.
There's a twelve.

[Bones_]

5360900 dammit!

[Nitrous Rainbows]

5360476 I'm reading the twelfth book now. And guess what. I'm reading this fic just because of that reference/character/thing (probably shouldn't read through the first few comments before I start a fic but meh).
Edit: and I wasted 20 minutes of my life.

[Bones_]

5377452 lol