Neil

by Ferrum Requiem

Part Thirteen

The ability of the average pirate in the field of battle would leave even the lowliest Mandalorian warrior wanting; but, to defeat thousands of them entrenched in the deepening dark of Onderon's moon? That's something else entirely.

A battle on Dxun would be a war on multiple fronts merely for the fact that the vicious predators and the moon itself want you dead. In the low pressure steam that passes for air in the alien jungle, even a simple scout camp would molder and be devoured by overgrowth in mere months. And the endless moisture wreaks havoc on anything more complex than a sharpened stick before long.

All the while, the native wildlife wait undercover in the dark. The beasts of Dxun are some of the deadliest in the galaxy, and always hungry for any sign of weakness. Hunger would be motive enough to suffer their attention during a campaign, but the invasion of Dxun will put kilometers of jungle to the vibro-sword and blaster, to bomber runs and turbo-strikes alike, bathing whole areas in hellish fire and frightening noise. The natives will scatter from their hunting spots in flight from the battle. The food chain would devolve into a bloody free for all in the moldering darkness, anything caught in the way subject to violent natural selection.

Neil had to account for all manner of frightful things in the dank frenzy: there were Maalraas, Cannoks, Bomas, Gharzr, and far, far worse in the bleak of Dxun, like the Zakkeg.

Zakkegs are living tanks on four legs with armored hide so thick it could pass for durasteel. These monsters grew up to and over four meters in length. One could wipe out even a Mandalorian squad, so the beasts are considered challenge enough that the glory and honor for killing one is considerable. One is all you'd fight too, as they are territorial and solitary predators. Word to the wise though, don't be around when it's mating season.

Just don't.

Suffice it to say, if it were any other situation, leaving the pirates to rot on that moon would be a viable tactic. Find a comfy spot in orbit, grab a snack, whip out a camera, and let Dxun have the pirate scum; even broadcast the spectacle throughout the outer-rim as a limited run show, perhaps? The problem would solve itself and you'd make a quick credit.

But such is not the mission.

Dxun has a special place in Mandalore's heart, for its spirit is as unbreakable as the culture that adopted it. The hidden outpost on its surface is of serious cultural significance. It's been maintained since before the days of Canderous Ordo, and served as something of an academy dedicated to forging hardened and capable warriors. For this place to fall into the hands of an enemy is a great insult and dishonor for all Mando'ade. The pirates must be hunted down and punished.

Honor demanded it.

So, Neil must plan his equipment choices adequately. Resupply would be most difficult in the beginning of the ground operations and his team will have to rely on whatever they can scrounge on the battlefield. With that in mind, the idea of running into a Zakkeg really nagged him. Heavy weapons are a must to hurt one, but anti-tank weapons are recommended for a killing blow, neither of which will be readily available on the field.

Well, there is no kill like overkill. He'll just bring his own.

Neil swapped his jetpack for the heavier model with the larger fuel tank and a shatter missile launcher, in addition to adding beskar tipped wrist rockets to the left gauntlet. But, even that didn't feel heavy enough. Overkill might not be enough then, maybe ultrakill?

Neil strapped an extra bandoleer of thermal detonators to himself, and squeezed one last magazine of heat sinks for his custom disrupter pistol on his ammo belt. With a sigh, he rolled his shoulders under the rather oppressive weight of his modified kit. Whitefield muttered to himself an old Mando saying, "K'atini [It's only pain]." He'll have plenty of targets to lighten his kit on in the fight.

He checked on his comrades to see how they were doing.

Luka had finished adoring her faded purple and gray armor with bandoleers and extra weapons. She sat on her bunk in the back corner of the Ruusaan's hold, fixated on maintaining her ancestral assault rifle, a family heirloom that's outlived the Old Republic and her Neo-Crusader lineage. Inspecting its ancient components with her wrist computer, she replaced a burnt out emitter, then ran a test and smiled in satisfaction as the diagnostic showed all green. The emitter she retrofitted from an A-280C blaster worked like a charm. Since the 24/7 Mandalorian assault rifle parts store closed down thousands of years ago, modern mil-spec blaster parts must be repurposed to keep ancient designs like this in the gene pool. Luka reassembled the weapon with machinelike ease and cleaned with a felt cloth her family crest on the lower receiver.

Meanwhile, Marduk stood over the dining table, giving his NT-242 heavy longblaster a thrice over, because that's just who he was. He triple checked the alignment of its emitter and custom barrel, which was a lengthy process as this blaster could also fire a disrupter shot. In Marduk's own words, both modes had to be double checked at least. He purged the macroscope twice to eliminate any moisture in its ocular cogitator. Too much moisture and he'll get parallax errors, which could cause the zero to wander once the blaster heated up.

Luka then asked Marduk, "How much trouble do you think Master Jareel's giving the pirates?"

He answered, not looking away from his wrist computer, "He's likely a campfire story by now."

Luka thought for a moment. "I don't recall seeing him ever step foot off that moon."

"Jareel Bralor isn't on Dxun; he is Dxun."

Luka huffed as she slung the assault rifle to herself. "Hopefully he'll leave enough for the rest of us."

Rally Master Jareel Bralor, now that's a name Neil hadn't heard in years. That Mandalorian was born and raised on Dxun, and all manner of rumors spread amongst the cadets about Master Jareel: like he could sneak up on a Maalraas, and once he tamed a Drexl by himself when living with the beast riders.

Jareel seemed like someone who killed his neglect. Luka's words to Neil on the bridge of the slave freighter echoed still in his mind, Kill your neglect.

Luna said dreams are a manifestation of the inner self, so everything wrong in this dream must reflect those things about himself he's neglected in life. If Neil wished to improve himself without, he needed to kill his flaws within. Maybe the Sith Mand'alor marked for death is one of those flaws being used by the Incubus? Master Jareel would scold Neil for allowing his flaws to be used against him. Would putting a hole between the Sith's eyes actually help him become a better person in reality?

Is that how it worked?

Neil was eager to find out. In fact, maybe he shouldn't be so hasty to wake up? Why not stay a while longer and fix a few more undesirable things about himself before going back to the forest? It's not like he couldn't use the extra rest. Besides, this little Star Wars detour is actually kinda fun.

The Hunter hadn't taken a real break from the struggles and terrors of the Everfree since he fell. He could use a vacation.

Why not see this as a golden opportunity to recover and unwind instead of some pointless distraction? Yeah, Neil should dream longer if it meant crushing more of his flaws, healing his wounds, and just have some R&R.

In the waking world he is Neil, but tonight he'll be Cin'vhet, Whitefield, a slate clean as virgin snow, a Mandalorian remade with a Sith to kill.

This is the way.

Cin'vhet called to his vode to join him by the holotable in the corner of the Ruusaan's cargo bay, "If you're all set, let's go over the plan one last time."

---

Meanwhile, outside the Ruusaan, Luna took a moment for herself and paced around on the cold durasteel deck by some crates. She watched her hoof steps deep in meditation over deciphering the meaning of her vision in the elevator.

Artemis stood by, cocking her head curiously at the dark blue Princess carefully pacing circles. "Whacha doin', Moonbutt?"

Luna giggled at the bold petname the timberwolf gave her. Luna ceased pacing and regarded her honest packmate. "I am practicing wandering meditation, good Artemis. I find the best ideas come from walking. Care to join me and learn the method?"

Artemis looked around the bustling hangar full of workers doing neat worker stuff and big cool machines doing big cool machine stuff. "With all the unique smells and sights here?" She shook her plantlike head. "Nuh uh. You can show me later. I'm going to explore!"

"Very well. Have fun." Luna returned to her wandering meditation.

"I'll try." Artemis walked off, following her nose. Something smelled rather strange somewhere on the other side of the hanger, under the creepy spider ships hanging from the ceiling. It smelled like really old oil over there, similar to the lamp oil in the castle heap's dank cellar.

Artemis explored deeper through the busy hangar, dodging both Mandalorian workers and some hovering crates moving by themselves. There were even people made of metal that helped around. They smelled like fresh oil and some of that stuff at the bottoms of Dad's old ruined shoes.

What did he call it?

Rubber! That's it. They smelled like rubber, too.

The metal people also had yellow glowing eyes. They moved so stiff as they worked, the wolf was impressed they didn't simply fall over. She waved at one after it noticed her. Tilting its shiny boxy head, the metal person raised a claw with three flat fingers and waved back with slow creaking joints, then went back to work.

Artemis giggled at how weird and awkward those guys were, yet still they did their jobs well.

Effective awkwardness identified.

The old oil smell was farther into the hangar. Jeez, this place just kept going! Artemis left the metal guys to investigate more.

Finally, after jumping over some warm barrel things, she found the source of the smell. Her glowing eyes widened at a line of dozens of huge metal crawdad looking things. Wow, they were as big as Patches! Each had two massive metal claws with metal rods coming out of their faces. Artemis drew closer to get a good smell of one.

"Hey!" A rather angry voice yelled from under one of the metal crawdad beasts. A human head popped out from beneath it. "Back away from the Basilisk, aruetii! [outsider]"

The wolf backed away.

The Mandalorian huffed, irritated that someone, rather something, interrupted her maintenance. Pulling herself from under the Basilisk, she confronted the outsider. Grease stained arms crossed, and oil soaked red hair tied into a tight bun, the warrior in dirty clothes stared down to Artemis with hardened unamused eyes. She warned the wolf, waving a hydrospanner at her, "If that war droid weren't on standby, you would've been squashed flat. Only a rider can get so close to a basilisk war droid."

Squashed? Like what Patches did to those timberwolves during the battle at the castle gate? Yikes. Artemis rubbed her head with a paw self consciously. "Wow. Thanks, lady."

"Yeah, well, you have no business here, you... you..." she raised her eye brow to the strange plantlike creature that's invaded her side of the hangar. The warrior's seen many aliens in her day, but never one like this. "What are you anyway?"

The wolf held her paw up. "I'm Artemis, a timberwolf. I'm here with my Dad and my packmate, Luna."

"Your Father, you say? Huh." This odd alien's ability to wander freely meant she had some honor at least, so the Mandalorian shook the paw. "Uh, huh. Who's your Father?"

"Neil."

Her hard features softened. "Cin'vhet?"

Artemis nodded. "You know him?"

"We trained together on Dxun as kids." It had been years since they last spoke; a lot has happened for everyone. While it was good to hear her old vod was still alive and well, she frowned while imagining how this alien can be Cin'vhet's child. How is such a relationship biologically possible, let alone ethical? The warrior just assumed this one was adopted and washed her hands of it.

Artemis pointed at one of the massive armored constructs. "What are these, a basilisk you said?"

"The deadliest weapon a single warrior can use in Mandalore's arsenal."

Artemis grinned a wooden toothy grin, always relishing the chance to learn something cool. "How do you use them?"

"They are ridden like beasts of war, but only Mandalore's finest warriors can ride them into battle. The basilisk war droid becomes an extension of the rider in combat. Together, they annihilate the enemy."

"Ooooh! What makes them so deadly?"

The Mandalorian huffed, but indulged the alien and checked the basilisk's weapons off with the fingers of her free hand. "Shockwave generators, the rods on their heads? Those can slice through the hull of a capital ship given enough time. There's also the quad torso mounted laser cannons, each strong enough to penetrate repulser tank plating at 800 meters. They can also be fitted with pulse wave cannons, and shatter missile launchers. Add to that their speed and thick beskar armor and you've got the epitome of weapons technology." She cocked her head at the plant wolf. "Does that satisfy you?"

Artemis reconsidered the metal beasts with renewed awe. "Wow. It sure does! They sound unstoppable!"

"They aren't invincible. If only." She shrugged. "With a great rider it's close enough. Even the Jedi feared these beasts of war."

Artemis wondered, "What's a Jedi?"

The warrior scoffed. "Stuck up space sorcerers with a virtue complex."

"Oh, okay." Artemis could hardly believe someone would actually ride one of these machines. "Do you ride these?"

"Yes. This is the drop bay for Kelborn's Raiders. I'm Rally Master Nali Kelborn," She finally introduced herself, and gestured behind herself to the basilisk she just worked on. "And that's my war droid, Parjii"

The wolf looked again at the twenty plus basilisks, thinking all those things flying at you must be terrifying... like twenty Patches with laser cannons hunting you down.

Suddenly, a voice from the overcoms boomed in the hangar.

Now hear this: Battle group Cassus is entering hyperspace. Combat status yellow is in effect. Crew, prepare battle stations. All forces follow pre-battle procedures. That is all.

Nali let out a sigh. "Sorry kid, fun's over." She shooed Artemis away. "I said you can't be here, so leave. Now."

Artemis reluctantly did as the lady said and moved to a safer distance away.

Nali got back to work once the alien was out of sight.

Artemis found a nice and safe spot of a few yards away hidden under a gap in some large crates. She watched as twenty armored Mandalorians gathered. Soon, Nali rejoined them freshly showered and changed into her red armor. It was hard to hear what she was saying with the noise of a working hangar, especially with the crane systems moving the ships above and arranging them in rows on the metal floor.

The warriors ascended the drop platforms holding the war droids, and seated themselves in the saddles, which were cushions set deep into the droid's midsection. Only the upper torso of the warrior was visible. They turned on their basilisks, each groaned and grunted with a synthesized animalistic suggestion as their riders checked their systems.

As Artemis watched them work, a devilish idea struck her, a cunning idea, a devilishly cunning idea: she made a butterfly back on the Ruusaan. If she can make butterflies, then why can't she make a basilisk for Dad? In fact, why can't she be the basilisk? Trading her timberwolf body for that of a metal raging beast of death would certainly even the odds, then she could fight with Dad again.

Artemis rubbed her wooden paws together with a dark chuckle. This was exactly what she's been waiting for!

Secret option two discovered.

The wolf excitedly left the shadow of the crates to find a darker corner of the hangar where no one would see her. Finding such a spot with suitable space and privacy, in a corner besides an old tarped ship no one had interest in, the wolf sat down on the durasteel floor and closed her eyes.

She put Luna's dream training to the test, imagining her body turning into the massive beskar plated basilisk: it's four laser cannons, those shatter missiles, and its funny looking shockwave generators on its face, its big metal fins, everything she saw the real basilisks had. She opened her eyes after a few moments of feeling no different.

Damn. Her disappointment was palpable. Artemis turned to go back to the Ruusaan, only to knock into the dusty tarped ship with a massive metallic thud.

Huh?

The ship tumbled over, landing on its side with a jaw clenching racket which echoed throughout the hangar. Artemis seized in place, wincing at the high pitched crash of metal as well as a war droid could.

Wait.

Artemis the war droid lifted her left beskar claw and stared at it with awe. She has blades for paws! It worked!

Secret option two confirmed!

Artemis the basilisk cheered, "I did it!" Whoa, her synthesized voice sounded funny, kinda echoy, mixed with something else she couldn't describe.

"Who's there?" A Mandalorian sneered as he approached from behind a big missile container to the right.

"Oh, shit-" Artemis quickly hid under the fallen ship's tarp, making sure that her metal tail was under as well. Hopefully it would buy her enough time to transform back.

"What in blazes was that?" The crew member eyed around for the source of the odd noises with a cold caution, then chuckled darkly after the huge bump under the tarp moved. Grabbing the edge of the tarp, the crew member yanked it open with his blaster drawn. "Gotcha-!" The Mandalorian beheld nothing under it but the fallen ship's jutting landing gear. Seeing the ship's condition, he face palmed. "Mand'alor's gunna space me for this."

Artemis wormed her way through the gaps between the toppled ship and the deck, then crawled away on her soft wooden belly behind a stack of crates, ducking out of sight.

She got away.

Phew, that was close.

Having her fill of adventure now, Artemis made the lengthy trek through the dreadnaught's massive hanger back to the Ruusaan with a new trick up her mossy sleeve.

---

In the mean time, Luna continued meditating while taking slow, purposeful steps around the Ruusaan. The Lunar Princess deeply contemplated the possible truths to the vision before. The message seemed clear enough, but there was something missing, like this puzzle was one corner piece away from completion.

Seldom have visions troubled Luna to this extent. Though, understanding Neil's alien mind and thoughts have proven an uphill battle from the start. Certainly, verbal communication posed no trouble. Comprehensive spells allowed a verbal connection with the human at an acceptable level, but this comprehensive magic has limitations. Such spells are not a translation of words, but a passive connection between separate minds engaging in active dialogue. In the laypony, both are able to share in the other's intentions in conversation, thus meaning is gleaned regardless of language barriers.

You say apple; the alien says thorp. The spell lets you know thorp means apple because that's the ailen's intention for the sound it just made. It's foals play, really.

But this connection is only skin deep, as it does little for understanding thought patterns and dreaming, or dream helping in her case. Thus Luna's oneiromancy mastery has been essential in interpreting Neil's thoughts into something she could understand.

The alien says thorp and one understands that sound meant apple by the intention; but, to understand the exitance of said apple from the alien's perspective, to know an apple, and how the idea of an apple takes form in a human mind? Such is a whole other issue entirely. The strain of this mental circus she'd been managing was pushing her skills to their limit and giving her a royal headache!

Her painstaking efforts have yielded fruit, however: she's reconciled enough of Neil's thoughts into something of an understandable model. While not perfect by any means, the Princess felt confident she gleaned enough to help the human correct his dream patterns to something healthier.

The paths they took to meet at this point tonight couldn't have been more different. To think how close Neil came to never dreaming again in his exodus from the manticore and the timberwolves... he's ascended a truly hostile mountain over the last month. He deserves good dreams, by the moon! That reminded Luna of something a wise griffon told her long ago:

There is always more than one path up the mountain.

More than one path, hmmm? Luna just had an idea: perhaps a new perspective might help her? Luna ceased pacing in the hanger and left Neil's dream, taking herself into the abstract neutrality of the dreamscape itself. Below her lied Neil's presence here, which to the mind's eye resembled a bubble floating in a void of possibilities.

Now she reconsidered her vision. Luna focused on it, seeing it change before her mental eye.

The crumbling marble structures of Olympus became mossy, damp trees in a marshland, some standing, some fallen. Luna now stood in a swamp and could practically taste the familiar muggy air. The Princess considered the burning shipwrecks in Dxun's orbit above her, and they morphed into the starry night sky. Wait, she knew that sky! Zounds, it's the nightly canvas she prepared just before attending to her duties tonight!

Before Luna sprawled the shore of the nearby pond where the drain pipe of her old castle went to daylight. She knew it well enough as she chose this spot for that pipe during the castle construction all those ages ago. This is the swamp where she met Neil and Artemis at the beginning of the dream.

Narrowing her regal eyes, Luna saw Neil and the other figure she thought was his Incubus standing on the shore, but instead of turning to mercury and merging like before, the Incubus morphed into Artemis! Both began choking like it was hard to breathe after another serpent emerged from the tree behind them. It breathed out a chocolate smelling poisonous gas which blanketed the area and under her hooves.

Neil's eyes swirled, hypnotized by the poison. He approached and grabbed her suddenly. Snakes lunged from under his skin and bit into her fur.

Forsooth, the intrigue has been doubled! These vile serpents mean to tell her that something in Neil's dream not only affect him but her as well in some mysterious manner. But what could do such a... Luna froze after the smell of the chocolate gas jogged her dusted memory.

The Princess gasped through a stomach turning revelation. This is not an affliction of Neil's mind! There's something in the moor doing all this! Luna feared it could be something she believed had been exterminated long ago, something she had personally exterminated.

Luna knew the risks of bringing her own consciousness into Neil's dreams, instead of her usual method of merely presiding over a dream safely. Despite this, there was no anticipating this! The fact this malady targeted her through Neil is yet more evidence for the thing in the moor that should not be.

Unless... no, he wouldn't dare. Discord is reformed!

...

By the moon, Luna must go to the moor in the flesh and see this chocolate serpent for herself, immediately!

As she was leaving the dreamscape to do so, just in the corner of her astral eye the Princess saw an elegant shadow warp from Neil's dream, manifesting itself into the abstract of the dreamscape. It swirled around her with sharp sinister eyes glowing white, a terrible silhouette Luna hadn't seen since the Elements of Harmony freed her from its dark power.

Nightmare Moon?

Luna stoically narrowed her cyan eyes at the shadow of Nightmare Moon chasing her from Neil's dream below. It bared its fangs at the Princess with ghostly wings poised aggressively, its eyes burning hot.

Nightmare locked gazes with Luna, announcing thunderously, "Neil's dream is rebelling. He suffers from an Incubus! You must see the signs!"

"Thou art not Nightmare Moon." Luna calmly shook her regal head at the shadow.

It growled. "What are you talking about, fool? Neil's Incubus will destroy him if you fail to listen to me! Return to his dream this instant! We'll lose him if we don't!"

This thing has lost its suggestive powers here in the abstractness, unfortunately for it. "This delusion, thou thinkest me vulnerable to it out here? 'Tis a move of pure desperation." Luna then asked coldly, "To aggressively trick and manipulate me in a very personal manner, the only manner in fact which could have worked..." She narrowed her regal eyes sharply at this affliction, "Thou hast overplayed thy hoof! I command thee reveal thy true self!"

It silenced itself.

"Very well. No need to answer." Luna focused on the imposter with her clairvoyant eye. "Be still."

The imposter groaned in a complete change of character. "Oh, fudge! I almost had you for a second!" It threw its hooves out in defeat. "Oh well, pulling your strings was fun for a time." Its white glowing eyes then rolled with a rainbow of chaotic colors once Luna's senses penetrated its façade.

It shrugged. "You and your sister are both boredom incarnate, you know that? You interfere at my every step! Nothing is sacred! First, you waltz into my Kingdom, begin smashing my cookie bakeries, then you start..." It shuddered, "Organizing things... blegh! It's been absolutely dreadful!" It pointed a vengeful hoof at the shocked Princess. "Now you're trying to deny my new subjects their chance at eternal happiness? Unforgivable!"

Luna blinked, stunned as she watched the false nightmare moon form into that asymmetrical being of chaos himself, but waring the crown she hadn't seen since the Discordian War.

King Discord was none too pleased with Luna. "Being a spoilsport is a capital offence in Discordia! You will be thrown in the bog of eternal fondue come my victory! I'd like to see you and Princess Sunbutt organize anything as chocolate statues!"

Luna's gut sank. It's Pandemonium! The flowering apocalypse has returned! It has Neil and Artemis under its lethal spell!

"But I suppose all is fair in war and chaos." King Discord stated coolly, "Oh don't look so surprised to see me, Princess! You were non the wiser from the beginning of the Human's dream. All I had to do was watch and nudge here and there as you did all the work for me. So much for all your wisdom." King Discord smiled arrogantly. "Your insecurities inspired much of this story I have constructed from the background. This incubus plot has been very helpful in building a spring board for the perfect world for my new subject, this Human. What an amazing creature he is! It's been so much fun making a world to fit his alien character. He will make an exotic addition to my Kingdom, to all of New Discordia."

Gritting her teeth, Luna replied angrily, "There is no longer a Discordia, nor ever will there be a new one, despotic wretch!" Powerful, raw emotions battered at Luna's calm from within her once stoic visage: bewilderment, anger, humiliation, disgust, panic, dread, etc.

I've practiced for this. Luna reminded herself of the perils of emotional incontinence. I've trained for this. Luna had to use all her training since Twilight Sparkle and the other Elements of Harmony restored her from Nightmare Moon. It must pay off now. She cannot lose control. Never again.

Staring cold mute daggers at Discord's smug face, Luna's eyes turned serpentine as her breathing quickened, fighting to single out in the storm of weapon's grade emotions whirling inside, just one will do. The Art of Control says she can let out a single feeling under these circumstances, as long as it's chosen in a way so the others will starve.

She could let her wrath cut like a sword, swift and clean. No. She needed a hammer. Luna wanted to smash something.

The Princess chose anger. Luna's face twisted into a fiery scowl as she yelled in Discord's smug face, "I destroyed thee!" She pointed a furious silvered hoof at Discordia's ancient King. "With armies I scoured high and low to find and sunder every root, to harmonize every field, and burn every seed on the continent! I hunted thy creation to extinction!"

"But you missed this one!" Discord stuck his forked tongue at her while blowing a raspberry... that actually flung squishy raspberries at the Princess instead of spit. "You and Celestia can't have my throne! I'm a great King and my subjects are happy! Everyone's happy and has fun in Discordia! I even outlawed sadness, and anyone can be anything they want! Even the trees laugh and tell jokes here! Are your trees as happy as mine wherever you squares invaded from?"

Luna just glared at him.

"Thought not! What does a Princess from a land with no happy trees know about happiness? You came here all like, Oh, the candy clouds are migrating! Their chocolate rain is ruining our harvests! Keep your clouds under control! And I, being the gracious host that I am, offered you my finest candy corn crops that love chocolate rain!"

"They were invasive!" Luna yelled back, "And ponies can't only eat candy!"

Discord scoffed. "Of course they can! You just haven't tried hard enough! And it's not my fault that candy corn is a social butterfly! They're a very friendly crop! I should've known then you'd never understand!" He pointed at her acquisitively, "No, the truth is everyone has fun here, except you! There were no problems in Discordia until you Alicorns arrived, 'cause you're both squares! Only squares think they know better for others!

"Therefore, to defend my kingdom now and in the future, I decree that squares are hence forth banned from New Discordia!" He shewed her. "Shew! Leave now and I'll consider our war a draw! Just go somewhere else, anywhere else! Rule the Bugbears for all I care. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a climatic battle to organize for my new subject." He giggled from excited anticipation then flew back into Neil's dream, leaving the furious Lunar Princess behind with a face covered in red sticky jam.

Wisps of steam wafted from her regal ears pinned down to her jeweled head. Were the fur on her coat not a fine shade of night blue, Luna would've been red as a wrathful tomato. This sheer level of nonsense was outrageous! The sweet berry mess stuck to her face sizzled and popped, then vaporized from the heat of her emotion.

The other feelings had smoldered to ash by now.

So, there was never an incubus, but the spawn of a draconequus! Discord's ancient weapon had her and Neil from the beginning, and knew exactly how to manipulate things and trick her into thinking Neil was suffering the same fate as she did all those years ago, manipulating everything from the beginning right under her muzzle! Her embarrassment was legend.

Luna facehooved, hard. Could she have missed one seed that's somehow remained inert until now? No. She didn't miss. No way. What if... what if the real Discord did this? Luna believed he was reformed. Could he have been biding his time and only faked it?

There wasn't the time to ponder. She must go to Neil in the flesh and undo whatever in the moon Discord has done! Luna left the dreamscape and returned to her body in a blink.

Rising from her place of meditation by the fireplace of her room in the Equestrian Palace, she swung open her balcony window with her magic, pushed off the stone railing to gain some altitude, then broke the sound barrier flying at full speed under her night sky, blazing a streak of fiery blue light to Neil's location in the Everfree's bog by the old castle heap's drain.

The distance between her and the human was great, but her speed made the trip in fifteen minutes. Even the Nightguard who promptly shadowed her where hard pressed to keep up.

Landing at the soggy shoreline with grace, Luna's regal cyan eyes beheld Neil running around in circles with his arms extended like wings, making zooming noises and the occasional blaster sound.

Close to Neil, Artemis was lying on her back on the damp ground with her paws walking in the air, all while repeating in slurred speech, "I'm a basilisk, I'm a basilisk."

Luna's gut burned with wrathful butterflies upon spying the blooming vine of flowers on the tree Neil and Artemis surely opted to rest near.

There it is!

The flowers glowed that sickening purple hue around soft yellow petals with chocolate dusted tendrils dangling from the inside, each spewing chocolate dust which permeated the area with sweetened madness. Already it began to transform the environment in the immediate area, for the mud pits just beyond the tree turned to chocolate fondue, and the cattail weeds had become smore kabobs.

Her hooves felt tacky so Luna looked down. Egad, even the sandy shore of this pond is turning savory with cheese! Soon the pond by the castle drain will be a deluxe four-cheese dip pit!

That flower, that horrible flowering chaotic vine she extinguished over a thousand years ago wastes no time! It's her second worst nightmare come true.

Her Nightguards finally arrived above. She yelled for them to keep their distance.

Suddenly, that all too familiar voice chimed in behind Luna.

"Ah, Princess Luna, I wondered when you'd escape."

Luna swiveled her silver jeweled head to see Discord waring comically large sunglasses while laying on a lawn chair behind her, sipping a fine hot glass from a chocolate mug.

Luna responded rather loudly, "Ugh, Discord!" She stared him down with a scowl. "What hast thou done! Explain this... this outrage!"

Discord downed the scalding liquid glass, ate the mug in one bite, then gestured to himself in mock insult after taking off his sunglasses. "Why, Princess, you wound me! You really think I would harm our guest? Certainly not!" He disappeared then reappeared before her, standing in a prideful dramatic pose. "I am reformed after all."

"My moonlit backside thou art!" Luna stomped a hoof down with a mighty splat of cheesy mud. "Dastardly schemer! What angle hast thou in this conspiracy?"

"Temper, temper, your majesty." Smug Discord wagged a finger at her. "And here I thought you were abstaining from grandiose emotions."

"Spare me! Thou knowest better than to play coy!" Luna huffed and pointed a forehoof to the distant willow vined in pure evil. "Gaze to yonder tree. I have not seen pandemonium bloom in Equestria for over a thousand years!"

"Let's be honest, Luna." Discord clasped both palms together then pointed them at her. "You haven't seen much beyond moon rocks in the last thousand years."

Luna's eye twitched.

Discord summoned a tube of aloe cream with a snap of his fingers then cheekily offer it to her. "This should help."

Luna sucked air through gritted teeth as she tensed up, opting to let her anger ease a little with a quick breath. She should be used to Discord's shenanigans by now, but he's always known just how to get under her fur. She quipped sarcastically, "Mayhap it fell from the sky and took root there by itself? Hmmm?"

Discord muttered under his breath, "How satisficing if that were true..." The Demigod's lackadaisical demeanor sobered with an unbecoming seriousness. "I am just as surprised as you." He confided in the Princess earnestly, "I did nothing to your alien. Believe me, the human is the most interesting thing that's happened to this planet in ages."

Deadpanned Luna quipped without missing a beat, "Forsooth, thou spent those ages as a garden ornament." She kindly levitated the tube of aloe back to sender.

Dumbstruck Discord held the medicine and blinked. Did... did she just get him back? That didn't take long. Now, if only he could get the stoic to crack a joke one day... He digressed and smiled warmly. "Touché, Princess."

Discord threw the tube over his shoulder and continued, pointing a finger from his claw up. "Be that as it may, watching Neil in the Everfree has been the highlight of my month." He shrugged. "Why would I spoil that? He merely took a nap in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Wait!" Luna shook her head in bewilderment. "Why didn't thou assist Neil if thou wert present?!"

Discord waved it off. "Oh, he was fine! The Human can take care of himself better than you think! Besides, that would've spoiled the fun! It was sooo interesting seeing how he solved problems and just dealt with whatever the forest threw at him all without magic!" Discord sighed as Luna's scowl deepened. "Jeez, of course, if I felt he was actually going to buy the farm, I would have intervened." Suddenly, he was dressed in a full tan uniform with brown shorts and a backpack. He swore after pointing his right hand up with two fingers crossed, "Scout's honor!"

Luna could hardly with this being...

Turning around, the chaotic demigod gestured to his superweapon growing on the willow tree. "As for the sudden return of my beautiful pandemonium? I am both excited and disturbed, even more so than you." It appeared that Luna remained displeased with his explanation, and Discord added while sheepishly tapping two fingers together, "It's complicated."

Unamused Luna retorted, "Uncomplicate it."

Discord clicked his forked tongue. "Oh, very well." He muttered, "What choice do I have?" He pulled a chalk board filled with facts from his own shadow like it where a pocket, then donned some glasses and a bowtie to look extra smart before placing a white pointer on it with a loud thwack. "I'll start from the beginning."

Luna would've facehooved where she not standing in cheesy sand. A lecture was not what she wanted.

"First, remember our little war? I do." Professor Discord explained, "When I realized I might actually loose my kingdom of eternal chaos to you and Celestia, I thought that if I couldn't keep the world chaotic, I would simply create my own world, a New Discordia!"

"Discord-" Luna tried to stop the demigod, but he kept on.

"Genius as that was, and as great as I am, even I can't pull entire realities from my shadow like this chalkboard." He slapped the white pointer into his catlike hand with a proud yet menacing grin. "Instead, I created pandemonium to sow the seeds of chaos immemorial within the reality of my subject's minds, making the mental world my canvas! It also would morph the physical world to keep them happy and safe for me. It wouldn't matter if you ponies won the war or not! My kingdom of Discordia would take new form in the minds of its subjects and the lands which kept them! Eventually, you would've joined me in the end."

"I know." Luna said flatly, "Skip the prolou-"

"Ah, but I never told you the how!" Discord's smile morphed from menacing to devilish. "I took the most invasive species of flower I could find and poured my chaotic energy into it, which yielded my magnum opus!" He gestured to the distant chocolate dusted yellow flower again, glowing a chaotic purple on its vine. "Look at you, as beautiful as I remember." He wiped a tear from his wider eye, and the tear clinging to his finger offered him a tissue. "Thank you." Sniffling, he kindly took it and blew his nose.

Discord continued, his pointer then held out a second pointer to point out more facts higher on the board, which is now somehow taller then it was before. "It takes more than raw energy to sow true mayhem, you know. Ergo, I placed a small piece of myself into the original vine that went to seed. Every seed contains enough chaos to go around forever, and the ego to spread it in the right way."

The silent Princess was at the brink of vaporizing that chalkboard if he continued interrupting her interrupting him!

Discord was too occupied with his lecture to see it though, and he pointed the white pointer holding a smaller pointer at the final fact, a drawing of him placing a fractal of his own ego into his ultimate gift to the world. "That fractal of my past self is working to sow chaos in Neil as we speak by making all his desires come true, learning and evolving along the way. It'll create a perfect world he'll never want to leave, forever locked in eternal satisfaction and fulfilment. That is the barb on the hook, you see. It's quite ingenious." Discord smirked, humored by some idea he just had. "Think of the fractal ego as a smaller, old fashioned me. Perhaps we should call him," he placed the pinky of his paw to the corner of his mouth, "Mini-me?" He giggled.

Luna was not so amused.

Discord slumped with a heavy groan over the wasted reference. Adjusting his glasses, he covered the side of his mouth with his claw, then whispered to you, "See what I have to deal with?"

Now he's talking to thin air? Luna hadn't any more time for this! She interjected with her royal we, "Discord!"

The sound waves nearly blew off his bowtie. "What? You asked for this, Princess."

"Loose the chalkboard and uncomplicate it in two sentences, or less!"

"Shush!" Discord held the finger of his paw to his mouth. "You'll insult the board- and there it goes!"

The offended board screeched at Luna like fingernails had raked it, then tossed itself back into Discord's shadow.

Discord grimaced at the tantrum. "Yeesh, such language! It's good you're not fluent in chalkboard, Luna."

"Hardly could I give a fallen star!" Luna drew her lips together into a thin broken line, thin and broken like her patience. Some part of her regretted not blasting the chalkboard to oblivion when she had to chance.

The Princess added heatedly, "'Tis true I do not speak chalkboard, but I am fluent in accountability, which thou shouldst learn. If thou hadst not created pandemonium in the beginning, none of this would be happening. Now, thy abomination sprouts again to haunt the present. Thou art ruining everything again; despite it, thou jests and revels in mirth! Thou art so selfish!" She frowned. "Some things never change, indeed."

Silently taking off his glasses, Discord ate them with a crunch for they where made of rock candy. The bowtie was real, so he ate that too.

Luna watched Discord approach the mossy tree and pluck a petal from his ancient flowering weapon. The sudden gravity of his expression gave her pause.

The Demigod spoke more seriously than she believed he possibly could. He answered Luna's moral challenge while crushing the petal, rather angrily. "Some things never change?" His glowing mismatched eyes stared deep into her at the distance, burning with an inkling of genuine resentment. "Then, I suppose there's no hope for you either."

That cooled Luna's fire. She bit her lip as sudden apprehension over her words cut her anger deeply like a sharp knife.

"You think I put this here? You're thinking like a square, Princess." Discord threw away the decimated petal. "The truth is someone, or somepony, found my secret silo and stole the pandemonium seeds from my waffle cone rocket then planted some here." He considered the tree his weapon grew on and asked it, "Why here, though?"

The tree didn't answer. It's too busy being a tree to care.

Discord sighed. "Eh, it was worth a shot." He patted its trunk kindly. "They had voices of their own once."

Luna just asked, making sure she heard him correctly, "Thou weaponized thy vile plant into a missile?"

The draconequus deadpanned at Luna. "Oh come now, you ponies always have some trump card stashed away; that silo was mine in case I lost. Lucky for you, I got turned into stone just before I could launch the rocket. I planned to sow my very own garden of flowering chaos around the world. Everyone would've lived in a perfect dream of mirthful mayhem for all eternity, boredom as we knew it erased forever!"

Discord spun in place and extended both mismatched arms wide with joy. "Life itself would've been my masterpiece!" Then he slumped sadly. "But I couldn't resist Celestia's sing off challenge. It was far too deliciously random." He pinched the bridge of his... nose, muzzle, face?

Discord sighed in vexation. "Heelloo," he pointed at his head. "Horse-like head? It's a muzzle, obviously."

Oh, sorry.

He waved it off. "No hard feelings. It happens."

"Discord," Luna insisted, "Focus. Where is this silo? How was it found?"

"I'll have to show you. I hid it where no one but myself could find it. No one but me could get inside anyway... that is until somepony did just that and I want to know how!"

Luna used her magic to rub her throbbing temples. "A mystery for later, then. Why hast thou waited this long to inform me, or anypony else of this silo?"

"Why, Luna..." Discord placed the fingers of his paw and dragon claw together in another scholar's cradle. "Sometimes I wonder if you really know me at all. I may be reformed, but why would I tell you aalll my secrets until necessary? Now it is, now you know this one. Simple."

"Naturally." Luna wondered who, or what, would spread Discord's abomination, let alone know of it? And he said only some of it was used... meaning they have more. By the moon... that implication sent a shiver down her immortal spine. She must tell 'Tia of this later.

Luna admitted to Discord, "So, thou art not to blame. I see that now." The Princess rebuked herself for wielding her anger over zealously. Even though it was a controlled burn, it burned too hot. She still needed more training.

Horsefeathers.

Drawing anxious circles in the savory mud with a silver jeweled forehoof, she spoke sincerely, "My apologies for losing my temper at thee, and for questioning thy reformation efforts. In truth, I think thy efforts to be better for the sake of friendship are noble and commendable."

Discord's eyes widened, taken aback by the apology. He's not used to anyone apologizing to him; it usually goes the other way around. He cleared his throat. "Yes, well, I've yelled at me too sometimes. It's fine." He scratched his chin, a little embarrassed to admit what he had in mind to say. "Eh, I think your progress is rather inspiring too, in its own way."

"I'm relieved, and I thank thee." She smiled warmly. "I may require thy help in dealing with this silo at some point."

He shrugged, "I'll help you. I don't need it anymore anyway. And don't fret over the extra seeds: I will know if our mysterious miscreant plants anymore. I will not suffer an amateur misusing my baby."

Luna really appreciated that. "Thank thee. That indeed alleviates a lot of stress."

After a moment of silence, Discord huffed upon taking another gander around the pond area, altered by the chaos of the flowering vine. "While it is nostalgic to see the fondue bog returning to its former glory, I am less than pleased my child was used in such an amateurish way." The Demigod gestured to the mouth watering surroundings in offence. "They chose a swamp, reeaally? Who's going to enjoy pandemonium in a swamp these days? Who will frolic in the chocolate dusted mayhem, or savor the finest fondue combinations!? The frogs? The flies! There's no pony here, save for the Human and his timberwolf!" He grumbled while munching on a smore cattail dipped in fresh molten chocolate. "Such a waste."

As for Luna, she was content in finally learning the truth. She can take steps to protect herself from Discord's abomination once she returns to Neil's dream. Now, she must rescue Neil and Artemis from the thirsting chaos before they're trapped in a walking, dreaming mayhem for the rest of their lives! She said, "Time is the only wasted thing here, Discord."

Discord dramatically side stepped and gestured for her to go ahead. "By all means, Princess. Don't let me stop you." Tapping his chin with a claw, he admitted, "I never designed Pandemonium to handle a human mind. A part of me is curious to see how well Mini-Me will adapt to Neil's strangeness from here on." He chuckled darkly. "Oh yes, this should be a most entertaining challenge for my masterpiece."

Luna rolled her eyes and moved to sit down in a half lotus to focus, ignoring the fact she's sitting in cheese. Sometimes, a Princess's work can be dirty- suddenly, Discord snapped his fingers and her rump hit a warm, soft cushion. He summoned a nice sofa for her to work on. "My, Discord, how chivalrous!"

"Cheese is for eating, not sitting. You are welcome."

He continued, "Still, it's impressive Neil lasted this long." Discord pointed to Luna. "He'd be in much greater trouble were it not for you constantly reminding him he was in a dream. You've helped him stay sane; but even that and his strengths will be used against him soon enough." The Demigod held up a comically large wristwatch on his catlike paw. "I wonder how much longer he will last?"

Luna said, "I would ask if thou wert watching me all this time, why not intervene? But, I already know the answer to that."

"I might join in." He lied back down on his pool chair. Sunglasses back on his face, he held a hot, glowing tanning mirror at himself like it reflected the bright sun above in the dark night's sky. "But not before I finish my nightly tan. You go ahead."

Luna just left him there and entered the dreamscape.

---

At the Ruusaan, Neil left the cargo hold with his team behind. He didn't see Artemis or Luna. Odd. Where could they be? He called their names; hearing no reply didn't bode well with him.

Luka answered, "She could have went ahead to the drop bay."

"Without telling me?"

Marduk said, "We're at status yellow, Vod. There's no time to look for them. We should go to Nali and keep an eye open. Maybe Luka's right? We won't know until we get there."

"Alright." Neil had a bad feeling about this, but felt some relief upon seeing Artemis approach with a spring in her wooden step.

"Hey, Dad!" She exclaimed excitedly, "We going to the basilisks now?"

"Yes. Where's Luna?"

Artemis looked around. "Huh. I donno! She was over there walking in circles last I saw her." She sniffed the air. "I don't smell her anymore." Artemis then cocked her head at a sudden realization. "Wait. If this is a dream, and Luna isn't really here, then how can I smell her? It's just her brain that's here... or something, right?" The wolf scrunched her nose. "Doesn't that mean I'm smelling her thoughts?"

Neil just blinked on that one. "That's... uh... huh... a good question."

Artemis giggled. "Brain smells."

Annoyed by the delays, Luka crossed her arms and told Neil, "We're wasting time, Vod [Brother]."

"Right." Neil moved with his team through the hanger toward the basilisk drop bay.

---

Luna returned to Neil's dream, finding herself by the Ruusaan where she had left, beholding once more the monstrous hanger of the Kandosii dreadnaught, Cassus. The Mandalorians were still scrambling about the deck preparing for battle. The fight hasn't started yet. Good.

Luna searched Neil's ship, but found it empty. Huh. She couldn't sense him, Artemis, or his figment comrades anywhere nearby.

As if to make matters worse, the comm. officer's voice boomed over the hanger from the loud speakers above: Attention, combat status orange is in effect. Battle group Cassus will exit hyperspace in ten minutes. Make final preparations!

Oh no. Neil moved on without her! Luna's gut stirred with butterflies. Think, Luna, where would Neil have gone? Mand'alor said something about a Nali Kelborn helping with his mission in the briefing. Kelborn leads her own unit of basilisk war droids, so Luna needed to find this Kelborn at the basilisk drop bay. Her understanding was far from perfect, but according to the information on Mandalorians she gleaned from Neil's memories on Star Wars, Luna believed the bays should be in the eastward corner of the hanger.

Promptly venturing toward the eastern hanger, seeking with all her senses to find a trace of the Human and his timberwolf, Luna walked beyond the ammo crates where the some hanger droids were loading missile pods on a few gunships, then she passed by those very gunships stoically awaiting the battle with their pilots going over a system's check.

A Mandalorian soldier in beskar armor painted pink and brown walked by, bumping into her unnecessarily with all the empty space around them.

He swiveled his helmed head to sneer at her through the black t-visor. "Watch it."

Luna ignored the figment and pushed off the deck, opting to fly to the drop bay. She lowered her altitude after almost hitting a fueling droid on the way. The air space between her and the bays were rather congested with activity.

Before long, she landed on the floor with a metallic clank of silver jeweled hooves on durasteel, her cyan eyes carefully scanning in all directions. She narrowed them in suspicion upon seeing Mandalorian pilots and crew members scrambling to get the last of the fighters and bombers ready on the runway.

Those vessels shouldn't be here, neither should the runway.

In fact, there were squads of warriors gathering in formation to fill several troop transports in the next row of runway, and numerous fueling droids hovered in a waiting line by massive vertical fueling tanks above. The place extended down to the corner of the hanger by a set of massive blast doors on the right.

Luna blinked, knowing this to be the fueling station, not the basilisk drop bay! The fueling station lies in the western part of the Kandosii dreadnought's hanger. Luna traveled West by flying East. By Starswirl's beard, King Discord isn't going to let her reach Neil easily.

He's watching her, tricking her steps.

She looked behind, above, left and right, seeing no signs of anything like Discord. The Princess took a slow breath, and focused her senses on the dream's flow, muting the hanger's clamor and steely distractions. It was just her and the current of alien thought. She reached out her feelings for anything familiar, something not Human.

It's close. Luna could feel the growing chill crawl up her regal spine like a creeping spider, then she tasted the sudden sweetness in the air. Her periphery filled with a crazed circulating pink hue and she swiveled her head to face behind her!

Jumping around, her horn glowing to cast a quick warding shield, a concussive burst of a heavy blaster echoed in her ears.

The pink and brown armored Mandalorian that bumped into Luna earlier stood several hooves away with a blaster aimed at her head. Smoke billowed from his defeated back plate. The pink hue radiated from the warrior as he fell flat to the alloy deck with a heavy clunk.

Behind the smoking foe stood the red caped Mand'alor, holding a large heavy repeating blaster tucked between one arm and his silvery beskar bulk.

The smoldering corpse rose to stand, then warped into King Discord wearing his regal crown made of ornate ever flaming baked ice-cream cake. It's blazing meringue turrets and arcades were just as sleek as in the war, and their cinnamon candy coatings gleamed the same. A cape clasped over his shoulders made of fine purple suede embroidered in white bugbear fur waved in a non extant breeze.

"Youch!" King Discord yelped. Reaching behind, he took his cape and growled angrily after seeing the large burn hole in it. "This is my favorite cape!" He spun and pointed at Mand'alor. "You! So, you've been hiding amongst the figments? Well, you... you... whatever you are! You think you're sooo sneaky- Eck!" He choked on the wire of the grappling hook Mand'alor shot around his neck. With a mighty yank, the warrior pulled the ego closer.

With a burst from his jetpack, Mand'alor jumped the rest of the distance between himself and this manifestation of madness. Wrapping his crushgaunt around the thing's throat with the speed of a viper, he pounded Ego Discord's horse like face with the other armored fist. Each impact echoed with a concussive metallic thunk! over the fueling station's quieted ambiance, the strikes hammering with such force the flaming cake crown bounced on his enemy's head and altered King Discord's expression of painful surprise in cartoonish fashion.

Frantically, the demi-ego tried to escape with his chaos magic, but Mand'alor pushed his crushgaunt's servos to their maximum. The 'gaunt's fingers squeezed so tightly even durasteel would've crushed like soft clay, effectively disrupting the being's attempts to flee.

Luna watched on, wide eyed. Such force must be truly excessive if even chaos couldn't escape easily.

King Discord's face reddened, and his asymmetrical eyes watered and bulged from the pressure as his head inflated like a balloon. Mandalore's greatest warrior ceased hitting his foe to leer closer. A menacing visage permeated beneath Mand'alor's visor as he said with blood chilling intensity to the gasping face of his enemy, "Get off my ship."

Discord's swollen head popped like a balloon, scattering sugar sprinkles and confetti everywhere and over Mand'alor. Deflating from the crushgaunt's grasp, and blowing one long raspberry all the while, Ego Discord's body zoomed around the fueling station in spirals and loops.

Mand'alor brushed the obnoxious party stuff off himself, watching the weapon's grade fractal zip and fly around closely. Seeing that it'll make landing by the fuel tanks, he cast a quick glare to a crew member by the fuel control console. "Shields!"

The Mandalorian immediately followed protocol by activating the emergency shielding around the fuel tanks to protect them from blaster fire.

King Discord's deflated form reappeared by the fuel junction with a furious scowl. Readjusting his disheveled crown, he ranted at Mand'alor. "You're crazy! --"

Mand'alor coldly unleashed on him with his heavy blaster. A formation of a dozen Protectors then flew in from the main hanger by jetpack and focused their blaster fire. Every crew member and warrior in the fueling area then drew their weapons and joined the fusillade of hundreds.

A hailstorm of blaster and disrupter fire showered King Discord, leaving him with little to do but pull out a candy rainbow ribbon umbrella from under his cape to shield himself from the unforgiving assault.

Luna, being a silent witness to all this, gathered energy for a heat ray. Horn glowing white hot, she blasted her foe.

The umbrella began to melt, the ego knew he was in trouble. Those bolts really sting! Spying a mode of escape, he shrunk and flew into an open pipe in beside the fuel junction.

Mand'alor rushed to purge the emergency fuel lines by closing then locking the pipe cover before slamming the purge button. Out of the large porthole by the junction he watched the serpentine form of madness incarnate eject from the dreadnaught's hull into the accelerating void of hyperspace.

Mini-Discord swirled around, then yelled in anger, his shrill voice muffled, "You may have won this round, but you're still looosers!" Discord gestured to Mand'alor with a finger and thumb making an L over his head while sticking out a snakelike tongue mockingly, then he vanished into space like dispersing mist.

Turning away from the porthole, Mand'alor coolly approached Luna. The weight of his boot steps echoed over the silent fuel station.

All surrounding eyes set onto her.

Mand'alor's battle scarred silvery plates gleamed a matte and gloss finish in the artificial light. The last of the confetti fell off his exposed right pauldron after the red cape swagged off to behind the left shoulder. He stood several steps away from the Princess.

Dozens of heavily armed Protectors rallied into a box formation around them, ready to fight at a moment's notice.

Seeing the fuel station still remained on alert, Mand'alor ordered them to get back to work. "Carry on."

The crew and the soldiers did so, rushing to finish preparing for the battle.

Luna regarded the powerful figment curiously. "Thou hast my sincerest gratitude, Mand'alor." She cocked her head, asking mostly to herself aloud, "But, whence came thee?"

Mand'alor placed the butt of his repeating blaster on the alloy floor, resting both hands on its boron compensator. He answered Luna, voice low and deep, the helm's vocalizer adding to its impact, "Nevermind me; how did you get separated from Cin'vhet?" His bulwark standing twice her size, the black of his helmet's T-visor consumed Luna's reflecting stoic visage.

Fortunate favored Luna with this figment ambushing pandemonium like it did, but there's still the issue of Luna finding her way to the basilisk drop bay. Luna inquired, "Good figment, I humbly request thee assist me in reaching the basilisk drop bay. 'Tis a matter of life and death that I find Neil there!"

Mand'alor leaned closer, his response spiced with a modicum of awe, the kind of reaction when someone comes across an opportunity to win at the last possible moment. "You've escaped the delusion... that is why it finally showed itself to single out and attack you."

That reaction gave Luna pause. She watched Mand'alor holster his repeating blaster and place his armored hands to his helm, then twist it, unlocking the helmet with a depressurizing hiss. Removing it betrayed a man whom's appearance was uncannily close to Neil's but more matured, with brown close cropped hair and a braided beard tied to a short knot. His powerful brown gaze burned down to her. Aged scars racked over his face like the injuries Neil sustained from falling into the Everfree forest.

"Zounds!" Was all Luna could say in response.

"You finally see me now." Mand'alor's lips drew to a thin line as his face hardened. "The first time I approached Neil to warn him of the danger, he shot me with a recoilless. I tried again while he rested on the marshy shore where he meditated, but then even you attacked me."

Luna furrowed her brow as she made the connection. "I spied a serpent spewing poison into Neil, and Neil saw a foul swamp beast rise from the pond."

He nodded. "You saw what the madness wished you too. I knew then the only way to help Neil out of this delusion was to become a part of it. Your journey to Olympus was my last attempt at steering you two in a direction where we would meet." He pointed at her with an armored finger. "Now, we must join forces and defeat this madness before it takes Neil. Follow me!" He donned his helm and raised an open palm then closed it tightly. His Protectors scattered to a looser formation, covering the front and rear. Mand'alor raced toward the Basilisk launch bay. "This way, Princess!"

Luna ran to keep up. It seemed like pandemonium couldn't fool this aberration, or lead him astray. He's like a walking beacon of light cutting his way through the pink haze. Perhaps this is some kind of human psychological defense mechanism? It's certainly something completely unfamiliar to her. Yet another new discovery about her alien guest.

"I know you have many questions." Mand'alor told her, his gaze focused straight ahead, "I will answer them once Neil is safe. Tell me what you know about this thing we're dealing with, this force of madness?"

Luna explained the situation as she navigated the busy hanger beside him, explaining that pandemonium was to blame, an ancient flowering superweapon created by a demigod of chaos named Discord. The force he battled at the fueling station was a piece of Discord's will imbued into the plant to give it the intellect necessary to do its job. It's working to convince Neil to remain in this dream forever which will become his new reality.

Leaving the ammo crates behind them, the group fleeted across the open hanger where the fighters, bombers, and troop carriers awaited. The pilots and columns of soldiers saluted their leader as he sped by them.

"Huh, that's oddly like the Matrix." Mand'alor added, "There is nothing new under the sun." He understood the situation. "If he denies the madness, Neil will survive?"

"Forsooth, in theory!" Luna warned, "Discord is the epitome of cunning, guile, and a genius manipulator. A weaponized fraction of that ego knows we are privy to its plan. We must expect the unexpected hence forth!" Luna bit her lip anxiously. She worried that Discord's abomination may have already taken Neil in her moment of reflection and the idea stabbed her royal guts. If only she had known the truth sooner!

"You think this is your fault, do you?" Mand'alor spoke critically. "Nonsense. You were ambushed perfectly and no one could have done better. Regretting the past in the midst of battle is foolish. Focus only on victory in the present moment." He insisted, "Only victory matters, Princess!"

Luna appreciated the warrior's wisdom. "Yes, of course! Now is not the time for despair!" She refocused herself on the task at hoof. "We will reach Neil in time!"

"Good!" As they neared the last of the shaddlar transports, Mand'alor tried to contact Nali Kelborn over a comm. channel; but suddenly, the communications suite on his helm short-circuited, blowing the panel out with a spray of sparks and wisps of black smoke. He stopped and took his helm off to see the problem. A pink fruit fly with a tiny crown and two mismatched eyes flew out of the fried rear panel.

Fruit fly Discord said in its teeny voice while flipping Mand'alor off, "You'll never reach Neil in time, Jackass!" It dodged Mand'alor's attempt to snatch it and flew away, laughing maniacally in its squeaky voice all the while.

All the comm. suite's of every Protector in Mand'alor's guard also gave up the smoke, eliciting a rainbow of curses and colorful insults from the guards at the foul demi-ego.

Silenced on his own ship... Mand'alor ripped the destroyed unit off his helm, then crushed it in frustration. "Blast."

"Were it so easy." Luna huffed, "He will defy us at every opportunity, even in the smallest ways."

And just to add fuel to the fire, the comm. officer's voice once again boomed over the hanger from the loud speakers above: Attention, combat status red is in effect. Battle group Cassus will exit hyperspace in t-minus four minutes. All stations prepare for battle! All stations prepare for battle!

Mand'alor shouted as he put his helm back on, "We fly! Double time!" He activated his jet pack then jumped over the ships and crates in their way with his Protectors and Luna in tow.

The distance remained sizable to the drop bay, and time was running out.

Author's Note:

Su cuy'gar, Vode an!

Here we are at part thirteen at last! Part fourteen is halfway done, and I am now going ahead to work on finishing it as soon as possible. I also wish this mini saga concluded. Fun as it was to write it, I want to see where things go in the swamp and onwards from there.

Now, it seems we had quite the twist in this part! Hopefully now the seemingly nonsensical drift from the main storyline makes more sense. Beskar and Fire was a chaotic train wreak because Discord was behind it all along! I wonder how many of you guessed it?

And someone stole Discord's superweapon is seems. Who could be causing all this mischief around Equestria, and why? Well, whoever they are, they know more than anyone should. That's for sure.

Ah ha! I knew something was up with Mand'alor. He isn't what he seems after all. I wonder what he is and what his motives are? He seems pretty benevolent so far.

The last chapter will lay everything bare.

Hopefully this chapter will alleviate the distress some you expressed over this mini saga drifting us from the stone age to star wars. Don't worry, it gets better before the end. At least, I hope so!

That is all for now.

Oya, Manda!

Comments

[Mocha Star]

Wow, Neil's back!
I can't wait to read his latest adventure... actually I'll have to back track a chapter or two to refresh where the story actually is because of the little hiatus it's been on.

[Ferrum Requiem]

11840721

[An Odd Hermit]

This story has been an absolute JOY to binge so far! Not only has it been delightfully poetic (though I disagreed on some parts), it's action sequences gripping, it's wholesome moments heartfelt, but the sheer SURVIVAL has been immensely satisfying! You're a wizard with words, Author, and you've just earned yourself a loyal reader.

Very few manage to hook my attention with such ferocity like the story you've woven. Bravo!

[Ferrum Requiem]

11841080

Thank you! Happy to hear you're enjoying the story.

[ToMahkAros]

Where have you been Vod-an?

[Ferrum Requiem]

11842590
Su'quy, Vod! I've been working, both on other projects higher on my priority list, and normal 'pays the bills' kinda work. I've been here off and on when I had the time to write. Slow and steady.