Chapter 28. Deus ex Machina
Celestia sighed as she walked through the corridors of Canterlot castle. She had just lowered the sun down under the horizon.
With that, the sun court had closed its doors and Luna opened the court of night. Relieving the elder sister of her royal duties.
Celestia was going to get some well deserved shut eye. It had been a tiring week. With the last autumn rain having been particularly tiresome since it had to be planned with the consideration of hundreds of independent farmers, weather-makers and lightning harvesters. And the massive amount of paperwork it took to organize such a nationwide collaboration of weather patrols. All so they could get the last rain down before Hearth's Warming Eve. (And that particularly hot summer had seemed like such a good idea, until the farmers started complaining about the lack of water the crops where getting.)
That along with Discord's trial having to be postponed twenty seven times, due to increasing mischief he caused in and around Canterlot.
She had invited Discord and Fluttershy to Canterlot herself, just so she could keep an eye on him during the events, or at the very least keep him close in case he tried something. Which of course he did. Eventually. He had played along for the most part, until he made it rain fish. And then that sales-pony decided to sue Discord for ruining his business. And Celestia had to act as judge.
That along with the recent troubling news of an alarming amount of wolves being spotted far too close to cities and settlements - seemingly driven in front of the autumn stormfront. It had all taken its tool on her.
Perhaps it was all connected somehow. Perhaps she could blame Discord for everything. If not for Fluttershy keeping him on a short leach, Celestia had no idea how to deal with him.
Celestia stopped to look out the window. A heavy snowfall had besieged Canterlot following the last autumn rain and every rooftop and street was covered in a thick layer of snow. Hearth's Warming Eve was coming, and the Pegasi were working overtime to get everything just right, so they could go home and spend time with their family and friends.
She thought about Twilight Sparkle. It was rarely more than a week without her writing to the princess about something. And more than a week had passed. Celestia hadn’t received any notion that Sparkle was planing to participate in the play of the Hearth's Warming Pageant this year like she usually would. Maybe Twilight was planning something else? Maybe she wanted to surprise her old tutor? If so - Celestia didn’t want to spoil it. After all, Sparkle was a big mare now, and didn’t need Celestia looking over everything she did.
Celestia entered her bedchambers and told the guards outside that they where relieved for the night. The big bed seemed to call for her, to just throw herself in, ornaments and everything. Yet - even when she was alone, she did not lose her grace.
She calmly stepped out of her golden horseshoes, removed her crown and her big golden necklace, and slowly climbed into bed.
“The burden of aristocracy is a heavy one” she thought to herself as she looked at her ornaments. “Heavy indeed.”
She doubted anypony else could carry the big ornamented jewelry like she did. It was big and wide enough to serve as a chestplate for the average pony.
She laid down in bed and closed her eyes. But she did not fall asleep. She had one last duty to preform before she cold rest.
One that few knew of.
Just like her sister Luna had the Dreamskape. So did Celestia have the Astral plane.
Just like Luna had to defend the dreams of others from demons and monsters of nightmare realm - So did Celestia have to guard the Astral plane from any who might misuse or abuse it.
Though, that rarely happened as often as for Luna.
Most of the time it was an empty place between places. Not so much a matter of “where” as of “what” it was. Its sparse population not only rooted in how few knew of it. Even fewer had ever been able to visit it, and fewer still could understand well enough to even try and explain what it was. Even Celestia didn’t know all its secrets.
And with so few visitors, Celestia found herself with a lot of free time.
It was nice having her own place to go. Somewhere she could vent her frustration. Someplace where she could cry and laugh to her heart's content. A place to gather her thoughts or just let her mind rest for a while. All without fear of someone noticing.
Like the dreamscape, it was not a physical realm. It was a place one traveled spiritually, by letting your mind leave the physical body.
A place she could mentally project herself into without anypony noticing her absence.
For time did not flow here like it did in the physical world.
It was, in many ways, the source behind her wise and collected exterior.
It was how she could work for days and nights without sleep. It was a place she had used much in the past one thousand years, to stay on top of all the political intrigue that came with governing and diplomacy.
It was a place she went to in that second when she closed her eyes before making a big decision. To gather her thoughts ans analyze all her options. A task made easier by the fact she could project every aspect of consideration like moving moving pictures around her.
(It made it easy to get a good overview and properly think things through.)
And when she opened her eyes, she would have come to a decision, and already though hard about what she would say, and how to say it.
It was a place she had to use much less, now that her sister had returned and taken over some of the responsibility.
Celestia concentrated her thoughts on that place, and mentally traveled there.
Entering the Astral plane was to her like opening a back door in the back of her mind. Others might need to put themselves in deep meditation, or find a way to become a being of pure energy to go through that door. But with a millennium of practice, Celestia had learned to enter as easy as one would step true a non metaphorical doorway.
She arrived in the Astral plane without her jewelry. While she could project them upon herself - she chose not to. She was not the ruler of this place any more than Luna was over the dreamscape. She was merely its guardian.
Her visual presence in the Astral plane was based on a projection of her physical body - an idea of what she looked like. She did not have to materialize at all if she did not want to. She could just be a shapeless spiritual energy floating around.
But tight now she wanted to have her feet on the imaginary ground as she walked down a lane surrounded by moving pictures displaying events both new and old.Sometimes she simply enjoyed a stroll down memory lane. A lane made real for her by all her memories played out in moving paintings around her.
It helped her mind relax. And she felt her physical body relax. The lane around her became much more dream-like as she felt the status of REM sleep opposing upon her, and the Astral plane faded around her as she drifted away.
She was planing to fall directly to sleep as she re-entered her physical body. It would be like instantaneous travel between realms. To leave this realm and enter her sister's dreamscape. (She knew she would sleep better now than in a thousand years now that Luna helped keep her dreams peaceful.)
She was just about to leave, when she felt a presence.
In an instant Celestia was wide awake. There had been no mistake. There had been something with her in the Astral plane.
She cast a few spells on herself to mask her aura and immediately went back in. This time, she did not visually project herself. Rather she remained an invisible, shapeless force. Hidden like a ghost.
She still had to be careful, lest the intruder sensed her presence. For like she could sense it - It too would likely be able to sense hers, if it knew what to look for. (in a way, it was not too different from sensing another magician by their magical presence in the physical world.)
Like this, she searched through the plane. Homing in on the alien presence. It was easy to find, for unlike her, the intruder had not attempted to hide or disguise its presence. Rather it was beaming, emulating a strange energy alien to Celestia.
And a noise.
A noise of crying.
Celestria readied herself and carefully moved towards the source of the sound.
There waited a sight she had never seen.
It was a green glowing, semi transparent creature. As she got closer she saw that it was made up inside out of lines upon lines of symbols, letters and numbers that rolled over its form in endless streams of code.
It had the general shape of a pony. A filly crying into its own forelegs.
Celestia didn’t take any chances. It was not uncommon for demons to prey on your sympathy to get your guard down.
Unsure of the creatures nature or intent - Celestia decided that the best approach would be to shock and awe.
In an instant she materialized in all her fiery glory, and proclaimed in her commanding royal voice.
“Creature! What are you doing here!?”
The creature head jerked up. Green glowing eyes stared like a pair of headlights at her.
Digital numbers where pouring out of them like tears.
“Celestia?” It stammered. Its voice similar to a filly, except with a hollow echo - And the grinding of gears in the background.
Shock clearly played over its face for a moment. Then its face turned to bitter anger. Celestia readied herself for an attack. But she was not ready for the verbal abuse she was about to receive.
“So this is it then!? You are here to judge me now! Just like everypony else! Everypony have already judged me! Everyone hates me! I haven't done anything wrong and still everyone hates me!”
Celestia was taken aback.
“Why would I judge you?”
“Because this is what they all say! That when you die Celestia will come to you and you tell her the story of you life and then she judges you. Whether you fly with her into the everafter or get sent to Tartarus with all the evil ponies, depending on if you been good or bad! But you are already planning to send me to Tatarus! But Tartarus would probably not want me either because no one wants me since I am unnatural!”
“Tartarus?!” Celestia stammered. “Why would I...”
“BECAUSE YOU HAVE THOSE EYES!" The creature cried. Its voice turning into a metallic shriek. "You look at me that way that means that you hate me because I am unnatural! But before you do anything you are gonna stand there and you are gonna listen to my tale and then you are gonna throw me out of existence because you hate me just like everyone else!”
Then, the creature collapsed down into its hooves again, and cried so that it echoed in this empty place.
In between heavy sob attacks, it - Or rather 'she' (for that was what it had showed itself as) - spewed out her life story
As she talked, green tendrils of code began to stretch out from her body. Celestia reared back in case this was an attempt to snare her. But the tendrils did not seek her out. Instead they went out and formed big rectangular shapes in which images started to appear. First it was just a hazy blur. But slowly a clear picture emerged in each and every one of them. Moving pictures displaying several key points in a happy little filly's life. All narrated by the broken sobs of the little creature in the middle.
For the first time in a century, Celestia jaw dropped. She knew that little white and pink filly.
While she did not personally knew every relative of Twilight's closest friends. She did have extensive dossiers on every hero of Equestria, and their closest relatives. So of course she knew of Rarity's little sister.
“Sweetie Belle?” Celestia asked in disbelief.
The filly did not answer. Was perhaps not listening - Far to busy spewing out her story like some last requiem.
Celestia's heart sank as the more recent events of the filly's life began to unfold in front of her.
An accident. An explosion. A journey. A Hospital. A Fire. A Workshop. A tower. A forest. A dumpster. A bridge...
All the things that she had done. All the things that she had seen and the long long way that she had come.
Such horror she had faced, such horrible discovery’s she had made. Such pain she had endured.
And such utter, utter loneliness.
Then there had been a blink of hope, an understanding that had come to her at the very end - only for it to be ripped away like a dried leaf from a dead tree she was torn from all that she loved and whisked away here.
True all of this Celestia listened, for this was a foal in pain, that much was clear to her now.
And it was about the only thing that was clear. Celestia could barely wrap her head around all of it. It seemed to surreal even for her. But she could not deny the imagery shown to her. That Sweetie Belle was a creation of metal and circuitry - Yet not a simple machine. There where so many synonyms for what Sweetie was and wasn't spinning in Celestias head. All of them failing to explain or suit what was before her. Never in all of her years, a millennium of magical and technological evolution had she ever seen anything like this.
The filly simply defied description.
It was moments like this Celestia would enter the Astral plane to get her bearings. But she was already here. And the little one did not need her starting to ask questions. What she needed was someone to tell her that everything was going to be fine.
Celestia laid down beside the little one and tucked her wing over Sweetie. Unsure if she would be able to make physical contact with her transparent being. But her presence here must have been stronger than she thought. For there was a tingling feeling under her feathers. She could feel the streams of code moving under her wing. Like every single glyph carried a small electrical charge.
Sweetie curled together under the wing. She continued to sob as the screens disappeared and the tendrils retracted back into her body.
The only thing Celestia could do was to start humming a lullaby.
Her tune extended out into the void of the Astral plane and formed an echo that made is sound like a chorus. A thousand all around them voices humming in harmony for the little one. Encouraging the her to get it all out. To cry away all her sorrows, and meet tomorrow with a smile.
Eventually, as the cries of the filly dried out, so did Celestia end the lullaby.
”So. Are you gonna send me away” Sweetie asked.
Celestia leaned in an nursed the little filly.
“Oh little Sweetie. I am not gonna send you anywhere. And I am most certainly not here to judge you.”
“You're not?”
Celestia shook her head ever so slightly.
“You life is not mine to judge. Even if it was, I could not judge you. For you have not lived your life yet.”
That drew even more sobs from the filly.
"I know I haven't. But so many said that I should not be alive in the first place, Its not fair. I've done nothing wrong and they still wanted to kill me. Its not fair."
“Oh little Sweetie. You are not dead.”
“How? How can I not be dead? I've lost everything. My My friends. My taste. My skin. My tail. My voice. Even my body!”
She looked down on herself.
“I am a ghost. So how can I not be dead?”
Celestia leaned down and nursed the filly even harder.
“Because you would not be able to appear here, if you were. This isn't the ever after. Its only a step on the way.”
“To what?”
“To fulfilling your destiny”
Sweetie looked up at her with the saddest eyes.
“How can I have a destiny when I wasn't even suppose to be alive in the first place.”
Celestia was taken aback by the statement.
Sweetie diverted her eyes and hung her head again.
“Its funny.” she said in a painfully un-funny tone. “I once asked my sister if I had been in an accident so horrible that they had to replace every part of me. It turns out that accident was being born.”
“What?”
“She said that I was dead when I was born. I didn't believe her. I yelled at her and said some horrible things.”
Sweetie sniffed. Another number fell like a tear from her eyes and disappeared into the ever.
“I didn't mean it. Well, I did mean it at the time, but I regret it now! And now I'll never got she chance to tell her.”
She looked back up. This time accusingly.
“What kind of destiny does that?”
Celestia's heart was in her throat. Stillborn. Was there no end to the tragedy surrounding this little filly?
It made Celestia feared for her. She feared that after all the pain and all the ponies who had hurt her Sweetie would not want to go back. But She could not remain here or there was a risk that she would become lost forever. She had to restore this filly hope. She could not leave her here. But she could not force her back. She had to make her want to do it herself.
She hugged her tighter with her wing.
“O little Sweetie. It is clear that you have lost many things. But there things do not define you. You still have so many wonderful things left.”
“What do you mean?”
Celestia mentally punished herself for speaking in riddles. It was an old habit of hers to always give others the satisfaction of figuring out things themselves. But this filly have been through enough, and needed some clear context.
“I mean that you must still have somepony you care for. Somepony who loves you for who you are no matter what.”
Sweetie thought for a moment.
“Rarity.” she sobbed. “Rarity loves me.”
Celestia smiled. There was still hope.
“ Yes. You still have your sister who love you no matter who you are. No matter how you look. And you do love your sister back don't you?”
“Yes. She is... a part of me.”
Celestia resisted the urge to raise an eyebrow at the way Sweetie said that. Her head was spinning with questions but she had to repress them. To not further cloud the mind of the troubled little filly.
“And I'm sure she will forgive you.”
Sweetie looked out into the vast nothingness of the Astral plane.
“Yes. Despite everything I know she still loves me. Its the only thing I do know. I can't explain it. But it feels like its the only thing I know for sure. Because she gave me my heart. She gave me life.”
Sweetie grabbed her chest.
“But... My heart is gone now.” Horror washed over her face. “I got shot in the heart! No pony can live without a heart!”
“True. But you are not a normal pony are you." Celestia said. "No pony could have survived the things you did.”
Celestia waved her other wing and made her own moving pictures of what she had just seen appear. So that Sweetie could see them for herself. Though they where horrifying images, there was still something beautiful in them. A struggle. An unwillingness to give up. A filly that kept going regardless of what the world threw at her. It was almost beautiful had it not been so tragic.
“For you see, Sweetie. I do not believe your destiny was to die. I believe your destiny is to live.”
Sweeties eyes widened. This was exactly what she needed to hear.
“I'm supposed to live?“
“That is what you want the most. Is it not?“
Internally Celestia pleaded for her to say yes.
“Yes! Yes I want to live! I want to be with Rarity. I want to tell her that I am sorry for everything!” she shouted “But. What does that have to do with destiny?”
Celestia smiled.
“Destiny is what you make of it. It is our desires that drive us to pursue our dreams and make somethings of ourselves. Like you and your friends do when you are crusading.”
Sweetie looked up on her with a bit of shock. To her, Celestia must seem all-knowing to know about their group. In truth, the princess had received quite a few letters from Twilight about the crusaders mischief.
"We have not been able to find our marks. And now I don't think I can ever be a part of the crusaders again." Sweetie sighed.
"I will never get a mark.”
“You desire a mark for the sake of a mark. But you are not looking for what you truly desire. You are trying to find out where you belong without actually wanting to belong anywhere.”
“Are you talking about me or my friends?”
Celestia booped her nose.
“Both. But mostly you.”
She gestured out to the empty plane - Making new images, this time of her own making, appear.
“Was that not what you were doing on this journey. Looking for where you belonged? For your purpose?”
“Yes. But I did not like the answers I found.”
“So you kept looking. To make your own destiny. And Sweetie. That is no small feat.”
“Can I do that? Can I really find my destiny?”
"You have already come far longer down that road then you think. You do not need a mark to have a destiny.”
It was as if the green light of the fillies eyes brightened. It warmed Celestia's heart to see.
“Your destiny may be uncertain now. And that is sometimes hard to take. But it will become much clearer with every step you take. For you have not lived your life yet. And I can hardly wait to see what becomes of it.”
A tiny, uncertain smile spread across Sweeties lips.
“And you should give your friend a second chance.” Celestia continued. “I'm sure they will come around eventually.”
That actually got a little giggle out of Sweetie.
“You sound like some old stallion that I've met.”
“Oh.” said Celestia, this time playfully “Then I would like to meet him.”
“Perhaps you can. He should still be in the old Toy factory.”
Again a tendril of numbers extended from Sweetie, folding out into a frame around a picture of the place Sweetie spoke of, as well as a map.
Celestia nodded.
“Ok. But you are gonna go back there first. And tell him I'm coming. Tell them all. And have faith in that your sister will set things right.”
“But? How do I get back? I don't even know where I am.”
"Don't worry. I will show you the way."
“Ok. Lets go!”
Sweetie eagerly got up and waited for Celestia to take the lead. But she did not move.
“Are we not going anywhere? Aren't you gonna take me back?”
Celestia rose.
“O little Sweetie. I can not take you back. But I am going to show you how to find your way back."
She pointed her hoof at Sweetie's chest.
“The way back ...Its right here”
Sweetie tilted her head.
“I don't understand”
“The connection between you and your body. You have it inside you.”
“But... I was destroyed.”
“Think. There must be something left in you.”
Sweetie thought for a moment.
“Before I got shot. I felt something. Something I've never felt before. It was as if something lit up deep inside me. I cant explain but it was as it it was there all along. I had just not been able to noticed it. Not until I.... completely took over my heart drive.”
What is a heart drive? Celestia wondered, but did not ask. Instead she gave a comforting smile.
“Good. Now focus on that energy and pull that out again.”
“But my heart drive is gone.” Sweetie whimpered.
“Maybe. But the energy must still there inside you. Because you took it out! And I know energy can not fade into nothingness.”
Sweetie closed her eyes and focused. At first nothing happened. But then new tendrils of code extended from her and formed a new set of screens. But this time they did not show images of her life. But different schematics of a mechanical filly. Sweeties eyes opened, The green glow of her sockets was replaced by more code that scrolled by faster than Celestias eyes could keep up with. The screens started changing. Moving up and down different parts of the body. Zooming in and analyzing the status of different components down to the smallest wire. The images flew by faster and faster until they settled on a layout of a mechanical filly head. Then on something that looked like a big orb where the brain should be.
Underneath the images flashed a text:
-:: Undamaged ::-
-:: Unidentified energy detected ::-
-:: Release on command ::-
Sweetie blinked, and this time the green light of her eyes returned.
“You are right. There is something there.”
“Good.” Said Celestia. A bit overwhelmed by what she had just seen. To think that such a blend of magic and technology existed. “Now focus on that energy and pull it out.”
Sweetie hesitated. And looked up at the screens. At herself.
“Its funny. When I first found out the truth, I wanted nothing more than to become a real filly. But if I had been a real filly... I would have been dead so many times over. In fact I would not have been alive if they had not made me the way I am.”
The screens closed and retracted back into Sweeties body.
“Destiny is what you make it.” she said out loud “And they made me. Because they wanted me to live.”
She sighed.
“Maybe my destiny was to become a robot.”
There was like a spark in her eyes, and Celestia knew that it was time.
The filly closed her eyes in concentration. At first nothing happened. But then a number detached from a line of code and started to swirl around her before settling down somewhere else. Then a letter detached itself and did the same. More and more symbols started switching places around her body with ever increasing speed. Some just moving to a neighboring line. Other circulating several laps around her before settling down. Then the moving symbols started to glow as they rotated around her. They glowed so bright that they turned into little orbs of light that spun in orbit around the filly. And they kept glowing as they reattached themselves to her body. Soon the glowing dots outnumbered the symbols Celestia could still make out. Now there where so many symbols moving around with such speed that it looked like the filly was being repeatedly torn apart and put together again. Finally her entire being was in constant motion. Every symbol of her body glowed and moved with such speed that Celestia could no longer keep trace of them. It all just blurred together as if the filly was made of a shapeless swirling energy.
Slowly she began to rise from the imaginary ground and float away from Celestia.
There was a flash.
And she was gone.
***
The flow of time had stopped dead for Rarity.
It was like if everything had just stopped to witness the horror that transpired before her.
She did not feel the pain in her side where Sweeties head had made contact with her. She did not hear the maniacal laughter of a crazy mare with an energy lance. Her world just stood still. Still as the little mechanical filly in the middle on the floor. Her silent body had sunken down in a sitting position. Her head bent backwards over her shoulders like in a silent scream. Smoke rose from the hole where the yaw should be. Her remaining eye dark and empty staring blindly up at the ceiling.
Rarity's mind stood still. Refusing to process the horror in front of her. But slowly. Like a snakes venom. The realization crept into her mind.
The worst possible thing of all the worst possible things.
Sweetie Belle. Her little sister. Was dea...
Before she could finish the worst possible thought - she was almost deafened as an unearthly, metallic scream filled the warehouse.
And she was simultaneously almost blinded as a light so bright and green erupted in her vision.
She should have been knocked back by shock. She should have fainted. Instead, her already stressed out mind stopped working, and she could just stare. Once again unable to process what was happening right in front of her.
Sweetie Belle had erupted in flames.
Green flames that spewed out from her like her very frame was emanating them. it shot out of every crack in her armor and rose high into the air.
And the fire intensified by the second.
The heat rose to degrees that could melt steel. Rarity's face became red from the heat but she could not look away.
Sweetie was positively glowing. And not just from the flames. The armor was glowing white from the heat and from underneath shone a light stronger than any fire could produce. shades of emerald and lime green licked her frame like it had molted into lava.
And the sound. The sound that could not have been produced by any creature of this world. It was like the screams of metal grinding into metal. Like a thousand trains slamming on the emergency brakes. It pierced the ears with a volume that could shatter glass and a force that could rival hurricanes.
And she moved.
Sweetie got up on her tree little legs. And looked around with a look most menacing.
Her remaining eye shone like a bright green spotlight that swept across the room trying to get its bearings. As she turned her head towards Rarity she could see that the other eye-socket had been filled with a orb of fire. With a long tendril of energy pouring from it like a pony possessed by magic.
Despite that the light should burn her eyes, Rarity could not look away, or even blink. She just met that green stare with her own. And somehow – beyond her ability to explain. She felt a connection.
Despite having no jaw, no voice, or any facial features left, Rarity could tell that her sister wanted to tell her something. Or perhaps just, reassure her.
Then she turned its eyes back out to the warehouse floor. The fire in her eye intensified again.
She screamed again. She screamed at them. An ear piercing Shriek of metal that made Rarity's head hurt.
The light intensified. A stream of energy shot from her broken horn and rose like a spire from her head. Two more spires shot out from the broken cannon ports on her sides, and erupted into flames that shot up even higher.
Rarity was sure she must be seeing things. But the flames almost looked like wings.
“OMG! its a ZOMBIE ROBOT!” Screamed Taco teddy.
Mad Marrow dropped the lance she was holding and started rolling around on the floor.
“You can't kill her. You cant kill her.” She. laughed hysterically. “Every time you kill her she only comes back even stronger.”
“DEMON! ITS A DEMON!” Screamed Shockwave.
He managed to pull himself from a stunned Screwloose, and threw himself over Sweetie. Grabbing her face with both hooves, trying to shock her again. The air filled with the crackling of lightning but, Sweetie stood firm with no sigh of effect to his attack. She did not push him back, or even move. She just stood there, burning with a temperature that would melt steel.
Shockwave tried to keep up his attack, to no avail - while the flames liked his face and chest.
Eventually the heat of the flames proved stronger than his faith, and he fell back screaming, with the fur burnt from his face and torso, and the skin underneath touched to varying colors of red. But that was nothing compared to his forelegs which were severely burned to point of blackened - and his forehooves all but melted.
As he wailed on the floor. he knocked the glowing energy grenade away.
The anti magic orb was kicked across floor and managed to role over to where Necro and Twilight were still in a stalemate. It rolled past Madam Macadam, who dropped out of her disguise as a second Dr Cardiac (whom had run to confuse Metalhoof) and fell to the floor grabbing her horn.
Rarity's parents also got to taste the pain of magical drain before Mr Thrunk's caught the orb and crushed it underhoof. He then ran to assist Brick, who was still wrestling with the Prism Prestige.
More and more clay-ponies crumbled into dust under Twilight's magic. But Necro refused to give up, even as the crack on his horn worsened as he strained himself. And eventually cracked. A piece of the tip literally flew of.
In an instant the magic vanished from the air as he fell to the floor screaming in pain.
Twilight could finally allow herself a moment to breathe before passing out as well.
Cardiac managed to rip the control panel from Metalhoof. As It skittered across the floor the last Steel stallions started turning around firing mindlessly. Two spun to face each other and blasted each other to pieces. Metalhoof jumped to catch it but the Changeling managed to magic it out of his reach. She took the controller, and with a press of a button the last two steel stallions destroyed each other in a similar fashion. Shocked that his army had been reduced to scrap, Metalhoof deflated.
In desperation he ran to grab one of his fallen warriors weapons. Rarity's horn flared up, and from absolutely nowhere - A fainting couch came flying. The heavy renaissance furniture impacted with his face.
The green mechanic hit the floor almost at the same time as Brick and Mr Trunk's got the upper hand over Prism - and threw their opponent over the catwalks railing. Teeth shattering as he fell face first into the concrete floor. He tried to get up again, but was crushed as Brick descended from the catwalk - Like a falling brick - landing right on top of him.
Through the chaos, Rarity noticed a fat blue figure running to grab a hold of another energy lance, and run towards Sweetie with it. But her parents stopped him by biting his tail - then, a big brown lumberjack leaped in front of him, knocking the weapon out of his hooves and grabbing the fat restaurant owner by the collar of his ruined suit. Lifting him up from the floor with one hoof.
"How... How can you support this?" Teddy asked, struggling to breathe through his tightening collar. "Don't you realize they are going to replace all children with artificial fakes. Your own foals are going to be replaced by thing like that!"
He pointed at Sweetie.
"Fool!" Trunk's rumbled. "Why would anyone ever replace my own son?"
"Because...? It's cheaper?" Teddy stammered.
Trunks punched Teddy square in the jaw with an ax-skilled hoof that could have chopped down a tree in a single swing. The fat stallion flew several meters up and away, and hit the floor rolling like a bowling ball. Only stopping when he impacted with a set of gas tubes that had been placed in a triangular formation against the far wall.
As the chaos and dust steeled. Sweetie's flames began to die out. The fiery wings disappeared and the jet stream of a horn fanned out. The fireball in her eye shrunk and the light from her other eye was dimming as Sweetie started to sag and tilt. She was shutting down again.
She sat down on a floor which had blackened from the heat. Her armor had melted and shriveled up like burned paper, and turned just as black.
Rarity saw her reach out her hoof towards her. She hurried over towards her. But the last flames faded along with the green glow in her eye before she could reach her.
Rarity caught the hoof as it fell. Though there was no more light in Sweetie's eye, she knew her sister was looking right at her.
Strangely enough - her little hoof, which had just a moment ago been glowing like green lava, was cold. Like her metallic frame had dispersed all the heat as soon as the flames died out.
Then she noticed somepony crawling towards Sweetie. Neurosa was dragging herself over the floor. Her glasses where shattered, and ScrewLoose where biting down on her rear leg - pulling in the opposite direction.
“Don't worry baby...” Neurosa mumbled. “Don't worry. Mommy's here...”
She reached out a hoof, trying to reach Sweetie. But a brown hoof came down on her outstreched limb. Hard enough to cause her fetlock to snap out of position.
A brown pony with an orange mane walked up and stood in her way. Firm despite limping on three hooves, the forth was grazing his shoulder, where a lightning blast had struck him. Besides him, Nurse sully was trying to bandage his wounds.
This stallion, who's name was still unknown to Rarity, looked down on Neurosa with the purest of detest.
“She already got a mother!” He hissed between her teeth. “And its not you!”
he kicked away Screwbolt's hoof. The mare clearly had no strength to lift it again. She seemingly gave up. Deflated in defeat, and lowered her head to the dusty floor.
The brown stallion sat down next to her, grabbed her jaw with his healthy hoof, and turned her head around. And said, almost with bitter tears in his voice:
"Can you not even recognize your real daughter?"
Screwloose let go of Neurosas leg, and walked up to sniff on her mane. Neurosa tilted her head ever so slightly as she looked up at the mare, with eyes just as red as the once looking down on her.
“Screw? She whispered “Little Screw?”
Screwloose then snorted, turned around and kicked up some dust on the downed mare.
Rarity too turned her back on the scene, and turned back to Sweetie.
Carefully she levitated little Sweetie off the floor - Her melting armor had already hardened and solidified with the concrete floor. Small rocks had merged with the shriveled plates that had twisted up like withering petals. Black burned and charred with grayed flakes coming of its surface when touched. But the rest of her - her little unarmored head for instance - was as blank as new policed silver. The straws of copper that had been sticking out of a broken plug in Sweeties neck had melted. But instead of forming into an ugly blackened tar - It had formed into strange swirly pattern on her metallic cranium. If not for all the parts that were missing - her head actually looked rather stylish.
Rarity levitated her over and took her in her lap. It was easy to embrace her sister, since the heat of the flames - that had been enough to melt metal and scorch concrete - had diminished as quickly as it had arrived.
The twisted metal cut into Rarity's skin, but she did not care. Neither did she care that she got stained with soot and leaking oil - Or about the smell of chemical fumes. She only cared about holding her little sisters damaged body in her lap. To protect and embrace her as she should have done from the beginning.
Every emotion imaginable was coming at her at once. But she bottled them up and put a lid on them. She forced herself to be strong. She had to be strong. For Sweetie Belle.
Mom and dad walked towards her. Their faces held the blank stare of shock.
Fathers lips started shivering.
Is... Is she...?
“NO!” Rarity bellowed before they could finish the horrible thought. "No she is not!"
Rarity hugged the lifeless body close.
"She came back... She will come back again.”
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A good solid beating on the bad guys is always a nice thing to see.
And some interesting developments from Sweetie.
6753956
I see. I was hoping it was enough for the crystals to rebuild her.
Here comes Metal Sweetie ,Mechanical Undead Alicorn of Destiny !
>Here comes Metal Sweetie ,Mechanical Changeling of Destiny !
fixed that for you.
6758415
8055508
How about we just say "Here comes Metal Sweetie, Deus Ex Machina". You know, considering how many times she's come back from death, are you sure she doesn't have some phoenix in her?
Here comes Metal Sweetie, Mechanical Undead Alicorn Changeling Phoenix Deus Ex Machina of Destiny!
Not really, no, her tragedy is sort of infinite at this point. The fact that she hasn't broken completely is a miracle.
No, it really isn't.
Savage.
I mean yeah that's a fair assessment.
Teddy should've gotten a lot more than a punch. Take him to Pinkie's lair so she can bake him into cupcakes
!
That kinda... killed the mood
Also... Sweetiecorn?
When Sweetie revived and began to glow emerald with an inner eternal fire that spoke silently with Understanding towards Rarity, I could only remember that only a song like the following would have played in the scene.
...
...
...
...RUN 00-Qan(t):TransAm.exe!
9126018
Video missing. Was the name of the song "TransAm"? If not, what was it?
Mission success. It seems more than simple determination that brought you here. The will is strong with this one.
BWAHAHAHA
didnt expect this, wonder how this will play out