19: Reproachable Instigation
To Prism’s eyes, the underbelly of the Misguided Temple was a cold and sterile place. As the chevron-like drones guided them through the narrow, bleak hallway, the ponies had to occasionally skirt around increasingly more frequent breaks in reality. Alf took up the rear, purposely keeping his distance from Prism, lest she convince him to back out of the agreement. The silence, broken only by their hoofsteps, was oppressive to the point where she couldn’t hold back her inquisitiveness any longer. “Hey, cogitator entity. You got a name?”
The avatar materialized in front of the room, and floated backwards to keep pace. The hooded holographic alien seemed quite skilled at projecting mild disinterest without a visible face. “You may refer to me as Reproachable Instigation.”
A curse behind Prism brought her attention towards a unicorn who ducked his head to keep a drifting break from sheering his horn off. That very threat made Prism whip her head back around to make sure she wasn’t going to blunder into one herself. “What’s with all these tears in reality? You get in a fight down here?”
“That is none of your concern, Primitive. Do as I command, and you will be spared radioactive fire.”
Prism’s blood boiled at the insult. Yet before she could act on that anger, Twilight’s face manifested in front and a bit to the side of her. “Easy, girl, I know what you’re feeling, but we can’t antagonize that thing.”
Prism switched off her helmet’s exterior speakers. “I know that, but there’s got to be something I can do! If we let that AI turn Alf into a pony, it might as well be his personality will change forever!”
Twilight’s frown mirrored Prism’s pained expression. “I know, Little Wing, but our wings are tied. I’m in communication with Admiral Thorn. He believes the AI might be bluffing about destroying us all, however.”
Prism’s surprised reply was cut short when the group rounded a bend in the hallway only to come face to face with a wall of wrong. The entire length of the seven meter wide hallway was awash with broken reality. The walls and even a few chevrons that were caught in the middle seemed to faze in and out of existence, being replaced with static. The air squirmed with flashes of beasts and unidentifiable machines of wholly unnatural design phasing in and out like a horrific kaleidoscope. Prism and the others were dumbstruck where they stood. Yet what set her fully on edge was the figment of her sister Fire Shrine, standing upon an arcane circle, and looking far more demonic than she ever had in life.
“Apparently we will have to find another route,” the avatar announced matter-of-factly. “Follow,” it demanded as a side door hissed open with the chevrons leading the way. A few ponies had less unsettling visions, and were able to pull their fellows away.
It took one of the marines a few shakes to pull Prism out of her teeth-chattering fear. “Pathfinder. Hey, are you still good?”
Fire Shrine’s imagine vanished into a whirlpool of chaotic colors, leaving Prism tight in the chest. “Y-yeah. I’m fine.” She scanned her surroundings to find the rest of the ponies were filing into a room. Since no one seemed to be in distress, she trudged on after them. “The sooner I’m away from that thing, the better.”
“I hear that,” the marine replied worriedly as he fell in behind her.
The room she found her team in, was far more cluttered with spherical plastic looking containers floating in neat rows. The wall closest to the corridor of broken reality was shimmering in its instability, but the chaos had not progressed far enough to hamper everyone from filing through the long storage room.
Once she gathered her wits once more, Prism saw her mother’s disembodied head was still present. “Did you see any of that?”
“I…” Twilight closed her eyes for a long time and breathed slowly. “I wish I hadn’t.”
“Did – did you see her?”
Twilight’s ear twitched. “I saw a number of things in that ‘place’ and I don’t wish to discuss it right now.”
“Fine by me,” Prism replied shakily. “So you were saying Thorn think’s it’s a bluff?”
Glad for the change in subject, Twilight projected her regal air. “Yes. Brynhild found the AI much more amicable towards the griffins after finding out they had only met Alf the previous night and were not allies of either him or us. While I doubt we can put much stock in this, Brynhild managed to get the AI to agree to only kill you and the squad should you try anything funny.”
Prism huffed begrudgingly with a mix of irritation and agreement. “At least that takes the gun off the world’s head.”
“Yes, well, Spike and I think that assurance will go out of the window the instant the AI thinks Alf is going to escape.” Prism started flying so she could close in on the front again. With ponies being so short compared to Alf’s species, the ceiling was high enough to allow it. Due to the cramped and zig zag route, the scattered pieces of torn reality were a serious, if navigable danger. “I would suggest trying to pick apart the AI’s reasoning for doing all of this. It appears far more stable than the others we’ve found. I know it’s a long shot, but it might be capable of being reasoned with.”
“I’m not getting my hopes up, but all I care about is keeping everypony alive,” Prism declared with stern conviction. That tone shifted to a mix between amusement and accusation. “I gotta say mom, you can chessmaster some serious tests, you know that?”
“Oh yes, because I clearly orchestrated this whole temple and rogue AI to be here,” Twilight made sure to lay the sarcasm on extra thick. A red circle interposed itself on Prism’s personal display, revealing a collection of innocuous lumps on some of the spheres. To her trained eyes however, she knew they were explosive charges. “But I will admit to having a flare for subtly from time to time. Alf is quite sure that your squad is currently walking through a the coolant reservoir for the temple’s powerplant. I suspect the AI didn’t bother to mention it to make us think all this equipment is unimportant.”
“Is that right?” Prism gave a cheshire grin. “It would be such a pity if there was a power failure.”
“That it would,” Twilight mirrored her daughter’s tone before becoming serious again. “In any case, I will personally update the rest of the squad on this development.”
“We can’t go loud without those daggers though,” Prism added quickly before her mother could speak further. “They might get destroyed if we do this too early.”
“The squad will follow your lead. They have more faith in you than you realize.”
While Prism kept walking, she couldn’t help but to wonder just on how many levels her mother meant by that. Does she mean my goal to become an alicorn? I mean, yeah that’s just a step away from being a public secret, but so have a bunch of my older sisters. Prism’s mood soured as her thoughts drifted towards Fire Shrine. Prism’s bile rose at just thinking of her smirking face. If anything they should be worried about somepony trying to become an alicorn. So where would this phantom faith be coming from? Ultimately, Prism decided not to dwell on it, so she could focus on the here and now.
As it was, the path forward was increasingly clogged with coin sized bits of broken reality that waited for any hapless victim to walk into. More than once did Prism have to drop to the ground to avoid a blob of it.
The chevrons finished leading the group through the storage rooms and back into another sterile hallway shortly after Prism came in to land at the front of the other ponies. “Hey, Reproachful, these breaks in reality are our problem since you’re destroying yourself anyway, and the rest of us plan on living on this planet.”
The hologram fizzled briefly before gracing Prism with its attention yet again. “Very well, Ally of the Fallen One. These breaks are being caused by my … how to put it simply, my power generation machine. It has been failing for some time, and the damage has become irreparable due to the clustering of the breaks. Once I destroy the temple, they will fade in time. Your world will be spared. Provided your continued cooperation does not end.”
The chevrons came to a halt in front a blank section of dead end only for the wall itself to fold in and open to reveal a three story tall chamber. The lights were already on with dozens of chevron drones all flying around awakening sleek machinery via TK fields not dissimilar to what unicorns used. As the group strode inside, gaping in awe at the first functional alien technology they’d seen. The low hum of electricity could be heard everywhere, emanating from the massive machines that blanketed the walls. It was here of all places that the tears in reality were thankfully absent. Towering in the center was a ceiling to floor column that bore rings of clear pods with one of which was filling with green fluid.
Prism was the first to gather her wits and opened a channel to the science officer who only now thought to start scanning with the tricorder. ~“Hey, you wouldn’t happen to know where those daggers are, would you?”~
~“No but-“~
“Now,” the avatar announced, unwittingly cutting the scientist off, “each of you… subtypes will follow a limb to have you genetic code memorized. You should feel fortunate, Fallen One,” the avatar chided at Alf. “Most organics only get two biological progenitors. You get to have sixteen.”
“My joy quotient is overflowing,” Alf shot back acidly.
Ignoring the alien’s tone, four of the avatar’s drones approached individual ponies, including Prism. “You, the talkative one. Go with my limbs. You four will be memorized first.”
Prism briefly looked to Alf, but when he showed no outward concern about anyone being ‘memorized’, which was admittedly difficult to tell behind a mask and unfamiliar body language, she marched after her designated drone.
The avatar had picked four pegasi by no accident and had the chevrons fly over the railing and down towards the lower level, waiting to see if the ponies could actually fly, but to also get a sense of their magical capacities. What surprised Reproachable Instigation was the size of Prism’s wings compared to every other pegasus in the group. That surprise didn’t faze it for more than a moment.
Down at the lower level, there was a dome shaped machine with a single clear door. “Enter one at a time. It will not take long.”
A pegasus stallion stepped forward before Prism could do the same. ~“Let me take this one for the team, Pathfinder. If it’s a trap, better somepony takes it before you.”~
Prism stepped forward to protest, only for a chevron to bodily block her. “Do I need to use simpler words to make it clear I meant one at a time?” Reproachable grumbled in supreme annoyance. “It would seem using pictographs might have been needed after all.”
Prism ground her teeth, barely containing her indignation. “Where do you get off acting like this!?” Prism roared with an angry shaking hoof.
Reproachable Instigation’s avatar manifested directly in front of Prism. “The rest of your kind have been wise enough to remain silent and have demonstrated the capacity to follow instruction. They have earned a modicum of respect you have not. Be silent and you may yet.”
Prism growled and pushed back into her little corral, but inwardly she smirked derisively at the AI. You think you got it all figured out, eh? I told them to keep quiet so I’d be the only one to piss you off. Not so likely to turn us into reality soup if only one of us is irritating you.
With nothing she could really do, Prism watched the pony volunteer step inside the scanner. The machine took on a blue glow as powerful magic thrummed to life. The magic was so powerful that Prism started suffering a mild yet pinpointed headache where her proto-horn was. She gritted her teeth trying to avoid rubbing her head so she could keep an eye on the volunteer, but she lost that duel a minute into the scan as the magic only intensified. It was an act that the other two pegasi took curious note of.
“Pathfinder, are you alright?” the only other mare of the group asked while stepping up to Prism and resting a hoof on her back.
Thankful that her companion couldn’t see her pained face, Prism couldn’t hide that pain from her voice. “You don’t feel that?”
“Feel what?”
Keeping a close eye on everything from multiple helmets, Twilight spoke to her daughter without her head appearing. ~“PF, your vitals are giving me an idea to what your pain is. It should be nothing to be overly concerned about right now. Try to grit your teeth and bear it for now.”~
~“I’ll try.”~ Prism shook her head to try and distract herself from the dull throb. “I’ll be fine, probably just dehydration, don’t worry about me.”
The other mare didn’t believe it for a second, but she let the matter drop when the volunteer stepped out of the scanner looking no worse for wear. He flexed his legs and wings. “Hey that scan thing removed that cramp I had. You should try it.”
“They do not have a choice,” Reproachable Instigation declared icily while it pointed at the mare next to Prism. “You are next. Proceed.”
One by one, the pegasi were scanned. It was during the third scan that Prism was radioed by the others that the other tribes had been moved to separate scanners on different floors. Crud. I was hoping to have more time to think of something, but what could I actually say to this thing? Without the griffins’ extra firepower and a strong defensive position, we’d get torn apart by those drones. Not to mention we still don’t know what else those drones are capable of, assuming they’re the only combat models around. Then there’s the technology gap. She swept her gaze over the facility for the hundredth time since the first pegasus’ scan. Plus their magic mastery is astounding if my sensors are anything to go by. Mom would have a field day if she got ahold of anything here. Her eyes fell upon a multitude of machines and objects that tantalized her scientific mind, begging for investigation. If only we could just EMP that AI to death and then ninja all this stuff out from under the griffins’ beaks.
Out of all the objects, one in particular stood out to her. It was a large navy blue sphere the size of her head that had two marbles orbiting it at constantly changing speed and direction. Then there was an incomplete shell of faint purple triangles that whipped around in tight interlocking orbits just beyond the marbles. Wait a second. Wasn’t that thing not moving when we first got down here? Whatever it is, it has ‘archeological appropriation’ written all over it. Place is going to be a ruin soon anyway, so why not? A brief grin at nicking that device danced in her mind.
“Bothersome One.” Prism was broken out of her thoughts by Reproachable Instigation, her mood instantly souring. The avatar pointed at the scanner. “Go. Now. Or do I need to use even smaller words?”
A scowl so deep, so disturbing, so utterly mortifying that had the AI been able to see beyond Prism’s polarized helmet, that its very core would have shattered in an instant. Yet Prism dared not release such godly power, lest the three pegasi between her and the scanner see it and cause their minds to snap.
So for the time being, Prism had to make do with suppressing her abominable powers of heinous faces, and grumbled the whole time she marched into the scanner. If that thing gave me a headache while outside of it, then this is going to be just freak’n dandy.
She started walking forward to buy a bit of time, struggling to keep from holding her head. ~“Hey, momma, are we sure these are harmless scans? My head is killing me.”~
~“The unicorns reported similar pain, but it is short lived once the scanners are shutdown. Just muscle through it for now.”~
It went unsaid, but Prism could hear a twinge of curiosity from her mother. The unicorns only huh? Guess the cat’s out of the bag. What a lame way to tell her my horn’s coming. ~“Fine, fine, I can handle a little sting.”~
Bravado was one thing, but there was only one kind of toughing it out Prism liked to do, and that was wilderness survival. Once she was inside the scanner, a collection of lights brightened as she was bathed in magic. That only compounded her headache into a full on migraine. Thankfully, the scan didn’t last forever, and once the machine powered down, the pressure on Prism’s brain came off. A long sigh of relief escaped her. “Woof… No momma, I don’t want to ride it again.”
The door hissed open, letting Prism stumble out. The pegasi were waiting and caught her. “Easy, Prism Flash,” the mare from earlier said calmly. “Just take a moment.”
Yet a moment would not be enough before Reproachable Instigation’s avatar rematerialized in front of the gathered pegasi. “You, Irritant, what exactly are you?” The avatar’s hooded face came close to Prism, making the pegasi interpose themselves. “You will answer promptly.”
Prism recovered enough of her faculties to cut the polarization on her helmet so she could at least show her indignation. “Why da hell are ya asking me? Shouldn’t that stupid machine tell you all you needed to?” Prism jabbed a hoof back at the scanner.
“You are not like the others. You possess a direct connection to the astral plane the rest of your kin lack. Faint, but unmistakable. Explain.”
The stallion who had volunteered to get scanned first had been looking at Prism’s large wings ever since the AI mentioned the astral plane. When Prism didn’t answer right away, and the AI repeated its question more harshly, he depolarized his visor to give Reproachable Instigation a hard gaze. “Because the Pathfinder is a goddess.”
“Technically a demi-“ the other stallion tried to correct, only for the volunteer to silence him with a wing slap to his helmet.
The mare holding onto Prism caught on to her fellow’s intent. “That’s right!” She heaved Prism to her hooves so both mares could stand. “You all heard about the oppressive mana the unicorns were suffering because of the scanner. Headaches just like Prism Flash was suffering.”
“What the rut are you blabbering about, Cloud Buster?” Prism grumbled half under her breath. “I thought I was the only one who’s suppose to be saying stupid crap to that thing.”
“It’s proof she’s going to ascend to full godhood!” Cloud Buster reaffirmed towards the avatar with surging excitement.
By now, Prism’s face was burning so red that she might as well have been a tomato. “I swear to Celestia if you don’t shut your trap...”
Hearing all of this, Reproachable Instigation was briefly silent as it tried to process this information. “A corporeal deity? How strange… I would think you either liars or fools were it not for what I have seen of her body. A pity her mind is worthless.”
Prism jumped into a low hover and shook an angry hoof at the avatar. However, realization struck her like an arrow before she could utter a scathing retort. Instead she lowered her hoof and plastered on a small smug grin. “Well, so much for going incognito about it.” It was only then that Cloud Buster realized the embarrassment he had been causing and hid his face by polarizing the visor, hoping to be forgotten.
“I finally remember why you irritate me so damned much.” The avatar tilted its head at Prism’s comment. “You must be the cogitator entity that failed my previous existence.”
Both the other pegasi and the AI were utterly confused. However, Prism texted the ponies ‘just roll with it’. Having no such message, Reproachable Instigation’s tone was less condescending than usual. “What nonsense are you talking about?”
Prism remembered reading Twilight’s notes on Alf’s spirit journey to speak with Rea. Let’s hope this creep buys what I’m selling. “You know. Gods like me never truly die. We just reincarnate into a newly awakened species, but I still remember snippets of my old existence.”
When the AI said nothing, Prism tried to mimic Twilight’s regal voice and posture. “It’s fuzzy, but I recall being one of the gods watching over and guiding the Judgement. You clearly failed in your holy purpose since not only did Alf survive the Judgement, but no reawakened ever rose up on this world.”
~“Prism, you are playing a dangerous game,”~ Twilight warned with a hushed tone.
~“I’m not going to let Alf commit personality suicide by becoming one of us!”~ Prism shot back with urgency.
“Clearly your recollection is faint indeed,” Reproachable Instigation started with none of the original hostile tone. “It was Bealras the Great Redeemer who personally oversaw the Judgement in this sector, and he was quite pleased the last time he spoke to One of the Cloth. Odd how fate brought one so mighty and powerful into the body of a small organic that barely has the spark of the divine.”
Prism inwardly smirked at having already thought of a counterpoint. “Yeah well, you don’t seriously think we get all our power all at once, do you? Gotta grow into it.”
“Perhaps,” Reproachable Instigation stated with a dangerous tone. “Or perhaps you lie. It is quite possible you are an unrelated higher lifeform entirely. Either way it matters not. You have proven you are not Bealras the Great Redeemer. You are a weak corporeal deity of another species.” The avatar closed in to scrutinize Prism’s face. “The Fallen One will still be turned, his bond to the old pantheon severed, and this temple will be destroyed, no matter your origins. However… in the off chance you are Bealras the Great Redeemer, I offer you a gift.”
“A gift eh?” Prism fumed suspiciously. “Then let me pick!”
The avatar withdrew a little, perplexed. “Oh? This should be amusing. Fine. What could you ask that I would be willing to give?”
It didn’t take Prism even one second. “I want the Daggers of Severance, and that orb thingy,” she demanded while pointing at the odd sphere with a wing.
The avatar looked at the swirling orb and bit back a grating laugh. “That thing? Do you even know what it is?”
“Does it matter?”
“...No, I suppose not.” Reproachable Instigation had a chevron approach the orb and with a few commands, the orb stopped moving. Its orbitals collapsed in on it into a much more compact item roughly the size of a basketball. The chevron then levitated the object to Prism who gave it to one of the other pegasi who had an actual saddlebag. “It should entertain a child at least. But as for the daggers. What could you use them for, capital punishment by chance?”
“Something like that,” Prism lied with a wave of her hoof. “You know, for the extra evil ponies out there.” Better mention Alf or that pompous buffoon might just say no anyway. “Plus you know, just because Alf will become a pony, that doesn’t mean he’ll be completely cut off from the old gods.”
Reproachable Instigation paused at the rationale. At the end of the day, it was still an AI, thus unable to communicate with incorporeal deities. “So there is some sign of intelligence within you. Some sliver of your old self shining through, perhaps? Then you may have them.”
Three chevrons descended into a tight formation in front of Prism. They started projecting three funnels of magic into a single point. From that point, a pair of long daggers materialized. They were clearly designed with hands in mind, with a sturdy grip. The blades were jagged, almost like fire made into a cold dark material. White carvings etched in a language Prism had never seen glowed with ethereal light. Once the daggers were fully there, the chevrons levitated them over and presented them to Prism. “As requested: the Daggers of Severance. Long have they served since the Shamed took to the black. First to forever damn those of immortal crimes, but more recently, to those who would die rather than accept the Judgement. Given your… lineage, it is only proper that you be the ones to wield them this day.”
Doing her best to ignore the sadistic tone that was creeping into Reproachable Instigation’s voice, Prism clicked a robotic hand open to take one of the blades. She was mildly surprised it was real. I can’t believe that actually worked. Provided Alf can confirm these are the real deal at least. The AI, as if noticing that Prism had no means to hold both at once, left the other dagger floating. “Why would you give me these?”
The avatar glided in to float beside Prism and lifted a hand up to guide her vision towards Alf who was watching her from the original level where she last saw Alf. “If you are truly Bealras the Great Redeemer incarnate, then you should bury the last thread of your old existence by severing the Disgraced One from the old. What once was, born again. Now what should not, shall be remade.”
“That’s the great circle of life for ya,” Prism offered up in slight confusion. Following the implied instruction, Prism scooped up the other dagger and carefully gave it to the pegasus engineer who had larger pockets. ~“No idea how these things work, so try not to nick yourself.”~
~“You got it, boss.”~
With that done, she took to the air with the other pegasi close behind. They arrived in time to see the unicorns arrive from a curved staircase along the wall. The earth ponies were already present, along with Alf who was flanked by two guarding chevrons. They had him locked in a prison energy field. “Is that really necessary?” Prism challenged, her temper starting to get the best of her thanks to the margarine. “He’s not going to run.”
Reproachable Instigation completely ignored her as a cylinder popped out of a machine between the ponies and the central pillar. A chevron floated over and collected it before flying back towards Prism to offer this as well. “And now, Oh Bealras the Great Redeemer. You finally have the tools to fulfill your old purpose. Sever the Fallen One, and then use those nanites to change him.” The end of the cylinder facing away from Prism. A gray goo writhed and wiggled, but stayed within the device. “Those will only activate on the Fallen One, so you are safe from it.”
Prism glared at the avatar with barely constrained fury. As if sensing her anger, the demolitions expert earth pony gave her a brief text message with a holographic button appearing before her. ~“This guy’s a prick. You want the honors giving him the middle feather?”~
Prism quickly glanced at her brethren, each of them had a hoof hovering over their weapons, waiting for the signal. ~“Pick your targets, boys, we’ve only got one shot at this.”~ To buy them time to coordinate, Prism gleefully threw the nanite cylinder away from her, by chance rolling towards Alf. “I’ve played along long enough you deranged computer! I declare the Judgement concluded.”
A dark chuckle erupted from every chevron in the room with Reproachable Instigation’s voice echoing from each of them. “As I expected of you. Whether or not you are truly Bealras the Great Redeemer reborn or not. You never held any sway over me.”
Up until this point, Alf had been standing within the prison field with his hands clasped in silent prayer, but upon hearing Reproachable Instigation’s statement, his head snapped up to look at the avatar. “You’re One with the Balgrath Shroud?!”
The avatar shifted and squirmed as mocking hard bitter laughter erupted. The avatar resolidified into a thin waspish creature on leathery wings and spindle like limbs that ended in two toed feet and six fingered hands. Its head had three eyes, its face deformed to an comical sharpness in the chin and teeth. “I must thank you, ponies, for bringing me the last of the genocidal demons to me.” Reproachable Instigation gave Alf a scornful glare behind a toothy smirk. “Yes, I know what your warped mind is thinking, Demon. Those breaks in reality are only being maintained by the damaged power plant. But they were created by the last gasp of resistance from those of you smart enough to see the truth. Your victims’ revenge was so thorough, so complete, we’ve returned the favor of erasing your people, your very culture from existence!” A hissing laugh echoed across the chamber. “Oh I can’t tell you how beautiful it was to watch from afar as each of you willingly became animals, finally matching form with essence!”
Prism couldn’t ask for a better distraction. With all the indignant joy of righteousness she could experience, she activated the detonator.
Barely a second later, bombs ripped through the power regulators and other support equipment. The lights died almost immediately as the main reactor shut down, along with Alf’s prision field. Prism dropped the dagger and unslung her rifle. “Give’em the business, boys!”
Gun and spellfire erupted in a flurry as chevrons were cut down. Prism took personal pleasure in gunning down the two chevrons flanking Alf, freeing the alien to empower his magic. A chevron tried to power up its breaker, only for Alf to throw the shattered remains of his former guards at the drone. The impacts stumbled the drone long enough for Prism to fire several holes into it.
“Flail and fight all you want,” Reproachable Instigation goaded as its drones started to retaliate, cutting down a pegasus with a scything laser. “But none you will leave here alive!”
The ponies grouped up so the unicorns could cast a shield over everyone. Alf joined in to add his protection against the breakers that tore one of Cloud Buster’s hind legs at the hip and clipped his right wing of its primary feathers. His cry of extreme pain were quickly muffled by his helmet speakers and radio limiting themselves so only the medic could hear. Outside of that, the chevrons hardly put up a fight. There was no real strategy this time around, and the rest of the fight was brief because of it.
The remaining drones attempted to rush the shield and pass through it to cut down the defenders, but none of them got close enough to do so. The last drone exploded inches from the barrier, shrapnel clattered against the energy dome.
Reproachable Instigation’s avatar was gone, not having the drones to project it, but its voice echoed from the walls. “And so the corporal goddess reveals her immaturity yet again. This is but another last gasp before silence.”
It was Prism’s turn to ignore the AI as she bolted for the exit. “Let’s move, ponies!”
Yet she didn’t even get halfway before a large slab of stone slammed down, completely blocking off the only exit. “I don’t need main power to activate the self-destruct,” Reproachable Instigation buzzed over the intercoms. “I was being truthful in willing to allow all of you to live. Even the Murderer had he been severed and turned. But you have sealed your fate.”
Dimmer purple lights started flashing, making Alf watch everything with hopelessness. “That’s the successful invasion alarm! Reproachable Instigation just sealed every passageway, and is overloading the power plant. The whole temple is going to be ripped out from reality!”
“That is correct,” Reproachable Instigation replied darkly, with fanatic glee. “I may be destroyed in the process, but I welcome death if it means cleansing the last of the Murderers from this once clean universe. May your afterlife be nothing more than an endless choking void.” The following dark laughter became highly distorted before cutting out entirely as Reproachable Instigation’s core was corrupted and destroyed.
Prism kicked the stone slab, making a crack a few inches long. The crack made her gasp in realization. She turned around to the ponies, all looking to her for guidance. She spotted the science officer unicorn who was helping the medic trying to keep Cloud Buster from going into shock. “You! Can you get a fix on our location?”
“Uhh… I already got that from scanning the place earlier. We’re on the far south end of the temple. Why?”
Prism looked to the five earth ponies. “Rock Tremor, think you and your buddies can make us a hole?”
Rock Tremor started removing his boots to keep from smashing the attached robotic hands, prompting the other earth ponies to do the same. “I was hoping you’d ask me that ever since coming here.”
Prism and the others followed the shoeless earth ponies to the south wall while Prism contacted Praxia. “Yo, bug pony, you need to get everyone’s tails outta the camp pronto! I bet my bottom bit the camp’s going to get hit bad.”
Praxia answered in a voice much too calm for the dusty grey pegasus’ liking. “Prism, I gave the order to abandon base camp the moment you started chatting with that AI. Not for nothing, girl, but you really need to work on your diplomatic skills.”
“Make fun of me all you want later. But I’m going to need air evac at my coordinates.”
Praxia hummed as the data was transferred. “I already have transit on station for you. Just get to the surface however you can.”
“Roger that. See you soon.” Prism ended the transmission in time to see the earth ponies gathering around a section of the wall, talking to each other.
The science officer waved his tricorder towards the sealed exit. Sweat fogged his visior. “I don’t want to alarm anypony, but there’s is a maaasive void in my readings and it’s coming right for uuus.”
A loud crunch heralded the collapse of the lab’s outer wall, revealing interior plumbing and service tunnels. The earth ponies’ legs were still shaking after the impact of bucking the wall. If they been wearing their boots, they would have shattered from the impact. “It’s going to take too long to get through all this,” Tremer warned with deepening worry. “We can only carve our way through solid rock or metal. Our magic gets fizzled out by so many different processed materials.”
“Then allow me,” the demolitions engineer announced with an explosive charge bouncing on an outstretched wing. I can get us to the outer shell no prob.”
Prism waved everyone to take cover. “Do it, hurry!”
The engineer got to work right away, placing five charges at strategic locations. “Everypony get clear!”
The ponies, and one alien, scattered to the winds to find cover behind any machine large enough to hide behind. The explosion followed one pony’s maniacal giggling and shook the chamber, knocking anything that wasn’t bolted down crashing to the floor. “You think you used enough?” yelled a disgruntled pony.
A rumble spread along the floor. Loose items and broken rocks started vibrating. No one needed to be told what the cause could be. Everyone rushed back to the hole to find that alien construction was not as impervious as movies always made it out to be.
When debris stopped raining down on everyone, Prism poked her head out from behind the wrecked railing that had just barely stopped a length of steel from impaling her. Just don’t think about it. Freak out later. Looking up, she saw the gaping hole of wrecked building interior now had chunks of broken bedrock crumbling down. “It’s not sand all the way down! Get your tails moving while we can!”
Still lacking their boots, the earth ponies took the lead and immediately got to work kicking their way in an upward angle. The sound of their hooves jackhammering against stone and the respectable progress left Alf dumbstruck. The unicorns picked up the shale with their magic and unceremoniously dumped it behind them. With everyone distracted, Alf slipped away unnoticed, back towards the center of the laboratory.
Prism and the rest of the pegasi were left with almost nothing to do, so she kept close to Clouder Buster. The soldier in question had to be left by the medical unicorn, so Prism came close, not sure how to respond with the blood soaked stump. “Hey, clown, you hanging in there?”
Cloud Buster’s visor was locked on clear so the medic could assess him, thus allowing Prism to see the stallion’s teeth gritting against the pain. The name calling did manage to get a brief, if choked, snicker. “Momma always said I’d end up falling to pieces without my brother around.” Feeling personally responsible to his plight, Prism gently pulled his head up so they could see each other. “Guess she was right, eh, Pathfinder?”
“You’re not done yet, trooper.” Prism called out as Cloud Buster soundlessly shouted for some painkillers. However, his suit did send her a text of what he said. “Why didn’t the doc give you some meds?”
Cloud Basher forcefully shook his head in an effort to distract himself. “Can’t do it. Family history of addiction, and I want none of that. But I can still scream about it,” he added with hissing laughter that only brought on more pained tears.
“Just keep it together, trooper. We’ll get you back home with a new leg in no time. Maybe one of those designer robot ones.”
Sand and broken rock flew out of the hole as fast as the unicorns could throw it. The earth pony team had so far dug their way through several meters of the yielding stone. The grumbling ground was getting bad enough that Prism was worried the rattling was worsening Cloud Basher’s stump.
Cloud Basher gave Prism a searching gaze. A sort of wonder in his eyes behind his agonized grimace. “Would you choose for me? Bio or metal.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Prism saw a cloud of broken rocks and sand flying at them, blindly thrown by the desperate unicorns. Reacting on instinct, she shielded Cloud Basher with one of her broad wings. The act left her exposed, with several rocks and pebbles pelting her armor and wing. When the assault was over, Prism took stock of her immediate surroundings and saw the other pegasi were standing or hovering over a non-sandy area that was out of the way. Yelling at the spellslingers will only slow them down.
As she pulled Cloud Basher on her back to move him, she nearly scoffed at his request. “Why are you asking me? It’s your leg, do whatever you want with it.”
Upon seeing what she was doing, the other pegasi rushed over to assist, and successfully pulled them both out of sands’ way. The move had caused a huge surge in pain, silencing Cloud Basher until Prism had gotten to safety. She didn’t put him down, knowing she’d have to carry him out. He refocused on his request, allowing the other pegasi to hear. “We all saw it, Pathfinder, you had a headache that only the other unicorns had. You even cracked that stone blocking the exit.”
“She did?” inquired two of the pegasi.
“She did!” announced a third pegasus that was becoming rather animated at the implications, “It was kinda small, but I was close enough to see she kicked a crack into the stone!”
“Well- ah-,” Prism fumbled her speech. Crap! I kinda wanted to keep this on the down low. “I suppose that happened.” Incognito or not, the growing exaltation in the other ponies’ faces struck a chord in her. Pride was there, sure, but something deeper as well, something so fundamental that she couldn’t put her feelings into words.
“You’re going to become the next princess, right!?” Cloud Buster declared with only the barest hint of a question.
The rumbling in the floor reached a fevered pitch and a crackling static roar came from the sealed exit. Everyone’s eyes turned to see the walls become enveloped by broken reality. A cloud of snowy static filled with random numbers, letters, and moving pictures that depicted anything from grassy meadows to deeply disturbing scenes of violence. Ponies long since dead and those who may or may not come after, swirled in the soup that expanded like a balloon. Rock, alloy, nothing stopped the steady spread of The Rip. So dumbstruck the pegasi were at the sight of it, it took Alf vaulting over a railing and coming to a hard landing next to them to break everyone out of the trance.
“Have Those of the Earth broken through yet?”
Coming back to her senses, Prism stood up straight, making sure Cloud Buster was secure on her back. “Don’t sit around and ask, just run! Everypony, get your tails up that hole!”
By now, there was a long and tall pile of sand and debris clogging the exit, but the pegasi easily flew over it while Alf had to use a more or less intact ladder that had survived the demo charges to get over the sands.
The pegasi found the unicorns were already racing up a hole that was too narrow for them to fly up, lest the backwash push those behind them. ~“Hurry up!”~ Rock Tremor called out with dread. ~“We got to the surface, but that quake is making the sand cave in! The unicorns can’t keep a whole dune from collapsing!”~
Despite only having two legs, Alf found it much easier to scrabble up the sandy tunnel, his hands providing better stability than hooves. To the last, the pegasi saw that, and were quick to utilize their robotic hands to the same advantage.
Prism was no different as she brought up the rear, weighed down by Cloud Buster. While Prism had the dubious advantage of focusing entirely on climbing, Cloud Buster was increasingly mortified by the grumbling roar of the encroaching sphere of destruction. Prism looked up to see the white light of an awaiting airbus. Yet as she took another step, the rocks shifted out from under her, making Prism cry out and start to flip on her side. With some frantic grabbing at anything stable and instinctively using her wings to control her fall, Cloud Buster fell off her back and down the sloping tunnel. He tried to control his fall as well, but with his clipped wing, he only managed to push himself further down the tunnel all the way down to the bottom, and landed hard on his stump. The impact lancing a torrent of pain so hot his scream was silent even without his helmet muting him. Yet his pain was utter eclipsed by the wall of broken reality bearing down upon him.
Fear surged through Prism’s mind at losing him. She lost Dirt Dobber without being able to do anything, but by damn she wasn’t going to let a little thing like a reality breaker force a repeat performance. “Hold on! I’m coming back!”
Hoping her armor could take the brunt, Prism lept down the tunnel, keeping her wings held tight against her barrel as she tumbled and crashed back down in the fastest way she could think of in a split second. Her race on down was mildly controlled until the grumbling earth shifted a large stone from the roof of the tunnel that crashed into the back of Prism’s head and tried to pancake her between it and boulder. Both she and the stone slid the rest of the way down, with the stone barely missing Cloud Buster, and Prism coming to a stop next to him.
The stallion’s fears doubled at seeing the large crack in Prism’s helmet that was hissing with venting atmosphere. By now, the wave of broken reality had claimed most of the laboratory and was less than a minute from claiming the two ponies.
Cloud Buster did his damnedest to force back the blinding agony in his stump to shake Prism awake. “Princess, wake up! You have to get out of here, now!”
Dazed from the impact, Prism wobbily sat up and removed her helmet so she could see clearly. “Remind me to give that helmet designer a medal, wouldja?”
Cloud Buster’s voice was cracking with terror as he flicked a gaze at the mass of broken reality mere feet away from them. “Princess, get out of here! Run!”
The cotton being dashed from her mind, Prism registered the horror that was almost touching them. There wasn’t even a second’s hesitation, Prism roped Cloud Buster in close so she could straddle on top of him to keep her wings free. “Hold on, it’s going to be bumpy!”
The sphere was nipping at the ends of her tail, nearly catching the flesh and blood part of it before Prism kicked off and flew up the shaking tunnel in a high speed sprint. Cloud Buster’s heart hammered in his chest at the unsettling imagery that the sphere showed him. And it wasn’t done yet, Cloud Buster had a clear view of the encroaching sphere as it easily ate its way through solid stone. It was only visible through the lower end of the tunnel, but it didn’t take him much to imagine how close it was coming through the ceiling. Loved ones he left behind on Equus huddled together as they froze to death in a sunless sky. Each of them, from his mother, to his five siblings all looked at him with sunken eyes with a silent accusation. Cloud Buster forced his eyes shut to keep from being driven mad. “I’m slowing you down, Princess, just leave me behind, we can’t lose-”
“Shut up, clown! I’m not a princess, yet,” she roared between breaths, completely missing the torture in his voice. “I don’t care what you say, I’m not leaving anypony behind! Not again!”
Prism’s wings pounded the air, her muscles straining and burning under her fear induced race. A large rock was shaken loose from the exit while a cascade of sand followed after it. “This is going to be tight!” she warned heatedly. She watched the stone barreling down on her, studying every bounce that made it hurl left and right almost randomly.
The stone cast shadows behind the light, making her vision difficult. Taking a calculated chance, Prism poured on more speed at seeing a nearly flat stretch of tunnel. It should stay on course. She met the boulder head on, trusting her prediction. Right as it was about to hit her, it continued its sideward movement and struck the wall, careening away from the desperate pegasus, giving her a straight shot to freedom.
Prism burst out of the tunnel and into the skies above. Her eyes were watering from flying through so much sand, but the desert air had next to none of the choking quality more lively places had. Gulping air like it was going out of style, Prism didn’t stop, she just feverishly flew high and higher in a mad dash.
It was only when the transport climbed to meet her, and shine its light at her, did Prism finally realize she could stop. Buffeted slightly by the aircraft, Prism hovered for a bit to recollect her wits. Cloud Basher was wiggling against her out of excitement. “We’re alive! By Twilight, we’re actually alive!!”
Invoking her mother’s name brought up Prism’s pet peeve just enough to make her grumble curses under her breath. I swear, if ponies start saying ‘by Prism’ one day I’m going to go smite happy. make her fly over to the open bay doors of the transport, revealing the rest of the squad, plus one unicorn crewmember that guided her through using his telekinesis. She found the earth ponies all had their forelegs bandaged up with liberal amounts of gauze.
The spacious cabin gave the medic unicorn plenty of room to take Cloud Buster from Prism, and allow her a space to collapse out of sheer emotional exhaustion. Physically however, she felt a rush, as if she could have kept flying for miles, that holding onto a stallion bigger than she was had been trivial. “Alf!” she called out. “Next time we see one of your old AIs, we’re just going to EMP that sucker. Deal?”
“I doubt that would work, Pathfinder, but you have no other argument from me.”
Her amused reply was lost as the rest of the squad swarmed in to congratulate her. One of them grabbed Prism’s right hand and heaved her up to a sitting position so the rest could properly slap her on the back in accolades. In his haste, the act had caused her mane to completely cover the front of her face.
“Mare, that was crazy back there!”
“By my glorious beard, I thought you were dead for sure when you went back for’m.”
“I don’t think anypony else could have pulled that off.”
“You got some serious cajones, Pathfinder. Good riddance to that freak AI, eh?”
“That thing was nuts. Good on you for standing up to it, I say.”
A more modest pony, like her mother, might have waved off the showering praise as ‘just what anybody would have done’. But Prism was only half her mother. With a self-satisfied smirk, she used a hand to brush her mane out of her eyes to bask in everyone’s glowing praise.
“I know, I know, I’m totally radical,” she proclaimed with a rising grin. “I’ll be accepting autographs now. Then some eye drops. Seriously.” She blinked a few times, trying to rub the sand and grit out of her eyes, only to realize there was a lasp into silence. There was some shuffling as ponies tried to get a better look at her, but now Prism was getting weirded out. “What? Am I missing a tooth or something?” She tried padding her fingers on her face, trying to see if her adrenaline was hiding some pain to come later.
Thunderous cheers broke out, nearly deafening Prism as her squadmates tried to dog pile her into a massive group hug, trying to crush the air out of her. Prism struggled to keep air in her lungs, and flailed helplessly trying to get enough space to breathe. “Guys, air, breathe, need.”
Alf watched all of this with utter confusion, and sequestered himself to the far end of the cabin. He felt the aircraft tilt as it started returning home. He saw the sphere of broken reality finally come to a halt, easily the size of multiple football stadiums. It lingered for a moment or two before the static surface of it collapsed in on itself. The sphere shrank back down, leaving a mountain of dark ash in its wake. Before long, realty repaired itself completely, leaving a gargantuan crater that dug deeply into the earth. If only my people could have seen the truth. But they were too blinded by guilt, too paralyzed by what we had done to resist. Perhaps it is for the best I belong to them no longer. Hidden in his large chest pockets, Alf laid a hand on the nanite canister. His mind raced with what he should make of his future.
Eventually, one of the unicorns had the presence of mind to give Prism the video feed from his helmet camera. Prism’s eyes went as wide as dinner plates at seeing a small dusty grey horn on her head. It was tiny, not even a third the size of a unicorn’s, but it was there plain as day.
A massive grin erupted on her muzzle as she reached up to touch it. Sure enough, it was not some faulty camera, as she felt the pointed spiral knob of ivory firmly planted on her forehead. “Hoooly Toledo I have a freak’n horn!!”
Singing broke out from one of the ponies, with everyone joining in the jubilant chorus within moments. The song called ‘Rise of the Alicorns’ took on an almost fevered pitch. The ponies who could stand swayed back and forth in their singing, leaving Prism to guide the song along with everyone else supporting her role. When the last note was sung, Prism’s ears and wings shot up. “I have to call momma and tell her the news!”
With no helmet anymore, Prism had to hunt down some personal display goggles that were typically stored in the cargo lockers at the front. After finding a pair, Prism wistfully mused as she waited for the new goggles to log her in. I wonder if I have enough of a horn for those circlets. Mare this is so freak’n awesome!!
Instead of Prism’s call reaching Twilight, the maneless peach face of Voyager appeared in her stead. “Hey what gives, I was trying to reach mom.”
“My apologies, Pathfinder, but your mother has gone into labor and is unavailable at the moment.”
A sneaky idea struck Prism with enough force to make her ear flick. “Okay, thanks, I’ll chat with her when I get home, bye!” Prism closed the call and turned to the soldiers. “Hold up, everypony, stop immediately!”
Prism had caught more than one pony who were trying to make calls of their own, but quickly excused themselves and hung up. “Listen up. Mom’s… having the baby now, so I want to surprise her with this horn when I get there.” A murmur erupted at the news, forcing Prism to shush them. “So no telling anypony until I can surprise mom. Got that?”
A round of grumbles sprang up with Prism pointing at a unicorn mare in particular. “I mean it, Glitter Horn, don’t make me get Voyager to screen your calls.”
The mare in question rolled her eyes and closed her personal display. “Spoilsport.”
“Cool.” Prism rubbed her dry and aching eyes. “Can I get those eye drops now, please?” I don’t want some eye pain getting in the way of seeing my baby sister. And unlike my big sister, I’m going to be a role model actually worth looking up to come Tartarus or tornadoes!
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I might have found a typo...
Did I miss the part where she became Anthro/Human?
8216572
They all have Minotaur styled robotic hands attached to either their boots, or they wear them as gloves. They are very dexterous, but not earth pony strong.
So Prism has finally ascended... this changes the game in more ways than one...
8216570
Yeah, it's obviously supposed to be butter.
8216570
Margarine headaches are the worst. At least butter headaches are natural.
8216654
I did it first, you did it better. Well played, sir.
8216594
Ah you’re right, I do remember that now. It had been a while so I just forgot.
A few typos:
imagine = image
flare = flair
subtly = subtlety
What’s with the weird spacing for most of the chapter? Past Prism starting to get mana headaches, the spacing looks doubled compared to the beginning of the chapter.
8216831
that’s fimfic being weird when copy pasting from g doc. no idea why.
8216841
Don’t think the other chapters had that issue, so I guess fimfic was being extra weird.
8216845
It wasn’t. it must have to do with the site update.
8216851
That’d probably do it, yeah. Wonder if other authors have been having similar issues since the update
*thinks
This says ‘a the’
That wording ain’t quite right
Missin’ an opening quotation mark
8216841
Having you tried using the better doc importer tool?
Also when the hole is compared to football stadiums it was Alf looking. Alien football confirmed?
*prison
*lapse
So, is the wounded pegasus named Cloud Buster or Cloud Basher? You seem to have used both.
8216851
derpicdn.net/img/2012/6/20/10898/full.gif
8216853
One author lost all of his stories that weren’t published. Said he had a few written up and was working on but not ready to be published, and the update removed them so they lost and gone now.
8217717
Assuming you are the editors, I’m sensing tension lol.
8218002
*us
Corrected an editor, what do I win?
8218159
...It was a joke. :/
8218227
Guess not. It seemed like a defensive jab, but I’m glad to know it wasn’t. I’m so used to people being extremely defensive on the internet, that I guess when someone didn’t immediately fire back it was a bitter pill to swallow.
Sorry not sorry.
Wow what a rush! Loved the chapter and am looking forward to seeing the new bab, Prism's adventures in regards to her be status, and All's choice of what he plans to become.
The sentence is missing some words :/
I just finished the Hive series after reading it almost non-stop for two to three weeks, and oh my goodness, that was hands down one of the best fimfics I've ever read. I'd even go so far as to compare it to Past Sins in terms of story, character development, and effort in tying it into the show as more canon material is revealed, and it even surpasses most AU and sci-fi fics in the depth of its world building.
I recommended it to AnY pony for a fanfiction review on YouTube, and he said he's been meaning to check it out, and should give it a try soon.
However, if there's anything I could change about those books--actually, this includes F:BE and your other works--it's the frequency of spelling/grammar/syntax errors, as well as inconsistency in phrasing things (e.g. the switching between Cloud Buster and Cloud Basher really hurt this chapter). I mean, your stories and characters are great, and your vocabulary choice is wonderful (you've sent me to the dictionary multiple times, and that's a good thing), but the writing mechanics errors are serious enough to detract from the overall experience. While the Hive series got better in "Culling" and "Reformation," errors were still present. I don't know how many are caught by Boldish42 and ABitterPill (and other editors you've had along the way) in your proofreading/editing process, but I would recommend refining that process, seeing how many errors still slip through to the final product. As I said before, they seriously detract from the reading experience. I completely understand the desire to get something out before the editing is complete, but my first YT video had to be re-uploaded on account of a couple of errors. At least you have the benefit of post-submission editing.
I really love your writing, and if you want, I could do some proofreading (not editing, lest I change something you did intentionally) for you on either existing chapters or upcoming chapters... I already do it in my mind whenever I read anything. For a sample of my proofreading, here is a chapter from F:BE. You have to open the link, the preview doesn’t show my comments in the docx.
don’t you mean scrub?
8218818
Yeah those really broke immersion and were really distracting.
8219310
still have no idea where all those extra spaces came from since they were not there in the g-doc. but i combed them all out, and fixed that name issue. sorry about that
8219347
Sweet
, and it sometimes happens especially when people do format changes to the site 
. I know when I post things from G-Docs I give it a sweep to make sure the paragraphs are indented (or at least I did before this latest change removed indentations from paragraphs, making them look all blocky and weird now XD.).
Aside from proofreading comments, did some kind of combo of "Auld Lang Syne" and the theme from "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron" go through anyone else's mind when you saw the "Rise of the Alicorns" song? Or was that just me?
Auld Lang Syne: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to1xT93IlUI&t=2m43s
Spirit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqWLHqMCx08&t=2m44s
Very good. Keep it up.
What a satisfying chapter to read. So many things that could happen! I'm still curious as to what will happen with those gem things Prism found , I don't recall if they were ever properly addressed, or if Spike had eaten one yet.
Nice chapter, but please finish editing next time. I know it feels good to publish ASAP, but the errors left in made what should have been a 10 of 10 reading experience an 8. Regardless, I'm still very pleased with this story, so don't get the wrong idea on that.
Oh, and if you're worried about your readers getting impatient, don't. The majority of people here are willing to wait for quality, and the people who do complain are typically just a noisy minority. 
Toledo sucks.
Yay! I'm so happy for Prism.
Oh great, she gets a little horny and the whole squad is all over her! SHARP rep is gonna have a field day with this!
This story is excellent! I find your characterizations well done and thought out. The story flows very smoothly and your use of details is top notch. all an all a well done story so far. I do look forward to the next chapter to the story. Keep up the good work you are doing.
Dragonfox
And then the foals a stillborn
Phase. Homonyman strikes again.
Ok I figured out why the story wasn’t clicking.