Equestria Girls: ZX

by MasterZadok

SEQUENCE 4: Frosted Glass

"Okay! So, ladies, gentlemen, multi-sex, undecided or robot," Boreal made a sweeping gesture, "welcome to the prettiest little poop stain on the map!"

"[Oh!]"

"I know, right?" Athena laughed. "Why didn't they just call it 'Tetanus'?"

"[It's beautiful.]"

Zero took a second look to make sure he was seeing the same thing. Hours of marching beneath a milky grey sky had brought the fugitives out of the canyons and into the light of a waning dawn. Beneath them, shaggy hills ended abruptly upon the glittering shoreline of the Freshwater Sea. An iron marsh of dilapidated structures grew out of the pale sands like the corpse of a mechanical whale. An ever-perpetuating tangle of humanity, the settlement "Rust" grew out of itself and upon itself, producing a labyrinth of scrap metal catwalks, corroded walls, and tin roofs that clawed at the sapphire sky. The cotton breath of a thousand chimneys wafted into the cold air, wafting through a meadow of jury-rigged windmills. Above it all, the planetary silhouette of an oxidized-orange water tower kept solemn vigil.

All Zero saw was,

"The Enterprise should have found us by now."

"We'll, we're not making it any harder for them!" With a lopsided shuffle, Boreal charged down the hillside.

"At least he's feeling spunky." Athena yawned.

"We'll avoid the markets." Zero squinted critically. "What we need is a quiet place to lay low."

"[And breakfast.]" Sunset reminded. "[No place we go will be 'quiet' until then.]"

Before the Hunter could clarify, a low groan escaped Athena's stomach.

"Sorry."

"That's you?" The boy lifted an eyebrow. "I thought those were tremors."

"Oh, thanks a lot, Zero!" Athena set her jaw and stomped after Boreal.

[Real smooth, kid.]

"What?"

[Nothing.] The Biocrystal sighed.

Zero shrugged and made to follow, but Sunset held him back.

[There's something about her...]

"Who? Athena?"

[Yeah. Call me crazy, but I feel like I've seen her before. Something about her jaw line, maybe...]

The boy considered that for a moment. Athena was attractive, as far as he could tell, with her lapis eyes and campfire-orange hair, but if Zero admired someone, it was in the way they carried themselves, not for the lines of their figure. Slender, but with feline strength, Athena possessed a rare sense of conviction that graced her every movement. As for her jaw line,

"You mentioned that you were active before the war. Perhaps you knew her great, great, great, great, great-"

[I'M NOT THAT OLD!]

An invisible hand slapped Zero upside his head.

"Now what!?"

The Biocrystal stewed silently.

As soon as the Hunters's boots alighted upon the sheet metal streets, Boreal led them away from the inquisitive eyes of the locals and into the shadows of the alleyways.

Sunset's hungry gaze drank in their surroundings, gawking at the improbable architecture and marveling at the local strain of humanity. Most of Rust was built over the Sea itself, with canals for streets and docks for sidewalks. In the distance, the scuttled wrecks of ancient cargo ships, their frames chewed apart by scavengers, could still be seen. But it was the people that Sunset's eyes lingered on the longest. Most of the residents of Rust were human, their skin leathered by sun and wind, but every once in a while the rickety mannequin of an old petroid could be seen working shoulder-to-shoulder with their flesh and blood relatives. Swaddled in thick blankets, the first fishermen of the day were drifting into the markets where the scrapmetal stoves burned expectantly for the promise of fresh trout and salmon and bass. Rather than pity, or revulsion, though, all Zero felt coming from Sunset was pure, unabashed, admiration.

[This is amazing! Zero, are you seeing this? They're using the windmills for pumps! They have indoor plumbing! And the chimneys- oh, that's clever!]

"Alright, you guys just hang out here. Mind your own business, please, and if someone offers you some discount lamprey, don't take it." Boreal winced. "Trust me." The young man took a canister of energy crystals and vanished.

"He'll be back, right?" Athena glanced up at Zero.

"Boreal said he has contacts here. We'll give him a chance to see what they can do for us."

The two remaining hunters settled down in the quiet square where they'd been abandoned. Athena slumped down against a wall to rest her eyes while Zero scowled at the shadows crawling across the street. In the distance, the muffled song of fishmongers floated over the rooftops and the tantalizing whiff of seared fillets toyed with their noses. Sunset Shimmer watched silently as a trio of scrappy children played an intense game involving an inflated pig bladder and a pair of steel drums.

[I can't tell you how much this means to me.]

"What does?"

[This. These people. This place. Proof that life goes on even after the apocalypse.]

"You call this living?"

[I do. Listen. Life is hard, but they're still smiling!]

"Your point?"

[I needed this, Zero. I needed to know humanity was still alive.]

"I don't follow."

[Neither did the old governments. They didn't realize that money and wealth aren't the same thing.] Sunset's tone turned sour. [Nor did they care. After all, how can you fix a broken economy with 'Laughter'?] She paused. [Look, when I woke up, all I knew about this world was that there's a dystopian government out there with murderbots running amok! To see a city where people can just be people again, it gives me hope.]

"Rust isn't a city." Zero said coldly. "By law, there's only one City. This is a pile of rust. Hence the name."

[Oh... So, I'm guessing 'Ivywood' is literally...]

"A forest of ivy."

[Facinating! Ugh, I have so many questions. About sociology, etymology, politics,-]

"Athena could help you. She has a knack for knowing things she's not supposed to."

"Not right now. She's sleeping." The Hunter mumbled from beneath her arms.

"[Is there a story there?]"

"On our first mission together, Athena abandoned our objective to retrieve records from a prewar database."

"It was-"

"-While the Enterprise was purging it."

"It was a library! What did you expect me to do?" The Hunter bawled.

"Hence her call sign."

"That's our history they were burning!" Athena defended. "They weren't just slagging records, they were erasing our heritage!"

"[I hear you. There are few evils more atrocious than a good old-fashioned book-burning.]"

"Right?" Athena looked up at the blue crystal on Zero's helmet. "Zero's a perfect example of Enterprise-fostered ignorance. Before that mission, he didn't even know that Luna was a satellite."

"[He what?]"

"It wasn't relevant." The hunter said flatly. "And if it was, I would have figured it out. The shiny side is always pointed at Helios anyway."

"[Well, what did you think it was, then?]"

"Her didn't care." Athena said simply. "But most people just accept Twilight Sparkle's theology."

"[Do I want to know...?]"

"When the Hecate put her claim on the world, she said she was an emissary from 'beyond the stars' sent to govern Earth in the wake of its disastrous self-destruction. Then a lot of mythos garbled it and now the stars are a symbol of an incorruptible plane of reality and their constellations represent law and order. For example, the saying, 'starfall', means the world has gone mad. Likewise, the superstitious quickly gave Helios and Luna their personas. Helios as a stern father figure and Luna as a merciful, interceding mother. Even the lunar cycle is a symbol of the moon taking on humanity's sins and washing herself clean in starlight. A 'new moon' is a symbol of rebirth."

"[And the planets?]"

"Heavenly messengers, obviously. Their pilgrimage indicates upcoming fortunes, good or ill."

"[What a load of-]" Sunset stopped herself. "[Actually, if we're splitting hairs, I guess magic did come from 'beyond the stars'...]"

Now Athena looked wide awake, but Zero was the one about to fall asleep.

"Whatever she was before, Hecate Twilight Sparkle is now a god-queen. People swear to her since her word is law."

"And if someone says, 'Twilight screw you with a rusty auger', it's safe to assume they don't like you." Boreal reappeared wearing a grey shawl and a toothy smile. Over his shoulder was draped a bundle of fabric and his left hand carried a bucket full of glinting beige water. "Miss me?"

"Success, then?"

"Nah, I'm just bringing you local costumes and a bucket of breakfast for no reason." The Hunter's face was as bright as the morning sun. "Dig in, guys."

"You're a champion, Boreal." Athena took a matching cloak and threw it over her head.

"Don't thank me, thank old lady 'Gater. Fart's as old as the hills and she's still puttering along." Boreal tossed the last disguise at Zero. "Now, I know you're not supposed to buy clothes without knowing one's measurements, but..."

"[This is perfect, thank you.]" Zero pulled the long grey curtain over his head and let it hang. The waterproof fabric was heavy, but covered almost every inch of Sunset's flamboyant armor. "[Let's not throw this one under a train, all right?]"

"I can't promise that."

"[How about you make like a lantern and lighten up?]"

"Something smells good." Athena took the bucket from Boreal, but a quick glance at its contents turned her cheeks as pale as the water inside. "What?"

"Pickled smelt!" Boreal plunged his hand into the container and drew out a small fish. "Just eat them whole." He demonstrated, and for a moment, Athena looked ready to throw the hapless fish back into the Sea. However, her desperation won out and she squeezed her eyes shut as she followed the man's example.

"Hey, not bad."

"[Really? Let me try.]"

"I'm not hungry." Zero stated.

"[Aw, come on. Eating local is Tourism 101! Besides, I hear the protein is good for building those abs.]"

"Understood..." The boy sighed. Aside from the slimy texture, the sightless eyes, or the briny bath that made up the flaccid fish, Zero found it surprisingly agreeable. The fresh meat had a scent of melon to it, but it was the juices that had him licking his lips in pleasure. The salt and oil that coated his throat were a rare treat in the wastelands.

"So now what?" Athena asked, sucking her fingers clean. "We just wait for Dr. Xiel to pop out of a rain barrel and take us to the Commander?"

"We need to find the Resistance." Zero assented.

"Or let them find us." Boreal yawned. He added, "If I know old lady 'Gater, she's already told everyone and their mother that I'm back in town."

"[Back?]" Sunset pressed.

"You didn't figure it out?" The young man chuckled. "This was my home a couple lifetimes ago."

"What happened? Not a fan of fish every meal?" Athena wondered.

"Wanted to see the world." Boreal shrugged. "Being the middle child of twelve kids leads to an identity crisis, you know? It was either fish, fix leaky pipes, fish, or get conscripted to the Enterprise iron mines, or fish. Not fond of that second-to-last one, and besides, how many monkeys does it take to maintain a water tower, am I right?"

"[That was your job?]" Sunset exclaimed. "[I thought that was a brilliant invention!]"

"Liked that, did you?" Grandpa's handiwork. Later, dad rerouted everyone's chimneys to keep it thawed in the winter."

"[So your family-]"

"Made their name in the honeypot business? Yup!"

"[I was going to say 'made this shanty a city', but that works too.]"

"We don't poop in the Sea, we aren't forced to eat poop." Boreal folded his hands behind his head. "And the universe is at peace."

An angry metal gong shook the rooftops.

"... Except for that bit."

"What is it?" Athena sprung to her feet.

"An alarm?" Zero strained his ears, but all he could hear was a single, echoing voice. The sounds of the fish market had fallen silent.

"An announcement? But that's..." Boreal's eyes narrowed to slivers. "No, not here."

"Bo-" But the Hunter dashed down the alley before Athena could stop him.

"So much for laying low." Zero muttered as he chased his companions toward the center of town.

The closest thing Rust had to a town square was a particularly vacant platform that had once been a shipping yard. Now, however, as the Hunters cautiously peeked out from their alley, they saw it crowded with the entirety of Rust's populace.

Along with a battalion of Enterprise Paragons.

The purple androids were a wall, a line of guards surrounding a collection of five old men with silver hair and tired eyes. Behind them, her clear voice cutting through the air like an icicle, was a creature that Zero had only heard legends of. Slim and delicate, it took the form of a girl, adorned with glacier-white armor and holding a long halberd behind her shoulder.

"It's one of the Four Peaceful Princesses." Athena breathed. "Admiral Fairy Leviathan."

"[What?]"

"We're leaving." Zero tried to turn away, but his body wouldn't move. Sunset Shimmer held him like a statue. "Sunset!"

[This doesn't make any sense...]

"We need to go." The boy tried again. "Athena, Boreal!"

"Who are those men?" The girl wondered.

"Rust's elders." The young man explained.

"But what are they doing with th-"

"If you'll kindly close your face-hole, we might find out!"

It wasn't difficult to make out the Admiral's message. It was more like a proclamation, really.

"-an act of delinquency! Foolish, unprovoked, and ultimately damaging not to the New Moon Enterprise, but to the very children we nurture and protect! These men sought to spurn the grace that has been extended to them by Neo Arcania and fight against the arms that only ever staved off the terrors of the wastelands! Why? Because they succumbed to their greed, trusted the lie that they could shake off the lifeline that connects them to the City and establish their own twisted government separate from the merciful judgement of her Hecate. But such an act of wanton destruction, to attack the Ore Line, only reveals the feral nature of their mind and hearts and how their schemes were doomed from the conception. That is why, children of the light, I have come to rip such a root of poison from your midst. That justice may prevail and their own violent ambitions fall back on their heads so that the rest of you may be spared their folly..."

"They think the elders organized the attack on the train?" Boreal frowned.

"But Rust had nothing to do with that!" Athena cried.

"That's irrelevant." Zero explained. "Even if they know these people are innocent, the Enterprise needs a scapegoat to punish so that they maintain their image of brutal efficiency."

"And they chose the elders..."

"They don't deserve that!" The girl protested.

"It's a best case scenario." Zero murmured. Athena and Boreal turned incredulous faces toward him. "While the Enterprise is flaunting their witch hunt, we should make our retreat. We're finished here."

"As if!" Athena made to step forward, but a heavy arm from Boreal stopped her.

"Zero's right..."

"But they-"

"Shut up!" The man snapped. "I don't like this any more than you! Heck! You don't even know those men, I do! Damn salty prunes, but there's nothing they wouldn't do for Rust. But that's a Princess out there! Annointed by the Hecate herself! It's practically a god!"

"[No. It's my friend.]" Sunset Shimmer broke her silence.

"What are you saying?" Zero's eyes flicked back to the marble warrior in the town square. As much as he hated to admit it, there was an uncanny resemblance between the Admiral's glassy armor and his own. Not to mention a long swath of purple hair flowing behind her like a silk ribbon. Fairy Leviathan lifted her halberd into the sky and declared,

"May the sacrifice of these lives pave the way to a pure tomorrow."

Before Zero could stop her, Sunset Shimmer leapt forward.

"[Rarity!]"

The scream lingered in the air. Rows of frightened eyes and angry red lenses turned toward the lone Hunter. Sunset didn't falter. Her face was fixed on the sapphire gem in the middle of Admiral Leviathan's forehead.

"[Rarity, it's me, Sunset Shimmer!]" Her voice caught. "[I thought- I was afraid I'd never get to see you again. But I don't understand, what's going on? Why are you attacking these people? Rarity, please, tell me what's happening.]"

Fairy Leviathan shook off her surprise and lowered her voice,

"Who's Rarity?"

Zero's limbs fell heavy as Sunset's strength left her.

"And who are you?" The halberd swung around to point at Zero. "Who would dare interrupt my work and the will of the Hecate?"

"We're the Hunters!" Athena appeared at the boy's elbow, throwing open her cloak to reveal her orange uniform and her buster. "And we're the ones who really attacked your precious train!"

Ripples of nervous excitement washed over the crowd.

"Ah-thee-na, what are you doo-ing?" Boreal whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

"Blaming a company that doesn't exist anymore." Athena whispered back.

"MAVERICK IDENTIFIED!" A dozen arm cannons flared to life as the Paragons abandoned the elders for a new target.

"Hold!" At the Admiral's word, the androids froze. She turned her cold glare back on the Hunters. "Is this an admission of guilt?"

"It is." The girl announced. "But it was a Hunter operation to rescue Hunter prisoners. We had no contact with Rust or the people here."

"That's impossible." Leviathan's eyes flashed. "The Hecate herself condemned these men and they've testified accordingly!

"Well, then, I guess they lied to you." Athena taunted. Hushed voices gasped at her audacity, but her smirk never faltered.

"Enough!" The Paragons began to advance again. "Whether isolated terrorism or co-conspirators, the truth will be laid bare. Surrender to Her mercy and prepare to be apprehended!"

"What's the plan?" Boreal whispered.

"We're at every tactical disadvantage." Zero set his jaw.

"[Protect the elders and evacuate the people.]" A menacing ringing filled Zero's ears. "[Leave the fighting to us.]"

"What are you going to do?" Athena glanced at the crystal on Zero's head.

"[Catch up with an old friend.]"

In a moment, the stillness was shattered. Buster fire screamed, fishermen scrambled for safety, and Sunset unleashed her lightning-blue sword. Hot zeal coursed through the Biocrystal, sweeping Zero up in its wake. He and Sunset Shimmer danced beneath a rain of fire, laying waste with their buster and cutting enemy projectiles clean out of the air. Before the last Paragon corpse had hit the metal deck, they were sprinting toward the stoic figure of Fairy Leviathan.

Poised like a diamond in the sunlight, the Admiral touched her halberd to the platform and unleashed a wave of magic. Spires of ice rose like a forest of thorns, but Sunset never slowed her momentum. The delta saber flashed, beheading the frosty spears and shattering the spell that bound them. The white-clad warrior blinked and quickly summoned a second wall between herself and her attacker. Before the chittering ice had even finished growing, Zero launched himself into the air and brought his sword crashing down upon his foe's head.

"Guh!" Sword and halberd clashed, splintering the fragile dock.

Fairy Leviathan collected herself and launched a counterattack, her bladed staff cleaving the air with wide, graceful strokes. She was perfectly balanced, impeccably trained and displayed flawless execution. However,

"Too slow!"

Zero redoubled his efforts, feinting a slash and sweeping Leviathan's legs out from beneath her. As mist in the dawn, the white warrior's composure vanished. She deflected Zero's next attack and clambered to her feet, but the Hunter maintained his onslaught. She slashed, she retreated, she pulled frozen geysers up from the Freshwater Sea, but she couldn't escape the nimble saber.

Finally, Zero locked the Halberd in place with his sword and brought up his free hand to bury itself in his opponen'ts stomach. Leviathan's boots left the ground and her eyes went wide, but just as the Hunter was about to deliver a critical slash, Sunset Shimmer threw him off balance.

"[Rarity! Answer me!]" The Biocrystal lunged, wrapping the boy's arms around the young girl. Instantly, Zero felt the heat leave his body.

A hollow numbness, a piercing void, unlike any snow or ice in the word, shot through his chest as his armor touched his opponent's. The bright sunlight over the Sea vanished and he found himself falling through the boundless jaws of an abyss. He blinked and the world returned to normal, but the chill remained fastened in his bones.

"Don't touch me!" Fairy Leviathan screamed and a bastion of ice erupted around her.

Zero sprung back, the magic glacier fossilizing his right hand and his leg.

"Tsk!" With a flex of his fist, the glassy cocoon shattered, but the Admiral didn't attack. Instead, the girl sat in her nest of icicles, staring at the red-clad warrior with wide, frightened eyes.

"What did you just do?" She demanded, the barest note of a tremor on her lip. "What was that?"

"That wasn't you?" Zero frowned.

Before the Admiral could reply, however, a burst of radio static filled the air.

"Milady! Milady, are you quite all right? I'm receiving readings from your location of a most alarming nature. Is this combat I detect? Worry not, the fleet is convening on your position posthaste!"

"Belay that order, Captain. I'm returning to you." Admiral Leviathan slowly stood, never taking her eyes off of Zero.

"Is something amiss, Milady?"

"I'm not sure." The girl turned toward the Sea. "Karkinos, please arrange a conference with her majesty the Hecate. Something's come up."

"It will be done."

Before Sunset could stop her, the Admiral dove in the the water and became nothing more than a pale ripple, vanishing into the deep.

"That should have gone a lot worse." Zero said thoughtfully. His fingers opened and closed experimentally. Since donning the Biocrystal, there had been nothing that he couldn't cut down or cut through. Not until he had crossed blades with the Leviathan, that is. Only luck and the element of surprise could explain the Admiral's retreat. Neither of which eased his mind.

Sunset Shimmer remained quiet.

[Rarity...]

Zero found Boreal and Athena as they left the shelter of a nearby stall. Their expressions were as heavy as the cloaks they were pulling over their heads.

"Let's go." The man huffed.

"We're not welcome here." Athena added.

"What happened, Boreal?"

"Just got chewed up and spit out by the elders."

"Very calmly and quietly." The girl corrected. "But that only made it worse."

"Turns out they volunteered to get arrested. Damn fools thought sacrificing themselves would save Rust."

"Then we've only made things worse." Zero sighed.

"Yeah. We have to leave. It's their only hope. Though I'm not sure how they plan to survive the Enterprise's retaliation. Groveling, probably." As the man angrily flapped his shawl, a feathery patch of cloth fluttered to the ground.

"[What's that?]" At Sunset's insistence, Zero picked it up to find a single line of text scrawled across its surface.

"It says, 'ask the smiling petroid what Cerberus guards'."

"A message from the Resistance, perhaps?" Zero's eyes narrowed.

"When did that get there?" Boreal glanced beneath his arm.

"But what good does that do?" Athena frowned. "Everyone knows Cerberus guards the-"

"But there's only one 'smiling petroid' around." The young man tapped his nose. "Follow me. Next stop: outta the frying pan!"

Fueled by a new fount of seemingly boundless energy, Boreal spun on his heel and dove back into the midst of Rust, forcing Athena and Zero and shuffle after as best they could. An invisible weight hung on Sunset's shoulders threatening to drag her to her knees.

"[I'm so sorry.]"

"Are you going to explain why you put us in jeopardy just now?"

"Hey!" Athena scolded. "Remember, Zero, she's already saved all our lives."

"[No, that's all right, Athena, he has a point. I lost control when I saw Rarity, but you came through for us, Zero. Thank you.]"

"No thanks to your music." The boy growled. After a moment, he added, "So there are other Biocrystals besides you."

"[... Yeah.]"

"Why didn't you say something?" Athena asked cautiously.

"[I... Didn't know who I could trust. This world is still foreign to me. I couldn't even trust Zero, and he's my Biomatch!]"

"So, what are you?" For a long time, the boy's words hung in the air like a pendulum. Only the sound of their footfalls interrupted the silence.

"[I'm one of seven. One of seven individuals given the power to change the world. My friends and I wanted to use our gift to put an end to war. We failed. But... even now, no- especially now! A single Biocrystal, in the wrong hands, could enslave this fledgling humanity! At first, I feared that's exactly what happened, but now I think the truth is even more terrifying.]"

"What is it?"

"[I don't know.]"

"But if Admiral Leviathan is using one of your friends, then maybe all the Princesses have one." Athena gasped. "This could change everything we know about the New Moon Enterprise. The Hecate herself!"

"And that's why the Resistance wants you." Zero lowered his voice.

"[I can't say. One thing I do know, though, is that I'll need your help to get to the bottom of this.]"

"I won't help you stage a one-Biocrystal war against the Enterprise." The boy said flatly. Then, with a grim smile, he added, "Not until we have a plan, that is. I don't know why the Admiral fled our battle, but it wont happen again."

"[Don't worry.]"

Sunset Shimmer lifted Zero's left hand and his energy crystal count began to plummet. Squares of pale blue light rippled up and down his armor and threads of what looked like neon blue light began to emboss a shimmering 'S' onto his palm.

"[The next time we face 'Fairy Leviathan', we'll be ready."

Author's Note:

In all the whole wide world of fiction, I think the most terrifying character I've ever encountered is Professor Finbarr Calamitous. (If you know who that is, congrats, you get a cookie. A 3-D printed cookie projected upon a glucose-based wafer pastry matrix interlaced with ratio-optimal chocolate chips as defined by the most popular pleasure vectors.)
My reason? Simply because i see too much of myself in the pathetic geezer. Books, tv shows, art projects, karate, college, even video games. Please, I need to escape this curse! Its not fair to anyone, especially you, Reader.

Comments

[CroisSunnyPlay]

Shadow: OMG, not the FEELS!

[Ze1a7in]

Damn.....That's a twist. More?