Chapter X – Daeification
Once we made it past the gates of the base, we parked the trucks in a small lot near the building. Vinyl and I grabbed our bags before stepping out of the truck along with Harshwhinny.
An earth pony mare with a light amber coat and a short cut, wavy greying mane came out to greet us—or rather, Miss Harshwhinny—personally.
After a few words I was too far from the two to hear, the mare looked in my direction, her dark blue eyes judging me from behind a pair of half moon spectacles.
From what I could tell of her formal cobalt blue attire and armband, she must've been somepony important. My eyes widened slightly and my heart beat a little faster as the mare made her way over to where I was standing by our truck.
I suddenly felt very unprepared for this encounter.
I jumped slightly as a hand landed on my shoulder. I turned to see that Vinyl Scratch had sidled up next to me at some point and was giving me an encouraging smile.
"Hey, chill, Twi," she said with a small chuckle, "it ain't like we're on trial here. The head honcho probably just wants to greet us new recruits."
"Y-Yeah," I replied with a shaky smile, "yeah, I guess that makes sense. Thanks, Vinyl."
"Anytime," Vinyl replied, patting me on the shoulder and taking a step back, "just don't worry too much and you'll be fine, trust me."
I gave her a slightly more confident smile before turning towards the incoming mare. I blinked in surprise, noticing her sharp eyed gaze had disappeared and been replaced with a warm, genial smile.
"Twilight Sparkle, Vinyl Scratch," the mare said with a patient smile, "the President informed me of your arrival beforehand," she held out a hand, "My name is Mayor Mare, but you two can just call me Mayor, everypony else does."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am," I replied, politely shaking the offered hand. I took a moment to notice the familiar armlet that marked the mare as a Daeus Hunter, "hopefully we won't disappoint you."
"So like, are you an actual mayor?" Vinyl asked after shaking the mare's hand, "or is that just your name?"
"Both believe it or not," Mayor Mare replied with a chuckle, "well, I used to be the Mayor of Ponyville once upon a time. Now I'm the Director of the Ponyville Sub-Branch of Wendigo."
"And you're also a Daeus Hunter," I observed, "though, if you're the Director now, does that mean you retired from active duty?"
"More or less," Mayor Mare replied, "I'm not as young as I used to be, and once I was promoted to Director, I took the opportunity to hang up my Daeus Arm."
"Oh," I replied, not really knowing what else to say, "that's... hm."
"Indeed," Mayor Mare replied before turning on her heel, "now, I believe that's enough for introductions. Let's get this recruitment underway, shall we?"
Recruitment... the Daeification Process...
I shuddered.
"W-Wait a minute!" I called out, causing Mayor Mare, Harshwhinny, and Vinyl to look back at me. I blushed slightly before speaking a little more quietly, "I want to say goodbye to my brother if that's okay."
Mayor Mare eyed me for a moment before giving me a warm, understanding smile.
"Of course," she replied, "we'll wait inside for you."
With that, they all turned and headed into the front doors of the main building. I breathed a small sigh of relief before turning back to the truck.
"Well, this is it, Twily," Shining said, leaning out of the open window with a sad smile, "there isn't really much more I can say that hasn't already been said, or isn't just common sense. Be careful, if you're in a bind, don't be afraid to rely on your team, and don't worry over every little detail or you'll miss the bigger picture."
"Right," I replied, leaning in to hug my brother, "I'll keep all that in mind, Shiny. Tell mom I love her and that I'll be okay, alright?"
"Consider it done, sis," Shining replied, his smile turning warm, "take care of yourself."
Goodbyes said, Shining kicked on the engine and pulled out of the parking space. I watched him go, until he was past the gates and out of sight.
Another hand fell on my shoulder, but this time I didn't jump. Instead I glanced back to see the Chief Commander looking towards the gates Shining had just left through.
"Do not worry, Twilight Sparkle," she said, lowering her kind, yet serious gaze to meet mine, "my sister believes you capable of great things, and I have no reason to doubt her."
She nodded and turned to head back to her own truck. The medics had already rushed the dragon inside the facility and the other two trucks had already left.
"Grow strong, Twilight Sparkle," Luna called back with a wave, "strong enough to protect your friends and loved ones. Celestia has placed her faith in you, and I shall do the same. Good luck."
She stepped into the truck, closed the door, and was off, leaving me alone outside the doors of the main building.
I turned my gaze towards the setting sun and sighed wearily.
"This is my life now," I muttered bitterly before sighing again, "well, let's see how long that life lasts now, shall we?"
With nothing else keeping me, I slung my bag over my shoulder and made my way inside the main building of the Ponyville Sub-Branch.
I wasn't ready for this.
I was far from ready for this.
It was all happening way too fast. One moment, I was walking the rather dark corridors of the building, Mayor Mare and Harshwhinny telling Vinyl and I what to expect, then we reached the waiting room for all new Daeus Hunter hopefuls.
Well, I say hopefuls, but almost everypony in that room looked just as scared as I felt. There were about twelve of us altogether, and it was clear we all knew what was in store for us.
The room itself wasn't very big. The walls were made of some sort of dark greyish brown metal, and the lighting was rather low, giving the whole place a rather somber atmosphere.
Vinyl, Mayor Mare, Harshwhinny, and I had entered through a small door placed near the wall, and after a few more words of encouragement, Harshwhinny and the Director turned and left back the way we all came.
There were two other doors in the room. One was a single black metal door that stood to the far left of where we had entered, and the other was actually a large set of ominous looking giant metal double doors that took up a good fourth of the wall opposite us.
"Betcha that's where the Daeification Process takes place," Vinyl muttered nudging me in the arm, "I mean, just look at that door! it's gotta be."
Before I could respond, the smaller door on the left swung open, admitting a tall golden coated pegasus mare with a mane and tail of brilliant orange and amber—both flaring out like a flame.
Based on what little I knew about Daeus Hunter ranks, I could tell the mare was at least a lieutenant by her dark blue military coat, the standard armband, and the several patches along the front of the coat.
Every eye in the room turned to the mare, as she walked out into the middle of the room. She silently scanned the room with an unreadable expression—her eyes hidden behind dark aviators.
Her gaze stopped on Vinyl and I and she frowned slightly.
"You two just get here?" she asked in a curt, raspy voice.
We both nodded an affirmative and in response, the mare nodded towards one of the long, uncomfortable looking metal benches on either side of the room where the others were sitting.
"Find a seat and wait," she commanded, "we're gonna be getting this underway here in a moment."
With a shrug, Vinyl walked over to one of the benches and plopped herself down in between a surly looking, mulberry coated unicorn mare and a nervous amber coated earth pony stallion.
I chose to sit on the opposite bench near the edge. As I placed my bag beneath the seat, a small squeak caught my attention. I turned to see that I had sat next to a butter yellow pegasus mare.
Half the mare's face was covered by a long, luxurious pink mane and I was only able to make out a single, terrified aqua blue eye. It took me a minute to notice that subtle shaking in the mare's frame.
She was absolutely petrified.
With the shaking, small whimpers, and complete lack of eye contact with anyone, I felt bad for the mare. Her demeanor made me a little curious as to how she ended up here.
Was she a victim of circumstance like me?
I highly doubted she joined willingly, that's for sure. I was about to say something—maybe some words of comfort—but a tiny movement caught my eye.
I furrowed my brow and looked further down. The mare was wearing a thick lime green turtleneck beneath a thin dark green coat that was clearly far too large for her.
Isn't she hot in that?
The thought left as soon as it crossed my mind as I spotted another movement coming from the opening in her coat. Looking a bit closer I saw a flash of white and my mouth fell open.
Sitting comfortably inside the mare's coat was a small white rabbit.
It wasn't like there were no regular animals left, but seeing one outside of a reserve was extremely rare. The fact that this mare had one was enough to completely stun me for a moment.
That was, until the rabbit poked its head out and glared at me with its beady black eyes.
"U-Um... excuse me..."
I snapped my gaze upward at the soft whisper and flushed with embarrassment at the mare's slightly panicked look.
"O-Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." I whispered. I glanced back down, but the rabbit had vanished from view, "I... it's just... where did you—"
"Please don't tell anypony."
I opened my mouth but snapped it shut at the mare's pleading look. Instead I just nodded dumbly, much to the mare's visible relief.
"Thank you," she whispered with a small, shaky smile, "m-my name's... Fluttershy by the way."
"Um... Twilight," I replied, returning her smile with an awkward grin of my own, "Twilight Sparkle. It's nice to—"
"Alright, cut the chitchat for a minute!" came the loud voice of the golden pegasus mare with the aviators, "my name is Spitfire, and now that you're all here, this is how things are gonna go down!"
She took off her aviators, revealing brilliant orange eyes. Pointing the aviators in the direction of the giant double doors, she continued her explanation.
"Behind that giant metal door, is another, smaller metal door," she said, looking around the room, "and behind that door, is the room where you'll be undergoing the Daeification Process."
Spitfire paused when she spotted a raised hand. Raising an eyebrow, she nodded towards the white coated, jittery looking earth pony mare who raised the hand.
"Go on?" Spitfire encouraged, "if you got something to ask, ask it now, cause you ain't getting another chance later."
"U-Um... well," the mare stuttered, looking very much like she was regretting her decision to speak, "do you think... will it... y'know... hurt?"
The last word came out in a tiny squeak and Spitfire chuckled in response before shaking her head.
"Kid, it's gonna hurt like you wouldn't believe," she answered simply, "it'll probably be the worse pain you've ever felt in your life, though if it helps, the process is pretty quick."
Her smirk fell away and she took a moment to give all of us an intense stare. After a few seconds she spoke again, her tone grave and ominous.
"Let me tell you all right now, this is a dangerous process, and if you're rejected, there's a very real chance that you may not make it out... unscathed."
"W-What does that mean?" came the voice of the nervous amber stallion, "what do you mean by unscathed?"
"I mean," Spitfire replied, walking over to the stallion and leaning in close, "that at best, you'll be losing a limb, and at worst... you'll be losing your equinity, and if that happens... well... just pray that it doesn't happen."
She stepped back, leaving the stallion shaking in his seat.
"Now, normally you'd all have to go through this no matter the risks," Spitfire continued, "but here in Ponyville, we do things a little differently."
She paused another moment looking around as though she were judging each and every one of us, then spoke again.
"In this town, we're looking for those who truly want to protect their fellow equines no matter how dangerous things get.
"What we don't want, are sniveling cowards who run at the first sign of danger and leave their teammates behind to pick up the slack. That causes far more damage than any surprise attack from an avidaeus."
As if on cue, the door leading back to the corridor we came through opened, followed by the far door on the left.
A dark grey pegasus stallion holding a clipboard stepped through the far left door and leaned against the wall next to it. Stepping through the other door was a pegasus mare with a greyish blue coat and a wild light cerulean mane.
Like the pegasus stallion, she took up a spot next to her own door, look around the room with sharp, rosy eyes and a small smirk.
"To those of you who were conscripted," Spitfire continued, ignoring the two ponies that had just walked in, "you're going through the process whether you like it or not, so deal with it."
I frowned.
Well, so much for an easy out...
"For those of you who came here willingly, and don't think you can hack it," the golden pegasus pointed towards the door next to the other pegasus mare, "get the buck out and don't come back."
For a heartbeat, everypony was stunned into silence, prompting Spitfire to continue. I frowned at the new development, remembering in Celestia's letter the need for more Daeus Hunters.
"This is a dangerous job, and while retreat is sometimes the best option, flat out cowardice can and will get you and your teammates killed out there. That's something we don't need here, so as I said, if you can't hack it, get out."
Everypony in the room gave each other unsure, furtive glances. Then, slowly, some of the other ponies began to rise and head towards the exit on the right.
The jittery earth pony mare practically flew out of the room, causing the pegasus mare standing next to the door to roll her eyes.
It's no wonder Ponyville is hurting for Daeus Hunters. How are they supposed to increase their ranks if they give the ponies a choice in the matter?
It wasn't like I was advocating for conscription, being a victim of it myself, but the lack of logic behind Spitfire's decision bugged me. If they didn't have enough Daeus Hunters to protect the town, there was a real problem here.
Still, I could certainly appreciate the fact that they gave the others a choice, despite the lack of sense... even if I didn't get that same choice.
Curious, I turned back to Fluttershy to see that she'd gone pale and was shaking like a leaf—no doubt from Spitfire's words regarding the Daeification Process—but to my surprise, she remained seated where she was.
So... was she conscripted then?
Vinyl didn't make any moves to leave either, merely shaking her head at all the ponies that left. In the end, there were only four of us left.
Myself, Fluttershy, Vinyl Scratch, and a stoic looking, dark green unicorn stallion I hadn't noticed was there until now.
Now that I had noticed him, something about the stallion put me on edge, though I didn't know what it was.
The stallion wore simple beige slacks, and a black t-shirt over a white long sleeve shirt. His mane and tail came down in light grey curls, and his hard fuchsia eyes betrayed no particular emotion.
"So it's just the four of you, huh?" Spitfire commented, looking around at each of us, "honestly this was more than I was expecting."
She nodded towards the pegasus mare, who sighed, and stepped out of the room, closing the door behind her.
"Alright, let's get this show on the road then," Spitfire called out, "Thunderlane, who's up first?"
For a second I wondered who the mare was talking to, but then the dark grey stallion next to the leftmost door spoke up. He looked at his clipboard for a moment before calling the first name out.
"Let's see... looks like it's gonna be," he paused and tapped the clipboard, before looking right at me, "Miss Sparkle, looks like you're up first."
It was my turn to go pale.
"O-Okay, um... I... I guess I'll just," I pushed myself off the metal bench with shaky hands and rose to my hooves, "...a-alright then."
Spitfire nodded and the giant double doors hissed, making the majority of us jump. A second later the doors slid open, revealing a smaller, more normal looking door, just like Spitfire had said.
"Well, go on, then," Spitfire called out, "it'll be like ripping off a band-aid, best to just get it over with."
Right, like ripping off a band-aid... with a chainsaw.
I let out a single, loud terrified laugh before walking over to the door. As I passed Vinyl she gave me a thumbs up and a reassuring smile.
"Good luck," she whispered, "and remember, don't worry so much, you got this, Twi."
I gave her a weak smile before stepping into the small metal alcove and grabbing the door handle. I pulled the door open and stepped inside, having no idea what to expect.
As it turned out, there wasn't much to the room at all.
It was large and circular, sporting the same greyish brown metal walls as the room I had just left. The room itself was empty save for a large, odd machine set up smack dab in the middle of the floor.
Looking up, I could see that there was a railed off ledge above. Standing behind the railing was none other than Mayor Mare, as well as a tan coated earth pony stallion with a short spiky brown mane and a lab suit.
For whatever reason, Harshwhinny was nowhere to be seen. I made note of her absence, but figured she had her own duties to attend to so ignored it for the moment.
I could only assume the stallion was one of the Ponyville scientists I'd be working with, though the stallion looked rather unassuming all things considered.
His eyes lit up as he saw me, and I saw him open his mouth to say something, but Mayor Mare cut him off before he could.
"Ah, Miss Sparkle," she greeted, "it's good to see you again, though I wish it were under less... formal circumstances. As it stands however, I'm simply here to provide you with some instruction on what to do."
"Um... okay," I replied, looking back down at the large machine, "so... what do I do then?"
The machine consisted of a rectangular black metal pedestal, jutting out of the ground. A small raised silver platform sat on top of it, with a small rounded out groove in the middle.
"You see that groove there?" the Mayor replied, "and the armlet within?"
I stepped forward and took a closer look, a curious frown on my face despite the dread that was building up.
Set into the small rounded groove was half of a red armlet, much to my confusion. The confusion turned to understanding and uneasiness when I looked up at the rest of the machine above.
Looming a few hoof-lengths over the pedestal was what looked like another black rectangular device flipped upside down.
The silver platform had another groove with the other half of the armlet embedded into it. To my horror, I could see a far too thick needle wedged into the bottom of the armlet's top half.
That must be what they use to inject the Hive Cells into my body...
My heart began to race in my chest and I shivered violently.
"Now, all you need to do is rest your arm in the groove and the machine will do the rest," came the Mayor's calming voice, "make sure to place the wrist slightly past the groove, oh, and don't worry about which arm to use."
I barely registered the mare's words as I stood there staring at the machine that would shoot a controlled amount of Hive Cells into my body.
It was only as I stood there that I realized I was effectively living one of my worst nightmares. My imagination suddenly ran wild, and images of grotesque transformations and unbelievable agony ran through my mind.
I almost fainted on the spot, but Mayor Mare's voice brought me out of it.
"Twilight Sparkle!"
"I can't do this," I muttered, shaking my head and backing away, "I... I can't do this."
"Twilight, calm down," Mayor Mare called out, "I know it's a terrifying experience, believe me. I was once in the same position as you are right now, and things were a lot more difficult back then."
I looked up at the Mayor standing above me.
"I want you to think, Twilight," Mayor Mare continued, with a patient, understanding smile, "think about all the ponies who went through this and came out as Daeus Hunters. Think about those that succeeded with a much lower chance of success than you do."
I blinked and lowered my gaze back to the machine.
"Did you know your very own brother only had a thirty percent chance of successfully binding with the Hive Cells in his body?"
My eyes widened and I snapped my gaze back up to the ledge. This time it was the tan stallion that had spoken, a firm, yet kind look on his face.
"He what?" I cried, "did you say he only had a thirty percent chance of success? A thirty percent chance of surviving this... this—"
"Indeed, Miss Sparkle," the stallion continued with a smirk, "and you know what he said to that?"
I just stared at him.
The stallion lean forward, placing his arms over the rail and looking down at me with what could only be described as a proud smile.
"...Absolutely nothing."
"What?" I whispered, "what are you talking about?"
"He didn't say anything, Miss Sparkle," the scientist continued, "he simply grunted and walked over to the machine, placing his arm in without any hesitation whatsoever."
"But... but that's crazy," I muttered, looking down at my hooves, "Shining... what the buck were you thinking?"
"Probably of you I'd imagine," Mayor Mare replied to my rhetorical question, "he seemed like that kind of stallion when I met him in Canterlot all those years ago."
"You two... how do you even know any of this?" I asked, looking between each of them.
"Like the Mayor said, we met in Canterlot," the scientist answered, "we were the ones who oversaw his Daeification, just like we're doing now with you. Quite a frightful moment if I do say so, but certainly worth the scare."
"Our point is," Mayor Mare continued, "there are others out there with far less of a chance than you, who choose to go through with the process, regardless of the increased risk."
"Because they want to make a difference, right?" I finished with a sigh, my fear for myself draining away and being replaced by worry and anger at my brother, "something about wanting to protect their friends, their loved ones, and the future? Is that it?"
"More or less," the scientist replied with a small shrug, "lines like that are a bit too cheesy for my taste, but that's about the long and short of it."
"Right," I muttered, once more eyeing the machine with both resignation and trepidation, "well, I can't back out now... literally. And if I have a high chance of bonding... well..."
I swallowed nervously before taking several halting steps towards the machine. Once I reached it, I rolled up the sleeve of my coat, raised my left arm, and stared at it for a moment.
Goodbye old, safe life... hello new, terrifying life.
I took a deep, shuddering breath and slowly placed my arm in the groove of the pedestal just on top of the lower half of the armlet.
I took another deep, calming breath—this one slightly less shaky then before, and began a familiar mantra in my head to slow my rapidly beating heart.
One thousand...
Nine hundred ninety-three...
Nine hundred eighty-six...
Nine hundred seventy—
The top of the machine slammed down onto my arm and I screamed. I felt every inch of the needle as it pierced my skin.
Beneath the white hot agony, I could even feel the cells working their way through my bloodstream, twisting and changing my insides in ways I couldn't comprehend at the moment.
All rational thought left me as I tried desperately to yank my arm out of the machine, but it held fast. The pain quickly spread from my arm through the rest of my body, and I only screamed louder, or at least, I think I did.
I was vaguely aware of somepony shouting something, but I couldn't hear them over the horrible, pulsing pain assaulting every single one of my nerves.
Then it was over.
The pain receded as quickly as it had come save for my sore throat, and I was left a sobbing mess, slumped against the machine, my arm still held within.
With a loud hiss and a quieter click the top half of the machine detached itself from the lower and rose back up, releasing me from its grasp.
Exhausted, shaken, and distraught, I let my arm flop down next to me. One of my ears twitched at the small clank of metal as my arm hit the ground.
I looked over to see that I was now the not-so-proud owner of a bright red Daeus Hunter armlet. I ignored the voices coming from somewhere above me and simply stared at the armlet in shocked disbelief.
I had done it.
I was officially a Daeus Hunter... and there was no going back now.
Welp, that does it for that arc. Now onto the next one! 
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Personally, I am somewhat skeptical of forced conscription. Certainly, sometimes you just need bodies to absorb enemy munitions, but they'll never make good elites. Something like this in particular, specialized small-unit tactics? That's not something you can force people to be good at, they have to want it. They need something to fight for, and saving their own sorry hide from the hypothetical bomb in their head just isn't good enough.
Hopefully Twilight figures out something to believe in, something beyond "Celestia handed me my draft notice".
9217640
Twilight's case is special for more than reasons I've given, though I obviously won't go into detail just yet. And as far as motivation goes, it may be a battered, post apocalyptic fortress town, but it's still Ponyville. She's bound to find something worth fighting for here.
9217751
Indeed it is, indeed it does. I suppose that's one thing that can always be relied on.
Heh, I admit, some grim corner of my mind wonders how Celestia and all would have reacted if that 10% chance of failure had just killed Twilight stone dead. Obviously it didn't, else this would be a real short story. But still, the schadenfreude beckons.
9217769
Same. Tbh
9217769
Ah, but one could wonder the same thing about the fight with Nightmare Moon and the other mlp villains. Actually, we don't need to wonder thanks to a certain season finale.
9217935
Yes, it's funny how history turns. A miss-spoken word, an idle thought, a glint of determination where only fear is expected. It only takes the slightest nudge to change everything. And then, well...
orig00.deviantart.net/c1fd/f/2017/023/1/4/alternate_ending_by_cannibalus-dawhgyy.png
With the Daeus band secured on poor Twilight we now get to the fun part. What makes her so special? Fantastic read and into the next arc!
Something went wrong and I can’t wait to see what!
It's like the process of beco,ming a Grey Warden, without actually drinking the blood.
9226298
Now that I think back on it, that's actually a very apt comparison to make. Hell, with the way this process works you may as well be drinking the blood.
I bet she grew wings.