Daring Do and the Hand of Doom

by Unwhole Hole

Chapter 77: Last Defense

The situation grew consistently worse the nearer they drew to the center of the castle. Daring Do could feel the quakes in her bones long before they grew intense enough for them to shake the ancient stone of the keep’s foundation. Something was dissipating a tremendous amount of magic, expelling it in waves. The frequency of the waves was increasing in intensity.

The keep itself also started to change. There were signs of damage, but also signs of the machine that had once stood here. Long, straight conduits had been assembled, running along the stone toward the center where the Necroforge had no doubt been intended to sit. They were highly unlike the Exmoori systems, though. Whereas the Exmoori had intended to gain control strictly by machines, the Questlord system relied heavily on magic. There were of course machines, but only in service to a system meant to direct and control magical force. Daring Do wondered if perhaps this one might actually have worked.

The systems became increasingly more delicate and complex as they advanced, but it also became apparent that the system had been badly corrupted. Hyphae of some secondary, horrid looking machine had grown over them, pulling away pieces and infecting those that it still required. The new growth was artificial, but looked organic, save for the crystals and metal that glimmered within it. Daring Do shuddered. Those tendrils had not been put there by some conscious force; they had grown there. In parts, they were still growing.

And the tendrils watched. Not metaphorically. Some of them had eyes.

“Oh, that is creepy,” muttered Rainbow Dash as several of the eyes followed her. “That’s not normal, is it? I hope that’s not normal.”

“If you mean does it normally look like that, no,” said the AI. “That is abnormal.”

“Flock?” asked Daring Do.

“I don’t know,” he said, looking up at the growing hyphae. He actually reached up and touched it, causing Daring Do to once again shudder. “The book never mentioned this. I can only suppose that the vandrare encountered something it did not expect. It’s adapting by trying to build something.”

“Is that something they can do?”

“Daring Do, if you had read the book, you would already know. The entire point of the vandrares is to build something.”

“Then the situation is indeed dire,” said the AI. His voice actually had a tone. He sounded afraid. Then he stopped.

Daring Do saw why. The area in front of them had been almost completely overgrown with the metallic vines. Except that these seemed to have teeth in addition to eyes. They were in the process of assembling something, and it was obvious that they did not want to be disturbed.

“Is there a way around?” asked Daring Do.

“There is,” said the AI. “But you will not need to use it.”

“Um…we can’t exactly get through there,” reminded Rainbow Dash. “Unless you want me to spear it.”

“No, that won’t be necessary. This is as far as I can take you. I am about to be deactivated. I will probably be fine, although this will hurt quite a bit.”

“I don’t understand,” said Daring Do.

“I am part of a collective. I am in constant contact with my comrades.”

Sweetie Drops gasped and drew her sword. “You snitched on us!”

“I’m afraid I did. Please stand back.”

The air suddenly seemed to vibrate. At first Daring Do thought it was a magic-quake, but then she saw the way Rainbow Dash’s amulet was shaking and jumping. Rainbow Dash felt it as well, but she was faster. She spun and ducked, tacking Daring Do to the ground.

The tendrils blocking the way suddenly ignited with orange fire. They screamed and withered as they were torn aside and incinerated. Beyond the wall, there was no light, save for the nearly blinding glow of the magic of the unicorn on the far side.

She stepped through the gap. Daring Do looked up and knew her instantly. She was Carillon Heartstrings, the younger of the two Questlords. The only two Questlords that made up the whole Order, she supposed.

Except she had changed. Part of her face was now white, and the eye set within it was red. It gleamed with the same anger and near-madness as the orange one that sat counter to it. She was no longer entirely unicorn, and Daring Do tried not to think about where the additional parts had come from.

What she was wearing had once been her armor. Except that now it was torn and broken, with many pieces being burned away or removed entirely, revealing the fact that her entire body consisted of a combination of white and teal flesh. In place of metal, she now wore plates of translucent orange light. She was projecting her own armor.

“Zircon Four!” she screamed.

“Grand Seneschal,” replied the AI.

She promptly crushed him with her magic. It was like watching an old can being imploded under a hoof. The AI did not even scream, he just collapsed, and then was thrown to the side.

“I’ll deal with you later,” growled Carillon. She glared up at White and Softwings. “Traitors,” she hissed.

Softwings recoiled in fear and embarrassment, hiding behind Sweetie Drops. White, however, did not. She stood defiantly with her head raised high. She did not intend to make the same mistake she had before.

“Defectives,” said Carillon. She seemed out of breath, and nearly out of patience. “I keep having to deal with DEFECTIVES.”

“We’re here to help,” said Daring Do.

“I’m not.”

Daring Do felt herself being pushed to the side, and saw the glow of red magic. It hurt for it to touch her. She was not sure if the pain was Argiopé’s, or if it actually belonged to Scarlet Mist. Based on how sickening it felt, she assumed the latter.

Scarlet Mist passed her and stood across from Carillon. Carillon looked up at her, and recognition flashed in her eyes.

“Scarlet Mist,” she said.

“Do we know each other?” asked Scarlet Mist. She was trying to sound bored, but Daring Do was not fooled. It was impossible for the mask to obscure its hunger.

“I grew up hearing stories about you.”

“Many children were taught my deeds. Told that they were atrocities. But as long as they learned to fear me, I do not mind so much how they define my actions. Only the hunger matters, and the quest.”

Carillon laughed quietly, the look of rage not leaving her mismatched eyes. “The stories I was told cast you as a great hero. A being forged of demonic fury who stood against the false-gods.”

“I am not demonic. I am what dwells within the mind of each pony, given life and endless power by my desire to be whole. So I will make you an offer I have rarely made: join me. Wear me. Become Scarlet Mist. Your body will do well as me, and we will be able to accomplish so much together.”

The smile fell from Carillon’s face. “I don’t have time for this.”

The air seemed to come to life as Carillon activated her horn with all the force that could be expected from a mage in the latter half of her fifth century. Daring Do pulled Rainbow Dash back, almost throwing her past Scarlet Mist just as the spell activated.

The effect of the spell was profound: a storm of magical plasma, not cast with any distinct direction save toward Scarlet Mist. It was a type of magical fire that Daring Do had rarely seen, as few mages were strong enough to summon it- -but for Carillon, it was nearly effortless. This was horrifying if only in the fact that this pony- -and one vastly more powerful than her- -were failing badly to even approach the embryonic vandrare, let alone fight it.

Scarlet Mist did not even dodge. She lit her horn, and a translucent red square appeared before her. It blocked the majority of the flames, but the spell was more complex than that. It arched around the back of the square, licking at Scarlet Mist’s body. The square protected the ponies behind her- -probably incidentally- -but left her partially vulnerable.

Yet it did not matter. Whatever the red garments that surrounded her body were made of, they did not burn. In fact, they seemed to be absorbing magic from the spell. Daring Do realized that the shield spell was just a gambit.

The square suddenly broke, shifting in several axes and refolding itself into a set of needle-like spines. With a flick of her horn, Scarlet Mist sent them shooting forward.

Carillon changed her spell, causing what was left of her fire to retract around her. It formed a geodesic bubble around her, blocking the magical incursion. She prepared another attack, this one more directed, but she had not realized that it was already too late. When she struck, the beam simply passed through Scarlet Mist- -or appeared to. What Carillon had actually destroyed was nothing more than an illusion.

Only then did she realize that the hallway had suddenly grown oddly wide- -and filled with a strange crimson fog. Her eyes widened as she understood. It was just like in the old legends that her mother had told her, and her mother’s mother before her. Scarlet Mist was a parasite. She drew here magic from other ponies- -and from their fear.

The mist enveloped her, obscuring the rest of the world. For a moment, she was lost- -but then she saw the mist part ever so slightly as a pony began to step out. A young, teal unicorn. One that looked almost exactly like she had in her youth, save with a white streak in her mane rather than a black one. A unicorn with a lyre for a cutie mark.

“No you don’t!” Carillon raised her front hooves, dragging them through the air and trailing glowing amber runes as she did so. Then she crossed them, forming a sign not unlike one of the several that Sweetie Drops was capable of making. Except under the power of an ancient sorceress, the effect was far more intense than even the most powerful vedmak could have achieved.

Her magic exploded outward in a tremendous detonation, tearing through the mist and igniting it. The shockwave blew away the image of the teal pony, as well as most of the hallway around her. Despite the force, Carillon did not hesitate. She stood, raising a magical shield and drawing her sword from its sheith on her side.

All around her was fire. The mist was burning, its magic combining with her own in uncontrolled and self-ablating reactions. The space before her had been reduced to a minor inferno, one that was not quite raging but that was enough to obscure her vision.

The shadow of a pony stepped through the flame. Except that she was no pony. Through the silhouette, Carillon could see crimson- -and could see a mask staring back at her. A mask with nothing of consequence behind it.

“Impressive,” said Scarlet Mist. Her voice was beautiful, just as Carillon had imagined that it would be. “So very impressive. And I would claim you. I would ignore the oncoming apocalypse, let it happen for all I care, if I could only have you. I’d burn this useless shell to get myself on you. Or I would.” She gestured toward her own face, to the opposite side of where a large hole had been burned into her mask. “Had you not ruined yourself.”

“I’m not ruined. I did what had to be done.”

“So you claim.” Scarlet Mist flicked her hoof, and the orange flames around her collapsed to red, then to green, and finally they faded into acrid smoke. “But you are not adequate to bear me. I require the other, then, even if he is a stallion.”

Carillon broke into laughter. “You mean the Grandmaster? Dulcimer Heartstrings? He is no stallion. He is no longer mortal in any sense of the word. If my body is inadequate for you, his will be no better.”

“Then I have no purpose in being here.” She turned to Flock, who recoiled. “And you lied to me.”

“How was I supposed to know she resorted to transplantation?”

“It doesn’t matter!” cried Daring Do. She took a deep breath and stepped in front of Scarlet Mist, knowing that it put her directly in the path of any spells that Carillon could summon.

“You’re not supposed to be here.”

“But I am here. And we’re trying to help.”

“Help? And what do you think you can do that would be any help to me? You’ve already taken too much of my time!” She pointed behind herself. “We’ve lost containment, lost contact- -and she’s taken more than eighty percent of my synthetics!”

“You mean your children.”

“If they were willing to betray me this easily, they are no children of mine.”

“Even your assistant?” asked Softwings. “The one with the special eye? The one you gave him for his first birthday?”

Carillon faltered. She shook her head. “I can’t save him,” she said. “The best I can do is hold the line. Keep it from expanding.”

“We have a way to shut it down.”

“It’s not possible to shut it down. You won’t even be able to get close to the core.”

“To Absence,” said Rainbow Dash.

Carillon seemed to falter once again. “To Absence.”

“Carillon,” said Daring Do. “I know we’re not on the same side. But we want the same thing. You’re a Questlord. Your mission is to protect Equestria, isn’t it?”

She could not meet Daring Do’s eye. “Ostensibly. But…”

“Then that’s what you need to do. If that thing goes up, everything’s over. Your Order, the Questlords, Celestia- -none of it matters. Please. You have to let us try.”

“It’s my responsibility. I completed this machine. I gave birth to her, made her the vessel. This isn’t your fight.”

From behind Daring Do, White stepped forward. Daring Do was about to stop her, but she White looked to her. Although White only had one borrowed eye, Daring Do still saw the expression within it, and she understood. She allowed White to pass.

Carillon immediately raised her horn. “Stay away from me.”

White did not listen. She walked right up to Carillon- -and hugged her.

Carillon seemed greatly taken aback, and did not react at first. Then, slowly, she put one of her white hooves around White’s body. Her projected armor flickered and went out.

“It’s my fault,” she said, more to herself or to White than any of the others. “All of this. I didn’t listen to what I should have known. And now it’s all my fault.”