Titan's Arcology

by pushi

Arcform

Twilight felt she was deeper into Hive territory than she had ever been before. Even the Threshold, the apex of Hive operations aboard the Dreadnaught seemed nothing compared to this. Here, in the abandoned Arcology, surrounded by worms and filth, she was completely alone, save for her Ghost. She had encountered more of those crystals, full to the brim of Void Light. She hesitated before she had smashed them, knowing that inside each one were the disintegrated remains of the Guardians she sought to have rescued.

She found, through Spike’s scans, that the crystals were nodes in a network of Void Light, running deep through the Arcology. Twilight still didn’t understand, though. Why did the Hive need all that power? What were they using it for?
Once Twilight’s curiosity had faded into solemn loneliness, she came to realize her mistake. The silence between her and Spike had been awkward the entire time. She knew that he thought she had acted completely irrationally, and wasn’t about to think or say otherwise. Now that she was back to being alone again, and the whispers of the shadows that had so often taunted her when prowling Hive territory begun again in her ears, she was wholeheartedly regretting her previous actions. She could only hope that Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were okay.

Twilight swallowed. She would not stop until she found them again and apologized for the things she had said.

---

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy walked in silence. It had been a shock to Fluttershy that Twilight had lashed out at her in such away, but she felt more worried about her friend than she did sorry for herself. Twilight had ran, and Rainbow Dash had decided not to follow her down the twisting halls. After she had gone, Fluttershy made to chase after her, but Rainbow had held her back.

“I’m sure the great Twilight Sparkle can handle anything the Hive have.” she had snorted, but Fluttershy was still afraid for her. The Hive here were toying with powers never before seen by the City, and Fluttershy, despite her lack of knowledge about the creatures, knew that being alone in an unexplored place without any form of communication with the worst fate imaginable lurking behind every corner was as good as suicide.

The pair emerged out of a tight corridor into an enormous opening. They stood on a platform overlooking what must have been the entire Arcology. Far, far below them was a city, with sprawling buildings and skyscrapers reaching high up towards the sky stormy sky. A maze of roads curled in between the white houses, and dazzling neon lights shone brightly in amongst them. There was a gigantic lake in the very middle, surrounded by sprawling forests that stretched to the very edges of the cavernous place. Far above them, the huge domed roof was cracked and broken in the center, the hazy yellow-brown Saturn partially visible through it.

But even from this immense distance, the hold that the Hive had taken over what was once a bastion for ponykind was visible. The trees that surrounded the lake were long dead and blackened, and the water of the lake itself was dark and murky. Chitinous tumors spread along the towering walls and crawled their way across the buildings, snaking their way around skyscrapers, blocking and uprooting concrete on the roads, corrupting the once thriving and beautiful city with ugly infestation.

Fluttershy gazed at the scene, watching, and thinking of what life must have been like here before the Collapse. She imagined the trees, bright green and ripe with life. The lake, blue as the sky, full of boats and swimmers and fish. The roads, packed with busy ponies, going about their daily lives, completely ignorant of the fate that would soon befall them.
She jumped slightly when Rainbow tapped her on the shoulder.

“Are you okay, Flutters?” she asked. Fluttershy nodded.

“I'm fine.” she replied, turning away to continue onward. At that moment, Fluttershy’s Ghost leaped into view at her side, speaking urgently.

“I'm detecting a broadcast.” he spoke. “From up ahead.” Fluttershy gasped.

“Twilight?” she asked, holding her breath, eyes widened hopefully.

“No.” he replied shortly, “it’s missing her tag. I don't know who exactly it is, but it’s encoded with Vanguard headings, so it must be one of the missing Guardians!” Fluttershy withdrew her radio, and her Ghost tapped into it. The pair listened closely to the radio, but all they could hear was static.

“Hang on.” her Ghost said, “I’m tuning it.” The static faded slightly, to be replaced by garbled syllables mixed together, the audio mess no more decipherable than before. Rainbow Dash took the device and spoke into it, as the noise on the other end became slightly clearer.

“Hello? Who’s there? We're here to rescue you!” Rainbow shouted down the microphone. A loud sigh of relief was audible from the other end.

“Rescue me? Oh, thank goodness!” came a grateful voice from the radio. “I thought there was no one coming! I've been hiding down here for hours!” Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash shared identical expressions of exhilaration. There was still someone alive down there!

“Hold tight!” Rainbow said, pulling out her own Ghost. “Trace the origin.” she commanded. The little Light obliged, floating ahead of them, leading the way forwards as they sprinted through the maze-like halls.

“We’re on our way!” Rainbow reassured the mare, still clutching Fluttershy’s radio under one of her wings. “We’ll get you out of here.”

“Thank you so much,” came the voice again. “It’s so awful down here. I just want to get back to the Tower and meet up with my friends. Have you found any of them yet?”

Rainbow winced. She had always preferred to be blunt, and if it had been anyone else, she would have told the truth: that this was the only broadcast they had detected, and that the rest of the Guardians sent to the Arcology had been turned into mashed up piles of Void Light, but there was such a childlike naivety in the mare’s voice, which caused the words to clog up in Rainbow’s throat. She could tell from it that mare was young, and perhaps had only recently Risen. In her mind, she cursed the Hive for causing such pain and suffering to her fellow ponies, especially ones as young as her.

Monsters, she thought. All of them.

“We haven’t seen any of them,” Rainbow spoke at last, “but they can’t be far. We’ll find them.”

The pair rounded a corner, and came face to face with a nest of Thrall. They raised their ugly, grey heads from the pile of bones on which they had been feeding and rushed her, claws outstretched, and shrieking. Rainbow drew her blade and cut them down effortlessly, their ashes erupting from their disintegrated bodies and falling to the ground. She suddenly realized that these were the first Hive she had actually encountered here since entering the Arcology apart from that Wizard earlier. Was its festering population concentrated at a specific point? Or were they occupied with other pursuits?

The filly spoke again through the radio, her voice sounding hesitant.

“The Hive here are strange,” she said. “There’s a Wizard here with purple horns, and a massive shrieker, but it looks asleep. I'll go and deal with it.” Rainbow’s stomach lurched at her words.

“Don't!” she said sharply, speeding up her run. “Stay hidden. Wait for us to arrive, and for the Traveler’s sake, do not let that Wizard see you!” Rainbow knew she had frightened the filly with what she had said, but she had to make sure that she didn't endure the same fate that had befallen her friends, of which she was so unaware.

“We’re close.” came the voice of Rainbow’s Ghost, just up ahead. “Only a few hundred more meters.” Rainbow nodded, and raised the radio to repeat the message to the mare.

“We’re a couple hundred meters away. We’ll be there any minute now, you got that?”

No response came from the tiny device.

---

Twilight stared in awe at what she was looking at. She had found her way to the deepest part of the Arcology, and here, at last, she found answers. The chamber in which she stood was incomprehensibly huge. The Hive infestation covered everything around her, but this did not disgust her as much as it once had. Far, far in the distance, she could see through enormous windows into the murky waters of the Kraken Mare, and the outlines of dark, twisted shapes swimming through it. Her eyes, however, were locked on something gigantic hovering directly in front of her, just above the ground.

It bobbed ever so slightly up and down in the air, but she knew it was dormant. The crooked shape and black, rocky texture was unmistakable to Twilight. It was a Shrieker, a magic construction build from pure Hive arcana, and one of this size could only mean one thing. A summoning ritual. Something glowing caught her gaze, and she forced her eyes away from the gargantuan Shrieker to look at yet another crystal, located at its base, obscured by a rock sticking out of place. This then, was the reason that the Hive had siphoned the Light of Guardians. To use it as a power source to fuel this ritual. Twilight looked up at the Shrieker once again, not wanting to fathom the unimaginable horrors that the Hive could pull into the world with a Shrieker as big as this. It had to be destroyed, but to get at its vulnerable core, she would have to force it to awaken. First, however she had to break the crystal at its base.

Maybe, she thought as she stepped forwards, drawing her blade. Maybe we’ve destroyed enough crystals down here to sever Hive’s power supply.

A spark of hope shot through her, but was quickly extinguished. She had forgotten that it wasn't just this group of Guardians that had fallen to the Hive here. There had been many more casualties, back when only she had her powers. So many dead Guardians. So many crystals. She approached the glowing rock, and as she knew she must, Twilight readied to strike, holding her blade high over her head. She willed Light to act upon her blow, but right then, a cacophony of dreadful shrieks rent the air. She backed away from the crystal and the Shrieker, as Hive began to emerge from all angles. Thrall clawed their way out of the ground, rocks cracked open with an ear splitting crunch, and Acolytes leaped out, brandishing their weapons. Spike emerged, trembling.

“I think this is an ambush, Twi,” he stuttered. One of the approaching Thrall stretched out its razor-sharp claws, and jumped towards Twilight, poised to rake them down her face.

She dashed aside, slicing it to the ground in one swift motion, but more of the faceless demons took its place. She backed up, hurling a Void grenade towards a group of Acolytes who were bombarding her position with starfire. They exploded in a bloom of purple, their bodies disintegrating before they even hit the ground, and she charged the hoard of Thrall head on, swinging and slicing away with her sword. The blade tore through their crusted skin, and the blasts of Light she threw in whenever she had the chance burst thick holes through their bodies. Despite her constant flow of slaughter, it seemed that the more she killed, the more that would burst from their burrows and rush her head on, murder the only thing in their minds.

The onslaught was not the worst she had encountered from the Hive, but after minutes of hacking and punching and shooting the endless river of grey death that would sweep her away at the slightest mistake, her muscles began to ache, longing for reprieve, and her exhausted brain was pounding with lack of oxygen.

Schlick! Twilight let out a yelp of pain as she felt sharp claws plunge themselves into her side, ripping through the skin at the base of her throat. She stumbled backwards, throwing off the beast that clung to her, but the damage has been done. The flesh at her shoulders had been completely lacerated, rendering her front right leg completely useless. Spike had emerged, and directed his gaze at the wound. Cursing, Twilight bent her back legs and leaped high into the air, gliding away from the army of Thrall the swarmed at her hooves, but just before she was out of their reach, one of them had jumped up after her, and had seized Spike in one of its gruesome claws.

“Spike, no!” she screamed. The Thrall raised him greedily to its open maw, hungry jaws ready to feast. Without a second thought, Twilight stopped her escape, and landed directly on top of the Thrall's skull, crushing it into a thousand pieces. She reached for her blade to cut away the surrounding Hive, but found herself crying out in pain instead, as she had tried to move the joint which had been completely torn apart ten seconds before. Quickly, she tried to grab the sword with her left, but it was too late. Another Thrall had grabbed Spike's small body, and she felt claws cut into her side. More claws sliced away at her, and the view of her companion was obscured by a multitude of scrambling grey bodies. She tried to reach him - to save him, but fell heavily to the ground as the tendons in the back of her knees were severed, knocking the wind clean out of her.

Still, she crawled forwards as the hoard worked away at her, tearing her body to pieces. The pain was unbearable; she couldn't think straight. She just knew she had to reach Spike, and kill his captor. She tried to summon a Nova Bomb, but her exhaustion was too much for her to muster even as much as a single bolt of axion. She just wanted the suffering to end, but at the same time, she couldn't just leave Spike to be devoured. Her vision was fading. The grey bodies before her became blurry, like she was seeing them through a translucent window. The deafening shrieks of the Thrall became muffled. She had run out of fuel, and did not move, but instead, allowed herself to be taken.

Will I become a crystal? She thought. Will that Wizard arrive, and shove my mangled corpse into one?

Twilight supposed it was better that she would die before it happened. At least she hadn't been forced into one while alive. She smiled to herself, knowing that it could have been worse, and shut her eyes.

But right then, there was a sound like a surge of electricity shooting through a conductor, and it sparked new life into Twilight, who shot open her eyes and turned her head around to stare at its source. She knew that sound. She had heard it countless times before. She looked up, and sure enough, there it was: a dazzlingly blue body, galvanized by Arc Light that emanated tiny bolts of electricity from every point, any facial features lost to the blue lightning that surged over its skin. It hovered directly above the army of Thrall, a gigantic staff clutched in its front two hooves, made of pure Arc. It drew the attention of every single one of the beasts, but they turned their faces away, blinded by the raw Light the figure exuded in such vast and electrical quantities.

Then, the Arc-pony descended like a bolt of lightning, smashing its staff into the ground, and Twilight felt the staggering force of its impact, but the Thrall surrounding her felt it a hundredfold. The mass of bodies disintegrated in a flash of lightning. A beaten and scratched Ghost fell beside Twilight, and began to heal her wounds, but the electrical embodiment had not finished. More Thrall came, but it was ready - almost glad to take them into the storm. With an elegance the likes of which Twilight had never seen, the form swung the staff around, sweeping away every one of the demons that crossed its inexorable path.

The figure and the staff were as one as they danced about each other, their movements as clean and as powerful as the current flowing through them both. When at last the Thralls’ onslaught ceased, the last of their screeches faded into the dark, the conduit of destruction strode over to Twilight, and held out a hoof, the staff wrapped around its other front leg. The current faltered, and the electricity surging through the figure ceased, making its features discernible. A cyan coat, a jagged, rainbow mane, magenta eyes as bright as a rose. Twilight took Rainbow’s outstretched hoof, and lifted herself to her own hooves, eyes harshly averted from her’s.

“What is it you Warlocks always say? Harmony within, hurricane without?”

Twilight collapsed back to the ground despite being fully healed, panting.

"Rainbow! Oh, Rainbow!" Twilight could barely form the words in her mouth. "Rainbow, I'm so -"

“Don’t mention it,” the rainbow mare soothed, embracing Twilight with a warm leg. “It's okay.” She added with a whisper, "Fluttershy's the one you need to apologize to."