10 – Escalation of the Deep
*Crystal Prep. Academy, five days earlier*
Twilight Sparkle sat in her private lab, her fingers flying across her computer’s keyboard as she entered line after line of analytical code into the device’s terminal. Once she was finished, she compiled her latest program, loaded in her data and executed the script. Once she saw it was running, she sat back and rubbed her eyes.
The strange anomalies she’d been detecting for the last few months had been such a fascinating puzzle. But these new energy surges that had begun to show up over the last few days? They were something so far beyond what she’d detected prior, that she’d had to start over from scratch. The energy emissions hadn’t behaved like anything she’d encountered before. Even the first anomalies followed some of the basic math regarding some of the known physical laws.
But these new emissions?
Nothing about them made any sense. Even applying the standard equations to the readings gave her nothing. If she didn’t know any better, she might have said whatever it was she had detected, it was not conforming to any sort of cause and effect principle.
Which was impossible.
Impatiently tapping her finger on the desktop, she glared at the computer, as if she could will it to complete the analysis sooner. As the numbers continued to fly by on the screen, she huffed in annoyance, before rising from her chair and approaching a different section of her lab: the section where she kept her prototype energy detector/accumulator. The little device was her pride and joy, and the product of weeks of observation and analysis. She’d initially intended to use it to study the initial phenomenon, but with some tweaks, she hoped that it would let her further delve into the new anomalies.
It was just a matter of finishing her analysis so she could upload the new programs into the detection matrix. Popping the lid open, Twilight pulled out a small set of resistors and other electronic components and began fiddling with the internal mechanism of the device.
Twilight was so engrossed in her detector that she didn’t see the strange effects the analysis was having on her computer screen. As the program ran, human letters and numbers began to be interspersed with otherworldly glyphs, while the screen began to emit a sickly, ghostly blue light. Soon, all of the script running across the screen was dominated by the otherworldly writing. Yet, within seconds, the effect faded, leaving only an active cursor to indicate the analysis was complete.
Soon, Twilight finished her tweaks to the detector, and went to check on the progress of her analysis. Much to her surprise, the computer seemed to have finished, and hadn’t spat back an error message like it had the last dozen time’s she’d tried to get the process to run.
“Odd. That went much faster than it should have…”
Looking over the computer’s output files, she was astonished and elated to discover that the math checked out. She had a perfect simulated equation for the detection of the new anomalous energy. She clapped her hands together and jumped up and down with excitement, a high-pitched squeal of joy bubbling up from her throat. Even her analytics for the older anomalies had never been this perfect. And if the values she was seeing were accurate, she’d be able to not only detect the anomalous energy, but actually collect samples.
It was almost too good to be true.
Rushing over to the bench, she grabbed her detector, and scurried back to her desktop. Plugging in a cable, she connected her computer to the device and began uploading the analysis program. She could barely sit still as the status bar slowly filled, and all but ripped the device off once it had completed the upgrade.
This was it!
She was finally going to get to the bottom of whatever was going on.
With an excited shiver, she turned the device on. Seconds passed, and she could feel her anticipation growing as the device began to hum.
It was working.
Twilight’s elation began to wane as the device started to vibrate uncontrollably and emit strange, otherworldly light.
With a yelp of pain, Twilight dropped the device as it became… she wasn’t sure of the feeling. All she knew was it had hurt. The device clanked to the ground and began to bounce around with such ferocity that Twilight was concerned it was going to shake itself to pieces.
Moments later, it settled down, and came to a halt.
Slowly. Carefully, Twilight approached the device. Bending over, she reached for the thing, before gingerly poking it with a finger.
Twilight didn’t even have time to scream as the lid of the device burst open. Before she could blink, a long, black tendril of nothingness lashed out, wrapped around her like the tongue of a chameleon, and yanked her through a point between atoms.
*In the space beyond reality*
“This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening.” Twilight chanted as she rocked back and forth on the… there was no ground, but somehow, she had managed to curl up into a ball and rock back and forth on… something, her arms wrapped around her head protectively and her eyes squeezed shut.
All around her was a vast, infinite space of glowing darkness. Which was impossible. Darkness couldn’t glow.
None of this could be real.
She’d been spending too much time cooped up in her lab, avoiding the other students of CPA. Yes, that had to be it. This was all some crazy dream. All she had to do was wake up, and she’d be back in her lab.
“Just force yourself to wake up.” She told herself, the vastness of the glowing darkness all around her swallowing up the words and causing them to echo back all around her like a scream.
So why wasn’t she waking up?
Why was this happening?
How was this happening?
This couldn’t be real.
As Twilight’s thoughts continued to bounce around in her head, she felt… something… drawing near. Peeking out from under her hands, she tried to see whatever it was.
There was nothing but the infinite expanse of glowing darkness everywhere.
The presence drew closer, and Twilight curled up again, trying to make herself as hard to notice as possible.
Then, she felt it speak to her. It used no words, but somehow, she knew what it was telling her. Twilight screamed in agony as the presence's intent pierced into her skull and violated her mind.
You are Twilight Sparkle, the most gifted and intelligent girl in all of Canterlot. Genius. Inventor. Outcast and pariah.
You have been taken.
Twilight curled even further in on herself, screaming as tears began to form in her eyes.
“This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening” She continued to chant.
Even from an early age, you showed so much potential. Your mind could comprehend things beyond the ken of others. Your family could not have been prouder.
But, you soon found that same intelligence, so lauded by your family, isolated you from others.
When you first went to school, you were immediately a target for the other children. You loved your books, so they called you names, or stole them from you. You read while they played, so they bullied you. Though they were simple creatures, they were cunning in their cruelty, and you could never prove to the teachers that they were the ones doing it.
Twilight stopped her rocking and listened. Why was she hearing this? She didn’t need to be reminded of the hell that was her grade-school life.
As you grew, you hoped that things would improve, and you could make friends.
You didn’t.
Twilight stopped rocking and began to uncurl from her balled up position.
You reached out, and had your hand swatted away. Or, if someone took it, they only did so because they knew they could use you to get something. And once they had what they wanted, they cast you aside.
Twilight could feel fresh tears in her eyes. Tears of sorrow and tears of anger.
So you retreated into your studies, hoping that they would make you less of a target. But it only made things worse. The other students would laugh and jeer at you, steal your things, push you around. And you, in your fear, let it happen, because you knew that if you fought back, they would make your life a thousand times worse.
Twilight gritted her teeth as she pinched her eyes shut again and pressed her face into her knees. Not from fear, but out of anger and frustration.
It was true.
It was all true.
All she ever wanted was to learn. To study and maybe, one day, make the world a better place with her knowledge. But no matter what she did, her intellect made her a target. And she’d learned early on that if she tried to fight back, the bullies would make her life even worse. If she told on them, they’d come after her again and again.
Until eventually, she learned their lesson and began to fear them. Fear their threats and their reprisals.
But, it does not need to be that way.
If you could overcome your fear, there would be nothing to stop you. If you were brave, you could bend you prodigious mind to making them all pay. Physical strength is not the only way to fight back. Your mind is one of the greatest the world has ever seen.
Without fear to hold you back, you could accomplish so much more.
Looking up, Twilight saw a shard of nothingness hanging in the air above her. Somehow, it called out to her.
Here is a knife for you. It is shaped like [Courage]
Slowly uncurling herself and falling to her hands and knees, Twilight reached out for the knife the voice was offering.
Take this knife.
Her fingers wrapped around the shard as white-hot ice shot through her veins. She screamed, though if it was from pain or ecstasy, she didn’t know.
Use it to slice away the fear that holds you back.
Twilight’s mind faded, the persistent fear that always filled her draining away like grains of sand through a sieve. In its place, a singular sense of purpose flooded in, burning away all that she once was.
Take your new shape.
* The ruins of Canterlot City, present time *
Princess Twilight watched with a strange sense of existential dread as her taken doppelganger spread her wings and leapt from the building, before floating down on the ground in front of Sunset. Rising in a single, smooth motion, the taken Twilight raised her strange weapon to her shoulder and sighted it directly at the princess.
Instantly recognizing the danger, Twilight scrambled hard and launched herself away, just as a volley of screaming electrical bolts began to slam into the ground behind her. Regaining her feet, her wings snapped open and she took to the air, her doppelganger’s barrage continuing to streak past her.
Wheeling around, Twilight raised The Aegis and aimed it at the taken Twilight.
Strike!
Bolts of energy erupted from the gems on her body and snaked their way down towards the other Twilight. Before the beams could reach their target, Sunset launched herself from the ground and positioned herself between the two Twilights, her rapier flashing as she parried the beams.
As she did, the taken Twilight flew up from behind her and raised her weapon, before resuming her barrage, forcing princess Twilight to evade and fall back.
Looking back towards her foes, her heart sank. Sunset was gone.
Child! Behind you! The Aegis screamed in her mind.
With no time to think, princess Twilight summoned the Sky’s power and sent it flooding into The Aegis.
Defend!
The glowing shield appeared just in the nick of time, Sunset’s rapier slamming into its shimmering surface with a screech. Dropping the barrier and rolling in the air, the princess lashed out with The Aegis, striking Sunset in the wing, sending her tumbling towards the ground. Taking the opportunity, she sped away as quickly as she could, the sound of her doppelganger’s weapon discharging growing fainter as she put distance between them and her. Once she was sure she was out of sight, she ducked into a building and threw herself behind an overturned desk.
This… this was a disastrous complication. She was barely holding her own against Sunset. Now Sunset had backup. And, to make matters worse, it was her own human counterpart. Twilight desperately fought back her urge to speculate how the human her had been taken, and focusing on her more immediate concern: stopping Sunset and the taken Twilight.
Her mind was racing. She couldn’t face them at the same time. They’d just gang up on her and overwhelm her defenses. Even with The Aegis healing her wounds, there was no way she could last against the two of them.
She had to find a way to separate them.
She just needed to figure out how.
*****
The Magister hissed with frustration. They had the bearer flanked and could have finished her off, but she’s managed to slip away. She could still feel the Sky’s presence nearby, so she hadn’t fled, but couldn’t pin down exactly where she was.
The vessel must be interfering somehow.
Wordlessly, she sent a command to the other to head up into the sky and watch for the bearer. Even having shared some of the death she’d gathered, she knew that the other was no match for the bearer or the vessel in close combat. Best to keep her at a safe distance and ensure that if the bearer tried to close with the other, the Magister could intervene.
Angrily, her mind turned back to the problem at hand. She knew the bearer was no fool, and was probably hiding to avoid being outnumbered. She had to find a way to draw her out and into a position where they could finish her off.
Weighing her options, she quickly cataloged and dismissed each. A death song was out of the question. It would leave her too vulnerable, and in all likelihood, the vessel might be able to protect the bearer against it.
All of the civilians in the area were dead from the blighted missile that hit the city, so she couldn’t use them as bait.
She could have the other call in another missile strike, but that would take too long to reach them, and even then, the vessel would be able to defend against even something as destructive as the human’s nuclear weapons.
Searching would take too long, and leave them in a vulnerable position. The bearer had proven too dangerous to approach in close combat.
Looking around, she came to her decision. She knew the general direction that the bearer had fled, but not where. So, they’d just have to start bombarding the buildings to flush the bearer out. It was a slow option, and would give away their position, but it was the best choice she had.
And once she broke cover, they could pounce.
Taking to the sky, the Magister rapidly ascended to the other and wordlessly conveyed her plan. The other silently agreed and lifted her shock cannon to her shoulder, before unleashing a barrage at the building nearest to her. The Magister soon followed suit, unleashing a volley of explosive void energy into another building.
As the structures collapsed, throwing up massive clouds of dust into the air, they moved on to the next. And the next.
*****
Twilight could hear the next building collapse. They were getting closer. She needed to move, and she needed to move now. But she couldn’t just rush out, because then they’d be right on top of her. She needed a plan.
The bombardment started on the building next to the one she was hiding in.
She was out of time.
Rising, she dashed in the opposite direction of the bombardment, using The Aegis to smash open the wall, before rushing towards the opposite side of the building. Reaching the windows, her wings snapped open and she launched herself out, staying low and hopefully out of line of sight.
She needed to reach the larger buildings near the epicenter of the killzone. They were her best chance to enact her plan.
As she moved away from the low-lying buildings and approached the teetering skyscrapers, she broke into a power-climb and shot above the rooftops. She could see the two taken some distance off, still demolishing buildings in their search for her.
This was it. If this didn’t work, she was dead.
Raising The Aegis, she took aim at her doppelganger.
Delete!
A bolt of searing light erupted from the surface of The Aegis and rocketed towards the taken. Sunset’s head instantly swiveled to face her, before both taken saw the bolt of the Sky’s energy hurtling towards them. They dove out of the way of the bolt easily, but Twilight hadn’t meant to hit them.
She meant to draw their attention.
Detonate!
The sphere exploded, the blast sending the taken tumbling, though they quickly righted themselves and made to pursue.
Turning, Twilight sped towards the city ruins, the taken right on her tail.
*****
The Magister’s wings beat furiously as she flew after the other and the bearer.
Something wasn’t right.
The bearer had the perfect opportunity to ambush them, yet she had instead alerted them to her presence, then fled. Even if she were operating under some Sky-fool concept of honor, it didn’t make sense to turn to flee once she had their attention.
No, something was wrong.
This was a trap. It had to be. There was no other explanation.
Silently calling out to the other, she ordered her to stop, but the other ignored her, instead picking up speed as she shouldered her shock cannon. The Magister hissed with frustration. While she had retained some of her own will, the other was completely subsumed by the will of the Deep, and would not be deterred in her pursuit of the bearer.
Catching a glimpse of the bearer amid the corpse buildings, the Magister picked up speed. She couldn’t let the other get too far ahead. They had to stick together. Otherwise…
Otherwise they would lose the advantage of coordinated combat. And against something like the bearer’s vessel, they couldn’t afford to give up any advantage they had.
They had to finish this quickly. Or they might not be able to finish it at all.
Turing the corner, she saw the other had sighted the bearer, and brought up her shock cannon. The bearer had her back to one of the listing buildings, but was standing her ground, the vessel raised in front of her body, ready to attack or defend. Shifting through the deep, the Magister appeared off to the other side, ready to join the frey the instant the other struck.
All three stared at the others, waiting for them to make a move. The Magister began to draw power into her free hand, getting ready to attack.
The stalemate was broken when the other unleashed a volley from her shock cannon. The Magister expected the bearer to defend against the attack with the vessel, but instead, the bearer did something unexpected. With a twist of her body to dodge the projectiles, she dove towards the ground and brought the vessel up, launching a sphere of the Sky's power. Not at either her or the other, but at the base of the skyscraper. There was the sound of the sphere detonating, followed by the creaking of metal and concrete. In that moment, the building began to topple.
Directly towards all three of them.
This had to be the bearer's plan. To crush them under the building. Not wasting any time, the Magister shifted into the Deep's space and slid away.
*****
Twilight saw Sunset teleport out from under the shadow of the collapsing skyscraper, while her doppelganger instead began to turn and fly away.
She doesn't know how to teleport! Now's my chance! Twilight thought as her wings thrummed with power, and she rocketed towards the fleeing taken. Her taken counterpart must have sensed her coming, because she turned to face her and raised her weapon to attack. Twilight wasn't going to give her the opportunity.
Strike!
Searing bolts of void energy lanced towards the taken Twilight before slamming into her, blasting her with a dozen small explosions. The attack left the taken dazed long enough for Twilight to close the distance. Without giving the taken Twilight a chance to recover, princess Twilight raised The Aegis behind her before bringing it around in a powerful swing, slamming the face into the taken's sternum. Without loosing any speed, she bulldozed into the taken, carrying them both up and away from the collapsing building.
Once clear of the killzone, Twilight stopped her forward momentum and heaved with all her might, sending the taken Twilight flying into the air. This was it! Raising The Aegis, she pointed the blue crystal at her doppelganger.
Delete!
The bolt of energy discharged from The Aegis's front. Time slowed to a crawl as the sphere of glowing energy flew towards its target.
Then it impacted.
There was a brilliant flash of light as the Sky's energy began to rip into its target, boiling her form away as her screams of inhuman agony filled the air.
Twilight felt a savage impact to her side that sent her flying and embedded her into the side of a nearby building. Shaking the stars from her eyes, she looked up to see what had hit her.
It was Sunset, though she wasn't currently looking at Twilight. She was flying towards the rapidly boiling away form of the taken Twilight, her arm extended almost in desperation. Yet, by the time she reached the other taken, The Aegis's power had done its job, and it had been eaten away into nothingness.
As Twilight extracted herself from the side of the building, she saw Sunset's hand slowly fall to her side and her head droop down, almost as if she were in mourning. Lifting The Aegis, Twilight braced herself to resume the fight. An instant later, Sunset turned to face her, and Twilight was shocked at what she saw. Sunset's face was twisted into a grimace of pure rage and grief, her hands balled as she shook with barely contained anger.
Unleashing a furious scream that shook the shattered city-scape, Sunset lifted her hands and unleashed a storm of void darkness at the princess.
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Well...Peppy:
vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/random-ness/images/e/e2/Peppy_resized.gif/revision/latest?cb=20110914205058 :There's one down!
Now, it's time for the showdown against the ultimate enemy: The Magister formally known as Sunset.
Cast aside all doubt and stow your fear, Twilight. For the remaining life of the human world and the fate of Equestria, It's now or never!
Well one unholy abomination down, time for the other to finally face justice and and cast into oblivion.
My, my, we have something special here.
9801587
The final battle is nigh. Which logic will prevail: the Sword logic of the Deep, or the Bomb logic of the Sky.
9801824
Abominations they may be, but they were innocents at one time. That is the tragedy of the taken: they are individuals who have been torn down by the Deep, and given a poisoned apple to "fix" their "flaws", giving up everything that they once were for a singular, euphoric joy free of all doubt at the cost of their personal agency. They must be stopped, and the actions they take are no less horrifying, but that doesn't make what's happened to them any less tragic.
9801967
Thank you.
9802313
The Bomb logic of the Sky will win this. I have faith it will. Because, if it fails then, it will be clear that both worlds are doomed.
No! My spinoff series!
And once again The sky draws my Ire