Chapter Ninety-One: Arrow Released
The two armored Thestrals walked out of the medical bay doors, Astral grumbling as the armor made up the difference with his lethargic muscles. Arcane’s gaze never left the hall behind them, clearly on edge with the distant sounds of grinding metal.
“Is it just Number Two at the door?” Astral asked, wincing as a tremor made his neck tense up.
“No. Just a hundred of the fungus minions. Number Two is lurking behind them, hiding as usual.”
Sassi nearly tripped over her hooves at that.
“What?!” she hissed, “you may have wanted to tell us that first!”
“No reason to. The door still takes time to claw down, another five or ten minutes at least. You’ll be long gone by then. Even if they did breach it, I could hold them off for a time.”
The two Thestrals shared a look at Arcane’s nonchalant reply. Unstable or not, the stallion wasn’t lying.
A distant thud made Arcane frown.
“And that time may come sooner than I’d like,” he sighed. “You all set?”
Astral nodded, then perked up his ears as the RASP system chimed.
‘Incoming file, download?’
“Those are the maps. Everything I have for this Silo I sent in a package to both your suits. It’s the best I can do.”
“That’s amazing. Thank you,” Astral said, watching as the suit downloaded and backup the file. He then raised a shaky hoof.
“Can you do us another favor, Arcane? Deliver a message?”
The unicorn tilted his head in curiosity, then nodded.
“I’ll do my best.”
“Can you just find an Equestria embassy, anywhere with a line to the Princess? I’m not asking you to talk to her. But can you let them know we’re ok, and making our way through Silo Three? If they can send help from the other end, maybe we could meet in the middle. Just fill them in on our progress.”
“I can do that,” Arcane said firmly. “Assuming I arrive above ground in one piece.”
“You’d better,” Sassi said with a sincere smile. “I think we’ve all lost enough in this place. I don’t want to lose a new friend. If you’d like to be friends that is.”
Arcane stared at her, the unicorn’s odd eyes brimming with tears as he nodded again.
“I…I’d like that,” he whispered.
Another thud interrupted them, Arcane waving a hoof.
“Go! I’ll buy you some time. I can give you at least five minutes. That’ll be enough to get to a hub near the central shaft. A few floors of unstable experiments, and then the prison block. From there, I don’t know. That part of the Silo is condemned, and who knows what stuff has been festering there. But after that section, it leads to a massive exit at the end. It was used to bring construction equipment in, decades ago from what I could find. It’s probably filled in, but the guns could cut through.” He saw them pause and waved a hoof again. “Go!”
They began to trot off, Astral pausing.
“It was nice to meet you, Arcane. Don’t be a stranger after this, yeah?” he said, the other pony stiffening. His demeanor softened, the unicorn meeting Astral’s gaze.
“Likewise. And thank you. Thank you both,” Arcane said, eyes drifting to Sassi, where they abruptly welled up with tears again. “It’s nice to make some new friends. Take care, both of you.”
“Cya later Arcane!” Sassi called out, “burn a few of those monsters for us!”
The two Thestrals trotted off, Sassi having set the positive tone for the good-byes. Astral smiled, nudging his special somepony with a shoulder.
“That look he gave us, and to you. What do you make of it?” he asked as they made their way towards the exit of the area.
“I just remembered what you said. How Joro was so happy to have just made a friend,” she admitted softly. “I think Arcane needs some friends. And what I learned from you, is that just being a friend can make a huge difference to somepony. It doesn’t have to be a huge thing, but someone nice can make the world not seem so horrible. It certainly did for me.”
The loving look Astral sent her way made the mare smile, eyes dampening as they reached the large doors.
“I’d kiss you if I wasn’t afraid of burping up black sludge,” Astral admitted. “Let’s get to a safe floor to then shut off this reactor.”
“Sounds like a plan. I’ll lead. It should just be some offices, storage rooms, and hallways until we get to a small hub.”
The two Thestrals picked up the pace, hooves rapping against the tile as they trotted. A few minutes later, the two RASP suits sent out a warning.
‘Attention. Chaos field detected. Recommend continued avoidance. Magical energy levels rising beyond detectable limits. Minimum safe distance reached within five minutes.’
Astral grinned as they sped up.
“Go get ‘em, Arcane.”
The unicorn’s eyes were narrowed, a hundred fleshy skeletons leering at him with jagged fangs. They all kept their distance, a magical barrier refusing to yield in front of the pony. Their claws occasionally glanced it, but the Fonies waited.
The chaos magic begged the unicorn to be released. It was like an itch. Only when doing something out of the norm would it subside.
I’d say teleporting out of this place is pretty abnormal. I just have to give Astral and Sassi a few more minutes.
The Thestrals reached the minimum safe distance; his magical senses keeping tabs on them as best he could. One of the few times the unicorn was grateful for the limitless reach and power of chaos magic.
Two new friends.
The thought brought fresh tears to Arcane’s eyes. For years his life had been nothing but physical, mental, and emotional pain. It was hard to comprehend anything else. It hurt to think about the future, about having his own choices again even if he wanted nothing more.
Now two Thestrals offered to be his friend, given him a taste of what his life could be like out of this place as a somewhat normal pony. And Arcane wasn’t about to let that feeling go.
He saw the clawed arm of Number Two reach out from a distant vent, a growl reverberating around the entire packed hallway.
“You want to get past me? You’ll have to go through me,” the pony called back, the infused crystals in the adjacent room activating with a loud hum. The spell would take a few minutes to fully complete. It was safer that way. More time to make sure every aspect of the arcane amalgamation was correct.
Teleport to anywhere above ground. Not inside a wall or mountain. On flat ground.
Then deliver a message.
And then…
For the first time in more than a decade, there was an ‘after.’ A chance at something more. It would have scared Arcane, it certainly had before. The teleportation goal was a means to an uncertain end. But now two kind creatures had offered at least a sense of familiarity when this mess was sorted out.
He had viewed Sassi with suspicion at first, especially since she had been under the company’s hoof for so long. But the mare clearly had broken free.
If she can be her own pony, then maybe I have a chance too. This place didn’t break her, and she grew up here. She endured a lifetime in this wretched place. At least I had a somewhat normal life until a few years before the RASP project.
A life.
Her words echoed in his mind, the Fonies in front of him now starting to tear at the magical wall, but only because the unicorn allowed it.
“So, are you willing to fight for that?”
The pony’s limbs began to shake, the blue flames lashing out. His black eyes began to glow crimson, fangs lengthening from underneath the unicorn’s lips. He had an answer.
“Yes!” The unicorn growled; serrated teeth bared at the creatures that now lunged at the pony.
What would I give to live my life again? To make sure this never happens to any other creature?
A dangerous smirk slid onto Arcane’s face. The nearest dozen creatures were burned to a crisp, the blue flames around the unicorn’s body lashing out like an angry snake as the creatures surged forward. Another dozen were shredded by an invisible cheese grater, five others exploding into fleshy chunks with but a glance.
A rogue unicorn doing what’s necessary to keep creatures safe?
Now that sounds chaotic indeed.
The thoughts could have turned darker, they certainly had at many points in his life. Dreams of slaughtering every evil creature who dared harm any innocent passerby. Plans and visions of ripping them to shreds. It had been a beautiful solace in the times of having no control of his life. Outside the shields and restraints, he had the power to change things. Laws and morals meant nothing, just like down here. Chaos magic could bypass any barrier, even if he could only direct it in a general sense. There were no limits. He could inflict pain on evil creatures beyond measure. The magical possibilities were endless.
The chaos magic that hummed through the unicorn’s frame was intoxicating. If creatures didn’t want to do good in this world, he could make them.
Yet Sassi had given him a counterbalance to thoughts she couldn’t have known Arcane had.
“Horrific things may have been a part of your life, but are you going to let it be everything you are?”
Despite the dreams, the yearning to push the pain onto those who he felt deserved it…there was a soft refusal. A voice buried under years of pain and agony. A voice that refused to do unto others what this place had done to him.
Is that who I am?
Is that my voice?
Arcane didn’t have the answer to that. But he was fairly certain of who he wanted to be. Ever since he had read comics as a colt, seen that small good things could change the world. Even if it was fiction, there were enough examples in the real world that showed such a thing was true, chaos magic or not.
That’s what he wanted to believe at least. The past decade of his life worked against such a dream though.
But I just met two Thestrals who still are good, even after everything this place has done to them. One of them grew up in this nightmare from day one.
So maybe there’s hope for me.
The blue flames around his body condensed, the fire forming armored plates that spread across the unicorn’s body. The inferno still raged but within an external barrier of plated armor that covered the unicorn from top to bottom. A sword hung in the air in front of the unicorn, its depths ever-shifting with colors. The Fonies didn’t approach, only watching the unstable unicorn with empty eye sockets.
There was one other pony who had shown Arcane that before the depths of the Silo, there was still good out there beyond the rock and metal. There had been one pony who reminded the unicorn of Astral, in a way. It was a memory that had prevented Arcane from giving up during the past few years, even when he wanted to.
He had been a young colt in the middle of his younger schooling years. Mally, his gryphon foster mom, had met been meeting with her boss. Arcane had been allowed to tag along. That was the first time he had seen how big the ocean was, traveling to the island where Mally worked via a boat instead of portals. It was the first time he had felt his magic be at peace, the vast ocean letting the pent-up energy dissipate on the salt-laden mist.
As the pony had met them at the airship docking station, Arcane remembered the exchange well. It had been burned into his memory, the realization that maybe the loudest voices in his life were wrong.
The first thing Arcane remembered were his eyes. Piercing green amidst blue fur. They somehow looked much older than the pony did but were filled with genuine interest and kindness. There was also a fire, a strength that made Arcane think of a comic-book hero.
He hadn’t known the pony’s name, but that wouldn’t have mattered. What had made an impression on the young colt was of how the blue pony had acted. He had crouching down to talk with the young stallion. To ask his name, what Arcane wanted to do, and what his interests were. The stallion had been kind, looking genuinely saddened when Mally had explained one of many bullying incidents at the school; hence the bruise on Arcane’s shoulder.
That was how it had to go. Better to take a punch than turn a pony’s lungs into cabbage purée on accident.
But Arcane had asked a simple question after listening for a time.
“What do you do here?”
The pony smiled, gesturing to the entire island.
“I lead a country. But unlike others, our entire goal is to help creatures. To make sure the bullies in the world don’t win, even if it makes us unpopular.”
“So, you’re like…a Princess?”
“Prince,” Mally had interjected with a smile.
“I suppose so, but I certainly think my wife is more of a princess than I. But I just go by the title of ‘Director.’ I direct things, guide the country where it needs to go.”
“So Mally is a part of it?”
The pony nodded.
“Indeed. She joined years ago. She helps manage a lot of important projects that keep things running smoothly. Without her, there’d be a lot of creatures in trouble.”
“I just manage material processing projects, Director.”
Arcane still remembered how Mally had been so embarrassed, but in a good way. The pony had simply smiled. He had seen that look in other parents, or teachers. A kind, reassuring glance.
“And without your guidance, our exports and internal organic processing would be in utter disarray. We wouldn’t have met, let alone exceed our annual goals without you.”
The colt hadn’t understood almost any of that, but he knew that it must have been important because Mally was happy at the pony’s words.
“Can I join?” Arcane asked, the Director grinning.
“When you’re older, and if that’s what you want to do, absolutely. But for now, just continue your studies, and to help creatures. That’s the biggest thing. You don’t join to get rich or powerful, but to help. Can you do that?”
Arcane nodded. He then had remembered something strange. The pony now looked familiar…
“I think I’ve seen you before. You were in my history book.”
The Director smiled, nodding once.
“I’m honored. And that’d be likely. I’m over two hundred years old.”
“Whoaaaaaa.”
“Director!” A hippogriff had landed, handing over a crystal pad. “We need you at the summit. There’s an issue with some of the Badlands tribes. They only will answer to you. The Ambassador suggested your armor to make a point.”
“Time for a bit of theatrics then? Alright. I’m on my way.”
The Director had grinned, waving goodbye to both Mally and Arcane. As he trotted off, Arcane’s eyes widened. Glowing metal armor blew in on an invisible wind, clamping around the pony’s frame as they walked towards a strange tower.
Arcane didn’t understand what so much of the exchange meant. It was so different from Equestria with its Princess. But he knew this pony was important and old. Invisible armor? Leading a country? Helping others even when others didn’t care? He also knew the pony made him feel important. Grown-ups usually didn’t care about his troubles. But this one did.
The young colt could understand those things. Maybe the bullies were wrong. Maybe he wasn’t a useless freak.
After all, this Director was a unicorn like him.
As he grew, Arcane learned more about the Last Light Organization. The Company had almost succeeded in poisoning his views with lies and carefully-crafted misinformation. But they had failed. And the reality of what Last Light did had cemented itself stronger than ever. The Company had been afraid of them, and still was. Afraid of what the other Organization could do.
If they could have, they’d have rescued me. Equestria forgot about me. But did they?
Did Mally?
Perhaps they’d still let him join. Maybe they could offer him some peace in his current state. The darker side of Arcane’s magical use now reared its head. The realization of how Chaos Magic had altered his body once led to a dark place from which Arcane had barely crawled out of. It had kept him alive, yes, adapting to a constantly hostile environment. But he couldn’t reverse the effects, the years of being forced to adapt to an ever-increasingly hostile atmosphere.
Was it worth it? I still don’t know.
The chaos magic around his body had shredded any Fony stupid enough to get close while the memories had surged to the fore. That day, he had met Toxic Shield, a pony who had been through Tartarus and back. A pony who had been betrayed by a Princess and mocked by innumerable parties as he built up a dream. And Last Light still answered their calls for help when they asked. And they wielded the power necessary to demand respect from those who cared for nothing else.
Those were things Arcane had come to understand, to admire. Toxic had rallied tens of thousands of creatures around him who felt the same and found a creature who loved him and his dream. And now with Astral and Sassi, there were two more creatures who were good, even amidst the heinous evils of this place. They offered their help, and their friendship to a creature they barely knew. To a monster in many definitions of the word.
The conflict was maddening. Arcane couldn’t muster the willpower to think if he was as good as those three. To offer friendship so willingly as Sassi and Astral, to help those who mocked in the same breath as Toxic did. He just didn’t know. It all hurt to think about. In the Silo, right was wrong, and wrong was always right. For more than ten years, he had been forgotten. Pain was all Arcane had known for half a decade, and constant lies for the years before that. Only now in the past few months had he begun to remember what life had to offer. But when nearly half of his life was nothing but torment and falsehoods…
Who does that make me?
Arcane didn’t have an answer, the magic fields around him aligning into the beginnings of the teleportation spell.
I don’t know who I am anymore. But Astral, Sassi…you gave me hope in finding out. You let me know that I’m not alone in all this.
I wonder if you know how much that means to me?
I hope I can tell you, someday.
The crystals detonated, their arcane energies punching through the solid metal walls as if paper mâché. Blue lightning bolts fried every Fony within range, the walls collapsing into molten slag. The sword suspended in front of the unicorn darted forwards, burying itself up to the hilt in its target. Arcane’s body was then wrapped up within a teleportation field, the Unicorn smiling as the chaotic magic yanked him through lengths of rock and metal.
The entire ceiling on the floor collapsed. A hundred Fonies were sandwiched between metal and magical fire. Number Two let out a rebellious roar as the rubble closed off every entrance, another roar of pure rage following as a blade was yanked out from its nearly severed limb, the weapon vanishing into smoke.
Arcane barely heard it, the unicorn guiding the magical fields as best he could. But it was chaos. All he could do was hope to appear above ground and away from the shields. His course was upward through rock, metal, and stone. The Silo’s shields wavered, Arcane's path punching through before it re-solidified. Nothing was coherent as the world spun around him.
I hope to see you again. My new friends.
The world went black.
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Called it.
Making a bolder prediction: Astral, Sassi, AND Arcane join Last Light Organization.
11433557
The shielded Silo is broken, eh?
Would that not mean a certain Draconequus has some leeway to interact, with Arcane's teleportation at least?
If he survives, I think Discord has gained an apprentice.
Join the Chaos side. They have chocolate milk!
11433605
The shielding broke for Arcane at least; I should clarify that. It's still very much a black hole. As for future events....wait and see
I'm just imagining Astral's mindset right now, given the context.
It's been a long time since true, everlasting peace was something we could achieve,
so long that a peaceful world, a PERFECT world could ever exist.
So long that all of the creatures that suffered at the hands of the Stairway Company lost hope including HER.
And everyone down there thought there wasn't any hope.
But....
I may be able to bring everyone's hopes back
Once I'll be able to bring about a world....
Without __ YOU
11435735
Not a bad description of the mindset. He was the catalyst for something that didn't exist underground.
Hope.
I regret nothing.
Every time we get a moment like this, in this story, and no where else than reimaginings of the Storm King's invasion of Canterlot, do I hear Stan Bush's "Dare". I blame Transformers.
11440237
I mean, I was going for more of a Portal 2 reference if anything. But that glorious film can share the podium!
11440332
....Gotta admit, that's a good song. Call me old fashioned, but I love it!
And it 100% fits! If this story had a soundtrack, it'd be a mix of modern orchestral/metal, and 80's rock. Something just fits with uplifting songs.
If there's ever a scene with that song linked, you can take credit for that!