Chapter 27
The moonlight pierced through the branches of the tree I found myself in. The soft, silvery blue light accentuated the deadly silence of the forest around me. Lower yet, the light died out almost completely at the forest floor. The cool breeze drifted through my fur, causing me to shiver as my nerves flared with each movement. A heightened sense of awareness was accompanied by a feral, rushed thinking. My pupils contracted, warding out the light from above and focusing on the prey I yet tracked. I couldn't keep my eyes focused as I excitedly darted them back and forth, taking in all movement. I could smell her on the breeze, a light string of saliva drifting out from the rows of razor-like teeth in my mouth at the sensation.
Her breathing was irregular as she crouched beneath the overhang of a rocky outcropping. The stream that undoubtedly carved it eons ago was still flowing at her feet as she struggled to regrow the basic structure of her foreleg, if not for mere balance concerns. I shifted, a movement barely concerning my conscious effort as I slithered between three sets of trees, extending myself out and closer to her. My harsh claws scraped gently along the bark of the tree I landed in, silently watching from above. Holding onto the tree was easy when I had extra limbs!
Eight extra appendages extended from my back, although the term must be used loosely. Each was almost twelve meters long at this point, flexing and twitching of their own accord like starving snakes as I watched her. They were repulsive things, I noted. The majority of their surface area had taken on the same texture as my flesh. Coiled, lumpy, lightly oiled, and gunmetal black. Dark red sores and ruptures covered them, occasionally squirting out a blast of pus as they shifted and flexed. The smells were hellish, and that was being generous. They were organic, yet I also saw corded metal and energy running down them. These were, without a doubt, exactly what a biological weapon would look like.
Yet for all of their speed, flexibility, and striking power, there was something far more frightening about these tentacles. I watched a visual distortion drift lengthwise along a portion closed to my head; my sensors were unable to pick up the effect itself regardless of me knowing exactly what it was. A byproduct of the Slipstream technology was a 'folding' of spatial connectivity. That protected living organisms from the many complications of faster than light travel, of course. It had a few other applications, however. Out of the distortion came a partially liquid but rapidly solidifying blade, jagged in shape as it took form rapidly. They could pop out of me anywhere, just like the tentacles themselves, it would seem.
Without a doubt, I was a monster. I was close enough to hear her blood rushing through her veins. At least, whatever passed for blood in that artificial body. I knew my body couldn't process it, but at the same time, I realized these things extending out of me could. Oh, and how they hungered too. Their wanton starved desires made me salivate as I slipped down the tree. A tentacle extended above me, rearing back like a snake as a spear-like head extended out of the maw on the tip. No sound. No warning. I wasn't about to delusion myself with giving her a sporting chance. No, I just lashed out when it was ready.
Her eyes widened at the last possible second and she dove sideways, just barely missing the blade driving itself through her eye. I landed an instant later, propelled out of the tree at unnatural speeds by three additional tentacles. My right forehoof drew blood using the claws extending from it as she rolled out of the way, fresh series of wounds sliced into her cheek. She let out a blast of flames from her right forehoof as she flipped up to her feet, sending out three fireballs that blew away the base of the tree I was at prior, sending the entire thing crashing down to the earth. On second thought, it was no surprise it was dead quiet. If I was small, furry, and classified as a woodland creature, I would be running the hell away from here as fast as possible. I entertained the idea of classifying my prior self as exactly that as I landed silently in a tree some sixty meters away, cloaked once again in darkness.
"Stop hiding, you chicken shit! Face me!" she screamed into the darkness, rapidly spinning in a sharp circle as she tried to find me in the dense forest. I resisted laughing, thankfully. Even had I been compelled by some strange form of honor or ego to do just that, this was far too much fun! Her heart rate skyrocketed as she listened to the silence for another second before shifting closer to the trees. Duking it out at point blank range was sporting and the gentlecolt thing to do. Did she forget already that I was a monster? Besides, I wanted her to taste the fear she'd forced down my throat earlier, preferably mixed with blood as I tore hers out. I wanted her to pay for the hell she just made Applejack watch. Even Twilight's floor and balcony deserved a few stabs of revenge! Oh yeah; she also killed me. My claws tightened at the thought as I flickered effortlessly closer.
Personally, I could keep this up all night. She didn't look nearly as fortunate, however. Her strangely realistic looking blood dripped from dozens of wounds dotting her body. Honestly, I was surprised she managed to get the foreleg restored so fast. She was panting heavily and rested against a large tree, peeking around it rapidly before also looking up into it. Ah, she had caught on. Pity it was absurdly dark, and I was an equally dark shade of gray.
After her body moved faster than I thought possible while avoiding my first barrage of tentacle attacks, I had been playing hit and run with her. My mind and newfound rage told me to lunge and not stop attacking until she was shredded mulch, but I managed to keep the bloodlust in check for the most part. Wearing her down and learning what she was capable of seemed more productive.
I slipped into the branches of the tree next to hers, tentacles shooting down vertically along the trunk and lashing out from the base. Predictably, she saw them coming out of the darkness and lashed out with a slash of her hoof, releasing a surprisingly crescent shaped wave of flames. I was already out of the tree, however, flipping sideways with actually calculated precision. Two tentacles got singed before I moved them back up and away. Her eyes winced down the moment the trunk exploded from her attack, the light difference briefly stunning her. There! I noticed that her own attacks would blind her with the light they released.
I landed behind her on all four legs, digging into the dirt before lunging as fast as I could manage. There was no time to raise a claw up, so instead, I improvised. With a feral cry, the top of my head rammed into her lower back as hard as I could manage. She let out a scream as I felt something snap against my forehead, both of us spilling over and smashing into the burning tree debris. She lashed out with a kick I didn't even feel upon landing, but it did serve to wedge it into my chest, preventing me from landing on top of her. She charged a blast of flames in her hoof, but two of my tentacles whipped down and smashed blades into both of her forelegs. She gritted her teeth, barely blocking my downward claw attack with her other back leg. With both back legs up now, she managed to shove hers out from under me, sparks flying from her shoulders as the blades scraped along them. Damn, her skin was tough!
Sliding, she used both forelegs to launch another close range fire crescent. On instinct, my tongue lashed out from my mouth, extending two meters in front of me while covered in barriers. Nirru's eyes widened in surprise as I smashed it along the path of the slash she made, knocking the attack off into the forest. My tongue pulled back just as four tentacles lashed out instead, the remaining four balancing me again and raising me off the ground.
Just like the first time, her body accelerated, launching her a good five meters backwards before she raised her head up fully again, landing on all four legs. Her horn lit up this time, launching a barrage of fireballs. Shit! I let her get too much distance on me. Thankfully that primal monster that directed my instincts reacted far quicker.
The four limbs supporting me shifted, flinging me to the right and far clear of the incoming attack. My mind replayed the video of her movement as I landed quietly behind a tree, the entire left side of my body lighting up from series of explosions I'd avoided. It was fast, but definitely there. Her hooves had flared up for a split second, and she used them like some sort of primitive rocket to propel herself away from me, getting more distance to attack with.
Leaping away from the tree again, I lunged along the clearing she landed in, using the cover of the trees to block her series of straight shot blasts. She was limited at close range and seemed to have an affinity for fire based attacks, then.
"Activate the full tentacles. They'll eat her alive," I heard whispered in my inner ear in the voice of the book. No! I hadn't dropped their shielding when they activated, and I wasn't about to now. They'd consume everything, not just her! I paused an instant later, realizing what I just said...
It was almost disastrous. A fire streak shot in, burning runes dancing around it. There were layers to the shot. The first was just a container. The second fueled the shell like a rocket. The third tore through a layer of shields before exploding. I recognized the setup, it would seem. She was skilled to rapid fire these things. There was just one problem with the technique; the outer layer was a barrier.
With a bit of finesse, my tongue found the blast instead. It deftly curled around the thin barrier, strengthening it before crushing inwards. The blast became a marble sized orb of heat before I swallowed it and pulled out the energy inside of me, adding to my reserves. Nirru looked disgusted as I dove down and sprinted at her.
"Monster!" she exclaimed, drawing forth another burning crescent wave at me. That was ironic, coming from her. I leapt over the wave of flames and landed within six meters of her. Do it! I lunged again while releasing a feral roar of rage, rather than lash out with my tentacles. She leapt backwards again and I watched the runes light up on her hooves. Right into my trap!
Smiling, I whipped my upper left tentacle at her an instant later. She smirked back as it missed, passing right in front of her. That's when the shield around it disappeared, if only for half a second. The air itself was sucked into the void that my tentacle's tip became. Her eyes widened as the flames along her forelegs sputtered, being closest to the tentacles as it whipped past. The back legs burst out fire a moment later, unfortunately for her.
I've never seen somepony plant their face into the ground in such a spectacular manner before. Her horn snapped off as she ran her head into the ground at high velocity before her back legs flipped out the other direction. Oh. Oh crap. I hadn't thought this through very well! My eyes widened as well as her direction suddenly reversed, sending her grinding along the ground on her face directly for me. At the last second, I managed to jump using my tentacles as a spring. Her body clipped my back legs still and ended up flipping me forwards regardless. Disoriented, I managed to spin in midair and land on all four legs again, rotating once before sliding to a stop. Thankfully my CPU cores kicked in and rapidly re-oriented me a moment later.
Nirru flipped over and landed on her back, blood coming from a large gash along her forehead. Her horn had apparently shattered, leaving just the stump of it attached to her forehead. She let out a primal scream of pain and clutched both sides of her head after landing, shaking there while lying on the ground. Whoa! I forgot she had an empathy link with that body. Now that I looked closer, that probably hurt like a bitch. Regardless, my eyes narrowed and I raised all eight tentacles up into the air, popping blades out of every one of them. No, letting her recover wasn't on my agenda.
All eight descended at once with the full intent of unceremoniously grinding her to a thick paste in an instant. She whipped her foreleg backwards at the same time however, instinctively lashing out. I could barely track the flash of light and searing arc before it smashed into my chest in a tight spiral. A light explosion knocked me flying backwards, causing my tentacles to miss entirely, smashing into the ground instead. I spread them out and drug them along the forest floor, anchoring my slide and slowing myself to a crawl until I could fully steady myself. Systems scanned and noticed light dermal damage to my chest and forelegs from the detonation, with primary and secondary armor systems unharmed. Ah; that attack was for speed and distance creation.
Glaring, I rose my vision back up to meet hers as she stood, shaking visibly and bleeding heavily. "That's it! I don't care anymore. You're dead! You and this entire forest are going to burn, and I'll pick the DNA out of the ashes!" she screamed, flames starting to dance up around her as she practically trembled in rage. My eyes narrowed as the sensors in them picked up the temperature increases focusing into her hands rapidly. That amount of energy wasn't good! My first instinct was to dash away again and resume the hit and run tactics, but I realized that wasn't possible. If she got too destructive, the collateral damage to the forest would be phenomenal.
My body shifted forwards, flicking itself into a vault in an instant instead. She screamed in fury this time as she whipped both forelegs forwards, standing up completely on her back hooves! A radiating orb of white and orange flames expanded instantly from her held out limbs, blanketing the entire burning clearing in a bright, white light. Damn it! I started to recognize the magic and didn't like where it was going. I'm pretty sure I'd only seen that particular attack performed once, but I remembered what it did well enough! She wanted to end this in one shot, and I wasn't entirely sure I'd persist through that.
Processing power spiked as calculations ran through my mind. Time slowed again as a burst of adrenalin combined with the heightened mental capacity and slowed things to a crawl. All eight of my extra limbs spread out as far as they could, four to each side as I lashed them out forwards. There was only one option if I didn't want her to reduce everything in a ridiculously large cone in front of her to ash, and it wasn't going to be pleasant either way. My eyes widened as a true memory drifted into me from the individual I was created from...
* * * * *
The old geezer walked in front of our group, pace slow yet strutting. He was probably well over a hundred and forty, but the crazy bastard was still teaching. Jokes amidst the barracks said he'd invent a spell to reanimate himself after he croaked just to keep his position as head instructor. At this point, I wasn't so sure that it was a joke!
He turned sharply, crossing both lightly furred arms over his chest. Patches were missing here and there, but he obviously took good care of himself despite his advancing age. "So recap! Restoration, Alteration, Transmutation, Enchantment, Conjuration, Illusion, Divination, and Evocation! Those are the eight primary schools of magic. Everyone here should have their tactics and summaries memorized, regardless of your actual profession! Knowing your enemy is the first step towards defeating them," he reiterated. I'd studied hard regardless, and knew the techniques of all of them by heart. Each was broken up into categories, but that much was irrelevant. I specialized in Alteration and Transmutation of course, being an Engineer. More specifically, I held a special fondness for Barrier Magic, which was a subset of Alteration. But that was for a different reason entirely. Heh. Regardless, I was a support type. While I knew of the techniques of the other categories, I couldn't actually cast any.
My elongated ears perked as I listened, knowing where this was going anyway. I'd used Prudentia to take a 'peek' at his lesson plan last night, as usual. "Today, we cover basic balances between the categories! Right off the bat, we'll discuss the most likely cause of most of your death's in the future; evocation! It's classified as the manipulation of energy at a molecular level in order to transform it into a different effect in order to provoke a reaction. Fancy talk aside, it's used to blow shit up! If any of you survive your evocation training later this week, you'll know what I mean," he continued, glaring at each of us in turn before moving on. Evocation didn't frighten me. As a barrier user, the only classes of magic that I really had to worry about were divination and restoration. One was annoying to the point of mind numbing frustration, and the other was single handedly the most lethal class of magic in existence. Always stay on a healer's good side! Reversing the healing spells was not something pretty to see.
"Those of you in Alteration or Transmutation specializations are probably laughing now, but you need to listen up! A good amount of caution never hurt anyone, and I'm gonna show you why. The upper most tiers of Evocation mess around with things you'd better damn well hope you never see comin' at you! This, for example," he warned. Wait, he wasn't seriously crazy enough to activate an Evocation inside of the gymnasium, was he?!
Sure enough, flames exploded around him as he gathered up a massive orb of heat and energy directly in front of him, his fur lightly blowing as it gathered into the size of a beach ball, radiating orange and white light! What the hell was that?!
"This, ya soggy hairballs, is called Gigaflare. An unoriginal name for a rather simple process. That's what's sick about it, really. It's too simple, in theory. Imagine making a magical rune array to produce energy. Then, you smash that energy together to cause a reaction to make even more energy. Using that extra energy, you then do it again! Pretty sweet deal, right?" he offered, gesturing with a nod towards the orb.
The class nodded, mostly. I frowned. Exponential energy increases were fine and all, but the heat coming from what he was holding indicated something else entirely.
"This is exactly what the 'medium' end magic in Evocation deals with. Turns out, most of their higher end stuff comes from apprentices like you screwing up and leveling a few city blocks by total accident. So, long story short, guess what happens when you get the hiccups and drop the energy tethers to this orb halfway through charging it?" he asked, looking amused. Hiccups? Seriously? Well, if you dropped the tethers, you'd lose control over the spell. The failsafe would kick in and disrupt it and, wait, unless the student forgot to apply the failsafe. Then the reaction would spiral out of control and...
"Ah! I can see the look of horror on your face! You, up front! Got a guess?" the professor asked, gesturing towards me with a grin.
I swallowed nervously and reasoned, "Well if they forgot the failsafe, the energy reaction would spiral out of control and explode in an exponentially larger detonation than what they put into it."
The professor's grin widened and he nodded enthusiastically. "Bingo! Of course, the time it was discovered didn't go so well. Lost the entire class of two o' seven and our fifty sixth gymnasium, but we learned quite a bit! With a little bit of an adjustment, it turns out you can 'kick' the energy in a single direction. It makes for a nifty attack!" he explained. Oh hell. He wasn't seriously going to...?!
He promptly turned around and aimed the ball into the corner of the gymnasium before releasing a pulse outwards from his hands. The energy in the blast magnified and slammed outwards. That little bump he gave it was all it needed once the fragile balance was lost! It exploded outwards from him, radius expanding to seven or eight times his body length in a pure oval shape of radiating flames. An actual corona formed around it of superheated energy before exploding into a cone-like wave of white and orange light and heat. The side of the gymnasium disappeared into a blackened shadow before blowing away to ash an instant later as what looked like the maw of hell itself smashing through it. The cone extended far past the gymnasium, and I saw one of the orbiting survey blimps explode in the distance. Those were over the fields of ore fourteen kilometers away, though!
"What the hell are you doing down there?!" was suddenly screamed over the professor's belt communicator. He lowered his still smoking hands and just burst into copious amounts of laughter as he watched half the corner collapse upon itself.
Yup; he was crazy.
* * * * *
My extra limbs smashed around the rapidly elongating oval of burning death as I leapt directly into it. There was no way to stop the reaction, as she already released it. That left only one possible solution and it wasn't going to be pretty. The professor said trying to block or absorb that kind of attack was foolish and pointless. The only defenses were to either not be there when the attack hit, or to redirect it as best you could. Dodging looked pretty good about now, but if I did, half the forest would probably be burnt to ash. I didn't know which direction Ponyville was in, either. That left only one choice...
Barriers activated along all eight of my tentacles, expanding outwards as I slammed to a halt right in front of the energy buildup. Well, if this didn't work, I was almost assured a rather fast death. With that optimistic outlook cemented in my mind, I activated all eight barriers. Slowly, they started to expand outwards, forming an entire cage around the buildup of flames. Nirru made a scoffing noise and the orb flared with light just as my tentacles connected together behind her, sealing both of us inside with the blast.
"Seriously? You prioritize those rats in this world above yourself? Wow, you're stupid!" she screamed a moment later. My eyes narrowed. Yeah, I probably was an idiot. But this was all I knew. Even if they didn't want me, they were all I had.
The book itself seemed to dislike the thought too. I felt it; so close yet so far. Shifting, I felt that connection jingle and to my surprise, Keela's signal came alive again. I hadn't heard from her since Nirru and I had started fighting, and just assumed she was being blocked.
After a light burst of static, she finally spoke up in a whisper with, "I'm sorry. I can't stop her. This wasn’t what I wanted. I couldn’t… But I can do this." My eyes widened. She sat in a chair with wires connected to her temples. A faint smile danced across her features as her hand reached out to the right, struggling and shaking as she moved it. I saw a twisted and torn leather strap on the chair and a thick, dark liquid ran down the armrest. Keela! Her hand finally landed on the counter next to her, dripping more of her blood down along the metal. The book! Her claws brushed against the cover before she latched onto it and, in one fluid motion, hauled it against her chest and hugged it to herself. The energy flared into me through her link an instant later, and it all suddenly made sense.
Smirking, I drew upon the energy and my barriers exploded, expanding out exponentially and covering the entirety of her blast in a massive cylinder shape. Stopping the blast would be foolish. Giving it a top and bottom direction to leak out of however would be far easier.
"What the hell?! You're not this powerful!" Nirru exclaimed, trying to break the reaction down instead before it went off. Ha! She had just expected it to punch through my shield with no problem at all, I realized. Her frantic clawing made it far worse. Instead of deactivating the massive chain reaction, she launched it straight downwards instead. Well, this was going to be fun...
The explosion radiated outwards in an instant, shattering my entire world into bright white light. Nirru's scream sounded an instant later as the ground around my hooves gave away.
* * * * *
Coughing, I managed to crawl out of the crater. My skin tingled with an irritating amount of heat. Opening my eyes, I winced and gasped as I saw that I was literally glowing red, steam from the air temperature difference wafting amply off me as I drug myself back onto level terrain. The grass was missing. Actually, it appeared to be missing in most of the clearing. The ambient heat radiation from the explosion alone was enough to set fire to the vegetation around the center of the area for a good six meters. The newly formed crater itself fared far worse with the center of it literally crystallizing various minerals in the soil under the heat. If the shield hadn't been there, that probably would have done unspeakable levels of damage to the forest!
A weary glance up showed a rather large cloud of smoke and sparks wafting into the air. I could only imagine what the column of flames had looked like a second ago. Well, if anypony was looking for us, they wouldn't have to look very hard! That display could probably easily be seen from Ponyville. Damn. Given the state of my ringing ears as well, I guessed nopony was asleep in Ponyville either, at this point. That explosion had been deafening!
Nirru coughed weakly, crawling out of the crater on the other side. Her left foreleg, ironically, was gone, leaving only a burnt stump. Her back legs didn't look much better, but were rapidly reforming as she shakily tried to stand up. Her fur was gone along with a lot of her mane and tail, embers drifting off her skin as she stood. I sighed. Nothing could be easy, could it? Snapping my back right leg around to the proper angle, I pulled the cords together again and formed it solidly to my body, calmly noting the broken leg. After I steadied myself, I extended out all eight tentacles from my back once more. They were shells of their former selves, but rapidly lashed out with hundreds of miniature versions of themselves. I smiled as they sought out and 'ate' the remains of the old tentacles, rapidly reforming as well as I turned. No. I didn't have any forgiveness left. Oddly, what she just tried to do didn't really lower my opinion of her any further. Maybe she'd fallen as low as she could? I didn't have time to debate my opinion however, and just extended blades out of my extra limbs as I went.
"Damn it. You're a monster," Nirru muttered after coughing again. She slowly started to back away, hobbling with each shift that should have went to the limb that no longer existed. I couldn't help but notice that she wasn't regenerating anymore.
I shook my head as I rounded the crater, tentacles extending to either side of me and forming seamless if not distorted scythe blades. Finally, I spoke. "Of course I'm a monster. You killed me and turned me into this. What does that make you, I wonder?" I questioned, expression emotionless as I rapidly approached striking range. On three limbs and looking like she had been put through a blender and then an oven, she was far too slow to outpace me. I didn't really care about her answer of course. I was going to rip her apart no matter what she said.
"No! I'm just trying to save my race! You're trying to kill us. You're just like the council members! You want the Keldarians to die," she denied, narrowing her eyes at me as she realized she couldn't get away. She flicked backwards instead, shakily balancing herself on her hind legs as best the awkward spinal structure would allow for. Her remaining right foreleg extended up again and caught fire, forming another fire blast. I just kept walking. The book was connected to me now. I was done screwing around.
"The amusing thing was, if you'd just talked to me like your sister wanted, I probably would have just given you the data," I pointed out. Minus the information on the bioweapon of course. Although maybe that’s why she didn’t?
"Bullshit!" she spat out before justifying with, "You males are all the same. You do whatever you want at any given time, screw everyone else that happens to be hurt by it! If we need anything from you, it has to be taken by force or you won't even acknowledge us!" For a moment, I almost felt sorry for her. Her fire blast launched off an instant later, reminding me of why that was foolish. It was bigger than the one that hit me in the chest, but slightly slower. My forward most left tentacle swatted it away and into the ground at few meters to my left with an Aegis Barrier, not even slowing me down. Anger built back up in me rapidly, eyes narrowing and focusing solidly on only her once more. My extra limbs began to twitch in anticipation of tasting her flesh again.
I shook my head slowly. "I don't know what happened to you to make you think that, but it doesn't matter anymore. I'm not a Keldarian or a Pony. I'm a monster, just like you said. And now, I'm going to tear you apart for what you did," I quietly spoke, eyes softening as I stepped within range.
She screamed in rage again, firing almost half a dozen more times. In an instant, my processors gave me the calculation and a target lit up each shot. She was tired now, and badly injured. None of the fireballs had much force behind them. I divided it up; a limb for each blast. Five shots were knocked away from me in the same moment. Three remaining tentacles lashed out at the same time. She let out a startled yelp as one swept low, knocking her unsteady legs out from under her, and the remaining two smashed her into the ground as hard as they could, blades now reinforced with Aegis Barriers. She screamed in pain as the elongated scythe blades pinned her physically to the ground via her right shoulder and inner left thigh.
There was no hesitation and my body moved faster than I thought I could. With my other limbs recovered from their defensive maneuver, I whipped them backwards to throw me towards her and pounced the remaining five meters in an instant, landing on top of her prone form. She screamed, sounding absolutely pissed as she whipped her right foreleg up towards my head as fast as she could despite the flesh tearing around the blade in the same shoulder. I anticipated it a mile off this time, it being her only remaining defense. My left foreleg was already moving as I landed on her. I knocked her hoof aside, causing her flame whip technique to fail and burn out. She screamed again, in pain this time as the magic exploded, taking her hoof with it in a blast of light. My left claws smashed her limb into the ground and I systematically destroyed both the elbow and shoulder joint and instant later, rendering it immovable. My chest grew cold as she writhed under me, silently screaming after her lungs ran out of breath. No. I was all out of forgiveness. Nothing could undo what she did today. Still, the realism put into her body was strange indeed. Maybe it was specifically to try to seem as real as possible to trick me earlier? I thought she'd shift to a solid body, being as amorphous as she was. I tried to focus on the technical details as best I could, staving off the urge to tear into her more. It felt so good to cause her pain, and the bloodlust was delicious. To have this much control when I had none before was, well, addicting to say the least. I actually could feel her matter being pulled into me as I rendered her, my body itself feeding on hers before she even died.
"M-Monster!" she spit out at me a moment later, glaring up in seething hatred. Even like this, she wasn't afraid. It was almost addicting as her screams! The urge to literally consume her reared its ugly head again. I wanted to keep lashing out until she stopped moving; the taste of her pain lingering long afterwards. She'd feel every last second of the agony until I was sure she deeply regretted coming here.
I felt something twitch inside of me, and that cold feeling in my chest crushed inwards, twisting my expression into a glare. The revelation hit me with both shock and cold acknowledgement. I hated her. "Yes, I'm a monster! It takes one to destroy one! You ruined everything," I growled out, slamming her hard into the ground beneath her. I felt her collarbone snap under the pressure of my right hoof, but hardly cared. Instead, my claws dug in, drawing blood. It was surreal. I couldn't even see her as Twilight anymore. That was probably a good thing, though. Now she was just Nirru to me. A monster, just like I was. We were both monsters, out in the middle of the forest at night while dead set on murdering each other. It was oddly simple.
She spat blood up into my face mid-glare. The liquid sizzled instantly and baked onto my cheek. I didn't really pay attention. "You're fake. You're a mistake and never could have had anything here. Maybe they all sensed that on some level and never really trusted you in the first place?" she suggested, tone venomous. A lump formed in my throat, and some part of me wondered if she was right in that regard, at least. It didn't matter now.
"You have no right to judge me. You killed me, and now I'm going to kill you, even if to only protect everypony. Even if they don't trust me," I whispered softly, swallowing the lump painfully.
Her head fell back against the ground and she closed her eyes. "Do what you want. You win. Tear this body apart if it makes you feel better. I have what I wanted for the most part anyway," she finally accepted. Oh.
Her fearlessness all clicked together instantly. She was just a connection to here, and had already uploaded a lot of data to that connection. All she had to do was 'log out' and pull the data with her. Why would she care about what happened after that? Unless...
I smiled, sharp teeth glittering in the heat-distorted moonlight. Her eyes widened and she let out a pitiful mewling noise as I slammed my left hoof, claws and all, directly into her stomach. It punched through all the way to her center in an instant. She gasped and whined in airless agony, and I felt it. She slammed on the release, undoubtedly guessing what I was doing. Too late. My smile twisted into a sneer as I sent the electrical pulse directly into her spine, halting her 'logging out' attempt. Her eyes widened in an instant as she gaped up at me. The reaction was immediate; that cold exterior melted into panic and fear. Lowering myself down to her, I asked softly, "I wonder what happens to your mind if you're torn apart before you can log out? Wouldn't it be a bitch if everything you did tonight actually had consequences for you?"
Her eyes widened further and I realized my guess was dead on. They shivered and she slowly started shaking her head with what little strength she had left. "No. Please, no," she asked quietly, tone changing completely as what was left of her back legs tried in vain to push her away from me. Using my back claws, I destroyed her leg muscles a moment later, causing her to wince and silently scream in pain again. The reaction was dulled, however. She was probably going into shock.
"M-Mender! What are you doing? Please, stop this. She'll be punished when she gets out of the machine. Please, she's my sister," Keela suddenly interrupted, apparently figuring out rather rapidly what I had done.
I snorted, suddenly realizing she was exactly the same as the creature under me in that reasoning. Had she expected her sister to just waltz out of Equestria with all the data after what she did? The book was right. I should have murdered both of them and just taken it back with me when I first went there. "Yes, her getting a slap on the wrist after getting free with the data she wanted really helps me. It totally takes back her murdering me after torturing me in front of my friends and turning them against me," I muttered in response before glaring back down at the fake Twilight below me.
My eyes were close enough to hers now that I could see the new, radiating blue color reflected as she gasped. They were kind of pretty; reminding me of my old coat color. Why couldn't everything have stayed how it was before? I slammed her back into the ground again, shaking now. She let out a pained yelp as I slammed her head into the rock below with another angry thrashing motion. Again and again I hit her, denting and breaking her fake body with each onslaught. She gave up fighting and simply cried there as I slowly destroyed her. Her heartbeat slowed in her chest as more and more blood spilled out of her. Soon...
"This is all your fault. You killed me and destroyed everything! I don't care what I am. Maybe I could have been happy here, but now you took all of that for your own selfish reasons!" I growled, eyes narrowing as I actually felt them start to get wet. I hated her! I wanted her to suffer and die just like I had. She ruined my chance at having anything here and turned them all against me! Not that it had taken much, the book reminded. True. Then she killed me after taking everything!
"I-I'm sorry. Please, Mender," she begged weakly, her own eyes starting to water too. They were dim and unfocused at this point, the blood slipping the left one. Sorry? She was sorry?!
I smashed her legs again, removing the right one completely. "Oh yeah, that just makes everything better now doesn't it?! You murdered me! I'm a monster, remember? Mender died. You killed him! Do you honestly expect a 'monster' to forgive you?!" I screamed now, adding her left shoulder to the list of destroyed parts with another blow. To my surprise, she actually started crying even harder, her body locking up. My emotions tangled up and rage seeped through everything. She didn't have a right to beg for her life! She didn't let me beg for mine. She just took it! My right foreleg twisted upwards, pulling free from her body and raising into the air. I was done with this bullshit.
"Mender! Please stop!" Keela begged in a shout over the connection. My hoof paused in midair, scythe-shaped claws twitching as I glared down at the crying, broken image of Twilight Sparkle. There was no recognition there. I fully knew it wasn't Twilight. I hated Nirru. Keela probably helped her, too! "Please. I'm deleting the data now. Just let her log out? She might be a complete monster, but she's my sister as well. Please?" Keela begged, softer this time. My foreleg froze. Why was she bothering to delete the data? She'd have that even if I killed Nirru. Why waste everything her sister did tonight?
My eyes softened as my raised claws curled up gently. Keela had tried to help throughout all of this, honestly. I really don't think this was her intent at all, like she said. To think otherwise seemed a bit irrational, I noticed. The cloudy haze shifted a little and I became distinctly aware of the book's anger as it separated from my own. Urges to tear her apart became clear in my mind, and I shuddered. They weren't entirely mine, I realized. I'd wanted her to die for what she did to me, but this was... I lowered my hoof a little, emotions smashing together inside my chest. I hated her, but if I killed her like this, I'd hurt Keela as well. Suddenly, I was confused.
There was a light, almost imperceptible growling noise followed by a hissed out, "No! Kill her now!" The book's hatred was all around me; there was a haze to my thoughts and vision as I stared down at Nirru under me, emotionless. With her wounds and my claws in her gut, I knew she'd die shortly anyway. Did Keela really deserve this, though? No, she didn't. I doubted she saw what her sister really was, but she had already made her decision. My lips curled up into a grimace as I glared down at the broken body below me. Nothing was ever fair it seemed. Why couldn't I just be happy? Why did something always have to try to take that from me?
"HALT CREATURE! CEASE YOUR AGGRESSIONS!" suddenly exploded from in front of me in a voice about six decibels higher than the prior explosion, I estimated. Both Nirru and I let out a startled jump from the blast that caused my 'fur' to blow backwards. What the hell?! Wait; that voice...
Both of us glanced up at the same time. Princess Luna herself stood a half dozen meters from me, wings spread out in an extremely threatening manner with a look of fury on her face. Oh. Oh hell. Well this complicated things a little! Almost a dozen ponies stood near her, all wearing a dark purple armor and wielding various sharp and pointy instruments in their teeth.
"H-Help me!" Nirru groaned out, starting to cry again as she looked back at the Moon Princess. She had shifted back to Twilight's voice in an instant, I noticed. A light sigh escaped my throat as I extended my claws again on my raised hoof. Not this again... Well, she'd obviously try anything to live through the situation. That much I kind of respected in her.
"T-Twilight Sparkle?! Let her go and once, creature! You shall face our wrath otherwise!" Princess Luna warned, eyes narrowing from her brief look of shock at seeing the bloodied body of 'Twilight' under me. As much as I really didn't want to face any wrath she could bring forth, I didn't particularly feel like letting Nirru go. Princess Luna's negotiating skills left something to be desired. Still, I had no doubt that the Princess of the Moon herself could very easily survive anything Nirru could attack her with, but I was more concerned about the far less imposing guards gathered around her. My head cleared now that I separated myself from the still pissed off book, and I focused as best I could.
What were the choices, really? I couldn't let her go and risk untold amounts of complications. If I killed her outright right now it would cause Keela immense grief and instantly earn the wrath of one of the most powerful beings I'd ever known, undoubtedly leading to my destruction. That wasn't...
It clicked and my eyes softened. Wasn't that ideal? What honestly did I have left, after all? I wasn't a Keldarian or a Pony. I didn't belong to either world, really. In truth, I was a biological weapon pretending to be the pony-morphed clone of a Keldarian soldier that had been dead for a while. A joke, really. I lowered my eyes away from Princess Luna, looking down at my bloodied limb imbedded into Nirru's stomach. If I was a joke though, it wasn't that funny. At least, I wasn't laughing. Knowing what I was; knowing what I'd done and how many innocent lives died directly due to me, there was no way I could bring myself to look any of them in the eyes again. So what was left?
I had wanted it all along. I'd even achieved it once already. I've always wanted to protect these ponies. But what if I was the danger to them? It seemed like my vary nature all along was nothing but a threat to Equestria. Wasn't the solution obvious then? It was right here, presenting itself to me. I could eliminate every threat to Equestria at the same time, and still make Keela happy. All with one motion. Given my luck, I didn't dare ask for more. Maybe a bit of fortune smiled on me after all in a perverse sort of way.
My data readout showed Keela had kept to her word and deleted all of Nirru's connected memory banks. I closed my eyes and raised my hoof back up to full extension, claws glistening in the moonlight. Nirru's eyes widened as I opened mine again and stared down at her. For a moment, we locked our gazes into each other. I almost saw something clashing in her eyes. There was sorrow there; a pain I recognized yet could do nothing for. Her eyes softened as well as she stared into mine. Did she recognize something there? Maybe, if things had been different, we could have been friends. Maybe we had in a different time.
"DON"T YOU DARE, OR WE WILL DESTROY YOU!" the Princess screamed out once again, a pointless and ignored reminder. Heard it the first time. Maybe, after this played out, she'd realize maybe a more subtle tract would get better results in future negotiations?
Finally, I swallowed painfully and shook my head. "I'm sorry Keela. I don't think I can talk to you anymore. Thank you for everything," I quietly spoke, knowing she could hear me. Nirru heard as well and quietly gasped, eyes widening as they grew watery again. I released. Her signal became unblocked again in an instant, earning another widening of her eyes. She hesitated, obviously not even fathoming that I'd let her go.
My claws flexed. The realization sparked through her. A heartbeat later, she was gone. The fake corpse of Twilight Sparkle was all that remained under me, eyes glazing over. The image burned into my mind in an instant and I almost threw up then and there. Deciding it needed to be banished as fast as possible, I exhaled before whipping my clawed hoof down as hard as I could.
Her skull was no match for my new strength and I crushed it. It felt like an icicle had imbedded itself in my chest at the same moment; a part of me died with my very blow, I think. Tendrils ripped free of my hoof a second later, starting to consume her body’s mass. Scanning activated and memories flashed to and fro in my mind as my twisted body pieced the information back together again that was inside of her. There probably wouldn't be much left, but I let it do whatever the hell it wanted.
A glance upwards half a second later showed me an utterly horrified Princess Luna. The shock twisted into a look of absolute rage a moment later and she let out a scream. I swallowed painfully as her horn flared up and, faster than I could track, a black crescent wave of energy tore through the air. The ground under it ruptured and cracked as it passed. One spin later, it cleared the distance between us. There was nothing else. I closed my eyes and lifted my head up as best I was able, revealing the entirety of my neck as the attack came in. I'm sorry, Twilight. Fluttershy.
I winced as I felt the blade of darkness slam into my throat...
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2722758
It's kinda my specialty
i1.kwejk.pl/site_media/obrazki/12244-9999be329fec424.jpg
Oh god....shit's goin down.
Welp, read the uncensored version, and I'll be coming back in a month-ish once there are more updates and this bit has resolved itself. Again, crazy ass curveball sends us into a land one might expect to find Alice and The Mad Hatter, with a slightly higher rating. See ya in a month, crazy-land.
denver.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw8357-mlp_cliffhanger.jpg
Finally, Nirru has pissed off......and if he had not done that, and let Luna see that Twilight was fine.......still......FUCK!!!
Oh god....MENDER NOOOO
I- PLEASE OH GOD NO!
WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME??! I CAN'T STAND WAITING FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER!
im not kidding. Your cutiemark should be a steep cliff with a entity hanging on it.
Damn it Kiroberos. Now I really want to read chapter 28. Frankly I would love to ready all that you have up to. But unfortunately I have to wait >.< Damn this story is good.
This chapter... Holy sweet mother of
a crying rarity, THIS WAS INTENSE!!! Man, Mender... I feel so sorry for him now. I cant help but wonder just how Twilight... oh that poor unicorn... I wonder how she'll handle all of this.
You've got my heart pounding for next week!
if feel like this song accurately describes this chapter....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRox9G2kRf0
and this one the last bit where he is in control
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=episodic&v=GcREaakRktU&NR=1
Damn CLIFFHANGERS!!!
Okay, third week in a row? Really? Gettin sick of your crap Kiro.
I don't even know what else to say with all this going down. Nirru is dead and absorbed. Luna's bringing out the magic sword. Mender's suicidal. Keela is sad. Who knows where the buck everypony else is. Awwwww shieeeet.
I see where all the censorship came in. Hate isn't so "clean" when you've been killed an all that other stuff. Can't wait till next week.
I'm.. What?
Here have a mistake because I can't do any thing else.
M-Monster!" she spit out at me a moment later, glaring up
Should be spat. Spit is wrong tense.
hmmm, i can see what you meant, compared to the explicit version this feels bland,
as if none of the attacks have any real effect
Kiroberos, the other authors are complaining. They said your using up all the cliffhangers. I think you should share some with them.
I had honestly, completely forgotten it was Friday
Nice surprise though.
Hmm... Should I post comments on this one or the uncensored version, I wonder? Well, this one will do just fine
I really wanted to see Nirru get what was coming for her, but I'm still kinda glad Mender didn't go through with it. I did start to feel a tad bit pity for her in the end... Curse me and my forgiving heart
Now, as for what happened to Mender, I think he made the right choice, honestly. That kind of power is dangerous, be it in anyone's hands.. um, hooves. I know it isn't the end for him (otherwise the rest of the story wouldn't really make sense, now would it? 
) but I just hope he gets to come back as a real pony. I also felt really sorry for Luna 
She's gonna have nightmares of that haunt her for years to come. But boy, is she gonna be happy when she sees the real Twilight 
until she realizes killing Mender was a mistake. "OH TWILIGHT!!! WE ARE SO GLAD YOU AREN'T DEAD! Umm... We also killed your coltfriend... Oops?" 
Oh, and btw, does any influence for Mender's "appendages" come from the anime Elfen Lied by any chance? Those things remind me a LOT of the vectors the people use to slice other people up in that one...
O-O <--- my face right now
man why do i have to be leaving to Peru for two months...
i'm gonna be missing all these epic updates...
And thus the legend of Slendermane begins.
I wanna make a whining sound in this comment, but there's no emote for it.... Maybe it's just me, but I wouldn't mind getting the next chapter this week, even if it meant no chapter/a short chapter next week....
P.S. The ending...It reminds me of facing off with a Weeping Angel...You're going to die/lose, no matter what. The question is when.
When-
Are you going to blink?
When-
Are you going to make the deciding move?
When-
Are you going to seal your own fate?
The worst part was....
He had to make the call...even knowing what was liable to happen immediately afterwards.
All for the sake of the world he came to love and cherish.
derpicdn.net/media/W1siZiIsIjRmMWQzOWU3OTQ1YjcwMWMxZDAwMDAwMSJdXQ/1569__safe_twilight%2Bsparkle_rainbow%2Bdash_pinkie%2Bpie_fluttershy_rarity_applejack_spike_mane%2Bsix_artist-colon-madmax_mane%2Bseven_moustache_popcorn.png
These comments are delcious.
I've been waiting for months for the reader base to catch up and experience the same WTF! I did prereading this stuff.
Well, looks like I need to get back to prereading and stop slacking so much, they have almost caught up to me now.
2723523
i want your job...
i suggest u watch ur back
dang it you love to chain together your cliffhangers
To paraphrase some Harvey Birdman, "HA HA, cliffhangers..."
As awesomely gory and vicious as this chapter was, the characterization within it was just as important to me. A superb section with enough dominating violence to help even out the helplessness that we, and subsequently our Mender, felt through the last few chapters, but still developed the character of the protagonist. Fantastic! I'd use a Twilight smile, but I don't want to remind myself of Nirru, so have a Pinkie instead.
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
2722772 damn it now I have to wait another whole week to see how this plays out, FUCK!
Love this story by the way, it's just so awesome and well thought out.
I'm guessing the elements of harmony appear just as dark mender get killed or something..........
2723692
Well, kiro could use another prereader or two... you would have to ask him.
Currently I am his only one.
And to think just a few chapters ago this was a cute love story
pbs.twimg.com/media/BAlNoDlCEAIf7Xr.jpg:large
What happened to Abjuration and Necromancy?
2722767
Just have to say thank you. I know you are great about responding but getting a full comment back to my ranting and pondering and whatnot is greatly appreciated. Few things do I look forward to as much as your writings and, thanks to Censorship Pending, I feel I can finally give you the extra thumbs up you deserve for this story.
OH. Grosh. Reminds me. I don't think the thing about what was in the Everfree causing a ruckus (same time Mender got his mark) was covered. Unless I'm forgetful and dumb. Had a side theory that somehow, strange explanations abound, that it was a Grosh from that ship that made it through to Equestria. And then would proceed to be a small menace without it's tech and easily stomped. Or maybe it's in the next chapter. Have yet to read. Will do now.
Damn, please don't make this story over. This sounds like a terrible way to end it. And I am fully aware that this isn't 'the end', I just hope that there is more to the story. Notes:
Only story where the author can go aprox. 40,000 words on one fight.
Mender creeps me out in this chapter!! So OOC. (I guess it can't be OOC since you created him, but you get my drift.)
Nirru... GOD DAMN IT!!!!
Thanks for listening,
Blaise Brony.
This is serious im crying right now plz dont end it here
2724451 you do know he's sitting on 40 something chapters for this story right? He's releasing a chapter every Friday without fail so far. He's got blog posts on his page. So no, it's at least half over, if he's done writing, which he hasn't said either way. Seems there's still writing to do.
That's pretty metal...
Forgiveness Pending ... I see where the name comes into play?
Worst... cliffhanger... ever, DARN YOU KIROBEROS and your epic story
I absolutely HATE, having to wait a week for every new chapter, this time it will just 'tare me apart' (bad joke I know)
Well... how will he deal with the situation this time... he died, AGAIN.
I wish the stuff i wrote would turn out like this... good job by the way.
Now leave me and my thoughts alone while I play games and ponder how this could ever play out right.
2722758
That, and I kinda had a bloodlust of my own at that point
Mender in berserk mode is even scarier than Twilight in berserk mode
He was right about one thing, though. He isn't a Keldarian or a Pony. He's a zombie with cybernetic and eldritch enhancements. Decapitation is only a minor inconvenience
And now, Mender is going to be splattered across the whole of Equestria in a deliciously gratuitous manner. Let's hope that he can pull himself after Luna's done with him.cdn.broni.es/images/emotes/mlp-ldontgo.png
2722758 In response to your response to Aggro viking
I think it is on par with my little dashie as not only to make the readers feel for the characters you make them seem alive... real
you convey the emotions just as well as MLD and as an added bonus to this fic, it is still ongoing. this fic is by far my favorite as it not only makes me hang on the edge of the empire state building it has the gravity of falling from it to. like you have the love of your life hanging on to your hand as you both hang off the edge of the building whilst you try to hold on for both your lives. THAT is why I think it IS on par if even better than My Little Dashie. the story is meant to make us feel. just like MLD. and you surpass this with rainboom speeds.
Damn son. Interested to see the next chapter. Is mender based on a certain slender pony?
The weekly chapter ending with a cliffhanger has turned out to be a good format, I think. At least it has for this story. It reminds me of watching the cartoons of my youth and looking forward to Saturdays. Fridays, in this case. Do you intend to do this with future stories as well, if you go on to write them?
I like how up until this point, it was mainly Rainbow that got the heavy dose of Mender's SciFi origins since they teamed up, with the other members getting smaller individual doses of it with the empathy links and such. But now with Nirru showing up, BAM it's full-on tentacle horror manifesting right outside Ponyville and drawing in the Mane Six as well as Luna into the fray.
I'm so looking forward to how Apple Jack is going to explain how she just outright ignored Mender's pleading for trust, when he told them it was not Twilight he held captive. Especially whit how much he's bin helping everyone, and she just throws Mender to the sharks at the drop of her hat! Apple Jack and Rainbow both now about his past end still... they just dropped the proverbial anvil on him. Luna's reaction is more understandable sins she just gets dropped into the situation. Looking forward to the next chapter!
damn, this is almost getting warhammer 40k'ish.
In the grim dark future of the forty-first millenium, there are only ponies.
Well. He is established as definitely not a cyborg. At least, unless you consider Bio-tech a valid form of Cybornetics. As in, its purely biological material, and is doubtless disguised as normal organs, part of his brain, or else hidden in subspace (slipstream?) pockets attached to him....
As for Mender being OOC, I would note that he practically activated his Superpowered Evil Side, and that tends to have a few side effects.....
As for him surviving. Well, he survives, obviously, else no story. As for how...
Well, If I was an Space Warping abomination with subspace extension capabilities, I would probably hide a ton of black boxes, either in subspace pockets, or else at various locations, all of which with memory backups and self-repair/creation protocalls in case of death by extreme overkill, preventing self-repair/regeneration (How do you classify that for a biological computer anyway?)
Still, I agree that Decapitation is unlikely to be as effective as Luna hopes.
2726982
Not six... But yes, excited I was indeed.
2723992
did you just script in an image?
THATS SO COOL
2726794
I think Mender is taking care of his downsides right now, or trying to anyways.
I fully expect an inversion of that.
(and things to not go way of Elfin Lied).
And speaking of which, maybe Luna is a bit more informed than we think and just see a monster (when you see the claws and tentacles, you just assume things). I doubt she was on a midnight stroll with a bunch of guards, and it seems unlikely that they were that close to Canterlot.
My response here.
Dude, just, fuck off with the goddamn cliffhangers already!
So, I was confused for a moment, but then became a little less confused when I re-read the last two paragraphs. Clearly stated it be that Mender let Nirru's consciousness escape the andriod / bio-computer thing she was inhabiting / possessing........ so, why did he then proceed to annihilate the false Twilight's skull? And how is everyone going to take the news of this, assuming Mender can't somehow escape Luna and her guards, drop the bioweapon form, and somehow cover himself for not being present at the time? And that professor... he is officially one of the best crazy professor ever. Of all time.
Simple, he wants Luna to destroy him. Which is why he puts up no fight and accepts the death blow.