Prologue: The Future

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The sun shone brightly upon Equestria just as it always had. While beyond the cities, where nature’s beauty could still be seen for miles around, the cities where the ponies lived were significantly different compared to how they were a thousand years ago.

Back then, Equestria’s cities were smaller and the structures ranged from medieval, like Ponyville, to modern, like Manehattan. Ponies of each tribe were seen walking the streets every day and depending on how large the town was, everypony either knew each other or they were simply another face in the crowd.

Now, Equestria faces a new era of technology, introduced by space faring races from across the stars. Humans came and sparked the largest technology boom that the world had ever seen. Technology ranged from advanced guns to sophisticated stealth technology to hovering vehicles that needed no pony to power them but still needed ponies to maintain them.

This boost in technology was further boosted when a race of enigmatic faceless aliens known as the Protoss, were introduced to the Ponies and were allowed to establish a colony on their world. Protoss technology allowed the denizens of Equus to utilize advancements that would have otherwise never have been dreamed of for another thousand years or more. Because of the Humans and the Protoss, Equestrians could look to the stars and expand their civilization beyond their world.

While the Humans left Equus to their own devices once they no longer had anything to teach them, coupled with the fact that sticking around a Protoss colony world would have made them nervous given the shaky history between the two races, another race was introduced to Equus who became a turning point in Changeling history.

The Equus Brood of Zerg, a race of genetically malleable predatory creatures that could evolve and mutate rapidly in accordance to the will that controls them, such as a Queen, Broodmother or the Overqueen, came to Equus and established a Primary Zerg Hive Cluster in the Badlands where the majority of the brood lived alongside the majority of the Changeling race.

The Equus Brood differed significantly from the other broods in the Koprulu Sector in that this brood was infused with Equestrian magic and could utilize the essences of Equus’ numerous species in their evolutions.

Two heroic Ponies were the main cause of the great changes that happened to the world. One of the two heroic ponies who brought the Humans, Protoss and Zerg to Equus had ascended to become a Xel’naga or, as they are known on Equus, Alicorn. The Xel’naga were beings who had ascended beyond the short mortality of other races through the union of beings who were Pure of Form, possessing incredible psionic powers, or Pure of Essence, possessing the ability to cause great change to themselves and the world around them. Their purpose in the cosmic order was to create new universes and seek a race in each of them to uplift to become Pure of Form or Pure of Essence. The two races would be brought together, often through conflict, and those who rose above both races were given the opportunity to take into themselves the essence of the Xel’naga and become one of them.

While Xel’naga lifespans were usually indefinite, but not infinte, in length, the ascension can affect different races in different ways. Ascension turned Ponies into Alicorns and turned a Zerg-infested Human into a form resembling a burning angel. There would be no telling how long an Alicorn or an ascended human would live since there were no prior records of such since the renegade Xel’naga Amon destroyed the records.

The two previously mentioned heroic Ponies went by the names of Lyra Heartstrings, friend and ally to the Daelaam Protoss and Highlord of the Tal’darim Protoss, and Sweetie Drops, former agent of the former S.M.I.L.E. Agency that protected Equestria from unseen threats until dismantled by the same power hungry politician who created the agency. She went by the alias Bon Bon.

Lyra represented the Protoss colony on the world's political stage and was a master of the three known styles of Templar combat. While most Protoss practiced one style their whole lives, Lyra practiced the psionically explosive style of the Khalai, the stealth and assassination techniques of the Nerazim and the destructive and wrathful techniques of the Tal’darim.

Lyra was originally a former student of Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns but washed out because her scatterbrained self couldn’t keep up with the rigorous courses that she had to take. After being sent to the Koprulu Sector of the galaxy by Discord, she quickly overcame that part of herself when she was exposed to a strange gas called Terrazine and began her training as a Templar under the tutelage of Executor Tassadar, Prelate Zeratul and eventually First Ascendant Alarak.

During the course of her adventure, Lyra's cutie mark was transformed as a result of a change in her destiny. The golden lyre mark became three colored blades crossing in unity to symbolize her talent in bringing the three main Protoss tribes together. She still kept her skills with the lyre though.

These days, Lyra ran a school for training new generations of Ponies and Protoss in the arts of the Templar. Thanks to a special mixture of powdered Jorium crystal and liquified Terrazine, called Terrarium, Ponies of all tribes were able to be trained in the psionic arts as Templar or as Ghosts or Spectres; covert ops soldiers who used psionic power with stealth technology. Lyra primarily taught her students the ways of the Khalai style or the Nerazim style.

She made a rule to herself to never teach the Tal’darim style unless under dire circumstances as that style was brutal and easily catastrophic if handled wrong.

Sweetie Drops was originally in hiding because of the politician who ruined her life as an agent until Discord sent her and Lyra away where they would discover powers beyond their imagination. Sweetie gained psychic powers due to exposure to Jorium radiation and later was trained as a Ghost. These powers were further enhanced by Terrazine. Sweetie worked with a group of rebels that sought to bring down a despot who ruled the humans in the Koprulu Sector with an iron fist. She also gained a reputation as a mercenary and assassin.

She later assisted a Human named Sarah Kerrigan with her revenge against said megalomaniacal dictator and ended up infested by the Primal Zerg in the process. The transformation also changed her cutie mark from three striped candies to three DNA strands to symbolize her talent at working with essence.

During the final battle against Amon, Discord, who was also a Xel’naga, transferred some of his essence to Sweetie where she ascended to become an Alicorn.

Sweetie gained the ability to manipulate the essence of others which she used to change the destiny of the Changeling race by altering their dietary needs from the love of others to feasting on the near limitless supply of magical Zerg flesh for sustenance. This earned her the loyalty of the Changelings.

Future generations of Changelings volunteered themselves to join Equestria’s newest agency slash army covert ops division as Ghosts, Spectres and Templars.

Thanks to Protoss technology, a building was constructed on a platform floating high above the Everfree Forest. This building was placed there with the intention of collecting some of the entropic wild magic of the forest for research. This building became a research institution founded by Princess Twilight Sparkle for the purpose of seeking more efficient means of creating a universe.

Using an advanced simulator and combining it with wild magic, a simulated universe was created with uncontrollable variables; as chaotic as a universe should be. This universe was a subject of study for centuries.

Twilight named the simulated universe “The Eternal Sphere” because when the universe manifested in the simulator, it took on a spherical shape. Some researchers groaned at Twilight’s lack of creativity in naming things, especially since she named the institution Sphere 211 because the building was two-hundred and eleven stories tall.

The costs of maintaining the universe wasn’t free though. Upkeep costs were high so in order to continue the project, Twilight and the main research staff decided to create new worlds in that universe and open them to the public as virtual role playing games with a subscription format where the fees went into maintaining the project or developing new content.

It was five hundred years after the End War against Amon that a new scientific field was discovered. While magic and technology gave all of the Pony tribes the ability to perform tasks that were meant for Pegasi and Earth Ponies, such as farming on clouds and localized weather machines. This new science, referred to as Symbology, would give Earth Ponies and Pegasi, as well as the Protoss, the ability to cast spells like Unicorns could.

Symbology, also known as heraldry or runology by some, as it was discovered through centuries of research, could allow anyone who was trained to use them to cast spells by utilizing various symbols that were etched onto one’s body through various methods.

However, just because a symbol was etched onto someone’s body didn’t make them proficient at every type of symbol there was. Some would be more proficient at attack symbols; utilization of elemental attacks like fire, wind, earth or water. Some would be more proficient at support; strengthening allies or weakening enemies. Others could heal wounds or cure minor afflictions or wake up unconscious allies.

Current understanding of Symbology had been limited to battlefield use or for everyday purposes that Protoss technology could not help.

After receiving an urgent request from the owner of the Sphere company, Lyra Heartstrings began heading to the floating tower built over the Everfree Forest.

During her walk, Lyra took a brief period of time observing the scenery before her. The Protoss colony had thrived over the centuries since it was founded after the End War.

It was an age of flying vehicles powered by magic and psionic energy and as much as things had changed compared to one thousand years ago, some things remained the same. Even today, Protoss architecture was still tall, golden and gaudy. Lyra figured that some Protoss traditions could not be discarded so easily. Pegasi were still managing this world’s weather while some weather teams volunteered to be part of research expeditions to other worlds to find out if their magic could affect the weather there. Earth Ponies were still farming while some were sent as well to experiment on the soil of other worlds. The results have been mixed so far.

Studies into the science of Symbology have been promising so far but the results have not yielded anything that would be of benefit to the expedition teams yet, except that it could be used to dispatch hostile lifeforms. With the science being expanded to the point that it was today, Lyra got into the trend by having symbols etched into her body.

Lyra was proficient with support symbols but her talent with attack and healing symbols was lacking. It was still fine with her though since she was already one of the most skilled warriors on Equus, rivaling Celestia, Luna and Bon Bon, even without attack symbols. She could still use attack and healing symbols but they would be more difficult to cast.

Having her life connected to an Alicorn like Bon Bon had its perks when it allowed her to share in her partner’s indefinite lifespan especially as it meant that she was never too old to try new things since her body didn’t age.

Lyra was currently wearing a blue short sleeved T-shirt with a black vest along with a pair of black shorts. She was also wearing her golden Protoss armor which didn't cover much but the protection came from the built in shielding system. The lower part of her armor produced a transparent blue half skirt that extended down to the top of her hooves.

Lyra used the fastest mode of transportation to reach Sphere, the Psionic Transport System. This system involved using crystal pylons to temporarily convert matter into an energy form and transmit it between pylon conduits until the destination conduit was reached where the energy form would be transformed back into its material form. The system itself wasn’t without issues though as it required focus and a clear intent to avoid being sent to a random conduit many miles from the intended destination. Most preferred shuttle transports.

Lyra was able to easily navigate the system thanks to her focus and centuries of practice. Sometimes it paid to be conditionally immortal from having her life linked to her immortal wife.

She exited the PTS and soon entered the Sphere building into the lobby.

Unlike the gaudy golden exterior of the towering building that seemed to extend higher than Cloudsdale, the inside had a more comfortable variety of colors. The floors were off white metallic floating platforms that felt like a solid floor when walked on, as if the floors were built upon a solid foundation. The walls and pillars around the room were deep purple with an off white coloration on the upper and lower edges.

The nearby reception desk was occupied by two individuals, a light blue unicorn mare with a green mane and a female Protoss, both wearing the purple uniforms of the Sphere company. The two looked at Lyra and nodded to her, with the Protoss giving her the "En Taro Lyra" greeting because her fame among the Protoss had made her an honored hero. The mare alerted the owner of Lyra’s arrival with one hand on her headset while using her other to log in Lyra’s entry into the system while the Protoss informed Lyra that the owner will meet with her on the fifth floor.

Lyra walked down the the hallway and continued noting the seemingly solid floating floor panels while also admiring the holographic bridges that could actually be walked on.

Her destination on that floor was a series of teleportation modules that were used to move between the many floors of the building. Lyra entered one and a holographic display appeared with ten numbers on them. The system would only activate if three numbers were pressed that corresponded to the desired floor.

Lyra pushed zero twice followed by five. Just like with the PTS, Lyra felt the sensation of being converted into energy then back to solid matter again as she appeared in a transport module on the fifth floor.

The disorienting part of being transported between floors was that the floors were all the same with no distinguishing markings to show that she was on the fifth floor. Lyra considered talking to the owner about that issue at some point. For now, she headed to the research section that was on that floor. It was a short walk.

Inside the room where the research section was located, Lyra saw numerous ponies and Protoss working hard at maintaining the institution’s prized project, The Eternal Sphere.

Remembering what she heard about it, Lyra recalled that The Eternal Sphere was an artificial universe that was placed inside of a simulator. Sphere had been using the universe as a research tool to further advance the science of Symbology. Knowledge had been exchanged many times over the centuries between the real world and the simulated universe, even though those in the simulation were never made aware that they were artificial creations nor were they aware that they were exchanging knowledge with beings beyond their universe. Any breakthroughs made by either party were exchanged between the simulation and the real world.

Among the staff was the pony that Lyra was looking for. She was the tallest pony in the room and about the average height of a Protoss who were normally around seven feet in height. Her sparkling navy blue mane with a purple and raspberry stripe billowed in a non-existent wind. Her coat was lavender and it matched the purple uniform that she wore with extra additions to it to symbolize her position as the owner of the Sphere Company. Her figure, wings and horn also rivaled Princess Celestia in dimensions.

Even Bon Bon had developed quite nicely even though she hides that figure under some transformation magic. It made Lyra a little jealous that she was the only pony who had lived for over a thousand years and had not physically changed at all. Of course her toned, muscular body was nothing to scoff at either.

Twilight took notice of the door into the room opening and saw Lyra enter. She quickly wrapped up the conversation she had with one of the researchers and quickly walked over to Lyra.

“Hey Lyra,” Twilight greeted. “So glad you could make it here on short notice.”

“Hey Twi, I got here as fast as I could,” Lyra responded. “What’s up?”

“First of all, thank you for coming. I actually have a major problem with the Eternal Sphere that I need your help with.”

Lyra deadpanned, “Twi, you know that I know next to nothing about how the simulation works. What could you possibly need my help with?”

“Well…” Twilight began. “First of all, I need you to promise me that what I am about to tell you does not reach the ears of the public. This is a very serious and delicate matter.”

“I promise,” Lyra answered.

Twilight hesitated for a moment before taking a deep breath. “A few days ago, our systems were compromised by an unknown hacker. Somehow they knew enough about our systems to upload a virus into the Eternal Sphere. As we speak, the virus has been slowly taking over the security systems we installed into the simulation. Our teams have been working hard at eliminating the virus but it seems the hacker knows our security algorithms and we have only been able to slow the progress of the virus. I don’t want to suspect one of my workers of creating this virus but I can’t rule out the possibility either.

“It’s only a matter of time until the hacker takes full control over the security systems and gains control over the administration drones. With those, the hacker could delete the entire simulation.”

“Don’t you have a backup or something?” Lyra asked.

Twilight nodded, “We do, the problem is that there is something that has caught the interest of the other researchers and myself in the Eternal Sphere that would be lost if it were deleted. The backup would not have this data because the situation with the virus led to this anomaly occurring. We need to study it before the administration drones are unleashed into the simulation.

“This anomaly appears to be a new breakthrough in symbology and we need to work fast if we want to understand what happened.

“We have also detected a foreign entity in the Eternal Sphere that was not created within the simulation itself. Our sensors detected a dimensional rift that briefly opened before the entity was detected. We were unable to recreate the conditions that led to the rift’s opening so we could do little more than observe the entity from a distance.”

Despite Twilight’s use of scientific terms, Lyra was able to understand what Twilight was saying since she had been around for a thousand years and had picked up on some things.

“So what do you know about the entity?” Lyra asked.

“Not much, it took the form of a human infant with blue hair. Female. The manifestation overwrote the existence of another human who was of the same estimated age. The parents are unaware that the child they are raising is not their biological daughter. The incident occurred about seventeen years ago in Eternal Sphere time so she had been raised by that family since the time of the original's birth.”

"Huh?" Lyra asked. "Seventeen years ago? But you said the incident occurred a few days ago."

"We can manipulate the rate that time flows in the Eternal Sphere."

Somewhat satisfied with Twilight's answer, Lyra thought about the situation for a few moments before she decided that she had been told enough about what was happening for the time being. It was time to ask the important questions.

“Okay, so what does this have to do with me? I know that you want to observe the data anomalies and the foreign entity, but where do I fit into all this?”

Twilight smiled, “You and I are going to enter the Eternal Sphere to observe the individuals who possess the anomalous data, one of whom is the entity. With the threat of the virus, as well as some unrest within the company itself where my chief of security, Azure Lazer, is against allowing the data anomalies to continue existing, the subjects will be in danger soon.

“And since Azure uses an avatar to control the Vendeeni Empire within the Eternal Sphere, we need to get to them soon. Thankfully, one of the subjects is safe from the Vendeeni for the time being.”

“Why don’t you just fire them if they being a problem?” Lyra asked.

Twilight shook her head, “Being a threat to the subjects of interest to the research branch is not grounds for termination of employment. She would be able to file a lawsuit against the company for wrongful termination of employment.” Twilight and Azure have never seen eye to eye about anything but she was good at her job so she couldn’t find a good reason to fire her.

Lyra nodded in understanding. It appeared that the situation did not have an easy remedy. She decided to change the subject, “Who are the Vendeeni anyway?”

“One of the intergalactic factions who have held neutrality during the war with the Aldian Empire that is controlled by the Pony Resources director, Swift Burial, and the Pangalactic Federation that I control through avatars.” Lyra slowly started to lose interest in the conversation as Twilight soon began rambling about the factions.

It was about ten minutes later that Twilight finally got back on track. “Anyway, the reason I need your help is because I need you to act as my bodyguard as we enter the Eternal Sphere. I may be highly knowledgeable about symbols and magic but hand to hand combat is still one of my weaker areas. I haven’t had a lot of time to practice, I'm afraid.” Twilight’s cheeks had a faint rosy color as she scratched the back of her neck. She mentally cursed herself for not working on her physical combat skills much over the thousand years she had been alive. “I would have asked for Sweetie Drops to come as well but she’s currently off world with the expedition team so only the two of us will be going.”

Lyra was fine with going on this little adventure since she hadn’t had much to do lately as the Protoss liaison to the crown. She was also in between groups of students at her school and wasn’t expecting the next group for a month. However, she still had one last question to ask before they got started. “So where in the Eternal Sphere are we going?”

Twilight brought up a holographic map of the Eternal Sphere and began zooming in on the intended destination. She zoomed in on an area of the Milky Way galaxy in the Kappa Sector and zoomed further into a certain planetary system. Once the image was large enough, she pointed at the planet in question. “A resort planet named Hyda IV. Two of the targets will be spending their holiday break away from school there.” Twilight then waved a hand to dismiss the display. “We have no time to waste. There’s no telling when the Vendeeni will attack the planet. Come on!”

Twilight headed for the exit to the research section at a brisk pace and Lyra followed closely, easily keeping up despite the difference in sizes. As they walked, Twilight brought up another display and began typing on the image as they walked.

“Unfortunately, I can’t set my character parameters to appear as I currently am in the Eternal Sphere without causing distortions in the data so I will have to set them to be more like yours,” Twilight explained.

“What do you mean?” Lyra asked.

“It means that I will appear as I did a thousand years ago to avoid complications with the system. My full Alicorn powers will be sealed while we are in the simulation as well. It’s another reason that I asked for your assistance as my bodyguard.”

“Understandable,” Lyra responded.

“I will still be able to fight and support with my full knowledge of Symbology as well as my magic so I won’t be helpless,” Twilight continued.

The two continued down the hallway and entered a room that appeared empty but had what appeared to be a faded symbological glyph in the center. Twilight motioned for Lyra to walk into the glyph before following her. She created another display and pressed a few more buttons before the two felt a surge of magic well up beneath their hooves. The floor around the glyph darkened until it was pitch black before lines of red and yellow lights started appearing on the black floor in the form of the glyph from earlier. The magical surge increased in intensity and the energies began to make Lyra feel uncomfortable.

A few seconds later, the magic peaked and Lyra once more felt the sensation of being converted into energy as she and Twilight were transported from the room and onward to the beginning of a new adventure.

Sunshine at the Resort

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Lyra and Twilight rematerialized inside of a small room that was only large enough to house the transporter that they emerged from. The only thing of note was the door out of the room. Other than that, the walls appeared to be of a similar design to Sphere 211.

Walking outside the room, Lyra noticed a significant change compared to the room before. The walls and floors of the hallway they entered were a bright metallic silver with doors to other rooms to their left. Twilight pointed out that they led to some crew cabins or guest cabins, depending on who was using them.

Lyra followed Twilight down a series of corridors until they came to a small room with several chairs installed as well as a pair of consoles on the far end of the small room that, when combined with the view of outer space through the windows, appeared to be a cockpit of a spaceship. Lyra quickly concluded that they were aboard a spaceship in what she had to assume was inside of the Eternal Sphere.

Twilight quickly hopped into the pilot’s chair and began preparing the ship to begin moving towards their destination of Hyda IV. Lyra sat in the co-pilot’s chair next to Twilight and let her thoughts catch up to her.

Now that she had time to think, Lyra noticed that Twilight really did look like she did a thousand years ago. Her mane was that of a regular Pony’s mane again and she was about her height and body size. She also noticed the purple high tech battle armor that she was wearing, but from the perspective of someone who was not knowledgeable of such armor, it would look like Twilight was wearing leather armor. It was designed that way in case Ponies had to encounter medieval cultures who had discovered Symbology.

In case Lyra had to do the same, her armor had a setting that would alter its appearance to avoid getting too much unwanted attention, though she knew that she and Twilight would get enough attention as Ponies anyway. Better to look like medieval Ponies than futuristic Ponies in the least.

Lyra also noticed that the ship was in the middle of outer space instead of a space station or a planetary docking station. This became another of the growing list of things that she needed to discuss with Twilight.

Twilight soon finished typing on the holographic display and relaxed in her chair. She took a deep breath and let it out before turning her head to her companion with a faint smile. “It’ll be a few hours before we reach Hyda IV. Take this time to get whatever you need done. There are showers in the cabin bathrooms and they are fully stocked with whatever you might need. There’s also a dining area on the lower deck with a series of food synthesizers. Help yourself!”

Lyra thought about Twilight’s offer for a moment but quickly decided against that. “Actually Twi, there are some things I want to talk to you about before we get there. First of all, what info do we have on our targets? Do we know anything about the anomalous data that these children possess? Do we have to watch out for anyone else besides the Vendeeni? Also, why was this ship drifting in space and seemingly abandoned?”

Twilight brought up another display that showed the face of a human male with blue hair and green eyes. “This is Fayt Leingod. Nineteen years old, attends Bachtein University as an engineering major, enjoys fighting video games, specifically combat simulator games where he personally fights. When not working on schoolwork, studying or playing video games, he’s playing basketball. The game has similarities to buckball, but also has fundamental differences. He likely used video games and basketball as an outlet for his frustrations while his parents spent more time on their research than with him while he was growing up.”

Twilight frowned at that but also understood that the fate of the universe was at stake which left the parents with a difficult choice to make. Didn’t mean she liked it though.

The image shifted, this time to the face of a young human girl with blue hair and amber eyes. “This is Sophia Esteed. Seventeen years old, attends Bachtein High School and is part of an ROTC program. She is expected to attend the Federation Officer Academy after graduation and quickly rise in the ranks for her exceptional tactical prowess. I’ve heard that there were some abnormalities in her medical reports, but nothing that has hindered her overall health. We may have to look into that.”

Once more the image shifted, revealing another human female with blue hair. This one had dark bluish green eyes. “This is Maria Traydor, nineteen years old. Orphaned as an infant, she was brought in by the Traydor family and subjected to the same symbological experiments as the other two, likely at the same time as Fayt with Sophia coming later. Seven years ago, in relative Eternal Sphere time, the Aldian Empire attacked a vessel carrying the Traydors but only Maria managed to get to an escape pod in time before the ship’s warp engine core collapsed, destroying the ship and everyone who remained. She was found by a Klausian ship and has lived among them since.

“It turned out that the Klausians were part of an organization whose purpose was preventing the corrupt elements of the Federation Government from bullying reluctant races into joining.” Twilight sighed. “I keep telling those fools that the Pangalactic Federation does not exist to conquer the galaxy but those representatives are as stubborn as the Canterlot nobility.”

Another sigh. “Two years ago, one of the Federation ships went rogue and tried to destroy the flagship of the Klausian organization known as Quark. They would have succeeded except Maria’s powers manifested by turning a quantum torpedo into a weapon capable of piercing the best shielding and obliterating the ship at the same time. The strangest thing about this power is that it is similar to an administrator’s power to alter data.”

“After that, Maria took over Quark and her impressive charisma and leadership skills had made the organization bigger than ever.” Twilight paused for a moment and shook her head in disappointment. “I can only hope that the Federation can come to a peaceful resolution with Quark before things escalate any further.”

“What about her education?” Lyra asked, curious given that Twilight mentioned the educational background of the previous two targets.

Twilight shook her head, “Can’t really say, I only have the Federation records with regard to the years leading up to her twelfth year. I can only assume that she was either in the Klausian educational system, which I doubt since the high gravity and low oxygen density of their homeworld would have been detrimental to Maria’s health over a long period of time, or she was educated by the members of Quark.

“She does have a knack for hacking into databases though. When I noticed her breaking into Federation databases, likely looking for info on her parents, I had to quickly scrub it of any info that I would rather not have her know; anything related to the Eternal Sphere research. She did, however, find the Leingod research data even if the information was incomplete. She does know that she and Fayt were test subjects. It’s likely that she will be looking for him.”

“How did you find out about her hacking attempts?” Lyra asked.

Twilight smirked, “She may be good at getting into databases but she is lacking in subtlety. I had to cover for her when the anti-cybercrime division caught wind of her infiltration.”

“So we need to worry about the Vendeeni and possibly Quark when looking for Fayt, but is there anyone else we need to worry about? What about the Aldians?”

“Swift doesn’t have any interest in the targets and seems more interested in continuing our intergalactic chess game than pursuing a few test subjects.”

Lyra hummed while frowning and tilting her head slightly. “I suppose that beats trying to fend off three alien races like with the Great Wars and the End War. So what do we know about the experiments?”

“The Leingod research team specialized in genetics and symbological research. They managed to combine the two subjects and soon learned how to inscribe symbols into genetic code. Our research team would have handled the discovery with the usual procedures except we couldn’t for two reasons: One is the imminent threat of the administration drones while the other is the unknown nature of the symbols that were used in the three test subjects. Unlike the common ones we are aware of, the ones used in the experiments were unlike anything previously seen. Given the current situation, we need to discover the nature of the new symbols and we have little time to do so. This is why I have opted for the direct approach.”

“Does the incident from two years ago have anything to do with this?”

Twilight nodded, “Maria’s ability still warrants further study. The demonstration with The Invisible was impressive but we still need to know how it works.”

Twilight deactivated the display before continuing, “To answer your last question, the reason this ship is drifting in space is because I prefer to avoid the bureaucracy associated with docks and spaceports. This ship is equipped with special coding and magic that prevents it from being noticed by sensors or the naked eye. There is also a jump drive that automatically activates when a ship is on a collision course with it and the ship is in crewless mode. Employees from Sphere keep this ship fueled, stocked and maintained at all times so there really isn’t any real need to dock the ship.”

With her questions answered, Lyra spent the rest of the trip to Hyda exploring the ship and checking out its many features. She knew that even if they beat the Vendeeni to Hyda they wouldn’t be able to enjoy the resort for long before battle was joined.

Meanwhile…

A young blue-haired swordsman was engaged in battle with a giant ferocious beast. The beast used its claws to slash at the swordsman but the swordsman nimbly dodged the swipes and countered with a few slashes from his longsword. The beast attacked by sweeping with its long tail but the attack was too slow and the swordsman had enough time to react by backflipping.

The beast sensed that the flow of the battle was out of its favor so it began rushing at the swordsman while flailing in desperation with its razor sharp claws. The swordsman was caught off guard by the attack but managed to sidestep to the side of the beast while receiving a few deep cuts to his right arm.

The beast in its desperation left its flank open to attack which the swordsman capitalized on by driving his sword into its side, piercing a vital organ. The beast vanished, leaving treasures behind in the form of fol, the commonly accepted currency in the galaxy, and armor.

The swordsman didn’t celebrate for long before his reality was ripped from him as his headset was removed, returning his mind to reality.

It took Fayt a few moments to readjust to the real world before he turned his attention to the one who removed his headset. The culprit, his father, frowned at him before he put the headset beside Fayt. “What gives?” Fayt demanded. “I was just about at the best part.”

Robert sighed as he sat down next to his wife Ryoko. Sitting beside Fayt was his childhood friend Sophia who had a catty grin on her face.

“Fayt, I know you love to spend most of your time playing video games, but we’re on vacation right now and this is time we spend with our family and loved ones. Even Sophia came along to spend time with us.”

“Actually, I came along because my parents were going to the research facility on Moonbase and I found that I’d rather be going with you than browsing the limited selection at the station’s shops and hoping that would be enough time spent while my parents finish whatever they needed to do over there,” Sophia clarified. She looked at Fayt again and her grin returned. “Besides, it was fun sensing Fayt’s emotions while he was playing.”

Fayt had often been disturbed by his childhood friend’s ability to feel emotions. Her family had her tested for psychic abilities but it appeared that she could only sense emotions. That wasn’t the only unusual thing about her though. Despite her slender figure, she was actually stronger than she looked and any cuts she sustained healed a little faster than what is normally expected from the average person.

Another mystery that was yet to be solved about her was a mysterious armband that was attached to her left wrist. Not only was it indestructible, there was simply no way to remove it without chopping off Sophia’s hand. There was also some electrical activity within the wristband. Nobody knew what the device was supposed to be doing but since it wasn’t hurting Sophia, the specialists decided to leave it be.

Thinking about Sophia’s strange nature distracted him from thinking about how unfair his father was being.

The shuttle transporting the Leingod group soon landed at a docking pad near the Grantier Hotel where they would be staying.

The group quickly headed to the reception desk and checked in. Their luggage was transported to the rooms they would be staying in.

With that handled, the Leingod group soon began their vacation in earnest. Fayt was allowed to play in the battle simulator game for a couple of hours before he had to head to the beach where his parents were. Sophia quickly changed into a blue two-piece bikini before she headed to the beach to swim a little and work on a tan.

When the time limit for Fayt was up and he was nowhere in sight, Ryoko asked Sophia to go check on him. Sophia already had a good idea what happened and left the beach and headed to the arcade.

As expected, she found her childhood friend walking out of the simulator with an exhausted look on his face as he stumbled his way to a nearby bench. Sophia decided to reward him for getting his exercise by buying two shakes; one for each of them.

Fayt was deep in thought about his performance in the game before a plastic cup appeared in front of his face, startling him.

“Here you go!” Sophia said cheerfully.

Fayt grabbed the shake while calming his nerves. “Hey Sophia, you startled me.”

Sophia’s smile quickly turned into a grin, “You know you’re over the time limit, right?”

Fayt looked at a nearby clock and was surprised at how much time had passed while he was playing his game. “Wow…I guess I did get kinda sucked in. I hope my parents aren’t too mad.”

“You know, I might be interested in fabricating a story to Uncle Robert and Aunt Ryoko if you’re willing to walk around the hotel with me.”

“Are you blackmailing me?” Fayt deadpanned.

Sophia’s grin remained unchanged. “Call it what you want, do you really have a choice?”

Fayt lowered his head in defeat. “No…”

“Then let’s go.”

With that, Fayt and Sophia began exploring the Grantier Hotel. As they walked, Fayt decided to start a conversation. “You know, for someone who’s planning to enroll in a military academy when she graduates, you sure have a mischievous streak.”

“I have to get my fun while it lasts. When I do enroll, I’m not going to be able to have this much fun again for a long time.”

Fayt understood where Sophia was coming from. Military academies were not places where one could cause trouble and avoid getting kicked out.

Despite his consistent playing of video games, he was still doing well in his classes at the university and was on track to being a mechanical engineer. With the exercise he was getting in the simulators, he may even be able to take on jobs in more dangerous environments if he enlisted in the military as a combat engineer. The pay would be better too.

Sophia’s prowess was becoming a legend at her school. She was in her school’s chess club and she was still undefeated after her sophomore and junior years. She was also on her school’s fencing team. She skillfully balanced her extracurricular activities with her schoolwork and was able to make straight ‘A’s.

There have been the occasional bullies for standing out, but she handled her own problems, even if the situation ended up with the bullies being humiliated and transferred to other schools.

There was no evidence to suggest foul play against them since whatever they schemed seemed to backfire on their own spectacularly, but Fayt knew better than to think what happened was a coincidence.

The student body quickly learned not to mess with Sophia after her freshman year.

The two decided to return to their room briefly to grab a change of clothes. Sophia went in first to get out of her swimsuit while Fayt went second to get out of his sweat-drenched clothes. On his way out, Fayt noticed the trash can in the room filled with discarded food wrappers.

“You certainly helped yourself,” Fayt commented.

“You know that I have a really high metabolism. I can eat what I want and not gain weight,” Sophia deadpanned.

“Among many other monstrous abilities,” Fayt mumbled. Sophia heard it anyway. The girl put on a fake smile that failed to hide her growing fury.

“Should we test the durability of these walls with your body?” Sophia threatened in a venomous tone that made a chill run up Fayt’s spine.

“L-Let’s move on!” Fayt said hastily. Sophia dropped the matter and walked with him to the beach area.

Back at the reception desk, the receptionist spotted a pair of Equestrians approaching. The employee regarded them once they were in front of him. “Names?”

“Twilight Sparkle and Lyra Heartstrings,” Twilight introduced.

The receptionist looked through the reservation records for the names and found them in a minute. He presented the two with a keycard for their room and a warning not to lose it.

As they walked away, Lyra decided to telepathically communicate with her partner through her psionic powers to avoid anyone overhearing them.

“How come that receptionist didn’t look at us weird? Are Ponies a common sight in the Eternal Sphere?”

“Kind of,” Twilight replied. “With how much we interact with the people in this universe, approaching them in disguise would eventually lead to problems down the road. You remember what happened with the Changelings.

“Instead, we designed an alternate Equus and placed it in an unexplored part of the universe in case anyone got curious about our origins. It got explored really quickly so now everyone is convinced that we are from this universe. I also have some contingency plans in case any of the major factions decide to try to conquer or integrate the planet into their fold.”

It didn’t take long for the two to find the targets as they figured that the beach would be the first place to look, though Twilight originally figured that Fayt would be at the hotel arcade.

Of course, the scene they saw was a little awkward to look at as they saw Fayt being flirted with by Sophia and some hotel patron with brown hair and wearing a blue swimsuit. Fayt looked really flustered.

When she felt like he had enough, Sophia convinced the other girl to walk away while pointing out that she was punishing Fayt for his earlier comment.

“Seems like a herd kind of stallion, doesn’t he?” Lyra remarked.

“Be nice,” Twilight said while giggling.

“So what now?”

Once Twilight’s fit of giggles subsided, she frowned slightly. “Unfortunately, we can only wait for the Vendeeni to make their move. For now, we keep an eye on them. You’re better at tailing without being noticed. Can I leave the task to you?”

Lyra nodded before she walked into the nearby foliage to escape potential witnesses on the beach. She activated her Shadow Walk ability and became invisible.

Twilight headed back into the hotel and explored the place a little to kill time.

Feeling fully rebuked, Fayt went back into the hotel with Sophia behind him.

For some reason, Fayt felt like visiting the rooms of the other patrons who had decided to leave their doors unlocked for anyone to enter. Lyra, who understood the concept of an RPG, could only shake her head as she witnessed one of the most common elements of one.

Eventually, Fayt walked into what was proclaimed by a young dark skinned girl with gray hair tied in pigtails as a dressing room for a circus troupe. Sophia stayed outside of the room and watched the event unfold.

The girl wore a pink dress lined with yellow. A series of black belts adorned her torso which appeared to hold a long strip of red fabric where each end went through a hole on a pair of thick metallic armbands that she wore on each wrist. The ends of the red cape ended through a pair of large red metal orbs. She also wore a pair of black shorts and pink boots with bells on them. The jewelry she was wearing consisted of one hoop earring on her left ear and a ruby necklace.

Lyra secretly watched the scene unfold as the energetic girl initially assumed that Fayt was her fan before she drew a crudely drawn picture of herself and her name on the back of Fayt’s shirt. While Fayt was trying to explain himself to the girl, who introduced herself as Peppita Rosetti, Sophia appeared to be watching in amusement as Fayt struggled to explain himself amidst Peppita’s assumptions. When he finally did explain, she scolded him for doing something as childish as randomly barging into people’s rooms.

Peppita then got depressed about Fayt not being her fan but bounced back quickly and gave Fayt a ticket to tonight’s circus show.

“Girl seems to have some Pinkie in her to bounce around the emotional spectrum like that,” Lyra thought to herself.

Lyra observed Fayt and Sophia heading into the arcade room. Sophia noticed her friend eyeing the nearby game terminal before a smirk appeared on her face. “Hey Fayt, since you seem to really want to play your game right now, how about I join you?”

“Huh? Are you sure?” Fayt asked.

“Of course.”

As Fayt was about to activate the terminal to begin a game, he noticed that the one he was looking at was already occupied. Since there were other terminals in the room, he went to another and entered it with Sophia.

Lyra looked at the terminal that the two left behind and noticed that Twilight’s name was on the list of occupants. She smirked as she decided to join her by entering her name into the terminal. She then had to wait for Twilight to accept her request.

A couple of seconds was all it took for the request to be accepted and the door into the simulator opened to let Lyra in. She approached the purple mare who was equipped with simulated caster gear and a staff.

“You know that it’s not wise for a spellcaster to attack monsters without a front line fighter,” Lyra commented.

“Unless they’re good enough to hold their own,” Twilight countered. “What about Fayt and Sophia?”

“They’re in a nearby simulator, they should be in there for a while. So I decided to see what you’re up to.”

“I’m getting some practice in. I need to get some of the rust off before all Tartarus breaks loose.”

“Mind if I join you? I need a bit of a warm up myself.”

Twilight nodded as she vocally commanded the system to start a game for the two of them while designating the parameters. They didn’t need a challenge right now since they will have plenty of that in the near future, so the computer generated some monsters that would be just tough enough to get them warmed up.

The first round consisted of a large flightless bird with a huge beak and two large beetles with pincers as large as their bodies.

Lyra deployed a pair of energy blades from the simulated focusers on her wrists: one red, one green. While Lyra could have created the blades from her hands, she decided to go along with the game and use what was provided.

The three monsters’ movements were slow, with the bird moving slightly faster than the beetle monsters. Lyra quickly dashed behind one of the large insects before she kicked it onto its back and stabbed its underbelly with her red blade, causing it to vanish. At the same time, Twilight moved to the flank of the monster formation while casting Fire Bolt symbols at the other beetle. She quickly incinerated the insect and it vanished.

The bird’s attention was on Twilight and slowly walked toward her with its hard, heavy beak raised to strike. That was a mistake as it allowed Lyra to move in and cut through the beast.

Once the last enemy was defeated, the two relaxed for a moment before Lyra asked Twilight a question. “These monsters die strangely. This is nothing like what I saw in the Koprulu sector. Is this part of this game’s simulation?”

“Yes and no, enemies were designed to be killed in a way that is foal-friendly to other players. We can’t have fillies and colts traumatized by scenes of blood and viscera. That’s an easy way to get a lawsuit and a lot of angry parents giving me and Princess Celestia problems. There are some worlds where the level of violence is at a realistic level, but those worlds are protected by age restriction wards.”

“So we may end up having to fight the characters of fillies and colts at some point…” Lyra noted.

“It’s a possibility.” Twilight turned her attention to the computer again and ordered the next wave of monsters to appear.

This time a quartet of small spherical creatures with feet and bat wings and long tails appeared. Twilight and Lyra looked at each other and grinned before Twilight bombarded the bats with a volley of Ice Needles before her horn glowed and released a wave of heat that struck the needles that hit the bats, melting the ice and soaking the bats’ fur. Lyra followed up with a Psionic Storm that electrocuted the damp creatures.

The third wave proved more of a challenge in the form of two flying insects and a massive living piece of metal with arms. The insects were dealt with quickly when Lyra sliced one in half and Twilight allowed the other to get close before she touched the ground and caused a series of earthen spikes to shoot out and impale it.

Lyra’s attacks were only causing shallow wounds on the metal beast and she had to dodge a number of swipes from its large arms. She had to sidestep whenever it used the same Earth Glave spell that Twilight used.

Twilight performed a Scan on the beast to try and find a weakness and smiled when she found one. “Lyra, it's weak to electricity,” Twilight called out.

Lyra nodded and prepared a Psionic Storm while Twilight prepared to zap it with a Lightning Blast. The attacks were released and the metal creature was horribly electrocuted but still standing. Lyra quickly finished the fight while it was stunned by charging herself with psionic electricity before charging the beast with her Storm Charge ability. The impact from the attack caused the creature to crack and break apart before vanishing.

Lyra took a moment to catch her breath before she walked over to Twilight to give her a high five.

That was when tremors shook the hotel and the electricity flickered before an alarm went off.

Evacuation

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“What the…!?” Fayt shouted as the simulation room that he and Sophia were in shook.

“Level two tremor detected,” the computer announced. “The system will be temporarily deactivated for your safety. We apologize for the inconvenience.”

Fayt knew that Hyda IV was a stable world with no tectonic activity so he figured that an earthquake would be unlikely. But what could be the problem?

More tremors shook the room. With no other objects in the room, Sophia kept herself stable by holding herself against a wall. Fayt did the same.

An alarm began blaring before another announcement, “This is an emergency alert. Hyda IV is currently under attack by unidentified spacecraft. All civilians should follow immediate evacuation instructions on the nearest console.”

After inquiring further, the computer informed Fayt that the ships were also attacking the nearby Remote Station that could have provided military assistance. With the Federation distracted, they were on their own.

“As an emergency measure, all transporters have been directly linked to the evacuation terminal. Please commence evacuation by following the established route.”

“Damn,” Sophia cursed. “Why did this have to happen now of all times?”

“Come on, let’s get to the transporters,” Fayt said.

Twilight and Lyra heard the evacuation announcement. A grim expression adorned their faces.

“Looks like they’re here,” Lyra said.

Twilight nodded. “We need to stay close to the children; we can’t let the Vendeeni capture them.”

The two nodded in agreement and left their simulator room just in time to see Fayt and Sophia head toward the exit to the room. The two chased after the targets down the hallway and into one of the transporter rooms where an attendant was telling the patrons what the computer had said.

Fayt and Sophia picked a transporter and teleported to the evacuation terminal in the hotel’s basement. Twilight and Lyra followed quickly.

Fayt and Sophia quickly found Robert and Ryoko after they exited the transporter room. The two pairs were happy to see that the other was unharmed before they walked down the corridor to the transporter that would take them to the shelter.

The explosive sound of a breaching charge nearby alerted the Federation troops that the enemy had broken into the terminal. The troops rushed to investigate as a pair of pale skinned beings with fish-like heads wearing blue robes and carrying energy-based phase guns, which looked somewhat like assault rifles, emerged from the scene of the explosion. The two looked right toward the civilians and troops.

“Here they are,” One of the beings proclaimed. As the two intruders were moving to aim their weapons at the Federation soldiers, the beings felt a brief surge of heat in the air around them before they noticed that their guns had been cut in two by an energy weapon. The duo didn’t have time to be surprised before they were surrounded by a purple aura and lifted off the ground. The next thing they knew, they were flying into a metal wall where the impact knocked them unconscious.

“Thanks for the assistance,” one of the Federation guards said.

“It’s not over yet,” Lyra called out. “Get the civilians moving while we hold off the Vendeeni.”

Another wave of Vendeeni emerged from the breach and began firing their weapons at Twilight and Lyra who took cover around a corner. As the enemy moved toward the end of the hallway, a smoke bomb went off in front of them, halting their advance. A moment later, a piece of cloth wrapped around the waist of one of the Vendeeni and yanked him into the smoke. A small explosion was heard beyond the smoke nearly an instant later, throwing the Vendeeni into confusion. Lyra capitalized on that and rushed in to slice the remainder of the group in half with one of her blades.

“Take that!” shouted a familiar voice from behind the mares. The two look behind them to find Peppita next to a smoking, unconscious Vendeeni. They returned their eyes to the breached corridor as the smokescreen began to fade.

“Thanks for the help,” Twilight said. “But you should be evacuating with the others. We can handle these guys long enough for everyone to get to the transporter.”

“Send the incapacitators!” cried a Vendeeni soldier from beyond the breach. “We must break through their line before the targets get away!”

A few moments later, a number of four-legged robotic crawler drones emerged from the breach and began firing lasers. Twilight put up a shield around Peppita in time to prevent her from being injured by enemy fire.

A large man who accompanied Peppita saw what happened and became enraged before he grabbed one of the robots and hurled it at the others, smashing apart a few of them. “Don’t hurt the little lady!” the man yelled.

“Ursus, that was dangerous!” Peppita scolded.

While Peppita was busy scolding the circus strong man, Twilight and Lyra combined their respective electrical attacks and fried the circuitry of the remaining incapacitators.

Realizing that their assistance was no longer necessary, Peppita and the large man ran down the corridor to the transporter.

The Federation troops soon returned in time to see Twilight create a temporary blockade out of the remains of the robots. They decided not to question how some civilians managed to hold off the Vendeeni for as long as they did. “Everyone, thanks for holding them off,” one of the guards said. “The transporter is open now, get there quickly before they break through.”

“We have our own transportation, don’t worry about us,” Twilight said.

“But-” the guard was cut off by his partner who touched his shoulder. The other guard shook his head as a signal for his partner to drop the matter. The first guard sighed before he continued, “Very well, once the jammer is activated, you will be unable to use the transporter. Is that clear?” The two mares nodded. The two guards remained to keep an eye on the Vendeeni who survived while also making sure to strip them of their weapons so they wouldn’t be a threat when they woke up.

Twilight looked at Lyra before sighing in relief.“We’ve done all we can here, let’s return to the ship and make sure the evacuation ship reaches its destination.”

With that, Twilight brought up a holographic display that was used to interact with her ship before she pressed a few buttons and the two were transported away.”

A few minutes ago…

Fayt, Sophia, Robert and Ryoko looked at the two Equestrians who were fighting off the mysterious attackers. Seeing them in action filled Fayt with concern that the Ponies might get themselves killed fighting off actual soldiers. He grabbed a loose pipe and ripped it off the wall while preparing himself to help them.

“Fayt, don’t do something stupid,” Sophia ordered. “This isn’t the time to do that.”

“But they’re in danger! I have to help them,” Fayt countered weakly.

“She’s right, Fayt.” Robert said. “This isn’t the time for heroics.”

“But-” As Fayt said that word, he was punched hard in the gut by Sophia. He was unable to maintain consciousness after such a heavy blow and fell over. Sophia grabbed him and carried him on her shoulder. Robert and Ryoko were often surprised about how strong Sophia was despite her build, but now wasn’t the time for awe.

The group slowly moved down the hallway with the teenage girl carrying her dead weight.

“Did you have to knock him out?” Robert asked.

“He usually doesn’t see reason when he’s being hysterical. We didn’t have time to reason with him, with the current situation.” Sophia thought for a moment and remembered that Robert was about to identify the invaders before the earlier mess happened. “Who were those guys?”

“The Vendeeni,” Robert stated. “I’m not sure why they attacked since they were supposed to be neutral, but if I were to guess, it may have to do with our research.”

“Why would they go after us though?” Ryoko asked. “What would the Vendeeni want with our research?”

“I wish I could answer that, but whatever the case, they have likely taken an interest in our Symbological Genetics research. The attack was too perfectly timed for it to be a coincidence.”

“What could they gain from your research, Uncle Robert?” Sophia asked.

Robert smiled knowingly. He knew the answer to that but he couldn’t tell her, not yet. “You and Fayt will find the answer to that in time.” His smile quickly turned into a frown. “I’m afraid that we will have to go our separate ways soon. Myself and Ryoko will be their primary targets so we will be trying to escape back to Moonbase where we should be safe from the Vendeeni. However, you and Fayt will be targeted as well. I cannot tell you why, but you will figure it out on your own. Just know that no matter what happens or what you find out, your aunt and I both love you and Fayt very much.”

Sophia knew that Robert was being dodgy about the subject and it frustrated her that she couldn’t find out more. It was times like this that she wished that she could read minds.

The group entered the transporter room and were sent to the temporary shelter.

“Welcome to Iruba Shelter…” the greeting guard said before he noticed the young man being held over Sophia’s shoulder. Seeing the relaxed face on the girl left him confused. “Do I need to call for a medic?”

“Nah, he’ll be fine in a few minutes,” Sophia replied. “I had to knock him out because he was trying to be a heroic idiot.”

“Right…” the guard said slowly as the shock of imagining a skinny girl knocking out anyone ran through his mind. He shook his head to dismiss the imagery. “Anyway, you’ve been assigned to room #506. Please wait there until the rescue ship arrives. You’re free to move around the shelter as you wish but there are some restricted areas.”

Sophia, Robert and Ryoko thanked the guard and headed straight to their room in the southern hallway. Some of the refugees stared in awe at the sight of an unconscious Fayt being carried around by Sophia.

Once inside their room, Sophia placed Fayt on one of the beds while Robert and Ryoko chose their beds. Sophia chose the bed next to Fayt.

Fayt woke up a few minutes later groaning. “Ugh, what happened? Where am I?”

“You’re on a bed, in a room in an emergency shelter,” Sophia responded.

It took Fayt a few moments to recall what happened to him before he glared at his childhood friend. “Why did you do that!? Those Ponies needed help!” he said while raising his voice.

Sophia shrugged, “They looked fine to me. That aqua-colored one pulled off some impressive moves.” She wondered to herself if that Pony could teach her some of her moves if they ever meet again.

“They could be dead now because we didn’t–”

“That’s enough, Fayt!” Robert sternly stated. “Sophia is right, you would have gotten in their way while they had the situation handled. You need to be more aware of your situation before you consider the well-being of others.”

Fayt lowered his head and sighed. “Yes, dad.”

“Why don’t you two walk around the area to take your mind off your ordeal,” Robert offered.

Fayt nodded and left the room with Sophia.

Once outside, they spotted Peppita with the large man; Ursus, they believe they heard him named. They remembered that Peppita briefly assisted the two ponies in holding off the attackers. They decided to go inside the room the performers went into to see if they were alright.

As they entered, they saw the entire circus family in that one room. The short man, who appeared to be the ringleader, was about to begin discussing their plans before Fayt and Sophia entered.

“Fayt? Sophia? What are you two doing here?” Peppita asked.

“We came to see how you were doing,” Fayt answered. “That must have been a harrowing ordeal fighting those attackers like that.”

“They weren’t so tough, especially when taken by surprise.”

“You shouldn’t have been doing that in the first place, young lady,” said the blonde woman in a red dress who was standing next to the ringleader.

“Yes, maam,” Peppita said with a sad tone.

“I saw you carrying that boy around earlier,” said the man in a yellow and green clown outfit, addressing Sophia. “Might be interesting to see if you could beat Ursus in an arm wrestling contest, eh?”

Sophia giggled, “I’ll consider it.”

After Fayt and Sophia left the company of the circus troupe, they briefly explored the shelter only to quickly discover that there wasn’t much to see other than other rooms with beds and the transporter rooms. The other areas were restricted so they could only explore the other rooms.

With nothing else to see, they returned to their room and went to bed.

It was nearly four in the morning when an alarm went off. Fayt, Sophia, Robert and Ryoko slowly stirred from their sleep.

“Sounds like they’re going to make an announcement,” Fayt muttered.

The PA system chimed as the lights came on. “This is an update for all refugees. We now know that the recent raid on the resort planet Hyda was a surprise attack by Vendeen.”

“Vendeen?” Fayt thought. “I know they were at war with Aldian, but I didn’t think they were fighting the Federation too.”

The announcement continued, “Remote Station Seven mounted an attempt to defend Hyda IV but were thwarted by a tactical Vendeeni strike. Currently the Pangalactic Administration is scrambling ships from surrounding regions, but Vendeeni forces still have control over this sector. We request that all civilians begin boarding rescue shuttles for immediate evacuation to Remote Station Six. Please do not panic. Refer to the nearest console or attendant for further instructions.”

“Looks like it’s time to head out,” Sophia said.

The family gathered what belongings they could get during the escape and headed toward a transporter room.

Twilight and Lyra looked at the planet from the safety of their concealed ship. The Federation ships that had been scrambled to defend the planet were in combat with the Vendeeni battleships. The Pony Templar had a sorrowful expression on her face that showed a little frustration. She knew that there was nothing she or Twilight could do to help the situation and their ship was not equipped to fight a military vessel.

Lyra had stuck a tracker on Sophia’s clothing without her noticing so they would be able to track her position during the chaos. She did this while the girl was looking at Fayt getting scolded by Peppita for barging into her room earlier.

An alert from the ship informed Twilight that the tracker had just been transported onto one of the ships just outside the warzone. Sensors indicated that the ship was about to engage their gravitic warp engines.

Twilight was glad that Symbology wasn’t the only knowledge that Sphere had gained from the Eternal Sphere. Some scientific advances that the Koprulu humans didn’t have were learned from the simulated universe. Not even the Protoss were aware of the gravitic theory of warping which brought about a newer, faster method of warp travel than subspace warping that the Protoss and Humans were used to.

Thanks to that knowledge, Twilight’s ship was equipped with a gravitic warp drive. As the transport ship began warping out, Twilight engaged her ship’s drive and pursued the other ship.

Hardly two minutes passed before the transport ship and Twilight’s ship were knocked out of gravitic warp.

“What happened?” Lyra asked.

Twilight quickly analyzed the situation and discovered that a space-time anomaly disrupted the warp. Knowing what she did, she could only conclude that the ships had flown into a Vendeeni ambush. Thankfully, her ship was still not picked up on the Vendeeni sensors, but not so for the transport ship.

“This is bad,” Twilight said. “That ship stands no chance against that battleship.”

“Is there anything we can do?”

Twilight shook her head, “Our chances in a fight are no better than the frigate. They will most likely herd the civilians into the ship’s escape pods. Our best bet is to transport the Liengods to our ship. We can sneak away and escape once we’re outside the space-time anomaly.”

While the one-sided battle was progressing, both Ponies looked on with varying degrees of anxiety. After a few minutes of suspense, the ship began releasing its escape pods. Twilight quickly locked on to the one with the tracker and forcibly transported the pod’s occupant on board. A quick scan indicated that they had successfully brought Sophia on board.

After that, Twilight had to do a lot of scanning and guesswork in a very short amount of time. She quickly found the pods holding Robert and Ryoko Liengod and transported them onboard.

Twilight worked fast to locate Fayt’s pod but she managed to locate it…

…only for a Federation battleship to warp into the area, startling her and causing her to lock on to a different pod and transport that occupant instead. The appearance of the Federation ship also knocked Fayt’s pod off course.

All of the escape pods managed to move outside the anomaly and engage their miniature gravitic warp drives.

With an aggravated sigh, Twilight pressed her head against a wall in the cockpit. “Of all the rotten timing for that ship to show up.”

Twilight heard a shocked gasp come from her partner. She looked at Lyra and raised an eyebrow.

Lyra’s eyes didn’t leave the image she saw on the monitor that displayed the transporter room, but she did recognize the newest addition.

“Peppita?!”

Underdeveloped Planet

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Fayt woke up with a pounding headache. The turbulence caused by the arrival of a Federation vessel shook the escape pod so severely that he bumped his head hard on the walls of the pod which knocked him unconscious for a couple of hours. A small trickle of blood had poured down his head but had dried since then. Thankfully, escape pods were equipped with medical supplies such as painkillers.

Nothing had happened while he was knocked out and the pod was still travelling in gravitic warp space. Thanks to that Federation Battleship, Fayt knew that his pod was knocked off course and was no longer heading to Remote Station Six where he intended on reuniting with his family. He could only worry about what happened to them as he was now travelling in an unknown direction. Of course, he was in no position to be worrying about them right now and had to worry about himself.

First things first, he needed to find somewhere to land the pod because its supplies wouldn’t last him forever and there was no telling when rescue would arrive.

He addressed the onboard computer, “Computer, what is the current course for this pod?”

“At the current speed of warp six, we will arrive at the nearest inhabitable planet of Vanguard III within one hundred and forty-two hours.

“Vanguard III is located approximately zero point five lightyears from current location. Axial tilt of thirty-five degrees results in extreme seasonal weather. Existence of humanoid lifeforms confirmed. This planet has been classified as an underdeveloped planet. Civilization level: approximately equivalent to sixteenth-century Earth. Would you like to review the Underdeveloped Planet Preservation Pact?”

“Yes,” Fayt affirmed.

“The Underdeveloped Planet Preservation Pact was established in order to protect planets with developing civilizations. Contact with civilizations that have not reached a civilization level that nears the development of interstellar travel is strictly prohibited by Federation law. This is due to the fact that contact with advanced civilizations has a high probability of greatly influencing the history on a less developed planet. All individuals and organizations belonging to the Pangalactic Federation are required to adhere to the tenets of this pact, unless faced with a clear danger to life or limb. This pact is one of the most important components of Pangalactic Federation law. It also serves as a guideline for civilian conduct in emergency situations. Violators will be tried by the Federation Council.”

Fayt recalled his history lessons about the UP3 which came about as a result of actions caused by a small crew of explorers on a ship called the Calnus back in S.D. 10. The captain of the ship, Edge Maverick, interacted with several underdeveloped civilizations and influenced their development. One such example led to an alternate version of mid twentieth-century Earth to destroy itself along with the entire planet when they experimented with an exalithium core that was required for warp drives.

Since this was an emergency, Fayt resolved to not make any significant impacts on the Vanguardians.

Fayt made sure that there weren’t any foreseeable problems and had the computer scan him in case he had a concussion. While he did have a small concussion, it was nothing to worry about. Since he wasn’t going to be doing much for the next six days, he figured that he would be fine by the time he got to Vanguard III.

Twilight could only facepalm in response to the situation. For some reason, the Vendeeni have been quite persistent in their attempts to capture the Liengods. Even if they knew that Fayt and Sophia were genetically altered and they wanted the Symbological Genetics research, sending an armada to Hyda IV seemed a little extreme.

That wasn’t why Twilight facepalmed though. She was aggravated at the convenience of the arrival of a Federation battleship that not only knocked Fayt’s pod off course to Celestia knew where, but now they had the deal with an unintended guest in the form of a bouncy little circus performer.

She was going to be spending long hours tracking possible vectors to where Fayt went…unless…

Twilight quickly brought up a display and began using the Federation channels to locate any distress beacons from the escape pods. While there were many, only a few were moving along one of the possible vectors that the target pod went. All but one of those was still headed toward one of the remote stations. The last one was headed toward an unknown destination.

Twilight dearly hoped that that was Fayt’s pod.

Proximity sensors suddenly picked up on another ship entering the area, not far from their position. The make and model of the ship was inputted into the database and Twilight discovered that the ship was of Klausian origin. The only reason Twilight could figure for a Klausian ship to be in the area would be if they were members of Quark and were looking for Fayt.

While the nearby Federation and Vendeeni battleships were locked in combat with one another, the Klausian ship, small as it was, was ignored by the combatants. Twilight suspected that they took the opportunity to scan for distress beacons. It was a few minutes later that the ship began angling itself toward the vector that Twilight suspected where Fayt’s pod went. The ship moved in that direction with their gravitic warp engine beginning to activate. They would likely engage the engine once they were outside the anomaly zone produced by the Vendeeni ship.

Twilight was not about to let Quark get to Fayt first. While she knew that Maria was leading them, she also didn’t know enough about the second child to trust her because for all she knew, Maria could be seeking revenge on Doctor Leingod. Twilight needed to know what powers the children were given before something happened to them.

Twilight began activating her ship’s gravitic warp engine and moved out of the anomaly to pursue the Klausians and Fayt.

Meanwhile, Lyra decided to greet the new guests. She left Twilight to her calculations to see how the newest additions to the ship were holding up.

She quickly spotted the group looking around the hallway outside the transporter, checking the rooms. Lyra got their attention by calling out to them and waving, “Hey!”

The group quickly saw the aquamarine-colored mare and their eyes widened, surprised to see a familiar face. “You made it!” Peppita said. “I was worried that something happened to you since we didn’t see you at the shelter.”

Lyra laughed awkwardly, “Yeah, Twi and I transported to our ship once the civilians were evacuated.” She shook her head to drive away the awkwardness. “Anyway, my name is Lyra Heartstrings.”

The others introduced themselves in turn, even though Lyra already knew their names.

While the others had a friendly demeanor about them, Sophia narrowed her eyes in suspicion. Peppita noticed the look. “Sophia? What’s the matter?”

Sophia figured that she might as well come out and say what was on her mind since holding her piece was going to get her nowhere. “I have some questions: Out of the many civilians that you could have rescued, why did you rescue us? What about Fayt?”

Lyra’s awkward expression returned. “About that, to answer your second question, We intended on transporting Fayt here but a Federation ship appeared out of nowhere and knocked his pod off course and we ended up transporting Peppita instead.”

“So I’m only here by accident? Aww…” Peppita pouted. “Here I thought you brought me on board because of my awesome fighting skills.”

“To answer your first question, it’s because we know how important you are and why the Vendeeni are after you.”

Robert raised an eyebrow, “What exactly do you know about us? It’s clear that you’re no ordinary civilians.”

“Unfortunately, I’m not the one with all the details. I’m pretty sure my partner, Twilight, will be able to explain better.”

“Then we’ll wait.”

Twilight walked into the hallway a few minutes later. She and Robert approached one another before he spoke first, “Are you Twilight?”

Twilight nodded in affirmation. “Sorry for transporting you from your escape pods, I couldn’t risk the Vendeeni capturing you.”

“But can we trust you? How do we know that you’re no better than the Vendeeni?”

Twilight sighed, “I wish I could earn your trust Robert, but time is a luxury we can’t afford right now. Quark is looking for Fayt and the second child is leading the organization.”

If Twilight didn’t have Robert’s attention before, she had it now. He had no idea that Maria survived the tragedy that took the lives of the Traydors. Of course, he was also filled with a renewed hope for the universe. If what the mare in front of him said was correct and all three of the children still lived, there might still be a chance for the universe to be saved from the coming threat, even if it was a small one.

“I need to have a brief chat with my wife, excuse me for a moment.” Robert brought Ryoko to one of the cabin rooms. Twilight placed a silencing spell on the cabin door in case Peppita or Sophia became curious.

Sophia’s frustration was more evident than before. While she had picked up feelings of concern at times where such feelings weren’t appropriate, she didn’t think much of that before. Now, her aunt and uncle were acting suspicious and it made those prior feelings make more sense. She would have let the matter lie eventually except she was reasonably certain that the matter had everything to do with herself and Fayt. When Twilight mentioned a “second child”, Robert behaved like his secret might have been exposed and he was trying to run damage control.

Lyra picked up on Sophia’s frustration and tried to use an old trick that her first master, Tassadar, taught her to soothe the girl’s mind.

That was when Lyra felt something powerful coming from Sophia. When her psionic waves made contact with her mind, she felt those waves being sent back at her in the form of a feedback loop. Thankfully, the feedback was weak because her trick was not meant to bring harm to another’s mind. It was still enough to give Lyra a slight headache.

“Only someone with a decent level of psychic power could erect a mental barrier like that,” Lyra thought. “Just who is this girl?”

Since calming Sophia was out of the question now, Lyra had to take a direct approach to distract her from her family members. This was also a chance to learn more about Sophia’s mysterious powers.

“Hey,” Lyra spoke, getting Sophia’s attention, who responded with a glare. “Let’s take a walk around the ship, there’s actually something that I want to ask you.”

Curiosity mixed in with Sophia’s frustration. While she wasn’t happy with her aunt and uncle, and possibly her parents since they worked in the same lab together, keeping important secrets that seemed to be related to her, she also knew that she needed a distraction to keep herself from saying or doing something foolish.

“Can I come?” Peppita asked. “After everything that’s happened, I don’t wanna be alone right now.”

Lyra smiled, “Sure, let’s explore the ship together.”

A few minutes after Lyra, Sophia and Peppita walked away, Robert and Ryoko opened the door to their room. “Miss Twilight, can you come in here with us?” Robert asked.

“Just Twilight is fine,” Twilight responded. She entered the room.

The atmosphere in the cabin became tense as she entered. Robert had his arms crossed and Ryoko looked at her husband in concern. The room was cast in silence for a few moments as Robert stared at the purple mare before he finally spoke.

“What are your intentions for the children?”

Since Robert was in no mood for nonsense, Twilight gave the best answer she could without giving unnecessary info away. “As you know, my people have been interested in the science of Symbology. Our discoveries and yours have been exchanged over the centuries. Symbological Genetics is another field that my people have taken an interest in learning. I have also learned that you have produced three successful subjects in the children of your research group.”

“That research was supposed to be top secret. Only the upper echelons of the Federation should have had any knowledge of our project. Even then, I made sure to keep the existence of the third child hidden in a secret file on Moonbase. Even if you were a part of the Federation’s top brass, you shouldn’t have found out that Sophia was a subject too. How did you find out?”

“Are you really asking me that?” Twilight deadpanned. “I already know about who worked at your facility. The Leingods, the Traydors and the Esteeds; it’s not a huge leap in logic to make the assumption that you experimented on her too. My intention is to study the powers they gained and learn about how Symbological Genetics can benefit my people.”

Robert pinched the bridge of his nose under his glasses. “Do you have any idea what’s at stake here? The entire universe is in danger and all you can think of is how this benefits your people?”

“What do you expect us to do about that, Robert? What do you expect three genetically modified children to do against a universe-ending threat?”

Robert lowered his head and his voice to just above a whisper, the fatigue of the recent events catching up to him. “My greatest hope is for them to enter the realm of The Creator and convince him to spare our universe.”

This piqued Twilight’s interest, if Robert intended on having the children leave the Eternal Sphere and into the real world, then whatever powers the children had, despite being made of data, would have to alter their own existence, become able to interact with the real world, and even then, they would have to find a way to bridge the two universes. Since Twilight and Lyra were already connected to the real world, it would be interesting to learn how the children could form their own connection.

Robert looked Twilight in the eyes and spoke with a hint of desperation in his tone, “If you intend on studying the children, can I ask you to look after them for us? I don’t know about Maria’s status, but neither Fayt’s nor Sophia’s powers have manifested yet. Until they are ready to challenge The Creator, they need to gain experience through combat first. Please, help them become strong so that they might save our universe.”

Twilight wasn’t about to tell Robert that she was The Creator that he was preparing the children against, but perhaps Fayt, Sophia and Maria, could be guided to whomever released the virus into the Eternal Sphere. Of course, that was conditional to the experimental symbols actually working as designed.

Twilight smiled as she put a hand on Robert’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure your children survive their coming ordeal. Our mission hasn’t changed, it just means that we will be directly assisting them from now on. Me and Lyra will keep them safe.”

“Thank you so much,” Ryoko nearly shouted in gratitude.

The rest of the time was spent discussing less important aspects of science.

Meanwhile, Lyra, Sophia and Peppita were exploring the ship, finding that most of the rooms were cabins, the cockpit, the transporters, or a small cafeteria with food synthesizers.

Sophia quickly became bored of the tour and decided to move on to more important topics.

“So, what did you want to ask me?”

Lyra stopped, Peppita stopped a moment later, looking at the two in concern but stayed silent.

“What do you know about psychic powers?” Lyra asked.

“Huh!?” That caught Sophia off guard. She never expected anyone to ask a question like that. She shook her head to regain her composure. “Well, not much, I’m afraid. Psychics are very rare and few races are natural psychics.”

“Are you aware of your own psychic powers?”

“Yes, but the doctors said that I could feel the emotions of others at best. It’s not a very useful ability in general, but it might be somewhat useful for interrogations.”

“That can’t be right,” Lyra thought. “There is far too much psionic potential in her for her abilities to be limited to mere psychic empathy. She’s either lying or there is something going on within her that she’s completely unaware of. I’m pretty sure that what I felt before was merely the tip of the iceberg. If I’m to get some answers, I need to look inside her.”

“Let’s find a place to sit and relax at the cafeteria. I want to try something but I need your consent to do it.”

Sophia became even more curious, she could only wonder what Lyra intended as they returned to the cafeteria and found a place to sit. Peppita sat next to Sophia.

“I want to look into your mind, but I need you to relax as much as possible. This procedure is going to feel invasive, but I need to know what is going on inside your mind before I can try anything else.”

“Why?”

“Because your psychic powers are far greater than you are aware of, but for some reason you seem unable to access the vast majority of it. I want to find out why?”

Sophia felt unsure if she should allow Lyra in her head, but this was also a chance to get some answers about herself. For some reason, she felt like she could trust the pony in front of her. She nodded and closed her eyes, doing her best to relax.

Lyra took this as permission to continue so she began releasing analytical waves of psionic energy into Sophia’s mind. She was met with resistance, but not as much as earlier. Given what she went through, Lyra figured that this was the closest to calm that Sophia was going to get for a while.

It took some effort, but Lyra managed to break through the girl’s mental defenses. Looking through her mind, she saw some memories of her growing up, some sealed memories that Lyra decided to ignore and worry about later, and other parts of her mind.

While her mental processes appeared normal, it was when Lyra discovered a portion of the girl’s mind that was wrapped in psychic fog that piqued her curiosity. It took all of her effort to try to peer through the fog to discover what the girl’s own psychic powers were concealing.

The revelation shocked Lyra and broke her concentration, catapulting her from Sophia’s mind and causing her to fall back and onto the floor. She breathed hard for a few moments as she did her best to recover from the shock. She knew there was something odd about Sophia, but she never figured that that was the cause. Of course, it would explain the reports of enhanced strength and increased regeneration. The question was how did she come across them when they shouldn’t even be in this part of the galaxy.

Lyra now knew that the majority of Sophia’s powers were being used in keeping that thing suppressed so that it wouldn’t spread all over her body.

Lyra could only feel sad for Sophia who was unaware that her own body was a battlefield.

Six days later…

“Entering Vanguard III’s gravitational field. Prepare for entry turbulence.”

That was all the warning the computer gave before Fayt braced himself for the shaking to come as his pod entered the planet’s atmosphere.

Unfortunately, the pod wasn’t designed for landings and Fayt was anticipating a very rough crash landing. He took every precaution he could to make sure he didn’t hit his head again from the inevitable crash.

After a few minutes, the flames of atmospheric reentry dissipated from around the pod. It flew into what appeared on the screen as a small forest before the expected shaking from a violent impact as the pod touched ground and slid a few kilometers before coming to an abrupt stop.

Fayt looked around the pod and found that the impact had damaged nearly everything. It was easy to conclude that the pod was beyond repair. Some systems were still functional and he was thankful for that. The distress beacon was also functional.

It was time to assess his situation. He was currently on Vanguard III, an underdeveloped planet, he was stuck there until someone came to pick him up, being in a forest meant that he might have to deal with its denizens which meant that sleeping in the pod again might be a bad idea, and he doubted that the supplies were salvageable.

Fayt pulled out his portable standard issue quad scanner to analyze the area around him and found a village nearby. He also used the pod’s still-functioning replicator to create a longsword to use as he made his way to the village.

Along the way, Fayt encountered tiny, aggressive slime monsters that proved difficult to hit because of their size. While he managed to compensate for their size, the tiny slimes did manage to smack him in the face a few times. Fayt preferred fighting this type of creature over the other type that he found in the forest.

Fayt had heard stories about monsters that looked like humans dressed in garb from Earth’s Renaissance period and carried around toy pistols. While harmless, they were extremely aggravating. They invaded the personal space of travelers to complain to them. It appeared as if the creatures were born to annoy travelers. Whenever you beat them up a little, they begged you to spare their lives. If you spared them, they left treasures behind and fled, if you wounded them, they started running around in a reckless panic and tripping over themselves, scattering fol all over the place. While an adventurer who was short on funds would hunt these guys down, Fayt found them too annoying to be worth the energy to hunt.

While he did a lot of combat training in a simulator, Fayt was lacking in stamina as the battles, combined with the the long trek through the forest and potential jet lag from travelling in a pod for six days with little to do since he had to take it easy because of a concussion had begun to hit him all at once. Overwhelming fatigue struck him as he began to shamble toward the village.
He had just made it to the edge of the village before the fatigue had won the battle in his mind and he dropped his sword before falling to his knees and then on his face.

His last moment of consciousness was spent listening to approaching footsteps.

Norton

View Online

Six days had passed aboard Twilight’s ship. During that time, Twilight and the Liengods discussed their knowledge of Symbology and other scientific areas. The conversations allowed the Leingods to gradually relax around the Ponies.

Lyra had not been very cheerful since she learned about Sophia’s secret. For her powers to be nearly fully committed to keeping an infestation at bay without trying to eliminate it was a mystery. Another mystery would be why the girl’s powers were even acting against it in the first place. Normally, one would need to actively use their psychic powers to deal with an infestation but those powers were acting without the knowledge of the host. Lyra had never seen such a phenomenon in the thousand years she had been alive.

This was one mystery that was going to take some time to solve.

Peppita had kept the crew entertained by performing dances in the cafeteria. She mentioned that she could perform symbology by channeling it through her dances. Apparently, the circus performer had learned to use unusual symbols that were not commonly used but still fell into the attack, support, or healing categories.

She demonstrated this by invoking a large symbol on the ground while she danced. Once the symbol was complete, she unleashed it in the form of a healing wave that affected everyone in the room.

Twilight evaluated the ability and while it had its uses, it had far too much channel time and she could easily be interrupted if a foe were smart enough to attack her. If Peppita was going to come along on the journey, Twilight would need to find a way to improve her symbological efficiency.

Sophia was evaluated next. Twilight applauded her skills as a mage. The girl was able to cast her spells efficiently and on the move like she could, which would mean that she could be a useful tactical asset without being a burden on her allies.

Lyra, however, seemed to frown as she watched.

Twilight noticed her partner’s expression. “What’s the matter, Lyra?”

Lyra grumbled then sighed. “It’s not that I don’t think her casting skills are bad, but she has so much power in her and she’s unable to use it. So much potential and it’s being wasted on an internal war.”

“There’s not much I can do about that,” Twilight said. “The only ones who could help her in this situation are you and Sweetie Drops.”

“I can’t do anything to the infestation except burn it, which in this case would likely kill Sophia. I do have an idea though, but I want her to come to me, ready and willing to accept and commit to my offer. I just hope that she doesn’t drown in her own power if she does accept.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it too much, Lyra.” Twilight put a hand on her partner’s shoulder. “You’re one of the best trainers in Equestria. If anyone can teach her to control her powers, it’s you.” Lyra smiled in response.

An alarm blared briefly to alert the occupants of the ship before an announcement was made by the ship’s computer.

“We have arrived at the last known coordinates of the escape pod. We are currently holding orbit over Vanguard III, an underdeveloped planet. Please review to the Underdeveloped Planet Preservation Pact if transport to the surface is intended. Civilization level: equivalent to sixteenth-century Earth.”

Twilight frowned before she looked at Lyra. “Take Sophia and Peppita and head down to the surface. Gear Sophia for battle and use the replicator to make her a staff. I don’t know if the people down there have knowledge of Symbology so don’t cast spells while the natives are looking.

“One other thing, since we are trying to avoid using tech, and while I know that you can turn your armor into something fitting, you can’t use your energy blades down there. I’d suggest using the replicator to craft yourself a pair of wrist blades.”

Lyra nodded before getting up and taking the children to the ship’s armory, which Lyra purposefully avoided while giving a tour to the children earlier.

There, Sophia was outfitted in a black sleeveless suit, a blue short jacket with an armored mantle, a black knee-length skirt, and blue boots. She was given a blue rod with a crescent moon shape at the end colored in shades of blue, pink and yellow with a purple crystal orb in the center. For some reason, Sophia never truly felt comfortable using the staff, but it was the only weapon she knew how to use.

Lyra crafted a pair of leather armbands with retractable blades. She did cheat a little by enchanting the blades to extend to a longer length than the blades had any business being so she wouldn’t feel like her normal attack range was affected. While she wouldn’t be able to cut through her foes like before, she still had plenty of tricks available to her.

Peppita was fine with what she was wearing.

Once the trio was prepared, they headed to the transporter to head down to the planet in search of Fayt.

Earlier…

Fayt groaned as he opened his eyes and slowly sat up. Surprisingly, he felt well rested despite his recent stressful experiences.

He then recalled the strange dream he had before he woke up. He was in a place that resembled the evacuation facility and there was fire everywhere. His parents and Sophia were on the other side of a wall of fire while being in the line of fire of several Vendeeni troops. Just as they were about to fire at his family, however, a deep blue light flashed before his eyes before he saw Sophia, clad in blue armor and wielding energy blades on her wrists, rushing at the soldiers faster than he thought possible and cutting them down. After that, the blaze died down and he was soon embraced by his family and loved ones. That was the last thing he remembered before he woke up.

After assessing himself, he started scanning his surroundings. The room he was in appeared run down with wooden crates and barrels in one corner of the room with a table and two chairs next to the crates. There was a wooden bookshelf in another corner in front of him that contained less books and more plants, dishes and bottles; probably used as a pantry. To his right was another bookshelf that contained more books.

Fayt had to remind himself that he was on a planet with medieval technology.

A small child with maroon hair wearing a red shirt with sleeves that were too long for her and a green vest walked into the room and noticed that her guest was awake. Her ears were long and pointed.

She was carrying a tray with a pitcher and a cup. She placed the tray on the nearby table. “I’ll leave some water here, okay?” she said. She then hurried out of the room yelling for someone named “Niklas”.

A few moments later, an older boy, yet still a child, with the same ears as the girl walked into the room with the girl behind him. He wore a green shirt and a vest that matched his hair color, which was the same color as the girl’s hair. The resemblance told Fayt that the two were likely brother and sister.

“Are you feeling well? Does it hurt anywhere?” the boy asked.

“No, I’m not hurting anywhere,” Fayt responded.

“That’s a relief, my little sister, Meena,” he gestured to the girl next to him, “found you collapsed just outside our village. I carried you to our home.”

“I see, thank you both for rescuing me.”

“It was nothing, really.”

“Still, I should at least introduce myself, my name is Fayt Leingod.”

“I’m Niklas, and you have already met Meena.” Niklas paused for a moment before his expression tensed. “Your clothes and ears are different from anything we usually see around here. Are you one of Norton’s men?”

“Norton? Who’s that?”

“You don’t know Norton?” Fayt shook his head in response to Niklas’ question. The boy relaxed his posture. “In that case, never mind. My apologies for the odd question.”

After that, the siblings insisted that Fayt get more rest. Now that he thought about it, his muscles were feeling a little sore from his sudden burst of activity after taking it easy for a week.

Niklas left the room, leaving Fayt alone with Meena again. “He looks so young, yet so mature for his age,” he observed.

“He takes good care of me. After mommy and daddy vanished in a flash of light, Niklas promised to be the best big brother ever.” Tears fell from her eyes as memories of her parents resurfaced. She excused herself and walked out of the room.

With nothing else to do, Fayt returned to his slumber.

It was midday when Fayt woke up again. He got out of bed to stretch his muscles before he began exploring the village.

He noticed that his sword was missing, probably kept hidden by Niklas. He didn’t need it for exploring the area so he let the matter lie for the time being.

He learned that the village was called Whipple and the villagers were very wary of him. He also learned that the source of the village’s wariness was because their first encounter with a stranger ended up with the village being under the oppression of someone named Norton. Fayt couldn’t blame the villagers for how they felt.

Fayt noticed that Norton had left a sign in the middle of the village that detailed his demands in the form of a long list of “commandments” that would leave the mind reeling from trying to read all of them.

With nothing else to see, Fayt returned to Niklas and Meena’s house.

Fayt quickly spotted Meena looking at what appeared to be a music box. When he asked about it, Niklas entered the room and explained that the box came from their mother and was the only thing they had left to remember her. He also mentioned the box being broken.

Fayt figured that he could use the pod’s replicator to synthesize parts for the box if he returned to it. He did want to repay the siblings’ kindness, after all.

In order to traverse the forest again, however, Fayt needed his sword. With some reluctance, Niklas gave back the sword that he had confiscated from Fayt when he was unconscious.

Armed once more, Fayt left the village and entered the forest again, once again fighting off tiny slimes and irritating noblemen.

Thankfully, he was well rested this time and was in better condition to make the trek through the forest.

What came as a surprise to Fayt was when he returned to the escape pod and noticed the new state of the pod. The hull had been ripped apart and there were components and equipment missing from the wreckage. This could only mean that someone salvaged the pod parts.

This didn’t make sense though, there was no way for the residents of the planet to know what parts to salvage.

Fayt began to suspect that he wasn’t the only offworder on Vanguard III right now. He didn’t want to believe that to be the case but it was the only explanation that made sense in this situation. If the mysterious Norton, who the villagers mentioned made people disappear with a flash of light, really was an offworlder, then he was likely breaking the tenets of the UP3.

Speculation was getting him nowhere, so with nothing left for him to do, he returned to Whipple.

Niklas and Meena happily welcomed Fayt back to their house, relieved for his safety. Niklas mentioned that Norton’s gang was last seen in the forest where Fayt went and feared that he would end up encountering them.

“What can you tell me about Norton and his gang?” Fayt asked.

This made Niklas tense and lower his head before he took a deep breath and began, “I do not know everything myself. He…Norton appeared suddenly in our village about half a year past. He ordered the village to supply him with food. Of course, we refused at first. The village needs its supplies to survive the harsh winter. He was, in fact, ordering the village to die. But when people refused him, he called upon this mysterious light and those it touched disappeared, one after the other. Our family and friends have all disappeared, including our parents.

“We told our lord, but he dismissed the idea of people with such a power to be utter nonsense and refused to send aid. Some of the villagers have even joined Norton’s gang out of fear.”

Fayt suspected what that light might be, but needed a little more info to be sure. “You mentioned before about my clothes and ears.”

“Yes, Norton also wore clothes that were neither linen nor cotton like yours, it was why I feared you were associated with Norton before. Your ears were shaped like his as well.”

There was no doubt about it, Norton was not from this world. For him to strip the pod like he did, he would need to have knowledge of the equipment to do so.

The mysterious light was either Symbology or an energy weapon, or both.

It seemed dangerous, but he felt that he needed to have a talk with Norton. Even though he was convinced that that was a bad idea, Fayt had no other options on how to get off the planet since the distress beacon was disabled. If Norton had a means to get off the planet, it may be his only chance.

While Fayt assured Meena that he would get the music box parts, Niklas insisted that he didn’t need to do anything to repay them. However, Fayt was already determined to do just that.

Fayt, Niklas and Meena enjoyed a meal together. As they ate, Fayt noticed that Niklas seemed distant while his sister was bombarding Fayt with probing questions. Whenever Fayt said anything to Niklas, the boy was either startled from his thoughts, gave some noncommittal grunts, or paid no attention to Fayt.

After he finished, Niklas excused himself and left the house. Fayt kept Meena company for a few hours. It was evening but Niklas had not come back yet. The younger sister was worried that something had happened to him so Fayt decided to go looking around the village for Niklas.

He soon discovered that Niklas was nowhere to be found in the village and asked the villagers where he could have gone. Most kept silent while some gave harsh comments. At least one villager was nice enough to tell Fayt about the nearby ruins that Norton was staying at. That villager prayed that Niklas had not ventured to those ruins but it seemed to be the best place to find the boy at this point.

Fayt left the village and into the forest. The mentioned ruins were, thankfully, nearby so he entered the ruins in search of Niklas.

At the same time, Lyra, Peppita and Sophia had finally located the pod. Much to everyone’s surprise, the pod was stripped.

“That’s strange,” Peppita commented. “Do you think Fayt needed the parts for something?”

“I don’t think Fayt did this,” Sophia said with a shake of her head. “He’s fully aware of the UP3 and would never do something that would risk exposing advanced technology to an underdeveloped planet.”

“Regardless, we need to destroy the pod,” Lyra said. “We can’t leave the wreckage here for the natives to find.”

Lyra gathered her psionic powers and charged a large amount of energy. Sophia and Peppita moved behind the mare to brace for the coming blast.

A few moments later, the pod was engulfed in a raging maelstrom of psionic power and was quickly disintegrated.

“I wonder if I can do that,” Sophia thought. She learned that she had a lot of power within her but no way of letting it out at present. Seeing the display of power Lyra unleashed made Sophia curious about her own power and what she could be capable of.

The trio trekked through the forest, dealing with any aggressive lifeforms along the way. One nobleman ran up to Sophia whining, “What do you think you’re doing?” That creature was grabbed by Peppita’s cape and slammed into a tree before she summoned a trio of knives made of ice out of thin air and used her cape to smack the knives into the nobleman’s body. Sophia burned a few slimes with a Fire Bolt.

Their trek took them to the entrance of a ruin. They hid in some nearby foliage when they noticed someone else in the area. The man had blonde hair, wore tight black clothes, and had a pair of gauntlets designed as weapons. He looked around long enough to give the group a view of his ringed neck tattoo.

The man casually walked into the ruins and began searching for something. Lyra activated her Shadow Walk ability to become invisible and extended its effect onto Peppita and Sophia. The trio followed the man around the ruins.

In the first area, Lyra noted the number ‘2’ on one of the walls that was painted on it. Whether that was paint or blood, none of them preferred to know.

Beyond the first area, the trio watched as the man engaged noblemen as well as another humanoid creature that looked dressed as a thief wielding a knife. As Lyra figured, the man fought with his fists and feet. She also noticed that he had a style to his fighting which suggested that he was a martial artist. That became evident when he generated a sphere using his spirit which unleashed short range shockwaves.

The group continued to explore the ruins and eventually discovered a painted ‘5’ in a small alcove.

Another enemy faced the fighter in the form of mushroom people. These creatures looked like giant mushrooms with thick arms and a face at the stipe. There were smaller versions of that foe accompanying it, likely younger versions of the big enemy.

The mushroom monsters shrieked when the fighter got near them. This caused the man to clutch his head in pain before he kicked the creature away. Since that attack, the martial artist’s movements became more sluggish. This suggested to Lyra that he was lacking in mental fortitude.

While he was able to defeat the mushroom monsters, he verbally made a note to himself to avoid those creatures in the future.

The group eventually found a mostly intact building and a trio of Vanguardians in a twitching pile. There was a ‘6’ painted on the wall.

“At least the kid can fight,” the man mumbled.

“I wonder who they are,” Sophia thought.

That thought was read by Lyra. “No idea, maybe bandits,” she responded. “Ruins are often used as hideouts for small-time gangs.”

While the response surprised Sophia slightly, she realized that she shouldn’t have been since she knew Lyra was actively psychic. Mind reading and telepathy should have been expected.

The fighter checked the door into the building and pushed it open before heading inside. Thankfully, he didn’t bother closing it so it was easy for Lyra’s group to sneak inside.

The first room they came across appeared to be a storeroom. Everyone’s guess was that the thugs outside stored whatever they stole in this room. Crates and barrels were stacked all over the room while leaving a path to the next room clear. Seeing nothing of value, everyone moved on to the next room.

Fayt was spotted fighting his way down a corridor against a few animated skeletons which made Lyra wonder why anyone would choose to hide out in a building that was saturated in necromantic magic.

Regardless, the fighter headed in the direction Fayt went while Lyra’s group went another direction when they discovered a light coming from a room that Fayt had exited from.

Inside, they noticed that the room appeared to be housing high-tech equipment. The equipment was set up in such a way that whoever lived here knew their way around advanced machinery. They quickly figured that the equipment came from Fayt’s escape pod. Lyra made a note to destroy the equipment later.

A nearby explosion drew their attention away from the discovery. Whatever happened, it came from the direction Fayt and the fighter went. Lyra, Peppita and Sophia rushed out of the room and down the hallway to the only door at the end where they saw the blonde stranger lurking around the doorway.

Before anyone could say anything, someone inside the next room shouted “FREEZE” before the sound of shots being fired was heard.

Not wanting to escalate the situation more than necessary, the fighter and Lyra’s group eavesdropped on the conversation in the next room, the man still being unaware of the invisible group next to him.

Fayt called the other person Norton who appeared to have a huge ego given that he gave himself the title of “Norton the Great”. Fayt also pointed out that Norton was using a phase gun and that he was not from Vanguard III. Norton confirmed this by mentioning that he was from Rezerb.

Lyra quietly queried the Sphere database for information on Rezerb and learned that the planet was a criminal haven.

Descriptions of Rezerbian biology indicated that they had features that resembled vampires, based on their sensitivity to sunlight and their ability to drain the fluids of other people. The people were egomaniacal in general and often committed atrocious acts for their own amusement.

According to Norton’s monologue, he was captured by the Federation and was sentenced to live on a prison planet. Norton sabotaged the engines of the prison transport and escaped to Vanguard III while the ship blew up, killing the entire crew before they were aware of the sabotage.

Apparently, Norton now intended to take over Vanguard III and rule it for the rest of his days. He had no care for the lives he took along the way as long as he realized his dream of living like a king.

There was also a mention of his minions bringing someone named Niklas to him. Apparently, the child demanded to the minions to see Norton and demanded to him that he return Fayt's belongings. That ended up with Norton torturing the kid until he was rendered unconscious in one of the nearby cells.

“This guy is the worst kind of scum,” thought Lyra, the fighter and Fayt at the same time.

As Norton reached the end of his monologue and prepared to kill Fayt, the boy’s temper began to spike as his hatred toward the monster before him rose. That was when Fayt began to glow, thaumic levels beginning to rise sharply.

“This is bad,” Lyra thought as she sensed the spike. “If those thaum readings continue to rise, he could collapse the building on top of everyone.”

That was when the blonde fighter had enough and casually walked in, drawing everyone’s attention. “Ah, there you are,” he said. The surprise entrance caused Fayt to lose focus on Norton and the glow faded. “I thought I lost you when your distress signal went out. Took me a lot of effort to track you here.”

“What do you want?” Norton demanded. “You’re not one of them Federation guys are ya?”

“Ha, good one,” the fighter remarked. “As if I’d be associated with those bastards. The name’s Cliff Fittir, a Klausian and member of Quark.”

Norton took a step back in surprise. “A K-Klausian!? Why the hell would Quark even come to this planet in the first place?”

Cliff pointed at Fayt, “Look, just let me have Fayt, that Earthling over there, and we can leave you to whatever you wanna do to this world. I have no intention of butting in to whatever you’re doing here.

While Fayt had no idea how this Cliff knew who he was, that was a matter to look into later when they didn’t have a phase gun pointed at them.

“You think I’ll believe that crap?” Norton yelled. “There’s no way a Klausian would come here. You’re some sort of Federation spy!”

Cliff rolled his eyes, “Look, I’m trying to be nice here. Just drop the matter and let us leave in peace before things get messy.”

Norton was having none of that and started firing at Cliff. The Klausian nimbly dodged each of Norton’s shots and quickly closed the gap between them. Cliff punched Norton in the chest and into a wall in response. “I warned ya.”

Norton responded by sending a series of Fire Bolts at Cliff who couldn’t dodge them like he could the shots because of the fiery balls’ ability to change direction. A few bolts hit their mark and scorched Cliff a little.

Norton used the distraction to move behind Fayt and pointed his gun at his head. “Make one move and I’ll blow this kid’s head off.”

That was when Norton received a sudden kick to the gut from a hoof and was sent flying through the bars of an empty prison cell.

Cliff was surprised by the sudden arrival but relieved when this newcomer prevented a hostage situation. “Thanks for the assist. I dunno who you are but that doesn’t matter right now.”

Norton emerged from the prison cell looking battered. His dark eyes widened in surprise at the newcomer in the form of Lyra. “Now I have to deal with an Equestrian?!”

“Don’t forget about us,” said Sophia who revealed herself alongside Peppita who Norton recognized as a Velbaysian.

Norton grit his teeth. He was in an unfavorable situation against two Earthlings, a Klausian, a Velbaysian and an Equestrian. He was greatly outnumbered and outclassed in strength, especially since the Klausian and Velbaysian were naturally very strong. However, he refused to let his ambitions end here.

“This world…is mine! This is my kingdom! As it’s ruler, I will see you all die!” Norton declared.

“He seems to be losing it,” Lyra thought.

Norton continued the fight by launching a wave of Ice Needles while mixing in shots from his rifle. Cliff took a few hits and ended up frozen when the needles spread a chill through his body. Sophia noticed this and cast a Cure Condition symbol on Cliff to thaw him. Lyra’s energy shield absorbed most of the needles and shots. Peppita retaliated by throwing a series of Frozen Daggers at Norton who blocked the knives with his gun.

Norton took advantage of the small space to unleash an Earth Glaive spell at everyone in front of him. The group had enough space to jump out of the way of the erupting spikes of rock with some difficulty.

Fayt moved in to unleash a series of slashes from his longsword which were either dodged or parried by Norton’s rifle. He kicked Fayt away in time to duck under a punch from Cliff which was aimed for his head. Cliff had to jump back to avoid a few pointblank rounds from Norton's rifle.

Norton noticed Sophia channeling attack symbols and quickly fired a few shots at her to either kill her or force her to move and interrupt the cast. Sophia was forced to abandon the cast and jump to the side to avoid getting hit. When she attempted to cast on the move, Norton increased the pressure on her with an Earth Glaive. “Dammit, casting takes too long and he’s keeping me pressured despite all the pressure on him.”

As Norton fired more rounds at Fayt and Sophia, Lyra was losing her patience with the madman. The fighting was damaging the ancient structure and if they didn’t finish things now, they could all be in danger.

Lyra lowered her guard on purpose and Norton picked up on that before using his free arm to grab her by the neck and his other arm pointing his weapon at her head. “Put down your weapons or I’ll drain her of her blood.” Norton demanded. Everyone hesitated for a moment before they lowered their arms. Norton relaxed a little, believing that he was victorious.

That was the moment when Lyra smirked as her eyes glowed crimson. Using her power to channel Void energies, she quickly drained Norton of his life force. Norton didn’t have time to react before he realized that exhaustion was quickly taking him. He screamed in pain as his life force left him. A moment later, he lacked the strength to lift his rifle and dropped it on the floor. He let Lyra go and fell to the floor himself.

Lyra interrupted the drain while leaving Norton with just enough life to not be in immediate danger. He was left emaciated on the floor. To ensure that he was no longer a threat to the locals, she made sure to strip him of his armor and weapon, leaving him with only the bare minimum of clothes. Without the armor, Norton wouldn’t be able to venture into the sunlight again without a parasol or something to block the light.

While removing his armor, Lyra secretly inscribed a symbol onto him that would prevent him from using symbols. It was a symbol devised by the Equestrians that was not shared with the denizens of the Eternal Sphere for security purposes. While there was a Silence symbol to prevent casting, the one Lyra used was permanent.

Norton was left where he fell while the group returned to the room with the pod equipment. Fayt carried Niklas with him. He then put the unconscious boy down and used the replicator to create some music box parts and a number of bombs to destroy the equipment while minimizing further damage to the structure. Once the bombs were set, everyone left the basement, with Fayt carrying an unconscious Niklas, and the explosives were detonated.

Now that the danger had passed, Fayt moved to hug Sophia, glad to see her again. Peppita hugged Fayt from behind.

Lyra used the replicator earlier to create a can of paint. Using that paint, she placed information about Norton being inside and a warning about sunlight being dangerous for him in case the natives were looking for a way to deal with him.

Once that moment was over, Cliff handed Fayt a spare communicator so he could understand alien languages again when he saw him detonate communicator to open Niklas' prison door earlier. “Thanks,” Fayt said. “And thanks for coming to my rescue.”

Cliff shook his head, “Don’t go thanking me just yet. Ya see, I’ve come to abduct you.”

Conversations and Crashes

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“Would you care to repeat that with context this time?” Lyra deadpanned. “You sounded like you wanted to ransom Fayt.” Her eyes glowed a faint red as a show of intimidation which Cliff picked up on. A shiver ran down the Klausian’s spine.

“Uhh, right,” Cliff verbally stumbled. “Look, my boss wants to talk to Fayt about something. I can’t say what it is though.”

“Does it have to do with the Leingod Symbological Genetics experiments?” Cliff tensed at Lyra’s casual mentioning of sensitive information.

“What do you mean?” Fayt asked. “What does my father’s work have to do with me?”

Cliff struggled to find something to say. He didn’t want to give too much away with Fayt as an audience, but the mare before him was not making it easy.

Lyra picked up on that and placed a hand on Cliff’s arm. “You kids talk among yourselves, me and this guy need to have a chat.” She then teleported herself and Cliff to a distant area of the ruins. From where they appeared, Cliff fell to his hands and knees and struggled to keep his last meal from spilling onto the ground.

“You really need to work on your mental fortitude,” Lyra commented.

“Easy..for you to say,” Cliff said while panting. “Klausians are born with strength and stamina well above most races in the galaxy; the high gravity of our planet doesn’t do a thing for our minds. Whatever you did left me disoriented and nauseous.”

Lyra rolled her eyes while Cliff managed to get off the ground and avoid losing the contents of his stomach. “Are you ready for our chat yet?”

Cliff took a moment to calm his mind. He took a deep breath and responded, “Yeah, first off, who are you? Second, how do you know about the Leingod experiments?”

“The name’s Lyra Heartstrings. I have my own mission related to the Leingods and the children. My boss for this mission wants to learn more about the symbological genes placed into the three children. She has access to the Federation’s most guarded files.”

“Hang on, is your boss part of the Federation? Also, three?!”

“For the first question, yes and no. My boss operates the Federation through proxy but from what she said, I can guess that there are some corrupt elements within the government that try to undermine her authority; the Invisible for example. Second, I’m sure Maria knows the three surnames of the Leingod research team. Did she really not suspect that there would be a third from among the Esteeds?”

“Ya got a point there. So what was the deal with The Invisible, anyway?”

“From what my boss told me, the captain of that ship went rogue and tried to take out Quark for his own glory. Even if he succeeded, only a court martial awaited his return.”

“A vigilante, huh? Figures. Anyway, From what Maria gathered, her symbological power is called Alteration and Fayt’s is called Destruction, what’s Sophia’s?”

Lyra shrugged, “That we don’t know. The records only showed Maria’s power turning a quantum torpedo into a weapon capable of bypassing a ship’s shielding and destroying it in one go. My boss may have her suspicions though. She’s good at figuring things out as long as there’s a scientific explanation.”

Lyra paused for a moment before she smirked. “Also, my boss may want to tell Maria to work on her subtlety when she’s hacking into government databases.”

Cliff raised his eyebrows in surprise before he struggled and failed to hold back laughter. Lyra ended up joining the laughter a moment later. The two laughed for a few seconds before Cliff responded, “Yeah, everyone else on the Diplo knew of her attempts at getting into databases she shouldn’t have been messing around in. Not like we could stop her though, she’s quite the determined one. All we could do was keep an eye on her and make sure she didn’t get into any trouble. I figure if your boss knew of her hacking, she must have been covering for her.”

“Pretty much,” Lyra shrugged. She then schooled her expression, getting back on topic. “So what are Maria’s intentions? We know what she knows about the experiments, but we don’t know if she is planning revenge on the Leingods or something. I want to know if we can trust you and Maria.”

“I dunno all the details about Maria’s intentions, figure that she wants to know why she was experimented on so she can move on with her life. She didn’t seem too bitter about it, mainly confused and determined for answers.”

“I see,” Lyra responded. “As long as there’s no malice, then it should be fine to allow Fayt to meet Maria.”

“Yeah, but we need to keep Fayt in the dark about his powers until we can find a way to break it to him that won’t risk triggering them,” Cliff warned. “His power being Destruction, I figure that no matter where he awakens, something’s getting destroyed. I’d rather it not be me or his loved ones.”

Lyra nodded in agreement.

“One last thing, you know what happened to Fayt’s parents?” Cliff asked. “We couldn’t find any trace of them after the Helre was attacked.”

“They’re safely aboard my boss’s ship. Fayt will probably want to see them.”

Cliff nodded. With that, all relevant topics had been discussed so Lyra prepared another teleport back to the others. Cliff closed his eyes and held his breath, anything to prepare himself for the disorienting effects of the teleport. It helped somewhat as he was able to fight off the nausea more easily this time.

While the children weren’t at the destination, it didn’t take long for Lyra and Cliff to catch up to the others who were heading toward the exit of the ruins. Sophia informed the two that Fayt wanted to get Niklas back to Whipple and take care of a couple of things before he left the planet. One being that he wanted to fix the kid’s music box.

The return was uneventful. Fayt was the only one who entered the village because having others go with him would have led to problems they didn’t need. Fayt informed the villagers that Norton was no longer as much of a threat as before and told them about some features about Norton that they didn’t know in case they wanted to deal with him. The villagers quickly decided that Norton was a vampire. Fayt let them believe that for simplicity.

Once Niklas was safely returned and the music box fixed, Fayt quietly left the village.

While they were waiting, Sophia decided to ask Lyra something. “Hey, Lyra, do you think you could teach me how to fight?”

Lyra looked at her in confusion, “What brought this on? It’s not like you did poorly against Norton.”

“I know, but when I saw you fight at the evacuation facility on Hyda, I realized that there was something missing from my life. All my life I’ve had urges to go out and find someone to fight. My parents have tried to help me to control the urges through competitive sports, like fencing. They figured that I could get it out of my system if I enrolled into a Federation military academy. It turned out that I had a knack for strategy and tactics. My parents didn’t want me doing front line fighting though so they enrolled me in the Combat Symbology ROTC program at my school.

“Until Hyda, I figured that was as good as my life was going to get. When I saw you fight, I realized how empty I felt. I had a sense of longing to be able to fight like you can.”

That was an unexpected answer that Lyra heard. While some Humans were prone to a desire for strength and power, the way Sophia described her urges made Lyra wonder if there was something alien mixed in with her DNA, aside from the genetically modifying infestation and the Symbology. It almost appeared as if part of her heritage involved some warrior race.

The mystery of Sophia deepened.

Still, if the girl was willing to learn from Lyra as a means to satisfy her urges, it was probably as close to a declaration of commitment as she could have hoped.

“The style of fighting that I use is referred to as the Templar Arts,” Lyra began. “This style comes in three forms from what I have discovered. All three of them involve a combination of hand to hand combat and psionic powers. Two of them involve using those psychic powers to channel Void energies in different ways. One of the two use it to cloak themselves in shadow which allows for a wide variety of assassination techniques. The other uses those energies in destructive ways. One such way I demonstrated on Norton, by using Void energy to drain his life force.”

This small amount of information stirred a feeling of excitement from within Sophia. In fact, she had never felt this level of excitement before in all her life. Compared to her previous reactions to taking part in competitive sports and joining her school’s ROTC, this feeling felt foreign, yet so natural at the same time, as if being a Templar warrior was her destiny and the time had come to seize that destiny.

“Are you willing to fully commit to the ways of the Templar?” Lyra asked. “Are you willing to forsake the path of the mage for the path of the assassin?”

Sophia nodded vigorously, “Of course, although, I would still like to learn to fight with symbology on the side. It gives me another weapon in my arsenal.”

Lyra smiled. “Good answer, never hurts to have secondary weapons as long as you have enough proficiency to use them effectively in combat.”

Fayt returned from the village and rejoined the group. Lyra invited Cliff to her ship while Fayt was talking with his parents. Cliff accepted, then activated the communicator on his wrist.

“Hey, it’s me. Slight change in plans. Got the kid with me but we’re visiting the nearby Equestrian ship briefly. Huh? Whaddya mean you can’t pick it up on your sensors? Don’t see why they would lie. Right. I’ll be there soon.” Cliff ended his transmission.

Lyra activated her own communication link to Twilight and requested transport. A few moments later, the group was transported one by one aboard the Equestrian ship.

It wasn’t long after they left the transporter room that Fayt saw his parents in front of him. In his elation, Fayt rushed over to hug his parents. “After everything that happened, I thought you might have been captured or killed by the Vendeeni.”

“We might have been captured if it weren’t for Twilight and Lyra. They transported us to their ship after we launched our escape pods,” Robert said.

Fayt then turned to bow to Lyra, “Thank you so much!”

Robert and Ryoko glanced at each other for a moment then nodded to each other. “Fayt, could you come with us for a moment? We need to have a talk,” Robert requested in a tone that meant that the talk was quite serious.

Fayt gulped as he quietly followed his parents to an isolated room away from eavesdroppers. For good measure, Twilight placed a privacy spell on the room.

Inside the room, Fayt looked nervous as his parents looked at each other. His mother had a worried expression while his father was doing his best to put up a resolute expression.

A minute passed before his father looked at him. “Fayt, I want you to understand what I am about to ask of you as this request will be the most we have ever asked of you.” Robert took a deep breath. “Your mother and I are fully aware that we haven’t been there for you much while you were growing up. We did our best to be there, but please understand that our work is more important than you think.

“Our universe is in grave peril. Our research team discovered something truly terrifying and it decreed the annihilation of everyone in the galaxy. In response to this, we used our knowledge of Symbological Genetics to modify the genes of three children and turn them into weapons against the coming threat. You and Sophia are two of them.”

Fayt’s eyes widened from the shocking revelation. “What?! But, but why? Why us?”

“Because we felt that using the children of others would have been an even greater sin than what we did to you and Sophia.”

Fayt had trouble processing the revelation. He wanted to believe that his parents were joking with him for some reason and while he felt some anger toward his parents for making him their guinea pig, he hoped that the threat was truly as grave as they said to justify what they did to him. As these thoughts ran through his mind, he was curious about something.

“So does this mean that Sophia’s abnormal abilities have to do with the gene modifying?” Fayt asked.

“Actually, we don’t know how she’s doing that either. The symbols we placed in you two shouldn’t have any effect on your physical or mental abilities. We never could figure out how she’s been able to do what she does. Though I get the feeling that that aquamarine pony has a much better idea than we do.”

Fayt sighed before returning to the main topic. “Anyway, what kind of threat are we dealing with? And what makes you think modifying the genes of a few people will help deter this threat?”

Robert shook his head and sighed. “I’m not going to give you all of the answers up front, not yet, which brings us to our request. We know that we have no right to ask this of you after all we did, but perhaps this universe’s best chance of survival rests on you and Sophia reuniting with the person who is the current leader of Quark. When you find her, tell her that the answers you are looking for are at Moonbase. Your mother and I cannot accompany you on this journey you must take. We must return to Moonbase and make preparations for the coming threat that could make itself known any day now.”

“Why can’t you stay on this ship?”

“I doubt anywhere is truly safe from what’s to come. Don’t worry my son, your mother and I will do whatever it takes to weather the storm.”

Fayt resigned himself to accept his parents’ decision. That was when a sudden thought came to him. “You mentioned “reuniting” with Quark’s boss. Does that mean that I’ve met her before?”

“You likely don’t remember her as you were both infants at the time, but she was experimented on at around the same time you were. Jesse Traydor, who was among my research team, took her away and raised her as their own. While our family and the Esteeds moved to Earth, Jesse moved to Remote Station Seventeen and raised her there. We haven’t been in contact since then. The last I heard of them was when I heard about the news of the Aldian attack that destroyed the ship carrying Jesse. We thought we lost young Maria as well, until Twilight informed us that she was alive and leading Quark.”

“That explains why I’ve never heard of her before, and at least now I have a name to go on.” Fayt thought. “So why is it important for me to meet her?”

“Because the symbological genes within you three are designed to work together,” Robert explained. “While each gene has its own ability, the true power of the genes realize themselves when they are near one another.”

Fayt thought some more about the conversation to think about more questions. When he could no longer think of any, he sighed. “Alright, I’ll go with Quark.”

Robert smiled, “Thank you, and again I am truly sorry for what I did to you three.”

Fayt and his parents left the private room and rejoined the others. After Fayt told Cliff that he would go with him, the edges of the Klausian’s lips lifted slightly, glad that the mission could get back on track.

Twilight assured Fayt that they would be right behind them.

Fayt nodded and followed Cliff to the transporter room.

Twilight opened a communication channel to the Klausian ship and brought the image of the other ship’s cockpit on screen. The one to receive the transmission was a female Klausian with blonde hair and blue eyes. From what could be seen, the woman wore a black zip-up shirt with a black short jacket with short sleeves. The collar had reinforced padding.

Twilight and the woman, Mirage, introduced themselves before the mare requested for her to allow Fayt and Cliff to transport aboard her ship. Mirage acknowledged the request.

A few moments later, Fayt and Cliff boarded the Klausian ship. Fayt ended up getting lost momentarily in the Klausian woman’s beauty before Cliff warned him about how dangerous she can be. Mirage didn’t say anything or react to Cliff’s subtle jabs.

Mirage turned the ship to a specific destination and Twilight followed. The two ships activated their gravitic warp drives and entered gravitic space.

Sophia sat in her cabin thinking about recent events. The Leingods had just informed her about her own genetic modifications but also told her that they would only manifest once she reached a certain location. They didn’t tell her any more than that, saying that she would find out as long as she continued travelling with Fayt.

Brushing that thought aside, she was excited to be taught the Templar Arts. It felt strange because she had never been so excited about anything in her life before. For some reason, she felt like it was meant to be.

Sophia’s thoughts were disturbed by a knock at her door. She went to answer it and the door opened to reveal Lyra, who appeared to be carrying a small hypospray which contained a small amount of a strange purple liquid with veins of gold mixed in.

“What’s that?” Sophia asked.

“This is Terrarium, a compound mixture of Jorium and Terrazine,” Lyra answered. “Both substances affect brain chemistry. Jorium is known for awakening psychic powers and Terrazine amplifies them. Volunteer soldiers of my people’s covert ops program use this stuff to gain psychic powers; usually enough to use in combat.”

Sophia raised an eyebrow, “Don’t I already have strong psychic powers?”

“That’s why I’m only giving you a microdose. I’m hoping that will be enough to help you begin learning to actively control your powers without them going berserk.”

Sophia nodded and exposed her neck for the hypospray. The injection lasted a second. Lyra then walked just outside of the doorway and picked up a mechanical sphere about the size of a bowling ball and placed it on the floor in front of Sophia.

“This is a psychic training orb,” Lyra said. “It’s designed to be disassembled but reassembling it requires the steps taken to do so to be done simultaneously. Regular trainees use these to learn how to control and train their telekinetic powers by keeping it in the air and holding it in place. After that, they learn to move it around without hitting anything. Next comes the disassembling and reassembling. Powerful psychics like me and Twilight are actually able to crush these things.”

“So my first exercise is to keep it floating in place?” Lyra nodded.

The next few minutes were spent with Lyra observing Sophia trying to focus her mind on the orb.

During this time, Twilight had to watch in horror as the Klausian ship came under attack by two Vendeeni battleships. The Klausian ship started to reverse its course and turned around, attempting to outrun the battleships.

Twilight clenched her fists in frustration. “Just what is Azure Lazer thinking? Why is she so determined to hunt down Fayt?”

The Vendeeni ships were in hot pursuit of the Klausian ship. They fired a volley of torpedoes but the smaller ship managed to evade them. The Klausian ship moved toward a nearby planet. As the ship got close to the planet, with the Vendeeni closing in, it suddenly turned upward, away from the planet. With the battleships being slower to turn, the Klausian ship gained some distance. The battleships fired one last volley at the smaller ship and one managed to hit its mark, damaging its engines.

However, that wasn’t enough to disable the ship as it quickly reentered gravitic space, successfully escaping them.

With Twilight’s ship still in the Vendeeni battleships’ distortion field, Twilight had no time to move out of the field before they lost the signal.

She quickly weighed her options and came to the grim conclusion that she needed to get through the Vendeeni to keep track of Cliff’s ship.

With a resigned sigh, she held one open hand in front of her and channeled one of her administrative symbological powers through the ship. Dark purple circles of symbols appeared in front of the ship surrounding a violet orb of the same color.

Once the charge was complete, the Vendeeni ships picked up on the energy signature too late. The resulting blast hit both of the Vendeeni ships and surrounded them in several collapsing rings of purple symbols. Twilight made a grasping motion with her hand and in that instant, the Vendeeni battleships were erased from existence.

Twilight truly hated using that power against the denizens of the Eternal Sphere as it was the same as committing a mass murder. However, while lives were precious things to her, the Vendeeni gave her little choice as she couldn’t afford to lose track of Fayt.

She would mourn the lives she had taken later. Meanwhile, she put the ship back into gravitic space to pursue the damaged ship. The ship didn’t remain in that space for long as it arrived at the Klausian ship’s location.

A quick remote diagnostic scan of the ship told Twilight that the engines were no longer functional and they were now drifting.

Worse news was that the ship was caught in a nearby planet’s gravitational field. A scan of the ship’s trajectory made Twilight wince as it showed a city at the estimated crash point.

With the ship out of range of the transporters, Twilight had no choice but to enter the planet’s atmosphere after them.

However, a scan of the planet in question limited Twilight’s options. Not only were Cliff, Fayt and Mirage crash landing on an underdeveloped planet, but it was also Elicoor II.

Twilight facepalmed, “Why did they have to crash into this planet of all places in this galaxy?” she thought.

Sneaking the ship close to the surface was out of the question since using the Deletion ability also disabled the optical camouflage for a while. The ship could still avoid being detected by sensors but it could now be seen by the naked eye which was bad when trying to avoid detection on an underdeveloped planet.

Even worse, Elicoor II was home to a number of secrets that could lead to major trouble if they were discovered.

Twilight was feeling a headache coming as her stress levels rose.

The situation had become extremely complicated.

The Rescue

View Online

Fayt had never been more thankful for safety restraints on ships than he was now. Since the ship’s engines scrambled after taking a hit from a Vendeeni torpedo, there was no escaping from an inevitable crash landing on the planet of Elicoor II. The crash had also torn a large gash into a city of stone where they landed. Thankfully the restraints protected the occupants of the now scrapped ship from being flung around.

Once the wreckage they were riding came to a complete stop, the restraints deactivated, allowing the occupants to move freely again.

Mirage brought up a screen to show the area they crashed into. Fayt could tell right away that they crash landed on another underdeveloped planet because of the wood and stone buildings around them.

“Just our luck, we landed right in the middle of a city on an underdeveloped planet,” Fayt groaned.

“Not to mention our systems are shot and the helm is outta wack,” Cliff added. He then put his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair. “Welp, guess we either wait for Twilight to pick us up or wait for Maria to show up with the Diplo.”

“Are you sure Twilight managed to track us here? We did have to perform an emergency warp to who knows where.”

“I’m sure she has her ways,” Cliff dismissed casually. He turned to Mirage, “In the meantime, Mirage, see what info you can scrounge up from the database.”

Mirage nodded and started pressing buttons, displaying info she quickly found. “The second planet in the Elicoor System has an axial tilt of thirty-two point six degrees and is point eight astronomical units from its parent star. The gravity is zero point nine G.

“Other than the fact that its atmosphere is mostly comprised of noble gasses such as neon, instead of nitrogen, it has an atmospheric composition which closely resembles that of Earth. Which means that the air is breathable.

“According to my data, the technology level on this planet is around seventeenth century Earth. Although the planet is registered in the Galactic Atlas as an underdeveloped planet, it appears to be in a constant state of conflict, so there are no figures for the total population of sentient beings.

“As for the area we crashed in, we don’t have any detailed information, like government. This is a pretty large city of sentient beings.

“External temperature is minus five degrees Celsius. Both falling and deposited snow have been detected.

“We also know that there are two major continents on this planet: this one and one to the east. The eastern continent appears to have a slightly higher civilization level.”

The onlookers slowly began to disperse as a group of armored soldiers approached the remains of the Klausian ship.

“We appear to be surrounded by the local soldiers,” Mirage noted. “What do you want to do?”

“Not much we can do,” Cliff sighed. “The Eagle’s scrapped and fighting our way out isn’t an option since our less-than-subtle arrival will likely draw most of the city’s soldiers on us. Even I would have trouble with those numbers. At least we’re still in one piece.”

“For now, maybe,” Mirage commented.

“All we can do now except head outside and see what happens.”

“Hang on,” Fayt interjected. “Even minimal contact with the locals is a violation of the UP3. There’s no telling what they’ll do to us down there.”

Cliff rolled his eyes, “In case you haven’t noticed kid, we’ve already made contact, forcefully I might add.” He placed a hand on Fayt’s shoulder to try to reassure him. “Besides, I have a hunch they won’t kill us right away.”

“How can you be so sure of your hunches?”

“Just trust me on this, my hunches are always right.”

“How about that time we almost crashed into that asteroid because of a…hunch?” Mirage jabbed.

“That was one time…” Cliff moaned. Fayt gave Cliff a deadpan look.

“So what do you think they’ll do to us?” Fayt asked.

“Probably we’ll be taken prisoner.” Fayt’s deadpan reaction continued. “Besides, I have another hunch that Lyra will come rescue us pretty quickly.”

“How can you be so sure of someone you just met?” Fayt asked.

“Just trust me on this.” Cliff turned to Mirage, “Mirage, after you make your escape, scout around and find a way to contact the Diplo. Don’t put yourself in danger trying to hook up with us.”

“Mirage isn’t coming with us?” Fayt asked.

“Nope. Wouldn’t make sense for all three of us to head out there at once. Can’t have all three of us sitting in prison. She can use the cover of darkness to make her escape.”

Fayt had no choice but to go along with Cliff’s whims since there were no other options left for them. He resigned himself with a sigh as he and Cliff walked out of the only barrier between the cockpit and the world beyond.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Twilight asked.

Robert and Ryoko nodded, “Yes, we must return to Moonbase to make the necessary preparations,” Robert said.

Twilight nodded grimly. “Alright, after I transport myself and everyone else to the planet’s surface, this ship is programmed to set course for Moonbase. It will return to us afterward. The round trip will take a few days so everyone needs to be prepared for spending that time planetside. We may have to make camp, depending on the circumstances, so make sure we have enough supplies.”

Everyone nodded before splitting up to make their own preparations. Lyra took Sophia to the armory to craft her a pair of wrist blades like the ones she wore. Just as she suspected, Sophia found the new blades to feel right. Since they had a few minutes, Lyra gave her trainee her first lesson in using the blades. Peppita made sure to limber up in preparation to face her future foes. Twilight read up on everything she could find on Elicoor. Just because she knew of a few things on the planet didn’t mean that she knew the current state of the people there.

Once everyone was ready, with Lyra rushing off at the last second to fetch Sophia’s training orb which earned her an eye roll from everyone, they headed into the transporter room and teleported to the surface, leaving the Leingod couple alone on the ship.

“Since we’re alone now, wanna enjoy this time to its fullest?” Robert asked.

Ryoko smirked, “Sure, this might be the last chance we get before we face the end.” Her sultry expression told Robert that whoever was going to clean the room they were headed toward was going to demand a raise.

Twilight and the others appeared on a mountain path. A snowstorm was blowing in the area and anyone without enough protection was going to suffer from the harsh, freezing winds.

Twilight kept a warming spell on her at all times while Lyra’s psychic barrier kept the cold away from her. Sophia had a high tolerance for heat and cold, something Lyra attributed to the infestation within her. Peppita was a Velbaysian who were a tough race whose physical capabilities were near the level of Klausians. She could easily tough out the cold.

Twilight looked around to see where they were. When she didn’t discover any nearby people, she turned to the others. “Alright, the scans showed that the ship carrying Fayt, Cliff and Mirage crashed in the middle of the nearby city. The civilization level is around seventeenth century Earth so no using tech unless our lives depend on it.

She looked at Lyra, “Sneak around town and eavesdrop on conversations. No matter where we go, there will always be gossipers talking about recent major events. I’m afraid the rest of us aren’t going to be much use in the city. I’d be suspicious just wandering around while Peppita and Sophia are still children and will likely be treated as such which would be counterproductive here.

“We will huddle up in a nearby cave and alert you if we see anything unusual on our end. When you discover their whereabouts, see if you can rescue them. If not, let us know and I will teleport us in to assist you.”

Lyra nodded and activated her Shadow Walk before heading into the city.

A few minutes later, Twilight’s group looked out from the nearby cave and saw a covered wagon being pulled by two equine-like creatures with thick ram-like horns. The driver was a purple-haired girl wearing a black uniform that seemed unfit for the cold weather which struck Twilight as suspicious.

The wagon stopped just before a bridge that led into the main city. From inside the wagon another woman, who was dressed the same as the other woman, jumped out. This one had strawberry blonde hair.

Twilight’s ears had better hearing than normal people so she was able to hear a conversation from the two. They appeared to be waiting for someone called “Lady Nel” and they mentioned something called Aquaria in the context that it was a place.

Twilight brought up a map of the continent and learned that Aquaria was a nation that bordered the nation they were currently in, named Airyglyph.

Based on the context from the conversation, it appeared that the two nations were in conflict with one another.

For these two to be on the doorstep of their enemy’s capital city, they must be here on some sort of stealth mission. What they were after, they didn’t say.

Still, whatever they were after, Twilight had her own pair of targets to extract from the city. She just hoped Lyra was okay.

Lyra’s search was met with mixed results. While some citizens were verbal about rumors, some claimed that it was punishment from some divine being named Apris. That person was quickly shut up since apparently worship of the being was forbidden in the city. Some ended up getting drunk trying to make sense of what they saw and became useless for info as they ended up getting smashed on alcohol and spoke with a slurred speech.

Luckily, there were some guards who were mouthy enough to say out loud that they had captured two men and took them to the castle for interrogation.

“Two men?” Lyra thought. “Does this mean that Mirage isn’t with them? I hope she’s alright.”

Still, now she knew where Fayt and Cliff were. It was only a matter of sneaking into the castle and finding out where the dungeons were.

Searching the castle proved trivial and a hassle at the same time. Since the guards had no way of detecting her, she had free rein of the place. The fact that the place had a labyrinth of doors didn’t help though.

At some point, she spotted some important looking people around the castle. One had grayish brown hair and wore a regalia and crown that suggested that he was the king of the country. Another had hair of a similar color to the king but wore plate armor and a red cape. He had a sneer that begged for Lyra to read his mind.

Lyra did so and discovered that his plans were to convince the king to go to war with a nearby nation and claim the lands for themselves. Despicable as he was, his plans had nothing to do with her.

Another important person appeared to be an elderly man in his winter years. He appeared to be concerned about something. One look into his mind told her that the other man, Duke Vox as she read, was being quite foolish and disapproved of his methods of interrogating the prisoners.

This had Lyra concerned that Fayt and Cliff’s stay in the castle dungeons had been as unpleasant as could be.

There was also a sadness that could be felt from the old man, but this was directed toward another person, Albel. The old man felt sad for the person and what he had become.

One last person was seen leaving the castle. This one had wild spiky black hair with blonde highlights. Part of his hair was tied into two long, thin tails that extended to his knees. He wore a purple, short sleeveless top and plate shoulders. He had an iron manacle around his neck. He had a red string that tied together a yellow belt that held his purple skirt. Most interesting of all, aside from his katana, was that Lyra could tell that his left arm was a prosthetic claw.

One look into the man’s thoughts told her that he thought as dangerously as he looked. She could sense arrogance that masked an inferiority complex and…overwhelming guilt?

Lyra decided not to look into it further as she still had to find her targets. If she and the dangerous man crossed paths, she may be tempted to knock him down a peg or two.

She then noticed another figure wearing a cloak sneaking around the castle and avoiding the guards. It was obvious that she was not the only unwelcome guest in the castle right now, given the behavior.

Lyra followed the figure through a door that she guessed would lead her to the dungeons. The figure concealed herself in the shadows and avoided the patrols, but Lyra had a thousand years of experience with the shadows so it was still easy to track the person.

She followed the figure to her targets where she overheard Fayt and Cliff talking. Apparently, Cliff was confident that Mirage snuck into town a long time ago. He was also confident that Lyra was going to bust them out soon which made the Pony Templar smirk.

Cliff then frowned as he looked toward the soldier guarding the cell as he noticed something. “Looks like Lyra isn’t the only one looking for us,” he commented.

Confused, Fayt looked at the guard in time to see a blade sticking out of his chest. He collapsed as the blade was pulled out. The cloaked figure stood next to where the guard fell.

“Friend of foe, I dunno. But there’s someone here.” Cliff and Fayt got up from the floor of the cell to address the figure.

The figure removed her cloak and draped it over the guard as he faded. The woman before them had bobbed red hair and wore a black shirt with gold lining. Her short skirt was of a similar design. She wore a leather belt that wrapped around her midriff. Her leggings and shoes were as black as her outfit. She wore a black and dull blue striped scarf around her neck. Fayt also noticed that she had scarlet writing on her thighs and arms.

“You have two options: accept my conditions and live, or refuse and die here,” the woman offered.

Before she had time to react, the woman quickly found the edge of a blade touching her throat and she felt another blade poking her back. “I don’t appreciate you coercing my friends,” the pony behind her whispered.

Cliff looked at Fayt and smirked, “Told ya.”

The woman’s surprise turned to confusion, “An Airyglyph assassin? Wait, you said ‘friends’? Who are you? How did you sneak up on me? I was certain I wasn’t being followed.”

Lyra smirked even if the woman couldn’t see it, “I have many years of practice. Now, here’s the new deal: you can help me break these two out of this city and we can negotiate, or you can be stubborn about your own terms and I will sell you out to the guards while I escape with these two. Oh, and don’t try anything stupid or you will see how good my reflexes are.”

The woman knew she was in trouble at the moment. If she was as experienced as she claimed, then she stood no chance against her. The fact alone that the assassin could sneak up on her left her believing that she wasn’t bluffing. She could only hope that she could still accomplish her mission despite losing her negotiating power.

“Very well,” she muttered with reluctance.

“Slowly then,” Lyra said before she slowly removed her blades from the woman’s neck and back. The woman slowly turned around to face her would-be assassin.

Her eyes widened when she looked at Lyra. “What…what the hell are you? I’ve never seen anything like you before.”

“I’m a Pony, that’s all you need to know for now. Behave and I’ll tell you some more things about myself later. Now, let’s see about releasing them.”

The woman nodded and placed a hand on the cell door lock before a magical circle appeared around the keyhole and the sound of a small explosion was heard a moment later as the locking mechanism was destroyed.

With the door opened, Lyra moved into the cell and observed the two prisoners. They had a number of bruises and what appeared to be marks from a whip. While it appeared that they were roughed up, they still seemed fit to continue fighting.

With precise movements, Lyra quickly sliced apart the restraints binding Fayt and Cliff.

Fayt approached the woman, “You requested our cooperation, but what does that entail?”

“You two were riding that strange lump of metal that landed in the city, correct? We want your technology.”

“Our technology? We can’t let you have that!?”

“Can we save the negotiations until after we escape the enemy stronghold?” Lyra demanded.

“Good point. We can talk all we want once we’re outta this hellhole,” Cliff agreed.

“But…” Fayt argued.

Lyra’s expression turned deadpan as she stared at Fayt, “Do we need to have a repeat of what happened at the evacuation facility?”

It wasn’t hard for Fayt to figure out that she meant when Sophia knocked him out and carried him to the shelter. Fayt gave up the argument with a sigh.

“Good boy,” Lyra said with a satisfied smile. “Now lets–”

The argument was interrupted when some voices were heard down the hall. They did not sound relaxed which meant that they knew something was going on.

“They’re changing the guard already?” the woman mumbled. She looked at Fayt and Cliff, “You two, I hope you have some fighting experience because you’re about to get some. I can tell that your friend has plenty of that at least.”

“Don’t you worry about us, you could say we’re above average,” Cliff boasted.

“Hang on, I can’t fight with my bare hands, I need some kind of weapon,” Fayt offered.

Nel picked up a sword belonging to the dead guard and handed it over to Fayt. “Will this do?”

Fayt nodded and took up his combat stance as he prepared for the enemies around the corner.

With a little spare time before the guards arrived, the four introduced themselves. The woman introduced herself as Nel Zelpher.

From around the corner came a number of soldiers along with a man that Fayt and Cliff were familiar with. He was someone who appeared to be eating well and wore no shirt and black pants. His face was concealed by a black leather mask and he carried a whip.

Lyra looked at the man with a raised eyebrow. “Is that the dungeon master or some guy who got lost on the way to a BDSM party?”

The soldiers were stunned with confusion before they stared at the inquisitor who was just as confused by that question.

The four capitalized on the confusion. Fayt assaulted some of the guards with a flurry of slashes from his sword and cut them down, Cliff invoked one of his techniques where he charged up his fists with electricity and started flinging powerful punches that electrocuted some of the guards from inside their metal armor. Nel finished the rest of the guards by casting an Ice Needles spell on them which froze them solid before she sent a sharp wave of air pressure which caused their bodies to shatter.

“Y-you think you can get away with this?” the inquisitor questioned. “I’ll take care of you myself, you and that freakish lum you have with you.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Lyra said. “But I’m going to assume that was your attempt at insulting me.” She dashed forward and was upon the inquisitor before he could react. She then cut the whip off at the handle, disarming her opponent.

The inquisitor then tried to punch her with his bare hands but only hit an image. His confusion continued as he received a large gash in his back. He turned around to find nobody there before he received another large cut down the length of his arm. He then began flailing his fists around, hoping to hit his target. His attempts were in vain as he continued receiving deep cuts. In his panic, he failed to realize that a small amount of void energy was preventing the cuts from bleeding.

After a minute, Lyra appeared next to Fayt and the others and the inquisitor was out of breath and covered in deep wounds. He roared as he charged at Lyra before the mare closed her eyes and turned around. The energies covering his wounds faded and the wounds began gushing blood. It took five seconds for him to bleed out and vanish. This reminded Lyra that they were still in a virtual universe.

“That was payback for torturing Fayt and Cliff,” she muttered.

“You really are as skilled as you look,” Nel commented. “Anyway, reinforcements will be here any minute. I know of a way out of the castle that avoids the guards.” She pointed at a barred shaft in the wall toward the ceiling.

“Looks like a tight fit,” Cliff noticed.

“Don’t complain, it widens out further in. We just need to squeeze through that first part.”

Cliff climbed up to the shaft before he ripped the bars off the opening. Given his bulky size, he had a lot of trouble getting into the hole in the wall. Fayt followed who was followed by Lyra who had to take extra care not to scrape her horn on the tunnel walls. Once she was through the small tunnel, she entered a cavern that she noticed had a lot of ice and running water. Nel exited the tunnel last.

Whatever the place was, Lyra could sense a lot of dark energy in the area and that meant that they were going to have to fight through some creatures living in the area.

Escaping Airyglyph

View Online

Lyra observed the cavern around her. The sound of flowing water nearby and the man made structure in places convinced her that her group was currently in an underground aqueduct that provided water for the city. The chilling underground air gave her suspicion that there will be plenty of ice in the area.

“So,” Nel began, “Now that we have some time without interference from the soldiers, tell me, where are you three from? What was that metal thing you came here in?”

“Uh…well…” Fayt stuttered. Cliff and Lyra quickly figured that Fayt was bad at making up cover stories. He did seem too honest for his own good. They knew that they couldn’t tell Nel the truth because of the risk that would pose for her, her country and her planet if they knew about worlds beyond their own too soon.

Cliff decided to take over the discussion. “We’re from a country far to the east of here. It’s pretty small so most people haven’t heard of it, but we’ve got some pretty solid technology. It’s also the only place in the world where you’ll find Lyra’s people.”

“One of the countries in Greeton?” Nel inquired.

“Yep,” Lyra acknowledged. “I was following behind their vehicle with one of my own. Theirs broke down and crashed into the city. We couldn’t afford to have both vehicles taken if a foreign country found ours so my partner, whom you will likely meet soon, had our driver take it back home. We wanted to make sure Fayt and Cliff didn’t divulge our secrets so myself and my crew mounted a rescue operation. We plan on getting back home together.”

“We’re engineers,” Cliff lied. “Lyra was hired for protection. She’s a mercenary.”

“I see, but that doesn’t explain what you three are doing in Airyglyph,” Nel said.

“We needed to test the vehicles in a wide variety of climates,” Cliff lied. “Didn’t do too well in the icy mountains since some of the mechanics froze up and broke down. We lost control of our vehicle after that and that’s how we ended up here.”

Nel was debating whether or not she would believe their story, she suspected that they were lying about a few things but she would get nowhere if she called them on that. Lyra might intervene if she pressed them too hard.

She decided to accept their story, for now.

“So you are from Greeton, I thought as much.”

“How so?” Fayt asked.

“There is no country on this continent with that level of technology, it was an easy conclusion.”

Satisfied, the group started looking around.

“Hey, it’s all frozen over,” Cliff noticed.

“This comes as a surprise to you? It is winter in Airyglyph. I would have thought the snow to be your first clue,” Nel snarked.

“Right…”

While the banter continued, Lyra decided that it was time to update Twilight on the situation. “Hey Twilight, can you read me?”

“Yeah, are you alright over there? Have you found Fayt and Cliff?” Twilight asked through the psychic link.

“Yep, we’re currently inside some underground aqueducts and looking for a way outside. We also have someone else with us. She seems to be some agent of a place called Aquaria, goes by the name Nel Zelpher. You know about either?”

“Yes, Aquaria is a nation to the east of here that’s currently in a state of conflict with the nation we’re currently in. We saw two more people claiming to be from Aquaria park their wagon near the city entrance. They may be acquainted with the agent who’s with you as I overheard the name ‘Lady Nel’.”

“So that’s how they planned to make a speedy getaway once they got Fayt and Cliff out of the city. Nel’s target was them and she wanted their tech for some reason. Probably to give her country an edge in the coming war.”

“If they want assistance with their existing weapons then that’s fine, anything more advanced than that though and we have to refuse. The last thing we need is Elicoor II destroying themselves with technology they’re not ready for.”

“Agreed. Also, our cover story is that we come from a small country on the eastern continent of Greeton. Aquaria and Airyglyph are fully aware of how advanced the countries there are. If we are going to interact with these people for the next few days, we need to be sure to keep our story straight.” Lyra explained.

“Right,” Twilight agreed. “Oh, and an update on your newest apprentice. She seems to be improving her telekinetic skills very rapidly. She is starting to move the training orb with ease. She may figure out how to invade our telepathic link soon so we may need to find another way to communicate sensitive info if that becomes necessary.”

“Alright, contact me again if any updates come up.” Lyra cut the link.

From where they started, the group moved through a passage and into an area with a small walkway overlooking a moving stream of water. Aside from the ice-covered walls, there were also large blocks of ice around. Fayt couldn’t imagine how such massive chunks of ice could have formed naturally, even with the winter climate.

The next room had a massive wall of ice that surrounded the entrance the group emerged from. The strangest thing about the wall was the hole that was large enough for a person to fit through. Some of them wondered if someone was in charge of the aqueducts and was creating holes in the ice formations.

On the other side of the wall, the stream of water fell to a lower level. To their right, was a ladder which Lyra took to explore the lower level. The others didn’t wait long before Lyra returned and declared the route a dead end.

A little exploring of the room led the group to their first encounter with the denizens of the area. The two creatures looked like red fish that flew around. Nel identified them as Water Reapers. They were named that because they had the ability to make their fins glow and take a sickle shape. The glowing fins were the most dangerous part of the creatures.

With that info, Fayt and Nel used their blades to block the glowing fins of one of the fish creatures while Cliff beat its face mercilessly. Lyra sidestepped the other Water Reaper and grabbed it by the tail fin. She then slammed it several times on the wall and the floor which left it dazed and injured. She then finished it off by using her blades to eviscerate it which caused it to vanish.

Two doorways led out of the room. One glance through one informed them that that was a dead end while the other led up some stairs. Along the way, they encountered a pair of light green slime monsters like the ones seen on Vanguard III except these were as large as a person. The slimes also had a red nucleus which served as their brains.

Cliff electrocuted the slimes by charging up his fists and with how narrow the ascending pathway was, his wide swings were able to hit both slimes.

The slimes retaliated by contracting their middle mass and expanded their upper mass. Gravity took over and the slime collapsed back into its original state while firing bits of itself in all directions. Cliff got a face full of slime.

When he wiped away the ooze that hit him, Nel noticed that Cliff’s movements had become sluggish. She remembered that the bodies of slimes were toxic. She reacted by casting an Antidote symbol on Cliff to purge him of the poison.

Fayt cleaved through the membranes of the slimes and sliced the nuclei in two, causing the slimes to collapse on the stairway and dissolve.

More rooms filled with massive chunks of ice awaited the group at the top of the stairs. With the gaps and blockades of ice all around them, the ice had effectively created a small labyrinth. While Lyra could have simply shattered the ice if she wanted, she didn’t want to waste too much energy breaking ice if they ran into trouble later. It would not do to accidentally cause a cave in either.

Another room brought the group into an encounter with a small group of bandits who had taken up residence in the aqueducts. Some bandits looked like anthropomorphic toads wearing armor and carrying crude axes. Others looked like really tall anthropomorphic hyenas wearing leather armor and carrying clubs. Nel referred to them as Bogles.

Fayt decided to try out a new technique that he had thought up where he invoked a small amount of fire type symbology and infused it into his sword. The blade ignited and he charged at the bandits. The toads really did not like the flaming blade and the heat alone made them wince. They were quickly brought down by the Blazing Sword.

Nel and Cliff each took one of the smaller Bogles and left the biggest one to Lyra. The tall creatures were fast but Cliff nor Nel were slow either. Cliff dazed his foe with a series of punches to the face before he leapt up high into the air and clenched his fists together before releasing a powerful shockwave that exploded outwards as it hit the floor, blowing the Bogle away and throwing Nel’s Bogle off balance.

Nel capitalized on this by bombarding her foe with a number of Fire Bolts which set the bandit on fire. The creature collapsed in a heap before vanishing.

Lyra sidestepped her foe’s club swings. One missed swing from the Bogle Leader cost him dearly as it left him open to attacks from the side which resulted in numerous cuts. Lyra then jumped on the back of her huge foe’s neck and grabbed it before yanking it upward, causing the bandit to lose balance and fall to the floor. A stab wound to both jugular veins finished the job.

In another room, Lyra felt some necromantic energies come from it before they discovered some living skeletons which were handled quickly.

The next room they explored filled Fayt with concern as the path was on a downward slope and the slope was frozen, making any careless actions lead to the victim slipping onto some rocks at the end, which would be very painful.

Lyra decided to have a little fun by sliding down the ramp before kicking a wall which propelled her toward a safe patch of floor. Fayt, Cliff and Nel didn’t feel like following that stunt so they walked carefully down the slope.

A nearby room led to nothing important. A slime was inside but that was quickly dealt with.

Back in the room with the slopes, the group headed down another slippery ramp and toward the next room.

Lyra halted and motioned for everyone to stop. “Hang on guys, I’m sensing a lot of dark magic coming from the next room. Whatever’s in there seems to be pretty tough.”

“Yes, it’s most likely guarding the exit to this place,” Nel added.

“Great, another big hassle to deal with,” Cliff complained.

“So what should we do?” Fayt asked.

“Unless Nel knows of another way out, our only option is to take out whatever’s in there.”

Lyra, Nel and Fayt drew their weapons and Cliff took up his fighting stance as they entered the next room.

A giant horned crab awaited them. It had massive pincers, a red stripe along the top of its shell, and a massive tail with fins to allow it to propel itself underwater if it wanted.

The terrain itself was unfavorable for the party. Massive chunks of ice were all over the room. What was worse was that there was ice on the floor as well. Lyra had a feeling that the ice on the floor was quite brittle and could shatter easily with careless movement.

Thinking quickly, Lyra ordered the others to follow her back into the previous room. The Giant Crab pursued them, smashing part of the doorway to get through. The group moved up the slippery ramp and used the rocks to climb the slope. The crab had no problem climbing the slope as it used its legs to walk on the tractile rocks.

The group returned to the room at the top of the slope a few moments before the crab busted through the doorway.

The group took up a fighting stance as the crab entered. It began attacking by smashing the ground they were on with one of its giant claws. Everyone jumped out of the way before Fayt set his sword on fire and ran toward the crab while being careful of its claws.

While the ice limited everyone’s movements, the crab had the same disadvantage because of its size. If it wanted more room, it would have to smash the ice.

Frustrated with the limited space in the room, the crab took some time to smash the ice blocks in the room, time that was not focused on its prey.

Nel leapt onto one of the unbroken ice walls and jumped on the crab’s back. Unfortunately, her daggers barely scratched the crab’s hard shell. The crab started bucking and tried slamming itself into the ice, throwing Nel off. Nel launched a volley of Fire Bolts as she flew off before landing safely on the floor in front of the crab.

Lyra and Cliff noticed Fayt’s charge and moved to wrestle with one of its claws each. Once they each got a good grip on one of their foe’s claws, they used their impressive strength to slowly move them away from the crab’s face which allowed Fayt to freely slash at it with his Blazing Sword.

Lyra could feel the creature’s mental screams with each slash. While the blade was doing some damage to the crab’s face, she could sense that the blade was also attacking its mind somehow. She would need to bring the information up with Twilight later. The possibility of some forms of Symbology being able to attack someone’s psyche had to be considered.

As it turned out, the creature had very weak mental stamina and its mind quickly shut down after a few slashes from Fayt’s infused sword. It vanished as it collapsed.

“That critter wasn’t so tough,” Cliff boasted as he brushed his hands together. The others rolled their eyes.

With the crab dead, the group walked carefully down the icy slope once more and entered the room where they found the crab. Looking around the room, they saw a light at the eastern exit to the room.

Cliff took one look at the ice and saw that it was pretty thin. When he turned around to warn the others, he quickly noticed the females of the group were missing. Looking around, he saw the two jumping atop the ice blocks and leaping from block to block until they landed by the eastern exit to the room.

“No fair,” Cliff complained. “Couldn’t Lyra at least carry us over there? She seems pretty strong.”

Lyra smirked, “You have legs, use them.”

Cliff groaned and Fayt rolled his eyes as he carefully walked on the thin ice with Cliff a distance behind to avoid too much weight in one place.

Lyra was prepared to catch Fayt or Cliff in her telekinesis if either ended up breaking the ice though she was glad she didn’t have to when they reached them.

With the aqueducts behind them, the four emerged into frigid, yet fresh air. While Nel wanted to move ahead first to make sure the guards weren’t guarding the cave, Lyra assured her that she knew a technique that would conceal them if necessary. She left out the part about being able to feel the minds of nearby guards if they were there since she didn’t need to come across as a creepy mind reader.

Cliff stretched his muscles as he spoke, “Ahhh, nice to see the sun! I was down in that muck so long I thought I was gonna mildew!”

Fayt looked at the sky and saw that there were nothing but storm clouds in the sky above them.

“Uhhh…Cliff,” Fayt began before Cliff cut him off.

“Don’t care about the clouds kid, I stand by what I just said.”

Lyra noticed that Fayt was about to ask Nel about what technology she wanted from them again, she placed an arm between Fayt and Nel as he began to address the spy. “This still isn’t the time or place to discuss the matter, Fayt. We’re still in the middle of Airyglyph City. You never know who might be eavesdropping around here so save it for until we get out of this city.”

Lyra’s tone told Fayt that there was no room for argument on the matter and that he would have to wait until they were somewhere safer.

Nel beckoned for the group to follow her into the city. She assured them that while the citizens were loyal to Airyglyph, most of the things they see don’t get reported to the guards. Apparently, the citizens were fearful of punishment from the likes of two of the three military divisions. Because of that, the citizens often kept to themselves.

They followed the spy into the city, with Lyra shrouding everyone in her Shadow Walk ability, to their surprise. Even if Nel assured her that the stealth was unnecessary, Lyra knew that she was going to be suspicious just walking around in plain sight.

“The guards in the city are lax most of the time and many haven’t been informed of your identities yet,” Nel explained. “There is one shopkeeper in the city I want to visit before we leave.” She said nothing else as she led the group to the middle of the city.

Near the castle gates, Nel turned to a shop that was advertised as an armorer. She told Fayt to come with her into the store while the rest waited.

Inside the store, Nel went up to the merchant. “I’d like to have this guy outfitted with some armor. Nothing clunky like the soldier armor, just enough to maximize protection and mobility.”

The merchant was happy to make a sale since he didn’t get many customers outside of the guard. He quickly measured Fayt and looked in his inventory for items that would fit the boy. He came back some time later and gave Fayt the requested armor. Fayt was then directed to a nearby changing room.

After Nel paid the merchant for the armor, Fayt came out a few minutes later.

Fayt was dressed in an off-white vest with a zipper. The shoulders were reinforced with metal plating. He wore a belt that held a sheath for his sword. He was also wearing thick armored blue leggings and blue armored boots.

“Why are you giving me this gear?” Fayt asked.

“You can’t go around like you were,” Nel explained. “That shirt you were wearing alone would have made you more identifiable, given the childish drawings on it.”

Peppita sneezed.

“I suppose you make a good point,” Fayt conceded.

The two left the shop and regrouped with Cliff and Lyra. The two took a moment to take in Fayt’s new appearance and nodded in approval.

With that errand complete, they started heading toward the exit of the city.

That was when they started hearing the soldiers begin getting riled up. They began calling each other to arms and to be on the lookout for two escaped prisoners while giving them a description. They also mentioned an Aquarian spy among them.

Lyra quickly enveloped the group in a cloak of shadows to allow them to head to the exit without being seen. They made it out of the gates before the gate guards were informed of the escape.

Across the bridge, the group spotted a covered wagon with two hooved creatures hitched to it. Next to the wagon were two women who appeared to be waiting for something.

“Sorry I’m late,” Nel called out.

“Lady Nel!” the strawberry blonde woman responded. “Our preparations are complete, ma’am. We can leave immediately!”

“Nice work, Tynave.”

“Are these the ones, ma’am?” asked the purple-haired woman.

“Yes, Farleen. They’re engineers from Greeton as we thought.”

“Great! Then we’ll be able to complete it!”

“Excuse me, Lady Nel, but who is that with you?” Tynave asked.

“This is Lyra Heartstrings. She is a mercenary who was hired to watch over these two.”

“Nice to meet you two,” Lyra said with a cheerful smile.

“We have no time to waste, let’s get underway,” Nel ordered.

“Actually, three more will be coming with us,” Lyra said. “They’re nearby and heading over here now.”

An instant later, Twilight, Peppita and Sophia appeared before the group in a flash and startled the non-ponies into taking up defensive stances. Peppita looked a bit queasy but Sophia took the abrupt displacement better than the performer did.

“Who are you?” Nel demanded.

“Stand down, everyone,” Lyra ordered. “One of them is my boss and another is my apprentice.”

“Another pony?” Nel wondered. “Two children as well and one looks like a gypsy?”

“Hey!” Peppita shouted. “I am a certified circus performer.”

With the shouting behind them getting louder, Nel really didn’t have time to argue. She ordered everyone into the wagon. Farleen took the reins and motioned for the lums to begin moving away from the castle at breakneck speed.

Nel could only hope that they would be able to escape the pursuers who were most likely beginning to mobilize. She feared that if the dragon riders of the Dragon Brigade got involved in the pursuit, things might get hairy.

In the meantime, she needed to try to convince Fayt and Cliff to help her country.

Kirlsa

View Online

A lone covered wagon travelled rapidly down the snow-covered mountain path. Inside was a large group of people who were barely able to fit in the wagon. Aside from the driver, the occupants were two Aquarian spies, two “engineers from Greeton,” two ponies and two adolescent girls. The inside was a little cramped.

After a few minutes of silence, Cliff was the first to break the silence, “Hey, you gonna introduce me to these fine young ladies?”

Nel began by introducing Tynave and Farleen, her subordinates. Twilight introduced herself along with Sophia and Peppita.

“Which one of you is Lyra’s superior?” Nel asked.

“That would be me, in the sense of our mission,” Twilight explained. “I’m not in charge of her like she isn’t in charge of me. I just have her to make sure Fayt and Cliff don’t get into too much trouble. Her methods are at her discretion.”

“Heh, having all these women around me, can’t complain at all,” Cliff commented.

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Is he…?” she telepathically communicated to Lyra.

“Yep, he’s definitely that kind of person,” Lyra judged. “This is going to be an interesting adventure, to say the least.”

“Aquaria is ruled by the Holy Mother of the Church of Apris,” Nel explained. “We employ many more women than Airyglyph.”

“The Church of Apris?” Fayt asked. Tynave explained that the church of the Sun God Apris was led by the Holy Mother who doubled as the nation’s ruler.

“So it’s a theocracy?” Fayt concluded.

“So your country’s packed with temple maidens? Now I have to visit your country,” Cliff said. That earned him an eye roll from everyone.

“Nel, could you answer my question now?” Fayt inquired. “What technology do you want from us?”

Nel wanted to inquire about the validity of Cliff and Lyra’s Greeton engineer story, but she had a feeling that she was going to get nowhere with that explanation. Thanks to Lyra’s intervention, she had lost any negotiating power she might have had with the engineers if she had rescued them herself. She knew that something didn’t add up with their story but her country desperately needed their assistance in resisting Airyglyph’s bid for conquest.

She hated the situation she was in, but she had no choice but to go along with it for now.

“We have a…special project that we need to complete before Airyglyph begins their push into our lands. Our engineers are in need of outside assistance in order to find a solution to a problem they are having with it.”

“And you are hoping that Airyglyph doesn’t know about your project since you aren’t even telling us any more about it?” Lyra asked.

“Well…”

“Chances are, they already know about it and the problems that your engineers are facing,” Lyra continued. “I hope your country isn’t arrogant enough to think that Airyglyph spies couldn’t infiltrate your kingdom.”

For a moment, Nel had thought that enemy spies couldn’t infiltrate Aquios, Aquaria’s capitol, but thought better of it. Aquaria couldn’t afford to underestimate the enemy. She didn’t know whether they knew about the weapon or not, but regardless, her mission was to get Fayt and Cliff to Aquios.

“I see your point, but this changes nothing for us. Right now, my mission is to get us out of Airyglyph territory.”

Fayt thought about the project Nel mentioned. It wasn’t hard to figure out that the project involved a weapon. He concluded that Aquaria wanted him to finish the construction of their weapon that they intended to be their trump card against Airyglyph.

This was a problem as Fayt couldn’t bring himself to complete the weapon as that would be the same as being responsible for the many lives that would be lost as a result of the use of it. Even more worrisome is whether or not he would wind up violating the UP3.

“I wrote the UP3, Fayt,” Twilight informed telepathically.

This startled Fayt from his thoughts as he quickly looked at the purple mare.

“Look away, I don’t want the Aquarians to catch on about my telepathy.”

Fayt looked back at Nel who raised an eyebrow when she noticed Fayt’s strange behavior.

“What do you mean ‘You wrote the UP3’? That law has been around for centuries,” Fayt thought, hoping that Twilight could read it.

“I’ve been around for a very long time, Fayt. I’m technically one of the Federation’s founders. I’m pretty sure completing existing weapons is fine as long as it doesn’t require any concepts that transcend their level of technology.”

“Even so, completing it would be the same as using it to hurt lots of people.”

“That’s something you’ll have to figure out on your own. I can’t tell you whether you should or shouldn’t do something.”

Fayt’s attention returned to Nel once Twilight cut the link. He noticed her using what little space was left in the wagon to place a map on the floor. She explained the current political climate between the two nations. Apparently, the nations were friendly with one another until a few years ago when Airyglyph abruptly invaded Aquaria and ravaged the border town of Arias.

“Still, the war has not been one-sided,” Nel said. “We may lack military power, but we do have Runology. I noticed that Fayt knows some Runology, when he infused fire into his sword.”

“Sounds like this planet discovered Symbology at some point,” Lyra communicated to Twilight.

“At least we have more freedom to use our spells here,” Twilight added.

As Nel explained the basic concept of Runology, Fayt and Cliff muttered that Runology was a lot like Symbology. Nel heard them and asked about it. Lyra quickly explained that some countries in Greeton refer to Runology as Symbology, emphasizing that the two are the same thing.

Nel accepted the explanation then explained that the reason Aquaria couldn’t use Runology effectively was because there were too few who were capable of using it.

This brought the subject to the weapon. Apparently, the weapon was designed to use the energies invoked by Runology to use as ammunition. To Lyra and Twilight, it appeared that the Aquarians might have invented an energy cannon.

“Nel, I can’t do it. I can’t be a part in creating a weapon that will kill many people,” Fayt said.

“Have you no sympathy for our plight?” Nel growled. “People are dying, energy weapon or no. Without our new weapon, Airyglyph will ultimately win. At best our people will be enslaved, at worst, wiped out.”

“But…”

“Miss Nel?” Sophia spoke. When Nel looked at the girl who had spoken up for the first time, Sophia continued. “I doubt you’re going to convince him to cooperate right away. We still have plenty of time to get to Aquios. Instead of begging him for help, show him what’s at stake. I can guarantee you that he is very stubborn when it comes to his beliefs. Those beliefs can lead him to do stupid things.”

“Hey!”

Sophia ignored Fayt, “Not long ago, he was about to do something really stupid when he thought he was trying to help. When he got like that, I had to knock him out and carry him away.”

“You’re never gonna let me live that down, are you?”

“Nope,” Sophia stated cheerfully. “The point is, you need to try to get to know him better. Show him the beautiful country that Airyglyph is trying to destroy with fire and warfare.”

“Sophia…”

“I had to say something since you two were about to get into a heated argument.” Sophia then had a devious smirk on her face. “Unless of course the relationship between you two deepened so quickly.”

Fayt and Nel blushed before Fayt shouted, “S-stop saying stupid things!”

“What he said,” Nel added.

“That girl is scary,” Tynave thought.

“Guys, we have company!” Farleen shouted. “I think it’s the Dragon Brigade!”

“They’ve caught up with us?” Nel cursed. “We were so close to Kirlsa, too!”

“Whaddya wanna do? Fight?” Cliff offered.

“No, there are too many of them to take on ourselves, even with Lyra’s skills.”

Lyra begged to differ, but decided to go along with Nel’s sentiment since there was no point in going all out yet.

“Lady Nel, It would be best to slip off and find shelter in the rocks,” Tynave suggested. “Farleen and I will lure them away.”

“What?! That’s too risky! You’ll–” Fayt protested before Sophia cut him off.

“Try not to die. You don’t want to make Nel sad, do you?”

“We’ll be fine! We’ve lost their kind before,” Farleen said.

“Let’s go, everyone,” Nel ordered.

Fayt tried to stop Nel to protest further but Sophia grabbed his arm and jumped out of the wagon with him. Cliff, Nel, Twilight, Lyra and Peppita followed. Acting quickly, they hid themselves among the shadows of the tall rock formations along the mountain trail.

A few moments later, a number of black-armored knights riding sleek dark grey dragons covered in barding flew past them, chasing the wagon.

“Dragons?! This world is starting to feel like a human version of Equus,” Lyra thought to herself.

“The Dragon Brigade,” Nel muttered. “I expected them to show up sooner or later. It goes to show how important you are to them.”

“The Dragon Brigade?” Cliff inquired.

“Yes, they’re one of Airyglyph’s three military branches. They are knights riding powerful air dragons. The other two branches are the Black Brigade, elite warriors wearing heavy armor, and the Storm Brigade, knights who ride the swiftest lums into combat.”

Once the dragon riders were away from their position, Nel walked out from the shadows. “Let’s go, while Tynave distracts them, we can go through Kirlsa and enter Aquaria territory.”

This didn’t sit well with Fayt. He refused to stand by while others sacrificed themselves on his account. “Wait a moment, we can’t just go and leave Tynave and Farleen to their fates.”

“I agree that there’s an extremely good chance that they’ll be caught,” Nel said. “But there’s nothing we can do about that. They knew the dangers of the mission when they accepted it. They would have left me behind as well if I became a burden to them.”

“Mission!? These are people’s lives we’re talking about!” Fayt shouted.

“Fayt, quit being an idiot and remember the situation we’re in,” Sophia ordered. “We are in no position to be doing anything for them and you trying to be a hero isn’t helping anyone right now.”

“Sophia? You too?”

“Grow up, Fayt. A soldier’s purpose is to defend their country and give their lives for it if necessary. I won’t have you insult their honor by making their distraction meaningless.” Sophia walked east with Cliff following her. Defeated, Fayt followed behind with Nel, the ponies and Peppita bringing up the rear.

Nel was taken aback by what Sophia said to Fayt. She had expected to have another argument with the annoying engineer from Greeton, but when the girl put him in his place, she couldn’t help but feel some respect for her.

The group traveled eastward along the snow covered mountain path. Lyra could tell who had more resistance to the cold and who didn’t. Tough as they were, Peppita and Cliff couldn’t tough out the cold forever. Fayt and Nel were visibly holding themselves to keep warm a little longer. Sophia was either really good at hiding her discomfort or she really was resistant to the cold. Thanks to their fur, spells and barrier, Twilight and Lyra were safe from the frigid winds.

Thankfully, there were some foes along the road that helped the group to ignore the cold and keep the blood flowing.

Bogle bandits appeared to ambush the travelers. Peppita used her cape to grab a Bogle and use him as a flail to mercilessly bash another. She then tossed him off the mountain.

Things got interesting when the Bogles began sending giant wasps after the group. The wasps were about the size of their heads. Twilight analyzed the Bogles and wasps and informed everyone that the wasps were vulnerable to the cold while the bandits could not handle electricity well.

Lyra tackled some of the larger Bogles with a Storm Charge which electrocuted them to death. Twilight, Sophia and Nel worked together and showered any wasps they came across with Ice Needles.

Among other foes they encountered along the way were more slimes. The variation of slime that they encountered this time, however, were composed of a silvery substance.

The new slimes used the same tactics as the ones from the aqueducts so they were wary of their attempts to fling parts of themselves to poison the group. Fayt and Cliff worked together to deal with them.

Peppita offered her support by performing one of her Symbology dances to strengthen the others and make their attacks more effective.

As they drew closer to Kirlsa, Fayt suddenly fell to one knee and held his head with one hand.

“Fayt?” Nel lowered herself to eye level with him to check on him.

“I’m fine, I’m just a little dizzy,” he defended.

Everyone watched him with concern as he slowly got back to his feet and started moving again at a more sluggish pace.

“What do you think caused that?” Lyra communicated.

“Hmm…I’m not sure,” Twilight responded. “It can’t be regular fatigue, he’s been fighting as hard as the rest of us.”

“Any guesses?”

“It could be related to his power beginning to manifest, but it could also be a number of other things. Maybe he got poisoned with something that can’t be purged by Antidote? Maybe he received a concussion recently? It could also be that he is the most out of shape out of all of us. Who knows.”

“This coming from Princess Twilight ‘hardly gets out much’ Sparkle?” Lyra snarked.

“Hush you. I’ll have you know that I do find time to get plenty of exercise.”

The pace the group traveled slowed because of Fayt’s sudden bout with fatigue, but the group finally managed to reach Kirlsa.

“This is Kirlsa,” Nel informed. “If we can get through this town, we’ll be in Aquaria.”

Fayt found a nearby spot to rest a moment.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Nel asked.

“I said I’m fine,” Fayt defended. “I’m not a baby, geez.”

“Someone’s cranky,” Sophia mumbled. “Think we can afford a night at a nearby inn? I don’t think we’ll make much progress with Fayt in the condition he’s in.”

“C’mon, Sophia, now you’re–” Fayt was cut off when he felt a menacing aura coming from Sophia. His basic instinct told him to shut up and do what she says. He wasn’t sure if it was the fatigue, but for a moment, he thought her amber eyes began to glow.

“What about those guys chasing us?” Cliff asked.

“We’ll be fine as long as Tynave and Farleen succeeded in leading them off,” Nel said.

Nel led everyone to the nearby inn that had a wagon next to it. Inside, Nel checked everyone in. Luckily, the innkeeper wasn’t in an attentive mood so he failed to notice the ponies.

Once they were in their assigned rooms, Nel headed downstairs, saying that there was something she needed to do. “You guys can wander the town if you like, just don’t do anything conspicuous. We are still in Airyglyph territory and Kirlsa is the main base of operations for the Storm Brigade.”

After Nel walked off, Peppita followed, saying that she wanted to try out street performing.

Fayt wanted to walk around and explore the town, but a glare from Sophia put a stop to that idea. She wasn’t about to allow Fayt to walk around, fatigued as he was. In the end, he simply turned in early.

Meanwhile, Lyra decided to explore the town herself. She activated her Shadow Walk and left the inn. The view of Kirlsa really hit home that it was a mining town. She noticed pipes moving between buildings which were likely used to transport heat throughout the town. The buildings were composed of stone, wood and bricks. The town reeked of industry and the nearby mine provided ore for the forges…

…or so she thought as some gossip from the townsfolk mentioned how the flow of ore from the mine dried up a long time ago so the caverns were now used as a tunnel to get to another mine in the mountains. However, with the mines losing their annual yield, the miners and blacksmiths that used to live in this town have mostly left to seek better opportunities.

More gossip mentioned the mansion in town being the home and headquarters of the Storm Brigade and its captain, the elderly Count Woltar. Lyra had a feeling that the old man she saw at the castle was Woltar.

Lyra’s stealthy exploration led her to a tunnel at the southwestern edge of town. The tunnel was gated off with numerous warning signs. While Lyra could have just walked away, there was a familiar feeling coming from the tunnel; something magical.

Something Equestrian.

Lyra called to Twilight through the psychic link. “Hey Twi, I’m looking at a gated off tunnel and it has a bunch of warning signs on it. The weird thing is that I’m sensing Equestrian magic at work down there. Know anything about it?”

Twilight sighed through the link. “I knew we would come across one of them sooner or later. This planet is not some random planet we came across. This planet has secrets that I keep hidden, even from my employees. I went to great lengths to keep Elicoor II as inconspicuous as possible from the public and my employees.

“To answer your question Lyra, that passage leads to one of my top secret projects. I can’t elaborate any further.”

Lyra nodded and walked away, headed for another part of town.

She checked out the cemetery at the northwestern part of town. There she saw Nel talking to someone in a white and dark grey robe with red bordering.

While Lyra knew that it was rude to eavesdrop on another’s conversation, she felt the need to listen in on the off chance that the matter would eventually become something that would get her involved. Using her enhanced hearing, she listened in.

“...according to our latest information,” said the informant.

“I see…they’re up to the same nasty tricks as always,” Nel muttered. “Is it the Dragon Brigade?”

“No, it’s the Black Brigade. Of course, the Dragon Brigade is backing them up.”

“I see. Good work.”

“Whatever you do, please don’t stick your nose where it doesn’t belong. You know they plan to use them to lure you and the engineers into a trap.”

“I know. I will focus on the mission and bring those two to Aquaria.”

While she said that, Lyra could feel a great sense of anxiety coming from Nel. Based on that, it wasn’t hard to put the pieces together. She figured that it was bound to happen. However, her mission was to make sure Fayt didn’t get into too much trouble. If the circumstances called for it, she would help the Aquarian spy though.

For now, she returned to the inn, meeting Peppita along the way who carried a hat full of fol. Lyra chuckled and shook her head.

A few minutes after Lyra and Peppita returned, Nel returned to the inn as well.

The sun began to set, and Nel informed everyone that they should get some rest because tomorrow they would be travelling through the Kirlsa Caverns. Their next destination would be the border town of Arias.

Nel mentioned that the wilderness east of Kirlsa would be faster but it was also easier to ambush them there. The Kirlsa Caverns would be a safer bet, even if the place had a monster infestation and the mine shafts were a little unstable so cave-ins were possible.

Nel received a few deadpan looks from Sophia, Lyra and Twilight, feeling that she needed to refigure her priority list of what was dangerous. They said nothing about that though.

With tomorrow’s plans figured, everyone picked a bunk bed, covered themselves in their blankets, placed their heads on their pillows and soon drifted off to sleep.

Mountain Trek

View Online

Morning had come to the town of Kirlsa. Everyone stretched and did their morning exercises.

As they were preparing to move out, Fayt voiced his concerns for Tynave and Farleen but Nel assured him that they could take care of themselves.

Lyra felt a spike of anxiety from Nel, but ignored it as she already knew what that was about.

Lyra hid herself and Twilight with her void powers while everyone proceeded to the north end of town toward the abandoned mine.

There were some townsfolk who were curious about why a group of travelers would choose to travel through the unstable, monster infested mine, but let the matter lie. If they had a death wish, it was their funeral.

Once inside the mine, Lyra released her Shadow Walk ability while everyone looked around.

The first room had a number of damaged rails and minecarts. There was also a storage area that contained a few crates that either contained old supplies, or were empty. The rails led to two rooms: one to the right and one to the left. There may have been other rooms to explore except they were blocked off by rubble from past cave-ins. The place was a mess.

The group inspected the left path first, only to encounter a number of giant cave spiders. One type resembled a tarantula that had black and yellow striped legs, black abdomen and thorax with a red mark on its thorax. Another type was gray with long legs that allowed it to rise to the height of a person.

One of the tarantulas faced its rear toward the group and launched a barrage of needles in an arc from its abdomen. Twilight and Lyra quickly erected barriers to block the needles with Nel, Cliff, Fayt and Peppita behind them.

Surprisingly, Sophia also managed to raise a psychic barrier that repelled the needles. When Lyra saw that, she noted that Sophia was gaining more conscious control over her powers. She figured that she could start teaching her techniques when they got to Arias.

The giant, long-legged spiders attempted to slow the group by launching nets of webbing at them. Lyra and Sophia managed to sidestep them before Lyra charged at the Tarantula and Sophia went after the tall spider. Lyra moved to the tarantula’s side to avoid frontal and rear needles before she jumped above it and stabbed it with her blades from above.

Sophia put her blades to use and approached her spider the same way Lyra did with her spider. With agility that surprised everyone, including Fayt, she quickly sliced off the spider’s legs with her wrist blades, leaving the main body helpless on the ground. She finished it by stabbing the body with her blades.

As more giant spiders emerged from their holes in the cavern, the next few minutes were spent lighting up that area of the cave with countless flying Fire Bolts and the light emitted by Fayt’s Blazing Sword. Countless spiders died in that timespan.

Since that part of the cave was a dead end, the group returned to the first room and took the passage to the right. After a short walk through a corridor, the group entered a room with rails in better condition than the ones in the entrance. The lower levels appeared inaccessible without jumping down with no chance of return for normal people. A barred gate blocked the way to the rest of the lower levels.

From where they entered, the group also noticed a strange console that had five buttons to press. Each button seemed to be labeled after a type of temperament: steady, carefree, whimsical, ill-natured and aggressive. However, none of the buttons responded to being pressed which meant that the machine was useless to them right now.

Sophia sensed something nearby. It was a sensation that felt strange, yet familiar. She couldn’t recall when she sensed such a presence before, yet her instincts were telling her that she had felt it once a long time ago. She looked around the immediate area to find the source of the feeling.

“Hey Sophia, are you alright?” Lyra asked. Everyone else turned their heads toward her in response.

“There’s something here and it’s bugging me. I need to find whatever is making me feel this way.” Her search brought her to a nearby pot torch that illuminated the console. She could sense that what she was looking for was buried underneath the torch, so she dug.

Her hands tore through the dirt and gravel, in search of her prize. She shattered a piece of rock that separated her from what she was looking for which surprised Cliff as normal humans couldn’t break away rock with their bare hands.

Underneath two inches of dirt and rock, Sophia finally found what she was looking for. She pulled out what appeared to be a strange gold-colored triangular stand. The legs had strange green symbols on them and the center held a green triangular gem.

Lyra’s eyes widened as she gasped in surprise. “Impossible,” she whispered. “This technology shouldn’t even exist here.”

“Is it an OPA?” Cliff asked.

“OPA?” Fayt asked.”

“I don’t know much about ‘em, but I’ve heard that they’re powerful artifacts that exist in places where they shouldn’t.” Cliff knew a little more than that, but he didn’t want Nel catching on to their true identities.

“What do you know about them?” Lyra asked through the link.

“The people of the Eternal Sphere call them ‘out-of-place artifacts’ that are discovered on worlds where they had no business existing in the first place,” Twilight explained. “Things like advanced technology that’s discovered on an underdeveloped planet with no record as to how they got there in the first place.”

“You phrased it in a way that tells me that we see them differently.”

“Correct, OPAs, as they call them, are actually known to me and my employees as Intervention Devices. Only administrators, like myself, can actually use them for their true purpose.”

“So is that Ihan Crystal that Sophia found one of your Intervention Devices?”

“That’s the strangest thing, it’s not. There is an ID on this planet, but it’s not that crystal. I have no idea how that thing got on this planet in the first place, let alone how Protoss technology ended up in the Eternal Sphere, especially since I didn’t implement their race or the Zerg into this universe. However that crystal got here, it was placed there recently, as in the past twenty years at most.

“Why twenty?” Lyra asked.

“The last full system scan of the Eternal Sphere occurred twenty of this universe’s years ago. The scans never picked up the foreign device, so it had to have been placed some time after the last scan.”

Lyra placed a hand on her chin as she looked at her apprentice, “Hmm…given Sophia’s reaction to the device, I’d wager around sixteen years.”

“Do you think the memory stored inside the device is connected to her somehow?” Twilight asked. Twilight had a thousand years to study Protoss technology. She was especially fascinated with the Ihan Crystals which served as memory recording modules. In fact, she had an entire room in her house dedicated to storing numerous Ihan Crystals which she used to record her experiments over the centuries.

As Sophia held the device in the palm of her hand, the device activated on its own, to her surprise. Even more surprising to everyone, including Lyra, was that when the device activated, it revealed a shard of a proper Ihan Crystal, meaning that the entire message stored in the crystal was not present. There was still enough to see part of the memory though.

“Just what is this?” Sophia asked.

Lyra convinced the others to move on ahead and check a passage beside the rails while she talked with her apprentice. With the two in private, Lyra explained the crystal to her and that there were parts missing from it. She also told her of her hypothesis that the crystal’s message might have been for her since she was the one who heard its call.

“Okay, but how do I access the memory?” Sophia pondered.

“Touch the crystal and close your eyes,” Lyra instructed.

Sophia nodded and did as told. The shard glowed brightly and her mind was invaded by a foreign memory.

A person appeared before her. His face was hideously grotesque and the rest of his body was covered in gunmetal-colored armor that appeared to have numerous high-tech weaponry attached to it. A look into his eyes revealed ancient wisdom.

The person before her spoke in a mildly warped voice.

“If you are viewing the memory stored in this crystal, then I pray that your name is Sophia. I’m not quite sure how these devices work. I have placed an echo of my psionic signature upon this device in hope that she will find it. If you are not her, then shame on you and know that I will find you and hunt you like prey.

“If you are my dearest Sophia, then know this; my name is Gerald ‘Star’ Craft and I am your grandfather. Before you go asking, the Esteeds are merely your foster parents and you have replaced their birth daughter. After all, you possess physical traits that were obviously not passed down from them. They have no idea that I exist and they have no idea that you replaced their actual daughter. I doubt you knew that either since you were an infant at the time.

This news stunned Sophia, she knew she was different from her family and her odd abilities were unexplainable until Lyra informed her about her abilities. If the person before her was correct, then this info would shake her whole world.

“You are likely wondering why I had you live with the Esteeds instead of your mother. Our family is made up of multiverse travelers. To ensure that we do not rampage throughout the multiverse, we band together as a unit and work to keep watch on one another and subdue each other should that happen.

“At the time I sent you away, the political climate within the family had become unstable and some of the more evil-aligned members might have wanted to influence you while you were young. The ones who could keep those members away were not strong enough to keep them in check.

“Don’t get me wrong though, evil may live among our family, but there are good members too and those who keep the two sides from going at each other’s throats. The one thing that we have in common is that we all have our sacred duty that comes first over our own desires. I would tell you more, but that would require you actively rejoining the family.

“I have divided this crystal into seven parts. The one you found is the introduction to what I wish to tell you. Whether you hate me or not for what I did and what you shall learn about what I did to you, in the least I beg of you to find the other six shards that I have scattered throughout the continent of this world. Hear my story from beginning to finish and learn more about yourself and what you inherited from myself and your mother.

“You may ask why I selected this world for the shards. Let’s just say that one of our family members can read the strands of fate.

“Two more things I want to tell you before this memory ends. One is that the bracelet you have been wearing for as long as you remember cannot be removed. I created that device to conceal your true form. Let’s just say that your mother chose an odd partner to love. The bracelet will deactivate and detach from your wrist upon viewing the memories on all seven shards. The last shard will be near a place that will give you a hint as to what your true form will be.”

Sophia stared at her glowing bracelet and noticed the seven lines of light. She noticed that one of the lights began to dim. Her true form? Was she never human in the first place?

“Finally, once this memory has been fully viewed, the device will activate a beacon that will reach across the multiverse and draw the attention of one of our family members. It is my hope that they are not a bad influence on you and that they can be your guide in understanding your birth family better. I especially hope that it’s not that witch, Thanatas. She has no respect for the sanctity of life.

“That is all I have to say for now. Good luck on your journey, and let none stand in your way.”

Sophia was pulled back to reality where she stumbled a little but managed to regain her balance quickly. Everyone who left briefly had returned and looked at Sophia with concern.

“You all right?” Cliff asked.

“Yeah, I saw a memory while looking at this crystal and it gave me a case of mental whiplash. I’m okay now.”

“You saw a memory?” Nel asked. “What did you see?”

For any normal person, a revelation of their life being not what they thought it was would lead to them having an existential crisis on the inside, but Sophia always prided herself in being physically and mentally adaptable. Nevertheless, she still needed time to sort her feelings.

“I saw someone who told me they were my grandfather as well as a few other things about myself that I didn’t know until now.” She sighed. “I hope we don’t run onto another of these shards anytime soon. I just had a lot of info dumped on me and I need time to process what I saw and decide whether it was true or not.”

“If it’s a distraction you need, then we can look for some more monsters to beat up around here,” Cliff suggested.

“Worth a shot,” Sophia shrugged.

The group continued along the rails. The passage to the side was checked earlier and all they found were a few armored skeletons who were quickly dealt with. They continued along the rails and across a bridge that overlooked a looping track below. On the other side of the bridge was a door with rusty hinges. Since they didn’t have anywhere else to go, Cliff forced the door open which caused the door to fall off its hinges.

“Uhh…door’s open?” Cliff chuckled nervously.

On the other side of the broken doorway, Nel explained a few things about the mine that Lyra already learned from the townsfolk gossip.

Before the group took another step, tremors shook the cave. Everyone braced themselves for the earthquake before a living mass of rock and metal appeared before them. In shape, it reminded Twilight and Lyra about the one they faced in the simulator on Hyda, except this one was brown.

The earthen beast started its attack with an Earth Glaive which caused everyone to jump to the side to avoid the encroaching stone spikes. Cliff took the creature’s attention from the front while Twilight, Nel and Fayt assaulted its left side. Lyra, Sophia and Peppita attacked its right.

Peppita kept her distance long enough while the creature was distracted so she could strengthen her friends with a Power Dance. Lyra cast a defense-enhancing symbol on Cliff to help him endure the beast’s attack if he found himself unable to evade all of its attacks.

Nel channeled her runes through her blades to unleash a shadowy wave of energy which cut through the beast’s earthen armor. At the same time, Lyra slammed into the beast with her Storm Charge attack. Twilight and Sophia added more electricity in the air when both cast Lightning Blast on the beast at the same time, causing it to roar in agony.

Cliff finished the beast off by attacking from above with his Hammer of Might technique like when he used it against the bandits in the aqueducts. Of course, he ended up making contact with the electrified enemy and took some of the charge into his body as well, temporarily paralyzing him.

While the earthen beast dissolved into the cave floor, the others watched in amusement as Cliff spent the next few seconds convulsing. “O-o-o-k-k-k-ay, m-m-m-ay-y-y-be p-p-unch-ch-ching the ch-ch-charged m-m-monster w-was a bad-ad-ad idea…”

While Cliff was recovering from the paralysis, Fayt noticed a nearby lever. With nothing to lose and not seeing any safe way to the lower levels, he decided to pull it. A mechanism activated which lifted a nearby barred gate.

Fayt pondered for a moment on what might have happened as a result of the gate opening. He quickly figured that the door opening might have caused a change somewhere in the cavern and there was only one place to check. If this was anything like the RPGs he played at home, anyway.

“Hey guys, let’s head back to the console,” Fayt suggested. “I want to check something.”

Everyone headed back through the door that Cliff ripped open and returned to the console. As he figured, the console was now working. He pressed the ‘Steady’ button and a giant turtle-like creature with six legs walked into the looped section of the tracks on the lower level. It was hitched to a large mine cart.

“What is that?” Fayt asked.

“That’s a Hauler Beast,” Nel answered. “Do they not have those in your country? They are our transportation out of these caverns.”

“Doesn’t look like it can carry all of us,” Cliff noticed. “I’m guessing that there are more of these critters given the number of buttons.”

After a few minutes of waiting, the Hauler got impatient and walked off with their cart. The other buttons were tested and different colors of Hauler Beasts with different expressions showed up.

Since the carts were large enough to carry three people at a time, Lyra decided to ride the whimsical Hauler. Twilight, Peppita and Fayt chose the steady Hauler while Cliff, Sophia and Nel chose the aggressive Hauler.

The next hour was the most chaotic part of their journey through the mine. The aggressive Hauler didn’t care about what got in its way as it charged through walls in the cavern. The whimsical Hauler was disobedient and chose different tracks at random.

The rails were explored by the three groups while the Haulers were subjected to a lot of abuse from busting through walls to rockslides to breaking barricades to jumping over large gaps which made a few of the party panic.

After an hour of mentally mapping out the routes, the three Haulers, the whimsical one guided by Lyra’s mental influence, finally reached the desired end of the route.

The sound of chuckling drew everyone’s attention to an old man in Airyglyph armor. “My, this is the liveliest I have seen these tunnels in decades. Did someone hire you to clear these tunnels?”

“Uhh…well…” Fayt began, but the old soldier continued.

“No matter, whether someone paid you or not, you have my gratitude.”

“Uhh, you’re welcome?”

“Goodness, where are my manners? I have forgotten to introduce myself. I am Gregory von Dermein III, I am in charge of these caverns as a member of the Glyphian army.”

“Right, mister Dermein…”

Gregory chuckled, “Just Gregory is fine. It’s been a long time since I last saw another soul in these parts that wasn’t a monster.”

“Is there anything we can do to ease your burden?” Twilight asked.

“Very kind of you strange creature, but that will not be necessary. My duty has been to these caverns for decades and I have friends among the soldiers of Kirlsa. Whenever I need some time off, the others are always happy to take over until I am fit for duty again. My wife waits for me every day at home and my children have moved to other towns and are doing well for themselves from what I’ve heard. I’d say my life is going well.”

Twilight smiled, she could sense the man’s contentment so she knew he wasn’t lying.

“Since you have driven these Haulers here, I shall see these three returned to their pens. I was a fine Hauler driver back in my day,” Gregory laughed. As he began to board one of the rides, he turned to the group once more. “Take care of yourselves, bandits and hostile wildlife patrol the mountain roads from here onward.” With that, Gregory rode off with one of the Haulers.

Sunlight greeted the group once more as they exited the tunnels and gazed upon the mountain path before them.

The enemies along the path were not much tougher than the ones in the mine, though it did feature the return of one of the most annoying annoyances they have encountered: the nobleman.

Other foes that showed up were some thieves who somehow learned some Symbology, agile dark blue wolves, and large beetles.

Sophia, who was still feeling a little stressed from the earlier revelation, showed no mercy to the nobleman when she grabbed one by the head, used him as a shield to take a thief’s Lightning Blast, tossed him at said thief, then electrocuted them when she used a more advanced symbol: Thunder Flare. The spell unleashed electricity on the area the two victims were in and the discharge lasted a few seconds, continuously electrocuting the two.

Cliff killed a wolf by grabbing it by the neck and twisting its head. Twilight blocked another thief’s Lightning Blast with an Earth Glaive which impaled the thief. Peppita used her Magic Hook ability where she grabbed an enemy with her cape and dragged them to her before she unleashed a small but potent explosion in their face with her Instanto Blast. Lyra and Nel went after the slow beetles, some of which flew into the air. Nel handled the grounded beetles by unleashing sharpened air in the form of her Shockwave before Lyra told Nel to get out of the way. After the spy moved aside, Lyra unleashed her Psionic Storm and electrocuted the air around the beetles. The beetles still stood thanks to their electrical resistance, but were brought out of the air where Nel finished them off by throwing a number of frozen daggers that she conjured with her runes.

Moving onward, Nel led them along the path. The others noticed the sides of the path being fenced by barbed wire with a blocked cave entrance along the way which marked two paths. Nel took the one on the right, saying that the path to the left was too dangerous and that their destination was very close.

It wasn’t long before they located and entered a village that had seen better days. Arias appeared as a town that had experienced the brunt of militaristic aggression. The people around the village had grim expressions on their faces to match some of the destroyed homes. Nel mentioned that the village was still reeling from the previous attack from Airyglyph.

“The mansion in the center of town is our base of operations,” Nel informed. “We’ll check in there.”

Lyra had noticed that Nel was looking back west with concern. It didn’t require a look into her mind to know that she was concerned for her missing subordinates.

Something told the Pony Templar that things were about to get more interesting.

Meanwhile, outside Airyglyph City, a group of soldiers were patrolling the area just beyond the bridge leading into the city. Two of the three appeared irritable while the other was putting the most dedication to his duty.

“This is ridiculous!” one of the irritated soldiers shouted. “Why are we on patrol duty when we could be on the hunt for those escaped prisoners and that Aquarian witch!”

“Lord Vox probably thinks we’re not up to the task,” the other angry soldier grumbled.

“Enough chatter you two,” the dutiful guard scolded. “Every duty is important, Lord Vox entrusted us to make sure that no more Aquarian spies infiltrate the city.”

“Yes sir,” both soldiers replied reluctantly.

Not long after that conversation, the winds began to pick up. The guards could feel the howling winds blowing through their armor, not even caring that the phenomenon was unnatural.

Behind the guards was a point of violet light that began to expand slightly.

The point of a sword poked through the expanding hole. In only a moment, the blade of the sword fully emerged from the opening rift. The blade was covered in runes. The blade then motioned downward, tearing the rift even further.

The guards heard the tearing behind them and quickly turned around. They were just in time to see a figure emerge from the rift.

The woman that emerged had one of the most beautiful faces they had ever seen. Her skin was deathly pale and her long hair was white as snow. Her eyes glowed an eerie bright blue. The armor she wore was intimidating, even to the guards. Her ebony gauntlets, boots and belt had a skull design on them. Her pauldrons depicted a face in agony. The hilt of her sword depicted a skull impaled by numerous weapons.

The woman fully emerged from the rift before it vanished. She looked at her surroundings, ignoring the guards. “Hmm…so this is where she went?” she pondered. “The snow is a nice touch to the place; could be colder though. There’s something missing, but I can’t put my finger on it…hmm.”

“Halt!” she heard nearby. She ignored the voice. “Hey, you are trespassing in the territory of the kingdom of Airyglyph! Identify yourself!”

The woman sighed, “What do you want? I’m busy here.”

“Are you an Aquarian spy? Surrender immediately!” They pointed their swords at her.

“I’m not in the mood to be playing with you idiots. I have things I need to do, people to track.”

“The only thing you’re doing is heading to the dungeon. Come quietly.”

She sighed, “Look, it’s not your time yet. Don’t throw your time away fighting me. This is your last warning.”

The three guards charged at the woman who rolled her eyes and sighed again. “What a waste…” She raised her sword and made a thrusting motion. The guards stopped in their tracks when they felt a painful pressure in their chests. They each looked down and saw a runed sword that looked just like the one the woman wielded coming out of their chests. The guards coughed up blood before they dropped their weapons and collapsed on the snow. The blades removed themselves from the bodies and floated over to the woman like pets returning to their master.

The woman smiled, “That’s what was missing: the stench of death.”

The corpses vanished.

She frowned, “This place sucks…” She grumbled for a minute before she sighed. “Whatever, I have a hunt to begin anyway. Hope she’s not one of those whiny, judgemental idiots who keep trying to lecture me on ethics.”

After claiming the wasted time from the three guards with her sword, she began heading east.

Training Facility

View Online

While some members of the group wanted to explore the war-torn town of Arias and see the extent of the damage inflicted upon it and the villagers by Airyglyph, Nel insisted on checking in with her superiors located in the large mansion in the center of the town.

On the way, they couldn’t help but empathize with the villagers who mourned the loss of their homes, businesses and loved ones. While most of the houses and businesses still stood, it was the destroyed ones that stood out. They also overheard more than a few of the villagers discussing plans to leave town for safer havens.

Nel led the group into the small mansion which was guarded by a person wearing a gray robe, like the one Lyra saw in Kirlsa.

Everyone was led down the hall and to a room on the right. At the end of the hall, Lyra noticed a fountain statue. The plaque on the statue depicted Irisa, Goddess of the Moon.

Lyra smirked, “A Sun God and a Moon Goddess, if the two were real, I wonder how a meeting between them and Celestia and Luna would go.” Twilight did her best not to giggle out loud.

Inside the next room, the group overheard a conversation from a pair of runologists who wore the gray robes seen earlier. The runologists mentioned that the runological weapons were scheduled to arrive in three days.

Aside from the runologists, the group noticed another woman who had long gray hair tied with purple ribbons. She wore an outfit similar to Nel’s, except that her’s came with a long skirt. The woman appeared to be the field commander since the runologists appeared to be answering to her. She appeared to be satisfied with the arrival time of the weapons and dismissed the runologists.

“You’re looking well,” Nel said.

The commander turned to face the group. “Nel! When did you return?”

Nel smiled, “Just now, Clair.”

The two walked up to each other before Clair started checking Nel for injuries.

“I’m fine Clair, really.”

“I can’t help but worry about you. You’re too reckless, you know.”

“That’s the line of work I’m in. It can’t be helped.”

Clair shook her head and dropped the matter. “Are these the ones?”

Nel introduced everyone to Clair who introduced herself as Clair Lasbard.

“I do apologize for pushing our problems onto you, but please understand our situation. But this is a matter that can be handled tomorrow. Your trek through the mountains must have been exhausting and I’m sure you need your rest.”

“That’s right,” Nel agreed. “He may look fine now, but Fayt isn’t used to traveling. I witnessed that as we reached Kirlsa.”

“C’mon Nel, it was just one wave of fatigue,” Fayt complained. “It’s not like I wasn’t roughed up by their dungeon master earlier that day either.”

“I was too and you don’t see me falling to my knees in exhaustion,” Cliff bragged which earned him a glare from Fayt.

“I have prepared some guest rooms on the second floor, feel free to use them,” Clair offered.

“Thank you for your hospitality,” Twilight said and briefly bowed.

Clair ordered Nel to stay behind while the others headed upstairs to inspect their new rooms. The mansion appeared to have a number of bookshelves, to Twilight’s joy. The rugs had decorated patterns and the blankets on the beds were the same way. Some of the rooms had chess board tables for entertainment.

Since there wasn’t much to see in the village but the past destruction and people likely thinking that life would be better in another town, everyone decided to turn in early. Fayt and Cliff took one room, Twilight and Lyra took another while Sophia and Peppita slept in a third room.

That night, Nel walked into Fayt and Cliff’s room. She took a moment to look at the two sleeping forms in front of her before she bowed to them and walked out.

Unknown to Nel, Cliff wasn’t asleep.

Nel walked down the hallway to the stairs to the lower floor. A voice from behind her startled her into her combat stance. “I wouldn’t advise this course of action alone.” Lyra said as she leaned against a wall while Nel took a moment to regain her composure.

“What do you mean?” Nel asked, trying to act oblivious.

“It doesn’t take a genius to know that you plan to storm an enemy stronghold alone with next to no chance of success.”

Nel sighed in resignation, “I know. I know that Fayt will raise a fuss about me being gone, and will likely try to follow me there. We can’t allow him to fall into enemy hands so please, try to convince him to go to Aquios.”

Lyra frowned, “I won’t let you leave alone.”

“Don’t try to stop me,” Nel threatened with an edge in her tone.

“Which is why only me and Sophia will go with you. Twilight will make sure Fayt doesn’t get any idiotic ideas.” Lyra smirked, “Besides, Sophia needs experience with different kinds of missions if she is going to be a Templar like myself.”

Nel raised an eyebrow, “Aren’t there better ways to train your apprentice than a potential suicide mission?”

“I’ve learned by this point that she’s not normal and regular methods of training aren’t going to be effective with her. Best way is a trial by fire and what better way than to assault an enemy stronghold.”

Nel had to think for a few minutes. She knew that her ill-fated mission to rescue Tynave and Farleen from the Kirlsa Training Facility, which was also the headquarters of the Black Brigade, would most likely get her killed. Her chances were already low and would be nearly abysmal if she encountered Lieutenant Shelby or zero if Albel the Wicked was there.

She also knew that if the mission failed, she would not only be responsible for the deaths of herself and her subordinates, but also the two who would accompany her.

Yet, for some reason, she had a strange feeling that everything would be alright if those two accompanied her. “What is this feeling? Is it guidance from Apris?” she thought. She decided to trust this feeling.

“Very well, pack light. We must cross the wilderness back to Kirlsa with due haste. We leave as soon as possible.”

Lyra nodded and headed to Sophia’s room. The girl in question emerged from her room before Lyra got there. She appeared to be ready for travel. Lyra and Nel raised an eyebrow.

“What, I overheard your conversation and figured it was only a matter of time until Lyra wore Nel down,” Sophia defended.

Lyra chuckled softly while Nel smiled as she shook her head.

“You three headin’ out together?” whispered a deep masculine voice.

Nel’s eyes widened in surprise, “Cliff? I-”

“Save it,” Cliff interrupted. “I know you three are going to go cause a ruckus somewhere in enemy territory to rescue Tynave and Farleen. Don’t worry, I’ll hold down the fort while you’re gone. As much as I want to get in on the action, I have my own mission to complete. I’ll make sure the kid doesn’t go after you. Besides, with Lyra with you, I have a hunch that the enemy is in some serious trouble.”

“Thank you for your understanding,” Nel bowed.

Nel, Lyra and Sophia walked down the stairs and out of the mansion.

“We came in from the northern gate to get here from the mountain path, we’re taking the south gate to get to Kirlsa. Let’s move.”

The trio headed out of the southern gate and into the arid wilderness.

The opposition on the way to Kirlsa was similar to what was encountered on the mountain path. The blue wolves were roaming around with thieves alongside them. There were Bogles roaming the area as well and Noblemen were wandering around for people to annoy.

With the party down to three, they had to be more careful of the opponents they challenged. This was no problem for the templar and her trainee.

Using a little trickery, Lyra hid herself and Sophia before the apprentice launched a Fire Bolt at some thieves and struck some Bogles with Lightning Blasts while they weren’t looking. This tricked the Bogles and thieves to fight each other while the group walked away.

When they neared Kirlsa, they noticed a few lum riders of the Storm Brigade patrolling the area. Since they didn’t need any potential scouts reporting their location to the Black Brigade, Lyra cloaked the party with her Shadow Walk and walked past the riders and into Kirlsa.

While they walked through Kirlsa, Sophia thought about how Lyra used the Shadow Walk and how she could use her psychic powers to repeat what her master did. Since Lyra claimed to use the power of the void to conceal herself and since the void was emptiness, she concentrated on trying to grab that nothingness with her power. While that didn’t work, she noticed the shadows around her shifting. She decided to experiment with the shadows by tugging one toward her. The shadow moved at her command and part of it wrapped around her hand. A brief look of shock appeared on Sophia’s face as her hand turned transparent.

Lyra noticed Sophia’s experimentation and smiled as she noticed that her apprentice had begun learning how to Shadow Walk.

The party walked out of the south entrance of Kirlsa and into more arid wilderness.

The mysterious woman in intimidating armor had entered Kirlsa not too long ago. The few townsfolk walking the streets at night quickly took notice of her and gave her a wide berth. Their survival instincts told the folks to avoid the woman at all costs.

It was when she reached the eastern part of town that she sensed someone using the shadows to sneak around. She called upon a shadowy apparition and linked her vision to the ghost.

That was when she noticed three individuals leaving town through the south gate. One among them was her target.

“Looks like I found you,” she muttered. She began heading toward the south gate only to stop after a step. “But…who says that the hunt has to end so soon.”

She knew she could find her target again at any time. While she was on a mission, she had plenty of time to accomplish that. Since there was no timeframe for her mission, she had time to fool around and see the sights.

For now, she was hungry. Instead of pursuing her target, she decided to check out the local graveyard to see if there were bodies there that didn’t vanish when killed.

Looking around the area, the wildlife appeared to be composed of territorial wasps and mushroom people. Nel called them Shriekers because of the loud scream they make. They also noticed Black Brigade patrols in the area.

Wanting to conserve her energies for the return trip, Lyra disengaged her Shadow Walk and proposed to just barrel through the patrols.

While Nel considered Lyra to be a little crazier than she expected, Sophia got the first killing blow when she thrust one of her wrist blades into a wasp. She had to carefully remove the impaled remains of the insect from her blade as she didn’t want to test her body to find out if she could resist poisons or not.

One of the black-armored heavy infantry recognized Nel and yelled out to his comrades to come help him.

At the same time, a group of Shriekers began moving in against both parties. The black knights raised their swords against the creatures but quickly retreated when they were too slow to avoid the screams of the Shriekers, damaging their fragile minds.

Thankfully, the trio had much better mental fortitude than the knights. Nel unleashed an ominous wave of shadowy energy at the knights which damaged their armor and fractured their psyche.

Sophia employed a ‘kill it with fire’ strategy against the Shriekers as she used a more advanced fire symbol which summoned a giant made of fire which swept the battlefield with its massive blade and set the area in front of her ablaze. The Shriekers were incinerated, the Efreet spell had done its work.

The remaining Airyglyph troops had been thrown into confusion as Lyra disappeared and reappeared all around them. Her movements were unpredictable and left the troops with many openings that she exploited by slipping her blades underneath their helmets and stabbing their throats. The troops huddled together to try and counter the pony no matter where she appeared. However, that was part of Lyra’s plan as the next moment for them was pure agony as they were fried from inside their armors when a Psionic Storm enveloped the area.

“It’s always surprising how strong you two are,” Nel commented.

Lyra smirked, “You haven’t seen anything yet.”

Nel led the party through the wilderness and into a large facility that Lyra and Sophia guessed was the Kirlsa Training Facility where Tynave and Farleen were being held.

It was a moment after the party stepped into the facility when they were greeted by a welcoming party of three Black Brigade soldiers. In a three on three fight, the knights were wiped out in seconds.

“Let’s look around and see if there are any enemies,” Lyra said, partly mockingly.

Growling was heard from their right before the trio spotted a pair of red wolves.

“Look out everyone, their breath attacks have been known to turn people to stone,” Nel warned.

With that information, the trio remained cautious as they fought the wolves and avoided being in front of them whenever they released a stream of colors from their mouths.

The wolves were stabbed and slashed from the side where they were vulnerable before they vanished.

The group investigated the hallway they were in and found a doorway to their east that was locked. There was no door blocking them from the west so that was the only route they could take.

It soon became frustrating for the three as hallways led to more hallways which led to cluttered rooms. It was at the point where the facility felt more like a labyrinth.

Surprisingly, there were not many enemies around.

Eventually, their exploration brought them to the other side of the door that was locked from the entrance. When the door opened, they suspected that the door was designed to open from this side only, which seemed like an annoyance.

A second door was in the next room, but that one was locked and appeared to need a key to open.

A few more minutes of backtracking and exploring soon brought them to a set of stairs that went up to the next floor…

Lyra breathed a sigh of relief. “Finally, glad to get away from that floor.”

…Only to wind up on the second floor which was even more confusing and maze-like than the first floor.

Lyra’s left eye twitched uncontrollably.

The second floor was in shambles. There were broken pillars all over the place. Walls were shattered or made from more rubble. Bloodstains and bodies were present in many of the rooms. Worse, the entire floor appeared to be occupied by monsters. Of those encountered were more frogmen, skeletons, and a race of lizardmen. The party had to take caution when they encountered the lizardmen because they knew the Ice Needles symbol. If they were careless, they could end up frozen.

One lizardman tried to cast his spell on Sophia while another tried to attack her from behind. She countered this by stabbing the wrist of the lizardman behind her who released his grip on his buckler before she grabbed it and shielded herself from the spell. Lyra dismembered the caster while Sophia bashed the wounded lizardman with his own shield and stabbed him in the throat.

Nel started hurling numerous Fire Bolts at her enemies when she learned that most of the monsters on that floor were vulnerable to fire-based attacks. Sophia joined in on the pyromania.

After what felt like an hour of searching, the group finally came across the stairs to the next floor.

“Please don’t be another complicated maze…” Lyra whined.

The next floor featured a number of prison cells and torture implements. The bloodstains on the floor and walls indicated not only that they have been used a lot but also the fact that there is no maintenance staff in the facility.

“Seems like the Black Brigade are a bunch of barbarians if they can’t keep their own facility looking presentable,” Sophia commented. “If I were their captain, I wouldn’t stand for this. I’d at least halve all of their rations until the place was spotless.”

“I think the entire brigade needs to remember what discipline means,” Lyra added.

The most annoying part of the floor was the existence of yet another type of nobleman and they were just as annoying as the other variations. There were also giant wandering suits of armor carrying massive warhammers.

More than once, Sophia decided to dispose of the noblemen by tricking the armors into flattening the annoyances with their hammers. The armors weren’t very tough and were torn apart by the trio’s blades.

Eventually, their exploration brought them to a kitchen. The only occupants were an elderly woman and a young girl who appeared to be around Fayt’s age.

“Who are you? What do you want here?” the elderly matron demanded.

“We’re just looking for a way to the top floor,” Lyra answered.

The young lady saw the colorful pony and secretly began to fantasize strange things about her. Lyra deeply regretted looking into her mind and had to actively keep her psychic abilities from reading minds. She then considered a dose of brain bleach when the adventure was over.

Sophia snapped her fingers in front of the girl’s face to get her attention.

“O-oh, yes, you need to get to the top floor? Take this key, It’ll get you to the elevator on the first floor.” The girl handed Sophia a key.

The elderly woman grumbled as the trio left the kitchen.

With the key in hand and no other way back to the first floor, the trio had to backtrack all the way back to the door, much to Lyra’s distress.

Back at the locked door, Sophia used the key and opened the door. Inside the next room was an elevator which would take them to the top floor of the facility.

The group entered the elevator and pressed the button for the fourth floor and the elevator began to ascend.

The elevator stopped about thirty seconds later and the party continued down a hallway until they saw an outdoor arena beyond the hallway. There were four pillars at the corners of the arena and on the far end hung the two individuals that Nel was looking for.

“Tynave! Farleen!” Nel shouted.

The two agents of Aquaria were badly beaten and bruised as they hung from torture racks.

“Nel, this isn’t the time to be worried about them,” Lyra informed. “There are enemies hiding nearby.”

Nel nodded before looking around. It was easy to deduce that the enemy was behind the pillars.

Lyra attacked one of the pillars with a Psionic Storm which fried the soldiers behind it.

Seeing their cover blown, the other knights emerged from the pillars. Sophia lured the knights into one spot before she incinerated them with an Efreet spell.

With the soldiers dealt with, Nel quickly moved to free her subordinates from the torture rack they were attached to.

“You three faced great danger to save us. You shouldn’t have come,” Tynave said.

“Thank you so much,” Farleen added.

The sound of armor clanking alerted the group that the reunion had to be cut short.

The trio turned around to face the enemy reinforcements. One of them appeared to be a larger man who wore a chainmail coif unlike the others. He also carried an axe and a morningstar. Unlike the other soldiers, this one’s armor was outlined in orange. Lyra figured that he was probably a high-ranking officer in the Black Brigade.

“Hmph, I had expected you to be here with the two escapees, but all I see are a few rats and a freakish lum,” the man mocked.

“Why does everyone call me a lum?” Lyra thought.

“Kind of rude of you not to introduce yourself,” Sophia said.

“I am Shelby, Lieutenant of the Black Brigade. Once I find out where you’re hiding the prisoners, I’ll even be called captain.”

“Ambitious, huh? Not fond of your current captain?”

“Albel is nothing more than a child who does as he pleases. He is unfit to lead the Black Brigade. When I am promoted to captain, Albel can rot in a ditch for all I care.”

“I think you need to learn some proper discipline yourself,” Sophia taunted. “You can’t even take care of your own headquarters. It’s as trashy as you are.”

“I’ll have your head for that!” Shelby roared. He charged at Sophia while the other soldiers faced Nel.

Nel quickly disposed of her foes by blinding them in a cloud of poison before attaching her blades to each other and sending them spinning into the cloud where her Flying Guillotine attack tore through the guards. The poison finished off the survivors.

Sophia handled Shelby by herself. Shelby swiped at the girl with his axe and mace which were expertly dodged with a backstep. Sophia noticed a button on Shelby’s mace which he moved his thumb toward. She had a suspicion on what it would do so next time he swiped with his mace, she sidestepped which allowed the spiked ball of the mace to harmlessly fly past her. As she suspected, the ball was attached to a chain.

When Shelby pursued Sophia around the arena, she noticed that his movements were slow. When he tried to breathe some strange ice breath at her, she always remained out of range.

Feeling like she had seen the extent of his abilities, Sophia created an orb with her psychic energy and threw it at him. He tried to knock it away with his arm, only for it to spread cracks of light through his armor which spread all over until it shattered, leaving Shelby in his underwear.

His surprise was capitalized as Sophia moved behind Shelby and crossed her blades on his neck before she decapitated him. The lieutenant vanished a few moments later.

“That takes care of that,” Lyra said.

“Hmph, worm food,” came a voice from above.

Everyone looked up at the ramparts to see the dangerous man Lyra saw earlier at Airyglyph Castle with the spiked hair looking down at them.

“So this is what Shelby was up to. Pathetic. To lose to the likes of you? Now he’s food for the maggots.”

“Albel Nox…” Nel uttered with a tense tone in her voice.

“Who’s that? Lyra asked.

“He’s the best swordsman in Airyglyph and the captain of the Black Brigade. Also known as Albel the Wicked.”

“Ha…” Albel mocked. “I wash my hands of Shelby’s mess. You are free to go.”

“Hmm…I don’t think so,” Lyra said. Albel looked back.

“Lyra, what are you doing?” Nel asked.

“Why don’t you come down and prove you have the bite to back that bark,” she taunted. “All I see is a bratty child who needs a spanking.”

Albel frowned. He turned around and let Lyra know that she had his full attention. “If you want to die so badly, I’m happy to oblige.”

“Try me then. You, me, one on one. No soldiers, no allies.”

Albel jumped into the arena while Lyra took her spot at the opposite end. Sophia, Nel, Tynave and Farleen moved away from the center of the arena to avoid the imminent battle.

“I will put you back in the dirt where you belong, maggot!” Albel declared.

Albel began his attack by moving toward Lyra in a serpentine pattern. Lyra timed her movements with his and moved to Albel’s right side. He quickly swung his katana to where Lyra moved which was parried by one of her wrist blades. Lyra followed up by kicking Albel in the side which knocked him away.

Albel closed the gap again and slashed the air vertically with his katana which created a sharpened wave of air pressure. Lyra sidestepped the wave and charged toward him. Albel swiped with his clawed left hand and while he expected to make the pony bleed for her reckless charge, he only swiped at an afterimage.

Before his mind registered what happened, Albel received a slash to his back. He stumbled forward and grunted in pain. He turned around and directed a shockwave with his sword to the ground and caused spikes of sharpened air pressure to erupt in front of him. He then unleashed a blast of energy behind him from his metal hand. This knocked back Lyra a little.

“I’ll show you how worthless your cheap parlor tricks are,” Albel growled.

“And yet, I’m still the only one who has inflicted damage so far,” Lyra countered.

Albel had a feeling that his opponent wasn’t fighting seriously. If the creature in front of him was merely messing with him, he likely couldn’t afford to hold back. He studied the movements of the creature, trying to find openings. The problem was that his opponent looked far too relaxed. She moved in a leisurely manner. His instincts told him that if she could move fast enough to create an afterimage, she would react nearly instantly the moment he made a move.

Still, they couldn’t hold the stalemate forever.

Albel charged at Lyra with his serpentine pattern again. This time readying his claws to fight along with his katana. As he figured, Lyra quickly reacted and moved away from his attack. Not wanting an attack from behind, Albel created a wall with his aura. Lyra backed away, not wanting to be hit by the small raging maelstrom he created.

“Hmm…I can see that you aren’t an amateur, unlike your brigade,” Lyra noticed. “Too bad you never took the time to teach them how to fight better.”

“As if those worms would be capable of learning which end of the sword to point in front of them,” Albel said.

Lyra shrugged, “Doesn’t say a lot about your kingdom if at least a third of the army are a bunch of weaklings and their captain is too lazy to bother with them.”

Albel roared, unleashing the wrath of his aura at Lyra. The aura took the form of dragon heads that raced for the mare. Lyra skillfully dodged them then delivered a few light cuts on Albel’s body while he was recovering from the failed attack. He fell to one knee, using his sword to hold him up.

Albel grunted in pain. “Ugh, you still toy with me. Why won’t you fight me seriously?”

Lyra tilted her head. “Why would I? I see no reason for overkill. Anyway, if you’re done showing your prowess off, then we’re done here. I have injured to return home and some engineers to escort around.”

“You dare leave our duel incomplete? I am not finished yet!!” Albel growled. He got back to his feet and assumed his combat stance.

Lyra frowned. With near instantaneous movements, she was quickly in front of Albel before she delivered a hard punch to his gut before grabbing his head and slamming his chin on her knee. She then roundhouse kicked Albel into a wall where he stuck to it.

“Yeah, you’re finished,” Lyra declared. She turned back to the entrance to the arena and walked away.

Nel, Tynave and Farleen stood near the entrance with their jaws hanging open. Tynave was the first to recover from the shock. “Did we really just witness Albel getting thrashed?”

“Wow, she’s really strong,” Farleen added.

“I’m suddenly curious about how a fight between her and Adray would go,” Nel muttered.

“You think she could handle a fight against the legendary Adray, Lady Nel?” Tynave asked.

Nel merely shrugged as she carried Tynave out of the arena with Sophia carrying Farleen.

City of Artisans

View Online

The Elicoorians were stunned by the display of skills from the templar master from her battle from a few minutes ago. Never did they think that anyone could defeat a skilled warrior like Albel the Wicked so handily, unless they were the strongest swordsman in Aquaria. Losing Lieutenant Shelby as well would likely leave the Black Brigade weakened for a while.

Getting out of the training facility was a slow walk since Nel had a more difficult time carrying Tynave than Sophia did carrying Farleen. Nel had to wonder whether Farleen had lost weight or if Sophia was stronger than she looked. She had a feeling that it was the latter.

The five took the elevator to the first floor and passed through the door that locked on one side before they headed out of the entrance to the facility.

The trek through the wilderness back to Kirlsa was slow going due to Tynave and Farleen’s injuries. With the Black Brigade patrols dealt with, they only had to deal with wasps and shriekers who thought they would get an easy meal. They were wrong.

The sun had risen by the time everyone returned to Kirlsa. Since they were in town and she knew that Tynave and Farleen were in no condition to take the mountain path to Arias, Nel had to take a risk and buy a wagon from a merchant to transport the injured and carry them swiftly to Arias through the wilderness.

Unfortunately, Lyra’s shroud couldn’t cover the whole wagon and Sophia was still mastering that power. She knew the return trip was going to be risky.

Lyra and Sophia helped Tynave and Farleen into the wagon while Nel took her position in the driver’s seat. Nel used her scarf as a hood to conceal herself while Lyra shrouded the other passengers. Nel got the lums moving and the wagon existed out of the east gate.

The Storm Brigade patrols noticed the wagon passing by them and while there didn’t appear to be anything suspicious about the wagon itself, an unidentifiable person driving the wagon heading toward enemy territory appeared like suspicious activity. Shortly after the wagon passed by them, they decided to move to stop the wagon and get an identification and see if they were an Aquarian spy.

The lums didn’t move more than a few feet before they were mysteriously yanked backward, throwing the riders off. The lums were held in the grip of giant bone hands.

The knights got back to their feet and quickly discovered the ominously armored woman who was the culprit behind the disruption of their duties.

They pointed their lances at the woman, “You are under arrest for attacking members of the Storm Brigade,” one declared.

The woman raised an eyebrow at the idiots before her. “And I should care, why?”

The knights looked at her with confusion, even if the expressions couldn’t be seen past their full plate helmets. “Do you not understand the position you’re in?”

“I don’t think you understand the position you’re in. You see, I’ve recently had my fill of corpse flesh from your nearby cemetery, but Evermourne, my companion here…” She gestured to her sword. “...is still quite famished.” She then smiled cheerfully and spoke in an ominously singsong tone, “Guess who’s on the breakfast menu…”

It took too long for the soldiers to realize what the mysterious woman meant before she pointed her blade at them. Strands of dark energy shot out of the blade and wrapped around the soldiers who were lifted into the air. The soldiers struggled in vain as they felt their very life drain from their bodies. Their armor and weapons became heavier with each moment. With one last pull of life from the soldiers, their bodies went limp as their souls left their bodies and were absorbed into the blade. The lifeless soldiers vanished.

The woman smiled as she moved a hand along the blade like she was petting an animal. “Fear not mortals, once Evermourne finishes digesting your memories, experiences and sins, you will be cleansed and ready for the cycle of reincarnation. Sadly, there will be no afterlife for you in the meantime; only years of digestion await.”

She next turned to the now riderless lums and examined each one as they struggled helplessly in the skeletal hands. After a few minutes of deliberation, she ran her sword through the barrels of the lums and pierced their hearts. The lums instantly vanished.

With that task done and her target escaped, the woman headed back into town and toward the abandoned mine. She sensed some necromantic magic within and decided to investigate.

The express return trip to Arias was uneventful. The guards opened the gate once they spotted the incoming wagon, under Clair’s orders. The guards were relieved to find Nel’s party had returned safely.

On the way back to the mansion, they spotted Fayt on the road held in magical stasis. He struggled to move but Twilight’s magic was too strong.

“Let me go, I have to help them!” Fayt demanded.

“Give it up kid, you’re not helping anyone by playing hero,” Cliff said.

“But…”

Cliff hesitated for a moment as he spotted the wagon. “Besides, they’re back already.”

Fayt looked down the road in confusion as Twilight released her stasis spell.

“Nel! Sophia! What were you thinking; going somewhere dangerous?”

“What are you talking about Fayt? We just helped Nel with a secondary objective to her mission,” Sophia said, partly lying about the mission part. She had just pulled an all nighter helping Nel rescue Tynave and Farleen and she was beginning to feel the fatigue from it. The last thing she needed was Fayt yelling about how reckless she was.

“That still doesn’t excuse…” Fayt began before he felt the terrifying aura of Sophia again.

Sophia put on a fake smile to mask her irritation. “Fayt, right now, I’m going to get a few hours of sleep before we move to the next town. If you have any grievances to share with me afterward…” Her smile slowly lowered into a frown while her aura sharpened and her tone matched. “I’m sure we can work them out.”

Fayt gulped and decided to keep his mouth shut.

“Scary…” everyone around Sophia thought in unison.

Clair approached the group. “Welcome back, Nel. I am glad to see you back safe and sound, and with Tynave and Farleen no less.”

Nel smiled faintly, “I would have not made it back had it not been for Lyra and Sophia accompanying me. You had best be sitting when I give my report. I guarantee that it will be one hell of a tale.”

“I see, I will make sure the beds are prepared for Sophia and Lyra and a hot meal sent to their rooms. I look forward to your report, Nel.”

“...and that’s my report,” Nel said.

In the conference room, everyone was in attendance except for Sophia and Lyra who were asleep on the upper floor. By the time Nel had finished her report, Clair and the soldiers in the room were all in complete shock by what they heard.

Clair had to use every ounce of will to recover from the shock. She took a deep breath before giving her response, ”I see. The two upstairs not only eliminated Shelby of the Black Brigade, but Lyra crushed Albel the Wicked in a one on one duel. I never thought anyone but my father could defeat that man. He will most certainly want to have a bout with Lyra one day.”

“Your father?” Twilight asked.

“Yes, Adray Lasbard. He is the best swordsman in Aquaria and a master runologist. He’s getting up in years but he doesn’t seem to be showing signs of slowing down yet. The queen’s advisors and more than a few of our citizens find his brash nature overwhelming.

“Sounds like Rainbow Dash in her middle years,” Twilight thought. Her thoughts turned wistful as she remembered her friends from a thousand years ago.

“So what now?” Cliff asked. “We have a few hours while we wait for Sophia and Lyra to rest up.”

“I’m gonna go out there and give the villagers a performance to make them cheerful,” Peppita declared.

“Guess we can take a look around the village and see what’s available,” Fayt offered. “We probably need to check our gear and make sure it’s not falling into disrepair.”

“I’m gonna check out the scenery then,” Cliff said.

“In other words, admire the beautiful women,” Fayt thought.

“I’ll have the cooks prepare a meal for you before you leave for Peterny,” Clair offered.

With that, everyone left to complete their own tasks. Peppita did her best to cheer the depressed villagers up with her dances and illusions, Fayt and Cliff explored the town and checked out the shops that had not closed yet, Twilight read every book in the mansion in record time and Nel helped the cooks prepare a meal for everyone.

A few hours passed and Lyra and Sophia emerged from upstairs while working out their stiffness. They both enjoyed a meal made to their tastes, especially since Twilight warned the cooks before about her people’s vegetarian diets beforehand.

Once everyone had finished their meals, Fayt, Cliff, Nel, Peppita, Sophia, Lyra and Twilight gathered at the eastern gate out of town.

“First, we’ll head to a town called Peterny in the northeast,” Nel informed. “After we attain supplies there, we’ll head to Aquios.” After saying their goodbyes to Clair, Tynave and Farleen, the group moved out.

The area that spanned before them was friendly-looking grasslands with healthy vegetation. There was some hostile wildlife around, but nothing too terrifying.

“This is the Palmira Plains, quite a difference from what we’ve seen in the other regions, isn’t it?” Nel informed.

The group continued through the plains while some were admiring the beautiful scenery. They could hear the sea nearby to their south and east. The gentle breeze was refreshing, especially compared to the frigid air of the Traum Mountains near Airyglyph or the dry air of the wilderness near Kirlsa.

Along the way, they encountered a few new species who were territorial. They spotted giant scorpions who were almost as long as a person and their tails were longer than their bodies. They saw giant red tortoises with bright red shells with long horns pointing ahead of them. The tortoises were larger than a person. There were also plains-dwelling tarantulas and roaming lizardmen.

The lizardmen were particularly aggressive when they saw the group as they charged at them with their shields and clubs. Some decided to cast Ice Needles on them right away. Fayt and Nel were unable to avoid the spell in time and ended up frozen. Two of the lizardmen rushed toward them with their clubs raised in intent to fatally shatter them. Cliff and Peppita got in their way where Cliff pummeled one with his Electric Fists technique while Peppita used her Magic Hook and Instanto Blast combo. Lyra quickly dispatched the casters while Sophia and Twilight quickly thawed the frozen victims.

The remaining wildlife in the area avoided the group as they began heading north to the nearest town. The walk through the plains was mostly uneventful.

The entrance of the town alone gave a different vibe compared to the past towns, cities and villages they have visited. People were simply going about their day, chatting with each other. They acted like they didn't have a care in the world.

“So this is Peterny,” Cliff observed.

“Yes, this town is closer to the sacred city of Aquios,” Nel responded. “Plus, it borders on the Republic of Sanmite which makes it a center of commerce.”

Sophia looked at the buildings and the well designed fencing. The people here didn’t go for the bare minimum, that was for sure. “Seems like the perfect place for artisans to set up shop.”

Nel nodded, “Many artisans reside in this town to the point where rivalries between them are quite common. To assist them with promoting their brand, a number of artisan guilds have formed. These guilds have been a haven to many of the finest chefs, compounders, alchemists, blacksmiths, engineers, craftsmen, and writers in the world.”

Everyone walked down the street where they eventually entered the town center. A number of vendors had set up stalls around the area to sell their wares.

This brought back memories for Twilight. She remembered the old days when Ponyville had a market just like this. Everypony who could farm or craft would be selling the fruits of their labor to the other townsfolk. She especially remembered Applejack’s apple stall and Sugarcube Corner where Pinkie helped out.

A pair of hands on her shoulders startled Twilight out of her reminiscing. “Huh? What?”

“Twilight, we’re in the middle of a busy street,” Lyra said. “Save the wistful remembrance for after we’ve checked in at the inn.”

Twilight didn’t notice until now that tears were racing down her face. She wiped the tears away, “You’re right, I can remember the past later. I guess everyone’s going to split up and check out the town?”

Nel nodded. “I need to attend to some business. We’ll meet back up here later.”

With a nod from everyone, they split up to check out the various stores and establishments.

Twilight looked at the food stands in the plaza once more. Seeing the apple pie on sale, she quickly looked away, not wanting to lose herself in her memories again.

Twilight moved toward the western part of town to see what was offered there. That was when she sensed the ID of someone in town who was using an avatar. Using her horn, she traced the signal to a local artisan’s guild.

As she went in, she caught the eyes of several inventors who were inside. They each carried compact communicators that were too advanced for Elicoor II. Her sensory spell led her to the human girl at the counter. She had light brown hair and, strangely, wore black and blue dress that appeared to be made of synthetic fibers. She also carried a stick that had a gloved hand at the end of it.

Twilight narrowed her eyes at the girl who was sleeping at the desk. She approached and the girl jumped up at attention. “Welcome to the Artisan’s Guild. Are you here to…” Her pitch was interrupted when she saw who was in front of her. The girl chuckled awkwardly. “Uhh…hi boss.”

Twilight took a deep breath to calm herself. She took a moment to think up a few scenarios about how this conversation would go before she whispered, “What are you doing on this planet, blatantly disregarding UP3 protocols?”

The girl chuckled awkwardly again. “Well…you see…”

“Welch? Is there someone new to the guild out there?” called a voice from another room. A few moments later, a short old man walked out of the back room. He turned his attention to Twilight. “Nice to meet you young lady, I am the guild master for this guild. This is my assistant, Welch Vineyard. Do you wish to become an inventor?”

Twilight’s attention returned to Welch. “Welch ‘Vineyard’, eh?” She turned to the guild master and put on her best smile she could manage, given her irritation. “Do you think I could speak with her in private?”

“Sure, use the workshop across the street. There isn’t much to it but some investments could make it prosper once more,” the guild master offered.

Twilight walked out of the guild and into the workshop with a slumped Welch following her. The girl, who looked like a child who was in deep trouble with their mother, closed the door behind her. She braced herself for the chewing out to come.

Twilight paced herself around the workshop as she thought about how she was going to address the one who broke several rules. She looked at the girl and spoke, “Would you mind telling me why you thought it was a good idea to give away advanced technology to a world that is centuries behind its invention? You do know this is a blatant violation of the Underdeveloped Planet Preservation Pact that I have set into place, right?”

“You do know that we don’t answer to the Federation, right?” Welch countered.

“The guideline applies to those who log into the Eternal Sphere, ‘Welch’, or should I say Grape Vine.”

Grape slumped even further.

Twilight sighed, “I hired you as part of the gaming department of the Eternal Sphere in order to help develop new features into the system. I knew you were miserable working on your family’s vineyard. Despite being descended from Berry Punch, the only thing you have in common with her is your tendency to get drunk while off duty. I do thank you for not being intoxicated in the workplace by the way.”

“But Twilight, ma’am, I am working on implementing a feature for this world.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow, “Oh?”

“Yes, it’s experimental and I know it’s violating technological policies, but I’m working on an item creation feature for this RPG type world.”

“I see, what can you tell me about this feature?” Twilight asked.

“It’s very simple, I use the communicator to coordinate with inventors who have signed up with us so they can work together to invent new items. The guild bought every workshop from Airyglyph City to Aquios so inventors can be assigned there. As long as they carry their identification badges with them, which carries a special, secret program within them that forces everyone to recognize their autonomy as an inventor, neither Airyglyph nor Aquaria can harass them.”

“And you’re not afraid of anyone abusing the identification badges?”

“We background check the prospects and have them show us a sample of their work. The badges are bonded to the intended recipient so there is no chance of thieves abusing them. We also make it a rule to never use the badges for espionage against the two nations. They would no longer work if that happened.”

“I see. Tell me, if we wish to participate in your feature, do we need to be a part of the guild to work with these inventors?”

“Nope, though it does help to have some talent in the workplaces. The guild members will be willing to make stuff for you if you do them a favor though.”

“Sounds like a side quest built into your item creation feature,” Twilight noted.

“It is,” Grape replied. “But this is an RPG world. What RPG world would be complete without side quests?”

“Fair. Alright Grape Vine, I’ll cut you some slack on this feature. However, I don’t want to hear a single report about you being revered like a goddess and this better not wind up with Elicoor II blowing up. I won’t be lenient if that happens.”

“Yes ma’am, it’ll never happen.”

Twilight and Grape returned to the guild where the guild master was eagerly awaiting the return of his assistant.

Twilight returned to the front of the desk while Grape returned behind it. Twilight smirked as she spoke to the guild master, “I want to sign up as an inventor.”

Grape’s eyes widened in surprise while the guild master eagerly gave Twilight the orientation. Not wanting to be met with suspicion, Grape went along with the performance. After the introduction and the guild master handing Twilight a thousand fol to start her off, the mare looked at the nervous girl who handed Twilight one of the compact communicators.

“This way I can keep an eye on you,” she mentally communicated to Grape.

Grape subtly nodded and sent her a notification through her communicator. “I’ve sent you the profiles of three other inventors who have signed up before you. I’ll send you updates on what they have invented and what’s been distributed to the markets.”

Twilight took a moment to look at the other inventors. The first one was some amateur chef named Damda Mooda who created a unique style of cooking. Unfortunately, when he opened a restaurant dedicated to this style, it was very unpopular and it failed. The chef now spends his days in Aquios as a homeless drunkard. All he wanted nowadays was more cider to fuel his alcoholism. Twilight shook her head sadly.

The second inventor was an altruistic woman of the church by the name of Milenya who had made it her mission to heal the many who had been injured during the war. As memories of Fluttershy surfaced, she quickly shook them away. The problem the woman had was that while she was a decent crafter of medicines, she was also flat broke and could not afford the ingredients to craft her medicine.

The third inventor was a young lady who went by the name Mayu. She apparently worked as a cook at the Kirlsa Training Facility that Lyra raided earlier. She would have to ask Lyra if she ever encountered the girl at some point. Her cooking skill was decent, much better than what Damda was capable of. According to the profile, she was quite bored of working for the Black Brigade and tired of the tedious tasks set before her. She was also a lover in all things cute.

Twilight left the guild after looking at the profiles and headed back to the town plaza. One quick look to her right and she noticed Fayt talking to a girl with long light brown hair and wearing a gray dress with a brown mantle. She was carrying a basket of flowers.

Twilight overheard the girl mention that she grew and sold flowers for a living, but the interesting thing she noticed was the coughing that she was doing throughout the conversation. She couldn’t help but wonder if the girl was overworking herself or if the coughing was a symptom of something else.

The girl gave Fayt her good luck charm to wish him luck on his journey. It was about then that Cliff and Nel showed up, asking what Fayt was up to. While things were slightly awkward, things got slightly more awkward when Sophia and Lyra showed up. Peppita showed up just after Twilight approached the group.

The girl who sat with Fayt introduced herself as Ameena Leffeld. It was then that Peppita looked at Ameena and Sophia closely. “You know, aside from the hair and eyes, you two look really alike.”

“Huh, now that you mention it…” Sophia added.

Ameena blushed as she backed away from everyone, overwhelmed by the probing crowd. “Umm…I need to get going.” She then ran off to the east side of town, slowing down quickly as she continued coughing but still moving away.

“Is she sick?” Cliff asked.

“She said she had a cold,” Fayt responded.

Nel briefly glanced in Ameena’s direction before turning back to the others. “Let’s head to the inn and check in.”

As the group headed for the nearby inn, Fayt looked to the east. He couldn’t help but feel concerned for Ameena.

Forest Detour

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The nearby inn just west of the town plaza was their destination. Along the way, Nel warned about a second inn at the east side of town but it was also a tavern where the patrons there tended to get rowdy.

The receptionist at the western inn saw the group and was about to turn them away because of how booked they were. That was when she noticed Nel and informed the nearest staff member to get ready to make room for seven guests.

Once everyone signed the guest registry, the receptionist informed the group that it would take some time before the rooms were ready.

Cliff decided to hang out at the tavern while Nel needed to check in with one of her subordinates. She warned Cliff not to get into a fight at the tavern. Twilight headed to the nearby workshop to see what she could do to restore it. Peppita went to find some people to entertain. Some in the group hoped the little girl didn’t get into trouble for drawing so much attention. Fayt decided to wander around town, though it was obvious that he was going to find Ameena.

Meanwhile, Lyra had plans to continue Sophia’s tutelage. She told Nel that they would be training back on the Palmira Plains for a bit.

After leaving town through the south exit, they were back on the plains. Lyra took Sophia to a secluded area without predators.

Lyra sat on the grass and motioned for Sophia to sit with her. “So what’s on the curriculum today?” Sophia asked.

Lyra took up a meditative position. “Today, I want us to look into your inner world. I want to investigate the cause of your inability to access your full power. I will form a link with your mind and you will accompany me this time.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Sophia asked. “Last time you looked into my mind you got forced out painfully.”

Lyra shook her head, “I’ll be fine. Last time I was caught off guard by the discovery. This time I know what I’m looking for.”

Sophia nodded then took up her own meditative position while Lyra formed a link into Sophia’s mind. The apprentice had difficulty focusing but Lyra helped her to find clarity in her own thoughts and soon two soon turned their consciousness into Sophia’s mind.

Sophia’s inner world appeared as the inside of a Federation battleship. The interior was that of the light gray metal that was expected of most Federation ships. The cabins held Sophia’s memories, which prompted Lyra to look elsewhere as she didn’t need to be looking into people’s memories.

While the two explored the mental vessel, Lyra noted a distinct lack of anything related to Sophia’s psychic powers or the infestation.

When the two reached the bridge of the ship, Lyra noticed the captain’s seat was empty while mental representations of her apprentice were hard at work. Lyra picked one of the representations and asked her where the captain was.

“The captain has not been present since The Fracturing,” the fragment responded. “Please refrain from further questions, we can ill afford the spare time while the other two vessels are poised to attack.” The fragment returned to her station.

“Other vessels?” Lyra pondered. She looked at her apprentice, “Why don’t you sit in the captain’s chair and see if you can identify the vessels.”

Sophia nodded and moved to board the captain’s chair. A mysterious force pushed her away from the chair and threw her into Lyra’s arms.

“Odd…” Lyra thought. “Can one of you bring up an image of the other vessels?” she asked the fragments.

One of the fragments silently brought up the image on the main screen. The vessels were as Lyra suspected they were. One was a massive Protoss vessel, the scale which rivaled the Spear of Adun that she rode during the war against Amon. The other was the largest Zerg Leviathan she had ever seen, though equal in size to the Protoss vessel. The two vessels were currently fighting each other, though neither appeared able to gain the advantage over the other.

Lyra had a hunch that the other two vessels still had their captains and solving the mystery of this vessel was the key to unlocking her full potential. Unfortunately, she had no clue how to solve the mystery but she figured that she might be able to help her apprentice if she could enlist Bon Bon’s help.

“I think we’re done here, Sophia. I think I found the problem, but fixing it is beyond my ability.”

“So we need to find a new lead on this mystery…” Sophia figured. “I guess that all we can do now is find the other shards to that Ihan Crystal and hope the guy who claims to be my grandfather will shed some light for us.”

Lyra nodded. “Well, might as well make the most of our time out here, let’s get some practice in with the local lizardmen.”

Sophia smiled as the two ended their meditation, returning to reality, and began their hunt.

The sun had set by the time Lyra and Sophia returned to the inn. Nel directed them to their room after informing them that they were to head straight for Aquios tomorrow morning.

The group enjoyed luxurious beds that night.

Everyone was up and ready to go the next morning. Once gathered, everyone checked out and left the inn.

Just as they left the inn, they were quickly approached by a middle aged woman. “Oh, thank goodness you’re still here!” the woman cried.

“It’s you,” Fayt noted. Everyone looked at him.

“You know her?” Sophia asked.

“She’s been taking care of Ameena. I met her yesterday while I was exploring town,” Fayt explained. “But I thought you were supposed to be with her when she went to the mountains to pick flowers for your wishing charm.”

“I was, but Ameena suddenly had a seizure and couldn’t move,” the woman explained. “I’m too weak to carry her back to town so I came back here to get help.”

“A seizure? So there was something wrong with that girl after all,” Cliff said.

“I’m afraid so. Ameena has always been a frail girl. I knew her sickness had been getting worse lately, and yet I let her go up that mountain.”

“Where is she?” Fayt asked.

The woman pointed toward the west gate. “In the mountains on the way to Sanmite. It’s the forest to the west of the animal trail that runs along a pointy rock.”

“Past a pointy rock…” Nel thought aloud. “That’d be Duggus Forest.”

“Right,” Fayt said as he tried to sprint away. He was halted when he was lifted a few inches into the air. “Wha?” He was turned back toward the group to see Sophia holding her right hand in front of her and pointing it at him.

“I knew you would try something impulsive like recklessly running to the forest by yourself.”

“Sophia, put me down! Ameena needs help!”

“And we will, together. I’ll put you down when you’ve calmed down.”

Fayt soon realized that he had no choice but to obey Sophia. While he worried about Ameena, he knew that she was also right that rushing into danger without backup would help nobody. He took a deep breath and let it out. “Alright, I’m calm now.”

Sophia put Fayt back on the ground. With that settled, everyone headed to the forest. The woman wished them luck.

“Despite the fractured state of her powers, she seems to be improving quite well,” Lyra thought to herself.

The group headed out of the west gate and entered an area of wilderness with numerous hills and short but steep cliffs that Nel called the Sanmite Steppe.

As they traveled down a slope, Nel warned everyone that the forest and the area they were in was home to a clan of bandits known as the Moonshadow Clan. She was confident they could handle the bandits, but it helped to be forewarned as well.

One such group of said bandits attempted to ambush them along the slope but Fayt didn’t want to waste time with them so he sidestepped their attacks and kicked them all over the cliff.

A group of giant scorpions were next to take their shot at the group before Sophia and Twilight unleashed a pair of Thunder Flares which badly electrocuted them.

Other wildlife they encountered included those giant turtles and blue versions of the long-legged spiders encountered in Kirlsa Caverns. Nel referred to them as Water Striders but despite the name, they were vulnerable to water type symbology such as Ice Needles, Nel’s Ice Daggers and Peppita’s Frozen Daggers.

More lizardmen showed themselves and tried to burn the group by breathing fire on them. Sophia rushed in as one prepared a flame breath and stabbed it under its jaw, causing the blade to exit between its eyes. The other lizardmen were easily dealt with.

After crossing a small stream and dealing with more bandits, the group headed into a forest.

The first thing the group noticed was a slight mist that had covered the forest floor, though it had no effect on visibility.

The second thing they noticed was the distinct lack of forest creatures and bandits.

The third thing they noticed were the various springs throughout the area. Some were clear, some were emitting steam as the spring was boiling, others were glistening in the sunlight.

The last thing the group noticed, after exploring the area, was that there were no paths to take them deeper into the forest. The trees blocked off all paths. However, Sophia and Lyra picked up mental activity in some of the trees, particularly the ones with creepy faces on them. Either the wildlife in the forest really loved living in creepy trees or there was something sinister about the trees themselves.

Eventually, after more exploring, they found what appeared to be a tiny creature that looked like a tiny human girl with insect wings. She wore a brown dress and had relatively long red hair with a black bow that did nothing to contain it. Her ears were pointed. As they approached the girl, they heard her lamenting about something. She saw the group and her head sagged even further.

“They’ll surely eat me alive,” she said.

“Hey, don’t look at me, I don’t eat bugs,” Cliff commented. Sophia smacked him in the back of his head with her staff. “Ow, what was that for?”

“For not thinking before opening your mouth,” Sophia admonished.

“Thank you, miss,” the tiny girl said. “Just to be clear, I’m a frau from Sanmite.”

“So what are you doing here?” Sophia asked.

“Before we go further, can you get me some pure spring water from one of the springs nearby?”

“Sure, we’ll be right back.”

The group backtracked around the area and searched the springs. When Cliff considered collecting water from a boiling spring, Sophia threatened to knock him into the scalding water if he tried. Fayt considered collecting water from a regular spring but Sophia warned him that there were too many impurities in the water and she doubted the frau would appreciate impure water. The group soon found a glistening spring and Sophia collected water from it using one of Nel’s empty water pouches.

The group returned to the frau and gave her the water pouch. She drank most of the water and splashed the rest on her face. She sighed in relief. “Thank you very much, miss. For your kindness, I’ll let you in on a secret: Some of the trees in this forest have turned into monsters. They block the forest paths, they do.”

“That explains the mental activity coming from the trees,” Lyra said.

“So what do we do?” Cliff asked. “Burn ‘em down?” That earned him another smack in the head by Sophia.

“Since we know that the monster trees have mental activity, it should be easy to pinpoint which trees are hostile,” Lyra said.

“You’re able to find them on your own? In that case, I’ll be headed back home, then. See ya.” The frau flew away.

With that knowledge, Lyra and Sophia began calling out the monster trees. The trees defended themselves by digging their roots into the ground and erupting their roots underneath the group. They also hurled explosive fruit and if someone got too close, they would attack with their vines.

All of these attacks proved fruitless as Fayt burned the tree monsters down with his Blazing Sword while Sophia and Twilight made use of their Efreet spells. They were still careful to avoid causing forest fires.

Beyond the monster trees that Nel referred to as Grapebinds, the group encountered enemies, new and old. Among the old enemies were the Moonshadow Clan bandits and a new color variation for the slime monsters. The slimes were blue with a green nucleus. Neither used any new tactics compared to previous encounters so the group knew how to deal with them.

The new enemies were a little strange. One resembled human females wearing pink dresses and dark blue hats. They were also riding around on broomsticks. They were accompanied by living wooden puppets.

Lyra looked to Twilight for an answer about what they were looking at.

“They’re known as witches.” Twilight responded. “I read some pieces of human fiction back when they were around and thought it was a good idea at the time to implement them into the Eternal Sphere. Some of the player base chooses to play as one sometimes.”

“So is that a player?”

Twilight shook her head, “No, I’m not picking up a player ID from her. Witches are one of the types of beings who can be a player character or a non-player character.”

The witch spotted them and started firing magical stars that Cliff blocked but was hit nonetheless. Nel used a Healing rune to reverse his injuries.

Fayt charged at the witch but was waylaid by the witch’s puppet. Since his foe wouldn’t let him near its master, he had no choice but to fight it. Peppita assisted by dragging the golem to her which gave Fayt enough room to assault the puppet from range with a Lightning Blast. It did not like the attack at all. Peppita finished the puppet off by repeatedly bashing it with the metal orbs on her cape.

Sophia and Lyra rushed the witch once her defender was distracted. As she was preparing to cast more stars at her assassins, Sophia reacted faster by placing a Silence symbol on her which left her vulnerable to a brutal assault from Lyra.

Once the enemies in the area were dispatched, the group moved deeper into the forest in search of Ameena.

Another new enemy encountered resembled giant chameleons. While everyone was taller than them while they were on all fours, they were a little taller than everyone when on two legs. When it noticed the group, it turned invisible with hope to get a preemptive attack. Sophia wasn’t having any of that so she focused on where the space shifted and grabbed the chameleon in a telekinetic hold before she hurled it at some nearby jagged rocks, impaling its body on one.

A short way deeper, the group came under attack from a rockslide of falling boulders. Lyra mentally informed Twilight that some creatures atop the nearby cliff were causing the rockslide. Twilight had none of that and picked up the boulders in her telekinesis and tossed them back onto the cliff. Lyra then informed Twilight that all mental readings from that location had ceased.

Twilight had to personally deal with several ambushes involving rockslides as they moved deeper. One ambush group tried to be clever and use a limited-edition doll as bait which would have been effective if Twilight wasn’t crushing troublemakers with their own boulders. They took the doll with them in case someone wanted it.

The group eventually found a cabin in the woods. Without any idea on who might live there, they figured that they might have found the hideout of the Moonshadow Clan.

Moving closer, they hear voices inside. Since dealing with bandits inside the cabin would be troublesome, Nel tossed a smoke bomb into the cabin and smoked the bandits out. They were quickly beaten down by Cliff.

With that taken care of, they entered the cabin to see if they had Ameena inside. Instead they found someone else who was coughing from the smoke bomb.

“What’s the big idea tossin’ smoke bombs in here?” Spoke the voice of what sounded like a little boy. He coughed more before he continued. “If I wasn’t in this cage, I’d beat the livin’ daylights outta ya.”

A number of deadpan stares met the small figure in a metal-barred cage. The child had brown hair and eyes and had the telltale animal ears and thick, fluffy tail that informed Nel that he was a menodix from Sanmite. He wore a green shirt and sand-colored overalls. He also wore a sand-colored helmet with a spike on top of it. There appeared to be glass lenses on the helmet but the left lens was slightly broken. He had a hatchet holstered to his back.

“A bit ungrateful, arencha?” Cliff said.

“I wouldn’t be if you got me outta this cage ya big lummox,” the child growled.

“Hey, that’s not very nice, ya know,” Peppita retorted.

“I-I’m sorry miss, I spoke out of line,” replied the child, his demeanor instantly shifting.

“He sure changed his tune when Peppita spoke to him,” Cliff noticed.

“Yeah, that’s because my father taught me to always be respectful to ladies,” the child said.

“Great, a Cliff junior…” Lyra mentally moaned.

“At least his bad attitude will be limited to Fayt and Cliff,” Twilight replied.

“Let’s let him out and hear his story,” Sophia said.

Nel picked the lock on the child’s cage and it opened a few seconds later, letting the young menodix out.

As he walked out, the child cleared his throat. “Right, my name is Roger S. Huxley. I’m a captain of my own gang back in Surferio.”

“Why are you out here?” Fayt asked.

“For the sake of the curiosity of the ladies around me, I will answer that question," Roger stated proudly. "It was a dare for me to come here and steal the treasure of the Moonshadow Clan.”

“I get it, you screwed up and got caught,” Cliff said.

Roger glared at Cliff. “Shuddup ya big lummox.”

“Do you know where we can find a missing human girl in this forest?” Fayt asked, ignoring Roger’s rude comments. “Her name is Ameena.”

“No, but I can track her scent,” Roger offered.

“We don’t have anything with her scent on us,” Sophia countered.

“Well, if we cut down the bandits in the area, I can narrow down her location. Not many things in this forest smell like humans except the bandits and witches.”

“Isn’t there a better way?” Fayt complained. “Ameena’s life is in danger and we don’t have time to waste.”

“I know how you feel Fayt, but we can’t rush blindly into the forest. The mist is growing thicker too so if we’re not careful, we could end up getting lost,” Sophia warned.

Roger grinned, “So, in return for my help, I need you guys to help me find the bandits’ leader and beat him up so I can steal his treasure. It’s a gold statuette.”

“I’m sure we can find her with or without your help,” Fayt said.

“I say we hunt down the bandit leader,” Sophia suggested. “Might be fun.”

Roger rushed up to Sophia, “See, you understand how important it is that we find this guy.”

“Of course, if we find Ameena first, you’re on your own for your little contest,” Sophia added.

Roger froze. While he knew that the bandit leader was somewhere in the forest, he also had no idea where in the forest he was. He could only pray that they find him soon since the center of the forest was nearby. There was no trail beyond the center.

Roger reluctantly accepted Sophia’s terms since that was the best he was going to get from the group’s cooperation.

The group emerged from the cabin and headed back to the main forest path.

As they returned to the path, Roger walked ahead of the group and turned a corner which ended up with him yelping in surprise as he bumped into someone. “Watch where you’re goin’ ya moron!” Roger shouted at the figure. He then realized who he bumped into. “Oh, it’s you.”

The figure had gray hair that extended down to his neck. His face was shady and the clothes he wore were dull.

Cliff also recognized the figure. “I remember him. He’s that evil-looking guy I saw at that tavern yesterday,” he whispered to Nel. “He went on and on about the Moonshadow Clan and how it’s led by some charming, charismatic guy.”

“Hey! Who are you calling evil!?” the figure shouted, clearly hearing Cliff whispering. He looked at Roger, “And you, get back in your cage!”

“Are you the boss of the Moonshadow Clan?” Fayt asked.

“What’s it to you?” the chief growled.

“Nothing I guess. Have you seen a girl gathering flowers around here?”

“As if I’d tell you. You come around here calling me evil and letting this brat out of his cage. It’s not my fault I look evil!”

Sophia had a mischievous grin on her face as she moved in front of the group. “So you admit that you look evil, are you ready to admit to being a D-list villain?”

“I’ll skin you for that!” The Moonshadow Chief pulled out his knife, but was too slow as Sophia quickly moved to grab his wrist with the knife and held his arm behind him, knife pointed at his back. She grabbed his other wrist and twisted it to the point where it was borderline painful. She kicked his legs and brought him to his knees.

“Say it…” Sophia ordered.

Try as he might, the chief couldn’t free himself from the girl’s grip. When he struggled, Sophia poked him with the edge of his knife, causing him to yelp in pain.

Roger took the opportunity to rifle through the chief’s pockets and took the statuette that he was looking for. “Haha! Take that, Lucien!”

“You!” the chief growled. Sophia tightened her grip on him while making him say what she wanted him to say. “Argh! Fine! I look evil and I’m a low class villain!”

Sophia twisted the wrist holding the knife until he dropped it. She then dragged him back to the cabin and stuffed him in the cage that Roger was in. “Your buddies should be back to let you out, eventually.”

She spotted a bottle of cider on a nearby shelf and took it to spite him further.

With that out of the way and Roger’s dare settled, the group continued down the forest path.

More of the same obstacles attempted to impede their group’s progress. Denizens of the forest continued to drop boulders on them which were sent back by Twilight.

At one point, the path led to a downward ramp that was filled with giant holes. More boulders were ready to fall on them once they approached. However, Twilight decided to steal the rocks from whomever had been throwing them and used them to fill the holes. The boulders fit snug into the holes, allowing the group to move on.

The mist thickened to the point where visibility was beginning to occlude the next area they went into. With no other way to effectively search the area, they relied on Roger to lead them. There was a problem, however.

“I can sense spatial magic in this area,” Twilight announced. “I think we’re in some sort of spatial prison. If we try to leave it will just send us to another part of the prison.”

“What do we do?” Fayt asked.

“Maintaining this prison requires the user to be inside the prison with us. We need to find them.”

The group began searching for the spatial magic user while dealing with whatever unfortunate monsters that had ended up in the prison with them. Their search eventually brought them to a spring on the north side of the area.

Using her horn, Twilight felt out the spring then nodded. “The source of the magic is coming from this spring.”

“So what do we do?” Cliff asked.

After a moment of expanding their senses, Nel and Lyra felt the presence of an enemy in the spring. “Something’s coming,” they said in unison.

“That was kinda creepy,” Cliff remarked.

“Get ready!” Fayt ordered.

A moment later, the mud that lay at the bottom of the spring began moving on its own and emerged from the water. The mud took on the shape of a large monster with enormous arms and three holes at the top to simulate a face.

Everyone dove to the side when the mudman threw a punch and launched that piece of itself at the space the group was moments before. When anyone tried to get close to it, it spread its arms outward and rapidly spun around. It then continued throwing pieces of itself at everyone.

“This thing is a real hassle,” Cliff remarked. “We can’t get close without it spinning and while nobody’s near it literally throws its punches.”

Twilight analyzed the monster for a weakness and discovered a weakness to electricity, which seemed strange given its composition.

Instead of questioning the facts, everyone who could use electricity began preparing their attacks. Fayt found out how to infuse other elements into his sword when he channeled lightning into his blade. Twilight prepared a Thunder Flare to keep the creature held into place while Lyra prepared to charge in with her Storm Charge. Nel prepared to unleash a Lightning Blast and Sophia learned the secret to her master’s Psionic Storm and prepared to unleash it when the time was right. Everyone else who couldn’t use the element stood back.

As the mudman wound up for another punch, Twilight held it in place with her spell before a number of other electrical spells fried it until all moisture evaporated from it, hardening it. Fayt and Lyra finished it off with their respective attacks.

As the mudman fell apart, the fog in the area began to disperse.

As everyone began to relax after their fight, Roger caught the scent of a human to the west of the area. Everyone, except Sophia followed the menodix to the west until they came across a field of flowers.

Lying in the flowers, the group discovered the unconscious Ameena.

Fayt tried to rouse her but she remained unconscious.

“This who you looking for?” Roger asked.

“Yeah,” Cliff acknowledged.

“She’s still breathing but…I don’t think her chances are good,” Nel said.

“Let’s get back to town,” Fayt said.

Meanwhile, a nearby rock caught Sophia’s attention at the spring. She felt the familiar feeling that she once felt before at the Kirlsa Caverns.

Sensing her prize buried next to one of the rocks, she dug. She always knew that she was better at digging with her hands than most people. She had a feeling that if she continued looking through Gerald’s memory crystals, she would find the answer to many unusual things about her.

After a few moments of tossing dirt aside, she found her prize. She pulled out a crystal shard that resonated at the same frequency as the first one.

“Hey! Sophia!” Peppita called out. “We found Ameena and we’re headed back to town. Let’s go!”

She could look into the memory later. After washing her hands in the spring to get the dirt off, she returned to the group and headed back to Peterny.

The Road to Aquios

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Getting out of Duggus Forest was easier to do since most of the forest predators didn’t want to mess with them anymore. Witches occasionally picked a fight with them but were easily crushed.

Fayt was the only one who couldn’t fight in the group because he was preoccupied with carrying an unconscious Ameena.

As they reached a crossroad where the east path took them back to Peterny and the north path took them across a bridge, a pair of menodix crossed the bridge ahead and rushed toward the group.

Both were slightly taller than Roger. One wore a maroon shirt and helmet. The helmet had horns pointing sideways. His tail was tan and resembled a fox’s tail. He carried a wooden sword on his back. The other wore a blue robe with yellow stars as well as a ragged gray mantle. The horns on his blue helmet resembled cat ears and had a pair of goggles on it. He carried a broomstick. His tail was shaped like Roger’s except it was dark gray.

“Hey! What are you doing to our little brother?” shouted the maroon-wearing menodix.

“Uh oh! Let me handle this, guys,” Roger said. He turned his attention to the duo. “Hey Dribe, Melt, what are you two doing away from Surferio?”

“We came to rescue you Roger,” Dribe, the maroon one, replied. “When you didn’t come back we got worried and came to find you. We figured that you were captured by the Moonshadow Clan or worse.”

“Oh…” Roger chuckled awkwardly.

“And who are these guys?” Dribe continued.

“Well, these guys were in a jam and I decided to help them out.”

“You’re not telling everything,” Melt, the blue one, noticed.

Roger said nothing for a moment, the moment became more awkward as Roger tried desperately to think of something to save face. He couldn’t think of anything and sighed in defeat. “Alright, these guys rescued me from the Moonshadow Clan and helped me with my ‘Real Man’ contest.”

“Ah, so that’s what happened,” Dribe said. He looked at the others, “Thank you for saving our little brother. I’m sure he was quite a handful so thank you for putting up with him.”

“You didn’t have to put it that way,” Roger grumbled.

While everyone was in the middle of introducing themselves, Melt suddenly moved past Roger and Dribe and walked up to Sophia. “You,” he said. “I was foretold of you from the stars. You are the key to solving the riddles of the ancient tomes we found.

“Ancient tomes?” Sophia wondered. “What do I have to do with a bunch of old books?”

“It is not my place to question my visions. I received a vision of meeting with a girl a few years older than myself. She would have blue hair and golden eyes. It is my purpose in the vision to speak the riddles to you. Whether you solve them or not, my visions do not say. What purpose it serves, my visions do not say.”

Sophia raised an eyebrow as she looked at the child in confusion. She had known of seers in old fantasy novels but this was the first time seeing someone who believed themselves to be one. Since there was nothing to lose, she decided to humor him. “Alright, so what are these riddles?”

Melt took a moment to prepare himself before he began. “Hidden spring in a sea of rolling white fog; what will the stalwart father and son who stand guard think?

“Caves as dark as death. The five attributes come into conflict. What light can reveal them?

“The rotted corridor, guarded by archers of the gods. The Sun King sleeps in his coffin. What shall the mute corpse say?

“Which of the three shall claim the kingless throne?

“Does the sacrifice of the winged messenger of the gods gaze at hope or despair?

“At the end of the caverns where the copper sleeps, the northernmost wiseman gazes upon the lake. Is it an ancient power sealed below the roots?

“Burning flames of the underworld. The red twins, looked down upon by the giant from the tribe of long ears. Who can release that inner power?”

Once he finished relaying the riddles, Melt returned to Dribe’s side.

While everyone was discussing what to do next, Fayt headed back to Peterny with Cliff and Nel right behind him. The others felt that was a good idea on their part as Ameena needed immediate medical attention and the menodix in front of them were being distractions.

Sophia scratched her head while pondering the riddles. While for most of them she had no idea what they were about, she had a vague idea about two of them. She couldn’t help but wonder if it was a coincidence though.

She remembered the dark caverns of Kirlsa’s former mine and the skeletons that Lyra mentioned fighting while there. She recalled the console with five different behavior names. She wondered if they were the five conflicting attributes. She did find the Ihan crystal shard under the torch that brought light to the console.

She then remembered the fogged area in Duggus Forest. They found a spring hidden in that fog. She wasn’t sure about the stalwart father and son, but if she were to take a shot in the dark, she could consider rocks of differing sizes as a stalwart father and son. All she really knew was that she found another shard there.

Could the riddles be leading her to the locations of the other shards? If so, then how could the books, as old as they were, lead her to the shards when they were only put there within the past couple of decades?

She could figure the puzzle out later. For now, they needed to get away from the menodix and get back to town and to Aquios before the sun set.

“Well, I say we go on an adventure and find out more about the places described in the riddles,” Roger declared.

“No way Roger, that sounds way too dangerous,” Dribe said.

“Of course it’s dangerous, it wouldn’t be a real adventure if there wasn’t any real danger,” Roger countered.

“I’m not looking for any place that mentions ‘burning flames of the underworld’.”

“You call yourself a man, Dribe? Forget it, I’ll go looking for those places myself if I have to.” Roger turned to the others. “You guys gotta help me.”

“Why do we need to do that?” Peppita asked.

“I have a feeling that those places are connected to me,” Sophia said.

“Why do you think that?” Twilight asked.

“Because I think we found the locations mentioned in the first two riddles. I think the second riddle, mentioning five attributes in dark caves, referred to the Kirlsa Caverns. We found an Ihan Crystal shard there. The first riddle mentioning a spring in fog may have been referring to the shrouded spring in Duggus Forest where we fought that creature made of mud. I found another shard of the crystal there.” Sophia showed everyone the shard.

Lyra looked at the shard and confirmed that the shard was part of the crystal. “So we do have a reason to check these places after all,” Twilight figured.

“Guys, please take me with you,” Roger begged. “I really wanna see these places for myself.”

After a moment of consideration, Sophia gave Roger a stern look. “If you’re coming with us, you better pull your weight. Everyone in our group can hold our own against most enemies. If you can’t handle yourself in a fight, then go back home.”

Roger smirked, “No need to worry about me. I may be small, but I’m no small fry. I have more up my sleeve than just this hatchet.”

“Alright, don’t slow us down.”

Roger cheered and bid his friends farewell. At the same time, Dribe asked the group to take care of their reckless little brother. Roger stuck his tongue out at his friend in response.

With their paths decided, Dribe and Melt returned from where they came from while the group returned to Peterny.

Since Fayt, Nel and Cliff went back to Peterny with Ameena, nobody really knew where the girl lived. Thankfully, Twilight was able to track Nel’s magic signature. She tracked Nel down to a side street on the east side of town. She appeared alone at the moment.

“What’s going on?” Lyra asked.

Nel, who was leaning against a wall, walked up to the group before she explained, “When we got back to town, I summoned one of my medically specialized subordinates. We brought Ameena back to her house here and the doctor has helped stabilize her for now. That’s all we can do for her. Sadly, we have no means to cure her disease. I don’t think she has much longer.”

A proverbial dark cloud hung over the area.

“On a brighter note,” Nel continued. “It seems Fayt has finally decided to help us complete the runological weapon and help us bring an end to this war.”

“I’m guessing that Ameena or that woman who takes care of her said something to inspire him to help you,” Sophia said.

“I think so. Regardless, I welcome his decision.”

Just then, Fayt and Cliff exited the house. “What did the two of you talk about?” Nel asked.

“Not much, I just asked him if he was gonna miss Ameena,” Cliff lied, not wanting to divulge the existence of the UP3 that they briefly discussed.

“Silly question, of course he will,” Nel teased.

“Lay off, would you?” Fayt complained. “Let’s get to Aquios before I change my mind.”

With that, everyone regrouped and headed back to the town plaza and toward the northern street that would take them toward Aquios.

Before they managed to leave the city, they came across a pair of individuals who were arguing about something. When they got close, they began overhearing the conversation.

“...I said, the town in question is southwest from here,” said the young man with reddish brown hair and carrying a stuffed backpack. “So all you gotta do is follow the setting sun, right?”

The girl he was talking to shook her head, “Ruddle…I can’t believe you got us even this far…” The girl was more than a head shorter than the man, who was apparently named Ruddle. The girl had long gray hair and wore a green beret. “Do you know the planet’s axis of rotation or latitude, or that sort of thing?”

“Please stop mocking me. The planet’s axis of rotation is thirty-two point six degrees. Our latitude is thirty point four degrees, south. I have that much memorized, excuse me.”

“Those two are sounding like off worlders,” Lyra remarked telepathically.

“More than that Lyra, I’m picking up player IDs from them,” Twilight noted. “Their authorization level is three so they pay more through their subscriptions.”

“Authorization levels?” Lyra asked.

“The player accounts in the Eternal Sphere are separated into four levels of authorization in what they are allowed to do in the universe. Level four are the regular players but they can only play as humanoids who attack humans.

Level three can play as humans but have to adhere to a strict set of rules in order to avoid any of the denizens of the Eternal Sphere finding out about us. As long as they follow the rules, they can interact with people within reason. They pay more than regular players so they are kind of like VIP players.

“Level two are my regular employees. They are in charge of regulating the system and bringing any issues to my attention. Level two can enter the Eternal Sphere as themselves or as humans. I gave you level two authorization for the sake of the mission.

“Level one are administrators like myself and anyone I trust with maintaining the Eternal Sphere directly.”

“So these two are level threes?” Lyra asked.

Twilight nodded. “We should probably talk to them and see what they are up to.”

The girl cast a skeptical gaze on Ruddle, “Oh really…Okay, then let me ask you this. In which direction does the sun rise in this season, and at this location?”

Ruddle realized he was stumped so he guessed ‘north’. He took a look at his map.

“Ah, forget about it. You can stop looking at maps now. I’m not ready to die yet.”

“What are you two up to?” Twilight asked.

“Huh? We’re trying to get to…” Ruddle trailed off and both his and the girl’s eyes widened when they saw Twilight. “Wha?! P-Princess Twilight? What are you doing here?”

“Is that Templar Master Lyra Heartstrings with you?” the girl asked.

Nel raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t address titles where you shouldn’t be,” Twilight warned.

“Oh, right,” the girl cleared her throat. “Anyway, my name is Rumina and this idiot with me is Ruddle. We’re trying to get to a town named Kirlsa to sell our wares there. Have you heard of it?”

Twilight sighed as she knew that she was going to get a headache trying to run damage control later now that the two in front of her blabbed about their titles. She put the thought on the back burner for now to instruct the two.

“Take the south exit from Peterny and head southwest to a village called Arias. It will look like it has seen better days. From there, take the southwest gate into some arid wilderness and head west by southwest and you will be in Kirlsa.” Twilight took Ruddle’s map and used a marker to draw their route. She then handed the map to Rumina in hope that she could follow maps better than Ruddle could.

“Thanks for the help,” Rumina said. “Take these blueprints I found somewhere. They look like they are for assembling an automaton from Greeton.”

As Twilight received the blueprints, a couple of thoughts raced in her head. She had no idea if the blueprints would be useful at any point in their adventure. She also had to rethink her estimations on Greeton’s level of technology. If a nation in Greeton was capable of utilizing robotics, then she may have underestimated the capabilities of the technological superpower.

In the future, she may have to put that part of Elicoor II under observation. But that was a worry for after they resolved the matter of the hacker.

The group bid Ruddle and Rumina farewell and headed through the north gate out of Peterny.

The path north was pretty straightforward. Nel referred to the route as the Irisa Fields. There appeared to be some ruins scattered through the area as well as more monsters and witches.

The witches were dressed similarly to the ones found in Duggus Forest, but the clothes were colored differently. Twilight alerted Lyra telepathically that the witches in the area were a little tougher than the ones in the forest.

Other than the witches, there were plant monsters, chameleons and sphere-shaped bats which Nel called romperbats.

One of the witches tried her luck with the group by casting an Efreet spell which forced everyone to scatter to avoid the wide-area spell. Cliff and Peppita ended up a little singed as they caught the tail end of the attack.

The witch failed to notice Roger sneaking up on her and by the time she realized, it was too late. Roger pulled out a handle from his helmet and pressed a button on it which caused a snaking length of red-hot energy to emerge from the handle. Those who were tech-savvy understood that Roger pulled out a plasma whip, which was still strange given what they knew about the planet’s technology level.

He wrapped the whip around the witch which caused her to scream in agony as the plasma seared her flesh. This lasted a brief moment before Roger yanked the whip back and caused the witch to spin uncontrollably until she fell off her broom. Dizzy, the witch was oblivious to the land mine that Roger planted next to her until she stepped on it and vanished in an explosion.

“Where did Roger get that tech?” Lyra asked.

“If I were to guess, he must have encountered some weapons vendor from Greeton and either bought out or cleaned out the shop like a bandit,” Twilight speculated.

“Isn’t that dangerous for children his age?”

“Yes, but so are a lot of other things we’ve been doing lately. We’re taking part in a war that’s none of our business, we’re testing the limitations of the UP3, we’re inside a universe that could get attacked any time now by the administration drones, you’re training someone who appears to be some sort of Protoss-Zerg-Human hybrid with an unmeasured level of potential, and we’re trying to help protect these guys from Azure Lazer who seems really Tartarus-bent on killing Fayt. A twelve year old playing with modern weapons is just another log on this proverbial bonfire. Right now, it’s taking all of my thousand years of experience to not go into a panic attack right now.”

“I have noticed that you haven’t been Twilighting much lately,” Lyra giggled.

“Quiet, you.”

It was early evening by the time they reached the northern end of Irisa Fields. Once they crossed the main gate, they looked upon the bridge that connected the land to a city sitting on a lake.

“What a beautiful city,” Fayt commented.

“Yes, it’s the pride of our kingdom,” Nel said. “But there are people trying to take this city for themselves.” She paused for a moment to look upon the city that she would give her life to defend. “Come, it’s time to introduce you to our ruler.”

“I’m kinda hoping she’ll be hot,” Cliff said.

“I think we should find a library somewhere along the way and borrow a dictionary to show Cliff the definition of tact,” Sophia suggested. Everyone but Cliff nodded their heads in agreement.

“What? Why are you guys piling on me? Ever hear of a joke?” Cliff defended weakly.

“Let’s go, the castle is at the end of this road,” Nel said.

While traveling across the bridge, Twilight’s communicator made a noise to inform her of a notification. As they walked, Twilight opened her communicator to connect to Grape Vine.

“Hello boss, I am calling you to inform you of three new applicants who have applied to the guild. I’m sending you their profiles now.”

The screen brought up the image of a young lady who appeared to be a little older than Sophia by months. The profile marked her as an amateur alchemist who blundered many of her creations. It also mentioned that the loss of her parents and having to take care of her little brother forced her to study runology on her own without a mentor. Even then, the materials needed for her education were too expensive for her.

This made Twilight think about how blessed she was to have had a mentor and supportive parents. It was unfortunate that she could do little to help the girl as she saw part of herself in Eliza. As an administrator of the Eternal Sphere, it wasn’t her place to interfere in the affairs of its denizens. The best she could do was offer her some money so she could afford necessities. She lived in Aquios so she might come across the poor girl soon.

The second entry was an old retired soldier named Grats who tried to prolong his military career for as long as possible, even turning to mercenary work and volunteer work as a soldier. Eventually, no one would take him anymore and he couldn’t even find work as a mercenary anymore due to his advanced age.

Forced to retire, he took up work as a blacksmith to provide arms to the younger generations of soldiers. His skills with the forge and hammer were decent though what he created lacked the flair expected from an artisan of the forge. It would be easy to acquire his services if some money were thrown his way. His last whereabouts were in an abandoned refinery near the Bequerel Mines.

Last on the list was a young woman who was of a race that were known for their large wings. Stanice was a free-spirited woman who had an obsession for doll collecting. Her skills in craftwork were decent. Rumor was that she lived in Roger’s town of Surferio.

The group followed Nel to the castle at the end of the road. Looking at it in the distance, Twilight and Lyra considered it to be almost as impressive as Canterlot Castle.

The guards at the entrance had to take a moment to recognize Nel among the group before they allowed everyone inside.

Nel led everyone to the second floor of the castle where the throne room was. The throne room reminded the ponies of Canterlot Castle’s throne room with the marble floors and pillars. There were steps leading up to a throne where the queen of Aquaria sat.

The queen wore long blue and red robes with gold lining and a white veil that extended to the floor. Her crown appeared to be part of her veil and had several braids of her hair extending down the length of her veil. Her hair was ebony and she had a strange symbol on her forehead.
Her face appeared unblemished and radiated beauty.

Next to her stood a man who wore a runologist’s uniform. His hair was tied into a long ponytail.

Everyone stood before the throne and kneeled before the queen.

“I have returned, Your Majesty,” Nel said.

“You have done well,” said the man beside the queen. “Are these the ones?”

“Yes, Magistrate Lasselle.”

“Lift your faces, Her Majesty will speak now,” Lasselle declared. “Listen well to her words.”

The queen opened her eyes to reveal scarlet irises. “Greetings, engineers from Greeton, to the Sacred Kingdom of Aquaria. I am the ruler of this country, Romeria Zin Emurille.”

Everyone formally introduced themselves to the queen. However, Nel noticed that Twilight carried herself more regally than the others as she introduced herself. It was subtle, but she could sense it. She wondered if there was something to what the two at Peterny uttered by accident.

The queen then explained the status of the war against Airyglyph and that Aquaria was not doing well. She then mentioned a prophecy that mentioned the war and believed that Fayt and Cliff were the Arrow of Apris that was sent to bring salvation to their kingdom.

Fayt told the queen that he would do what he could to help them, which pleased the queen.

Since the sun was setting, it was decided that the engineers could begin to lend their assistance tomorrow. Lasselle then called a guard to show the guests to their quarters.

Thankfully, there were enough rooms in the castle to accommodate the group of eight.

Everyone soon went to bed while thinking about what will likely happen tomorrow.

Sophia, however, had a strange feeling that tomorrow was going to be quite interesting.

Exploring the Gardens

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Sophia was restless tonight. For some reason, the anticipation of tomorrow was keeping sleep at bay. Thankfully, she was able to go days without sleep before her performance would be affected.

Since she wasn’t getting any sleep, she figured that she might as well check out the crystal shard that she received from Duggus Forest. She pulled out the Ihan crystal stand and the shard from her pockets. She activated the stand which displayed the first shard before placing the second into the field holding the first. The two shards came together and fused with each other to create a larger shard.

Sophia sighed as she mentally prepared herself. “Alright, I found another shard from this scavenger hunt you’ve sent me on. What else can you tell me?”

The shard glowed brighter and like before, Sophia’s consciousness was cast into the same space as before. Once again, an image of Gerald appeared before her.

“Hello again, my grandchild. I suspect that you likely have doubts about the validity of my claims as your grandfather. There’s not much that I can do to prove that, but that’s not important.

“Before I begin, I would like to tell you something about the hunt for the crystal shards. Originally, the places where the shards were hidden did contain some small, but insignificant treasure at one time but I replaced those treasures with the shards shortly after I had to send you away. In the least, the shards hold more value to you than those preserved berries would.

“I do not expect you to forgive me for sending you to live with that family, but I do wish for you to understand why I did so. My explanation for that, however, is not in this memory.

“This memory is part of a three part series that will help you to understand the power within you that I suspect has begun to slowly awaken, despite the failsafes I have placed upon you.

“Your humanity is the foundation from which your powers are based. Without it, the other facets of your power will continue to conflict with each other in an endless stalemate, leaving you unable to access your full power. It is also the strongest facet of your power because it is the unifying factor of the three. Through this power comes leadership, charisma, tactical mastery and analytical thinking.

“Aside from such abilities, I do hope that you learn how to make friends as you are being raised and during the course of your adventure. Having such ability at your command is one thing, but having strength of heart is the making of a great leader. Friendships are one of the best ways to improve on that strength.

“For the remainder of this memory, I would like to show you my fleet which acts as the military muscle of your birth family.

Sophia had no idea how long she had been touring the fleet, relative to the time outside of the memory, but she saw a lot of military hardware in that time. She saw fighter craft, frigates, capital ships, sophisticated stealth technology, soldiers wearing thick metal suits and carrying automatic rifles that seemed too big for normal people to carry without encumbering themselves. She did notice that the ships didn’t look as sleek as the ships that she was used to seeing and the insides were lacking in decor.

While she was in awe of the military hardware before her, Sophia couldn’t help but wonder what kind of changes she could make to improve it. She could envision herself instilling discipline into the hearts of such crude soldiers. She could see herself…leading them? Such a strange thought, but it felt so right at the same time. Could this feeling be part of the power her grandfather talked about?

She was pulled away from her thoughts as she felt her consciousness being pulled back to reality. She took the time to recollect her thoughts. She remembered that she was in a room in Castle Aquaria in the capital city of Aquios. She noticed that the sun was rising through her window which meant that she spent the whole night in the memory. Strangely though, she felt well rested.

Someone knocked on her door. She made herself as presentable as she could in a short time before she answered it.

Lyra stood on the other side of the door, looking at her apprentice in anticipation for what she had planned today.

“Hey Sophia, I got permission from the guards to use the castle courtyard for our training. I wanna spar with you to see how far you have come.”

“Sure,” Sophia affirmed. She looked around the hallway and found nobody. “What are the others doing?”

“Nel took Fayt and Cliff to the Runological Weapon Research Facility in the west wing where he will likely take a look at their designs. Twilight, Peppita and Roger went into town. I expect Peppita is doing some street performing while Twilight is investigating a couple of people in town for her side project with Peterny’s artisan’s guild. I have no idea what Roger is doing though.”

A ringing sound was heard nearby. Sophia and Lyra looked to see that Twilight had teleported next to them before she walked up to them. “Sophia, you wouldn’t happen to still have that bottle of cider that you stole from the bandits’ hideout, would you?” Sophia walked into her room and came out a moment later with the bottle in question and handed it to Twilight. “Thanks, and for the record, I don’t approve of you stealing from the bandits. They may be thieves but it’s still wrong.” She then disappeared in a flash of teleportation.

The hall was silent for a few moments until Sophia broke that silence. “Well, that happened.”

The two shrugged and headed to the courtyard.

Sophia and Lyra sparred with each other for an hour. Both agreed to use painted training blades to avoid the risk of injuring each other. Sophia did her best to avoid her master’s strikes. Some of the attacks from Lyra were such that Sophia could almost swear that she read her master’s mind before the attack was executed. While a few attacks from Lyra did get through Sophia’s defenses and paint her face and a few places on her clothes, Sophia managed to get a couple of marks on the mare in return. Thankfully the paint easily washed off.

“So what did the shard tell you this time?” Lyra asked. “I could sense some distraction in your thoughts as we fought.”

Sophia giggled, “I’m that obvious, huh? He told me that my humanity is the foundation of my powers and that this power is where my leadership abilities come from. Do you think of me as a leader?”

Lyra hummed. “I think you have the qualities of a leader, but me and Twilight both have plenty of experience as leaders and would only follow your orders if we agreed on your decision. I have seen you keep Fayt and Cliff in line when they do or say stupid things and I can sense the respect that Nel has for you and she leads her own group.”

Sophia nodded before continuing. “He showed me his peculiar fleet and as I saw it, I kept imagining myself leading them. I know they belong to my maybe-grandfather, but a part of me wants to take the fleet from him.”

“Sounds like you have a strong desire to lead your own military organization. It might explain your desire to enter into the Pangalactic Federation Officer Academy. The desire to take his fleet from him might be attributed to the infested side of your abilities as that side will always see imperfection and improve on it. It likely sees your grandfather as a liability to that fleet and it makes you want to usurp him for the good of that fleet.”

“Maybe. He also said he placed some failsafes on me. I wish I knew why though.”

“That might explain why you were unable to sit in the captain’s chair in your mindscape. All we can do is keep collecting the shards and hope that one of them has an explanation for the failsafes.”

“Personally, I’d like to find a way to remove them. Sure, I’d also like to know why I have them, but I’d like to know how to access that power at some point.”

Suddenly, Cliff ran through the courtyard while yelling for them, “Hey you two, let’s get back to the castle! We have something to do!”

The two looked at each other and shrugged before following Cliff back into the castle. Everyone, including Twilight, Peppita and Roger, regrouped at the research facility where Fayt appeared to want to make an announcement.

“Guys, I talked with the researchers and looked at their weapon’s blueprints. It appears that the weapon is suffering from an overheating issue because they were channeling runological energy through iron wire which is a poor conductor for the energy they were channeling. Our best bet is to mine some copper since that conducts the energy much better than iron. The problem is that the nearest mine is in Airyglyph territory on the mountain path between Kirlsa Caverns and Arias.

“We’ll be escorting a team to help mine, refine, and transport several dozen kilos of copper back to Aquios where the runologists will be working to install the copper wiring.”

“Traveling from here to Arias will take a few hours without diversions,” Nel added. “This is last minute so the team has to be selected, then the team has to go to Peterny to obtain a large enough cart to transport the copper, then bring it to Aquios. By my calculations, we have a couple of hours to spare before we need to start heading to Arias.”

“In that case, I have an idea,” Roger proudly declared. “My friend Melt told me about some ruins near Aquios that lie underground in an area between Irisa Fields and Surferio. I figure it might be fun to explore it for a couple of hours and maybe find some treasure down there.”

“Is this really a good time to be exploring ruins when we have a war looming over us?” Fayt asked.

“I’m up for it,” Sophia said. “We do have some time to spare so we might as well try doing something fun.”

“I’m going with Sophia on this one,” Cliff said.

Everyone else shrugged and went along with the idea.

The group crossed the bridge out of the city and returned to the Irisa Fields. As they explored the western side of the area, they found a bridge which crossed the western river. The other side appeared to be uninhabited by hostile creatures or beings, which meant that they could explore the area unmolested.

Their exploration eventually brought the group to a set of stairs that led underground. Roger cheered because he believed that he found what he was looking for and that the ruins exploration adventure was happening.

Once everyone descended the stairs, their eyes widened in awe of what they saw. The underground ruins were vast. While they were on a pathway that hung far above the bottom of the ruins which appeared to dwarf Aquios in size, everyone knew they had to be careful not to fall off the walkway or they would not survive the fall. Some of the group were curious as to how such a vast complex could exist without the surface collapsing on it at some point.

With caution, the group descended the curving staircase while taking care to avoid the collapsed sections.

The path soon led to a platform that had several holes in it along with three new enemies that resembled floating stone slabs with a relief on them that resembled a mage.

One statue noticed the group and alerted the others. Each of them began channeling different spells.

Sophia and Twilight reacted quickly and cast a Thunder Flare on two of the statues before they could get their casts off. Roger interrupted the third one when he launched himself into it and slammed the point on his helmet on it, knocking it into a nearby wall. Roger got stuck on the statue temporarily and went flying with it.

The others split up and fought the living statues.

Cliff ran toward the statue that Roger struck on. Once Roger removed himself and his helmet from the figure, it tried getting back up only for Cliff to set his aura ablaze and rush forward, slamming his fiery aura against it and causing it to fall off the platform.

The remaining two statues tried to cast a Thunder Flare while the others were in close proximity to each other but the delay in casting the spell was a second too long as their minds were suddenly thrown into confusion as a magical circle formed under them that resembled purple rings on an image of storm clouds.

“How do ya like my Panic Dance?” Peppita said.

The others took advantage of the confusion, with Sophia and Lyra cutting one statue diagonally from the front and the back, cutting the statue into four pieces. Nel froze the last statue with her Ice Daggers which Fayt capitalized on by shattering the now brittle foe with his sword.

With the statues destroyed, the group moved forward.

On the next walkway, they encountered axebeak birds which were flightless birds with huge beaks that would hurt a lot if they got hit by them. They also encountered humanoids that resembled birds. Nel referred to them as harpies.

The axebeaks were slow moving and easily dealt with by Peppita freezing them with her Frozen Daggers and smashing them when they froze.

One harpy tried to fight the group from the air where most of them couldn’t fight her but Twilight dragged her down to the walkway with her magic. The harpy had no time to recover before everyone piled on her.

On the next platform, they encountered more statues except these carried axes. Without any ranged counters, they were particularly vulnerable to the group’s symbologists.

The next walkway had a crossroad where the right path took them to a dead end with another of the axe wielding statues while the other led to an interesting platform.

It was then that Twilight recognized the place they were in and she facepalmed in realization.

“What is it, Twilight?” Lyra mentally asked.

“I just remembered that this place is a puzzle dungeon. To get through this, we have to move the colored transparent blocks around to create a path that leads further in.”

Lyra looked at the platform in confusion. She saw a number of colored lines as well as a pair of green transparent squares that looked like they had maze patterns on them. “Do those squares activate the puzzle?”

“Yes,” Twilight replied. “The moment anyone starts to go over them, even if they were levitated, the puzzle will activate. Also, the doors beyond here remain locked until the puzzle activates to ensure that nobody cheats. I even installed teleportation wards in the area to make extra sure of that.”

“I’m guessing that you took every precaution to ensure that the only way forward is to solve the puzzle, even levitating people?”

Twilight nodded.

“So how does this puzzle work?” Lyra asked.

“Once started, the blocks will appear on each of the colored lines on the floor. The blocks can only be moved along their respective lines and will continue to move until it either reaches the other end of the line or another block prevents it from moving further. We need to move the blocks out of the way of our intended exit.”

Fayt stepped on one of the activators a moment later before everyone but the ponies took a small step back in surprise when a series of colored transparent blocks appeared out of thin air.

“What is this?” Fayt asked.

“It’s a block puzzle,” Twilight answered. “Hang on, let me handle this.”

Twilight moved toward a white block that blocked their path and with a gentle push, the block moved forward. She then moved the nearby red block left. Moving to the next row, she moved a white block left before moving a blue block ahead of her forward, allowing everyone to move on.

The group moved down another walkway while dealing with a chameleon which tried to block their path. They came across a four-way crossroads where the left and right paths led to dead ends so they continued moving forward.

More statues and birds awaited the group as they crossed another broken platform and a walkway where the path formed a rectangle. At the end of the walkway, they came across another platform with a block puzzle.

Once again, Twilight moved to solve the puzzle. She moved a red block downwards, then moved a yellow block, that was next to where the red block ended up, to the left. She then moved a white block that was south of the yellow block before following it and moving a red block, that was to the left of where the white block ended up, to the left. Finally, she moved a red and blue block upward before heading left and downward to push a red block right which allowed everyone to exit the platform from the west exit.

They proceeded west to another platform where they dealt with more statues. As they explored further, they discovered two more platforms which, along with the previous one, were interconnected with each other. One of the three platforms eventually led them to the next part of the hanging ruins.

The southernmost platform housed a small army of puppet golems like the ones in Duggus Forest. Thankfully, while numerous, the space on the platform was a little cramped, even for their small figures. They were easy prey for the casters’ Thunder Flares while Fayt infused his sword with lightning and assaulted the ones caught in the spells.

The group moved south from the platform and came across a third block puzzle. This one promised to take a while.

Whether it was a credit to Twilight’s genius or the possibility that she designed the dungeon and the block puzzles and might have known the solution, she was able to open a passage through the blocks and lead the group through the southern exit of the platform.

After another platform and a few more statues, the group finally reached the deepest part of the ruins.

“Looks like this is the farthest we can go,” Cliff noted.

Everyone noticed the giant two-sided statue that looked like he was the most powerful of the statues in the ruins. There were also a pair of living boulders next to it.

“I wonder what this guy is guarding?” Sophia wondered.

“Let’s take him down and find out,” Roger said.

Before the group could charge in, however, the boulders took the initiative and rushed at the group, hoping to get some hits in before their master did.

That was when a shining red aura rushed past the group and smashed into the boulders, sending them hurdling back toward their master.

Everyone looked at the newcomer who slammed the boulders with confusion while Nel gasped in shock and recognition.

The man was dark skinned and quite muscular. He wore no shirt so his tattoos on his arms and back were on full display. His only clothing was the lower part of his brown robe with a white and gold border and a pair of Japanese-style sandals along with the socks to go with them. His black and gold belt had a red sash tied to it which held the sheath of his katana. He wore a gold necklace with a ruby in the center. His face had a cocky expression while his shaggy hair, mustache and beard were all gray. Despite his expression, his eyes revealed his decades of experience on the battlefield.

“Adray!” Nel uttered.

Adray laughed heartily for a moment, “You guys look like you were about to have some fun, so I joined in.”

“How did you get past the block puzzles?” Nel asked.

“Why bother with that headache when I can just jump over here?” he casually answered.

Twilight’s left eye twitched.

“Let’s tear this thing down and get outta here,” Adray declared.

That Sculpture Lord roared in fury before it readied its two sets of crescent staves for battle.

Sophia, Twilight and Adray opened things up by unleashing a trio of Efreet spells upon the statue and its boulder attendants. The three were heavily burned but continued their fight.

Cliff and Roger targeted the boulders. Cliff closed the distance between his target by jumping high into the air and landing on it with a devastating kick that caused a shockwave which not only cracked the boulder but blew back the Sculpture Lord. He then shattered his boulder with a few punches. Roger took out a tunneling drill and drilled into his boulder before smashing it with his axe.

The Sculpture Lord prepared a powerful symbol to send at them, but Sophia countered that with a Silence symbol. Meanwhile, Peppita and Twilight worked together to increase the effectiveness of their attack and make their foe more vulnerable to their attacks with a combination of Peppita’s Power Dance and Twilight’s Acid Rain symbol.

Fayt, Nel, Lyra, Adray and Sophia moved in to engage the Sculpture Lord. The figure tried to attack them all at once by spinning around with its four crescent staves and managed to hit and knock back Fayt and Nel. Lyra, Sophia and Adray jumped back in time.

When the figure stopped spinning, Adray charged in with his shiny red aura charge, or his Chaos Tide as he called it, and hit it point blank with a Lightning Blast. Lyra began moving at the rapid speeds that she was known for and striking the Sculpture Lord from many angles, chipping off pieces of the statue as she went. Sophia decided to grab one of the statue’s weapons and engaged in a tug of war with it which ended with Sophia ripping the weapon away along with the hand that held it. Adray smiled in amusement when he saw Sophia beating it with its own weapon.

Lyra soon found an opening to exploit thanks to her apprentice. She rendered herself invisible using the shadows which left the statue confused as to where the pony went. With her foe’s attention taken away, she was able to gather all of her focus before she unleashed a powerful assassination technique that horizontally cleaved through the Sculpture Lord and cut it in half. The two halves soon crumbled into rubble.

As the statue crumbled, Adray whistled in awe at what he saw. “At some point, you and I have to have a match. From that display, you must have some impressive skill.”

Lyra smirked, “Sure, I’ll take you on when we have the time. For now, we need to get out of here and get to Arias.”

“So you’re headed there, huh? Then I’ll be headed there as well. It’ll be good to see my little girl again.”

As the group moved to the back of the platform to the treasure that the Sculpture Lord was guarding, Nel couldn’t help but feel sorry for Clair who would soon be visited by her doting father. She had been the one to listen to Clair vent about her father many times before.

For their trouble of exploring the ruins, they found a chest which contained a strange table along with a deck of cards. The weirdest thing about the cards, however, was that the images on the cards looked just like most of the group members along with others familiar and mostly not familiar. One card resembled Mirage, one resembled Albel and one, to the ponies’ surprise, resembled Maria Traydor. Though the one that they did not expect to see was a card that resembled Ameena carrying a staff like the one Sophia carried.

Twilight decided to keep the deck in her pocket for the time being and leave them and the table in Grape’s safekeeping once they got back to Peterny.

With the exploration complete and their spare time nearly at an end, the group, now with more Adray, headed back toward the entrance. Since the stairway to the entrance was nearby and it would take some time to walk around the ruins to get back, Twilight teleported everyone near the entrance where they ascended the stairs and back to fresh air.

Minecraft and Duels

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The group, whose number had grown to nine with the addition of Adray, emerged from the underground gardens and returned to the Irisa Fields.

Along the way, Adray demanded that they regale him with tales of their adventures up to this point. They only had time to tell them the tale of how they ended up in Airyglyph, with a few alterations to prevent the Elicoorians from becoming suspicious of their true identities. They talked about how Fayt and Cliff got captured and how they met Nel and escaped the city.

By the time that tale was complete, they arrived in Peterny where Twilight took a moment to head to the Artisan’s Guild to give the table and cards to Grape Vine who told her in private that it was a mini-game that involved tiny homunculi, or artificial humans and humanoids, and pitting them against each other in combat. Twilight had no interest in that sort of thing so she left it to Grape for safekeeping.

Once that task was complete, the group once more headed south toward Peterny’s southern gate.

Along the way, they continued the tale of their escape and pursuit by the Dragon Brigade. As they entered the Palmira Plains, the story continued about their night in Kirlsa followed by their adventure in the Kirlsa Caverns, mentioning the crystal which was part of a series of seven shards which contained memories from Sophia’s grandfather. They didn’t go into details because the memories were only Sophia’s to share.

“So where is your grandfather now?” Adray asked.

Sophia shrugged, “No idea. Only reason I knew he existed was because of the shards. I’ve never met him myself, or at least I don’t think I have. My memories from before I met my foster family are a blur.”

“Hmph, he should be there for you and watch as you grow into a wonderful woman who makes the man she marries feel like the luckiest man in the world.”

Nobody said anything about that as they continued their trek toward Arias. Along the way, they told the old man about the time when Lyra, Sophia and Nel attacked the Kirlsa Training Facility and defeated Shelby while Lyra defeated Albel in a duel.

“Huh, glad to know that Glou’s kid is still kicking,” Adray noted.

“You have a history with Albel?” Sophia asked.

“Well, not with him personally. I know about him through his father. I was looking forward to meeting Glou on the battlefield but was saddened to hear that he lost his life to save his son who was trying to conduct that bonding ritual the Glyphian’s use to bond with their air dragons. I heard the kid lost his left arm to that dragon.”

“Wow, he gave his life to ensure his son goes on living. It’s noble, yet sad at the same time.”

“Yes, I regret that I never got to fight Glou, though I can only hope that his son became a fine young man.”

Silence settled over the group for a minute in response to that. Adray may be brash and somewhat self-centered sometimes, but he was wise enough to read an atmosphere and he was reading the awkwardness in the air. “Be honest, since you met him, how has he been?”

Sophia figured that things would continue to be awkward unless they met Albel again or someone spoke up. So she decided to throw all prudence aside for the moment and tell Adray all about Albel’s behavior from the encounter at the training facility.

Adray stroked his beard throughout the explanation, taking in all of the details given to him. “It sounds like his father’s death had a negative impact on his growth. I fear that if he continues like this, only misfortune will lie before him in the future.” He sighed. “Tragic, Glou must be rolling in his grave right now.”

Nothing else was said as the group crossed the bridge into Arias.

The villagers were shocked to see Adray among the group. That shock turned into a lot of whispering between them. The ponies overheard some of the conversations where some of them muttered something about Aquaria getting serious about the war to involve their greatest warrior.

Awaiting the group at the northwest gate was Clair, who was caught in an affectionate hug by her father the moment she was in view; a testament to the old man’s speed. Alongside Clair stood Tynave, Farleen and a crew of miners.

“My precious little girl! How have you been? Have you been eating well? Have you finally found a man worth marrying?” Everyone looked away awkwardly with blushes while Adray was giving his daughter more attention than should be seen in public.

“It’s good to see you again, father,” Clair responded, doing her best to shove down her embarrassment. “Yes, I have been doing well and no, I have not found someone.”

Seeing the display had reminded Twilight of her sister in law, Cadence. Some time after old age had claimed her brother, Shining Armor, Cadence had become more affectionate toward Twilight and her daughter, Flurry Heart. When she visited Twilight, she didn’t care where she was. She was very public with her displays of affection.

While Adray was giving his daughter some extreme doting, Nel approached her subordinates. “I see you two have made a full recovery. Is everything ready?”

“Ready to return to active duty,” Tynave responded with a salute.

“The wagon is ready, we can leave at any time,” Farleen added.

Nel nodded, “Nice work.”

Adray finally, albeit reluctantly, let go of his daughter and rejoined the group.

Four large wagons were in front of the entrance of the town. One would be used to carry the copper, one carried the miners’ supplies, and two would be used to transport the personnel.

With all preparations complete, everyone boarded the wagons and headed toward the Bequerel Mountain Path.

The trip to the mine was relatively short but a familiar sound from nearby brought the caravan to a halt. The group jumped off the wagon and moved ahead to take a look. Sure enough, the sound they heard was the sound of giant flapping wings. Guarding the entrance to the mine was a pair of dragon riders from the Dragon Brigade.

“So, ready to start challenging dragons?” Sophia asked.

“You bet,” Cliff affirmed with a punch to his left palm. “Let’s pound these turkeys and get that copper.”

“A man of action, that’s what I like to see,” Adray said.

With that, the group charged in and caught the knights off guard. Cliff leapt high into the air to perform his Aerial Assault technique where he kicked the rider off his dragon and sent the dragon plummeting to the ground. Before the knight could recover, Lyra dashed past the knight and beheaded him with her blades. The dragon got back up and flew away.

The other knight tried to fly away to warn Airyglyph of the attack, but his body was enveloped in a purple glow before he was forcefully pulled away from his dragon. The glow faded and the knight fell unceremoniously onto the ground. As the knight lifted his head, the last thing he ever saw was a spinning blade flying at him. The now riderless dragon joined its companion in flight.

“So much for them,” Cliff said.

“Their response time will be slowed since we killed the riders, but they will notice that something is wrong when the dragons return without their riders,” Nel informed.

“Then let’s hurry and get that copper,” Fayt said.

Nel ordered the convoy to follow them from a distance while they cut a path through the dragon nests in the mines.

The first room in the mine was small and featured a cart that would lead deeper into the mine. However, the convoy would not be able to use the rails until they were sure the dragons were thinned out.

The first thing the group noticed in the next room was that the lighting in the mine was poor so visibility was going to be limited for the trek.

Cliff noticed a brazier on a nearby wall that had a dim glow. When he walked up to the brazier, the flames roared back to life, bringing more light into the mine.

“Looks like we’ll have to light them as we go along,” Cliff said.

That was when everyone noticed that the ponies’ horns started glowing and generating light. Sophia had her own idea and held her palm upward. With a bit of concentration, she generated a small glowing sphere that radiated the same brightness as Twilight’s and Lyra’s spells.

“Well that’s convenient,” Cliff noted.

“Are you sure that you can maintain that?” Nel asked.

“No problem,” Lyra answered. “Me and Twilight can keep something like this going for a very long time.”

“I have a large reserve of power, even if I don’t have access to it all, but this shouldn’t be a problem for me,” Sophia said. She then allowed the light to dim and go out. “But you are right that we shouldn’t be using our power needlessly as long as we have the braziers to light the way.” Twilight and Lyra agreed with the sentiment and stopped their spells as well.

Nel nodded and everyone continued down the passageway and lit another brazier at the point where the path turned west. The path quickly turned north again before they reached a barred doorway.

A lot of shuffling could be heard from the other side of the door but the darkness made it difficult to make out. Fayt activated a nearby brazier to illuminate the area to reveal a dragon that stood as tall as a person. Its legs were built to support the weight of its long body but its forelimbs were tiny. Its scales were brass colored and its wings appeared too small to allow flight.

The bars suddenly dropped through holes in the doorway and the dragon roared before charging into the room.

The dragon charged at Roger and attempted to gore them with its horns. Roger dove out of the way and left a little surprise for the dragon which it stepped on before an explosion went off beneath its feet.

The dragon roared in pain before inhaling and releasing a purple mist from its mouth. Fayt, Cliff and Nel were unfortunate to get caught in that as the mist was electrified. All three of them ended up unable to move as paralysis froze their bodies. The dragon would have followed up on its attack if Adray hadn’t forced it to back away with an Earth Glaive spell. Twilight held it in place with a Thunder Flare before Lyra tackled the beast with her Storm Charge which protected her from Twilight’s spell.

The dragon was slammed into a wall before Sophia finished it with a blast of psionic energy.

Thankfully, the paralysis was only temporary and the paralyzed trio soon regained their freedom of movement.

As the dragon vanished, it dropped a stone. When Fayt picked it up, the stone began to glow bright enough to act as a flashlight but not much else.

The group decided to explore beyond the barred doorway to find a dark room. Fayt and Cliff lit two braziers but a third one couldn’t be lit as it ebbed between bright and dim which told them that the mechanism was likely malfunctioning.

The west passage from that room couldn’t be lit by the braziers so Lyra, Twilight and Sophia used their powers to light the way while Fayt used his new Lightstone. Because of this, it was easy to eliminate the element of surprise from several groups of dragons who tried attacking them from the dark at a two-way crossroads. Fayt, Nel and Roger faced a group attacking from a north passage, Lyra, Adray, and Peppita faced a group attacking from a west passage, and Sophia, Twilight and Cliff faced a group attacking from behind. Neither group had problems dispatching the dragons.

The light from the spells and stone guided them further into the mine but it also disturbed a group of vampire bats who looked like they wanted a meal. It attempted to stop any of the spellcasters from casting their spells by emitting a high-pitched shriek which only hit Adray who countered with a slash from his katana.

“This is why it’s never wise to rely solely on runology,” Adray lectured. “Honing one’s mind and body is essential to becoming stronger, but both must be treated equally to find harmony within oneself.” He then sheathed his katana.

A little further down the passageway, they found a doorway with a small monument next to it. Fayt shone his lightstone on the monument which contained strange characters that only Nel was able to read since she took the time to study languages, unlike Adray and Roger.

“These are dragon runes, the ancient tongue of the dragons,” Nel said. “It says, ‘Weave the two into a single line of darkness.’”

“Sounds like a hint for the next part of this cave,” Sophia figured.

“What makes you say that?” Cliff asked.

“It’s basic adventuring 101,” Roger said proudly. “In cases where a puzzle isn’t obvious, a hint is placed somewhere so the adventurer doesn’t feel completely lost or stumped because they couldn’t figure out how to get past the area.”

“You just made that up, didn’t you?” Cliff shot back. A blush from Roger confirmed it.

The next room they entered was large and empty, save for two unlit torches in the middle of the north and south sections of the room which they lit.

The door on the far side of the room was locked and with nowhere else to go, they had to figure out the puzzle.

Sophia pondered on the mystery for a moment before an idea hit her. Looking at the two shadows the torches cast on her, she positioned herself between the torches so that her two shadows bridged the distance between the two torches. For a moment, the shadows glowed red, then the glow faded and the barred door opened.

“Nice thinking Sophia!” Lyra complimented.

The next passage they went into was straightforward and involved dealing with a chameleon and a romperbat.

The next doorway led them into what the group eventually figured out was a small maze with a few dead ends. They found a door that was locked and there was a keyhole for the door which meant that they needed to look around for a key.

The group split up and searched the maze for any clue that would lead them to the key. Eventually, Lyra spotted a dragon in the maze who behaved oddly in that it was running away from anyone who got near it.

Sophia managed to corner it by the door and it roared in desperation. She could sense the beast’s fear for some reason and figured that a new approach was necessary.

She slowly walked over to the terrified dragon who looked ready to fight back in desperation. “Shh, it’s okay, young drake. I’m not going to hurt you.” She used a technique that she learned from Lyra using it where she emitted soothing psychic waves to calm the timid beast. She was soon right in front of it before she raised a gentle right hand and placed it on the dragon’s head.

The dragon took a moment to register that the creature in front of it was not going to harm them. Sophia used her hand to gently stroke its scales while the dragon moved into it and nuzzled her cheek.

After a few minutes, the dragon opened its mouth and placed a key in Sophia’s left hand. It then ran off somewhere.

Twilight smiled as she wiped a tear from her eye. Sophia’s display of kindness reminded her of Fluttershy and the days they used to spend together. She wished that she could reminisce about the old days, but she still had a mission to accomplish.

Sophia used the key on the door and it opened for them, allowing them to move deeper into the mine.

The only thing of note in the next room was an ornate door with a pair of stone dragon heads on the left and right side of the door. However, when the group approached the door, the stone heads made a roaring sound as it shut the door on them. The door wouldn’t budge open no matter what while Nel noticed an inscription on the door.

“It says, ‘The gatekeeper cannot block what it cannot see.’”

It wasn’t hard to figure that the only way to open the door would be to blind the dragon heads with darkness by removing all light sources from the room. However, Twilight had another idea. Using her magic, Twilight placed a veil of purple mist over the dragon heads. When the heads could no longer see people nearby, it opened its doors once more, allowing everyone inside.

More dragons tried their luck against the group and ended up like most of the other dragons before them. One dragon was beaten senseless when Cliff bombarded it with a series of rapid punches, calling that his Fists of Fury technique.

Soon, they encountered another monument by the door and Nel read the runes once again, “It says, ‘Race ahead of thyself, but not when alone.’”

When the group entered the next room, the door closed behind them. The room was in complete darkness and two other doors were to their north and to their west. However, they were all closed, effectively sealing them inside.

Further searching brought them to a strange circular platform in the center of the room. When Sophia stepped on it, all three doors opened and dragon heads on other parts of the wall opened their mouths, producing orbs of light which illuminated the room. When someone approached an open door, however, it closed on them.

This puzzle was a little more tricky than the others but eventually they figured it out. They realized that to ‘race against thyself,’ they needed to race against their own shadows to a door. However, in the absence of shadows, the doors closed. The doors would only allow people to race against one shadow and the shadow had to be beside them when they crossed the threshold. This meant that to move forward, they needed to close two dragon heads and go through the door that was on the same wall as the head that still displayed its light orb.

The group exited through the north door and proceeded down a few more passages before they finally located the deepest part of the mine. A brief look around told them that there were some untapped veins in the room.

However, a roar from a deep pit nearby turned their attention to it.

“What was that?” Cliff asked.

He got his answer a moment later when a large creature leapt out of the pit to greet the group. The creature had a draconic body but at the same time, much of its upper body resembled a rooster. Part of its large body was scaly while white feathers covered much of its upper body. Its head looked just like a rooster’s head.

“A cockatrice?!” Nel exclaimed.

Lyra looked at Twilight with a deadpan expression. “As if the cockatrices on our world weren’t bad enough, you just had to design one that looked more dangerous.”

“At least these things don’t come in large numbers like ours do,” Twilight defended through the mental link. “The cockatrices of this world are primarily solitary and I made sure they don’t petrify with their eyes…though they can still do so with their talons, beak and breath.”

“You’re not really helping your case here.”

The psychic conversation came to a halt as the cockatrice prepared to attack. Fayt, Cliff and Roger moved in to attack the tall draconic chicken. Cliff tried to punch it in the face but the cockatrice parried it with its beak. The contact made the beast’s magic course through Cliff which resulted in him turning to stone before he knew what happened. Fayt and Roger moved away to avoid another attack but the cockatrice anticipated that and unleashed a gray mist toward Roger which he was unable to avoid in time. The mist enveloped him for a second before it dissipated, leaving a lifelike statue of Roger in its place.

As the cockatrice turned to attack Fayt, the beast got blindsided by Adray’s Chaos Tide tackle and was knocked to the ground for a moment before he backed away and assaulted it with an Efreet spell.

Twilight’s analysis of the cockatrice informed everyone that electricity and earth spells and abilities would not work on it so Nel and Peppita began hurling icy daggers from a distance. Twilight and Adray continued casting Efreet spells at it while Fayt taunted it to keep its attention on him. Sophia and Lyra assaulted its body with their blades from angles where it wasn’t looking.

The bombardment of attacks was soon too much for the draconic hybrid and it soon collapsed on the floor and vanished.

Twilight and Adray cast a Cure Condition symbol on Cliff and Roger to free them from their petrification.

“Just this once, I’d like to not be the first to get afflicted with something,” Cliff complained.

Cliff’s complaint was ignored while everyone split up to explore the area. Twilight and Lyra used analytical spells to examine the minerals in the area while Fayt, Cliff and Sophia secretly brought out their quad-scanners without the Elicoorians looking and scanned the minerals. Peppita, who didn’t have a scanner of her own, simply looked around with the Elicoorians.

The scanners were put away when they heard approaching footsteps that indicated that Tynave, Farleen and the mining crew had arrived. “Good, you’re here,” Nel said to them.

“This area shows little sign of being mined, and the purity looks quite high,” Fayt informed.

Nel nodded before ordering the crew to begin digging.

The mining took a few hours, but they managed to reach their goal of copper needed for the runological weapons. All that remained was to refine it before it could be put to use. Thankfully, Nel knew of an abandoned refinery nearby that they could use. The copper was loaded up into a large mining cart with a hauler beast hitched to it while the group took point to escort the cart and crew to the refinery.

Following a tunnel from the west passage of the area, the group cleared the way until they exited the mine and back outside where the monster-infested ruins of a refinery awaited them. Roaming the area were green-feathered harpies, red trees that resembled the grapebinds from Duggus Forest and flying dragons that were obviously feral.

Adray and Twilight burned down the monster trees while Cliff and Nel clipped the wings of the harpies in the area. Everyone else was left to deal with the dragons.

However, during the exploration of the area, a familiar call drew Sophia to a tree at the northern end of the area that overlooked a vast valley below. As she approached the tree, Melt’s words echoed in her mind.

“At the end of the caverns where the copper sleeps, the northernmost wiseman gazes upon the lake. Is it an ancient power sleeping below the roots?”

Sophia searched around the tree for a spot to dig. She soon found one and dug about six inches deep before she found the crystal shard that she was looking for and cleaned it off before pocketing it.

“Found another one, huh?” Lyra said from behind her. Sophia felt her presence as she approached so she wasn’t surprised.

“Yeah, only four more to go.”

Lyra nodded, “C’mon, the hauler has arrived and they’re unloading the copper into the refinery.”

While the copper was being refined, the others checked around the area and cleared out more of the monsters that roamed the area. Lyra blasted a hole in a wall which revealed more of the ruins for the group to explore.

Meanwhile, Twilight was busy negotiating a contract with a certain old veteran soldier who had taken up residence in the refinery. She figured that the veteran, Grats, could put his blacksmithing skills to use for the guild and make some money in the process.

It took about an hour to get through all of the copper that was mined and refined, but they were ready to transport the cargo on a hauler and back to the entrance of the mine where they hoped that the enemy hadn’t shown up with reinforcements yet.

Surprisingly, the Dragon Brigade had yet to arrive with reinforcements. Counting that as a stroke of good luck, they quickly loaded the refined copper into the transport wagon and the convoy began rushing back to Arias.

Earlier…

Demetrio, Lieutenant of the Dragon Brigade and direct underling to Duke Vox, was flying on his dragon to the mine with reinforcements after he received dispatch orders from his commander. He didn’t know the details, but it appeared that two dragons had returned to the castle and base of operations for the Dragon Brigade without their riders. He brought three of his fellow knights with him to investigate the disappearance of the missing knights.

Some part of him had a feeling that Aquaria had something to do with the incident and that made him excited at the prospect of eliminating a few Aquarian soldiers before Airyglyph unleashed its armies in the very near future.

Demetrio had heard that the big offensive would begin tomorrow. A chill of excitement rippled through his body at the thought of finally conquering the weak and pathetic little excuse of a kingdom ruled by a woman.

The lieutenant began cackling maniacally, unaware that one of his escorts was knocked out of the air.

One of the guards noticed the missing member and became nervous that they might have company. “Uhh, Lieutenant Demetrio, sir?”

“What is it?”

Before the knight could say anything, a giant hand made of bone slapped him hard into a nearby mountain, severely injuring both dragon and killing the rider.

“What the!?”

The bony hand quickly plucked the third of the knights escorting Demetrio and dropped him into the mountain range below with no chance of survival.

“What the hell are you?!” Demetrio demanded.

A giant skeletal figure suddenly hovered in front of him. The skeletal wingspan with only the sinew to show that they were wings, the long tail, and the draconic skull informed the doomed knight that he was staring at a giant skeletal dragon that looked to be the size of the Marquis himself. In the dragon’s right hand was an appropriately sized, ominous-looking sword with a jagged edge with runes across the blade. The hilt depicted a skull impaled by numerous weapons.

The bone dragon chuckled, “It doesn’t matter what I am,” It spoke in a deep, booming, yet feminine voice. “What does matter is that your time has come. Whether by me or by the mission you were sent on, you were meant to die here. So I figured I might as well have some fun while I’m in the area.”

Using her dark magic, the bone dragon brought the fallen dragons to a nearby mountaintop. She then placed a bony claw on the mountainside before a series of bone spikes erupted from beneath the dragons and impaled them, killing them instantly.

What followed next was a sight of horror in Demetrio’s eyes as dark energy entered the corpses of the dragons and in mere moments, their flesh exploded. A series of unearthly roars was heard next as the skeletal remains of the dragons rose from their resting place. The newly reanimated bone dragons stared at Demetrio.

With a wicked glint in the giant bone dragon’s eyes, her next words would be the last Demetrio would ever hear while alive.

“Tear the knight limb from limb but leave his mount intact enough for reanimation.”

Demetrio’s wails of agony echoed throughout the mountains, yet not a living soul heard them.

With no sign of pursuers from the Dragon Brigade, the convoy breathed a sigh of relief and thought that they were in the clear.

That was when they spotted three figures ahead in the middle of the road. The convoy came to a halt while the defenders hopped out of the convoy to get a closer look at the people blocking the road.

It turned out to be Albel who had a very displeased look on his face, as if he was made to swallow something bitter. He was flanked by two Black Brigade soldiers. Albel glared at the group with his good arm over the hilt of his sword.

“So, this is what you maggots were after? This should have been that fool Demetrio’s mess to clean up, yet like the maggot he is, he fails to show his face.”

“Albel? Is that you?” Adray asked. “You look so scrawny. Shouldn’t you be training yourself to get stronger?”

“Shut your mouth old fool!” Albel shouted. “I will slaughter you all!”

“Albel, you know how our fight went,” Lyra reminded. “Before, it was just me and I mopped the floor with you. If you hope to take all of us with what you have and win, then you have problems.” In the blink of an eye, Albel’s reinforcements were stabbed in the back and electrocuted. Two afterimages of Lyra were seen behind them as they fell. “Now you’re alone. Do you still think you stand a chance?”

“It doesn’t matter how many of you are before me, I’ll crush you all. Those maggots would have held me back.”

Lyra and Sophia could easily sense the desperation in his thoughts. Albel knew that he was hopelessly outmatched and outnumbered. Yet, instead of running away, he behaved like a cornered rat.

Sophia shook her head sadly before turning to the group. “You guys go ahead, I’ll deal with him myself.”

“Are you sure?” Lyra asked. Sophia nodded.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Adray declared. “If it is a duel you seek with him then it’s only right for you to have witnesses. Anyone else wish to volunteer to be witnesses?”

“Definitely,” Lyra said. “It’s only right for the master to see how far her student has progressed.”

“Ha! Spoken like a true master.”

“I wouldn’t mind seeing this one myself,” Cliff offered.

Albel’s eyes widened in surprise. “A duel? I am here to kill you all and you want to make this a duel instead?”

“Your odds of stopping us by yourself are next to zero, so I’m offering you a fighting chance,” Sophia said.

“But Sophia…” Fayt began, but a simple glance from his childhood friend shut him up. He gulped, “Alright, just be careful. We’ll meet you back at Arias.”

With that, Fayt, Nel, Roger, Peppita and Twilight boarded the wagon and the convoy resumed its course and moved past Albel. He didn’t dare try anything as he had a feeling that he was going to need all of his attention on the opponent before him.

With the convoy away to safety, Cliff, Lyra and Adray moved around the combatants and positioned themselves between them and the road to Arias.

With the stage set, the battle began. Albel rushed forward with his serpentine movements with his blade and claw alternating slashes, which were easily countered when Sophia saw the pattern and moved in response to where his next attack would come from. Albel overextended himself and left himself open to a kick against his side which caused him to stumble away.

Albel released a vertical Air Slash while he was stumbling which forced Sophia to dodge to the right. The wave still grazed her arm, leaving a small cut.

The swordsman followed up with a Shockwave Swirl to the ground and created a cloud of dust to occlude her vision of him. However, that didn’t stop Sophia from picking up on his next attack where she jumped backward as Albel rushed through the smokescreen with a wide slash that struck the area where Sophia was a moment before.

Albel looked around for his prey only to learn too late that Sophia had reappeared behind his smokescreen. He received an uppercut to the chin by a series of earthen pillars that erupted from the ground.

He recovered quickly from that exchange and wiped the blood off his face with his good arm. He then began another attack by slashing wildly with his claw without any care to where he was attacking. He managed to scratch Sophia a few times until she figured the pattern to his attacks where she grabbed his metal arm and flung Albel into a mountain wall.

Albel removed himself from the wall and roared in fury, unleashing waves of dragon heads upon Sophia who blocked them by summoning an Efreet. While the fiery effigy took the entire attack, it faded away without being able to counterattack which was fine with Sophia who took advantage of the attack’s long recovery time to batter Albel with a series of punches and kicks before kicking him to the ground.

Albel pointed his iron palm at Sophia and prepared to unleash a blast of his Palm of Destruction technique but Sophia wrapped her fingers around his hand and channeled her own psionic power which overwhelmed Albel’s attack. Sophia held back enough to avoid destroying Albel’s arm but the blast was still painful enough to make the swordsman scream in agony.

Battered, bruised, and his arm on the verge of shattering, Albel still showed signs that he wanted to continue, but Sophia could tell that he was on his last legs. There was no point in continuing any further.

“This fight is over, let’s get back to Arias,” Sophia said.

“This fight…is not over,” Albel grunted between heavy breaths. He held himself up on his sword. “I won’t be defeated by the likes of…” Albel dropped his sword and fell on his hands and knees, violently coughing. Sophia figured that she likely cracked one or two of his ribs. Despite that, Albel struggled to get back up.

Sophia sighed, “Why are you so determined to continue this? There’s no sense in throwing your life away over this.”

“I…am strong. I will prove that I am,” Albel said weakly.

“Who are you trying to prove your strength to? Yourself, or your father?”

“Shut up! This has nothing to do with my father!”

“Doesn’t it? I heard about what happened to your father and how you got that arm. You really think he would sacrifice himself because of your weakness? Adray had a lot of respect for him so it’s easy to tell that he was an honorable man. I have no doubt that he sacrificed himself because he wanted you to live and find your role in life. Throwing your life away over this duel would be like spitting on your father’s grave. He died in defense of your future.”

“Shut up! Shut up! How dare you speak of him as if you knew him!” Albel shouted.

“Think about what I said. Your weakness is that you allow your personal hang-ups to hold you back. Confront your issues before you ever think about challenging me again.” Sophia then turned away from Albel and toward Arias. “Let’s go.”

The witnesses nodded and walked away from Albel and returned to Aquaria.

Albel lay on the dirt road, gritting his teeth. Frustration, anger, sorrow and guilt roiled within him. He knew he had lost completely to that girl and her words cut deeper than any blade. The worst part of it all was that he knew she was right and yet he couldn’t stop loathing himself for his father’s death. He pounded the ground several times in fury.

“Damn! Damn! DAAAAAAAAAAAAMN!” he roared.

Prelude to War

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The walk back to Arias was anything but quiet. As they walked, Adray loudly congratulated Sophia for her victory in her duel against Albel. While her win was not as clean as Lyra’s was, since she did get a few cuts, Sophia still displayed her dominance as she intended. She could only hope that her words got through to Albel.

As they walked, Lyra noticed that Sophia’s wounds were quickly closing up and vanishing as if they were never there. She had heard about her rapid regeneration abilities, but the reports mentioned that the cuts she sustained usually healed within hours. This time they healed within minutes.

Lyra had to wonder if her infestation powers were getting stronger as her psychic powers grew. She noticed that her alien sides were highly competitive while she peered into her mindscape.

She feared what might happen if the balance within her was broken. If her psychic powers overtook her infestation, her psychic power might tear her apart. On the other hand, if her infestation grew too strong, it might overtake her body and drive her insane. She had to wonder what Sophia’s grandfather was thinking by putting her in such a dangerous position.

These thoughts would have to wait as they had returned to Arias. By then, Sophia’s wounds had completely healed. Unless they were observant enough to notice the tears in her clothes, nobody would know that she was actually harmed by Albel if the ones who knew didn’t say anything.

“Sophia, are you hurt?” Fayt asked as he ran up to her.

“Do I look hurt?” Sophia shot back.

Fayt deadpanned, “I’m not an idiot, I can see the cuts on your clothes. Your skin may heal, but your clothes don’t mend themselves.”

Sophia clicked her tongue. She would have to find a way to create self-repairing clothes at some point.

“Congratulations will have to wait,” Nel interrupted. “We have reason to believe that one of Airyglyph’s spies has relayed information on the Thunder Arrow. They will surely be sending everything they have against us in hope that they can prevent us from completing it.”

“Has the copper made it to Aquios?” Sophia asked.

Nel nodded. “Also, we need to speak with Her Majesty at once about the imminent attack.”

As everyone left the mansion and headed toward the east gate, Twilight requested to make a slight detour that would take a few minutes. However, that became unnecessary as the person that she wanted to see came to her. With the village beginning evacuation for the coming battle, the clergy was also being evacuated. The clergywoman, Milenya, was just now leaving since all of the sick and injured had been evacuated first.

Twilight got the woman’s attention and convinced her to sign a contract in exchange for enough fol for the clergywoman to afford ingredients for her medicines.

With that distraction complete, the group headed straight for Aquios.

On the way there, Grape Vine had buzzed her again with more profiles on three new inventors.

First on the list was an old doctor whose medicines were questionable, yet somehow they work. Twilight could only sigh as she read more on the doctor’s, Gossam’s, profile. His talent in making medicines was amateur, but the worst part was that he was a womanizer. He apparently spent more time chasing women than he did on perfecting his craft. Apparently, he was looking for some way to be young again to chase his delusions.

There was no spell that could reverse the aging process so Twilight would have to find some sort of placebo if she really felt like she wanted to recruit the old pervert.

His last known location was somewhere in Peterny.

The next inventor was a talented alchemist named Mackwell. Based on the profile, he was practically the father of the Thunder Arrow as he derived the unification theory between channeled force and magnetism, which amounted to channeling electricity through a wire. After developing the theory, he quit the research team because the head researcher was a total slob. He chose to steal one of the head researcher’s books in lieu of a retirement package. Mackwell believed that his time was precious and scheduled his daily activities.

Apparently, there was a rumor that he desired a certain book but had no idea where to find it. Twilight felt that she could relate to him a little.

Last on the list was a young noblewoman named Rigel who was extremely fussy when it came to food. She had been known for being quite eccentric and wouldn’t work while she was hungry. She became a very talented chef in the process of hounding her family’s chef to ensure her food was prepared to her ridiculously high standards. It would take cuisine that the Canterlot Nobles would trample over each other for a taste to get this woman to sign a contract. Her last known location was Kirlsa.

Back at Peterny, Fayt wanted to pay Ameena another visit, only to find out that she had disappeared and the woman who was taking care of her had no idea where she went. This made Fayt panic and he ran back to the others to tell them what happened.

Sophia sighed and gave Fayt a stern look, “I’m sorry Fayt, but we don’t have time to go looking for her now.”

“Okay, fine, I’ll go looking for her myself,” Fayt growled.

“No, you’re not,” she stated with finality. “Airyglyph will be moving against Arias soon and we don’t have any more time for detours.”

“But I can’t just leave her like this!”

“Let me ask you this, which is more important: the safety of a terminally ill girl or the safety of a nation? If Ameena wants to risk her health by wandering off somewhere, that’s her choice and she should be prepared to face the consequences of that choice.

“Now come!” Sophia paused for a moment to briefly consider something. “Also, if I catch you trying to sneak off to find her, I’ll knock you out and carry you to Aquios.”

As they walked through Irisa Fields, Cliff walked beside Sophia. “A little harsh, don’t you think?”

“I know his heart’s in the right place Cliff, but this isn’t the time to go looking around for her when all hell’s about to break loose,” Sophia explained. “We can’t afford to have him running off blind, especially since some of us would end up following him to keep him out of trouble.”

“True,” Cliff considered.

“Also, his feelings toward the girl need to be dealt with. You know that once we return to space we can’t take her with us and with her terminal condition, it’s just going to make the heartbreak that much more painful.”

“Yeah, there’s also the fact that her feelings are for some other guy she hadn’t seen in years.”

“All the more reason to be harsh with him. If he’s fallen for her, then it’s an unrequited love that’s fated to end in tragedy.”

“Wish I could argue about that,” Cliff thought. “But she does have a point. Given the kid’s power, an emotional blow like that might trigger his awakening. I don’t wanna be anywhere near him if that happens.”

Sophia read his mind, but didn’t respond to that. Her mind reading abilities have improved a lot recently.

The group crossed the Irisa Fields and entered Aquios. After they crossed the bridge into the city, something caught their attention.

Two individuals were in the middle of the street. One appeared to be lying down while the other was checking on the first. The second figure kept themselves hidden under a cloak while the first was not identified until they got closer.

“Ameena!” Fayt shouted as he ran to her.

“Hey, is she okay?” Cliff addressed the cloaked figure.

“Yes, but we need to get her to a doctor immediately.” Spoke the cloaked figure in a voice that was very familiar to the non-Elicoorians. She turned her head to reveal her familiar face which they recognized immediately.

“Well, if it isn’t Mirage,” Cliff said.

“I see everyone is in good health. It was easy to keep track of you with all the stories you left in your wake. Sophia will probably be able to handle you in a fight pretty soon at the rate her skills are developing.”

“No need to give her a big head, Mirage,” Cliff grumbled.

“Let’s save the banter for after we get this girl off the street,” Sophia said.

“Yes,” Nel agreed. “I’ll go summon the doctor and meet you at the inn.”

Later at the inn, Ameena was placed in a soft bed with a canopy. The doctor did her best to stabilize Ameena. She sighed as she addressed others in the room.

“She’s stable at the moment, but her condition is still serious. For now, make sure she gets plenty of rest.” The doctor left the room.

Fayt punched a wall in frustration of being unable to do anything for Ameena. Cliff made Fayt calm down.

“The disease is in her lungs,” Mirage said. “If the Eagle were operational, I think we could heal her.”

“Unfortunately, that’s not an option at this point with Airyglyph on the warpath,” Sophia said.

“What about your ship, Twilight?” Fayt asked.

Twilight shook her head. “While my ship may have the necessary equipment to heal her, it’s not here. It’s currently transporting your parents to Moonbase. While it should return soon, it won’t be soon enough to save her. The disease is already on the verge of claiming her life.”

Fayt growled. “There has to be something we can do.”

“Would you quit acting like the burden of the world is on your shoulders?” Sophia snapped. “It was adorable at first, but now it’s starting to become annoying. You can’t save everyone you see. This isn’t some superhero fantasy where you save the world on a daily basis. We aren’t deities who can perform miraculous feats. You need to be prepared to face hardship in life and accept that some things are beyond your ability to do anything about.”

“But…”

Sophia’s glare intensified. “Unless you have a logically sound counter to my argument, then save your ‘buts’ for when your arguments aren’t coming from your emotions.”

As Sophia was about to leave the room to cool her head, Nel, who had just returned from speaking with the queen, entered the room. Sophia tried to school her emotions too late to hide her frustrations from Nel.

“Is there something wrong?” Nel asked.

“I need to get some fresh air,” Sophia answered before she left the room and the inn.

Nel looked at the door in confusion, “Was it something I said?”

“Nah, I think she’s frustrated with a lot of things,” Cliff answered. “She understands that we can’t help Ameena, but Fayt was only making things worse and I guess that worked her last nerve.”

“I’ll go talk to her,” Lyra offered and left after Sophia.

“So how bad is it?” Cliff asked Nel.

“It’s just as we feared, Airyglyph knows about the Thunder Arrow and is mounting an invasion with all three brigades,” Nel explained. “Vox, the captain of the Dragon Brigade, is leading them.”

“And the other captains?” Fayt inquired.

“My sources inform me that Albel is not taking part in the battle. I doubt Count Woltar will take part due to his advanced age.”

“So, all we gotta do is take out this Vox guy and we can end this thing before it really starts,” Cliff figured.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself. Vox is still a formidable warrior, he must not be underestimated.” Nel paused briefly. “At any rate, Dion will head to Arias with every completed weapon at our disposal. I don’t know how much he’ll be able to accomplish.”

“Dion…?” weakly spoke the voice of the girl lying in the bed.

“Ameena, you have to stay in bed!” Fayt ordered.

“Fayt?”

“Don’t worry about me right now. Why did you push yourself so hard?” Fayt demanded.

“Because my friend…an old man I know told me that I could find him here, in Aquios.”

Twilight hummed, “You mentioned ‘Dion’.” She looked at Fayt, “Could it be the same Dion that Nel just mentioned?”

Nel approached Ameena’s bedside and lowered herself closer to the floor. “Do you happen to know Dion Landers?”

Ameena gasped, “Yes, that’s the name of my old childhood friend from before I moved away.” She then went into a fit of coughs.

“Don’t exert yourself,” Mirage warned.

“Yes,” Nel agreed. “Right now, he has something important to do, but once we end this war, I’ll be sure to bring him to you.”

Fayt begrudgingly remained silent. As much as he disagreed with waiting until the war ended for Ameena and Dion to be reunited, Sophia did have a point that he had been acting on his emotions too much. With a sigh, he said, “She’s right. You’re in no condition to be going anywhere and Aquaria might suffer if Dion isn’t focused on the battle.”

With resignation, she laid back down on her bed. “Alright, I’ll wait.”

“Mirage, please keep an eye on her.”

Mirage nodded. “Leave it to me, I do have some medical expertise.”

Elsewhere, outside the inn, Sophia was taking some deep breaths to try getting her emotions back under control. She had grown used to Fayt and his tendency to act without thinking. Sometimes she would just let him do his thing and let him deal with the consequences, unless such decisions would prove suicidal, such as the incident on Hyda. Despite him being three years older than her, she sometimes felt like his babysitter.

There were times when she felt like she should just leave him to his fate. A part of her believed that he wasn’t fit for surviving in reality and that nature should take its course and leave him dead in a ditch somewhere. She had to crush those feelings sometimes, much more often recently.

“You doing alright?” said Lyra from behind her.

Sophia took one more deep breath. “Sorry about what happened back there, I guess even my patience has limits.”

Lyra smiled faintly, “Don’t be, I remember this one time a long time ago where this one pony was friends with this really obnoxious pony and the obnoxious one really got on her nerves. She didn’t want to blow up on the annoying one for the sake of their friendship and just bottled up her anger which ended up exhausting her emotionally. Things got a little messy when her temper reached a boiling point. Thankfully, their friendship wasn’t damaged.”

“How do you deal with idiots when you can’t get rid of them?” Sophia asked.

“You mean when you can’t afford to get rid of them?” Sophia nodded to the question. “I will admit that there have been times where I felt like we should leave Fayt behind when he tries to drag everyone on one of his detours, but it’s like you implied: we can’t afford to get rid of him.

“Whether Fayt likes it or not, you are the one leading the group at this point. I could tell that Cliff, Roger and Peppita have already acknowledged you, Adray is still deciding, Nel respects you so long as you don’t make stupid decisions, the same goes for me and Twilight. Fayt just needs to accept that he won’t get his way all the time.”

Sophia smiled a little. “Thanks, it makes me feel better to hear you say that.”

Lyra’s smile widened a little. “No problem.”

A gravelly voice was heard grumbling about something as he walked down the street. Coming out of an alley, Sophia and Lyra spotted Adray, who looked like he was in a foul mood, walking down the street from the castle. The duo were close enough to hear him.

“Stupid Lasselle, always talking out his arse,” he grumbled. “Our kingdom is in danger and he thinks I’m needed in some faraway land.”

“Guess I’m not the only one dealing with infuriating people right now,” Sophia said as she approached the old veteran.

Adray chuckled awkwardly, “Err…you didn’t hear that, did ya?”

“Just the last part, though my problem wants to put the important matters on hold to go around playing the hero. One of these days, I’m just going to let him run off somewhere and let fate decide whether he lives or dies.”

“Hmph…I have my own problems with Her Majesty’s advisor. He just wants to get rid of me because he doesn’t know how to handle me.”

Sophia smirked, “Most people probably wouldn’t, given your personality. You’re like a predator in a kingdom of prey.”

Adray stroked his beard and drew his own conclusion, “You’re right, these little sheep need to be toughened up to be real soldiers. Too bad we don’t have the time right now or I’d handle their training myself.”

“Not what I had in mind,” Sophia thought. “Of course, in this case, either Adray changes himself for the kingdom or the kingdom toughens up to fight alongside Adray. Either way, something’s gotta give.”

Eventually, everyone regrouped and with the matter with the queen finished, they returned to Arias.

Back at the Arias command center, Clair was providing the strategy for tomorrow’s battle.

Every now and then, Sophia asked about the capabilities of the troops and frowned as she heard the answer. The troops were not trained in guerilla tactics that could be used to thin the numbers of the ground troops or in how to place traps to weaken the advantageous positioning of the enemy’s strongest resources, namely the dragons. Thankfully, since one man was the main general of the whole army, taking him out would throw the enemy into disarray. Clair assigned her and the group to take out Vox.

Still, Aquaria could use all the help they could get in terms of military capability. Having artillery was a start, but the troops could use more training.

Sophia asked for a piece of paper and a quill for her to write with. While Clair was going over the details of the operation, Sophia wrote down a number of suggestions for what to train the soldiers in for future battles. When she handed the paper over to Clair to read, the commander gasped as inspiration filled her mind.

“I had no idea that you were so versed in battlefield tactics,” Clair commented. “Many of these tactics I have never even heard of, but they do make sense. Are these perhaps some battlefield tactics used in Greeton?”

“Yep,” Sophia lied. “I know that it’s too late to instill this knowledge to the troops for this battle, but in case you run into future enemies, it might not hurt.”

With the strategy decided, everyone went to their assigned rooms to get some sleep before tomorrow.

That night, Sophia decided to check the next memory in the crystal. She merged the newest shard with the growing crystal.

“Alright, time for part three.” The crystal grew brighter and the familiar feeling of her consciousness shifting was felt.

Once more she saw Gerald, but this time he was standing inside a ship that appeared more advanced than even the Federation vessels. Of course, the design looked pretty gaudy with the gold color and all the lights.

“Today, I would like to introduce you to the second part of your genetic heritage. This ship belongs to a race of psionic warriors known as the Protoss. In their language, it means the Firstborn. There is not enough time to go through their entire history, so I will briefly go over the parts that matter for the sake of this memory.

“As far as the records show, the Protoss were among the first races ever conceived in their universe. Though in the beginning, they squandered their psychic gifts to pursue tribal warfare. It was through the actions of a race of cosmic ascended beings known as the Xel’naga, that the violent race sought scholarly pursuits.

“Millennia passed and eventually the Protoss began to become self-sufficient and took to the stars. This also created a growing sentiment that the Xel’naga were no longer needed and that they would forge their own future from then on. They saw other races as lesser and agreed that they must be protected.

“Despite their independence, however, religion forever divided the Protoss into several factions, and with it, different styles for the Templar Arts.

“Yes, my granddaughter, part of the reason, though small, that I sent you to that universe in the first place, was because I knew that you would find a teacher who would teach you the Templar Arts as is part of your heritage.

“Through your Protoss abilities lies power and guile. You should be well aware by this point that your psychic powers come from this side of you. Be warned, you bear massive levels of psionic power within you. Your body must be able to keep up if it is to make use of that power without destroying yourself.

“Come, I will show you the three styles and the techniques that your teacher has yet to show or is hesitant to show.

The rest of the memory was spent showing Sophia a number of different techniques from the Khalai, Nerazim and Tal’darim styles of Templar Arts. The knowledge had certainly advanced her training greatly, but she had a feeling that she would really need to fortify the foundation of her training before she could make effective use of the new techniques. She could foresee plenty of meditation in her future.

On a side note, she also learned about the amazing uses of Protoss crystal technology.

Author's Notes:

This chapter brought out what annoyed me about Fayt. Thinking about his behavior in the game, and perhaps this is a common attribute to shounen anime, is that the main protagonist often has chronic hero syndrome where they feel this strong desire to go around saving people, even when there were more important matters that needed to be dealt with. There is a war that threatens the safety of the citizens of a nation and Fayt, who is supposed to be acting in the defense of that nation, thinks that the safety of one person is more important than helping the nation as a whole.

This is pretty much a "needs of the many vs. the needs of the few" situation which is often debated where the logical often side with the many while the irrational often side with the few.

Apologies for the rant, but if there was anything besides canon Sophia that annoyed me (since that version had no place on the battlefield), it was Fayt acting like a typical shounen main character.

War and Death

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During the night at the Aquios inn. Mirage was enjoying a book while she was looking after the sickly young lady.

She couldn’t help but feel sorry for the girl who looked like she wouldn’t survive until tomorrow night. If the battle were to conclude quickly, she might have a chance to see her childhood friend one last time before she succumbed to her disease.

She couldn’t think about that right now though, she had her mission to see through and worrying about the girl whose fate was sealed wouldn’t accomplish anything.

That was when she remembered something that was somewhat important that she forgot to tell her fellow off-worlders. “Hmm…with all the commotion, I forgot to tell them that I managed to contact Quark,” she muttered. “Knowing Maria, she will probably get here ahead of the fleet. Though I hope she tries to use some subtlety when she has to interact with the Elicoorians…”

Mirage paused, thinking about what she just said. She then facepalmed, “Who am I kidding, that girl can be as reckless as Fayt.”

She said nothing more and returned to her book.

The sun had risen in the frantic town of Arias. Once everyone had finished their morning routine, they exited the mansion to prepare to battle an army of conquest-driven soldiers.

As they looked around the village, they discovered a number of runological weapons were placed all over the village while making sure not to block the main streets. Dion was busy doing the final inspections of the weapons before they were deployed.

Dion wore the runologists’ uniform and the only noticeable features were his green hair and glasses.

“Hey Dion, how are the weapons?” Fayt asked.

“Thanks to your suggestions, we have greatly improved the weapon all around: firepower, rate of fire, and number of rounds. I still regret that we were unable to complete the Thunder Arrow in time,” Dion lamented. “But with the weapons we already have, I feel that we stand a fighting chance against Airyglyph.”

“Make sure the marksmen can aim these things,” Sophia said. “The soldiers will be counting on these weapons to hit their targets and provide adequate support.”

Dion nodded. “Right, leave it to me.” He paused before he mumbled, “I’m looking forward to seeing my childhood friend in Airyglyph once the war is over.”

“We will tell him after the war is over. He needs to focus right now,” Sophia mentally told Fayt. He quickly turned his head to her with wide eyes. “I’ve been learning how to use psychic powers, Fayt. Is it really surprising that I would learn telepathy?”

Dion looked curiously at Fayt, “Is something wrong?”

Fayt turned his head back to Dion. “Oh, uh, no, just thought I saw something on Sophia’s head,” he lied hastily.

Dion shrugged and returned to work.

The moment was nearly upon the soldiers of Aquaria, so the group rallied with Clair at the southwest gate that led into the arid wilderness where the deciding battle would take place.

Once the group and the commanding officers were around Clair, she began. “Are the preparations complete? What we do here will determine victory or defeat. If we do not defend this position, they’ll take the royal city in one fell swoop. We must stop them here.” She paused for a moment before she nodded in determination. “Let’s do it.” She took one last look at her troops before she ordered them to move out.

Soon, the two armies faced each other, the tension high between both sides. Airyglyph and Aquaria eagerly waited for the other to make the first move. This tense moment lasted five minutes.

Naturally, Airyglyph was the first to begin their charge with Aquaria moving in response. It was only a minute of charging forward later that the two armies finally met in combat and battle was joined.

The Black Brigade took the brunt of Aquaria’s infantry while the Storm Brigade moved to flank them. However, the charge was disrupted when the runologists fired spells that forced them to break formation. The infantry took advantage of the disruption and used their spears to trip up some of the lums and fight their riders on equal footing. The Storm Brigade still had partial success though as they tore through some of Aquaria’s infantry.

As expected, the Dragon Brigade acted as aerial support and flew around the battlefield to assist where needed. Their dragons’ fire breath incinerated many soldiers, Aquarian and Glyphian alike.

The dragon riders did not have free rein over the battlefield though as blasts from the runological weapons picked off the dragons one by one. The Dragon Brigade countered this by charging straight for the cannons and blasted fire on some of them. The shooters fled from the cannons when the dragon riders got close but the cannons did sustain damage.

Sophia observed the battlefield and analyzed the movements of both forces. She could tell that the two armies were even at this point, but that would slowly shift in Airyglyph’s favor in time. Aquaria was still outnumbered and the weapons may not be enough to turn the tide.

That was where they came in.

With Airyglyph distracted by their own battles, the group was able to move about the battlefield with minimal resistance. There were still some Glyphian soldiers who attempted to engage them but were easily overpowered. The few troops that were available to fight them were simply not tough enough to handle a group of seasoned fighters.

Adray brought relief to the Aquarian troops around him by cutting down knight after knight with his sword. Cliff’s fists smashed through their armor as if it were made of glass. Nel’s and Peppita’s icy daggers caused a number of knights to become frozen which allowed the Aquarian soldiers to smash their brittle bodies.

The dragon riders fared no better as their ill-fated approach to the group ended with psionic blasts and volleys of missiles that were fired from Roger’s helmet. Nobody in the group questioned the child’s arsenal at this point.

The group cut a swath through the enemy forces as they made their way to the entrance to Kirlsa where the command center was located. It wasn’t long before they came face to face with the very cause of the war.

Duke Vox was a middle aged man who wore his black armor with gold lining and his red cape draped over his body. He had short gray hair with a mustache that nearly extended to his beard along with a soul patch.

“So, you’re the girl I’ve been hearing about, the one who defeated Albel…” Vox noted.

“And you’re the megalomaniac who continues to instigate the war,” Sophia shot back.

“It’s Aquaria’s own fault for not improving on their military when they had the chance. They chose to put their faith into a non-existent deity instead of relying on their own strength. Aquaria will pay the price for their weakness. I will crush their pathetic nation and force them to submit to my authority.”

“Don’t you mean your king’s authority?” Sophia asked.

Vox scoffed, “My nephew is too soft to lead our people. If it weren’t for the fact that he is the legitimate ruler of the throne, I would have claimed it for myself a long time ago.” Vox smirked, “I suppose that it is to my good fortune that he is so easily manipulated. He sees me as his voice of wisdom.

“Before I slaughter you all one by one, I do have to thank you girl, because you defeated Albel, I had a reasonable excuse to have him charged with treason. Once I am finished here, I can personally end his wretched life myself. Woltar can do nothing to stop me, so I will deal with him at my leisure.”

“Sounds like the makings of a coup,” Sophia figured.

Vox laughed, “Very clever of you to figure that out, girl. Too bad for you that secret dies with you and your friends.”

One of Vox’s subordinates handed him his lance as he boarded his dragon. As he took to the air, however, Twilight grabbed Vox in her magic and pulled him back to the ground.

What the group wasn’t expecting though was an animated skeletal frame of a dragon swooping down and grabbing Vox’s dragon by the neck and flying off.

Nobody had time to process what they just saw before Vox got back to his feet and one of his soldiers exchanged his lance for his broadsword.

“I’ll handle this one,” Adray declared. Everyone looked at him in confusion. “I never got to fight Glou so Vox will be the next best thing.”

“If you wish to die first Adray, then I will be happy to oblige.” Vox charged forward at Adray who had his katana drawn. The two clashed blades repeatedly, neither side giving in to the other. Adray kept his fight fair by avoiding the use of his runology.

Everyone watched as the two swordsmen clashed blades for a time. Of course, this also left Vox unable to give new orders to his troops and when Aquaria changed tactics, courtesy of advice from Sophia, Airyglyph wasn’t sure what to do and with their command indisposed, they had to fend for themselves.

While they appeared evenly matched at first, Adray’s experience soon gave him the upper hand and he began landing attacks on Vox while avoiding counterattacks.

Vox jumped back to reset his stance for another clash. “You put up an admirable fight, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

That was when the sky darkened over the battlefield.

The soldiers who weren’t distracted with their own fights looked up to see a massive flying red object hovering over the battlefield.

Sophia noticed the object and her eyes widened in horror. Her instincts told her that they needed to get out of there fast. She pulled Adray back to the group with her telekinesis before she yelled for everyone to run away.

As they ran, Vox looked at the fleeing group in confusion. He looked up to see what the girl saw but he was too late to react to what came next as a ball of red light fell from the sky and created a massive explosion as it landed. Being near the point of impact, Vox was vaporized in the blast.

With the blast avoided, the group looked up at the large red object. “The Dragon Brigade?” Nel guessed. “No…what is that?”

Everyone who knew the true identity of the object glared at it. “It’s the Vendeeni,” Sophia said.

“What is that?” Nel asked.

“It would take too long to reasonably explain them so I will tell you on the way back to the rear.”

“Still don’t have a reason to fire Azure?” Lyra asked.

“No, I need proof that she ordered this,” Twilight explained. “While this is a blatant violation of the UP3, I need to know that these Vendeeni aren’t some rogue element before I take action.”

As they ran back to Arias, the Vendeeni battleship rained death on the poor soldiers indiscriminately. On the way, Sophia tried her best to tell the Elicoorians about the Vendeeni and how they came from beyond this world. To Nel, it seemed like utter nonsense, but she also had no reason to doubt her. Though if what she said was true, this did raise a very important question.

“How do you know about these Vendeeni? If you know that they are not of this world, then does that mean…?”

“That we are also not from this world,” Sophia admitted.

“So you lied to us?!”

“There are rules and regulations against interacting with worlds with inferior levels of technology. The only reason we interacted with this world in the first place was because the Vendeeni forced us here.”

“So why are they after you?”

“Because they want Fayt for his latent Symbological power,” Twilight explained. “Before you ask, Symbology and Runology are terms that can be used interchangeably.”

“What is it about my power that is so valuable that they would kill so many people for it?” Fayt demanded.

“Fayt…” Sophia began, but Fayt wouldn’t have any of that.

“No Sophia, I have waited long enough,” He shouted. “I want answers! Why is my power worth the lives of countless innocent people? Why would they assault Hyda and destroy the Helre over me? What the hell is so dangerous about this power that they would start a war over me?!”

As Fayt’s emotional outburst continued, Twilight and Lyra could sense a spike in Fayt’s magical output. It had already risen to the point that it was at during their encounter with Norton on Vanguard III and it was still growing. Cliff tried to calm Fayt down, but Twilight pulled him back to her before she had everyone group around her.

“I don’t think we can stop what’s coming now. We need to get to a safe distance,” Twilight shouted. “I don’t know how much of the area will be affected, but I’m not taking any chances.” She teleported herself and the entire group back to Arias.

Fayt had nearly lost awareness of the area around him as his emotions boiled. The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was the sight of a blast from the Vendeeni ship hitting the area near Dion’s position.

After teleporting everyone to safety, Twilight, Lyra and Sophia teleported to a distant hill that overlooked Fayt’s position. They saw him glow with a mysterious light before turning blue. A massive circle appeared on the ground, one that Twilight recognized immediately.

“I don’t know how, but somehow, Robert Leingod learned how to create imitations of some of the administrative symbols,” Twilight mentally told Lyra.

“Which one is this one?”

“In the Eternal Sphere, it’s known as Destruction. To us, it’s known as Deletion. It’s similar to the power I used to destroy that Vendeeni battleship from a few days ago.”

Sophia had finally learned how to tap into the mental conversations between Twilight and Lyra, but didn’t say anything about it for the time being. She didn’t want them to know that she was aware yet in order to gain some information that might be useful later.

As the light show progressed, Fayt manifested a mass of light that took the form of a winged human being who wore a white version of Twilight’s company uniform. The angelic being raised her hands into the air and a series of circles formed with a blinding light in the center of it between the angel’s hands. The light was fired at the battleship, leaving more circles to form along its vector.

When the light hit, the ship turned black with light racing along it. Space warped around the ship and transformed the structure itself into a large ring of matter before the light instantly vanished, and the ship with it. The remnants of the light turned into glowing feathers that faded away as Fayt collapsed on the ground.

The ominous woman in terrifying armor arrived to view the aftermath of the battle. Surveying the corpses all over the place, she sighed as battlefields meant that she had a duty to perform.

She raised her sword into the air and summoned a number of tall beings who were completely concealed in black robes and carrying scythes. These beings were those that she would never use for battle or for anything related to mortal affairs. These servants had one purpose only: to ferry the souls of the dead beyond the veil.

While she considered gathering the corpses on the battlefield as material for later, the time for fooling around had passed and it was about time to get her main mission over with. It was time to introduce herself to her target.

She saw people from both armies moving around the battlefield, collecting the bodies of the fallen.

There was one of the fallen in particular who was barely clinging to life, but his time was very short. He would not survive until nightfall. She could sense some strong regrets within his soul, regrets that would make ferrying him to the afterlife a real hassle.

With her reapers, who were invisible to mortal eyes, working on the latest scene of carnage, the woman shifted into a spiritual form and followed the people carrying the person. The mortals may have their magic, but that magic didn’t cross spiritual barriers so she was invisible to most people in that form.

At the same time, she noticed her target and her friends were carrying that blue-haired boy with them. The results of that light show vexed her a little because whatever happened obliterated the battleship from the sky, crew and all, including their souls.

She followed the people with caution. She knew her target would be able to see her so she made sure to avoid getting too close.

She followed them for hours as they left the village, across land that was too lively for her taste, through a lively town and beyond a meadow until they arrived at a city atop a lake.

The city felt holy and made her a little uncomfortable. She could withstand holy energies, but it still felt like the equivalent of a mortal being in an area with an oppressive atmosphere.

On the way to the castle at the end of the street, the woman sensed another soul on the verge of becoming severed from their mortal shell at the nearby inn. She sensed a bond of fate that connected the dying man with whoever was at the inn. She figured that she would look into that shortly.

When the injured man was placed on his bed, the woman got a good look at him with an analysis spell. It appeared that he suffered severe internal damage from a powerful blow. He had numerous broken bones and some of his skin had been vaporized, leading him to slowly bleed out. Such injuries can be fatal to most mortals, especially with the planet’s current technology, but it was nothing she hadn’t healed before.

The woman then went to the inn where her search brought her to a young girl about the injured man’s age. She suffered from a terminal disease that was pretty weak in effectiveness but fatal in the absence of modern medicine. She appeared to be in the final stages of the disease. It was still treatable at this stage with her abilities, though the patient would be experiencing months of recovery time.

With her analysis complete, the woman returned to the castle, still in her invisible spectral form. She looked through the doors in the east wing and soon found who she was looking for.

She noticed her target sitting on a bed next to the unconscious blue-haired boy alongside a red-haired woman and a muscular blonde man.

Just as she thought, her target sensed her presence and her head suddenly raised before she looked in her direction.

“Who are you?” Sophia demanded. “What are you doing here?”

The woman smiled and fully phased into the room before returning to a corporeal form. The other two who were still conscious turned their attention to the woman. Both adopted a guarded stance. “We meet at last, dear cousin. How has your adventure been so far?”

Sophia looked at the woman in confusion. “Cousin? I don’t remember ever having a cousin like you.”

“I am your grandfather’s sister’s granddaughter. So yes, cousins. My name is Thanatas.”

Thanatas. That name sounded familiar to Sophia. She remembered back to the first memory from the crystal and remembered her grandfather mentioning someone names Thanatas. Apparently, he held her in low regard.

“Okay, so we got a name. What are you doing here?” Cliff asked.

“You are trespassing in the sacred palace of Aquaria. That action is punishable by death,” Nel added.

Thanatas suddenly burst out laughing for half a minute. When she got her laughter under control, she replied with a fanged smirk, “I’m afraid that is quite impossible. After all, killing a goddess of death would be a monumental task.”

“You dare to call yourself a goddess in this sacred place? Blasphemy!” Nel roared.

Thanatas maintained her smirk, “Believe what you want, young lady, you still cannot kill me. Also, I wouldn’t try it here if I were you. Unless you want your superiors to put you on cleaning duty for a few months.”

“You think that will stop me?”

“No, but I’m sure you would like to see a better ending for that dying runologist in the west wing. Dion, I think his name was.”

“Huh? Dion?” Fayt mumbled as he slowly returned to consciousness. His mind was still foggy from his recent experience. “Who are you? How do you know about Dion?”

“I know the names of every individual just by reading their souls. A pleasure to make your acquaintances, Fayt Leingod, Cliff Fittir, Nel Zelpher.”

“This chick is so many kinds of creepy,” Cliff said.

“I have that effect on everyone,” Thanatas said cheerfully. “It’s my personal charm.”

Sophia sighed, “Yes, I remember my grandfather mentioning you. He called you a witch and that you don’t respect life. Given that you represent death, it’s pretty obvious that you wouldn’t.”

Thanatas shrugged, “That’s not what the family complains about though. They hold corpses in higher regard than they should when it’s the souls of the departed that must be revered. To me, once the soul departs, the corpse is either food or material for scientific pursuits.”

“I can see why Gerald would call you a witch, but I think necromancer would be a better term for that. I get this feeling that I know what you use corpses for in your scientific pursuits, though for whatever reason, I don’t feel disgusted by that.”

“Heh, you’re the first to not have that reaction.”

“As much as I would like this disturbingly morbid conversation to continue,” Cliff began with sarcasm. “You mentioned Dion. Have you seen him?”

“Yes, and he’s not going to last much longer without my help.”

The fog finally cleared from Fayt’s mind as he looked at Thanatas in surprise. “Dion’s in danger? Can you help him? Please, you have to help him! And Ameena too!”

“Okay, one, you are in no position to be making demands of me. Two, shut up you whiny brat! Three, no really, shut up!” Sophia giggled at that. “Four, I can help them, but they have to consent to something first. Their lives are about to end and they may decide to make a deal with death. And five, if you have any survival instincts in that head of yours, Fayt Leingod, then I would listen to two and three.

“Now then, Nel Zelpher, please take me to Dion’s room while you, Cliff Fittir, will head to the inn and explain to the diseased girl there that she is about to be moved.”

“Just do as she says,” Sophia said. “Any protest at this point is just going to waste Dion and Ameena’s dwindling time.”

“Right,” Cliff said, then left the room. Nel led Thanatas down the hall.

When Thanatas was brought to the room, after a brief explanation from Nel to the staff, she formed a zone of black mist next to Dion’s bed. Two hunched over and deformed zombies exited from the mist with a stretcher.

“Take this one to the sanitized operating room,” Thanatas ordered. “Have the surgeons prepped ASAP.”

With grunting sounds, the zombies carefully placed Dion on the stretcher and gently carried him into the black void. Thanatas followed them.

Nel and Dion’s doctor were left alone in the room, stunned by what they just witnessed.

“Lady Nel, I’m confused about what I just witnessed,” Dion’s doctor said.

“As am I.”

In a certain room at the inn, Cliff gave Mirage a brief explanation about what was about to happen. Mirage was wondering if Cliff had found something on the planet that made him behave strangely.

Her doubts were answered as a black void appeared in the room and Thanatas emerged from it. She was followed by another pair of malformed zombies carrying a stretcher.

“Same room as the other one,” she ordered. Ameena was awoken to a horrific surprise by what she saw. She considered giving the girl a sedative, but given her condition, she might end up killing her.

With a snap of her fingers, another undead creature emerged from the void. This one wore a lab coat. She handed it a note. “Head to Putricide’s lab and hand him the note. Have him deliver the syringe to me immediately.”

The creature saluted and returned to the black hole, followed by the carriers of Ameena’s stretcher and Thanatas herself.

Cliff and Mirage looked at the scene with shocked looks as the black void disappeared.

“I have no idea what I was just looking at,” Cliff said.

“I think it best if we pretend that we were both intoxicated,” Mirage offered.

Dion awoke with a pained groan. Everything hurt and he wasn’t sure, but he was starting to feel a little cold. In his delirious state, he didn’t pay attention to the white room he was in.

“Dion? Is that you?” came a voice he hadn’t heard in years.

“Ameena?” He couldn’t get any more words out as his mind was too focused on the pain.

“I’d save the conversation for later if I were either of you,” said a voice that neither recognized.

Ameena looked in the direction the voice came from and gasped. “Who are you?”

“Time is short for you two, so I will keep it brief, I am either your savior or the witness to your final moments.” She took out two orbs filled with sand. “In these orbs are the time of three Airyglyph soldiers who should have died of natural causes decades into the future, but were squandered when they attacked me.

“My offer requires consent from both of you. I can heal his injuries and cure your disease, even at this stage. You two will be able to have a future together and create a legacy for yourselves. In exchange, you two will serve me in your afterlives once the extra time runs out. You two will pay off the debt you would owe me if you accept this deal.”

“W-what does serving you entail?” Ameena asked.

“I can assure you that it would be nothing either of you couldn’t handle. I may be evil, but I am fair to my servants.”

Ameena thought for a moment. She didn’t have much time for thinking though as she could feel the icy chill of death creeping up on her. “Dion, what do you think?”

Dion groaned, “I regret never being able to see you after so many years. For us to be reunited on death’s door seems like the perfect ending to a tragic story. But if it means that I can spend the rest of my days with you Ameena, then I would desire our fates to be altered. I would endure an eternity of servitude if it is with you.”

Ameena blushed a little but her weakened body couldn’t produce a stronger reaction. With a determined and hopeful look, she nodded, “Alright, we’ll accept your terms.”

Thanatas smiled as she clanged her gauntlets together. “Excellent!” She looked to her left. “Putricide, bring me the syringe.”

“Yes, my queen.” The rotted doctor walked up to Thanatas with a metal tray in his hands. In the tray was a syringe with an amber-colored liquid inside along with a jar of cotton swabs and rubbing alcohol. She grabbed the syringe and a cotton swab and doused it in rubbing alcohol. She moved Ameena’s hair aside before rubbing the alcohol on the right side of her neck where she soon injected her with the needle.

She then took one of the sand-filled orbs and crushed it over Ameena's head, showering her in sand.

The medicine began to circulate throughout her body but some side effects of the medicine began to kick in. Ameena felt sleepy all of a sudden and couldn’t stop herself from falling back to sleep.

“Take the girl to the recovery room and bring the surgeon team in,” Thanatas ordered. “It’s time to get started.”

Thanatas exchanged her gauntlets for latex gloves and put on a surgeon’s mask, then moved over to a series of canisters before placing a breathing apparatus over a nervous Dion’s nose and mouth as she turned a valve on a canister. Dion breathed in a strange-smelling gas and quickly found it difficult to stay awake. He was unable to see the wicked smile of the surgeon behind her mask, but he could still see a hint of madness in her eyes.

His last moment of consciousness was the wicked laughter of the mad doctor before him.

Thanatas’ laughter died down to a chuckle. “If I can’t kill him, I can at least have some fun traumatizing him.”

OPA/ID

View Online

Fayt frantically ran around the castle trying to get some answers about the mysterious woman, Thanatas, who talked about saving Dion. His first destination was Dion’s room where he found that the runologist had disappeared. Nel told him that Thanatas took him into a strange black portal.

Fayt’s second destination was the inn since Thanatas told Cliff to run ahead to tell Ameena and Mirage what was about to happen. He received the same story from before. He wanted to go to wherever Thanatas had taken them but he was not able to keep up with her actions.

With no other options, Fayt had no choice but to wait.

In the meantime, Fayt began to brood about the many lives that were lost because the Vendeeni were determined to either abduct or kill him.

Meanwhile, Twilight looked nervous. Not because of the matter of Ameena, Dion and Thanatas, but for an unrelated but more pressing matter.

“This is bad. If that battleship managed to scan the region for Fayt, they may have located the Intervention Device. If they located the ID, they will likely have transmitted its coordinates to any vessels within communication range.

I’ll need to place some extra safeguards on it to prevent the Vendeeni from getting their hands on it. I just need to find a way to convince everyone to head to its location with me.”

That was when the guards announced all over the castle that another of the “strange weapons” had appeared in the sky.

“Horseapples,” Twilight mentally cursed.

Everyone headed to the balcony overlooking the castle courtyard.

Sure enough, another Vendeeni ship had descended to the planet.

“Damn, what now?” Cliff said.

“I’ll give myself up, then they’ll leave,” Fayt said in resignation.

“Fayt, no!” Mirage pleaded.

“You say that again and I swear I’ll smack you one,” Cliff threatened.

“Besides, I doubt that they will stop with you, Fayt,” Twilight added. “The Aquarians have something that the Vendeeni will find valuable.”

“And what might that be?” Queen Romeria asked as she approached the group.

“Your most sacred treasure.”

Romeria and Nel gasped in horror. “These Vendeeni would dare steal the Sacred Orb?!” Nel shouted.

“And how do you know about our Sacred Orb?” Romeria asked.

“I can’t tell you that,” Twilight said with a shake of her head. “I can tell you that the Vendeeni would likely have picked up on the emanations of the Sacred Orb by this point. They will surely be targeting both the Orb and Fayt.”

“What can we do though!?” Fayt shouted. “This country’s technology is no match for the Vendeeni ships!”

Fayt paused as an odd thought creeped into his mind. “But, how did we deal with the first Vendeeni ship? Can we do it again?”

“Fayt,” Sophia began. “Let me be blunt, your power manifested and you literally erased the ship from existence.”

“Can’t I figure out how I did it before then?” Fayt asked. It was clear that he was grasping at straws.

“I doubt that we have the time for you to practice that power.”

Nel suddenly took a defensive stance. “Wait, another of those weapons is coming!”

Everyone looked up to see what Nel was looking at. However, Cliff and Mirage relaxed a little. “Cliff…” Mirage said.

“Yup, it’s them. Finally.”

Everyone witnessed a battle between the Vendeeni battleship and a smaller gray ship that the offworlders recognized as a Klausian ship. The two fired lasers at each other for a brief moment before the Klausian ship unleashed a volley of quantum torpedoes that damaged the engines of the Vendeeni ship while the ship counterattacked by blasting the engines of the Klausian ship. Both ships fell out of the sky.

Everyone stared at the scene for a few more seconds before the humming sound of an inbound transport was heard behind them. “Sorry to keep you waiting,” said a female voice.

“Hey, took you long enough,” Cliff said as he turned around to address the new arrival.

Everyone else turned around to see a blue haired woman wearing black, layered Klausian armor and a light gray cut jacket lined with yellow. She also wore a long half skirt of the same color.

The woman approached the group before Cliff added, “Hey, is it even safe to be transporting here?”

“I scanned the situation before coming in, so I have a good idea what to expect. At least now that this planet’s part of this mess, we don’t have to hide anything anymore.”

“True enough. But I bet you that ‘Mister Super-Square Champion of the UP3’ would disagree with you,” Cliff jabbed at Fayt’s expense to the woman.

Fayt rolled his eyes. “Ha ha, very funny.” He paused as he saw the woman. She seemed so familiar, yet he didn’t remember seeing her before. As he got a closer look at her, he was suddenly lost in her dark green eyes.

He had no idea how long he was staring but it was long enough for her to snap her fingers in front of his face to snap him out of his trance.

“Huh?” Fayt jumped.

“I was saying that this is the leader of Quark, Maria,” Cliff introduced.

“I’m Maria Traydor, but please, call me Maria.”

As Fayt introduced himself, Maria cut him off by uttering everything she learned about him from studying his profile in the database. However, Twilight gave Maria a taste of her own medicine by uttering everything she knew about her profile which completely caught Maria off guard.

“What? How did you…?” Maria began.

“You’re not the only one who is a good study,” Twilight countered.

“Is someone going to tell me what’s going on?” Nel demanded. “Who is she? How did she just appear here?”

“That is enough, Lady Nel,” Romeria silenced. She turned to Maria. “I know not who you are, but it appears that you are one of the acquaintances. I would hear an explanation from you now, one that makes sense to my ears.”

“Please forgive my rudeness, Your Majesty,” Maria apologized. “But would it be all right if we talk among ourselves first? We have a lot of catching up to do. I will explain all of the details and how the facts are connected afterwards; that I promise.”

“So be it,” Romeria acquiesced. She ordered Nel to show the group to the conference room.

Nel led them to the room in question. Since they were going to explain to the Elicoorians, they invited Nel inside. Roger and Adray didn’t really care so they went about other business around the castle.

As the group entered and found a spot for themselves, the room remained silent for a minute before Fayt finally addressed Maria. “I know why the Vendeeni want me, but why are you interested in me? My father told me that you were another of those whose genes he modified.”

“You know?!” Maria asked. “I thought that you were kept in the dark about your powers.”

“Actually, my dad told me not long before I ended up on this planet,” Fayt corrected.

“And you’re not at all upset?”

“Well, I am a little upset that he didn’t tell me everything, but he did tell me that he modified our genes as some sort of last ditch effort to combat some huge threat that’s coming to attack our galaxy.”

“That sounds a bit grandiose and vague. What does he expect two modified humans to do against such a threat?” Maria demanded.

“Actually, it’s three.”

“Three?! What? But, how? Nothing in the Federation’s database mentioned a third.”

“That’s because Robert kept the third child a tight secret. Any information on that part was kept in a heavily encrypted file,” Twilight answered.

“And how did you find out about the third child?” Maria demanded accusingly.

“I have my ways,” Twilight said dismissively. “From what I learned from Robert, he placed Destruction in Fayt, Alteration in you, and Connection in Sophia.”

Maria’s eyes widened as she stared at Sophia who waved back at her with a satisfied smirk on her face. Maria then turned to face a corner and took a few deep breaths to regain her composure.

“Are you alright?” Fayt asked.

“Yes, I’m…just not used to not being the one with the answers. I was sure I checked every database I could find about the experiments.”

She faced Fayt again, “Your father mentioned a coming threat. Did he give any more details?’

Fayt shook his head, “He wouldn’t give all of the answers right away. He wanted me to find you first and to tell you that the answers we are looking for are on Moonbase.”

“I see…” She considered what she learned for a moment. “When the Diplo gets here, we will head for Moonbase.”

“Isn’t that dangerous?” Cliff asked. “A Quark vessel in Federation space is not going to be taken lightly.”

“You don’t have to worry about that Cliff, I have that part taken care of,” Twilight said.

“You do?! But how?” Cliff then facepalmed as he remembered that Twilight was the one who ran the Federation from the shadows. “Oh…right…”

“Like I said, I have my ways.”

Maria figured that she was hiding something, but she would have to let the matter lie until she could learn more about the mare.

A knock at the door brought an end to the conversation. Nel went to answer it to find a guard. “An emergency has occurred,” the guard said with a tone of urgency. “Her Majesty has requested an audience with all of you immediately.”

With that, everyone headed to the throne room. On the way, Cliff informed Maria about everything he found out from Twilight, including her connection to the Federation. Maria was surprised and angered at the same time, but relieved that Twilight didn’t send the Invisible after them a few years ago. She was also embarrassed that she had to have Twilight cover for her when she hacked into the Federation database.

Twilight didn’t mind Cliff telling Maria everything she told him since it would save her from explaining it later.

Thanks to the actions of the Vendeeni and the fact that it was pointless to be worrying about interactions with the less developed planet now, Lyra figured that there was little point in subtlety anymore and removed her armbands. She was eager to feel the warmth of her energy blades once again. She also made it a point to show Sophia how to use psi blades soon.

Cliff also asked Maria about her plan to get off the planet. Maria mentioned that the Diplo would be coming, but the Vendeeni might interfere. The problem was conducting the extraction operation within five minutes of concentrated fire from the Vendeeni battleships. The Diplo was not built to withstand that much firepower. She figured that a distraction from the ground would work if it was enough to concern the Vendeeni. Nel offered to ask the queen to let them borrow the Thunder Arrow, but the problem with that was that even at low orbit, a Vendeeni battleship would be too far for the runological artillery weapons to reach. Something else was needed to ensure that the Vendeeni would divert their attention away from the Diplo.

As they reached the door to the throne room, a familiar black void opened nearby. Dion was rolled out a moment later in a wheelchair by Thanatas who had a carefree smile on her face. Dion, however, looked haunted. He held himself tightly and was shivering in terror.

“Dion! Are you alright?” Fayt asked.

“I f-f-f-feel s-s-so…v-v-v-v-v-violated…”

“You’ll live,” Thanatas said dismissively. “Just don’t get yourself injured again and you won’t have to worry about another visit from me.”

Another wheelchair emerged from the black zone soon after carrying Ameena who appeared to be sleeping peacefully. A zombie wearing a lab coat was pushing her along.

“By the way, Nel Zelpher,” Thanatas addressed. “See if you can get one of the guards around here to get a second bed moved into Dion’s room. It’d be cute to see them recovering in the same bed together, but I don’t think their relationship is at that level yet.”

Nel nodded and ordered a patrolling guard to alert the castle staff to move a bed into Dion’s room.

With that done, and with Roger and Adray joining them, the group entered the throne room to see what the queen wanted.

Just like before, Romeria was sitting on her throne with Magistrate Lasselle, except this time a robed woman with long gray hair standing beside her. Adray glared at the advisor while Nel told those who didn’t know that the woman was Lady Elena, head of runological research.

“I’ll get straight to the point,” Romeria began. “It appears that your fears were well founded Twilight, these invaders, the Vendeeni, who were shot down earlier, appear to have survived their crash landing and have invaded our most sacred place, the Shrine of Kaddan. From what we have been told, the invaders wear strange armor and use weapons that emit glowing beams of light. Our runologists can only slow them down but we fear that nothing we have can stop them.

“For this, we must beg for your assistance in this matter. You appear to know the Vendeeni quite well, so you likely know how to deal with them better than our soldiers.”

“But why would they go after the orb?” Cliff wondered.

“The sacred orb is a mysterious sphere that emits the purest light,” Nel answered. “Holy water flows freely from it. It is said that in the hands of Aquaria’s ruler, the orb is capable of performing all kinds of miracles.”

“Or be used as a key to the Eternal Sphere’s control center,” Twilight mentally added, piquing Sophia’s interest.

“The waters of this lake which surround Aquios are also of the Sacred Orb,” Nel added.

“Your Majesty, which way is Kaddan?” Maria asked.

“To the east.”

Maria brought out her quad scanner and turned eastward. As she examined the energy of the Sacred Orb, her eyes widened before she beckoned Mirage to her to get a second opinion on the readings. Mirage was surprised by the readings as well.

Maria explained that the energy readings from the orb indicated that it was too advanced to naturally exist on the planet. “It may be a so-called Out-of-Place Artifact, or OPA.”

“That term was mentioned when I found the first shard of the Ihan Crystal we found.” Sophia pulled out the crystal. “It’s not actually an OPA because we found out that my grandfather planted it in several places shortly after I came into the care of the Esteeds.”

“So you’re not the blood daughter of Doctor Clive Esteed?” Maria asked.

Sophia shook her head, “Apparently not, if what my grandfather has been telling me through the crystal is true.”

“If you are willing, I would like to speak more on this later,” Maria offered. “For now, we need to stop the Vendeeni from attaining the Sacred Orb.”

“You may use the Sealed Cavern,” Romeria offered. “Lady Nel, please show them the way. Do not fail us.”

“Your Majesty!” Nel bowed.

As they left the throne room and downstairs, Maria looked at Sophia in curiosity. She knew about the Esteeds’ involvement in the experiments and that they stayed on Earth with the Leingods. Out of curiosity, she looked up Sophia’s profile while she was researching Fayt. When she found out that she would be an officer in the Federation military, she realized that they may one day be enemies since the Federation and Quark were enemies.

However, when Sophia showed her that crystal, Maria had a feeling that there was something odd about the girl. If she stuck around long enough, Maria figured that the mystery would reveal itself sooner or later.

With her task of watching over Ameena complete, Mirage decided to join the group and take part in the fighting.

Nel led everyone to the castle chapel where they found Thanatas waiting for them. She looked slightly irritated.

“What’s wrong?” Sophia asked.

“The holy energies in the chapel is the problem. It makes me uncomfortable.”

“You’re coming with us then?”

“Hell yeah, anything to get away from this place.”

Nel was about to argue about Thanatas coming with them, but Sophia glared at her. She didn’t need more time to be wasted on a pointless argument and Sophia had a feeling that Thanatas was coming no matter what.

Nel sighed in resignation before she moved behind the chapel podium and closed her eyes as she raised one finger. That finger glowed with a bright light which was followed by motions that appeared as if she was drawing something. After a few moments of these motions, a magic circle appeared before Nel and she pressed on it. Another circle appeared on the floor over some grates between the pews. The grates retracted and a set of stairs were raised. The stairs led underground.

Nel warned that the Sealed Caverns had not been used in centuries and were likely in a state of disrepair so they had to be careful.

Everyone walked down the stairs and into a long hallway which eventually expanded into a dilapidated room full of cracked tiling, blue flames for lighting, crumbling arches and a faded white circle on the center of the floor with a star inside.

“Now this place feels more like my comfort zone,” Thanatas commented.

Two doors were in front of them. When they checked the right door, it led to a dead end with a giant block with a star on it blocking the way. The left door led under a series of blocks and through a large hole that appeared to have once been a doorway into another room where a metal monster made of tarnished bronze awaited them. Thanatas gave a small demonstration of her power by blasting the brute with icy winds which caused the monster to recoil. Fayt infused his sword with ice and slashed away at it. The spellcasters of the group bombarded it with Ice Needles which caused it to vanish.

With the Brute dead, the group looked around the room since there was nowhere else to go. Roger checked a statue that was at the left corner of the room since he trusted his treasure seeking instincts. Sure enough, he found a switch on the statue and pressed it. He wasn’t sure what that did until Peppita pointed out that the blocks they had passed earlier had started moving.

Nothing else was found in the room so they had to backtrack to the first room, avoiding the ascending and descending blocks that would crush them if they weren’t careful.

They went through the right door again and saw that the block that was blocking them earlier was rising and falling. The blocks formed a bridge that allowed them to cross whenever the adjacent blocks were aligned.

At the other side of the bridge was a floating suit of armor that was missing its legs and carried a heavy axe. Nel and Peppita easily handled it by freezing it with their icy daggers.

As the group easily trashed the floating armor, Thanatas decided to hang back for a bit. As strong as the group was, her contributions would have been utter overkill.

With the group as numerous as it was, having everyone fighting the same enemy would not have helped their growth so they started taking turns in facing enemies.

Narrow corridors with moving blocks awaited them in the next part of the caverns. They had to time their movements in order to avoid being crushed.

The group came across a room with a number of floating armors and humanoids wearing red and white baggy clothes and magician hats and were carrying staves. The group split up with those who could use ice abilities dealing with the armors while everyone else pummeled the mages to a pulp.

Mirage showed that she and Cliff learned from the same school of combat, but there were some differences in their styles. Cliff used the style of a boxer when he fought. While he did use his arms and legs, he primarily used his fists. Mirage’s style used a balance of her fists and her feet. She used some of the same techniques that Cliff used, but she had some of her own; some that she taught to Maria.

Maria’s style involved using short ranged attacks, like what she learned from Mirage, and long ranged attacks from her phase gun. She used what little mastery she had over her symbological gene to alter her blaster’s ammunition and deliver different types of ranged attacks against her enemies.

After dealing with the room full of enemies, the group moved through another narrow hallway with moving blocks and through a doorway to encounter another bronze brute. With the fighting area so small this time, Maria held the monster in place by creating a magnetic charge around herself. With the beast’s metallic composition, the Magnetic Field held it in place while Cliff and Mirage pummeled it to death with their Electric Fists techniques.

A pair of stationary blocks forced the group to take a northward hallway and east into a room filled with renegade mages who were dealt with swiftly by Lyra who used her energy blades to decapitate them. The last unfortunate mage ended up impaled all over his body by numerous afterimages of Lyra.

The Elicoorians stared at the display in awe. None of them really knew what kind of power would allow them to create blades of light from their hands.

It was then that Adray knew that the pony would be far more challenging than anything he had ever faced in his lifetime. He would need to train harder before he considered challenging her to a duel.

As they walked down the corridor, Roger noticed a strange looking wall that looked like someone had sealed the doorway in stone but the stone had eroded and left large cracks. The young menodix had a feeling that something was beyond the sealed wall. He took out his drill arm and started drilling away at the stone. Everyone looked at Roger with confusion until his efforts bore fruit and the stone broke apart, revealing a hidden doorway.

“How did you know that was there?” Fayt asked.

Roger took a proud pose. “I may not look like it, but I do have an eye for detail.”

“That’s great kid, but don’t get too full of yourself,” Peppita warned.

“Kid? You look like you’re the same age as me!” Roger shot back.

“I’m fourteen, how old are you?”

“Twelve, so it’s not that much of a difference.”

“You’re not even a teenager yet so you’re still a kid,” Peppita countered.

Sophia ignored the banter and proceeded down the hallway. Thanatas followed her. They walked past an empty room and into a room with two archer statues and a pair of sarcophagi at two sides of the room.

A familiar call drew Sophia to the sarcophagus on the east side of the room. She briefly remembered Melt’s words.

“The rotted corridor, guarded by archers of the gods. The Sun King sleeps in his coffin. What shall the mute corpse say?”

Sophia pushed open the lid to the sarcophagus and revealed another shard of the Ihan Crystal. To Thanatas’ disappointment, there was no corpse in there.

“Another of Gerald’s memory crystals?” Thanatas wondered. “How many does this make so far?”

“Four,” Sophia answered. “I’m over halfway through this little side quest.”

“Little by little the mystery of you unravels.”

“What do you know about me anyway?” Sophia asked out of curiosity.

“Personally? Not much. I know you inherited your psychic and biological powers from your grandfather and your mother, but they couldn’t handle the power so it kept getting passed down until it ended up with you. I know you have a brother who didn’t inherit those powers, but that’s a mystery for you to figure another day. I also know that because you possess the family bloodline, you also inherit our immortality.”

Sophia snapped her head to the undead knight, “Wait, what?!”

Thanatas smirked, “Yep, once you reach the peak of your physical maturity, all aging will come to a screeching halt.”

“You say you’re my cousin, just how old are you anyway?”

“A little over five thousand. I’m practically a newborn compared to how old some of the other family members are.”

After that, and collecting the shard, Thanatas had to guide Sophia back to the group as she had to process the newest revelation. She had been getting a lot of those lately and she was concerned that they were starting to wear on her.

Thanatas informed the group that the path ahead looped back to one of the previous rooms while Roger bragged about finding a switch that was on the statue in the sealed room he drilled into earlier.

With no other leads on where to go, the group looked around the caverns to find out what the switch did after it was flipped.

They returned to the room with the stationary blocks to find that they were moving again and that a large hole was behind the blocks. Everyone ran under one block and into the next room.

The room was empty except for a door that looked a little different than the other doors. Given the distance they traveled, they suspected that they finally found the door into the Shrine of Kaddan.

Before they advanced any further, a blinding flash of light invaded their sight which quickly faded. The next thing they saw was a large black void in the center of the room. A red circle appeared in the void along with a series of triangles and yellow circles composed of letters formed.

Twilight was all too familiar with that circle. It was used when bringing something into the Eternal Sphere. What was coming, she had no idea. However, she warned everyone of the incoming foe.

Emerging from the circle was a floating suit of armor without legs and had a green banner adorning it. Unlike the armors from earlier, these carried two swords instead of a heavy axe.

However, as ominous as its appearance was, there was nothing about the monster that made it much tougher than a regular armor monster. Sophia quickly ended the metal knight by blasting it with a powerful blast of psionic power that shattered it.

With that diversion ended, the group prepared themselves as they approached the door to Aquaria’s sacred shrine.

The Darkness Within the Shrine

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Crossing the threshold that separated the Sealed Cavern and the Shrine of Kaddan, the group immediately noticed a change in architecture. Beyond the rotted cavern was an ornate room of mostly light gray stone walls. The floors were composed of large decorative tiles of light and dark gray while the tiles on the floor along the walls were elevated slightly and were mostly dark gray. There were working lanterns along the walls and a pair of basins filled with water at each of the doorways in the small room.

“So this is the Shrine of Kaddan?” Cliff asked.

“Yes,” Nel affirmed. “But this is strange, there are supposed to be guards posted here.”

“If the Vendeeni are here, then they are probably elsewhere fighting them off,” Sophia figured. However, the more realistic part of her mind knew that the guards were likely dead by now.

Nel nodded in agreement and the group moved on to the next room.

The next room was also small, but the most noticeable feature in the room was a pile of transparent crystal shards in the center of the room. One shard looked like it took the shape of a sword.

As they entered the room, the shards started moving and formed into the shape of a centaur carrying a sword and an eight-pointed shield. The crystal centaur scraped what appeared to be one of its hooves in preparation to attack.

“Be careful, the guardians are activating,” Nel warned. “These were designed to protect the shrine from intruders.”

“And it thinks we’re intruders,” Sophia concluded. “Looks like we have to smash our way to the Vendeeni.”

Twilight’s quick analysis indicated that the statue was unaffected by fire, wind and earth attributes.

The crystal centaur was fast. It raced around the area and was able to move from one side of the room to another in a split second. It felt no pain as the group attacked it so the statue continued to fight as if unhindered while repeatedly thrusting its sword in front of it. Cliff and Mirage could only get a few punches in at a time before the statue picked someone else to attack.

Thanatas had enough of watching the statue run around and summoned a giant skeletal hand that grabbed the centaur. She thrust her sword at the statue who tried to block it with its shield. The force from the undead knight’s attack was too much for the crystal to withstand and the impact sent cracks racing all over the statue’s body. The crystal statue shattered into many more pieces.

From its remains, Fayt discovered a stone in the middle of the rubble. He had a feeling that it was important so he grabbed it and placed it in one of his pockets.

With the first obstacle overcome, the group moved on. A small hallway that soon turned to the right laid before them. However, they also noticed a large hole in the wall that appeared to have been caved in to prevent anyone else from using the passage.

An injured guard was nearby clinging to life, but Thanatas knew that his time had come. The guard apologized for being unable to prevent the intruders from entering the shrine. Nel promised to deal with the intruders in his stead.

The guard, relieved that Nel had come to stop the Vendeeni, let out one last breath, but no air entered his lungs ever again.

“They’ll pay for this,” Nel growled.

“You guys go ahead,” Thanatas said. “I’ll catch up once I finish sending this guy’s soul to the afterlife.”

Nel solemnly nodded and the rest of the group moved on. She warned the others that the shrine was full of traps to deter looters. Cliff wished that the traps would take care of the Vendeeni but those who were proficient with technology knew that the Vendeeni would be able to detect and deal with or avoid the traps with their scanners.

Moving down the corridor, the group headed into the next room. In addition to what was seen in the previous rooms, the next room also had some candelabras and banners. There was also, to everyone’s aggravation, another pile of crystals in the same configuration as the previous one.

Everyone prepared themselves for another fight as they approached the crystal pile. Sure enough, the shards assembled themselves into another crystal centaur.

This time, the group didn’t give it the chance to run around as Adray charged at it with his shining red aura in the form of his Chaos Tide attack. The attack knocked it down which gave Cliff the chance to unleash a barrage of punches with his Fists of Fury. Roger drilled into the crystal body with his drill arm.

The crystal centaur threw everyone off of it but that gave Twilight enough time to cast a Deep Freeze symbol which kept its hooves in place with a patch of ice on the ground. Lyra’s energy blades melted through the crystal and caused it to fall apart. Fayt found another stone in the rubble.

Thanatas soon returned after the battle was over and they continued deeper into the shrine.

As they entered the next room, Sophia had a strange feeling that they shouldn’t head through the door on the east side of the room and check the south door instead. She warned everyone of her potential premonition and proceeded through the door on the southwestern side of the room.

A few Vendeeni troops were patrolling around the next hallway. They quickly noticed the group. “It’s him, the Leingod boy!” one soldier said. The soldiers quickly aimed their rifles at the group but Sophia was faster. She instantly appeared behind them and sliced all but one of them in half. The screams of the dying soldiers drew the last one’s attention just in time for her to grab his face and drain him of his life force using void energy.

Lyra frowned at the display, “I had hoped you wouldn’t learn that ability, it’s one of the more cruel techniques of the Tal’darim style of the Templar Arts.”

“The enemy won’t play nice with us,” Sophia countered. “If this were a battle of honor, I wouldn’t have considered using that.” Lyra nodded in acceptance.

Thanatas smiled at that. She was glad that there was someone other than herself who knew the difference between battles of honor and battles for life. Certain other family members could use a lesson in that.

The only enemies left in the area was a single mage who wore yellow. Peppita pulled him in and blasted him in the face with an Instanto Blast.

The room beyond the mage was empty. However, as they wondered about what they would do next, an earthquake rocked the entire shrine. Everyone braced themselves as they rode out the tremor. Debris began to fall in the middle of the room from the ceiling. The sound of thick stone cracking could be heard nearby.

Once the tremors ceased, the group looked around to inspect the damage. A part of the wall in the room looked like it would fall apart with enough force so Roger drilled through it with his drill arm to reveal another room they hadn’t explored yet.

The room appeared to be a workshop that was sealed for some reason. On a table in the center of the room, Fayt found another of the strange stones. He placed the other two stones next to the one on the table and pondered the importance of the stones.

Roger looked at the stones until inspiration struck him. To Fayt’s surprise, he grabbed all three of the stones and began using the abandoned tools in the workshop to craft something with the stones. It took twenty minutes before he finished crafting an amulet out of the stones. It was surprisingly well made. Thanatas winced at the sight of it though.

With nothing else for them, they backtracked to the room with the one door they hadn’t explored yet. Another of those floating sword knights awaited them but was quickly disposed of when Nel froze it with her Ice Daggers.

The room beyond that had a troublesome opponent in it. It was another of the crystal centaurs except this one appeared to be made of onyx and amethyst. It also emitted a shadowy aura that Twilight could tell would protect it from their attacks. The new foe looked tougher than the other crystal centaurs before, but it recoiled when it felt the emanations of the amulet Roger made. The light from the stone dissipated the statue’s aura, leaving it vulnerable to attack.

The black centaur fought the same way as the previous variations so its tactics were predictable. Since the group knew how to counter its speed, they held it in place before pummeling it to shards.

“How did you know that amulet would work against that thing?” Sophia asked.

Roger grinned and rubbed his nose. “It’s the rule of threes in adventuring. Important things come in threes, so when I saw three stones, I figured that they had to mean something. Since they were holy stones, I figured an amulet to ward off evil would be useful.”

“You’re making stuff up again,” Cliff accused.

Roger laughed awkwardly, “Well, some of it. I’ve been using what I learned from an adventuring guide my father gave me and it’s helped me whenever I went exploring.”

Cliff shrugged before they turned their attention to the next door which led to another small room which turned right into a room with four pillars in the middle and occupied by a floating armor and a mage who were quickly destroyed.

The eastern door in the room was sealed shut and appeared to be opened with a steam-powered device next to it. However, the device appeared to be damaged, either by the tremors or overzealous Vendeeni.

Heading through a door on the northwest side of the room, they encounter another mage and armor. Once dealt with, they checked the door on the northern end of the room to find it locked so they headed through the door on the west side.

The next room had another mage and a floating axe knight like the ones from the Sealed Cavern. More interesting though, were the three statues in the middle of the room. The closest one appeared to be an archer wearing a hood, the middle statue showed a warrior with a sword and shield, and the farthest statue showed a wizard with a staff.

Twilight knew the significance of the three statues since they represented the three pieces of a game that was growing in popularity but was still in its early stages and may or may not be expanded upon one day.

Further ahead, the group encountered another bronze monster which Lyra dealt with by slicing off the arms and blasting the head with psionic energy.

The area behind the monster was a mess. It looked like the remains of some sort of mechanism, possibly one of the traps that was dismantled by the Vendeeni. There were bars sticking out of the sides of the mechanism and more bars lying on the floor.

Moving on, the next room looked like some sort of room filled with empty treasure chests. They figured that the Vendeeni likely looted the room before they moved on. Another collapsed hole in the wall was in front of them.

Another tremor shook the place. Once again, everyone held on to anything they could to keep stable. When it opened, they looked around and found another damaged wall that Roger drilled through.

The next room featured a number of hanging rubble that was swinging dangerously. Another locked door was in the room which meant that they would have to backtrack again to find another damaged wall.

Lyra, however, was having none of that and used her energy blades to slash open the locked door so they could proceed. Nel frowned at the destruction of the door. After crossing a small, narrow corridor and slashing through another door, they were back in the room where they encountered the previous locked door.

In the least, Lyra’s efforts saved them some backtracking as they quickly found another damaged wall to drill into.

The next room had more empty chests except for one and it was guarded by another Vendeeni soldier who Nel quickly assassinated.

Sophia sensed danger within the closed chest and warned everyone to leave it alone.

Once they headed north in the next room, the path was fairly straightforward. On the way, they had to fight some more armors, some Vendeeni troopers and had two encounters with crystal centaurs who were assembled already. The small space they were fought in heavily limited their mobility though.

They soon come upon a room with a statue of a robed man holding a staff and posing heroically. An inscription on the statue read: ‘Hold thy head high and prove thyself’. Four doors opened behind the statue while a breach in the wall was to their right. The opening had not collapsed so it could be traversed instead of going through the doors.

“Hmm, I have been here before, about twenty years ago,” Adray muttered. “This is a challenge where four of us would take a door and fight whoever is in the next room.”

A smirk appeared on Thanatas’ face. “I can sense ominous dark energies in those rooms. Malevolent souls of the damned haunt the area.” She pointed to the door on the far left. “A soldier from that other kingdom who was executed when he used his position to conduct his serial killings.” She moved her finger to the second door from the left. “A mounted knight in blood-colored armor who questioned the orders of his superiors until he went berserk and murdered them in the streets. It took a cleverly laid trap to end him.” She pointed to the third door from the left. “A landbound spirit who stayed in the mortal plane for too long and became a scythe-wielding monster. I don’t know who managed to bind the spirit to this shrine, but I can guess that they wanted someone to come along and end it’s miserable existence.” She pointed to the last door. “The ghost of an old woman who witnessed her family get murdered before she murdered the murderer with an axe. The woman snapped from a combination of trauma and senility and spent the rest of her days looking for anyone who was alive to chop them up. She eventually died of a heart attack.”

“Sounds like a bunch of crazy ghost stories,” Cliff commented.

“And yet, they are very true. Their souls tell the story.”

Nel nodded, “I can confirm her claims. I heard the stories about the Airyglyph Serial Killing Soldier and the Mad Storm Brigade Lieutenant who murdered his captain and a few of his subordinates. Her Majesty mentioned one of her ancestors binding an evil spirit in the shrine, but I always thought the old woman was a mere ghost story.”

“So, who’s going in?” Cliff asked.

“I’ll take out the serial killer,” Maria declared.

“Then...I’ll take on the rider,” Fayt offered.

“I’ll take the reaper on,” Sophia called out. “Hopefully it will prove to be a challenge.”

“I need to perform my duty with the old woman, so the last door will be for me,” Thanatas said.

The others’ responses ranged from acceptance to grumbles to vocal discontent. They soon calmed down as they were getting nowhere by doing that.

The four chosen entered their rooms while the others traversed the hole in the wall.

Maria faced down the lone Airyglyph soldier who was completely covered in armor while carrying a standard sword and shield. Disturbing chuckling could be heard.

The soldier’s movements were slow, and while she was far from the fastest runner in the group, she was still well practiced in sidestepping and backstepping.

Maria avoided the soldier’s sword swings with ease before deploying a magnetic device on the floor and back stepped away from the soldier. The magnetized floor held him in place which gave the organization leader room to blast him several times with her blaster. She managed to pelt him with several energy spheres before the magnetic device ran out of power. His shield blocked most of them before it shattered.

As the soldier ran toward her, Maria swept the ground with her foot and unleashed a powerful shockwave in a crescent pattern which sent the soldier back a few feet. Using the laser targeting device on her gun, Maria made a precision shot that blasted through the soldier’s helmet.

The soldier fell to the ground and vanished as the exit door opened.

Fayt stared at the red knight riding his lum with crimson barding.

The knight rushed forward at Fayt who sidestepped his charge and delivered a swift kick to the lum’s flank. The lum neighed in pain as it turned around. The rider thrust his lance at Fayt who had to backstep to avoid the attack. The lum charged again but Fayt was ready when he used his symbology to release a number of tiny explosions that startled the equine creature.

As the lum reared up in surprise, Fayt kicked it in the barrel which threw the rider off. Before the knight could recover, Fayt was on him with a series of slashes which devastated his armor and left him open to one final slash that removed his head.

The exit door opened.

Sophia saw an evil-looking spirit that was missing its lower body while the rest looked like a skeleton wearing tattered purple robes and had a pair of long black horns that extended to its left and right in a straight, yet wavy pattern. It carried a scythe that was almost as large as the fiend was and a dark malevolent energy emanated from its ribcage.

The terror started warping around the room in an attempt to confuse Sophia who had to keep her focus on its dark energy. She managed to block a swing of the terror’s scythe but it kept warping around and waited for another chance to strike.

It then started to create an unholy vacuum in an attempt to steal life force from Sophia, but that required standing still which the hybrid girl capitalized on when she summoned a Dark Sphere, a symbol that created a sphere that drained life from enemies around it and sometimes killed lesser enemies instantly. While the spell was in effect, Sophia kicked the terror into the sphere. While the fiend was being torn apart by the dark maelstrom, Sophia dove in and slashed at the terror repeatedly, her body being durable enough to withstand the storm.

By the time the maelstrom subsided, the unholy terror was barely above the ground and barely able to lift its scythe. It raised a free hand and began to channel a symbol against Sophia who quickly reacted with a Silence symbol to stop its attack before she unleased a pulse of psionic energy that obliterated the spirit.

The exit door opened.

“Who are you? Are you another who has come to claim my son’s life? I won’t let anyone near my precious boy!” the ghostly old woman shouted.

Thanatas rolled her eyes. “Your days are over lady, it’s time to join your loved ones beyond the veil.”

The old ghost wasn’t listening and moved to attack Thanatas with her hatchet. However, she stopped halfway and fell to the floor. “What is happening to me?” the old ghost cried.

“I am a goddess of death. Those who straddle the border between the realms of life and death are part of my dominion. You have lingered in this plane for too long and while I would love to have another servant, I am not in the market for someone like you. It’s time for you to move on and have your sins weighed.”

“The goddess of death? You’re here for my soul?” the hag ghost asked. “Where have you been? I’ve been waiting centuries for you to show up! You’re late! This old woman should have been up in heaven with my son and his kids a long time ago!” The old hag’s complaints continued.

Thanatas didn’t have time to hear more of the woman’s bellyaching so she used her sword to sever the bindings that kept the ghost on the mortal plane, allowing her to move on.

When the exit door opened, Thanatas felt emotionally drained from listening to the old hag’s complaints.

The group members who didn’t enter a door watched four doors open and the challengers emerged from their respective rooms.

Sophia noticed that Thanatas was looking a little grumpy. Before she asked what happened, the undead knight warned her and everyone else not to ask what happened. The group shrugged and moved on.

From the center of the room they entered, a small pedestal rose from the floor and atop the pedestal was a book that was labeled ‘Book of Prophecies’. On the spine was a ‘one’.

Twilight picked up the book and glanced through the pages, only to be disappointed when all but one of the pages were blank. On the page that had some writing on it, she only saw five words: ‘the warriors who must order’. Twilight couldn’t make heads or tails of the words, neither could the others. Still, Twilight summoned a piece of paper and a pen and wrote the words down in case they had any meaning later.

The group moved on through the lone door on the north wall.

Another linear hallway with a few sword-wielding armors was in the next room and an angel statue stood before the next door. More Vendeeni soldiers and wandering mages, that the Vendeeni appeared to ignore, were seen in the next room.

Down a hallway that led east, they found a door with a pair of plaques that said the same thing: ‘Send in a fool to touch the red gem’.

The group entered the room to find themselves in a maze with a number of massive stationary blocks with lum heads sculpted into them. No enemies were around so they navigated the maze and entered another room which was also a maze. They explored that maze as well until they found another door that led into a small room. The ornate door to the next room was thick and wouldn’t open. While Lyra considered opening the door with brute force, Nel refused to allow her to damage the shrine any more than she did.

With no other options, they returned to the hallway with the plaques and moved further down the hall. Since Nel wouldn’t allow Lyra to bust the door, they had to find the red gem.

After a little searching and fighting more Vendeeni, mages and armors, they found the room with a giant red gemstone that was as large as a person.

Sophia shoved Fayt forward toward the gem, “Go ahead, Fayt.”

Fayt sighed in exasperation, “Somehow, I feel like you’re making an implication about me.”

“Just do it…”

Thanatas snickered, “You can be quite the manipulative one, huh Sophia? I think I’m starting to like you.”

Another sigh, “Alright, alright.” Fayt walked up to the red gem and touched it. The room immediately shook again.

“More tremors?” Sophia wondered. “I hope this place holds up.”

With nothing else to do, the group returned to the maze. They found that the blocks were now moving around on their own as if possessed. They were also glowing an evil shade of red. Thanatas could now sense the unholy energy that possessed the blocks.

“You know, for a holy shrine, there are a lot of evil things in this place,” Thanatas commented.

“This could have been avoided if you had let me bust the door earlier,” Lyra added.

Nel opened her mouth , but closed it and sulked when she couldn’t come up with a rebuttal.

The group had to navigate the maze again while avoiding the evil blocks that moved as if they were chasing them somewhat.

After evading two rooms full of evil blocks, they returned to the room with the ornate door. The door was wide open and they entered another small room. They stood before what Nel told them was the door to the inner sanctum where the Sacred Orb was being kept. The chances that the Vendeeni were in the next room were high so they prepared themselves for one last fight to secure the orb.

Everyone rushed into the room where there were four Vendeeni soldiers surrounding a pedestal that had an endless stream of water flowing down it with a silvery sphere floating above it.

“Get away from the orb!” Fayt shouted. The Vendeeni turned to face the intruders.

“Huh? Isn’t that the Leingod boy?” one soldier asked.

“I think it is,” another soldier, likely the commander, said. “Our orders from Admiral Biwig were to recover this OPA and either capture or kill the boy. How fortunate that he came right to us.”

“So Biwig is involved in this?” Twilight demanded.

“Of course he is, I don’t know what he wants with the OPA, but he considers the boy a threat or a tool to be used, depending on whether he would cooperate. But since we failed to capture his father, I think Biwig would settle for killing him.”

“You’re pretty loose lipped for a commander,” Maria commented.

“It won’t matter, you are all dying here.” The four soldiers aimed their rifles at the group but Lyra drained the life force from the lower ranked soldiers using void energy. The victims fell to the floor as withered husks.

Sophia imbued her blades with an edge of psionic energy and slashed the commander’s rifle in half. His eyes widened in horror as a wicked smile appeared on the girl’s face before she grabbed his face and drained him of his life energy.

With the soldiers dead and the orb secured, Twilight then placed a number of powerful wards around the orb to prevent future intruders from sensing or stealing it.

Everyone relaxed with their mission accomplished. Nel smiled in gratitude. “As a representative of Aquaria, allow me to thank you for your assistance in protecting the Sacred Orb.”

“You’re welcome, but this wouldn’t have happened if the Vendeeni weren’t after me,” Fayt said.

“That’s where you’re wrong, Fayt,” Twilight countered. “While Biwig was after you, it seems that he might have been looking for the orb the whole time as well, if that commander’s words were to be believed.”

“Though I’m starting to think that I should just fire Azure on principle,” Twilight mentally added.

With the orb secured, the time had come for them to return to Aquios.

Twilight’s magic would have trouble teleporting eleven other people back to Aquios, however, Thanatas was able to summon a platform beneath the feet of herself and the group before a pair of bony hands enclosed everyone into what seemed to be a cage. The passengers shouted in fear and surprise as the cage lowered into the land.

All was dark for a few moments.

A Bonding Interlude

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The first room of the Sealed Cavern, where the decayed first showing of Aquaria’s symbol was displayed, stood undisturbed for centuries until recent footfalls briefly walked its floors once more. From where the symbol stood, a black void opened and a cage made of bone slowly rose from it. Most of the inhabitants of the cage collapsed in panic from the experience or relief that the ride through utter darkness was over as the light of the caverns shined in their eyes.

Sophia still stood, her legs shaky and her right hand covering her eyes as the disorienting darkness began to fade into light. The experience practically felt like a few moments of complete sensory deprivation. “Ugh, that is not something that I want to experience again.”

“You’ll get used to it if you hang around with me more,” Thanatas dismissed. “You held up pretty well for your first time; you’re actually still standing.”

“If I ever get my own unique and disorienting way of getting around, I’m going to give you a taste of it,” Sophia growled.

Everyone took a few moments to regain their senses and their wits before they looked around to see where they were. Nel opened a door at the south side of the room and breathed a sigh of relief that she was looking at the hallway back to the castle chapel.

The group was relieved to be back to safety where they could take some time to relax before they head off to their next adventure. They traveled back through the long hallway and up the stairs to the castle.

As they emerged from the passageway, Twilight received a notification from her communicator. It appeared that she would need to review the next set of entrants. As the group headed to the throne room to report to Queen Romeria, Twilight pulled out her communicator to check out the next set of inventors.

The first on the list was an impressively skilled alchemist named Misty Lear, who apparently refused to reveal her age. While her appearance showed that she looked young, she kept an air of mystery about her. She recently divorced and suffered the death of her two year old daughter. She was apparently seeking a way to save her daughter’s soul. Her last known location was a workshop in the dragon-infested Barr Mountains.

Next on the list was a young man who went by the name Lias. The profile stated that he was a refugee from a northern island nation who was talented in skills often taught to nobles. He appeared to be a pretty talented blacksmith with an unconventional technique that often produced quality results. He was another of those who was in need of funds to start up his business. He was last seen in Airyglyph City.

Last on the list was another old man who looked like he had crossed the line into senility a long time ago. Dejison was one of the oldest inventors to join the guild at the age of eighty-seven. His obsession with Greeton’s Mechanized Corps had left him scatterbrained and absentminded. Wisdom did not come with age with Dejison as his skills with engineering were amateur at best, though most likely novice. He called himself ‘The Invention King’, but that appeared to be a self-appointed title. As much as Twilight would rather leave him be, she had to give all inventors a chance. He had been known to wander the streets of Airyglyph. She could probably impress him into a contract with a fake bomb or something.

As they started walking up the stairs to the castle’s second floor, the door to the castle library flew open behind them. Half the castle likely heard the slamming door. A man with gray hair and wearing a runologist robe and a red cape strode out the door and headed toward the stairs. He spotted the group and stared at each of them as if he were scanning them one by one.

That was when he spotted the book in Twilight’s hands. “I had a feeling that one of those books was here in the castle. You must let me study it,” he demanded.

Twilight recognized the man from the guild profiles as Mackwell. She briefly looked at the Book of Prophecies then back at Mackwell. “I’m not sure why you would want this. It only has a few words written on it. The rest of the pages are blank.”

“That’s because the book only gave you part of a prophecy that pertained to you,” Mackwell explained. “There are far more secrets in the Books of Prophecies and I wish to uncover them all.”

Twilight thought for a moment about whether she wanted to give up the tome and as much as she would love to uncover the secrets herself, she also knew that she had more important things to do. “How about a trade? You can have the book and you sign on to work under me in the Artisan’s guild.”

“Yes, yes, fine. Just give me the book.” With that, Mackwell signed on to Twilight’s growing list of item creators working for her.

The rest of the trip to the throne room was uneventful after that slight stop.

Nel explained what transpired at the Shrine of Kaddan while afterward, Sophia and the others explained their plan to get off the planet and the issues that needed to be addressed. The queen nodded and stayed silent until the story finished.

“It is unfortunate that thieves were allowed to enter Kaddan, but at least the Sacred Orb is safe. I must also thank you for finally putting those malevolent souls to rest.”

Cliff turned to the others. “Alright, what do we do next? They’re intensifying their attacks.”

“If Biwig is behind this, then he could send the whole fleet here at any time,” Twilight added.

“We just need to hold them off long enough to escape on the Diplo,” Maria said.

“My ship would probably work as well, but I don’t want to risk it getting detected if too many Vendeeni ships warp into the sector,” Twilight offered.

“Then it seems that we must work together,” Romeria decided before she elaborated. “With Duke Vox now in his grave, the time has come for our country to make peace with Airyglyph and request their cooperation. If we are to provide the distraction that you need to escape our world, then you would need our Thunder Arrow. However, as you said, our weapons will not reach them. Airyglyph has the resources needed to resolve that issue.”

“Your Majesty, how can we be expected to forgive them after all they had done to us?” Nel demanded.

“I understand that this is a bitter medicine that we must swallow, but as of now we have a much greater threat looming over our heads and neither country can stand up to them alone.”

Nel knew that the queen was right, but cooperating with Airyglyph would require swallowing her pride. She was very reluctant to do so after what the Glyphian army did to Arias and, most grievous of all, that they murdered her father. However, for Her Majesty and her country, she would set her pride aside.

“We shall appeal to Airyglyph for cooperation,” Romeria declared. “We shall send a personal letter to the King of Airyglyph at once. Lady Nel, can I count on you to deliver the letter?”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Nel obeyed.

“I’ll go too,” Cliff said. “I doubt someone from Aquaria can explain the whole situation. It’s best if someone who knows more about them explains it.”

“You realize this is dangerous, right?”

“I get into dangerous stuff all the time. Ask Mirage.”

“It’s true,” Mirage affirmed.

“Very well, you shall accompany her,” Romeria ordered. She then ordered Lady Elena to expedite the completion of the Thunder Arrow while Maria asked Mirage to assist Elena.

Since there was nothing else to be done until Cliff and Nel returned with Airyglyph’s response, the rest went about their own business. Maria asked Fayt to come with her to have a discussion while Sophia and Lyra headed back to the courtyard to continue training. Adray made a nuisance of himself by putting some of the Aquarian soldiers through some intense drills. Roger decided to spend some time in Aquios’ workshop to do something constructive. Surprisingly, Peppita decided to join him. Twilight decided to spend some time in the castle library.

Thanatas decided to check up on Dion and Ameena. She could also amuse herself by terrifying the young runologist.

Sophia and Lyra started their training off with a brief spar. Lyra noticed that her skills were improving faster than she anticipated and was beginning to give the templar master a small challenge.

Before they moved on to the next lesson, Sophia asked Lyra for a break while she checked the latest shard for what her grandfather wanted to say. Lyra nodded before her apprentice found a comfortable position to relax before she began.

Sophia united the latest shard with the crystal and they merged together into a slightly larger crystal. The crystal began to glow.

Sophia sighed, “You showed me the power of my humanity and my Protoss heritage; time to show me how the infestation within me works.” The crystal’s light flashed before her eyes and her consciousness was once again displaced from her body.

Once again, an image of her grandfather stood before her. This time, the area around him gave her the impression that he had been swallowed by some titanic creature and he was currently inside its stomach. The entire area was alive with places slightly expanding and contracting. She may not be able to feel anything within the memory, but in her mind she could imagine the slimy, fleshy texture around her.

“Do not be alarmed. I have not been swallowed, per se. This is the inside of a massive living creature that grows to the size of capital ships. If you have seen the memory of my explanation of your human and Protoss heritage, then you should know that this creature relates to the remaining part of you that has not been explained yet: the Zerg.

“The Zerg are technologically non-existent and act on pure savagery. At the same time, they also compete against the most advanced races in the universe on the battlefield. What they lack in technology, they make up for with adaptation and rapid evolution. They rely on overwhelming numbers or brute force to get through enemy defenses.

“The more intelligent specimens are masters of genetic engineering. Through collecting genetic samples from the corpses of various species with useful traits, the various warrior strains can be modified on the genetic level and gain traits to increase their ferocity and versatility. Traits can also be gained from a sample of Zerg who gained adaptations from the harsh conditions of the environment around them and the essence of the adapted Zerg assimilated.

“However, the true terror of the Zerg comes from their ability to control or forcibly alter the DNA of non-Zerg species through parasitic infections and infestation. Those who are altered in such a manner lose their will and are forced to obey the psychic connection shared by all Zerg: the Hive Mind.

“The hierarchy of the Zerg is such that a single mind alone cannot control the innumerable broods, so that single mind controls the Zerg through agents who control the queens of the hive clusters that spawn the warrior strains, who are controlled by a strain called Overlords.

“Originally, the Zerg were tribalistic, willful but following the orders of the strongest Zerg they knew. They followed only one rule: survival of the fittest. If one was weak, they followed the strong. If one is strong, they use their underlings to go to war against other packs and kill other pack leaders to assimilate their packs and grow stronger.

“Unfortunately, this natural order was disrupted when a rogue Xel’naga uplifted most of their race by creating a creature that was incapable of disobeying its master. The creature bound others to its will while stripping them of their own. The original Zerg refer to them as the ‘broken pack’. This pack was designed with a single overriding purpose: to eradicate the Protoss race.

“Hope for this pack came from the acquisition of a human with great psionic power. The creature, while it couldn’t defy its master, placed the future of the Zerg in her hands. Though she committed many atrocities on her journey, the love of another human was able to set her on the path to her destiny. By her power, the determination of humanity, and the tenacity of the Protoss, these three forces were able to work together to vanquish the rogue Xel’naga.

“However, I have been told that the events that happened in that universe you are in went a little differently from what I saw. In the end though, the result was the same.”

“Your physical abilities, such as your strength and enhanced regeneration, stem from your infestation; the Zerg-based DNA within you. Through this power comes adaptability and versatility. Improvisation should come easy to you. There is so much more that you would be capable of with that power if you should learn to control it; to become the master that dominates it.

“I must warn you to be prepared. I will show you the militaristic capabilities of the Zerg, but the next memory that you will likely find will put your tactical skills to the test. I will test your ability to lead armies to victory.”

The rest of the memory was spent showing Sophia how Zerg were born, the requirements to stimulate the evolution of their young, and the typical tactics used by the Zerg to overrun the most fortified of defenses. She also saw a vision of a future that did not happen when the last holdout of the Protoss race was wiped out.

Ideas formed in Sophia’s mind about ways to more efficiently spawn the broods without the need of structures to stimulate the larvae.

By the time the vision ended, Sophia felt a mix of emotions that included terror, excitement, curiosity, determination, and desire to rule them all.

A few hours had passed since Sophia entered the crystal and Lyra could pick up on the various emotions that her apprentice was feeling. The templar master smiled as Sophia began to wake up. “I’m guessing that you learned a lot about the Zerg.”

“Yeah, I learned a lot of interesting things; things that a normal person would be disgusted by. What I saw was like an army of clay. I saw so much potential and so many ways to shape it. It would be so easy to conquer entire galaxies with that kind of power.”

Lyra looked a little uncertain. “You’re not gonna go megalomaniac on me are you?”

“Oh, definitely not. I like challenging strong foes, not weaklings. Maybe I’d use the Zerg to knock evil galactic empires down a peg or two, but I don’t see myself ruling galaxies. That would lead to too much paperwork and I’d never have fun doing what I want again.”

“So more like running some sort of vigilante organization?”

“Pretty much. The thought of pitting an army of my making against others seems to thrill me.”

Lyra chuckled and shook her head. “At any rate, ready to learn how to produce psi blades?”

The next few hours were spent teaching Sophia how to create blades of energy. At first, Lyra had Sophia wear focusers to make producing the blades easier. As time went on, the apprentice started getting the hang of fighting with the focusers while thinking about how to focus her energy without the armbands. Toward the end of their session, Sophia had started to understand the basics of creating energy blades when she realized that it wasn’t much different from creating energy spheres as it just required focusing on a different shape.

Meanwhile, at the workshop in Aquios, Roger and Peppita were hard at work creating new things and experimenting with the workshop features. Roger was a little disappointed when he tried his hand at engineering. He thought he was on to something when he made a bomb out of a rubber duck, but in hindsight, he realized that the idea was lame. He still left it on the table.

When they tried the chemistry equipment, they created some sort of strange liquid that seemed like it didn’t do anything.

Of course, Roger and Peppita had some more successful creations. For some reason, thoughts of Peppita raced through Roger’s mind as he played around with the crafting table. Her pretty smile, her bravery, her joyful attitude, each drew Roger’s attention away from his work. However, his body continued working on his project as his mind wandered.

His skills might have been amateur when it came to most other creative activities, but crafting was what he was best at. He didn’t even think about what he was making until he was finished. In the end, he realized that he made a pair of adorable-looking kitty dolls that seemed quite elaborate.

Peppita had her own success, though that came by complete accident. She messed around with the alchemical equipment and tried to come up with something worthwhile. She had no idea what she did, but during one of her attempts at transmuting minerals, she ended up transmuting a strange-looking stone that was unlike anything she had ever seen before. The stone was transparent and had a deep red color but lacked some of the key properties of a ruby. Peppita decided to keep it in her pocket for the time being.

When it came to cooking, however, their combined skills would lose to an amateur chef most days.

This day, however, would be one of the rare ones where they miraculously created a dish that had an amazing texture and flavor, that one bite alone gave them a sudden feeling of fullness. The dish they made was so rich that only the most ravenous of gourmets could eat the whole thing.

Since they couldn’t eat the dish and didn’t want it going to waste, they placed the dish in a specialized container that the guild provided to the workshops that was runologically designed to keep the food fresh and warm.

“So why did you come here?” Roger asked suddenly.

Peppita replied as she was cleaning up, “I dunno, I just wanted to try something new. Don’t get me wrong, I love dancing and entertaining crowds, but it’s nice to try something new every now and then.” She paused for a moment. “What about you?”

“Same reason I guess. I really like going out and exploring ruins and finding cool stuff to show off to my friends and rivals and proving my manliness, but doing something constructive can be a nice change of pace.”

“Do ya do those kinds of things a lot?” Peppita asked.

“Kinda, Lucien’s group may be rivals with me, Dribe and Melt, but they are sorta friends too. When we go on adventures together, Either me or Lucien take the lead. We’re always competing to see who is the better man.”

“Why do you need to have those competitions?”

“It’s not like we’re bitter enemies. Lucien and I have always been competitive, but it’s always been good fun. We push each other to outdo the other and we find lots of cool stuff and cool stories to tell. Though Lucien will never believe that I helped stop an invasion of people from beyond our world; even I wouldn’t believe it if our roles were reversed.” Roger smiled as he thought about his past adventures. “But enough about me, what about you? It’s only fair that I hear some things about you.”

“Well…” Peppita began. “I’m like Fayt: I’m not from this world. My family is part of a traveling circus troupe that tours all over the galaxy. My uncle runs the troupe and he’s my legal guardian. I don’t know much about my dad, but my mom told me that he was a brave, brave soldier. At least, that’s what she told me before she died. I learned and mastered many of my mother’s dances that she taught me and I put those skills to use in the circus. I was gonna have my big debut before the Vendeeni showed up.”

“I’ve seen what looked like dancing when you were fighting, did your mother teach you to fight like that?” Roger asked.

“Oh no, I simply applied what I learned from my mother and adapted it to combat. Combining Symbo…err, I mean Runology to my dances has made for a powerful combination.”

“Wow, that’s amazing!” Roger complimented. “You can actually make dancing look awesome!”

Peppita’s dark skin gained a few shades of red for a moment before she shook her head and decided to change the subject. “I noticed that you have a lot of high-tech gadgets. Where did you get those?”

“My weapons? That’s actually an interesting story. Ya see, my hometown of Surferio has this really cool mech from Greeton’s Mechanized Corps. It was all beaten and rusty and someone was smart enough to strip it of its weapons in case it somehow reactivated. I snuck into the warehouse where they kept its weapons and cleaned them up and kept them for myself, right in my helmet.”

Peppita raised an eyebrow. “You know that your helmet looks too small to be carrying an arsenal, right?” she asked flatly.

“A man doesn’t give away all of his secrets, not even to the prettiest of girls.”

“Are you trying to flatter me or something?”

“Is it working?”

Peppita rolled her eyes. She figured that Roger was trying to draw attention away from his mysterious helmet. She decided to let the matter slide. She then noticed the dolls that Roger made. “Those are really cute, even better than the prizes they give away at the circus. They are so elaborate that they look almost lifelike.”

“We menodix are known for our dexterity. Being a small race gives us the advantage of being good with our hands.” He paused, looking away from Peppita as he started to blush. The performer looked at him in curiosity while he tried desperately to hide his face. Half a minute passed before he said more. “I made two of them. Y-you want one?”

Peppita’s cheerful smile brightened the whole room. “Sure!” She skipped over to the crafting table, her bell-laced boots jingling with each step. She grabbed one of the kitty dolls and hugged it tightly. She then turned to Roger and thanked him by placing a kiss on his forehead. Roger passed out with a goofy smile on his face.

It was evening by the time Cliff and Nel returned from Airyglyph. They made sure their travel was speedy by borrowing a wagon that would carry them to Airyglyph and back. Upon their return, the guards searched Aquios for the rest of the group and told them to gather at the throne room.

It was a few minutes before most of the group made it to the throne room. It was two more minutes before Fayt and Maria returned since they were at some isolated spot in Aquios. Nel softly chastised them for being late.

Romeria began, “According to your report, the King of Airyglyph has accepted our story at face value.”

“Yes,” Nel affirmed. “However, he did insist on speaking directly to Your Majesty.”

“Directly? How absurd!” Lasselle protested. “We could never allow a hostile party to speak with the Queen.”

Romeria ignored Lasselle. “And the place for this discussion? Surely he does not mean to come here?”

“No, he specified the hall with the round table in the Ancient Ruins of Mosel,” Nel informed. “He said that he wouldn’t cooperate unless we accepted that one condition.”

“Mosel!? It’s a dusty old ruin! They may have air dragons but we have to walk,” Lasselle complained, once again ignored by everyone.

“I see. In that case, we rest up for the harsh journey.” Romeria ordered. “Tomorrow we must travel to Mosel.”

“Your Majesty?!” Lasselle half shouted in shock.

“He is testing us. Normally, we would never go to such a place. But now is not the time to worry about such things. We must show him how dire the situation is by going to such lengths. We will travel to Mosel and I myself shall persuade the King of Airyglyph.”

Lasselle wanted to protest further, but Romeria shut him down by telling him that this was a matter of trust, that it must be given by both.

“Was there any mention of Bodyguards?” Romeria asked.

Nel shook her head. “Nothing in particular, guess this means that we can do as we see fit.”

“Very well, then all of you shall be our bodyguards.”

With that, the group returned to their rooms to sleep, bathe, and prepare for the harsh journey tomorrow.

Desert Ruins and Negotiations

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Everyone woke up the next morning with Fayt, Roger and Twilight being among the last to wake up. Everyone else tended to wake up early for various reasons, or they never needed to sleep in the case of Thanatas.

Once everyone was prepared for the journey, they gathered at the throne room where they would meet with Queen Romeria to take her to the Ruins of Mosel.

As they entered the throne room, Romeria’s attention was turned to Lasselle. “Give your full cooperation to Lady Elena while we are gone. And do not worry, I am in good hands.”

“Your wish is my command,” Lasselle said. He then turned to the group who had entered the room. “And the rest of you, take good care of Her Majesty.”

With that, Romeria joined the group and left the throne room with them.

For some reason, Roger looked like he had learned that the world was ending soon and his usual energy had been sapped from him.

“What’s the matter, Roger?” Sophia asked.

Roger knew that he couldn’t put it off, given where they were going. Keeping the matter to himself was not going to change anything. He took a deep breath and let it out before he explained. “We’re going to Mosel, right? My hometown of Surferio’s on the way there. I’m not lookin’ forward to it because Lucien’s gonna be there.”

“Isn’t he your friend?” Peppita asked.

“Yeah, but he’s also my rival. I wasn’t supposed to have help from others during the Real Man Contest back in Duggus Forest. One of his cronies, Lezard, has a way of getting info somehow and I just know that word about what happened at the bandits’ hideout will have gotten to Lucien by now.” He clutched his face, “Aww…I just know he’s gonna rub it in my face.”

“Don’t worry about it, Roger,” Fayt assured. “If Lucien tries to make fun of you, we’ve got your back.”

“Really?” Roger hoped.

“Really, you have nothing to worry about with friends like us behind you,” Sophia said.

Roger felt relief at that. He was already certain that his rival was going to brag about the contest, but he felt more secure at the thought of his friends backing him up.

Continuing at a steady pace for Romeria, the group eventually crossed Irisa Fields and back to Peterny.

Twilight thought back to yesterday when she heard that Roger and Peppita were messing around in the workshop in Aquios. She teleported into the workshop last night to see what they did. She had a feeling that the items they made would be useful at some point so she stored the items in a pocket dimension.

As they approached a wandering old man who was ogling every woman he saw, she had to suppress a cringe as she walked up to him. She had an easier time suppressing the urge to give the old man, Gossam, a magical beatdown when he stared at her with a disinterested look.

As he complained about his old age and his desire to be young again, Twilight offered him the concoction that the kids made yesterday in exchange for a contract. The potion didn’t actually work but he thought it did and that was all Twilight needed to do to sign him on to the team of inventors.

After they left the old man to ogle women again, she breathed a sigh of relief that she never had to deal with him again unless necessary.

“He actually seems pretty tame compared to some of the scientists that I have on employment,” Thanatas commented.

“Please…don’t make me imagine that,” Twilight begged as she shuddered.

Everyone stocked up on supplies for their desert trek. They made sure they had plenty of water and food for the trip while Nel kept a compass on hand to make sure they didn’t get too lost. Strangely, nobody in town had a map of the Mosel Dunes. The vendors mentioned a thief who had stolen their maps last night.

With all the supplies that they could get, the group headed out the west gate into the Sanmite Steppes.

Instead of heading down the slope to Duggus Forest, the group headed to the bridge where they met Dribe and Melt.

As they approached the bridge, however, a trio of dragon riders from the Dragon Brigade moved to block the group from advancing any further.

“What do you want?” Nel demanded. “We’re on our way to speak with your king. Let us pass!”

“No!” The lead rider answered.

“What is the meaning of this?” Maria demanded.

“This war is not over,” the rider declared. “If Lord Vox were still around, he’d have stopped this sissy negotiation, by brute force. I am Schweimer. Now that Lord Vox and Lord Demetrio are gone, I lead the Dragon Brigade. I will not recognize any peace with the dogs who killed Lord Vox.”

“Does the king know of this?” Romeria asked.

“Why should he? He’s probably waiting for you fools at the rendezvous point.”

“Watch your tongue when you speak to Her Majesty!” Nel snarled.

“You shall let us pass,” Romeria ordered.

“And I say you shall not pass!” Schweimer countered. “There’s no need for peace! Airyglyph rule is the best thing that could happen to Aquaria!”

“You really are an idiot!” Cliff declared.

Thanatas put on a wicked grin. “I guess it’s time for me to have some fun again, just like that time I had fun with your superior, Demetrio you called him…?”

“Who are you?” Schweimer asked.

“Demetrio’s assassin,” Thanatas proudly declared. “I had so much fun tearing him limb from limb.”

“That was you?! This means that I will be able to avenge his death.”

Thanatas’ grin became a cheerfully innocent smile. “Not if Demetrio has anything to say about that…” she said in a singsong voice.

Schweimer looked at Thantatas in confusion. “What are you talking about, woman? Have you gone mad?”

“Oh, I went insane a very long time ago, but I’m not the one you should be worried about.”

Just then, a powerful stream of frost engulfed Schweimer’s escorts, freezing the dragons out of the sky. A bone dragon, about the size of the other dragons, landed atop one of the now brittle riders and shattered him. The armored skeleton riding the dragon thrust his lance at the other rider and shattered him.

As the undead dragon rider rose to Schweimer’s level, the living rider suddenly recognized the armor the rider was wearing. “That armor! That’s Lord Demetrio’s armor!”

“Would you believe he had a change of heart?” Thanatas asked with feigned innocence.

Demetrio charged at Schweimer and the two clashed while their dragons attempted to bite the other in the neck. However, Schweimer had no experience fighting undead which meant that Schweimer’s dragon was gnawing at bone while bleeding from the neck. Demetrio’s superior experience in combat which made him the lieutenant of the Dragon Brigade, combined with his undead state, gave him all the advantage he needed to overwhelm Schweimer and pierce his armor with his lance.

The next few moments were pure agony for the living rider as he was impaled several more times by Demetrio’s lance while the dragon was bleeding profusely until Schweimer found his dragon falling to the ground. His beast had suffered numerous bite wounds which appeared to fester from infection.

Mere seconds was all it took to sap his dragon of its strength. It fell to the ground where it would close its eyes for the last time. Schweimer would have no time to mourn before the bone dragon reached down with its neck and bit the rider’s head off. Schweimer and his dragon’s corpses soon vanished.

Demetrio flew away.

“Shall we move on?” Thanatas asked the group. She then crossed the bridge to Surferio.

While the rest of the group was staring at the place where a battle took place with their jaws hanging open, Sophia actually shrugged. “That’s about what I figured that she was capable of with the way she looked and behaved.”

“You figured that she could command the dead and turn them against their former allies?!” Fayt nearly shouted.

“She terrorized Dion and possibly traumatized him,” Sophia stated flatly. “She showed no remorse for doing that and she looks like a cross between a warrior and a necromancer. I already knew she was evil, so what happened here was par for the course.”

“And yet you don’t seem disturbed by it,” Fayt wondered.

“I should be, and yet I’m not. After my latest vision from the crystal, this is much more tolerable by comparison.”

Everyone else decided to pretend to forget what happened and proceeded toward Surferio, fighting some harpies and axebeaks along the way.

The town of Surferio could be described as rustic. The buildings appeared to be mostly constructed of wood and straw. The town itself was built over a lake with wooden bridges serving as the only means of getting around without swimming in the lake which seemed to be inhabited by a race of mermaids who looked to be made of glass or ice, given their clear composition.

The residents of the town were very friendly, greeting the travelers and the Queen of Aquaria. There were the fairy-like flau people fluttering around, and frog people were waddling around. There was a green-skinned creature wearing the attire of a chef with a mad gleam in his eyes who caught Thanatas’ interest. There were also menodix like Roger and his friends wandering around.

In fact, two of them, along with what looked like a different humanoid, were approaching the group as they noticed them. One wore a dark brown and tan outfit with a tan bandana. He had dark brown hair. Another wore a green hooded robe with his animal ears poking out of holes on top of the hood. He had light brown hair and wore circular glasses that most of the group thought made him look like a geek. The third, who wasn’t a menodix, looked a little bulkier than the other two and wore a green and brown outfit. He had a tuft of black hair on his otherwise bald head and a look on his face that made others figure that he didn’t think much usually.

“Well, well, if it isn’t the little goofball,” greeted the menodix in brown and tan. “I kinda figured you were hiding somewhere, since you can’t beat me.”

“Hey there, stupid-head,” Roger shot back. “Who’d you say can’t beat ya?”

“I was talking about you, goofball.” The brown-wearing menodix turned to the robed menodix. “Hey Lezard, what’s the score sheet say?”

“Forty-eight wins for you, forty-seven wins for the goofball, and one thousand, five hundred and four ties!” Lezard offered.

“Hey wait a sec Lucien, that last one shouldn’t even count!” Roger defended. “There were circumstances.”

“Now you’re trying to weasel your way out of a loss? How pathetic,” Lucien mocked. “I heard from a reliable source that you had help from these guys behind ya. You know the rules, and you broke them.”

“Would you please cut him some slack?” Fayt asked. “I know he broke the rules, but it was for a good reason. A girl collapsed in the forest and he was a big help in finding her. We did run into the bandits’ leader so we were able to help him out too.”

“I wonder if he’s still locked in that cage I shoved him in,” Sophia muttered maliciously.

“Wouldn’t a real man drop everything to help someone in need?” Fayt added.

Lucien turned toward his friends and sighed. “Well, yes, something like that…” He thought for a moment. “Fine, I’m willing to drop the contest from the record.”

“What?! Lucien! Are you seriously going to accept that?!” Lezard half-shouted.

“Yep. You can’t call it a loss when a guy bows out of a real man contest to go help someone in need.” Lucien turned to Roger. “But next time I won’t be so lenient. Remember that rules are rules!”

Peppita suddenly walked up to the humanoid group. “He also made me this adorable kitty doll.”

“What? Is this true Roger?” Lucien demanded.

“Y-yeah I did, so what?” Roger failed to hide his blush.

Lucien grabbed Roger by the shoulders. “Did she kiss you?”

“Well, she did kiss me on the forehead.”

Lucien let go of Roger and balled his left hand into a fist, growling, “I can’t believe you actually went out and got yourself a girlfriend!”

“Hey! She’s not my girlfriend! She only kissed me on the forehead, and I guess I kinda liked it…” Roger defended, nearly whispering the last part.

“Close enough, you goofball!” Lucien growled again. “Fine, you win this round, but I ain’t losing to you again. Let’s go guys.”

“Typical…my plans get ruined on a technicality,” Lezard grumbled as the trio walked away.

“Thanks for having my back guys,” Roger thanked.

“It’s no problem, I just wanted to return the favor after you helped us in Duggus Forest,” Fayt said.

Roger took another look at Peppita who was smiling innocently. Roger’s face glowed scarlet. He then looked ahead and continued forward toward the west side of town.

The last house at the west end of town was introduced by Roger as his house. He warned that lingering around too long would end up with his parents finding them and telling countless stories that they didn’t have time to listen to.

They also noticed a deactivated bipedal automaton outside of Roger’s house. Fayt and Twilight were impressed with the mechanics of the Greeton machine, but their friends pulled them along before they could analyze the machine.

As they walked past Roger’s house, the door opened and a woman with purple hair and large, white feathery wings exited and rushed toward the group. Particularly, she stared at Peppita’s kitty doll with starry eyes.

“That doll you have, it’s so cute. Tell me, who made that for you?” the woman asked.

“Roger made it for me. And no, you can’t have it.”

“Aww…” the woman pouted.

Twilight soon recognized the woman from one of the profiles as Stanice. The woman had an obsession for cute things. In an attempt to tempt Stanice into a contract, she pulled out the doll she found back in Duggus Forest. Stanice quickly rushed over to Twilight to look at the doll. “That’s a limited edition Gohx model full of rare parts! It’s…it’s so cute!”

“You can have it if you sign a contract with me for the artisan’s guild.”

“Deal!” With that, another inventor joined Twilight’s growing list of inventors working for her for Grape Vine’s project.

The path ahead took them into a cave that Nel informed would take them straight to the Mosel Dunes.

The cave proved to be more of a tunnel with branching passages that led nowhere. Exploring the side passages only led to encountering new types of monsters.

The first they encountered were more of those ice mermaids they saw in Surferio that Nel called aquaregia. Their appearance told the group of what they were capable of as one tried to fire a volley of Ice Needles at the group which were countered when Nel and Adray launched their own volleys of Fire Bolts which melted the needles. Most of the time the aquaregias would get close to the group and entomb people into blocks of ice, often incapacitating the more melee inclined members such as Fayt, Cliff or Mirage. Sometimes the flash freezing effect made them brittle, but Sophia, Twilight and Adray were too quick on the Cure Condition symbols for the mermaids to follow up effectively.

In one side passage, they encountered a red version of the cockatrice they saw in the Bequerel Mine. The creature looked as tough as the last one, but Twilight found that its mental endurance was weak. Cliff and Mirage dove at the beast with their Aerial Assault attacks while Maria fired rounds at its head. Peppita performed a Panic Dance which left the beast in confusion and overwhelmed its mind until it collapsed and disappeared.

The rest of the encounters included mages, harpies and witches who were even more powerful than what were previously encountered. Thanatas froze the wings of one harpy and impaled her on a spike of bone that erupted from the ground. On one encounter with the spellcasters, the group had to avoid giant weights summoned by the witches while silencing the mages to prevent them from casting a Thunder Flare to hold them in place.

Sophia decided to act a little brutal by stealing one mage’s staff, diagonally slashing him with an energy blade, rushing behind some of the witches, bashing them off their brooms with the staff, gathering them in one place before casting the same Crush spell that the witches tried to cast on her, flattening them.

For some reason, bunnies ran away from the dropped weight.

Lyra looked at Twilight and raised an eyebrow, “You come up with the weirdest spells sometimes.”

Twilight could only smile sheepishly and laugh awkwardly. Most of the others wondered what the mare thought was funny but shrugged and moved on.

It wasn’t long before the group reached the end of the tunnel and spotted a man standing near the exit. He looked at the group and gave them a warning, “In the dunes ahead, water is life and thirst is death. There are springs here and there, so if you wish to survive, you must replenish your water supply at each one as you travel through the dunes.”

Sophia sighed, “Thank you sir, but we already know how a desert works.” While she could have rolled her eyes at his stating the obvious, she chose not to for the sake of politeness.

“Uhh…right…” the man awkwardly said. “Anyway, would you like to buy a map? I made a map of the Mosel dunes during my many years of surveying the area. You’ll find it very useful. I’ll even throw in a ninety percent discount and charge a meager ten thousand fol for it.”

Sophia, Twilight and Lyra knew that the man was lying about the map by reading his mind. He had apparently stolen all of the Mosel Desert maps from Peterny’s stores and intended to make a killing by selling them to travelers.

That was when Sophia got an evil idea. She made sure to keep a straight face as the plan formed in her mind. “How about this instead, you can escort us to the Mosel Ruins instead of selling us your precious map.”

“What? Me? Going into that deathtrap? No way!” the con artist cried.

“Not even for two hundred thousand fol?”

“How do I know you have it?”

Sophia messed around with the con artist’s mind and made him think that she produced a bag filled with fol. Nobody else saw the bag and Thanatas made sure nobody called Sophia out on it.

“Wait here,” Sophia told the others. “We need to be sure the coast is clear before we proceed.”

Sophia and the poor con artist exited the tunnel into the desert. Only fifteen minutes had passed before the con artist reentered the tunnel screaming and racing past the group and back through the tunnel.

“What did you do?” Fayt asked.

Sophia put on an innocent smile. “We ran into one of the desert monsters out there and asked him to fight it for me. When he was obviously outmatched, I offered to save him in exchange for the map. He eagerly agreed so I saved him and I got the map for free.”

Thanatas bursted out laughing while the others looked behind them at the direction the con artist ran, feeling sorry for the poor guy.

“You certainly have a way to deal with thieves, Sophia.” Romeria commented.

As the group proceeded into the harsh sunlight of the unforgiving desert, they could feel the heat sap away at the moisture within their bodies. They knew they wouldn’t last long in the desert without the oases that the con artist was talking about.

Twilight, however, had a way of counteracting the sun’s fury. She and Lyra placed cooling spells on everyone to greatly reduce the effect that the sun was having on them to the point where they could travel the desert in an acceptable level of comfort. With the spells in place, there was no need to replenish their water supply at every oasis.

As they entered the desert proper, the group was relieved to find that the spells placed on them were holding. While they could still feel the harsh sunlight, it wasn’t nearly harsh enough to cause concern for their water supply.

The group spotted a withered looking dragon who appeared to be a head and claws coming out of a dark void in the ground. The body was impaled by old rusted weapons.

“The necromantic energy in the area is high,” Thanatas commented. “It takes a particularly strong level of the stuff to allow dragon zombies to manifest in the area.”

“So more trouble, huh?” Cliff figured.

“Not necessarily, I can dominate their will and have them escort us through the desert.”

“That would save us the energy to make it through the desert,” Maria commented.

Thanatas took that as permission to take control of the dragon zombies in the area and did so. The undead beasts attacked the other denizens of the desert who got too close to the group while everyone else were free to proceed to the ruins without further harassment.

Fayt opened a stone door that appeared to be in strangely good condition, given the area. Entering the ruins, they entered a triangular-shaped room. The ruins were completely carved from stone and the edges of the room held a number of pillars.

In the center of the room was a circle that was surrounded by three pairs of statues. Each statue resembled the statues found in that one room in Kaddan: the warriors, spellcasters and archers. Three of the statues were carved of lighter stone while the other half were carved from darker stone.

The white warrior looked like a king that stood next to a black skeletal mage that looked like a typical necromancer. The white hooded archer stood next to a black lizardman warrior. The white mage statue stood next to a shady looking archer.

Cliff tried the door to the next room but found it locked so the others looked around for a way to unlock it. Twilight stepped in the center of the room and that triggered something. The statues came to life and turned to each other. The white statues attacked the black statues but their attacks were completely negated by barriers. The black pieces counterattacked and shattered the white statues. A few seconds later, three more white statues replaced the destroyed ones, but in different positions than before. This time the white archer stood next to the black necromancer, the white warrior stood next to the black thief and the white mage stood next to the black warrior. The black pieces attacked their adjacent counterparts as well but a barrier protected the white pieces and the white pieces counterattacked, shattering the black statues. The statues then returned to their original positions as if nothing had happened.

The sound of an unlocking door was heard nearby. Cliff tried the door again and it opened.

“I’m guessing getting around the ruins is going to take learning the basics of that new Runic Chess game that’s been gaining popularity lately?” Lyra mentally asked.

“I figured a few puzzle dungeons here and there might entertain the players a little,” Twilight explained. “I know this one is a little violent, but that seems to be what keeps their attention nowadays.”

“Players? Puzzle dungeons?” Sophia wondered to herself. She was beginning to suspect that Twilight and Lyra were hiding something big.

The exploration of the ruins began with a battle against a group of humanoids wearing yellow tattered clothes carrying crescent hand blades in each hand and wearing skull caps. The enemies attacked the group with reckless abandon. They swung their hand blades from every angle they could imagine and forced the melee fighters on the defensive. The berserkers swung wide to keep the others at bay while attacking with pure aggression.

Spotting a weakness in their attack pattern, Sophia leapt above the berserkers and dove at one of them, holding an energy blade in front of her. The berserker didn’t see the attack coming and failed to notice when the energy blade burrowed through his skull, brain and into his neck. Sophia pushed off his head and gracefully landed on her feet as the dead berserker collapsed.

Lyra finished the others off with her quick speed that the berserkers couldn’t keep up with.

Further exploration revealed that demons inhabited the ruins. The demons they encountered were of the lesser variety in the form of imps and hellhounds.

The imps moved fast around the ruins and were particularly fond of attacking with Fire Bolts and stabbing with their pitchforks. Lyra and Sophia were faster and deadlier.

The hellhounds were agile and fierce, but so were Cliff and Mirage as their fists pummeled the demon beasts’ faces. When a pack of the hounds gathered to attack them at once, Adray was ready for that when he reared back his fist from a distance. He then slammed his fist into the ground which created a magic circle. At the same time a black rift opened and a colossal fisted arm with a spiked armband emerged from the rift to punch the hellhounds into a wall.

As they explored the rooms in the ruins, the group came across a pair of pedestals. One was empty and the other had a black lizardman warrior. The empty pedestal had three buttons to push: warrior, symbologist, and thief. Using the hint from the first room, Sophia pressed the symbologist button and a white mage appeared on the empty pedestal and shattered the black warrior.

On the west side of the ruins, the group discovered another pair of pedestals. This one featured a black thief. It was easy to figure that the white warrior was needed here so Sophia pressed the ‘warrior’ button. The black statue was shattered a few seconds later.

The sound of a door unlocking was heard.

The group found another room with, as expected, another set of pedestals, one with a black necromancer. The white archer soon disposed of it.

The nearby door separated, opening the way for the group to enter a room with a round table. Entering the room, they quickly spotted a man with long dark gray hair and wearing a luxurious red robe with a white fur lining, briefly reminding Twilight of the robe worn by King Sombra a long time ago. He wore what appeared to be a laurel crown.

Standing next to the man was an elderly man who appeared quite advanced in age. He wore a navy blue cloak with gold lining along with a wine-colored mantle. Lyra recognized him as the man who didn’t trust Vox and felt sad for Albel back when she infiltrated Airyglyph castle.

“Thank you for coming, Romeria. It’s been a long time,” the king greeted.

“Yes. Yes it has been, Arzei. I am so pleased to see that you are well,” Romeria greeted.

“Likewise, Romeria. You are as beautiful as ever.”

“And you have not changed one bit, I see.”

Romeria then took her seat at the table while the others stood next to her out of courtesy. Though Roger still had to stand on a chair because of his height.

Arzei chuckled. “So what took you so long?” he asked. “I was starting to fear that one of our hard-liners had done something foolish.”

“They did,” Thanatas stated. “That new leader of the Dragon Brigade wanted to throw his life away, so I obliged.”

Arzei sighed. “I warned them not to mobilize, especially with some mysterious figure going around killing our troops in strange ways. Am I to assume that you are that figure?” Thanatas cheerfully nodded. Another sigh, “I can only ask you to not kill any more of our countrymen. I will issue a decree that you are not to be engaged. Those who choose not to follow that decree may do so at their own risk.

“Anyway, please accept my deepest apologies. Those troublemakers had the impudence to suggest that we need not ally with Aquaria if we could stand up to the new enemy alone. They urged me to conquer Aquaria and take your new weapon for ourselves.”

“A simple plan for simple minds,” Romeria stated.

Arzei shook his head. “They do not understand the dire consequences of misjudging this new enemy. We are facing a much stronger threat this time, and cannot afford to exhaust our strength.”

“Then you agree to our proposal?”

“Yes, we have no other choice. Our military forces sustained heavy losses in that last attack. Out of the three brigades, only the Storm Brigade has a captain. Woltar here is the only one left.”

“What happened to Albel?” Sophia asked. “I don’t think I wounded him enough to make him bleed out when we last fought.”

“Do not worry about him. He’s still alive, but he is locked in our dungeon. After what happened at the Kirlsa Training Facility and the Bequerel Mountain Path, Duke Vox charged him with treason, believing that he intentionally went easy on you. I know the real reason though was to get him out of the way so that Vox would be able to plan his coup without worry.”

“If you knew about Vox’s treachery, why did you allow him to go as far as he did?” Sophia asked.

“By the time I found out, it was too late. I knew that Vox had gathered a lot of influence among the court and the military. Going against him would only result in him staging his coup a lot sooner. I needed to buy some time while I figured out a way to avoid that scenario. I guess in that sense, I should thank our new enemy for disposing of him when they did. He may have been my uncle, and I will grieve his loss, but his lust for power would have doomed Airyglyph.

“Back to the main topic, who is this new enemy? I heard your agent’s explanation earlier, but it made no sense to me.”

“I felt the same way, but perhaps they can explain it to us again,” Romeria offered.

The group explained what they knew about the Vendeeni as well as their intentions for Fayt and the fact that they covet the Sacred Orb.

“I see,” Arzei said. “While I find this story hard to believe, we also can’t have them stealing the Sacred Orb. If they have indeed attacked the Shrine of Kaddan, then they have certainly declared war on us. It seems that we only have one option, we must engage this enemy on our own terms.”

“Correct,” Romeria said. “We must unite the power of Aquaria’s runological weapons and Airyglyph’s air dragons.”

“Alright, let us join forces,” Arzei offered. “However, at present, while our available air dragons should be able to carry your smaller weapons, your main runological weapon will be too big to be carried by any of our air dragons.”

“Going by how you worded that, you must know of a dragon that can carry the Thunder Arrow,” Sophia figured.

“Very insightful, young lady,” Woltar complimented. “We do know of one dragon who is large enough to carry the weapon, but capturing him would be a monumental task.”

“If only I could have figured out a way to get Spike into the Eternal Sphere, then we wouldn’t have this problem,” Twilight bitterly thought to herself. After a thousand years, the baby dragon that she had raised had grown to about former Dragon Lord Torch’s size. Unfortunately, by the time the Eternal Sphere was developed, Spike was too big to transport into the artificial universe.

“The Marquis, as the beast is known, is a creature of immense size and strength,” Arzei explained, “You will find him in the Urssa Lava Caves deep in the Barr Mountains near the Bequerel Mines.”

Twilight tensed at the mention of the place that Arzei mentioned. “Oh no, why there? Are they seriously talking about that dragon? I installed that dragon there to guard one of my biggest projects in the Eternal Sphere. If we go through with this, it may potentially leave Freya vulnerable to exposure, especially to the hacker!” Twilight did her best to calm down. “Alright, calm down Twilight, you can still put in more safeguards to make sure Project Valkyrie doesn’t get found out.”

“Do not worry Arzei, I am sure they are up to the task,” Romeria assured.

“I do not doubt that you feel that way. However, our trust is not so easily given,” Arzei said.

“What do you propose?”

“I request that a representative of Airyglyph be in the party, then I shall withdraw my objections.”

“Let me guess, you wish to have Albel join us?” Sophia said.

Arzei nodded. “I am quite fond of him, he would make for an excellent addition to your party.”

“I’m fine with it. As long as he doesn’t misbehave, we should get along just fine.”

“Then it is settled, Albel shall join your party. He will be waiting for you in Airyglyph. We will be expecting you.”

With the meeting concluded, Romeria requested to be escorted back to Peterny.

As they were leaving, however, Sophia felt a familiar call coming from deep underground. As important as the matter of escorting Romeria back was, Sophia felt an overwhelming urge to travel deeper into the ruins. She began to move closer to one of the stone doors in the room that appeared to lead to a set of stairs heading downward.

“What’s the matter?” Lyra asked.

Sophia shook her head to clear her mind of haze. “I sense a shard deeper underground. I must find it.”

“The depths of Mosel are dangerous, young lady,” Arzei warned. “What you would encounter down there are much more dangerous than even what lies in the Urssa Lava Caves.”

“I’ll go with her,” Lyra offered. “I am her master, after all.”

“I’ll be going too,” Thanatas offered. “I’d be in trouble with the family if I let you die down there.” She knew that Sophia could handle herself, but she was also bored and wanted more action while there weren't a bunch of other fighters to compete for kills.

“Alright, you two can come with me while the rest of you can take the queen back to Peterny, we’ll wait for you there,” Sophia ordered.

Fayt knew better than to question Sophia at this point, so he simply nodded. “Be careful down there.”

The group and the royals left the table and filed out of the large stone door they entered from. The door closed behind them.

Only the hybrid, the templar pony and the undead knight remained.

“Well…” Sophia hesitated, “Guess we better get started.”

The three then proceeded toward one of the stone doors over the floor in the back of the room.

Depths of Mosel

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The group, now missing Sophia, Lyra and Thanatas, proceeded through the ruins defending two royals, King Arzei and Queen Romeria, as well as the elderly Count Woltar. With the enemies being easy to deal with, since they had superior numbers, Fayt found time to worry about Sophia. Arzei mentioned that the monsters beneath the ruins were very strong.

“Hey!” Cliff said, getting Fayt’s attention. “You’re worried about Sophia?”

“Well, yeah,” Fayt admitted. “The king did say the monsters beneath the ruins were really tough.”

Cliff shook his head in disappointment, “Kid, you worry too much. From what I’ve seen from Sophia, she can handle her own against most opponents. She also has two of the strongest members of our group with her. They’ll be fine.”

As Fayt thought about that, he suddenly felt a little foolish for doubting his childhood friend. “You’re right, It’s hard to imagine her losing at this point.”

Cliff smiled, “Attaboy, let’s get back to Peterny and relax for a bit while we wait for ‘em.”

Fayt nodded.

As if following instinct, Sophia wandered to the floor door on the east side of the room. When she pointed at the door, Thanatas pulled out her sword and channeled a strange blue energy before she stuck her sword on the door. The energy raced all over the door for a moment before it shattered, revealing a staircase leading downward.

The scent of moisture erupted from the unsealed door and greeted the trio’s senses. This told them that the area below was likely flooded.

Avoiding the debris from the door, the trio carefully walked down the stairs. It wasn’t long before they entered an area with no lighting, save for a number of strange spheres that appeared to be emitting an eerie green light. One of those orbs was emitting a rainbow-colored light. The orbs also appeared to behave erratically, as if they were alive. The trio had a feeling that the orbs were likely hostile.

With the area as dark as it was, and with the only lighting coming from hostile monsters, Lyra and Sophia generated their own light while Thanatas was able to see well in the dark on her own.

Before them stood a number of stone platforms connected by stone walkways. The cavernous interior was filled with water up to the platforms.

As the group explored the area, they mainly encountered some aquaregia that glowed green like the green-colored spheres. Their attack patterns were about the same, but they were noticeably stronger than the ones encountered on the way to Mosel. The mermaids’ attacks were still too slow to hit Lyra and Sophia while Thanatas parried the icy blades wielded by the creatures. One tried to freeze the undead knight with their Ice Needles spells and Ice Coffin ability, but she shrugged them off as if the cold never bothered her, to the mermaids’ surprise.

After clearing the area of hostile aquaregias who seemed determined to try their luck, the trio spent some time exploring the area and found that the only way forward relied on riding an aquatic-type hauler beast. Thankfully, the beast wasn’t hostile and was willing to ferry them wherever they needed to go.

With nothing else to do but wait for the hauler to reach its destination, the three talked among themselves.

“Hey, Thanatas…” Sophia began. “How come those creatures didn’t affect you when they tried to freeze you? I know you’re undead, but there has to be more than that.”

Thanatas chuckled. “You’re right, there is a trick that I can use to avoid freezing. I don’t simply have runes on my blade only. I also have runes inscribed on my body to keep it chilled and to allow me to thrive in the coldest of environments. They also keep me from burning up in hot environments. I am a walking corpse after all, and I’d prefer not to smell myself rotting.”

“I see…” Sophia mused before she asked another question, “Do you even remember when you were alive?”

“My past will remain a mystery for you for a while yet, at least unless you decide to rejoin the family.”

“Dangling a mystery in front of me to tempt me into joining?” Sophia huffed.

Thanatas shrugged. “Not like knowing about me changes anything. We tend to keep our personal information between ourselves in case someone outside the family actually finds a way to exploit us. Not likely, but you never know.”

Sophia rolled her eyes, “Whatever…” Since she wasn’t getting anything else from her undead companion, she figured that now would be a good time to confront Lyra about something. “So Lyra, what were you mentally discussing with Twilight about?”

Lyra tilted her head in confusion, “What do you mean?”

“I’ve read your mental conversations since a few days ago. Every now and then I’ve heard you mentioning things like ‘players’ and ‘puzzle dungeons’ and I even heard Twilight mention something about a secret project.”

Lyra tensed when she heard Sophia’s explanation. She nibbled on her thumb as she tried to think straight amid the panic swirling in her mind. “Damn, we got careless. I knew that you would start tapping into our mental conversations at some point, though I had hoped to notice some signs that you were learning something you shouldn’t. I will admit that you have an impressive poker face.”

“So what was that about?”

Lyra took a deep breath in order to calm herself. After a few moments, she managed to clear the haze of panic from her mind. “Since you’re not actually a denizen of this universe, I might be able to tell you. Just please don’t tell anyone, including your friends. I figured that Thanatas isn’t from this universe either, so I hope you won’t go blabbing.”

“I might, or I might not. Since this is Sophia’s adventure, I’ll leave the matter up to her to decide,” Thanatas said playfully.

Lyra hesitated for a moment, then proceeded to explain the true nature of the universe they were in and the fact that it was created by Twilight in order to experiment with Xel’naga universe making since the prior records were destroyed by a rogue Xel’naga. She also recounted some of her tales of living with the Protoss and how she became an honored hero to them.

“I see,” Thanatas mused. “Your universe is a cross of the Equestrian world that exists in the same universe as the Koprulu sector. Apparently, alicorns count as Xel’naga here. Based on what you told me, you also likely encountered Amon, that rogue Xel’naga you mentioned.”

“How did you know?” Lyra asked.

“I’m part of a family of multiverse travelers who have powers that seem based on some of the universes that we have experienced. Gerald’s powers were based on factors from the Koprulu sector, but he was unable to harness that power properly so it got passed down to his daughter, then Sophia.

“So we are knowledgeable of the events of the Koprulu sector, though the version we know is one without your involvement in their affairs.”

“So what are your powers based on?” Sophia asked.

“A certain point of time on a world called Azeroth.” Thanatas explained. “The time period involved two factions who hated each other, facing down an army of undead led by a maniac who wanted to end all life in the world. My powers are based on that maniac which gave me dominion over the dead. Though I have had my creative moments in improving on that.”

“Like what?”

“Like my frost runes and developing a resistance to holy energy. That’s why the holy energies of the chapel in the castle only made me uncomfortable at best. I also have this really fun transformation that I can do. If I find a good enough reason to show it, I will. Then I also have a PhD in chemistry and pathology, which means I know how to create some deadly diseases, as well as ways to treat or cure them.”

The tour of the caverns came to an abrupt end when the hauler reached a place where they could disembark. From their new position, they could see the stairs that they came down from to get into the cavern.

More importantly, they also spotted the silhouette of an enemy who appeared to be shaped like the mudman from Duggus Forest. Some illumination revealed that the creature was made of water.

The water elemental began its attack by launching fists of water at the trio who had to dodge them and move in. The elemental reformed its hands and tried to slam them down on Sophia and Lyra who separated to avoid them. It then launched another fist at Thanatas who blocked it by manifesting large skeletal wings from her back. An icy blue energy filled the gaps between each bone to fully block the elemental’s attack, pushing the undead knight back a couple of inches.

Unfortunately for the elemental, since it was susceptible to electricity, it was a bad match for Sophia and Lyra who unleashed Psionic Storms upon it which caused it to writhe in agony.

While the elemental tried to counterattack by launching fists at Sophia and Lyra, the attacks were blocked when the sound of an impact was heard nearby before a solid wall of bones erupted in front of them and blocked the punches. This gave the two templars a chance to finish the elemental off by zapping it until it stopped moving.

When the elemental was nothing but a lifeless puddle, tremors shook the cavern while the hauler beast swam away as quickly as it could. This was followed by the water level in the caverns lowering until the entire area was drained.

With the water drained, the caverns became fully accessible to exploration. Unfortunately, the aquatic denizens of the caverns, particularly fish and sharks, were very upset that the water was gone.

The aquatic creatures possessed the ability to float over the stone surface and just looking at the creatures from the platform they were on, they could tell that they were enraged.

As they walked down the ramp and began exploring the bottom of the cavern, the fish took notice of the intruders. The large fish in the area used what liquid they had in their bodies to shoot at the trio from far away. However, the distinct lack of lighting in the cave also negatively affected their accuracy so they often missed their shots entirely.

The sharks hunted down their prey with ferocity. Whenever one would spot the trio, it would charge at them at rapid speed to try and get a taste of flesh. Their fates, however, would lead them to becoming filets by their blades.

Sophia had a clever idea. Using her Shadow Walk ability, she snuck up on one of the large fish and wrapped her arms around its body. She then proceeded to aim the fish’s face at the other aquatic creatures in the area and squeezed her makeshift weapon, forcing it to shoot powerful shots of water from its mouth. The shots punched through the flesh of the other fish and sharks and sometimes left holes that went all the way through their bodies.

“Turning a fish into a makeshift gun? Impressive.” Lyra complimented.

The trio continued exploring the cavern floor, clearing it of fish and sharks. They also had to deal with the green orbs that seemed to pulse with energy. They also had to open new paths along the way by slashing pillars.

Eventually, the trio came across a sealed stone door. With no obvious way to open it, they had to look around for clues. Sophia knew that the shard she was looking for was somewhere beyond the door.

They quickly noticed a small prism crystal in the ground. However, there was no obvious way to know how it worked or if the crystal had anything to do with the door.

Sophia had to really think about this puzzle. She looked around the room and gazed at all the green orbs flying around along with the single rainbow orb that floated among them.

“Odd, why is that thing colored differently than all of the others in the room,” Sophia wondered. She glanced at the crystal then at the rainbow creature and hummed as she developed her hypothesis. “Worth a shot…”

“You have an idea?” Lyra asked.

“Maybe, but it would mean luring that rainbow-colored orb to the prism crystal here.”

“I’ll get him,” Thanatas said before she pointed the tip of her sword at the rainbow creature. A black bolt of energy rushed out of the blade and wrapped around the creature nearly instantly. The energy then yanked the creature to their position and over the prism crystal. A rotating magic circle appeared around the crystal briefly then disappeared. The door that would lead them further into the ruins opened for them.

Before they could proceed further, however, the spherical creature suddenly transformed into a giant, transparent, three-headed, floating lizard that rapidly shifted between the different colors of the rainbow. The beast roared in challenge.

The tentacles that composed the monster’s lower body lit up at the tips with electricity. It then attempted to flail around with the tentacles, intending to shock them. The trio managed to back away while Lyra followed up by slashing off two of its tentacles, receiving a slight shock for her efforts. The missing limbs vanished while two more instantly regrew from where Lyra severed them.

“This thing has fast recovery. Even hydras don’t regenerate that fast,” Lyra said with a mix of awe and frustration.

“Any weaknesses?” Sophia asked.

Lyra performed a quick scan of the monster. “It seems to be weak to earth based spells and attacks.”

The monster’s tentacles lit up again, along with its left and right mouths. It was planning to unleash a lot of electricity into the area.

Sophia countered with a quick Earth Glaive where a pair of rocky spires stabbed the creature who roared in pain. As the beast tried to recover, Sophia followed up with a Crush spell which dropped the massive weight on the monster. Bunnies fled from the area.

Sophia wouldn’t let up with the spells as she showered the area around the monster briefly with an Acid Rain symbol which reduced its pain tolerance before she summoned a giant rock above the monster which quickly broke up and showered stone on it. While the creature was being pelted by rocks, Sophia jumped between the falling rocks and used her blades to slash the monster’s three heads off before blasting the body with psionic energy.

The light monster shattered into crystal shards.

Thanatas whistled, impressed by Sophia’s ruthlessness. “Not bad!”

Nothing else was said as the trio proceeded through the door and deeper into the ruins.

Beyond the door, the appearance of the new area closely resembled the ruins above in terms of architecture. The monsters that dwelled in the area were also different. In the next room, they encountered some form of bipedal black-colored spirit that floated around and emitted purple flames as well as more of those odd living spheres, except these emitted yellow light.

Lyra handled the spirit with her superior speed while Thanatas handled the spheres by revealing her bone wings again and slammed the tips into the ground. A series of bone spikes erupted from the ground beneath the creatures and impaled them.

The next room housed a very large and very rotund demon. It had brown fur over most of its body with its head and shoulders having white fur. Its horns, six wings and its claws were all scarlet. Its horns were at least half the length of its giant arms with its tail being longer.

Fighting the demon proved to be a small challenge as they had to avoid its deadly breath that could either poison or outright kill, as Thanatas warned. Lyra jumped up on the demon’s back and grabbed its horns while forcing it to move in the direction she wanted, which was into a wall. Lyra jumped off before the impact.

With the demon stunned, Sophia took the opportunity to viciously attack the beast by cutting off its tail, which resulted in the beast roaring in pain. Lyra jumped back onto its back and sliced off its horns before she grabbed them and forced them into its back. With its soul’s tether to its body weakening, Thanatas pointed her sword at the demon and launched a number of hollow spirits which assaulted the weakened demon’s soul. With its soul adequately weakened, she forced the demon’s soul from its body and into her sword.

Once the demon vanished, the trio continued their exploration. Sophia could feel the shard on the same level that they were on so it was a matter of looking around. As they explored, they found more fire spirits and large demons.

“So you said that we are in an experimental universe, but what does that entail? Are Fayt and the others artificial beings as well?”

“I can’t give you the full details because only Twilight knows them and the things I do know are more or less general knowledge among the player base,” Lyra explained. “But to answer your question, yes they are and I think that if you told them that, they might have a bit of an existential crisis.”

“Yeah, anyone would…” Sophia mused. “I wonder how Fayt would have turned out if I wasn’t around?”

“Probably a little more willing to take charge but still whiny at the beginning,” Lyra guessed. “I’m sure you don’t know this, but from what Twilight told me, your arrival in this universe also resulted in the death of the Esteeds’ birth daughter. Somehow, your foster parents are convinced that you are their birth daughter.”

“How do you know?” Sophia asked.

“Because Twilight detected the rift that brought you into this universe and somehow the original Sophia’s data got erased. I have a feeling that your grandfather hacked the Esteeds somehow.”

“It’s possible,” Thanatas said. “Gerald does have a knack for hacking into systems.”

Lyra narrowed her eyes at Thanatas. “Wait, if Gerald can hack into our systems, is he the one messing with the Eternal Sphere?”

Thanatas waved her hand dismissively, “Nah, doing something malicious that could have a negative effect on those we have to protect to preserve the universe’s timeline is not the way the family does things. The only thing he’d be guilty of is hacking the Esteeds.”

“So why leave me with them in the first place?” Sophia demanded.

“That you will have to find out for yourself. I’m sure Gerald left that explanation on one of the shards somewhere.”

The conversation left Sophia frustrated with a number of unanswered questions. She looked at the bracelet on her wrist and suddenly felt more eager to have it removed. She knew that her grandfather intended to test her skills somehow, so she would have to wait until she found one of the other two shards to get her answers.

The trio was sure that they were moving in a sort of spiral pattern as they explored the ruins, if their sense of direction told them anything. They had a feeling that their destination was in the center of the ruins.

They soon entered a room that had three beings who looked ready to fight them. One was a yellow aquaregia, another was a blue fire spirit and the third was a bouncing child wearing a brown outfit and a brown cap with a large golden feather sticking out of it. He also wielded what looked like a pair of wings in the form of a bow.

“Hail to the…” the child shouted at first but quickly drifted off. “Wait, is that Lyra?!”

“Lyra? You mean Templar Master Lyra?” the fire spirit asked in shock.

“That can’t be…” the aquaregia denied. “I know for a fact that Lyra isn’t an employee of Sphere, so how can she be here with level two access?”

“I take it that you three are players?” Lyra asked.

“Yeah, we were leveling around here to get ready for the new arena season,” the child explained. “We need to get really strong if we’re going to take on the champions, Diamond Crown and Solar Point.

“I really am living in an MMO, arent I?” Sophia mentally asked Lyra.

“Yep, we even have a whole town that hosts some features of the Eternal Sphere,” Lyra said.

“Hey, uh, I know this is sudden, but…” the boy said awkwardly. “Could we have a duel with you three? We wanna see how far we’ve come.”

Lyra raised an eyebrow, her scan of the trio revealed that they were tough, but not nearly as tough as herself or her companions. She decided to humor them anyway. “Alright, but I hope you three can keep up.”

“Cool. Alright guys, let’s get’em!”

The child charged at Lyra while the aquaregia attacked Sophia and the fire spirit attacked Thanatas.

The aquaregia attempted a downward slash on Sophia who blocked it with an energy blade. As the two clashed, the mermaid’s eyes widened before she floated back a fair distance. “Wait, that energy blade! Are you one of Master Lyra’s apprentices?!”

“Yeah, so what?” Sophia answered.

“Oh, buck me!” she cursed.

In her panic, the aquaregia began to strike at Sophia out of desperation, recklessly slashing at her with her weapon while trying to freeze her with her Ice Coffin ability.

In her recklessness, she failed to notice that she was fighting a psionically generated image while the real Sophia snuck around, grabbed the mermaid by the tail and threw her over her shoulder to slam her into the floor.

Looking in horror at the orb of psionic energy pointed at her the aquaregia screamed, “I give up!”

The fire spirit fared worse than the aquaregia. When he tried to unleash a few magically conjured meteors at Thanatas, she unleashed a sphere of ice from her mouth that exploded over a wide area, freezing everything caught in the blast, including the meteors and the spirit. Thanatas batted the meteors aside where they impacted on the walls.

The spirit cried out his surrender.

The child unleashed a tornado around himself in an attempt to hurt Lyra. He moved around and tried to catch everyone he could while maintaining the twister in a desperate bid for victory. Eventually, he exhausted himself and was forced to stop channeling the winds.

As he gathered his breath, a pair of energy blades appeared around his neck with the mare in front of him giving him a look that dared him to make another move. To his disappointment, Lyra looked unharmed.

“Okay, okay…we surrender!” The boy cried out. “Wow you guys are good. You should really go to Gemity sometime and try out the arena. I bet you guys could take down the champs if you wanted.”

“We’ll think about it,” Lyra offered.

With that, the trio proceeded to the next room with the spirit trio going elsewhere to level up some more.

The next room featured a four by four series of statue pedestals. As they entered, from left to right in the back row, a black thief statue, a black warrior statue, and a black symbologist statue appeared.

“This is a runic chess board,” Lyra said. “I can handle this part.”

As Lyra played her game, Sophia saw the Ihan Crystal shard that she was looking for sitting on the left throne of two thrones in the back of the room. She quickly walked around the chess board and approached the throne to collect the shard so they could leave the place behind.

What Sophia wasn’t expecting was for the shard to activate on its own and hurl her consciousness from her body on the spot.

The next thing Sophia knew, she found herself on the floor of what appeared, from the interior design, to be a Federation ship. More specifically, it appeared to be the lounge of the transport ship Helre.

Some small part of her had to wonder if she dreamed up her adventures on Elicoor, but she banished those thoughts as she found herself alone in the lounge. Her grandfather mentioned in the last vision that he intended to test her. She couldn’t help but wonder if this was part of his test or when the test would actually begin.

The door to the lounge opened and Gerald strode inside. As the door closed behind him, he took a deep breath. “I apologize for abruptly sending you into this memory. I assure you that this is the only one of the set that will do that to you. I needed the crystal activated right away as I figured at this point that your days on Elicoor II are coming to an end soon. I need you to view all seven of these shards before you leave the planet.

“As I told you in the previous memory, I intend to test your ability to lead others to victory in battle. This ship was manifested from your memories and shall serve as our waiting room between matches.

“The matches shall be simulations where I shall lead my own forces against yours in multiple scenarios. I shall give no quarter to you, nor shall I expect any mercy from you. We shall pit armies of humans, Protoss and Zerg against one another and I will try to stack the odds against you, yet you must prevail if you wish to inherit my forces.”

“How do you know that I want your forces,” Sophia asked.

Gerald chuckled, “Do not deny your desires, my granddaughter. The Zerg part of your heritage would see me as a pack leader to be disposed of and my pack to be integrated into your own. That is the way of the Zerg. I know that the Protoss side of your heritage is practically shuddering in anticipation of a challenge while your humanity is making sure to keep the other two sides in check to make sure you don’t come at me recklessly.”

Sophia could only growl at that. The worst part of it was that he was right about her desires. She wanted to crush him and his forces and make them her own. “Alright, so when do we begin?” she asked.

“Right now.” The scenery from the ship disappeared and she found herself standing on a metal platform hovering in the middle of space. At first, she was afraid that she was going to asphyxiate until she realized that she was still experiencing the world in the shard.

Gerald chuckled, “You were probably thinking why I would send us to an orbital platform devoid of atmosphere. The suits worn by my human soldiers allow them air to breathe and systems to recycle the exhaled air and convert it to oxygen again. Zerg have the ability to survive in the vacuum of space while Protoss use their psionic power and plasma shields to survive the void. Since this is only a memory, you have no need to breathe.

“One other thing, worry not about your allies outside the memory. The time discrepancy between this memory and the world outside is such that by the time the memory finishes, your allies will have just finished the last bit of exploration in the ruins.

“Now then, use what you have learned of the three races. Recognize their strengths, their weaknesses, and how to use them to your advantage and defeat me.”

The memory progressed for what felt like a very long time. She was given the seeds of armies in the form of either human, Zerg or Protoss forces. She was given scenarios where her decisions would mean the difference between victory or defeat. Gerald had outsmarted her and claimed victory many times, sometimes from the jaws of defeat. However, Sophia learned from her mistakes. She learned from her defeats. She learned what she could have done better, even in times that she emerged victorious.

As time went on, even when it felt like she was in the shard for years, she knew that mere seconds had gone by in reality. At first her record of victories and defeats were skewed greatly in Gerald’s favor, but time had allowed her to study her foe and her own resources. There were times where she was given nothing and had to survive her grandfather’s forces hunting her until either reinforcements arrived or she utilized her own stealth techniques to defeat the enemy.

She was thankful for those times in between matches where she could rest her mind before the next scenario. She was glad to be able to taste her favorite drink of choice, raspberry mint tea, as a means to relax and calm her mind.

Soon, after what felt like a decade had passed, her record showed in her favor. She began to emerge victorious far more often than she was defeated and those losses became fewer and far in between until Gerald, a master strategist in his own right, became frustrated that his granddaughter could outwit him at every turn, almost as if she had learned everything he could teach her and that she had surpassed him in strategy and tactics.

As one last scenario, Gerald had allowed Sophia to command three bases, one of each race, and have her emerge victorious against a large number of enemy bases in one area. To many this would seem unfair, but Sophia had mastered the strengths and weaknesses of the three factions and had learned to bring them together to cover each other’s weaknesses.

One by one, Gerald’s bases fell as his offensives were broken up through weak points that Sophia had learned to identify. She stole Gerald’s resources and used them against him. Despite having Zerg genes within him, Gerald had discovered the limitations of his ability to adapt to his enemy while his granddaughter showed no signs of reaching such limits.

And he couldn’t have been more proud.

With the last base fallen, the two returned to the Helre. Gerald approached Sophia and smiled as he bowed gracefully to her. “Congratulations, you have surpassed your old man in tactical prowess. Whatever you may choose to do with your life going forward, know that you have my support. The next shard will be the one that will answer your questions of why you were sent to live with the Esteeds. Look forward to it.

The next thing Sophia knew, she was suddenly back in the Ruins of Mosel. She was very disoriented after experiencing the memory in the shard for what felt like a decade. She looked around to find a reflective surface to look at to remind her that she had not aged one bit.

“What’s with you?” Thanatas asked. “You were staring off into space for a few minutes and when you came to, you acted like you had no idea where you were.”

Sophia glared at Thanatas. “You try compressing a decade of military experience into a few minutes and see how you feel after that,” she snapped.

“Wow, that’s the most efficient form of teaching I’ve ever heard. Anyway, while you were getting schooled, Lyra opened a set of stairs where that chessboard used to be and we found a treasure room. There’s some gold and jewels in there, but Lyra said that the treasure wouldn’t be useful to us. Though we did find another of those weird books with a few words in it. It had the number ‘four’ on the spine.”

“What’s it say?”

“shall likeness first second the”

Sophia raised an eyebrow. “That makes no sense.”

Thanatas shrugged, “Agreed. Anyway, looks like we’ve gone as far as we can get here so it’s time to head back.

Sophia nodded while Lyra joined them seconds later with the book. The two templars braced themselves for another ride through the sensory void as Thanatas created another bone cage around them and they sank into the ground.

The Barr Mountains

View Online

The trek back to Peterny was a long one. The sun had begun to set by the time the weary travelers had returned to Peterny, but there was still time left to travel.

On the way to the trading town, the group agreed that they would borrow a wagon and drive it to Airyglyph. There, they would pick up Albel and spend the night in the city.

Clair, Tynave and Farleen awaited the group at the west gate of the town. Once the group arrived, Romeria walked away from the group to join Clair’s group.

Nel smiled as she addressed her superior, “I leave Her Majesty in your hands.”

“Of course,” Clair responded.

“I do not believe this is a trap, but nevertheless, be careful,” Romeria warned.

As they said their goodbyes, Clair’s group walked away to begin the last leg of Romeria’s return trip to Aquios.

Not even a few minutes passed before the group heard a soft rumbling nearby outside the gate. Looking back into the wilderness, they saw the same ominous skeletal cage that they rode back at the Shrine of Kaddan. The bones retracted back into the ground to reveal Sophia and Thanatas, as well as a nauseous looking Lyra. “Ugh, I’ll never get used to that…'' Lyra moaned.

Twilight placed a gentle hand on Lyra’s shoulder as she addressed her companion, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah…I just…ugh…need a moment.”

It took about a minute for the aquamarine mare to regain her composure. She took a deep breath then let it out. “Alright, let’s continue. We can explain what happened on the way to Airyglyph.”

About twenty minutes later, the group had boarded a wagon that was large enough to carry all twelve members of the group and Nel took the driver’s seat. Nel flicked the reins and they were off.

On the way to Airyglyph, Sophia mostly explained what happened in the depths of Mosel. She was especially careful to leave out the world-shattering parts that she learned down there. At the same time, a psychic conversation was had between Sophia, Lyra and Twilight.

“To begin with, Sophia’s been tapping into our psychic conversations for the past few days,” Lyra began.

“What?!” Twilight mentally shrieked. “This is bad! This is really bad! This means that she may know about things she’s not supposed to know about!”

“Would you calm down?” Sophia demanded. “Neither myself, nor Thanatas, intend on giving away your secrets. I don’t know about Thanatas, but my mind is pretty secure by this point and will continue becoming so as my powers develop.”

“You don’t understand, I never even told Lyra much of anything about my top secret projects! Now my secrets might be compromised because of your power!” Twilight began to hyperventilate, leaving the others in the wagon to question her behavior.

It took the combined effort of both templars to psychically soothe the alicorn’s panicked mind.

“Are you okay?” Cliff asked.

“Yeah, I just remembered something important that I forgot to do back home,” Twilight lied. Thankfully, the others bought her story.

“This is not the time for you to start Twilighting,” Lyra scolded. “We still need to see to the safety of the three Leingod experiments.”

“Twilighting?” Sophia asked. Twilight looked away, doing her best to avoid revealing her blush.

“Twilight’s always been prone to fits of panic attacks since I’ve known her,” Lyra explained. “I think it has to do with her upbringing. She has gotten better over the centuries, but they do surface every now and then.” Twilight did her best not to pout in front of everyone.

Sophia continued with the conversation. “So I’ve heard that this universe is something that you made as an experiment because the previous records were destroyed by some Xel’naga named Amon. But why do you treat it like an MMORPG?”

Twilight paused for a moment to gather her thoughts. She stared at Sophia and tried her best to get comfortable. “Creating universes and nurturing them are the primary functions of the Xel’naga. Without the records written by our predecessors, as well as the fact that we alicorns are the last of the Xel’naga, we have to carry on the traditions of our predecessors blind. Our methods will never be the same as our predecessors so we can only make guesses in order to keep the Infinite Cycle going.”

“Infinite Cycle?”

“The Xel’naga create a universe and populate it with life. We then choose two races from that universe and nurture them. One race must possess great psychic power, while the other must be capable of great change. As the two races are nurtured by the Xel’naga, they are eventually brought together over the millennia. One day, beings would be born from the two races coming together and possess characteristics of both races: powerful psychic power, and the ability to change and adapt. From those born with those traits, the Xel’naga give the chosen their essence where they would ascend to become a Xel’naga and carry on the Infinite Cycle.”

“Sounds like a strange and convoluted type of reproduction,” Sophia commented.

“It does, though we ponies seem to break the mold in some ways. My old foalsitter, who is also a Xel’naga, actually gave birth to one.”

“So if you Xel’naga can reproduce normally, why the Eternal Sphere?”

“Because I wanted to try to recreate the records as best as I could and give us and future Xel’naga a purpose. I don’t imagine us ruling our nation forever. I founded a research institute for the purpose of creating and maintaining the Eternal Sphere. However, running an institute doesn’t come free, so I had to repurpose the universe as a subscription based MMORPG in order to keep us funded. Government funds could only get us so far, but since maintaining the universe requires cutting edge technology, the upkeep would have impacted the national budget.”

“What do you plan to do with the Eternal Sphere? What’s your endgame?” Sophia asked.

“I want the Eternal Sphere to become an independent universe, I just need to figure out how to do that. If I can make the universe independent, I will seek out psychic and chaotic races within the Eternal Sphere and try to nurture their development, provided that such races were created.”

“And if not?”

Twilight sighed, “Then I will just have to try again.”

Eventually, the wagon came to a stop and everyone emerged from the wagon to be greeted by the bone-chilling winter winds of the Traum Mountain Path.

As they walked toward Airyglyph City, the group was relieved that the guards were being cooperative in allowing the group into the city.

Twilight’s communicator went off again which meant that it was time to add on three more inventors to the list of people that she needed to recruit later. She pulled out the device from her pocket and opened it up to see the new profiles.

The first on the list was an impressive chef in many ways, both good and bad. The creature was known as a drowglynn, an odd-behaving race with green skin, who didn’t give a proper name for his profile. Instead, he went by the disturbing name, Killer Chef. The description did not give Twilight confidence that she wanted to be anywhere near him as the summary included the words ‘blood’ and ‘violence’. The description led Twilight to believe that the artisan’s guild had recruited a psycho chef.

Thanatas looked over Twilight’s shoulder to see what she was reading. “Hey, I know that guy! I saw him wandering around Surferio. He gave off this vibe that made me want to recruit him for the body choppers division of my flesh golem assembly line, despite him being alive.”

Twilight’s face turned green. “Uhp…too much information, Thanatas.”

The death knight decided to leave Twilight alone for the time being since she likely had enough to think about anyway.

Twilight discovered that the only thing that Killer Chef wanted was a keenly sharp kitchen knife, but a tool of such quality did not exist on Elicoor.

Still, the profile indicated that he was a cooking prodigy with one of the best ratings in his field.

Up next was another disturbing case. This one appeared human at first glance, but he wasn’t. He dressed in black and gray and carried around a bat umbrella. More off-putting were his dichromatic eyes: one golden, one scarlet. His name was Cornelius and he applied to the artisan’s guild as a writer. Though his level of talent was somewhat decent. He also had difficulty finding the right words to say a lot of the time, so perhaps a dictionary might help him out.

The last entry was, thankfully, not disturbing. This one was a middle-aged menodix named Balbados. He was an appraiser of antiques who had honed his craft over the years. He tried running a business in a human town once but failed miserably. Still, he was a peddler but was unlikely to take handouts. If she could find something worth appraising, however, he might see things her way.

Balbados was last seen traveling the Mosel desert. Twilight didn’t have a reason to go back there, so she simply kept the general location in mind for now.

On the way to the castle though, Twilight did make a few detours, offering a young blacksmith named Lias some startup money for a contract. She also, reluctantly, showed a fake bomb to the senile old man, Dejison, wandering the streets. She really didn’t want to, but she also wanted to give each inventor their fair chance.

With those small matters out of the way, the group approached the entrance to the castle. The guards barred their way, demanding that they identify themselves.

“We are here on request from His Majesty to pick up Albel Nox so that he may accompany us on an important task. My name is Sophia Esteed.”

The guards looked at each other, recalling their orders. “Wait here,” one guard ordered before he went inside the castle to check their claim. The guard returned a few minutes later. “Count Woltar is expecting you inside. He will lead you to Albel.”

Woltar waited for the group at the entrance. “Welcome to Castle Airyglyph. Follow me and I’ll take you to Albel.”

The interior resembled that of an early medieval castle. The stonework was a little rough and showed to favor practicality over elegance, unlike Castle Aquaria. The hallways were spartan, there was little to no decor around. In the sense of the stonework, it somewhat reminded Twilight a little of the Castle of the Two Sisters.

While everyone else was looking around the castle like tourists, Lyra was focused on following Woltar. The Count noticed this, and he felt the need to ask, “Young lady, you seem to behave as if you have been here before, unlike the others?”

“I was, I was actually wandering the castle freely as I was busting Fayt and Cliff out of your dungeon. I also got to explore most of the castle, including the throne room,” Lyra said.

The implications were not lost on Woltar as he paled a little. The mare behind him could have easily assassinated the king and the three brigade leaders in one fell swoop if she wanted to back then. It was then that he deeply regretted asking Lyra that question and remained silent as they entered the dungeons. He was also glad that she was no longer their enemy.

It was only after a minute of walking that Woltar had brought the group to Albel’s cell. He used the keys he had on him to open the cell. “Albel is in here.” He then opened the door and went inside with the others behind him.

The interior of the cell was much like the majority of the castle, spartan and nothing remarkable. Albel stood by a wall in his cell with his arms bound in manacles that kept his arms raised. The chains of his bindings went through a hook on the ceiling.

“Wait here,” Woltar ordered before he approached the prisoner. “I’ve got an errand for you, boy.”

Albel slowly raised his head to look Woltar in the eyes. “What?”

“You have been given a mission to accompany these people to the Urssa Lava Caves. If you complete this task, you will be acquitted of all charges.”

Albel looked at the group in surprise. “With those scum!? Those…Aquarian scum!?”

“Nice to see you again too,” Sophia replied dryly.

“Do you not remember that they are the enemy, you senile old fool!?”

“Airyglyph and Aquaria are currently observing a truce,” Woltar explained.

“Impossible! There’s no way that warmonger would ever permit a truce!” Albel growled.

“Vox is no more,” Woltar stated.

“What!? Did they end him?”

“While they did engage him in battle, the killing blow was dealt by another.”

“Who? Other than these Aquarians and myself, there’s nobody else in this world who could possibly–”

“The enemy is not of this world,” Woltar quickly said.

“You really are senile! From another world? Stop with this pointless attempt at humor!”

“A lot of us aren’t from this world either and we can prove our claims if necessary,” Sophia said. “That metal object that crashed into the city, for example, uses technology that not even Greeton is capable of yet.”

“Tch! Whatever. So tell me you old fool, why should I take them to the Urssa Lava Caves?”

“In order to combat the enemy, we must unite the power of our air dragons with Aquaria’s runological weapons. But their strongest weapon requires the cooperation of the Marquis in order to bring it into the sky.”

“The Marquis!? That monster!? What you ask of me is suicide!”

Woltar turned away and smirked, “The way you brag about your skills, I would think that the Marquis would be no match for you. Am I wrong, Albel the Wicked?” He then nodded to a nearby guard who walked up to Albel and undid his manacles.

“Rotten old man…” Albel grumbled.

“I’m sure your father would have risen to the challenge, and you will have the assistance of many powerful allies. If you work together, I’m sure you will be able to overcome him.”

“Don’t you dare use my father’s name to provoke me!” Albel snarled as he grabbed Woltar by the collar.

“Make no mistake boy, a new, incredibly powerful enemy has appeared,” Woltar warned. “They seek to plunder this world and they are capable of wiping out everyone. No more Aquaria and no more Airyglyph; this world will be wiped clean, if you fail.”

Albel forcefully released Woltar and growled in resignation, “Then I must go.”

Woltar turned to the group. “Looks like everything is in order now, try to get along.”

Albel begrudgingly walked toward the door but momentarily stopped when Nel spoke. “I don’t like this any more than you do, Albel. But Her Majesty has given the order and I must obey.” She smirked, “Just don’t get in our way.”

“Bah!” Albel spat.

“We’ll be spending a night at the Airyglyph inn before we head out to the Barr Mountains,” Sophia said.

“Fine by me, I need to get this arm repaired before it can be of any use to me.”

Woltar returned to his room in the castle while the group, now with Albel, headed to the barely warmed inn in town to get some sleep before the big day tomorrow.

Sophia woke up in the middle of the night when she sensed someone trying to get into her room. She frowned and got out of bed to address the would-be intruder. The door soon opened slowly and Albel, his weapon at the ready, tried to sneak in…

…Only to find Sophia in the middle of the room glaring at him. He clicked his tongue and put his sword away.

Sophia noticed that Albel’s left arm was missing, likely after pressuring the local blacksmith to do an overnight repair job on it.

“What do you want, Albel?” Sophia asked warily.

“Come with me, don’t ask questions,” Albel demanded.

Sophia could feel the anxiety from the man before her. The intensity of it felt like sitting too close to a blazing fireplace. He was definitely worried about something. She shrugged and followed the angsty warrior into an alley beside the inn.

Albel looked around to make sure there was nobody else but himself and Sophia. Once satisfied, he turned to face the templar.

“Ready to explain why you were trying to break into my room?” Sophia asked.

“Do you hate me?” Albel asked, ignoring Sophia’s question.

“You pulled me out here just to ask me that?” Sophia dryly asked.

“Just answer the question, fool.”

Sophia rolled her eyes, “You want my honest opinion? No, I don’t hate you. It’s more like I pity you. You are the most insecure person I have ever met. It seems like you lost your way when you lost your father and your arm to some dragon. I know you want to be rid of those insecurities because deep down you know that’s what led to the incident. You hide your anxieties by pushing everyone away by acting all edgy toward everyone. You fear that you will lose any friends you make one way or another so you make yourself out to be the biggest jerk in the world just so you can avoid the pain of loss like you felt when your father died. I can tell that you are not at all honest with yourself either because I sensed that glimmer of elation when Woltar came in to bail you out of prison.”

“You think you know me so well, don’t you?” Albel growled.

“It’s not hard when your mind is an open book to me. And before you try pulling out that sword and attacking me in frustration which will only serve to prove that I was correct in my analysis of you, I will make you a promise that everything that was said in this alley stays in this alley.”

Albel wasn’t sure he could trust Sophia to keep her word. He was far from ready to open his heart to anyone. However, since she already knew so much about him, he figured that he might as well talk more about his problems.

“Fine! So tell me, how should I deal with my insecurities since you know so much?” Albel asked sarcastically.

Another eye roll, “Obviously, having friends around to support you would help. But you will also need to forgive yourself for your father’s death. What happened in that incident was an unfortunate accident and you simply weren’t ready to bond with a dragon, a fatal mistake that your father made. You aren’t going to be able to move forward with your life until you are able to forgive yourself. I can’t tell you how to do that because that’s something you will have to work out on your own.”

Albel growled softly as he looked toward a nearby wall. The city was silent for a moment. “You have…given me a lot to think about. I’m going back inside and I suggest you do the same if you want to avoid freezing to death.” He then walked out of the alley and back toward the inn door.

“Good night to you too, Albel.” Sophia said. She then followed the angsty warrior back into the inn.

The next morning, the group got ready to leave. Albel returned to the local blacksmith, mentally bracing himself for the excruciating pain that he was about to experience when they reattached his metal arm. The others stocked up on necessary supplies before they regrouped at the gates of Airyglyph.

Outside the gates, they noticed a mounted Dragon Brigade soldier standing guard in the area. As the group approached him, the guard addressed them, “If you are the travelers who came here on that wagon that was parked here, we had that placed in storage. The road between here and Kirlsa has become more dangerous as of late with territorial porcupines migrating into the area.”

“Porcupines?” Fayt questioned.

“They may be small, but they are a major hazard to travelers. Their quills could easily destroy the wheels of a wagon,” Nel explained.

“Nothing but vermin who have yet to learn their place,” Albel commented.

“Looks like we’re walking to the Barr Mountains,” Sophia said.

The group of thirteen traveled down the road that most of them have traveled before. However, they also had to deal with the new creatures that had moved in. Among them were armored humanoids that walked while crouched down and carried axes. Nel called them kobolds. There were also more berserkers, tarantulas that looked much tougher than the ones encountered on the way to Aquaria, more monster trees and the previously mentioned porcupines.

It turned out that the little beasts were more resilient and dangerous than the skeptics gave them credit as their quills could pierce armor and they were like buzzsaws as they rolled around. The power of their quills was demonstrated when one launched a few at the group who dodged and allowed them to deeply punch into the bark of a monster tree behind them.

Albel’s serpentine movements allowed him to dodge the quills and use his katana to throw the beasts into the air where Maria blasted them repeatedly with her gun. The porcupines vanished before they landed.

Fayt and Adray burned the trees down with their Blazing Sword and Efreet spell respectively. Cliff and Roger worked together to take out the berserkers while Peppita dealt with the kobolds by creating an illusory star with her magic and smashed it against them.

The group had time to take a break when they reached Kirlsa. Since they needed to go toward the Bequerel Mine, they would have to use the Kirlsa Caverns to get there.

Meanwhile, Twilight had some more inventors to recruit. She found the chef Rigel scrutinizing the ingredients in a local grocery store while silently complaining about her hunger. Twilight was glad that Grape had distributed food preservation capsules to the workshops on the continent because she figured that the dish that Roger and Peppita invented would have ruined by now otherwise.

Twilight presented Rigel with the curry dish, looking as fresh as if straight from the kitchen. Rigel looked at it with wide eyes and some drool escaping her lips. Twilight made the deal and Rigel signed on while leaving the starving noblewoman to chow down in the middle of the grocery store.

Albel saw the dish that Twilight presented and remarked that it looked a lot better than what the wenches at the Black Brigade base served. This reminded Twilight of something important and told everyone to wait in town for a few more minutes before she vanished in a flash of light and a ring of a bell.

The same sight and sound invaded their senses again a few minutes later to announce her return. She was slightly tired from the back to back long-distance teleportations, but she said that she would be fine in a few minutes. When asked, Twilight mentioned recruiting another chef to the roster of inventors.

Once ready, the group entered the Kirlsa Caverns where they returned to the control panel. They borrowed a series of haulers to reach the exit where Gregory continued to stand guard.

As they started to leave though, Gregory got their attention. “You are the ones who helped me clear out the tunnels a few days ago. I never got to repay you for your efforts.”

“It was nothing, really,” Fayt humbly replied. “You don’t need to repay us.”

“I insist, young man.” Gregory then pulled out an old-looking necklace from his armor and handed it to Fayt. “I found this while I was inspecting the tunnels. I have no need for it so you may have it. If you want, you can take it to an appraiser and see how much you can get for it.” He forced it into Fayt’s hands before he returned to stand guard in the area. He didn’t seem inclined to answer any more questions.

Fayt put the necklace in his pocket for the time being before they exited the caverns and entered the Bequerel Mountain Path.

As it turned out, the same creatures that had migrated into the Traum Mountain Path had also driven out the creatures wandering around the Bequerel Mountain Path, forcing the group to fight through more porcupines, trees, berserkers and kobolds as they make their way past the Bequerel Mine entrance and up the pass to the Barr Mountains. Once they entered the mountain pass, the creatures from before stopped harassing the group.

“Looks like they won’t follow us this far,” Cliff noticed.

“That’s because the dragons claim this area, fool,” Albel said. “They wouldn’t dare encroach upon the dragons’ territory.”

Cliff shrugged, “Fair point.”

The path forked many times during their exploration of the mountain area. Along the way, they encountered more of the small-winged dragons like the ones they encountered in the Bequerel Mine. These had tougher scales though. However, they attacked the same way as what they encountered before so they weren’t as challenging as before.

They also encountered hostile miniature dragons. They moved fast and they were determined to pick a fight with those who had invaded their territory.

“Do we have to fight them?” Twilight asked.

“They won’t let us go without one,” Nel said.

Twilight had reservations about fighting the little dragons as they reminded her of Spike when he was young. She felt bad that they had to invade their territory, but she knew that they had no choice if they wanted to meet the Marquis.

Albel grabbed one of the mini-dragons by the neck and lifted it before unleashing a blast from his palm, obliterating it.

This path continued as they traversed the twisting, winding, treacherous pathways of the Barr Mountain Path. They encountered more brass-colored dragons and mini dragons. They also encountered flying dragons like the ones the Dragon Brigade rode. About the only creatures in the area that weren’t dragons were red porcupines who were a little tougher than the ones from before.

They quickly realized that the area was also the porcupines’ nesting area because they also encountered juvenile porcupines, except these were blue.

Their exploration soon took them to a small area with a number of dragon bones scattered about and a flying dragon was drifting around the area like a vulture.

Fayt was the last to notice the dragon and in his carelessness, ended up grabbed by the talons of the dragon and carried off somewhere.

“Careless fool!” Albel grumbled.

“We need to go after him,” Sophia said.

“How are we gonna do that? None of us can fly,” Cliff said.

“I got it,” Thanatas declared before she raised her sword into the air and channeled necromantic energy into the bones in the area. The bones assembled themselves into four skeletal dragons, though some were missing some bones since some were lost over the years. They were still in good shape to allow the group to ride them after Fayt.

Since there were four dragons, each of them had to bear three riders. Once boarded, the dragons flapped their skeletal wings, which had the support of Thanatas’ magic, to allow them to lift. The group was soon airborne and chased after Fayt.

It wasn’t long before they noticed that the dragon they were chasing dropped Fayt into an area teeming with mini-dragons. The little ones looked ready to swarm Fayt and have him for their next meal.

As the small dragons closed in on their prey, Sophia landed between them and glared at the dragons. To even her own surprise, the little ones bowed their heads and respectfully backed away. Fayt finally had time to recover his wits after being abducted and dropped into a nest and rose from where he lay.

“Thanks for the save, Sophia. How did you make them back off, though?” Fayt asked.

“I’m not sure…I wanted to use some of my psychic power to force them to back off, though I didn’t expect them to do so as if I were their master.”

“You probably mixed some of your Zerg abilities with your psychic power to exert a sort of dominant aura on instinct,” Thanatas hypothesized as she glided down to the ground with her wings. The others landed with as much grace as they could manage which meant, in Roger’s case, a face plant into the ground.

“Huh,” Sophia hummed. “I wasn’t sure at first about mixing the two types of powers, but when I did it felt so right.” She also considered when she was in the previous shard’s memory, when she combined the strengths of the three races to create a force that her grandfather struggled to stop and realized that it made sense that the three worked best in harmony.

With the mini-dragons respectfully giving the group space, they were able to freely move around the area.

While looking around the area that was littered with bones, Sophia felt the presence of a shard nearby. She sensed it buried in the ground underneath a pile of bones. She suddenly remembered Melt’s words:

“Does the sacrifice of the winged messenger of the gods gaze at hope or despair?”

It made sense because the area appeared to be where victims were offered up as sacrifices to feed the mini-dragons.

After tossing aside the bones, Sophia dug through the dirt and soon uncovered the sixth shard. Since this wasn’t a good place to view the memory, she placed the shard in her pocket.

She could sense the seventh and final shard in the general area, but the feeling was faint and was likely in a cave somewhere and with it, a hint about her true form when her bracelet came undone.

Their walk brought them through a small cave and out onto a path that led to another cave that would lead them into the mountains. The cave was very dark and devoid of light.

“I’ll go first,” Fayt said.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Fayt,” Sophia warned.

“Don’t worry, what’s the worst that could happeAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Fayt said as he entered the cave. His screams grew distant before a heavy impact was heard below.

“You could fall into a hole,” Sophia said dryly.

“I hope he lost a limb when he fell,” Thanatas said, failing to hide her excitement. “It would give me a chance to experiment on him to see if I can find a way to bypass the body’s rejection mechanisms!” She nearly squealed as she said that.

Everyone but Sophia cringed when Thanatas said that, even Albel. Sophia chuckled as she shook her head. She figured by this point that her cousin loved making morbid jokes. “Let’s get down there and make sure he didn’t break anything on the way down.”

“Pretty sure his pride is broken after that,” Peppita said.

Given the choice of means to get to Fayt, some chose to jump into the hole while those like Sophia and Albel, who had no idea what he was getting into, took Thanatas’ bone transport into the cave, then there were Twilight and Lyra, who simply teleported to Fayt.

When the skeletal elevator emerged from its brief transit and the cage opened, Albel had to run to a corner and dump his lunch on the cave wall.

Fayt had to be looked at for injuries, but was relieved that only his pride was hurt after that fall.

The group explored the cavern and encountered a red variation of the aquaregia, who were nowhere near as tough as the green or yellow variations. They also encountered more berserkers who wore purple clothes.

On the way out of the cave, the group heard a dragon’s roar nearby and took their battle stances…

…only for a baby dragon to emerge from around a corner.

The baby dragon had pink scales and a white underbelly. Its horns and claws were yellow. The sight of the creature reminded Twilight of the old days when Spike was a baby.

“A baby dragon?” Fayt asked.

As the baby dragon walked away, Thanatas followed after it. “He wants us to follow him.” The group did so and found an exit to the cave. The baby dragon chirped something that nobody but Thanatas could understand for some reason. “He says that if we want to speak to his lord, we need to invoke sounds that appeal to their emotions. Somewhere in the cave we’re in is a door that will take us to the ruins where some evil people lived.”

“How can you understand what they say?” Nel asked.

“Depending on how things go, you may find out.”

“Let’s keep looking,” Sophia said.

The group left the cave and explored more of the mountain pass. As they explored, they found a run down workshop and a robed woman walking around it mumbling about something. As they approached her, Twilight discovered that the woman fit the profile of Misty Lear, the mysterious alchemist who refused to give her age.

The woman mumbled something about saving the soul of her daughter.

“I think I might be able to help with that,” Thanatas said. She then took out a clear orb with a dark, foggy outline and showed it to Misty. “This is a soulstone. It can be used to store the soul of anyone within. I’m sure with your talents, you might be able to use it to save your daughter.”

“In exchange for signing a contract to work with me on alchemical matters,” Twilight added.

Misty eagerly took the deal and signed the paperwork while Thanatas left the soulstone on a table in the workshop for her.

Their journey through the mountain pass eventually ended in a cave that reeked with necromantic energy. Looking inside, they spotted a lot of dragon bones within and a blue dragon zombie guarding it. Thanatas exerted her dominance over the zombie and ordered it to return to its rest. The undead beast complied and lowered itself into the ground, leaving the small cave open for exploration.

As they looked around, Nel eventually found what she was hoping to find, a small, hollow, tube-shaped bone. “With the right tools, we should be able to turn this into a musical instrument.”

“Oh, I get it,” Sophia said. “We can make a flute out of it and play sounds that reflect emotions.” The then smirked as she turned to Fayt. “Looks like those flute lessons you took in school are going to come in handy here.”

The group returned to the workshop and got to work carving the bone into an instrument. Misty Lear was too busy with her own work to notice anything around her. Once the work was complete, Fayt tried the flute. However, it produced no sound.

“Let's test it out with that baby dragon,” Cliff said. “I have a hunch that it’ll work in the cave.”

The group returned to the cave to find the baby dragon still standing near the exit. Fayt took out his flute again and tried playing it. The sounds it produced were melodic and beautiful. He then tried a number of different melodies. Depending on how he played them, the baby dragon’s expression changed to match the sounds played. It went from happy, to playful, to sad, to angry. He then nodded, chirped something, then left the cave.

“He said you’re ready to open the doors in the evil ruins. My services are no longer required,” Thanatas translated.

After a few minutes of searching the cave, the group finally came across a relief of a dragon that looked cheerful. Remembering the baby dragon’s happy expression, Fayt played a happy melody in front of it. Once the cheerful sounds reverberated throughout the cave, the relief vanished, opening a way deeper into the mountains.

As they moved ever closer to the Marquis’ lair, Sophia felt anxiety, knowing that a number of things would be coming to an end soon: their time on Elicoor, her journey for the shards and answers, the time she had spent with the Elicoorians, and any hope she might have had of returning to a normal life.

And yet, she also had a foreboding sense that where some things ended, more, even greater dangers loomed over the horizon.

Lava and Long Ears

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As the group crossed the threshold of the doorway that was originally blocked off by a happy dragon relief, they entered what appeared to be a man-made chamber. The walls were carved roughly and there were stone blocks and stone pillars around the first room. On the right wall of the first room was another relief of a dragon. This one had red eyes to show that it was angry.

It was decided that they would see what was behind the relief first. Fayt approached the stone panel and played an angry melody with his flute which caused the relief to vanish and open the way beyond.

As they entered the next room, most of the group was in shock from the sight before them. Albel and Nel kept calm while Adray had a grim expression on his face. To Thanatas, the sight before her was about on par with one of her laboratories.

Shattered glass littered the floor in places, scientific equipment was locked up in glass displays on a shelf to their right, research papers and reference materials could be seen on shelves to their left. In the center of the room was a table that was stained with old blood as well as an apparatus that looked capable of holding something large.

The biggest shock were the glass cases that held scaly claws and other body parts that belonged to dragons.

“Looks like we found the reason that the dragons called these ruins evil,” Sophia said. “Seems like whoever lived here used them for experiments.”

Thanatas frowned, “Hmph, what a waste. Whoever lived here could have done so much more with the equipment here. They even left the materials and the research behind. As mad scientists, these people were rank amateurs at best. Their bodies wouldn’t even be worth reanimating.”

“It’s still despicable what they did,” Nel growled.

Albel humphed, getting everyone’s attention. “Do you realize how many dragons we’ve killed so far? When you think about it, what we did was really not all that different from what they did.”

“The difference here is that the dragons didn’t die honorably,” Sophia explained. “Dragons have their pride and would prefer to fall in battle rather than in horror as scalpels cut them open. I’m sure you would hate to die helplessly while some puny scholar opens your chest cavity and makes you watch as they rip out your organs and store them in glass jars. In the least, the dragons we killed can find solace that they fell to warriors. Death may come the same way in either case, but the soul does not rest so easily in this case.”

“I can confirm what she said,” Thanatas said. “There are a lot of restless dragon souls in these ruins and each one of them wails about how the people here desecrated their bodies and denied them a fitting death.”

“Tch!” Albel looked away.

Desiring a souvenir, Thanatas decided to take a dragon skull from the lab, despite the scowls she received in response.

The group left the lab and headed down a narrow hallway in the first room where they saw a happy dragon relief at the end. Fayt played his happy tune and the relief opened like a door.

The next room featured a number of tiles on the floor that formed a cross pattern. There were nine tiles in all. There were also three reliefs on the left, right and back sides of the room. The one in the back looked more ornate than the others. Nel also noticed some writing on a plaque beneath the relief.

“It says, ‘Offer the dragon’s cranium within the cross. The dragon reliefs seek nothing more than their favorite sound.’”

Thanatas moved into the center of the room and raised her souvenir into the air but nothing happened. Wondering what to do next, the group looked around the room. As they walked, four of the tiles in the cross lit up. However, they could not light up all of them as some did not light when stepped on.

“There’s probably some means to activate the other tiles somewhere in the ruins. Let’s explore the other areas,” Sophia offered.

The group took the left path first which was blocked by a sad dragon relief, given the blue color of the eyes. Fayt played a sad melody and the relief opened.

They entered an ‘L’ shaped hallway and at one end they found another of those tiles. Roger stepped on it and it lit up. Peppita returned to the previous room and came back to report that one of the tiles that didn’t light up before was now lit. Knowing what they had to do now, the group searched the ruins for more tiles to activate.

The enemies encountered were of the amphibious kind as they were assaulted by toad people and floating tadpoles and lizards. The tadpoles were quick but the enemies easily withered when exposed to the fiery symbology invoked by the spellcasters.

In their search of the west wing, they discovered an angry dragon relief which led to another tile and another door which was very odd. The odd door was blank in regard to the stone it was made of, but there was also light coming from it that took the form of dragon facial expressions. The expressions repeatedly shifted between happy, sad and angry.

Fayt ended up playing a happy melody while the angry face appeared which angered the restless dragon spirits and caused one to manifest before them. They were forced to fight the beast, but it was easily defeated.

Fayt then figured that he needed to play the melodies in the right order as the corresponding face appeared. He played a happy melody when the happy face appeared, then the sad melody on the sad face and the angry melody on the angry face. The door opened which led to more abandoned supplies and research.

With that being a dead end, the group returned to the cross room and headed toward the east wing. The way was blocked by a playful dragon relief. Fayt played a whimsical melody and the door opened.

Just beyond that door was another hallway with a sad dragon relief just beyond the entrance which led to a room with one of the tiles. Once that was activated, they proceeded further down the hallway where they found another tile, meaning that they only needed to light up one more tile to perform whatever ritual the plaque in the cross room wanted.

After some exploration and getting past a shifting door that displayed sad and angry faces, they returned to the cross room to see where they would have to go next. With no other way to go, Fayt approached the ornate angry dragon relief with the plaque and played an angry melody.

Beyond that relief was a narrow hallway which led to a playful dragon relief. One whimsical tune later, and they found the room with the last tile to light up.

The group returned to the cross room to find all of the tiles were lit. Thanatas moved into the center again and raised the skull once more. The tiles flickered a few times before a faint rumbling was heard further ahead, back where they found the final tile.

As they moved to return to the room, an intense wave of heat slammed into their faces, signaling to them that whatever new area they opened up was definitely very hot.

At the same time, the emanations of the final shard that Sophia had been sensing was coming in stronger.

“I’d say we found the Urssa Lava Caves,” Sophia figured.

“Yikes! That’s some intense heat!” Roger cried.

They soon returned to the room where they found the final tile and discovered that the back wall had opened up, revealing a cavern that looked like it could be interpreted as Hell. The waves of heat coming from the caverns was relentless so Twilight made sure to prepare a heat resistance spell for everyone before heading inside.

Before they could head inside though, a floating child that bore a similar appearance to the one Sophia saw in the Depths of Mosel emerged from the cave. The thing that was different with this one was that his clothes were green instead of brown.

“It’s been a long time since someone other than me visited this place,” the child said. “And Twilight and Lyra are with you? Does that mean that you’re all players?”

“Huh? Players?” Fayt asked.

“They are not players and if you break immersion again, I’ll ban your account,” Twilight threatened telepathically.

“Whatever. I’m bored anyway so I’m gonna go ahead and gank all of you.”

“Great…one of those players,” Lyra mentally moaned.

“How about a duel instead?” Sophia offered.

The child scoffed. “You? I’ll own you, noob!”

Sophia showed the child with a toxic behavior an innocent smile which succeeded in annoying him. He sent a powerful tornado against her and smirked as he figured that he would see her flung into a wall somewhere.

That didn’t happen as the next thing he saw was a leg suddenly slamming into his face and the painful feeling of hitting a wall hard a moment later.

When he opened his eyes and emerged from the wall he was partially buried in, the child saw that everyone else was in the previous room while the girl that hit him was standing in the same spot as before with the same mocking, innocent smile. She behaved as if nothing had happened.

“What the Tartarus did you do?!” the child demanded. Sophia simply shrugged. The child growled before shouting, “I will not be made fun of by a loser like you!”

The child then conjured a number of tornadoes around himself and unleashed them all over the room. The room was made of durable stone so it was able to withstand the child’s assault.

With all the twisters he threw around, the child was confident that the razor winds had torn the girl to shreds. There was no way she could have avoided them all.

That was when he was axe kicked from above and slammed hard enough into the floor that he created a small crater on impact.

“Ch-cheater!” The salty child weakly said. The attacks had left him barely hanging on. “There’s no way I should be losing to you. You must be using hacks.”

“Or I’m just that good,” Sophia shot back. “It’s not that hard to avoid your winds if you’re fast enough.”

“No way! There’s no way you could have avoided my attacks. You must have cheated somehow!” He prepared to create another tornado now that his opponent was in pointblank range.

That plan was never executed as Sophia pointed a sphere of potent psionic energy at the child. “As they say in video games: ‘Get gud scrub!’” She unleashed the blast which created a large explosion which expanded the crater and caused the child to vanish. The blast was a little more powerful than necessary, but she needed to drive the point home to the kid that he wasn’t as good as he thought he was. Whoever was playing the character that she destroyed, Sophia knew that they would take their frustrations out on someone else, but that wasn’t her problem.

As the group reentered the room to witness the aftermath of Sophia’s ruthless assault, Fayt asked a question that made Twilight and Lyra sweat. “What was that kid talking about? Why was he talking like a gamer?”

The Elicoorians looked as Fayt in confusion. “Gamer? What’s that?” Nel asked.

“Well, you see…”

“It’s not important right now,” Sophia interrupted. “We need to get to the Marquis’ lair before the Vendeeni fleet shows up.”

“Yeah, but Sophia, don’t you think it’s…” Fayt never finished that question as Sophia’s threatening glare shut him up. “N-nevermind…”

While the subject was far from resolved, Twilight and Lyra were glad to get that reprieve so that they could come up with a reasonable explanation while trying to avoid revealing the true nature of the Eternal Sphere to everyone.

“Thanks for covering for us, Sophia. It means a lot to us,” Twilight telepathically said.

“I hope you have a good explanation prepared. That kid might have given too much away and I’m not sure you can keep this secret from them much longer,” Sophia warned.

“I know, I never intended for them to learn the reality of their existence. I know that it’s inevitable now that they will learn of it. I fear how they will react, though. It’s not easy to hear that your very existence is an artificial creation.”

“You’ll have to tell them something. Maybe you can try to ease them into it. But that will have to wait until we get off this planet.”

With that, the group entered the Urssa Lava Caves. Twilight placed a heat resistance spell on everyone so they would avoid burning under the intense heat.

The first monsters they encountered in the blazing hellscape were red versions of the fire spirits that Sophia encountered in the Depths of Mosel. One look into their minds told her that they were mentally fragile. Fayt was easily able to destroy their minds with his ice-imbued sword. Nel took out more of them by using her Flying Guillotine technique where she unleashed a shadowy disc of blades at them.

Other monsters encountered were ghosts and zombies. However, with their minds as weak as they were, Thanatas saw no value in controlling them. The zombies were running around screaming about being on fire, so she unleashed frosty blasts from her sword that destroyed the zombies. Everyone else used their mind-damaging abilities to make quick work of the monsters.

The one other type of monster roaming around the caverns were not as easily killed as the other types. The living lava monsters bore a similar appearance to the mud monster and the water monster encountered in Duggus Forest and the Mosel Underground Waterway, except these were made of lava.

Since these monsters had much stronger minds than everything else in the area, the group had to resort to using water-type abilities. Fayt slashed at them with his Ice Blade, Nel and Peppita threw Frozen Daggers at them, Adray, Sophia and Twilight all cast Deep Freeze on the monsters, and Thanatas surrounded herself with icy winds and slashed at the monsters with her frost imbued sword while the winds bit at their molten bodies.

As they explored, Sophia led the group eastward through more mentally fragile monsters until they came across a monument. The monument was of a humanoid rabbit. More important was the familiar crystal shard that floated in front of the statue.

The final Ihan Crystal shard.

Remembering the hint from her grandfather from around the beginning of the adventure, Sophia could only facepalm as she realized what the hint was. “You have got to be kidding me…”

“What’s wrong?” Fayt asked.

“I think I have an idea about what my true form is.”

“Really? What is it?”

“You’ll find out soon enough. For now, we need to find some place to relax so I can glean through the last two shards.”

“Hey guys!” Roger shouted. “Look what I found.” He returned from behind the monument to show everyone the thing he found. It appeared to be a key with the head looking like a rabbit’s head with its ears pointed outward.

“A key?” Fayt wondered.

“It might be usable somewhere in the area. Let’s keep looking,” Sophia offered.

Sophia wanted to take her mind off the sudden revelation. It would take her some time to cope with that, but she hoped that knowing that it was the form she was born with might help her to come to terms with it easier.

The group returned to the entrance and took the middle path this time. However, at the end of that path was a door that was blocked off by rocks from a cave in. While Lyra and Sophia could simply blast their way through, they decided to hold off on that until they checked out the rest of the area.

Returning to the entrance once more, the group headed down the last path available to them, fighting their way through more weak-minded monsters.

They soon come up to a door that had the face of a rabbit on it and a note tacked onto it.

Fayt read the note. “It says: ‘No Monsters Allowed! Do not go looking for a spare key! By the Bunny.’”

“Well, the locked door would keep the monsters out I guess,” Sophia said. “But that also makes whoever wrote that vulnerable to would-be thieves who are intelligent enough to read that.”

“I’m pretty sure it would keep bandits out too since they’re too stupid to read,” Roger snarked.

Fayt used the key that Roger found and used it to unlock the door.

On the other side, they were met with an incredible amount of steam that it became difficult to see anything in front of them. They could barely see their own hands in the fog of steam. Navigating the steam-filled area proved to be difficult and aggravating because of the zombies, spirits and ghosts wandering the area.

“Okay, so I guess there really was no point in putting a door there,” Sophia concluded.

“Heckuva lot that did if the monsters are still crawling all over the area,” Cliff added.

Their wandering through the steamy caverns soon brought them to another door that was unlocked this time.

Beyond the door was what appeared to be a workshop that doubled as a house with one corner acting as a bedroom and the far right corner acting as a bathroom that looked like a steaming hot spring. A forge was located in the far left corner.

More importantly, there was a humanoid bunny slightly taller than Roger staring at them. “Who are you?” the bunny asked. The bunny was pink with long ears tipped with bright green. He sounded male, by the sound of his voice. He wore a bright green shirt with a matching mantle, all bordered with yellow. He also wore a matching long cap. “Didn’t you see the message not to go looking for a spare key?”

“Actually, we found the key before we saw the message,” Sophia said.

“Well, no matter. You don’t seem like monsters anyway. So what can I do for you?” the bunny asked.

“Did you actually make that door in order to keep out the monsters?” Sophia asked.

“Yeah, why?”

“Because it didn’t do its job very well since we saw a number of undead monsters on this side of your locked door.”

“They found a way past my door?! Drat! I guess the dark magic in these caves was stronger than I thought.” The bunny sighed sadly. “I had hoped to use this place as my home and workshop where I could craft my wares and sell them to people in Kirlsa and Arias, but this place is starting to get a little too dangerous for me to keep living here. Looks like I’ll have to move back to Surferio.”

“You craft things?” Twilight asked. “What do you make?”

“I originally came from Greeton so I specialize in mechanical engineering. I can make bombs and other weapons that the primatives on this side of the world would scratch their heads over.”

“Why haven’t you signed up with the artisan’s guild?”

“Never heard of it,” the rabbit replied. “Anyway, why are you guys here anyway?”

“First, let’s introduce ourselves,” Sophia said. She introduced everyone in the room and outside the room, since the house was too small for thirteen people.

“I’m Vanilla,” the bunny introduced himself. “Pleased to meet you. So, why are you here?”

“We’re here to speak with the Marquis who rules this area,” Fayt explained. “Unfortunately, the door to his lair is blocked off by rocks.”

“Well, I could make a Ring of Disintegration to remove the rocks, but I’d need a glowstone to make it,” Vanilla offered.

“No need. I can blast the rocks myself,” Lyra said.

“Drat! Is there anything I can sell to you guys? I do still need to put food on the table, even though I’ll be moving soon.”

“How about this, thirty thousand for a contract where you will work under me for the artisan’s guild,” Twilight offered.

“But I haven’t signed for the guild,” Vanilla countered. “Though for thirty grand, I can move out of here in a hurry and sign on as soon as possible.”

Vanilla signed the contract to work for Twilight which would take effect the moment Vanilla joined the guild. Twilight gave him the money.

“Say, Vanilla,” Sophia offered. “Would you mind if I borrowed your bed for a bit? I need to look into something.”

“Not sure what you could see from my bed, but alright.”

“Thanks.” Sophia then sat on Vanilla’s bed and did her best to make herself comfortable while she pulled out the Ihan Crystal and the last two shards. She united the two shards with the main crystal to complete it. The crystal glowed brightly, as if in gratitude for completing it once more.

“Time for the big question, grandfather. Why am I in this whole situation to begin with?”

Once more the crystal glowed and Sophia’s consciousness was pulled away. This time, she appeared in an empty void and her grandfather stood in the middle of it. He had a sad look on his face.

“Greetings once more, my granddaughter. I knew you were capable of defeating me. You are truly worthy of being my successor.”

“I’ve played your game and I’ve learned about my heritage. I think it’s about time you told me why you had me living with the Esteeds,” Sophia demanded.

“Yes, the time has come to tell you the truth. Not only must you learn why you are living with a foster family, but also why I have limited your powers.

“The thing that you must know about our family is our purpose in the multiverse. Timelines, in the countless universes that make up the multiverse we live in, are short. Every universe has a timeline that begins at one point and ends at another. When the end is reached, the timeline resets itself and the events of that timeline are repeated once more. Such is the natural order of the multiverse.

“However, imperfections do exist in this system and this causes deviations to sometimes occur. These deviations may sometimes alter the timeline drastically that the destined ending is not reached and will often draw the timeline to a tragic ending. This is a corruption of the timeline.

“The duty of the Craft family is to observe the multiverse and be vigilant for corrupted timelines. We can fix these things either indirectly, through dealing with threats that the protagonists, or clients as we call them, of the timeline are woefully unprepared for, or directly, by either assisting the clients or inserting ourselves into their party.

“However, not even we can handle our duties perfectly and sometimes the timeline becomes unsalvageable. That is often when we must use our last resort. Something that we call ‘Protocol Zero’ which is when we utterly obliterate the entire universe and force the timeline to reset back to its original form. This does carry its own risks though, as this could potentially erase the entire timeline from the multiverse. Each time we perform this procedure, we take a great risk in erasing timelines.

“Now that you generally know what our family does, now I must tell you where you fall in this. In truth, I was never born with Zerg or Protoss abilities. I was artificially modified against my will by a team of scientists from the last remnants of the Mobeus Corps, much like the group that your templar friend fought before. However the ones who captured me came from a different version of that universe, one where your pony friends did not exist.

“They modified my genes by combining Zerg and Protoss DNA into my genetic code, hoping to create some living weapon that could surpass Amon’s hybrids. While they succeeded in a way, my genetic code became unbalanced because they underestimated the aggressive nature of Zerg DNA. In the end, I was just another infested with psychic powers. While I was still superior to the hybrids, I could not make full use of the Protoss powers within me. The sequences competed and weakened me overall.

“I lost my original powers because of my infestation. I have forgotten what they even were in the first place. It doesn’t matter anyway, my original powers are now lost forever because of my alterations.

“Mobeus didn’t have the means to control me so I broke free the moment I was able. I returned to my family and even found someone to love. I am ashamed that I have forgotten her name after all the eons that I have been alive. I had a daughter with her.

“Sadly, because I couldn’t use my new powers to their full potential, they were inherited by my daughter and she was unable to handle them either. She spent her whole existence as an infested. This power began to feel like a curse.

“However, one day she did find love. She refused to give away his identity but she was able to bear two children for him: you and your twin brother.”

“Wait, I have a twin brother?!” Sophia asked in surprise.

“His name is Sigmund and while he is a strategist like you, it’s not useful in a military setting. He seems to have taken an interest in bounty hunting, but that seems to be more like a hobby while he seems more interested in managing his money. I don’t doubt that he will one day begin a multiversal entrepreneurship. But I digress and you may one day find out more about him if you so desire to return to the family.

“Miraculously, Sigmund didn’t inherit the infestation, while you, sadly, did. I refused to allow the infestation to overtake another of my family, so I used what Zerg powers I could and placed inhibitors on your genetic code to prevent the infestation from overtaking you. However, we underestimated the potency of your psionic powers and I had to place a limiter on that as well. This has caused your Zerg DNA and your Protoss DNA to compete with each other but has also resulted in leaving your human DNA alone while the other two parts are locked in a stalemate.

“Your mother and I hope that one day, you will be strong enough to find harmony between the three parts of you and become the one who will master the power of the three Koprulu forces and end the curse.

“However, my elder sister, who wields the abilities of a powerful shadow demon, asked me why I would limit the powers of my granddaughter when you should be trained to perform her familial duties with the fullest extent of what power you could muster. We got into an argument about it and that eventually turned into a few fights. She began to get more pushy about making me undo what I did to you and let the infestation happen if you were too weak to tame it.

“Neither your mother nor I could take care of you while Suzuka was breathing down our necks. I wanted you to have the option of leading a normal life, at least for a time. Despite the limiters, you are still immortal and if you so choose, you can wander the universe you live in for as long as you would like. I hid you away to live with the Esteeds to keep you out of my foolish sister’s sight. She can be known for being treacherous. It has made her children and her grandchildren untrustworthy in my eyes.

“I hope you can forgive me for being unable to protect you. I couldn’t afford to have her kidnap you and remove your limiters to test your resistance to the infestation. Our family reveres power and wisdom and we must remain strong to carry out our duties. She means well, but her recklessness could have left you with weakened potential.

“As for the Esteeds, they would have had a girl who went by the same name that you do, but I needed you to fit in with them without creating confusion with the naming. I do admit to deleting the original Sophia Esteed and rewriting the memories of the parents. Once that universe resets, the Esteeds will be as they were without you and they will raise the original Sophia Esteed. You may want to take the time to bid them farewell before then.

“At any rate, what you do with your life going forward is your choice, my granddaughter. Not mine, not Suzuka’s, not anyone else. If you choose to live your life without living up to your potential, I will respect that and I will make sure she respects that decision too.

“In the final memory, I will tell you more about your father and give you any final words that I can give.”

The memory ended and Sophia’s consciousness returned to her body. However, she was not done yet. She still had one last memory to see. She took a few minutes to recover from the previous memory.

She took a deep breath and let it out, bracing herself for the last words her grandfather left to her. “Okay I’m ready. Tell me what you haven’t told me yet,” she whispered.

Once more her consciousness shifted to another place. This time it was the same place as before, an empty void with only herself and her grandfather.

“I create this memory on the assumption that you have viewed the other six before this one. I will tell you the things that you need to know going forward.

“As sharp as you are, you have likely already figured out the hint of your true form. Let’s just say that your mother was a lover of furries. At first, your father believed that your mother was some sort of insect anthropomorphic species. Both of your parents had strange tastes and I take no claim in how your mother behaved that way.

“Once this memory ends, your bracelet will come undone and you will return to the form that you were born with. It will take time to adjust to it once more since I did add a means to trick your mind into thinking your current form is natural to avoid that feeling of wrongness most people would feel when they felt like they were in a foreign body.

“But now, I must give you a warning and with this warning, an important choice you will have to make in the near future. The limiters that I have placed upon you give you the chance to live your life away from the influence of the Craft family. While you are immortal, you are still under the radar of the rest of the family. While you are this way, you may choose your own path, but your full potential will be forever sealed away. You will also be unable to inherit my forces and I shall forever remain their leader. A small part of me actually hopes that you choose to do so.” Gerald laughed a little.

“I know that there is one in that universe who is capable of removing your limiters. If you still desire to do so, then your choice is already made. You cannot have your full potential and roam free. The family would not allow a powerful family member to roam the multiverse unchecked. They would perceive you as a potential threat to their duties and would come after you with the intention of eliminating you before you became too much of a threat for them to handle. I dread the extreme measures that we would have to take to contain you and I do not wish this of you.

“If you still desire to have your full potential, then you will have to return to the family and assume your place among us. If not, then this will be the last time we see each other. Your guide (And if it is Thanatas, then you have my sympathies) will not push you into making either decision as is part of their assignment. I have at least convinced the others to allow you to have this choice.

“Your mother and I love you so much and so does everyone else in the family, even if some of them show it in strange ways. I hope you find it in you to forgive Suzuka as well. She means well, but she is a little too eager to get the next generation ready to perform their duties. Regardless, she and everyone else will respect the future you choose.

“Oh, and one last thing before we part ways for what could be the final time, your brother wanted me to tell you to be on the lookout for any store he opens up in the distant future in that universe. He hasn’t named his enterprise yet since he’s still in the process of developing it.

“Anyway, this will either be ‘goodbye’ or ‘until we meet again in person’. Myself and the others eagerly await your decision.”

Sophia’s consciousness shifted once more and she returned to the small house on Vanilla’s bed.

She didn’t get the chance to regain her wits when she felt a small explosion on her wrist that held her bracelet. She looked down at it to find that it became a mess of charred wiring and failing systems. The lock that had been placed on it had come undone and the bracelet fell off her wrist.

Her form flickered and her mind was thrown into complete chaos as memories of her early life began to invade her mind. She clutched her head as she remembered images of Gerald doing something to her, the arguments he had with her great-aunt, everything from her infancy. It surprised her that she could remember things from such an early point in her life.

As the memories flooded into her mind, her body began to experience its own changes. Blue fur began to grow on her body. Her human ears shrank into nothing while longer blue-furred ears grew on top of her head. Her face stretched outward slightly as her nose became smaller and darker. While her features became more akin to that of a rabbit, one feature showed that was very unlike that of rabbits as her teeth became sharper and more pointed.

Once the transformation finished, a thick coat of blue fur covered her body. The fur was a few shades darker than the blue hair on her head, almost indigo. Two long ears were pointed upward, curving back slightly. Her clothes were undamaged as the transformation neither grew nor shrunk her body. Her teeth were sharp enough to tear through flesh like a predator.

Once the flood of memories subsided, Sophia placed her hands on her lap and took a few deep breaths to recover.

“Sophia? Are you alright?” Fayt asked.

“Yeah, thankfully the headache isn’t sticking around.”

“But what about the rest of you?”

“Huh?” Sophia got up from the bed and walked over to Vanilla’s vanity mirror. Her eyes widened in surprise by what she saw. She felt confused by her new look. She knew that she was going to look like a rabbit, but was relieved that she didn’t shrink to Vanilla’s size. She did feel slightly tighter in the chest area though.

Perhaps it’s a credit to her Zerg abilities, but the longer she looked at her new form, the more she came to accept it, though she would have to make adjustments to her clothes later to compensate for the fluffy tail that grew in. She also enjoyed her new dental enhancements. It made her look like a predator who was disguised as a prey species.

“Wow, you actually look pretty hot,” Vanilla complimented.

“So, now that you’re back to being ‘little-miss-monster-bunny’, how about we get out of here and beat an ancient dragon into submission,” Thanatas offered. “I hope he tries to put up a fight, I’ve been hoping for something more challenging than the chumps we’ve wrecked so far.”

Sophia giggled, “You’re planning to show that off to our friends here?”

Thanatas smirked, “You certainly have a good memory if you remember seeing that as an infant. I never expected you to giggle when I tried to scare you with that form.” She paused. “I take it Gerald told you about my grandmother being such a pain in the ass?” Sophia nodded. “Yeah, people like our grandparents can’t keep up with the changing times these days. Only those who can adapt to change have any place in the future. Sure, we need to remember the past and learn from it, but it does us no good if we live in it.”

“True,” Sophia shrugged. “Anyway, let’s go get ourselves a dragon.”

As they were leaving, Twilight and Lyra received an alert on their heads up display. As they read the alert, Twilight’s eyes shrank to pinpricks. “Oh no! Not now! Lyra, we need to get our business done on this planet as soon as possible! We don’t have time to waste anymore!”

“Yeah, let’s deal with the Vendeeni quickly and get these kids to safety while we figure out how to stop this,” Lyra added.

Sophia wasn’t sure what Twilight and Lyra were going on about, but she had a feeling that they were going to find out soon.

One thing was for sure, something terrible had just begun and a powerful new enemy was now on the move.

The Light of Destruction

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The group exited Vanilla’s house while the bunny began packing up whatever he could take with him. Anything else that was bolted down, like his workshop, he would have to leave behind.

As thanks for showing him a way to make money through the artisan’s guild, but mostly because he couldn’t find anyone willing to buy the thing, Vanilla gave Twilight a book that looked like the one she found in the Shrine of Kaddan. This one had a ‘two’ on it. Once again, the book only had five words: ‘second in vanquished face to’

The group, now led by a taller bunny named Sophia, felt their way through the steam once more as they made their way back to the bunny-faced door. Some more undead tried to stop them, but at this point, they were hardly worth mentioning.

They exited through the door and were able to see what was in front of them once more.

With nowhere else to go, the group returned to the door that was blocked off by volcanic rock.

Instead of blasting the rock, as Lyra considered, Twilight grabbed the rocks that were blocking the door in her magic and tossed them aside.

Cliff whistled in awe. “Impressive, how much can you lift with that power?”

“I lifted a bear the size of a house one time, but that was a long time ago. I’m not sure how much I’d be able to lift now,” Twilight answered with some modesty. Of course, Lyra knew that her magic had grown much stronger since she ascended.

The rocks gave way to a carved stone door that was large enough for people to pass through. A slightly green tint on the door indicated that the door was composed of more than the volcanic rock that composed the caves.

“This is probably the place,” Sophia figured. “That Marquis’ lair is probably on the other side of this door.”

“Get ready, everyone,” Fayt said.

The double doors opened easily and allowed the group into a very large room with a slightly rough stone floor. A set of carved stone steps elevated a platform in the back of the room that drew attention to a large relief on the back wall.

However, the attention was instead drawn to a massive rust-colored dragon that appeared to stand still.

“It’s huge…” Fayt commented.

“Now that’s just too big,” Maria added.

Of course, Twilight had seen bigger dragons in Equestria, but this dragon was about at Spike’s height as he was now.

“I can see why they call him the Marquis. Impressive,” Cliff said.

“I really hope he’ll go along with our proposal,” Nel said.

“It won’t be that easy, fool,” Albel countered.

Nel glared at the edgy warrior, “What did you call me!?”

Fayt noticed the dragon beginning to twitch, as if it were beginning to wake up. It then suddenly spread its wings, revealing a wingspan that was larger than its massive body. The dragon stretched its body a little more before it shouted, “Who dares disturb my sleep?”

“Whoa! The dragon talks?!” Cliff shouted.

“...Another ill-mannered human, I see. Do you believe that you are the masters of all creation? Why are you so surprised that other creatures can speak,” The dragon answered with irritation clearly in his voice. “You act as though you know everything. Ages pass, and yet you humans never learn.”

The dragon scanned the group and immediately noticed the ponies, especially his master who had assigned him to guard the temple in the depths of the caverns. Of course, since she wasn’t saying anything at the moment, he figured that she was keeping her true identity a secret for the time being. For his master, he would play along.

Nel moved in front of the group and kneeled before the dragon. “I’m Nel Zelpher, agent of Aquaria. We’ve come to request the Marquis’ aid, Your Excellency.”

“A maiden of Aquaria? Speak your purpose.”

“Yes, Your Excellency. A great threat is menacing these lands. We need Your Excellency’s help to stop it.”

“I sensed the restlessness outside. What would you have me do?”

“We’d like you to bear the runological weapon we developed, so that we can deal with this threat.”

The dragon paused and growled softly in thought, but that was a cover as he formed his thoughts, knowing that his master would read his mind. “What is the meaning of this, master?”

“I am so sorry, Crosell. The Vendeeni forces have their interests set on several of the children among us as well as the ID.” Twilight psychically explained. “We can’t let them get either and we need a distraction to get off world, knowing that the Vendeeni will be sending their entire fleet on us.”

“So, Azure Lazer’s treachery reveals itself. I warned you that she would become a threat at some point. I have noticed that she was working in the shadows and has been trying to access the secrets of Project Valkyrie. She has been unsuccessful so far.”

“What!? But why? Why would she deliberately act against me? I told everypony and everyprotoss that only those I have authorized are allowed to know the secrets of that project!”

“Is it not obvious, princess? Azure has been trying to con her way into your company’s inner circle from the beginning. I know not what she intends to do with Project Valkyrie, but whatever it is can’t be good.

“I will help you get off this planet. But first, I’m in the mood for a good fight to work out some kinks in my body and help me get ready to face the Vendeeni. I ask that you honor me with this.”

Twilight couldn’t believe what she was reading from Crosell. Azure Lazer was a traitor? Sure, she and her chief of security didn’t see eye to eye often, but she always performed her job well and she never showed any signs of open hostility. There had to be an explanation. On the other hand, if Crosell was right, then she came so close to delivering the secrets of the project to an enemy.

She needed to confront Azure. She had to be sure.

The psychic conversation was quite fruitful to Sophia. She learned that whatever Project Valkyrie was, it was something important enough to be kept under tight wraps. She also learned the name of someone who would most likely be a future enemy.

Crossell then roared loud enough that the entire caverns shook. “Did you honestly think that I would bear something made from humans?! Do not insult me humans! I am ancient and you are nothing.”

Nel got back on her feet and placed her hands on her hips, keeping them near her weapons if a fight would break out. “Even so, we cannot leave until you agree!”

“I could not care less.”

Cliff pounded his fists together. “Nel, forget it. Turkeys like this need to be smacked around a bit before they’ll listen.”

“Now that’s a first. We’re both of the same opinion,” Albel added.

“I agree that humans are nothing special, but maybe you’re not as great as you think you are,” Maria said. “Perhaps you need a lesson in humility.”

“Your Excellency…is there no way that you will cooperate?” Fayt asked.

“None,” Crosell said with finality. He was glad that things were escalating, since he was hoping for a good fight.

“Looks like it came to this after all,” Sophia said. “Alright, Crosell…” Crosell looked at Sophia in slight shock and she picked up on that. “Yes, I’m a mind reader like Twilight and Lyra. Anyway, you will have your fight. However, you will be facing my cousin Thanatas, one on one, in a duel of dragons.”

Crosell looked at Sophia in confusion, as did everyone else but Thanatas. “Foolish girl, a duel of dragons can only be between two dragons of equal stature and she looks nothing like a dragon.”

Sophia herded everyone but Thanatas to the door where they would witness what was about to happen.

Thanatas smirked, “It doesn’t take a mind reader to know that you were hoping to see something like this, dear cousin.” She giggled which turned into slightly maniacal laughter and her smirk turned into a maniacal smile. “Well then, let’s not disappoint the audience!”

Thanatas’ transformation started when her skeletal wings emerged from her back. She slowly began to grow in size. As she grew, a large skeletal tail emerged from her rear end. The armor shifted and grew with her. Her flesh soon peeled away, revealing nothing but bones beneath the false flesh. Her skull transformed and grew elongated, revealing long rows of razor-sharp teeth and a pair of long horns that curved backwards and continued curving until the ends pointed forward. The hands of her gauntlets receded back to her wrists to become a pair of bracers while her claws became razor sharp. The same could be seen from her boots. Her eye sockets glowed an icy blue. Her very presence gave an uncomfortable chill to everyone in the room. Her transformation stopped when she was equal to Crosell in size.

Thanatas unleashed a draconic roar that not only shook the caverns once more, but sounded unnatural.

“Do you have any more objections?” Thanatas asked in a gravely yet feminine voice.

“You expect this to be a fair match with you wearing armor?”

“You have your scales while I’m all bones,” Thanatas countered. “I think it fair for me to use my armor,”

Crosell growled softly, “Very well, you shall be my opponent.”

The two rushed toward each other and immediately began to slash at each other with their claws. Crosell could only slash at the armor as his claws couldn’t find much purchase against the draconic skeleton. Meanwhile, Thanatas’ claws slowly tore away at Crosell’s scales.

Thanatas’ problem against this opponent was that she had to hold back a lot of her abilities because she was not supposed to kill him. Because of this, she was forced to fight Crosell like an ordinary dragon.

Crosell took a deep breath and prepared a powerful fire breath attack. Noticing this, Thanatas prepared a breath attack of her own as the biting chill of her runic magic gathered within her skull. The two released powerful breaths of fire and frost respectively. Neither gave an inch to each other. Both moved closer to each other and punched each other in the face, diverting the two attacks to the side.

Thanatas used the momentum from the punch she received to spin around and smack Crosell in the chest with her bony tail while a skeletal wing slapped him in the face.

Crosell tackled Thanatas and slammed her into a wall, causing the caverns to shake and some rubble to fall from the ceiling. Thanatas countered by grabbing Crosell’s head and releasing a stream of frost on his face, forcing the living dragon to back away. He then released a stream of flame on the wall but Thanatas dove aside and closed the distance to her opponent before she slapped her tail against his knee, causing Crosell to yelp in pain.

Crosell then spread his wings and lifted himself a few meters off the ground. With one flap, he sped his way toward where Thanatas was getting up, slamming into her and barreling at high speed toward another wall. Thinking quickly, Thanatas encased herself and Crosell in a block of ice. The caverns shook once more as the massive ice block crashed into a wall.

“This is insane!” Cliff shouted. “At this rate, those two are gonna make the whole place come down on us!”

Twilight placed a shield around everyone. As she did so, she silently thanked her long-dead brother for teaching her his secrets to shield magic. Sophia and Lyra assisted by grabbing rocks in their telekinetic hold and tossing them aside.

Thanatas broke free from her icy prison while Crosell took longer to do so as he didn’t have the same adaptations to ice as she did. The bone dragon took advantage of this by jumping up, performing a somersault and slamming her tail downward on Crosell, shattering the ice and cracking his scales at the impact point. The caverns shook once more.

That was when Crosell realized that he had enough. “Stop! I yield!” He slowly got back up to his feet and felt his cracked scales, knowing that he was going to be in a lot of pain later. “You have won and I shall assist you in this endeavor.”

The others approached the battered Crosell. Sophia and Adray did the best they could to heal some of the damage that he sustained in the fight. They needed him to be ready quickly.

To expedite their return to Aquios, Crosell offered the group transportation on his back. Of course, there were too many to carry, even for one of his size so Thanatas had to carry some of them. The trip was going to be uncomfortable for anyone who rode Thanatas though, even though she created a plate of ice on her neck so the riders wouldn’t be sitting on her uncomfortable spinal column.

The two dragons lifted off and flew through a hole in the ceiling and set course for Aquios.

The flight lasted ten minutes before the two dragons arrived. Many Aquarians freaked out at seeing the two giant dragons, even more so for the skeletal dragon.

The two dragons soon landed in the courtyard of Castle Aquaria and let everyone disembark.

Thanatas enveloped herself in an opaque icy cocoon which quickly dissolved into snow and revealed nothing of the death goddess until it was nearly gone, revealing her in her human form.

Nel addressed the nearby onlooking runologists and ordered them to get the Thunder Arrow prepared for equipping onto Crosell. She then addressed Queen Romeria who, along with King Arzei had entered the courtyard to investigate the commotion. “I have returned, Your Majesty.”

“You have done well,” Romeria replied.

“To think you were able to capture him…” Arzei added.

“No one captured me, foolish king,” Crosell bellowed. “I am merely fulfilling my end of a wager,” he lied. Nobody who was not in the know needed to be aware of his connection to his master.

“Hmph, it matters not. So Romeria, who shall ride the Marquis?”

“I was hoping that you could find someone from the Dragon Brigade to aid us,” Romeria figured.

“That is unacceptable!” Crosell bellowed. “Only those who have personally requested my assistance may ride me.”

“It’s for the best,” Arzei said. “The Dragon Brigade is currently being reorganized since all of the commanding officers are dead.” Thanatas whistled innocently. “And they’re already being taxed from forming a unit bearing runological weapons.”

While the group was deciding on who would ride Crosell, Twilight received a new notification on her communicator, informing her of three new inventors.

First on the list was a child prodigy named Mishell. He is apparently a boy genius who loved to read books; a child after Twilight’s own heart. His skills were focused on the art of literature and was a skilled writer. Of course, he was the type who tried to behave like an adult and wanted to be treated like one. Still a boy of his talent will likely want to be financially compensated for his services. He was often seen wandering the streets of Aquios.

The next entry was a muscular blacksmith named Gusto who specialized in forging swords. He left on an adventure after Kirlsa’s mine yield dropped. According to the entry, he competes with dragons for mineral resources. He was currently in Peterny and was another individual looking for financial compensation for his services. He was lauded by the guild as an exceptionally skilled blacksmith.

Twilight smiled when she saw the next entry. Vanilla wasted no time joining the guild once he realized that his home wasn’t safe anymore.

However, with the current situation, Twilight had no time to go out and recruit more inventors. She would have to come back to Elicoor at some point to do so.

With the operation to get off the planet close, the group took this time to get some rest while the runologists worked on outfitting Crosell and a number of air dragons with runological weapons.

Fayt took this time to visit Ameena and Dion to see how they were recovering. From what he saw, the two looked to be sharing a tender moment staring into each other’s eyes. Fayt felt a little jealous, but he suppressed that feeling quickly. One of the nearby runologists informed Fayt that Dion was going to receive some much needed vacation time as well as some time with a therapist.

At this point, Fayt felt like he didn’t need to worry about those two anymore.

A few hours passed since their return and Crosell and a large wing of Dragon Brigade dragons were fully outfitted with repurposed runological weapons. Fayt was the last to arrive at the courtyard and noticed a troubled look on Maria’s face. Mirage and Cliff also seemed to be a little worried.

“What’s wrong?” Fayt asked.

“I haven’t heard a word from the Diplo in some time,” Maria responded. “They should have entered orbit by now.”

“Let’s hope the Vendeeni didn’t find them,” Cliff said.

After a few more minutes of worrying, Twilight received a notification that her ship had returned and remained in stealth mode for the time being.

“We can worry about the Diplo later. For now, we need to work on getting off this planet. My ship has entered orbit but it’s also picked up a number of Vendeeni battleships in the area and heading into the atmosphere. Looks like they intend on blocking any escape attempt.”

“Then we need to make our move,” Sophia declared. “Get the dragons in the air and prepare for battle!”

Each dragon was ridden by a Dragon Brigade soldier and accompanied by a runologist who would operate the weapons the dragons had been equipped with. Maria, Fayt, Mirage, Cliff, Sophia and Twilight stood atop a platform atop the Thunder Arrow while Nel was below the platform operating the weapon.

Crosell sprinted along a plain to gather momentum for flight. With one mighty flap of his wings, he was airborne.

The battle was underway and the forces of Elicoor engaged three Vendeeni battleships that entered the lower atmosphere. The dragons engaged one of the ships and unleashed a barrage of runological power and dragon fire, causing heavy impacts on the ship’s energy shields.

The ship retaliated by firing at the dragons and while some were shot down, most managed to avoid the fire because of their aerial agility.

The bombardment soon became too much for the ship and it was soon forced to retreat.

The other two ships did not retreat, however and seemed prepared to unleash their arsenal to wipe out the dragonic menace.

That never happened.

As the Vendeeni ships’ weapons were primed, a mysterious blast of scarlet light grazed Elicoor from an unknown location from beyond the world. Being on the edge of the blast was enough to erase the engines of the Vendeeni ships from existence with the two ships exploding soon after.

“Wha–?!” Fayt exclaimed.

“What was that?!” Cliff shouted.

“Master, that was…” Crosell began.

“I know.” Twilight replied. “We’re running out of time. Now that they have been unleashed upon the universe, everyone is in danger.”

“I wish there was something that I could do to assist you master, but…”

“I know, but keeping Project Valkyrie safe takes priority over the situation. We will find a way to undo the damage.”

“Very well, but remember my warning earlier.”

Twilight nodded.

With the Vendeeni ships driven off or eliminated, the group returned to the ground and disembarked from Crosell.

The Elicoorians knew what was about to happen so they took their place beside Romeria and Arzei. Fayt, Cliff, Maria, Mirage, Sophia, Peppita, Twilight, Lyra and Thanatas faced them.

“I hope things will return to normal for you now that the Vendeeni fleet is destroyed,” Sophia said. “But now, the time has come for us to leave.”

“Yes, you will be missed. We thank you for enlightening us to the existence of civilizations beyond our world. We cannot waste our energy fighting each other when we could one day be invaded by another force from beyond our world,” Romeria said.

“She’s right, we must avoid bringing the final prophecy of Apris to fruition in its worst form. This is not the time for war,” Arzei added.

Twilight sighed. She had a feeling that she might come to regret what she was about to say, but with the situation developing as it was, hiding the facts from her allies would do more harm than good. “Your Majesties, I must offer you a grim warning. If you come across any ponies with large formal dresses and six wings or any six-winged dragons, avoid them at all costs. They are too dangerous to face and are capable of easily decimating armies. I have a feeling that your world will be visited by them in the near future. Do not try to reason with them, they are mindless forces of destruction.”

Cliff stared at Twilight for a few moments before he said something. “Now I know that you’re hiding something big from us.”

“Understood,” Romeria said.

“Aww, can’t we go with you?” Roger asked.

“Sorry, but our own laws forbid us from taking people from underdeveloped planets. In the event that such a thing happens, those who do so would be forbidden from returning to their normal lives because they would know too much about the world beyond their planet. It might negatively alter the history of your world,” Twilight explained.

“You mean like what you and the Vendeeni did?” Albel countered.

Twilight nodded. “Just trust us when we say that there are reasons why it’s dangerous to mess with a world’s history.”

She then turned to Cliff and the others. “I will explain the important details when we get to my ship. I think from this point, you guys are going to be involved in matters that I have tried to hide from the rest of the universe and you deserve to know what we’re going to be up against in the near future.”

As the space travelers said their goodbyes to the Elicoorians, Twilight then brought up a holographic display and began typing on the light-composed board. The Elicoorians looked at Twilight in curiosity for a few minutes before she pressed one last button and the nine disappeared in a flash of light.

Biwig

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Twilight knew that she had no choice now. She had to tell them about the nature of their universe. She knew that most if not all of them would not take the news very well, but she couldn’t keep them in the dark anymore if they were to increase their chances against the coming threat.

Twilight, Lyra, Sophia, Peppita, Fayt, Cliff, Maria, Mirage and Thanatas were transported aboard Twilight’s ship, which she never got to naming. One by one they filed out of the room and into the corridors that were familiar to some of them.

Meanwhile, Maria made several attempts to contact the Diplo which ended in failure. The Quark members were becoming increasingly worried.

As Twilight considered where to begin with her confession, the ship alerted her to a transmission that was being broadcast from long range. “Why now of all times?” Twilight groaned in exasperation.

With the imminent discussion put on hold for the time being, the group headed to the bridge of the ship.

On the bridge, Twilight took her place in the captain’s chair while the others found their own place to sit. With everyone sitting, Twilight inputted some commands on her screen and put the incoming transmission on the main screen.

The image displayed one of the Federation’s officers, one that Twilight knew well as one of the most decorated officers in the Federation, Commodore Wittcomb.

“This is Commodore Wittcomb of the Federation ship Aquaelie. It is an honor to meet you all, and it is good to see you in good health, madame president.”

Maria stared at Twilight in surprise, “So you really are the leader of the Federation?”

Twilight nodded, but kept her eyes on the screen. “It’s good to see you are still alright, given what just happened.”

Wittcomb nodded grimly. “Yes, that blast did a number on Earth’s planetary shield. But that’s not why I’m here. Your ship transmitted the coordinates of your location to us and we were dispatched to provide assistance. We will be at your position soon so you must hold out until then.”

“You’re referring to the Vendeeni battleship in our area?” Twilight asked.

“Be careful, I don’t know what they will pull, but you must be prepared for anything. The Vendeeni are willing to do whatever it takes to take Dr. Leingod’s son out of the picture.”

“Right, we’ll be careful.”

As that transmission ended, another was received from another source. Twilight had a bad feeling about who was about to communicate with them. Still, she prepared herself for what was to come.

The screen revealed a Vendeeni with marking on his left eye that looked like a cross of two helix strands running perpendicular to each other. Twilight recognized the character who used that appearance.

Biwig.

Also known as Azure Lazer.

“This is Captain Biwig of the Vendeeni ship Dasvanu. Surrender immediately and submit to our orders.”

“So you really are behind this mess?” Twilight asked.

“Oh, if it isn’t my boss,” the Vendeeni said in a sarcastic tone. “Of course I was behind this. We cannot allow a possible threat to our people to go free. If they found a way out of their universe, they could potentially invade us and cause untold damage and murder so many innocents. With that boy’s power, digital lifeforms could actually harm us.”

“That won’t happen Azure Lazer!” Twilight shouted. “I trust these people to peacefully interact with us!”

“Be that as it may, I’m not putting my trust in blind faith. Surrender the boy.”

“I’m not handing him over to you. Even with your ship’s distortion field, we can still sneak away.”

“I knew you would say that, which is why I decided to collect some hostages.” Biwig moved aside to show the hostages. Maria gasped while Cliff pounded his hand. Behind the Vendeeni and guarded by several guards who had their rifles aimed at them were a number of the crew members of Quark tied in restraints.

“Marietta! Lieber! Lancar!” Maria shouted, naming a few of the hostages.

Biwig then moved back to his original position. “We raided their ship and captured them before we blew it up.”

Maria clenched her fists. It was bad enough that the crew she spent years with had been captured, it was another for them to destroy the Diplo, the ship that she practically called her home. At that moment, she was absolutely furious.

Twilight slammed her hands on her console. “Stop this right now, Azure! This is going too far!”

Biwig ignored Twilight’s plea. “We have selected a neutral area for the exchange. Transport down to these coordinates at the specified time. And no heroics.”

“Coordinates received,” Lyra said. “147.5834, 34.8874.” She then placed the location on screen. Much to the surprise of some of them, the location was quite familiar.

The arena of the Kirlsa Training Facility.

“So we’re to trade Fayt for the crew members of Quark?” Twilight asked with a soft growl.

“You know, now that I think about it, this deal doesn’t seem as fair. So you will throw in the Traydor girl for their lives and I repeat: no heroics.”

“This wasn’t part of the deal!”

“I changed it. Pray that I don’t change it further.” Biwig then ended the transmission.

Twilight growled, “I can’t believe that Azure would stoop this low. Was the Azure that I have known for years been a fake?” Her eyes began to tear up.

“We can’t worry about that right now,” Sophia said. “We need to ensure the safety of the hostages and take out Biwig.”

Twilight wiped away her tears and gave a look of determination. “You’re right, we can investigate Azure later.”

Everyone made their own preparations for the coming battle against what was most definitely a trap. They checked their equipment and made sure that it was good enough to withstand shots from disruptor rifles for as long as they could manage.

Half an hour passed and the group proceeded to the transporter.

The group arrived at the arena of the Kirlsa Training Facility. They took a few moments to prepare themselves for whatever Biwig might have planned. Fayt looked around and for a moment he thought that he saw someone on one of the walls.

Biwig and a pair of guards suddenly appeared in a flash of transporter light, followed by the Klausians who survived the Diplo’s destruction. Maria glared at Biwig as they appeared.

That was when the trap was sprung.

A device was transported down, one that they recognized as a transport jammer. Several more Vendeeni soldiers were transported down. This led to some confusion on some of their faces.

“Hand over the experiments now,” Biwig ordered.

“How did you transport soldiers with an active jammer in the area?” Fayt asked.

“Foolish boy, our technology only blocks what we want it to block.”

“Answer me Azure Lazer!” Twilight shouted. “Why are you going to such lengths? You can’t seriously expect me to believe that the threat they might pose would be a legitimate excuse to use such despicable tactics!”

Biwig said nothing for a moment then began to chuckle which turned into evil laughter. As he laughed, his voice changed, quickly becoming more feminine. “You know what I want, princess. I will have access to it! In fact, how about this deal instead: their lives for the access codes to Project Valkyrie.”

“You know that I can’t let you have that!”

“Then I guess we’re back to the previous deal then,” Biwig shrugged with a smug look on his(her?) face.

“What do you even want with them?” Twilight demanded.

“I want to extract that symbological power within them and use it against you princesses. Of course, that is only plan B with plan A being where I gain access to Project Valkyrie and use its power to wipe out you princesses,” Biwig laughed.

“But why? What do you have against us?”

“I don’t need to tell you that. Besides, I’ve already trapped your entry point in the office building. If you decide to log out, the room will be engulfed in explosions.

“Anyway, enough explanations. You’ve delayed long enough.” With that said, many more Vendeeni soldiers transported down along with a number of floating mechanical drones. They soon found themselves surrounded by a small army of soldiers and mechs. “Resist and these soldiers will pay with their lives.” Biwig and several Vendeeni soldiers aimed their rifles at the Quark members.

Things took a grim turn for the group. With the Quark members being used as hostages, they couldn’t fight back. If they were captured, they could only imagine what terrible fate lay in store for them.

And then the tables turned once again.

“Titaaaaaan…Fist!”

A giant fist appeared from a magic circle above the jammer and smashed it, the explosion knocked back Biwig and the soldiers around it.

The drones moved to investigate the disturbance until what sounded like a child’s voice shouted out “Shield and Cannon!” before a large volley of missiles flew out from somewhere and blew up the drones.

The Vendeeni soldiers looked around in confusion, trying to find who was attacking them. A number of them were wiped out when another voice shouted “Dragon Roar!” before a number of dragon heads crashed into a number of soldiers in the area.

Thinking quickly, Biwig tried shooting the hostages, thinking that allies of her enemies were helping them out. However, she was forced to back away as an electrically charged blade jumped between some of her nearby soldiers and electrocuted them..

Fayt took advantage of the confusion by leaping into the air and channeled some of his Destruction symbology to unleash a number of shockwaves from the air that sent many soldiers flying. Fayt kept that technique in mind for later and called it his ‘Air Raid’ technique. Those that survived didn’t live long before Lyra jumped to each flying soldier and bisected them.

Twilight and Sophia both cast Stone Rain symbols that caused most of the arena to be showered in sharp and heavy rocks, impaling some Vendeeni and drones and crushing others.

A certain ninja used the confusion to cut free the hostage Quark soldiers, allowing them to run back to the group.

Biwig growled as he saw the tables turn. “Impudent bits of data! You have not won yet! Dasvanu, bring in more reinforcements…”

…

“What!? The Aquaelie!?” The last thing she heard from her communicator was a brief roaring sound followed by static, indicating the likelihood that the Dasvanu had been destroyed. Biwig placed a hand on her face and began laughing. “It seems you have me at a disadvantage now. But no matter, I don’t care what happens to this character and I’m sure you two will find a way around my little trap, Master Lyra and Princess Twilight. If you intend on stopping me, you know where I’ll be.” She then points her disruptor rifle at the group. “Let’s see how many of you I can take out before I fall!” She then pointed her rifle to the side and fired. Albel was in the line of fire and attempted to move out of the way but was too slow and his metal arm was vaporized as a result. Albel howled in pain as he rolled on the floor and clutched at his demolished arm.

“Pity, I only vaporized a fake arm. No matter, I’ll put you out of your misery.” As Biwig aimed her weapon at Albel, she suddenly clutched at her head as an agonizing shot of pain assaulted her mind directly. She ended up dropping her rifle as a result.

“That shot to Albel’s arm looked painful. I think you should feel how painful that felt,” Sophia said as her psychic feedback attack not only damaged Biwig, but the player behind the character. For a brief moment, Sophia could feel some sort of disconnect coming from Biwig but she couldn’t tell if it was the player from the character or something else.

“Huh? What? Where was I?” Biwig questioned, confused about something. That didn’t last long before Lyra teleported behind the character and vertically sliced her in half.

With Biwig taken care of, the others gathered around the fallen warrior, including Nel, Roger and Adray.

“Albel, are you alright?” Fayt asked.

“I am in excruciating pain, you fool! Do I look alright?!” Albel yelled with some sarcasm mixed in.

Twilight figured that if Albel was well enough to yell like that, he would be alright, eventually. She then turned her attention to the other Elicoorians. “What are you guys doing here?”

“When you get as old as I am, you develop a sense for where you’re needed most,” Adray said with a wide grin.

“Adray had a hunch that you would find yourselves in a tough situation so we followed him here to help. On the way, we talked among ourselves, Albel included surprisingly, and we decided that we want to see your adventure through to its end,” Nel explained.

“Did you not hear the part where I said that you may be forbidden from returning to this world again?” Twilight asked.

“We won’t know for sure unless we take that step,” Roger said with a grin. “Besides, I’m an adventurer. Even if I never get to adventure here again, at least I’ll have other worlds to check out.”

“I’m not ready to retire yet and I want to experience all that I can before I have to settle down,” Adray added.

“Albel said that after his fight with Lyra and Sophia, and learning that they were not from this world, he realized that there are many strong foes for him to fight beyond this world and that if he followed you guys, he would get his fill of challenges,” Nel explained. Then with a smirk, she added, “But I think the real reason is because he likes being around you guys but he’s too embarrassed to admit it.”

“I heard that!” Albel yelled.

Twilight took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she considered their case. She still felt uncertain about bringing along natives from an underdeveloped planet, but it appeared that their minds were made up. She could only hope that she didn’t regret bringing them along. “Alright, welcome aboard. Let’s get Albel to the ship so we can synthesize him a new arm.”

With the number of people she needed to transport this time, it took several waves of transports to get everyone on board.

Thankfully, the doctor from the Diplo survived the attack and took on the task of relieving Albel’s pain, though she also made the process more painful whenever he insulted her. The warrior stopped talking after the first few insults.

During this time, Maria asked for a report from Marietta, who was the pilot of the Diplo when Mirage wasn’t around. The Quark leader had to hold in her anger as she heard about the Vendeeni attacking and boarding their vessel. Marietta mentioned a number of fighters who were killed in the assault.

Meanwhile, Twilight had another talk with Wittcomb.

“I’m glad that you were able to survive the Vendeeni’s trap,” Wittcomb began. “As for the matter of Dr. Leingod, we received a transmission from him, telling us that he will be going into hiding along with his wife. He didn’t give us a location or any further details, which meant that he didn’t want anyone knowing where he was going. It’s for the best, I suppose.”

“More importantly, I need you to confirm that warning that Dr. Leingod gave years ago,” Twilight pressed. “They’re on the move, aren’t they?”

Wittcomb nodded grimly. “I’m afraid so. They call themselves the Executioners, emissaries of The Creator. They have come with the intention of annihilating all that we know.”

“So it seems that we’re nearly out of time. The only way to get back to the real world without triggering Azure’s trap would be through the exit terminal on Planet Styx. If Maria’s power was designed to alter the existence of data into a living being and Fayt’s power was designed to allow them to interact with the real world, then logically, Sophia’s power would allow them to exit the Eternal Sphere.

“We have no choice, we need their help if we’re to stop Azure Lazer from finding a way to capture Project Valkyrie.”

“Commodore, Twilight…” spoke a voice behind the mare. Twilight turned around to find Fayt standing at the entrance. “I have a request.”

“What is it?” Twilight asked.

“We would like to go to Moonbase. It’s about time we learned the purpose of our powers: mine, Maria’s and Sophia’s.”

“Sophia?” Wittcomb wondered. “Wait, there was a third child?”

“That information is irrelevant at this point,” Twilight responded to Wittcomb then looked at Fayt. “I already have a good idea about what the purpose of your powers are, but it would be a good idea to make sure that there isn’t any information that Dr. Leingod knows that I might have overlooked.”

“If you intend on going to Moonbase, then allow me to escort you there,” Wittcomb offered.

“It would be appreciated,” Twilight said.

The transmission ended and Twilight plotted the ship’s course to Moonbase. Once that was done, she turned her attention to Fayt. “Gather everyone in the conference room. I need to tell you guys a few important things.”

“What do you mean?” Fayt asked.

“I’d…rather only have to say it once.”

Fayt hesitated for a moment then nodded and went to gather the others.

A few hours later, all thirteen members of the group as well as a couple of Quark members were gathered in the ship’s conference room. Roger had to stand in a chair and Albel was looking grumpy after his treatment by the doctor, still testing the range of motions that his new arm was capable of. Adray was messing with his chair because it didn’t feel right. Everyone else sat patiently for the meeting to begin. Twilight took her place at the head of the long table in the conference room with Lyra in an adjacent seat.

Twilight took a deep breath and began, “Thank you all for coming. I have news for all of you that I’m fairly certain will shake your individual perceptions of your existence…”

One long explanation later, most of the room’s occupants had their eyes wide and their jaws hanging.

“You gotta be makin’ this up! There’s no way I can be a computer program,” Cliff said.

“I have to share his sentiments,” Maria added. “I think, feel, and behave like any living human being.”

Twilight nodded, “In terms of behaviors, you’re the same as Lyra or myself. Your AI is so sophisticated that most beings in this universe could pass as a normal person in my universe. The main difference between you and me are our physical compositions, with you being composed of data.”

“I still don’t like having my life dictated by some research lab.”

Twilight sighed. “What do you want me to do, Maria? If we pulled the plug on this experiment, your universe will collapse and cease to exist. I want this universe to be independent as much as you do but we simply don’t know how to do that yet. We’re flying by the seat of our pants with this experiment.”

“So why even create us in the first place?” Maria demanded.

“Because I am part of a group of ascended beings whose purpose is to create universes. It has been the role of my predecessors and it’s been passed down to me and my fellow alicorns.”

“If that is the case then shouldn’t you know how this works?” Nel asked.

“I wish I did know, but the knowledge was lost when a rogue Xel’naga destroyed the records and wiped out all but my fellow alicorns among the ascended. We’re the only ones left and we’re left to fulfill our duties without knowing how to perform them. I wish that I could do better for your universe but all I can do is trial and error.”

“You said that this universe is also an MMO, so that odd-behaving child we saw at the Barr Ruins…?” Fayt inquired.

Twilight nodded. “He was a player character from my universe. Elicoor is actually a popular place for players to hang out.”

“So all those monsters we’ve been facing?” Nel wondered.

“No, there are normal monsters mixed in with player characters. Most monsters are just normal monsters.”

Fayt noticed that Sophia had a calm expression on her face. He found that odd, given the circumstances. “You seem quiet about all this, Sophia.”

“I’ve already heard the explanation from Twilight before. They couldn’t really hide anything when she and Lyra were giving too much away through their mental conversations.”

Fayt frowned, “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Because you guys would be having an existential crisis at a bad time when we needed you to focus on fighting monsters. I already had my own crisis thanks to the revelations my grandfather gave me and I didn’t need you guys getting bent out of shape over this.”

Thanatas giggled, “Gerald never was one for subtlety. That’s why he has Ghosts to do that for him.”

Maria sighed as she looked at Twilight again, “Alright, I’ll let your actions slide for now. However, I have a feeling that you know what we’re up against. Perhaps you would care to enlighten us.”

Twilight smiled faintly as she nodded. “This enemy calls themselves the Executioners, emissaries of The Creator. While I am the one who created the universe and these administration drones, as I call them, I didn’t unleash them on the universe. To put it simply, my company and the Eternal Sphere have been infiltrated by a skilled hacker. They slowly took over our systems and eventually took control of the drones.

“The administration drones were designed as debugging tools to deal with data anomalies that might threaten the Eternal Sphere. They mainly come in two forms. One resembles a pony like myself or Lyra. They wear large formal dresses and have three pairs of wings. They aren’t built for fighting, but they can fight. Their main function is to ‘proclaim’ the will of the Enforcers, hence why they are called Proclaimers. The other form, the Enforcers, resemble six-winged dragons. These creatures are capable of unleashing energy like that blast that destroyed the two Vendeeni ships earlier.”

“Oh, that reminds me,” one of the Quark members, Marietta, said. “We managed to briefly analyze the energy before we were attacked. We didn’t have time to analyze it again, but the readout said that it was packing an energy magnitude of three point two.”

“Did you just say three point two?!” Cliff shouted.

“Impossible! Even the Creation Cannons on the latest Federation Battleships can only emit an energy magnitude of two at best.” Fayt said.

“Sounds like the blast had weakened greatly by the time it hit the Vendeeni ships,” Twilight mused. “The Enforcers can unleash blasts that go as high as magnitude seven. That’s about as high as I would allow it as any higher might risk damaging the Eternal Sphere.”

“With that kind of power, nothing in this universe would stand a chance against them!” Fayt exclaimed.

“Which is why I need your help and why I am telling you all this. If we don’t stop whoever is hacking into the Eternal Sphere, it may not just be your universe that will be put in danger. While the drones can’t exit the Eternal Sphere, if Project Valkyrie gets captured, our world will be in danger as well.”

“Isn’t it about time you explained to us what Project Valkyrie is about?” Sophia asked. “I’ve been hearing it more lately and if this project is a huge deal, we need to be prepared should the worst case scenario occur.”

Twilight had a feeling that the conversation would eventually steer toward this matter, but Sophia was right. If Azure or whoever she might be working with, if she had allies, got control of the project, they needed to be ready to face some dangerous foes.

“Alright,” Twilight sighed. “It was my intent on making the Eternal Sphere an independent universe when we finally developed the means to do so. Once that happened, I would uninstall the administration drones and end the game service, cutting off all access to the Eternal Sphere except for myself and my fellow Xel’naga.

“The reason for our continued access is to seek out a psychically potent race and a chaotic and adaptive race within it. We would nurture these races and fulfill our duties as Xel’naga, bringing the two races together and ascending the ones who possess the needed traits and were worthy to continue the cycle.

“However, while we were doing that, I also wanted to leave your universe a parting gift. I created an artificial god and two goddesses who would act to observe the workings of the Eternal Sphere and report their observations to me. While I wouldn’t be allowed to do anything should something go wrong, I still want to observe my work and see if I did a good job or not. I would take what I learned here and apply it to the creation of the next universe.

“Of course, in order for the three to do their job, they needed to be at least as powerful as myself and the other princesses. They are also incomplete, so if they were to be hacked, the hacker would be able to turn them into weapons that could threaten our world.”

“So basically, we may wind up fighting three artificial gods,” Sophia summarized.

“If we can stop them before then, we won’t have to,” Twilight countered.

Thanatas had seen scenarios like this before in other universes. If this was going like how she figured it would, then Sophia’s prediction was right on the money. Of course, she kept that bit to herself. Things would be so boring if they were too easy.

Eventually, the meeting came to an end and everyone went their separate ways around the ship. Since the now shipless crew of the Diplo needed something to do, Twilight had them put in charge of some of the functions and equipment around the ship.

The ship would soon arrive at Moonbase and there, the group would soon see how dire the situation truly was.

Moonbase

View Online

The remainder of the journey to Moonbase had not been without unfortunate news. Wittcomb had reported to Twilight that a number of remote Federation outposts had been obliterated by the Executioners. With the rampage of the administration drones in progress, the Eternal Sphere was going to be a complete mess by the time the situation was resolved. She may have to resort to rewinding the universe’s timeline to a safe point from before the hacker’s interference.

Twilight knew that Azure Lazer was not the hacker because she knew her capabilities with computers were only above average from the average pony’s skills and whoever the hacker was, they rivaled her own skills.

The Aldian Empire was the first to be wiped out by the Executioners because they were closest to the drones’ spawn point. Swift Burial was in charge of the empire and for whatever reason, enjoyed pitting his forces against Twilight’s Federation. Swift would have more time to dedicate to his real job as the living resources manager.

Fayt and Maria spent some time doing a preliminary search of the Leingod Research Facility database. Maria found no new information but made sure that Fayt was up to date with what she knew so far.

While she was still a little wary of Twilight, since she was the leader of the Federation, Maria still trusted the mare more than the members of the government and was grateful for the additional information. The knowledge that Twilight was the creator of their universe had a negative impact on her stance toward the mare but understood that she had her own struggles with her duties and the frustrations she had with having to perform them blind. Maria couldn’t fault Twilight for trying to fulfill her purpose and felt bad for her for the struggles she had to go through.

Still, having Fayt with her as she was going through the database while secretly mourning the deaths of the Quark members killed by the Vendeeni and the loss of her flagship did help more than she would have let on.

Fayt could see through the tough facade that Maria wore and knew that she was hurting from her loss. In reaction, Fayt promised that anything said in that room would never leave it. While Maria wasn’t sure she could trust Fayt enough to vent to him, her emotions were too taxed from recent events for her mask to endure the stress.

Maria spent half an hour voicing her frustrations to Fayt while he still had the presence of mind to make sure the room was soundproof. He sat and listened to her while making his own meaningful contributions to the conversation. Maria eventually broke down and cried in mourning for the lives lost. He held her hand as her tears flowed.

Eventually, once Maria calmed down, she thanked him for listening to her before he left her in her room while she cleaned herself up and restored her mask.

With some time to spare, everyone headed to bed in order to rest up from their ordeal with Biwig.

After a few hours of rest, Wittcomb sent them another transmission, calling for everyone to attend. Once everyone was present, he warned them that Moonbase was on high alert because the Executioners were attacking the area. Because of this, direct transport to the lab was impossible at this time. Instead they would be transported to the recreation zone of Moonbase where transports were not being jammed. They would have to make their way to the research lab.

“One other thing,” Wittcomb added. “The security system on Moonbase is going haywire and the security drones are unable to discern friend from foe. You will have to fight your way through them to reach Dr. Leingod’s lab.”

“Wow, bad timing,” Sophia commented. “With the Executioners approaching Earth, malfunctioning robots are the last thing anyone needs.”

“Be careful everyone.” Wittcomb wished the group luck before they filed into the transporter room and transported to Moonbase’s recreational zone.

Once outside of the transporter room on the space station, they crossed a small tunnel into the station proper. Everyone looked around the immediate area. The Elicoorians were already in awe by what they were seeing as they could have never imagined such a place in their wildest dreams. A dome above them created a simulation of sunlight to show that it was daytime to protect people’s sense of time. The walls and floors were all composed of metal plating. There were trees and shrubs planted along the walls and isles for decoration. They also came across a few holographic billboards as they went.

“So this is Moonbase,” Nel commented.

“Ah…it’s–”

“Nobody cares about the technicality, Cliff,” Sophia interjected after reading Cliff’s mind.

As they headed into the first large circular platform on the station, they witnessed a group of people that Fayt, Sophia, Peppita and the ponies were familiar with. They held a defensive stance while facing what appeared to be a floating orange anthropomorphic pony mare with her eyes closed and wearing an orange ball gown. She also had three pairs of orange wings.

“That’s the circus troupe!” Peppita exclaimed.

The Proclaimer continued facing the direction of Peppita’s family and spoke, “I proclaim the will of the Enforcers. You are a plague that must be purged from this galaxy.”

“Cease your actions right now!” Twilight called out. “Administration code: Spark of Harmony!”

The Proclaimer paused for a moment and turned to Twilight. “Invalid code. Voice recognition not on file. Error: Recognition File corrupted. Unable to restore file.”

“Horseapples!” Twilight cursed. “The hacker corrupted their recognition software! We have no choice but to destroy it.”

“Fine by me, I would have preferred this method anyway,” Albel said.

“For once I agree with you,” Cliff added.

“Get away from my family!” Peppita called out.

“Rossetti Troupe, we’ll distract it! You guys get out of here!” Lyra called out.

The circus troupe looked at the group and while they were happy to see Peppita was alright, they knew this was no time for a reunion so they quickly ran into a nearby building for shelter.

“If this one is corrupted, it would make sense that all of them are the same way to make sure I don’t try to take control of them,” Twilight figured.

Holding a hand toward the Proclaimer, Twilight channeled a powerful spell through it which manifested as a large magic circle. Before the Proclaimer could recognize the spell, Twilight unleashed a powerful blast of magic that hit it. This was followed by a number of magic circles wrapping around it and grew smaller as the creature became narrower until it was one-dimensional. One clench of Twilight’s outstretched hand and the Proclaimer was erased from existence.

“That is one scary power you have,” Cliff said.

“It’s an administrative power that I have that allows me to delete digital beings.” Twilight explained. “I can’t use it very often because it taxes my magic. It’s similar to Fayt’s Destruction gene.”

“Tch!” Albel grumbled as he sheathed his katana.

“I wouldn’t worry about not getting to fight one of them, Albel. Most likely we will be encountering a lot more of them before everything is over,” Sophia assured.

The conversation was interrupted when the Rossetti Troupe rushed out the door they were hiding behind to greet the newcomers and to have a reunion with Peppita.

“Little lady!” cried out a tall and broad man among them.

“Young miss!” cried out one of the people among them who was dressed like a clown.

“Ursus! Gonnella!” Peppita cried out in reply. This was quickly followed by the little girl receiving a bone-crushing hug from the emotional strong man. Peppita’s uncle Piccolotto had Ursus let her go before he did any damage to her.

The next few minutes were spent giving introductions as well as a summary of what she had been doing the past few days since the attack on the Helre. Piccolotto told the rest of the group that the troupe was supposed to be performing here when the station came under attack by the Executioners. The troupe had some fighting experience, but they knew that they would be outmatched in a fair fight.

While the troupe wanted Peppita to go with them while they found a safe place to hide until the situation blew over, Peppita refused to go with them because she wanted to do all she could to stop the Executioners before they destroyed everything. The troupe respected her wishes.

A few minutes later the troupe went back to holing up in the auditorium after saying their goodbyes to each other.

“We need to get through the small army of malfunctioning security drones on the way to Dr. Leingod’s research facility,” Maria said.

“It might be a good idea to check out the station’s armory and procure some weapons that should help us against the machines.” Twilight offered. “The armor plating on the Federation security drones are quite thick so a regular medieval weapon is likely not going to cut it.”

“We are not proficient in your advanced weapons, you know,” Nel warned.

Twilight smirked, “You’ll have to trust me.”

The group followed Twilight to a pathway that appeared to be a dead end. She instructed everyone to stay near her before she pressed a few buttons and part of the platform lowered like an elevator down a level. At the bottom of the shaft, they entered what appeared to be a bar with some of the patrons looking like they were drinking while ranting about the end of the world. At the far end of the building was a scientist who was guarding a door. The bartender was a Federation soldier.

Twilight addressed the bartender. “Hello soldier, we would like access to the armory.”

The soldier raised an eyebrow as he looked at the group. “Uhh…may I ask who you guys are?”

“Here’s my identification.” Twilight displayed a holographic identification to the soldier who scanned it with his eyes which widened before he used his quad scanner to determine its authenticity. The results made his jaw drop. “M-m-madame President? What are you doing here?” The scientist raised an eyebrow as he watched the conversation unfold.

“I don’t have a lot of time to explain, but I need these people with me armed and ready to take on the machines on the way to the research zone and any Executioners we come across.”

“Y-yes ma’am. Right away.”

“What!?” The scientist spoke up. “We can’t just leave our last line of defense in the hands of some children!”

“Yes we can,” the soldier argued. “I am not going against the President of the Pangalactic Federation.”

“You’re insane! Without these weapons we won’t be able to defend ourselves if the Executioners get past the defenders.”

“They’re not doing us much good locked up in the armory either,” the soldier countered. “Do you even know how to use the weapons?”

“Well…that’s…” Struggling to come up with any excuse, the scientist slumps in defeat and steps aside. The group boarded the elevator behind him and they went up a level and in front of the armory.

Inside the armory were a number of weapons that they could and couldn’t use along with armor for the soldiers to use to protect them from weapon fire. Twilight moved to the back of the room and grabbed a number of items that looked like batons and passed one to everyone but Sophia, Lyra, Thanatas and herself.

“These weapons can either become energy weapons or be used to augment existing weapons,” Twilight explained. “When used on your own weapons, you will notice that they are able to cut through solid objects more easily or harden blunt weapons while providing a strength boost.”

“And how are we even supposed to use them, fool?” Albel asked with his usual attitude which Twilight ignored.

“The nanomachines in the devices are linked to the wielder’s thoughts. Imagine your blades becoming sharper or your blunt weapons becoming harder. Imagine cutting through or punching holes in solid metal.”

The others followed their instructions, except for Adray who kept his weapon on his sash because while he was still adventurous, he also felt too old to be trying strange new contraptions. Fayt, Nel and Albel imagined their weapons becoming sharper. Cliff, Mirage and Peppita imagined their blunt weapons becoming harder. Roger imagined his axe and his helm becoming deadlier. Maria imagined the rounds in her gun turning into armor-piercing rounds.

The weapons reacted to their thoughts and attached themselves to their weapons, augmenting them. As they took out their weapons, they noticed a bright green glow to them. Albel also noticed his new arm was glowing the same color.

Being how he was, Albel tested his sharpened blade and claw on a nearby shelf, cutting through the structural supports and causing the shelf to collapse. Albel earned himself a few glares that he easily brushed off.

Behind the shelf’s rubble, Sophia took note of an old storage chest in the back of the armory. Curiosity won out in the end and she moved to open it, revealing a number of antiques that shouldn’t have been stored there. Still, she decided to look in there to see if there was anything useful.

After some rummaging, nothing of note looked useful except for a pair of books at the bottom of the chest. One appeared to be a dictionary and the other book was another one of those strange numbered books they have been finding lately. This one was numbered ‘six’

Figuring that she might as well see if it followed the pattern, she opened the book and sure enough, it did. Five words only: ‘ten ten three in queen’.

At this point, Sophia was beginning to grow suspicious about the nature of the numbered books they had been finding. She figured that they wouldn’t have to worry about the books anymore once they left Elicoor, but to find one on Moonbase of all places was more than coincidence. Out of curiosity, Sophia checked the cover and insides of the book for any clues about its origins, only to find an abbreviation in a place where she would expect to see an author’s name. The abbreviation read ‘PDP’.

Not wanting to deal with it anymore, Sophia simply gave the books to Twilight for safekeeping. Twilight had a feeling that the dictionary might come in handy later.

With the group better armed now, they backtracked through the bar and back onto the main pathway. They headed away from the circular area.

Moonbase, as Twilight explained, was a space station that had seven circular platforms that were used by all inhabitants. The platforms were classified into one of three types: recreational, habitation and research. The Leingod Research Lab was in the center platform.

Of course, as they explored Moonbase, they took note that the area had suffered varying degrees of damage, either from the security drones or from the Executioners. Pathways were torn up and some of the systems around them were no longer functional due to the damage. This forced the group to take alternate paths to get where they wanted to go.

Strangely, the only enemies encountered during their exploration were the security drones. They took the form of hovering stinger drones, hovering minigun drones, bipedal armored security drones or giant, quadrupedal military-grade tank drones.

Cliff, Mirage and Roger mainly handled the bipedal drones. Cliff dealt some powerful Uppercuts to the drones with some well-timed punches to juggle them in the air. Roger assisted by jumping off of Cliff and blasting the drones in pointblank range with various weapons he kept under his helmet. Mirage juggled her own enemies by unleashing shockwaves with sweeping kicks, including using the Crescent Locus and Triple Kick techniques that she taught Maria.

Fayt, Maria, Thanatas, Nel and Peppita focused their attacks on the flying drones. Twilight alerted everyone to the fact that the drones of Moonbase were not waterproof and were likely vulnerable to water-type Symbology. Thanatas focused on freezing the flyers with her icy attacks. With the flying drones numerous in the area, they could focus on area attacks. Nel used her Lightning Chain technique to send a charged blade that jumped from machine to machine and electrocuted the chilled drones. Peppita empowered everyone with a Power Dance before summoning a giant star that smashed into the machines around her. Maria fired rounds of pulsing energy at the drones. Given her impressive marksmanship skills, she never wasted a shot. Most other drones were knocked out of the air by Fayt’s Air Raid technique that unleashed waves of pressurized air from above.

This left the large military drones to the rest of the group. Twilight kept her targets frozen to the floor with Deep Freeze symbols while Albel used his new enhanced arm to tear through the armored hull. Sophia tried out a new psionic technique where she was able to take the cold air generated by Thanatas and compress it into a small sphere. She tossed the sphere of concentrated cold at one of her targets and the sphere exploded on contact, freezing its joints and turning the armor brittle. Adray followed up on this by moving his hand in front of him and creating an eight-pointed glyph where his hand was. This was followed by a rift opening beneath the mech and a killer whale erupted from the rift, smashing the machine to pieces while the whale dove into a second rift that took it back to where it came from. Meanwhile, Lyra was having no problems cutting through the drones with her energy blades.

There were a few instances where the military drones unleashed a volley of missiles but Roger managed to support the others by using his Shield and Cannon to fire his own volley to intercept the enemy missiles. For the ones that he couldn’t destroy, Sophia caught them in her telekinesis and sent them back at the drones or into other drone types.

The group fought through what seemed like an army of security drones before they finally arrived at their destination. They took an elevator down into the lab.

The lab itself had a number of terminals and holographic displays and interfaces. A large terminal was in the back of the room along with two doors that led to a room with a series of chambers large enough to contain people. Fayt, Maria and Sophia had a feeling that they were once inside those chambers many years ago.

Fayt and Maria examined the main terminal and attempted to scan for files that may prove relevant to their situation. However, the computer couldn’t find any files that related to their search.

“It’s likely that Robert hid the file under some sort of encryption,” Twilight mused.

“Do you know how we can access it?” Fayt asked.

Twilight shook her head, “No, he never told me that. He likely assumed that the ones to view the file would be you three so it’s likely that he made it so the only way the file can be accessed would be in a way that would ensure that you three were present.”

“I think I know,” Sophia said. “Computer, scan my genetic profile and search for any related files.”

The computer scanned Sophia’s genetic profile and after another search, found two results. One appeared to be a video entry about a coming crisis while the other appeared to be research data on Sophia’s irregular genetic profile.

“Seems like they were trying to figure out your irregular genes,” Thanatas noted.

Out of curiosity, Sophia viewed the file on her. It appeared that the scientists were trying to map out her DNA and tried to figure out what race the irregular DNA went to. They were surprised when the DNA didn’t belong to any known species in the database. They expressed their desire to check the databases of the other intergalactic factions but were rejected due to the risk it posed to them and the Federation.

The thing that weirded out the scientists the most was the chaotic nature of Sophia’s ever-changing DNA. Of course, they also guessed that something was keeping the genetic data from becoming too chaotic because they noticed that certain alterations were being inhibited.

There was also mention of the equipment being damaged mysteriously whenever Sophia was around. They found out the hard way that she was psychic when some of the scientists got flung into walls.

After a while, the Esteeds became fed up with the experiments and decided to terminate the studies altogether.

“Huh, guess I was quite the handful back then,” Sophia commented, which earned her a good laugh from Thanatas.

With that diversion out of the way, Fayt played the other video. It started out showing a lineup of the four scientists: Jessie Traydor, Ryoko Leingod, Robert Leingod and Clive Esteed in that order. They appeared nineteen years younger.

“This project was initiated as a result of the exploration of the planet Styx in Galactic Year 752. Styx is an unusual planet on which explorers found the Time Gate–a portal that seems to be a sort of time machine,” Robert said in the video.

“Just to clarify, the Time Gate is actually a maintenance terminal that we use to study and fix issues in the galaxy the terminal is programmed to,” Twilight explained. “It’s also an emergency exit terminal in case something goes wrong and we find ourselves unable to log out for some reason. But we managed to fix that issue a long time ago. Only those who have an existing body on the other side would be able to use it though.”

“A full-scale study of Styx and the Time Gate was undertaken in 752,” Robert continued. “The Time Gate is sentient.” Twilight rolled her eyes and shook her head in disappointment. “That was about all we knew about it based on our research up to that point. No one yet knew who had created the Time Gate, or for what purpose. However, all became clear after the study conducted in Galactic Year 752. After an investigation extending over several weeks, we have discovered that the Time Gate responds to symbological data. And it was recently discovered that when certain, special symbological data are sent into the Time Gate, it is possible to obtain recorded data from the Time Gate itself. However, included in these data was information more horrifying than we could have imagined. We learned of the existence of 4D beings. Four-dimensional entities, possessing technology far more advanced than our own–including the ability to travel through time.”

Twilight scoffed at that. “Just because we can manipulate the time of this universe doesn’t mean we can manipulate the time of our own universe. This research is based on incomplete information that we have been feeding them to sate their curiosity.”

“Don’t you think that’s kind of cruel to string them along like that?” Maria asked.

“If you were in my position, would you tell them that their lives were based on a video game?” Twilight countered.

Maria couldn’t think of a rebuttal, given that she was still coming to grips with her own existence.

Robert continued. “Furthermore, as we continued our research, we found out that these beings may have actually created our universe. The symbological technology that we use today originated with these beings. We also hypothesized that these beings have interacted with us in ways we would not be aware of. We believe that as our symbological technology developed, we gave back to them as they have given to us.

“We had thought that the Time Gate was a portal for traveling through time, but it appears that we were wrong. The Time Gate is, in fact, a doorway to 4D space. Time travel was a phenomenon that occurred as a result of the protective measures taken to prevent us from detecting the existence of 4D space. The 4D universe allows free movement through time…And the Time Gate tapped into that potential.” Twilight rolled her eyes again at how poorly the research team interpreted the data.

“But then something completely unexpected happened. The Time Gate spoke a threat.”

“Resign thyselves. The Eternal Sphere shall be eradicated as a message to the Xel’naga. That which we have created shall be destroyed so long as they remain in power. To carry out this execution, we shall soon unleash the Enforcers upon you all. Resign thyselves to annihilation.”

“That’s why the hacker is doing this!?” Twilight shouted. “They want to act like some radical who thinks Equestria doesn’t need the alicorns anymore!? I know that Celestia has been slowly giving away her political power over the past few centuries, but even I can tell that our ponies need a lot more time to mature before we can leave the world in their hands.”

“The Eternal Sphere?” Robert asked.

“That is the universe which is known to your kind,” the gate replied. “We created the Eternal Sphere as a means of exchanging symbological technology with your kind. We shall not allow that to continue and allow the Xel’naga to gain power. And so, annihilation is the fate that awaits you.”

“You think we are just going to lie down and die like you want?!” Robert roared. “We will resist you to the bitter end!”

“A meaningless effort. Your kind cannot exist beyond your universe. You fight a battle of futility. Resign thyselves.”

“The time gate spoke no more. We returned to Moonbase and dedicated ourselves to our research. Now, we research not just to advance civilization, but also to save our universe. We reported this to the top brass of the Federation and our president, who continues to remain hidden from the public eye, approved of funding for our research.”

Twilight scratched the back of her head. “I had just heard of the hacker by this point so in a panic, I funded the research team in hopes that they had a plan to help save this universe.”

“We would not accept our death sentence. If we are to die, we’ll die fighting.

“Be that as it may, our enemy was the creator of our universe. How can we stand against an enemy with absolute power? To fight, we needed a tremendous power of our own. We decided to use symbological genetics to create a weapon–a human with powers that could defeat the Creator.”

“So my dad modified us to fight you, Twilight?” Fayt asked.

“Yes, but he didn’t understand the situation enough to know that. Neither the gate nor the hacker gave him complete information so he had to fill in the gaps with a few assumptions.”

“This was our project.” The display changed to the strange pods in the other room in the lab. “Two children were selected to be subjects of our experiments. I am sure there is no way we could ever apologize to these children, no way we could ever earn their forgiveness. People may label us as monsters.”

Thanatas shrugged, “Eh, I’ve done worse,” she said casually.

“Nevertheless, we feel that this research–and this research alone–has a chance of saving us all. These children are our hope. We gave one child the power to destroy–the Destruction gene. To the other child, we gave the power to change–the Alteration gene. However, we do not believe that these two powers alone will be enough to stand up to the 4D being known as the Creator. We believe that our survival rests on one thing: we must enter 4D space and defeat the Creator. That is why we decided to give the next child, Professor Esteed’s child, the power to connect space–the Connection gene. She will be able to use this symbological power to create a path through the Time Gate and enter 4D space.”

Thanatas snerked, “Kinda redundant to give her the power to connect space when she was already capable of it in the first place.”

Sophia turned to the death knight and raised an eyebrow, “I can?”

”Of course you could. Everyone in our family is capable of traveling to different universes at will. We are a family of multiverse travelers after all.”

“So how do I do it?”

“I’d rather not show you yet. It would ruin the journey and this thing has been pretty entertaining.”

Sophia rolled her eyes then turned back to the video.

“The childrens’ powers will not flower immediately. However, when these three children come together, their different special symbological genes will resonate, and it should be possible for them to utilize their powers. Beyond this, they must learn control by applying their powers in combat.”

The rest of the video was basically an apology to Fayt, Maria and Sophia for what they did as well as saying that what they did from now on was up to them and they could choose whether to fight or accept annihilation.

Sophia deadpanned, “Seriously? That’s not even a choice at all. That’s basically saying that we either fight or die.”

“Reminds me of when a certain someone tried to make a deal to bust me and Fayt out of prison,” Cliff said jokingly.

Nel remained silent.

“The only thing we learned from this was the hacker’s motivation. This just means that they are a threat to the princesses,” Twilight said. “We need to head to the Time Gate on the planet Styx and confront Azure and flush out her allies.”

“Alright, then let’s get going,” Sophia said.

Twilight deactivated the transport jammer in the lab to allow them to transport directly onto Twilight’s ship.

Decimation and Desolation

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With their business on Moonbase concluded, Twilight had her ship transport everyone on board. While she was confident that the Executioners could not detect her ship since the ship’s coding was undetectable, getting out of the combat zone before the administration drones arrived was still a good idea.

As they prepared to depart, Twilight received another communication from Wittcomb.

“What did you learn?” Wittcomb asked.

“Unfortunately, nothing that we didn’t know already. Dr. Leingod was working with limited information, but he knew enough important details to act on it. His intentions for the experiment were so Fayt, Maria and Sophia would be able to enter the Creator’s realm and defeat him.”

“So you’re saying it is the Creator?!” Wittcomb paused for a moment and let out a deep, resigned sigh. “Well, given their capabilities and what they look like, it’s not surprising.”

“I take it that the planetary defense fleet is under attack?”

Wittcomb nodded grimly. One of the officers placed an image of one of the Executioners on display. The creature shown looked like a six-winged dragon. Its jagged scales made it look like it was wearing a spiky jacket. “Based on their size, they easily surpass Federation battleships in offense, defense and speed. We have little chance against them. It’s just a matter of time before they breach our final line of defense.”

Twilight was silent. Lyra and Sophia could feel the sorrow welling up within the alicorn. They could sense the frustration, grief, and rage roiling within her. Sophia decided to speak for Twilight. “We will be headed to the planet Styx where we will be looking for a way to resolve this matter. I understand that it is too late to save Earth now, but we can still save what’s left of our galaxy.”

“Do you need an escort? It would be too dangerous to travel to Styx with the Executioners all over the place.”

“We will be fine, trust us.”

Silence reigned in the room for several minutes while Wittcomb looked like he sucked a lemon. He soon spoke up again. “Very well, we shall remain here and face our fates with our heads held high. I ask you one favor: observe our fight and remember us in our most glorious moment. We may not win, but we will make them bleed before our end.”

Sophia knew that the Aquaelie was about to attempt something suicidal. The militaristic side of her could only nod grimly in respect for the soldiers who would soon become erased from existence. “I wish you the best, Commodore.”

“Before I go, may I have a word with Sophia in private?” Wittcomb requested. The others left the room in response. Once Sophia was alone in the room with Wittcomb’s transmission, he continued. “Sophia Esteed, I have heard stories about you. You were selected to attend the Federation’s top military academy when you graduated high school. It makes me sad to know that that future is now closed to you because of this crisis.”

Sophia nodded, “I’ve learned a lot about myself on my journey through Elicoor. I’ve learned things that I never, in my wildest dreams, would have imagined myself as. I’ve learned truths about myself that any normal person would never believe.

“After learning these truths, I realized that my destiny was not to become a part of the Federation military. I’ve learned that I am destined for much greater things. For the sake of this, I will survive, I will thrive, and I will ascend to the heights that call to me.”

Wittcomb chuckled wistfully, “Yes, I wish that I could see you rise to grasp what fate has in store for you. I am sure that your future will be glorious. I only hope that you never forget the faces you met before your rise.”

Sophia nodded once more, “I will be sure that your memory is never forgotten, Commodore.”

Wittcomb turned away from the screen. “Send them in. I want them to see this.”

Sophia called the others back into the room. Once Twilight got back in the captain’s chair, she assigned the Quark officers positions on the bridge. Marietta began plotting the course for Styx.

Meanwhile, Wittcomb made an announcement to his crew while the transmission was still going. “Attention all crewmembers: The fate of the galaxy rests on the impending battle. Let us prove here and now that the Aquaelie’s crew is the best in the Federation! This Creator has sentenced us all to annihilation. Let us all stand together against him, and live! If we cannot survive, then we will send a message that we will not accept our fate quietly! We will show this Creator that they were right to fear the power and might of the Federation!” The officers on the bridge voiced their determination and readiness to face the Executioners. They were ready to fight to the bitter end. “Onward, my faithful comrades!” The transmission ended there.

With the Aquaelie in motion, Twilight’s ship began moving on an evasion course to avoid the Executioners. The Aquaelie fired everything they had to create a distraction to draw the Executioners to them. Meanwhile, the other ships in the area protecting Earth followed the battleship’s example and bombarded the draconic swarm. Their main cannons, their Creation Cannons, destroyed a few of the Executioners.

Unfortunately, that was far from enough as the beasts counterattacked by unleashing devastating blasts that utterly erased most of the remaining ships. With the defense breached, some of the Enforcers moved toward Earth and fired powerful blasts at the planet. The first shot was absorbed by the planetary defense shield but also caused significant damage to the shield and the targeted city of New York.

The Aquaelie moved to attack the Enforcers who were assaulting Earth and destroyed two of them with its Creation Cannon. The Enforcers had enough of the ship’s futile resistance and trapped it in an energy field that slowly collapsed around the ship and narrowed its dimensions until the Enforcer clutched its hand and the Aquaelie was erased.

The Enforcers resumed their attack on the Earth, charging up a powerful blast that reached magnitude five. The blast of dark light was unleashed and the planetary defense shield could not withstand the energy. The last thing that was seen on Twilight’s ship monitor was the Earth being turned into swiss cheese by the red and black light.

Nothing was said by anyone for several minutes. Nothing could be said to express the tragedy that they bore witness to.

Twilight kept a brave face, but her sorrow could not be hidden by the psychics of the group. Twilight didn’t care that they could feel her sadness.

Unfortunately, the damage caused by the Executioners at this point was extensive to the point where it was nearly unsalvageable. With the Federation, Aldian, and Vendeeni homeworlds obliterated, the only sign of intergalactic travelers were those who had evaded the Executioners. It was only a matter of time before those ships were hunted down as well.

With the situation as it was, she would have to rewind time in the Eternal Sphere to a safe point and undo the damage caused by the Executioners. However, this would also mean that the digital beings around her would have their own timelines altered to where the Leingod experiments never existed and the children would be able to live their lives as if the experiments never happened. The only ones who would be able to carry their memory would be herself, Lyra, Sophia and Thanatas.

With a sigh, Twilight spoke, “I’m going to get some rest. I suggest all of you do the same.”

Twilight left the bridge while Lyra went after her. The templar master knew that her friend was hurting and in need of a shoulder to cry on.

The others went to their own cabins while some visited each other as they worked to cope with the tragic event they witnessed.

Sophia lingered on the bridge a little longer than the others. While the Quark members were still at their stations, monitoring the Executioner activity, Sophia paid no attention to them as her thoughts drifted to the courageous men and women who gave their lives in defense of their homeworld. She thought about the countless lives lost facing a foe that they were certain that they could not defeat, and yet they did not flee, they showed no fear, they did not back down. They may have failed, but in their final moments, those soldiers showed that they had truly earned that title of ‘soldier’.

Sophia gave a heartfelt salute to the courageous fallen defenders before leaving the bridge and returning to her cabin.

Hours passed, tears were shed, and everyone, who had any personal connection to Earth, went through the stages of grief while they could. Some were able to find rest, others were not. Regardless, time marched on and the problem would continue to worsen until the threats were removed.

Soon, the ship entered the atmosphere of the dead world of Styx. The planet was barren and rocky and preliminary scans showed that while the atmosphere was breathable, there was no water to support life. The area around the Time Gate was surrounded by an eternal sandstorm.

Even worse was that smaller versions of the Executioners were present on the planet. Twilight explained that the smaller versions existed as a means of surgically removing threats on worlds that they were programmed to not destroy. To the Elicoorians’ relief, their planet was on the list of planets they couldn’t destroy.

Thanks to the ship’s stealth coding, they were able to move down to the planet undetected by the Executioners. However, the safest point to transport down was a kilometer away from the Time Gate. It was still the best they could hope for since there were a number of Proclaimers and Enforcers along the way to the relic.

Once ready, they transported down to the surface.

It wasn’t long before all thirteen fighters were transported onto the desolate planet. Twilight placed a protection spell on everyone to keep the roaring sandstorm from blasting sand in their eyes so everyone had a chance to look around.

The land was as barren as they came. There was nothing but rocks and sand as far as the eye could see, which was not very far since the sandstorm obscured their vision. But their vision wasn’t obscured enough to not pick up on movement not far away. Everyone was certain that the movements came from the Executioners wandering the sandstorm.

“Stay close,” Lyra warned. “It would be easy to get separated in the sandstorm and get picked off one by one. These guys are tough so don’t engage one alone if you get separated.”

Everyone agreed before proceeding forward into the raging storm.

Not far into their small journey, they encountered a pair of Proclaimers who looked ready to fight.

Fayt and Albel charged ahead, Albel moving with his usual serpentine pattern. However, before they were able to get into attack range of the overdressed ponies, they teleported behind everyone and rotated once while unleashing a series of glyphs that spun on the ground, smiting everyone who ended up under the small glowing circles. Twilight, Lyra and Sophia reacted quickly by shielding themselves while Nel, Adray and Maria, who ended up next to their enemies, were not so lucky. They were smited several times before they could react.

One of the Proclaimers attempted to cast a Dark Sphere symbol to instantly kill several members of the group, but Sophia saw it coming and silenced her. The other Proclaimer tried to do what the other failed to do but Twilight was ready for that one with her own Silence symbol.

Peppita provided support by healing the injured with a Healing Dance before Maria fired an explosive laser arc on the ground which the Proclaimers got caught in, singeing them a little.

The Proclaimers were not designed for fighting so they only knew the Dark Sphere symbol and the Divine Wave attack they used earlier with the spinning glyphs. They were still tough and rarely staggered against their enemies’ attacks. However, Fayt was ready with a powerful attack of his own. Channeling his destructive energy into his blade, a dark aura began to spiral in a large area around him. Twilight could sense space beginning to distort around the swordsman so she had everyone back away for a moment.

What happened next happened in nearly an instant as Fayt teleported behind the Proclaimers and delivered a spatial rending slash that would have bisected any normal being. However, the Proclaimers were no ordinary beings and the fact that they survived, albeit barely since they were cut in two and were working desperately to repair themselves, was a testament to their durability. That didn’t last long before a wave of dragon heads from Albel finished off the Proclaimers.

“Damn, and these guys were only the first bunch,” Cliff stated in shock. “It’s gonna be tough getting to the Time Gate.”

“We need to keep going,” Sophia said. “We are not letting a bunch of drones get in our way.”

Everyone nodded in agreement and pushed forward.

Another surprise came not far beyond where they battled the Proclaimers. They spotted some flying mechanical drones nearby as well as more quadrupedal military assault drones.

“What are these things doing on this world?” Fayt asked.

Twilight pondered on this for a moment, and as much as she didn’t want to believe it, the presence of the drones made her suspect that this was the case. “I think the hacker has learned how to insert our defense drones into the Eternal Sphere. I thought it was a coincidence back on Moonbase, since the Federation uses the same model drones that we do, but these models being here tells me that they are being inserted into the Eternal Sphere to keep us from the Time Gate.”

“It just means that we are on the right track to stopping our mysterious foe,” Maria said.

As the group engaged the mechanical drones, they soon realized that while they had the same patterns like the ones on Moonbase, these models had increased firepower and were made of stronger metal. It was still no match for their enhanced blades, but they did notice that the armor was a little harder to penetrate.

At one point, the group found themselves surrounded by a swarm of flying minigun drones with their weapons spinning and ready to fire. Roger reacted by throwing his helmet high into the air before he triggered a powerful laser weapon within it that fired in a cage pattern around the group and dropped luminous destruction all around them.

During Roger’s light show, a pair of Robo Gunners, which was the name Twilight finally gave for the quadrupedal assault drones, tried to sneak up behind them to bombard them with missiles. Peppita saw them coming and decided to unleash a powerful move of her own. Calling on her special symbology, she bowed and opened a hole in the ground. From that hole emerged a huge white, fluffy, demonic teddy bear-like creature with tiny bat wings and sharp claws.

The Faerie Friend, as she called it, mimicked her movements and swiped its powerful claws that tore through the mechanical weapons’ armor and ripped their weapons from their chassis. The others watched in awe as the beast moved in synchronization with Peppita. The fourteen year old dancer showed everyone in that moment that she was a powerhouse in her own right.

It wasn’t long before they had their first encounter with an Enforcer. Twilight assured the group that the planetary type of Enforcer was nowhere near as powerful as the variation that destroyed ships because having all of them being that strong would have made them too powerful for surgical strikes against smaller threats. Of course, they were still quite powerful.

Once the Enforcer spotted them, it moved in to attack. It made the first move by creating a large number of glowing red orbs and firing them at everyone. Some were hit for explosive damage and were sent flying backwards while others managed to block with powerful barriers. The Enforcer aimed a destruction symbol at the group but Twilight was ready with an override symbol that canceled out other administrative symbols.

With its momentum interrupted, Lyra and Sophia capitalized on the moment by rapidly slashing away at the draconic monster but was forced to back away when it created a large number of orbs and sent them at both templars, the orbs tracking their movements. Lyra created a null zone out of void energy and drew the orbs to her while moving it toward the Enforcer who attempted to counter it with a destruction symbol. The two ended up in a power clash where neither side appeared to be giving the other an inch. However it was only a matter of time until Lyra fell to exhaustion since the Enforcer was not given that capability.

Mirage moved behind the monster and rushed it with a series of punches and kicks that not only distracted the Enforcer, but nudged it forward and closer to Lyra’s null zone. With all of its concentration on maintaining the attack, it tried to act quickly by attacking Mirage with its long tail which was grabbed by Thanatas. The death knight was stronger than she looked and was able to keep the tail still while Mirage continued moving the beast forward with her Avenger Charge technique.

The beast soon came into contact with Lyra’s null zone and was consumed by it until there was nothing left.

The group took a moment to rest after facing a tough opponent before continuing forward.

Thankfully, while there were a number of drones and Proclaimers that they encountered as they advanced, there were very few Enforcers in the area and it wasn’t long before they reached their destination. They spotted a strange stone circle on the ground but Twilight assured the group that it posed no importance as the object that they were looking for was in front of them.

The Time Gate looked like a sandstone monument composed of a pair of hollow rectangles: one to compose the frame and another inside the larger one. A pair of spherical protrusions could be seen halfway up the rectangles. At the base and on top were apparati that looked like they could rotate the stone rectangles that built into them. A pair of stone platforms could be seen on either side of it and behind it.

Fortunately, the Executioners were not interested in the Time Gate for the time being and they were able to investigate the relic unmolested.

As they approached the Time gate, tremors were felt around them and while everyone else tensed at the possibility of anything, Twilight and Lyra remained calm as they looked at the Time Gate as the stones rotated horizontally until they were nearly perpendicular with each other.

The tremors also caused a book to fall from the top of the Time Gate. Sophia had a good idea on the subject matter of the book since she saw the one on Moonbase. Once the tremors stopped, Twilight moved to pick it up and informed everyone that it was indeed another of the mysterious numbered books written by the mysterious 'PDP'. It had the number 'three' on it. She also uttered the five words that were in the book before placing it in her pocket dimension. "'goddess the the the face'? I hope we're near the end of this book hunt so we can solve this strange puzzle and move on."

Twilight and Lyra turned to the rest of the group. “Alright, me and Lyra will be going on ahead. Since we have actual bodies in our world, we can exit the Eternal Sphere the normal way. We will make sure that your emergence into our universe doesn’t cause a scene. Once Sophia establishes a connection to our universe, follow us when you can.”

With that said, Twilight and Lyra approached the gate with the princess typing in the ‘log out’ command into the relic console. Once finished, the two mares simply faded out.

“So, how does this work?” Cliff asked.

Sophia shrugged, “I’m just gonna go ahead and try the direct method.” As she approached, her right arm glowed blue before a number of magic circles appeared around her arm. She pointed her hand at the Time Gate before a blast hit the interface and tore open a rift through time and space. “Yep, simplest way and no unnecessary complications to muddy up the process.”

Thanatas rolled her eyes, “Can’t disagree with you there, but I still like being able to get where I want by opening dimensional rifts wherever I please.”

“So we’ll be able to face the enemy Twilight mentioned on the other side of that?” Fayt asked.

“Most likely,” Maria answered.

Cliff pounded his hand, “Then let’s get in there and kick some hacker butt.”

“There’s no telling what awaits us on the other side,” Nel said. “Let’s proceed with caution.”

The group waited a few moments to give Twilight time to get everything ready before they approached the tear and walked through it.

What awaited the group was and wasn’t what they were expecting. They were expecting a civilization with advanced technology and ponies, assuming they were the main race because of Twilight and Lyra. What they didn’t expect was a number of different races among them. All of them were dressed in various styles of synthetic clothes. Most of the races they saw were only known to the humans from libraries containing subjects on mythological creatures. They saw bipedal griffons, yaks, dragons, hippogryphs, creatures that looked like a hybrid of pony and insect, and a race that only Sophia knew about because of her experiences with the Ihan Crystal: Protoss.

And they were all staring at them…

“Whoa, did something just come out of that Eternal Sphere display?” one of the onlookers, a griffon, asked.

“Is it a new feature being advertised?” asked a hippogryph.

“That is so cool! Now I wanna play the game more than ever!” a dragon exclaimed.

As the onlookers gossiped, the group looked around to assess the situation. “Looks like we’re pulling in a crowd,” Sophia said.

“This doesn’t look like an enemy base, but keep your guard up,” Fayt said.

The standoff continued until they saw a group of four armored Protoss wielding the same weapons Sophia and Lyra used approach them.

“We heard reports of a disturbance in the area,” one of the Protoss said. “Please disperse calmly and return to your day.” The crowd complied and went on their way.

“You lot are coming with us,” another Protoss declared. “I have no idea who you are but your outfits and thoughts tell me that you are not from around here.”

The group took up defensive stances. With them being in an unknown world, they weren’t sure how things worked here or if they would be treated fairly. However, that became unnecessary.

“Stand down, they are with me,” spoke a familiar voice.

The Protoss looked behind them and quickly moved out of Lyra’s way before delivering a stiff and hasty salute with a hand over their chests. “Yes, Highlord!”

“Sorry about the welcoming committee, I logged out and ended up back at my house. It took me some time to get back into my normal armor and get over here.”

Lyra was wearing a dark blue short top and shorts. Over that was a strange-looking slate green armor over her chest, shoulders, legs and the back of her neck. A pair of curved metal rods over her shoulders had energies of blue, green and red traveling along them. Sophia sensed an invisible energy barrier covering the mare and the armor was lightweight and offered complete freedom of movement while maximizing protection.

“Hmph, too flashy, no stealth,” came Albel’s opinion. That was when he felt a chill travel down his spine as he felt the presence of someone behind him. He was paralyzed with the thought that if he turned around that it would lead to a world of pain.

Sophia looked behind Albel to find Lyra standing behind him within a hair’s breadth of his neck. A playful yet menacing smirk adorned her face. “What was that about not being stealthy?” Lyra whispered into Albel’s ear.

By the time Albel turned around, Lyra was gone from behind him and suddenly reappeared next to a copy of herself. The real Lyra waved a hand into the illusory copy to banish it.

“Anyway, welcome to Ponyville. I will be your guide as we check out the town and make our way to Princess Twilight’s castle where she is awaiting us.”

“Wait, you said ‘Princess’ Twilight? We’ve been hanging out with actual royalty this whole time?” Cliff asked.

“Are you saying Her Majesty wasn’t ‘royal’ enough in your opinion?” Nel playfully countered, obviously referring to Romeria.

“W-what? N-no! I mean…” Nel’s laughter made Cliff groan. “I can’t believe you, of all people would joke like that.”

“Anyway, let’s get going,” Lyra said. “I doubt the hacker will be able to try anything since they can’t get what they want without Twilight and Twilight placed the Eternal Sphere on a time lock so the Executioners can’t advance their campaign for now. She explained to the public that the servers were down for emergency maintenance.

“For now, we can take our time and build up our strength for what’s to come. But now, it’s time for that tour so follow me.”

With nothing else to do, the group followed closely behind the templar highlord.

Limit Break

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Lyra took everyone on a tour of Ponyville, the city that the group ended up in after they crossed the barrier between the digital universe and reality. Thanks to Maria and Fayt’s symbological genetic powers, the digital beings among them could exist beyond their universe.

Like tourists, the group couldn’t help but look around in wonder at the technological marvels around them. Some of the architecture bore a rounded conic resemblance that Sophia recalled seeing among the Protoss civilization that she saw in the Ihan Crystal. However, the color was a lot more varied, unlike the gaudy gold structures she had seen. The buildings that served as residences were especially varied in colors. But when she saw that the ponies who lived in them had coat and mane colors that matched the buildings, she figured that such was a way of identifying their residences.

The taller buildings were mainly gunmetal, brass or gold colored. It was easy to tell that they were apartment buildings and business buildings. The moderate sized buildings were gray colored with other colors to show who the owner or owners were. They were used as small businesses.

Lyra’s tour took everyone to historical places in town. On their first stop was Sugarcube Corner, which was renamed the Sugarcube Academy of Culinary Arts.

“This place used to be a simple bakery a thousand years ago,” Lyra explained. “It was also used as a home for one of Twilight’s old friends from that time. Pinkie Pie served as an apprentice when she moved here until she took over the store and started a family. The place turned into a family run store until a century later when one of Pinkie’s great grandchildren decided to expand the bakery and turn it into a culinary school. They still serve some of the best food in the country while many of the best chefs in the country have their beginnings here.”

The next stop on the tour was what appeared to be a nature preserve. The large park appeared as if something about it repelled the encroachment of technology.

“This is Sweet Feather Sanctuary,” Lyra began. “This place was built as an animal refuge and care center. It was created by another of Twilight’s friends. This place was created from Fluttershy’s passion to care for animals and to give them a place to be in their natural environment. She was especially determined to get this place going when she realized that Equestria was on the verge of a technological golden age. She also convinced the town to move the veterinary clinic near the sanctuary. It turned into a veterinary school over the years.”

“Hey, Lyra? Why are we on this tour? Shouldn’t we be getting ready to hit the enemy stronghold or something?” Cliff asked.

“Like I said, the Eternal Sphere is on lockdown so there’s no danger of the Executioners making any progress until we head back in again. The staff at Sphere are making sure the hacker’s efforts don’t make much progress so we have time to prepare, and there are things we need to do before we head in there.”
“Like what?” Nel asked.

“For one, we need to give a status update to Princess Celestia, one of the two rulers of the nation alongside Princess Luna. Another involves Sophia meeting with Bon Bon for a very important procedure.”

“You mean…?” Sophia began.

“Yep, if you’ve decided to rejoin your birth family, then you will need those limiters removed.”

“Ah, then that means that the time for my dear cousin’s important decision is at hand,” Thanatas said, unable to hold in her excitement.

“While I was changing, I received a message from Bon Bon that she was back from her mission and would be in Ponyville within a few hours after she checks the badlands Zerg hives. This is why we are touring the town in order to kill some time.” She turned to give Sophia a serious look. “I’m afraid that due to how much time she will have for this, I need you to make your decision by the time the tour ends. If you agree to the procedure, then I will call Bon Bon over right away. You have had plenty of time to decide on your future and this is the only timeframe we have available when we can help you.”

Sophia gave a determined look and a nod. “Don’t worry, I’ve already made my decision. I understand the burdens that will be placed on me and the sacrifices that I will have to make as a result, not to mention the people that I will have to put up with for the rest of eternity.” She smirked playfully at Thanatas who smirked back.

Lyra smiled at them before turning forward again and leading the group through town.

Among the places along the tour that Lyra brought them, there were the Carousel Fashion Corporation and Sweet Apple Acres. The corporation started out as a chain of designer fashion stores founded by Twilight’s friend Rarity, which turned into a fashion school for aspiring designers. The corporation was built on that when one of Rarity’s descendents was a military-minded individual who designed the most fashionable yet functional battlegear in the world. The corporation was built on the idea that just because you are going into battle doesn’t mean you can’t look good while doing so. The Carousel Corporation was the leading designer for the most sophisticated and fashionable armor and stealth suits in the world.

Sweet Apple Acres changed over the thousand years as much as it stayed the same. The Apple Family still ran the farm and had a number of farmhands to handle the harvest of the vast acres of apple trees. However, with the addition of new species integrating into the Equestian population, they had to expand into other markets to keep from falling behind the times. While apples were still the primary product of the farm, they discovered a gem mine just inside the Everfree Forest and, using the latest advancements in technology, were able to take the gems and grow new ones in their place, effectively creating a gem farm to put them in the dragon foods market. What surprised Sophia was how they entered the meat market to appeal to the carnivorous and omnivorous species. According to Lyra, Bon Bon had given the farmers a small Zerg hive cluster in order to raise the creatures like livestock. When it was learned that dragons and griffons as well as the changelings enjoyed the taste of Zerg meat, as well as how easy it was to grow and harvest Zerg, the farm became one of the nation’s top food producers.

“Zerg are an extremely versatile species,” Lyra explained. “Originally, they were used as a weapon to wipe out the Protoss. But thanks to Bon Bon, we found that they were capable of so much more. Some hives were used as livestock breeding, some had their fangs and claws traded in to become companion pets, while those who didn’t were protective pets. A thousand years with them among us allowed us time to get used to them. The more intelligent varieties are given more advanced jobs with the brightest being among our military minds.”

When the group saw the Zerg livestock, most of them gave disgusted reactions at the thought of eating such creatures. Sophia had to wipe away a little drool that escaped her mouth before anyone noticed.

“They also have to keep the Zerg in separate pens because of their cannibalistic nature,” Lyra continued. “At first, we found a lot of what the Zerg did to be disgusting, including their appearance. But again, a thousand years immersed in that made us go numb to it. Some ponies have even taken to eating small quantities of Zerg meat, but not much since we are still primarily herbivores, unless you’re an alicorn.”

Since she was on the topic of mentioning Twilight’s old friends, she briefly mentioned Rainbow Dash’s place in the Cloudsdale Hall of Fame. Since the city in question was far away at the time, the tour never took them there.

Eventually, the group reached the end of the tour at Twilight’s castle. They were amazed that the castle was a massive bluish white crystal tree. The external appearance made one who had never seen it before think that the castle was a massive purple treehouse built into the crystal tree.

They approached the door and Lyra knocked on it. The others spent the time waiting for a response to look at the castle again. It was nearly a minute later that the door opened and a purple draconic head popped out of the opening. The dragon looked at the group and smiled. “Hey Lyra, Twilight will want to thank you for bringing these guys over here.”

“Hey Spike, is her communicator available? I need to make a call,” Lyra responded.

“Huh? What for?”

“I need to call Bon Bon over here to perform a procedure on one of my friends here.”

“Princess Sweetie Drops? What kind of procedure? Is one of them infested? I thought Princess Sweetie Drops had control over all the Zerg on Equus.”

Lyra sighed, “Look, we don’t have time to dawdle. I’d like to get this procedure over with so I can have enough time to show them around Gemity before whoever has been messing with the Eternal Sphere gets impatient.”

“Uh, right, I’ll go get Twilight. You guys make yourselves comfortable in the waiting room.” Spike walked off into the castle, leaving Lyra to guide the group to the castle’s waiting room. A number of conversations opened up.

“Huh, he looks buff, but he’s not much bigger than most of the ones we fought before,” Cliff commented.

“Don’t let his size fool you,” Lyra warned. “Spike is over a thousand years old and he knows how to change his size at will so he can move around in buildings.”

“A thousand years old, he must be older than Crosell,” Nel noted.

“Hey Lyra, you mentioned your friend was called Bon Bon, but that dragon, Spike I think you called him, called your friend Princess Sweetie Drops?” Fayt asked.

“Bon Bon is my name for her and it’s the one that I knew her by in the early stages of our relationship,” Lyra explained. “Her real name is Sweetie Drops, having ascended to princesshood a thousand years ago.”

“Relationship?” Fayt raised an eyebrow.

“Yep, Bon Bon is my wife. She and I are the reason Equestria is what it is today. We spent eight years living among and fighting humans, Protoss and Zerg, ultimately leading to a face off against a malevolent godlike being.”

“Are you sure about this, Sophia?” Thanatas asked. “Once the limiters are undone, there’s no going back.”

“I’m sure, the alternative would lead me to leading an empty life full of suppressed desires and ambitions. It would be like living with a curse.” Sophia gave Thanatas a mischievous smirk. “Besides, I want a chance to kick your bony tail.”

Thanatas had a wicked smirk on her face that grew into a huge wicked smile. “Oh, it is on.”

The growing sound of hooves clopping on the crystal floor alerted everyone to somepony’s approach. It was about ten seconds later that Twilight, in all her alicorn glory, entered the waiting room.

“Sorry I didn’t come get you myself, I had to send a status update to Princess Celestia. I’m still waiting for her response.”

Every non-pony in the room widened their eyes as they saw a much bigger and more regal-looking Twilight. Her huge mane billowed in a non-existent breeze. Her uniform defined her curvature and bust size. The only frame of reference the humans could use to describe Twilight were the ancient amazon women they read about in mythological lore.

“Damn, she went from about average to drop-dead gorgeous so quickly,” Cliff commented.

The other men in the room silently ogled Twilight which made the alicorn mare increasingly uncomfortable. Peppita manifested a small mallet and bashed each of them in the head, taking care to remove Roger’s helmet when his turn came.

While the men and boys were rubbing their aching heads, Twilight cleared her throat. “Right, anyway. I was told that you wanted to use my communicator to contact Sweetie Drops, Lyra?”

Lyra nodded and walked out of the room to use the crystal communicator.

Twilight watched Lyra walk away before she turned to the others while mentally pretending that the earlier action of the men didn’t happen. “I figured that Doctor Robert Liengod had developed a way for you to exist beyond the digital universe. He came to the same conclusions that I did in order to cross the divide between a digital being made of binary code and a being made of actual living flesh and blood. In order to do so, you had to be transformed into a non-digital being which was accomplished passively by Maria. You had to be able to bridge the connection between our universes without having an existing body of your own on this plane, which was accomplished by Sophia. Finally, in order to properly fight foes the way you have been up until now, you needed to bring the laws of the Eternal Sphere into this universe, which was done so by Fayt.

“The doctor had modified your genes in order to prepare you to fight and defeat the one who created your universe, which was me. However, he had no way of knowing that you guys and I were facing a common enemy. In case any of you have any doubts, I may have created the Executioners, but I was not the one who unleashed them on the Eternal Sphere. The message from the Time Gate is evidence of that. Alicorns such as myself go by another name: Xel’naga. We are ascended beings whose purpose is the creation of new universes and seeking out those who possess impressive psychic power and the ability to adapt and change ourselves as we need. We are also the nation’s rulers.”

“So this is the work of someone who doesn’t want the alicorns to rule anymore?” Fayt asked.

“That seems to be the case. The question, though, is why? What have we done to make this mysterious being want to cause a sudden radical shift in our government? What does the Eternal Sphere have to do with this?

“Princess Celestia has tested ponykind many times over the centuries with each new generation to see if they were more mature than the last. We have seen growth all over the nation, some more so than others. But Canterlot, the ruling seat of power for the nation, barely shows any sign of improving themselves. The nobility would be the ones to take the reins of power whenever we abdicate our positions and they still think about themselves more than the needs of the nation.” Twilight sighed. “I fear their own traditions and how they raise their foals is only making the houses stagnant in their ways while the nation moves on without them.”

“Anything we can do to help?” Fayt asked.

Twilight shook her head. “This isn’t something that can be solved with violence. This is our problem to deal with. Besides, we can’t take action against any of the houses unless they commit treason.”

The discussions continued for a few more minutes before a knock was heard at the entrance. Lyra rushed to the door before anyone could move a few inches. They heard Lyra cheerfully yell “Bonny!” as they heard the door open. It was a few minutes longer before the one that they figured was Bon Bon or Princess Sweetie Drops was able to get past Lyra’s bodily blockade and enter the waiting room.

The men gaped once again as they saw an alicorn mare with a cream-colored coat and a mane that looked like a fluffy cloud of fuchsia and navy blue extended down to her tail, which was also long and fluffy. Her body dimensions were about the same as Twilight’s. She also wore a black bodysuit that had energy traveling along the suit like a mechanical representation of the circulatory system. Her eyes were sky blue.

Cliff whistled, “Damn, Lyra must be one lucky woman to have bagged that hot number.”

Sweetie smiled, “I think I’m the lucky one to have someone like Lyra who stuck by me through thick and thin. She even put her own life in danger just to help me with my problems.”

“I know you’ve all been around for a thousand years, but how come Lyra didn’t get a smokin’ hot body like you two?”

That question caused several things to happen all at once. Lyra huddled up in a corner in depression, the non-ponies in the room shook their heads in disappointment at Cliff’s lack of tact, Twilight closed her eyes in preparation for what was about to happen, and Cliff got defenestrated through the nearest window in the room when Sweetie instantly closed the distance and kicked him through said window.

“Impressive,” Mirage said.

“Uhh, is he alright?” Fayt asked.

“He’ll be fine, I’ve seen Cliff go through a lot worse than that. He has to be tough whenever his womanizing side shows itself.”

Sweetie frowned at the broken window that she kicked the Klausian though. “I had to give Lyra a lot of encouragement to help her feel better about her body and he goes and exacerbates her body issues.”

“May I ask why she has these issues?” Fayt asked.

“I think the issue is that being around me for a thousand years has given her a complex. She does well to hide it, even to the point of erecting strong mental defenses around that part of her mind, but it doesn’t take a mind reader to know that she has thoughts about why she couldn’t have ascended with me.”

Lyra remained silent as she listened to the conversation.

“So why didn’t she ascend?” Fayt asked.

“It’s because she doesn’t have Purity of Essence,” Sophia answered. “The ascension requires the subject to have both Purity of Form and Purity of Essence to be a candidate for it.”

Sweetie nodded. “The easiest way of getting Purity of Essence is to subject yourself to Zerg infestation. However, the process is extremely dangerous and has a very high chance of the subject losing their willpower. I went through the process, but it was my drive and my desire to avenge those I lost that allowed me to endure it and remain me. Lyra doesn’t have those motivations so I would never allow her to go through what I did.”

Lyra smiled as she got back up and rejoined everyone. “Yeah, you’re right about that. Instead, I focus on the things that I can improve on about myself and while Bon Bon’s body does make me a little jealous of her sometimes, I can at least accept that somepony like me is married to her.”

Sweetie smiled back, “And I’m happy to be married to somepony who is willing to support me and my selfish desires, even when it puts her life at risk.”

“At least I can brag about being one of the most powerful templars in Protoss history.” Lyra paused for a moment then cleared her throat as she decided to get back to the main subject. “Right, first introductions.”

Everyone introduced themselves to Sweetie with Sophia introducing Cliff as the guy who was kicked out the window.

“The reason I called you here…” Lyra continued, “...was because I need you to use your abilities to remove the limiters that were placed on Sophia.”

Sweetie raised an eyebrow before she approached Sophia. “I’d like to look into your mind to see what Lyra is talking about. May I have a look?” Sophia nodded in consent. Sweetie’s eyes glowed sky blue for a couple of minutes before they returned to normal. “I’m surprised that the limiter is holding like it is. There is definitely a powerful infestation within you that seems in conflict with your considerable psychic powers. And you want to unleash it upon yourself?”

“Yeah, my grandfather said that my humanity is the key to finding my inner harmony.”

“Releasing those limiters is almost as dangerous as infesting Lyra. Even if I do so, your Zerg powers are going to lash out at everyone around you while you attempt to find that balance. There is a very high chance that you will either end up fully infested or your psychic powers go berserk. I can’t save you if either of those happen.”

“I think she will succeed,” Thanatas declared with a wicked grin. “I can tell that she has a lot more potential than her grandfather or her mother. Plus, she has me and a huge supply of sedatives, adrenaline and engineered enzymes ready to help her.”

Twilight smirked as Sweetie’s eyes widened. “And you thought I was a mad scientist sometimes.”

Sweetie inhaled deeply and let it out to calm her nerves. “If you’re willing to go through with this despite my warnings, then let’s meet in Twilight’s underground operating room in an hour.”

Thanatas smiled broadly as she looked at a slightly embarrassed Twilight, “It’s like we’re kindred spirits.”

“Please don’t compare me to you…” Twilight groaned in exasperation.

An hour had passed and the observers found seating in a large, underground, auditorium-style operating room, the kind where famous surgeons demonstrate groundbreaking procedures in medical science to their colleagues. As expected, the structure, like the castle, was made of bluish white crystal with the operating room itself being made of pure white crystals to demonstrate a sterilized environment. A table with straps was the only object in the room as all of the other equipment had been moved into storage for the procedure.

Inside the operating room stood five individuals: three ponies, one undead who exchanged her armor for a surgeon’s outfit with a lab coat, and the patient in question. Thanatas had an unusually wide grin on her face.

“Why do you look so cheerful?” Twilight asked with a nervous tone.

“Because among my favorite horror scenarios, survival in a gore-splattered hospital is among them. Plus, if we fail here, I may even get to witness that.”

“You are a very warped person, aren’t you?” Sweetie asked.

Lyra ignored the conversation and patted the table in the center of the room in invitation for Sophia who was dressed in a hospital gown in anticipation for what was to come. “Are you ready?” she asked. Sophia’s silent nod gave her the confirmation she needed.

“Alright, here’s the plan,” Sweetie began. “Once we begin, Twilight is going to use her shields to keep everyone in here contained. Thanatas will be injecting Sophia with whatever drugs are necessary as the situation develops. After I deal with the limiters, Lyra and I will be fighting whatever comes loose and tries to rampage around the room. The psi disruptors in the room will help Twilight make sure that the matter is contained. The rest will depend on Sophia.”

With that, Twilight’s magic bound Sophia with every strap attached to the table to make sure she was unable to move. She knew that once the infestation started to go berserk, the straps would be quickly broken, but it would give them time to be on alert and go over their personal strategies.

Once Twilight moved to the edge of the room and lit her horn to generate a barrier all over the room, Lyra activated the psi disruptors which made nearly everyone in the room uncomfortable. Sweetie and Lyra’s training allowed them to fight through the disruptor’s effects without hindrance.

With all the preparations in place, Sweetie moved behind Sophia and hovered over her head. The alicorn’s eyes and horn glowed their usual sky blue color before she placed her hands on the rabbit girl’s temples. At the same time, Sophia closed her eyes as she willed herself into her own mindscape.

Sophia once again found herself on the bridge of a spaceship with the operators being exact duplicates of herself. They continued paying her no mind…at least for a few more seconds.

A brief flash of light burst from the captain’s chair which caused the entranced clones to look back and take notice of Sophia. “Captain, you’ve returned at last!” one of the clones exclaimed. “Please hurry into your seat, captain! I think the enemies have taken notice of us!”

Sophia figured that the light was the act of the limiters being removed. There was no turning back now; do or die time. The bunny templar took her place in the captain’s chair, a sense of completeness filled her heart. At the same time though, she still felt incomplete. She knew what she needed to do.

It was time to reclaim herself.

Sweetie released her hold on Sophia’s head and took a few steps back as she took out her her rifle and wielded it in her right hand while her left hand quickly developed several layers of thick chitin. Her horn glowed while she mentally went through the number of spells she had learned over the centuries. “Get ready!” she warned.

Thanatas had her own rifle ready with a number of specialized injection rounds in numerous magazines. She made sure her minions were ready to provide her the magazines she needed when she needed them. If things got a little dicey, she could still use her sword.

Lyra deployed her red and green blades and took up her combat stance. Her muscles relaxed and her mind focused, ready in anticipation for a rough fight.

One minute was all it took for all hell to break loose as Sophia’s eyes opened.

Sophia suddenly found herself staring at a volcanic landscape. The sky was completely clouded with ash and the land beneath her feet radiated with intense heat, yet she did not feel that heat. Mountains of volcanic rock littered the landscape. Pools of lava were the only liquid to be seen on this smoldering planet.

Seeing as she was alone at the moment, she looked around for the other two that she knew were nearby. Her search took what felt like hours until she entered a small valley that seemed shaped like a huge arena circle. She walked into the valley and toward the center. When she neared the center, she heard what sounded like her own voice, yet echoed.

“About time you showed up! It only took, what, sixteen years? I had to fight this monster within you for that long without you.”

Emerging from the shadows was a Protoss that was at least two feet taller than her. Her hair was a long braid that extended to her ankles and was colored the same as her own hair. Unlike the usual Protoss though, this one didn’t wear gold or black armor. It was the same design, except blue. The energy blades produced from her three-fingered palms were a brighter shade of blue than her armor. Like other Protoss, her skin was gray, she had no mouth or nose, her head was large and her legs were digitigrade.

“I knew this day would come eventually,” her Protoss self said. “I’ve been doing my best to protect you from that creature, but now I can no longer resist the urge to challenge you. I know that the other part of you feels the same…isn’t that right?”

The ground erupted nearby, and a dust cloud settled over the area. A grotesque creature emerged from the cloud. In terms of body shape and her facial structure, she still looked human, but that was where the similarities ended. Her arms and legs were covered in black spiky Zerg chitin and her fingers were razor-sharp claws. She still had a head of blue hair, but Sophia could tell that each strand moved about as if they had their own life. She also had a pair of chitinous growths on her back that extended outward and supported a large number of long, blue, thin tentacles along them. Whatever clothes she might have worn at one time appeared to have been fused into her skin as her torso appeared blue with black chitinous spikes.

“I’ve been waiting for this for a long time,” her Zerg self declared with a slightly distorted voice. “My prey finally comes to embrace her fate at the claws of the predator. My chance has finally come to devour you whole!”

“You will do no such thing,” Protoss Sophia argued. “There is no place in this body for a wretch like you.”

“I’ve had enough of you denying me my existence! All three of us were born together and I have every right to exist as much as you.”

“Why should I allow you to continue? You seek to devour our host and use her to seal me away.”

“If she does not wish to be dominated, she must be the one to dominate me! That is and always has been the way of the Zerg.”

Protoss Sophia paused for a moment as she considered the words of her Zerg counterpart. “I’ve wanted a new challenge that wasn’t the same opponent, day in and day out. However, I can’t allow my new opponent to become infested, so I propose taking both of you on.”

Zerg Sophia gave a wide, fanged smile, displaying rows of razor-sharp teeth. “For once, I actually agree with you.” Both aliens turned their heads to the bunny girl. “Sounds like a fun proposal, right?”

“Oh, now I’m part of the conversation? About time you two let me get in my two cents with all of your bickering,” Sophia snarked. “To be honest, I’d rather the three of us get along like the fragments of a whole that we were meant to become. However, you two behave more like sisters who have been dying for a sibling scrap. So, if it means getting you two to listen to me, I’ll have to beat some sense into you two.”

Zerg Sophia hissed in excitement, “Our human sister talks a big game, she better have the skills to back up those words.”

“I shall give no quarter, nor shall I expect any in return! Let our skills decide the victor!” Protoss Sophia raised her energy blades and took up an attack stance. Zerg Sophia’s tentacles shuddered and flailed around as the muscles in each tendril stretched and moved in anticipation for a challenging fight.

Human Sophia tried to will her energy blades but found that she was unable to do so. She heard chuckling from her Protoss self. “In this mindscape our powers belong to their original owners only. Any Zerg powers you might have used before will not aid you but my counterpart here instead. You will have to make do with the power of your humanity. We shall see if our grandfather was right about your humanity being our strongest power.”

Realizing that her powers were limited to her non-alien powers, she tapped into her mindscape and created a rifle that she had seen Ghosts and Specters use in the visions. She momentarily considered what other possibilities that she could use the mindscape for but decided that the weapon would have to be a start if she didn’t want to get taken out early.

Sophia’s eyes opened and she began to try to squirm her way free of the restraints. The ponies and undead watched in anticipation for the fight that would soon begin.

And begin it did, once a number of tentacles grew from her arms and legs. The tendrils took on a razor-sharp form and sliced through the restraints, allowing Sophia to roll off the table and rise from the floor on four limbs. The now mindless creature growled like the beast she was while looking around, searching for her prey.

Seeing the alicorn mare keeping her concentration on the shield, the predator saw an easy target. The others in the room noticed this and Sweetie was the first to block the feral creature’s line of sight to her prey.

Sophia gave a low growl as a warning to not get in her way. Sweetie refused to move aside and gave her own hiss in challenge.

The tentacles on Sophia’s body burrowed underground and while nothing seemed to happen for the next moment, Sweetie knew that the tendrils were burrowing toward her or Twilight. The alicorn of essence paid attention to the tremors in the immediate area until she realized that the tentacles were moving past her and aiming for her friend.

Reacting quickly, Sweetie grew her own tentacles from her fingers and slammed them into the ground, piercing through Sophia’s tentacles. Sophia withdrew her own tentacles from underground which quickly regenerated.

Sweetie grunted, “Even when feral she still has the capacity for clever thinking, this fight isn’t going to be easy.” She then glanced toward Twilight. “Twilight, turn off all lights in the room.”

Twilight didn’t question Sweetie’s request, remembering how much combat experience the duo had over her. Using her skills in multicasting, Twilight reached out to the lighting system in the room and deactivated it, leaving the entire room enveloped in utter darkness.

Thankfully, the glass in the observation room was enchanted to allow the denizens of the Eternal Sphere to see what was going on in there despite the darkness.

“Is it a good idea for them to fight without being able to see?” Nel wondered.

“I think the darkness is to allow Lyra to make full use of her abilities,” Fayt figured. “If the Zerg abilities are as adaptive as I’ve heard, Sweetie and Sophia will likely be able to see despite the darkness. I’m not sure about Twilight or Thanatas though.”

“I believe Twilight is putting her faith in the others to not let Sophia near her,” Adray said. “Thanatas probably has her own way of adapting to the dark.”

“I can’t help but feel a little helpless that we can’t do anything for them,” Maria said.

“Yeah, me too,” Fayt agreed.

Her counterparts were really laying on the pressure as Protoss Sophia created numerous copies of herself and each one unleashed a storm of psionic power all over the area, intent on electrocuting both of her opponents. Zerg Sophia went underground to dodge the storms and counterattacked by causing chitinous spikes to erupt from the ground, impaling most of the clones while her real targets were able to avoid the spikes by feeling out the tremors. Things became more troublesome when some of the erupting tentacles started spewing acid all around them. To counter this, Protoss Sophia created more clones and focused on electrocuting the acidic tendrils.

Sophia had to show the other two that she was still a force to be reckoned with. Since this was her mindscape and she was a good study, she decided to try out some of her friends’ abilities.

To start, she did her best to sense the tremors to feel out where her Zerg companion might be. She soon found that the tremors traveled from one location and moved through the growing forest of tentacles to their origin. Once near, she locked her fists together and jumped up into the air to unleash an imitation of Cliff’s Hammer of Might technique. The impact created a crater that forced Zerg Sophia to the surface in a daze. Sophia capitalized on this and slammed into her Zerg counterpart with Adray’s Chaos Tide.

Sophia soon noticed that Protoss Sophia was heading toward her at blinding speed. Sophia smirked as she took advantage of her Protoss counterpart’s speed by constructing one of Albel’s Aura Walls. Protoss Sophia couldn’t stop in time before she got caught by the wall of wailing souls and screamed in pain as the wails tore at her mind.

With her Protoss and Zerg counterparts temporarily incapacitated, Sophia used this chance to unleash her own battlefield hell by uttering the one type of symbology that required a chant. “Open the gateway to the sacred land, and let fly the arrows of judgment to strike down evil!”

Incantation complete, a number of rifts opened to admit entry to a large number of flaming boulders that landed explosively all over the battlefield. Sophia’s Meteor Swarm left no area but her own position unstruck. Still recovering from the previous attack, her two counterparts were unable to avoid getting pummeled by the vicious assault from orbit. Of course, Zerg Sophia’s hard carapace and Protoss Sophia’s shields allowed them to mitigate some of the damage.

Unfortunately, the two of them recovered and Sophia knew right then that she now had their full attention.

The situation worsened as the fight progressed. Lyra attempted to attack Sophia from different angles using her speed, but Sophia proved that she wasn’t slow either when she managed to dodge some of Lyra’s strikes and forced the mare to back away when an unexpected tentacle slapped her in her face.

Sweetie attempted to weaken the feral beast by creating an explosive Baneling and hurling it at her. Her eyes widened in surprise when Sophia jumped to grab the living grenade and threw it at Lyra, forcing her to dodge.

“Now would be a good time to slow her down,” Sweetie called out.

“Really? It looked like you had the situation well in hand,” Thanatas playfully stated. “It would be remiss of me to deprive you of your fun.”

“Thanatas…!”

The undead laughed a little before she aimed her rifle. “Alright, alright.” She quickly moved in and gained Sophia’s attention who tried to attack her with a tentacle. Thanatas sidestepped this and grabbed the tendril. She then squeezed it tight until Sophia screeched in pain. While distracted by the feeling, Thanatas then fired a few rounds of sedatives into the beast’s hide, deliberately aiming at the gaps in the carapace.

Sophia’s movements slowed momentarily which gave Sweetie an opening to fire a few explosive rounds from her rifle at Sophia’s face. This only served to make her angry. Her counterattack came in the form of the tentacles adopting a green glow. Sweetie warned everyone to move away which everyone did before Sophia unleashed numerous torrents of a green-glowing substance all over the floor.

Thankfully, nobody was hit by it while Thanatas took a small sample from the floor using a test tube. She backed away from the fight and pulled out an eyepiece that she used as an impromptu microscope. She had her suspicions about the sample and they were confirmed by what she saw. She whistled in amazement. She then took a look at Sophia and noticed that she was showing no signs of slowing down despite all the sedatives pumped into her. In fact, they only continued to intensify.

“Looks like my usual drugs aren’t going to have much of an effect on her,” Thanatas concluded. “Her body is too adaptive for anything to work on her for more than a few seconds. Also, don’t touch the goo on the floor, it’s viral.”

“You mean like, make us sick?” Lyra hoped while avoiding another green spew.

“Have you two ever encountered the Zerg virus during your adventures in the Koprulu Sector?”

Sweetie groaned, “I was hoping that you weren’t going to come to that conclusion.” She dodged a few more tentacle swipes.

“This stuff is more potent than what you encountered. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was capable of infecting alicorns.”

Sweetie silently cursed her day and wished for it to be over sooner.

Sophia could tell that this fight was coming to its conclusion, one way or another. While that barrage of meteors did inflict a lot of damage on both of her counterparts, that also caused both of them to rush her and inflict some pain of their own.

Protoss Sophia was still the fastest of the three and made good use of that speed as she attacked her from different angles while shifting around using the shadows. It was all she could do to dodge her strikes and slashes from her blades but she still sustained some cauterized cuts and a few bruises from punches and kicks that didn’t come from an energy blade.

However, Sophia also sensed that her Protoss self didn’t use the full array of abilities that she knew she was capable of. For some reason, she didn’t tap into the Tal’darim techniques that would have ripped her life force from her.

Zerg Sophia contributed some damage as well when she ambushed her from behind and gave her a deep slash in the back before leaping aside and crouching down while sticking her finger into the ground. Sophia failed to react in time as a blunt tentacle erupted from the ground and slammed into her gut. Sophia recovered quickly and jumped backwards to get some distance. For some reason, neither counterpart chased after her.

While Sophia was bleeding in places and suffering from bruises and possibly cracked ribs, neither seemed to be following up on their attacks. This left her curious.

“I know you two can be more vicious than that, why aren’t either of you coming at me to try to kill me?”

Protoss Sophia raised an eyebrow while Zerg Sophia chuckled as if a joke was told and she was the only one who knew the punchline.

“Why would we?” her Protoss self asked. “I just wanted to test your mettle and see how well you would fare against me without your psychic powers. You did surprise me when you started using abilities that your friends knew. I could see the strength of humanity when you incorporated their strengths into your own and that meteor storm you threw at us really hurt. After that I decided to make you feel the pain I felt because we weren’t going to let you get away with being the only undamaged combatant in this fight.”

“Yeah, I already knew that your will was indomitable because neither of us could dominate the other and that’s because we are one in the same,” Zerg Sophia added. “Though that attack you did really pissed me off and I wanted some payback. It may not look like it, but I did suffer some internal injuries from those meteors. I regenerated the damage, but I wasn’t about to let you get away with that. My pride wouldn’t allow it. After all, we are petty people sometimes.”

“So what was the purpose of this fight anyway?” Sophia asked.

“To see if you were ready to stand with us as equals,” her Protoss self answered. “Grandfather was right to restrain us until you were ready because any imbalance between us would have had catastrophic results. I think I speak for my colleague here when we say that you are ready.” Zerg Sophia nodded.

“So what happens now?”

“You know the means for those of equal power to become one. A practice of sacrifice among the Protoss High and Dark Templars to unleash untold power shall, for us, bring completion to us at long last.”

Protoss Sophia offered her hands to both of her counterparts who each took one before they took each other’s other hand, forming a small circle. Protoss Sophia then created a warp field in the center of them which began to pull all three of them into it. None of them resisted the pull and were soon consumed by the warp field.

The warp field then began to erupt with immense power and that energy radiated throughout the mindscape, collapsing it while remaking it into something new at the same time.

With the area partially flooded with viral goo, moving around the room soon became a challenge to avoid being infected. Thanatas soon had to take matters into her own hands and plunged her sword into the floor which released a wave of ice which encased the viral matter. Sophia was temporarily immobilized with having her hands and feet under the ice. Only a second passed before she ripped her extremities from their frozen tomb.

Sophia then aimed a tentacle at Thanatas with intent on spraying her, but the undead wasn’t having that as she threw an open flask into the mouth of the tentacle and the chemicals within the flask soon entered the tendril. The chemicals reacted with the virus and caused the appendage to explode violently, causing Sophia to roar with pain.

From her shoulders sprouted a pair of sharp blades that reminded Sweetie and Lyra of Ultralisk blades. The blades moved against each other as if to sharpen the other. She then turned her sights to Twilight again and prepared to charge. Being the only one unable to see in the dark, the mare had no idea what was about to come at her.

Lyra attempted to stop Sophia’s attack but a tentacle grabbed her from behind and threw her at a distant wall. Sweetie was halted when a number of spewing tentacles aimed at her. Sweetie might have had Zerg DNA within her, but she had a feeling that the virus would still alter her in a horrific way.

Sweetie shouted for Twilight as the feral beast began charging at the blind mare. Twilight was confused about what was going on and still had no idea what Sweetie was yelling at her about.

The charge was halted, however, when the beast’s eyes glowed along with a light coming out of her mouth and the mouths of her tentacles. Twilight, who could see how close the light was, stopped her spell in fright as she realized how close Sophia was to her. As the mare moved to the side, Sophia roared and flailed as if her insides were on fire.

As everyone moved into one group, trying to avoid slipping on the ice on the floor, they watched as Sophia continued to flail as the energy continued to sear her insides.

“Is she going to explode?” Twilight asked with worry.

“If she does, I wonder how big the blast will be,” Thanatas said with more excitement than the situation called for. “Maybe it will be like watching a tactical nuke go off in your face.”

Thanatas’ comments ignored, the four watched as the flailing eventually came to an end and the creature slumped over. With that, Twilight turned the lights back on so she could get a better look at the unmoving creature.

The unmoving form of their friend and family member looked like a twisted shell of her former self. None of them believed that she was dead, however, because they could either sense her brain activity or they could sense her soul in Thanatas’ case.

As they approached the husk, they waited a little longer before Thanatas got impatient. “How long are you going to keep hiding in that thing? We have things to do so don’t make me C-section you out of there.”

That was when a set of chitinous claws pierced the spinal area of the husk from within and tore along it, tearing a huge opening from which a familiar blue rabbit girl emerged from. She stood up and cracked her neck and any other parts of her body that felt tense. “I really did not expect this whole thing to end with me shedding my skin. Unpleasant, yet relieving at the same time.”

At the same time, everyone was looking at Sophia but remained silent as they figured out a way to address the proverbial elephant in the room. In the observation room, some of the men in the group suddenly got nosebleeds from looking at Sophia. They were quickly dealt with by the women.

Thanatas was the first to speak to the reborn girl. “Allow me to be the first to welcome you back to the Craft family and I believe that I speak for everyone here that I make this request.”

“What is it?” Sophia asked.

“Put on some clothes.”

The Festival Town of Gemity

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Thanatas observed as her cousin, now able to realize her full potential at last, was escorted by Twilight to the changing rooms to put her outfit back on. She rolled her eyes as she used her bone transport ability to move to a location that was away from prying eyes.

She sighed and groaned because now came the boring part. Sending a bit of necromantic energy into the ground, she summoned a zombie to the surface. She could call her minions from anywhere, unlike other necromancers who needed bodies to be there to begin with. The zombie she summoned was one specialized in multiversal communication. It looked like a rotting corpse with a television for a head; something she crafted because she was bored.

She pulled out a remote to the television and started pressing buttons on it before the corpse convulsed as electricity surged through it. Each button sent a jolt through the zombie’s body. Thanatas pressed the sequence of buttons she needed and the zombie relaxed as the screen turned on.

At first there was only static, but a few minutes of waiting gave her the results that she was waiting for as the screen cleared up and the visage of Sophia’s grandfather appeared on the screen.

“Status?” Gerald requested.

Thanatas put up a bored expression. “It’s done. It seems your granddaughter finally tamed that beast that has haunted your side of the family for thousands of years. I suppose that makes you glad that her children won’t have to deal with that curse anymore.”

Gerald deadpanned, “You could at least try to sound excited.” He sighed. “Does this mean that we can expect you with Sophia in tow shortly?”

Thanatas shook her head. “Not quite yet. We need to ensure that the plot for this universe reaches its conclusion before we consider the mission fully accomplished.”

“Do you require further assistance?”

“Nah, I could sense her power when she awakened. It definitely rivals my own. I plan to test it while I’m here. The two of us should be more than enough for this assignment. Plus, it’s a good assignment to help ease our little rookie into her new life.”

“Very well, but don’t get cocky. You may be one of our most powerful agents, but we are still prone to making mistakes.”

Thanatas rolled her eyes and silently mouthed Gerald’s words mockingly. “Yeah, yeah, I get it. Anyway, can you send over her birthday present so we don’t have to go shopping every time she tries out her Zerg powers and racks up a tally for indecent exposure?” It wasn’t actually her cousin’s birthday, but she counted it as such because she was technically reborn as the being she was meant to be.

Gerald rolled his eyes at Thanatas’ attitude and sighed, “Very well, have whatever receiving device you have ready and it should get to you in about a minute.” He then cut the transmission. Thanatas snickered at the abruptness of the transmission ending without a proper farewell. She knew that she had aggravated the man. She had a lot of fun doing that.

She then summoned an apparatus from the ground that looked like a small bone cage with a crystal in it. The crystal was one of those pylon crystal shards that the Protoss used to transport objects or people through a warp transit system.

Thanatas waited the whole minute for the gift to arrive before it appeared in the cage in a flash of light. She opened the cage and pulled out what appeared to be several stacked rectangular boxes tied together in a blue ribbon.

With the gift in hand, she dismissed her zombies before transporting herself into the changing room, startling Twilight on her entry.

Sophia, now at least wearing her underwear, stared at her cousin in confusion. “Is there a reason doors aren’t things for you to use?”

“Meh,” Thanatas shrugged. “I came here to give you your gift from your grandfather as a celebration for your return to the family.”

Sophia took the stack of boxes from Thanatas and opened one up. She raised an eyebrow as she stared at the blue outfit inside. She opened the other boxes to confirm what she was looking at before staring at her cousin. “This looks exactly like my other outfit. Is this a joke?”

“According to the old man, that version is made of a special organic weave that is imbued with dormant Zerg cells. When in contact with body heat, the cells activate and the outfit adjusts itself to the wearer’s body dimensions. The real benefit of this is that if the wearer goes through a physical transformation of some kind, the outfit is temporarily absorbed into the body until the host returns to their original form. The cells return to being dormant the moment the host removes the article.”

“So basically, whenever I want to use my Zerg abilities, I don’t have to worry about destroying my clothes in the process?”

The undead nodded, “Even partial transformations, such as growing tentacles, would only invoke a partial absorption in the area in question. So let’s get you out of those impractical pieces of fabric and put you into a useful outfit.”

The denizens of the Eternal Sphere waited over an hour waiting for Sophia to finish getting dressed. Fayt did his best to clear away the thoughts of Sophia in the nude, but being that he was still a teenager, he found that very difficult. Cliff had tissues soaking up his bloody nose while the ladies in the group simply ignored him. Albel kept up his poker face to keep others from trying to guess what he was thinking.

After the stressful day he had been having so far, Roger ended up falling asleep on one of Twilight’s couches. In his sleep-addled state, he didn’t realize that his head ended up in Peppita’s lap. The dancer didn’t fare much better either as her head fell to the side until it landed on Roger’s tail. Neither seemed to mind as they drifted to sleep.

Maria took this time to sit next to Fayt. As she sat, she briefly contemplated recent events and sighed. “After all we went through, I never imagined that we would get a respite from the madness we went through.”

“Yeah, me neither,” Fayt replied. “Part of me believed that we were heading into the enemy compound to find and defeat the leader; that this was the climax of our adventures.”

Maria giggled, “You play too many video games.”

“When I think about it, It kinda does feel like we’ve been living a video game. Then I learned that we were literally living as video game characters. I’m still not sure whether my actions were my own or that I was guided by some unseen hand. And it scares me.”

“Yeah, me too. All I can really do is to have faith that I am still my own person and not someone’s avatar.” Maria said.

The others soon walked into the room. “Aww, that’s adorable!” Sophia softly cooed at the sight of Peppita and Roger. Twilight noticed that everyone seemed tired, which made sense since they had just been through a traumatic experience and had to fight their way through a small army of Executioners. She doubted some of them managed to get any sleep during the transit from Earth to Styx either.

“I think you guys need some rest,” Twilight said. “I have some guest rooms that nobody is using, so we will be resting for a few hours so we will be ready to go to Gemity.”

“What kind of place is Gemity? And why are we going there?” Fayt asked.

“Gemity is a town that was founded by dragons a few centuries ago when they finally developed an interest in civilization. They donated their treasure hoards to its founding. These days, it’s a place that endorses features of the Eternal Sphere without actually being in the universe itself.

“Elicoor II is a very famous world among the fanbase, and as such, they have created replicas of places found on that world. From the shops to the equipment and even the food is based on recipes that originated from Elicoor.

“As for why we’re going there, it’s because you guys need to take some time to take your minds off recent events.

“The hacker can’t make a move as long as I’m not at Sphere. They want the access codes to my top secret project, but they can’t risk being too open about it without risking their identity getting out. I know this because Princess Celestia has her suspicions about who our mysterious foe might be.

“Because of that, we can afford to get some rest and enjoy ourselves in Gemity before we make our big push. I have a feeling that we won’t be able to relax again until we take care of the hacker.”

The group accepted Twilight’s explanation and for those who were being honest with themselves, they were actually tired after everything they went through.

Twilight escorted everyone to the guest rooms with Cliff carrying the sleeping Peppita and Roger. Since the beds were large enough for two people each, they had to pair up. Cliff and Fayt took one room, with the others pairing up in other rooms: Nel and Maria, Adray and Roger, Mirage and Peppita, Sophia and Thanatas, Albel in his own room, Lyra and Sweetie, and Twilight in her personal bedroom.

With comfortable beds to sleep in again, the more weary of the group quickly fell asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow with the others, who were capable of sleep, following soon after.

Everyone emerged from their rooms the next day after some restful sleep. Once they performed their routines, they exited their rooms ready to face what came next.

Sweetie bid everyone farewell once she was ready to leave. She had her own tasks to attend to and was unable to provide any further assistance with their mission.

Lyra led the group to one of the pylon transit conduits that allowed for near instantaneous transportation throughout the nation. “Not many people use these things because of the odd sensations that they feel as they are exposed to the warp fields,” Lyra explained. “We added energy shield safeguards to protect people from the warp, but they say that just looking at the warp stream as they were being transported freaked them out.” She sighed, “Me and the Protoss are pretty much the only ones who actually use this system.

Twilight placed a hand on Lyra’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, one day we will convince everyone else that the transit system is safe.”

“So how does this work?” Fayt asked.

“Me and Twilight will focus our psionic energies into the crystal while focusing on the name of the location. Each conduit is designed to respond to key words and once the conduit is charged up, it will transport the passenger and anyone who is mentally or physically connected to the main passenger or passengers along the warp network until we reach the resonating crystal on the network.”

“The system is still being perfected,” Twilight added to Lyra’s explanation. “But at least the fail safes are in place. If something happens to the resonating crystal, the network ejects us at the nearest conduit. There are private networks, but that costs a fortune to set up.”

“So all we gotta do is touch you while you work your magic?” Cliff asked.

“Or touch the person who is touching the navigator, as long as you are part of the chain that is in contact with the pilot,” Lyra offered. “Also, once we’re in transit, don’t let go. If you let go and don’t focus on the destination, you could end up anywhere on the network. Not every location is as pleasant as this one.”

With the warning given, Lyra and Twilight channeled their magic into the pylon crystal with the other members of the group forming a contact chain, holding tightly to whoever they were touching.

A few moments later, everyone felt the sensation of space warping around them as they were converted to energy and pulled along by an unseen force. Remembering the warning, each person held on to someone for dear life. Reality warped around them and some of the group could associate the feeling with being in gravitic warp without a ship. Thankfully, a shield wrapped around their bodies prevented them from being exposed to warp space. None of them were willing to find out what it felt like to be stretched and twisted in horrific ways.

The experience lasted only a few moments before the space collapsed and they found themselves in a brightly lit area. The ground was crystalline and transparent while circles of light rotated slowly beneath their feet. Decorative purple lights defined the outer border of the town. The town itself had a futuristic and rustic feel at the same time with shops constructed in the style of the Elicoorians and lamp posts that reminded them of the ones they saw in Peterny. The numerous species wandering the area dressed in the styles known by the Elicoorians.

“It’s like Aquaria had merged with this world,” Nel noted in awe.

“Is there even anything fun to do here?” Albel asked while grumbling.

“I’m glad you asked,” Lyra responded. While we did model a lot of the area after Peterny, this town is also a theme park that is always celebrating the Eternal Sphere. There is an Eternal Sphere access terminal here as well as other features to be had such as the Bunny Races, Runic Chess puzzles, and everyone’s favorite feature: the arena.”

That got Albel’s attention. “Arena? As in a combat arena where you can slaughter your opponents?”

Lyra nodded. “Yep, players log into the arena as their characters that they have painstakingly leveled and practiced with in order to rise up in the arena rankings in order to get their chance to challenge the current arena champions.” She pointed to a holographic poster displaying a unicorn mare with a brilliant white coat and a silvery mane and tail wearing a decorative purple witch’s robe and wielding a black staff with a scarlet jewel on top between a pair of silvery wings. She was standing beside a bright orange earth pony stallion with a golden blonde mane and tail wearing a blindingly golden suit of armor and wielding an ornate broadsword with a jewel-encrusted hilt. “The mare is Diamond Crown and the Stallion is Solar Point. They also act as announcers during arena matches when they aren’t competing.”

“I’ll be the one who takes them down,” Albel declared.

“Said the hundreds of ponies and creatures before you,” Lyra countered.

“They’re not me.”

“Refer to my previous comment.”

“Bah! Whatever, fool! I have some champions to take down.”

“I really should make tee shirts, because I feel like it’s easier to point to one that says ‘Said the hundreds of ponies and creatures before you’ than it is to keep saying it over and over.”

After a bit of laughter at Albel’s expense, the group explored the town and partook of the local delicacies.

Gemity was like Peterny in a way. The architecture closely resembled what was found in the trading town. Despite low demand in Equestria overall, Artisans could work in Gemity or on underdeveloped planets in the Eternal Sphere, honing their craft that had become somewhat obsolete thanks to advanced technology.

This was also the best place in Equestria where one could purchase the finest kitchenware available. Twilight visited one of the shops and purchased a well sharpened kitchen knife before placing it in her pocket dimension. If they were planning on returning to Elicoor in the near future, she would need to be prepared to continue with Grape Vine’s request.

Her shopping also brought her to the book store where, after looking through the selection, found yet another of the mysterious books. This one was marked with the number 'five' which, thinking back on all of the other books would mean that she had located volumes one through six. If there were only six then she had found them all. She opened the book and studied the five words in the tome. They read, 'summon of god goddess ethereal'. She put the book back on its shelf and walked out of the book store while writing down the words on a piece of paper that listed the words found in the other five books.

Everyone split up to check the festivities. Some checked out the shops while others checked out the activities. Albel, Cliff and Mirage went straight to the arena to test their skills, with Cliff taking the time to stare at every shapely female along the way. Twilight and Lyra went to win some prizes from playing Runic Chess.

Meanwhile, Sophia decided to try her luck on the Bunny Races. She wasn’t sure why, but she had a good feeling about her chances. She wasn’t sure if the races counted as gambling since the ticket costs were fixed and the only thing you got for winning was points to be used for purchasing prizes.

Thankfully, she was still allowed to spend her money on the races. She used her gut feeling to choose the winners of the races that she placed a stake in. She purchased a perfecta ticket, picking which two bunnies would emerge victorious.

On the screen relating to the race she bet on, she saw the four bunnies hopping along an oval racetrack. Sometimes, one bunny would hop high into the air and stomp the track hard enough that it caused all of the other bunnies to lose their balance and fall over, allowing the offending bunny to race ahead of their competitors. The bunnies were quite aggressive but in the end, the two who Sophia picked emerged victorious.

The employee congratulated Sophia and awarded her nine points.

She decided to keep going with the races for a while. Surprisingly, she kept picking winners, which made other participants suspicious of her. The clerk also wondered if the rabbit girl was cheating somehow, but Sophia explained that she was simply relying on her gut instinct.

By the time she was finished throwing money at the races, she had amassed over a hundred points. She spent those points on a broken sword. She had a feeling that Twilight might find it useful later.

After leaving the Bunny Race building, Sophia made a note to return later to claim the trophy.

She soon regrouped with Twilight and Lyra. Both mares had looks of satisfaction on their faces. “Hey Sophia, how’d the races go?” Twilight asked.

“I think I have a knack for them. I won enough points that I spent for a bent sword. I had a feeling that you might find it useful later.” She handed the bent sword to Twilight who looked it over. She could sense some magic in it but the state of the weapon had caused the runework to slowly bleed magic. She shrugged before placing the blade in her pocket dimension.

The three then headed over to the arena to check on the others. On the way, they regrouped with Fayt, Nel, Maria and Adray.

The seven entered the arena lobby and found Cliff, Mirage, Albel and Thanatas awaiting their turn in the arena.

“Where are Peppita and Roger?” Sophia asked.

“Peppita decided to do some street performing and Roger stayed behind to watch,” Fayt replied.

Sophia smirked, “Roger seems particularly interested in Peppita lately.”

“Ah, young love,” Adray said. “I still remember my first love interest. She was the only one who put up with me long enough for Clair to be born.”

“Enough pointless sentimentality, fools,” Albel said. “I’ve swept through the B rank fights while you were having your fun elsewhere.”

“How is the arena set up?” Sophia asked.

“There are single battles and team battles,” Lyra explained. “Single and team battles are divided into five divisions, each with contenders facing five consecutive matches. They are ranked from D to S rank. Win five battles in a row and you win a prize. There are also ranked matches but you can only challenge them as a team. Only fifty teams may be ranked while unranked teams may only challenge those among the bottom four teams to claim a rank and knock off one of the other teams. Beyond that, you may only challenge teams up to four ranks above you to jump in the ranks. Losses cost you a rank. Only those who reach the first rank may challenge Diamond and Solar.

“There’s also some stupid rule that forbids princesses from challenging the rankers because of how powerful they are. That rule got put in when Bon Bon and I swept the ranks and took down the champions with ease.” Lyra grumbled bitterly.

Thanatas tapped her chin with a finger for a moment before an evil grin appeared on her face. “Lyra, do you still have your rank?”

“No, it was stripped from me when the rule went into effect. Since it was just me and Bon Bon, I couldn’t reclaim my rank because I had to be part of a team. I had to give up looking for a teammate because someone had been going around blackmailing any prospects, most likely one of the arena rankers.”

“How would you like to repeat your rise to the top alongside myself and Sophia?”

Lyra thought about it for a moment and mimicked Thanatas’ grin. A nod from the mare was all the agreement that the undead needed.

The two then walked over to Sophia who quickly read Lyra’s mind and parroted the facial expression. A silent agreement was made.

The trio walked up to the clerk who asked for their names. After giving their names, Sophia submitted their team formation request. The three mentally communicated with each other and decided on a team name. A mutual nod from the three finalized their decision.

“We’ll call ourselves War and Death.”

The clerk pressed a few keys and nodded to the trio. “Alright, you’re all set. Who would you like to challenge first?”

“We intend on crushing all fifty teams,” Sophia declared. “We’ll start at the first team, ‘The Bandits’, and work our way up.”

“Alright then, your opponents are ready and you will be transported to the arena in three…two…one…”

A blinding flash of light filled the trio’s vision briefly before it faded and they found themselves in the arena of the Kirlsa Training Facility.

“Figures…” Sophia mumbled.

They suddenly heard a female voice, but couldn’t see where it was coming from. “Welcome everyone to another exciting ranked arena battle! I’m your host, Diamond Crown! The stunning Stallion sitting beside me is none other than my co-host, Solar Point!

“Great to be here, darling!” said a male voice with a baritone pitch. “Let’s look at our contenders. It looks like Lyra Heartstrings has finally found a team for herself and seems intent on reclaiming the top spot in the rankings. Looking at the other two, one looks like a scary-looking human wearing some very grim-looking armor. That sword looks absolutely terrifying!”

“The third member of the team appears to be a rabbit-like creature,” Diamond continued. “I’ve never seen her like in Equestria before and I’ve never seen her kind in the Eternal Sphere either. Still, if she’s looking to compete in the arena, she’s bound to have some interesting tricks up her sleeve. Let’s find out if these newcomers have what it takes to return Lyra to the top.”

The first match was a major letdown. Their first opponents were a trio of thieves who appeared to be at the same level as the thieves they encountered in the ruins on Vanguard III. However, instead of going for overkill against the unfortunate bandits, Lyra, Sophia and Thanatas mentally planned on their arena experience before they entered.

The plan was for Lyra to solo sweep through half of the ranking teams while the other two stood back and watched. The idea was for them to fool the spectators into believing that Lyra was carrying the whole team. Once they started taking on the upper half, Thanatas would start assisting Lyra until they reached the top ten when Sophia would finally be able to show off her unleashed power.

The three bandits barely lasted a second, but only because they spread out that most of that second was spent traveling from one bandit to the next.

After that, the trio fought match after match in their climb to the top. The forty-eighth rank team involved a trio of ghostly hags who were physically a lot tougher than the previous two ranks but were mentally fragile. The forty-sixth ranked team was a trio of Protoss Zealots, but Lyra showed them why she was still the master templar.

The forty-second ranked team involved a pair of lizardmen and a new creature that the group had not encountered yet. This one looked like a sand-colored lamia with a snake-like lower body and a humanoid upper body. Its fingers were long and sharp. Twilight, who was observing the matches with everyone else, identified the creature as a yuan-ti. “The creature was first discovered by the kirin so they got the honor of naming it,” she claimed.

The yuan-ti attempted to freeze Lyra with its Ice Needles but the mare was too agile and dodged the spell. It failed to react in time when Lyra appeared behind it and separated its upper and lower body in one slash.

The thirty-eighth rank involved fighting a pair of floating children like the ones they encountered in the Barr Ruins and the Mosel Depths. Since the secret was out, Twilight was finally able to inform everyone that the characters were known as Robin Winds. “They are a humanoid-type creature who specialize in wind magic and are able to stir up whirlwinds on command.”

”Mighta been nice to know that sooner,” Cliff said.

Twilight ignored Cliff and continued watching the fight.

It didn’t last long once the two Robins created tornadoes and tried to send them at Lyra who moved around them. Lyra trapped one Robin in a Void Prison to reduce the competition before she vanished and reappeared behind the second Robin and slashed at him until he vanished. The first Robin was still trapped in the prison for a few more seconds but that was too long as he was helplessly cut down from within his cell.

As the trio climbed the rankings, Twilight received a transmission from Grape Vine. She brought it up on her holographic display. The image showed a maroon-colored earth pony mare with a bright green mane wearing her company uniform. “Hey, boss, is this a good time to talk?”

Twilight smiled, “Sure, do you have more inventor requests to send me?”

Grape nodded before she transmitted the profiles. “Also, I don’t want to alarm you, but some of us are growing concerned that the hacker’s attempts on our more precious systems are becoming more aggressive. I’m not even sure it’s safe to say anything without the hacker finding out. We might need you to come back to Sphere soon.”

Twilight nodded, “We’ll be over there in a few hours, that’s about all the time that I can allow our friends to prepare themselves for the coming danger.”

Once the transmission ended, Twilight took a look at the new profiles. The first on the list was an old alchemist of unparalleled skill. His age and wisdom would lead anyone to refer to him as a sage. Ansala was often seen around Castle Aquaria pestering the busy workers. Rumors have stated that he was looking for an apprentice. However, his standards were very high and they would have to show him something that would make any alchemist’s eyes gleam.

The next on the list took Twilight by surprise. She was not prepared for one of her employees to join the inventor list, but here she was. Lemon Puff was one of Twilight’s top researchers and a skilled chemist. She was also known for being eccentric, though. For some reason, other players seem to rub her the wrong way. More importantly, she was also one of Twilight’s lead developers for Project Valkyrie. She was likely at one of the sites in the Eternal Sphere, so she would visit her if fate ever led her there.

Last on the list was a father and daughter pair, which was strange to Twilight and got stranger as she read more about them. Apparently, Evia used to work as a runologist but developed an unhealthy obsession for doting on his beautiful daughter, Aqua. His obsession ended up spoiling the girl but he couldn’t care less. His obsession grew to the point where he was fired, which he took as an opportunity to be with his daughter more.

“And I thought Rainbow’s parents were bad,” Twilight mumbled.

Evia signed on to the guild as a craftsman to make sure Aqua was still well provided for.

Even so, Aqua worried about her father and his unhealthy habits. She often referred to her father as an idiot who has to be reminded every day to eat his meals.

The two were last seen in Peterny. Evia was apparently looking for someone to fund his daughter’s future.

By the time she finished reading the profiles, the trio had reached rank twenty-five and defeated a pair of giant stone golems. Their slow speed made it easy for Lyra to slice them to rubble with her energy blades.

The rank twenty-four match pitted them against a trio of warlocks who called themselves necromancers. This time, Thanatas joined the fray and showed them what a real necromancer was capable of when she raised an army of skeleton warriors and overwhelmed the amateur spellcasters.

The seventeenth rank featured a trio of tough-looking anthropomorphic goats with white and brown fur, wearing armor and carrying what looked like spear swords as the handles looked as long as the blades.

The goat warriors attempted to use their imposing size and weapons and overpower Thanatas, but they failed to account for the unrestrained strength of an undead who could still use her muscles and quickly found themselves overpowered. Once the warriors were unbalanced, the undead channeled unholy magic into her sword before she moved forward and delivered shallow cuts into their bodies. The unholy magic afflicted a disease upon the warriors which quickly festered and spread in their bodies. Once the warriors were no longer able to continue with the disease rotting them from the inside out, they vanished.

Thanatas grumbled in disappointment. “Stupid parental guidelines…I wanted to see them explode in a shower of gore.”

Sophia patted her cousin’s back in sympathy, “There there, there are plenty of other universes that will allow you to blow corpses up.”

After dealing with the tenth ranked team, Sophia was allowed to join in. She grinned widely in anticipation as she had been waiting a long time to get to show what she could do now.

Thanatas smirked at her cousin, “Show them the might of the new goddess of war.”

Her first opponent since her rebirth was a trio of scumbag thieves that looked like they coated themselves in a metallic substance.

As she was preparing to fight them, something caught her eye about all three of them. She could see, through greatly enhanced vision, something on their bodies that was so small, that it was practically subatomic in size. She raised an eyebrow at her adversaries before shrugging and used her blinding speed that only Thanatas and Lyra could keep up with. She channeled a small concentration of psionic power into her fingertip before rushing up to one of the scumbags and touching the tiny spot on his nose then backed away.

The scumbags were confused about what the girl did at first before her victim started turning to dust from the point she touched them until his body completely disintegrated. The other two were shocked about what the girl did and tried to run away, only for her to repeat the process on the other two on different parts of their bodies. The two disintegrated as well.

“What did you do?” Thanatas asked.

“I’m not sure, but I think I saw some sort of weakness in their physical structure on the subatomic level and exploited it with a tiny psionic explosive. The explosion likely caused a cascading effect and destroyed their metallic bodies.”

“How were you able to plant that bomb in the right place?” Lyra asked.

“I think it was a mix of instinct and sharpened senses. It was like my body was guiding me on planting that bomb so I went with it,” Sophia guessed.

“Subatomic precision strikes? You are definitely a force to be reckoned with,” Thanatas said with awe.

“I think that the reason they disintegrated was because they were made of metal. If they were organic, that would have likely caused internal damage at best. At least, that’s what my instincts tell me.”

The announcers were sweating from the trio’s display. Not only did the challengers have Lyra on their team, but also a powerful necromantic knight and a rabbit girl who just turned someone to dust with a simple touch. They would be troublesome opponents in the future and they knew it.

Diamond and Solar had princesses banned from the arena because they would be a threat to their place as the champions of the arena. With Lyra back with a new team of heavy hitters, and no reasonable excuse to bar them from challenging them, they knew that their days as champions were numbered.

Up until the second ranked team, the opponents were torn to pieces when Sophia turned her fingers into razor-sharp tentacles. At first, steel blades from a trio of red floating armors wielding swords seemed to chop up the tentacles until Sophia adapted and increased the tentacles’ hardness, making them impossible for the armors to cut and led to the armors getting torn apart. A group of knights armored in the likeness of the Black Brigade ended up quickly impaled when Sophia stuck her fingers into the ground and five tentacles erupted directly underneath the warriors.

The second ranked team was in a league of their own, compared to those before them. This team was a pair of powerful fighters. One was a blonde female wearing a brown and gold outfit with brown wings. The succubus blew a kiss in the direction of her opponents. The other was a blonde man with long, thin horns that curved toward his face. He was wearing a black outfit lined with gold and was carrying a flaming sword. The man’s smile revealed his fangs, immediately telling the trio that he was a vampire.

“These two look tough,” Lyra noted. “Sophia, you deal with the succubus while me and Thanatas handle the vampire.”

Once the battle began, Thanatas rushed toward the vampire and began clashing with him in a sword fight. The succubus moved to interfere but Sophia grabbed her hand and threw her into a nearby wall.

The succubus glared at her opponent and launched a spread shot of hearts. Sophia ducked under the shots and quickly closed the distance. The succubus teleported next to the vampire to get some support from her companion but that plan didn’t end well when Sophia launched herself from the wall and slammed into the succubus and used the demon’s body to cushion her impact on the opposite wall.

As the succubus attempted to recover, Sophia removed herself from the wall first and gave her foe a look of disappointment as she placed her left hand on her hip. “I don’t think you get the concept of a one on one challenge. You might want to accept that your partner isn’t coming to help you.”

The succubus looked toward her partner to find that he was indeed being pressured hard by Thanatas and Lyra. The impacts from the undead’s sword were forcing him back little by little while the mare was exploiting openings that Thanatas created. The vampire attempted to unleash a wave of fire around him to force his enemies to back off but Thanatas countered that with a powerful wave of frost that blew his flames away.

The Vampire growled, he was slowly being cornered and he needed to find a way to fight back. He decided to use his Flashing Sword technique to teleport around and strike his foes’ blind spots.

Sophia and Lyra were able to read the vampire’s mind. Lyra was able to anticipate the first attack on her and blocked his strike with her blades before she delivered a roundhouse kick to his gut. The vampire teleported behind Thanatas who encased herself in a block of ice which repelled the vampire’s attack. He then teleported behind Sophia who blocked the attack when she grabbed the succubus and used her as a meat shield. The vampire failed to stop his attack in time and struck his partner.

The succubus managed to teleport away after the attack and the vampire saw this chance to attack Sophia again but was pulled back toward Thanatas when she grabbed him with a bolt of necromantic energy from her sword.

In one desperate act, he unleashed his dark aura and plunged his sword into his shadow. This caused a demonic avatar of blood to emerge.

Thinking quickly, Thanatas used blood magic of her own and placed a special curse on the succubus. Thanatas took the vicious assault from the blood avatar and developed a painful headache as the avatar attacked her mind, but she withstood the attack. However, the curse inflicted the same damage to the succubus who screamed in agony as her mind and body were damaged equally.

The vampire dropped his guard as he became concerned with the damage that he inflicted on his partner, which was all Lyra needed to plunge her blades into the vampire’s back and rip him in two.

With the vampire dead, the succubus, now greatly weakened, knew that her chances of winning were nearly zero.

Sophia appeared next to the now despairing succubus with an innocent smile on her face. “Are you ready for this match to end?” The succubus only shuddered in terror. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

Sophia delivered an uppercut to her chin which sent her flying upward. The bunny templar then flew up to her victim before spatially locking her into place with her psychic powers then delivering a series of energized punches and kicks that all but destroyed the poor demon. This was followed by Sophia’s fists slamming her out of the spatial lock and impacting hard on the arena floor. Sophia’s final blow came in the form of a devastating ax kick while she was roaring like an ultralisk. The explosive impact destroyed part of the arena and obliterated the succubus.

Everyone was stunned by the display of intensity from the templar. Silence reigned over the town who watched the fight. Not a word was said but a thought was made by a certain undead. “I’d better keep up with my training if I don’t want to fall behind her.”

Once the announcers regained some of their wits, Solar announced the winner of the battle.

The trio had one more match against a dragon rider and a powerful dragon to reach the first rank. This match was less intense but just as surprising as Thanatas transformed into her bone dragon form and showed everyone why she was the superior dragon when she crushed the other dragon by herself while Sophia buried the dragon rider into the arena wall and snapped the neck of the dragon mount.

The trio was considering taking on the champions now, but Twilight decided that it was time to end their fun. “I received word that the hacker is intensifying their attempts to hack into my project. We need to go to Sphere before they find a way to bypass my security measures. I might have underestimated their patience. Given who Princess Celestia thinks it is, I should have known better. Still, I hope everyone had fun.” Everyone nodded or voiced their agreement. “Alright, let’s head to the conduit and get ready to deal with your real enemy.”

Everyone headed back to the pylon transport conduit, prepared to face whoever was behind the problems with the Eternal Sphere.

Confrontation

View Online

After another experience with warp travel, the group arrived on a floating platform above a vast forest. The platform itself was as gaudy and golden as Lyra remembered the last time she was here. The non-ponies stared in awe at the tower that seemed to ascend to the heavens in height.

“So this is the place where our universe was developed?” Fayt asked.

“Yes,” Twilight answered. “The Sphere Institute is also the premier research facility for much of our technology that we developed over the past few centuries. The Eternal Sphere is one of many projects that was developed here.”

“So this place is a game company and a research lab?” Cliff asked. “I suppose there would have to be more going on here than just the Eternal Sphere to justify the place being as tall as it is.”

“More public projects like the Eternal Sphere are developed on the lower floors of the tower while the more private and sensitive ones, such as Project Valkyrie, are developed on the upper floors.”

“So where is Project Valkyrie being kept?” Maria asked.

“I’d rather not say. I’d rather keep that information classified unless the project becomes compromised.”

“I think it’s time for us to head inside and finally meet our nemesis,” Sophia said.

With that, the group headed through the entry door and into the building.

Once the last person had stepped inside, the blaring sound of an alarm went off and before the group knew it, the door behind them became sealed by thick metal paneling.

“At least we know that we have the hacker’s attention,” Sophia quipped.

“Indeed,” said a feminine voice as a new figure entered the room from a door on the other side of the room. The figure wore a form-fitting bodysuit with red energy racing around it like a circuit pattern. The mare’s face indicated her royal blue coat and her mane was electric blue with sky blue streaks. She had a small contingent of bipedal security drones. She was also carrying a rifle that Twilight recognized as one of the latest models of covert ops weaponry. Thankfully, she couldn’t make full use of its abilities while indoors.

“Welcome to Sphere Institute, boss, associate and anomalies, I am Azure Lazer. I am the chief of security here. I applaud you for evading my trap by using the maintenance terminal. Now that all of you are here, I can delete and kill all of you at once.”

“Let Azure go!” Twilight demanded.

Azure feigned shock at the accusation. “But Twilight, this is me, of my own free will,” she lied.

“Not buying the act,” Sophia said. “I could feel the influence of another on her mind when I sent that feedback pulse against Biwig. I only gave you a headache last time since I couldn’t attack you directly because you were further up the control chain from Biwig and Azure. This time I will give you a major migraine.”

“Mind control magic is a felony offense, your status won’t protect you even if you are from the houses,” Twilight added.

Azure paused for a moment before she scoffed which turned into full laughter. “That’s rich coming from one of your kind, Xel’naga, given that you’ve been controlling ponykind for thousands of years. So what if I have to control the mind of another to get what my people have yearned for, but were too cowardly to admit it.”

“I doubt that you represent Equestria as a whole and I doubt that you could have pulled all this off by yourself.”

“Hmph, the brainwashed masses have no idea what they really want thanks to the ‘benevolent’ alicorns and their manipulative ways. The Equestrian Liberation Front will bring the evils of the Xel’naga to light and do what it takes to banish your kind from our world forever.”

“So you are a part of some rebel organization,” Maria said.

“Silence, anomaly!” Azure barked. “You bugs in the data are nothing more than that! You have no business existing in the real world!”

“And yet it’s because of the threat you pose to our universe that we are here now,” Fayt countered.

“Why should we care what happens to a bunch of ones and zeroes? You glitches should have simply accepted your lot in life just like that repulsive upstart Sweetie Drops!”

“The fact that you used the word ‘upstart’ further convinces me that you are a member of the houses, just as Celestia suspected,” Twilight said.

Azure flinched, she, or rather the one controlling her, realized that her enemies were getting information out of her by flustering her. She took a deep breath and cleared her throat. “No matter, me and my security team will make sure that your first steps into this facility will be your last.”

“So why mention only my wife when I believe that some of the houses who remember a thousand years ago that Twilight would also be considered an upstart?” Lyra asked.

“Because a certain house would have a vendetta against her for what happened back then,” Twilight answered. “The one house that I would imagine would want to take down Sweetie would be House Platinum. And if the news has told me anything, the head of that house has displayed a remarkable level of skill with computers, and was a top student at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.” She smirked, “Isn’t that right, Crystal Silicon?”

Crystal growled which caused Azure to growl as well before she took a moment to regain her composure again. “No matter, you can take your accusations to oblivion.” Azure then raised her hand and prepared to snap her fingers which made everyone else get ready for the imminent brawl in the lobby.

Once the small army of machines charged forward at the snap of Azure’s fingers, the two groups were forced into one on one matches against a security drone. Azure stayed back and prepared to snipe at her hated enemies with her rifle. She fired a few shots that grazed Cliff’s shoulder while Albel split a round in two meant for him. Maria trapped her drone in a magnetic field and went after Azure.

Azure fired a few shots at the attacking woman but she anticipated the trajectory of the bullets and managed to dodge them. The woman negated another round when she fired a singularity bullet that pulled Azure’s bullet into it. The Gravity Bullet traveled slowly toward Azure but the field was unable to be maintained for more than a couple of seconds.

The security chief paid so much attention to the gravitic shot that she failed to notice Maria firing a number of energy rounds until they struck her. Maria closed the distance and knocked her into the air with a powerful kick from her Crescent Locus technique before she followed up with a series of three powerful kicks that sent Azure flying into the wall.

Before Maria could attack again, Sophia appeared in front of Azure. The templar’s eyes glowed blue and Azure screamed in agony a moment later. Maria looked behind her to find the drones had been turned into scrap metal. She looked back toward Sophia just in time for Azure to stop screaming and fell unconscious.

Sophia turned back to everyone and smiled. “I think I severed the link between Crystal and Azure this time. She should be waking up soon, but she’s gonna have a splitting headache.”

Thanatas walked up to Sophia and handed her a pair of capsules. “That should help relieve the pain.”

Sophia nodded. She turned her attention to the unconscious mare in time for her to groan and clutch her head.

“W-where am I?” Azure groaned. She opened her eyes to look around but regretted it as she winced in pain. “Ow! Did I have too much to drink? I can’t remember…”

Sophia handed Azure the pills while Twilight used a nearby replicator to create a cup of water and handed that to the mare. The security chief quickly tossed the pills into her mouth and downed the water. She was surprised to find the effect immediate as she could feel the pain quickly fade.

“Now that you aren’t worrying about your head anymore, what was the last thing you remember?” Sophia asked.

“Wait, who are you people? Is that Twilight and Lyra? Did I black out or something?”

“Please answer her question, Azure?” Twilight requested.

“The last thing I remember, I was invited to a dinner party at House Platinum. I had no idea why such an esteemed member of society wanted to see me. Crystal Silicon probably wanted some dirt on Princess Twilight and Princess Sweetie. I know she holds contempt for the alicorns who are not Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Anyway, the last thing I saw was Crystal’s horn lighting up and the next thing I know, I’m lying here. Though I can’t help but feel like I was briefly in the arena in Gemity before I blacked out again. Was that a dream?”

“At least she was nice enough to leave you unconscious while she piloted your body around,” Sophia said.

“What are you saying, girl? Crystal is one of the nobility. She should know better than to use illegal mind magic.”

“She was also saying things about banishing the alicorns from Equus.”

“What?!” Azure shouted then looked at Twilight. “Is this true, Twilight?” The mare’s nod of affirmation made Azure lower her head and sigh in resignation. “Then we need to find evidence to pin treason charges against her. Thankfully, my headache is gone and I’m ready to go. I’ll begin my investigation into Crystal’s treachery. Since you guys look like capable fighters, I’ll leave it to you to search the building and find Crystal if she’s here.”

Azure walked over to the reception desk and brought up a holo-display. After a few keystrokes, her efforts were rewarded with the buzzing sound of an error. She shook her head and sighed in exasperation. “Seems she has full control over the building’s security system. You’ll have to fight your way through our own security drones. See if you can make your way to the research section on the fifth floor. I fear for the safety of the research staff.”

“Will you be alright on your own?” Sophia asked.

“Yeah, I’ve had my Ghost training and I have my ways of moving about undetected, even fooling the sensors. Only reason she got the drop on me before was because I never suspected that she would pull such an idiotic stunt like plan a coup. My mind is shielded from her magic now and I won’t let her catch me off guard again. My apologies, Twilight, that you had to see such a shameful display of my lack of vigilance.”

Twilight raised her hands defensively, “It’s alright Azure, we had no idea that there was even a real threat to the crown until this situation happened. What matters right now is that we stop Crystal from accessing Project Valkyrie. If she manages to manifest the three goddess prototypes into our world, Equestria will be in great danger.”

Azure then looked at the others in the room, then looked at Twilight in confusion. “Is it alright to be discussing the project in front of them?”

“They have already been briefed about the project. This is an emergency situation, so I made the call to inform them.”

Azure nodded. “Alright, I’ll call in some more Ghosts and investigate.”

Twilight nodded before accessing her personal holo-assistant. She then uploaded data to Azure’s assistant. “I am still an official princess of Equestria. I usually don’t exercise my authority, but in this case I’ll make an exception. This is a search warrant for Crystal’s mansion. Princess Celestia already has her suspicions of Crystal’s treachery so I’m sure she will approve the search.”

Azure smiled, “Thanks for trusting me.”

Twilight smiled back. “We may fight a lot, but we are still friends. I can’t think of anyone better to entrust Sphere’s security to than you.”

As Azure walked away, Maria walked up to Twilight. “Are you sure we can trust her?”

“I’m sure. Azure and I may often have differences of opinion about different things since she takes a more jaded approach to life while my admittedly naive views clash with her’s, but I trust her because she’s always honest with me.”

“Sort of like you, Maria,” Cliff jabbed. Maria looked away to hide her blush, pretending that the wall she was looking at was interesting.

“For now, let’s head over to the research section. It’s as good of a place to start as any,” Sophia said.

Their exploration began when they approached a holographic pad, that Twilight explained was physically tangible, behind the reception desk. When they got close, part of the wall vanished and the light extended through the door into the next room.

They entered a hallway that was being patrolled by more of the bipedal drones that Twilight had called incapacitators, unlike the spider-like models used by the Vendeeni.

The first thing Twilight did was lead everyone to the left of the doorway and to what appeared to be a device that looked similar to the transporters that they were used to. Twilight approached it and frowned. “Of course Crystal wouldn’t make things that easy. Looks like she deactivated all of the teleporters in the building.”

“You guys still have stairs though, right?” Fayt asked.

“Yes, looks like we have no choice but to fight our way to the fifth floor,” Twilight said.

Fortunately for them, this was not a problem. With the hallways being narrow, the patrols would be small in number. The rooms, however, would hold more enemies as well as be large enough for robo gunners, the military-grade spider mechs, to move around in.

As strong as they were, Twilight, Lyra, Sophia and Thanatas stood back and let the others have their fun dealing with the drones that got in their way.

Nel showed off a new technique where she imbued one of her daggers with fire element and her other dagger with lightning element. She assaulted one of the robo gunners with two different elements that melted through the armor and sent an electrical charge into the exposed wiring and circuits inside, shorting it out. Nel called the technique her Mirror Slice.

Cliff and Mirage unleashed their own versions of the technique that Sophia used in the arena when she killed the succubus. The Klausians’ version was less destructive than Sophia’s but it did damage the walkway a little. Twilight ended up scolding the two for damaging the building and made the two agree to not use their Acrobat Locus techniques in breakable areas that would be expensive to repair.

The group fought the same enemies until they reached the fifth floor where the research section was located. Unlike the previous floors which had a lavender color to the floors and walls, this floor had a maroon and gray theme.

Not far into their exploration, they found a circular platform that was in front of a gray circular door. However, the door would not open for them.

“This is the security door that is used by the researchers in emergencies,” Twilight explained. “The research staff are likely behind that door. I’m afraid that this door is designed to only be opened from the other side.”

“Aren’t you the owner of this company? Don’t you have security overrides?” Maria asked.

“I do, but I can’t risk using them without Crystal Silicon learning what they are. She likely has the entire building monitored.”

“Then what do we do?” Fayt asked.

Suddenly, the security door opened, leading the way further into the research section. On the other side of the door was a familiar figure that Twilight was really glad to see right now. The maroon mare with a green mane and tail waved at them and motioned for them to come inside. Once everyone was inside the door, Grape Vine locked the door again.

“I am so glad you came, boss. The staff has been on edge fearing for their lives. The security drones have been getting more aggressive in their attempts to get in here.”

“Why would Crystal want into the research section? Does it have to do with her objective?” Maria asked.

“She may think that the terminals in the research section might hold a clue to what she’s after,” Twilight answered, then gave the girl a brief mental thanks for her prudence.

“So what is she after?” Grape asked.

“I’m afraid that you don’t have the clearance to know that.”

Grape nodded, “Understood, I’ll lead you to the others.”

The group followed Grape Vine down the only corridor available to them until they entered a room with a number of terminals and a number of researchers of various species, including one female Protoss.

“Hello Silvara,” Twilight greeted the Protoss. “Do you know where Crystal Silicon is?”

“En taro Lyra, Princess Twilight. We have managed to locate her, but that is when we discovered a complication in the situation.”

This made Twilight begin to panic. “Did she find access to one of our projects?”

“No Princess.” Twilight sighed in relief. “However, she has managed to obtain the administration codes that can take her directly to the Eternal Sphere control center.”

Twilight’s panic levels rose again. “She found a way to access the Spiral Tower? This is really bad!”

“What’s at the Spiral Tower?” Fayt asked.

“Spiral Tower is an intangible space that exists within the Eternal Sphere. It’s a place where only myself and my most trusted employees can access to perform direct administrative actions in the Eternal Sphere, such as creating worlds or deleting them. I can even customize entire ecosystems or design new species there. It’s also capable of completely eradicating the Eternal Sphere.”

“We need to stop her before she uses those codes!” Fayt said.

“She’ll be headed for an Eternal Sphere terminal in the building. I know how to get there. Follow me!”

As they were leaving, Grape stopped Roger for a moment. “Listen…Roger, was it…I know this is a bad time, but could you take this tool set and this AI program with you? I know that my project should be the least of your worries, but if you guys have a little time, could you find a way to get that old automaton in your village to work? I want to see what it's capable of when not used for war.”

Roger gave a cheeky smile. “Sure! A real man helps anyone in need, after all.”

Grape smiled, “Thank you so much!”

Twilight led the group further into the research section. They walked down a narrow corridor and into a room that had a large vertical energy pipe in the center of the room and a door on the far end. A terminal was spotted in front of the pipe.

“What’s this?” Maria asked.

“We need to get to the top floor quickly,” Twilight answered. “This room contains a manual override to all transporters in the building. I don’t know what tricks Crystal might pull next so we need to act quickly.”

“Not quick enough, Xel’naga,” said a voice over the intercom.

“Crystal Silicon…” Twilight growled. “How can you stoop so low to betray the kingdom?”

“You know why!” Crystal shouted. “I know what really happened when my house fell from grace a thousand years ago. My ancestor was assaulted and his house raided by barbarians like the one among you. My house’s plans to rule Equestria through the princesses’ shadows was ruined by that upstart whorse of a disgraced agent.”

“If Sweetie Drops and Lyra were your targets, why are you attacking the Eternal Sphere?”

“Because it’s your creation. But really it’s the creation of an alicorn. My hatred toward you alicorns began when I performed some research into the circumstances behind my ancestor’s fate. I wondered…for such a blatant assault on one of the Great Noble Houses of Equestria, why were the perpetrators not punished for this? How was it that two lowly commoners managed to invade our house and get away with it? Soon I found out that Princess Celestia knew about what happened and who committed the offense.

“She turned a blind eye to the attack! She allowed that mongrel to assault my home and plant a brain parasite into his head and forced him to act outside of the interests of the family!”

“This wouldn’t have happened if Blueblood hadn’t betrayed the agency that he created and ordered all of the agents to be eliminated.” Lyra countered.

“So what? Your filthy wife should have been happy that he let her live in that town of savages. She should have been satisfied that she even found companionship in a reject like you. But she just couldn’t be satisfied with living, she just had to throw her little fit and ruin what would have been the best thing that could have happened to Equestria.

“But that is only part of the reason why I want the Xel’naga gone from our world. They have been ruling us long enough. It’s time for House Platinum to return to its former glory, as it was before the unification of the tribes. And with my allies among the Equestrian Liberation Front, augmented by my genius with computers, My family will not only have our revenge on you and that upstart, but Equestria will finally become what it was meant to be!”

Thanatas yawned, “Are you done yet? I can’t believe you forced us to sit through such a cliched monologue. I’ve heard so many of them in my lifetime, that I actually wrote a list of villain monologues. Yours is similar to number two thousand six hundred fifty-seven on my list.”

Crystal growled, “Mock me all you want, but I will have what I want in the end. Still, I need more time to put my plan into action so my assistants shall entertain you until I’m done.”

“Seven twenty-nine on my list of used villain quotes.” Thanatas listed.

Crystal shut off the intercom. Sophia had a feeling that she smashed the interface.

Twilight managed to reactivate the transporters, but that was the least of their immediate worries as the far door was making creaking sounds that it should not have been making.

“”Let’s see who’s behind door number one…” Sophia quipped as she activated her energy blades. Everyone else prepared for a fight.

The door was soon forced open and two individuals entered. One was a burly brown stallion with a black mane. His wings on his back identified him as a pegasus. He was wearing the company uniform and was carrying a rocket launcher designed to fire an entire salvo. He was accompanied by a black changeling with violet compound eyes. Her body form suggested that she was female or preferred to appear as female. Even after a thousand years, it was still difficult to determine changeling drone gender since they like to appear as their preferred gender. Her head fin matched her eyes. She was also wearing a company uniform.

“Swift Burial? What are you doing here? And who is that?” Twilight demanded.

The changeling chuckled. “Since the boss has decided to make their move, it was about time for us to reveal our true colors. I am Belzebub and we are mercenaries who infiltrated your company and worked for you until it was time for the plan to go into action. As for the uniform, I tend to take Swifty’s place whenever he’s doing something and he needs an alibi.”

“Now it’s time for us to fulfill our contract,” Swift continued, his voice deep and rumbling. “We will eliminate you and Lyra and delete the foreign entities around you.”

Twilight sighed, “Great, now I have to screen all of my employees again once this is over.”

“You think you will get the chance? You certainly think highly of yourself, princess.” Belzebub giggled. “Our armor is forged from dragonscale. Your magic won’t hurt us so easily.”

“So this means that we get to go through you the fun way, by thrashing you two within an inch of your lives,” Sophia said almost too cheerfully.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, bunny!” Swift aimed a rocket launcher at the group and launched a volley of rockets. Sophia reacted by opening a dimensional hole where the missiles flew into it. Before the mercenaries could react, a second hole opened directly in front of them and a familiar salvo of missiles emerged and exploded around them.

Belzebub growled and pulled out a plasma whip. Swift loaded another salvo into his launcher.

“Hey morons!”

The mercenaries looked behind them to see who called them out. They had to take an extra moment to look down to see the menodix with his own plasma whip and a shield with holes in it. They were not expecting a salvo of missiles to emerge from the shield. Swift and Belzebub were blown toward the base of the energy pipe.

As the two were recovering from the impact, Swift managed to get on his feet before he was seared and wrapped in Roger’s plasma whip. Swift spun like a top when Roger pulled back his whip and crashed into Belzebub.

Belzebub shifted into a snake and slithered out from beneath Swift before she switched back to normal. “I will not be humiliated by some little twerp!” she roared. She then transformed into a manticore and roared at the young menodix before charging at Roger with intent to rake him with her claws.

In her recklessness, she failed to notice the small minefield that was set up between her and Roger. The chain of explosions sent Belzebub flying into the air before crashing back onto the floor, losing consciousness before the impact. She shifted back into her normal form.

Swift took aim at Roger with his rocket launcher but failed to notice the cloth that wrapped around his waist in time before he was yanked back and launched his salvo into the wall, shaking the room slightly. A small but powerful explosion from a small hand launched him forward a few meters and spinning him again as he was unwound from Peppita’s cape. Swift was dizzy after being spun around so much and couldn’t react to the large ornate hammer that slammed into his gut and sent him flying into a wall. Swift’s body created a deep indentation into the wall and showed no sign of emerging from the wall anytime soon.

“Nice teamwork you two,” Sophia complimented.

Roger puffed his chest out, “As if that loser was any match for me.”

“I ain’t gonna let some jerk make a sneak attack on my friend if I can help it,” Peppita said.

Sophia gave a faint smile and an eye roll. “Yeah, friend…” she thought sarcastically.

“The teleporters are up and running now,” Twilight declared. “Let’s hurry to the top floor.”

The group headed through the door that the two mercenaries came out of and soon came across a pair of transporters. It wasn’t hard to notice that the energy waves displayed by one transporter were moving in an upward direction and the other transporter had energy waves that moved downward. Naturally, they used the former. Twilight used the interface and pressed the buttons for the top floor. Since the transporter couldn’t fit them all at once, she had to instruct the others on how to operate the transporter.

After a couple of minutes, everyone arrived on the top floor where they expected to find Crystal Silicon. The drones they encountered on the way to the Eternal Sphere terminal were nothing worth mentioning.

Once they entered the Eternal Sphere access room, they saw a number of large spherical pods that could house large groups as well as an interface in the center that appeared to operate the pods.

That was when they saw a unicorn mare in the center of the room operating the interface for a moment before moving toward one of the pods on the left. Her coat was pure white and her mane and tail were silver-colored. They also noticed that her mane and tail were also sparkling, which the ponies indicated that nobles often used expensive shampoos to make that way.

Sophia began to move to intercept Crystal when she slammed into an invisible barrier that she did not expect was there.

“She activated the security force field!” Twilight gasped.

Crystal giggled at the templar’s failure. “I hope you enjoy the little present I left for you in the Eternal Sphere. You better hurry up and stop me before my virus destroys your precious universe. Up until now, I’ve kept the viral programs away from the main conflict to watch you struggle against the original programs, but that’s not necessary anymore.”

Crystal then vanished in a flash of light as she entered the pod. The force field deactivated soon after.

“Number four eighty-one of cliche villain exits,” Thanatas quipped.

“Can we go after her?” Fayt asked.

Twilight shook her head. “If she went directly to Spiral Tower, then she would be able to change the administration codes. The direct route will be sealed off.”

“Then what can we do?!” Fayt shouted.

“Calm down kid, there must be another way to get to her,” Cliff reassured.

Twilight thought about it for a moment before she remembered something important. “There is. We need to get back to Elicoor and use the door in the Mosel Ruins. We need the Sacred Orb to open the way.”

“You intend to use our sacred treasure to…never mind. If you were the one who created the Sacred Orb, then it stands to reason that you would know all of its secrets.” Nel said.

Twilight smiled as she approached the terminal in the center of the room and started inputting commands. “I can’t take us directly to Spiral Tower, but I can get us just outside of Aquios. The wards that I put on the orb prevent me from bringing us directly to the Shrine of Kaddan, so this is the closest I can get there without putting us in the middle of the city and starting a panic.”

The alicorn finished pressing buttons and gestured toward the central pod invitingly. Everyone headed into the pod that was large enough to accommodate them all. Once everyone was inside, the machine activated and everyone vanished in a flash of light.

Return to the Shrine

View Online

In a small corner of the Irisa Fields outside of Aquios, a flash of light briefly radiated throughout the area, catching the attention of every living creature in the area. Once the light faded, those who saw it moved to investigate the anomaly.

The group of thirteen appeared where the flash of light originated. They had to take a moment for their vision to recover from the flash, but that was long enough for one of the monsters in the area to spot the group and alert any of its allies in the area.

Once the group was ready to head out, a large number of proclaimers and enforcers landed in front of them. The proclaimers wore black and white dresses and had a red symbol on their foreheads while the enforcers were dark brown colored.

“I never designed them to look like that,” Twilight said. “Crystal’s virus must be corrupting their programming further.”

“Looks like we’ll have to fight our way through,” Sophia said.

With the number of executioners in the area, they were forced to split up and deal with the monsters. Those who were strong enough, faced their opponents alone while others partnered up with someone to better their chances.

Twilight, who still had full access to her alicorn powers, was able to use her Deletion ability to erase a few proclaimers and enforcers without worrying about using up too much of her magic.

Peppita used her Power Dance to strengthen everyone while Maria and Lyra used Angel Feather symbols to further strengthen their friends.

Albel used his agility to run around an enforcer while delivering deep cuts into the creature’s body with his katana and claw while Roger went for widespread damage by throwing his helmet into the air which unleashed a cage-like pattern of lasers around him before firing a salvo of missiles from his shield.

The group was not without resistance, though. Cliff got hit several times in the back when proclaimers teleported behind him and struck him with cross-shaped waves which pushed him forward. Mirage was blasted a few times by enforcers firing numerous seeking light beams. Some enforcers struck Fayt and Albel from below when they sent tendrils underground.

Sophia put a stop to the enforcers’ underground attacks by sending a number of her own tentacles which clashed with theirs and overpowered them. The hybrid girl skewered a few enforcers and proclaimers that way.

Thanatas added to the underground mayhem when she summoned her skeletal wings and slammed the tips into the ground. Numerous bone spikes erupted from below and impaled a fair number of executioners. She then drew out the blood of the impaled victims and collected it into a large orb and charged it up with some of her dark magic before releasing it against a few of the remaining executioners in the area. The orb splattered on the executioners and had the effect of making them rot from the inside out from a necrotic disease.

It wasn’t long before the executioners in the area were wiped out. Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief with the immediate threat dealt with.

“That was some welcoming party,” Cliff quipped.

“I thought the Eternal Sphere was supposed to be on lockdown.” Fayt said.

“It was, at least until we returned to it, but for the executioners to be here in those numbers suggests that they have already begun their invasion.” Twilight figured. “I can only guess that Crystal removed the lockdown earlier.”

“Come, we need to see Her Majesty right away,” Nel said.

The group barely took two steps before a large circular patch of ground in front of them turned pitch black. The telltale glyph of summoning could be seen forming. The group took up battle positions once again in preparation for what was coming.

What they saw emerging from the glyph was the stuff of nightmares. The emerging creature was smaller than the proclaimers and enforcers, but it was much more powerful. It had broken feathered wings, and yet it still flew. It was clothed in a black ragged zipper suit and its head was completely concealed in a black leather mask that had zipper lines all around it. The mask had one hole in it and looking through it was a red glowing eye that showed no intelligence, only a mindless desire to destroy. Its arms and legs were pitch black with the arms extending to its ankles and baring wicked claws and its digitigrade legs were much shorter and ended in hooves. The abomination chittered in a high-pitched voice.

“Destroy! Infect! Erase!” the creature spoke in a voice as if it was constantly breathing in helium.

Sophia sensed the space distorting slightly around the creature. “Is this thing distorting reality?”

“Whatever this thing is, it possesses an extremely high data volume,” Twilight said.

“Convictor!” the creature exclaimed. “Convictor destroy everything!”

“And if I didn’t know any better, that power came at the cost of having the intellect of a foal,” Twilight added with a sigh.

The convictor began its attack by creating tornadoes and running around with the razor winds around it trying to hit someone. When it failed, it teleported between Nel, Roger and Peppita and stirred up more winds, knocking the three into the air before they could act. Every now and then it tried to cast symbols but Sophia made sure those never went off. Unlike the Robin Wind characters, the convictor had better control over its winds as it sent tornadoes outward in all directions, catching the group off guard and knocking some into the air while others, like Thanatas were able to defend by putting up walls or burrowing underground, in Sophia’s case.

Sophia counterattacked the convictor by creating a tentacle with a fanged maw which bursted out of the ground and bit into the abomination. The creature’s pained screams were high-pitched enough that the group was sure it could shatter glass. The tentacle repeatedly slammed the convictor into the ground until the abomination shredded the appendage with razor-sharp winds.

“Angry!” the convictor screeched. It then conjured a large number of tornadoes and imbued them with electricity to increase their area of effect. Albel, Adray, Mirage and Fayt all ended up taking some of the electricity.

A pair of hands emerged from beneath the convictor and grabbed it by the hooves before pulling part of it beneath the surface. Thanatas took the opportunity to channel a powerful necromantic spell that caused the area around the convictor to decay. The monster could feel its body rotting and made one last ditch effort by sending an electrified tornado at the undead. A shield spell from Twilight blocked the attack and the Death and Decay spell from Thanatas took hold as the creature fell apart and evaporated.

With the creature destroyed, the group took that time to use healing symbols and other healing magic to restore the damage done by the convictor. Sophia returned to the surface.

“Damn, that thing was no joke!” Cliff said.

Twilight managed to run a scan of the convictor before it was fully destroyed. After a few moments of running through the data, her eyes widened by what she learned.

“My scans have shown that that thing was a viral program. It must be the virus that Crystal was talking about.”

“Do you think there will be more of them?” Fayt asked.

Twilight sighed, “I doubt that she would only make one, but I also doubt there are too many of them since these things require a lot more data to maintain than the executioners.”

“Don’t you guys have some means to get rid of these critters?” Cliff asked.

“We have an uninstaller that could get rid of the executioners, but there’s no doubt that Crystal already has countermeasures set up to prevent the program from having any effect. Crystal might be easily provoked, but she knows how to cover her bases.”

“Let’s get to Aquios before more executioners or convictors show up.” Sophia said.

Everyone nodded in agreement and hurried into the city.

As they walked through the city, Twilight received a transmission from Grape Vine. She sighed as she activated her communicator and received the profiles of three more inventors to recruit.

The first on the list was a spirited young girl about a year younger than Sophia. Meryl believed machines were the wave of the future and would eventually render runology obsolete. She was raised on the mechanical wonders of Greeton but was forced to return to the continent of Gaitt because of family circumstances. Since she couldn’t legally return to Greeton because of their isolation from Gaitt, Meryl chose to live in Peterny which was as close as she could get to the land she longed to return to.

Meryl had no interest in money, only machines. Twilight figured that the only way this engineering prodigy was going to sign a contract would be to give her something that would allow her to build her own machines.

The next entry made Twilight groan as she was reminded about how irritating the Canterlot nobles were. For some reason, Grape decided that Count Noppen, a spoiled nobleman from Airyglyph, was worth recruiting. Through reading about how this aggravating aristocrat had his servants write his books for him, Twilight figured that Noppen was included for the sake of recruiting the real talent that served him.

Last on this list was a blacksmith of legendary skill. Boyd claims to have a sort of sixth sense when it came to weapons and armor and could understand them in ways that nobody else could. Of course, while the quality of his work was some of the best throughout the land, he also needed to take more time than other blacksmiths to produce weapons and armor that only the best warriors of the land were fit to wear.

Twilight had a feeling that she needed a conversation starter to get this smith to talk to her; something that would get his attention.

Once she deactivated her communicator, she returned it to her pocket. “You guys go on ahead. I need to do some catching up on Grape’s project. We’ll meet just outside the throne room.” She then teleported away.

“Hey, did everyone notice that Twilight kept her hot form when she came into the Eternal Sphere with us?” Cliff asked.

“That’s because we were afraid of Twilight’s powers distorting the data before,” Lyra answered. “With the situation as it is, and with the convictors causing distortions already, we can’t really afford to worry about that right now.”

Meanwhile, Twilight began exercising her power with long-distance teleporting all over Gaitt. She started in Airyglyph and very begrudgingly gave a large sum of fol to the already wealthy Count Noppen. He outwardly balked at the idea of being bribed but took the money anyway and demanded that she find housing for his many servants, not knowing that his demands fell on deaf ears when he blinked at one point and the mare was replaced by a cardboard cutout of herself.

Twilight’s next stop was a store in Airyglyph City. There she found a gloomy-looking man with dichromatic eyes who seemed to stumble on his words. The mare offered the man, Cornelius, a dictionary in exchange for a contract which was accepted before she moved on to the next recruit.

Before she left, however, Cornelius gave her a book that he wrote. It was titled ‘Book of the Macabre and Unbelievable’. Twilight politely accepted the strange book and moved on.

The teleportation marathon continued in Arias where Twilight was informed of the whereabouts of Boyd. She found him in the village’s weapon shop complaining about the poor treatment of the weapons being placed on display. She still needed a conversation starter, but soon remembered the bent magical sword that Sophia won from the bunny races and brought it out of her pocket dimension.

Boyd immediately sighted the blade and requested to examine it. Tears flowed from the man’s eyes as he felt the sorrow of the damaged sword. Twilight got Boyd to sign a contract in exchange for taking the blade to “heal” it.

Since the other inventors were in locations on the way to Mosel, Twilight decided to deal with the rest later and return to Aquios.

The alicorn spotted one of the inventors wandering the streets. This was the writing prodigy, Mishell, who tried to act like an adult most of the time. Since she was beginning to feel the fatigue from the long-distance teleporting, she made the deal with the boy quickly and paid him for his contractual services.

Twilight walked into the castle while surprising the guards at the entrance with her majestic form. They tried not to show any expressions, but failed to hide their blushes as the mare walked by.

On the way to the throne room, Twilight ran into a certain old man who she needed to recruit as well. She didn’t have time to chat with Ansala, but she did show him the philosopher’s stone that Peppita made. While he wanted to take on the young Velbaysian as his apprentice, Twilight managed to convince the old man to take on a different apprentice who she believed possessed the same potential as Peppita. Ansala decided to give the inventor, Eliza, a chance, but he was going to be very strict with her. Twilight didn’t mind that and convinced the sagely man to sign a contract for his alchemical services.

Twilight was out of breath by the time she came up the stairs and regrouped with the others. The teleportations really took their toll on her.

“You look like you’ve been through a workout,” Cliff commented. “Did going up a flight of stairs really tire you out?” The Klausian’s joke was met with a glare from the exhausted mare.

“Maybe you should get some rest and we’ll go retrieve the Sacred Orb,” Fayt offered.

Twilight waved off Fayt’s offer. “It’s alright, I’m just…exhausted from doing…so many long-range teleports in…such a short amount of time. I just need time…to catch my breath.”

“Long range teleporting takes a lot of magic to do,” Lyra explained. “As an alicorn, Twilight has a lot of magic at her disposal, but she burned through a good amount of that in an hour so it’ll take some time for her to regain her magic. I expect she will be ready again once we reach Mosel.”

A few minutes passed before Twilight was breathing normally again. With everyone prepared, the group entered the throne room.

Romeria was surprised by several things the moment they entered the throne room. The fact that the travelers from beyond the stars had returned was surprising enough. To see that Twilight had an appearance and beauty that rivaled her own and carried a majestic air about her was another surprise. She could actually believe that the mare was the ruler of a nation with how she looked. A twinge of jealousy crossed her mind but she quickly crushed that thought and addressed the group. “Well, what a pleasant surprise this is. We never truly expected to see you again.”

“Your Majesty–”

“Please, Princess Twilight, you are royalty and you alone may address myself as an equal,” Romeria interrupted.

Twilight nodded, not in the mood to argue. “Very well, Romeria, I am certain that your people have been invaded by the winged beings that I warned you about.”

“Yes, we have managed to avoid these creatures as you had instructed. However, it has been difficult transporting supplies with the towns surrounded as they have. We hope that you have come to us with a solution.”

“We have, for this task we require the use of the Sacred Orb.”

“May we ask why?” Romeria asked.

Twilight nodded, “This knowledge is not to leave this room.”

“You have our vow of secrecy, now how can our sacred treasure assist you?”

“My knowledge of the Sacred Orb is greater than anyone else’s in this room because I am the one who created it.”

“You dare speak such blasphemy in the face of Her Majesty!” Lasselle shouted.

“Silence, Lasselle!” Romeria ordered, then returned her attention to Twilight. “If what you speak is true, then we have more reason than any for this knowledge to never leave this chamber. But this does not answer my previous question.”

“There is a door in the Ruins of Mosel that can only be opened by the Sacred Orb and only by the one who created it. The source of those creatures lies beyond that door.”

Romeria paused for a moment as she considered the consequences. Despite the warnings, there had been some soldiers who had gone rogue and tried to deal with the winged beings, but were easily annihilated. Airyglyph’s brigades have had the same results. If something wasn’t done soon, she had no doubt that the whole world would soon suffer starvation without food being delivered to the towns. “Very well, we shall lend you the Orb.”

“You have my thanks, Romeria.”

“Be warned, these demons that have invaded our land have negatively affected the guardians of the Shrine of Kaddan. They will be much more powerful and vicious than when you last fought them.”

The group took the queen’s warning to heart and proceeded out of the throne room and down the stairs. They headed toward the castle chapel and entered the tunnel into the Sealed Cavern. While they could have used Thanatas’ method to get to the Orb, that idea was almost unanimously turned down because they didn’t want to experience that nightmare again.

They traveled through the Sealed Cavern once again, except this time the monsters are different from the ones who inhabited the caverns earlier. The first one they saw was one of those clear-bodied floating hydras. This variant was red-colored, like blood.

The creature’s attack patterns were similar to the rainbow monster that Sophia encountered in the depths of Mosel. The others were warned about what the monster could do and acted accordingly. Cliff and Mirage kicked it from above with their Aerial Assault techniques while Sophia, Twilight and Adray buried the creature in rocks with their Stone Rain symbols.

With the hydra taken care of, the group continued traversing the caverns. Using her magic, Twilight was able to locate a hidden door and flip a switch that opened a shortcut deeper into the caverns.

Aside from the hydras in the caverns, there were also zombies burning in purple flames and convictors. The zombies were easily destroyed by Nel and Peppita’s frozen weapon techniques. The convictors were not as tough as the first one they encountered, but they still had to be careful when dealing with its ability to generate tornadoes. Sophia, Twilight and Adray remained vigilant for whenever the abominations tried casting symbols.

Once they reached the last room where they would enter the Shrine of Kaddan, most of the fighters in the group had a sense of deja vu when a familiar summoning circle appeared in the center of the room. From what they remembered, they fought a floating armor with a pair of swords last time.

This time, they would have a much more challenging opponent. This one was a giant floating eye with a gray, scaly body. The iris was red and it had many tentacles around its body. The upper tentacles ended in smaller slitted eyes while the lower tentacles were regular tentacles. There was also a magic circle beneath the creature that followed it where it went.

“Careful guys,” Twilight warned. “Beholders are a force to be reckoned with. They are powerful demons with a number of magical abilities. Crystal is pulling out all the stops to keep us from getting to her.”

Before anyone could ask about that, the beholder fired numerous beams from its many eye tentacles at the group, forcing them to scatter. At first the group tested various symbols on the demon but they had no effect whatsoever on it.

Adray then tried out a symbol that wasn’t aligned with the elements by creating a circle of light around the beholder which was later followed by a cross of holy light smiting the demon. The beholder growled in pain from the spell.

Meanwhile, Lyra jumped on its head and tried to cut off the eye tentacles then leapt off before the beholder counterattacked. Lyra’s efforts were frustrated when the demon regrew its tentacles.

With Cliff, Mirage, Fayt and Roger in melee range of the beholder, the demon then expanded its circle while it turned dark red. Before Twilight could warn the others to get out of the circle, the fighters suddenly had their stamina drained by the demon.

Lyra and Sophia decided to return the favor by using void energies to drain the life from the beholder from the front and the back. The demon screeched in pain and fired its eye lasers at Lyra who was forced to stop draining and protect herself with a psionic barrier. Thanatas further added to the drain on the demon by pointing her sword at it and began pulling its soul from its body. The beholder changed its focus toward the newcomer. This was a mistake because Thanatas blocked its laser attacks with a wall of ice while channeling her sword’s draining powers through it. Lyra was able to lower her barrier and continue draining the demon until its life and soul were ripped from its now dead husk.

The group took a few moments to catch their breath and heal any wounds sustained from the eye demon.

Nel then decided to address the elephant in the room. “When you said that Crystal was pulling out all the stops, does that mean that she is the one creating all of these strong monsters?”

Twilight nodded. “Since she has control of Spiral Tower, she can also create or alter the monsters in the Eternal Sphere. There’s no doubt that she has altered the shrine’s guardians. She knows of the backdoor to Spiral Tower, but that location is one thing that she cannot manipulate. So instead, she is altering monsters and raising their parameters to try and keep us from our objectives.”

“Hah, it doesn’t matter how many maggots she sends at me, I’ll crush them all,” Albel declared.

Adray laughed, “I might actually get a workout after all. I say keep them coming!”

“Looks like everyone’s getting revved up about this,” Cliff said.

Once everyone was recovered and a little rested, the group proceeded into the Shrine of Kaddan.

After proceeding through the first few rooms, they encountered new and old enemies, including an enforcer of a darker shade. Its patterns were predictable so it was easily dealt with.

Some of the new enemies that showed up were strange living geometric shapes. These polyhedrons looked like giant glass dice that were as big as Peppita and they often tried to ram themselves into people. Cliff knocked one into the air and pummeled it with his Acrobat Locus technique before he smashed it on the floor. Mirage rushed another with her Avenger Charge and beat it back into a wall before she shattered her’s. Yet another polyhedron saw what happened to its allies and responded by releasing a bright light all around it. Twilight picked up on what it was trying to do and yelled for everyone to get away from it. The polyhedron self-destructed a couple of seconds later as everyone moved to a safe distance.

In the room where they once fought the black version of the crystal statues, the group instead found themselves facing a trio of black armors wielding giant hammers. Their previous variants were no issue and these guys were not either.

In the next section of the shrine, they saw gold variants of the armors from before as well as blue and yellow variants of the polyhedrons. None of these enemies posed a challenge to the group at this point.

Once they ascended the stairs that would take them to the next section, they encountered a new variant of the crystal centaur. This one was composed of green crystals with its shield, sword, crest, core and joints being of purple crystals. This one started off by firing a beam of light from its sword that spread in three directions. A shield from Twilight blocked the beam that could have hit them. Ice shards formed on her barrier, indicating that the statue intended on freezing everyone and shattering their brittle forms.

The shield quickly fell apart because Twilight was not finished recovering., but the attack ended before then.

“Lyra, do you have any crystals on you?” Sophia asked.

“Just one for emergencies when I’m not near a conduit. Why?” Sophia motioned for the mare to give her the crystal. Lyra handed her the crystal before Sophia pointed one end at the crystal centaur who was preparing another freezing blast.

Using her psychic powers, Sophia reconfigured the lattice structure within the crystal. When the statue fired its beam again, Sophia drew the attack into the crystal where the energy was refracted repeatedly until a large beam of energy emerged from the end pointed at the statue and blasted it with its own attack.

The statue was enraged by this and abandoned its original strategy and simply charged at the group, which was when Sophia used her speed to mount herself on the statue’s back. As the centaur tried to buck her off, Sophia proceeded to perform a series of precision strikes on the crystals that composed the statue. After a significant number of strikes were made within a couple of seconds, Sophia dismounted and returned to her friends as they watched the statue rumble and shatter into crystal dust.

The group soon entered the section of the shrine where they had to face the four individual challenges the last time they were here. Since they didn’t need to explore or do the four-room challenge again, they simply moved forward. Sophia shattered more crystal centaurs along the way.

After breaking two more statues, the group entered a room that was guarded by a darker-colored beholder demon with red and black scales and a white eye with black sclera.

Taking the lessons from the first beholder they fought, the close-ranged fighters were more wary of the beholder’s magic circle this time. They made sure to move away quickly when the circle grew and turned red. They also made sure to move away when it turned light green and white. When the latter happened, the circle sent shockwaves in all directions to knock everyone away while the circle healed the demon.

To keep the battle from persisting, Thanatas decided to end the fight by launching a ball of concentrated frost magic from her mouth. The demon was flash frozen the moment the sphere made contact and it fell to the floor. She then plunged her sword into the frozen beholder and shattered it.

As they headed toward the final section of the shrine, they encountered a number of semi-new enemies, including reapers, malevolent spirits carrying scythes. Thanatas took control of them and had them destroy each other. There were also gold variations of the floating armors with poleaxes as well as stronger variants of witches and wisps, like the ones encountered in the depths of Mosel, and purple variants of the polyhedrons. None posed much of a challenge to the group at this point.

After getting past the two rooms with the semi-sentient demon blocks, the path to the Sacred Orb was clear. Upon arriving at the pedestal, Twilight removed the wards on the orb and picked up the artifact before placing it into her pocket dimension for safekeeping.

“Alright, we need to get to Mosel and get to the door that will open the path to Spiral Tower.” Twilight said. “Expect a lot of strong monsters to impede our progress, she may even be doing this to delay us until she can figure out how the control system works.”

“Can she use the system to bypass the defenses on Project Valkyrie?” Maria asked.

“No, the defenses around the prototypes are independent of the Eternal Sphere system. The bypass codes were never written on any paper or system and the algorithm changes too often for Crystal to figure out any pattern. She needs a cipher key to break the encryption and the key is in the form of my personal magical signature, something that cannot be copied, even by changelings.”

“Sounds like she plans to hold the universe hostage so she can get the cipher,” Thanatas figured.

“We need to get there before she figures out how to destroy the Eternal Sphere,” Twilight took a deep breath and tightly shut her eyes as she internally battled herself over what she was about to ask. “Thanatas, can you take us back to the castle?”

“Aye, aye!” Everyone froze as they knew what they were about to experience once again as the cage of bone surrounded them before they sank into the ground.

While Thanatas could have taken the group to Mosel directly, they needed to stock up on supplies in Aquios and make final preparations before they made the longest journey of their adventure yet.

Return to Mosel

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As if history repeated itself, a cage of bone emerged at the entrance of the Sealed Cavern and once again, the humans and ponies, with the exception of the undead and rabbit templar, were heaving and doing their best to keep whatever they had eaten recently from reversing course through their digestive systems.

As much as she hated that method of travel, Twilight also needed to cut down on travel time to get to Aquios because she knew that they were in for a long trek to get to the top of Spiral Tower where Crystal Silicon was located.

Once everyone overcame their nausea, the group returned through the tunnel and back to Castle Aquaria.

As they emerged into the chapel, Twilight groaned as she received another transmission from Grape Vine. Still irritable from her disturbing return trip, she took a moment to calm herself using the breathing technique she learned a long time ago from her foalsitter, Cadance. Once calmed, she activated her communicator and saw her employee on the screen. “Another group of profiles? How many more are you planning to recruit?”

“Actually, you may be happy to know that these are the last three. There will be one more if you guys can get that automaton in Surferio working, but you can ignore that one.”

“The automaton?” Twilight asked.

“I gave Roger an AI program that I want inserted into that machine. I suspect that it also needs some serious repairs before it can be fully functional. It would go smoothly if you found the blueprints to the machine though.”

Twilight smiled, glad that Grape could soon finish her project without further assistance and that she could focus on her primary mission. There was also a part of her who would have loved to see the automaton completed though. “I’ll send Dejison and Vanilla to Surferio. I’ll recruit Meryl on the way and send her there as well with the AI and the blueprints that we obtained from Ruddle and Rumina a while back.”

“Thanks for all the help you’ve given me on this project, boss. I’m sure I can make the Item Creation feature a rousing success thanks to you. And here are the last three inventors that we got from the recruitment drive. Now the real work begins for me.”

Twilight waited a few seconds before the last three profiles appeared on her screen.

The first of the last was a small humanoid whose race resembled the fairy they saw in Duggus Forest a while ago. The fairy-like girl named Chilico was nearly a century old and was very knowledgeable in the art of crafting. The problem though was that while she was one of the best crafters in the guild, her small size also made crafting trinkets take significantly more time than others to complete. However, the quality of what she made was often worth the wait. She also had a family to support so she would need to be paid for her services.

Apparently, Chilico had set up shop in Surferio which was convenient for Twilight.

The next one was very inconvenient for Twilight because this one was all the way back in Airyglyph City. Osman was a priest who preached the ways of the gods to anyone who wanted to hear him. While his talent in writing books was very impressive, the books he wrote were also very controversial. Osman was often frustrated by time, the poison that all mortals suffered from. In his advanced age, he felt like he had not accomplished what he desired, but not for lack of trying. He desired to see something unusual; something that went against the mainstream of what society deemed acceptable.

Twilight had a feeling that the book that Cornelius wrote might be what the old priest wanted.

The last one was actually a very interesting inventor. Apparently, they were once the guild master of the artisan’s guild for four years before her cranky personality drove them off. She was also a soothsayer who placed her own program into the communicator so she could give her fortunes to other inventors. Louise ended up living as a hermit ever since her guild moved on without her but there were rumors that said that she had taken a certain clairvoyant menodix as an apprentice.

Louise was unrivaled in her skills as a chemist. The medicines she created were borderline miraculous.

Twilight sighed. “The good news is, almost all of the unrecruited inventors are on the way to Mosel. The bad news is that one of them is all the way in Airyglyph and I don’t have enough stamina for two long-distance teleports.”

“Why don’t you let me handle that one,” Sophia offered.

“Umm, while I appreciate the offer, we don’t have time to wait for you to go to Airyglyph and back. We will just have to wait until another opportunity arises.”

“What do I need to do to recruit him?” Sophia insisted.

“I just said–'' Twilight began before she was interrupted by Thanatas.

“Just trust her, if she believes that she can handle this one quickly, then let her handle it.”

Twilight sighed in defeat and handed the templar the book that Cornelius gave her as well as one of the contracts that she carried around and a quill and ink. “His name is Osman. He’s a priest who runs a church in Airyglyph. Use this book as your bargaining chip.”

Sophia took the items from Twilight and kept them in her jacket. “I’ll be back by the time you guys reach Irisa Fields.” She then raced off at speeds that would have made Rainbow Dash envious.

Twilight’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped, leading to a smirk on Thanatas’ face. “I had no idea that psionic powers could make you move that fast,” the mare said, awestruck. “Could you move that fast, Lyra?”

“I don’t know actually, I did test my speed once, but I had to stop when the G-forces were close to causing internal damage to my organs and bones.”

“Chances are she’s probably faster than you now,” Thanatas said. “Thanks to her Zerg body, combined with her immense psionic power, she may one day become the fastest being in the universe, if she isn’t already.”

The group took the time to stock up on supplies from the stores in Aquios, buying food, drinks and whatever else they would need to survive the perilous trek they were about to take. Once they finished stocking up, they headed across the bridge from the city and toward the Irisa Fields.

True to her word, Sophia returned just as the group had set their feet into the fields. Twilight was once again stunned by the short amount of time it took to get to Airyglyph, negotiate, then return. She realized that if she knew about Sophia’s speed before, she would have let her handle the other inventors instead of burning her mana from all the teleporting she did.

The group traveled through the Irisa Fields to Peterny, dealing with more proclaimers as well as a number of overgrown and hostile moths and yuan-tis.

The group safely arrived in Peterny after a few minutes of crossing the fields. Twilight had everyone take a small break in the center of town while she recruited some inventors. She also placed a call to send Dejison and Vanilla to Surferio while she was at it.

During that break, Twilight paid the blacksmith, Gusto, for his contract along with visiting the church where she gave Evia a fund for his daughter’s future. She quickly left the church before she ended up as a captive audience to Evia’s doting on Aqua.

Twilight returned to the square and received from Roger the tool kit and AI program that he received from Grape Vine. She then proceeded to the eastern part of town and negotiated a contract with Meryl. Twilight opted to not listen when the girl talked about how Symbology was an inferior science because she didn’t have time to argue with her at the moment.

Once the contract was signed, the alicorn sent the engineer ahead to Surferio with the blueprints and AI program. Thankfully, the Executioners followed the same behavioral patterns as monsters so they wouldn’t attack non-hostile characters. She wasn’t sure about the convictors though.

With the inventors in Peterny recruited, the group headed out the west gate and into Sanmite Steppes on the way to Surferio.

As expected, the monsters in the area had been altered. All of the lizardmen, axebeak birds, and harpies had been replaced. Wandering the area now were a new variation of mushroom people, or myconid, a dark-feathered variation of the cockatrice, and more convictors.

There was no sign of anyone being attacked on the way to Surferio so the group took it as a good sign that Meryl made it through the area.

The myconids were as slow as their attacks so they were hardly a threat, which left the cockatrices and convictors as the deadlier foes to be wary of.

After fighting through a few monsters in the area, the group made it to Surferio, which was the last safe area for them to go to before they would have to run the gauntlet all the way to the top of Spiral Tower.

During their brief stay in town, Twilight paid Louise and Chilico for their contracts while she had Thanatas do the negotiations with the Killer Chef because the guy made her squeamish.

As they headed toward the back end of town where the next leg of their journey began, the group saw Meryl and Vanilla working on the inactive automaton. Dejison was lying unconscious on the ground behind them with a huge bump on his head.

“What happened to him?” Twilight asked, concerned about the old inventor.

“This old weirdo kept getting in our way as we were repairing this machine,” Meryl said. “He wanted to dress it up as if it were a woman and then he not only got his disgusting fluids in the sensitive parts, but he got some of his snot on me too. I made sure he wouldn’t get in our way. Thanks to that, the work is going much faster. I have no idea why this dirty old man is here in the first place.”

“Agreed,” Vanilla added. “We also burned the offensive dresses.”

Twilight chuckled awkwardly, “Sorry, I thought he would have something good to contribute and I wanted all of the engineers working on this in case that was what it took.”

“No worries,” Meryl shrugged. “Turns out that me and Vanilla were all that was needed to get this antique up and running again.”

Meryl and Vanilla had put the finishing touches on the machine before they activated it. The automaton stood up and requested orders.

“I shall name you Izak, which means ‘Gentle Steel Knight’ in the language of Greeton,” Meryl declared.

With that event witnessed, the group walked away and headed into the tunnel toward the Mosel Dunes.

New enemies of note in the tunnel were warlocks and giant snakes that were twice the size of a person when straightened out. The warlocks wore dark tattered robes and horned headgear with gold rings around the horns while carrying black staves.

The warlocks had the initiative and tried to cast a Crush symbol on Sophia but everyone else moved out of the way while the rabbit girl quickly burrowed underground to avoid the spell. One warlock was preparing to cast another spell when Sophia emerged from behind him and ran an energy blade through his chest before raising her arm and splitting his head in two, resulting in the spellcaster vanishing.

The snakes were quickly dealt with when Nel and Twilight locked them in place with Thunder Flare symbols while Adray finished them with a powerful strike of lightning from above when he cast his Lightning Strike symbol. Any remaining warlocks stood no chance without allies to divert attention away from them.

The rest of the way through the tunnel was met with more of the same enemies until they emerged into the scorching heat of the Mosel Dunes. Twilight placed some heat resistance spells on everyone to protect them from the oppressive sun.

The group was barely a few meters into the desert when they spotted a powerful monster around the corner. This creature bore a strong resemblance to the chimeras of Equestria, except that the snake head was at the front of the body with the tiger and goat heads instead of being part of its tail. Also unlike Equestrian chimeras, this one had large leathery wings on its back and its tail was on fire.

The chimera lunged forward, mouths open and hoping one of its prey was stupid enough to stand still. No such luck though as everyone jumped to the side to avoid the three maws. It followed up by swiping one of its paws which succeeded in leaving a few shallow cuts on Cliff.

Mirage used her Avenger Charge to punch and kick the beast from the side before she was forced to jump away when the snake head glared at her and unleashed a torrent to flame from its mouth.

Peppita tried to grab the beast by the neck with her cape which resulted in the goat head biting on her cape and trying to eat it. A heavy downward chop from Roger’s axe on its skull forced the goat head to release the fabric.

Everyone was forced to jump away from the beast when it released flames from all three of its mouths at once. With everyone spread out, the chimera attacked Lyra with its fangs, claws and flames, but Lyra’s speed ensured that the beast would not find her easy prey. It then set its sights on Roger. As the beast lunged at the small menodix, its careless charge was brought to a halt when Peppita summoned her giant Dream Hammer, jumped above the chimera and pounded it hard into the ground.

The chimera wasn’t done yet as it shook off the attack and jumped back before spreading its wings and took to the air after a couple of flaps. From its three maws, it rained balls of fire on the group.

Thanatas was having none of that and started firing her own balls of frost from her mouth to counter the beast’s attacks. She then spawned her own wings and met the chimera in the air. The snake head attempted to fire another fireball at the undead but she fired one before the snake could get theirs out of their mouths, freezing the head. One strike from the undead’s sword shattered the snake head, causing the chimera to bleat and roar in agony.

While the chimera was reeling, Thanatas used this chance to slice the beast’s wings off, causing it to have a very unpleasant landing. Another icy sphere from the undead flash froze the chimera before she slammed her sword into the frozen beast, shattering it into many pieces which soon vanished.

Twilight sighed in relief as the battle ended. Of course, there was also a hint of exasperation in that sigh as well as she knew that there would be many more fights like that before they reached Crystal Silicon.

The group proceeded through the desert, taking note of the new monsters in the area. There were more chimeras roaming around along with more warlocks and proclaimers. They also took note of some giant insects that were as big as Peppita wandering around the oases in the area. Thanatas was happy to see that the dragon zombies were still roaming the desert. Just like before, she took control of those undead and used them as fodder to keep the chimeras busy as they didn’t have time to waste dealing with those beasts.

Along the way, Twilight had the group take a detour to the western parts of the desert where she found the menodix peddler Balbados. Twilight showed the peddler the piece of jewelry that she got from Gregory a while back. Balbados was very interested in the antique and wanted to appraise it, which allowed Twilight to get him to sign a contract to work for her.

After their trek through the desert, the group arrived at the ruins of Mosel.

After passing through the room that introduced the group to the basics of Runic Chess, they entered the hallways and attempted to enter through the door on the west side of the hallway to get to the table room quicker, only to find the door opened from one side. This was no problem as Twilight used her telekinesis to activate the door mechanism from the other side of the door and opened the way for them.

Awaiting them in the next room was another hallway that was occupied by a black and red enforcer, a black and red proclaimer, a black convictor and a huge four-armed and muscular stone demon with huge wings to match its size.

Cliff growled in frustration, “These things keep popping up everywhere!”

“Once we get through the door, the Executioners shouldn’t be able to pursue us there,” Twilight said.

The group split up into smaller groups of three to four to separate and defeat the four monsters. Albel, Nel and Maria faced the proclaimer, Cliff, Roger, and Twilight faced the enforcer, Adray, Mirage, and Peppita faced the convictor, and Sophia, Thanatas, Fayt and Lyra faced the demon.

Maria kept her distance and shot the proclaimer with repeated rounds of Pulse Blast. When the proclaimer teleported behind her, she quickly turned around and caught the Executioner in a gravity well with her Gravity Bullet. Albel further held the program in place by catching it in an Aura Wall while Nel assaulted it with her elementally charged blades, unleashing her Mirror Slice. The proclaimer then began spinning while attempting to smite the trio with pillars of light.

Albel managed to move in between the pillars and mercilessly slash the proclaimer with his claws. The proclaimer then quickly casted a Dark Sphere on Albel, where a giant sphere of dark magic impacted in the area around it which created a black hole that siphoned the life around it. For some reason, Albel decided not to move away from the dark energy and instead overwhelmed the spell with his own dark aura.

The proclaimer was shocked when Albel’s dark aura continued to surge after the spell failed. Before she could attack again, the warrior projected the aura onto the proclaimer and ripped the very life out of the Executioner.

“Vampiric Flash!” Albel declared.

The proclaimer vanished as the last of its life was siphoned away.

The initial strategy was for Cliff to keep the enforcer’s attention while Roger attacked it and Twilight would use healing symbols as support. The enforcer broke up the attack when it managed to cast a Dark Sphere symbol around itself. Cliff and Roger knew the attack was bad news so they quickly moved away. The enforcer then created a number of seeking lasers to bombard the trio with. Twilight managed to shield herself from the attack but the other two were singed in several places by the lasers.

Twilight knew that they couldn’t allow the enforcer to stay on the offensive so she decided to not heal the other two yet and opted to cast a light symbol where the enforcer was smited by a cross of light, the Southern Cross symbol. The enforcer staggered, giving Cliff an opening to knock it into the air with an Uppercut while Roger fired a salvo of missiles at the Executioner while it was still in the air. Feeling that she had recovered enough of her magic, Twilight finished off the enforcer by deleting it with her administrative spell.

The convictor got the first attack on the trio that attacked it by electrocuting them in a Thunder Flare. Once the spell had run its course, Peppita and Mirage charged in and rushed it with their attacks: Mirage’s Avenger Charge and Peppita’s Kaboom where she summoned a large star that revolved around her and struck anyone that ended up in its orbit.

The assault was countered when the convictor surrounded itself in tornadoes and forced the fighters to back away. It then tried to cast another spell, but Adray was ready for that with a Silence symbol. He then knocked away the whirlwinds when he summoned his Titan Fist and punched through the winds and into the convictor.

The abomination then healed itself with a Faerie Light symbol, making the trio realize that they needed to defeat it quickly before it got a chance to heal itself again.

“I think I know just the thing,” Adray said. “Keep it busy while I prepare.”

Mirage and Peppita rushed the convictor once more. Mirage knocked the abomination into the air and pummeled it with her Acrobat Locus before she knocked into the ground and into the waiting claws of Peppita’s Faerie Friend who slashed and pounded at the convictor.

“It’s ready!” Adray called out. Mirage and Peppita pulled away while Adray summoned a massive silvery sphere that landed on his shoulders. The sphere was larger than he was, but was able to easily lift it and hurl it at the convictor. The impact unleashed a violent explosion that burned away the abomination who screamed a high-pitched scream before it vanished.

“My Emotion Torrent works every time,” Adray declared proudly.

Fayt, Thanatas and the templars were left to face the giant four-armed demon who roared at the four in challenge. The demon was lured into another room because they had a feeling that this demon knew some widespread attacks.

The demon started off by using its four fists to punch the group. Fayt parried one fist with his sword while Lyra dodge her’s. Sophia and Thanatas both grabbed the fists meant for them. With both of them being as strong as they were, they were able to hold off the demon while Lyra unleashed a Psionic Shockwave attack, like the powerful energy blasts used by Protoss Archons. This caused chunks of stone to break off from the demon who counterattacked by creating a pool of black magic and dipping his free hands into it. Everyone had to back far away as the demon caused dark energies to erupt and flood most of the room for a few seconds.

Fayt tried thinking of a way that he could slay the demon. As he did, he thought about the Southern Cross symbol that he saw Twilight cast and while he wasn’t sure he could replicate that, he instead decided to create some light element with his symbological skills and imbued his sword with it. The technique worked, so he called the ability Divine Blade.

The swordsman then proceeded to slash at the demon with his holy sword while Thanatas created a number of phantasmal swords and stabbed the demon in many places. The demon roared in agony and attempted to flood the room with dark energy again. Sophia prevented this by concentrating a huge amount of psionic power into a small sphere before she crushed it and unleashed a massive torrent of power that obliterated the demon, and caused part of the structure to rumble.

“Okay, in the future, that is an outdoor attack,” Thanatas said. Sophia nodded in agreement.

Everyone regrouped after their victories before they proceeded into the table room.

As they entered, the room rumbled. Thanatas stared at Sophia who glared back, “You know that wasn’t my fault this time.”

Behind the tables were stairways to lower floors. One was opened earlier when Sophia, Thanatas and Lyra explored that section.

The other just busted open explosively.

After the fragments of the door settled, a stone golem emerged from the stairs. The giant approached the group menacingly and slowly.

Thanatas rolled her eyes. “Seriously? The slow giant bit? I found the previous fight more interesting and since I don’t feel like fighting you…” She then tossed a number of flasks that shattered on the golem’s body. The liquids contained in the flasks were highly corrosive and quickly ate through the golem’s stone body. The golem dissolved fully within a minute.

“Feeling lazy already?” Sophia asked with a smirk.

Thanatas shrugged, “We already knew what these guys were capable of when we fought them in the arena. Plus, that battle back there was more interesting than us ganging up on one measly golem who was marching toward its death. Compared to what I could have done, that was a mercy killing. Besides, we don’t have time for a boss rush.”

The others simply shrugged and headed down the stairs that the golem emerged from.

At the bottom of the stairs was a room with a strange looking mural with a small pedestal in front of it. Twilight approached the pedestal and pulled out the Sacred Orb from her pocket dimension before placing it on the pedestal.

Once in place, the orb began glowing with a bright white light. Twilight channeled some of her magic into the orb for the device to recognize her magical signature before the orb fired a beam of light at the mural.

The room rumbled slightly before the mural split in two and pulled away from each other.

“Is Spiral Tower beyond this door?” Fayt asked.

“Yes and no,” Twilight answered. “To get to Spiral Tower, we’ll need to navigate our way through the connecting corridor that exists between my world and the Eternal Sphere.

“The corridor itself is like a maze, so there will be places that serve as puzzles. The corridor serves as a firewall to keep unwanted intruders from getting to Spiral Tower. With Crystal in control of the tower, not even I am exempt from being targeted by the security features.

“Be warned, Crystal will throw the strongest monsters the Eternal Sphere monster generator can make at us. Be ready for anything.”

With the warning given, everyone stepped into the bright portal and moved one step closer to reaching Crystal Silicon.

Spiral Tower Part 1

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As everyone emerged from the portal of light, the group took in what they saw. The difference was like comparing a stone to a computer, as that was what the area they had walked into looked like.

The walls were plated with gray and lavender-colored metal with what appeared to be numerous monitors displaying countless tiny lines of binary code. The floors were composed of hexagonal tiling with parts of it being invisible. Sophia checked, and found that she could step on the invisible parts. Through the invisible tiles, everyone could see, strangely enough, tree roots with streams of binary code flowing along the root system.

“So this is the connecting corridor?” Fayt asked. “You called it a Firewall?”

Twilight nodded. “It may not look like some sort of wall like you would expect in a cybernetic realm, but this place contains a lot of traps and roaming monsters meant to drive away or eliminate intruders.”

“What’s with the plant stuff beneath us?” Cliff asked.

“The Eternal Sphere was created when we harnessed the wild magic of the Everfree Forest. The magic itself is bonded to this realm and acts as a data control center that takes inputs from our realm and directs it where it is needed in the Eternal Sphere. With this system being composed of wild magic, not even Crystal can control the tree that serves as the heart of this dimension. However, she can still send data through the roots like everyone else.”

The room they were in had three doors: one to the left, one in front of them, and one to their right. The group decided to take the left door first and ended up in a hallway. Roaming that hallway was a trio of strangely dressed people whose attire looked like something out of seventeenth or eighteenth century Earth. They wore black cloaks and dressed like noble vigilantes while carrying rapiers and wore masks and tricorne hats.

Twilight analyzed the beings in front of her and her eyes widened when she realized what type of monsters they were. “Be careful guys, they know some impressive polymorph spells. They could turn you into vegetables or harmless animals and attack you while you’re helpless.”

However, while they were listening to Twilight’s explanation, one of the ridiculers, as they were called, got close enough to Sophia and transformed her into a small bunny.

“Sophia!” Fayt shouted.

As the ridiculer attempted to stab Sophia with his rapier, he didn’t expect the bunny to develop razor-sharp teeth and jump up to the humanoid monster’s face and begin brutally biting his face. The panicked ridiculer tried to grab the bunny but it was rapidly moving all over his body and ripping into his flesh with her sharp, pointy teeth. The ridiculer screamed in agony as Sophia brutally maimed him and covered herself in the humanoid monster’s blood. Eventually, Sophia bit the ridiculer’s head off.

The other two ridiculers move in to avenge their ally, only to be unable to land a hit and occasionally stab each other. Sophia ended the fight by biting one in the jugular vein on one ridiculer's neck before jumping to the other and biting through his neck and ripping his head off.

The trio of monsters vanished and, thankfully, the blood as well before Sophia returned to normal.

“That reminded me of an old movie I saw that was made over a thousand years ago. ” Cliff said.

Sophia giggled, “Too bad they didn’t have any holy hand grenades, not like that would have stopped me anyway.”

The group continued their exploration of the area, which quickly revealed to be as much of a labyrinth as Twilight warned as doorways led to more branched paths and some led to dead ends. Some led to transporters that took them to another part of the area.

Other enemies encountered, aside from the unfortunate ridiculers, were mostly mechanical drones like the flying minigun drones, except that they were a different model entirely and were equipped with two miniguns. There were also incapacitator drones like the ones the Vendeeni used on Hyda and a blue version of the robo gunner military tank drones.

The drones were easily disposed of when exposed to ice symbology such as the Deep Freeze symbols from the casters, Fayt’s Ice Blade, Nel and Peppita’s frozen weapons or Thanatas’ icy attacks.

More troublesome were the beholders who were wandering the area. They were still tough opponents, but they could be dealt with easily when they knew how their attack patterns worked. Some beholders fell quickly when Lyra and Sophia rapidly slashed them to pieces.

Their exploration of the Firewall soon brought them to an area that contained a number of narrow and normal pathways, except they were being patrolled by transparent polyhedrons.

As Fayt started moving toward one of the dice-looking monsters, Twilight held him back. “Those aren’t simple monsters, those are attack programs disguised as monsters. If you come into contact with one of them, you will be deleted instantly.”

“What about those of us who aren’t made of data?” Sophia asked.

“We would get captured and ejected from the Firewall.”

With that in mind, the group had to take extra care to watch out for the attack programs as they navigated the labyrinth.

It wasn’t long before they discovered another complication to their navigation. They found that doorways with light blue coding would allow them to pass through them but doorways with dark blue coding were locked. Worse was the fact that every doorway they passed through at this point locked themselves to prevent them from backtracking through that door.

Another feature they discovered was that the pads that functioned as transporters in the previous section of the Firewall were used as switches in this section for the purpose of unlocking locked doorways and vice versa.

“Doors, switches, killer programs…I don’t know how much more of this my brain can take,” Cliff complained.

The group was forced to use trial and error to find the right switches and pass through the right doors as they navigated the labyrinth while avoiding the attack programs and dealing with the beholders and ridiculers that wandered around. They were forced to time their movements at some points to avoid patrols of polyhedral programs and advance.

They soon came across a large locked door that looked larger than the other doors in the area.

“Beyond that door is the entrance to Spiral Tower. We just need to find the switch to unlock this door,” Twilight informed.

“Then let’s hurry and find that wretched switch, this place disgusts me,” Albel said.

Everyone had to be extra careful moving forward as the paths were narrow and the width of the attack programs covered the entire walkway. Even worse was the one path they had to take was being consistently patrolled by several programs where they had to wait for a gap in their patrol pattern for them to get past them.

It took some patience, but they managed to get past the programs and discovered the path they needed and found the switch they were looking for. Once they activated it, they backtracked their way back to the big door, once more having to wait patiently to avoid being trapped by attack programs.

After a few minutes of waiting and dodging, the group finally returned to the big door which was now light blue to indicate that it was unlocked. With the problems of the Firewall behind them, they happily enter the door and discover the transporter that would take them to Spiral Tower.

As they entered, they noticed something being transported in. This appeared to be a bipedal mechanical drone that was as large as the robo gunners. This one was equipped with twin gatling cannons and appeared to have missile pods.

“A Viking Drone?! This is not what we need right now.” Twilight said. The drone then turned to the group and locked on to them. The twin cannons began winding up and Lyra yelled for everyone to take cover before a storm of bullets showered their previous positions. With everyone behind cover, the drone primed its missiles and fired a salvo at their cover, causing significant damage to the only thing keeping them from being turned into swiss cheese as the drone continued its onslaught.

Sophia and Lyra had to act fast before the Viking fired more missiles that would likely destroy their cover. By using their psionic powers to speed up their thinking processes, the duo was able to predict the attack pattern of the gatling cannons and dodge the bullets accordingly, as if the world slowed down significantly for them, as they rapidly moved toward the drone.

Together, they navigated the Viking’s attack and deployed their energy blades before slicing the twin barrels into two. Sophia then continued her assault by using her claws and Zerg strength to rip apart the drone piece by piece until nothing but a pile of scrap metal was left at her feet.

As the others approached the aftermath, Thanatas whistled in awe, “Yeah, I think ‘War’ would be a good representation for you to have, seeing as how you can be brutal like one.”

Sophia giggled, “I think you’re right, maybe one day we can find representatives of pestilence and famine to complete the set.”

Thanatas shrugged, “It’s a nice thought, but I find those other two lame. You and I can already deal the pestilence ourselves between your Zerg Virus and my vast disease collection. Famine is just a slow and boring way to die from starvation.

“I don’t mind having four members of the family designated as the harbingers for the universes that we explore in the future, but the current members don’t fill me with confidence that they could fill that role, unlike us. If we do go through with that idea, we should wait to see what new members are born in the future.”

Thanatas paused for a moment as she thought of something, “On a side note, my father comes close, but he prefers to keep his patrols limited to the ‘Disney’ section of the omniverse for some reason. I suspect it has to do with his powers being closely tied to that sector.”

The two ended their conversation there as the group entered the transporter and began the final leg of their journey to reach Crystal Silicon.

Crystal Silicon continued to learn how to work the controls of the Eternal Sphere’s master terminal, testing each button and experimenting with commands. She had to quickly learn how to use the system’s monster generator to slow down the tyrannical alicorn and her posse.

She was disappointed to learn that there was no way to access the prototype goddesses from the terminal before her and this was after she found out how to get the tutorial system working.

Still, she was making great headway in learning how the system worked. She was able to create powerful monsters to slow down her enemies. However, she knew that it was only a matter of time before they caught up with her and this thought made her grow more desperate over time.

In the end, the only way to access Project Valkyrie would be to obtain Twilight’s magical signature, which would be extremely difficult. She would have to take a huge risk if she wanted her plans to succeed.

In the meantime, she had another fun surprise to set upon her enemies. She could only hope that this one would give them a decent challenge.

“Go! Put a stop to the intruders!” Crystal ordered. The figure bowed and vanished in a flash and bang of teleportation.

Crystal then opened a channel to another location. “Are you two in position?”

“Ready on your signal,” Swift Burial said.

“You better hope your little gambit pays off, young lady,” Belzebub warned. “If this goes south, Swift and I will need to get off world fast and find some world where they won’t find us. Your head will make a fine compensation for our lack of payment.”

“Know your place, cretin!” Crystal shouted. “Just follow my orders and we will all get what we want in the end.” She ended the transmission. “Gah! I have no idea what the E.L.F. was thinking by suggesting those two failures as my bodyguards, especially when they got demolished by a couple of little brats. Do they not appreciate my genius? Do they not realize who it is that keeps us safe from being detected by the cybercrime division of the Equestrian Intelligence Agency?” She sighed and took a moment to calm herself.

“At least the boss knows my worth. I know we have little in the way of resources and I can’t use any of mine since I’m too high profile. Regardless of what happens here, my house will have its nobility status revoked and my assets will be frozen. Such is the price to pay for Equestria’s liberation from self-righteous rulers.”

Crystal’s studies continued.

The group entered a realm that appeared as a large number of glass and metal platforms that looked like the inner workings of a clock. There were also a number of bridges, stairs and diamond-shaped crystals that hung in suspended animation. Everything else beyond that was the empty void of space.

“Looks like we’re finally here,” Fayt said.

Sophia took a look around her. “Talk about a clockwork universe.”

“This place certainly puts a literal meaning to that,” Thanatas added.

The group walked up a set of stairs and began their exploration of Spiral Tower. Welcoming them was a transparent red hydra like the one they fought in the Sealed Cavern. Maria, Mirage, and Fayt teamed up and easily dispatched the monster.

A wall of crystals tried to bar their way but they were smashed like glass when Sophia utilized a partial ultralisk transformation and broke through with her enhanced skull. This process was used repeatedly while Sophia had some protection from her friends as some ridiculers tried to stop her only for Twilight to use her magic to toss them off the platform and into the endless nothingness around them.

Sophia smashed crystalline obstacles and everyone else dealt with the blood monsters, ridiculers and the occasional beholders as they explored the first floor and its branching paths. Eventually, they came across an elevator in the center of one of the platforms. With the elevator being as small as it was, they had to take turns using it until everyone made it to the second floor. Everyone waited until they were all on the second floor before moving forward.

On the next platform over, they discovered the next elevator and someone standing next to it.

This figure wore the exact same uniform as Twilight. Her coat was royal purple which was a few shades darker than Twilight’s coat. Her mane was billowing in a non-existent wind and was midnight blue with a lavender and teal stripe. She had the same body dimensions as Twilight, but her wings faded to black at the tips.

The mysterious pony finished casting a spell that created three pedestals with different colored crystals on them: red, blue and green. A purple magical triangle appeared over the elevator which seemed to lose any light it had to show that it was no longer functional.

The mare then turned to face the group with a wicked smirk on her face. “Aww, too bad,” she said in a condescending tone that sounded like Twilight’s voice. “It seems you were too late to stop me from blocking off your only way forward.”

Sensing some hostility in her tone, everyone readied their weapons. “Who are you?” Nel asked.

“Me? I’m simply a program created by my master to take all of you out so you don’t get in her way.”

“Is this some sort of idiotic attempt of Crystal’s to create some sort of programmed copy of me using the Eternal Sphere’s monster generator?” Twilight demanded.

“I wouldn’t call it ‘idiotic’ seeing as she designed me to be better than you in every way,” the mare gloated.

“Sounds like she gave you a personality that mirrors a certain showmare I knew a thousand years ago. If she designed you through the monster generator, then you aren’t going to defeat me in a contest of power. There are limits to what she can make with that system and you are likely the limit of its capabilities.”

“Why don’t you put your bits where your mouth is, Sparkle. I’ll take all of you on!” the mare declared.

Twilight smirked, “They aren’t fighting you, I am.”

“And have the rest sneak off and find out how to undo the spell while we’re fighting? I don’t think so.” The mare lit her horn and created a series of barriers to block the doorways to other areas on the floor. “All of you will be crushed by my power!”

Twilight briefly analyzed the barriers before she mentally communicated with the others. “Sophia, Thanatas, Lyra, Fayt, take the northern path. I sense three strong presences at the end of each path and that one is the strongest. Cliff, Adray, Albel, Nel, take the eastern path. Mirage, Roger, Peppita and Maria will take the western path. I’ll keep her distracted and, hopefully, finish her by the time you guys get back.”

“Huh? But what about the barriers?” Fayt asked.

“Don’t worry about them, just be ready when they go down.”

“So, are you going to come at me all at once, or do I have to take all of you down one at a time?” the mare taunted.

“First of all, did Crystal even give you a name, or did she simply make you and send you to stop us?” Twilight shot back.

This made the mare grit her teeth in anger, a reaction that made it painfully obvious that the latter was the case. “You fools may call me Midnight.”

Twilight nodded, “Very well, Midnight.” She lit her horn and fired a trio of magic blasts that easily shattered the barriers. “Go, now!” The others wasted no time heading in their assigned directions while Midnight was shocked that her barriers were shattered like glass.

Before Midnight could recast the barriers, she was grabbed in Twilight’s telekinetic hold and tossed back into the room with the previous elevator. Twilight descended the stairs to the platform with her staff ready.

Twilight wasn’t the same mare that she was a thousand years ago. While she still didn’t take pride in her power, she also knew what she was capable of and took great care to judge the power and potential of her opponents. Twilight knew what the Eternal Sphere monster generator was capable of at maximum settings. She tested herself against the monsters generated by that system when using her full alicorn power and learned that she could hold her own against a few of the strongest monsters that it could make.

If Midnight was created by the same system, Twilight was confident in her chances of victory, especially if her opponent was as arrogant as she sounded.

Maria’s group ran through the western doorway and encountered a blood hydra which Mirage pummeled with an Acrobat Locus while the Quark leader pelted the beast with her Scatter Beam. Roger pulled a risky move and moved under the beast where it was most dangerous and used his drilling claw to attack the beast from below.

Once the hydra was vanquished, they proceeded to the next room where they found a strange blue crystal effigy in the image of an angel.

As the quartet approached the statue, a summoning circle appeared behind it. Rising from the circle was a trio of harpies with red skin and black feathers. The tips of the primaries faded to yellow.

Maria and Mirage each took on one harpy by themselves while Roger and Peppita faced the third.

Mirage knocked her enemy out of the sky when she jumped above her for an Aerial Assault. The harpy counterattacked by hitting the klausian with her talons which Mirage managed to block and counter with a Triple Kick, sending the harpy to the edge of the platform. The harpy tried to fly above Mirage again but the klausian jumped up to meet her and pummeled her with her Acrobat Locus before slamming her into the ground and finishing her off with an axe kick.

Roger and Peppita had little issue with their harpy as Peppita used her Magic Hook to wrap her cape around the beast’s midsection and pulled her down while Roger launched himself at the harpy and stabbed her with the point of his helmet. The harpy grabbed Roger and threw him on the floor which distracted the harpy long enough for Peppita to get in close to blast her in the face with an Instanto Blast. The harpy flew up to get some distance from the two which gave Roger a chance to pull out his shield and fire a salvo of missiles at her, knocking her out of the sky again.

Roger then pulled out a trio of small, possibly mechanical, creatures from his helmet. Two of them, a bee and a fish, spun around Roger while the third, a spinning bug, flew up to the harpy and started dropping bombs on her which aggravated the beast and made her ignore Peppita in favor of going after the smaller enemy. This ended up with the harpy getting blasted by a laser from the bee’s stinger and slapped several times by the fish.

The biggest mistake the harpy made was ignoring the velbaysian with a large hammer that flattened her into the floor.

Maria faced her harpy by herself. When the avian tried to dive bomb her, Maria jumped away. While the harpy was recovering from her attack, Maria unleashed an upward shockwave with her Crescent Locus which knocked the harpy into the air. The harpy started channeling an ice element into her talons and attempted to freeze Maria solid. The avian wasn’t counting on the Quark leader suddenly releasing a number of tiny drones that flew through the air around her before opening like flowers and blasted the harpy with a number of lasers, sending her to the floor again. Maria finished her enemy off with a Gravity Bullet which tore the harpy apart from inside a gravity well.

Once the three harpies were dead, the blue crystal effigy dimmed and became inert.

Cliff’s group, which was composed of himself, Nel, Adray and Albel, ran through the eastern path toward whatever was powering the mechanism that was powering the lock on the elevator. On the way, they had to slash through a wall of crystals using Albel and Adray’s sharpened katanas. They also had to deal with a beholder, which proved more challenging without the rest of the group with them.

Thankfully, the beholders that they had fought her and back in the Firewall were not as resistant to elements as the first few beholders that they fought. Adray unleashed his strongest symbols to burn, freeze and electrocute the giant eye demon. Nel added to the elemental onslaught with her Mirror Slice while Albel helped himself to whatever life the demon had left with his Vampiric Flash.

It wasn’t long before they reached a red crystal effigy that was made in the shape of an angel. As they approached it, a summoning circle appeared behind the statue and a trio of demon hounds emerged from the black circle. The beasts had brass-colored scales with giant head bat wings that faded to bright green at the tips.

Albel pointed a clawed hand between each of the hounds with a wicked smile on his face. He was as excited as a child in a candy store. His hand soon stopped at once before he drew his katana. “I’ll take that one. You maggots can have the rest.”

Cliff then charged in and faced one of the remaining hounds. “I’m gonna pulverize mine before you do,” he shouted in challenge to Albel.

Nel had a hand over her face in exasperation and a groan on her lips. “Can you believe these two?” She looked at where Adray was only to find that he wasn’t there. She looked ahead and saw Adray charging at the remaining demon hound with a hearty laugh.

“I’ll show you whippersnappers how it’s done,” Adray said.

Nel groaned once more, “Men…” She pulled out her daggers and charged into the fray.

Albel made sure to avoid the front of the hound and assaulted the sides of his demon hound with his katana. The beast snapped toward Albel and breathed fire in his direction. Albel jumped away and launched multiple Air Slash shockwaves on the ground in rapid succession. The multiple waves hit the beast who was too slow to dodge and was knocked on his side for a brief moment before it jumped back onto its feet and leaped toward Albel, fangs primed to bite into the swordsman’s flesh. Albel countered this with an upward slash quickly followed by a downward slash that left deep cuts on the beast’s jaw and skull.

The swordsman continued his onslaught with his metal hand by slashing more deep cuts all over the beast’s body. He finished his enemy off with an energy blast from his metal palm.

Cliff started off his fight with a full body charge that impacted on the demon hound’s face, but that opener only served to quickly get Cliff into melee range so he could rapidly pummel the beast in the face with his fists. Before the demon beast could get the chance to make its own move, Cliff decided to give his feet a chance to beat up the demon as well as the klausian followed up with a series of wide, sweeping kicks that created numerous cracks on the beast’s scaled body.

Cliff’s brutal combo didn’t end there as one of his kicks struck the beast in the chest and knocked the wind out of it, forcing it to release a burst of flame harmlessly in one direction.

“Holdin’ out ‘till I got tired? Not a chance!” Cliff yelled as he grabbed the demon by the tail and slammed it hard onto the floor before he jumped up, interlocked his fists and slammed hard on the beast’s stomach with his Hammer of Might technique. He then jumped into the air again and crashed into the demon hound with an Aerial Assault. This brought an end to the beast.

Adray rushed in like Cliff did against the remaining hound and opened up by slamming it with a magically charged tackle in the form of his Chaos Tide. Nel provided assistance by throwing a large shuriken that shredded some of the beast’s scales. Adray took his turn by crushing the beast under a giant fist that he summoned.

The demon beast opened its mouth to breathe fire on the two, but Nel was ready for that as she threw a series of Ice Daggers that froze the inside of the beast’s mouth. The demon had to use its breath to thaw the ice that was lodged in its maw.

Adray used this chance to open a rift and cause a whale to dive on the beast, taking the demon into another rift with it and causing the beast to ultimately either drown or be crushed by the depths of whatever ocean that the veteran opened a rift to.

With the three beasts vanquished, the red effigy dimmed, leaving the group to believe that they had disabled it.

Cliff and Albel argued over who killed their beast first all the way back to the elevator while Nel was developing a headache. Adray had a huge smile on his face, pleased with his latest kill.

Sophia’s group traveled a distance past a few platforms with blood hydras and beholders. None of them delayed them for any longer than a few seconds. They were the strongest members of the group after all.

After a few more monsters and the two templars slashing their way through crystal walls, they soon encountered a green crystal effigy in the shape of an angel.

“Is this place supposed to be the control center for an entire universe, or an art museum for abstract pieces? I can’t seem to tell anymore,” Sophia wondered.

“Whatever this thing is, chances are it’s probably powering the lock on the elevator,” Lyra said. “Let’s smash it and get back to Twilight.”

“Was it really alright to leave her to fight that program by herself?” Fayt asked.

“Don’t worry about her, in a one on one fight, Twilight will easily overpower that poor excuse for a doppelganger,” Lyra assured. “There’s nothing the monster generator can throw at her that she can’t handle while she has her full alicorn powers.”

The group soon approach the statue before they spotted a summoning circle. Emerging from that was a giant four-armed stone demon like the one they fought in the Mosel Ruins.

“I’m getting some deja vu vibes,” Sophia said, remembering that another demon like this one was fought with the same people as back then.

Fayt already had his Divine Blade active for the fight and Lyra had her energy blades ready to go. The two charged at the demon, ready for another intense fight.

“Mind if I handle the speedy kill this time?” Sophia asked Thanatas.

“Go right ahead, I want to see more of what you can do.”

Sophia nodded before she pointed the fingers of her left hand at the demon. While the creature was fighting Fayt and Lyra, it roared at them in challenge.

That roar would be its undoing.

A large tentacle extended into the demon’s mouth and continued to extend inside of its body, branching out with growths along the main tentacle and piercing every internal organ in its body. The demon gave a muffled cry of agony as its insides were torn apart. The stone hide was pierced in many places as the now numerous tendrils wrapped around the demon and crushed its stone body to rubble.

With the task done, Sophia undid the mutation on her hand and made the large tentacle retract quickly until her hand returned to normal, as if the mutation never happened. Sophia gripped her hand a few times to make sure everything was functioning properly.

“You two really are related,” Lyra deadpanned. “You both take the excitement out of a fight when you’re feeling lazy.”

Sophia and Thanatas shrugged and backtracked to the elevator once they saw the light of the effigy dim.

Twilight watched as all of her friends headed through the paths that she had them go through before she turned her attention to Midnight, who had just recovered from being tossed to another platform.

“I’ll make you regret that, Twilight!” she growled.

Twilight gave her copy an impassive look, her horn glowing with a wide number of spells ready for whatever Midnight was going to throw at her.

Midnight flared her wings and lit her horn, preparing a number of spells that she intended to overpower Twilight with.

Midnight fired a blast from her horn first, but was taken by surprise when it was blocked by Twilight’s palm.

Twilight wasn’t a fighter. In terms of skill with a weapon or their fists, all of her friends had her beat in those areas. However, while she did lack formal training, she still received some pointers in self-defense from her friend, Starlight Glimmer. She wasn’t completely hopeless in matters of hand-to-hand combat, but that was enough for her to handle a program whose parameters were inferior to her own.

Midnight conjured a number of ethereal swords to skewer Twilight with, but they were knocked away by Twilight’s shield.

Twilight’s counterattack came when she conjured a singularity in the center of the platform that tried to suck both mares in. Both Twilight and Midnight put up shields and spells on their hooves to keep themselves bound to the platform. As the singularity continued pulling anything nearby into it, both mares continued firing spells to damage the other’s shields.

Twilight knew that both of them knew the Silence symbol which would negate any symbols being cast, but with the bombardment of spells the two were throwing at each other, Twilight snuck in a Lightning Strike symbol and caught Midnight off guard as a strong bolt of lightning impacted on her shield. In worrying about the spell, Midnight failed to notice that her counterpart was casting another symbol. A massive boulder appeared over the twisted mare and began to crumble, showering her in stones before the earthen mass dropped on her and shattered her shield.

Twilight hit Midnight with a counterspell that removed the enchantment on her hooves and sent the mare into the crushing gravity well. Midnight gave one last scream of rage at her enemy before she vanished. “This isn’t the last you’ll see of me!”

The alicorn banished the singularity and the enchantment on her hooves and walked back to the elevator to find that the three gems maintaining the lock on the elevator had vanished. She wasted no time removing the lock on the elevator just as the rest of her friends returned from their excursions.

“So, this is the best that Crystal can throw at us?” Cliff asked. “Heh, guess this means we’re the strongest in the universe?”

“Not necessarily,” Twilight countered. “You might be able to handle the toughest monsters that the Eternal Sphere monster generator can produce, but that isn’t the only monster generator that our company has. One of our most advanced generators is being used to protect the prototypes that make up Project Valkyrie. The Valkyrie Monster Generator is capable of producing far more powerful monsters that would keep any curious players from snooping around where they shouldn’t. They run on the same system that protects Project Valkyrie and Crystal can’t control it…not unless she gains control of the prototypes.”

“Let’s hurry,” Maria said. “This took up a lot of our time.”

Everyone nodded and took their turns going up the elevator to the next floor.

Spiral Tower Part 2

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The group of thirteen continued ascending to the third floor for several trips because the elevators were too small. While they were waiting, Sophia looked around the immediate area and aside from seeing more of the floating crystals, there appeared to be a structure which was their only way forward.

Peering through the open entryway, The only thing Sophia saw in the next room were more crystals and a pair of pedestals. One pedestal was red and had a crystal floating over it that was constantly changing colors between black, white, yellow, blue and red. The other pedestal was blue and had a crystal floating over it that was constantly changing colors between red, blue, yellow, white and black; basically reverse patterns of each other.

Sophia took note of the patterns and figured that the information would come in handy later.

The group finally finished reaching the floor and Twilight gazed upon the building before her. “I remember this part. Part of the Spiral Tower defense system are puzzles that you need to solve to move forward. It deters intruders who are strong, but lacking in intelligence.”

“I take it that the crystals in the first room are a hint about how the mechanism works?” Sophia asked, receiving a nod in return.

The group moved beyond the first room and into a hallway that had two doors in it, not including the door they entered from. They took the first door to their right and entered a room with more crystals and a door that was blocked off by a purple door.

“This door is locked by a powerful magical mechanism,” Twilight said.

“Can’t you just blast through it or something?” Cliff asked.

Twilight shook her head, “Brute force may damage the tower itself. With this place being the core of the Eternal Sphere, it would mean that I would risk damaging the space-time continuum of your universe, and that damage isn’t so easily fixed with maintenance.”

“So we just gotta find out what powers this thing and turn it off?” Roger offered.

Twilight nodded, “The mechanism should be nearby. It should look like the one we saw in the first room, but it will have a larger crystal between them as well.”

With that, the group returned to the hallway and headed to the end of it where the other doorway was. The other room was small and had the mechanism that Twilight described. On the red pedestal was a yellow crystal and the blue pedestal had a black crystal. The larger crystal in the middle was a dark yellow and had the number ‘two’ on it.

Fayt took a moment to think about what he was seeing, then remembering his colors, he had an idea about what he was looking at. “Is this some sort of color puzzle?”

“Correct,” Twilight affirmed. “The goal of the puzzle is to get the middle crystal to match the color of the door in the other room to open it. To do that, we need to change the colors of the two crystals on either side of it. In order to get purple, we need one crystal to be blue and the other to be red. However, the crystals on either pedestal will only change in accordance to a pre-assigned pattern.”

“And this is where the hint in the first room comes in?” Sophia asked, receiving another nod from Twilight.

“I take it from the number on the crystal that we are only given a limited number of attempts?” Maria asked, another nod.

“So how do we change the crystals?” Cliff asked.

“If we hit one with a bit of energy, it should react to it and shift over to the next color,” Twilight explained.

Twilight lit her horn and fired a tiny ball of magic at the left crystal. The crystal reacted to the impact and changed into a blue color. The middle crystal turned dark blue and the number on the middle crystal changed into a ‘one’. Twilight fired at the black crystal on the right and it changed into a red crystal. The middle crystal then turned purple and the number turned into a ‘zero’. The middle crystal then vanished.

“I take it that the door in the other room just opened?” Nel asked.

“Yes, I just heard the sound of the door opening from the other room,” Twilight affirmed. As they left the room to return to the previous room, Twilight added something to her explanation from before, “I didn’t mention this before, but the mechanism only opens the door if you complete the puzzle in the number of moves specified by the middle crystal.”

“So the crystal has to be the matching color and the counter has to reach ‘zero’ at the same time?” Lyra asked. “That certainly complicates things.”

Once they returned to the room with the purple door, they found that the obstacle had, indeed, vanished. Moving through the doorway, they found themselves in another hallway that had four more rooms where two rooms had mechanisms and the other two had colored doors: one green and one orange.

Deciding to solve the orange door first, the group proceeded to the room with the mechanism which was a dark blue crystal with a number ‘ten’ on it and between a blue and black crystal. Twilight thought about her strategy for the mechanism and decided to hit the left crystal nine times and the right crystal once, which turned the crystal orange once it reached ‘zero’.

Unfortunately, the path beyond the orange door led to a dead end where they got into fights with dark magic users with blue flaming staves and really long white beards and ram warriors which resembled the ones Lyra’s team fought in the arena.

The group returned to the hall and to the room where they saw the other mechanism which was tied to the green door. This one had a red and white crystal on the red and blue pedestals respectively with a light red crystal in the middle with the number ‘six’ on it. Twilight hit both crystals three times each which turned the middle crystal green and caused the green door in the nearby room to unlock.

The path beyond the green door led to a small hallway that led out of the building and onto a platform that had two branched paths. They took the left path and fought more ram warriors and dark magic users on the path. They soon found themselves inside another building with a hallway that had a yellow door at the end and the mechanism in the room halfway down the hallway.

The mechanism in the room had a gray crystal with a black crystal on the red pedestal and a white crystal on the blue pedestal. The number ‘sixteen’ was on the gray crystal. Twilight struck the white crystal fourteen times and the black crystal twice until the middle crystal turned yellow.

Beyond the opened yellow door was the elevator to the next floor, so the group had to take turns using it to reach the fourth floor.

However, the fourth and fifth floors only contained elevators which led to the next floor, which Cliff didn’t mind because his head was already hurting from all the color puzzles on the third floor.

The entrance to another building awaited the group on the sixth floor, making Cliff groan in exasperation.

“Just how high does this thing go?” he demanded.

“The main control console is on the tenth floor, so we have another four floors to go through,” Twilight explained.

Twilight did her best to recall the layout of the tower. While the tower has its twists and turns, it wasn’t as bad as the Firewall. The paths would eventually lead them to where they needed to go.

Everyone entered the building before them and proceeded through a room and through a hallway, dealing with a dark magic user, or savant, as Twilight called them. They soon found themselves outside of the building…

…and into a four-way crossroad where each path was the entrance to a building. There was an elevator in the center, but that one was deactivated.

“Looks like Crystal deactivated this elevator. We need to find the manual override switches down each of these paths to reactivate the elevator,” Twilight explained.

“More puzzles?” Cliff complained.

Twilight rolled her eyes, “There’s only a few rooms in each building. And no, there are no puzzles this time.”

“Should we split up?” Fayt asked.

“That might be a good idea,” Twilight answered. “We’re running out of time so we need to get to the switches quickly.”

Twilight assigned the groups as they were last time, except that Lyra would go with Nel’s group and Twilight would go with Sophia’s group.

The three groups each tackled a building, exploring the rooms and dealing with any savants and ram warriors along the way and sometimes having to smash their way through floating crystals.

Eventually, all three groups explored all they could of the rooms but found no signs of the switches. Twilight furrowed her brow while she did her best to remember the layout of the floor. That was when she remembered that there was a room that they hadn’t explored yet but had no connecting doorways.

Maria’s group had better results as Roger’s eye for detail noticed a cracked section of wall which he broke through with his drill. That was when they discovered their switch. Mirage moved onto the switch, which looked like a giant gold-embroidered glass button at the top of some stairs. Once she stepped on it, the button sank slightly before lighting up. Maria led her group back to the elevator.

Sophia’s group and Lyra’s group had to look around carefully until they found cracked walls. Using their energy blades, both templars broke through their respective walls and found their switches. Once the switches were pressed, the two groups returned to the elevator.

It wasn’t long before all three groups were together again.

“Why were the rooms with the switches blocked off by walls?” Fayt asked.

“I suspect that it was another attempt by Crystal Silicon to keep us from getting to her by generating wall code to cover up the doorways,” Twilight guessed. “Though it looks like she was hasty when she built them because they were not structurally stable.”

“It doesn’t matter, fools. Let’s keep moving,” Albel said.

Ignoring Albel’s usual mannerisms, the group soon started boarding the elevator for the seventh floor.

The seventh, eighth and ninth floors were short, linear paths to the next elevator with groups of savants and ram warriors guarding them.

At last, the group had arrived at the tenth floor. Everyone was feeling the anticipation of a tough fight ahead of them as they expected that Crystal Silicon wouldn’t be going down without a fight.

“Looks like this is it,” Cliff said.

“Finally, I’ve long grown tired of chasing down that worthless maggot,” Albel said.

Fayt looked at the area around him and discovered three sets of stairs but he had no idea where they led. “Hey Twilight, any idea which stairs we’re supposed to take?”

“It actually doesn’t matter. The top floor of Spiral Tower was built mostly for presentation, but all three stairs eventually lead us to our destination.”

“Heh, if this were the realm of the gods, I would expect no less,” Adray commented.

The group decided to go up the middle flight of stairs. It was at the top of that flight that they came across a strange variation of chimera.

Unlike the previous variant that had a tiger head, goat head, and snake head with the flaming tail, this one made Discord look like a properly-built creature by comparison. This one had heads for forelegs and those heads were a griffon head on the right side and a goat head on the left. Its body and main head resembled a manticore’s and it had a dragon’s head on its back. The creature also had two pairs of wings, lizardlike legs and tail and a second tail that was a snake’s head.

Clearly, whoever designed this creature was extremely sick in the head.

Sophia could only look upon the creature with pity and sympathy. “That has to be the biggest waste of biomass that I have ever seen. This thing needs to be put out of its misery.”

“Yeah,” Lyra agreed. “I can sense the agony that this creature feels just by existing.”

Even Thanatas could not hide her disdain toward the tragic creature. “If it weren’t for the mechanics of this universe, I’d chop up this thing and put the parts to better use than this waste of material. It’s so inefficient and prone to self-destructive behavior with so many brains working the body at once. This is amateur work at best.”

None of the others had time to question the undead on her obsession toward body parts as the beast roared at the group through its manticore, dragon and griffon heads. It lifted itself with its four wings and slowly flew closer to the group who proceeded to spread out and surround the creature.

The symbologists hit the chimera from different directions with Lightning Blast spells. This led to the creature trying to petrify one of the group with its breath through its manticore head, but was unable to use it as the energy in its body got redirected toward the goat head who couldn’t get the attack off because the griffon head took the energy from the attack. This led to the heads fighting each other over which of the group was the biggest threat which led to the heads biting each other, or trying to.

Lacking an intelligent head among the five minds, the chimera completely ignored the group, which led to Thanatas rolling her eyes and walking up to the beast before stabbing it with her sword which she had laced with a powerful necrotic disease that was designed to cause the creature’s flesh to rapidly rot from the inside out. Once injected, the undead moved back a few steps and watched the show.

The chimera roared, bleated and screeched in agony for ten seconds before Sophia ran in and delivered a powerful kick to the creature’s chest which sent it flying over the platform.

“What was that for?” Thanatas asked. “It was getting to the best part.”

“Because we don’t have time to admire your work,” Sophia reasoned. “Crystal Silicon is at the top of the stairs and we shouldn’t be wasting time watching a horror show which would have ended up with one or more of our friends puking their guts out.”

“Ulp, yeah, that’s probably a good idea,” Roger said shakily. His face already looked green.

Thanatas sighed, “Yeah, you have a point.”

As they advanced up the stairs, the group saw that Twilight was correct. While the paths seemed to split, they also seemed to come together until they ultimately led to a single platform at the top of the stairs.

Along the way, they encountered more of the tragic chimeras. Thanatas was forced to promise to not repeat what she did to the first chimera for various reasons, though she couldn’t care less for most of them. Instead, the group dealt with the chimeras their own way.

With everyone at the top of the long climb to the top of the tower, dealing with one last chimera, they looked ahead to find a long clockwork platform that was lined with helical pedestals with diamonds slowly spinning atop them. At the end of the platform was a massive golden door with a clockwork pattern in the middle and a large hole above the pattern that had a six-pointed star on it, resembling Twilight’s cutie mark.

“Looks like we’re finally here,” Sophia said.

“Finally, that was a ludicrously unnecessary number of stairs,” Thanatas said. “Makes me think you were inflating your ego when you made this place, Twilight.”

Twilight puffed her cheeks in offense. “The design wasn’t my idea, mostly. The clockwork theme was my design, but the layout was left to my team. Admittedly though, Celestia did have a hand in the design as well. A lot of the design team was also composed of Protoss.”

“So basically, Celestia wanted the branching stairs that lead to one place while everything else was designed mostly by the Protoss designers?” Lyra deduced. “Celestia always did have a thing for looking down on her ponies, literally.”

“Can we save this discussion for another time? We need to stop Crystal Silicon, now,” Nel said.

Everyone took a moment to mentally prepare themselves before they walked down the long platform toward the door. Twilight entered her access code for the door and it opened, allowing everyone entry into the heart of the Eternal Sphere.

The inner sanctum of Spiral Tower consisted of a single platform with a towering structure in the center with a clock face at the top, making the structure somewhat resemble a grandfather clock. The platform was surrounded by a large number of windows that appeared to show different worlds throughout the universe. The windows floated around the platform. Above the platform was a massive, ornate, black pendulum that moved back and forth without disturbing anything. Each time the pendulum passed over the platform, a ticking sound was heard.

Standing before the towering structure was a familiar mare with a pure white coat and sparkling silver mane, wearing a sterling silver dress that sparkled in the light. The dress extended to her knees to reveal a shining pair of armored midnight blue shoes on her hooves. Her horn was sharpened to a fine point.

“It seems that this monster generator really is no match for you all,” Crystal said before she bitterly grumbled, “Worthless piece of junk!”

“It’s over, Crystal Silicon, you can’t stop all of us,” Twilight declared.

“Oh, I know that I’m no match for you imperialists, but I still have cards to play. You see, I have had ample time to learn the controls of the Eternal Sphere. Not just the monster generator, but also the dungeon designer, the world builder, the character designer, the character modifier, and other such features. But the most important one, the one that will ensure that I will get what I want, one way or another, is the universe editor.”

Twilight’s eyes shrank to pinpricks as she heard the unicorn mention the universe editor. “You mean…?” she said shakily.

Crystal’s smirk widened, “That’s right, Xel’naga, with just one simple command, I can now erase the entire universe and take your research back to square one. I also have access to the databases containing your symbology research and my allies are preparing to infiltrate your labs to destroy the written portions of your work. Centuries of research are about to amount to nothing…

“...Unless you give me what I want.”

Twilight was now in quite a dilemma. To give Crystal access to Project Valkyrie would put Equestria in danger once she gained access to the prototype deities. She wasn’t sure how she and the other princesses would fare against the god and two goddesses since she had not examined their parameters recently.

On the other hand, if she refused Crystal’s demands now, it would mean the end of the Eternal Sphere and send all progress made in the science of symbology back to the beginning. But it would also mean the deletion of Fayt and his friends.

This reminded her of the time when she had the powers of all of the other princesses at the time but was forced to give it all up when the centaur, Tirek, used her friends as hostages.

“So what will it be, princess?” Crystal demanded, spitting out the last word like venom.

Twilight’s decision ultimately worked out in the end against Tirek, she could only hope that it would work out here too.

Twilight sighed in resignation, “You win…”

With a victorious smirk, Crystal brought up the entry screen for Project Valkyrie. With her head lowered, Twilight advanced toward the screen.

“Twilight, don’t do it!” Fayt pleaded.

“I have to, I can’t sacrifice an entire universe for the safety of Equestria.”

Thanatas scoffed and rolled her eyes, “Great, another cliche. It’s as if this mare gets all her ideas from what others did. Originality seems to be a skill she fails at.”

“No one cares about criticism from the peanut gallery,” Crystal snapped.

Sophia giggled, “Sounds like you care since you’re the one getting fussy by a few words, glitterbutt.”

Crystal Silicon had to use every mental calming technique that she knew to keep her temper in check while her enemy gave her access to her ultimate goal at long last. Once the alicorn used her magic to unlock the way to her prize, she quickly left a trojan program to ensure that she didn’t get locked out later. The screen then closed and Twilight backed away.

Crystal’s smirk grew maniacal, “Finally, my goal is now within reach! I can finally purge Equus of you foul immortals!” She then brought up a small screen and pressed it a few times, signaling her allies to take action. She dismissed her screen and turned to the group again. She held out her right hand before a shaft of light manifested in her hand. Crystal gripped the light which transformed into an ornate spear. The shaft was royal blue with a silver filigree along it while the blade of the spear was scarlet. “While those two bumbling fools get everything ready, I’ll buy them some time and entertain myself by showing you what I can do.”

Crystal finished her setup by making the entrance disappear to cut off any escape. She lit her horn and a number of summoning circles appeared on the platform before a number of twisted chimeras emerged.

Thanatas gave Crystal a deadpan expression before she summoned her wings and slammed the platform. All of the chimeras were impaled by giant bone spikes a second later. Twilight noticed just in time a summoning circle under them but knew what Crystal was attempting so she placed a shield over everyone just in time as their position was bombarded by Laser Beams. The shield held the onslaught while Adray casted a Lightning Strike symbol on Crystal which was blocked by her own shield.

“I won’t filthy data like you touch me!” Crystal snapped. Her horn glowed brightly and an even greater number of summoning circles filled the platform. “Enjoy wasting your energy on the cannon fodder!” The circles summoned a menagerie of monsters of numerous species onto the now crowded platform.

Lyra nodded to Twilight who raised another barrier. Lyra and Sophia unleashed storms of psionic lightning which completely covered the platform, frying all monsters within. Any monsters that survived were engulfed in flames when Fayt unleashed a massive Explosion symbol. Crystal’s barrier was unable to endure the assault and shattered. Her dress ended up slightly singed with a few scorch marks on her no longer immaculate coat.

Crystal Silicon was seeing red now. Discovering the damage to her clothes and her coat, she was unable to control her temper anymore. “Heads will roll for that!” She brought up a screen and aggressively pressed on it. Her form shifted into a version of herself with large white wings. Her horn extended and her body grew to an alicorn’s proportions. “If it takes an alicorn to destroy an alicorn, then so be it!”

A sweep from Crystal’s spear unleashed a powerful shockwave that everyone barely managed to avoid. She gave the group no time to regroup as she charged at Albel who blocked a thrust from her spear with his katana. She overpowered the warrior and sent him flying into one of the windows in the room. Nel attempted to leap at Crystal from behind but the mare saw the attack coming and hit her in the stomach with the pommel of her spear before she swiftly turned around to attack the Aquarian with the blade. Nel managed to block the strike by crossing her daggers but was sent flying into a window.

Maria altered one of her shots to overload it with a massive amount of energy. Using her tiny drones, she was set up to direct a massive burst of energy at Crystal. The false alicorn saw the attack coming and prepared to block the blast. However, Cliff was also preparing something as he focused his qi into a powerful blast. Crystal was not entirely sure that she could block both blasts, but she felt that she could mitigate them at least. She then noticed that a third buildup of energy was growing behind her. Fayt channeled the full power of his Destruction gene and manifested a pair of wings made of light. Using his temporary wings, Fayt took to the air and prepared to unleash his own blast of energy. Crystal used all of her magic to make the strongest shield she could. All three energy sources took aim.

“Energy Burst!” Maria cried out.

“Max Shockwave!” Cliff cried out.

“Ethereal Blast!” Fayt cried out.

As the three energy sources assaulted Crystal’s shield from three directions, the barrier began to crack and those cracks were quickly spreading. She panicked as she saw her last line of defense crumble and a splitting headache beginning to develop. “No! This will not be the end of me!” With no other options left, she quickly brought up a screen and pressed her palm on it. She vanished a moment later.

The three energies collided and created a powerful explosion that temporarily blinded everyone for a moment. As the energies subsided, the group observed the aftermath of the attack and saw no signs of Crystal Silicon.

Fayt, Cliff and Maria looked quite winded from their attacks. “Did we…did we get her?” Cliff asked.

Twilight lowered her head and shook it sadly, “No, I detected her logout just before her shield broke. She disconnected from the Eternal Sphere and will likely be headed to the floor where Project Valkyrie is being held.”

“Can we head her off?” Fayt asked.

“We won’t make it in time. With the head start she now has, she and her allies will reach the prototypes before we can.”

“We can’t give up! There has to be a way to stop Crystal Silicon!” Maria snapped.

Twilight nodded, “Project Valkyrie is now compromised. We can’t stop Crystal, Swift and Belzebub from reaching the prototypes, but we might be able to stop them before they can escape with two of the prototypes. It will require us getting to them from the Eternal Sphere.”

“Two of them?” Sophia asked.

“I placed one prototype, codenamed Gabriel Celesta, in a high-tech maze beneath Kirlsa. I placed the second in a temple in the depths of the Urssa Lava Caves. The entrance was being guarded by Crosell. The second’s name is Freya.

“There are powerful security systems in place to prevent even the strongest of intruders from sneaking in. A much more powerful version of the monster generator protects these prototypes and now that Crystal has access to the project, we will have to fight our way through some of the most powerful monsters in the Eternal Sphere.

“And the third?” Thanatas asked.

“I placed the third prototype, codenamed Ethereal Queen, on a site on a separate planet. We won’t be able to reach all three in time before they start manifesting in Equestria. If we pursue Ethereal Queen now, we would need to deal with Gabriel and Freya in Equestria. We can take out Gabriel and Freya before they reach Equestria, but we would have to deal with Ethereal Queen in Equestria.”

“Where will they manifest?” Fayt asked.

“At the top floor of the Sphere Institute.”

Once Twilight finished explaining, she approached the Eternal Sphere control system and used the various interfaces to run diagnostics on the universe as well as regain control of the Executioners to delete the convictors. Once all convictors were wiped out from the face of the universe, she uninstalled the Executioner program.

“There, that should prevent any further damage to the Eternal Sphere. Your universe is safe,” Twilight declared.

“I don’t think any of us will be safe as long as Crystal Silicon runs free,” Maria countered.

“Is it possible to restore all the damage done by the Executioners here?” Fayt asked.

Twilight sighed at that, “I think that is a matter that would be best left discussed after we deal with Crystal Silicon.” She then resumed pressing her fingers on the interface. “Once we leave here, I will be locking Spiral Tower with the same security that had prevented Crystal from accessing Project Valkyrie before. She won’t be able to repeat this stunt again.”

“No tellin’ what she’s gonna do once she gets her hands on those prototypes,” Cliff said. “Anyway, do we got a way outta here or do we need to walk back?”

“I can transport us directly to Kirlsa from here. We need to be prepared for the worst, because we will likely end up fighting the prototypes themselves. I’m also sending a message to Princess Celestia and Azure Lazer to inform her about the developing situation and to be prepared if the prototypes start attacking Equestria.”

It took a few minutes for Twilight to finish her preparations. Once she finished and went through a mental checklist for everything that needed done…five times, she set the coordinates for the town that housed the location of one of the sites where Project Valkyrie was being stored and readied everyone for transport.

In a matter of seconds, all was quiet once more in Spiral Tower.

The Maze of Tribulations

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The group suddenly appeared in the Traum Mountain Path just outside of Kirlsa. Twilight intended to make sure they didn’t appear where there were other people nearby. As dire as the situation was, there was no need to make things worse by causing a panic about ‘people appearing in a flash of light.’

“Alright, let’s hurry to the first site,” Twilight said.

As they walked, some of the group had questions. “Why was Kirlsa chosen as a place to hide a god?” Nel asked.

“It wasn’t the town that I chose, actually,” Twilight answered. “The site has been here long before Kirlsa was founded. Coincidentally, there was a mine near where the entrance was and that was why the town was founded. The Maze of Tribulations, as the site is called, is protected by a large amount of security. The first measure is a simulation of unstable structure within the entry cavern. There’s a cave-in that keeps away anyone brave enough to explore the cavern. The unstable structure makes sure that no one was brave enough to dig out the cave-in.”

“So the instability isn’t real?” Fayt asked.

“No, but the people of Kirlsa can’t know that or they might risk spotting a high tech transporter at the end of the cavern.”

“And probably worship it as some sort of holy relic like the Sacred Orb,” Cliff added.

“Most likely,” Twilight shrugged.

The group soon entered town and passed the town guards. The guards took a moment to give a salute to Albel who ignored them completely. They headed straight for the southwestern part of town where they went down three flights of stairs before they were in front of a tunnel entrance that was chained up with a warning sign that alerted any would-be trespassers the dangers of cave-ins in the cavern. Albel drew his katana and cut the chains down, allowing them passage.

Twilight led everyone into the cavern and toward the spot where the cave-in was located. She lit her horn and her hand glowed with the same light. She pressed that hand on one of the rocks that blocked their way. She then backed away as the rocks started moving themselves out of the way to allow everyone passage. Once everyone was through, the rocks returned to their original position.

Not far from the cave-in, the group found a mysterious high-tech device that looked like a circular stone pedestal that had a pair of stone rings floating above it. A glass lens was in the center elevated by a small set of stairs. Parts of the stone glowed a bright green.

“We can get into the Maze of Tribulations from this transporter,” Twilight said. With that, everyone took turns using the transporter. The floating rings moved to surround each person while a magic circle temporarily formed around the transporter.

Just like the transition from the Ruins of Mosel to the Firewall, the group emerged into a highly advanced location. The walls and floors were metallic and there were rotating circles of light green light on the floor with the walls, displaying the same light as words that only the unicorns understood, flowing along them. For Twilight and Lyra, the lights were part of the maintenance spells that kept time from wearing away the Maze.

“Be careful everyone, from here we'll be dealing with stronger monsters than the ones you fought at Spiral Tower,” Twilight warned. “There are also a few guardian programs that Crystal will have likely taken control of to stop us.”

Cliff punched one of his hands, “Alright! Let’s go beat up this trio once and for all so we can get on with our lives.”

From the room they were in, they found that there were two paths, but one was blocked by a locked door. The other path was open so they went through that and into a room that was a walkway that split into two paths. The right path led to another locked door so they proceeded down the left path again.

In the next room there was another doorway in front of them and a path to their right. They decided to explore the next room and encountered their first enemies in the place: yellow flying fish. One type resembled the fishes with sharp fins like the ones they encountered in the Airyglyph Aqueducts and the others resembled the shooting fish that Sophia encountered in the Depths of Mosel.

Unlike their previous encounters, these fish were much faster in movement and rate of fire. There were several close calls as the fish aimed at Roger, Cliff and Albel, who all managed to dodge in time as the shots left deep impacts on the walls. Thankfully, the stat boosts were all that was different about the fish as their attack patterns were still predictable and they were soon dispatched.

There was also a brass-colored dragon zombie in the room but Thanatas quickly enslaved its mind before it could become a nuisance.

The next room had two more doorways to go through. As the group checked the closest of the two doorways, they were ambushed by a few red-scaled lizardmen. Lyra and Sophia sliced their weapons and shields to pieces. When the warriors tried to breathe fire on the duo, Sophia created a few small green-glowing creatures and stuffed them into their mouths. When the lizardmen tried to bite down, the creatures exploded and their mouths tasted corrosive acid. The lizards screeched in agony for a few seconds before they vanished as they began to melt into green goo.

This was when Sophia decided to bring up a matter that had been bothering her for a while. “We certainly have been seeing a lot of palette swaps of old enemies throughout our adventures. We’ve seen some diversity in the number of monsters as well. Don’t tell me that these are the types of monsters that would be encountered on all worlds in the Eternal Sphere.”

Twilight winced at that, but was at a loss for words on how to respond to that. Sophia’s stare soon broke her. “There’s only so much the monster design department can do, creative designing is hard work, or so they claim,” she defended.

Thanatas shrugged, “True, creativity is limited by one’s imagination. It might do your design teams some good to go on some intergalactic field trips and expand their creativity.”

Twilight smiled, “That sounds like a good idea.”

The room the lizardmen ambushed them from was empty so they moved on to the next room through the other doorway. The next room held another dragon zombie and a four-armed demon. Thanatas made the two fight each other, but the demon ultimately emerged victorious but was greatly weakened and was finished off by Albel.

The next room was a maze of narrow hallways that were patrolled by a fair sized number of yellow fish, red lizardmen and a few four-armed demons. The group split into smaller groups to explore the maze faster and dealt with any enemies along the way. Once the exit was found, everyone regrouped and headed into the next room and through another door.

The door led the group through a few hallways and into a larger chamber that had a set of stairs going downward. The stairs were guarded by a new type of creature that they had never seen before.

The creature before them had light gray fur all over its body and its thick, bony claws were dark gray. There was no indication that the creature had eyes or a nose, possibly covered by its thick fur, but it did have a giant mouth with a moderate number of jagged teeth and a pair of tusks at the ends of its mouth pointing upward.

“Hee he he he…” the creature laughed. “So you intruders managed to make it this far, but I advise you to turn back now. The secrets that lie hidden in the depths must remain so. If you seek to continue, be prepared to have your flesh rent asunder.”

“Guardian Render, this is Project Leader Twilight Sparkle. Request voice authentication.”

Render paused for a moment before it growled. “Authentication denied, position of Project Leader transferred to Crystal Silicon as of two minutes ago.”

“Looks like Crystal is still one step ahead of us,” Maria said. She and the others prepared to fight the furry beast.

“I’ll handle this guys,” Thanatas said. Render quickly accepted the challenge by opening its mouth and a ray of ice magic flowed from it. Thanatas quickly countered by launching a sphere of ice magic that collided with the beam and caused an explosion, flash freezing the chamber. Thanatas used her skeletal wings to block the explosion and prevented any harm from coming to the others, who decided to return to the previous room to avoid getting caught in another icy explosion. They watched the fight from around the doorway.

Render channeled ice magic through its right arm and prepared to smash the ground, only to be met with a giant skeletal arm emerging from the floor and grabbing Render’s arm.

While Render was trying to free its arm, Thanatas did something the group was not expecting. She ran her hand along Evermourne and activated a few runes on her sword that were not visible before. The new runes glowed red and orange. Her pale skin turned to that of charcoal and her snow white hair caught fire.

Render breathed ice on the skeletal hand and shattered the brittle bones to free itself, only for a sudden flash of orange to fill its vision briefly. Render was unable to move as it saw the burning undead before she appeared to split in two halves. The intense heat from the slash set its fur ablaze. Render never realized what happened until the moment it began to vanish.

Thanatas quickly deactivated the fire runes on her sword and her hair and complexion returned to normal. “Can’t be using Burning Dead Mode too often,” she muttered to herself. “That form burns through my runic power really fast.” She then looked toward where Render used to be. “Thanks for being my test subject.”

“What was that?” Fayt asked as everyone entered the now-soaked room after Thanatas’ transformation melted the ice.

Thantas shrugged, “Since that creature was going to be resistant to my frost attacks, I figured that I could test another disease on him. Then I suddenly remembered that there were some experimental runes that I had yet to test.” She sighed, “It was truly unfortunate that the creature couldn’t handle one simple slash. I go through so many guinea pigs that way.”

Fayt and Maria shuddered as they remembered that they were also used as test subjects by Doctor Leingod.

With the guardian vanquished, the group proceeded downstairs to the next floor.

With a new floor came more challenges and new enemies to fight, even if they were palette swaps of monsters that they had encountered before. The second floor hosted a number of thieving scumbags that were metallic, like the ones from the Gemity Arena. More aggravating, however, was the return of the most annoying monster they had ever encountered. This monster didn’t have any attack but their whining was enough to eat away at a person’s sanity.

As usual, the nobleman hid behind the actual combatants while whining at the group. Thanatas gave an innocent look at the thieves before she pointed her blade at the nobleman and yanked him to her with her necromantic magic. She then used the unfortunate victim as a meat shield to absorb the stabs from the thieves’ knives while she proceeded to eliminate the thieves one by one. Once her shield expired and vanished, she finished the rest of the thieves with a single sweeping strike.

“Best use of a nobleman,” Sophia chuckled.

The group explored the rooms further and found more monsters along the way, including off-white beholders, giant crabs, and fat demons like the ones Sophia encountered in the Depths of Mosel which were a relatively new encounter for most of everyone else.

The demons provided more of a challenge than anything else on the floor as their hides were very durable and some of their attacks cracked the ribs of some of the less protected members. The deadly breaths were barely dodged while Twilight healed the injured with her symbology.

Their exploration soon brought them to a room that was occupied by the second guardian. This one was a succubus like the ones that were seen in the Gemity Arena. Just to make sure the men didn’t get in the way due to the demon’s powers over males, the men in the group were made to stay out of the room while Nel, Maria, Twilight, Sophia, Thanatas, Lyra, Mirage, and Peppita faced the succubus.

The succubus became frustrated that the men didn’t come to play with her and was forced to fight the others. However, the fight didn’t last long as Lyra’s rapid movements were more than the demon could handle and was quickly and brutally dismembered and vanished.

“That was a guardian of Project Valkyrie?” Lyra asked out of shock about how easy that was.

“That guardian was designed to deal with male intruders,” Twilight explained. “To be fair though, Render would have dealt with any intruders that intruded upon the Maze. Usually the guardian succubus was unnecessary except in cases where Render couldn’t handle them. The succubus would have at least charmed unprepared male invaders into being her puppets and drove them out of the maze without any memory of their time there.”

“Seems kinda sexist if you ask me,” Maria said with indignation.

“Actually, the project developers were working on placing a vampire to back up the succubus guardian in the event of an all female party, but that was put on hold because of Crystal’s cyberattack.”

The group proceeded into the next room which was quite small and had a sphere in the middle of the room. Moving to other rooms, the group realized that the rooms were almost all the same with the exception of a few rooms. However, they found no stairs to the next floor. They did find what seemed like an incomplete room that had nothing but a drop into the abyss below.

“There’s something odd about these rooms,” Fayt said.

Twilight sighed as she remembered the floor, “Right, this is another puzzle.”

“My head hurts already,” Cliff complained.

“This is a large-scale sliding puzzle. The rooms themselves are the sliding pieces, but the rooms do not need to be arranged in a specific order. The objective is for the room with the hole to be in the top left corner of the four by four arrangement.”

“So will the stairs appear if we get the hole there?” Cliff asked.

Twilight winced, “Not quite. You see, the only way to the third floor is to actually jump into the hole.” She was received by twelve deadpan stares.

“I’m guessing that we need the hole in the upper left corner in order to jump into a room where we can continue our descent from?” Maria asked, receiving a nod of affirmation from Twilight in response.

Once everyone was informed of the plan, Twilight began touching the orbs in the center of each room that was next to the hole. Each time the room moved, they had to brace themselves as the rooms shook as they moved. Eventually, Twilight managed to move the rooms so that the hole was in the upper left corner of the puzzle. With the hole where they needed it, they leaped into the hole.

It was a testament to their toughness that they could handle a drop into a lower floor as that would have likely injured a less resilient person.

As they recovered from the fall, Twilight briefly mentioned that the third floor was going to be short because most of it could only be explored if they jumped into a hole from different parts of the puzzle above them. However, those paths only led to transporters that were all linked to one place on the second floor.

Outside of that room, the group encountered different monsters from the floor above them. This led the group to the conclusion that each floor was going to feature different monsters. This floor featured the return of the long forgotten slimes, burning zombies whose flames were pale green this time, demon hounds, romper bats and gold versions of the transparent hydras. None of these monsters were any trouble for the group who were quickly growing stronger as they continued fighting monsters in the Maze.

The group soon found a switch that Twilight informed that unlocked some doors on previous floors, including an elevator on the first floor that would take them to the fourth floor. With the switch activated, they now had to find a way back to the first floor since there was no transporter in their area that would take them back to the second floor.

As the group entered a doorway, Sophia’s instincts warned her of a danger around the corner and pulled Thanatas and Lyra back out of the room and yelled at the others. She acted just in time as a stone gray cloud filled the next room. However, she gave her warning too late and the cloud engulfed Cliff, Fayt, Roger, Mirage, Nel, Albel and Peppita. When the cloud dissipated, the others found their unfortunate friends turned to stone.

“Oh, right, the third floor guardian is a cockatrice,” Twilight mumbled.

“Might have been useful information a few seconds ago, Twilight,” Sophia deadpanned.

“This guardian is not as tough as Render. In fact, a lot of the normal monsters are tougher than this guardian as its real strength lies in its petrifying abilities and the means to use the narrow corridors to make sure its targets are not able to avoid it,” Twilight explained.

Sophia sighed, “I’ll deal with the overgrown chicken you and the others work on undoing the petrification.”

The cockatrice had no time to react once Sophia charged in and decapitated it in the span of a millisecond. She spent the rest of the time helping Twilight and Adray reverse the petrifications of their friends.

“Think you can give us a heads up on the other guardians?” Sophia asked.

“Well, if I recall, the fourth floor guardian is a dragon like the one you fought in the arena, he’s not as tough as that one, but he is still tough. On the fifth floor is a four-armed demon who is a little stronger than the ones we fought on the first floor. I’ve actually forgotten who guards the sixth and seventh floors but there will be a number of powerful beasts on the eighth floor who will be guarding the final seal to the door to the room that houses Gabriel Celesta.”

“So we are looking at eight floors for this place?” Twilight nodded to Sophia’s question.

Once everyone was freed from their stone prisons, Sophia made sure everyone was up to date on what to expect in the lower floors.

Continuing their exploration, the group soon came across a tall set of stairs that would take the group upward. They climbed their way back to the first floor and the transporter that they entered the Maze from.

“So all that just to get to a switch that is supposed to unlock an elevator on the first floor? Gimme a break!” Cliff complained. Everyone else rolled their eyes.

From the Maze entrance, they returned to the first fork in the road and headed right and into the room that had a previously locked door to find that it was now unlocked. They proceeded into the new room to find the elevator that Twilight mentioned before and used it to move to the fourth floor.

The first thing they noticed once they got off the elevator was that the room was dark. Their only sources of light came from the elevator and a message on a pedestal.

“Light blocks your path so let darkness be your guide,” Fayt read.

“Sounds like we’ll have to trust our friends who can see in the dark to guide us to the next floor,” Nel noted.

Twilight had reservations about casting a night vision spell on those who couldn’t see in the dark because there were monsters on this floor who gave off a bright light and that may have a negative impact on their overall vision in the long term.

“So what do you suggest instead of a night vision spell?” Sophia asked, reading Twilight’s mind.

Twilight’s eyes widened briefly before she remembered that the bunny templar could read minds. “Oh, yeah, mind reader.” She cleared her throat, “If I use the spell then those who are affected might get blinded by the wisps on this floor as their natural bioluminescence is very powerful. The light from my horn will be counterproductive to the theme of this floor because we need complete darkness to move forward. Instead, we let Sophia and Thanatas guide us through the area and deal with any monsters lurking in the darkness. The rest of us can handle the wisps on this floor.”

With the plan made, the group made sure to stay close to the templar and undead while moving through the darkness.

The next room housed a fair number of wisps that brightened the room. Their bright forms made them easy targets for the people who couldn’t see in the dark. They still had to be careful though, as their energy attacks were still very potent.

It was beyond that room that the real challenge began. The room itself was huge and had numerous narrow pathways that made the room look like a maze. Darkness filled the room, yet the group did notice several lights floating around the room providing the only illumination. The room was also filled with a small army of monsters.

“The only way forward is to deal with the Earth Dragon guardian on this floor, but it will only show up once the wisps in this room are gone,” Twilight explained. “Until then, the passage to the next floor is locked.”

The going was difficult for most of the group as they had to stay very close to their friends who could see in the dark. The only time when they could see was when one of the wisps in the room was nearby.

The monsters in the room were not so varied. Among the monsters were some of the long-forgotten bogle bandits. Lyra and Twilight dealt with some of the bandits who got too close to the others. They may not have been able to see, but they could still sense their minds with their psionic powers.

There were also fire spirits who gave off green flames, but the light the flames provided was very dim. It was still enough for the others to see it though. However, they didn’t dare attack it without knowing the terrain around them.

Then there was a new species of monster that the group hadn’t encountered before. Hulking, dinosaur-like hydras that resembled a brontosaurus with several heads. The creature’s dark scales made for excellent camouflage in the dark room. The beasts thought the intruders were easy prey in its home, but Sophia and Lyra made the beast realize its folly too late as their minds synchronized so they could accurately decapitate its heads together. The heads did not regenerate because the beast was not a true hydra.

The rest of the group focused on hunting down the drifting wisps. With each wisp eliminated, the room became darker. It eventually got to the point where the group was wandering in complete darkness. Because of this, each person had to remain in physical contact with each other as they explored the floor.

This didn’t last too long as the blinded group soon found a source of light in the room that remained stationary. They continued moving closer and closer to that light until they soon heard a deep, rumbling growl coming from where the light source was.

“Intruders are attempting to breach the fifth floor!” The voice rumbled. “The Project admins must be notified!”

Getting closer to the voice, they soon found themselves in front of a large dragon. It was only half the size of Crosell, but it still looked very strong.

The dragon paused as the group approached. “...Error…unable to contact Project admins. Probable cause: admin gag order in effect. Issued by…error…identification files corrupted. Unable to determine cause. Attempting to fix corrupted files…”

…

“Unable to fix corrupted files. Recommend full system reboot. Cannot perform programmed tasks efficiently without orders from Project admin. Error…error…” The dragon walked away from the door.

“Let’s get to the next floor while it’s confused,” Sophia said. Everyone quickly headed down the stairs to the fifth floor.

“What was that all about?” Cliff asked.

“My own little counterattack against Crystal’s cyber attack,” Twilight said with a smirk. “She may be able to corrupt the identification files of my employees, but she can’t change my personal administration codes. Among them is my gag order program that prevents communication to and from NPCs and administrators. I had that ready in case an NPC decided to go rogue.

“Guardian Earth Dragon is the only NPC here who requires confirmation from the Project Valkyrie administrators to take any action. He’s one of the more powerful guardians here so we needed to make sure he didn’t kill one of my employees by accident.”

The group barely moved a few feet into the fifth floor before they heard the frantic clopping of hooves just ahead of them. A few seconds later, they saw a panicked-looking bright yellow mare with a deep red mane and tail and wearing the Sphere Institute uniform racing toward them.

“Help me!” the mare cried.

Behind her were a trio of ridiculers wearing red cloaks chasing after her with their rapiers drawn, occasionally swiping at her.

Thanatas launched a sphere of frost past the mare and hit one of the ridiculers. The burst of frost magic flash froze all three of them. Sophia rushed past the mare and shattered the frozen monsters with her fists.

The mare continued running until she bumped into Twilight and wrapped her arms around her midsection. “Boss! I am so happy you came to rescue me! When the protection programs here turned on me, I didn’t know what to do!” The mare’s frantic yelling then turned to sobbing then frantic crying.

Twilight’s surprise at her employee’s frantic behavior quickly faded and turned into a motherly desire to calm her panicked subordinate. She wrapped one arm around her and gently stroked her mane. “There there Lemon Puff, just stay with us and we’ll get you to safety.”

Gabriel Celesta

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“Boss! I thought I was gonna die when those caped creeps came after me!” cried Lemon Puff. “I’m so glad you came and rescued me! Who knows what they were planning to do to me!”

“From the looks of things, skewer you with their swords,” Cliff said.

Lemon glared at Cliff, “No one asked you, blondie!”

“Lemon Puff, what are you doing here?” Twilight asked. “I sent an emergency alert to all Project employees to evacuate the facilities. Why didn’t you heed it?”

“There was an alert?” Lemon brought up a screen and scrolled through it, finding the alert message. “Oh.” Lemon smiled apologetically. “I had my interface muted so I wouldn’t be disturbed by incoming calls. Has something happened?”

Twilight sighed in exasperation. “You mean to tell me that you’ve been out of the loop the entire time?! You’re not even aware that Crystal Silicon had been hacking into the Eternal Sphere?!”

Lemon chuckled awkwardly and blushed, “Truth be told, I figured that Crystal had been hacking the Eternal Sphere a long time ago. She’s the only one in Equestria with that kind of skill and isn’t you, boss. I didn’t say anything because it had nothing to do with my work here, and I figured that you had the situation handled.”

This time it was Twilight’s turn to blush as Lemon had pointed out her failures.

A bestial roar from the passage that Lemon came from alerted the group of a threat that was approaching. In a moment, a grayish blue giant crab monster appeared in the room. It looked around for a moment before spotting its prey and a number of other morsels. It roared once again and charged toward the group.

Lemon Puff reluctantly turned her eyes away from her boss and savior and turned around to glare at the crab monster. “Do you mind? I’m trying to show my savior some gratitude!” she snapped. She then pulled out a vial containing a reddish orange-colored liquid from her uniform and threw it at the crab. Twilight’s eyes widened while her pupils shrank to pinpricks. Without thinking, she put up one of her strongest shields to protect everyone.

The crab tried to bat the vial away which shattered the vial and that proved to be a fatal mistake as the volatile liquid within rapidly expanded and burst into violent flames. The flames raced throughout the room and into several nearby rooms, incinerating everything caught in the blast. The explosion caused the entire floor to shake. Nothing but ashes remained of the crab.

Everyone was silent as they witnessed the intense explosion. Cliff was the first to respond, “Uh, Twilight? Is everyone on your Project Valkyrie staff a psycho?” Lemon glared at Cliff again.

“Lemon, that was very dangerous!” Twilight scolded. “If I didn’t react fast enough we all would have been incinerated by your bomb!”

Lemon looked at Twilight apologetically, “Sorry boss, I guess I shouldn’t have lost my temper like that.”

Twilight sighed, “Look, just stay with us until we can get you out of here. The project is compromised so we have to terminate the whole thing and destroy the prototypes before they can be used against Equestria.”

Lemon deadpanned at Twilight, “You gave Crystal Silicon access to the project, didn’t you?” Twilight looked down and nodded slightly. “She got access to the Spiral Tower and held the Eternal Sphere hostage, didn’t she?” Another nod. Lemon sighed, “Your compassion toward the digital beings is cute and all, but you’re weighing the safety of Equestria against the existence of an artificial universe.

“Even if, say, she had agents who could destroy the research data, we have backups in places that are in far more secure places than what’s here. We even have backups stored on data storage crystals that are well beyond Crystal’s reach.

“As for your friends here, while they would be deleted anyway, we can still restore the Eternal Sphere with the backups and they would even be able to live normal lives without getting altered by Symbological Genetics since that was a result of Crystal’s meddling.

“Sorry boss for my bluntness, but I’m pretty sure Crystal either didn’t think things through or she was bluffing. And you fell for it, hook, line and sinker.”

Twilight huddled in a corner in shame. She felt like a fool for falling for what should have been an obvious bluff.

“Umm…if you don’t mind me asking, how did you know about what transpired in Spiral Tower?” Fayt asked.

“I may put a lot of my focus on my work, but I’m not an idiot, mister blueberry,” Lemon answered.

“Blueberry?”

“I may not have the same level of skill with computers as Twilight or Crystal, but I still know how to use the tracking systems in the Eternal Sphere. I keep my mind tapped into them to receive auditory and visual information about what goes on in the Eternal Sphere. I focused on your adventures since they seemed to be more entertaining compared to what’s been going on anywhere else.” Lemon then looked at Sophia and Lyra. “By the way, you two could probably have read Crystal’s mind and learned if it was a bluff, why didn’t you?”

Sophia shrugged, “I knew, I just wanted to fight the prototypes and hope for a decent challenge.”

Thanatas placed a hand around Sophia’s shoulder and smiled. “Spoken like a true goddess of war.”

Lyra shrugged as well, “It’s been a while since I was really able to put my skills to the test. I’ve been getting soft lately and it’s led to some of the Tal’darim Protoss thinking bold thoughts, the Rak’shir kind. I need to keep in shape to keep them off my back.”

“What’s Rak’shir?” Nel asked.

“A duel to the death that pits two psionic warriors against each other for the right to ascend in status.”

“Sounds like my kind of fight,” Albel said.

“It would be if you had psychic powers, but since you don’t you would be the easiest win for any opponent.”

After taking a few minutes to cheer Twilight up and reasoning with a provoked Albel, the group began exploring the fifth floor.

Lemon mentioned that the monsters on this floor were quite fast in movement but their minds were frail. This led to the group using their mentally destructive skills such as the Klausians’ Aerial Assault or Maria obliterating monsters with Energy Burst which created more black marks on the already blackened walls as a result of Lemon’s bomb.

The group came to a locked door that Lemon opened with a key in her pocket. After a short walk down a hall, they came across Lemon Puff’s workshop and a four-armed stone demon that appeared to be wreaking havoc in the area.

“Of course the guardian would use my absence as an excuse to trash my precious workshop…” Lemon groaned.

Sophia decided to end the fight quickly by telepathically crushing the demon’s mind which caused the demon to collapse and vanish.

Now fully recovered from her verbal beatdown, Twilight gave Lemon Puff her inventor’s contract to sign. “Since you seem intent on helping Grape Vine with her project, you should probably sign up to coordinate with the other inventors.”

Lemon grabbed the contract and signed it. “Yeah, I wanted to help her out because this project seemed important to her.” She handed the contract back to Twilight and headed toward the nearby stairs. “Alright, down to the sixth floor we go!” Everyone else followed and descended the stairs.

As they explored the sixth floor, the group quickly realized that the monsters suffered the same weakness as the monsters on the previous floor. The monsters roaming the floor were giant bugs, snakes, scorpions and regular chimeras. Despite their ferocity, however, they were still vulnerable to the party’s mentally damaging abilities.

Because of this weakness their exploration of the sixth floor was met with trivial difficulty.

So far, nothing of note was discovered in their exploration until they came across a fairly large room. To the surprise of the group, except Twilight who had an expression of horror on her face, a young girl stood at the other end of the room. She appeared human except she had pony ears. Her hair was long and grayish blue. She wore a purple jacket blouse lined with gold and a white skirt, also lined with gold. Her light gray boots were also lined with gold.

Sophia saw the look on Twilight’s face. “So you want to introduce her to the class, professor?” she snarked.

“This is no laughing matter,” Twilight said. “That’s Lenneth, she’s supposed to be guarding the Ethereal Queen. Despite being a guardian, her abilities and stats rival the prototypes.”

That was when the guardian spoke, “There is no need to concern yourself with me yet, intruders, but I advise you all to abandon your hunt for the gods. If you seek to continue this quest, know that I shall crush you all. Here is a sample of what awaits you.”

Lenneth manifested a large ornate spear that was almost twice as big as her. She took hold of the spear…

…and fell over because the spear was a little too large for her. Some of the group looked at the girl in pity because of that.

Lenneth shrank the spear a little and got back up. She then raised her spear into the air and the tip of the spear emitted a black radiance. “Rise from the underworld, my grim champion!”

A familiar summoning circle appeared in the center of the room and a knight on an air dragon slowly emerged from it. However, this knight looked very familiar to most of the group. Once the summoning was complete, Lenneth teleported away.

“Vox?!” Nel shouted.

“Yes, I have risen from the grave to exact my revenge on all of you and claim my–” Vox said as he was interrupted when Thanatas summoned a skeletal dragon into the room to ravage the dragon Vox was riding, forcing him to fall to the floor.

“Huh, seems bone dragons really love murdering your mounts,” Thanatas said.

Enraged, Vox transformed his lance into a broadsword. “I will not suffer such humiliation again!”

Before everyone prepared for a fight, Albel stepped forward. “This maggot is mine!”

“Looking for your own revenge?” Sophia asked.

“I’ve been looking for a reason to kill him. Not only for dishonoring my father, but for pressing false charges on me and denying me the chance to take part in the war. I had plenty of reasons to kill this worm, but when I learned that he was killed, I was disappointed that I wasn’t the one to do it. I should thank that little girl, because she gave me the chance to personally bury him.”

Albel smiled wickedly in anticipation. Both took up their stances and charged at each other. Swords clashed repeatedly, both masters of the sword showing why they were masters of their own respective styles. Vox used his blade to block attacks from Albel’s katana and claws while Albel dodged the heavy attacks from Vox’s blade. Vox found gaps in Albel’s attacks and used that chance to use Ice Needles symbols to try to freeze his foe, but Albel blocked each needle with his katana then responded with an Air Slash, forcing Vox to dodge the shockwave.

Both warriors kept the pressure on each other and neither gave any ground until Albel summoned an Aura Wall between them and forced Vox to jump back to avoid getting caught in the maelstrom of screams. The former Black Brigade captain didn’t let up as he unleashed multiple shockwaves with his Air Slash of Fury technique. Vox couldn’t dodge the shockwaves as he was still backing away from the Aura Wall. The shockwaves left him unbalanced.

Albel capitalized on that and charged through the Aura Wall, taking a little mental damage as he went through, and proceeded to rush Vox with a furious series of slashes with his Double Slash of Fury technique. Vox managed to block some of the slashes with his sword but others managed to cut into his armor. Albel didn’t let up as he followed into his Hand of Doom technique where he furiously slashed at Vox with his claws.

The relentless assault soon proved too much for Vox’s sword and it shattered in two. With his victory at hand, Albel grabbed Vox’s head and used his Vampiric Flash to rip the life out of the resurrected Dragon Brigade captain.

Before Vox vanished, Albel had one last thing to say, “I’ll see you again someday. And when I do, your hell will truly begin.”

The rest of the group approached Albel with Sophia slowly clapping for him. “Congratulations on your win, edgelord. Now let’s move on.” Albel grumbled as he sheathed his katana and left the room with the others.

The next room had no other doors and the only thing in the room was one of the switches like the one they found on the third floor. Lemon activated the switch and walked back to the group.

With nothing else, the group checked out other rooms that they hadn’t explored yet. This eventually led to another room puzzle. Cliff moaned as he realized this.

“This puzzle works just like the last one,” Twilight explained. “The objective is the same too, we just have to deal with more rooms with less than four doorways.”

Unlike the last puzzle, the restrictions of doorways had made solving the puzzle take longer. Twilight already knew which rooms to move, but the process took longer. Eventually, she was able to move the hole until it was in the upper left corner of the four by four set of rooms and they all jumped down. Lemon Puff drank a potion that temporarily made her light as a feather so she wouldn’t injure herself from the fall.

The monsters on the seventh floor were much different from the previous two floors. Most of the monsters on this floor had better mental defenses so the group had to revert to the usual ways to eliminate them.

The weaker monsters encountered were toad warriors and demon hounds. The giant wasps were much tougher than they looked.

The most dangerous beasts they encountered on the floor were red versions of the hydras they fought on the fourth floor and renders with brown fur. The group had to be extra careful not to get incinerated by the flames from the hydras or frozen by the renders’ attacks.

Their exploration soon brought them into another large room. This one was infested by a large number of small, black, shapeless creatures each with yellow eyes and three flowers growing on their heads.

“Don’t let their looks fool you,” Lemon warned. “They’re a lot tougher than they look.” That was when the creatures jumped at each of the fighters. Fayt, Cliff, Nel, Roger, Albel, Adray, Mirage, Maria, and Peppita were knocked back into a wall. Sophia and Lyra stabbed theirs with their energy blades. Thanatas punched hers away and Twilight blasted one jumping at her. Lemon opened a vial that emitted a pungent smell that made the little creatures back off. “Told you,” she added.

Albel unleashed multiple shockwaves at the creatures which knocked them back while the others unleashed their own attacks such as Fayt’s Ethereal Blast and Maria’s Energy Burst, but they were still numerous and they still kept coming.

“Don’t let them near you,” Twilight warned. “These are sooties and they will blow themselves up by igniting the flowers on their heads.”

Several sooties lit their flowers and quickly bounced toward the group. Thanatas unleashed a wave of frost that put out the lit fuses. Sophia raced among the sooties and jabbed them at their subatomic weak points. When she returned to the group, the sooties froze up and fell apart before vanishing.

“That was certainly worthy of a guardian that I would expect would be protecting the prototype,” Sophia said.

Twilight nodded. “Sooties are one of the most dangerous species of monsters in the Eternal Sphere. Partly because they are underestimated. They may look small and adorable, but their stats are much higher than their forms show. They also multiply like rabbits…no offense Sophia. Because of this, the administrators in charge of monster biology have to keep them closely monitored because they could easily overrun towns and cities with their numbers. I daresay, worlds could fall if we slacked in regulating them.”

“If they’re so dangerous, why keep them around?” Cliff asked.

“Because they were the reason the Eternal Sphere Natural Preservation Committee was founded and I really don’t want them getting on my ass about trying to wipe them out. Trust me, they know how to weigh you down with guilt.” Twilight shuddered at the last time she tried to remove a species from the Eternal Sphere. That army of wide-eyed chipmunks should have been considered a war crime.

The room beyond contained an elevator that would take them to the last floor of the maze. Tensions were high as the realization that they were about to take on an artificial god had fully sunk in. A few at a time, the group descended to the final floor.

The exploration resumed once everyone reached the eighth floor. Past a straightforward hallway, they came into a large room that held several branching paths that, upon a brief exploration, led to small rooms with monsters in them. Two of the nearby rooms to their left and right were empty. Just ahead of them was a door that appeared to be held shut by four chains. A six-pointed star was in the center of the door.

“So the prototype is just beyond that chained door?” Cliff asked.

Twilight nodded. “The final guardians are maintaining the chains that keep the door shut. Let’s hurry and defeat them, whoever Crystal assigned to claim the prototype will also be beyond that door.

The group quickly hurried through the branched paths to the left and right of the final door.

The room on the far left was occupied by a five-headed chimera like the ones that were at the top of Spiral Tower. This took Twilight by surprise. “What’s this doing here?! This room was supposed to be occupied by a four-armed demon!”

“Sounds like Crystal is trying to troll us with more of these abominations,” Sophia said.

Not wanting to mess with the beast any longer than necessary, Maria unleashed an Energy Burst into the room while Fayt manifested his wings and fired his Ethereal Blast. Together they obliterated the chimera.

In the second room, they encountered a trio of undead ram knights. Since they were tied to the seal on the door, Thanatas couldn’t take control of them as that would serve no purpose.

Instead, Nel rushed in and charged at the ram knights. An aura of purple energy flowed from her and wrapped around her daggers. Her speed allowed her to get behind the undead knights and around their defenses where she began to slash away at them. The sharpened purple aura greatly increased the number of slashes she inflicted per swipe in the form of waves of razor-sharp wind. Nel spun around several times which unleashed countless blades of wind before she sent that aura forward as a hurricane of purple wind blades which tore the knights apart.

“What kinda ninja technique was that?” Cliff asked.

“What’s a ninja?” Nel asked back.

“Nevermind.”

Nel shrugged, “That leaves two more rooms to take care of. Let’s hurry.”

The third room contained a chimera that tried to pounce on the group with its mouths wide open. Lemon tossed one of her chemical bombs into the beast’s mouth. The feline head choked on the vial which shook up the contents and made the mixture volatile and explode. The beast vanished before the room could be sprayed by gore, much to Thanatas’ disappointment.

The final room was occupied by a trio of savants who had weak minds so Maria simply blew them all away with an Energy Burst.

The party returned to the final door and watched as the chains holding it closed were broken and the door opened, opening the way into a radiant sanctuary that held a number of pendulums in perpetual motion. The floor glowed with a brilliant radiance as a magic circle rotated beneath the glass platform.

Everyone entered the room and saw, in the center of the room, Swift Burial standing next to a humanoid being with dark skin and long blonde hair. The being was male and wore a dark gray and white robe. He also had a thick ring over his head and a pair of devices on his shoulders that emitted jets of white energy to his left and right to simulate wings. In his hand was a spear that looked electrically charged.

Swift looked at the group and smirked. “Finally made it, huh? Well, I knew you guys would. Understand that this isn’t personal, princess. Me and Belzebub couldn’t care less about the ELF or their schemes. But we’re being paid a lot of credits to eliminate you and I am a mercenary to the bitter end. I’ll admit that we are terrible people for doing this, but this is the life I chose. If it leads me to Tartarus, then so be it. I won’t back down, and I expect no less from all of you in kind. Try and stop me.” Swift then faded into the prototype, Gabriel Celesta.

Gabriel went through some changes once Swift merged with him. His tan skin turned dark brown and his blonde hair turned black. His face elongated and became a muzzle until it resembled Swift’s face. Gabriel’s feet shrank back and widened out until they became a pair of hooves.

Swift Burial, now fused with the prototype god, gave his electrified spear a few test swings and took his battle stance toward the group once satisfied with the feel of his new weapon. As he began to tap into the prototype’s power, the very air around them became charged with electricity.

In anticipation for the battle to come, Lemon Puff ran back to the other room and deployed a series of grounding rods at the doorway to prevent any stray lightning bolts from escaping the room and possibly hitting her. Everyone else took whatever precautions they could to protect themselves from the lightning.

Swift’s opening move was the creation of a number of magic circles above him. From the circles erupted salvos of missiles. Sophia and Lyra were quickly able to tell that the missiles were overcharged with electricity. Roger fired his own salvo of missiles from his shield but there were too many being fired from Swift to properly counter them. Each missile that exploded unleashed a powerful wave of electricity. Albel, Maria, Nel and Peppita were hit by the waves and screamed in pain as the electricity flowed through their bodies and caused their muscles to lock up in paralysis.

Sophia wasn’t about to let Swift get away with such an action and grabbed one of the missiles with her hands and hurled it back at him. Swift grunted as the missile hit him but it was apparent that the electricity didn’t work on him as the energy flowed harmlessly off of him.

Swift swung at Thanatas who parried the spear with her sword. While she was hit by the electricity, Thanatas’ undead body, tempered by years of exposure to stray electrical discharges during the course of her experiments with creating flesh golems, was resistant to the discharges from Swift’s spear.

Lyra tried to attack from behind but Swift quickly pulled away and swung his spear in an arc behind him and knocked the templar mare away. That attack earned him a blast of frost from Thanatas. Swift snarled in pain as the ice bit into him. Using an electrical discharge, he quickly evaporated the ice.

While Thanatas moved to Swift’s left, Sophia to his right and Lyra behind him waiting for an opportunity, everyone else attempted to attack him from the front. Swift countered this by creating an overcharged cloud and unleashed its intense lightning payload on the ground around them. All of the digital beings fell to the floor paralyzed while Twilight only had time to protect herself with one of her strongest shields.

Swift attempted to finish off the paralyzed victims by channeling intense electricity into his spear that the energy turned violet but the windup for his attack took too long and left him off guard when Sophia delivered a swift kick to his stomach and sent him flying into a back wall.

Swift quickly freed himself from the dent in the wall and unleashed another bombardment of overcharged missiles while he raised his spear into the air and began chanting something.

Sophia created a sphere of concentrated psionic energy in the form of a tiny sun and tossed it into the center of the room where Twilight used her magic to force the sphere to collapse, creating a singularity that pulled in all of the missiles and contained the electrical explosion of each warhead in a powerful gravity well.

As for Swift channeling his spell, Lyra took the opportunity to kick Swift in the back and send him flying into the singularity. The powerful gravitational forces threatened to crush the fused mercenary until he discharged a large amount of electricity from his body to disperse the gravity well.

While Swift was making his escape from the singularity, Thanatas plunged her sword into the floor and jumped away. The discharge ended up being absorbed by the sword and grounded by the floor. Once the energies subsided, Thanatas saw that Swift was recovering from his ordeal. She quickly grabbed her sword and struck at him, only to be parried by Swift’s spear. The undead could see the desperation in his eyes and smirked at him.

Swift, in his exhaustion, realized too late what that smirk meant as a pair of blue energy blades from Sophia decapitated him in a scissor-like fashion.

The body of the fallen prototype fell to the floor and continued to crackle with electricity. By the time this happened, Twilight had managed to heal everyone of their paralysis before she yelled out, “Everyone, we need to get out of here! Gabriel’s body has become unstable and is about to explode!”

Hearing that, everyone who could run fast ran out the door quickly while the slower ones like Roger were carried out. Once outside, they pushed the door closed and pressed against it as they waited for the blast.

Twenty seconds passed after Gabriel’s body collapsed before the prototype exploded violently in a way that rivaled the explosion from Lemon Puff’s chemical bomb from earlier. The group held the door closed with all their might as they tried to contain the explosion. Electricity escaped the door but the energy was contained by Lemon Puff’s grounding rods.

The destructive blast lasted for thirty seconds before it subsided. Everyone sat on the floor in relief that they managed to survive the fight against a prototype god.

Twilight placed a call to Azure Lazer to inform her to be on the lookout for Swift Burial who was likely wandering the Sphere Institute since his avatar was destroyed and he was sent back to the real world.

In congratulating the group for their efforts, Lemon Puff handed each of them an energy drink that Twilight quickly confiscated because they were illegal. The drinks were illegal because just one drink would quickly kill both of a person’s kidneys. Thanatas snatched hers back and drank it since she was dead anyway.

Though she did keep some of the liquid as a sample for any potential future plagues she wanted to develop.

Sophia drank hers as well and felt her body quickly develop an immunity to the toxic beverage.

Lemon grumbled and pulled out a case of bottled water for everyone to rehydrate themselves.

They were going to need that hydration for where they were headed next.

Freya and the Mirrors

View Online

Using the teleporters located throughout the Maze, the group soon made it back to the surface. With the Maze of Tribulations no longer serving a purpose, Twilight made a mental note to destroy the facility after Lemon Puff packed up her lab.

Everyone took a few moments to bask in the sunlight beaming down on the mining town of Kirlsa. Meanwhile, Twilight turned to Lemon Puff.

“You should be safe to log off now, Lemon. If your body is still in the Sphere facility, then rendezvous with either the research team or Azure Lazer’s security team. I’d prefer that you head home for the day until the situation is resolved.”

Lemon nodded vigorously, “You got it, boss!”

“The situation in Sphere is likely going to escalate once Crystal manifests one of the prototypes on the top floor so get out of there as fast as you can.” Lemon nodded again. She then brought up a command display and pressed a few buttons on it before she vanished.

“You mentioned that the second Prototype, Freya, is in the Urssa Lava Caves, but we didn’t find anything that looked like a prototype when we were there,” Maria inquired.

“Crosell was guarding the door to the temple where Freya is kept. The door is in a side room in his lair.”

“Wait, temple?” Nel asked. “I can understand that strange place back there, but I never heard of a temple in the depths of the Urssa Lava Caves.”

“Me neither, and I’ve traveled all across the continent and never once heard a rumor of such a place,” Adray added.

“Same here, nobody in Surferio said a thing about such a place,” Roger added.

“That’s because no fool is brave enough to venture into the Marquis’ lair to explore it for fear of incurring his wrath,” Albel said.

“That and anyone who actually did discover the temple were subjected to memory wipes and a mental suggestion that there was nothing in Crosell’s lair.” Twilight said.

“So what are we going to expect in this temple place?” Cliff asked. Twilight gave the Klausian an apologetic look which gave him an idea that made him regret asking.

“The monsters there are not as tough as the ones in the Maze of Tribulations, but the reason we tackled the Maze first was because I wanted us to be prepared when we faced Freya. Truth be told, Gabriel Celesta was the weakest of the Prototypes. Even Lenneth was stronger than him.”

“What can you tell us about Lenneth?” Fayt asked.

“Lenneth was originally meant to be the guardian of the Ethereal Queen but her stats were set much higher than any of the guardians. I fear that she will be a fearsome opponent when we do finally fight her. The staff had been considering using her as one of the Eternal Sphere’s goddesses over Gabriel.”

“Just how much stronger are the other prototypes compared to Gabriel?”

“Freya is much more powerful than Gabriel and Ethereal Queen is even more powerful than Freya.”

“Wouldn’t be much of a climax if the challenge was a letdown,” Sophia said.

As they continued gathering what information they could from Twilight, the group paused in the conversation as they moved through Kirlsa and into the Kirlsa Caverns where their old acquaintance, Gregory, gave them a ride to the end of the cavern. They didn’t want to risk eavesdroppers learning something they shouldn’t.

They moved through the Bequerel Mountain Path while resuming their conversation. It took them a couple of hours to traverse the paths and enter the Barr Mountains where the dragons residing there gave them a wide berth. They soon entered the cavern where they found the entrance to the Barr Ruins and it was a straight path into the Urssa Lava Caves. They wasted no time getting to Crosell’s lair where they discovered that the dragon was absent.

“Guess he’s out hunting or something,” Cliff said.

Twilight shook her head. “No, something is wrong. If he was out, he would have left an illusion of himself in case anyone tried breaking in while he was gone. Something must have happened.”

“We can worry about him later, we need to deal with Freya before Equestria has to deal with two prototypes,” Sophia said.

Inside of Crosell’s lair, there were six side rooms that they never explored before. Twilight led the group to the one on the back right. The room contained a passageway that appeared to have opened recently. A number of large claw marks were seen around the passage. It was apparent that someone used brute force to get into the temple.

The group entered the passage and came upon a large ornate door like the ones they saw in the Bequerel Mine. This one didn’t have dragon heads, however. A stone monolith stood in front of the door.

“It says, ‘Offer the opposing orb upon the dais to open the way. But know this: That which is the same as the orb offered shall become an indestructible barrier,’” Nel read.

“There are three sections in the temple,” Twilight explained. “There are going to be a number of elemental blockers that will try to impede our progress. In order to unlock the blockers, we need to put an orb on a pedestal that is related to the opposite element to the blocker. Fire and water oppose each other as earth and air oppose each other. There is a set of four orbs in each of the sections. The real issue is knowing which orbs to use where to allow us to progress.”

“Doesn’t sound too hard, seems like this place will be easier to get through than the Maze of Tribulations,” Sophia said.

“Yes, the staff thought so too. To make things tougher, we enlisted the aid of Discord, the Spirit of Chaos, to use his magic to create what he called ‘Trading Card Mirrors’. We never figured out why he called them that.”

“Mirrors? You don’t think…?” Sophia telepathically transmitted to Thanatas.

“Yep, classic mirror battles, here we come,” Thanatas answered.

Passing through the doors, the group saw two pedestals surrounded by stone pillars, some broken. There were also three massive stone vessels in the room. One on the left had flames coming out from the top of it, One on the right had a breeze flowing from it and a third, which Sophia had to float up to see, was filled with water.

There was nothing they could do there so they moved on to the next room. The fire spirit and red wisp they fought were not worth mentioning.

The next room had four pedestals and a row of stone vessels with wind blowing from them. Sophia floated up again and saw three more rows behind the row of wind vessels. Behind the wind row was a row of fire vessels with a row of water vessels behind that and a row of vessels filled with dirt behind that row. She spotted a door in the back which she suspected was where they needed to go.

Sophia floated back down to the group and told them what she saw. “Looks like we need to find the four orbs before we can move forward.”

Twilight pointed out that there were two doors at the left and right ends of the room each. To speed up their journey and because the monsters in the temple were easy to deal with, they split up into groups of three, with Twilight being a fourth member for Lyra, Maria and Mirage. They took the left side north door. Peppita, Roger and Adray took the left side south door. Nel, Albel and Cliff took the right side north door. This left Fayt, Sophia and Thanatas to take the right side south door.

Each group faced a number of monsters in their hunt for the orbs. Some even realized that the monsters were themed with the elements. Fire spirits and red wisps were associated with fire, slimes and aquaregias were associated with water, bats and harpies were associated with wind and plant monsters and myconids were associated with earth.

Each group soon found an altar in each of their rooms and on those altars were a chest. Opening them revealed a series of orbs that were no larger than their fists. Twilight’s group found a green orb, Adray’s group found a blue orb, Nel’s group found a red orb and Sophia’s group found a yellow orb.

Taking their prizes, the group returned to the central room with the four pedestals.

Before they placed their orbs on their new homes, Twilight warned, “Before you place those orbs there, I need to warn you about what they do.”

“The hint from before said that they ‘open the way’, but I’m not sure what the other half means,” Maria said.

“The orbs are tied not only to the elemental blockers you see…” She pointed at the stone vessels. “...but they are also tied to the monsters throughout the temple.”

“So the ‘indestructible barrier’ mentioned in the hint was referring to the monsters?” Cliff asked. “Wait, don’t tell me…”

Twilight nodded. “For example, using the fire orb will make all water elemental blockers vanish from the room, but it also makes the fire monsters in the room invulnerable. The same can be said for the other orbs and their associated blockers and monsters. Removing the orb from the pedestal is the only way to reverse the effect.”

“So while the monsters here are pushovers, it doesn’t mean a thing if we can’t hurt them,” Sophia figured. “We’ll need to be careful about when and where we use the orbs.”

Everyone nodded in agreement. To make sure they were alone in the room, they checked every spot they could find and dealt with any monsters that were hiding. Once they were sure that they were safe, they placed all four orbs on each of the four pedestals. The altars the pedestals were on began to glow their respective colors in regard to the orb placed on them. This also caused the room to glow different colors: red, blue, green, yellow, then red again.

All four rows of elemental blockers vanished and the group proceeded through the door to the next room.

What they saw next was a surprise to everyone, especially Twilight. What once looked like a large decorated fountain with stairs going to the top was now in ruins and the water that it once held had all but vanished into the ashen soil.

“What happened here?!” Twilight shouted. “This was supposed to be one of Discord’s Trading Card Mirrors, but it’s been smashed to rubble!”

“Did Belzebub smash it?” Fayt asked.

“It’s possible. She might have shapeshifted into something with enough raw strength to smash it, but it doesn’t make sense. With Crystal in control of Project Valkyrie, the mirrors shouldn’t be a threat to her.”

“Shapeshifted?” Fayt inquired. “She didn’t shapeshift when we fought her and Swift before.”

“That’s because they were holding back,” Twilight responded. “They needed to act defeated so they would have more freedom to carry out their actual plan in secret. I don’t know what those two are actually after, but I’m pretty sure that it has nothing to do with Crystal’s plan.”

“Let’s keep moving,” Sophia said. “We’ll learn the answer to this mystery later.”

The group moved past the broken fountain and into the next room which was a bridge over a chasm that was guarded by a few monsters.

The room beyond the bridge put the group on guard as the stone walls and floors had a blue shade to them, indicating that a water orb had to be on a pedestal nearby. Thankfully, there were no monsters in their general vicinity, especially not water monsters.

A gap in the elemental blockers ahead of them caught everyone’s attention and they inspected it further to find the orb in question on the pedestal. Surrounding the orb were three more pairs of blockers of earth, water and air, with the water and air blockers behind the pedestal.

Fayt was about to go and grab the orb but Twilight grabbed his shoulder to stop him. “If you take that orb, it will make the fire blockers appear and close the gap, trapping you.”

“So what’s the deal with this section?” Cliff asked.

“The door to the next section is blocked by three pairs of blockers: fire, water and earth. We need to find a way to get the fire, water and air orbs to the three pedestals in front of those blockers. This section is trickier than the last.”

Sophia thought about their dilemma for a moment then got an idea. “Fayt, let me grab the orb. You stay with the others.”

“Didn’t you hear what I said?” Twilight said with her voice raised. “If you grab the orb, you will be trapped in there.”

Fayt did what Sophia said and moved away from the blockers. A few moments later, a pair of fire blockers appeared and closed the gap. It was a few more moments after that when Sophia climbed out of a hole she had dug. She then showed everyone the orb.

“Huh? But, but, but…” Twilight stuttered.

“Hah, my cousin decided to cheat a puzzle,” Thanatas cackled.

While Twilight’s brain was rebooting, Lyra carried her while everyone else headed into a room to the left of where they were. The room had a red glow from the nearby pedestal that held a fire orb. Drifting around the room was a fire spirit and a red wisp. Both enemies would be dangerous while the fire orb was active. However, Sophia’s speed allowed her to claim the orb before the monsters knew what was going on and they were maimed in the same fashion by the group.

A pair of earth blockers blocked their way to the next room so they returned to the previous room and headed into the room to the right.

A pair of water blockers blocked their way to the next room but with the fire orb in hand and the pedestal nearby, it was a matter of placing the orb on the pedestal to make the water blockers disappear and allow everyone passage. Sophia stayed behind while everyone moved on to the next room. Once everyone was through, she removed the fire orb and tunneled under the water blockers that reappeared to return to everyone.

The next room glowed green from a nearby wind orb with a harpy and bat nearby. Once again, Sophia quickly grabbed the wind orb while everyone else took out the flying monsters.

The room they were in had two exits to their left. One was closer and one was on the far end of the room. They chose to head through the closest passage. This led them back into the first room of the section except they were now on the other side of the four pairs of blockers that protected the water orb originally.

They headed into a passage on the north side of the room to find a room that glowed yellow, telling the group that the earth orb was nearby. It sat on one of the three nearby pedestals in the room with the passage ahead blocked by the three pairs of blockers that Twilight warned them about earlier.

It was a simple matter of removing the earth orb and placing the wind, water and fire orbs on the three pedestals. This caused the wind blockers in the room to appear, but the way to the next section was open. With that, everyone proceeded into the next section.

Once again, the first thing the group saw in the next room was a smashed fountain, leaving everyone to wonder why Belzebub would destroy a security system instead of using it against them.

They didn’t dwell on this for long and continued forward. Looking around, they found four chests in the room. They were immediately checked and found a full set of orbs for them to use for the next section.

Aside from Twilight, everyone was curious as to why they would receive all four of the orbs for the next section right off the bat. It wasn’t until they crossed the threshold into the next section that they found out why.

The next section was one giant room and there were elemental blockers covering most of the room, leaving no path to follow. Twilight pointed out that the only way through this room and to Freya was to use the correct combination of two orbs on the two pedestals before them. Twilight already knew the two orbs needed so she placed the fire and air orbs on the pedestals.

A path opened through the countless blockers and everyone followed it to the end of the room.

The next room was another stone bridge over a chasm. Nothing else got in the way between them and the final door.

Tensions ran high as the group marched toward the door and to their toughest fight yet.

Sophia pushed open the door and everyone entered the chamber. The inside was similar to the room that Gabriel Celesta was stored in. The constantly moving pendulums moving back and forth with a ticking sound at each apex. The glass floor was different from Gabriel’s room. The floor here shifted in color from red to blue to green to yellow.

In the center of the room stood a familiar black insect-like being with purple eyes. Her insect wings fluttered occasionally. She wore a purple jacket with yellow lining along with matching shorts. Inside her jacket was a yellow sweater.

Standing next to Belzebub was a little girl who looked a little like Lenneth. She had long blonde hair and wore green armor lined with gold. She wore a hat that was green at the top and white on the sides. The bottom of the hat was a circle of black lined with gold with a gold rune in the center.

Belzebub turned her attention to the group. “Looks like you made it. I take it Swift gave you that speech about how we’re mercenaries who will do whatever is asked of us for the right price. He’s not wrong, but even I have my principles. For example, if I take a job that I don’t like, I’ll still do the job but I’ll also do something that will make my client regret hiring me.”

She sighed, “I never wanted to take on a job that would put me against Sweetie Drops. She is a hero to my entire species, she saved my ancestors from famine, she gave us a place in Equestrian society.

“She gave us a future.”
She paused for a moment. “I wouldn’t mind if you captured that idiot, Swift Burial. I’m fond of him, but he could use some prison time to rethink our policy with future clients.”

Another pause, “I have to fight you all now, my contract demands it. I honestly hope you all win and derail Crystal’s plan. That egomaniacal bitch needs a heavy dose of reality.” With that, Belzebub faded into the prototype.

With the fusion, Freya’s body began to grow. In moments the prototype had grown into a physically mature form. Her bright skin darkened several shades and her blonde hair turned purple. Freya’s eyes opened, revealing green irises and purple sclera.

“Now,” Belzebub began. “One against thirteen seems a little overwhelming for me. So I think that I will even the odds a little.” She raised a hand in the air and the shifting colors on the floor stopped at blue. The glass floor appeared to show ripples, as if the floor was water. The group quickly realized that this was an illusion.

A flash of light erupted from the floor and when the light subsided, the group’s eyes widened at what they saw before them.

Ten people appeared before them. Although there were features that mirrored their own, their appearances were also different in terms of color and clothing.

Fayt’s copy had brown hair and wore black armor like Klausians wore. His greaves were reddish brown.

Cliff’s copy had red hair and wore a yellow sleeveless shirt and blue jeans and red shoes.

Nel’s copy had black hair and she wore white and blue armor. Her scarf and sheaths were crimson.

Roger’s copy was a little on the wild side. He had no helmet and his hair was scarlet. He didn’t wear overalls but his leggings and belt were yellow with brown tiger stripes. His tail was the same way. The edge of his axe was stained in blood.

Adray’s copy had darker skin and his tattoos were yellow instead of red. Unlike the dragon tattoo on Adray’s back, this copy had a tattoo of a japanese kanji character on his back. The copy wore a white robe without the upper part with triangular patterns along the bottom.

Maria’s copy had dark brown hair and wore a light gray zip-up dress. She also wore a periwinkle half skirt, vest and shirtless sleeves.

Mirage’s copy had olive green hair and wore a zipper blouse of the same color. Her jacket and shorts were maroon lined thickly with light and dark gray.

Albel’s copy had white hair that was tipped with blue. His clothes were similar to Albel’s except dark blue instead of purple.

Peppita’s copy had purple hair and had lighter skin. She wore a purple sleeveless turtleneck shirt with a maroon and black shirt over that. Her shoes matched her shirt and her cape was blue with green orbs at the ends.

Sophia’s copy was more surprising to Twilight than anyone else. This one was still human and had long brown hair and wore a pink jacket lined with yellow and had a purple mantle. She wore a white laced undershirt with a choker around her neck. She also wore a dark blue skirt, black leggings and pink boots.

Sophia sensed Twilight’s surprise. “Something you want to share?” she asked.

“Your doppelganger, she looks just like the original Sophia; the one who died when you replaced her.”

“So she’s going to be the most dangerous of the bunch?”

Twilight shook her head, “Not necessarily, you are a foreign entity in the Eternal Sphere. It’s most likely that that version is what the original Sophia would have become at this point in time. She is a mage type fighter who wasn’t born a Human-Protoss-Zerg hybrid like you were.”

Sophia groans in disappointment, “You mean I get the easiest opponent?”

“No, I’ll take her. It would be better to have you, Thanatas and Lyra deal with Belzebub while the rest of us deal with the doppelgangers.” Twilight then frowned and looked at Belzebub. “Can you answer me a couple of things? Why did you destroy the trading card mirrors? How did you manifest these copies without the mirrors?”

“I intended for them to manifest here but the other mirrors were drawing power so I had to destroy the fountains and divert the chaos magic to this room where I could use the power of the mirrors to their fullest potential. The elemental energies here were in harmony for the sake of maintaining Freya but the chaos magics disrupted the balance and allowed for the water energy to dominate the other four which made it possible to produce more than one mirror clone,” Belzebub explained. “The energies turned this room into one giant trading card mirror.”

With that question answered, Sophia opened a rift to an unknown location. Trusting the bunny templar regarding the rift’s destination, Lyra and Thanatas moved to enter the rift along with Sophia. As Thanatas entered the rift, she pointed her blade at Belzebub and pulled her into the rift with them with her necromantic magic.

With Belzebub no longer a concern, Twilight and the Eternal Sphere warriors prepared for one huge chaotic battle with their doppelgangers.

On the other side of the rift, Sophia, Thanatas, Lyra and Belzebub emerged into a familiar room. This room was the one that was being guarded by Crosell originally. The large open space would make for a suitable battlefield.

Everyone took their battle stance and waited for someone to make the first move.

Belzebub attacked first by smiting the trio with a spiraling wave of light that forced everyone to jump backward to avoid. Thanatas countered by pointing her sword at the hybrid and striking her with black lightning bolts. Belzebub barely felt that attack and fired back with a large blast of light in front of her, forcing the trio to jump aside with barely enough time to avoid her wide blast.

The trio moved to surround Belzebub and forced her to choose who to attack. She quickly chose Lyra before she created a long manticore tail and sprayed a wave of corrosive venom at the mare. Lyra easily avoided the attack. Meanwhile, Sophia placed her hand in one of the venom puddles left behind and licked the poison, figuring that she could make use of the substance later.

Lyra quickly rushed behind Belzebub and grabbed the tail before cutting it off, resulting in a pained shout from the hybridized prototype and a blast of light that knocked Lyra halfway across the battlefield.

Belzebub shapeshifted into an ursa minor and charged at Thanatas, jaws open. Her charge was stopped when Sophia shapeshifted into an ultralisk to match the bear’s size and rammed her from the side, sending her flying toward the platform that Crosell slept on.

Growling in frustration, Belzebub returned to her hybrid form and teleported behind Sophia and unleashed a blast of light that grazed her as she dodged, but the force of the attack still sent her flying forward a small distance. Belzebub repeated the process with Thanatas who was too slow to dodge and took the full brunt of the blast, sending her flying toward the cavern wall. Thanatas softened the blow by unleashing a blast of icy wind toward the wall. She jumped off the wall and landed a moderate distance from Belzebub.

The trio kept their eyes on Belzebub, waiting for her next move.

The battlefield was in complete chaos.

At first, Twilight’s group attacked their corresponding opponents from the mirror group. Things started off when they used their simpler moves such as both Fayts clashing blades and using their Blade of Fury techniques. As the battles continued, they started using more destructive skills and more advanced symbology.

Twilight kept her eye on Mirror Sophia. Every now and then she appeared to be chanting a powerful spell and the alicorn was sure that she didn’t want the girl getting the spell off.

There were those who were more reckless with their attacks. Roger pulled out a remote with a button that he pressed that caused a number of rifts to open and showered the field with meteors and debris drifting in space. The last thing that flew onto the field during this attack was a large missile that impacted the ground and exploded, blowing away friend and foe alike. Mirror Roger attempted the same stunt but Mirror Peppita grabbed his remote with her cape and dropped it on the floor and smashed it with her boot. Both Rogers received glares from everyone.

Both Rogers looked ashamed and Mirror Roger backed away from everyone and stepped on one of Roger’s Land Mines. Hearing the explosion and seeing his double flying in the air, Roger quickly jumped into action and fired a rocket from his bazooka at his mirror copy where the explosion kept him in the air for longer. It was long enough for Roger to take out his axe and empower it before running up to where his tiger-striped counterpart would land. Mirror Roger landed hard on the floor before feeling the heavy impact from an empowered axe. The crushing impact caused Mirror Roger to vanish.

Thanatas began wandering around the perimeter of the room while moving her lips, as far as Belzebub could tell. She had a feeling that the undead was up to something, but for now she had to contend with Sophia and Lyra. The slashes from their energy blades moved too fast for her to fully dodge so she received a few deep cuts during their latest skirmish. Charging her fists with her ether light power, she managed to punch the two fighters back.

Having enough of the fight, Belzebub levitated into the air and charged a massive amount of her power into a powerful blast that she intended to aim at the ground. The trio sensed what was coming so Thanatas cast a trap spell under Lyra’s hooves which caused her to fall beneath the floor while Sophia and Thanatas went underground. The immense blast of light flooded the entire battlefield and blew away some of the rubble in the room.

The explosion lasted for a few seconds. Once they sensed the energies subside, the bunny and undead emerged from the ground while Thanatas canceled her trap to allow Lyra to surface.

“Yo, can you two keep her from using that attack again?” Thanatas thought, knowing her allies would read her mind. “I have an idea to really put the hurt on her but that attack can undo my progress.”

“I think we can manage that,” Sophia answered. “Anything you need?”

“Yes, blood, and plenty of it. A small army of sacrificial Zerg should do it.”

“I’ve never created that many Zerg from my own body before. I’m gonna be ravenous when this is over.”

“Bonnie should help with that once we get back to the real world.” Lyra said telepathically. “A hybrid like you will love the taste of Zerg flesh.”

“Leave the Zerg in their egg state until I give the signal. When I do, hatch all of them and have them recklessly rush her.” Thanatas instructed.

“Alright, I’ll distract Belzebub while Sophia spawns the eggs,” Lyra said.

With their plan hatched, the trio got to work on their roles.

With everyone unleashing their strongest moves all over the battlefield, the Valkyrie workshop was taking heavy damage. Between the Fayts’ Ethereal Blasts, the Marias’ Energy Bursts, and the Adrays’ Sirocco abilities where they jump up and crash into the ground, unleashing fiery maelstroms, parts of the workshop were starting to look like molten slag and glass.

One such attack from Adray created an opening for Albel to finish off his mirror copy by grabbing his katana with his metal arm and decapitating his clone with his own katana.

At one point, both Nels jumped into the air and wrapped themselves in a spherical shield of hexagons before they unleashed a potent ray of lightning at each other. Mirror Maria had to dodge an Energy Burst from Maria but she failed to keep an eye on her surroundings and ended up in the lightning crossfire and was vaporized. When the attack subsided, Albel took advantage of Mirror Nel’s weakened state and thrust his katana through her chest where he knew her heart was. Mirror Nel coughed up blood before vanishing.

Cliff and Mirage worked together to face their mirror copies. Both knew that if the battle dragged on for too long, they would end up too exhausted and they needed to conserve their strength for the final battle against Crystal. The four fighters continued their bouts, switching to offense and defense often.

Eventually, Cliff gave Mirage an opening when he ran up to Mirror Mirage and groped her chest. This caused the mirror woman to briefly lose all interest in her target and focus on punishing the pervert in front of her.

Mirage took this opportunity to rush Mirror Cliff. Just like her Cliff, his skills in their shared style of martial arts were still below her level and she was able to rush Mirror Cliff with her Avenger Charge which followed into Infinity Kick which knocked him into the air. She finished off the mirror copy by unleashing a fiery blast of her qi in the form of her Blazing Cannon technique which incinerated him until he vanished.

In her anger, Mirror Mirage failed to see through the strategy of her fellow Klausians and ended up getting double teamed by Cliff and Mirage. She ended up attacked from the front and back by a pair of Acrobat Locus attacks; the combined fury left her body crushed and unable to continue.

The two Peppitas continued unleashing their attacks and dodging with the grace of the dancers that they were. Neither Velbaysian could lay a hit on the other. Summoning their Faerie Friends only resulted in a slightly entertaining monster battle that ended in a draw.

This dance continued until Mirror Peppita was hit in the back by a flying menodix using his Flying Torpedo technique. Mirror Peppita cried out in pain as the spike on Roger’s helmet pierced her skin and wedged into her lower spine, causing the mirror copy to lose feeling in her legs. Peppita put her copy out of her misery by summoning her Dream Hammer and smashed her until she vanished.

As the battle finally began to wind down, Twilight finally managed to use a trap spell to root Mirror Sophia’s feet into place. In her desperation, she quickly attempted to cast her destructive spell but Twilight hit her with a Silence symbol to stop her casting. The girl’s eyes widened in horror and despair as Twilight began casting her Deletion symbol.

Mirror Sophia’s moment of salvation came when Mirror Adray shoved her out of the spell to avoid Twilight’s attack. That moment was short lived as a giant silver sphere, in the form of Adray’s Emotion Torrent, flew at them and exploded when it hit Mirror Adray, sending him and Mirror Sophia sprawling on the floor. Twilight ended both of them using a Crush symbol, dropping a massive weight on the two of them.

Mirror Fayt refused to go down easily. He kept his eye on all of the enemies in the room around him and thought about his next move when he realized that all of his allies were defeated. However, he didn’t have time to think as Fayt continued to rush him with his attacks while everyone else watched. Many times the sound of metal hitting metal was heard and many times were their attacks parried. Even when the Fayts used opposing elemental blades, neither could gain the upper hand.

It was when Mirror Fayt saw everyone taking their battle stances again that he became worried that he would be attacked from all sides. This left him open to a series of attacks from Fayt which began when he jumped into the air and unleashed a barrage of aerial shockwaves with his Air Raid attack. Mirror Fayt took the attack head on and was thrown off balance. He then got a facefull of small explosions when Fayt hit him pointblank with a Shotgun Blast. When Fayt charged his dark aura for a Dimension Door, Mirror Fayt acted in kind. However, still off balance, he wasn’t adequately prepared in time before Fayt unleashed his and forced Mirror Fayt to abandon his attack and try to parry the blade. Fayt’s attack overpowered him and sent him flying back.

The battle finally ended when Mirror Fayt was too weakened to stop Fayt from charging up an Ethereal Blast to finish him off.

Belzebub was having trouble trying to counter the trio’s strategy. This was because Lyra kept avoiding her attacks and when she tried going after Sophia, who was busy spawning eggs along the walls, or Thanatas, who was moving along the perimeter of the room in a circular fashion, Lyra unleashed an attack that she couldn’t ignore.

Belzebub tried blasting her away with her light attacks but the pony templar kept dodging her. When she tried blasting the room with an Ether Strike, Lyra gave her a headache with a psychic feedback.

Occasionally, an attack would graze Lyra. This didn’t last long as she used the power of the void to steal life from Belzebub and heal herself.

This persisted for a few minutes before Sophia finally joined the battle and the distractions from the undead doubled.

At this time, Thanatas had completed her circular pattern and was now shambling around the room, dragging a foot as she went. Belzebub had no idea what the undead was trying to do, but she had a feeling that if she didn’t stop her soon, the fight was not going to end well.

While she considered Thanatas a higher priority, Lyra and Sophia kept pressuring her with their attacks and forcing her to keep her attention on them. In one desperate act, she tried abandoning defense to blast Thanatas, but realized too late that her attacks had slowed greatly. A brief look at herself led to the discovery that her body was covered in acid spores. She looked at Sophia to find her mouth was dripping with the same poison she used earlier. Her hands were also dripping with poison.

“Showtime!” Thanatas finally shouted. Reacting to that call, Sophia psychically ordered the eggs to hatch. Hundreds of zerglings and hydralisks emerged from the eggs. All of them charged toward her the moment they were free of their shells.

“You think this will stop me?” Belzebub shouted as the army of Zerg bore down on her with fangs, claws and spines. The prototype shapeshifted into a giant praying mantis with razor sharp claws and began slicing the many Zerg in two. The attacks cost countless Zerg their lives as their blood and viscera formed a giant growing puddle from the center of the room.

Belzebub was breathing hard after killing all those Zerg but was able to chuckle a little as she emerged victorious in that bloodbath. “Is that the best you can do?” she taunted.

Thanatas smiled victoriously, “Thanks for the show, you have done plenty to ensure our victory.”

Belzebub’s eyes widened in horror and watched the spilled blood flow into the grooves that Thanatas had been making the whole time. She soon realized that Thanatas had been drawing a giant magic circle around the room and that the Zerg blood served the purpose of empowering the circle.

To ensure that Belzebub couldn’t escape what was coming, Lyra and Sophia used their psychic powers to mentally lock her body into place in the center of the circle.

Thanatas’ smile turned wicked as she plunged her sword, Evermourne, into the ground. The blood glowed and the room turned an eerie red. Panic swelled within the prototype as dark clouds formed on the ground around her. Soon, she saw black, shadowy claws swiping at the air in her direction.

Thanatas chuckled as she called out the spell’s name, “Blood Ritual: Grudge of the Fallen Army.”

It was official. This was not worth what she was being paid. While she was still able, she mentally issued a logout command to escape the coming hell. She was very glad that she had succeeded in her escape, though she had to leave the prototype behind and leave it to its gruesome fate.

The many claws from the hundreds of fallen Zerg ripped and tore at the now vacant goddess prototype. While the controller of the prototype was now gone, the vengeful souls claimed the body and cast it into the infinite abyss where nobody would ever be able to find it.

Still, the souls were not satisfied and demanded Belzebub’s soul. However, Thanatas simply tossed an orb into the center of the circle and the souls were pulled into it. Once the souls were captured, the ritual magic lost its power. The undead went to the orb and picked it up and stored it away for later.

She cackled as her wicked thoughts raced through her mind. “Well, in the least, if she decides to be naughty again, these souls will be ready to show her what hell is.”

“Freaky, now let’s go see how Twilight and the others did with their fight,” Sophia said.

“That won’t be necessary,” Twilight said as she and the others entered the room. The alicorn could sense the blood magic from the second section of the temple but decided not to ask about that because she really didn’t want to know for her own sake.

“Well, that’s two down,” Cliff said. “Where do we go for the last one?”

“It’s too late to get to Ethereal Queen’s workshop,” Twilight said. “Our best bet is to head her off as she manifests on the top floor of the Sphere Institute.”

“Alright, but can we pay a visit to that Zerg farm we saw earlier?” Sophia asked. “I used up a lot of biomass in that last fight and I am starving.”

“Do we have time for that?” Lyra asked.

“I don’t think you have a choice,” Thanatas warned. “I suspect that if we let her hunger pains go on for too long, she might start considering pony and human meat as part of her diet.”

“One trip to Sweet Apple Acres coming up!” Twilight loudly and quickly declared and issued the command to force all of them to log out of the Eternal Sphere.

Author's Notes:

And they're off, soon to face the final dungeon in the story...preferably after Sophia gets a bite to eat.

Here it is, the prophesized chapter that the six books had mentioned. If you had decided to solve the puzzle of the six books, have a cookie. The puzzle works the same way as the one from the actual game. Each book gave five words that made no sense, but when you place the six rows of five words in order from top to bottom, you can read the words vertically instead of horizontally. Here's what that looks like.

1 the warriors who must order
2 second in vanquished face to
3 goddess the the the face
4 shall likeness first second the
5 summon of god goddess ethereal
6 ten ten three in queen

Read up to down and left to right, it reads: The second goddess shall summon ten warriors in the likeness of ten who vanquished the first god. Three must face the second goddess in order to face the ethereal queen.

Though this one may not be quite accurate, its a little challenging coming up with a spoiler in exactly 30 words.

The Ethereal Queen Part 1

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The return trip to the real world was not what anyone was expecting. While Twilight had a feeling that Crystal Silicon had sabotaged the Eternal Sphere terminals on the top floor, she had still hoped that they would return to the real world from one of the other terminals in the Sphere building.

Instead, they appeared in the Eternal Sphere terminal in Gemity.

“Odd,” Twilight muttered. She then activated her communicator. “Azure, what’s the status of the institute? Myself and the others ended up in Gemity when we logged off.”

<”It’s bad, ma’am, for some reason the Valkyrie Monster Generator has gone haywire and is spawning monsters all over the building. We had to place the facility on lockdown while we worked to contain the situation. We have some templars warping in to help contain the problem and we have the first five floors secured. The elevators have been shut down to prevent the monsters from using them to ambush us.>

<”Also, there are reports that the renegade guardian Lenneth has been spotted in the building. We could really use your help on this one.”>

“Hold out until we get there. I need to make a small detour before we head over there.” Twilight ended the communication. “Looks like Crystal anticipated our next move and gave us something to distract us until she got Ethereal Queen up to full power.

“Can we hurry up and get something to eat?” Sophia growled. “You guys are looking increasingly tasty and I’m not sure how long I can hold back the urge to get a bite.”

With that, the group hurried over to the nearest pylon transport conduit and activated it. The group was immediately transported to Ponyville where Twilight led them to the apple/gem/Zerg farm.

On the way to the farm, Twilight brought up a display to relay to Princess Celestia the current situation. She then had to brace herself for the expensive event to come. Of course, it would be worth it to avoid being eaten by one of her friends.

Once they reached the farm, they were greeted by the current generation of Apple family members. The farmers took a moment to bow to Twilight before she explained that she needed to purchase all of their current stock of Zerg. The Apples were confused at first, but looking at the drooling rabbit and her sharp teeth that were increasingly difficult to hide as she slowly lost her self-control, they realized that the girl must have been absolutely starving.

In response to this, one family member, a green earth pony mare with a blonde mane with red stripes, directed Sophia to the hive cluster while another, a burly sky blue unicorn stallion with a hunter green mane, hurried to his house to prepare something for everyone. Everyone else followed the mare.

On the way, the group witnessed the workers harvesting apples. Protoss workers were using their telekinetic powers to harvest the apples in higher places in the trees while their height was enough for the lower branches. There were also pegasi and changeling workers who used their wings for the highest apples. Earth pony workers used the techniques of their ancestors to harvest their way.

Once they arrived at the hive cluster, the mare told the hive queen to leave the cluster for a little bit before she released all of the current stock of Zerg from their pens. Once done, she gave Sophia a welcoming gesture by standing aside and allowing her into the pens. “Enjoy!” she said.

With that, Sophia lost all means of self-control as she dove into the pens and attacked the livestock, devouring their flesh in a gruesome and yet fascinating display of savagery. With the bunny in the state of starvation that she was in, she had completely abandoned all thoughts of table manners and devoured the Zerg like a predator devours their prey in the wild.

“Are we sure the Zerg part of her isn’t taking over her mind or something?” Fayt asked.

“In a sense, yes,” Thanatas said. “But really in the sense of a starving and desperate person on the verge of reverting to their baser instincts when tempted by the first sign of food that they had been deprived of for weeks. Sophia used up most of her personal stores of biomass during the last fight and her instincts are screaming at her to replenish those stores ASAP. She’ll be back to normal once she’s had her fill of those Zerg in there.”

“How do you know all this?”

“Because her grandfather briefed me on the capabilities of the Zerg. Plus, you can’t expel that much organic material from your body without your body giving you cues to replenish it. It’s basic biology. Just because she’s partially Zerg doesn’t mean that she’s above the biological rules that all living things must follow.”

“Oh. Right.” Fayt scratched his head in embarrassment.

Once Sophia had finished eating, the pens were completely empty, not even bones remained. The bunny sighed in contentment as she held her stomach. “Much better…”

Before they could leave, the stallion came back with a wagon full of baked goods. “Ah thank y’all for yer patronage. Ah’m sure ya gotta be on yer way soon, but have some of our fine apple products fer the road. And don’t worry ‘bout the livestock yer friend devoured, the hatchery’ll pop out mor’a them critters in no time. Ah’ll even waive the cost of the stock since it was an emergency.”

In the spirit of hospitality, each took an apple fritter with them as they left the farm. Most of them commented about how delicious the treats were while others, like Albel, enjoyed his fritter quietly and did his best to not express how tasty they were.

With that pleasant diversion out of the way, the group steeled their hearts as they neared a pylon conduit which would lead them to the Sphere Institute and their final battle.

“Everyone ready?” Twilight asked. “It’s likely that Azure will have the door opened long enough for us to get inside. After that, we will be in for a long climb to the top.”

“Please don’t tell me that we have to go up over two hundred flights of stairs,” Cliff complained.

Twilight looked at Cliff in confusion. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. The stairs only go up to the fifth floor.” Twilight shook her head. “Anyway, Azure will meet us at the entrance to brief us on what we need to do.”

Without further delay, the two ponies activated the conduit. With everyone touching the two, they were all transported to the entrance of the Sphere institute. As they walked to the entrance, they saw the door open for them invitingly. They accepted the invitation and headed inside.

Once inside, the group quickly spotted Azure Lazer next to a large pylon crystal that was generating a field of energy. The mare turned to see the group and stepped toward Twilight to greet her.

“Good to see you again, Twilight,” Azure greeted. “As I already told you, the building is now overrun by monsters. The Valkyrie Monster Generator has gone haywire. In order to secure the building, I’ve called the Protoss city of Lydun and they have offered us their assistance in this matter. Given the sheer magnitude of this facility, the Lydun defense forces have granted us six hundred and fifty templars to secure each floor with. They are composed almost evenly of high templars, dark templars and ascendants, enough for the two hundred and six floors we need to cover.”

Lyra recalled that ascendants were closely regulated because of how dangerous it was to wield the power of the void like the Tal’darim do. Other classes of templars were regulated as well, but ascendants were the most regulated, especially with the danger of their minds becoming corrupted with madness from overuse of void energies. Because of the high risk, the pass rate of students in this discipline was very low.

“I assume that you have secured the research section?” Twilight asked.

“Only the one on the fifth floor. Thankfully, we managed to get the facility evacuated so there are no civilians on the upper floors. The security cameras have confirmed this.”

“Alright, so what are we dealing with and what’s the plan?”

“Thankfully, the sixth through the hundredth floors have not been attacked by the Valkyrie monsters so they will still be occupied by the standard haywire security drones. Securing those floors will be the easy part. The real problems begin once you reach the one hundred and first floor. I’ve received reports that Lenneth has been keeping to the floors from one oh one to the two hundred and tenth floors. Be ready to encounter her at any time from that point.

“To make sure that we don’t have any monsters pulling a fast one on you and your friends and sneaking past you to take the elevator to the lower floors, we will be sending templars to guard the elevators on each floor. Unfortunately, since allowing the elevators to access all floors is a huge security risk, I can only ease the restrictions bit by bit so you will have to climb the tower one floor at a time. I will monitor your progress through the security cameras.”

“Great, we gotta climb a huge tower and we might as well be taking the stairs with how fast this climb is gonna be,” Cliff complained.

“Suck it up!” Azure snapped. “We don’t have a choice and I am not losing this building to a bunch of NPC trash mobs!”

“Anything else?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, be careful. Lemon Puff warned us about Lenneth’s power to summon dead NPCs, but I also know that Belzebub and Swift Burial are wandering the upper floors as well. I doubt they will be cooperative.”

Twilight nodded and the group headed to the elevator. The second, third, fourth and fifth floors had elevators that went upward next to the next floor.

Once the group got to the sixth floor, as they moved away, a trio of Protoss warped in with weapons at the ready.

Fayt noticed a number on the platform in front of the teleporter. Twilight looked at the boy and looked where he looked and decided to explain another part of the building. “Starting from the sixth floor, the many floors of this building are laid out in eight different variations. Each employee is given a set of eight floor plans to help them navigate where they are. This particular floor is labeled with a ‘one’ so that means we need to use layout one to navigate this floor.”

As they explored the sixth floor, they came across a number of security drones which had become pushovers due to how strong they had become over the course of their adventures.

And so, their long climb up the tower began. Each floor had the same enemies while Twilight navigated them through each floor. Each floor they ascended to followed with the warping in of a templar squad to secure the elevators. The climb was very long and tedious. With no challenging opponents, everyone soon became bored as they continued their ascent.

Every floor was essentially the same as they followed the eight layout maps and fought the same pitiful drones.

It wasn’t until they reached the one hundred and first floor that the real challenge began. As they began their exploration of that floor, they noticed that the enemies were very different from the ones from the past ninety-five floors. It was a wake-up call when Roger got overconfident and tried attacking a plant monster only for it to slap him away. Cliff managed to catch him.

“Finally, time to get to work,” Sophia said.

The plant monster was on the level of the monsters from the Maze of Tribulations. The fight was a little tough because ninety-five floors of trivial foes made them a little rusty. However, they managed to burn down the plant monster with fire symbols.

The next few enemies helped the group to shake the rust off as they worked together to face bats, minigun drones, giant horned turtles, more plant monsters and elemental brutes made of obsidian.

“Careful everyone,” Twilight warned. “If the monsters from this point are following standard dungeon monster protocol, the monsters are going to get a lot stronger the closer we get to the top floor.”

As their exploration of the floor continued, the group took some time to remember the things they saw during their ascent. Twilight had mentioned to them that there were projects that were being worked on that would advance their society forward, while other projects were related to the Eternal Sphere.

One particular project involved creating an isolated galaxy in the Eternal Sphere in an experiment with raw magic by using six cosmic workshops to refine it into six different forms and creating lifeforms using those energies. Among them were beings of light, darkness, nature, death, demonic and arcane.

Another project in the making was one that Twilight refused to comment about. The only thing they knew about it was that it was called Project Ankh.

Following Twilight’s map of the floor, they soon arrived at the room where the next elevator was located. It was to their surprise that they saw Lenneth looking at them and blocking the way to the elevator.

“I see that you refused to heed my warning, and you murdered my brother Gabriel and my sister Freya,” Lenneth coldly said. “Your actions have jeopardized the project and you must be eliminated.”

“Don’t worry everyone,” Twilight assured. “Lenneth’s programming forbids her from taking direct action unless we are near Ethereal Queen.”

“Sadly, you are correct,” Lenneth grumbled. “It would seem that the current project leader has not removed that protocol from my system. However, I can still leave you with obstacles to impede your progress.” She then raised her spear, giving everyone the familiar sense that one of their old foes was about to make a comeback. “Return from the Underworld, Champion of Rogues!”

A moment later, a black summoning circle appeared on the floor and a familiar foe rose from it…

…except that they had forgotten who he was. All they knew was that a man with short, spiky, dull gray hair and eyes with darkened sclera wearing armor that offered some protection from blasters and was carrying a phase gun was staring at them with his weapon pointed at them.

Lenneth teleported away once she completed the summon.

“Uhh…who is this?” Fayt asked.

The man’s jaw dropped when he heard that. “For real!? I can’t have become that forgettable! Don’t you recognize Norton the Great?”

“Sorry, doesn’t ring a bell.”

“You can’t be serious!” Norton whined. “We met on Vanguard III! I fought you and that Klausian and that Velbaysian and that Equestrian.”

“Well, I do remember being on Vanguard III, I remember that I had to beat up a bunch of thugs and their leader, but I forgot the name. I’ve fought so many enemies lately that I’m having a hard time keeping my names straight.”

Norton growled in increasing volume until he roared, “That’s it! I’m not gonna let you make fun of me anymore! I’m gonna remind you why I am the Great and Glorious Norton!” He takes aim with his rifle and everyone takes up combat stances.

“Wait, I remember something!” Lyra cried.

Norton looked at Lyra and raised an eyebrow. “You do?”

“Yeah, I remember doing this to someone!” Before Norton could react, the mare was already right in front of him and delivered a roundhouse kick to his gut. He coughed up blood as a hoof impacted hard on his stomach, sending him flying into a wall. “I also remember doing this to someone!” Once again Lyra was right in front of the Rezerbian and her eyes glowed red along with her right hand. Norton was too stunned from the sudden attack to properly react to the mare using void energy to drain his life force. This time however, she ripped all of the life from Norton’s body instead of most of it like she did on Vanguard.

Norton choked out a cry of agony before he withered and vanished.

With that taken care of, Twilight approached Lyra. “You remember that guy?”

“Does it matter?” Lyra replied. “The guy was a stereotypical scumbag, he’s not really worth our time to remember him.”

Everyone simply left the matter at that and moved on to the next floor via the elevator in the room.

The next ten floors were much the same. Each floor they arrived on was followed by a small group of templars that were mainly composed of Protoss, ponies and changelings, some of whom Lyra remembered teaching.

Up through the one hundred and eleventh floors, the enemies were much the same: plant monsters, bats, tortoises, minigun drones, and metal elementals. No other surprises awaited the group until they reached the one hundred and twelfth floor.

Once they reached said floor, the monsters changed. Just like with the Maze of Tribulations, the group figured that after a certain number of floors, the monster roster would be completely different.

From this point, the monsters they encountered were axebeaks, porcupines, small puppets, quadruped model incapacitators and aquaregias.

The aquaregias were the ones that the group had to watch out for. Despite their water elemental nature, they were able to cast Lightning Strike symbols, which Thanatas learned the hard way when a bolt of lightning struck her. Thankfully, her electricity resistance didn’t fail her. However, the white glass merfolk were the ones to be wary of in this section. The other enemies were not very tough.

With knowledge of the new enemies, the group continued their ascent through the towering facility until they reached the one hundred and fifteenth floor. It was there that they received an answer to one of their earlier mysteries.

A black version of Crosell stood before the group in a room that was somehow large enough to comfortably hold his gargantuan size.

Twilight rushed forward and stopped in front of the dragon. “Crosell, is that you?”

“Princess, you must flee!” he said with a strained voice. “That changeling captured my data and her vile mistress has corrupted me. I’m losing control of myself, it’s taking every ounce of my remaining will to not attack you. I’m sorry princess, but you must delete me!”

Twilight flapped her wings and leapt back to the group. “Alright, let’s end him and move on.”

“That’s kinda cold of you,” Cliff said. “You not even gonna give him a heartfelt farewell?”

Twilight deadpanned at Cliff. “His backup data is in a secure location. I can just restore him using that. Besides, we don’t have time to waste worrying about his well being.”

“You guys move on ahead, I’ll catch up as soon as I’ve finished my business with this guy,” Thanatas offered.

Twilight sighed, “Just like before, huh?”

“Not often I get to stretch my wings, princess,” Thanatas smirked.

“Just don’t wreck the building, I doubt the structure is as stable as the Urssa Lava Caves,” Twilight said with an eye roll.

The group moved past Crosell who tried to intercept them only to get grabbed by the arm and hurled across the room by Thanatas in her bone dragon form. The impact from the throw shook the building.

As they left the room, the group felt more shaking and heard a lot of roaring for the next few minutes before the last thing they heard was a pained roar as they boarded the elevator to the next floor.

On the next floor, the group was relieved that there was no longer any shaking. By the time they reached the elevator to the next floor, Thanatas had caught up with the group.

“So he’s actually dead this time?” Sophia asked telepathically.

“In a manner of speaking,” Thanatas thought, earning her a deadpan stare. “You know how I hate to waste.”

Sophia rolled her eyes as they continued their climb. Once again, they had an easy time dealing with the monsters, with the aquaregias being the most troublesome. This continued until they reached the one hundred and twenty second floor where the monsters changed once again.

The next set of enemies featured the return of the berserker warriors along with more scorpions, floating red armors with giant axes, robotic stinger drones and fire spirits. Most of the enemies in this section were mentally weak with the spirits and drones having better mental, or in the drones’ case, processor, stamina. Regardless, the monsters were not so tough.

The group found the next guardian on the one hundred and twenty sixth floor. This one was another black dragon. However, this one was smaller than Crosell and its arms were a little large for a dragon of its size. It wore spiked bracelets on its arms.

“No surprise that you humans managed to get past Crosell,” the dragon said. “That overgrown old fool had nothing but his size going for him. It would have been better if he stayed smaller, like me. My smaller size makes me a more formidable opponent than that clumsy old fool.”

“So what are you trying to say?” Fayt asked. “Are you here to boast?”

The dragon frowned at the boy. “I will have your head for your impudence. You’ll find me far more challenging than that old fool.”

“How about you put your money where your mouth is,” Thanatas said with an innocent smile. “If you are so much more dangerous than Crosell, then let’s settle the debate between you two.”

“Hah, as if you could do anything to make such an event happen. Crosell is dead now and I am not.”

“True, but I can still make it happen.”

The dragon then started to sweat. That nervous reaction did not go unnoticed by Thanatas or the psychics. “T-there is no point in bluffing, human. Crosell is dead and there’s no way that old fool can challenge me. Even if he were here, I would have thrashed him until he cried for his mommy.”

Thanatas giggled. Her innocent smile slowly faded into a wicked smirk. “Hey Crosell, I think this little whelp is calling you out. Are you going to rise to the challenge?”

A pool of black formed and covered most of the room. Everyone backed away from the circle as a number of large bones rose from the black puddle. It was quickly discovered that the bones were actually a colossal dragon skeleton. In the span of a minute, the skeleton of Crosell fully emerged from the darkness before the black puddle vanished.

Crosell looked around the room before he locked his gaze on the smaller black dragon. “I should have known that a coward such as you would brag about being the strongest dragon in the event of my death. Are you ready to put your life on the line to prove that you are worthy of that mantle?”

The smaller dragon cowered at the sight of Crosell’s impressive stature, but the words spoken by the undead dragon was an issue of challenge that his own pride would not allow him to reject. The dragon roared in response and charged at Crosell.

The shadow dragon started by casting a Laser Beams symbol on Crosell who took the hit. Crosell countered by setting his skeletal frame ablaze before releasing a torrent of flame that engulfed the dragon. Thanatas and Sophia placed barriers around the elevator behind the smaller dragon to ensure that collateral damage did not halt their progress. The two dragons began to claw at each other but being a skeleton, the shadow dragon’s attacks were only scraping bone while Crosell’s claws were tearing at his flesh. The smaller dragon jumped back and clutched at his wounds.

“That’s not fair, you don’t even have any flesh for me to cleave,” the dragon complained.

“If you were as strong as you claim, then you should have the strength to shatter bones,” Crosell countered. “Where is that strength that you were so confident about earlier?”

The shadow dragon tried again to attack the skeletal dragon, but each of his attacks were blocked and a face full of flames was his reward.

Eventually, the smaller dragon became exhausted while Crosell, being undead, was prepared for a battle of attrition. However, the shadow dragon gave in to his fatigue and sat down in surrender. “Fine, you win. I’m still not the strongest dragon.”

“You have a lot to learn about being strong, young one. You still have centuries to learn that lesson. Perhaps after the backups are engaged, you may meet me in my lair on Elicoor II and I shall show you the secret to what made me the Marquis of dragons.”

Another black puddle formed around Crosell and his skeletal remains collapsed into the dark abyss. The shadow dragon used what energy he could muster to get up from where he was sitting and moved to the side of the room to allow the group passage. “Go. I no longer have the strength to fight. Move forward and continue your journey to the top.”

The group nodded in response while Sophia and Thanatas removed their respective barriers around the elevator, giving them a clear path to the next floor.

Once more the group continued their ascent through the tower and dealt with any monsters they came across. As expected, a new set of monsters appeared, starting at the one thirty-second floor.

From floor one thirty-two, the group encountered purple-cloaked ridiculers, white wolves, gold sword armors, and viking mechs. Perhaps it was because of all the battles they had been through during the course of their grand adventure, but the party was beginning to see that the monsters created by the Valkyrie Monster Generator were starting to pose gradually less challenge compared to when they encountered such monsters in the Maze of Tribulations. It got to the point where they started challenging groups of monsters in groups of three at a time while the others watched.

This pattern continued until they reached the one thirty-seventh floor where they found Lenneth again. The little girl glared at the group.

“You interlopers are more formidable than I thought. I am certain now that you pose a threat to my master. I must take measures to make sure that you never reach her. But first, a distraction.”

Lenneth manifested her spear again and pointed it up. “Go forth, he who walks among the dead!”

A moment later, another summoning circle appeared between Lenneth and the group. From the circle rose another familiar foe, though also disappointing based on the last time they fought him.

The man was covered head to toe in black plate armor with orange highlights with a layer of chainmail beneath. Only the man’s face was shown. He wielded a battle axe and a morningstar mace in his right and left hands respectively.

“Hmph, this maggot is who she sends at us next?” Albel asked mockingly. “I would have thought that little girl would stop going easy on us after all this time, but she’s still sending maggot food.”

Lenneth glared at the swordsman before she raised her spear again. “In that case…” From the summoning circle came more foes: a dragon-riding knight and a large shirtless man wearing a black leather mask and black leather pants. “This will do for now. You may do with this fodder as you wish. We shall meet again higher in the tower.” Lenneth then teleported away.

Albel growled at the display of old foes before him. “That condescending brat is still underestimating me. I could take on all three of these worms by myself.”

Sophia rolled her eyes and turned her hands into razor-sharp claws. “Too bad for you, it’s my turn.” She then channeled her psionic power through her hands until they crackled with psionic lightning. “Let’s get this over with. We don’t need these idiots wasting our time.” Within the span of a second, Sophia jumped from pillar to pillar in the room and slashed Shelby, Schweimer and the nameless dungeon master to pieces. The high voltage from her claws caused their flesh to evaporate until they vanished all at once.

“I have to agree, cousin, these fights are getting boring,” Thanatas said. “If they don’t up the difficulty soon, the only real challenge might as well be that last prototype. Still, we have a whole seventy-four floors to explore, plenty of room for something decent to show up.”

Their climb continued.

The Ethereal Queen Part 2

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With no time to waste due to the imminent arrival of Crystal Silicon and the prototype, Sophia, Lyra, Twilight, Thanatas and their friends continue ascending the many floors of the Sphere Institute.

Along the way, they spotted several rooms that had been decimated by the monsters created by the Valkyrie Monster Generator. Twilight would have to take stock later on what projects could be salvaged and what couldn’t.

For now, they continued to fight their way past more viking mechs, wisps, wolves, gold armors and ridiculers.

With the group taking turns dealing with these monsters, they became a little more challenging, especially on the occasion where the ridiculers turned their friends into small bunnies or sentient vegetables.

As they advanced, they began hearing faint rumblings above them. Some, like Twilight, had a bad feeling that the monsters on the upper floors were getting more rowdy and that meant trouble was coming. Some who heard the rumbling also had the same feeling but welcomed the challenge. Then there was Thanatas who really didn’t care what the enemies were up to.

Once they reached the one hundred and forty-second floor, they began to understand what was going on. The monsters on this floor were thrashing about and attacking the walls and floors around them, attempting to disable the floating platforms that served as the only floor they could walk on.

“Have they gone insane?” Fayt asked.

“No, this is tactics,” Sophia countered. “Whoever is ordering them around, likely Lenneth, they want to keep us from the top floor by destroying the walkways so we can’t get to the elevators. The elevators themselves may be under attack as well.

<”No need to worry about those.”> Azure said through Twilight’s communicator. <”We anticipated a long time ago the possibility of the monster generators going haywire. While we couldn’t take measures against preventing them from spawning in the real world since they also functioned as a part of the security system, we did install forcefields and turrets that fire beams that delete any digital beings that get near the elevators.>

<”Of course, I’d be a fool to rely on the defense system in this situation, especially with the possibility that Crystal Silicon might intervene and hack the defense system again. The templars are here to cover for that possibility.”>

Twilight giggled, “She’s not my chief of security for nothing.”

Feeling more assured knowing that Azure was watching their backs, the group proceeded through the damaged sections of the Sphere Institute.

As they explored the section of the tower, they encountered more bipedal incapacitator drones that were smashed by Cliff and Mirage. Serpentine yuan-tis were randomly firing Ice Needles around them until Nel silenced them and Albel sliced and diced them. Some warlocks tried to ambush the group by casting Laser Beams under their feet but Twilight and Lyra, being unicorns, sensed the cast. Twilight put up a protective shield while Lyra hunted down the culprits and cut them down. A number of chameleons kept themselves invisible while smashing anything they could get their claws on. Sophia pinpointed their mental activity and rendered their invisibility pointless.

The section suddenly became a lot easier to navigate when they found out that zombie dragons roamed the section. With that, Thanatas commanded the undead wyrms to attack and devour their fellow monsters.

The group still had to take caution when they came across a potentially damaged platform because they didn’t want to fall through the floor and down to a lower level. Sophia, Lyra and Twilight sometimes had to hold up flooring so the others could get across.

Once they reached floor one forty seven, they found Lenneth again. Instead of saying anything to the group, she simply raised her spear to begin the next summon. “Come hollow one, command your armies and overwhelm my foes!” She then teleported away.

What confused the group at first was the fact that there was no summoning circle this time. It wasn’t until a few moments later that they found Vendeeni soldiers flooding the hallways in large numbers. They soon had the group surrounded and tried to blast them but Twilight’s shield protected the party long enough for them to get started wiping out the attacking aliens.

With the corridors being narrow, the Vendeeni were perfectly lined up for the party’s most powerful attacks. Between Cliff’s Max Shockwave, Nel’s Splitting Sky, Maria’s Energy Burst, Fayt’s Ethereal Blast, Lyra’s Psionic Shockwave and Sophia brutally rampaging through the halls in a smaller ultralisk form, they began wiping out the Vendeeni soldiers in droves.

However, no matter how many they killed, more kept coming to reinforce their numbers. They couldn’t keep going like they were or they would exhaust themselves so they focused on locating the source of the seemingly infinite Vendeeni.

It was after a few more minutes of fighting through countless Vendeeni that they found the source in a large room with a giant platform. A familiar Vendeeni, with black helical markings over his left eye wearing green and maroon robes to show his station, laughed as he repeatedly summoned more Vendeeni soldiers.

Biwig saw the group but he continued summoning more while taking aim with his disruptor rifle and firing at them. Sophia took the shots and her thick natural armor absorbed them. She then took her giant foot and slammed it hard on the platform Biwig was on, shaking the floor, the building, and causing the soldiers to fall down. After that, she broke the platform from the rest of the flooring and transformed back to normal before she channeled a large amount of psionic lightning on the floor which conducted the energy and violently electrocuted the soldiers and Biwig.

Biwig was the only survivor of that attack and with some effort, attempted to get back on his feet despite the platform now being on a slant. He then tried to fire at Sophia but she blocked the shot with a swipe of her hand and casually turned around and walked away.

“Finish him, Roger,” Sophia ordered.

Roger instinctively didn’t question the rabbit’s sudden order and pulled out his remote that unleashed his most powerful attack. When he pressed the button, the slanted platform was damaged further by a barrage of space debris that came from some rifts opened by Roger’s remote. A missile landed next to Biwig a moment before it exploded, incinerating what was left of the Vendeeni leader.

As the party headed to the elevator, Cliff raised the question that had been on everyone’s minds. Sophia knew they all wanted to ask but she waited for someone to bring it up anyway. “So why didn’t you finish the bag head yourself?”

Sophia shrugged, “Not worth the energy. In the end, he was just an ordinary Vendeeni with better armor. I’ll give him credit for surviving that shock, but without his army, he’s just one simple Vendeeni.”

The party headed to the elevator and resumed their climb. Up until floor one fifty one, the group had time to rest and regain some energy lost during the Vendeeni attack thanks to Thanatas taking control of the dragon zombies and pitting them against the other monsters and machines.

That time of rest came to an end once they reached floor one fifty two. It was at this point that some of the wall paneling had come undone and a few sparking wires were sticking out in places as they explored. The walkways were damaged by the monsters roaming the floor and the lighting was dimmer as some of the lights on the floor were broken.

The new monsters in the area gave everyone the creeps with the floor in the state it was in. Among the monsters were burning zombies running around engulfed in bright yellow flames. As usual, they were put down by ice-based attacks. The smaller kobolds had no real tricks in their attacks except swinging their axes around. The larger rooms on the floor were where, from what Twilight explained, the experimental models of the giant robo gunners were being housed. Dealing with those models was a pain in the neck with each one they came across, especially since they were equipped with generators that emit a pulse that was equivalent to getting hit by a taser.

Adding to the creepy factor on the floor were the giggling and creepy laughter that echoed through the halls. It was soon discovered that the laughter came from a gang of thieves accompanied by witches. The thieves were hardly a threat with their daggers alone, but they provided a distraction for the witches to cast their spells. To the aggravation of many of the members of the party, the thieves were wearing armor that made them immune to elemental symbology. However, the armor didn’t protect them from the party’s most powerful attacks. Adray’s Emotion Torrent proved that point to the bandits as the giant silvery sphere erupted in a blast of light that sent the would-be assailants flying all over the hallway. Albel acted like a meat grinder as he rushed down the hallway violently slashing as he went using his Double Slash of Fury technique. At least seven thieves were chopped up and vanished.

The rest of the bandits regrouped and resumed their usual strategy by distracting the party with their daggers while the witches began casting Lightning Strike on the party. Twilight managed to shield the party from the initial wave of spells before Sophia rushed past the thieves before they could acknowledge her presence. The witches prepared another wave before Sophia was upon them and, in the span of a split second, jabbed all of the witches in the larynx using her index and middle fingers. This caused the witches to halt all casting and panic as they were rendered mute. When the thieves noticed this they panicked and started to run away, only for all exits to be blocked off by walls of bone.

With the attackers in disarray, the party had an easy time finishing the gang off.

With the floor explored, the group moved on. With the monsters being more organized in the current section, they had to take care to avoid anymore ambushes by more thieves and witches.

This trend continued as they reached floor one fifty nine where they encountered another guardian: a render.

Sophia took one look at the render and did her best, but failed, to stifle a giggle. “Looks like our next foe is the jolly green giant,” she commented with laughter.

The render growled at the rabbit girl. “I’ll paint my fangs and claws with your blood for that comment.”

“Really?” Thanatas wondered. “Green and red? Isn’t it a little early for Christmas? Or late, depending on the perspective? I mean it’s still spring right now, nearly summer.”

“Now that you mention it, he does look like the Grinch,” Sophia said jokingly. “I wonder what he’s doing away from his mountaintop home overlooking Whoville?”

“Is this really the time for jokes?” Cliff questioned.

“Yes,” Sophia and Thanatas said in unison as the green render opened its giant maw. Everyone but Thanatas jumped out of the way as the beast fired a huge beam of ice at her. The undead knight blocked the beam with her left palm. She then tossed Sophia a vial with a sickly green fluid in it. Figuring what her cousin had in mind, she opened the vial and tossed it into the green render’s gaping maw.

The render stopped its attack and grasped what was to be believed as its throat and made choking noises. It tried to cough up the vial and succeeded, but the vial was empty.

Only a few seconds passed before the symptoms of the disease within the vial presented itself. The render started walking around feverishly, as if drunk. It was soon coughing violently which soon led to its own blood staining its claws and teeth.

While the render was in its death throes, Thanatas gave the party members each a vial of antidote to the disease that was introduced to the render in case any of them were infected as she recalled that particular strain was contagious.

The render soon lost all feeling with its limbs and shivered as an unbearable chill settled over its body.

With the subject neutralized as a threat, Thanatas walked over to the dying beast and took samples of its body, which included fur, claws, teeth and a blood sample, diseased as it was. With that done, she took her sword and plunged it in its head and through its brain, causing it to vanish.

“There we are, with these samples and your genetic powers, cousin, we should be able to clone ourselves a grinch for the next time our family celebrates the holidays together,” Thanatas said.

“I’m not sure what cloning a grinch has to do with celebrating the holidays, but as long as you let me in on the plan, I’ll see what I can do,” Sophia replied.

“At the last party, Gerald declared the theme for the following year’s party as ‘bring someone who looks like a character from a Christmas story for dinner.’ I honestly didn’t expect to find a grinch here of all places.”

With that, everyone headed to the elevator to the next floor. On the way, Twilight psychically asked Lyra, “Just what is Christmas anyway?”

“It’s the human equivalent to Hearth’s Warming. Me and Bonnie celebrated the holiday with James Raynor and his crew a few times back when we were on that intergalactic adventure. One time we even had a surprise guest appearance from a band that looked dressed like characters from your Zereth Project. To this day I still have no idea how those guys got on the Hyperion.”

“How can that be?! The Zereth Project is still in early development today and you said such people just showed up a thousand years ago? That doesn’t even make sense!”

“Yep, which is why I try not to think about it.”

The current set of enemies kept the party busy for the next two floors until they came up to floor one sixty two, which was in worse shape than the previous floors. The damage to the flooring and walls was major and the lights were flickering, creating a proper scene for a horror movie.

The party cautiously explored the new section. With the lighting dim and flickering, they had to rely on the members who could see in the dark to guide them through the area.

Dark sorcerers with long beards roamed the halls but their vision was also not the best as they ended up being the ones ambushed and quickly eliminated.

Other monsters encountered were more of the abominable five-headed chimeras and centaur statues made of black and red crystals. Their minds were fragile so the party’s mind-destroying attacks were sufficient to deal with them.

The worst of that floor, however, came as a surprise to everyone. “That’s impossible!” Twilight shouted in disbelief. “I know I deleted the program! I even deleted Crystal’s virus, so how are these things here?!”

“I’m guessing that Crystal programmed their data into the Valkyrie Monster Generator,” Sophia said.

Standing before the party were three proclaimers in pure white garb standing alongside three white convictors.

The proclaimer mares were as white as their clothes while their eyes were open, revealing black sclera and irises of red and yellow with the red being the outer ring. Their pupils were white and slitted.

The convictors had eyes along their arms in the likeness of the proclaimers’ eyes. The clothing on the body was unzipped, revealing numerous black tentacles with fanged maws and eyes along the tendrils.

“Wow, demon-possessed angels and eldritch minions, nice touch,” Thanatas complimented to no one.

Lyra and Sophia moved toward the convictors to get their attention while Twilight fired a few shots from her horn to get the attention of the proclaimers.

The two templars used their energy blades to sever several tentacles from the convictors but more kept emerging from their robes. While Lyra kept cutting off tentacles, Sophia crouched down and sent a number of tentacles beneath the floor that moved toward the convictors. The abominations then opened the maws on their tentacles which started unleashing powerful whirlwinds that threatened to blow Lyra away.

The pony countered by teleporting behind the eldritch convictors and ran her energy blades through the backs of two of them. However, this only resulted in more tentacles emerging from the wounds on their backs which created more whirlwinds behind them. These winds blew Lyra back and toward a five-headed chimera which she was forced to face alone since she was cut off from the others.

Meanwhile, the rest of the party had their hands full fighting the proclaimers who repeatedly twirled to create eighteen pillars of black lightning around them which zapped everyone at least once. One proclaimer teleported behind the group and unleashed a cross-shaped wave which hit Maria and Peppita from behind.

Twilight did a brief analysis on the proclaimers and discovered their earth weakness. With that knowledge, Twilight found a break in their attacks and casted a Stone Rain symbol on two of the proclaimers while Adray used the same spell on the other proclaimer. The avalanche of rocks was enough to stagger them while Roger tossed several Land Mines underneath the proclaimers. The explosions sent them upward and crashing into the ceiling. Before the lone proclaimer landed, Roger hurried behind her and fired his bazooka pointblank which sent her flying and crashed into the other two. Adray finished them off by throwing his giant silvery Emotion Torrent at them.

While Lyra was busy dealing with a chimera, Sophia dealt with the three convictors by herself. She was still crouched down and the abominations were still trying to blow her away with their winds. They were confused about why she wasn’t being pushed back while the answer made itself known as a number of chitinous tentacles emerged from the floor beneath them and wrapped the three convictors together. She then made the tentacles secrete a highly acidic substance which made the convictors scream high-pitched screams of agony as the acid burned through them. The rabbit silenced the trio once and for all when she made the tentacles grow sharp bony spikes which impaled them all over their bodies.

With that job done, Sophia cut off the tips of her fingers which quickly regenerated and returned to normal while the severed tentacles began to rapidly decay until they turned hard and brittle.

While everyone was recovering from that unexpected attack, Sophia saw a nearby food vending machine and broke it open, claiming the delicious contents within. Twilight raised an eyebrow at the rabbit’s actions. “You know you can’t do that, right?”

“This area is already trashed anyway, might as well make the most of it.” She tossed an item to everyone while she claimed the rest. She had used up some biomass in that fight against the convictors so she needed to replenish her stores.

Everyone took a moment to eat the snacks and get some of their strength back. They knew that the top floor was still forty nine floors away and a lot more fights lie between them and Crystal.

After their break, they continued their climb up the tower, using what abilities they had to get through gaps in the floors or to get through collapsed rooms. It didn’t help that they had to fight more demonic proclaimers and eldritch convictors as they went through the dim floors.

Once they reached floor one seventy and the templars arrived to guard the elevator, the party advanced a short distance before a shadowy figure appeared next to Thanatas. The figure grabbed her by the arm and teleported away.

“Thanatas!” Fayt shouted.

“Calm down Fayt, Thanatas can take care of herself.” Sophia assured him. “She’s bound to be on this floor somewhere so let’s keep looking.”

As the group explored the area, taking care of any proclaimers, convictors and other monsters along the way, they heard the sounds of swords clashing growing louder as they proceeded. They soon heard what sounded like the pained cries of a baritone voice.

By the time they found the room where they suspected Thanatas was located, they stopped to listen to what was happening.

“Why would an enchanting woman such as yourself reject me?” the male voice asked. “You could live like a queen for eternity with me.”

“Give it a rest, you hopeless romantic!” Thanatas rolled her eyes. “For one, I already am a queen. My kingdom is composed of all things undead. A loser like you has no place beside me. The fact that I could thrash you so handily proves that.”

“How can this be?! I am the Arch Demon! I am the most powerful vampire across countless worlds! How could I lose to anyone, even a beautiful symbol of death such as you?!”

“Sure, in the Eternal Sphere you might be powerful, but to me you are still a weakling. You are unfit to court me. However, I will give you one opportunity to save your pathetic skin: become my servant for all eternity, or perish like the other pieces of garbage that I have slain and raised into one of my servants. You have ten seconds to decide.”

The vampire didn’t even hesitate when he made his decision. “I have no need for such a generous amount of time. I am yours to do as you please for until you allow my soul to move beyond the veil where I shall receive my judgment for my choices in life.”

Thanatas looked at the vampire with disgust. “Do you have any pride? Whatever, I just need to do away with your digital flesh and see what I can do to create you a new body. For that, I need your soul.”

“Your soul is yours to claim, my queen,” the vampire declared.

Thanatas sighed and spoke in a bored tone, “What’s your name?”

“Andromalius, my queen.”

The death knight nodded and pricked the vampire with the tip of her sword. In moments his soul was completely consumed by Evermourne while his body vanished.

Sophia giggled as she walked into the room. “You sure know how to stomp on a heart, Thana.”

“Ugh, gag me. That loser was trying to woo me as if he were living in some cheap vampire romance novel. When that didn’t work, he tried gifts, then he tried to beat me into submission and that worked about as well as the last two attempts. At least I got a slave to serve me for as long as he’s worth something and that’s barely anything.”

Letting the matter go, the group continued their climb.

As they predicted, floor one seventy two was where the next set of monsters showed up. What was surprising, however, was that the floor they ended up on was completely intact, as if the order to demolish the tower didn’t reach the monsters there.

Of course, the monsters in this section looked far less impressive than the set before. The monsters roaming around were giant tarantulas, floating sharks, mantises and floating fish. These were slow-moving monsters that were easily dealt with at range or from the side since they were slow to react. To their credit, however, attacking their faces proved to be a bad idea as the fish shot powerful bullets of water that dislocated Mirage’s shoulder and left it bleeding profusely. If she had not moved to the side slightly, that would have been a deadly headshot. The sharks’ teeth and the mantises’ arms were strong enough to tear through or cut steel like it was nothing. It was a miracle that the needles shot by the tarantulas didn’t puncture any vital organs when a few hit the party.

After healing the wounded, the party continued their exploration while taking the new monsters seriously.

When the group reached floor one seventy seven, they were surprised that Azure Lazer had teleported in with the latest group of templars.

“Azure? What are you doing here?” Twilight asked.

“I’m here to see to the arrest of the wanted criminals,” Azure responded. “The cameras picked up Belzebub four floors above us.”

“Are you sure about being here right now? The monsters here are powerful and you might get hurt.”

“In case you have forgotten, boss,” Azure began, “I am the chief of security for this building. Dealing with potential hazards is what I get paid to do. If I get hurt in the line of duty, then that’s part of the job as well. I get hazard pay for things like this. And besides,” She then points her rifle at a nearby tarantula and shoots in the head. She then pulls the bolt handle which releases an empty bullet casing. “I’m far from defenseless.”

With that, the party, with Azure now included, continued their exploration.

Soon, they reach floor one eighty one where Azure reported Belzebub’s location. As more templars warped in, the party looked around for the renegade changeling.

It wasn’t long before they saw the changeling in one of the narrow corridors. Strangely, she appeared to be in a relaxed stance while most of the party were preparing to defend themselves. However, Nel was the first to say something, “Wait, there’s something off about this.”

Sophia, Thanatas and Lyra discovered the same thing. One look into her mind and soul revealed their suspicions.

The thing before them was a soulless husk.

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.

“Peer into her mind, Twi,” Lyra instructed. Twilight did that and gasped as she noticed that what was supposed to be a psychic signature was nothing more than a psychic echo.

The psychics sent out mental pulses to find the real Belzebub, but the results returned with nothing.

The hollow shell of Belzebub then shrugged and spoke, “Huh, I figured that you would easily find out that this shell isn’t the real me. You are correct, I am using a rare changeling ability called ‘living molt’. Only a few per generation usually show any proficiency for this ability. But until this shell breaks, we share the same memories.”

“Where are you hiding, Belzebub?” Azure demanded.

“I can’t tell you that. I can tell you that I left this shell behind not as a form of deception, but to relay to you what I know. As things are, I can’t allow myself to be captured here, I have my reasons and there are too many things that I need to do that are vital to keeping Equestria’s peace.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.

“I can’t tell you what those reasons are. If the E.L.F. find out, it might cause them to panic and take more drastic measures against the princesses.”

“So what can you tell us?”

Belzebub frowned, “That idiot, Swift Burial, has no sense of integrity. Though that’s to be expected for a mercenary. He almost ruined everything for me when he accepted a contract from the E.L.F. without consulting me. Thanks to him, I got roped into this mess and I would appreciate it if you beat him within an inch of his life before you haul him to prison. I blame him for the fact that I’m gonna have nightmares for weeks after seeing that horrifying spell that that zombie dragon used!”

“Hey, do not call me a zombie!” Thanatas snapped. “I will not be associated as one of those low class undead who are lucky to have one brain cell in their otherwise empty and rotted skulls. If you wish to call me something, I would prefer to be called a bone dragon.”

The living molt rolled her eyes. “Anyway, now onto the useful information. Princess Sweetie Drops has noticed that some shipments of medical supplies have gone missing. However, the thefts are spread apart and allow the majority of transports to get through while the thieves are trying to pick transports at random to stay under Princess Celestia’s radar. This tells me that unless the thefts are unrelated, the Equestrian Liberation Front is involved. If they are involved, then they are likely the patient type and that’s not good for Equestria.”

“Is there anything the stolen shipments have in common?” Sophia asked.

Belzebub nodded, “Each of the missing shipments contained tissue samples and embryos that were headed to the Vanhoover medical research facility. There have also been mysterious purchases for medical equipment that relate to the field of genetics. I couldn’t trace the transactions because whoever is doing this created a number of dummy accounts that led me on a wild goose chase.”

“So shipments of tissue and embryos and genetic equipment? Are they trying to build clones?”

“That’s what I thought at first until I heard that someone broke into the forbidden section of the Canterlot Archives. From what I heard, the missing item was the spell pattern for a soul anchor spell. Put it all together and you get pseudo immortal ponies.”

“So this means that even if we kill Crystal Silicon by accident, she will most likely have her soul moved to one of the prepared copies of her own body,” Twilight figured.

“A soul anchor spell is a troublesome thing,” Thanatas said. “Even if I tried taking her soul, I’d be playing tug-of-war against a bunch of anchor spells, depending on how many copies of her have been made so far.”

Belzebub nodded, “Anyway, until we know where their headquarters is, we have no choice but to thwart their plans for now. Unfortunately, the matter of Project Valkyrie was merely a test to see what they could do with Princess Twilight’s artificial universe. Thanks to that contract, I had to give the mysterious leader a list of your projects, princess. There’s no telling what the E.L.F. will do with that knowledge, so I suggest you stay vigilant.”

“I have one question, why are you helping us all of a sudden?” Sophia asked.

“I know why, but I can’t say,” Lyra said. Belzebub gave the mare a thankful look. One look into Lyra’s mind gave Sophia the answer anyway.

“Anyway, that’s all I have for now. One last thing though, I sabotaged one of the shipments.” Belzebub giggled mischievously. “I wish I could be there when she ends up reviving in one of the bad tanks.”

Sophia and Thanatas giggled while Twilight asked, “Do you have an idea what the E.L.F.’s next target will be?”

“I’m not sure, but I think if they wanted to hurt you they might target one of your more precious projects next.” With that, Belzebub’s molt cracked and crumbled to dust.

Twilight took a deep breath and put on a determined face. “Let’s go, we have thirty more floors to go before we reach the top.”

Everyone nodded in agreement and headed toward the next elevator.

The Ethereal Queen Part 3

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The party emerged from the elevator transporter on the one hundred eighty-second floor. As they explored the floor, Twilight considered what Belzebub said. She was still unsure if she could trust the changeling as she was still unsure whether or not she working for the enemy. Strangely though, Sophia and Thanatas didn’t seem the least bit concerned about whether the changeling was being truthful or not.

“Aren’t you two concerned about what Belzebub said?” Twilight asked.

“Nope, what she said has nothing to do with us,” Sophia responded. “This seems like a problem for your kingdom.”

“Oh, right…” Twilight mumbled.

“But aren’t you the least bit concerned about the threats to this kingdom?” Fayt asked.

“Fayt, you and the others are denizens of the Eternal Sphere. When this is all over, you will be going back home once the backups have been engaged. You’re here to protect that home and do what you can to make sure Crystal Silicon never threatens it again. This world may have created your universe, but it’s not your home. You have no obligation to assist the Equestrians with their problems.”

“And yet he helped my kingdom during the Airyglyph invasion even though he had no obligation to help my people,” Nel countered.

Sophia sighed and rolled her eyes. “Yes, Fayt is like that. He likes to stick his nose into matters that are none of his business. I’m sure that he would love to help you guys out, but he needs to realize that he has his own life he needs to live and he can’t run around playing hero all his life. The same goes for the rest of you.”

“So what are you going to do once this is over?” Fayt asked.

“I’m not a true denizen of the Eternal Sphere like you Fayt. Once the backups are engaged, the Sophia that I once replaced will be restored and will be able to live her life like she was supposed to. I can’t go around pretending that I’m her sister either. I learned from Thanatas that everyone in my blood family is immune to the ravages of time. Once I reach my physical peak, time comes to an abrupt halt for me. Even if I didn’t return to the family right away, people would still ask questions about my lack of aging and that would lead to a number of major hassles. I’m not so foolish as to believe that I can avoid addressing the issue forever.”

“So you’re going back to your birth family? Maybe we can visit you every now and then,” Fayt offered.

“I’m afraid it’s not that simple,” Twilight sighed. She knew this conversation was coming, so they might as well have it while they were in a section with more manageable monsters.

“What do you mean?”

“The Eternal Sphere backups are designed to rewind events back to a point where we can take action to prevent the events that proceeded from the safe point. This will affect all digital beings that exist within the Eternal Sphere. All events that went on after that point will be rewritten as if the universe had entered an alternate timeline.

“For you who are currently outside the Eternal Sphere, I’m not sure what will happen. The backups will return all characters to the states they were in at the safe point. However, the point we would have to choose would be a little over nineteen years ago in ES time, just before Crystal Silicon sent her message to the Leingod expedition. This will mean that your times will go back to a point just before Fayt and Maria were born. Since we’ve never had characters manifest in our universe, I have no idea what will happen. But I can hypothesize that the backups will simply create stand-ins of yourselves to live your old lives for you while if you choose to stay in our universe, you can no longer return to the lives you once had.”

“So what happens if we go back when the backups kick in?” Cliff asked.

“Then, most likely, stand-ins won’t be created and your personal timelines will be reversed by nineteen years. Any and all memories made during that time will be erased.”

“What?! You mean we have to choose between getting our memories erased or never going home?”

Twilight nodded. “I don’t expect you to make a decision right away. Take your time to decide, because this is a hard decision to make.”

The digital characters began to think about what Twilight said, but they didn’t let it distract them from the enemies around them. The easiest of them were the toad warriors whose tactics were slow and predictable. They had to be cautious of the tadpoles because of their tendency to self-destruct when people were around them. There were also black variants of the floating tentacled hydras who were so transparent that the only way to see them was by seeing distortions in the space where they were. There were also red four-armed demons and red-haired succubi who forced the females of the party to punch the faces of the men in the group when the succubi tried to control them.

A small surprise awaited the group on the one hundred and eighty-seventh floor. As they arrived on the floor, they saw that the walkways were bolted to the walls to prevent their use, preventing the party from advancing further.

However, whoever had bolted the floor had not counted on Sophia’s psionic prowess as she levitated everyone around the floor. While the process was a little straining on the templar, the lack of monsters allowed her to concentrate as she moved through the area with Twilight navigating with her map.

One thing was for sure in Sophia’s mind, she needed her own means of mass transit in case something like this happened again.

Twilight soon directed the rabbit to a large room where the next elevator was. Not surprisingly, the platform was intact. However, the middle of the platform was occupied by two familiar and famous ponies. While the stallion was the same as he was on television, the mare’s coat was strangely black. However, she was wearing the same outfit as the famous arena champion.

“Is that Solar Point?” Twilight asked.

“I think so, but his partner doesn’t look like the Diamond Crown that I saw in the posters,” Sophia noted.

“That’s because my white coat was part of my public image,” Diamond Crown said. “A simple color changing spell was enough to sell the illusion.”

“So why the white coat then?”

“Hmph, ponies are always judging on appearance. Myself and Solar Point are not only the arena champions but we are also the most popular because of our sterling appearance. My power and my beauty are why I am the most popular fighter in the arena, with Solar being a close second.” Solar rolled his eyes.

“Basically, she’s afraid that if anypony knew that her natural coat color was black, ponies would associate her with black diamonds.” Solar explained, earning him a glare from Diamond. “Though more rare than white diamonds, natural black diamonds are looked at in society as fake, cheap and not as popular as white diamonds.”

“So you changed your coat color for popularity? Sounds kind of shallow,” Sophia scoffed.

“So why are you here?” Twilight asked.

“Isn’t it obvious? We are here to put an end to your interference in Lady Silicon’s plans,” Diamond declared. “We actually owe our ongoing reign as the arena champions to Lady Silicon. We use our positions as champions to scout potential members for the Equestrian Liberation Front and our Lady uses her connections to disqualify any potential contenders to prevent them from dethroning us.”

“To be frank, we were nervous that you might do just that since Lady Silicon was preoccupied with executing her plan,” Solar added. “I have to thank you, princess, for pulling those three out of there when you did in order to retake this tower.”

“Wow…crooked arena champions, how original,” Thanatas said sarcastically while rolling her eyes. “Guess this means that we can finish what we started.”

Diamond gave a smirk, “Why would I need to dirty my hands when I can just imprison you all?” Her horn began to glow.

Sophia and Lyra, who read Diamond’s mind and saw what she was planning, ran over to Thanatas who put her sword into the floor and put up a black dome around the three of them.

As this was happening, Twilight and the others found themselves trapped in bubbles and held against the wall. Before they could try to escape, Diamond placed the eleven in a stasis spell.

“Quickly Solar, kill them all before the spell breaks!” Diamond ordered.

Solar rushed over to Fayt to impale him with his broadsword but was blocked by Thanatas and her sword, much to Solar’s surprise.

Diamond looked from Solar and Thanatas to where the strange black dome was and saw Sophia and Lyra with their blades ready. “What!? How did you avoid my spell?”

Thanatas smirked, “Anti-Magic Zone, I’m full of surprises.”

While Thanatas clashed swords with Solar Point, Diamond Crown unleashed powerful spell after powerful spell in succession. Sophia and Lyra had to be quick to avoid being held in place by Deep Freeze spells.

Diamond teleported away when her opponents got too close and unleashed a Stone Rain on them. The templars used their agility to dodge the rocks and escape the earthen shower. Diamond then teleported to the other side of the platform and tried to envelop the whole field in an Explosion spell.

Thanatas saw the slowly dropping orb of fire and had an idea that she considered fun. She delivered a powerful kick between Solar’s legs to break his guard and leave a huge dent there. The stallion was surprised that the undead could kick a dent into his thick armor which left him in a constant state of discomfort as his armor pressed against his groin. The undead then grabbed the stallion by the arm and spun him around before hurling him into the falling sphere of fire. The sphere detonated prematurely but the blast was still enough to knock everyone away.

Sophia and Lyra flew back to the wall and used it as a jumping point to launch themselves at Diamond Crown who was about to unleash a Meteor Swarm on the area until Lyra spun herself around in midair and delivered a devastating kick to Diamond’s stomach which sent her flying until she hit the back wall hard. Diamond coughed up blood as a result. Just when she thought the worst of that attack was over, Sophia flew into her like a missile and body slammed her through the wall and out the building.

Diamond lost consciousness from the last impact and would have fallen one hundred and eighty-seven stories had Sophia not grabbed her in a telekinetic grip. She then floated herself and Diamond back into the building. As the mare was placed on the floor, Sophia saw Solar on the floor whimpering as he held himself between his legs in constant discomfort of the dent in his armor. He also had a lot of scorch marks on his body and ruined armor.

The others were released from their prisons and landed on their feet on the floor.

Azure Lazer approached the thrashed duo before she shook her head and pressed a button on her communicator and requested a small capture squad to apprehend and hospitalize a pair of criminals.

“Y-you c-cant prove that w-we are with the E.L.F…” Solar Point grunted breathily. “W-we are two f-famous arena ch-champions. Our f-fans will demand our r-release.”

That was when a Protoss observer deactivated its cloaking device and deposited a crystal into Azure’s hands. The blue mare was smirking in satisfaction as she saw Solar’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped before his head lowered in defeat.

“Get these two into custody and remain on standby until we take down our next target,” Azure ordered.

The Protoss nodded in affirmation and placed Diamond Crown and Solar Point into mobile stasis cells for transport.

With that done, the party turned their attention to the elevator to the next floor. Thankfully, the elevator didn’t sustain much damage from the Explosion earlier.

The party continued to fight through more toads, tadpoles, demons, succubi and transparent hydras for five more floors until they reached floor one ninety two where the monsters changed once again. This time, to everyone’s horror, the most dangerous type of monster made their appearance. This type would spell doom for not only the building, but all of Equus if these monsters ever escaped the building. The group focused and became as vigilant as they could.

And so, they began their extermination of the most dangerous type of monster ever conceived by the Eternal Sphere staff.

Sooties.

Hunting the dangerous pests became top priority to prevent the tiny powerhouses from multiplying and destroying the world. Every now and then, the party had to shield themselves from an onslaught of Lightning Strike and Explosion spells that tore up the area. They had to knock away any sooties that tried to suicide bomb themselves into the party and used them as grenades to blow up other nearby sooties.

Once they finished exterminating the sooties on the floor, they found the room where the next elevator was…

…and the location of their next fugitive: Swift Burial.

The brown stallion had his rocket launcher aimed at the party. “I should have known you people would make it this far. This contract has certainly been a pain in my flank.”

“Swift, why did you accept that contract?” Twilight asked. “You should have known that doing so would have made you an enemy of Equestria.”

“I told you before, princess, I am a mercenary. I don’t have the luxury to choose who I work for. Integrity doesn’t put food on the table.”

“Couldn’t you have taken the time to develop a trade skill and make enough money to live on while you’re between jobs?” Sophia asked. “I can’t imagine mercenary work as your primary and only source of income. That sounds like a terrible idea.”

“My cutie mark is a golden rocket launcher,” Swift countered. “My talent is being a mercenary. How can you expect me to simply learn something else to help me make credits when I don’t have the talent for it?”

Sophia raised an eyebrow before a scoff escaped her lips which soon turned into full blown laughter. Swift growled as he felt that the rabbit girl was mocking him. After about a minute of laughing, Sophia’s laughter finally died down.

“Wow, Belzebub said you were an idiot, but what you said made me feel like she was sparing your feelings. You’re one of those morons who believe that their special talent defines them? How stupid can you get?!”

Swift snapped and aimed his launcher at Sophia, preparing to unleash all of his ammo on the girl. However, she closed the distance between them in an instant and used her energy blades to cut his launcher in half. She backed away in an instant while the subsequent explosion sent Swift flying a distance, landing hard on the floor a few meters back.

The stallion groaned while Sophia appeared before him again. “Tell me, are changelings defined by their talent? What about Zebras? Minotaurs? Griffons? Yaks?”

“How do you know about those creatures?” Twilight asked.

Sophia briefly glanced at the mare, “You really should learn to build some better mental defenses, Lyra is much better at that than you are.” Twilight blushed as the rabbit looked at the stallion again.

“How should I know? I’m a pony,” Swift said.

“Poor excuse, you’re just as capable as anyone else when it comes to learning something new,” Sophia shouted. “The reason you’re in this situation now is because you limited yourself to your talents and was too much of a coward to consider branching out. You didn’t have to take that contract with Crystal Silicon, but you chose to anyway. As far as I’m concerned, you’re no different than an agent of the E.L.F. like Diamond Crown and Solar Point.”

“You make it sound so easy to learn a new skill. What makes you think you’re so skilled as a templar?”

“I don’t. I practice doing what I love and I still find time for hobbies. I’ll admit I’m a mediocre cook at best since my tastes seem to adapt to poor cooking to make it taste good, doesn’t stop me from practicing. When it comes to chemistry, I let my body handle all the work and I spit up the results…literally. Thanatas is a ruler of the dead and she has a PhD in chemistry, pathology and anatomy and physiology. When this is all over I’m pursuing a PhD in molecular genetics, which has nothing to do with leading a military organization that I’m about to inherit. So what’s your excuse?”

Swift opened his mouth to say something, then closed it. He did this several times before he gave up on trying to come up with an argument. He sighed in resignation, “You’re right, I should have tried giving myself options instead of playing with the hand I was dealt. I had plenty of opportunities to expand my repertoire. I only have myself to blame.”

Seeing that the stallion had accepted his defeat, Azure moved in with the capture squad and placed him in shackles. Swift got up and walked out of the room with the security mare.

Azure glanced at the defeated stallion and sighed, “I may be a talented security officer, but I’ve also written a few books that are popular with the locals. I even wrote one book that was a bestseller. When a publisher wanted me to go on tour with that book, I declined. I love writing books as a hobby, but my passion is always for keeping this institute safe from people like you.”

After Azure walked away with her prisoner, the rest of the group moved on.

The climb slowed somewhat because the party had to take time to thoroughly investigate each floor as they hunted for any sooties in the area. Any sooties that got overlooked by the party could pose a huge threat to Equestria later. Because of how tough the pests were, the party had to take small breaks between floors to regain their strength.

It took them an hour to reach floor two hundred because of the infestation of tiny black critters.

When they arrived on the floor, they still noticed the infestation of sooties, but Twilight sensed something powerful on this floor; something familiar. Whatever was on this floor made Twilight curious and apprehensive. Whatever was on this floor, it matched her in terms of raw magic power.

Sophia picked up on Twilight’s anxiety. “Something on this floor we should be worried about?”

“Maybe, the next guardian seems to be on this floor. Whatever is here is as powerful as I am.”

“Since the theme for this place is apparently enemies that we’ve faced in the past, I wouldn’t be surprised if that twisted version of you, Midnight she called herself, is on this floor.”

Twilight didn’t want to believe that her counterpart had survived being crushed by the singularity, but she also couldn’t deny that there was a very strong likelihood that Midnight was waiting for them. Unlike last time when Midnight was only as powerful as the standard monster generator could make her, this version of her felt like she could easily match Twilight in power.

“If it is Midnight, then we need to be ready for anything. Since this is the two hundredth floor, I imagine that only Midnight, Lenneth and whatever monsters are left are what’s between us and Crystal.”

The party continued their extermination of the sooties on the floor, going through rooms and hallways and making sure there were no sooties left to multiply. Sophia made sure to check for psychic signatures to make sure there weren’t any hiding from them.

Once they reached the next elevator, they found the figure that Twilight feared was on this floor. Midnight stretched her raven wings which now faded to black at the joints instead of the tips this time.

This time there was no cocky look on her face, no glimmer of arrogance in her eyes. Sophia only needed a small glimpse into Midnight’s mind to know that she was very different from their previous encounter. Not only was she different physically and in power, but she was also different in mentality. The rabbit could sense sorrow, longing, hope, jealousy and…desperation?

“Are you here to try and stop us Midnight?” Twilight asked. Midnight, however, didn’t respond and instead put on a determined face as she lit her horn and pointed her palm at the group. She launched a barrage of Fire Bolts which Twilight defended against with a shield.

Adray casted an Efreet spell which Midnight countered by blasting the fiery creature with a wave of ice, quickly cooling it and turning it into solid rock. Midnight blasted the statue into fragments and hurled them at the party. Thanatas blocked the attack with a wall of bone.

Sophia and Lyra rushed at Midnight but the dark mare casted a temporal distortion spell to slow time around her. As fast as they were, both templars were moving in slow motion to Midnight. To the mare’s surprise, however, she noticed that Sophia was slowly accelerating. Acting quickly, Midnight blasted the duo back into the group where Fayt and Cliff caught them.

Midnight followed up by unleashing a burst of frost magic to freeze the party but Thanatas plunged her sword into the floor and created an Anti-Magic Zone to negate the blast.

Sophia growled and charged at Midnight again and again Midnight used a temporal distortion spell. This time, however, it had no effect on the rabbit as she moved freely in distorted time, to Midnight’s surprise. The others and Midnight expected her to finish the mare, but instead Sophia punched her back into a wall.

Sophia didn’t pursue, instead she lowered her arms and sighed, “What is this all about Midnight? I can sense your desperation so it wouldn’t make sense if you were willingly working for the E.L.F.”

Midnight glared at the rabbit, “This has nothing to do with those foolish rebels. Crystal may have created me, but she was quick to discard me just because I couldn’t stop you. It’s not my fault that she used that inferior monster generator to create me.”

“Great, I know where this is going. Hello mistreatment-induced betrayal trope,” Thanatas said with an eye roll.

“Not the time, Thanatas,” Sophia chided. She turned back to Midnight. “If you aren’t working for them, why are you trying to stop us?”

“The Valkyrie Monster Generator is on floor two hundred and ten, guarded by Lenneth. I know that you likely intend to destroy it and end the monster threat in the tower. My former master tried to delete me when I failed her back at Spiral Tower. I managed to escape her with just enough data to stay alive. I used the Valkyrie Monster Generator to reconstruct my data and raise my parameters to where they were supposed to be since the old generator was incapable of that.”

“I’m guessing that your existence is now tied to that generator and now you’re fighting to live,” Sophia finished for Midnight who nodded.

“That’s why I cannot allow any of you near the generator. I can’t die without making Crystal Silicon pay for her betrayal.” Midnight removed herself from the wall and lit her horn to continue the fight.

“How about we negotiate instead,” Twilight said as she walked next to Sophia. “I think I know of a way to help you with your predicament, but I need to know if I can trust you. When we first met, you were with the enemy. How can we know that you are truly against them now and that this isn’t all just an act?”

Sophia sighed, “We wouldn’t be having this talk if I knew for certain that she was the enemy, Twilight. Lyra really should teach you how to make better use of your psionic powers. You seem to use it mostly for magic purposes, but you seem to be slacking in the telepathy department.”

“Princess Celestia made it illegal for unicorns to use telepathy so I was never able to explore that area of psionics. There are exceptions for templars though and only as long as they don’t abuse that power.”

“I suppose that’s fair,” Sophia shrugged. “...since such a power could be used to mind control another like Crystal did to Azure and it’s often invasive.” She cleared her throat, “Anyway, I’m sensing that most of her malice is directed toward Crystal with some toward our Eternal Sphere friends, though that seems to be laced with envy.”

“That’s because it’s unfair how those digital beings get to exist outside the Eternal Sphere with no strings attached,” Midnight snapped.

Twilight took a moment to assess what she had learned so far. She ignored the last part since that related to her offer. Since time was of the essence, she had to be quick with this interview. “Tell me, aside from magic, where do you believe your skill sets lie?”

Midnight raised an eyebrow, “Are you turning this into a job interview?” Twilight nodded and Midnight rolled her eyes. “Fine, I’ll humor you. Crystal didn’t design me in haste, I’m a product of years of her designing my AI whenever she was bored and had nothing to do. I learned from her, every keystroke, every line of code, every programming technique. When she wasn’t working on me, I took the time to use search engines to learn more about the world beyond that computer. You wouldn’t believe the coding techniques she used on me that aren’t even known to the public. I’m probably the first AI who can use Equestrian magic along with symbology.”

Twilight was about to ask another question but a more important one popped into her head. “On the side, did Crystal ever tell you where the E.L.F. hideout was?”

Midnight shook her head, “She prefers to keep her home life and her criminal life separate. Figures that she wouldn’t trust me with anything important.”

“I see. Anyway, would you be willing to offer your skills to the Sphere Institute? If your skills are as you claim, you should make lead programmer in no time.

“Of course, I will encourage you to befriend your fellow coworkers and help you to understand friendship because it will enrich your life here. You are a very sophisticated AI for someone who was created on a home computer and I would be honored to teach you the magic of friendship.”

It didn’t take a psychic to pick up on Twilight’s growing enthusiasm and it was starting to scare Midnight. However, the dark mare had weighed her options and didn’t see any good that would come from rejecting the offer, but there was still one issue to deal with.

“This is all well and good, but how are you going to free me from my dependence on the Valkyrie Monster Generator?”

“Simple, Fayt and Maria will use their powers to alter you into a real pony.”

“What?!” Fayt and Maria said in unison.

“Maria’s power allows her to change the physical composition of whatever and whomever she chooses, though I’ve only seen this work on digital beings. Fayt’s power allows him to bring the physical laws of the Eternal Sphere into this world and allow digital beings to interact with real beings,” Twilight elaborated. “It’s thanks to those powers that these denizens of the Eternal Sphere are able to exist among us without assistance from any monster generator.”

Midnight looked at the blue-haired humans with a hopeful expression. “Would you be willing to do that for me?”

The rest of the group, aside from Twilight, Lyra and Sophia, were taken aback by the mare’s behavior. They never expected to find someone willing to betray Crystal among their enemies. Though even then some were skeptical about Midnight’s sincerity.

“I think we should give her a chance,” Fayt said.

“Are you sure? She might be good at hiding her true intentions, even from Sophia for all we know,” Maria questioned.

“I know, but we would never have gotten this far without trusting each other. Way back then, we had to deceive Nel into thinking we were from Elicoor because telling her the truth would have been a violation of the UP3. Yet, she still trusted us. Honestly, I still can’t believe that she still trusts us after the truth came out.”

“To be frank, you did show me that I was too trusting at times,” Nel said. “Though given the circumstances at the time, I didn’t have much choice since Aquaria was in dire straits with the war against Airyglyph. After we found out who you and the others really were, I found it difficult to trust you again. I know you had your reasons, but it still hurt that you couldn’t trust me until the Vendeeni invaded our world.”

Fayt gave Nel an apologetic look before he turned around and shook his head. “Let’s do this, Maria.” Maria gave Fayt a look before she turned her attention to Midnight. Both humans closed their eyes and pointed their palms at the mare. They concentrated on their symbological power before a pair of magic circles appeared on both of their palms and expanded outward. In the center of those circles appeared a sphere of light. A hum of power was heard throughout the room and grew louder. After a few moments, the spheres disappeared.

Midnight saw herself enveloped in blue light as she looked at herself. The light lingered for a few moments then faded. She didn’t feel any different so she wasn’t sure if the spells worked.

Twilight walked up to Midnight and smiled as she offered a hand. “Do you trust us?”

Midnight didn’t know if the magic worked so she was still uncertain if the destruction of the generator would mean her end. However, the hopeful part of her desperately wanted to trust that the magic worked and that she could trust the people before them. She suppressed her anxiety and grabbed Twilight’s hand, returning the smile.

“I hate to ruin the moment, you two, but we still have to finish the final leg of this tower,” Sophia said. Twilight and Midnight nodded in agreement before the party took the elevator to the next floor.

Once the party reached floor two hundred and two, the party’s aggravation continued as the final set of floors was also occupied by sooties. However, the sooties were not the only monsters there as the Valkyrie Monster Generator sent out its heaviest hitters in the forms of cockatrices, beholders, yellow-furred renders and vampires wearing black and scarlet suits.

The new monsters were troublesome but the real danger was allowing the sooties to escape. To that end, they continued being thorough in clearing each floor of its infestation. Thanatas personally crushed each vampire they came across while the others dealt with the other monsters with their usual attacks.

Once they reached floor two hundred and seven, the cockatrices no longer showed up and were replaced by red dragons. Sophia personally ended one dragon by climbing onto its back and snapping its neck and ripping its head off before the whole beast vanished.

After what felt like hours, the party finally completed their extermination of the sooties on floor two hundred and ten, the penultimate floor. With one room left unchecked, everyone knew who was waiting for them in that room so they made sure they were ready, even taking a few minutes to rest and eat some of their supplies. Once they were ready, they headed inside the last room on the floor.

Just as expected, Lenneth was waiting for the party. Everyone took up stances as they prepared for whatever the little girl was going to throw at them. Behind Lenneth was a strange panel that appeared to be a terminal. Most of the party could only guess that that terminal was the Valkyrie Monster Generator.

“My mistress is on the next floor,” Lenneth said. “I will personally ensure that your journey ends here. I must avenge the deaths of Gabriel and Freya, by sending all of you to join them in the afterlife. With my mistress close by, I am now allowed to face all of you with everything that I have. Prepare yourselves!”

Lenneth then floated in the air before being enveloped in a brilliant white light. A pair of pure white wings manifested on her back. When the light faded, the wings disappeared and she was wearing a dark gray winged helmet with no back. Her torso was garbed in navy blue armor with gold lining. Her light gray skirt also had gold lining.

With her spear in hand, Lenneth charged at the party at blinding speed. Thanatas blocked her spear strike with her sword but Lenneth raised her hand into the air and a sphere of light appeared. She pointed the light at the party who dove aside to avoid the coming blast.

The devastating ray of light that followed demolished the entrance and blew a hole through it and the wall behind it and out of the building.

“Wow, this kid’s no joke,” Sophia said. She then ran up to Lenneth and slashed at her with her energy blades. To Sophia’s surprise, the blades actually parried with Lenneth’s spear.

Lenneth tried to run behind the templar but even her speed did not outpace Sophia’s perception. When the guardian unleashed a powerful swiping attack that struck the wall, Sophia quickly tore through the floor and moved beneath the platform to avoid the attack. Lenneth floated in the air to avoid being taken by surprise by the templar.

Despite her anticipation for the next attack, Lenneth didn’t expect an attack from above as Sophia tackled her from midair and slammed her hard on the floor. Lenneth bounced off the floor but quickly recovered by standing up. She took a moment to wipe some blood off her mouth.

As the templar and valkyrie were fighting, Twilight was looking at Thanatas in confusion as she appeared to be keeping everyone out of the fight. “Shouldn’t we help her?”

“Nah, she’s got this. This is actually entertaining to watch.”

Lenneth began keeping her distance from Sophia and started using powerful symbology such as Stone Rain and Deep Freeze to slow the templar down. Sophia avoided the crumbing rock by jumping on the rock and using it to propel herself toward Lenneth. The valkyrie blocked Sophia’s attacks with her spear and pushed the templar away. She managed to get a hit on the rabbit with a Southern Cross symbol which struck her with light magic. Sophia toughed out the spell before quickly moving behind Lenneth at a speed that the valkyrie couldn’t keep up with and delivered a roundhouse kick that sent her flying across the room.

By this point, Lenneth had more than enough of the young templar wearing away at her defenses and was ready to put an end to the fight. Her hand glowed white before pointing it at Sophia who prepared herself for what was to come.

She was not expecting to get herself impaled by three spears of light that appeared out of nowhere. When she looked at herself, she realized that the spears had not actually impaled her but the illusion made it look like it did. The pain from the illusion still felt real though and she could still barely move.

The wings of light returned on Lenneth’s back as particles of light came from them and empowered her spear. Once fully powered, Lenneth took a throwing position and prepared to hurl the spear at Sophia.

Twilight gasped. “If that attack goes through, I’m not sure she would survive that. The power in her spear is enough to cause a powerful explosion.”

Thanatas continued to watch.

“Once I’m finished with you, the others will be child’s play,” Lenneth said. She then called out her attack as she hurled her spear, “Nieblung Valesti!”

While the spear was traveling at the speed of sound, to Sophia, it was traveling at a snail’s pace. The templar smirked before a tentacle erupted from the floor and intercepted the spear at the flat part of the blade, knocking it off course and sending it spinning backward uncontrollably until it bounced and landed on the floor.

The sudden interruption of her attack left Lenneth stunned long enough for the illusion placed on Sophia to break. Acting quickly, Sophia picked up the still empowered spear and took up her own throwing stance. “You can have this back,” Sophia called out as she hurled the spear back at Lenneth.

The travel speed of the spear was even greater than the previous speed and Lenneth had no time to dodge the attack. The blade of the spear impaled her chest and sent her flying through the monster generator and the wall and out the building before the energy within the spear detonated. The tower rattled violently from the blast.

The explosion could be seen by at least half of Equestria. The citizens of Ponyville had to cover their eyes as a wave of air pressure washed over them. The citizens of Canterlot looked in awe at the massive explosion near the Sphere tower. The blast knocked Cloudsdale off course. Other cities only saw a distant explosion.

Once the explosion had subsided, the rest of the group approached Sophia while Thanatas was laughing like she heard the funniest joke ever. “What an awesome fight! Michael Bay, eat your heart out.”

Once all congratulations were done, Midnight took a moment to look at herself. After a couple of minutes of looking at her hands, she sighed in relief that she wasn’t disappearing. Tears of joy fell from her cheek.

Twilight’s communicator beeped, telling her that Azure wanted to say something. She pressed the button on her communicator in her ear. “This is Twilight.”

<”Twilight, I’m glad to hear you’re alright. The monsters in the building have suddenly vanished, so I assume that you were successful in destroying the Valkyrie Monster Generator?”>

“That is correct. We’ve also disposed of Lenneth. We will be moving to the top floor shortly.”

<”That explains the explosion. Anyway, be careful Twilight, there’s no telling what Crystal will throw at you with her piloting the Ethereal Queen.”>

“Agreed, only one way to find out though.” Twilight shut off her communicator.

The Ethereal Queen Finale

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The transporter before the party, with Midnight included, loomed ominously before them. Beyond that rising pillar of light was floor two hundred and eleven, the top floor and the place where Crystal Silicon was likely waiting for them along with the power of the Ethereal Queen prototype goddess at her command.

As they walked over to the elevator, mentally prepared for their biggest challenge yet, Sophia had a sudden realization, one that might spell their doom if overlooked.

“Hey everyone, I just realized something. Crystal is a very skilled hacker, right? Wouldn’t that mean that she might be able to modify her own parameters and create her own monsters? She might even be able to create an unfair advantage using cheat codes or something.”

Thanatas’ eyes widened at this revelation and softly put her palm to her face. “You’re right, I completely overlooked that possibility and figured that this fight would be like the others, but you have a point. We’re dealing with a hacker who will be micromanaging her own form. If she intends to cheat for this fight then we need to call in someone who can destroy such programs.”

“Who do you have in mind?” Sophia asked.

Thanatas didn’t answer and instead turned to Twilight. “Send a message to Celestia, have her place a huge bounty on Crystal Silicon. This figure should do.” She pulled out a piece of paper from her armor and a pen. She wrote down a number and handed it to the mare.

Twilight’s eyes widened as she saw the number. “Are you sure about this?”

“This is meant to lure ‘him’ to this world. Though seeing his sister again would be motivation enough, this bounty should make him come running. I get the feeling that we will need him to emerge victorious in this fight. Now I need to make sure he’s watching.”

As Twilight composed and sent her message to Celestia, Thanatas summoned her screenhead ghoul and began adjusting it to the correct frequency. After a few minutes, Gerald’s face appeared on the screen.

“What’s your status?” Gerald asked.

“Firstly, my cousin’s every bit the badass that I could ever dream for. Secondly, I want to be sure our family business tycoon is watching because we’re gonna need his help with this last fight.”

“Is this foe really too much for both of you?”

“No, but do the words ‘potential data bug’ mean anything to you?”

Gerald cringed at that then shook his head to recover his composure, “Yes, such an adversary would indeed be troublesome. Rest assured, he has been watching and is planning on heading over there soon, just as soon as he finishes the last of his paperwork.”

“Ugh, he really needs to delegate better.”

“You try running an omniversal corporate empire!” shouted a voice from off camera.

“Sure, then I’ll delegate you to do all the paperwork,” Thanatas shot back.

“So how long will that take?” Sophia asked.

Gerald looked aside to look at his granddaughter. “Sophia, my beautiful blue bunny!”

Sophia cut him off, “Happy reunion time after we deal with the current situation, not before.”

“Should only be a few minutes, go ahead and get started without me,” the other voice said.

“Alright, hope your Epitaph Cannon has been properly maintained, because we’re probably gonna need it here,” Thanatas said.

“Will do. Oh, and one more thing before we end this distraction of a conversation, please make sure Celestia has all the paperwork prepared for me to sign so I can set up a franchise in Equestria.”

“Sure thing.” With that, the transmission ended and the zombie vanished.

“He’s setting up a franchise here?” Sophia asked.

“That’s why I requested the figure for the bounty. It should be enough for him to open one of his stores here. I doubt he will stop expanding his business empire until every universe has a franchise.”

“Huh, I never knew my twin brother was such a business tycoon.”

“Yeah, Sigmund has the most business sense out of everyone in the family, so he handles the finances and regulates the conversion rate of currencies throughout the omniverse. Bounty hunting is a hobby of his that ties in to his entrepreneurship. He’s also one of the best studies of his prey so I wouldn’t be surprised if he already has a plan to outwit Crystal Silicon by the time we see him.”

Twilight’s communicator beeped again. Apparently, Azure Lazer had more to say. She pressed the button on her communicator. “Yes?”

<”I just wanted to let you know that one more will be joining in the battle. The elevators have been fully unlocked so she should be there in a minute.”>

“Thank you, we will wait for her before proceeding then.” She ended the transmission.

After a minute, the ringing sound of a teleportation was heard and everyone looked to see a familiar cream colored alicorn with a pink and navy blue mane and tail wearing her tuxedo.

“Bon Bon!” Lyra rushed over to hug her taller marefriend.

“It’s good to see that I’m just in time for the final battle. Are we ready to apprehend this treacherous mare?” Sweetie Drops asked while returning the hug.

Once everyone had said their greetings, they proceeded into the transporter to the top floor. Once there, they proceeded through the empty hallways and back to the place where they first encountered Crystal Silicon, and the site of their showdown.

Crystal Silicon stood in the center of the room with an unamused look on her face. Her new form had three pairs of wings made of white light. She wore a short black dress that opened enough in the chest area to show cleavage. Underneath the skirt of the black dress was a white half skirt lined at the bottom with gold. Her gloves were black to match her dress. Floating above her head was a golden halo that had runes inscribed along it. She wielded a staff with a silver crescent at the top.

“You idiots certainly like getting sidetracked a lot,” Crystal noted. “You really thought you had time to make holiday jokes to a green render, stomp all over the heart of some hopeless vampire, have conversations with two failure mercenaries and conduct an impromptu job interview with my failed AI program? I could have gone to Canterlot and killed Celestia and Luna and been back here in time to greet you fools in the time it took you to get here.”

“So why didn’t you?” Sophia asked.

Crystal gave Sophia a condescending stare. “I am a mare of efficiency. I will not waste my time on two trips when I can kill all of you and the other princesses with one.”

Sophia smirked, “Seems to me that you lost your chance to kill any princesses because you tried to be efficient.”

“Hmph, foolish leporid, do you actually hold hope that you can stop me? I will crush that hope here and now!” Crystal raised a hand in the air and an orb of light appeared in her palm. The light expanded and enveloped everyone in the party. Once the white in their vision subsided, the party saw that they were above the roof of the tower. A white magic circle appeared on the floor of the tower and extended beyond it. The platform appeared to cover over half of the Everfree Forest.

Sweetie drops looked around her then turned her attention to Crystal and growled, “What’s your game here?”

“It’s simple, you criminal, all of Equestria shall witness your fall as you so justly deserve. I shall avenge my ancestor and do away with the needless diarchy that should have dissolved centuries ago. As we speak, images of us are appearing in every city in Equestria.”

Thanatas rolled her eyes, “Figures that a vain villain like you would broadcast this fight nationwide. I can name hundreds of different villains off the top of my head who have done something like that.”

Crystal gave the undead a deadpan stare. “Are you through making me look like a common villain? Honestly, I don’t care anymore. Since that stupid insect gave away our insurance policy, you all know that whether I win or lose here, it will not have a negative effect on the future of the Equestrian Liberation Front. Now, let’s give this new form a test run.

“Oh, and one last thing, don’t fret over the thin air up here. The magic circle provides a proper atmosphere up here.”

Crystal began by causing swords of light to rain on the field, skewering the platform and creating a forest of swords. The party managed to evade the blades with some receiving a few scorch marks from being too close to the blades. As the party drew closer, Crystal called on more swords to launch at them. The party timed their attacks and shattered each blade that got close.

Before she could launch another wave, Fayt and Thanatas blocked her staff with their blades while everyone else struck her with weapons and magic from the front, sides and back. The bombardment of attacks quickly overwhelmed the former noble and left countless cuts and bruises on her body.

Strangely, Crystal merely grunted a little with each blow that she took but she never expressed any real pain, In the least, Sophia, Thanatas, Lyra and Sweetie found it suspicious. “Everyone, back away!” Sophia called out. Everyone did as she said and gave Crystal some room.

The collapsed form of the alabaster pony fused with the prototype goddess laid there for a few moments before the party heard some giggling coming from her. Suddenly, as if the world around them glitched, she was back to standing up as if nothing had happened. Any wounds that she had sustained had all disappeared in that instant.

Once she was finished laughing, Crystal gave the party an amused look. “Did you have fun taking your frustrations out on me?”

Twilight ran a scan on Crystal’s new form. Her eyes widened in horror as she saw the results. “What the buck!?” she called out. “These results make no sense!”

“What’s the matter?” Maria asked.

“My scans are telling me that the overall value of her physical and mental stamina are in non-numeric characters.”

“So our hunch was right after all,” Thanatas growled. “She hacked her own character with codes to give herself infinite health.”

“So what can we do if we can’t even hurt her?” Fayt asked.

“We need to hold out until Sigmund gets here. He’ll have something that can bypass her cheat codes.”

“Can’t we just delete her?” Maria asked.

Twilight shook her head. “Administrative spells won’t work on her because she has access to administration codes like I do. She will just block the spell if I try it on her.”

“Since we can’t face her the conventional way, we need to bypass her defenses by hacking them,” Sweetie said.

“Knowing her, she likely has a number of defensive programs protecting her from such means,” Midnight said. “It will take some time to get through them all.”

“We’ll buy you and Twilight all the time you need,” Fayt declared before he took up his combat stance against Crystal.

Crystal looked at everyone and waited patiently for them to finish their strategy meeting. “Are you all done? Anywho, since I would rather not get ganged up on like that again, I think I’ll give you another distraction.”

As she said that, the sound of transporters warping in was heard all around them. As the party looked, they were soon being stared at by a huge army of monsters that had surrounded them. The monstrous menagerie was composed of every type of monster that they had encountered on their adventures. They also noticed that the monsters that were seen in the arena were also present. Twilight’s quick scans showed that they were not being controlled by players.

“Oh, and just for extra measure,” Crystal summoned, to everyone’s horror, what looked like recolored versions of Freya, Gabriel and Lenneth. “They may not be as powerful as the actual prototypes, but they will work here. This platform was made this large so I could call an army to crush you all.”

The copies of the prototypes appeared much more horrifying than before. Gabriel’s hair was black and his wings emitted black lightning. He had the same demonic eyes as the proclaimers and convictors on the lower floors. His armor was tattered and blackened. The same could be said about Freya and Lenneth. Both wore black armor with tattered white skirts and had black hair. Lenneth’s spear had a purple jewel in the center that radiated malice.

As the monsters closed in on the party, Crystal slowly floated away from the group to watch the massacre from a safe distance.

As a group of monsters got close to Fayt, he bombarded them all with air blasts from his Air Raid technique before powering up his sword with light magic. The imbuement made his slashes more effective against some of the armored monsters.

Albel, feeling like a child in a candy store, went on his own rampage as he cut through the monsters in droves with his katana and claw.

With the battlefield being open space, the denizens of the Eternal Sphere no longer needed to hold back. Maria fired a Gravity Bullet and altered it to increase its effect, creating a singularity that pulled in many monsters and compacted them to the size of a marble. Roger was able to use his Star Fall device to rain space debris all over the battlefield. Cliff and Mirage pummeled larger monsters while using their bodies to crush the smaller monsters. Adray jumped up high and crashed back onto the platform like a meteor over a cluster of monsters while blowing them away with a fiery vortex in the form of his Sirocco technique. While he recovered, Peppita warded off any opportunistic monsters with a giant orbiting star while she summoned her Faerie Friend to smash any larger monsters. Nel took note of the monsters she learned about before and made sure to exploit their elemental weaknesses with surgical strikes.

As they fought, Fayt called out to the others who weren’t fighting the monsters, “We’ll handle these monsters, you guys focus on defeating Crystal.”

Twilight and Midnight nodded while Lyra, Sweetie, Sophia and Thanatas cut a swath through the monsters between them and Crystal Silicon.

The alabaster mare in question caused swords of light to rain down on the ground in front of her, skewering a few of her own monsters in the process. As the group of six ran through the forest of blades, Lyra and Sweetie stepped on a small magic circle and became unable to move. As Crystal pointed a light sword at them, Sophia levitated a dozen swords that were in the platform, pointed them at Crystal and hurled them at her. The swords skewered her in a dozen places and caused her to abandon her attack. However, the swords buried in her disappeared along with her wounds. Twilight and Midnight took that time to break the other mares free from the stasis spell.

Gabriel and Freya appeared between the six and Crystal. Gabriel summoned a number of lightning dragons that charged at the group, but Sweetie countered that by throwing an electrically charged orb into the swarm which detonated and unleashed an electromagnetic shockwave that caused the dragons to disperse. Freya followed up after that by elevating herself into the air and prepared to fire her Ether Strike. Sophia and Lyra rushed in and fired powerful blasts of psionic power at the undead prototype. The three ended up in a beam clash, but since Freya was not the original, she quickly found herself overwhelmed. Freya abandoned her attack and dodged the templars’ blasts.

Lenneth appeared behind the party and filled her spear with her malice before hurling it at Twilight. Thanatas saw this coming and quickly summoned a large mass of bones that took the form of a giant bone monster with four skulls, giant skeletal wings, a legless torso with arms and wielding a giant bone ax.

The bone monster struck at the incoming spear with its ax and filled the bony weapon with its own malice. As the two forces clashed, the quality malice of Lenneth’s spear could not overcome the combined malice of the many souls that went into the skeletal construct and sent the spear flying away.

Lenneth was stunned by the display which resulted in her getting impaled from behind by Thanatas’ sword.

Meanwhile, Gabriel was throwing balls of electricity at Sweetie who dodged the attacks gracefully. The demonic prototype copy focused too much on what was in front of him and failed to notice that he had company behind him in the form of flying banelings fit to burst with potent acid. By the time he heard a buzzing sound behind him, he turned just in time to get a splash of acid in his face immediately followed by many more bursting and splashing him from every direction except below. Gabriel screamed in agony for only a brief moment before he melted into green goo.

After Freya dodged the twin templar blast, Sophia instantly appeared behind her and wrapped her arms around her. She then proceeded to flip herself upside down with her prey and suplexed the undead prototype into the platform.

Freya managed to recover from the attack and got back on her feet in time for her movements to be halted as she found herself paralyzed by a dark aura being emitted by Sophia. The bunny templar had one arm across her body which took the form of a sharp chitinous blade. The undead prototype tried to escape, but the paralysis had fully taken hold of her body so she had to helplessly watch as she got slashed by an imitation of Fayt’s Dimension Door technique.

The slash cut her in two but the final blow was another Psionic Shockwave from Lyra.

Crystal sighed as she witnessed the failures of her creations. “Why must minions always be so pitiful?” She asked nobody.

“Because villains typically hate having underlings who rival their masters,” Thanatas answered anyway.

Crystal groaned in exasperation, wishing that she could be rid of the pest who kept annoying her. “Guess it’s my turn, I’ll make better use of the attacks used by those imbeciles.”

Crystal began to modify herself. Her crescent staff transformed into a spear that looked like Lenneth’s except the metal was jet black and it crackled with black lightning. The top and bottom wings on her right turned black and the middle wing on her left side followed suit.

Everyone could tell that Crystal meant business this time. Sweetie didn’t take her eyes off her foe while addressing her fellow alicorns, “Any luck on hacking her data?”

“It’s going to take some time,” Twilight said. “She has ten layers of data protection on her and we have to crack through it one layer at a time.”

“One layer will take us half an hour to break on our own,” Midnight added. “There’s also the risk that she might restore the layer before we can crack the next.”

“So basically, attack and don’t let up because while we can’t harm her directly, our attacks will help weaken the data protections,” Thanatas instructed.

“How do you know this?” Sophia asked.

“Because Crystal is using features that mirror a certain universe. Though the extra layers are a nice touch. Anyway, I’ll show you a few universes later.”

Unfortunately for Twilight and Midnight, Crystal wasn’t willing to let the two stand around and hack into her form so while she was fighting off Sophia, Thanatas, Lyra and Sweetie, she was putting pressure on Twilight and Midnight by launching black swords at them, forcing the two to dodge.

“Figures that we would be fighting a villain who was actually competent at this point,” Sophia growled. “Lyra, Sweetie Drops, focus on defending Twilight and Midnight. Thanatas and I can handle the offense ourselves.” Lyra and Sweetie nodded and positioned themselves in front of the two purple mares.

Crystal fired more black swords at Twilight and Midnight only for Lyra to blast the blades meant for Twilight with a Psionic Shockwave while Sweetie grabbed the blades meant for Midnight with a number of tentacles. She then threw the blades back at Crystal who shattered them with her spear.

The glitched mare immediately found herself impaled by five tentacles that erupted from the platform below her. She looked down to see Sophia with her extended fingers piercing the platform in two places where they could be traced through the platform and up and through her abdomen. The rabbit retracted the tentacles and left her to bleed a little before Crystal glitched back to normal before being impaled again by a dozen copies of Thanatas’ Evermourne blade.

As the alabaster mare in black began removing the blades one by one, Sophia rushed up to her face and spat acid on her which burned through her skin. Crystal growled and glitched herself back to normal again. She then teleported in front of Twilight and attempted to impale her with her spear only for her to be grabbed by the hoof by one of Sweetie’s tentacles and slammed onto the platform next to Sophia who thrust one of her energy blades into the mare’s chest.

When Crystal glitched again, a loud shattering sound, like broken glass, could be heard from her. The fighters looked and saw a number of green hexagons breaking off of her. Midnight noticed this and continued typing with renewed vigor. “Keep it up, we just broke one of her protection barriers,” Twilight called out.

Crystal snarled at the party before she raised her spear into the air and unleashed a storm of black lightning all over the area around her. Lyra and Sweetie put up barriers to protect themselves and their friends. Thanatas created a shield of bones to weather the storm while Sophia quickly raced under a nearby four-armed demon and let him take the bolts in her area.

The alabaster mare then flew high into the air and pointed her spear toward the platform. A ball of energy grew from the tip of the spear, intending on unleashing a blast that would devastate the area. She ended up firing it toward the horizon when she was suddenly assaulted by the rabbit templar delivering a powerful uppercut to her gut. The mare was reeling from the blow as she began to fall toward the platform only to be punched into the air repeatedly.

Finally, Sophia grabbed Crystal by the left hoof and hurled her back onto the platform where she landed with a sickening thud. As Sophia landed next to Thanatas for the next round, Crystal glitched herself back to normal. The sound of shattering glass was heard once more.

The fight continued this way for a few minutes. Crystal continued picking targets and unleashing her attacks on her opponents, only to be countered and discovering firsthand a number of ways that someone could die that she had never realized could be possible. Over those few minutes, three more barriers were shattered, leaving only five more.

Unknown to everyone, while Crystal was causing more black swords to rain on the area, a large number of marble-sized machines were also falling along with the swords. They scattered around the field but took care to avoid getting in the way of the combatants.

Lyra and Sweetie used psionic blasts to destroy the blades aimed at them. Sophia easily dodged her blades and Thanatas used her skeletal construct to block the blades aimed at her.

Crystal then attempted another strategy by plunging her spear into the platform before more black blades began to erupt from the platform. The eruptions spread evenly outward from her position to turn the immediate battlefield into a spike field. Sweetie grabbed Midnight by the waist while Lyra grabbed Twilight by the waist and jumped upward before landing on the tips of two blades each on the battlefield. Their psionic abilities allowed them to stand on the blades without getting their hooves pierced.

Sweetie looked at Twilight, then at Midnight and sighed. “When this is over, Lyra and I are going to put both of you through intense combat training. It’s one thing to focus on magic, but you are both lacking in hoofwork.” Both purple mares cringed at that.

Meanwhile, Sophia survived the attack by using her psionic power to float above the spikes while Thanatas spawned her skeletal wings and took flight.

“We need to break through the rest of the barriers fast before she tries to do something worse than this,” Thanatas said. “Any ideas?”

“If there weren’t friendlies on the field, I would suggest a nuclear strike to do some serious damage to her. But I might have an idea that could work just as well. Keep me covered for a few seconds.”

Thanatas nodded and turned her attention back to Crystal. Meanwhile, Sophia used her speed and precision strikes to shatter the black swords around her. She channeled her psionic power into the spell she was chanting in her mind.

Crystal attempted to attack Sophia while she was channeling but her attacks were blocked by a wall of large bones. Crystal glared at the undead and hurled a spear at her. The spear was knocked away by Evermourne.

Once the chant was finished, Sophia opened her eyes to reveal two bright blue lights. “Psi Meteor Swarm!” she called out.

Immediately a large number of rifts opened and a large meteor emerged from each rift covered in a blue aura. Each meteor flew straight at Crystal who used her spear to shatter one meteor, only for the fragments to halt in midair and fly back at her to pummel her while more large meteors slammed into her and exploded. Again and again the meteors blasted into the helpless mare who flinched with each rock that struck her. One shattering sound was heard, followed by another and another and another. The attack subsided after the ninth protection was shattered.

Midnight was typing on her interface screen furiously, almost ready to execute her own plan.

Once the dust settled, Crystal emerged from the rubble without a scratch on her. She gave the rabbit and undead a furious glare. “My patience has officially run out! Time to kill your friends and topple your precious research facility in one go!” She then raised her spear high into the air. A massive black void appeared in the air above the platform and a colossal black sword slowly began to descend toward them. Crystal put on her best gloating smile. “You may be able to dodge this attack, but your digital friends most certainly won’t and that tower will not withstand this. Say goodbye to the friends and the things you care about!”

“I’m afraid I must cancel this demolition project.”

Before Crystal could react to the new voice, a blast of compressed air struck her in the wrist of the hand that was holding her spear, forcing her to drop it. The ominous blade in the sky faded away.

“Who dares!?” Crystal demanded before another sphere of highly compressed air stuck her hard in the gut and exploded violently, unleashing a blast of wind all around the point of impact. The blast shattered the final defense and sent Crystal flying into a pack of nearby monsters.

Sophia, Thanatas and the others looked in the direction the attack came from and saw a lone figure standing there. The figure was a blue rabbit like Sophia, except the hair on his head was shorter and slicked back. Judging by the baritone voice earlier, the figure was definitely male. He wore a purple and green striped shirt and a pair of long black pants. His shoes matched the pants and he wore a black trenchcoat. Sophia could feel space warping around his coat. He was also wielding a strange looking cannon in his hand that Sophia guessed was what allowed him to fire those shots of compressed air.

“Sigmund? Is that you?” Sophia asked.

“Hey sis, it’s been too long. I mean, we were only a year old when we last saw each other,” Sigmund said.

Sophia sighed, “We can catch up once we take this bitch out. I hope you have a way to get around her cheat codes?”

“Sure do!” Sigmund then opened his trenchcoat and pushed his weapon against it. A small amount of light was seen as the weapon disappeared. Keeping his coat open, he reached into it and in the same flash of light, a different weapon appeared.

The new weapon was as long as a rifle but was as large as a cannon. The barrel was as thick as Cliff’s muscular arm and the handle and trigger were normal for a rifle, the strangest parts of the weapon were the flash drive on the back of the weapon and a large, sinister, red-glowing eye that appeared to be holographic was at the end of the barrel. The eye itself had red sclera and the iris was green and yellow with a black-slitted pupil.

“As long as her protections are down, this baby will bring this fight to an end,” Sigmund declared.

“Oh really,” Crystal suddenly said. She had a furious look in her eyes but her smirk looked ominous. “Then I need to make sure not to get hit by that thing.” Suddenly, to everyone’s dismay, ten more layers of defense appeared around the hacker.

Twilight ground her teeth in frustration. It was hard enough to remove the layers of defense before, but now they were back to square one. Worse, was that she was sure that the Eternal Sphere fighters were likely beginning to feel the fatigue of their many battles up to this point and she was certain that Crystal was simply going to focus on wiping out the entire battlefield instead of focusing on targets.

“Don’t worry, I have a plan,” Midnight mentally broadcasted to her allies. “Just make sure mister rabbit has his weapon ready to fire and make sure she can’t dodge whatever he’s planning to hit her with.”

Sigmund nodded and began charging up his Epitaph Cannon, waiting for an opening.

Crystal had a bad feeling about the newcomer’s weapon so she created a huge number of light and dark swords and pointed them at the male. As the blades flew toward him, Sigmind smirked as he pressed a button on his coat. When the blades got close, they somehow disappeared as if going into some spatial sheath. The blades exited from the other side of the spatial distortion he surrounded himself with. He then collapsed the distortion which shattered the blades.

The alabaster mare’s next move was to move in and strike him with her spear, but that proved futile as several of the tiny marble-sized drones from earlier jumped up and attached themselves to Crystal before they exploded and sent her flying back to Sophia and Thanatas, both of whom grabbed her by one hoof each and slammed her face into the platform before lifting her and slamming her on her back, ending the combo attack with an elbow drop on her chest from both of them at the same time. The mare coughed up blood as a result.

Crystal glitched back to her hooves, only to have her legs held tightly in place by Sophia’s tentacles and her arms restrained by Thanatas behind her. “You think you can hold me forever? You still have to get through my protections,” she growled.

“And this is checkmate, my beloved creator,” Midnight declared, putting plenty of venom into her words. She then pressed one key on her interface screen and in the next moment, all ten barriers shattered simultaneously. Crystal’s eyes widened in horror before she quickly turned her head to Sigmund.

“How!?” Crystal demanded.

Midnight smirked, “For each barrier shattered earlier, I planted a virus that would attack the respective barrier from within.”

The male wasted no time as he fired his fully charged cannon at Crystal. The shot was a scarlet sphere with several tiny data packets inside that barreled toward the mare and struck her in the chest. Crystal suddenly found herself unable to move at all, as if the sphere had disabled all of her motor functions. The despair in her eyes showed that she had no cards left to play.

Once the shot made its impact, the eye on Sigmund’s cannon deployed an array of green hexagons and branches as it entered its drain mode. A torrent of coding flew out of Crystal’s body and shot toward the eye, devouring the prototype data byte by byte, focusing on the coding that held the entire program together. After a few seconds, Crystal began to feel pain and agony as data was ripped out of her body. Her pain tolerance had quickly reached its limit and she screamed as the pain became too much for her to endure.

The screams lasted only a few seconds before the sphere removed itself from her body and returned to the eye. Crystal fell to her hands and knees as the two cousins let her go.

The mare breathed heavily before noticing binary escaping from her body and disappearing, as if her form was evaporating. After a minute of this, the last of the data left her body and left behind a physically and magically exhausted alabaster mare with a sparkling silver mane and tail and wearing a gown that matched her mane.

As Crystal tried to lift her head and say something that Thanatas would likely find cliche, Sophia channeled a bit of electricity into her right index and middle fingers and slightly jabbed her on top of her head. The electricity passed through her skull interacted with Crystal’s brain to trigger certain brain functions which suppressed her consciousness.

Crystal Silicon’s world turned white as her consciousness left the waking world.

Aftermath

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Once Crystal Silicon was separated from the Ethereal Queen through the draining effects of Sigmund’s Epitaph Cannon, the battle quickly began to wind down.

Fayt and his friends were fighting monster after monster and were slowly growing tired from the endless fighting. Every now and then he had to encourage his friends to keep going as his faith in his childhood friend, Sophia, spurred him on.

All of a sudden the monsters stopped moving once they heard a distant scream. Fayt and his friends were confused at first at the monsters’ sudden change in behavior until they saw the monsters slowly disintegrate into particles of light. The vast number of monsters disintegrating all at once created a beautiful display of light particles falling like snow. The particles fell through the platform and down toward the forest below.

As the party looked downward, the lights began to fade away as they neared the canopy. The beauty of such a sight filled them with a sense of contentment. Fayt walked over to Maria, who continued to stare in awe at the wonderful display. The boy, without thinking, wrapped his arm over Maria’s shoulder which snapped her out of her daze. However, seeing who was next to her, she decided to allow it this time.

Of course, all good things must come to an end as they were filled with a new sense of danger as Nel warned everyone that the platform was beginning to disintegrate as well.

With the moment over, the party ran to each other to regroup. Lyra was carrying Crystal’s unconscious form. Once everyone was gathered, Twilight, Midnight and Sweetie combined their magics to create a mass teleportation circle. The circle took a few moments to form as the edge of the shrinking platform drew closer to the party. Most of those who couldn’t fly, like Fayt and his friends, grew nervous as there was nearly no platform left to stand on.

Just in the nick of time, the alicorns activated the magic circle and teleported back to floor two eleven of the Sphere building.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief for a moment until they began to feel the tower begin to rock a little. They all knew what was happening. They knew that the damage they and the monsters did to the tower would not be without consequence.

Running quickly, the party quickly reached the elevator and one by one they entered the elevator and transported to the first floor.

Mere moments later, the sound of rumbling could be heard above them before the security cameras showed part of the top of the tower breaking off from the structure and falling into the Everfree Forest. A loud crash was heard thirty seconds later followed by the cacophony of birds whose nesting places had been crushed by rubble.

Cautiously, everyone waited for something else to happen before that caution turned into relief. As everyone began to relax, Azure Lazer approached the group. Her face revealed a mix of gratitude and exasperation at the same time.

Azure sighed, “This is going to be expensive; not only the cleanup but also the costs to rebuild the tower.”

Cliff chuckled awkwardly, “Yeah, guess we did get a little too rowdy up there.”

“Well, Princess Celestia will likely hoof the bill to House Platinum,” Azure figured. “The costs will likely be more than she can afford, given that the research facility nearly blew the national budget when it was built. The nobles protested its construction at first, but that was until Princess Luna gave them a little push in their dreams. Turns out the nobles were fearful of the technologically savvy commoners referring to them as savages, so most of the houses contributed the funds in exchange for being the first to receive whatever new products were turned out by the facility.”

“Quite the effective manipulation,” Maria said.

“It becomes a necessity to do so when the houses are set in their ways and behave like a bunch of spoiled foals wanting to use the national treasury for their own selfish luxury,” Twilight explained.

“If such tactics are necessary, shouldn’t Celestia be taking action to punish them if they intend on behaving like children?” Maria inquired.

“They’re tied to many major industries throughout Equestria. If Princess Celestia made them upset enough, the nobles would pull their funding from the industries and cause businesses to fail. It would devastate our economy.”

“So you’re saying that if the financial advantage were to turn away from the houses, Celestia could make them fall in line?” Sigmund asked.

“Possibly, but since the nobles together hold sixty percent of Equestria’s overall wealth, with the treasury holding thirty percent, we won’t be able to do that, especially since the houses will work together against Princess Celestia if threatened.”

“I see, then perhaps if my proposal were to be accepted by Celestia, I might be able to give her an opportunity to regain control over the houses.”

“Do you have a plan?” Twilight asked.

“I think so, but first I need her permission to open a franchise before I can consider the finer details of my plan.”

The party exited the building out the front door and proceeded to the nearby pylon warp conduit. Twilight informed them that they were headed directly for Canterlot. Once a chain of physical contact was made, Twilight activated the pylon and they were quickly wrapped in a giant bubble that traveled at the speed of light through the conduit network. The trip lasted a few seconds before they found themselves in front of the entrance to Canterlot.

A pair of pony zealots observed the incoming group and saw Princess Twilight and Princess Sweetie among them. They were confused about the third alicorn in the group who bore a slight resemblance to Twilight, but they let it slide as stranger things have happened before. The guards moved aside to allow the party into the city.

The Elicoorians stared in awe at the technological sights before them. While they had been among technology for a few days, the sight of flying vehicles traveling through lanes of airspace with flying creatures in lanes beside the vehicle routes was unlike anything they could have imagined. Adray nearly went into culture shock when he saw the marvels, but Fayt and Mirage helped keep him calm and told him to focus on the path ahead.

Over a thousand years, Canterlot castle changed quite a bit but much of it also remained the same. The towering ornate white spires housed a number of defense crystals to ward off invaders, A large lot near the castle was dedicated to a Zerg hive cluster.

As they walked toward the castle entrance to report to Celestia, the party noticed a pair of lesser Zerg Queens entering the castle. The guards moved aside to let them in.

“Kinda strange that they let those critters inside,” Cliff said.

“I did mention that we employ the more intelligent Zerg for positions like the strategic division or the intelligence agency,” Lyra said.

“Queens make for good relays since their minions can scout around and report what they see through the hive mind,” Sweetie added. “It’ll be up to them to interpret the scout’s sightings though.”

“Makes sense,” Cliff shrugged.

The party continued into the castle. Some of the party took a look at one of the guards who was wearing golden armor that was designed with layers of golden plating with blue crystals on the chest, shoulders and hips. On his wrists were a pair of focusers for the deployment of energy blades at a moment’s notice. Though the pony was a pegasus, the crystals on his armor worked around the psionic requirements of using the blades. Slung on his back was a large rifle that looked like it could hold a lot of rounds.

“So how long is this one going to be out?” Lyra asked, pointing at Crystal.

“I’m not sure,” Sophia answered. “It was my first time using such an ability, but I’m hoping the charge will only last a few hours at most. I can wake her up if necessary.”

“Nah, let’s bring her before Princess Celestia before we wake her.”

Twilight escorted everyone to the throne room where Celestia and Luna, who appeared to have missed her midday coffee as she looked like a mess, sat on their thrones. Celestia didn’t comment on that as she wanted to tease her about that later. Thankfully, one of the maids brought a tray with Luna’s coffee. Luna quickly shatched the mug of ambrosia and downed it fast enough to impress Sophia. With caffeine in her system, Luna did her best to make herself look presentable, even though everyone was staring at her.

As they approached the throne, Celestia stood from her seat. “Greetings, denizens of the Eternal Sphere and esteemed members of the Craft family. Allow me to formally introduce myself. I am Princess Celestia, co-ruler of Equestria and mistress of the sun.”

Luna then hastily stood from her place once she was presentable. “And I am Princess Luna, co-ruler of Equestria, mistress of the moon, and guardian of dreams.” Nobody commented on her awkward behavior.

“Allow me to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your efforts in capturing this dangerous criminal and saving Equestria from her wrath.” Celestia said. “I also apologize for not being there for the final battle. When Crystal broadcasted the fight, many ponies began to panic so Luna and I had to focus on keeping our ponies calm. You put on a good show though, my favorite part was when Sophia and Thanatas double teamed her. I had to shake Luna awake just to show her that double elbow drop.”

Fayt moved forward and knelt before Celestia. “My name is Fayt Leingod, your majesty. No thanks are necessary, I only wish we could have stopped her before she gained control over Project Valkyrie.” The others soon joined in the introductions.

Celestia gave a faint smile, “There is no need to dwell on the past, young Fayt. It serves to guide our future actions as long as we learn from them. Besides, that project was proving to be more trouble than it was worth. If the goddess prototypes can manifest in our world, then who knows what else may come from the Eternal Sphere. Rather, this should serve as a lesson to us all that we need to be more vigilant. Since the Equestrian Liberation Front has gained the technology to manifest data into our world, there’s no telling what they will be capable of in the future.”

A groan was heard among the group. Everyone turned toward Lyra to find that their captive was waking up. Lyra gently placed Crystal on the floor while Celestia narrowed her eyes at her. “Speaking of them…”

Crystal Silicon sat up and began rubbing the back of her head, groaning as if she had just woken up on the cheapest mattress in Equestria. It took a minute for the memories of recent events to come flooding back to her. She then looked around to see those who defeated her standing around her. Beyond the people, she recognized the familiar architecture of Canterlot castle and figured that she was in the throne room with most of the alicorns staring at her right now. She chuckled mirthlessly.

“Do you have anything to say for yourself, Crystal Silicon?” Celestia demanded.

Crystal continued to chuckle which turned into empty laughter. Everyone waited patiently for her to get her act together before she spoke, “Judge me all you want, Xel’naga, I will see the end of your reign someday. It may not be today, or tomorrow, but we of the Equestrian Liberation Front shall use everything in our power to see you dead or departed from this world. One day we shall claim the power you have kept from us since Equestria’s founding! And of course, I will have my vengeance for Prince Blueblood!”

That was when Crystal took a deep breath and loudly declared, “The name of the leader of the Equestrian Liberation Front is…” In one moment, a magic circle appeared around her neck, the next, her head fell off her body and rolled toward Celestia. When the head stopped before the steps to Celestia’s throne, the alicorn heard a series of beeps coming from the head. The beeps grew more rapid with each second. Sophia knew what those beeps usually meant so she rushed for the head and delivered a powerful kick that sent it flying out a window. Mere moments after that act, a loud explosion was heard that shattered the rest of the windows on that side of the throne room.

Luna looked at the scene in confusion while everyone else was getting over the shock. “Was she about to tell us the name of her leader?”

“I’m pretty sure she said that to trigger some sort of suicide spell to escape capture,” Sophia said.

Luna’s confusion increased as she tilted her head and raised an eyebrow. “I cannot make sense out of what you just said. She killed herself to escape capture? Isn’t she dead now?”

“According to one of my agents’ reports, the E.L.F. have access to cloning technology and at some point they stole the Soul Anchor spell from the forbidden section of the archives,” Sweetie explained. “This tells me that they have a way to cheat death and as long as they have the resources, they can make as many clones of themselves as they wish. In the event of the death of one of their members, or at least one of their main members, their soul will be drawn to another body that had been prepared for them.”

“I see,” Celestia mumbled. “It would appear that we need to send the dark templar to scour Equestria for any sign of their hideout, maybe the entire planet.”

“I will ask the Protoss to help us search for them on other worlds,” Lyra offered.

“My swarm will help as well,” Sweetie added.

Celestia nodded, “Please do, but we also must consider that they might be hiding somewhere in the Eternal Sphere. We cannot leave anything to chance.”

“I will have Azure working with the other Eternal Sphere admins to monitor the universe for any possible leads on their whereabouts,” Twilight offered.

Celestia nodded again, “Good, but remember that we cannot let this hunt take precedence over our lives. We need to be vigilant of them, but we cannot let that turn to obsession. For now, continue with your projects and make sure the admins are still monitoring player activity.”

With nothing else to say, the party left the throne room, with the exception of Sophia, Thanatas and Sigmund. Celestia stared at the trio, “Is there another matter you wish to discuss?”

“There is,” Sophia said. “However, it has nothing to do with the E.L.F. My brother here came to claim the bounty and use it to open a franchise that sells multiverse wares in Equestria.”

“Mostly it will be harmless wares that could be used as paperweights or ancient relics that have no magical properties in them. I intend on selling the expensive stuff to the nobles who have an itch for collecting things that they need to scratch,” Sigmund explained.

Celestia sighed, “As if they don’t have enough things to show off in their houses.”

“That’s just phase one: enter the Equestrian economy. I still need to do some research on the major industries held by the nobles, but for phase two, I do intend on buying up shares of those companies to build up my Equestrian stock portfolio. Beyond that, I simply need to trick the nobles into giving away bits of their shares at a time until they realize they are down to forty-nine percent ownership or lower while I claim the magical number fifty one.”

Celestia gasped, “You plan to buy ownership of their holdings right from under their hooves?”

Sigmund smirked, “Once I have ownership of the nobles’ holdings, then we begin phase three. You can pressure the houses to focus their wealth toward the betterment of Equestria, even at the cost of some of their luxuries. Those who are already doing so, I salute them. Those on the fence will be swayed to your way of thinking one way or another and those who refuse will threaten to close down the businesses they think they own, not knowing that they sold that right to me. It should make them easier to control, at least.”

“And what about you?” Celestia asked. “While I believe that it is quite a sound and legal plan, I have only just met you and you plan to take controlling interest in our major industries.”

“I would only intend to hold the shares long enough for the houses to get their acts together. But if you wish for it to be in writing, I am willing to write out a contract with full transparency. I prefer to be upfront with my associates who are not trying to pull a fast one on me.”

Celestia gave a serene smile, “I do not believe that will be necessary, Sigmund. As long as you do not intend harm on my little ponies, I will extend a degree of trust to you. Also, you might need this.” She lit her horn and a plastic card emerged from the cushion of her throne and flew to her hand. She then handed the card to Sigmund. “This card contains the agreed upon amount for the bounty for Crystal Silicon. She may be at large again, but you did bring her to me alive so I will let it count.” A playful smile appeared on her face.

Sigmund accepted the card and placed it in a pocket that wasn’t imbued with spatial magic. “Thank you, Celestia, it was a pleasure doing business with you.” With that, he walked out of the throne room. Sophia and Thanatas followed.

A few hours later, Sophia and Thanatas were sitting atop the peak of Mount Canterhorn observing the city that was hovering near the mountain because of anti-gravity generators. The two of them could see much of the surrounding area, including Ponyville and the Sphere tower.

“So, what do you think?” Thanatas asked.

Sophia figured that Thanatas was referring to what she was thinking about. She would be lying to herself if she believed that there wasn’t something strange with this universe. “Have you ever been to a universe that appeared to feature content from numerous different universes?”

“Yeah, dealing with crossover universes can be very complicated. This isn’t like guiding the protagonist to their destiny like in a typical assignment. But this is even more complicated than that. I’ve read up on one of these things in the family archive, but I’ve never experienced one of these before, if it is what I think it is. Now that I think about it though, I believe my father patrols one such place.”

“What do you suspect it is?” Sophia asked, not bothering to read the undead’s mind.

“We call it a multiverse cluster. It’s basically one universe that contains multiple smaller universes. This one, however, only meets that characteristic through the Eternal Sphere. At the same time, this world seems to have its reality fused with another universe at the same time; it coexists with the Koprulu Sector.” Thanatas sighed. “As much as we will likely need the family for the events to come, I know that some of them are considering retiring to some distant place in the omniverse, Gerald included.

“Just to spite him, I’m gonna tell you something he doesn’t want you to know yet. Once you see him again, he’s probably going to dump all of his responsibilities on you and scram once he conducts some passing-of-the-torch ceremony. I suspect my grandmother will follow suit.”

“So the family business will fall on us? What about your father?” Sophia asked.

Thanatas chuckled, “I doubt Marra has reached his limits yet. He collects magical weapons from fallen warriors and makes them his own, taking on the spirit of the weapons’ former wielders. He seems to favor thirteen weapons that originate from that multiverse cluster he patrols, but I know he can use many more if push comes to shove.”

“So who else is still active in the family?”

“Not many, Gerald’s brother still wants to stick around until a new family member is born who can handle his vast arcane knowledge. I also have a younger sister who is still trying to discover her powers. My father told me a few months ago that I’m going to have another sister soon, but he also told me that he was going to stop there.”

“Huh, so I guess it'll be up to us and my brother to get the next generation started.”

Thanatas chuckled mirthlessly, “I hope I can give birth to a child. I am undead so that would be quite a hurdle for me to overcome. I may have to get assistance from another insane scientific mind for that. But that is a matter for another time.”

“I see, anyway, back to the matter of this universe,” Sophia said to change the topic. “I think it would be a good idea to help out the ponies here for a while. If the E.L.F. are going to send more unfairly invincible monsters like that hacked prototype in the future, they will need our help. Besides, it’ll be fun.”

“If we’re going to be sticking around for a while, you should at least collect your inheritance first and see what you can do to improve it before the problems of this universe rears its ugly head again.”

Sophia shrugged, “Good point.” She then turned her attention to the Sphere building. “For now, we might as well see what Fayt and the others have decided.”

“Ah, right, the decision on whether they stay here or go home and get reformatted.”

“Hold on to me,” Sophia said as she pulled out a crystal shard from her pocket that she picked up on her way up the mountain. The shard fell off a pylon conduit that was being constructed at the time by a Protoss craftsman.

Sophia channeled some of her psionic power into the shard and just as she hoped, she was able to enter the transport network. With the tiny shard, the ride was tumultuous since the small amount of power was hardly enough to create an adequate shield so the warp stream threw the duo about a little. In the end though, they still reached their destination outside the Sphere building.

Sophia made a mental note to experiment with the conduits later.

Epilogue: The End of the Beginning

View Online

One week after Crystal’s attack…

Sophia and Thanatas entered the Sphere building and asked the Protoss receptionist where Fayt and the others went. The receptionist directed the pair to floor five. They took the nearest elevator to that level and searched the floor for the rest of the group.

They located their friends in a room that was used as an Eternal Sphere terminal. Sigmund and Sweetie were not in attendance as they had their own duties to attend to. Once the duo entered the room, everyone acknowledged their entry.

“Alright, now that everyone’s here, we can begin,” Twilight said. She cleared her throat. “I’m hoping that everyone has thought carefully about what they want to do. Once you decide, there’s no taking it back once I send you back. I’ve given all of you a week to decide. Once Grape Vine comes back with the memory crystals, we’ll begin.”

Adray went first. “I still have plenty of vigor in me for plenty of adventures. But as much as I would love to see what other sights this world has, I have to accept that I’m simply too old to be exploring a culture as advanced as this one. Besides, I would miss my little girl finally finding a man to marry her and that’s the biggest reason why I’m returning home.”

“I understand,” Twilight handed him a crystal the size of his hand. “Place that crystal on your forehead for a minute then hand it back to me.” Adray did as instructed.

“I’m afraid that I must go back as well,” Nel said. “As fun as it’s been, my loyalty is to Aquaria. It may be an artificially created world, but Elicoor is still my home.” Nel received a crystal.

“Not much is waiting for me back home,” Cliff said. “If Twilight is planning on taking better care of how the Federation works, there will probably not be a need for Quark anymore. I don’t wanna imagine what life would be like without the excitement, so I’m gonna stick around. Besides, with this planet’s four to one babe to dude ratio, I’d be a fool to leave that behind.”

The females in the room shuddered at Cliff’s reasoning.

“I’ll stick around as well, to keep Cliff in line,” Mirage said. “Like Cliff, I would prefer to be where the adventure is.”

“Sorry guys, but I think this is it for me,” Peppita said. “It’s been an amazing adventure with you all, but I can’t imagine life without the circus. What would Gonnella or Ursus do without me?” Twilight smiled and handed her a crystal.

“Yeah, I’m sure my boys have gotta be worried sick about me by now,” Roger said. He then looked at Peppita. “Still, I am gonna miss you, Peppita.”

“Me as well, Roger.” She crouched down and gave the Mennodix a hug while Midnight handed him a crystal.

“Hmph, as if there’s anything exciting waiting for me back home,“ Albel snubbed. “There are no real challenges on Elicoor. I want to be the strongest there is and if that means abandoning Airyglyph, then so be it.”

Sophia smirked, “That and you want to–” Her smirk was unaffected even as Albel pointed his katana at Sophia’s throat.

Fayt thought for a moment and Maria looked uncertain as well. Twilight looked at the two, “Have you two decided?”

Fayt stared at the mare, “Before I decide, can I ask you a question?”

“Sure, go right ahead.”

“If our time does reset to before we were born, that’ll mean that my father never conducted his experiment on us, right?”

Twilight nodded, “You two will live normal lives as regular humans as if the experiments never happened.”

“Then, I’d like to stay, if you don’t mind.”

Twilight tilted her head in confusion, “Why? Don’t you want to be free of the burden that Doctor Robert Leingod placed on you?”

“My father gave me this power for the purpose of facing and defeating the Creator of our universe, but after all we’ve been through, I get this feeling that this power will play an important role one day, beyond what my father intended.”

Maria smiled and placed her left arm around Fayt’s right arm. “I agree. This power may have been given to me without my permission, but it’s my power to wield as I see fit. And if Fayt’s intuition is correct, then all the better.”

Midnight didn’t appear satisfied with their answers yet and assumed the posture of a professional secretary, even putting on a pair of glasses for effect. “Have you five given any consideration to your futures? You are allowed to help us in dealing with the ELF, but that’s no excuse to deny yourselves a career.”

She looked at Fayt and Maria. “You two will be attending Canterlot University pending an evaluation on your skills. You are both young and intelligent so you still have a chance for a higher education. Before that though, you will both be taking courses in order to gain a proper understanding of our society and technology, as well as other important topics such as history.”

She then looked at Cliff and Mirage. “You two will also be taking basic education courses before you may pursue a career. Knowing your skills around piloting a ship, I suspect that you two will be making deliveries to other worlds we’ve colonized at least. At most, who knows.”

Midnight then looked at Albel. “You will have your knowledge evaluated and we will tailor your education plan around the results. Since you came from a medieval world, we expect that you will be needing a lot more time than the others to catch up to their level of technical knowledge.”

“And what makes you think that I will sit down and listen to one of your boring lectures, worm?” Albel growled.

Sophia stood in his face with a sickly sweet smile on her face. “Because if you don’t you won’t be able to participate in the arena anymore and you will be barred from combat until your technical knowledge is sufficient.”

Albel looked at Midnight again who shrugged, “If that’s what it takes…” Albel didn’t like that answer and turned away to grumble.

Cliff shrugged, “Seems fair, wouldn’t wanna cause any problems ‘cause of our lack of knowledge.”

“Guess it’s back to being a college student for me,” Fayt said.

With that, Twilight, Midnight, Lyra, Sophia, Thanatas, and the five who chose to stay exited the room while the other four stayed.

A few minutes later, a black summoning circle appeared in the room and Grape Vine appeared from it, struggling to carry a large crate that made clinking sounds as she walked out of the room. She put the crate down in front of Twilight and placed her hand on a wall while breathing heavily. “There…got…cry…tals…as…req…ues…ted,” she said between breaths.

Twilight smiled at her employee. “Great work, Grape Vine. I will leave you a nice bonus in your next paycheck, as well as a big raise.”

Grape’s eyes lit up and her smile broadened. “Oh thank you, boss! I just know that this project will succeed!”

“Yo Twilight, the backups are ready to install. We’re ready to reboot the system at any time,” shouted Lemon Puff as she approached them.

With that, everyone said their goodbyes to Nel, Roger, Peppita and Adray. After a few minutes of telling their final wishes, Twilight activated the terminal and the four vanished in a bright light.

“Alright, let’s reboot the system,” Twilight ordered.

After time in the Eternal Sphere was brought back to a safe point, events proceeded much differently than before. Those who were not reformatted were instead replaced with characters who were every bit like the originals, from physical appearance to personality. The only difference being how they were raised.

The Leingods and the Esteeds were neighbors like before while Fayt and a young brunette named Sophia became childhood friends who played together and went to school together. Fayt became a mechanical engineer while Sophia took up medicine. Every now and again, they would be visited by the Traydor family who lived on Federation Station Five. Their young daughter, Maria, would grow up to join the Federation military academy. Maria wouldn’t find out what happened to her real parents until she was in her mid thirties.

With the Federation government behaving themselves by being more diplomatic than hostile toward other races, there was never a need for Quark to exist. Cliff, being unable to gain any decisive victories over his rival, Mirage, in martial arts competitions, had gone into seclusion to hone his skills. Every now and again he would turn up in a restaurant somewhere to sexually harrass the waitresses.

With her mastery in martial arts proven, Mirage would take over her family’s dojo where she would teach the next generation how to fight and give extra lessons for the girls to learn how to “properly dispose of trash” such as perverts.

Whenever he was in the area, Adray would always pay Clair a visit and ask her if she had her eye on any men yet. Her answer would continue to be the same for several years. Some of her responses came with the old man getting defenestrated out a second floor window. Ever since a mysterious stranger handed him a crystal and told him to push his forehead against it, he would sometimes reminisce about the greatest adventure he ever had.

Albel held his position as the Dragon Brigade captain after his predecessor had been assassinated by a mysterious individual. He later became bored and quit the military altogether to live the life of a wanderer, seeking out a worthy opponent.

The assailant was never found.

Nel continued her duties to the Kingdom of Aquaria, going on dangerous missions with Tynave and Farleen. After a mysterious individual gave her a crystal, she figured that she needed some time for herself and visited the Kingdom of Greeton. While the people there liked to boast about their technological superiority, Nel simply chuckled as she knew there were civilizations out there that would make Greeton look primitive.

Roger took Dribe and Melt through the Mosel Dunes to look for any unexplored ruins and search for treasure. What they didn’t expect was for a flying metal vehicle to land near them. The trio was surprised that the people who emerged from the ship were a whole circus troupe. A certain girl ran up to Roger and gave him a big hug, confusing him at first. She then pressed a crystal on his forehead and things became clearer as he returned her hug. Dribe was confused about what was going on while Melt smiled knowingly. The rest of the circus troupe looked on at the two hugging each other and smiled.

The inventors recruited by Twilight and Grape Vine were all given memory crystals by cloaked individuals and remembered their contracts. The contributions of their knowledge to Grape's project would become the base for future item creation features on other worlds, including the galaxy that would to facilitate Twilight's Zereth project.

Back in Equestria, Fayt, Maria, Cliff, Mirage and Albel were given lessons about Equestrian culture and technology as well as any subjects that they were not taught in their old school. Fayt and Maria quickly learned the material and caught up to today’s standards of education.

Fayt also taught the Equestrians how to temporarily imbue elemental energies into weapons. Lyra learned the technique quickly and experimented with it to create a wide variety of possible imbuements for numerous purposes. She then started teaching the method to her fellow templars.

Years later, Fayt and Maria graduated from Canterlot University with degrees in symbological studies and mechanical engineering respectively. Fayt accepted a position among Sphere’s symbological research department while Maria enrolled in the Ghost Academy where she went through several treatments to develop psychic powers. She endured plenty of hardships until she emerged from the academy as a fully trained Ghost.

Cliff and Mirage completed their education a little slower than Fayt and Maria and took on jobs as delivery people to the various colonial worlds. They were paid well for their efforts since they also delivered to some of the seediest establishments and stations in Equestrian space. They would often get into fights with aggressive locals which only made the job exciting for them.

Albel was the last of the five to complete their education since he had the most ground to cover and lacked the attention span for anything that wasn’t related to fighting. While he looked forward to fighting in the arena again, Midnight made sure that the warrior pursued a career. Albel decided to become a mercenary for hire while remembering the mistakes made by Swift Burial. Because of that, he chose which jobs he took while working on the side as an apprentice to a Protoss weaponsmith.

Sophia eventually met Gerald face to face. Knowing what he was about to do, she decided to simply go with it and let him take her to the station that served as the headquarters of the Starcraft Navy. Gerald had already gotten the ceremony prepared and after a number of speeches that bored Sophia to tears before delivering a speech of her own while pointing out the many flaws of the fleets while giving her own ideas on how they will be improved in the future. Some ideas were seen as controversial, but she made a promise that the navy would become the most terrifying adversary throughout the omniverse and a symbol of victory to all who the fleets side with. Sophia never knew how charismatic she really was until she heard the loudest roars of cheer and applause she had ever heard. Thankfully, her eardrums quickly adapted.

After the ceremony, Gerald hightailed it to some distant world in the omniverse. However, Sophia made sure to stick a tracker on her grandfather before he left. She was not about to let him run out on the family so easily.

Sigmund opened his store in Canterlot and drew the attention of many noble collectors and others who were curious about the wares. Since he couldn’t be running the shop forever however, he hired a few ponies who were disgruntled with the nobles and explained his plan to them and that as long as they stuck to it, they would have their revenge in the end. Sigmund returned to his corporate headquarters to resume his paperwork.

Thanatas headed off to another universe somewhere and only told them that she was taking a vacation. The only clue to her whereabouts was Sophia seeing an image in a rift that appeared to be an endless white japanese-style city with the central section surrounded by a circular wall. The wall and roofs of the buildings were all light brown. The central building was the tallest of them all and was overlooked by a tall plateau.

Midnight accepted the position as Twilight’s personal secretary. Twilight had always done well to organize the company but she understood that her organizational skills had their limits. Midnight was programmed to think like Twilight, but she added in her own personal touch of having a professional facade so she could help Twilight to focus whenever she started to panic. Between the two of them, productivity within the company jumped fifteen percent by the end of the fiscal year.

Meanwhile, in an undisclosed location…

A certain mare was running around screaming while fully engulfed in flames. She tried rolling around, dumping the contents of several potted shrubs on herself, and dowsing herself several times with water, one of those times turning out to be a bucket of gasoline that was conveniently placed there by one of her cohorts for a cruel prank. Much to her frustration and agony, none of them worked.

In the end, the mare decided to rip open a wall paneling and pull on wires until she electrocuted herself to death. The lights went out for a few moments until the backup lighting system came back on. The mare’s world faded to black as she embraced the mercy of death.

A few minutes later, another mare emerged from a nearby stasis pod. She took a few minutes to inspect herself. “So far so good,” she thought. Once she was done looking over herself, she exited the pod and grabbed the set of clothes that were placed next to her pod which was standard for all pods.

Once she got dressed, Crystal growled as she glared at the red unicorn filly wearing a purple gothic dress. The scarlet filly had a sky blue mane and tail. The filly was on her back laughing helplessly on the floor.

“Are you just about finished laughing at my misfortune, Gemini Star?”

The filly continued laughing but managed to give a “Nope.” when she could manage it. As her laughing fit began to subside, she managed to speak, “I still have another half of a laughing fit to go.” Suddenly, the filly’s colors shifted, her dress remained the same, but her coat turned indigo and her mane became bright pink. After the transformation, her laughter continued, though Crystal was thankful that her laughter was more subdued in that form.

She was a strange filly, Crystal could understand why her cutie mark was a series of red and blue stars. It was even stranger that the visible parts of her cutie mark changed whenever she shifted. One could see the blue part when she was red and vice versa.

Crystal continued to glare at the filly. “I suppose you think it was funny to trick me into dumping fuel onto myself.”

Gemini’s giggles continued. “It was a little funny, it was like something out of a cartoon.”

Crystal rolled her eyes and walked out of the room. Gemini followed after her. The two traveled down a hallway in silence until Crystal broke it. “Did you ever consider how I felt when I ended up either boneless, skinless, misshapen or prone to combustion when exposed to oxygen? It hurts like Tartarus!”

Gemini turned red. “Don’t be such a stick in the mud. It’s bad enough that there’s not a lot to do when it comes to entertainment. It wasn’t my fault that nobody bothered to check the materials for defects. It was hilarious that you had to go through five whole bodies and off yourself five times until you could wind up in a body that actually worked.” Gemini started laughing loudly again.

Crystal rolled her eyes and grumbled. “When I get my hands on that insect, I will rip her chitin off and hurl the rest of her into a bug zapper,” she thought.

The two entered a meeting room with a circular table and eight chairs. Each one was marked for each member to sit in, including the leader. Crystal took her spot in the chair to the right of the leader’s chair while Gemini sat two chairs right of Crystal.

Over the next half hour, the other lieutenants started coming in. The next one to enter was a sand-colored male pegasus with a green mane wearing rags. Crystal recognized him as Desert Wind and despite his appearance, he was actually a very successful businesspony with small retail chains all over Equestria. For some reason, he just liked dressing like a beggar. He had a chain around his neck with an icon that resembled his cutie mark of a shimmering desert oasis. He sat two chairs to the left of the leader’s chair.

Next came a yellow pegasus with a white mane swept over her left eye while the other eye had an eyepatch. She wore a yellow robe that had holes in the back for her wings. Despite not being able to see however, she found her seat to the right of Gemini.

Everyone knew about Windwhisper’s clairvoyant abilities by picking up on the subtle messages that the air around her brought her. This was a talent that no other pegasus had, let alone any pony. Her cutie mark was an eye with a pair of wings.

The next lieutenant sauntered into the room. This one was a rose-colored female pegasus with a voluminous yellow mane with white streaks whose very appearance made Crystal grind her teeth in envy. Being a supermodel, Misty Wing had access to only the best beauty products and equipment to keep her figure well toned.

Misty’s ability activated whenever she flapped her wings. Mares and stallions alike would be drawn to her and then fight one another over her. She playfully flapped her wings once. Windwhisper saw it coming and covered her muzzle with her robe while Gemini was left confused since Misty’s ability had no effect on foals. Desert looked at Misty like a lovestruck fool while Crystal focused her hatred to conquer the wave of lust.

Misty giggled at their reactions as she took her spot between Crystal and Gemini.

Two more ponies came in, both stallions. One was a blue earth pony with a yellow mane. He was shirtless and his shorts looked like something woven together from jungle plants. The other was a black earth pony with a scarlet mane. By profession, he, Steel Edge, was a blacksmith who crafted his own armor and weapons. His real talent though was being able to use any weapon with at least moderate skill. More so than an amateur anyway.

As for the blue pony, Greenpeace, his oddity was that he was always mellow and always high on something. His affinity for plants was one of the best on record throughout Equestria’s history. Plants behaved with sentience while he was around. As great as his power was though, he was still an idiot. Greenpeace would often forget his missions because he was baked most of the time, so Gemini would have to pin his missions on his shorts whenever she was blue or stab him in the arm with it when she was red.

Steel sat to the left of the leader’s seat and Greenpeace sat between Desert and Windwhisper.

After ten minutes of waiting and enduring Gemini’s mockery of everyone in the room, who knew when they were mocked, the leader finally arrived.

For some reason, the leader never revealed his true self, keeping his color scheme hidden in a blackening spell. Everyone knew his name but were forbidden from uttering it because of the spell he placed on everyone that triggered whenever anyone attempted to utter his name.

Still, everyone followed him because they all had one purpose: the removal of the Alicorns from Equestria.

“Firstly, I wish to congratulate all of you for a job well done,” the leader began, his voice concealed with a robotic voice spell. “Everything has gone according to plan, despite some hiccups.”

“Yeah, but Crystal still failed to kill even one princess,” Steel Edge said.

“That is irrelevant. Crystal’s mission was not to eliminate any of the Alicorns, that was an optional objective. Her mission allowed the rest of you to map out the Eternal Sphere without arousing suspicion. At the same time, she also ensured the deletion of several of the Eternal Sphere’s most troublesome defenses. With the Executioners and Valkyrie Goddesses gone, we will have more freedom to move about in the Eternal Sphere.”

“So, are you going to explain why we needed to do this while Crystal ran her distraction?” Misty asked.

“At this stage, I can now explain what we must do to execute our plan. But first, a little background. Some time ago, the Eternal Sphere was visited by an AI from another universe. However, the Executioners detected her and attempted to delete her. Instead, she split her very being into eight powerful fragments that have scattered throughout the Eternal Sphere. Neither we nor Sphere are able to locate the fragments. It’s thanks to Windwhisper that we discovered the method to bring one of the fragments out of hiding. It’s thanks to Gemini for crafting the plan needed to expose the fragment and capture it without Sphere being any the wiser.”

“So what are we supposed to do with these fragments?” Crystal asked.

“For now, we study it and learn what we can from it. If we can weaponize it, we might have something that would make the Valkyrie Goddesses seem obsolete by comparison.”

“So when do we get to the action?” Steel demanded. “I didn’t make all these weapons just for them to rust.”

“Dude, chillax, ya gotta like mellow your vibes dude,” Greenpeace said. “Bad karma comes to those who harsh their own vibes man. Let’s just kick back and munch on some chamomile while we wait.”

“I’ll show you vibes!” Steel growled.

“Steel Edge, enough!” the leader ordered. “Greenpeace is right, we can’t act recklessly. Equestria has gained some powerful allies. If we act too quickly and they notice our activities, we will be forced to deal with their allies before we are ready. I doubt we would be able to handle them as we are now.

“For now, we wait and we study the changes in the Eternal Sphere. We must locate and secure the other seven fragments before Sphere finds out what they are.”

“Do we know anything about the fragment we have?” Desert asked.

“The winds speak of a name,” Windwhisper uttered. “It identifies itself with one word: Rebirth. It calls to the hearts stained with malice.”

“So the thing is looking for bad people or something?” Gemini asked. “Well, whatever, are we done here? If we’re gonna be sitting around for a while, can we at least get some entertainment here? Maybe set my room up with some video games?”

Crystal rolled her eyes. “We’ll get you something to keep you entertained. Anything to keep you from pulling your ridiculous pranks on the rest of us.” Gemini stuck her tongue out at Crystal.

“Until we know our next move, all of you are to remain on standby,” the leader ordered. “Remember, our grand mission is to bring about the birth of a nation free of Alicorn influence. We must not let anything jeopardize that. This meeting is now adjourned.”

With that, everyone rose from their seats and exited the conference room.

Author's Notes:

That's the end for this story. I know I ended this while introducing new characters. These eight are the main antagonists for this tetralogy (Yeah, I decided on going with that setup for this). The first installment was Starcraft: Warriors of Purity.

The third part to this is going to take a lot of planning, but it will be based in a universe that many are familiar with (I've given hints on what it's going to be already). Fates of certain iconic characters will be changed.

Anyway, I'm not sure when I will start writing the next story. Could be days, weeks or months. Sophia and Thanatas will be playing the bigger roles as far as the OC protagonists go so the other family members will be playing no to little to moderate roles in the next story.

My process for this story was to write the chapter, edit, then post while previous stories involved writing several chapters to make a buffer, edit the last unposted while making changes based on later chapters, then post. I'm thinking of doing the latter next time.

If you haven't figured out what Project Zereth and Project Ankh are, then look forward to it in the next story, and hooray for me for improving on my ability to tease without giving away anything important.