Thread 52: Stories 16-30

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 >29
"MM"
'Zecora'
~~~~~

It is quite difficult for silence to be considered 'deafening', but somehow, this managed.

>...
"..."
'...'
>...
"..."
'...'

"Sooooo... bout another hour, you think? I give it an hour, tops. This stuff never lasts more than an hour."

In unison, the other two sighed. She had been at this for a while.

"What, you think a half hour? Come on, need to give her a little time... got musical numbers to do, and we don't want to rush her."

Conspiratorially, 29 leaned over to whisper to the zebra.

>Does it bother you how... not crazy she sounds?

The dead, flat look answered that.

>I simply mean, it's not as though she speaks from the bent of a mind, but of simple fact. She speaks with a tongue of knowledge, not of a broken dream.

After contemplating it a bit, Zecora nodded.

'Perhaps she is simply used to it after all this time. She faced so many disasters in Twilight's prime.'

>Oh?

'Oh yes, her and I as well. I helped her conquer many things, discovering the friendship spell.'

>So... Dare we to dream she is right? That indeed the princess shalt yet save the day?

'If the records past are of note... perhaps she is right to keep her wish afloat.'

"It's going to happen."

They snapped their attention back to the mayor. The one who even now looked almost... bored.

"Puh-lease. Lets face it, this is nothing compared to an eternal darkness, hardly up there with chocolate rain, and just barely on par with vines. In fact, considering the kidnapping thing, the vines are about equal. Whoop de doo. Twilight's going to swoop in, magic it up, get all the credit and even get another stained glass window to boot. Or... I don't know, one of the other princesses cures this thing with love or friendship or some crap. Is anyone expecting something different to happen?"

In fact, they couldn't really refute that. In fact, there was something strangely calming about her entire aloof perspective on it.

>So... what would you have us do?

"Well, since we're going to be totally unimportant to anything that is going to happen..."

Meaningfully, she eyed the... 'special' medicine cabinet.

>...Art thou really suggesting that in this, our time of great horror, we succumb to the base desires to cast our minds aside?

"Yes. I am absolutely suggesting we get SO baked, that we'll be out for a few hours."

'This does not seem wise, we are surrounded by hungry eyes.'

"Your magic held up to get rid of them, they can't smell us, there are no ponies in Everfree, and the walls are soundproofed enough we could hire DJPON3 to come in here and absolutely nobody would hear. Why would they come back?"

Again, they found themselves unable to refute this.

>...It is rather tempting.

'But I worry what we will wake up to, when our trip has finally passed. I do not wish to have my hopes brought up and so carelessly dashed.'

"Tell you what, we wake up and there's still zombies, we go out there and do some big damn hero stuff. Full bore tearing the place apart. Either this all gets fixed, or we mare up and start fixing. Deal?"

The two went silent, idly looking back and forth.

"Unless you've got a better idea."

Sadly... they did not.

"Oh, and one more thing? Anything that happens here... ANYTHING we do... never... never... NEVER leaves this hut, deal?"

'...M'kay.'

With that, the zebra stomped her hoof, and a hidden panel even the other two had never seen flung open.

>...Party like its the end of the world?

"WOOOOOOO!"

>...Woo?

'Woo.'

>...Woooo...

"WOOOO!"
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 >Fleetfoot
"Soarin'"
~~

>...You're thinking it too, aren't you?

"No idea what you mean."

>You know you're thinking it.

"Not the time."

>You're thiiiiinking it!

"Be professional, Fleetfoot."

>I will... if you say it.

"No."

>Sayyyyy it.

"...Fine. Yes, I am questioning if they used to bone."

>HA! VALIDATION!
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 >Braeburn
“???”
‘???’
[???]
_____

There was one absolute fact that could be said about Braeburn.

The stallion loved his family.

One could also say that ‘love’ was too light a word, that it didn’t properly convey the staggering depths of his care for the rest of the Apples.

But if anyone needed proof of this, well, there was really no better indicator than how he managed to get from his homestead in Appleloosa all the way down to Sweet Apple Acres.

In less the four hours.

Simply by running.

>AAAAAAAPPLESSSSS!

Fueled by his own warcry, he bounded over the front gate in a fiery blaze of bronze fur, landing with a ground-rumbling thud just before a crowd of infected ponies crowded on the farms main lane.

He shifted weight to one leg, lifting a hoof to slowly drag the length of braided twine from around his neck.

>The way I figure it... y’all got two options. One, y’all can get outta my way real nice’n easy like, no fuss no muss. Or two…

A threatening step forward took the pause and Braeburn lifted his head, an explosive kind of aversion shining through his narrowed eyes.

>I can make y’all get outta my way.

The way the infected stood there, eerily still despite their throbbing pustules, might have suggested they were actually considering the options.

Until they dove, as one, in a large, overpowering wave of murderous intent.

He grinned, fitting the rope between his teeth.

>Good choith.

Now there was another absolute fact about Braeburn, but this one was far more secondary, one that he didn’t like to flaunt or care to.

Because, really, where was the gain in being able to control a mere bit of rope like the deadliest of whips?

Even as he sidestepped an infected, only to snatch in another by the neck and send them both tumbling down, all that conquered his mind were early memories of teaching an excited Applejack new rope tricks every weekend….

Spores littered the air as an infected pony was sent corkscrewing over the fields, followed by another, then two more, each of them hitting the dirt with satisfying crunches.

>WELCOME TO THE RODEO!

Yet regardless of his skill, regardless of how many infected necks he cracked and how many he sent flying, the numbers didn’t seem to be thinning.

>Right. …Plan B!

And he threw his head off to the side, snagging a medium sized boulder within the rope’s loop. Veins throbbed in his neck but he still managed to yank it free of the ground, swinging it with all the might he possessed towards the biggest gathering of infected blocking his way.

Bodies were crushed, spores ignited like gun power and through it leapt Braeburn, landing light as a leaf on the stone before leaping again and taking off towards the inland, galloping as fast as his tired legs would go, a throng of snarling infected stampeding behind him.

XXXXXX

“Ya know, what Ah came from the castle, all Ah wanted t’do was get some candy… enjoy mah Nightmare Night wit’ mah family. Sounds simple, don’t it?”

‘Eeeyup.’

“Thought so.”

[COME AN’ GIT ME YA RASCALS! YOU’LL GIT MY BLOOD ‘FORE YA GIT MY APPLES!]

“So how’d things end up like this then, big brother?”

The older stallion merely grunted, slightly more focused on bucking the stones his little sister tossed up at the approaching infected, each of his mighty kicks ensuring at least one head was popped clean from its perch.

[THIS AIN’T EVEN MY DAYJOB AN’ I’M CLEANIN’ SHOP!]

“Well, least Granny’s havin’ fun….”

After chucking another rock in the air, and suffering a spot of hearing loss as it cracked off Big Mac’s hoof, Applebloom glanced over to see her grandmother positively going wild on her own little section of infected.

She was a frail thing to be sure but she’d rubbed some zap apple reserves over her hooves and, as she pulled herself along on her little rocker yelling out threats, she’d reach out a wizened leg and tap one of the many unwelcomed guests, causing them to explode in a shower of spores and stray bits of actual electricity.

[Y’ALL WHIPPERSNAPPERS THINK YA CAN JUS’ UP AN’ TAKE OVER MY FARM? HURT MY APPLES? NOT WHILE I BREATHE!]

“She’s really protective, ain’t she?”

CRACK.

Another infected down.

‘Eeeyup.’

CRACK.

“Didn’t know zap apples could, ya know, actually zap things….”

CRACK.

‘Secret family weapon.’

“Oh. That’s neat…”

CRACK.

‘Eeeyu- NO!’

Big Mac’s sudden yell thundered over everything as one of his rocks sailed clear over the target.

“Wuh?”

Time seemed to slow to an agonizing crawl when Applebloom glanced up, suddenly numb, eyes widening at the infected bringing it’s jagged teeth down at her neck.

“B-big brother…?”

‘BLOOMS!’

She screamed before she felt it.

>NOT MY COUSIN YA WON’T!

Before she felt those fangs just barely graze her flesh, and not even graze; she felt the wind of what was nearly a fatal bite and watched, stunned, as the infected was snatched back by the noose around its neck.

And then Braeburn was before her, looking beyond horrified and tilting her head every which way.

After a few tense seconds, he exhaled, legs quivering for the first time that night.

>I… I thought I was t-too late, but… no, yer’ fine, yeah… fine….

“Burny…? Burny!”

She threw herself at him in a vice-like hug.

“When- how- why’re y’all here?”

Wordlessly, he pushed his little cousin back, and kept pushing her back, scooting her slowly across the ground until she was at the barn doors.

By that time, Big Mac was on his left and Granny Smith was on his right.

He fixed Applebloom with a faraway smile, giving her mane a fond ruffle. Then he spun around to face the gathered hordes of infected.

Ten… twenty… thirty…

He sighed.

>Why’m I here?

It was going to be a long night….

>I’m here to protect the apples.

‘Eeeyup.’

[ROUND TWO YA HOOLIGANS!]
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 >???
"???"
~~~~

This felt wrong.

Not a common thought with the scatterminded thing that had spread itself so very wide and far, to say the least. It had done many things, many actions that had failed and been beaten back, but its actions had never felt wrong before.

And yet, this felt wrong. This particular moment felt as though it should not be. Something bubbled within its newest host that made it question itself, made it wonder if it should act differently.

Something that made it feel like the host should not have failed. A basic, primordial instinct very much like its own thought processes was burning within the dragon, a feeling that it should have been able to conquer, to hunt down its prey with absolute success. This was not the thoughts born of memories of the mind, but of instinct, the thing within knew. Something at the beast's primal core was speaking to it as clearly as words.

This was wrong.

This failure was wrong.

It should not fall when it hunts its prey.

It should feed.

It should succeed.

For once, the thing within found itself in accord with the desires of the host it controlled, a strange feeling to be sure, but one it could not call worthy of being torn out. It wished it to succeed. If it succeeded, the thing could spread. If it could spread, nothing else mattered.

>Which way next?

"I have no idea, hang a left up that way."

>Why?

"Because I don't want to go right."

>...Alright.

With this concord reached, the two voices it heard passing its newest host by sparked something. A need. To hunt, to feed, to succeed.

It was with a strange harmony that it and the dragon rose to their feet. A fall of several dozen feet healed in mere moments. It had not felt the synchronization currently coursing through it since... her.

The original.

As it set off, the thing within it decided... this was not an unwelcome feeling.

It would succeed.

It would Ş͝p̨̕͟r̀̀è͏a҉̢d҉̡́
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 >41
"???"
~~~~

In the entirety of her life in this hive, 41 had never, ever, disobeyed an order.

She had never questioned a task given to her.

She had never sassed back to a command.

She was a soldier. Loyal, efficient, strong.

She had never disobeyed an order...

"COME ON YOU BASTARDS!"

Before today.

This is not where her Queen had commanded her to go.

"IRON STRIKE! NO!... You... YOU BASTARDS!"

She was not acting in line with the directions she had given.

"FUCK! Come on, we've got to stay together! We just- ACCENSUS GET BACK IT'S RIGHT BEHIND... DAMN IT!"

And the pony she looked upon... was not her target.

"FUCK! FUCK! COME ON! DON'T YOU- SILVER SASH! CROSS GUARD! CHAPE! NO! NO NO NO!"

41 had never disobeyed an order in her life.

"COME ON YOU BASTARDS! WHAT!? YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME!? JUST TRY AND TAKE IT! YOU THINK I WON'T STAB MY FRIENDS!? TRY IT! JUST TRY IT!"

But as she looked down from above at the pony surrounded on all sides by those creatures, swinging his spear and impaling or lancing any he could get into reach, she questioned them.

"I DON'T CARE IF I HAVE TO KILL THE ENTIRETY OF THE CANTERLOT GUARD! I'M NOT GOING DOWN!"

As she stared openly at his torn armor barely holding on, the deep gashes that surrounded his body, she repeated them.

"I'M NOT GOING TO DIE!"

As she heard him cry out... she knew.

She knew she had to fire off as much of her magic as she could spare and send them scattering in every direction.

She knew she had to land next to the pony who could just barely hold himself upright.

She knew she had to place a hoof on his lips to silence his words of thanks.

And she knew... she had to detonate the charge her Majesty had ordered her to use on the Elements of Harmony to keep them safe.

As her body was transported through the ether, magic sending her to a location unknown, she knew.

This would not end well for her.

But looking at his face, his smiling, relieved, happy face...

Some orders just didn't matter.
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 >Silver Spoon
“Filthy Rich”
'???'
~~~~~

“So... how is school going?”

The tiny silver filly sighed, trying to repress her disgust at being asked that again.

For the fifth time.

Second time in a row.

>Still mostly A's and B's, just like it was two minutes ago.

“That's good. Important to stay ahead in school, never know when it'll come in handy.”

>Oh yeah, 'how clouds work' is really vital information.

“That it is!”

Again, she sighed.

“You know, that looks a little heavy, why don't you let me-”

Just like the last seven times, her answer was the same.

>No.

“Oh, come now, it must be uncomfortable.”

>I'm fine.

“It really does look like a bit much.”

>Diamond Tiara carries him around all the time.

“Yes... but I fear it's getting a little heavy for her as well.”

>She can carry it.

“Are you sure about that?”

>...Can't be any harder than carrying me...

“Now, really, you're being-”

>LOOK OUT!

He needed no second warning on that one. His own rocket launcher was poised in seconds, firing off a tiny explosive just as he had so many times before, aiming right where he heard the sound of movement.

Only, this event was far different from the other ones, he discovered.

This shot missed.

>OVER THERE!

There was a tiny blur of colors hugging the walls to avoid his shots, moving so quickly his aged eyes could just barely follow it.

>GET DOWN!

Again, he followed her command without complaint, ducking under a flash of something going right for his head. He rolled forwards with his duck, firing away without missing a beat.

Or his target, for that matter.

He finally heard the sweet, if disgusting, sound of bomb meeting skin, and got to watch in satisfaction as flames consumed whatever it was that had been attacking him.

“...They're getting a bit quicker, don't you think? Or perhaps I'm just getting older.”

His jovial tone betrayed a fast beating heart, and a slight of breath. However, he felt his effort wasted when he looked upon the filly, and saw her horror stricken face.

“What is...”

He felt it before he heard it.

The vibrations upon the ground, the shaking that rattled the stone beneath them.

“...I think now is a good time to-”

>IT'S NOT DEAD!

Instinctually, he tried to turn his weapon back to the thing he had put into the ground, mind already whirring with questions as to why he had not seen the tell-tale flame of their regeneration. His answer was delivered as if from on high, when the creature he had put down closed the distance.

And sunk dragon teeth right into the side of his rocket launcher.

>S-SPIKE!? NO!

His wide goggling eyes did not leave him as the tiny thing he now recognized as his daughter's friend Spike shook his head back and forth like a rabid dog, teeth made to pierce precious gems cutting right through the steel and metal beneath. Against this he could not hope to keep his grasp. As aged and out of shape as he was, he could not hope to dodge when the metal pole swung back around, and clipped him right in the face, sending him flying away from the surprising force of the blow.

>MR RICH!

He saw stars as he lied on the ground, barely able to watch as the small dragon bit right through his weapon, like a dog chewing though a particularly tough bone.

“R-run...”

She would not. Instead, she opened the case she had carried around so much, revealing the twisted and broken remains of what had once been the pinnacle of its craft. Without hesitation, she slammed her hoof into a seemingly random section of the thing, and from a hidden compartment a tiny knife popped up into the air. Swiftly, she caught it, and flung it right at the dragon.

Said dragon didn't even flinch when the hilt of the knife banged up against his skin harmlessly.

>...I guess I need to work on that.

Her words were hollow, defeated, every bit as limp as the legs of the adult who tried to stand up next to her.

“R-r-ruuuunnn...”

But again, she would not. Tear stained eyes looked at him from behind bespectacled lenses, and a sad smile crossed his face.

>I can't outrun all of them...

He did not need to ask her who she meant. The vibrations in the ground told him, indeed, they were out of time.

“I'm... I'm so sorry...”

He sadly turned back to the snarling, poised dragon, mere seconds away from jumping upon them and finishing what he started.

>...Yeah, me too.

From around the corner, a horde of infected exploded.

Just... not in the way they had been expecting.

Like tiny pins beneath the power of an explosive bowling ball, bodies scattered in every direction as they flew through the air down the hallway, tossed aside as if they weighed no more than a piece of plastic. No matter how massive or small those infected were, they all flew the same, smashing through windows, walls, doors, everything. Screeches of the pained rang in their ears before another wash followed them, and another, and then another, all the while all three stood struck, even the infected dragon unable to process what happened before it.

Through the crunched of bone and the sounds of the very walls smashing in, they all heard it. That distinct, easy noise.

The sounds came in perfect rhythm. WHRRR-THUMP! WHRRR-THUMP!

From the darkened corridor, it emerged.

Or rather, she emerged.

'Get away from her you BITCH!'

Titanic metal hooves hefted up into the air, the mechanical pony-facsimile body they were attached to held together by a haphazardly wired together frame. The contraption easily a head taller than Celesitia herself was a mishmash of robotic parts, slapped together in what had to be minutes, moved the armor-like covering around her. In the middle of a shakily welded roll-cage, a tiny shape hung suspended in a sea of wires carelessly strewn about her 'cockpit'.

A tiny pink bundle of hate.

>Whoa...

“Sweetiekins!”

The dragon let out a chilling screech, diving head first with teeth bared at the machine. She didn't so much as blink before she slammed her hoof on a button, causing the machine to suddenly swing hard to the side and bury the reptile into the wall via hoof-smack.

'...Huh, that was supposed to be the rockets...'

>DT NO! It's Spike!

'You don't say.'

Wordlessly, she slammed her hoof down on it several times more, resulting in several more swings back and forth.

>WHY!?

'I have bundled up rage I wish to let out. Some small part of me is imagining Applejack... mmm... smashy.'

“PUMPKIN!”

'He'll be fine, daddy!'

“It's just mean is all!”

“He was mean to me first!”

>Okay, him not, like, holding Applejack at gunpoint and making her let you back on the team is not mean.

'I'd do it for him or the bug monsters!”

>...I do not doubt that, not at all.

'GOOD!'
SMASH!
'YOU!'
SMASH!
'SHOULD!'
SMASH!
'NOT!'

With one final SMASH, she buried him deep, deep into the castle wall.

There was a moment of silence that hung heavy in the air, and then at last the metal hoof emerged from the wall. Nothing else followed in its wake. Another beat of silence, and they could at last breath again in relief.

'Are you two okay?'

The mechanical behemoth stomped up to the pair, an outstretched hoof gingerly rolling her father onto his hooves. He wasted no time before diving forwards and embracing her, completely uncaring that a rack of metal separated the two. Reflexively, her own forelegs shot through the bars, grabbing him as tightly as she could with what little distance she could manage.

“Honey... you're okay...”

She just rolled her eyes in a prissy manner, scoffing derisively at the mere insinuation.

'Of course I'm okay. What, did you think a bunch of idiots with a bite fetish were going to get me?'

“SWEETIE!”

'What?... Oh, right, sorry.'

“You step out of this two ton death machine right now, I am washing out your mouth with soap!”

'NO!'

She shrunk back, out of his grasp and into the back of her roll-cage, just out of his reach.

“I'm not going to say it again!”

'You can't make me!'

“You step out of this contraption right now missy!”

'Nnnnn~o!'

“Right now I said!”

'Nu uh!'

“I'm going to count to five, and then you are grounded for a week!”

'Plplplplp!'

“Now it's three weeks!”

'NEH!'

“Ooooonnee.... twooooooo-”

>U-uh... Mr Filthy Rich?

“Yes, Silver Spoon?”

>Don't you think this one time... maaaaybe you should let it slide?

“Oh, now look what you did, I've upset your poor friend!”

'HRPMH!'

“Well... I suppose I could let it slide this once, IF you apologized!”

'...Smsmy...'

“What was that?”

'...Smmmrmry mshmhed me f merd.'

“Diamond Tiaraaaaa...”

'…Sorry I said the F word.”

“That's better! Love you, sweetie!”

'...I lumyoutuuub.'

Silver Spoon rolled her eyes when they hugged once more for a brief second, but said nothing on the subject when she trotted up next to the mechanical thing.

>Okay, one? How did you build this thing so fast? Two, how the hay did you find us?

The pink filly rolled her eyes, flippantly waving the mechs arms as she regarded the filly.

'One, I'm Diamond Tiara... and most of these are just pre-built robot parts I welded a giant roll cage into... Two, I'm Diamond Tiara, but I didn't find YOU.'

>...Oh...

Sadly, she trotted back to the case, snapping it shut before dragging it over to the filly.

>Trackers?

'Some ponies call it clingy, I shoot those ponies.'

>..

'That was not a joke, mere statement of fact.'

>R-right.

Sadly, she held up the case for the other to take.

>Sorry, I guess you would have gotten him anyway... I just got in the way again.

She stared at the case for a long, hard moment, occasionally flicking her eyes back up to the silver filly.

The large, metal hoof reached out, and gently pushed the case right back.

'You watch him, you're the only one I trust with him.'

Her eyes goggled stupidly at her friend, mouth flapping open like a cod.

'Look, I'm just saying, I've seen how Sweetie Belle looks at him. You think I don't know? And oh, I just bet that the chicken would loooove a taste of his jump jet. Well, too bad! I'm the only one he takes to the moon!'

“HONEY-BUNCHES!”

'...L-litterally, daddy! I'm working on something to breach the atmosphere, nothing like what some other, less cultured fillies would mean by that! I'm saving myself for marriage, promise!'

“Oh, okay then!”

>...B-b-b-but... but I... I...

'Don't shake him, SS, he hates that... likes it niiice and steady.'

“...”

'Because it just goes everywhere if he gets shook, and that's a huge mess.'

“...”

'...I mean his rockets. And nothing else. Because I'm a good little filly.'

“Okay!”

There was just a touch of denial in his eyes.

Just a touch.

That resolved, she stomped the ground hard with her machine, pointing it straight down the hall before jutting her hoof forwards.

'Alright, get behind me and stick close! Daddy-kins, watch Silver Spoon, Silver Spoon, watch TBDRLIATU, TBDRLIATU... You just keep being sexy.'

“DIAMOND TIARA!”

'HE IS! I MAKE NO APOLOGIES FOR THIS! I'M DRAWING THE LINE DADDY-WADDY!'

“...Okay.”

He felt just a touch horrible there.

Just a touch.

'Alright, let's MOVE OUT-'

>...Um...D-DT?

'...Now, see, you cut me off. I had this big thing going, and then you said that, and now-'

>I-if you're mad... you can vent over there for a bit. Please?

The pink filly turned to where her father and friend stared. The wall she had shot the dragon into not a moment ago shook, as if a tiny earthquake had somehow been contained within it.

For while her previous attacks had ceased the functioning of the body, the mind of the dragon had continued on. Had any the ability, they would have practically heard a voice speak within Spike's very body.

The spread...

The spread had been stopped. They were stopping it. No, rather, they were slowing it. The spread would continue on, yes, but at this rate, the spread would take too long... far too long... It needed to fight. It needed to hunt. It needed to win.

So it searched.

The memories from the one who resisted it had proved useful in culling her fight, perhaps there was something in this mind to help it? A weakness to the thing that battered it, a new skill, a....

Wait...

There was something there...

In the depths of his mind, a familiar thing, something its newest host remembered from a time long past, a time so like now, a feeling of remembrance to this very event that had yet to come. A feeling of helplessness, of mindless following of desires... it was so familiar to the 'mind' that throbbed in its every spore that it felt almost like they were one and the same.

It searched through the host's mind for 'it', the trigger, the balance of chemicals and mental nature that had turned its current host's body just as it now sought to...

Yes...

There it was.

A simple phrase burned in the dragons mind now in tune with the control of its many spores. In kindness, if one could call it that, it decided to hear them out.

~Spike... WANT!~

It had only the most basic understanding of wordplay, but it knew that was wrong. No, it should be more...

~Spike... S̢͠ṔR̵̢E̸̢͝A̡D!́͘~

That was it.

Bits of wall fell away as his cells changed as if by magic. But it was not the biology of the thing which controlled him, no. Instead it was his own biology, his own inner nature that fueled the change.

'...That's not good.'

He grew before their very eyes, no longer a short little dragon that stood just above Diamond Tiara's head. His limbs stretched, growing lanky, looking awkward upon his body. He continued rising, but he did not do so immobile.

He was upon her in seconds, his now far larger body grabbing hold of the machines metal bars. She reacted without thinking, cocking back a hoof and slamming hard on another button. A rocket popped out from her elbow joint and shot forwards, connecting right with the snarling beasts face. He was sent away, but he would not stay down.

He continued to grow even as he pulled himself from the remains of the table he had shattered, debris falling off as he yet again dove at her, teeth barred.

In desperation, she slammed her hoof again, and twin machine guns popped out from the mechanical equines shoulder blades, a hellfire of bullets raining into his skin as he charged. He slowed, the bullets shredding his scales, but he would not stop. Against the torrent, he yet still moved forwards.

She roared, another button slammed down as her steed raced forwards, the misshapen head connecting with the scaled hide and tossing him aside. He rose yet again, but this time...

He did not go for her.

'NOOOOO!'

The two prone ponies could only watch in terror as he bounded over the pink filly, diving headfirst in their direction. Without thinking, she ordered the legs to fling her entire mass backwards, catching his body just before it could hit the ground. It worked, she realized in the brief moment of respite she was granted as she rolled away. Neither was touched.

But she would be.

He recovered faster than her, leaping his ever expanding body atop her mechs frame, clawing angrily at her even as she tried to batter and pull him off.

>DT! No no no no! GET HIM OFF!

She growled, her mech rearing back and bending its metal spine. The entirety of the dragon was hefted above her, still clawing, still biting, still trying to make his way into the cage that separated him from his meal. It was here, as the metal of her mech started to groan, she relized something.

He still grew, and grew, and it hit her with a terrifying thought that perhaps it would not stop.

'He might...'

With the threat that yet loomed, she could do the only thing that came to mind.

'...Sorry, guys.'

>DT NO!

“DIAMOND TIARA!”

She ignored them when she slowly, painfully moved him away from them, towards the original hole he had been punched into on her arrival, his claws renting all along the steel frame, ripping out chunks with every swipe as if it was made of foil.

'Sorry, Spike!'

At last, she bailed, but not before slamming her hoof down on one final button before leaping free of the machine's roll cage.

In tune with her, the mech rolled to the side, powerful legs pushing it and the thing that even now clutched to it towards the wall...

And right through it.

'GET DOWN!'

They all huddled together as they heard the screech as the dragon dropped, and the crunch of stone as both massive bodies landed upon it. In the span of a single second, they heard a loud chirp, and every window shattered as a blast went off, rocking the entire castle.

And then... there was silence.

'...I just got that thing.'

Despondently, Silver Spoon looked out the hole she had seen Spike fall, reaching out ever so slightly.

>Spike...

'Pfft, he's fine, quit.'

There was something oddly soothing about how nonchalant she sounded.

>H-how... how can you be sure?

Diamond Tiara would never answer that.

The ear splitting, deafening roar that grew louder with every passing second did that for her.

'...Silver Spoon?'

She barely mumbled a response, far more focused on the shadow that grew before her very eyes.

'I think now would be a good time to hand me TBDRLIATU.'
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 >High Roller/Snake Eyes
"Screwloose"
'12'

"Well well well, aren't you an...eye sore for...sore eyes...heh..."

'He doesn't have a mark...'

>Hello to you too, Lucy, I see you're doing...

The pale stallion grimaced, looking the scene over again.

>It'd honestly be an insult to call this well, let's call this...as expected.

"A nice way of looking at it."

'Seriously...no mark. The fuck?'

>Any headway in this little experiment?

Screwloose held up her amputated hoof.

>Guess not...that door was open, how did you-

"Already infected before I lopped it off, I guess it made them move on, decided to let in some air."

'Anyone?'

>You don't appear to have changed much since the old days, I see, well, mentally at any rate.

"And you've probably changed hundreds of times. But enough ancient history, to what do I owe the pleasure of your little visit? I assume-"

>I'd rather not say their name in his presence.

"Oh come on, if you can say it to me, you can say it to the pervert."

>If he found out the client's name, I would literally have to kill him.

'You're welcome to try...that's not me being bad ass, you are literally welcome to try.'

"Well, name or no, the answer remains the same, I refuse to work for that arrogant usurper."

'Wait...'

>I believe you'll find the updated terms of their offer quite pleasing.

"Doubtful."

>Your own lab, fully staffed and equipped.

"Ha, like I'd want a bunch of grad students scurrying underhoof."

>Top level living quarters.

"That I'd never see because I'd be in the lab."

>Complete carte blanche to experiment on and with whatever you like.

"...have you not seen the inside of this room?"

>Then allow me to ask you, exactly what are you accomplishing in here?

"Whatever I please."

>Doubtful, you forget I saw your work under the old man, your dedication to his cause. You call our new management a usurper, but they were chosen directly to assume control, and they are now giving you the tools to redirect the course of our species' destiny. I was sent to convince you because you are one of the most brilliant minds in the world today, one with the potential to make a common pony into a god. The old man didn't allow you to be incarcerated here because he wanted to shut you away, he was saving you until your genius could be used to its fullest, and now is that time! ...well, not NOW because zombified monsters but when this passes.

"..."

'Screws?'

"..."

'Screws...are you...'

"Stand guard, Snake Eyes."

>Stand guard?

"Yes, warn us if any of those genetic misfires come back, and if one of us becomes fully turned, lock the door from your side. I will brook no argument, you owe me for Neighgeria."

>Can I expect an answer on my assignment?

"You can expect a no if you badger me about it, leave me to work on my subject in peace and I'll think about it."

>All I ask.

The stallion turned away, beginning what would probably be a long vigil

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 >LD
"Gilda"
~~~

>Hey... you okay?

The gryphon didn't answer, her eagle eyes still searching the ground.

>Talking to you.

Still nothing.

>...I think they're fine. They probably-

"There are gryphons over there."

She flinched, noticing that indeed there was quite the number of them.

>...That doesn't mean-

"Yeah... it probably does. Again..."

She flinched, looking at the ground.

"It happened again..."

>...Let's keep looking, okay?

Numbly, she nodded, continuing her flight.

>Hey... it'll be okay.

"Yeah... sure it will."

Her sarcastic tone betrayed her easy words.

"It'll be fucking rainbows..."
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 ~~~

He didn't hear the shattering of glass as he and the body he gripped went through the window.

He didn't feel the broken wood of one of the castle's massive dining room tables shatter beneath him.

Didn't even see the gigantic empty room surrounding him, once a place for foreign dinners and friends.

No.

All he heard was the cry of pain.

All he felt was that chitin beneath his hooves.

All he could see was his face. The face of the one he had once called brother.

The stricken, horrified, empty face.

“That was her. That was our dear sister. That was Eighty Eight.”

He felt no mercy as he reared back, and lashed a hoof right across the side of his face.

“You said she died.”

Another blow, but no reaction. Nothing but wide, dead eyes of shock.

“You said you watched her die.”

At last, a reaction. A flinch, barely there, but visible.

“And maybe... you thought you did.”

The changeling beneath him shuddered, just before a cry of pain as that very same hoof that had beaten him jammed down on his throat.

“But you didn't check! You didn't confirm! You let her be taken over by this... THING! Look at what your weakness caused! If you had only the strength to pull her back, she would remain with us! Here, with us, still!”

He snarled, striking the choking Changeling once again.

“You failure...”

And again.

“You utter failure!”

He lost himself as he swung some more, spittle flying everywhere with breathless, wild strike.

“How can you live with yourself!? How can you bare the thought!? You could have saved her, but now... now she is just another monster they must slay. You are a failure, Seventy Seven, and I would have been far happier if you had died in the caves, your memory preserved.

A dark, ugly grin split his face.

“But perhaps, it it not too late, not yet.”

The hoof against his neck applied pressure, fully cutting off his air now.

“You let them die. You let Eighty Eight die.”

At last, a shuddering, shaking word left the beaten thing below him.

“I-I didn't want t-to... b-but she begged me... she begged me to let her go...”

His hooves clenched around the bone knife, so tightly his chitin strained.

“You're making excuses.”

“I'm not... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... I should have saved her...”

“This is all your fault. You don't deserve another chance.”

The changeling choked, tears streaming from his eyes as he looked away.

“N-no... no...”

“And now, at last... it seems you've accepted that you deserve no less.”

“...Y-yes...”

His magic ignited, and the bone blade was pried painfully from Seventy Seven's grasping hooves.

“This is what you deserve.”

It hovered above his face, point angled right between his eyes.

“This is what you deserve for serving that bitch.”

Thirty Two felt the onset of his ailment attempt to steal his strength, but just his once, he fought it. This was important enough, he could do no less.

So focused on that, he only barely noticed the changeling below him snap his eyes open in shock.

“W-what...”

“A part of me doesn't even want to look at you, not now. To think that after all we've been through, all we've suffered, all the pain, you would still willingly serve.”

The eyes turned to him, surprise, and something else on his face.

“You, of all of us, would still to willingly fall back in line. Would willingly bow in reverence to... her. Of all creatures, her. You could have submitted your life to a pile of slugs, and I would be disgusted less. At least you could explain your lack of spine away with that.”

His mouth slowly opened, fangs peaking over the edge of his mouth.

“T-that... that's...”

“Have you forgotten their names? Their faces? Have you forgotten the look in their eyes as they died? It's all I see when I see her. That's all any should see. She sent us to die.”

“S-she didn't... why would you...”

“They did. One by one, they did, yet you still call her Queen. This is what you get for selling your soul, your pride, and choosing to lick her hooves in the face of it all.”

Eyelids peeled back as his gaze only grew wider.

“This is what you get for not helping me to stick that blade into her back for all she's done. This is what you get for being nothing more than a mutt at the end of your masters chain.”

Impossibly, his eyes grew wider.

“Y-y-you... you can't... you can't be serious...”

The changeling on top grinned like a madman, and hefted the blade up.

“Goodbye, brother, I will remember how you used to be fondly, and I will tell the generations yet to come of how you stood up against her comically inept tyranny. It won't be true, of course, but at least you will keep some-”

“OH SHUT UUUUUP!”

A right hook stronger than he had ever felt lashed out against his cheek, sending him flying right off the soldier he had pinned down. The bone knife clattered to the ground as he landed in a heap, dazed from such a powerful blow.

Angrily, Seventy Seven rolled to stand, his single eye blazing with rage.

“Even now!? EVEN NOW!? We discover that... and you still are clinging to this!? To this foolishness!? Enough! I am done! I am so sick of your whining! On and on and on! I've listened to every word, given you far more attention than I should, but now... I'm just sick of it! I can't take it anymore, Thirty Two! I can't take anymore of this moronic, selfdestuctive nonsense! ENOUGH!”

The other changeling's hoof rubbed his pained chin, growling as he spat out a speck of blood onto the floor.

“Even now, you don't have the decency to die.”

With a flick of his head, magic flared up and the soldier's precious bone knife at last returned to his grasp.

“I'm ending this, right here! I don't care if the whole world is set ablaze around my ears, I will batter you with the charred stumps of my limbs if that is what it takes!”

Thirty Two let out a dark, malicious chuckle, eyes focused primely on the flickering knife.

“At last... you show a little spine.”

His opponent scoffed, bending low as he poised for an attack.

“My spine is just fine, thank you. It has held my head high through far more than you will every believe. Unlike yours, which bends beneath the weight of your self pity and loathing.”

“It is so weak you will bend to any who command you. Let me prove it, when I break it in half.”

“Even with death staring you in the face, you make empty threats.”

They mirrored each other's stance, both angled low, both ready to strike.

In unison, they charged.

Like hellish freight trains, the two neared collision, horns primed for each other's heads with deadly precision.

In the last moment, there was a flash of fire, and the hoofsteps of one of them suddenly sounded a lot heavier.

Seventy Seven's legs curled up beneath him, his stomach hitting the floor and his chin sliding along the polished finish, just in time to pass under the body of a massive minotaur that charged overhead. He kicked back the minute he was safely clear, spinning in the air with his blade aimed right for the thick blue neck.

Another flash of fire, and he cut nothing but air, and was given no time to react before the paw of a diamond dog grabbed hold, and spun him around with his own momentum. His movements became his worst enemy as his face met table, knocking it away and up into the air, but still yet he would not stop.

He was tossed straight up, right into the ceiling up above that stopped his flight. So pained, he barely kept his eyes open enough to see the grinning face down below.

He did, however, find the strength to smirk.

The still transformed creature down below was only given a second to frown in confusion, before a loud beep filled his ears... and then an even louder explosion went off on his back.

Thirty Two's screech of pain as he fell forward lasted only a moment, for that was all his opponent granted him before kicking off from the ceiling and shooting down like a rocket before firmly landing his hind hoof right into the back of the other changelings head. What few furniture remained found itself tossed aside as he was shoved forwards, cheek to the ground as he slid down the far too long room before coming painfully to a stop against the wall.

The old soldier jumped off, knife still poised and ready as he cautiously slunk around the body, eyeing it's unmoving frame with a careful gaze.

Another flash of fire was his only warning before a large, stinger laden tail lashed out, only barely blocked by his own knife's blade. He heard an animalistic screech just before he felt a pair of pincers clamp upon his leg.

Like a rag-doll, he was flung back and forth, arcing up before slamming into the ground over and over, the scorpion that now held him banging him like a demented child would their doll.

The battered soldier lashed out, but instead of the knife he expected, Thirty Two found himself with a face full of dust in his eyes. He screeched again and instinctively let go, just in time to feel a pair of fangs sink into his tail and lift him into the air, an instant before the pressure of two hooves upon his back made itself known, and he found himself crashing to yet another chunk of table.

“Are you done yet?”

The changeling below him roared with fury, his body changing once again. Only a second given to react before the spines that shot up from the porcupine body below could sink itself into his hooves.

With one final roar, his body returned to its more natural state of a changeling, just in time for his horn to light up and for his one eyed foe to feel the sting of the changeling's natural energy blast against his chest.

The wind left him as he flung back towards a stack of unused chairs. The stacked chairs shattered beneath the weight of his body, raining parts over his head and burying him in an avalanche of broken wood.

“Fighting me is as moronic as your continued servitude to the one who nearly brought your end. She wished you dead, and still you would die for her? Pathetic. If I thought it possible I would think I hated you even more.”

A chitinous hoof swung out, knocking the broken remains away as he stumbled out from the pile.

“Oh for hivemind's sake! How can you still be so blind!? How has weeks of contemplation not hit you with the obvious?! Your rage, is pathetic, useless! It was an accident, you fool! It was a simple mistake!”

“Oh, well! I suppose if it was all a mistake, that means it never happened, right!? If she didn't mean to do it, then clearly that nightmare never occurred, and then I shall wake up at any moment!”

He closed his eyes, humming to himself before opening them once more and letting out a loud, sarcastic gasp.

“Why, it hasn't changed at all! They're all still dead! You still only have one eye! There is still a pile of corpses where my friends should be! What a surprise! I guess that means it did happen, and “Whoops!” isn't going to cut it!”

His brother brushed off some of the shattered wood that remained upon him, rolling his eyes wide and without care as he and Thirty Two began to circle each other.

“No, clearly, we should be asking for her step down and put her head beneath a guillotine because she had the audacity not to know cave under one of the most peaceful and serene cities on the planet was filled to the brim with monsters that could dissolve you from the inside out. Clearly, she would have sent us down if she knew, just for some cake.”

“You are making excuses!”

A tap of his hoof on the ground flicked up a broken leg of the table, flayed splinters at the end perfect for the makeshift speak he turned it into as he hurled it at his once brother. The changeling rolled to the side, letting it whiz past without so much as a scratch.

“No, I am stating facts. You are the one making excuses for the fact you can't accept that the punishment you ask for far outpaces the crime, and that you want some twisted version of vengeance, not justice.”

Another spear hurled, another dodged.

“They died down there! How could you defend something so monstrous!?”

His look betrayed no tenderness as he dusted off his shoulder and readjusted his eyepatch, uncaring in the face of yet more legs being picked up.

“You do remember we thought our mission was to find a way in and invade Canterlot, yes?”

This, at last, made the scarred changeling hesitate.

“Do not dare.”

“Oh yes, it's all well and good to call her a monster for having the audacity to wish us spooked by what she thought an empty and harmless cave, but surely we should over look the fact we thought we were going in there specifically to find a way to secretly take over that city.”

“You cease your foul tongue right now.”

“Tell me, you may not remember much of the past, but do you remember the other villages that faced a full scale invasion by us? How did that go? You want to talk about monsters... what was your plan when we entered the castle, Thirty Two? What would you, and I, and all the rest have done? You were an infiltrator, Eighty Eight was an infiltrator... what was our mission, again?”

A feral roar bellowed out as he hurled every single scrap of destroyed table he could find, mindlessly striking without any regard for how easily Seventy Seven dodged every shot.

“Do you want to know why you hate her, truly?”

His munitions depleted, Thirty Two charged headlong against the other, his horn poised low and aimed right for the other's neck.

Smoothly, Seventy Seven sidestepped him, and sent him barreling to the floor with a single trip.

“You don't hate her... you hate what that place made you do.”

He tried to lunge at the wizened changeling once again, but again he was tossed aside, his face shattering one of the only remaining tables still in tact.

“You hate how it made you question if you should keep going again and again. You hate how it made you hesitate, and wonder if death would have been a better kindness to your remaining kin. You hate how good it felt... when you finally gave up at the river.”

Shrapnel hurled across the room, chunks of wood flying every which way as he stood again.

“I did no such thing! I did it to save you! I DID IT TO SAVE YOU AND HER! There was no time, I had to push you down the proper path, and when my raft broke off I-”

Two hooves shot out, pinning the other to the ground with a powerful pressure against his shoulders.

“Stop it. Stop making excuses. If you had wished to stay, you would have.”

Spittle flew from his mouth as he flailed, his voice rasping as he continued to scream.

“I couldn't have gotten back to you both you moron! There was nothing I could do! The river was too fast, and even ignoring that... you idiot! We can't swim!”

“No....”

His eye bore right through the burning, fierce gaze that locked with his own. The single orb held no respite, no mercy, no pity. The hooves hooked into his brother tightened, painfully tightened. Slowly, he rose up. And up... and up... and up...

Clear off the ground.

“We can fly.”

“I...I hurt my wing when it split!”

“Then you could have flown before the raft broke.”

“I h-... I hurt it before that, in the caves!”

“Then you could have woken me up, and I could have flown over and retrieved you. Her and I both could.”

“T-there was no way you could have seen-”

A bright flash of green lit up the room.

“We shoot lasers.”

“There... there was no time to-”

“You gave up.”

It was a simple statement of fact. No malice, no hate, no pity, no sympathy, or regret. A simple statement.

“You gave up, exactly like she did, but lucked out and survived. Just like she did, it seems. You were ready to give one last hurrah and then content yourself you went out like a hero. In reality... you just couldn't face the truth. You gave up.”

His fang glimmered as his lip curled back into a snarl, but no denials came forth as he was dropped unceremoniously to the ground.

“That's why you hunt her, even now. When you woke up, it was all that kept you from trying again, wasn't it? That thought of revenge was all that got you up and moving. A chance to take it all back through blood, that's all you could hope for.”

The infiltrator below spat at him, a wad of blood and spit sticking to his chitin. He remained unmoved.

“You want to know why I'm here, Thirty Two? Do you want to know why I have a home, loved ones, friends, and you have nothing but pity to your name?”

In an animalistic rage, he leapt again, eschewing turning into another beast in favor of simply tackling his fellow changeling out of the air. Seventy Seven's back hit the ground, hard, but he remained stone faced throughout.

“Because when the chips were down.”

Hooves flailed wildly at his face, barely blocked by a succession of like minded strikes.

“When all seemed lost.”

The blood rushing through his ears prevented Thirty Two from hearing a single word. Even now, he struck, and bit, and thrashed

“When I was alone in the dark...”

In one quick, snapping motion, both of the old soldiers hooves shot out, pushing the ones from the changeling atop him to the side.

"I sought the light, and..."

In one fluid, brutal motion, his head shot forwards.

And it connected.

“I.”
Again.
“Never.”
And again.
“Stopped.”
And again.
“FIGHTING!”

Green blood poured down Thirty Two's face as he was tossed off, skidding across the room on his side and the wind rushing from his lungs beneath the force of two hind legs kicking the air right out of him.

“I fought until I reached the surface! I fought until I found my light again! I fought until I saw the sun! And it is a beautiful sun, brother, it is a beautiful sun indeed! I kept fighting... unlike you.”

He gasped for breath, his eyes still burning with rage.

“Y-you're just a lap dog to that whore-”

“Enough!”

“No!”

He shakily moved to stand, a hoof angrily waving towards the cyclopian soldier.

“You say you have so much, but I'm the one who has done real good! Who has proven our species are more than just harbingers of chaos! I am-”

“Too afraid to even try to approach them.”

The words were flat, almost pitying.

“What!? You... your words are of desperation, are of a need to prove yourself right! You-”

Another scoff brought even more rage to the surface, rage he only barely held back.

“Oh please. I only lost a single eye, brother, I am not blind.”

“Your words betray it! I wish nothing more than to return to the Morlocks, to help them progress and grow, to guide them and leave a mark in this world beside our species blight! I am-”

“Terrified you will try to use them to assassinate the Queen, I know.”

His heart seized in his chest for a second, before bile and heat bubbled up in his throat.

“LIES! You are filled with moronic, desperate lies! Do you really think me so stupid!? Your MORON of a Queen is the sole reason I have not yet returned! That vapid idiot-”

“Dragged you out of the prison cells you asked to be put into, with you kicking and screaming all the way, and then left you completely unsupervised to wander around the castle. And yet you claim she was somehow imprisoning you.”

A maddened cackle rang though the empty dining room, and the changeling began to pace with a grandiose waving of his limbs.

“Just because you did not see the chain round my neck says nothing of the fact it was there all the same! And how did you suppose I find a safe way to return to those caves, brother!? With that whore's minions at every corner, how could I have slipped away without detection?”

He mockingly tapped a hoof to his chin, eyes rolling back in his head.

“Well, ignoring the fact there was a hole inside of the bathroom that I crawled out of that lead directly to it, which was completely unguarded and unlocked... hmmm... perhaps you could use the hoverbike you clearly had full access to? Oh yes, I could see why you felt the invisible steel clenched tight, shackling you to the ground as you soared clear out of Canterlot to face Chitania, free as a bird with not a single thing to slow you down.”

The world froze for a brief moment for Thirty Two. His mouth went strangely dry underneath that gaze.

But he would not stay that way for long.

“...H-hah! But this is where your words fall flat! That whore threatened me, said she would send her helmeted little dog to fetch me like a stick tossed away should I hope to return to them! I dared not risk them under the threat of such a war like...”

In all his life, Thirty Two had never seen a more flat, bland look grace the face of a changeling.

“Forty Two.”

He scoffed arrogantly, waving off the other like he was speaking to a small child.

“Yes, her, do try to keep up you one eyed simpleton.”

“She said she would send Forty Two after you.”

“Yes!”

“To take you back.”

“Do I need to slow this down further for you!? How dull witted are you-”

“From the caves she lost several changelings into due to it being as nightmarish hellscape of unpredictable creatures.”

His arrogant air of victory waved for just a bit.

“She was going to send Forty Two, her most favored soldier, into this place who's only source of information of its whereabouts comes from me, the one eyed stricken wreck of a solider, and said information from me not only would not include the location of the Morlock's home, for I have never been, but also would consist mostly of “There are a lot of unpredictable creatures that could kill you instantly down there before you know it, and I only saw a few”, followed by descriptions of things like our brother being eaten alive from the inside by spiders. All to retrieve you.”

Then it outright fell away with what came next.

The sound of loud, booming, raucous laughter.

“S-stop it!”

But he would not. He only laughed harder, and harder, until eventually he could just barely choke out a reply.

“AHAHAHAH! N-no! This is gold! Oh, if you had only seen her face when I attempted to return to that place with Spike, if you could only register the expression that graced her at the mere idea of sending me, the most qualified possible changeling, into that place. AHA! AHAHAHAHAHAH! O-oh, the mere idea! AHAHAH! The mere idea she would send Forty Two? FORTY TWO!? She locked the poor lass in a safe when she absorbed the Crystal Heart, just on the off chance something bad MIGHT happen to her, and you think she would send dear Punchbug down there!? AHAHAHAHAH! H-How stupid do you think I- AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

“STOP IT RIGHT NOW!”

He just laughed louder, and louder, so much so his sides hurt.

“T-that's what you told yourself!? What lies you made up to face the fact you were so tempted to-”

He stopped just in time to catch two massive gryphon claws aiming for his throat, rolling with the strike and tossing the bird-hybrid over his shoulder. The illusion dispersed when the changeling hit the ground.

“I WOULDN'T! I would never use them like that! I want them to cease being savages! I want them to stop their hellish ways! I want-”

“To stay far, far away from them, just so you don't accidentally get them all wiped out because you just can't control yourself. You'd see their savagery, their hunting tactics, and think to yourself “Well, perhaps Celestia would not hold a mere upset against them. They have only just barely found civilization, perhaps I could send a few, and they would be forgiven. Perhaps Celestia would rather give up Chrysalis than face war. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps. Ringing in your head every day. Do you know how I know this, Thirty Two?”

He leaned in close, all laughter and mirth gone, his eyes as serious as death itself. His hoof pressed down, keeping the other quiet as he spoke.

“Because those exact thoughts filled my mind every moment when I emerged, rang in my head every minute that ticked away as I spoke my story to Twelve, every single hour she did not come to me personally I felt nothing but those thoughts, those ideals. I saw my hive, and I thought to myself, “Perhaps.” Oh, I wished her dead, I wished her dead with every fiber of my being as the days went by, and still not so much as a word. When finally I looked upon her, I had already planned several means of attack in my head. A faking of an embrace before slipping my hidden stiletto between her ribs, a timed blast right here, right under the chin to go up into her skull. Perhaps, I even pondered, a simple bite to the neck, savagery to repay savagery in kind. So many thoughts.”

He sighed, easing the tension at last.

“But it turns out... She had no idea. S-she had no idea I was alive! She had no idea I had made it out, that I wasn't... Forty Two had tried to tell her, but she was always caught up in something, always cutting her off completely without thinking. All she heard was “A changeling came out of the toilet” and she just drowned it out, never even considering that the cave at the base of the mountain would... It completely floored her. Still, the fire in me didn't go out, not even when she revealed she had tried to pry us free, even hearing she attempted to save us did nothing for me. She didn't try hard enough, I thought. She should have kept going until we were all safe, I said. I knew this was the opposite of how Queen's act, I knew full well this was madness to even consider, but I thought it all the same. I still wanted her to suffer for her failure.”

His eyes grew distant, wistful.

“Until she asked me... if any of you made it out. And for a moment, she looked hopeful. When I told her that none had survived save for me... that look... that look took it all away. All of my desires to see her dead, all of my burning hate. Even though I still yet felt the fires of anger towards her, I no longer wished her dead. Because you know what I saw in her eyes, at that moment? She was hurt. A part of her she would never reveal to any other. She was deeply, deeply hurt.”

The hoof came free at last, and slowly he stepped away, eyeing his bone knife.

“She is a Queen, Thirty Two. A Queen. Queens, since our very beginning, have not cared for us drones. Have not cared for us beneath their might. They are the best, and if we should fall, so be it. For the good of the hive. We served our duty, and this action was for the good of the hive, she said as much to me, and yet despite all of that...”

For the first time since... since he had arrived, it felt like. He got to see his once-brother genuinely smile.

“We meant something, to her. She has no reason to see us any different than those Queens that came and fell always have, yet us being lost, though a total mistake, meant something.”

Sympathetic, searching eyes looked over his shaking foe, his muscles still tense and ready to go at any moment.

“I do not know your Queen, but I know she is not my own. I know that most of them... were not either. She holds no brood with so many of them, not even that. And yet... we all meant something to her. We all meant something when we were lost. Do you really want to know why I still serve beneath her Majesty? Why I still remain loyal, even now? Even as I wake up some mornings and wish I could yet again see through both eyes? Even as I wander into the ballroom and call out to my friends long gone before I realize they are still dead? Even now, after all of that?... Because she is worth serving.”

Bile and vomit rose up in the other's throat, choking him with a burning sensation.

“She made a dire, costly mistake when she sent us down there. I hold no hatred of her for it. She had no idea, none of us did, what we would face, and we paid dearly for it. She made a mistake on a whim, to which she could never have imagined the consequences. We paid for it in blood, and chitin. In all of her regret, she knows, she lives with it every day. She made a mistake.”

Another sigh, but this one far sadder in tone.

“And then... she made another one.”

He began to pace, eyes distant once more.

“Oh, just like last time, her intentions were good. In fact, I could even call what she did noble. Certainly more noble than just attempting to scare us back into line, at any rate.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I see her thought process, of course. I see the grand picture of it all. It really only falls apart in the details, really.”

“WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?”

The solider paused, lazily pointing at Thirty Two.

“She was trying to help you.”

Once more, the room was filled with loud, screeching laughter.

“AHAHAH! FAT LOT OF GOOD THAT DID HER!”

He nodded sadly in agreement, looking away in pity.

“Correct. She failed, miserably at that, and it came back to bite her in the ass. She thought to herself if she could only take you out, bring you back to the hive, you would see that there was still a home for you, see that she did not wish harm to our species, that you would come to see it just like I did. She thought she could repeat success if she only did it the same way, but all the same she left a contingency. If you wished to leave... to let you. There was nothing holding you back but a show and your own fears, and foolishly she thought her plan had worked when you stayed, that you yet felt kinship with our hive once more. Arrogance... has always been a failing of hers. And yet, she failed. You only became worse, more unhinged, and then you struck.”

The corners of his lips turned up as he regarded the other, who even now still laughed.

“Despite her nature, the very core of what it means to be a Queen, she spared you.”

That, at last, ended the cackling, replaced instead with incredulous disgust.

“S-SPARED ME!? She would have had my head upon a pike were it not for Twilight's intervention!”

“Even now, you let your own sight of her color your mind... tell me, when did you face her?”

“Do not play games with me, Seventy Seven!”

“After Chitania struck... after my Queen very nearly DEFEATED Chitania. And yet, somehow, in the face of all of that, you never questioned her tactics. Never questioned why she did not simply pick you up and snap your neck with her mind. Never questioned why she did not fire a laser right into your skull. Flown away. Transformed into another form and ripped you apart. Anything."

The others eyes, flickered as his mind started to spin, trying to think up a way to refute the words, but coming up empty.

"No... you simply wrote her off as inept, and thought nothing else of it. She could have killed you with a stern blink, and yet you never questioned it. Never questioned why a blow from Forty Two would work, but not her own considerable power. No... you didn't question it, because then you would have to think to yourself... you would have to wonder... why aren't I dead? And the answer... terrifies you.”

Hate reached a boiling point in him. Fire lanced from his horn, blasting apart whatever it touched as the soldier danced around every blow.

“You bastard! You bootlicking asskissing simple minded spineless one eyed BASTARD!”

Eventually, he ran dry. No more energy to fire. Nothing to do when a single eye was illuminated by the green of their magic.

“Run away.”

He did not fire, merely gesturing to the door.

“Go on. Run away. Run away to the morlocks. Go back, do whatever. I will not stop you, none will. Off with you.”

His eyes flickered, a part of his brain telling him it was a trap... but the rest of him knowing full well it was not.

“...She'll... she's waiting for that! Clearly she is waiting for me to go back and take over the-”

“Stop... just stop...”

That pitying, empty tone was all it took. The last hinge in his mind snapped away, and he felt madness overtake him.

“No... no, I'm not running anywhere! I have to kill you, make sure none know what became of me! YOU WILL DIE TODAY, SEVENTY SEVEN! FOR ALL YOU DID, YOU WILL DIE!”

With everything he had, he made one last, desperate dive.

Without a single care, a lick of fear, Seventy Seven turned to face him.

There was a blur of black, and suddenly Thirty Two felt as if his chest had compressed right out his back. In a flicker of a moment, he felt wall crumble under his back, and the world stopped.

“That is love, by the way. Love I have earned... and some granted where I did not deserve.”

He felt a cool substance splash over all of his hooves and across his chest, and when his vision finally returned the infiltrator found himself pinned to the wall by their species signature green sludge.

“I am sorry... I could not show you that.”

With one final nod, the soldier turned, and began to walk away.

“And just where do you think you are going!?”

He slowed, bud did not stop.

“My sister... is alive. In some form, she is alive. She is not like the others. She can speak, she can think,... perhaps she is the key to all of this, perhaps she is somehow a means to save us all... or maybe I'm just crazy, her body was merely the first taken over, and I want to see her one last time before the final curtain call. I do not know what lies ahead for me, but I will keep fighting... I will never stop fighting... the sun...”

He stood next to a window, bathed in the light of the day from outside.

“...The sun is worth fighting for...”

“...Finish it.”

He turned, never ceasing his walk, an emotionless stare at the one who raged at him while futiley struggling against the bonds on the walls.

“FINISH IT! Finish the fight! End me! End me now, or I will never stop! I will hunt your empty skulled whore of a queen till her dying day! I will carve my way through the very walls of Canterlot to steal her head! I will never stop! I will never stop hunting her, and I will kill her! Do your duty, soldier! End the threat to your Queen!”

He flung open the dining rooms massive doors, only pausing to toss back one final call.

“...I would, but first, I would have to see a threat. All I see... is a bitter fool with no future. Goodbye, old fool... if you see my brother again, tell him I will always be waiting for him to come home. If he ever should do so... I wish nothing more than to show him the sun.”

The doors slammed shut, and he was gone.

His chitin strained as he pulled on his shackles, head rocking back and forth with blind rage and foam gathering at the edge of his mouth.

“Come back... COME BACK YOU BASTARD! Come back and face me! Come back and-”

~Do the right thing~

He gasped, falling forward as that damnable voice returned, his stregnth leaving him in an instant. He fought back the blinding headache and nausea, snarling at the air before him.

“SHUT UP! Shut up! I don't want to hear you anymore!”

~Do the right thing~

Another sap, more vision gone, more love sapped.

“The right thing is tearing her head from her shoulder! The right thing is feeding her still beating heart to a manticore!”

~Do the right thing~

He just barely clung to consciousness as he raged, swinging his head back and slamming it repeatedly to the wall.

The right thing is breaking her every leg and leaving her in the path of an active lava flow! The right thing is tossing her into an inferno and spreading her ashes all over that hive-forsaken hellhole! To be in death as she was in life, a blank nothing only good for being tread on towards progress! THE RIGHT THING IS JUSTICE!

~Do the right thing~

Strangely, no drain that time. Just the voice.

“I don't want to hear you! I don't want you anymore! Leave me be! Let me hang here! Let me die! Let me finally end this hellish... this...”

He waited, and waited... but nothing came.

“...Hello?”

No more words.

“What... I said I wished for her death!”

No more pain.

“...She's a ugly, bucktoothed, braindead, drooling mongoloid cretin with no future besides being put out on the corner to service the ugliest of sailors for pocket change! She is nothing! She...”

No more draining.

“...Have you nothing left to say?”

No more...

“Go ahead! Tell me to do the right thing again!”

Anything.

“...You can't... you're just a figment of my imagination. You are a flicker in my mind. You can't simply leave.”

For the first time in his entire life... Thirty Two felt utterly alone.

“…Seventy Seven? Are you still there?”

No response, of course.

“Q? Reggie?”

His mind idly wondered when the rock golem had fallen from his shoulder, reasoning it must have happened when he landed... he did not even know if she survived...

“Guards?”

Surely, someone must be around to detain him. He was a dangerous criminal. He was important. He was...

“29?”

Ah, his brother, surely he would wish to see him. Why, he was the only one who still kept seeing him, made his life comfortable, kept his spirits up... oh, wait, he was in Ponyville, and not much of a fighter, which means...

“...Pommel?”

To call out to a spirit he knew was madness, but perhaps he could reach beyond the veil to... to...

“Anyone?”

Silence.

Utter silence.

It consumed him, filled him. Alone. He was alone.

This is what he wanted, right? He would die before long, a creature would stumble in shortly, surely. It wouldn't take long.

But all he could think about was... he was alone.

“...Was that really her?”

His mind returned to the one he had seen, the one he had sent off. She looked... different than before, no doubt because he was so used to seeing her in her male form, but he could still tell... he could still see the real her.

She had been alone too. She must have been. None would ever have known... she gave up, and was alone...

He found his mind utterly consumed by her, by the fact she was alive, by the fact he... he could...

This time...

“… I don't want to leave her again. If... if that was Eighty Eight...”

He strained again, the bonds still as unbreakable as they had ever been.

“Let me save her this time.”

No matter how he tried, they would not budge.

All the same, he would not stop.

“I won't let th-... her go this time.”

No matter what.

“Give it back.”

He wouldn't stop.

“...Please...”

Like a light from heaven, he found himself filled, the caked on remains that held him in place now little more than candy against his forelegs, shattering away with the power that coursed through him.

He fell to all fours, breathless in the face of his new love stores, a resolute look upon his face. Even now, the voice remained silent.

But that was fine.

“...You don't have to say it, I know.”

He understood at last.

“Do the right thing.”
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 NC
>32
"Pommel"


"So, 32, what've you been up to?"

>Prison.

"..."

>...

'..."

>...That's about it.

"...Huh."

>You?

"Oh... you know... nothing big.."

"By the way, this is my marefriend."

>...Well, I have apparently read several signals in error.

"What?"

>NOTHING!

>Though then again, polygons are legal...

"Again, what?"

>NOTHING AGAIN!

'Meh, I've had weirder.'
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 >???
~~~~

Anger.

Very, very rarely had they ever felt anger.

It was uncommon, to say the least.

And yet.... right now? Lot of anger.

So, so much anger.

So much so, it could only be let out with one deafening, all encompassing cry.

>*TINK!*
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 >SA
"Celestia"
'Spitfire'
~~~

>To your right!

"I've got it, stop worrying."

>Spitfire! Twelve o' clock, coming right in on your head!

'I can see them, thank you!'

>Get some protection around those guards before they get overwhelmed!

'He commanded, forgetting he was in fact the one that makes shields.'

>...Oh, right.

*BLOOP!*

>You're welcome!

"..."

>Don't say it.

"I can't help but think it."

>I know, but so long as we don't say it, we might-

'Pfft, is it just me, or are these guys pushovers when you get used to them? Tell your sister to take her time, we've got this in the bag! BOOOM!'

>...
"..."

'What?'

>...
"..."

'WHAT!?'

>Huh.

"I concur, I expected something to pop up there."

>Something horrible, yeah.

"But... nothing."

>You think we expect too much of the universe to punish hubris at every turn?

"It would be rather selfish to think the universe is listening to us at every moment and just expecting it to react to us and punish others for our pride, like it has nothing better to do."

>Realistically, due to cause and effect nothing not directly caused by those words should happen, yet we treat it like just saying it will bend the fabric of reality to spite us, where as in actuality that negative stuff not directly affected by the words, like someone getting offended, would have gone off if we had just spouted gibberish.

"It's quite soothing to realize that the whole world won't stop because of a touch of arrogance, is it?"

>Yep. We matter, but the world doesn't revolve solely around us.

"So nice-"

*GRAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH*

>...
"..."
'...Was that an adult dragon?'

>FUCKING UNIVERSE!
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 >Dash
"Pinkie"
'Fluttershy'
[Rarity]
{Vekir}
~~~~

>Okay, Rar? At some point, you need to stop, I'm pretty sure these things can't fix everything.

"Well, they fixed most everything. I'm more concerned about Fluttershy, though."

'BLEEEEGGHHHH!'

>...Where does that go anyway?

[Darlings, really, I'm just being efficient. Any good dressmaker knows how important the knees are to a pony. No knees, no strut, as they say!]

>...Seriously, stop.

[NEVER!]

{Vekir has question for color bird pony!}

'...'

[She means Dash.]

>What?

{Whyfore did we not stake lizard to wall? When Morlocks want to keep creature alive but they bite, we pin them to wall with stick!}

>And they... survive?

{Sometimes! Very uncertain. Muchly prized if you can get sticking without killing down. You might even get a whole two mates! Or at least one and a part!}

>...Choosing not to question that. And we didn't stake Spike down because... he's still our friend, Vekir. It would have been real hard to...

[...]

'Yeah, you don't just stab your friends, you know?'

{Are for you not worried he will bite others?}

"Well, yeah, a little, but come on. Spike only comes up to here on us, and these guys don't know how to fight. All it would take is a decent kick and he's down. Most of the guards could handle him."

>Yeah, Spike's not a pushover if he has Charity and can go hand to hoof, but on the whole he's not that dangerous-

GRAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

>'"[...]"'

{...Vekir disagrees!}
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 >Guard
"Various Guards"
~~~~

They could only see the very tips of his scales peeking over their cities massive houses, but to be frank, that was plenty.

>... Well... that's a giant zombie dragon. Yep... definitely a giant purple zombie dragon...

"Yeah, you know what? This is my two weeks notice."

"Really."

"That's what it means for 'Fucking quits' right?"

"No, that means you take two weeks and then you quit."

"Oh... I fucking quit."

"Yeah, all of this was not in the pamphlet."

"Bull. Shit. I'm done. I'm fucking done."

"Me too."

"Me four."

"This job doesn't pay enough. I could have a salary on par with fucking Fancy Pant's net worth and it wouldn't be enough. This is bullshit. This is allllll a steaming load"

>I feel you. I feel all of you, really, but this problem isn't going to go away because we quit.

"...Do this last job, and just hand in the biggest pile of resignations ever seen?"

"All in favor?"

""""""""""""""""""""""AYE!""""""""""""""""""""""

>Whelp... who's in favor of running like hell in the opposite direction of the dragon?

""""""""""""""""""""""AYE!""""""""""""""""""""""

>The ayes have it! BOLT!

""""""""""""""""""""""AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!""""""""""""""""""""""
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 Big.

That was a word that before, the thing within the spores had no real context for.

Big.

It knew of the word, but never really grasped what it had meant before today.

To it, everything was big. It saw things on a level so small none of its hosts could ever see. It sensed minutia in the very cells of bodies, it felt twine of muscle stretch and shrink, it could feel the very bloodcells that coursed through veins. It was small, in every sense of the word. To it, everything else, absolutely everything else, was a towering, massive creature. Even an ant, to it, was something that was beyond it in scale.

So as it looked through the eyes of its newest host, it found itself feeling... unsure.

For an entity who's very essence stretched out across continents, it still only knew being small.

But this was not small.

Right now, in this moment, it felt... big.

And for the very first time in its existence, there was something else there. Something besides the ever present desire to şp̯̙̠̮r҉̝̠̞̖e̤̥̮a҉̘͖̩̳̯ͅd.

It felt... big.

And it liked it.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________