Fallout: Equestria, Project Horizons

Chapter 66: Ruin

Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons
By Somber
Chapter 66: Ruin

"Well, there's something here about a dragon, the kingdom falling, chaos reigning... Okay, apparently it was all because the prince and princess were so lost in each other's eyes that they couldn't perform their royal duties."

Once upon a time, there had been a Princess born in a castle. She was a beautiful Princess, for everyone told her so, and the sweetest Princess, for everyone proclaimed it. Of course, they also remarked on what a pity it was that she had killed her mother when she was born... though only when they thought she couldn't hear. She lived in a palace surrounded by servants who provided for her and her fat, ugly older sister and insipid, vain older brother. She had anything and everything she ever wanted, so long as it was pretty and worthless. And she had a father who loved her more than anything... well, perhaps not more than anything. Not more than his precious little Society, or his legacy, or his collection of baubles and trinkets, but she was somewhere on the list of things he loved. Towards the bottom.
And one day, he said he'd give her a gift: anything she could possibly want. As usual. But because she loved him, she believed him, and so she asked that she should someday rule the Society. Because she was, as she'd always been told, the prettiest and the sweetest and the smartest. And her father had coughed and smiled and patted her head and suggested a new gown or a dolly instead. But she knew she was better than her older siblings, and so she asked again, with all the seriousness she could, to rule the Society. And he'd coughed again and mumbled something like 'well, we'll see' which meant 'no fucking way in hell' and sent her on her way.
And so the Princess was upset and did everything she could to show everyone that her fat older sister was slow and stupid and her vain older brother was perverted and dumb and neither was worth a big pile of brahmin poop. And she learned to say what people wanted her to say and do what others wanted her to do, even if it felt icky and made her feel bad, because then they'd be scared she'd tell and she could make them do things she wanted. And she got money because sometimes that worked even better than doing the other stickier ickier things. And so she was all set to get rid of her fat, ugly, stupid, nasty older sister and her dumb brother, and even her father too if he didn't get his old ass out of her throne.
Then a wandering Barbarian came to her home, and her father was afraid because the Barbarian had killed lots of ponies and could kill lots more. And her father knew that the smart, good, beautiful Princess was going to take her throne sooner or later, and so her father hatched a plot to keep the good Princess from the throne. He gave it to the stupid Barbarian instead, and everyone was so afraid of the Barbarian that the Princess couldn't take everything over. So when her father died, the Princess snuck in and stole all the special bits of lore the wandering Barbarian desired, and promised money and weapons besides.
But the Barbarian was a stupid cunt who ruined everything! Everything! She'd picked the Princess's fat and ugly sister to rule instead and ruined months and months of planning and plotting and scheming and getting favors and bribing and stockpiling weapons. And so the Princess had taken all of the precious trinkets that the Barbarian coveted and smashed them to bits, but she made sure to take all their secrets just in case the Barbarian changed her mind and stopped being a stupid cunt.
Then the Princess met a noble Knight of a powerful order who also desired the secrets the Princess had learned. He served a powerful Sorceress with power greater than that of the Barbarian queen, and if she went with him, the Knight would see her made Queen of her castle. And so she freed the Knight from the cell where the Barbarian had placed him and fled with him to his fortress. And she met the powerful Sorceress and her mechanical weapons of war, and the Princess began to feel like she'd take back all which was rightfully hers.
But the Princess quickly learned the Knight's order was not like back home. No matter how she stomped her hooves, they ignored her. When she made demands, they laughed at her. When she lifted her tail, they were repulsed. More than once they simply locked her in a cell where she would be out of the way. But then the Sorceress called. She wanted the secrets. The Princess tried to tell her, but there was so very much and it was all so very confusing. 'But fear not', the Sorceress promised, she knew how to get the secrets out of the Princess's head.
And so she drilled holes in the Princess's head, put wires in her brain, and sucked all the secrets out, no matter how the Princess cried or screamed that it hurt or begged her to stop. The zaps kept coming. And the Princess was put into a magical bottle where she didn't have to eat or go to the bathroom, but also couldn't go anywhere else. And if the Sorceress was in a bad mood because the Barbarian had gotten herself killed in the sky, or because a bad thing called Horizons was going to go off, she'd entertain herself by making the Princess experience all the horrible things that the Princess had once wanted for the Barbarian to suffer... and things the Princess had never imagined before... and things the Princess rather wished she didn't know.
Then one day, the Barbarian showed up and faced the Sorceress, but the Sorceress was too clever and the Barbarian had been betrayed by the only friend she'd brought with her. The Sorceress took the Barbarian's body for her own, leaving her trapped inside the Sorceress's iron throne. Not even the arrival of a mischievous spirit, who whisked away the Sorceress's Dark Magician and fallen Lady, could save the day. And so the Sorceress had freely cast her spell... only to discover it had been a trick all along. The Sorceress left for the moon to punish the one who played the trick and cast the true spell, leaving her Knight and Vizier behind.
The pair had stood around for several minutes, and the Princess could feel the Barbarian trapped within the machine. The wires connecting her brain to the iron throne were still working, even without the Sorceress to control them. She could feel the Barbarian struggle within, losing the strength of her will with every second. Then the Knight kicked a copy of the Barbarian off the platform, and thanked the Barbarian for saving him long, long ago.
Then he moved far back and fired his cannons straight into the heart of the iron throne. The Barbarian's scream echoed on and on inside the Princess's head as the top half of the massive structure was torn apart by the colossal blast. The flaming pieces cascaded down into the murk far below. The shockwave knocked the jars over, and the Princess was rattled as her prison rolled over and smashed into a bank of terminals on the edge of the platform. The filly could barely think as she grabbed the wires with her hooves, desperate to keep them from yanking out of her brain.
It didn't help that the Barbarian was still screaming in her mind. The top half of the machine was a flaming mess, but the bottom half and the platform were still intact. The computers smoldered, the blast having sundered the machine without setting it aflame, but it still billowed a thick, oily black smoke that washed across the platform.
"Think she noticed that?" the Knight asked casually as he trotted up before the smashed computer.
The zebra snorted. "I doubt it. She has the tunnel vision of a machine, and in Blackjack's body she has no clue what is transpiring remotely. Even if she did, by now she is likely reunited with Blackjack's friends. She can't come and investigate." He gave a tiny shrug. "If she asks, tell her Blackjack had started gaining control of her old shell, and remind her that Princess Luna would never be so timid."
"Yes, she's easy to manipulate like that," the Knight said with a dry chuckle. "You'll head back and get the Brood ready?"
"Of course," the zebra replied. "I'll have to get my stripes redone, of course. Quite a pain, but I keep a pony for just such an occasion."
"You zebras and your stripes," the Knight replied with a laugh, one the Vizier did not share. "Red. Black. What's it matter?"
"Unicorn. Pegasus. What's it matter?" he replied with an edge to his voice. "Accept that there are some aspects to my kind you do not need to understand, and I will accept the same of yours." The Vizier looked around at the controls. "You'll be ready to catch the moonstone when it falls?"
"I don't plan on being vaporized," the Knight answered. "You think she'll be successful altering the trajectory?"
"She has Blackjack's talent for victory. I am utterly assured of it. A pity she doesn't realize Blackjack's talent is victory, not survival. We will simply destroy her wherever she lands triumphantly rather than at the scene of her staged battle." The Vizier laughed and shook his head. "I had looked forward to witnessing her face when she was vaporized along with her most ardent supporters, but this will have to do." The Vizier then regarded the empty terminals. "You're going to need help making sure all is ready. I could provide-"
"Please," the Knight interrupted with a shake of his head. "I trust you as far as dividing the Wasteland between us. I need your Brood. You need the Core. Let's not complicate matters by providing any more temptations for betrayal than necessary. I'll find some Harbingers with the necessary technical experience."
The zebra paused for several seconds, just smiling at the armored pony. "I suppose," the Vizier conceded. "We should keep perspective. After all, the last thing either of us wants is to serve beneath the hoof of that delusional monstrosity. Once we've sorted her out, things should take care of themselves." He turned, regarding the smoking, sparking heap of the computer. "And at last Blackjack is out of the picture. Discord failed to interfere. All is as it should be."
"Yes, his pitiful failure was quite extraordinary," the Knight chuckled. "I hadn't quite expected him to turn to dust, but--"
The statement made the zebra freeze. "Discord was here?" the Vizier muttered.
"Yes, for a minute or two, right before you arrived. Stopped me from smashing the metal nag to scrap, made some taunts, and sent her and Cog's pet skull somewhere. Then he turned to dust and blew away," the Knight said, now sounding a bit baffled in that helmet. "What's the matter? Everything happened as you predicted. Well... aside from Cognitum not being able to use EC-1101. I wonder what happened there. Still, nothing else major changed."
"You don't know that!" the Vizier hissed. "Discord. Pinkie Pie. Blackjack. You have no idea how dangerous they are. You think killing makes a pony dangerous! Killing is nothing! Knowledge. Interference. Those are dangerous, fool!" He spat the last word so sharply that the Knight took a step back. "If he was here, it was for a reason! Why Dawn? Why Snips?"
"He was crazy!" the Knight retorted. "Now all three are dead. I don't know what you're so upset about. He didn't even have enough power to save himself."
Now the Vizier appeared particularly pissed. "I must triple check everything now. I've worked far too hard to let his ilk unravel everything. He did something. Changed something. Meddled in some way." He trotted towards the elevator. "If I were you, I'd put a few more shells into those remains. Make certain that Blackjack is annihilated! Kill off the rest of Cognitum's little collection. Send out patrols. Something is amiss, and we must know what it is!" He glared up at the direction she'd gone. "I never would have sent her on her way if I'd known he'd been here!"
"Well, it's too late now. You'll look oddly suspicious trotting around with her when you're supposed to be dire enemies. Guess that 'prophecy' you made up bit you in the tail," the Knight said scornfully.
"The prophecy is real. It was revealed to me by... higher powers. I've learned the best way to sabotage prophecy is to place someone unworthy in its role," the Vizier muttered. "My opposition to the Star Maiden was the deception... and a source of grief for Blackjack," he continued in aggravation as he paced back and forth. "What could he have done? Something... something... some juvenile, puerile prank... with dire repercussions...."
"What's the big deal? He's dead."
The Vizier struggled to maintain his composure, his whole body shaking for a moment. "You don't understand just how persistently he's worked against my goals. How difficult he's made the execution of my plans." He paced back and forth, speaking faster and faster. "You can't imagine how infuriating it is to creep and skulk about because one of his little schemes put the Princesses on high alert and suspicious of everyone else trying to move up. He's inspired heroes, elevated the Princesses, and legitimized their roles in Equestria. His petrification didn't help, either. With his absence, any disruption to the social order was noted! It made this so terribly difficult. Had it not been for the war, I never would have had my opportunity! I refuse to let him undo all my hard work! Now, what did he do?"
"Nothing! He appeared, taunted Cognitum a bit, then turned to dust. He seemed to want her to bond with Luna's soul." That made the Vizier hiss again in frustration. "What? You said that that wouldn't matter!" the Knight protested.
"Of course not. We planned on killing her, Luna's soul or not. But Discord thought it mattered. He thought it important! Important enough to die for!" The zebra ran towards the elevator. "We must remove the soul immediately!" Then he skidded to a stop, his eyes wide. "Unless that's what he actually wants us to do... but if he... but I... he... AHHHGH!" The zebra clasped his skull, screaming in frustration, "Damn you, Discord! What have you done?"
The Knight took several steps back. "Look, what does it matter? I have the Tokomare, and soon as Cognitum returns, she's dead. So what's the-"
The Vizier was on him in seconds. His hooves hooked around the Knight's neck, and he gave a colossal heave over his back. The silver-armored stallion crashed down with an impact that made the whole spire vibrate. "The point? The point is that he can change things!" the zebra yelled. "He can see things a step ahead. He knows what to do and what not to do! You have no concept what it means to fight that!"
The Knight didn't reply beyond a groan as the Vizier rose, his face grim. "I did not want to do this... it was so much better taking advantage of the fears and ambitions of others. Cognitum. Dawn. You. Even Blackjack. Now it seems that I have no choice."
He walked to the edge of the platform, sitting and spreading his hooves wide. "Stars of the dark places. Stars of ash. Stars of death. I beseech thee. Tell me the dance of your circles. How has Discord marred your celestial orbits? Please! I beg thee. Ashur. Dagon. Namtar. Show me..."
A blue-white glow surrounded him, cold and clear, and his anger stilled. A frigid shaft of light seemed to drop upon him, and the air around him groaned and crackled. A sickly green glow began to shine out of his chest, pulsing with each beat. "Things have gone awry..." he began, and the groan around him deepened ominously. The beating green light slowed, and a spasm of pain crossed the Vizier's face. "But all will be set right, greatest and most glorious ones! I beg you... what was the meddler's last ploy?" The glowing beat slowly resumed, and a tense smile returned to his face. "I see. I understand. And Cognitum?" The shivery light rang as if it were laughing. A look of relief spread on his face. "Thank you. Then she is not the true Maiden, now or ever."
"What are you doing?" the Knight groaned. "What is that light?" It throbbed like veins of green radiance within the Vizier's hide.
The zebra didn't answer immediately, and when he did, his voice had a soft, unnatural tone to it. "The light of stars that died long ago, and would not go quietly into the darkness." The Tokomare began to glow as well, the starmetal shining with the malignant green glare of Enervation. Even the Knight's armor took on an ethereal illumination. In that light were strange, incoherent things suggestive of faces and tendrils and other terrible shapes hidden within the silvery radiance. "And the two he took?" Now his smile faded. "Interesting..."
"Stop. P...please... stop..." the former Steel Ranger muttered weakly, metal hooves clenched against his helmet.
"We did not stop for Caesars. What makes you think we would stop for you?" The light continued to wash over everything for a few moments longer, the Enervation scream now sounding like the whisper of hundreds of unholy voices. They hinted at ways to break things. Corrupt things. Undo things that should not be undone. Make things that should not be made. Then he nodded. "I see. Blackjack was the only factor then?" Another pause. "And she is no more?" More hissing whispers. They rose and fell, and made the zebra frown. "Blackjack is broken..." He muttered the phrase as if tasting it and finding it to his liking. "Good. Then all is accounted for," he said as he rose to his hooves, his face sublime with confidence as the glow faded.
"What... what was that?" the Knight muttered weakly as he drew himself to his hooves.
"Things far greater and more glorious than you. They've shown me their secret orbits and the drawing of their power. Discord affected something, but it was slight. The tiniest wobble of the outplay of events. A hair's shift out of alignment, ultimately for naught." He trotted towards the lift.
"You serve those... things?" he groaned, still wobbling on his hooves.
"You would oppose them?" he asked in reply, with a content, blissful smile. "They are more magnificent than Caesar or Princess, and you would do well to be counted as their ally rather than their enemy. I have struggled on their behalf for so very long. When the war came, I finally had my golden opportunity, and I am not going to waste it."
"So your goal is to turn Equestria into some kind of... of... star worshiping cult?" the Knight sputtered.
The serene zebra didn't answer immediately, then replied calmly, "Something like that."
"That's sick. I won't let you. I can't believe..." the Knight began. Then the Vizier gave him a look... just a single glance... that silenced him. There was power in that stare, a lingering remnant of the dark entities he consorted with flickered that same baleful green.
"You can't believe. That is why you will never rule anything, Steel Rain, because you cannot believe in anything greater or more meaningful than yourself. You will either serve forever as Cognitum's puppet, or you will serve my masters just as I do and revel in the power they grant their most devoted. But you will serve, or you will die. Is that understood?"
The Knight stood there a moment, cannons pointed right at the zebra. The Vizier waited, a bored smile on his face. Then the Knight turned away, and the zebra gave the tiniest shake of his head. "Good. I need somepony here pushing the buttons when the time is right. Leash your delusions of ambition, or they'll get you killed." He hit a button, and the lift began to rise. "I must rectify other small permutations. I will contact you shortly."
The elevator rose up, and for the longest time the Knight watched it go. Then he sat down, tore off his helmet, and was violently ill over the platform edge. After he puked, he sat a while, muttering to himself. "That striped bastard thinks he can talk to me like that? Me? I'll show him and his fucking stars who owns this world. I won't serve anyone. Not him or Cognitum or Dawn or Crunchy Carrots. Me. I'm the one who should be in charge. I won't be second to anyone. Anyone!"
The Princess drew back from the raging stallion into the safety of the shadows beside the wreckage of the computer. She could not draw far. The wires in her head hurt terribly, and if she pulled on them... well... she wouldn't live long after that. "I just want to go home. Please. Just let me go home," she whispered to herself.
"I wish to return home as well," a synthetic voice murmured. The Princess started, then peeked at a little notch at the base of the processor. A broken and battered pony-shaped object lay there. The Sorceress's Lady. The Princess knelt down, looking at the pale green light flickering in the mechanical eyes. "I thought I would save the Wasteland. That I would make it all better. I just had to give enough to make it so..."
The Princess's magic tugged at the broken Lady, pulling her from the hidden notch. Behind her were some faintly glowing bones. The Sorceress's Dark Magician. The purple glowing aura surrounding them formed a ghostlike image of the rotund pony. The Princess drew the broken machine into her hooves and embraced the cold, hard metal. "My head hurts so much," the Princess whimpered.
"I'm sorry. I can't help you now. I can't save anyone," the broken Lady whispered.
"It's like when I was shot in the head, only this time it's lots of little holes and the bullets are still in there," the Princess said as she hugged the smashed torso and head like a run-over windup toy. Any second the Knight would either follow the Vizier out, leaving them all trapped, or he'd obey the Vizier and find them all cowering.
"You should get back in a jar. The stasis fields should stop your pain," the Dark Magician said, his bones flashing brighter with every word.
"I don't want to get in the fields. It's like not having my body again. I don't want to not feel like my body isn't really there again," the Princess whimpered, quivering.
The broken Lady, however, did not respond for several seconds. "Child, what are you talking about? When were you... shot?"
"All the time. I'm always getting hurt. My body. My heart. My soul. Always getting hurt. People always shoot me. Even my friends shot me. Glory shot me in the face... but it's okay. It was an accident," the Princess muttered weakly.
"What?" the Dark Magician muttered. "Child, do you know what Blackjack told me before I died?"
The Princess frowned, opening and closing her mouth slowly, thinking about what she knew about the Barbarian. "She... she swore to get Snails out. And I think she said she was... sorry?"
"How can this be?" the Dark Magician asked, his glowing socket motes turning to the smashed Lady.
The broken stub of a leg reached out and brushed the wires dangling from the Princess's head, making her wince and draw back. "It must be... it must be the neural taps Cognitum wired. She kept the connection constant. When the computer was destroyed, the link persisted; it must have shoved Blackjack's memories into the only buffer still connected to it!"
"Can her brain hold the experiences of another pony?" the glowing skull asked in awe.
"She's young. She and Blackjack both. I can only assume there's enough space, but... why isn't she... Blackjack?" the broken Lady asked.
The Dark Magician replied immediately. "Because there's none of Blackjack's soul in her. Blackjack's mind... her memory and personality... they're just like a character in a story to Charm. Without her soul, they're just detailed data." He peered into the Princess's eyes. "How long can she hold those memories?"
"I don't know," the broken Lady murmured, "But... perhaps long enough to bring Blackjack back... if we can get that body!"
"There you are," the Knight said evenly as he walked around the corner of the smoldering computer, helmet clipped to his shoulder. The Knight's kind and gentle face was now harrowed, his eyes sunken with anxiety. "I thought I'd heard voices."
"Steel Rain. Listen. You don't have to do this. You don't have to serve Cognitum or the Legate," the Dark Magician said rapidly.
"Shut up. I'm not planning on serving anypony," the Knight growled. "I'm going to be the one on top. You'll see. It doesn't matter how often I get set back. I'm going to be in charge and no one will stop me."
"You spoiled bastard," the broken Lady retorted, "Can't you think about anypony besides yourself?"
"That's worked wonders for you and Blackjack, hasn't it?" the Knight replied with a glower. "She's dead and you're... about to join her," he muttered dully.
"What's happened to you?" the broken Lady asked.
"Nothing. I'm fine," he snapped.
"He was touched by the song of dead stars," the Dark Magician replied. "The Black Book was rife with all kinds of their dark magic. After a while, you just stop caring about how it hollows you out and fills you up with its temptations."
The Knight sneered at them. "I've had it to here with stripe talk about dead stars." He tapped the collar of his power armor with a hoof. "The Legate's going to take Cognitum off the board. I'll take him off the board. Game over. I win. Tokomare's restored. Core's restored. I get to reboot civilization. The Steel Reign of King Steel Rain. Sounds catchy, huh?"
"Sounds stupid," the Princess whimpered, hugging the broken Lady all the tighter to keep from shaking. "Go away. You won't be king any more than I'll be queen. Nopony likes you."
The Knight blinked at her. "I like me," he said in faintly injured tones, his voice regaining a little of his old self.
"Nopony else, then," she said with a roll of her eyes. "It doesn't matter how smart or clever or sneaky you are. If nopony believes in you, or likes you, or wants you, they're not going to follow you. It doesn't matter how shiny your armor is or how big your guns are. Everypony knows you hate them, and probably think you'll kill 'em the second it suits you... 'cause you will." She closed her eyes. "I used to be just like you. Then I got wires stuck in my head. Now I'm not so stupid anymore."
The Knight opened and closed his mouth a moment, then gave a little frown. "Well. I guess there's just one thing left to do." He stepped forward, raising a hoof. "Hold still. This'll be quick."
"Wait!" the broken Lady implored. "Charm has a copy of Blackjack's mind. If we get that blank back, we can put her back in!"
The Knight froze, staring for a moment, then laughed and backed away. "Oh, you think I want Blackjack back? There are five people in the world I really want dead. You. Cognitum. That striped bastard. The Lightbringer, simply 'cause I don't want to deal with 'heroic weather' while I'm remaking civilization for my glory. And Blackjack. Blackjack most of all." His left cannon let out a loud ka-chunk as it loaded a round. "Because if she had just had the decency to die and leave me the Celestia, I would have taken over the Hoof four months ago." He grinned at the three of them. "Time to end this."
Then a great hissing mass launched itself from out of the shadows behind the three, clearing the filly and diving at the armored stallion. "STAY AWAY FROM MY KIDS!" the Revenant screamed in near feral rage as the maroon ghoul opened his jaws wide, Pink Cloud boiling up his throat. Had the Knight been wearing his helmet, he might have simply opted for a point blank blast and been done with all of them. As it was, he had to backpedal rapidly to avoid having his face melted off, trying to keep the demented Revenant at bay with armored kicks.
The two tumbled off the maneframe's platform, the Revenant springing on top of the Knight. The broken Lady's eyes turned to the Dark Magician's sockets. "Can you retrieve Blackjack's body? Do you have a spell or something... anything... that could pull that blank up here?"
"I... no. The distance is too far for basic telekinesis. And all of my spells affect the soul, not the body." Then he paused, the glow in his sockets growing. "But her soul is bonded to her body. If I had enough power, perhaps I could summon her spirit, and the body could come along for the ride."
"What kind of power do you need?" the broken Lady asked immediately.
"A circle of at least six unicorns, Snails, or... or..." His eyes turned this way and that in his skull. Then they stared straight up. "Or that." The Princess raised her eyes, looking up at one of the golden arms projecting out into the void thirty feet overhead. As she watched, a dozen emerald lightning bolts struck the end, the energy being sucked up along the cables. "That might do it."
"Each of those arms carries one point twenty-one gigasparks, at least. It'd vaporize you," Dawn said immediately.
"Not instantly, though. I'm a soul jar, albeit a flawed and improperly prepared one. I should last long enough to get Blackjack back. I might even survive. Wouldn't that be a laugh?" he said hollowly. "Once we do have the body, though, how do we get Blackjack back inside?"
"I should be able to do it if we can just get our hooves on Cognitum's neural mapping array. If it still works, that is. I think it landed over there on the side of the platform. I don't know how we're going to get you up to that arm and get me the array before Steel Rain or Sanguine kills us."
"I'll do it," the Princess said. "I'll get him up there." She closed her eyes so she wouldn't see the doubt in theirs. "Blackjack did so much for so many. I should be able to do this."
"I don't mean to be rude, but you still have wires connecting you to the jar," the Dark Magician pointed out. But the Princess trotted to where the wires entered the wrecked jar's rim, bit down on the cables, set her hooves against the housing, and pulled as hard as she could. The harder she strained, the worse her head throbbed and tingled unnaturally. Her stomach lurched as nausea rolled through her. For a second, she was sure her teeth were going to yank right out, but then the wires suddenly jerked as the cover gave way to reveal the clustered circuitry around the jar's top. She twisted, yanked, and freed a large ring of arcane technology her head wires were directly connected to, then put her head through it like a yoke. The heavy ring scraped along the floor as she trotted to the skull. The Princess deftly tied the skull into a bit of slack in the wires connecting her head and collar. The filly then ran to one of the supports as fast as she could and struggled to get up high enough where she could use the crossbracing to wiggle her way up to the golden arm.
The Princess fought tears of frustration. She could do this. She needed to do this. She just needed to get up a couple of feet. But the Lady was broken, and there were no others who could-
"Excuse me," a mare said pleasantly, trotting from around the back of the computer. "I need some medical assistance for Mr. Horse," the Golem said with a worried frown, glancing over her shoulder at the quivering lump on her back that had once been a pony. "He's not himself. It has been over one hundred and five million minutes since he told me how amazing he is." She looked back at all the rest of us. "I'm quite concerned," she added in complete sincerity.
The three others stared back for two seconds. Then the broken Lady spoke up. "Yes. Yes! We're trying to get him medical help. We need your help to get him help." She gestured at the Princess with a wing stub. "Please, boost her up to the ladder. Then I need you to take me to the front of the maneframe, quickly."
The Golem tilted her head and blinked cluelessly. "It would be more efficient and effective to contact paramedics and have Mr. Horse taken to a Ministry of Peace medical center. He seems to have lost most of his epidermis."
"Just... that's what we're trying to do. Please!" the broken Lady begged. "I promise it'll help Mr. Horse."
"Oh. Okay then!" the Golem said brightly, sliding Horse gently from her back and setting him down, then casually scooping up the filly. Clinging to her back, the Princess was lifted high enough that she could climb onto the bracing and start to wiggle up to the spire. "Careful," the robotic mare said brightly.
"Thanks," the Princess replied, then started to pick her way up the side of the spire, the lambent pony skull weighing heavily around her neck and the Dark Magician's radiant bones dangling and rattling against the metal as if still connected by invisible sinews. Below her, she saw the broken Lady and Horse both picked up and carried over towards the front of the machine by the Golem. "Do you think Mr. Horse will be okay?" The feeling of compassion was alien to her, but unlike so very much the Sorceress had taught her, it wasn't altogether unwelcome.
"Do not worry about Mr. Horse," the glowing skull admonished as she climbed. "He probably lost his soul long ago. Worry about yourself." The edge of the golden ring cut into her neck with each foot she ascended. Off to the side, she could see where the Knight and the Revenant still fought, but both were lost in a pink haze that spread over the floor of the platform. Their movements were just a blur of candy-colored mist, clanging metal, and feral hisses.
"What about you? Aren't you worried about yourself?" she asked.
"No," the bones replied with a papery sigh. "I'm old and I'm tired. I've done so much, and too much of it's been bad for me to ever be able to even attempt to live happily. And... now that I'm back together... I owe Blackjack for what I did to her. Owe a lot for the ponies I've hurt. Some things don't get forgiven."
"Blackjack feels the same way all the time," the Princess said. "She can't forgive herself. But I know she'd forgive you."
"And you as well, child," he said as she climbed closer to the humming arm. "Ironic. The mare that can't cut herself a little slack for her mistakes will happily excuse far worse from others." His voice dropped. "She rescued my friend, and I hurt her for it."
The Princess reached the furthest she could. The ring dragged at her neck, threatening to pull her to the wreckage far below. The broken Lady and the Golem were occluded by the spreading pink mist, getting something from the front of the machine. The Princess now looked at the glowing skull and at the thick cables overhead where the arm met the supporting structure. "I can't get any higher," she said as she carefully untied the wires from the skull, then looped the slack around her upper foreleg and scanned around.
"Wait. There!" the skull said as her gaze passed a large lever underneath the arm. A small sign marked it 'Breaker'. "Pull that!"
She moved along the structure to the bar and threw all her weight into it. Fortunately, the lever resisted for only a few seconds before it flipped over. The gold-tipped arm let out a crack as a gap opened between it and its power cables. The lightning stopped crackling. The gap was just big enough for the pony skull to fit.
"What's going to happen if I put you in there?" the Princess asked.
"So concerned..." the skull muttered, sounding amused, and the Princess flushed. "Well, have you ever put a bit in a fuse box? Something like that. And whether an imperfect soul jar can survive the current, magical discharge, and Enervation... well... let's find out." The skull chuckled. "'Let's find out.' If only Snails and I had known how much trouble those three words would cause us."
The Princess didn't know what else to do. Only that he was being brave, and that a real princess, not a snotty nasty mean princess, would give him something before he went. So she kissed the top of his skull, then threw him up into the gap. The rest of the glowing bones followed into the breach, and as soon as the skull bridged the gap, a blinding light arced through. "Okay... this stings a bit... ow... Ow! Okay... more than a bit!"
An aura of magic burst forth, and a crackling black claw of sorcery arched out of the gap and reached down into the depths far below, sweeping to and fro. The Princess could no longer see the fighting between the Knight and the ghoul at all through the Pink Cloud. "Ow. Ow. Where are you, Blackjack? Ow..." the skull said as crackling sparks of energy rained down from the gap. The skull rattled around in the space like mad, but the Princess didn't dare get any closer to try and keep it still.
Suddenly, the hand of black energy withdrew from the depths, pulling with it a white mass, and set the pale, sodden shape on the deck behind the blasted computer. The Princess scrambled down to it as swiftly as she could. "Ow... ow... ow..." the skull repeated as the lightning crackled more and more. "Is she okay?" the Dark Magician asked.
The Princess fell the last ten feet, landing hard and almost falling over, but she didn't bother to fully regain her footing before scrambling over to the waterlogged mare. The plastic-covered moonstone talisman still hung around her neck. She carefully pressed her ear to the white unicorn's side. She waited a moment. She heard the heavy thud of a heartbeat within. "She's alive!" the Princess shouted, smiling up at the skull trapped in the electrified gap.
"Huh? What do you know?" The Dark Magician actually sounded surprised! "It worked! It actually worked! Snails-"
The gap where the skull rested exploded, the metal arm shuddering as it was twisted and sheared away, tumbling end over end into the abyss below. Of the glowing bones, nothing remained. A second later, the oozing pink body of the Revenant was tossed back up onto the elevated platform the remains of the computer sat upon. Broken pink bones jutted from his limbs as he struggled, most of his torso crushed and mangled. From around the side of the maneframe came the Golem and the battered remains of the Lady.
"Quickly. Set me down," the Lady said, and the robot dropped her next to the prone form. "Grab that terminal, Sweetie! Bring it over here."
"Mr. Horse isn't going to like me breaking off pieces of his masterpiece," the Golem said in worry as she reached over and pulled one of the terminals off the ruined machine.
"Do it," a choking, mottled voice hissed. Everyone froze at the horrid sight of the skinned stallion lifting his head. Blood dripped down his lips. "You're trying to transfer an intelligence, right?"
"Y...yes..." the broken Lady said in a low voice. "From a filly's brain back into a blank copy with her soul."
"Oh. I thought this was going to be hard," the Skinned Pony muttered. "You're using the mind array from this, right? Sweetie Bot, pull off the back of the housing. Wire in the array to access terminal AB-02. Wire in the filly to AB-01. If the copy has the soul, it should self-arrange. Just like pouring water through a pipe."
"Here all of you are," the Knight said as he stepped around the ruined machine, his helmet back on his head, his armor pristine, and his guns at the ready. "Cognitum's little menagerie. What do you think you're doing?"
"Well, I'm doing my best not to scream. Fortunately, I've had two hundred years of revenge fantasies to help focus me," the Skinned Pony rasped. "You'd be smart to join our side. Serving that crazy nag isn't a good idea. She's a lot like you. Manipulation and backstabbing are her two favorite hobbies. I should know."
"Fortunately, my compatriot has the means to destroy her with ease. She'll go to the moon and fix Horizons so it'll fire where we want it to, and the Core will be restored. Then we kill her on the way back." The power-armored stallion tapped his nose. "I'll have to deal with the Legate when it's over. That fuck is too sneaky to trust, but I'll have the whole Core at my disposal. I'll get him, one way or another."
"Stay away from my children!" the Revenant hissed, the broken ghoul dragging himself towards the Knight. "I won't let you hurt them. I won't!" he spat mindlessly, Pink Cloud oozing out of the holes in his hide.
"Shut. Up," the Knight said, then stomped down hard. His hoof crushed the ghoul's skull like a silver hammer hitting a rotten egg. He twisted his hoof for good measure in the pulpy, rotten mass, grinding it into the metal deck. The body quivered, then went still.
"You murderer!" the broken Lady cried out at him.
"Oh, you have no right to talk," the Knight countered. "It's time to tie up loose ends."
The Golem worked furiously to wire things into the back of the terminal, shielding the Barbarian with her body. "Wait," the Skinned Pony rasped. "I can help you. I know things."
"Oh?" the Knight stopped. "I'm listening."
"There's a base in the valley. A special stable made for Equestria's nobility. The Redoubt. I can tell you how to access it." The Skinned Pony shuddered as his flayed body cracked, dripping more blood. "All I want is a healing potion, restoration talisman, or something."
"Why would I need that when I have the Core?" the Knight asked with a metallic chuckle.
"It never hurts to have contingencies," the Skinned Pony rasped, quivering, as fresh wounds opened up on him. "I'm bleeding quite profusely, and the agony's getting rather excessive, so I'd appreciate healing sooner than later."
""Yeah, yeah. Just a second. Need to finish off the... rest..." He trailed off as he looked past the Golem at the Barbarian. "No. No way. She's more tenacious than a radroach!"
"Stop!" the broken Lady hissed as the Knight shoved the bloody Skinned Pony aside. "You heard the Legate! He fears Blackjack! Leaving her alive would be your best weapon against him."
"I have no doubt it would. But I also know that Blackjack isn't going to let me rule the Core. She's handled way too much shit. I'd rather face a star-worshiping zebra alone than let that bloody mule loose again." He lowered his guns at the Barbarian.
The poor Lady threw her broken body at him. She didn't get far. One hoof came up, blocking the lunging mare. She collided with it, and the hoof came down, crushing her against the floor. "You're just as bad as Blackjack is. Take a hint and die!" he shouted as he stomped again and again. The battered and dinged cybermare clanged and crunched as she was smashed to scrap against the floor.
The Princess gazed up at the Golem as it finished wiring both sets of cables in. The gem-studded net was spread over the Barbarian's skull. "There. That should be sufficient," the robot said brightly. "Once the transfer is complete, we need to get medical attention for Mr. Horse immediately! He's a very important pony, you know."
The Knight started, distracted from his destruction of the Lady. "Oh fuck no!" he shouted, and his cannon roared. He fired hastily and high, though, so much so that the Princess and the Barbarian weren't even knocked across the deck by the shockwave. The Golem, however, smiled benignly as the blast ripped her synthetic body apart, the sturdy frame ripping in half and sending the remains bouncing over the remaining pair of ponies. The Princess hugged the terminal, keeping the cables plugged into the back of the boxy machine. The front half of the robot landed with a crash, her eyes rolling in her smoking sockets.
"No! Sweetie Belle!" the Skinned Pony rasped, reaching a bloody hoof out towards her.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Horse. I'm afraid I broke," she buzzed as she lay there. "Would you like me to execute the transfer?"
The Princess looked up at the armored pony. He stood on the broken body of the Lady, his cannons swiveling down at the Princess as she hugged the terminal. All she had to do was throw the machine aside and beg him for help. Maybe offer to run the Society for him. Something. Anything to save herself. Because that's what she'd always done.
What she'd always done had never made her happy before. "Yes!" she cried out.
"No!" the Knight shouted, then cried out as a starmetal-edged pinion found a gap between two plates in his legs and rammed through. The armored stallion reared up and slammed the somehow still-struggling Lady in a fury. "No more of your interference! Die already!" He kept smashing down until there was a wet pulpy noise. The armored shell fell slack.
Then the terminal let out a beep-