Etiamsi Omnes, Ego Non- The Avatars

“Are the special operations on schedule?” The Black Knight asked as he walked down the tunnels of the underground. The corridor was illuminated by magic gems and the occasional electric light, crossed by other passages. Rebels and refugees of all species passed occasionally, throwing him a smile and a thump of their chest in salute.

“The necessary projects are in the development phase. There's little we can do without... you know...” replied the figure beside the Black Knight. She was a unicorn mare, with a dark black coat and midnight blue mane. She wore a set of thick black plastic glasses, green scrubs and a dingy lab coat. The flapping of the coat revealed a ribbon hanging off of her tail. “At least now we have one, and that has made all the difference.”

“That's why you're in charge, Dr. Mondlicht. The Arch-Magus thought enough of you to set you as head of Paddock Fifty-One, so you're perfect for the head of special projects,” the Black Knight said with a nod.

The mare, Autumn Mondlicht, looked through the papers on the clipboard she was carrying. “We had the forges glowing for days, turning out the parts needed, in all the sizes and shapes that would be most useful. We also had our gem hunters and enchanters working overtime to get exactly the types required according to the theoretical framework. But it's all moot until...”

“Yes, the grim reality of the project,” the Black Knight sighed. “Did you at least have abundant oaths?”

“More than abundant,” Autumn said, looking through her papers some more. “The symbol came at just the right time. Riding the wave of success of the raid and anger over the fall of Zayats I got oaths from all the remaining Przewalskiveks. Then a general collection of oaths from the workers and the scouts.”

“Then I take it that our journey to the secure location indicates we may have something?” The Black Knight asked.

“It was one of the escapees,” Autumn said sadly. “She said she can't go on. She screams in the night and feels like her whole body is on fire. Preliminary examination shows potential nerve damage, as well as the severe mental distress.”

“I take it a sedative won't help?” The Black Knight queried.

“No, sir. She refuses to be put out by chemical means. It seems they used hypnotics as part of a cocktail to induce hallucinations, dissociation and uncertainty of self. If this was before...” Autumn began.

“Zayats said the same,” the Black Knight quickly noted. “Tragically, we have only the doctors we could retain, plus the scant few we can train. Mostly magical or theoretical, not psychiatric. We do the best we can...”

“Help and support are excellent things, sir, but we have no promises of success. Even professionals sometimes need the aid of drugs and they don't always succeed,” Autumn noted.

“I feel disgusted by the whole thing. But her wishes are her wishes. She retains autonomy to the end. More mercy than the caribou give,” the Black Knight said with some contempt.

The pair walked on in silence, through a twisting and circuitous route that eventually let to a metal door. Two magical keys and a button sequence later the door slid open to reveal the polished whiteness of a laboratory setting. Labcoat-clad scientists of various species and both genders tinkered at various workstations. Chemicals bubbled away almost pleasantly under vapor hoods, electronic devices whined and clicked as they moved, magical gems pulsed and crackled as they discharged and drew in energy.

At the far end of the room were six doors, imposing metal ones like the entrance. Each one had an unassuming metal plaque with a single word in block letters. The duo unlocked and entered the room with the door marked Loyalty.

Like the other room it was polished and white. Unlike the other room it was long and comparatively narrow. There was nothing inside save three long metal tables, and a huge machine which took up the back wall. The thing was a fairly disorganized collection of metal, glass, wires, gems and plastic parts. At the front of it, attached but capable of being removed, was the necklace containing the Element of Loyalty.

On the middle table there was a unicorn, with a plaster lump over her removed horn. She was nude, exposing her slim figure and her pale cream coat. Her pale blue mane was a tangled, matted mess, and looked like it had been yanked at. Her eyes were severely bloodshot and they darted around fearfully at every noise. “You're here! Is it... time?”

“We need the other bits to complete this whole thing according to the plans,” Autumn said gently.

“You're certain this is how you wish it to be? Absolutely and irrevocably certain?” The Black Knight asked.

“When the symbol came, and we swore the oath, I knew it was time,” the mare said, fatigue heavy in her voice.

“You understand that this may not even work?” Autumn asked. “Before the element it was all theoretical. Even now you are the first one...”

“I want to help. I'm no good at fighting now, but from what you say I could be better. And that's what I want. After living through that Tartarus I want to fight back,” the unicorn said, her voice growing angrier as she spoke.

“There is also no promise that what haunts you now will leave you alone. If it persists...” the Black Knight began.

“Then everything will end up like I wanted anyway,” the mare said, flatly.

Silence descended on the room as the trio waited uncomfortably. It was finally broken with the door sliding open to reveal the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well, carrying what looked like a modestly sized plastic chest that clanked faintly.

“The items are here,” Autumn said with some nervousness. “Should we really attempt all the additions at once? Proof of concept would be sufficient...”

“We don't get experiments and do-overs,” the Black Knight said, firmly. “Each attempt means that a precious life was lost. Not a single one must be squandered. All, or nothing.”

“Of course, sir,” Autumn said, opening the chest after Mare-Do-Well had set it down. “I think we figured out the power issue. The whole system can be charged with sun, kinetic impact energy, minor direct mana drawing, lightning strikes, and charged gems, which can be replaced. That's in addition to some semblance of a functioning metabolism.”

“Miss Mare-Do-Well...” the unicorn said, which drew over the masked heroine. “When you became the Element of Loyalty I was happy. It meant things were moving along. We were coming back to the world that had once been. I only hope that this works. That your element makes me... I don't even know.”

Mare-Do-Well reached out and took the mare's hand, silently giving it a comforting squeeze and a soft rub.

Autumn pulled lightweight metal parts out of the chest, looking like tubes filled with wires and small plates with electrodes on one side. “We made the essential components as light as possible, for ease of installation. All secured to itself, so there would be no.. drilling or riveting into bones or similar. The heavy brass and steel armor will be fitted after the initial action, to allow for a custom fit.”

The Black Knight reached into the chest and carefully pulled out a gold-colored mask, with glowing crystal eyes and a long horn emerging from the forehead. “I guess she gets her horn back as well.”

“They will all come with that. A modular piece. But it is also a means of returning the horn. They also get artificial wings that function with some degree of capability,” Autumn explained. “If they want to fight so badly, they deserve the tools to do it well.”

“When do we... apply the components?” The Black Knight asked.

“As soon after the end comes as possible. By the calculations there is a large window for this but the sooner, the better,” Autumn replied.

The Black Knight and Autumn laid the various components on the tables to either side of the unicorn in the center. Throughout all that Mare-Do-Well stood, holding the mare's hand comfortingly.

“Mare-Do-Well, we need you now. You need to activate the Element and then... we will see,” Autumn said with a sigh.

Mare-Do-Well nodded slowly and hesitantly released the unicorn's hand, strolling over to the large device. She gingerly touched her fingers against the sword-shaped central gem and bowed her head. The black and white layers of alabaster glowed brightly, the power surging from that into the machine, whose gems flashed and sparked. The mobile portions thrummed and churned, pistoning or turning as necessary.

Autumn held out a green gem to the unicorn on the table. The small thing was a sickly green color and faintly pulsed within. “This... is what you wanted.”

The mare reached up and took the gem, bloodshot eyes staring at it with a mix of fear and desire. “One bite?”

“A single bite and it is done,” the Black Knight said with a nod.

The mare hesitated a bit, then placed the gem in her mouth. “Is there any pain?”

Autumn shook her head. “It's a layered effect. The painkiller, then the... rest.”

“This is the only sedative I could take now,” the mare said with a soft laugh, rubbing the gem against her teeth.

“There's still a chance,” the Black Knight noted. “There are gentle sedatives and we still do have some psychiatrists...”

“You want to preserve lives,” the mare said gently. “I want to save more than my own. And I will.”

“It's your choice. More than anything, that is important...” the Black Knight said with a neutral expression and tone.

The mare didn't say anything more, she brought her teeth down and crushed the gem. The thing shattered easily, and a green liquid spilled out over her tongue, becoming a green mist as it found the back of her throat. She swallowed loudly and lightly squirmed. A warm numbness spread from her throat through the rest of her, reaching the tips of her fingers and the fleshiest part of her hooves. Her bloodshot eyes fell closed, and her nervous breath slowed. First she only breathed evenly and shallowly. Then not at all.

Autumn and the Black Knight watched the mare expire, Autumn immediately placing her fingers to the unicorn's neck, then her wrist. “It's done. Quickly, do it just like the schematic showed.”

Both ponies went into action, wrapping metal bands with the attached tubes around her limbs, placing the plates down on her back, belly and chest. Electrodes were carefully pushed into her flesh, and all the parts carefully arranged. Lastly, the plaster was taken from her horn, and the area brushed clean before the mask was pressed onto her face and secured around her head by more metal bands.

Through the whole process Mare-Do-Well had just watched. Her reaction was unknown, given her full-body costume, but the automatic reaction of a finger wiping beneath a goggled eye gave a good indication. She bowed her head and concentrated harder.

The machine thrummed and crackled louder, more powerfully. Sparks leaped off from one metal point to another, until the power surges grew large enough to cause sparking jumps from the machine to the point of the mask's horn. The sparks leaped more and more frequently, each sparking jump causing the mare's body to quiver and twitch.

The machine then began to hum quietly, a wavering aura of magical force moving out from it and washing over the room. The gems on the various plates, tubes and the mask began to glow, at first faintly, but with increasing strength. They flashed in time with the sparks from the machine, which continued to make the mare spasm.

“I remember when a grim task used to mean custodianship of dangerous magic,” Autumn said, flatly, as she averted her gaze from the happening.

“I remember when a grim task meant facing natural evil, like an angry hydra,” the Black Knight said. “But there were also instances of genuine malice. Ponies could be bad. But even that task was never so grim...” He didn't look away, but his eye twitched with each spasm.

The machine reached a sort of crescendo with a brilliant flash of light, the magical aura suffusing the environment with a feeling of emotional heaviness and the tingle of magical power. The hum peaked, the magic crackled, then the tones dropped as the machine went still and silent.

Autumn, the Black Knight and Mare-Do-Well had to wait a moment to let their eyes return to normal after the tremendous flash. When they could see again nothing much had changed. The mare still lay on the middle table, body covered with the metal tubes, plates and the mask. But all the gems on the parts were glowing, pulsing with a rhythm like a heartbeat.

Slowly, haltingly, one arm started to rise, reaching up for the ceiling. A husky, deep sound emerged from the mouth of the mare, which was contained inside the mouth portion of the mask. There was enough space within to allow for movement.

“I think...” Autumn whispered, stepping forward. “I almost can't believe it happened.”

Mare-Do-Well slowly stepped forward and took hold of the hand that was reaching up. She squeezed the hand, and got a firm squeeze in return. She took the other hand and slowly helped the reanimated mare to turn on the table and sit up.

“Thank you,” the mare said in a husky, raspy tone. She still had a feminine sound but it was dropped as deeply as it could go. “I rise, by Loyalty's grace. I will not rest until the land I knew returns.”

Plates partially covered her belly, were placed along her spine in three segments and covered the top of her chest, all made of lightweight metal alloys and studded with gems. The metal tubes were placed along her legs, segmented but with wires joining them. They also ran down her arms, each one ending at the top of her wrists, with two huge, greenish-colored gems per terminus. The plates and tubes all had wires running along to connect them together, the chest plate and top back plates connected to the mask.

Autumn reached into the plastic chest and took out a folded piece of paper. She opened it up into a poster-sized image of an armored caribou, looking threatening, with scored areas on his body. “These are used for archers, but we need to see...”

“I don't know if you even know how to use the system we have attached, but please try,” the Black Knight said gently, as Autumn taped the poster to the wall, opposite from where the Black Knight and the mare were standing.

“I understand. I will do what must be done,” the mare said. She stood as far from the target as she could and lifted an arm, palm down, fingers closed. She held it out for a while, but nothing came of the action.

“The systems is new to her,” Autumn said. “Perhaps it will take time for her to get used to the new connections and the power.”

“It was a fairly ambitious addition. Essential, but ambitious,” the Black Knight commented.

Mare-Do-Well slowly came over to the mare, who remained standing and aiming. She placed her hands comfortingly on the unicorn's shoulders and whispered in her ear. “You are loyal to a nation that never stopped loving you. You remember a land that once was. You can let it be again. You are moved by loyalty. Let it direct all that is in you. Your honor, your dedication, and your rage. Your rage can do good for all. You know what that figure is, what it represents. Do what must be done, like I did, for the sake of the nation that never abandoned you.”

The eye-gems on the mare's mask, which had been a softly pulsing white, grew red, and became steady. The arm started to tremble softly as the fingers clenched in extra tight. “In the name of loyalty to Equestria, destructive and abusive figures will be extirpated!” The gems on the end of the tubes glowed a brighter, more intense green for a moment before a lightning bolt jolted out with tremendous force.

The paper target was vaporized in a shocking flash of crackling electricity and a rush of fire. The stone wall of the room exploded out, creating a modest divot. The whole area was filled with the stench of burned paper and ozone, while the titanic crack and flash of light had temporarily blinded and deafened the other three figures.

Again, there was a period of recovery from the intensity of the effect. Autumn was the first to speak, with some added volume. “I think we can call that a success!”

“We can examine actual accuracy with more robust targets,” the Black Knight said, a bit loudly. “And thank you, Mare-Do-Well. Whatever you said was successful.”

The mare slowly lowered her arm and turned to regard Autumn and the Black Knight, her eye-gems back to normal. “Thank you. Now I may serve this nation.”

“You're very welcome. And thank you for your loyalty to the nation that will be once more,” the Black Knight said with a bow. He turned to Mare-Do-Well and pointed to the machine. “Take your Element for now, you might need it.” He then turned to Autumn. “Can you move this to a larger and more easily accessible location? We'll need to get new loyal folk to it quickly.”

“Once the proof of concept was done I had planned to put it in a main area, near Mare-Do-Well so she could bring the Element as needed. I'll go get some help moving it to the new location,” Autumn said, turning to leave.

“Wait. We really should choose what to call these new soldiers,” the Black Knight said. He turned to the unicorn and stroked his chin. “Do you still remember your name?”

“I am Bluebonnet,” the mare said, “And I am ever loyal.”

“She chose a perfect title by accident,” Autumn said with a slight nod. “We can call the group the Everloyal. They certainly will be.”

“It seems perfect,” the Black Knight concurred. “Please, go to other matters. I will see to Bluebonnet.”

Mare-Do-Well went out first, having taken her necklace back. Autumn paused to close the plastic chest again and carry it out with her, leaving the Black Knight and Bluebonnet.

The Black Knight regarded Bluebonnet for a long moment, noting her rigid posture and stable stance, in contrast to the trembling, tired and haunted wreck she had been. “You recalled your name. That was always a possibility. It's highly positive. But do you remember who you are, the you besides a name?”

“No. I recall vague images, a memory of memory, knowing I had a life and still feel certain impressions regarding personal taste. I know I am Bluebonnet and that Bluebonnet was a certain way. But for now, I have other considerations,” Bluebonnet said in her new, husky voice.

“Does it bother you that some of your memory is gone?” The Black Knight asked.

“I thought it would. But I feel somewhere inside it is better I do not remember,” Bluebonnet said.

The Black Knight nodded, and opened the door to let her out. As Bluebonnet passed him he considered the situation. She recalled she had a life, she had her own will, and her name. She had become a fighter for freedom, in loyalty to the nation she missed. “Enduring loyalty. Not by force, by choice. Not for selfish reasons, but for the good of all.”