I Wanna Set The World On Fire

They fought. They battled through the underground facility, leaving bodies, most unconscious, in their wake. Finally, they made it to the control room. A massive place, big enough to fit multiple Gammas, with a control board on the opposite side. A lone unicorn, green with a blue mane, was working. She turned, spotted the ponies and human, and panicked. She started pulling levers and pressing buttons frantically, before Kara caught her. The lady spun the mare around, and pulled her closer… Onto the Shishkebab.

The other ponies gasped. Kara had just impaled this pony, and she didn’t even look upset, or sad, or anything. If anything, she looked… angry.

“What the hell did you think you were doing?” Kara hissed at the pony. “You’re going to kill us all!”

“Yes,” The mare told her, smiling despite her wound. “We will all be united in glorious obliteration!”

“You idiot!” Kara shouted. “It’s the fucking Children of Atom all over again! Releasing the Karmic isn’t going to do jack shit but get us all killed! I’ve died before! I would know! There’s no ‘Unity’ waiting for us beyond death!” The ponies gasped at Kara’s careless swearing, while the mare just laughed, though not without a hint of caution. “You can’t have died. You’re standing right here.”

“Girl, look at me. You have no idea what kind of things I can do and you know it. But.” Kara twisted the sword, making the mare grunt in pain. “If you find some way to communicate with the other members of your fucking cult, tell them this. The Worldburner is coming for them, and she will walk through fire and Hell and death and pain and destruction to bring them the karma they deserve!” Kara screamed. She pulled the trigger on the sword, causing the blade, still buried in the pony’s body, to burst into flame. She stared into the burning pony’s eyes, before throwing her to the ground and sheathing her sword.

“Kara…” Twilight tried to talk with the lady, get her to calm down.

“No. Fuck off, I have something to do.” Kara walked over to the control board, trying to figure out how to shut down the rift.

“Kara, listen to me!” Twilight tried again, this time using her magic to actually pull the girl away. Kara turned to her, her sunglasses falling off to reveal her crying eyes. “No! You fucking listen to me!” Kara yelled. “I’ve seen this before! If I don’t stop this, we’re all going to fucking die! Now run! Go! I don’t know if I’ll ever see you again!” Kara screamed, before they all heard a click. They turned, to see an arcane glow fading from a lever. The same glow that was fading from the dying unicorn’s horn. “Shit.” Kara stated bluntly, before running over to the panel. “Shitshitshitshitshit!” She began pulling levers and pushing buttons frantically, yelling “Moira! I mean it! Run! Run like Armageddon itself is on your tail, because quite frankly it might be!” Twilight and her friends didn’t need any further encouragement, dashing out the door.

“It’s Purity all over again…” Michael muttered, as Kara tried furiously to halt the rift’s opening.
“No shit…” Was the only response he got.

Then the world exploded.

A monster tore it’s way out of the rift, knocking Kara back to the other side of the room.

“Huh. You think you scare me??” The lone human yelled up at the demon before her. A monstrous being, built out of the parts of the beasts of the Wasteland- A Deathclaw arm, a Meta Human leg, etc, the Karmic loomed over her. “I’ll say it again- you think you scare me?” Kara yelled at the beast, her blazing sword in hand. It gave what could be interpreted as a laugh, and told her that she should be.

“Well, lemme tell you something. I survived billions of rads being pumped into my body! I survived a simulation of the Great War! I survived the swamps of Point Lookout, with my head cut open for most of it! I survived Mothership Zeta, where aliens used me as an experiment! I survived the Pitt… And the choices I made there.” On this last sentence, she quietened, and hung her head slightly, before going back to normal. “I’ll say it again. One. Last. Time. You think you scare me?” She looked up, stared the abomination in what could pass for it’s eyes. “Because ya do.”

At this, the thing recoiled. It hadn’t expected that response. But before it could make any further action, she continued. “I’m terrified. In fact, if I was wearing pants, I’d probably have pissed them. But! Being afraid does not mean you can’t be brave. In fact, it’s one of the requirements for being brave! True bravery is facing your fears, while simultaneously being completely fucking terrified! So come at me, ya big bitch!” She stopped, still staring the beast in the eyes. Nothing moved. Nothing made a sound. This continued for a short time, until the thing roared, and leapt at her.

“Now that’s more like it!”

Kara leapt out of the way of the rampaging demon… And sheathed her sword. As the beast picked itself up off the ground, she shrugged her left shoulder. As her arm came down again, the pauldron split open with a hiss of steam for dramatic effect. She reached within with her right hand, and drew out a small revolver. Nothing seemed too fancy about it. As she did the same with her right arm and reached inside, having dodged out of the way of the Karmic again, Michael spoke up.

“Are you sure this is safe? You know how much the Magnum puts out. If you miss, and the bullet goes flying off towards something important…”

“Mike. Look at the thing. How the fuck can I miss?” Kara responded curtly, dropping the cylinder of the gun out and beginning to load bullets in. She was interrupted by a massive, robotic claw slamming down on her position, forcing her to leap to the side once again.

“Oy! I’m loading a gun here! Gimme some space, geez…” After she finished loading, she swung the cylinder shut, ignoring Michael’s “That damages the gun, and you know it…” before spinning around, pointing the gun straight at the Karmic’s ‘face’.

“Do you know what this is?”

The Karmic laughed, and replied, saying it was just a silly little gun.

“Well, yes. It is a silly little gun. But it was given to me as a gift… By a rather mysterious friend.”

At this, the Karmic recoiled, recognizing the weapon for the demonslayer it was. It backed away, shrieking and screaming for mercy. Kara listened to it’s pleas, thinking.

“Hmmm… Normally, I’d forgive you.” The Karmic raised it’s ‘head’ hopefully. “But… you were being a complete ass.”

She pulled the trigger.

As the Karmic died, it screeched one word. One word that every being heard, no matter where they were in the universe.

“fARmeRRrrRrRrrr…”

Kara fell to her knees, the Mysterious Magnum falling to her side. “Holy fuck, that hurt. It’s a revolver, how the fuck does it have that much recoil…” She sat there, before pulling herself to her feet. She stumbled past the glowing, glitching body of the Karmic, finally reaching the control panel. “Kara, you need to close the rift. It’s still outputting energy, it’s going to blow soon. If you close the rift, the blast won’t be as strong. …But we’ll still be caught in it.” Michael told her.

“I know. As you said…” Kara grunted, as she dragged herself to a small, inconspicuous switch marked ‘Emergency Override’. “…It’s fuckin’ Purity all over again.” She reached out, her hand on the switch. “Well…” Kara chuckled darkly, before escalating into maniacal, pure insane laughter. “At least we’ll go out with a bang!”

She flicked the switch.