De Profundis Clamavi

"Gaaaahhh!" Sky crashed against a lamppost. The prototype weapon kicked away by Pup.

"WOOF! Look at Soldier, plushie! He ain't scary anymore" Pup kept laughing while the plush approached with a knife, ready to end Sky's life.

Sky tried to stand up to defend himself, in doing so he drops something from his pocket, it lands on the ground in front of his face.

The Alicorn Amulet

The whispers were all he could hear.

Sky woke up deep down on a sea of blood. He saw light shining on top of him and began to swim in that direction.

Axiom easily blocked Sky's first attack with the palm of her hand. She yawned and saw the Alicorn Amulet on his chest. "Heeeeeyy... That belongs to Jack!" She tries grabing it but Sky swipes her hand away with his wing and tries bitting her. Axiom uses Sky's momentum to pull him straight into a wall. She rolls away as Sky is dazed and swipes dust off her jacket.

"We can't begin the next act till Jack does the thing"

Sky attempts to walk towards Axiom while dazed and bumps into a rock. The rock transform into a changeling.

The changeling was reformed, with a green and orange color scheme. He had a tube for a horn.

"WEE WOO WEE WOO!" The changeling ran away terrified.

Axiom laughed. "Right on cue, the rook has started to move"

Chapter 4: A complicated case Part 1: bottomless barrel

Rarity's Diamonds

Thursday 2:34 PM

Two dragons were sat down beside each other on a small white room, they were completely restrained. From an window Jack and Inklord were watching as the interrogator entered. To the surprise of both of them it was an anthro Hyena, he approached the dragons and soon began interrogation.

"Who's that? I though only ponies were allowed in the guard?" Asked Jack.

"I read his file but I didn't think it was for real, the guy apparently is super loyal to Rarity and everything, he descends from a wealthy family of those anthros that came from a faraway land, they were all guards in their prime" Answered Inklord. "In short, he's here cuz of his family"

"Makes you think... By the way, how come we've never met the Mayor?" Jack says while the Hyena slaps the green dragon.

"In fact, we're going to meet her soon! She requested our presence after taking down their biggest pain in the ass" Inklord gets up. "The meeting is tomorrow to allow the press to calm down apparently"

They pass by a familiar face.

"Wait... S-"

Carousel Bridge

12:00 PM

Sky had pulled out a lamppost thanks to his augmented strenght and swings it around as a weapon, Axiom catches it and both start a struggle, Sky is starting to match Axiom in strenght.

"So, that thing ain't so useless after all?" Axiom smirks. "I now understand why Jack needs it"

"Jack"

Sky heard that as he kept swimming towards the light, he must be getting closer.

"Alright, watch this!" Axiom surprises Sky by throwing the lamppost behind her as he held it tight. Slamming her knee right on his face as it came close, she then grabbed his head as he bounced off her knee and slammed it again on the ground.

Sky was losing air. His vision starting to go dark.

He kept swimming.

Axiom then turns him around and starts pulling out the alicorn amulet.

Sky's red world starts to become static. He stops breathing.

"Haaaaaa!" Axiom pulls it out, leaving a gaping wound on the shape of the amulet on his chest. She notices an ambulance and other guards are coming towards them. She vanishes.

Rarity's Diamonds

2:37 PM

"Sky!" Said Jack and Inklord in unision and followed him to the infirmary. They were stopped by a doctor.

"He'll be fine, but it's best you two don't come to his room. we'll need to focus to patch him up" Said the doctor. A unicorn.

"What happened to him?" Inklord asked.

"We found him in the middle of the street near the destroyed carousel bridge, and his surroundings looked like hell literally fell on him"

"He was at the bank heist a few hours ago" Inklord said.

"Indeed. A tank appeared out of nowhere and he gave chase. When the rest finally caught up to him he was alone like this" Responds the doctor. "Now, if you excuse me" He entered Sky's room.

Jack and Inklord look at each other worried.

"Lots of shit happened today... we better get some rest..." Jack said. "I fought a dog... you and that unicorn took down another group, and now Sky took a beating.."

"Come on Jack, we've managed to take down all of Canterlot's problems, we can manage some more" Inklord reasured Jack. "I'll think of things to say to the mayor, we got the rest of the day free, and probably tomorrow too apart from our mayor visit. Unless you want to jump back to action t-"

"Inky, you just want excuses to write again, I don't blame you, I just want to think of everything that has happened since this morning..." Jack walks away. "See you later"

4:35 PM

Jack went to the training area alone to... well... train. After the near death experience of that mornig he needed to get better to avoid another one. His horn lit up and a staff flew to him enveloped in his magic, looking around he saw the training area was very similar to the one in Canterlot, it had a VR section, various types of weaponry and a firing range. He could use VR training but the AI opponents there would not be able to compare to what he has come up against recently. He went inside a private room in one of the corners, lights turning on by itself.

What Jack had in mind for the perfect training was to use the magic he had learned from Empress Moon throughout the years. He was going to create a clone of the perfect opponent! His horn gets brighter as his spell is one that requires a lot of focus. He was ready to unleash it.

POOF!

Jack opened his eyes. "...Oh dear"

"Bllehhh Look at me! I'm dumb and stuuupid!" Said the... mistake. It was.. for lack of a better word, a 'parody' of.. a bunny or something. One foot was bigger than the order, it's arms looked like spaguetti, the left ear was shorter than the other.

"What have I done" Said Jack.

Really, what has he done?!

"Hue hue, everything is dumb!" Said the mistake as it smashed it's head against a wall.

"I better put you out of your misery" Jack's horn focused on the mistake.

POOF

It's gone.

The door to the room opened.

"Aah!" Jack jumped in surprise. "Who-" He turned back, it was Inklord.

"Hey, didn't expect you to be here" He was carrying his own staff with his right wing.

"And I expected you to write a 50 page book of what the fuck just happened this morning" Said Jack.

Inklord laughed. "That was not our finest moment, but everything worked out fine!"

"Are we not going to q-" Inklord puts a hoof in Jack's mouth.

"How about we just train together already for old time's sake" Inklord opens his wings and moves away from Jack. "Since we don't have Sky with us this time around"

"It'll be.. just like old times" Jack smiled.

Jack swings.

BONK!

"Ow!" Inklord was bonked in the head.

"Hehe, Got you this time!" Jack giggled.

"I'm gonna tell your mom!" Inklord said.

"She won't ground me!" Pokes Inklord with his stick.

Inklord flaps his little wings and flies towards a castle not far away with Jack chasing him and shooting little magic lasers on the ground. They pass a statue.

The statue of Discord.

Destroyed.

Canterlot

2065

Thursday 4:38 PM

Jack and Inklord, both young foals. Make their way through the Canterlot garden and reach the main entrance, Inklord tries to push the door but it's too heavy, Jack helps him with his magic, both go inside and climb up the central staircase.

"What's all that noise?" Said someone in the Royal Canterlot Voice. The entire room shook. From a door on the second floor entered Empress Moon. "Oh, what are you two up to this time?" Her voice calmed down. Inklord flied up to her first.

"Jack hit me with a stick! It hurt a lot" Said Inklord as he rubbed his head.

"Hmmm, is that so?" Said Empress Moon looking down at Jack who was hugging her left hoof.

CRASH!

The front doors explode! Metal flies everywhere. Jack looks down from where he is. A shadowy figure enters the castle. Jack finds himself suddenly standing right in front of this figure as it's shadowy embrace envelops him. Jack holds his head in a headache as he stumbles down while his eyes turn completely red.

BONK

Inklord blocked the attack with his staff. "Heh, not this time Jack!" He pushes Jack's staff away, knocking it off his magic aura. Jack was looking down. "...Jack?" Jack was breathing heavily.

Jack looks up, his eyes were completely red. "RAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Jack tries to punch Inklord in the face.

SMASH!

Inklord tilted his head slightly to dodge the hit. Jack punches the wall behind him with enough force to leave a huge crack.

"Ha! Nice try Jack" Inklord turns and notices the huge crack. "You almost had- Wha-" Jack keeps punching the wall in frustration. "Jack! What the fuck?!" Inklord swiftly punches his neck to knock him out. He carries Jack to his room and lies him down on the bed. Inklord leaves the room.

Wednesday

Rarity's Diamonds

10:00 AM

Jack was on his temporal quarters resting in his small bed. He was testing out his new replacement prosthetic by playfully doing twirls with Ember's Annihilator. He decided to keep it for himself.

He feels the presence of someone else and looks to his right, Axiom was laying beside him... in the air, she was floating.

Axiom sighs. "I'm not one who goes around doing favours, but since it's you and... I had to make an exception, you know" She pulls out the Alicorn Amulet. "Making sure our little game of chess keeps moving. But lil' Axi is getting impatient" She stands up and puts it down on a table. "My next big target is actually someone you were supposed to kill... eventually. Buuut, I'm stealing the kill" She grins. "You'll get the assist" She looks at his red eyes, her purple eyes shine. "But right now... I'll waste my time eating some tasty chili at Barrel's. I gotta time my hits right to get the best reactions out of all of you... so maybe i'll do it... tomorrow. And no, you can't come with me" She starts to walk away but stops right at Jack's door.

"But it'll pretty much be a shared experience" Her eyes start to glow Bright red. "We'll be Chasing the Devil together!" Jack blinks and she disappears.

In a few seconds he forgot the entire sequence of events.

But he did feel the spicy taste of chili out of nowhere.

Top of the Barrel

10:01 AM

Axiom was just eating chili non-stop.

From the kitchen emerges Vida.

"Fucking, shit.. shit fuck, we lost Plush" He said.

Everyone but Axiom gasped.

"What?!"

"How did it happen?!"

"Damnit, I paid for a commision!"

"Literally who"

Vida was thinking on what he should do. "I'll get to the bottom of this"

From the same door emerges Tuna, she yawns and scratches her eye. "What's this about Plush?"

Vida looked at her with absolute rage. "TUNA YOU LITTLE BITCH, GO TO YOUR FUCKING ROOM, THE GROWN-UPS ARE TALKING"

"Ok..." She goes back to the kitchen.

"We lost Patch, Opal, Perry and now fucking Plush, they're onto us, I'm sure of it, either fucking Limbo or Secret Rift" Vida points to a grey pegasus with a bacon cutiemark. "Fusion, you're coming with me on this"

"Huh? Why not Lio?" The grey pegasus said.

A loud roar is heard, shaking the entire place.

"You gay ass, just do what I say" Vida pulls him out.

Diamond Tower

2:33 PM

It was time, Jack and Inklord entered the building, it was a short walk from the HQ. Jack noticed it extended waaaay up, way higher than he could see. But he felt the place was familiar... like he's been here already.

The inside of the first floor was... a giant clothing store... with many... many ponies from all walks of life. Clothing from all sizes and shapes were flying left and right. A feminine voice was heard through the intercom.

The time is now 2:35 PM

Blue clothing time!

The ponies began to scramble, some began to scream in terror and some even began crying. Absolute pandemonium was the law.

A pony with a camera approached them. He was a green stallion with a purple mane, his eyes were full of wonder and excitement. "Are you two the heroes of Manehattan?" He said.

"Uh... Yes?" Said Inklord.

The stallion blacked out, his camera hits the ground and is destroyed.

"At least he didn't take photos" Said Jack while checking the new blue jacket he was wearing, it had the outlines of different tarot cards. "None of us are used to being popular" He laughed. Inklord managed to snag a blue shirt with play card outlines.

A large stallion who was well dressed approached them, he pushed the unconscious paparazzi away. He silently scanned them with his strange glowing orange eyes, were those prosthetic? "You two must be our guests of honor, follow me" He signals the duo and they follow him. The well dressed earth pony guides them to an elevator, just as ponies in the area noticed the duo pass by. The stallion presses a button and the elevator soon starts to rise. "My name is Norden. I am Mayor Rarity's personal bodyguard. I was told it was a trio..?"

"Oh, Uh.. Sky, our friend is in the hospital right now, an incident in the bank heist" Inklord responds.

"Ah, unfortunate" Norden looked at the rising floor number. "We'll have to delay your visit for a few minutes to warn you two about something you all may haven't realised yet, our Mayor... she can be quite... aggressive and we can't afford to lose you if she does her usual... rambling"

Inklord and Jack look at each other confused.

Norden kept talking. "I was told you two don't know about our... interesting laws. Even I'll admit they're a bit overboard most of the time. But none of us want to lose our heads"

The elevator stopped.

You have arrived at: Archives floor

The door opens to reveal a large room, corridors upon corridors with seemingly infinite stacks of information in alphabetical order.

Norden walks forward. "Please wait here".

Jack looks at the size of the room amazed, he saw a unicorn guard walking not to far from him who salutes him. Jack salutes back. As Jack turns his face away the guard is violently pulled behind a cabinet.

A minute later Norden comes back with a small tablet. "You may have heard we have ridiculous laws here. This is those laws in action"

Security tape 1

2:37 PM

The tablet lights up to reveal a recording from a guard's point of view.

"You, furry! Stop right there!" The guard approached an abyssinian.

"Oh fuck.. what now?" The cat turned to look at the guard.

"What is your name... thing" The guard puts a hoof in his saddlebag.

"Patchwork... what is it this time" The abyssinian responded.

"You just broke 10 laws in 5 seconds"

"... WHAT"

The guard pulls out a small notebook.

1. Not dressed in blue at 2:35 PM

2. Being ugly

3. Walking barefoot

4. Hair is a mess

5. Not a pony

6. Useless

7. Repeat offense

8. Unspecified gender

9. Gays not allowed

10. All of the above

Patchwork just stood there dumbfounded. The guard puts handcuffs on her. "You're coming for keeps"

Security tape 2

5:34 PM

The footage begins in a very lit room. The point of view of the camera shows a unicorn talking to someone out of view. The room around them is large and has lots of red furniture.

"...And with that, we can reduce costs with-"

The time is now 5:35 PM

Orange clothing time!

"... Why are you not wearing orange?"

"Miss, the clock just-"

"WHY ARE YOU NOT WEARING ORANGE! FUCKING EXECUTE THIS SIN TO ALL FASHION"

Two guards approach the unicorn. His eyes fill with terror.

"No! Miss Rarity! Please!"

"THAT'S MAYOR RARITY TO YOU"

The unicorn is promptly beheaded in an instant, blood spewing out on the floor.

"Clean this mess please, it's not red clothing time yet"

"Do you need to see more?"

Inklord and Jack were terrified. They needed to be extremely careful, A simple meeting with the mayor turned into an interrogation session with a madman.

"N-No. We're fine.." Inklord responded first. "Are you going to... help us?"

Norden nooded. "I was given a device" He pulls out two small chips with his left hoof. "It will allow your clothing to change colors when time demands it" Jack lifts both chips With magic and gives one to his friend. "Now, insert them... here" Norden approaches Jack and presses a specific part of his jacket, a slot to insert the chip is revealed. He does the same to Inklord. They insert the chip in their respective slot. "Since blue clothing is currently active, you should have no problem unless your meeting last longer than expected. I may take you now to her office, after that, you're on your own"

They went back to the elevator.

Jack remained quiet. He though of letting Inklord handle the talking, he doesn't want to- "Huh...?" He stared at a screen that showed the names of each floor they were passing. He saw it.

Science Division - Floor 1 - Check-in

"Please... don't tell me it goes up to 13..." He whispered to himself.

He saw the number slowly rise up.

Floor 2 - Ontological Studies

3 - Sentinel Artifact Vault

4 - Membrane Manipulation

5 - Inner Eye

6 - Corvus Project - AREA CONDEMNED

7 - Etherial Experiments

8 - Terraforming

9 - Ender Vault

10 - Records

11 - Nature Study

12 - Inside Minds

Science Division - Floor 13 - Gene Corp Subsidiary Thremmatology and Test Subject Wards.

His eyes grew. What the fuck was he doing there?!

Floor 14 - Yggdrasil Project - AREA CONDEMNED

And the science floors stopped. Jack couldn't even think, trying his best to not draw attention to himself. He KNOWS he was just here yesterday. Jack was losing it, not being able to process something so important AND being able to focus on not getting you and your best friend killed... as long as he doesn't get in any trouble... he'll have to investigate the secret later. His life is on the line.

Well, his life is on the line either way. Whichever comes first.

Archives Room

2:46 PM

As Axiom saw the elevator doors close on the Archives floor she knew it was time for another stealth mission.

Stealth mission meant absolutely wrecking an entire room and leaving no witnesses.

"They can't sound the alarm if they're all dead" She told herself as a disembodied unicorn head frozen in a horrified face rolled by. Also, she was 100% sure THIS was the right floor. After 4 failed attempts her arms were soaked in blood. "Now now.. to learn about some of this shit..." She calmly walks up to a series of cases and looks at the labels. "A..." She pulls out a bunch of small metallic bars and drops them on a table. "C..." She does the same for the next pile. "J... K... P... Alright". When she was done the table was completely covered in these small metallic bars.

"Now to delete the useless ones"

SNAP!

Everything but a small few disappear in an instant.

"Yes, I just erased a bunch of history and other important stuff in less than a second" She sits down and rests her black furred feet on the table and picks up one, she pulls the bar from opposite sides and it opens to reveal a green holograph. "You know, these are kinda like... scrolls.. but you know, they fit the theme and shit" She looks at the title.

"Ooooh~ Listen carefully, I'm about to read some juicy lore for you!..."

She inhaled some air and read the first word.

"Ass-"

Top of the Diamond Tower

2:48 PM

"Gotcha! You though it was going to be-" A grey earth pony is slapped in the face.

"Fuck you! You got me excited over nothing!"

DING!

The nearby elevator doors opened. Norden leads the duo to the major's office, he rests his hoof on the knob. "From this point on, you're on your own"

The doors open.

Jack and Inklord enter the belly of the beast.

Archives Room

2:48 PM

Axiom was looking at you awkwardly.

"Y-you're back, you like, left as I started reading" She repositions herself. "Don't do that again... I'm not gonna be here waiting for you, Axi needs to learn this shit too y'know? I won't wait for you next time..."

She looks back at the text and starts reading it.

"Assuming how everything must come from one place.. that place is the 'Cause' and we are the 'Effect'. That place must've also had it's own 'Cause' to create our 'Effect'. But if everything came from this 'Cause', then is our 'Effect' a result of something acausal? Can something without cause.. turn into something WITH a cause?

Archive continued in Entry Number 356, 'Paracausality and it's effects'"

Axiom's face slowly started to grow a huge smile, she found what she was looking for. She quickly grabbed the only 'P' holo-scroll and shoved it inside her pocket. As she was about to leave she accidentally knocks down two holo-scrolls with a C and a J respectively, they open to reveal themselves as video recordings that start talking over each other. Axiom's ears stand up in surprise and goes back for them, pausing the J one and starting with the C.

The footage shows an elderly unicorn looking at the camera.

Mayor Rarity's Office

2:49 PM

Jack and Inklord enter a large sized room that had a desk with an empty seat in it's center. Their eyes were drawn to the left, where a window that covered the entire left side of the room showed a bird's eye view of most of Manehattan.

"So you're finally here" A voice talked with a lot of joy... and a tint of malice in it's tone. "I get to meet face to face with the janitors that are cleaning all the scum out of my city" Jack and Inklord didn't know where the voice was coming from, they turn to the right to see a large assortment of red couches, all looking at the window. On top of them, on the wall was a large painting of a cloud raining diamonds on a white unicorn.

"Uh... Mayor Rarity?" Inklord spoke.

"I'm here... I'm always here" In front of them the empty seat starts spinning and a pony suddenly appear sitting on it, the seat slows down and they're able to-

"Oh..." Jack is shocked.

"Generosity... has its disadvantages..." It was... well, Rarity, the bearer of the Element of Generosity. Alive and well, still young... She was wearing... nothing, her white unicorn body was completely exposed, Did she feel no cold? "But I always thrived regardless" She sits up and walks up to them. "You know, I was the first Element to pledge allegiance to Empress Moon, I still remember it.. vividly... all those decades ago..." She looks at her window. "Since then I made it my mission to do whatever it takes to maintain the vision.. the resolve that Empress Moon entrusted on me when she sent me here... I haven't seen her since then"

Jack and Inklord looked at each other confused. Is this really the same Rarity of legend? Were the other bearers still alive?

"But seeing you two here... children of luna, it means Empress Moon still cares about her first student.. her first..."

"Uh... It's a great honor being here May-"

"Oh, you two can call me Miss Rarity... or sIsteR" Her face twitched, startling Jack and Inklord. "And the hOnor is mine! But... Inklord right? Can you please leave the room?"

Inklord raises an eyebrow confused. "Huh.. but wh-" He is teleported away by Rairty. She quickly rushes to Jack.

"YES YOU rE FiNa/e here!" She hugs him tight. Jack was terrified amd couldn't breathe.

"Oh great.. now what?!" He thought to himself. Rarity drops him.

"The one and only! Son of Empress Moon! You cArry her blood in your veins! After Nearly 60 years she finally sends me a message!" Rarity was jumping everywhere. Jack just stared at her even more confused. Jack began to slowly walk backwards towards the door.

"Well, Empress Moon is... technically just my teacher..." He knew deep inside she wasn't. But he'll say anything to stop her.

"REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" The entire building woobled as the scream caused an earthquake.

Piece by piece,

snip by snip,
croup, dock, haunch,
shoulders, hip.

A phone started ringing. Rarity teleports to it immediately and answers.

"Mayor Ra-... Mhmmm?... An opinion you say?! I'll order a ponyhunt after them" She presses a button with her magic. "Miss Munchkin requests your presence immediately in art department. Urgent" She hangs up.

She sees Jack right at the door.

"Shit"

"Why are you leavinG? I am the mayor and I orDER YoU 2 sTAY" She flies and tackles Jack, he pushes him to the painting and smashes right through the wall.

Archives Room

2:49 PM

Axiom happily closes the C scroll and throws it back to it's respective drawer, only to bounce off and shatter on the ground.

"You guys missed that video! Oooh so much lore! So many twists and turns! It explains many things that will come later!" She grabs the one with a J. "Now, I could show you this one..." She places it on the J tray. "But Jack is meant to find this on his own, so you'll have to wait till then"

?

2:52 PM

Jack was knocked out by the wall they smashed through. His eyes slowly open and try to adapt to the darkness. He looks around, his eyes fix on a white body on the ground near him. He tries to stand up.

"nOw noW, I wasn'T reaDy yEt" The robotic voice startles him and he looks around, eventually meeting a pair of glowing blue eyes. "It'S ruDe to catch a mare NAKED" The eyes move across the room. "BuT I'll make an EXCEPTION" A lever is pulled and another white body falls from the ceiling. "You made me ruin my beautiful body... but tHAT can Be easily fixed" The left eye winked.

Jack looked at the white bodies... they were both Rarity's body! Exact lookalikes... "What.. are you?!"

The eyes got closer. "Dear, you already know" The eyes get close enough for Jack's eyes to make our her shape. Her entire body was nothing but wires and a speaker.

"I'm Rarity"

Author's Note

Why are you still here