Chapters "Miss Twilight!" The mare looked at the door as a figure lumbered in. "You should take a break. Even great minds such as yours need rest." His voice sounded like a raspy owl. She sighed, her shoulders slumping.
"I haven't even managed to decode the frequency yet!" she exclaimed, then groaned, letting her head fall to the wooden surface with a 'thonk'. The wet footsteps of the figure came up behind her and patted her on the back.
"When you began this research, you knew the low, low chances of success." He assured her, rubbing her back to calm the stressed mare down.
"I suppose you're right. I just can't believe literally no progress has been made!" She threw her hooves up in the air as if to say 'why?!'. "Grrrr....ugh, you're right. Perhaps a...*yawn* nap would help...clear my mind." He patted her back a few more times before retreating and walking beside her as they left the room.
"There we go! I'll cook something up for when you wake!" He said excitedly.
Twilight looked back as she walked down one of the dark crystal halls."Remember to disinfect it! I don't want to get infected!" She reminded him.
"Don't worry, Miss Twilight! It will be of amazing quality, as usual!" He waved her off, and lumbered towards the kitchen. Twilight entered her room, and after shutting the door, allowed her posture to slump. She trudged towards the dresser, and looked at the last picture of Celestia. She was still her regal self, with the tiara, chest piece, and shoes in this picture.
"Five years...five years of this horseshit." She mumbled, sighing deeply.
"-And four years of horrifying mutations, Doctor." Twilight jumped 3 feet into the air and squealed. She backed up quickly and spun around. Beside the door, a bipedal figure was leaning against her wall, dressed in a black leather trenchcoat, actually buttoned up, a white mask that resembled a gas mask, and black leather pants that looked a bit loose. One of his arms was resting on a long weapon known as a 'Boltgun'. It was a Magnum-Class, and was therefor about 3.5 feet long. It had a side-barrel grenade launcher. He was holding a scroll in his other arm. "Good afternoon, Dr. Sparkle. I have a message from Princess Celestia." Twilight blinked a few times, scowled, and snatched the scroll in her magic. "You could show a teensy bit more respect, Doctor." Twilight snorted at that.
"Who's the one that broke into my caste and scared me half to death?" She unfurled the scroll.
"I'm Crusader Knight, I can go where I want, and two, I didn't scare you half to death. I'd say...two sixths, Doctor."
Twilight rolled her eyes and began to read out loud.
Dear Twilight,
How has your work been going? Although I do not hold any hope, I would still like to know, and so would Luna. Please come to Canterlot as soon as possible.
Kindest regards,
Twilight rolled the scroll back up and tossed it into her scroll drawer before flopping onto her bed.
"What did it say, Doctor?" Twilight pulled her blanket over her and didn't answer. He began whistling, and after a few minutes, Twilight, annoyed and angry, told him.
"She wants me to go to Canterlot to meet her! Christ, go away! Please!" He stood up and opened the door, slinging his Boltgun behind his back.
"Fine. Perhaps you should get a stallion, you seem to be in heat, Doctor." Twilight snorted as he left, closing the door behind him.
"Damn Crusaders and their stupid privileges." She pouted before falling asleep. Tomorrow would be busy.
Author's Note
This is probably my last story. I'm trying to write this differently, so PLEASE tell me any problems with the writing that you have. Thank you, and have a nice day!
Twilight was walking to the front door of her castle. The halls were still dark and clouded by that same fog that covered all of Equus. As far as she knew, she was the only creature that needed to constantly wear a gas-mask. The clothes are more for protection from small scratches, as the spores need to contact blood directly or be breathed in to infect someone. Shaking her head to clear it, she walks into the armory and grabs a Packer-Class Boltgun. It looks like a long pistol with a tall barrel. She grabbed a few bolts and opened the top of the barrel and dropping the bolts in. After closing, locking, and racking the slide, she places the foot-long pistol into a holster, and strapping said holster to her hip. Leaving the armory, the figure is waiting outside. "Good morning, Miss Twilight. I suppose that's for self-defense?"
"Yes it is, Spike." The figure chuckles, which sounds more like gurgling.
"I might as well grab a weapon as well. I've always wanted to be a strong knight who protects his maiden from harm." He made a bit of a pose at the end of the sentence.
"You're going to come with me?" Twilight asks, surprised. He hates leaving the castle!
"I thought I might as well go with you. Sure, my beautiful complexion has been suffering for the past few years, but I'm sure others look worse." Twilight snorts.
"You got that right. Big Mac....well....you should really see for yourself." Spike raised an eyebrow, but shrugged...well, 'shrug' is a strong word. Eh, it'll do. Spike shrugged it off and entered the armory. Twilight decided to wait for him, and after a few minutes, he comes out of the armory with two Magnum-Class Boltguns slung across his back in opposite directions. A battle ax hung at his hip. "You're armed." Twilight stated simply.
"I like to be ready to kill, and pardon my language, big shit." Twilight nodded once. "Shall we leave, Miss Twilight?"
"Yeah. C'mon Spike, let's go." They walked side by side down the halls, Spike whispering under his breath words of self-encouragement. They made it to the door and stopped. Twilight put a hoof on it. "Are you ready?" A few moments of silence passed.
"I am, Miss Twilight." She smiled slightly and opened the door to reveal black, fleshy grass edging a dirt path that went all the way to Ponyville. The sky was darkened, and one could only make out the haze of the sun amidst the dark fog. Their vision was limited to roughly 150 meters. Spike raised an eyebrow. "Pardon my language, Miss Twilight, but this place looks like shit." Twilight looked at him and threw out a hoof.
"Well, here you go. Ponyville looks about the same." Spike shook his head and walked once again, following Twilight, and only 10 seconds later, Ponyville started coming into view. Ponies lumbered around, some on four legs, some on three, some on more legs, and others walking on two legs, most of the bipedal ones scraping the usual black fleshy growth off the walls of houses. One of them noticed Twilight and smiled.
"Hey Twilight!" It said with a wave of a third arm ending in a mouth, with 6 teeth working like fingers. Its voice echoed with every word. "Who's that?"
"I'm Spike....Miss?" It chuckled and hopped down.
"Yeah, I'm a mare." It reached a hand out for Spike to shake, which he did. "Lyra Heartstrings, it's been a while." Spike did his best to smile.
"Yes, I remember you! you were fascinated with hands, correct?" Lyra smiled widely.
"Yeah! And now I have...two? Two and a half? Well, I have hands now! They're so cool! I can do stuff with them, including....scraping....this black crap off of the houses." She ended the sentence in a slightly pissy tone a a gesture towards the wall she was busy with. "Sadly, I must continue my job, so...bye!" Spike chuckled.
"Goodbye, Miss Lyra." They continued on, and said hi to a few more ponies. Spike say a massive figure in the distance, about twice the size himself, Spike being about five feet tall, and with eight eyes on individual stalks. "Miss Twilight? Is that Big Mac?" She looked at the figure for a second then nodded.
"Yeah, that's Big Mac."
"He is certainly living up to his name." Twilight chuckled.
"He certainly is. Now, we have to go to Canterlot so I can talk to Princess Celestia." Spike made a gesture that said 'lead the way' and Twilight went to the train station, Spike trailing behind, now more confident in his looks. He caught up to Twilight, who had just bought tickets. The ticket guy still had four legs, but he had grown into a Centaur-like body shape, with really long arms with a lot of joints. Waving goodbye, Spike climbed onto the train. The Conducter had grown around and into his seat, unable to leave it. He had two short arms and ten freakishly long ones, that looked to be composed of almost only joints. They cracked with every movement, and there was a lot of movement. Twilight gave him the tickets, and he said to grab a seat. Once they did so, the black, fleshy substance covering the roof's hundreds of mouths opened and said the following:
"We'll be leaving in a few minutes for Canterlot, then Manehattan, Fillydalphia, Appleoosa, and finally Dog Junction before returning. Please remain seated."
After Spike got over his shock, he settled back and elected to stare out the window for the duration of the trip. "Miss Twilight?"
"Yes?"
"I...may have forgotten to give you your breakfast." Twilight groaned.
"We'll eat once we get there."
Author's Note
How was that? Please, tell me so I can improve it. This will be my last fic, so I want it to be good.
The train pulled into Canterlot. The city had to be redone, as the huge amount of black, fleshy mass had put incredible weight on the city. It was complicated, but it boiled down to using every pegasus to provide lift for every unicorn, who were disconnect the city and keep it levitated while the earth ponies redid the supports and fastened the city back to the mountain. They had a large celebration, and that was done. Canterlot had created a lot of job, a lot of poor ponies working as 'scrapers' for the richer ponies. Needless to say, there were less 'noble' assholes in the city. Now there were two sectors.
The rich sector, which was basically divided among itself, every family vying for power against everybody else,
and the poor sector, which was surprisingly tight-nit.
At first there was mass crime, but then a gang popped up. The Mare-Do-Wells were a group of vigilantes that stole from thieves and redistributed that wealth to everybody if they couldn't find the ponies whom were stolen from, eventually severely limiting the crime that could happen, as nobody knew the vigilantes could possibly be.
The train station was in the rich side, almost on the border between the two. Twilight and Spike got out as a few scrapers moved to the train and began separating the black layer that had grown over the train using what looked like broader flat shovels. One of them, an eight-legged pony with four arms got her attention. "Welcome to Canterlot yet again!" Its voice sounded surprisingly normal. "I can't believe you're still not infected!" Twilight smiled slightly at her enthusiasm.
"It's quite difficult, but it makes researching a cure easier." The pony looked surprised.
"A cure? How far are you to completing it?!" Twilight sighed and shook her head.
"Barely. Let's say 1% in about 5 years." The pony nodded sadly, but perked up.
"That means you'll eventually cure it!" Twilight chuckled lightly at her optimism. She said goodbye and left for the Castle. How she hated the rich side. They were so rude and whiny about her infection status, or lack thereof. On the way there, they stopped at a tavern so Spike could get a quick drink. At the counter, a slender figure with around twenty arms was holding a mug and rambling. Twilight said hi.
"Hey Twibright!" She rolled her eyes.
"Hey Novice. How are you doing, especially after...the burning?" Novice let his mug fall down to the table.
"I was all *hic* sad n' shit, but then I realized it was probably a...a...a...ZzzzzPOLITICAL metaphor for *hic* race or some dumb shit," Twilight was listening, though completely confused. "...ZZZZzzzEVERYTHING's a fuckin' *hic* political metaphor...." He dropped, his head hitting the hard ~~morning~~ wood of the countertop, and began snoring, clearly asleep.
"...What?" Twilight was able to ask after a few seconds. The bartender sighed.
"I know just as much as you, hon." Spike, not having been paying attention, finished his drink and gave the bartender a few bits.
"I am no longer thirsty, Miss Twilight." They then left, Twilight saying bye and patting Novice a few times, causing a few murmurs to arise from the basically corpse. They made it to their destination at last after nearly an hour of scraping sounds and the clopping of hooves. Two Guards with Magnum-Class Boltguns were waiting outside the door. It was clear they cut some extra limbs off to make designing armor within reason. the Boltguns has a bayonet, and were golden. When she came close enough, one of them spoke.
"Doctor Twilight, Princess Celestia has been awaiting your presence. She is starting to become restless. We highly suggest you hurry to her." Twilight nodded, and walked though the open doors....
"Christ, is there any reprieve from this black, fleshy shit?!" Twilight cries out upon seeing the halls.
Author's Note
The tone of the fic, while still being dark, will be more comedic. This story, and world is supposed to be interesting, not depressing or even that horrible.
Let me know if you dislike this new tone-shift and tell me what I can do about it, please.
The walls were coated thickly in the black, fleshy stuff that covered a lot of surfaces these days, but this stuff was breathing. The halls were dark, but the occasional glowing nub along the walls provided light. The floor was fine, obviously being scraped regularly to keep every step from feeling like warm, chunky mud on your hooves. The growth was less like stretched skin and more like closely-packed tendrils. There were guards every so often, and servants moving along the halls. They began to walk, listening to the few words spoken by castle staff, and after a while, they came to the throne room. The two guards stationed there nodded at her and opened the ornate, partially covered doors to reveal Princesses Celestia and Luna.
They were immobilized against their thrones, dark grey and dark blue-ish black masses sitting there, the structures rising and falling with every breath. Near the top of the two masses, the mostly intact heads of Celestia and Luna were looking at them. Their mouths looked stretched and long teeth stuck downwards and upwards. Their eyes were black with coloured pupils, an oddity. "Hello, Twilight," Celestia began to say, the voice coming from multiple places across the room, and probably the halls. "How are you doing?" Twilight sighed.
"The cure is barely even started! I've managed to separate the DNA to the virus's and the subject's, but that's it!" Several cracking sounds accompanied a long, many-jointed appendage growing out of Celestia's body and patting Twilight on the withers.
"I did not expect the cure to go well, my student." Twilight held the arm and smiled at her mentor.
"How's Princess Luna?"
"My Sister? She's sleeping. She's still nocturnal." Twilight nodded and Celestia retracted her arm. "Did you make any friends?" Twilight got a rush of nostalgia at the odd question.
"No. But Crusader Knight broke into my castle and scared me half to death." Celestia chuckled.
"I should talk to him about that. Anyways, do you have any future plans?" Twilight nodded.
"No, I don't." Celestia hummed in thought.
"Perhaps you should stay in the castle for a few days, and take a vacation."
"But, Princess! I need to work on the cure!" Celestia laid an arm on her withers again.
"Twilight, the situation is not getting worse or changing. You can relax for a few days, alright?" Twilight opened her mouth to protest, but simply sighed.
"Yes, Princess." Celestia frowned at the sad tone.
"Perk up. I'm sure Luna would want to talk to you once she wakes up."
"I'll do that."
"Good. GUARDS!" Two guards ran in. "Bring these two to guest rooms." They nodded, and with a 'yes, Princess', they left with Twilight and Spike. Just then, a figure entered the throne room also from the doors. It had 5 arms, 3 legs, and 20 eyes scattered across its body, along with a mouth on the top of its head.
"Good afternoon, Celestia." It had a sword at its hip, a Ramrod-Class Boltgun across its back.
"As to you, Prince Ruinwing." He chuckled before stopping suddenly.
"Do you hear that....?" The sound got louder until it was distinguishable as screeching. "Oh shit!" He yelled as the far window shattered, a Breezie crashing through, a man straddling its back, firing a Storm-Class Boltgun into the head of the giant creature. As the Breezie slammed into the floor, the man was thrown off and he slid along the floor before impacting the wall. The Breezie began to move, and stood up, its head barely intact and the black, fleshy substance dripping slowly. It screeched, and began to lumber towards Ruinwing, who drew his Boltgun. The four-foot weapon fired a bolt that could pierce through almost any armor. He tried to pull the trigger and nothing happened. He cursed and cocked the gun, but was smacked by the Breezie, causing the Boltgun to clatter meters away. "Shit!"
"Give me your long sword!" The man yelled, hold in out his hand. Ruinwing cursed under his breath and drew his sword, throwing it. the man jumped, caught it, spun, and threw the sword, causing it to pierce into its midsection. The Breezie screeched in agony as the man soared over it, grabbing the sword and pulling, using his momentum to cut the Breezie almost in half, which caused the beast to gurgle before collapsing. "We need to burn this breezie within 3 minutes!" The man yelled before pointing at Ruinwing. and tossing the sword at him. "Cut it into pieces, which are easier to burn!" Ruinwing nodded before doing so, chopping hard to cleave huge chunks off. The Guards came in to see what the fuck all that noise was, and after some instruction, helped them divide the creature. They then burned it all in the center of the large room.
"Now that everything's settled, who the fuck are you?" The man bowed slightly.
"I am designate Umbra-Zero, an Earth Pony infected with the Umbra strain of the Coltsavar Mutagen."
"The...Umbra strain?"
"Correct, it is the regular Coltsavar Mutagen with a soul infused within it. Disconnected from its source, my body, it becomes the regular Coltsavar Mutagen. The spores are extremely toxic to infected, which is why I'm wearing a gas-mask."
"To protect yourself?"
"To protect me." Umbra-Zero seemed to remember something. "You need to protect the citizens." One of the guards replied sarcastically.
"No shit, that's our job." Umbra-Zero pointed at the burnt corpse of the Breezie.
"The Breezies travel in large groups." The guard's eyes widened as he realized what the man was saying. "You need to protect the citizens from the hundreds of Breezies that will be converging on this city within a few days." The guard took a step back, a horrified expression on his face.
"I thought this would happen in a few months!"
"Griffons lead them out of their territory and into yours." The guard swallowed desperately.
"So, we're screwed?" Umbra-Zero shook his head.
"Not quite, there's still a few days."
"Let's hope that's enough."
"Prepare for the attack first, engage in that type of thinking later." The guards nodded and left with their orders. Ruinwing walked up to Umbra-Zero.
"I am Prince Areo Ruinwing, the best protector of the Princesses of Equestria." Umbra began to jog after the guards.
"'Best' is a false term based on your actions against a weakened opponent." And he was gone. Celestia chuckled.
Author's Note
How was this chapter? In a few chapters, there will be an attack! Will they win or lose, and by how much?
Have a nice day!
The prison block, with a single prisoner. And a ton of guards as well. The bars were inches thick, 4 at least. The walls were scraped clean, as well as the floors. Guards were all over the place, using Ramrod-Class Boltguns, the sniper of the Boltguns.
*BANG BANG* "Get up, Chrysalis!" A ton of grumbling followed the hitting of the bars and who was once Chrysalis stood up, 12 feet tall, looking a lot like a centipede. Spikes lined her spine, ending as two fangs. Her mouth was composed of 3 mandibles, and she had a long, razor-thin tail that glistened like metal. "Umbra-Zero, meet Queen Chrysalis. Chrysalis, meet Umbra-Zero." Umbra-Zero waved once and pulled out his medical book.
"Greetings. I'd like to update my notes on you." Ruinwing was confused, and so was Chrysalis. He knew her?
"I don't remember you. And I remember all my conquests."
"How about your first conquest?" Umbra-Zero then had Ruinwing open the cell doors, and he stepped in. Chrysalis rolled her eyes.
"You weren't alive at that point." Umbra-Zero sat down and nodded.
"But the project lets 'Huemin' souls reincarnate."
"Sounds like bullshit."
"To those who don't know or remember, it would be."
"What does 'Human soul' even mean?"
"Hue-Minimal Soul means that a soul doesn't use magic to exist, and therefor can live outside a body, and carry on to others. But enough of us, what about you? What can you do?" Chrysalis smiled.
"Finally, something worth talking about. I can grab things with my super-long tongue, crush things with my legs, and kill things with my tail, including you." Umbra-Zero wrote down that info, and continued to do so for everything she said, putting footnotes here and there for weaknesses. "-And I can still use magic." She levitated his hand up a few centimeters to prove this point. The ring on her horn was glowing brightly. "But this fucking ring prevents that." Umbra-Zero wrote that down and shut his book. "What can you do?" Chrysalis laid down, placing her head on her front legs. Umbra-Zero stood up.
"I can use soul magic, am immune to a lot of different types of injury, have a hammerspace portal, can detect soul-harming magic, such as yours, and have nearly 100% accuracy with most weapons." Chrysalis whistled.
"That's almost as powerful as me. Show me that soul magic." Umbra-Zero nodded and opened his hands. Suddenly, they erupted in a red, black-tainted aura, that took the shape of claws a bit larger then his hands. As he made various movements, the auras moved along with him. "Niiice!" She noticed it looked as if the Coltsavar on him was almost boiling. A bubble popped on the infected flesh and the aura sparked out, Umbra-Zero falling to a knee.
"Fuck, that hurts!" Chrysalis could hear sizzling, the black fleshy growth on his body steaming slightly. He stood up, several small cracking sounds accompanying the action. He flexed his arm, and a layer of the flesh broke off with a snap.
"What the hell happened there?" Umbra-Zero sighed, and winced as he tried to sit, but decided not to.
"Having two souls, two entities sharing the same body created potentially lethal problems."
"You could have died?!" He nodded.
"If I kept going, I would've." Chrysalis huffed. "I must go now."
"See ya." Umbra-Zero left, opening and closing the large door. He then began walking down the hall, limping slightly. He was having a conversation inside his head.
What the fuck?! I apologize. Why the fuck did you use our magic outside of a desperate situation? You could've killed m--US both! It will not happen again. It better not! Now, go write or whatever you do with your shitty existence.
The voice went silent, and Umbra-Zero came back to reality just as Twilight noticed him. "Are you okay?"
"I-ugh-Am fine. My soul magic burns me when I use it." Twilight nodded. "Shit...do you have access to a bath I can use? I haven't washed in an unknown amount of time." Twilight cringed.
"Yeah, how the hell do you not reek?" Umbra-Zero pointed at her face.
"One, you're wearing a gas mask, and two, I probably smell like Coltsavar, and there's a thick fog of it covering the entire planet." Twilight facehoofed.
"Ugh, I'm a dumbass." Umbra-Zero chuckled lightly and followed her, albeit a bit slower than his usual speed.
"How are the preparations going?"
"The nobles are a bit mad that it's happening now, but they're complying, especially since they don't want to die. The poor are loving the castle, especially the foals. The guns are being distributed to the guard force, and the Mare-Do-Well gang is going to help fight as well." Umbra-Zero nodded.
"Save a Storm-Class Boltgun for me." They arrived at the royal bathroom, used by Celestia when she was still mobile. It was still being cleaned and maintained perfectly as it was, so Umbra was set, after stripping, he stepped in the large tub, and grabbed a bottle of body wash.
"Can do. Now, why don't you wash up? I'll be back in an hour with a towel." Twilight told him through the door, and then walked off, hoofsteps echoing through the room.
Good thing he remembered how to do this....
Author's Note
Heeeey!
The Prologue 2: Prologue Harder
Ponyville. It used to be beautiful, and some ponies will tell you that it still is, but...it isn't. Ever since the breakout of the Coltsavar Mutation, it was now quite hideous. Black, pulsing growths were everywhere on any patch or organic material, like grass or trees. Said organic material was replaced by erratic black growths pulsing and leaking, with long free strands hanging from the structures, sometimes touching the ground to create a look of torn skin, hanging on be mere threads. Everything was dark, and any colour that dared exist in the poisoned town was overshadowed, poisoned, and dulled by the spore-ridden fog that covered the town, and all of Equestria, quite thickly.
You might be thinking, 'Well, that's fucking cliche, and edgy as shit!' And you'd be quite right. However, the problem with the Coltsavar is that it doesn't modify thought. It modifies the body by mutating it sometimes uncontrollably and horribly. At first, the infected were burned as horrifying creatures, but it became apparent that they were still ponies, at least in mind, when the mysterious infection swept the nation. Soon, everybody was infected and mutated within a year. All except Twilight Sparkle, who quarantined herself and dressed herself to leave nothing showing. Single-respirator gas mask, long coat, underclothes, waxed clothes, an undersuit, cut tail and mane, everything to keep herself safe....and it worked. For 5 years, she hasn't been infected by the horrible disease. During this, the Equestrian Crusader Advisers were created. They are to eliminate any massive growths present across Equus.
Now that we're done with this shitxposition, we can get to some actual plot.