Arc 4 – Desert Summit Chapter 2 – We meet again, part I

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A glimmering line of arcanium no thicker than a hair seamed two realities: Hope and the other of some distant place. However, the sand on both sides of the portal barely differed—the desert’s flowing flesh that the howling gales flung back and forth over the crags encircling the Badlands.

The sight of the distraught changeling queen outweighed Wire’s hesitation and she limped into the arcane door; despite her passionate reluctance, Flower trailed the unicorn, but not before giving the Machine Goddess a look that put Wire’s enmity with the deity to a shame.

One equine lingered by the passage—Night Wind.

She had already crossed her line of work by teaming up with the Unity and the Swarm to deal with things far beyond her competence or even comprehension. Whilst that might be debated, without a doubt, anything happening outside Hope shouldn’t be within its police forces’ jurisdiction.

The passage remained invitingly open, even without its creator around—the arcanium alicorn had slipped away as Night pondered her predicament.

Pretending that the goddess waited for her to use it, the Kirin abruptly hurried into the unknown, guided by simple curiosity to the same degree as by the inertia of the crammed with weirdness day.

The moment Night’s unshorn fetlocks brushed the surprisingly and disturbingly wintery sand, she instantly regretted her decision—and not because of the frost nipping on her hoof tips.

With the Sun’s faint crimson glow ebbing—that had lasted longer than it had any right to, as Night worryingly realised—the night itself came alive, awoken by the silvery shining of the icy stars and pale radiance of the Moon peeking over the horizon.

Before the Kirin reached a conclusion that a brief experience of working beside a deity had failed to imbue her with any knowledge vital to even understand the horror unfolding in front of her, the self-preservation instinct took reins of Night’s body, turning it exactly one hundred and eighty degrees around. Her hooves as if absorbed all the cold from the dunes beneath to infuse the rest of her with it—the commissioner’s eyes found only a vista of endless sand barely disrupted by the ochre crags at the horizon.

Behind Night, shrill yells split the frigid air. Exerting a tremendous effort of will to overpower the urge to flee, she forced herself to remain rooted in the soft soil and prepared to witness the infinite malignity of the abyss.

A tide of darkness swelled from a single point—a desiccated alicorn who simultaneously fought the oily black mist swirling around her and directed it at the changeling hastily backpedalling from her.

The decrepit equine howled at Heterocera, “Murderer!”

Wire already lay sprawled on the ground in the aftermath of disregarding her magic burnout; her horn dripped golden sparks on the sand whilst her muzzle—crimson droplets. The fabled captain of the disbanded Royal Guard was dragging her away from the path of encroaching inky fog that left ground hoary in its wake. The Machine Goddess dispassionately watched the horrific scene from a safe distance, and only one mare remained close to the nightmarish amalgam of a pony and otherworldly force, standing betwixt the waxing island of absolute darkness and the changeling who, too, stood charcoal against the thickening dusk.

“She is not her!” Flower barked at the wall of shadows threatening to crush her; she had no choice but to retreat, futilely waving her hooves—one of metal—in front of Luna. Sparing Heterocera a brief and unreadable look, the young mare returned to trying to persuade the insane alicorn, “Stop!”

“Chrysalis killed my sister!” roared a dozen throats, barely sounding like an equine—not even like a living being. “I shall slay her and every changeling—they must die!”

The queen of the Swarm cast at the Machine Goddess a look both questioning and furious; she then crouched, preparing to abandon the company that craved her demise so hungrily.

A crisp sound froze in place the mare ready for a takeoff.

Luna held her cheek, glaring daggers at Flower, who managed to weave her way betwixt the shades forming the alicorn’s turbulent mane and now, grimacing, rubbed her hoof.

“Stop,” the greasy mare repeated, her voice ringing with anger. “She’s our friend, you fucking lunatic.”

“Out of my way,” Luna growled; though, as Flower refused to abide, she didn’t move either. “I have to avenge Tia.”

Flower sagged; a sigh that escaped her lungs hung in the air as a glistening vapour. When she spoke, her tired tone had none of the wrath from mere moments ago, “Luna, you have to stop. That vengeance was… is… what has brought you here, remember?”

Night’s heart fluttered like a bird trapped in the cage with a cat licking its lips by the bars suddenly so brittle, and it counted many beats till the alicorn’s chapped lips dehisced to let an agony-laden rustle out:

“I had reached for Nightmare long before that to… to have vengeance for what I thought Celestia did…”

Even though those words carried no malice—only regret—Nightmare stirred when she mentioned her murderous intent, barely letting Luna finish; a blank expression overtook her features and the black mass lurched in Heterocera’s direction.

The wave of darkness forced Flower to take a step back, but she refused to give up more ground, shouting at Luna, “Your sister is gone, you can’t bring her back—no matter who you kill. And Chrysalis is dead, anyway.”

Luna recoiled, tugging the wisps of impenetrable smoke back with her; the sharp pain in her gaze ceded to something resembling sanity. A keen, if exhausted look, focused on the chitinous mare.

“When who is this?” she demanded.

Heterocera’s eyes flashed with shock and hurt; the sound of Flower’s teeth chattering ceased as she clamped her jaws, grimacing.

“Don’t you remember Clandestine Delight?”

The changeling queen opened her mouth to protest the name used but a stained blue hoof poked her side—Wire, who had crawled to her side, shushed her.

A prolonged silence took reign; Luna’s expression fell as the grim realisation dawned on her.

“I remember that I should remember that name,” she mumbled in her defence, but failed to convince even herself.

“It’s alright,” Flower lied. Injecting some firmness into her voice, she ordered Luna, “Isn’t that enough for you to stop trying to kill her?”

The alicorn gave her no answer except for a guilty look; she then mournfully withdrew, weaving the shadows into a veil to disappear from sight. Yet, from betwixt the blackish wisps a pair of cat-like turquoise eyes peered at the ponies and whatnot.

That peace lasted as long as it took Flower to give Luna one final worried and desperate glance. A grimace then twisted her muzzle and she stomped across the sand to face the emotionless arcanium mare.

Yet, standing before the Machine Goddess, who had only slightly tilted her head to dispassionately tower over the furious pony, Flower remained silent; though, Night could swear she heard teeth gnashing.

The Kirin suddenly became aware of a faint, but insistent background keening—distant wails mingling with the wind’s melancholic song; shuddering, she recognised the coronach for the fallen city still succumbing to the ice beyond the forest that melancholically withered not so far away.

The chilly breeze finally carried words—quiet, yet brimming with vitriol.

“Luna can hear me yet, but you’re a lost cause—created a monster from the beginning.” Flower winced as if from pain. “And even more I hate how I failed to stop you from exposing yourself to that taint—now we have no chance to stand against your atrociousness.”

Somewhat aloof, Rainbow scooted to Heterocera and her advisor, joining them in creating a nervous atmosphere as the understanding began to sink in—wary eyes stared at the Machine Goddess. With Luna skulking somewhere on the edge of vision and Night Wind standing awkwardly where she exited the portal, a perfect square formed in the middle of nowhere, with tense equines marking huddling in the corners of a room with invisible walls.

The metal alicorn smiled.

“For once you ought to be glad I am a machine—Nightmare can’t hide in the streams of data forming the Unity or my consciousness.” With amusement slipping in her tone, the Machine Goddess added, “Oh, and, by the way, no need to thank me for making sure it can’t bother you either.”

Night’s eyes jumped to Nightmare roiling around Luna and she noticed the barely visible pearlescent flashes encasing those two in a spherical aurora; the Kirin shuddered.

However, neither blessing of fate brought relief to Flower’s expression; the glare of her fiery eyes that drilled into the perfect image of the goddess intensified.

“Is that all that you can do?” she demanded.

“I’m sorry. Right now, no solution could leave all parties involved happy.”

The grimy mare gave her a long, disdainful look and turned away, mumbling with disgust, “Some goddess you are.”

Behind her shoulder, the arcanium alicorn flinched and for a moment her immaculate mask seemed to be under an overwhelming strain of emotion it concealed; the Machine Goddess promptly regained her composure, though her slip went unnoticed anyway—she had Flower to thank for that.

“Nightmare is taking over Luna,” Flower darkly declared—almost challenged Heterocera, Wire and Rainbow; Night didn’t mind herself being hidden by the twilight or even forgotten about on purpose. “When it’s done with her—we’re done for.”

Even for Night, who hadn’t had the misfortune of dealing with Luna till today, that didn’t come as a big surprise.

“There is still time left,” the armoured pegasus noted.

“What would you know about it?”

Rainbow didn’t immediately answer that barbed question; she regarded Flower with more disappointment than indignation.

Spots of inky fur on Flower’s snout miserably failed to mask with itself the circles of exhaustion; it only accentuated the rabid shadows churning in those bloodshot eyes. Grease and dirt as well failed to hide the truth—the worn clothing clinging to a frame malnourished. And yet, that mare radiated more danger than a goddess or a changeling queen, second only to Nightmare… and its victim.

Left unimpressed by Flower’s state of body and mind, the pegasus ultimately scoffed, “I knew Luna when her sister was still alive, kid.”

“And what does that fix exactly?” Flower didn’t relent, all but spitting at Rainbow.

The former captain met her aggression stoically.

“Nothing. But you aren’t helping either.”

“For ten years I’ve cared for Luna and kept her sane…” The doubtful looks directed at the muttering alicorn forced her to hastily add, “As much as it can be possible.” She then squinted and slowly continued in an acidic tone, “What have you done, changeling dog?”

With her expression now disturbingly cool, Rainbow would have dashed to Flower, were it not for a gossamer wing stopping her mid-step. Glaring daggers first at Heterocera then at Flower, she backed down.

The changeling mirrored the pegasus’ expression and the direction of her gaze.

“That was uncalled for, Flower. Not to mention, Rainbow no longer works with the Swarm,” her admonishment came hurried and half-hearted. “However, I do agree—the situation is dire.”

Heterocera opened her mouth to say something else, but before even a sound could leave her throat, Flower snapped at her, “Nobody tells me what to do. Especially none of you—not after you abandoned me.”

Although Night thought Wire had passed out from exhaustion, slumped on the queen’s side (not that she wasn’t running on fumes herself) the unicorn came alive, sounding hurt, rather than angry at her old friend.

“You are the one who left Hope!”

Flower’s blazing eyes slid from one equine to another, lingering on each for a heartbeat—a changeling, a Kirin, a Former One and a mechanical alicorn.

“Yet I still stand for ponies.”

The meaning of her words took a moment to reach everyone’s minds, casting the moonlit patch of the desert into astonished silence.

Such an outrageous claim could echo only with resentment, yet… As the initial flare of her anger faded, Night couldn’t help but hear the voice of reason behind the accusation.

Betwixt the thestrals, equinoids, changelings, donkeys and even her half-dragon kind, the ponies didn’t quite thrive in Hope. The sandstone city hadn’t turned out to be the last stronghold of Equestria, not with its impossible to ignore gravestone of ice and blood.

The queen of the changelings regained her ability to speak first.

“Is that what you wanted?” she demanded from the Machine Goddess.

Once more, her veneer of serenity threatened to crumble, but the alicorn kept showing an impressive ability to control herself.

Still, she shook her head in dismay.

“No. I expected some reluctance to cooperate, but not at this stage.”

“Stage?” Flower whirled around to squint at the equinoid. “What the fuck is going on here?”

“I’m waiting for the rest to come.”

The mechanical deity vanished.

With the number of the equines in the middle of the desert reduced by one, their tense formation wavered and then crumbled as Wire resolutely hobbled to Flower. Everyone else gravitated to the scowling mare, too, save for Luna.

Whilst Night hung back, Rainbow and Heterocera glared over Wire’s head at Flower; her defiance clashed with their indignation.

The unicorn, however, bore only pain on her muzzle; and not because of her burns or overstrained horn and muscles. Trying and failing to meet her friend’s gaze, she whispered, “Flower… you surely didn’t mean that.”

“I don’t speak just to enjoy the sound of my voice.”

“But… but you called Delight your friend just a moment ago. Was it a lie? Am I a… a traitor to you, too?”

Flower’s fierce expression faltered and she turned away, grimacing, to stare into the darkness where Luna prowled.

“I have my duties, you have yours,” she muttered over her shoulder. “I just wish—”

A bitter sigh of her own creation cut off her words and the mare fell silent for a few heartbeats before continuing in rasping voice:

“We lost Canterlot already and if something like that happens again…” Flower turned to Wire, but squinted at Heterocera and Night. “Some might survive, but ponydom is too crippled to rise after another killing blow.”

The enmity permeating the air dwindled, though the collective frowns refused to cease; they persisted, fuelled by another reason now—the time bomb ticking in the veil of shadows, her cat-like eyes flashing along with those of spectres dancing to the piping from the void betwixt the stars.

Tearing her worried gaze away from Luna and Nightmare, the changeling queen grumbled, “You could have chosen better words to convey that.”

That earned her a sharp look from Flower, but then the grimy mare shrugged, losing all interest in Heterocera. The chitinous mare waited for an apology, but her patience evaporated almost instantly and she snapped her head to the side.

“Wire, I need to speak with you—it’s urgent.”

The unicorn drooped her head, avoiding the green eyes welling with despair. “Teleta had told me already.”

“Then you know how little time we have before…” Words died in Heterocera’s throat, threatening to become a sob. Squeezing her eyes shut, she all but hissed, “I need your help, Wire. I… I don’t know what to do.”

Night glanced at Rainbow, but even if witnessing a changeling queen breaking down caused her any discomfort, the pegasus’ face, faintly lit by the holographic dials of her visor, displayed nothing except a too well-practised mask of a perfect soldier. Alone in her plight, Night remained close to those mares only because leaving their company would bring her closer to Nightmare.

Oblivious to her shuffling, Wire screwed up her muzzle. “Not that I know, but…”

The queen stared at her, harbouring a spark of hope that promised to dry away the tears about to flow freely down the black cheeks.

“But what?”

The silence was her answer.

The Kirin took a breath and dared, “You should tell her.”

Heterocera paid her a quick look before Wire recaptured the changeling’s attention.

“It sounds like a trap.” The unicorn grimaced. “I’m sure it is a trap.”

Heterocera’s narrowed eyes jumped betwixt the two. “What are you talking about?”

Wire graced the Kirin with a scathing look, then reluctantly shared with the queen, “Sunburst visited the Hive earlier—very conveniently—and he told me in his usual vague way that a library at the Crystal Empire has some crucial knowledge about changelings. Your nature might be a hex.”

Night couldn’t help but spare Heterocera a wary glance as the changeling revealed two rows of razor-sharp teeth.

“And if it is a hex it can be reversed or dispelled!”

However, Wire didn’t share her enthusiasm. “It’s not that simple—if Sunburst didn’t lie, that is.”

Recalling the encounter with the strange Former One, Night tried to figure out if something justified the unicorn’s fears and thoughtfully added, “He also said that the secret to killing a god can be found there.”

The changeling tilted her head to the side. “Why would he mention something like that?”

“That’s what I’m talking about,” Wire grumbled.

The Kirin retorted, “He just wanted to warn the Machine Goddess.”

“And you believed him?”

“You’re paranoid.”

“The Machine Goddess,” Heterocera distractedly echoed, her eyes cloudy with confusion and sharp with apprehension at the same time. “She brought us here for a reason—we need to speak with her.”

“That bitch set up the whole mess with Stalliongrad!”

“I won’t be so sure, Wire…” the changeling met her outburst with a shake of her head. “I don’t understand what’s going on.”

The unicorn shot a glare first at the queen, then at the spot where the arcanium alicorn disappeared.

“Me neither,” she admitted with a heavy sigh, sitting heavily on the sand. “Way too much has happened today.”

Heterocera seemed to realise for the first time that a crust of dried blood and ashes covered her adviser. “Speaking of which… Did… did you two fight?” Her eyebrow raised. “Or..?”

“Sure.” Wire rolled her eyes. “I thought you’d be hungry and brought a snack for you.”

Icy claws gripped Night—the sight of changeling’s fangs glistening under the moonlight was fresh in her mind. Confusion quickly replaced that dread, however, tinged by shame—she took seriously nothing but a story to scary foals. And then it came to her at last and the ember of her embarrassment turned into an inferno reddening her cheeks.

“You should think of a better coping mechanism other than practising stand-up comedy,” she barked at Wire.

“Says the mare whose only method to cope with reality is to set herself on fire.”

The Kirin had to put a conscious effort to prevent the unicorn’s world from being proved; seeking distraction, she introduced herself to the queen with a slight bow, “I’m commissioner Night Wind, your majesty. Wire assisted me in—”

“You assisted me.”

Smoke emanated from Night’s coat and her eyes glowed with more than reflected starlight, but she managed to remain a Kirin, squeezing through clenched teeth, “...In investigating a series of murders that led us to a…”

Night trailed off, struggling to describe the most bizarre investigation she ever participated in; thankfully, Wire took up where she stopped.

“Our local divine tin can barged into it halfway and together we caught a pony who could screw over her, but it gets even weirder from there.”

“The culprit is from Canterlot,” Night finished.

Heterocera blinked at them.

“Shouldn’t it be frozen solid with no survivors?”

“Those two would beg to differ.”

Their heads whipped to the sound of sand crunching under heavy hooves accompanying those words.

Beside the Machine Goddess a portal glimmered and two more alicorns stepped through it, looking around with caution—a disturbing effigy of bone and metal with a ragged albino mare clinging to its side.

Author's Note

English isn't my native language; though I try my best and use various tools to aid myself, I'm aware that a result is far from perfect. That said, if you notice anything that you think should be fixed—please let me know.

I hope you've enjoyed reading this story so far.
Stay awesome.