“Fucking bitch! I should have snuffed your kinds gene code when it was in the brainstorming stage!” Spicy didn’t feel like cooperating, and I didn’t feel like being nice. The bicorn, Bakers Dozen, tried to play good cop. Though, I think it was more of her not understanding the situation, because she got slapped in the face by Spicy. As a result, Bakers Dozen had turned into a foal, maybe around ten years old, confirming to me that Spice was a twitcher ghoul.

Feeling that I was just done with this shit, I had decided to shoot off a foreleg, her horn, and had minerve tightly tie a cable around her remaining back leg so that I could string her up. To say that she was pissed would be an understatement. But I didn’t have time for this shit.

Practicing on Spicy a few time, I found the battle rifle was a bit awkward in minerva's hold, likely I had gotten a bit too used to the talisman support in my guns, so the practice shooting was a big help. It must have been of a very old design, as the rifle was clip loaded, not magazeen, something I have only seen behind glass as a collectors peace. Worse, It was annoying to have such a loud rifle replace my bolt launcher, and more annoying that shooting off Spicy's ear didn’t even make her flinch. But at least the thing was powerful, that, and its ammo bag had plenty of bullets to spare.

Poking Spicy with my new rifle, she tried to bite it, making her sound like a feral ghoul I had seen in old vidios. “Now if you don’t want me to keep blowing limbs off, maybe stop acting like some cult obsessed savage, and just tell me how to get into Healing Herbs lab.”

“The god of the void will consume you and all of creation.” She cackled, her gravelly voice making it all the more unnerving to hear. “You think these little pathetic threats can scare me?”

I took the butt of the rifle, and smashed her in the face with it, knocking out a few teeth. “There are other ways I can hurt you, maybe I should try one. Minerva, hold her head still.” My pipleg wrapped its aura around Spicys head and I looked her in the eye. I focused my magic, the warm sensation filling me, and I tried to send it to my eye but Spicy didn’t respond. I filled my head with anger and fear, but still nothing. So I closed my eyes and relaxed, trying to remember how the corps brigade used it on me.

“Trying to bore me to death? I don’t think that's going to work.” Spicy mocked me through broken teeth.

I did remember that when I first came across the evil eye, how it was like I had become powerless, unable to move as Couteau Duel stabbed me with her illusion. Carving Doll, and I sank into the bloody water. And what Blackspot said, something about having personal experience making it stronger or something. Then It clicked in my mind, maybe I just needed to concentrate on the horrors I’ve experienced as I used my evil eye.

I focused, wires, cables, water and blood. The loss of control, and drowning in something I can no longer fight against. Enemies always around the corner, not there to kill me, but to change me into themselves, as though to crawl into my skin and live as me. Having to die, but not being allowed to pass on, to forever watch myself be some others puppet.

My eyes opened, and I looked deep into Spicy’s one eye. Her posture slacked, her milky white eye dilated, and she began breathing hard. I could feel the evil eye working, my blood trickling from it… from them, from both eyes. I blinked, and Spicy gasped, and shuttered.

“What? What did you do?” she breathed.

I ignored her, and trotted over to the large terminal, trying to see my reflection past the green text. Both my eyes were now green and bleeding, just like that of the corps brigade. I sighed, returning my attention to Spicy. “How do I get into Healing Herbs Lab?” Spicy opened her mouth for a second, before snapping it closed. She was cracking, so I just needed to apply more pressure. “Minerva, hold her head still again.”

Spicy held her eye shut, so I aimed my rifle and put a bullet through her remaining forehoof. She screamed in pain, but also opened her eyes, giving me the opportunity to use my evil stare. Her cries of pain stopped as she became entranced once more. I could only let it go on for a few minutes before it caused a strain on my eyes, like a vise slowly squeezing them. When I finally blinked again, Spicy didn’t move, black ooze like drool coming down from her mouth. So I did what any self respecting pony would do with a catatonic ghoul, and poked her with the barrel of my rifle.

Spicy then flailed like a mad mare, causing her to swing, and me to take a step back. This went on for a couple more seconds, her black blood oozing from her back leg as the cable dug in deeper. When she finally calmed down, Spicy kept her eyes shut and hissed at me, indicating that she had not gone feral yet.

“Now tell me, or we can do this again!” I yelled, and she flinched.

“Use the terminal. I have it hooked up to all labs D, just find lock controls, and select unlock all.” she whimpered.

I huffed, and returned to the large terminal. Plugging Minerva in, I had my pipleg look for lock controls. “So where is the lab?”

“Just take a left, and follow the yellow pipe. It will take you straight there.” she whimpered again.

Minerva found the lock control, and there was too many to count, and all just numbered, so I just scrolled down until I found the all option. Sighing, I selected all, and entered it. “You know if you were not such a miserable cunt, I’d have just left you alone down…” An alarm sounded, red lights flashed, and I felt like an idiot.

Spicey cackled loudly. “Good luck getting to that lab, because…” Her taunting was cut short by me putting a bullet through her head. Disturbingly, no brain came out when her skull shattered over the floor, only the black ooze she had been leaking this hole time.

The tubes in the room sprayed a mist into the air as the liquid drained from inside. Within seconds, the tubes open, dumping its equine captives. Most of them didn’t get up, just making slight movements of their ears or tails. The siren I’d seen in the tubes before flopped around like a land locked fish, and a crystal pony stood up only for a hoof to break off. It then fell over and stopped moving.

I looked over at the now filly bicorn, she clearly not suffering the same problems as the other clones. I could only guess that Spicy made sure she was better cared for than the other clones.

A deep guttural roar came from the next room, and I had a bad feeling what it might be. Trotting over to Bakers Dozen, she looked up at me, clearly confused. “Sweety, I'm going to be leaving this place, you want to come with me?” The bicorn paused for a moment, thing, then nodded. “Good, then I need you to stay near me no matter what. Can you do that?” She nodded again. “Alright, now remember no matter what, stay next to me.”

I trotted to the door, Baker close behind me. Taking a deep breath, I readyed the battle rifle, and opened the door. What I saw was mayhem. The wasps I’d seen before were all over the place, and two of them were fighting with the massive furless yellow pony. The yellow pony had managed to grab hold of one of the wasps wings, and rip it off, though it did not stop the wasps attack. The clawed pony I’d seen was also fighting a wasp, and the claw now looked even larger than before.

I decided to go around the fighting, keeping an eye on a wasp above us. The sound of a loud croak drew my attention, and on the flooded floor below was a pony sized frog. The thing leaped up into our path and made a screeching sound that caused my vision to blur for a second. I didn't wait for my vision to clear, and I fired the rifle at it. Though the shots went wide, one did make contact, and the frog jumped up onto the wall. With clear vision, I aimed at the frog, but a wasp beat me to it, and the two monsters came crashing down to the bottom floor.

Keeping low, I continued to make my way for the door. The fighting only seemed to escalate and two more large yellow ponies had appeared. Joining the first one, the ponies worked together to fight even more wasps. Stranger yet, one of the big yellows had a stretched and torn stable barding on, and was first to tear off a section of the railing to use like a club against the wasps.

The clawed pony smashed into the railing ahead of us, mutilating its body into parts. Looking over where it had come from, my jaw dropped. Standing tall was a red alicorn, as in celestia and luna alicorn. I blinked, and it now stood in front of me, looking down at me with fiery yellow eyes.

“Hello?” I said to it right before it grabbed my head with its magic. The monster hissed with feral rage as it forced the air out of my lungs. I struggled to break free, but its hold was too strong, and everything was going dark.

Everything became clear, and now I was looking down at Baker and my body. The red alicorn held my head, with the look of twisted joy on its face. “Minerva, two head shots with S.A.T.S. on the red freak.” My body straightened up, and the alicorn had only the time to look down before two slugs passed through its head. My own head fell, and was caught by Baker, who proply gave me back to my body.

Looking around, the red alicorn was missing, like It was never there. This made me abandon trying to sneak around the monsters, not wanting to wait around for the alicorn to return. Rushing to the door, my hoof slammed the control panel. Baker crawled under me, and ducked. before I could see why, a wasp slammed into me, its stigger jabbing into my right foreleg. I fired at point blank range, and it flew off of me, slamming into the wall. Getting up, I fired my rifle into the wasp until the ammo was empty. The wasp didn't stop moving, having only lost a wing and fallen on its back. So I loaded, and unloaded the ammo into the wasp, finally killing it.

Now out of that room, I made a dashed down the hallway, trying to put as much distance between me and the monsters. Baker did well to follow me, but she was already becoming out of breath. As a quick remedy, I levitated her up and put her on my back. A clattering from behind us was followed by now five large yellow ponies, one now holding a battle rifle of its own in its mouth. They were still fighting the wasps, some bleeding green blood from many holes in their flesh. I trotted off, finding the yellow pipe to follow.

The black specks that floated through the air from when I first got here were back, and they got thicker the more I followed the pipe. But, that was the least of my worries, as the sound of buzzing gradually grew louder from behind me. Two wasps were chasing us, and that the hallway seemed to become endless again didn't help. I had to think fast, so I galloped to the closest door, opened it up, and dashed in.

My hooves hit dry red dirt, and I stood before a massive canyon range, something that the Marewaii Islands didn't have. At least if it did, it was somewhere I don’t think anypony had ever been before.

“Hay, whos this bitch?” I looked over to see a group of dirt covered sickly looking ponies. They had crude armor, decorated with spikes, and all holded weapons that looked in desperate need of repair. “Would ya look at that, she's got metal bits fer legs n’ shit.”

The buzzing behind me quickly grew louder, so I dashed to the side of the opening. A dirty unicorn mare with a bright blue mohawk stepped up, she was welding a wrench, and looked at me with yellowed stained eye, a clear drug addict.

“I say we eat her!” The mare shouted as the rest of the dirty ponies cheered. Now I didn't feel bad about what I was about to do.

The two wasps burst through the doorway, and up into the air, startling the other ponies. I quickly reentered the hallway, and hit the control panel, and as the door closed, all I could hear was gunfire and screaming. I didn't feel bad about what happens to a bunch of savages, but I do hope those wasps can't breed where ever it was I’d just dumped them at.

With hallway weirdness confirmed to be back, I pulled out the second of the parchments the harpy had given me. Flowing magic into it, everything was covered in a bright clean light for a moment, then the spell left us in a normal looking run down hallway. Baker held tightly to my mane,making me a bit worried that she’d knock my head off.

And you know what? Fuck you Charon. Why the fuck did you think making me like this was remotely a good idea!?

With no more wasps, and the weirdness banished for now, I followed the yellow pipe through the hallway. Unsurprisingly, labs D continued to be the most unpleasant place in the world as I turned a corner to see a pile of dead bodies.

The pile was of deceased stable ponies. All of them still had stable barding on, and oddly, all were missing a foreleg. Not far from the pile was a wall covered in dry blood and bullet holes, the sight making my stomach churn.

Trotting further in, I came across a few decayed bodies of navy ponies. They wore the old equestrian naval uniforms, but their combat armor was decorated similarly to that of the pirates gas masks. It gave me a strong feeling that the madness of the pirates started well before the war ended.

Finally, I came to the end of the line. The yellow pipe stopped at a door at the end of the hallway. Above the door was a sign that stated ‘Class 5 experimentation. Overmare approved clearance only’. I hit the button on the door control panel, and it hissed open. Checking my pipleg, Harps signal was now straight ahead.

Trotting forward, I didn't enter another ‘normal’ room. No, I had trotted into something else entirely.

It was a vast empty land, gray and lifeless, with a black starless sky above me. It gave me a lonely feeling, like there was supposed to be something here, but it was all gone now. In front of me, the land cracked and shifted, forming a path ahead of me. Sighing, I trotted forward, finding that my steps didn't echo in here.

Trotting further into the forming crevice, I found it to actually be a massive crater. At the center was a black orb hovering in the air, like some sort of hole in space. The further in I trotted, the more I saw shredded steel, crumbled concrete, and pools of a rainbow liquid that made my radiation sensor crackle to life each time I passed near one. I didn't put on my gas mask just yet, but it was clear that this entire place was contaminated, which only spurred the need to get Harp out of here.

Now closer, at the bottom of the crater was what I could only guess was the ruins of Healing Herbs lab. There was not much left of it, mostly a concrete floor, and some of its walls, but what did remain was clearly of stable-tec design. Sitting inside at a bent table was Blackspot and Harp, surrounded by dead ponies.

I stomped my way in, glaring daggers at Blackspot, and made my demand. “I'm fucking here, now get that thing off of her.”

“Come now, don't be upset,” Blackspot grinned back at me, his new horns were now twisting off to the sides of his head and filled with cracks. “this is going to be a glorious day.”

I pointed my rifle at him. “Cut the crap, I’ve a shitload of three-oh-eight rounds ready to burrow a new hole in that precious face of yours.”

He dropped the smile and got up from the table. “You’re already here, and that's all that matters now. So yes, you can have her.” Harp got up, and slowly began to trot over to me.

“And the collar!” I snarled.

There was a snap, and the bomb collar around Harp's neck fell off. Blackspot clapped his hooves, and registered as though he was wiping away a tear. “How positively heart warming, the knight saves the prin… “

I put a hole through his head, saving me the pain of hearing him talk. Turning my attention to Harp as she ran to me, I breathed a sigh of relief. “Are you alright? He didn't hurt you did he.”

Harp had burst into a gallop, and collided into me with a big hug. “I'm fine.”

“Good, now let's get out of here.” I told her.

“Not yet, Vibraphone. Not yet...” She held me closer, and brought me face to face, muzzle to muzzle with her.

“What’s wrong…” Harp kissed me, her tong entering my mouth, her long forked tongue. I tried to pull away, but she was too strong, the tongue now sliding down my throat. I pulled back my power hoof, and slammed it into Harp, making her falling back, ripping off her tongue. I spent the next few second choking on the tongue before Minerva managed to pull it out. “Fuck you, Phobetor.”

The Harp look alike got up, her fur turning black, her mane turning black, and her eyes shifting to their normal lustering golden color. “You could be more elegant, like calling me a deceitful harlot of poor reputation. But no, all you have to say is fuck you Phobetor.”

I pointed my rifle at her. “Where’s Harp. If you’ve done anything to her, I swear to Celestia that I’ll shove this up you cunt and pull the trigger.”

“That's a bit better, but keep you panties on, she’s safe.” Phobetor raised an eyebrow. “I do want to keep my new host undamaged after all.” I fired a round at Phobetor, and a spray of chunky blood staind the ground. “Can you stop just stop shooting ponies, it's becoming a bad habit of yous.” Phobetor clapped her hooves together, and a mass of shadows formed next to her, turning into a translucent bubble. Inside was Harp, who was desperately beating on it’s walls, but making no sound.

I rushed to Harp, but the bubble and Phobetor lifted up into the air and out of my reach. Rotting flesh dripped from Phobetor, and she scowled down at me. I watched as the image of Phobetor faded, being replaced by a decomposing green mare with a hole in her head. Phobetor pulled out a mirror, checking herself over. “Oh Healing Herbs, you're simply falling apart at the seems.” She looked back at me with dead eyes. “Good thing I will finally get to leave this useless sack of rot behind. But first I want to see you suffer. Blackspot, be a dear for me, and take your new bride.”

“Praise Luna, for she has blessed me as her champion, and now I will never die!” Blackspot got back up, blood still on his face, but the hole I’d put in his head was gone. “Stop with this foalishness and accept Luna into your soul, there can be no other way.”

There was a sick satisfaction that now I had the opportunity to kill him twice. But now that I’d thought about it, my enemies recent habit of not staying dead was becoming a problem. No matter how satisfying it was, I prefered the days when the dead stayed that way the first time I shot them.

“Baker, I need you to hide.” I told the bicorn, and she hopped off my back. Once she was at a safe distance away, I opened fire at Blackspot.

The fucker teleported behind a broken piece of wall, and returned fire. I dashed back, finding my own cover as bullets whizzed passed me.

“I thought you wanted me alive?” I shouted ovwr at Blackspot.

“Luna can bring you back, fix you, make understand.” He shouted back, laughing like a maniac with his words. The idea of becoming some sort of corpse bride only made me more pissed off.

The sensation of magic in the air sparked to life around me. Knowing this feeling, I dashed away from it, and turned to point my rifle at the spot. Blackspot teleported in, and I unloaded my rifle into him, rittling him with a bunch of holes.

It was too easy, so I quickly reloaded, keeping the rifle trained on him. He sat up, and I blasted a slug into his face, knocking him back down. Sweet Celestia this was getting old quite fast.

“Just stay fucking dead already.” If only I had my bolt launcher, then I could pin him to the ground, and be over with it.

*Crunch*

From behind me, it sounded like a bag of garbage hitting the ground. Turning around, one of the corpses in the crater was crawling towards me. Another corpse was climbing over the broken wall, falling over with another crunch. I fired a round in both of their skulls, blowing out the back of their heads, but still they crawled at me.

*Crack*

A shot grazed my flank and I hopped over the moving corpses and got behind cover. “Just embrace your baptism of death, and be reborn.” Blackspot called out.

My eyes darted about, not wanting to give him the opportunity to catch me by surprise. Inside the ruins of the lab there were more corpses moving about now, a few more crawling, and some were walking. They were moving slowly, so I could ignore them as long as I didn't get too close. Blackspot teleported in again, this time on top of the wall. I managed to dodge his shot, and scored one of my own on his chest. The force of it knocked him off the wall with a gout of blood following him.

This fight couldn't last forever, I didn’t have the ammo for it. Dragging it on any longer would only end in him killing me, so I needed a decisive victory. But how?

*Crunch*

Turning around again, the rotten mouth of the moving corps snapped at my face. I managed to hit it with a powerhoof strike, shattering its mouth.

*Crunch*

This time I reared back and bucked, my back legs making contacts with the corpse that fell behind me. “Is that all, Blackspot? I can do better than teleporting corpses.”

“But it was enough to distract you.” I turned to see Blackspot holding two SMG’s and a wide smile full of sharp teeth.

I focused all my magic into my magical armor talisman, and charged. Blackspot opened fire, and a rain of bullets came at me. As I charged closer, I could feel the talisman start to overheat, a burning in my shoulder that only got worse. As hard as I could, I collided with Blackspot, and began bringing my powerhoof down onto his face, each time making a wet crunch. I didn't stop, not even when the moving corpses began to grab onto me, trying to pull me back. I turned his face into nothing more than mush, hopefully putting him down permanently.

With a pop, my magical armor dissipated, and a line of smoke escaped from one of the talisman ports on my rear legs.

“Are you done?” Phobetor said as she descended along with Harp. Looking at her, she clapped her hooves, and Blackspots body squirmed, his head slowly reforming. I backed up, the moving corpses getting out of my way. “I rule here, wherever that might be, but it means that you’re fighting a god. Now give up any hope of struggling, and accept your fate.”

The corpses grabbed hold of me, and without the magical armor holding them back, I was quickly pinned to the ground. “You won't win!” I growled.

Phobetor rolled her eyes. “The moment you stepped into this stable, I won. From there it was just about getting you down here so that you could see my return to this world. No longer will I be some whispering shadow, a vague threat you mortals cannot understand. No, the great shadow dragon will fly once more, with an army to fly my banner.” She got close, nose to nose with me. “Don't worry, even though you will be dead, I’ll preserve your soul in your severed head. That way you can be my witness for all eternity.”

The corpses ripped my scarf away from my neck, as Blackspot walked over to me, holding a sword in his magic. “Harp!” I called out. “Things will be alright, so don’t…”

The sword descended, and my head came off. Phobetor quickly snached my head in her vile magic, holding me up. “It's a shame, you would have made an excellent vessel. That untapped potential, wasted. But, as it turns out, our dear princess is even more amazing. Such magics I will be able to do with her as my vessel to fill.”

Something was different this time, where before I was numb to my body, now it felt like it burned. Like a fire welling up from somewhere deep. But though it burned, it was also cold, providing no warmth.

Phobetor continued her gloating. “And you, your despair will be most delectable. Every time you look upon me, it will be a reminder of how you can only fail.”

“My Goddess.” Blackspot spoke up, and Phobetor turned me to look at him. He was holding up my body, and a black mist was seeping out from my neck. “What is this?”

Phobetor stepped closer, and more the ice cold fire burned within me. “No, it can't be...” She tightened her grip on my head, and wiped me around to be face to face. “Why is your body producing death magic?”

We locked eyes, and I smiled. My evil eye locked her in place, and though it hurt my eyes, it was far more bearable than before.

Phobetors rotting face relaxed for a moment, then twisted into a scowl. “Your a Dulhan!” Her magical grip tightened as she raised my head up high. “Fine then, It just means I have to be more through in killing you, starting with crushing that head of yours.”

“Bang!”

Phobetors rotting horn shattered, and my head fell from her hooves, putting me in a momentary panic. But Something caught me, saving my head from smashing into the floor. With a ginger touch, my head was spun around.

It was Baker, the Bicorn filly, who quickly placed me in between her horns again. Now ahead of me I could see my body rush in. Rearing up, it slammed the powerhoof into Phobetors chest, knocking her back, following up the strike by a few shots from my revolvers.

A roar came from Phobetor as a wave of shadow raced from her toward my body. My body was thrown back, landing near Harp, whom looked understandably shocked and confused as tears streamed down her cheeks. Phobetor got back up, a horn made from shadow replacing the one she had just lost.

“Get that filly, Blackspot, and kill her! Bring me back that head so that I can crush it like a blood filled coconut!” She turned to my body, and two massive shadow claws forming next to her. “In the meantime, I’ll rip this annoyance to shreds.”

Baker didn't need me to tell her to run. She dashed away, and surprisingly fast for a pony who lived most of her life in a test tube. A spray of bullets clattered around us, but Bakers small size allowed her to stay undercover as she galloped.

Her escape was not without a goal, and Baker ran into a half buried booth, a clear part of the lab that had separated from the rest. Inside was as wrecked as everything else, except for a terminal, and a pipbuck attached to it. Baker pointed at the pipbuck, but being on her head, I couldn't get a good look at it. But if there was still working tech here, it had to be important.

Bullets riddled the booth, followed by Blackspot laughing. “Come on out ya little bilgrat. You ain't the first foal I’ve killed! So come on out, and I’ll make it nice and quick for ya!”

Baker pulled down the pipbuck, and tried to put it on her leg, but it was far too big for her. She then pointed at me, then at the pipbuck, and then at herself.

“Wait, you were not helping me.” I needed my body, if only to face hoof. “You just wanted me to help you put this on?”

More bullets riddled the booth, but this time concentrated in one spot, forming a sizable hole in the old wall. Blackspot grunted as he stuck his head through, and glared down at us.

“You little bitch, I gave you a chance. Now I'm going to kill you slowly!” He pulled his head out again, and started shooting the door some more, widening the hole. Once it was big enough, he forced himself in, towering over Baker and I.

Blackspot stepped up as he brandished his sword with a wide grin. Then, a bolt logged through his skull, sending the pirate falling over. Stepping in behind him was Harp, she then pointed her bolt launcher rifle down at Blackspot, and shot him five more times, effectively nailing him to the floor.

“How?” I yelled.

Harp sat down, taking a deep breath, but then had a coughing fit, black smoke coming out of her mouth.

“By Celestia, are you alright?” I wanted to check her, but being only a head was… limiting.

She nodded, coughing one more time “When your body was fighting that corps, it seemed to weaken her magic, so I thought if I drained the bubble, I could break it.” She held herself, shivering. “It felt wrong, like the magic was rotting. But I didn’t have time to worry about that, I heard the sound of gunfire, and ran to find you.” She then looked down at the filly. “And who are you?”

“Baker, this is Harp Melody. Harp, this is Bakers Dozen.” Without legs, I had to use my eyes to gester. “Now Harp, we're going to seriously need you to get checked out after all this. But first, can you look at the pipbuck here? I think it might be important.”

“Lets see,” Harp nodded, and picked up the pipbuck. “it has some sort of program still running. Wait, oh fuck.” She looked over at me, with a worried look on her face. “Its says here that this is a megaspell chamber, and its currently in the process of imploding!”

I groaned in frustration, not that I was all that surprised. “You know, just once I wish that one of these super secrets turned out to be something not insane. Maybe something useful, like a seed vault, or a shit load of fertilizer.”

“Or a dragon's hoard.” Harp added sheepishly.

“Well let's not waste anymore time, is there anything we can use on the pipbuck?” I asked.

She nodded. “There was extra information about the megaspell. From what it says, it is the combination of a time spell, a teleportation spell, and a… trans-dimensional spell?” Harp hit a few buttons on the pipbuck. “Looks like some outside power source is preventing the megaspell from imploding, feeding and leaking magic. It says that if we cut the power, than the implosion process will finish.”

I tried to nod, but no neck. “Well that answers why everything is so fucked up down here, but how's it going to help us?”

Harp opened the holotape insert on her pipbuck. “We still have the teleportation talisman. We can set off the implosion to destroy whatever's going on down here, then got back to our original plan.”

“If I could, I’d hug you right now, Harp.” It wasn’t a perfect plan, but it put a smile on my face. “So, how do we go about doing this?”

“Well, I’ve read that arcano tech spells and matrix can be temporarily disabled if two different magic power sources come in contact with each other.” She disconnected the pipbuck from the damaged terminal, and passed it to baker, who greedily snatched it from her hooves. “Something to do with it altering the magic and creating instability. It's why all spark batteries are the same kind of magic. If they weren't, and a pony used two different kinds of batteries, it could destroy whatever their trying to power, or worse.”

It sounded like a plan, but with one problem. “I doubt Phobetor will just let us do it.”

“Well, that hasn’t stopped you yet.” Harp reloaded her rifle. “Fuck her, and this whole damned place!”

We left the booth with Blackspot still pinned to the floor inside. A gunshot indicated that Phobetor and my body were still fighting as we trotted around some boulders. The corpse possessed by Phobetor was riddled with holes, and seemed to be only held together by her dark magic. My own body wasn't fairing all that much better, with my cyberlegs covered in dents, the dress torn in a few places, and all covered in spots of blood.

“Harp, go find where this other source of magic is coming from. I’ll keep Phobetor busy.” I don't have a clue to how I was to fight Phobetor, but I hoped punching her would do something. “Take me back to my body, Baker!”

The little filly galloped off, her new pipbuck barely staying attached thanks to Harp’s quick adjustment to it. Phobetor noticed us almost immediately, and tried to stop Baker with a claw of shadow. But my body quickly forced her spell to fizzle as it attacked, blowing off a rotten hoof with the battle rifle. It only momentarily distracted Phobetor, who replaced the hoof with more shadow.

“Alright, we're almost there!” I shouted just before a wall of dust and stone flew in front of us, forcing Baker to stop. “Damnit, keep going!” But Baker didn't run, instead she grabbed my in her hooves, and lifted me back above her head. “Oh no, don't you fucking dare!”

She did, and my head went tumbling and sailing through the air.

Luck was on my side as I didn't hit the ground, but was instead caught in my own hooves. Sadly, my overjoyed body decided to give me a big hug, something my metal legs were not built to do. But while it was annoying, a wave of dust sent us both flying. My body managed to land on my rear legs while still holding and protecting my head.

“Minerva, hold my head.” A much more gentle pull of magic lifted up my head, allowing me to look around properly. The blue flame from my neck had grown, and bathed everything in a soft blue light. Phobetor looked less than pleased as balls of pure magical shadow formed around her. Off in the distance, Harp had ran to the other side of the black orb, while Baker was currently doing her best to catch up to her.

One of the balls of magic shot from Phobetor and tried to crash into me. I managed to jump out of the way in time.

“So which bag of bones did you make a deal with?” She screamed at me. “Osiris, Ereshkigal, Izanami, or maybe it was that fool, Mort. Well tell them that I’ve lived for thousands of years, and plan to live for thousands more.”

Whatever I had become, it clearly had put Phobetor on edge. She was far from calm, her prideful arrogance replaced by a deep seething rage. And she could join the fucking club, because I wasn’t happy with this turn of events either. Still, her reactions did give me some confidence though. If I couldn’t actually end up hurting her, she wouldn’t be in such a state of panic.

“You want to know?” I responded as I took a step forward towards her. “Charon sent me.”

“Oh, the riverboat mare?” Phobetor laughed, but didn't take her eyes off me. “And here I thought she was not the kind to be proactive.” She shot another ball of shadow at me, and I charged. “It matters not. Once I crush you, I will be beyond her reach.”

She shot two more balls of shadow at me, and I countered with my revolvers. Phobetor was not phased by my bullets, even as one blew out the back of her skull. Her attack on the other hoof exploded behind me, sending me flying forward. I used the blast to pick up speed, charging faster at the nightmare. Phobetors eyes went wide, and she fired the rest of her shots.

Everything exploded around me, dust blocking my vision. But I could feel it, the buildup of magic, all around me, but less of it on my left. Dashing left, everything exploded again, and I managed to escape most of it.

Leaping out of the dust cloud, I locked eyes with a very irritated Phobetor. Pushing the ground from under my hooves, I charged forward again, and again Phobetor fired more balls of shadow at me. Yet this time her attacks were much weaker, and easier to dodge. I closed in, and lept at her, my powerhoof thrusting forward. I went through Phobetor like a hammer through a rotting bag of vegetables, sending the rotting body flying in pieces.

As the pieces fell, and things became quiet and I became more uneased.

“Too easy” I mumbled to myself. My eyes darted back and forth, faster then they ever had, but yet I took it all in, like it was natural. Every stone, grain of sand, and dust in the air, I could see it all. “Where did the corpses go?” I asked myself. This had to be another one of her tricks...

My back hooves sank into the ground as rotting flesh and bones burst up like disgusting weeds, trying to drag me under. Struggling, I found myself becoming pinned once more, the corpse gnashing their teeth on my legs, almost breaking themselves on me.

In front of me the ground bulged as something big was forcing its way up. I could only guess that it was a mass of dead bodies, as Phobetor was if anything, predictable.

“Let's get this over with, or do I have to shove a hoof down your Celestia damned throat!” I screamed at her.

Phobetor laughed again, but this time it was deeper, and far louder. “Then try it, but you will find yourself, lacking.” The ground split in front of me, and a mass of black burst up, and towered over me. It stood on two thick legs that connected to a long serpent like tail. It had two massive claws, each like swords, and on its back were a pair of monstrous bat like wings. Its head rested on the end of a long serpent like neck, its mouth filled with dagger like teeth. Like great beacons, its eyes glared down at me with a golden fire. Phobetor had thrown asside her pony form to become exactly what she’d called herself earlier. A dragon.

The corpses around me lost their strength, and broke apart like dry rotten twigs as I pulled myself free. Looking back up at Phobetor, it only helped make me feel small and out of my league. But I was also clear that I had her undivided attention.

“I gotta say,” I snorted and stood defiantly at her. “It can’t be healthy for you to pack on a few hundred tons so fast. The heartburn alone has to be killer.”

She huffed out a puff of green flames. “You could say that it's down right… deadly.”

Ya, I‘ve got to pick my nervous mocking jokes better.

Phobetor moved, slowly reaching out for me, and so I ran for it. The ground shook as her claw landed, and sending dust high into the air. Pulling out and aiming my rifle, I found that having a detached head did have its advantages, if only in this situation. Firing, the bullet simply bounced off Phobetor. Green flames escaped from her lips, clueing me in on what was about to happen.

Taking a sharp turn to a large boulder, I dove behind it just as the flames burst from Phobetor’s scaly muzzle. She stomped around the bolder as I kept it between us, forcing me to step on the ground that had been partially melted by her fire. My legs squeaked in protest, but I pushed on, even as the pain reach my connectors.

The flames finally stopped, and a massive claw griped the boulder, throwing it out of the way.

“Still alive? Let me fix that for you.” Taking in a massive breath, her belly expanded as green light glowed out from between her black scales.

It was now or never, so placing my head back on my neck, I took careful aim with the battle rifle, and fired. The bullet hit in between the scales, and a jet of green fire poured out of Phobetor’s stomach like an over powered blowtorch. She stumbled back, clenching her stomach as she let out a guttural roar.

A loud thump was all the warning I got before her tail wiped out at me, sending me flying. The impact was enough to knock off my head and my pipleg. Even though I could not see my body, I could feel it, and I simply knew where it was. Willing it, my body scrambled to reconnect my pipleg, and then get my head back on my shoulders. Focusing, I gathered magic into myself, and then to my pipleg, reactivating it.

Something was different though, the warm liquid sensation my magic had changed to a cold fire. Looking down at minerva, a black haze drifted off from it. So I concentrated more, gathered more magic, enough to shimmer the way that all mirage ponies did. Sparks of blue flame began to danced around me, giving off little lines of black haze like smoke. All of it was both frightening to me, but also more beautiful than I could put into words.

I looked up at Phobetor, who had recovered, but hadn’t done a follow up attack yet. She just stared me down with her golden eyes, studying me. It was then that I remembered what Phobeter had said before.

“Death Magic.” the words left my mouth, and she took a step back. She was scared of death magic, and I was giving it off like it was normal mirage pony magic. I couldn’t just hurt her then, I could kill her. That was what she’d been afraid of.

A pulse rippled through the air, snatching both our attention. It was the black orb at the center, meaning Harp was making progress.

A huff came from Phonetor. “Time to change tactics.”

Phobetor spread her massive wings, and flaps them, sending a torrent of dust flying. She slowly lifted off the ground as I charged, pushing myself as hard as possible. It was like running into a typhoon, but it didn't slow me down, I wouldn't let it. With on more powerful flap of her wings she shot up into the air, her tail last to leave the ground, and what I managed to grab hold to.

We lifted high into the endless black sky, out of the crater and so high that I could see the curve of the horizon. That's when I saw it. The black orb, despite it being so far away, looked even bigger from up here. And from within the crater, it looked like a massive black eye. The landscape from up here it looked twisted, like it was a spiraling towards the black orb, being drawn into it.

Everything slowed down as Phobetor changed her direction. She only had a moment to notice me right as I aimed my revolvers, unloading them at her face. Each bullet burst in blue flames, sticking to Phobetor, and making her scream.

As though gravity had just now remembered to do its job, we began to fall, overcoming me with the sensation of weightlessness. I used the opportunity to climb further onto Phobetor, almost falling off a few times as we rapidly got closer to the black orb. Getting to her upper back, I raised my death magic powered powerhoof, and slammed it into the dragon.

Phobetor roared and extended her wings, trying to right herself. But it was too little too late. Her massive body carved a trench into the ground as she crashed down, ripping off an arm and leaving a trail of blood that was instantly lit ablaze with green fire.

I managed to hold on, keeping one hoof on my head so that I would not lose it. Still, the force of the fall had sent a wave of pain through me, and had caused some damage to my connectors. Small splotches of blood seeped through my torn dress, mostly where cybernetics met my flesh.

Sliding off Phobetor, I made my way up to her head. Each step feeling like my shoulders were being stabbed by needles. Phobetor lay on the ground, green burning blood seeping from her mouth, nose, and ears.

Pulling out the revolvers again, I took aim at her now bloodshot yellow eye.

“It's over Phobetor.”

“After over a thousand years of imprisonment,” A pained laugh bellowed from the black dragon, “and over two hundred years so close to that black sun. To have it end like this is such a tragedy.”

“Oh get the fuck over yourself, you can't seriously think I’d feel sorry for you, or even pity you.” Her voice just pissed me off, her everything pissed me off. “How much of the bullshit I’ve had to deal with is your fault? The pirates finding us in the hotel? Or when the radio tower got blown up on me? How many ponies have you been manipulating on this island? How much damage have you done?”

“You think such trivial events such as those are damage?” Again she laughed. “You know so much, yet nothing at all. Before I focused on you and the pirates, my whispers met the dreams of the powerful ponies of this island. When stable-tech wanted to keep their doors closed, I convinced them to open up. The good governor, who was ready to board her private vertibuck bound to an pegasus warship, had dreams of glory, leading the survivors as a hero. Then there was princess Majesty, the dream of becoming a queen was to hard to let go.”

My stomach curled at her words. “And the Equalists?”

“I'm not omniscient” She snarled at me. “And every year, that thing made it harder and harder to reach out” her eye looked back at the black orb for a moment. “By the time they rose to power, my own had waned. Then one day Blackspot and his band of fools came crashing in, and soon after, you trotted right in their path. You, who had such a familiar feeling.”

I cocked my revolvers. “And now, it's over.”

“Yes, it certainly is.” Phobetor said, her massive body relaxing.

I unloaded my revolvers into Phobetors eye, each shot sparking with blue flame. Reloading, I unloaded another twelve shots into her. Her green flames died down, being replaced by blue fire. Her body cracked and crumbled, falling away to show a dragon skeleton made of uncountable amount of pony bones. From the corpse, small orbs of different lights began to scatter.

One green orb drifted to me, and started circling around. It gave me a warm lively feeling, though also made me a bit annoyed.

“Later sis.” I muttered, watching as it circled around me a few more times before drifting off, and fading away.

Leaving the quickly crumbling bone pile behind, I made my way to Harp. She was standing outside the ruins of the lab, looking up at the orb. She saw me, and waved me over. “I think I got it!”

Getting closer, she was looking a bit exhausted, and the air around her felt hot. “Good, anyway I can help?”

She nodded. “Glad you asked, I just need a little more power, then I think this should work.” She hoofed at the ground where she stood. “I’m not sure exactly what it is, maybe a ley line like in the books about magic, but the magical energy is flowing through here. Still, something is diverting the flow. If you concentrate you can even feel something pulling at your own magic.”

I closed my eyes, and did my best to focus, I could feel the strange magic around me, and something pulling at me. “I feel it, and feel that the longer we stay her, the harder it will be to get out.” Not just pulling, but pushing as well. I opened my eyes, and looked up at the black orb.

“Alright, just stand were I am, and when I tell you, charge up and send your energy to the center.” Harp said as she stiffened herself up. “You should have enough power to reconnect the ley line. I’ll do the same at another ley line that connects to this one at the center. Oh, and I’ll use a whistle as the signal, first to start charging, and a second to send it to the lab.”

I nodded. “Just be ready for trouble, nothing's ever easy with us.”

Harp ran off, and I stayed in the spot she had marked on the ground. I didn't know anything about ley lines. Arcane magic was never something taught in schools, but standing here, I could feel the magic flowing past me like a stream.

A tapping on my leg drew my attention, and looking down, I saw Bakers Dozen holding my scarf. “Thank you.” I took the tattered scarf, and wrapped it around my neck, feeling a bit more whole with it on. Baker stretched out her hooves, as though wanting a reward. “Um, I don't really have anything to give you.” She pointed at the battle rifle, an stomped a back hoof.

I sighed and shrugged, though it was not responsible, she was the one who found me the rifle, so it was only far “Fine, just be careful with it.” Passing her the rifle, and ammo bag, the bicorn filly quickly strapped them down to herself and smiled. The rifle was far too big for her, but I had to admit, it did look cute.

A sharp whistle came from Harp, and I turned my attention to the center, and focused on drawing in magic to myself. I could feel the ley line magic flow into me, and like before, blue flames danced around me as I quickly began to shimmer. I reach maximum capacity for magic faster than I ever had before, and it now almost felt like some pony was trying to poor water into an already filled container. I was already straining with this much charge, and the magic was starting to spill out of me with magical sparks and fizzles.

The second whistle mercifully came and I pushed the magic out of me toward the lab. The ley line went from feeling like a small stream of magic, to that of a torrent. Not just that, my own magic mixed in, sending a line of blue flame into the ruined lab. At the center, the magic physically manifest, becoming a bright ball of light. It was surrounded by blue crystals growing out of the ground like a wave, washing over the ruins as it traveled.

The it exploded into a pillar of light, colliding with the black orb. It all happening in a single moment, then... silence. Harp came running over, her hoofsteps echoing as though we were in a theater, bouncing off walls that didn't exist.

“Ready?” She asked as her voice, just like her hoofsteps, echoed naturally.

“Just a moment.” I pulled out one of the spare teleportation holotalismen, passing it to Baker. She looked up at me confused, so I helped put it into her pipbuck.

“Oh, shit, back up!” Harp yelled.

Looking up, the lab had fallen into a vortex, and the ground around us was cracking. We didn't have to go far, as the vortex had quickly stopped expanding, and now we stood on the edge of it. The black orb was slowly descending, creating a storm around it that blew all the dust into the air. Below us, in the vortex was a rainbow of colors so bright, that I had to put my goggles on to even look at it.

“Alright Baker, when I say go, hit this button on the pipbuck, and it should take you to safety.” I had to yell as I instructed the filly, do to the storm winds growing in strength. She nodded, and gave me a big smile full of pointed teeth. “Alright, ready, set…”

Something bumped into me, and then beeped.

“Order!” Harp yelled, pushing me to the side to grabbed her beat up drone. “How did you get here, no, never mind that let's get…” Harp screamed as a spear thrusted into her shoulder, and began pushing her to the edge. Her eyes locked with mine, shock and terror on her face.

A shove pushed her over the edge, and activating my S.A.T.S. I was able to just barely grab her hoof. “I got you!” Harp winced in pain, the hoof I grabbed being connected to the stabbed shoulder, under her other hoof she held Order.

“Get out of here!” Harp yelled, tears welling from her eyes.

I felt a pressure on my back like a small but heavy pony had decided to put there hoof on me. “I. Found. You.” The voice of Berenices whispered in my ear.

I looked down at Order, and sighed. “Just let us go, please, just let us go.”

I felt Berenice put more pressure on my back.

“No!” She shouted. A loud yelp caught me by surprise, only to have it replaced by horror as I watch Baker's Dozen fall into the vortex. She simply vanished in the swirling mass of magic, and there was nothing I could do to save her.

Rage boiled up within me, more than it ever had, I was so close, and Berenice just had to show up now, she had to do this. “I’m going to rip your claws from you fucking face, you savage cunt of a crab!” I screamed.

She giggled, the bitch giggled. “Yes, hate me, lothe me, show me our true pony face. I want to savor this. And once I had my fill, I will skin you, turn your hide into a vest, and your face a mask.”

I looked down at Harp, she was crying, blood staining her jacket. I whispered. “Drop Order, and climb up me, I’ll hold you so that you can use your pipbuck, then teleport out of here.”

She looked up at me, but then her eyes went wide.

*Crack*

Pain erupted from my right foreleg shoulder as a lurker spear smashed into my power hoof leg. The hit made Harp swing and slip in my grasp. Harp shook her head.

“I don't want to die!” Harp screamed out.

*Crack*

Harp slipped more, and she cried out in pain. I had to hold on, I had to hold on, I had…

*Smash*

My power hoof leg shattered, and Harp slipped from my grasp. I watched as she quickly vanished into the vortex, a look of horror in her face.

She… she was just… gone...

“Drag her!” Berenice shouted as she got off my back. I just let them drag me, the dry tasteless ground getting in my mouth. Flipping me over, I got a look at them, and surrounding me was more then twenty sparkle-lurkers in chitin armor. Berenice trotred around me, looking gitty. “Alright, before we can begin skinning you alive, I don't need any surprises.” She moved her claws to mimic a smile, but her maliciousness shine through.

*Crack*

One on their sand-lurk clawed spears slammed into my pipleg, making my hud display warp for a second. Another, spear slammed into my leg, and another, and another. The leg was made to last, but eventually a load pop, and my hud display fading signaled that the lurkers were successful at breaking minerva.

Berenice clapped, taking great joy in braking my cyber legs. “There, you see? With enough determination, anything built by ponies can be destroyed by lurkers. Any lurker want to break the back legs?”

There was a loud cheer, it barely audible over the wind. At this point I didn't care, break the legs, I was already fucked as it was. Looking back, I could see that the back orb was now descending into the vortex. Imploding any moment now.

One of the lurkers held up my disconnected and bent leg up like a trophy. The others propped me up, and Berenice held onto one of their chitin weapons, it looking like a crude but sharp knife. “Don't worry, I’ll make it slow and painful.”

I looked her dead in the eyes, and smiled, my grin stretching wider than it should. She stepped back, looking startled, and I focused my magic into myself. I was still on a ley line, and I immediately shimmered, sparking with blue flames.

“What's wrong? Come and skin me.” My head rolled off of my neck, but didn’t hit the ground. Somehow I had caught myself. My broken and shattered metal legs moving like normal, giving off sparks of the blue flame. Taking a deep breath, not knowing where the air would even go, I stared down Berenice, my rage given form in the cold blue fire.

Berenice quickly collected herself, the lurker sitting up in a pride pose, and looking down at me. “And now the pony shows it’s true form, a monstrous form.” She pointed her crab hoof at me, her eyes burning with as much disgust at me as I had hatred for her right now. “Look at this corrupted monster. Unclean, and filled with hatred for our kind!”

“The only thing I hate is y…” I tried to shout, but one of Berenice's minions hit my body with its spear.

The lurker princess continued her rant, louder than before “How long will it be before they will hunt down our kind? They show no mercy for each other, how could they show mercy for our own? Nothing, not an ounce will come from them I say. This is why we must work to destroy them, to destroy them before they destroy us. You know this is true, just as I know it, but the others dont, cowering in their nest. They feel content hiding, with only after our eggs have been stomped under hoof to act. But by then it will be too late, our future murdered before our eyes!”

The lurkers became a fervent mob, yelling and screaming, all louder than the howling wind around us. It was pure madness, like they were possessed, yet I could feel it, it was all Berenice.

One of the lurkers raised it’s spear high as it glared down at me. A killing blow to be sure if it hit me, but I was not going to make it easy.

*Bang*

The face of the lurker with the spear cracked, I had placed a hole in its head, which left a little blue flame peeking out of the hole. All the other lurkers stopped, leaving only the wind to howl as the lurker I shot fell over. I wonder how I did it, my minerva is too damaged to levitate anything. Looking up, I could see the tips of what I could guess were two gold like horns, glowing with a blue aura. My revolver was wrapped in the same aura, and responded to my will. It put a grin on my face as I pulled my second revolver, and aimed it at Berenice.

“You could have walked away.” I told Berenice as she stepped back, her disgust now replaced by fear. “You could have even left the islands if you wanted too!” I shouted, the guns shaking in my magic. “But like every fucking asshole on this island, you just could not let it go, could you!?” I narrowed my vision at her, looking the lurker in the eyes, and fired.

Everything then stopped. The wind, the lurkers, even the two bullets had stopped just before hitting Berenice. Yet I could move, and there was one thing I was sure of that might do this. Turning around, I saw it, the black Orb had entered the vortex, and was rippling with strange magic. And then…

Everything cracked…

Shattered…

The ground, the Lurkers, and I…

All the while I could hear her, laughing like a mad mare, mocking me, like I had fallen right into her hooves.

Phobetor was not dead.

____________________________________________________________________________

Footnote:

Status change: Race - Mirage Pony now Dullahan Bicorn.

Companion signal lost: Harp Melody.