Thebe opened her eyes. As always, she saw nothing, save for the inside of her mask. It was all she had ever seen, for almost four centuries. On this particular day, however, she smiled.

It had finally happened. She did not know how she had not seen it sooner, but now she knew. She had seen the pattern, and locked onto her target. She could feel the excitement rushing through her organic parts, those that had been numb for so very long. It was like a powerful thirst, and uncontrollable desire. Her mind had been plagued with visions of that creature, what she called in her mind the Vandrare. She tried to work, but the thoughts of the secrets within its body kept distracting her.

Now she knew where one was.

Thebe shifted through space, teleporting effortlessly. For the first time in so many decades, she left her Pyramid and descended to the land below, materializing in a distant forest. She floated above the ground, engaging a perception spell to determine her location. Thebe confirmed that she had landed in the correct location, ahead of the target.

She began moving. As she did, she was aware that the trees and plants around her shifted, their trunks and leaves bursting open, their cells burning internally from the overload of magic in the air, leaving behind nothing but bleached, dead husks. Thebe was aware of the irony, of course. The suit that she wore had, long ago, back when it really had been a suit and before it had been replaced piece-by-piece with magic, had originally been intended to protect her from the dangers of the outside world. As her power had increased, though, such a thing nolonger became necessary- -now, although she did not intend it to, it actually protected the outside world from her.

Not completely, though, as the trees and occasional animal could attest to. No doubt, unicorns across Equestria could feel the disturbance caused by Thebe’s sudden emergence. All that, and she had not even lit her horns.

She positioned herself. According to what she had found, the creatures- -there were now several, having arisen from any city that had become infected- -moved rather simply. Almost invariably, they moved in straight lines. Nothing stood in their way, especially cities. Very few survived an encounter with a Vandrare. So far, only changelings had- -and they, disturbingly, had changed. Thebe was aware of the alteration- -changelings, by their nature, copied the appearance of what they perceived to be the most powerful creature on the planet. They normally resembled insectoid alicorns- -but now all native changelings had shifted, becoming tall and bipedal. That was technically an insult to Thebe, but she did not care. It had been centuries since she had felt any real emotions, or cared especially much about the world below.

Now, if she was correct, she was directly in the path of one of them.

There was no time to waste. Thebe was immortal, but in this instance, she had chosen to be impatient. She absentmindedly focused her mind on the forest around her, and a twenty-mile radius around her was instantly incinerated.

Then she saw it. It had not even been distant. The fire had not damaged it remotely, or even slowed it. It simply continued walking, its glowing white eyes staring forward blankly. It was slightly larger than Thebe had expected, and clearly not the one from the Grand Magus’ vision. The armor was different, and the shoulders marked with the number “0”.

Thebe approached it, hovering high over the ground, her legs tucked under her and her robe trailing behind her. The urge was incredibly strong, and she could not stop smiling. At first, she had not believed- -but now she saw it herself, or came as close to “seeing” as she could. This creature, this power- -a mindless monstrosity that could level a city with a thought. Thebe was incapable of love by definition, but the powerful desire that she felt for this creature, this Vandrare, was what she imagined that it must be like.

“Hello,” she said, not with her own mouth, which she doubted even still operated, but with her magic.

The Vandrare took a few more steps, until it was reasonably close to Thebe, and then stopped. Thebe admired it for a moment- -the tall, bipedal structure, and the long, clawed arms. She sensed that, like her, it was probably blind. A number of bizarrely constructed scanning spells were surrounding it. Their structure alone indicated a culture and design that was distinctly abstracted from anything remotely pony.

It did not speak. Thebe doubted it even could. From what she had seen of them, she did not expect them to be intelligent, not even on the level of a mortal pony. They probably only had some semblance of sentience.

“Identify yourself. What exactly are you?”

The Vandrare did not respond, aside from producing a minor change in AM radio transmission surrounding itself. It just kept staring blankly, as if it did not understand.

“You understand,” said Thebe. “At least, perhaps. Or perhaps you do not.” She smiled. “But you will…” Thebe slowly began to circle the creature, examining it. It did not turn its face to follow her, but she could feel it watching through its spell. With the way the spell seemed to be constructed, it appeared that this particular organism could never stop seeing. The spell was intended to operate continually without interruption. Exactly how much it could see, though, was unclear.

“Let me explain what do know,” said Thebe. “Firstly, your standing-state shielding seals are woefully inadequate- -or brilliantly compact. One of the two. Second. You’re kind reproduces through a vector, a unique type of spell that interconverts between a spell and a parasite. I doubt that whatever you are had the organs necessary to reproduce otherwise.” She finished orbiting, and stared into its eyes. Thebe did not know what purpose those eyes served- -they were certainly not for sight. There was a good chance that they, like many of the seemingly elements of its armor, was vestigial. “You hide under that suit because your organic body is weak,” said Thebe. “In a sense. But you…you are strong.” She leaned in closer, allowing her mask to nearly touch the Vandrare’s. “But only because I allow you to be. You exist because I have not yet destroyed you. I allow you to destroy my cities because I choose so. This planet- -and everything on it, including you and every living pony- -belongs to me. This is my right as a god.”

She pulled back from it, wondering why she was even bothering to speak to it. Based on its reactions, it seemed to be listening- -but logically, Thebe knew that it likely could not. “But you interest me,” said Thebe, smiling beneath her mask. “So little has interested me in so long. As such, I give you a choice: join me. Be my pet. Let me dissect you. Let me understand. Give me your power, and live forever as Thebe.”

For the first time, the Vandrare moved. Its head tilted, just slightly. It paused for just a moment, as if considering the offer- -or trying to speak, or even just to understand what had been said.

Then, without a single motion, a surge of magic poured outward toward Thebe. Thebe was mildly surprised, not that the Vandrare had attacked but at how the spell moved chaotically, not traveling in a straight line but moving randomly through space, attacking her from the side.

The force within would have been enough to destroy most of a small city, but Thebe ignited her horns in defense; the corona alone was enough to shatter the offensive spell.

“That was not a choice,” she said, firing a pure beam of blood-colored magic at the Vandrare.

Its spells engaged, and just as Thebe had suspected, it was protected. The shield spells condensed and shifted, engaging in a way that was instinctive and mechanical, but somehow also oddly creative. It deflected Thebe’s primary attack.

“Too late,” she said.

The second part of the spell engaged, one cast with Thebe’s frontmost horn. She felt it connect. It was a necromancic spell of her own design. Instead of being intended to resurrect life, though, this one had been intended to destroy it- -and she felt the creature’s immortal soul shatter under her grasp.

The Vandrare’s magic immediately failed, and it fell backward, dead. Something was wrong, though. Thebe had reaped its soul. There was no way to survive- -and yet she still felt its pulse, continuing on within its chest.

The Vandrare stopped just short of impacting the ground, it’s back parallel to the ground but its feet still firmly planted in the soil. It stayed there for a moment, as if suspended by some unseen force. Thebe watched, and was astounded at what she was seeing. Her magic was indicating that the creature, devoid of a soul, was constructing a new one.

Then it lurched forward, standing once again, the new artificial soul engaged and in place.

“I knew it,” said Thebe. She actually laughed, but only for a moment- -the sound of her throat rasping out a long hiss was somewhat disturbing to her. “I knew it!”

She focused her power on the Vandrare and released another barrage of spells. This time, it did not even bother to engage its shield- -it simply walked forward into the spells. They had virtually no effect against its armor.

A surge of aberrant magic came from its body. Thebe suddenly felt something constricting against her body. She looked down to see something resembling a snake wrapped around her legs, its body consisting of a number of bony segments, leading toward a toothy, eyeless head that dug its teeth into her armor. Thebe counted the heads, and found that there were actually several.

“I hate snakes,” she said, annoyed. Her own shielding engaged, and the Chaos-worm vaporized- -and simultaneously, a fist appeared at her chest.

Thebe teleported, her auxiliary processing spells momentarily taking control of her body, slowing the world around her as her secondary and tertiary minds began to function. She appeared behind the Vandrare, a volley prepared for its spine- -only to find that it was still facing her. It had predicted her teleport, and followed it.

The turn of events was unexpected, but not severe. Instead of firing her attack, Thebe simply switched the nature of the spell, converting it from an offensive blast to a defensive singularity. The Vandrare’s punch shattered the defensive spell easily, but the resulting discharge explosion provided enough cover for Thebe to move back to a range position.

Above all things, Thebe found that she was thrilled. It had been so long since she had been involved in a proper wizard battle, not since her youth, long before she had been sealed inside her containment suit. Ever since, none had been able to challenge her; four hundred years of continuous research had expanded her magical potential to the point where even the most brilliant pony mages would be atomized before she could even fully warm up a proper attack spell. This creature, however, was actually able to defend itself.

“A change in tactics, then,” said Thebe, redirecting her magical energy behind her. Three triangular portals opened up. Her robes separated and reached in, withdrawing a hoof-held mass driver and several violet, crystalline spikes. Thebe took the weapon in her hooves and loaded it. With expert aim, she directed it at the Vandrare and fired.

A shield appeared before the creature, and Thebe for a moment knew what to expect. Cerorite was a unique substance, the secret of the manufacture of which she had only recently unearthed. It was resistant to all forms of magic; a cerrorite bullet was unblock able and unstoppable.

Yet, when they contacted the white partial bubble around the Vandrare, they stopped in midair. Thebe stared for a moment, wondering what had gone wrong- -and if her formulation had been in error. She quickly realized, however, that she was reading no magic whatsoever from the Vandrare. It was as though all spells within it had instantly failed. The shield itself was purely technological, a kind of ultra-durable hard-light construct.

The Vandrare seemed to contemplate the deep violet spikes for a moment. Then, almost too fast to be seen, the white construct collapsed around them, separating into mechanical pieces that fused into a weapon not unlike Thebe’s- -and it fired them back at her.

A cerorite bullet could, of course, kill an alicorn- -it was one of the only things that could. Thebe was prepared for such an event, however. She recalled a spell she had learned long ago, and shifted through time. Not backward, as Starswirl the Bearded had originally intended the spell to operate by- -but forward. She flashed a fraction of a second into the future, allowing the cerorite to pass through her location harmlessly and fly into the distance.

“Intriguing,” said Thebe, throwing down her gun. “So you are some kind of hybrid- -a mixture of technology and magic. Not unlike myself…”

The Vandrare looked up at her, and Thebe braced for another attack. Instead, however, the Vandrare looked over its shoulder, toward the direction that it had been marching toward- -and simply turned.
‘ Thebe suddenly felt herself surge with homicidal rage. It had stopped half way through the battle- -and not even to run. It was intending to simply walk away, as if the battle were nothing to it. This insult was only marginal, but for a moment Thebe lost control.

“DO NOT WALK AWAY FROM ME!” she said, igniting her horns and unleashing a blast at close to full power output. Even as it was firing, she immediately regretted it- -such an output had an energy output rated in metric gigatons; on impact, there would be nothing left to of the Vandrare to study. That, and Thebe had probably just rendered every unicorn within a four thousand mile radius unconscious.

The Vandrare turned, and as it did, it raised one of its hands in a futile defensive gesture.

Then, suddenly, Thebe cried out in pain. It was so sharp and potent, more powerful than anything she had ever felt in so long. The Vandrare had not only blocked the spell, and done so without any sign of anything remotely reminiscent of a shield spell- -but caused the spell to backfeed.

The spell, having originated from Thebe, by its very definition penetrated her shields. There was no way that she could defend against her own attack; the most she could do was direct the force of the spell toward her artificial horns. They instantly shattered with agonizing pain, leaving to holes directly into her brain- -but her organic horn was preserved, if barely.

She dropped to her knees. Her magic had been severely scrambled, and the blast alone itself had been draining. The pain of losing two of her horns was incredibly, and for once she understood how all the unicorns she had de-horned in her life had felt. She could, of course, replace them, but having them destroyed was still humbling. If anything, it indicated that Thebe could defeat Thebe.

Slowly, she looked up to see if anything was left of her opponent. At first, she was overjoyed to see that it was still standing. It had been badly wounded, of course; its left arm had been completely annihilated, as had its head. Its torso had been torn open, and deep-red blood was pouring from its opened chest.

Then Thebe looked closer. As she did, her eyes widened. “No,” she whispered, both with her real voice and through her mental one. “That isn’t…that isn’t…”

The Vandrare’s chest had been torn apart, revealing its contents. Amongst the singed, red tissue and shattered ribs were a number of black-colored machines linking to its mostly artificial organs. Within that chest, Thebe could see its red-purple heart, still beating- -but that was not her concern. Her fear- -and it was fear- -came from the second heart.

In the center of its chest, directly next to its organic heart, was a second one- -one made of pure blue-white crystal. The crystal that surrounded and linked to that heart permeated the creature’s flesh, intermixing with blood and muscle and machinery. Thebe had only seen a heart like that once, but she knew well what it was. This creature’s chest contained a living Heart of Order.

The creature took a step forward. It was no longer walking in the direction it had before, but rather toward Thebe, its one remaining arm swinging at its side as though nothing were wrong. As Thebe watched, its body sparked with white Order, its flesh pouring out of its wounded body and intermixing with crystal that extended from within. Flesh and steel materialized around it, reassembling themselves into a new arm and a new head, but leaving the chest open.

Thebe realized that she had made a mistake. She had vastly underestimated this creature. In her now ever-so-clear arrogance, she had assumed that it was some kind of mutated sorcerer, one intelligent enough to wield not only its own magic but Chaos and Order as well. The Order itself was unusual, but Thebe had essentially dismissed it as a parlor trick. She had assumed that it used Order in the same way that Choggoths or the Anhelii did, through the use of microscopic implanted Order crystals. This creature, however, did not contain Order. It was Order.

The magical potential of the creature suddenly began to increase exponentially, its body erupting in a plume of caustic white Order. In less than a second, it exceeded Thebe’s unassisted magical output by a factor of ten- -but it did not attack. Instead, as the meter-wide sparks of Order erupted form its being, it directed the energy toward itself, feeding on the energy from its Heart, converting the force into its own magic.

The Vandrare stared into Thebe, and then spread its arms. The spell activated.

Thebe dropped onto the floor of the Pyramid. The pain was exquisite; even moving slightly was agonizing. She could do little except pant with numerous, shallow breaths and use her one functional horn to keep her body alive.

Her greatest regret was that she had not seen the spell reach its zenith, to witness the concentrated destruction that the Vandrare had chosen to produce, but she knew that in her present condition, it likely would have been lethal. Teleporting was her only option, even though it had been costly. The Vandrare was, in some senses, more powerful than Thebe, but not nearly as smart. It had placed down spells to prevent her from leaving, but she had outwitted them just in time.

Moving through the sealing spells and the Order saturated atmosphere, however, had taken its toll on her body. Three of her legs had been removed, as well as most of her internal organs. She was not entirely sure where they had gone, but they had certainly left her, and probably been vaporized by the Order storm.

That, itself, was not a problem. When Thebe had caught her breath, she rose, lifted by her magic. The suit around her shifted, extending into the space where her legs had once been, preparing for their eventual regeneration. Thebe engaged a healing spell and felt the damaged flesh within her begin to repair. Her alicorn body would be restored in less than an hour. During that time, she had things to do.

The first was to remove the pair of inert, fragmented horns from her brain and replace them with a new set. The self-inflicted neurosurgery required was intensive, but not beyond Thebe’s ability by any means. After momentary consideration, she did not even bother to allow herself recovery time.

Much to her dismay, there was a pony she needed to find- -immediately.

The spell completed, and Epicenter momentarily marveled at the destruction she had created. Then she dropped to the ground. She analyzed what had just happened. To her mild annoyance, her power dissipation was lower than anticipated. Her body, it seemed, was still largely incomplete. Either that, or there had been some genetic drift during her predecessor’s extended stasis. She began the process of repairing it.

She did not entirely know what the creature that had attacked her was. The part of her mind that had once been a pony said the world “alicorn”, but the true part of her mind called it a “pony-Choggoth”. That term was not correct, of course- -it was not at all a Choggoth, but seemed to have been heavily mutated by exposure to Order. Most disconcertingly, living Order. Epicenter wondered if there was somehow a fragment of a Lord of Order remaining on this world, but dismissed that as irrelevant.

Epicenter looked down at her new arm, and flexed it. It was identical to the old one. At the same time, she examined her newly-built soul. It seemed to be functioning within normal parameters. Not that it was especially important- -a soul was a redundant and useless element of her biological form that had been co-opted into a system for increasing reaction time between her internal crystalline and synthetic matrices.

The entire situation was mildly amusing. It also had apparently given her a potential advantage: her surge of magic had caused several others to finish their healing process and enter the world fully aware. She could hear them in the distance, waking up to this world.

Not that any of it truly mattered, of course. No known force would be able to stop her people, to prevent them from reaching their goal. Epicenter turned around, and once again began walking.