Mega Mare
Chapter 12 – Into the Woods
The shining white light of teleportation faded, leaving Twilight standing in the middle of Ponyville, in front of the Golden Oaks Library. She opened her eyes and looked around. Night had fallen, casting the village into the soft light of the moon. A visor slid down her helmet over her left eye, and through her display Spike sent up all the data he had, ending with a map of the village. There weren't any hostiles around, but Twilight resolved to keep her guard up for if Spike missed something.
"Twi, we gotta be careful," Spike said. She looked over her shoulder to see Spike's hologram flicker into place on her new saddle. "I'm picking up massive amounts of interference from the Everfree Forest. More than anything we've ever seen before."
"It can only be Luna. It's like Celestia said, she's going active to prepare for something big," Twilight replied.
Spike nodded. "If we head into this, we won't be able to contact Celestia until we beat her. Are you ready?" Twilight turned her head forward. Ahead of her stretched the main street of Ponyville, and in the distance, the trees of the Everfree Forest.
"Let's go."
Twilight set off at slow pace, keeping an eye and ear open for any signs of attack from Ponyville's alleyways and corners. But the village seemed deserted, the moon bathing the homes in silver-blue light. The Everfree Forest was coming closer, and Twilight turned her attention to it.
The Everfree Forest was a place every pony heard of as a filly or a colt. It was a place of legend and nightmares. As Twilight passed the treeline, she understood why. Thorny brambles round over the trees and the path and murky swamp water stagnated in puddles. The tree branches overhead grew together thick, blotting out the light of the moon and casting the forest into shadow. Twilight activated the light on her helmet, a light pink cone of illumination projecting forward. As she walked, she called up the history documents Spike had about the forest and the castle within
The Castle of the Two Sisters had been the ancient capital of Equestria many centuries ago, back when technology was barely able to master metal forging and glass blowing. When an unknown evil destroyed the castle, the sisters abandoned it, and the Everfree Forest had grown in to consume it. The forest had become inhabited by all manner of terrifying beasts, and Twilight wondered if Luna had been able to take control of any of them like she could ponies. She seemed limited to those with cybernetic implants, but researchers had tagged wildlife specimens in the Everfree so they could track and study them. Would that be enough for Luna to exert dominance over their bodies?
"Twilight, picking up something up ahead." Twilight turned forward at Spike's warning. She called up the instructions Celestia had left for her on how to use her new armor, and focused. Her horn lit up with magic, humming as energy channeled into the crystal on her helmet. Twilight waited, attack at the ready.
There was a rush of wind, and Twilight turned her attention up. A blur of blue rushed at her and she pulled aside. She felt something clang against her flank's armor and stumbled as the attacker flew up. Turning, Twilight saw what it was. A pegasus was flying overhead, wearing what looked like a dark blue and silver version of Canterlot's guard armor, a light blue eye with a black pupil staring out from the neckpiece. Two spear attachments protruded from under their wings, and Twilight realized what she had felt strike her.
The pegasus dove down, and Twilight focused on her helmet's crystal. Her horn lit up and pulsed as the power crystal diverted its energy, and the charge concussive blast fired. A large orb of violet energy shot up, slamming into the pony's armor-covered neck in a burst of light. He jerked and flew over Twilight's head, hitting heavily on the ground and not moving.
Twilight blinked and lifted a hoof to touch the crystal on her helmet. It was still tingling with magical energy. "Wow. Those really pack a punch now huh?"
Spike nodded. "Yeah. I wouldn't recommend charging it up outside of combat though, the crystal can't hold a charge for more than a few seconds without continuous focus on your part."
"Right." Twilight continued on, taking a moment to look over the fallen pegasus as she passed him. As the path into the woods continued, it wasn't long before another pegasus in the same armor as the first flew in from the trees, this one branding a pair of bladed hoofguards. Twilight dropped to the ground as the weapons raked the air and fired a charged blast into the pegasus's armor from below, dropping it to the ground.
The forest path turned after that, running along a chasm. Twilight emerged into the open air, and a flash of light caught her eye. She turned and saw a blast of yellow energy rushing towards her. She didn't react quickly enough, but Spike did. Her hind hooves launched off the ground, the thrusters in her boots activating and propelling her into a jump. Twilight landed awkwardly, stumbling to get her footing.
"Thanks, Spike." Twilight looked at the attacker. A unicorn in armor styled the same as the pegasi, with a large energy cannon strapped to his side. His horn glowed, the end of the cannon lighting up again. Twilight waited, the crystal on her helmet lighting up. The cannon fired and Twilight activated the thruster boots again, leaping through the air with more control and lowering her head to fire. The massive concussive blast hit the unicorn straight-on, and he groaned and collapsed on his side.
"Hang on Twi. Take a closer look at him," Spike said. Twilight walked up to the fallen unicorn, leaning her head around to look at him from different angles. His armor lit up in her magic and she unlatched it, leaving the dark brown unicorn bared.
"What about him?"
"He doesn't have any cybernetics."
It took Twilight a few seconds to realize what Spike had said. "But that… then he was acting on his own will?"
"Maybe. Maybe not. I'm not programmed with thorough medical knowledge so I can't really tell, but his brain scans are showing up some anomalies. Something had messed with his mind."
Twilight thought back to when she had battled Rarity. The diamond dogs had kept ponies with no cybernetics captive for some purpose…
"Spike, do you think…"
"I don't know. It should be impossible, but considering everything else Luna has done that seems a bold statement. We don't even know how she's been corrupting these ponies in the first place."
"Yeah…" Twilight's thoughts turned to the implication this invited; if Luna had a way to control ponies with no cybernetics after all, it was likely that these dark guard ponies were the Ponyville residents she still had captive.
"We can't worry about that, Twilight."
Twilight raised her head. "I know." She continued on, putting the thought aside to focus on the mission. The Everfree Forest loomed up on her again as she reached the end of the chasm and moved into the trees again. Another unicorn with an energy cannon barred her way, but only stalled Twilight for a moment before she defeated him. After that came a pair of earth ponies in the same shadowy armor, one attacked with a bladed hoofguard, but Twilight's armor deflected them, and one charged blast each was enough to knock them unconscious.
"Twilight, getting a weird reading from up ahead," Spike warned. "Something new." Twilight braced herself and began charging magic. She called up her display and saw a distinct red blip moving towards her from the left. She turned her head and waited.
From the darkness of the trees leapt a beast, roaring loudly. Twilight released her energy blast, but the attacker tackled her to the ground, growling at her, two paws on the ground beside her. Twilight activated her thruster boots and jetted backwards across the forest floor. With some distance between herself and the monster, she got a better look at it as she climbed to her hooves. Pale orange skin, leathery wings with red membranes, fang-filled mouth surrounded by a red mane.
"A manticore."
The manticore pounced, Twilight rolling aside to avoid it. Several magic shots shot into its side in bursts of violet light, and the beast paused, groaning. Twilight fired again, but the manticore turned, swiping at the blast to disperse it, and leapt. Twilight activated her thruster boots, sailing over the manticore as her helmet's crystal pulsed. She landed and turned her head, firing the charged blast. The manticore staggered back, roared weakly, and collapsed.
Twilight approached it to check on it. It was unconscious, and she let out a sigh. "Spike, scan its signature. Let me know if there's any more in these woods."
"Will do, Twilight."
The path dipped down by a stagnant river soon after, the smell of decay reaching Twilight's nose. Another pair of guard ponies, pegasi, chose the site to strike, descending from the trees with bladed hoofguards outstretched. Twilight activated her thruster boots, leaping over them and lowering her head as they swooped back up. She took a second to lead the shot before firing, catching one pegasus as he turned and sending him spiraling to the ground. The second was descending towards her, eyes glowing red. The thruster boots trigger again and launched Twilight up, a charged concussive blast slamming into the pegasi's back and knocking him into a bush.
Twilight rolled her head, stretching her neck. "Ya know, you'd think after spending all day doing this, Luna would realize sending enemies at me one or two at a time isn't very effective."
Spike's hologram shrugged. "Well, most of what she's been doing hasn't made much sense all along."
"Yeah, guess so." Twilight examined the two fallen pegasi, nudging one with her hoof, before moving on. She didn't get far before there was a flash of magic and a bolt of yellow energy shot towards her. Twilight turned to see another unicorn with an energy cannon firing at her from the trees. Twilight charged a shot to attack, but to her surprise, the unicorn turned and fled. She blinked.
"That's new."
"Uh… do we chase him?" Spike sounded as confused as she was. Twilight made a face and pursued, her hooves dashing through the grass and weeds. The unicorn was fast, but she was catching up. Coiling her legs, Twilight leapt. Her thruster boots activated, jetting her forward to tackle the unicorn. The two rolled, pitching over a hill and rolling down. Twilight's Multitool shifted as she fell, and she looked and fired the Apple Whip at a tree as she passed by. Twilight snapped to a halt as the chain went taut, and looked down the hill. She paled.
A trio of manticores lay at the bottom of the hill, eyes glowing red. The unicorn was climbing to his hooves in front of them, a second unicorn to his side. Twilight swallowed heavily.
"A trap."
"Yup."
The three manticores charged as the unicorn's energy cannon began to glow. Twilight angled her hooves on the ground and activated her thruster boots. She flew up the hill, circling around with the Apple Whip pivoting her on the tree. Going around it, when she came back down the other side she lowered her head, her helmet crystal glowing. The unicorn fired, but Twilight was moving too fast and the blast hit the hill where she was a moment before, dirt and grass flying. Twilight's own attack nailed the unicorn directly on-target and sent him flipping over on his back.
The three manticores leapt at her. Twilight disengaged the Apple Whip and the momentum of her swing sent her past them down the hill. Bouncing and tumbling, she sent a command to her Multitool, the metal plates shifting from the clawed whip and chain to a wind turbine. Twilight finished her rough descent on her back and swung her hoof up. The Rainbow Tornado launched, blasts of slicing wind knocking the manticores back. The second unicorn was on his hooves now and preparing to attack. Twilight turned her head and fired a charge shot before he could finish, rolling him across the ground.
"Spike! Need a plan to take out these manticores."
"Divide and conquer."
Twilight nodded. A manticore leapt towards her and she rolled away. As her helmet charged another concussive blast, she aimed the Rainbow Tornado at the other two manticores that were coming towards her. A second whirlwind knocked them back again, and Twilight activated her thruster boots to jump away as the first manticore struck again. Its paws clawed up empty earth, and in the air Twilight lowered her head and fired. The manticore roared, rearing up and clawing at the air. Twilight shot out another trio of normal bolts, and it collapsed, its eyes flickering red.
The other two manticores were up now. Twilight landed and reconfigured her Multitool again, charging a blast of magic into her helmet. The two manticores came towards her and she fired, the Octave Blast's noise waves causing the two to stop in their tracks and stagger. The energy blast took one manticore in the face and sent it rolling down the hill. The other recovered and charged. Twilight leapt aside, the boots on her rear hooves glowing with energy, and fired a second Octave Blast. The manticore looked away with a growl, and Twilight fired a barrage of energy bolts into its side, toppling it.
Gasping for breath, Twilight looked over the hillside, making sure her opponents were all incapacitated. "Well… that wasn't so hard…" She called up her display to check her Multitool's energy reserves. As Celestia had said though, the back-up generator in her armor was taking the power need. Her reserves were barely down to 70%, and recharging already.
"Yeah, maybe. But those manticores were definitely being controlled," Spike said. "Something's up."
Twilight approached one of the fallen beasts carefully, looking it over. "I don't see any cybernetics."
"There aren't any."
Twilight tensed. The red eyes were definitely a sign of Luna's influence. She really had found a way to seize control of biological beings after all. She had thought it was some sort of programming corruption, but apparently not. Was Luna's ability to manipulate other beings technological or magical? Twilight had thought the former but now she couldn't be sure. She forced a laugh to brush away her fears. "Well, we just beat three manticores. Unless Luna's been able to find an ursa minor in the woods and corrupt it, how much worse could her minions get?"
"Uh… Twilight…"
"No. Don't say it." Twilight twisted her head to glare at Spike's hologram.
"I don't know about an ursa, but I'm picking up some serious seismic activity. Something's headed our way. Something big."
Twilight groaned and slapped a hoof to her helmet, the metal clanging. "I had to open my mouth. Where?"
"Top of the hill."
Twilight turned and began galloping up the slope, grass and dirt flying from her hooves. She reached the top and waited, tensed for an attack. She could feel the ground shaking as well, and heard trees cracking in the distance. Watching in the darkness, Twilight looked for a sign of what was coming. A tree at the edge of her field of vision fell over, and Twilight saw what was coming.
A massive tank was rolling through the forest, trees and foliage in its path falling aside. Silver-blue plating covered its treads, which as far as Twilight could tell were designed to resemble a set of paws. The front of the tank looked like a bear's head, a tintedviewport hovering over a massive cannon barrel. The rest of the machine was sleek silver and blue steel, hatches on the sides for entrance into the vehicle. The tank slowed, treads grinding to a halt. Twilight gulped as the cannon on the "head" of the bear-shaped artillery piece swiveled towards her.
"Well… at least it's not a real ursa," Spike said.
Twilight narrowed her eyes as the end of the cannon pointed at her began to glow. "Yay."
She activated her thruster boots and leapt. The tank fired, and the ground beneath Twilight's hooves exploded in a blast of blue energy. She cried out as the shockwave hit her and stumbled on her landing, rolling and laying on her side. She heard the tank's treads begin to crank and looked. She had leapt too far to its side for it to aim at her, but was now turning in place. Twilight got to her hooves and dashed, keeping herself out of the tank's cannon range. She heard a metallic whirring and saw hatches slide back on the top of the tank, revealing large holes in the mechanics underneath. In a burst of red light, two pairs of rockets launched from the hatches and angled towards her, zooming through the air.
Twilight reconfigured her Multitool and activated her thruster boots to jump, firing the Apple Whip at a tree. The missiles shot past her, Twilight feeling the heat from the exhaust on her tail. The trees behind her exploded into splinters, falling to the forest floor. Pulling herself on the tree branch, Twilight charged magic into the crystal on her head and fired a concussive blast. The violet energy orb slammed into the tank's plating, fizzling out in a crackle of magic.
"The armor is way too thick! You'll have to find a weak spot!"
Twilight growled. "You could have told me that ten seconds ago!" Charging a second shot, she aimed for the now-open missile hatch, and fired again. She saw an explosion, smoke rising from the sides. However, the ursa tank had now turned around enough to aim towards her. Twilight saw the end of the cannon glow, and leapt. The tree she had stood on exploded at the base from the cannon blast and toppled over, leaving Twilight to flail through the air and land on the forest floor, rolling in a heap of tangled armored limbs. Looking up she saw the ursa tank turning again.
This time, Twilight ran directly towards it. She sunk the Apple Whip into the armor plating over the right tread and activated her boots, catapulting herself up. Landing on the back of the tank, she lowered her head and fired rapidly. A storm of energy blasts rained on the damaged missile port, and with a shower of sparks and smoke, the missile ports exploded. Twilight saw the second port shoot out two missiles and aimed carefully, blasting them away to explode in the forest.
The tank rumbled beneath her hooves as it moved, turning slowly to some destination Twilight didn't know. She struggled to keep her footing, digging the claw of the Apple Whip into the broken missile bay for stability. Further down on the sides of the tank, a larger hatch slid open, and Twilight saw movement. Two armored pegasi emerged from the tank and flew up, circling towards her. She lowered her head and fired several magic bolts, sending one drooping and tumbling over the side of the tank. The other dove at her, spear held out. Twilight activated her thruster boots and leapt away, charging her magic and firing a focused blast at it to knock it to the ground.
Twilight landed on the forest floor, the tank's side door sliding shut. It began to turn towards her again, and she dashed around the side, triggering her boots again to jump back up. Two more missiles flew from the port, and she shot them down before firing as much magic as she could muster into where they had come from. Another explosion of plume of smoke filled the forest air, and Twilight jumped down, both hatches disabled.
"Did that do much?" she asked. She had disabled the tank's secondary weapons, but it was still fully functional.
"You fried some of the internals, but it's still going strong," Spike reported. "If we can destroy the cannon, we might be able to overload it."
"Got it." Twilight saw the tank's treads turning to move it to aim at her, and reconfigured her Multitool. "And I've got just the weapon in mind." Her hoof extended in a long, thin blaster, the end glowing light blue. The cannon was finally in place to turn and aim at her, and Twilight raised the Shooting Star and fired a shot down the barrel. She saw a flash of light and heard a muffled explosion from within, and fired a charged blast from her helmet. The ursa tank shuddered and groaned, and Twilight sent another Shooting Star into the cannon.
With a loud explosion, the ursa tank's panels seemed to pop apart, smoke and sparks flying. Its treads ground to a halt and the side hatch opened, black smoke billowing out. There was a hum of energy, and Twilight saw the cannon barrel begin to glow even as the tank shuddered.
"Spike?"
"Run! The overlord is working, but not like I thought!"
Twilight's eyes widened and she turned to flee, activating her boots to propel herself forward. The tank exploding and falling apart around it, the cannon finished charging and fired. A beam of yellow light lanced out, and Twilight activated her boots once last time as she saw the light land on the ground in front of her. The beam blasted a crater in the forest floor, the force turning Twilight's jump into a fall and sending her rolling forward.
When she stopped, Twilight made a face. She had bit her tongue and tasted blood, and her head was ringing. She reached up her magic to pull her helmet off, shaking her mane out and groaning low.
"Tell me it's disabled…"
"That's a confirm."
Twilight nodded and closed her eyes, the forest spinning around her. "That's great. Let's take a minute." Panting and letting herself rest, she opened her eyes a crack and called up her display. To her great relief, the area seemed devoid of enemies.
"Um, Twilight? Hate to interrupt the pit stop."
"Then don't."
"But… we're here."
Twilight opened her eyes and turned her head around. She saw what Spike meant and her jaw dropped.
The forest ahead of her receded to reveal another vast chasm, this one with a long, flat steel bridge extending over it. Ancient stone statues of ponies in armor wielding spears and swords lined the bridge, rearing on hind hooves. On the other side of the chasm rose a large castle. Moonlight shone over it, illuminating crumbling and ruined battlements and towers, but the core structure was intact. The castle wasn't as large as Canterlot's, but even in its ruined state it was an impressive structure. Twilight slowly climbed to her hooves, in awe of the ancient fortress sprawling before her.
"The Castle of the Two Sisters."
Twilight approached the bridge to the castle and looked behind her. Seeing nothing, she briskly trotted across the bridge, eyes and ears waiting for an attack. None came, and as Twilight neared the other end of the chasm the doors of the castle loomed ahead of her. Two larger marble statues, each an alicorn, stood at the end of the bridge. Somepony had smashed one of them until only its hooves remained on the base, the remains littering the ground around it. The other alicorn bore a cutie mark of a crescent moon.
Twilight reached the doors and looked up. They were ancient steel, rusted orange and brown in some places, so heavily holes had begun to form. With only a moment's hesitation, she activated her magic and concentrated. The doors lit up in violet light, and slowly creaked open, the ancient steel groaning in protect. One of the door handles crumbled under her telekinetic force, the metal shards falling inside. Twilight stopped then; she had pulled the doors wide enough to fit between them now.
"Spike, scanners active, full power. Anything moves in this castle, I want a fix."
"Roger that, Twi."
Taking a breath, Twilight took the first step into the ancient castle.
The doors to the medical lab opened, and Valiant Spirit trotted inside. Celestia was kneeling by the medical capsule holding Rainbow Dash, eyes closed in concenstration. Golden light poured from her horn into the capsule's occupant, surrounding Rainbow Dash in an aura of alicorn magic.
"Your Grace, urgent news." Valiant Spirit stopped and bowed.
Celestia did not break her spell, but did open her eyes. "I wished not to be disturbed unless it was an emergency."
"I recall, Your Grace, but this… may or may not qualify," Valiant Spirit replied. Celestia turned her head. "I have received word from Data Byte in engineering. They reported an orbital anomaly they wished me inform you of."
"Orbital?" This had Celestia's attention.
"Your Grace, it seems somepony has taken control of Equestria's satellite systems. We have identified at least a dozen that have set themselves on new trajectories across the planet."
Celestia stood and moved to the computer, inputting the royal override to access her lab remotely. The displayed blinked to life and she moved her hooves over the keys. The display split into six, five displaying an orbital view of Equestria from the communication satellites hovering in space around it, the sixth showing the planet and the satellites in position. Lines tracing out the paths of the satellites circled the display, showing their new orbital paths.
"None of the space relays have reported this?"
"No, Your Grace."
"Then the only place the order could come from is Canterlot's central core…" Celestia kept the thought to herself as she turned to the guard. Aloud, she said "keep me posted on any further developments. Tell Data Byte to contact the space relays and get our systems back on proper course."
"At once, Your Grace." Valiant Spirit bowed his head and hurried out of the room. Celestia watched him go, glancing back at the screens behind her.
"Luna… what are you up to now?"
Well everypony, this is it! There's two more chapters to go, followed by an epilogue, but the next two are really one large chapter covering the final conflict split into two for length and readability, resulting in an evil cliffhanger I can't let you stew over for two or three weeks. Thus, the finale will be posted in one final batch by the end of June. Can Twilight restore Harmony to Equestria? Stay tuned for the final battle of Mega Mare!