Part 2: Chapter 14: The Metallic Wing
The tomb opened.
Delta and Spike, along with the rest of those who took refuge in the mountain, stood watching, frozen with awe and fear.
Tirek, holding the lifeless body of the 18 year old colt, was in a defensive stance. A curtain of magic shielded Tirek and the body from the attacker and Beta. The ghost's head was bowed down, its eyes glowing blood-red. For a moment, Beta seemed to be alive, no longer a ghost. He wasn't floating and he casted his own shadow from the flaming arachnid standing above him.
"We know who you are, Zeta. No need to hide anymore." Beta's voice sounded like thunder with the ground vibrating.
Twilight glanced at Spike before looking back at Beta, her skin disappearing, revealing the assailant who used her as a disguise. The flaming Arachnid looked at its small reflection on the polished armor. It looked new, as if it was a Mark II version of the original suit. It had two small openings at the middle of the helmet for the eyes and the muzzle was actually two parts, letting the wearer speak without issue and breathe normally. Its left eye was glowing neon purple, while the other was neon green. Free of its disguise, the suit flickered on, glowing neon purple, outlining where the metal overlapped itself.
Zeta relaxed her stance. "Relax Beta; he was going to die sooner or later, better now than later, to be honest."
Delta felt somepony move next to him on his left and looked up to see Chrysalis and Luna.
"What happened?" Chrysalis asked.
"Twilight was actually Zeta and Gamma in disguise. Turns out the she was working for Celestia as she apparently killed Alpha just now."
The two Alicorns looked down at Delta.
"Where is Alpha's body?" Luna questioned almost instinctively.
"Tirek's holding him." Delta replied, nodding towards Tirek.
"Delta?" Luna replied.
"Yes?"
"Where is Charlie?"
"Knocked out."
"Why?"
"I knocked him out when Alpha was seemingly killed. He's already going through a hard time. I don't want it to get any worse." Delta turned his attention on Beta.
His upper body was slowly moving up and down, as if to a beat. The chest was moving in and out slowly.
"Beta, just relax. If you need to know, he was one hell of a target to kill, probably my hardest yet."
The arachnid continued to stare at Zeta but had begun tap the ground with its massive legs.
"Zeta, don't talk or move unless you need to. If you do, move slowly, don't make ANY sudden movements." Gamma spoke slowly.
"Why?" Zeta replied back, oblivious to the danger she was in.
"Though Arachnids are blind in general, they are extremely sensitive to vibrations."
Small blazing spiderlings began to appear, all weaving webs of fire.
Zeta looked up and saw the whole ceiling in a flurry of movement. She looked back down to see spiders constructing what seemed to be a network of lines of fire. One headed towards Zeta. Zeta moved as slowly as she could possibly move in order to evade the spider. The spiderling, oblivious to Zeta, phased through her as it continued to work with its brothers and sisters.
The room was alive with movement and the sounds of continuous tapping as the spiders, all working in unison with lines of fire trailing behind them, covered the room. She watched with curiosity and horror as the animals worked on. Zeta heard a sound behind her and began to lift her left front hoof to turn around.
Her left hoof hit the ground and with it, all movement and sound ceased almost instantly. The ground beneath her shook lightly once. Zeta quickly turned her head to see the main spider begin to tap its leg on the floor slowly.
There was no sound but the crackling of the fire coming from the spiders. Both Zeta's and Gamma's minds were blank. Neither was thinking, both were focusing solely on the spider that Beta had created. One by one, the spiderlings began to die out, slowly extinguishing. The Room, once lit as bright as if it was in daylight, was now swallowed by a dark hue. This is when Delta moved slowly into the room and examined the lines of fire.
It wasn't actually a thick line, but it was a thin strand that was strained tightly. He moved his hoof towards the strand.
"Delta!" Luna whispered as loud as she could. "Don't!"
Delta glanced at Luna before looking back at the strand and moved his hoof through it. His hoof passed through it as if it was smoke. He felt neither heat nor pain but watched as the strand vibrated, humming a low E chord doing so. Delta's eyes followed the strand to its start. His eyes ended at Beta's spider. He also saw something enter the curtain for a second before it disappeared
The spiderlings had created a web.
Beta's head turned to look at Delta and gestured him to come closer, nodding his head to the space next to him. Delta slowly picked his way through the web, making sure not to touch the strands. He was 1/3rd of the way there when the Arachnid moved one of its legs onto one of the strands and steadied it. The pony looked up to see Beta no longer looking at him.
Zeta's heart froze. She had begun to navigate through the labyrinth when Beta turned his attention to Delta. Taking this chance as the only one she would get, Zeta and Gamma, with surprising agility and precision, made her way through the web. However, when Delta caught up with her, she had accidently plucked one of the strands with her right hind leg. Both the spider and Beta turned to face her direction.
Delta looked at the strand to his left and plucked it. The spider, without turning to face him, placed one of its left legs on the strand and steadied it before placing the leg back on the ground again.
"Right, looks like he knows I'm over here." Delta muttered before proceeding to make his way to Beta.
Zeta, out of the corner of her eye, saw Delta move towards Beta.
"We cannot allow him to get to Beta." Gamma spoke softly.
The metallic muzzle nodded in agreement. "With Delta on one side, and me on the other; if two strands are touched, Beta will probably ignore it, right?" Zeta whispered as she advanced.
"I'd agree, but I don't want to test that out."
"Shut up D, We weren't talking to you." Gamma replied.
"And as much as you want your pay for killing both, if you don't listen to me, you won't get paid." Delta's voice bounced off the walls.
"How do you know he can't hear you, dumbass?"
"Beta won't kill me for trying to help you, and considering what he just did," Delta explained, ignoring the insult. His hoof pointed to the web and the Arachnid who was now beginning to explore its new instrument. "He is way too angry and filled with rage to hear us."
"If I were you Delta," Beta's voice rang out, echoing in the room. "I'd take that back right now."
"It wasn't an insult, Beta. You know that."
"Why are you trying to help her?"
"This 'her' has a name, by the way." Gamma's voice rang out. The Arachnid was upon Zeta in a number of nanoseconds, its pinchers just inches away from the metallic muzzle.
"She's my sister."
"So? You led her to me, remember? You saw my pain and wanted to help not only me or you but the others who were being hurt by her."
Gamma gasped loudly. "YOU DID WHAT?! AFTER I'M DONE WITH BETA, I'M GOING AFTER YOU NEXT."
Beta growled at Zeta. He lifted his right hoof up and swiped it downwards. With the permission granted, the arachnid attacked Zeta, ruthless beating her up, throwing her around, and cocooning her in threads of fire.
"BETA!" Delta screamed out. Several orbs of light came from Delta, turning into kings and queens. Sombra, already out and formed, ran for Beta.
Beta grinned, standing on his hind legs, and waited. Sombra galloped towards Beta but stopped when he held up a hoof.
"Think what you are about to do. Remember that I am a MUTANT. I am not bound to the laws of nature, and as such I am allowed to have certain privileges that Kings, Queens, Princesses, Princes, Changeling, or normal pony don't have. I, not only can kill the living, I can kill the dead. The dead will NOT return in ghost form. They will not be sent into the afterlife, but to oblivion."
Sombra stood there, glaring at Beta. He did not doubt Beta. Delta did. He galloped through Sombra and tackled the semi-ghost/semi-entity to the ground, placing his leg on Beta's neck. "You stop this right now. This isn't what Alpha wanted."
Beta reached over and grabbed Delta's leg and twisted it, spraining the leg. Delta cried out in pain as he fell to the ground. Beta got up and stood over Delta. "How do you know what he would have wanted? You betray me by helping her." Beta said, pointing his hoof at Zeta, who was fighting off the arachnid with spells. "You betray me by helping the bully, Delta." Beta stood there, staring down at what could either be friend or foe to him. Delta watched as his foe's pupils began to return. "And you know what I do to traitors."
"Beta…" Delta began to speak nervously. "Remember, this isn't my body."
"It doesn't matter."
"Yes it does. The Mutant Charlie is a victim."
"I don't really care."
"What do you care about?"
"I cared about Alpha." Beta's pupils were nearly back to normal size, but his face showed a flurry of emotions. He turned away. "And every time I cared for somepony, they end up dying."
The spider let out a high pitch squeal as its legs were torn off one by one. Having only four legs left, the injured spider began to retreat back to Beta, with its murderer following behind; cloaked.
"Now Beta, we both know you can't think like that!" Delta replied, no longer scared for his and Charlie's life but for Beta's. "You know exactly what that will do to you!"
Beta looked up and watched with defeat as his guardian cried for help as it retreated, defeated and injured horribly. The spider, only having two legs on both sides, crawled towards Beta. Its dismembered legs had turned into ash, the web slowly burning out. It came to a stop before its master, its legs at the hooves of his legs. It stayed there for a few minutes, writhing in pain, before it stopped moving all together, the flames dying out.
"You know, there is a spell that kills spirits. And only mutants can use it."
Beta heard the voice behind him and nodded. "Just get it over with." He looked at the destruction he caused and looked at Delta. He felt the depression fill him as he realized what he had done, how he had acted on his rage and nearly killed a close friend.
Delta was lying on the floor, unable to get up due to his sprained leg.
Zeta uncloaked, her forehead glowing white and red. Beta closed his eyes, took a deep breath and embraced death. He wished to be laid to rest this time, not made into a ghost like the last time he died.
The bolt was released, aimed at Beta's neck. It gave off a glow of both red and white, and whistled a high pitch as it flew through the air.
The bolt hit the metallic wing with a loud clink, instead of its original target.