YAY! 80,000 Total Words!
Part 2: Chapter 15:
Beta turned around, his eyes following the Dragon Metal wing he had made seven years ago. The wing was connected with another suit of armor. This time however, it wasn't polished and looked as if it was in bad condition.
It was covered with dents and scratches, the glow that outlined where metal overlapped metal was unmistakably Galaxy Blue and the eye sockets revealed two brown, unblinking eyes. The mane of the wearer was glowing blue and pulsating heavily, emitting its own light, which lit up the metallic helmet. The muzzle, unlike Zeta's, was composed up of more than twenty parts, allowing any and all movement of the muzzle. It was, however, open and blood foamed at the right side of its mouth.
It was staring at the dead assassin's body that was on the ground, covered in its own blood.
Delta walked over next to Beta and looked down at the body, examining it. Beta was staring at his savior, who was wearing a full suit of Estefania.
"Alpha?"
"Mhm?" The head of the suit looked up at Beta.
"How the fuck did you survive?"
Alpha raised his metallic brace, still glowing from the initial bolt. "My wing was hit, not my chest. It absorbed the spell quite nicely."
"Sorry to interrupt this nice reunion, but she isn't dead yet." Delta spoke, his voice stern and annoyed.
"You sound like you want me to be dead." Gamma's voice sounded distorted, as in it came from a shitty radio in History, Section: HUMAN.
"Would it surprise you that I don't like you?" Delta asked.
"I'm your sister."
"You WERE my sister. We are no longer siblings."
"Since when?"
"Since you tried to assassinate my friend." Delta lifted his hoof to smash Zeta's skull but thought better and stepped aside, letting Beta's Arachnid feed on her. Zeta was numb from the pain of Alpha's beat down that she didn't struggle, she let it happen freely. He walked away from Zeta and his sister to Alpha and Beta, who had ignored the downed Assassin and walked a couple of meters away.
"I will admit," Beta began. "I thought I'd never see it again."
"What do you mean? Zeta wore it." Alpha replied.
"Zeta wore a modified version, but this," Beta said, looking over the suit of ancient armor, smiling. "I was around, albeit insanely weak, when somepony started to remake my suit."
"Celestia?"
"Not Celestia, but another Mutant."
"Who?"
Beta glanced at Delta who smiled back. "Was it him that did it?"
Delta grinned and nodded. "He always had a way with metal."
Beta chuckled in disbelief. "How the hell did he do it?"
"He salvaged what Celestia didn't get of the armor and tested it; accidently finding out that it was steel and dark magic in the process."
"I can see that, but how did he recreate it?!"
Delta was about to respond to Beta when he glanced at Alpha. He was examining the suit. Parts of metal dislodged and were floating around him as he disassembled the suit of armor.
"What?" Beta asked, wanting to know how the mutant did nodded to Alpha. Beta turned to look at Alpha and chuckled. "Nah, he isn't him."
"How sure are you about that?"
"A dead mutant cannot come back to life, Delta, they can only bond with living organisms."
"He could." Delta responded, putting emphasis on 'he'.
Beta looked at Alpha, who was now staring at the armor, his metallic brace in the center of his vision, being disassembled for the first time. Beta began to shake his head. "No. No! I know Alpha, he isn't him!"
"How much would you bet on it?"
Beta bit his lip and looked down.
"That's what I thought." Delta replied, walking to Alpha.
"My magic."
Delta froze. "What?"
"I bet my magic, all of it, that Alpha ISN'T him."
"That's one hell of a bet, and you know the rules of Mutant Betting, do you not?"
"I know the risk, I know the rules. You know me, I wouldn't bet on my magic if I didn't have a damn good reason."
"But what if he is him?!"
"So what? If he is who we think he is, then nothing bad will happen, Delta! If he is him, then he can help. If he isn't, then Alpha can still help!"
Delta inhaled to argue but stopped himself and exhaled.
Beta examined Delta. "What?"
"Nothing." Delta lied.
Beta leaned closer to Delta's face, examining him closely.
"What?" Delta asked, nervously.
Beta was quiet for a full minute, examining Delta's glowing blue eyes as if he saw something… "You're lying."
The urge to argue against Beta was terrifyingly strong, but Delta knew he had been caught.
"What aren't you telling me?" Beta asked slowly.
"You, Gamma, and I aren't the only mutants that have survived and bonded with other mutants."
Although Alpha was listening in on the conversation (his right ear flicking towards the two every now and then), he was more focused on the suit and how it worked.
He had to admit, although it look like a normal suit of armor that glowed the same color as the wearer's favorite color, it was one hell of a suit.
The suit felt like a regular old suit of armor; all heavy and made of metal, but it was much more. He couldn't describe it; couldn't find the right word to describe the feeling he had using it. His metallic brace was just a replacement for his missing limb. It was originally created as a frame to just help him cope losing a limb to a shitty reason. But although with the wing he felt complete, the wing didn't.
Ever since he wore the wing for the first time, it felt like it wasn't just a brace.
It always seemed to be alive. It would change to adapt to the environment that Alpha was in. If he was at the factory, it would hone itself to cut through the densestof metal. If he was flying, it would be aerodynamic; smooth, light but wind resistant. If he was sleeping, it would dull each tip of its metallic feathers to the point of where it couldn't pierce Alpha's side just in case if he left it on at night.
It always seemed alive.
"You and I both know that for a spirit like us to interact with the living, we have to bond with a living organism to create the actual bond. The only reason you can see me now is that the bond between me and Alpha is still connected." Beta explained.
"I know how to bond, Beta. If you can't already tell," Delta waved Charlie's hoofs in the air. "I'm already bonded to another mutant."
"So who made it through?"
"Not many. Several of your bullies came through, all are terrified of you."
"I wonder why." Beta sarcastically remarked. "It's not like I tortured the shit outta them before slowly killing them."
"Do you…Do you forgive any of them?"
He sighed. "When I think about it, I do forgive them. I see now that they were just trying to save their own lives, fit in with society as it was. I doubt they would forgive me though." He paused for a few minutes, gathering his thoughts. His glowing semi-transparent eyes dashed left and right, up and down, as he tried to explain his emotions and reasons as clearly as possible. "Can I understand why they did it? Yes, I can. Do I want to understand? I did when I was alive and young. It's funny. This whole battle, this whole war against Celestia is only based off emotion and what we believed when we were young. The reason why I am against Celestia is because no pony else wanting to go against her. I was never afraid of Celestia, never afraid of the consequence, never afraid of the fear that most felt when the thought of rebalance came into mind." When Delta didn't respond, Beta looked up to see Delta staring at him, his eyes wide, his head tilted slightly to the right. "What?"
"You totally went off topic there, like seriously off-fucking-topic." Delta replied with a straight face.
"Sorry." Beta apologized, his face red. "So, who else besides my old enemies made it through?"
Delta looked up as he tried to remember who stayed and who were allowed to go. " 'ts hard to say. I see some floating around, others wandering amid the debris of battles at the Factory."
Beta was looking at Alpha, frowning. "Delta?" He asked, his voice quivered with worry.
"Mhm?" Delta responded, his eyes half-way open.
"I know I ruined a shit-load of lives, but-"
"Sorry to interrupt here," Alpha said. "But how the hell do you take off this helmet?" He was covered in the suit of armor, and seemed to be having a hard time breathing.
Beta snapped out of his worry and chuckled. "Getting claustrophobic?"
The helmeted head nodded quickly.
Beta laughed out loud as he reached for the helmet. "The seal is underneath the Muzzle Guard, at the center."
Alpha searched for the release guard. Once he found it, he frantically pushed the button and tore off the helmet, gasping for air, collapsing onto the ground in the process. "You can't breathe in that damn thing." The 18 year old colt was sweating vigorously; beads of sweat covered his face. He looked up at Delta. "Is Charlie awake?"
"Not yet. I knocked him out when you were seemingly killed."
"Smart thinking." Alpha replied, not even trying to get up.
"So, how are you liking my suit?" Beta asked with a smile.
Alpha chuckled, closing his eyes. "It's one hell of a suit. Is there a way to take it all off?"
Beta waved his hoof to the right. The suit, recognizing the command, automatically fell apart, freeing Alpha.
"How the hell did you create it in the first place?"
Beta disappeared as he bonded back with Alpha. "I didn't do it alone." He was about to take over when Alpha asked one last thing.
"Can i change the subject for a quick second?"
Beta nodded.
"Did I pass?"
"Pass what?" Delta and Beta said in unison.
"The Exam."
"I think we all know the answer to that." Tirek replied, walking up behind Beta and Delta.
As Delta and Tirek walked off to their rooms, Beta extinguished his Arachnid guardian and stood above Zeta and Gamma, both hanging on to their last strands of life. With Alpha asleep, Delta and Tirek gone, he could actually speak with them. He knelt down to the fallen enemy and nudged the body.
"I am dying here, at least let me die in peace." Gamma groaned softly.
"I will once I get both of your opinions."
"Zeta's dead. I'm the only one here."
"Then I will allow you to die in peace after I get your opinion."
Gamma took a breath and sighed. "What do you want?"
"I want to know your opinion."
"On what?"
"Should I allow Celestia to live?"