Digital Waltz - Part 2

//Hey everyone, sorry about the delay again



As the flames died down and the smoke began to clear, you saw the burning silhouettes of thirteen robot bodies, dispersed throughout the hall.
Some where laying on the floor, others, crouched down or slowly stumbling forward. Their metal skulls and limbs began to shine, reflecting the embers:

"Frost... Frost... Frost..." some of them repeated in unison, stumbling forward and stretching their hands. Their prosthetic limbs refused to work properly and most ended up slowly tripping and falling down on one knee. Their clothes were burning off, revealing only the skeletal metal chassis underneath.


"Oh my god!" Kaylee screamed out in horror, watching as the robots continued to crawl toward her.

"They have prosthetic bodies.." Madelyn quietly said, sitting down next to Twilight and Kaylee: "They can't feel physical pain.."


Emeralds silhouette suddenly emerged from the smoke. She moved like lightning. Closing distance to the nearest robot, she ripped off an armor plate from the back of its head and pulled out a small, shining blue microchip:

"HELP ME!" Emerald shrieked in desperation: "HELP ME PULL OUT THEIR PLUMES OF DUSK! BEFORE THEY'RE DESTROYED!!!"



"Frost... Frost... Frost" the burning robots continued to stumble and crawl toward you: "Why did you let me die... Frost..."
They call in unison, stretching their hands toward you.



Cookie backed away and started violently smashing the elevators floor. After several deafening strikes with her jagged legs, a wide hole appeared in the elevator cabin. Below, you could see an emtpy space, just under the elevator. And somewhere deep down, a horizontal maintenance shaft.

It appears to be blocked by a simple metal fense. It looks flimsy enough to be torn off.
The tunnel itself was pretty narrow. It looks like only one person can pass at a time.



"Killing the elements of harmony.. that disturbs you, does it?" the distorted voice echoed again overhead:

"I didn't know you were supersticious Burner. Mmm... maybe I will kill all five. Then Twilight can be the Princess of Nothing.."

The voice started to laugh, slowly and quietly, as Emerald desperately tried to tear out the Plumes of Dusk from the robots:



"...poor Emerald... you feel for these creatures, don't you. You empathize with their pain?" the voice audible smirked:
"Should you be wasting your time with them? In a few minutes, the satellites will go online...
And maybe...

Tomas and Oboro... will get a little visit from my friends, at the hospital..."


"BURN IN HELL!" Emerald shrieked at he top of her lungs. Her hands began visibly shaking.


The distorted voice started to laugh: "This is really the crux of it, isn't it. Everyone can be blackmailed. Because everyone has something to loose.

Just like... poor Madelyn... reunited with her grandaughter... but still apart from her own child. Lisa isn't here.. is she...
You can't reach her... or protect her right now... I hope nothing happens to her, while you are away, Madelyn.."


Madelyns lips turned into a very thin line, as she stared into space and moved on autopilot, trying to help Emerald. She tried not to show emotion,
but her movements were very rigid.



"Don't listen to a thing he says!" Councilor Mercer shouted, lifting a large sword over her shoulder:
"He's trying to mess with your head! Make you rush blindly into an ambush!"



"Frost.... Froooooost..!" One of the burning robots cried, its voice almost completely matching Serena's: "...Please help me!"




"...I wonder.." the distorted voice quietly called:
"Why did Serena have to die?...

Perhaps if Madelyn and her pathetic husband, hadn't FAILED so MISERABLY to stop us
44 years ago, Serena would still be alive..."

Burner stops laughing, "You know i just met twilight and although I do thank her for not killing me earlier I also thank you for telling me she is a princess..." Her tone falls dead as she sighs. She grabs emerald by the back of her neck and pulls her up streight, "emerald... enough... I know you want to save everyone but now really isn't the time for this..." She pushes her just enough to take the first step yet preparing herself to block any attack that may come her way, "We don't have time... emerald... I understand they don't deserve to die... but neither did anybody in the slavehear incident, neither did anybody with the mirror,

Neither did anybody with my crimes... I understand I'm an arsonist and this, "be a hero" speech is probably completely insane... we have less then 15 minutes to finish this one way or the other... If you don't come we'll leave you here... just know many more rumbas as will fall... their lives destroyed because they were going to be destroyed anyway." She falls silent and walks towards cookie, "now I'm going... are you coming with or not..."

Kaylee Brown wrote:
//Hey everyone, sorry about the delay again  



As the flames died down and the smoke began to clear, you saw the burning silhouettes of thirteen robot bodies, dispersed throughout the hall.
Some where laying on the floor, others, crouched down or slowly stumbling forward. Their metal skulls and limbs began to shine, reflecting the embers:

"Frost... Frost... Frost..." some of them repeated in unison, stumbling forward and stretching their hands. Their prosthetic limbs refused to work properly and most ended up slowly tripping and falling down on one knee. Their clothes were burning off, revealing only the skeletal metal chassis underneath.


"Oh my god!" Kaylee screamed out in horror, watching as the robots continued to crawl toward her.

"They have prosthetic bodies.." Madelyn quietly said, sitting down next to Twilight and Kaylee: "They can't feel physical pain.."


Emeralds silhouette suddenly emerged from the smoke. She moved like lightning. Closing distance to the nearest robot, she ripped off an armor plate from the back of its head and pulled out a small, shining blue microchip:

"HELP ME!" Emerald shrieked in desperation: "HELP ME PULL OUT THEIR PLUMES OF DUSK! BEFORE THEY'RE DESTROYED!!!"



"Frost... Frost... Frost" the burning robots continued to stumble and crawl toward you: "Why did you let me die... Frost..."
They call in unison, stretching their hands toward you.



Cookie backed away and started violently smashing the elevators floor. After several deafening strikes with her jagged legs, a wide hole appeared in the elevator cabin. Below, you could see an emtpy space, just under the elevator. And somewhere deep down, a horizontal maintenance shaft.

It appears to be blocked by a simple metal fense. It looks flimsy enough to be torn off.
The tunnel itself was pretty narrow. It looks like only one person can pass at a time.



"Killing the elements of harmony.. that disturbs you, does it?" the distorted voice echoed again overhead:

"I didn't know you were supersticious Burner. Mmm... maybe I will kill all five. Then Twilight can be the Princess of Nothing.."

The voice started to laugh, slowly and quietly, as Emerald desperately tried to tear out the Plumes of Dusk from the robots:



"...poor Emerald... you feel for these creatures, don't you. You empathize with their pain?" the voice audible smirked:
"Should you be wasting your time with them? In a few minutes, the satellites will go online...
And maybe...

Tomas and Oboro... will get a little visit from my friends, at the hospital..."


"BURN IN HELL!" Emerald shrieked at he top of her lungs. Her hands began visibly shaking.


The distorted voice started to laugh: "This is really the crux of it, isn't it. Everyone can be blackmailed. Because everyone has something to loose.

Just like... poor Madelyn... reunited with her grandaughter... but still apart from her own child. Lisa isn't here.. is she...
You can't reach her... or protect her right now... I hope nothing happens to her, while you are away, Madelyn.."


Madelyns lips turned into a very thin line, as she stared into space and moved on autopilot, trying to help Emerald. She tried not to show emotion,
but her movements were very rigid.



"Don't listen to a thing he says!" Councilor Mercer shouted, lifting a large sword over her shoulder:
"He's trying to mess with your head! Make you rush blindly into an ambush!"



"Frost.... Froooooost..!" One of the burning robots cried, its voice almost completely matching Serena's: "...Please help me!"




"...I wonder.." the distorted voice quietly called:
"Why did Serena have to die?...

Perhaps if Madelyn and her pathetic husband, hadn't FAILED so MISERABLY to stop us
44 years ago, Serena would still be alive..."

"Looks like we'll have to move single-file through the tunnels, so we'll need to anticipate what skills we'll need the most, and come up with a running order before we go in, because once we're inside we might not get a chance to switch around" Rogue says.

Arnold frowned. It was followed by a snarl. "You're taunting the wrong people, you brat! No matter what, we'll-"

"Enough." Twilight said monotone. She made some motions with her hands, before they get coated with magic. She then pulls them upwards, ripping the plumes of dusk out of some Rumba's.

"This nobody is not worth talking to. If this is the level of our puppeteers for so long, I am deeply dissapionted. Now let's go, we got no time to waste."

She puts the five plumes she recovered into her pocket, then walked onwards. "We can fight amongst ourselves afterwards. Right now, I need you all to follow me, or whoever we'll put as leader, following their commands without a discussion."

She took a step, her hand cluthed in a fist, her magic ready to lash out. "The time for words are over. The time to act is upon us."

Blue, blonde and purple wrote:Arnold frowned. It was followed by a snarl. "You're taunting the wrong people, you brat! No matter what, we'll-"

"Enough." Twilight said monotone. She made some motions with her hands, before they get coated with magic. She then pulls them upwards, ripping the plumes of dusk out of some Rumba's.

"This nobody is not worth talking to. If this is the level of our puppeteers for so long, I am deeply dissapionted. Now let's go, we got no time to waste."

She puts the five plumes she recovered into her pocket, then walked onwards. "We can fight amongst ourselves afterwards. Right now, I need you all to follow me, or whoever we'll put as leader, following their commands without a discussion."

She took a step, her hand cluthed in a fist, her magic ready to lash out. "The time for words are over. The time to act is upon us."

"Since you seem so determined to charge headfirst into the jaws of the beast, why don't we go with the twin-assault plan?" Rogue suggests, not looking towards Twilight as he examines the maintenance tunnel beyond the grate, "You can lead a distractionary force down the valley of death, and we can reenact the Great Escape in reverse."

(Frost)
"So, can we take almost crushing my windpipe out of the current agenda?" Frost coughs a couple more times. There is a brief flash of golden magic as the second use of Frost's healing spell wraps around her.

"Probably a waste, but can't second guess this kind of thing." Frost walks up to beside Twilight, places a hand on her shoulder and nods letting the purple mare know that Frost is ready. The hand is removed.

(Naomi)
Taking one look at the dark tunnel Naomi takes a few step back. "There are a few reasons I initially wanted to be a pilot. One of them was to avoid going into places like that." She lowers her voice "It's like a coffin down there, fuck that"

Burner steps up beside naomi, "well... You gotta go down there darlin'" she chuckles, "or the rumbas will tear your throat out!" She hops down into the hole and begins crawling through.

Rain watches emerald, it was clear she was becoming to question her sanity.

The Mage and The Mechanic wrote:(Frost)
"So, can we take almost crushing my windpipe out of the current agenda?" Frost coughs a couple more times. There is a brief flash of golden magic as the second use of Frost's healing spell wraps around her.

"Probably a waste, but can't second guess this kind of thing." Frost walks up to beside Twilight, places a hand on her shoulder and nods letting the purple mare know that Frost is ready. The hand is removed.

(Naomi)
Taking one look at the dark tunnel Naomi takes a few step back. "There are a few reasons I initially wanted to be a pilot. One of them was to avoid going into places like that." She lowers her voice "It's like a coffin down there, fuck that"

"You think it'll be any better in there?" Rogue asks Naomi "You heard what Emerald said. There'll be racks of cybernetic human bodies hanging up, screaming and trying to kill us. At least down there you bypass some of them."

(Naomi)
"Good point, I'll take cramped quarters over nightmares." Naomi lowers her voice so that only Rouge can hear "Plus, someone needs to keep an eye on Burner"

"Don't touch me!!" Emerald shrieked as angry tears began to stream down her cheeks. Thirteen prosthetic bodies laid before her, still burning.
She dropped to her knees and tried to rip off another armor plate from one of them, but once she reached inside the head, the plume of dusk was already charred.

She gritted her teeth, as the fire reflected in her eyes and burned her fingers:


"...so I had to go out of my way, to save the people in the tv stations up top.
But once we're talking about Labyrinth victims, they're an acceptable loss? Why? Because they're robots to you?.."

A twisted mask of unfiltered rage reflected over her face, as she scowled at Burner and Frost:

"...you don't really care about us, do you..." she quietly said, looking away: "You don't know what its like... I had to force you to come..."


"Emerald!" Kaylee called out. Emerald got up and walked onward, without saying a word.


The hallway beyond the front door, was very wide and filled with monitors, hanging from the walls. Each monitor showed something different. Stock exchange data. Predicted poles for upcoming elections. A geographical map with dozens of marked locations.
And a long list, simply named: Strike Teams.

Each team listed the number of operatives, their arsenal and location. The list went on and on, seemingly infinite, as it slowly scrolled down the screen.
Several locations caught your attention: Ponyville. Canterlot. Mother Base. Drahoslav. Adelheid Hospital. A Union aircraft maintenance base, just outside Adelheid.
The status next to each strike team read: On Standby.


Another large double door is seen at the end of the hall.

Emerald is marching towards it.

Cookie hesitated but decided to follow her. Kaylee stuck close to Twilight and held her sword with a tight, nervous grip. Madelyn and Councilor Mercer stuck close to Kaylee.







Clopin went down into the maintenance tunnel, following Burner, Naomi and Rogue.


The tunnel was poorly lit and very cramped. The dim, red lights, emanating from the tunnels floor, did little to disperse the thick shadows. The tunnels end was nowhere in sight. It went forward in a straight line and seemingly stretched out into infinity.

After some time, you notice a grate in the ceiling. Some sort of mechanical, rhythmic noise can be heard from above. As you look up, you notice something that could only be described as a factory.

A large open space, filled with automated machinery. Hundreds of workstations and conveyor belts. Constantly working, constructing something, even now.


Looking up at the grate, it seems it can be pried open with some force.

(Frost)
"Then give us a reason to help instead of almost killing us whenever we do something not according to your plan" Frost responded, her tone slightly shaky but her emotions still easily under control "You've done really nothing to gain any of our trust. I'd wager it's mostly fear that everyone here is helping, fear and revenge.

And if you keep going at it like this, the enemy has already won."

(Naomi)
"Do...do you think we could just..." Naomi shifts nervously, glancing back at Burner but avoiding eye contact "Just throw a bomb in there and be done with everything?"

(Frontal Assault)

"...you need a reason, to save innocent people, do you?... that's not what you said at the missile base... you hypocrite..." Emerald quietly said.

Her head slowly turned back. As she looked at Frost, her eyes burned with indescribable hatred. Something very dangerous reflected behind her eyes, before Emerald looked back at the door, up ahead:

"...The Digital Waltz is my problem. The Labyrinth victims are my problem. The Opera Seven are my problem. Is that what you're saying?
I have to gain your trust, to get you to help people like Madelyn, who are still locked up in here, mind controlled. Is that what you're saying?"


Emerald clenched her fists, gritting her teeth: "This conversation is over"


She suddenly and violently kicked the doors open. The impact of her metal boot, loudly echoed across the area, as the doors flew open.


Behind them, you saw a hallway, stretching left and right.

Directly in front, was a simple wall. A silhouette was sitting there, head lowered, slumped against the wall.


"...biological matter detected" The Spider Tank's quiet voice rang from behind: "...its not a Rumba.."


As you look closer at the silhouette, the recognition slowly dawns on you.

It was Serena. Sitting up against the wall, eyes closed. Quiet, peaceful. Her hands collected.


As the group looked at her, no one really moved. The Spider Tank stared at her with a pained expression, until after a few moments she called:

"...detecting spinal injury. Her neck was broken, roughly 3 hours ago.
No life sings detected..

Its... her"








(The Maintenance Tunnel)

"We don't know who, or what is up there.." Clopin quietly whispered: "Risk of friendly fire aside, throwing bombs without verifying our target, can be potentially disastrous. We may end up doing more harm than good.

I would advice against such course of action"

(Frost)
Frost is about to respond when her eyes fall on Serena. She darts forward pushing past everyone and slides to kneeling position in front of Serena. Without words, she pulls the body into her arms and kneels there. Frost places Serena back to where she was, altering the positioning of the limbs and fingers slightly. She stands and placing a hand on the forehead of her dead friend and starts speaking.

And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted—nevermore..."

Frost backs away.

When the door opens, Twilight looks around, seeing if there's any way to the man. But the figure in the center draws the attention of the quiet royal.

Arnold and Angelo looked shocked at her.

"Miss Serena..." Arnold mutters softly.

"Damn it..." Angelo curses.

However, Twilight raises an eyebrow. "Who?"

(Frontal Assault)


Before Frost could back away from Serena, a blinding flash of light appeared and swallowed her whole.

The explosion wasn't big, but it engulfed everything withing a 1 meter radius.

Twilight and Kaylee almost lost their footing, standing the closest to the epicenter. The sudden explosion almost making them fall.


When the dust cleared, Serena was gone.

Frost's body was laying, a meter away. The burns and injuries were horrible and covered most of her body.


Kaylee exhaled in horror and fell to her knees, as she stared at what had just happened:

"...they booby trapped her body... they booby trapped Serena's body!... they turned her into a fucking bomb!?"


"Vital Signs, rapidly fading.." Madelyn called, as she kneeled down next to Frosts injured form: "...3rd degree burns on 50% of the body... this.. isn't good... she needs a hospital... she-.." Madelyn's expression was pained.


"The nearest hospital is 12 kilometers away" Emerald quietly said.

"She may not survive without it!" Madelyn called.

Burner looks back at the two, "I would normally say good thinking but the room seems a bit too big for the smoke to be really effective..."

Burners ears perk as she hears a boom and her friends screaming about burns, "I can't trust them for a second..." She sighs crawling up to the vent, She turns over on her back and gives it a sharp kick with a cybernetic leg to send it flying to the roof. If that works she pokes her head up to take a look around. She then clears her throat speaking quitely, "if we want to burn this place down it would have to be an oil, gas, and electric fire... maybe even a grease one... this is a factory after all and depending on if they make rumbas we might need to shut down their transport of plume of dusk before we even think about Fires.

Rain huffs, "twilight I hope you know ice magic we have to get these burns on ice to dull the pain also healing magic is very much prefered.

(Frost)
Through gritted teeth, and her body spiked with adrenaline Frost lets out a combination between a cry of anger and pure searing pain.

Her eyes clamped shut as her body moves on its own into a fetal-like position.

"Yes, get to work on this!" Angelo barked.

Twilight averted her gaze. "I'm afraid I can't help beyond cooling. I'm incapable of healing magic." She solemly says, as she creates some.

Arnold looks wortied, until he remembers something. "Wait, that healing spell! Does she have a charge left?!"

Again, Twilight raises her eyebrow. "I missed a lot here."

(Frost)
"The...tome..." Frost's breaths are rapid, she is using every ounce of her will to stay conscious "Cast..it from..the tome..."

(Naomi)
Naomi grabs Burner, by the lower part of her shirt, and pulls her back down "What are you? A fucking gopher? Get down before you get your head taken off by some crack shot with a ballistic knife"

Burner lights her flamethrower and turns on the gas, "I would like to be a gopher!" She says happily swaying her tail.

The purple mare gave a sigh, before taking the tome of Frost's body. She then searches around in it, looking for the spell.

"Which one is it..." She mutters with haste and frustration.

Arnold looks around worried. "Hurry up, my liege!"

"I would if you didn't yell in my ear to hurry up!" Twilight snaps back.

After what felt like too long to her, she finds the spell, carefully trying to recreate it. It seemed to work, thou it lacked the full potency due to her inexperience with the spell and white magic in general.

As the spell is cast the words and symbols on the page glow to match Twilight's Aura. Tendrils of magic leap from the book and wrap around Frost. It is clear that this is no ordinary spell tome. It's as if the spell itself was cast on the page, locked there, and is now being let out.

As the healing spell begins to take place the markings on the page fade leaving it completely blank

Kaylee Brown wrote:(The Maintenance Tunnel)

"We don't know who, or what is up there.." Clopin quietly whispered: "Risk of friendly fire aside,  throwing bombs without verifying our target, can be potentially disastrous. We may end up doing more harm than good.

I would advice against such course of action"

"So we go on then?" Rogue asks, indicating further along the tunnel.

(Frontal Assault)


Some of the injuries began to fade, while others became less severe. But even after the spell, the burn damage was serious and still visible.

Madelyn grimaced: "...vital signs stablizing for now, but.. the spell wasn't potent enough. There's still heavy burn damage over 50% of her body..
People don't survive this kind of injury"

She looked at the tome: "That was three right? There should be one last charge left in the tome. Cast it again.
This may be the only way to save her life"




"They booby trapped Serena's body.." Kaylee repeated again. She appears to be in some form of shock: "I can't believe they booby trapped her body.
This is fucked up"


"Are you beginning to see who we're dealing with?" Emerald said coldly: "Do you really want these people running the world?"


A long metalic roar suddenly echoed from beyond the depths of the corridors, both from the left and right side.
Its low, screeching sound made your blood briefly turn cold in your veins.
Kaylee visibly shivered.

The distorted voice above, released a quiet laugh:

"Did you hear that?... something is... hungry.."

(Maintenance Tunnel)


The factory room looked relatively massive. A very high ceiling, almost 10 meters tall. The room itself was filled with dozens upon dozens of automated machines, crafting and fusing together small pieces of machinery. A long conveyor belts could be seen in the distance.
Prosthetic bodies, without arms or legs, were hooked up to it, hanging down and moving along the line. Each station adding a new electronic plate to their chassis.

The prosthetic bodies appear to be empty of any consciousness and still in the process of creation.

Apart from that, you notice a dozen separate machines, focused solely on manufacturing new Neurochips.

You don't see anything that looks like a Plume of Dusk crafting station.


The factory was very long, stretching at least 500 meters in every direction. You spot a door at the far end of the room.


Clopin thought for a moment and grimaced: "We should be careful about starting large fires here. This whole thing can spin out of control and blow up, a wall of fire can potentially block us from the exit.
Even if we defeat the Waltz, we may be cutting off our own retreat"

He thought for a moment: "If you have any timed bombs, set them to blow here, with enough time to let us destroy the Waltz and leave the Opera House.
If not, we could just wreck the most vital parts of the conveyor belt, stop the manufacturing process, without causing an explosive chain reaction"


He suddenly went quiet, as a deafening noise attracted your attention. Two large silhouettes dropped down from the factory's ceiling.
They spread their numerous limbs and zeroed in on the broken grate. Their red eyes were glowing in the dark, jaws dangerously snapping.

Spider Tanks. A smaller, more agile version than the ones you saw earlier. They stood 3 meters above ground and moved much faster than Cookie.



One of them rushed towards the open grate.


The other one lifted one of its jagged limbs and pierced the floor of the factory.
A razor sharp blade suddenly appeared between Naomi and Rogue. A centimer in either direction, would have caused heavy injury or death.
The Spider lifted its limbs, preparing to release a series of strikes on the floor, where the maintenance tunnel ran underneath.