((Finally, finished! Took long enough! Part 1:
This an IRC transcription of the events of Glitterglen in the hospital. In the story, crazy things happen. It menaces with spikes of purple prose and is adorned with hanging rings of typos. On the back of the paper is an image of Telgin and the ponies. The ponies are reading. Telgin is in the fetal position.))
All at once, the area around Khenal twists and bends before fading away. Khenal wakes up in his own mind, Keeper staring him down.
"...Keeper?" he asks, confused.
"I don't now why I'm here. What in the Eye did you do?"
"That's a good question..." Apple's voice calls.
"And who is this?" Keeper asks.
"This is Apple, and he will not be staying here long," Khenal replies.
Keeper looks around. "Where is here?"
Apple continues, "Will I now? The way I see it, I'm talking out of your mouth."
Khenal frowns. "I should be back in the real world with him in chains, ready to be handed over to the inquisitor."
"Where is here!?" Keeper insists.
"In Khenal's mind, bullbrain," Apple retorts.
Keeper scoffs. "I was in Khenal's mind for over a year, you pathetic minion. I know what it looks like, and this is not it."
Apple looses a low chuckle. "Ah, clever." He pauses. "You're in the ether."
"Is that what you call it?" Keeper replies. He looks to Khenal. "I did note that it had some similarities to your brain."
Apple ignores the comment. "This is a place that no form of intelligence has entered since existence and before."
Khenal's expression remains unchanged. "So, either something fundamental to the fabric of reality is broken, or Apple continues to lie."
Another chuckle from Apple echoes into the oblivion. "Khenal, have you bothered to look at me? For, if you had, you'd note that the chains are gone." He sneers. "I am still bound in Lilac's head, but not outside it."
"Do we care? And who is this damned Lilac, Khenal?"
Khenal looks to Keeper. "Carrot's daughter."
"Oh, goody."
"So yes, I care that Apple is still there."
Apple says, "Fortunately, I have learned how to control this place. Observe!" The ground begins to shake, and a large mountain rises from the ground, tossing Keeper high into the air.
Khenal's horn glows with ethereal energy as he attempts to summon another set of chains for Apple. As the scene unfolds, the environment continues to shift. Keeper rolls his eyes. "Oh, wow, you can create a mountain." As he lands, his form begins to change. No more a pony, he has become a twisted bipedal monster with four arms. A gaping maw covers its body from top to bottom.
Apple vanishes, replaced by a sign with the head of Carrot nailed to it. Then an army of honey badger ponies begin to materialize around the trio, snarling and snapping their teeth as they circle.
Keeper grins devilshly. "Let's get these badger ponies, hey?"
Khenal looks about. "Where is Apple?"
Lilac vanishes in an instant, replaced by an eviscerated corpse. Keeper shrugs awkwardly. "Oh, it doesn't matter, let's just have some fun!" A wooden cage forms around him. "Oh, that's cute! A cage!"
Magma begins to pour into the area from nowhere. Keeper grins again, moving his arms around in a chaotic, twising pattern. With a sound like a million damned souls screaming in agony, strange flames burst from around him and destroy both the magma and the cage.
"Hey, that's not cool!! This is MY realm!!" Apple shouts.
Khenal grins. "Problem, Apple?"
Keeper nods in agreement. "Oh, I like the sound of that, Apple. You don't know how long it's been since I got to go out and enjoy myself!"
With another flash of chaos, the dead scenery evaporates to be replaced by all of Khenal's past patients, crying in agony like the each did on the day of their deaths. Keeper begins gleefully leaping between the patients, twisting each with his chaotic touch. Horns sprout from some, feathers from others. Others still have their hooves replaced with tentacles, or muzzles with beaks. "The changer of ways will be pleased!"
Khenal's horn is enshrouded in more magic as he lifts an immense chunk of the ground. "I've already dealt with my past, Apple. I'd prefer it never happened, but I can keep it from repeating!"
"Can you?" Apple asks. "Is that why you're choking Lilac?"
"She is stronger than you Apple. She also wants you out," Khenal replies.
"No... I mean in the hospital! You're choking Lilac, and I'm not there to keep her alive!"
Khenal halts for a moment. He sets the slab of ground back down.
"I can hear Starkey arresting you..." Apple continues.
Keeper jumps about in glee and hurls another volley of warp flames at the remaining badger ponies. When they hit, the ponies scream as their flesh begins to melt away. The area of dead ground begins to expand.
Khenal continues to pause. "Hmm..."
"Khenal, Lilac is on a timer, and your keeper friend is only speeding it up. That isn't just grass, it's her life!"
A flash of magic surrounds Khenal's horn as he closes the chains on Apple. "It's time we left Lilac's mind!"
Keeper smirks as well. "It's not just grass anymore either! It's the land of the Lord of Sorcery!"
"You inconsiderate fool! Keeper, you're destroying Lilac's mind! I'm not that heartless... to destroy somepony's mind..."
"The Grand Schemer has arranged for it already!" Keeper shouts.
"Lilac! Wake up, I don't want you to be destroyed!" Apple shouts in desperation.
Khenal glares at Keeper. "Keeper, settle down. We're getting out of here."
"Can't I stay? This is the most fun I've had in eons!" Keeper says, his voice slowly shifting... it soon becomes none other than Schmoe.
"Schmoe!?" Apple cries.
Khenal's glare hardens. "No, Keeper. If this is really Lilac's mind, you are not supposed to be here."
Apple begins to plead, "I... uh... sir... Sorry sir! I didn't mean to interrupt your mission!" He materializes in front of Keeper. He cackles. "All hail in the glorious name of schmoe! He is awake, and you will worship him!"
"Got you!" Keeper grabs hold of Apple, and instantly warping change ripples through hsis body. Wings sprout from his back, like thos of a griffon. Tentacles replace his hooves... a leg warps into a twisting arm with a mouth for a hand. Flames gush from the mouth.
Khenal's horn shines like the sun as his strongest bindings wrap around Apple. He looks to Keeper. "Keeper, what are you doing?"
"Not quite finished..."
The bindings surrounding Apple shatter. Khenal reels from the magical backlash. Apple's new tentacles wrap around Khenal's throat, choking the life from him in the real world. "I name they True Name, Eoeeeiloduioeuda!" Keeper shouts.
Apple stares idly. "That's not my name. It's really just Apple."
As Keeper speakes, Apple's mind opens to the Warp. Hundreds, thousands, millions, trillions, infinite thoughts enter Apple's mind. "Lord Tzeentch has bestowed it upon you."
"I accept this gift!"
" Eoeeeiloduioeuda... release me..." Khenal chokes.
"Nah, Khenal, I want you to hang out with me all the time. And you can't unless I help..." Apple shouts, "And the name's Apple!"
As Khenal speaks Apple's name, he feels himself unable to resist. "That's... how a True.. Name works..." He gasps as the grip loosens.
The tentacles tighten again, even harder than before. "I win!" Apple chuckles and Khenal smiles feebly at Apple before he begins to slip into unconsciousness.
"Yes, yes... all according to the great Lord Tzeentch, and his great plan..." Keeper says. "Without your current acts, he would not have succeeded in his next battle and thus defeated Khorne's followers. You are finished now. Begone to whatever little things you wish to do."
Khenal gasps as he drops from the mental realm back into reality. The world swims around him as he returns to real consciousness, only to settle on the blue face of Lilac. She isn't breathing.
He scowls and says, "Apple.... Eoeeeiloduioeuda... I invoke your True Name. Remove yourself from Lilac. Do her no harm, and never return."
"My name's Apple! Not Kerblargintin! Not Pablo! It's Apple!" a disembodied voice says. Khenal repeats the incantation. "No, no, no! Khenal, you cannot do this!"
Khenal repeats the incantation. "Thrice invoked! Obey!"
"I'll take Lilac with me!"
"You will not! Eoeeeiloduioeuda, you are barred from harming her!"
"I'll break the laws if I have to!" Lilac arches backard, screaming in pain.
"Apple! Eoeeeiloduioeuda! I invoke your True Name! Remove yourself from LIlac! Do her no harm and never return! Obey!" Apple screams in torment, and Khenal repeats the incantation yet again. A great, massive, black mist pours from the screaming Lilac, flowing toward the nearest pony.
"Inquisitor!" Khenal calls in vain. " Eoeeeiloduioeuda! Coalesce before me and harm nopony!" Apple obeys, materializing before Khenal and drawing horrified gasps from everypony nearby. "Somepony, get Amberley!" he shouts. He glares at Apple. "Not you! You are no pony!"
Apple chuckles and turns a vengeful glare to Lilac. His tentacles reach out and grasp the filly by the throat. She coughs and scratches at the tentacles in vain.
***
Inquisitor Vail is standing vigil over Friesden, who continues to lay in a catatonic stupor. A frightened pony bursts into the barracks, panting from hte exterion of galloping for some time. "What is it?" she asks.
"Khenal wants you!"
She turns to look at Friesden. "Well, time to go. Keep an eye on Friesden for me. Where is he?"
"Up at the hospital! Hurry!"
Inquisitor Vail nods and gallops from the hospital.
***
"Eoeeeiloduioeuda! Release her!"
"Never! She'll die with me!!"
"Eoeeeiloduioeuda! You will release her!"
"I'll never do such a thing! She must die!!" Lilac finally ceases struggling, her face blue.
"Eoeeeiloduioeuda! You will do no harm to her! You will release her this instant!"
"You have no power over me! And she is-" Apple's sentence is cut off by Inquisitor Vail bursting into he hospital. "-dead! You're too late!!" he finishes.
Amberley Vail pauses, mouth agape. "In the God-Princess' name, what is going on here!?" Apple feels tortorous pain roll through him at the invocation of Her name.
He hisses loudly. "Who dares speak that vile name?!"
The inquisitor glares at him. "I do. Amberley Vail, of the God-Princess' Holy Ordos! Indentify thyself!"
"I am apple!"
She nods. "In the God-Princess' name, I dub thee Excommunicate Traitoris!"
"Lilac is dead! Do what you want with me!"
Amberley looks to Khenal. "Explain this!"
"Destroy it, bind it, or whatever it is you do! This daemon can't be allowed to run free!" he exclaims.
"This is a daemon?! I am no daemonhunter... I am a member of the Ordo Xenos!" A thought enters her mind. She begins to speak as the daemon rakes claws against her foreleg, drawing blood. "D-dammit! Get Schmutz, in the God-Princess' Name! Do it now!"
Khenal shouts, "Apple! Eoeeeiloduioeuda! You will harm no one!"
She looks to him. "Is that its True Name?"
He opens his mouth to reply, but the daemon lashes out again, tearing a gash down Khenal's back and smashing ribs. He lets out a startled cry and falls to the ground.
At the inquisitor's command, a member of the hospital staff hurries off to fetch the commissar and Schmutz.
"I... I witnessed his Naming. How... can he ... resist?" Khenal mutters.
"Eoeeeiloduioeuda! In the God-Princess' name, be bound!" shouts the inquisitor. Apple snatches a scalpel and drives it into her wounded leg. Ethereal chains appear and encircle the daemon despite the interruption, stronger than he can resist.
Khenal groans incoherently for a moment. "Is... it bound?"
"Maybe, but I wouldn't trust it for long..."
Khenal grunts again as he tries to shift. "I never... thought my past... would come back like this..." As he speaks, a dark thought enters his mind. He looks over to Lilac's motionless body and drags himself to her. The filly looks lifeless. "I hope.. this works..."
Schmutz and Commissar Abel trot through the door, dressed in their combat fatigues. Amberley points a hoof at Apple and shouts, "Schmutz! Attack!" The pony obediently charges at Apple. As he passes by, Khenal feels his magic drain away and vanish.
He draws in a deep breath, despite the stabbing pain in his back and releases it into Lilac. He desperately hoped he remembered how mouth-to-mouth worked. There is no response. "Come on, Lilac. You... are stronger... than him." He repeats the breath, praying it will bring her around.
Schmutz passes by Khenal and throws himself at Apple. Apple begins to immediately destabilize, and as Schmutz is upon him his material form vanishes completely, haunted by a torturing daemonic scream.
Khenal tries again, still eliciting no response from Lilac. Tears begin to stream from his eyes. Inquisitor Vail slowly rises and staggers to Khenal. "What's wrong with her?"
"She isn't... breathing. Please, can... you help her?" He looks down and notices Lilac's face is completely pale. A stab of fear jolts through him.
"What caused it?"
"The daemon... strangled her. I tried... to stop him, but.."
"Strangled her?"
The fear shifts into a deep nauseating feeling that Khenal remembers from the time he witnessed Carrot's final death. "Lilac..."
Amberley turns to Abel and says," Commissar, Schmutz. Feel free to go back to your quarters. Nothing more you can do here." The two trot off without another word.
Khenal leans in and gives Lilac a final breath, and is rewarded with nothing yet again. He begins to choke back tears and fails, collapsing into sobs.
***
Inside Lilac's mind, Keeper finishes destroying the last traces of Apple's influence. The lights begin to grow dim...
"It's... so... cold..." Lilac mutters.
"Oooh! Seems you're dying, silly fill!" Keeper says to her.
"At least... I can see daddy and mommy again.."
"Oh, yes, totally. Does Kil want to see you?" Keeper stops as an idea crosses his mind. "I have an idea!" He summons a ball of warp fire that cleaves him in two. The halves fall to the ground before warping and growing limbs of their own. The two halves begin to bicker among themselves and rampage through her mind.
"C.... c.... cold..."
The two continue to scuffle, pressing buttons and wreaking havoc where they go.
"Stop... fighting..."
The madness continues, a plan too convoluted for her to realize, but a plan nonetheless. The two press more buttons, and eventually the lighting returns. The two fist bump and merge back into one Keeper. "Well, that's done now. How are you feeling, silly filly?"
"...I'm stuck with you, huh?"
"Oh, yes!"
"...Please... can you kill me anyway?"
"Why would you want to die?"
"Oh, nevermind... I'm Lilac."
"I'm the Keeper, but you can call me Helmfire."
***
With the chaos in the room settling, Falcata begins to come around. She shakes her head to clear the stupor that has washed over her. She's just witnessed things that nopony ever should. She notices Khenal crying over what appears to be Lilac's corpse and everything begins to flood back to her. She trots over and stares at the stricken filly, mouth agape. "Kh-Khenal? I-is she..."
Khenal looks up at her, tears streaming from his eyes. As his eyes track up her face, he spots her horn. Of course! "Falcata!" He jerks up, only to release a pained groan as his injuries force themselves back to the forefront of his mind.
Falcata winces as she notices the severe injuries on his back. She swallows back a retch as she spies a smashed rib jutting from his skin. How could he even still be conscious?
Khenal shakes his head and points to Lilac. "Not me, her! Falcata, how's your magic?"
She snaps her attention back to Lilac. "I... uh... don't know... how I can help... I don't know any medical magic..."
"Heh... neither did I... the first time I did this spell. You... need to give her a... shock. Directly into... her heart." He looks up to her. "Can you... do that?"
She stares back for a moment, stupefied. Had she heard that right? "I... I can try."
"Thats... all I can ask."
She shuts her eyes as she begins to focus. Her mane begins to stand on end as the air around her charges with electricity. "Here... goes." She opens her eyes and aims at the center of Lilac's chest. She averts her gaze as soon as she feels her horn's aim is true. A bolt of violet electricty leaps from her horn into Lilac's chest.
Lilac twitches, but does nothing more. Distraught, Falcata looks back to Khenal. "It... it didn't work..."
"Less... power. Don't want... to cook her. Try again."
Falcata nods. Her horn glows again, a more sedate blue. "Please... work..." She angles her horn at Lilac's chest again and releases the bolt. Lilac's eyelids flutter, but nothing more.
"Better. You're... a natural. Don't be afraid... to get closer. Again... please." Khenal winces and groans, his vision dimming.
Falcata hesitates for a moment. Encouraged by Khenal, she steps forward and places her horn nearly on Lilac's chest. Charge begins to build again. She releases the arc, trying her best to channel it safely through her heart. If only she was a doctor... She watches Lilac intently, anxiety building in her stomach. Had... she used too much that time?
Lilac takes an almost imperceptible breath.
Khenal forces himself lucid. "See? A.. natural..."
Falcata is elated. She pants several times to catch her breath. She wasn't used to doing stuff like this. "Lilac?" She leans in closer and examines the filly. Lilac is still deathly pale, and surely needs a real doctor immediately. Falcata gently levitates her to the nearest bed. Lilac looked terrible, and Khenal was badly injured. What was she going to do?
At that moment, Dr. Bubbles enters, eyes wide. "What the clop is going on here!?"
Author
Topic: My Little Fortress. Glitterglen. (Read 281027 times)