[NEXUS] MagCave V: Tilt Your Head, and the Thread Number and Colon Look Like a Face!

[happyturtle]

Sneaky Room

"I understand, Sir." By the sound of it, the tears part has already started. She disappointed her god. She'll endure anything to be worthy again in his eyes. "Heads. A."


Sunnylab

"Good," Sunny says. "I can't do it until after Magtok's network is clean, but after that I will. You can start to think about what kind of body you want until then. Bye Linette!"

Sunny will leave the laptop on, but will go elsewhere, offscreen and out of range of the laptop's webcam, to help Magtok de-Linette his system.


Main Room with Jean >> Trogs

Jean does the pirate illusions, and gives Magtok an Errol Flynn appearance. My, don't you look dashing? And off the pair go to Trog's!

[Reinholdt]

Magbot Central

By the time Sunny and Magtok are done cleaning the rest of the systems, Winston will have finished cleaning the Magbots. Since no one mentioned anything to indicate otherwise, I'm going to presume overall success. Of course, with information he'll double check his work, as well as compare his findings to the actual information given to make sure the information isn't lacking nor his own work lacking.

But otherwise, barring some particular trickery I don't know of, the Magbots should be cleaned.

[Lord Magtok]

Sneaky Room

Magtok flips a coin, and then doesn't even bother to look at it, tucking it away into the cabinet he pulled the thing out of. Linda will never know, though.

"We're starting with injections. They're not of the pain-dulling sort, though. A complicated nanites sort of thing. They'll get into your bloodstream, and then-

...Well, you'll see."

Needles, yay! Time to stab tiny little holes all over Linda's body. Beyond the pain of the needles though, nothing should seem to change. Is that really all Magtok intended to do? Honestly? Seems like a bit of a letdown, really.

"Linda, do you remember the thing I did with my hand in this room? The knife made of bone? I want you to focus your thoughts on that. There are four bones in each finger, not counting the thumb, which has three, and one of those bones compromising the base of each finger is tucked inside your palm. Below that are the eight carpals, they're your wrist bones. Focus on your left hand for me. Focus on those bones."

Oh, so that's what Magtok is doing. Making Linda a shapeshifter by attacking her genetic sequence with one that attempts to violently supercede it, and then asking someone with what is believed to be absolutely no prior experience with anatomical science and biology to rearrange their nerves, bones, and tendons in a way they weren't meant to be positioned. It possible Linda will get lucky, and that Maggy's wrong about his medical knowledge being the reason for his success, rather than natural intuition, but...well, judging from that hissing sound a few yards away, the sort of noise a branding iron might make when dipped in water (oddly specific example, I know), it sounds like Magtok already has plans for such an eventuality.

Sunnylab

Magtok and Sunny go! And with the Magbots clear, that just leaves clones and stuff to deal with!

[happyturtle]

Sneaky Room

Linda tries, really hard. She does know the bones of the hand, so she's not completely out of tune with her body, but she's never shapeshifted before. She focuses hard, and eventually manages to get some of the carpels to weld together. She tries to move further up the hand with it, but the pain makes her lose her concentration. She gasps, and the bones revert to their natural shape.

"I'm sorry, Magtok. It started to happen, but I couldn't do it." A failure. Again. He would reject her now, if she was no use to him.

[Chaotic Bob]

Spoiler

Show

Cloning Vats



Magtok looks left, and then right. Hrm. Now's probably as good a time as any to say that thing he was going to say, isn't it? I mean, since Libby's clearly just floating around, looking at the machinery instead of doing anything with it, or saying much of significance.

"Hey Libby? This is a little off-topic, but do you know what you call someone who loudly insists they know what's best for you, even when you don't agree, and they just sorta get in the way of everything like a huge butt?

A mother. Tell Dionysus I called him that next time you see him. Also, I think his invisible-to-mortals cloak is broken, or he doesn't even bother to use one, or some other third thing like that."

Our dastardly little cyborg in a dress presents his most devilish grin, before punctuating that remark by floating over to Libby's right, and dotting her cheek with a kiss. Something to numb the shock of Maggy knowing all about that wine deal, I think.

"So you're the soul expert; where are we starting?"

Shock is one word for it.
Brief, irrational rage at reality is another.

At least it seems to be conveniently aimed at everyone but Magtok, for the momentary, fractional second it exists.
Also convenient that Dionysus isn't within ten feet of her.

Surveillance equipment within thirty feet of the room may briefly flicker though, as she remembers something she conveniently forgot to do then.
Always, always make sure nothing is watching or listening! Always!
Witnesses to anything more than idle conversation is bad.

And presumably no one is interested in the welfare of the micro-organism population nearby. Seems to be a minor case of sudden existence failure for most of them.
Which strings rather coincidentally into Libby smiling in a happy manner that briefest moment later, when the rage fails.
"Wine gods are rather silly things. He shall be informed."

All in all, that entire episode looked more like a face spasm than anything else, so no one needs to worry!
Unless you're an amoeba!
Then you're probably dead.

Darn overpowered godlings.

Onto the important things!
"We should probably make the physical adjustments first. So, settling that clone-population control would serve as our base?"

Spoiler

Show

[Turning Off the Water Works]

Well.

At least Pinkie isn't here. She would probably do that weird thing where fountains of water come gushing out of her eyes. How does she even do that? Probably best not to think about it.

The Rarity's admonition Sigil sniffs, gradually managing to calm himself down. This is really weird. He hasn't ever cried like this before! Maybe there's some sort of change to his brain chemistry that he isn't use to yet...

That's kind of an unnerving thought. Would having a pony brain change his personality, too? The way he thinks? That's kind of disturbing. And a consequence he hadn't considered. Best not to dwell on it. Just as it's best not to dwell on Pinkie's antics.

Another sniff, "Yeah... she probably wouldn't."

A rather morose sigh follows.

"There has to be something else that we can do!" the unicorn says, stomping on hoof on the floor. "Something else that would be helpful. Something that would give us a better chance at getting through to Twilight..."

Buuut...

He's drawing a blank.

[Calming Ponies]

That's better.
No more bawling you two.


Rarity composes herself further, wiping off a bit of dampness from her face.
"That would be...smart, yes. We shall plan! Plan like we have never bothered to plan before. A plan so utterly fabulous and wonderful that all other plans shall be nothing!"
Wee, overcompensating for embarrassing emotions, with overly enthusiastic ones!
"Well! When we were lost to Twilight during the Discord fiasco, she churned up a little memory spell to remind each of us of Friendship, to pull us out of his influence. Similar to..."
That thing she used at the library. To lock Rarity with that voice.

The unicorn's over-made smile flickers briefly.
"Well, we may not be able to do something like that. But, perhaps something similar?"

[Rebonack]

[Calming Ponies]

Sigil wrinkles his nose a bit. Sniffs. Ponders.

"I've been thinking of all the friendship related spells I know of. Sadly I don't know one that purges the taint of evil beings from beyond the stars. I do know one that's meant to use the magic of Friendship to shatter enchantments, though. Magic used to alter somepony's mind. The only probably is that I'm not sure it would be strong enough on its own."

A huff from the unicorn.

Then a blink.

...they couldn't do that.

Could they?

"We could try talking to her... A telepathic spell would probably be dangerous considering the thing that has glommed onto her. But I can use the seal I placed over that portal to relay a simple verbal broadcast spell."

He looks up at Rarity.

"Do you want to try giving Twilight a call?"

[Lord Magtok]

Sneaky Room

Disappointing. Didn't even get a good scream out of her, just one measly little gasp. She's clearly not trying hard enough.

"You'll learn, then. The bible can be switched out for an anatomy text book, and you can figure it how to do it the right way, without the pain.

Next, I want you to close your eyes and focus on your face. You've seen yourself in a mirror, haven't you? Seen every last wrinkle, blemish, and imperfection? I want them gone, Linda. If you are to leave this cave, we need you to be virtually unrecognizable. Reborn as someone new, a stranger even to the people who knew you best. The Dahilan they knew is dead, Linda. Let me see the angel I know is hiding beneath the surface. Do it, Linda, or you will force my hand."

That hissing noise draws closer.

Cloning Vats

Magtok withdraws slightly, and makes a mental note not to throw any big surprises at Libby like that again. Holy jegus fudge, that was absolutely the most unsettling thing Magtok has seen this whole week.

"Err...yeah. That bit over there, that thing."

Magtok's not paying as much attention to Libby as he probably should, still a little unsettled by that thing her face did, but he definitely heard the words 'population' and 'control', so it's not too hard to figure out what she wants.

"Libby, I erm...it's not any of my business and you don't have to answer, but none of that was, errr...a common thing for you, was it?"

Libitina and her silly rules. It all seems so zany and ridiculous to Maggy, but what if it's not just a quirk? What if other deities are being far worse to her than Dio, and she's just letting them walk all over her in their muddy god-sandals? She seems to admire Magtok's freedom and reckless approach to everything, regardless of what rules others might try to impose. What if that's because all her peers and associates are humongous toolbag jerk-bastards? It wouldn't exactly be a strange, unexpected thing for a deity to do, would it?

[happyturtle]

Sneaky Room

Linda sobs, and tries to focus on her face. This is both easier and harder. It's mostly reshaping soft tissue, which is easier, but without a mirror, she doesn't really know very well what she's shaping it into. She succeeds in making herself unrecognisable, but only by making herself look like a burn victim with the melty features she comes up with.

[Lord Magtok]

Sneaky Room

"You look like a goddamned tumor right now, Linda. That's not what I asked of you."

Looks like it's branding iron time, then. Magtok said there would be humiliation involved, and here it is. Linda's bare flesh, her posterior specifically, is hit with a scalding hot branding iron, shaped in that classic M shape that Magtok has made his trademark. There's no way that's not going to hurt like hell, both physically and psychologically.

What Linda doesn't know, and hopefully never will, is that this particular part of the torture isn't even close to serious. Magtok is struggling to keep a straight face, finding this particular assault completely hilarious. Linny strapped herself in, expecting a proper beatdown for her crimes, but Magtok just used it as an excuse to give her superpowers, and an embarrassing, obscenely painful butt tattoo.

[happyturtle]

Sneaky Room

Yup. More screams. Haven't heard those for a couple of days, have you, Magtok? It must sound like music to your ears.

And the tears too are running freely. That must be fun to see. Especially since she's not crying because of the pain, but because she failed you, Magtok. She failed her god. And when you're finished torturing her, you're the one she'll look to for comfort. If all you do is give her is a few words of encouragement and leave her locked up for the night, she'll cling to those words and make her world from them.

She's known so little love in her life. So very little. One could almost feel sympathy for the tortured woman with the broken mind. But let us not forget that she's given out as much cruelty as she's received, and that she'll need to die many more times before she's paid the debt of lives she's taken.

You've twisted her mind completely, Magtok. Made her completely yours, body, heart, and mind. She's your angel, Magtok. Your worshipper. Your superpowered, immortal killer. Everything she is now, everything she does from now on - you own it.

What happens next, Magtok?

[Lord Magtok]

Sneaky Room

Oh gods...he'd forgotten how much he hated the screams. He thought he wanted them to return, but once they're back, he cringes at the sound. Whatever part of him wanted to make her suffer for every last death, die in nightmarish pain for each life she ruined...it just falls to pieces at the sound of her wailing and screaming.

****, Magtok. Is this you? Is this what you are? What you've become? You're as much a part of this sick, perverse joke as you are the comedian delivering it. You didn't make Linda yours, she made you hers. You sank all the way down to her level, and then had the nerve to look surprised when Linda fell in love with it, attaching herself to that hideous reflection of her own monstrous soul. Escalus was right, you are wretched, twisted bastard and self-righteous abomination for what you're doing. This is wrong, and it needs to stop. Linda needs to die, Escalus needs to pay, and Zeus has to be utterly humiliated and then cut to ribbons, but not like this. Never like this.

"I...oh ****. ****!"

Magtok's will shatters to pieces. It's not that he doesn't hate Linda, he well and truly does, and quite intensely, too. He just doesn't have the stomach for this. He can't make her cry like that anymore, not after all the pretend affection they've shared. It's a weakness, a nauseating, crippling vulnerability. He wants to continue, he wants to carve and burn and bludgeon his name across her entire body until she's died six times for every person she's ever hurt. He just...he just can't do it. He can't psychologically distance himself from the horrific act, no matter how ridiculous it might be, or how much it might have been the sort of thing you'd see in a dumb Tom and Jerry cartoon.

"Shh...we're done. It's okay, Linda, it's over. Shh...I forgive you. I love you. Stop crying. I order you to stop crying. Please."

Magtok hurriedly removes Linda from the restraints, tossing the hot iron aside as he wraps his arms around her and glides away. Getting her back into her clothes would be too difficult under these conditions, unfortunately, and there's no way he's going to risk rushing out the door with her naked butt waving about in the air for anyone to see. This might be an abandoned, officially off-the-records part of the MagCave as far as the interns and such are concerned, but there's always a chance Winston will be wandering around at random, and we can't allow him to know any more about Linda than he does already, which is too damned much as is.

"You don't need to do anything else for me tonight, Linda. I promise. We're finished. You can stop now. I promise."

[Chaotic Bob]

[Cloning Vats]

Libby seems to be failing to completely react as if anything strange just happened with that rage.
Blotting it out, as it were.

Not a thing that happened.

She's just going over there, to fiddle with the necessary components to get their venture started!
Presumably Magtok will help, just in case.

Although one way or another, she'll pause a bit at his question.
"Was which part common?"
Was that avoidant tone? Possibly.
She might just want him to actually be specific.

Or maybe it actually is a bothersome topic.

[Wary Ponies]

Rarity frowns, faintly, at Sigil's presented idea.
Calling out to Twilight, in that place?

She wants to, to see if her friend is alright...
"Verbal broadcast...just putting our voices out into that place they went to? Wouldn't that mean the...possessor would also be able to partake of the speech?"

[Lord Magtok]

Cloning Vats

"Nevermind. Work to do."

Magtok drops the matter for now and helps out with soul junk. Mark my words, though, this isn't the last Libby will hear of that particular subject of discussion. Cowing in fear and acting as a doormat for others is no way to live, god or mortal. The only way to solve your problems with any degree of finality and pride are to rush at them head on, screaming and hollering and praying that your thick, reinforced steel skull is enough to take down whatever is stupid enough to stay in the goddamned way. I mean, it's what Magtok does, and it's gotten him this far, right?

[Chaotic Bob]

[Cloning Vats]

Well, Libby did toss Dio away with a shovel...
So perhaps part of that message got through, even if he didn't see that part.

She possibly agrees, at the moment!

But that doesn't matter.
Let's get this done.

Quite willing to just focus on this, Libby doesn't press his own counter-avoidance. Or polite dropping. Whatever it was.
"Okay, as long as the limiter is set up, to keep the population at a stable amount, the important thing will be to establish the soul cycling. Not too much work for you, although I may have to give you a briefly uncomfortable out-of-body-experience. Unless you'd rather nominate someone else."

This sounds like something she probably should have mentioned earlier.

[Rebonack]

[Pony Phone Calls!]

Sigil Stripe nods slowly. "Yeah. It would be able to hear us too. Though I'm not sure if it would able able to even respond. When we encountered it over the city it couldn't talk. It was able to communicate telepathically when it grabbed me. But I don't think it can actually speak."

Or...

At least it didn't do so before. Or even try to.

Now?

Who knows.

"I mean... did Princess Luna seem possessed when she was Nightmare Moon? Or was her personality just all... twisted?"

[Lord Magtok]

Cloning Vats

Magtok frowns. "Is this a one-time event, or are you saying that every I die, I'd need you to..."

Magtok seals his mouth shut. That sounds dangerously like dependence on someone else for his immortality. Not a good thing.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Cloning Vats]

Magtok is supplied with a comforting little smile.
He's worrying too much!
"No, nothing like that. I merely need to get a proper feel of the soul for the magic, a baseline to attach to it and recognize the others with."

No need to make it more tedious than necessary.


[Pony Questions Pony]

A proper question!
Rarity things on it for a second, realizing rather unfortunately that she may not have paid proper attention to Nightmare Moon during that initial encounter.

May have had other concerns on her mind, like the whole "Nighttime eternal" thing and how her armor matched her eyes.
"Well...considering how meek the Princess seemed afterwards it seemed almost completely different...
Rather awkward at the Nightmare Night festival as well, although she seems abnormally confident today."
Possibly possessed? Or perhaps afterwards she simply hasn't been able to remove enough guilt to show her true self.

[happyturtle]

Sneaky Room

"It's not okay. I failed you," Linda says. God help her, she's actively trying to stop crying on Magtok's orders - holding back sobs that are releasing their energy as hiccups instead; blinking continuously as if it were possible for that to actually work at stemming the heavy flow of tears. She sounds like she's trying to say more, but it's utterly unintelligible right now.

[Lord Magtok]

Sneaky Room

For the longest time, Magtok has nothing to say to that. He's run out of words, used up every last clever thought that he could've verbalized without compromising this awful, wicked, monstrous scheme of his. He lands somewhat roughly in a far corner of the room, slumped against the floor, with his back against the wall and Linda's helpless form still held captive in his arms.

"No, my fault. I asked too much. I pushed you too hard. I ordered you to walk, when you still haven't learned to crawl. It's just...we only have so long, I thought I'd-"

Magtok holds Linda closer, hating himself every moment as he does so. He let pity and empathy destroy him, allowed Linda's own fragility and loathsome weakness to become his own. Now he can't even impale the disgusting monster with a harpoon like she did to him, can't do things half as bad as having his limbs carved open with a pair of shears, for fear of being haunted by those awful screams all over again.

Cloning Vats

"...Oh. Well that sounds fine, then."

It doesn't actually sound like anything even remotely close to fine, but if Magtok had to leave his soul with any of the many reapers and Deaths and corpse gods of the Nexus, it'd probably be this one.

[Rebonack]

[Pony Questing Pony]

Sigil taps a hoof, considering the reply.

Well...

Even if there's only a chance to talk to Twilight...

He finishes drawing the array on the ground before taking the sunstone fragment in his hooves and peering at it from several angles. He then raises a hoof, horn briefly glowing, before smiting the gem!

The stone shatters into tiny fragments!

And six perfectly cut gemstones. These are placed at various locations on the array and then- "Twi should be able to hear us wherever she might be. Hopefully she can still speak for herself."

Sigil gestures with a hoof. "You should probably speak first. Just place your hoof there to activate the array."

[happyturtle]

Sneaky Room

Linda clings to Magtok for as long as he'll hold her, her hiccup-sobs and tears gradually subsiding. Her thoughts are focused on two things: first, that he loves her - he actually said the words. And second, that she has to do everything she can to please him.

She shuts out the pain until there is nothing left. The burn from the brand is really is only a minor sort of pain compared to how it feels to come back from death, after all. And with her mind focused, and without the pressure of Magtok standing over her already angry, she does what she couldn't do when she was on the cross.

Magtok's first clue of this will likely be when he feels the index finger of her left hand, which is resting against his neck, shift into a razor sharp blade.

[Lord Magtok]

Sneaky Room

Oh crap. This is exactly why you shouldn't have taken the blame for this, Magtok. Precisely why you should've just said you're sorry, but made it clear that it was still all Linda's fault, like you'd been doing up until that landing a few minutes ago. Now she's decided to agree with you, has a knife to your throat, and you're going to die like the worthless scum that you-

Wait. Since when did Linda have a knife? She didn't have any pockets to hide one in, and you took those scissors she'd been concealing earlier, so how could she...I mean, unless she made one out of her own hand, but if she's done that, then that means...

"You did it...you did it, Linda."

Believe it or not, that's good news for the both of them. If Linda can avoid doing anything wrong, Magtok doesn't have to maintain that loving but harsh whip-cracking image. If his angel doesn't slip up, he won't have to trouble himself by fulfilling the sort of cold, merciless punishments that her family conditioned to expect when she makes an error. The nightmares and guilt and pain don't have to be any worse than they already are!

He reaches a hand out towards her wrist, to gently nudge the hand away, if there's still time left to do so. It occurs to him, perhaps a little too late, that whether or not the blade is a knife or a weapon carved from her own bone, that he's still left himself at the mercy of a goddamn lunatic. Nobody can see or hear either of them in here, even more so than in those other rooms he'd tormented her in. He's alone, stranded, helpless.

What happens next, Linda?

[Chaotic Bob]

[Cloning Vats]

Have no fear, dear Magtok, it will only hurt for a moment!
A bit like a full body pinch, followed by a peculiar sensation of floating around in cold gel some distance from the ground.

That'll be all! Nice and simple, relatively brief, as Libby apparently only needs a few seconds to get done what needs to be done.

No need for peculiar arcane rituals, floating glyphs, or spell circles.
She seems to know what she's doing well enough to avoid the finery for the sake of expediency here.
Get permission, get it done.
"Phase Two check, then."

[Risky Connections]

Rarity raises her hoof and hovers it over the array, staring at it with a somewhat nervous look.
One who didn't know better, may compare said look to her "oh, but it's dirty, do I have to?" look.
"What...if this provokes it?"

[happyturtle]

Sneaky Room

Magtok moves her hand away with no difficulty. His angel wouldn't dream of hurting him. Unless it were some sort of last ditch murder-suicide before they were captured by Remnant or Escalus or something. Then she'd have no problem lovingly slitting his throat to be his angel of mercy. But no need to worry about that fate now.

"It's only three bones. I don't think I can do the whole hand yet," Linda says. "But I'll get better for you, Magtok. I swear I will."

[Rebonack]

[Ponies and Not Wanting to Provoke Eldritch Abominations]

Sigil considers that question for a few moments!

Then levitates a simple silver charm on the end of a looped cord to Rarity. The charm looks vaugely like an idealized tree branch, identical to the black spot in the middle of his largest neck stripe.

...in fact...

If one looks VERY closely all of his stripes are made of that strange symbol, just very small to the point that they look like solid lines from a distance.

"The Elder Sign. Wards off the touch of all sorts of nasty things, including that monster that grabbed Twilight. So long as you have this one it shouldn't be able to do anything to you with its magic, doubtful as that would be. When it tried talking to me before it seemed... calm. Emotionless. I don't think 'provoked' or 'angry' is something I can be," Sigil frowns slightly as he offers the simple necklace, a look of hurt obvious on his face. "If I hadn't been so stupid and given one of these to Twi as soon as I met her none of this would have happened..."

[Lord Magtok]

Cloning Vats

"That was...we're not going to have to do that ever again for any reason whatsoever, are we?"

Magtok feel terribly unsettled about everything right now. Whilst the experience wasn't that awful as far as physical sensations go, the mere fact that it was so simple and effortless and forgettable...if Libby can do it, what's stopping everyone else, everywhere, forever?

"So umm...Phase 3, then?"

Should be a heck of a lot easier than 2, based on what Libby's said.

Sneaky Room

"I know that, Linda, I know. But rest for me now. Relax your hand, return to how you were, and just lie here in my arms. We still have things to discuss, you know. It's what we came here for, after all."

Magtok leans forward, putting his lips mere inches away from hers. "I've obtained the soul of a dragon, my angel. It pulses with arcane might, burns like the hottest of hell's furnaces, and holds power enough to fuel the entire MagCave for centuries. We don't have the technology yet to organize a transplant, but we will, and very soon. You'll have to work hard to earn it, of course, but..."

Magtok smiles, wrapping a hand in her hair, before leaning forward that extra few inches. He kisses her deeply, but only for a moment, pulling back to finish that sentence he'd left hanging.

"I know you'll make me proud."

[happyturtle]

Sneaky Room

Linda lets her hand revert to normal and relaxes in Magtok's arms. A dragon's soul... she doesn't even really know what that would do to her. Would she still be herself? But does it matter, if it's what her Master wants of her? No, of course not. She'll be anything he wants. Anything that will make him happy.

"Escalus thinks taking his immortality away from me is something to fear. But I know you can give me immortality too, if I earn it."

Unseen by the two twisted lovers, the sun slips below the horizon. Magtok feels his prisoner tense up in his arms as the pain of immortality burns through her, healing the recently placed brand, the injuries from combat. Even the haircut is undone.

But then there's an edit war as the healing tries to decide whether to obey the DNA of her original cells or the cells that have been edited by nanites. It was simpler when it was just an extra organ, but the nanites simply haven't had time yet to rewrite every cell. Linda breaks out into a cold sweat and starts to seizure in Magtok's arms.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Cloning Vats]

"Probably not."
The raw ease of it is likely due to Libby's dominion over souls! So hopefully it won't be too likely that others will jump Magtok with it.
He's just being overly paranoid, right?

"Phase 3! The machine will presently keep you steady population-wise, and ensure that souls are properly kept in the closed system.
Just need to make sure the souls will properly attach now, after integrating into your machinery."
Unless she's forgetting a step.
Which she's pretty sure she isn't.

...but she could be wrong.
"Now, how should we ensure that, hm?"

[Let's Talk to Twilight]

"Okay...just as long as it doesn't hurt Twilight."
Sigil is also promptly thwapped with the side of a knitting needle.
No moping. Bad.

But Rarity doesn't actively comment on that (won't help her feel better either), instead just putting on the amulet, taking a breath, and reaching out to place her hoof in the array.
"Just like this then? Twilight, dear, can you hear me?"
This is not her particular forte, magic like this, so the unicorn seems a bit hesitant in her speech.

The response, however, is not so hesitant, or even delayed.
"Of course we can, Rarity."

[Rebonack]

[Pony Pony Nightmare Pony]

Sigil mumbles a small "Thanks..." upon getting thwacked. No being all down in the dumps, Sigil! You couldn't have known that this mess would be happening. Just focus all your efforts on getting your friend back.

And when Twilight's voice comes through the array the unicorn breaths a sigh of relief. At least they know the thing hadn't just killed her. That would have been pretty terrible.

Sigil takes a breath before speaking up himself. "Twilight? We wanted to find out how you're doing. Make sure that your... ummm... benefactor isn't hurting you or anything."

He really isn't sure how to refer to the Star.

"And to let you know that we haven't forgotten about you. I'm so glad you can hear us, Twilight. The last time I tried talking to you... you just stared at me blankly. I was worried your mind was gone."

Sigil glances over at Rarity to see if she has anything she wants to add.

[Lord Magtok]

Sneaky Room

Aaaaugh! Oh gods, what is she even doing?! Why, why are you doing that, Linda, why?!

"I...Linda? ****, are you...****!"

Magtok shoves her naked, flailing body right off himself and to the floor. It doesn't even occur to him that maybe those injections had anything to do with what's unfolding now, he's too busy being absolutely terrified of the appalling outburst happening right on top of him.

"Stay right there! I'll get some Magbots to help you. Everything's going to be fine, I promise! I'll be right back!"

He flees the room, and doesn't contact any Magbots. He doesn't come right back, either. By the time he's caught his breath, gotten his heart to stop hammering in his chest, and realized that Linda is in no danger of experiencing any lasting physical harm, he just goes right on walking. What he needs right now, more than anything else, is to get the **** out of there. Out of that room, away from that girl, distance himself from the whole goddamned mess that his life has become. He needs some relief, even if just for the night.

"And just where do you think you're going, brother?"

Instead, he finds ants. Thousands of them. More ants than he would dare count, swarming all over a clone. A Magtok, with a strange implant where the shiny cyborg left side of his face is supposed to be. This peculiar aberration doesn't even show the slightest sign of discomfort, doesn't even twitch as ants crawl all across his face, his arms, his neck, and his chest.

"I...I don't know, I just thought I'd-"

"Stow it. Do you even know who I am, you sick son of a bitch? Do you know what I've done, what I've sacrificed, the things I've seen?!"

A look of horror dawns upon the face of Linda's favorite MagClone. Ants. Even with the MagNet down, ants have been everywhere. Guarding, scavenging, building...but most importantly, watching. Watching him, witnessing his fall from grace, his descent into depravity and madness, taking notes on everything and everyone, reporting it all to this one Magtok standing before him.

"That's right, ManofSteel, I know. I know your secret, I know what you've been whispering in her ear, I've heard all about what you've been doing behind our backs with that...that thing! You disgust me. You've betrayed us, you've betrayed all of us. More importantly though, you betrayed her. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't tell everyone what you've been doing in the dark."

"I...please! I just need more time. I just need-"

"You're weak, MoS, and we don't tolerate weakness. You have ten days to submit an outline of your attack plans for Zeus, get Linda to run the entire combat course without failure, and master the shapeshifting powers you've given her. If you fail, I'll report your moral failings and you'll be culled. If you succeed, I'll report your moral failings and you'll merely be very likely to be culled. Try to escape the MagCave with your sex slave, and my swarm will eat the both of you alive. So long as we leave enough of her intact, her biomass will prove sufficient to sustain the insects, and help us reach...oh, maybe an entire 76% of our old security rating?"

The clone has a sort of dreamy look in his eye for a moment, but that passes soon enough, and Linda's clone is stabbed at with that icy Magtok glare once more.

"Do I make myself clear?"

"C-crystal, sir."

"Good. Now go back to her, MoS. Go back to your Whore of Babylon, she's already having an absolute fit waiting for you."

Linda's clone shivers as he walks away back to whence he came, thoroughly unsettled by the other clone's predatory grin, and just unsettled in general by that entire showdown. He knew he didn't have much time...but ten days? And did he say 'biomass' earlier? Gods, that clone sounds almost exactly like Pat used to sound. That implant did more than just give him control over the swarm, it looks like it's slowly allowed the swarm to take control over him. Linda's Magtok isn't the only clone being corrupted by the constant presence of another. If this becomes a pattern, heavens help the poor bastard stuck with Libby.

Speaking of which...

Cloning Vats

"Err...some sort of implant, maybe? Starting fresh with a batch of clones to modify from scratch would just mean that we'd be neglecting the Mags who are alive now, but I'm reasonably sure there's room in the chest cavity for some small device for existing clones, something that'd say 'Hey soul, go over this way when the body you're in stops breathing', right?"

Magtok tries not to sound like he's totally in over his head and barely keeping up with Libby. He tries. I don't think he's having much luck with succeeding at that, though.