//------------------------------// // Brute force Science // Story: City of Guilds // by donceluzza //------------------------------// City of Guilds Chapter 3: Brute Force Science An Izzet Vedalken noticed Twilight Sparkle coming towards him in her traditional robes. “Twilight Sparkle of the Izmundi, we’ve been expecting you,” he said. Twilight stood before the entrance to one of Niv-Mizzet’s Blistercoil facilities, adorned in her traditional formal Izmundi wear. She wore lightweight armor covered by a flowing red and blue cloak, and on her back were a collection of various materials like pipes, connector tissue, electricity coils, and a bottle of concentrated blue mana. “Well, let’s get this over with, what seems to be the problem?” The Vedalken led her inside the Blistercoil, allowing Twilight a look at Niv-Mizzet’s firsthand work. Niv-Mizzet had commissioned the Blistercoils a few years back, but no one could figure out why. When production wasn’t as quick as he hoped, he used his magic to build them himself. The inside of the Blistercoil facility was much like the inside of many other Izzet facilities: steamy. Large pipes and vents constantly belched steam as they produced more power for various areas of Ravnica. The corridors of the Blistercoil facility were tightly packed, as it was meant more for cramming a large amount of power into a small space than being easily accessible. “Well, Miss Sparkle, the Blistercoil was attacked recently, and Niv-Mizzet said to inform members of the Izmundi if that happened," the Vedalken clarified. "And, well, you are considered to be rather close to Niv-Mizzet.” “All right, I get it.” Twilight was rather annoyed at having to investigate the Blistercoil rather than working on her latest experiment. She was designing a new blaster rifle for the chemisters of the Izzet league and was scheduled to perform tests against captured trolls today. On the one hoof she was glad that Niv-Mizzet trusted her so much, on the other she wished that the job was more exciting. The Vedalken finally brought her to the central Blistercoil generator. The central generator was housed in a large circular room, wedged between hundreds of pipes and vents. The generator had been ripped to shreds with pieces strewn all over the floor of the room. Small hand-made axes jutted from the generator walls and the symbol of a flaming tree was etched into their handles. “The Gruul did this?” Twilight asked. “Yes, Miss Sparkle," the Vedalken confirmed. "We believe that it was the tribe belonging to Borborygmos.” Twilight went to work surveying the damage. Replacing the coils alone would cost more zinos than she dare dream, not to mention a section of the city would be running on older backup generators, which would cause some complaints against the Izzet for ‘laziness.’ Overall this was a costly attack; Borborygmos wouldn’t have done this for no reason, not even Rakdos would cause this much damage to the city’s infrastructure on a whim. “Alright, I’m going to see what I can do to get this thing generating power again," Twilight said with a huff. "You can leave me for now.” “Of course, Miss Sparkle.” The Vedalken walked away, leaving her to her devices. Twilight used her magic to scan the wreckage for any trace amounts of mana she could use to rebuild the generator. Magic worked a lot differently in the rest of the multiverse than on Equestria. Rather than magic being an inherent ability in certain segments of the populace, it was something that anyone could do, provided that they knew spells and could siphon mana. Mana itself came in five distinct varieties. There was Blue mana, which was useful for the knowledgeable and intellectual, Red for chaotic passion, White for order and morality, Green for nature magic, and Black for ambition and death. Twilight, being a member of the Izzet league, specialized in blue and red mana, and could use them to repair and build technologies with her magic. She found trace amounts of blue mana and started stringing them together to rebuild parts of the generator. Suddenly Twilight was blasted back by a sudden surge of mana. “What was that?” Twilight reached out and grasped for the strands of blue mana, only to find large quantities of blue and red mana floating around the generator. “Why is there so much mana floating around a dead generator?” The lavender unicorn continued to scan the generator but couldn’t find any reason for the mana that had collected around it. Defeated, she continued to rebuild the generator when she located a few pieces that weren’t in the original designs. “What are these buffers doing here? With these connected to the chemister coil, and then fed through the cables power line.” Twilight continued to mutter to herself as she repaired the generator’s extra parts. Eventually she managed to reconnect the extra bits and get them working again. “Now it’s time to figure out what is going on.” After scanning the coils once again, Twilight finally found where the coils power was going: it was generating more mana than the coils should be generating, but it was sending the energy somewhere else. “Nivix.” With that, Twilight ran out and headed back to her mentor’s aerie. Shining Armor paced back and forth in his room, mentally debating whether or not to go through with his plan. The plan was to ask his sister, Twilight Sparkle, for help in the investigation. She had access to more sections of the city, probably wouldn’t ask for anything too dangerous in return, and was a powerful mage with plenty of great ideas that could find a way to find the killer and catch them too. “Sweetheart, why haven’t you sent the letter yet?” Cadence called from the other room. “I-I well…” Shining stammered. “Sweetheart," Cadence cooed, "she’s your sister and I’m sure she’ll be more than willing to help.” “Well yeah, but...” Shining knew that Cadence was right, not just because she was his wife. He knew that Twilight would agree to help with the investigation, so why didn’t he want to ask her? Back on Equestria he would have had no problem asking his little Twily for help, so what changed that? It wasn’t like he expected his little sister to always be his little Twily forever, but here she was… different. Many considered Niv-Mizzet to be rather batty, or just interested in experimenting for no discernable purpose. If that was the case, Twilight must be his long lost daughter, because it seemed that all she did now was experiment and make weirds and various other monsters. “She’s just not the Twily that I remember.” He paused, unsure of what he should say next. “She’s so focused on her experiments and everything, you know she doesn’t care who gets hurt or how just so long as she gets some visible results that she can put on some report for that dragon.” Cadence walked into the room and put her arms around Shining. “You can’t just avoid her, you have to accept that she’s changed. Do you really want to lose your little sister?” The thought struck him like a ton of bricks. Of course he didn’t want to lose his little sister, his little Twily. He finished writing the note and handed it to an owl outside. “Give this to a gryphon for transport, and make sure that Niv-Mizzet gets it before noon.” The owl cooed in response and flew off. “There, I have to meet with her now.” Cadence hugged him again and kissed his cheek, “You won’t regret this Shining, I promise.” Shining hugged his wife back. “I hope so, I hope so.” Twilight walked into the aerie of the Nivix with some trepidation. Whatever was going on with the Blistercoils had been kept a secret for a reason, and she was certain that Niv-Mizzet didn’t design those extra mana coils on accident. What did he want kept secret, and why? “My student, is something the matter?" bellowed Niv-Mizzet. Twilight stopped in her tracks when she realized she had walked into the middle of the aerie without actually saying anything. “Oh, Niv-Mizzet sir, I’ve come to report on the Blistercoil situation.” “Good, I thought that you just sleepwalked in here.” The old dragon chuckled. “So, who damaged my lovely generators?” the dragon asked while looking at various dials. “Well, considering the damage, remnants of weapons, and symbols carved into the metal," Twilight robotically listed off, "it’s a confirmed Gruul attack.” “Any knowledge of the sect that committed it?” asked the age-old dragon. “Borborygmos definitely, the shape of the axes was consistent with his tribe." Twilight paused a second. "Also whoever wanted these things taken down knew what they were looking to break.” “Explain.” Niv-Mizzet always spoke little when dealing with issues. Despite being the leader of the guild he treated problems like these as though they weren’t his to deal with. “Well, I was unable to immediately repair the generator due to the condition of numerous key pieces," Twilight explained. "Taking into consideration the normal intelligence level of a Gruul, the only one I know of that could have done this would be Borborygmos.” “A satisfactory answer as always, Twilight Sparkle. I will send word to Borborygmos to cease his attacks and find out what he wants.” The dragon began to turn his back to Twilight. Twilight inhaled; she still had to confront him. “There was one more thing.” The dragon turned back to Twilight. “Yes?” “I found a piece of the generator that wasn’t in the original plans, a kind of second generator.” The dragon’s eyes narrowed, almost daring her to continue. Twilight swallowed, moment of truth. “This second generator seemed to be producing an explosive amount of mana, all of it being funneled here to the aerie.” The dragon smiled, flashing his teeth to Twilight. “And?” “And I want to know why that mana is being channeled directly into your chamber. I think I deserve an explanation after I fixed that part of the generator for you.” Niv-Mizzet looked genuinely surprised. “You? Fixed the Manacoil?” Twilight smiled. “So that’s what they’re called.” “Well, it’s none of your concern what the mana is for, but I’m collecting it for an experiment of my own.” Twilight’s eyes lit up like a Hearth’s Warming Eve tree. Niv-Mizzet was considered the smartest being on Ravnica. He formed a guild devoted to collecting the other greatest minds of Ravnica and having them advance Ravnican technology. But even so, he almost never did anything himself. “You’re working on something? What is it? How will it revolutionize life, machines, etcetera? Do you need an assistant? Secretary? Courier? Baker?” “Twilight,” his voice boomed, cutting off her rant. “This is a personal experiment. Your concern, while appreciated, isn’t needed.” He readjusted himself, lying down on his perch. “Now, is there anything else that you need Twilight?” “No, sir," Twilight stammered. "I’ll be going now.” “Actually, there was a message for you earlier," the dragon quickly added. "You’re needed at Pivlic’s bar in Tin City.” “Why am I needed there?” Twilight asked. The dragon flashed a toothy grin. “Your presence was requested by the Boros Legion. Apparently, they want you to help with an investigation.” “Well they can kiss my…” “And the one who requested your presence was a certain equine captain,” Niv-Mizzet clarified. Twilight stopped, the curse stuck in her mouth. She sighed. “Alright, I’ll meet him there.” Shining sat at the bar, the one that he had been to yesterday, waiting for his sister. Cadence had convinced him that he needed to talk to her, but he was still apprehensive. For one, the Boros weren’t exactly popular amidst the Izzet League, probably because it’s illegal to explode various populated areas of Ravnica. Twilight herself had to be arrested by him on a few occasions. “Are ya going to order anything, ‘captain’?” The bartending devil today seemed a lot less patient with him than the human one from yesterday. “Alright, I guess I’ll order something," Shining responded, annoyed. "What would you recommend for a guy who’s about to ask his sister, who he put in jail once, for help?” The bartender nodded slightly before mixing together a foul looking, and smelling, concoction and setting it in front of the captain. The drink looked as though it was made from thick black ooze. “Troll Tonic. Made from Troll blood, liquor, and scorpion venom, distilled of course.” The bar looked over at Shining with expectant faces. Any other time Shining would have declined or asked for something less… icky. But Shining Armor was a desperate pony. “Alright, bottoms up.” He gulped down the mystery drink, which tasted just as awful as it looked, and seemed with just that to earn the respect of the bartender. “Good job, Captain, not a lot of folks can stomach a drink like that.” A few drunken humans clapped for Shining, and one viashino patted him on the back. “Another?” Shining simply nodded his head as the bartender brewed him another. “Starting the party without the guest?" a female voice echoed from the door. "You’ve certainly lost a little chivalry since I saw you last, BBBFF.” Shining twirled around to see the visage of a mare in the doorway to the bar. Twilight was wearing traditional Izmundi robes and several bags and patches containing scraps of metal, cords, wires, and various other sundries. “Twilight, come here. I need to talk to you.” “Oh I know, Niv-Mizzet told me that you wanted the help of a–hmm, what did you call me last time we talked?–insane tinkerer, explosion obsessed nutter, mad scientist, and my personal favorite, you called me a dragon’s mistress,” Twilight said, the smile on her face betraying the venom in her tone. Shining sighed. “I am aware that the last time that we were together, I didn’t mince words.” “No, really,” Twilight deadpanned. “But I want to start this conversation by apologizing and asking that we start with a fresh slate. I need your help with this case, and I want my sister back. I don’t want to lose you, Twily.” Shining’s voice dropped with that last statement. Twilight smiled a little and gave a big hug to her brother. “I’ll forgive you, I get it, alright.” She used her magic to combine some of her various materials into a small, pony-sized barstool and sat herself down next to Shining. “So, should we start with the case?” “No, I want to get to know the new you, my new sister.” “Okay," Twilight said, sort of confused. "So, who should start, me or you?” “Well, why don’t you start? Just tell me what happened yesterday or the day before after Celestia went to visit you.” “Well, I’ve been working on a new blaster rifle for the chemister class of the Izzet. Yesterday I finally got the size of the chamber right and the balance between the mercury and mana levels, and after mixing in a dash of petroleum and solid transduction fluid into the mixing chamber, which shortens the blast time but sharpens the blast so as to increase the lethality of the round…” “Okay," Shining interrupted, "I got about one third of that.” “Ah got even less," the bartender casually responded. "Miss, would you like a drink?” “Oh yes please, just a simple beer.” The bartender nodded and handed her back a simple glass and passed Shining the second Troll Tonic. “Never took you for a beer person, Twily.” “Well, the first time I successfully completed an experiment, adjustments to the collectors on most Izzet generators to absorb and reuse stray mana, the other guys in my section invited me out for a drink.” She took a swig. “Needless to say, it being the first time I had drank period, I was horribly drunk by the end of the night.” “Twily, I have a serious question about that evening.” Twilight nodded and looked him in the eyes. “Did you sleep with anyone that night?” After a pause, Twilight and Shining burst out laughing at the accusation. “Should I take that as a yes?” “No, no, I don’t think so anyway." Shining couldn't tell if she was joking or not. Twilight continued, "So I decided to become a better drinker and started ‘rewarding’ myself for each semi-successful experiment.” “Spike always did tell you to get out more.” “I know, he’d be so proud.” The two siblings laughed jubilantly. “So what did you do yesterday? I mean, besides your wife.” Shining snorted. “Wow, never thought I would hear jokes like that from you, Twily.” He took a swig of the tonic, causing his stomach to churn. He was unsure if he was already drunk, or if his stomach, like him, could smell how bad the drink smelled. “Well, almost immediately after Scootaloo’s death, we were contacted by the Orzhov who wanted to help with the case.” “Well, I guess that’s okay, since you said that they weren’t suspects.” "Actually" Shining clarified, “I did think that they were suspects.” “But Celestia said…” Twilight trailed off, questioning whether or not Celestia just misheard Shining. “Well, anyway,” Shining said, taking another swig of the repugnant tonic, “as it turns out the Orzhov wanted to help out in exchange for something called a Scry Tome.” “The Scry Tome?" Twilight questioned. "That thing that Niv-Mizzet has in the aerie?” “Apparently we at the Boros have a few others. Actually, what was stranger was that I checked the storeroom after Trixie told me…” “Wait, Trixie, the Great and Powerful?" Twilight asked. “You know her?” Shining responded, shocked. “Back in Ponyville, yeah, how was she getting along?” Twilight asked with genuine worry in her voice. “She’s fine, collector/minister for the Orzhov," the pony captain stated. "Anyway, she said that there were only five of these things and that the Boros had the other four, so I checked and you know what… I still don't know why she wants one so badly,” Shining said as he took the final swig of his drink. “That is strange, I’ve never even seen Niv-Mizzet use his before I just figured it was some piece of junk, the Orzhov were willing to help a Boros investigation for access to one of these things?” Twilight might not follow interguild politics that much, but she did know that the Orzhov didn’t very well like the Boros. The Orzhov pretended to be a church, but they made their money on underground trading and black market dealings, things that the Boros would arrest people for. “I know. So, Trixie was helping me out with the investigation and so far we have two really, really bad, hole-ridden theories.” He sighed and pushed the glass away, “One, Rainbow Dash killed her.” “That can’t be…” Twilight started to object, before Shining cut her off. “Hear me out Twily, Rainbow Dash could have killed her because, apparently, Scootaloo was planning on fighting Rainbow because the two of them had a grudge or something.” “It’s out of character for Rainbow Dash to do something like that. If she was going to fight Scootaloo, she would fight her she’d make it as splashy as possible," Twilight said. "There would be storms in the sky that made arrows pointing to the fight.” “Yeah," Shining admitted, "and leaving her body in the Promenade doesn’t make a whole lot of sense either.” “That has to be your weakest theory right?” Twilight took another swig of her beer. “Right?” “That’s the problem," Shining began to sheepishly admit. "The other theory is that it was the Dimir.” Twilight burst out laughing again, “The Dimir, really, that’s the scientific conclusion you’ve reached?” She laughed harder and harder, soon being joined by Shining. “It’s the best we’ve got, what do you want sis?” “Something better than that. It’s the murder equivalent to ‘my dog ate my homework.’” The two laughed for some time before finally calming down. “I know that we shouldn’t be laughing at somepony’s death, but wow.” She finished her beer, placing some zinos on the bar and breaking her chair back into component parts and putting them into her bag. “I haven’t laughed like that in ages, big brother.” “Yeah, not in years.” Shining paid for his drink as well and got up. “So, now you see why I need your help; I’m grasping at straws here. Not to mention,” Shining added, “yesterday Rarity gave a tip that Scootaloo’s body, which was stolen that afternoon, was taken by the Golgari.” Twilight’s previously cheerful expression soured; she hated hearing about stuff like this. “According to Applejack, who stole the body for Jarad, Scootaloo had strong enchantments and curse magic on her that prevents reanimation.” Twilight tried to mentally process what he had said. “Prevents… reanimation. T-t-t-t-that kind of… the sheer amount of mana it would...” She was having trouble with basic thinking at this point. The insane amount of mana it would take to pull off such a trick was beyond what even she could do. And the absolute mastery of black mana that it would take to be able to prevent reanimation by the Golgari! “Whoever you’re dealing with, you’ll need more than just you and Trixie to fight this… thing.” She straightened and calmed herself. “I’ll do what I can, and I’ve got your back, BBBFF.” Shining smiled. “Good, then let’s head down to the guildhall! I’ll catch you up on the way.” With that, the two walked out of the bar and back into Tin City proper, only to hear screams come from further down the district. “What the… the screams came from down that way.” The duo ran down the streets of Tin City searching for the origin of the screams. Eventually they found a group of humans and goblins in Boros wear being assaulted by two ogres and three centaurs with hand-axes. The ogres rushed the humans, throwing them into walls, splattering their guts across the walls of the buildings. The centaurs looked and noticed Shining wearing his captain’s armor. “Captain Boros, Captain Boros, kill, kill.” The centaurs and ogres started readying themselves for battle, chanting all the while. “Shining, looks like you’ve got groupies, what would Cadence think?” Twilight began to use her magic to merge the various parts in her bags to form two blaster rifles. “Well, I’m a one mare man, so I guess I’m gonna have to let these guys down.” Shining readied a charge of his magic. “Nice and easy.” The first ogre charged at Shining, who blasted it back with a charge of light magic. However this didn’t kill the ogre, just irritate it. After being knocked back somewhat by the blast, the ogre rushed forward again to attack Shining. Not having much time, Shining tried to sidestep the attack, only to be stunned by the ogre’s fist connecting with the solid ground next to him. Seeing an opening, Shining charged a smaller blast of magic and shot it point blank at the ogre’s face, blinding it somewhat. One of the ogres now blinded momentarily, Shining turned his attention to the other ogre who was already bearing down on him. Quickly Shining raised a barrier to block the ogre’s attack. The barrier repelled the ogre’s fist but still hurt Shining with how much magic he was using. Twilight was doing better as the three centaurs charged her with the axes. The first ran near her just as she finished her first rifle, which she pointed at the centaur and fired. The blasts of mana ripped through the centaur’s flesh, and he collapsed to the ground writhing. “No better tests than field tests.” She smiled and fired at the second centaur in line and killed him. The third charged with his axe and swung at Twilight’s head. She ducked and slid under him firing all the way. The last centaur collapsed to the ground dead. Shining dodged around the second ogre, trying to blast it with more light magic. The magic seemed to stun the ogre but didn’t kill it, possibly because of how intoxicated Shining was. Shining managed to blast the ogre backwards, whereupon it was set aflame by a flamethrower being used by Twilight. The second ogre, the light spell now having worn off, rushed at Twilight who was shielded by Shining’s barrier spell. “You have my back and I have yours, Twily.” Twilight repositioned the flamethrower and fired at the second ogre when Shining dropped the shield. “Show off.” Shining put the barrier back up once the ogre had been set on fire. The two huddled behind the shield as the ogre burned to death before leaving the safety of the barrier and analyzing the bodies. “Based on the shape of the weapons, they’re from the Borborygmos sect of the Gruul.” She started looking through the bags of the centaurs. “Why would they be this far away from Skarrg?” Shining took the tags from the dead bodies of the Boros. “Why would they be attacking Boros legionnaires?” Shining looked over the body of one of the goblins and saw that he was dressed in Izzet garb and was clutching a letter in his hand. “I think we have a problem.” Twilight pulled out an animal skin with words written in blood across it saying, “Until she is avenged, Ravnica will suffer with me.” “Borborygmos, this all connects back to Scootaloo.” Shining took the letter from the goblin’s hand and read it. “’Borborygmos, we of the Izzet league demand that you cease your attacks against our property such as the Blistercoils.’ He’s attacking all of Ravnica?” “Yeah, I was investigating the Blistercoil attack this morning, and he clearly isn’t willing to talk if he decided to kill the messenger.” Twilight rolled up the animal skin with the Gruul message on it and placed it in her saddlebag. “We should focus our attention on stopping Borborygmos. It’s a more immediate threat than the mysterious killer.” “Considering how lame our leads on the killer are, I have to agree with you there. So, Miss Scientist, what is your brilliant plan?” “Hmm.” Twilight put a hoof to her chin. She had to find a way to get Borborygmos alone, away from Skarrg, and be able to sneak up on him. The realization hit her and caused a shiver. “Oh goodness.” “What, you have a plan?” “Yes but its gonna require a little more… help.” Twilight gulped. “Well, Borborygmos wants to hurt the Boros because he believes that they aren’t doing their job with catching Scootaloo’s killer.” “So, I’ll be bait.” “Yes, but we still need a place, and I thought of that as well.” Twilight gulped again before continuing, “We need somewhere that has a place set up for a sneak attack by you, me, and Trixie, if she’s still on board, and something that will be a good distraction until the sneak attack is ready.” “Just spit it out, Twily.” “Well, we could talk to Pinkie Pie and host a Rakdos performance near Skarrg, leaking the information that you’ll be there.” Shining didn’t skip a beat. “Alright, then tomorrow we’ll try and convince Pinkie Pie to help us.” “Wait, really?” “Twilight it’s my job as a Boros captain to help the citizens of Ravnica. I refuse to let those citizens down, for any reason, no matter who I have to deal with as a result.” “Alright, as I said, I’ll help in any way that I can, so I guess that means we have to talk to Pinkie Pie.” The two left for their respective guildhalls unknowing of the pink pony nearby who twitched a little before saying, “Tomorrow’s gonna be fun, Pinkie sense is never wrong.”