Sword of Equestria: A Sword of the Stars II Crossover
Chapter 8: With Winter's Mind
Celestia, being the ever wise co-ruler of Equestria and her sister colonies, didn’t give Rainbow Dash and her friends much chance to panic; rather she forged ahead. “You are correct, when my sister had the misfortune of coming into contact with the-,“ a frown quickly flashing over her face at the memory, “the creature’s mind she was able to glean a few invaluable facts before the connection was thankfully broken.” She looked over to Luna who was doing her best to get a very foul taste out of her mouth.
With a last 'bleh' from the moon princess, Luna walked over to the holotank. “Yes, it was quite unpleasant. What I was able to gather though,“ tapping a few keys various parts of the creature’s ‘space suite’ lit up in red as she continued, “was that it was quite wounded; something about upstart apes or some such.“ Taking a moment she leveled a knowing smile at Rainbow Dash before she continued. “What did bother me was that the damage was very old and that the creature had been recovering for a very, very long time.” Directing all her attention at Rainbow Dash this time, a small smile tugged at the corner of her muzzle. “Does this creature look like someone you know?”
Taking a closer look at the ghostly image displayed in the holotank Dash's eyes grew wide as she recognized it for what it truly was; “What the hay, that’s Bloodweaver! But that doesn't make any sense, we fought it just a week ago and you mentioned it’s been here for years?” She groaned as her brain tried to wrap itself around the convoluted time line. “I hate time travel; it never ever made any sense in the science fiction stories I used to read as a kid and it’s like, even less cool in reality.”
“Oh please, time travel is easy!” Discord said with a flourish, curling his tail around Rainbow Dash and tapping her on the head with the fluffy part to punctuate his point. He smiled and proceeded to inspect his nails idly on his claw hand, “I mean really! You’d think with all that has happened to the human race in the last hundred odd years you’d be a little bit more open minded Mon Capitaine.”
Before Dash could form a retort Pinkie bounced up to Discord with a stern look on her face “Be nice Discordy,” her voice softening and gaining a rather unnerving sultry tone, “or mama Pinkie won't make you something sweet later.”
Discord blushed a little at this and started scratching Pinkie on her chest, “oh, only if you special Pinkie Promise my little cupcake.”
A giggle from Pinkie Pie and her slightly darker complexion made it obvious she was blushing as well. “Oh Discord, you know I can’t do that in public!”
“Oh gag!” Rainbow Dash motioned with her hoof in her mouth, sticking out her tongue. “Get a room you two.”
A light cough from Twilight mercifully drew everyone’s attention away from the doting couple. “Actually time paradoxes and time travel, while a staple in both pre- and post Hiverfall fictional literature, is all usually based in solid scientific theories and observations of causality. In fact it has been theorized that wormholes, as used by the Hivers, or even the node lines we use for traveling faster than light could potentially be used to travel through time. The disappearance of the Sare Mera itself could potentially be an example of this and would be a very interesting source of study and theo-“
The cyan hoof of the captain waving in front of the excited Twilight –and a discreet giggle from Luna- finally got her attention and a light dusting of pink tinged her cheeks form her normal violet complexion. “Right, Suul’ka, everyone’s going to die, danger of epic proportions."
Discord smiled brightly at Twilight, “Oh my dear filly don't mind them but I never realized you were so interested in time travel, even if you are completely off the mark!” Tapping a claw on his chin a light bulb suddenly appeared above his head and lit up, that he promptly plucked from its invisible resting point and popped into his mouth with a crunch. Sliding up to the sputtering Twilight he looked around conspiratorially and whispered into her ear; “I can show you a delightful little time travel spell if you want.”
A midnight blue wing quickly separated the two and with a glare from Luna Discord casually backed off –that is hastily and with some level of panic- before regaining his air of nonchalance. “Really Luna, the old Twilight was always going on about how I simply refused to teach her any fun spells -after she mellowed out that is.”
“Time paradoxes aside,” said Luna after she gave Discord a final glare and composed herself, “we are not in any immediate danger.” She tapped a few more keys, seeming to prefer the use of her hooves over her horn to manipulate the holotank’s controls as Celestia manipulated it before, and brought up a map of the local star cluster.
“However this Bloodweaver as you call him has decided that we are enough of a threat to set aside its recovery for the time being and focus on infecting some worlds in this star cluster with what it called ‘Zuul’.” A red overlay covered one third of the map, indicating where Luna believed the Suul’ka had set up base. “I believe this is where the first infestation is located,” a few more taps and a second, purple sphere covering another third of the stars lit up as well, “and here is the second.”
The impact of the princess’ gold encased hooves on the stone dais of the throne, though soft, echoed through the room and pulled their attention back to Celestia. "While finding new bearers for the Elements has always been our primary concern, we have not been idle since the discovery.” Making her way down from her throne she once more deactivated the holo tank, extinguishing the image and motioned for the ponies and deities alike to follow her out of the throne room. “In all actuality Twilight, the Element bearer, was the one who initially reignited the thirst to reach the stars in my little ponies hearts and minds,” shaking the misty eyed nostalgia off she smiled apologetically, “but that is perhaps a story for another time.”
As they fell in behind her they formed a loose group with Celestia, Discord and Rainbow Dash in front and the rest of the crew between them and Luna, who was still not comfortable with walking too close to the god of Chaos. Turning left at an intersection, Dash could sense with some relief that they were moving towards the outer walls of the palace complex. She glanced at the others and noticed the same claustrophobic looks on the faces of her friends and was glad to soon be outside in the open air again. All this talk of what was essentially an eldritch horror bearing down on them was getting to everyone.
“Twilight,” said Celestia, looking over to the lavender mare, “I believe you will be able to tell me the most of what information SolForce has been able to gather on these creatures?”
Twilights face lit up with the prospect of sharing with the Princess what she knew regarding the Suul’ka; “Oh we've been able to gather quite a bit from them in the last few months since the first attack,” She paused placing a hoof on her chin in thought, “although most of the work was done by an extremely accomplished archaeologist and xenobiologist going by the name of Erinys.” Closing her eyes for a moment she started reciting a passage memorized by heart:
“What is a Suul’ka, literally? From the Zuul religious and military perspective it is the ultimate weapon. Suul'ka are titanic cetacean god-kings ranging from 1300 to 2500 meters in length, dressed in armoured battlesuits fitted with a variety of conventional weapons and defenses, and additionally armed with immensely powerful psionic abilities, which can be used in both strategic and tactical play.
The literal translation of the phrase ‘Suul’ka’ in the Liir language is ‘Winter Mind’. Ka is a word with multiple meanings, including ‘breath’, ‘life’, ‘soul’ and ‘mind’. Telepathic communication is called kanayma, ‘souls joining’. Suul is literally “ice”, specifically the pack ice at the poles of Muur, the Liir home world.
The polar ice on Muur grows so thick that even a huge Elder’s back cannot break it. Suul is killing cold, suffocating cold, cold that shuts out life and breath, that deafens and stills all voices. The two terms knitted together refer to a unfeeling enemy, devoid of empathy and motivated by the ultimate in arrogant, whimsical cruelty.
Over the course of the last 320,000 years, over twenty Great Elders went mad on Muur, enslaved their people and force-marched them through a rapid industrial revolution in order to build a single high-tech battlesuit. Once this suit was complete, each Suul’ka teleported from the ocean of Muur into space. Within the teleport sphere was the Elder’s armoured body and many metric tons of sea water, held in a pressurized sphere. In vacuum this icy shell froze, and the first act of the new-born Suul’ka was to shatter the cocoon of ice and swim away into the void, to become immortal.
It is the nature of this icy re-birth, as well as their cold sociopathic personalities, which give the Suul’ka the title “Lords of Winter”. In the millennia that have passed since the first Suul’ka rose from the waters of Muur, they have traveled throughout the galaxy, teleporting from place to place to satisfy their curiosity, indulge their appetites, and wreak thousands of years of havoc on lesser beings.” –Erinys aka Arinn Dembo
With a proud smile borne from reciting a well memorized passage to the last letter, Twilight opened her eyes but her smile died quickly when she saw the effect it had had on the now very bleak Luna. With a slight pang of guilt and a whole heap of sympathy she paused as the group moved pass her and stopped the younger Princess with a quick hug to console her. There are few minds who would survive to stand up to the cold and cruel malevolence of a Suul'ka mind and those few that do, do not come away without scars. Luna was both very lucky to have lived to tell her tale and very unlucky to have had to experience the contact in the first place.
The warm and closeness from Twilight pressing herself against Luna in a soft embrace quickly brought the color back to her face and quickly threatened to add a bit too much. Resting her head in the hollow of Twilights neck for just a second longer Luna finally broke the embrace. "Thank you for understanding Twilight," she said in a voice slightly more gruff than she had intended.
Quickly catching up to the now stationary group they saw that they had arrived in front of a massive set of intricately carved wooden doors. A grand design carved into the dark hardwood depicting a long forgotten battle almost glowed from the combination of the lighting and the rich varnish on the wood. The griffin and pony figures on the towering doors seemed to be moving as if possessing a life of their own. Pausing at the doors for a second, Celestia seemed in deep though for a few seconds before she turned around and looked at the assembled group. "I know you all have more questions but for now, I would like to show something to you. Beyond these doors lies a refuge; a place where we can, if only for a moment, relax." Holding a hoof up to interrupt Rainbow Dash just as she was about to open her mouth she smiled kindly at her; "that is an order Captain."
Turning around a brief glow of magic surrounded her horn and a line of light, thin at first but quickly expanding, appeared as the towering doors silently swung open. The two guard ponies flanking it looked ahead with the stoic resolve and near perfect discipline drilled into all guards. Rainbow Dash was once again impressed at the devotion the Princesses seem to garner from those around them.
With a sigh of relief Dash was happy to see that beyond the large ornate doors was a magnificently lush green garden, carved out of the side of the mountain the entire city was built on and more importantly perfectly clear blue skies overhead. In the garden proper it seemed that the concentration of animals, from tiny insects to small fuzzy mammals and the particularly vocal singing birds were much higher than even at Fluttershy’s cottage. It made the entire garden feel alive with the constant sounds of life and seemed to invigorate everyone, particularly the normally quiet canary yellow pony.
"Oh my goodness," exclaimed Fluttershy, suddenly alive with energy and excitement, "this garden is simply beautiful! Oh and just look at all these cute little animals. Don't you just think this place is the best Dashy?"
A snicker from Applejack was quickly silenced by a burning glare from the Pegasus at the pet name. Not wanting to let slip just how relieved she herself was at having the blue sky overhead again and outside of the stuffy palace, Dash switched from a glare to a disinterested look and merely shrugged noncommittally. "I guess it's alright, Flutters." She threw a quick look at Applejack, daring her to continue snickering but the chief Engineer merely whistled as she stared out over the edge of the cliff in the direction of Ponyville and the clearly visible Indomitable parked right on the outskirts like a giant mechanical beached whale.
Walking through the garden along a short stone pathway leading form the palace Dash marveled at the amount of life around her. A bubbling brook, the water originating from somewhere towards the mountain side sang it's own song as it rolled over pebbles and fell down tiny waterfalls. Various trees, some short and bushy while others tall and sparse all seemed to fit together just right, order seemingly coming out of the chaotic life around them. Fluttershy was fluttering from one spot to another, her wings buzzing excitedly and hovering her like a hummingbird.
Looking back Dash noticed the group breaking off into smaller groups to continue with previous discussions. Twilight and Luna headed off towards some statues discussing the nature of their respective experiences with the Suul'ka, Pinkie Pie and Discord disappearing with a snap of his claws presumably deeper into the garden proper and Celestia motioning for Rarity to join her and Applejack as they discussed the state of the Indomitable and what could be done to get her back into space.
This of course left Rainbow Dash to chase off after Fluttershy as she headed deeper into the garden as well. Quickly realizing how fast Fluttershy can be, Rainbow Dash chased after her but lost sight of the distracted yellow Pegasus. Figuring that she had followed the small stony path and that she would eventually come upon Fluttershy, Dash followed it herself at a more demure pace while taking in the sights and sounds around her.
Not paying much attention to where she was going anymore, Dash was rightly surprised when a yellow Pegasus shaped canon ball came crashing into her and depositing the both of them in a tangle of hooves and feathers at the side of the path on the soft green grass. Shaking her head to get the tiny Fluttershys flying around her head to go away she looked down at the brightly blushing -and normally sized- Fluttershy extraditing herself from the heap they landed in. "Oh my gosh, I am so sorry Dashy! Are you Okay? I didn't hurt you did I!? Are your wings Okay?" The quick barrage of apologies and questions of concern was brushed off by Rainbow Dash as she proceeded to get back to her own hooves.
"It's okay Fluttershy, I'm fine see." Rainbow proceeded to open and close her wings to demonstrate that she was, indeed, okay. "What was that all about anyways, I saw you head into the garden and next thing I know you come at me like a cannon ball. Did you see a bee or something?"
Her receding blush quickly returned to colored her cheeks crimson. "Oh no, it wasn't anything like that, although bees are kind of scary." She looked down and pawed at the ground, looked back up and quickly hid behind her mane again. "I was- I was following this butterfly and I kind of ran into Discord and Pinkie Pie," Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow as Fluttershy tried to hide even more of herself behind her mane and mumbled softly, "they were um, kinda making out."
Rolling her eyes Dash blew a raspberry "Oh common 'Shy, it's just making ou- wait," narrowing her eyes and giving Fluttershy a piercing stare and noticing her half extended wings, "what do you mean 'kinda making out'?"
From the heat coming off of Fluttershy's blush and the constricted squeak she made told Dash enough for her to gain a feathering of pink on her own cheeks and her wings to flutter and stiffen at her sides. "Oh. My. Gosh. I am going to kill those two with my own bare hooves! i don't care if they're both immortal aliens, at least one of those two is still under my command!" Extending her wings to take off, in the heat of the moment forgetting that she hasn't even had a proper flight lesson, she was stopped by a slight tug on her tail from her yellow Pegasus companion.
Turning around quizzically she looked at Fluttershy and what she saw stopped her dead in her tracks. The normally shy and demure pony had a peculiar glint in her eyes, one that immediately grabbed Dash's attention. Her eyes had a fierce burning passion in them that quickened the cyrulian Pegasus' heart and made her wings shoot out, fully extended. "Oh."
Slowly turning around, not breaking eye contact for even a split second she moved closer to the smoky eyed Fluttershy, who herself was moving closer and closer to the captain, her captain. A second away from their tips finally touching an ear splitting siren rang out loudly from the direction of the castle and a second later the clopping of hooves on cobble stone coming closer broke the two apart as they looked around in confusion.
A faint "oh come on" could be heard in the distance.
With a rustle as she sped past the bushes and trees lining the garden path, Twilight came cantering into sigh, panting and out of breath. Panic clear in her eyes and her voice, her hair was a mess as she came to a skidding stop in front of the interrupted duo. "The Zuul! Here in system!" the out of breath Unicorn gasped, her legs giving out from beneath her as she fell in a tired heap on the side of the path.
The two Pegasi quickly rushed to Twilights side and behind them the sound of a set of hooves and a set of mixed appendages arrived through the brush as Discord and Pinkie joined them. "Wowie that's a loud siren!" Pinkie said, putting a bit more volume behind her normally bombastic voice as she held her hooves over her ears. Spotting the collapsed Twilight the bubbly pink mare joined her friends around her. With a worried look she knelt down by her friend "Twily! Are you okay?"
"She's fine Pinks," Dash said placing a hoof on her shoulder, "she just needs to catch he breath." Turning towards the path she spotted Luna gliding towards her dark metallic regalia glinting as it caught the sun. With a gust of wind from her powerful wings the Princess gracefully landed in front of the group, her hooves clapping against the cobblestone path. She had a determined look on her face but Rainbow Dash could just make out the lines that indicated that the monarch, as powerful as she was, was worried as well.
'So much for us not being in any immediate danger,' Dash thought.
"Rainbow Dash, we require you and your crew's assistance." Her voice was pensive and her ears were flicking nervously. "My sister and dear Applejack has already set off towards the Indomitable but we do not have much time." Turning towards Discord, the features on her face becoming less transparent but the strain in her voice making her feelings clear. "Discord, could you, please take us to the ship?"
Pinkie, knowing Discord far better than anyone else jabbed a hoof into his side before he could so much as utter a word. A halo, flickering on and off intermittently appeared above his head, "What?" he said with feigned innocence. A pointed stare from his mare-friend merely caused an eye roll from the god of chaos, "Oh fine," he lifted up his clawed hand and looked around, a conductors hat replacing the halo on his head as the halo started enlarging. "Alright everyone, please keep all hooves, fetlocks, tails and other appendages inside at all times." He snapped his claws and the halo quickly enlarged and engulfed them as they disappeared with a pop.