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// Phase 2: Escalation Part 7 
// Story: Harmony Consultant 
// by jqnexx 
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        The Origin Council left something to be desired in practice, and that thing was Origin Reyvateils.

        Certainly, the theory was sound. The three most wise and ancient mortal beings on Ar Ciel gathered together to respond to things that affected the world. Pity two of them never ever showed up.

        Frelia was easy to excuse. The poor dear was forever stuck being a bit childlike and naive, unless Mir could ever figure out how to flip the D-Cellophane’s write protect off for a bit. 

Luca Trulyworth had served as her proxy for commanding the Tower, so it made sense for her to serve as a proxy at this meeting as well. She seemed pretty down-to-earth and practical. Her red-and-white robe befitted an ancient priestess, and she looked a tiny bit embarrassed to be wearing it. (1) Her short, dark purple hair was mostly hidden behind the gigantic hood, but her warm and pleasant smile was visible for all to see. Luca was here to make things right.

        Tyria, her Shurelia would never forgive. She had an incredible mind, an incredible education. But what did she use them for? A life of quiet domesticity as a homemaker! And then there’s her taste in men. At least Lyner’s a nice idiot savant. Ugh. But that Tower has been through so much.

        The former General Akane was easily the most severe figure in the room, standing straight and upright with formal military posture. She’d served as the Administrator of the Harvestasha server at the tail end of Tyria’s absence, and Tyria had made it clear that she wished Akane to continue that duty for the rest of her life, then pass it down to a successor Beta Reyvateil.

        Despite all the events that had occurred recently, there was still a Tyria, and still a Harvestasha song server, even if there wasn’t really a third Tower. (2) Akane had forgone her old military uniform for a simple business suit. The Clustanian military didn’t really exist anymore, and the Sol Cluster military was rather vestigial. Instead she was appearing purely as a civil authority. In Shurelia’s opinion, the outfit didn’t suit her slight, slender frame and flat gray hair at all. Akane might look like a teenage girl  who had dyed her hair gray, but her will of steel was evident. Whatever was best for her people, she would get.

        Shurelia sat down at the round table in the center of the room. I always did like the President Togasaki Memorial Conference Room. I should thank Lyner for cleaning it out again. “Greetings. I understand you may have questions or concerns about the current situation. I ask that you hold them until I explain the situation.”

        Luca seemed ok with that, judging by the nod, but to Shurelia’s surprise Akane scowled at her. Akane instantly resumed her stony expression, so perhaps it was an unintentional leak of her inner emotions. She wasn’t particularly used to expressing them, but she’d been trying to do so more often.

        “A few days ago, Mir and her husband disappeared from their apartment in Platina. We discovered via security surveillance a mysterious individual may have conducted the abduction. She arrived from Sol Cluster in a private aircraft, I have a picture of her here.”

        “It’s her.” Akane glared at the picture. It showed a woman with slightly purplish pink skin and a blue-ish purple head of hair with two greenish stripes. She had a very odd facial expression, possibly confusion or discomfort. The curl of the lip suggested she wasn’t liking it, whatever it was.

        “Something to add, Akane?” Shurelia didn’t expect the normally taciturn ex-general to talk out of turn.

        “I’d been planning to bring this up, but we had a sensitive facility intruded into by that same woman.”

        “Oh?”

        “It was the strangest thing I’ve ever seen.” That meant a lot, coming from Akane. “An incredibly secure room in the heart of Archia’s HQ complex on the Tower of Origin, and she busts out of it. My people spent a lot of time trying to figure out how she got in there and why she didn’t get out the same way. She used song magic to incapacitate everyone she met from that room on until she boarded a private airship.”

        “That explains where she got an airship, but absolutely nothing else.” Luca broke into the conversation. “Where’d she go after taking Mir?”

        “I was getting to that. We didn’t have any cameras covering Mir’s residence, since she kept stealing them. Honestly, if I didn’t know Mir was still alive I’d say she got chucked over the edge, since that’s the only place you can go from there and not pass a camera.

        “I think they did go over the edge.” All eyes turned back to Akane. “I have witnesses who describe the woman levitating herself from the HQ building to the airport, a vertical distance of almost one thousand five hundred meters and a horizontal distance of seven hundred meters.”

        “Huh.” The brown haired woman from the airship, Sasha, piped up from a seat away from the central table. “I think I can explain how she got into that room. Is it time for my part of the presentation yet?”

        “Yes, however first I must add I have reason to believe based on Tower usage logs that Mir fought something and lost after being abducted. Your presentation.” Shurelia pointed to a screen on one side of the room, which flickered to life.

        “OK. So, here we have the space surrounding the Tower of Ar Tonelico. And here, let’s focus on this region here. And let’s look at the graviton sensors. Zoom in… here.”

        “What is that?”

        “Goddesses!” Aoto had convinced Akane that swearing in intense situations was how a military person expressed their feelings. At this point only he found it funny. “It’s a wormhole.”

        “Yes. Now, if you look at this multi-view diagram to show the seven dimensions of it, you can clearly see the stabilizing elements here. This is artificial.”

        “So you’re saying that the woman came through a wormhole.” Luca stared flatly at Sasha, seemingly disbelieving what was being said.

        “It happened once before.” All eyes turned to Shurelia. “I’m pretty sure it’s not the same guys. We compared the signatures, and this wormhole’s endpoint is nowhere close.”

        “OK,” Sasha advanced to the next diagram, “Now you see here the slice of the possibility and time axes, you can see how you end up at 0,0 at both ends, but you take a really weird path to get there? It’s for a reason. The twists cause everything passing through to change form to what they’d be if they were born on that world. Fortunately machines are the same everywhere. I have no idea what you’d turn into if you went over there. Before you ask, we don’t have an explanation for why whoever built the wormhole would do this.

        “My best guess is that they wanted to avoid any sci-fi bad stuff, like being slaughtered by a common germ that they’ve never encountered before. It’s not a perfect transformation, so you’d retain your memories and certain other aspects. I’m guessing it’s because it acts on matter but not souls. We’re in the process of sending through a beacon to set up our own wormhole which will not transform anything going through. We’re going to put it into orbit so that bacteria and such can’t just drift through.

        “But for the moment, I’ll lay out what we know about the civilization on the other side of the portal.”

        The diagram was replaced by a picture of a lush, green land bound by desert to the South and ice to the North. The view shifted to night, and cities were visible along both the East and West coasts, as well as near the center.

        “We estimate that the region around the primary wormhole has a population of between one and three hundred million. Additionally we’ve confirmed other cities on other continents.”

        “Sarapathra’s tits!” Everyone sighed.  Shurelia made a mental note to explain swearing properly to Akane, while Luca began to plot Aoto's prolonged demise.

        “Akane’s exclamation aside, this does present a difficulty. Our population isn’t nearly to the level theirs is, and we’re uncertain of their intentions.” Shurelia motioned to the two delegates.

        “Furthermore, now that we’re able to figure out what we’re looking for, we’ve confirmed a number of wormholes, one of which goes from this city near the edge of the ice to a point inside Archia’s domain.”

        “Ah.” Akane’s eyes narrowed preditorially. “Is there any way to determine how recently the wormholes were opened?”

        Sasha shook her head. “Not without historical graviton sweeps, and those have never been done looking at the planet before. Only up at the sky. Based on subtle vibration effects, we’ve determined that they were modified in an unknown manner shortly before the crossover of our unknown visitor.”

        “So what you’re saying is that they could have staged these positions at any time, and have now acted as our planet recovers and our military is at its peak of unreadiness?”

        Shurelia didn’t like where this was going. “Are you saying they’re a prelude to an invasion?”

        Akane nodded grimly. “Yes. They’ve gone straight after our foremost security specialist, and they’ve taken her to do who knows what to her. Their population is estimated to be likely double our entire planet’s just in that one region, and they could easily have a powerful military ready to go when the green light is given.”

        Everyone in the room was taken aback. Shurelia broke in, “Is this something you’d have done, back then?”

        “Absolutely.” Akane locked eyes with the Origin, glaring at her. “I was a tool of malevolence, and did terrible things because I believed them to be right. What I did cannot be undone. But I will prevent anyone else from executing an attack upon this world.”

        “So,” broke in Luca, “What must be done?”

        “We need to be certain. If I’m right, well, we don’t have a lot of good options. I’d say our best bet is to strike first and hard. A blow so strong it cripples their nation, possibly even their world.”

        “That’s barbaric!” Shurelia slapped the edge of the table. “Are you suggesting we blast howevermany innocent civilians to death with some First-Age weapon of mass destruction?”

        Akane closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “We have a responsibility to our people. We can’t gamble with their future. But it shouldn’t be necessary to erase the whole thing. Rapacious conquerors tended to be highly centralized. The only casualties would be in the capital city.”

        “I… kind of agree with Akane.” Luca stroked her chin nervously as Shurelia turned to her. “I… don’t exactly want to blow anyone up, but we can’t afford to take risks. All of our civilization is in a perilous stage, and anything messing with it could conquer us easily unless we’re willing to risk being put back into the same situation we left a decade ago.”

        “Fine.” Shurelia sat down and slumped in resignation. “I insist on a scouting party to verify their intentions.”

        “I can help with that a little.” All eyes turned to Sasha. “I sent an old First-Age translator through the wormhole on a drone, and it came back with the option to translate into something called ‘Equestrian’ language.”

        “Excellent. I believe I know who I would recommend for the scouting party.”

        “Really, Akane?” Shurelia was sure she wasn’t going to like this.

        “Yes. Due to the danger, I’d like to take our remaining two most powerful non-Origin reyvateils.”

        “I don’t think Cloche is available.”

        “Luca, while I greatly admire Lady Cloche, I believe that her power is slightly inferior to both mine, and that of my friend Finnel.”

        “Huh. That sounds almost reasonable. Anyone else?”

        “Yes, Shurelia. In the interest of packing as much firepower into as small a group as possible, I request that you grant Finnel and I control of Raki. Additionally, I shall bring my Antibody companion, Kokuro.”

        “Huh, that’s a lot of firepower for sure.” Luca blanched a bit. “Shurelia, you have the auth codes for transferring Raki’s control?”

        “Yes. I’m recalling now that I’ve freely given Mir quite a lot of access to the Tower’s systems. If they somehow manage to break her will, they could win the war in that moment. If Akane’s right, we’re on a clock. I’ll make the necessary arrangements.”

        Akane saluted. “I’ll go see to Finnel. She probably doesn’t want to fight any more, but this world needs her.”

        “Meeting adjourned then. Who’s up for a snack?” Luca’s threat/offer immediately cleared the room as those present went to perform their duties elsewhere.





        Mir had teleported quite a few times before. The static-to-dynamic-and-back-again conversion was quite well understood, allowing you to get places much more quickly. It was still disorienting to be teleported by someone else suddenly.

        In front of them stood a great wooden door marked with embossed moons of various phases and gilded with silver along the edges. Celestia smashed it open with one front hoof.

        The room inside was lit by a red-purple glow coming from a side room, and the Princesses dashed towards it, Croix and Mir following and keeping an eye out for flankers and ambushers.

        Twilight stood in the center of a number of square tables, each topped with a rubbery black substance. Luna’s private laboratory. It had been cleaned out recently, but three tables were still in use. Two of the tables held smashed glass boxes. The third contained a currently-intact glass box with a bright red crystal floating within it.

        That’s one of the bootstrap crystals I made for Luna. What’d she do with the others?

        The junior Princess’s aura expanded over the intact box, but was then itself enveloped in a midnight blue aura. “Halt!”

        “Ah, Luna!” Twilight turned towards the Night Princess with an odd, hungry look in her eye. “Celestia.” The hunger intensified as she looked towards the Eldest Princess. “I finally understand now. It feels great. All the fear, the anxiety, the uncertainty. It’s gone. I know what I’m meant to do.”

        Luna gulped audibly. The lack of doubt seemed to point towards an infection by the Nightmare metamagic. A closer look confirmed that suspicion, as Twilight seemed to be visibly suppressing a tinge of dark magic around her horn, wings, and hooves.

        “And what are you meant to do, my f… friend?” Celestia had almost called her her “faithful student” but caught herself in time.

        “Succeed you.”

        Everypony, including Mir and Croix, instantly assumed a fighting stance.

        “No no no, not here. Not now. We’ll do this when the time is right.” Twilight vanished.

        After a moment, to verify Twilight had really left the castle, Celestia turned to Mir with a disappointed expression on her face. “You had to short out the castle’s teleportation defense system.”

        “To be honest, I had no idea I’d done so up until now.”

        Celestia blinked. “Ho...how? You did it without realizing you’d done it?”

        Mir smiled. “Overkill is my modus operandi, so I probably just used so much power it couldn’t handle it.”

        “Alright, let’s just…”

        “Your majesty! Princess Celestia!” An out of breath pegasus guard rushed into the room, bowed briefly, and slumped down. “There’s an emergency in Ponyville. And Princess Twilight doesn’t seem to be doing anything about it.”

        “I am afraid Twilight is… not available at the moment. Tell me, what is going on?”

        “There’s a… black rainbow of some kind. It’s shooting through the sky at incredible speed, shearing the tops of trees off and frightening the townsfolk with its loud booms.”

        Black rainbow. Perhaps if Rainbow Dash has had the Nightmare take hold of her as well, her natural speed has been enhanced as her aura has darkened? “Very well,” broke in Princess Luna, “We shall handle this personally. Sister, consultants, if you would come with.”

        “Con… sultants?” The guard looked past the Princesses to see the other two ponies in the room. “You’re the miscreants from the throne room!”

        “I am well aware of this. They are working to pay off the damages inflicted.” Celestia swept out a wing to call for silence and declare the matter closed. “Come. The four of us shall make for Ponyville with all haste. Due to the immediacy of the threat, we will forgo the normal Guard compliment. The two of us can protect ourselves from anything that we should encounter.”

        The guard pointedly did not say, “Does that include treacherous consultants?” He did however think it. And he would soon say it to others.





        “Raven. Red Cell.” The tall unicorn Guard Captain and the petite unicorn Steward of the Castle stared across the conference table at Celestia. “I have called you here because I am forced to confront danger to our land face-to-face.”

        As Red Cell opened her mouth Celestia raised a hoof for silence. “I shall take only a small group of selected individuals, including my sister and two others. We should be able to deal with things in under a week. During this time, I wish for the two of you to manage the affairs of the nation in my stead. Raven, you shall, in your capacity as Steward of the Castle, handle civil matters for me. Red Cell, you may handle any military matters that occur other than the one I am handling.”

        Red Cell noted a slight hitch in Celestia’s voice during that last sentence. “What exactly are you handling?”

        “An outbreak of Dark Magic that may have affected the Bearers of the Elements. I’ve found an alternate means of cleansing it, so I have every confidence this can be dealt with swiftly and confidentially.”

        “Very good, ma’am.” Raven bowed curtly. Red Cell glared at her in annoyance, her unspoken question of “That’s all the information you need?” directed at Raven but intended for Celestia.

        The Princess picked up on the message. “I intend to handle this with the utmost confidentiality. Respond to inquiries about my absence with the fact that I am seeing to ‘magical business’ elsewhere. Farewell, and keep my kingdom guided well.”

        With that, Celestia left the room.

        Raven turned to Red Cell, expecting the angry mare to launch into a tirade about how Celestia had failed to provide “stringent guidance” or somesuch. Instead, she sat on the cushion with her head bowed.

        Red Cell’s eyes twitched beneath their eyelids as if she was dreaming, and a faint red magical aura flittered about her horn.

        Minutes passed as Raven stared at her companion, not knowing what to make of this most un-Red-Cell behavior. Finally Red Cell opened her eyes again, and turned to Raven.

        “The Princesses have left Canterlot.” With that, Red Cell inhaled deeply, then spat out a gigantic red glob of goop that pinned Raven to the wall. “Oh yes, it’s finally time. All these years of infiltrating the Guard have paid off. This day is going to be just perfect.”


End Phase 2: Escalation


Begin Phase 3: Consultancy