The Council and the Patchwork Mare
The Silver City was beautiful, there was no doubt about that. In fact, had it been a normal day for him, Cimmerian would likely have enjoyed himself. The shimmering walls of the cavern, the beautiful support pillars of worked silver and stone, the underground park that was illuminated by bioluminescent fungus, the tour he was given was absolutely stunning, leaving not just him, but the queen, the griffons, and even one of the thestrals gawking at the sights.
"Here we have the Silver falls, a natural river that leaks down from the mountain above us. We've had to pass a few laws about weather regulating in the area, but by keeping the weather free of pegasus magic the snow on the mountain restores itself naturally. During the summer months the falls are actually quite loud, but seeing as the temperature is dropping, so is the water. It's no issue of course; the supplies in the lake here will last all winter and well into spring, when the first thaws will cause the falls to explode into life. That's something to see!" Silver Light explained to the group, walking slightly ahead of them. The mare was personally giving the tour, pointing out historic buildings and current works alike. She clearly loved her city and kept updated on the current state of things but there was just one thing that bothered the stallion.
"Is there anything else you'd like to see or learn about, my lord. We still have several things-"
"It's fine, Silver Light. The city is beautiful, but I'm here about a very serious problem for your people," he said with a wan smile. "Things are not well in the world, as I'm certain you know. I heard from a thestral that Queen Twilight has attacked your people in what she considers a cleansing of the races. Should her forces ever push you from you home, I wish to extend an offer that many griffons have accepted. That, and I needed to take Zelus on her walk. She gets antsy if we keep her cooped up for too long."
The changeling stuck her tongue out at him, causing him to chuckle .
The councilor shifted uncomfortably at the byplay "Anyway, if you'd like we can visit the market. I'm sure you'd find it a learning experience, we can also-"
"I'd like to speak with the council, Miss Light." he interrupted once again. "We have things to discuss, and I'd like to get the business out of the way before I attempt to enjoy any of the things your city has to offer. At the very least, I'd like to allow you to start discussing my offer."
"I see. Very well, Lord Cimmerian. The council chambers are this way," she said flatly. The thestral then led them through the city to the large city hall, the building looking quite ostentatious even among the resplendent manors of the area. The group walked up the stairs and entered the building, the secretary looking up from her papers with a squeak of surprise.
"C-councilor Light, the others are just w-waiting for you. A-and your, guest as well," the spectacled mare behind the desk squeaked out.
Cimmerian shook his head in irritation. It had been that way all day, ponies squeaking or stuttering in his presence. It seemed the thestrals at the Temple had understated just how deeply fanatical some of their race were, both to Luna and to Nightmare Moon. He followed the mare into a large chamber, fifteen chairs circling the room with a single podium by the door. Silver Light trotted up to her seat quickly, fluttering her wings nervously as she smiled at the alicorn, though he could see how strained it was fairly easily. Looking around, he found all the councilors were either outright staring at him or at the very least looked nervous. He swept his eyes over the entire group before whispering to the queen beside him.
"Do any of them not taste of nerves and fear, Zel?"
The queen pointed to one councilor, then another. "Those two taste more like adoration, not as much fear or shock."
Cimmerian nodded to her in gratitude before returning his attention to the council. When none made a move for a few moments, he stepped forward, speaking loudly.
"Good afternoon councilors. My name is Theodore Cimmerian Fredson, Lord of the Temple of the Shadows and Shadowtalon Port. I've come here today to speak to you about a distinct possibility and options that are available to you in such an event."
The ears of a few of the councilors perked up, but most were still attempting to reconcile what they were seeing. Stomping a hoof into the floor and leaving a web of cracks in the tiles, the stallion snorted in irritation. The ambassador he could forgive, it was one mare going off into unknown territory and facing down the alicorn and his guard. This however, was supposed to be the ruling party of the thestrals. If they couldn't get past his appearance, how could he help them?
"I said I am here to speak with you about a possibility and the options that are available, specifically the possibility of Queen Twilight going forward with her demands. Right now she is moving against the minotaurs. Between the minotaurs and the griffons she is being stretched a bit thin, so she has no way of enforcing her plans for your people. Should the minotaurs fall, and the griffons be defeated however, there is no doubt in my mind that your race will be hunted to extinction."
That drew a reaction, several of the mares going wide eyed.
"You really think, think that she'd go through with it?" one mare asked quietly. "Sorry my lord, I'm Moonlight Whisper. I was one of those appointed in the aftermath of the original purification. We lost almost half the council to that event. The ponies who they became, they weren't right. Even other ponies who didn't know who they were reportedly avoided them. As far as I've heard, none of them lived past a year."
"Surely Queen Twilight was bluffing." another stated. "She does that all the time, threatening things, often with displays of overbearing magic on small groups or easily targeted areas. She doesn't actually-"
"What do you call the attacks on High Talon or her mustering of troops on the minotaur borders?" a third shouted, interrupting the second. "Is that a bluff? Do you think she'll pull back after she defeats them, ruining their countries just to show she could?"
"What about her offer?" the second pursued. "She offered any thestrals that joined their military safety from the purification. They and their families would be-"
"What about their descendants?" Cimmerian asked, drawing all eyes in the room. "She already dismissed your kind as impure, as unwanted yet now that she's running into issues she's allowing them to live? I don't believe her. Even if she does allow you to survive after the war, even if she doesn't turn right around and purify you anyway, what about your grandchildren? How many generations are safe from her by way of this agreement?" He let his gaze drift along the councilors once more. "I am not asking you to betray an allied nation, I am asking you not to ally with, not to render aid to a nation that has it on record that they will remove your species from the planet if given the chance. I ask that you take into consideration the possibility of having a fall back point should she attack this city. I offered the griffons one, and Shadowtalon Port is now a busy port that traffics many of the refugees. I wish to make to you the same offer I made to them."
Silver Light looked up form her thoughts, "What would you have us do, Nightmare? Half of our army was working with the equestrians as they always have, and they are now either purified or imprisoned."
"She's already wiping out your race and you still look to petition this mare for peace?" Cimmerian asked incredulously. "I understand the guards she's captured doing so in order to survive, but...never mind; and Silver, I told you, while we are closely bound, Luna, Nightmare Moon and I are all separate beings. We always were." That drew some murmurs from the council. Seeing the opportunity, he smiled at them, "I will be in the area for a few days, and would be happy to answer any of your questions regarding the three of us. I ask that you think long and hard on this, and I hope you understand just how tenuous your situation is."
The small group turned to leave, letting the councilors discuss the information. As they were walking towards the door Zelus snarled, her horn lighting with blazing magic, followed by a large object falling from the ceiling and striking the floor with a crack. Before anyone could react, she'd driven her blade into its back.
"Tasted it earlier." Zelus said with a growl. "Wasn't sure if it was one of their guards or not, but it tasted different than the others. Not what a guard would be feeling."
The alicorn stepped closer to the newly created corpse, pulling back the mask but already knowing what to expect. Underneath was a unicorn mare, sky blue fur with an almost silver mane. Etched into the sides of her face were the familiar runes of the changeling control arrays, only much smaller than the ones used on Cadance.
"So she's already moving on to other ponies. I have to wonder how many others she's done this too though. Zelus, if you get the chance, try to capture one. If there's any part of them left-"
Suddenly the body twitched, the mare shifting up along the blade with her horn beginning to glow. The stallion heard Zelus hack from behind him and the blue mare's horn suddenly sported a coating of changeling goo, the blue horn sputtering and sparking underneath it.
"Think you can steal her, Zelus?" he asked the queen, gesturing to the arrays on the spy's cheek.
The queen walked up to the unicorn cautiously, her horn glowing as she inspected the mare. Pulling back more of the spy's clothing revealed a veritable patchwork horror of scars and, even more disturbing, chitin plating in various places. Even where the blade was piercing her lower barrel, the mare wasn't bleeding, not as much as she should at least. Looking back to her face, he noted the empty eyes that conveyed no emotion even as she struggled against the blade pinning her to the floor and the gel hardening on her horn.
"I think I can, although we'd need to disconnect her from whatever hive she's attached to at the moment," Zelus said, looking back to the alicorn. "Are you certain you want to do that?"
"I should be able to disconnect her. Councilors, if you don't mind, you may wish to leave. I don't know what will happen, and while I doubt she could hurt either of us in her state, she may lash out. You guys too," he said to the guards. "Zelus and I will take care of this, you watch the door. When you're ready, Zel."
As the queen circled the mare, getting a feel for the magic and energy that would be needed the thestral council wandered out the door, all except for Silver Light who stopped beside him.
"What are you planning on doing, my lord?"
"Most changelings that are held captive are more than willing to give any and all information they may have in exchange for their freedom. I don't see it being any different with a pony, though her mental state is an unknown at the moment. She may never recover, or she may just ask us to put her out of her misery. I don't know," he explained quietly. "Ready Zelus?"
At her nod he surrounded the mare with his own power, cutting off the almost untraceable link of magic that bound her to the Mad Queen's arrays. The second the connection was cut the spy ceased her struggling. Strangely, her attempts to channel her magic didn't fade, instead they began to increase. Zelus swore loudly, her own horn beginning to blaze as she bit the blue mare's coated horn, cracking the coating like candy and pressing her horn against the unicorn's own. For several moments he waited, ready to phase both himself, the councilor and the queen out of the room if the buildup continued. Just before he did, the mare's pink eyes flashed with light blue, the color of Zelus' own aura. The array flickered a few times as well, settling on a gentle blue glow and the mana buildup he'd been detecting from the mare began to fade as well.
Zelus backed away from the spy, letting loose a sigh and slumping slightly from released tension.
"That did it. She was ordered to cascade if she was ever cut from the hive. Changelings used to do something similar, but it's too easy to stop. That, and unicorn magic pools are notoriously resilient. She'll be able to cast again tomorrow despite the mana-burn she experienced."
"Anything from her? A name, orders, memories?" he asked, stepping closer to the pair. Drawing near the queen, he settled a wing over her back, allowing her to soak in his concern and happiness at the outcome.
Zelus giggled a bit at the rush before turning serious. "She's a true drone, she's basically here absorbing information to be transmitted back to the hive at a later time. It does strike me as odd though. A drone wouldn't have any emotions, so I looked deeper and found something. There's a, wall for lack of better word. That's where the emotions are coming from. Anger, frustration, and an absurd amount of stubborn tenacity."
Cimmerian smiled at the news. "So there's something left of her after all. Good. I was hoping that would be the case. You don't think she'll be any problem, do you?"
"I doubt it. I checked her over for any buried commands, and found nothing. This kind of thing is the reason changelings don't use true drones too often, and that we don't let those in charge of logistics leave the hive. It's too easy to repurpose drones, to take them from their original hive for use elsewhere. Certainly fathered drones have a bit of hive loyalty, but that won't stop another queen from stealing the information they may have access to." Zelus narrowed her eyes in concentration, staring at the mare.
The spy jerked, the rune on her cheek flaring as new commands came from the linked queen. She slowly stood up, or at least tried to. With a nervous giggle, the queen removed her blade, her horn glowing as she removed the weapon from the mare's back and spat more goo on the wounds, sealing them from the air.
"She's a bit jerky, but I think I can work with this," the changeling queen said as she circled the blue unicorn. "The wounds are already healing actually. She's been modified to heal quickly, a long term infiltrator. The emotions she'll feed on will need to come from me as she has no way to process them herself, but she'll also eat normally." Zelus stopped, jerking slightly before grinning. "Good, that will work. Drone 81-TCH," the queen thought for a moment, before looking back at the unicorn. "I think the Mad Queen had something against her."
Thinking about the name, Cimmerian chuckled as well, "We'll call her something else then. Any ideas? She'll be under your control till she either recovers or we get back."
The queen stepped closer to the mare, almost wrapping around her protectively. "I wish to call her Sapphire. Is that appropriate for a sturdy blue mare?"
"That will work. Let's go, we need to get some rooms for tonight."
"I, I would like to offer my own manor for your use, my lord," Silver offered, nervously scuffing a hoof across the floor. "I'm certain I have room for you and your entourage."
Zelus watched her cautiously for a moment before turning to the alicorn, nodding. Seeing the changeling okay it, he smiled at the thestral, giving a quick nod himself.
"That would be great, Silver Light. I'd be happy to entertain your questions over dinner, I'm certain you have quite a few. If any of the other councilors wish to stop by, I'd also be happy to entertain their questions as well."
"Excellent, I just uh, I mean, are you, will you be bringing the uh, unicorn, thing?" the councilor stuttered out.
"Yes, I'll be bringing her with me. She's liable to just run into walls if I'm not watching her all the time right now." Zelus answered for the stallion. "I need to reinforce the connection, and the best way to do that is to keep in close proximity for a while. After a day or so, I should be able to control her just as I would any changeling drone. The array binding her to a link is rudimentary at best and an absolute mess at worst. Most of the runes in the array are used to keep her from speaking and moving as she wishes."
The alicorn chuckled darkly at the thestral, gesturing to the spy. "This is one of her own citizens, Councilor Light. What do you think Queen Twilight would do to your people?"
<-(0)->
"You wished to speak to me Your Highness?"
The purple alicorn turned from her studies, smiling naturally for the first time in a long time.
"I do. I recently figured out the general area of our most recent problem, the one I believe did something to my drones. I want you to redirect the experimental drones to these coordinates. Wipe it all out."
The soldier caught a small piece of rolled parchment with the coordinates and unrolled it, attempting to figure out his destination. With a start his eyes widened.
"Your Highness, these coordinates. They're in the middle of nowhere. The only civilization in the area is a small port to the north of this place, but even then Zarris is so small it doesn't even warrant a mayor. The port master runs it."
"Intel's scans show this to be the area the strange aura is emanating from. I want you to take the new drones and don't come back until everything there is dead. Do you understand me?" the mare stated, her withering glare broaching no argument.
With a grunt the soldier rolled the parchment back up and stashed it in his armor. He quickly saluted and made his way out the door. The Mad Queen signed returning to her studies. With any luck the new drones would leave nothing left of the alicorn and his followers. If not, it would severely weaken him. That meant she could return to her studies. The mare shuddered. This was why she took the mare in the first place. The alicorn's mind was saturated with information, but until she found a way to break her again, the Nightmare was stuck doing this the old fashioned way. Maybe news of the death of her host's anticipated savior would finally allow her to resume feeding.
<-(0)->
Cimmerian smiled warmly at the gathered thestrals, only about nine of the full council having accepted the offer to meet with him after the meal. He levitated a small cup of tea in his aura, though it was more to hide the scanning spell Luna had taught him a few days ago. Sure the thestrals were quite enamored with both of them, but apparently Luna had learned how to cast a simple scanning spell on anything she ate and drank as a precaution. All it took was one incident of aphrodisiacs in their tea to cause Tia and Luna to use the spell to the point of it being second nature.
'If Luna had to worry about that kind of problem with most of the councilors being mares, I'm going to have to be doubly cautious.'
Settling in, with Zelus and her new drone, Burn sitting off to the side, the alicorn nodded to the councilors to begin.
"I think the biggest question amongst us is, you said Princess Luna, Queen Nightmare Moon, and yourself are all separate individuals." Silver said cautiously. "Our history states that this is not the case. I, I'm really not certain what to believe. On the one hoof, Luna and Nightmare Moon are known to us as being the same mare, in different phases. On the other hoof, you bear their likeness, you say you've spoken to Luna, are an alicorn, but say this is not the case?"
Cimmerian nodded easily, eyes closed as he thought of a response.
"Luna and I have spoken, recently as well. I'm not certain when, but you've noticed dreams in the last day or so?" Several councilors gaped, while others nodded furiously. "My very presence interrupts Queen Twilight's arrays. In this way, I've gained access to Luna as a teacher and ally. We are also much closer than she is to Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon was a, demon for lack of a better word. It struck when she was weak, and infested her mind with dark thoughts. Eventually she believed the lies, and it stole her body from her. Thus Nightmare Moon came into existence, with the sole purpose of removing all life from the planet."
"What are you talking about?" Fruit Fox asked him, looking insulted by the explanation. "The Nightmare merely wished for eternal night. How is that so bad?"
The alicorn blinked owlishly, staring at the councilor in confusion. Several councilors shifted uneasily at the attention being directed, though Fox merely cocked his head in confusion, stating "What's wrong with the night? It's my favorite time."
Cimmerian shook his head. Before he could respond though, Zelus sputtered in disbelief.
"Are you daft? What happens when the sun doesn't nourish the plants ponies eat? What happens when the world starts becoming colder? Ponies begin to die, that's what! When ponies die, changelings starve as well! My mother spoke of Luna's fall, said her mother told her that the changeling queens were preparing to act. Had Celestia's gambit failed, the changeling queens would have allied against Nightmare Moon, working together for the first time in the history of our race. That's how bad eternal night is!"
"Didn't know that," the alicorn muttered looking back from the queen. "Yes, eternal night is a bad idea. The better question is why would this monster try to wipe out all life? My only idea is that it would make it stronger somehow, or perhaps that's how they spread. A nightmare wipes out a planet, and several more nightmares are born, going on to continue the cycle. Luckily, Celestia managed to stop it in time, and then it was chased off with the Elements of Harmony."
"Chased off? Celestia and Luna said it was cleansed by the elements, destroyed." Moonlight Whisper said, confusion in her eyes.
"I have reason to believe it may still be alive, though its current state is unknown to me at the moment. After all, I was about twenty years old when it used the substitution spell. The creature swapped places with me, taking my body for itself and leaving me with Luna just as the Elements struck. It also used a memory spell, grabbing a copy of mine I assume while leaving me with a lump of Luna's memories. Some of those memories included the soul-crushing despair Luna experienced watching her body move about without her input, watching as the creature that stole her body viciously attacked those she held dear to her. I can safely say that Luna and I both hate the Nightmares with an almost equal passion."
"You said Nightmare Moon, the Nightmare as you called it, that it wanted to destroy everything. What makes you so sure of this?" a mare next to Silver asked. "I don't remember anything so terrible being said about Nightmare Moon."
"Because another nightmare has reared its head, and it's doing the same damn thing the last one did?" Cimmerian said with a tired gaze. "Queen Twilight is not herself, anyone who knew her could tell you that. I'm told she was an energetic bookworm with a keen mind and a big heart; Queen Twilight is a cold individual who imprisoned her mentor and her friends, tortured her old babysitter, enslaved the changeling race, seeks to wipe out your own, and is seeking world dominance. This change, while not as sudden as Luna's, was still extreme and caught those closest to her off guard. If one of the creatures sought the worlds end, it's strange. Two doing so? Tell me, what do you think will happen to all those drones she has once she runs out of targets?
"'But Cimmerian', you say, 'I followed the other Nightmare, why would I not follow this one?' Ha, this one has specifically targeted your race for annihilation. It's the nightmare that wishes to purge your race, not Twilight. I can tell you from shared experience that the only thing that mare really wants right now is some control over her life again, and possibly a blade in her barrel. Your path is fairly clear, if you don't mind me being blunt. Work towards taking the mare out of power, or face extinction."
The councilors present were silent at the ultimatum, many giving each other uncertain glances. One, Cygnet Chorale, shook her head. "That doesn't make sense. Why would such a creature seek the destruction of all life? You claim you are not the nightmare, that Queen Twilight is. My loyalty lies with the True Darkness, not some knockoff."
The changeling queen bristled at the idiocy, but Cimmerian raised a hoof to call her off. "We're here to try and warn you. If you wish to see your people into ruin, I won't stop you. All I ask is that you take a good look at the facts before you make your decision, and that you do your best to avoid dragging others along with you who do not want to take that path."
Looking around and spotting a clock, the alicorn bowed to the gathered group. "It's been a long day, and I would like to get some rest. I will spend tomorrow in the markets while you and your fellow councilors discuss this. I hope to have an answer before too long. I have other places I wish to visit, and I don't want to be away from home for too long."
Snapped out of their discussions so rapidly, Silver Light, looked to the clock, eyes widening at the time.
"Oh dear, it's that late already? I, thank you all for coming. My lord, would you like an escort to your rooms?"
"We'll be fine, councilor, thank you for having us. Come on, Zel. We're going to see about fixing your insulation problem tomorrow. I want you to work on Sapphire tonight, see if you can learn anything from her."
"You, your actually going to be keeping that, that thing?" Moonlight gasped. "Why? You said it's a minion of Queen Twilight."
"The mare doesn't seem to predict issues with her plans. Zelus has control over it at the moment, and unless it falls into Queen Twilight's hooves again, I don't think she has any way to recover it."
Turning to face the group one last time, he bowed politely.
"I bid you all a good night. Sleep well, and enjoy the dreams. If you ask for her, I'm certain Luna would be happy to speak with you."
Sleepy. Going to bed now. Fallout and ponies are a bad combination. 
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thanks for putting up a new chapter this late we appreciate it
Bingo bango bongo, I'm so happy in the jungle I refuse to go.
just wait until MLP mods. then will it be a bad combo?
Ah yes Fallout 4...I can fully understand your problem.
I myself keep getting side tracked by all the settlements the game forces you to make and defend...The settlement aspect is cool as a break from the regular game play, but I have over 10 settlements and 4 more quests to get more...
Ah well...
I am just glad you had the time to post this awesome chapter!
I think we all know who that poor pony is...
Well things are certainty getting more debased poor Sapphire
or should i say poor Trixie?
Did Ted just add a cyborgified Trixie to his collection of followers?
Liar!
2000 well deserved likes :-)
more please!
Fallout and ponies aren't a bad combination. Fallout and work. however, is. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
I hope pandinus and her charges will be safe.
I dunno, Fallout 4 isn't that great. It's a buggy, unoptimized, dumbed-down mess. Bugginess is expected from all Bethesda games, true. Still, doesn't make it okay. Failure to utilize 100% of GPU is one of the most retarded things ever. Graphical settings that barely even change anything is an outrage. Bethesda is going full Call of Duty, utilizing the same outdated engine they used in Morrowind like the CoD series utilize the idTech3(Creation is just a Gamebryo with some spit-shine over it). Omission of actual skills system and severely castrated Yes/No/Sarcasm dialogue system bound to arrows (hello, D-Pad, it's like they're not even trying) is a sacrilege.
I have no idea why am I even playing it, It's like i have nothing better to do with my time.
Also,
I see what you did there.
81-TCH
Drone batch: Trixie-Chrysalis-Hybrid, unit count number 81.
Glad to know the parasite is an Equal Opportunity Malignance.
6657637 It also doesn't help that it looks really bad on Ultra. You can't chagne gamma or brightness. you can't change the monitor you play on. 16:9 resolution only. The game speed is bound to your FPS. AI is as stupid as trump himself. F4 lives from hype and brainless fanboys. And the console versions, they seem to be a >little< bit better than the pc port...
But on Topic:
poor Trixie :( But it's funny to see that her overly inflated ego seems to have saved her from the same fate as Shining xD
Well, I was a little curious what Trixie was up to...
Nice chapter. It's good to see the range of loyalty in the councilors; foolish as it may be.
Littlepip takes issue with this statement. XD
6657637
You made a bad purchase and the psychological mechanism behind the sunk cost fallacy is at play urging you to invest more time in order to “get your money’s worth” out of a turd. Step back, reflect, and cut your losses. Play something on your backlog that you never got around to completing or something outside of the genres you usually play, Hell, grab a total conversion for something you’ve already got and completed if you have to but for god’s sake stop torturing yourself, man!
Betrayal incoming!
6657726 I ain't buying Bethesda titles unless they're GOTY with all DLCs and 75% off or more. I'm just that bored. The backlog advice is sound, my Steam library is 688/628, depending on whether I check the library or profile.
6657699 16:10 here. Resolution is perfectly fine.
Ah, the Nightmare is not just Chaotic Evil, she also delves into Stupid Evil at times. But at all times, she is Evil. Gnarl would approve.
Poor Twilight is going to need years of therapy and hugs. Cadence too, for that matter. Hell, even Celestia and Luna is going to need a lot of hugs. Good thing Cimmerian is there to provide some.
And wow, the Council has some seriously idiotic members. Theirs must be an... interesting world to live in. I wonder what colors their skies are.
Also, that unicorn drone thing... Is that Trixie? Holy shit. Nice to see that little ball of neuroses is still in there, though.
After this is all over, I suspect there will be work done to either seek out the origin of the Nightmares and blast it to fucking atoms with an Elements-powered superweapon or set up some sort of magical Great Wall of the World to keep the motherfuckers out. Once is bad enough, twice is intolerable, thrice would just be salt on an open injury.
As always, you do nice work, Reykan. Never stop :)
6657765 with modified iSize attributes in the Fallut4prefs.ini. looks like shit using this workaround... btw, pirates for life! xD
6657726 If your playing the pc version, the bugs in the oc version arent in the console version which actually works 100% of the time and is worth paying 98 dollars for the game and season pass.
Zel is about to unlock Trixieborgs mouth?
You mean theres at least 80 more of these things?
The new design of attack drones heading for the Temple dont sound too good. I really hope that dragon has got plenty of flame.
In fact, I want to see if Cimmeran has got the Nack with that armour yet.
I really enjoyed this chapter especially how Cimmerian interacted with the council.
6657803
Except where they do. I know a guy at a game store who sold thirty copies on the day it came out. Five copies were returned on the same day they were purchased.
Worth $98?
Are you shitting me? Bethesda’s quality assurance compares unfavourably with your average script kiddy’s first piece of malware.
So... Ted had a bunch of Runes made right? Not 100% coverage, but a good number...
It was back burnered, but there WAS a solution in the works... don't remember what...
How does Nightmare Sparkle think a changeling swarm is going to work when it already fails on the minotaur front?
She would have to drop the control array...
Which removes all control...
So they would nom the handlers...
Then they would turn on each other without the Hive Array...
Or did I read the mechanics in previous chapters wrong?
Trixiling is Caddy's new hospital buddy.
Silly batponies, Twilight Nightmare is not Moon Nightmare.
Littlepip finds your lack of faith disturbing. Blackjack wants to know if Cimmerian dispenses hugs on command, or just for changelings. Puppy Smiles wants to play with the prince Luna pony because he probably knows a lot of games. If you actually try to hurt Puppy Smiles, they will never find all of your parts. No really, they won't. Puppy is a special kind of monster who should be feared because she is so innocent.
6657621
Safe? Are you kidding? The way I see it, one of two things is going to happen. Either Pandinus gets early warning through her or her changelings' empathy and they manage to put up a fight, or she doesn't and the Temple of Shadows is all but destroyed before Ted and Zelus make it back. They are a growing, but small, colony with only a little experience fighting changeling drones, and I'm willing to bet these new drones won't be immediately recognizable as such to the common pony. Also, though Pandinus does have ridiculous amounts of love at her disposal from which to draw power, she's pregnant with three foals, and she isn't a warrior queen. In fact, she designed her body to be vulnerable. I can easily see her getting injured during the fight. Maybe even losing a foal or two. On top of all these things, some soldier will likely get word back to Queen Twilight about an untouched and powerful changeling hive, if they aren't all but destroyed.
Safe? Until Ted and Zelus make it back in the next couple chapters, there isn't even a semblance of safe.
6657881
Notice how Trixie was still under the control of Twilight's runes around Ted, even though he's supposed to be able to disrupt that influence. The runes appear to have been retooled to counter that disruption.
Trixie....
6657825 I do not think that the armor will be a viable option to use. It magically exhausted Cinnamon when he used it last time. With him being at the bat ponies he is many times the distance and that would make it many times harder to control.
And Trixie!
Hope she gets better. She might have been a showoff but no doubt she is a decent mage. It took me reading the 2nd time about the blue fur combined with a tenacious personality to have it click that this was Trixie. He is hoping that she recovers.
One more thing, I think that Cimmerion's reign name should be the Alicorn of Hope. We have the sun, moon, love, and friendship. Hope fits in nicely there.
Oh god. I hope Zarris doesn't go down. I swear, if it ends up with all dead and only Ted + Zelus, I'm gonna go cry in a corner.
6657984 the inhabitants at the temple of shadow aren't exactly Spartan warriors, true, however neither are they unprepared/vulnerable. From what we read the nightmare twilight has sent a strike force of unknown number and wielding capabilities/strengths/weaknesses that are yet to be fully revealed, now they are most likely going to attack Zarris first with some form of surprise attack, this would take out a large portion of both the occupying force and civilians, but they also have talon company Mercs and a big butt dragon to take/dish out damage, however if Zarris should fall then at least one survivor should be able to make it to either the temple of shadows or port shadow talon to warn them. Now shadow talon port holds a fair number of gryphons/griffins/griffons (which one is correct? I've forgotten) which seem to be able to handle themselves fairly in a fight, but would prove more sense to bolster the defences at TTOS. Which brings me to my next list of forces, the temple of shadow holds a changeling queen, changelings, gnolls, ponies, gr-(freaking hell, you put in which is the correct noun, it really bugging me) and most of them have gone through their own hells before getting to where they are now and I'm sure the wouldnt shy away from fighting for their homes, but even before they should reach TTOS, they would likely be harassed by some of the local wildlife.
So unless they manage to arrive strait into TTOS without interacting with any of the previously mentioned "obstacles", then I suppose they would have a problem in the coming battle. Also if the strike force is mostly modified pony/drones hopefully pandinus won't have to fight and instead subjugate them quickly.
Ultimately we won't know until the next chapter. So let's practice maraca shaking until then.
So Trixie got turned into a pony terminator? Now that is all kinds of badass, horrible, but badass. And that serial number...
6657794 uhm, no, native 16:10 1680x1050 in the game launcher.
Had to fix Y axis mouse sensitivity for 16:10 tho.
6657874 That's how much I paid, I bought Fallout 4 and the season pass with disc insurance which would allow me to get a new one if the one I have has anything going wrong with, and donated a dollar to the charity our local gamestops support.
I LOVE how you made the stupidity of politicians so realistic!
6657874 It's unfortunate that your attitude makes it so you don't like their stuff. I for one have been having a blast with the new game.
6657984
Ted's presence doesn't disrupt control arrays. He disrupts the detection of normal hive links, he disrupts the anti-dream arrays, and he discovered the specifics of the original control arrays to develop a counter to them, but he doesn't disrupt control arrays passively.
Zelus is a cute name for a
dogchangeling. Does she get a collar and leash?Hmmmmmm, maybe she knows about some council member that will blabber mouth about the Mad Queen's offer.
It's like having a talking lie detector. Except needs more attention and can't just put her into a box till she is needed.
I think you forgot a sentence there Tuna. What event?
Could he change his appearance at all? Or is that something only Luna is capable of?
Totally not Fluttershy.
Sounds like genocide to me!
If any thestral thinks they are allied with the Mad Queen is quite mad themselves.
Now we just need some mad beats!
Not sure how whatever hit the floor is going to get interrogated though.
I guess that would result in an explosion and little bits of unicorn everywhere.
So much for Trixie. Though, at least she got to put on a show!
This could be a problem. I am expecting a new control array with a different rune.
Probably put there by the other sister.
Least Zelus had enough time with her mother to learn things and isn't as stubborn as the late Lessy.
Well, more people are in the fold now.
Maybe he should have held onto the Nightmare card. Though I must wonder why they talk of this "True Darkness", it honestly seems like a bad thing.
I get the feeling this chapter was difficult to write. It seems to be lacking a little. It does give a little insight into how the thestrals think, there needs to be some explanation for it. Hopefully Tuna will learn what it is in the coming chapters.
Uhh... So the Nightmare is sending a bunch of experimental drones to wipe out the Temple of Shadows and Zarris. If they're attacked before Cimmerian gets back then he is going to have many problems. Not only will he have to rebuild, he'll have to come to terms with the fact that his followers aren't as safe as he thought they were... And if Equestria takes the Temple of Shadows... They will have possession of Cimmerian's armor. On top of these problems, if Equestria actually attacks the temple, than where does that leave Cimmerian's offer to the Thestrals? I can just picture it now: "Hey, if the mad queen comes for your race don't worry, we can relocate you to a place that she already knows about and has shown that she has no problems attacking at the slightest hint of a successful resistance. Doesn't that sound great?"
6657637
It's a twisted form of a bad relationship. You keep hoping that this time, they mean it when they say it'll be different, that it'll be better, that they won't mistreat you.
Plus, it's Fallout. It's damn near a tradition that it'll be a programming clusterfuck of a release that creative, hardworking players will have to mod into something playable
.
6658467 isn't that weird? Fallout: mod until it works
Skyrim: mod until it crashes and your save is unrecoverable.
Trouble approaches the homefront, Cimmy!
Let's hope your roadtrip is able to quickly come to a close before the Mad Queen's minions breach your Temple.
I am kind of afraid of the next episode(2) of MLP and what it will reveal about Nightmare Moon.
6658111 Glad someone pointed it out. I didn't even realize that it was Trixie, poor dear. Hope hey can fix her up.
6657594
Pretty sure it's Trixie. Twilight would have a grudge against her and naturally, the Nightmare parasite would capitalize on that. As if we didn't have enough reasons to hate Nightmare and weep for Twilight's plight,
Having seen a few other fics of Twixie turned into a changeling, this would be the first were she's a franken-bugpony. Gonna have to add her to the list of broken ponies, right under Cadance. Makes me wonder how the nobles are faring in Canterlot? Has Blueblood toed the line like a subservient puppet in order to survive and not end up a statue, changeling food, or some horrific experiment?
6658467 nope, just really bored. Last night I was re-reading Harry Potter: Geth until 5am. I'm that bored.
6657699 I know everyone calls the orange chicken scootaroach sometimes, because she's always surviving the most horrific things, but Trixie doesn't do too badly herself.
6657719 years of being raised with different ideals as to what Nightmare Moon and Luna are, and only a few years of knowing Luna's back? there's a good chance Luna only visited them once or twice during her recovery, as well.
6657687 its not a batch, the drone designation was an insult. The Nightmare collects all information it can on its host, including enemies. It knows Trixie tried showing Twilight up at one point, so it took special interest in putting her down.
6657776 Always happy to see people enjoy it.
6658362
6658381 Same. Sure I've had a few bugs or crashes, but overall nothing totally game-breaking.
6658387 I'll come out and just answer with this: Cimmerian doesn't actively stop the arrays from working. If they're already connected to a target or tracking a target, he has to actively disconnect the array from the individual. This was done with the changeling nymphs, and just now was done again for Sapphire.
6659060 Be honest with me here, would you really be that bothered if Queen Twilight strung Blueblood up by his hooves and left him to dangle from the throne room's ceiling for a while?
6658405 Cimmerian telling the thestrals the truth; these are individuals that in some cases deify the goddess of the night and her alter ego. It would be dangerous to mislead them. In the case of the cultists it's being revealed, but at the rate it's happening it just isn't worth starting with that half-truth.
True darkness thing; There are so many cults out there, people who follow another just because that is how they were raised. The Nightmare Moon incident happened centuries ago, and several generations of bat pones have grown up being taught different versions of the story. In some cases, the Nightmare was viewed as a true Goddess of Darkness. Thus their loyalty would be with her. Just because he has Luna's vote doesn't mean he gets all the bat pones.