17 First Blood
Chapter Seventeen
First Blood
Our gas reserve cylinders were at 100% full, and there were four large crates of crushed minerals aboard that could be used to completely refill them all. Every useable gem was as full as could be, which was almost 120% of capacity by Equestrian standards.[1] Thanks to Cream Puff's extravagant notion of victualing, we still had about a week of food aboard, even considering our herd of passengers. And with the sheer number of hooves aboard because of those passengers, all repairs were completed by the afternoon of the first day we got back.
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[1] The unicorns' little nonsense song worked wonders!
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And that left me with nothing to do but wait. I hate waiting.
I set up a watchpost on a crag where the dock at Amberdale could be observed through a spyglass, and I checked in with the various ponies who took turns there so often that the raptor set had to be recharged.
I had a long discussion with Skyla about freeing Loose Leaf, and she reluctantly agreed that it would be the best course of action, even though it was risky. So, I primed Loose Leaf for her mission as well as I could, and left her alone with Swift Wing to say their goodbyes.
They spoke quietly for a few minutes and then hugged each other. Loose Leaf took off and swooped around to hover near where I was standing on the quarterdeck. Her eyes gleamed with joyful purpose. "I will not fail you, mistress! I swear it!"
I smiled softly, showing only a little of my teeth. "I know you won't, my faithful follower. Go well."
She did a couple of wing rolls and a loop from sheer exuberance as she flew away.
"Doesn't it bother you that she's so fanatical?" Skyla asked me as we watched her go.
I sighed, casting my thoughts back across the years. I couldn't stretch the accepted definition of "bothered" far enough to include nostalgia for a simpler time slightly tinged with envy, so I said, "Not really," and left it at that.
Shortly thereafter, I excused myself to go and visit the other native pegasus. After a few of Cream Puff's excellent meals, and being visited by some of Nebula's pegasus and earth pony crew, Cloud Cutter had calmed down quite a lot. As I had nothing better to do except pester ponies trying to do their jobs, I thought it might be worthwhile to talk with him again.
He jumped up when I entered the space we'd set up for him in the hold and backed as far away from me as his shackles would allow.
I lay down on the deck and casually began preening my wings. Pointy teeth made the task a bit easier than usual.
"We're going to release you the day after tomorrow," I said casually, nipping off the broken end of a covert. "You can take whatever action you want, but I'd highly suggest reporting back to your superiors rather than trying to attack or track us. I hold no grudge against you, but there are a lot of armed unicorns aboard who would love to have an excuse to shoot you."
I pulled the feather tip out of my mouth with magic and brought up a bit of the dark stuff to decay it into fine ash. "And that would be a shame."
"You're going to kill us all, anyway, so what would it matter?" he said, sullenly.
"What? Why in Tartarus would I do that?" I nosed at my right wing and gave it a little shake to settle the feathers into position. "I mean, do you have any idea how long that would take?"
He frowned at me warily. "That's what the legends say you'll do."
"Oh yes," I chuckled, stretching out my left wing for inspection. "Beating ponies with their own wings, I think the prophecy says? That's completely ridiculous! Do you know the definition of 'hyperbole?'"
"Uh… no," he admitted.
"Wild exaggeration for emphasis, often comic."
"What?" He was thoroughly confused by then. Right where I wanted him. "It was a joke?"
"Knowing me, it was a fit of irritation at being frustrated, but I can't be sure. It was almost certainly a different me. Oh stars, just look at the state of this secondary!" I got hold of the ragged feather and tried to smooth it back into place as the pegasus sputtered and made inarticulate noises.
"What do you mean, a different you?" Cloud Cutter finally managed to ask.
I sighed and gave up on the secondary. "There are other worlds besides your own—"
"Parallel universes, yes," he said. "What of them?"
"Wait, you know multiversal theory but not the definition of hyperbole? Oh, honestly!" I took a deep breath to calm myself and then said, "So you know that—"
"Yes, we know you came from beyond! That's why the reflex gates were built, to keep you away!"
"Oh." I blinked in surprise. Interesting. "Like the one in the desert south of Ursa Negro?"
He looked a bit surprised, but nodded. Well, that explained the feedback that had trapped us in that world. It didn't seem to have functioned exactly as designed, but it hadn't been an accident after all.
"Well you might have succeeded, because I'm not the Twilight Sparkle that the prophecy is about. I'm one of the other ones. Oh, no! You're not going to faint too, are you?"
"More… of… you?" he wheezed, wide-eyed.
"Thousands at the very least. And I'll have you know that they're mostly very nice ponies![2] Please calm down! I am not going to hurt you!"
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[2] And other things.
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"Then… Then why are you here?"
It was a reasonable enough question, but I didn't think going into my family dynamics would be very productive. "I'm here to fix an imbalance. The Empire treats its unicorn citizens like slaves, and that's got to stop."
"But they're naturally inferior! The Empire gives them a place and a purpose," he protested.
I tamped down my disgust. "And the reason the earth ponies rule over you is that they are naturally superior to pegasi?"
"What? Of course not! The legends say we were the masters here until you came!" He snorted in righteous racism. "The blacklips are always telling us that serving the stompers is the only sure way to keep you from returning to destroy us. We've been true to our duty, but here you are! So the stupid scribes didn't know what they were talking about."
I had suspected as much. It made sense that another me had stumbled upon that world, seen the terrible imbalance in power and had tried to fix it. All I—or rather she—had managed to do was transplant a different tribe to the top of the power pyramid.
I shook my head sadly and stood up. "Captain Skyla was right," I said half to myself. "All of you have got these awful prejudices so ingrained in your minds that there isn't any way to fix it. I suppose we are going to have to destroy the Empire."
"What? But you said—"
"Oh don't worry," I said over my shoulder as I walked away. "I'm going to kill the Empire, not the ponies in it. The pegasi will survive. I suggest finding somewhere with a nice climate where the grazing is good. Just don't do anything stupid and you'll be fine. "
= = =
Targeted interviews with all the rebel unicorns and incidental activities—such as designing a few specialized waveguides—fully occupied me for a day and a half until it was time to make the grab. In the late morning of the second day, Sirocco called in from the watch post and told us that the barge had been loaded and the riverponies were casting off the lines.
The Nebulas scrambled, some hauling in the anchors and ground lines, and some readying net launchers, guns, and grappling equipment.
Skyla stood on the quarterdeck, and in her armor and goggles, cutlass slung by her side and spyglass to an eye, she looked like a perfect recruiting poster for aeronautical misbehavior. My conscience nibbled at me, and not gently, either.
I stood on the foc's'le deck, to one side of the butt of the bowsprit, checking over my gear one last time. Everything was in place, exactly where it had been the first two times I'd examined it. The speaking tube next to me whistled. It was Ao, reporting from the cupola that Sirocco was returning from the watchpost, coming in a few points off our starboard bow.
I relayed the information to Filigree, who was acting as sergeant for the gunners and catapult crews in the waist. The last thing we needed was for Sirocco to get shot by some nervous lubber on a gun.
Cloud Cutter was brought on deck and I gave him one more bit of advice before I unlocked his hobbles and wing straps. "Be smart. Get your friends and family together and take them to safety."
He didn't reply, and flew straight south over the mountains as fast as he could go.
Nebula's engines turned over slowly, taking us south southeast as Lance carefully vented gas to keep us as low over the sharp crags as was safe. The river came in view below a granite crest where the mountains fell away to the valley below, and I put my spyglass to my eye.
"I have the barge, captain," I said into the speaking tube to the quarterdeck. "I make her half a league below the town, just entering a heavily wooded reach."
"Understood, Ms. Nightshade," came her reply. Nebula's engines came to half ahead, and her bow turned southward.
It took us about ten minutes to line up with a straightish reach of the river and then Skyla gave the order to let fly the colors and we swooped down on the barge.
The riverponies had a couple of guns and they were foolish enough to fire at us as we came down into the water alongside their craft. Fortunately, they didn't hit anypony, and all the Nebulas kept their heads and didn't fire back. Well, not at the barge crew, at least. Two shots from the big guns slammed into the trees on the bank and blew shattered wood and burning leaves into the air in an impressive display of power.
"Drop your guns on the deck and heave to, or the next shots go right amidships!" Filigree called out to the barge's crew. "We won't hurt you if you surrender. We only want your cargo."
There was a hurried discussion aboard the craft and then the guns were dropped. The big ponies with the long poles set them against the current and leaned into them, and the barge slowed and stopped.
We'd rigged a spar as a crane boom and quickly swung all the crates aboard while the barge ponies stared in wonder. We also scooped up their guns, but didn't go as far as searching them for valuables.
"Pirates?" One of them asked of nopony in particular. "On this river? You're all mad! That's nothing but pig-iron and medals! The fleet'll chase you down and burn you from the sky."
Skyla laughed at him. "I hope they'll try it! That'll save us the trouble of hunting for them!"
We finished lowering the crates down the main hatchway to the cargo hold, and the unicorns floated the big wooden hatches back on.
"All secure, captain" Stalwart Lance said.
"Gentleponies, I thank you!" Skyla called out to the barge crew from the quarterdeck, giving them a casual wave of her wing. "Nebulas, let's away! We have an empire to topple!"
The engines roared back to life and we lifted from the river in a shower of water and swirls of spray-filled vortices that set the barge to rocking.
I kept my spyglass fixed on the southern sky as we rose above the trees, and was rewarded by the sight of two blobs in the distance.
The speaking tube from the cupola whistled, and Ao reported sighting the distant airships as well. "It seems Cloud Cutter has done as you expected, Majesty."
"Good thing we discussed the river job where he could overhear us." I grinned. "Are the guns in place?"
There was a short pause, and I assumed she was looking aft from the cupola to check on the crews. "Linwood's team are still working on mounting their weapon at the mainmast hatch, but seem to be nearly ready."
I hated depending on rebel unicorns with only a few days of training to lead gunnery teams, but the original Nebulas were stretched too thin. "Good. With two ships against us, the plan is to do a Horseshoe Punch. It'll be pretty scary for the lubbers, so I'm trusting to you to keep them in line and doing their jobs."
"This will be but a small task. They are sensible ponies and fear this one more than the Imperials," she said. Even through the speaking tube, I could hear the humor in her voice.
I switched to the quarterdeck tube and reported the situation to Skyla.
"Very good, Ms. Nightshade," she said. "Any pegasus support?"
I scanned the sky around the oncoming ships again. "None visible, but they may be staying aboard until we close. We'll have to be ready to switch to Flaming Cow Kick if they have too many fliers."
"That will probably be Ao's call. She's the one who will have the best view of them." There was a moment of silence, and I turned to look aft. I could see that Skyla was still bent over the speaking tube. "Be careful. That's an order."
"Aye, aye, captain!" I replied, and replaced the whistle plug in the tube.
After a minute, I could make out more details of the imperial ships. They were smaller than Ironhoof, but still larger than Nebula, and had only four engines apiece. They each had three gun turrets, one at the bow below the bridge and two about three quarters of the way aft on either side.
Nebula's engines roared to full ahead and we charged toward the enemy.
Long streamers of falling water appeared beneath the imperial ships as they maneuvered to keep the advantage of height on us. The deck under my hooves pressed upward as we released ballast as well, making a show of countering their tactic. It was time for me to draw out their pegasi. "Swift Wing?" I called out over my shoulder.
"Here, ma'am," he said, touching down on the deck behind me. He was wearing wing blades in addition to his armor, and had a sword and a crossbow slung on either side of his harness.
I frowned at the sight of all the weapons. "You do understand the plan? If we are heavily opposed, you run for it."
"I understand the plan, Ms. Nightshade," he said flatly.
"Alright, then! Let's go poke the dragon!"
I leaped over the bow and flapped hard for altitude. Nebula was still a furlong below the imperial ships and, as we intended to preserve that apparent disadvantage, Swift and I needed to climb at least twice that distance before we got in range of the enemy's guns.
The gunner in the bow turret of the lead ship took a shot at us as we closed. It missed by a good distance and had dissipated enough that it wouldn't have done much damage even if it had hit one of us. It was nice to know that their ponies were nervous enough to make mistakes.
From what little experience we had with imperial tactics, it seemed that their ships typically only carried a very small contingent of pegasi. But we couldn't count on them being too stupid or hidebound not to adapt to a new and different threat, and with so few flyers of her own, Nebula was vulnerable to being swarmed. Swift and I had the unenviable job of finding out what their strength was while Nebula was still able to change plans, if necessary.
We got far enough above their ships to be out of effective crossbow range and readied our dropstones. The holes in the stones had been stuffed with chemically treated rags, and I lit them with a spark from my horn before we let them fall.
The stones weren't much of a threat. Most of them would bounce off the airships' envelopes before catching the treated fabric on fire, and any halfway decent crewpony could put out such a fire in a few heartbeats. But the long flaming streaks they trailed behind them looked quite impressive and threatening,[3] and the imperials couldn't assume that it wasn't the sort of alchemical fire we had used to such effectiveness on Ironhoof.
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[3] And just to help that impression, I had added a little bit of a finely-ground copper compound to each charge, which gave the flames a lovely green color.
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Some useless shots from the ships' dorsal cupolas meandered up in our direction, one crossbow bolt actually coming to a near stop just below me before falling away. Then the pegasi boiled out of the top hatch of the ship below me. There were at least two dozen of them. As I had feared, they had learned their lesson.
So it was time to teach them a new one.
"I AM TWILIGHT SPARKLE! YOU PATHETIC COWARDS DARE OPPOSE ME?"
With that bit of carefully calculated provocation, they all tried to swarm me at once. Having guaranteed that every one of them would focus their murderous rage on me to the exclusion of all else, I turned tail and dove for Nebula. They all followed, screaming war cries and curses.
It's in the nature of airships to carry their primary weapons below their envelopes. That's because there's only so much weight they can place above their gas cells before becoming dangerously unstable. That's one of the primary reasons why gaining the advantage of superior altitude is so important in most engagements.
But because Nebula's relatively heavy hull hung a fair distance below her envelope, she was able to put more weight topside than was typically safe. With the addition of a massively-augmented keel spell powered by the biggest crystal we had on board, and the stabilization of her big steering fins, we had managed to cluster almost all of her main weapons around the three hatches on her dorsal surface.
This came as something of a surprise to the imperial forces.
In their eagerness to be the heroes who had slain the terrible demon Twilight Sparkle, the pegasi had all flown directly at me, clustering in a rough line in my wake as I apparently fled in fear. Previous to that day, the best shot I'd ever seen with a net launcher had captured three pegasi at once. Filigree and Cream Puff each bagged four with their first launches.
They didn't have to slowly crank their weapons back, either. The six unicorns strapped down to the catwalk rail nearby used their combined magic to reload the weapons almost instantly. The remaining pegasi scattered, of course, but still lost four more of their number to the nets in the first minute of the fight. The parachutes floated them down to the forest below where they could entertain themselves by trying to cut through the wire re-enforced netting for the next hour or so.
Unfortunately, we weren't able to be as non-lethal with all our other countermeasures. The pegasi that were clear of me became the target of a storm of crossbow fire. The bolts had crescent bladed heads designed for cutting through lines, netting, and sails. They were far less likely to penetrate aeronaut armor, but would do much more damage to exposed wings than ordinary pile points.
Another half-dozen of the attackers floundered earthward with shredded flight feathers, but there were a couple who cried out and fell like stones.
I tried to strike for wings when I turned on my pursuers, but at the speed of pegasus combat, it isn't always possible to be precise. I had reach on them, thanks to my longer wings and telekinesis, and I easily downed two of them before one wised up and went for her crossbow.
When the first bolt whizzed past my ear, the rest saw it and the smart became infectious. They all unslung their bows. The next two shots, I deflected with small shields cast right in the path of the bolts. The third came from slightly behind me, and unluckily hit right at the joint between two flanchards,[4] penetrating far enough to stick solidly between two of my ribs. I felt the shock and then the pain, and knew I'd been wounded, but I didn't have time to evaluate the damage.
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[4] Sliding plates that cover the sides of the barrel and waist.
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The hit convinced me I couldn't stand off and keep being a target any longer, so I rushed the remaining pegasi, lashing out with my wingblades and short swords, grabbing and holding my opponents with magic long enough to get in solid strikes. There is no such thing as cheating in combat.
The one that tried to escape met Swift Wing, who hadn't technically disobeyed orders by staying in the air. Swift Wing was very good with his wing blades and finished his opponent before I could join in.
With the pegasi defeated, we landed on Nebula's envelope near the mainmast hatch and I scanned the sky, assessing the situation. Nebula was fast approaching the imperial ships and rising up beneath them. The ship on our right was slewing off to larboard in a sloppy maneuver for some reason, putting her larboard turret out of firing position, but we were still in a very good position to continue with the primary plan, and there was no sign of any more flyers.
"Tell the captain we're still doing Horseshoe Punch!" I yelled to the pony nearest the speaking tubes. He nodded and blew into the one that went to the quarterdeck.
"Uh… ma'am?" One of the gun crew said to me, hesitantly. "Did you know there's an arrow sticking out of you?"
I glanced at the quarrel and estimated that it had only penetrated an inch or two: not immediately life-threatening. I couldn't manage the concentrated flash of high heat necessary to cauterize the wound, so I settled for notching the shaft with one of my blades and then snapping it off close to my body. It probably wouldn't have bled all that much if I had just pulled the whole thing out, but I have a "waste not, want not" policy toward my own blood, and the day was still young.
I didn't really grin so much as bare my teeth at the onrushing imperials. The guns of the ship on our left were swinging to target, and they were only seconds away from unleashing everything they had on us.
"Now comes the fun part."
= = =
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I think only Wolverine has better regeneration than a alicorn.
this reminded me of a scene in an old book, part of a series called "guardians of the flame": after rescuing a nobleman, the hero was offered a Boon. he said he wanted the noble to give up slavery,but the noble responded, "you want up to replace all our slaves with new ones?" the hero tried to explain several more times that he wanted to abolish slavery but slavery was so completely ingrained in the planet's culture that the Noble could not even comprehend the idea of paying people to work...
in a later book, the same noble spent several years AS a slave, and after the same hero rescued him AGAIN he finally understood and joined the hero's crusade to annihilate the Slaver's Guild.
I'm kinda hoping the MLP movie introduces a few new alicorns so that this Princess Puzzle series can continue after The Skyla Pseudonym is complete. Author, you're so good at this.
8230544
Yup. I've read accounts written by actual slaveholders, and they often go on about how slaves wouldn't be able to care for themselves without their (naturally superior) masters, and how easy the slaves have it by not having to make decisions for themselves. It's an insidious mindset.
8230569
Thank you!
Alright so Twilight has a plan, the good are coming, they have a target to deal with after those goods are in place that SO deserves it... now what is her plan, how will things screw up for them, how will they then get them unscrewed.. and aren't they well past First Blood?
Gas is full, everything repaired, ballast restored, and Twi having a personal reason to fix things. Time for the real fun to start.
Huh, an aspect of the world? Les magical pressure outside the gem allowing more to me place in it? Or, they find tricks to eek out as much possible power as they can from these?
Oh, so it allows more charging, not just faster charging too... I can see it, keep's the mana flow smoother, more even, steadier, likely not more RAW power in there, but the stored energy has less inherent Entropy to it, and so contains more usable power?
Always good to have the one pony that over packs on the good food. Still sure you could forage some food well enough if needed. But guessing that gives us a time frame of about a week till they leave? Could work, at least to set things in motion.
How many times have they had to replace the decking in her cabin because shes worn pacing grooves in them the nearly reach the next deck?
They just get so engrossed in this new toy they played away the batteries?
Free her to go forth and spread the glorious word of the great Twilight's return and round up her supporters, or to hang around being an eager, willing help, even if her 'help' is mostly collapsing on her face and praising Twilight every time she comes on deck?
Okay the latter, go start spreading sedition among the pegasi. Good luck, she's likely got the most dangerous mission of anypony so far. But the knowledge her great dark Queen is watching over her shall protect her!
Ao is going to want to keep a portal open to this place, JUST so she can have some of these pegasi come show people how you truly praise the Dark Lady.
Eh, she's used to it by now, and could be worse, at least she's fanatical about the right idea Twilight is trying to push, that the Pegasi are screwing it all up.
Ohhhhh...
That is just so... so amazingly, beautifully well worded. Just, so much that could be said about that line.... this is a great, perfect example of why I just LOVE your writing in and of itself, not even getting into the AMAZING stories you make with it.
That and you slip right back around into
I can so see her and Luna both shifting into more... Dark... forms with pointer teeth just for some added kink.. and then just laying down and preening each other with them... and it is so ADORABLE! Even without trying, you are making so much adroable TwiLuna! Really need a story that lets the two of them just, be together more for us to watch.
And would not say no to watching either.
So, sending him out just as they leave, not much he can tell them they don't already know, beyond the ship is in this region, but might also be able to help spread the reality of Twilight being back, if not in the way he thinks. And also.. good show, show Twi is capable of mercy, send a message, just.. I can see many many reasons this is a good idea. Gratned it would make the other mares job harder... bu she has a head start.
Once again... ALL the ranks in Intimidate! And damn is she good about it, doing small, subtler things like hat rather then over the top "COWER BEFORE ME MORTAL!" stuff. Far more effective, and yeah, this should spread some panic.
Which explains SO much.
1. Good to get that flat out for people that seemed to not get that.
2. I love how she has to add that qualifier in, because she has been through SO MUCH SHIT and seen so much, even she can't be 100% sure there isn't going to be some bizarre twist that it turns out it was her her.
huh, you know, am not surprised in the least they know about this, given the huge portal somepony had to make. They know that Twilight was from another world? Also, gotta love odd gaps in common knowledge.
OHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!
Ohhh shit.. not made to be used as portals, but as a kind of lock on their world.. just far less efficient then her Equestria's. That explains so much.
Okay Twilight, what the hell? Why give away where you came through, and where you are likely to be going at some point.. also your only known way home.
They screw it up by taking the gems out of it? And, yeah that does make it make a LOT more sense. Damn.. dude... you are GOOD!
Yes, yes REVEL IN THE GLORY OF THE INFINITE SPARKLES!
We so need a fic about that council....
NOW!
until you piss them off. Then they will kick your ass HARD... and then offer you friendship if you survive.
"Because my mom and dad belong to this kinky secret sex club and turns out they conceived me during... I'd rather not think about it."
(Sorry, been really into CTS stuff lately.)
Yup, that you REALLY needed to be more specific.
Was rather obvious.
And so now, how to undo this, without just swapping who is on top this time?
Very important distinction.
And per Haley's Rule, not saying what they are allows it to be just whatever she happens to need at that moment without giving ti away or technically being a Deus ex Machina. Plus she Batmare at this point so.. I would buy her whipping out a damn lightsaber somehow.
Very bad influence... but so FUN!
So, hoping he does that, or planning on him spreading the word? Or both?
Yeah, it deserves to be that epic.
Do not fuck with Twilight. Or her crew.
"We aint' getting paid enough for this!"
They will try.
Also is 'Pig-metal' racist here?
She is having WAY to much fun!
Here comes the fun! So time to stop by the town and pay a visit to the overseer?
Hmmm, given they would have had time... a gun using the new mandala she had stamped out? Finally get to see what that does?
I find myself saying this every chapter but... I FREAKING LOVE AO!
Ponies with much more authority then you have tried to make that order stick..... good luck.
Hmm, so get behind them then?
"They'll never see this coming!"
Yes, but if not, don't want to run out of weapons or options. I like him too!
On anyone else, this would be a sign of doing something really stupid but well.. not sure if intended or not but, all I can see is how this whole thing started.. with her 'poking' a dragon.. much to the dragon's dislike.
Always good to make your enemy underestimate you.
Very nice... means you've pretty much got this thing won.
BURN BURN! Ohhh very nice tactic, they can't really let you get away with that, so yeah will have to send out their flyers.. hopefully panic and send them ALL out, rather then just a few. Granted, if they only send a few, easy to deal with.
OHHHH Awesome. Behold the power... OF SCIENCE! That is so perfectly Twilight.
It's more a variant on the same one. "Do not fuck with Twilight Sparkle!"
Yes yes.. guessing none of the ponies on that ship is named Admiral Ackbar.
Oh shit.... yeah NEVER underestimate Twilight Sparkle! Also, no matter what you plan for, or what you think she can do... you are underestimating her.
Let's see the Empire get over themselves enough to start learning THAT trick.
..... ohhhh... just... owwwwww.....
Nice to see that practice with Luna back then payed off and be brought back up.
"I'm not dead already, so I'll be fine." pretty much. Also, still fighting with a few bolts sticking out of you has got to add to the "We should run" factor.
Nope! Oh right no Maxim yet, guess this one applies.
MAXIM 6: If violence wasn't your last resort, you failed to resort to enough of it.
HEH! Just, nice touch.
Wait, his Twilight actually been bloodied before? Took a few hits fro clubs but, outright bleeding since she got here? Hmmm, guess it is first blood. Though could also look at it as first blood of the rebellion. Since till now Twi's just been focused on getting the buck home, this is the first blood of her actually fighting back against the Empire.
Just, the way she is so practical about is both awesome, and kind of terrifying.
WHHHHYYYY!!!!!! Why stop right THERE!!!!! OH YOU DREUL EVIL WONDERFUL AMAZING HORRIBLE STORY!!! WHYYY!!!!!!!
Still holy fuck this is just, again.... SO FREAKING AWESOME AND JUST.. just.. yeah, you HAD to stop there......
Still everything is coming into place, now to see just what Twi's master plan is.
8230633
Sort of like defragging a hard drive in a way.
Kinda sends a chill up your back, right?
If it is, it'd hardly be noticed among all the other racism!
Yup. I can't help but recall Morty's defiant rant to the Council of Ricks. Certainly applicable to our little purple princess as well.
More likely related to the Saxons that charged after the "retreating" Normans at Hastings. Historical level of Oops!
Because I am a very bad man.
But not that bad. Both the tactical and grand strategic plans will be revealed... next week.
I do love the maneuver names. I imagine Rainbow Dash was heavily involved in the creative process there, either in flesh or in spirit.
As for the battle, I can only hope that Twilight's estimation of that penetration is accurate. Goodness knows she has enough to worry about without any damaged organs.
8230583
Have you considered the Discord Dilemma?
8231044
Something like it, yes.
Unfortunate. But this Twilight herself noted that changing a civilization is complicated and there are so many variables you can't account for. For all we know the other Twilight did everything right she possibly could and the forces of chance and history still conspired against her to undo her good works.
*starts a chant* Battle! Battle! Battle!
I do so adore how you write Twilight's internal thought processes, especially in relation to the other Twilights.
Someone's going to be very unhappy with her auntie later.
8230633
Yep
Cliffhangers are definitely overpowered
BLIZZ NERF !
...Wait a second this is not World of Warcraft...
How dd I got here?
This story is so much fun. The protagonist takes the form of a monster from legend and leads a pirate crew to overthrow an empire, all for perfectly sound moral reasons and with minimum loss of life.
Twilight has every opportunity to go 100% grimdark, but she's not. She's remaining true to herself and she's determined to put things right. I love it.
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Thank you!
Sorry I'm late; I've been rather busy getting together an entry to SPark's contest after he blogged the less-than-a-week-left reminder. I'll get to the next chapter tomorrow.
That's quite interesting; I was imagining it as something that just helped focus and speed given this world, but it seems like it actually has a compressive (or even organizational) effect on the resulting magical matrix. If you didn't have the orichalcum, that knowledge in itself would be a good thing to bring back with you.
That caution actually makes more sense than I thought it did at first glance; she's definitely on Twilight's side, but she's also definitely not the kind of pony to keep quiet, and secrecy does still mean something to the Nebula.
I've wondered about the mechanics before. Pony lips are obviously more dexterous than beaks, but their muzzles are also wider which could counteract that during detail work. Pointy teeth are probably the best of both worlds, even if some standard grips are more dangerous than normal. Probably a good thing Twilight didn't have to do much flying back when she first arrived in Twilight Town.
...though as long as you're careful, that's not in itself a bad thing.
I wonder whether he knows the reference, or whether the fact that it's a physical place in Equestria means he thinks it's just part of her weirdness.
Huh. Well, in a roundabout way, it is serving its purpose: it's making the Equestrians go away by providing them with an easy means out of the world. Just too bad it was kept from that duty by greedy saboteurs.
That said, their world is apparently much more of a hub than Equestria; there are certainly a lot of outgoing connections from the latter, but there didn't seem to be any influx issues, even before she set the lock.
Twilight, I think he was specifically asking about other demon al-leekorns. Surely those only number in the double digits.
By the way, I'm still holding out hope for an April Fools squid-world story.
And, admittedly, that's become true as well. The question was "why are you here?" rather than "why did you come here?"
Well, at least I was half right when I said the earth ponies supplanted the unicorns?
That feels strange, and I'm not even the captain: the engines shutter into a new rhythm below your hooves, though you gave no order. A shot of adrenaline -- hijackers! -- before you remind yourself that, for this expedition, you are not the one giving orders. It still takes several deep breaths for your heart to return to normal.
Not entirely sure why this is the first time I've felt that way. I guess this is one of the few times she's explicitly not standing next to Skyla?
Nice of them to clarify. Good chance of not changing a thing, though, depending on the culture and how the crew is paid; "wages upon arrival" makes it much less appealing to arrive with an empty load.
This seems to be "hire an outgoing transport", then.
This type of thing is a good indication of writing style: you keep the description quick to get focus back to the characters, while still providing some really nice visuals and letting the reader fill in the rest. I have a feeling I'd dig into the scene over a medium-length paragraph, and would need to change the balance of everything else to keep it from dragging. Given how much I enjoy this story, that's purely an observation rather than any sort of judgement, but I found it interesting to look at.
*checks the ship diagrams* Yep, unless the crew is clambering over the envelope (either of you read Naomi Novik's Temeraire series?), that seems like a rather improbable sight line.
...or they can be working in one of the few perfectly-visible hard points.
I love how you describe tactics; everything feels so natural that it seems like it would be taken from battles in our world, and yet dropping burning rocks onto blimps or the jostling needed to maneuver ships to favorable positions in three-dimensional space were never major considerations here.
May as well make the most of your reputation and looks and play up the demon angle, eh? Of course the ponies here are a bit less credulous than ideal for it, but every little bit helps.
In thinking this through and trying to come up with alternate stable designs, I realized that making a catamaran airship has the opposite effect on stability than its water-borne counterparts.
Now, this is the perfect illustration of pony battles. Even after reading the next paragraph.
Put "knight" on the list of things I have no desire to be, right next to the "alchemist" from last chapter.
There are two possibilities: Nebula was able to do some sort of damage despite being out of range, or that captain has something scary planned. Don't ascribe anything to incompetence when you're the main character, Twilight.
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Um... CTS? Didn't see anything that seemed to be it in your library.
This is the first chapter in a while I haven't needed to give her the heart emoticon. rainbowlaugh serves almost as well, right?
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Hlaf, as in the EP's taking over? Yeah EP's took over from pegasi/.. wonder how crap unicorns had it back then too.
IKR? SO DAMN GOOD!
Clocktower Society.
And yeah, still awesome and missed you!
8248766 Fair enough, and yeah that makes sense. Back doors that she can use in an emergency to get back home make sense, and so long as they only allow small opening, can't be TO badly abused or open to large a threat.
There is a reason why Twilight Sparkle is the most feared battlemage in dozens of universes. I believe that the Empire is about to find out what that reason might be.
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Welcome back, and thank you for the comments!
That's definitely going on my to-do list!
I know, right? From Twilight's POV, it felt weird when i wrote it!
Well, I'm glad you enjoy the balance I (instinctively) hit. I know my place and action descriptions are pretty sparse when compared to the average writer.
Yep, Ao is the de facto bosun on this trip, though she's officially Second Officer in the log. (BTW, the Temeraire series is freakin' awesome!)
Well... I'm not at all adverse to the idea. Another item for the to-do list. (Oh, carp! I actually started writing a scene in my head there for a second. Grooming...)
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Yep... but when security creep turns into full blown security gallop... there might just be a problem. Who do you call when you need to change the lock on your universe?
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Oh, you don't even know the half of it yet!
Whoop
I wonder what the other Twilight did to make the pegasi fear her threats even 300 years later.
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Asteroid strikes are a real attention-getter. Just sayin'.