7 Property Damage
Chapter Seven
Property Damage
I was delighted to learn that Filigree's talent was for intricate metalworking. He had specialized in decorative work on weapons and armor because his passionate hobby was rapier fencing— which was how he'd met Flurry Heart—but he had done apprentice work with both a high-end toymaker and a clockmaker, so he knew quite a lot about mechanisms.
"If we are going to tweak the nose of the Empire, we have to get some accurate and durable linkages between the engines and the telegraph. Do you think that's something you can do?" I asked him.
"Certainly, given the tools and materials, Ms. Nightshade," he replied with confidence. "But I didn't bring any of my own with me."
I led him to the little cubby on the crew deck where a couple of big chests held full sets of wood and metalworking equipment. "There's a bellows that attaches to the galley stove's firebox that can make it useful as a small forge. You'll find ample wire, sheet metal, and barstock of several types stowed under the companionway in the sail locker, and there are planks and sawhorses that can be set up as a workbench for you."
He stared in amazement at the selection of tools. "I take it you often travel far from repair facilities?"
"As we are doing now," I agreed. "You are excused all other duties, including engine-charging, until you've completed this work."
"I'll start on it now," he said, levitating various bits and pieces out of the metalsmith's chest.
I left him to it and went below to the cargo hold, where I took inventory of our lift gas and other critical stores.
We weren't as well-supplied as I would have liked, but we weren't too bad off, and I was pleased to discover that all of my "specialty" cargo was right where it ought to be. I began to feel better about our situation until I remembered that we had no doctor aboard and no cockatrice box for seriously wounded ponies.
"Well," I grumbled to myself, "We'll just have to cheat, won't we?"
= = =
"Three days to fully charge the engine crystals, if all three of us give it twelve hours a day," I told Skyla and Ao at our after-supper strategy meeting in the captain's cabin.
Skyla shrugged. "With this world's tiny trickle of mana, we should be able to do that without getting tired at all. The only problem might be dying of boredom while sitting next to the engines all day."
"We still need to drill the crew, and it's quite possible to give orders while on our rumps. Just ask any Royal Air Service admiral."
Skyla snorted. "I suppose I could also read up on airship tactics at the same time; I've been looking through some books in yo… my cabin, but I fall asleep if I read in bed."
"That's not a bad idea, but don't turn the pages with your magic."
"Really? That would hardly waste—"
"Uneven charging can result in a lot of problems," I told her. "Uneven flow when you're drawing on the mana later is a common result, and a rhythmic gap in the charging flow—like pauses to turn pages—can induce power voids, or worse if you're unlucky. You need to concentrate on keeping the flow nice and even."
"So what you're telling me is that I've got an excruciatingly boring few days ahead of myself."
I grinned. "Welcome to the life of an adventurer! Days of routine grunt work and then everything happens at once."
"Perhaps," Ao put in, "the Captain could order that handsome pegasus to turn the pages for her."
"No distractions," I said, poking Ao with a wingtip. "Of any kind!"
Skyla rolled her eyes. "Why don't we go over the plan again? Is it really necessary to fly all the way southeast and then back north again to make it look like we're coming from the opposite direction? It adds days to our travel time!"
"Until we've had a good look at what Empire forces can do, we need to be ridiculously over-cautious, and confusing them as to where we've come from is a wise tactic." I said, unfolding the territorial map. "The town of Palo Verde is within a bend of the river and 'Outpost 12' is on the north side. It's more exposed, so we have to assume it was built later, probably after the conquest."
Skyla put her wingtip on the map. "So we sail around to the other side of the mountain pass to make it look like we've come from the east, and then go through on engine power. We take out any force at the outpost and then hit an imperial warehouse for resupply and information. Simple."
"As concise a summary as this one has heard, Captain," Ao said.
I forced myself not to snort. Most ponies didn't think Ao had a sense of humor. I knew better. She would never have directly criticized a superior, of course, but she had some very subtle ways of making her disapproval known. I told myself I'd give her a word or two of reassurance later.
= = =
Things went very smoothly for the first two days, which meant Flurry was bored and restless. Any guard captain in Equestria would have given his least favorite body part for troops as eager to get to grips with the enemy as she was.
We kept Nebula on a broad reach east-southeast, rotating the crew at the wheel to get everypony some practice steering in good conditions. I had the crew set some of the sails they hadn't dealt with yet, and the light but steady wind drove us along at a good pace.
Filigree completed his first linking mechanism and fitted it to the aft larboard engine. It was very stiff and wouldn't move to Full Astern, but otherwise it seemed to work well enough. Filigree didn't seem bothered by the failure. He dismounted the work and marked out the places where the parts rubbed or stuck. "Just a few adjustments and it will work smoothly, I'm sure," he said. "We're lucky all the engines are identical. Once I get this one perfect, all I have to do is duplicate it."
It had nothing to do with luck and everything to do with a kindly old genius aeronautical architect back in Canterlot. I took the time to show Filigree the workings of the steering gear and other precision systems aboard Nebula. It was nice to give Gudgeon's work an appreciative and knowledgeable audience.
Near evening on the second day, the wind became uneven and showed a distressing tendency to shift without warning. I had the Nebulas shorten sail, and recommended to Captain Skyla that we anchor for the night when we reached the river marked on the map.
"We can flush and fill the ballast tanks and top up our drinking water," I told her. "Then we can all get a little rest before crossing the mountains in the daylight."
"Yes," she said, tapping a hoof on the deck impatiently. "I suppose that's the wisest thing to do."
I was a little surprised she had taken the delay so well. I felt a bizarre urge to pinch her cheeks and coo, "Oh, my little Flurry Burry is growing up so fast!" But as I had no desire to have to fight for my life that evening, I merely thought about it and smiled to myself.
It was a good thing we waited for daylight to make the crossing. The mountains were low this far south, but they marked the edge of a plateau, and beyond them, the land fell away to a plain a couple of thousand feet lower. That meant the warm desert air rose and pulled the air from lower down right into our teeth.
"We'll have to use the engines if we don't want to spend a week beating against headwinds to the plains," I told Skyla.
"How much energy will that burn?" she asked.
"It depends on how rough the winds are. At least half a day of charging I would think, but it may be more."
"How dangerous will it be to use the engines with crew ponies manually relaying the telegraph commands?"
I was seriously impressed. Skyla was asking all the right questions. "More dangerous than I care for, but our alternative is to anchor here until Filigree has finished his mechanisms. It might be another two days."
"Nevertheless, Ms. Nightshade, that is what we shall do. In the meantime, I wish you to instruct the crew in cutlass and boarding pike techniques, as well as picking teams to operate the big catapults. Every hoof may have its use on the day!"
I'm afraid I outright gaped at her for a few seconds.
"Have I not made myself clear, Ms. Nightshade?"
"Perfectly clear, Captain!" I saluted and went about arranging matters. "Every hoof…" I muttered to myself. "Where have I heard that before?" Then it hit me.
It was from Ms. Midshippony Breezie. I had about a half-dozen of Captain Merry Yacht's sea adventure novels in my (now Skyla's) cabin. Oh stars! If she was modeling her behavior on the old commodore… well, when I thought it over, I decided she could do a lot worse. Besides, firing catapults[1] was a lot of fun.
----------
[1] Ground forces or powered ships that didn't have to worry about an envelope overhead typically used swing-arm catapults such as onagers, springalds, mangonels, or trebuchets, but Nebula's catapults were essentially huge crossbows that threw bolts about as long as a pony, and as big around as a supermodel's waist. They had a single-piece bow rather than the more complicated and difficult-to-repair set of levers and torsion springs that were typical of the antiquated ballista design.
----------
The passage off the plateau was rough. Very rough. It became obvious to us why the only pass marked on the map was the one to the north. But we made it unscathed and were rewarded by cooler temperatures and a nice steady breeze over our starboard beam once we reached the plains. Filigree's linkages had worked perfectly, but once we had set sail again, he dismounted them to check for wear or weakness.
Things went so smoothly on the run north to the pass that some of the crew had time to get nervous.
"I'm not sure I can do this," Cream Puff said to me after morning cutlass practice. Judging by the way he was holding his blade and heavily sweating in the light armor he was wearing, I felt inclined to agree. He'd done much better on the catapults.
"It's for form's sake, Puff," I told him. "To get to you, they're going to have to go through me." I leaned forward and grinned my jagged razor grin right in his face. "How do you think that's going to work out for them?"
He actually laughed.
= = =
We'd been over the plan a dozen times, and practiced the more difficult aspects twice by the time we reached the pass. I expected some rough air, though nothing like what we ran into on the southern crossing, and the wind would be with us this time. My estimate of the crossing time was two hours instead of half a day. I left the fore and mizzen staysails up to help steady us, and went aft to report to Skyla.
"All crew at stations, Captain. They're as ready as they'll ever be."
She didn't reply for so long that I began to think she hadn't heard me. "Captain?"
"Yes," she said, tightly. "Take us through."
I rang for three-quarters ahead, and we entered the pass.
The air was tricky enough that Nebula needed our full attention, but there was nothing terribly difficult or dangerous about the passage. Ao left us as we started to descend and scouted ahead. There were some scattered cumulus in the sky and her white coloration—not to mention her very non-pegasus outline—would help make her less noticeable.
She was so inconspicuous, in fact, that nopony noticed her returning until she flew in over the bow. "Captain, Ms. Nightshade," she bowed as she touched down on the quarterdeck.
"Report, Ms. Ao," Skyla said, her voice sounding just the slightest bit tight.
"It is as we surmised, Captain. The outpost is a tall fortified tower with a more slender tower and mooring mast affixed to its top. Two buildings only stand near it, and they are timber affairs, not strongly built. From the tracks on the ground, this one believes that they are a warehouse and a barracks."
"Any long-range weapons in the tower?" I asked.
"This one fears so, but they were not visible. The top of the tower was surrounded by timber… ah… the word…"
"An enclosure? Hoardings?" I prompted.
"Yes! Hoardings! A platform and shutters to keep out the weather, but may be easily opened. If this one may venture an opinion, Captain?"
At Skyla's nod, Ao continued. "From everything this one saw, it seems they fear attack from the ground and discount it from the air. Our plan is a fortuitous one. When Nebula passes that peak, the tower will be visible to starboard."
I gave Skyla a moment to issue the order herself, but when she merely nodded, I said, "Good work, Ao. To your station."
The kirin bowed again, not quite facing me, and snaked her way through the air toward the cupola.
"Can you give the orders when the time comes?" Skyla asked me quietly.
I grimaced. "I will call out the maneuvers, direct what I can when the action starts, but you've got to lead us."
She said nothing for several seconds.
"What are you orders, Captain?" I prodded her.
"They could get hurt, Twilight," she said to me softly.
"They know," I whispered back. "But they all want to get back home again."
"All because I wanted to play pirate…"
"Yes. But nopony's playing now, Flurry, and you need to fire them up, or they are going to lose heart, and that's the surest way to lose a battle that I know of!"
Her eyes rolled and her hooves shifted nervously on the deck. "I-I don't know… What do I say?"
"You've been quoting old Commodore Hayseed for the last few days, Have you read as far as the battle against the Zebra corsairs?"
"What has that got to… oh… you mean..." She stared at me incredulously. "But that's from a book! This is real!"
"Inspiration is nothing but breath, yet it can turn the tide of a very real fight," I quoted, as I glanced up at the mountains that were falling away to starboard. "And unless I miss my guess, the time is now, Captain. Here comes that peak."
"Stealing speeches? Alright, then…" Skyla snorted, stamped the deck, and gave me one last look before slamming one hoof down on the rail and calling out to the crew. "Nebulas! These Celestia-forsaken ponies we face today have wallowed in their own evil for far too long! For too long they have feared only the loss of some comfort or high position. Well, today we come to teach them something new to fear, and that is this ship and this crew! We will show them what true fear really is! We will show these nags what brave, free Equestrians can do! What say you, my ponies?"
I found myself honestly cheering along with the rest of the crew. Holy stars, Captain Skyla Windsong looked magnificent in that moment. Her mane and tail streamed in the wind, and her neck arched in elegant perfection as she beamed down at her Nebulas with a tight, feral bearing of her teeth. "Let fly the colors! Full speed ahead!"
The second round of cheers died away, and I paused for a moment to enjoy the smooth, familiar vibration of the deck as all four engines roared with power. Then I began shouting orders. "Catapult crews, load and stand ready! Swift, on the boom! Lance, to the capstan!"
The tower came into sight, and it was a couple of long minutes as we closed the distance. At first there was no evidence of activity, then a series of signal flags were hoisted up the mooring mast. Through my spyglass, I confirmed that the flags were not the sort that were used back home. I knew I wouldn't have been able to read the message in any case, but I could make a good guess. The ponies in the tower had no idea what was going on and they were asking, "Who the hay are you?"
"Sirocco, signal 'Happy Birthday,' if you please." He gave me a look, but went about efficiently clipping signal flags to a weighted line and then heaved it over the larboard rail.
Our unreadable flags confused them enough to buy us another precious minute or so, but then the big wooden shutters on the hoardings began to swing up.
"Catapults, target the enemy's weapons," Skyla called to the crews on the fo'c'sle deck. "Fire on my command. Wait… wait for it… FIRE!"
There was a deep, double whump as both catapults fired, and then metallic ratcheting as they were cranked back to be reloaded. The lower tower was stone, but the platform and housing surrounding their weapons was only timber. The first shaft hit near the end of the hoarding and went through the wooden shutter like it was paper. I couldn't see what happened inside, but the bolt must have hit stone and ricocheted to the side, because its fragments exploded out of the other end of the hoarding and there were hoarse cries and a screech of metal from within.
The second bolt went high and hit just under the eaves of the roof. Shattered tiles fountained up from the impact point, but likely did no significant damage.
I counted out the seconds as we bore down on them and was delighted that they hadn't returned fire, until I managed to make out the wreckage of the weapon we'd disabled. It wasn't a catapult, or an onager, or anything as mundane. The twisted metal I saw was the remains of a thaumic waveguide.
"Look lively on the catapults!" I called out, hurriedly. "Target the right side of the hoardings and fire as soon as you reload! All crew! Goggles on and shades down!"
Skyla shot me a questioning glance as she pulled her own goggles into place and flipped down the dark lenses.
"Magical weapons!" I told her, my voice low. "I don't know how strong they are, but we do not want to get hit by one."
She nodded and turned back to the action, her jaw set and her nostrils flaring.
"I can fly over there," I offered. "I can hit that second gun crew first if it looks like our catapults won't reload in time."
"I don't want you hit by one," she hissed out of the corner of her mouth. "Wait."
I did. But I didn't like it.
It was a very near thing. As we came within their field of fire I saw the glimmering golden barrel of the second weapon swinging to bear on our hull just as the first catapult fired. It missed, but struck not far above the weapon, and that was enough to disrupt the gun crew long enough for the second catapult to fire. That bolt went through the lower planks of the hoarding and must have struck the pivot of the gun, because it swung wildly up and away before it fired.
Without our dark goggles, the flash would have blinded us. As it was, I heard the gasping and cursing of the Nebulas as the crackle of the discharge faded away.
I couldn't give them any time to think about it, because we were about to pass the tower and had reached the point where we needed to unleash our big surprise.
"NOW, SWIFT!" I bellowed.
The pegasus jerked at the sound of the Royal Voice, and then heaved away at the line attached to the big boom we'd rigged behind the mainmast. It swung out to larboard, carrying our biggest anchor hanging from the end. As soon as it was roughly parallel to Nebula's beam, Lance let go of the cable supporting the anchor and it ran out through the blocks so fast they began to smoke.
I leaned over the rail and saw a beautiful sight. The anchor, trailing its cable, swung all the way around the tower, disappearing from view. I couldn't wait for it to reappear; I had to trust in physics that it would continue to behave as I had intended. "MAKE FAST AND BRACE FOR IMPACT!"
Lance hauled on the winch's brake lever and there was a shriek as the cable jumped between the jaws, bucking to a hard stop. Everypony else grabbed for something solid to hang on to.
The anchor cable went taut with a subsonic thrum that hit everypony on board deep in their bones. Nebula groaned and slewed to larboard, starting to swing around the tower like a ball tethered to a pole. But the "pole," though made of solid blocks of granite, wasn't designed to take the shear force required to stop an airship running at full speed.
We came close enough to see the terrified expressions of the ponies struggling to bring their damaged gun to bear on us once again before the stones of the tower shattered where the anchor had struck them and the cable pulled the whole structure over.
As a demonstration of potential energy being converted to kinetic energy, nothing beats a tall building suddenly undergoing complete collapse. The sharp return pull on the anchor cable heeled Nebula over about fifteen degrees before Lance was able to unjam it and let it run out.
We flew on to get out of the dust cloud and then came about to wait for it to dissipate. Earth ponies are ridiculously tough and stubborn, but I expected that the ones that would have to dig themselves out of the rubble of the tower would be too battered to be much interested in fighting. Hopefully the rest would be too awed by the sudden destruction to put up much resistance. The plan called for dumping a couple tons of water ballast on them as a disincentive if necessary.
"Make all gear fast," I ordered. "Ready launchers and dropstones. Keep sharp. Watch the buildings as the dust clears."
I rang for dead slow to hold us against the light breeze, and began mentally reviewing the action. I didn't get much time to do so, because almost immediately, the speaking tube from the cupola whistled. When Skyla lifted her ear away from it, her expression was grim.
"Ms. Ao reports another airship coming through the pass. It's big and fast, and it's headed right for us."
= = =
=
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Aww, Flurry's learning so fast!
Also, damn. I would not have thought to use an airship to pull a tower over, even a damaged one. Not like that, anyway.
8074140
Physics is a harsh mistress!
Glorious strategy, though now there appears to be a problem. From the look of those magical weapons, I'd assume the incoming airship has some heavy payload. Not only that, this is probably a well equipped and well trained ship and crew who are expecting a fight. The best bet is probably to get the hell out, or do the completely unexpected.
8074140
Gives you a way to come in fast, and use the momentum as a weapon.
> catapult
> giant bow
Isn't that a ballista?
Enemies inbound.
8074224
Yeah, I am thinking the same.
8074145
You know... now you need smilie with Ms. Nightshade face instead of Twilight
8074224 Well, it's both. Classification overlaps FTW.
8074224
Actually, "catapault" refers to any sort of large projectile weapon that doesn't use explosives or electricity. It's sort of a blanket term. The "catapault" you're familiar with is an onager or mangonel. Those are the ones with the buckets. Catapault, in this usage, is more akin to a catapault on an aircraft carrier. The naval usage of the term is different than the more often seen terrestrial variety.
Nightshade appears in front of the imperial ponies and opens her black wings and dragonlike eyes wide, shows her sharp toothy smile :
"Your worst nightmare..."
8074342
I thought that was a trebuchet? Not that I know anything about catapults...
8074402
8074422
A trebuchet is the one with a huge hanging counterweight on one end of the arm and a sling on the other. Capable of throwing pianos and Mini Coopers... tons of fun!
The Wilhelm Scream is mighty and shall prevail.
'coming through the pass'
I'd try to gain altitude over the incoming vessel. Nebula's using conventional weapons, which means it will suffer in range - a problem that can be somewhat compensated for by gaining height.
Additionally, if they're higher than their enemy, then Nebula's hull can protect the fragile envelope (and, you know, the crew) from direct attacks.
If the enemy vessel is used to targeting units on the ground, it may have limited capability to shoot upwards (guns may not arc up high enough, its own envelope may be in the way, etc). So all in all, being higher is better.
The main disadvantage of higher altitude is that it's likely to give Nebula's position away to anything else nearby; and make evasion more difficult. While they are low, there's a chance Nebula can stall for time and even use the terrain for cover against the opponents presumed stronger offensive weapons.
Finally, the enemy airship already made a big mistake - it's coming in low and fast, likely overconfident. They're probably not prepared to fight an enemy airship and are just responding to a general 'we are under attack' alarm (although to be fair, that was a pretty prompt response - maybe a military unit that just happened to be in the area). It's a mistake, because the enemy presumably has a significant ranged advantage, so coming in close pays to the Nebula's strengths, and opens her up to a ram from the Nebula.
Or, say, an angry alicorn rampaging across their deck.
Oh gosh, thought I was reading a different fic for a second...
.
For fucks sake Twilight, you should know better than just attacking someone without even knowing their capabilities.
Heck, they could of had heating seeking missiles for all we know.
So how many ponies did they just kill?
8075761
Given how pony physics works? None at all. They'll just dig themselves out of the rubble with circles of stars and tweeting birds over their heads.
But seriously? This story is the equivalent of a popcorn-action movie. Indiana Jones is going to toss some Thuggee Assassins into the lava, Han Solo is going to blast a few imperial storm troopers, and Captain Skyla & Co. are going to kill a number of Nazi-equivalent slavers. Like the classic adventure films, the violence will be theatrical and stylized, avoiding the buckets-o-blood trend of current movies, but it is going to be part of the story. Sorry if that wasn't clear from the beginning.
Geez. This is why you don't get on Twilight's bad side. Also, Skyla seems incredibly calm for being as nervous as she seemed to be saying to Twilight. I suppose growing up with royalty taught her to mask her thought/emotions when it's useful.
8076170
Yes but how many?
This is for score keeping.
8076170 In other words, this is The Magnificent Seven (the recent one), not, say, Django Unchained.
Flurry Burry is shaping up to be a cool cat, but I still like Hector Barbosa and Davy Jones the most.
"Let them taste the triple guns."
8074342
Eeeh... Depends where you are, I think. The usage of catapult in that sense would seem to vary by location. Around my part of the world, "catapult" is more synonimous with onager-style engine, and "ballista" is more "giant crossbow." (And the catch-all term tends to be siege engine, if one is used at all.) "Catapult" in the sense of "things what launch aircraft" tends to be only come up in context. (And "catapult" as in slingshot is not a common usage anymore unless one is reading the Beano and not even really then any more.)
So, while, no, it is not technically wrong (but, as an illustration, I did actually have to go double-check and look up the word in both wiki and a dictionary to convince myself that was the case), I think iisaw might might have been better to be specific and say "ballista", (it's not like he's not at all adverse to technical terms anyway!) Because until he specifically stated, I (as someone who is even indeed a lay student of military history) assumed "lever-based throwing engine" not "giant crossbow." (I suspect, were I to take a poll down my local wargames club, For example, catapult-as-mangonel/onager would be likely the most common interpretation when "catapult" was mentioned alone, so it's not just me.)
But you know, if you remember to never use the word "pteradactyl[1]," we'll call it quits...!
[1]Ther is no such thing as a pteradactyl. The family of winged reptiles form the Mesozoic are pterasaurs, the most popular one with the crest is pteranodon and there is ONE species (not even a genus of related species, just one) called Pterdactylus antiquus, which was roughly the size of mallad. Calling pterasaurs pterodactyls is like calling all mammals platyps or all birds sparrows and it drives me up the wall because I knew better one I was four, for frack's sake, which I know because there was that time they showed a children's educational telly programme in my school and as soon it was over a little hand went up and proceeded to list the large number of massive factual errors and how can you officially make a children's program for education, not even a crappy cartoon or something and not ever bothered to do any basic fact-checking to the point that the children you are trying to educate already literally armed with one dinosaur book know better than you and AAAAAAAAAAARGH!
Ahem.
Well we all knew this would just be a matter of time, the only real question is how bad they make it, and how deserving are the asshole that get their stuff wrecked. Or if this'll be Skyla having to deal with cuaing collateral damage to those she's trying to help? Still, Twi and Flurry have a mission, and mean to do as much damage to the assholes in charge as possible along the way. This is going to be good.
Hmmm, so how is that going to help them? Mean he'll be good at engraving runes and other arcane foci onto stuff for her? Help her build up her pwn little bag of tricks to help deal with the magic shortage?
Ah, create something to help her fly Nebula better. Makes sense.
Not a problem. Either Twi is crazy prepared enough to have some, or they will go 'acquire' them immediately.
Yup, not the least bit surprised she's prepared for this. Does make sense to have as many tools as you could get just in case.
Well, at least one that won't shoot her on sight. But yeah she's had to patch up her ship on her own quite often.
Alright, so the few horny ponies they have are taking turns doing their best to top off the engine crystals while they run on sail power. Good.
Hmmm, blast would just require a lake or river or something to top off the tanks. Food? Weapons should be fine for how few they have. Sares for parts that they might need? What else would be.. 'critical'?
And by drawing attention to the fact you have it, while not giving specifics about what it is, you allow for just the item you need to take care of a dramatic situation to be available without it being a total asspull. Much like Haley's wands. Very smart Twilight, you really are Genre Savvy
So don't get hurt. Plus they really do not have any crew to spare here.
EHHHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE! Ohhhh this is going to be good.
Bring a book.
Also, is she saying to fully fully charge them, or to top them off from where they are now? Either way, definitely a good idea to get that done ASAP for when you need them later. Also wait, three of them, twelve hours... overlapping shifts? Two on one off, one of them sapping out every 6 hours? At least you'll have someone to talk to then.
Plus, Flurry, DO NOT freaking bitch about this, I have had to stand Heisengage Watch. That is standing, yes standing no sitting on watch, in front of a single massive gauge in a cold, shut down engine room for six hours straight in the middle of the night, doing nothing but watching the needle to make sure it doesn't move. You have no room to complain given all you can do while doing this. (fun fact, doing this taught me just now many caffeine pills I can take before getting sick, that answer was four.)
Hmmm, this makes a lot of sense, nice set up, and kind of wondering if this might not end up being a Chekhov's gun for later. One of them being sabotaging an enemy mana crystal by doing this to it so when they use it, it blows up in their face.
Still prefer "Endless stretches of tedium followed by brief interludes of terror."
Very nice.. I like Ao
Yes, for one it will not lead them to suspect you came from the portal and so give them a way to go fuck you over with it by either sabotaging it, or setting a trap. Two, gives you time to charge things up and drill the crew.
Very good use of expstionary summation of points you all know for the sake of laying out the plan to the reader in a concise fashion.
Am a bit confused how they know 'Outpost 12" is a military site with a supply depot worth raiding. I mean, it seems likely and would not be surprised it is, but seems odd for Twi to be making a plan based around guess work.
Yup, I really like Ao.
Stupid pancreas, be gone with you! Very.. interesting wording Twi.
Still better then the old way, plus.. let's hope you don't have to suddenly back up quickly then.
Yet not taking chances, very smart. and yeah, it's always the first one that takes awhile.
So at the place on the map marked 'very rough air'?
Seriously I just LOVE how Twiight is taking this all in stride and just having the best time of it she can while still taking it seriously when needed. Damn Flurry isn't the only one who's grown up so much.
She's inpatient, impetuous, and a feeling repressed Not an idiot. And yes, good to see her trying to her best to do things right. Such a relief.
So she has been reading while charging then. Don't let it go TO far into your head Flurry, keep in mind thing rarely go as well as they do in books.
Yup....saw that coming. Also, d'awwwwwww
"So is getting fired OUT of them, but I've only had to do that twice."
Come on, you know Twilight has found SOME excuse to do this by now.
Well, get that to your advantage, can fly places other airships can't. Take every edge you can get.
Very, very, very costly. Still, you should know by now just how anything can happen.
Those diagram chapters are so damn useful.....
Trying to prepare herself for battle. Likely terrified, but doing her best to hide it and act like she thinks a captain should.
Blast the barracks, loot the warehouse, and ALWAYS remember Maxim 1: Pillage then burn.
Makes sense given what we know, so hopefully none of their weapons are able to be angled to fire up very well. Add in the element of surprise....
Yup... terrified of screwing up, unsure, but mature enough to be afraid of screwing this up and understanding how important it is rather then just let her ego let her make a mistake. I am so loving this! Just.. is mature, so rationale.. so perfect.. while still being emotional and dealing with perfectly real problems stemming from it just.. damn this is so good.
At least she knows that, but hey, inspriing speeches are inspiring speeches.
Still I am so loving this. She is just, so spot on. Worried, realizing just how bad she fucked up, realizing her mistake and wanting to do her best to fix it. Wanting to do the right thing and worried for the ponies under her. She really has learned a lesson and is trying her best to do right by them. Trusting Twilight.. and Twi is handling it so well. She could easily step in, take over, nopony would say anything. Yet she's not, she's letting Flurry work through this, while being there to support and advise her. To help her as much as possible, while still letting her work through this. Just.. this dynamic.. it's so damn GOOOOOOD!
HO-RAH! Short, sweet, and epic. Nice.
HELL YES! Time to be a pirate!
Your worst nightmare!
With a really epic sense of humor.
Even better if that ends up meaning something to them.
Those are called ballista then, not catapults. Get your siege equipment right.
Probably scaring the fuck out of the ponies there though.
Oh fuck...........
Hmmm, so, right call? She does make sense, plus Twilight is kind of their trump card, best to keep her saved for last, and might get it taken care of before then. So, give the ballista another shot then send her?
And trusting her, very good, Twi wouldn't do anything wholly stupid, so she understands this might not be needed.... so far so good.
Now just turn that thing on the enemy.... very very few things are resistant to Sonic damage.
What better to trust in?
Now THAT is some property damage......... holy fuck!
Ohhh time for some real fun, and to see just how nebula stacks up agsint what they've got.
So far... this is awesome, and going to be quite the site as we watch these few ponies utterly destroy and make fools out of this Empire.
Seriously this is just damn.... and the good thing about the delay in reading it, less wait till I get to see more.
8074210
This is twilight we are talking about, doing the unexpected is what she excels at.
8074494 Pretty well said, and yeah, higher would be better most likely, and give Nebula more chance at taking out the enemy envelope. This is also making me wonder if they have some kind of instant long range communication to get it in so fast, or just bad timing that the ship was on it's way and saw Nebula attacking the tower so is making an attack run.
And yeah, Twilight is a major trump card for them. Even without her full magical power, she's still got the aerial skill of a pegasus and the strength and hardiness of an Earth Pony to fuck shit up with, as well as her greatest asset, her intellect and quick thinking. So going to be interesting how they pull this off. And hey, maybe they get to salvage some of those nifty magical weapons from the rubble.
8076170 Sounds fun.. and yeah, we need more stories like that, which just.. have FUN with this stuff and don't get so heavy and dark and gritty. *Glares at DC*
And yeah... really should have just called them ballista.
Love your writing, iisaw. Skyla's becoming a proper captain!
Damnit, make me have to add things....
Alright this... I do like it. Now, I did get, and was perfectly fine with if this had killed some ponies. I get the situation, the mindset, and the type of story this is trying to be. It fits the tone, isn't that out of place given they aren't really TRYING to kill anypony, but also won't pull their punches at all to avoid it.
This... I do admit I like this more, making plans that intentionally have the lowest risk of killing others. Trying to keep bloodshed to a minimum here. It is a good long term strategy and does overall fit the setting and the whole MLP thing better.
I would be fine with Twilight as she seemed, it makes sense, works, and I get why etc.... But given the option, I do prefer her to be like this. So yeah great addition.
Twilight Sparkle, supporting plagerism since day one.
I forgot how fun sky pirate ponies really is. There truly aren't enough stories of them out there. I'm also really fond of the way you mix and weave between breezy, carefree things and the serious, grievous matters. Skyla's uncertainty and trepidation is wonderfully rendered.
8372275
Thank you very much! I'm glad you're enjoying it!
your
Hmm. A case where shear force fits just as well as the more usual (outside engineering) sheer force.
What Nebula dared utter "That seemed too easy"?
Would a cockatrice magic even work on this world?
9932389
Maybe not.