Cauterize
The blast could be heard as far away as Shanghay, if one was in one of the quieter parts of that Duchy.
The ancient city nestled underground was made reasonably safe from infiltration by the reactivated security systems from another era, but the self-teleported Syphon and its advanced technology was above-ground and could be found by anypony. To prevent this, a spell only used once before was cast from within the main chamber of the Syphon. Granted, it was cast without as much effort or desperation as before, but that still wouldn't stop the whole nation from wondering what the sound was.
The answer was Sol Invictus. Not even the advanced materials of the pre-Discord era would be able to survive it. The entire Syphon complex—and quite a bit of Raging Mountains landscape around it—was vaporized into dust. Unlike the other time this spell was cast, there would be no glass desert. The magma would melt and eat the leftovers by the time anypony got there to investigate.
While the spell would certainly rattle ponies, the valley in which it was cast—along with the mountains around it—would absorb enough of the blast to prevent casualties. The light would likely confuse and disorient anypony too close, which in this case would likely be measured in hundreds, if not thousands of kilometres. The column of light and fire that was spawned by it reached high into the firmament, far above where any clouds had dared reach.
Even deep in the Canterlot War Room, the whud from the blast rattled everypony's ears. It was all they were talking about as Twilight brought the Element of Honesty to a safe deep in the secure area, now under constant guard.
With a spin and a ka-chunk, the safe closed tight. Wards sprang to life, dancing with light over the metal. It wasn’t as grand or as powerful a container as where they were once kept, but time didn’t allow for an improved version just yet.
Rainbow yawned and asked, “What’s next?”
Twilight’s ear twitched. “Next, we get some rest and hit the archives. We’re not done with the issues in Stalliongrad, and I have some threads to pull.”
The next morning, there was coffee. Sitting amongst a pile of paper, record books, and scrolls in the Royal Library was an entire pot of blonde roast, which had more caffeine than the usual dark stuff. The liquid awakening rushed through Twilight’s system in minutes, and eventually, she realized there was a pony with glasses talking to her.
“Oh, Intelligentsia.” Twilight paused mid-sip. “Were you saying something? I wasn't awake yet.”
The officer adjusted her glasses with a smile and took out one of many file packets. “I figured as much. I was just reciting poetry to see how long it would take you to notice. Now that you're awake, or at least caffeinated, I thought you might like some updates on some of the things you've passed to us to investigate.”
“Sure thing.” Twilight re-rolled a scroll that she had allegedly read but whose contents she had no memory of. “What do you have for me?”
“Well, that cult you found in the desert that fought the titan? The all-male one aside from the female leader? I'm afraid there's not a whole lot we can do about them. The Compact provides extremely strong protections for religious freedom, provided we're not talking about the worship of alicorns.”
Twilight grumbled. “And since the rumours of them firing on ponies flying through are still just rumours, there's not a lot else we can get them on.”
“Right. We gave them a stern talking-to so that they know we're watching. Hopefully they behave now.” Gen put away the first packet and pulled out another. “The next one is a bit more grim. We've investigated and cleared Agent Cobb… but we've found definitive evidence that Agent Squeakers is compromised.”
Twilight coughed up some coffee that went down her esophagus. “Really?”
Gen pulled out a few summary pages of a rather large report. “Basically, we ran through her work from throughout the last few years. We've found deliberate errors in a number of cases that would have been harmful to investigations.
“The fact that she was selective and extremely clever about the sabotage—her errors would have been possibly innocent if they only happened once or twice—tells us this is a pattern. We're conducting tests on her in the castle’s dungeon to determine if she is under a geas, but for minor applications of the geas, we still don't have a reliable way to tell.”
“Huh.” Twilight sipped more coffee. “So, Farriér mentioning Cobb was a lame ruse to misdirect us? Good thing I had the whole team investigated. Keep her in the dungeon, and keep trying to find a way to detect the geas on her and the others we have in custody. If we can find a way to do that, it might lead to a way to remove it without risking the life of the victim.”
“Already done.” Gen went to the next file. “You'll be pleased to know that Earthen Pride has been running over a lot of ponies in San Palomino. Figuratively, of course. He's stripped the titles of no fewer than a dozen ponies found to be engaging in ‘creative accounting’ to try and get around his new taxes.
“When some companies tried to renege on their deal to reduce pollution, he gave them a choice. Either the owners move their primary residence directly downwind of the factories or get fined to the full penalty the contracts called for. The boards accepted the former.”
Twilight giggled into her cup.
Gen put away the file and stole one of Twilight's breakfast cookies. “He seems to be good at the job. He's getting the nobility and large companies all riled up, but each time one makes a move, the good Duke has been one step ahead. He keeps this up and he'll climb to the chair of the Empyreal Hall in a couple decades by using the others as stepping stones.”
“Well, we can't fault his zeal,” Twilight answered. “But the others can be vicious in their own right. I hope he's ready. What about Manehatten? Any updates there?”
Gen nodded. “I don't have the file with me, but cleanup and repairs are ahead of schedule. Manehatten does infrastructure like nowhere else, and I'm told Demesne is on an anti-changeling warpath. She's fired the police chief and put up rewards for the first to develop technology that can thwart their disguises.
“Changelings aside, they're certainly doing better than Cloudsdale. I've heard rumours that Cloudsdale’s going to give up on a full rebuild and instead decentralize weather control using several smaller cities.”
Twilight paused her cookie munching. “Long-term, that may be wise. I'm told more land is going to be annexed to the west of San Palomino and the northwest of Shanghay. We might even get new Duchies out of them. Such a shame, though. There was nowhere like Cloudsdale.”
“Too true.” Gen got up with a bow. “That's about all I have for the moment. Did you need help here?”
“Nah. I know you're busy, and Spike should be back soon with more of the documents I need. Take care of yourself, Gen.”
Gen bowed again and turned to go. “By your leave.”
She almost bumped into Spike as he entered the room with a pile of scrolls, but he shuffled around her. “Oops! Sorry, Gen. Hey Twi, I got the stuff you were looking for.”
“Excellent! Put it over by me.” Twilight motioned towards the old map she borrowed from Blueblood. “It's time to finish our business in Stalliongrad.”
“Are you sure you want to go through with this meeting?” Duke Rasbuckin grumbled at Twilight. “These terrorists should be locked up, not talked with as equals.”
Twilight put the box she was carrying underneath the dining table, finishing off the last bit of her plan before sampling one of the cookies on the dinner spread. “Normally, I would agree. However, given the state of the city, we need everypony working together. I'm willing to reach a compromise for the greater good, but only if they can engage in good faith. I won't tolerate additional duplicity.”
The rental hall they'd secured was plush with traditional red colors on the carpet, drapes, and seats. The kitchen was granted access to some of the food reserves held by the Duke to whip up a modest feast, even though it was mainly common ingredients that their train had transported from the reserves.
Still, that meant there were cookies, and that was enough. The surprise she had waiting was the icing on the cake.
The rebel forces arrived moments later, still clad in white. The ones in the back were young and scrawnier than one would normally imagine gruff rebels to be, but Jack himself had some significant muscle. A mare at his side had a white mane and coat, and her face was entirely covered except for her eyes. Some of her bangs were poking out of the wrap covering her, though. Her irises were the colour of a deep, cold sea; one could almost see the icebergs in them.
Twilight stood and cleared her throat. “Everypony, have a seat. Help yourself, and let's get this done for the sake of the city.”
Jack smiled and hopped into a seat. “Didn't know you'd be feeding us. Not poisoned, is it?”
A burble of indignation escaped the duke's mouth.
“Of course not.” Twilight bit into another cookie. “Not my style. If I wanted you gone, Jackrabbit, I would have borrowed some of Luna's guards. You'd never see it coming. But I'd much rather work with you to rebuild.”
“Yes, this city does need that.” Jack started putting together a sandwich. “To that end, I want to negotiate for ownership control of the following facilities.” He clopped his hooves, and one of the rebels produced a list.
Twilight took it and skimmed through the lot. “This represents a not-insignificant portion of the remaining industry in the city. What makes you think I'm ready to entertain such a demand?”
Jack laughed through a bite of food. “You mean besides the state of the city? I know these places. Studied them and industrial management for years. I can have them up and running in record time.”
Twilight held up a hoof to stop the Duke from yelling at him. “I'm sure you could. After all, your group was the one that did the damage in the first place. Given this list, I wouldn't be surprised if you were quite deliberate about what to damage.”
Jack did a little bow. “Of course. I'm not cruel, Lady Sparkle. The city can recover with what we have planned out, but only if you agree to my terms. If not, well…” He waved at one of the goons, who cast a spell.
The silent pause was ready to have kittens by the time Jack looked at his thug to ask what was wrong. The rebel shrugged and cast it again.
The box underneath Twilight's spot at the table started beeping.
“What is…” Jack went as cold as the weather outside, and his struggle told Twilight all she needed to know.
“Looking for this?” Twilight pulled out the box and opened it. Inside were slightly conical crystals bundled together with a steel band, with a simple core embedded inside the bundle. “I found it under one of the more moderately-damaged factories. Once I knew which buildings you wanted control of, it was pretty easy to figure out which others were disposable to you, find the bombs, and disable them.
“Your real name is Jackhammer Kick. Your ancestor, Jackrabbit Kick, was a noble who controlled much of Stalliongrad’s early industry, before the current line of Dukes took control and put in place its centralized system, which is what this is all about. Control of the means of production.
“Odds are this operation was something you've been planning for some time now. When the mana krene first started acting strange at the start of winter, you saw your chance. The disruption to food, combined with your sabotage, brought the city to the brink. The system in place, managed by the Duke, along with your own efforts to be careful, all combined to minimize losses while advancing your goals.
“Your plan was to hide these bombs in the factories you didn't need, and hold them hostage. I believe we have found all of them, as they were generally buried underneath or next to the buildings. Had they detonated, they would not go bang like a typical gunpowder bomb. Rather, they would overcharge the crystals, and the ice that sprouted from them would have moved slowly enough to allow ponies to escape, but would have wrecked the structures.
“So, how am I doing?”
Jack blinked and turned a corner of his mouth into a smile. “Not bad! But, I still hold the advantage here. You don’t have all the pieces of the puzzle.”
Spike elbowed Cloud Burner and whispered, “He don’t know her very well, do he?”
Twilight munched on another cookie and washed it down with some milk. “Oh, I’m not done yet!
“Your family’s coat of arms predominantly features the color white, which is what inspired your pseudo-uniform here. Once I realized that, I looked into your family’s finances. You don't have the kind of money that would be needed to finance this operation. Or at least you shouldn't. Luck, however, was on your side. A relative of yours passed away somewhat recently, perhaps of natural causes, perhaps not. Either way, with no foals of his own, ownership of the property defaulted to you. You didn't need this on paper. Without the old man, all you needed was the key to the property, and someone willing to pay for that. And at this point, enter the Majestics.”
Some of Jack's crew looks like they were about ready to pass a bowling ball out through where the sun didn't shine. “Wait, aren't those the guys they say tried to stage the coup?” one of them asked another under his breath.
Rainbow gave them a look. “That's kind of what you guys are trying to do yourselves, you know.”
“Quiet!” Jack growled. “Let her speak.”
“Why bother?” The duke stood up and stroked his long beard. “If you are in league with them, we should have no business dealing with you. If enough guards were here as I asked, I would have had them gun you down right now. But I suppose I can leave that to the Grand Mage.”
The entire table jumped when Twilight slammed her hoof into it. “Sit. Down. I am the one calling the shots here, not you. You will wait for me to finish. That is not negotiable.”
The duke took a step back as if Twilight had shocked him with a riot prod, then she herself sat back down.
“As I was saying.” Twilight took another drink of milk, and licked off the inevitable mustache. “Enter the Majestics. Somehow they caught wind of your idea and made you an offer you couldn't refuse. They would provide the warheads and the money, and all you had to do was turn over the keys to the property.
“Suddenly, your plan had sprung into action. For almost nothing, you had everything you needed to take back what you saw as rightfully yours, and the Majestics got to feed off of the chaos that ensued, in more ways than one. I'm not certain how much you know about them, but I can tell you this.
“These giant crystals that have been fashioned into bombs? They were chunks of the ice-mana krene itself. Their removal was likely what caused the initial problems with it at the very beginning, and I'm guessing the Majestics only did it to experiment on them. Once those were done, they needed a way to get rid of them before I caught wind and started using them to track them down. And they just happened to know of a certain noble burned by the Stalliongrad system.”
Jack broke out in laughter and clopped his hooves together in wide, slow strokes. “Not bad. Only thing I'd bring up was that I got the ice bombs from a known diamond dog dealer. Didn't understand why he wanted those keys. But that still leaves us at the same place. I can run the factories better than this old coot can, and my guys will only back off on my say so.”
Twilight leaned back in her chair and scowled. “You do realize the only reason I'm even listening to you is because of the state of the city, right? Any other scenario, and you'd already be in the dungeon in the capitol. You'd never see daylight again.”
“But we're here, aren't we?” Jack pulled his chair in. “Wouldn't it be easier to work with me instead of fighting? I'm not really asking all that much.”
“What you're asking is I ignore your incredibly long list of crimes.” Twilight sighed. “But the situation is the situation. I'll agree to your terms, if—”
“Are you mad?!” Rasbuckin kicked the table, and the cookies all jumped. “This is insanity! You're giving permission to every radical group out there to attack the Crown! It'll be anarchy!”
Twilight glared, lighting her horn. “Leave. Now.”
The Duke was all but foaming at the mouth. “You can't exclude me from this! It's my Duchy! The system must be protected!”
Jack stood, and the rest of his posse followed suit. “Your ‘system’ is much too rigid. It's basically slavery, and it can't handle what's been happening to this city!”
“Enough!” The Voice had everypony's eyes open in shock, and Twilight pointed a hoof at Jack. “You, shut up. Duke, leave now or I'll have Rainbow drag you out by your beard.
“Fah!” Rasbuckin tossed one of the plates and stormed out, leaving a trail of foul curses behind him before slamming the door behind him.
“As I was saying.” Twilight sighed and clopped her hoof, which had Spike produce some sheets of paper. “I'll agree to your terms, but I'm going to place strict expectations on your progress, and you will be paid fair, Crown-set prices for what you produce. If you don't perform, you're going to jail. If you continue your insurrection, you're going to jail. You and your crew are going to be the absolute best pillars of the community, or you'll all be going to jail. And I promise you, if you cross the Crown ever again, I'll find the deepest, darkest hole I can find and stuff you in it permanently. Clear?”
Jack smiled and gave her a bow. “Those terms are acceptable. You have my word.”
Twilight pulled out a pen. “And it's going to be in writing.”
Signed contract in her bag, Twilight left the room and the celebrating rebels behind. Spike and Cloud were staying behind to keep an eye on them, while Rainbow and Trixie were flanking her as she marched to the other side of the building. Inside a secure room with a privacy shield, the Duke was waiting over a plate with crumbs on it.
“Did they buy it?” he asked.
“Starter, main, and dessert.” Twilight chuckled. “RGIS is going to have a field day watching them. Hopefully we get some great intel out of this. If the Majestics try to silence them, we should make sure we have some surprises ready. Think your police have any ponies we can trust?”
Rasbuckin stroked his beard. “Oh yes, I know some.”
It was still winter and very cold in Canterlot, but nowhere near as bad as Stalliongrad. The warmth of the castle was a supremely welcome change from the last few days. Twilight was knee-deep in reports and logs to record what had happened in the red Duchy and to follow up with questions from RGIS. With luck, she'd get some time to spend in Ponyville soon. But for the time being, she was content with being warm and fuzzy and buried in blankets.
Probability suggested that the knock Twilight heard at the door wasn't the first one, lost as she was in her focus. “Enter!”
The door went ka-chunk and a muzzle poked itself in. “Lady Sparkle? It's Arcane Edge. We, uh, have a little problem and could use your help.”
Twilight pushed down a blanket to get a better view of the door. “A problem you need me for? I don't hear any panic in your voice, so I doubt it's an immediate life-threatening thing. What's up?”
“Uuuhhh…” Arcane swallowed. “This is embarrassing, but our Sovereign is in her room and not answering our knocks. Not even for Pulsar. We dare not enter her domain without her permission, and her sister is busy in the Empyreal Hall and has asked for her presence.
“You two are close, so maybe you could enter and talk to her?”
Twilight chewed on her pen. “That's unlike her. Yeah, I'll go see if she's in there or left for some reason.”
Fortunately, Arcane had bowed and backed away before he could see Twilight trip on a blanket and fall flat on her face. She might have had to do something unpleasant to swear him to secrecy.
Kicking her legs free, she trotted down the hall, past a statue-like Arcane and past Celestia’s room, and knocked on Luna's door. As reported, there was no answer. “Luna?” She grabbed hold of the door and gave it a little push. The inside had a flickering glow, but not that of fire. “Luna? Are you in here?”
She leaned on the door to push it open, and took a few steps inside. She had to blink a few times to get her eyes to adjust to the darker lighting, and found Luna sitting on her bed, eyes focused entirely on a screen obviously taken from Glacien’s city of Crystalvale. She had her forehooves on two holographic panels, and was moving them around. On the screen was something like a movie, though it didn't take long for Twilight to connect that Luna's movement and the movies were connected.
“Luna?”
No response. After another blink, she saw some kind of devices on her ears. So, she stood in front of her. “Luna! Wake up!”
Luna leaned left and right to try to see around her. “Outta the way, Twilight! I'm almost to the boss.”
There was a beat.
“Oh, ponyfeathers!” Luna tore off the ear devices and said some things you wouldn't expect of a princess if you didn't know Luna. “What time is it? I was supposed to be in the Empyreal Hall at three!”
A large, white princess cleared her throat behind Twilight. “It's four-thirty.”
Twilight looked straight up at the chin of an angry sister.
“I should have known you'd find some video games to smuggle in from Crystalvale. Did you even do all the things you said you'd do? Establish a time-locked teleport beacon? Repair the defenses? Set up protocols that could counter Flicker? Update Canterlot’s wards?”
Luna threw her head back in a groan. “Stars, yes, yes, yes, and yes! It's been four thousand years, Tia! Four thousand years! One millennium of which was spent in the moon! I'd like to think I've earned a little time with the Super Plumber Brothers.”
THUD.
Twilight flinched from a solar hoof slamming into the marble floor next to her.
“Not at the expense of managing the country! Brush your mane and tail and get your sorry flank on your throne before I toss your toy into a volcano!”
Luna pressed a pillow down on her head. “Ffffine! I'll be there in five.”
Celestia leaned down and met Twilight's eyes. “I do apologize that you had to see that, Twilight. If you have time, the Hall would hear your testimony on Stalliongrad later this evening. Do you think you could have something ready after supper recess?”
Twilight blinked and rearranged her marbles. “Uh, yeah. I mean, yes. My reports are basically done; I can have some copies made and talk about it.”
“Wonderful. I'll see you then.” Celestia glanced back at Luna. “Five. Minutes.”
Stats
Page generated in 0.024 seconds
Total duration
987 users online
472,300 hits today, 1,872,792 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Woo! New chapter! Loved the video game scene!
Woot. Keep it going my man!
The moment Luna mentioned video games way back when, I knew this would eventually happen. Go Gamer Luna!
Nice little wrap up for Stalliongrad, plus a little other info on past missions. It must have killed Gen to find out it was Squeakers that was compromised, since they knew each other and Gen was willing to vouch for her. And got to count on San Palomino greed; rather live in the heavy pollution themselves then pay the fines. Love it!
Looking forward to the next mission!
I really enjoyed the update from Intelligentsia keeping us in the loop on the long term effects of Twilight's actions throughout the story. One of the things I love so much about this story is how big, real, and complex this world is, and little things like this help remind us of that.
I adore this story, and I'm so happy that it continues to unfold~
Yes new chap thanks and that ending lol
And now, to the next problem to be solved.
Im a bit late but happy 8th storyversery!
You rock you know that! Another fun chapter making me looking forward to what you have in store.
Nice how Twilight played those rebels. They never stood a chance!
Oh Lulu ^^
Nice to see you back writing. was wondering if everything was okay.
I feel your pain Luna. As a gamer, I feel your pain.
Super plumber brothers (insert rooBlank emoji)
Woot!! Also gamer Luna!
Ah, yes. We find a Luna in her natural habitat, playing a nintendo.
10510481
Really? If they keep to the contract they actually got all they wanted. And the Majestics most likely won't have any more involvement with them. as the whole place got the attention of the crown... and they lost their main asset there anyway.
Unless the Majestics are idiots,;Twilight won't find more in the rebels that a few geas.
After all, if the fact they didn't contact the rebel leader directly is true, they had him under even less control than that pirate Captain.
YYYEEESSSS, GAMER LUNA!
Oh Luna, you have one near-constant in all universes
Sqeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaa!!!
Thanks for writing. :)
The real question here is how much has Luna’s mad skills degraded over four thousand years? Does she need to learn the entire game all over again?
10510924
My take is that Twilight’s read of Jackhammer is that he’s arrogant and too in love with his own cleverness. He’s a prime patsy for actual master manipulators like the Majestics. If there’s anything they still want in Stalliongrad they’ll be tempted to use him. If they do she’ll be watching.
all hail gamer luna!
Congrats on posting chapter 100!
That explains why she hasn't responded to anyone, the first video game session in a couple of thousand years
10511877
Even if that was true normally, the place became the literal definition of SNAFU. Not only the Majestic KNOW the crown is watching the area and Jack in particular, they lost the only real thing of interest the area had, the Element of Honesty and the old pre Discord magical facility. As it is the area is not worth it for at least a decade or more and that for the place to start being valuable again, because even if they fixed the factories yesterday the whole crazy magic in the area will take at least that long to stabilize. And let's not forget the whole magic plague thing that's also barely contained there.
Plus unlike with the pirates, the only contact they had with him was using intermediaries and Jack most likely did not even know who the Majestics are.
So Twilight is giving a lot of resources for a maybe.
Not a bad idea, but unlike their mind controlled pawns and idiots the Majestics wouldn't have lasted this long if they were so stupid as to not know when to give up and move to the next target.
No matter how big their organization is, they have less resources than the crown so they have to focus other areas for probably the next two decades.
Besides as Twilight admitted the crown can't still fully detect all forms of mind control. If they wanted Jack gone is as easily as activate the switch on whoever of his crew is mind controlled after they have celebrated their victory and so are too drunk to resist.
Yes that would most likely work, would it do anything useful besides making Twilight efforts go to waste? No.
Can someone help me clear up what that whole explosion in the beginning of the chapter was? Last chapter ended with them trying to peel off the tape keeping Honesty stuck to that machine thing, and this chapter starts with a nuclear-level explosion. What... happened?
10520358
Celestia dropped her special on the mana krene Syphon that auto teleported to the mountains during Twilight and Flickers fight so that nopony would find it and take anything.
Just finished reading up to this part in the story again and loving it. Still not completely sure about the armor as it feels a bit op at times seemingly knowing things that twilight doesn’t and as far as I know the armor hasn’t had any seperate learning sessions from twilight.
Really hope to see you get to finish this story, too many on the site are abandoned now it seems and this is a particularly fun one to read, even if there are elements I don’t quite like here and there.
Smart, can’t wait to read the next chapter, wonder what twilight Thinks of the headset?
I love this story. Any time I see an update it improves my week.
Sadly I had to wait about 10 days to get to it this time though.
a grate chapter.... hum i wonder what game Luna is playing.??
after catching up I'm glad I spent the time to read this, Each chapter has twilight looking more and more authoritarian, the RGIS is terrifying, the Night guard is terrifying, and the sisters are truly teenagers. censoring history like that is short sighted, and adds quite a lot of credence to mamehattan's duchess, and Flicker's claims. twilight sparkle comes off as a child who found daddy's gun and wants to play with it because mother says it's fine. it's quite the entertaining read and while I'll probably be disappointed with how it ends, it's fun to hate these charachters.
good job. hopefully the immortals get their comeuppance.
this story is the most exiting fanfic i have ever read and comes really close to the books in quality with succesful books looking forward to a new chapter
Fun chapter! I love his fic! Also, this story has one of the best magic systems I’ve seen before! I love the idea of wellsprings, thaumic contamination, and more! I look forward to the next chapter!
10576300
... It took me a long time to learn how to convert miles into kilometers so no shame here, but 1000 square kilometers is 380+ square miles. The largest US military base by land mass is Fort Bragg at ~250 square miles.
10593071
Luna should have exactly zero authority. Omnicidal bitch.
10576300
Atomic weapons and advancements in even traditional explosives also kinda invalidate traditional fortresses
Ah, I knew it! Luna doing Luna things : )
Finally checked this story, and wow,behat a journey. Thank you for that, I hope you're doing ok and I'm waiting for the next chapter!
I saw this picture of Trixie in Royal Guard armor on and immediately thought of Rites.
10593071
Err... No. Charlemane is basically all but confirmed to be one of the (if not leader of) the Templars. I think he's also in love with Celestia and simply is trying to get her to take a break. In any case, the Templars are decidedly against the Majestics, though their own goals beyond that are still as yet hidden.
Manhattan's duke s a Majestic though probably not #1. Ionos we definitely haven't seen yet, he's something very much eldritch/old god-esq, possibly Discord's Master. His very name causes issues around it.
10576300
Yea, people forget that Discord 'blew up' the world, he increased surface space by like... 3 factors? I don't have the math on me, but if he increased the size of the world by 10x, that's like, 100x increase in surface space? Even the Alicorns don't really know just how big the world is. Equestira is probably damned massive. Combine that with the existence of monsters, chaos elements, wild environments and plenty of other species, some of which aren't overly friendly, and you can see a massive bastion fortress as being a place. It's also considered to be a major training hub for the armed forces, so it's going to be huge.
Wow, I'm really liking this story. I'm about half way and more is happening than I thought. It's way more adventure than story... If that makes sense, but it's balanced greater than a lot of other stories in that you keep each character unique.
Well done.