Burning Sorrow For The World To See
“Yet more snow,” Twilight murmured into her scarf as she and her entourage trotted from Ponyville to Applejack’s farm on the outskirts of the town. A flurry was starting, and though not severe by any stretch, it was only adding to the large amount of the white stuff that was already on the ground. The saving grace was her pegasus coat, which took a lot of the bite out of the cold. This was doubly true here, after experiencing what a Stalliongradi winter could bring.
Still, she was ready for Winter Wrap Up and for the Spring.
Ponyville had grown quite a bit in the last few years. Applejack’s farm wasn't as far from town anymore, but it had grown outward as Big Mac had led them to new success. However, it still had the same cozy old farmhouse.
“Fire!”
Twilight flashed up some shields as her crew lept into action, ready to take a bolt for her if need be.
The projectile landed in front of them, and Twilight pushed more power into her shield to stop an explosion. The purple and white object, however, merely sat there in the snow.
“Wait…” Twilight pulled down her shields and gave the object a poke. “That's a rutabaga.”
“Aim higher, Applebloom! Fire!”
A cabbage flew out of the upstairs window of Applejack’s farmhouse, this time flying much farther before landing on the roof of Golden Harvest's new house across the street.
A moment later, a growling scream from the assaulted house heralded the launch of tomatoes through the air to splatter on the side of Applejack’s house.
“Well now.” Spike picked up a wad of snow. “Looks like the feud has finally evolved into a shooting war. It was quiet for a while there. Should we join in?”
“No. Cover your ears, everypony.” Twilight cleared out her throat. “Applejack, Applebloom, Golden Harvest, Green Herb, get your butts out here right now!”
“Ponyfeathers…” came a voice from Applejack’s house.
A moment later, all four ponies were slinking out of the houses, heads down, and lined up in front of Twilight.
“So.” Twilight folded her forelegs. “What am I going to say?”
Applebloom swallowed. “That we shouldn't have let it get this far.”
“Correct. And?”
Green Herb, a stock pony as verdant as his namesake, and Golden Harvest's uncle, shivered in the snow. “That we should have talked it out and gotten others to mediate.”
“Good.” Twilight sighed. “What else?”
Applejack took off her hat. “Uh, we should have tried to see things from their perspective.”
Golden Harvest drew a little circle in the snow. “And we should have taken time to calm down and then found a compromise.”
“Very good.” Twilight deflated, letting her anger leak out with her breath. “Sorry for exploding a little there. I've been kind of stressed. I will want you all to clean the others’ yards of veggie debris, but for now, I'm hungry and want that pie Applejack promised. Golden, Green, you can go. Let's just all eat something and calm down.”
“Sorry, Miss Sparkle.” Green Herb said through his moustache.
“Sorry, Applejack.” Golden agreed before they left.
Twilight and crew followed the Apples to their house in silence, but the darkness of the outside lifted instantly by means of a greeting from a tiny filly in a diaper holding out her forelegs for a hug.
“Awww!” was the immediate response from Spike and every female in the group.
Applejack swooped in to pick her up. “She's a smartie pants. Figured out how to roll around like a log real quiet-like. Filly gets everywhere in the house if you so much as blink.”
Twilight gave the filly’s nose a boop. “Reminds me of the Night Guard’s sneaky cat.”
“The Night Guard has a cat?” Applebloom put on an apron. “Shoulda figured.”
Cloud shook off some snow on his wings before entering. “It's a tiny black cat named Neutrino. Found him in the city once. How it got out of the secure enclave, I have no clue.”
Twilight poked her head into the kitchen, where her mother was helping Fluttershy cook. “Let's not talk about the Night Guard. I just want an evening of food, family, and friends. No work stuff.”
Rainbow popped off her armoured chest plate. “No complaints from me! You want some rolls, Trixie?”
Trixie took off her hat and sheepishly stepped in from the entranceway. “Is that the buttery smell? Because if so, yes. I want to feel my arteries harden a bit. I'm sick of the cold.”
One evening, Universe. Twilight prayed as she ate a roll. That's all I ask.
The knock came at eight in the morning, so technically, her prayers from last night were answered affirmatively. That didn't relieve the headache or get rid of the lead in her muscles, though. She turned and groaned as she wiggled under the blankets, then poked her muzzle out from under the warmth, but kept her eyes and horn toasty in the realm of fleecy warmth.
“This had better be important!” Twilight had tried to make that a grumble, but it came out as a yell that echoed off the walls of her home away from home. The fact that she was in the underground bunker beneath the fort in Ponyville was a tidbit slowly oozing back into her brain.
“Uh, Twilight?” Spike pushed open the door. “I think we could use your help. A dragon is trying to destroy the fort.”
Twilight flopped over and wrapped herself in her blankets. “Yeah, right, Spike. Rainbow put you up to this?”
“No, actually, Cloud sent me down here to get you. Apparently the alarms aren't working this far down, ‘cause the rest of the place is jumping. I already sent a message to Luna, but she's not answered me yet.”
Because you're playing a prank, right? Twilight’s heart decided now was the time for some palpitations, right as the rest of the body was trying to stand only to tumble over in the bed. “You're kidding. Please tell me you're kidding.”
Spike turned and showed her an armor panel on his back. It was a charred, burned panel. “Some of his fire gets through the shield, but so far it's holding. The commander wanted to beat him without us, but Cloud told me to come get you.”
Twilight pulled at her sword in the corner, and her magic burned around its handle. “You're telling me there's a dragon attacking Ponyville. Not only that, but it's attacking a Fort of the Crown while I just happen to be here for the first time in months.
“This dragon is either too dumb to survive or has a death wish. Nothing attacks my ponies or my home without getting an answer. Luna can kill this dragon only if she beats me to it. Stay behind me.”
Halfway up the spiraling tunnel, the lead in her legs had melted and burst into flame. The sound of the impacts on the shield rumbled the ground, and the lights flickered on each impact. As she opened the bunker door, she squinted at a bright explosion bouncing off the shield of the fort.
A blue dragon twelve stories tall was circling overhead, flinging spells and fireballs at the rose-colored dome protecting them. The anti-air guns around the edges of the fort were firing streams of bolts that bounced off his scales without leaving so much as a bruise, while the heavy anti-ship cannons had crews desperately swivelling around, trying to get a shot lined up. The few times they did fire were pathetic misses.
“Twilight!” Cloud flew down for a landing next to her. “Rainbow and I have been trying to organize the teams here, but I don't think we're a match for this thing. Trixie has been working with the mayor to evacuate the town's population into Whitetail Woods.”
Twilight watched another shot from her ponies miss, and another fireball from the dragon put a crack in the overhead shield. A stream of dragon fire leaked through it like watery lava, scoring the ground underneath. “The fort’s defenses were intended to fight something akin to an enemy airship, maybe with pegasus or gryphon support. The small guns can't hurt an adult dragon, and the big guns are too slow to target something this fast. We need another plan.
“Cloud, tell the ponies on the small guns to get underground, they won't be of much help here. We need the big guns to aim towards the center of the fort, and about forty meters in the air. They'll know when to shoot.”
Cloud tilted his head in surprise, but saluted and flew off. Spike, meanwhile, tapped on her shoulder.
“Anything I can do?”
Twilight poked Aurora, who deployed over her. “Yes, Spike. Get me today's resonance frequency for that shield.”
Spike snapped. “Seven hundred twenty-five cycles! Already got that.”
She pulled back on her sword, pushing power into it. “And that's why you're my seneschal. Let's show this guy why you don't randomly attack ponies.”
Spike saluted and ran off, saying something about making sure the ponies on the guns knew what to do.
Aurora deployed while Twilight synced her shield and teleportation spells with the cycle speed of the shield. She launched herself through the barrier with a burst of light to get the dragon's attention.
When that didn't work, she released the energy in her sword in an arc directly into its chest as she flew by. Light and smoke crackled in the sky, yet the dragon’s roar was one of anger and fury instead of pain.
The dragon flipped around, wings spread, its brilliant blue scales almost purple in the morning's light. A spewing line of emerald flame lashed out at her and flew wide. A second shot would have hit Twilight, had pegasus magic not been able to launch her to the side. After the flame passed, obsidian glass almost as long as Twilight's body slashed through the air, missing only as the Grand Mage somersaulted over the outstretched hand to kick the dragon square in the chest with her hind legs.
As she slid over the dragon's chest, she grabbed onto its left wing and swung around to its back. “Congratulations!” She yelled into their ear. “You have one chance to surrender and explain yourself. Use it or I'll end you.”
The dragon roared and flipped over, tossing Twilight free and into the air. “I have no reason to ever surrender! I shall die killing you all!”
The booming base of the now obviously male dragon shook the air around him. The size of the monster made it clear: this was an adult, centuries older than the dragon she faced in Wintervale… and it had a death wish.
She tore through spacetime to rocket back to the dragon, driving her sword towards his chest. When he dodged left, she slashed at him with the energy stored in the sword.
A single draconic claw was sliced off and sent flying.
The other hand crashed down on her, blue light cutting into her shields from the tips of his claws. Shards of her barrier crumbled like frost, and the wind left her lungs as she fell like a shooting star. A teleport slowed her down, but she still created a crater on landing. Still on four hooves despite the impact, the taste of blood stained her teeth, and power crackled like lightning around her.
Her teleportation ripped another hole in the ground and a dark pink energy scythe sliced at the dragon as she exited. Pegasus magic pushed her up over the dragon’s claws, and she thrust at his head a dozen times in a second.
On his inhale, she popped around to his rear and drove her sword into his tail. The roar of pain detonated into a cloud of blue fire, so she had her teleportation magic launch her directly towards it. The dragon turned to crush a pony avoiding the fire, but his face found a sharp blade cutting a gouge into his jaw.
Twilight spun in the air as she passed by, letting physics do the work as she soared over the fort. He cracked the air with his wings to charge her, belching fire all the way.
She popped through a teleport behind him, slashing at his tail again. When he turned, she sparked back to below where she was before, slashing at him again. The dragon followed, diving down as Twilight kept up with the dance. Dodge, slice, dodge, it didn't matter if her attacks fully connected or did any real damage. She just wanted him closer to the ground.
She dove directly between him and the earth, spun around and charged up a kill shot in her sword. Something that could, if aimed right in his mouth, tear the dragon in two. No dark mana, only astral mana manifested in pure kinetic force put together over seconds of warping the power flowing in her lifelines.
The dragon responded in kind with an instant, streaming, white hot jet of magic-burning fire. It spat out like an upside-down geyser, ready to flash-fry her, her armor, and even her wellspring to a crisp. The light bloomed and overtook the sky, but the clock in Twilight's mind already had the countdown running.
The power in her blade snapped like a crossbow, cutting into the flames and pushing them to either side. Dragon fire could burn away most spells, but what left her sword was only kinetic force, and his flames were helpless against F=ma. Her strike powered through and detonated probably somewhere on his nose, which absolutely meant he was still alive.
A split second later, the flames were pushed away, and the dragon was suspended in one place by the blast. The fear in his eyes came at the exact moment her ponies pulled their triggers. Six anti-airship cannons roared at the same time, all aimed at the same point.
All but one of the shells found their target, ripping a hole in the air and throwing the dragon up like a served volleyball. He tumbled like a ragdoll, end over end. Twilight landed on the fort’s dome shield and watched him land off the side of the structure.
She slid down the dome and hopped off the bottom, coming to rest near the wheezing dragon's head. “This didn't have to happen. It was your choice to fight, not mine.”
A tiny flame shot from his nostrils with his next wheeze, and blood was already pooling on the ground underneath him. His torso was riddled with golf-ball-sized holes where the hundred-millimetre shells put all of their forces. “Without my egg, there is no reason to live. I only wish I could have killed you.”
Egg? “I'm not sure what you mean. What happened to your egg?”
“You tiny things… stole it… again…”
Her heart thumped as his eyes started to roll. “Hey! Stay with me a minute!” She grabbed his left eye and pointed it at her, then gave him a magic zap of electricity. “Who took your eggs? What kind of being? Unicorn? Zebra? What did they look like?”
A short shot of flame came out of one of the holes in his chest. “All you tiny things look the same. Are the same.”
Twilight cringed after scoffing like her mother. “If there's one of us tiny things taking dragon eggs, I need to know about it so I can put a stop to it. Did they have hooves? How many? Did they have claws instead? Wings? A horn? What kind of tail?”
His eyes drifted out of focus. “Tufted… tail…” Sparks shot out of all the holes that had been punched in him, and his leylines glowed hot even within Twilight's normal sight.
She snapped her head around to the ponies gathering behind her. “Get back! All of you!”
Her own leap backwards was just in time, narrowly escaping the eruption of flame as both the dragon's body and wellspring erupted in a volcano of blue fire. A column of fire as wide as a small mansion spewed directly upwards, pulling air inwards with the strength of a weak tornado.
Other ponies kept rushing back along with her, eventually getting out of range of the vortex. The fire was a near perfect cylinder of blue, with a bright star at the bottom center illuminating the morning sky. In moments it reached the clouds and burned them away. A few moments later, and the jet hit the firmament above the atmosphere, torching it like a gas burner.
“Twilight!” Rainbow came in for a landing next to Spike, who was running up to her. “What the heck happened to him? What's with the fire?”
Twilight flopped to the ground as her adrenaline decayed away. “Dragons… their wellspring combusts when they die. This will go on for however long it takes for all his magic to burn away.”
One of the soldiers hushed… “Lady Sparkle just murdered a dragon…”
“I did not!” she said, sitting up. “This was self-defense. Besides that, it was the fort's guns that delivered the killing blows, not me.”
Spike wrapped his wings around his body. “Whoa. I knew what it was supposed to be like, but I've never seen it.”
Dark blue light behind them bloomed, and Princess Luna stepped through. “Twilight!” Her eyes, for a split second, turned into Nightmare Moon's, but changed back when she saw Twilight sitting nearby. “Oh thank the Stars!”
“Hey, Luna.” Twilight said while all the other ponies dropped into a bow. “You're a tad late.”
“My apologies. Everypony, you may rise. Twilight, I'm overjoyed that you are not hurt, but I am afraid there's no time to rest just yet. Come, I have news to share. Spike, you can come too. Everypony else, make sure all civilians are accounted for and safe.”
Twilight gave a nod and wobbled to get to her legs, then stepped into the teleportation bloom while the others hurried to their tasks.
“Ouchies.” Spike could feel pain. Lots of pain. He was pretty sure that his body wasn't supposed to bend in the way it currently was. He definitely wasn't supposed to be hanging off the edge of a building in the hidden ice city Twilight found.
“Oof.” Twilight stumbled around on the ground, while Luna was groaning and stuck in the ground by her horn.
Spike rolled over and dropped off the edge, which was thankfully only perhaps one and a half stories up. By the time he was on his feet, Luna was righting herself.
“Sorry, both of you. The krene here is far from a leyline, and even with the beacon I placed, aiming a teleport is… difficult.”
Her horn came out of the street with a “pop.”
Twilight shook off the woozy with a quick head shake. “I'm learning more and more that long-range teleportation is more of an art than a science.”
“In a way.” Luna raised her head to the cave roof. <<Computer, authenticate.>>
Three flying machines were heading directly for them. One almost looked like a flying sled, but with a more pointy front. The others were more bird-like, with glowing wings that pointed forward. Each made a very gentle hum, and had no visible moving parts.
A blue light came from the sled one, and it spoke. <<Authentication complete. Welcome back, Princess Luna. Lady Sparkle. Spike. Princess Celestia is waiting for you in the palace command room.>>
Spike raised an eyebrow. “That is so freaky. They're just machines?”
“And equipped with weapons.” Luna added. “Come; Tia is waiting.”
They rushed through the city to the palace, and down to the command center, all the while filling Luna in on the dragon attack in Ponyville. Inside the command center, Celestia was watching something on one of those freaky screen things.
“There you all are,” Celestia said without looking back. “Come take a look at this.”
“Actually,” Twilight started. “We have news of our own.”
Twilight explained what happened and what she did, and in the middle of the report, Celestia wrapped a wing around Spike.
Spike didn't need the coddling. The dragon was dumb enough to attack Ponyville. He got what was coming. What he literally asked for. Looking at Celestia’s face, though, Spike figured that maybe it wasn't for him. Maybe it was for her.
“I see.” Celestia finally sighed. “This complicates things considerably. When we get home, I'll summon the Mountain Pact reps. But first, I want you to see this. Computer, restart playback in holo mode.”
They were back in the city. Or, it kind of looked like it. There was a translucent version of the city in the command center, only smaller. Spike could almost stomp on the buildings.
Some kind of magic — displayed by the computer, not actually happening — bloomed into life at an intersection. A moment later, a pony with a purple coat and green mane was standing in the road.
Except, was it a pony? Spike leaned close to watch it walk. It was stiff, pausing at odd moments. Seconds later, those same flying machines came in and hovered near the odd-pony. They almost seemed to stare at each other for a while.
Then, a blue beam shot out at one of the bird machines, and the pony exploded.
“Holy frijoles!” Spike covered his view of the carnage with his hand. “What the heck, Princess?”
“Look closer.” Celestia pointed. “There's no blood.”
Spike blinked and put down his hand. The “pony” was in pieces, but the lower half of the torso and legs were intact and still standing. “Pony” chunks were all around, but they looked more like burned wood or something else artificial.
Inside the pony's barrel was a black mass of wriggling ... ick. He wasn't sure how else to describe it. The ick even had tentacles like an octopus. As fast as any pony could gallop, it rushed out of its faux-pony shell and ran down the street with the machines chasing after it.
The display of the city moved as the ick ran, and the drones were close behind. Another blue beam struck the ick, but it kept moving. A follow up beam was brighter, and a third brighter still. The ick was slower now, but still moving.
“Computer, freeze playback.” Celestia pointed at it.”Watch this, Luna. Computer, show the moment of impact of the high intensity nadion beam.”
In an instant, it was back to showing the brightest blue beam. The part of the ick that was being hit was glowing red like magma.
Celestia narrowed her eyes. “A full-stream class-two nadion beam directly hit it, and that only slowed it down. It ran after magic-firing drones arrived and started putting craters in the street by shooting at it, then teleported out where it came in.”
Spike raised his hand. “Um, what's a nadion?”
“I'm curious about that, too.” Twilight took a step forward for a better look. “Obviously it's a weapon, but I don't know more than that.”
Luna had a grin as wide as the moon. “Yes, tell us, Tia. I want to watch Twilight vibrate again.”
“Hey!” Twilight poked the night princess. “I do not ‘vibrate.’”
“Well…” Spike rubbed the back of his head and regretted saying anything when Twilight scowled and put her ears down.
Celestia sighed. “I don't think we have time for this… but I did promise…”
Everyone gathered around to listen to “storytime” and Spike had a feeling it would go over his head.
Celestia pulled in a breath.
“A nadion is a type of subatomic particle that is not included in the standard model. It can only be generated by magic, but once created, it follows normal physics, not metaphysics. When it strikes any atom heavier than hydrogen, there is a not-insignificant chance of the atom undergoing spontaneous fission, even if it isn’t supposed to be radioactive. The heavier the atom, the greater the chance it will split and release energy.
When it does so, it creates an extremely powerful, though very localized, electromagnetic field. It’s so powerful that it can interfere with the nerves in a being. A weak stream will cause pain and mild radiation burns. A stronger one will give you hallucinations for a brief second before you pass out. When you wake up, you’ll have one of the biggest headaches you’ve ever had in your life, but you’ll live. Unless the beam was from close range and aimed at the head, which can be lethal even if the beam isn’t that strong.”
Twilight wasn’t just vibrating. She was blurry.
Spike sighed and put his hands on her shoulders to slow her down to a visible speed.
Celestia continued, “After a certain point, the beam becomes strong enough to equate to being electrocuted with a powerful current, and is fatal from the field alone, to say nothing of the radiation burns.
“Many of the energy weapons used by civilizations before the Chaos War used nadions, and some were powerful enough to level small cities. But they were useless against Titans, and actually hitting Discord with one was impossible. He always saw it coming.”
Luna tilted her head. “Given the tar-like substance this… thing seems to be made of, I’m betting it’s related to the Titans somehow. But the Titans have never shown this kind of intelligence before. Maybe the Majestics have managed to do something with the tar?”
Celestia shuddered. “I sincerely hope not. That could prove catastrophic. But if you see anything like this, Twilight, focus on using light magic as much as you can. Trixie should be able to fight these fairly effectively.”
“Hee… new particle…” Twilight was leaning over with glee.
Spike snapped his claws in front of her face. “Focus, Twilight!”
“Heee… Um, ahem!” Twilight straightened up and went fuzzy. “Urm, yes, light magic. Titans. Bad bad.”
None of the others could suppress a tiny smile.
Celestia stood up and stretched, audibly cracking her back. “Let’s get home. I need to summon the Mountain Pack reps. They should all be here by the evening, which means I have to let our staff know that we have dragons coming.”
Stats
Page generated in 0.026 seconds
Total duration
1,057 users online
1,793,215 hits today, 1,960,719 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.®
Nice chapter
A tufted tail. Sounds like a griffin. Wonder why griffins are stealing dragon eggs.
I have to question Twilight's intelligence here. She figured out the dragon had a death wish but didn't stop to ask why before she murdered it? And then gives it barely any thought as she leaves to learn about... nidiandlo, or whatever,
10701783
Or a Hippogryff, or a Kirin.
10701796
Gonna guess....neither of those things since this story is purely pre-Season 3.
10701786
Stopping the dragon and saving the fort was the priority. She gave him a chance to stand down and surrender, and he didn't take it.
glad to see a new chapter and i liked it.
Twilight murdered a dragon at the mid point of the chapter, but still goes full adorkable at the end.
10701802
she played with him like an overripe tomato, and really, the fort seemed fine. It had a "fuck you" shield. It doesn't really justify murder, especially when the same result could likely have occured if she'd just clipped the wings or held onto his head and aimed a bolt right at his brain. Just saying a simple "surrender or die" should not be the limit of your patience when they are possibly doing it for reasons you want to know.
Sounds about right
Maybe, but before that he's angry for some reason
Weeell, that's not good
Heh
You just described my entire thought process in a nutshell.
Time for Trixie to show off? And maybe date Twilight?
Ponies got phasers?
Thanks for the update and glad this is still on going and hope everything is ok
Holy crap they weaponized decoupling the Weak Nuclear Force. Definitely definitely don't want that getting out.
10701783
But also:
static.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/a/a3/Discord_ID_S5E22.png/revision/latest?cb=20151110043652
10702176
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Nadion
Is basically a phaser in lethal mode.
Or a less effective Zap from Stargate SG 1.
Veggie wars, dragon attacks, eldritch abominations masquerading as ponies, and Twilight Twilighting. Good stuff.
10701921
While that WOULD be cool in this particular AU, given the way CV has written them, unfortunately not. Twilight is explicitly aro/ace in this story. Back when Cloud tried to ask her out on the Bellerophon, she used the word asexual to describe herself and said she was always happy to make friends, but that was all she wanted.
10702256
Erm, but the page you linked says this:
10701867
Who said she wanted to know? The fort and the village were fine for now, but either Twilight kills the dragon, or Luna kills the dragon because he was a huge threat everyone there. If he surrendered, they could have talked it out, but he didn't. She only wanted to know because he mentioned his egg while he was dying.
10702176
Completely forgot about Discord, but I don't think that's likely. IIRC he's sealed in a vault somewhere, and I don't know if the dragon would have confused him for a pony.
Woot!
10702409
IIRC he's still in the statue garden, but with a seal made by Luna rather than by Celestia. And I agree, I don't think it's him, but it felt worth mentioning that more creatures with tufted tails are around. Plus there's always the wildcard chance that it was a changeling disguised as something else.
i can see Twilight vibrating in place.
a grate chapter and it sure looks like there is a way bigger baddy heading in to the story.
Nadions? These wouldn’t happen to be related to the Secret of Blue Water, would it?
10701867
She wasn't toying with him; she was making repeated minor injuries (because that's all she could do without having the time to charge up really big spells) in an attempt to distract him and lure him into the range of the big guns. The kinetic slice seemed to be the best chance she had of taking it down on her own, but it didn't hit as deep as it needed to. It was a blue dragon, which have powerful regeneration, so just chipping away at him with minor wounds wouldn't have been able to kill or disable him.
Also, the shield was mentioned to be starting to break (at one point the shield got a crack in it and fire started seeping through), and at any point there was a risk of the dragon simply turning around and torching the actual town. It wasn't backing down, so she had no chance but to kill it before it killed anyone.
So the Pony's have phasers, now that's fucking awesome. What's next, Discord has a Disruptor spell?
10701867
Twilight could have handled the dragon better, sure. But the way she did handle it was probably the safest for everyone but the dragon and herself.
From the description, dragon fire was getting through. Enough to start fires or maybe hurt or kill someone. Certainly not something they could just ignore.
But yeah, Twilight could have handled it better. She’s got a whole lot of “Lawful Stupid” going on. But honestly? Flaws like that are part of her character. She’s hardly perfect. We like her anyway.
For a while there I thought that maybe the dragon was Luna testing Twilight in a dream.
Great chapter as always
>Neutrino
>got out of the secure enclave
Good one
Oh... Spike. I don't care how much you say you don't need coddling, you shouldn't have to see that.
Magitech phasers tho. Clever. Wonder why titans are immune. Sounds like the beam is nonmagical once fired, so magic resistance like with dragons wouldn't be an issue.
Suicide by Twilight, huh... I wonder why he didn't search for his egg - "stolen" isn't necessarily "irretrievable" or "dead". And did he choose the Ponyville Fort on purpose? Is Twilight already that well known among dragons? And what's with the other parent?
I guess we're about to find out.
And I think Spike's different reactions to respectively a dead dragon and a dead (at the first glance) pony rather interesting.
Ahh, finally found the time to binge this story from my read later list, and goodness do I wish I'd started doing so earlier. As someone who got into the fandom pretty late, it's often fascinating to read stories that started in the early days of the fandom and see how the fandom viewed the world the show was slowly building. Seeing all the guesses like how alicorns work, what the heck Cadance even is, or what the various cast members would do years down the line is fascinating. And then there are the little butterflies this story introduced, like Luna not watching out for nightmares in the dream realm leading to Scootaloo never getting that boost of confidence she got and leaving Ponyville as a result. It's a small detail, but a fun one nonetheless.
Seeing Trixie being brought back in as a friend is always a treat. I like the show's Startrix as much as anyone else, but Trixie and Twilight never really got to bond much as a result, which is a shame. I also love how the story piles intrigue on intrigue, with events happening in the first chapters only now beginning to show their reason and consequences.
But above all else, I am immensely enjoying the politics. I always enjoy a good story of Celestia battling her courts, and seeing all alicorns duke it out in the political arena at the start and end of every adventure never stops being a highlight of the story.
All in all, I find myself a big fan of this story, and I'll be here for each new chapter from now on.
10716978
The illusionist was defeating Trixie until his weapons were broken, though, so Trixie couldn't defeat them with her twig in that analogy.
I think it's more like a master swordsman with a sword made of steel (Trixie) vs a moderately experienced swordsman with a lightsaber (the illusionist); the former is more skilled on their own, but would lose in a battle because their weapon was inferior.
10723561
[Insert "Parry this you casual" meme here]
More, pretty please?
10842192
No, actually. "I wash my hooves off this." makes no sense. Due to the stupid nature of English, the 'off' in that statement implies the usage of the object itself to clean. Hay, the sentence has the same meaning as, "I wash my hooves on this." Whereas, "I wash my hooves of this." simply means the hooves are being cleaned. For example, "I cleanse myself of your tyrannical grasp." means to be freed. It's a hasty example, but it works. It's a more archaic, slightly antiquidated usage of English, but a good one I enjoy. To wash x of y is the general formula. Basically, the 'of' is the word that defines y as being something that gets removed.
Interestingly, it's almost exclusive to some variation of using an action to in some way remove the thing, which tends to be negative.
I'm sure I could explain this better, but it arguably works better in a dramatic, real-life speech. On top of that, I'm on my phone and tired. An awful combination for explaining the ridiculous nuances of the world's primary bastard language.
10842192
TL;DR of the other respondent to this
nope of is the right word, the phrase means that you are distancing yourself from a situation/topic/person you no longer wish to deal with or be part of, usually for reasons of conscience
10869748
Yep, understood, talked to the other dude on discord.
Quadrupeds stealing Dragon Eggs? I assume that Spike is an orphan, but that Dragon said its Egg was stolen again. So was his Egg stolen, reclaimed, and then restolen? Was Spike kidnapped? Does the Mountain Pack, which I assume are the Dragon Clans that are allied with Equestria, know about Spike? Also, I find it very suspect that this Dragon went for revenge over his Eggs the same day that a Titan tried using a Trojan Horse to infiltrate Crystalvale. If Dragons are such magical creatures, I wonder what you could do with their bodies or their Eggs; maybe have a means of controlling something alien like Titans?
I had a thought so I went back and checked the chapter that started the Stalliongrad mission, and noticed there's no colors given for the thug being "enhance interrogated" in the shack on the lake. I was thinking that this pony showing up here might have been him, since the city is underneath the lake he was interrogated on and he burned his way through the ice on top, but I can't verify or disprove that idea. It does make me wonder about what happened to the Titan miasma that presumably sunk to the bottom of the lake.