This story is a sequel to The Crystal Caves of Confuzzlation (Iota Force Issue #6)
Fear.
Icy Flight has encountered a number of dangers in her time with the young super-team Iota Force, many of which she rightly found intimidating. However, after a near-drowning, nothing has filled her with so much stomach-twisting, muscle-melting horror as deep water. Despite all her attempts to work past her phobia and her friends' assurances she's stronger than it, she simply can't see past her absolute terror.
So when somepony sends a torrential deluge directly at Ponyville, using weather equipment in a way previously thought impossible as a clear and credible attempt to flood and destroy the town, Icy finds her fear thrust forcefully into her face. Fortunately, it seems that Ponyville is a lot more ready to deal with a crisis than they seem, and a small (no pun intended) group from Iota Force is being sent into the Everfree to deal with the enemy. So, she can trust that things will sorted out soon enough - no need for her to have to put herself in danger, right?
Sadly, no matter how much she wishes she could, Icy simply cannot bring herself to sit back and do nothing. So, with only a couple of friends for company, she must venture deep into the wild, malignant forest and face down an enemy seemingly capable of predicting every raindrop, all without any backup or contact from Ponyville.
No matter what happens, whether the town is saved or destroyed, whether the team wins or loses, whether their opponent gets away, gets captured or takes victory, one thing is undeniably certain:
Icy Flight is having a very, very bad day.
This is the seventh story in the Iota Force series. Reading the previous stories would be helpful and will help give some things context, but hopefully the story will stand on its own. However, just to be safe, a summary of the series' premise, characters and previous stories can be found here.
Cover Art by Mix-Up (Link to his Deviantart page).
You always produce stellar work. Sorry I held this up for as long as I did.
A pegasus filly with dreams of genocide and a board game piece for a cutie mark, huh?
For real though, the greater amount of thought and death you've put into the setting means we kind of have to prevent the Season 8 finale from happening. Unlike most writers with that problem, you're following a group practically custom-tailored to do so. Nothing else changes from moving Cozy Glow to the Eyrie and with her plan much less successful, anyway.
Especially in a world with Equestria's level of controlled weather.
And also even worse.
Even when told directly, it's honestly hard to grasp the idea of a mountain getting destroyed. I don't blame Icy, especially since she's just a filly.
That's the primary expansion when turning magnetism into electromagnetism the way they did to make him a more credible team-level threat, yes. Something that probably happened even earlier in a world where most of your writers can already make lightning.
If you're writing Pinkie Pie correctly, this should describe basically everything she does. And the exceptions are when she's exploiting factors the Twilights of the world don't understand, where it will still work despite being even more strange.
Icy: When this is all over, we are going through every comic I own. When we are done, you will understand why any attempt to keep me out of danger is futile.
Sunny: *pales, due to having a rough idea of just how many comics her daughter owns*
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...
Dammit.
You know, it's frustrating enough that I come up with the idea for a kid super hero team fighting kid super villains within the first half of show's run, but because of my depression, need for editing and unending dithering, I end up putting it out there after the show kinda-sorta uses that very concept, but now I realize that one of the first villains I came up with all those years ago just happens to resemble said canonical villain to an extent that stretches credulity. To be honest, I'm not even mad really, just... staggered by the coincidence.
That said, despite their similarities (didn't even clock the whole board-game thing, since her cutie mark is more representative of dominoes falling than being played with, but good catch), they do provide an interesting contrast - one being able to predict living beings, the other able to predict everything but. Almost makes you terrified about the prospect of them teaming up but... yeah, that ain't happening, for multiple reasons.
Also, I did have a short little vignette in mind explaining why the team (apart from Scootaloo since, well, actual character and all) weren't involved in that whole thing. Can't really put it out there for a... long time, if ever, due to relying on something that happens in story a long way down the road, but... well, let's just say there possible reasons why they might have been indisposed at the time.
While I like how you keep coming up with logical reasons to winnow the team down to a small enough group to write easily, Icy Flight is starting to feel a bit Wolverine-esque in how she's blatantly the main character of what's ostensibly a team title despite not being the leader.
(I would note that she's also the only OC, but your own character synopsis has noted that Lance had no fics to his name for years prior to the story while Archer and Truffle Shuffle aren't much better off)
I repeat, this is more of an "and" than an "or" if you ask me.
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Huh... honestly, hadn't considered that, but I can see what you mean. I mean, obviously I knew she was going to be the primary viewpoint character of the series, at least for the first batch of stories, and I also wanted to establish that not every story needed to majorly involve every team member - something I always liked in many team books and series - but I hadn't considered how those two things would interact.
Well, if it helps, this story is the culmination of the first... well, 'arc' is far too strong a word, but the first rough section I had planned out for the series and the ones after this will be pulling back the focus a fair bit. In fact, thinking about the stories I have planned for the next bit, I can only think of one instance where a character is definitely going to be sitting a whole story out, though that's more an interesting confluence than anything.
In any case, hopefully after this I'll be able to keep her as the usual (though not exclusive) POV character without making her seem like the main character in the same way. Although, between the two arcs, I'm also planning something that... well, it's going to be a bit different and will kind of both do and invert this whole thing, so... well, hopefully that'll work out.
As the melee specialist, yes he should definitely be in front.
Yeah, people keep forgetting they're writing horses. Like the people animating the actual show who don't seem to realizes that equine teats are lower down than humans'.
Which reminds me of a throwaway joke a couple chapters back: is Lance physically capable of laughter? It was a joke about his sense of humor (or rather lack thereof), but his muteness makes this a legitimate question.
Again, horses:
You already had Icy point out how nonsensical this was, so why are you doing it anyway?
Ice magic would be a pretty good place to start. Would also make it pretty effective to hit enemies with, where a simple platform would only accomplish anything if you managed to get it down the target's throat (which is still a very
idea).
(Remember, I'm posting these as I go so the fact that the characters had a similar idea of how to solve the problem is a coincidence)
Like Nanoha deciding it was faster to destroy every wall between her and the villain than actually try to maneuver. And it was, because the White Devil doesn't screw around.
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Fair point, but to be honest, I just kind of imagined Lance doing so, due both to him being a very private pony and not wanting him and the others to get in each other's way. Similarly, Icy's blase attitude, while mostly a matter of species, was also partially a case of a child not understanding certain ways of thinking, hence Archer's comment.
Plus, let's face it, the show itself wasn't always consistent about that.
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I basically specifically mentioned those scenes. That's not even where equines keep their tits!
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Ah, my bad, sorry. Was a little too focused on explaining myself to get the reference, it seems.
In fairness to the show, I would assume that was more for the visual gag than actual ignorance. Plus, hey, for all we know, Equestrian ponies might have two sets, one in the normal place and one in the human place. I mean, we are talking about talking about magical, multicoloured talking ponies here, who are we to make anatomical demands?
In any case, here it was, as I said, more a question of character than species. If it had been Icy who'd had to change, she'd have probably just done it out in the open and if it had been Archer, she may very well have jumped off the edge and dangled by a rope to do it, just to see if she could.
As in, that's literally an idiom.
Note that this is also how the swashbucklers would have used them, or as a feint in a similar vein to bullfighters' capes.
That would be rather strange for a pegasus.
That'd be stone, usually. And the monster living under it will make up the difference.
This was actually established well before the phobia proper, and it's not normal. Reminds me of how hydrophobia doesn't mean what you'd necessarily think. (Wikipedia link)
Because ice is made out of water. That's the deal, water "wants" to be solid around her. It also establishes the power boost our villain has inadvertently given the protagonist so that we aren't surprised when it's used to solve a problem instead of cause one.
Oh hi there Pony Life.
Eh, they've got nothing to worry about. Now, if it were chimney imps it'd be a little different. Those had in infinite draw lock in Draft.
Oh hey, shipping. Or maybe she wanted an enchanter who would make things adults don't want her to have, but probably shipping. (Insert Cadance emoji that doesn't exist here)
So you're saying there's a meme-happy planeswalker or dragon who summoned them? If not, you're looking for "horde" here and CTRL+F is your friend.
Ah yes, the icing problem. She's even enough of a comics nerd to make that reference on purpose.
Emphasis mine. Of course a corvid with magic would use it in ways you weren't expecting.
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Okay, I appreciate the correction, but I'm not certain why I would be word-searching for hoard specifically. Stuff like hand and foot, okay, that's something to look for, but I'm a little confused on that one.
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Finding one word out of over 10k would be annoying to do by hand, even if it's only there once.
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I mean, you're not wrong, but searching every possible word that could be mispelled seems like even more of an annoyance. And even if I did, on the list of words that need to be checked, hoard/horde seems fairly low down, if I'd even remembered I used it at all.
For the record, I did do a pass with Grammarly, as well as all normal spell check options, though I'm under no illusions that that's going to totally eliminate mistakes. And don't misunderstand, it was my mistake on my part and I'm thankful for you pointing it out. I'm just not sure Ctrl-F would help much in this case
I meant it would help now, since I didn't bother providing the full sentence.
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Oh, I see! Sorry, that wasn't clear. I thought you meant during the editing process. I do apologize.
Especially given that she's a quadruped.
Real-world horses can actually "lock" their legs in order to outright sleep while standing up, and Applejack has demonstrated this in canon at least once.
Almost certainly for Leonard because he's a normal human, but Victor might just be doing it out of habit. (And I just realized that poor Mr. Fries isn't even the most notable comic character with that first name.
)
Because you've got a much cooler one in said feathers. More recent writers tend to give powers trade-offs like that (and even backport them; most people will buy that a flashbang works on Superman because his super-toughness and super-hearing cancel each other out).
The town has stated that it will be fine. The point of stopping the madfilly is mostly so that she doesn't have a chance to try again.
It's bigger on the inside!
(Random headcanon aside: the Doctor's wife is, most likely, the same entity who received that title in his home series. She's still not used to moving in only 3 dimensions. 
)
Nope, they're all bodies. Just like a Breezie body is smaller than a pony body, or your body is smaller than your mom's body. (Man, am I glad to have a fourth wall between myself and her mother while saying this.
)
Son of a
, we're going with hybrid shenanigans again? I mean, it's not like that was rare in comics...
Horses don't actually need toilet paper. (You learn a lot about horses by reading stories about horses)
Good to see the story finally progress. Are we over or nearing the halfway mark?
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Yeah, sorry about that - I'm aware the pacing's more than a little weird thanks to how the plot needed to be structured, but we are indeed over the halfway mark. In fact, we're just over two-thirds of the way through.
Hope it was at least worth the wait.
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I am literally just realizing the length on this one. When did that happen? I'm honestly okay with longer stories, so don't worry.
Development wise, I gotta wonder how much of the show even applies anymore.
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The author has made the decision not to interfere with canon even in the Season 8 finale where he would need to explain why Iota Force isn't doing their job. I have already voiced my objections to this decision.
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I think there might have been a miscommunication - I do intend to address where Iota Force was during that whole business with Cozy Glow, I just can't do it yet due it requiring things to be established in future stories and it's... more in the "humourous acknowledgement" category than the "This is how it happened in my AU" one.
If there wasn't a miscommunication, I apologize for assuming - it just seemed like there might be.
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My query honestly stems from curiosity rather than confusion. You've said before that there are parts of the show that just can't fit in your narrative, so I'm wondering how expansive you'll eventually get in the long run.
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I did? I'm really sorry I'm being obtuse, but I can't remember saying that and, if I did, I can't remember off the top of my head which bits I said it about.
Mind you, there are definitely elements of the show I'm not going to include, but that's just a matter of personal preference. For example, there's no way I'm going to feature Starlight Glimmer in the stories (because trust me, no one would enjoy me doing so), but that doesn't necessarily mean she doesn't exist in this continuity or that the same things couldn't be happening to her, just that things that happen in these stories don't involve her beyond one or two tangential relations to events. Admittedly, my preferred headcanon does omit a number of things from the later parts of the show, but I don't intend to make that into these stories' canon (though if people who have a similar headcanon, few as they most likely are, might enjoy them more for not involving those events, so much the better).
To be honest, while they're obviously somewhat fantastical, even by the show's standards, I think the biggest contradiction these stories have to the show is that in my Equestria, ponies actually give a damn about their own mental autonomy. But that's both a relatively inconsequential change and something I simply cannot write a world without.
Although, thinking about it, I have excised at least one element from the comics, but generally I think they should be considered optional canon at best. So, while I may use elements from them, I'll also feel free to discount them if they conflict with what I want to do.
...
Except Tiberius. I cannot and will not remove Tiberius from this world. This is a hill I'm willing to die on.
My little pony, friendship is magic.
The Sinister Six continue to coalesce.
Oh great, a time traveler. Comics always eventually throw one of those in and it never makes any kind of damned sense. (Reverse-Flash at least admits to the impossibility of it all).
We're definitely looking at a villain team-up here.
Relevant question: Do Twilight, Cadence and Shining Armor know Alula is half changeling?
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Good question. Twilight does - Alula and the team are under the employ of the government, after all, and Twilight would have definitely have read up on all government assets in her home town. However, Cadance and Shining don't, since Alula joined the team after they were already up in the Crystal Empire (and I refuse to believe Shining is still in charge of the guard while literally living in and ruling another country).
That said, Cadance was somewhat aware of the team before their adventure in the Empire, due to Luna having talked about her guards' specialist teams, but wasn't aware of the specifics of Alula's abilites and nature. And when they met, Alula was... understandably hesitant to reveal that little factoid, particularly given the high-stress, high-stakes nature of their meeting. So, like many, Cadance simply assumes she's on the team for her smarts.
Nevertheless, you have inspired me to add a short scene to a future story, so I appreciate that - thank you.
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How is Thorax going to be handled in that case then? Princess of Freindship and all that...
I'm also curious about Iota Force's involvement in Twilight Time. The entire team should already have Twilight's ear in some form, no?
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I may well be missing something - it has been quite a while since I saw the episode in question - but to be honest, I don't really think it would have that great an impact.
Like, I can see how one could take it as kind of a precedent, but... well, there's a big difference between a child with both changeling and pony blood, who was raised by ponies, has mostly the physiology and only the feeding habits of a pony and who has shown no signs of disloyalty towards ponies and Equestria; and an adult, full changeling who, as far as anyone but Spike knows, had and still has total allegiance and fealty to Chrysalis. Alula may show that having some changeling ancestry doesn't necessitate being evil or opposed to ponykind, but beyond that, she doesn't really prove much about the species she's somewhat part of and the society she's never been part of.
Also, as I recall - again, memory's not perfect, so please correct me if I'm wrong - but I think it was Cadance and Shining Armor who were the most opposed to the idea of a good changeling and led the charge on rejecting it, so to speak. And they aren't aware of Alula's nature at present and she is very keen to keep it that way, for what she and I would regard as obvious reasons.
Plus... well, much as I like Alula, and as much as she is definitely a hero, she's... not exactly the most warm, open and friendly of ponies. Understandable given everything, but she still doesn't exactly detract from the idea that being a changeling and being nice are mutually exclusive. Heck, she herself would probably say that that's a possibility... though given how her conception must have come about, I don't really think we can call her that objective about the matter.
I really do apologize if I'm missing something major or obvious. Or, for that matter, if I'm coming across as dismissive - I promise I'm not trying to. It's just that I don't think Alula's presence in Equestria invailidates the event's around Thorax's acceptance or significantly lowers their probability. Not that there isn't story potential there, of course - if nothing else, there's definitely going to be a moment where the two meet and compare notes - but I don't think it necessitates any revisions.
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Funny that Alula fits right in at Twilight's School, right? Checking on the episode transcript divulges that the Empire is on alert even against Twilight, though she's just as openly hostile when things are brought out into the open. What's more, it's Twilight herself that engages hostilities when Thorax gets revealed. That said, it might be advisable to research Alula's appearances in the show. Some work, some don't.
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Fair enough, but I don't think that negates my point about the difference between Alula and Thorax - her presence doesn't really prove anything about full, hive-raised changelings. While the sentiment of "changeling equals bad" was widely held (even if not so implacably that a good beseeching song wasn't able to mostly dispel it), whether that's biological or cultural (whether a good changeling would be seen as the equivalent of a vegetarian tiger or a good Nazi, if you'll forgive me Godwinning) is debatable and probably varies from person to person. And even if it is seen as totally inherent, then at most, Alula might be seen as evidence that a pony half might let someone not be evil in spite of their changeling half. And since she isn't eager to discuss it unless necessary, she wouldn't be in a position to contradict that and may not want to if she could.
Not to mention that Twilight is aware of and familiar with the team, but she isn't necessarily in direct contact on a daily basis, which, combined with the aforementioned vast differences between Alula and a full changeling, particularly at a glance, make it quite feasible that Twilight simply wouldn't make the connection and think of her at the time. That kind of thing happens a lot with people - you're so used to thinking of someone in one context that you don't see their relevance to another. I suspect Twilight may smack her forehead about it later if and when she does think of it, but in the moment it seems like a believable way of thinking.
Also, I just realized I didn't answer your question about Twilight Time. Sorry about that - just got caught up in thinking about the first question. In regards to that, though, I honestly hadn't thought about it since that episode happens before the series starts, but it is a good point. That said, while the team does somewhat have Twilight's ear (though whether that's anything special is arguable), it's not as if they're that close to her. Icy, who wasn't around then, is by far the closest due to her friendship with Spike and even she's still fairly starstruck at times with Twilight. Heck, Luna is the Princess that the team is directly under and even she's only made a couple of appearances in the series when she already happened to be in the area. Plus, Twilight was a fair bit newer at the whole "Princess" thing at that point and most likely had other things on her mind anyway. So I think it's not unreasonable for some of the team to have gotten swept up in that whole thing.
Again, I apologize if I'm coming across as dismissive. It's not that I don't think the team's presence could alter certain events, just that I don't think it necessarily would. And when it comes to AU elements and significant divergances from canon, my attitude is that you should for the most part only include them if you're going to do something with them and have them be significant to the story. These alternate versions of stories could be good, but as they're not the stories I'm telling, I don't feel like it's a good idea to go down that particular rabbit hole. Of course, that's just my own approach - obviously you're free to disagree.
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Where in the canon do you think this story sits? Twilight Time hasn't happened yet.
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Huh? These stories have all been taking place during Season 5 and Twilight Time* was in season 4, right? Sorry, have I screwed up somewhere and mentioned something that doesn't fit with that?
*Was going to abbreviate it to TT, but that either sounds like I'm talking about an animated stopwatch or just crying at all the questions, so... let's go with the full name.
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Ya know, I should probably pay attention to Twilight's Castle. Maybe that'd help?
Now I'm wondering about how the Filly Five will be developed going forward. Two of them are literal blank slates after The Marking, two more are likely going to be forced into action rather soon afterward, and then there's the sore thumb. The epilogue of this story kinda proves it.