• Published 16th Oct 2012
  • 2,401 Views, 153 Comments

More than Forty Blinks - Sereg



Pinkie's sisters unleash a powerful enemy that is determined to make all of Equestria identical.

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6
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Conclusion

Chapter six: Conclusion

“Of course, while freeing Discord would provide a useful distraction, it would also remove the only reason that Conformity isn’t attacking Bearers of the Elements of Harmony,” said Star Swirl with a wince.


(/)

Most of Conformity’s bodies disappeared in a flash of magic; those left split into two groups, one chasing Twilight and Rainbow Dash, the other racing towards the palace.

Celestia’s eyes narrowed as she looked up from the roof of the palace. Her eyes flicked between the alicorns Flying towards Twilight and Rainbow before looking down towards those flying into the city.

Twilight turned to see Conformity flying straight towards her. She opened her saddlebags.

(/)

“We can use the saddlebags for two purposes,” Star Swirl explained. “Firstly, we can use them to conceal the Elements of Harmony. Secondly, if Conformity tries to touch us, we’ll need a weapon.”

(/)

Twilight glanced down, pulling a crystal from her saddlebag. She then aimed and threw it at Conformity. The streak of crystal struck home and the alicorn fell from the sky as crystal crept over her body. It was immediately replaced by more alicorns.

Celestia watched the scene above her and scowled at what was happening to her student. She had stayed out of the situation long enough. She appeared in a blinding flash next to Rainbow Dash, already in a defensive stance.

“No!” yelled Star Swirl as her pupils shrank and she raised a hoof. “Princess Celestia! This isn’t part of the plan! We must not risk you!”

Celestia grabbed the closest alicorns in her aura. She turned towards Twilight. “Go!”

Twilight closed her eyes and and let her magic yank herself and her steed through space and back to the Crystal Heart.

YOU CAN’T HOLD US ALL OFF, CELESTIA!” snarled Conformity.

“Can’t I?” Celestia asked. She then did something she had only done twice in over a thousand years. She let go of the Sun.

(/)

The rest of the Bearers of Harmony ran from their posts around the fair to join Twilight and Rainbow Dash at the Crystal Heart below the palace as a swarm of white alicorns descended upon them.

STOP! WE NEED ALL YOUR POWER TO STOP DISCORD!” they yelled. “GIVE US THE HEART AND JOIN OUR UNITY! IT IS YOUR ONLY CHANCE!

Rarity struck one with a crystal, bringing it crashing to the ground.

FINE!” shrieked the alicorns. “WE’LL JUST TAKE WHAT WE CAN!

(/)

Celestia rolled her shoulders as she felt a 1989 septillion ton mass lift. The Sun would be fine for now. She could return it to its rightful orbit once she had dealt with the current situation. Her eyes shone with light and flames leapt from her mane and tail. Her body glowed with yellow light and her golden barding grew in plates over her body. If she was going to do this, she was going to do it properly. She had to be careful though. She didn’t want to damage Conformity’s bodies or anything in the Crystal Empire. And her instincts screamed at her to burn her enemies with her holy sun-fire. But no, fire was not an appropriate weapon for his situation. She would have to stretch slightly out of her element. Even light would risk permanently blinding her subjects. She flapped her wings and a gust blew the nearest alicorn away.

Others approached.

Celestia frowned. Stronger weather manipulation would risk the plan. Unless she stuck to lightning bolts and they were too dangerous. Most of her earth pony magic would not have been particularly useful in that situation either. It looked like she had to act like a high speed flying unicorn. She quickly flung a pair of magic bubbles up. She hovered in their centre and attempted to trap some alicorns in the space between them. The inner bubble expanded as the outer one contracted, narrowing the space.

The alicorns snarled and their eyes twitched as they pressed their hooves against the bubbles and one teleported into the inner bubble.

Celestia scowled, barring her teeth in a grimace. Conformity was fast enough to teleport before she had woven a spell to prevent her from doing so. She had to work faster. The sound of Conformity yelling into her brain was going to make that more difficult, especially as she wanted to keep this non-lethal. She fired a net of magic around the alicorn as she began her spell to prevent teleportation.

The net dangled from her horn, hanging by a golden thread of magic.

Another alicorn teleported in as the net began to whiten.

Celestia dropped the net, not wanting to discover what would happen if the whiteness finished its pathway along the rope to her horn. She then fired a blob of golden goo which splattered the second alicorn against the side of the inner barrier. The alicorn struggled as the goo held it against the barrier like an insect trapped in tree sap.

As more alicorns teleported in, Celestia gritted her teeth. The barriers weren’t working. She dropped them and as she continued working on anti-teleportation wards, began to design, thankful that while her sister was the better artist, she was better with puzzles. Celestia was momentarily relieved by the loss of Conformity’s voice in her mind, yet she still had other problems to deal with.

My biggest advantages over a standard pony here are spell versatility and overwhelming speed. thought Celestia. But my speed advantage has been considerably reduced since the point when Conformity claimed to have gained the power of a true alicorn. I hope that is not the case. She is bad enough without authority over a concept. And I will not use my speed to abandon my subjects. Nor can I take advantage of her speed in physical combat without risking both assimilation and harming a stolen body. Illusion is unlikely to be effective against a hive mind and risks the plan as well. I have to choose my spells carefully.

She scowled and ground her teeth as she saw that some of Conformity’s bodies were flying into the Crystal Empire. She telekinetically lifted them to face her, making sure to hold the dragon’s jaws shut and form a bubble around her head to prevent the use of smoke or fire. Telekinetically manipulating a struggling creature is far more difficult simply levitating a heavy object and holding a few hundred struggling bodies, each with far more strength than a typical earth pony, was distracting Celestia from the other tasks she was simultaneously performing. She began to wrap them in chains of magic, form cages around them and encase them in boxes. That bought her some more time. Enough for the basics of her plan to be ready and she could not keep this up for long. It was time to act.

She hastily constructed what she had been designing. A series of walls of magic popped into existence and rapidly assembled around the combatants. It formed a three-dimensional maze of magic, was bigger than the city and surrounded Conformity’s bodies with herself at the centre. She then inverted gravity within the maze. The routes through the maze were complex and while Conformity adjusted to the new gravity, it would allow Celestia to finish her anti-teleportation wards. Conformity would not be able to plot a route through the maze to perform a standard teleport and she would not summon the power to teleport through the walls in time.

Another of Conformity’s bodies appeared in a flash of magic just outside the maze. She then flew through the walls at supersonic speed, smashing them as she went.

Celestia began to turn her head, having just enough time to think that perhaps it would have been better to spend more time on the walls’ impenetrability and less on their intricacy before a hoof smashed through her barding and into her flank.

Celestia’s mostly ceremonial barding crumpled under the impact from Conformity’s attack. The maze dropped and Celestia’s cutie mark flickered away.

(/)

The ponies in the streets gasped as they saw Celestia’s assimilation. More alicorns swept down towards the city as the wave of white crept over her body.

Bodies of Conformity filled the sky and gave ugly grins before diving and poking the Equestrian and Crystal citizens one-by-one.

Star Swirl raised a hoof in fear as Conformity flew towards her.

The hoof was quickly poked as Conformity passed.

She can’t find out the plan! Star Swirl thought desperately and grabbed a crystal, slapping it on her foreleg, stopping the progression of white.

Conformity saw this and turned towards her, slowing the onslaught. One of her bodies then flew back and tapped her on the muzzle.

Star Swirl squinted to watch the newer wave of white approaching her brain, knowing she could do nothing to stop it. The last thing she ever saw would be Conformity assimilating those around her before they had time to implement the plan.


“Now!” yelled Twilight.

The ponies bowed, smiling, charging the city with light. The glow intensified to form a shining beacon of brilliance.

Conformity’s face contorted as she absorbed Celestia’s knowledge of the plan. But she could do nothing about it.

The Elements of Harmony shone in their respective colours and fired a twisting, rainbow beam into the Crystal Heart which travelled along with the aurora of emotional energy into the sky in a cone, adding to its shimmering gleam of energy.

The wall of emotional energy hit the lens and focused in an intense beam onto the mirror, forming a rainbow wave that spread over the continent as an unstoppable wall of brightly-coloured conquest.

Throughout Equestria, alicorns transformed back into ordinary ponies in a shimmering metamorphosis and gently floated to the ground, surrounded by multi-coloured energy.

Discord’s cracks resealed themselves before he had finished his word.

And near a rock farm, a frustrated white ball was once again trapped in crystal.

(/)

Around Equestria, ponies looked to the scintillating rainbow of energy which covered the sky in an aurora.

A green dragon lifted his neck and scratched his head. “Where am I?

(/)

“Bon Bon! You’re here!” cried Lyra as she pronked over to the cream earth pony who was drowsily getting to her hooves. She then grabbed and squeezed her. “Come on! I’ve got to show you all the crystal ponies!”

(/)

“I guess that a lot of ponies ended up in a completely different place,” said Twilight sheepishly as she gave an awkward grin.

Celestia flew over and landed next to her. “Luna and I will ensure that everypony,” –she looked over to the large, green creature just outside the city borders,–“and everydragon gets home.”

“And we’re already having a crystal fair!” cried Pinkie as she jumped in from out of view. “They can join in the party!”


Star Swirl walked over and rubbed her head. “I’m just glad that we’re all safe.”

“That’s ‘cause your plan worked, Star!” squealed Pinkie. “Thank you! Now I can get my sister back! I need to go hug her! Then we can have a party to celebrate! Oooh! I’ll do that now! Then I can party right away!” She darted off.

“Well, it didn’t go exactly according to plan,” Star admitted sheepishly as she lowered her head.

“There are few times that it will,” said Celestia. “It is important to be able to adapt, but you managed to give us a firm foundation from which we could make those adaptations. Well done, Star Swirl, the Hundred and Forty Seventh.”

“Thank you,” said Star Swirl. “I’m definitely going to discuss this in my book.”

“Interesting,” said Celestia. “What do you plan on researching next?”

“Well, Zecora has promised to give me a few lessons, and I’ve been thinking of doing some travelling outside Equestria.”

(/)

Pinkie let go of the siblings she had been practically strangling. “I missed you so much!” she said. “I was so worried about you! I’m so glad you’re okay!”

“Thanks, Pinkie,” said Blinkie. “I think that I won’t just touch anything I dig up from now on.”

Inkie rolled her eyes.

Pinkie said, “In that case, I also need to plan a ‘My Family is Safe and Blinkie is Finally Going to Start Listening to Inkie Party’!”

(/)

Three days later, Pluto finished off her parchmentwork as she levitated a large, shifting crystal along the passages of Tartarus. “You should not worry too much,” she said. “Celestia has asked me to give you a reasonably nice cell and I actually agree with her on this. At least she is finally letting me do my duty instead of doing something fancy like turn you to stone, or to smoke or to lock you on the Moon or under the ocean. About time too! Nothing has ever escaped Tartarus and every one of our redemption attempts has been successful. What’s more, your little escapade has given her an idea for how to redeem Discord!”

The crystal shook with a boom.

“Do not get so worked up. If she is right, she will have achieved your goal of neutralising that threat! And you can thank yourself for that! It is also likely to mean that your sentence will be a lot shorter than his. I have a feeling that you will be a lot easier than he is.”

(/)


Star Swirl the Hundred and Forty Seventh will return in ... Star Swirl and Stripes Forever

Author's Note:

Thank you to all my editors for their help and my readers for their support. It is because of you that I put so much effort into this fic.

Star Swirl and Stripes Forever should be up VERY soon. As soon as I can get it through the moderation.

Also, this series is now known as the Truthseekerverse and has a group.

Why the "Truthseekerverse"? Well, you'll have to read Star Swirl and Stripes Forever to find that out, won't you?:-P

Also, I must appologise to those who were looking forward to more Discord action. Unfortunately, I could not have it at this point in the timeline. Keep Calm and Flutter on WILL happen in this verse though (as will the rest of Season 3), so Discord WILL turn up later in the series. That'll be fun.

Comments ( 21 )

Of course conformity doesn't SEE herself as an enemy of harmony.

Conformity would have been infinitely harder to beat if she had taken advantage of all the experience and talent of the ponies she's assimilated. Rather than just using their natural abilities and bodies as vessels.

against a hive mind

It's not a true hive mind.

And near a rock farm, a frustrated white ball was once again trapped in crystal.

Poor Conformity. :-(


In the end she's a danger that needed to be stop (mostly cause her Instrumentality was FLAWED as she didn't bother to assimilate the wisdom and insight of those she absorbed). But at the same time she's nothing but a child desperate to prove herself to her parent. And now she never gets her rematch with Discord.

"There are NATURAL BORN hive-mind beings who would find our individuality horrifically wrong and unnatural."



---

Pluto, "Who are you?"

Nightmare Eclipse, "Somepony who'd like to work-release one of your inmates. I can see her being of great help to creation."

[youtube=kpKDYl3A7zI]

Nice plan and nice work by Celestia, there.

2766739 Oh, I agree with you. So much that at one point I feared that this might be a bit too much of a downer ending. But season 3 allowed me to add a bit more hope to preventit from being so.

2772487 Thank you. I really wanted to give Celestia a chance to show WHY she's the big good and show off a bit. Not too much though. For her to really let loose, I'd need her to be fighting in a Cosmic War (which is why I've really been wanting to flashback to one at somepoint in the verse).

2831705

Main reason I didn't make a big deal about the pacing was it says "introduction" SO figured it was just to set the stage, but yeah could have been stretched out more, made a full two or three chapters just out of this, but we'll see how it goes.

The Borg stuff, yeah I get the reference and seems interesting, just went a bit to far with the homage IMO, but it's a minor quibble.

As to the alicorns, well going JUST by what you have so far, hard to tell, but I know your overall headcanon so already see how it works out. And yes Pluto is awesome. Will get to more chapters soon.

2836497

Yeah I saw that quote afterwards going back through some comments. It is a good line and does seem to apply, it just... sounds weird coming from AJ.

2874694

That's actually rather appropriate, sine post Season 3, Kkat amended her headcanon for FoE so that the Crystal Heart was the inspiration, and that starting point for developing Megaspells. As well as being a kind of proto-megaspell in and of itself.

2875027 Yeah, I heard. By the way, does the fave mean that you've finished, or did that chapter just impress you THAT much?

2875265

mostly that it was easier to find it that way to read a new chapter then digging through my huge Read Later list. but was going to do it anyway, was really just waiting on your response before getting into the next chapter, it's half the fun.

GODDAMMIT STAR SWIRL STOP OBSESSING OVER POINTLESS HONORIFICS IN THE MIDDLE OF A NATIONAL CRISIS.

With that out of the way...

Great fic. Great villain. I love villains that aren't mwhahah evil, they're 'just doing their job.' I know the 'peace through assimilation' has been done before, but I liked it here. Great counterpoint to the manic anarchy of Discord and the harmony-but-still-individuality of the Mane Six. I like that everyone (even Luna!) got a chance to shine.

Got a bit lost in all the celestial spheres and alicorns and cosmic councils and Dr Who references so I kinda skimmed over those parts. I think the story could have been tightened up a bit more, maybe focus on the core concept which is ponies kicking a borg-shoggoth's ass with SCIENCE! :twilightsmile: And MAGIC! :trollestia:

Pluto is awesome. I like the idea that the guardian of the underworld is a put-upon prison warden.

2883167

GODDAMMIT STAR SWIRL STOP OBSESSING OVER POINTLESS HONORIFICS IN THE MIDDLE OF A NATIONAL CRISIS.

Yeah, she's getting better about this, but slowly.

Great fic. Great villain. I love villains that aren't mwhahah evil, they're 'just doing their job.'

Thank you! Intersested in continuing the series? I rather like variety in my villians, but I like their motivations to at least be comprehensible.

Got a bit lost in all the celestial spheres and alicorns and cosmic councils and Dr Who references so I kinda skimmed over those parts. I think the story could have been tightened up a bit more, maybe focus on the core concept

Sorry about that. It's a bit dfficult for me to avoid the temptation to do extra world-building and to give explanations for why x from fic y in the series wouln't have worked and to try and reffeence stuff that's only going to become important in later fics.

which is ponies kicking a borg-shoggoth's ass with SCIENCE! And MAGIC!

Yes, I did like the idea. Glad thatyou approve.

Pluto is awesome. I like the idea that the guardian of the underworld is a put-upon prison warden.

Pluto is INSANELY popular! I never expected that. Glad that she went over well and that I have plans to use her more in future fics.

Alright time for the finale

.... Let go of the sun.... that just does NOT sound like something that can end well.

1989 septillion ton weight lift...... Except, it's in space, it was no weight, and if it does, is that in Earth/Equestrian gravity, or in it's own higher gravity field?

That.. was pretty damn awesome fight with Celestia.

Oh and.. :twilightoops: whelp, their doomed.

Or not. Rather quick with the ending, but, it works.

Ohhhh, Zebra magic and other non-Equestrian areas, I smell plot hooks

Star Swirl and Stripes Forever :facehoof: But, look forward to it.

Okay final thoughts on the story as a whole. Pretty good. I like the first one a bit more, but this one was good to. Biggest issue was how rushed the pacing was, especially in the beginning, it got better in the latter chapters, but the last one was a bit rushed feeling too. I do like Conformity as a villain, she was really well done. One that you can't really hate, but you know needs to be stopped and is wrong, but for the right, more or less, reasons. really complicated and really well done. While I don't really think you're headcanons with the Council and all work all the well with the show proper, they are a really great idea and are something I would enjoy seeing more of. They do work well in the fic's 'verse.

Few other things, SS's need to quibble and spend so long on proper titling and all in the middle of a crisis gets a bit frustrating at times. I get it's her character, and she is trying to get better, but would have been nice to have somepony call her out on it now and then instead of them all just calmly sitting around waiting for her to spit out all the titles mid-crisis.

Next up, Pluto. Ensemble Darkhorse FTW! She is so many different types of awesome, glad you got more plans for her.

So, yeah good story, not quite as good as AEPGTM, but still good. Story was a bit rushed feeling, but the characters were all amazing. Look forward to more in this 'verse. As long as it contains plenty of Pluto :twilightsmile: Though, not enough to overexpose her. :pinkiehappy:

2884719 Glad that you enjoyed it!

1989 septillion ton weight lift...... Except, it's in space, it was no weight, and if it does, is that in Earth/Equestrian gravity, or in it's own higher gravity field?

:facehoof: MASS, not weight, MASS! I KNOW this! Why did I make suh a stupid mistake!/ Fixed. It would really only WEIGH that much if it was resting against the planet (in which case you have OTHER problems).

That.. was pretty damn awesome fight with Celestia.

Thank you! I felt the ned to let her be cool. Sure, she couldn't cut loose completely and she TECHNICALLY lost, but still. I've been wondering if I should show her REALLY cutting loose in a prequel some time.

Okay final thoughts on the story as a whole. Pretty good. I like the first one a bit more, but this one was good to. Biggest issue was how rushed the pacing was, especially in the beginning, it got better in the latter chapters, but the last one was a bit rushed feeling too.

Yeah, I need to work on my tendency to rush.

I do like Conformity as a villain, she was really well done. One that you can't really hate, but you know needs to be stopped and is wrong, but for the right, more or less, reasons. really complicated and really well done.

I wanted a villian that made the audience feel conflicted. It's what I got (though sometimes I feare that I'd gone too much in one direction or another. My bigest fear would be that they'd see Conformity's defeat as a downer ending, though it seems to have worked out).

While I don't really think you're headcanons with the Council and all work all the well with the show proper, they are a really great idea and are something I would enjoy seeing more of. They do work well in the fic's 'verse.

Well, I'm glad about that at least. I'm not trying to forcibly get everyone to adopt my headcanon and I still enjoy fanfics which use views of Equestra that I don't think work in the show EITHER. For example, I have loads of refferences to The Pony POV Series here and that's a MUCH more powerful verse than my own is.

Few other things, SS's need to quibble and spend so long on proper titling and all in the middle of a crisis gets a bit frustrating at times. I get it's her character, and she is trying to get better, but would have been nice to have somepony call her out on it now and then instead of them all just calmly sitting around waiting for her to spit out all the titles mid-crisis.

Something I should bare in mind, yes. I promise she'll continue to get better though.

Next up, Pluto. Ensemble Darkhorse FTW! She is so many different types of awesome, glad you got more plans for her.

So, yeah good story, not quite as good as AEPGTM, but still good. Story was a bit rushed feeling, but the characters were all amazing. Look forward to more in this 'verse. As long as it contains plenty of Pluto Though, not enough to overexpose her.

I really need to take advantage of Pluto's popularity. The next fic takes place mostly on the other side of the planet, so she can't be too important there, but it DOES make sense for her too cameo or at least be mentioned, considering [SPOILERS REDACTED]. But she should be reasonably important for A Debt to the Stars.

4105178

Discord is sitting on the head. It's also bright pink.

So ... um ... what the heck kind of power does a pink chocobo have? :rainbowhuh:

4105221

Whatever Discord wants them to have, of course!

In this case, large size and strength, fangs and loudness.

EDIT: Read any further?

4105379 No - the eye-searing cover art on the next part has convinced me to avoid it. :derpytongue2: While your writing is fairly interesting, it hasn't quite reached out and grabbed me, and I honestly don't remember why I put the first one on my read-later list.

4105440 Ah, well. A pity. Thanks for giving it a try at least.

Well, that was something.

Joining the chorus, I will grant that this was very fast-paced; I think it comes across more here than in AEPGTM because that was more episodic and low-stakes. And somehow Conformity seemed too talky for a singleminded superweapon- it felt surprisingly comedic at points. Still, fun and harmless overall.

Also, props for letting Celestia be awesome (and making it more than plausible that the current foe could eventually take her down).:trollestia:

Starlight Glimmer and Conformity are made for each other. I imagine Glimmer freeing Conformity and them fusing, like Lex Luthor and Braniac. And the two of them combined being MUCH more dangerous!!!
Tension Rising (Nobody Boss Theme) - Kingdom Hearts II OST

Even then pulling a Justice Lords clones on the mane six (in this case Discorded Six Clones).

5871400 Thank you. I do like throwing in a bit of comedy when I get the opportunity. Also, as Conformity spent most of the fic trying to stall the heroes while she increased her power, I decided that her being talky made sense (especially with her need to justify herself). From what I gather, most fans think that the next fic in the series is an improvement on most of my issues, including pacing, though it is only the one after that where my pacing is really decent).


5877002 Oh, I was reminded of Conformity by that episode. I can certainly see them teaming up and Starlight's better social manipulation skills would certainly be something she could use to increase Conformity's effectiveness.

5878119

I just know THAT is a story I would read!

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