Sometimes, life hands you lemons. Other times, it duct tapes a grenade to your face.
The human race has been at war with the savage Emrini for fifty years. Just as the tide begins to turn in our favor, however, they begin utilizing three new super soldiers; Earth Crackers, Energy Keepers, and Cloud Busters. Now, victory no longer seems assured. But during a solo mission on the planet Rokan, Shadow Soldier Kuro finds an Energy Keeper, and what he discovers will change the course of the war, and of humanity's future.
Chapters (21)
If I'm reading this correctly, the ponies are anthro correct? Since you mention hands and fingers. Ah well, pony ponies are better in my opinion. lol But who asked me?....Again with the rambling, damn you mind, work properly!
>>Paddle Steamer
Yes, they are anthro.
This has potential, just avoid gratuitous Japanese.
Are you hinting at Pinkamena?
BTW, nice to see you again. Where ya been?
>> Mecha G
I have another story I've been working on, as well. I put up a blog whenever something important happens, so you can read those for more details about what's going on around here.
Always happy to see a new chapter. This belongs in a group.
Does Twilight's armor need those cables to power the components with her horn? She could probably do it wirelessly.
2775493
She probably could, but the engineers wouldn't know that, and making a direct link from her horn to the suit's systems is more efficient, safer, and requires less concentration.
Yay! An update!
2775647 Well, why not wireless contacts? Cables can be damaged, or severed.
2780157
I haven't yet gone over everything the suit can do, though.
Besides, physical connections are more reliable and more efficient than a wireless power transfer.
Congratulations, this story has good enough grammar to be included in the Good Grammar Directory, a comprehensive list of gramatically-correct stories on Fimfiction.
Lots of good things coming from this story, plausible original alien race that isn't copy pasted(thank Luna...) from any existing fictional races me changed to suit the story. Damn interesting tech(NEEDS MORE TECHNOBABBLE TO GO WITH IT!!
) and you also have a very good writing style, could be more descriptive but it doesn't take away from the story :3 and finally someone who has the same opinion as me about physical power connections! (I've had arguments with a few of my irl friends about it xP)
2858229
Don't worry, technobabble will come later.
"This chapter was difficult to put down. I honestly just didn't want to do it for a while, there."
then why did you
Ah, new chapter. And finally someone nails home the one point so many fail to bring up in stories like this, killing another sentient, much less sapient being in and of itself is a hard, terrible thing by its very nature. If you feel remorse, in war it's not that it gets easier to do it but you get used to doing it out of necessity, such is the nature of combat. Glad you got it right with this... Damn good chapter
Cool story bro. No serously I love this story can't waite for more
.
2894650
Because this is how the story goes.
""Twilight, what you just told us disregards about five different laws of nature that have been set in stone for over two millennia. That said, there have been plenty of 'laws'," I made air quotes on the word, "of nature that were definitively proven wrong by modern science over the years. Do we believe you right now? No. But that doesn't mean you can't prove otherwise. Chances are that once we meet them, both your princesses will prove lots of things we think about the universe wrong. But until then, we can't just take your word for it that you have a pair of nigh-immortal beings who apparently control your planet's day and night cycle ruling your country. Sorry, but that's just how it is." "
...you're...STUPID.
I had no problems with this fascinating new examination of the human-meets-Equestrians tale. It's done a good job of analyzing the two cultures and their clashes and the need to bond over a common enemy but...
HELLO?!
Everything you REMARKABLY dumb people THOUGHT you knew about the universe shoulda gone right out the freakin' window when ALIENS! INVADED! YOUR WORLD! With SUPER-STRENGTH! And the ability to FLY! And how they could evidently use an unknown energy that was pretty much magic! And when one of the very people who can USE those abilities tells you to your face that "Guess what, on our planet, our leaders raise the sun and moon"...you just gotta choke that s--t down and swallow it. NOTHING should surprise you anymore. NOTHING. If Spongebob Squarepants himself landed in Washington D.C tomorrow and asked to meet the president, your response shouldn't be "this isn't happening", it should be "...oh. Well, the more the merrier" or something along those lines. Your minds should not be closed off to the possibility of magic.
Interstellar travel? Alien invasion? Sure! But MAGIC? Oh, no-no-no, that's just too ridiculous! (Rolls eyes)
2895097
It's one thing to kill someone in the heat of battle. It's another to shoot them in the back of the head when they can't fight back. I call that "cowardice". I call that "murder". And it's why capital punishment is a stain on the US of A and the rest of the world, and damn near inexcusable.
2896017
While your arguments hold merit, I will point out that humans are a species based on science. Until proven to be wrong, (and sometimes even hard evidence won't make someone believe otherwise) our race will believe anything we are taught as being fact. The idea that a single, relatively human-sized creature is capable of moving an entire star by themself is something that has never been encountered before, and will probably never be encountered again. The sheer amount of energy required for that sort of feat, particularly at the typical range for a habitable planet, is downright scary, and the thought that this much energy is expended by a single being, on literally a daily basis, is very much difficult to believe. Also, Kuro and Leeroy simply don't have the authority to make a statement that they do believe her, not until they have evidence. When you're representing your entire species, you have to be relatively careful about how you handle the situation, that way you don't start jumping to conclusions, pissing people off for no good reason, and generally just looking like a jackass.
As for the execution scene, I do agree that capital punishment is morally ambiguous at best, and downright evil at worst. I knew I was going to get at least a few people who would have less-than-kind words to say to me about it, but I put it there for a couple reasons. The first is that there would be no way two aliens, who were until recently under enemy control, would be allowed to participate in an invasion scenario without a loyalty test. The second is that I felt it made a good bit of character development for both Twilight, and Kuro. I'll be getting to the repercussions of this event on Rainbow later. Third, I felt it was appropriate to show a small preview of how human society has evolved with the advent of space travel. In this particular case, the justice system. I specifically used the term 'execution sentence' to signify that the Emrini had already had a trial, were convicted, and had been put on death row.
And as for the whole 'alien invasion' thing, I think you've got a slightly different idea of how the war started than what I've got it mind. I'm not going to give away spoilers, but the Emrini didn't exactly have a huge advantage when this whole thing started.
All told, though, I'm glad to hear a differing opinion on how things should go. I'd be happy to hear your comments on future chapters, if you're willing to stick around.
2896149
Since you've put so much thought into your reply...I think I will. :nods:
2896366
Happy to hear it.
I lost it at the Admirals name.
Oh my... Kuro, you have balls of titanium and a sense of morality that will land you in some sticky situations... But hell if I'm gonna stop you. NOW GO AND KILL THEM ALL FOR THE ATROCITIES THEY HAVE AND ARE COMMITTING MWAAAAAHAAAHAAAHAAA
sorry I get carried away sometimes *fires an explosive bolt from crossbow right between an Emrini's legs*
In other news, excellent chapter... Now kindly please MOAR
Is there a reason Toyoko couldn't just say "yes"?
3016845
That's what 'hai' means in Japanese. It's the same as Dimtri using 'da'.
Only one thing caught my eye, and that was the captain's name, though good story so far
Nice new chapter can't waite for more.
"That's not how war works. A conflict of this magnitude doesn't end until one side is so beaten that they can't ever get back up again. "
Yes, like the Vietnam War, in which...oh, wait, no, we could have kept fighting on and on in that but we still pulled out. How about the KOREAN War-no, no, that's almost exactly the same. Wait. I've got it. Old school. REVOLUTIONARY War! We kicked those British-oh, wait, no, the French had to help us out and Britain could have kept going for a considerably long time with its resources if not for the French interference.
Uhh...CIVIL WAR!...no, that doesn't work either because both sides were never entirely equal due to deficiencies in several areas but the South could and tried to keep going regardless of surrender. Uh...War on Terror?...hasn't...really ended and...they...can't exactly be beaten the traditional way...
So yeah. He's talking out of his ass. His species has never DEALT with an alien invasion before, or fighting aliens period. He has no idea what to expect and should stop talking like he knows everything when he's just flying by the seat of his pants, same as the Mane Six. NOBODY knows anything about these aliens anyhow. And by the way? All those wars I mentioned? Most of them? The opposing side never has come back to invade again after getting kicked out because they don't want to keep wasting resources when there are better places to go, their countries masses didn't like the wars, and they didn't think they could win if they kept going.
So again...you're just plain wrong about how war actually works. Trying to simplify it is to do it and those that fight in it a dishonor. It's a mess that allows for comradery and bravery and heroism in the most unlikely of places, but too easily permits intolerance, cruelty and the shattering of moral guidelines. But one thing IS sure is that the rules of war are always changing due to the setting and the people within it. So you can't just say "Yer either with us or yer against us".
3028236 isn't this a story about anthromorphic ponies? Can't we just throw logic out the window already?
3028379
There's suspension of disbelief which allows me to believe that talking ponies could exist, and then there's saying things like "F--king magnets, how do THEY work"...when we KNOW how they work.
These talking ponies are interacting with humans. There have been a variety of wars on Earth. You can't just make sweeping, generalized statements about war, especially when they're not factually accurate in a story that's trying to add a level of grittiness and REALISM to an otherwise fluffy and lighthearted universe. You can't use the excuse of "Surely you can let suspension of disbelief" kick in for stuff like this.
It's like when I heard people say that same thing about the comic book story "Ultimatum" in which Magneto tilted the Earth's magnetic poles and SOMEHOW this shifted the Earth off it's axis...but that was bullcrap because the axial poles have NOTHING to do with the magnetic poles, and being capable of manipulating magnetism does not make him magical enough to tilt the Earth's axis and cause tidal waves and blizzards and earthquakes. You can't just make s--t up about how the laws of physics work and you can't just make s--t up about human history either. It was a dumb thing for the character to say, ESPECIALLY when she's OBVIOUSLY hurting and needs to talk to a psychiatrist or a psychologist!
3028400 *facepalm* dude I'm 13 I don't know half of what you just said. And I'm too innocent to know about wars :3
INNOCENT :flutterroar: :3
3028400
First: yes, the magnetic poles affect Earth's axis. The natural magnetic field of a planet is what gives it spin.
Second: while there are a lot of wars in American history that are more political, and therefore not encompassed by Kuro's statement, I was going more off of the World Wars, medieval-era and prior wars, and one future conflict that I haven't shown yet. Also, they've been fighting the Emrini for fifty years. Neither side is going to give up without being ground into the dirt. That's what Kuro was referring to.
3028956
I'll give you the second one if that's the kind of war he's talking about, but he still is coming off as insensitive. As someone who has fought for a long, he should, of all people, know the hard desire to just...go home. No matter how hard that is.
Buuuut...you're wrong about the Earth's reasons for rotation. There is no force that causes the planets to rotate. Most of the rotation comes about from the conservation of angular momentum. Angular momentum is given by L=m*w*r2 where m is the mass, w is the angular velocity in radians per second, and r is the radius of the circular motion. Due to conservation of angular momentum, if the radius of the orbit decreases, then its angular velocity must increase (as the mass is constant).
So again, the rotation of the planet has nothing to do with the magnetic poles. If you shifted the magnetic poles, all it would do is screw up animals and their internal sense of direction and mess with compasses. Now AXIAL pole shift WOULD cause real damage if it was done in massive amounts and very suddenly, but the axial poles have no relation to magnetism and are about plate tectonics.
3029017
Right-hand rule of astronomy: if you stick out your right thumb like you're hitchiking, and orient your hand so that your thumb points the same direction as magnetic north, the curl of your fingers is the same as the planet's spin. And while I agree that the after-effects of a magnetic shift might not be quite so catastrophic as in Ultimatum, there are two things that make it kind of a moot point. One: it's Marvel, so you can't expect a whole lot of scientific accuracy there. Two: we don't have any historical records of a truly massive shift in the Earth's magnetic poles, other than geological and geomagnetic evidence from when the poles have occassionally switched.
I'm sorry.. But someone has to say it.... Snipers are effective and terrifying.... You can have the best soldiers in the most elite squad in the galaxy... But a single well equipped sniper in the right position can use the strongest weapon known to any sapient race, fear. Fear of not knowing who will die next, not knowing where the sniper is, fear of not seeing loved ones again... And fear of sharing the fate of the first poor SOB to get his/her head turned into a bloody spray.
Anyway I understand how Rainbow feels... To some extent at least
the latest chapter shows up in my feed, but it's password protected.
3076776
That was an accidental publish. I pushed the wrong button. It'll be out later today.
interesting story you have here, also : damn cliff hangers
3082186 eeeeyyyuuuppp
Awesome chapter. Awaiting the next one.
Back from the dead, I see. So when does Applejack suit up? I want to see what earth crackers are capable of.
3258913
It's gonna be a little while. And you can blame school for the lack of updates. The only times I have to write anymore are less than half an hour. By the time I've figured out what happens next, I can only get a paragraph or two put down. It really sucks.
Good chapter. Can't wait for the next one.
it was a awesome chapter
MAKE IT MORE EPIC!!!!! 
AND OH how was your thanksgiving? 
3364529
1. Thank you.
2. Not to worry, I guarantee that I will blow your mind at least one more time, probably several times, before the end of this story.
3. Huh?
Man this whas awsome. This is why we nead AI courts! This woud be a uneaded long court sesion if the court woud be leaded by humans instead of AI's I bet the AI's where scaning everibody from brain activity to body reactions etc for the real answers. I also loved thet they have the ability to detect false body acts. This AI's are huge expanded lie detectors they know thet you lie even if you don't.
Host by her own petard...
3473994
Huh?