[HICHE] ADKoPD: Episode 26, Attack on Gaia

Stargate Atlantis would end its 5-season run with a rushed one-part finale vaguely set up by the prior episode, the majority of which had happened out of main continuity by being set in a parallel universe. Hooray for me accidentally doing almost the exact same thing. Welcome, friends, to Episode 26, the finale, of “A Different Kind of Pegasus Device”.

[G-Docs Chapter Link – Attack on Gaia]

Yes, yes, insert your favorite “Attack on Titan” memes here. First, let’s hammer out this one lingering thread from last time like the characters try to at the beginning: the Time Jumper’s location. It was probably first invented after the Crystal Ponies fled Atlantis, but was sealed away for its inherent danger (see last episode) regardless. I think my finalized idea is that in the original timeline, the Time Jumper accidentally got shuffled into rotation from the Outpost, after which it was left behind in Atlantis in the current timeline after Other Spike fixed things, where it sat around until it was taken again, while this timeline’s Time Jumper was left in the Outpost after being discovered. The Time Jumper seems to use a “leaving your timeline is forever” sort of mechanic, dropping you into another timeline where you can’t erase your own past. Or, more simply, a fridge horror “try not to think about it”. You can’t change the story, only make a copy that ends differently, going MIA from the original in the process.

Anyway, after that whole opening wall of text we finally get to the meat of the story. This is the big finale, and it’s going to have the requisite Stargate-brand big finale battle…oooooor at least it’s supposed to, but I spent more time planning through the small plot threads and stray scenes than actually strategizing a military plan for the flow of the battle, so the whole ordeal is gonna feel a bit lackluster. Think the Battle of the Five Armies from the Hobbit book instead of the movie, where the narrator is knocked out and misses most of it.

Getting back to the story, the Pod Ship from “Parked in Hyperspace” has let the Expedition get a grasp on Spectroan technology, letting them repair the Spectroan Spacegate remote recovered from the Wraith in “Rescue at the Hive” to replace their own, landing Gaia’s Gate at the Outpost (and all the setup starts paying off). They also get control over the stubborn Crystal Stinger they stole from Spectros. But when a Wraith Cruiser arrives and blocks the Gate connection with its own Gate, the Crystal Heart refuses to send power to the Stinger. Luckily, a Jumper (possibly this timeline’s Time Jumper) flies out to meet it; it fires drones and gets shot apart, but was being piloted by remote from the Outpost by…Scootaloo? Yeah, I forgot to write in when the CMCs came back, so they’re here now. And the drones auto-target key systems on the Cruiser to trigger chain reactions that destroy it.

As I try divvying up the action with blank chapter marks, the first main attack wave arrives as a trio of Hive Ships…which are quickly bowling balled-over by Luna moving the Moon. “Why not just do this for all of them?” Because they get smarter and exit hyperspace inside lunar orbit after that, that’s why (and I came up with this scene late). Then Discord turns the straggling Darts into regular darts. As the Wraith revamp their strategy, the Mane 6 ponder another strategy, alighting upon letting crystal generators build up a charge by sending them back in time with the remaining Time Jumper…then wondering if they already had. The genetic lock in the back of the Time Jumper’s sealed room opens to Rarity, who had apparently taken the voyage from yet another previous timeline, giving them a third Time Jumper (and it was around here I stopped trying to mash sense into the web of time travel). Would you believe this was all in an attempt to give the ponies nukes that the SGA Expedition already had? If I drop any idea, it’s this, and I just have them pump a lot of magic into the generators.

Twilight then pulls together members of many of the previous pony groups the story visited, each to do something (even if I didn’t come up with anything). One’s missing, however, and Derpy flies a Jumper to take Twilight to Flutter Valley, where she explains she’s (by the author whispering in her ear) found a way to defeat the Wraith while still using Flutter Pony-approved methods, for copyright reasons not directly singing from Cryoshell’s “Murky” while doing so. Meanwhile, the Wraith dial into Atlantis to stop it from interfering, but the repaired Pod Ship’s Spectroan Dialer is just in God Mode and dials out through the incoming wormhole like it wasn’t there (another idea never tried in Stargate).

As a new wave of Hives appears to continue the attack too close to use the Moon again, the battle over and across Gaia begins. The geography of the next few scenes are skimmed over at best, and the pacing and placement of many weren’t even considered, grouping entire running story threads together for the convenience of not forgetting what I’d written. Using a generator instead of the Heart, the Crystal Stinger finally works, unleashing an attack based on Dinosaur King’s Spectral Stinger, but like missiles in SGA, they can’t make it past a swarm of protective Darts (remember how too many Darts doomed the Spectral Shadow?). Using a cloaked Jumper, a Traveler turns sparkle cloud to carry a supercharged generator onto a Hive, retreating for a Princess Pony to send a wave of magic disruption to trip the generator to blow, taking out the Hive. The Odonans sent pieces to assemble smaller versions of their defense turrets to set up around Canterlot and repel Dart attacks. They also dial Gaia and shoot their main turrets through the wormhole, the Spacegate remote being used to aim the Gate at Hives. Several Jumpers have been modified to use amped-up Equestria Games ice arrows instead of drones to dogfight Darts where needed. And the Sea Ponies swapped the key rings over the Pit for white lightstones, giving the rings to Gaia, which were reprogrammed to each project their own shield and defend a city a piece. Apologies if your favorite didn’t get a mention.

Meanwhile in the A plot, a Hive Ship has arrived over Flutter Valley right next to the Spacegate. Twilight’s cloaked Jumper tries to snatch the Gate to pull it with them back out of phase, as they need it for her yet unrevealed plan, but Amber Waves dials in with the Spectroan Pod Ship (Amethyst predicting where Twilight would go?). The two ships and Gate are taken out of phase with Flutter Valley in the final, sadly unnamed chapter division to set up the big plan. They will dial another wormhole through the Spectral Shadow’s hyperspace bubble in subspace (aided by the Pod Ship), using the ship and its location to spread the effect wave of the Flutter Valley mechanism through every Stargate in the galaxy at once (stealing the visuals of the Dakara superweapon and Ba’al’s Gate tricks from SG-1’s “Reckoning, Part 2”) and bring every Wraith ship to conscious life. This would likely disrupt the charge of the ZPM keeping them out of phase, so it had better work, what with that Hive above them. To program the Shadow, someone must be onboard, and Twilight (possibly with Amber) volunteers to see her idea through. I may have to rework the pacing or add in another ‘all hope is lost’ scene or two, but long story short the plan works. Flutter Valley’s dimensional shift shorts out, but every Wraith ship is given control of itself and collectively turn on their Wraith pilots and crew in various ways. The armada over Gaia clears out and Stargates start closing; however, Flutter Valley’s Gate shuts off before any word is heard back from Twilight, and she didn’t show up anywhere else we know of. And cliffhanger.

Okay, complain if you will about the needless time travel and open ending, but at least it’s the longest draft since Episode 9 and fifth overall, you can complain about something present instead of something absent. “Attack on Gaia” was actually one of the earlier chapters I envisioned and set up, so I knew almost the whole time what I needed to plan for, being able to lay out bread crumbs and puzzle pieces that would eventually fit together. And even if magic should’ve just given the ponies a blank check towards victory, I prefer the “Avengers, assemble!” format better than “oh, I guess there really wasn’t a need to worry”, and I hope you do too. Shame it never got fully written out for full dramatic impact.

This has been a journey. “A Different Kind of Pegasus Device” is ostensibly done, but not just quite. Join us next time for the true final installment, … “The Epilogue thing (title not final)”.