Scholar Arc
Year 11, Month 7, Day 5
Atlas was silently pouring over the table of contents of one of the books about runes. It displayed every single rune that was known and how it looked, but without an accurate description of how they worked and in what sequence they could be used, they were almost useless. While he had mostly memorized the runes that they had actual information about, figuring out how to use the rest of them proved to be an almost insurmountable challenge.
They could, of course, use a trial and error approach, but since the options were almost infinite, that would be a huge waste of their time. Sure, Atlas had all the time in the world, but he didn't want to spend a millennia just trying to figure out what the runes did.
Atlas figured that his best bet would be to just go and ask Hades, but he'd have to be dead for that to work. And if Belle found out that he willingly killed himself, again, she'd definitely kill him. While that would achieve his goal, either way, he didn't want to piss off Belle so soon after they got married.
They had just taken the last week off to go camping in the mountains. Amethyst told them about a relatively safe spot, devoid of monsters and thriving with vegetation overlooking a pristine lake. A lot of their time was spent fooling around and playing with snakes, and it was just the trip they needed to normalize the novelty of marriage.
Today was Atlas' first day back in the lab, which he was surprised to find was still in one piece. Atlas sighed as he stared at the runes as they mocked him from the pages of the book. He couldn't quite find the motivation to actually do any work as his mind drifted back to the past week again and again.
The door to the lab flew open and a grinning Doc Brown entered. He happily cantered over to where Atlas sat and deposited a small bag on his desk.
"Today's our lucky day, Atlas!" He exclaimed happily. "They managed to hatch one of the dragon eggs, so I pestered them all morning to give me some of its shell."
The little bag opened up to reveal several small pieces of a shell, just as Doc claimed.
"I can't wait to see what we can do with them!"
"That's amazing," Atlas said enthusiastically. "Good job on getting those!"
"Ahh... I'll be over there if you need me, I want to get started immediately." Doc Brown took off in the direction he’d indicated and dove into the mess that was their shared lab.
Atlas shook his head and refocused back on his book. It was getting close to lunchtime and he was starting to get hungry. He was pondering over what he should eat, and where, when suddenly an explosion rocked the whole building; scrolls and books falling to the floor with Atlas almost joining them. He barely managed to hold on to the desk he sat at, shocked back into reality.
"Do you need my help extinguishing the fire?" He called out to Doc Brown, who was off somewhere conducting his own experiment.
"You mean that wasn't you?" Came the confused shout back.
Atlas furrowed his brows in confusion. If neither of them was responsible, who was?
Another explosion rocked the building, and this time Atlas’ face reunited with his old friend the ground. He was about to let loose a barrage of expletives, when the faint sound of screaming reached his ears, shortly followed by the alarm going off from the tower.
Doc Brown's head popped out of a stack of scrolls nearby, a concerned look on his face.
"I think we should go and check out what's going on," Atlas said from his position on the ground. "Maybe we can help."
Doc Brown nodded and they scrambled to their hooves, running to the door. Atlas threw open the door with his magic before they dashed outside. Immediately the smell of smoke entered his nostrils and the sound of shouting and screaming ponies reached his ears. They ran towards the main road of their district, which was the designated gathering point in case of an emergency.
On their way there, it became painfully obvious that something had happened over in the Life district. Smoke was rising over the walls that separated them and the orange glow that was associated with fire could be seen.
They were close to reaching the group of already gathered unicorns when the earth trembled again causing both of them to stumble.
"What the fuck is going on over there?" Atlas complained from his prone position.
"Oh no," Doc Brown said with dread filling his voice. "What's she doing here?"
"What do you mean?" Atlas asked as he got up. "Who's 'she'?"
Doc Brown didn't answer and was instead focused on something to their left. Atlas’s eyes shot wards the direction Doc Brown was looking shortly before his heart shot into his throat.
On the walls separating their district from Life’s, rested the huge form of a blue dragon with a white underbelly. Its spiny back was currently turned towards them, but if they looked closely, they could see a pretty nasty scar on her left side.
"Do you think she's here for us?" Doc Brown asked with shaky legs.
"I hope not," Atlas replied. "We didn't exactly play nice when we last saw her."
"Ponies!" The dragoness suddenly shouted. "Surrender my children now and I will only lay waste to half of your city!"
"Children?" Doc Brown asked befuddled. "You don't suppose the eggs that were brought here were hers?"
"Can't be," Atlas replied. "I was told that the dragon that was nesting in the mountains near here was killed by Teras members."
A gust of wind almost knocked both of them over as the giant dragon flapped it's mighty wings and took off.
"Dragon? As in singular? What if they only killed the male while our little friend here was out hunting?" Doc Brown retorted.
Atlas wanted to chastise Doc for jumping to conclusions, but he couldn’t help but think he hit the nail on the head. The dragoness must have somehow found out that her eggs were brought here, maybe it was due to the fact that one of them hatched earlier in the day.
"Whatever the reason for her presence may be, we have to see if we can help with anything," Atlas urged, as they sprinted the remaining distance to a impromptu mustering point.
The head of their district, an elderly yellow unicorn with a blue mane, was already furiously shouting out instructions. Ponies ran off in all directions as they were ordered to help put out fires or escort wounded ponies. The sound of flapping wings announced the return of the dragoness, shortly followed by another explosion as she flew overhead and an exploding ball of fire hit a building nearby.
Unicorns in the crowd cast shielding spells to protect them from the rubble that rained down on them from all sides. Atlas could see numerous beams of light and other projectiles fly towards the dragoness as she flew over them. He looked for their source and saw that ponies had taken to the walls, most likely all of them from the School of Combat.
Most of the spells they hurled at her either missed or didn't do much. As long as she didn't land again, they'd have a hard time of doing any real damage from that distance.
"Doc Brown!" The elderly pony shouted when he spotted the brown pony in the crowd. "Get over to the Life district and help teleport the heavily wounded out of the danger zone!"
"On it!" Doc Brown replied before disappearing in a flash of light.
"Atlas! Go join the combatants on the walls, everypony counts!"
"On it!" Atlas replied before taking off towards the wall on his right.
He consciously didn't go left, just in case the dragoness decided to land there again. Standing there would be suicide, especially if she saw him. If she ever did spot him, there was no doubt in Atlas' mind that she would blame the whole debacle on him and start to actively hunt him down.
Atlas ran through a door in the wall which was wide open and darted up the stairs. There were already around twenty unicorns waiting for the dragoness to do another fly by, horns already charged for larger spells than the last volley contained.
Just in time with his arrival, the dragoness was incoming again. Atlas didn't have much time to prepare anything fancy, so he decided to completely opt out of this volley. He knew how hard her scales were and chucking some low-level spells at her would just prove to be a waste of mana.
Even though a lot of spells hit their mark, the dragoness flew on undisturbed, virtually unfazed by their attack. Atlas bit his lip in thought, they'd need something big to bring her out of the sky, and they needed it fast.
"Hey! Are you guys from Combat?" Atlas called out. "We're going to need bigger spells than that! Please tell me you've been researching something big we can use!"
Atlas practically pleaded with them, only to have most of them avert their eyes in shame.
"Most of our senior mages are off on a training excursion for either Teras or the guard, they both had scheduled exams today..." A nearby unicorn admitted dejectedly.
"So what? You guys are researchers as well!" Atlas exclaimed furiously. "There has to be something that's better than low-tier spells in your inventory!"
The unicorns remained silent, their heads hanging low in shame. Atlas couldn't believe what he was seeing, professional combat unicorns who couldn't do jack shit! He furiously tried to think of a solution, anything that would give them the upper hoof.
He could just do a giant ice spear again, but the chances of missing were too great. There was also the off chance that the dragoness would recognize the projectile and come for him. He went through his whole repertoire of combat spells, but aside from the giant ice stick, he couldn't imagine anything doing any real damage. At times like this Atlas wished that he picked Combat as his major, Transformation was useless in this situation.
Or so he thought.
His eyes went wide as he got an idea that wasn't just reckless, but positively crazy. Even though it was highly dangerous, it was the only viable thing he could think of currently.
"Alright, listen up!" Atlas commanded the sorry excuses for combat mages around him. "I'm gonna need the best earth elementalist present!"
Atlas expectantly looked around him for any kind of response until a white unicorn with a blue mane stepped forward.
"That would probably be me," he said meekly.
"Can you create smooth rock formations?" Atlas asked him immediately.
"Yes?" The unicorn asked hesitantly.
"Alright you're on board," Atlas said. "I'm also going to need the best manipulation mage you can find me, ideally one that can manipulate iron and levitate large masses. I don't care who you send, but tell them to meet me at the training grounds in the Combat district as fast as possible!"
After giving out his instructions Atlas took off towards the stairs where he emerged earlier.
"Come on! We don't have the luxury of time!" He shouted back angrily when he realized nopony else was moving.
His statement was punctuated by another fly-by from the dragoness accompanied by the report of another explosion echoing in the distance. That apparently did the trick, as the other unicorns sprung into action. Satisfied that they were finally moving Atlas resumed his mad dash, the white earth elementalist hot on his tail.
They ran through the Illusion district at top speed, dodging ponies and rubble alike. Thankfully the dragoness was focusing on another part of the academy currently, so they arrived at their destination relatively unhindered. Not a lot of ponies were left in the Combat district, since most of them were currently on the walls, chucking useless spells at a target that didn't care.
Atlas had to catch his breath before he took a look around the training grounds. It was a rather large space, four circles were painted on the ground which were usually used as fighting rings during training. The walls that encased the whole field were lined with numerous props, like armor and weapons.
"I'm going to need ten round slabs of stone with a hole in the center. They'll need to be as close to three feet wide as you can make them," Atlas started explaining. "And make them smooth like you never made something smooth before, no impurities!"
"Alright, but if they really should be that smooth it's going to take a while," the unicorn said while firing up his horn.
"I'd rather not risk this failing, so take as much time as you need; but remember, time is of the essence," Atlas said while scanning his surroundings. "As soon as you finish one, give it to me."
"I hope whatever you're planning works..." The unicorn mumbled as he tore a chunk of stone from a nearby wall and began working on it.
Atlas found what he was looking for in the meantime, mainly the entrance to a nearby office. He ran inside and began looking for something to write with. He found it relatively soon in the form of a quill and parchment and then levitated everything he needed, including one of the desks, outside.
Setting down everything close to his helper he began furiously scribbling on the scrolls in a mad attempt to try and calculate all the possibilities. What he needed to create was very simple in design, but very destructive if properly pulled off. He began by throwing together the first runic sequence that came to mind, but quickly scrapped it in favor of hopefully thinking of a more effective pattern.
All the while, the dragoness didn't relent in her assault on the academy, one of her shots came down dangerously close to them showering them in flurry of detritus. By the time he finally had a theoretically working sequence, three slabs of stone were stacked next to him on the ground. They had holes in them, just as he had ordered, but they were too small.
"Hey, uhh... what was your name again?" Atlas asked awkwardly.
"Aquamarine," the stallion answered.
"Could you maybe make the holes twice as big as they are now? Sorry for not specifying that before."
"Sure," Aquamarine sighed and picked up one of the finished slabs.
"Thanks."
With that minor hiccup out of the way, Atlas went to work on something else, or more specifically, a drawing. Once this task was completed, he picked the first finished slab up and held it in front of him. He felt the surface with his hoof and found it to be satisfyingly smooth, but just when he was about to start inscribing the first runes, a call drew his attention away.
"Hey, you're Atlas right?" Came the call from his left.
A Turquoise unicorn mare with a white mane came running full tilt at them. She came to a sliding stop right next to Atlas' impromptu workstation with ragged breath.
"I was told to come here as fast as possible, is it true that you know of a spell that can defeat the dragon?"
Atlas' answer was disturbed by the dragoness once again flying overhead and this time, hitting the tower's base in the middle of the academy. He hoped the tower wouldn't fall, or they'd have a big problem, even if they defeated the dragon.
"Highly experimental, but I figure it's our best shot," Atlas reminded her. "Can you meld metal?"
"Yeah, easily," The mare nodded. "What do you need?" She added eagerly.
"Make one of these," Atlas pointed at his shoddy drawing. "The measurements are on there. Use any metals you want from the armor and weapons around us, I'll take responsibility. Make it as sturdy as possible, the surface should also be smooth."
The mare scanned over the drawing, biting her lower lip. "Yeah, that should be possible, it's going to take a while, though, those are some pretty exact measurements..."
"It's all good, we're still working on our part here as well, but remember..." another explosion rocked the earth, "We can't really afford to work slow either."
"Got it," she answered.
The mare took the drawing up in her magic and went over to where a rack of armor was located and started to rip off bits and pieces from them. Satisfied, Atlas returned to his own task, inscribing runes. He had gotten pretty good at it by now, it was his special talent after all, but that didn't mean he could half-ass it. The runes still had to be properly and, most importantly, carefully carved.
If ever he needed his talent to serve him, now was the time. He projected his previously designed runic circle onto the slab of stone in his mind. Once he was satisfied, he activated his spell and the runes were etched onto the slab instantaneously like they were punched out by a template. Atlas looked it over once looking for any mistakes before he nodded and started to channel magic into the array.
Once he charged it completely, which was pretty simple since the array only contained twelve runes, he picked up a nearby rock with his magic and chucked it through the hole. Once it passed through, the runes flashed once and the rock gained considerable speed before falling to the ground a few feet away. Happily smirking at his successful test run Atlas set the first completed slab down to his left and picked up the next one.
They worked feverishly on their respective tasks, occasionally prompted to hurry it up whenever an explosion reminded them of the situation they were in. By now a lot of buildings had been destroyed by the dragoness and the fire was spreading. The tower defiantly standing amidst the smoldering ruins of the academy.
Atlas was starting to suspect that by now at least somepony must have tried to give her back her eggs, but he was also pretty sure that the dragoness just wanted revenge for her earlier experiences in life.
Aquamarine and the mare, who had introduced herself as Malachite, finished their respective tasks before Atlas, and were now both intently observing his work. With a dull clunk, Atlas set down the last of the ten slabs.
"So... what now?" Aquamarine asked curiously. "What's all this stuff for?"
Atlas was busy inspecting the projectile Malachite had made, turning it around in front of his face. After a while he set it back down on the desk, satisfied with her work. Ignoring Aquamarine's question, for now, Atlas bulk-enchanted the slabs as well as the projectile to make them more sturdy.
Being a nerd and reading up on railguns was really paying off right about now.
"You'll see soon enough, the explanation can wait until after we’ve dealt with the dragon trying to kill all of us," Atlas said with urgency. "Malachite, think you can hold up all of these slabs at once so that they form a straight tunnel?"
"Sure," she replied before she set herself to the task.
"Aquamarine, I trust you know some shield spells?" the stallion in question nodded. "Alright then..."
Atlas took a deep breath to calm his nerves. Now it was sink or swim, they'd either finish it with this one shot, or they'd have to think of something else.
"Malachite, you just focus on keeping the tunnel as stable as possible, I'll take care of the aiming,” Atlas instructed. "Be sure to put a strong shield between us and the tunnel, Aquamarine, there's a pretty good chance that this thing will explode after it has fulfilled it's purpose."
Both of them acknowledged his orders with serious faces and Atlas lead them up onto the nearest wall so their line of sight wasn't obstructed. The dragoness flew over them just as they arrived, which suited Atlas just fine. He followed her flight path as she went to turn, before coming around and once again flying straight at them.
The unicorns that were with them on the wall looked at them curiously as they got into position. Atlas gently pushed with his magic so that the barrel of his impromptu rail gun pointed straight at the incoming blue dragon. He levitated the projectile some distance behind the makeshift barrel. The array he had made would only double the speed of whatever passed through it, so he would need to provide the initial velocity. After passing through all ten of them, the projectile would hopefully reach an insane amount of speed, which was sure to obliterate the dragon's skull.
Provided he actually hit her with it.
"Everypony, get behind us!" Atlas gently advised their bystanders. "Now!"
Thinking about what kind of range their weapon had, everything within sight was a potential target, but Atlas waited until the dragoness got closer, it’d give him the best chances with their shot.
"Shield up!" Atlas called to Aquamarine, who dutifully erected a red shield between them and their gun.
The dragon reached the point Atlas was aiming at, and he thrust the projectile as fast and accurately as he could into the tunnel. At first he could follow the projectile with his eyes, until it suddenly vanished from sight, accompanied by the predicted explosion.
The barrel was ripped to shreds and the pieces of rocks pelted their shield, with dust momentarily robbing them of their visual on the target. A quick thinking unicorn behind them cleared the dust with a wind spell to reveal the dragoness, now with a noticeable hole in her head, falling out of the sky.
Atlas let out a cry of relief that his plan had worked and he turned around to hug Aquamarine, who struggled against Atlas' grip. He was celebrating his success with laughter, until a shadow blocked out the sun, causing him to look up.
The body of the dead dragon was hurtling at the ponies on the wall at high speed, all of them scrambling in an attempt to get to safety. Atlas let go of Aquamarine who just stood next to him, stunned.
"Ahh, fuck."