//------------------------------// // One Step Closer // Story: Rearranging Perspectives // by The Dimension Traveler //------------------------------// Rearranging Perspectives Chapter 15: One Step Closer _____________________________________________ It had been a week since Discord had been saved and by some miracle, Canterlot Castle was still standing, if only barely. Given that the Sun Eaters had seemingly completely vanished after their latest defeat, Sam and Discord had been given plenty of time to wreak havoc with their twisted senses of humor. As for the other denizens of the castle, they had found their own, semi-effective ways of remaining out of the line of this second war raging in the halls and random rooms. Indeed, only two ponies seemed to have immunity from Discord and Sam’s antics: Fluttershy and Twilight. As far as Fluttershy went, Discord seemed oddly disinclined to provoke her and the popular theory was that her utter lack of reaction to his stunts made her an uninteresting target. Whether this was the truth of the matter or not, Discord wasn’t saying. Sam had his own thoughts on why his latest partner in crime avoided the timid mare, but kept them to himself. Twilight had earned her immunity through a near apocalyptic fit of rage when the pranking duo had dared to even consider putting a book in danger. When the normally purple unicorn had turned pure white and set her mane alight, even Discord decided he didn’t wish to risk her full wrath. Sam was equally cowed by the display, even if in the back of his mind he was congratulating Twilight for evolving into a rapidash. For everypony else, they were reduced to skulking through the halls, keeping to the shadows and praying the gaze of neither prankster fell upon them and that their thoughts strayed equally far away. It was usually a futile effort; a god and a sufficiently motivated human can accomplish a great deal in a short amount of time. So they consoled themselves with the knowledge that, at least they tried. Fortunately for their sanity, the first Great Prank War was coming to an end. Unfortunately, it was due to the reappearance of the Sun Eaters. Word had just been received that Las Pegasus was under siege and once again the army of Equestria was preparing to go to battle. “What do we know about the Sun Eater forces surrounding Las Pegasus?” Rarity asked in the car of the train that was currently hosting the strategy meeting. Everyone was gathered around a scale model of the city they were heading towards. “We know very little except for one particularly worrying fact: We have our first confirmed rank three Sun Eater. There is possibly more than one. Without the drain on resources that was keeping Discord at heel, I can only assume they are now able to step up the pace of the invasion.” Celestia guessed. “A favor I fully intent to return,” Discord muttered darkly from the roof of the compartment, where he was currently playing gin with Applejack’s hat…and losing from the looks of it. “If that is the case, we can no longer afford to be pulled hither and thither by our enemies. We must discover a way to divine whence they come,” Luna said. “Actually, I think I might have found a way to do just that,” Twilight spoke up hopefully, “However, I have to do it immediately after the battle if it’s going to work at all. My theory is that when the Sun Eaters dissipate, some of their energy returns to where it comes from. If I can track it after a mass of them are killed, we may be able to find where they’re coming from and with Discord’s help, we should be able to, at the very least, mount an expedition into their realm.” “How long do you think we have after the battle?” Sam asked. “I’d estimate no longer than ten minutes,” Twilight answered. “Well I reckon with at least one rank three, our work’s cut out for us,” Applejack remarked. “The way I see it, we come at this one of two ways,” Rainbow said, “We either take out the high level baddies early and stomp out the small fry and let Twi do her thing after, or kill the small fry and focus fire the high level dude fast enough for Twilight to do her thing.” “The question is which we should do,” Rarity said. “I think we should clear out the low levels first. This is a rank three we’re talking about. I don’t know if we can afford to have the weaker once getting underfoot when we try to fight it,” Sam opined. “But can we spend that time giving the rank three free reign?” Rarity wondered. “I believe the best course of action would be to exterminate the lesser Sun Eaters while Sam’s team distracts the rank three. If there is more than one, then we must focus on them before the lesser Sun Eaters,” Celestia said. “Of course, I will be spreading my wonderful chaos everywhere in the most useful way possible,” Discord commented. A few barely restrained eyerolls ensued, but there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that Discord would prove useful. So long as his ego didn’t strangle everyone in the area. ################################### Water Spout had always wanted to visit Las Pegasus, but had never found the time to do so. Now she was sorely regretting not making the time. The city itself was in shambles, the once opulent casinos and hotels were now abandoned and ruined, swarming with aerial Sun Eaters. That was when she saw it: The rank three they had been told of. It was truly monstrous. Its skin was pitch black and its eyes like blood red search lights. It sat on a ruined hotel like a throne, its forked tails lashing about behind it. Its hands and feet sported wicked claws, each easily capable of running a pony through whilst the bat like wings on its back looked as though it could turn hurricanes by itself. But its size and fearsome appearance weren’t what truly set this Sun Eater apart and sent shivers down Water Spout’s spine. It was the perceptible, sickly purple aura of pure malice that surrounded it. As the battle commenced, Water Spout fervently prayed that she would never have to confront such a beast. ###################################### The Doctor looked up from his current patient to see how the battle was progressing. He had sworn after the last Time War to never get involved in war again, yet here he was. Somehow, he always found himself surrounded by bloodshed and conflict. Further, these ponies…he had foolishly thought that his weary wandering was over when he found them. Derpy in particular had helped to soothe his soul. Now all of Equestria was in danger of being wiped out. When this conflict began he had asked himself a question. Could he stand by and passively watch while these ponies he had come to know and love were wiped out? All it had taken was one look at Dinky to know he had to help in some way. While he couldn’t bring himself to fight, he could live up to the name he had chosen for himself, for a change. “Doctor, if you’re free, can you grab me 10cc of adrenalin?” Snapped out of his thoughts by Fluttershy’s voice, he quickly finished bandaging the wounded pony and went to find the requested adrenalin. ###################################### Trixie winced as one of her illusionary constructs was shattered against a wall after being smacked by the rank three. One of the risks of making an illusion corporeal enough to fight was that if it was destroyed, Trixie would feel some feedback. Twilight had tried to explain it to Trixie once, but honestly it went way over Trixie’s head. All Trixie knew was that when Trixie’s combat illusions popped, she took a bit of the damage. “Trixie! On your 3!” Quickdraw shouted over the communication spell. Trixie soon spotted a swarm of lesser Sun Eaters attempting to rudely interrupt their attempts to subdue the rank three. She quickly threw an overpowered fireball spell in their direction and they scattered. Her moment of split attention almost cost another illusion, but it dodged a beam shot from the Sun Eater’s eyes by the slimmest of margins. “Sam, what in Tartarus is taking you so long?!” Trixie yelled as she rolled under another attack. “When Twilight and I came up with this spell matrix, we didn’t anticipate having to set it up on GODDAMN CLOUDS! So excuse me if I’m having a hard time compensating the waveform through the water vapor! I’ve got Twilight on a separate line trying to come up with a workaround. Everyone hold tight and switch to a defensive pattern. The main forces are reporting the rest of the operation is going well.” Sam replied. “Well at least something is,” Bronze Shield quipped as he blocked one of the tails lashing out with a point of contact shield spell. “Trixie is switching her illusions to non-corporeal,” Trixie announced. If they needed to hunker down, wasting energy on corporeal illusions wouldn’t do her any favors. ################################# Twilight was chewing on her lower lip as she simultaneously ran the calculations for her tracking spell and the power draining spell she and Sam had devised. At least the tracking spell was mostly done. She just needed to wait for enough dead Sun Eaters to activate it. So the bulk of her attention was free to do the math on the draining spell. Keeping both spellforms stable, on the other hoof… If it weren’t for Sam and his ability to create and manipulate crystals, this plan would have gone up in smoke. While Twilight had power in spades, fine control was never her strong suite. She swore to herself as she double checked her calculations that she’d go over all those control practices she’d hated as a filly and get them right. “Twi, my team can’t take much more, if we’re gonna bring that ugly bastard down, it’s gotta be now!” Sam barked as he received a communication from his squad. Twilight assumed it was bad news. Not that such a thing was a shock. “I’ve just finished it. Let’s take him down!” Math became Magic as Twilight charged the spell with Sam a beat behind with his own magic. The corona around Twilight’s horn reached a size not seen since she tangled with the ursa minor. She needed every drop of mana she could squeeze from her reserves if this was going to work. Of course, it would need to be refined if it was going to be used in future combat, but for now it would do. The spell snaked its way towards the rank 3 Sun Eater. It took a swipe at the spell, but that only sealed its fate faster. The magic fused onto its skin and the monster roared in sudden pain. The magic flared brighter as it fed off the Sun Eater’s own energy. Twilight was quite proud of her handiwork. Converting the vile energy of the Sun Eater into harmless visible spectrum electromagnetic radiation was brilliant, if she did say so herself. “Trixie never thought she’d be so glad to see a light show that wasn’t her own.” “Eep!” Startled by the showmare’s sudden appearance, Twilight stumbled back into a cloudbank. Twilight turned to glare at Trixie. “You know it’s considered rude to suddenly appear behind somepony, right?” “Trixie may have heard of such a thing. Or maybe not,” Trixie demurred, but the laughter in her eyes betrayed her to Twilight. Twilight would have continued into a fine verbal sparring session, but with the battle winding down, she had to attend to other matters before the magical exhaustion caught up with her and put her to sleep for at least three days. A few minutes of work later, and Twilight had what they needed: the location from which the Sun Eaters entered their dimension. Surprisingly, it wasn’t in the Everfree. No, the truth was much, much worse. The Sun Eaters were coming from Giffonstone.