//------------------------------//
// Chapter 27: Thaumatic 
// Story: XCOM: Ranger 
// by Wanderer D 
//------------------------------//


Ranger


Chapter 27: Thaumatic


By Wanderer D






"Miss Sparkle," Tygan swiped the pad to the next page. "I must say I am impressed. For a… place of such a different level of technology, your knowledge of mathematics, physics, quantum physics, and engineering is… quite impressive."

He looked over at the young woman, who was preening like she had won a prize. "To say that I did not expect this level of proficiency in so many sciences would be a… severe understatement."

"Thank you!" Twilight said. "Sunset said that I shouldn't pull my punches, so I gave it my all!"

"Given my previous expectations, this promises a definite improvement in our research." He put down the pad and looked up at Twilight, across his desk. "I have reconsidered my original proposal, since getting your results," he explained. "I intended for you to be limited to your… specific area of knowledge, but you would be a great asset to the science team in general, if you're interested."

Twilight's eyes widened. "Really?!"

"Yes, really," Tygan smiled. "I might ask for your assistance on some projects if we are short-handed. For now, however, the Commander wants you to start your work on the… particular energy you and Miss Shimmer have access to."
"You mean magic?"

Tygan visibly strained. "If that is what you want to call it…"

"Because Magical Field Theory is a whole branch of science back home," Twilight explained.

"Yes. Mag…." Tygan grimaced. "I'm sorry Miss Sparkle, magic has been considered a verified myth for several centuries now by the scientific community. It is hard to bend the mind around some of the physics-defying concepts you have mentioned before."

"So you're having trouble visualizing it as a legitimate field of science?"

"I-that is correct, yes, although I'm sure I'll get used to the idea an—"

"Why don't we call it Thaumatic Field Theory, then?" Twilight asked. "It's the scientific name for magic we use back home."

"Scientific name for m—I think that is possible. Thaumatic. Thaumatic." Tygan nodded. "This nomenclature will work. It will also cause less confusion with other members of our team that might join us in the future, as they will not correlate the implication that… Thaumatic energy… has existed all along."

"Well, it is very… stiff and almost absent here, except for a very light spectrum of it that will slowly replenish our reserves…" Twilight bit her lip.

"Why don't you tell me your current theory?"

Twilight nodded, taking a deep breath and gathering her thoughts.

"Ma-Thaumatic Energy, back home, is all around us and readily available. Some plants and animals concentrate more of it, even if they can't use it, and ponies and other sapient beings can channel it for different kinds of ma-Thaumatic purposes by using the ambient energy, and very rarely their own."

Twilight fiddled in the air with her fingers, producing miniature sparks. "Unicorns like myself not too long ago, and Sunset, are some of the few species that actively use our own reserves. Certain spells require not only concentration, but very specific appliances of the energy, and while the ambient magic will refill us very quickly, the effects still draw from our own mana pools. Even then, however, we seldom use spells that require our own energy.

"If the result we want is within our special talents, then we use a lot less of our personal reserves, as it is simplified due to our affinity, unless the effect is incredibly hard to maintain or accomplish… take my brother, for example, he was able to raise a shield that covered a whole city… at first it was fine, but the longer it lasted, the more he needed to use of his reserves, which were not filled as quickly and after a few days he was barely able to stand."

"The magnitude of energy needed for a single creature to do such a thing is… mind-boggling, to say the least. Certainly not something any living being we have encountered could manage. Even the Elders—"

"Well," Twilight interrupted. "You must remember that it is not the same type of energy, and we are just channeling it into a function for the most part. Alicorns have a specific reserve of magic  that channels more frequencies than regular unicorns, and mind-related magic, which would be the closest thing to Psychic Powers, is not something that materializes through sheer force of will… a mental attack from the Elders, from what I understand so far of psychic powers, is on a different scale and frequency than what you can achieve with ma… um, thaumaturgic energy."

"This is outstanding," Tygan breathed out. "And certainly possesses great potential for use here."

Twilight grimaced. "Well… it would. But Sunset hasn't sensed any place where the… Thaumatic… energies revitalize any faster, so it depends entirely on the user's reserves. Being an alicorn, mine are very big, and Sunset has been working her own for years here… it's like intense bodybuilding. She has really big reserves, even for a unicorn whose talent is magic as well."

"It is still a possibility, regardless of how little chance there is, for such a thing to exist here," Tygan said, eyebrow barely twitching at the mention of magic. "In addition, Sunset's claims that the psychic energies cannot be mingled with mag—" he caught himself, his eyes daring Twilight to say anything. "...Thaumatic energies, lest a very volatile result occurs. This could be very useful in our fight against ADVENT. I think I would like you to start working on how both wavelengths compare to each other, and why we have that result."

"Great! Then, if you could provide me with some equipment, I can get started!"





Rainbow Dash walked into the bar and found Jane already working her way through a bottle.

"Hey, you beat me to it this time," she joked, walking up to grab a beer from the fridge. Local resistance had some good, homemade stuff. This was an IPA called "Sectoid Sweat" and sported a hand-drawn picture of a muscular Sectoid lifting some weights. The back of the bottle read: "It will blow your mind!" The name was disgusting, but the brew? The brew was awesome.

Dash sat next to Jane, who was staring into her glass as if trying to forget a bad date. "So, what's eating you?"

"Many things," Jane sighed, taking another sip. "Sunset. Twilight. Laetitia. All this secrecy."

Dash took a swig of good ol' Sectoid Sweat. "XCOM is a secret organization."

"It was," Jane pointed out. "It hasn't been for twenty years. But that's not my point… Laetitia is in my team and Sunset… she and I have risked our lives together so many times. She's like a sister… and she can't tell me anything?" She shook her head.

Dash shifted in her seat. "So… leaving the Sunset thing aside for a moment, what's your problem with the Templar? Purple just not your color?"

Jane glared at her. "You know how we found one of those new ADVENT Priests today?"

"Yeah, I heard you got to name it! I would have gone with ADVENT Psycho, but that's just me. What about it?"

"Well… you've seen troopers panic, right?"

"Yep. Panic is always hilarious when it's not our troops getting it," Dash confirmed, taking another sip. "What about it?"

"Well, while I was under that attack he threw at me, I was… frozen, I couldn't move, didn't even need to breathe, but I could still see… when Laetitia got up to it, she… I don't know… I mean she levitated it off the floor with her power and, although I couldn't really do much or hear anything… I felt it."

Jane downed her whiskey and poured another. "The priest was terrified, it was blindly trying to fight but something she did, just seemed to crush his spirit and then she just used her blade to stab it… and it was like a switch got turned and it was gone… but… I've felt scared before. Hell, I fell into a panic once, during an early mission… I've never peripherally felt anything close to what that ADVENT priest felt."

She ran the tip of her finger around the edge of her shot glass. "I had seen her fight before… today was… different." She sighed and straightened out, stretching before slumping back forward again. "In a way, I can see why Shintaro just gave up, y'know?"

Dash nodded.

"Like, I can put up with Sunset knowing psionic monks, ADVENT defectors and people that literally eat aliens. She travelled with Bradford for a whole year, meeting some of these guys before they made it to the Avenger. But… shit's gone sideways since we rescued the Commander. I mean, you guys... old XCOM always acted weird around Sunset, but the Commander took it to a whole new level."

"Yeah, well, you can't blame her, especially considering," Dash said, taking a sip of her beer. Then she stopped and looked at Jane. "Oh no, you're not getting anything out of me."

"Not you too!" Jane groaned. "Doesn't anybody trust me?"

"We do!" Dash stated. "I do. And I'm sure Sunset does but—"

"But?"

Dash shuffled in place. "November, 22nd, 2012."

"What does that mean?"

"It means," Dash said, taking a breath and drinking the half the bottle that was left in one go, "that I've finished my beer and oh, look at the time!"

She pushed back and away from the bar, burping loudly. "Oops, hehe, excuse me." Dash turned around and hurried out, hoping she hadn't made a big mistake.





Sunset found Laetitia on the rail on the stern of the Avenger, looking at the full moon.

The balcony was only reachable by climbing through several flight of stairs, and almost generally locked, as it was a security risk if the Avenger was in the air.

For now, as they had landed somewhere in what used to be Hungary, it was accessible. It was quite high, and they could see several tents below as engineers and soldiers stretched their legs and camped outside, and they could hear faint voices talking far below.

"Hey, I see you found the Lover's Aft," Sunset said with a grin, joining the Templar at the rail, looking up at the moon and stars, clearly visible above them so far as they were from any of the new cities.

"Is that what they call it?" Laetitia asked with a chuckle. "Most curious."

Sunset shrugged. "I didn't name it, oddly enough it dates back to the time Charles… Dr. Shen's dad was still alive and working on repairing the Avenger. There was a story about a couple of resistance-agents-turned-XCOM-fighters that used to get together here."

"What happened to them?" Laetitia asked, turning to lean on the rail and looking down at the distant people beneath them.

"What else?" Sunset asked, turning around so her back and elbows were resting on the rail. "They died. Just like everyone in XCOM does sooner rather than later."

"That's a very sad thing, don't you think?" Laetitia asked.

"I guess," Sunset sighed. "None of us are immortals, and all immortals I know are inscrutable, distant beings."

Laetitia turned to look at her. "Oh? You know many of them?"

Sunset shook her head. "Um… I meant, you know, the Elders and such. Basically immortal."

Laetitia laughed. "Well, we don't know if they're really immortal, do we?"
"Yeah." Sunset felt the Templar turn to face her, and felt Laetitia's hand touch hers. She sighed. "In the end, it doesn't really matter, right? We live. We die, and others continue with or without us. When I saw my old… family… they had moved on."

Sunset chuckled and shook her head. "Never even brought me up in conversation, apparently… I have no one but myself to blame, and… well, it's not like I'm planning to ever really go back, but it drove the point home, I think. One day, I'll die here, and they will continue, without worries and without concerns of what happened to me."

"That is not true," Laetitia said firmly. "I'm sure whoever they are, they miss you and wonder how you fare. Especially if they know anything about how dangerous things are."

Sunset chuckled. "Only in my dreams."

"Dreams are powerful things, and can bring us peace."

Sunset smiled. "Yeah… maybe one day I'll have a good one."

Laetitia also smiled, letting go of Sunset's hand and gazing back into the stars and the moon. "Maybe, yes."


o.0.o End Chapter 27 o.0.o