Chapter 21: Brass on white snow
Edited by: The Great Khan
Thera casually rested her head against her hoof as she watched the strange hulking machines stomping around on the open snowfields below her. Feeling both intrigued by their design and quite indifferent as well, if such a combination of feelings was even possible.
But none of that really mattered to her, as today was finally the day where she could finally say goodbye. The day where the skies were finally cleared up enough for her to return home. Back to Nassgardiath; the northern home continent of the Thestral race.
Thera grumbled to herself as she began to think. Reflecting back on all of the crazy stuff that had happened to her in the past couple of weeks which lead her to this very moment. Starting with her arrival on Equestrian soil, after having spent many months traveling around many kingdoms and nations as a simple mercenary, only for her to be immediately ridiculed by those skittish little ponies just for her looks alone. Looking a tit bit too… scary, as some liked to dub it. Which was just ridiculous in her mind.
She knew that she could be quite scary or intimidating if she actually wanted too, but not like this. But it didn’t matter, as the worst was yet to come after having had enough of the ponies insidious behaviors. She had later gotten herself ambushed and captured by a pack of Diamond Dogs, which was just ridiculous. Normally she would be the one doing the ambushing, but a combination of sleep deprivation and the fact that her blade was stupidly placed a couple of meters away from her, lead to the disaster of getting herself captured by a band of walking-talking canines. She would have easily killed the ruffian mutts if she was able to grab her sword before they all piled up on top of her. Quite literally in fact, which was how they even managed to subdue her in the first place.
Thera sighed. That moment was practically the catalyst for everything that had happened to her afterward. Her getting rescued by a golden unicorn stranger, who eventually became the new Emperor of a nation which she had never heard of, Followed up with the arrival of some equestrian nobles seeking the defeat of this black unicorn individual which she and golden boy already managed to kill, which then eventually led to her just wander around the castle at night out of boredom before she then eventually decided to just go drink her boredom out of her system, which THEN led her to a Changeling hive before assisting a band of prisoners escape the hive while being drunk as all hell while doing so.
Not the best course of action she had ever partaken in, but it was at least a good distraction for her before she could truly become mad out of frustration and boredom. But none of that really mattered now once again, as the gods finally decided to stop humoring themselves at her expense and have finally gifted her with the opportunity to this dreaded place. One she was going to take by its very horns and rip them clean off if she has too. Though besides that, she had the decency to inform mister golden boy of her departure and stopping herself in being such a visual eyesore in a city filled with shiny equines. Equines which she had learned to respect a little bit more than their Equestrian counterparts for so many reasons. These ponies at least had some backbones where it counted, unlike the former.
Maybe she was just being a tad bit racist towards the Equestrians. But then again, so were they. Calling her names and pushing her off to the sides, thanks to her looks alone. Now that is racist.
But either way, it didn’t matter, as she personally had no more desires in returning to the Equestrian kingdom after that experience. With that out of the way, she began to check her things. Her bag, her sword, and the provisions she had bought along earlier as well for the long trip ahead, including salted meat of all things.
It was actually kind of surprising to learn that the city was home to a local butchery. Apparently, these crystal ponies were capable of consuming meat as well, being actually considered omnivores in terms of their biology. The only problem with that though was that there isn’t a lot of game to be had in such a frozen wasteland. So meat consumption for these crystal ponies was obviously in the minority.
Thera again shook her head. Getting her thoughts back on the reality at hoof before eventually looking back at the snow stomping machines below her and raising her eyebrows just a bit when she saw one of them shooting out some kind of beam from its maw and towards a large rock. The rock itself didn’t stand a chance with such a blast as the dust and debris fall subsided. Interesting to say the least, something she was sure the council back home would eagerly liked to be informed about once she got back. Well, she was going to be talking with the council one way or another. Especially with the letter she was given by Mateus.
This unicorn sure was a strange one, though sometimes more in an interesting way then a creepy or suspicious one. Most nations don’t really like to get into direct involvement or connection with the Nassgadian Thestrals, especially with their dismissive behavior towards others.
“Well, I'll just have to deliver this letter to my clan leader, who can then hopefully bring it directly to the high king himself. If not, well… tough luck then.” She mumbled to herself before pushing herself back up on all fours and flapping her wings a bit to get some juice pumping into them. Once she was done though, she immediately jumped off the tower she was perched upon and took to the air, making a direct beeline towards the direction where her home land was and flying towards it with great haste.
She obviously didn’t want to get caught in a storm while flying. That would just be adding unnecessary difficulties on getting herself back home. That would be annoying on so many levels.
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“Alright, don’t be afraid to play around with the controls a little bit. These are machines, not animals, so you don’t need to worry about pushing them too hard. These things are built to last and can only really be damaged by large amount of magic or other MagiTech armors!” Sapphire shouted. Watching them with a couple of other instructors as they moved about in the fields. Both with basic movement training and staying in formation.
At first, it was predicatively difficult for some to even get these machines started up. While some were rather eager in getting their fair try in piloting these machines and were acting just as reckless and overconfident as their enthusiasm allowed. Causing some of them to bump into walls or large rocks, with almost no damage luckily.
As Sapphire stated, the things were built to last after all.
Though after a couple of days, things were well. Though not for all, as one particular recruit was just downright frustrating to deal with from Sapphire's point of view. That one recruit was none other than Chipper, still suffering from the ill experience of driving these things as it was in the beginning for everyone. Though the obvious difference with that was that, unlike all the others, she was pretty much still hampering around with the controls and causing her MagiTech armor to spasm out in the field, or just moving around erratically and leaving the formation multiple times.
Even after all of the many briefing and classroom lessons she had to attend, she was still almost clueless in even learning the bare basics. If it wasn’t for her own enthusiasm of at least trying the best she could and a little bit of private pep-talk to herself, then it would have been quite possible for Sapphire to just send her off and replace her with somepony else to fill her space. But she didn’t, thanks to her determination and enthusiasm, and a little bit of adorableness as well.
Damn, who knew that one of those bug equines could actually act and be so adorable?
“I think that recruit Chipper is having some problems again.” One of the officers stated which caused Sapphire to sigh.
"Typical. I was honestly questioning when she was going to mess up again.” She answered before pushing on the throttle of her MagiTech armor and steadily speeding towards Chipper's awkwardly moving machine out in the fields.
This was actually why they were doing their practice runs far outside the city limits. Thanks to individuals like her.
“Recruit Chipper, what are you doing again?” Sapphire demanded as she came up next to her.
Chipper stopped fumbling with her controls out of fright, which in turn just made her movement patterns even worse as it was now stuck going on an infinite loop. Making her previously awkward movements into something ridiculous instead. Sapphire again sighed before bringing hers into a full stop and jumping out of her cockpit and leaping onto Chipper's before she could go too far. She immediately pushed the throttle down, cutting off the power and allowing the brass giant to come to a full stop. Once this was done, Chipper smiled sheepishly up at Sapphire which in turn just caused Sapphire to grumble.
“You're making this a lot harder than it really needs to be, you know.” She stated which forced chipper to drop her grin.
“I'm sorry.” She apologized in her usual cute way.
How this black and green thing with holes in her legs could act so adorable she will never know. But it seems that her antics were just considered 'cute' towards her fellow kin and not towards other changelings. From what she heard from one of them, her antics always had the tendency of getting her into trouble with superiors, no matter how much she apologized.
Sapphire again sighed. “Never mind. I'd say that's enough for you today. Can you guide this machine back into the barracks, or do I have to get one who can do it?” She asked while looking at the Changeling.
Chipper shook her head. Her goggles falling off of her head and landing somewhere underneath the dashboard. This caused Sapphire to press her lips together, deciding not to comment on it as Chipper began to fumble with the controls.
“I think I can do it myself miss Sapphire. I just need a bit more practice.” Chipper stated as she began to look for the power throttle.
She found it, causing the machine to move once more and for Sapphire to almost fall off thanks to it. She decided to quickly jump back to hers while she could before climbing back into its cockpit.
She pushed her throttle forwards as well. Following Chipper from behind and keeping an eye on the timid little Changeling. She was a lot of work but at least she had a lot of dedication and will to at least try. She seemed to be a fairly good pony, from her point of view at least.
“Good, just keep the machine straight and don’t touch anything else. You don’t need to.” Sapphire shouted, trying to make sure that Chipper didn't push, pull or press anything else.
Thankfully she didn’t, and it didn't take too long for the pair to reach the maintenance grounds in front of the barracks. Coming to a full stop and shutting them down before disembarking, Sapphire with the help of purposely build scaffolding for ponies to climb down, and Chipper simply flying down. Once on the ground, Sapphire began to stretch herself a bit to get some feeling back into her legs. Sitting inside the cockpits for the majority of the evening can do that.
Chipper on the other hoof was just staring up at her MagiTech armor. Just taking in the overall size and mass of the things and observing the complex mechanics of the war machines. She still couldn't believe that she was actively piloting one of these things with relative ease. Theoretically speaking of course, as she still has some problems when it came to its control. Something which First Officer Sapphire always liked to point out whenever her and her team were sent out to the fields for some training.
Chipper sighed. She knew that she was by far the worst performing member of the program by far. Her respective counterparts, especially the Changelings who are also partaking within the program, had already mastered the more advanced movement mechanics of the machines and were already testing and training to make use of the MagiTech’s weapon systems.
Soon, the entire branch was going to be conducting their first scouting missions with these machines. Traveling far out into the tundra and mountains in search of anything interesting and unique nearby, while also generally paroling their designated lands which belonged to the Crystal Empire at large.
And here she was, still struggling to remembering the most basic controls and what not. To say that this was discouraging would have been an understatement. But at the same time, she wasn’t allowing it to hinder her own expectations of finally achieving something in her life. If this can prevent her from being a simple Changeling drone, then she would take it.
Plus as confusing as these machines might be to her, she would be lying to herself if she said that she wasn’t both mildly impressed and fascinating with these MagiTech walkers. She always felt so… powerful when piloting one of those machines. The size, the speed and mobility, the weapons and even the roar it could do made her feel like an even bigger Changeling than she really was.
They were right when they said that power can be addicting. She certainly could testify to that to some extent. Those things really do make you feel a lot more powerful then you should be, and even gives you a tiny thrill when piloting them, even if her own piloting skills were questionable at best. She could only imagine how the weapons must feel when firing them.
She hadn’t gone that far in her training yet however, with all of her instructors, primarily Sapphire, denying her from doing so. For obvious reasons which also she was self-conscious about.
“Oh, greetings miss Sapphire. Are the daily training routines already over?” Kidd suddenly came up.
Sapphire shook her head. “No they aren’t, though for me they are, and for Chipper over here as well.” She answered, to which Kidd looked at Chipper's slumped form.
He gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, you'll get the hang of it eventually.” He stated kindly.
Chipper just nodded while keeping her gaze fixed on the ground.
Sapphire was about to say something when a distant explosion cut her off. Everyone turned their heads to its source, only for them to learn that one of the trainees had fired their main weapon at yet another target. It is quite remarkable and also very much intimidating in how powerful these weapons are. It certainly was a good thing to know that these weapons were on their side instead of anyone else's.
Though that could change, if these machines ever fall into the wrong hooves.
“Anyway Chipper, you are done for today. You are free to go after you help Kidd here with the maintenance checkup on these machines. Maybe then you can learn something from them instead of just trying to memorize the most basic of controls. Whatever may help.” Sapphire ordered before leading herself away from the scene and to heavens know where.
Chipper was feeling unsure about this, but orders were orders. She eventually turned her head towards Kidd next to her.
Kidd just smiled. “Ahh, don’t worry. I'm sure that this is both going to be fun and maybe even help you in becoming a better MagiTech pilot.” He assured her while patting her on the shoulder again.
Chipper just nodded, really being unable to say no to this.
Kidd’s smile only widen. “Great, then let's get started then. Your ability of flight might be very helpful in the end when giving these machines a general checkup. It's going to be easy, trust me.” He added before making his way towards Sapphire's machine first with scaffolding in place.
Chipper just followed him, buzzing right behind Kid as he climbed up the wooden structures. This was certainly going to be interesting.
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“Hmm… this is certainly curious.” Cid mumbled while looking at the newly-arrived crystal in front of him. It was enchanted, just like with all the other crystals he had worked with when constructing the first MagiTech machines.
Though this one was different. Cid was trying his hoof in learning more about enchanting and tapping into this skill himself despite his lack of a horn. The serious reality he was facing right now was that the crystals he had used thus far were all pre-enchanted crystals made by crystal unicorns in the past and had been stored away ever since, meaning that he and the Emperor himself only had limited sources of these crystals. Which also meant that they could only supply a limited number of MagiTech armors with them.
This was a reality Cid was desperately trying to solve if he and the Emperor wished to expand MagiTech Technology as a whole. They needed a fresh source of enchanted crystal and quick, though sadly, no crystal unicorns were alive to carry on this task. As Sombra’s rise to power also brought a quick end to the limited number of crystal unicorns they still had, basically pushing the art of crystal enchantment to the point of extinction, alongside the crystal unicorns who practiced them.
This was truly both a sad and frustrating issue for Cid. Even more so when the Emperor himself was unable to perform this task as he had very little knowledge about enchanting in the first place, despite being a grade-A Warlock himself.
But none of those problems mattered right now, as Cid has somehow achieved something else which he wasn’t expecting. A crystal that was blinking strangely after he had tried to copy a small portion of an enchanted crystal's magic and transfuse it into this new one.
The end results of doing so were… unexpected to say the least.
“Well… this is certainly something I wouldn’t have expected. None of the old books, tomes or scrolls written by these enchanters of old have ever mentioned something like this to be the outcome. Very strange.” Cid muttered to himself as he scratched his head.
The crystal in front of him continued to pulse. Something it normally shouldn’t do if the pieces he read were anything to go by. Maybe he did the transfusion poorly, or made a mistake somehow?
Certainly possible but one which was also far fetched given in how closely he studied the tomes first before testing this out. But now, he wasn’t so sure anymore given the results. Something was either wrong and unique about this, and he was afraid of bothering the Emperor too much to go ask him about this in person. He was the most magically-talented individual within the empire after all. Plus a crystal unicorn as well.
Either way, one thing was clear. “I need to study this further and see what this might be. Maybe I might have stumbled upon something never before seen. That would certainly be something.” Cid stated before looking around his office.
Maple was surely going to chide him for having his personal space so cluttered up. He should maybe fix it up a bit before she comes here to check up on him.
Yeah… that sounds a little bit safer.