//------------------------------// // 10 - Debrief // Story: The GATE // by scifipony //------------------------------// As Big Mac would have aptly put it. Nope! "What were you thinking!?" Rainbow Dash yelled. She did that more now that she'd been working as a Wonderbolt, and as a teacher, for over a year. "I thought we went over this? We fight together." "I was scouting, I wasn't fighting." Starlight Glimmer just growled, while her friend Trixie glared—because, under the circumstances, she could get away with it. Rarity said, "I tend to concur with Rainbow Dash, dear. What if we lost you?" We were always strongest together, but, "I saw I could gather facts about the bipeds before they learned enough about us that they could gain more of an advantage. Their actions lead me to think they may think we're all earth ponies, like Applejack—" I stopped as my throat closed up with emotion, then launched back into a brief executive summary of my adventure, levitating the long hoof-cannon, unholstering the compact hoof-cannon and knife, and arranging the ammunition in an orbiting constellation over my head for everypony to see. We had gathered outside town hall because it seemed like half of Ponyville was already there. I really wanted everypony home with their doors barred and said so, finding my town folk unwontedly stubborn, or curious. I finished, looking up into a pair of violet eyes I'd known well since the year I'd become a teenager. I told Princess Celestia, "This is why we need to contain this invasion and secure the gate while we have the advantage of their ignorance—and their naïveté. I strongly suspect these criminals, a label deserved from our point of view, are civilians and not military, the latter of which I suspect would be much better equipped and more powerful. My data set of two samples convinces me provisionally that they are creatures of applied force. It's the only language I can perceive from them at this point, but if we can overpower them without casualties, I think we'll be able to make friends with them later. Doing that means acting directly and immediately, and with you, Princesses—" I bowed deeply. "—safely far away. In case I fail." Celestia and Luna looked at each other. A dozen pegasus guard, armed with javelins, stood protectively around them in their light bronze-appointed armor. The alicorns nodded and Celestia said, "We trust you to do whatever is necessary." Wait, what? This was where Celestia needed to say that I was evidencing tunnel-vision again, that I should try diplomacy first, that they would send in the royal guard instead. My heart lurched and punched me in the stomach. I tasted bile. Not what I was expecting. "Really?" Rainbow Dash said. From her tone, I couldn't judge if she was happy to expect action or surprised that I was allowed to direct a campaign so easily. My gut told me to get about it before I over-analyzed all the mistakes I was about to make. Too late. I mean, really? Were the Princesses really deferring to me? I had helped save Equestria many times, but then I'd tried to steal the pearl from the seaponies when Queen Novo refused to let us use it. I'd let Rainbow Dash give away our location to Tempest Shadow. Both Sunset Shimmer and Dame Songbird Serenade had pointed out that if I'd just levitated Lord Tirek over the Canterlot Cascade, I might have ended multiple problems with the centaur, like eventually having Cozy Glow find a mentor to finish corrupting her. In fact, this reminded me suddenly of when I cast Need It Want It on Smarty Pants. I was going to have to talk to Big Mac about that again... I felt a hoof touch my withers on both sides. Celestia and Starlight Glimmer. The former said, "Concentrate. You've earned our trust," while the latter nodded and added, "What she said." I couldn't see how, but the praise filled my heart with warmth. Rainbow Dash swooped in to whisper in my ear, "So don't blow it." In a normal voice, she added, "So what's the flank-kicking plan?" I blinked away tears I hadn't realized had begun to sting. I took three deep breaths and stretched out my right hoof, eyes shut, exhaling slowly, exhaling the weariness from the teleports at the same time. I turned 360° and met everypony's eyes. Fluttershy and Spike joined Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Starlight around me. Even more ponies had arrived. Big Mac looked forlorn. I was kind of glad Pinkie Pie, Maud, and Briar were visiting in Vanhoover. I said, "Nopony, no creature, gets hurt... And we rescue Applejack." Big Mac sighed. "The bipeds don't know about pegasi; it gives us the high ground. Let's keep it that way. Rainbow." "Aye, aye, ma'am!" "Can we build-up a complete low-ceiling cloud cover over the farm?" "Yes, ma'am!" She crouched, ready to launch skyward. I interrupted. "I need it in no less than an hour, and make sure nopony is visible from the ground. Take as many pegasi as you need, except the royal guard." "Obviously!" she scoffed, gesturing to the sky and the feathered crowd gathering around her, "Let's do this!" and streaked off at thankfully subsonic speed. Ponyville's pegasus ponies followed into the midnight-blue brightly moonlit sky, taking off like a flock of geese rising off a pond in waves of rolling thunder. With so many taking flight to move clouds toward the farm, it gave the phrase "a gathering storm" a new meaning. I stood blinking away the moisture in my eyes. Coordination. Cooperation. Harmony. I'd caused that. I stopped breathing at the awesome sight. But I had to... Breathe. And I took a gusting breath, blew it out slowly, and turned to the princesses. "I need your royal guard and their quivers of javelins to convince the bipeds not to escape out the gate but to instead surrender, which is why I want you away from the danger zone. And, yes I know. You can protect yourselves, but consider this demonstration." I'd re-holstered the weapons, so I now took out the compact hoof-cannon and floated the blackened steel object before me. I waved ponies out of the way as I trotted to a small tree. I spun the thing in my magic, keeping the cannon barrel pointed away. I quickly figured out the cartridge release, then pushed and pulled until I understood the firing mechanism and ensured the evil device hadn't been damaged in the safe-cracking. I cast Measure Mostly and found everything straight within a hair-width. I floated a spinning constellation of brass-clad lead stars, repurposed Measure Mostly, loaded the right-sized caliber, and dropped the rest back into the messenger bag with a heavy thunk of beads. "Because Levitate, Force, and Shield are essentially derivatives of the same spell arcana with different mnemonics but congruent parameters, I can cast a simultaneous shield, which I must since I may have damaged the hoof-cannon. It could fail explosively." A cocoon of magenta sheathed the compact and I tuned it to leave the muzzle open. With experience observing Spike using his claws, I understood the concept of finger-actuated triggers. Cringing, I pulled it. And kept pulling up to the tensile strength of the train of metal parts I thought I understood. Nothing. I frowned. I saw a nubbin where Spike's thumb could touch the device and chuckled. I toggled the interlock and pulled. The sharp report echoed off the buildings. Wow. I felt the jolt of the impressive recoil through the feedback-loop in my reciprocating magic. Powerful. Oddly, I liked the feeling. A dozen ponies reared and the royal guard reflexively closed ranks around the princesses. A hole appeared in the tree. It wasn't a big tree and it shook as if struck with a sledgehammer. As a leaf see-sawed down, I realized I heard something else that didn't fit into what I expected. Puzzling that, I took two steps toward the sundered tree; the top part had begun leaning back. The compact had required the most massive of the ammunition, so the destructive energy transfer made sense. I smelled the burnt powder and could better guess it was largely potassium-nitrate, roughly a tenth sulfur, and the rest charcoal. It informed how I had to tune Shield. The velocity vector of the equation would be a minimum of 1.6 times the speed of sound. The last seconds replayed in my head and puzzle pieces assembled. I cried, "Sweet Celestia!" I had heard a distant frightened whinny, an inarticulate one, followed by nickered syllables, none carrying any meaning. Giant horses! I now also heard obvious curses in Lingua Bipedus—inside Ponyville.