//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: The Spiral Saga: Operation Lazarus // by Kleptoshark //------------------------------// *ZAP* “Agh, not again!” Twilight Sparkle was, to put it frankly, pissed off. Last week, she had received a new shipment of books, and her first reaction was to lock herself up and begin pouring through them, to the immense surprise of absolutely no one. Somewhat more surprising, however, was that she managed to find a book about an area of magic she knew nothing about. So, earlier that day, she told Spike she’d be out, found herself a nice grassy field a little ways away from town, and began practicing. The book claimed that before the Pegasi made their deal with the Unicorns and Earth Ponies, the weather was controlled by magic. Though the spells were never as exact as the Pegasi’s manipulation of the weather, they were the only way to shift the seasons and grow the crops correctly. Weather magic eventually was forgotten in all but the oldest of tomes, and study into it ceased completely. Most ponies would have shrugged and gone about their day upon hearing such news. Of course, why bother learning weather magic? The pegasi were more than capable of taking care of such things. Twilight Sparkle was, of course, not like most ponies. Her drive to discover anything and everything she could about magic had led her to this particular grassy knoll, and she swore she would not leave until the secrets of how to create and control weather were revealed. Of course, such conviction lasted about as long as it took to accidentally blast apart a section of grass with a lightning bolt. Twelve times. Okay, she thought, concentrating once again. Not too much power, not too little. Slowly, her horn began to glow. She shut her eyes tight, blocking out any possible distractions. She pictured the cloud forming, growing from almost invisibly small to the size of a basketball. Once it was at the correct size, she held it there. Now came the hard part. Come on, she willed it, prodding it gently, ever so gently, with a small magical force. Too hard, and the magical energy inside would become unbalanced and discharge into the ground. Too light, and she’d wear herself out holding the cloud in its current state, causing it to dissipate pathetically. Just a little harder, come on! She dared to open an eye and check on her progress. It was working! The first few drops of water were coming out! She was making rain! Yes! Wait, no! Don't lose focus! It was close, but aside from a few wobbles the cloud was stable. It was starting to dissipate, the condensed water vapour running out as it poured into the ground. The feeling was truly amazing. Twilight realized: she was probably one of only a handful of unicorns who has performed weather magic for thousands of years! It was easy to see why. The intense amount of magical energy it required, plus the precision necessary to stop the cloud from exploding, would have made it impossible for most unicorns to accomplish. Perhaps they worked in teams, or maybe unicorns were just more powerful back then… Still, the feeling of accomplishment was euphoric. She looked up at the sun: it was just before lunchtime. The rumbling of her stomach corroborated the information. The unicorn quickly planned out the rest of her day: A quick lunch back at the library, and then back to reading. Today was going to be a good day. ~~~ “Today is going to be terrible.” These were the thoughts of Spiral Knights’ Biotech Hahn as he was being dragged down the hallway by a pair of slouched gremlin soldiers. Hahn’s original escort of four knights had been either eliminated, or dispersed. He knew, sullenly, that the entire reason they had decided to spare him was because of his commission as Biotech, with a mind to rival the most brilliant Gremlin schemers. This most certainly meant that his fate was probably resigned to being tortured for what little information he could add to the Gremlins’ already massive vault of knowledge, before being sent back to his fellow knights- in pieces. Hahn sighed inwardly, if at least he couldn’t look forward to surviving this debacle, he might as well make the most of whatever time he had left. He tried to strike up a conversation with the Gremlins dragging him: “Hey, I was wondering if-“ “Shut up.” What's up his bum? Hahn thought, glumly, At least he isn't facing certain death. The Gremlin jailers dragged Hahn the rest of the way to his cell, before unceremoniously flinging him into the medium-sized confine and programming the magnetic lock on the steel cell bars. As soon as Hahn heard the footsteps of the Gremlins fade away, he sprang up, and went over his gear. Sword, no. Shield, no. Gun, definitely no. Deducting from this inventory check that his captors were not, indeed, idiots, Hahn decided to instead shift the criteria of his check based on what he did have, instead of what was missing (namely just about everything). Padding down the many pockets of his field armour, Hahn felt the familiar shape of his PDA, and quickly freed it from his back pocket, Great… he thought, now what? He stared at the PDA, almost as if he expecting the answer to his predicament to just appear on the small screen in his hands. THINK, Hahn! You’re the leading Biotech for the entire Spiral Order; you should be able to do this stuff in your sleep! an idea finally dawned on him. Granted, it was not one of his better ideas, however he had more to work with when he had his best ideas; he’d have to make the most out of his limited resources. Well, here goes nothing... ~~~ "Warning, initial test firing in thirty seconds, all personell remain clear." Herex gazed down at the spacious area of ground that was designated with yellow and black safety tape. This was it; the first test of his new time portal. His grip tightened on the safety rail in anticipation, his tendons standing out through the fur of his knuckles. A member of the Crimson Order was supposed to show utter and complete composition and austerity at all times, but he couldn’t help but grin, exposing his pointed teeth. This is what a Gremlin lived for, the tension, the anxiety and adrenaline of knowing that within a few seconds, the prototype would succeed with incredible results (or explode, with a probable result of fatality. This was why Herex was on a catwalk far from the actual testing area should his latest experiment amount to nothing more than a destructive fireworks display.) He had commissioned the construction of a giant power generator which took up an entire floor to itself, and yet his most brilliant schemers said that it would only create a rift of about twelve feet in diameter. His vice-like grip on the catwalk’s safety rail only tightened as the ten-second countdown started. Seerus had better have been right about this, Herex thought. He realised how ridiculous the whole situation was, in most situations he would never trust another member of the Crimson Order. For all I know, Seerus could’ve left those blueprints just to screw over the poor soul who tried to steal his plans. Herex decided to push such thoughts from his mind, as the raspy voice over the intercom announced that his project was nearing its moment of truth. "Three..." "Two..." "ONE!" With a soft bubbling noise, an area about one foot above the test area shimmered, then collapsed inwardly, widening to a spherical area of about twelve metres in diameter before stopping. One of Herex’s guards, who had been watching the experiment with some anticipation, was the first to voice the mutual feeling regarding the outcome. “Is that all?!” Normally, Herex would have the guard whipped and demoted for speaking out of line whilst on duty, but he was inclined to agree with the disappointed soldier. Most Gremlin experiments resulted in bright lights, loud noises, or at least a big explosion. Considering all the work that was put into creating the portal, the actual portal itself was noticeably anticlimactic. “Oh well,” Herex sighed, “let’s go get a closer look.” ~~~ Twilight had made her way back to the library in Ponyville, and was about to bite into a daisy sandwich when Pinkie Pie burst through the door. “Stop right there!” Twilight paused nervously, her friend’s exasperated behaviour was positively out of the ordinary, and she wasn’t about to dismiss Pinkie Pie’s concerns. “What is it?” Twilight asked nervously, she had a rather panicked expression on her face, worried about what shocking situation Pinkie had discovered that included her lunch. “You have to come with me for a picnic!” Pinkie exclaimed, “Me and Fluttershy found this really neat field just outside of her cottage, and it’s really great and open for a picnic, I’ve invited all the girls to come and you ARE going, right?” She punctuated her phrase with a dramatic puppy-dog expression for good measure. Twilight rolled her eyes and gave a sigh. She wanted to stick to her schedule, but she decided it would be good to spend time with her friends. She beckoned Spike to follow her as she packed her lunch into a bag and brought it with her, following Pinkie down the road. Twlight felt herself relaxing. After all, today was a weekend; they had all the time in world. ~~~ “What do you mean this wormhole doesn’t go through time?!” “W-w-well, sir-”- Stammered the young gremlin. “I asked for time travel.” “Y-yes, but we-“ “-Made a hole to an alternate dimension. Not through time!” The young gremlin could feel his fur blown back by the breeze of Herex’s enraged voice. He adjusted his goggles nervously, he could almost see the fury creating an ozone of heat around his superior. Herex had been denied his climactic outcome, and now he was being told that his best-laid plans had ultimately missed their mark to naught. “You’d better have some good news for me, or else.” Herex threatened. “W-w-well, th-the Ghostmanes are s-still assembled.” At this point the young Gremlin Schemer was grasping at straws, trying to think of anything that would defuse the rage of the Crimson Order member. “and?!” Herex bellowed. The young gremlin engineer had run out of ideas, he opened his mouth, but then closed it again, he only managed a frightened “U-umm…” before Herex motioned for him to be quiet, a sudden idea forming in the mind of the Gremlin leader. “…are you saying that I should send our scouts through to explore this new dimension for anything of value?” Herex leaned in close to the perspiring engineer, his seemingly rage-filled demeanour replaced by a more curious one. The younger gremlin trembled in his boots, fearing a trick question, but in fear he stammered out an answer without thinking it through, lest the anger flash return to his leader as quickly as it had left. “Y-yes?” he offered. “Excellent! Zoxel!” He called in an impossibly upbeat tone, the gremlin quartermaster, named ‘Zoxel’ stepped forward, smartly snapping to attention. “Yes sir?” “This engineer is demoted, get him out of here.” Herex said in a deadpan, motioning to the cowering gremlin behind him. Herex sat down heavily, massaging his temples. He couldn’t have snivelling yes-men following him around like lost pups; he needed staff he could count on. He looked over to find that the Ghostmane division was, indeed, assembled. Milling about while checking their sawblades and cloaking devices. Normally Herex expected all of his combat divisions to be in perfect formation, but he grinned at the obvious restlessness of his personal division. He had come up with the idea for the Ghostmane Stalkers after seeing a few Recon soldiers from those rust-bucket Spiral Knights in action. The knights would use a sophisticated, if rather bulky, cloaking device to remain hidden during a battle, calling out enemy positions and strike co-ordinates to their allies while remaining unseen. Herex had a much more… practical application for his troops. He considered the contrast between those slow, bulky metal warriors and his own lithe, deadly troops. He prided himself on designing the Ghostmanes in every way, from their uniform, which was a more armoured, closer-fitting variation of his own outfit, right down to the versatile saw blades they carried into battle. He had full confidence in the cloaking devices he had custom-made for each member of the division. The cloak would render its wearer completely invisible, allowing the crack troops to remain seamlessly hidden until they were ready to strike. The Ghostmane Stalker lieutenant noticed Herex eyeing his prized soldiers, and snapped to attention, causing the rest of the unit to do the same. Herex grinned at them, satisfied with their discipline, and turned his gaze to the shimmering portal. Whatever or whoever existed on the other side, they would soon know the power of the gremlin war machine. ~~~ Spiral Knights’ Biotech Hahn was sitting dejectedly in his cell. His attempt to turn his PDA into a digital lockpick had, ultimately, failed. Seeing as the bars on the jail cell didn’t provide him enough room to actually loop his arm through them to press his ingenious lock-cypher against the data pad that kept his cell sealed. Back to the drawing board... Hahn was once again sitting, cross-legged, trying to contemplate the many uses of a re-wired PDA. He did have one idea, but he quickly pushed it to the back of his mind. There has to be another way... but as time went on, the idea kept on resurfacing, like a buoy in storm. Hahn desperately did not want to enlist the help of the other knights, and certainly not by such rudimentary means, but he had run out of options. With a sigh, he went back to work, re-wiring his PDA. ~~~ The stooped, crafty creature came through the shimmering portal, and dropped to the ground, taking a moment to survey his surroundings. “Clear!” On cue, several other Ghostmane scouts emerged through the trans-dimensional rift, silently landing next to their officer, who went by the name of Rejyk. They were all clothed in close-fitting onyx black padding, and wearing concealing red scarves. Unlike most gremlins, the Ghostmane Stalkers wore obscuring black masks emblazoned with the gremlin hourglass sign, as opposed to the thick tinted goggles most gremlins wore. By unsaid cue, the Ghostmanes activated their cloaking devices in unison, rendering the small group completely invisible. Their intent was to search to the area for any threat and, should the opportunity present itself, recover any intelligence, or sources thereof. The lieutenant took an extra moment to assess his surroundings, before turning back to his unit. “You know your orders,” he hissed, “move out.” The Ghostmanes advanced cautiously, moving as one through the rough forested area. A Ghostmane Sergeant, by the name of Jetzul, heard something rustling in a bush off to his left. Drawing a sawblade, ready to face any danger, Jetzul peered over his shoulder, and froze solid, quite literally unable to move. The unfortunate Gremlin was petrified in stone by the gaze of an odd creature, with white head feathers and green body scales. One of Jetzul’s squad mates sensed the danger his sergeant was in, and quickly unsheathed a sawblade from his belt, and threw it with pinpoint accuracy at the serpent-bird in a single, lethal motion, scything the unfortunate animal clean through the middle. “What was that thing, Sergeant?! ...Sir?” The gremlin turned, and was mortified to see the granite statue that used to be Sergeant Jetzul, his facial expression frozen mid-sneer as he was pulling down his scarf. The other gremlins crowded around, horrified. Not even the Gloaming Wildwoods of their home dimension could yield creatures with the same lethality; the sergeant was killed in the blink of an eye, not even the terrifying Snarbolax could boast that. Lieutenant Rejyk shifted nervously, considering withdrawal, but steeled himself. Casualties could be expected, failure could not. The lieutenant gave one last, sombre look at the granite sergeant, and moved on, motioning for the others to follow. He was eager to escape that cursed glade. Moving onwards, many of the Ghostmanes were relieved to see the edge of the forest drawing into view. The Gremlin Lieutenant dropped into a low crouch, motioning for the others to do the same. “Up ahead, see them? Spread out, and stay hidden. Let's go get the locals for questioning.” Heeding their officer’s words, the Gremlins spread out, quietly encircling the collection of curious quadrupeds conversing in the clearing. The sharp voice of one of the more inexperienced soldiers crackled over the intercom. "Um, sir?" “What is it?” "I... I fell, my cloaking device is malfunctioning." “You stupid idiot, you just gave us away!" “I'm sorry sir! Please-! Auugh!" ~~~ "Um, girls?” Fluttershy called, nervously, “ there appears to be, ah, something over there.” “Dear, ‘something’ is horribly vague,” Rarity intoned, “could you be more specific?” “I-I’m not sure what it was…” Fluttershy admitted, the anxiety still tense in her voice. “What’s the matter, ‘Shy?” Rainbow dash was getting antsy anyways, she decided that humouring her friend would be a good way to flex her wings as well. “Um, over there.” Fluttershy mumbled, gesturing with a hoof to where she saw the dark mask wearing creature. “Please be careful.” “Don’t worry,” Dash assured her, “I’ll be fine.” To be honest, Rainbow Dash was not actually expecting her friend’s concerns to amount to anything, so when she flew over to the ravine and saw what looked like a relatively small-sized bipedal creature, clad in black armour save for a blood-red scarf, busily throttling his idiot subordinate for giving away his entire squad’s element of surprise, Rainbow Dash was, suffice to say, astonished. ~~~ “You stupid, stupid, moron!” The Ghostmane officer growled, overcome by rage. “I’m- *ack* -sorry, sir, please!- *hrrk*” The officer was halfway through turning the rookie’s throat into his own personal stress ball, when he noticed the pitiful subordinate broke his gaze, focusing on something behind him. Suffice to say, Rejyk was just as surprised to look upwards and see the cyan-coloured pegasus as she was to see him. Sadly, years of training ensured that the Gremlin officer reacted faster; he grabbed a sawblade from his belt and flung it upwards at the winged equine. Rainbow Dash’s reflexes finally kicked into action, dodging out of the way so that the violently spinning blade only grazed her flank, as opposed to taking off her head. However, it was enough to knock her out of the air, sending her tumbling out of the sky to land behind a small incline. “Enough of this screwing around!” Rejyk snarled, “Gas canisters, knock them out!” On cue, several cylindrical containers sailed through the air, landing near the frightened picnickers. Upon landing, a fine, grey mist dispersed from each of the canisters. “Hey, what’s that funny smell…?” *thump* The gremlins advanced on the picnic, which was now in a deep slumber. “Sir,” One of the gremlins voiced his concerns, “there’s still one left.” Sure enough, sitting amongst the unconscious group was Pinkie Pie, wearing a gas mask. The gremlin officer straightened up as he approached her, picking invisible pieces of grime out of his uniform. “Your fearlessness is noted,” he rasped, “but I’m afraid it won’t be enough.” He pulled out a sawblade and began flexing the motor experimentally. The small pink mare yelled something in retort, but it was muffled by the gasmask. The lieutenant began chuckling; the poor creature didn’t stand a chance. Unexpectedly, the pink creature’s stalwart expression faded to be replaced by a more confident, almost cheery one. “What’s so funny-?” *WHAM* Rainbow Dash slammed into the officer, her momentum carrying them both quite a long distance before gracelessly ploughing him into the ground face-first. Rejyk got up unsteadily, wiping dirt out of his scarf as he did so. He swerved about, trying to spot his attacker, only to be knocked onto his back by Rainbow Dash, driving a foreleg into his sternum. The Gremlin lieutenant grappled with the cyan pegasus for a period of time, trading punches, kicks, and the occasional bite with his flighty foe. However, her injury from earlier steadily sapped away her strength, finally allowing the Gremlin lieutenant to gain the upper paw, pinning her under his knee. Pulling down his scarf to spit out a wad of blood, Rejyk looked back to where the picnic used to be taking place, and was disappointed to see the small pink creature making a mockery out of his beloved soldiers in his absence, dancing and pirouetting in between them as they desperately and belatedly attempted to catch her, and even making two of his troops crash into each other at one point. The Gremlin officer shouted into the radio, determined to gain control of the situation before it went completely out-of-paw. “When you're done frolicking like pups, we still have a mission here! A few of his troops slowed down at hearing this, ashamed of their own lack of discipline and finesse. “Jetzul’s squad, keep chasing that pink one, don’t bother trying to catch her; just keep her away from us! Kixell’s squad, retrieve some of the knocked out creatures, I don’t care which ones, just pick a few, and take them! Rally at the wormhole in half an hour or we will leave you behind!" He paused for a few moments, catching his breath, “…and somebody come help me over here, I’ve got a live one!” He returned his attention to the brightly coloured creature restrained under his knee, which was currently doing her best to escape his grasp. Rejyk leaned over, attempting to put her in a chokehold. He succeeded, but not before Rainbow Dash jerked her head back into the gremlin’s face, producing a spray of blood from his shattered nose. Once Rejyk was certain the cyan Pegasus was unconscious from the choke hold, he fell back, his vision blurring from exhaustion. He sat up slowly, wiping the blood from his snout as he did so, his muscles ached, and he was pretty sure he had minor internal bleeding. Finally, a newer recruit from Kixell’s squad uncloaked near him, helping him hoist the unconscious pegasus over their shoulders before moving back towards the wormhole.