In which the true horror of war is discussed, and a ray of hope shines forth.
“Like a nuclear weapon strike?” Matt asked, frowning.
“No, Matt. Like a nuclear war.” Evelyn said numbly, watching in her mind’s eye as ponies vanished in a blaze of light…
Matt turned grim and still. The others stared at the two humans in polite incomprehension. Teagan paled.
“What is this nuclear, thou speakest of, Investigator Lewis?” Luna asked. “We know it not, but canst see it disturbs thee greatly.”
“Nuclear weapons use the energy inside matter, Your Highness.” Matt said before Evelyn could speak. “A single weapon, weighing a few hundred pounds, could obliterate Canterlot and kill every living creature within ten miles. The aftermath would poison the area downwind for dozens of miles and hundreds of years, either killing creatures outright or making their offspring sickly and prone to dying young and having hideous birth defects. And that’s just one. A nuclear war is fought with hundreds of them.”
Even the trolls were shocked into open mouthed silence.
“Humans have such power?” Luna finally asked, shivering.
“Yes, Your Highness.” Matthew nodded. “Humans teetered on the edge of full scale nuclear war for forty years before backing away. We’re still in the process of reducing our stockpiles of those weapons.”
“Reducing, Matthew?” Celestia asked, looking sick. “You still plan to keep such evil things?”
“We do, Your Highness.” Matt said, nodding. “Because others have them. We don’t dare get rid of them completely. But we do everything in our power to keep them out of the hands of rogue nations. My country is one of the most powerful on Earth, and the only one to ever use nuclear weapons in war, back before we knew the full horror of them.”
“Rogue nations?” The Snøskred asked blankly, still thinking about weapons that could end the world.
“Yes, Snøskred.” Matt nodded. “Humans are not as—cooperative as ponies. And far more devious than trolls. Sometimes the insane come to power. And when that happens—well, nuclear weapons are very attractive to such individuals.”
The Snøskred looked at Teagan.
“It would seem I have underestimated the Lady Teagan then. To be heir to such power, such horror. No wonder Mountain Heart chooses to serve her.”
“Now wait a minute! I don’t have any say in things like that!” Teagan protested. “I never will. I’m just an ordinary teenager. Crush serves me because it said I have a will as strong as any troll. But that doesn’t mean I can drop a bomb on somebody!”
“Perhaps you do not understand what the Snøskred is saying, Lady Teagan.” Dalen said. “Species are forged by their history, their accomplishments, the lands around them and the circumstances they must overcome.”
“Trolls, for example must contend with the mountains and the dangers of the World Below. It has shaped us, even the smallest and weakest among us. The princesses must contend with forces that none but they can face and overcome. But ponies are shaped by these forces, even the smallest and frailest of them.”
“Humans, it seems, are shaped by horrors I do not care to think about, and yet have thrived. You yourself are certainly not the weakest and smallest of your kind, Lady Teagan. Yet you too have been shaped by the legacy of your species. Knowing what I know now I have little trouble believing that you bested Discord. You are a worthy wielder of Mountain Heart for all that you are not a troll, nor bear allegiance to the King of the World Below.”
“Maybe. But right now Discord isn’t the problem. Tišina is. How do we stop her?” Teagan asked, blushing.
“We find her and hit her with everything we have.” Matt said flatly. “We harry her and give her no rest. We keep her away from whatever project she’s building to destroy the world.”
“Easier said than done, Lieutenant.” Celestia said, shaking her head. “We don’t even know where she is, and of us all only my sister and I could face her on even terms.”
“Really?” He grinned, a smile worthy of Sun Hammer. “I don’t think you’ve seen the full extent of how dangerous I can be, Your Highness. I have a couple of clips of armor piercing rounds with me. I didn’t get to use them the night Tišina attacked because I didn’t think I’d need them, and left them in my gear. But not even she will be able to shrug those off. There’s also the fact I never fight fair.”
“I can vouch for that.” Teagan said ruefully.
“Dinnae A warn ye aboot fechtin’ fair, Teelo?” Sun Hammer asked. “Ne’er dae it!”
Matt nodded.
“You’re a pony after my own heart, Sun Hammer. But back to the point. This pony that created Pinkie’s toys knows how to make tannerite, which is some seriously powerful explosive. We’ll get him to whip up a few thousand pounds of it. We can dig our way through a lot of ice with that much tannerite. In minutes.”
“Trolls excel at digging.” The Snøskred said with his own fearsome grin. “May I offer my services in whatever plan the good Lieutenant is hatching, Your Highness?”
“I too would be eager to help.” Alene Dalen said quietly. “While my abilities are certainly eclipsed by your own, Your Highness, they are formidable none the less. And well suited to conflict below ground.”
“A ne’er thought there’d come a day A’d be fechtin’ on the same side as trolls, so A did nae.” Sun Hammer said, shaking his head. “Welcome tae the herd, laddies. Ye be welcome, so ye be.”
“I think you’d have made a good troll, Sun Hammer.” The Snøskred said, chuckling.
“Thank ye nae. A be a creature o’ the open spaces. A prefers ma fights where the sun shines.” Sun Hammer said, smiling. “A hae tae say though, A hae always admired the forthright and straightforward manner o’ trolls. Ye ne’er sneak aboot. Very honest, yer classic troll.”
“Not to break up this mutual admiration society.” Teagan said, grinning, “But how do we find Tišina? Evelyn, you said you and Subtle Dancer might have a way?”
“Indeed.” Subtle Dancer spoke up. “Investigator Lewis tells me humans don’t believe in magic. None the less she is remarkably adept in magical theory. Truly amazing for one that believed magic was only a game.”
“Who knew all that time playing D&D would actually be useful?” Evelyn chuckled. “But truthfully all I did was give Subtle Dancer a key. He and his Horns were the ones who used it to find the door and unlock it.”
“Chief Horn?” Princess Luna asked impatiently. “What wonder hast thou wrought now?”
“A compass, Your Highness.” Subtle Dancer said proudly. “One that points straight at Tišina, no matter where she chooses to hide!”
“Hot damn.” Matt said, grinning. “Time to lock and load, ladies! We have a vector!”
“Excuse me?” Princess Celestia blinked. “I don’t follow, Lieutenant.”
“Matt means we know where Tišina is. Time to go smash her.” Teagan explained. “Would it do any good to ask how this compass works, Subtle Dancer? Or would non-magicians not have a clue?”
“It’s quite simple, Lady Teagan. We have a large amount of Tišina’s blood, left after her tail was caught in the collapsing portal. Since the Law of Contagion states that two objects that were originally part of a whole remain mystically connected it was a simple matter to use her blood to create a literal compass that points to the body that the blood came from.”
“Gruesome.” Teagan commented. “But hey, as long as it works. Is there just one or were you able to make more?”
“We constructed a dozen of them, at Investigator Lewis’s suggestion.”
“Good.” Matt nodded. “We can triangulate along a baseline and know pretty much exactly where she is before we even leave home. I love it when a plan comes together.” He rubbed his hands gleefully.
Celestia regarded him with the same caution most ponies gave Sun Hammer.
“Lieutenant, forgive me, but you seem extremely eager to find Tišina. What are your intentions when we do?”
“Kill her if we can.” He said, becoming serious. “Any creature that would use nuclear weapons—or their magical equivalent—to destroy the world doesn’t get any mercy from me. If we can’t kill her then we keep her so busy she can’t complete the weapon. Better yet, lure her away and let the magic users see if they can safely destroy it.”
“I would prefer to use the Elements of Harmony to deal with Tišina if we can, Lieutenant.” She said delicately. “The only reason I used the Wrath of the Sun against her that night was because the Elements were—temporarily unavailable.”
“And the Elements do what, exactly?” He asked, leaning back in his chair.
“Turn her to stone.” The princess replied.
“And while you’re blasting her with these Elements what’s to keep her from stinging you to death?” Matt asked with an interested expression. Celestia flinched.
“Forgive me, Princess. But I saw her speed in the air and if the Elements can’t strike in less than a second it’s not happening. Unless they can track a target and compensate for evasive maneuvers?”
“Unfortunately not.” The princess admitted.
“Which means we’ve got to pin her down for—how long?” Matt asked.
“Perhaps thirty seconds.” The princess replied.
“Not good.” He said, shaking his head. “Know any spells that could restrain her?”
“Tišina is too large and powerful for such spells to be effective, Matthew Sanders.” Princess Luna spoke up. “She is the size of a full grown dragon. And clearly at least as strong.”
“How about you, Alene?” Matt asked.
“I could collapse her cavern around her.” The troll replied thoughtfully. “I could even do this from directly above her, no matter how deep the cave might be.”
“But if she’s deep underground we can’t reach her.” Evelyn pointed out. “She wouldn’t stay trapped forever. They never do. We need to get her out in the open.”
“We know my rifle can blind her, but hitting her eyes from far enough away to avoid counterattack will be next to impossible. Of course if I can hit her in the head I might put one in her brain.” Matt mused. “That would at least slow her down.”
Every pony in the room shuddered, even Sun Hammer.
The Snøskred was nodding.
“The Mother of Silence is not invulnerable.” He said. “Mountain Heart could inflict wounds that would not heal magically.”
Teagan shifted uncomfortably.
“How would I get close enough? She’s a dragon.” Teagan asked reasonably. “Discord was no bigger than a troll so at least I stood a chance of hitting him. Tišina could swat me before I got anywhere near her.”
“Not if you were on my back and I teleported.” Twilight Sparkle joined the conversation.
“Bad idea.” Matt said. “If I understand correctly, all six of you are needed to make the Elements work, right? We don’t want to risk our super weapon. And that goes for both princesses as well. When we used Princess Celestia as bait it was in a fairly small chamber by Tišina’s standards. She couldn’t do much because of the cramped quarters so we held all the cards. In the open it’s a completely different ball game.”
“Then Teagan could ride me.” Rainbow Dash said excitedly. “We swoop in and bam. She’ll never know what hit her!”
“Same problem.” Matt pointed out. “I don’t want the Bearers anywhere near her until it’s time to blast her with the Elements. Any one of you gets taken out and it’s game over.”
“Oh, yeah.” Rainbow Dash said dejectedly.
“What are you saying?” The Alene asked. “Our most powerful weapons are too valuable to risk? Then of what use are they?”
“Welcome to the wonderful world of armed aggression.” Matt said, grinning. “That’s the whole problem with our so-called super-weapons. The most powerful weapons we have are also vital for other things. Without Princess Celestia the world dies, so she can’t be put at risk. The Bearers are powerful as a group, but without them we can’t use our super-weapon so they can’t be put at risk. This, no offense, just leaves the second string to do the heavy lifting. Not good against something the size of a building. Especially a building that walked away from a thousand foot fall.”
“You said your weapon has armor piercing ability, did you not?” The Snøskred asked.
Matt nodded. “Yeah. But Tišina’s a big girl. No way even an AP round could reach her heart. Headshot’s the best bet but I doubt I’d get a second chance if the first one missed. And given the way she moves her head around that would be a really hard shot. I’m not bad, but I’m no sniper.”
“Sniper?” Twilight asked.
“Somebody who specializes in one shot kills from ambush.” He said.
There was an uncomfortable silence.
“Humans use such tactics?” Dalen asked finally. “That sounds very—dishonorable. No offense intended, Lieutenant.”
Matt shrugged. “There’s no honor in war, Alene. No sane being ever wants to go to war. The longer it goes on, the worse it gets. It’s insane, savage, deliberate mass murder. The only way the killing stops is when the war ends. So you do everything you can to end it as quickly as possible. Snipers take out high value targets, like the leaders a country needs to keep fighting.”
“We’re actually lucky there’s only one individual on the other side. Kill her and the war ends. The world lives. Or turn her to stone. That works too. The question is how can we dig her out then pin her down?”
“I hate to bring this up, but Tišina’s a dragon, right? Don’t dragons usually have breath weapons?” Evelyn asked reluctantly.
“You think Tišina breaths fire?” Matt asked. “Great, that’s all we need. Not only is she a flying battering ram that can turn you to stone, now she’s a living flame thrower too? Jeez, what is it with this place?”
“She doesn’t breathe fire, Lieutenant.” Princess Celestia said with a strange half-smile.
“Well, that’s good news at least.” He said in relief.
“She breathes a freezing mist that encases the victims in an icy shell.” The princess said, watching him. He face-palmed.
“Moving on.” He said. “Tišina isn’t stupid. We won’t lure her out again with the same bait we used before. She’s going to be paranoid about creating a portal anywhere near us. In fact, her best strategy would be to lie low in whatever hidey-hole she’s in right now, finish her weapon, and blow us to kingdom-come without risking her neck.”
“Why is she so angry?” Fluttershy asked timidly. She ducked her head when everyone turned their attention to her.
“What do you mean, Fluttershy?” Teagan asked gently, which encouraged the timorous yellow pegasus to take a deep breath and speak up.
“Why is she doing this? What did we ever do to her? How could she be so angry she’s willing to destroy herself along with the world? That doesn’t make any sense! I thought she was supposed to be Discord’s opposite? Wouldn’t that mean she doesn’t do things at random? So she must have a reason.”
Celestia raised her head.
“My little pony that is an excellent point! We’ve been concentrating so much on what she was doing we neglected to ask why. When Tišina captured me she said that I had stolen something from her. She also accused me of committing crimes against the natural order, of blasphemy against the Universe itself.”
“Sister, when you unleashed the Wrath of the Sun did not Tišina call us sinners? And tell us we were forcing her to blaspheme?” Luna asked.
“She did.” Celestia nodded.
“Another religious nut job.” Matt sighed. “They’re the worst. Not afraid to die because they know their place in the hereafter is secure and anything they do is justified because they’re fighting the infidel. You can’t reason with them because they’re convinced God has already signed your death warrant and you’ve got a one-way ticket to damnation for all eternity.”
“Charming.” Evelyn said. “Your Highness, did Tišina happen to mention what you stole from her?”
“Yes. She said I stole her sweet pain, pain that she had possessed since the beginning of the world, her dearest enemy.”
“Any idea who that might have been?” Evelyn asked.
“No. Surely a being like Tišina has had many enemies over the ages.”
“Lieutenant Sanders is right. Tišina is completely mad.” The Snøskred said. “The tunnel grows ever narrower for us I fear.”
“Wait, how could you have stolen her enemy?” Teagan asked, confused. “Didn’t Discord defeat her long before ponies arrived in this world?”
“Yes.” The princess nodded.
“Oh God.” Evelyn said, slapping the table. “It’s Discord. Her dearest enemy is her brother. Whom you defeated, Your Highness.”
“We defeated him too, Evelyn.” Twilight objected.
“But you don’t raise the sun, Twilight.” Evelyn said. “Celestia does it every day. That’s why Tišina targeted her. Because she moved the sun three times in a single day. I’ll bet the princess created the Elements of Harmony as well. Am I right?”
“Only partially, Investigator.” Celestia demurred. “Raising the sun takes a great deal of power. I have no doubt it could have attracted Tišina’s attention. But I did not create the Elements. They are linked to my sister and I. They were made for us originally.”
“What’s it ta her?” Applejack asked, baffled. “Ah mean it makes sense an’ all, but why should she care?”
“Because in the natural order of things the sun and the moon don’t need anyone to raise them.” Evelyn said. “And they only come up once a day. Princess Celestia’s ‘crime’ is raising the sun at all. But that day she lowered it prematurely and raised it a second time. That must have infuriated Tišina.”
“That still doesn’t explain what she meant when she commanded the princess not to force her to commit blasphemy herself.” Dalen interjected.
“What does Tišina consider blasphemy?” She asked the troll.
“Hmm.” He asked. “That I fear I cannot answer.”
“Think about it.” Evelyn said. “What would Tišina have to have done to avoid getting killed?”
“Teleport.” Princess Celestia said slowly.
“Right. And teleportation isn’t natural, is it? It’s magic. So from her point of view it was either commit blasphemy or die. Matt, you’re the expert on religious fanatics. How would she react to that?”
“Badly.” He said, considering. “Very, very badly. If she reacts like a human would—well we’re looking at a goddess forced to commit a sin against herself. No wonder she wants to go out in a blaze of glory and take the world with her. She believes she’s been defiled.”
“Ok, I’m not an expert profiler by any means but I think it’s time we looked at Tišina from a psychological point of view. We know she’s a goddess, we know she’s a loner, and we know she feels entitled not only to judge others but be executioner as well. She’s resorted to abduction, attempted murder, mass attempted murder, and now she’s escalated to attempting genocide. Not only that, but she thinks she has the duty to do all this.”
“Sociopath.” Matt noted.
“Right. And now that she feels violated, she probably believes the world is beyond redemption, that all is lost. Therefore, the only possible way to end the corruption is destroy the world. Since she’s been defiled anyway, she has nothing to lose. But at least the evil will die with her. Her sacrifice will not be in vain.”
“Sounds about right.” Matt nodded. “I bet she’s a coward as well. Anyone else notice she always attacks from hiding? Classic ambush predator tactics. Her two attacks on the princess were from beyond a portal. Her attack on Rockton was late at night, one family at a time. Earth ponies that couldn’t sense her portal and couldn’t fight back.”
“When we proved we could hurt her she retreated. She didn’t even have the courage of her convictions and chose to defile herself—well, in her eyes—instead of die. She’s physically tough, but hasn’t got the stomach for an open fight. She’s a predator, not a fighter.”
He smiled, and even Sun Hammer felt uncomfortable seeing it.
“And that, ladies and gentlemen, is her one weakness. It gives me an idea…”
They spent the rest of the night hammering out a plan.