//------------------------------// // Forty-four // Story: Freedom Through Harmony: Book II // by Electricut //------------------------------// Chapter in color Forty-four Derpy CA: okay doc, how are we doing? AT: Excellently. You should now be ready to enter the Second Gate. CA: sweet!! CA: i think i’ve done what i need to around this part of loras. how do i get back home? AT: There are small portals around your land that resemble gates. AT: These are Return Nodes. They will take you back home, so I’ve been told. CA: alright! i’ll find one. cross-eyedAngel is now idle Derpy makes her way back into town, the first one she had found after the underling attack earlier, and looks around for one of the portals. She spies one atop a rock formation near the center, and trots over to it. It’s easy enough to climb, and she scrambles up and leaps into the Node. A rough but quick ride through space follows, and she is deposited back into her room. The imps have had their way with the place. Everything that wasn’t nailed down has been strewn across the floor, and what WAS nailed down had been assaulted with the stuff that wasn’t nailed down. It was clear that they had been met with resistance though, as scorch marks, stray bits of grist, and other signs of a battle were still present. Derpy tidies up a bit, exits her room, and is immediately tackled against the door. At first, she snaps into combat mode, thinking that this must be an imp survivor, but she calms when she looks down to see that it is Smarty Pants. She looks a bit worse for wear, but she still has some fight in her. Right now, though, she just seems happy to see her owner safe and sound. Derpy laughed happily and hugged the animated doll back. “What happened here?” she asked Smarty Pants. “It looks like there was a fight. Are you and mom alright?” Smarty Pants didn’t clearly respond, but led Derpy to the den of the house, where her mother-sprite was waiting. Derpy runs up and give her a hug, as well. MOMSPRITE: Hello dear! You’ve been doing well! DERPY: thanks mom! DERPY: it looks like there was some trouble here though. are you alright? MOMSPRITE: Yes, we should be fine. Imps and things have still been trying to gain entrance to the house, but they haven’t been hard to fend off. MOMSPRITE: Smarty Pants has been a great help as well, but it seems that she wants to go with you now. DERPY: are you sure you won’t need any backup? MOMSPRITE: Yes, don’t worry. Your mother can handle these ones. MOMSPRITE: Now, make your way upstairs. The Second Gate awaits! MOMSPRITE: And don’t worry. Soon enough, I will be able to help you more. DERPY: thanks mom! i’ll be careful out there. MOMSPRITE: I’m glad to hear it. Good luck! DERPY: you too! Smarty Pants allows herself to be captchalogued, and Derpy quickly makes her way up the winding path that leads to the current top of her now quite tall home. It takes her a solid fifteen minutes to get to the top, but when she does, the Second Gate pulses before her. She nods determinedly, ready for whatever will come next, and steps through. She is thrown about a bit through her brief trip through space, then is deposited in an unfamiliar room. She scrambles back upright to look around. There are all kinds of strange knick-knacks lying around, probably thrown out of place by imps. A computer sits on a desk in the corner, and when Derpy accesses it, she is shown a view of herself. She becomes aware of something to her right, and turns to see a sprite hovering in the doorway. DALEK-9: THIS INTRUSION HAS BEEN REPORTED. DERPY: wait… you look like some of the robo-imps i’ve been fighting! DALEK-9: AFFIRMATIVE. IT WAS MY CREATION THAT INADVERTENTLY CREATED THEM. DALEK-9: THEY ARE ABOMINATIONS, AND YOU ARE JUSTIFIED IN DESTROYING THEM. DERPY: so this is doc’s house then?! DALEK-9: AFFIRMATIVE. cross-eyedAngel began chatting with agelessTraveler at 3:41 P.M. agelessTraveler began chatting with cross-eyedAngel at 3:41 P.M. CA: doc! AT: Derpy! AT: My sprite tells me you’re at my house! CA: yeah, looks like it! CA: your sprite’s kinda creepy though. D9: AND STILL HAS FULL ACCESS TO YOUR LOCAL COMMUNICATIONS. AT: Yeah, yeah. AT: To be fair, friend, you ARE kind of creepy. CA: >:P AT: Anyway, I will be right there, Derpy. AT: I just need to locate a Return Node. And they are everywhere, it won’t take long. CA: alright, i’ll be here! Derpy’s heart races as she waits. This will be the first time she’s met Doc in-person. She’s had video chats with him, of course, so she knows what he looks like, but this is completely different. She takes a seat at Doc’s desk, but her back hooves tap on the ground, unable to sit still. The Daleksprite hovers where it is, watching her with its one robotic eye. After what seems like hours of waiting, Derpy sees a gate open on the ceiling, and her heart nearly explodes out of her chest. The gate pulses several times, then he falls out of it, colliding with the ground, unbalanced as the gates always leave its passengers. Before Doc can fully recover and stand, Derpy leaps from where she sits and tackles him, hugging him tight. Both are sent rolling across the room, and soon Doc’s front hooves wrap around her in turn. Soon, both just sit in the corner, cuddling each other and giggling. “I didn’t think we’d get to meet up this soon! I’m glad I was wrong.” “Yeah! This was the best surprise yet! So… what do we do now?” Doc shrugs after a moment. “I suppose we could do some adventuring together?” Derpy nods enthusiastically, and the two equipped their weapons and swiftly made their way up the stairs, further up into the house. Several imps that had sneaked their way in think it wise to try and stop the pair, but they are dispatched with very little effort. They don’t even slow the two down. The two reach Doc’s First Gate- his house doesn’t yet reach the Second- and lock hooves as they leap through, and are deposited on the rainy surface of the land. Derpy would have been immediately soaked, save for the fact that Doc reacts quickly. He swiftly deploys another jacket from his inventory, directly over her. It settles nice and snug, and Derpy giggles and blushes slightly. The two nod to each other, and side by side rush to find adventure. It is hours before the pair finally makes their way back to Doc’s home. Their metaphorical pockets filled to the brim with grist and boondollars, both several levels stronger, the two sit on the sofa in Doc’s foyer to catch their breath. “So… What now?” Derpy asks. “This has been really fun, but I think I need to get back to my quest on Loras.” “I suppose you’re right. These lands were tailor-made for us, and we can only go so far in our quests by working together. I can walk with you to the nearest Return Node, if you like?” Derpy nods. “I’d love that!” The two make their way back to Doc’s First Gate, and are teleported elsewhere on Losab again. The teleportation process has become more comfortable as the players have gotten used to it, and Doc and Derpy are ready to move immediately after being deposited on the surface. They made their way swiftly to the Return Node, and said a quick farewell, but Derpy did not immediately step through. Neither of her eyes was looking directly at Doc, and she was blushing slightly. At last, she squeezes her eyes shut, steps forward, and gives him a brief kiss, before leaping backwards through the Node and disappearing. Doc doesn’t move for several seconds, processing what just happened. At last, a huge grin grows across his face, and he makes several hoof-motions in victory while no one is looking. He then equips his weapon and steps through the Node himself, ready to get back to the fight. The Third Gate is now within reach, so he supposes that he’s now bound for Quick Fix’s land. Quick Fix The darkness surrounds Quick Fix as she makes her way through the halls of Derse, deep and sprawling in the surface of the moon. There’s something brewing in the kingdom of darkness, and she needs to find out what. She’s only needed to make one silent takedown in her espionage attempt so far, and it wasn’t even lethal. She sidles up to the edge of the wall before the next hallway, and peers around to see if anyone is there. The coast is clear. She slips around and makes her way through. Halfway through the hall, however, she hears voices approach from the splitting hallways further down, and quickly ducks into a small room to the side and shuts the door. It seems to be a storage closet. She presses up against the door to hear the approaching Dersites. "Hi. Coming back from the lower levels?” one of them asks. “I was just headed there myself.” “Don’t bother.” the other responds. “The Dignitary has the place locked down. Private meeting or something. I couldn’t get in to get my things. Guess I’ll come back later…” The two soon move along, and Quick Fix continues, knowing she is on the right track. Soon she reaches the blockade the two Dersites must have been referring to, and there is another one standing guard in front of it. There’s no other way around, so she sighs and equips one of her less-powerful wrenches. There is no need to kill anyone. She quickly dashes forward and clocks the Dersite guard over the head with her blunt weapon, knocking him unconscious. His hard carapace protects him from the brunt of the damage, but it is enough to put him to sleep for a while. Quick Fix grabs the keys from his belt, unlocks the door in the barricade, and makes her way further forward. She reaches another door, and presses up to it to listen in. “So you’ve confirmed its location?” “Yes. As expected, it has been split and separated. However, we’ve pinned both. Half is on Lofas, the other on Lowac. I’ll be heading operations on the former. Slick, you’re in charge of the latter.” “And it’s ‘by any means I deem necessary’ right?” “Right. Just try not to kill any Prospitan or Lowacian civilians. We’re in hot enough water as it is without breaking the code of honor.” “Fine. I’m still taking the Brute though. Might need him to knock some walls down or something.” Quick Fix carefully moves away from the door, and takes off running back through the halls. Her own land, and Fancy Pants’ one, will soon be under attack. She needs to get back home and be ready. She reaches the exterior of Derse’s moon without incident, and leaps into the air to begin flying to her tower. A low, static-sounding noise lingers at the edge of her senses, but she doesn’t have time to focus on it. There are bigger matters at hand. She lands in her tower and throws herself at the bed. She isn’t sure how to get to sleep in order to wake her other body, but after a few minutes of waiting, awareness shifts to her normal self on its own. She is currently still in one of the undersea settlements of Lowac. There aren’t any Return Nodes down here; she’ll need to make her way to the surface. She slips on her rebreather and rolls into the nearest filter chamber. It quickly fills with water, and the hatch above her head quickly slides open. She kicks off the ground, and using the remaining air pressure from the chamber, quickly ascends through the waves. Her ears popping signals that she is nearing the surface, and one hoof hovers near her sylladex as the other pushes her closer to the air. She surfaces, and retrieves a card from her inventory effortlessly. A boat, not fancily made, but powerful, is deployed in the water. She climbs aboard, puts a hoof to the throttle, and zips forward. A radar on the dashboard shows the location of the nearest island, where Quick Fix knows she will find a Return Node. A few minutes of travel gets her there, and she sees a crudely-made outpost sitting on the shore, above which was a fluctuating node. She nods, a terse grin on her face. She needs to move fast, but she’s made excellent speed so far. She pulls the boat up onto shore, captchalogues it once more, and quickly scales the outpost with a series of acrobatic maneuvers. When she reaches the roof, she kicks off of it to gain the last bit of air needed to propel her into the node. Space bends and warps around her for a split second, before she is deposited in her room once more. A few things seem out-of-place, but it doesn’t look as though imps have been through to ransack it yet. Wary regardless, she equips her wrench- the GRADE ZERO, her gift from Fancy Pants- and slowly makes her way downstairs. RATCHETSPRITE: Whoever that is, you’d better throw down your weapons. QF: Ratchet holy shit QF: I thought they had gotten here already RATCHETSPRITE: Oh, it’s you. Alright, we’re safe. RATCHETSPRITE: And who, the imps? Because I’ve been beating them back pretty much since you left. QF: no QF: well yes QF: but a lot more of them QF: we have something they want, and theyre bringing out the big guns to take it RATCHETSPRITE: What do they want? QF: beats me QF: but like hell were going to let them have it RATCHETSPRITE: You got that right! RATCHETSPRITE: If we’re going to be under siege, let’s rig up some defenses. RATCHETSPRITE: And if we can get it all hooked up to a central computer, we can have Clank run all of it from inside. QF: no way, you found the lil guy? CLANK: Affirmative. QF: sweeeeeet QF: okay, Ill need to get ahold of a few people QF: Leeroy will need to help us to make stuff QF: and I gotta warn whoever else is under attack QF: lofas, dont remember whose planet that was QF: they all kinda sound the same techTitan started a group chat at 6:01 P.M. TT: yo derse is on the move TT: me and Ratchet are buffing up my place TT: Leeroy, gonna need some assist on that TT: whose house is on lofas? GA: that’s mine. TT: okay TT: get back home TT: theyre going to try to steal something TT: kill em GA: you got it. GG: What do they want? TT: no idea TT: just overheard that they are going to try to take something TT: something that was in two pieces? TT: one of ems here, one of ems there GG: Alright. Do either of you need an extra blade? GA: my place is already armed to the teeth with turrets. cheerilee, can i have you make a bunch of ammo? AA: Certainly. I think I might know a way to create an automated dispenser for them, so they can refill themselves. GA: man, that’ll be sweet! i’ll be back there in just a sec. TT: hey FP can I have the codes for some of those turrets TT: they would really come in handy GA: sure thing. i’ll send them over in a private chat. TT: right TT: bro, right now I think I just need you to help me alchemize some stuff TT: better weapons TT: shield walls TT: stuff TT: but itd be best to have you there standing lookout GG: You got it sis. They won’t break through. AT: Anything Derpy and I should do to stay safe? TT: nothing specific TT: just stay on guard and dont die TT: I didnt hear anything about you two so youre probably safe for the moment AT: Alright. Keep us updated. TT: you got it GG: Alright, you have your jobs, everyone. GG: Move! Quick Fix moves over to the Alchemiter, ready to make some better equipment. She first retrieves an item from her sylladex- a bar of metal alloy taken from a construction site outside one of the underwater shelters- and combines it with her wrench. This seems to significantly boost the strength of the wrench, though it does not change in appearance or name. Just as well, she thinks. The Grade Zero is cool. Next, she retrieves a few articles of clothing from around her room, and combines them with the metal. These create a makeshift suit of chainmail armor, which is a lot better than her current armor, which is to say none. She equips it eagerly. The walls go up next. Leeroy deploys a series of walls around the house, each with strategic defense points accessible from the layers behind it. Not for the first time, Quick Fix is glad to have a trained knight for a brother. The soldiers of Derse won’t have an easy time getting through. She returns to her room, leaving Ratchet at the barricades to keep watch, and begins making several turrets. Fancy Pants had given her four different codes, and she makes some of each. They look different, but she can’t see much of a difference in function. As long as they put bullets in the bad guys, they’re fine. She can’t carry them all in one trip, so she captchalogues what she can, carries another with her hooves, and moves back to the battlements. She sets down the turret she is carrying, affixing it firmly to the top of the wall. She moves a distance to the left and begins setting up another, when Ratchet calls from the outer layer. RATCHETSPRITE: Heads up! Someone’s coming! TT: derse? RATCHETSPRITE: Not unless it’s just a forward scout. RATCHETSPRITE: There are just two of them. RATCHETSPRITE: Wait… Isn’t that your dad? It dawns on Quick Fix that she hadn’t seen her father around the house. She rushes to the outer walls, and sees two ponies making their way to the house. One of them is indeed her father, and the other appears to be the Battle Master. She immediately wonders how the Battle Master got to this planet and why, but the more pressing matter is that they are both friends and need to get to safety. “Hurry up you two!” she calls. “We’re expecting an attack any minute!” The two pause for a split second, then break into a full gallop, covering the last of the ground between them. “Quick Fix. What’s happening?” the Battle Master asks. “Derse is attacking. They want something from this house, and will take it by force. I don’t know what it is, but they aren’t getting it.” “Derse… We ran into one of their agents a little while back. They don’t seem like a friendly bunch. What can we do to help reinforce this place?” “We have a bunch of turrets. Help me set them up around the walls.” The two adult ponies nod and move to the house to retrieve the defense systems. Quick Fix’s confidence is greatly boosted; her father is an excellent shot, and the Battle Master was one of the strongest knights in Equestria. Derse wasn’t about to crack through now. Fancy Pants “Hide yourself, little buddy, but stay in the area.” Fancy Pants said to his salamander companion. “I have a feeling I’ll need to come back here when this is over. And this battle isn’t something you should get involved with.” “Alright.” he replies, looking up at the great monument looming above them. Four pillars rise into the sky atop an outcropping of rock. There is a platform atop it, but it can’t be seen from bellow. The road to this place was treacherous, but the rewards promised were great. However, for the moment, the prize would have to be postponed. A siege on Fancy Pants’ house was brewing. Luckily, he spied a Return Node only a short distance away. He nodded to his companion, who scurried off to find shelter, and Fancy Pants leapt into the gate. “Sis! Heavy! Get ready to fight! There are enemies inbound!” He skids into the next room, where both are already waiting. “Who’s attacking?” Fleur asks. “Some guys from Derse. They’re the ones commanding the imps and other monsters. I got the tip that they were coming from Quick Fix. Apparently we have something they want, but Quick Fix didn’t know what it was.” “Will these defenses be enough?” “They’ll have to be. Cheerilee is going to get us some dispensers to automatically refill the turrets. Heavy, you ready to blast them back if they get too close?” “Da. This line will not be broken.” Fancy Pants nods, and moves to his room with his sister. The dispensers start rolling out, and both quickly spread them around to supply the turrets. Afterwards, Fancy Pants runs a few more items through the Alchemiter, and finally obtains a powerful pistol, which he hands to Fleur. “We’ll do all we can to make sure they stay far away. But if it comes to it, I want you to have another line of defense on you.” She nods appreciatively, and the two go on to make several upgrades for the turrets, then break to install them. Fancy Pants’ device beeps, alerting him to two new messages. GG: Quick Fix, I see ‘em on the horizon! They’re going for a full-on frontal assault! Get ready! AA: Fancy Pants, your adversaries are taking a stealthier approach, but I can still see them approaching. They seem to have demolition supplies. Activate your shields, and be on-guard! He nods, equips his rifle, and moves to the balcony just above the second floor. He’ll get at least a few shots in before they reach the house.