//------------------------------// // Volt vs Lightning // Story: No sounds in space // by The Psychopath //------------------------------// Twilight had met up with Celestia who seemed to be discussing something with her guards about the current events. The lavender alicorn had overheard that there was a commotion in front of the castle. Apparently, the whole conundrum had been heard in the city below and the citizens became concerned with the well-being of their rulers. "No. You need to tell them that our alchemists had been performing experiments within the basement and an accident occurred," Celestia said. "Wouldn't that just stress them even more?" the guard wondered as she scratched her head. "You've already forgotten all the 'accidents' they seem to cause in one month alone?" "True. Fine. I'll try and spice the report up a bit more to make it seem like it was a rather enormous project." The guard saluted and galloped out of throne room, nearly bumping into Twilight during the trip. "Twilight?" Celestia noticed."Back already? How are our guests?" "Well, Pinkie Pie has been...bizarrely helpful. And Fluttershy seems to like them...save for the boney looking one," Twilight said as she averted her eyes. "What do you mean?" "Apparently, these beings have a great understanding of necromancy." Celestia's breathing nearly stopped as she stared at Twilight, anger filling her eyes. "What?" "Well, there was a rabbit who had died awhile ago in your garden. Fluttershy was going to bury it, but then the boney one was moving the body with strange orange tendrils coming from it fingers. I don't know how to explain it." "I see...They have already demonstrated technology far superior to our own. I wonder..." Celestia began to rub her chin in thought. "Well, anyways, I came here to know about the griffons." "You want to know about the current incident?" "No. Gaddaveer said he would be taking care of that himself." "Right. Then what do you wish to know?" "What exactly is with Gaddaveer?" "Well, as you know, he's a prince." "That may be, but why is he...like that? And why is he here? I know he's supposed to represent his people, but isn't it dangerous for a prince to leave his kingdom?" "Not exactly. In a way, he IS the prince of the kingdom, but he isn't anymore." "I...what?" "Well, he revoked his title to found the Ranchor house." "You can do that?" "Yes. In the tradition of the griffons, a male can secede from the house to found his own, provided he is or has attained a status of noble. Gaddaveer has always been...something special," Celestia said as she rubbed the back of her neck."He refused to take over the kingdom after his father would die, which enraged the king. He didn't want to be part of the same lineage, you see. Gaddaveer then gathered some allies and founded the Ranchor house after he officially declared his secession. Strangely enough, his 'friends' ended up being rather powerfully positioned griffons, with some being leaders of manufacturing companies while others had minor or major positions in the governmental stature." "So...he acts that way because of...stress, maybe?" Twilight wondered with nearly crossed eyes. "I think it's more likely that is his personality. He's blunt about his thoughts and feelings and doesn't care about the state of others during his 'revelations'." "Huh. Anyways, there's also the matter of the territorial conflicts between griffons and neighponies." "Yes. Unfortunately, until the two parties send us information regarding the sites, and our own archaeologists, being of a neutral party, analyze everything there, we can't discuss it yet aside from making simple assumptions." "And that wouldn't be effective in the matter," Twilight sighed. The sound of thunder crackled outside, giving off an ominous feeling to the ponies within the castle, dragging the attention of the two alicorns to watch the random flashes outside." "That's strange. I don't recall seeing anything about there being a thunderstorm by the weather team," Twilight said with a frown. Rainbow Dash hurried through the already destroyed doors and stopped right in front of Twilight, blowing wind in her face. "What's wrong?" Twilight asked. "I couldn't find the supreme commander in his office after asking the guards where it was then I looked around the castle really fast like I always do and went outside then this started to happen," Rainbow Dash took in a deep inhale. Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash with an estranged look while slowly turning to face Celestia. "Did you understand anything, princess? Princess?" Twilight asked. Celestia's face was suddenly overflown by fear. "I have the worst idea on what could be happening. We need to reach the garden right away!" Celestia rushed through the hallway with Twilight and Rainbow Dash asking what was going on. The look of the staff watching the flashes outside and the sounds of thunder were giving off a more fearful emotion from the situation until the three reached the garden. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were hugging a wall just underneath a tower while watching the scene. The whole middle of the maze had been completely destroyed and looked like a charred crater with dead branches growing out of the ground. The supreme commander was attacking the volt with lightning and thunder. He was somehow capable of controlling the weather in order to create lighting and thunder. The sight was nothing, if not impressive, as, while the commander was launching lighting from the clouds, the volt was dodging the blasts and throwing its own lightning at the commander, who jumped to the sides as well. Bizarrely, though, the other three were nowhere to be seen. The three galloped to the two ponies against the wall. Twilight was the first to ask a question to the two ponies hugging the wall. "What's going on? What happened? Why is the supreme commander fighting the electric biped?" "WellwewerehavingalittlediggingpartywherethecoldguywantedtomakeazengardensowestartedtodothatthenFluttershystartedtalkingtotheskinnyguyabouttheanimalsbutIdon'tknowifhecouldunderstandhersowekeptdoingsomediggingthenthescarystallioncameupsaying'Intruders. Must remove from grounds.'orsomethinglikethatthentheskiesgotdarkandtheystartedtofightsoIgrabbedFluttershyandwewentagainstthewall," Pinkie smiled. "...What?" Celestia moaned from a headache. "They were doing things then the supreme commander arrived, accused the four of intruding, and wants to remove them from the premises." "Oh, great. I need to stop them." Celestia had barely put a hoof forward that an enormous cannonball slammed right in front of her. The Volt had raised an enormous shield of electricity which was holding back the strikes coming from the commander. The warframe took out its glaive and threw it to the left, making it ricochet and catch the stallion off-guard, causing him to tumble over. This allowed the nekros to come out of the remaining bushes and strike at the pony, nearly slicing him in two if he didn't raise his own shield of electricity. The invisible blade only cut him slightly, but still caused a good bleeding. He was going to jump out of the way and thunder the nekros when the teech warframe jumped in front of him. The cannons on its back extended, twisted a bit, then faced the ground. The barrels fired, belching out an enormous amount of black soot and smoke that engulfed the garden. The ponies nearby began to cough and squint in pain as they inhaled the fumes, but the commander did not. His eyes teared up, but he continued to be vigilant. "What...the? What's wrong with him?" Twilight asked aloud. Lightning began to strike randomly in every direction in the smoke while the commander began to look around for the position of his enemies. Without warning, an enormous avalanche of ice and snow smashed through the smoke and caught everypony in its trap. Using his powers, the commander melted away the ice and snow by channeling extreme electrical through his body, only to be kicked in the air by the Volt, punched several times, causing him to spin in place, then to be kicked further into the grasp of the teech warframe who smashed him painfully into the ground. Even after this ordeal, the stallion wasn't about to give up, even with what seemed to be a broken foreleg. "That's enough! The puppeteer holds the strings still," Celestia shouted at the commander. "Huh?" Fluttershy wondered aloud. The warframes standing around the commander seemed to be taken aback by the sudden immobility of the stallion. "The puppeteer tells its doll to return to its case," Celestia added with worry. "I shall return to my office," the supreme commander said. Unfortunately, he was limping rather fiercely and his eyes seemed damaged, what with them being red like a bell pepper and leaking like a raining cloud. "No. You shall report to the infirmary for health inspection and assessment." "I shall do that." The group of ponies just watched the commander as he slowly limped into the castle, sometimes nearly tripping over whilst doing so. Pinkie Pie just looked blankly into the void, bringing the attention of Rainbow Dash to her. "Pinkie? You okay?" the cyan pegasus asked as she waved a foreleg in front of Pinkie's face. "That...was...AWESOME!" she yelled as she ran towards the four tenno and began to yell about everything she saw. "Princess, what just happened?" Twilight asked. "It's what I was afraid. The supreme commander is from project 'Puppet'. He is a puppet." "A what?" Rainbow wondered. "It was...I'll tell you tomorrow with my sister. For now, I suggest you see to the wellbeing of these aliens and get some rest later." The four just looked behind them to see Pinkie Pie laughing as she was being tossed hard and high into the air by the teech before being caught and going through the same process. The other three just seemed to watch as he did this. "At least Pinkie pie is having fun with them," Celestia thought to herself.