//------------------------------// // 20 - Sealing off the Sky // Story: Final Solution // by Luna-tic Scientist //------------------------------// Orgon watched, stone-faced, as Arclight Five came on and the tense scene in Naraka's control room dissolved into screams and chaos. The servitor's mane and tail had retained something of their strange mobility and colouration, despite the thaumic suppressor's effects. This is not going to end well, he thought, brow wrinkling. At his side, Merlon paused in her ministrations, the itch of the magic she was using to heal his burns fading to a gentle tingle. "That's not supposed to be possible," she said, a note of wonder in her voice. "The other servitor showed the same ability," Orgon said absently, wincing as the feed from Rthar went dead, the camera's final image that of a gryphon's talons. Battle management systems started to flag up attacks on the aerial forces, while Arclight Six tried unsuccessfully to lock onto Gravity Resonance. More units were on the way, but it would be kiloseconds before they were in range, such was the distance to their border racetrack paths. "Yes, Master... but that was a trace of telekinesis, while this... If we assume that the changes to her mane act as a marker for her enhanced thaumic abilities..." The Agent on STAR-5 has been successful, this much is obvious. Orgon watched the satellite feed as the heliostat's beam turned Naraka into a small but highly active volcano. This one still thinks Faungo made a mistake in not just bombing the place. "There is no evidence that the pony has joined its kin in attacking Lacunae military. Based on the close ties the pair seem to have, it is unlikely that it is able to esca--" An attack carrier and some escorts vanished from his tactical display, a tiny number compared to the whole, but prompting a cascading change to the military org chart as chains of command were re-established. The holes, only briefly highlighted, went all the way to the top. Faungo is dead, Orgon thought, and many of the command staff with him. He blinked at the display as if to change what it said. Perhaps putting the Strategist on a flying command station wasn't the best of ideas when facing an enemy with this much mobility. A priority call interrupted his musings, shunting the strategic overview to an unreadable bar down one side of the wall screen. On it were a collection of worried faces: the Synod core group. All looked like they had been roused from sleep, and many had the look of a Person who really wished this was a nightmare and that they were still in bed. Orgon's eyes widened slightly before he made a conscious effort to maintain a blank, attentive expression. This one has a horrible feeling that-- "The Sector Chief is promoted to Strategist," said a harried-looking Councillor Indutu, sitting at what must have been his kitchen table, "everything now depends on Orgon's ability to take command and resolve this situation in a way that causes the least additional damage. The new Strategist is to ask for whatever he needs to solve this crisis." Orgon blinked and straightened slightly. In other words, Orgon is to lay as much of the blame as possible on those who are safely dead. The Synod has practically guaranteed that Orgon will be trawled by the Court... although Indutu will be next on the table. Still, that was the likely outcome anyway, and at least now Orgon has the influence to do something about it. "This one has little experience of large-scale conflict." The words 'large-scale' provoked a reaction from the assembled Councillors, sort of a sigh that rippled from one to the other. "Military forces are better commanded by someone with the skills for it." "Orgon will have support for battle management. It is his familiarity with the servitor situation that is of greater use. These ones have about ten kiloseconds until the first audit teams arrive... and Luna will be above the horizon by then. It would be much less painful if--" Indutu gasped raising a shaky paw to point at something Orgon couldn't see. With a swipe he switched back to the strategic summary and read the terse machine-generated messages. Nuclear detonation detected near Naraka. For an instant, Orgon relaxed, slumping a little within Merlon's telekinetic field. This one knows it's a bad day when that is a relief! Ah, but... The dread, carefully concealed, returned, and he felt the room sway. They used the weapon on Arclight instead... Maker, it's going to get out! he thought, every muscle suddenly tense. "Shut down the heliostat!" he snapped, switching back to the group of councillors. Indutu just gaped back at him, face blank. "But it's the only thing stopping--" "That creature specialises in energy manipulation, idiot!" Orgon dropped the connection to turn to the Agent in charge of his improvised command post. "You heard Orgon -- now, or these ones will lose everything!" The Agent, far more used to taking orders than the group of politicians, hurriedly worked her console, then swore. "Arclight Six beta destruction confirmed. Primary uplink was through Six's battlegroup; trying for an alternate route to the heliostat. Arclight Five is maintaining lock on the Naraka target." She worked frantically for a few seconds, fighting through the suddenly scrambled command and control links. "Arclight Six alpha still has partial suppression of Gravity Resonance; the servitor is not attempting to tele--" The Agent breathed in sharply. "Arclight Five beta has been destroyed. Still no uplink; beta blackout and EMP from the nuclear detonation has disabled all the local transmitters. This one has ordered other assets to acquire a stable data path, but it will take time." Too much security in the covert connection, Orgon thought. Helpless to act, he stared at the screen as the seconds ticked by. Other units were scrambling from the closest bases, running engines at emergency power to get to Naraka. Even as he watched, one of the icons turned crimson as its drive failed catastrophically. The heliostat shone on, its beam filling the clouds with ash and lava. How deep has that gone? "Get this one an estimate of the penetration rate of that beam," he said, struggling to retain something of his normal calm. The wall display flickered as the orbital feed of Naraka reoccupied the screen. The volcano had disappeared behind a point of light so bright that it overwhelmed the anti-flash filters on the satellite. The glare bloomed further as a beam of light so bright it looked solid flicked out and around, making the clouds vanish and causing sparks to flash and fade where there once had been dense knots of aircraft. A moment later the beam seemed to shorten and turn upwards; the glare at the core of Naraka became intolerable in the brief instant before a 'connection lost' symbol flashed across the screen. More screens switched to their default views as orbital data feeds failed in a wide swath. Others, those dealing with the Naraka task force, were already a lurid red from the destruction of every single aircraft Lacunae had fielded. In the centre of the main display a timer appeared, counting down from one hundred, the words 'deadpaw activated' flashing in time with the seconds. The silence in the improvised command centre was suddenly filled with a panicked babble. "Shut that thing off," he growled, cutting across the dozens of conversations and waving a paw at the large countdown timer. "Target Naraka and the heliostat. This one wants them turned to ash." It will be too late, but Orgon has to try. === Geodetic was prodded awake by the insistent tickle of his comms disk, and was up on his hooves and trotting halfway down the corridor before the orders penetrated his sleep-dulled mind. A prickle of pain washed over his chest, like he was forcing a path through a dense mat of bramble, and an abrupt surge of adrenalin brought him fully alert. More ponies fell in behind him, emerging from the other herd chambers in the depths of the launch site's concrete carapace. "Any clue what it is?" asked Planar, a slender mare who'd shared his duty cycle for most of the two gigaseconds he'd been in the Masters’ service; she was his main pattern crafter. "Wrong time of day for a resupply launch, and I'm sure we've nothing in polar orbit that would need..." Geodetic shrugged. "Seems likely it's military, but..." His ears went back and he swallowed. "The Masters are the paws of the Maker," he muttered. "Yes," Planar said, with a shaky nod. "Yes. I just hope it's another drill." The pair, each at the head of a string of ponies, reached the end of the corridor and split apart, turning left and right towards openings into empty air. Geodetic glanced backwards, nodding at his pattern-forming lead team -- the three ponies trotting immediately behind him -- then reached the drop-off and dove down the wide shaft beyond. Opposite, a dozen lengths away, Planar was doing the same, followed by the other half of the propulsion herd. They fanned out as they fell with mantled wings, each dropping with practiced skill into one of the fifty alcoves that lined the otherwise smooth-walled shaft. Geodetic's nook was as familiar as his home corral -- not so much for what it contained, which was little except a white, recessed floor and a combined food and water dispenser by his head, but for the view and scent of his fellow ponies. They came and went, but more slowly than in many other parts of the Masters’ service. The work was hard, but if a pony was careful the only real risk was of a thaumic excursion; as that would ruin a very expensive launch vehicle, the Masters made sure to over-engineer their requirements. A siren whooped and Geodetic dropped to his belly, little flickers of magic pulling the padded straps from their automatic reels and over his body in a web that was snug enough to make any movement difficult. More magic lifted the headrest, and he rested his muzzle and neck in the soft groove down the centre of the curving safety support. # All servitors will prepare for launch procedure. # The familiar calm, synthetic voice spoke the same words it always did, from somewhere in the middle of his head. He replied with a directed 'ready', then closed his eyes, feeling for the rest of the launch herd. There was Planar, a familiar taste in the rapidly forming sharing, and he copied her, bringing all his ponies into the fold. There was a sense of such closeness with so many, that he felt his eyes fill with tears. Oh my Masters, I will never get tired of this. Thank you so very much. The machinery at the bottom of the shaft, no more than a dozen lengths under his muzzle, delivered the first launch vehicle. A slender thing, far smaller than the normal payload, something he'd only seen during the regular practice runs. Could still just be a drill, he thought, then risked a look downwards. Below the first was a chain of others, extending away into the dark, automated spaces below the shaft. He swallowed, taking a tentative hold of the projectile. His shadow sight showed no thaumic systems, like might have been within a satellite or supply capsule for an orbital station, only a single point of brilliance from something that wasn't magic, but physics. This is not a dummy round! he thought, a little whimper escaping his throat. Geodetic hesitated for a moment, scarcely more than a breath, then winced at the prickle of immaterial claws closing around his throat. Gritting his teeth, he called up the seed of the drive pattern, letting the rest of the herd slot into their places. The perimeter of the shaft lit up with rings of light as the tiers of ponies poured their strength into the pattern. Magic, the slightly off-white colour of so much blended power, swirled and coalesced up the core, a long tube of influence that stretched all the way to the surface, many lengths above. Strings of orbital state vectors flowed into Geodetic's mind, and he subtly altered the shape of the magic, twisting the exit path to manipulate the trajectory and fulfil the launch requirements. His body felt light, then lifted off the floor, only held in place by the safety straps, as the magic took hold of local space-time. Something close, on the ground, and something in orbit, far enough away that they want all the power we have. Dozens of orbital vehicles, but only two trajectories... perhaps there won't be others? he thought fleetingly, then all his effort went towards the combined spell. Together with fifty other ponies, he pushed. === There was still shouting and pleading coming from the other side of the locked hatch to the control room, but Laika ignored it. She watched, open-mouthed, as the heliostat's beam was redirected. Clouds vanished and little lights twinkled in the atmosphere below as the light played across them. Paws unfroze and she jammed her other leg into the flimsy emergency suit, running a claw along the belly strip to seal the opening. She looked down at the controls, but they were still dead. Still on full remote lockout of the mirror, she thought. "Turn it off, you idiots!" One paw hooked around a grab loop, she fitted the folding helmet to the collar ring -- the only other part of the suit that was actually rigid -- and closed the faceplate. "If this one can get back to the maintenance bay," she muttered. Yeah, and through that door that Laika so helpfully fused. A flick of a valve started the simple demand regulator, and she was breathing from the air stored in conformal bladders down her back. That done, she reattached her comms bracer and accessed the only part of the heliostat's controls that were still accessible -- atmospherics. Another flick activated her escape program, and the environmental systems switched from 20/80 oxy/nitrogen to the 5/95 of their 'firefighting' mode, only without the alarms that should have sounded at the same time. "Probably kinder than what awaits this one, if the Court catches up with her," Laika muttered. The gentle background hum of the life-support system didn't change, but the breeze from the vent became noticeably stronger. The sounds from outside the control room quieted, and Laika opened the hatch. Concealed weapon in paw, she jumped past the unconscious people floating in the short corridor beyond and towards the docking cupola with its pair of combination maintenance-and-escape boats. Twenty seconds later she had one of them undocked and drifting towards the maintenance bay and the primary mirror tensioning nexus. Laika flipped the boat-shaped craft's attitude, making it settle belly-first and in the correct orientation to use the waldo arms with their laser cutters, when the outside world changed to a brilliant, blinding white. "Warning, re-entry heat shield is ablating." Half blinded, despite the combined shielding of her own faceplate and the little spaceship's cockpit, Laika held one paw over her eyes and fumbled under the instrument panel, pulling sharply on a recessed handle, then twisting it to the right. Rocket motors fired, not the silent, gentle pressure of the in-orbit plasma drive, but the full-throated dragon-roar of the emergency solids. Acceleration threw her back along the length of the boat to slam against the rear hatch; Laika caught the side of her head against one of the emergency lockers and lay there stunned as the light outside bloomed and finally faded. "Not a nuke, otherwise this one would be dead," she muttered, moving back to the cockpit. The boat was no longer under hard acceleration, but was rotating under the influence of its momentum wheels. The planet, appearing about the size of a spread paw at arm's length, drifted across the windows, settling when it was overhead. Fastening the seat's restraints, Laika cast an experienced eye over the control board, freezing when she saw the error message repeated across the display. "This one hoped she had misheard..." she said softly. Amid all the minor errors -- sensors burned out, hairline cracks in the non-critical parts of the hull, and so on -- was the warning that the heat shield had lost almost half of its mass. Is that enough to get down? Laika swore loudly, the shout resonating strangely inside her pressure suit. "Still, there's no evidence as to what happened on STAR-5..." She looked out of the cockpit; the big reflector array was nothing more than an expanding cloud of sunlit vapour, packed full of glittering points. Uneasy, she noticed many other similarly dispersing patches of haze, at all points around the sky. Laika triggered an emergency ping on the radar/comms array, ears drooping at the small number of responses, all from uncrewed stations. The ground it is, then. She swallowed, allowing the simple autopilot to plot a descent trajectory. The plasma motor fired in its high-thrust, low-efficiency mode, emptying its reaction mass tanks distressingly quickly. Laika stared up at the disk of the world, using the one surviving camera to magnify the image. It was already starting to rotate as she left geosynchronous altitude; Lacunae was still visible, but all the bright circles of the other heliostats had vanished. In the reflected light of the debris ring, she could make out a dirty smudge that marked the position of her target. A perfect circle of pinpoints, lightning-bright, abruptly bloomed at the same location, the electric colour rapidly fading to little globes of yellow then orange as the fireballs rose and cooled. All for nothing, she thought, slumping against the restraints, they nuked the target anyway. What in the Maker's name is going on down there? For the next kilosecond she searched for any sign of other detonations, but there were no others. "That's something, this one suppose--" There was a flash and an ear-splitting crack from the passenger compartment behind her, followed by a thin, high-pitched whistle. Laika turned, then flinched as another flash-crack scribed a laser-straight line of light across the cabin. The hull breach alarm was sounding and the air turned hazy as the pressure dropped. Debris cloud... so many things were destroyed, and all those fragments will go on striking each other and forming more particles. She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. It will be gigaseconds before anything can survive in orbit... this one's only chance is to get down before the particle cascade takes hold. The next fragment to strike the boat was a main spar from one of the mid-altitude network of comms relays. It impacted at a closing speed of over ten kilolengths a second and carried with it the same energy as a hundred and twenty kilos of high explosive. === "One last target" Fusion murmured, her muzzle buried in the singed fur of Gravity's neck. She resisted the urge to yawn; she was feeling drained and the little protected volume they occupied was getting warm and a little stale, a result of inevitable thermal leakage and a lack of gas transfer. Her sister made a little disappointed noise, pangs of regret filtering back through the sharing. I can't keep this up forever, you know... and there is bound to be another response from the dogs, something more conventional. Inside the armour shell, her fur was sodden with sweat that alternated between steamy heat and icy cold as the magic trying to drain away the excess energy fluctuated with her limited concentration. More to the point, if I pass out, neither of us will be doing much in the future. Go to the mountains and help play catch... I'll finish up here. We were very lucky... I could have killed you with that beam. Fusion shivered, pushing away the idea. But you didn't. I'm never going to leave you. Gravity sighed and moved, pushing away from Fusion, who obligingly extended the protected zone. Apart from now. Gravity smiled, then there was a flash and she was gone. Fusion twisted the light a little more, folding the beam back on itself until it dissolved into disparate flickers and died. Stage by stage, Fusion allowed her magic to fade, letting in the outside air once more. She sneezed at the tang of combustion products and acrid gases hanging in the air, a turbulent haze that softened everything out to the horizon. A long way below were the remains of Naraka, little more than a lake filled with liquid rock that was slowly hardening to a glassy sheen. The wide expanse of fields around the crater were unrecognizable, covered with lava bombs and drifts of ash, while the distant ring of woodland, once filled with ponies doing their duty to their Masters, was ablaze. Above, the sky was clear and dark, without the dense and ordered shoals of moving lights. These had been replaced by clouds of twinkling points, flashing like a field of fireflies on a midsummer's evening. Everything was in chaotic motion, and little puffs of glowing vapour slowly expanded or grew twisting tendrils in the high-altitude magnetic fields. Fusion stared for a moment, ears drooping. How many of those lights held people who knew nothing about this fight? No ponies in orbit, at least as far as I know... or were there? Squeezing her eye shut, she pushed-- ~~~discontinuity~~~ --appearing in the high-ceilinged space above a throng of ponies. What are we going to do with you all? she thought, wincing at the sudden panicked whinnies and little rushed canters as they flowed away from her. Mares, so many mares. Where are all the stallions? Less than one in ten of those below her were male. One knot of ponies didn't move like the others, and she felt the first tentative touches of unfriendly magic as they lit their horns. At the centre of the group was Korn. The touch grew to an effort to hold her away, but the attempt was clumsy and made by ponies obviously out of practice. She walked forward, shunting aside their power while keeping her expression relaxed and attentive. "The immediate danger has passed, Academician Korn," she said, catching his eye, "but we cannot stay here for long. Perhaps you could ask your bodyguard to let me approach...?" He stared back at her, his own ears flat back, a look of fear on his face. I shouldn't have sent him in there alone... what has he told them? The dog slumped, leaning heavily against the rump of one of the ponies. "Yes," he said, eyes downcast, "this servitor is Fusion Pulse TC4668; she is here to take all these ponies somewhere safe... and Korn too, this one supposes." The last few words were muttered, his mouth barely moving. "Yes, Master... I think it would be wise to relocate as quickly as possible. Our enemy will not rest, even after the failure of their plan." Fusion lifted her head, scanning the herd. She was the centre of attention, at the focus of a thousand pairs of eyes and many whispered conversations. The looks were not hostile, but wondrous, and she could feel the cautious magical inspections from the ponies closest to her. How many of these have been in here all their lives? Her ears folded back for a second at the thought, and those within a body-length flinched away. "Everypony," she shouted, jumping into the air to hover above the heads of the herd, "the time has come for you all to leave this place and go somewhere better." She built the teleport pattern, then pushed-- ~~~discontinuity~~~ --reappearing on the other side of the chamber. Under her arrival point there were more shrieks and panicked canters, a mass flow of bodies away, but that immediately turned to wonder. "I don't have much time to explain your situation, but to stay here will mean certain death." The whispered conversations became shouts, filling the room with chaotic, unintelligible sound as Fusion flew back to Korn. The closest pony, one of the group that had sheltered Korn, pawed at the ground with one hoof. "Leave? We can't leave. Our orders are to stay here -- this is our home; we are here to play our part in the Masters’ plans." His eyes were wild, and he was practically dancing on the spot in agitation. "Academician? Is this true?" he said, abruptly wheeling on Korn. Korn remained silent, and something twisted inside Fusion's gut. "Master," she said, practically hissing the word, "if you stay here you will die, along with all these ponies." Her head lowered and she placed her muzzle next to his flattened ear. "You will tell them to follow my orders, or I will leave you to whatever Security has planned for this place next." He flinched away from her touch, paws coming up to ward her away. Fusion stepped back as the mood of the ponies around her changed. Ears had folded back and more than one horn glowed with the hazy colours of undirected magic. What is he thinking? That he may as well be dead -- or that all of these ponies should die so they can't join us? Time, it always comes down to time! She stomped a hind hoof and stood bolt-upright with flared wings, flinging a pulse of plasma high into the air, where it exploded with a crack against the ceiling. "How many of you know what the outside of Naraka looks like?" she demanded, removing the shackles from her own power and using it to boost the volume of her voice and making it echo from the far wall. "I can tell you that it has changed!" An image, bright and vibrant, spread over part of the high wall behind her: a view of Naraka from altitude, burned and scorched ground devoid of anything but drifts of ash and burning trees. At the very centre of the new wasteland was a sullen red eye; a still-cooling lake of molten rock. "This is what is directly above your heads... this is where all the smoke was coming from. Your home is now a death-trap." Korn stared up at the glowing picture, eyes roving from one side to another before settling on Fusion. "What did this?" he said faintly, but that slight utterance was enough to render everypony around him mute and attentive. "Heliostat. Now do you see? Wasn't the nuclear weapon enough of a clue as to the nature of their desire? I tried to negotiate, and this is what they did!" Fusion felt herself grow warm, and the ponies around her blinked in the sudden brightness, fresh shadows stretching out like the spokes of a wheel. "Hundreds of gryphons are dead in the tunnels, all to hold back the force they sent to block any escape through the depths." Taking a step back and turning his head away, Korn held up one paw. "Please, the pony must calm down. This one will do as she suggests," he said, then relaxed slightly as the light faded. "What does Fusion suggest?" "I will teleport everypony away. Tell them to lie down and hold their wings in. There will be a sudden shift in velocity, and they must not try to fly until they are slow enough." Korn nodded and opened his mouth to relay the instructions, but the closest ponies had already seen his movement and were passing the orders back to their fellows even as they fell to their bellies. Gravity, Fusion thought, finding her sister and opening a sharing, I have many ponies for you. Most can fly, but-- "Will we be able to see our foals?" The question came from a skewbald mare with a shaved belly, standing a few paces away, and contained a level of hope and dread that made Fusion feel abruptly ill. It wasn't directed at her, but at Korn. Of course; who else? There was a small head poking out from under her wing; the foal was very young, perhaps only a day or two old. Korn didn't answer, and just stared at the mare in confusion. "Of course you will; no one will take your foal away," Fusion said. She shook her head. "Not this one, the others. From before. Master?" Her gaze went back to Korn. The dog looked at her and Fusion tried to keep her expression calm, but something must have leaked out, because he flinched. "I..." Fusion's mind went blank, and she glanced out over the herd. How many mares? How often have they foaled? "I'm not sure," she said weakly. "Perhaps." That seemed to satisfy the pony, and she closed her eyes, folding her wings tightly around her gangly foal. Gravity, there are foals. Be ready. An image of high mountains around a deep valley, filled with the pastel rainbow of ponies on the wing. More were scattered about the valley floor and steep sides. "I will send you through in batches," Fusion called out. "It will not hurt, but you will appear high in the air and moving quite fast. There are ponies at the other end ready to help you." Not waiting for a reply, she built the spell, selecting the nearest hundred ponies and lifting them a little off the ground, then pushed. === Random absently ran one denuded wing along the flank of Shock Diamond, feeling the little trembles run through the blue colt's flanks. Like the others, he was transfixed by what Fusion was doing, and what she looked like. What has she done to herself? The waves of colour running down the other mare's mane and tail seemed to vary a little in hue and intensity as she spoke to the skewbald pony next to her. The motion made her feel queasy, and she deliberately averted her eyes. She doesn't seem to be mad, like the Master said. The taste of Fusion's magic was not quite right; it was certainly her, but there was something more there. She radiated strength like heat radiated from an open fire. What was she doing above us a few seconds ago? I think it was her, but how could it have been? The vast sweep of magical fields had lit the sky, filling the shadow universe with sculpted geometric shapes, at the core of which was a single point of light, too bright and distant to get any detail. Random shivered, then smiled down at Shock, who'd drawn a little closer and was looking up at her in worry. "Did Fusion do all that magic? I could feel..." He trailed off, eyes and ears focused on the white mare. "But how? It was so strong!" Random nodded and pawed the ground gently with a forehoof. "I think it was," she said softly. Stronger than you know, Shock. To be felt down here, at this distance... If that's true, how am I going to help the Master? There's nothing I can do to match that. Fusion called something out, then the familiar tingle of active magic swept over her. A whole section of the herd, fifty or a hundred ponies, was surrounded by a golden nimbus as they were lifted into the air. Fusion's expression didn't change and Random felt cold inside. By the Maker, it was just her! That's got to be fifty tonnes, without really trying. More magic, this time complex and alien in design, flicked out, and all the floating ponies vanished. The herd had been expecting it, but still everypony around her flinched. Random dropped into shadow sight, hunting for any sign that the ponies had just been hidden, but there was only a fast-fading trace of power, then nothing. Fusion, though... A sculpture made of ice, lit from within by a flare of white-gold radiance, like the pitiless glare of the noonday sun. The intensity of the light dwarfed everypony around her, and was almost like a tangible pressure beating against Random's mind. Are you even a pony anymore? Fusion made the next batch of ponies disappear, then the next; Random tried to follow along with the spell, but it was alien to the normal modular spell pattern design, all fractal complexity and unexpected self-referential loops of arcane power -- to the point where it was a wonder a pony could manage the thing at all. I've got to stop this; my Master is relying on me! Little prickles of pain started to tread up her spine, the gentle precursor to the gnawing mouths she'd fallen victim to during testing. Unseen amid the crush of bodies was a Master, visible now the herd had been thinned. He stood at Fusion's side, and Random trembled as his gaze swept over her. Help me, Master! Her ears went back, but he didn't pause, didn't step forwards to take charge of the situation. Instead, there was nothing more than the look of a rabbit caught in a trap, the look of one desperate for some way to escape. Fusion stepped to one side, placing herself in the centre of an arc of ponies; when the Master didn't follow, subtle jabs of magic prodded him into motion. Fusion swept her head from left to right, saying something that had the feel of a phrase she'd used many times before, and everypony around her dropped to their bellies and folded their wings tightly. Random just stood there, knees trembling, unable to avert her gaze from Fusion's alabaster white face and its single, magenta eye. Flickers of light, like the distant flames of burning arcologies, were in those depths. That's what she is! She will be the death of all of us! Breath coming in fast little pants, Random opened her mouth to say something, anything, that would stop this madness. I could denounce her right here... I have orders from the Sector Chief himself. She can't stop all these ponies, can she? If we work together-- The mouths along her spine opened wide and their fangs sank deep into her flesh. But what can I do? The spell the Sector Chief's servitor had shown her glittered in her mind, begging to be used, but she resisted. Not now, it will do no good here. "I said, please lie down, it will be safer for you when--" The distance vanished from that eye, replaced with pain and a glistening welling-up of tears. "Random?" The voice, so firm and insistent a moment before, became hoarse and near-unintelligible. Something sharp jabbed her in the flank, something real and not the more rarefied pains of the Maker's Punishment, and she jerked, muscles screaming with the tension of being held rigid so long, stumbling forwards into Fusion. The other mare swept her wings forward in an instant, wrapping them around her body. "Red said he'd seen you, but I didn't dare hope that it was true." Random tried to pull away, but her traitorous muscles refused to respond, and her neck grew damp with Fusion's tears. "You are the only one who came to see me," she said, voice trembling. If she trusts me, I can... She swallowed, her own vision going hazy as the Punishment left her. The tears flowed in earnest, and she slumped into Fusion's embrace, trying to hide under those great, white wings. Then that is what I have to do. === ~~~discontinuity~~~ Fusion, holding Korn in her magic, appeared in the smoky, scream-filled darkness, homing in on Redshift's hornlight. Beneath her hooves was a cleared space filled with wounded gryphons. The uninjured, or merely walking wounded, moved among them, working with the scattered contents of a dozen emergency kits. Around that was a perimeter comprised of more gryphons, ones who looked larger than average, claws and beaks facing outward so they formed a ring about the injured. As she watched, a pair of the inner group, individuals so badly burned that it was hard to tell their species, let alone gender, vanished in pulses of crimson light. The smell of burned feathers and scorched flesh was strong, and she swallowed heavily, trying not to flee. This is the result... this is what awaits us all if I continue. Fusion bowed her head and let herself fall to the ground. But what choice was there? Everyone's lives were forfeit before I even set hoof in this place. "I used the time to collect all the wounded," Redshift said as she landed at his side, not looking up as he lifted the next pair, "and shifted Rthar and his gryphon." He gestured to one side, at a pair of bound shapes, only just visible between their guards. "We never had an accurate count, so only the Maker knows how many are dead under the rubble." "Good. I won't leave anyp-- anybody alive behind." Fusion picked a sector of the triage site, lifting all of the gryphons off the ground. Gravity, we're sending all the wounded gryphons first. Catch them carefully. --said, get out of the sky. If you want to help, start by organizing yourselves! The returning thought was loud enough to make Fusion blink. Sorry, sister, we are just clearing the arrival zone of all the ponies you sent through. Give me a count of ten before you start. There was a pause, then Gravity's thoughts came again, but more hesitantly. There's something new in the sky... after you cleared out all their satellites, it became easier to feel what was left. I... I think they might be using the ground launchers to fire at you. It feels like the place I was going to work at. Understood; I won't delay. Keep me updated when you are sure. Fusion nodded unconsciously, then flicked her ears forward as Ellisif cantered up. "Yes, sersjant?" she said, forming the teleport pattern and pushing the gryphons away. "Losses were about three hundred, ma'am," the gryphoness said in a clipped tone, "but the dogs’ weapons are so lethal against unarmoured troops that I'm amazed we got away so lightly." Ma'am? "Lightly," Fusion echoed, her legs trembling slightly. "I suppose the survivors will not want to come with us now." Ellisif looked at her with an open beak, then gave a harsh caw of laughter. "Are you kidding? This was a victory. Right now I could lead them in a charge on Arcology One and the Synod's bunker complex!" Fusion blinked at the gryphoness, then shook her head. "I see," she said softly. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. "I have destroyed most of the dogs’ orbital assets to slow any response, and nothing remains of the fleets that were attacking us. I want to send your people to our hiding place in the mountains... can you control them?" "You did what!?" Ellisif shook violently all over, then straightened, as if she was a pony making a report to a Master. "You want me to take command of them?" There was a gleam in her eyes as she said the words, and Fusion felt a little cold inside. "Yes. Can you?" Ellisif waved a claw at the circle of guards. "I can. There will be some dissent, but most of these are untrained. I can handle them." "Pick a security group to go through first; I want no accidental violence against my people. I will not interfere." Unless I have to. "You have until I've sent through the wounded. Keep this one safe." She passed a terrified-looking Korn to the gryphoness, who nodded sharply and sprang away, shouting out orders. Fusion stared after her, then picked up the next batch and pushed. At her side, Redshift was starting to get twitchy, half starting to speak before remaining silent. Fusion closed her eyes and sent another two batches of gryphons to the mountains, but left Rthar and Olvir behind. They had run out of wounded and started on Ellisif's trusted security teams; the teleport batches grew bigger as those she sent were able to manage their own flight on arrival. "Redshift, you go through. I'm sure Shock Diamond would like to see a familiar face." "No, I want to--" "You are a bad liar, Red." Fusion snorted and gave him a nudge with one wing. "Go and see your colt." With a grateful, and slightly guilty, look, he vanished with a thump and a flash of red light. And it's not like you will make much difference. She exercised her strength and picked up another group of gryphons, larger this time, feeling the tightness of their muscles through the field as they tried not to show fear. Perhaps they have a right to be afraid. Shadow sight counted the ones who remained; by this point there were none outside the circle of cleared floor. Fusion sent the last of the gryphons away, then picked up Rthar, Korn and Olvir. "Gravity says something is coming, some projectile launched from one of Lacunae's ground-based mass drivers. I suspect they have decided to try more nuclear weapons." "This one expects so," Rthar said, glancing at Korn, who was looking fearfully at the ceiling. "Rthar won't help the pony." "Perhaps... perhaps not," Fusion muttered. And where is Salrath? Hopefully dead and vaporised by now. "I can't send you to the others, but I can't let you go, either," she said, staring hard at Rthar. Things are going to be bad enough when I get back without turning up with two Masters as prisoners. What will everypony do when they discover we lied to them? She turned a slow circle amid the wreckage, then lifted her head to stare through the ceiling and into what remained of the constellation of pastel lights at the core of Naraka. One last thing to do. === A flare of orange light, followed by a meaty sound and an outraged squawk. There was a roar of anger, immediately silenced by answering cries and the sounds of a scuffle. Ellisif sighed and turned back to Svartr. "What was that again?" Out of the corner of one eye she watched a pair of her newly-minted korporals enthusiastically restraining another of the Naraka gryphons. The pony, an orange stallion who'd been helping with basic medical treatment, stepped nervously forwards again, no doubt saying something in those soft voices that even the males seemed to have. "I said, what makes you think working with these ponies is a good idea? It's obvious they don't need us." Svartr looked upwards, vaguely waving one set of talons. "I mean, look at what just one of them did." The night sky, currently turning pale as dawn approached, was an alien thing. Gone were the familiar bright points of the low-orbit arrays, the heliostats and the satellite constellations. In their place were a multitude of twinkling points and the streaks of hundreds of meteoroids. "This is true, but that pony is... different. Most are far weaker and vulnerable to Arclight. Without magic, they are helpless." She held up a set of talons and closed them into a needle-pointed cage. "We are not. All the military equipment is designed with Arclight in mind; the dogs don't make weapons for ponies." "Which we don't have," Svartr said, but nodded slowly. "So what now?" "This rabble is going to be a pain in the wingroots, but they do have the warrior mindset." Another squabble had broken out among the gryphons waiting to be seen by the medic, and the korporals set to work breaking it up; this time the pony only flinched and his magic didn't stop. "They'll soon figure out that the only thing a warrior does is die alone. I need you and the rest of the flysoldat to start a training cadre. This lot only needs to put on enough of a show to convince one of the regiments to rebel, then we'll have all the soldiers we need." "A fine plan, but we're going to get nuked as soon as the dogs can rebuild their surveillance network." "Perhaps, but the pony has trashed everything in orbit, and not just Lacunae's assets, if I can believe her." Ellisif grinned savagely. "The surveillance kit they'll need to find us will take time to get in position, and I'll bet one of these ponies can hide us from the sky. I think they'll have to go atmospheric, and the world is a big place." Ellisif paused, her smile fading. "This is our chance. You were wrong, I think. Fusion isn't weak, but she is horribly naive. If we can partner with these ponies, they can break the dogs’ hold on both our species... then we can drive this war through to its logical conclusion. She doesn't know it yet, but we're going to exterminate the dogs down to the youngest pup." "I don't think she'll go for that. No matter what you think, I still say she's too soft." "Perhaps." Ellisif shrugged, a sudden mantling of her wings. "That's why I plan to talk to Gravity first." === ~~~discontinuity~~~ --Fusion appeared in the deep valley, surrounded by the cubical cases of her final burden. This final jump was short, just long enough to take her from their original shelter, where she'd imprisoned Korn, Rthar and Olvir behind a large boulder. Most of the ponies were on the ground below, scattered through the trees or clustered on the stony banks of the fast-flowing river at the bottom of the valley. Gryphons occupied one whole section: the delineation between their subdued greys, reds and browns, and the pastel riot of the ponies, was sudden, marked by an empty patch of ground. Ponies she recognised were moving among the new arrivals, little flashes of magic visible to her shadow sight as they were stripped of the Blessing. Those that had already been checked were moved underground, through one of the hidden entrances Scalar had built. No fights, no panic... can they not know? Amid the herds she saw Gravity, surrounded by a crowd of awe-struck foals and their dams. Others had seen her arrive; a little group of ponies had gathered by one of the entrances. Trocar and Spiral were huddled together with Random, and were completely uninterested in anything else. Next to them were Metal Matrix, Doppler, Redshift and Helium Flash. My sire! Fusion fixed her gaze on the larger male, eye roving over his turquoise coat. He was uninjured but tense, his weight shifting from hoof to hoof and ears alternating from flat back to pricked forwards. Other ponies were gathering behind him; most of the rest of her home corral. Fusion landed in a puff of dust and scattered leaves, gently placing the stack of cubes down on the ground. "Sire, I..." How much do you know? What can I possibly say? I have killed countless Masters. "I saw what you did," he said. "We all did. You lit up the sky." "You... did?" She swallowed, backing away from the intensity of all the stares. "That young pony, the one with the broken back... he linked us all into the sharing. The insides of Naraka--" He closed his eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath. "The Masters are the paws of the Mak--" Helium sagged, deflating like a punctured water bladder. "But they are not, are they? Spiral told us about the Blessing..." Tears welled up in his eyes, running through already dampened fur. Fusion stepped forwards, wings half open, but Helium moved back slightly. "The Master said you were dead, and now you are not. If it wasn't for you... perhaps it would have been better if you had died. You brought all this on us," he said, turning away and stumbling through the herd. Many of the older ponies followed him. Breathing hard and legs trembling, Fusion watched him vanish into the underground shelter. Is this how it's going to be? She turned to Metal Matrix, one of the stallions who'd been part of her Blessing cohort. "What about you, Metal?" Or the rest of you? Do you all think that? Ears folded back, the stallion snorted. "Spiral lied to us, told us that we were being attacked by another Hive..." He stood there for a moment, mouth working. "...I helped hold down one of the Masters while Backdraft broke their suits. We left Spiral alone with them... what did she do?" "I don't know," Fusion whispered. Oh Maker, Spiral... I think you've been hurt worse than any of us. Her ears drooped. If you did exact a little revenge, I somehow doubt you'll beat what I just did. "We have been stretched so thinly, there's been no time--" He cut her off with a stamp of a hind leg. "I hope they are dead," he snarled, muzzle twisted and ugly, "I just wish I'd been there to help. They sent that Agent to hurt your dam, now these ones to torture and kill us for no reason other than to get to you." The rage left his features, replaced by a look of wonder. "I could never have felt like this before. It's like I had a bag over my head... and now it's gone." "There is going to be more death than just this, if you go ahead," Backdraft said, her croaky voice cutting through the shocked silence that had followed Metal's announcement. "I was on the clean-up crew after the Masters dealt with one of the gryphon regiments." She smiled slightly, flexing the stump of her right wing. "We were never told what happened, but there were a lot of dead gryphons. They went down fighting, though... it took us a long time to defuse all the improvised ordnance. We were all ordered to never discuss it, but that doesn't seem to matter anymore." "What are you saying?" Metal said. "That if they find us, there will be no mercy and no chance of redemption," Backdraft said, looking steadily at him. "It is already too late for all of us." How much of this conversation would even be possible, if it wasn't for Salrath? "You seem remarkably resigned to this, Backdraft." Fusion said, feeling cold at the certainty in the other mare's voice. Metal remained silent, his ears drooping from their previous alert stance. "I have seen much in my life... and I am like Slipstream, in a way. I have had no direct contact with the Masters for many winters. It... it was very hard, at first, going from that high-pressure environment, where I was good at what I did and was valued for it, to what I am now." She smiled slightly, a bitter thing that did not reach her eyes, but then her face softened. "It has had its compensations. I got to see all of you grow up... and as time went by, I no longer felt the Maker's voice as keenly. It let me keep up with the endless foal questions." A brisk shake of her head had her long mane whipping back and forth. "But even with all that, I could never have lifted a hoof against our Masters." Her voice faded, sinking to a bare whisper. "Perhaps in another gigasecond..." "Given what I discovered about the Blessing, that actually makes sense," Fusion said, her throat dry. "Will you help?" "I had this conversation with Spiral, back in the corral when she lied to everypony about who was attacking us." Fusion made to speak, but Backdraft shook her head again. "No, I can see it was necessary, given the circumstances. A panic would have killed us all." She looked up, then nodded sharply. "Of course I will help, but I want to know it all." Behind her, Metal and the other, mostly younger, ponies gave similar grim-faced expressions of agreement. "And you will, once we've finished removing the Blessing from all of the Naraka ponies," Fusion smiled tentatively back. "It's been so hard, lying to you all and watching you suffer when I could..." Metal Matrix stepped forwards, leaning in to brush muzzles with Fusion. "Nopony should have to be alone," he said softly. "We'll all help." Moisture glinted in his eyes. "How could we not? All those ponies locked away, all those foals." His gaze settled on the pile of grey metal cubes Fusion had brought with her, and his ears folded back. "That's them," he said flatly, "why did you bring them here?" Fusion sighed, running one wingtip over the boxes, now silent and dark. "Only a few. There were rooms full of them. Because their dams don't know... and they deserve something more than not knowing. There's precious little left to send on, and no fields to spread their ashes through, but a dam should know what happened to her foal."