//------------------------------// // Twilight and her Gnomey inventions // Story: DiE: Glarin Ungard the Berserker // by InsaneJustin //------------------------------// Carl was moving Moe and all of the dogs to the pickup location. Commander Izi told him to meet with her soon as he dropped them off at the location, She wouldn't be able to move it by herself. Carl had done his best to explain to Moe what was going to happen, but Moe couldn't quite grasp the concept. "So this, Loon-er-a-tore, is a big magic flying wagon?" Carl nodded, he had adapted to talking as if he was speaking to a child. Mainly because Moe was still a child or Teen as he said. "Yeah, that's a very easy way to explain it, Once you see it I'm sure you'll understand even better." Moe and Carl were walking down the open streets with a few other night guards following behind them and all the dogs. None of the dogs seemed to be worried about where they were going. They seemed to be happy just to follow Moe around. They heard the gist of it, Moe broke out of the dog pound with all of those dogs out of what they assumed to be a window. As they don't know of any building using magic see through force fields. They were heading away from the lights and seemed to be heading for an area with what Carl had called a city park. Once they arrived at the center of the park, the two-night guards at the back of the group nodded their heads at Carl. Then they spread their wings and disappeared into the night sky. "Alright Moe, just wait here. Commander Izi and I will return shortly with the Lunerator. I've never actually seen it, or heard of it before." With a bit of a Smile, Carl spread his wings and took off into the night sky. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Carl went to the place Commander Izi instructed and waited... For about 10 minutes before she showed up. "Okay, So I'm not as coordinated as I used to be. Even with the engine working and the junky Autopilot, I couldn't get it to fly properly solo." Carl just shook his head. "Well, it IS about twice the size as Celestia's Skyship. I'll be happy if we can pull it off together without hurting ourselves or destroying it Commander..." The look on Izi's face indicated he should have stopped speaking a few words ago. "Watch your tone, Carl the Trusty. It just isn't set up for a single pony to control it, It has a double steering mechanism. One pony controls each side with its steering while we can just set the gas to auto. So when it's just me it has a heavy lean to one side. Its nearly impossible to keep it up and going straight alone... Unless you happen to be a Unicorn." Izi tilted her head with an overexaggerated look of expectation on her face while looking at Carl. Only to drop it a second later when Carl didn't respond with a yes, I am a unicorn. "So I guess the description of a big flying magic wagon was a bit off then?" "Its more of a Stealth Sky Carrier Private, We won't be able to use any of the weapon systems as they are on different consoles a bit out of our reach, but we should be able to get it to ponyville and back in about 10 minutes or less. Ever Since... You know what, You aren't even Classified to be knowing all of this, so don't tell anyone what were about to do. Just be happy you even get to help me fly it. " Carl just Saluted "Good, keep your mouth shut unless it's to talk to our guest. Mr. Diplomat." Carl Saluted Again, keeping his gaze straight ahead. The look on her face indicated she was rather peeved at him. Her sweet look had twisted into something a bit fowl. He followed her back to the hidden deployment on the mountain side near the castle. Inside were Celestia's Skyship and several other smaller ones along with her chariot. Commanders Izi's pace was more of a quick trot with the use of her wings to help her glide down to the back of the garage with ease. Commander Izi bucked over a barrel which caused the wall to open up leading to a hole that went straight down. "Unless you can see in the dark or bring some light, you won't see the entrance to the Hanger. There's no platform and the bottom of this hole leads outside at the bottom of the mountain. It's like a giant painful slide that's mostly just an 80-degree drop." Carl was glad he was a bat pony. It would seem this entrance was made for Lunar guards. Carl followed Izi down into the hole with it closing right behind them. About 60 feet down Commander Izi stopped diving and took a sharp left with Carl shortly behind her. Once they got inside the hole she leads him through a zigzag hallway before coming to a huge steel door. That wasn't locked apparently, nor did it need any kind of key, Commander Izi just pushed it open and walked in nonchalantly. It opened up into a huge hanger, which was surprising actually There was room for plenty more in the hanger. The lights were shining upon a lonely upsidedown Isosceles trapezoid shaped box. It was painted the same color as the night sky with what could only be called stars across its surface, they seemed to be twinkling. "So far you're the first Private to see it. Commander Fluffy and I were the only ones in the night guard to know of this. Luna has been working with a ton of unicorns to get this thing up and running. I heard Twilight Sparkle even had a hoof in building this thing." "This looks like something out of a sci-fi comic! How does it even fly with no wings?" Izi started with a brisk pace toward a control panel with Carl following behind, yet keeping his eyes on the huge box ship. "It uses Twilights gem Engine design. It used to eat up magic gems at a rate that wasn't sustainable. But the new gem design she made a few months ago, for 'Armor' none the less. Works the best for this engine once they are tweaked! Like really, that mare can be so smart at the wrong times and places." "So wait, she made a magic guzzling engine, then made an ever-lasting magic gem battery for armor? Is it like power-up armor? Or does it make a barrier?" "Private you're asking the wrong pony too many questions. Apparently, the gem Battery was for Sir Glarin to use. We ended up getting some as well with a letter and notes on how to install them inside the Lunerator. Now instead of using several hundred gems at once, it works on 3 supercharged Power Gems, with 3 more as a backup. It's a techno-magical marvel... You better be excited for this." Carl nodded his head as he followed her inside. He followed her through a few hallways that were all well labeled with a few maps on the wall outside a few key rooms. Like the cafeteria, the map even had a big red 'you are here' dot. Once they were in the command center Izi walked over to the left side and placed a hoof on the control panel. "Ok, this here is your side." She began to point different things out and explain what they did. "This controls the throttle on the left front pushy do-hickey..." Carl furrowed his brow and looked at Commander Izi "Yeah, I never got around to memorizing Twilights name for them, It was like 3 or 4 words or something long, Pain the flank. This one controls the middle pushy do-hickey, and this the back pushy do-hickey. The entire middle row will be set to autopilot, so we just need to coordinate with each other so we don't flip over or smash into any walls." Carl looked at all of the controls with the several levers and buttons. "So, why Doesn't this thing have like a single thing, that turns the whole thing?" Commander Izi just shrugged as she walked over to the center console. "Ask Princess Twilight, Princess Luna asked the same thing, Twilight talked her ear off for 30 minutes on the importance of the absolute control she can have once the system is mastered, and the ships design was something she refused to change for some reason." The ship's command center lit up with everything lighting up with a whirr to indicate that it was coming to life. "Now to get a few test drives in before we take this baby out. Princess Luna would kill us if we scratched the paint." Carl gulped as he struggled to remember which of the levers controlled what. Why did Princess Twilights Inventions always have to be so complex? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Moe looked around and saw that he was in the middle of a small open field with some trees near the outskirts of the area. Many of the dogs had taken to running around the field in the dark but stayed within earshot just in case something happened. Moe was sitting where Carl had left him and was rubbing his head. Glad to be rid of that 'helmet' he couldn't take off no matter how hard he tried. Moe was watching all of the four legged animals run around and wondered what they were called. Besides, the names he had given them. Suddenly Moe could see a big long box object floating around in the sky silently above them. A door opened and out dropped Carl who landed by throwing his wings out at the last second and stopping just inches above the ground. All without a sound. "Alright, Time to get you all inside as quick as possible, Commander Izi is keeping the ship stable, but I dunno for how long." Carl began to move at a quick pace, picking up the nearest dog one at a time after placing Moe on his back. "Alright Moe, just talk to the dogs as I take em up, keep them calm yeah?" Moe Saluted at Carl and began to pep talk the small dog that was in Carl's front hooves. Within a reasonable amount of time, Carl had loaded everyone on the Lunerator as was back in the cockpit with Commander Izi. "Private, is everyone on board?" Carl Saluted in her direction as he stood in front of his half of the controls. "Yes, Commander. Everyone's been stowed away in the mess hall nearby." Izi Looked at her console and used both of her front hooves to push two levers up, while her wings pressed various buttons around the console as well. "Why Did Princess Twilight make this so complex..." muttered Commander Izi as Carl did he best to keep his side steady. Within 7 minutes they had arrived on the outskirts of Glarins home near the Everfree Forest. "Alright Carl, I'll hold her steady while you get everyone out. Twilight's new gem batteries are fantastic, were still on the first set! And the fuel readout still says 87.354453...%..." Commander Izi sighed as she stopped reading the numbers on the fuel gauge. "Is this one a those tasty lights?!" Yelled Moe as he jumped onto a console in the back hitting a large orange button labeled fireball. Commander Izi Froze in Disbelief. Out of how complex it was to control this giant flying piece of technomancy. What with its two levers for engine speed control (A total of 4), and its buttons for each cylinder to each side (A total of 24). So that it would have total aerial control, just as a pegasus does. Yet It took only a single button to activate the weapons system. And it was simplistic like a child's toy cannon gun. No aiming system whatsoever, and it had a charge time. Commander Izi only had one thought. 'Why did Princess Twilight not include some kind of safety on the weapons system?' Since the ammunition was magic based, it's not like it took any time to reload. For whatever reason Princess Twilight never put much thought into the weapons system, other than total destruction it would seem. Afterall, an old friend once told her, who needs to aim, when you can just blow everything up? As Commander Izi and Carl watched a giant ball of Fire began to form in front of the ship. They began to panic, as it was aimed directly at Glarins house. Izi and Carl both began to work at a frenzied pace to turn the ship away and toward the Everfree Forest. By the time the weapon had finished charging it was aimed up over the Everfree Forest. It looked like a miniature sun had been put up into the sky, the forest was lit up in a light before it sailed a decent enough distance away and began to sink toward the ground. Moe, Carl, and Commander Izi both looked in total awe as the miniature sun exploded into a swath of flame and light no more than 800 yards out. According to the distance gauge anyway. "I think were out of a job Carl..." Carl gulped as what he was seeing on the screen was anything but subtle. "d-d-d-did m-m-Moe...?" Carl and Commander Izi both looked over to Moe who was shaking uncontrollably at what he just saw. "It's not Entirely your fault Moe... Just about 50%, for now, We'll just..." Izi stopped speaking when she looked up at the screen because she could hear what sounded like a roar in the distance. "Did we wake something..." Asked Izi almost sarcastically. The huge Command screen began to blip red until it zoomed out and refocused to the left side. Where a pinkish purple Ursa Major was on its hind legs standing and looking, not at them, but across the other side of the destruction. It would seem the fireball had landed not far from its home, and that a certain something attacked her. The magical computer system began to blip again, this time splitting the screen. The Ursa Major was on the left side with the right side zooming in on what appeared to be a Red Dragon emerging from his cave. "Oh no! Does the Ursa Major think the red dragon who moved into the Everfree a few months attacked her?!" Commander Izi was just watching the screen in disbelief. The red dragon emerged from the cave with a half-asleep look on its face. The look was quickly replaced with surprise at the sight of the destruction before it, with his neighbor running in his direction. Looking none too happy about it. "What the hell are we gonna do Commander?!" Commander Izi began to hit some buttons on the console and then began to walk back toward the mess hall. "Well, I'm gonna go make some popcorn. Pretty sure there's some in the mess hall. Not like there's anything we can do. Besides, we might as well gets the show of the century before we lose our jobs, titles, and become bums or some kind of vagrant." Carl just sat totally awestruck at everything that's happened tonight. He looked over at the screen to see the Ursa Major charging at the Red Dragon, teeth barred. The red dragon seemed to shake off his sleepiness and was beginning to brew some flames inside his mouth. Carl sighed as he walked over to Moe and held out a hoof. "You ever have popcorn before? I'm sure we can find something for your new friends to snack on before the show gets real interesting..." Moe was just shaking as he looked back to the screen. "I-i-i-is t-t-t-that..." Carl just gave a light chuckle "Don't worry about it Moe, Just enjoy it while it lasts." Moe had a very bad feeling inside of him. Why weren't they mad at him?