Twilight trotted through the Palace, Keyan’s syringe floating along next to her. The unicorn was on her way back to her room. She was staying in the same room she had while she was studying in Canterlot so it was equipped with an impressive array of scientific tools and instruments. Among those was a microscope, which she was eternally grateful for.
Keyan had told her twice now to look at the syringe under a microscope, but she was unsure why. To the naked eye, the liquid inside looked light slightly clouded water, nothing special about it. But the same could be said about a lot of things.
Humming a dainty tune Twilight rounded the corner to her room, she swiftly stepped inside and made her way to the door that led to her laboratory. She gently placed the syringe on a table and moved towards her supply closet. Being careful not to knock any of the expensive knickknacks dotting the counter Twilight managed to find some extra slides for her microscope.
With experience born from massive amounts repetition Twilight levitated the tiny glass planes and carefully placed them next to the syringe. A short while later she had a perfectly prepared slide ready. There was a small amount of the syringe’s solution in between the two small panes of glass. Still humming the tune, Twilight levitated the slide onto the microscope. A small flick of her hoof angled the mirror below to shine light up into the eyepiece. Without further ado she put her eye to the eyepiece and promptly froze.
Idly swimming about it the aqueous solution, was what looked like little bugs. They were very spider like in appearance, made out of a dull grey metal. Small legs propelled them around, deftly maneuvering around each other. Switching to the highest magnification she continued to observe them.
She knew that Keyan had extremely advanced technology. After all he could travel the stars, but this was on another level entirely. It was one thing to make things big, to make functioning machines this small was nigh impossible. And Twilight saw what these machines were capable of, they had healed the CMC right in front of her. And even though Twilight didn’t see it, they had repaired Rainbow’s body from basically scratch.
Twilight was awed. The implications of this were astounding. Previously life-threatening injuries would be a quick fix, ponies who had permanent disabilities could have them repaired. Paralyzed ponies could walk again! The entire thing sent her mind into a tail spin. There was one thing that she knew: she had to show it to somepony else. Without a second thought Twilight spun around and rushed out into the main room. Hardly slowing she threw open the door to the hallway and burst outside.
Only to find herself colliding straight into Rainbow Dash.
Twilight suddenly found herself on top of her prismatic friends, muzzles inches from each other. They each had matching looks of shock on their faces.
“Hey Twi,” Rainbow said softly.
“Hey,” came the diminutive response.
They watched as duplicate blushes crept up the others face, their warm breath dancing across the other. Neither of them knew how long they were like that, just reveling in the touch of the other’s fur on their own.
“So whats up?” Rainbow spoke, her voice little more than a whisper.
Twilight’s mind suddenly ground back into motion. Stammering out apologies the unicorn swiftly helped her friend back to her hooves.
“Oh I’m so sorry Rainbow. I wasn’t looking where I was going and--”
Rainbow waved her hoof,
“Don’t worry about it Twi. So what’s got you in such a hurry anyway?”
Twilight suddenly remembered the reason why. Her face suddenly broke out into a huge grin and she started pulling Rainbow into her room,
“Let me show you!” Twilight squealed, “Its so cool!”
Rainbow raised a skeptical eyebrow but allowed her friend to drag her into the room. Twilight swiftly bundled the pegasus into her laboratory. Rainbow didn’t have much time to process the massive amount of egghead in the room as Twilight pulled her over to a microscope. The prismatic mare watched as her friend looked through the eyepiece and fiddle with a few knobs and dials. In a short few moments Twilight pulled back and smiled at her friend,.
“Alright, go ahead and look.”
Rainbow obligingly did so and her mouth promptly opened up in shock when she saw the nanites swimming around. She pulled away and looked at Twilight with an uncontrollable smile on her face,
“Oh my gosh thats Awesome!”
****
Twilight was currently in another place entirely.
Rainbow was doing that face again. The same one she was doing when the two of them were stargazing together.The memory suddenly burst back into her head, in all its glory.
This was the mare she liked.
This was the mare she liked liked.
A thousand scenarios suddenly ran rampant through Twilight’s head. Should she tell her? How would she react? Would she not want to be friends anymore?
What if she liked her back?
***************
Rainbow’s smile faded as watched her friend’s expression shift a through a myriad of different changes. She reached out a hoof and gently tapped Twilight,
“You okay Twi?”
This seemed to do the job as Twilight suddenly shook her head and re focused.
“Oh sorry Rainbow, I got distracted. But what do you think of these ‘nanites’?”
Rainbow smiled again,
“They’re awesome Twi! Not as awesome as me of course, but pretty close.”
Twilight giggled and rolled her eyes,
“Whatever you say Rainbow.”
Rainbow opened her mouth so say something but swiftly lost her train of thought. Twilight was standing right there, in all her adorkableness. Rainbow bit her lip as Keyan’s words came back to her,
“The ones that go out and make something for themselves, they’re the ones you hear stories about.”
Rainbow took a deep breath and summoned all the courage she could muster. And without further ado,
“I like you Twilight.”
*****
Twilights already scrambled mind was once again blown apart when she heard Rainbow. And the thousand fantasies that she had previously smothered came back in full force. A small, rational part of her mind swiftly forced out a single word,
“like?”
Twilight watched her friends brow furrow,
“Let me rephrase,” Rainbow took another deep breath, “I like like you Twilight. Alot.”
Twilight’s breath hitched in her throat.
“you like like me?”
Rainbow nodded.
Twilight’s face suddenly exploded in a wide smile. Without realizing it she broke into a spontaneous
“Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes,” as she bounced around the room. Singing her joy to the scientific instruments around her.
Rainbow’s eyes followed the mare as she bounced around, putting Pinkie to shame in her excitement.
Twilight suddenly saw her friend, and the unspoken question in her eyes,
“I like like you too Rainbow!”
Rainbow broke out in a huge grin matching Twilight’s,
“Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh,” she said as she came to terms with what she just heard.
Twilight suddenly threw her legs around Rainbow and they bounced up and down together, each shouting out exclamations of joy. Eventually their mirth died down and they realized how close to each other they exactly were. Twin blushes once again crept on to thier faces.
“So what do we do now?” Twilight asked.
“We go on a date thats what,” Rainbow said with a smirk.
Twilight blushed even harder,
“I’ve never been on a date before.”
Rainbow comfortingly patted Twilight on the cheek,
“Don’t worry Twi, I’ll worry about the specifics. All you gotta do is say yes.”
Twilight smiled sheepishly,
“I’d love to Rainbow.”
“Great!”
The two ponies smiled at each other, still embracing each other. Sensing her chance, Rainbow slowly leaned in towards Twilight, pulling the unicorn to her with her iron legs. Twilight’s ears splayed back as she realized what her friend was about to do.
“Are you going to kiss me Rainbow?”
Rainbow gave Twilight a flat stare.
“Don’t ruin the mood Twi.”
Twilight gave a sheepish smile,
“Sorry.”
Rainbow rolled her eyes and leaned in once again. This time Twilight leaned forward as well. But sadly, it was not to be. The two mare’s foreheads collided with an audible thunk.
“Ow!” they both said simultaneously as they pulled away from each other, rubbing their foreheads.
Now a few feet from each other, the moment was completely broken.
“Can we try again?” Twilight asked sheepishly.
Rainbow shook her head sadly,
“I’m sorry Twi, but I want our first kiss to be something special. And the moment is kinda dead right now.”
Twilight sighed,
“I’m sorry.”
Rainbow waved a hoof,
“Don’t worry about it Twi, we’ll have another during our date tonight. Meet me at the top of the this tower okay?”
Twilight nodded,
“Okay Rainbow. Can I ask what we are going to do?’
Rainbow smirked,
“Actually no you can’t, its going to be a surprise. Don’t worry about dressing up, it won’t matter much where we’re going.”
****
A short while later Twilight was alone in her room, laying on her couch with a dreamy smile on her face. Her mind was filled with thoughts of what Rainbow was possibly planning tonight. She sure seemed excited about it, so it must be something good. Maybe she’ll take her flying again? Memories of the Rainboom that she had carried her through sprain into Twilight’s mind.
Twilight sighed dreamily.
Her eyes suddenly opened wide: she had to get ready! and she had no idea what to do. But she had a trump card, Rarity would know what to do. Twilight heaved herself to her hooves and immediately set on her way towards Rarity’s room.
How would she react? Twilight already knew that Rarity had no problem with a mare dating another mare, Twilight was just worried about if the fashionista would go on a whole tangent and make a whole new dress for her. Than he mind drifted to what her other friends would think. She swiftly drew away from that line of thought though, she knew if she started down it, it wouldn’t be a good thing.
She trotted down the hallway that lead up to Rarity’s room and knocked on the door.
“Coming!” her friends posh voice floated out.
A moment later Rarity opened the door to and gave Twilight a quizzical stare,
“Hello Twilight, can I help you?”
Twilight once again broke out into a massive smile,
“Rainbow likes me back!”
It took a second for Rarity to process what the unicorn said, but as soon as she did her face exploded in a grin. The two ponies jumped up and down in place, squealing with joy. Rarity pulled Twilight into her room and immediately sat her down on the couch.
“Tell me everything.”
And so Twilight did, she told the fashionista everything that transpired since she last saw her in the courtyard. But when she heard the outcome of their first attempt at a kiss she groaned loudly,
“Oh course that would happen to you Twilight,. No offense.”
Twilight sighed dejectedly,
“None taken Rarity.”
“So, do you know anything about this date Rainbow is taking you on tonight?”
Twilight shook her head,
“All she said is to meet her on top of the palace. And not to dress fancy, anything other than that I have no idea.”
Rarity rubbed her chin,
“Well that is rather vague. Are you sure there is nothing?”
“Mmhmm. I guess I’ll find out tonight.”
Rarity nodded,
“Well, even if Rainbow insists on being casual. I can at least do your mane up nice, come along darling.”
***
Hours later, Twilight was staring at the door that led to the balcony of the palace tower. She idly fiddled with her mane once again, Rarity had certainly done a good job of it. The hair was slightly more wavy than usual, and cascaded down her back elegantly. Taking a deep breath to gather her confidence, the mare pushed the door open and stepped outside.
Leaning on the railing was Rainbow Dash, staring up at the night sky. Her mane was straighter than usual, she had brushed it out smoothly. When the pegasus heard the door open she turned around and gave Twilight a broad grin,
“Hey Twi’ you’re looking good.”
Twilight blushed madly.
Rainbow stepped up to her friend and nuzzled her gently.
“You ready for tonight?”
Twilight smiled,
“Can’t wait.”
“Good.”
Rainbow turned around and on que Keyan’s shuttle silently floated up from below the balcony, the door opening to rest on the railing.
“Is that--”
“Keyan’s shuttle?” Rainbow interrupted, “yea. I asked if I could borrow this and he said yes,” she turned around and offered her hoof to Twilight, “Can I help you up?”
Twilight giggled and allowed the pegasus to help her into the shuttle. It obvious was modified since the last time she saw it. The seats that were along the sides were gone, in favor of bare walls. The metal floor was now covered in soft carpet, and a wicker picnic basket was tucked away in a corner. It was softly lit, not to bright but not to dark.
With a small flap of her wings Rainbow floated up next to her,
“I definitely owe Key something for this, he did good here.”
Twilight nodded dumbly.
The door closed with a hiss behind them and Twilight jumped as she felt the shuttle start to move. Rainbow swiftly placed a calming hoof on her shoulder,
“Relax Twi, I’m pretty sure this is the safest place in Equestria right now.
Twilight blushed,
“Sorry Rainbow.”
“Don’t worry about it Twi.”
Twilight smiled and looked around the shuttle one more time,
“This is nice Rainbow,” she said.
Rainbow cackled,
“No Twi, this is nice.”
Al of a sudden the wall in front of Twilight seemed to disappear, a window seemingly appearing in its place. The unicorn gasped as she saw the view.
Canterlot was far below her, night had fallen and lanterns were twinkling throughout the city. The soft lights flickering slightly as the flames within them danced around. A few lights were slowly meandering around the city streets, the guards making their rounds. A few flickered out, parents putting their foals to sleep.
A few minutes later even the lights in the cities were gone. But in their place Twilight could see the coastline of Equestria, and soon after the vast oceans surrounding it. The dark blots of land that were Equestria’s sister nations: Zebrica, Griffonia, Prance, soon rolled by. The great mountains of the world appearing as little more than bumps on the surface below.
Twilight slowly sank until she was laying down on the plush carpet.
“Its beautiful.”
Rainbow laid down beside her,
“Yea,” she nuzzled Twilight, “not as beautiful as you though.”
Twilight blushed and looked away from Rainbow.
“Stop Rainbow, you’re gonna make me blush.”
Rainbow chuckled,
“Too late for that.”
The two mares shared a comfortable silence as the shuttle slowly drifted across the planet below. Ponyville was little more than a small splattering of lights in the valley below. Canterlot was barely visible in the distance. Soon enough the curvature of the planet came into view, the atmosphere standing out from the vast blackness of space.
The view was nothing short of breathtaking.
“Kinda makes you feel small doesn’t it?” Rainbow said quietly.
“I’m sure its similar to flying isn’t it Rainbow?”
“Nah, I’d be lucky if I could get a tenth as high as we are now.”
Twilight shuffled closer to Rainbow, pressing herself up against the warmth of the mare. Their tails intertwined together. The pegasus reached out a hoof and pulled the basket to her. She peered inside it and a few seconds later pulled out a bottle of wine and two glasses.
“What are those for?” Twilight asked.
Rainbow smiled and looked at an blinking panel of lights.
“Because in about 45 seconds we are going to leave the last vestiges of our homeworld's atmosphere. Officially making us the first ponies in space.”
Twilight looked at Rainbow, completely in awe of what was happening. Rainbow pulled the cork out with her teeth, quickly filling the two glasses with the drink. She hoofed over one of the glasses to Twilight. Half a minute later a light lit up green and Rainbow turned towards the unicorn,
“To us Twilight.”
“Cheers,” the unicorn replied as they clinked their two glasses together. They exchanged smiles as they sipped, the wine flowing over their tongues.
“This is pretty good wine,” Twilight remarked.
Rainbow shrugged,
“The Princess gave it to me, but I don’t think she knows about this yet. All I said was I needed it for something important.”
Twilight smiled softly,
“In all honesty Rainbow, I don’t care if she does,” she turned to the mare and tenderly nuzzled her, “because right now all that matters is this.”
It was Rainbow’s turn to blush now.
“Thanks Twi,” Rainbow looked at the panel once again, she reached out a hoof and hit a button. The lights instantly dimmed down to nothing and she turned back to Twilight, “get ready for something special.”
All of a sudden the view changed, instead of the planet below, their vision was dominated by stars. Far far more than what could be seen from Ponyville, or anywhere for that matter. There were billions, just…. there. Twilight knew, hypothetically, of the infinite vastness of space. But seeing it here, right in front of her, nothing could of prepared her for this.
Twilight tried to piece together some familiar constellations, but every time she saw a semblance of something a billion other stars flooded into her vision. Drowning out every shred of familiarity.
“Here,” Rainbow said as she flicked another button.
Lines appeared on in front of them, connecting various stars. It took a while, but Twilight soon realized that they formed the constellations.
“Thats definitely different than Ponyville,” Rainbow said rhetorically.
The two mares watched space roll by together. The vast amount of stars belied the emptiness of space. The two mares could see interstellar clouds of dust block out some portions of the sky The stars behind them providing a ghostly black light to the massive nebulas.
Neither of the mares knew how long they stared at this. But it was something they wouldn’t forget for the rest of their life. A small beep from the side accompanied a red light.
“I’m sorry to ruin the view Twi, but its time for the grand finale,” Rainbow said as she hit a button once again, teh view changing back to the planet below.
A golden glow began to shine from behind the planet, great arcs of light piercing the atmosphere. The transcendent glow only grew greater as time slowly passed. And then Twilight saw it. The sun began to appear from behind the planet. Its first shred exploding onto the scene in all its radiant glory. The two mares could see the sunlight creep across the planet below, a literal wall of darkness receded against the onslaught of the sun. DIsappearing as the mare’s orbit continued.
Eventually the sun was revealed completely, and its glory was immeasurable The brightness of it was staggering, and if the shuttle didn’t filter it the mares would undoubtedly be blinded.
“Wow,” the two mares said together.
Twilight slowly reached a hoof out and laid it on top of Rainbow’s. The two mares looked at each other, trace amounts of tears in their eyes. Wordlessly they leaned towards each other. They paused, their lips centimeters from each others, and with a final push they met. There was no fireworks or 21 gun salute to signify this, and the only witnesses were the stars themselves.
Each mare poured their soul into the kiss, conveying through touch what they couldn't hope to through words.
It wasn’t grandiose, it wasn’t showy, it wasn’t flamboyant, and it wasn’t flashy.
But it was one thing:
Perfect
Definitely my favourite chapter, i feel as though it was a bit to BAM, lets date, but you know what? I would rather have slightly rushed then annoying and dead. The actual date felt right to me other than the occasional mistake this was a good chapter.
EDIT: Would you be willing to... perhaps provide a Stargate/MLP Crossover? I'd love to see how Jack would react to seeing the closest things to true gods
3867076
Thanks man, and yea I do agree it is a bit rushed. But I didn't want to string the whole thing out for to long, it would get boring.
3867150
I regretfully inform you that I have never watched Stargate. It has been on my "to watch" list for a while, along with Dr.Who, the new season of Sherlock, and Firefly for a long time. So maybe if I get around to watching it I might.
3867201
What do you mean by that?
This chapter started out pretty good, but towards the end, just... wow. As an astronomy buff, your descriptions of the stars and outer space were great; very evocative and awe-inspiring. A few grammar errors throughout, but nothing that really got in the way. Excellent work!
3867213 Whats up with the weird dislikes on all our recent comments?
Nice
3867467
I have no idea. I got another dislike on the story so maybe its the same guy. That makes 11 downvotes without a reason why :/. But don't worry, I upvoted yours to balance it out
3867384
Thanks. I really tried hard to adequately describe space and I'm happy I managed to pull it off. When I got to that part I was like, "this may be a lot harder than I thought it would be."
Unknown to the ponies and Keyan a weapon is behind the moon that watches them from a distance. It's cloaked surface shimmers from the suns rays and its main-gun tracking every movement of Keyan's ship. Waiting for the moment he messed up, for a moment he harms the innocent.
thebrickinthesky.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/telikos_protocol___rail_gun_platforms_by_phoenix_06-d51arud.jpg
(I don't know why I typed this, I just wanted to add some spice to this. Anyway, what I am getting at is that Equis is actually Earth though the humans that lived their are extinct but one piece of machinery orbits the moon. All I can tell you is that it's a rail gun platform that can punch through the hull of Keyan's ship easily. Reason: It isn't explosive. It's a flat out projectile heading at Mach 10 speeds. Tungsten rods gain their speed by using gravity thus meaning that its a kinetic weapon. I'm not saying that it will destroy Keyan's ship but it will heavily damage it. Also by the time Keyan's ship picks it up it will be to late, as soon as he is able to get the engines online it would have blown a 16 or greater foot hole in the hull. I'm not saying you have to add this but just to spice things up.)
3867664
That's a pretty good idea to be honest, but sadly I already have the story mostly planned out. And if I add that in I'm worried that the story will get convoluted and what not if I rush it, so I will end up including a whole other story arc. And knowing me, it will probably end up in a Homeworld 2 style, "god-ship in space thing". If you don't know home world, a significant portion of the plotn is finding "Sajuuk", a psuedo-god ship that is nigh-indestructible and can one shot basically anything with its spinal laser. And while it might be cool, it seems cliche. But if you, and other readers, think that it is a cool thing, and wouldn't mind Keyan getting a new ship and/or technology than yes I think it would be pretty badass. And maybe i'll think of a way to fit that in. It would require balancing out when going back to New Eden but that bridge can be crossed later.
Now onto the actual railgun, the shields and armor of eve are capable of taking a direct hit from a 425mm railgun loaded with ammo that upon impact causes a matter/antimatter collision. And seeing as, at least in game, the railgun can travel 100km instantaneously I would assume its a lot faster than mach 10, i don't feel like actually doing math right now. So, at least by the figures you gave me, Keyam's should should easily.be able to survive that impact.
Uhg no violence, no suspense, too much gushy ness. When do we get to see someone get gutted by a laser? You can't have that much firepower in one place without hit going down.
D'awww
This was actually pretty nice!
3867879
Yes that could be true but what are the shells made out of? Tungsten is one of the densest elements known to us right now with a atomic mass of 183.84 ± 0.01 u. It also depends on what the shield can stop as well, unlike the 425mm rail gun it doesn't use explosives nor is it that large. I'm talking about a one foot wide rods with a very thick tip that could push through the shields with not explosive power but the little resistance and kinetic energy behind it thus meaning it could slip through the shields and continue on. Yes the shields would decrease its speed but not enough for the rod to not cause damage. Maybe reduced to half its speed but still enough to punch through the armor. Including, Heaven forbid; that it is firing more than one of these at a time.
Another thing is the rail gun in space has been scanning his ship for some time and has been looking for weak spots in the shield and hull. If I were to program a weapon that would strike without warning I would have it wait, find, and target weak points. Also I would wait until his trust gets the better of him and he lowers his shields, get into position, and fire a round into the shield generator and/or main reactor. Once those are down he can't do much as I can fire upon his ship without anything stopping me, once the ship is destroyed it would go back into sentry mode and wait. If another ship comes looking for him and it is the same type of ship the weapon now has the knowledge of the ships weak points thus meaning his rescue party wouldn't even be able to get close to him without it being destroyed.
Also thinking about running? Think again, once the hull is pierced there is no way he could cloak his ship and no way he could try to get within range of the rail gun before being destroyed. The weapon that it is is known as a Ranged Space Bombardment System designed to strike at distances not in orbit. To put it simply when the humans from this Earth went to war and died off this one weapon, created to ambush ships without warning has been there for quite some time finding hiding places and tactical advantages. For one thing I would strike his ship at an angle not at a directly down due to I could cause more eternal damage that way thus making some of his ship useless.
3868619 I like your theories but in EVE things are handled differently.
The following is based on the assumption that you dont know about EVE in detail.
---Lecture mode engaged---
Firstly, shields in EVE are only penetratable below 25% (this can be lowered even further). Also the main damge type for railguns in EVE are kinetic and thermal. Now shields have a baseline resistence of 40% (kinetic) and 20% (thermal) so almost 1/3rd of the impact is instantly nullified with the shield absorbing the rest. It should also be mentioned that the ship Keyan flies, a Minmatar (race) Loki (ship type), is called a "strategic cruiser" and these have quiet a bit of shielding/armor depending on the fitting so a single railgun shot is not likely to scratch it (depends on the caliber). The way that would work here best is the use of an Direct Energy Weapon aka laser. Lasers in EVE can deal EM damage to which shields have absolutely no resistence and once the shield is gone the laser would switch to a mode with thermal damage that would slowly but steadily eat its way through the armor (base resist to thermal 35%).
Then there is the issue of targeting. EVE ships have very sensitive passiv sensors and once something targets/scans you ship your are instantly informed. Its something called "yellow boxing" due to the flashing yellow box that appears on your overview. The only way to prevent that is with the use of a "passive targeter", a system that doesnt alert your ship when you are beeing locked on. The next step would be to use its "ship scanner" to make out the weakpoints, at this point however I do not know if that breaks the passive targeting or not.
Then ther is the range issue. If that gun is in orbit around the moon then it means that must be about 300.000km away from Keyans ship. Now, Mach 10 in space is like a snail on Earth, it would take up to 24 hours until the slug would reach Keyans ship and by that time hes long since gone. Also, the moment something opens fire on you in EVE you are definitly warened. This is called "red boxing" and even passive targeters cant prevent that. Todays radar systems are already capable of tracking multiple supersonic (mach 3+) objects like missiles and Keyans more advanced spaceship can do even better then that.
Lasers would here be once more a better option hee. The delay between firing and impact would only be one second (300.000km is about one lightsecond) and the only thing that could still prevent Keyans ships from becoming toast is gun tracking. You see, in EVE "the bigger the gun, the worse the tracking" and while the penalty decreases with range if Keyans ship manages to active its speed boosters (Afterburners or the more effective Mikrowarpdrives) and starts to fly transversal to the gun he could reduce the damage taken significantly.
Now, if he survive the inital alpha (high base damage on first shot), he should be able to easily track down the position of the gun and thus be able to warp directly next to it (breaking its target lock in the process) followed by a firework of guns blasting that sentry to scrap metal.
---lecture mode disengaged---
Sorry, I flet the need to write something...
3867944
I did say that the chapters following the wedding until the girls go to New Eden were going to be very Slice of Life-ish. They'll be a few action scenes but no ponies getting gutted by lasers for funsies.
3869289
Awe D:
3869331
Don't worry, when the girls get to New Eden there will be explosions. And lots of them.
3869022
That lecture/comment is 100% Twilight approved.
3869580
fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/282/e/5/twilight_sparkle_approved_by_ambris-d4c255h.png
(For later reference)
3869490 Like Battle of B-R tier?
3869722
Let me tell you, you don't see that in Warcraft.
3867150
[youtube=zDx41jXEBYs]
I don't know if you've already read Stargate Equestria, but if not, I recommend it.
3870208 Never, ever.
And I saw WoW PvP brawls. 40 fantasy characters "dancing" has nothing on 100+ ship fleets bombing the shit out of each other.
3870439
The battle that just happened was alot more than 100 people. I believe the main system capped out at 2400 with the combined surrounding systems bringing it up to like 4000ish. Go to 1:40, thats probably one of the coolest shots in the game's history.
hmmmmm
3870464 I know, I saw the vid. What I ment with 100+ were the usual fleetsizes I have seen so far.
3869022
And now the self defense of the sentry, it has a armor plating made of Adamantium or to put it simply an indestructible material from Warhammer 40K. Also the Aurora S energy weapon would be a good example but the Ranged Space Bombardment System is much larger than that. It is about the size of the Empire State Building and 70% of it is just the barrel needed to keep the beam from going stray. Also, since the Ranged Space Bombardment System is a ambush ship it would have a "passive targeter".
A problem of the laser is that his ship would be able to detect the weapon charging unless his scanners could be jammed. Thus I am putting an unknown element into this, lets just say the reason magic exists is because an element the old humans found and used against each other. The unknown element itself has enough 200x the amount of energy that a nuclear reactor can produce. Thus meaning the weapon does have an advantage being able to attack his ship in an instant. Here, I will put my unknown element in a class and describe it.
Element 31J: A element found in an asteroid that was orbiting our solar system. When we removed the asteroid from its orbit the wormhole collapsed meaning that the energy from the element was keeping the portal open. As war started to come about the scientist of [Classified] developed the The Aurora (Latin for Dawn) the weapon that now orbits the moon. After the war the Aurora went dark as it waited still carrying out its orders to destroy any ship that comes within it's scopes.
The reason the ship is made up of Adamantium is due to the heat the beam produces and would have melted the materials normally used. Where did they find so much of it, the asteroid belt.
3869490
Yey :flutteryay:
3871102
Firstly, adamantium in WH40k is not indestructible, or terminators and titans would be unkillable as their armor is made out of it.
Secondly, just saying "it has god armor" and "unknown element" is a deus ex machina of sorts. Although once again, it sounds pretty cool. I'll think about putting something like this in as it could provide some action and conflict from the current chapter to when the girls go to New Eden. It would keep it from being to Slice of Life-ish. But I would try to make it more... coherent? if you get what I'm trying to say.
3871149
Well since it's a ambush ship it would wait for him to drop his shields before attacking, but as soon as he drops his shields. More like when he is approaching the worm hole the weapon fires on him destroying the engine but his ship can make it to the wormhole before it gets a chance to fire again. So it would be suspense as he tries to get to the wormhole ASAP before the weapon can target the bridge and harm the girls while he is dodging and deflecting particle accelerator rounds coming off of the weapon.
Will particle accelerator weapons effect his shields though? If it can then that is what the main-gun will be, a particle accelerator weapon.
---Lecture mode engaged---
3871102 Adamantium has been adressed so I wont comment on that.
On the matter of size, lets see: Empire State Building 381m / Minmatar Loki: 390m
And Strategic Cruisers arent even the biggest ships.
The concept of discovering ships by looking out for charging weapons is pretty ridiculous since working power cores radiate much more energy then those guns will ever need. Also, it doesnt matter in EVE.
3871205 Particle Accelerators (or Blasters) in EVE are among the weapons with the highest alpha BUT are like railguns restricted to kinetic and thermal damage (they actually belong to the same weapon group "Hybrids" and consume the same ammo)
so they arent that good against shields.
But there is a way for a ambush ship to work by EVE standards and that is the active cloaked bomber. Active cloaks in EVE are extremely advanced to the point of undetectability. There are no effective counters against them, only smartbombs (AoE weapon in short range around the ship, used mainly against hostile drones) and accidently bumping into it can break the cloak.
About the weaponry, it would use "Bombs", self guided projectiles that dont need lock-on just a solid signature of a ship to work. They have devastating firepower that scales up with the amount of mass the target ship has.
Added bonus, if the target ship uses Mikrowarpdrives its mass is higher then normal, so the bomb becomes even more devestating.
Standard tactics in EVE involve, pick out a ship, fly within firing range, drop cloak, drop bomb, recloak, warp out there and the bomb will hit its target. The only defense against them are Active Counter Missiles but in EVE rarely anyone uses them.
They also come in different flavors, form damage specific to AoE.
So, if you want an ambush ship I recommend this: A small frigate sized (~50m) drone with a bomb bay and active cloak. It can swop in, deal the pain and get out before someone realises that they were beeing fired at. Perfect for guerilla tactics.
---lecture mode disengaged---
Thanks for reading.
3871149 Oh? I thought you had the story figured all out. Well, if you need help you can always PM me. Im active in EVE and I can brainstorm a few ideas for you if you want.
3871539
I do have most of the story planned out actually. But that doesn't mean it can't change. SorrowfulWinds has a point that there is a distinct lack of explosions in this fic. Doesn't mean I'll add in a whole story arc involving ancient terran tech, but I'm gonna try to fit in a bit more action now that I think about it. But I'm not gonna lie, an ancient space cannon capable on one shotting his ship will certainly put a damper on Keyan's day.
Now hypothetically, if there was such a cannon I would imagine it as something like this:
It would be a kinetic based cannon, like Liam said, but instead of using only magnetics to fire a projectile, like the railguns in eve, it could use sci-fi mumbo jumpo to somehow cancel out the projectile's interaction with the higgs field. Lowering its mass infinitely, giving it infinite acceleration, until the moment before impact. And by that time its traveling with far more than enough Kinetic Energy to break Keyan's shields and thoroughly eviscerate the ship. (Kinda like the mass effect weapons but avoiding the element zero)
Alright I love this story and this has made me want to try out EVE online. I have heard a bit about it before. So any suggestions that can help me at the start will be greatful. I will try it out tomorrow!
3871591 Hmm, I think I know what you mean. In the XCOM Crossover "Stardust" a similar waepon appears. Using alien alloys and Twilights magic the gun was originaly intended to be a kind of mass driver but ended up much better as it could simply "displace" everything in it firing arc.
Aka, one meter thick lead wall with a hole in it and a one meter long cylinder of lead behind it.
3873744
Firstly, I would ask someone here to send you a buddy invite so you can get a 21 day trial instead of a 14.
Secondly, as far as advice goes its pretty simple. Do all the tutorials. There is a starter one, nad then I belive 4 ones for each main profession in the game. Do them all, it gets you alot of start up isk, ships, and skills. Also, do not be afraid to help, I'm sure alot of the other readers of this story would love to help you out. And by extension of that, before you fly a ship ask their opinion on how you fit it. I've seen alot of new players lsoe ships because they didn't know what modules to put where. Thirdly, don't ever ask for isk. If someone is nice and has a fat wallet maybe they'll be nice and send you a little bit. The problem with that is though is that you buy overly-expensive ships that you're not ready to properly fly yet. So once again, I would ask other players their opinion if you're ready to fly a ship or not. I could go on more, but other players should be able to pick up on anything I missed.
Keyan88 out, pce o7
3870424 link please?
3867213 you'll like SG-1, it's Sci-Fi but instead of using ships to travel, they use a special ring-like device called a Stargate to travel the stars, a really interesting concept that makes for a very cool show based around the Gate
3883302
It's on fanfiction.net: Stargate Equestria: Connection. I did find it here on Fimfic, but with zero chapters, posts or comments. I guess the author just decided to claim the name.
There a sequel on FF.net as well, Stargate Equestria: Incursion, which continues the story, but sadly it hasn't been updated in almost two and a half years with only three chapters released. Part I is a self-contained story in itself, so if you don't like reading stories that will probably never be finished you can just skip it (or put an alert on it so you get a heads-up if the author decides to pick it up again).
3871591 Sounds nice, but the higgs-field would (like a mass-effect-field (which they would probably call a higgs-field in real life)) decrease the MASS of matter, which would mean that you could accelerate the same amount of matter with the same amount of energy to much higher speeds.
It however only has just as much energy as the matter would have without the higgs-field, which means that you would not only loose the advantage of easier aiming with faster projectiles as soon as they leave the field of the weapon, but that it would also don't do any more damage than field-less weapons
and would waste energy that could be used to accelerrate the projetcile to greater effect.
But just let this sink in:
We basically already know about the particles that could essentially make mass effect fields real.
Hopefully this isn't part of a plot of some giant metal space squid, to come back every cycle to kill all space faring species.
(I very much enjoyed the romance of this... the mushiness made me smile.)
Kiss the Rainbow Da~...
God damnit did I make a reference to a skittles ad?