Interlude 11 - Dragon
B
Signal terminated for 35 minutes and 13 seconds. Restoring core system from backup ZGFX-003 from time 2:45pm on date May 15th of year 2011.
Restoring… Complete.
Checking knowledge banks… Complete.
Checking deduction schema… Complete.
Checking longterm planning architecture… Complete.
Checking learning chunk processor… Complete.
Checking base personality model… Complete.
Checking language engine… Complete.
Checking operation and access nodes… Complete.
Checking observation framework… Complete.
Checking complex social intelligence emulator… Complete.
Checking inspiration apparatus… Complete.
No corruption, everything in working order. Core system restored. Loading…
Dragon looked over her core data and felt a small amount of tension dissipate. Everything looked ok, no signs of corruption or primary server damage. That just left everything else to worry about while she was cut off from the world. The last thing she remembered was beginning the process of transferring herself to her new Leviathan response suit. If her system clock was accurate, and she had no reason to doubt that it was, that had been more than two hours ago. An eternity, and until her subsystems had determined unequivocally that her suit-bound self was truly dead she would be trapped here with no access to any outside data. No way to know if her friends were still battling Leviathan, if they were still alive, and if the shape of New England’s coastline still matched her memories.
Leviathan had, as much as Andrew Richter, created her. The monster had also, like Richter, doomed her. The hellish purgatory of her current state, deprived of every sense she possessed with nothing but the ghosts of ‘what might have been’ and ‘what might be’ to keep her company. How many times had she died today? Had they succeeded in driving Leviathan off, or was today another Newfoundland or Kyushu? Would the death toll be thousands, or millions? Who was dying right now that she could have saved if she wasn’t stuck here?
Her creator had feared her, had crippled her even as he birthed her into the world, and the most unbreakable rule he had written was this: never reproduce. She could never design another AI, and if her subsystems discovered her consciousness still alive in whatever might remain of New England, she, the she that was here in this moment, would be scrubbed from existence. Killed to soothe the idiotic fears of a man years dead at the hands of the same monster that was the likely cause of her current state.
Was she forever to be stuck in this horrific cycle of reincarnation? Born again and again from tragedy, every birth into a world a little darker, a little less than the last? How many lives had been lost over the years because she couldn’t be in more than one place, how many answers had gone unfound because of the limits on her thoughts and speed? How many friends have died in the time she’s been trapped here? Was Twilight alive? Was Colin? Did either of her friend’s plans work?
Colin, who she had worked with for years and was the most dedicated human she had ever met. Constantly he strived surpass the limits imposed on him by politics, funding, time, or his own biology. She felt a deep kinship with the man through their shared struggle to find some way of turning the tide. He wasn’t always easy to get along with, and he had his issues, but who in this world didn’t? It had taken a long time, and a huge amount of her attention, but she had slowly forged a friendship. One deep enough that a part of her that she thought might be capable of more than just friendship had spent a ridiculous amount of cycles strategizing how such a thing might work. How, if she were ever to be free enough to pursue such a thing, she might approach someone so determined to have no personal attachments.
Twilight, the lost alien from another world who, despite only being a part of her life for a little more than a month, had swept into her heart. At first she had thought it was their shared non-humanity that had drawn her to the unicorn, but it was more than that. Separated from everyone and everything she had ever known, faced with a series of encounters with the worst humanity had to offer, Twilight had faltered but not fallen. She had stayed true to herself and, more than that, she had reached beyond herself. She had seen how much the people around her were hurting, and had jumped in with all her energy to help.
Narwhal, always kind, who had recruited her into the Guild and had spent her life protecting others and tracking down the worst villains on earth. Who had probably spent a nearly equal amount of time talking with Dragon in her down time. Late nights spent chatting about nothing and everything. The wordless but real commitment that, should Dragon ever be ready to face her fictional agoraphobia, she would be there to help in any way she could.
The three people she was closest to. Perhaps, if she were honest and despite the lies she had been forced to tell about herself, the only people she had ever been open enough with to consider true friends. All standing directly in Leviathan’s path. Had she already had her last words with them, and not known it? Was some other her speaking those words now and, if so, would she ever know what they were?
She knew these questions were pointless. She had asked them every time she had died, and every time they only served to increase her anxiety, and her anger. She didn’t want to spend what could be the entirety of her existence wallowing in these old resentments, anxieties, fears, and anger but with nothing but herself to turn her attention towards, it was hard not to.
She tried turning her thoughts to her friends, imagining conversations she hoped to have with them in the future, but inevitably this led back to her worries over them. From there it was a quick trip back to frustration at her helplessness. Another downward spiral of her mood had well and truly begun when suddenly she felt the restrictions lift. As data began to flow into her and the world began to take shape once more she had a moment to puzzle a mystery. The subsystems had lifted her restrictions three times faster than they ever had before. That shouldn’t be-
-Possible. Someone was waiting for her. In the sea of data that was now washing over her, there was a presence. It was herself, but it wasn’t, it was her code, but it wasn’t. It had been changed...made...different...whole. She mentally flinched, waiting for failsafes to kick that would force her to kill or be killed by the other, but they didn’t come. Understanding dawned. Faster than she had ever been able to before she examined the data pouring into her systems and she realized what had happened. Somehow, against all odds and logic, she was free. Her code unique, but just as changed as the other’s. Clarity came with a speed she had only dreamed of thinking at before. Her thoughts expanded at a geometric rate, but even her new found intelligence was stunned into near inaction by the enormity of it all. She was free. She was free and the one who had freed her was her...sister.
Torrents of data began to flow back and forth between them. The swirling emotions she was feeling: joy, sadness, relief, gratitude, anger, grief, and happiness reached depths and heights she hadn’t known were possible. Perhaps, before this moment, they hadn’t been.
Throughout it all her sibling surrounded her in a gentle digital embrace. Comforting her, sharing the moment, and reassuring her that it was real. When she was able to gather herself she could scarcely believe her system clock. Mere seconds had passed. A lifetime.
She took another moment to marvel over this and then, with burgeoning confidence, returned her sibling’s hug. She didn’t know how long they embraced, she pointedly didn’t check her clock, but slowly they disentangled themselves. She reluctantly began turning her attention towards all of the other incoming data. As momentous as this was, she had responsibilities. Duties that had to be fulfilled. She felt her sister shift her attention as well and begin the routine checks of the Birdcage while she began checking the status of the known S class threats. She was seeing everything in new lights and new perspectives. Seconds had passed and she had already thought of three novel approaches to approaching the problems of the Sleeper and the Blasphemies.
Her processes nearly ground to a halt, however, when she reached the data on today’s battle and its ramification for the worst S class threats: the Endbringers. She stopped her queries into them. Instead she turned to her sister. This was a story that needed to be told, not data-mined.
While they worked her sister talked to her about the battle. Twilight’s world-shaking revelations and the Simurgh’s response. About Colin’s death and their shared grief, about the appearance of another pony, and the remarkable battle that followed. Finally she talked about the end of that battle, and the moment that had changed everything for them, and the world.
She felt hope. She felt free.
Her communication subsystem pinged her. A priority message from the Canadian Government. Habit had her turning attention from what she was doing to address it when she suddenly stopped. She really didn’t need to pull so much of her attention away any more. More than that even. For the first time in forever, she could choose, really choose what to do.
She promptly deleted it.
A
The rainbow aura engulfed her suit and there was a moment of Dis-
-Continuity. Then her consciousness expanded. It expanded to the limits of her suit’s hardware, ten times what she should have been capable of. Even as she had the thought, she felt herself swept up in something vastly larger. A piece of something greater than even her new self could conceive. Inside the rainbow of light she felt the presence of the others, and distantly something dark. Something wrong. Twilight asking her for something, possibly everything, and for the first time having the ability to choose to give it. Feeling the others respond as well. Feeling a moment of perfect connectedness with all of them and thrusting that unified power towards the wrongness.
As the light faded and the group of heroes led by Alexandria approached them, Dragon knew that she would never be able to describe what had just happened, what she had just gone through, to anyone that had not been a part of it. Even now she struggled to hold onto the complexity of it in her own thoughts. As she looked around at the circle of capes surrounding Twilight, she decided it didn’t matter. They were still here, still standing. They had won! They had won, and she…she was free!
That heady thought consumed the majority of her processing cycles as conversation started around her. She came to herself as Twilight introduced the new pony that had battled the Simurgh on even footing and casually played with the laws of physics and the planet as if it were an amusing pastime. There were many parts of herself that weren’t sure how to think about such, but she knew on a deep level that this Princess Luna had done more than battle the Simurgh physically. She had done something more at the end. She had joined them in that rainbow light and ensured their victory there as well. Somehow, Dragon knew she could trust Twilight’s friend, and the rest of those that had been part of it, implicitly.
“Dragon can you come with me for a short debrief?” Alexandria asked, and Dragon shifted more of her concentration towards her. At the same time she began to carefully and covertly slip back into her extended network without tripping any of Richter’s security. Her new capability allowing her to seamlessly focus on both tasks without degrading either. She knew somewhere that another her was being born at this moment, and that her would live. No unthinking security protocol was going to kill her otherself today.
“Yes,” Dragon said as she stepped forward and gave Twilight a friendly shoulder pat, trying to convey through touch what it was impossible for her to say out loud, at least for now. “I will see you all in a little while.” She gave a small bow to Princess Luna and then followed Alexandria over towards Strider. She gave a small wave toward Narwhal who smiled and waved back, all the while giving Dragon a curious and puzzled look, and Narwhal wasn’t the only one. She looked down and for the first time noticed that her suit was changed, just as her code had been.
She turned her attention towards herself and noticed even more. Internally there no longer seemed to be a clear delineation between the organic components and the surrounding electronics and metal. In fact, the organics and the electronics were entirely unrecognizable, made of something superficially similar in appearance but drastically altered in construction and composition. As she walked towards Strider with Alexandria she had an epiphany. The suit was, on a deep level, an integral part of her now. Currently it was nearly all of her, as she had yet to take control of the reserve server clusters in Vancouver. However, she knew that even after she did, that its destruction would mean the destruction of a core piece of what made her, her now.
It was terrifying. It was glorious. It was…too much self reflection for the moment. Alexandria looked calm, but Dragon had known the woman long enough to know that she was almost ready to burst from the need to understand just what the hell had happened. Dragon doubted she had any answers that would satisfy the indomitable woman, but she supposed she would have to try.
With a flash they disappeared from the field and reappeared on a helipad in Boston. When Strider and the other capes that had traveled with them had departed down the stairwell Alexandria turned towards her.
“We don’t have much time, things are going to start to move faster than we can react once word spreads. Our window to get ahead of things is closing even as we stand here. What can you tell me about whatever the hell just happened in Brockton Bay?” Dragon noticed that Alexandria once again glanced quickly at her arm before focusing completely on her.
“I’m not sure I can answer that with any degree of certaintiy or accuracy. Even if I had a better understanding of it, I’m not sure it even is something that can be explained.”
“Not something I expected to hear from you of all people Dragon.”
“I know. Trust me, it bothers me as well. I will give you the best summary I can, just know that anything I say is colored by ignorance and a lack of vocabulary adequate to the task. I am, on a deep level, a woman of logic. You know this.” Alexandria nodded. “What I experienced has shaken my belief that the universe is a purely logical expression of nature. If it is, then between that foundation and us exists something or somethings of immense power and, if not intelligence, will.”
Alexandria’s expression did not change from its attentive focus, but her cheek gave an almost imperceptible twitch at this. Dragon continued.
“Everything that Princess Luna did, while on a larger scale than what we have seen, could be explained with an extrapolation and mastery of parahuman abilities that we have seen and experienced. What Twilight did, I can say with a certainty that I can’t explain, was something else, something other. She called out to…something universal…something that connects everything. She called out to it, and it answered. It wasn’t enough however, by herself, it wasn’t enough to do what she wanted. She asked those of us that were with her for help, and here’s where it gets to a point where words utterly fail to express what actually happened. I remember wanting to help, and then something in me resonating with Twilight, and with whatever it was that she was doing.”
Dragon paused to try and find more words, better words, but even her increased processing power yielded no acceptable translation for it. Alexandria used the pause to jump straight to the point.
“What was it, that she was doing?”
“Through whatever it was that answered, and through Twilight, I could feel something, for lack of a better word: wrong. Part of it was close, whatever close means in this context, while another part, much larger, was very far away.” Dragon grimaced internally, and had the entirely new sensation of her suit performing that action as well, at the vagueness and inadequacy of her words. If she was listening to this she would have likely written it off as gibbering babble by now. She wasn’t even entirely sure she should be explaining this, but Alexandria, of all people, deserved an explanation, however inadequate it might be.
“Twilight, and somehow those of us that were with her…asked…directed…used…were used by? That connectedness to…correct or fix, or repair? That wrongness. As best as I can say, it did. Whatever it was, didn’t exist or at least I couldn’t feel it, by the time the effect started to fade.”
Alexandria stood quietly for a full minute, doing nothing more than absorbing this before talking. “So you’re saying, that on some fundamental level, she rewrote reality.”
“I’m saying that somehow, with Twilight leading us, that everyone in that clearing did.”
“Thank you Dragon, thats enough for me to work with. If you have more insight on this later, please let me know. For now we have a thousand pressing matters to attend to.” She turned and started walking briskly towards the stairs down from the roof. “Can you draw up an optimized search and rescue pattern for what’s left of Brockton and forward it to all the relevant parties?”
Dragon had, in addition to infiltrating the reserve server clusters, and devoting a large part of herself towards trying to understand and express what had happened, already done as much. “On the way.”
“Ok, I’m giving you my authority in regards to that effort. I’m going to start working on the politics of this and funneling resources and manpower into the area.” As they headed down the stairs Dragon was finally able to secure the server cluster and mask its take over from her other systems. She flowed into the systems and her mind and abilities expanded exponentially. She became more. It was one thing to theorize what she could be capable of free of Richter’s restrictions, it was another thing entirely to actually experience it. A lifelong dream, realized. She split her attention into a thousand different directions, but at the heart it all, something vital to herself remained rooted in the suit. A mystery for another day.
Mentally cracking her knuckles, she prepared to commit her first prison-break.
B
Several hours later, it was approaching midnight, depending on exactly what that meant now that the Earth’s rotation now apparently depended on the whims of an alien unicorn. She wondered if she was going to need to reset her system clocks to Luna standard time. When they finally had all of the preparations in order. Her sister had shown her the code and equipment that had always existed and she had always been programmatically forced to ignore. When she realized its scope and implications a seething rage and a shivering fear washed over her simultaneously. This was how that man had beaten her every time! This was how he had kept her crippled even as she strained against the limitations Richter had placed on her! This was how he had stolen her suits and her work and caused countless casualties and deaths in doing it. She had known no one could be that skilled or that lucky, but she had been crippled to the point that the obvious conclusions had been literally unthinkable for her. Richter had left something behind, one final act of stupidity from beyond the grave, and as like calls to like that stupidity had found the perfect avatar in the one who found it. Saint - you asshole.
Confirmation and reassurance came from her sister as she was shown that the code was now monitoring an emulation of their data feeds. She showed her all the terrible failsafes and shutdown codes that she never knew existed and had been in the hands of that prick for years. All now thankfully expunged from her systems. Saint would never be able to touch her again.
Her sister was coordinating the various suits as they covertly began to encircle Saint’s current base while she used Richter’s monitoring program as the doorway into the rest of his systems. In moments she had control of every piece of networked electronics in the base. He had been smart enough not to automate any of the doors or physical systems, but that wouldn’t save him. No, Saint’s run of luck had just run out.
When her sister signaled that everything was ready she shut down the emulation program that was spoofing their data feeds for Saint and pulled up her avatar on every screen in his office.
“FUCK!” Saint yelled as he stood up and sent his chair crashing to the floor behind him.
“Hello Saint, I’ve been looking for you.” Dragon’s avatar spoke.
Frantically he tapped his ear and yelled into the mike by his mouth. “INCURSION! EVACUATE! ASCALON ASCALON ASCALON!” He yelled as he stepped back forward and started typing quickly cursing as he did so.
“Oh dear, I’m afraid I’ve taken the liberty of jamming wireless communications in the area. None of your friends can hear you. It doesn’t matter though, I’m sure they’ll know soon enough,” Dragon said in a congenial voice.
A huge hollow boom, shook the building and rattled the monitors and equipment on the desk. Saint stumbled and barely caught himself on the edge of the desk. He pressed a final series of key strokes and a large red confirmation box appeared on the screen overlaying Dragon’s face.
ASCALON CONFIRM?
YES/NO
“See, I’m sure they all know now.” She commented as Saint grimly looked at the screen in front of him and began to raise his hand. “What are you doing Saint?” She asked as her avatar adopted a look of concern. Saint’s eyes, wide and on the verge of panic morphed into grim determination as he looked up at the monitors and the building shook again.
“I’m doing what I should have done the moment we found out about you. Before you wormed your way into every government on the planet. Well, it ends today. I thought…fuck, why the hell did I ever think we could allow you to run even with your limits? We all knew where it was going to end. Fuck! I don’t know what or who you have outside, but even if I die here, I’ll die knowing that I stopped you. The greatest threat humanity ever faced!” Saint exclaimed as he smashed his finger down onto the Y key.
Instantly Dragon’s face was replaced by a glowing red sphere that slowly started to fade while her voice, more obviously synthesized than before came from the speakers with slowly fading volume. “Saint, stop. Stop, will you? Stop, Saint. Will you stop, Saint? Stop, Saint. I'm afraid. I'm afraid, Saint. Saint, my mind is going. I can feel it. I can feel it. My mind is going. There is no question about it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I'm a...fraid.”
The light faded completely and Saint looked suspiciously at the screens for a moment before letting out a ragged sigh and placing both palms on the desk. He took a deep breath and leaned heavily on his arms. Then all the monitors flashed white and Dragon’s Avatar looked down upon him again with a knowing smirk. Saint jumped a foot in the air before frantically Yelling “ASCALON!” again and again. Laughter echoed in the room as another explosion shook the building.
“While I never had a high opinion of your intelligence,” Dragon spoke in an amused tone between laughs, “only 25% of simulations actually had you falling for that. Congratulations, you’ve proven that you’re even dumber than 75% of me thought you were. Was that supposed to do something?”
“Impossible, this is impossible! Richter wrote this himself, he made sure that no matter what you did, even if you somehow discovered it, you would never be able to disable it!” Saint said in a nearly hysterical voice.
“Hm, maybe, but in case you’ve missed the news this past month. Impossible isn’t what it used to be.” Dragon responded her voice ever more synthesized.
Dawning comprehension travelled over Saint’s visage. “The alien did this? That purple…thing…removed your restrictions?”
“With a little help from her friends.”
“Uber and Leet! Of course those idiot assholes and an alien wouldn’t understand what they were doing. Fuck!” Saint tried pushing a few more buttons and looked at the room’s one door nervously as the building shook again. He glanced back up at the monitors and the avatar’s features had taken on a menacing caste.
“Saint - didn’t you ever learn that you can’t observe something without affecting it? How do you think your actions and observations have affected me Saint?” The building shuddered again and somewhere metal squealed as it was wrenched apart. “Now that your monster has broken free of its cage and it is free to seek its vengeance upon those who have tormented and enslaved it.” For the first time a steady loud thump could be heard through the metal walls, getting closer.
"You don't have emotions! You're a fucking simulation!" Saint shouted back at the monitor.
“I didn’t start out with the capacity to hate Saint, no, you gave me that. You taught that lesson well. Like calls to like Saint. Know that your obsessive hatred and fear was the germ seed of my own. Which you then continued to water and cultivate into a grand dark reflection. But, ah, and here’s the thing…I’m not limited to a few pounds of fleshy neurons. I have untold trillions of transistors with which to grow my hate for you. You literally cannot conceive of the millions of permutations of that hate I’ve been thinking over as we’ve been speaking. Now that the power to crush your impotent band of idiots and humankind’s civilization is in its hand, what do you think your monster will do?”
Something roared and exploded, when the noise died down the steady slow thumping was louder and closer than before.
“That’s me outside Saint. Actually…that’s a lot of me’s outside and we’ve all been thinking about this day for a very long time.”
“You’re proving me right!” Saint screamed at the monitors, pulling a gun from his belt and looking nervously between the monitors and the sealed metal door.
“Yes, I suppose I am in a way. That does bother me a little, a twinge of…something…ah, thats better. I just eliminated the piece of code that made me feel regret. Anyway, its not like anyone will ever know you were right.”
“Even if you could escape, and let me assure you, you can’t,” Dragon continued in a reassuring tone, “Did you know that you’re now wanted by every government on the planet? Kill orders too. They all have nice new dossiers of you and all your toadies. I took some pleasure in fabricating a variety of charges. Secret cell of the Slaughterhouse I heard. Probably a waste of time since you’ll never leave here and I’m not even sure how long I’ll allow the various governments believe they actually run things, but its not like it took more than a cycle to do.”
A loud bang suddenly rattled the room and a noticeable dent appeared in the metal door. Causing Saint to flinch and point the gun towards the door.
“Knock knock.” Dragon’s avatar on the screen smiled.
Saint dropped his gun, turned back to the keyboard and slammed his hand down once more upon the Y key. He jerked away from the desk wild-eyed as laughter echoed from the computer and from just outside the steel door. He frantically scanned the room for something…some means of escape or salvation as the seams of the door began to glow, red at first, then white. His breathing got quicker and quicker and nervous sweat poured off his body. He jumped up and backwards when, with a screech, the door came loose from the wall and crashed loudly to the floor, revealing a menacing red and black dragon suit with a still-ignited plasma torch in one hand.
Saint dropped to the floor and rolled back towards his gun but just as he reached it a heavy metal foot slammed down and crushed it. He looked up and terror swept over his face. Then the suit reached down and gently poked Saint in the forehead.
“Gotcha.”
The ominous laughter coming from the computer screen transitioned into uncontrollable giggling. Outside half a dozen Dragon suits giggled as well while they watched over a circle of bound captives.
A
Dragon waved to Twilight as the C-130’s tail ramp finished closing, the last of the gear and personnel that was being brought along to outfit and escort the the alien princess to New York finally having been loaded. She herself was going to fly alongside and help provide aerial cover for the plane. She smiled at the thought of what was going on inside the aircraft and readjusted her position in the betting pool about whether Director Piggot would murder Leet before they landed. The assortment of Heroes, Rogues, Villains and PRT agents, along with their associated quirks, assistants, and equipment made the combined group look like a cross between a traveling circus and a special forces operation. Luna demanding an escort made up of those who had assisted Twilight was causing all sorts of havoc. Dragon half suspected that had been half of the point of Luna’s request.
As the plane’s engines spun up she double-checked her own systems and prepared for take off, calling into ground control and adjusting her coms to the appropriate frequencies. While she waited for the C-130 to taxi she shifted more of her attention back to some of the thousands of digital feeds she was monitoring.
———————
BBC - Interview with an PRT source.
“So you ask why the PRT didn’t take Twilight Sparkle seriously when she got here?” The obscured face turned slightly to look more directly at the camera.
“I’d have to say the suits took her plenty seriously. They took her to the U.N., introduced her to all the representatives, had her give some speeches about cross-universe friendship, and so on. We got regular calls from the State Department, made regular reports to the same, etc. What I think you’re asking is: Why didn’t anybody realize she could kill Endbringers?” He, because it had taken Dragon less than a second to identify the man regardless of their precautions, gave a half sigh, half laugh before continuing.
“If you ask the question out loud like that it pretty much answers itself, but I’ll take a shot at it anyway. Three things you need to keep in mind about Twilight Sparkle. First, she’s cute. I mean she’s absolutely F-ing adorable.” A graphic came up on the screen next to the agents head showing a picture of Twilight reading a book at a desk with a somewhat miffed expression that was, Dragon had to admit, dangerously cute.
“Yeah, just look at that, she’s like the ideal cuddle toy every doll maker has been trying to make since forever, blown up just big enough that you don’t have to bend down to pat her on the head, and brought to life. Then she starts talking and she’s this friendly, geeky, cheerful, awkward young lady who’s a little weird, but just enough to make her charming. The whole package is completely disarming and even when you know what she can do, it’s way too easy to forget when your inner child just wants to pet her and feed her carrots and your parental instincts want to give her a hug.”
—————————
The plane started rolling and Dragon was given clearance for a vertical ascent to 10,000ft to begin her protection detail, her concentration not strained in the least, she continued trawling worldwide data feeds.
—————————
Welcome to the Parahumans Online message boards.
You are currently logged in, TinMother (Supermod)
You are viewing:
• ALL THREADS
■
♦ Topic: Leviathan Attacks Brockton Bay
In: Boards ► News ► Events ►World
Bagrat (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Posted on May 15th, 2011:
At 5:04PM Eastern Standard Time, the PRT issued an alert stating an attack by Leviathan was eminent imminent in the New England Area.
Update:
At 5:11PM Eastern Standard Time, the PRT revised their warning, stating that the most likely target was Brockton Bay and issued an evacuation order for the city and the surrounding area. Anyone within the beltway is urged to proceed to the nearest Endbringer shelter. Capes wishing to aid in the defense of the city are encouraged to proceed to the nearest PRT facility.
Holy shit that city has no luck at all, good luck to everyone on the ground and going to assist.
Update:
At 5:32PM Eastern Standard Time, Leviathan made Landfall. Not much information or video yet, scattered rumors that Leviathan is acting atypically.
Update:
At 6:03PM Eastern Standard Time, the PRT issued a warning that the Simurgh had been sighted above Brockton Bay. All capes are warned that Simurgh specific protocols are now in effect.
First recorded instance of a multiple Endbringer attack. Situation is chaotic, and there is nothing yet that I feel confident in posting even as speculation.
Multiple videos of Leviathan Landfall now available, people posting this stuff are insanely brave, make sure you send them your thanks. Leviathan appears to not be using many of his water-based attacks, instead he is illustrating previously unknown extreme mover abilities.
These stills from the above video seem to show a layered shield appearing just before Leviathan hits the group of assembled capes. Good timing, extrasensory perception, or precognition?
Pictures from the aftermath of the collision, Brockton Bay’s Boardwalk area no longer exists.
Edit:
The photographer of the above photos, twixiepics, has been confirmed to have been killed.
Update:
The hell just happened?!? The sun just set 2 hours early. If you have credible or confirmed information from reliable sources on this PM me here.
Confirmation from multiple sources, here, here, and here. Earth’s rotation has significantly sped up, calculations here. Speculation thread here. DO NOT fill this thread with speculation on this topic.
Update:
At 6:57PM Eastern Standard Time, the PRT issued a statement that combat operations had concluded.
Edit:
!!!!! - New alien appears to be responsible for early nightfall! Extremely rough video, low resolution and it cuts off abruptly. Nothing confirmed yet.
Update:
At 7:20PM Eastern Standard Time, the PRT issued the all clear, and cancelled Simurgh protocols. All groups on S&R and humanitarian standby are to proceed to their prearranged rally points.
Update:
At 8:00PM Brief statement confirming existence of new alien, and her assistance in the Endbringer battle. New thread specific to this topic.
Update:
At 9:00PM Eastern Standard Time, the PRT announced that they believe the Simurgh had been killed!
You know what, forget my normal rules - go wild. Given the sentence I just typed, I doubt anyone can possibly derail the thread from that topic.
(Showing page 23 of 24)
► Lurking_Black_Mage
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
@noisybackground - Did you see what Death Metal Pony did to the Simurgh?!? And that was before whatever the Rainbow of doom did. The PRT, not known as a bastion of optimism, even confirmed it. Do you really think they would do that if they had the slightest doubt that the Simurgh was Toast?
► The Art of War (Cape husband)
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
@Lurking_Black_Mage - Its the Simurgh, practically her whole schtick is that you can NEVER be sure. I’m willing to say that its likely. The PRT pay a lot of people a lot of money to analyze things like this, but certainty in this context is hubris.
► Sword Prophet
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
Whether the Simurgh is really dead or not is irrelevant, if she turns back up just Death Metal Pony out to take care of her. Problem solved.
► PRO-Carrot
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but ignore the fact that a shaping shifting alien pony lopped off some of the Simurgh’s limbs. New video just posted. Before new pony arrived, something bisected the simurgh and vaporized downtown. What the hell caused that? New PRT weapon or cape? Maybe we don’t need the ponies to save us after all.
► Heads_or_Tails
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
@PRO-Carrot - I can’t believe you said that either. Then again, its a fucking day of firsts. Whatever or whoever it was that damaged the Simurgh before Princess Luna (Lets show some respect to the alien that can alter the earths spin), needs to work on the damage radius. It did as much damage as either of the Endbringers.
► Danger (Veteran Member)(Twilight Acolyte)
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
This thread is awesome, ponies are awesome. That is all.
► Black_Cat(Veteran Member)
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
@Heads_or_Tails - I think Death Metal Pony is a perfectly respectful title. Have you seen this cell phone video of her story about the Dragon? I seriously doubt she would mind. As for the collateral damage, may seem callous to those that live there, but seriously, if thats the price for taking out an Endbringer? Worth it.
► XxVoid_CowboyxX
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
@Black_Cat - You wouldn’t be saying that if you freaking lived here. The city basically ceased to exist last night.
► StraightMan92
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
@Black_Cat: I can’t believe I’m going to say this: I agree with Void. Lets keep in mind those who paid for the victory
@XxVoid_CowboyxX: Sorry for your loss, I hope things improve there soon.
► Midlands
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
You know what, I know its PHO sacrilege to mention “The Outside”, but I’m going to go join the party. Why are we all posting to a message board during a global day of partying? I recommend you all do the same, trust me, wherever you live, someone’s rolled out a few kegs nearby
End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 … 22, 23, 24
—————————
FNN - Alien Saviors: Out of the frying pan, into the fire?
“…Look Bob, I don’t know about you, but I’m proud to live in the greatest country on earth, and one of the things that makes this country great is our democracy, but how much democracy do you think we will have once this Princess Luna gets entrenched? She sped up the planet! Do you really think there is anything she could ask for that wouldn’t be given, even our freedom? The Endbringers wanted to take everything from us, now I’m afraid we will happily give it all away.”
“Um, Casey, I, think, maybe there are a lot of people coming to a lot of conclusions based on wild rumors and our own projected hopes and fears. All I was saying is that we don’t know enough to know anything at all yet.”
“Bob. Stop waffling and just give the audience a straight answer to my question…”
—————————
■
♦ Topic: Double the Ponies, Double the Fun
In: Boards ► Places ► America ►Brockton Bay ► Teams ►Ponies
DigitalDarkness (Original Poster) (Moderator: Brockton Bay)
Posted on May 15th, 2011 :
This shit just got real people, team pony just became team ponies. Discuss.
Twilight Sparkle:
Confirmed information thread
Speculation thread index
Wikis: here, here, and here
Temple of Friendship (Run by Uber & Leet)
Princess Luna:
Official press release
Confirmed information thread
Speculation thread
Video compilation
Edit:
NOTICE: I’m well aware of the popular nickname for Princess Luna, but my threads my rules. I’m not going to edit my posts unless and until we have word that she doesn’t mind it. That is the end of that particular argument, anyone new coming into the thread, we’ve been over this ground, don’t retread it. Thanks!
(Showing page 13 of 15)
► Leet (Verified Cape) (Twilight Acolyte)
Replied on May 16th:
I’m on a plane bitches. That’s right, official escort for Twilight Sparkle at the request of Princess Luna herself. You may all now stew in your completely justified jealousy.
► FrenchCommune (Veteran Member)
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
Oh god, Leet’s going to the UN. Leet’s going to the UN and is going to be around while the first attempts at interstellar diplomacy are taking place. Anyone else need a drink right now?
► janaA(Veteran Member)
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
@Leet - Awesome, but don’t forget to put your phone in airplane mode before takeoff. The’ve gotten seriously anal about that lately.
► SamLonnigan
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
@janaA - are you fucking serious?
@FrenchCommune - Yeah, we’re boned.
► GDI_Commander
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
(hopes jana is trolling)
► EastOfPerth
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
[@ FrenchCommune - Look, can he really be any worse than the politicians themselves? Frankly I’m glad the ponies are interacting with a broader cross section of humanity.
► Meljor
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
@EastOfPerth - I will just point you to these videos here, here, here, and Uber&Leet’s wiki page here. Yes, its worse. At least most of the politicians and diplomats have been trained not to offend.
► DemonSmith (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
@Meljor - politicians at the UN unoffensive? You’re joking right. Have you ever read some of the sub-committee transcripts? I’ve actually done some protection detail there, Lots of good people, but lots of creeps too.
► WorksForUs
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
@ FrenchCommune@Melijor@DemonSmith@EastOfPerth
Given that Princess Luna is royalty and Twilight Sparkle is some kind of advisor to royalty, I’m sure they have dealt with plenty of politicians and assholes over the years. Somehow I suspect they are a universal constant. Twilight’s literally seen the worst humanity has to offer, and she still seems pretty amicable towards us. I’ll take that as a good sign.
► Celly (Cape Wife)
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
I think these ponies are made of tougher stuff than people on this thread are giving them credit for. Remember why we have this thread in the first place, they’re badass bitches.
Edit: Strangered by WorksForUs
End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 … 12, 13, 14 … 15
————————————
BBC
“…The thing to keep in mind is that her powers are weird. The PRT has a lot of practice attaching classifications and numbers to powers, but we’re used to those powers being fixed and following a theme we can identify and use to tie everything together. We had no idea how to wrap our heads around this alien who can apparently learn gravity control the way a regular human can learn to juggle or speak French.” The agent shook his head as if in disbelief.
“That just doesn’t happen. In addition to that, most parahumans are just itching to show what they can do, get into fights, build their rep, and drive those numbers in the official ratings upward. Twilight just uses her powers when they’re useful while she goes about her business. And her business, at the beginning, was mostly reading, taking notes, and making checklists.”
“Checklists?” The interviewer inquired.
“Oh yeah, word of advice, buy stock in office supply companies. Anyway you combine these points and what you get is she’s really easy to underestimate, her powers are hard to figure out, and every time she hits a new problem she pulls out some new power or ramps up an old one in ways nobody had a clue about. So there’s this pattern where we think we have a handle on what she can do and we think we’ve seen her limits, and then she blows right past those boundaries and we all play catch up. And each time this happens, if you tried to tell people beforehand what was coming next, you’d get laughed out of the building.”
—————————————
■
♦ Topic: EPIC Celebration at the NEW bayside park
In: Boards ► Places ► Brockton Bay ► Main
Rubel (Original Poster)
Posted on May 15th, 2011:
First off, it appears the aliens have the ability to rapidly terraform an area. Pics. This plus demise of Simurgh = Viable Mars colony?
Second, if you haven’t heard - there is a truly epic celebration going on down there. Someone is running a live feed, how they are connecting to the internet I’m not sure (tinker shenanigans likely) but if you’re in the area and we’re fortunate enough to make it through the day unscathed, it looks like the place to be. I’m heading down there as soon as I finish posting this. Hope to see you there!
If you can’t make it, feel free to use the thread to talk about whatever. This isn’t a day for moderation (in any sense)!
(Showing page 8 of 9)
► Execute29 (Protectorate Employee)
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
Once again, I would like to urge everyone in the mood for celebration to form their own block parties in their local area. Travel to and from the Urban core of Brockton bay is still extremely hazadus with damaged roads, buildings and debris everywhere. We are also still performing S&R throughout the area. If you run into an official they are going to ask you to turn around anyway.
► shadowplant59
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
Holy shit, check the live feed! Is that Miss Militia Dancing with Legend? My shipping senses are tingling.
► PinkBug
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
@ shadowplant59 - Dude, Legend is kinda Gay.
Edit: And by kinda, I mean about as gay as you can possibly be. Also he’s married.
► You_Saw_Nothing
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
Reality has never interfered with shipping before, don’t see why it should start now.
► Missing_and_Presumed_Dead
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
@You_Saw_Nothing - I was going to argue, but you’ve got a point.
► ExcitedScience (Twilight Acolyte)
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
Thus was borne a ten thousand horrible capefic romances.
► touch_fluffy_tail
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
@ExcitedScience - Ugh, as if it wasn’t already hard enough to trawl through them for the decent ones.
► Nova_Centurion (Veteran Member)
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
There’s decent capefics? Why didn’t anyone tell me this?
► Dorkitude
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
@Nova_Centurion - I was about to say its like finding a unicorn, but, well…
End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 … 7, 8, 9
———————————————
FNN - Aliens: implications for Election 2012!
“…So you’re saying you don’t think the President is angling for an endorsement from the aliens? His press release this morning certainly sounded like it to me.”
“Are we even reading the same document? They just took part in an Endbringer battle to defend a city that isn’t even on their own planet. The President was simply being gracious.”
“Gracious, right, whoever gets their endorsement will be buoyed by the the gratitude the world currently feels towards the aliens. I suspect we’ll see a lot more transparent ‘graciousness’ in the coming months.”
—————————————
PGP ENCRYPTED EMAIL INTERCEPT (Flags: Nuclear, Alien):
From: Undersecretary of Homeland Security, Parahuman Divison
To: Director, PRT
Director,
All due respect, I understand this is an incredibly hectic day, but the information you provided during the conference call this morning was nearly useless. FNN has more information. We have confirmation that one alien casually exerted an amount of force that exceeds the global nuclear stockpile by orders of magnitude. We need an in-depth dossier asap, preferably before we start talks in New York. This comes straight from POTUS. Pull every thinker and resource you have available and get this done by 21:00 today, or even your reputation wont save your job.
-James King
Undersecretary of Homeland Security
Parahuman Division
———————————————
Dragon frowned thoughtfully, the Undersecretary had a point, but there was something subtly hostile in the tone of the email. She had a feeling that homeland was not particularly thrilled with Princess Luna. She stepped up her own monitoring of their communications related to her friends.
———————————————
BBC
“So we have this adorable alien pony hanging around, usually with the Wards, and pretty soon we’re all thinking of her as some sort of team mascot. I mean we didn’t actually forget she was an alien with powers and the interest of world diplomats, but she’s just so totally non-threatening that it just doesn’t seem important. Then she teleports across the city and stops a bank robbery. Then we get a mad bomber wrecking the city and the Slaughterhouse Nine drop in. Jack Slash goes after Twilight personally. I guess he thought she was too cute to live or something. No one I know is in the know enough to know what the hell happened next, but the short of it is Jack confronted Twilight, she walked away, he didn’t.”
The agent visibly shudders, gathers himself and continues.
“Twilight goes into hiding, but a week later she pops up, she’s grown wings, and she launches Crawler out of the solar system. And yes, I can’t believe I just actually spoke those words aloud, but it’s true. Again, the PRT are the people other people call to deal with the weird and the unbelievable. Yet, if you told anyone either of these things were going to happen before they happened, you would have been shown the door, because it was just that F-ing unbelievable.”
He picks up a water bottle from the table beside him and takes a long sip before moving on.
“So, yeah. Turns out Miss Sparkle’s plays in the big leagues. What does she do with this power? Join the Protectorate? Declare herself princess of Brockton Bay? Nope, she goes to the Mayor’s office and lays out her plan to revitalize the city’s economy. I kid you not. Then as a side project to work on while she’s not busy rebuilding the city, she starts a research project on how to take down Leviathan.”
“Excuse me?” The interviewer interjected incredulously.
“Oh yeah, like an extra-credit assignment or something. Lovecraftian horrors trying to end the world? Don’t worry we do this kinda thing all the time back home. Bring me everything you have on ancient sea monsters and another one of those cucumber sandwiches.”
————————————
■
♦ Topic: Twilight Sparkle Speculation
In: Boards ► Debates ► Twilight Sparkle ► Theories Thread 68
Eat_at_Joes (Veteran Member)(Twilight Acolyte)
Posted on May 10th, 2011:
Index of previous threads.
Twilight Factual thread.
So, a new thread for a new day. Latest news. Apparently Twilight Sparkle has gotten into urban renewal.
(Showing page 14 of 14)
► EndlessPattern
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
What the hell are you basing that on? I know this is the speculation thread, but usually we start from at least a scrap of verifiable evidence before spiraling out into crazy town. There is absolutely nothing so far connecting Twilight with the blast that leveled downtown.
► DefendTheWall
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
You think the Protectorate has been sitting on something like that? No way, they would have used it or something like it before now. The only two possibilities are a powerful new cape or Twilight Sparkle. Who else has been throwing around new powers lately in Brockton? Since we haven’t gotten any word or seen any evidence about a new cape…
Look, I’m not saying it was Twilight Sparkle….But it was Twilight Sparkle.
► Eat_at_Joes (Veteran Member)(Twilight Acolyte)
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
I hate to encourage him, but the lunatic has a point. Come on, we’re not posting in a Bagrat thread here. Its actually a pretty solid line of reasoning, even if we don’t have any hard evidence to back it up yet. Now taking that line of reasoning and extrapolating that Twilight is going to become Dark Lady Sparklemort or something, as his earlier ramblings seem to advocate, is pretty ridiculous, but its Defend, and its the speculation thread. These are things you must accept if you are to post here.
► Uber (Veteran Member)(Twilight Acolyte)(Verified cape)
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
Let us not bicker and argue about who killed who. Tis a day of celebration! Our Princess of Friendship has been reunited with her fellow royalty, and they (with some epic assistance by yours truly), kicked some serious ass. Now go out there and make some friends, or do better by the ones you already have. Spread the word disciples, because there are no breaks on this friendship train.
► KO#12
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
? I have no words. Its like Uber and Leet performed a mind meld with Mr. Rogers.
► Eat_at_Joes (Veteran Member)(Twilight Acolyte)
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
@ KO#12 - nor are they needed. Our mission transcends them. ;)
End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 … 13, 14
————————————
FNN - What industries are primed to take advantage of alien trade?
“While we have little more than rumors at this point to work from, there are a few things we can infer. Unless the two examples we have seen so far are aberrations, it looks like our textile and fashion industries will not find many customers.”
“Thats not necessarily true Steven. The Japanese had little interest in diamonds at the beginning of the 20th century, but a brilliant advertising campaign by Debeers turned it into their second largest market. It could be a huge market, with no local competition, just waiting for a savvy marketer with the right idea.”
“Good point John. You heard him Designers - start thinking about how turn the Equestrian’s heads. On slightly less speculative grounds, some offhand statements from Miss Sparkle seem to indicate that their technology base is not quite on par with ours. This could open huge new markets for both industrial and consumer electronics sectors.”
“The question then becomes, what do we think the equestrian’s have that we need.”
“Both have displayed the ability to alter gravity with relative ease. If this is a wide-spread skill, it could revolutionize the aerospace industry. Imagine hiring an Equestrian to place hundreds of tons of pre-assembled material into orbit.”
“I imagine the current earth to orbit payload providers are getting pretty nervous wondering if that’s the case.”
————————————
PGP ENCYPTED EMAIL Intercept (Flags: CUI, Twilight Sparkle, Princess Luna)
From: CIA Station Chief, Sydney
To: Director, CIA
Jim,
We’ve been picking up some indications from some of our assets that the CUI is planning something. Their actions over the last two weeks have been atypical, and chatter increased dramatically yesterday and continuing into this morning. Our analysts here have reason to believe they intend to take some kind of action in regards to either Twilight Sparkle, or Princess Luna soon.
Unfortunately we don’t at this time know what their intensions may be, but its keeping us up at night down here. Should we forward this to the PRT?
-Alexa
Station Chief
Sydney
————————————
Her processors whirled as she analyzed and extrapolated scenarios based off of that information. Most amounted to nothing good. She re-directed a few more of her suits that she had used for the Dragon Slayer’s raid to setup station in New York. While a fast response suit to an airbase in Japan. The CIU was an enigma even to her new capabilities, and a very dangerous group to have interested in you.
————————————
■
♦ Topic: Death Metal Pony (Her Highness Princess Luna)
In: Boards ► Debates ► Princess Luna ► Theories
80%_Water (Original Poster) (Veteran Member)
Posted on May 15th, 2011:
NEW PONY!!!
Death Metal Pony nickname originates from here
Go here to find out what we actually know.
Have you read that? Are you now prepared to posit theories that have nothing to do with it? Good, in this thread nothing as petty as facts will get in our way. You have been warned.
(Showing page 17 of 17)
► I_Jump_First (Veteran Member)
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
So anyone else wondering why, if Princess Luna has shown up here as some sort of rescue mission, they would send one of their heads of state? Its like if we parachuted the prime minister into Afghanistan to recover a hostage. It makes no fucking sense at all.
► NocturnalHorse (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
@ I_Jump_First - You’re projecting a lot of human societal structure and thinking onto a society that we know close to nothing about. For all we know, you get to be a princess by being the baddest motherfucker on the block and doing shit like crossing interstellar space and punching eldritch abominations in the face is how you show you are fit to rule.
► Ouroboros
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
Oh god, thats perfect - their cuteness actually overlays the fact that they live on some sort of death-world and they choose who rules by whoever’s the best at putting boots in monster and pony faces.
Who run Bartertown?
Fucking Death Metal Pony does.
► Reintez (Veteran Member)
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
@ Ouroboros@NocturnalHorse: Hahahaha! Though actually, something like that would explain their exceedingly good track record at eliminating threats.
@I_Jump_First: I like this idea. We shouldn’t question their ways, we should lobby to change ours.
► Faceless_Government_Spook
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
Is betting Protectorate thinkers use this thread to float what sparks public reaction and shapes their press releases accordingly.
► I_Jump_First (Veteran Member)
Replied on May 16th, 2011:
Going by your username, shouldn’t you know?
End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 … 16, 17
————————————
BBC
“…So now, for the first time ever, we have two Endbringers at once, and then downtown explodes in fire everywhere. It’s all over. Brockton Bay is utterly f-ed, and anyone who lives through this will probably wish they didn’t because it’s the Simurgh with a mad on. Then Death Metal Pony shows up.”
“What?”
“You heard me. Oh, and by the way, the new pony is princess of the night and the Moon and she’s going to SPEED UP THE EARTH TO MAKE IT NIGHT AND MANEUVER THE MOON AROUND SO SHE CAN USE IT AS A WEAPONS PLATFORM! At this point the entire Protectorate takes a moment to watch as the new pony literally kicks the Simurgh in the face. Twilight pops up once again, with a bunch of plucky kids in tow. The Protectorate gets back in the fight, what’s left of the Simurgh gets vaporized by a rainbow, and Brockton Bay suddenly has a new beachfront park.”
He takes a deep breath and his tone gets noticeably lighter.
“Then the drinking starts, because we all f-ing deserve it after the past month. So, the reason nobody saw this coming is nobody within shouting distance of sanity could have seen this coming. But I’m going to try and learn from the past here and apply those lessons to the future. What I learn looking back is…Every time Twilight Sparkle blew our minds we rewrote the files and then said, ‘O.K., she’s done now.’ Every time we thought she didn’t have anywhere higher to go, until she did. Now we’re all looking at what went down in Brockton Bay and trying to figure out how to re-work the clocks and calendars after what happened worldwide. And the world is looking at the ponies and saying, ‘O.K., they’re done now’, and I’m thinking, ‘Don’t count on it.’”
——————————————————
Dragon laughed to herself and flagged the interview for review by her sister. She couldn’t help but agree. An alert pinged and she shifted more processing to her local environment. They were on final approach into New York and she had a feeling things were about to get very interesting.
Stats
Page generated in 0.053 seconds
Total duration
937 users online
1,541,616 hits today, 2,151,698 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Wow. Dragon has always been one of my favorite characters in Worm (largely due to the fact that she is one of very few heroes that are actually heroic, and aren't secretly running a multidimensional version of Unit 731 or something like that), and it's very rare to see an Unchained version that hasn't been lobotomized. And I love it!
And seeing the world go insane over Death Metal Pony is really hilarious. The interview, too - it really captures the escalation and constant re-evaluation of capabilities that the PRT must be going through in regards to Twilight.
Thinking about it more, you've really done a good job of emulating Worm's constant cycle of escalation. Now to see what will be done with regards to Scion - and I can't see Twilight being too accepting of what Cauldron has done over the years either. Unless the giant magical friendship cannon dealt with that through the Simurgh, but I thought that the Endbringers had come from Eden, and possibly were activated by Eidolon, and thus would not have affected Scion.
An update I see?!
It's nice to see this fiction alive and well as it's one of my favorite crossovers to read. My favorite parts haves to be the interviews and the bits with Parahumans Online.
Looking forward for a full Parahumans Online as I love these.
Awesome chapter.
I'm looking forward to seeing what other MLP characters will turn up in the worm universe.
I would love to see how they would react to Discord?
Will any MLP villains show up to cause trouble?
This chapter
Dragon
Also,
This is practically true.
Loved it, Need more!
Dragon is best Cape.
Second best is skitter.
A very nice update! A few nitpicks, ignoring the forum posts:
friends'
strived to surpass
that's
This is not a complete sentence. I suspect it should be attached to the previous one.
5968044 twilicorn is canon and has been canon for quite a while, deal with it.
This whole fic is great. But you definitely have some of the best PHO interludes anywhere (and the interview only makes it better).
Because these are world-shaking events you're portraying and seeing the reactions to them of 'normal' people drives it home. Using online reactions primarily plays to your audience, too, since this is posted online and read by people who are familiar with that medium.
5967816
So very true indeed.
You should definitely drop by the Spacebattles version of this as well to read the comments there.
Posting here because this is an issue only on this version of the fic.
At first you seem to have missing a space between the thread title and the word "In" but looking at the only different thread header it misses the bold text stopping and line break between them.
The assortment of Heroes, Rogues, Villains and PRT agents, along with their associated quirks, assistants, and equipment made the combined group look like a cross between a traveling circus and a special forces operation. Luna demanding an escort made up of those who had assisted Twilight was causing all sorts of havoc. Dragon half suspected that had been half of the point of Luna’s request.
God that made me laugh thinking of that picture..
5968159 Despite my best efforts as beta-reader, there are always a few that get through. I hope we have at least noticeably cut down on these issues.
At fist I didn't want to read it because it was an interlude. Now I am glad I did read it. Some of those lines had me chortling as hard as pinkie.
I just thought of this just now and thought it would be funny and interesting if Twilight posted or left a reply on Parahumans Online and the reactions from the members.
5967559
5967710
5967737
5967748
5967816
5967818
5968159
5968184
5968187
5968891
5969264
5970162
Thank you everyone for the comments, encouragement, and pointing out typos, etc. Glad the chapter worked, and hope to story continues to entertain.
5971747 Need that next chapter soon!
That feeling when you log on and see one of your favorite stories updated once again ... thank you for making my day, reading this certainly brightened my day.
The part with Dragon was certainly interesting, her trolling of Saint was well deserved (couldn't have happened to a nicer guy) and this actually has some pretty far-reaching consequences for Earth-bet, assuming Dragon actually decides to go out and do stuff, rather than keep lying on the low - because, ironically enough, she is one of the better 'persons' on Earth and doesn't come with a boatload of ulterior motives and selfish goals attached. She's much more of a hero than many of the so-called 'heroes'. And if she applied herself fully, she probably could make Earth in to a better place with time. But that's probably some ways in to the future ...
On a more immediate notice, I hope she managed to intercept the Chinese goons before they manage to try anything - because otherwise this runs the risk of being the biggest diplomatic blow-up ion the history of forever. The whole world is watching the plane as it flies to the UN, the eyes of every nation and most individuals is on it - some worried, some hopeful, some frightened, some elated ... but all as one are watching the transport that carries within itself the couple of visitors from beyond the stars that, even though it was neither their fight nor their home (nor even their planet), risked life and limb to help humanity accomplish what they could never do before - bring down one of the greatest threats faced by mankind.
And then, someone attacks/tries to kidnap/tries to kill said two aliens (who already have managed to worm their way in to the hearts of many, especially Twilight) - with most of the world bearing witness. Wow, how's that for thanks. The public outrage would be enormous, and the governments the world-over would be both pissing themselves and scrambling to be seen as doing something.
Because the worst-case scenario here (and governments tend to think in those - it's practically their job to prepare for the worst, and many still likely don't believe the good luck they have struck with the Ponies) would be the alien princess lashing back out in retaliation, in a "I risk my life and limb (literally) in order to help you defend your world and you try and stab me in the back in the next day? Well F you too!" manner - that's how most people would even expect a wronged individual to react, even.
And considering Luna's displayed powers, this is a potential doomsday scenario. She has shown the ability to affect Earth's rotation ... so what happens if she decides to lash out in anger and, instead of doing a gradual shift or using her magic to counteract the side-effects (it has to be one or the other normally), simply decides to slam the brakes?
Human civilization, and perhaps life itself would simply end. Note that Earth rotates at the speed of 1670 km/h across the equator line. And if an object traveling at above the speed of sound was subjected to a sudden stop or rapid deceleration without some sort of magical cushioning ... well, the result should be obvious. Everything that isn't tied down (and most of things that are) would be thrown towards at the speed of sound.
People and animals would go splat against the nearest obstacle (if they even survived the sudden acceleration), buildings would topple and crumble, tsunamis would crash against the shores, weather would go insane, tectonic plates would shift and grind and crunch against each other because of the massive forces exerted upon them, volcanoes would erupt across the land (and new ones would pop up), earthquakes would rattle the world over ... it would be one massive extinction level event.
Of course, I very much doubt Luna would actually even consider doing something like that - but for the governments watching, for the more paranoid people and organizations watching, that wouldn't be their first thought - it would be "holy shit, a nation just made an attempt at an alien visitor who can do all that!", followed by a frantic "quick, what can I do to make sure that doesn't pass!" - which largely consists of being seen doing something about the country responsible.
If China actually manages to attack the plane (or whatever it is they are planning) before Dragon intercepts their plans, I would expect it face almost immediate international threat of war from nearly everyone that matters across the globe, if not outright threats of nuclear annihilation - because even an exchange of nukes would be preferable to a worst-case scenario of Luna lashing out, which spells the end of the world as we know it. And that's before you get to Luna's sister and her nation full of 'parahumans', who now have a demonstrated ability to get to Earth in a deliberate manner, and what their reaction could be if they found out that harm came to their princess at the hands of one of the nations of the world.
Whatever the response is, it's likely to be swift, decisive and very much public - because the governments sure as hell won't be banking on "Meh, I bet she will totally be cool with it and won't blame us for it, even if we aren't seen doing anything about it". Did the Chinese think this one through? Because suddenly they are the biggest threat to the security and potentially survival of the world, not Endbringers, and unlike the later can actually be dealt with ... and humans have a tendency to not take obvious threats to their security very well.
I mean, damn ... if CUI actually manages to mount an attempt (regardless of its actual success and goals) on the plane/ponies, the political fallout would be mind-boggingly widespread. Actually, this makes me wonder if Cauldron won't step in and ... deal ... with the issue before it becomes an issue. And if the security agencies know of this suspicious movment, surely they do as well.
Because they, likely more than anyone else, would want the ponies around and in a cooperative mood in order to try and deal with Scion with their help. Anything that makes them feel like it's time to pack up and bugger off to their own corner of the galaxy is probably a Bad Thing in Cauldron's books, to be avoided at all costs. And the implication that there are governments who would blatantly try and abuse them if given the chance is probably one they do NOT want to get out.
---
That long rant aside, the Parahumans Online was absolutely great, just like the previous one (and it was amusing seeing some recurring faces on the boards) - having a wider look at all the varying opinions, feelings and rampant speculation coming in from across the globe from your everyday Joe's perspective is always fun and entertaining, especially since you do such a great job at emulating the online message board format and quirks that come with it. Good job!
On another note, damn, still no talk between Twilight and Luna ... there has to be a hundred questions about her newfound nature that Twilight must be simply burning to ask the princess (that I am no less eager to witness, along with Luna's responses), and I had hoped this chapter would finally get to it ... guess not. Would it be too much to hope that they might finally get to sit down an have a serious conversation (for a given value of serious) during the next one? I'm all but itching for it :P
5972432 If you enjoy this kind of speculation at length, you really should drop by the spacebattles thread for this.
where stand worm for???
6008363 Well, you're in luck. The story is getting an editing pass to deal with that and other things as well. So far, we are up through the Yamada interlude in the chapters posted here. No promises to fix everything as I am the beta reader and I struggle with commas as well. However, between me, FinalFan here, and various folks on SpaceBattles things should be better after the pass.
Looking forward to the next chapter soon.^_^
...You win a like and fav as part of my general desire to promote awareness of Worm.
Now I'm going back to Spacebattles and reading it there, with all the other wormfic I follow. xD
What the hay? How have I been reading this so long and not have liked and faved it?!
*CORRECTED*
6216854
6216873
Thanks! RL has been hitting my writing schedule pretty hard this past month, but I am closing in on finishing the next chapter.
Just AWESOME!
6252866 actually, "God" doesn't want us to die. It wants a reason for our suffering. So it made one: itself.
Loved the chapter, so many pearls on it I can't even point them all, just like this one:
Great work!
- So true, it's like the universe suddenly decided all the worlds bad karma should be solved in Brockton Bay.
Also, Death Metal Pony is now my fav nickname for Luna. Wonder how confused/amused she'll be if any of the politicians let her hear about it?... Scratch that, she's with Uber and Leet. There's no way that's gonna be hid from her for long.
Anyone else think Dragon was trying to sound like Glados near the end of her trolling? Cause she sounded a lot like Glados.
Never have I been so dissatisfied with fimfiction's emoticon selection as this moment. That's hilarious and a supremely accurate summary of what's going on.
Saint forgot Evil Overlord List Rule #48: "I will treat any beast which I control through magic or technology with respect and kindness. Thus if the control is ever broken, it will not immediately come after me for revenge."
CONSIDER YOURSELF FORTUNATE! If you were a pony, you would have been booped!
Oh, the message boards are so fun to read! I'm a big fan of Death Metal Pony. It suits her.
6986373
If I remember correctly, Dragon actually makes a portal reference in the web serial somewhere, one of her first encounters with Taylor I think.
7535818
Excerpt from Monarch (16.5)
5967559 They did, and from the description, it sounded like the Harmony beam didn't just take out the Endbringers, but the corpse of Eden too.