34 - Force Majeure
This close, Fusion could see the complex depths of the magazine feeding the launcher, outlined with the dull tracery of superconductors lacing what must be the retrieval systems. It was in frantic motion, like a kicked ant's nest, dead shells of matter being transported into the tornado of magic that was the drive spell. No, not dead, what-- Her gut twisted and she tasted something foul at the back of her throat; at the heart of each projectile was a point of brilliance, just like she'd seen at Naraka.
Antimatter triggers... those are nuclear weapons. Responding to the questing ponies' magic with a stinging slap of her own power, Fusion opened her connection to the sun a little wider, pouring the excess into the unknown spaces within her mind. The other magic came back, strong enough to make her flight wobble and allow flickers of light through the nested force fields, as the ponies let the drive spell fade and switched to attacking her. I'm sorry. Tears of frustration filled her closed eyes as she released the thaumomagnetic pulse.
The magic rippled out, a shockwave of rainbow light that flowed through ice and rock like it wasn't there, washing over the lower levels and leaving darkness in its wake. For a moment the points of white remained, then they too vanished with stroboscopic flickers. Fusion curved away, keeping low and trying to get the horizon between her and the launcher, but there was no sudden glare of X-rays or brutal slam of heat. Hope rose; many -- all? -- of the pastel pony-lights were still present. The triggers didn't fire! A vast relief washed over her, and her next breath came out as a sob. Fail-safe; they didn't want to risk an accident.
Mechanical motion stopped in the depths, replaced by an agitated swirl from the pony-lights above and a near-directionless haze of many different spells being cast at once. Any effort to hold Fusion vanished as the other ponies scrambled to make their base safe.
How many launch sites do they have? Fusion dug into her memories of the hurried briefing, trying to remember the scattering of lights across an unfamiliar global map. Too many... and how will I find them all? The world is too big; I can't see it all.
There was a quiet tone in one ear and she flinched before realising it came from the long-silent military receiver that wrapped around that side of her head. Fusion suppressed the sudden desire to rip the thing from her ear and crush it to powder, the urge held back by curiosity.
"Can the pony hear this one? The comms unit is reporting a connection."
"Identify yourself," Fusion muttered, "and how are you talking to me?" Any local transmitter will be from a different Hive and--
"This is Sakaro, communications liaison at Redoubt Kappa. The Court is allowing these ones access to their high-orbit surveillance arrays. They want to talk to the pony directly."
They do, do they? "Right." Fusion headed in the direction of the next launcher, climbing to get above the dense air. The horizon curved and the sky darkened, filled with the glitter and swirl of the debris ring. Little lights streaked through the dark, drawing brief lines from horizon to horizon. The meteors flew in random directions and showed a curious mix of colours; whites and greens and reds, some amazingly intense. The land below, darker than the sky, was alive in the shadow sight of her missing eye.
Mostly subterranean, as in Lacunae Hive, the lights of crystal thaumic magic were highly localised into a web of tunnels and dense nodes; not big enough to be arcologies, at least not the sort she was used to. Involuntarily, spell patterns assembled themselves in the back of her mind. Concentrations of solar heat, brought into being directly in the voids and spaces within the Hive's structures without crossing the intervening distance. Living creatures, flesh boiling and fur flashing to mad flames, under the lash of superheated-- Fusion trembled, pushing away the sudden, horrible, vision. Not what I'm looking for. Things are not bad enough. Yet.
Fusion moved on, wishing for a better way to navigate. Finally, the launcher separated from the general magical haze, a deep line of pony-pastel against the harder, artificial colours. The thaumic pulse spell built again, and she tuned it, narrowing the beam and increasing its range. "If the Court wants to talk, it should start by halting the attacks on Lacunae Hive," she murmured, pulling down solar power and letting it fly once more.
===
Orgon suppressed a smile at the pony's response, studying the faces of the Court's representatives. Confusion, mostly, followed by anger. How dare this creature instruct us. He snorted, following the bright dot across Baur territory as it wiggled and wove between the isolated launch sites. It crawled, its speed made deceptively slow by the distance. It will do a lot more than that. The implications of its kin's power do not bode well for any conflict... "The Court can see what this one has to deal with," he said quietly. "In truth, the pony only wants what any Person would want; these ones all--"
"Servitors are not People and the Strategist is insane if he thinks that they are!" the Soro Judge snarled. "The pony will surrender or its kind will suffer the consequences."
There was a delay as the signal made its long light-speed crawl to high orbit and back down. "You already said that, Judge. As far as I can see, you are going to kill them all anyway," Fusion said over the voice-only channel. "I have nothing left to lose, do I?" There was a grunt of effort, matched by a sudden shift in the bright dot's direction. It merged with the icon of a launcher, then the bright arcs of ballistic fire reaching up from the military base suddenly ceased. "You don't believe I can really hurt you, do you? Not you, personally. I will end this with the minimum loss of life on all sides, but I will not sacrifice my ponies to do it. You are not out of my reach, Judges."
"I told you," Merlon giggled, a high-pitched whinny of a sound. "She'll hunt you down and burn you out of whatever hole you are hidden in." Orgon touched her on the back of the head and the pony quieted.
The words hung in the air and for the first time a few of the Court looked uncertain. The Soro Judge leaned forward, glaring at Orgon through the screen. "The pony might have cowed Lacunae Hive, but it has no leverage over the rest of these ones. The Court will call for mass euthanisations if the pony does not comply."
"Merlon? Is that you?" The dapple-grey mare looked in horror at the screen with its icon representing the voice call. "There will be no burning if I can avoid it."
"How dare the pony ignore--!" the Baur representative, fur bristling and ears flattened, ground out, his claws raking grooves in the leather-coated table.
"What is there to talk about, Judge? There is nothing I can say that will convince you to stay your paw, so while you rant I will continue my work. Please keep talking; the landscape here is not very interesting. Perhaps you could tell me a little about yourself... I don't even know your name." There was another grunt and another of the launch sites stopped firing.
"This one is Chief Justice Tundru. The pony's kind will know this one's name before the day is over! He has been told the pony's comms equipment has a display. It should watch and understand."
===
A small light, rich with the dot-speckle patterns of laser light, bloomed in the darkness of Fusion's defensive fields, searching out her blinded eye. Sighing, she pulled the comms unit away from her head and twisted it until it fitted to her other ear. The light flared and leapt into focus and the lasers found her retina, showing an aerial shot of a grassy field surrounded by low, multi-coloured shelters. There were trees; the sharp shapes of evergreens. Ponies were lined up across the field, row upon row of them, mares, stallions and foals. Along the bottom of the screen were strings of numbers.
Fusion's breath quickened. Amid the ranks was a pony with the bulky panniers of a medic. That looks like... "Where is that?"
"That is within Baur Hive," Orgon said. "Approximately a megalength from the pony’s location. The time stamp claims to be current." There was a pause and Orgon's tone changed to one of warning. "Judges, the pony doesn't respond well to threats--"
"Orgon has failed in his duty! It is quite clear that he is too weak to take the required actions. Servitor, that is a live feed. It is one of the Hive’s corrals... the current population is three hundred and nineteen." Tundru's voice had turned silky. "Is prescience one of the many powers Orgon assigns to the pony? The Medic will carry out its orders." The tone for the last words was different; a command, directed to someone else.
The medic-pony looked up, staring at the flying camera. Her mouth opened, an 'o' of dismay, magic flaring around her horn with random flashes of yellow. One of the panniers was opened and an injector removed. It floated in a halo of magic, trembling slightly.
"Orgon, give me a vector," Fusion snapped, turning her path to the south and warmer climes. No snow, lots of conifers. "Judges, none of you are out of my reach. Even on Luna. Do you understand me?" Sickness welled up inside her. I'm not fast enough. Fusion's course curved upwards as she listened to the whisper of the communications liaison, bending it a little further to the south at the dog's prompting. Light flooded in, the harsh glare of Celestia on snow, and she squinted, imagining a place on the horizon--
~~~discontinuity~~~
--air slammed into her and was shrugged aside, its force made small by her altitude. "The pony will not get to the locat--"
~~~discontinuity~~~
--snow giving way to scattered rocky valleys of a high plateau, dotted with stunted trees in sheltered places. Another slam, but even weaker. The world was spread below a dark indigo sky, its edges gently curved and shaded red-gold by her plasma sheath. "--in time." The image reappeared, the medic pony stroking the neck of a stallion as she pressed the injector to the artery under his jaw. His eyes rolled up and his legs gave way, depositing his body untidily on the grass. Fusion stared, momentarily mindless, her speed bleeding away to the subsonic, as the medic stepped to the next pony in line. A ripple of shock ran through the herd, but nopony ran.
"Damn you," Fusion whispered. "You would destroy yourselves to get to us."
"The pony will surrender immediately to the Court's forces. This is only a taste of what the future holds for the pony's kind." The voice changed, sounding like the owner was starting to smile. "That corral holds less than zero point one percent of Baur Hive's servitor population. These ones will take the loss."
"I made myself a promise at the start of all this, Judge. I have been helpless my whole life." Fusion squinted at the horizon. I will be too late to save them all. Her speed built again, the plasma sheath growing bright enough to make her shine like a star. Fusion's mind reached out, building the teleport pattern again. "By doing this you condemn yourselves, Judges. You should listen to Merlon, she understands. I will not be helpless anymore."
~~~discontinuity~~~
===
Gravity sweated and strained, hidden in the depths of a shadowed valley under the pastel clouds cloaking a large chunk of northern Lacunae. The tactical table, linked by non-causal communicator to the strategic networks deep in the Hive, showed the incoming fire from scores of launchers across the world, but she ignored it. She had her eyes closed, following the action by the feel of motion at suborbital altitude. Her power fumbled at the projectiles, trying to pull them off course while Arclight projectors were a constant drain on her strength. It should have been easy, but it wasn't. The distance was too great and there were too many of the things; every single one had some measure of guidance and would actively fight her adjustments. A few were starting to leak through and the numbers were increasing.
"I can't stop them!" she snarled, making Vanca flinch. At the back of Gravity’s head was the link to Fusion, stable now that the other mare had stopped her frequent teleports. What was coming back through was disturbing in its own right; a building sense of horror and impotent rage.
"I saw what the pony did with that debris ring fragment--" the Academician started, falling silent when Gravity flicked a wing in her direction.
"But if I do that I can't stop..." Gravity let out a groan, mind submerged in the projectiles that were swarming through the upper atmosphere.
"The pony's success rate is dropping," Vanca whispered, taking a few steps backwards. "It is going to be overrun."
Gravity's ears folded back and she tossed her mane, tail whipping from side to side. What do I let the dogs kill? She let out another groan, diverting some of her attention to the debris ring fragments, high above the ballistic paths of the incoming weapons. But what do I hit? Too many ponies... Rocks in high orbit started to shift, momentum transferred through hidden paths, sending some climbing while others fell. The enemy Arclights... all the projectors seem to be static. Fusion needs to get close to hit them, but no crystal engine in the world will stop me from dropping rocks. No ponies to worry about in those Arclights. I hope.
Thoughts of Fusion made the connection a little firmer, bringing with it images of the complex systems inside dog military bases and a vindictive pleasure at twisting them. What have they done, Fusion? There were other thoughts, the slumped body of an unknown pony, dead but unmarked, accompanied by a feeling of impotent rage.
Her grimace changed slowly into a smile, and she matched the installations on the strategic map to the patterns in her head. The smile faltered, but she didn't stop working. How many will die because I can't stop those weapons?
Things were flicking by overhead, too small and fast to be seen, but she could feel them. The sky was suddenly scored with the laser-straight lines of reentry vehicles crashing through the atmosphere with most of their launch velocity intact only to disappear into the clouds. Then came the silent flashbulb pops of light, distant things that were only seen by reflections off low clouds, until one wall of the valley lit up with an intolerable brilliance.
Vanca yelped, curling into a ball, but Gravity ignored it. They are firing blind through our clouds... nearly... nearly... The ground pulsed under her hooves, the shockwave shaking the needles from trees and triggering rock falls. Orbital adjustments complete, she exhaled sharply, then inhaled, grabbing the Academician, strategic display and non-causal communicator. Magic fluctuating slightly in time with her frantic heartbeat, Gravity scrabbled for an escape pattern as a Mach front rolled over the valley wall--
~~~discontinuity~~~
===
Lilac stared up at the smooth rock ceiling and closed his eyes. A tiny push of effort opened his mind to the shadow universe, replacing the dull greys and pinks of granite with the tangled webs of magic that laced the clouds. The power was still there, even though most of the ponies had retreated underground, but the spells were starting to unravel. Too many losses... can't make any spell completely self-contained. Entropy is everywhere.
He turned his gaze downwards, sweeping his magical sense through the tunnel-riddled rock beneath his hooves. The volume was filled with the varied pastels of ponies, large and small, and the more uniform golden lights of gryphons. All my friends are here... they gave me a life, something more than that stunted thing I had, and what have I given back? I'm a mediocre medic at best, doing things that Spiral could do in her sleep.
He searched the sky again, picking out the tiny glows of ponies, more by the magic they fed into the clouds than by their own colours. There are not enough ponies in the sky to keep the magic alive... how long before it all unravels? "I'm no use down here, but that magic is easy." Lilac opened his eyes, gazing intently at the rock, then spread his featherless wings. Shards of pale purple light materialised in pairs from the leading edges, the magic filling the triage cave with flickers of light and a melody of high tones.
Breathing hard, Lilac relaxed the hold he had on the magic, keeping it alive with a trickle of power and attention. Carefully, he moved his hind legs with the same purple fire, then faster as keeping both sets of magic active became easier. He headed for the surface access tunnel, unsteady walk becoming a smooth, forward trot. "No time like the present," he muttered, jumping upwards and spreading his crystalline wings.
He felt light and the ground fell away in unsteady jerks. He climbed rapidly, nervousness evaporating as the time he'd have to rebuild the magic went from impossible to probably okay to easy. His frown of concentration relaxed, turning into a delighted grin. "This is far better than I remember!" He dared a small swoop, then a roll. Tears filled his eyes. Here I can be just like any other pony. Turning in a wide circle, he surveyed the approaching cloud base, becoming attuned to the tangle of spells bound to the water drops.
They were all basic things, more powerful versions of the magics cast by foals in training. Many were still strong, woven into complementary loops and networks, but here and there were the patches of fading colour he'd seen from the ground. Nodding at a passing pony -- the mare had swung by to look at him, attracted by the unexpected radiance of his wings -- he plied the remainder of his power to rebuilding the spells.
The spells lacing the clouds reformed under his touch and he flew through the enchanted droplets, spreading completeness wherever he went. There was lightning in the distance, silent flashes filtered through dark clouds, but something about it didn't seem right. Too spread out... where's the pattern? Any real storm would be focused in one area, one set of convection cells, but this was from random points all around. I didn't think we were allowing any storms... we want clouds, not rain!
What little mental space he had left chewed on the problem and came back with an unwelcome answer. Are the dogs trying to drive us out? He stopped his work on the spells and climbed rapidly, emerging above a moonlit cloudscape. The sky was filled with falling lights, brilliant things that persisted far longer than any dust-meteoroid, dropping from the blackness above to vanish in the swirling vapors. Where they struck the clouds flashed white, the too-bright glow fading quickly through yellow to red, like hot iron quenched in water.
Something fell nearby, a fast streak that flicker-flashed with the irregular atmospheric density it passed through, vanishing behind one of the many mountains. Another flash, lightning-bright, a sudden pool of brilliance that followed the outline of the targeted valley. Lilac's mouth dropped open as the clouds boiled away around a rising globe of orange fire, too bright to really look at. How many ponies are under that strike? No hole in the side of a hill will help there--
Mind filled with the vision of that rising fireball, the little feather-blades of magic on his wings blinked out, and Lilac fell.
===
Messages popped up on Orgon's console, distracting him from the rapidly accelerating crawl of Fusion Pulse across the distant territories of Baur Hive. They are ready. Finally, this one has something to bargain with. "Representatives of the Court, cease the attacks, or Orgon will destroy one arcology every one hundred seconds."
"The Strategist can do no such thing," Tundru sneered. "This one makes Orgon a counter offer. The Court will use the Hammer to obliterate every last trace of Lacunae Hive, no matter the consequences to the rest of the world."
"Chief Justice Tundru, this one does not want to kill unnamed billions as a demonstration, so he must commit a lesser atrocity first." Orgon nodded, ears folding back and slight smile fading. A series of claw tip-sized video windows opened, showing neat clusters of gryphons in full armour and rows of gunships, drives idling. A score of Security ponies were in each location, horns glowing. The readiness reports were all green. Not straight suicide units like Baur Hive had used, that is something. They can be recalled. "The Court will recall Merlon's teleport." He gestured to the pony, curled into a tangled ball of legs and wings. He felt a pang of guilt, then pushed it away.
"The Court is receiving these video feeds, this one trusts?" The expression of the Judges said it all: confusion, hostility and amusement. So be it. His paw swiped along the list, indicators flicking from green to red. The ponies leaped into the air and their horns flared, making the gryphons, their vehicles and themselves, disappear. Three jumps to Arcology Prime, perhaps a dozen seconds... "The Court will find out within a count of twenty that this one is perfectly serious and capable of carrying out his threats." They may even find out slightly before this one does. His lips drew back from his teeth. "Chief Justice Tundru will recall what Baur Hive did to Lacunae at the start of the Three Day War."
The Court representatives exchanged glances with each other, but Tundru just stared at Merlon. "Orgon can't--" He flinched, responding to something the Strategist couldn't hear, his eyes moving to some concealed display.
Orgon's secondary displays came alive, a video feed from the nose of a gunship at the centre. Wreckage and fire was all around from the hole the aircraft had punched in a thin spot in the arcology roof. Uplink confirmed... More video windows bloomed, feeds from gryphon helmet cams, other gunships and several Security ponies. The space they were in was cavernous, a high-ceilinged volume between cyclopean stacks of barrack apartment blocks on the edge of Arcology Prime. The roar of gunship turbines echoed in the space, large as it was, like captive thunder, and the attack team split up, diving towards the blocky entrance of one of the accommodation blocks.
The beachhead is in place. Another pair of ponies appeared, a gunship floating between them in a smear of rainbow light. They vanished, making way for another. "This one now has the ability to project force to any location within any other Hive. If this one can send a functioning assault force, imagine how easy it will be to send strategic weapons."
===
Rthar resisted the urge to lift his faceplate and scratch at the persistent itch under his muzzle, and settled for bitterly missing his personal armour. There was a numb feeling behind his eyes; a side effect of the medic servitor's mental tampering. He picked at the blankness like it was a missing tooth. Perhaps this one shouldn't--
There was a tap on his shoulder, making him jump. "What?" Rthar snarled, the growl echoing in the confines of his helmet. Comms off, thank the Maker. The other suit, tagged with the wearer's name and rank, pointed to the curved side of his helmet. Rthar blinked, then leaned forwards, touching helmet to helmet. What can't go over the comms network?
"The briefing said the Captain was held captive by the ponies... but this one wants to know why he is on this mission. How was the Captain cleared for combat?"
"Trauma block," he said, taping at the side of his helmet with one deactivated fighting claw. "Apparently this one has special insight into how to work with servitors that have full autonomy." Something in the other Person's posture spoke of great distaste. "These ones have no choice," Rthar said, feeling a great fatigue. "He has seen the same briefing documents as the rest of the task force, but nothing really prepares a Person for what that actually means." The power to demolish a mountain.
There was silence, then the other soldier shifted his weight from paw to paw. "The Captain has been... moved by the ponies before?"
Ah, so that's it. Rthar grinned. The trooper doesn't like what's coming. "Yes, several times. The sergeant wasn't briefed?"
"Yes, but..."
"Blink and the sergeant will miss it. One moment here, the next..." Rthar shrugged. "...wherever the pony decides to put this one. Rthar doesn't think the arrival point can be inside anything solid."
There was an indrawing of breath, but the battlenet notification chime sounded and Rthar pulled away, patting the sergeant on the shoulder. The ready room, filled with vehicles and ranks of troops from three species came alive with flashes of pastel lightning as Security servitor magic filled the air. The room emptied, quickly, then it was his turn. The pony's magic lifted him off the metal floor and he made his paws into tense balls of muscle and bone--
~~~discontinuity~~~
--still in the air, passed from pony to pony in some open bit of farmland, the cereal crop flattened and chewed by the concussive thumps of teleport arrivals. Another flash, directly overhead, and a gunship went from not there to there like a bad special effect, before blinking out again. The other pony, breathing hard and with eyes looking a little wild, nodded once and made its horn glow a bright--
~~~discontinuity~~~
--explosions in the distance and the roar of a gunship's engines. Concrete of a surface monorail cargo relay station suddenly under his booted paws. Rthar staggered sideways with the expected-yet-unexpected motion of arrival, nearly falling. There was shouting, unintelligible under the thunderous hammer of a point defence railgun sitting on six clawed legs, as it shot at some invisible target in the sky, then more magic threw him into the air and--
~~~discontinuity~~~
--screams and the battle-charged calls of gryphons, echoing from tall concrete canyons of apartment blocks around the central parade ground. Rthar breathed again, his first inhalation for what seemed like forever, and twisted, scanning the roof. Still intact; no comms yet. One of the gunships tilted nose-up, the spinal mass driver filling the air with shockwaves and noise that would have burst unprotected eardrums. Explosions overhead and the whining passage of spallation fragments striking scars in the walls high above the ground, then daylight spilled into the subterranean structure, solid bars of cream and brown in the dusty air.
Updates cascaded through his command interface as a connection was made with a Lacunae satellite, one of several kept dark and silent in distant orbits for just this sort of eventuality. Comms lag warnings came with the updates; it was taking nearly two seconds for the data to make the round trip. Teams at the other end of the link would be pouring over the data sent from himself, the gunships, the gryphons and the countless sensors they'd variously strewn, fired or flown to every spot in range.
There had been People in the plaza between the buildings; some were still running for cover, ignored by the task force as long as they were unarmed and kept running. Others, the cadets or the security forces occupying the base that had tried to stand their ground, littered the concrete with bodies and parts of bodies, surrounded by the spray patterns of fast impact blood. A bleep, and a marker appeared in his HUD, highlighting the entrance to one building, now tagged instructor's quarters.
Half of the taskforce surged in that direction while the rest deployed to defend the perimeter. Gunships peeled off, missiles leaping from belly-bays to detonate in the connecting tunnels, filling them with rubble and twisted wreckage. No help coming that way. There would be other routes, but they would be small things, maintenance tunnels best suited for the occasional pony. Rthar glanced upwards at the hole in the arcology roof. Still could drop in that way.
## Antimagic defences still acting to support ballistic strikes. ##
The words appeared in a line across the top of his view, vanishing when he stared at them for a moment. These ones won't have long before Baur understands the threat. Trapped, held in place by the effects of what passed for Arclight in Baur territory...
There was gunfire coming from the entrance to the instructor's barracks, but it was little more than a rattle of personal firearms. Heavily armoured 'breacher' gryphons variously shot, blasted or charged into the building, making multiple openings in the front walls and crashing bodily through high-level windows. There was little actual fire from the gryphons -- the high frequency scream of the autocannon was very distinctive -- they were under orders to capture as many of the Baur military staffers as possible.
Rthar listened intently to the battle reports, following the rapidly moving dots of assault teams as they flooded the structure. At his back were a pair of fidgeting ponies, both anonymous in full Security barding, flinching and shying at each scream or explosion. Magic flickered over their horns, the only part of their bodies exposed to the air, making undirected waves of sensation flow over Rthar's fur. He shifted, resisting the urge to rub at his arms through the armour suit. Let them be, they need to do something.
A green light flicked on in a part of the partially constructed HUD map, highlighting a small room in the outer zone of the barracks building. He crouched slightly, then trotted forwards, waving to the servitors to follow. The room was the quarters of an unknown Baur instructor, and had been roughly cleared, the furniture and personal belongings smashed and thrown into the compact bathroom. The floor was now covered with a collection of angry and frightened People, bound paw to paw with self-locking metal strips.
Muzzles strapped shut they were unable to talk, but their eyes came alive, full of furious questions. Rthar grinned, gesturing to the Security ponies. "The soldiers are probably trying to say that they won't cooperate with this one. Don't worry, it doesn't really matter what these People do."
"Sorry, Masters," the first pony said, bowing its head. "I promise this will not hurt, but you may experience some discomfort if you fight my magic." The pony folded its legs, amber light flickering over its horn.
There was more gunfire outside, but in the room the silence was absolute. Come on, come on. Rthar resisted the urge to pace and add extra stress to the servitors. The animal muttered something, gesturing to one of the People. The other pony stepped delicately forwards, picking its way between the squirming bodies, then bent down to study the indicated individual. Its eyes closed and more hornlight flickered and flashed, casting strange, shifting colours across its muzzle.
"I have it, Captain Rthar," the first pony said. "This Master--" It flicked an ear, or rather the sensor stalk that connected to the ear, still safe inside the helmet. "--is involved in training for their anti-magic systems. That one--" Another ear flick. "--has a similar set of skills, but was originally based at a different facility. They have both visited multiple sites."
"Can the pony tell which ones?" Rthar leaned forwards, fascinated. These ones should have used the ponies far earlier; a normal field interrogation...
"Master, the three facilities in the northern sector defence ring." It nodded, magic fading. "That should expose the centre of Baur Hive."
"Perfect. The pony will extract the information." Quickly. Somewhere out in Baur territory, Arclight emplacements would be duelling with Lacunae's own ballistic weapons, hunting for traces of antimatter that marked nuclear weapons. All it would take would be an alert operator to realise the threat this operation posed... Rthar kept silent, letting the servitors work.
===
The sudden rush of wind cut through Lilac's fur, bringing him back to the here-and-now. He inhaled sharply, mind full of the magic that should have rebuilt the faux-feathers, but instead of sharp-edged planes that would direct the air, all he got were fine threads and short-lived puffs of colour.
Lilac plummeted towards the gently glowing clouds, punching through the intangible surface and into the damp, cold turbulence below. More magic, the almost instinctive kind that every pony learned from foalhood, took over, tying him into the myriad of tiny droplets and slowing his fall. It was like dropping through a trillion spiderwebs, each one absorbing a fraction of his mad velocity until he was still.
Gasping, eyes wide, Lilac gave a shaky laugh and slumped, body buoyed up by the simple magic. "How close am I to the underside of the clouds?" The powered fog was all too effective a barrier to his shadow sight, like a powerful light that blurred all details.
Frantic heart slowly calming, Lilac closed his eyes and carefully rebuilt his wings, doing his best to ignore the flashes, now joined by distant rumbles. A dozen breaths later he'd finished the primaries and gave a cautious flap, resuming powered flight. Control was shaky and unstable without the secondaries and coverts, and Lilac started to descend, faster than he would like. Still better than a fall!
Another hundred breaths and he was in clear air again, the dark valley beneath lit by the eerie, flickering glow of distant detonations. "Coming up here was really stupid," he muttered, spying the arrowhead shapes of diving ponies; it was the rest of the cloud maintenance teams, fleeing for shelter. Time to join them. Lilac folded his partial wings and fell towards the shelter's entrance tunnel.
===
The sun moved across the sky in stuttering jerks, small enough that if you weren't looking for it just appeared to be a continuous accelerated motion. Under her hooves the ground flowed and changed like it was a distant dream, rolling away at a velocity that would have been measured in kilolengths a second if Fusion was moving through real space. As it was, there was no hypersonic motion, no incandescent shockwave just ahead of her muzzle, just a tooth-aching vibration from the chain of teleports.
The horizon was alight with the patterns of crystal thaumic machines. Bright shapes, nodes and lines, laced the dark volumes of the shadow world, filling it with a complexity matching that of the centre of Lacunae Hive. Amid all this activity were places where the dog's machine magic was twisted and sucked away into points of darkness. Fuzzy bars reached out, like negative torchlight through hazy air, intersecting at places in near orbital space. At these points, the deep violet of Gravity's magic curdled and drained away.
Those must be the inbound weapon tracks... some smart dog has realised they can stop her. The thought flicked through Fusion's mind, nearly buried under the constant flow of teleport patterns. The whisper in her ear was hard to follow -- whatever the dogs were using to beam their signal to her was having trouble keeping up -- but she had aligned her vector some time ago before increasing the tempo of her spell casting.
Those beams of curdled darkness were moving, sweeping across the sky to dip low, the long straight paths foreshortening as they--
No!
Fusion veered sideways, her next jump aborted. The beams converged a few kilolengths ahead -- just where her next arrival point would have been. She paused, sick uncertainty filling her gut, imagination watching the medic working down the line of trembling but compliant ponies.
"These ones may be able to provide the pony with a distraction," whispered the comms unit in her ear.
Fusion flinched, nearly tumbling, then nodded, teeth grinding. "Make it fast," she shouted, making another teleport jump, this one in a random direction as the dark searchlight beams sought her out. She made her jumps as random as she could, while still trying to close the distance to the corral. Slow! Too slow!
===
"Master, we are attempting to find a teleport locus we can use. The Arclight emplacement is operating and the magical distortions are too strong to get directly inside the complex."
Rthar nodded, keeping his expression attentive and burying the urge he felt to scream at the nervous servitor. "Anywhere inside the main security perimeter would help. What about the main access tunnel?"
The pony's expression cleared and she nodded vigorously. "Yes, Master! The primary tunnel is large enough for a dozen gunships, if you can breach the main doors."
Rthar frowned, studying the layout of the Arclight installation in his HUD. There were no details, just the main tunnels and shafts, all mapped over the megaseconds by careful examination of satellite gravimetric data. The location indicated by the servitor was within the defence perimeter; the Arclight machinery shared the base with a battalion of heavy armour, and all the weapon systems that entailed. All of which will be pointing outwards. "No Hive is adequately defended against this sort of attack," he muttered, passing the information along and watching as orders came back through the local commanders. Not against the sorts of weapons these ones will use. He swallowed, thinking of the bone-white ceramic eggs kept in several of the gunships. There's a lot of rock to get through... how close is close enough?
The pony had the rapt expression of one listening to the divine, and stood bolt upright. "Master, I have my orders. I am to take you in the second wave, once the demolition teams are ready."
He nodded, taking a furtive glance out of the window. Already other servitors were hovering in the big empty space between the buildings, pairing up with howling gunships. Information cascaded across his visor: engagement plans, expected layout and response times, orders not to use thaumic flight near the suppressor -- The gunships vanished in pulses of pastel light, the concussive thumps of inrushing air rattling the windows. Somewhere out in Baur territory there was now a real fight, not the silly, one-sided thing they’d just been through.
Rthar left the room on the hooves of the servitor, past a pair of People rock-bolting a case to the floor. One of the faceless, armoured figures raised a thumb claw to the other, who nodded, tapping out a code on a small panel. A timer started, counting down from one hundred. The servitor glanced at the weapon, its ears folding back, but said nothing. "It is necessary... Baur won't believe these ones otherwise," Rthar said softly, "It will be terrible, but a far greater number of deaths will be avoided."
The servitor paused, head lowered. "Yes, Master." It shivered all over, then cleared its throat. "Captain, are you ready? I will take you all at once."
"Yes, do it--"
~~~discontinuity~~~
--unbalanced, thrown sideways by the change in spin vector, straight into a world filled with explosions and the blinding glare of weapon lasers. Claws on his shoulder, dragging him at a sort of limping gallop across rubble-strewn concrete. There was the shell of a gunship, burning fiercely with the electric hue of failing superconductors while ammunition cooked off in its belly-bays.
The cavernous volume of a primary transit tunnel arched overhead, perhaps two score lengths to the concrete ceiling and its regular array of vents and other unidentifiable hardware, partially obscured behind a pall of dirty smoke. Drives howling, Lacunae gunships maneuvered in the tight confines, unable to use their high mobility and resorting to pumping out vast quantities of electromagnetic noise and physical countermeasures. Variable intensity IR and vacuum ultraviolet decoys spiralled and darted from dispensers, filling the air with smoke that was rapidly reducing visibility to less than a pawful of lengths.
Rthar's vision systems fought the smoke, but the stuff was designed to block everything in the near-IR and was hot enough to render thermal imaging futile. Friendly markers peppered his HUD, populated by the mesh network communications system linking all the soldiers, but did little more than make what little he could see a confusing mess of neon-coloured iconography. "Status report," he gasped, shaking off the claws and lurching into a stumbling run through the glare-filled fog.
"There was a mixed unit of infantry and armour in the tunnel when we jumped in," the pony said, arriving at a canter. Pale blue light flared around it in a half-dome, and there was a sudden lessening of noise. "They have mostly been destroyed; the gryphons are hunting stragglers now. Master, this is not a safe location--"
Rthar laughed and kept running, fetching up in a crater blasted in the concrete wall of the tunnel alongside a dozen other of the People and a few gryphon trooper guards. "The door is proving resistant," the combat engineer said, attention fixed on an elaborate portable scanner. His claws waved over the screen, making the tunnel schematic rotate, then he tapped at a couple of points. In time with each touch, a gunship fired its spinal mass driver into the fog. The engineer grunted something that sounded unhappy. "This one can't get it open," he said finally, "but Baur isn't coming out that way anytime soon."
"The plan?"
"These ones should be close enough to disrupt the Arclight unit." He waggled his paw: approximately. "The fireball won't reach it, but the shock pulse is focused enough..." More claw taps and missiles shrieked as they leapt from launch tubes, arrowing away on the blue glare of their electric drives. Flashes of blue-white rendered the fog completely opaque for a moment, then the tunnel floor shivered under Rthar's booted paws. One of the gunships, held back from the front line, darted forwards towards the source of the blast.
A mind-achingly long time later, at least that's what it seemed to Rthar, the engineer slapped the scanner's display closed. "That will do. These ones are done here. Pony, get these ones out of here."
~~~discontinuity~~~
===
A green, rolling landscape stretched out underneath the drone. Coded diagrams lined the sides of the screen, denoting rapidly closing enemy aircraft. On the side of one of the faux hills was an ugly mouth of a hole, lined with metal struts like jagged teeth; black smoke billowed out and obscured anything within. Not fast enough, Orgon thought, a small smile pulling his lips away from his teeth. There was a flash of white, bright enough to overload the drone's camera, then the hillside blew outwards in a welter of dirt, rock and metal.
"That was a mistake, Orgon," Tundru snarled, while the other Judges looked on in horror. "This one will--"
Orgon leaned back, gesturing to the main screen. An angry red light in Baur territory, one of their Arclight bases, and connected to a hazy bar of pink light that waved over the map like a demented searchlight, had just winked out. "This one thought that might shut Tundru up," he said, spreading one set of claws across the control panel. "The pony is but one individual, but now the Court is dealing with Orgon. The Judges should choose their next words with care. He doesn't want to commit an atrocity, but..." Orgon's smile widened, exposing a full set of sharp teeth. "...he will."
"In a hundred seconds, the Hammer can turn half of Lacunae into ash and dust," Tundru choked out, "with every chance that Orgon will die with his people."
"Perhaps... but that will not stop this one's revenge. He can gut Baur Hive in a heartbeat." He nodded to the other Judges. "It will take a little longer for the rest of the Hives, but it will happen."
An expression of insane fury crossed Tundru's face, so intense that Orgon thought he might call for a Hammer strike out of pure spite, and damn the consequences, but the order never came. "Call off the attacks; these ones will negotiate." A paw balled into a fist slammed down on the table and the video link cut off.
"Well?" Orgon said, turning to the strategic operations liaison.
The other Person, ears flattened and wearing the expression of a prey animal, stared dumbly back, then pointed with a hesitant paw at the main air defence display. "The Hammer has not yet fired... and the other Hives have stopped their attack." His expression relaxed, becoming one of wonder. "The Strategist did it!"
Orgon grunted, turning away. Perhaps. Now all this one must do is convince Fusion to show restraint.
===
One of the Arclight installations she'd been evading abruptly went dark, the brilliant collection of laser-bright jewels blinking out and replaced by a purple flash. The other half of the pair wavered, its beam diffusing with the distance. Fusion gathered herself, making a first tentative jump towards her target corral. The edge of the beam caught her and magic became instantly harder to perform, but it was nothing she couldn't work through.
Her real-space velocity dropped away as Fusion focused all her will on the teleport spells. The frequency rose, first one a second, then five, until her effective speed far exceeded anything other than what remained of the low-orbit satellites. The world rolled below her hooves until she flashed past a collection of aircraft, gathered around a collection of distant fields and orchards. There was magic there, and technology, but no more than to be expected from a servitor corral, and no sign of anything really energetic. She changed direction, a single jump bringing her to rest a few hundred lengths above the bright colours of pony shelters.
There were ranks of pastel shapes on grassy field just outside the haphazard shelters, barely visible through her blurring vision. Lines of darkness slashed across the grass, linear grooves that still smoked, intersecting with the pastels in splashes of red--
~~~discontinuity~~~
--appearing a hoof-width above the grass, in front of a slumped pony wearing the panniers of a medic. Littering the ground were dozens of drug cartridges, all marked with black and yellow wasp-stripes. “No,” Fusion whispered, wild eyes raking the rows of bodies. At least half, maybe a hundred dams, foals and stallions, were unmarked and just seemed to be asleep. “Damn you.” She looked up at the orbiting aircraft, blinking away her tears, then back at the medic.
The medic shivered, closing her eyes. “I have a message for you,” she said dully, as emotionless as a recording. “This will be your future.” She let out a wordless cry, a high-pitched neigh that sounded like it came from a lost foal. “I took too long carrying out my orders and they opened fire.” The injector, loaded with a fresh cartridge floated in her magic, twisting this way and that. “Not all of my ponies died immediately, but- but they wouldn't let me help them--” The words choked off and her breathing quickened, the injector coming up and stabbing towards her own throat.
Fusion caught it in her unbreakable grip, gently pulling it away. “No more,” she said, then flinched as her horn flared. Her own magic surged, building defences and sealing the pony off behind an impenetrable shell of white radiance.
The mare didn't even try to fight; her magic turned inwards in a single fast flicker, like a surprise kick from a loved one. She slumped, the pain that had been distorting her muzzle smoothing away as muscles relaxed.
Fusion stared at the body, mouth open, then relaxed her power, leaning forwards to brush the end of the mare's muzzle with her own. Fusion felt weak and almost in a trance as she walked along the neat line of ponies, stopping at the first pool of blood. The laser slashes had been fast, too fast and focused to do any more than slice flesh like a hot wire through plastic. There was no cauterisation, none at all.
There was a noise, the low hum of lifter fans manoeuvring a vehicle supported by a crystal levitation drive. The aircraft differed from those she'd seen before, but the design was similar enough. A set of wings set with ducted fans either side of a stubby body, otherwise smooth lines marred by the warts and barnacles of conformal turrets. “The pony will surrender or more of its kind will be killed.” The machine-like voice came from a flat panel of transducers in the aircraft’s nose. One of the turrets glowed and she stared at it, feeling the low ebb of power running through the superconducting network; far too little for a weapons laser.
The ground at her hooves lit up with a bright square of laser light, the perfection of the rendered image distorted only by the corpses it was being shone across. Another row of ponies, another medic holding an injector, a look an anguish and pain turning her face wild. They want to tie me up chasing impossible rescues. At some point they will be ready with a trap that I can't stop. More deaths than I can count, no matter what I do. She felt for the aircraft, the one no more than a length from the tip of her muzzle, and the ones maintaining overwatch. “Damn you.”
A pulse of magic snuffed out the aircraft's systems like a candle flame. It fell and Fusion caught it before it could crush the bodies it had floated above. “No,” she said, voice strange in her own ears, and created a pinpoint of celestia-hot plasma inside a twist of brutally strong magnetism. The bell-tolls of force fields pulsed in quick succession, slicing armour away and exposing the crew compartment. There were three dogs inside, all struggling with armour made suddenly too heavy to easily move without the assistance of integral exoframes. More magic, delicate and precise, sliced the armoured helmets to expose the pilots’ angry and frightened faces.
“I have a message for your masters.” She spat the word, feeling a heat build in her belly. “For every pony they kill I will immolate a hundred of their own. Adults or pups, I don't care anymore. I've tried to talk, I've tried and tried and tried.” The point of blue-white at her shoulder accelerated away in a trail of shockwaves, spearing the first aircraft before any of the dogs could blink. It exploded with a flash, and she felt the other aircraft try and attack her in turn. Fusion blocked their electrical subsystems, burning out great tracts of superconductor. They staggered in the air, losing directional stability, but did not fall.
Staring at her prisoners, she wormed her way past antimagic defences to dug deep into the power storage banks of the distant aircraft. A twist and the tight coils of exotic wiring quenched, releasing every stored joule in an instant and turning the world monochrome. The dogs flinched, eyes squeezed shut against the light, then quailed when the overlapping shockwaves rolled over them.
Fusion plucked the three flight crew from the ruined cockpit, expanding her defences and pulling them inside. “Tell them that this is their future,” she snarled, then detonated the power supply in their aircraft. There was a solid snap of light and heat, like galloping into an incandescent metal wall, the whole universe vanishing behind a glare only partially blocked by Fusion's defences.
The blinding light and terrible heat faded, leaving behind a maelstrom of rushing flames and smoke that left no mark on the frictionless surface of her force field.
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I have a cold and my sister's kids are coming over for the family get-together. Blargh.
I plan to spend as much time as is socially acceptable down the stables.
Anyway, Merry Christmas. I hope you like your present.
A great Christmas gift! Thank you!
8629037
8629038
Heh, a response within 30 seconds; that has to be some sort of record.
Escalation intensifies
Is it wrong that I squeal every time I see this story update?
This story proving once again why it's one of the three or so on my "drop everything and read" list!
Well... Things are certainly escalating.
Aaand Fusion's patience snaps as Merlon's warnings go unheeded. Now the question of what the first target of her rage is going to be rises.
Damn you for ending this on another cliffhanger, now I'll be spending the holidays idly going through scenarios!
The long winter thanks to mass impacts from the Hammer and a pure thaumo-emp pulse will drive the dogs back to their feral roots. We all know what this leads too... Just how bad the damage will be first. The court should know not to allow a religious zealot to make decisions, hope they all burn.
8629242 What would you do if all three of those stories updated at the same time?
What a lovely Christmas present.
Hoo, boy. They shouldn'a did that. They pressed the mass pony murder button.
I wonder whether Orgon or Fusion is going to have the higher body count by the end of this. Whatever the case, there are going to be a lot of dead dogs.
This is an awesome Christmas present. Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas!
Fusion is finely fed up. Let's see what she can really do.
To be a god, one must be worshipped.
To be a master, one must be obeyed.
In this new age, there are no gods, no masters.
Only slaves to pride and slumbering giants remain.
8629918
I dunno. Panic? Panicking is my normal go-to solution.
8632933
Theres a happy little tune for that:
When in trouble, or in doubt:
Run in circles, scream and shout!
8633128
I'm very familiar with the tune in fact! My dad says it all the time. I think he got it from Heinlein books, although I think it predates them.
Alright, so two chapters ago, Nuclear Launch Detected! Then, the counter force strike, now.... time to actually see how good the counters are and for the rest of the Dogs to learn why you don't fuck with Ponies? Also, how the hell did you sneak this update in on me!? Anyway, WHOOOOO nice not being left on this cliffhanger any longer.... and already preparing for the cliffhanger at the end of this one, because I know you are evil like that.
Alright, and right back to Fusion trying to fuck up the other Dogs launches without killing ponies any more then needed. Show the Dogs that not only is she that powerful, but also has that much precision and control, which if they were smart, would make them realize she's even MORE dangerous that way.
Wait, they weren't already assuming they were shooting nukes?
Or, she can't find a way to screw with the ammo feeds without detonating them? Though, detonating a nuke is a lot harder then you'd think, and they should have safegaurds to prevent this sort of thing.
YAY!
So, just thuamic pulsed the facility to overload it's equipment and short everything out?
Sadly true. For all her power, the fact she is still just one pony and can only be in one place at a time is a weakness. Though can fuck up enough to get your point across and give the rest some cover.
Okay, so the Court has their own satellites in orbit above the debris field? Also.... what would they be trying to say.. too early for them to have realized they fucked up, just gloating and trying to taunt her into giving up? Or trying to lull her into a false sense of security and trick her into a trap?
"Yet", and the Court is likely to head up it's own ass to realize how easily you could do something like that.
Well, would be a good first start. Still curious what prompted this even before the nukes hit. Or is it realizing they won't nuke her and how much she can fuck up in revenge?
Hehe, exactly!
And all you are going to do is piss her off even more.
That is an understatement.
I am literally shivering and covered in goosebumb. (Granted the fact it's so freaking cold helps with that.) But.. just... OH FUCK YES THIS IS CELESTIA! Judges, you really do not realize who you are fucking with.
Vanka's a tool at times, but....very smart and actually trying to help so, maybe listen. At least listen, not necessarily agree till you hear the plan, but still, she might have a good idea.
Oh that's what Vanka was saying, switch to Offense. Might work, hit enough, show how bad you can fuck them up, might make them swap over to their own defense for a bit. But yeah, nothing else, take out their strongest weapon against you.
What are you going to end up doing? I mean, as awesome as the Sister's are... we know even normal ponies can be insanely OP too.
Well... crap. Granted, no way he's going down THAT easy. But still, yikes!
See, Fusions 'minimal casualties' idea is noble, and right, and why she's so amazing... but Orgon's ruthlessness is what the Dogs understand and can process enough to see the power there. They simply aren't equipped to see what Fusion is doing as threatening because of it.
And also, while ruthless, not needlessly so. Just the right amount of force to make the point, acting out of pragmatic, rationale need not desire or pleasure, or just ego. Yeah, Orgon really is one of the most dangerous beings on the planet aside from The Sisters.
You are going to have to learn that very little of what you think 'can't happen is very possible.
Yes, yes.. I miiight be engaging in a small bit of guilty gloating and cackling.....
AH, so, block all memories, or just the PTSD that goes with it?
Well, till Luna saves your ass without even realizing it.
So, free or not? Either way would have pros and cons. Also, yeeeeaaahhh having the ponies supporting Dog ruthessness, The other Hives really do not know how fucked they are.
Good, also, cloudwalking FTW! Now, is he going to do something stupid but noble to try and save more ponies?
Orrrrr not? So, other then t just being nice seeing Lilac and getting a reaction from ponies 'on the ground' why focus on him in that case?
So... a result of the power she's pulling from it altering it's motions, or a result of her jumping around so much just making it seem that way to her?
And where is Admiral Ackbar when you need him? Still, good catch.
*Evil chuckling intensifies*
And again I just love he details this story has. Keeping in mind there is more to a nuke then just a big boom.
Will what!? You're already threatening to wipe them out, what else are you going to do? What threats do you think you have that could work? At this point, Orgon really doesn't have a damn thing left to lose for this, and his one hope is to win this war YOU started.
Seriously, Orgon is just pure freaking WIN! Just the shear complexity, on top of the epic, balls of freaking adamantium epicness.
And by that he means, stall for time till they think they can get the upper hand and wipe you out safely. Or at least with acceptable losses.
Well, you could get her to see reason, and to just hold off till they try their backstab.
Now, getting GRAVITY to do the same.... that's going to be a whole other challenge.
Then again.... after this.......
Two simple words, but the power in them..... the dogs really do not know what they have done. Do not understand the power in those words. I... what else could possibly be said, those two words sum it all up perfectly.
Dude.... you have no way of even conceiving of how totally fucked you are.
Oh.
Fuck...
Yeah... even I wasn't aware of.. and just..... ohh... fuck... and they've pushed Celestia over the edge. Prepare to face the wrath of the Sun Goddess.
.... not a cliffhanger per se, but still... just.. just holy fuck... So far, Fusion's restraint has been the only saving grace the Dogs had..... and with that gone..........
JUst.. just.. MOAR!!!!!!!!!! To hyped to say more then that this was just, perfect, and epic, and terrifying and awesome and just just... just... HOLY SHIT!
8629939 Well, given what we know will happen..... highest body count would go to whoever fires the Hammer the last time.
Oh dear. The Council of Dogs have prooven themselves to have their egos so far above their communities lives they ie on a totally different planet.
Hammer is kinetic and Luna can affect, generate that one herself.
All Celestia has to do is apply a contained star core in Lunas projected mass, and you end up with a Crust Buster.
Maybe Canterlot Mountain is the rebound spike in the centre of the crater which is edged at the South by the Macintosh Hills and in the West by Ghastly gorge, unless thats just a stress fracture on the floor of the crater?
Please, please, please fire The Hammer! Trust me, it will work this time for sure!
P.S. I bet with "negotiations" happening, Discord will show up in the story again. Can't have the world stabilizing, now can we?
8636708 Well, this is their egos screwing them over, it's not quite in that way. It's that they simply cannot conceive of a mere servitor ever being a threat. They simply can't process the very idea of one of those lesser animals actually being more then an annoyance at worst that can be swatted away effortlessly. They simply can't conceive of the Sister's having the power they do. While only seeing how bad everything they built their society on would collapse if their slaves stop being slaves.
As to Luna.... it's more interesting to keep in mind,The Hammer isn't the greatest threat Luna could use to ruin someones day. Keep in mind, at this moment, the world has two moons...... where'd the other one go?
8638779 Well, Discord won't do anything. Chaos certainly has to get involved though. I'm more curious if/how the 'Creation Stones' will be brought into play. Also, yes something is going to screw shit up hard. Either the Council doing a last ditch idiocy attack like multiple Hammer strikes, and/or the other thing we know is going to happen at some point before the end, Baur activates their Strix? Strax? The prion disease they've managed to sneak into the servitor food supply, since it's been fairly well hinted at that is what end's up causing the ponies to split into the three races they are now.
Also we've been shown the literal mother of all dragons and had a fight with HER built up, we can't not see that epic throw down!
8629939
8630300
Robin Loxley has something to say about that...
This whole (wonderful) series has been an acknowledgement of rule #48 of The Evil Overlord's List
Even Merlon is losing it.
... there won't be enough left of you to bury, guys.
Also, dammit stop making me not-hate Orgon just because that vicious bastard is allied with them now.
Apologies for the late reply; my over-Christmas cold (and Christmas itself!) sapped my willpower.
8635550
Non standard release! So much of a surprise that no one saw it (hardly a shock, it being Christmas and all; I imagine folks were otherwise engaged).
Anywho:
~Fusion left before the 1st nukes have fallen, up until this point they didn't know for sure.
~The bits with Lilac were there as the 'worm's eye view of the boot coming down', really. He's also a case study in the attitude of the pones, that is, creatures that have 'I must be useful' stamped through their very DNA. The idea is that being a burden is the worst thing possible for the average pone. He's my go-to for average-pone-in-the-street reactions.
~Fusion's moving sun: at this stage it's due to her rapid motion across the planet. We're not at moving the sun level yet (but it is coming!).
8636708
It's kind of a problem, in that the power levels have the potential to be far too high for the average ecosystem. The current main issue (from Fusion and Grav's POV) is that the pones are spread all across the world, and anything they do puts them in harm's way. What the hell do you do in that situation?
8638779
Ah, you know it's coming. There's no way I could ever just use it once!
8643722
#48, for sure. Arguably 54 as well. I always did like that list.
=======
Thanks for reading, folks! I seem to have rediscovered my writing 'flow', so there should be no more hiatuses in the future. I
Conspiracy Theory Alondro scrutinizes this sentence... something is amiss...
"Wait a minute... Sakaro... S(a)karo... minus the (a)... equals... SKARO!! OMG! THIS DUDE FOUNDED THE PLANET OF THE DALEKS!!!"
Alondro rushes off to post his latest revelations to FoilHat.net...
8644779 The Moment is coming... the Moment... IS MEEEEE!! (Unlike the one in Doctor Who, however, Alondro has no conscience... blowing up planets is just for kicks!)
After reading this chapter, Alondro just stands above planet after planet, laughing manically as he lets loose titanic beams of all sorts of anime energy fused into one absolute force of destruction, destroying all he sees, "NO MORE!!!! NO MORE!!! THEY CAN'T BE NAUGHTY IF THEY'RE ALL DEAD!!! HA HA HA HA HA!!!"
Now look what you've done!
8632281
Alondro adjusts his pants, "Hold my Belgian-style ale..."
8646894
You've found me out!
You know what that means...
8647033 Uhm... assimilate? (nerd fail)
The sad thing is it actually took me less time than usual to get to this chapter...
In any case, incredibly gripping read. Orgon may have disrupted the conventional world war thanks to his unconventional tactics, but now dogkind has to deal with the angriest sun since Super Mario Bros. 3. This will not end well for pretty much anyone involved.
Also, one detail I have to appreciate:
This illustrates the dogs' downfall in a single perfect sentence. The ability to draw an indelible line between Us and Them, Sapient and Beast, that no amount of world-shaking power can move. For most dogs, anyway.
Eagerly looking forward to more.
8657004 It's worse then that, this is the Angry Sun from 2 Best Sister's Play FO4.
But yup, that line does perfectly show just why the dogs are screwed, and unable to actually see what is happening. Baring Orgon.
8737724
The conditioning, maybe. But even if the pony does manage to make such a decision, the blessing would send that pony into fugue straight away.